DUSHANBE, Tajikistan: Three Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border, Tajik authorities said Thursday.
Tajikistan has strained relations with the Taliban in Afghanistan and several border clashes have broken out in recent months.
The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company in the country’s south.
“The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese nationality,” it said in a statement.
Dushanbe rarely comments officially on such incidents, and it did not say who it suspects carried out the attack.
Fighters from militant groups are active in the mountainous border region, which spans around 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) between the two countries.
Muslim-majority Tajikistan, one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union, has been concerned about possible flare-ups in extremism since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
President Emomali Rakhmon, in power since 1992, is openly critical of the Taliban, and urged the group to respect the rights of ethnic Tajiks, estimated to make up around a quarter of Afghanistan’s 40-million population.
At the same time, Tajikistan has cautiously engaged in some areas, including through diplomatic meetings, the opening of markets in border towns and supplying electricity.
Tajikistan’s foreign ministry said Thursday, “criminal groups located in the neighboring country (Afghanistan) continue to commit acts aimed at destabilising the situation in the border regions.”
Several Chinese companies operate in Tajikistan, particularly in mining and natural resources, often located in the mountainous border areas.
One Chinese worker was killed last year in a similar attack near the Afghan border.
Three Chinese citizens killed in Tajik-Afghan border clash
https://arab.news/4bujf
Three Chinese citizens killed in Tajik-Afghan border clash
- The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company
- Fighters from militant groups are active in the mountainous border region
Blair dropped from Gaza ‘peace board’ after Arab objections
- Former UK PM was viewed with hostility over role in Iraq War
- He reportedly met Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans
LONDON: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has been withdrawn from the US-led Gaza “peace council” following objections by Arab and Muslim countries, The Guardian reported.
US President Donald Trump has said he would chair the council. Blair was long floated for a prominent role in the administration, but has now been quietly dropped, according to the Financial Times.
Blair had been lobbying for a position in the postwar council and oversaw a plan for Gaza from his Tony Blair Institute for Global Change that involved Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Supporters of the former British leader cited his role in the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of conflict and violence in Northern Ireland.
His detractors, however, highlighted his former position as representative of the Middle East Quartet, made up of the UN, EU, Russia and US, which aimed to bring about peace in the Middle East.
Furthermore, Blair’s involvement in the Iraq War is viewed with hostility across the Arab world.
After Trump revealed his 20-point plan to end the Israel-Hamas war in September, Blair was the only figure publicly named as taking a potential role in the postwar peace council.
The US president supported his appointment and labeled him a “very good man.”
A source told the Financial Times that Blair’s involvement was backed by the US and Israel.
“The Americans like him and the Israelis like him,” the person said.
The US plan for Gaza was criticized in some quarters for proposing a separate Gaza framework that did not include the West Bank, stoking fears that the occupied Palestinian territories would become separate polities indefinitely.
Trump said in October: “I’ve always liked Tony, but I want to find out that he’s an acceptable choice to everybody.”
Blair is reported to have held an unpublicized meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late last month to discuss plans.
His office declined to comment to The Guardian, but an ally said the former prime minister would not be sitting on Gaza’s “board of peace.”
