WORLD

 Riyadh, 6 October, 2026 (Kamran Raja): Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that three people sustained minor injuries after attacks targeted two airports in the southern part of the kingdom a day earlier, causing material damage. According to the General Authority of Civil Aviation, facilities at King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport were targeted. Emergency teams and relevant authorities responded immediately, and the injured were shifted to hospital for treatment. Authorities are assessing the damage and taking measures to ensure the safety of passengers, employees and the country’s civil aviation system. The attacks were not officially attributed to any group, although Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility for a series of...

Islamabad, 5 October, 2026 (Kamran Raja): Investigations are continuing into the background and alleged radicalisation of 29-year-old Omani national Hammam Al-Hammami, who is accused of attempting to hijack a Flydubai passenger aircraft travelling from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30. Authorities are examining when, where and through which channels the co-pilot may have developed extremist views, with Syria, Australia and his online activities emerging as possible areas of investigation. Al-Hammami previously joined Oman Air’s cadet pilot programme and began flying as a co-pilot in 2022. In 2024, Omani authorities reportedly raised concerns over his extremist views and possession of radical material, following which he was removed from flying duties and assigned administrative responsibi...

 Kabul, 4 October, 2026 (Kamran Raja): The Afghanistan United Front (AUF) has claimed that it carried out 68 operations against the Taliban regime during September, resulting in the deaths of 102 Taliban personnel and injuries to 48 others. According to the group, Taliban security, intelligence and administrative installations were targeted across Kandahar, Badakhshan, Baghlan, Helmand, Zabul, Paktia and Mazar-e-Sharif, reflecting what it described as an expansion of resistance activities across several Afghan provinces. The United Front also released a video of an alleged operation in the Sarband area of Arghandab district in Kandahar, claiming that its forces killed a Taliban police officer. In a statement posted on X on Saturday, October 3, the group said the operation took pla...

 Kyiv, 4 October, 2026 (Kamran Raja): German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Kyiv on Sunday in a show of solidarity with Ukraine as Russia intensified aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities. Merz, making his second visit to Kyiv as chancellor, said Germany would continue to support Ukraine and warned that Russia’s war machine could eventually threaten other European countries if Moscow was not stopped. Germany has provided Ukraine with more than €43.3 billion in aid, equipment and weapons since the war began. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Germany for its support, saying the two countries would reach important agreements aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s defenses and broader European security. Merz and Zelenskyy visited a damaged building of the National Academy o...

 Sanaa, 4 October, 2026 (Kamran Raja): The Yemeni army has claimed that at least 700 Houthi fighters were killed in 257 military operations conducted across several fronts in Yemen. Military spokesman Colonel Majed al-Nazili said in a statement that government forces carried out the operations using fighter jets, drones, artillery, missiles and rocket launchers. He said the operations targeted Houthi positions in Sanaa, Midi, Baqim, Al Jawf, Marib, Al Bayda and Lahj, with major military efforts concentrated on the Taiz fronts. The targets included command-and-control centers, troop concentrations, military equipment and stockpiles, weapons and ammunition depots, as well as military supply routes and transportation networks. According to preliminary battlefield assessments, at leas...

 TOKYO, 4 October, 2026 (Nosheen): Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has lodged a strong protest with the United States after a US Marine was arrested on suspicion of robbing and murdering a Japanese woman in Okinawa. Twenty-year-old Marine Devin Jacob Ballard is suspected of killing 39-year-old Anna Yagi at a hotel in Naha, the capital of Okinawa, on Saturday and taking her wallet and backpack, according to Japanese police. Ballard has denied the allegations. Prime Minister Takaichi described the incident as extremely regrettable and said Japan strongly protests to the US side, seeking maximum cooperation with the investigation, stricter discipline and comprehensive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. The US Embassy and the US Marine Corps expressed condolen...

TEHRAN, 4 October, 2026 (Ghufran): Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi has urged US President Donald Trump to learn from the experience of the conflict with Iran and accept Tehran’s conditions. In a statement, Mohebbi claimed that Trump had failed to achieve his objectives during the conflict and said the United States faced economic and political difficulties throughout the war. He alleged that the US government’s primary concern was Israel rather than the American people. The IRGC spokesman also criticized Trump’s “America First” policy, saying the US president had pledged to prioritize American interests but was instead giving precedence to Israel. He further claimed that the US military could not successfully fight countries possessing o...

 Riyadh, 3 October, 2026 (Nosheen): Saudi authorities have denied reports of a suicide bomber at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, saying security forces arrested a man for harassing passersby and causing fear and panic. In a statement, Saudi security authorities said there was no truth to claims circulating on social media that a suspected suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest had approached the Kaaba before being arrested. Authorities provided no further details about the detained man. Separately, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said the group had attacked a power distribution station in Madinah that supplies electricity to the Prophet’s Mosque. The coalition said the attack damaged one transformer but did not disrupt the wider power network. A Houthi military sour...

 Sanaa, 3 October 2026 (Ghufran): Yemen has witnessed its widest military escalation in three weeks between government forces and the Houthi group, with fighting intensifying in the southwestern provinces of Taiz and Lahej as the displacement crisis continued to worsen. According to government data, nearly 198,000 people have been displaced since military operations intensified in July. The army said it had foiled a major Houthi attack on several fronts in Taiz and Lahej and carried out six airstrikes targeting Houthi positions and vehicles. Fierce clashes were also reported in several areas of Taiz, with government forces claiming to have inflicted casualties and equipment losses on the Houthis. In a separate development, government forces reportedly thwarted a Houthi attack in t...

Tehran, 3 October, 2026 (Kamran Raja): Five personnel of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in a roadside bomb blast in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan, Iranian media reported. The IRGC’s Ground Forces Quds Headquarters said the explosion occurred as a security forces convoy was travelling along a road in the province. Following the blast, security operations were launched in the area to identify, pursue and arrest those responsible. The IRGC described the attackers as terrorists but did not identify any specific organisation or group as being behind the bombing. Iranian authorities said the incident followed recent clashes in the area, during which security forces reported killing several armed individuals. Sistan-Baluchestan, which borders Pakista...