Pakistan reopens highway to speed up aid to flood victims

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Officials say Pakistani engineers backed by soldiers have reopened a key highway linking southwestern Baluchistan province to flood-devastated areas in the south. Clearing the highway on Thursday will give aid workers a new route to speed badly needed supplies to Pakistan’s homeless and others after this summer’s floods killed 1,486 people. Meanwhile, the United Nations’ children agency said 528 children were among those killed in the floods. The government says the highway reopened between the cities of Quetta and Sukkur, as engineers restored the power supply for millions in southwest Baluchistan. Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif was in Uzbekistan to brief a security group formed by Beijing and Moscow on the disaster.