Frappes israélo-américaines “sans précédent” contre l’Iran, qui riposte

Les Etats-Unis et Israël mènent samedi une série de frappes contre l’Iran qui riposte par des salves de missiles dans la région, secouée par de nombreuses explosions, faisant craindre un embrasement.”L’heure de votre liberté est à portée de main”, a lancé Donald Trump au peuple iranien dans un message vidéo, les appelant à “s’emparer du pouvoir”. Le président américain et ses principaux conseillers suivent “de près” la situation depuis la résidence Mar-a-Lago en Floride, selon la Maison Blanche.D’après le chef d’état-major israélien Eyal Zamir, cette opération militaire est “sans précédent” et d’une “tout autre échelle” que celle de juin 2025, lorsqu’Israël avait lancé une attaque, déclenchant une guerre de douze jours. “Des centaines de cibles militaires iraniennes” ont cette fois été visées, selon Israël.Alors qu’un responsable militaire israélien a fait état de “l’élimination” de plusieurs hauts responsables iraniens, la République islamique n’a confirmé aucun décès de dirigeant. Le gouvernement iranien a envoyé des messages SMS exhortant les quelque 10 millions d’habitants de Téhéran à quitter la capitale, théâtre de plusieurs explosions dans la matinée.Dans le sud du pays, au moins 85 personnes ont été tuées dans une école de filles, selon la télévision d’Etat citant un responsable local. L’AFP n’a pas été en mesure de vérifier ce bilan. – Inquiétudes internationales -L’ONU, l’UE et plusieurs Etats de la région, dont la Turquie et le sultanat d’Oman, médiateur dans les récentes négociations entre Etats-Unis et Iran, ont appelé toutes les parties à la cesser les hostilités. Le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU doit se réunir à 21H00 GMT sur la situation au Moyen-Orient.Dans sa riposte, l’Iran a visé plusieurs villes du Golfe, abritant notamment des bases américaines, faisant au moins un mort aux Emirats arabes unis. Et certains pays comme l’Arabie saoudite ont dit se réserver le droit de répondre.De nombreux espaces aériens de la région ont été fermés, entraînant une annulation des vols en série vers le Moyen-Orient. – Fortes détonations à Téhéran -A Téhéran, plusieurs fortes détonations ont été entendues par des journalistes de l’AFP. Des ambulances ont été envoyées dans le centre, l’est et l’ouest de la capitale. “J’entends des explosions et des avions de chasse au-dessus de ma tête”, s’affole samedi un habitant du centre de Téhéran, dont le ciel s’est chargé d’épais nuages de fumée.Des habitants se sont précipités chez eux pour se mettre à l’abri, des parents paniqués tentant au contraire de récupérer leurs enfants à l’école. D’après l’agence de presse Isna, le quartier Pasteur, où se trouve notamment la résidence du guide suprême et la présidence, dans le centre de Téhéran, ont été visés. Le Croissant-Rouge iranien a indiqué que plus de 20 provinces, sur les 31 que compte l’Iran, avaient été touchées par les frappes. Des explosions ont été entendues aux quatre coins du pays, dans les villes d’Ispahan, Chiraz, Qom, Karaj, Kermanshah, Minab, Lorestan et Tabriz, selon les médias iraniens.- Sirènes à Jérusalem -En Israël, le Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu a justifié cette “opération” par la “menace existentielle” que fait peser selon lui “le régime terroriste en Iran”.A Jérusalem et dans plusieurs régions d’Israël, des explosions ont été entendues par des journalistes de l’AFP. Les sirènes d’alerte antiaériennes ont retenti et des personnes ont couru se réfugier dans des abris, l’armée assurant avoir détecté des tirs de missiles en provenance d’Iran. Les secours israéliens ont fait état de deux blessés après ces tirs.Les autorités ont instauré un “état d’urgence spécial et immédiat” et fermé l’espace aérien aux vols civils.Les Gardiens de la Révolution, l’armée idéologique de la République islamique, ont lancé dans l’après-midi une nouvelle salve de missiles contre des bases américaines dans le Golfe, selon la télévision d’Etat, après “une première vague d’attaques massives” contre Israël.- “Se mettre à l’abri” -Dans le Golfe, plusieurs explosions ont retenti à Ryad, Abou Dhabi, Doha, Dubaï, Koweït et Manama, où des colonnes de fumée se sont élevées au-dessus de la zone de Juffair, qui abrite une importante base navale américaine, ont contasté des témoins et journalistes de l’AFP.Les Etats-Unis avaient auparavant demandé à leur personnel diplomatique et à leurs ressortissants dans le Golfe de “se mettre à l’abri”.Les Emirats arabes unis ont dit avoir intercepté des missiles iraniens, et le Qatar a indiqué avoir “repoussé” plusieurs attaques visant son territoire. La Jordanie a elle déclaré avoir abattu deux missiles balistiques visant le royaume.Les tensions entre Téhéran et Washington, ennemis jurés, se sont accentuées après la répression en janvier d’un vaste mouvement de contestation d’Iraniens en Iran.Washington avait jusqu’à présent privilégié la voie diplomatique, tout en maintenant la pression militaire sur Téhéran avec le déploiement d’une importante force aéro-navale dans le Golfe puis l’envoi en Méditerranée du plus gros porte-avions du monde, le Gerald Ford.Mais Donald Trump s’était dit vendredi mécontent des négociations menées depuis début février.Accusant Téhéran, qui dément, de vouloir se doter de la bombe atomique, les Etats-Unis insistent pour une interdiction totale d’enrichissement d’uranium, tandis que l’Iran défend son droit au nucléaire civil.Washington veut aussi limiter le programme balistique iranien, une question que Téhéran refuse d’aborder.

US, Israel launch strikes on Iran, Tehran hits back across region

The United States and Israel launched what the latter called a “decisive and unprecedented” campaign against Iran, which retaliated with a barrage of missiles that sent residents running for cover on Saturday in cities across the Middle East.Iranian authorities sent text messages urging residents to evacuate the capital — a city of 10 million — and a strike on a school in southern Iran killed 85 people, the judiciary said, although AFP was unable to access the site in order to verify the toll.Meanwhile, the UAE reported missile damage in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and one civilian dead in an Iranian attack, as blasts from air defences and Tehran’s missile salvo also echoed over Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait — as well as Israel. In weeks of sabre-rattling leading up to the strikes, Tehran had repeatedly vowed to retaliate fiercely if attacked, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi argued on Saturday that US and Israeli installations around the region involved in the operation were “legitimate targets”. Plumes of black smoke hung over Tehran, including in the Pasteur district, site of the home of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and there was a huge security deployment in the capital.”Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were among the targets of the attack,” Israel’s public broadcaster reported, citing an Israeli source.But Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei was alive “as far as I know”, adding that “all high ranking officials are alive”. An Israeli military official said several senior figures were “eliminated” in strikes on gatherings of Iranian officials.Tehran residents had been going about their usual business when the strikes began. Security forces quickly flooded the streets, shops pulled down their shutters and few pedestrians risked venturing out, an AFP journalist saw. “I saw with my own eyes two Tomahawk missiles flying horizontally toward targets,” a Tehran office worker told AFP before communications and internet access were cut, a step authorities typically take during periods of heightened tension. More than 20 of Iran’s 31 provinces were affected by the strikes, the country’s Red Crescent Society said. Pezeshkian decried the deadly attack on the girls’ school in the south, calling it a “barbaric act”.Across Israel, city streets stood deserted as residents took cover in shelters, while the blasts of intercepted Iranian missiles reverberated overhead. Emergency services reported two people injured.- ‘Eliminating imminent threats’ -The attacks came after US President Donald Trump expressed frustration at Iran’s stance in negotiations over its nuclear and missile programmes.Trump said Washington’s goal was “eliminating imminent threats” from Iran, while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was to remove an “existential threat”.”We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” Trump said, warning of possible US casualties.He also told Iranians the “hour of your freedom is at hand”, urging them to rise up and “take over your government”.It was the first US military action of this scale apparently aimed at toppling a foreign government since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Netanyahu echoed Trump’s call, telling Iranians that the time had come to “cast off the yoke of tyranny”.Israel’s army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the operation was “taking place at a completely different scale” than the 12-day war it fought against Iran in June, which the US briefly joined. “We now face a significant, decisive and unprecedented operation to dismantle the capabilities of the Iranian terrorist regime,” he later said in a televised statement.The army said it had completed a “broad strike” against Iran’s defence systems, and was now “currently striking missile launchers in Iran to thwart the threat posed to the State of Israel”.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said: “The IRGC’s missiles and drones have struck the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as military and security centres in the heart of the occupied territories (Israel), with severe blows.”Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East. – Blasts across Gulf -Residents and AFP correspondents in the Emirati, Qatari and Bahraini capitals heard multiple rounds of explosions from Iran’s retaliatory strikes.In Qatar, people fled in panic as a falling missile plunged into a residential neighbourhood, erupting in a fireball as it hit the street.And in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ capital, golfers enjoying a quiet round were stunned to see dozens of projectiles flying overhead. In Bahrain’s capital Manama, residents were hurriedly evacuated from the Juffair district housing the US navy’s Fifth Fleet. “When we heard the sounds, we cried out of fear,” said Jana Hassan, a 15-year-old student who was visiting a friend in the area. “I will never forget the sound of those loud blasts.” Two witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke rising from Dubai’s famed man-made island The Palm as authorities reported four injured.The foreign ministry of Oman, a mediator in recent US-Iran talks, called “on all parties to immediately cease military operations and urges the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to impose a ceasefire”.burs/smw/dc

US, Israel launch strikes on Iran, Tehran hits back across region

The United States and Israel launched what the latter called a “decisive and unprecedented” campaign against Iran, which retaliated with a barrage of missiles that sent residents running for cover on Saturday in cities across the Middle East.Iranian authorities sent text messages urging residents to evacuate the capital — a city of 10 million — and a strike on a school in southern Iran killed 85 people, the judiciary said, although AFP was unable to access the site in order to verify the toll.Meanwhile, the UAE reported missile damage in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and one civilian dead in an Iranian attack, as blasts from air defences and Tehran’s missile salvo also echoed over Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait — as well as Israel. In weeks of sabre-rattling leading up to the strikes, Tehran had repeatedly vowed to retaliate fiercely if attacked, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi argued on Saturday that US and Israeli installations around the region involved in the operation were “legitimate targets”. Plumes of black smoke hung over Tehran, including in the Pasteur district, site of the home of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and there was a huge security deployment in the capital.”Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian were among the targets of the attack,” Israel’s public broadcaster reported, citing an Israeli source.But Araghchi told NBC News that Khamenei was alive “as far as I know”, adding that “all high ranking officials are alive”. An Israeli military official said several senior figures were “eliminated” in strikes on gatherings of Iranian officials.Tehran residents had been going about their usual business when the strikes began. Security forces quickly flooded the streets, shops pulled down their shutters and few pedestrians risked venturing out, an AFP journalist saw. “I saw with my own eyes two Tomahawk missiles flying horizontally toward targets,” a Tehran office worker told AFP before communications and internet access were cut, a step authorities typically take during periods of heightened tension. More than 20 of Iran’s 31 provinces were affected by the strikes, the country’s Red Crescent Society said. Pezeshkian decried the deadly attack on the girls’ school in the south, calling it a “barbaric act”.Across Israel, city streets stood deserted as residents took cover in shelters, while the blasts of intercepted Iranian missiles reverberated overhead. Emergency services reported two people injured.- ‘Eliminating imminent threats’ -The attacks came after US President Donald Trump expressed frustration at Iran’s stance in negotiations over its nuclear and missile programmes.Trump said Washington’s goal was “eliminating imminent threats” from Iran, while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the operation was to remove an “existential threat”.”We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground,” Trump said, warning of possible US casualties.He also told Iranians the “hour of your freedom is at hand”, urging them to rise up and “take over your government”.It was the first US military action of this scale apparently aimed at toppling a foreign government since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.Netanyahu echoed Trump’s call, telling Iranians that the time had come to “cast off the yoke of tyranny”.Israel’s army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said the operation was “taking place at a completely different scale” than the 12-day war it fought against Iran in June, which the US briefly joined. “We now face a significant, decisive and unprecedented operation to dismantle the capabilities of the Iranian terrorist regime,” he later said in a televised statement.The army said it had completed a “broad strike” against Iran’s defence systems, and was now “currently striking missile launchers in Iran to thwart the threat posed to the State of Israel”.Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said: “The IRGC’s missiles and drones have struck the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and other American bases in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as military and security centres in the heart of the occupied territories (Israel), with severe blows.”Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel all closed their airspaces to civilian traffic, at least in part, and multiple airlines cancelled flights to the Middle East. – Blasts across Gulf -Residents and AFP correspondents in the Emirati, Qatari and Bahraini capitals heard multiple rounds of explosions from Iran’s retaliatory strikes.In Qatar, people fled in panic as a falling missile plunged into a residential neighbourhood, erupting in a fireball as it hit the street.And in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ capital, golfers enjoying a quiet round were stunned to see dozens of projectiles flying overhead. In Bahrain’s capital Manama, residents were hurriedly evacuated from the Juffair district housing the US navy’s Fifth Fleet. “When we heard the sounds, we cried out of fear,” said Jana Hassan, a 15-year-old student who was visiting a friend in the area. “I will never forget the sound of those loud blasts.” Two witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke rising from Dubai’s famed man-made island The Palm as authorities reported four injured.The foreign ministry of Oman, a mediator in recent US-Iran talks, called “on all parties to immediately cease military operations and urges the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting to impose a ceasefire”.burs/smw/dc

In Iran attack, Trump seeks what he foreswore — regime change

Launching a major attack alongside Israel against Iran, US President Donald Trump is openly pursuing the goal he once adamantly rejected — regime change.Trump, who ordered a military buildup in the Middle East unseen since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, made clear in a video address that the goal of the bombing campaign dubbed “Epic Fury” was to topple the cleric-run state that has long been a US nemesis.Trump, who had publicly suggested for weeks a more limited goal of forcing a deal to end Tehran’s contested nuclear program, said to Iranians: “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take.””This will be, probably, your only chance for generations,” Trump said. “The hour of your freedom is at hand.”Indicating coordination, the son of Iran’s late pro-Western shah, who was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution, released his own address at the same time in which he called on Iranians to be patient and wait for his call to take to the streets “for the final action.”While there are differences between the two situations, Trump’s language evoked that of president George W. Bush when he invaded Iraq in 2003, with talk of the need for pre-emptive action and pointing to disputed weapons allegations to justify overthrowing a government.Trump himself said that the Iraq war was a historic mistake by Bush, who spent much more time than Trump laying out his case for war to the public.”In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves,” Trump said in a speech last year in Saudi Arabia, now being hit by Iranian counter-attacks.Trump campaigned billing himself as the peace candidate and has loudly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for assorted US mediation drives around the world. His close aide Stephen Miller in social media posts during the 2024 campaign charged that “millions die” if rival Kamala Harris wins.”Trump said warmongering neocons love sending your kids to die for wars they would never fight themselves,” Miller wrote, posting: “Kamala = WWIII. Trump = Peace.”In December, the Trump administration released a national security strategy that called for the United States to address threats in the Middle East “without decades of fruitless ‘nation-building’ wars.”- Changing equation in Iran -Much has changed in Iran since Trump’s earlier statements.Mass demonstrations, initially triggered by concerns over the cost of living, started building in late December and posed the greatest threat ever to the Islamic republic.Authorities crushed the demonstrations ruthlessly, with thousands of people killed.Trump also showed a willingness to use force in Venezuela, ordering a January 3 attack in which US forces snatched leftist leader Nicolas Maduro.But Trump’s previous operations have been one-off strikes that he has quickly framed as victories.In Venezuela, Trump has worked with Maduro’s vice president and successor Delcy Rodriguez, threatening her with violence if she does not cooperate, rather than seeking to install the democratic opposition long supported by Washington.Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former staunch Trump ally who resigned from Congress after falling out with him, said Trump was no different from previous presidents in launching “another foreign war for foreign people for foreign regime change.””But it feels like the worst betrayal this time because it comes from the very man and the admin who we all believed was different and said, no more,” she wrote on social media.Brandan Buck, a research fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said that Trump, in urging the downfall of the Islamic republic, had offered “no clear conception of victory.””Instead, the President is repeating the same pattern of strategic self-deceit that has ensnared his predecessors — promising limited action while inviting prolonged conflict.”Most Republicans lined up to support the attack, with many issuing calls for freedom and democracy more reminiscent of Bush than Trump.Republican Senator John Cornyn said that Iran’s government has carried out an “all-out assault on the West and our values” and voiced hope that through Trump’s actions Iranians “will finally be free.”

L’Afghanistan accuse le Pakistan de faire des victimes civiles

L’Afghanistan a accusé samedi le Pakistan de faire des victimes civiles dans la région rurale de Kandahar, dans le conflit armé qui a éclaté entre les deux pays voisins.Après des mois d’affrontements frontaliers, le conflit est entré en phase ouverte jeudi quand l’Afghanistan a lancé une attaque à la frontière, déclencheant une riposte et des frappes aériennes du Pakistan.Sur la route entre la capitale afghane, Kaboul, et la frontière, un journaliste de l’AFP à Jalalabad a entendu un avion de chasse et deux explosions samedi. Les forces afghanes ont affirmé avoir abattu un avion de chasse pakistanais et capturé son pilote, ce qu’Islamabad a démenti formellement.Dans la région rurale de Kandahar (sud), des ouvriers du bâtiment ont dit avoir subi deux frappes, qui ont fait trois morts selon le chef du chantier.”Tout est devenu sombre devant nous”, a dit Enamullah, 20 ans, qui n’a pas souhaité donner son nom de famille. “Je suis venu de Kaboul juste pour gagner mon pain”, a-t-il ajouté.Le Pakistan a déclaré avoir bombardé les principales villes du pays vendredi, y compris Kaboul et Kandahar, où réside le chef suprême des talibans afghans Hibatullah Akhundzada.Islamabad n’a pas fait de commentaires sur des victimes civiles.Des responsables afghans ont affirmé que l’offensive de jeudi à la frontière était une réponse à de précédentes frappes aériennes pakistanaises, qui avaient tué des civils. Le Pakistan avait affirmé viser des combattants.Outre les victimes de Kandahar, le porte-parole du gouvernement afghan Hamdullah Fitrat a affirmé que les frappes pakistanaises avaient fait 30 morts parmi a population civile depuis jeuidi dans les provinces orientales de Khost, Kunar et Paktika.Ces bilans sont difficiles à vérifier de source indépendante.Samedi, des habitants de Paktika ont dit à l’AFP que des combats étaient en cours. A Khost, des habitants ont fui leurs maisons proches de la frontière.”Les bombardements ont conmmencé, et les enfants, les femmes, tout le monde est parti”, a dit Mohammad Rasool, 63 ans, qui s’est réfugié dans une zone voisine. “Il y en avait qui n’avaient pas de chaussures, des femmes n’étaient pas voilées”, a-t-il ajouté.- Efforts diplomatiques infructueux -Les efforts diplomatiques, notamment de l’Arabie saoudite et du Qatar, ont échoué à faire cesser les affrontements. La Chine a déclaré travailler avec les deux parties, et a appelé à la retenue.Le Pakistan accuse les autorités afghanes d’abriter des militants armés qui lancent des attaques sur son territoire, ce que Kaboul dément.L’Union européenne a appelé samedi à une “désescalade immédiate” entre les deux voisins.”Nous appelons tous les acteurs à une désescalade immédiate et à la cessation des hostilités”, a déclaré la cheffe de la diplomatie de l’UE, Kaja Kallas, dans un communiqué. “L’UE réitère que le territoire afghan ne doit pas être utilisé pour menacer ou attaquer d’autres pays et appelle les autorités de facto afghanes à prendre des mesures efficaces contre tous les groupes terroristes opérant en Afghanistan ou à partir de l’Afghanistan”.Les Etats-Unis ont eux aussi “exprimé (leur) soutien au droit du Pakistan à se défendre contre les attaques des talibans”, dans une publication sur X de la numéro trois du département d’Etat, Allison Hooker.Les hostilités ont suscité les préoccupations de la Chine, du Royaume-Uni, de l’ONU mais aussi du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge.Islamabad se défendra “en toutes circonstances”, a réaffirmé samedi matin le ministre pakistanais de l’Information, Attaullah Tarar, sur X. Selon lui, 37 sites au total ont été la cible d’attaques aériennes en Afghanistan depuis le début des opérations militaires pakistanaises.”La réponse immédiate et efficace du Pakistan à l’agression se poursuit”, a dit vendredi soir sur X Mosharraf Zaidi, porte-parole du Premier ministre pakistanais Shehbaz Sharif.Le gouvernement taliban affirme que les forces afghanes ont tué plus de 80 soldats pakistanais et en ont capturé 27. Kaboul a reconnu la mort de 13 membres des forces afghanes.Côté pakistanais, Mosharraf Zaidi a indiqué que 297 Afghans avaient été tués. Et 12 soldats pakistanais ont perdu la vie, selon Islamabad.Kaboul a dit vendredi vouloir “le dialogue” pour résoudre le conflit.Longtemps proches, les deux pays s’affrontent sporadiquement depuis que les dirigeants talibans ont repris le contrôle de Kaboul en août 2021.

Explosion at Dubai landmark The Palm: witnesses

Two witnesses told AFP they heard an explosion and saw a plume of smoke rising from Dubai’s famed man-made island The Palm as authorities reported four injured.The attack came as Iran carried out retaliatory strikes in the oil-rich Gulf following US and Israeli attacks — rattling a region long seen as a haven of peace and security.One of the witnesses said he saw thick black smoke rising from a hotel on the Palm and heard ambulances rushing towards the scene. The Dubai media office later confirmed an “incident” in a building in the Palm Jumeirah area that resulted in a fire and four people injured.”Dubai Civil Defence has confirmed that the resulting fire is now under control. Four individuals sustained injuries and have been transferred to medical facilities,” it added.The incident targeting a Dubai landmark shocked residents, and was followed by several bangs heard by Dubai residents and AFP correspondents in the city.Roughly 90 percent of the UAE’s population consists of foreigners and Dubai is its most populated city, long associated with opulence and glamour.Iran launched strikes on all the oil-rich Gulf countries except for Oman, a mediator in the US-Iran talks.

Farhan keeps Pakistan hopes alive as they post 212-8 against Sri Lanka

Sahibzada Farhan became the first player to score two centuries in the same T20 World Cup as Pakistan kept their semi-final hopes alive by scoring 212-8 against Sri Lanka in Kandy on Saturday.Pakistan need to restrict Sri Lanka to 147 or fewer to win by the 65 runs they need to pip New Zealand to second place in the Super Eights group on net run rate.Farhan smashed a 60-ball 100 while fellow opener Fakhar Zaman cracked 84 off 42 balls as Pakistan, after being asked to bat, recorded their highest total at a T20 World Cup.Farhan scored five sixes and nine fours as he took his aggregate for the tournament to 383 runs, a T20 World Cup record, passing India’s Virat Kohli’s 319 in 2014.Farhan and Zaman put on an opening stand of 176 in 15.5 overs. Zaman hit four sixes and nine fours.  Farhan pushed Dasun Shanaka for a single to complete his century off 59 balls before being dismissed by Dilshan Madushanka in the final over.Madushanka was the best Sri Lankan bowler with 3-33.Pakistan’s previous highest at a T20 World cup was the 201-5 they made against Bangladesh in Kolkata in 2016.

Afghan labourers say Pakistani strikes hit migrants’ site

Afghan construction workers in rural Kandahar said they were building homes for migrants who had recently returned to the country when Pakistani air strikes hit the area on Saturday.A major escalation following months of cross-border violence has seen deadly fighting along the frontier and multiple Pakistani strikes on Afghanistan since Thursday.Construction worker Noor Agha, 21, said he was busy tiling “when the Pakistani planes attacked” the site near Takhta Pul village on Saturday.”They bombarded the sheds, then we went inside the mountain,” he told AFP, with hills visible in the distance. “Some people were martyred, two or three were wounded.”The head of the facility gave a figure of three killed and seven wounded.Agha said two strikes hit the site, where a destroyed car sat in front of a building covered in shrapnel marks.The Pakistani military did not respond to an AFP request to comment on the incident.Construction was underway to support Afghan returnees from Pakistan and Iran, local officials said.Around 5.4 million Afghans have entered the country from the two neighbours since late 2023, according to UN figures, largely the result of pushbacks by Tehran and Islamabad.Bahawaldin Nazim, the head of the facility, said it was “being built for returned migrants” and there was “no military site” there.”Labourers travelling from Khost, Kabul and other areas were killed.”- ‘Everything went dark’ -Jobs are scarce in Afghanistan, which is suffering from an economic crisis compounded by aid cuts, banking restrictions, and the mass returns.Rahimullah, a labourer who only gave one name, said he had sent his son to get generator fuel when the first strike hit.His other son called on his brother to return, and the family “wanted to escape from the area, but then there was another air strike”, said the 52-year-old.The Afghan government said Pakistani fire has killed more than 30 civilians since Thursday.Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.In Takhta Pul, Rahimullah’s 20-year-old son Enamullah said “everything went dark before our eyes” after the second strike.”We didn’t understand anything,” he said, with blood stains on his tattered shirt and plasters on his face.”I came from Kabul just to earn a piece of bread,” the construction worker told AFP.strs-ba-qb/rsc/ami

Afghanistan says civilians killed in Pakistan air strikes

Afghanistan accused Pakistan of killing civilians in rural Kandahar on Saturday, as deadly violence flared between the South Asian neighbours.Months of cross-border clashes escalated Thursday when Afghanistan launched an offensive along the frontier, with Pakistani forces hitting back on the border and from the skies.On the road between the Afghan capital Kabul and the border, an AFP journalist in Jalalabad heard a jet and two explosions on Saturday. Afghan security forces said they had downed a Pakistani fighter jet and captured its pilot, which Islamabad denied as “totally untrue”.In rural southern Kandahar, construction workers said they were hit by two air strikes, which the manager of the site said killed three people.”Everything went dark before our eyes,” said 20-year-old Enamullah, who only gave one name. “I came from Kabul just to earn a piece of bread.”Pakistan acknowledged bombing key cities a day earlier including Kabul and Kandahar, which is home to Afghanistan’s supreme leader. Islamabad has not commented on civilian casualties.Afghan officials said Thursday’s border offensive was a response to earlier air strikes that killed civilians, which Pakistan said targeted militants.In addition to those killed in Kandahar, the Afghan government’s deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said Pakistani fire has killed 30 civilians across eastern Khost, Kunar and Paktika provinces since Thursday.Casualty claims from both sides are difficult to verify independently.- ‘Everyone just got out’ -On Saturday, residents in Paktika told AFP exchanges of fire were ongoing, while in Khost some people had fled their homes near the frontier.”The bombardments started, children, women, everyone just got out,” said Mohammad Rasool, 63, who had reached another district.”Some didn’t have shoes, some weren’t veiled,” he told AFP.Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged in efforts to halt the fighting. China said it was “working with” both countries and called for calm.The United States backed “Pakistan’s right to defend itself against Taliban attacks”, Allison Hooker, the under secretary of state for political affairs, wrote on X after talks with her Pakistani counterpart.Islamabad accuses Afghanistan of failing to act against militant groups that carry out attacks in Pakistan, which the Taliban government rejects.Many attacks have been claimed by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a militant group that has stepped up assaults in Pakistan since 2021, the year the Taliban authorities returned to power in Kabul.This week’s escalation marked the first time that Pakistan has focused its air strikes on Afghan government facilities, analysts noted, a stark change from previous operations that it said targeted militants.Mosharraf Zaidi, a spokesman for Pakistan’s prime minister, told AFP that gunmen he said were associated with the Pakistani Taliban had attacked a checkpoint in the northwest. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for that attack.”Pakistan’s immediate and effective response to aggression continues,” Zaidi said Friday, giving a figure of nearly 300 Afghan soldiers and militants killed.- ‘Open war’ -Pakistan’s information minister said on Saturday that 37 locations across Afghanistan had been hit by air strikes since its operation began.Islamabad said earlier 12 of its soldiers had been killed.Fitrat, Afghanistan’s deputy spokesman, said more than 80 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 27 military posts captured.The Afghan government earlier put the death toll among its troops at 13.The defence ministry in Kabul has also said it carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory over the past two days, which observers said could have been drones.Islamabad declared “open war” on Friday against the Taliban authorities, while the Afghan government called for “dialogue” to resolve the conflict.This month’s violence is the worst since October fighting killed more than 70 people on both sides, with land borders between the neighbours largely shut since.Several rounds of negotiations between Pakistan and Afghanistan last year followed a ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkey.Saudi Arabia intervened this month after repeated breaches of the initial truce, mediating the release of three Pakistani soldiers captured by Afghanistan in October.burs-pbt/rsc/ami