KABUL – Pakistan bombed the fuel depot of private airline Kam Air near Afghanistan’s Kandahar airport, the Taliban said on Friday, a significant escalation in the worst conflict in years between the neighbours despite China’s efforts to mediate.

Following Beijing’s stepped up mediation efforts, no Pakistani air strikes were reported by either side in over a week until the bombing in Kandahar. Ground clashes along the 2,600 kilometers (1,600 mile) border had also tapered off, although there had been intermittent bouts of fighting.

“The company (Kam Air) supplies fuel to civilian airlines as well as to United Nations aircraft,” Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said.

Pakistan also carried out bombings in other areas, including the capital Kabul, with women and children among those killed as civilian homes were targeted in some locations, he said, adding that the aggression would “not go unanswered”.

Pakistani security sources said the military had carried out overnight strikes on four militant hideouts in Kabul, Kandahar, and Paktia province, including one targeting an oil storage facility at the Kandahar airfield.

Afghanistan’s defense ministry said it carried out drone strikes in response on a Pakistani military base in the northern city of Kohat, causing heavy damage.

Pakistan’s military and information ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The fighting erupted last month with Pakistani air strikes inside Afghanistan that Islamabad said targeted militant strongholds. Afghanistan called the strikes a violation of sovereignty as it launched retaliatory attacks.

Militancy has been a bone of contention between allies-turned-foes Pakistan and Afghanistan, with Islamabad saying Kabul provides safe haven to militants executing attacks on Pakistan.

The Taliban, however, denies the allegation and says militancy is Pakistan’s internal problem.

Reuters had reported on Thursday that mediation efforts by China, which had been urging an end to the violence, had helped ease the fighting.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi had also said that Islamabad and Beijing were engaged in a “dialogue process” on Afghanistan. — Reuters

SEOUL – South Korea is considering providing additional energy vouchers to subsidize vulnerable households if rising global fuel prices in the wake of the Middle East crisis push up electricity costs, the government said on Friday.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy is also preparing to boost nuclear and coal-fired power generation in the event that oil prices remain high and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies are disrupted.

“The government will take all necessary measures to minimize the burden on the people, such as stabilizing energy supply and demand, price management, and supporting people vulnerable (to rising energy costs),” Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said on Friday.

South Korea relies almost totally on imports for its energy, buying about 70% of its oil ​and 20% of ​its LNG from ⁠the Middle East, according to Korea International Trade Association data.

To reduce dependence on LNG, the Climate and Energy Ministry said this week it would accelerate the restart of nuclear reactors under maintenance, with two units expected to come back online as soon as March and four more by mid-May.

It also said coal-fired power output could be flexibly increased during periods when the impact on air quality from fine dust was low, if LNG supply shortfalls materialized.

CAPPING FUEL PRICE

The government is considering expanding the current budget for energy vouchers for low-income and other vulnerable groups in a supplementary budget currently being drafted, a government official told Reuters.

South Korea already has in place last year’s energy voucher budget of about 500 billion won ($334.32 million), valid through May, and another roughly 500 billion won in this year’s energy voucher budget.

The government will monitor the funds and consider additional support, the official said.

South Korea began capping domestic fuel prices at a maximum wholesale price for gasoline at 1,724 won ($1.15) per liter on Friday to combat the rise in energy costs.

“For people like us, truck drivers, we’d obviously like prices to come down even more,” said Park Jong-se, 68, who has been a cargo truck driver for more than 30 years.

“Since fuel is imported, I’m not sure how much the government support will actually help…. Because of the fuel prices, truck drivers end up checking prices at every gas station. It’s really tough.” ($1 = 1,495.5700 won) — Reuters

MANILA — ASEAN foreign and economic ministers on Friday called for an immediate halt to the war in the Middle East, and said the effects of surging oil prices and disrupted trade are already hitting Southeast Asia’s economies.

Several members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have begun rolling out measures to counter the economic impact, with governments moving quickly to conserve energy, stabilize
domestic markets, and protect vulnerable sectors such as tourism.

“We expressed serious concern over the situation in the Middle East and its impacts in the region, and emphasized the importance of the immediate cessation of hostilities,” Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro told a press conference after a special meeting on the crisis, adding that ASEAN called on all parties to exercise the utmost self-restraint.

The Philippines, which is chairing ASEAN this year, convened the special meeting as concerns over the Iran conflict deepened. The ministers called for global energy supply chains to be kept open and to activate regional mechanisms to mitigate the economic fallout.

Crude oil is trading near $100 a barrel on worries about supplies, which have been heightened by the vow from Iran’s new supreme leader to keep the Strait of Hormuz, the route for a fifth of global oil supply, closed.

“The escalating conflict has generated broader economic repercussions beyond the region, particularly through heightened volatility in global energy markets and disruption of key maritime and supply chain routes,” the economic ministers of the 11-member bloc said in a statement after a separate meeting.

Ms. Lazaro said the Philippines, which is heavily dependent on imported fuel from the Middle East, was considering buying oil from Russia, but she did not elaborate.

The economic ministers warned that the region’s exposure to global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply routes made it especially vulnerable to further shocks, adding that reinforcing supply chain resilience, accelerating renewable energy transitions, and deepening regional cooperation would be essential to preserving economic stability. — Reuters