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   ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's newly-elected prime minister is calling for an end to American drone strikes in tribal areas.

   Nawaz Sharif's call came in his first speech in parliament, minutes after lawmakers elected him the country's premier.

   But he gave little details on how he might bring about an end to the strikes, which many in Pakistan have called an affront to the country's sovereignty.

   The U.S. considers the strikes vital to battling militants such as al-Qaida, who use the tribal areas of Pakistan as a safe haven.

   Sharif's comments are in line with previous statements he has made calling for an end to the controversial strikes.

 

   

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Election day attacks in Pakistan have killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens more even as voters defy the danger posed by militants to cast ballots in a historic day at the polls.

The violence was a continuation of what has been a brutal election season that saw at least 130 people killed in bloody Taliban attacks, mostly against liberal secular parties who have supported military operations against the militants.

It's the first time Pakistan is making the transition from one elected government to the next.

The closely watched vote in the nuclear armed nation pits a former cricket star against a once-exiled, two-time prime minister and an incumbent blamed for many problems.

   ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani officials say gunmen have attacked an election rally in the southern Punjab province and abducted the son of former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

   A police official, Abdul Rehman, says gunmen stormed the rally in the town of Multan, opened fire and seized Ali Haider Gilani on Thursday.

   A Punjab government official, Rao Iftikhar Ahmad, says one of Gilani's guards was killed and five people were wounded in the attack.

   Thursday is the last day of campaigning for Pakistan's election scheduled this Saturday.

   But the race has been marred by a string of violent attacks against candidates and election events.

   KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Officials say a helicopter owned by an Afghan company has made an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan, and the insurgents took all nine people who were aboard hostage.

   A district administrator in the area says the helicopter landed on Sunday afternoon in strong winds and rain in a village of Logar province, southeast of Kabul and about 30 kilometers (or 20 miles) from the Pakistan border.

   Hamidullah Hamid said on Monday that the Taliban captured all nine aboard the aircraft and took them from the area. He says the crew and passengers are all civilian.

   Logar deputy police chief, Rais Khan Abdul Rahimzai, says the helicopter is owned by the Khaorasan company. He didn't know what cargo it was carrying or where it was heading.

   PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The Pakistani Taliban have denied any role in the bombings at the Boston Marathon that killed at least three people and injured more than 140.

   The group's spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, denied involvement in a telephone call with The Associated Press on Tuesday. He spoke from an undisclosed location.

   The main focus of the Pakistani Taliban has been a bloody insurgency against the Pakistani government because of its alliance with the United States and to enforce Islamic law in the country.

   But the group has threatened attacks in the U.S. as well, and claimed responsibility for a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square in 2010.

   The Times Square attacker, Faisal Shahzad, has admitted to getting training from the Pakistani Taliban in the country's tribal region.

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) -- Angry residents on Sunday demanded government protection from an onslaught of attacks against Shiite Muslims, a day after 81 people were killed in a massive bombing that a local official said was a sign that security agencies were too scared to do their jobs. Saturday's blast at a produce market in the city of Quetta also wounded 160 people and underlined the precarious situation for Shiites living in a majority Sunni country where many extremist groups don't consider them real Muslims. Most of the dead and wounded were Hazaras, an ethnic group that migrated from Afghanistan over a century ago. Shiite Muslims, including Hazaras, have often been targeted by Sunni extremists in the province of Baluchistan where Quetta is the capital, the southern city of Karachi and northwestern Pakistan. At the blast site, members of the Hazara community helped authorities dig through rubble to find the dead or survivors. Most of their efforts were focused on a two-story building that was completely destroyed. More than 20 shops nearby were also demolished. Clothing and shoes were scattered through the concrete rubble, broken steel bars and shattered wooden window frames littering the streets. One of those helping, 40-year-old Qurban Ali, was instructing young people to be patient and careful while removing the rubble, lest they hurt themselves or survivors still buried in the debris. His cousin Abbas was still missing after the blast. Like many Hazaras, he lashed out at the people who perpetrated the violence. "Who are these people who made us Hazara so grim and sad? Why are they after us?" he asked. "Not one month or week passes here without the killing of a member of the Hazara community ... Why is the government - both central and provincial - so lethargic in protecting Shiites?" Near the rubble, a group of more than 50 women were wailing and beating their heads in mourning. On the road to the neighborhood where the attack occurred, Hazara youth burned tires and chanted for the arrests of the killers. A number of Shiite groups also staged a sit-in and were demanding the immediate removal of the chief secretary of Baluchistan and the top police official, said Rahim Jaffery, who heads a Shiite organization called the Council for the Protection of Mourning. "We are demanding the city (protection) be handed over to the army so that the killing of Hazara Shiites can be stopped," he said. Jaffery said a mass funeral for the victims had been planned for Sunday afternoon but all Shiite groups were meeting to decide whether to stage a protest similar to one in January when they refused to bury their dead for four days. That protest led the prime minister to sack the chief minister of the province and his cabinet and put Governor Zulfiqar Magsi directly in charge of the region - a move that many Shiites thought would help protect their community. But the governor's comments revealed his frustration at a job growing ever more difficult. Magsi said the blast was the result of a failure of the security and intelligence agencies in the province. "Officials and personnel of these institutions are scared (of the terrorists). Therefore they don't take action against them," he said in comments that were broadcast on local television. A militant group called Lashkar-e-Jhangvi called one local television station to claim responsibility for the attack. Pakistan's intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s and 1990s to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to operate fairly freely in their war against Shiites. Last year was particularly deadly for Shiites in Pakistan. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 were killed in targeted attacks across the country. The human rights group said more than 125 were killed in Baluchistan province, most of whom belonged to the Hazara community. Human rights groups have accused the government of not doing enough to protect Shiites.