Landmine blast kills 4 people, wounds some others in restive northwest Pakistan
The blast occurred when one of the victims stepped on the device in a forested area in Kurram, where sectarian clashes between Shiites and Sunnis Muslims left 130 people dead last year.
Habibullah Khan, the district police officer, said the dead and an a number wounded were transported to a hospital in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. He did not say how many people had been wounded.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast and Khan said they are investigating the incident in Kurram, which has a history of sectarian conflict with militant Sunni groups previously targeting minority Shiites.
A ceasefire brokered by local elders has largely held between Sunni and Shiite tribes in Kurram since January. Although sporadic gun attacks between the two sides are not uncommon in the region, landmine blasts are rare.
Shiite Muslims dominate parts of Kurram, although they are a minority in the rest of Pakistan, which is majority Sunni. The area has a history of sectarian conflict.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Associated Press
Militant attacks on Pakistani police kill 5 and injure 8 officers
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A series of attacks against Pakistani police by militants left five officers dead and eight wounded in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said. There were four attacks with three resulting in officer casualties Thursday, police said. Most died or were injured in a single attack in the Upper Dir district when armed men ambushed a police van early Thursday. Three officers died and seven were injured during the routine patrol, police official Ismail Khan said. In the Peshawar suburb of Hassan Khel, armed men opened fire on a police station with automatic weapons. One officer died and another was wounded in an exchange of fire, Peshawar Capital City Police Officer Qasim Ali Khan said. Two other overnight attacks came at police checkpoints in the Lajbok area of the Lower Dir district, where a police constable was killed, and in the Bannu district, where there were no casualties reported. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assaults and it was not immediately known if they were connected. The attacks coincided with a security operation to fight militants in the province's Bajaur district. There was no formal announcement of the offensive's launch in Bajaur, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban. Local government administrator Saeed Ullah said it was not a large-scale operation and only insurgent hideouts were targeted to avoid hurting or killing civilians, but the operation has displaced at least 100,000 people and there have been civilian casualties, including deaths. On Thursday, hundreds of people carried black flags and staged a sit-in to protest the killing of a mother and her two children in the district's Inayat Kili area, who died when a mortar struck their home. Authorities are registering displaced families from the Mamund area and setting up camps in public schools and sports complexes. People also have received food and relief packages, Bajaur government official Saeed Khan said. Between 500 and 800 militants are hiding in Bajaur, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Washington Post
Mortar kills 2 children and their mother in northwest Pakistan where troops are targeting militants
KHAR, Pakistan — A mortar struck a home and killed two children and their mother in a northwestern Pakistani region where security forces are carrying out a 'targeted operation ' against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and a hospital official said Wednesday. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the overnight civilian casualties in Mamund , a town in the Bajaur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Thailand says it may act in ‘self-defence' as soldier hurt near Cambodian border
Thailand's army warned that it may have to 'exercise the right of self-defence' in response to continuing incidents it blames on Cambodia, in which Thai soldiers patrolling along the two countries' border have been wounded by land mines. A statement from Thai army spokesperson Major General Winthai Suvaree said a sergeant was patrolling the border with seven other soldiers on Tuesday morning when he 'stepped on an anti-personnel landmine covertly planted by the Cambodian side, resulting in severe injuries to his left ankle'. The incident and the Thai reaction indicates the precariousness of the ceasefire that took effect on July 29 with the aim of ending five days of armed clashes over disputed territory along their border. The fighting killed dozens of people on both sides, including civilians, and displaced more than 260,000. Tuesday's landmine incident was the fourth of its kind in about a month, and the second since the ceasefire. It took place about half-a-mile from Ta Muen Thom temple, which Thailand claims is located in its Surin province. The area, which was the scene of heavy fighting in July, is one of several along the border that both countries claim as their own. In another disputed area on Saturday, a Thai sergeant major suffered severe injuries, including losing his left foot, while two privates suffered lesser injuries. 'This incident serves as clear evidence that the Cambodian side has violated the ceasefire agreement and shows no respect for international humanitarian law, particularly the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use and placement of all types of anti-personnel landmines,' the Thai army statement about the latest incident said. Both countries are parties to the international agreement. The statement noted the multiple similar incidents and said that Thailand 'has consistently adhered to peaceful approaches and has not been the initiating party'. 'However, should circumstances become compelling, it may be necessary to exercise the right of self-defence under international law principles to resolve situations that cause Thailand to continuously lose personnel due to violations of ceasefire agreements and sovereignty encroachments by Cambodian military forces,' it said. Cambodia's defence ministry 'categorically and unequivocally rejects the baseless, false, and deliberately misleading allegations from the Thai side regarding the injuries of Thai soldiers', its spokesperson, Lieutenant General Maly Socheata, said. 'Cambodia, as a proud and responsible state party to the Ottawa Convention, maintains an absolute and uncompromising position: we have never used, produced, or deployed new landmines under any circumstances, and we strictly and fully honour our obligations underinternational law,' she said, echoing previous official denials. Ly Thuch, senior minister and first vice-president of the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, noted that Cambodia had cleared more than one million mines and nearly three million other pieces of unexploded ordnance left over from more than three decades of war and civil unrest that began in 1970, according to an interview with the Cambodian state news agency AKP. Cambodia and Thailand have clashed in the past over their 500-mile (800km) border. Tensions had been growing since May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a confrontation that created a diplomatic rift and roiled Thailand's domestic politics.
