VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

One person was killed on Friday in a suicide bomb attack near the Kabul office of the Hezb-e-Islami party, former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, said, the same day as an apparent failed assassination attempt at the Pakistan Embassy.

Multiple attackers were killed and several guards injured in the suicide bomb attack, according to three Hezb-e-Islami sources and one source with the ruling Taliban.

Party leader Hekmatyar said in a video statement that one person had been killed and two injured.

"I assure my countrymen, a failed attempt happened here by those who have done it many times but have failed," Hekmatyar said, adding it was not yet clear who was behind the attack.

"It cannot lower our morale or our resistance... we will stand with our nation," he said.

Kabul police and the interior ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pakistan's foreign office said its embassy in Kabul had come under attack targeting the head of mission, Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, who escaped unscathed while a guard was critically injured. Taliban authorities did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Nizamani arrived in Kabul last month to take up the role at one of the few embassies that had remained operational throughout the period after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021.

The attack on the Hezb-e-Islami party office occurred near a mosque where senior party leaders present were unhurt, according to the party statement.

One Taliban and one party source said a vehicle belonging to the attackers and packed with explosives had detonated near the office. Firing took place and two attackers were killed while trying to enter the mosque, they said.

Hekmatyar said the attackers were wearing suicide explosive vests and that one was wearing a woman's burqa.

Several bombing and shooting attacks have taken place in Afghanistan in recent months, some of which have been claimed by Islamic State militants. A blast at a madrassa on Wednesday in northern Afghanistan killed at least 15 people.

The hardline Islamist Taliban, who seized power after U.S.-led foreign forces withdrew in August 2021, have said they are focused on securing the country.

Hekmatyar founded Hezb-e-Islami in the mid-1970s as one of the main mujahideen groups fighting the 1980s Soviet invasion of Afghanistan from its base in Pakistan. He held the office of prime minister twice during the 1990s. (Reuters)

Chinese newspapers turned their front pages black on Thursday and flags were put at half mast in mourning for the death of former president Jiang Zemin, while well-wishers laid piles of bouquets outside his childhood home.

Jiang died in his home city of Shanghai just after noon on Wednesday of leukaemia and multiple organ failure, aged 96.

His death has prompted a wave of nostalgia for the relatively more liberal times he oversaw.

A date has yet to be set for his funeral.

The front page of the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily devoted its whole front page to Jiang, and carried a large picture of him wearing his trademark "toad" glasses.

"Beloved comrade Jiang Zemin will never be forgotten," it said in its headline, above a story republishing the official announcement of his death.

Flags flew at half mast on key government buildings and Chinese embassies abroad, while the home pages of e-commerce platforms Taobao and JD.com also turned black and white.

Mourners laid piles of bouquets of white chrysanthemums, a traditional Chinese symbol for mourning, outside Jiang's childhood home in the eastern city of Yangzhou, a witness told Reuters, declining to be identified given sensitivities about discussing anything political in China.

Some people knelt down in front of his house in a show of respect, the person added.

"Grandpa Jiang, rest in peace," read a note on one bouquet.

In Shanghai, where Jiang died, police closed off streets but hundreds of people still tried to catch a glimpse of a vehicle thought to be carrying his body, according to images that were shared on Chinese social media.

In one picture, people held up a black and white banner reading "Comrade Jiang Zemin you will forever live in our hearts".

FOREIGNERS NOT INVITED

But foreign governments, political parties and "friendly personages" will not be invited to send delegations or representatives to China to attend the mourning activities, the official Xinhua news agency said.

At one of the largest foreign banks in China, employees have been asked to wear black in meetings with regulators, senior staff have been asked not to be photographed at parties and the bank has put marketing activities on hold for 10 days, a senior executive at the lender told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Jiang's death comes at a tumultuous time in China, where authorities are grappling with rare widespread street protests among residents fed up with heavy-handed COVID-19 curbs nearly three years into the pandemic.

China is also locked in an increasingly bad-tempered stand-off with the United States and its allies over everything from Chinese threats to democratically-governed Taiwan to trade and human rights issues.

While Jiang could have a fierce temper, his jocular side where he would sometimes sing for foreign dignitaries and joke around with them stand in marked contrast to his stiffer successor Hu Jintao and current President Xi Jinping.

"Having someone educated as leader really is a good thing, RIP," wrote one user on WeChat adding a candle emoji.

Some Chinese social media users have posted pictures and videos of Jiang speaking or laughing and articles about his 1997 speech at Harvard University in English, reminiscing about an era when China and the West were on better terms.

The U.S. and Japanese governments both expressed their condolences.

U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said that during his two visits to the United States as president as well as multiple other meetings with U.S. officials, Jiang worked to advance ties "while managing our differences – an imperative that continues today".

Even Taiwan, which Jiang menaced with war games in the run up to the island's first direct presidential election in 1996, said it had sent its "best wishes" to Jiang's family, though it added he did "threaten the development of Taiwan's democratic system and foreign exchanges with force". (Reuters)

A senior British lawmaker said on Friday her delegation had discussed defence cooperation with Taiwan during a visit this week to the Chinese-claimed island that Beijing has condemned as "gross interference".

Britain, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with democratically governed Taiwan but has stepped up its support for the island in the face of a rising military threat from China, as have other Western nations.

After meeting President Tsai Ing-wen, Alicia Kearns, chair of the British parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters the focus of their meetings was how to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and how can Britain play a role as a fellow democracy.

"We talked about the joint cyber threats that we all face from different adversaries, we discussed disinformation and of course we discussed traditional military conflict," she said.

"And we talked about how we as an international community work together to prevent, and therefore the importance of deterrence diplomacy. And, yes, defence cooperation was discussed as part of that because it should be part of a whole conversation that takes place."

While the United States is Taiwan's most important foreign source of weapons, British companies have been helping develop Taiwan's new fleet of domestically built submarines. Kearns did not directly answer a question on that programme.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday the "golden era" of relations with China was over, saying Beijing's systemic challenge to Britain's interests and values was growing more acute.

China's embassy in London on Thursday denounced the delegation's trip as an interference in China's internal affairs.

Kearns said the Chinese embassy had not spoken to her ahead of the trip.

"I would be disappointed if the Chinese ambassador has criticised us for coming here because dialogue matters," she added.

Tsai, meeting Kearns and her delegation at the presidential office, expressed thanks for Britain's support of Taiwan, especially calls to uphold peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

"We believe that democratic countries must stand more united than ever in the face of authoritarian expansion," she said. "Hence, we place immense importance on fostering Taiwan-Britain relations." (Reuters)

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Friday that he would also serve as the country's finance minister.

Anwar, who became premier last week, named Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Fadillah Yusof as co-deputy prime ministers. (reuters)