Several members of Donald Trump’s incoming administration have received threats including bomb alerts, the FBI said Wednesday, with one nominee reporting a pipe-bomb scare sent with a pro-Palestinian message.

“The FBI is aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners,” the agency said in a statement.

Swatting refers to the practice in which police are summoned urgently to someone’s house under false pretenses. Such hoax calls are common in the United States and have seen numerous senior political figures targeted in recent years.

Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, earlier said that several appointees and nominees “were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them.”

Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat.

She said in a statement that she, her husband, and small son were driving home from Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday when they learned of the threat.

Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, said his home was targeted with a pipe bomb threat sent with a “pro-Palestinian themed message.”

The former congressman from New York said he and his family were not home at the time.

Fox News Digital quoted unidentified sources saying that John Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary pick, were also targeted.

Ahead of his return to the House in January, Trump has already swiftly assembled a cabinet of loyalists, including several criticized for a severe lack of experience.

The Republican, who appears set to avoid trial on criminal prosecutions related to attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, was wounded in the ear in July in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally. The shooter was killed in counter-fire.

In September, authorities arrested another man accused of planning to shoot at Trump while he played golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

AFP

More than 80 people have been killed and 156 wounded in three days of sectarian violence in Pakistan’s tribal district of Kurram, near the Afghan border, authorities confirmed.

The violence, which began on Thursday, erupted when gunmen attacked convoys of Shia Muslims travelling under police escort.

More than 40 people, including women and children, were killed in that incident, triggering a series of revenge attacks between Shia and Sunni communities.

After Sunday’s negotiations, government spokesman Muhammad Ali Saif announced that Sunni and Shia leaders had agreed to a seven-day ceasefire.

Provincial officials facilitated the talks despite reports that the negotiators’ helicopter came under fire upon arriving in the region.

“The clashes and convoy attacks on November 21, 22, and 23 have resulted in 82 fatalities and 156 injuries,” a local official said on Sunday. Among the dead, 16 were Sunni and 66 were Shia, according to local authorities.

The Kurram district has long been a flashpoint for tribal and sectarian conflicts over land disputes, with periodic violence between Shia and Sunni groups.

This week’s unrest has forced hundreds of residents to flee, many seeking refuge in the nearby mountains under freezing conditions.

“We’ve been hearing gunfire all night. I sent the women and children of my family to hide in the mountains. The cold is unbearable, but we have no other option,” one Sunni villager said.

This latest bout of bloodshed follows months of deadly clashes in the region, which had already prompted tribal leaders to call for a ceasefire.

October saw a mass funeral for victims of earlier violence, showing the ongoing tensions that have left communities fractured and in fear.

The provincial government has pledged to address the underlying issues fuelling the conflict, but the fragile ceasefire shows the urgent need for sustained peace-building efforts.

For now, the region remains on edge, with many fearing that the violence could resume once the temporary truce ends.

Hezbollah says it targeted the Ashdod naval base in southern Israel “for the first time” and Tel Aviv, resulting in 500 air raid sirens sounding across north and central Israel on Sunday, sending up to four million Israelis to underground bunkers. The attack is in response to the powerful Israeli airstrike that killed at least 29 people in Beirut on Saturday.

Hezbollah also said it launched “a strategic and unprecedented operation” in southern Lebanon on Sunday, destroying six Israeli Merkava tanks and inflicting heavy casualties on Israeli forces.

Lebanese group said it also conducted an operation against a “military target” in Tel Aviv using advanced missiles and strike drones. Hezbollah is believed to have launched more than 400 rockets and drones, leading to the injury of 11 Israeli forces and some civilians.

The Lebanese health ministry said Israeli attacks on Saturday killed 84 people, bringing the total death toll to 3,754 since 8 October 2023. The ministry added that 15,626 people have been wounded during this period. On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borell called for pressure to be exerted on both the Israeli government and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to accept a US ceasefire proposal.

Israel escalated air attacks on Lebanon on September 23, sending ground troops to southern Lebanon a week later.