Page 184 - War Conflict

ICC supports cancellation of NZ-Bangla Test in wake of Christchurch mosque attack

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Friday said it "fully supports" the cancellation of the third Test between New Zealand and Bangladesh in Christchurch after the visiting side had a narrow escape from a shooting attack at a mosque there. The attack on the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Hagley Park killed several people, the media in New Zealand reported. The Bangladesh team, which was about to enter the mosque to offer prayers, escaped unscathed but the prevailing situation led to the authorities calling off the third and final Test match starting Saturday. The match was the tour finale for the visitors. "Our thoughts and sincere condolences go out to the families and friends of those affected by this horrendous incident in Christchurch. Both teams, staff and match officials are safe and the ICC fully supports the decision to cancel the Test match," ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden said the attack was an "unprecedented act of ...

New Zealand police says four in custody, IEDs found

New Zealand police said they have detained four people in connection with deadly shootings at two mosques in Christchurch on Friday and had secured a number of improvised explosive devices. "Four are in custody, three of them are men and one is a woman," commissioner Mike Bush said, saying there were "significant" and "multiple" fatalities. He said the suspected IEDs found attached to the attackers' vehicles had been made safe by the military.

Bullet fired from across LoC injures Army porter in J-K's Rajouri

An Army porter was injured by a stray bullet fired from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Friday, officials said. According to them, Pakistani troops fired a few shots targeting Indian posts in Kalal area of Nowshera sector in the early hours Friday and one of the stray bullets hit a porter. The injured, Surjeet Kumar, was immediately taken to hospital for treatment, they said. Barring this incident, there was no report of ceasefire violation from anywhere along the LoC since Wednesday afternoon, an official said. There has been a spurt in cross-border skirmishes after India's preemptive air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26 following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. Four civilians, including three members of a family, were killed and several others injured as Pakistan targeted dozens of villages in over 100 incidents of ceasefire violations along the LoC .

4 held for New Zealand mosques shootings

Four people were arrested on Friday after two gunmen opened fire at two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch city, with the police saying that there were "multiple fatalities".

Gunmen kill civilian in J&K's Pulwama district

After attacking a National Conference leader in Anantnag a day ago, unidentified gunmen struck again on Friday klling a civilian in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said.

Mass shootings at New Zealand mosques

At least two gunmen opened fire at two mosques in New Zealand's Christchurch city on Friday, with the police saying that there were "multiple fatalities".

Man shot dead by terrorists in Pulwama

A 40-year-old man was forcibly taken away from his home and shot dead by terrorists in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said Friday. "Manzoor Ahmad Lone was shot dead by the terrorists late on Thursday night at Gulzarpora in Awantipora area of Pulwama, " a police spokesman said. He said initial investigation revealed that Lone was forcibly taken away by terrorists from his home in Dogripora and shot dead at nearby Gulzarpora. This was the third attack on civilians in south Kashmir in the past two days. A National Conference worker was shot at and injured in Bijbehara area of Anantnag district on Thursday while an army deserter was shot dead on Wednesday in Pulwama district.

US lawmaker 'disappointed' on China blocking Masood Azhar listing as global terrorist

A leading American lawmaker has expressed disappointment that China has once again blocked at the UNSC the designation of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, saying Beijing has had "ample opportunity" to fulfil its international obligation. The proposal to designate Azhar under the 1267 al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the Security Council was moved by France, the UK and the US on February 27, days after a Jaish suicide bomber killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, leading to a flare-up in tensions between India and Pakistan. Other than Pulwama, Azhar-led JeM has been involved in several terror attacks in India over nearly two decades. It was responsible for the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 in which nine security personnel and officials were killed. In January, 2016, a heavily armed group of JeM attacked the Pathankot airbase in which seven security personnel were killed. The terror group also carried out the attack on Uri ...

Hundreds lumber out of last IS redoubt in east Syria

Hundreds of men, women and children trudged out of a remote eastern Syrian village Thursday where the Islamic State group has been making a suicidal last stand against advancing US-backed forces. All that remains of a sprawling cross-border "caliphate" the jihadists declared in 2014 is a battered riverside camp in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border. The Syrian Democratic Forces, and warplanes of a US-led coalition backing them, have rained fire on the enclave since Sunday, blitzing thousands of IS members into surrender. Hundreds more followed on Thursday, slowly walking up the orange cliff overlooking the smouldering IS encampment in a bend of the Euphrates River, an AFP reporter there said. Under the drizzle, men with thick beards struggled on crutches, while women stumbled under the weight of bags stuffed full, one with a toothbrush poking out of a back pocket. Children followed, covered in dust and hair in disarray. When they saw the journalists, some started ...

Pentagon denies US wants 'cost + 50%' from allies for bases

Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan denied Thursday reports that the United States has a "cost-plus-50 percent" formula for allies to pay for the US military presence on their soil. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reported that President Donald Trump is pushing the formula as a basis for Germany, Japan and other allies to compensate Washington for US troops based in their countries. But Shanahan told the Senate Armed Services Committee that such reports were "erroneous." "We won't do cost-plus-50 percent," he said in a hearing. He said US partners should pay their "fair share" when they can, but there was no such business-like formula. "We're not going to run a business and we're not going to run a charity," Shanahan said. "Payment comes in lots of different forms. At the end of the day, people need to carry their fair share," he said. "Not everyone can contribute. It is not about cost-plus-50 percent." Shanahan did not say whether Trump, who built a multibillion-dollar fortune in the

Lanka opens second special court to try graft cases

Sri Lanka's Justice and Prison Reforms Ministry on Thursday declared open the second special high court to try bribery and corruption cases in the island country.

Maoist-related items seized after gunfight in Chhattisgarh

A huge cache of Maoist-related materials, including items used in making home-made bombs, was recovered following a gunfight between security forces and Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Kabirdham district Thursday, police said. The encounter, which may have caused casualties among rebels, took place in the morning near Amlidar village in the Bhoramdeo wildlife sanctuary area, when a joint team of security forces was out on an anti-Naxal operation, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Durg range) Ratanlal Dangi told PTI. Acting on a specific tip-off, the combine squad of the Special Task Force (STF), the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) and the district force had launched the operation in the interiors of Bhoramdeo bordering Madhya Pradesh, he said. When the patrolling team wascordoning off forests around Amlidar, located around 150km from the state capital Raipur, a group of armed rebels opened fire on them, prompting security forces to retaliate, the DIG said. Maoists soon fled ..

NATO takes Huawei security concerns seriously: Stoltenberg

Security concerns about the role of Huawei in Western 5G telecom infrastructure are to be taken seriously, the head of NATO said Thursday, as Washington steps up pressure on Europe not to use the Chinese firm. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the 29-member alliance has begun internal consultations on Huawei, which the US says poses a "threat" to Europe. The US and several other Western nations have shut Huawei out of tenders for the development of super-fast fifth-generation, or 5G, networks, because of the company's close ties to the Chinese government. "Some NATO allies have expressed their concerns over Huawei and their role in providing 5G infrastructure. NATO takes these concerns very seriously," Stoltenberg told reporters. "We are now consulting closely on this issue including on the security aspects on investments in 5G networks." German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that Berlin would consult Washington over using Huawei technology after reports of US ...

Tajik killed in clashes at border with Kyrgyzstan

One Tajik was killed and 11 injured in clashes with Kyrgyz citizens over a road project at the disputed border between the Central Asian countries, Tajikistan said Thursday. A group of Tajiks were on Wednesday protesting Kyrgyzstan's plans for the project when "the Kyrgyz opened fire" and started throwing stones, Tajikistan's border service said. Thirty people from Tajikistan were taken hostage, the service said in a statement. Kyrgyzstan's border service did not confirm the death of the Tajik citizen or the hostages claim. It said "about 50 Kyrgyz citizens and 70 Tajik citizens" had thrown stones at each other Wednesday but did not say whether shots were fired. Flare-ups are common at the border, where large areas are not demarcated and competition for scarce land and water pits ethnic groups against each other. Tajikistan said Kyrgyzstan is building a road in the disputed region "in violation of the bilateral intergovernmental protocol". Both Muslim-majority Tajikistan and ...

NC leader shot at by gunmen in Anantnag

A National Conference block President was shot at and injured by unidentified gunmen on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Afghan city shuts down over police chief appointment

Afghanistan's northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif observed a shutdown on Thursday as armed supporters of a powerful former Governor clashed with government forces over the appointment of a new provincial police chief.

Afghan airstrikes kill 31 militants: officials

Thirty-one militants, many of them believed to have been Al-Qaeda fighters, have been killed in airstrikes in south-eastern Afghanistan, officials said Thursday. The strikes were carried out in Ghazni province late Wednesday, where the defence ministry said they targeted a "base" belonging to the militants. "Qari Aref, one of the facilitators (for Al-Qaeda) was transferring these 31 terrorists, including nine suicide bombers, in several cars when targeted by airstrikes and eliminated," the ministry said. It described the fighters as all belonging to the Middle Eastern jihadist group, although a spokesman for the Ghazni governor said fighters from the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network were also present. The defence ministry did not specify who carried out the airstrikes. Only Afghan and US forces in Afghanistan conduct airstrikes. The Ghazni governor's spokesman, Mohammed Aref Noori, said the strikes had been carried out by US forces, but there was no immediate confirmation of his ...

Afghans probe US mistaken airstrike of Afghan army base

Authorities are investigating an errant US bombing of an Afghan military base in the country's south that killed at least five Afghan troops, a lawmaker said Thursday. The soldiers were killed by friendly fire Wednesday in what was supposed to be a precision airstrike by US forces supporting Afghan soldiers battling insurgents near the city of Tarin Kot in Uruzgan province. The Defense Ministry earlier said the fatalities were the result of a miscommunication between Afghan troops on the ground and forces in the air, without providing details. Lawmaker Obaidullah Barikzai from Uruzgan province told The Associated Press that Afghan soldiers inside the base in Tarin Kot believed a darkened convoy approaching the base was the Taliban not US and Afghan forces and opened fire, invoking a blistering retaliation. The Taliban often travel in convoys with no vehicle lights on, Barikzai said. A US airstrike was called in to aid the under-fire convoy, he added. It hit the Afghan army base, ...

Indonesia says uncovers huge explosives stash after suicide blast

Indonesian police said Thursday they had uncovered a huge stash of explosives linked to a terror suspect whose wife blew up herself and a child following a dramatic standoff at their home. The discovery of some 300 kilogrammes of assembled explosives and bomb-making materials raised fears that a major attack was being planned, a month before national elections and less than a year after Indonesia was rocked by a wave of deadly suicide bombings. The suicide blast early Wednesday morning came after police had arrested the husband, Abu Hamzah, who was identified as a member of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). The Islamic State-linked jihadist network has been blamed for attacks last May in Indonesia's second-biggest city, Surabaya, the deadliest in years to rock the world's biggest Muslim majority nation. Officers surrounded the arrested militant's home in Sibolga on Sumatra island when the confrontation began. During a nearly 12-hour standoff, the wife lobbed an explosive device at ...

Security forces in hot pursuit of JeM terrorist 'Lambu', who fabricates IEDs

Security forces are in hot pursuit of Ismail Bhai, alias 'Lambu', a Pakistani terrorist belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammed who is believed to have fabricated the improvised explosive device (IED) used in the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama that left 40 personnel dead, officials said. The officials said Ismail Bhai, according to intelligence agencies, infiltrated into Kashmir in December last year and has been moving around in the most-volatile Tral area, 46 km south of Srinagar. There were intelligence inputs in December about the presence of a Pakistani terrorist, whose height is over 6.5 feet, and the same was corroborated by police informers. He has been moving around the axis of Tral-Pulwama-Awantipura, considered a Jaish-e-Mohammed-dominated belt, the officials said. In the past, search-and-cordon operations were launched to nab him but he managed to give security forces the slip, a senior police officer said. According to investigations so far, Ismail has been sent