AFP Asia

Rory McIlroy and centuries of history blended beautifully as the Ryder Cup winner tackled a “special” golf course this week in the Indian capital, teeming with wildlife and usually hidden from view.Nestled in the heart of New Delhi, a city of nearly 30 million people, Delhi Golf Club (DGC) is a green sanctuary steeped in history.Its lush fairways wind past centuries-old Mughal-domed tombs and weathered monuments, offering a surreal blend of elite sport and crumbling heritage.For most of the public, glimpsing this extraordinary mix — home to the 18-hole Lodhi Course and the nine-hole Peacock Course — is usually only possible by peering through its entrance gates.”I actually said to the boys on the 17th tee, it was hard to believe how old these buildings are, these monuments,” said McIlroy’s Ryder Cup teammate Shane Lowry, who led after the opening round of the DP World India Championship on Thursday with an eight-under-par 64.”It’s pretty cool.”On the course, elaborate tombs of the city’s past rulers poke through tangled trees that are home to peacocks, troops of monkeys and mongooses.”It’s really, really special,” said Tommy Fleetwood, another Ryder Cup hero from Team Europe, returning to the venue for the first time since 2016.”Golf around the world is so cool, getting to explore different places, different courses, different histories wherever we are,” he added.”This is one of those really cool places.”- ‘Age of glory’ -The inaugural $4 million India Championship, which concludes on Sunday, has attracted a stellar field.Prime among them is five-time major winner McIlroy, who is making his debut in India.Kapil Dev, president of the Professional Golf Tour of India, has called the tournament “a landmark moment for Indian golf”.Central to that is the DGC, which was founded in the 1930s and later reshaped by British planners.Club history recounts how colonial officers, after the capital of British-ruled India shifted to Delhi, pushed through the forests using elephants to map the course through the overgrown ruins.The tight, tree-lined fairways interweave with a treasure trove of archaeological remnants.More than a dozen historical monuments dot the course, including the striking 17th-century Lal Bangla tombs and others of the 15th century Lodhi dynasty.”Tee off on a trail of history,” the club history purrs.”Here lie the end of dynasties, the relics of mighty empires, ruins which bear testimony to an age of glory.”Club president Raj Khosla spoke about the “magnificent scenic beauty” and “uniqueness of a wonderful course” interweaved with monuments.Swedish golfer Simon Forsstrom, pausing on the 14th tee to admire a red sandstone tomb behind him — a miniature echo of the Taj Mahal — was equally impressed.”I think this is the only one with old monuments that are historic. I haven’t seen these at any other course,” he told AFP.”You stand up high next to the monument, it’s a fun experience.”For all its grandeur, the DGC is not India’s oldest course.That distinction belongs to the 18-hole Royal Calcutta Golf Club, founded in 1829 and reputed to be the oldest outside Britain.

Pakistan launched air strikes inside Afghanistan late Friday, killing at least 10 people and breaking a ceasefire that had brought two days of calm to the border, Afghan officials told AFP.The 48-hour truce paused nearly a week of bloody border clashes that killed dozens of troops and civilians on both sides.”Pakistan has broken the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika” province, a senior Taliban official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Afghanistan will retaliate.”Ten civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in the strikes, a provincial hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that two children were among the dead.The Afghanistan Cricket Board told AFP that three players who were in the region for a tournament were killed, revising down an earlier toll of eight.It also said it was withdrawing from the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Pakistan, scheduled for next month.In Pakistan, a senior security official told AFP that forces had “conducted precision aerial strikes” in Afghan border areas targeting the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban.Islamabad said that same group had been involved in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan, which left seven Pakistani paramilitary troops dead.- ‘Heavy price’ -Security issues are at the heart of the tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups led by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban — on its soil, a claim Kabul denies.The cross-border violence had escalated dramatically from Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital Kabul, just as the Taliban’s foreign minister began an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s longtime rival.The Taliban then launched an offensive along parts of its southern border with Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response of its own.When the truce began at 1300 GMT on Wednesday, Islamabad said that it was to last 48 hours, but Kabul said the ceasefire would remain in effect until Pakistan violated it.Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Kabul of acting as “a proxy of India” and “plotting” against Pakistan.”From now on, demarches will no longer be framed as appeals for peace, and delegations will not be sent to Kabul,” Asif wrote in a post on X. “Wherever the source of terrorism is, it will have to pay a heavy price.”Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its forces had been ordered not to attack unless Pakistani forces fired first.”‘If they do, then you have every right to defend your country'”, he said in an interview with the Afghan television channel Ariana, relaying the message sent to the troops.- ‘Mixed feelings’ -Before the latest strikes, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 37 people were killed and 425 wounded on the Afghan side of the border, calling on both sides to bring a lasting end to hostilities.In Spin Boldak, the scene of intense fighting, hundreds of people attended funerals on Thursday, including for children whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds.”People have mixed feelings,” Nematullah, 42, told AFP. “They fear that the fighting will resume, but they still leave their homes and go about their business.”But on Friday, residents described scenes of normalcy.”Everything is fine, everything is open,” Nani, 35, told AFP.”I’m not afraid, but everyone sees things differently. Some say they’re going to send their children elsewhere as the situation isn’t good, but I don’t think anything will happen,” said Nani, who did not give a surname.Calm had also returned to Kabul, where new explosions rang out shortly before the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.Nobody claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Pakistani security sources said they had undertaken “precision strikes” against an armed group in the Afghan capital.

Pakistan launched strikes on Afghan soil late Friday, killing at least 10 people and breaking a ceasefire that had brought two days of calm to the border, officials told AFP.The 48-hour truce had paused nearly a week of bloody border clashes that killed dozens of troops and civilians on both sides.”Pakistan has broken the ceasefire and bombed three locations in Paktika” province, a senior Taliban official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Afghanistan will retaliate.”Ten civilians were killed and 12 others wounded in the Pakistani strikes, a provincial hospital official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that two children were among the dead.The Afghanistan Cricket Board told AFP that eight players who were in the region for a tournament were killed.The cross-border violence had escalated dramatically from Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital Kabul, just as the Taliban’s foreign minister began an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s longtime rival.The Taliban then launched an offensive along parts of its southern border with Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response of its own.When the truce began at 1300 GMT on Wednesday, Islamabad said that it was to last 48 hours, but Kabul said the ceasefire would remain in effect until Pakistan violated it.Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Kabul of acting as “a proxy of India” and “plotting” against Pakistan.”From now on, demarches will no longer be framed as appeals for peace, and delegations will not be sent to Kabul,” Asif wrote in a post on X, before news of the fresh strikes emerged. “Wherever the source of terrorism is, it will have to pay a heavy price.”Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its forces had been ordered not to attack unless Pakistani forces fired first.”‘If they do, then you have every right to defend your country'”, he said in an interview with the Afghan television channel Ariana, relaying the message sent to the troops.- ‘Concrete and verifiable’ -Security issues are at the heart of the tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups led by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban — on its soil, a claim Kabul denies.”Pakistan has repeatedly shared its concerns” related to the presence of militant groups operating from Afghan soil, Pakistani foreign office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said in a weekly press briefing Friday.”Pakistan expects concrete and verifiable actions against these terrorist elements by the Taliban regime.”Just before the truce ended, seven Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan, an administration official told AFP.A faction of the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.Earlier on Friday, Afghans in the frontier town of Spin Boldak — where the fighting had been particularly intense — described scenes of normalcy.”Everything is fine, everything is open,” Nani, 35, told AFP.”I’m not afraid, but everyone sees things differently. Some say they’re going to send their children elsewhere as the situation isn’t good, but I don’t think anything will happen,” said Nani, who did not give a surname.- ‘Mixed feelings’ -The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 37 people were killed and 425 wounded on the Afghan side of the border, calling on both sides to bring a lasting end to hostilities.An AFP correspondent in Spin Boldak said they saw hundreds of people attending funerals on Thursday, including for children whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds.”People have mixed feelings,” Nematullah, 42, told AFP. “They fear that the fighting will resume, but they still leave their homes and go about their business.”Calm had also returned to Kabul, where new explosions rang out shortly before the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.Nobody claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Pakistani security sources said they had undertaken “precision strikes” against an armed group in the Afghan capital.Sources in Afghanistan suggested that Pakistan was behind at least one of the blasts and that they were air strikes, but the government has not formally accused Islamabad.

A 48-hour ceasefire between Afghanistan and Pakistan expired Friday evening, leaving the region on edge as officials on both sides remained silent on the deadline’s passing.The truce, which began at 6:00 pm Islamabad time (1300 GMT) on Wednesday, paused nearly a week of bloody border clashes that killed dozens of troops and civilians on both sides.The violence escalated dramatically from Saturday, days after explosions rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul, just as the Taliban’s foreign minister began an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s longtime rival.The Taliban then launched an offensive along parts of its southern border with Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response of its own.Before the truce expired Friday, Pakistani foreign office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said at a media briefing it was necessary to “wait for 48 hours” to “see if the ceasefire is held”, without providing further details.Taliban authorities did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on what would happen next once the deadline passed.Security issues are at the heart of the tensions, with Pakistan accusing Afghanistan of harbouring militant groups led by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the  Pakistani Taliban — on its soil, a claim Kabul denies.”Pakistan has repeatedly shared its concerns” related to the presence of militant groups operating from Afghan soil, spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said in a weekly press briefing Friday.”Pakistan expects concrete and verifiable actions against these terrorist elements by the Taliban regime.”Just before the truce ended, seven Pakistani paramilitary troops were killed in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan, an administration official told AFP.A faction of the TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.Earlier on Friday, Afghans in the frontier town of Spin Boldak — where the fighting had been particularly intense — described scenes of normalcy.”Everything is fine, everything is open,” said Nani, 35, told AFP.”I’m not afraid, but everyone sees things differently. Some say they’re going to send their children elsewhere as the situation isn’t good, but I don’t think anything will happen,” said Nani, who did not give a surname.- ‘Mixed feelings’ -Initial explosions, which the Taliban blamed on Pakistan, struck Kabul last week while Afghanistan’s top diplomat was on an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s longtime rival.Taliban authorities then launched an offensive along the border, prompting a deadly response from Islamabad in the days before the ceasefire.The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 37 people were killed and 425 wounded on the Afghan side of the border, calling on both sides to bring a lasting end to hostilities.An AFP correspondent in Spin Boldak said they saw hundreds of people attending funerals on Thursday, including for children whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds.”People have mixed feelings,” Nematullah, 42, told AFP. “They fear that the fighting will resume, but they still leave their homes and go about their business.”Calm has also returned to Kabul, where new explosions rang out shortly before the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.Nobody claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Pakistani security sources said they had undertaken “precision strikes” against an armed group in the Afghan capital.Sources in Afghanistan suggested that Pakistan was behind at least one of the blasts and that they were air strikes, but the government has not formally accused Islamabad.The initial explosions took place as the Taliban’s foreign minister was beginning an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s historic foe.On Thursday, Sharif suggested that New Delhi was involved in the confrontation, without giving details. cgo-jma-zz/abs

Tommy Fleetwood played a flawless second round of eight-under to move into the lead at the India Championship on Friday, while Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy was six strokes off the lead.The Englishman hit eight birdies including five on the back nine to open up a one-shot advantage ahead of overnight leader Shane Lowry at the picturesque Delhi Golf Club.Fleetwood said playing alongside Lowry and Europe’s Ryder Cup-winning captain Luke Donald got the best out of him.”Yeah, unbelievable three-ball,” said Fleetwood. “I think because you’re so comfortable with each other, you do your own thing… It’s always like a bonus when you’re with two guys that you’re really close with.”It has been a great two days. I feel like if I’m playing with Shane for the next two days, I’m doing something right probably.”Lowry had an up and down round and ended with a bogey for a three-under 69 in round two to take joint second place with 2023 British Open champion Brian Harman of the US.Japan’s Keita Nakajima kept up his impressive play from round one to reach 10-under for the tournament, two strokes behind Fleetwood.The Lodhi course in the heart of Delhi is a tight strip with little margin for error despite the birds, peacocks and Mughal monuments making for a serene backdrop.”It’s a pretty tough course to learn, really,” said Harman. “I mean, there’s some really awkward tee shots. It’s a little different than what we’re used to, but I enjoyed the course.”- ‘Scrappy’ McIlroy -McIlroy comes into the tournament as the star attraction in his India debut after his crucial role in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory, but had to fight to stay in contention.He looked visibly frustrated with back-to-back bogeys on the 11th and 12th holes, the second after missing a three-foot par putt.But the five-time major winner soon lifted his game with four birdies over the closing six holes to post a second consecutive 69 as every putt drew applause from the crowd.McIlroy looked relieved after his birdie on the final hole as he shook hands with cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar.”I felt like my approach play was pretty scrappy, missed an iron shot right on four, so that’s not ideal,” McIlroy, who has gone for a driver-free strategy at the Delhi course, told reporters.”Being a little tidier and keep the bogeys off the scorecard, I think I can have a good weekend and get closer to the leaders.”The inaugural $4 million tournament has attracted a stellar field including McIlroy Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland who is tied 17th with the Masters champion and five others.Indians had a tough day with only Shubhankar Sharma, Dhruv Sheoran, Shiv Kapur, Anirban Lahiri and Abhinav Lohan making the cut for the final two rounds.

Bangladesh’s most powerful political parties signed a charter on Friday aimed at ensuring democratic reform after next year’s elections, following a mass uprising that toppled the previous government.However, celebrations of the government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus were muted after one party refused to sign, with police also firing tear gas to quash rock-throwing protesters ahead of the ceremony.Yunus, 85, has championed the document as his legacy, saying he inherited a “completely broken down” system and that reforms are needed to prevent a return to authoritarian rule.”This is the moment we are ushering in a new Bangladesh,” Yunus told the ceremony, held in front of parliament in Dhaka. “We have been reborn.”The South Asian nation of 170 million people has been in political turmoil since Sheikh Hasina was ousted as prime minister by a student-led revolt in August 2024.The document, dubbed the “July Charter” after last year’s uprising, has sparked intense arguments between parties jostling for power ahead of polls slated for February.Yunus, who has pledged to step down after elections, says it will strengthen checks and balances between the executive, judicial and legislative branches.It includes proposals for a two-term limit for prime ministers and expanded presidential powers.It also aims to enshrine the recognition of Bangladesh as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation.Leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as among the election front-runners, as well as Jamaat-e-Islami, the Muslim-majority nation’s largest Islamist party, signed the charter.However, the National Citizen Party (NCP), made up of many students who spearheaded the uprising that ended Hasina’s rule, boycotted the ceremony.Ahead of the ceremony, police and protesters clashed, including those who took part in demonstrations last year, demanding compensation for those who were injured.”The bloodshed of martyrs is now forgotten,” said Khandakar Mashruk Sarkar, 48.The charter was given a last-minute amendment to include monthly allowances for injured protesters.The document is expected to be ratified either by a referendum or by the new parliament to be elected.Mohammad Ibrahim Hossain, 25, an electrician, among the crowd watching the ceremony, was unclear exactly what changes the charter would make.”I don’t know what is in it, or what good it will bring for us,” he said. “I just don’t want to see people die anymore.”

A ceasefire between Afghanistan and Pakistan moved into its second day on Friday, following deadly violence between the neighbouring countries.Dozens of soldiers on both sides have been killed since the clashes began nearly a week ago, with explosions also heard in the Afghan capital Kabul.A truce was announced Wednesday, with Pakistan indicating that it would last until Friday evening — without saying what would happen afterwards.Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Thursday that for the truce to endure, the ball was “in the court” of the Taliban government.”If in 48 hours they want to resolve the issues and address our genuine demands, then we are ready for them,” Sharif told his cabinet.Residents near the border said the ceasefire appeared to be holding.”Everything is fine, everything is open,” said Nani, 35, a resident of the Afghan frontier town of Spin Boldak, where the fighting had been particularly intense.”I’m not afraid, but everyone sees things differently. Some say they’re going to send their children elsewhere as the situation isn’t good, but I don’t think anything will happen,” said Nani, who did not give a surname.Afghanistan said on Wednesday that the truce would endure unless Pakistan violated it, without confirming that the deal had a 48-hour limit.- ‘Mixed feelings’ -Initial explosions, which the Taliban blamed on Pakistan, struck Kabul last week.Taliban authorities then launched an offensive along the border, prompting a deadly response from Islamabad in the days before the ceasefire.The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said 37 people were killed and 425 wounded on the Afghan side of the border, calling on both sides to bring a lasting end to hostilities.An AFP correspondent in Spin Boldak said they saw hundreds of people attending funerals on Thursday, including for children whose bodies were wrapped in white shrouds.”People have mixed feelings,” Nematullah, 42, told AFP. “They fear that the fighting will resume, but they still leave their homes and go about their business.”Calm has also returned to Kabul, where new explosions rang out shortly before the ceasefire announcement on Wednesday.Nobody claimed responsibility for the blasts, but Pakistani security sources said they had undertaken “precision strikes” against an armed group in the Afghan capital.Sources in Afghanistan suggested that Pakistan was behind at least one of the blasts and that they were air strikes, but the government has not formally accused Islamabad.The initial explosions took place as the Taliban’s foreign minister was beginning an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s historic foe.On Thursday, Sharif suggested that New Delhi was involved in the confrontation, without giving details.Security issues have been at the heart of resurgent tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.Pakistan, facing a rise in attacks on its security forces, has accused Afghanistan of harbouring terrorist groups, a claim that Kabul denies.

Nearly 80 percent of the world’s poorest, or about 900 million people, are directly exposed to climate hazards exacerbated by global warming, bearing a “double and deeply unequal burden,” the United Nations warned Friday.”No one is immune to the increasingly frequent and stronger climate change effects like droughts, floods, heat waves, and air pollution, but it’s the poorest among us who are facing the harshest impact,” Haoliang Xu, acting administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, told AFP in a statement.COP30, the UN climate summit in Brazil in November, “is the moment for world leaders to look at climate action as action against poverty,” he added.According to an annual study published by the UNDP together with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, 1.1 billion people, or about 18 percent of the 6.3 billion in 109 countries analyzed, live in “acute multidimensional” poverty, based on factors like infant mortality and access to housing, sanitation, electricity and education.Half of those people are minors.One example of such extreme deprivation cited in the report is the case of Ricardo, a member of the Guarani Indigenous community living outside Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia’s largest city.Ricardo, who earns a meager income as a day laborer, shares his small single-family house with 18 other people, including his three children, parents and other extended family. The house has only one bathroom, a wood- and coal-fired kitchen, and none of the children are in school.”Their lives reflect the multidimensional realities of poverty,” the report said.- Prioritizing ‘people and the planet’ -Two regions particularly affected by such poverty are sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia — and they are also highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.The report highlights the connection between poverty and exposure to four environmental risks: extreme heat, drought, floods, and air pollution.”Impoverished households are especially susceptible to climate shocks as many depend on highly vulnerable sectors such as agriculture and informal labor,” the report said. “When hazards overlap or strike repeatedly, they compound existing deprivations.”As a result, 887 million people, or nearly 79 percent of these poor populations, are directly exposed to at least one of these threats, with 608 million people suffering from extreme heat, 577 million affected by pollution, 465 million by floods, and 207 million by drought.Roughly 651 million are exposed to at least two of the risks, 309 million to three or four risks, and 11 million poor people have already experienced all four in a single year.”Concurrent poverty and climate hazards are clearly a global issue,” the report said.And the increase in extreme weather events threatens development progress. While South Asia has made progress in fighting poverty, 99.1 percent of its poor population exposed to at least one climate hazard.The region “must once again chart a new path forward, one that balances determined poverty reduction with innovative climate action,” the report says.With Earth’s surface rapidly getting warmer, the situation is likely to worsen further and experts warn that today’s poorest countries will be hardest hit by rising temperatures.”Responding to overlapping risks requires prioritizing both people and the planet, and above all, moving from recognition to rapid action,” the report said.

A ceasefire along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan was holding on Thursday, officials on both sides said, after dozens of troops and civilians were killed in cross-border clashes.In Spin Boldak, a flashpoint on the Afghan side, an AFP journalist saw shops reopening and residents returning to homes they had fled during the fighting. The 48-hour truce — which expires Friday evening — was aimed at allowing time to “find a positive solution…through constructive dialogue”, according to Islamabad.Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday evening that whether the temporary truce would be extended now depended on Kabul’s response.”If in 48 hours they want to resolve the issues and address our genuine demands, then we are ready for them,” Sharif told his cabinet, reiterating that Pakistani Taliban militants should be eliminated and that Afghan territory not be used to plot attacks.Pakistan is facing a resurgence of attacks against its security forces on its western border with Afghanistan, led by the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates.Spin Boldak’s health director said 40 civilians were killed and 170 wounded on Wednesday, while the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has reported at least 37 killed and 425 wounded in several provinces impacted by the clashes.”Our houses were bombed, a child was wounded. I heard the plane myself,” Abdul Zahir, a 46-year-old resident, told AFP. “It’s terrifying.”Hundreds of residents and Taliban officials attended the funeral of seven members of the same family in Spin Boldak, an AFP journalist saw.Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering militants who plan their frequent assaults from Afghan soil — a charge the Taliban government denies.Pakistani officials on the northern and southern border with Afghanistan told AFP on Thursday that “no violence was reported overnight, and the ceasefire remains in effect”.A senior security official in Peshawar told AFP: “Additional paramilitary troops have been deployed to counter potential…militant activity that could jeopardise the ceasefire.”Blasts were reported in the capital Kabul shortly before the truce was announced, as well as in the southern province of Kandahar, where the Afghan Taliban’s shadowy supreme leader lives.UN rights chief Volker Turk welcomed the truce and urged both sides to prevent further harm to civilians and “commit to a lasting ceasefire”.- ‘Precision strikes’ -The first explosions that struck Afghanistan last week — blamed by the Taliban on Islamabad — occurred while Afghanistan’s top diplomat was on an unprecedented visit to India, Pakistan’s longtime rival.Taliban authorities then launched an offensive at the border, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response of its own.Exchanges of fire from Saturday killed dozens of people, with renewed violence on Wednesday also causing civilian casualties, according to Kabul.The Taliban government officially blamed Wednesday’s blasts in the Afghan capital on the explosion of an oil tanker and a generator.However, Pakistani security sources said the military targeted an armed group with “precision strikes” in Kabul, as well as hitting Afghan Taliban bases in Kandahar.There were blackouts overnight and into Thursday morning in some areas of Kabul, caused by electricity cables damaged in the explosions, AFP journalists in the city said. AFP journalists saw municipal workers carrying out repairs on Thursday morning in a Kabul neighbourhood, where the road was charred and apartment windows had been blown out.At least five people were killed and 35 wounded in Wednesday’s explosions in Kabul, an Italian NGO that runs a hospital in the city said.”We started receiving ambulances filled with wounded people,” said Dejan Panic, EMERGENCY’s country director.Ten people were in critical condition, with injuries including shrapnel wounds, blunt trauma and burns, the NGO said.

Rory McIlroy left the driver out of his bag as he made his debut in India with a three-under 69, but it was his Ryder Cup partner Shane Lowry who led after a superb 64 Thursday in the first round at the DP World India Championship in Delhi.Lowry got up-and-down at the par-five 18th hole, despite a stray dog delaying his final putt, to complete a flawless eight-under-par round which included five straight birdies from the 11th.The Irishman led a packed leaderboard by one stroke from Keita Nakajima of Japan who, like Lowry, rolled in eight birdies but dropped a shot at the sixth in his seven-under 65.Lowry missed the cut last week in Spain on his return to action after the Ryder Cup but it was McIlroy’s first outing since inspiring the European team to glory in New York, albeit on a vastly different course to Bethpage Black.The stunning Lodhi course at the historic Delhi Golf Club is a par-72 layout that is short by modern standards, at less than 7,000 yards, but is studded with the ruins of ancient tombs dating back to the Mughal Empire.Its narrow fairways are bordered by treacherous dense vegetation on a course that is a throwback to a bygone golfing era, rewarding accuracy rather than distance.”I feel like this type of golf course suits me,” said Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion.”I spend half the year moaning about golf courses that are too wide. So when I get to somewhere like here, I need to take advantage and I did that today.”Hopefully I can keep doing that for the rest of the week.”McIlroy, one of golf’s longest hitters, said Delhi Golf Club was not the place to unleash 350-yard drives with his “big dog” after finishing as one of 11 players lying five shots off Lowry’s lead.- ‘Rough is unpredictable’ -“Dog was out of the bag,” said the five-time major champion of his driver. “Probably asleep in the locker.”I’m never going to hit driver (here). I just don’t see any hole out there to hit it more than say 260, 270 off the tee,” added the Northern Irishman.McIlroy had six birdies but also three bogeys, falling foul of the thick rough on more than one occasion.”You just have to get the ball in the fairway,” he said.  “The rough is unpredictable. You get a lot of fliers.”In third place on his own was South Africa’s Casey Jarvis after a six-under 66, ahead of a three-way tie for fourth on five-under par 67 and 10 players locked on 68.The inaugural $4 million tournament has attracted a stellar field including Tommy Fleetwood, who was one of those to card 68, his Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland who shot 71 and European team captain Luke Donald with another 68.US PGA Tour stars have made the trip for the event on the former European Tour, including 2023 British Open champion Brian Harman and Ryder Cup rookie Ben Griffin who both also had 68s.