December 4, 2023

Security forces in Pakistan have killed two gunmen who attacked a convoy of Chinese workers in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province. “Two attackers were killed in the operation, which has now concluded,” Gawadar Deputy Superintendent of Police Chakar Baloch told Al Jazeera on Sunday. end of list Local police official Jawad Tariq said all members of the Chinese convoy and security officials involved in the exchange of fire remained unharmed. The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack on vehicles carrying Chinese engineers in the southern coastal city of Gawadar, where China is building a seaport. “BLA Majeed Brigade today targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers in Gawadar,” the armed group, which is banned in Pakistan, said on social media. Earlier, the media wing of Pakistan’s military issued a statement saying an operation was launched after the “presence of terrorists in the area was confirmed”. “Terrorists used small arms and hand grenades,” the military statement said, adding security forces cordoned off the area and carried out a search operation. China’s state-run newspaper Global Times also confirmed the attack, saying, “the convoy of three SUVs and a van, all bulletproof, carried 23 Chinese personnel”. Gawadar, a seaport town on Pakistan’s southwestern coast, is undergoing developmental projects carried out with help from Chinese engineers and financed by the Chinese government. BLA and other Baloch separatist groups have previously carried out and claimed attacks on China-linked development projects in the province. The area where the attack took place houses the Pak-China Technical Institute, a judicial complex and other government offices. “There was intense firing for 20 minutes and shopkeepers pulled down shutters after the attack”, a local resident, requesting anonymity, told Al Jazeera by telephone. The Chinese consulate general in the southern city of Karachi issued a safety warning, according to Global Times. “The consulate urged people to maintain high vigilance and strictly control large-scale gathering activities due to the severe security situation,” it said. Balochistan, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important because of its rich copper, zinc and natural gas reserves. Cities in the province are a constant target of armed groups. Much of the violence is seen as a reaction by rebels to China’s investment plans in the region to link its Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea in Balochistan through a network of roads and rail. Baloch nationalists initially wanted a share of provincial resources, but later initiated a movement for complete independence. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/13/pakistan-security-forces-kill-two-after-attack-on-chinese-convoy-in-gwadar

HYDERABAD-Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amjad Ahmed Shaikh on Tuesday said that four dacoits, involved in cash van robbery, were killed while their accomplices managed to escape during an encounter in the limits of P.S Hatri late Monday night. A policeman was also injured in the encounter, while the police also recovered Rs 51 million cash, one Kalashnikov, three pistols, two motorcycles and CNICs of the accused from the house where the dacoits were present at the time of the encounter, the SSP said while addressing press conference at Police Headquarters. In retaliatory fire, three of the accused and their accomplice Anis were killed on the spot while the other accused managed to escape, Amjad said and added that the injured policeman, Asad Chana was shifted to civil hospital for medical aid. The SSP said the slain robbers were identified as Zahir alias Mamo alias Qasim Mastoi, Anees Chana, Aqib Mastoi and Zaheer Abro. They were involved in looting of millions of rupees from a private security company van that was carrying cash of over Rs 300 million to HBL Moro branch. Amjad said that one of the accused Anis was already arrested and on his indication, a house was raided in Sadiq Leona to arrest them but the accused opened firing at police. The SSP said that the police had already arrested van driver Asghar Shah and Mirza who had admitted their involvement with the dacoits. He said that Anis had said in the statement given to the police that 11 accused including him (Anis) had looted the van. He said that the police investigation revealed that Tahir alias Mamo, was wanted in nine other serious crimes, including robbery. The SSP said that the operation would continue till the arrest of the last accused involved in the incident and the return of the looted money. Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/19-Oct-2022/4-dacoits-killed-in-encounter-rs-51-million-recovered-ssp

Gaza Health Ministry official says hospitals “flooded with an influx of dead bodies”. Israel’s military widens its ground offensive in southern Gaza as Palestinian officials say more than 800 people killed since Saturday. Israeli forces arrest more Palestinians in overnight and early morning raids across the occupied West Bank. At least 15,899 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7. In Israel, the official death toll stands at about 1,200. 1.9 million people displaced in Gaza since October 7: UNRWA The UN agency that provides relief to Palestinian refugees says the figure represents more than 80 percent of the population of the besieged coastal enclave. “A staggering 1.2 million people are sheltering in 156 UNRWA installations across all five governorates – including in the North and Gaza City,” it added. Click here to share on social media Telecom services in northern Gaza down: Paltel One of Gaza’s main telecommunications companies has said that all telecom services in Gaza City and the northern areas of the besieged coastal enclave are down “due to the disconnection of main elements of our network in light of the ongoing aggression”. This affects land lines, as well as cellular and internet services. Patel said it its technical teams were working “relentlessly by all available means to restore services”. Photos: Displaced Palestinians gather at Rafah tent camp [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo] [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo] [Fatima Shbair/AP Photo] Click here to share on social media More from Health Ministry spokesperson Here’s what else Ashraf al-Qudra had to say: Seventy percent of the victims of Israeli attacks are women and children. The number of injured has risen to 42,000 since the start of the war. The continued brutal Israeli aggression has completely incapacitated the health system in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces are still detaining 35 medical personnel, including the director-general of al-Shifa Hospital Mohammed Abu Salmiya, under very harsh conditions. We call on the United Nations and the World Health Organization to pressure for the release of our teams in occupation prisons We demand that a safe passage be provided for the entry of medical supplies and fuel and the exit of the wounded. We demand the protection of hospitals, health and humanitarian teams. Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip are brought to the hospital in Deir al Balah on Sunday [Hatem Moussa/AP Photo] Click here to share on social media Gaza death toll rises In his latest update, Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for the Health Ministry in Gaza, says at least 15,899 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7. Palestinians pray over the bodies of 13 members of the Hams family, killed in an Israeli air strike on a residential building in Rafah overnight, during their funeral early on Monday [Mahmud Hams/AFP] Click here to share on social media1 Click here to share on social media Update: One Palestinian killed in Israeli raid in Qalandiya camp A 33-year-old Palestinian has been killed in an Israeli raid of the Qalandiya refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the health ministry. Wafa news agency, quoting local sources, said 40 Israeli army four-wheel drives, accompanied by a bulldozer, raided the camp and the neighbourhood in the morning. Bullets and tear gas were fired by the army, resulting in injuries to at least 17 Palestinians. We’ll bring you more on this as soon as we can. Israeli soldiers operate during a raid, in Qalqilya in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in this screen grab obtained from a video released on Monday [Video Obtained by Reuters] Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2023/12/4/israel-gaza-war-live-israel-expands-ground-attack-in-southern-gaza