US airstrike kills 3 Afghan policemen

Pakistan’s population booms

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, June 10, (Agencies): At least three Afghan policemen were killed and two wounded when an American military aircraft opened fire during an operation in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Saturday.

The so-called “friendly fire” incident occurred overnight, during a raid in Afghanistan’s restive Helmand province, the US military command in Kabul said in a statement.

The officers, members of the Afghan Border Police, were killed when a US aircraft “returned fire” during the operation, which included Afghan and American special forces, a military spokesman said.

Taleban insurgents have made widespread gains in Helmand, seizing many of the province’s districts and threatening the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

Hundreds of US Marines recently arrived in Helmand to take over an advising mission as part of the NATO-led coalition training and assisting Afghan forces.

American troops, including special forces, also carry out separate counterterrorism missions.

Airstrikes by American warplanes have greatly increased in recent months, as US President Donald Trump considers requests from military commanders for thousands more international troops.

Trump

Pakistan’s population booms:

Three men who have fathered nearly 100 children among them are doing their bit for Pakistan’s skyrocketing population, which is being counted for the first time in 19 years.

But in a country where experts warn the surging populace is gouging into hard-won economic gains and social services, the three patriarchs are unconcerned. Allah, they say, will provide.

Pakistan has the highest birth rate in South Asia at around three children per woman, according to the World Bank and government figures, and the census is expected to show that growth remains high.

Tribal enmity is another factor in the northwest, where the 57-year-old lives in the city of Bannu with his third wife, who is pregnant.

Gunmen attack mosque, killing 3:

The Interior Ministry says at least three civilians have been shot and killed by gunmen inside a mosque in eastern Afghanistan.

In a statement released Saturday the ministry says that nine others were wounded in the attack Friday night in Gardez, the capital of Paktia province.

The ministry strongly condemned the attack and called it an act against Islam and humanity. It said the civilians were attacked while praying.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taleban and Haqqani network are active in Paktia and neighboring provinces and often target government officials as well as Afghan security forces in the region. (AP)

Indian soldiers kill 5 in Kashmir:

Indian soldiers killed five suspected rebels Friday in a shoot-out near the de facto border that divides disputed Kashmir with Pakistan, the army said.

Troops deployed along the heavily militarised frontier known as the Line of Control (LOC) shot and killed the suspected fighters when they tried to cross into Indian-administered Kashmir.

An operation to counter the infiltration bid was still underway in Uri, some 100 kms (60 miles) northwest of the summer capital of Kashmir, the army said in a statement.

The deaths came a day after Indian soldiers killed three suspected rebels in an exchange of fire, which also killed one soldier.

‘Bikini killer’ to have heart surgery’:

A notorious French criminal who earned the nickname “bikini killer” for a string of murders throughout Asia in the 1970s, was in a Nepali hospital Friday, where he is expected to undergo open heart surgery, sources said.

Charles Sobhraj, 73, who is currently serving a life sentence, was taken to hospital for tests, his lawyer and mother-in-law Sakuntala Thapa told AFP.

The ageing conman — who has been implicated in more than 20 killings — needs to have one of the valves in his heart replaced, said Jyotendra Sharma, director of Sahid Gangalal National Heart Centre, where the surgery will take place.