Flour smuggling

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani border guards opened fire on people trying to smuggle wheat flour into Afghanistan amid a domestic shortage of the staple, but there were no casualties, the military said. Pakistanis are facing long queues and a shortfall of flour, which has been attributed to smuggling into Afghanistan where the commodity fetches a higher price. Troops at a checkpost near the southwestern Pakistani border town of Chaman noticed three pickup trucks loaded with flour trying to sneak into Afghanistan, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said. They were first asked to stop and when they ignored they were fired upon. — AFP

WFP aid

KABUL: The UN World Food Programme has begun distributing several thousand tonnes of food to Afghans hit by high prices of wheat flour, an official said on Monday. The organisation started delivering 30,000 metric tonnes of wheat, pulses, vegetable oil and salt around Afghanistan about five weeks ago, and plans to distribute 58,000

more metric tonnes by midsummer. WFP has distributed 6,000 metric tonnes of food to about 400,000 people so far. — AP

Terror scare on jet

BEIJING: A Chinese jet was forced to turn around shortly after take-off when a male passenger excited about his first-ever flight sparked a terror scare, the airline operating the flight said on Monday. As Shenzhen Airlines plane taxied on the runway, the 41-year-old man, who was not identified, refused to stop calling his friends on his mobile phone to express his excitement about the flight, the airline said in a statement. “The airline attendants repeatedly told him to stop, and then he said ‘Tomorrow you will see the news’, which alerted the airline attendants,” the company said. The crew then decided to turn back to Shenzhen shortly after take-off. — AFP

Taliban storm police

Miranjan: Taliban militants attacked a group of police sleeping in an isolated roadside checkpoint on Monday in southern Afghanistan, killing 11. Insurgents apparently sneaked up on the police checkpoint 24 km north of Kandahar just after midnight, killing an officer who was supposed to be keeping watch but who may have fallen asleep, said Mohammad Rauf, a policeman sent as a replacement. Militants walked into the mud-brick compound and opened fire on the officers, who were sleeping on simple mattresses and blankets on the dirt floor, Rauf said. Of the 12 police officers at the compound, 11 were killed and one was seriously wounded, he said. — AP