**Pakistan town submerged amid fight to rebuild levees - BBC News
**Pakistan security forces end hostage drama - AP
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Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources including BBC & AP By RIAZ KHAN, Associated Press Writer
(NSI News Source Info) KARACHI/PESHAWAR, Pakistan - August 29, 2010: Pakistan town submerged amid fight to rebuild levees and second story Security forces stormed an army intelligence office in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday and freed two people who had been taken hostage by escaped militant prisoners, officials said.
First....Floodwater has submerged a town in the southern province of Sindh, and threatens another being used as a key staging post for flood relief workers.
Sujawal, a town of some 250,000 people, has been submerged while people battle to save the nearby city of Thatta, reports say.
Authorities are still trying to rebuild levees around Thatta against the raging Indus river.
But water is still advancing on the all-but-abandoned city, reports say.
Continue reading the main story
Pakistan's Monsoon Floods
Floods 'consuming' southern villages
Damage and challenges
Army boosted by aid effort
Your pictures: Shangla
"We fled so hastily that we could not even pick up our belongings," Amena Bibi, a mother of four, told the BBC.
"We are sitting in this graveyard under the blazing sun, looking for shade here and there. We have nothing to eat. The floodwater swept away our cows and buffalo."Future hunger
The international aid agency Oxfam says Pakistan will face devastating problems in the future, unless flood reconstruction efforts begin immediately.
A month after the floods began, the effort is still focused on the first stage of relief, rescuing and evacuating people.
But farmers have only a small window in which to plant the next harvest's crops, and that is fast closing, raising fears of future hunger.
"Pakistan doesn't have the luxury of waiting for the emergency phase to be over before starting the reconstruction," Neva Khan, Oxfam's country director said.
The massive floods have left some 8m people in need of emergency relief.
The lack of proper sanitation and cramped living conditions mean disease could spread quickly, says the BBC's Jill McGivering in Islamabad.
Four weeks since the flooding began, the scale of this humanitarian crisis is still growing. And on the ground, the amount of aid available is a long way from meeting the need, our correspondent says.
Sujawal, a town of some 250,000 people, has been submerged while people battle to save the nearby city of Thatta, reports say.Authorities are still trying to rebuild levees around Thatta against the raging Indus river.
But water is still advancing on the all-but-abandoned city, reports say.
Continue reading the main story
Pakistan's Monsoon Floods
Floods 'consuming' southern villages
Damage and challenges
Army boosted by aid effort
Your pictures: Shangla
"We fled so hastily that we could not even pick up our belongings," Amena Bibi, a mother of four, told the BBC.
"We are sitting in this graveyard under the blazing sun, looking for shade here and there. We have nothing to eat. The floodwater swept away our cows and buffalo."Future hunger
The international aid agency Oxfam says Pakistan will face devastating problems in the future, unless flood reconstruction efforts begin immediately.
A month after the floods began, the effort is still focused on the first stage of relief, rescuing and evacuating people.
But farmers have only a small window in which to plant the next harvest's crops, and that is fast closing, raising fears of future hunger.
"Pakistan doesn't have the luxury of waiting for the emergency phase to be over before starting the reconstruction," Neva Khan, Oxfam's country director said.
The massive floods have left some 8m people in need of emergency relief.
The lack of proper sanitation and cramped living conditions mean disease could spread quickly, says the BBC's Jill McGivering in Islamabad.
Four weeks since the flooding began, the scale of this humanitarian crisis is still growing. And on the ground, the amount of aid available is a long way from meeting the need, our correspondent says.
Second story....PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Security forces stormed an army intelligence office in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday and freed two people who had been taken hostage by escaped militant prisoners, officials said.
There were no fatalities in the operation and the militants surrendered, said Liaqat Ali Khan, a top police official.
There were no fatalities in the operation and the militants surrendered, said Liaqat Ali Khan, a top police official.
He said the trouble began as about three or four militants were being moved inside the offices."When they were being shifted from one compound to another, all of a sudden they grabbed guns from one of the guards and opened fire" and took two people hostage, he said.
One guard was injured in the shooting.
That was followed by a 10-hour gunbattle and the operation to free the hostages. Khan would give no details on the operation.
Police officials initially said militants had attacked the army intelligence office from outside.
Peshawar is the capital of troubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where militants often target police and security forces.
The shooting began hours after suspected U.S. missiles struck two vehicles carrying militants in northwestern Pakistan, killing nine of them, intelligence officials said.
The overnight missile attack occurred in the troubled Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan. The slain men were from the Haqqani Network, which is blamed for launching attacks across the border on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, the two intelligence officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The CIA has repeatedly targeted militant positions in Pakistan's tribal regions, but such strikes in Kurram are rare.
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**This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News, contact: dtnnews@ymail
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