Daily brief: Deadly bombing hits Peshawar

Then the music stopped

A remote-detonated bomb on a motorcycle tore through an area of Peshawar filled with CD and DVD stores Monday, killing at least six people (ET, CNN, Dawn, DT, AFP).The area where the blast occured, Nishtarabad, is the largest music andvideo market in Khyber-Puktunkhwa province. Meanwhile in Karachi, police have arrested eight suspects in Monday’s suicide bomb attack on apolice superintendent’s house, as the neighborhood around the bomb sitetries to recover from the extensive damage and loss of life suffered inthe blast, including that of a local teacher and her young son (ET, ET, ET, ET). And a Chinese company has reportedly decided not to invest in a coal project in Karachi due to the violence in the city (ET).

Pakistancontinues to struggle with the impact of devastating flooding, as the country’s president Asif Al Zardari created a special "cell" to monitor relief efforts (AP, Dawn).The Telegraph reports that trust in aid agencies trying to provide flood assistance has been damaged by a CIA operation to obtain DNA from Osama bin Laden’s family under cover of a vaccination program (Tel).The Times of London warns that Islamist groups may be trying to seek converts through relief efforts in flood hit areas with significant Hindu populations (Times).Pakistan is also still coping with an outbreak of dengue fever in Punjab province that is slowly spreading into Sindh, as well as lingering concerns about polio in Baluchistan (Post, Dawn, ET). Bonus reads: Haider Warraich, "Dengue fever: Pakistan’s recurring nightmare," and "Pakistan’s war against polio" (FP, FP).

Securityforces in South Waziristan have arrested 15 people in South Waziristanand seized two trucks that officials say were packed with explosives destined for Karachi (Dawn). In Orakzai, at least 20 militants have been reported killed in clashes with Pakistani soldiers (ET, Dawn).

Threestories round out the day: Giving a blunt take on the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, American ambassador to Islamabad Cameron Munter said Monday that it had been a "rough year" but pledged greater civilian aid to Pakistan (Dawn, ET).The Post details advances in drone technology and facial recognition software that may eventually allow the aircraft to identify targets and operate autonomously (Post).And Pakistan has refused to extradite former Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) head Lt. Gen. Javed Nasir to the Hague, where he is wanted for allegedly providing support to Bosnian militants in the 1990s, on the grounds that Nasir has purportedly suffered memory loss on account of a recent car accident (ET).

TheGuardian has a must-read piece alleging that Afghan Interior Minister Bismillah Khan Muhammadi rushed efforts to clear a building Taliban militants were using to attack the U.S. embassy and other targets in Kabul last week, possibly leading to injuries among Afghan and British soldiers and prolonging the siege (Guardian). A group of opposition parliamentarians has called for his resignation in the wake of the attack.

U.S.President Barack Obama is set to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai Tuesday in New York to discuss the transition of security responsibilities to Afghan forces (Pajhwok). The L.A. Times has a feature on dogfighting in Afghanistan, which is technically illegal but remains popular (LAT).And a suicide bombing Monday in the normally peaceful province of Jowzjan on the border with Turkmenistan has killed four people, while a roadside bombing in the same province killed five border police officers(NYT, Pajhwok). 

Dawnreports on the rise in plastic surgeries in Pakistan, including a growing number of procedures among young, unmarried women (Dawn). The most common procedures include liposuction, "tummy tucks," and hair transplants.

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