Suicide bombing kills 54 people in Pakistan

Indian man admits smuggling people from his country into US via Canada

New York: A 40-year-old Indian national living in Canada has pleaded guilty to smuggling several Indian nationals from Canada into the US for profit. Simranjit 'Shally' Singh admitted to six counts of alien smuggling and three counts of conspiracy to commit alien smuggling during an appearance in Albany, New York on Friday. At the request of the US government, Singh was taken into custody on June 28, 2022, in Ontario, Canada.

Islamabad: The death toll from the suicide blast in the Jamiat Ulema-e-IslamFazl (JUI-F) workers’ convention in Pakistan’s Bajaur rose to 54 after more of those wounded in the explosion succumbed to their injuries on Monday, media reports said.

A deadly blast ripped through Bajaur district’s Khar, a former tribal area bordering Afghanistan, on Sunday evening when a suicide bomber set off explosives at the JUI-F gathering, killing around 40 people on the spot and over 100 injured.

Police said the initial probe suggested that the terrorist organisation Daesh was behind the suicide attack.

Currently, 83 injured people are undergoing treatment at different hospitals, Geo News quoted Counter-Terrorism Department’s (CTD) Additional Inspector General Shokat Abbas as saying Sharing the investigation update, the official said the convention began at 2pm while the explosion occurred two hours later at 4:10pm.He said ball bearings and other stuff used in making the explosives had been found at the site of the explosion. Abbas further stated that the terrorist group behind the attack had been identified. It is suspected that the terrorists had targeted someone “specific” in the gathering.He said the initial probe had led the CTD close to the attack’s perpetrators. Abbas said many pieces of evidence have been found at the site of the explosion, and forensic reports are expected soon. He confirmed that 10-12kg of explosives were used in the blast. Meanwhile, the KP CTD registered an FIR against unknown suspects on charges of terrorism, murder, attempted murder and other offences, on behalf of Khar Station House Officer Niaz Mohammad.Separately, CTD’s Bajaur Senior Superintendent (SP) Amjad Khan said investigators visited the crime scene and gathered evidence to further the ongoing investigation. He said statements of the injured had been recorded while the process of geo-fencing at the site of the explosion had also been completed. The United States and Saudi Arabia condemned the deadly suicide blast, with Russia condoling the affected families. Pakistan has seen a resurgence of attacks by extremists since last year when a ceasefire between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamabad broke down. A mosque bombing in Peshawar killed over 100 people earlier this year.

A report submitted to the UN Security Council recently mentioned that the TTP might be seeking a merger with Al Qaeda to create an umbrella organisation that shelters all militant groups operating in South Asia.Pakistan has long blamed Afghanistan for not living up to its commitment to ensuring that its soil is not used for terrorism in Islamabad, but cross-border militancy continues. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and KP Caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan investigate the incident.

He was extradited from Canada to the US on March 30 this year, the US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of New York stated in a release. From March of 2020 through March of 2021, Singh admitted to facilitating the smuggling of several Indian nationals from Canada into the US, via Cornwall Island and the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation in the St Lawrence River region. Back in March, bodies of four Indian and four Romanian migrants were pulled from the St Lawrence River in Akwesasne -- some 120 kilometres west of Montreal and a perilous route for smuggling, according to authorities. Singh's plea agreement said that he arranged to move people into the US from India by flying them to Calgary, Toronto and Montreal, before transporting them to Cornwall in Ontario. He then moved the Indian nationals by boat across the St Lawrence River through Akwesasne, according to CBC News.According to documents released in April, some migrants told American law enforcement that Singh charged anywhere between $5,000 and $35,000 for facilitating their entry into the US. Singh's sentencing is scheduled for December 28, 2023, before US District Judge Mae A D’Agostino in Albany, New York. He faces a mandatory term of five years in prison which may go up to 15 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of up to three years. He will be subject to deportation following the conclusion of his sentence, which is determined by an immigration judge.

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