Sullied water kills 26

ISLAMABAD: At least 26 people, including children, have died and more than 400 have been admitted to hospital for treatment after consuming contaminated water and stale fruit in Pakistan’s tribal regions, a news report said on Wednesday. Daily Times quoted Jalilur Rehman, health director in the Khyber tribal region, as saying that in the frontier province at least 10 people had died of gastroenteritis within a 48-hour period. — DPA.

US soldier killed

KABUL: One US service member was killed and another wounded in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan, the US military said on Wednesday. The attack happened on Tuesday near the eastern city of Ghazni, where an American unit was conducting operations to “disrupt enemy activity in the region,” the military said in a statement. It is the fifth U.S. fatality in Afghanistan in a week. — AP

Aussie tourist missing

SHIMLA: Police in Himachal Pradesh have launched helicopter search operations to locate an Australian tourist missing in Kullu valley since August 2. Kullu police chief Anand Pratap Singh said Daniel Mount Whitten, 23, was last seen in Manikaran region in the valley on

August 2. “Police have carried out helicopter search operations on Monday and Tuesday in the region but have found no trace of him so far,” he said. — HNS