Page 728 - War Conflict
Fighting outside Yemeni capital kills 55, wounds dozens
Yemeni medical officials say fighting outside the capital between Shiite rebels and forces loyal to an internationally recognised government has killed more than 55 people on both sides. The officials said today that the clashes took place in Nihm district, about 30 miles northeast of the rebel-held capital, Sanaa. Dozens were also wounded over the past 24 hours, they added. They also said fighting killed at least 25 people on both sides along Yemen's west coast, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief reporters. The rebels, known as Houthis, seized Sanaa in September 2014 after they drove out the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. A Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi has been fighting to defeat the Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015.
6 killed in bombings in Syria's Eastern Ghouta
At least six civilians, including a girl, were killed on Saturday in bombings by unidentified aircraft on areas in Eastern Ghouta, the besieged rebel-held enclave on the outskirts of Damascus.
Bahrain arrests 116 'terrorists' with links to Iran
Security authorities in Bahrain arrested 116 suspected terrorist with Iranian links in an operation to combat terrorism and external interference in the country's internal affairs, according to a government statement on Saturday.
African Union condemns Burkina Faso attack
At least eight people were killed and 80 others were injured when a vehicle laden with explosives struck the French Embassy and the army headquarters in the Burkina Faso capital.The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has expressed the AU's solidarity with the people and the government of Burkina Faso in these difficult circumstances, according to a statement from the pan-African bloc, Xinhua reported."The African Union will continue its advocacy efforts to sensitize the international community on the imperative of an international engagement that is commensurate with the threat confronting the countries of the region, said the chairperson", the statement added."The attacks are a further illustration of the seriousness of the scourge of terrorism in the Sahel (an arid region in central Africa), as well as of the urgency of a more sustained international action in support of the efforts of the countries of the region", it said.Meanwhile, the United Nations Security ..
2008 serial blasts accused brought to Ahmedabad from Delhi
The Crime Branch of city police today brought 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts accused Abdul Subhan Qureshi here from Delhi, over a month after the Delhi police's special cell arrested him, a top official said. He was produced in the special court set up for conducting the trial of the blasts case, which remanded him in police custody till March 23. Serial blasts killed 56 people and injured 240 others in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008. "Qureshi is one of the key conspirators of the 2008 blasts. He had been in touch with the absconding accused, such as founder leader of the banned outfit Indian Mujahideen Riyaz Bhatkal, and had worked with some of the arrested accused," Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) J K Bhatt said here. So far, police have arrested 81 persons in the blasts case, while thirteen are absconding. "Qureshi stayed in Vatva locality in Ahmedabad where he trained and mentored other accused...and was in touch with IM mastermind Bhatkal. We have learnt he also ...
Eight dead, 12 seriously wounded in Ouagadougou attack
Eight soldiers died and 12 were seriously wounded in twin attacks on the Burkina Faso military HQ and the French embassy in Ouagadougou, a French security source said today. Eight attackers were also killed in Friday's bloody assault. A previous toll from French security sources had reported at least 28 deaths.
Senior leader, 7 women among Naxals killed in Chhattisgarh
A senior Maoist leader carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head was among the 10 Naxals killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, a top Telangana Police official said today. The Greyhounds, an anti-Naxal force, had yesterday swooped on the camp of Maoists near Pujari Kanker in Bijapur district, as part of a joint operation with the Chhattisgarh Police. Ten Maoists, including seven women, were killed in the early morning operation in which a personnel of the elite force also lost his life. Dadaboina SwamyaliasPrabhakar, adivisional committee rank member of the banned CPI (Maoist), figures among the rebels killed in the encounter yesterday, he said. "He (Prabhakar) was a divisional committee member and a native of Warangal district (in Telangana). He carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh on his head," the official said. Earlier, Superintendent of Police of Telangana's Bhadradri Kothagudem district Ambar Kishor Jha said bodies of two Naxals and the junior commando of ...
Regime forces advance in Syria's battered Ghouta: monitor
Syrian regime forces have advanced inside Eastern Ghouta, a monitor said today, as fighting intensifies on the ground to retake the battered rebel enclave east of Damascus. Russia-backed government forces on February 18 launched an assault of the besieged region, pounding the area with air strikes, killing more than 630 civilians. On February 25, clashes on the ground between the armed opposition and regime forces intensified on the edges of the enclave, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said. Since Thursday, regime forces have advanced inside the region, retaking an area in the enclave's southeast, as well as another and two military bases in the south from main opposition group Jaish al-Islam. "Regime forces and their allies have intensified their attacks on rebel positions in the past 48 hours," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Government fighters are trying to advance inside Eastern Ghouta to cut off the main town of Douma and its surroundings ..
Police, protesters clash in Kiev; 50 detained
Ukrainian police and demonstrators at a tent camp have clashed outside the parliament building in the capital, Kiev. Police say 50 people were detained. The Interfax news agency quoted a top police official, Andrey Kryshchenko, saying six protesters sought medical help after the today morning clash and four officers were injured The tent camp was set up in October by supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili, the former Georgian president who became a prominent opposition figure in Ukraine. Saakashvili was deported from Ukraine on February 12. The protesters are demanding the establishment of a national an anti-corruption court. Kryshchenko says the clash occurred when police arrived for an investigation related to a conflict Tuesday in which 15 police were hurt. Ukrainian media reports say police on Saturday ordered the camp dismantled.
Tension as boundary wall of UP religious structure found razed
Tension prevailed in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh on Saturday when a boundary wall of a religious structure was found razed.
Majority of N Koreans against nuclear programme: US survey
A majority of North Koreans are against their country's nuclear weapon programme, saying that it is not a source of national pride and prosperity, according to a survey done by the US-based think tank.The survey, which was conducted through individual conversations with 50 North Korean citizens last year, found that 43 of the respondents were highly negative on the nuclear development in North Korea, according to Beyond Parallel, a project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.Around seventy percent of the responders felt that the nuclear programme did not give the citizens a sense of national pride, while 72 percent thought it did not make North Korea a prosperous country, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing the research.The respondents consist of 30 men and 20 women and also included ruling party officials, security officials, farmers and homemakers.They ranged in the age from 24 to 64 and their educational background varied from middle school ...
Two Australian nationals injured in Kabul blast
Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop on Saturday confirmed that two of its nationals were injured in the suicide blast in Qabel Bai area of Afghanistan capital Kabul on Friday.Tolo News quoted Bishop as saying in a statement that a car bomb was detonated near a convoy of Australian Embassy vehicles while they were travelling in Kabul."All Australian Embassy staff are safe," she said in the statement. However, two Australian security contractors were injured in the attack," she added.Yesterday, Afghan Ministry of Interior's (MoI) spokesman Najib Danish said at least one person was killed and 14 others injured in the explosion.Bishop further said, "The Australian government extends its sympathies to families and friends of people killed and injured in this attack."Due to the high-intensity blast, some houses also got damaged.No insurgent group has claimed the responsibility for the attack, so far.
Dozens dead in attacks on Burkina military HQ, French embassy
Dozens of people were killed in twin attacks on the French embassy in Burkina Faso and the country's military headquarters, an assault that coincided with a meeting of regional anti-jihadist forces. The apparently coordinated attacks yesterday underlined the struggle the fragile West African nation faces in containing a bloody and growing jihadist insurgency. The government said the attack on the military was a suicide car bombing and that a planned meeting of the G5 Sahel regional anti-terrorism force may have been the target. Officials from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger were at the meeting, representing the G5 Sahel nations who have launched a joint military force to combat jihadists on the southern rim of the Sahara. Eight members of the armed forces were killed by the blast and the parallel attack on the French embassy, while 80 were wounded, said Security Minister Clement Sawadogo. The minister said eight attackers had been shot dead. "The vehicle was packed with
Afghan forces kill 28 insurgents: MoD
At least 28 insurgents have been killed during the military operations carried out by the security forces in the past 24 hours, said the Afghan Ministry of Defence (MoD).Tolo News quoted the Afghan ministry as saying in a statement on Saturday that the operations were conducted by the Afghan forces in Nangarhar, Laghman, Ghazni, Paktika, Logar, Kandahar, Farah, Takhar, Faryab, Nimroz and Helmand provinces.At least 13 other insurgents were injured in the operations, the statement further said. Adding that, also a number of vehicles and weapons belonging to insurgents were destroyed.The airstrikes carried out by the Afghan forces targetted the insurgent hideouts.No insurgent group has commented on the incident, so far.Earlier on Friday, at least one person was killed and 14 others injured in a car bomb explosion in the capital city, Kabul.
Mali insecurity continues, migrating to country's center: UN
Insecurity in Mali "continues to rage" and is progressing toward the center of the country, according to an interim UN report. Members of Plateforme, an armed pro-government coalition, and the CMA rebel alliance, who were signatories to a 2015 peace deal, are seeing "progressive decline of their influence in areas traditionally under their indirect or direct control," said the report which was to the Security Council and seen by AFP yesterday. "Such loss of territorial control, adding to the increasing fragmentation of armed groups along ethnic lines and the subsequent multiplication of non-signatory armed groups, represent currently the main threat to the implementation of the agreement," it said, referencing the peace deal brokered in Algeria in 2015. The report's authors added that drug, human and arms trafficking remain rife in Mali, and despite the 2015 deal, "the humanitarian situation in the north and center of the country remains volatile, unstable and a marked deterioration ..
Nabha Jail break mastermind Romi denied bail for robbery, terrorism links
A court in Hong Kong has refused to grant bail to an Indian-born Hong Kong resident as he is already wanted by Interpol for his alleged links to terrorism, political killings and a prison break, and now, has also been charged with taking part in a multimillion-dollar robbery committed in the city.According to a South China Morning Post (SCMP) report, Ramanjit Singh alias Romi, 29, was taken to the Kowloon City Court for the first time yesterday since his status as a wanted person was revealed by the media.About 20 heavily armed officers, uniformed and in plain clothes, armed with MP5 submachine guns, accompanied Singh to the court.Heightened security measures were put in place on the seventh floor outside Court Five, where Singh appeared.A checkpoint was set up for anyone entering the vicinity, including some of the 50 police officers, security guards and staff, with handheld metal detectors out in force.Some were asked to take off their jackets during the check, while a police dog ...
Counting of votes begins in Tripura
Counting of votes in 59 of the 60-seat Tripura assembly commenced on Saturday amid heavy security, a poll official said.
Suicide car bombing caused blast at Burkina army HQ: minister
A suicide car bombing caused the deadly blast at Burkina Faso's military headquarters, the government said today, adding that a regional anti-terrorism meeting may have been the target. Eight members of the armed forces were killed by the blast yesterday and a parallel attack on the French embassy, while 80 were injured, said Security Minister Clement Sawadogo. "The vehicle was packed with explosives" and caused "huge damage", Sawadogo said, adding that it was a "suicide" attack. Earlier sources had put the overall toll from the two attacks at around 30 dead and at least 85 injured. The minister said eight attackers had been shot dead. "At the army headquarters a G5 Sahel meeting was supposed to take place" said Sawadogo. Had the venue of that meeting -- including officials from Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- not been moved to another room "this would have been an extremely serious situation," he added. "Perhaps it was the target. We do not know at the moment. In ...
Putin: If he could, he'd try to prevent 1991 USSR collapse
If he could go back in time, Vladimir Putin's mission would be to prevent the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. That's what he told a forum in the city of Kaliningrad today. Taking questions from audience members, he was asked what occurrence in Russia he would have most liked to have prevented. He replied "the disintegration of the Soviet Union," according to Russian news reports. In 2005, Putin attracted wide attention when he said in a state-of-the-nation speech that the Soviet collapse was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." Putin's comment today came a day after he announced that Russia had developed allegedly invincible new nuclear weapons, raising concerns of a new arms race like that of Soviet times.
China offers aid to Afghan IDPs in Kabul
Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Liu Jingsong on Friday met with representatives of an internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Kabul, discussing ways to provide assistance to displaced families, particularly children.