Pakistan: 8 Soldiers Killed in Militant Attack on Base

Policemen stand guard along a barricaded street near an army cantonment, a day after it was attacked by a militant suicide squad in Bannu on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Karim ULLAH / AFP)
Policemen stand guard along a barricaded street near an army cantonment, a day after it was attacked by a militant suicide squad in Bannu on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Karim ULLAH / AFP)
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Pakistan: 8 Soldiers Killed in Militant Attack on Base

Policemen stand guard along a barricaded street near an army cantonment, a day after it was attacked by a militant suicide squad in Bannu on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Karim ULLAH / AFP)
Policemen stand guard along a barricaded street near an army cantonment, a day after it was attacked by a militant suicide squad in Bannu on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Karim ULLAH / AFP)

Militants attacked a military base in northwestern Pakistan, killing eight security personnel, the military said on Tuesday, after a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into a perimeter wall.

In the ensuing operation, security forces killed all 10 assailants targeting the base in Bannu, on the border with the tribal area of North Waziristan, which is known as a hotbed of militancy, and is close to the Afghanistan border.

"This timely and effective response ... prevented major catastrophe, saving precious innocent lives," the military said in a statement.

Among the dead in Monday's attack were seven army men and one paramilitary soldier.



High-ranking North Korean Diplomat in Cuba Defected to South

FILE PHOTO: The North Korean flag flutters at the North Korea consular office in Dandong, Liaoning province, China April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The North Korean flag flutters at the North Korea consular office in Dandong, Liaoning province, China April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
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High-ranking North Korean Diplomat in Cuba Defected to South

FILE PHOTO: The North Korean flag flutters at the North Korea consular office in Dandong, Liaoning province, China April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The North Korean flag flutters at the North Korea consular office in Dandong, Liaoning province, China April 20, 2021. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo

A senior North Korean diplomat based in Cuba defected to South Korea last November -- just months before Seoul and Havana established diplomatic ties, South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday.

North Korean diplomat Ri Il Kyu had been responsible for political affairs at Pyongyang's embassy in Cuba since 2019, tasked specifically "with obstructing the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and Cuba", according to South Korea's Chosun Daily.

Ri defected to South Korea with his wife and children in early November, making him the highest-ranking North Korean diplomat known to have defected since Thae Yong Ho, Pyongyang's deputy ambassador to Britain, in 2016, the report said.

South Korea's spy agency told AFP Tuesday that it was "true" there had been a "defection of the counselor of political affairs from the North Korean embassy in Cuba", without giving further details.