Pakistan alleged Saturday that anti-state militants operating out of “terrorist camps” inside Iran are behind this week’s slaying of 14 security personnel in a remote southwestern Pakistani region, and Islamabad has formally shared “credible” evidence with Tehran so action can be taken against the perpetrators.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi revealed the details at news conference in the Pakistani capital, saying Prime Minister Imran Khan will further discuss the issue with Iranian leaders during his first official visit to the neighboring country that begins Sunday.

The deadly attack happened Thursday in the Gwadar border district, where officials say a group of up to 20 assailants disguised as Pakistani paramilitary forces stopped several passenger buses on the coastal highway, and then went through identification cards of all the passengers before abducting and spraying 14 of them with bullets.

Qureshi said the slain men included 10 navy personnel, three air force officers and a coast guard official. He noted that assailants linked to a newly-formed alliance of three ethnic Baluch “terrorist organizations” carried out the “dastardly act” before returning to their “training and logistical camps” on the Iranian side of the border.

“After collecting and verifying actionable evidence through our internal investigations, we have shared it with authorities in Iran. We have also identified location of these camps and expect that our brotherly neighbor Iran will take action against these organizations,” the Pakistani foreign minister said.

The militant coalition Bras (meaning brothers in local language) took responsibility for the highway violence. It also has plotted attacks against Pakistani security forces, as well as government installations in violence-hit Baluchistan province, where Gwadar is located. The natural-resource rich Pakistani region also borders Afghanistan.

Qureshi said he telephoned Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif earlier in the day and received solid assurances from Zarif that Tehran is ready to fully cooperate with Islamabad to bring the militants to justice.

The Pakistani foreign minister said the two sides agreed to bolster security along their common border of more than 900-kilometers to stop terrorist infiltration in either direction. He explained that in addition to deploying additional forces and helicopter surveillance, Pakistan already has begun fencing the “most vulnerable” portions of the border with Iran.

For its part, Tehran routinely alleges that Jaish-e-Adl, a dissident Sunni militant organization of Iranian Baluch, uses hideouts on Pakistani soil to orchestrate “terrorist” violence in its border region known as Sistan-Baluchistan.

Qureshi said Saturday that Pakistani security forces, acting on Iranian request, recently rescued and sent back home nine of the 12 Iranian border guards who had been abducted and brought to the Pakistani side of the border.

Jaish-e-Adl took responsibly for the hostage taking. Iran alleges the terrorist organization receives support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, charges both countries reject.

Foreign minister Qureshi also called on Afghan authorities to act against Baluch fugitives, saying Pakistan has “concrete” evidence the militants also are using the neighboring country’s soil to plot cross-border terrorism. Kabul did not offer any immediate reaction to the charges but it previously has denied such allegations made by Islamabad.

 
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Islamic State attacks on the Syrian army and allied militias in central Syria have killed 35 soldiers over two days, a war monitor said early Saturday.

Although Islamic State lost its last territorial enclave in Syria at Baghuz near the Iraqi border last month to U.S.-backed forces, it still has fighters holding out in the remote central desert.

The monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the attacks constituted Islamic State’s biggest military operation since losing Baghuz and involved assaults in several parts of central Syria.

The most intense attack was in the al-Koum area north of the ancient desert city of Palmyra, the Observatory said, where Islamic State militants killed 15 Syrian army and allied soldiers.

Islamic State said in a message on its Amaq news outlet Friday that it had killed 20 Syrian soldiers and injured others in the al-Sukhna region between Palmyra and Deir al-Zor in an ambush and clashes.

Syrian state news outlets did not carry any reports of Islamic State attacks or of deaths among pro-government forces in clashes with the militant group.
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Egyptians are voting Saturday on constitutional amendments that allow Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office until 2030. The voting comes less that a week after parliament approved the changes.

Expatriate Egyptians began voting Friday.

If passed, the amendments also would deepen presidential powers and military presence within communities. The presidential term would be increased from four to six years and Sissi would be allowed to run for a third term in 2024.

Supporters of the referendum have hailed the vote as a national duty, but critics charge that the vote is simply a power-grab in a country where political diversity has dissolved almost completely.

Organized opposition is almost nonexistent, with many leading public figures, businesses and media houses firmly in league with the current government.

Officials promised to announce the results by April 27 and say if the measure passes, they will implement the constitutional reforms swiftly.

Many of the amendments pertain to the government’s structure, creating new positions and increasing the number of presidential appointees. The Egyptian military, which already wields tremendous economic and political power in Egypt, also will increase its role in criminal justice, if the referendum passes.
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The White House said on Friday that President Donald Trump spoke by phone on Monday to Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar and discussed “ongoing counterterrorism efforts and the need to achieve peace and stability in Libya.”

The statement said Trump “recognized Field Marshal Haftar’s significant role in fighting terrorism and securing Libya’s oil resources, and the two discussed a shared vision for Libya’s transition to a stable, democratic political system.”

It was unclear why the White House waited several days to announce the phone call.

On Thursday, both the United States and Russia said they could not support a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Libya at this time.

Also on Thursday, mortar bombs crashed down on a suburb of Tripoli, almost hitting a clinic, after two weeks of an offensive by Haftar’s eastern troops on the Libyan capital, which is held by an internationally recognized government.

Trump arrived on Thursday at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, for the Easter weekend.

Russia objects to the British-drafted resolution blaming Haftar for the latest flare-up in violence when his Libyan National Army (LNA) advanced to the outskirts of Tripoli earlier this month, diplomats said.

The United States did not give a reason for its decision not to support the draft resolution, which would also call on countries with influence over the warring parties to ensure compliance and for unconditional humanitarian aid access in Libya. The country has been gripped by anarchy since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011.

White House national security adviser John Bolton also spoke recently to Haftar.

Jalel Harchaoui, research fellow at the Clingendael Institute international relations think tank in The Hague, said the Trump phone call was tantamount to supporting Haftar’s operation and thus is “creating an environment where a military intervention by foreign states, like Egypt, is likelier.”

“One reason behind Trump’s phone call is that Haftar’s army has revealed itself less powerful than the Libyan strongman had claimed,” Harchaoui said.

Haftar was among officers who helped Colonel Muammar Gaddafi rise to power in 1969 but fell out with him during Libya’s war with Chad in the 1980s. Haftar was taken prisoner by the

Chadians and had to be rescued by the CIA after having worked from Chad to overthrow Gaddafi.

He lived for around 20 years in the U.S. state of Virginia before returning home in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising that ousted Gaddafi.

 
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