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The so-called Islamic State says it has killed two Chinese nationals who were abducted from south-west Pakistan by armed men in late May.

The IS-linked Amaq news agency made the claim in an Arabic statement on the Telegram messaging app.

China’s foreign ministry said it was “gravely concerned” and working to verify the information. The pair are said to have been studying Urdu at a language centre in the city of Quetta when they were abducted.

According to local media reports at the time of the abduction, armed men took the couple as they left the centre. Another Chinese woman just managed to escape during the confrontation.

At the time, neither IS nor any other militant group said they had kidnapped the pair. Balochistan has seen kidnappings of foreign nationals in recent years by armed Islamist or separatist groups, sometimes for a ransom.

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More than 150 Australian police officers have raided three homes after this week’s deadly siege in Melbourne.

On Monday, gunman Yacqub Khayre was shot dead at an apartment building after he killed a man, took a woman hostage and wounded three policemen.

A 32-year-old man was arrested on Friday, but police said he was not “of national security interest”.

The raids related to how Khayre had obtained weapons before the suspected terrorism incident, authorities said. Police have said Khayre, 29, made comments referencing so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda during the siege.

Two adult men, a father and son, were also questioned on Friday. “I want to make perfectly clear, we have not yet uncovered anybody with links to terrorism who are associated with the offender,” said Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton. “They are not persons of national security interest, but they are persons who are known to us through their criminal history.”

Mr Patton said authorities were investigating how Khayre obtained a shotgun and a sawn-off shotgun. Police also seized an imitation firearm on Friday.

The siege victim, 36-year-old Kai Hao, was remembered this week as a loving son who was married only weeks ago.

Iran’s foreign minister has denounced as “repugnant” a White House statement on Wednesday’s terror attack in Tehran that said Iran was a “terror sponsor”.

President Trump had said he was praying for the victims, but added that “states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote”.

But Javad Zarif said Iran “rejected such claims of friendship” and claimed the attackers from so-called Islamic State had been “backed by US clients”.
Thirteen people died in the attacks.

Gunmen and suicide bombers targeted parliament and the mausoleum of Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in an unprecedented twin assault that lasted several hours on Wednesday morning.

Iran says the attackers, all of whom were killed, were Iranians who had joined IS. The militant group has threatened further assaults on Iranian Shia Muslims.

In an earlier tweet, Mr Zarif appeared to blame its regional rivals for the attack, saying: “Terror-sponsoring despots threaten to bring the fight to our homeland. Proxies attack what their masters despise most: the seat of democracy.”

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia – a key US ally – and Shia-majority Iran back opposing sides in conflicts across the region. The Saudi authorities have given money and weapons to hardline Islamist rebel factions seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad – Iran’s staunch ally. Saudi-based charities and individuals have also been accused of financing Sunni extremist groups across the region over the past two decades.

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Police investigating the London terror attack have made three fresh arrests, following raids involving armed officers in east London.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences and a third man was arrested on suspicion of drug offences.

Seventeen people have now been arrested in connection with Saturday’s attack and five remain in custody. Eight people were killed when three men drove into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people.

All of those who died in the attack, which began at 21:58 BST on Saturday, have now been named.

The latest arrests were made as counter-terrorism officers carried out two search warrants in east London on Wednesday night. Two men were arrested on a street in Ilford, the Metropolitan Police said.

One of the men, aged 27, was held on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts, while a 33-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply controlled drugs. A third man, aged 29, was arrested on suspicion of the preparation of terrorist acts at an address in Ilford.

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One of the London Bridge attackers was able to enter the UK, despite being placed on an EU-wide watch list.

Youssef Zaghba, a 22-year-old Moroccan-Italian man who lived in east London, was named as the third attacker.

Zaghba was stopped at an Italian airport on his way to Syria last year and was put on an EU-wide database but was not prosecuted, according to reports. The Home Office has so far declined to comment.

Pakistan-born Khuram Butt, 27, and Rachid Redouane, 30, both from Barking were the other two attackers who killed seven people and injured 48 others on Saturday night.

Zaghba, Butt and Redouane drove a hired van into pedestrians on London Bridge at 21:58 BST before stabbing people in the area around Borough Market.

An Italian police source has confirmed  that Zaghba had been placed on a watch list, which is shared with many countries including the UK. In March 2016, Italian officers stopped Zaghba at Bologna airport and found IS-related materials on his mobile phone. He was then stopped from continuing his journey to Istanbul.

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