ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani military launched on Tuesday a two-week multinational military exercise aiming to further harness military relations with friendly nations, including Qatar and Turkiye, its media wing said.
Special forces contingents from Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Turkiye and Uzbekistan would participate in the two-week exercise, ‘Eternal Brotherhood-II,’ according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir attended the opening ceremony of the exercise and interacted with the participating soldiers. The commanding officer of Pakistan’s elite Special Services Group (SSG) briefed the army chief on the scope of the exercise.
“The exercise is aimed at further harnessing the historic military-to-military relations among the friendly countries, including nurturing of joint employment concept, while identifying areas of mutual interest for future military collaborations and benefitting from each other’s experience against terrorism,” the ISPR said in a statement.
Prior to visiting Barotha, Gen Munir also visited the Junior Leadership Academy (JLA) in Shinkiari in northwest Pakistan, which is the center of excellence for training of non-commissioned officers. He laid a floral wreath at the martyrs’ monument and addressed the participants of the academy.
“Junior Leaders are the backbone of Pakistan Army and are key to success in conventional and unconventional warfare,” the ISPR quoted him as telling the trainees.
He lauded the army’s junior leaders for proving their mettle in the fields of training, operations and competitions across the world.
Pakistan opens two-week military exercise with Qatar, Turkiye among participating nations
https://arab.news/b42xz
Pakistan opens two-week military exercise with Qatar, Turkiye among participating nations
- The two-week drill will focus on nurturing ‘joint employment concept,’ identifying areas for future collaboration
- Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir attends the opening ceremony of the exercise, interacts with participants
Suicide bomber attacks security check post in northwestern Pakistan, kills civilian
- Sixteen civilians, two security personnel wounded in blast near the Afghan border town of Miran Shah
- Attack comes amid rising militancy as Pakistan steps up military campaign across the Afghan border
PESHAWAR: A vehicle-borne suicide bomber targeted a security check post in Pakistan’s northwestern district of North Waziristan on Friday, killing at least one civilian and wounding 16 others, several critically, police and hospital officials said.
The attack struck the Chashma Sarband check post on the Bannu–Miran Shah road in Miran Shah, the main town in the restive tribal district bordering Afghanistan, police said.
The blast comes amid a resurgence of militant attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern border regions and growing tensions with neighboring Afghanistan, where Islamabad says armed groups responsible for violence in Pakistan are based.
“Sixteen civilians were among those wounded, four of whom were in critical condition,” said Dr. Asif Iqbal, the medical superintendent at the district headquarters hospital in Miran Shah.
“One person has died at the hospital,” he said, adding that more injured victims were expected to be brought in.
Police spokesman Fazal Khan said the vehicle-borne suicide attack targeted the security checkpoint along the busy highway.
Two members of the security forces were also wounded in the explosion, he said.
Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi condemned the attack and ordered authorities to submit a report on the incident.
“The incident in which civilians were injured in the Miran Shah Chashma check post explosion is tragic,” he said in a statement.
Afridi directed officials to ensure the best possible medical treatment for the injured and said emergency services and hospital staff had been placed on high alert.
“Cowardly acts of terrorism cannot weaken the resolve of the government and the public,” he added.
Pakistan has witnessed a rise in militant violence in recent months, particularly in regions bordering Afghanistan, where officials say groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, operate from bases across the frontier.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities of sheltering militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.
The tensions have escalated further after Pakistan launched air strikes inside Afghanistan earlier this year targeting what it described as militant camps, triggering cross-border clashes between the two neighbors and prompting Islamabad to expand military operations along the frontier.
Pakistan says the campaign, dubbed “Ghazab Lil Haq,” will continue until militant threats from across the border are neutralized.
