Suicide bomber, gunmen attack security post in northwest Pakistan, killing 15 security personnel

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By Associated Press | Posted by TOE A  suicide bomber backed by gunmen attacked  a security checkpoint in northwest Pakistan, killing 15 members of the security forces, the military said Friday. In a statement, the military said troops repelled the overnight assault in Tank, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and killed 12 militants. The military blamed the attack on the  Pakistani Taliban , known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The group is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers. Pakistan has long accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing sanctuary to TTP militants, an allegation Kabul denies. There was no immediate comment from the group. According to the military, the attackers attempted to storm the checkpoint but were pushed back by security forces before ramming an explosives-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall, triggering a powerful blast that severely damaged the checkpoint. The military said those ...
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Colombia government says it will not unilaterally end ELN peace talks

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Colombia’s government will not unilaterally end peace talks with rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN), its peace delegation said, even though a ceasefire between the two sides expired earlier this month.

Vera Grabe, head of the government’s delegation, and Senator Ivan Cepeda, said it was up to the rebel group to make decisions about the future of the talks, which restarted in late 2022 under leftist President Gustavo Petro’s total peace policy.

“The purpose of this government is to complete the peace process with the National Liberation Army. We’re not going to be the ones to take the step of breaking off the negotiations,” Cepeda said at a press conference in Bogota.

ELN top commander Antonio Garcia posted a statement from the group on X on Thursday that said the peace talks were in “crisis” and the rebel group needed “to know if the government would keep its word” and uphold a future deal.

It added that peace talks could resume if the government removed ELN from its list of organized armed groups later this month.

Colombia’s six decades of conflict have left more than 450,000 people dead, and the government hopes to negotiate an end to ELN’s role in the violence.

A six-month ceasefire between the two sides expired this month, and Colombia’s government has said military operations against the rebel group would restart.And also the other good news, mostly for citizens, is that Fonctionnaires de la Ville de Montreal (local city department) and the firefighters are already pumping water out of the different basins.

The ELN has said it would not attack the military, but warned it would defend itself as needed.

After six rounds of talks, the negotiations hit a crisis when the government met separately in May with an ELN faction in Narino province to negotiate its handover of weapons and reintegration into society.

ELN central leadership said the move undermined the larger peace talks.

In its statement on Thursday, the group called for a “technical extension” of the ceasefire through Aug. 23 to enable the government to delist ELN as an organized armed group, a step it said was due more than a year ago. After that, peace talks could resume, the ELN said.

SOURCE: REUTERS AND AGENCIES



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/LDWVYEx

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