A suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at a police checkpost in north-western Pakistan on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and wounding around 30 others in an attack the Pakistani Taliban has claimed as its own.
Politics
Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey vow to fast-track military cooperation after urgent Riyadh talks
ISLAMABAD: The military chiefs of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have agreed to move without delay to convert their recently signed defence pact into concrete military cooperation, following urgent talks in Riyadh prompted by a sustained Houthi bombing campaign against the kingdom.
PM Sharif tells UN that Indian move to divert Pakistan’s water would be ‘act of war’
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tells the UN General Assembly that Islamabad has “made its choice” for peace with New Delhi but also warned India that any attempt to obstruct or divert his country’s share of shared river waters would be regarded as an act of war, in a wide-ranging address that also touched on Kashmir, the war in Gaza, and escalating turmoil across the Middle East.
PTI blinks first: Imran Khan’s party retreats from Islamabad showdown, delays long march to October 4
ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan’s party called off its long-threatened march on Islamabad on Friday, postponing by more than a week a protest that had triggered one of the most extensive security lockdowns the Pakistani capital has seen in years.
Pakistan says 33 India-linked militants killed in latest Balochistan offensive amid rising unrest
QUETTA: Pakistan’s military said on Friday that security forces had killed 33 militants in a series of counter-terrorism operations across Balochistan since 21 September, as the south-western province continues to experience a marked rise in terror violence.
Uneasy calm along Afghan border after Pakistan says 13 Taliban fighters killed in overnight clash
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said its forces had killed at least 13 Afghan Taliban fighters after repelling an attempted incursion in the Gulistan sector of Balochistan in an overnight border clash, while Afghanistan insisted its troops had suffered no casualties and had instead destroyed a Pakistani military post near the town of Spin Boldak, on the Kandahar side of the frontier, in the latest flashpoint between the two neighbours that has already claimed dozens of lives this week.
PTI sends mixed signals over Islamabad march days before Khan supporters due -report
ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party was in open disarray on Thursday over whether it would proceed with a mass march on Islamabad this weekend, after one of its senior figures suggested the protest could be called off in exchange for concessions the party’s official spokesperson said were never on the table.
Dar meets Saudi, Turkish counterparts in New York; military chiefs set to convene over Houthi threat
ISLAMABAD: Deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, met his Saudi Arabian and Turkish counterparts in New York on Friday to take stock of progress on turning their three-way defence pact into a working institution, as Saudi Arabia contends with an intensifying wave of missile and drone attacks from Yemen’s Houthi movement.
Rangers deployed, motorways shut, Islamabad sealed ahead of PTI march demanding Imran Khan’s release
ISLAMABAD: The government has authorised the deployment of Pakistan Rangers across Islamabad Capital Territory and several districts of Punjab, running from 20 September to 5 October, in anticipation of a nationwide protest called by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party founded by the jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. The move comes as major motorways linking the capital to the rest of the country remain closed, supporters and relatives of Khan are held in detention, and the government and opposition trade accusations over secret talks that neither side will fully confirm.
PM Sharif meets Iran’s president in New York to save collapsed peace deal
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sat down with Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in New York on Thursday, resuming a diplomatic effort that has become one of the few remaining threads connecting Washington and Tehran after months of war, air strikes and a naval blockade that shows no sign of lifting.