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At Least 11 Dead after Security Operations Against Militants in Northwest Pakistan

Pakistani security officials inspect the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER
Pakistani security officials inspect the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER
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At Least 11 Dead after Security Operations Against Militants in Northwest Pakistan

Pakistani security officials inspect the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER
Pakistani security officials inspect the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER

Pakistan's security forces raided two militant hideouts in the country’s restive northwest on Saturday, triggering gun battles that left at least two soldiers and nine militants dead, the military said in a statement.
The raids were conducted in the Mohmand and Dera Ismail Khan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, The Associated Press reported.
According to local police officials, the insurgents were Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.
The outlawed TTP is a separate group but an ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of a withdrawal from the country after 20 years of war.
Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuaries and have even been living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover, which also emboldened the Pakistani Taliban.
In a separate incident on Saturday, insurgents ambushed security forces in the northwestern Kurram district of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan, local police said. However, authorities have yet to confirm any troop casualties.
Pakistan's military is currently engaged in an ongoing operation in Kurram, an area that has witnessed years of sectarian violence. Hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between heavily armed factions, exacerbating tensions in the region.
Since November, Kurram has remained isolated after authorities blocked key roads following sectarian violence. The closure has led to severe shortages of medicine and food, further deepening the humanitarian crisis.
Also on Saturday, a bomb exploded outside a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar, killing cleric Mufti Shakir, local police said. It was unclear who was behind the attack and an investigation is continuing.

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World

Suicide Bomber Kills 31 in Mosque in Pakistan's Capital

An ambulance evacuates casulties after a deadly explosion at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Waseem Khan
An ambulance evacuates casulties after a deadly explosion at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Waseem Khan
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Suicide Bomber Kills 31 in Mosque in Pakistan's Capital

An ambulance evacuates casulties after a deadly explosion at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Waseem Khan
An ambulance evacuates casulties after a deadly explosion at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, February 6, 2026. REUTERS/Waseem Khan

A suicide bomber killed at least 31 people and wounded almost 170 others during Friday prayers in a Shiite Muslim mosque in Islamabad, officials said, in the deadliest attack of its kind in the capital in over a decade.

Images from the site showed bloodied bodies lying on the carpeted mosque floor surrounded by shards of glass, debris and panicked worshippers, Reuters reported.

Dozens more wounded were lying in the gardens of the Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah, in a semi-urban area on the outskirts of Islamabad, as people called for help.

Two police officials said the attacker was stopped at the gate of the mosque before detonating the bomb. They asked not to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Bombings are rare in the heavily guarded capital, although Pakistan has been hit by a rising wave of militancy in the past few years, particularly along the border with Afghanistan.

"A total of 31 people have lost their lives. The number of wounded brought to hospitals has risen to 169," Islamabad's Deputy Commissioner, Irfan Memon, said in a statement.

The attack was the deadliest suicide bombing in Islamabad in more than a decade, according to conflict monitor ACLED, which said it "bears the hallmarks of ISIS".

"We are giving every possible help to the families of those killed and those injured. We are doing everything possible to extend all the facilities they need," parliamentary affairs minister Tariq Fazal said after visiting the wounded at Islamabad's Polyclinic hospital.

The capital was already on high alert on Friday for the visiting President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, with roads around the capital blocked by checkpoints and security forces posted across the city.

World

Türkiye Arrests Two on Charges of Spying for Israel

File photo: Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
File photo: Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
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Türkiye Arrests Two on Charges of Spying for Israel

File photo: Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
File photo: Turkish riot police stand guard in front of the Justice Palace in Istanbul March 31, 2015. REUTERS/Osman Orsal

Turkish intelligence has arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Israel's Mossad and providing information that helped the spy agency target its enemies, state news agency Anadolu reported Friday.

Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Türkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.

Derya, a mining engineer, allegedly first caught the attention of Mossad in 2005 when he opened a marble quarry near the southern coastal city of Mersin and began trading overseas, first contacting him via an individual called Ali Ahmed Yassin in 2012, the sources said.

Investigators said Yassin, who ran an Israeli shell company, invited Derya for a business meeting in Europe in 2013 which is where he allegedly first met Mossad agents, they said.

During the meeting, they discussed the marble trade and suggested he hire a Turkish citizen of Palestinian origin called Veysel Kerimoglu, they said.

The men became friends and allegedly began sharing information with Mossad, who paid Kerimoglu's salary, they said.

Through Kerimoglu, Derya is alleged to have increased his Middle Eastern activities, building social and commercial ties with Palestinians opposed to Israel's policies and allegedly sharing information about them with Mossad.

The men are also alleged to have sent through technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.

In early 2016, Kerimoglu is alleged to have suggested to Derya to begin supplying drone parts, with the businessman making contact with Mohamed Zouari who was killed in Tunisia later that year, allegedly by Mossad, investigators said.

Zouari -- an engineer who specialized in drone development for the Palestinian Hamas movement -- was gunned down in his car in the eastern city of Sfax in December 2016.

Late last year, a Tunisian court convicted 18 people in absentia over his murder.

Derya is alleged to have used an encrypted communication system to send technical data to his handlers, and underwent two lie detector tests in 2016 and 2024.

He was arrested while trying to set up a company that would have overseen three Asian shell companies whose aim was allegedly to hide the origins of various products that would have been supplied to buyers on Mossad's radar.

The plan was allegedly discussed in detail at their last meeting in January.

Both suspects are currently being questioned by police, they said.

World

Suicide Bombing at Mosque on Islamabad's Outskirts Kills, Injures Scores

People shift injured victims of a blast at a mosque to hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan, 06 February 2026. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD
People shift injured victims of a blast at a mosque to hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan, 06 February 2026. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD
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Suicide Bombing at Mosque on Islamabad's Outskirts Kills, Injures Scores

People shift injured victims of a blast at a mosque to hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan, 06 February 2026. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD
People shift injured victims of a blast at a mosque to hospitals in Islamabad, Pakistan, 06 February 2026. EPA/SOHAIL SHAHZAD

A massive suicide bombing ripped through a Shiite mosque on the outskirts of Pakistan's capital during Friday prayers, killing at least 30 worshippers and wounding more than 130 people, officials said.

Islamabad police said that an investigation was underway. Rescuers and witnesses said some of the wounded were listed as being in critical condition. Television footage and social media images showed police and residents transporting the injured to nearby hospitals.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but suspicion is likely to fall on militants such as the Pakistani Taliban or ISIS, which has been blamed for previous attacks on Shiite worshippers.

Two police ‍officials said the ‍attacker was stopped at the gate of ‍the mosque before detonating the bomb. They asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in separate statements and extended condolences to the families of those killed.

They instructed that all possible medical assistance be provided for those wounded.

“Targeting innocent civilians is a crime against humanity,” Zardari said. “The nation stands with the affected families in this difficult time.”

Sharif said he has ordered a full investigation. “Those who are responsible must be identified and punished,” he said.

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also condemned the attack, and asked authorities to ensure the provision of best medical care to the wounded.