Pakistan cops thwart assassination plot targeting President Zardari

According to a police source in the Middle East, the Pakistani security force intercepted a call after being informed about a plan that terrorists plotted to kill Zardari, leading to arrest of four men in the capital and the rest of the suspects in different regions of Punjab. Both the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda threatened attacks on the government and military in their bid to take revenge of killing of world’s most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden on May 1 by U.S. Navy SEALs. The bin Laden operation was the culmination of years of careful and highly advanced intelligence work as officers from the CIA, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency worked as a team to analyze and pinpoint the Pakistani compound where bin Laden was killed. The possible killing of another notorious Pakistani terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri, who is believed to have masterminded Mumbai attacks, may have added fuel to the fire. The latest attempt came less than a week after a suicide car bomb attack killed 36 people and injured 50 others in northwest city of Hangu, Pakistan. On May 22, 13 security officials lost their lives in another terrorist attack on a Pakistani naval and air force base in Karachi. In addition, 98 people were killed separately in twin bomb blasts in Charsadda province on May 13. The numerous attacks and plots have proven al-Qaeda's and the Pakistan Taliban’s commitment to honoring their pledge to avenge Osama bin Laden’s death. For example. U.S.-led security forces in Afghanistan this weekend continued operations that countered a recent spike in violence along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, but officials are not sure if the upsurge in enemy attacks is related to the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.