Maulana Ali Sher Hyderi, chief of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) group, the largest extremist organization in Pakistan was killed by militants in southern Pakistan in the province of Sindh. Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan is a banned Islamic extremist organization which is working on a single goal to turn Pakistan into a pure Sunni state.

SSP is said to have very close links to another militant organization, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Some analysts believe that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a militant wing of SSP and has been responsible for many acts of terror across the country.

According to local police head, this was a targeted attack in which Maulana Hyderi and his driver were killed while he was on his way back after delivering a speech in a public gathering in the southern Pakistani city of Hyderabad.

Riots and demonstrations broke out as the news of Maulana Hyderi killing spread across the country. Shops and business were closed down by demonstrators in cities including Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Khairpur and Larkana. There have been reports of some incidents of aerial firing across the Since Province.

After the ban by former President Pervez Musharraf in February 2002, SSP had changed his name to Millat-e-Islamia and when this was banned too it adopted the name Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat. Maulana Ali Sher Hyderi belonged to Khairpur and his burial ceremony will be done later on Monday itself.

A US drone is suspected to have fired two missiles killing one of the wives of the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. She was the second wife of the Taliban leader and Baitullah Mehsud married her last year. The home of Baitullah Mehsud’s Father-in-law was hit by two missiles today morning in Southern Waziristan’s tribal area. The attacked house was located in the Zangarha area and is 15 kilometers north east of Ladha. Malik Ikramuddin, father-in-law of the Taliban leader Baitullah Meshud owned the house.

As per reports, at the time of attack there were more then 40 people in the house but remained unharmed as they were in the other rooms. The body of the Baitullah Mehsud’s wife had to be dug out from the debris. Although drone attacks are common in the area but this was the first time when a close relative of the Taliban leader was targeted. The Pakistani government has come under criticism from their own people of the country on the support it has provided to US which in carrying out these attacks. This would only add support for Taliban and is expected to have a large backlash on Islamabad.

Mohammed Yusuf, 39 leader of the Boko Haram the Nigerian version of Taliban has died in police custody; human right campaigners have called the killing unlawful. Boko Haram has been blamed for the unrest in north eastern Nigeria which has resulted in hundreds of people dead. The group like Taliban is against western education and wants to convert Nigeria into an Islamic state and also wants to implement a strict version of Islamic Sharia Law.

Mohammed Yusuf was killed in a shootout by the security forces when he tried to escape. This was confirmed to the Nigerian Television by Moses Anegbode, regional Asst. Inspector-General of Police.

This mass unrest in North Eastern Nigeria started on Sunday in Bauchi and then spread to the other towns. There have been several gun battles since Sunday between the Islamic militants and Government lead security forces. Hundreds of militants have tried to attack government and police buildings and have more then 300 people dead, but some estimate that the death toll could have even exceeded 600. Nigeria has a population of 150 million which is equally split with Muslims dominating the North and Christians dominating the South.

An Indonesian wing of the deadly terrorist organization al Qaeda has taken responsibility for the 17th July twin luxury hotel blast that rocked the south easy Asian country capital. 19 people lost there lives while 50 were injured in the horrific incident as two bombs detonated within minutes of each other. Out of the nine dead, two are expected to be the suicide bombers.

Noordin M. the leader of the breakaway fraction group of the terrorist out fit Jemaah Islamiyah claimed responsibility of the attack on behalf of al Qaeda in Indonesia. The statement claiming responsibility appeared on a radical Islamist Web sites.

The statement said that the hotels were targeted as the two hotels were the biggest hotel properties owned by Americans in Jakarta. The statement also had names of the MU team members, MU cancelled the Jakarta leg of there tour post the blasts. Also mentioned in the statement was that the MU team members were Christians and they don’t deserve any respect or money in Indonesia.

Another statement mentioned that the attack on Marriot was to target American who had business and diplomatic ties with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has offered to resign for his post of Chief Minister after the allegations former Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Beig of PDP. The PDP leader said that Mr. Abdullah name had some in the CBI investigations in the 2006 sex scandal. Even though his party and Congress MLA’s tried to stop him from taking such action, he walked out of the state assembly.

He said that even though he is not guilty and these allegations were false but he would be able to continue as Chief Minister once his name was cleared and he was proved innocent. He also said that he would tender his resignation to the State Governor shortly. He met his father Farooq Abdullah and now is on his way to meet the Governor.

This is the second day of havoc in the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly. Yesterday the opposition PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti had wrenched a mike from the Speaker’s desk. Post which she was moved out of the assembly and there was demonstration outside the assembly.

Now it all depends on the Governor to decide whether to accept resignation and dissolve the assembly or ask Omar to continue as a caretaker chief minister. Holding elections is a very difficult task as compared to other states, thus it will be a tough decision for the governor. The other option is that the in majority NC and Congress will have to re-elect him as the Chief Minister.

Following the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran discharged his senior most vice-president Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie. This decision was taken as Mr Mashaie had angered hardliners and Islamic clerics when he said that Iranians and Israelis were friends. There was week long standoff between Khamenei and Ahmadinejad as the president tried to defend his subordinate. In a note Khamenei expressed his discontent wit the vice-president saying that the appointment of Mr Mashaie was against government interests.

It all started a year ago when Mr Mashaie was the tourism minister. He had quoted that Iranians were friends with the Israeli people, in spite of the conflict between the governments of the two countries.

There were mass protests by hardline students in the Iranian capital demanding the dismissal of the Mr Mashaie. They came out in support of the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. The students also gave a strong warning of support withdrawal if the president did not dismiss Mr Mashaie. Protesting against the vice president they chanted in support of the supreme leader.

This is a clear sign that Ayatollah Khamenei is the supreme leader and he is the one who has the final say in all state matters. Post Islamic revolution the parliament has lost all its powers and the final authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran is still Ayatollah Khamenei.

Japan’s not-so-favoured Prime Minister Taro Aso after getting official cabinet support, dissolved parliament on Tuesday morning, summoning for a national election to be held on August 30. This move brings to a closure his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rein that spanned more than five decades of stable rule.

The beleaguered Aso has been heavily trailing behind in opinion surveys and had to strive towards subduing internal party rebellion. He had proffered atypical apology to his party members for the government’s slumped support.

A string of routs this month in Tokyo’s municipal assembly polls on 12th July, has provoked the mutineer members in the LDP to try to topple Aso out of power, so a new, more promising leader could brace the election. Many analysts have forecasted the hitherto untried, main opposition, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to be triumphant in the upcoming general election.

With Japan plunged in profound slump, reporters have observed that Aso has in many occasions appeared irresolute. Just the previous week, Mr. Aso narrowly scraped through a no-confidence motion created by the DPJ in the lower house. Nonetheless, the DPJ stronghold, the upper house too passed an analogous motion.

The poll surveys put out on Monday by the Asahi and Mainichi newspaper revealed a bleak picture for Mr. Aso with a continued dip in popularity in comparison to the previous month’s poll surveys.

The recent surveys has brought to light the emerging DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama , who is inching forward in popularity. The DPJ agenda include better autonomy from the US, more involvement in peace keeping assignments and a less significant role for government.