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QUETTA: Five militants were killed while two Balochistan Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) personnel were injured during a counterterror operation in southwestern Pakistan this week, CTD said. 

The CTD said its personnel conducted an intelligence-based operation in Jungle Pir Alizai area of Balochistan’s volatile Killah Abdullah district on Saturday when the exchange between the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants and law enforcers took place. 

“In an exchange of fire, five suspected terrorists were killed,” the CTD spokesperson said in a statement released Saturday night. “Weapons and explosives were recovered from the terrorists during the operation,” it added. 

CTD said maps of “sensitive locations” and other items were also recovered from the slain militants, adding that they were involved in militant activities in Pishin and Killa Abdullah districts.

The TTP has launched some of the deadliest attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and southwestern Balochistan provinces targeting civilians and law enforcers since 2007. 

Pakistan has suffered a surge in militant attacks in KP and Balochistan since November 2022 when peace talks between the state and the TTP broke down. 

Pakistan blames the Afghan government in Kabul for sheltering TTP militants that carry out attacks against Islamabad. The Afghan Taliban deny the allegations and have urged Islamabad to resolve its security challenges internally. 

The TTP has mainly carried out its operations in KP though it has also targeted Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land mass yet its most backward by almost all social and economic indicators. 

Balochistan has been rocked by a low-level insurgency for decades, where ethnic Baloch separatists accuse Islamabad of denying locals a share in the province’s natural and mineral resources. 

Pakistan denies the allegations and says it is carrying out several health, educational and development projects in the province. 

RIYADH: ����ֱ�� expressed on Sunday its “great concern” following US attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, according to a statement by the foreign ministry on X.

The Saudi ministry statement “affirmed its condemnation and denunciation of violating the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, expressing the need to exert all efforts to exercise restraint, de-escalate, and avoid escalation.”

The kingdom also called on the international community to boost efforts in such “highly sensitive circumstances” to reach a political solution to end the crisis.

| تتابع المملكة العربية السعودية بقلق بالغ تطورات الأحداث في الجمهورية الإسلامية الإيرانية الشقيقة المتمثلة في استهداف المنشآت النووية الإيرانية من قبل الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية.

— وزارة الخارجية (@KSAMOFA)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres meanwhile slammed US President Donald Trump’s decision to order US military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a “dangerous escalation.”

“I am gravely alarmed by the use of force by the United States against Iran today. This is a dangerous escalation in a region already on the edge – and a direct threat to international peace and security,” he said in a statement.

“There is a growing risk that this conflict could rapidly get out of control – with catastrophic consequences for civilians, the region, and the world,” he said.

READ: Transcript of Trump’s speech on US strikes on Iran

Guterres called on member states to de-escalate and to uphold their obligations under the UN Charter and other rules of international law.

“At this perilous hour, it is critical to avoid a spiral of chaos. There is no military solution. The only path forward is diplomacy.  The only hope is peace,” he said.

Other countries began reacting Sunday with calls for diplomacy and words of caution:

UK

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on Iran to “return to the negotiating table” over its nuclear ambitions after the US carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

“Iran can never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and the US has taken action to alleviate that threat,” Starmer said on X, adding that “stability in the region is a priority”.

“We call on Iran to return to the negotiating table and reach a diplomatic solution to end this crisis.”

Iraq

Iraq warned on Sunday that the US attacks on its neighbor Iran’s nuclear facilities threaten peace and stability in the Middle East.

Iraq “expresses its deep concern and strong condemnation of the targeting of nuclear facilities” in Iran, government spokesperson Basim Alawadi said. “This military escalation constitutes a grave threat to peace and security in the Middle East and poses serious risks to regional stability,” he added.

New Zealand

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters urged “all parties to return to talks.”

He wouldn’t tell reporters Sunday whether New Zealand supported President Trump’s actions, saying they had only just happened.

The three-time foreign minister said the crisis is “the most serious I’ve ever dealt with” and that “critical further escalation is avoided.”

“Diplomacy will deliver a more enduring resolution than further military action,” he said.

China

A flash commentary from China’s government-run media asked whether the US is repeating “its Iraq mistake in Iran.”

The online piece by CGTN, the foreign-language arm of the state broadcaster, said the US strikes mark a dangerous turning point.

“History has repeatedly shown that military interventions in the Middle East often produce unintended consequences, including prolonged conflicts and regional destabilization,” it said, citing the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

It said a measured, diplomatic approach that prioritizes dialogue over military confrontation offers the best hope for stability in the Middle East.

Japan

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is expected to hold a meeting with key ministers Sunday afternoon to discuss the impact from the US attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, according to Japan’s NHK television.

Japan’s largest-circulation newspaper Yomiuri is distributing an extra edition on the attack in Tokyo.

South Korea

South Korea’s presidential office said it would hold an emergency meeting Sunday to discuss the security and economic ramifications of the US strikes and potential South Korean responses.

Australia

Australia, which shuttered its embassy in Tehran and evacuated staff Friday, continued to push for a diplomatic end to the conflict.

“We have been clear that Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program has been a threat to international peace and security,” a government official said in a written statement. “We note the US President’s statement that now is the time for peace.”

“The security situation in the region is highly volatile. We continue to call for de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was predictably all praises for Trump’s decision.

“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said in a video message directed at the American president.

Netanyahu said the US “has done what no other country on earth could do.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon also thanked Trump for his “historic decision to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Today, President Trump proved that ‘Never Again’ is not just a slogan — it’s a policy.”

In Washington, Congressional Republicans — and at least one Democrat — immediately praised Trump after he announced his fateful attack order.

“Well done, President Trump,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina posted on X. Texas Sen. John Cornyn called it a “courageous and correct decision.” Alabama Sen. Katie Britt called the bombings “strong and surgical.”
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin posted: “America first, always.”

The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, said Trump “has made a deliberate — and correct — decision to eliminate the existential threat posed by the Iranian regime.”

Wicker posted on X that “we now have very serious choices ahead to provide security for our citizens and our allies.”

The quick endorsements of stepped up US involvement in Iran came after Trump had publicly mulled the strikes for days and many congressional Republicans had cautiously said they thought he would make the right decision. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Saturday evening that “as we take action tonight to ensure a nuclear weapon remains out of reach for Iran, I stand with President Trump and pray for the American troops and personnel in harm’s way.”

Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, were briefed ahead of the strikes on Saturday, according to people familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.

Johnson said in a statement that the military operations “should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says.”

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Arkansas, said he had also been in touch with the White House and “I am grateful to the US servicemembers who carried out these precise and successful strikes.”

Breaking from many of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken supporter of Israel, also praised the attacks on Iran. “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” he posted. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.”

Both parties have seen splits in recent days over the prospect of striking Iran. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican and a longtime opponent of US involvement in foreign wars, posted on X after Trump announced the attacks that “This is not Constitutional.”

Many Democrats have maintained that Congress should have a say. The Senate was scheduled to vote as soon as this week on a resolution by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine requiring congressional approval before the US declared war on Iran or took specific military action.

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, posted on X after Trump’s announcement: “According to the Constitution we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall. Full stop.”