Page 410 - War Conflict

AFSPA extended in Arunachal Pradesh for six months

The Centre has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in three districts of Arunachal Pradesh and its eight police station areas bordering Assam by another six months, in view of continuing activities of banned insurgent groups of the Northeast. According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh and eight police stations bordering Assam were declared "disturbed" areas under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958. "Now, therefore, Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts in Arunachal Pradesh and the areas falling within the jurisdiction of the following eight police stations in the districts of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering the State of Assam, are declared as 'disturbed area' under Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 up to March 31, 2019 w.e.f. October 1, 2018, unless withdrawn earlier," the notification said. The police stations include Balemu and Bhalukpong police ...

Violence in Puri over queue system in Jagannath Temple

Nine policemen were injured as violence broke out here Wednesday during a 12-hour bandh called by a socio-cultural organisation protesting introduction of a queue system for devotees visiting the Jagannath Temple, the police said. The dawn-to-dusk shutdown in the seaside town called by Sri Jagannath Sena turned violent as a mob barged into the 12th century shrine, uprooted barricades erected on Baisi Pahacha and near Singhadwara and ransacked the office of Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), they said. The protesters ransacked a police outpost and an information centre near the Singhadwara as well as the town police station, besides burning tyres and indulging in stone pelting, they said. While around nine police personnel were injured in stone pelting, many structures suffered extensive damage in the mob attack, prompting the police to use mild force in order to control the situation, a senior police official said. Soon after the queue system was introduced in the temple on

Rifles looted in attack on policemen in UP, 1 cop seriously injured

Two motorcycle-borne men allegedly opened fire at police personnel, injuring one seriously, and looted two service rifles from them in Shamli district, police said Wednesday. The incident occurred Tuesday night on Bidoli road under Jhinjhana Police Station, Circle Officer Rajesh Kumar Tiwari said. Home Guard Sanjay and another police personnel, Sansar Singh, were near the Kamalpur checkpost where they intercepted the bike-borne accused, Tiwari said, adding the two men opened fire at them and looted their rifles. Home Guard Sanjay was injured and he was rushed to the hospital in a serious condition, the CO said. On receiving information about the incident senior police officers rushed to the spot and a hunt was launched for the accused.

'Kisan Kranti Padyatra' ends at Delhi's Kisan Ghat

The 'Kisan Kranti Padyatra', which was started on September 23 by the Bharatiya Kisan Union, ended at the Kisan Ghat in the national capital in the wee hours of Wednesday.The protest march came to an end after the protesting farmers reached Kisan Ghat, the memorial of Chaudhary Charan Singh, a renowned farmer leader on late Tuesday night."The 'Kisan Kranti Padyatra' that started on September 23 had to end at Kisan Ghat. Since Delhi Police did not allow us to enter, we protested. Our aim was to finish the Yatra, which we have done now. Now we will go back to our villages," Bharatiya Kisan Union president Naresh Tikait told ANI.Earlier, the Delhi Police stopped the farmers from entering Delhi through Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. The police also used water cannons and tear gas to disperse them. However, on Tuesday night, the police opened the barricades at the border allowing the entrance of the farmers.The farmers were agitating to demand loan waiver, reduction in electricity tariff and

'Kisan Kranti Padyatra': Delhi Police opens barricades for farmers

Following a day-long agitation, the Delhi Police late on Tuesday night opened the barricades at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border allowing the entrance of farmers, who were stopped during 'Kisan Kranti Padyatra'.The farmers are now heading towards Kisan Ghat, the memorial of Chaudhary Charan Singh, a renowned farmer leader.On Tuesday, the protesting farmers were stopped at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border by the Delhi Police. The police also used water cannons and tear gas to disperse them.Thousands of farmers have been agitating as part of the Bharatiya Kisan Union protest to demand loan waiver, reduction in electricity tariff and pension for farmers aged above 60.The yatra began on September 23 from Haridwar with score of farmers from Gonda, Basti and Gorakhpur participating in the protest march.

AAP to give Rs 1 crore to families of 14 slain security personnel

The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has approved names of 14 slain security personnel, whose kin is to be given Rs. 1 crore each as ex-gratia.In order to consider the cases for grant of ex-gratia relief to widows or parents of deceased Defence, Para Military, Delhi Police and other personnel, a group of ministers meeting was held at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. Delhi Health Minster Satyender Jain and Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot were also present in the meeting.Of the 14 slain security personnel, five are from Delhi Fire Service, one from the Indian Army and eight from Delhi Police.The Indian Army personnel, whose name has been cleared for the ex-gratia, is late Major Amit Sagar, a company commander of 115 infantry battalion. He died during counter insurgency at high altitude area in Sonamarg on January 25 last year.The five Delhi Fire Service deceased firemen include Sunil Kumar, Manjeet Singh, Hari Singh Meena, Hari Om and Vijender Pal Singh, a ...

Mozambique to put 180 Islamist suspects on trial

Mozambique will on Wednesday put on trial 180 national and foreign citizens accused of involvement in deadly Islamist attacks in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, sources said. Over the last year, more than 50 people have been killed in gun, grenade and knife assaults in the growing jihadist insurgency, with the militants reportedly seeking to impose Sharia law in the Muslim-majority province. The trial -- the first since the attacks began -- will be held in an improvised court in the jail where hundreds of suspected militants are being detained in Pemba, the provincial capital of Cabo Delgado, a court source said Tuesday. Among the defendants are 5O citizens from neighbouring Tanzania. "This is only the first group to be tried among hundreds of detainees," a police source said. The attackers are believed to have staged their first attack on a police station and military outpost in the town of Mocimboa da Praia in October 2017. Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed. As ..

IS kills Druze woman captured in Syria attack

The Islamic State group has killed a woman from a group of Druze hostages it seized during a deadly attack in Syria's Sweida province, a source and a monitor said Tuesday. The 25-year-old was among more than 30 people IS jihadists abducted as they launched the deadliest attack to hit Sweida's Druze minority since the start of Syria's seven-year civil war. In the attack on July 25, IS waged a series of suicide bombings, shootings and stabbings that left more than 250 people dead across the southwestern province, most of them civilians. It later emerged the jihadists had also kidnapped the group, mostly Druze women and their children, during the attack. A source familiar with negotiations with the group told AFP that "relatives of Tharwat Abu Ammar were told Tuesday that she had been executed" by IS. The jihadists also sent a picture of her, covered in blood, to a negotiator, the source said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said she had been shot in the head. Like ..

Suicide bomber kills 14 at election rally in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber struck an election rally in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people and wounding around 40, a provincial official said. The attack, the first since campaigning began last week ahead of elections for the lower house of parliament, underscored the widespread violence gripping the country 17 years after the US-led invasion toppled the Taliban. The vote is scheduled for October 20 but it's unclear if the balloting will go ahead in areas controlled by the Taliban, who have seized several districts across the country in recent years and who carry out near-daily attacks. Tuesday's attack targeted a rally for Abdul Naser Mohmand, an independent candidate, who was unharmed. "Most of the people killed or wounded are elders who had gathered for the campaign rally," said Attahullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor. He said some of the wounded were in critical condition, indicating the death toll could rise. No group ...

Kisan Kranti Yatra: Ghaziabad schools, colleges to remain closed

In the wake of the ongoing farmers' agitation, all schools and colleges in Ghaziabad will remain closed on Wednesday as a preventive measure.This comes after agitating farmers, who were marching towards Delhi as part of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) protest, were stopped at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border earlier in the day with the police using water cannons and tear gas shells to disperse them.Meanwhile, a Rapid Action Force team arrived at the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border, where farmers have halted during the agitation.Thousands of farmers began their agitation on September 23 at Haridwar in Uttarakhand and marched towards New Delhi, many of them on foot and scores sitting atop tractors, buses and raising slogans.Their demands include complete loan waiver, reduction in electricity tariff and pension to every farmer aged above 60.

Lathi-charge on farmers heights of BJP's anarchy: Mayawati

Condemning the police action against the agitating farmers on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border earlier today, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati warned the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government to be prepared to bear the consequences of the lathi-charge carried out on protesting farmers."This is the height of the BJP government's anarchy and it shall remain prepared to bear its consequences," she said in a statement.The BSP Chief added that like any other announcement of the BJP government, the one pertaining to the loan-waiver, too, has also proved to be a mere eyewash."The BJP, which came to power promising to bring the good days of the farmers' by doubling their income, has targeted them with tear-gas shells and lathis, when they only wanted to march to the Gandhi sthal on Gandhi Jayanti and stage a demonstration over their issues," she said.Claiming that every section of the society has been affected by the "anti-poor and anti-farmer" policies of the BJP-led central and ...

Tribals begin peace march from Andhra village

More than 150 tribals from the states affected by Maoist insurgency on Tuesday began a 'Shanti Padyatra' or peace march from a village in Andhra Pradesh's East Godavari district to appeal to all sides to give peace a chance.

Pakistan official: Roadside bomb kills 3 on security convoy

A Pakistani official says a roadside bomb has hit a security convoy in the country's southwest, killing three members of a provincial paramilitary force and wounding eight. Ahmed Jan, a senior official of the force, says Tuesday's explosion took place in the Awaran district of Baluchistan province. Jan says the bomb was remotely detonated. The Baluchistan Levies is a force in charge of maintaining law and order in the tribal areas of the insurgency-plagued province. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Similar attacks in the past were claimed by Baluch separatists fighting a low-level insurgency for over a decade. Islamic militants also operate there. Meanwhile, the military says troops killed seven "terrorists" and wounded three who fired at them from across the Afghan border in North Waziristan.

UN agency evacuates Gaza international staff after protests

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees is evacuating international staff in Gaza following mounting protests along the border. UN Relief and Works Agency's operations director Matthias Schmale says Tuesday that nine international personnel occupying "non-essential jobs" are being temporarily moved to Jerusalem. UNRWA is coping with a severe financial crisis after the US administration cut USD 300 million in planned 2018 funding. The agency fired 113 Gaza staff on its emergency program and turned hundreds of positions into part-time jobs, triggering a series of protests and strikes. Schmale, who remains in Gaza, said the management "can't function properly" under the conditions. UNRWA provided food and basic services to 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Today, it serves 5 million refugees and their descendants, 1.3 million in Gaza alone.

Be prepared to face consequences of lathi-charge on farmers: Mayawati to BJP

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday termed the police lathi-charge on agitating farmers the "height" of anarchy and warned that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party should be prepared to bear its consequences. Chaos prevailed at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border as thousands of protesting farmers attempting to enter the national capital were stopped by the police, who resorted to water cannons and tear-gas shells. Some reports suggested use of lathi-charge as well. Condemning the police action, Mayawati said, "This is the height of the BJP government's anarchy and it shall remain prepared to bear its consequences." "The BJP, which came to power promising to bring the good days of the farmers' by doubling their income, has targeted them with tear-gas shells, lathis when they only wanted to march to the Gandhi sthal on Gandhi Jayanti and hold protest demonstration over their problems" the Dalit leader said. Stressing that every section of the society has been hit by the "anti-poor ..

ACP among 7 cops injured during farmers' protest, Police claim they used 'minimum force'

Seven policemen, including an assistant commissioner of police, were injured as protesting farmers turned violent while trying to enter the city from Uttar Pradesh in defiance of prohibitory orders, Delhi Police claimed on Tuesday. As it drew flak for what the parties termed as "brutal" action against the protesters, the police said they used only "minimum required force" to control the situation. Police said a section of protesters, who were participating in the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) march, suddenly turned violent as the cops tried to persuade them not to break the barricades. Police said they used 20 tear gas shells and water cannons to manage the crowd, adding it was "minimum required force". As many as 3,000 police personnel were deployed to ensure that the farmers were not able to enter Delhi. Since morning, the farmers gathered at Ghazipur border between Delhi and Ghaziabad in several thousands. Senior officers including Special Commissioners of Police(Law andOrder), joint

NATO exercise to be biggest since Cold War

NATO's Trident Juncture 18 exercise will draw in 45,000 troops, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, unveiling what officials confirmed would be the alliance's biggest manoeuvres since the Cold War. Stoltenberg said the exercise would simulate the defence of a member state from a "fictional" adversary, but the troops, tanks, ships and planes are headed for Norway, the North Atlantic and the Baltic -- opposite Russia. It will be the biggest such movement of NATO personnel and vehicles since at least the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, although still smaller than the Vostok-18 exercise staged by Russia and China last month. "The exercise is defensive, and it is transparent," the NATO leader told reporters on the first day of a two-day meeting of the 29-member alliance's defence ministers at its new Brussels headquarters. "All members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, including Russia, have been invited to send observers," he said. The operation ..

At least 13 dead in suicide attack on Afghan election rally

A suicide attack on a political rally in eastern Afghanistan killed at least 13 people on Tuesday, officials said, as the country braces for an escalation in violence ahead of this month's parliamentary election. The attack is the first suicide assault since campaigning officially began last Friday for the long-delayed ballot, preparations for which have already been marred by dozens of bloody attacks. More than 40 people were wounded, some of them critically, when the militant blew himself up among supporters of candidate Abdul Nasir Mohmmand in Nangarhar province, provincial governor spokesman Ataullah Khogyani said. Mohmmand survived the attack, Khogyani confirmed, but he did not say if the candidate had been hurt. Provincial health director Najibullah Kamawal put the death toll slightly higher at 14. An AFP reporter saw numerous ambulances delivering bodies and wounded people to a hospital in the provincial capital of Jalalabad. Sayed Humayun, who had brought his injured cousin to

Jharkhand will be ODF by November 15: CM

Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday said the state will be Open Defecation Free (ODF) by November 15.

PDP MLA likely to be quizzed over SPO looting weapons from his Srinagar residence

PDP MLA Aijaz Ahmad Mir is likely to be questioned soon in connection with the looting of eight weapons from his residence by a special police officer (SPO) last week, officials said on Tuesday. SPO Adil Bashir, a resident of Zainapora village of Shopian, had decamped with seven AK assault rifles of Mir's personal security officers and the licensed pistol of the legislator from his Jawahar Nagar residence on Friday. Immediately after the incident came to light, police registered a case and announced a cash reward of Rs 2 lakh for any information leading to the arrest of the SPO. The officials said that the MLA was likely to be questioned soon, as this is the second time that his SPOs have been found involved in terror activities. Last year, a special investigation team, which was formed to probe the terror attack on Amarnath yatra pilgrims, zeroed in on a policeman posted in Mir's security detail. Touseef Ahmad, the police driver of the legislator, was arrested for his alleged role in