Taleban leader captured
4 climbers found dead
QUETTA, Pakistan, May 24, (Agencies): Pakistan has arrested a Taleban militant leader authorities describe as the “mastermind” behind three major attacks in Baluchistan, a spokesman for the government of the restive southwestern province said on Wednesday.
Militant and separatist violence has long riven Baluchistan, which has rich reserves of natural gas, copper and gold, and is at the heart of a $57-billion Chinese-funded “Belt and Road” trade and development initiative.
Pakistan blames neighbours Afghanistan and India for fomenting an ethnic insurgency in the province, besides aiding the Pakistani Taleban, a movement separate from, but allied with, the Afghan Taleban aiming to topple the Afghan government.
2 Chinese kidnapped:
Armed men kidnapped two Chinese language teachers in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Wednesday, provincial officials said, an attack likely to raise concerns in Beijing about its huge investment plans.
China’s ambassador to Pakistan and other officials have urged Islamabad to improve security, especially in the province of Baluchistan, where China is building a new port and funding roads as part of the $57 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that will connect western China with Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast.
Search resumes for 4:
Rescuers on Wednesday found another three bodies as they resumed searching for people missing after a bus plunged into a river in mountainous northern India, killing at least 20 Hindu pilgrims.
Police officer Mahadev Uniyal said that rescuers recovered 19 bodies and one person died in a hospital. Six people who were injured in Tuesday’s crash were still hospitalized.
4 climbers found dead:
Rescuers found the bodies of four climbers on Mount Everest, an expedition organiser said Wednesday, taking the season’s death toll to 10 as experts warn cut-price mountaineering outfits are putting clients at risk.
The climbers were found inside a tent at camp four — at 7,950 metres (26,085 feet) — on Tuesday by a rescue team who were there to retrieve the body of a Slovak climber who died on the mountain on Sunday.