Page 5 - AHATA

A6 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 31 January 2023
Pakistan mosque suicide bomber kills 59, wounds over 150

By RIAZ KHAN long used as its base. More
Associated Press than 300 worshippers were
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) praying in the mosque, with
— A suicide bomber struck more approaching, when
a crowded mosque inside the bomber set off his ex-
a police compound in Pak- plosives vest.
istan on Monday, causing Many were injured when
the roof to collapse and kill- the roof came down, ac-
ing at least 59 people and cording to Zafar Khan, a
wounding more than 150 police officer, and rescuers
others, officials said. had to remove mounds of
Most of the casualties were debris to reach worship-
police officers. It was not pers still trapped under the
clear how the bomber was rubble.
able to slip into the walled Meena Gul, who was in the
compound, which houses mosque when the bomb
the police headquarters in went off, said he doesn’t
the northwestern city of Pe- know how he survived un-
shawar and is itself located hurt. The 38-year-old po-
in a high-security zone with lice officer said he heard
other government build- cries and screams after the
ings. blast.
Sarbakaf Mohmand, a Security officials and rescue workers gather at the site of suicide bombing, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Mohammad Asim, a
commander for the Paki- Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. Associated Press spokesman at the main
stani Taliban, claimed re- government hospital in
sponsibility for the attack condolences to families ligence officers, including The militant group, also Peshawar, put the death
on Twitter. The main spokes- of the victims, saying their the director of the counter- known as Tehreek-e-Tal- toll at 59, with 157 others
man for the militant group pain “cannot be described terrorism wing of the coun- iban Pakistan or TTP, is sep- wounded. Police official
was not immediately avail- in words.” try’s military-based spy arate from but a close ally Siddique Khan the bomb-
able for comment. Pakistan, which is mostly agency Inter-Services In- of the Afghan Taliban. The er blew himself up while
“The sheer scale of the hu- Sunni Muslim, has seen a telligence. Security officials TTP has waged an insurgen- among the worshippers.
man tragedy is unimagi- surge in militant attacks said Monday the gunman cy in Pakistan in the past 15 Senior police and govern-
nable. This is no less than since November, when the was traced and killed in a years, seeking stricter en- ment officials attended the
an attack on Pakistan,” Pakistani Taliban ended shootout in the northwest forcement of Islamic laws, funerals of 30 police officers
tweeted Prime Minister their cease-fire with gov- near the Afghan border. the release of its members and arrangements to bury
Shahbaz Sharif, who visited ernment forces. Monday’s assault on a Sun- in government custody the rest were being made.
the wounded in Peshawar Earlier this month, in another ni mosque inside the po- and a reduction in the Coffins were wrapped in
and vowed “stern action” attack claimed by the Paki- lice facility was one of the Pakistani military presence the Pakistani flag their bod-
against those behind the stani Taliban, a gunman deadliest attacks on secu- in areas of Khyber Pakh- ies were later handed over
bombing. He expressed his shot and killed two intel- rity forces in recent years. tunkhwa province it has to relatives for burials. q

Germany pledges $222 million for Brazil environment, Amazon

FABIANO MAISONNAVE ny and Norway froze their “Despite all the difficulties, holds 20% of the world’s fresh water.q
SAO PAULO (AP) — Ger- donations. the increase in deforesta-
man development minister “With the new government tion, the land grabbing, the
Svenja Schulze announced and the team of President fires, the dire state of the In-
Monday that her govern- Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and digenous populations, we
ment will make 204 million (environment) minister Ma- see this as an opportunity
euros ($222 million) avail- rina Silva, we have a great to reverse this whole situa-
able for environmental pol- chance to protect the for- tion,” Silva said during the
icies in Brazil. est and to offer a new per- press conference.
Of this total, $38 million is a spective to the people who Lula, who took office in
donation to the Amazon live there,” Schulze said. January, pledged to end
Fund, Schulze told report- Under Bolsonaro, defores- all deforestation by 2030.
ers in capital Brasilia. It is tation in Brazil’s Amazon His four-year term ends in
the most important interna- reached a 15-year high December 2026.
tional cooperation effort to as he dismantled environ- The Amazon, which cov-
preserve the Amazon rain- mental protection policies ers an area twice the size
forest, and is mostly funded in favor of agribusiness ex- of India, acts as a buffer
by Norway. In 2019, former pansion. against climate change
far-right President Jair Bol- Germany also pledged to because its trees absorb
sonaro, who considered provide $87 million in low- large amounts of carbon
the Amazon an internal interest loans for farmers dioxide, and roughly two-
affair, dissolved the steer- to restore degraded areas thirds of the Amazon rain- Germany’s Economic Cooperation and Development Minister
ing committee that selects and $34 million for Amazon forest lies in Brazil. Svenja Schulze, right, shakes hands with Brazil’s Environment
sustainable projects to fi- states to protect the rain- It is also the most biodiverse Minister Marina Silva after giving statements to the press in
nance. In reaction, Germa- forest. forest in the world and Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 30, 2023.
Associated Press