Latest News
Two women killed in knife attack at Lisbon Ismaili center
Two women were killed and one person wounded in a knife attack believed to have been carried out by an Afghan refugee at the Ismaili Centre in Lisbon on Tuesday, officials said.
Portuguese police shot the alleged attacker after he refused to lay down a large knife and began to approach them. Officials said he was arrested and taken to hospital, Reuters reported.
Ismailis are a minority within Shia Islam whose members have been attacked by extremist groups in countries such as Pakistan.
“It seems to have been an isolated act but the circumstances and motivations are being investigated,” home affairs minister Jose Luis Carneiro told reporters.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa said it looked like an isolated act, and it was premature to say any more.
Carneiro said the alleged attacker was a “relatively young man” with three young children. His wife died in a refugee camp in Greece.
The man, who was relocated to Portugal under a European cooperation scheme and had international protection status, lived a “fairly quiet life” and received help at the Ismaili Centre.
The two victims were Portuguese nationals who worked at the center, SIC television network cited Nazim Ahmed, leader of the Ismaili community in Portugal, as saying. He also said the attacker was an Afghan refugee, Reuters reported.
Police did not immediately confirm the nationalities but Carneiro said the man often visited the center to study Portuguese, collect food donations and for child care. The women worked at the center’s refugee support programme, the minister said.
Shortly after the attack, a number of people looking distressed could be seen standing outside the center amid a heavy armed police presence and were later taken inside. Police officers wearing white crime scene investigation suits also entered the building.
The Ismaili community in Portugal is one of the largest in continental Europe, numbering thousands, including many who fled Mozambique during its civil war, Reuters reported.
Tajik authorities say their border guards clashed with militants who crossed into Tajikistan’s Khatlon region from Afghanistan on Tuesday night.
Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security said in a statement that militants intended to carry out an armed attack on one of the border outposts.
Three militants were killed and two Tajik soldiers died in the clash. From the scene, three firearms—an M-16 rifle and a Kalashnikov assault rifle—three foreign-made pistols equipped with suppressors, ten hand grenades, one night-vision device, explosives, and other military equipment were seized, according to the committee.
This was the third reported attack from Afghanistan into Tajikistan in the past month, with the previous ones targeting Chinese nationals.
The Islamic Emirate previously said it assured Tajikistan it was ready to tighten border security and conduct joint investigations.
Business
Afghanistan’s first aluminum can factory launched in Herat with $120 million investment
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, laid the foundation stone of the “Pamir” aluminum can production company at the industrial parks of Herat on Thursday.
Afghanistan’s first aluminum can manufacturing plant was officially launched on Thursday in Herat province, marking a significant step toward industrial development and economic self-reliance.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, laid the foundation stone of the “Pamir” aluminum can production company at the industrial parks of Herat on Thursday.
According to officials, the Pamir factory is the first of its kind in Afghanistan and is being established with an investment of $120 million. The project will be built on 16 jeribs of land within Herat’s industrial zones.
Once completed, the factory is expected to create employment opportunities for around 1,700 Afghan citizens. Officials say the project will play a key role in boosting domestic production, reducing reliance on imports, and strengthening the national economy.
Authorities described the launch of the project as a clear sign of growing investment in the industrial sector and ongoing efforts to promote economic self-sufficiency in the country.
Latest News
Medvedev: IEA posed less threat to Russia than western-backed groups
He added that such organisations have consistently pursued one objective: “to break apart the multiethnic people of Russia.”
Russia’s Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) caused less harm to Russia than Western-backed civic organisations that, he claims, sought to undermine the country’s unity.
In an article published in the Russian journal Rodina, Medvedev wrote that while the IEA had long been designated as a terrorist organisation, its actions did not inflict the same level of damage on Russia as what he described as Western-supported institutions operating under the banner of academic or humanitarian work.
“Let us be honest: the Taliban (IEA) movement, long listed as a terrorist organisation, has caused modern Russia far less damage than all those pseudo-scientific institutions whose aim is to dismantle our country under the guise of aiding the oppressed,” Medvedev stated.
He added that such organisations have consistently pursued one objective: “to break apart the multiethnic people of Russia.”
Medvedev’s remarks come amid a shift in Russia’s official stance toward Afghanistan. In April, Russia’s Supreme Court suspended the ban on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which had previously been included on the country’s list of terrorist organisations.
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