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☆ Militant attack kills 11 labourers in Pakistan - caretaker PM
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PESHAWAR, Pakistan Aug 20 (Reuters) - Eleven labourers were killed in a militant attack in Northwestern Pakistan, caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on Sunday in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "They were working at an army post that is under construction ... an IED exploded under a vehicle carrying the labourers," deputy commissioner of North Waziristan, Rehan Khattak said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the government broke down. Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Jibran Ahmad; Writing by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Haq Kakar, Rehan Khattak, Nilutpal Timsina, Jibran Ahmad, Charlotte Greenfield, Kim Coghill Organizations: Taliban, Thomson Locations: PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Northwestern Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Waziristan, North Waziristan, Taliban Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

[1/2] Rescue workers and other people transport an injured person to the hospital, after a blast in Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan July 30, 2023. Rescue 1122/Handout via REUTERSDERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, July 30 (Reuters) - At least 40 people were killed and over 130 injured when a suicide bomber set off explosives at a political rally in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, police said. The provincial police chief Akhtar Hayat told Reuters the explosion was caused by a suicide bomb. "The JUI-F organised a workers convention in Khar town of Bajaur in which 40 people lost their lives and more than 130 were injured," Khan said. Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by Islamist militants since last year when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad broke down.

Persons: DERA ISMAIL, Fazl, Akhtar Hayat, Nazir Khan, Khan, Zabihullah Mujahid, Shehbaz Sharif, Saud Mehsud, Dera Ismail Khan, Jibran Ahmad, Nilutpal, Gibran Peshimam, Andrew Cawthorne, Christina Fincher Organizations: Sunday, Ulema, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bajaur district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Bajaur, Afghanistan, Peshawar, Khar, Taliban Pakistan, Islamabad, Islamic State

☆ Landslide in Pakistan's Khyber Pass buries trucks, kills at least two people
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/8] People search for survivors next to a damaged supply vehicle after a landslide close to the Torkham border, Pakistan, April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz AzizPESHAWAR, Pakistan, April 18 (Reuters) - A landslide during a thunder and lightning storm on the main road through northwest Pakistan's Khyber Pass buried more than 20 trucks on Tuesday, killing at least two people, with dozens more feared trapped, officials said. "Twenty to twenty five containers are buried in the wreckage," Abdul Nasir Khan, deputy commissioner of the Khyber district, told Reuters. Photos shared by officials showed truck containers mostly buried in huge piles of rocks. Reporting by Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] People gather to receive sacks of free flour, at a distribution point in Peshawar, Pakistan March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz AzizLAHORE/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) - At least five people have been killed in recent weeks and more injured in Pakistan in stampedes at sites distributing free flour under a government-backed scheme to help families struggling with soaring costs of basic staples. The Pakistani government has launched the flour distribution programme to reach millions of families in need during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan that began last week. Another person was killed in a stampede at a distribution centre last week in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province according to records shared by the provincial food authority. "There were some unfortunate incidents of stampedes and looting," Khan Ghalib, an official at the provincial food department said.

☆ Earthquake in Afghanistan kills at least 11, nine of them in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, March 22 (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed and 44 injured in northwest Pakistan by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck in neighbouring Afghanistan late on Tuesday, a Pakistani government official said. At least two people were killed in Afghanistan, a disaster agency official there said. The quake was felt over an area more than 1,000 km wide by some 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year. In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northern Pakistan.

☆ Earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hits northern Afghanistan, killing at least 3
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KABUL, March 21 (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan on Tuesday evening, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, killing two in the east of the country and one child in neighbouring Pakistan. The tremor was very deep, 194 km (120.5 miles), and its epicentre was in the Hindu Kush mountain range, near the remote northern Afghan province of Badakhshan. A spokesperson for Red Cross said they had no immediate reports of damages from Badakhshan's capital but were making checks on other areas. "We felt a strong earthquake, according to primary information the main place (affected) was Yamgan District," he said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed over 1,000 people last year.

The area, part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, is a hotbed for fighters of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of Sunni Islamist groups. A TTP spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, told Reuters its main target was Pakistan's military, but the police were standing in the way. "Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa pays a greater price for that" because of its exposure to the Islamist militants, he said. The TTP ended the ceasefire in November 2022, and regrouped militants restarted attacks in Pakistan soon after. Reporting by Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Jibran Ahmad in Bara, Pakistan; additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; editing by David Crawshaw.

☆ Thousands of trucks stuck at Afghan-Pakistan border crossing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Men sit near a queue of trucks loaded with supplies to leave for Afghanistan, after Taliban authorities have closed the main border crossing in Torkham, Pakistan February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Shahid ShinwariPESHAWAR, Feb 21 (Reuters) - A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained closed for a third day, with thousands of goods vehicles stuck and businesses facing losses as officials from both sides try to broker a solution. "The closure of the border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been causing losses to traders of the two countries. He added some trucks had been diverted to another, smaller border crossing, but traders were worried about the security of truck drivers travelling to that region. Residents had reported heavy gunfire on Monday morning near the Torkham border crossing, but the Taliban official had denied any clashes and said the situation was under control.

☆ Main Afghan-Pakistani border crossing closed, residents report gunfire
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan was closed on Monday, officials from the two sides said, and residents in the area reported the sound of gunfire near the normally bustling border transit point. It was not immediately clear if Afghan or Pakistani authorities closed the Torkham border crossing, near the Khyber Pass, but it comes after relations between Afghanistan's ruling Taliban and Pakistan have deteriorated sharply. Media reported that the border was closed on Sunday evening but did not give a reason. Clashes between Afghan and Pakistani security forces have also at times closed the second most important crossing between the two countries, at Chaman to the south. A Taliban foreign ministry spokesperson said later Pakistan should raise issues in private and not at public forums.

He added that a government committee was looking into adding secular subjects to madrasas alongside religious study, a development that hasn't been previously reported. Other students and teachers said Islamic education played an important role in their lives, though they hoped to be able to study secular subjects too. He didn't elaborate on the government's plans for religious schools. Reuters was unable to determine the current number of madrasas, and Taliban authorities have not provided figures. "There's deep-seated mistrust of the formal education sector, despite the fact that it too incorporates Islamic education."

[1/5] Daughter of Irfan Khan, a police officer, who along with other police officers was killed, weeps during a protest by police officers to condemn the suicide blast in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan February 1, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz AzizPESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The suicide bomber who killed more than 100 people at a mosque in a police compound in the Pakistan city of Peshawar this week wore a police uniform and entered the high security area on a motorbike, a provincial police chief said on Thursday. Ansari said the CCTV footage showed the bomber, wearing a helmet and a mask, riding his motorbike through the main checkpoint of Police Lines. He then parked his bike, asked directions to the mosque and walked there, Ansari added. All but three of those killed were police officers, making it the worst attack on Pakistani security forces in recent history.

☆ Pakistan mosque bombing death toll rises to 87
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan Asim Munir and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visit an injured, after a suicide blast in a mosque, at a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan January 30, 2023. Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERSPESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The death toll in the suicide bombing that tore through a mosque in Pakistan rose to 87 on Tuesday, a hospital official said, a day after the one of the biggest attacks in the unstable South Asian nation. The attack occurred in one of the most fortified areas of the northwestern Peshawar city, which houses offices of the police and counter-terrorism departments. Hospital official Mohammad Asim said that 87 people had been killed, and that 57 people were being treated, seven of whom were in critical condition. Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella of Sunni and sectarian Islamist groups, has denied responsibility.

☆ Blast kills at least 19 worshippers at mosque in Pakistan's Peshawar
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 30 (Reuters) - An explosion in a mosque killed at 19 worshippers and wounded dozens more in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Monday, a hospital official said, and many of the casualties were police officers who had gathered for daily prayers. The mosque was located close to a police housing block, and there were some 260 people inside when the blast occurred, according to police. A two-storey building has collapsed," an eyewitness told local news channel Geo TV, saying he was just outside the mosque when explosion happened. "We received 19 dead and over 90 injured from the Peshawar Police Lines blast," said Mohammad Asim, a spokesman for the city's Lady Reading Hospital, referring to the neighborhood. "A portion of the building had collapsed and several people are believed to be under it," police official Sikandar Khan said.

☆ At least 10 children killed in Pakistan as boat capsizes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PESHAWAR, Jan 29 (Reuters) - At least 10 children were killed on Sunday when a boat carrying religious school students capsized in northwest Pakistan, officials said. Around eight students were still missing while seven injured had been taken to hospital, according to local officials in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the accident took place. Kohat's district commissioner Mahmood Aslam said around 50 students from a local religious school, had gathered near Tanda lake for a picnic. Twenty-five had ventured out on the water - which was closed by authorities for recreational trips - on a boat that capsized, he said. The accident came the same day as a bus accident in southern Pakistan that killed more than 40 people.

ISLAMABAD, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Pakistan's energy ministry said on Tuesday it had restored its national power grid nearly 24 hours after a breakdown triggered the worst outage in months, highlighting the frailty of the aid-dependant nation's infrastructure. All 1,112 grid stations were back online, a senior government official told Reuters, adding that electricity would be fully restored across the country once power generation units were back up. The outage, which began on Monday morning during the peak winter season, is the second major grid failure to hit the nation of 220 million people since October, though there are partial blackouts almost daily. Residents in major cities said they now had electricity, but some areas of the country were still without power. China has invested in its power sector as part of a $60 billion infrastructure scheme that feeds into Beijing's "Belt and Road" initiative.

One hostage, a security official, died during the raid , he said. The army spokesman's comments provided the first detailed official account of the standoff, in which two security personnel were killed when the militants first took over the compound, and two commandoes killed in the ensuing raid. Later other militants at the centre broke into a storeroom where confiscated weapons had been stored. STANDOFFAfter talks failed to resolve a two-day standoff, army commandos stormed the centre on Tuesday. Earlier, residents said they heard explosions coming from the vicinity of the centre on Tuesday as helicopters hovered overhead.

Pakistani Taliban militants detained at the centre had snatched interrogators' weapons and taken them captive on Sunday. Asif did not say how many militants were killed or how many hostages they had held. Residents said they heard explosions coming from the vicinity of the centre on Tuesday as helicopters hovered overhead. The army operations forced the militants and their leaders to flee to neighbouring Afghan districts. There, Islamabad says, they set up training centres to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Afghan authorities deny.

According to a provincial government spokesman, the militants were demanding safe passage to Afghanistan. "We are in negotiations with the central leaders of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan," Mohammad Ali Saif, a spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, said. He said the authorities were yet to receive a response from the Pakistani Taliban, adding that relatives of the militants and area tribal elders had also been involved in initiating talks with the Islamists inside the facility. The militants in control of the interrogation facility had demanded a safe passage to Afghanistan, a TTP statement sent to a Reuters reporter said. It added the TTP had also conveyed the demand to Pakistani authorities, but hadn't heard back any "positive" response.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Islamist militants seized a counter-terrorism centre in the northwestern Pakistani area of Bannu on Sunday and took hostages to negotiate with government authorities, officials said. One said about 15 militants took control of the centre after overpowering interrogators inside, grabbing their weapons and taking five or six of them hostage. Pakistan has been fighting an insurgency by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. A spokesman for the TTP did not immediately confirm or deny a link with the militants in the compound. Reporting Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan and Jibran Ahmad in Peshawar; Writing by Gibran PeshimamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Kabul hotel attack ends as three gunmen killed; two foreigners injured
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KABUL, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Armed men opened fire on Monday inside a hotel in central Kabul popular with Chinese nationals in an attack that ended when at least three gunmen were killed by security forces, the Taliban-run administration said. Two foreigners were injured while trying to escape by jumping from the hotel balcony, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on Twitter. Kabul's Emergency Hospital, run by an Italian non-profit near the attacked hotel in the Shahr-e-Naw area, reported receiving 21 casualties - 18 injured and three dead on arrival. Taliban sources said the attack was carried out at Longan Hotel where Chinese and other foreigners usually stay. China's state-run Xinhua news agency said the attack happened near a Chinese guesthouse and its embassy in Kabul was closely monitoring the situation.

☆ Ambush claimed by Pakistani Taliban kills three police officers in northern Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PESHAWAR, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The Pakistani Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for a gun ambush that killed three police officers in northern Pakistan, the second attack claimed by the group just days after it announced an end to a ceasefire with the government. He said three police officers were killed on the spot and the identity of the attackers was unknown. The militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. The Afghan Taliban have been facilitating peace talks between local militants and the government since late last year. The Pakistan army has conducted several operations against the militants in their strongholds in lawless districts along Afghan border in recent months.

☆ Taliban militants in Pakistan end ceasefire with government - spokesman
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Taliban militants in Pakistan will no longer abide by a months-long ceasefire with the Pakistani government, a spokesman for the militant group said on Monday. The Afghan Taliban have been facilitating peace talks between local militants and the government since late last year. The end of the ceasefire comes ahead of a visit by a Pakistani delegation, led by state minister for foreign affairs Hina Rabbani Khar, to Kabul on Tuesday. Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the militant group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) told Reuters in a text message that its leadership had decided to end the ceasefire with Pakistan. The Pakistani military has carried out several offensives against the militants in their strongholds in remote lawless districts bordering Afghanistan.

☆ Pakistan reopens Afghan crossing shut after border hostilities
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Gul Yousafzai | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Saeed Ali Achakzai/File PhotoQUETTA, Pakistan, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Pakistan has reopened a major Afghan border crossing that was shut for trade and transit after security forces clashed last week, officials from both sides said on Monday. As the crossing opened on Monday, three people were wounded in another clash reported on a northwestern border with Afghanistan, an Afghan official said. A Pakistani security official said the fresh exchange of fire killed one member of border personnel and wounded nine other people. "We are going to meet senior Pakistani officials to find an amicable solution," he said. The Pakistan military did not respond to a request for comment, but a Pakistan security official said there has been regular border management coordination with Afghan authorities, adding that details of Afghan investigations into last week's hostilities will be shared with Pakistan in due course.

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