Regional
TTP warn of more attacks against police after Karachi compound raid
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) warned Saturday of more attacks against law enforcement officers, a day after four people were killed when a suicide squad stormed a police compound in Karachi.
The police are often used on the frontline of Pakistan’s battle with the TTP and are frequently a target of militants who accuse them of extra-judicial killings, AFP reported.
Last month, more than 80 officers were killed when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive vest at a mosque inside a police compound in the northwestern city of Peshawar, sparking criticism from some junior ranks, who said they were having to do the army’s work.
“The policemen should stay away from our war with the slave army, otherwise the attacks on the safe havens of the top police officers will continue,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said Saturday in an English-language statement.
“We want to warn the security agencies once again to stop martyring innocent prisoners in fake encounters otherwise the intensity of future attacks will be more severe.”
On Friday evening, a TTP suicide squad stormed the sprawling Karachi Police Office compound in the southern port city, prompting an hours-long gun battle that ended when two of the attackers were shot dead and a third blew himself up.
Two police officers, an army ranger and a civilian sanitary worker died in the attack, officials said.
The tightly guarded compound in the heart of the city is home to dozens of administrative and residential buildings as well as hundreds of officers and their families.
Fierce gun battle
Interior minister Rana Sanaullah told Samaa TV the assailants entered the compound after firing a rocket at the gate before seizing the main Karachi Police Office building and taking refuge on the roof.
The sound of gunfire and grenade blasts echoed through the neighborhood for hours as security forces slowly made their way up five floors to end the siege.
The TTP emerged in Pakistan in 2007 and carried out a horrific wave of violence that was largely crushed by a military operation launched in late 2014.
But attacks — mostly targeting security forces — have been on the rise again and a shaky months-long ceasefire between the TTP and Islamabad ended in November last year.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has vowed to stamp out the violence, AFP reported.
“Pakistan will not only uproot terrorism but will kill the terrorists by bringing them to justice,” he tweeted late Friday.
Regional
Trump backs down on strikes on Iran’s power network, says US and Tehran holding talks
Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas.
President Donald Trump backed down on targeting Iran’s power network on Monday, saying the U.S. and Iran have held constructive talks and that he would postpone any strikes on power plants and energy infrastructure, Reuters reported.
Trump’s statement came after Iran threatened to attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying U.S. bases across the Gulf region if the U.S. targets Iran’s power network.
The dollar plunged and stocks surged following Trump’s post.
The United States and Iran “have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.”
On Saturday, Trump warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours. Trump set a deadline of around 7:44 p.m. EDT (2344 GMT) on Monday.
Iranian attacks have effectively closed the Strait, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, read the report.
More than 2,000 people have been killed in the war the U.S. and Israel launched on February 28, which has upended markets, driven up fuel costs, fuelled global inflation fears and convulsed the postwar Western alliance.
Regional
Iran says coastal attack will lead to full Gulf closure and mine-laying
An attack on Iran’s southern coast and islands will lead to Gulf routes being cut with the laying of sea mines, the country’s Defence Council said on Monday according to state media, Reuters reported.
The U.S. is considering plans to occupy, opens new tab or blockade Iran’s Kharg Island, the country’s main oil export hub, to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping, according to Axios.
“Any attempt to attack Iran’s coasts or islands will cause all access routes in the Gulf (…) to be mined with various types of sea mines, including floating mines that can be released from the coast,” the statement read.
“In this case, the entire Gulf will practically be in a situation similar to the Strait of Hormuz for a long time (…) One should not forget the failure of more than 100 minesweepers in the 1980s in removing a few sea mines.”
The Defence Council recalled that non-belligerent states can only pass through the Strait of Hormuz by coordinating passage with Iran.
Regional
Iran says Hormuz open to all but ‘enemy-linked’ ships
The threat of Iranian attacks during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has kept most ships from getting through the narrow strait, the conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, threatening a global energy shock.
The Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies”, Iranian media reports published on Sunday quoted Iran’s representative to the U.N. maritime agency as saying.
Ali Mousavi’s comments came from an interview published on Friday by Chinese news agency Xinhua, before U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to target Iranian power plants if the strait was not “fully open” within 48 hours.
The threat of Iranian attacks during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has kept most ships from getting through the narrow strait, the conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, threatening a global energy shock.
Mousavi, who is also Iran’s ambassador to the UK, was also quoted as saying that Tehran would continue to cooperate with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to improve maritime safety and protect seafarers in the Gulf, adding that ships not belonging to “Iran’s enemies” could pass the strait by coordinating security and safety arrangements with Tehran.
“Diplomacy remains Iran’s priority. However, a complete cessation of aggression as well as mutual trust and confidence are more important,” Mousavi said, adding that Israeli and U.S. attacks against Iran were at the “root of the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz”.
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