Pakistan military kills 67 militants

Pakistan's military has killed 32 militants in clashes in a troubled tribal region near Afghanistan. Source: AAP

PAKISTANI jets and ground forces have killed 67 militants near the Afghan border, days after a Taliban school massacre.

THE killing 148 people - most of them children - at a school in Pakistan's northwest earlier this week stunned the country and brought cries for retribution.

The military has since struck targets in the Khyber tribal region and approved the death penalty for six convicted terrorists.It says its ground forces killed 10 militants late on Thursday, while jets killed another 17, including an Uzbek commander.Another 32 alleged terrorists were killed by security forces in an ambush in Tirah valley in Khyber on Friday as they headed toward the Afghan border, the military said.Khyber agency is one of two main areas in the northwest where the military has been trying to root out militants in recent months.Khyber borders Peshawar, where the school massacre happened, and militants have traditionally attacked the city before fleeing into the tribal region where police can't chase them.The other area is North Waziristan, where the military launched a massive operation in June.In the southern province of Baluchistan, Pakistani security forces killed a senior Pakistani Taliban leader along with seven of his associates in three separate pre-dawn raids, said a tribal police officer, Ali Ahmed.The news comes after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday announced that he would lift a moratorium on executions in terrorism-related cases.Meanwhile, a Pakistani prosecutor said the government will try to cancel the bail granted to the main suspect in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks - a decision that outraged neighbouring India.

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Bodies returned to siege victims' families

The bodies of the two Sydney siege victims should be released to their families before Christmas. Source: AAP

HE says he is making it up as he goes along but grieving father Ken Johnson has emerged as an unlikely galvanising figure following the Sydney siege.

THE proud dad of slain shop manager Tori Johnson praised the nation's spirit and tolerance after returning to the growing mass of flowers at the Martin Place tribute site for the second day.

Mr Johnson met and spoke warmly with religious and community leaders on Thursday night."I think Australia is trying to pave a way for tolerance," he said in a nod to unstable gunman Man Haron Monis' attempts to link his attack with the Islamic State."We get on and that is what we want and we want to keep that flow going."I want solidarity," he told the Nine Network.He now has the heart rending task of organising a funeral before Christmas after Tori's body and that of mother of three Katrina Dawson, who was also killed in the siege, were returned to their families on Thursday evening.Authorities expect to complete examinations on Monis by Friday.While Mr Johnson tried to take on the role of healer, anger still burned for many as Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted the deaths could have been prevented if authorities had been better prepared.The siege had been "a horrific wake-up call" said Mr Abbott, who has announced a review into why the self-styled Islam cleric was not under greater official scrutiny."This was an atrocity - it may well have been a preventable atrocity, and that's why this swift and thorough review is so important," Mr Abbott said.Monis was on bail over a raft of violent charges, including being an accessory to the murder of his former wife, when he took 17 people hostage on Monday morning.The 50-year-old had been on an ASIO watch-list in 2008 when he sent offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers, but dropped off the list."Just like about everyone else from the premier down, I was incredulous and exasperated at this," Mr Abbott said."It was extraordinary he was on our streets."Senator David Leyonhjelm earlier on Thursday called for gun laws to be watered down, saying the siege wouldn't have happened if the hostages could have had concealed weapons."That nut case who held them all hostage wouldn't have known that they were armed and bad guys don't like to be shot back at," Senator Leyonhjelm told ABC radio."To turn an entire population into a nation of victims is just unforgivable."But former prime minister John Howard remains certain the laws he enacted after the Port Arthur massacre had made Australia safer."It's just an exercise in logic to understand that the more guns there are in the community, the greater the likelihood of mass murder," he told ABC radio.Senator Leyonhjelm quit the Liberal Party in disgust at the 1996 laws and has also been a member of the Shooters Party.With thousands pouring into Martin Place to pay their respects, the growing sea of flowers continued to take over the tribute site and forced the NSW government to ask for advice from overseas."The NSW government is in contact with authorities in London and Boston regarding flowers, tribute notes and condolence books to ensure we are operating on prior international best practice," NSW Premier Mike Baird said.The grass outside London's Kensington Palace was buried beneath flowers following Princess Diana's death in 1997.

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Abbott, Baird launch Sydney siege review

Tony Abbott says he wants quick answers from a review into the deadly Sydney cafe siege. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott says he wants quick answers from a review into the Sydney cafe siege.

THE head of the prime minister's department and NSW Premier Mike Baird's most senior public servant will examine how Iranian refugee Man Haron Monis was granted citizenship and came to the attention of police and spy agencies.

Mr Abbott also said he wanted to know how a man with a history of violence had a gun licence.Court documents from 2011 reveal Monis had a gun licence while working as a security officer but it had expired, but NSW Police say there's no record of him having held a firearms licence.Monis, who had been on bail as an alleged accessory to murder, and two hostages died at the end of the Lindt cafe siege early Tuesday morning.He had also been on an ASIO watch list in 2008 when he sent offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers, but dropped off the list."We do need to have the answers as quickly as possible so that any lessons can be put into place as quickly as possible," Mr Abbott said.Immigration laws will also be reviewed to remove any doubts about gaps in security checks, he said.Mr Abbott all but confirmed Iran had previously sought Monis for extradition over fraud charges."I share the exasperation of the Australian public at what appears to be someone who has been having a lend of us at the very least for so many years," he said.A committee examining new data retention laws - the third round of counter-terrorism measures proposed by the Abbott government - held a minute's silence before taking evidence from security officials.ASIO deputy director-general Kerri Hartland said her agency was working with NSW and federal police to investigate the siege.She said terrorist attacks against Australia were not hypothetical."Australia is a terrorist target and recent events have once again demonstrated that Australia is not immune from acts of terror," Ms Hartland said.Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin said requiring telcos to keep two years of customer data was essential to fighting terrorism.He said accessing data had already prevented two major terrorist attacks in recent years, but police feared the emergence of small internet providers that dumped their data after only months would have grave implications for disrupting crime.Former attorney-general Philip Ruddock questioned why the new laws exempted internet cafes."It would be just another place for people to say, 'I can go there and nobody can monitor my movements'," he told the committee.The committee heard small providers were kept out of the laws because of the compliance cost.Another Liberal member, Senator David Fawcett, suggested the laws be amended to limit data access to only government agencies.Labor members of the committee said the government had not released figures on how much it would cost the industry and what public money would be used to compensate companies.Attorney-General George Brandis has promised to cover the "reasonable costs" of the industry.

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Sydney siege triggers security review

Tony Abbott will urgently review how a lone gunman known to authorities was able to take hostages. Source: AAP

TONY Abbott will urgently review how a lone gunman known to federal police and ASIO was able to take hostages in a Sydney cafe.

SELF-PROCLAIMED cleric Man Haron Monis and two of his hostages died at the end of a 16-hour siege in Sydney's CBD, in the Lindt cafe before dawn on Tuesday.

Monis was bailed last year in NSW on an accessory-to-murder charge and was also facing a series of indecent and sexual assault charges.He had also threatened the families of dead Australian soldiers and publicly challenged Mr Abbott to a debate over the merits of the Afghanistan war.The prime minister said the national security committee of cabinet was seeking answers to questions on the minds of all Australians, as the tragedy echoed around the world."How can someone who has had such a long and chequered history not be on the appropriate watch lists and how can someone like that be entirely at large in the community?" Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney."These are questions that we need to look at carefully and calmly and methodically, to learn the right lessons, and to act upon them."Mr Abbott said agencies and the government had been responding effectively since terrorists began threatening acts of random violence against Australians.But had the "sick and disturbed" individual behind the siege been on a watchlist it was still possible the incident could have occurred."The level of control that would be necessary to prevent people from going about their daily life, would be very, very high indeed."Government MPs have questioned why Monis was not already in jail.Liberal MP Alex Hawke wrote on Twitter: "We must also ask our judicial system why a known criminal who hated our country was not in prison."Mr Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten laid flowers at a makeshift memorial in Martin Place on Tuesday.Mr Shorten joined the prime minister in expressing the heartfelt condolences of the nation."There is still a lot to learn about why this happened and indeed what happened. We need to also learn how we can ensure that this doesn't happen again," he said.Australia's intelligence partners have been working with agencies such as ASIO to get a more detailed picture of how the incident occurred."It's a reminder, albeit on the other side of the world but a country very close to all our hearts, of the threat we face from Islamist extremist terror," British PM David Cameron said.Former FBI counter-terrorism analyst Matthew Levitt said it appeared to be more a case of "lone offender violence" than an act of terrorism.Despite Monis being known to authorities it would not have been possible to keep tabs on him."Outside of the movies, in the real world no law enforcement agency, not locals, not AFP, not FBI, has the resources to track everybody who's of any interest whatsoever 24/7," Mr Levitt said.ASIO and AFP officials will appear at a parliamentary inquiry in Canberra on Wednesday to discuss the third tranche of anti-terrorism laws, dealing with mandatory data retention.

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