The successful strike made by a dozen Mirage 2000 jets of the Indian Air Force on Feb 26 to take out the biggest training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed at Balakot in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, in just about ten days after the terror attack on the CRPF at Pulwama, speaks as much of the decisiveness of the Modi regime on the national security front as of all that obviously went into that action by way of defence preparedness, functional consolidation of India's intelligence set-up and a comprehensive diplomatic reach out to the world by our Prime Minister himself on the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terror.


Return of the political will (Column: Spy's Eye)


IANS Automatic

The Congress on Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising the bravery and martyrdom of soldiers, saying he was resorting to credit-seeking for the valour of armed forces as a last resort before the Lok Sabha elections.


Modi politicising bravery of soldiers: Congress


Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Ahmad bin Khalifa Al Thani, over telephone and discussed various matters of common interest.


Modi speaks with Qatar's Emir, underlines need to curb terrorism


In a strong attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the results of air strikes on Pakistan "would have been different" had Rafale fighter jets been procured earlier and accused the opposition party of first worrying about "self-interest" and later doing politics over it.


Country felt absence of Rafale during Balakot strikes: Modi


Film fraternity members from across the country have sent out a message saluting the courage displayed by Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Abhinandan Varthaman after he was captured by Pakistan when his MiG-21 crashed in that country.


Film fraternity salutes 'true hero' Abhinandan's bravery


A gunfight raging since Friday between security forces and militants that has claimed the lives of a civilian and four security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir continued for a second day on Saturday, the police said.


Gunfight in Handwara continues for second day


Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said that the strike against a terror camp in Pakistan had nothing to do with domestic politics and accused opposition parties of making statements that people in Pakistan were happy about.


Strike on terror camp in Pakistan nothing to do with domestic politics: Jaitley


MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to tell the country as to what action he took over the intelligence failure which led to the February 14 terror attack at Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF troopers.


PM owes answer on action taken for intelligence failure: Owaisi


Syria on Saturday accused the US-led coalition of firing white phosphorus munitions on an Islamic State (IS) held area in the country, the media reported.


US accused of firing white phosphorus munitions in Syria


A man suspected of alleged links with the terror outfit involved in the Pulwama attack was arrested from a village in Banka district on Saturday, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Sankalp rally in Patna.


Terror suspect held in Bihar ahead of PM's rally


A CRPF constable, Vinod Kumar, a native of Ghaziabad, was among the four security personnel killed in an encounter with militants in the Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.


CRPF constable's body to reach Ghaziabad on Sunday


As many as 15 militants and six security personnel were killed on Saturday when the Afghan forces repelled a Taliban attack to capture a district in the country's Faryab province, officials said.


21 killed in Afghan-Taliban clashes


Islamic State sympathisers were planning lone wolf attacks to target government employees, security forces, investigating agencies and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) members, National Investigation Agency (NIA) said in a chargesheet filed recently in a Delhi court.


IS sympathisers planned lone wolf attacks to target RSS, forces: NIA


An improvised explosive device (IED) went off in a Jammu and Kashmir village in Awantipora on Saturday, barely 4 km from the February 14 Pulwama attack spot where 40 CRPF troopers lost their lives.


IED blast in J&K's Awantipora


Extremist groups have systematically subjugated hundreds of thousands of women to slavery, sexual exploitation, kidnapping, trafficking and other horrific ordeals, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said.


Extremist groups systematically subjugate women: UN chief


The US military on Friday said it conducted an airstrike in central Somalia on Thursday, killing 26 Al-Shabaab terrorists.


US airstrike kills 26 Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia


The OIC nations have expressed zero tolerance towards terrorism, T.S. Tirumurti, Secretary of Economic Relations at the Ministry of External Affairs, told the media on Friday.


OIC nations important partners in fight against terror, says official


The police on Friday arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant who was involved in weapon snatching incidents.


Police arrest LeT militant involved in weapon snatching


Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday said his country would respond in self-defence to any act of "unprovoked aggression" by the Indian military.


Pakistan will respond to any aggression in self-defence: Army chief


External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday told the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference that Muslims in India were a microcosm of its diversity and very few of them have fallen prey to the poisonous propaganda of radical and extremist ideologies.


Sushma says Muslims in India microcosm of its diversity, not influenced by extremist ideology


Four security men were killed and five others injured in an ongoing gunfight on Friday in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara border district, defence sources said.

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