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Pakistani Security Forces Kill 9 Militants in a Raid near the Afghan Border

Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED
Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED
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Pakistani Security Forces Kill 9 Militants in a Raid near the Afghan Border

Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED
Pakistani security officials control the entrance to the capital of Balochistan province, as the opposition party Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) holds a march in Quetta, Pakistan, 06 April 2025. EPA/FAYYAZ AHMED

Pakistani security forces raided a militant hideout in the restive northwest near the Afghan border, killing nine militants, the military said Monday.

The military said in a statement that a high-value militant Shireen was among those insurgents killed in Dera Ismail Khan, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

All the militants who were killed were the "Khwarij,” a phrase the government uses for Pakistani Taliban, and Shireen was behind last month's killing of an army Capt. Hasnain Akhtar in a shootout in the region, the military said.

The Pakistani Taliban are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group is an ally of the Taliban in Afghanistan and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power there in 2021.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, most claimed by TTP.

Though Pakistan often conducts operations against the militants, the latest raid in Dera Ismail Khan came a day after troops killed eight militants in the northwestern North Waziristan district as they tried to cross the border with Afghanistan.

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Netherlands Moves Iran Embassy Staff to Azerbaijan

A woman walks past a national flag, the day before a general election, in Delft, Netherlands, March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman
A woman walks past a national flag, the day before a general election, in Delft, Netherlands, March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman
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Netherlands Moves Iran Embassy Staff to Azerbaijan

A woman walks past a national flag, the day before a general election, in Delft, Netherlands, March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman
A woman walks past a national flag, the day before a general election, in Delft, Netherlands, March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Yves Herman

The Netherlands will temporarily move its embassy staff in Iran to Azerbaijan, Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen said on Tuesday, citing safety concerns over the US-Israeli war on Iran, Reuters reported.

"Due to increasing risks to the safety of our staff, it has been decided to temporarily relocate the activities of the Dutch embassy in Iran to Baku, Azerbaijan," Berendsen wrote on X.

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Pentagon Chief Says US Intensifying Strikes on Iran

FILE - The Pentagon is viewed from the window of an airplane Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - The Pentagon is viewed from the window of an airplane Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
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Pentagon Chief Says US Intensifying Strikes on Iran

FILE - The Pentagon is viewed from the window of an airplane Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
FILE - The Pentagon is viewed from the window of an airplane Aug. 27, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

US attacks on Iran will hit a new intensity Tuesday and the war will continue as long as President Donald Trump decides, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.

"Today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran," Hegseth told a news conference at the Pentagon more than 10 days into the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

As for a timeline for the war, Trump "gets to control the throttle. He's the one deciding," Hegseth said.

"It's not for me to posit whether it's the beginning, the middle or the end," the defense secretary said.

Among the goals of the conflict is the destruction of Iran's navy, which has been targeted with "artillery, fighters, bombers and sea-launched missiles," General Dan Caine, the top US military officer, said alongside Hegseth.

Iran has vowed to block all oil exports via the Gulf while the war lasts, while Trump has threatened "death, fire, and fury" if Tehran interferes with crude exports.

Caine said US forces continue "to hunt and strike mine-laying vessels and mine storage facilities" -- weapons Iran could use to block maritime traffic.

Hegseth meanwhile accused Iran of "moving rocket launchers into civilian neighborhoods, near schools, near hospitals to try to prevent our ability to strike -- that's how they operate."

He did not directly address a strike early in the conflict that hit an elementary school in the southern city of Minab, which Iran said killed more than 150 people.

Trump has said the incident is being investigated, while suggesting Monday that Iran may have fired a Tomahawk missile at the school itself. Iran does not possess Tomahawks -- a US weapon used extensively by US forces.

World

Al Qaeda-linked Group Killed at Least 12 Truck Drivers in Mali, HRW Says

Burkina Faso army during a raid on terrorist sites of al-Qaeda (File photo)
Burkina Faso army during a raid on terrorist sites of al-Qaeda (File photo)
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Al Qaeda-linked Group Killed at Least 12 Truck Drivers in Mali, HRW Says

Burkina Faso army during a raid on terrorist sites of al-Qaeda (File photo)
Burkina Faso army during a raid on terrorist sites of al-Qaeda (File photo)

Islamist militants from an al Qaeda-linked group killed 10 long-haul truck drivers and two teenage apprentices who were travelling through Mali's western Kayes region in late January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) attacked a military-escorted fuel convoy of at least 40 trucks, the HRW report said.

JNIM, which mainly operates in Mali and Burkina Faso, has emerged as the region's strongest militant group. It aims to impose its rule across the Sahel and extend its influence to coastal West Africa.

Malian military authorities have turned to armed escorts to ease a fuel supply blockade on the landlocked country imposed by the insurgents.

Witnesses told HRW the convoy, which was supposed to supply fuel to the Kayes region, had left Senegal's capital Dakar on January 27 and crossed Mali's border the next day.

JNIM fighters captured several drivers who abandoned their trucks when the attackers opened fire, later executing 12 while releasing others, HRW said.

Six drivers have been missing since the attack, the report said.

Mali's truck drivers union told Reuters last month that 15 drivers were captured and executed on the spot during the attack.

Mali's authorities did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.