Page 688 - War Conflict
Red Cross says staffer dies after car bombing in Somalia
The International Committee of the Red Cross says one of its staff members is dead after a car bombing in Somalia's capital. A statement says Abdulhafid Yusuf Ibrahim, a Somali national, died Wednesday night of his injuries after the attack in Mogadishu. Somali police said two others were wounded after the bomb attached to their vehicle exploded near the ICRC office. The Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility. The group often targets high-profile areas of the capital. The ICRC said it was "shocked and deeply troubled" by the attack and that another staffer was recovering with minor injuries.
Driver tries to ram soldiers as France mourns terror victims
A man driving a car with fake licence plates tried to ram a group of soldiers out jogging in southeast France today, security sources told AFP, sparking fears of a new attempted attack as the country mourns the victims of an Islamist shooting spree last week. Speaking French and Arabic, the man first threatened a group of soldiers at around 8 am in Varces-Allieres-et-Risset, near Grenoble, and then tried to run down another group returning to their barracks from a jog, the sources added. "The soldiers managed to get up onto the pavement without being hit," army spokesman Colonel Benoit Brulon told AFP. The driver of the small Peugeot 208 hatchback, who was accompanied by a woman, sped off before being arrested around lunchtime in Grenoble, police and military sources said. Prosecutors in Grenoble, a town in the foothills of the French Alps, said the incident was not being treated as a terrorist attack for the moment and the motive remained unclear. The incident comes with France on ...
Two Indian-origin officials from Americas at UNSC ministerial signal diaspora's influence
In a sign of the Indian diaspora's growing influence, two cabinet-level officials of Indian-descent represented the biggest superpower, the US, and its neighbour, Canada, at the UN Security Council's ministerial-level meeting on peacekeeping on Wednesday.
Maoists set fire to equipment of construction company
Armed Maoists set ablaze several equipment and vehicles kept in the site of a construction company and assaulted its manager in Kandhamal district, police said today. A group of red rebels, including women, stormed the site at Malimaha village under Balliguda police station area late last night, Kandhamal SP Prateek Kumar Singh said. During the hour-long strike, the Maoists torched three tractors, a mixture machine, an earth-mover and some other equipment of the construction company, he said. They also assaulted the manager of the company whose condition was stated to be serious and threatened the labourers who were sleeping at the site. The attack came two days after the police destroyed a Maoist camp inside the Kakulajhar reserve forest in Khajuripada area. It is suspected that the armed rebels belong to Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh group of Maoists, the SP said.
Lanka negotiating FTAs with India, China: Wickremesinghe
Sri Lanka is negotiating free trade agreements with two Asian economic powerhouses, India and China, with an aim to become a financial hub of the continent, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has said. Addressing a function at the opening of the Bank of China branch here, he said that several projects, funded by China, were underway in the country while agreements on several others have been reached. China is investing in various infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka which has signed the Beijing's ambitious "One Belt, One Road" (OBOR) initiatives. Sri Lanka, in December last year, formally handed over the strategic southern port of Hambantota to China on a 99-year lease, in a deal dubbed by the opposition and trade unions as "a sell-out" after . Under the lease agreement, two Chinese firms Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) and Hambantota International Port Services (HIPS) managed by the China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort) and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority will ...
Gunmen kill 15 herders in northern Nigeria
Gunmen believed to be cattle thieves killed 15 herders in the latest bout of violence in northern Nigeria's herding communities, police and a local official said today. "Armed bandits attacked Bawon-Daji village yesterday and killed 15 people," the police spokesman for Zamfara state, Muhammad Shehu, told AFP. His account was corroborated by a senior local government official, Gado Anka. Anka told AFP motorcycle-riding gunmen stormed the remote village in Anka district around 1:00 pm, shooting dead 12 residents before fleeing to a hideout in the bush. "They returned two hours later and attacked mourners during the funeral of the victims in the cemetery, killing three more and injuring several others," he said. Rural communuties in the agrarian state are under siege from gangs who kill, loot and torching homes. This has prompted villages to form vigilante groups -- which in turn are often accused of extra-judicial killings of suspected cattle thieves, prompting deadly reprisals by the ..
Belgian court to give verdict on Paris suspect Abdeslam on April 23
A Belgian court said today it will give its verdict on April 23 in the trial of Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam over a shootout in Brussels that led to his capture. The court made the announcement after hearing an application from terror victims to be named as civil parties in the case against Abdeslam over the March 2016 gun battle. "The verdict will be handed down on April 23," presiding judge Marie-France Keutgen told the court. Islamist gunman Radouane Lakdim, who shot dead four people last week in southern France, including a heroic policeman killed after taking the place of a hostage, said during the siege he was acting on behalf of the Islamic State group and demanded the release of Abdeslam. Prosecutors have recommended a maximum of 20 years in prison for Abdeslam, 28, and Soufiane Ayari, his 24-year-old co-defendant in the gun battle nearly two years ago that led to their capture in the Belgian capital. Seven days later, suicide bombers from a cell linked to the Paris ...
Car tries to plough into French soldiers
A man on Thursday attempted to plough his car into a group of soldiers who were out jogging near their barracks in southeast France.
Skripals first poisoned at home: UK police
Detectives with London's Metropolitan Police investigating the attempted murders of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia have said that they believe the pair first came into contact with a nerve agent at the front door of his Salisbury home.
Jeweller robbed, shot dead in road heist on way to Lucknow
In a daring road holdup, a 35 year-old jeweller travelling in a bus was shot dead and robbed of his bag containing ornaments by two armed miscreants at Triveniganj near here, the police said today. The miscreants decamped after looting valuable from some other passengers as well, they said. The jeweller, who had a showroom in Haidergarh area here was returning home in Lucknow after closing the shop, when the two armed miscreants stopped the bus and opened fire on him and fled with his bag, the police said, adding the jeweller died on the spot. A case has been registered and the investigations is on, the police added.
Hunt underway for driver who tried to ram French soldiers
A hunt was underway today for a man who tried to ram his car into soldiers jogging near their barracks in southeast France, without causing any injuries, the army said. The man first threatened a group of soldiers who were out jogging at around 8am in Varces-Allieres-et-Risset, near Grenoble, and later tried to run down another group of soldiers returning from a jog, army spokesman Colonel Benoit Brulon told AFP. "The soldiers managed to get up onto the pavement without being hit," Brulon said. The driver then sped off. The local Dauphine Libere newspaper said the man is suspected to have been driving a stolen Peugeot 208. Police sealed off the area and began a search for the driver, while the army stepped up security around the barracks, Brulon said. The incident comes with France on edge after a jihadist rampage in the southwest last week, where a 25-year-old radicalised gunman killed four people, including a policeman who took the place of a hostage in a supermarket siege. Today, ..
Two BJP leaders held for 'disturbing' communal harmony in Bihar
Two BJP leaders were arrested on Thursday in Bihar's Samastipur district on the charge of disturbing communal harmony that resulted in clashes during the Ram Navami procession, police said.
Lanka's top jail official held for 2012 prison riot
A top Sri Lankan prison official was arrested today in connection with the shooting during a riot by prisoners inside the high-security Welikada jail here in which 27 inmates were killed, police said. Twenty-seven prisoners were killed and 20 others and a jail official injured, after armed troops opened fire on the inmates when a riot broke out in Sri Lanka's largest and most crowded prison on November 9, 2012. The riot occurred when prisoners took control of the jail after objecting to a search by the Special Task Force who entered the prison to find hidden arms, drugs and mobile phones on the premises. Commissioner of Prisons in charge of rehabilitation Emil Ranjan Lamahewa, who was the prison superintendent at the time of the incident, was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), they said. Lamahewa's arrested came after a top policeman, in charge of narcotics, was held yesterday in the same incident. The killings escalated international condemnation of the then Sri
IS key commander captured, 3 others killed in Afghanistan
A key commander of the Islamic State (IS) militant group was captured and three foreign nationals of the outfit were killed as Afghan security forces' aircraft targeted its hideout in northern Afghanistan, police said on Thursday.
Nitish meets family members of CRPF jawan killed in J-K
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today met the family members of Mujahid Khan, a slain CRPF jawan hailing from Bhojpur district of the state who had died fighting militants in Jammu and Kashmir last month. The meeting took place at the Chief Minister's official residence here where Kumar directed Principal Secretary (Home), Amir Subhani, to provide "all possible help" to the family members of the deceased CRPF jawan who was killed in an encounter with militants at Srinagar on February 12, an official release said. Others present on the occasion included senior leader of the ruling Janata Dal (United) Ashok Chowdhury. Notably, Khan's family members had declined to accept a cheque of Rs five lakh offered by the state government by way of ex-gratia pointing out that Army personnel who lost their lives while performing their duties were given Rs 11 lakh and the "substantially lower amount" for paramilitary personnel was "demeaning". The District Magistrate of Bhojpur had, ..
Driver tries to ram soldiers in France: security sources
A man tried to ram his car into soldiers jogging near their barracks in southeast France today, without causing any injuries, security sources said. A hunt was underway for the driver who insulted another group of soldiers after the aborted attack in Varces-Allieres-et-Risset, near Grenoble, before speeding off, the sources added. The incident comes with France on edge after a jihadist rampage in the southwest last week, where a 25-year-old radicalised gunman killed four people, including a policeman who took the place of a hostage in a supermarket siege. Today, the four victims of the attack in the town of Carcassonne and nearby Trebes, including the heroic officer Arnaud Beltrame, will be laid to rest in the region. Paying tribute to the officer at a national ceremony in Paris on Wednesday, President Emmanuel Macron said his act of supreme self- sacrifice would "remain etched in French hearts".
Italy arrests five in German Christmas market attack probe
Italian police have arrested five people as part of an anti-terror raid linked to Tunisian Anis Amri who staged a deadly attack on a Berlin Christmas market in 2016, media reported today. Amri, a rejected asylum seeker, had rammed a stolen truck into the crowded square, killing 12 people and wounding about 100 others. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on December 19, 2016 -- its deadliest ever carried out in Germany. Amri, who had previously lived in Italy, was killed five days after the assault by police in a Milan suburb. The five detained today morning are accused of activities linked to "international terrorism" and procuring false documents for migrants, the Italian AGI news agency reported. The suspects included a Tunisian national from the city of Latina, south of Rome, who had allegedly planned to provide Amri with fake identity papers to help him flee abroad, investigators told AGI. The raids were carried out in several cities including Rome, ...
Bihar violence: Nitish is finished, says Lalu
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fostered violence in Bihar, jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad claimed on Thursday, and indicated that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's position was also ruined in effect."There are riots and incidents of violence all over Bihar. After locking me up, BJP has set the whole state ablaze. Nitish Kumar is finished now," Prasad told reporters when he arrived at the New Delhi railway station.Owing to his deteriorating health, the former Bihar chief minister has been brought to Delhi for treatment at AIIMS Hospital.Prasad's statement was a reference to the communal clashes that broke out in Bihar's Bhagalpur, on March 17, during a procession that was carried out by workers from BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal, and was led by Union Minister Ashwini Choubey's son, Arijit Shashwat.An FIR was registered against Shashwat and others, for instigating the violence, but the continued delay in his arrest has been a shot in the arm for the Opposition, which ..
Fire in Venezuelan Prison kills 68
A fire erupted at a jail in Venezuela's northern city of Valencia, has claimed at least 68 lives, attorney general Tarek Saab said on Wednesday.According to New York Times, the fire started during riots in the jail, with family members of inmates soon gathering outside, some grieving and others brawling with the riot police.Reasons behind the rioting is still ambiguous, as officials had released very limited information on the incident.Saab said that four public prosecutors were chosen to probe the incident and declare a cause behind the riots and the fire. He also confirmed that all but two victims were male."What we want is justice," one relative, María Jose Rondon, said in a video posted to Twitter. "We want to know everything that is happening."Attached to a Police Station, the prison facility had a capacity of 60 detainees, as told by workers at the scene.However, the appalling state of Venezuelan prisons is no secret, with most of them drastically overcrowded and understaffed.
Militant shuns path of violence following appeal by family
An unidentified militant has shunned the path of violence and returned home following an appeal by his family in south Kashmir area, a senior police official said today. "Another mother's appeal to her son to shun militancy & (and) return home gets response, God bless the family & (and) show path to others," Director General of Police, S P Vaid, said in a tweet. However, the details of the youth, who quit militancy, have been kept a secret in order to ensure security of the youth. More than a dozen militants have laid down arms in Kashmir since last year when police announced that they will accept offer to surrender of local militants even during ongoing encounters. Most of these militants have returned home after appeals by their families to shun the path of violence.