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QUETTA: Separate blasts in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province killed at least 11 people, officials said on Friday.

Militancy has been rising in mineral-rich Balochistan, which sits on the border with Afghanistan and Iran, and it has been met with a sweeping counter-terrorism crackdown.

A suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden car into a convoy of paramilitary soldiers in Dasht, on Pakistan’s southwestern tip near Iran, on Thursday.

Two local government officials told AFP that three troops were among five people killed. The attack was claimed by separatist group the Baloch Liberation Army.

Another blast near an Afghan border crossing in the province killed six laborers on Thursday night, local government official Imtiaz Ali Baloch told AFP.

Separatists have been fighting a decade-long insurgency against the Pakistan military with the aim of what they say ending discrimination against the Baloch people.

Human rights groups say the crackdown has included rights abuses such as arbitrary detentions and arrests of local people.

Fifteen people were killed this month in a suicide bombing claimed by the Daesh (Islamic State) group at a political rally in the provincial capital Quetta.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday regretted inability of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to adopt a draft resolution seeking a ceasefire and delivery of humanitarian aid in Gaza, after the United States (US) vetoed it.

The draft resolution, tabled by the 10 elected members of the 15-member council, received 14 votes in favor. It was the sixth time since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza nearly two years ago that the US has used the power of veto it holds as one of the five permanent members of the council.

Washington has consistently argued that the UN ceasefire resolutions risk undermining peace negotiations on the ground. Critics accuse US authorities of shielding Israel from international accountability.

Speaking at the meeting, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, the resolution provided an opportunity to act in the face of “unprecedented brutality and devastation, and mass displacement in Gaza, as the Israeli ground invasion intensifies.”

“A clear majority of this Council has consistently demanded urgent action to stop the carnage in Gaza. And, we have fulfilled our part of the responsibility. What prevented the Council from acting was the exercise of the veto. That carries a heavy responsibility. And that is where the apology must lie,” Ahmad said.

“In moments of such grave human suffering, preventing the Council from fulfilling its mandate risks being seen as enabling the continuation of that suffering. Those who have chosen this course must review their position.”

The draft resolution expressed alarm at reports of a growing famine and worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, condemned the use of starvation as a weapon of war, and voiced concern over the expansion of Israeli military operations.

It demanded three key measures: an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire agreement respected by all parties; immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups; and the lifting of all Israeli restrictions on the entry and distribution of humanitarian aid, alongside the restoration of essential services in Gaza, where nearly 65,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 2023.

Ahmad lamented that the people of Gaza are trapped between relentless bombardment and a suffocating blockade.

“Children are starving. Hospitals have collapsed. Families have no water, no medicine, no shelter. The occupation army has subjected Gaza City to its most punishing attacks in two years of war, sending thousands of residents fleeing under bombs and bullets amid fear that they might never return,” he said.

“This is not a tragedy unfolding in silence — it is happening before the eyes of the world, in plain sight, live on our screens and the front pages of newspapers.”

The Pakistani envoy reiterated the call for an end to all Israeli military operations in Gaza, demanding full, unimpeded access to humanitarian aid through multiple entry and distribution points.

“Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their just struggle for self-determination, dignity, and justice,” Ahmad added.