At least nine people were killed and 27 others wounded as security forces repulsed attacks by Taliban militants in Pul-e-Khumri city, capital of northern Baghlan province, on Sunday, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.

The clashes erupted after Taliban militants carried out attacks before dawn on positions of the security forces in Hussain Khil and Zaman Khil localities of Pul-e-Khumri.

[Read more…]

An army helicopter buzzes overhead and ambulances travel up wet empty roads in Myanmar’s northeast, ferrying aid to thousands of residents displaced by fresh clashes between ethnic armed groups and the military.

Burnt-out cars and bullet casings lie along the road to Shan State’s Kutkai: a town ringed by mountains, poppy fields, and a patchwork of ethnic armed groups fighting for more autonomy and control over land and resources.

[Read more…]

Who controls Papua and West Papua?

Papua and West Papua form the western half of the island of New Guinea (the eastern half is the nation of Papua New Guinea).

The region was known as Irian Jaya until 2000, before the provinces were renamed in 2003 as Papua and West Papua.

[Read more…]

China on Monday criticized recent attacks by an alliance of ethnic armed groups on police and military outposts in northern Myanmar’s Shan State, saying the actions derail the country’s peace process and create instability in the region.

At a press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said China “strongly condemned” the attacks carried by the Northern Alliance (NA), an alliance of the ethnic armed groups the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).

[Read more…]

The suicide bomber stood in the middle of the dancing, clapping crowd as hundreds of Afghan children and adults celebrated a wedding in a joyous release from Kabul’s strain of war.

Then, in a flash, he detonated his explosives-filled vest, killing dozens — and Afghanistan grieved again.

[Read more…]