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Pakistan Terror Attack, Ukraine Strikes
Tech spotlight: the M134 Minigun
THE WAR NEWSLETTER — NOV 11 2024
Good morning. Today’s email brings you news from Pakistan and Ukraine.
1 - PAKISTAN
1 thing to know
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a Pakistan terror group, carried out a deadly bombing attack at Quetta Railway Station in the south of Pakistan.
The context
The attack happened November 9, 2024, and killed at least 27 people, including 13 military personnel, and injuring 61 others. The attack targeted a military unit returning from training and occurred when two trains – the Jaffar Express and Chaman Express – were about to depart.
The suicide bomber, carrying around 17 pounds of explosives, detonated his explosives at the station's busy booking office. The blast damaged the station's roof and was felt throughout the city.
The BLA, a separatist militant group, has been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Pakistani government in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest and poorest province. Despite being rich in natural resources like copper, coal, oil, and gold, the region remains underdeveloped.
More from the region
Earlier this year, the BLA carried out attacks on highways connecting the Punjab and Balochistan provinces. They stopped 22 vehicles, checked their identity cards, and brutally murdered 23 people identified as Punjabi.
In the news
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TECH SPOTLIGHT: M134 MINIGUN
The M134 Minigun is a six barrel rotary Gattling-style machine gun, chambered in 7.62x51 NATO. The gun is powered by an electric motor, which rotates the barrels, as well as the firing assembly. The multi-barrel design prevents overheating, allows for a rate of fire for 2,000 to 6,000 rounds per minute since the process of loading, firing, and extracting the shells from each barrel is happening simultaneously.
What it’s used for
The M134 was designed in 1960, and is still in us today by several branches of the US military, as well as by other militaries around the world. It first saw us by American troops in Vietnam, where it was mounted on helicopters and used as defense while it slowed to land. It was also mounted on planes, such as the AC-47 and, after some modifications and improvements, the AC-130.
2 - UKRAINE
1 thing to know
Ukraine struck ammunition depots in Bryansk Oblast in large-scale drone strike.
The context
After a month long break, Ukraine has resumed its long-range drone strikes against Russian targets. Over the weekend, Ukraine launched around 50 drones at ammunition warehouses in Bryansk Oblast as well as other border regions. Russia claimed to have shot down most of the drones, but video footage and satellite imagery showed several fires burning.
Two days earlier, a Ukrainian drone strike conducted by the Ukrainian intelligence agency also reportedly caused damage to an oil refinery in the Russian city of Saratov, nearly 1,000 miles from the border. Russian media sources claimed no damage had been done to the refinery.
More from the region
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the Valdai Discussion Club, and addressed the war in Ukraine, saying that the pursuit of strategic defeat of Russia in Ukraine was "extreme recklessness." He also called out NATO for "creeping intervention," and suggested that as reason for his invasion of Ukraine.
In the news
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