MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A spearfisher was mauled on the Great Barrier Reef on Sunday in Australia’s second fatal shark attack in just over a week, police said.
The 39-year-old man was with three friends diving from a boat at Kennedy Shoal off the Queensland state coast south of Cairns when he was attacked, Police Inspector Elaine Burns said.
“The man had been spearfishing when he was attacked and died from a critical head injury,” Burns told reporters.
The victim, a Cairns resident, was brought by boat around noon to the tourist town of Hull Heads where paramedics were waiting. He had “sustained injuries not compatible with life,” an ambulance service statement said.
Kennedy Shoal is a shallow coral reef popular with recreational fishers. Divers are also attracted to the Lady Bowen, a 19th century shipwreck.
Fishers reported bull sharks had been seen in the area before the attack.
A shark fatally mauled spearfisher Steve Mattabonni on May 16 at a coral reef off Rottnest Island near the southwest coast of Western Australia state.
The 38-year-old Perth resident was taken by boat to the holiday island where paramedics were unable to resuscitate him.
A five-meter (16-foot) white shark was suspected.
Australia has averaged more than three fatal shark attacks a year in recent decades. The latest death is Australia’s third shark fatality for 2026.
Nico Antic, 12, died in a hospital days after he was attacked by a suspected bull shark off a Sydney beach on Jan. 18.
FILE - A sign is seen at the site of a fatal shark attack at Dee Why Beach in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle near a railway track as a passenger train passed through the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta on Sunday, killing at least 23 people and wounding over 70 others, officials said.
The force of the explosion caused two of the train cars to overturn and catch fire, sending thick black smoke into the air, according to footage shared online.
The attack happened in an area where security forces are usually stationed, badly damaging several nearby buildings and smashing more than a dozen vehicles parked along the road, according to witnesses and images circulating on social media.
Doctors at local hospitals said they had received the wounded, with 20 in critical condition. Three security officials told The Associated Press the bodies were transported to hospitals following the attack. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to speak to the media.
The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, which demands independence from Pakistan’s central government, has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to reporters. The militant group said it targeted a train carrying security personnel.
Quetta is the capital of insurgency-hit Balochistan province. The oil- and mineral-rich region has long been the scene of a low-level insurgency. The insurgents have frequently targeted security forces, government installations and civilians in the province and elsewhere in the country.
“We strongly condemn the targeting of innocent civilians and are deeply saddened by the loss of precious human lives. Terrorist elements deserve no leniency,” said Shahid Rind, Balochistan provincial government spokesman.
He said following the explosion, a medical emergency was declared at hospitals in Quetta, and an investigation has been launched.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif strongly condemned the attack, calling it a “cowardly act of terrorism" in a post on X and offering condolences to the families of the victims.
Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti strongly condemned the attack in Quetta, saying the militants targeted “innocent civilians, including women and children,” vowing to “hunt (them down)” in a post on X.
Bugti and the federal government in Islamabad often use the phrase “Fitna al-Hindustan” to refer to the BLA, which they allege is backed by India. New Delhi denies the allegation.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari denounced the bombing, saying militants and their backers sought to undermine Pakistan’s role in regional and international peace efforts.
The attack came a day after Pakistan said the United States and Iran were close to reaching a memorandum of understanding to end the war in the Middle East that began on Feb. 28 after the U.S. and Israel attacked the Islamic Republic, upending global travel and spiking oil prices. U.S. President Donald Trump had said a deal related to the conflict had been “largely negotiated” following calls with regional allies, including Pakistan.
Zardari promised in a statement that his country “will defeat terrorists, their facilitators, financiers and those providing them safe havens.”
Pakistan and India have long had strained relations and have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is claimed by both in its entirety.
Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Baluchistan has persisted.
At least 26 people, including soldiers, were killed in 2024 when a suicide bomber attacked a train station in Balochistan.
Paramilitary soldiers and volunteers transport an injured victim at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
A volunteer, top, helps an injured victim after recovering from an overturned train coach on a railway track at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Children look at an injured person passing through an alley near the site of a bomb explosion in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Paramilitary soldiers and volunteers recover victims from an overturned train coach on a railway track at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Paramilitary soldiers and volunteers transport an injured victim at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Volunteers look for victims from an overturned train coach on a railway track as survivors wait for transport at the site of bomb explosion, in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
