Pakistan’s largest port city Karachi was shaken yesterday by a series of bomb blasts that injured over two dozen people, with at least one confirmed dead, police and paramedic sources said yesterday.
The five blasts occurred within a span of one hour in the densely populated northern and central parts of the city, consisting mostly of working class people.
Two bombs exploded in Orangi town’s Banaras area, dominated by ethnic Pashtun immigrants from the restive Northwest Frontier Province.
A third occurred in Qasba Colony, also mostly inhabited by Pashtuns.
The other two took place in central parts of the city, including near a private hospital.
Meanwhile, Pakistani investigators scouring the scene of a weekend suicide bomb attack on police found a severed head yesterday as the leader of the ruling party said his government would do everything to stop the bombers.
The toll from Sunday’s attack on police, who had been guarding Islamists marking the anniversary of an army commando raid on Islamabad’s Red Mosque, rose to 16 as one of around 50 of the wounded died, police said.
The attack has raised questions about the new government’s policy of trying to end militant violence through negotiations and increased concern about prospects for the country, a nuclear-armed US ally making a transition to civilian rule.
The government is led by the Pakistan People’s Party of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a suicide attack in Rawalpindi on Dec. 27.
The blast happened several hundred meters from the Red Mosque, shortly after a tightly guarded meeting of Islamists there had ended.
A sea warning for Typhoon Champi could be issued as early as Wednesday night, possibly followed by a land warning on Thursday night or Friday, as the storm approaches Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The typhoon is expected to have its greatest impact on Taiwan on Friday and Saturday, bringing heavy rain to central and northern Taiwan and to Yilan and Hualien counties in the east, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said. As of 2pm yesterday, Champi was about 2,470km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving westnorthwest at 20kph. It had maximum sustained winds of 191kph and a
The government is monitoring online rumors that a pneumonic plague outbreak has spread from Russia into China, and it might enhance quarantine measures, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During a legislative meeting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said that rumors had circulated that the disease had spread across several Chinese provinces. He asked Cho whether the government was prepared to prevent the disease spreading to Taiwan, given the volume of traffic between the two sides, and how concerned the government was about the alleged outbreak. The Ministry of Health and Welfare had implemented border quarantine measures after briefing the Executive
EAST OF GUAM: Tropical Storm Champi is forecast to strengthen into a typhoon, but its effect on Taiwan is uncertain due to the presence of a high-pressure system Tropical Storm Champi formed yesterday and has the potential to increase in strength, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Forecasters are closely monitoring a Pacific high-pressure system that would dictate whether the storm turns north or moves toward Taiwan next week, the CWA said. The most likely scenario is that it turns northward after passing the Ryukyu Islands, CWA forecaster Cheng Chieh-jen (鄭傑仁) said. As of 8pm yesterday, Champi was east of Guam moving west-northwest at 20kph, CWA data showed. It had maximum sustained winds near the center of 72kph and gusts of up to 101kph, the data showed. If the Pacific high-pressure system
RIGHT TO DIPLOMACY: Under the UN Charter, every state has the right to conduct foreign policy free from external pressure, Belize said in a statement Belize and Paraguay on Monday condemned Beijing sanctions over their countries’ ties with Taiwan, saying China’s actions create unnecessary tensions. Earlier on Monday, Beijing announced sanctions against Paraguayan Minister of Information and Communication Technologies Gustavo Villate and Belizean Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca. The Paraguayan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it rejected the sanctions, writing on X that they created unnecessary friction. It added that it reaffirmed its support for Taiwan and its commitment to democratic values and principles. Villate told the Spanish-language Paraguayan daily ABC Color the sanctions were “predictable” and linked them to several cooperation projects between Taiwan and Paraguay. The projects
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