Unknown Fate Awaits Former Taliban Spokesman

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan , Asharq Al-Awsat
Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan , Asharq Al-Awsat
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Unknown Fate Awaits Former Taliban Spokesman

Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan , Asharq Al-Awsat
Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan , Asharq Al-Awsat

The fate of former Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan remains unclear in light of the Peshawar High Court’s decision which prohibited the government from releasing him under any circumstances.

Ehsan remains detained by Pakistani security services. According to government officials, he is undergoing extensive interrogation.

It is worth noting that the Pakistani government sought in 2014 to grant him general amnesty, after he admitted in a clip that the Pakistani Taliban had carried out terrorist operations inside Pakistani cities commissioned by Indian intelligence.

Immediately after local press reported the Pakistani government's intention to release Ehsan, the parents of students who died in the bombing of an army school in Peshawar petitioned the Supreme Court in Peshawar, demanding the court to compel the government not to release him under any circumstances.

In response to the petition, the Supreme Court ordered the government not to release Ehsan.

Subsequently, Pakistani Interior Minister Muhammad Tallal Badar Chaudhary told his country's Senate that Ehsan would appear before the military court.

The statement by the Pakistani Interior Minister was made in response to rising concerns by Senate members on the possibility of Ehsan’s release under a deal between him and Pakistani security services.

The Interior Minister added that these fears were unfounded because “security services did not intend to pardon him from the start.”



At Least Six Wounded in Large-scale Russian Air Attack on Ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters work on a site of a building damaged after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 29, 2023. Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters work on a site of a building damaged after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 29, 2023. Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
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At Least Six Wounded in Large-scale Russian Air Attack on Ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters work on a site of a building damaged after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 29, 2023. Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, firefighters work on a site of a building damaged after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on December 29, 2023. Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP

Russia used hundreds of drones, cruise and ballistic missiles to attack western, southern and central Ukraine overnight, damaging homes and infrastructure and injuring at least six people, local authorities said on Sunday.

Ukraine lost its third F-16 fighter jet since the start of the war while repelling the attack, the military said.

The sounds of explosions were heard in Lviv, Poltava, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Cherkasy regions, regional governors said.

The Ukrainian military said some 500 different types of aerial weapons were used during the attack, including drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, Reuters said.

"To repel the massive attack, all available means of the defense forces that can operate on enemy air assets were deployed," the military said.

The pilot of the Ukrainian F-16 jet did everything he could and flew the jet away from a settlement but did not have time to eject, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

"The pilot used all of his onboard weapons and shot down seven air targets. While shooting down the last one, his aircraft was damaged and began to lose altitude," the Air Force said on the Telegram messenger.

The military said Russia had launched 477 drones and 60 missiles of various types to Ukraine overnight while Ukrainian forces destroyed 211 drones and 38 missiles. It said 225 drones were lost - in reference to the Ukrainian military using electronic warfare to redirect them - or they were drone simulators that did not carry warheads.

It said air strikes were recorded in six locations.

INFRASTRUCTURE, HOMES

Six people, including one child, were injured in the central Cherkasy region, the governor Ihor Taburets said on the Telegram messenger. Three multi-storey buildings and a college were damaged in the attack, he said.

Industrial facilities were hit in the southern Ukrainian Mykolaiv and central Dnipropetrovsk regions, officials say.

Local authorities published photos of multi-storey houses with charred walls and broken windows and rescuers evacuating residents.

The governor of the Lviv region in the west of the country said the attack targeted critical infrastructure. However, he did not report on the aftermath.