Page 432 - War Conflict
Dutch ousted 2 Russians over alleged Swiss lab hack attempt
Switzerland's intelligence agency says Dutch authorities arrested and expelled two suspected Russian spies who allegedly tried to hack a Swiss laboratory that conducts tests for the UN-backed chemical weapons watchdog. The Federal Intelligence Service says it worked "actively" with British and Dutch partners on the case involving Switzerland's Spiez Laboratory that led to the arrests of two Russians. The lab provides arms control and other services The agency confirmation on Friday came after Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad and Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger reported that two Russians suspected of being agents of military intelligence service GRU were kicked out of the Netherlands earlier this year as a result of a Europe-wide investigation. The Swiss attorney general's office confirmed it had identified "two individuals" as part of a broader investigation opened last year.
Search operations in J-K's Udhampur after locals report suspicious movement
Acting on reports of suspicious movement, security forces carried out a massive search operation over a vast area in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district on Friday, a senior police officer said. The search operation in Sunari, Kembal and adjoining areas was jointly carried out by police, the Army and the CRPF after locals reported the presence of unidentified people carrying rucksacks in the area, Senior Superintendent of Police Rayees Mohammad Bhat said. He said no immediate signs or incriminating evidence were found during the operation to point at the presence of "nefarious persons". The SSP requested people to not panic but asked them to stay alert. The searches were carried out a day after three Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorists were killed in a fierce gunfight at Kakriyal in Reasi district.
3 Pak securitymen killed in bomb attack
At least three security personnel were killed on Friday in a bomb attack on their vehicle in southwestern Pakistan, officials said. Militants targeted the vehicle of a local administrator in Pishin area of Balochistan. Additional Deputy Commissioner Pishin Waqar Khursheed said that the apparent target of the attack was an assistant commissioner but he was not in the vehicle. "Three police officials were killed in the attack," Khursheed said. No one claimed responsibility for the assault but Taliban militants and Baloch nationalists have been involved in such attacks in the past.
Self-styled area commander of PLFI killed in encounter
A self-styled area commander of People's Liberation Front of India carrying a reward of Rs 1 lakh on his head was killed in an encounter with police in Gumla district Friday, a senior police officer said. Acting on a tip-off, a police team rushed to apprehend Krishna Gope, who was resting in a paddy field, Superintendent of Police, Anushuman Kumar said. As soon as Gope saw the approaching police force, he started firing at the police forcing them to retaliate, the SP said adding Gope was killed in the firing. Police arrested a Gope aide after the encounter, he said adding two fire-arms and live cartridges were recovered.
Two drug peddlers held, 100 kg poppy straw seized in J-K
Two suspected drug peddlers were arrested Friday after over 100 kilogram of poppy straw was recovered from them in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban and Samba districts, police said. Raju Masi, resident of Gurdaspore area of Punjab, was arrested after 100 kg of poppy straw was recovered from his truck on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway near Ramban town, a police spokesperson said. He said the driver was trying to smuggle the contraband under the garb of transporting apples from Kashmir to outside the state. An FIR under the NDPS Act was registered against him, the spokesman said, adding the truck was also seized. In another operation, police intercepted a person who was moving under suspicious circumstances at the Nud area of Samba district. On frisking, 500 grams of poppy straw was found on him, the official said. The accused, Romesh Chander of Samlah village, was booked under the NDPS Act, he said.
Pune NDRF constable goes missing, FIR filed
Sukhdev Singh, a head constable of the 5th battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) unit, in Pune has been missing since September 8.According to the NDRF, Singh boarded a train from Mumbai for his hometown Amritsar on September 8, and has been untraceable since then.When the cop, who was supposed to reach Amritsar on September 9, didn't reach home on the scheduled date, his son approached the NDRF.A search operation to find Singh was launched but he could not be traced.An FIR was registered with Mumbai railway police in the matter on September 13.
Arunachal guv tells NE security agencies to work together to
Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig (Retd) Dr B D Mishra on Friday called upon the security agencies of the northeastern states to maintain close coordination to contain insurgency in the region. Addressing the 25th Conference of DGPs, IGPs and heads of central police organisations of the northeastern states at Darbar Hall in Raj Bhawan here, he cautioned that delayed action, no action or live and let live policy towards insurgents, in some cases, are likely to erode the confidence of people in security organisations. Speaking about his as the former head of Black Cat commandos, Dr Mishra said that job creation, entrepreneurship development schemes, good intelligence, good policing, effective local administration, quick and fair justice, good roads and communication network, proper education and effective counter insurgency military operation could help in controlling insurgency. He also said that the police has to be fair, prompt and determined, demonstrate fairness, ...
'Mechanisms in place to defuse Indo-China border tensions'
Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran on Friday said that there were mechanisms in place to initiate a dialogue between the Indian and Chinese military on different levels to defuse tensions that arise due to border issues.His comments come in the wake of reports that China's People Liberation Army (PLA) had transgressed the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at least thrice last month in Uttarakhand.Speaking to ANI, Saran said, "There are mechanisms to initiate dialogue, one is border meetings between the Indian and Chinese troops deployed at the border. If the matter cannot be solved there, it can be taken up to a higher level as well, all the way up to the Defence Ministry."The former top diplomat added, "We share a long border with China; these incidents (border transgressions) are bound to happen at some places. But there are mechanisms in place to manage such situations. I don't know what happened in these incidents if any talks were held by the two sides or not, but these mechanisms ..
Communal flare-up in Assam, civilians injured
At least six people were injured in a communal flare-up in Assam's Tinsukia district, forcing police to use lathis and fire tear gas on Friday to bring the situation under control.
Group clash over social media post, police fire in air
Two groups clashed in Tinsukia district Friday over a controversial post made in a social networking site, and the police had to fire in the air to control the situation, police sources said. The clash occurred in two adjacent localities Longsowal and Burra Hapjan under Doomdooma police station area where the policemen fired five rounds in the air to disperse the protesters. A police complaint has been made against one person over a social media post three days ago and a group of people Friday blocked NH 37 demanding arrest of the man who posted the matter and also gheraoed his house at Burra Hapjan, the sources said. Following this, a clash erupted between two groups in Burra Hapjan and adjacent Longsowal localities in which the group members pelted stones. Police went to the spot and brought the situation under control after firing in the air, the sources said adding that two companies of policemen were deployed in the area. The accused is absconding. The sources said .
Two killed, 3 injured in explosion
Two persons were killed and three others injured when explosives used for bursting rocks went off while being checked, police said Friday. Police said the quarry supervisor had set the timer on the explosives to explode on September 12 evening, but as it had rained heavily, it did not explode. He came to the site again last evening and as he was examining the explosives, it exploded. The supervisor died on the spot while four workers who were with him were seriously injured. A worker succumbed to his injuries at the government hospital Friday, police said. They said the supervisor's mother suffered a heart attack on hearing her son's death and died at the hospital.
SL will urge UN to remove war crime charges against its troops: Sirisena
Sri Lanka will seek "concessions" from the UN, including a special request to the drop war crime charges against its troops during the civil war with the LTTE, President Maithripala Sirisena said Friday. Sirisena, who will lead a delegation to the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, will address the general debate on September 25. According to the government figures, around 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts including the civil war with Lankan Tamils in the north and east which claimed at least 100,000 lives. Relatives of the missing Tamil people allege that the Lankan state - particularly its army, navy and police - were behind most of the disappearances. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), which led the separatist war for a separate Tamil homeland, was finally crushed by the Lankan military in 2009 with the death its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. Addressing the media persons here Friday, Sirisena said he would use his address at the UN
Northern Army Commander calls for strict vigil in J-K to counter anti-national elements
Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh said on Friday that a strict vigil should be maintained in the state to counter nefarious designs of anti-national elements a day after three JeM terrorists were killed in a fierce gunfight in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir. "All ranks need to remain vigilant to counter the nefarious designs of the inimical and anti-national elements," he said while interacting with senior officers at the Nagrota military station here. The Army commander reviewed the operational preparedness and was briefed by Lt Gen Saranjeet Singh, the General Officer Commanding of White Knight Corps, on the security situation in the Corps zone and also on the operations being conducted by the formation, a defence spokesman said. Lt Gen Ranbir Singh was also briefed on the preparedness of the formations in their respective area of responsibility in light of ceasefire violations, infiltration bids and hinterland security, he said. The Army commander also interacted ...
Turkey fires tear gas at Istanbul airport workers: report
Turkish security forces on Friday fired tear gas at construction workers at Istanbul's new airport who were protesting dangerous working conditions at the site as it prepares to open for business next month, local media reported. The new airport is one of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambitious new projects for the sprawling metropolis. Located on the Black Sea, it will initially have capacity to handle around 90 million passengers per year, but that number is expected to rise to 150 million by 2023. To publicise the project, Erdogan's plane landed there in June just days before the presidential election. Nevertheless, there have been reports of a large number of deaths at the construction site where some 35,000 people are working round-the-clock to finish it on time for the inauguration at the end of October. Hundreds of workers have gone on strike to protest working conditions, the private DHA news agency reported. A group of them gathered at the site on Friday, but the security .
White terror suspects overtake Asians in UK
The number of white terror suspects arrested by British counter-terrorism officers has overtaken Asians for the first time in over a decade, according to new figures released by the UK Home Office. Indicating a growing threat from far-right extremism in the country, figures released on Thursday show a total of 351 arrests were made over the past year until June 2018 where terrorism-related activity was suspected, with 133 of them white and 129 recorded as Asian ethnic appearance. This was the first time, since the year ending June 2005, that the proportion of white people arrested has exceeded the proportion of Asian people arrested, a Home Office statement noted. White people arrested on suspicion of terrorism accounted for 38 per cent of terrorist-related arrests in the latest period an increase of 4 percentage points on the previous year. There were falls in the proportion of arrests of those of Asian ethnic appearance, down seven percentage points to 37 per cent, and those of ...
S Korea launches its first missile-capable submarine
South Korea launched its first ever missile-capable attack submarine on Friday, despite a recent diplomatic thaw with the nuclear-armed North. The USD 700 million, 3,000-tonne Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine is capable of firing both cruise and ballistic missiles and the first of three planned diesel-electric boats to go into service in the next five years. It represented a "leap forward in the country's" defence industry, President Moon Jae-in told a launch ceremony at the Daewoo shipyard where it was designed and built. "Peace through power is the unwavering security strategy of this government." Moon will head to Pyongyang next week for a third summit with the North's leader Kim Jong Un, as US-led efforts to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons have stalled. "We have set off on a grand journey toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," Moon said. "But peace is not given gratuitously," he added. The new submarine is fitted with six vertical launch tubes and ...
Four shops gutted in fire in West Bengal
At least four shops were gutted after a fire broke out at a cycle repairing shop in South 24 Parganas district on Friday, police said. The incident happened at 10 am at College More market at Canning, the police said, adding, nobody was injured in the incident. Initially the fire spread to a sweetmeat shop from the cycle repairing shop and then it spread to eight other shops, a police officer said, adding, a gas cylinder also exploded at the sweetmeat shop. Irate locals attacked fire fighters alleging that they failed to respond immediately, he said. None of the firefighters were injured in the attack, he added. The fire was brought under control after an hour, the police officer said.
Afghan conflict could be deadlier than Syria in 2018: Analysts
The Afghan conflict could overtake Syria as the deadliest conflict in the world this year, analysts say, as violence surges 17 years after the US-led invasion. The grim assessment contrasts sharply with the consistently upbeat public view of the conflict from NATO's Resolute Support mission in Kabul, and underscores the growing sense of hopelessness in the war-torn country. It suggests that US President Donald Trump's much-vaunted strategy for Afghanistan is, like those of his predecessors, failing to move the needle on the battlefield, observers said, as a generation of Americans born after 9/11 become old enough to enlist. "The soaring casualties in Afghanistan and the potential endgame in sight in Syria... could leave Afghanistan as the world's deadliest conflict," said Johnny Walsh, an Afghanistan expert at the United States Institute of Peace. "Most years have become the new 'most violent year'. This is continually getting worse." The Syrian conflict -- which began a decade after
Raj has the potential of developing battlefield tourism: Army commander
South Western Army commander Lieutenant General Cherish Mathson Thursday said Rajasthan has the potential of developing "battlefield tourism" as the state's history is replete with historic battles which form an integral part of its heritage and culture. He said there were many people ready for this kind of tourism if the right infrastructure was developed to facilitate the same. The Army commander was addressing a session on 'Battlefield Tourism' at the 7thannual convention of the Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA) in Rajasthan's Bharatpur city. He said in order to promote battlefield tourism, firstly, it should be recognised as a sub-genre or sub-category of tourism, a release by the Association said. Mathson said battlefield areas need to be made accessible to people by building infrastructure like hotels, transportation and other facilities. He also suggested that this unique form of tourism be started as a pilot project in the desert state. The South Western Army commander
Lanka traffic cops train in India
Fifteen Sri Lankan police officers are currently training in India under a programme fully-funded by the Indian government, the Indian High Commission here said on Thursday. The Sri Lankan police officers are participating in a comprehensive training programme on road safety and traffic management at the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) in Faridabad, Haryana. The 15 officers, ranging from ranks of chief inspector of police, inspector of police, sub-inspector of police, and police sergeant, are participating in the programme. "The government of India provided complimentary travel and accommodation, as a gesture of strengthening people-to-people contact between India and Sri Lanka," a release by the mission said. Several other training programmes such as crime scene management and CCTV analysis, expert testimony on criminal trial, forensic science, cyber forensics, and a seminar on financial crime, have been organised by India for Sri Lanka's police personnel this year.