Detail Of Terrorism Update

At least 20 cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), including some women cadres, were killed during the ongoing combing operation by security forces (SFs) in the border area of Nayagarh-Ganjam-Kandhamal districts on February 17, reports The Hindu. SFs, however, lost three of their personnel in the combing operation launched on a massive scale in different sensitive pockets in Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal and Rayagada districts. The combing operations were started on February 16 after hundreds of Maoists raided the police establishments in Nayagarh district, killing 15 persons, including 13 policemen, and decamping with huge quantities of arms and ammunition on February 15-night.

"We have information about killing of 20 Maoists and three jawans of Special Operation Group (SOG) during the combing operation," Home Secretary T. K. Mishra said. Without disclosing the exact location where the Maoists were killed by security forces, he said "reports are received from different places including the Gansar Hills". Mishra said sophisticated equipment like night (vision) binoculars, global positioning system (GPS) and other gadgets were being used to monitor movement of the extremists inside the dense forests. Two choppers were being used for movement of personnel in order to coordinate the operation, Mishra added.

Meanwhile, a Central team, including Special Secretary in the Union Home Ministry, M K Kumawat, also chief of the task force against Maoists, visited Nayagarh town to assess the situation there. "All possible assistance will be provided for tackling the Maoist problem," Kumawat told reporters at Nayagarh after inspecting the looted armouries.

The death toll in the suicide bombing in Parachinar, capital of Kurram Agency in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), on February 16 has increased to 47, Daily Times reported. As reported earlier, a suicide bomber on February 16 rammed his explosives-laden car into the election office of an independent candidate in Parachinar city.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) on February 17 announced that it had postponed the February 18 polls in NA-37 Parachinar. EC Secretary Kanwar Dilshad told Geo Television that the general elections had been delayed after the provincial government requested the centre to do so in view of the volatile security situation that had gripped the area after the suicide blast.

Four security force personnel were killed and another sustained injuries when a landmine exploded in the Pir Koh gas field area of Dera Bugti district on February 17, according to Dawn. Sources said that a landmine planted by militants in Haideri Nallah near Pir Koh gas field blew up a vehicle carrying Frontier Corps personnel.

On the same day, train service between provincial capital Quetta and rest of the country was suspended after railway tracks were blown up at two places, near Killi Zehri and Degree College in Sariab area.

Further, four electric pylons were blown up in the Kohlu and Jaffarabad districts causing suspension in power supply.

Another half a dozen explosions were reported from different areas damaging polling stations.

Unidentified militants shot dead two youths and dumped their bodies near Debarai village under Haflong police station in the North Cachar Hills district on February 17, according to Assam Tribune. The youths were identified as Utpal Chakraborty and Ronji Hojai.

Meanwhile, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) has called for a 12-hour Assam bandh (general strike) on February 19 to protest against the arrest of the People’s Consultative Group member Lachit Bordoloi. In an e-mail sent to the media in Guwahati, ULFA chairman Arabindo Rajkhowa said the bandh has been called to protest against the arrest of Bordoloi and several other human rights activists. The outfit said the strike call has also been given to protest against the “fake encounters by the security forces in which several innocent civilians have been killed.”

Border Security Force (BSF) personnel killed two infiltrators on the international border at Makwal sector along Niki Tawi area in the Jammu district on February 17-morning, according to Daily Excelsior. Official sources, however, said identity of the infiltrators couldn’t be established as they were not carrying identity card or any other papers with them.

Elsewhere in the State, BSF solders recovered two under barrel grenade launcher grenades, a radio set with battery and charger, 86 rounds of AK ammunition, seven AK magazines, 54 rounds of tracers, 20 rounds of Pika ammunition and 11 pistol rounds near the Line of Control in Kupwara district.

A man, Gul Mohammad Bugti, was killed and four others were wounded when their jeep hit a landmine in the Bhittai Colony police station’s jurisdiction near Tangwani in Sukkur on February 17, according to Dawn.

One unidentified person was abducted and subsequently shot dead by suspected People’s Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (PREPAK) militants at Laphupat Tera Laimang in the Thoubal district on February 16-evening, reports Imphal Free Press. 

Separately, three cadres belonging to the Military Council faction of the Kuki National Front (KNF) were arrested by the security force (SF) personnel following an encounter at a militant hideout in  Wangthrok village under Moirang police station in the Bishnupur district on February 17- afternoon. Two of them were identified as Lalkhosat alias Sasat and Henkholien Haokip. One lethod gun with four bombs, three SBBL/SBML guns, one bag each of rice and potatoes, 12 blankets, two lanterns, two anklets, photographs and documents relating to outfit and five carry bags were recovered from the incident site. Meanwhile, Telegraph quoting K. Jayanta, Superintendent of Police in Bishnupur district, reports that around 20 militants were taking shelter in temporary hideouts in the area.

A police officer was killed and eight other people, including an MQM candidate and two police personnel, were injured in different attacks on February 17-night, Dawn reported. According to police sources, the MQM candidate for NA-259, Abdul Ghani Kasi, was sitting in his election office when unidentified people riding a motorbike hurled a hand-grenade which exploded in the office. “The candidate and three MQM workers received serious injuries,” said Deputy Inspector General of Police Rehmatullah Niazi.

Meanwhile, four persons, including two police officers, were injured in Killi Qambrani, in the outskirts of provincial capital Quetta, when some people attacked the polling station with a hand-grenade. Some people lobbed a hand-grenade on the roof of a government school in Killi Ismail housing a polling station. Another blast was reported from the Sariab area while two other polling stations and the office of a union council were bombed in Mashkey. A bomb exploded near the Turbat Model High School and explosions were also reported from the Sado-Jhakrani area of Jaffarabad, Khuzdar, Mach, Kalat, Tump, Awaran and Killi Jamaldini of Noshki in government buildings housing polling stations. However, no casualty was reported in these blasts.

A militant was killed when security forces engaged some militants who were planting explosives at a polling station set up in a primary school in the vicinity of the Kanju police station in the Swat district of the NWFP on February 17, according to Dawn.

In another incident in the Matta area of Swat, Deputy Superintendent of Police Haroon Babar escaped unhurt when his car was attacked with a series of remote controlled devices near Bara Bandai in the Kabal sub-division where he had gone to inspect polling stations. No casualty was reported.

Meanwhile, security forces (SFs) arrested seven hardcore militants, including two commanders, during a search operation in the Swat district. The militants were reportedly hiding in a house when the security forces launched the operation in the Kabal sub-division and arrested them after a brief exchange of fire. The two commanders were identified as Fazle Rehman and Akbar Hussain. Residents said that the SFs also dynamited the house of Fazle Rehman and the shops and a clinical laboratory of Akbar Hussain in the area.

Statesman reports that a group of three Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres shot dead one of their colleagues, identified as Mangal Mahato, in the West Midnapore district on February 15-night. The killing was reportedly the result of the slain cadre “betraying” the organisation.

Separately, Maoists opened fire at a police patrol party in the Belpaharai area of the same district on February 17, according to The Hindu. However, no causality was reported in the incident. 

According to Daily Times, the Karachi Police arrested six members of the Hizbut Tehrir while they were pasting posters near Shahra-e-Qaideen on February 17. Geo News stated that the police arrested Ghulam Ali, Rizwan Ali, Abdul Samad, Talha, Shirafat Ali and Muhammad Sajid, and recovered a large number of posters from their possession. According to the police, the posters read: “Change cannot come with the present democracy and the enforcement of Caliphate is essential for bringing about a change.”

Daily Star reports that the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel on February 16 arrested three people and seized 21 explosives from their possession at Bapdanga village in the Chapainawabganj district. RAB sources said that the arrested persons were trying to sell the explosives. The area along the international border with India has been used for trading arms and bombs for long, they added.

The Speedy Trial Tribunal on February 16 sentenced three militants of the Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) to death on charges of killing eight people, including two leaders of the cultural group Udichi, by carrying out suicide bomb attacks at the Udichi and Shata Dal Shilpi Goshthi offices in Netrakona in December 2005, reports Daily Star. The convicts were identified as Salahuddin alias Saleheen, Asaduzzaman Chowdhury alias Panir and Yunus Ali. Yunus Ali was tried in absentia as he is yet to be arrested. The court acquitted Fahima alias Farzana as her involvement with the killings was not proved. According to the prosecution, on December 6, 2005, the convicts made plans for the suicide bomb attacks during a meeting held secretly at Acua in the Mymensingh town. A person identified as Arid alias Kafi assembled the explosives that were used during the attack.

According to Times of India, a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) leader, identified as Satendra Kushwaha, was arrested in the Sonebhadra district on February 17. He is one of the prime accused in an attack on a police station in the Rohtas district of Bihar recently and figured prominently in the wanted list of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh police. The report further said that the arrest followed Intelligence inputs regarding left-wing extremists using Uttar Pradesh’s cities and Bundelkhand forests as save havens after executing attacks on police stations in Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Orissa and Jharkhand.

Authorities and tribal elders in North Waziristan have reached an agreement to revive a peace deal which had brought the government under severe criticism for capitulating to the militants, according to Dawn. A grand jirga (council) of 286 tribal elders from the Dawar and Wazir sub-tribes of Utmanzai gathered at the agency headquarters in Miranshah on February 17-morning to discuss the future line of action following the expiry of a unilateral cease-fire by militants. The truce, first announced on December 17, 2007, was extended five times. It was due to expire on February 17.

Witnesses said that the grand jirga reached an agreement to revive the September 5, 2006, peace deal with the government. The controversial agreement had drawn criticism, particularly from Washington which believed that it had allowed al Qaeda to regroup in the militant tribal region. Critics of the agreement said the government had capitulated to the militants by granting them major concessions without getting anything in return, particularly on key demands relating to the expulsion of foreign militants, an end to cross-border infiltration into Afghanistan and a pledge not to form a parallel government. The government had withdrawn security forces from checkpoints, released militants and paid damages.

A senior investigator said on February 17 that the suspects arrested in Benazir Bhutto’s assassination were part of a team instructed to kill her and Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud was mastermind of the plot, Dawn reported. CID Assistant Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Abdul Majeed said at a press conference in Rawalpindi that Baitullah Mehsud had financed the assassins and given them instructions to assassinate Benazir Bhutto. Majeed said that five important suspects had been arrested by Pakistani Joint Investigation team in connection with the assassination as two of them, Aitizaz Shah and Sher Zaman, had made important disclosures about her assassination. Majeed also said that the team instructed to kill Benazir Bhutto had been motivated after she announced to come to Pakistan and pledged to take action against Taliban terrorists, in case she came into power.

Reacting to the frequent claims by the Sri Lankan government that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has been injured in a military raid, the outfit’s political head B. Nadesan told the Tamil daily Thinakkural in an interview on February 16, "A false propaganda saying our leader Prabhakaran is injured is being carried. Nobody can approach our leader. People of Sri Lanka will realise the futility of such a claim in times to come.” He accused the government of trying to sideline the Norwegian mediators besides contradicting the United Nations. "The government is not in favour of peace process," he claimed.