Pakistan confirms airstrikes against suspected militants inside Afghanistan, Kabul says civilian targets hit

Pakistan confirms airstrikes against suspected militants inside Afghanistan, Kabul says civilian targets hit
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A Pakistani army soldier stands guard on a border terminal in Ghulam Khan, a town in North Waziristan, on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, on January 27, 2019. (AFP/File)
Pakistan confirms airstrikes against suspected militants inside Afghanistan, Kabul says civilian targets hit
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Taliban security personnel stand guard along a road after gunfire erupted between Afghanistan and Pakistan border forces at Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Nangarhar province on February 20, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 19 March 2024
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Pakistan confirms airstrikes against suspected militants inside Afghanistan, Kabul says civilian targets hit

Pakistan confirms airstrikes against suspected militants inside Afghanistan, Kabul says civilian targets hit
  • Afghan Taliban say Pakistan struck Khost and Paktika provinces on Monday, killing five women and three children
  • Islamabad says increase in attacks in Pakistan “with the help of the Afghan Taliban and supply of modern weapons”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday confirmed airstrikes against suspected militants in border regions inside Afghanistan, hours after the Afghan Taliban said Islamabad had struck civilian targets, killing five women and three children.

Islamabad’s airstrikes, the sharpest escalation in already deteriorating ties between the neighbors, came two days after a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden truck into a military post in northwest Pakistan, killing seven soldiers. The Pakistan army, defense minister and president vowed retaliation in separate statements.

Militant attacks have risen sharply in Pakistan in recent months, many of them claimed by the Pakistani Taliban. The Pakistan government and security officials say most assaults are launched from neighboring Afghanistan, an accusation that has damaged the relationship between Pakistan and the ruling Afghan Taliban, who deny they have allowed Afghan territory to be used by militants.

After a long day of silence following the Afghan government’s confirmation of the strikes, the Pakistan foreign ministry said suspected militant targets in “border regions inside Afghanistan” had been targeted in an operation. 

“The target of today’s operation was the terrorists belonging to Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, which along with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), is responsible for multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, resulting in deaths of hundreds of civilians and law enforcement officials,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

“The latest attack took place on 16 March 2024 at a security post in Mir Ali in North Waziristan and claimed the lives of seven Pakistani soldiers.”

The foreign office said the Afghan interim government had been conveyed Islamabad’s concerns over the past two years regarding the presence of “terror outfits” within its territory, adding that some elements within the Afghan government were “actively patronizing the TTP and using them as a proxy against Pakistan.” The statement did not specify any particular figures in the Afghan Taliban as being responsible. 

“Such an approach against a brotherly country, which stood with the people of Afghanistan through thick and thin, manifests shortsightedness. It ignores the support extended by Pakistan to the people of Afghanistan over the last several decades. We urge these elements in power to rethink the policy of siding with Khwarij terrorists shedding the blood of innocent Pakistanis and to make a clear choice,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said.

The statement added that Pakistan realized the challenge Afghan authorities faced in combating the threat posed by TTP and that Islamabad continue to work toward finding joint solutions in countering terrorism and preventing terror organizations from sabotaging bilateral relations with Afghanistan.

In a separate statement, the Pakistan army said the recent wave of militancy in the country had the “full support and assistance” of Afghanistan.

“It is clear to all that the recent wave of terrorism in Pakistan has the full support and assistance of Afghanistan,” the army’s media wing said in a statement shared by state-run Pakistan Television on X.

“With the help of the Afghan Taliban and the supply of modern weapons, there has been an increase in the incidents of terrorism in Pakistan.”

The army accused the Afghan government of arming militants and providing safe havens as well as itself being involved in attacks in Pakistan and listed several high-profile attacks in Pakistan recently in which Afghanistan was involved, including an attack on two military check posts in Chitral last September, an attack on an air base in November and an attack on a mosque inside a police compound in Peshawar in January 2023 in which almost 100 people were killed.

Pakistan’s new government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is faced with dealing with fraying ties with three of Pakistan’s four neighbors, India, Iran and Afghanistan.

“BAD CONSEQUENCES”

Earlier, a spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Pakistani planes had struck civilian targets in the Khost and Paktika provinces early on Monday morning.

“Last night at around 3 o’clock in the Barmal district of Paktika province and in Afghan Dubai area of Sepera district of Khost province, Pakistani planes bombed the houses of civilians,” Mujahid wrote on X.

“As a result, 6 people including 3 women and 3 children were martyred and a house destroyed in Paktika, as well as, two women were martyred due to the collapse of a house in Khost province.”

The Afghan government condemned the attacks and called them a “reckless” violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

“The people of Pakistan and the new government should stop some army generals from continuing their wrong policies … and spoiling the relationship between the two neighboring Muslim nations,” the statement added.

“Pakistan should not blame Afghanistan for the lack of control, incompetence and problems in its own territory.”

The spokesman warned that the air strikes could have “bad consequences which will be out of Pakistan’s control.”

In a separate statement on social media platform X, Afghanistan’s defense ministry said its border forces had responded to Pakistan’s airstrikes.

“In response to this aggression, the border forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan targeted Pakistan’s military centers along the fictitious line with heavy weapons,” the statement said.

“The country’s defense and security forces are ready to respond to any aggressive actions and will defend their territorial integrity in any situation.”




Pakistan’s Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir (C, left) and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza (C, right) carrying the coffin of Lieutenant Colonel Syed Kashif Ali. (Photo courtesy: Military's media wing)

Saturday’s attack on the Pakistan military post was claimed by a newly formed militant group, Jaish-e-Fursan-e-Muhammad. However, Pakistani security officials believe the group mainly comprises members of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, which often targets Pakistani soldiers and police from safe havens in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani Taliban or TTP are a separate group but are allies of the Afghanistan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 as the US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened TTP, Pakistan says, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.

“Terrorism is being conducted mostly from Afghanistan against us,” Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Asif told reporters in Pakistan’s eastern city of Sialkot on Sunday, saying militants were operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan.

“We have also raised this issue with Afghanistan.”

In a separate statement on Monday, the Pakistan army’s media wing said security forces had conducted an intelligence-based operation in the restive North Waziristan district on Sunday night in which eight “terrorists,” including a high-value commander Sehra Janan, were killed:

“He was involved in orchestrating the terrorist attack on security forces’ post in Mir Ali on 16 March and was highly wanted by the law enforcement agencies.”


Taliban’s battle with Daesh opens door to foreign cooperation

Taliban’s battle with Daesh opens door to foreign cooperation
Updated 7 sec ago
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Taliban’s battle with Daesh opens door to foreign cooperation

Taliban’s battle with Daesh opens door to foreign cooperation
  • A 2023 UN Security Council report said that the Taliban have quietly reached out requesting intelligence and logistical support to fight IS-K, “offering itself as a counter-terrorism partner”
  • Taliban government has been plagued by attacks by the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), an offshoot of the Mideastern Daesh group with ambitions of establishing a global Islamic “caliphate”

ISLAMABAD, Paksitan: Afghanistan’s Daesh group is staging a growing number of bloody international attacks, presenting a rare but complicated opportunity for foreign cooperation with the Taliban government to counter the jihadists.
Since winning their own insurgency in defiance of the international community three years ago, the Taliban government has been plagued by attacks by the Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K).
While a crackdown has seen domestic attacks diminished, IS-K remains active and has pivoted abroad — killing more than 140 at a Moscow concert hall in March and more than 90 in an Iran bombing in January.
Tackling the threat is a rare point of accord between Western nations and the Taliban government, whose austere vision of Islamic law stifling women’s rights has largely choked off diplomatic relations.
“Western intelligence officials have told me that cooperation with the Taliban against IS-K is ongoing, including the sharing of targeting information that allows the Taliban to take lethal action against terrorists,” Graeme Smith of the International Crisis Group told AFP.
“There’s a gap between the public rhetoric of Western states complaining about the Taliban’s draconian rule and the same countries’ eagerness for the Taliban to enforce the law.”

Afghan men bury victims of a Daesh suicide bomb attack on a Shiite mosque in Kandahar province, killing 41 people. (AFP)

IS-K was founded in 2015, an offshoot of the Middle Eastern Sunni extremist group with ambitions of establishing a global Islamic “caliphate.”
The regional faction came to global prominence by bombing America’s chaotic evacuation from Kabul airport in August 2021 — killing some 170 Afghans alongside 13 US troops.
Since ousting US-led forces three years ago, the Taliban government has declared security its highest priority and pledged militants planning foreign attacks will be rooted out.
But while the Taliban seized a vast stockpile of military gear when they took over, analysts doubt they can eradicate the group because of technological shortfallings in their intelligence gathering.
“The Taliban has limitations on what it can do,” said Aaron Y. Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Between March 2023 and March 2024, IS-K planned 21 international attacks in nine countries, he said, compared to just eight plots the previous year.
A 2023 UN Security Council report said that “the Taliban have quietly reached out requesting intelligence and logistical support” to fight IS-K, “offering itself as a counter-terrorism partner.”
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP that some “countries being affected by this group are being cooperated with in some areas and we also occasionally share information with them.”

An IS-K gun attack in May saw six people, including three Spanish tourists, killed in Afghanistan. Last month, the group claimed two more domestic attacks, killing a total of 20 people.
But their deadliest strikes were in Iran and then Moscow, where four gunmen besieged the Crocus City Hall.
The gunmen were Tajik — evidence of a surge in IS-K recruitment among Central Asian countries that border Afghanistan — raising the threat to Russia in particular, analysts say.
Moscow has since said it will remove the Taliban government from its list of outlawed groups.
“The Taliban certainly are our allies in the fight against terrorism,” Russia’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Dmitry Zhirnov, said in July. “They are working to eradicate terrorist cells.”
Tricia Bacon, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Russia is the “prime candidate” for international cooperation.
“There’s the possibility that the Russians could share things that the Taliban could use to understand IS-K or take action against IS-K,” such as intelligence, she said.

US Central Command chief General Michael Kurilla warned this year that IS-K “retains the capability and will to attack US and Western interests abroad in as little as six months and with little to no warning.”
In August, a UN counter-terrorism official told the Security Council that IS-K poses the greatest external terror threat to Europe — where plots are regularly uncovered.
The international threat “does create some potential for increased counterterrorism cooperation with the Taliban,” said Clemson University assistant professor Amira Jadoon, author of a book on IS-K.
“But the situation is far from straightforward,” she told AFP.
But the case is complicated by the Taliban’s reported ties to Al-Qaeda — which carried out the 9/11 attacks — as well as the Pakistani Taliban, which targets Islamabad.
That means aiding the Taliban government against IS-K may risk stoking threats from other groups. IS-K is also known to recruit from the ranks of disaffected Taliban.
Such concerns “severely limit the scope of potential cooperation,” said Jadoon.
“Cooperation would likely be limited, indirect, and focused strictly on the IS-K threat, balancing the need to address this emerging danger against the significant ethical and strategic concerns of working with the Taliban regime.”
 


More than 100 feared dead in Nigeria boat accident

More than 100 feared dead in Nigeria boat accident
Updated 04 October 2024
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More than 100 feared dead in Nigeria boat accident

More than 100 feared dead in Nigeria boat accident
  • The boat was packed with 300 passengers on their way to a festival in north-central Niger state when the accident happened
  • Boat accidents are common on Nigeria's poorly regulated waterways, particularly during the rainy season when rivers and lakes swell

KANO, Nigeria: Over 100 people are feared dead after a boat carrying mostly women and children capsized in Nigeria, rescue workers said as they pulled more bodies from the River Niger on Thursday.
Around 300 passengers were on their way to celebrate the Muslim festival Mawlid in north-central Niger State when the accident took place on Tuesday, the state's emergency agency said.
Thirty-six dead bodies have now been found and 150 survivors rescued, spokesman Ibrahim Audu Husseini told AFP.
"We have recovered 20 more bodies today. This brings to 36 the number of bodies recovered from the river."
There was "no possibility" of finding others alive, he said. "There is no way one can survive three days underwater. The work now is to recover all the missing bodies."
The agency did not specify the cause of the sinking in Gbajibo community, near Mokwa, but said it took place after dark at around 8:30 pm (1930 GMT).
Boat accidents are common on Nigeria's poorly regulated waterways, particularly during the rainy season when rivers and lakes swell.
Nigeria's waterways authority has tried in the past to prohibit night-time travel on rivers and says overloading vessels is a crime, but crews often break regulations.
Last month, an overloaded boat sank while carrying more than 50 farmers across the Gummi River in Zamfara State. Over 40 are believed to have died.
In June 2023, over 100 people died when a riverboat carrying around 250 passengers capsized in north-central Kwara state, one of the country's deadliest waterway accidents in years.

In a statement late on Thursday, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu expressed sympathy for the victims and called for an investigation into recent boat accidents.
"President Tinubu commiserates with the families of the victims and prays for the repose of the souls of the dead," the presidency said.
The president urged officials to make sure boat operators violating the ban on travelling at night were brought to justice.
Tinubu also thanked emergency workers and praised local divers helping in the search.
 


‘Never-Trump’ Republican Cheney campaigns with Harris in Wisconsin, says Trump a threat to democracy

‘Never-Trump’ Republican Cheney campaigns with Harris in Wisconsin, says Trump a threat to democracy
Updated 04 October 2024
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‘Never-Trump’ Republican Cheney campaigns with Harris in Wisconsin, says Trump a threat to democracy

‘Never-Trump’ Republican Cheney campaigns with Harris in Wisconsin, says Trump a threat to democracy
  • Harris and Cheney hammer Trump for his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election and his failure to quell the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021

RIPON, Wisconsin: Vice President Kamala Harris rallied side-by-side with Republican Liz Cheney in the birthplace of the modern Republican Party on Thursday as the two women delivered a double-barreled denunciation of GOP nominee Donald Trump as a threat to democracy.
As people raised signs declaring, “Country over Party,” Harris told the crowd that “people of every party must stand together” to reject Trump, citing his refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election and his failure to quell the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
It was an improbable moment — a Democratic nominee giving a nod to a rival party member and to the origins of the opposing party in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign — and it demonstrated how Harris is working to win over moderate voters.
Harris said of Trump, “As you have heard and know, he refused to accept the will of the people and to accept the results of an election that was free and fair.”
”The president of the United States must not look at our country through the narrow lens of ideology or party partisanship or self interest.”
Cheney is one of Trump’s most ardent antagonists. She is the daughter of former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney and was the top GOP lawmaker on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, earning Trump’s disdain and effectively exiling herself from her own party.
“Violence does not and must never determine who rules us. Voters do,” Cheney told the crowd as she recounted Trump refusing to act as he watched the violent attack on television. Someone in the crowd yelled “coward!” Others booed.
“He praised the rioters. He did not condemn them. That’s who Donald Trump is,” Cheney said.
She lost her Wyoming seat to a Trump-endorsed candidate two years ago and she endorsed Harris, the Democratic nominee, last month. The two women appeared together in Ripon, home to a white schoolhouse where a series of meetings held in 1854 to oppose slavery’s expansion led to the start of the Republican Party.
“I know that she loves our country, and I know she will be a president for all Americans” Cheney said of Harris. Noting that she herself remains conservative, Cheney said she was “honored to join her in this urgent cause.”
Instead of her usual “Harris-Walz” campaign signs, the stage was decorated with large signs that said “Country Over Party,” along with plenty of red, white and blue bunting.
Harris was opening a two-day trip to Wisconsin and Michigan, and Trump was in Michigan on Thursday as the two candidates grapple for wins in the “blue wall” battleground states, which also include Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden said Thursday that he wasn’t concerned about a Trump-Harris race coming down to the wire because “it always gets this close.”
“She’s gonna do fine,” Biden said of Harris to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on his way to visit storm-ravaged Georgia and Florida. He added that Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, did well in his debate with Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance during Tuesday’s debate in New York.
“The other guy lost the debate,” Biden said. “He misrepresented everything.”
Harris’ visit to Wisconsin comes one day after a federal judge unsealed a 165-page court filing outlining prosecutors’ case against Trump for his attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and obstruction.
Trump did not mention the document filed by special counsel Jack Smith or Cheney’s appearance with Harris during an 82-minute speech at a rally in Saginaw County, Michigan. In 2020, Democrat Biden won the bellwether county by a slim 303 votes, contributing to his victory in the state.
As Trump spoke, his campaign announced he’ll appear in Georgia on Friday with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. The two men have made peace after Trump in August unleashed a blistering attack on Kemp, whom he has faulted for not giving in to his efforts to overturn his loss in 2020.
During the 2020 campaign, Liz Cheney criticized Harris as “a radical liberal” who “wants to recreate America in the image of what’s happening on the streets of Portland & Seattle,” a reference to unrest that took place in those cities after the murder of George Floyd.
But Jan. 6 was a turning point for Liz Cheney and her family. Both Cheneys are backing Harris, part of a cadre of current and former Republican officials who have broken with the vast majority of their party, which remains in Trump’s corner. Harris wants to portray her candidacy as a patriotic choice for independent and conservative voters who were disturbed by Trump’s unwillingness to cede power. Trump continues to deny his defeat with false claims of voter fraud.
Harris on Thursday also was endorsed by Cassidy Hutchinson, who was a young White House aide during Trump’s presidency and described during a hearing of Cheney’s Jan. 6 congressional committee how she grew disgusted by Trump’s refusal to stop the rioters that day. Harris’ campaign also began airing ads targeting Republicans, independents and former Trump voters in battleground states.
Cheney’s presence prompted some dissonance for Harris supporters in the audience, especially those that remember her father’s role as a Republican headliner.
Victor Romero, 46, said it was “a little weird” to be at an event with her.
“I still don’t like Liz Cheney’s politics. But I’m glad that she understands the Republican Party that currently exists is just for Trump.”
But for younger voters, they know Cheney primarily for standing up to Trump.
“She stuck to her morals,” said Kynaeda Gray, 22.
Harris on Friday will hold a campaign rally in Flint, Michigan, continuing her tour of states that have been critical to Democratic victories. Trump won Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan in 2016, and Biden won them in 2020.
Trump has ramped up his focus on Michigan, holding two rallies there less than a week ago before Thursday’s appearance in Saginaw.
 


US dockworkers’ union suspend strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract

US dockworkers’ union suspend strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract
Updated 04 October 2024
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US dockworkers’ union suspend strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract

US dockworkers’ union suspend strike until Jan. 15 to allow time to negotiate new contract

DETROIT: The union representing 45,000 striking US dockworkers at East and Gulf coast ports has reached a deal to suspend a three-day strike until Jan. 15 to provide time to negotiate a new contract.
The union, the International Longshoremen’s Association, is to resume working immediately. Both sides also reached agreement on wages, but no details were given, according to a joint statement from the ports and union Thursday night.
The union went on strike early Tuesday after its contract expired in a dispute over pay and the automation of tasks at the ports from Maine to Texas. The strike came at the peak of the holiday shopping season at 36 ports that handle about half the cargo from ships coming into and out of the United States.
The walkout raised the risk of shortages of goods on store shelves if it lasted more than a few weeks. But most retailers had stocked up or shipped items early in anticipation of the work stoppage.
The strike came at the peak of the holiday shopping season at 36 ports that handle about half of the cargo from ships coming into and out of the United States.
It raised the risk of shortages of goods on store shelves if it lasted more than a few weeks. But most retailers had stocked up or shipped items early in anticipation of the work stoppage.


Teen arrested in Germany over alleged anti-Semitic plot

Teen arrested in Germany over alleged anti-Semitic plot
Updated 03 October 2024
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Teen arrested in Germany over alleged anti-Semitic plot

Teen arrested in Germany over alleged anti-Semitic plot

BERLIN: A teenager suspected of plotting an attack against Jews was arrested in September in western Germany, a court source and local media reports said Thursday.
The 15-year-old boy has been placed in pre-trial detention over plans to “commit a crime,” Dusseldorf prosecutors told AFP, without providing further details.
Police had previously detained the suspect in August following intelligence it had received, according to the Bild and Spiegel newspapers.
The teenager was released but arrested again after investigators discovered conversations on his phone with a suspected foreign extremist believed to have tried to talk him into perpetrating a knife attack.
The two allegedly discussed potential targets, including festivals and Jewish communities, and the teenager also reportedly posted videos on TikTok featuring Daesh flags, according to Bild and Spiegel.
The arrest came as Germany has tightened security measures after a knife attack in the western city of Solingen on August 30 that was claimed by the Daesh group.
Three people were killed and several others were injured in the Solingen attack.
A 26-year-old Syrian suspect, who had been slated for deportation but evaded law enforcement, turned himself in after a day on the run and confessed to the attack.
And in June, a German court sentenced a 15-year-old boy to four years in jail for planning an Islamist attack on a Christmas market in the western city of Leverkusen.