September 9, 2024

At least eight Afghan Taliban fighters were killed and 16 others injured in the early hours of Saturday (September 7) when Pakistani forces retaliated against unprovoked cross-border firing from Afghanistan’s Pilwasin area. According to Geo News, sources linked with border security personnel confirmed two “key commanders” of the Afghan Taliban, Khalil and Jan Muhammad, were killed in the exchange of fire. “Afghan Taliban opened fire towards Pakistani check-posts using advanced weaponry in Pilwasin on the morning of September 7.” Besides a spike in terrorist activities within the borders, Pakistan has witnessed a significant surge in cross-border attacks from the neighbouring country targetting security forces in recent months. pak afghan border firingPlay Video Islamabad has time again called on the interim Afghanistan government to prevent its land from being used by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant organisations for carrying out attacks against Pakistan. Earlier this year, the government introduced a major policy shift under a decision to stringently enforce international laws at its borders with Afghanistan, to restrict the influx of militants and smuggled goods into the country. Afghanistan does not recognise the Durand Line, the border between the two countries, arguing it was created by the British to divide ethnic Pashtuns. The 2,640-kilometre border was established in 1893 through an agreement between British-ruled India and Abdur Rahman Khan, then ruler of Afghanistan. Both countries share 18 crossing points, with Torkham and Chaman being the most frequently used for trade and movement of people. These crossings connect Balochistan province to Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province. In 2017, Pakistan started fencing the border with Afghanistan to contain terrorist cross-border movement, a move condemned by Kabul. Last month, three Pakistani soldiers embraced martyrdom in a gun battle with terrorists who were trying to infiltrate Pakistan via the Afghanistan border near Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s (KP) district Bajaur, the Inter-Service Public Relation (ISPR) said. “Own troops effectively engaged and thwarted their attempt to infiltrate. Resultantly, five Khwarij of Fitna al Khwarij were sent to hell, while four Khwarij got injured,” the ISPR said. The nation has been reeling under rising violent attacks since the Taliban rulers returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021, particularly in the bordering provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. More recently, a series of deadly terror attacks hit Balochistan in a single day, which claimed the lives of 50 people, including 14 security personnel. In response to these attacks, security operations were intensified across the region. In 2023, there were at least 170 militant attacks killing 151 civilians and 114 security personnel in Balochistan, as per the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies. Against this backdrop, the federal cabinet in June this year approved Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, a reinvigorated national counter-terrorism campaign following the Central Apex Committee’s recommendations under the National Action Plan to root out terrorism. Source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1228327-eight-afghan-taliban-fighters-killed-in-retaliatory-fire-along-pak-afghan-border

Torrential rains have caused havoc, landslides and a bridge collapse, and swept a bus into a torrent. At least 59 people have been killed in Vietnam amid landslides and floods triggered by Typhoon Yagi, according to state media reports. The typhoon was Asia’s most powerful storm this year and made landfall on Vietnam’s northeastern coast on Saturday, after causing havoc in China and the Philippines. Among the victims were six people, including a newborn baby and a one-year-old boy, who were killed in a landslide in the Hoang Lien Son mountains of northwestern Vietnam. Their bodies were discovered on Sunday, a local official told the AFP news agency. Other victims included a family of four who were killed after heavy rain caused a hillside to collapse onto a house in mountainous Hoa Binh province in northern Vietnam, state media reported. On Monday morning, a passenger bus carrying 20 people was swept into a flooded stream by a landslide in mountainous Cao Bang province. Advertisement Rescuers were deployed, but landslides blocked the path to where the incident took place. In Phu Tho province, rescue operations were continuing after a steel bridge over the engorged Red River collapsed. Reports said 10 cars and trucks, along with two motorbikes, fell into the river. Three people were pulled out of the river and taken to hospital, but 13 others were missing. The Vietnamese government said the storm disrupted power supplies and telecommunications in several parts of the country, mostly in Quang Ninh and Hai Phong in the northeast. The weather agency on Monday warned of more floods and landslides, noting that rainfall had ranged between 208mm and 433mm (8.2 inches to 17 inches) in several parts of the region over the past 24 hours. “Floods and landslides are damaging the environment and threatening people’s lives,” the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting said in a report. Yagi weakened to a tropical depression on Sunday, but several areas of the port city of Hai Phong were under half a metre (1.6 feet) of water and there was no electricity. At Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 70km (43 miles) up the coast from the city, the disaster management authority said 30 vessels sank after being pounded by strong wind and waves. The typhoon also damaged nearly 3,300 houses, and more than 120,000 hectares (296,500 acres) of crops in the north of the country, the authority said. Before arriving in Vietnam, Yagi tore through southern China and the Philippines, killing at least 24 people and injuring dozens of others. Typhoons in the region are now forming closer to the coast, intensifying more rapidly, and staying over land for longer due to climate change, according to a study published in July. Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/9/at-least-24-dead-in-vietnam-after-typhoon-yagi-triggered-landslides-floods

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/9/9/israels-war-on-gaza-live-school-year-starts-without-60000-gaza-students