Detail Of Terrorism Update

Amid reports that militants had destroyed a house owned by the ruling Awami National Party (ANP) chief Asfandyar Wali Khan in the Madyan Chaktari area, 18 more people, including 12 militants and three Security Force (SF) personnel, were killed in different parts of the Swat District on January 16, The News reported. A press release of the Military’s-run Swat Media Cell (SMC) claimed that 12 militants were killed and many others injured in a clash in the Chamtalai area of Khwazakhela sub-division. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Swat chapter leader Shah Dauran also claimed killing several SF personnel in the clash. “Several troops were killed and five vehicles were destroyed in the attack,” he claimed on his illegal FM radio. The SFs subsequently clamped a curfew in Khwazakhela and started shelling suspected hideouts of the militants. 

Similarly, two people were killed when unidentified gunmen started indiscriminate firing in the Qambar area of Mingora sub-division. The deceased were identified as Arsalan Khan, a retired Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police, and Shareef Khan, reportedly a relative of Shah Dauran, the TTP commander in Swat. 

In another incident, unidentified gunmen dragged Ameer Zeb, a Police constable, out of his house in Charbagh and shot him dead.  

Further, in the Alamganj area of Khwazakhela, a man identified as Dost Muhammad was killed when a mortar shell allegedly fired by the SFs hit his house. 

Meanwhile, the militants destroyed a house owned by the ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan in Madyan Chaktari area. The militants reportedly planted explosives in the house, completely destroying it. However, no loss of life was reported as the house had been abandoned by the family of Asfandyar Wali

The 57^th Division troops in the morning of January 16 took full control of the entire perimeter of the Iranamadu tank bund covering about three kilometres in the Kilinochchi District, according to Sri Lanka Army (SLA).  

In addition, the troops in the afternoon of January 16 captured the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) sixth airstrip located at the eastern edge of Iranamadu tank in Mullaitivu jungles. The one kilometre long airstrip, lying parallel to the LTTE’s fifth airstrip within a radius of about 3.8 kilometres northwest, has been reportedly used by the outfit for their clandestine aerial surveillance and night operations, most probably the ones directed towards Anuradhapura and Colombo. The runway spreads 200 metre in width at the southern end and about 250 metre at the northern end.  

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) neutralised a LTTE camp, about one kilometre to the east of Dharmapuram.  

Meanwhile, the pro-LTTE Website Tamil Net claimed that the advance by the SLA from Tharmapuram on three fronts was repulsed by the LTTE cadres killing 51 SLA soldiers and wounding 150 others in the confrontation which started in the morning of January 15. The website also claimed that the SLA artillery attack in the Kaiveali, Koampaavil and Vishvamadu areas killed five civilians, including a 14-year-old girl, and injured six others, including an eight-year-old boy. 

Further, heavy fighting erupted between the troops and militants in the Vishvamadu, Kulaweddidal and Mulliyaweli areas in which an unspecified number of militants were killed. The Security Forces later recovered dead bodies of seven militants along with six T-56 weapons from the Vishvamadu and Kulaweddidal areas.  

Separately, 744 entrapped civilians in the Mullaitivu District and other areas reported to the troops in the Chundikulam, Kokueliya, Ramanadhapuram, Omanthai, Puliyanpokkarai, Kulaweddidal and Kevil areas of the Jaffna, Vavuniya and Kilinochchi Districts.

On January 16, seven hardcore militants of the Muslim United Liberation Tigers of Assam (MULTA) were arrested from the Chapar and Gouripur areas of Dhubri District. They were identified as Abdul Rahman, Abdul Mazid Sheikh, Nazrul Islam, Akhrul Zaman Talukdar, Halim Ali, Kamizuddin and Mokiul Islam Miah. A locally-made pistol, two hand grenades, seven rounds of AK-47 rifle ammunition were recovered from their possession, Police sources said.  

Separately, Assam Police neutralised a hideout of the Manipur-based People’s United Liberation Front (PULF) militants in Guwahati and arrested two persons, including a woman, for their links with the outfit. The arrested woman, identified as Noorsena, is suspected to be the wife of the ‘finance secretary’ of the PULF. The other arrested person was identified as Zakir Hussain. A 9 mm pistol was also recovered from their possession.

More than 150 armed cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) set ablaze a bus after looting the passengers on board at Manikanta village in Dantewada District on January 16, The Hindu reported. “The Naxals (left-wing extremists) asked the passengers to disembark the bus and looted valuables from them,” said Rahul Sharma, the District Superintendent of Police.  Before leaving, the Maoists broke the fuel tank of the vehicle and set it on fire. The Maoists also left a note saying the incident was in retaliation to the Police action against them in Singavaram on January 8, he added.

A minor explosion occurred in a bare land at Alwis Town in Wattala, a Colombo suburb, in the evening of January 16, Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. According to Colombo Page, no loss of life or damage to property was reported. The Police later recovered another unexploded bomb and a suicide kit from the incident site.  

Meanwhile, ruling out a general amnesty for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said on January 16 that the outfit’s chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his chief lieutenants would be tried for crimes they had committed, both in Sri Lanka and abroad. Even if they surrendered to the army, the Government would go ahead with legal proceedings, he told The Island. Rajapakse said that although ordinary LTTE cadres would be rehabilitated to facilitate their return to civilian life, the top LTTE leadership shouldn’t expect clemency. He also said Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman couldn’t be handed over to India as they had to first face charges in Sri Lanka.

On January 16, the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crimes Act (MCOCA) court remanded 21 Indian Mujahideen (IM) cadres to judicial custody till January 30 in Mumbai, reports The Hindu. Only six suspects were produced in the court as the rest are in Gujarat for questioning. The suspects are allegedly involved in bomb blasts across the country — in Delhi, Bangalore, Surat and Ahmedabad.

Three Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, along with eight under-trial prisoners, escaped from the Jammui District civil court premises while they were being brought to the court for regular production on January 16, The Hindu reported. A group of 50 Maoists waiting at the court premises attacked the Police party by spraying chilli powder. They also exploded bombs as the Policemen tried to stop them. Three Police personnel sustained injuries. In the ensuing chaos, three Maoists, identified as Sunil Baitha, Paresh Hembram and Vivek Yadav, escaped from Police custody.

Owais Ahmad Ghani, the Governor of North West Frontier Province (NWFP), is reported to have told a delegation of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in Peshawar on January 16 that there are approximately 15,000 militants in the tribal belt, who have no dearth of ration, ammunition and equipment. The Governor said that a militant was normally given PKR 6,000 to PKR 8,000 per month while their leaders got PKR 20,000 to 30,000 per month.

According to IANS, the Orissa Government has tightened security in Paradip port, one of the major ports along its Bay of Bengal coast, in view of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, officials said on January 14. Authorities have reportedly installed at least 20 Close Circuit Television Cameras in the Paradip port area in Jagatsinghpur District, about 100 kilometres from the State capital Bhubaneswar, at a cost of INR 40 million. 

Meanwhile, the Indian Coast Guard has also beefed up security measures along the 480 kilometre coastline of the State by regular patrolling as well as deployment of additional ships and aircraft for better surveillance, State Home Secretary A.P. Padhi said, adding one coast guard ship remains deployed at all times off the coast of Orissa and West Bengal to monitor maritime activity. The State Government has also decided to ask the owners of all fishing boats to install Global Positioning System (GPS) sets in their vessels. An estimated 9200 fishing trawlers and boats are operating along the State coast can be brought under surveillance with the devices, he stated. The central Government has also sanctioned money to set up at least five marine Police stations in the State and out of them three are expected to be functional in the next two months, Padhi added.

Nepal News reports that the Nepali Congress (NC) on January 16 forwarded the names of Ram Sharan Mahat and Minendra Rijal as its representatives to Army Integration Special Committee (AISC). With this, the committee has been constituted. Other members of the committee include Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal as chairman and Defense Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa representing the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist), Home Minister Bam Dev Gautam and Bhim Rawal representing the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist and Agriculture Minister Jay Prakash Gupta and Mohammad Habibulla representing the Madhesh Janadhikar Forum (MJF).