Pak kills over 24 militants in crackdown after shrine blast

February 17, 2017

Islamabad, Feb 17: Pakistani security forces today killed more than 24 militants in a nationwide crackdown, a day after an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself up in Sufi shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sindh's Sehwan, claiming 76 lives. Paramilitary Sindh Rangers today said they killed 18 terrorists in overnight operations in the southern province. According to Rangers, seven terrorists were killed in a shootout after they attacked a convoy of the paramilitary troops on the Super Highway near Kathor, Sindh.

The convoy was returning from Sehwan town after taking part in rescue operations. A soldier was also injured. Another 11 terrorists were killed in a raid carried out in Manghopir area of Karachi, according to Rangers. Separately, police in northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa said they have killed 11 extremist in the restive province. According to a security official, police killed three terrorists in Reggi area of Peshawar, while army targeted and killed four militants in Orakzai tribal region. Another four militants were killed in exchange of fire in in Bannu area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Official said the crackdown would be intensified in the coming days as government had resolved to eliminate militancy.

The crackdown was launched simultaneously by the federal and provincial governments after at least eight terror attacks rocked Pakistan since the weekend, killing dozens. A high-level meeting this week chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif agreed that militants posing threat to national security should be "liquidated". Several persons injured in shrine blast are in critical condition and they will be shifted to Karachi, officials said.

The army said that the armed forces had placed all required resources to facilitate the rescue effort. Pakistan Army and Rangers assisted with rescue efforts at the site. The ISIS had claimed responsibility for the attack on their Aamaq news agency, saying a suicide bomber had targeted a "Shiite gathering" at the shrine in Sindh. The shrine has been sealed and police have collected initial evidence and secured CCTV footage.

The fresh wave of terror attacks started when a suicide bomber attacked a protest rally outside the Punjab assembly in Lahore on Monday killing 14 people and injuring dozens. On the same day, a terrorist attack was foiled in Quetta but two officials of the Bomb Disposal Squad were killed diffusing a bomb under a bridge in Quetta. Terrorists also carried out attacks in Mohmand agency and Peshawar followed by shrine blast in Sindh.

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Cut all ties with Israel and impose arms, trade embargo; history will record our action: Iran to Muslim countries

News Network

May 5,2024

Iran has urged Muslim countries to cut all relations with the Israeli regime as means of pressuring Tel Aviv to end its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks on Saturday, addressing the 15th Heads of State and Government Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Gambia’s capital Banjul.

“Beyond doubt, this time period will also pass by, despite all its hardships and adversities for the Palestinian nation,” he said.

“However, the manner and quality of the role that is played by us, Muslim states, in the face of this crisis will go down in history,” the top diplomat added.

“Undoubtedly, severance of diplomatic and economic ties and [imposition of] practical arms and trade embargo [on Israel] serves as an important means of cessation of its genocide in Gaza and atrocities in the West Bank and the Noble al-Quds.”

At least 34,654 people have died in Gaza since October 7, when the Israeli regime began the war in response to al-Aqsa Storm, a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

Despite the unabated campaign of bloodshed and destruction, the regime has so far fallen short of realizing its goals, including defeating Gaza’s resistance, causing forced displacement of the territory’s entire population to neighboring Egypt, and enabling the release of those who were taken captive during al-Aqsa Storm.

Amir-Abdollahian said Gaza’s developments proved that elimination of the Palestinian resistance “was nothing but an illusion.”

“Because the Israeli regime is not a legitimate government. It is only an occupying apartheid power,” he said, adding, “Passage of time is not going to lend legitimacy to an occupying power.”

The foreign minister asserted that realization of sustainable peace and security in the region was only possible through cessation of the regime’s occupation of Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland, and manifestation of Palestinians’ right to self-determination.

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