At least 31 people were killed and 169 injured in an explosion at a mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Friday, according to a city official, while gunmen killed more than 160 people in attacks on two villages in western Nigeria this week. The attacks in Pakistan and Nigeria are the latest in a series of violent events across the globe.
In Pakistan, the blast occurred during Friday prayers at a Shia mosque in the Tarlai area of Islamabad, according to police officials. Eyewitnesses told the BBC that gunfire preceded the explosion, which was caused by a suicide bomber who detonated a device after approaching the mosque gates. Emergency services declared an emergency and appealed for blood donations as hospitals began receiving the wounded. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the incident.
In Nigeria, the attacks took place in the villages of Woro and Nuku in Kwara state. A local politician reported that armed men rounded up residents, bound their hands, and shot them. Umar Bio Salihu, the local head of Woro, recounted the night of terror, stating that the attackers killed two of his sons and kidnapped his wife and three daughters. The attacks are the deadliest armed assaults in the country this year. The Nigerian military had launched an offensive against terrorist elements in Kwara state last month, according to The Guardian.
In other international news, a high-profile Russian general, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alexeyev, was shot several times and wounded in Moscow. The attack occurred in a residential block of flats on the north-western outskirts of the Russian capital. Alexeyev is number two in the main directorate of Russia's GRU military intelligence. He was placed under European Union and UK sanctions after the GRU was accused of being behind the 2018 nerve agent attack.
Meanwhile, senior US and Iranian officials held indirect talks in Oman amid a crisis that has raised fears of a military confrontation between the two countries. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi said the talks were a "good beginning," according to BBC World. The US negotiators were led by special envoy Steve Witkoff, while the Iranian team was headed by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
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