Page 376 - War Conflict

SSB chief Deswal appointed ITBP DG

Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) chief S.S. Deswal was on Wednesday appointed the Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), a paramilitary force mandated to guard the 3,488-km Sino-Indian border.

Senior IPS officer S S Deswal appointed ITBP chief

Senior IPS officer S S Deswal was on Wednesday appointed the chief of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), that guards country's frontier with China, according to an official order. Deswal, a 1984 batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre, is at present the Director General of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Deswal's appointment as the DG, ITBP for a period up to his superannuation on August 31, 2021, the order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. He has been appointed in place of R K Pachnanda, who superannuated on Wednesday. The around 90,000-personnel strong force, raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression, works under the command of the Union Home Ministry. Apart from its primary task of guarding the 3,488-km India-China border, where ITBP troops are deployed at freezing heights of up to 18,700 feet, the paramilitary force is tasked with rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain, including ...

World Food Programme needs more funds for Rohingya refugees

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday said that it needs more funds to continue assisting the hundreds of thousands Rohingya refugees, who have been living in Bangladesh camps after fleeing an offensive by the Myanmar military last year.

South Sudan rebel leader Machar back in Juba after two years

South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar returned to the capital Juba for the first time in more than two years Wednesday for a ceremony to welcome the latest peace accord for the war-ravaged country. Machar, who under the terms of the September deal is to be reinstated as vice president, had not set foot in the city since he fled in July 2016 under a hail of gunfire when an earlier peace agreement collapsed. The latest deal was signed in September to try to end a civil war that erupted in the world's youngest country in December 2013 and uprooted about four million people -- roughly a third of the population. The rebel chief was welcomed by President Salva Kiir, Machar's former ally turned bitter enemy, on his arrival at Juba's airport from Khartoum. The two rivals are to join regional leaders at the ceremony to publicly welcome the most recent agreement, signed in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. It was not immediately clear how long Machar would remain in Juba, as his aides have ...

20 killed in Afghan military helicopter crash

At least 20 people were killed on Wednesday when a military helicopter crashed in Afghanistan's Farah province. The dead included the region's deputy commander and local politicians.

Afghan army helicopter crashes, killing all 25 on board

An Afghan army helicopter crashed Wednesday in bad weather in the western Farah province, killing all 25 people on board, including the deputy corps commander of the western zone, a provincial spokesman said. Mohammad Naser Mehri, spokesman for the Farah governor, said the helicopter crashed around 9:10 a.m. (0440 GMT), shortly after taking off from the mountainous Anar Dara district heading toward the nearby Herat province. On board were the corps commander, Gen. Naimudullah Khalil, and two members of the Farah provincial council, its chairman, Farid Bakhtawar, and Jamila Amini, one of only two women on the nine-member council. Wednesday's was the second army helicopter crash in as many months in Farah. In September, five crew members died when their helicopter crashed. Investigators blamed the crash on a technical failure, without elaborating. Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a suicide bomber struck outside the country's largest prison on the edge of the capital, Kabul, killing seven ...

Slain militants involved in sniper attacks: Police

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday said the two militants killed in a gunfight at Tral in Pulwama district were involved in a series of sniper attacks on security forces.

6 killed in Kabul prison suicide bombing

At least six people were killed and eight others wounded after a suicide bomber struck a vehicle carrying prison employees in the capital on Wednesday, officials said.

Dantewada attack: Cop succumbs to injuries, death toll now 4

Police constable Rakesh Kaushal, who was wounded in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada on Tuesday, has succumbed to injuries, taking the death toll in the deadly attack to four.On Tuesday, a cemeraperson of public broadcaster Doordarshan and two police officers were killed in an ambush in a poll-bound Dantewada district- a Maoist hotbed in the heavily forested central Indian state.The attack took place at around 11 am in the Aranpur jungle area near Nilawaya village.Special Inspector General of Police (Anti-Naxal Operations) DM Awasthi, on Tuesday, informed reporters that the ambush seemed to target the road construction work in the region.Awasthi also revealed that a lot of blood was found at the spot, suggesting that around two-three Naxals were smoked out in the fire exchange with security forces.The police maintain that the attack is not related to upcoming elections in the state, which are scheduled in two phases- November 12 and 20.

'Maoists are fighting for survival in Chhattisgarh'

Pushed on the back foot and confined to a limited forest "patch", Maoist insurgents are desperate for a "big catch" ahead of assembly polls in Chhattisgarh to get wider publicity, security experts and police officials here say.

Seven killed in suicide attack near Kabul prison

A suicide bomber targeting a bus carrying employees of Afghanistan's biggest prison killed at least seven people on Wednesday, officials said, in the latest militant attack in the war-torn country. Another five were wounded in the blast near the facility in Kabul, which police spokesman Basir Mujahid said had hit a vehicle that staff of Pul-e-Charkhi prison were travelling in. The attacker was on foot, interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish said. He struck as the bus was entering the jail in the east of the Afghan capital. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, but the Islamic State group (IS) has claimed most suicide attacks in Kabul in recent months. The attack comes days after a suicide bomber blew himself up near the entrance of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission in Kabul, killing at least one person and wounding six. A wave of election-related violence has killed or wounded hundreds across the country in recent months as the Taliban and IS .

J-K: Bodies of 2 terrorists, ammunition recovered in Tral

Bodies of two terrorists have been recovered in Pulwama's Tral town following an exchange of fire between terrorists and security personnel, Jammu and Kashmir Police said on Wednesday.The police further informed that they have recovered arms and ammunition, including M4 and AK 47 rifles and other incriminating materials from the site of the encounter.The dead terrorists have been identified as Showkat Ahmad, a resident of Tral, and Usman from Pakistan.In its statement, the state police said, "The terrorists were affiliated with proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and the same group was involved in a series of attacks and firing on the security forces' camp from a distance, in recent times. They were also involved in many other civilian atrocities in the area. The police investigation has started."The Police have also cautioned citizens not to venture near the encounter zone as stray explosive materials can prove to be dangerous."People are requested to cooperate with ...

Any US military role in Afghan after peace would be conditions-based: Mattis

Once peace is achieved in Afghanistan, any American military role in the war-torn country would be conditions-based and worked out with the government of the day, Defence Secretary James Mattis has said. More than a year after President Donald Trump announced his South Asia strategy, Mattis said it is based on four Rs and one S being "sustain it". "Any US military coalition role after the peace is reached would be conditions-based, worked out with the Afghan government and depend on the threat," Mattis said at the US Institute of Peace, a Congress funded think-tank. "First R was to regionalise the approach, you did not start with Afghanistan, come up with a strategy, say, 'well I guess now we'd better look at the countries around it and see what do we do as far as their inclusion?' We started outside and worked our way inside," he said. The second R was reinforcing the troops and the third R realigning those troops to supporting the Afghan security forces, directly by training, ...

Several dead in Kabul suicide attack

Several persons were killed and many wounded in a suicide attack near Pul Charkhi prison here in Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said.

Suicide bomber detonates outside Kabul prison, killing 7

An Interior Ministry official says a suicide bomber has struck outside the country's largest prison on the eastern edge of the capital Kabul, killing seven people, including prison workers and security personnel. Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish says the attacker early Wednesday targeted a bus carrying prison workers. The sprawling Pul-e-Charkhi prison houses hundreds of inmates, including scores of Taliban. According to Abadullah Karimi, a prison official, the attack occurred near the prison gate where a number of visitors were waiting to pass a rigorous security check before entering. No one has taken immediate responsibility for the attack.

Yemen: Saudi-led airstrikes kill 150 Houthi rebels

An airstrike, conducted by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces has led to the death of at least 150 Houthi rebels in Yemen's coastal city of Hodeidah.Colonel Turki Al-Malki, a spokesperson for the Arab forces confirmed that the airstrike targeted a Houthi training camp, Sputnik reported.The coalition army has been conducting airstrikes in Yemen since 2015, in support of the nation's government.The coalition army has also deployed 10, 000 additional troops, including forces from Sudan, to secure Hodeidah, Al Jazeera reported.The war between Houthi and the Yemen government started in September 2014, as the Houthi assaulted the capital city of Sanaa and controlled it along with of other northern cities, including the port city of Hodeidah, after they advanced from the northern stronghold of Saada.This provoked military action from Saudi Arabia, who led the coalition and launched an aerial assault on the country in March 2015 to restore exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's ...

'Saudi-led airstrikes on Houthi camp in Yemen's Hodeidah kill 150 rebels'

The Saudi-led coalition on Tuesday night launched airstrikes on a training camp of the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen's Red Sea coastal city of Hodeidah, killing 150 of them, a pro-government military force said.

Nephew of JeM chief among 2 outfit terrorists killed in South Kashmir

Two Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists, including Usman Haider, the nephew of the terror outfit's chief Maulana Masood Azhar, were killed Tuesday after a fierce encounter at Tral in South Kashmir, police said. A M-4 Carbine, used for carrying out sniper attacks on security forces, was also seized from the encounter site, officials said. Two bodies were recovered after a day-long encounter that broke in Chaanketaar village of Tral in Pulwama district, they said. The body of one more terrorist was expected to be retrieved from the rubble, they said. The intelligence inputs as well as the material seized from the encounter site showed that the terrorists belonged to JeM, they added. The police had not officially identified the bodies, but officers speaking on the condition of anonymity said Haider was among those killed in the encounter. A statement and video purportedly shared by Jaish-e-Mohammed on social media identified one of the killed terrorists as Haider. It also claimed that he .

Chhattisgarh Police 'will foil Maoist threats during polls'

Hours after Maoists killed two policemen and a Doordarshan cameraman, Chhattisgarh Police on Tuesday said it would not allow the rebels to disrupt the coming Assembly elections.

Delhi Police reaches out to other states to curb smuggling

Aiming to prevent smuggling of firearms, liquor and drug trafficking, top officials of the Delhi Police on Tuesday interacted with their counterparts from states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh.