Page 710 - War Conflict
11 kg heroin seized by BSF along India-Pak border
BSF personnel today seized 11 kg of heroin along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab's Amritsar Sector, an official of the force said today. BSF troops posted at the Ramkot outpost noticed some suspicious movement of Pakistani smugglers across the border security fence last night, he said. Early today, the smugglers reached near the fence and were challenged by the BSF personnel. However, they did not retreat and troops had to open fire, the official said. During a search, the BSF found 11 kg of heroin packed in as many plastic bags, he said. The smugglers managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness, uneven path and growth of crops on the other side, the official said.
New convoy of food aid enters Syria's rebel Ghouta: ICRC
A new convoy carrying desperately needed food aid entered the rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Syria's capital on today, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. "The convoy entered Ghouta and is going to Douma now," ICRC's communication coordinator Pawel Krzysiek said. Douma is the largest town in Ghouta, the opposition's dwindling enclave on the outskirts of the capital Damascus and the target of a blistering government assault for the past month. Even before the latest onslaught, Ghouta has been suffering a five-year government siege that has made food and medical supplies scarce. Today's convoy of 25 trucks was carrying food parcels and flour bags for more than 26,000 people, according to Krzysiek. "This is just a little of what these families need," the ICRC said. It was the third delivery of aid to reach Douma in 10 days. A convoy last week was delivered in two parts, after a first attempt on March 5 was cut short due to heavy shelling. Aid deliveries, carried out .
BJP leader attacked in Srinagar, gunfight erupts
A Bharatiya Janata Party leader was attacked by militants on Thursday on the outskirts of Srinagar, triggering a gunfight.
Afghan hostage shoots Taliban captors, killing seven
An Afghan man taken hostage by the Taliban made a dramatic escape by stealing a gun while his captors were praying and shooting dead seven of them and wounding 18 others, officials said today. Awal Khan and a local police officer were kidnapped Wednesday as they were driving in the eastern province of Paktika, provincial deputy security chief Abdul Rauf Masood told AFP. Paktika is a Taliban stronghold bordering Pakistan. The officer was killed and 36-year-old Awal taken to a Taliban compound in Gomal district where he was held for hours. During afternoon prayers, Awal, who Masood said was handcuffed at the time, grabbed a weapon belonging to one of his captors and opened fire. "Awal Khan sprayed bullets on all of them, killing seven and wounding 18 others," provincial governor spokesman Mohammad Rahman Ayaz told AFP. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed to AFP that the group had kidnapped the two men and that Awal had opened fire on the militants, killing three of them. Awal
India expresses concern over chemical weapons use
India has expressed deep concern about new allegations on the use of chemical weapons from different parts of the world.
Fresh aid convoy to reach Syria's Eastern Ghouta
A total of 25 truckloads of aid started to move towards the rebel-held areas in the Eastern Ghouta countryside of the Syrian capital on Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.
10 killed in Taliban suicide attack near Sharif's residence
A teenaged Taliban suicide bomber attacked a police check-post near the residence of Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, killing 10 people, including six policemen, police said. According to rescue officials, the blast took place last night close to a police check post, a few kilometers from the palatial residence of the Sharif family, and next to the congregation of the Tableeghi Jamaat centre. "Five policemen - two inspectors and three constables - are among nine persons killed in the blast," Rescue 1122 spokesman Jam Sajjad told PTI. Today, one more policeman wounded in the attack on the Raiwind Markaz of the Tableeghi Jamaat succumbed to his injuries. His death brought the toll of those killed to 10. Around 14 policemen are among 25 injured. The condition of some of them is stated to be critical. According to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), four suspected militants tried to enter the Tableeghi Jamaat gathering but were stopped by policemen. One of the ...
BJP leader escapes militant attack unhurt in JK; PSO injured
A BJP leader escaped a militant attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir today, but his personal security officer (PSO) was injured in the incident, the police said. Militants fired upon Anwar Khan, a BJP leader, at Balhama in Pulwama district, a police official said. While Khan escaped the attack unhurt, his PSO, constable Bilal Ahmad, was injured in the incident, the official added. He said the injured policeman was rushed to a hospital, where his condition was stated to be stable.
Boeing to modernise Qatar military's logistics, business
American aerospace giant Boeing Company has announced that it has won a five-year contract to modernise the logistics and business system of the Qatar armed forces through its subsidiary unit.
Lahore: 9 killed in blast near Nawaz Sharif's residence
Nine people. including five policemen, were killed in a suicide attack that took place at a police check post near a religious gathering at Raiwand on Wednesday.As per certain rescue officials, the attack took place near the residence of Pakistan's ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.20 others were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at Nisar Police check-post near the Tableeghi, as reported by the Dawn.According to Director in General of Police Dr Haider Ashraf, the bomber arrived with an intention to blow up a bi-annual religious congregation underway at Tableeghi Markaz, but was stopped by a police from entering the venue of the congregation."It was at around 9:20pm when a teenage boy approached the police personnel. When a policeman tried to stop him, he blew himself up injuring all of the 12 police personnel present there," the Dawn quoted Ashraf as saying.He further informed that among the deceased, two were sub-inspectors who later succumbed to their injuries. He ...
Thackeray already said Sena will fight next polls alone: Kadam
Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam today said his party chief Uddhav Thackeray has already made it clear that the Sena would contest the next elections all alone. He also said that if the BJP wants to join hands with the Sena for the polls, the decision to that effect will be taken by Thackeray. Kadam's statements come a day after state Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said that BJP-Sena will contest the next elections together. "Mungantiwar should remember that Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had already announced that the party would go solo in the next elections. If Sena wants to join hands, it will be decided by the Sena leader and not by BJP," Kadam told reporters. When asked about the BJP's defeat in the Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, he said, "It was a trailer, wait for the whole picture." Addressing the state Legislative Assembly yesterday, Mungantiwar had said that Shiv Sena-BJP will contest the next ...
US sees changes in Pak's behaviour after Trump's new South Asia strategy
There have been changes in Pakistan's behaviour with respect to fight against terrorism after President Donald Trump blasted Islamabad for providing safe havens to militants and suspended more than USD 1 billion security aid to the country, a top American official has said. US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis also said that there are operations by the Pakistan military that are helping the US' ongoing efforts against terrorism. "There have been changes in Pakistan's behaviour (since the South Asia strategy was announced)," Mattis told reporters travelling with him to Afghanistan, according to the transcripts released by the US Department of Defense. In his new South Asia Policy in August last, President Trump had called for tougher measure against Pakistan if it fails to cooperate with the US in its fight against terrorism. In his first tweet of the new year, Trump had accused Pakistan of basing its relationship with the US on "nothing but lies and deceit". Days after his tweet, the US .
Road projects a major cause of Naxal attacks on security personnel
Road construction in Sukma, a Maoist hotbed in Chhattisgarh, has unsettled the rebels, leading them to frequently target security personnel in a bid to stop such projects, a state police official. In the past couple of years, several security personnel posted at road construction sites in Sukma district have been killed in the line of duty. The deadly attack on Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel on March 13 in Sukma is the latest example of Maoists' attempt to disrupt the road network being laid there. However, despite the heavy loss, the central and state governments have been making efforts to expand the road network in the region, believing that will bring development to tribals there. Several times, Naxals have tried to disrupt road construction in Sukma by launching attacks on security forces and damaging the roads, and vehicles and machines used in the work, Special Director General (anti-Naxal operations) D M Awasthi told PTI. "The attack on the security personnel on
Sri Lankan Muslims speak of tragedies back home
Sri Lankan Muslims and supporters protested outside the UN against the recent violence targeting their community, and for some of them it had been an intimate family tragedy.
Taliban suicide attack near Sharif's residence kills 9
A teenaged Taliban suicide bomber attacked a police check-post near the residence of Pakistan's ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, killing nine people, including five policemen, police said. According to rescue officials, the blast took place last night close to a police check post, a few kilometers from the palatial residence of the Sharif family, and next to the congregation of the Tableeghi Jamaat centre. "Five policemen - two inspectors and three constables - are among nine persons killed in the blast," Rescue 1122 spokesman Jam Sajjad told PTI. Around 14 policemen are among 25 injured. The condition of four policemen is stated to be critical, Sajjad said. The Rescue ambulances have shifted the injured to the Sharif medical complex and other nearby hospitals. Inspector General Police Punjab Arif Nawaz confirmed that the blast was a suicide attack carried out by a teenaged boy who blew himself up near the checkpost. Deputy Inspector General Police Lahore Dr Haider ...
Haley warns UN: Russia may use chemical weapon on New York
Expressing solidarity with the UK, US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has warned that if concrete measures were not initiated, "Russia will use chemical weapons here in New York or in cities of any country that sits on this Council".
Lahore blast: Toll reaches 9
The death toll in a suicide blast that hit a police check post in the Pakistan city here late last night has risen to nine, a police officer said.
Syria regime enters key rebel-held Ghouta town: monitor
Syrian regime forces broke into a key town in the beleaguered rebel enclave of Eastern Ghouta today amid heavy bombardment, a monitor said. "Regime forces assaulted Hammuriyeh and were able to control parts of it", in the south of the enclave, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Russia-backed regime forces on February 18 launched an assault on Eastern Ghouta to retake the last opposition bastion outside Damascus. The offensive has split the enclave into three sections, each controlled by different rebels. The area around Hammuriyeh is controlled by the Faylaq al-Rahman faction. It has come under intense bombardment in recent days, an AFP correspondent there said. Today, the correspondent saw a man in the doorway of a building holding the bodies of his two dead children. A doctor in the area said rescue teams could not get to victims because of the intensity of the bombardment. "The wounded are on the roads. We can't move them. The war planes ...
There have been changes in Pak's behaviour: Mattis
There have been changes in Pakistan's behaviour with respect to fight against terrorism, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said. Mattis said that there are operations by the Pakistan military that are helping the US' ongoing efforts against terrorism and have been for some time. "There have been changes in Pakistan's behaviour (since the South Asia strategy was announced)," Mattis told reporters travelling with him to Afghanistan, according to the transcripts released by the US Department of Defense. "There are other issues; the fatwa (against suicide bombings) that came out, that came out of Pakistan, for example. That was a step in the right direction," he said. In January, the Pakistan government issued a fatwa signed by more than 1800 Islamic scholars from different schools of thought against the use of violence, including suicide bombings, for religious purposes. Mattis said that despite the apparent changes in Pakistan, he'd still like to talk to people dealing with the border
Terrorist killed in Anantnag encounter hailed from Telangana
The Telangana Police has confirmed that one of the terrorists killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag encounter was a native of Hyderabad, who was "radicalized into the Islamic State ideology through social media".The press note by the Telangana police said the terrorist, who has been identified as Mohommad Toufeeq died in an encounter and was radicalized into the Islamic State ideology through social media and went to Kashmir to participate in terrorist activities of ISIS."It is learned that Mohommad Toufeeq died in an encounter with security forces on the night of March 11 and 12 in Hakoora of Anantnag district along with two other Kashmiri militants. He was radicalized into the Islamic State ideology through social media and went to Kashmir to participate in terrorist activities of ISIS," the statement reads.The statement further said, "He was not wanted in any of the criminal cases in Telangana state. Further details are being verified and will be updated to the media ...