January 10, 2006: Fighting has died down in Baluchistan (southwest Pakistan), but not the violence. Police and troops are still looking for groups of armed tribesmen. Meanwhile, along the Iranian border, Iranian troops are threatening to cross the frontier to search for nine Iranian border guards that were captured by Baluchi tribesmen trying to get their kinsmen out of Iranian prison. Iran is demanding that Pakistan do something about these tribe based drug smuggling gangs. Iran has blamed the United States for supporting the smugglers in their attacks on Iran. This is pretty standard as accusations go, and backed up by nothing.

January 7, 2006: In the north North Waziristan area of Pakistan, a checkpoint on the Afghan border was attacked by pro-Taliban tribesmen, leaving eight soldiers (recruited from local tribes) dead. About the same time, a military operation in the same area left nine civilians dead when a helicopter gunship attacked a compound.