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Afghan Taliban confirm ‘retaliatory’ border attacks on Pakistan
The Taliban government has confirmed that it attacked Pakistani troops in multiple mountainous locations on the northern border.
Casualties are not yet clear in what the Taliban called “retaliatory operations”, after it said Pakistan violated Afghan airspace and bombed a market inside its border on Thursday.
Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the Taliban attacks “unprovoked”, accusing them of firing at civilians. Pakistani forces would respond “with a stone for every brick”, he warned.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring terrorists who target Pakistan on its soil, a claim the Taliban reject. The escalation came as the Afghan Taliban foreign minister was in India for an historic visit.
Both sides are said to have used small arms and artillery in the Kunar-Kurram region, the BBC understands.
Saying he “strongly condemns” the Taliban’s attacks, Naqvi stated: “The firing by Afghan forces on civilian populations is a blatant violation of international laws.
“Afghanistan is playing a game of fire and blood,” he said in a post on X.
A Pakistani military spokesman said they would take necessary measures to safeguard Pakistani lives and properties.
Pakistan’s military has not officially commented, but a security source told the BBC firing took place at several locations along the Pakistani-Afghan border, including Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral and Baramcha.
A police official stationed near the Zero Point in Kurram district told the BBC that heavy weapons fire began from the Afghan side around 22:00 local time (17:00 GMT).
He said they had received reports of intense gunfire from multiple locations along the border.
Last week, Afghanistan’s Taliban government accused Pakistan of violating Kabul’s sovereign territory, as two loud blasts were heard in the city late on Thursday.
Pakistan bombed a civilian market in the border province of Paktika, in Afghanistan’s south-east, the Taliban Defence Ministry said on Friday. Locals there told the BBC’s Afghan service that a number of shops had been destroyed.
A top Pakistani general alleged Afghanistan was being used as a “base of operation for terrorism against Pakistan”.
Pakistan has long accused the Afghan Taliban of permitting the Pakistan Taliban, known as the TTP, to operate from their land and fight against the Islamabad government in a bid to enforce a strict Islamic-led system of governance.
The Taliban government has always denied this.
The latest escalation came as the Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Anur Khan Muttaqi was in India for a week-long visit. In a diplomatic thaw, Delhi said that it would reopen the embassy in Kabul, which was shut four years ago when the Taliban returned to power.
“Afghanistan will also be given a befitting reply like India, so that it will not dare to look at Pakistan with a malicious eye,” Naqvi warned.
In a statement, Saudi Arabia, which signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan last month, called for self-restraint and avoidance of escalation between Islamabad and Kabul.
Qatar also issued a statement, expressing concern over the Pakistan-Afghanistan border tensions and saying that it “urges both sides to prioritise dialogue, diplomacy, and restraint”.
[BBC]
US President Donald Trump claims the US Navy’s “effective” blockade has stopped all Iranian ships from crossing the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy says a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude oil has struck a sea mine while attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz through an “unauthorised” route.
The collision caused a huge explosion and a major fire on board the vessel, the IRGC said in a statement reported by semi-official Tasnim news agency.
It alleged that the tanker had turned off all tracking and radar systems, attempting to pass through the strait using deception and with US military support.
‘The Strait of Hormuz is closed’, the IRGC navy warned, adding that vessels violating Iranian regulations would face severe consequences for relying on US backing.
[Aljazeera]
Squad for the first three ODIs: Shubman Gill [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer [VC], KL Rahul [WK], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna*, Kuldeep Yadav
Squad for fourth and fifth ODIs: Shreyas Iyer [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan [WK, VC], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Yash Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav
[Cricbuzz]
Pope Leo XIV has been pictured celebrating Mass from hospital, in the first images of him released by the Vatican since he underwent lung surgery.
The 71-year-old pontiff was diagnosed with lung cancer after the surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, which the Vatican said had been “successful” and proceeded without complications.
The images shared on Friday showed the Chicago-born Pope wearing a green robe while standing behind a makeshift altar on the tenth floor of the hospital.
Pope Leo “celebrated with the medical and nursing staff” and thanked workers for their service, the Vatican press office said.
On Friday, the Pope’s doctors said tests had shown “a steady improvement in his general condition” since his procedure.
His doctors said that a chest X-ray indicated “good recovery of the operated lung”.
The whole lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung was removed “to ensure the procedure was radical”, the Vatican said following the surgery.
“After the operation, the Pope awoke normally and returned after a brief period of observation to his room,” it said earlier, before he spent a “peaceful night” at the hospital.
Pope Leo first announced that he would be having the operation during his weekly Sunday prayers, telling the crowd in St Peter’s Square that doctors had found a “well-contained” nodule on his lung “at an early stage” and advised him to have it removed.
Nodules are quite common and not necessarily cancerous, but after it was examined the medical team confirmed it was, “as suspected by pre-operative tests”, the Vatican said. He was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma.
The Vatican has stressed that the Pope had shown no symptoms of infection or illness prior to the procedure.
[BBC]
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