Page 645 - War Conflict

AFSPA removed from Meghalaya, restricted in Arunachal

The Union Home Ministry has removed Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from Meghalaya and reduced it to eight police stations in Arunachal Pradesh, an official said on Monday.

Threat of nuclear weapons use growing, UN warns

A top UN official today denounced growing rhetoric claiming that nuclear arms are necessary and warned that the risk of such weapons being used was on the rise. "The threat of the use, intentional or otherwise, of nuclear weapons is growing," the UN's top representative for disarmament affairs, Izumi Nakamitsu, told a preliminary review meeting of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NPT, which was introduced at the height of the Cold War a half century ago, seeks to prevent the spread of atomic weapons but also puts the onus on nuclear states to reduce their stockpiles. But speaking at the opening of the Geneva meeting, Nakamitsu warned that "the world today faces similar challenges to the context that gave birth to the NPT." The preparatory committee in advance of the 2020 NPT review conference comes after North Korea, which pulled out of the treaty 15 years ago, declared a moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests and said it would dismantle its nuclear test ...

Palestinian dies of wounds, bringing Gaza toll to 40: medics

Two Palestinians wounded in clashes with Israel were pronounced dead Monday, a Gaza official said, bringing the toll from Israeli fire since March 30 to 40. A spokesman for the Hamas-controlled territory's health ministry named the latest fatalities as Tahrir Wahada, 18, and Abdullah Shamali, 20. Wahada was shot in the head in a clash east of Khan Yunis on April 6, and Shamali died of "bullet wounds to his belly" sustained on Friday, according to the spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra. Most of the 40 Palestinians killed by Israel since the start of "March of Return" protests on March 30 were shot by snipers on the border, while a few others were killed by Israeli artillery or air strikes. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in the coastal enclave, wedged between Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean, have gathered at the border on consecutive Fridays to call for Palestinian refugees to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside Israel. Some protestors have launched stones or burning ...

Afghan officials: Taliban attacks kill 14 troops, policemen

Taliban attacks in western Afghanistan killed 14 soldiers and policemen today as Kabul residents prepared to bury their loved ones slain in a horrific bombing by the Islamic State group that targeted a voter registration center the day before, killing 57. Prayer services were held for the Kabul victims as families of those killed in yesterday's bombing carried the bodies of their kin and dug the graves at a cemetery in the hills above the Afghan capital. The first of today's near-simultaneous attacks in western Badghis province hit army units in the district of Ab Kamari, killing nine soldiers, said Ghulam Sarwar Haidari, the deputy provincial police chief. Moments later, another large group of insurgents struck police in Qadis district, killing five policemen. Sharafuddin Majidi, spokesman for the provincial governor, confirmed the casualty tolls. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed the Badghis attacks in a statement to the media. The attacks came on the heels of yesterday's

Grief turns to anger over Kabul suicide attack

Hundreds of grieving Afghans buried their loved ones in Kabul on Monday amid growing anger over a suicide attack on a voter registration centre that killed 57 people including children and wounded over 100. The bomber blew himself up on Sunday morning in a large crowd queueing to collect national ID certificates so they could register to vote in long-delayed legislative elections scheduled for October. The blast, which was claimed by the Islamic State group, caused carnage in the street in the heavily Shiite-populated western neighbourhood. Pools of blood and body parts mixed with shattered glass, bloodstained ID documents and passport-sized photos on the ground. More than 40 of the wounded, including children, were taken to a trauma hospital run by Italian NGO Emergency, which said at least 20 people required "major surgeries". Anguish quickly turned to anger on social media as Afghans blamed the Kabul government for failing to protect its people -- a constant refrain after such ...

Jailed Egyptian photographer wins UN press freedom prize

Detained Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, will be awarded UNESCO's World Press Freedom Prize, the United Nations' cultural body said today. Shawkan was arrested in August 2013 as he covered deadly clashes in Cairo between security forces and supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. He is one of 700 defendants facing charges of killing police and vandalising property during the clashes. "The choice of Mahmoud Abu Zeid pays tribute to his courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression," said Maria Ressa, head of the UNESCO jury which is awarding the prize. Egypt's foreign affairs ministry yesterday voiced its "profound regret that an organisation with the status of UNESCO would honour a person accused of terrorist and criminal acts". Several hundred people, including three journalists, were killed during the security forces' bloody dispersal of a pro-Morsi sit-in after the military ousted the Islamist in 2013. Egypt's first ..

Student injured in Kashmir clashes

Clashes erupted in the Kashmir Valley on Monday as people protesting against the rape and murder of a young girl pelted stones at soldiers. A student sustained pellet injuries in Anantnag town.

BSF jawan injured"in encounter with Naxals in C'garh's Kanker

A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan"was today"injured"in an exchange of fire with Naxals in Chhattisgarh"s insurgency-hit Kanker district, police said. The incident took place at around 10 am in the forests near Mahla BSF camp, under Partapur police station limits, about 300 kilometres from here, when personnel from BSF"s 114th battalion were out on an area domination operation, Kanker Superintendent of Police KL Dhruv told PTI. "When the patrolling team was in the forests close to a village near Mahla, Naxals triggered two blasts using improvised explosive devices (IEDs). They then opened fire on security forces which led to a firefight," he said. He identified the jawan who sustained multiple injuries in the encounter as constable Shree Bhagwan Singh. "He was brought for medical treatment to Pakhanjore town and then airlifted to Raipur," the SP said. The Naxals fled the spot after coming under heavy fire from the patrolling team, the official said. He added that ...

Student injured in J&K clashes

Clashes broke out at several places in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday after protesters pelted stones at army personnel. A student sustained pellet injuries in Anantnag town.

Verdict for Paris suspect Abdeslam in Belgian trial

A Belgian court will give its verdict Monday on Salah Abdeslam, the last surviving suspect in the Paris Islamist attacks, over a bloody 2016 shootout with police in Brussels that led to his capture. Prosecutors asked at the trial in February for Abdeslam and his co-defendant Sofiane Ayari to be jailed for up to 20 years if found guilty on charges of terrorist-related attempted murder and possession of banned weapons. Neither Abdeslam, who is being held in jail in France pending a separate trial over the 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people died, nor Ayari is expected to be in court in Brussels for the verdict, a court spokesman told AFP. Belgian security forces will mount a major operation around the imposing Palace of Justice building in Brussels for the verdict, which judges are due to start reading out at 0645 GMT. Abdeslam, 28, a Belgian-born French national, was transported to the court from France for the first day of the trial amid tight security including a helicopter ...

Protesters pelt stones at army in J&K

Clashes broke out at two places in Shopian and Pulwama districts on Monday after protesters in Jammu and Kashmir pelted stones at army personnel at these places.

10 killed in Nigeria gunmen attack

At least 10 people were killed following gunmen's invasion of a farming community in a Nigerian state of Kogi early on Sunday, police said.

Kabul blast: Death toll rises to 52

The death toll in Sunday's deadly suicide bombing in Kabul has risen to 52. More than 100 others were injured in the blast that hit a crowd waiting at a voter and ID registration centre, according to the Afghan officials.Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health confirmed the death toll and the number of wounded, TOLO News reported.The Interior Ministry said that the bomber was on foot and blew himself up after approaching the centre, which is in the Dashte Barchi area of western Kabul.The explosion happened at about 10 a.m. on Sunday morning in PD6.President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning the attack and said it couldn't divert them from their aims or weaken this national democratic process.According to a report, Kabul's acting police chief, Mohammad Daoud Amin, stated that a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in the doorway of the offices.The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

German defence ministry wants to spend billions on armaments this year: report

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German Defence Ministry plans to spend billions of euros on armaments this year to tackle deficiencies in the armed forces' equipment, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Sunday.

Gunmen kill 2 Shiites in Pakistan

Police in Pakistan say gunmen have killed two Shiites and wounded a third in Quetta, the latest in a recent series of attacks on the religious minority. Police chief Abdur Razzaq Cheema said both men were local officials in Shiite community organisations. Cheema said the attackers fled the scene on motorcycles after Sunday's shooting and that a search is underway. It was the fifth attack in recent months targeting Shiites in Quetta. Last week, a Shiite shopkeeper was killed in a drive-by shooting. No one has claimed the attacks, but they bore the hallmarks of Sunni Muslim extremists, who view Shiites as apostates. No arrests have been made.

14 Saddam-era officials still jailed in Iraq

Fourteen officials from Saddam Hussein's regime are still in Iraq's prisons, 15 years after the late dictator was deposed by a US-led invasion in 2003, according to an AFP survey. Of the list of 55 suspects most wanted by the coalition that invaded Iraq, six were executed, six were killed in combat, eight died in captivity, five are on the run, and 16 were freed by the Americans before they pulled out of the country in 2011. Saddam's two sons -- Uday and Qusay -- were among those killed in fighting. The remaining detainees include the dictator's defence minister, General Sultan Hashim Ahmad, sentenced to death in June 2007 but never executed. The others are mid-level Baath party cadres who held positions in the military or government. The latest to be detained is Abdel Baqi Abdel Karim Abdallah, a top Baath party official who was arrested in June 2015 in Kirkuk while in hiding. All detained former regime officials are being held in Nasiriyah prison in the country's south, according .

16 Maoists gunned down in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli

In the biggest crackdown on Maoists in four decades in Maharashtra, security forces on Sunday gunned down at least 16 Maoists, including some women, in the state's Gadchiroli district, an official said.

Islamic State suicide bomber kills 57 in Afghan capital

An Islamic State suicide bomber carried out an attack at a voter registration center in the capital Kabul today, killing 57 people and wounding more than 100 others, said officials form the Afghan interior and public health ministries. Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahid Majro said that among 57 who were killed in the attack, 22 were women and eight are children. Majro added that 119 people were wounded in the attack, among them 17 children and 52 women. "The tolls could still rise," he added. Gen Daud Amin, the Kabul police chief, said the suicide bomber targeted civilians who were registering for national identification cards. The large explosion echoed across the city, shattering windows miles away from the attack site and damaging several nearby vehicles. Police blocked all roads to the blast site, with only ambulances allowed in. Local TV stations broadcast live footage of hundreds of distraught locals gathered at nearby hospitals seeking word about loved ones. The Islamic ...

36 IS militants killed in Iraqi airstrikes in Syria

At least 36 Islamic State (IS) militants were killed in airstrikes by the Iraqi air force targeting IS positions inside neighbouring Syria, the Iraqi military said on Sunday.

Twin bombings kill 58 in Afghanistan

At least 58 people were killed in twin blasts in Afghanistan on Sunday while another 117 were injured, media reports said.