News

• Kyrgyzstan thwarts fuel-smuggling attempt

  2013-05-23

  BISHKEK – Kyrgyz border guards May 21 arrested three Kyrgyz citizens allegedly trying to smuggle fuel into Tajikistan, the State Border Service (GPS) press office said May 22. The guards, aided by State National Security Committee (GKNB) agents, stopped three trucks containing 120 tonnes of contraband fuel in Karabak village, Batken Oblast, the GPS said. The fuel was worth abo...

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• Pavlodar, Petropavlovsk to upgrade electricity networks

  2013-05-23

  ASTANA – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is helping two Kazakhstani cities upgrade their electricity networks for environmental benefit, the EBRD said in a May 22 statement. The institution is arranging a €106m (US $136.6m, KZT 20.5 billion) loan to aid the privately owned Central Asian Electric Power Corporation (CAEPCO), it said. It will also provide gra...

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• Tajikistan receives education grant

  2013-05-23

  BRUSSELS – The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) May 22 approved a US $16.2m (77.1m TJS) three-year grant to aid Tajik education starting September 1, Avesta.tj reported Tajik Education Ministry spokesman Makhmudkhon Shoyev as saying. The grant is meant to finance reforms like early education of children in an "inclusive" model, a transition from knowledge-based to competence-b...

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• Kyrgyz border troops' children to visit Tajikistan, Uzbekistan

  2013-05-23

  BISHKEK – Children of 20 Kyrgyz border guards this summer will visit tourist attractions in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz State Border Service Commander Tokon Mamytov said May 23, according to Kabar.kg. In reciprocity, Kyrgyzstan will host children of Tajik and Uzbek border guards at Lake Issyk-Kul, he said. The measure is meant to encourage friendship among the children,...

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• Bunyodkor fails to advance in AFC Champions League

  2013-05-23

  TASHKENT – Thailand's Buriram United tied host FC Bunyodkor 0-0 in Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League play May 21. The tie, following a 2-1 victory at home by Buriram United last week, gave the Thais a cumulative win that sends them to the Champions League quarter-final. "We are the only ones to blame for the result," Bunyodkor coach Mirdjajal Kasimov said, according...

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• Quetta security convoy attack kills 12

  2013-05-23

  QUETTA – Unidentified militants May 23 attacked a security convoy in the Bhosa Manda area of Quetta, killing 12 and injuring 22, Geo News reported. The militants detonated the bomb, which was hidden in a rickshaw, as the Balochistan Constabulary (BC) Response Force officers passed by. Twelve security officers were among those wounded.

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• Anti-terror court sentences doctor, constable to life in prison

  2013-05-23

  PESHAWAR – An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) May 23 convicted a former Peshawar Central Prison doctor and former head constable for their role in the murder of three policemen and escape of two high-profile militants in August 2011. ATC judge Anwar Hussain Khan handed down the sentences to Dr. Iftikhar Khan and Ilyas Khan. The court found Iftikhar guilty of permitting imprisoned Tehre...

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• Karachi gunmen injure former MQM parliamentarian

  2013-05-23

  KARACHI – Unidentified armed men May 23 shot former Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) parliamentarian Noor Muhammad in the Baldia town area of Karachi, police said. Muhammad was shot in the leg and has been hospitalised, police said. He apparently resisted a robbery, Pak Tribune reported.

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• Karachi police arrest 4 suspected targeted killers

  2013-05-23

  KARACHI – Police May 22 arrested four alleged targeted killers, including an operative of a banned outfit in Karachi, media reported. Qari Muhammad Ali was arrested in the Manghopir area after a shootout with police. They recovered a pressure-cooker bomb, suicide jacket and other weapons from him, police said. Ali was assigned to kill security personnel and confessed to killi...

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• Quetta grenade attack injures 5

  2013-05-23

  QUETTA – Unidentified militants May 22 injured five people when they threw a grenade at a Quetta bakery on Meer Ahmed Khan Road. Four bakery workers and a woman passer-by were injured, police said. The assailants fled the scene, and the injured were hospitalised.

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• 49 newly elected Pakistani parliamentarians join PML-N

  2013-05-23

  LAHORE – Forty-nine newly elected parliamentarians from Punjab Province formally joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) May 22, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in Punjab said. The new members included 13 from the National Assembly (NA) and 36 from the Punjab Assembly. All submitted their affidavits to the Punjab election commissioner. In related news, PML-N May 2...

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• Ghazni suicide bombing kills anti-Taliban leader, 6 others

  2013-05-23

  GHAZNI, Afghanistan – A May 22 suicide bombing killed seven people including an anti-Taliban leader in Muqur District, Ghazni Province, media reported. The bomber blew himself up when local elder Habibullah Khan was coming out of a shop in the Muqur market, killing Habibullah, his two bodyguards and four civilians and injuring 28 others including women and children, Deputy Governor Mo...

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• Helmand clashes kill 50 militants

  2013-05-23

  LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan – A firefight in Sangin District, Helmand Province, killed at least 50 Taliban insurgents and 5 Afghan security officers, Helmand Governor Mohammad Naeem said May 22. Eighteen insurgents and nine security personnel received injuries in the gun battle that started May 20, he said, adding that three Taliban leaders were among the dead.

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• Ghazni operation kills 8 militants

  2013-05-23

  GHAZNI, Afghanistan – Afghan security forces killed eight militants and seized a large cache of heavy and light weapons May 22 during an operation in Andar District, Ghazni Province, Bakhtar News Agency reported. The operation was carried out in the Sabani, Jamalqala, Sarpai, and Bakhtyar villages of the district, police official Nazifullah Sultani said. Two policemen and two Afgh...

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• Afghans rescue kidnapped Turk

  2013-05-23

  KABUL – An overnight raid by commandos from Afghanistan's intelligence agency freed a kidnapped Turkish citizen, officials said May 23. They rescued him from a house on the outskirts of the capital and turned him over to the Turkish embassy, Afghan National Directorate of Security spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri told reporters. The Turkish restaurant owner was taken hostage at gu...

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