On Friday, a Shi’ite mosque in northern Afghanistan was the target of a suicide explosion that claimed the lives of at least 7 people, according to a government official.

“A Shi’ite mosque has been bombed,” an official, Mawlawi Hashimi, confirmed to Reuters in the province of Baghlan, where the incident occurred.

He added that all fifteen injured were Shi’ites and that the attack in the Baghlan city of Pul e Khumri claimed the lives of seven individuals during prayer.

No immediate claim of culpability was made.

Also read:Mexican Senate president ties Rakhi to PM Modi during P20 summit

The Taliban administration in Afghanistan has been confronted with an insurgency led by Islamic State militants, who in recent months have claimed responsibility for a string of deadly assaults against Taliban security forces, foreigners, and civilians.

The post Suicide blast at mosque kills 7 in northern Afghanistan appeared first on Republic Aeon.

It is believed that the earthquake’s epicentre is about 418 kilometres to the northwest of the Gulmarg district in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to the GFZ, the earthquake occurred 189 km below the surface.

Some people on social media expressed their belief that the earthquake’s aftershocks might be felt in New Delhi and other cities in northern India, as well as areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

An intense shaking was reported in Kabul, which is the capital of Afghanistan. The earthquake was also felt in Islamabad, as well as sections of northern Pakistan and New Delhi, according to witnesses who spoke to Reuters from each site.

Up until this point, there has been no word of any injuries or property damage.

According to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), an earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale struck the Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) in the early morning hours of Sunday.

Also read this:Soldier injured as patrolling party attacked in J-K’s Kulgam

Earlier on November 12, tremors from an earthquake could be felt across the Delhi-National Capital Region. The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) reports that the earthquake that struck Nepal on November 12 at 7:57 p.m. local time had a Richter scale value of 5.4. According to the NCS, the depth of the earthquake was 10 km below the ground.

The post Earthquake tremors felt in Delhi-NCR appeared first on Republic Aeon.

According to the police, Associated Press reported that a former member of the Afghan parliament and her bodyguard were shot dead at her residence by unidentified assailants. According to authorities, Mursal Nabizada was attacked at her home in Kabul, the capital. She was one of the few female lawmakers to remain in Kabul after the Taliban took over in August 2021 as a result of the US pullout.

The tragedy also marks the first assassination of a former administration MP in Kabul since the Taliban took power.

🖤 Mursal Nabizada, woman parliamentarian in #Afghanistan, was brutally killed alongside her bodyguard in her home, in #Kabul.

I am sad and angry and want the world to know! She was killed in darkness, but the #Taleban build their system of Gender Apartheid in full daylight. pic.twitter.com/7bCPYQpUZs

— Hannah Neumann (@HNeumannMEP) January 15, 2023

According to news source Associates Press, the local police head Molvi Hamidullah Khalid stated that Mursal Nabizada and her guard were shot dead in the same room at around 3 am on Saturday. A second security guard was wounded in the shooting of Mursal Nabizada’s brother, and a third security guard fled the scene carrying cash and jewellery, according to the police.

Also read: ‘Shameful For A Nuclear Power To Beg’: Pakistani Prime Minister During Financial Crisis

Mursal Nabizada passed away on the first floor of the home she used as her workplace, according to the police, who also added that additional inquiries are being conducted. The shooting’s motivation has not yet been determined.

2019 saw the election of Mursal Nabizada as Kabul’s representative. She held onto her position until the Taliban took over. She also served on the legislative defence commission and was employed by the Institute for Human Resources Development and Research, a private non-governmental organisation.

The post Former Afghan politician who remained in Kabul after the Taliban took control was shot and killed. appeared first on Republic Aeon.

The Afghan government, which is run by the Taliban, has made a deal with a Chinese company to get oil from the Amu Darya basin and build an oil reserve in the northern province of Sar-e Pul.

Sheikh Shahabuddin Delawar, who is acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum, and an official from Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co (CAPEIC) signed the contract on Thursday at a ceremony in the capital, Kabul.

It was the first big deal between the Taliban government and a foreign company for extracting public goods since the Taliban took power in 2021.

The #Taliban regime in #Afghanistan has signed an oil extraction agreement with #China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co, the country’s first major foreign deal since the Taliban seized control in 2021. https://t.co/GPFFvpmCbT

— The Epoch Times – China Insider (@EpochTimesChina) January 7, 2023

State-run Bakhtar News Agency said that acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu were also at the signing ceremony.

“Recently, the Economic Commission approved a number of projects, and when they are carried out, important steps will be taken for the country’s prosperity and the public good,” the agency said Baradar said.

“We ask the company to keep going with the process so that it meets international standards and is in the best interest of the people of Sar-e Pul,” he said.

Delawar spoke at the event and said that under the deal, the Chinese company will get oil from an area that is 4,500 square kilometres (1,737 square miles) in size and is spread out over the northern provinces of Sar-e Pul, Jawzjan, and Faryab.

“This project will give jobs to more than 3,000 people in the area,” he said.

The Chinese envoy said that the deal was important for the war-torn country’s economy and a step in the right direction toward better ties between Kabul and Beijing.

Wang Yu said, “The Amu Darya oil contract is a big project between China and Afghanistan.”

Under the contract, CAPEIC will put $150 million a year into Afghanistan, said Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the government run by the Taliban.

He said that over the 25-year contract, the company would have to spend $540 million more in three years.

The government that is run by the Taliban will have a 20% stake in the project, which can be raised to 75%, he said.

In 2012, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), a state-owned company, made a deal with Afghanistan’s former government, which was backed by the United States, to get oil from the Amu Darya basin in the northern provinces of Faryab and Sar-e Pul.

At the time, it was thought that Amu Darya held up to 87 million barrels of crude oil. Delawar said that processing the oil in Afghanistan was a part of the deal.

Baradar said at a news conference on Thursday that another Chinese company, which he didn’t name, stopped extracting after the last government fell, so a deal was made with CAPEIC.

Afghanistan is thought to have untapped resources worth more than $1 trillion, which has piqued the interest of some foreign investors. However, decades of conflict have made it hard to use these resources in a big way.

A Chinese company owned by the government is also in talks with the government led by the Taliban about running a copper mine in the eastern part of the province of Logar. This is another deal that was first made with the previous government.

China hasn’t officially recognised the Taliban government, but it has a lot of stakes in a country in the middle of an important region for its Belt and Road infrastructure project.

China has set a new precedent, low & dangerous by signing a deal with a group which isn't a govt, its cabinet is on terror list & more importantly d Amu Darya isn't a constituency of HQN or Talibs.The funds will be used for opression of specfic ppl.https://t.co/XudLWgeNCA

— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) January 6, 2023

The post Afghanistan signs oil extraction deal with Chinese company appeared first on Republic Aeon.