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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Russia says discussing Ukraine security guarantees without Moscow ‘road to nowhere’

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that discussing any Western security guarantees for Ukraine without Russian involvement was a “road to nowhere”.

NATO military chiefs were set Wednesday to discuss the details of eventual security guarantees for Ukraine amid efforts to broker an end to Russia’s offensive.

But Lavrov warned that “seriously discussing security guarantees without the Russian Federation is a utopia, a road to nowhere.

“We cannot agree that it is now suggested to solve collective security issues without the Russian Federation,” he told reporters.

President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and the ensuing conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.

US President Donald Trump, who spoke Monday with his Russian counterpart, said Putin had agreed to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and accept some Western security guarantees for Ukraine.

Lavrov said in their phone call Putin had only told Trump he would “think about raising the level of” talks on Ukraine.

Lavrov said any summit between Putin and Zelensky “must be prepared in the most meticulous way” so the meeting does not lead to a “deterioration” of the situation around the conflict.

Lavrov also accused European leaders — some of whom also visited the White House on Monday — of making “clumsy attempts” to change the US president’s position on Ukraine.

“We have only seen aggressive escalation of the situation and rather clumsy attempts to change the position of the US president,” he said, referring to Monday’s meeting.

“We did not hear any constructive ideas from the Europeans there,” Lavrov added.

Lavrov also said the West’s “confrontational position, a position to continue the war, does not find understanding in the current US administration, which… seeks to help eliminate the root causes of the conflict”.

Post-war security is a key concern for Ukraine after more than three years of Russian offensive.

Moscow has long said it will not tolerate Kyiv joining NATO and has been hostile to the idea of Western troops being deployed to the war-torn country.

SOURCE: AFP AND AGENCIES



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

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