Latest news with #AFPQUETTA
The Star
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Militants in Pakistan storm a police station and set fire to banks, killing a boy
FILE PHOTO: In this picture taken on March 23, 2023, census officials from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics ride a camel to collect information from Marri tribespeople living in the remote mountainous area of Mawand as part of a national census in southwest Pakistan's Kohlu district, Balochistan province. Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatist groups seeking independence from the central government. - AFP QUETTA: Dozens of militants armed with guns and rockets stormed a police station and set fire to two banks in restive south-western Pakistan on Tuesday (July 1), killing a boy and wounding nine others before fleeing, officials said. The boy died when the attackers fired on civilians indiscriminately during the attacks in Mastung, a district in Balochistan province, said Jan Mohammad, a local government administrator. Mohammad said some of the insurgents were also killed in the shootout with security forces. A provincial government spokesman, Shahid Rind, said a security operation had been launched to pursue the assailants. No group immediately claimed responsibility, though suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which often targets security forces and civilians in Balochistan and elsewhere. The United States designated the BLA a terrorist organisation in 2019. Balochistan has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency by separatist groups seeking independence from the central government. The province is also home to militants linked to the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State group. - AP
The Star
17-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Pakistan shuts border with Iran as Tehran trades strikes with Israel
Pakistani security personnel check the documents of people who came from Iran at the Pakistan-Iran border in Taftan on June 16, 2025. Pakistan has closed all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, provincial officials said on June 16, as Israel and Iran trade intense strikes and threaten further attacks. - AFP QUETTA: Pakistan has closed all its border crossings with neighbouring Iran for an indefinite period, provincial officials said on Monday (June 15), as Israel and Iran trade intense strikes and threaten further attacks. "Border facilities in all five districts - Chaghi, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar - have been suspended," Qadir Bakhsh Pirkani, a senior official in Balochistan province, which borders Iran, told AFP. Crossing into Iran "has been suspended until further notice", said Atta ul Munim, an official at one of the crossings in Chaghi district. However, there was "no ban on trade" activities at the border and Pakistani nationals needing to return to their the country from Iran can cross, he added. "We're expecting around 200 Pakistani students coming today," Atta said. On Sunday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said 450 Pakistani pilgrims were evacuated from Iran, with more to follow, as well as from Iraq - the two countries hosting the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. Pakistan, the only Muslim-majority country with nuclear weapons, said on Friday it "stands in solidarity with the Government and the people of Iran" against strikes by Israel, which both Islamabad and Tehran do not recognise. Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday warned that the world "should be wary and apprehensive about Israel's nuclear prowess" and accused it of lacking "any international nuclear discipline". Israel is the Middle East's only nuclear power, although undeclared. Media reports have said Pakistan may support Tehran if the conflict was to widen, but officials in Islamabad have reiterated that their country is only showing "moral and diplomatic solidarity". Predominantly Sunni Pakistan shares a more than 900-kilometre (560-mile) border with Shiite-majority Iran. The relationship between the two neighbours has been complex, with Pakistan often wary of US-led sanctions on Tehran and also mindful of its ties with Riyadh, which has repeatedly helped rescue its economy by rolling over overdue debts. Bilateral trade between the two countries stands at around US$3 billion and officials have vowed to boost it to US$10 billion in the coming years. - AFP
