Page 361 - War Conflict
India not in talks with Taliban: BJP
The BJP on Friday hit back at former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah saying the government was not in talks with the Taliban in any form and that India had been invited as part of a reconciliation team for peace moves in Afghanistan.
Eight injured in Poonch accident
Eight people were injured on Friday when a bus turned turtle near Surankote town in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, police said.
JeM militant killed in encounter with security forces in J-K's Pulwama
A Pakistani Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in Tral area of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Friday, police said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Dar-Ganiegund area of Tral following inputs about the presence of militants there, a police spokesman said. He said the search operation turned into an encounter when the ultras opened fire on the security forces, who retaliated. One JeM militant, was killed in the gunbattle, the spokesman said, adding that a policeman also suffered minor injuries during the operation. The deceased militant was identified as a Pakistani national and he was using a code name, Anwar, he said. "Incriminating material, arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter," the spokesman said.
J-K: 1 JeM terrorist killed in encounter
One Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist was killed by security forces in an encounter in Tral, Pulwama district, on Friday. One police personnel also sustained injuries.Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in Dar-Ganiegund area of Tral, based on credible inputs about presence of terrorists in the area. During the operation a terrorist holed up in a house fired on the forces. In the retaliatory fire the terrorist was gunned down.The body of the terrorist has been recovered from the site along with incriminating materials including arms and ammunition.According to an official statement, "The killed terrorist is a Pakistani, codenamed Anwar, who was affiliated with proscribed terror outfit JeM. He was involved in attacks on security establishments and other civilian atrocities in the area."Elaborating the encounter, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, SP Pani told ANI, "One terrorist has been killed. No collateral damage has been reported as yet. One police person had ...
Yemen rebels battle to slow loyalist advance in key port city
Yemeni rebels battled Friday to slow an advance by pro-government forces deeper into Hodeida seeking to recapture the city's lifeline port, launching fierce barrages of mortar fire and aiming to cut off supply routes, military sources said. The Shiite Huthi rebels, whose chief has vowed his troops would never surrender despite being vastly outnumbered, shelled government positions in the south of the Red Sea city, loyalist officials said. But despite the "intense attacks", loyalist forces made fresh advances in eastern sectors of Hodeida. The rebels, for their part, said their fighters had cut off government supply routes in four sectors of Hodeida province. On Thursday, after a week of intense battles on the outskirts of the city, loyalist troops entered residential neighbourhoods, using bulldozers to remove concrete road blocks installed by the rebels. Military sources said government forces and their coalition allies were edging towards the city's vital port through which nearly 80
3 dead as Indonesian forces pursue rebel commander in Papua
Two Papuan independence fighters and a third person have been killed during a week of gunbattles with security forces in the highlands of Indonesia's remote Papua region, both sides in the conflict say. An Indonesian police and military operation is trying to capture Purom Wenda, a West Papua Liberation Army commander who has eluded Indonesia for 15 years but who authorities call a former petty criminal of "low intellectual level." Villagers have fled into the jungle because of the fighting, which reports say has intensified in highlands districts for several months. Wenda, in a statement conveyed via an activist on Friday, said two of his fighters were killed in a shootout with police and soldiers in mountainous Lanny Jaya district after his group shot dead a motorbike taxi driver they believed was spying for Indonesian security forces. The military said the man, a migrant from Sulawesi, was an innocent civilian. An insurgency has simmered in the formerly Dutch-controlled Papua ...
Afghan leaders, Taliban attend peace talks in Moscow; India participates at "non-official level"
Russia on Friday said no one should play "geopolitical games" in Afghanistan as Moscow hosted a major conference to create "favourable conditions" for the start of direct peace talks with the Taliban whose representatives were present at the meeting which was attended by India for the first time. Opening the second Moscow meeting on Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia and the countries of the region will continue to do everything possible to launch dialogue between Afghanistan's government and the Taliban, which is banned in Russia. "We are determined to make every possible effort to facilitate the opening of a new page in the history of Afghanistan," was quoted as saying by the state-run Tass news agency. Addressing the gathering, Lavrov said the conference was "aimed at building an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue in order to advance the national reconciliation process." The US Embassy in Moscow has sent a diplomat to observe Friday's discussions at the meeting ...
Russia hosts Af meeting to create 'favourable conditions for direct talks' with Taliban
Russia on Friday hosted a conference on Afghanistan to create "favourable conditions for the start of direct talks" with the Taliban whose representatives were present at the high-profile meeting which was attended by India for the first time. "We are determined to make every possible effort to facilitate the opening of a new page in the history of Afghanistan," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, opening the second Moscow meeting on Afghanistan. He said Russia and the countries of the region will continue to do everything possible to launch dialogue between Afghanistan's government and the Taliban (banned in Russia), the state-run Itar Tass news agency reported. Addressing the gathering, Lavrov said the conference was "aimed at building an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue in order to advance the national reconciliation process." "All countries of the region and the entire international community would like to see Afghanistan as a peaceful, independent and prospering country, .
Militant killed, policeman injured in Kashmir
A militant was killed and a policeman injured on Friday in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.
Austria says retired colonel suspected of spying for Russia
A retired colonel in the Austrian army is suspected of having spied for Russia for several decades, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Friday. Kurz told a press conference that the colonel is suspected to have begun working with Russian intelligence in the 1990s and carried on until 2018. Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl has summoned the Russian ambassador over the matter and cancelled an upcoming trip to Russia, Kurz added. "Of course if such cases are confirmed, whether it be in the Netherlands or in Austria, it can't improve the relationship between the EU and Russia," Kurz said. He was referring to the expulsion of four Russian agents by the Netherlands in April for allegedly planning a cyber-attack on the world's chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague. "Russian spying in Europe is unacceptable and to be condemned," Kurz added. Austrian Defence Minister Mario Kunasek told the press conference that the case came to light "a few weeks ago" as a result of information from another ...
Anil Parihar killing case: Police detains some suspects
Police have detained some persons in connection with the killing of senior BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district. While tension has eased out in the district, night curfew continues to remain in force as a precautionary measure. A senior official told PTI Friday that the detained persons are being interrogated in connection with the killing on November 1. The government on November 2 constituted a specialinvestigation team (SIT) to probe the killing and directed itto expedite the investigation. An indefinite curfew was imposed in parts of Kishtwarand Doda districts on Thursday last following the killing of Parihar, 52, and his brother, AjeetParihar, 55. The Chief of Army's Northern Command, Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, Thursday reviewed the security situation in Kishtwar and called for effectively meeting the emerging security challenges.
No snap election, no referendum to end political crisis in Lanka: President's aide
President Maithripala Sirisena has decided that there will be no snap elections or a national referendum to end the current political and constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka, according to his close aide. "No, no there won't be a dissolution of parliament or a referendum," Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa, the general secretary of President Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), told the party's central committee meeting Thursday night. Piyadasa was scotching rumours that Sirisena may opt for a snap poll with a dissolution of parliament well ahead of its August 2020 term expiry. The island was plunged into a political crisis after Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with his former rival Mahinda Rajapaksa. Wickremesinghe, however, claims he is still the legally appointed prime minister. His request for a floor test to prove his majority in the House has been turned down and Sirisena has suspended parliament till November 14 - a move believed to allow ...
Police shoots man after stabbing spree in Melbourne
Police on Friday shot a knife-wielding man who is believed to have stabbed three people in Melbourne, killing one of them.
Gunfight in Kashmir
Militants and security forces traded gunfire on Friday in a village in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, police said.
Encounter breaks out in J&K's Pulwama
An encounter broke out Friday between militants and security forces in Tral area of Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir, police said. No casualties have been reported so far, they said. "There has been an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists at Tral in Pulwama district," a police spokesman said. Cordon and search operations are being carried out in the area, he added.
Syria regime attack kills 22 rebels in truce zone: monitor
Syrian government forces killed 22 rebels overnight near Idlib province, in the deadliest such attack in an area where a recent truce is to be enforced, a monitor said Friday. Fighting erupted when government troops seized a position in a rural area in the north of neighbouring Hama province that had been held by the Jaish al-Izza group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Idlib and some surrounding areas are the last major rebel bastion in Syria, where the Russian-backed government has in recent months retaken much of the territory it had lost since the civil war erupted in 2011. It had threatened an assault on rebel territory, home to around three million people, but a deal for a de-militarised buffer zone around it was reached in September between Moscow and rebel backer Ankara. Several deadly skirmishes have occurred since the deal but 22 is the highest number of known fatalities in a single incident inside the planned buffer zone, the Observatory said. "This is the ...
Afghan official: Taliban attacks kill 10 troops, 7 policemen
Afghan officials say Taliban attacks have killed at least 10 soldiers and seven policemen. In northern Takhar province, provincial police chief Abdul Rashid Bashir says the Taliban targeted an army outpost in Khwaja Ghar district early on Friday, triggering an hours-long gunbattle before they were repulsed. Bashir says at least 10 soldiers were killed and 12 were wounded. He says the Taliban suffered "heavy casualties" but didn't elaborate. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for that attack. In western Farah province, the Taliban targeted police forces in the provincial capital, Farah city, late on Thursday. Provincial council member, Abdul Samad Salehi, says seven policemen died and three were wounded there. The Taliban have been staging near-daily attacks on Afghan security forces and now hold nearly half of the country.
Need for dedicated counter-IED resources for peacekeeping missions facing threats: India
With UN peacekeeping missions suffering casualties due to use of improvised explosive devices, India has said there is a need for dedicated counter-IED resources for missions facing such threats and for upgrading the security infrastructure of camps. Military Adviser in India's Permanent Mission to the UN Colonel Sandeep Kapoor said that an analysis of the fatal casualties among peacekeeping personnel in the last four years indicate that at least a quarter of them were due to improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks. "While a number of initiatives have been taken to incorporate Improvised Explosive Device Disposal (IEDD) measures in the field, we feel that there is a requirement of dedicated counter-IED resources for missions facing such threats. There should also be concerted efforts to upgrade the security infrastructure of camps as a number of casualties have been related to direct attacks on the security camps," he said while speaking at a Security Council Working Group on ...
2,714 people killed in 409 US drone attacks in Pakistan since January 2004: Report
The US has carried out a total of 409 drone attacks in Pakistan since January 2004, killing 2,714 people and injuring 728 others, a media report said on Friday. The attacks over the years have targeted the areas of Bajaur, Bannu, Hangu, Khyber, Kurram, Mohmand, North Waziristan, Nushki, Orakzai, and South Waziristan, Dawn reported. Majority of the drone strikes were carried out during the government of the Pakistan Peoples Party between 2008 and 2012. Citing sources within the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta), the paper said the period saw 336 aerial attacks, in which 2,282 people lost their lives and 658 received injuries. The officials said that 2010 alone saw 117 attacks that killed 775 people and injured 193 others. Between 2013 and 2018 -- during the government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz -- 65 drone attacks occurred in which 301 people were killed and 70 others injured. In 2018, two drone attacks killed one person and injured another. The top leadership of ...
Indonesian officer shoots armed militant to stop his attack
A suspected Islamic militant's frenzied attack on a police station in the Indonesian capital was thwarted by an officer who shot the man in the hand, police said Friday. Jakarta police spokesman Argo Yuwono said the knife and machete-wielding man repeatedly shouted "God is Great" as he attacked officers, chasing some through the building and smashing a glass door. One officer suffered light injuries to his arm from a machete blow and another shot the attacker's hand, forcing him to drop the weapon. Police are a frequent target of attacks by militants in Muslim-majority Indonesia, who see them as representing the power of the secular government that they want replaced by an Islamic state. Yuwono said the 31-year-old man, identified as Rohandi, arrived at the police station in Jakarta's north on a motorbike after midnight and tried to attack at least half a dozen officers by throwing his knife and striking out with the machete. He said the attacker's house has been searched and ...