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Car bomb attack in northwest Pakistan kills 12, wounds dozens

At least 12 civilians were killed, including three children, and dozens injured Tuesday evening after two explosive-laden vehicles were detonated at an army compound in northwest Pakistan, officials said, with the attack quickly claimed by a militant group.The massive explosions and an ensuing gunfight occurred at sunset, as people were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced “cowardly terrorists who target innocent civilians during the holy month of Ramadan” and “deserve no mercy”.The attack took place in Bannu, a district in Pakistan’s turbulent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which lies adjacent to the country’s formerly self-governed tribal areas.A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP late in the night that the death toll had risen to twelve, including three children and two women, with 32 wounded.An intelligence official earlier told AFP that 12 militants had attempted to storm the compound after the suicide bombings, and that six of the attackers had been shot dead.”The blasts created two four-foot craters, and due to their intensity, at least eight houses in the locality have been damaged,” a police official said.The attack was claimed by a faction of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, which actively supported the Afghan Taliban in its war against the US-led NATO coalition since 2001.”Our fighters got access to an important target and took control,” the group said in a statement, without providing further details.Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack in a statement as “heinous”, saying the “entire nation rejects such despicable acts.”- ‘Apocalyptic’ -Plumes of gray smoke rose into the air after the two explosions, while gunshots continued, with gunfire heard from a distance in the area.”The force of the explosion threw me several feet away… The explosion was so intense that it caused significant damage to the neighbourhood,” 40-year-old local Nadir Ali Shah told AFP in hospital, as he received treatment for head and leg injuries.”It was a scene of apocalyptic devastation,” he added.The attack comes days after a suicide bomber killed six people at an Islamic religious school in Pakistan, attended by key Taliban leaders in the same province.Similar attacks have increased in Pakistan since the Taliban authorities returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.Hafiz Gul Bahadur carried out another attack on the same compound last July, detonating an explosive-laden vehicle against the boundary wall, killing eight Pakistani soldiers.Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, home to 250 million people, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies.The violence is largely limited to the country’s border regions with Afghanistan.Islamabad accuses Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil as they prepare to stage assaults on Pakistan, a charge the Taliban government denies.

Syria interim president seeks pressure on Israel to withdraw from south

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Tuesday called on the international community to pressure Israel to “immediately” withdraw its troops from the south, as he attended his first Arab summit since assuming office.Since Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded an offensive that toppled longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on December 8, Israel has deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.Israel has occupied much of the Golan Heights since 1967 and later annexed the area abutting Syria’s southeast in a move not recognised by the United Nations.Beyond ground incursions, Israeli forces have also carried out repeated air strikes against Syrian military sites in recent days.”We urge the international community to uphold its legal and moral commitments by supporting Syria’s rights and pressuring Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Syria,” Sharaa told a summit of Arab leaders in Cairo.The “hostile (Israeli) expansion is not only a violation of Syrian sovereignty, but also a direct threat to security and peace in the entire region”, he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month demanded “the complete demilitarisation of southern Syria” and said his country would not accept the new Syrian authorities to be present there.Sharaa was in Cairo for an Arab League summit on Gaza, his first such meeting since ousting Assad nearly three months ago.The Syrian presidency published images of Sharaa meeting with senior officials including United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and European Union chief Antonio Costa on the sidelines of the summit.Guterres and Sharaa “exchanged views about the historic opportunity to chart a new course for Syria as well as the challenges facing the country”, according to the UN.The United Nations envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen in a statement strongly condemned Israel’s “military escalations” including air strikes” on its northern neighbour.Under Assad, Syria was suspended from the Arab League over his deadly 2011 crackdown on pro-democracy protests which spiralled into a devastating civil war.In 2023, Syria under Assad was allowed to return to the bloc after years of regional isolation.Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia had been instrumental to Assad’s short-lived return to the fold, after it became a major market for captagon, an addictive drug linked to the ousted Syrian leader.A UN Security Council committee approved a travel ban exemption for Sharaa, enabling him to visit Egypt for Tuesday’s summit despite his inclusion on a sanctions list.The meeting was called in response to a widely criticised proposal by President Donald Trump for the United States to take over Gaza and force its Palestinian inhabitants to relocate to Egypt or Jordan.Sharaa has called Trump’s proposal “a very huge crime that cannot happen”.

Double car bomb attack kills 10 at Pakistan military compound

Suicide bombers belonging to a militant group drove two explosive-laden cars into an army compound in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday evening, triggering massive explosions and killing at least 10 civilians, police told AFP.”The death toll has now risen to ten, including three children and two women. At least 20 others were injured in both explosions,” a senior police official told AFP late Tuesday on condition of anonymity.”All of the victims are civilians. Security forces are still working to clear the area,” he added.The attack took place in Bannu, a district in Pakistan’s turbulent Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which lies adjacent to the country’s formerly self-governed tribal areas.”The blasts created two four-foot craters, and due to their intensity, at least eight houses in the locality have been damaged,” the police official said.”Apart from two suicides, six militants were shot dead in an exchange of fire,” he added.An intelligence official told AFP that 12 militants had attempted to storm the compound after the suicide bombs.The attack was claimed by a faction of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur armed group, which actively supported the Afghan Taliban in its war against the US-led NATO coalition since 2001.”Our fighters got access to an important target and took control,” the group said in a statement, without providing further details.Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack in a statement as “heinous”.”The entire nation rejects such despicable acts.”- ‘Apocalyptic’ -The attacks occurred at sunset, at the time when people were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.Plumes of gray smoke rose into the air after the two explosions, while gunshots continued, with gunfire heard from a distance in the area.”The force of the explosion threw me several feet away… The explosion was so intense that it caused significant damage to the neighbourhood,” 40-year-old local Nadir Ali Shah told AFP in hospital, as he received treatment for head and leg injuries.”It was a scene of apocalyptic devastation,” he added.The attack comes days after a suicide bomber killed six people at an Islamic religious school in Pakistan, attended by key Taliban leaders in the same province.Similar attacks have increased in Pakistan since the Taliban authorities returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021.Hafiz Gul Bahadur carried out another attack on the same compound last July, detonating an explosive-laden vehicle against the boundary wall, killing eight Pakistani soldiers.Last year was the deadliest in a decade for Pakistan, home to 250 million people, with a surge in attacks that killed more than 1,600 people, according to Islamabad-based analysis group the Center for Research and Security Studies.The violence is largely limited to the country’s border regions with Afghanistan.Islamabad accuses Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on Afghan soil as they prepare to stage assaults on Pakistan, a charge the Taliban government denies.