Two NATO soldiers killed in latest insider attack

Unfriendly fire

Two NATO soldiers were shot and killed in Helmand Province on Tuesday by a man wearing an Afghan National Police (ANP) uniform, in the latest "insider attack" (BBC, AP, Reuters, AFP). An Afghan police official identified the two NATO service members as British soldiers, though International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) officials declined to confirm that.

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission said Tuesday that the Afghan presidential election is set to be held on April 5, 2014, seven months before the deadline at the end of that year for the withdrawal of all NATO combat troops (AFP).

Deadly crash

At least 24 people died in a massive accident in the central Pakistani city of Bahawalpur on Tuesday, when a passenger van collided with a truck (CNN, ET, AFP, The News). Meanwhile, police in the port city of Karachi arrested four members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan on Tuesday, after earlier detaining three arms smugglers and their extensive cache of drugs and weapons (ET).

Pakistani police said Monday that they are searching for two boys in connection with the shooting of Malala Yousufzai earlier this month, as well as the primary suspect, 23-year-old Attaullah Khan (CNN). The boys are suspected of distracting the driver of the van in which Malala was shot, and asking another student to point out Malala. Ministers from Britain, Pakistan, and the UAE visited Malala on Monday at the Birmingham hospital where she is recovering, where they all lauded her bravery and quick recovery (Dawn).

The Post’s Richard Leiby published a must-read this weekend on the brother of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the extremist Pakistani cleric on whom the United States has placed a $10 million bounty (Post). Saeed’s brother, Hafiz Mohammad Masood, is also a cleric, but he lived in the Boston area for 21 years, where he worked with a local rabbi to promote religious tolerance.

Encouraging signs

The Indian Home Ministry has reportedly given permission for a Pakistan-India cricket series to take place in India in late December, in what would be the first bilateral series between the two nations since 2007 (ESPN). The matches will take place in Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Bangalore, but will skip Mumbai, where the massive 2008 terrorist attack took place.

— Jennifer Rowland