Panetta says Karzai should thank allied forces

Israeli air force shoots down drone aircraft

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli air force shot down a drone after it crossed intosouthern Israel on Saturday, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft had come from.

The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean Sea in the area of the Hamas-ruledGaza Strip to the west of Israel, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich.

It was kept under surveillance and followed by Israeli air force jets before it was shot down above a forest in an unpopulated area near the border with the occupied West Bank.

Leibovich said it was shot down at about 10 a.m. (0700 GMT), after it traveled east some 35 miles across Israel's southern Negev desert.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak praised the interception as "sharp and effective".

"We view with great gravity the attempt to compromise Israeli air space and will consider our response in due course," Barak said in a statement.

Soldiers were searching the area for the remains of the drone, which security sources said most likely did not originate from the Gaza Strip. It was not immediately clear whether it was armed.

On at least one occasion, Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a Shi'ite group in Lebanon, has launched a drone into Israel. And in 2010, an Israeli warplane shot down an apparently unmanned balloon in the Negev near the country's Dimona nuclear reactor.

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Amir Cohen; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Pakistan motorcade protesting US drones sets off

Associated Press - Pakistan's ex-cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, center, is surrounded by his supporters as he arrives to lead what organizers are calling the "peace march," in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. Hundreds of Pakistanis, joined by dozens of American activists, set off Saturday on a motorcade "march" to protest against U.S. drone strikes, hoping to reach a militant-riddled Afghan border region that has been the focus of many such attacks. (AP Photo)

Pakistanis and American citizens hold banners and chant slogans against drone attacks in Pakistani tribal belt, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Oct. 5, 2012. A group of American anti-war activists are in Pakistan with plans to join a “march” into the country’s tribal belt to protest U.S. drone strikes in the rugged northwest territory. Their presence has energized some Pakistanis, but it also has added to concerns that Islamist militants will target the weekend event. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Thousands of Pakistanis joined by a group of U.S. anti-war activists headed toward Pakistan's militant-riddled tribal belt Saturday to protest U.S. drone strikes — even as a Pakistani Taliban faction warned suicide bombers would stop the demonstration.

The motorcade march was led by Imran Khan, the ex-cricket star-turned-populist politician, whom militants have brushed off as a tool of the West despite his condemnations of the drone strikes, which have killed many militant leaders.

Khan insisted the protesters, who want to travel the roughly 400-kilometer (250-mile) route to the South Waziristan tribal region by Sunday, would go as far as possible.

"This is a peace march, an effort for peace in Pakistan on our part. ... We are not going to fight anyone," Khan said as the motorcade set off from Islamabad.

The convoy, which at its start numbered around 150 vehicles, grew steadily throughout the day, appearing to stretch for miles. It was warmly welcomed by Pakistanis in small towns and villages along the route. Pakistani TV footage showed people showering rose petals on the cars and other vehicles.

Around three dozen Americans from the U.S.-based anti-war group CODEPINK joined Khan for the march. Because access to Pakistan's tribal regions is heavily restricted, it was unclear whether the Westerners participating in the protest would be allowed to enter the region.

South Waziristan has been the scene of a Pakistani army offensive and a frequent target of the drone strikes aimed at the Pakistani Taliban. The protesters say that despite U.S. claims, the strikes have terrorized peaceful tribes living in the area and killed many innocent civilians.

"I'm hoping that what it will show is that the Pakistani people and American people and even the people in the tribal areas want peace," said Joe Lombardo, a U.S. activist from Delmar, New York.

James Ricks, another American activist, said he was going along with the convoy despite the danger. "I am taking this risk because my government is committing international war crimes and we want to stop this," said Ricks, of Ithaca, New York.

The convoy departed early in the morning, leaving behind some who arrived late in cars carrying Khan posters and the red-and-green flag of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf political party. Youths on motorcycles and vans blaring songs from loudspeakers rushed to catch up.

When Khan arrived in his home district of Mianwali, huge crowds greeted him. TV footage showed him wearing Pakistan's white traditional dress, sitting on the roof of his vehicle, waving back to his cheering supporters.

Khan, in brief chats with media at different stops, said government officials had tried to discourage people from joining the march.

"Fearing this will be an historic rally, they (government) have attempted to discourage people through scaring tactics but you have seen the response," he said. "This will prove to be a historic event."

The government has warned about safety concerns, especially in South Waziristan. Although that tribal region has theoretically been under army control since an offensive there in late 2009, militants still roam the area.

The main faction of the Pakistani Taliban, which is based in South Waziristan, issued a statement Saturday calling Khan a "slave of the West" and saying that the militants "don't need any sympathy" from such "a secular and liberal person."

The statement did not reveal anything about the militants' plans regarding the march, but added: "Imran Khan's so-called Peace March is not in sympathy for drone-hit Muslims. Instead, it's an attempt by him to increase his political stature."

On Saturday, a statement from a Taliban faction said to be based in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province warned that militants would welcome the protesters with suicide bombings.

"We ask the brave people of Waziristan not to side with the gang of Jews and Christians — otherwise their fate will be terrible," the Punjabi Taliban said in the statement.

Khan in his televised remarks attacked the militant accusations: "We have no political aims but want to protect tribal people from drone attacks. ... They are whispering that Jews and Christians are coming. They should feel shame for this act."

Earlier in the week, Khan said that South Waziristan tribal leaders had assured him that he and his entourage would be protected there.

Still, he did allude to the possibility that entering the tribal area might not be possible, saying that the marchers would go as far as they could, and stage a major rally wherever they decided to stop.

Radical preacher Abu hamza al-Masri, 4 other terrorism suspects arrive in US to face charges

NEW YORK, N.Y. - An ailing extremist Egyptian-born preacher and four other terrorism defendants arrived in the United States early Saturday under tight security to face trial after losing their lengthy extradition fight in England, authorities said.

The preacher, Abu Hamza al-Masri, was taken to a federal lockup next to the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan to face charges that he conspired with Seattle men to set up a terrorist training camp in Oregon and that he helped abduct 16 hostages in Yemen in 1998.

The one-time nightclub bouncer will be housed there along with Khaled al-Fawwaz and Adel Abdul Bary, who will face trial on charges that they participated in the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. The attacks killed 224 people. They were indicted in a case that also charged Osama bin Laden.

In the 1990s, al-Masri turned London's Finsbury Park Mosque into a training ground for extremist Islamists, attracting men including Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.

Two other defendants — Syed Talha Ahsan and Babar Ahmad — were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in New Haven, Connecticut, on Saturday morning, U.S. Marshal Joseph Faughnan said. It was not immediately clear exactly when al-Masri, al-Fawwaz and Bary will appear in federal court in Manhattan.

Ahmad and Ahsan face charges that they ran websites that sought to raise cash, recruit fighters and seek equipment for terrorists in Afghanistan and Chechnya. Authorities say the websites included Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit members for the al-Qaida network, Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime and Chechen rebels.

Al-Masri is not the first ailing Egyptian-born preacher to be brought to Manhattan for trial. A blind sheik, Omar Abdel-Rahman, is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 1995 in a plot to assassinate then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and of plotting to blow up New York landmarks, including the United Nations and two tunnels and a bridge linking New Jersey to Manhattan. Abdel-Rahman has numerous health issues, including heart trouble.

In England, lawyers for the 54-year-old al-Masri, who has one eye and hooks in place of hands he claims to have lost fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, said he suffers from depression, chronic sleep deprivation, diabetes and other ailments.

The overnight trip to the United States came after a multi-year extradition fight that ended Friday, when Britain's High Court ruled that the men had no more grounds for appeal and could be sent to the U.S. immediately. The men have been battling extradition for between eight and 14 years.

"I'm absolutely delighted that Abu Hamza is now out of this country," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. "Like the rest of the public I'm sick to the back teeth of people who come here, threaten our country, who stay at vast expense to the taxpayer and we can't get rid of them."

"I'm delighted on this occasion we've managed to send this person off to a country where he will face justice," he added.

Al-Masri has been in a British jail since 2004 on separate charges of inciting racial hatred and encouraging followers to kill non-Muslims.

While al-Masri has been portrayed in the British media as one of the most dangerous men in the country, the case against Ahmad in Connecticut has raised concerns among legal experts and human rights advocates.

The London computer expert is accused of running terrorist-funding websites in a case that was brought in Connecticut because an Internet service provider was allegedly used to host one of the websites. He and Ahsan both face charges including using a website to provide support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons or damage property in a foreign country.

Some lawyers and lawmakers have expressed concerns about the case against Ahmad because Britain agreed to extradite him even though his alleged crimes were committed in Britain and British courts declined to prosecute him for lack of evidence.

In prison since 2004, Ahmad has been held without charge for the longest period of any British citizen detained since the Sept. 11 attacks.

In a statement read on his behalf outside court in London Friday, Ahmad said his case had exposed flaws in U.S.-U.K. extradition arrangements. "I leave with my head held high, having won the moral victory," he said.

His father, Ashfaq Ahmad, said he would continue to fight for his son.

"It's not just one Babar Ahmad. Tomorrow there will be another Babar Ahmad and another one," he said.

___