At around 12:15 pm local time, a gunman wearing an explosive device opened fire at the gate of the Shi’ite Khadija Tul Kubra mosque in the Tarlai Kalan area on the outskirts of Islamabad during Friday prayers. The gunman then detonated the explosive device inside the mosque, killing at least 31 people and wounding about 169 others. Security forces responded quickly and transported the injured to hospitals. Pakistan’s defence minister alleged that the bomber had links to Afghanistan and also accused India of involvement, a claim New Delhi categorically denied. The attack took place amid heightened security in the capital during an official visit by Uzbekistan’s president.

According to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), at around midday a group of small, armed boats attempted to intercept a tanker flying a US flag roughly 16 nautical miles north of Oman in the inbound Traffic Separation Scheme of the Strait of Hormuz. The armed boats hailed the vessel on very high frequency radio and requested that it stop and prepare to be towed. The ship ignored the communications and continued on its planned course. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency later cited unnamed Iranian officials claiming a vessel had entered Iranian territorial waters without the required permits, was warned, and subsequently left without any significant security event. Later in the day, at around 7:15 pm local time, a US F35 aircraft shot down an Iranian Shahed 139 drone that got too close to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.

At around 5:30 pm local time, heavily armed militants launched coordinated attacks on the rural villages of Woro and Nuku in Kaiama Local Government Area (LGA), Kwara State, and the Tafoki community in Faskari LGA, Katsina State. The assailants are believed to be members of the Islamic State Sahel Province-affiliated group locally known as Lakurawa, which operates in north-west and central Nigeria. The attacks reportedly followed residents’ refusal to adopt Sharia law and reject Nigeria’s constitution. The gunmen rounded up villagers, bound their hands, and executed at least 162–170+ people by slitting their throats, while others were burned alive or shot dead. The militants also set fire to numerous homes and shops. An unspecified number of villagers were wounded, and an unknown number were kidnapped. The attacks underscore Nigeria’s worsening security crisis, drew national and international condemnation over government security failures, and prompted calls for enhanced protection of vulnerable communities.

At about 2 pm local time, several explosions were reported in multiple cities across Iran, including the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, Ahvaz, Tabriz, and Karaj, the holy city of Qom, and, according to some reports, also in the Parand suburb of Tehran. Iranian authorities rejected reports that the explosion in Bandar Abbas targeted and killed the commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Navy, Ali Reza Tangestani, and stated that the blasts were caused by gas leaks at residential buildings. The explosions caused at least one fatality and injured at least ten other people. In an earlier explosion in the city of Ahvaz, near the border with Iraq, four people were killed. The explosion in the city of Qom also occurred at a residential building in the Pardisan neighborhood and injured seven people. Iranian officials also claimed that at least one other explosion was caused by the detonation of old military ammunition. Israel officially denied any involvement in the explosions, which were likely carried out by opposition elements in an attempt to revive anti-regime protests and draw the US into military intervention.

Security forces in the southwestern province of Balochistan killed 145 militants over a 40-hour period following a series of coordinated gun and bomb attacks that began on 31 January, the province’s chief minister said. The assaults across multiple districts, including Quetta, Gwadar, Mastung and Noshki, left 48 people dead, including 17 law enforcement personnel and 31 civilians and involved gunfire at hospitals, schools, banks and markets, with militants reportedly using civilians as human shields, officials said. The most active separatist faction, the Baloch Liberation Army, claimed responsibility, calling the offensive “Operation Herof,” and said it targeted both state forces and non-locals, including workers from other provinces and foreign energy firm staff, whom it accuses of exploiting the region’s resources. The group claimed to have taken hostages, claims that could not be independently verified. Pakistan’s military credited pre-operation intelligence with enabling a robust response, repelling attempts to seize strategic sites and killing 92 militants on 31 January and 41 on 30 January. According to the Pakistani military’s media affairs wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), terrorists belonging to India-sponsored Fitna al Hindustan (FAH) carried out the attacks, an allegation rejected by neighboring India. The United States condemned the violence, reaffirming its support for Pakistan and noting the Baloch Liberation Army’s designation as a terrorist group, while authorities tightened security and restricted movement in affected areas as they continued counter operations. The violence occurs against the backdrop of a long-running insurgency in Balochistan, where economic underdevelopment and grievances against central authorities have fueled unrest for decades.