Page 705 - War Conflict

Botched suicide attack wounds 5 students in Afghan capital

An attacker dressed in a school uniform set off a grenade amid a group of hundreds of university students in Afghanistan's capital on Sunday, killing himself and wounding five students, according to the district police chief. Nasir Nadery said the attacker, who slipped past two guards, was wearing an explosives vest that failed to explode. The students were inside a private compound where they were taking classes to prepare for university exams. The attack took place in a Kabul neighborhood dominated by ethnic Hazaras, a Shiite minority frequently targeted by the Sunni extremists. No one immediately claimed the attack, which resembled previous assaults carried out by the Islamic State group. Yesterday, a sticky bomb attached to the motorcycle driven by a retired Pakistani army officer exploded in southern Zabul province's Shahjoy district, killing the officer and his guard, according to the provincial government spokesman, Gul Islam Seyal. Pakistan has been criticised by both the ...

Five killed, seven injured in Pakistan shelling

Five civilians were killed and seven others, including five soldiers, injured on Sunday in indiscriminate shelling by Pakistan army on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, officials said.

21st century belongs to India: Former Army Chief Vij

A former Army chief today said the 21st century belongs to India, provided all the institutions in the country rise up to the challenges and deliver. General (retd) N C Vij said the political leadership of the country, the legislature, judiciary, bureaucracy and armed forces, besides the people of the country, would be responsible for the rise of India. He was addressing the first convocation of Central University Jammu (CJU) during which 14 students were conferred on PhD, 20 M Phil and 885 PG degrees. Besides, 45 gold medals including two recently instituted 'Jammu and Kashmir bank gold medals', and merit certificates were also awarded to the students. Vij, who along with Union Minister Jitendra Singh was conferred upon Doctor of Philosophy degree (Honoris Causa) from the university, said, "The 21st century belongs to India provided all these institutions rise up to the challenges and deliver." "You will find the defence and armed forces rock solid as far as security and defence of .

Spy poisoning: UK on high alert against Russian cyber-attack threat

Britain's banks, energy and water companies are all said to be on high alert against the threat of a possible Russian cyber-attack amid an escalating diplomatic row between the two countries over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil. Fears that Moscow could target Britain's critical national infrastructure came as Russia's ambassador to the European Union (EU) suggested a UK research laboratory could be the source of the deadly nerve agent used in the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories. And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research. And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury," Vladimir Chizhov told the BBC. He stressed that Russia had nothing to do with the poisoning and that it did not stockpile the poison. Chizhov's comments ..

Chemical weapons experts heading to UK in Russia spy case

Britain is to target wealth linked to the Kremlin in response to the poisoning of a former spy, foreign minister Boris Johnson said today ahead of a visit by international chemical weapons experts. "Where people have obtained wealth by corruption and where we can see a link with the Kremlin, with Vladimir Putin, it may be possible to have unexplained wealth orders and other sanctions on those individuals," Johnson told BBC's Andrew Marr Show. Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are in a critical condition after being exposed to a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury on March 4, leading Britain to expel 23 Kremlin diplomats. Technical experts from Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will visit Britain on Monday to collect samples of the nerve agent used in the attack. "These will then be despatched to highly-reputable international laboratories selected by the OPCW for testing with results expected to take a minimum of two weeks," .

2 polio monitors killed in Pak

A seven-member polio team was today attacked by unidentified militants in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing two volunteers, officials said. The militants opened fire on the polio team in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency, officials said. Two polio monitors were shot dead by the assailants in the Safi tehsil. Polio monitors are responsible for ensuring that polio drops have been properly administered by the polio workers. Two polio monitors managed to escape the attack and reached Ghalanai, the headquarter of the agency, and informed about the incident, the officials said. Last month, a group of Pakistani polio workers was attacked by a school's administration in Karachi after the team attempted to vaccinate its students against the disease. Polio workers have faced problems during vaccination drives in many parts of the country, including Karachi where in the past militants have attacked female health workers. Many extremist groups have spread rumours that the ...

Britain, Russia trade blame over poisoning of former spy

Britain's foreign secretary said Sunday that the trail of blame for the poisoning of a former spy "leads inexorably to the Kremlin," after a Russian envoy suggested the nerve agent involved could have come from a UK lab. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Britain has evidence that Russia has been stockpiling nerve agents like the one used against Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Johnson told the BBC that officials from the Netherlands-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would arrive in Britain on Monday to take samples of the nerve agent used to poison the Skripals. Britain says it is Novichok, a class of powerful nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union toward the end of the Cold War. "We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok," Johnson said. Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow's EU ambassador, ...

Rohingya in 'no man's land' reject return on Myanmar terms: camp chief

Rohingya holed up in a border "no man's land" after fleeing Myanmar will only accept repatriation to their home villages, a local leader said today, rejecting any move to transit camps for fear of long-term confinement. Some 700,000 Rohingya have been driven into neighbouring Bangladesh since last August by a major army crackdown -- purportedly intended to "clear" northern Rakhine state of militants from the Muslim minority. The UN describes it as a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Muslim Rohingya, an allegation staunchly denied by mainly Buddhist Myanmar. Overwhelmed by the influx, Bangladesh wants Myanmar to take them back and the neighbours agreed to start repatriating refugees in January. But so far no Rohingya have returned. Since August several thousand of the Rohingya have been living in tents beyond a barbed-wire fence which roughly demarcates the border zone between the two countries, reliant on NGO food handouts. Myanmar authorities are pressing hard for their return

Russian diplomat hints UK lab could be nerve agent source

Russia's ambassador to the European Union has suggested a nerve agent that poisoned a former spy in England could have come from a British lab. Vladimir Chizhov says Russia has no chemical weapons stockpiles and was not behind the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. In comments broadcast Sunday, Chizhov told the BBC that the UK chemical weapons research facility, Porton Down, is only 12 kilometers from Salisbury, where the Skripals were found earlier this month. Asked whether he was saying Porton Down was responsible, he replied: "I don't know." The British government says Chizhov's suggestion is "nonsense." Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador in London, Alexander Yakovenko, called for "cooler heads." He told the Mail on Sunday that the dispute is "escalating dangerously and out of proportion.

Ethnic violence in Congo's northeast displaces 60,000

The assailants attacked under cover of darkness, slaughtering Nguli Nzafi's wife and three children with machetes and arrows. The 71-year-old, who also lost all 40 of his cattle in the violence, was forced to flee on foot some 90 kilometres (56 miles) to safety in the town of Bunia. "I have lost everything because I no longer have my wife nor my children," he says. "I cannot eat nor sleep. I'm afraid that this fighting is as bad as the war in 1996-2002." Violence between Nzafi's Hema community and the Lendu ethnic group in Congo's northeast has now killed at least 150 people and has forced more than 32,000 people to flee to Bunia, where humanitarian assistance is strained and the suffering are eager for improved conditions. Another 28,000 have also fled into Uganda, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. There is a long history of tensions between the Lendu and Hema groups, whose ongoing battles since 1999 already have killed thousands and led the UN .

Seven militants sentenced to death for killing Sufi shrine caretaker

Seven militants, including neo-JMB terror group's regional chief, were sentenced to death today in Bangladesh for killing a Sufi shrine caretaker in 2015, according to a media report. The militants hacked Rahmat Ali, the caretaker of a shrine, and slit his throat on November 10, 2015, Daily Star reported. Police filed charges against 15 people in the case. The court indicted the suspects on August 16 last year. A court in Rangpur has sentenced seven militants, including neo-JMB regional commander Masud Rana, to death for the murder. But neo-JMB leader Jahangir Alam and five others have been acquitted, the report said. The verdict was announced by Rangpur Special Judge Naresh Chandra Sarkar. The JMB has been held responsible for a wave of extremist attacks on religious minorities and bloggers in the past five years. In July 2016, JMB militants stormed a Dhaka cafe and massacred 22 hostages, including an Indian. Bangladesh has been waging a campaign against JMB and other homegrown ...

4 more airports to get CISF security cover soon

At least four more airports in the country, including those in Shirdi in Maharashtra and Jamnagar in Gujarat, are expected to be brought under the armed security cover of paramilitary force CISF soon. The other two aerodromes are in Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. According to officials, the final sanction for entrusting the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) with security cover at these airports has been obtained from the Union home ministry sometime ago, but the deployment of the force has been delayed due to certain issues. Some issues related to security infrastructure are pending and these are expected to be resolved soon, they said. The Shirdi airport, they said, could be the first to have the armed security cover by early next month, like 59 civil airports that have a CISF cover in the country at present. The CISF is the mandated national security force that provides an armed cover to airports against terror and other sabotage threats. The ...

5 of family killed in Pak shelling in J-K's Poonch

Pakistani troops targeted border villages in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district with mortar bombs today, killing five members of a family including three minor brothers, officials said. The "unprovoked and indiscriminate" shelling of civilian areas almost three-four kilometres from the Line of Control (LoC) by the Pakistani troops, in violation of a ceasefire agreement, lasted nearly four hours this morning, they said. Two sisters were critically injured in the shelling and were airlifted to Jammu for treatment. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed anguish over the loss of lives and stressed the need for peace if we want to save the people of the state. Army PRO Lt. Col. Devender Anand said the mortar shelling from across the LoC was "unprovoked and indiscriminate" and lasted from 0745 hours to 1130 hours. Indian troops guarding the border retaliated strongly and effectively, he added. Director General of Police S P Vaid in a tweet said, "Due to shelling from ...

Taliban attack kills 5 Afghan police

An Afghan official says the Taliban have attacked security positions northwest of the capital, killing at least five police. Mohammed Zaman, the provincial police chief for Ghazni province, says the attack late Saturday set off a two-hour gunbattle. The Taliban have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan since the US and NATO formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014. In the western Ghor province, meanwhile, a roadside bomb killed a young shepherd and wounded five others. Police spokesman Iqbal Nizami says the Taliban planted the bomb in order to target security forces. In the eastern Khost province, police spokesman Basir Bina says a roadside bomb killed two children and wounded another nine. Both bombs went off yesterday.

Arms recovered in Sipahijala district

Police today recovered arms from Khedabari area in Sipahijala district, about 15 km from here. Local people first spotted the weapons inside a bush this morning and informed the police, Sub-divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Gamanjoy Reang told reporters. A contingent of police led by Reang rushed to the area and recovered the arms which include, six matchets, seven country made pistols and four country made guns. Reang said police had launched a search operation in the area to trace those who stockpiled the arms.

Rescue operation underway in Poonch ceasefire violation

In the wake of the ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops in Poonch's Balakote sector earlier today, Jammu Inspector General of Police (IGP) SD Singh Jamwal said those injured in the firing are being brought here for specialised treatment."In the village of Devta, five civilians died and two were injured. We're assessing the situation and our teams are already on the spot. Helicopters have been sent to retrieve the injured for specialised treatment in Jammu," Jamwal told ANI.Earlier in the day, five civilians were killed and two injured as Pakistani troops violated ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakote sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.Among those deceased are civilian Mohammad Ramzan, his wife and three children, while two of his children are injured.Meanwhile, firing is currently underway.

37 IS militants killed in US airstrikes

At least 37 IS militants were killed on Saturday in US airstrikes conducted at Jowzjan province in Afghanistan.Mohammad Reza Ghafoori, the spokesperson of provincial governor confirmed the airstrikes and said the US forces also detained 10 IS militants including a key local commander for the group, as reported by the Tolo News.The strikes were conducted at Sar Dara and Moghol villages of Darzab district and Chawma Choqor village of Qushtapa district.Further, three IS militant bases were also destroyed.In an earlier incident today, at least six terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group were killed in the latest drone strike in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.On Saturday, Afghanistan's defence ministry said, 33 militants were killed in military airstrikes in the last 24 hours.

One killed in Afghanistan school blast

A child has been killed and 16 others wounded following a blast in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost, police said on Sunday.

Five civilians killed in Pakistan firing on LoC

Five members of a family were killed and two others critically injured on Sunday in Pakistan shelling on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, police said.

Sri Lankan President lifts nation-wide Emergency

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday signed a gazette notification to lift a nation-wide state of emergency which was imposed on March 6 following communal riots in Kandy district.