A suicide bomber attack in restive eastern Afghanistan, killed at least 14 people and injured 45.
An official said, the second attack in as many days to mar an unprecedented ceasefire.
The explosion happened outside the Nangarhar provincial governor's office in the capital Jalalabad,
It was also close to the Indian consulate. 14 people had been killed and 45 injured.
An Afghan security source confirmed the suicide attack but gave a lower death toll of at least 10.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
A suicide bomber on foot had targeted Taliban, local elders and civilians as they left the governor's compound where they had attended a special event for the Eid holiday.
On Saturday, a suicide attack on a gathering of Taliban, security forces and civilians in a district of the same eastern province of Nangarhar killed at least 36 people and wounded 65 others.
The Islamic State group's Afghanistan franchise claimed responsibility for that attack.
Speaking at Dashamah Soundarya Lahari Parayanotsava Mahasarmapane in Bengaluru on Sunday, 29 October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi questioned Congress’ stand on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram’s remark that “when people in Jammu and Kashmir ask for ‘azadi’, they seek autonomy” hasn’t gone down well with the BJP.
Referring to his statement, the Prime Minister asked why the Congress leaders are lending their voices to those who want ‘azadi’ in Kashmir.
He said that the statement made by the Congress leader on Saturday, 28 October, clearly showed how the party felt about surgical strikes and the bravery of the army.
The Congress, which was in power until recently, took a U-turn on matters of national interest, Modi said, adding that the party would have to answer for its leader’s comments.
“It seemed that after repeated defeats, the wise leaders in Congress would try and bring the party on the right track, but they are still acting irresponsibly,” the PM said, adding that it doesn’t seem like the party wants to learn from its mistakes.
Suicide bombers attacked two mosques in Afghanistan on Friday, killing at least 72 people including children, officials and witnesses said.
One bomber walked into a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in the capital Kabul as people were praying on Friday night and detonated an explosive, one of the worshippers there, Mahmood Shah Husaini, said.
At least 39 people died in the blast at the Imam Zaman mosque in the city's western Dasht-e-Barchi district, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said.
No group claimed responsibility. But Shi'ite Muslims have suffered a series of attacks in Afghanistan in recent months, many of them claimed by the Sunni Muslim militants of Islamic State.
Separately, a suicide bombing killed at least 33 people at a mosque in central Ghor province, a police spokesman said.
The attack appeared to target a local leader from the Jamiat political party, according to a statement from Balkh provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor, a leading figure in Jamiat.
Again, no one immediately claimed responsibility.
At least 12 people were killed and several injured in a suicide blast at a shrine in Balochistan’s Jhal Magsi, Pakistani media reported on Thursday. According to Dawn, the explosion took place at the shrine at a time when scores of people had gathered to pay their respects. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Attendance at shrines is usually large on Thursday. The death toll is expected to increase.
Two senior-level Bangladesh ministers have backed New Delhi’s stand on Rohingyas, adding that the influx of refugees from Myanmar poses a big “threat” to internal security.
Speaking to Times Now, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan agreed that it is a humanitarian crisis, but also highlighted that there may be ways via which Pakistan and ISIS may try to radicalise these refugees.
“We are extra vigilant and we will not let our land being used for terrorism. They are desperate people and can do anything. This genocide might have received outside support from foreign hands (ISI),” he said.
“Pakistan and IS are far from Bangladesh but they might try to reach to these Rohingyas via others. Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) or Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) might play foul. “They have even killed our people. We are determined that terrorism won’t be tolerated. The International community should come together,” he added.
Speaking on the same issue, Bangladesh’s Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu highlighted how it is becoming a massive challenge for their government. He said, “It’s a big challenge. They will have to be repatriated. The Myanmar govt had sent an emissary to Bangladesh and their govt has acknowledged that Myanmar people have indeed crossed over and have entered into Bangladesh,” he added.
He, too, was of the view that Rohingyas could become a security threat to the nation, thus the Bangladesh government is registering them.
“If they are not repatriated then we have to send them to some island on the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh is pursuing zero tolerance towards terrorists,” Inu said.
Stating that Pakistan has a history of harbouring terrorists, he said Dhaka is worried about that the former would attempt radicalising the refugees.
“If we have doubts on anyone we detain them. We aren't taking any chances,” he said.
The Indian government recently filed its response to the rejoinder affidavit of Rohingya immigrants Mohammad Salimullah and Mohammad Shaqir, who have filed the PIL alleging they had faced persecution in Myanmar and were forced to flee.
The Centre told the SC that Illegal immigrants cannot claim fundamental rights which are otherwise available even to non-citizens, in its fresh response to the PIL of two Rohingya refugees challenging their deportation to Myanmar.
In the fresh surrejoinder (a plaintiff's reply to a defendant's rejoinder), the government submitted that though it was "fully conscious, aware and responsible for its obligations emanating from various international instruments", but certain views expressed by Indian representatives and the contentions, based on "declarations/resolutions/international instruments" were devoid of merits.
"As a sovereign State, India will always honour such obligations which are binding obligations. Having said that, it is reiterated that India is not a signatory to United Nation Convention of 1951 and the Protocol of 1967 issued thereunder.
"The said Convention/Protocol is, therefore, not binding upon India and no other Declaration/Resolution/Convention/international treaty or instrument of any kind is in force which prohibits India, as a sovereign nation, to exercise its right of deporting illegal immigrants in accordance with laws of India and thereby protecting the fundamental rights of its own citizens more particularly in the interest of national security," the Centre said.
Meanwhile, the apex court today fixed a batch of pleas on Rohingya issue for hearing on October 13 and asked the Centre and others to file documents including international conventions for its assistance.
The rejoinder affidavit of the Ministry of Home Affairs also said there was no binding legal obligation on India with respect of non-refoulment flowing from any binding international instrument. Non-refoulement means the practice of not forcing refugees or asylum seekers to return to a country where they are liable to be subjected to persecution.
"I submit that the illegal immigrants would not get and cannot claim any of the fundamental rights which are otherwise available to non-citizens as the term "non-citizens" would necessarily mean persons, not citizens of India, are in India on a valid travel document," Mukesh Mittal, Joint Secretary (Foreigners) with the MHA told the court.
"The framers of the Constitution of India would not have envisaged a situation where thousands and thousands of people would be flowing into this country entering illegally without any valid travel documents and start claiming fundamental rights as non-citizens," he added.
Earlier, the Centre had termed Rohingya refugees as "illegal" immigrants and said that some of them were part of a "sinister" design of Pakistan's ISI and terror groups such as the ISIS, whose presence in the country will pose a "serious" national security threat.
Washington: Mincing no words, US Defence Secretary James Mattis on Wednesday said President Donald Trump is prepared to take "whatever steps necessary" against Pakistan if it continued to extend support to terror groups.
Mattis further warned Pakistan of global "diplomatic isolation" and losing its non-NATO ally status, if it failed to take action against safe havens to terrorists, that are operating on its soil.
While addressing members of the powerful House Armed Services Committee during a Congressional testimony on South Asia and Afghanistan on Wednesday, Mattis said: "If our best efforts fail, President Trump is prepared to take whatever steps necessary."
He was asked a series of questions by Congressmen who expressed their frustration on Pakistan not taking actions against terror groups.
Without much elaboration, Mattis said the US has "enormously powerful number of options" if Pakistan does not follow through and be a better promoter of stability in the region.
"Right now, I would like to think we will be successful," Mattis said. "With the growing consensus against terrorism, they'll find themselves diplomatically isolated."
"There is an awful lot of advantage to Pakistan of coming online with the international community, and we have to stay focused there, but the penalties are just as significant as the advantages if they choose to go a different direction," he said.
"But for right now, the US needs to try one more time to make this strategy work with them by, with, and through the Pakistanis," he said.
When Congressman Rick Larsen asked if revocation of non-NATO allies status is on the list of possibilities against Pakistan, Mattis said, "I'm sure it will be."
Mattis' tough talk on Pakistan, came as Pakistan Foreign Minister Khwaja Asif is visiting the US as part of efforts to rebuild bilateral ties frayed after President Trump accused Islamabad of sheltering terror groups.
President Trump announced his Afghanistan and South Asia policy in August in which he adopted a tough policy against Pakistan.
In a meeting with the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Asif defended his country's role in the war against terrorism.
He claimed that Pakistan has pursued a zero-tolerance and indiscriminate approach in its campaign against all terrorist and militant groups.
However, Mattis told lawmakers that while the US is adopting "a whole of government approach" on Pakistan, it is also aligning NATO countries on this.
"What you're going to see is 39 nations all in the NATO campaign working together to lay out what it is we need Pakistan to do, he said.
"What we are doing right now is that we are aligning what Department of Treasury, Department of Defence, the Intelligence Committee, Department of State, say, this is what we must ask Pakistan to do to change its behaviour," he added.
The Trump administration, he said, is going to use a whole government international effort to align the benefits and the penalties if those things are not done.
"Pakistan has lost more troops in this fight against terrorism than nearly any country out there. And yet at the same time, as you know, there's been some parsing out where some terrorists have been allowed safe havens. We're out to change that behaviour and do it very firmly, Mattis asserted.
As part of this, Mattis said there would be an exchange of high-level visits between the two countries.
Mattis said he and the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will soon visit Islamabad.
"We're not going to back off. It will start with assistant secretaries coming out of Washington and the National Security staff members going into Pakistan soon followed by the Secretary of State," he said.
"I will go in and we have (NATO) Secretary General Stoltenberg's very clear support for this in his advocacy as the Secretary General of NATO. So we're going to continue to build this up in an international way with a whole of US government argument for the Pakistanis to work in their own best interest and ours," Mattis said.
After holding talks with Asif, Tillerson yesterday said that the US is concerned over the future of the government in Pakistan and wants to ensure long-term stability in the country.
Inviting Tillerson to visit Islamabad to continue their talks, Asif said that a broad-based and structured framework for dialogue would best serve the two countries' mutual interests.
After a battle that lasted nearly nine months and caused the displacement of an estimated 920,000 people, the Iraqi government announced on Sunday that its army had retaken the city of Mosul from the Islamic State (IS).
The fall of Mosul brings hope and trepidation to the families of 39 Indian construction workers who were taken prisoner in the city in 2014. The relatives of the abductees are asking the Indian government to secure their return.
One of the Indians who was captured, Harjit Masih, managed to escape. During a press conference in May 2015, Masih said that, a few days after their capture, the workers were all lined up and shot.
According to Masih, he feigned death, fled, and returned to India, where he was held in custody for months. The rest of the workers, he said, were almost certainly killed during the shooting.
The government has not accepted Masih's account. "The information we have so far is that they are alive, because we have no other information to prove that they are not alive," said Gopal Baglay, an external affairs spokesman, on June 16.
The external affairs ministry did not issue a formal statement on Sunday. One official privy to the developments spoke to HT on the condition of anonymity. "The government has been doing everything possible to bring them back," the official said. "We never abandoned hope. I cannot tell more about this due to the sensitivities involved."
According to two different officials with knowledge of the situation, one of the government's sources in Mosul reported last month that some Indian workers were hiding in a church in the city.
India has sought the help of countries in the region. During a meeting in New York on September 29, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged the president of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, to pass on information he receives about the captive workers. Abbas told Modi that the prisoners were still alive.
External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj has met the relatives of the abducted men on 12 different occasions. The last such meeting was held in early June.
Most of the workers hail from Punjab. HT spoke with some of their family members on Sunday.
"The last time we met the minister, we were told that the Indian government knew the location of all 39 people," said Gurpinder Kaur, whose brother, Manjinder Singh, is among those missing. "They even said that once the area is freed from ISIS, the government will be able to establish contact with them."
Other family members shared Kaur's cautious optimism. Harbhajan Kaur (no relation) is hoping for the return of her son, Harsimranjit Singh. She said that Swaraj had assured her that "all the boys were safe". "This has brought a big sigh of relief to the family," said Kaur. "The government must respond immediately."
A van ploughed into worshippers leaving a London mosque on Monday, killing at least one person and injuring 10 others in what witnesses said was a deliberate attack on Muslims.
The hired vehicle swerved into a group of people leaving prayers shortly after midnight at the Finsbury Park Mosque, one of the biggest in the country, witnesses said. The attack comes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"This big van just came and went all over us," witness Abdulrahman Saleh Alamoudi told BuzzFeed News. "He was screaming... 'I'm going to kill all Muslims'."
British Prime Minister Theresa May said police had confirmed it was being treated as a potential terrorist attack and said she would chair an emergency response meeting later on Monday.
"All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and the emergency services on the scene," she said.
Police said one man was pronounced dead at the scene and that the van driver, aged 48, had been detained by members of the public before being arrested. The driver would undergo a mental health assessment in due course, police said.
Eight people were taken to hospital, while two were treated at the scene.
The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said extra police had been deployed to reassure communities, especially those observing Ramadan, describing the attack as "an assault on all our shared values of tolerance, freedom and respect".
The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, in whose constituency the attack took place, said he was "totally shocked".
The incident comes just over two weeks after three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed people at nearby restaurants and bars, killing eight. .
"Attack on Muslims"
The Muslim Council of Britain said Monday's attack was the most violent manifestation of Islamophobia in Britain in recent months and called for extra security at places of worship.
"It appears that a white man in a van intentionally ploughed into a group of worshippers who were already tending to someone who had been taken ill," the council said in a statement.
Police said they were called just after 12:20 am (2320 GMT Sunday) to reports of a collision on Seven Sisters Road, which runs through the Finsbury Park area of north London.
"From the window, I started hearing a lot of yelling and screeching, a lot of chaos outside. . Everybody was shouting: 'A van's hit people, a van's hit people'," one woman who lives opposite the scene told the BBC.
Police officers man a cordon at Finsbury Park where a vehicle struck pedestrians in London on Monday. (AP)
"There was this white van stopped outside Finsbury Park mosque that seemed to have hit people who were coming out after prayers had finished."
The attack comes at a time of political turmoil in Britain, as Prime Minister May plunges into divorce talks with the European Union weakened by the loss of her parliamentary majority in a June 8 election.
She has faced heavy criticism for her response to a fire in a London tower block on Wednesday which killed at least 58 people, and for her record on security after a series of attacks blamed on Islamist militants in recent months.
One witness told CNN it was clear that the attacker at Finsbury Park had deliberately targeted Muslims.
"He tried to kill a lot of people so obviously it's a terrorist attack. He targeted Muslims this time," the witness, identified only as Rayan, said.
Other witnesses told Sky television that the van had hit at least 10 people. The Evening Standard newspaper said the van appeared to have been rented in Wales, although there was no immediate confirmation of this from the authorities.
Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park neighbourhood of North London. (REUTERS)
'Deliberately swerved'
Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said the van had deliberately swerved into a group of people who were helping a man who was ill and had fallen to the ground.
"Basically, a van swerved into them deliberately," Versi told Reuters, citing a witness.
He said the driver had run out of the van but a group of people caught him and held him until police arrived.
The incident followed a series of attacks in Britain.
Eight people were killed and 50 injured on June 3 when three Islamist militants drove into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed people at nearby restaurants and bars.
On March 22, a man drove a rented car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge in London and stabbed a policeman to death before being shot dead. His attack killed five people.
On May 22, a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande in Manchester in northern England.
The attacks were a factor in campaigning ahead of the June 8 election, with May criticised for overseeing a drop of 20,000 in the number of police officers in England and Wales as interior minister from 2010 to 2016.
She was also criticised for keeping her distance from angry residents during her visit to the charred remains of the 24-storey Grenfell Tower. She said on Saturday the response to the fire had been "not good enough".
The Finsbury Park Mosque gained notoriety more than a decade ago for sermons by radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri, who was sentenced to life in a US prison in January 2015 for his conviction on terrorism-related charges.
A new board of trustees and management took over in February 2005, a year after Abu Hamza was arrested by British police, since when attendance has greatly increased among worshippers from various communities, according to the mosque's website.
Yoga guru Ramdev on Saturday said that India should immediately reclaim Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK) as it was the root cause of all the problems from Pakistan.
"All the problems emanating from Pakistan is because of PoK and hence India should immediately reclaim PoK," he said.
He said India should destroy all terrorists camps operating from PoK.
The Yoga guru was talking to reporters on the third and concluding day of a three-day yoga-cum-meditation camp organised by his Patanjali group as part of Champaran Satyagrah centenary celebrations at the historic Gandhi Maidan in Motihari.
Holding terrorists like Masood Azhar, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim responsible for bloodshed at the India-Pakistan border, Ramdev said that these they should be handed over to India, dead or alive.
He, however, praised the people of Pakistan saying that they were good and peace-loving people except some bad elements who believe in bloodshed.
Replying to a query on human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, Ramdev said that Indian army personnel too had their human rights.
In a reply to another question, he said that Patanjali Yogpeeth would set up a unit in Bihar to process products like jaggery, honey and litchi among others this year.
Besides, Ramdev said that Patanjali would also start work on 'cow research and promotion centre' in Bihar in the near future.
Ramdev praised the Nitish Kumar government's decision to implement prohibition in the state and said that 'yoga education' be included in government and private schools in the state.
Inclusion of yoga as part of education would help better the future of students, he said while making it clear that "Yoga is not a political agenda at all."
Organised mob violence is not new to India. But at the heart of the current wave of lynching is a new political emotion promoted by a craftily nurtured project that targets those who dissent from the restrictions imposed by self-styled conscience keepers of "society".
The mood of the nation, at present, is to explain its dealings with one another in the religious language of righteousness and sin. Eating beef is sin. Public display of love is a sin -- unless it is towards your nation.
This new emotion has its roots in outrage and hatred and its closest ancestor is the honour-based eye-for-an-eye kind of emotion of ancient times.
How did we get here?
It is not as if lynching was never reported in India. According to an October 27, 1985 report in The Statesman, Communist-led West Bengal witnessed a wave of such violence in the Eighties. During 1982-84 a total of 482 incidents of mob lynching claiming 635 lives were reported from the Communist state. These were particularly on account of the public losing faith in the law and order machinery and deciding to take matters in their own hands.
But this present wave is very different.
The Dadri lynching, as it has come to be known after the killing of an elderly Muslim man Mohammad Akhlaq in September 2015, was the beginning. The incident is critical to understanding the character of present lynching culture.
Individual acts of 'rebellion' inside the comfort and safety of one's home were the first threat to this new project -- such as a young girl choosing her life partner who may be from another religion -- which decrees that such decisions should be left to the collective moral authority of society.
Aklaq's crime was that the conscience-keepers of society thought he had beef in his house. A sin according to them, which ought to be punished. The message was clear: individual freedom is not above the collective conscience of society. Any act beyond the culturally-sanctioned walls erected in an ancient era is one that the defenders of this new project disapprove of, in public or private.
How did society concede this space?
A democratic nation committed to human dignity and following the Constitution is an effective deterrent to lawless tribalism. But the participants of this new 'nation-building project' emphasise that legal recourse based on Constitutionalism is long-winded and time-consuming. Faced with this question of choice between the futilities of liberal (also read alien) principles based on the Constitution and defending the current project of saving society from a perceived imminent threat, the instant system appears preferable. Vigilantism has now gained legitimacy.
India's foremost public intellectual, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, has said: "These kinds of incidents always inhabited the realm of religious intolerance zone. Now it has entered a Constitutional and political realm and is finding acceptance. This is the first time we are seeing mainstreaming of such philosophy."
This new attitude has been encouraged by public rhetoric, by the attitude of political leaders, by local loyalties and is to be coercively imposed. A democratic progressive nation has a Constitutional duty to protect individual freedom - but this is on a direct collision path with the current project. In this new national project, individual self-expression and dissent are strongly discouraged and "moral control" and unanimity strongly encouraged.
The narrative of an ideal society is based on a misplaced pride in ancient glory and a narrow interpretation of "Indian culture", not on the Constitutional reflection of pluralism and the Constitutional idea of what an ideal society should be.
The challenge to this narcissist narrative is a counter narrative based on extending sympathy and building a decent society according to the principles of the Constitution, the only written document of vision of an aspiring Indian society. No doubt, the Indian Constitution also talks about a ban on cow slaughter as one of its objectives, however, it is in a manner that befits a progressive democratic society of the 21st century.
How do the vigilantes defend this new 'nation-building project' from being derailed?
Creating a nation with no dissent
That is where the precursor to street vigilantism has played an important role. In social media platforms, 'mob lynching' over dissent or expressions of free speech has been going on for a long time -- and is still continuing. But now the theatre has shifted to the streets.
This was facilitated by a slyly-constructed narrative of nationalism -- a hybrid of patriotism and Hindutva.
The symbols of patriotism are powerful tools for arousing emotions once the public is able to relate to them. These symbols can also be cultivated by repetition since by their very nature human beings resonate to an image or thought that it is repeatedly echoed.
In order to promote a new public attitude, a narrative was built around symbols that attracted such sentiments: the Army, a symbol of a just institution which therefore cannot be criticized; the Cow, a sacred symbol equivalent to your mother, which must be protected at all costs, and the National Anthem, a symbol of pride, which must be respected. A violation of these symbols can evoke extreme reactions of public emotion which are sanctioned by the tacit support of the political leadership.
Besides promoting these symbols of patriotism, the new narrative has been successful in promoting a stereotype of enemies of patriotism. It is tapping into the historical conflict between two communities, the Hindus and Muslims, and has painted the minority community as less patriotic. But the real success of this narrative is tainting dissent as anti-national. For instance, since the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) sedition row, there were many reports of heckling of students from this institution. When extreme emotions are aroused in the public, anyone who fits the anti-national profile becomes the target. So Pehlu Khan was lynched to death for transporting cattle - but his Hindu driver was spared.
These public emotions have not been discovered yesterday as we saw with the example of West Bengal in the 1980s. They were prevalent but the intervention of society, condemnation and action by the State stabilised it. Remember the Graham Staines incident in 1999 where the Christian missionary and his two sons of 10 and six years were burnt alive by a mob in the name of conversion. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the then prime minister, also from the BJP, termed it a "ghastly act" and launched a speedy investigation.
But by crippling dissent and blurring the principle of separation of church and state, such interventions have been made virtually impossible. The political followers and the bureaucracy are quick to pick up signals from those leading them. Try and put together the sequence of the following images. One, in February 2016, a political activist came to hear the sedition trial of JNU students in Patiala court, right in the heart of India's power centre, and was beaten by lawyers as a contingent of the police looked on. Second, a year later, on May 18, in Jharkhand, a man, face covered in blood, asked for his life to be spared with folded hands as a mob brutally attacked him in the presence of the police. In both these incidents the state machinery became a mute spectator.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta says, "Even the hypocrisy of the top leadership set the norm. Condemning these violent incidents even for the sake of it can influence the followers on the ground, which is lately absent."
Silence or condolence messages with riders such as "not all cow vigilantes are bad" only reconfirm that the political leadership is unsympathetic towards disrespect to the new narrative, the newly energised symbols of patriotism. Compassion is an act of cowardliness in these situations. Perhaps this explains why the vigilantes or the mobs now record their acts even as the victim pleads with folded hands or is bullied out of a movie theatre for failing to respect the "national anthem". It is a reminder: compassion is not for those who disrespect this new 'nation-building' process.
As the list of symbols and 'enemies' of these symbols increases every day, the virulent lynch culture seems here to stay - at least in the near future.
Baghdad: A woman detonated her explosive belt in a market east of the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala on Friday, killing at least 31 and wounding 35, Iraqi security sources said.
Islamic State claimed the attack in the town of Musayab, south of Baghdad, in a statement on its Amaq news agency. It didn't identify the bomber.
A security officer said the assailant was a woman who hid the bomb under the customary full-body veil.
The attack comes as Islamic State is about to lose Mosul, the de-facto capital of the hardline Sunni Muslim group in Iraq, to a US-backed Iraqi offensive launched in October.
The group is also on the backfoot in neighbouring Syria, retreating in the face of a US-backed Kurdish-led coalition attacking its capital there, Raqqa,.
Iranian-backed paramilitaries are taking part in the campaign fighting Islamic State in Iraq, attacking the group in the border region near Syria.
Islamic State declared a self-styled "caliphate" over parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago.
The Islamic State terror group has claimed that it had killed two Chinese hostages, including a woman, who were abducted by armed gunmen from Pakistan's restive Balochistan province recently.
The hostages were studying Urdu language at a local teaching center in the provincial capital of Quetta when they were forcibly kidnapped by unknown gunmen last month.
Another Chinese woman had escaped the abduction.
The ISIS on its propaganda news agency 'Amaq' uploaded a statement in Arabic yesterday, saying it had killed the two abducted Chinese nationals.
Confirming reports of the killing of its nationals, China today said the murders have not been connected to China- Pakistan Economic Corridor but asserted that such risks are unavoidable as its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) goes global.
China had worked closely with Pakistan to rescue them but "the two may have unfortunately been killed", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing, stating that Pakistan has informed China about their deaths.
This incident will not have any connection with the BRI, nor with the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting being held in Astana, Hua said.
China has deployed hundreds of its workers to work for the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is being opposed by the Baloch nationalists.
Hua said contrary to reports the two were not married and hailed from different provinces in China.
Pakistan pays great attention to the protection of Chinese citizens in the institutions there and made great efforts for their security, she said.
After this incident, the Pakistan side had made their utmost efforts to rescue the hostage. Pakistan has also pledged to continue to take necessity actions to protect the Chinese citizens and institutions in the country, she said.
She, however, said Chinese people should be prepared to take risks as the multi-billion BRI spreads to different parts of the country. "As per BRI we should be prepared for risks if want to go global," she said.
"The world today is far from tranquil. In the process of promoting BRI it is inevitable that we will counter all kind of security issues and it should be taken seriously all the countries promoting economic cooperation," she said.
The ISIS claim came a day after the Pakistan Army said that it had carried out an operation against ISIS in Balochistan, killing at least 12 militants.
Local media had reported that the operation was launched after intelligence reports suggested that the militants were hiding there with the Chinese hostages.
Pakistan has been grappling with Islamist and nationalist insurgencies in Balochistan since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.
ISIS has been making inroads in Pakistan with the help of its ties with local militant outfits like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. However, the government has largely downplayed the presence of the dreaded terror outfit.
The Islamic State terror group has claimed that it had killed two Chinese hostages, including a woman, who were abducted by armed gunmen from Pakistan's restive Balochistan province recently.
The hostages were studying Urdu language at a local teaching center in the provincial capital of Quetta when they were forcibly kidnapped by unknown gunmen last month.
Another Chinese woman had escaped the abduction.
The ISIS on its propaganda news agency 'Amaq' uploaded a statement in Arabic yesterday, saying it had killed the two abducted Chinese nationals.
Confirming reports of the killing of its nationals, China today said the murders have not been connected to China- Pakistan Economic Corridor but asserted that such risks are unavoidable as its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) goes global.
China had worked closely with Pakistan to rescue them but "the two may have unfortunately been killed", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said in Beijing, stating that Pakistan has informed China about their deaths.
This incident will not have any connection with the BRI, nor with the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting being held in Astana, Hua said.
China has deployed hundreds of its workers to work for the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is being opposed by the Baloch nationalists.
Hua said contrary to reports the two were not married and hailed from different provinces in China.
Pakistan pays great attention to the protection of Chinese citizens in the institutions there and made great efforts for their security, she said.
After this incident, the Pakistan side had made their utmost efforts to rescue the hostage. Pakistan has also pledged to continue to take necessity actions to protect the Chinese citizens and institutions in the country, she said.
She, however, said Chinese people should be prepared to take risks as the multi-billion BRI spreads to different parts of the country. "As per BRI we should be prepared for risks if want to go global," she said.
"The world today is far from tranquil. In the process of promoting BRI it is inevitable that we will counter all kind of security issues and it should be taken seriously all the countries promoting economic cooperation," she said.
The ISIS claim came a day after the Pakistan Army said that it had carried out an operation against ISIS in Balochistan, killing at least 12 militants.
Local media had reported that the operation was launched after intelligence reports suggested that the militants were hiding there with the Chinese hostages.
Pakistan has been grappling with Islamist and nationalist insurgencies in Balochistan since 2004, with hundreds of soldiers and militants killed in the fighting.
ISIS has been making inroads in Pakistan with the help of its ties with local militant outfits like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. However, the government has largely downplayed the presence of the dreaded terror outfit.
