Suicide attack on Afghan Shia shrine kills up to 20

KABUL: A suicide bomber attacked a Shia Muslim shrine in central Kabul on Tuesday where a crowd of hundreds had gathered for the festival of Ashura, killing up to 20 people in what appeared to be an unprecedented sectarian attack. Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul’s Criminal Investigation Department, said he had counted up to 20 bodies at a Kabul hospital, and expected the toll to rise. Afghanistan has a history of tension and violence between Sunnis and the Shia minority, but since the fall of the Taliban the country had been spared the large scale sectarian attacks that have troubled neighbouring Pakistan. The noon bomb in a riverside shrine, in the heart of old Kabul, appears to set a grim new precedent. Shortly after, a bicycle...

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KABUL: Afghanistan has opened bids on copper and gold deposits in four areas of the country that together are roughly half the size of the Grand Canyon. Afghanistan hopes its budding mining industry will generate billions in revenue to help rebuild the nation after 30 years of war. The Afghan Ministry of Mines on Tuesday opened bids for multiple contracts to unearth copper and gold hidden beneath 846 square miles (2,191 square kilometers) in Badakhshan, Ghazni and Herat provinces and a fourth area that spans both Balkh and Sar-e-Pul provinces. The US Defence Department put a $1 trillion price tag on Afghanistan’s deposits of iron ore, copper, gold and other minerals. The Afghan ministry says other reports estimate the...

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US to address issues in Pakistan ties: Mark Toner

WASHINGTON: The United States has said it is committed to addressing challenges in its relationship with Pakistan to improve bilateral ties, with the State Department vowing to work with Islamabad as “essential” partner in the region’s future. Welcoming Islamabad’s expression of willingness to rebuild bilateral ties – ten days after the deadly Nato strikes claimed lives of two dozen Pakistani soldiers and plunged the relations into a new crisis- the US also saw a clear role for the South Asian country in stabilizing Afghanistan, despite its absence from Bonn conference. “We also, of course, welcome Prime Minister Gilani’s positive statements on the US-Pakistani relationship,” Deputy Spokesman at the State Department, Mark Toner,...

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Posted in: INTERNATIONAL