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Attacks on a security post and ambulances in northwest Pakistan leave 3 dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A paramilitary post in northwestern Pakistan came under attack on Monday when a drone loaded with explosives wounded several officers, according to police and local officials.

The attackers later ambushed two ambulances being used to transport the wounded, killing three officers and wounding two rescuers.

The assault took place in Karak, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, district police spokesman Shaukat Khan said. A search is underway for the attackers.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP.

Khan said Khawarij — a term used by the government for the outlawed Pakistani Taliban — has in recent months used drones to target security posts, raising concerns about the growing sophistication of such attacks.

Pakistan’s military killed at least 70 militants on Sunday in strikes along the Afghan border, targeting what authorities described as hideouts of Pakistani militants they blamed for recent attacks inside the country.

The TTP is separate from, but closely allied with, Afghanistan’s Taliban. Islamabad has accused the group of operating from inside Afghanistan, a charge both the TTP and Kabul deny.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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