
Daesh claims Pakistan bomb blast killing three policemen
Islamabad: The Daesh group has claimed a bomb explosion targeting police in Pakistan's turbulent southwest that killed three policemen and wounded more than a dozen.A bomb planted on a parked motorcycle on Tuesday targeted a passing bus carrying 40 policemen in Mastung city of impoverished Balochistan province, where security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades.In a statement late Tuesday, the jihadist group's regional branch, Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K), which often carries out attacks on security forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan, claimed its 'soldiers' targeted the 'apostate' police.Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021, with Islamabad accusing its western neighbor of allowing its soil to be used for attacks against Pakistan — a claim the Taliban denies.In Balochistan, separatist violence has intensified including an attack last month by ethnic Baloch militants on a train carrying 450 passengers, which sparked a two-day siege and left dozens dead.IS-K is also active.The group has claimed responsibility for attacks on religious minorities, targeted killings of religious scholars, and assaults on security officials.In July 2023, the group claimed a suicide bombing at a political party gathering that killed more than 54 people, including 23 children.More than 200 people, mostly security officials, have been killed in attacks since the start of the year by armed groups fighting the government in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Arab News
20 hours ago
- Arab News
Brother of Jordan pilot burnt to death tells court of family's pain
STOCKHOLM: The brother of a Jordanian pilot burned alive in Syria by Daesh spoke on Wednesday of the family's enduring pain at the trial of an extremist accused of involvement in the grisly execution. The brutal killing took place sometime in late 2014 or early 2015 and sparked outrage internationally and in Jordan. Osama Krayem, a 32-year-old Swede already serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016, is on trial in Stockholm, suspected of war crimes and terrorist crimes for the pilot's killing. On Dec. 24, 2014, an aircraft belonging to the Royal Jordanian Air Force crashed in Syria. The pilot, Maaz Al-Kassasbeh, was captured the same day by Daesh near the central city of Raqqa and was burned alive in a cage sometime before Feb. 3, 2015, when a video of the gruesome killing was published, according to the prosecution. On Wednesday, Jawdat Al-Kassasbeh, the brother of the pilot and a plaintiff in the case, told the Stockholm district court of the physical and psychological trauma the family has suffered since the killing. Defendant Krayem refused to answer questions from the prosecution on Wednesday. 'Can you say something about your current situation? Are you a practicing Muslim? Can you say something about your view of Daesh?' the prosecutor asked. 'Does the fact that you are no longer answering questions have anything to do with you feeling that you were mistreated during the Swedish investigation?' Olin added. Avoiding the prosecutor's gaze, the defendant remained silent. Segments from interrogations with Krayem conducted during the investigation were read out and played during the trial. When questioned by police, Krayem insisted he had spent only 15 to 20 minutes on-site, unaware of what was going to happen, according to the preliminary investigation. 'I was terrified, it was the first time I had seen someone burn,' he said at the time.


Arab News
21 hours ago
- Arab News
US CENTCOM chief calls Pakistan ‘phenomenal partner' in ongoing fight against militancy
KARACHI: The head of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), General Michael Kurilla, this week praised Pakistan as a 'phenomenal partner' in counterterrorism efforts, citing continued operations against militant groups and active intelligence-sharing between the two countries. Pakistan and the United States have a long, if at times turbulent, history of counterterrorism cooperation dating back to the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Islamabad was a key partner during the US-led war in Afghanistan, and over the years has captured and handed over numerous Al-Qaeda operatives to US authorities. In a more recent high-profile case, Pakistani officials last year arrested and extradited a Daesh militant accused of planning the 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul, which killed 13 American service members and more than 160 Afghan civilians during the US military withdrawal. 'They're in an active counter-terrorism fight right now and they have been a phenomenal partner in the counter-terrorism world,' Kurilla said during a testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in Washington on Tuesday. Kurilla pointed to recent Pakistani operations targeting Daesh (ISIS-Khorasan), particularly in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. 'Through a phenomenal partnership with Pakistan, they have gone after Daesh Khorasan (Daesh) killing dozens of them through a relationship we have with them providing intelligence. They have captured at least five Daesh Khorasan (Daesh) high value individuals,' he said. 'So, we are seeing Pakistan with limited intelligence that provided them go after them using their means to do that and we're seeing an effect on Daesh (Daesh).' Kurtis added that both Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban were conducting parallel operations against Daesh along the border. Kurilla also noted the close personal coordination between military leaders, recalling that Pakistan's army chief had informed him directly of a major capture. 'Field Marshal Asim Munir called me to tell me they had captured one of the Daesh-K individuals,' he said. While Pak-Us relations have often been strained by mutual mistrust — particularly over drone strikes, militant sanctuaries, and geopolitical alignment — security cooperation between the two militaries has persisted, especially in the intelligence domain. Pakistan and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to counterterrorism cooperation during a bilateral dialogue held in Washington in May. The talks focused on threats from groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Daesh, both of which remain active in the region. Another round of counterterrorism talks is scheduled to take place later this month between Islamabad and Washington as part of broader efforts to rebuild ties and coordinate on shared security priorities. US officials have increasingly acknowledged Pakistan's role in containing regional terrorist threats, even as Islamabad faces internal challenges from a resurgent TTP and growing political and economic instability.


Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Taliban hang up Kalashnikovs to pen memoirs of Afghan war
KABUL: Since trading the battlefield for Afghanistan's halls of power, some Taliban members have also swapped their weapons for pens to tell their version of the 20-year conflict with Western forces, who they accuse of distorting 'reality.' A flood of books has been written, mostly from a Western perspective, about the war between the US-led forces that invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the September 11 attacks until the Taliban's return to power in 2021. But in the years since, a proliferation of writings by Taliban figures — praising their exploits and the achievements of the 'Islamic Emirate' — is now the reigning narrative in Afghanistan. 'No matter what foreigners have written... they have largely ignored the reality of what happened to us and why we were forced to fight,' author Khalid Zadran told AFP. A member of the Haqqani network — long viewed as one of the most dangerous militant factions in Afghanistan — he now serves as the spokesman for the capital's police force. In his 600-page tome in Pashto published in April, he recounts US incursions in his home province of Khost, his childhood steeped in stories of soldiers' 'atrocities,' and his desire to join the Taliban in the name of his country's 'freedom.' 'I witnessed horrific stories every day — mangled bodies on the roadside,' he writes in '15 Minutes,' a title inspired by a US drone strike he narrowly escaped. Muhajer Farahi, now a deputy information and culture minister, penned his 'Memories of Jihad: 20 Years in Occupation' to 'state the facts,' he said. 'America, contrary to its claims, has committed cruel and barbaric acts, destroyed our country with bombs, destroyed infrastructure and has sown discord and cynicism between nations and tribes,' he told AFP from his office in central Kabul. Little attention is paid in either book to the thousands of civilians killed in Taliban attacks — many of them suicide bombings that entrenched fear across the country for nearly two decades. Farahi insists the Taliban 'were cautious in saving civilians and innocent' lives, while criticising fellow Afghans who collaborated with the pro-Western police as a 'stain' on the country. Rights groups accuse the current Taliban authorities of widespread abuses — particularly against women and girls, who the United Nations say are victims of what amounts to 'gender apartheid.' In his book published in 2023, Farahi claims the Taliban attempted to negotiate — in vain, he insists — with the United States over the fate of Osama bin Laden, whose capture or death Washington demanded after his plane hijackers killed around 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, who had been based in Afghanistan, was killed by US forces in Pakistan in 2011. 'It was clear... that the Americans had already planned the occupation of Afghanistan,' writes Farahi in the English version of his book, which has been translated into five languages. In the wake of the September 11 attacks, Afghans thought it would 'have nothing to do with our country,' he continues, but soon realized that Afghanistan would face 'punishment.' For 20 years, the war pitted Taliban militants against a US-led coalition of 38 countries supporting the Afghan Republic and its forces. Tens of thousands of Afghans died in the fighting and in Taliban attacks, as did nearly 6,000 foreign soldiers, including 2,400 Americans. For Farahi, the war reflects the West's desire to 'impose its culture and ideology on other nations.' His disjointed journal mixes battlefield memories with polemical chapters railing against the American 'bloodthirsty dragon.' The book 'reveals the truths that were not told before because the media, especially the Western media, presented a different picture of the war,' he said. According to him, the mujahideen, or holy warriors, despite being far less equipped, were able to rely on their unity and God's aid to achieve victory. Only a few of the new wave of Taliban books have been autobiographies, which appeal to an audience seeking to understand the war 'from the inside,' according to Zadran. His book, initially 2,000 copies in Pashto, sold out quickly and another 1,000 are in the works — along with a Dari-language version, he said. Many chapters mention Bowe Bergdahl, the US soldier held hostage for five years by the Haqqani network. He recounts treks through the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border to move him between hideouts, efforts to convert him to Islam and conversations about his girlfriend back in the US. Both accounts end in 2021, before the transformation of the fighters who moved from remote mountain hideouts to the carpeted offices of the capital. There, their battle has turned diplomatic: the Taliban are now fighting for international recognition of their government. 'The war is over now,' Farahi said, 'and we want good relations with everyone' — even with the 'bloodthirsty dragon.'