Category: Pakistan

Suicide Bombing in Southwestern Pakistan Kills 10 Police Officers

QUETTA, Pakistan—A suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed a police truck in Pakistan’s restive southwest, killing 10 police officers and wounding 12 in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces in recent months, authorities said. The newly formed Tehreek-e-Jihad al-Qaeda-aligned group hours later in a statement claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place on…


Terrorism in Pakistan Got Worse in 2021: Newly Released US Report

Pakistan made “meager progress” in dismantling terrorist organizations and continued to face terrorist financing risks in 2021, according to a newly released report from the U.S. Bureau of Counterterrorism. The report, released on Monday, revealed that Pakistan experienced numerous terrorist attacks in 2021, with members of religious minorities facing substantial threats from terrorist groups (pdf)….


Debt, Disaster, and Surging Terrorism: Pakistan in Crisis

News Analysis Pakistan is going through an extraordinary period of crisis as its administrators jostle to rescue its debt-ridden economy amidst rising political uncertainties and surging terrorist threats. While its people wrestle with hunger and increasing unemployment, opaque loans from its closest ally, China, are complicating bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Pakistan…


Main Afghan-Pakistani Border Crossing Closed, Residents Report Gunfire

KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan—Taliban authorities have closed the main border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan, an Afghan official said on Monday, and residents in the area reported the sound of gunfire near the normally bustling border transit point. A Taliban provincial information office said the Torkham border crossing, near the Khyber Pass, was closed for all trade…


Pakistani Court Acquits Parents of Activist in Treason Case

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—A Pakistani court on Wednesday acquitted the parents of an exiled female human rights activist, a defense lawyer said, three years after the couple was arrested on charges of terror financing and sedition. The 2019 arrests of Gulalai Ismail’s parents, Mohammad and Uzlifat Ismail, in the northwestern city of Peshawar, had drawn widespread condemnation….


Tim Horton’s Opens First Coffee Outlet in Pakistan

Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons opened its first store in an upscale shopping mall in Lahore, Pakistan, on Feb. 11. The 8,000 square foot outlet offers in-restaurant seating for more than 150 customers as well as a drive-thru, in partnership with Turkish company Blue Foods Ltd. The new store reportedly created a global record, with…


Military: Forces Raid Hideout, Kill 12 Pakistani Taliban

ISLAMABAD—Security forces acting on intelligence raided a hideout of Pakistani Taliban insurgents along the border with Afghanistan, triggering an intense shootout that left 12 terrorists dead, the country’s military said Wednesday. The pre-dawn raid came amid soaring tensions in Pakistan and in the aftermath of a mosque bombing last week that killed 101 people in…


22 People Killed in Bus, Car Collision in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan—A speeding bus collided with a car and plunged into a ravine in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 22 passengers and injuring 12 others, police said, the second such deadly accident in less than a week. The bus was traveling to the garrison city of Rawalpindi from the Ghizer district in the…


Pakistan’s Former President Musharraf, Key US Ally Against Al-Qaeda, Dies at 79

ISLAMABAD/DUBAI—Pakistan’s former president, Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the campaign against al-Qaeda following the terrorist group’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, died in Dubai on Feb. 5 after a prolonged illness. He was 79. Musharraf, a former four-star general who seized power after a 1999 military coup, died at a hospital in Dubai, where…


Pakistani Troops Kill 2 Terrorists in Raid Near Afghan Border

ISLAMABAD—Pakistani troops on Friday raided a terrorist hideout in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban terrorist group, in the country’s northwest and near the border with Afghanistan, the military said. The raid triggered a shootout that killed two terrorists. The shootout in North Waziristan, a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, came days after a suicide bomber attacked a…