Guardian report.

Pakistani intelligence officials today denied that an American militant suspect arrested in Karachi was al-Qaida's US-born spokesman.

Yesterday two intelligence officers and a senior government official identified the detained man as Adam Gadahn, a 31-year-old California-born convert to Islam who has appeared on videos threatening the west, including one that emerged earlier the same day.

But a senior government official and two security agents said today the suspect was not Gadahn.

Reuters article.

Iran's accusations that Jundollah operated from bases in Pakistan's Baluchistan province have been a cause of friction with Islamabad and Rigi's arrest -- in circumstances yet to be fully explained -- could go some way to easing tensions.

Pakistan and Iran, which have also competed for influence in Afghanistan, have been trying to improve relations recently as regional players prepare for U.S.-led forces to start withdrawing in 2011.

Guardian report.

India tonight reacted angrily to the attack. Officials in New Delhi are convinced a series of previous such strikes -- the Indian embassy was targeted in both 2008 and in 2009 -- were the work of militants sponsored by Pakistan. Islamabad has always denied any connections to militants operating in Afghanistan.

Dawn report.

The government has allowed the UN commission investigating the assassination of Benazir Bhutto to record statements of Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and other senior military officers.

Informed sources told Dawn that the three-member UN team was given the permission by President Asif Ali Zardari during a meeting at the Presidency on Wednesday.

Guardian report.

Two senior Taliban officials were arrested in Pakistan this month in what appears to be a crackdown against Afghan militants operating on Pakistani territory.

Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad, respectively the "shadow governors" of the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan, were arrested in Baluchistan province, Mohammad Omar, the Afghan governor for Kunduz, told Reuters.

[...]

Earlier this week officials confirmed that a joint CIA-Pakistani security operation had captured the number two Afghan Taliban commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.

Juan Cole comments.

His capture shows just how abject former vice president Dick Cheney's attacks on the Obama administration for its handling of terrorism are. And that Joe Biden and others kept the arrest secret, in order to allow further operations against Taliban leaders in Karachi, shows a discipline that Bush and Cheney never had. They were always happy to prematurely release details of ongoing investigations to get a political bump, even if it meant allowing terrorists to escape.

New York Times report.

The Taliban's top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.

The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago.

From Dawn.

Thousands of people Saturday attended the funeral of 14 people killed in Friday's double bomb attack in Karachi, as the death toll from the assault rose overnight to 31.