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Death Penalty Restored After Pakistan School Attack

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan hanged two convicted militants Friday in the country's first executions in years, while warplanes and ground forces pounded insurgent hideouts in a northwest region bordering Afghanistan — part of a stepped-up response to the Taliban slaughter of scores of schoolchildren.

Unchastened by criticism from all corners of the globe, the Taliban threatened earlier Friday to kill more children if executions were carried out as promised.

"We can create a mourning situation at the homes of many army generals and politicians," spokesman Mohammad Khurassani said in a statement emailed to reporters.

A key question now is whether attacking children will undermine the sympathy many Pakistanis have for the militants. Analysts say the Islamabad government needs strong public support to continue the fight against insurgents in the northwest.

Many Pakistanis believe the militants are holy warriors taking up arms against Pakistan only because the government aligned itself with the unpopular U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. A network of seminaries and religious schools promote religious hate, and some of their leading clerics command widespread respect in the country.

Maulana Abdul Aziz, a radical cleric in Islamabad, warned in his Friday sermon at the famous Lal Masjid mosque about a backlash in the event of executions.

Aziz expressed his sorrow over the schoolchildren's deaths but also called for ending the operation against the Taliban in the tribal regions of North Waziristan and Khyber. He called the Taliban "our brothers" and warned that if the military continues its bombardment, "there will be a reaction."

But there were signs, albeit small, that this type of speech will find a tougher audience in Pakistan after Tuesday's attack, when militants strapped with explosives broke into a military-run school in Peshawar and killed 148 people — almost all of them children.

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Pakistani civil society members take part in a candle light vigil for the victims of a school attack …

A few hundred people protested Friday night outside the Lal Masjid mosque, calling for an end to support for the militants.

"We wanted to also send this message that it's not enough for the government to take action against terrorists but it's equally important that we should also take action against these supporters of the Taliban," said human rights activist Farzana Bari.

In schools across Pakistan, special classes were held Friday, with schoolchildren chanting prayers in memory of the victims of the Taliban slaughter. In mosques throughout the country, worshippers also offered special prayers for the massacred innocents in Peshawar.

Another challenge for Pakistan will be creating a criminal justice system that can properly handle the militant networks. There are few convictions in militancy cases, partly because of a lack of protection for witnesses and judges.

A Pakistani prosecutor said the government will try to cancel the bail granted by a judge Thursday to the main suspect in the 2008 attack that killed 166 people in the Indian city of Mumbai. An outraged India noted in a statement that "given the scale of the tragedy that Pakistan itself has faced in recent days, it is incumbent on it to realize that no compromise can ever be made with terrorists."

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appears determined to show he understands that. On Wednesday, he announced that he would lift a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases. The military then promptly signed the death warrants of six "hard-core terrorists" who had been earlier sentenced by military courts.

The home minister for Punjab province confirmed the executions of the first two, Mohammed Aqeel and Arshad Mahmood, at a prison in the city of Faisalabad.

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Pakistani student, Mohammad Baqair, who survived last Tuesday's Taliban attack on a military-run sch …

"We have started these executions by hanging two terrorists," Shuja Khanzada told The Associated Press. "Today's executions of terrorists will boost the morale of the nation, and we are planning to hang more terrorists next week."

Both Aqeel and Mahmood were tried in military courts so little is known publicly about the cases. Pakistani media reported that Aqeel was convicted in relation to a 2009 attack on army headquarters, and Mahmood for his role in a plot to kill former President Pervez Musharraf.

Capital punishment had been suspended since 2008, though there was one execution in 2012 by the military. The reinstated death penalty affects both civilian and military cases.

It's not just radical clerics who oppose the executions. Human rights organizations have raised concerns about using the death penalty in a country where police investigations are poor and confessions are said to be often induced by torture. There are an estimated 8,000 people on death row.

"It is extremely disappointing that the government has given into fear and anger by executing two people today. As horrific as the attack on the Peshawar school was, more killings - this time by the government - is never the answer to combating terrorism and crime," said David Griffiths, Amnesty International's Deputy Asia Pacific Director.

The other part of the government's tough response in the wake of the school massacre has been its widening the military offensive against the militants in the country's northwest.

The military said 119 insurgents were killed in three different offensives in the Khyber region Thursday and Friday — 62 in ground action and 57 in airstrikes. There was no immediate claim of civilian casualties.

Khyber borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and militants have traditionally attacked the city before withdrawing to the tribal region where police cannot chase them.

Even if the government wins popular backing for an all-out military assault against the Pakistani wing of the Taliban, that doesn't mean it will also attack militant groups that use the country as a safe haven from which to carry out attacks abroad.

Pakistan has long been accused of playing a double game when it comes to dealing with militancy — fostering some militant groups that operate in Afghanistan and India as a way of maintaining influence there, while pursuing other militants who target the Pakistani state.

In June, when the military launched its operation in North Waziristan, it vowed it would go after all militants. Doubts remain, though, about how aggressively the army has pursued groups like the Afghan Taliban or the Haqqani network, which the U.S. says is responsible for numerous attacks in Afghanistan.

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Associated Press writers Zarar Khan in Islamabad and Abdul Sattar in Quetta contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's military struck a Hamas site in the Gaza Strip early Saturday in its first airstrike on the Palestinian territory since this summer's war.

The Israeli military said the airstrike on what it called a "Hamas terror infrastructure site" in the southern Gaza Strip was in response to a rocket fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Friday. The rocket fire caused no injuries.

Palestinian residents reported hearing two explosions in the Khan Yunis region of Gaza, in an area that contains training sites for Palestinian militants. No injuries were immediately reported.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, an Israeli army spokesman, said Israel's military "will not permit any attempt to undermine the security and jeopardize the well being of the civilians of Israel. The Hamas terrorist organization is responsible and accountable for today's attack against Israel."

The Gaza rocket attack and Israeli retaliation came days after a European Union court ordered Hamas removed from the EU terrorist list for procedural reasons, but said the bloc can maintain asset freezes against Hamas members for now. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas is "a murderous terror organization" and called for Hamas to be immediately returned to the list.

Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, fought a 50-day war this summer. In that war, Hamas launched thousands of rockets and mortars toward Israel, which carried out an aerial campaign and a ground invasion.

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Palestinians protesters pray for Palestinian Cabinet minister Ziad Abu Ain, who collapsed shortly af …

The war left more than 2,100 Palestinians dead, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. On the Israeli side, 66 soldiers and six civilians were killed.

In the West Bank on Friday, fierce clashes erupted between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces at a West Bank military checkpoint and near the village of Turmus Aya, though no injuries were reported.

The village was the site of a Palestinian-Israeli scuffle earlier this month during which Palestinian Cabinet minister Ziad Abu Ain collapsed. He later died en route to hospital.

Palestinian and Israeli pathologists subsequently disagreed over the cause of Abu Ain's death. The Palestinian expert said the cause of death was a "blow," while his Israeli colleague said Abu Ain died of a heart attack.

In other developments, the Israeli military on Friday began relaxing travel restrictions for Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the Christmas holiday season, saying it granted 700 permits for Gazans to travel to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan.

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Israeli border police officers detain a Palestinian protester following a prayer for Palestinian Cab …

Israel said it was also allowing West Bank Christians to travel to Israel, permitting 500 of them to visit their families in the Gaza Strip, subject to security checks.

Israel restricts Palestinians in the two territories from entering the country without special permits, citing security concerns. Travel between the territories is also restricted but those bans are usually relaxed for Christians during the holiday season.

The army also said it would also expand the working hours at military checkpoints to allow pilgrims from around the world faster access to the West Bank city of Bethlehem during Christmas.

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Associated Press writer Fares Akram contributed to this report from Gaza City, Gaza Strip.

Israeli strikes Hamas 'terror site' in Gaza

The Jewish state says the attack was in response to a rocket fired from Gaza into southern Israel.
First since 50-day war ended

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea said U.S. accusations that it was involved in a cyberattack on Sony Pictures were "groundless slander" and that it was wanted a joint investigation into the incident with the United States.

An unnamed spokesman of the North's foreign ministry said there would be "grave consequences" if Washington refused to agree to the joint probe and continued to accuse Pyongyang, the official KCNA news agency reported on Saturday.

On Friday, President Barack Obama blamed North Korea for the devastating cyberattack, which led to the Hollywood studio cancelling "The Interview", a comedy on the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

In its first substantive response to the accusation, the isolated North Korea said it could prove it had nothing to do with the massive hacking attack.

"We propose to conduct a joint investigation with the U.S. in response to groundless slander being perpetrated by the U.S. by mobilizing public opinion," the North Korean spokesman said.

"If the U.S. refuses to accept our proposal for a joint investigation and continues to talk about some kind of response by dragging us into the case, it must remember there will be grave consequences," the spokesman said.

Earlier, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it had determined that North Korea was behind the hacking of Sony, saying Pyongyang's actions fell "outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior".

Obama said North Korea appeared to have acted alone. Washington began consultations with Japan, China, South Korea and Russia seeking their assistance in reining in North Korea. {ID:nL1N0U32BR]

Japan and South Korea said they would cooperate. China, North Korea's only major ally, has yet to respond, but a Beijing-run newspaper said "The Interview" was not a movie for Hollywood and U.S. society to be proud of.

"The vicious mocking of Kim is only a result of senseless cultural arrogance," the newspaper said.

It was the first time the United States had directly accused another country of a cyberattack of such magnitude on American soil and set up a possible new confrontation between longtime foes Washington and Pyongyang.

Obama said he wished that Sony had spoken to him first before yanking the movie, suggesting it could set a bad precedent. "I think they made a mistake," he said.

"NOT CAVED IN"

Sony Pictures Entertainment Chief Executive Michael Lynton insisted the company did not capitulate to hackers and said it is still looking for alternative platforms to release "The Interview." This week, a spokeswoman for Sony had said the company did not have further release plans for the $44 million film starring Seth Rogen and James Franco.

Despite Obama's stern warning to North Korea, his options for responding to the computer attack by the impoverished state appeared limited. The president declined to be specific about any actions under consideration.

North Korea has been subject to U.S. sanctions for more than 50 years, but they have had little effect on its human rights policies or its development of nuclear weapons. It has become expert in hiding its often criminal money-raising activities, largely avoiding traditional banks.

The FBI said technical analysis of malicious software used in the Sony attack found links to malware that "North Korean actors" had developed and found a "significant overlap" with "other malicious cyber activity" previously tied to Pyongyang.

But it otherwise gave scant details on how it concluded that North Korea was behind the attack.

U.S. experts say Obama's options could include cyber retaliation, financial sanctions, criminal indictments against individuals implicated in the attack or even a boost in U.S. military support to South Korea, still technically at war with the North.

But the effect of any response would be limited given North Korea's isolation and the fact that it is already heavily sanctioned for its nuclear program.

There is also the risk that an overly harsh U.S. response could provoke Pyongyang to escalate any cyber warfare.

Non-conventional capabilities such as cyber warfare and nuclear technology are the weapons of choice for the impoverished North, defectors said in Seoul.

They said the Sony attack may have been a practice run for North Korea's "cyberarmy" as part of its long-term goal of being able to cripple its rivals' telecommunications and energy grids.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton, Susan Heavey, David Chance, Arshad Mohammed and David Brunnstrom in Washington, Ju-min Park in Seoul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Crispian Balmer)

N. Korea wants joint Sony cyber probe with U.S.

Denying accusations it staged the attack, Pyongyang demands that the U.S. join it in an investigation.
'Groundless slander'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Faced with one of its biggest challenges in years — repairing a troubled nuclear missile corps — the Air Force has taken an important first step by admitting, after years of denial, that its problems run deep and wide.

Less certain is whether it will find all the right fixes, apply them fully and convince a doubting force of launch officers, security guards and other nuclear workers that their small and narrow career field is not a dead end.

The stakes are huge.

The nation's strategy for deterring nuclear war rests in part on the 450 Minuteman 3 missiles that stand ready, 24/7, to launch at a moment's notice from underground silos in five states.

Some question the wisdom of that strategy in an era of security threats dominated by terrorism and cyberattacks. But whatever their role, those intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs, will have to be safeguarded for years to come.

The responsibility is enormous, the cost of mistakes potentially colossal. The business end of these missiles can deliver mass destruction with breathtaking speed. Accidents, though rare, are an ever-present worry.

That's why it can be disquieting to hear missile officers describe their unhappiness and lack of faith in nuclear force leaders.

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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon, Friday, Nov. 14, 2014 …

In sworn testimony to investigators looking into allegations that two ICBM commanders at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, were mistreating their subordinates, one officer spoke of deep pessimism.

"I go about most of my days wishing I was in another place, in another Air Force field," the officer said, according to a copy of investigation testimony provided in September and obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. The officer's name was removed from the document by Air Force censors citing privacy protection.

The belated admission by the Air Force and the Pentagon's civilian leaders, after a series of AP stories revealing the issue, that the nuclear force is suffering from years of neglect, mismanagement and weak morale has yielded opposing interpretations of what it means.

Some, including experts who are critical of the Air Force, say it makes more obvious the need to invest billions to modernize the force. The flaws are fixable, they say. They cite a resurgent Russia and a belligerent North Korea as reasons to make the added investment to ensure that America's nuclear force is revitalized.

Subscribing to this view, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced on Nov. 14 that the Pentagon would make top-to-bottom changes — more than 100 in all — in how the nuclear force is managed and operated. He said the Pentagon would spend up to $10 billion more over six years to improve the force. Ten days later Hagel announced his resignation, leaving questions about follow-through.

The opposing view is that this moment presents an opportunity to reconsider and restructure the nuclear force, possibly eliminating the ICBMs while enhancing the remaining sea- and air-launched nuclear forces. That view, however, is not predominant in the Obama administration, which favors the policy embraced by its predecessors, that the decades-old nuclear structure must be preserved for the foreseeable future.

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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, flanked by Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James, left, and U.S. Stra …

What that leaves is a risk of reverting to past practices, perhaps with additional failures.

Eric Schlosser, author of "Command and Control," a highly regarded 2013 book on the ICBM and nuclear risk, said there is little doubt that the Pentagon needs to update the nuclear missile force's basic infrastructure.

"But that's a short-term solution," he said in an interview. "The bigger question is: How many land-based missiles do we need in the 21st century? How should they be deployed, and do we need them at all?"

Schlosser and others have expressed concern about morale problems in the force — an issue the Air Force had been slow to acknowledge even after the AP wrote last year about an unpublished RAND Corp. study that found evidence of "burnout" and hopelessness among missile crews and other members of the ICBM workforce.

Paul Bracken, a Yale University professor and author of "The Second Nuclear Age," says he finds it unsettling to read about neglect of the ICBM force and the turmoil in the ranks of those who operate the missiles.

"If things are so bad, if for some reason we did want to fire an individual nuclear weapon, could we? Would the weapon take off?" he asked in an interview this month with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. "With all of the problems in our nuclear force, it seems to me that there'd be some real doubts. You really wouldn't want to use one of these weapons, because you don't know what is going to happen."

Bracken added that in the event of a massive nuclear attack by Russia, "I'm sure we could retaliate — we've got enough weaponry at our disposal. If we fire enough of them in a mass counterstrike, some are bound to work."

Evidence of what some would call the Air Force's willful disregard for its nuclear force is not hard to find. Michelle Spencer, for one, documented it in a little-noticed research paper she wrote for the Air Force in 2012. Her study team found examples of Air Force decisions to deemphasize nuclear training and education.

"At times the signs were clear that expertise and culture had declined to the point that the (nuclear) enterprise was in danger of catastrophic failure," she wrote.

Spencer put particular emphasis on nuclear expertise — how to expand it, how to maintain it and how to reward it.

"Without answers to these fundamental questions, the Air Force nuclear enterprise remains on the same trajectory as it has been for the last two decades - in ever-increasing decline," she wrote, adding that at some point it may be unable to sustain a nuclear mission that is supposed to be central to U.S. defense strategy.

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Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Air Force admits nuke flaws, uncertain path

Missile officers, military experts describe lack of faith in the nation's strategy for deterring nuclear war.
Years of neglect

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NYPD officers killed in patrol car shooting

New York (AFP) - A gunman with an apparent grudge "assassinated" two uniformed New York police officers in a cold-blooded attack on their patrol car that followed weeks of outrage over police killings of unarmed black men.

The two officers, one a newlywed, were shot in the head through the window of their vehicle in broad daylight in Brooklyn on Saturday in an attack that left America's biggest city reeling just days before Christmas.

"Today, two of New York's finest were shot and killed with no warning, no provocation," said an emotional New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton.

"They were quite simply assassinated."

Police named the shooter as 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley, an African American who shot and seriously wounded his ex-girlfriend in Baltimore early Saturday before driving to Brooklyn to murder the two officers.

Cities across the United States have seen weeks of protests condemning a string of recent police killings of unarmed black men and decisions by grand juries not to press charges against the white officers responsible.

Bratton said social media postings showed that Brinsley "had a very strong bias against police officers."

Just hours before the shooting, Brinsley apparently boasted on Instagram of wanting to kill cops.

Wenjian Liu, a seven-year police veteran who got married two months ago, and Rafael Ramos, who leaves behind a 13-year-old son, were "ambushed and murdered" as they sat in the front seats of a marked NYPD police car, officials said.

Neither officer had a chance to draw his weapon before Brinsley opened fire with several rounds and fled to a nearby subway station.

He shot himself in the head on the platform, where Bratton said a silver semi-automatic firearm was recovered near his body.

- 'Entire city attacked' -

President Barack Obama condemned the attack "unconditionally" in a statement, saying it had "no justification."

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Police guard the scene where two NYPD officers were shot, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014, in New York. An a …

"Tonight, I ask people to reject violence and words that harm, and turn to words that heal," Obama said.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the attack is a reminder of the dangers US police face regularly.

"As a nation we must not forget this as we discuss the events of the recent past," he said in a statement that appeared to refer to the country's ongoing police controversy.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city of 8.4 million was in mourning.

"When a police officer is murdered, it tears at the foundation of our society. It is an attack on all of us," he said.

"Our entire city was attacked by this heinous individual."

The police chief said the motive was still under investigation, but did not rule out a connection to anti-police protests that have swept the country.

"One of the unfortunate aspects at times is some people get caught up in these and go in directions they should not," he said.

In a cruel twist of fate, Bratton said Baltimore police warned New York colleagues that Brinsley may be on the loose just as the murder took place.

In October, a man with a hatchet attacked four young New York officers in what police said was an act of terror by a self-radicalized Muslim convert.

- Sharpton condemns -

"They Take 1 of Ours... Let's Take 2 of Theirs," read a comment seemingly written by Brinsley next to a photo of a silver handgun, referencing the police killings of unarmed blacks.

In July, Eric Garner, an unarmed father of six, died after police held him in a chokehold while he was being arrested for selling individual cigarettes illegally in New York.

Michael Brown, an 18-year-old in the Ferguson suburb of St Louis, Missouri, was shot dead by a police officer in August, sparking months of protests.

Grand jury decisions not to indict either white officer responsible triggered mass protests in New York and other US cities.

The Brown family swiftly condemned the latest killings as "senseless."

"We reject any kind of violence directed toward members of law enforcement. It cannot be tolerated. We must work together to bring peace to our communities," they said in a statement.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton, who has used the deaths of Garner and Brown to campaign for sweeping police reform, also said he was outraged.

But the head of a New York police association blamed city officials for not going far enough to stop those who incited violence during protests against police.

"That blood on their hands starts on the steps of city hall in the office of the mayor," Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch said about Saturday's shootings.

Widespread dissatisfaction in relations between police and blacks have been inflamed not just by the Brown and Garner deaths.

Last month, a rookie police officer fatally shot Akai Gurley, an unarmed 28-year-old black man, in the stairwell of a Brooklyn apartment building.

A 12-year-old black boy holding a toy gun was also shot dead by police officers in a playground in Ohio in November.