Suicide bomber at Afghan funeral kills at least 25

Reprisal attack

A suicide bomber killed at least 25 people on Tuesday at a funeral attended by several hundred villagers in the Durbaba district of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar (NYT, Reuters, BBC, AP, AJE, AFP). A spokesman for the local police said the target had been district governor Hamisha Gul, who escaped with injuries, because he and his relatives had recently fought against Taliban insurgents in the area.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday that the military alliance will "do everything it takes" to stop "insider attacks" on NATO service members by Afghan security forces, which spiked last month with at least 12 such incidents (AP). The spokesman for Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday that the Afghan army has already fired or arrested hundreds of soldiers found to have links with insurgents, in their own efforts to stem the rise in the insider attacks (Reuters). 

And a NATO helicopter crashed in the eastern Afghan province of Logar on Wednesday, killing two service members on board (AFP). The Taliban claimed to have shot down the aircraft, but they often exaggerate claims about their operations, and the crash is still under investigation.

Drug lord

Reuters’ Matthew Green published a must-read on Wednesday revealing how Imam Bheel, the Pakistani head of a heroin cartel, has avoided detention or prosecution despite being designated by the White House as an international narcotics "kingpin," and being linked to the murder in March of a prominent Pakistani administrator in Karachi (Reuters).

Pakistan’s only Christian minister, Paul Bhatti, told the Telegraph on Tuesday that the country’s blasphemy law does not need to be reformed, but that authorities must end its "misuse," citing the recent case against a young, mentally challenged Christian Pakistani girl as an example of such abuse (Tel).

A suicide bomber detonated his vest outside a police station in Lower Dir as officers opened fire on him on Wednesday, killing nobody but himself (AFP). And U.S. authorities will reportedly take the lead on investigating the suicide car bombing in Peshawar on Monday that killed two Pakistani bystanders and injured two American diplomats (AFP).

The biggest losers

At the beginning of June, the Inspector General (IG) of the Punjab police force gave his officers an ultimatum: lose some weight, or lose your jobs (ET). Trainers were provided to help the officers with large bellies take on "excessive exercise" in order to bring their waists down below 38 inches, as required by the IG.

— Jennifer Rowland