The leader of an anti-Shiite militant group behind some of Pakistan’s worst sectarian attacks was killed in a shootout with police Wednesday, authorities said.

Malik Ishaq was shot dead along with several other senior Laskhar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) leaders in the eastern province of Punjab.

LeJ, long seen as close to Al-Qaeda and more recently accused of developing links with the Daesh group, has a reputation as one of Pakistan’s most ruthless militant groups.

Ishaq, who has been in and out of police custody in recent years, was arrested on Saturday and was being moved when loyalists attacked the convoy in Muzaffargarh, a senior police official who took part in the encounter told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The police retaliated and in the encounter Ishaq, his two sons and 11 others were killed, while six policemen were injured,” he said.

Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada confirmed to AFP that Ishaq and “13 other sectarian militants including two of his sons” had been killed in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Another senior police official said the attack came after Ishaq and the other LeJ cadres had been taken to recover a cache of explosives.

The cache included “three water coolers full of explosive, detonators, a Kalashnikov, some rifles and hundreds of bullets,” the police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“After the recovery when police were returning back, at around 3:00am, more than a dozen terrorists attacked the convoy and tried to rescue Ishaq and others,” the police official said.

He said all the six militants in police custody were killed along with eight of the attackers, while some of the would-be rescuers fled.

Mushtaq Rasoor, chief doctor at the government-run Muzaffargarh District Hospital, confirmed receiving 14 dead bodies.

There has been no immediate reaction from LeJ but police encounters in Pakistan have often being viewed with suspicion.

Ishaq gained notoriety for his anti-Shiite rhetoric and has been accused of masterminding dozens of attacks against the minority group.

LeJ had claimed responsibility for some of the most brazen attacks on Shiite minorities in Pakistan’s recent history including a January 2013 bombing in the southwestern city of Quetta that killed over a hundred members of the Shiite Hazara minority group.

In February 2013, LeJ claimed responsibility for another attack in the same neighbourhood that killed around 80 members from the Hazara community.

Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Omar has been killed, an Afghan government official said Wednesday.

The death of Mullah Omar was confirmed during a security meeting, the official told 1TV on condition of anonymity.

The news comes as Afghan officials and Taliban representatives are expected to meet for second round of peace talks on Friday.

Mullah Omar has not been seen in public since U.S. forces ousted his government in 2001.

A Taliban splinter group Mahaz Fidayee recently said that Omar had been killed in an insider attack two years ago.

However, on occasion of Eid, Taliban posted a message in name of Mullah Omar where he endorsed peace talks as legitimate. In April, Taliban released biography of him saying their chief was alive and well.

The US has announced a $10m bounty on Omar’s head.

Pakistan received some $336 million from the United States for its ongoing role in combating a Taliban insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The injection of cash, which comes as the Taliban steps up its annual summer offensive launched in late April, has helped Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves reach a fresh high of about $19 billion, state bank officials said.

Regular payments to Pakistan under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) programme began in 2001 when Pakistan joined the US-led coalition in Afghanistan as a “frontline ally”.

Pakistan provides use of its air bases and other facilities in exchange for the reimbursements.

The central State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in a one-line press note said it had received a total of $336.8 million under the CSF programme, which is the first tranche of a $1.5 billion for the current fiscal year ending June 2016.

Pakistan has received a total of $13 billion in CSF payments since the programme began.

US-led NATO forces ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in December, leaving local forces to battle militants alone, but a 13,000-strong residual force remains for training and counter-terrorism operations.

The Afghan government meanwhile conducted its first face-to-face talks with Taliban cadres on July 7 in a Pakistani hill station, aimed at ending the 14-year insurgency.

But despite the willingness to engage in talks there has been no let-up in militant attacks, which are taking a heavy toll on civilians.

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Almost 1,000 civilians were killed in the conflict during the first four months of this year, a sharp jump from the same period last year, according to the United Nations.

Singapore and Indonesia Tuesday agreed to step up cooperation against ISIS amid fears that militants returning from the Middle East could mount attacks in Southeast Asia.

“We are both worried about ISIS and we both have nationals from our countries involved in these terrorist activities including in the Middle East,” Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said after talks with visiting Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

Shortly after their meeting, Singapore disclosed that a 51-year-old local Muslim, Mustafa Sultan Ali, was deported by Turkey to the city-state in June after attempting to join ISIS, also known as Islamic State, by crossing into Syria.

Widodo said the two leaders “agreed that we will share information and other things that are linked to terrorism and ISIS, because we know that this is a threat to almost all countries.”

Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population and has long struggled with extremism, fears up to 500 of its citizens have been lured to the Middle East by ISIS.

Singapore is predominantly ethnic Chinese, with 13.3 percent of the population belonging to the Muslim Malay minority.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said the Singaporean deported by Turkey was placed under detention without trial for two years under internal-security laws.

“Investigations showed that Mustafa had been deeply radicalised by the terrorist ideology of ISIS and other radical ideologues he had come across online,” a press statement said.

“He had travelled to Turkey and tried to make his way to Syria in order to participate in armed violence by fighting alongside ISIS. Mustafa also said that he was prepared to carry out ISIS-directed terrorist attacks against Western establishments in Singapore.”

Singapore, one of Asia’s most affluent cities and a regional base for thousands of multinational companies, is seen as a prime target for attacks by militant groups due to its close security links with the United States.

Taliban insurgents reportedly seized control of as many as 80 villages on Monday night in northern Kunduz province, local officials said on Tuesday.

The incident took place after Taliban insurgents attacked Khan Abad district of the province two days ago and started clashes with residents in the district. The residents are fighting the insurgents, head of provincial council of Kunduz, Mohammad Yousuf Ayoubi said.

“The Taliban last night took control of as many as 80 villages and about 14 residents who are fighting the insurgents have been killed or injured so far,” he said.

The attack has resulted in hundreds of families fleeing their homes, he added.

However, security officials have not yet commented over the incident.

A number of key districts fell into Taliban hands over the past few months, but have been retaken by security forces.‎

Kyrgyzstan’s security service said Monday it was investigating a YouTube video urging citizens of the ex-Soviet country to move to the “caliphate” declared by ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The nine-minute clip titled “Message to the People of Kyrgyzstan,” appeared on YouTube Saturday and was deleted hours later. It was picked up by a Kyrgyz news site known for covering the activities of ISIS.

“All the relevant state organs are examining this video material,” a statement of the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) read Monday.

The clip features an unnamed man speaking in Kyrgyz calling on citizens to “move from the country of infidels to the land of the Islamic State (ISIS).”

The speaker calls Kyrgyzstan, which is majority-Muslim, a country of “dishonor,” living “according to laws made up by people, such as democracy.”

It was released days after Kyrgyz security services claimed they neutralized a cell of ISIS fighters in a deadly raid.

On July 17 the GNKB security force’s chief Rakhat Sulaimanov confirmed the deaths of six militants and the detention of a further seven in a special forces raid in the capital Bishkek.

Sulaimanov said the suspects “were all Islamic State (ISIS) members.”

His service claimed the militants were targeting a Russian airbase in the country as well as civilian targets.

Kyrgyzstan’s government designated ISIS as a terror group in March this year. It says more than 200 citizens are fighting with the group in Syria and Iraq.

The Taliban took control of a large police base in a remote part of northeastern Afghanistan after about 100 police and border guards surrendered and joined the insurgents after three days of fighting, security officials said Sunday.

The loss of the Tirgaran base in Badakhshan province late Saturday marked the largest mass surrender since U.S. and NATO forces concluded their combat mission at the end of last year. It highlighted the challenges facing Afghan security forces, which have seen their casualties soar in the face of stepped-up insurgent attacks.

The police base, in the province’s Wardoj district, had been cut off as heavy rains swamped roads into the area, said Gen. Baba Jan, Badakhshan province’s police chief. It wasn’t clear why reinforcements weren’t flown into the area, though the province’s steep valleys make aircraft landings difficult.

“No reinforcements were sent to help the police at the base for the past three days when they were under the attack, and finally they had no option: They had to join the Taliban,” said Abdullah Naji Nazari, the head of Badakhshan’s provincial council.

Jan said the local police commander also joined the Taliban and handed over the base’s weapons and ammunition.

The Taliban issued a statement saying they captured the base along with 110 police officers, their local commander and the head of the local border police. It did not say whether the captives joined their ranks.

Jan later said the Taliban had released all the policemen and allowed them to return to their homes. He said it was unclear why the forces surrendered, adding that they had enough ammunition and supplies to hold out for weeks.

Last month, hundreds of insurgents attacked security checkpoints in the province’s Yamgan district, forcing police to abandon them.

Elsewhere in Badakhshan, the heavy rains have left at least six people dead, including women and children, in Kofab district, said Nawid Frotan, the spokesman for the provincial governor.

About 130 houses had been damaged or destroyed, and authorities were trying to send food and other relief to those stranded by rising waters, he said.

In northern Baghlan province, 11 people were kidnapped Saturday after gunmen stopped their vehicle in Dahna-i Ghori district, said Gen. Abdul Jabar Perdili, the provincial police chief.

Perdili said the vehicle had 18 passengers, all members of the Shiite Hazara minority. Four women and one man were freed, and authorities were still negotiating the release of the others, he said.

A gunfight at a wedding party in northern Baghlan province of Afghanistan left 22 people dead and another 13 injured including children, officials said on Monday.

The gunfight broke out between two illegal armed groups, attending the wedding, in Deh Salah district of Baghlan late on Sunday night.

A music party was under way in Sheshan village, when members of the two armed groups started shooting each other as result of a verbal dispute, Baghlan Police Chief, Jabar Pardaly, told Afghanistan Times.

Another police official, who preferred anonymity, said most of the killed persons are members of the two armed groups, but at least eight local residents were also killed in exchange of fire.

A number of children were also among the victims, who were in party for watching music party.

The injured participants of wedding were shifted to hospitals and were now out of danger and the dead bodies were today morning returned to their relatives, official said.

Armed groups, being backed by warlords and commanders, deteriorated security situation in dozens of Northern provinces. Most of the armed men justify having arms by saying they were defending their areas against Taliban militants.

The district, where incident happened, has been one of the calm districts, but illegal armed groups were active there, a member of the Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of the Parliament, who wished anonymity, told Afghanistan Times.

“The illegal armed groups are more dangerous to social security of our people and government must disarm them, otherwise will be wetness of more such deadly incidents” he said.

Two days back, suspected armed men, belongs to Taliban, kidnapped 11 civilians in Dandi Ghori district of Baghlan and who were still in captivity.

However despite, local people for months criticized and asked government to disarm illegal armed groups, but government was unable the MP said.

Fourty-eight militants have been killed in newest military operations across the country, the Afghan Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday.

A statement issued by the ministry states that these insurgents were killed in different parts of the country in past 24 hours, Afghan Khaama Press (KP) reported.

The statement adds that 20 militants were also wounded during these operations and 12 others detained by the security forces.

The press release issued by the Ministry of Defense further states that five soldiers from the Afghan National Army have been killed during these operations.

This comes as heavy clashes have been erupting between Taliban and security forces in different parts of the country including Badakhshan.

During these clashes Taliban recently seized a military base from security forces in Wardouj District of Badakhshan province.

But spokesmen of the ministries of defense and interior have repeatedly said that the militants are not in the position to hold an area longer.