Page 706 - War Conflict
2 polio workers killed, 3 abducted by militants in Pak
Militants today attacked a polio team in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, killing two workers and abducting three others, officials said. Unidentified militants opened fire on the seven-member polio team comprising seven volunteers in Safi tehsil of Mohmand Agency, officials were quoted as saying by Dawn News. Two polio workers were shot dead and three others were abducted by the assailants in the Safi tehsil. Two polio workers 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 vaccination drives ..
5 of family killed in Pakistani shelling in J-K's Poonch
Five members of a family were today killed and two others injured in heavy shelling by Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in Balakote sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, a senior police officer said. Army PRO Lt Col Devender Anand said the ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Bimber Gali started around 0745 hours. They are specifically targeting civilian areas," he said. Director General of Police S P Vaid in a tweet said, "Due to shelling from across (LoC) in Balakote sector of Poonch, 5 civilians of a family died & 2 are injured who are being shifted to hospital". The civilian casualties occurred in forward village of Devta Dhar when a shell hit the house of Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan, a police official said. The dead include the house owner, a woman, a boy and a minor girl, he said. The police official said heavy shelling was going on from both the sides. Army troops retaliated strongly and effectively to silence Pakistani guns, he said.
Drone strike kills 6 IS terrorists in Afghanistan
At least six terrorists belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group have been killed in the latest drone strike in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.According to Khaama Press, the airstrike was carried out in the vicinity of Haska Mina district.The local official confirmed that two others were also wounded in the airstrikes.The IS has not commented on the incident so far.On Saturday, Afghanistan's defence ministry said, 33 militants were killed in military airstrikes in the last 24 hours.Earlier in the day, three people were killed after a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a compound housing foreign contractors at Kabul's PD9 area.
Afghanistan: 33 militants killed in military airstrikes
Thirty-three militants were killed in military airstrikes in the last 24 hours, according to Afghanistan's defense ministry on Saturday.TOlOnews reported that in the first airstike carried out in Nad Ali and Marja districts of Helmand province, killed 13 militants where weapons, ammunition and hideouts were destroyed.The second airstrike in Chora district of Uruzgan province killed 20 more and also destroyed three motorcycles, weapons and bases.Three others were injured, further reported TOlONews.Earlier today, at Kabul's PD9 area three were killed after a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near a compound housing foreign contractors at around 9 a.m.
Bhawana Kanth becomes second Indian woman fighter pilot to go solo
Flying Officer Bhawana Kanth became the second woman pilot of Indian Air Force to fly solo in a fighter aircraft.She flew in a MiG-21 Bison aircraft from Ambala Air Force Station on Friday.She is second only to Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi who created history on February 21 by being the first ever woman fighter pilot to fly solo.The 25-year-old is one of the three in the first batch of women pilots, besides Chaturvedi and Mohana Singh, who was inducted into the Indian Air Force fighter squadron on June 18, 2016.It was in October 2015 that the government took the decision to open the fighter stream for women. Meanwhile, combat roles in the army and the navy are still off-limits for women, due to a combination of operational concerns and logistical constraints.On December 16, 2017, two women from the second batch entered the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force and were commissioned after graduating from the Dundigul Air Force Academy.It was only in 1992 that the armed forces began
Stray bullets kill 3 in Rio de Janeiro slum
Authorities in Brazil say a one-year-old boy and two adults in Rio de Janeiro were killed by stray bullets during a confrontation between police and gunmen in the Alemao slum complex. Four people were wounded. Rio state police say the incident occurred Friday night when four heavily armed men drove up to a police station and opened fire. The victims were hit during a shootout as police chased the suspects. The violence comes just two days after city councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver were shot dead on a downtown street in Brazil's second largest city. In February, the government put the military in charge of Rio's local police, but there are no indications that security has improved.
Regime seizes two towns from rebels in Syria's Ghouta: monitor
Syria's regime retook two more towns in Eastern Ghouta today, a war monitor said, pressing an offensive to capture the rebel enclave on the doorstep of Damascus. Government forces seized Kafr Batna and Sabqa in the south of the enclave, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as thousands of civilians fled into regime-held territory. Russia-backed regime forces have retaken more than 80 percent of the last opposition bastion outside the capital since launching a blistering air and ground offensive on February 18, the Observatory says. The assault has split opposition-held areas into three shrinking pockets each held by different rebels. The southern pocket is held by the Faylaq al-Rahman rebel group, which the Observatory says counts some 8,000 fighters in its ranks. After Saturday's advance, the group now controls just a handful of areas, the monitor says: Arbin -- the largest -- as well as Zamalka, Hazeh, Ain Tarma and parts of the Damascus neighbourhood of ...
Rohingyas can't be equated with Sri Lankan refugees: Centre
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that Rohingya refugees cannot be equated with Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.The Union Home Ministry said this in an affidavit filed in the Writ Petition [Civil] No.793 of 2017 in the matter of Mohammad Samilullah versus Union of India on Thursday.A petitioner has demanded the Supreme Court to direct the Centre to provide same facilities to the Rohingya refugees that are being provided to the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.The Centre told the apex court that that comparison with Sri Lankan Tamil refugees based upon which prayer is sought to be made is ill founded and misconceived."Grant of certain relief facilities to the Sri Lankan Tamil Refugees has its genesis in the Indo-Ceylon Agreement of 1964. Declared objective of the agreement was that all persons of Indian origin in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) who have not been recognized either as citizens of Ceylon or as a citizen of India should become citizens either of Ceylon or of India," the Centre informed the .
Arab Parliament calls for ceasefire in Syria's Eastern Ghouta
Cairo, March 17 (IANS/WAM) Arab Parliament President Meshal Al-Selmi has called for an immediate halt to the continued bombing in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus and in the rest of Syria.
TOP FOREIGN STORIES AT 1830 HOURS
Following are the top foreign stories at 1830 hours: FGN10 PAK-WTO-DIPLOMATS Islamabad: Pakistan decides to stay away from the World Trade Organisation meet in New Delhi next week in protest against alleged harassment of its diplomats in India. (By Sajjad Hussain) FGN7 CHINA-2NDLD XI Beijing: Xi Jinping re-elected as president for a second five-year tenure by China's rubber-stamp parliament, days after it scrapped the two-term rule for the presidency and allowed him to have a life-long tenure. (By K J M Varma) FGN23 US-INDIA-LD TRADE Washington: The US shares very strong ties with India and is in favour of free, fair and reciprocal trade with it, a senior White House official says even as he asserted that the bilateral trade remained one aspect of the relationship where "the most friction" is experienced. (By Lalit K Jha) FGN12 US-MCCABE-2NDLD FIRED Washington: The Trump administration fires the number two official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) accusing him of making an
Syrian regime attacks in Eastern Ghouta kill 30
At least 30 civilians were killed and dozens injured in bombings carried out by Syrian military aircraft against rebel-held Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus, a British war monitor group said on Saturday.
Taliban kill 3 in Kabul suicide bombing
A suicide car bombing claimed by the Taliban in Kabul on Saturday left at least three people dead and four injured.
Four Taliban facilitators arrested for Lahore suicide bombing
Police in Pakistan today arrested four suspected militants who allegedly facilitated a suicide attack on a police check-post near the residence of ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore. The death toll in the attack by a teenaged Taliban suicide bomber on March 14 today rose to 11 as another victim succumbed to injuries in a hospital. "We have taken four suspects believed to be facilitators in a raid carried out in the Badami Bagh area of central Lahore. The suspects include the bomber's uncle, Syed Ghazi Shah, and his son, a police official said. The teenaged suicide bomber blew himself up at a police post check post, a few kilometres from the palatial residence of the Sharif family, and next to the congregation of the Tableeghi Jamaat centre. Police said the suicide attacker carried two hand grenades which he wanted to use before blowing himself up, but police managed to deter him from doing so. "The post-blast investigation and the statements of the injured policemen revealed
6 arrested for killing cop near Chrar-e-Sharif shrine in J-K
Six persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of a policeman guarding the revered Chrar-e-Shareef shrine in central Kashmir's Budgam district last month, police said today. A group of militants had fired upon constable Kultar Singh on February 25, leaving him severely injured. The cop later succumbed to his injuries, a police spokesperson said. He said a case was registered and investigations so far have revealed that one Umar Farooq, along with six other accomplices - Shahid Ahmad, Shahid Khurshid, Imran, Feroz and Mudasir Ahmad Wani and Towheed Rather, hatched a criminal conspiracy to snatch the weapon from the guard deployed at the shrine. The spokesperson said to give effect to the conspiracy, the group had conducted a reccee of the area and the said sentry post at the shrine earlier and consequently, executed this act. During investigation, while picking up the vital evidences, police have seized the vehicle used for commissioning of offence by the group of ...
North Korean minister to meet again with Swedish counterpart
North Korea's foreign minister is set to meet again with his Swedish counterpart amid growing speculation about a possible meeting in the Scandinavian country between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Ri Yong Ho, who arrived late Thursday in Stockholm, is expected to meet Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom Saturday. Details about their talks had been shrouded in secrecy. The Swedish Foreign Ministry said Friday a summary of their discussions would be provided afterward. Ri's surprise trip to Stockholm has taken on added significance due to expectations that a Trump-Kim summit could defuse the tensions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Wallstrom said Friday that she had "good and constructive" talks and "we value this opportunity to arrange a meeting.
More than 200,000 civilians flee Syria's Afrin in three days: monitor
More than 200,000 civilians have fled the city of Afrin in northern Syria in less than three days to escape a Turkish-led military offencive against a Kurdish militia, a war monitor said today. "There was fierce fighting throughout the night on the northern outskirts of the city as the Turkish forces and their Syrian allies tried to break into the city," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The exodus continued today with at least 50,000 civilians fleeing the city since the early hours of the morning, according to the Britain-based monitoring group, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information. "The situation is terrifying," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman. Turkey and its Syrian Arab rebel allies have waged a nearly two-month offensive on the Afrin enclave, which is held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Earlier this week, they largely surrounded the enclave's sole city, which was home to some 350,000 people, including people displaced ...
Third militant's body recovered in Srinagar
Security forces on Saturday recovered the body of a third militant from a gunfight site on the outskirts of Srinagar city.
Body of another militant found in J-K
The body of another militant was today recovered from the site of yesterday's encounter in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, taking the number of ultras killed in the operation to three, police said. The encounter broke out after an unsuccessful bid by the militants to snatch the weapon of personal security guard of BJP leader Anwar Khan, at Balhama. While concluding the search and sanitisation of the operation site, police recovered the body of the third militant. He has been identified as Hamas a FT (foreign terrorist)," a police spokesperson said. He said after the encounter ended, the area was sealed to carry out further searches on cooling of rubbles to ensure no damage was caused by any explosive material left over at the encounter site. The police started a sanitisation operation in which the area was to be cleared of any unexploded shells/mines after the encounter ended. In this process, the teams of police and other security forces, including the bomb disposal squad, were ..
J-K: Body of third terrorist recovered from Khanmoh
Body of one more terrorist has been recovered from encounter site in Srinagar's Khanmoh area in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, taking the total of neutralised terrorists to three.On March 15, two terrorists were gunned down in the encounter with the security forces in Khanmoh.Incriminating materials, including arms and ammunition, were also recovered from their possession.During the initial firing by the terrorists, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel sustained bullet injuries and was shifted to 92 base hospital for treatment. His condition is stable now.
35 Islamic State militants killed in Afghanistan
At least 35 Islamic State militants were killed in airstrikes on their hideouts in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province, an Army spokesperson said.