Latest news with #pro-Taliban
The Independent
14-03-2025
- The Independent
Two men arrested after anti-Taliban Afghan activist attacked inside Home Office hotel
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of assaulting an anti-Taliban activist inside a Home Office asylum hotel. Natiq Malikzada, 29, an Afghan national who is a campaigner against Islamic extremism, says he was attacked in the late evening of 13 February in his hotel room by two men. Mr Malikzada came to the UK in September 2023 on a study visa after he won a place on a prestigious Foreign Office scholarship programme. After the end of his course in October 2024, he claimed asylum in the UK and was housed in Potters International Hotel in Aldershot, Hampshire for over two months. Mr Malikzada said that after arriving at the hotel he had argued with pro-Taliban asylum seekers living there about women's rights and a campaign he was supporting to boycott the Afghan cricket team. He said he had been shocked to find that a number of other Afghan asylum seekers living at the hotel openly supported the Taliban. He said he told hotel staff: 'I escaped these people and now I'm housed with them.' Around ten days before the alleged attack, he said he had received a grant of asylum and was starting to apply for jobs. On the evening of 13 February, he had been chatting with a friend in the hotel and when he came back to his own room, he was reportedly set-upon by two men. Police were called at 10:55pm on 13 February to a report of an assault at the hotel, which has previously been a target for anti-migrant violence during the summer riots. In a statement, Hampshire police said: 'It was reported that a man in his 20s had been assaulted and had suffered lacerations to his hand, chest and neck. He was taken to hospital to receive treatment for non-life threatening injuries. 'At this time, it is believed this was an isolated incident and there is no wider risk to the public. 'As part of our enquiries, two men aged 25 and 29, from Aldershot, have been arrested on suspicion of wounding/ inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent. 'They have been bailed to locations out of county with conditions, pending further enquiries.' Mr Malikzada was in hospital for one night and then had to go to adifferent hospital for surgery on his hand. Mr Malikzada is an outspoken critic of the Taliban on social media and had campaigned for England to boycott their cricket match against Afghanistan in February. Chief Inspector Gillian Cox, District Commander for Hart and Rushmoor, said: 'I fully understand the concern that this incident will cause within the local community. 'However, I would like to reassure you that at this time, it is being treated as an isolated incident, with no links to any previous incidents in the town centre or at the hotel and there is no perceived threat to the wider community. 'We will keep you all updated on the latest with our investigation as and when we are able to and would kindly ask people to not speculate while our enquiries continue.'
New York Times
05-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Pakistan Needs Support Fighting Terrorism. A Happy Trump Could Help.
As President Trump delivered a speech to Congress on Tuesday night for the first time since re-entering the White House, one country made a surprising cameo: Pakistan. Mr. Trump thanked the Pakistani government for its role in capturing a regional Islamic State leader linked to an attack in 2021 at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed 13 American service members and dozens of Afghan civilians. The president's announcement of the arrest signaled a possible strengthening of counterterrorism ties between Pakistan and the United States, just as the Pakistani government is seeking international support to combat a resurgence of terrorism within the country's borders. Pakistan, a nuclear-armed nation of about 250 million people, is navigating a complex web of internal and external pressures. Domestically, armed groups like the Pakistani Taliban in the north and ethnic separatists in the south have dramatically ramped up attacks. At the same time, the country is grappling with deepening economic instability and ongoing political turmoil after the ouster of Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2022. Outside of Pakistan's borders, the departure of the United States from Afghanistan in 2021 has altered regional dynamics. Pakistani leaders have increasingly been at odds with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where militant groups — some aligned with the Taliban and some opposed to them — have a growing foothold. And Pakistan's expanding alliance with China has strained relations with the United States, which has reduced assistance to Pakistan since the end of the Afghan war. Mr. Trump's statement about the detention of what he called a 'top terrorist' comes as Pakistan has experienced three suicide bombings in two volatile provinces over just four days. One of those attacks, on an Islamic seminary in Pakistan long associated with the Afghan Taliban, was believed to have been carried out by the regional Islamic State affiliate, known as ISIS-K. That suggests the group's wave of assaults targeting Taliban leaders in Afghanistan has now entered Pakistan with the killing of pro-Taliban figures. Adam Weinstein, deputy director of the Middle East program at the Quincy Institute, a think tank in Washington, said that 'a thank-you from President Trump is no small win for Pakistan,' a country seeking recognition for its counterterrorism efforts in the region. He emphasized, however, that Pakistan's powerful military seeks more than gratitude. It wants a security partnership that actively targets its enemies, particularly Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, also known as the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistani leaders accuse the Taliban administration in Afghanistan of harboring the group and allowing it to conduct cross-border attacks, allegations that Taliban officials in Kabul deny. Experts noted that the operation to capture the man linked to the Kabul airport attack in 2021 highlighted ongoing intelligence cooperation between the United States and Pakistan — at least against mutual threats like ISIS-K, a group that poses global security risks. In a social media statement on Wednesday, Pakistan's prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, thanked Mr. Trump for 'acknowledging and appreciating' his country's support in counterterrorism efforts across the region. U.S. and Pakistani officials said that the United States had provided intelligence to Pakistan that led to the capture of Mohammad Sharifullah, an Afghan national who is a leader of ISIS-K. Mr. Sharif said that Mr. Sharifullah had been arrested 'in a successful operation conducted in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region.' The prime minister did not say exactly where Mr. Sharifullah had been captured. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed that the arrest served as 'proof' of ISIS-K hide-outs on Pakistani soil. Iftikhar Firdous, editor of The Khorasan Diary, a research organization based in Islamabad that monitors militant groups, said Mr. Sharifullah had been involved in dozens of attacks in Afghanistan since joining ISIS-K in 2016. He said that Mr. Sharifullah had previously been arrested by the U.S.-backed Ashraf Ghani administration in Kabul but was released when the Taliban freed about 1,700 hard-core militants after taking power in 2021. A Justice Department news release implicated Mr. Sharifullah in the ISIS-K attack last year in suburban Moscow that killed more than 130 people. Mr. Sharifullah was flown to the United States on Wednesday and charged with violating terrorism statutes. 'The coordination between the C.I.A. and Pakistan's prime intelligence agency' in arresting Mr. Sharifullah, Mr. Firdous said, 'marks yet another instance of a long history of cooperation that both the U.S. and Pakistan will depend on each other, even if it's not boots on the ground.' A global terrorism index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, an international think tank, ranks Pakistan as the country second most affected by terrorism, after Burkina Faso. Terrorist attacks in Pakistan are at their highest level since 2014. Deaths related to terrorism surged by 45 percent in 2024 over the year before, to 1,081, while attacks more than doubled, from 517 to 1,099. On Tuesday evening, two suicide bombers associated with a local Pakistani Taliban commander drove vehicles packed with explosives into a military base in the Bannu district in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before other attackers stormed the compound. At least 18 people were killed, including five soldiers, and dozens were wounded, according to the Pakistani military. On Monday, a suicide bomber targeted a security forces convoy in Kalat, in the southwestern province of Balochistan, killing a paramilitary soldier and injuring four others. On Friday, in the suspected ISIS-K suicide attack on the seminary, six worshipers in a mosque there were killed in the Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While the U.S.-Pakistani collaboration in arresting the suspect in the Kabul airport attack raised hopes in Pakistan of further help in combating terrorist groups, it also had political repercussions. Supporters of Mr. Khan, the prime minister who was ousted after falling out with the military, have hoped that the Trump administration will push for his release from prison. That expectation was heightened after close allies of Mr. Trump made statements supportive of Mr. Khan. But those hopes may now be diminished after Mr. Trump's praise of the Pakistani government, which has long been guided behind the scenes by the military, political analysts said. Pakistan's military chief 'just won another round in his showdown with Imran Khan,' Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said on social media. The Pakistani Army, he added, 'hasn't lost its uncanny ability to ingratiate itself with whoever is in power in Washington.'
Arab Times
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Arab Times
Deadly Blast in Pakistan Mosque Claims Prominent Cleric and Four Others
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up after walking into a mosque within a pro-Taliban seminary in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing a top cleric and four other worshippers and wounding dozens of others ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, according to local police. The blast occurred in Akora Khattak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, district police chief Abdul Rashid said. He said Hamidul Haq, who is the head of a faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party, is also among the dead. Rashid said officers transported the wounded to hospitals. The slain cleric Haq is the son of Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the "father of the Taliban,' who was killed in a knife attack at his home in 2018. Haq's family confirmed he was killed in Friday's attack and appealed to his followers to remain peaceful. Haq was also in charge of the Jamia Haqqania seminary, where many Afghan Taliban had studied in the past two decades. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and ordered authorities to provide the best possible treatment to the wounded. Zulfiqar Hameed, the provincial police chief, said Haq was the target of the suicide bombing. No group has immediately claimed responsibility. The attack came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start either on Saturday or Sunday subject to the sighting of the crescent moon. Hameed, the provincial police chief, said more than a dozen police officers were guarding the mosque when the attack occurred, and Haq's seminary also had its own security. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks in recent years. As many as 101 people, mostly police officers, were killed in 2023 when a suicide attack targeted a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistani authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, for the previous most of the attacks. The TTP never claimed attacks on mosques, saying it does not target places of worship. The TTP is a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary and have even been living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the Pakistani Taliban. Also on Friday, a roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security forces in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, wounding 10 people, including two troops, police and officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but previous attacks have been blamed on separatists. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, which has for years been the scene of a long-running insurgency. Separatists want independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistan says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted.
The Independent
28-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Suicide bomb at a seminary in northwest Pakistan kills top cleric and 4 others ahead of Ramadan
A suicide bomber blew himself up after walking into a mosque within a pro-Taliban seminary in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing a top cleric and four other worshippers and wounding dozens of others ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, according to local police. The blast occurred in Akora Khattak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, district police chief Abdul Rashid said. He said Hamidul Haq, who is the head of a faction of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party, is also among the dead. Rashid said officers transported the wounded to hospitals. The slain cleric Haq is the son of Maulana Samiul Haq, known as the 'father of the Taliban,' who was killed in a knife attack at his home in 2018. Haq's family confirmed he was killed in Friday's attack and appealed to his followers to remain peaceful. Haq was also in charge of the Jamia Haqqania seminary, where many Afghan Taliban had studied in the past two decades. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and ordered authorities to provide the best possible treatment to the wounded. Zulfiqar Hameed, the provincial police chief, said Haq was the target of the suicide bombing. No group has immediately claimed responsibility. The attack came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start either on Saturday or Sunday subject to the sighting of the crescent moon. Hameed, the provincial police chief, said more than a dozen police officers were guarding the mosque when the attack occurred, and Haq's seminary also had its own security. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in attacks in recent years. As many as 101 people, mostly police officers, were killed in 2023 when a suicide attack targeted a mosque in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Pakistani authorities have blamed the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, for the previous most of the attacks. The TTP never claimed attacks on mosques, saying it does not target places of worship. The TTP is a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary and have even been living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the Pakistani Taliban. Also on Friday, a roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security forces in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta, wounding 10 people, including two troops, police and officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing, but previous attacks have been blamed on separatists. Quetta is the capital of Balochistan, which has for years been the scene of a long-running insurgency. Separatists want independence from the central government in Islamabad. Although Pakistan says it has quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted. ___ Associated Press writer Rasool Dawar and Abdul Sattar contributed to this story from Peshawar, Pakistan and Quetta, Pakistan.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Bomb at seminary in northwest Pakistan kills 5 worshippers and wounds dozens ahead of Ramadan
A powerful bomb exploded at a mosque within a pro-Taliban seminary in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least five worshippers and wounding dozens of others ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, according to local police. The blast occurred in Akkora Khattak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Abdul Rashid, a district police chief said. He said officers are investigating, and the dead and wounded are being transported to hospitals. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack inside Jamia Haqqania, a seminary which is known for links with the Afghan Taliban. The bombing came ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start either on Saturday or Sunday subject to the sighting of the moon.
