Page 764 - War Conflict
Naxal arrested in Chhattisgarh
Security forces arrested a naxalite from Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday.During the search operations, the security forces nabbed the naxal from the forest area of Bijapur's Basaguda.Detonator, wires and other equipment have been recovered from him.Maoists have been a regular nuisance in Bijapur.On Monday, three security personnel were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast by Maoists in Bijapur.In another recent incident, 10 vehicles engaged in road construction work were allegedly set ablaze by Naxals in the state.
US airstrikes kills 25 IS terrorists in Afghanistan
At least 25 terrorists belonging to the Islamic States (IS) group have been killed in the airstrikes carried out by the United States in Afghanistan's northern Jawzjan province bordering Turkmenistan.Anadolu Agency quoted a spokesman for the provincial government Mohammad Reza as saying that IS hideouts in Darzaab district of the province were targeted."Twenty-five [Daesh] militants were killed. They included Uzbek, Chechen and Arab militants," he said, adding there were no civilian casualties.U.S. forces used Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, a subsonic bomber aircraft to conduct the airstrikes.Since last week, the U.S. forces in Afghanistan have conducted air operations to target Taliban training facilities in Badakhshan province according to a report by NATO-led Resolute Support Mission.In January, 15 terrorists hailing from Tajikistan were killed and 11 others injured in a series of airstrikes carried out in northeastern Badakhshan province.
Def Minister appoints panel to expedite capital acquisition
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13-member advisory committee to monitor and expedite capital acquisition projects for the modernisation of the armed forces. The defence ministry said in a statement that under the terms of reference of the committee, it has to undertake an independent review and check the status of ongoing critical projects worth more than Rs 500 crore. The committee would suggest measures to improve the capital acquisition process. The ministry said the Raksha Mantri's Advisory Committee on Ministry of Defence (MoD) Capital Projects (RMCOMP) had been appointed to expedite capital acquisitions to bolster the preparedness of the armed forces. The committee will be headed by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, former secretary in the government. It will have a tenure till the end of August 2018, it said. The mandate of the panel includes identifying specific bottlenecks in implementing projects and suggesting remedial measures. The implementation of ..
Cabinet approves India-US pact on law enforcement training
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) between India and the USA on law enforcement training to boost security-related matters under the aegis of the India-US Homeland Security Dialogue.
LeT owns up terror attack in Kashmir
TheLashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)today claimed responsibility for yesterday's attack on at the SMHS hospital here in which two policemen were killed and a Pakistani terrorist escaped from police custody. LeT chief Mahmood Shah owned up the attack in an emailed statement today. Two police personnel were killed in an attack on a police party outside a hospital here yesterday. A Pakistani terrorist, Naveed alias Abu Hanzala, managed to escape from the hospital where he was brought for treatment.
Three soldiers, three porters injured in blast near LoC
Three soldiers and three porters were injured on Wednesday in an explosion near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district while a mine went off accidentally, defence sources said.
UN urges fair trial for anti-Kabila army rebel
The UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monusco) today urged a fair trial for an army officer who deserted and is accused of rebellion. "We are calling for the holding of a fair trial for Mr (John) Tshibangu," Monusco spokeswoman Florence Marchal told a press conference in Kinshasa. She added UN human rights officials were following Tshibangu's case closely, but that in the absence of access to all the details on his extradition last Monday from Tanzania they could not determine if all procedures had been followed correctly. RDC Defence Minister Crispin Atama Thabe said last Friday that former army colonel Tshibangu faced rebellion charges and accusations he took up arms against his country. Justice Minister Alexis Thabwe Mwamba said Wednesday the 48-year-old had been extradited and would face "a trial in good and due form... in a few weeks or months". Tshibangu deserted to rebel against President Joseph Kabila in 2012. In a video posted on social media on ...
10 Taliban militants join peace process in Afghanistan
At least 10 militants of Afghanistan's Taliban insurgent group have surrendered and joined the peace process in eastern Nangarhar province.Tolo News quoted Nangarhar National Directorate of Security (NDS) on Wednesday as saying, "the group was involved in destructive and terrorist activities in Khogyani district.""The group handed over five AK-47 weapons, two pistols, an RPG and an amount of ammunition," the statement added.In January, 15 militants affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) and Taliban groups joined peace process in the province.According to the reports, 166 militants including 44 IS insurgents have by far joined peace process in Nangarhar due to the efforts of the intelligence operatives, the provincial governor's spokesman added.
Gold ornaments worth Rs 35 lakh looted from trader
Four robbers looted gold ornaments valued at more than Rs 35 lakh from a trader after attacking him here this morning, police said. The incident, which was captured on CCTV, took place at around 6.30 am in Gujari area near Ambabai Temple, they said. The trader, Kantilal Jasawantraj Mehta, arrived here at around 5.30 am from Mumbai by a private bus to deliver the ornaments as per an order, they said. He came to Gujari by an auto-rickshaw and was going to a temple when four persons attacked him with a sword and sticks. They snatched the bag containing the ornaments valued at more than Rs 35 lakh and escaped in a car, police said. Mehta lodged a complaint with the Juna Rajawada Police Station. Inspector Anil Gujar is heading the probe.
NIA to investigate three blasts at high security areas: CM
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh today said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been approached to probe the three recent blasts in the high security areas of the capital town of Imphal. Singh told the assembly during the day that he has approached the NIA and also contacted the union home ministry to intiate probe into the blasts. Strongly condemning the blasts, he said they occured near the M Sector here, the Imphal pologround on Monday last and at a transit camp of the Assam Rifles yesterday evening. A powerful IED was detonated at M Sector, which adjoins the Rajbhavan on January 14 injuring a woman. The office of the Press Information Bureau (Defence Wing) is located there. The other two blasts followed grenade attacks on the Assam Rifles installations here on Monday and Tuesday. While two personnel of AR were hurt in the first incident that took place near the Imphal Pologround on Monday, five personnel were injured in the grenade attack on a AR ...
Centre moves SC for withdrawal of security forces from Darjeeling
The Central government on Wednesday sought the Supreme Court's nod for withdrawing the remaining four companies of security forces from West Bengal's trouble-torn Darjeeling and Kalimpong for their deployment in poll-bound states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
OPCW probing 'all credible' reports of Syria chemical attacks
International watchdog OPCW said ague, today it is probing "all credible allegations" of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, amid growing reports of their alleged deployment by the Damascus regime. A fact-finding mission from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has been mandated "to establish the facts surrounding allegations of the use of toxic chemicals.... is investigating all credible allegations," the body said in statement, voicing "grave concern" over the new reports.
ITBP jawan injured in pressure bomb blast in Chhattisgarh
A jawan of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) was today injured when a pressure bomb planted by Naxals went off in Chhattisgarh's Narayanpur district, police said. The incident occurred this morning when a road opening party of the security force was out on an operationon the Dhanora-Orchha road, located around 300 kms away from here, a senior police official told PTI. As the security personnel were cordoning off the forest near Dhanora, head constable Yelappa Koppad inadvertently stepped on the pressure improvised explosive device (IED), triggering the blast, he said. "Koppad, belonging to the ITBP's 45th battalion, sustained minor injuries in the explosion. He was shifted to a hospital in Naryanpur where his condition was said to be stable," the official said. A combing operation was launched in the area to nab the ultras, he added.
UN says hundreds of child soldiers freed in S.Sudan
More than 300 child soldiers have been released in South Sudan's war-torn region of Yambio under a programme to help reintegrate them into society, the UN said today. Of the 311 children freed by armed groups, 87 are girls, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said. "This is the first time so many young women have been involved in a release like this in South Sudan," said David Shearer, the UN's secretary general's special representative and head of UNMISS. "They will have endured suffering, including sexual abuse. It is vital that they receive the support they need to rejoin their communities and that they are welcomed home by family and friends without any sense of stigma," he said in a statement. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, the result of a 2005 agreement that brought the curtain down on Africa's longest-running civil war. But little more than two years later, conflict erupted again when President Salva Kiir accused his former ...
4,799 stone pelting incidents in J-K in 2015-17; 19 killed
Altogether 4,799 stone pelting incidents were reported in Jammu and Kashmir in last three years in which 17 protesters and two security personnel were killed, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said there were 730 stone pelting incidents in 2015, 2,808 such incidents in 2016 and 1,261 stone pelting incidents in 2017. During the last three years, 17 protesters and two security personnel were killed in these incidents, he said replying to a written question. Ahir said the central government had constituted an expert committee on July 26, 2016 to explore possible alternatives to pellet guns as non-lethal weapons. The recommendations of the committee were taken into account by the government for appropriate implementation and accordingly, various measures such as using PAVA-Chilli (shells and grenades), STUN-LAC (shells and grenades) and tear smoke shells were used to disperse the unlawful violent protesters before the use of ...
Five children die in post-vote arson attack in Guinea
Five young children were killed in an arson attack during clashes in central Guinea following weekend local elections, a government minister minister said. Huts and houses were set on fire, and "five Guinean infants died in the flames", the minister Boureima Conde said on television on Tuesday, without specifying their age or identity.
Canada sells 16 helicopters to Philippines after drug war row
The Philippines has bought 16 new Bell helicopters from Canada for about USD 235 million to strengthen its fight against Islamic militants and other domestic insurgencies, defence officials said today. The two governments announced the deal less than three months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau clashed with host President Rodrigo Duterte over Philippine drug war killings, on the sidelines of a Manila summit. The Philippine defence department signed the 12- billion-peso (US$234.8 million) Bell 412EPI deal with the state-run Canadian Commercial Corp, with deliveries set to start in nine months, ministry spokesman Arsenio Andolong told AFP. "These are multi-purpose aircraft for anti-terrorism as well as HADR," he said, using military lingo that refers to disaster response and humanitarian missions. Philippine troops and police, beset by Islamist and communist insurgencies, fought a five-month battle last year against Islamic State group supporters in the ...
2 soldiers killed, 3 injured in attack by militants in Pak
Two Pakistan Army soldiers were killed and three others injured when militants targetted a military vehicle in northwestern tribal region in a late night attack, officials said today. The attack occurred in Idak village of North Waziristan, which is one of seven tribal districts along the volatile Afghan border. Earlier today, an IED explosion left several people wounded in Charmang area of Bajaur tribal district. Officials said that the explosion was targetted a local elder who was supportive of military actions against militants. The elder, identified as Malik Marooq, and other injured were shifted to the hospital, they said, adding that nobody immediately took responsibility of the attacks. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan often carries out such attacks against the security forces and the local who support the security forces against militants.
China's dominance at Hambantota Port worry many
As Sri Lanka celebrated 70 years of independence on February 4 from the UK, its people fear that the country faces a new form of colonialism, which is China.In an op-ed written by Jonathan Hillman, titled- "The hazards of China's global ambitions," for the Washington Post, China took over the Hambantota Port in December last year. The port was never meant to be operated by China. However, a Chinese state enterprise financed it, creating a debt that Sri Lanka could not reply.According to government sources, around 95 percent of the Sri Lankan government's revenue goes toward debt payments. If Sri Lanka cannot clear its payments, it will have to enter negotiations again with its creditors, which also include China.Both Sri Lanka and China are developing a financial centre on a reclaimed land. Also, China agreed to provide USD one billion to construct three 60-storey towers last month. It also controls one of the container terminals in the Colombo port after expanding and modernising it .
Situation in Kashmir at 'its worst', Congress attacks PDP-BJP government
The Congress on Wednesday said the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "at its worst" as it blamed the escape of a Pakistani LeT terrorist from a hospital in Srinagar as a "failure" of the BJP-PDP government.