Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and four former chief ministers, along with other prominent leaders, strongly condemned the terror attack on a bus carrying pilgrims in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir in which nine people were killed and 33 injured. The bus was attacked by terrorists soon after it left Shiv Khori temple for Katra around 6.10 pm and plunged into a deep gorge. "I strongly condemn the cowardly terror attack on a bus in Reasi. My condolences to the family members of the martyred civilians. Our security forces and JKP have launched a joint operation to hunt down the terrorists," Lt Governor Sinha posted on X. Former chief ministers of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah of the National Conference (NC), Mehbooba Mufti of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and Ghulam Nabi Azad of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) also condemned the terrorist attack. "Terrible news from Reasi in J&K ... I unequivocally condemn this ...
Terrorists opened fire at a bus carrying pilgrims in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Sunday evening, killing nine people and injuring 33, police said. The 53-seater bus, enroute from Shiv Khori temple to Katra, veered off the road following the gunfire and fell into a deep gorge. The incident took place around 6.15 pm near Teryath village in Poni area. "Nine pilgrims were killed and 33 injured," Senior Superintendent of Police, Reasi, Mohita Sharma told reporters. The attack marks a significant escalation in violence in the region. Reasi district has been relatively untouched by terrorist activities compared to neighbouring areas such as Rajouri and Poonch.
The situation along the Line of Control is stable and security agencies will take all necessary steps to maintain it, a senior Army officer said on Sunday. General Officer Commanding (GoC) of Army 15 Corps Lt General Rajiv Ghai was talking to reporters at the Bipin Rawat Stadium in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district after a function to felicitate Kargil War veterans on the 25th anniversary of Vijay Diwas. "The situation on the borders is stable. Whatever is needed to keep the situation stable will be done by the security agencies," Lt General Ghai said. Asked about Director General of Police (DGP) RR Swain's statement that 70 to 80 foreign terrorists were active in the Union Territory, he said the police chief's remark was factual. "As far as the numbers are concerned, the DGP has stated a fact. How the security agencies are proceeding against them, you know very well how the operations are conducted," Lt General Ghai added. DGP Swain on Saturday told reporters in Pulwama that
Sending a tough message, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that no family member of any terrorist nor close relatives of stone pelters will get government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir. Shah also said that the Narendra Modi government has not only targeted terrorists but also eliminated the terror ecosystem, resulting in a drastic fall in terror incidents in the country. "In Kashmir, we have taken a decision that if someone joins a terrorist organisation, their family members will not get any government job," he told PTI in an interview over the weekend. Similarly, Shah said, if someone indulges in stone pelting, his family members will also not get a government job. He said some human rights activists went to the Supreme Court against the decision but, at the end, the government prevailed. The home minister, however, said the government will make an exception in case someone from a family comes forward and informs the authorities that his or her close relative has joined a terro
On May 21, India observes National Anti-Terrorism Day to commemorate the murder of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur, a village near Madras (Chennai)
The world will witness a "very, very stormy" churn because of conflicts, power shifts and sharpening competition in this decade, which makes it all the more important for India to have a stable and mature leadership, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said. In an exclusive interview to PTI late Thursday, Jaishankar painted a picture of the world radically different from the one we are living in now by the end of 2020s when asked to draw on his nearly 50 years of experience in diplomacy and politics to give an assessment of the global power balance. "Multiple conflicts, tensions, divides! With all these variables that I am putting to you, I am painting to you, actually, a very, very stormy international scene for the balance of the decade," said Jaishankar, a former ambassador to China and the United States, who was tapped for the political role by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. Jaishankar especially referred to the declining influence of the United States, the conflict in
According to the officials, the search operation was carried out to track the terrorists. Security forces have laid down nakas and checking is going on in the area
A day after more nearly 200 schools received hoax bomb emails, educational institutions in the city witnessed a slightly lower attendance, even as principals revisited evacuation plans for such emergencies in the future. Around 200 schools in Delhi-NCR Wednesday morning received a hoax bomb threat via email which led to widespread panic among parents and students, prompting authorities to suspend classes and ask parents to pick their wards from the school. Many schools on Thursday reopened to normalcy but attendance has taken a hit even in schools where the threat was not received, principals of some schools told PTI. Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School, said she revisited the school's evacuation plan on each floor and also wrote to disaster management authorities to conduct mock drills and awareness activities for them. She said that there was "slightly more absenteeism" than usual on Thursday. "I wrote an email to parents telling them to counsel their children and in case
A Portuguese-flagged container ship came under attack by a drone in the far reaches of the Arabian Sea, corresponding with a claim by Yemen's Houthi rebels that they assaulted the ship there, authorities said Tuesday. The attack on the MSC Orion, occurring some 600 kilometers (375 miles) off the coast of Yemen, appeared to be the first confirmed deep-sea assault claimed by the Houthis since they began targeting ships in November. It suggests the Houthis or potentially their main benefactor Iran may have the ability to strike into the distances of the Indian Ocean as the rebels previously threatened in their ongoing campaign over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The attack happened last Friday, according to the Joint Maritime Information Center, which operates as part of the U.S.-led Combined Maritime Forces in the Mideast. After the attack, the crew discovered debris apparently from a drone on board, the center said. The ship sustained only minor damage and all crew on boa
NIA Director General Sadanand Vasant Date and Jammu and Kashmir Police chief R R Swain on Monday underscored the need to strengthen collaborative efforts in investigations to combat terrorism in the Union territory. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief visited the police headquarters in Jammu, where he held a detailed interaction with the J-K director general of police and other senior officers, a police spokesman said. During the interaction, the officers emphasized the need to further strengthen collaborative efforts in investigations to combat terrorism and counter the support structures that aid and abet such nefarious activities, he said. They called for devising more effective measures by focusing on effective investigations. The officers focused on exploring opportunities and launching initiatives that will ensure sustainable support, resources, and coordination between the police and NIA, the spokesman said. "This collaborative approach will further bolster ...
Special anti-terrorism measures being put in place to safeguard the unprecedented opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics on the River Seine will also apply to all buildings along the route, meaning people who work and live there and their guests will be subjected to background security checks, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said on Thursday. Those affected will be cross-checked against security services' databases, to see whether they have previously been flagged as suspected Islamist extremists or for other radicalism, Nunez said. The wildly ambitious July 26 ceremony is proving to be a gargantuan security challenge. Athletes will be paraded through the heart of the French capital on 94 boats along a six-kilometre (nearly four-mile) stretch of the Seine, from east to west. They will be accompanied by 87 other boats for security, media and other people. All of the parade route will be inside a high-security zone that Nunez described as an "anti-terrorism perimeter". He said it wi
India will continue cooperation for countering misuse of information and communication technologies by terrorists and criminals, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval said on Wednesday as he called for international cooperation for an open, stable, secure, reliable and inclusive framework for ensuring information security. Speaking at a plenary session on Ensuring Information Security in the Polycentric World in St Petersburg, Doval underscored India's policy to use digital technology for inclusive economic development. Doval emphasised that India shall continue cooperation for countering misuse of information and communication technologies by terrorists and criminals, as also for countering terror funding. In that context, the UN Convention on cybercrime will be an important initiative at the international level, he said. He called for international cooperation for an open, stable, secure, reliable and inclusive framework for ensuring information security. Doval, who participated a
At least three children were killed on the spot and one injured in a landmine explosion in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Friday, police said. The tragic incident occurred in Wanna town of the tribal South Waziristan district on the third day of Eid. The children were on their way to watch a volleyball match between two local teams in the Mandokai area when one of them stepped on a landmine triggering a huge blast, a district police officer said. Three children died on the spot and one was critically injured. The injured child was provided immediate treatment at a local hospital before being shifted to a district hospital in Dera Ismail Khan. It was not immediately clear who planted the landmines in the area. However, South Waziristan is a hotbed for militants.
'We encourage both sides to avoid escalation and find a resolution through dialogue,' said US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller
Video and photos of suspects in a mass shooting show them apparently being brutalised by Russian security forces without any rebuke from authorities. A top Kremlin official urges that hit squads be sent to assassinate Ukrainian officials. Senior lawmakers call for restoring capital punishment, abolished decades ago. The aftermath of the Moscow concert hall attack that killed 145 people in the bloodiest assault in Russia in two decades seems to be setting the stage for even harsher rule by President Vladimir Putin following his highly orchestrated electoral landslide last month. Putin vowed to hunt down the masterminds of the March 22 attack that he linked to Ukraine despite Kyiv's vehement denials and a claim of responsibility by an offshoot of the Islamic State group. He warned ominously that terrorism is a double-edged weapon. Putin lieutenant Dmitry Medvedev declared that if Ukrainian involvement is proven, Moscow should respond by deploying hit men to kill the country's leaders
According to the report, the data indicated that the remaining regions were relatively peaceful, suffering less than 8 per cent of all deaths
Pakistan witnessed as many as 245 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations during the first quarter of 2024, resulting in 432 fatalities and 370 injuries among civilians, security personnel and rebels, according to a think tank report. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces, both bordering Afghanistan, accounted for over 92 per cent of all fatalities and 86 per cent of attacks (including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations) during this period. Individually, the former suffered 51 per cent and the latter 41 per cent of all fatalities in the first quarter of 2024, according to the security report issued by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). The data indicates that the remaining regions were relatively peaceful, suffering less than 8 per cent of all fatalities. Interestingly, militant organisations claimed responsibility for less than 20 per cent of the total casualties attributed to terrorism in the first quarter of 2024.
Russia is committed to "decisively fight" the menace of terrorism together with India and other countries, bilaterally and multilaterally, its envoy in New Delhi said on Saturday. Russian ambassador Denis Alipov, in a thread post on X, described the March 22 attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall in which 144 people were killed as a "monstrous terrorist attack". "The Embassy keeps receiving condolence messages expressing sympathy over the huge loss of lives and condemnation of the monstrous terrorist attack on March 22 near Moscow," he said. "We highly appreciate the sentiments towards victims and their kin and the Russian Government by the people of India and other countries," Alipov added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had condemned the attack, calling it a heinous terrorist attack. Alipov said, "Russia is committed to decisively fight the menace of terrorism together with India and other countries bilaterally and multilaterally." He said that "strong statements of support" to
At least 12 people were killed in two separate incidents in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said on Friday. Eight people of a family, including five women and two children, were killed when a pickup truck they were travelling in skidded off a mountainous road allegedly due to a brake failure in Buner district, police said. The driver purportedly lost control of the vehicle after the brake failed while navigating a sharp turn in the mountainous terrain. A rescue team along with the help of locals retrieved the bodies from the accident site, they said. In the other incident, four miners of a family were killed when a coal mine suddenly collapsed in the tribal Kurram district. A rescue team and local volunteers retrieved the bodies from the mine and shifted them to a nearby hospital. The deceased coal miners belong to the Swat district. The dead include a father and son and two brothers.
Suicide bomber rams explosive-laden vehicle into convoy carrying Chinese engineers