Page 187 - War Conflict
Israel shuts Jerusalem holy site after unrest
Unrest at a highly sensitive Jerusalem holy site led Israeli police to shut off access to it on Tuesday after several weeks of tension at the location. Police said they evacuated the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, after a Molotov cocktail damaged a police post. Video spread online of scuffles between police and Palestinians before the site was cleared. More than 10 people were arrested, police said, including two minors allegedly linked to the firebomb attack who will be brought to a court for a remand hearing on Wednesday. The Palestinian Red Crescent reported two people hurt, while police said an officer suffered from smoke inhalation. Police said they found a number of firecrackers and Molotov cocktails in searches of the site. Residents said police were also restricting Palestinian access to Jerusalem's Old City, where the site is located. Worshippers later prayed outside the locked gates of the site in protest. Jordan, the custodian of the site, ...
Case filed against Rahul Gandhi for addressing Jaish chief as 'Masood Azhar ji'
A case was filed against Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a Bihar court on Tuesday for addressing terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad chief as "Masood Azhar ji". The case was filed under various IPC sections, including sedition, by social activist Tamanna Hashmi in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate of Muzaffarpur, Suryakant Tiwary. Addressing a meeting of Congress workers in New Delhi on Monday, Gandhi had attacked the BJP, saying, "These people with 56-inch chest, you would recall, in their previous government, the current National Security Advisor Ajit Doval went in an aircraft with Masood Azhar ji and handed over Masood Azhar there in Kandahar." Azhar's outfit plotted the Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14. In his complaint, Hashmi said Gandhi's reference to Jaish-e-Mohammad's head as "Masood Azhar ji" has hurt the people's sentiment and insulted the entire nation. The case was filed under various sections of IPC including 124A ...
NIA arrests three in Srinagar weapons loot case
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested three accused in the loot of over half a dozen automatic weapons from the residence of a Jammu and Kashmir legislator in Srinagar last year, officials said.
Myanmar repatriates remains of suspected WWII US airmen
The remains of suspected American airmen killed in Myanmar during World War II were repatriated to the United States on Tuesday in the first-ever ceremony of its kind in the Southeast Asian nation, US officials said. The remains of hundreds of American military personnel are still unaccounted for in Myanmar, a key conflict arena in Asia between the Allies and Japan during World War II. The remains repatriated on Tuesday are believed to be linked to a crashed B-25G aircraft in February 1944 in the Salingyi area of the northwest Sagaing region. The wreckage was found in an investigation two years later, but the graves could not be located. A ceremony was held at Mandalay International Airport late Tuesday afternoon. White-gloved servicemen saluted before loading a flag-draped coffin bearing the remains onto a C-17 military plane. "This ceremony is a reminder of the deep, enduring, historical connections between our two countries that date back to even before Myanmar's independence," ...
Rwanda invites Macron to attend 25th anniversary of genocide
Rwanda, which has accused France of complicity in the 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 of its citizens, said Tuesday it had invited President Emmanuel Macron to attend the 25th anniversary of the massacre on April 7. Kigali has long insisted that France supported the Hutu regime and helped train the soldiers and militiamen who carried out the killing of minority ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. "President Macron has... been invited to the 25th commemoration of the 1994 genocide," Rwanda's state minister for foreign affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, told AFP. Macron has not indicated whether he will attend the event in the Rwandan capital. If he accepts, Macron will become only the second French president to visit the country since the genocide, which still poisons relations between the two nations. Nicolas Sarkozy was the first to visit Kigali in February 2010, when he admitted France had made "serious errors" but gave no apology. Paris has consistently denied any involvement in ..
Rwanda invites Macron to attend 25th anniversary of genocide
Rwanda, which has accused France of complicity in the 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 of its citizens, said Tuesday it had invited President Emmanuel Macron to attend the 25th anniversary of the massacre on April 7. Kigali has long insisted that France supported the Hutu regime and helped train the soldiers and militiamen who carried out the killing of minority ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. "President Macron has... been invited to the 25th commemoration of the 1994 genocide," Rwanda's state minister for foreign affairs, Olivier Nduhungirehe, told AFP. Macron has not indicated whether he will attend the event in the Rwandan capital. If he accepts, Macron will become only the second French president to visit the country since the genocide, which still poisons relations between the two nations. Nicolas Sarkozy was the first to visit Kigali in February 2010, when he admitted France had made "serious errors" but gave no apology. Paris has consistently denied any involvement in ..
Naxals release abducted policeman, school teacher in C'garh
A police sub-inspector (SI) and his school teacher friend, who were abducted by Naxals on Sunday from Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh, have been released, police said. Talking to PTI, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said, SI Lalit Kashyap and Jaisingh Kureti were released late on Monday night and they safely reached Sameli camp of CRPF on Tuesday morning. According to the SP, Naxals questioned Kashyap about the movement of police personnel and security camps in the area for two days before releasing the duo. "The duo was abducted from Jabeli village under Aranpur police station area on Sunday morning when Kashyap had gone to consume liquor with Kureti, a contractual teacher in a government primary school there," he said. Kashyap, who belongs to the district police, is posted at the camp of 'C' company of CRPF's 111th battalion in Sameli village in the area for coordination between local police and paramilitary personnel in anti-Naxal operations. As
More surrenders from IS Syria bastion as end nears
Kurdish-led forces Tuesday said more people were surrendering from the Islamic State group's last scrap of territory in Syria, after overnight air raids and shelling ravaged jihadist outposts. A ragged tent encampment in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz is all that remains of a once-sprawling IS "caliphate" declared in 2014 across large swaths of Syria and neighbouring Iraq. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have been trying to crush holdout IS fighters for weeks but the mass outpouring of men, women and children from the riverside hamlet has bogged down their advance. Backed by the US-led coalition, the SDF renewed their assault on Sunday after warning remaining IS fighters that time was up for surrenders. Airstrikes and shelling have since pummelled Baghouz for two nights in a row, killing scores of fighters and prompting hundreds of jihadists and their relatives to surrender. "There was fierce fighting." Ali Cheir, an SDF unit commander, told AFP from a rudimentary ...
UK and Germany table Resolution on Sri Lanka at UNHRC
Sri Lanka is once again under international pressure to implement fully the measures identified by the UNHRC in 2015 to address human rights concerns after the United Kingdom and Germany on Tuesday tabled a resolution at the UN body in Geneva. The UN rights office calls for international investigations into alleged war crimes and encourages member states to prosecute Sri Lankans suspected of war crimes in accordance with universal jurisdiction principles. Titled "Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka", the rollover resolution requests the Office of the High Commissioner to continue to assess progress on the implementation of its recommendations and other relevant processes related to reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka. It also calls for presenting a written update to the UNHRC at its 43rd session, and a comprehensive report, followed by a discussion on the implementation of Council resolution 30/1, at its ...
Philippine forces kill several militants in new offensive
Philippine troops, backed by airstrikes and artillery fire, killed several militants aligned with the Islamic State group in a new offensive in the marshy heartland of the country's south, the military said Tuesday. Army Maj. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana said several key commanders, including a long-wanted Singaporean militant, were among the more than 100 militants who came under attack at daybreak Monday in the hilly hinterland near Shariff Saydona Mustapha town in Maguindanao province. One soldier was killed and seven others were wounded in the firefight in the village of Inaladan, where rocket-firing air force helicopters and bomber planes pounded a militant camp before army troops came in. The militants split into groups and withdrew, Sobejana said. Sporadic gunbattles were continuing Tuesday as troops pursued the militants belonging to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Dawla Islamiya, two small groups aligned with the Islamic State group. At least six bodies of suspected
Militants abduct 13 travellers in Afghanistan
Armed militants intercepted a passenger bus in Afghanistan's Baghlan province on Tuesday and kidnapped 13 commuters, officials said.
Maoists kill road construction supervisor in Odisha
A group of 25 armed Maoists have killed a road construction supervisor in Malkangiri district of Odisha, a police official said. They also torched three vehicles and an excavator at the site on Monday evening. The incident took place at Kukurkandi village under Mathili police limits. According to the Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Jagmohan Meena, the supervisor was tied to a tree during the raid. While other employees and workers fled from the spot, the body of the supervisor identified as that of Prabhat Bishoyee, was found in a forest near the construction site, he said. A police team was sent to the area after getting information from the locals, he said. Combing operation and patrolling have been intensified in the area, which is close to Chhattisgarh. The Maoists had earlier issued a threat seeking an immediate halt to the road construction, police said. The red rebels of neighbouring Chhattisgarh are suspected to be involved in the killing and investigation is
Afghan officials: Taliban kill 13 troops in country's west
Officials say the Taliban killed at least 13 Afghan soldiers in battles that raged for three days in western Badghis province where insurgents overran several army checkpoints. Jamshid Shahabi, the provincial governor's spokesman, says the fate of a dozen other soldiers is unknown. He says the fighting erupted on Saturday in Bala Murghab district. The military carried out several airstrikes and dispatched reinforcement. Shahabi says 42 insurgents were killed and 15 troops were wounded in the fighting. However, Mohammad Naser Nazari, a member of the provincial council, gave a higher casualty toll, saying that 20 soldiers were killed and 20 others remain missing. The officials say the fighting has subsided with only sporadic clashes on Tuesday in remote areas of the province. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.
3 killed in J&K blizzard
Three people were killed in a blizzard in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district, police said on Tuesday.
Children among 22 killed in Yemen strikes over 48 hours: UN
Twelve children and 10 women have been killed by strikes in northern Yemen in the past 48 hours, the United Nations said on Monday. The UN statement did not say who was responsible, but Huthi rebel media outlets accused the Saudi-led coalition that is fighting on the side of the Yemeni government of being behind the bombardment.
UPA denied 'martyr' benefits to paramilitary forces, Modi govt conferred it: Sitharaman
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday alleged that the UPA denied benefits to the "martyrs" of paramilitary forces for years and it was the Modi government which ultimately conferred these benefits. In a Facebook post, she said that on March 3, 2011, under the UPA II government, a Cabinet note was moved by the Home Ministry for declaration of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) persons, who died on active duty, as martyrs. Subsequently, the then prime minister Manmohan Singh's office referred the matter to a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on March 14 2011. "Further on, in the CoS meeting which was held on 14th September 2011, the committee could not reach a common consensus on giving shahid/martyr status to CAPF personnel who died on active duty. Thereafter, the matter was shelved altogether by Government of India and not taken up further," Sitharaman said. She said after the Pulwama terror attack, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi added a "new dimension" to the public discourse for ...
18 militants killed in 21 days; succeeded in eliminating JeM leadership: Army commander
Security forces have gone very forcefully after the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant outfit in the wake of February 14 Pulwama attack and have succeeded in eliminating its leadership in Kashmir, a top Army officer said here on Monday. General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Srinagar-based Chinar Corps, Lt Gen K J S Dhillon, told a press conference that the security forces have killed 18 militants, including Jaish-e-Mohammed's second-in-command, over 21 days. We have gone very forcefully after the JeM, and we have reasonably succeeded in our aim of eliminating them at the earliest so that they are not able to carry out a Pulwama-like attack, he said. Of the 18 militants killed, 14 belonged to JeM including its "six main commanders", the Lt. Gen., flanked by IGP Kashmir S P Pani and IG CRPF Zulfiqar Hassan, said. "We have also eliminated JeM's second-in-command Mudasir Khan, the main conspirator in the attack on a CRPF convoy on February 14. He was active for more than a year," he ...
Naxals kidnap police sub-inspector, his schoolteacher-friend
Suspected naxals abducted a police sub-inspector (PSI) and his schoolteacher-friend from a village in Chhattisgarh's Datewada district, police said Monday. The incident occurred Sunday inRewali village under the Aranpur police station area whenPSI Lalit Kashyap had gone to reportedly consume liquor with his friend Jaisingh Kureti, a contractual teacher in a government school there, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava told PTI. Kashyap, who is part of the district police, is posted at the camp of 'C' company of CRPF's 111th battalion in Sameli village for coordination between local police and paramilitary personnel in anti-naxal operations, he said. As per preliminary information, at around 10 am Sunday, Kashyap went to Rewali, around 350km from Raipur and located in a hypersensitive area near his posting place, said the SP. An armed group of Maoists stormed the village and took the PSI and Kureti along with them, he added. After being alerted about the ...
NIA charge sheets two in Hizbul terror attack conspiracy in UP
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Monday filed a chargesheet in connection with an alleged conspiracy of the Hizbul Mujahideen to carry out a terror attack in Uttar Pradesh in 2018, the agency said Monday. In its chargesheet filed in a special court in Lucknow, the agency charged Kamruj Zaman of Assam and absconding accused Osama Bin Javed of Jammu and Kashmir under IPC sections related to criminal conspiracy among others and stringent sections of anti-terror law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The Uttar Pradesh Police had booked Zaman on September 12, 2018 for hatching a criminal conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks by Hizbul Mujahideen cadres at different places in the state. It was later taken up by the NIA. "Investigation has established that Zaman and Javed had joined HM and were imparted nine months weapon training (June 2017 - March 2018) by two cadres of terror group Mohammad Amin and Hajari in the jungles of district Kishtwar, Jammu and Kashmir," the NIA ...
India was granted permission to wear caps in memory of fallen soldiers: ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) Monday said India was granted permission to wear camouflage military caps in the third ODI against Australia as a tribute to the country's armed forces, a gesture which Pakistan has objected to. In the third ODI in Ranchi on March 8, the Indian team sported military caps as a mark of respect to the CRPF personnel who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack and donated its match fee to the National Defence Fund. "The BCCI sought permission from the ICC to wear the caps as part of a fundraising drive and in memory of fallen soldiers who have died, which was granted," ICC's General Manager Strategic Communications Claire Furlong said in a statement. The Pakistan Cricket Board had sent a strongly-worded letter to the ICC, calling for action against India for wearing the caps. "They took permission from ICC for some other purpose and used it to do something else, which is not acceptable," PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani said on Sunday in Karachi. Last ...