Detail Of Terrorism Update

According to media reports, on December 29, six cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) were killed and five others arrested in an encounter between Central Reserve Police Force personnel and the Maoists at Khutouna Sareh village under Patahi police station in the East Champaran district. District police chief Sunil Kumar Jha said one rifle, one SLR and a large cache of live cartridges were recovered from the incident site.

According to Hindu, three left-wing extremists (also known as Naxalites) belonging to the CPI-ML Prathigatana group were killed in an exchange of fire with the police on the outskirts of Vilasagar village of Jammikunta administrative division in the Karimnagar district on December 29. The slain extremists were identified as Chityala 'area committee commander' Balyam Gattaiah alias Janardhan, 'deputy commander' Velpula Tirupathi and 'dalam member' Sampath Rao. Police sources said that the Naxalites had entered Jammikunta for extortion, when the encounter occurred. A .38 country-made revolver, two 12 bore tapanchas (locally-made revolvers), Rs 10,000 in cash, a cellular phone, a pocket diary and a vehicle was recovered from the incident site.

In a separate incident, cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) shot dead a Telugu Desam Party activist, Batta Prasad, at Ramanakkapet village in the Mangapet area of Warangal district on December 29.

A paramilitary solider was shot dead by suspected terrorists on December 28-night in the Mirali town of North Waziristan, a local administration official told AFP.

Separately, authorities found the body of a local tribesman with his throat cut on December 29 in Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan. A note left nearby said that the man was killed for being an American spy, the official said.

Meanwhile, authorities raided a house in Baroman village near Miranshah and arrested two ‘spies’ accused of taking money from ‘enemies of Pakistan’ and paying the local tribesmen to plant bombs in North Waziristan, he said.

In South Waziristan, an explosion near a checkpoint in Azam Warsak failed to hit its target, according to Daily Times.

An unidentified terrorist was killed in an encounter with the Army at Chandigam in the Lolab area of Kupwara district on December 29, according to Daily Excelsior.

An auto rickshaw driver, Mehraj-ud-din, suffered injuries in a grenade attack at Nowshera in the capital Srinagar.

According to Shillong Times, on December 29, four children were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) at Ngariyan community hall on the Old Cachar road which connects the Bishnupur and Tamenglong districts.

Separately, Sangai Express reports that, on December 29, another civilian was injured in an IED blast triggered by the KYKL at Bekra circle in the Bishnupur district

Meanwhile, the ‘commanding officer’ of the Kuki Revolutionary Army (KRA), Maj Max, has announced the merger of three Kuki militant outfits, KRA, United Kuki Liberation Front (UKLF) and Kuki National Front - Samuel (KNF- S), under the banner of the Kuki National Council (KNC) against the Kuki National Army (KNA) on December 29 at Sadar Hills district, Sangai Express reports.

Two explosions occurred in the Nushki town of Balochistan province on December 29 while explosions were also reported from the Sibi and Hub areas, according to Daily Times. Deputy Superintendent of Police Ghafoor Kurd informed that unidentified people threw a grenade at a barbershop injuring three people. Police also said a bomb exploded near a grid station, damaging its wall. No casualties were reported. Unidentified men fired a rocket that hit the Agriculture Model Farm in Sibi. Police added that another bomb exploded on the roof of a sweet shop.

Himalayan Times quoting a Royal Nepalese Army press release reports that an 11-year-old girl was injured when Maoists detonated a bomb in the Rukumkot area of Rukum district on December 26.

Separately, the Maoist 'district president' of Solukhumbu district, Jagat Bahadur Basnet alias Bikram, surrendered to the district administration on December 27.

Further, two Maoists, Ramsharan Timilsina of Hanumanagar area in Parsa district and Chandra Bahadur Mukpai Magar of Kalika area in Dailekh district, surrendered to the district administration in their respective places on December 26.

Meanwhile, security force personnel claimed to have freed 993 people, whom the Maoists had forced to work for the construction of a road at Dyangkhola in Rolpa district on December 29.

On December 29, security forces (SFs) reportedly recovered three claymore mines laid by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to target SF personnel, from the Paraynakulam and Sunny village areas of Mannar district.

A day earlier, LTTE cadres lobbed a hand grenade towards SFs in the Kuppilan area of Jaffna district, injuring two SF personnel. In a similar incident, another soldier was injured in a grenade attack by the LTTE in the Eluthumadduwal area of the same district.

Further, a Police constable was shot at and injured by ‘pistol gang’ cadres of the LTTE in the Batticaloa district

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has urged the Sri Lankan Government and LTTE to resume high-level talks immediately, while warning that the country could go back to war.

The SLMM chief, Hagrup Haukland, stated, "The December 27 attack on the security forces on Jaffna Peninsula was yet another attack, not only on the security forces, but also on the Cease Fire Agreement and the peace process as a whole… If this trend of violence is allowed to continue, war may not be far

Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel recovered four powerful explosive power jells, six detonators and six hand bombs from Nayagram frontier area in Companyganj sub-district of Sylhet on December 29, according to Independent. No arrest has been made in this connection.

Independent reports that security force personnel arrested six suspected Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) cadres from different parts of the country on December 29. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel arrested a suspected JMB cadre, Abdullah Bhuiyan, of North Uttar Khan from Dhaka’s Uttara locality. Two suspected JMB cadres, identified as Farid Mollah and Maulana Mostaq Ahmed, were arrested from Baniachang sub-district of Habiganj district. Two more JMB cadres, Abdus Salam and Sheikh Rafiqul Islam, were arrested during separate drives from Dashani and the premises of the Islamic Foundation at Mithapukur area of Bagerhat. Kamal Uddin, teacher of Katarai madrassa (seminary) was arrested from Sadar sub-district in the Moulvibazaar district for his suspected links with the JMB.

Separately, Ataur Rahman Sunny, military wing chief and one of the Majlish-e-Sura members of the JMB, was taken on 116 days’ remand in 17 cases in connection with August 17 bombings in the different parts of Dhaka, according to Independent. Abdul Awal, another member of Majlish-e-Sura of JMB and Mufti Abdul Hannan, chief of the Harkatul Jihad, were also taken on a five-day remand each in a case in connection with August 17 bombings near National Press Club under Ramna police station in the Dhaka district.

According to Independent, on December 29, six suspected Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) were arrested from a remote bordering area of Taras sub-district in the Sirajganj district during search operations following the December 28 attack on an paramilitary camp in Natore district. Body of one of the PBCP cadres involved in the attack was later recovered from the East Bhengri area of Chalan Beel in the Sirajganj district. "It is suspected that his colleagues later shot him dead so he could tell no tales about the gang," said one police officer.

The Government will not review its decision about extradition of foreigners studying in different seminaries of the country, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said in Islamabad on December 29. Sherpao told The News that the Government had set no deadline for extradition of foreign students but they would have to leave the country in any case. "The decision was taken after a lot of consideration and we have no plan to review it," he said.

The minister, however, said that no visa of any foreign student was cancelled, as the Government wanted them to leave the country voluntarily. About the number of foreign students at seminaries, he disclosed that 633 out of 988 foreign students who were studying in seminaries had left Pakistan. "We have also asked the provinces to send their reports in this connection," he added. He clarified that December 31 deadline was set for registration of religious schools with the Government.

Meanwhile, a majority of religious schools have vowed to resist the Government's decision of expelling foreign students. "We do not accept government's policy against foreign students and demand it to review its decision," said Mohammad Hanif Jallandari, head of Ittehad-e-Tanzeematul Madaris, the apex body of seminaries. Jallandari said that a grand convention of all the religious schools has been convened in Islamabad on January 1 to chalk out future plan of action against the Government's policy.

According to The News, a court in Quetta, capital of Balochistan province, has sentenced a Taliban ‘commander’ to life imprisonment in absentia for trying to kill a member of parliament. An anti-terrorism court handed down the sentence on December 28 to Mullah Dadullah and two Pakistani supporters who were present in court. Three Afghans, who like Dadullah are at large, received the same sentence, while a third Pakistani was acquitted. Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani of the Jamiat Ulema Islam escaped unhurt when a landmine was detonated by a remote control near his car in Balochistan on November 18, 2004.