ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's military said a soldier and four militants were killed Sunday in a shootout during a raid near the border with Afghanistan.
The military said two soldiers were also injured during the raid in the Spinwam area of North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
North Waziristan served as a headquarters for local and foreign militants until 2017, when the army said it had cleared the mountainous region of insurgents following several operations. The region still sees sporadic attacks, mainly targeting security forces.
Such incidents have raised fears that the Pakistani Taliban are regrouping.
Separately, in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, a Pakistani official said Indian cross-border firing killed a 7-year-old girl and wounded 10 villagers.
Umar Azam, the deputy commissioner of Kotli district in Azad Kashmir, said Pakistani troops returned fire across the border.
There was no immediate comment from India.
The fighting came amid increasing tensions between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors.
Earlier this month, Pakistani and Indian troops exchanged fire across the frontier, leaving 12 people dead, including three Indian and one Pakistani soldier, and wounding at least 36 on both sides. The fatalities were some of the highest reported in recent years.
Since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety.
Pakistan and India routinely accuse each other of unprovoked attacks along the tense Kashmir frontier in violation of a 2003 ceasefire agreement.
Pakistan says soldier, 4 militants killed near Afghan border
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Pakistan says soldier, 4 militants killed near Afghan border
- Two soldiers were also injured during the raid in the Spinwam area of North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
- Separately, in the disputed region of Kashmir, a Pakistani official said Indian cross-border firing killed a 7-year-old girl and wounded 10 villagers
Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity
- The National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip was announced on January 14
- Muslim nations call for consolidation of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday welcomed the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic body to administer Gaza, stressing that it must manage daily civilian affairs while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amid the ongoing peace efforts.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates said the newly announced National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip would play a central role during the second phase of a broader peace plan aimed at ending the war and paving the way for Palestinian self-governance.
“The Ministers emphasize the importance of the National Committee commencing its duties in managing the day-to-day affairs of the people of Gaza, while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, ensuring the unity of Gaza, and rejecting any attempts to divide it,” the statement said.
The committee, announced on Jan. 14, is a temporary transitional body established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and is to operate in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, the ministers said.
The statement said the move forms part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, which the ministers said they supported, praising Trump’s efforts to end the war, ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces and prevent the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The top leaders of all eight Muslim countries attended a meeting with Trump in New York last September, shortly before he unveiled the Gaza peace plan.
The ministers also called for the consolidation of the ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction and the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to administer the territory, leading to a just and sustainable peace based on UN resolutions and a two-state solution on pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
