250 militants belonging to Taliban and Islamic State (IS) militants have been killed during the ongoing clashes in Darzab district of Jawzjan province, reports Pajhawk. The clashes broke out after IS militants beheaded a Taliban ‘commander’ Mullah Borjan in Bibi Maryam village on July 17, said Mohammad Reza Ghafori, the Jawzjan governor’s spokesman.
Fifteen police personnel and 25 Taliban gunmen have been killed separately in Kandahar province on July 16-17, reports Pajhawk.
Daud Ahmadi, the Governor’s spokesman, told that Taliban militants attacked border Police check-points in Ongah locality of Arghistan district last night, with the ensuing clash stretching into Tuesday morning. The clash left 25 Taliban attackers and six Police personals dead and another 15 insurgents and 10 police wounded, Ahmadi said.
Separately, nine Policemen were killed and five others wounded during clashes with Taliban militants in Lakari, Sarkari, Weali and Wangi localities of the Spin Boldak district on July 16, reports Pajhawk.
At least 26 Islamic State (IS) militants killed during latest attacks carried out by Afghan Special Forces in vicinity of eastern Nangarhar province, reports Bhaktar News on July 17. The terrorists have been targeted and killed in various parts of Acheen, Koot, Chaparhar and Pacheragam districts of the province.
As many as 18 militants were killed and several villages were cleared from being of anti-government militias in Faryab province, reports Bhaktar News on July 18.
15 Taliban militants were killed in a series of air and ground raids in Gereshk and suburb of Lashkargah city in Helmand province on July 18, reports Bhaktar News.
14 Taliban militants were killed by security troops in multiple incidents at a suburb of Trenkot city bazaar in Urozgan province, reports Bhaktar News. The insurgents were shelling while terrorist activities.
Badakhshan Provincial Council members on July 17 said that heavy clashes have been ongoing between security forces and Taliban in Zebak district for the last three days, reports Tolo News. Local officials said if more soldiers are not deployed to Zebak, the district could fall to the Taliban. According to council members, Taliban from Warduj and Yamgan districts launched coordinated attacks on Zebak and Arghanj Khwa districts three days ago.
The National Security Defense Forces in the last 24 hours conducting 13 joint clearing operations in various parts of the country killed 147 armed oppositions, wounded 33 and detained another suspect, reports Bhaktar News on July 18. According to National Defense Ministry, the operations with support of air and artillery forces conducted in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kapisa, Ghazni, Khost, Kandahar, Urozgan, Zabul, Herat, Farah, Faryab, Kunduz and Helmand provinces.
Afghan officials on July 18 rejected reports about the possibility of direct peace talks between the United States and the Taliban, and maintained any negotiations would be an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led process, reports Tolo News. “The peace negotiations will only be held under the leadership and ownership of the Afghan government, but the United States of America can have a facilitator role in this regard,” said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’s deputy spokesman Omid Maisam.
Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit of Police on July 17 arrested a ‘Majlis-e-Shura (Central Governing Body)’ member of Ansar al-Islam in front of the east gate of Chittagong Medical College Hospital in Chittagong District of Chittagong Division, reports The Daily Star. The arrestee Sheikh Abdullah alias Abu Omayer alias Zubair alias Jayed alias Jabed (27) was involved in the killing of blogger writer Avijit Roy.
At least eight cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), including three women cadres, have been killed after an encounter ensued between the Maoists and the Security Forces (SFs) near Timinar and Pusnar villages in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh on July 19 (today), reports India.com. The gun battle between the Maoists and the SFs took place while a joint team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) was out on an anti-Maoist operation. Both the SFs were searching along the border of the above-mentioned Districts when the encounter took place, said Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police (anti-Naxal operations), Sundarraj P. Two INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifles, two .303 rifles, one 12 bore gun and a few muzzle loading guns were found by the team of SFs.
On July 17, United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) Over Ground Worker (OGW) was arrested from Sepon in Dibrugarh District, reports Nagaland Post. The arrested OGW was identified as Deben Hazarika. One 9mm pistol and a magazine was recovered from the arrestee.
Morung Expressreports that two warring factions of Zeliangrong United Front (ZUF) came together as one entity after a “historic reconciliation” on July 17. According to a press release by ZUF ‘The historic reconciliation programme heeding to the call of the Zeliangrong people was held in the presence of Zeliangrong Social Organizations’ leaders, Elders, religious leaders and general public in which the leaders of the ZUF took the oath of reconciliation in the name of the Almighty God’. The statement also said that reconciled ZUF will be now led by Raitu Chawang as ‘chairman, S. Kamson as ‘vice chairman’ and Jenchui Kamei as ‘general secretary’. The July 17 reconciliation was the outcome of “Ceasefire Agreement” executed by two responsible functionaries each from both the factions on April 7, 2018.
On July 18, leader of Achik National Volunteer Council-Breakaway faction (ANVC-B) Bernard Marak claimed that Garo Hills belongs to Garos and not to sub-tribes, reports The Shillong Times. He also stated that Hajong, Koches, Rabhas, Boro Kacharis and Manns were given equal status by the Garos in Garo Hills and they enjoyed all privileges in the region but demanding a separate Council and reservation of 10 seats is a ‘betrayal’ of the Garos. He further added that the natives have not deprived other tribes of their privileges. However, the leader said that accusing the Garos of being partisan was a serious matter.
As per the inputs from Intelligence agencies, two Khalistani terrorists—Lakhwinder Singh and Parminder Singh, are likely to execute an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack on the Parliament House in New Delhi around India’s Independence Day in August, reports Times Now on July 19. Considering the input, Delhi’s security has been elevated under ‘multi-layered’ security parameters. The terrorists shall arrive in Delhi in an explosives-laden Toyota-make Innova car with Uttar Pradesh vehicle registration number. The names given by the informer—Iqbal matches with the terrorists ran away in Nabha jail break incident in Punjab in November 2016, said an unnamed official.
Computer Systems of Mahatma Gandhi Mission Hospital— a private hospital in Navi Mumbai of Thane and Raigad Districts came under attack of a Ransomware—a malware on July 15, in which attackers sought a ransom in Bitcoins, reports The Tribune. Hospital staff members found their computer systems virtually locked with an encrypted message by unidentified attackers demanding the ransom amount in Bitcoins to unlock the computer systems, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Crime Branch Tushar Doshi. The data of last 15 days saved on computer systems has been locked. The Cyber Cell of Navi Mumbai Police is investigating the case. The ransomware has affected the computerised billing and medical prescription systems, said DCP Doshi. A case under Section 43 of the Information Technology (IT) Act has been registered with the Vashi Police Station in Navi Mumbai.
100 militants, 43 Security Force (SF) personnel and 16 civilians were killed in 256 incidents of violence in Jammu and Kashmir during the first six months of this year (2018), Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said in Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Indian Parliament) on July 18, reports Daily Excelsior. In 2017, 342 incidents of violence were reported in the State, in which 213 terrorists were gunned down. A total of 80 SF personnel and 40 civilians were killed last year, Ahir said. As many as 82 SF personnel, 15 civilians and 150 terrorists were killed in the State in 2016, which witnessed 322 cases of terrorist violence, he said.
The National Investigating Agency (NIA) has succeeded in identifying at least 1000 telephone numbers of Pakistan and Gulf countries, which were being used by terrorists and Over Ground Workers (OGWs) to lure Kashmiri youth into militancy and stone pelting, reports Daily Excelsior on July 19. Official sources said that after nearly six month long investigations, the NIA has cracked the case of cyber terrorism in the Kashmir valley, being operated mostly from Pakistan and partly from Gulf nations and now the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) was likely to submit a detailed dossier to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for taking up the issue with Pakistan through appropriate diplomatic channels to initiate action against the militants and their OGWs, who stood identified.
“A detailed dossier is being prepared as the NIA has succeeded in identifying 1000 individuals with past history of being terrorists or their supporters and the OGWs, who had been running the network of cyber terrorism in the Kashmir valley through 79 WhatsApp Groups in which a total of 6386 persons were involved,’’ sources said, adding that 5386 persons belonged to the Valley and rest 1000 to Pakistan and Gulf nations. Asserting that the NIA has gathered sufficient evidence against those involved in fanning “jihad through mobile telephones using internet’’, sources said the NIA would give a detailed report to the UMHA. The UMHA could take up the issue with the MEA for cornering Pakistan by furnishing them details of the persons, who were running the cyber jihad in the Valley from Pakistani soil.
The main opposition party Nepali Congress (NC) on July 18 decided to continue to halt Parliament proceedings until the Government addressed the demands of fasting Dr Govinda KC, reports The Himalayan Times. A meeting of top NC leaders held at NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s residence decided to oppose the National Medical Education Bill if the Government tabled it in the Parliament as it is, according to NC Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma. NC leaders demanded that the Government amend the National Medical Education Bill to bring it in line with the ordinance issued by the previous government, incorporating the Mathema commission report findings.
Levies personnel found four mutilated bodies of unidentified persons in the Prom area of Panjgur District of Balochistan, close to the Pak-Iran border, on July 18, reports Dawn. Levies officials said a shepherd had informed them about the bodies lying in the mountainous area. The corpses were shifted to Panjgur district hospital. “The bodies were lying in one grave and are very old, beyond recognition,” a senior Levies officer said.
A worker Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), Rehmat Ali, got injured in the night of July 18 in a firing incident at the PTI office near Daud Chowrangi in Quaidabad area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, reports Daily Times. The authorities claimed that the shooter, Anwar Ali, belonged to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and succeeded to escape. A submachine gun and two magazines were recovered from the site of the incident, Police informed.
Customs authorities seized a cache of arms from a truck at Torkham border crossing on Pak-Afghan border in Khyber District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on July 16, reports Dawn. Officials said that a truck carrying fresh vegetables and steel scrap had arrived at the border point from Afghanistan and was parked at the customs terminal for customs clearance. The customs staff during examination spotted some arms packed in gunny bags concealed in hidden cavities of the vehicle. Officials said that upon opening of the bags, they found 305 repeater guns which they immediately seized. Driver of the vehicle managed to escape while his assistant was taken into custody and the vehicle was also impounded.
Three banned outfits — the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Ansarul Sharia Pakistan (ASP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) — have developed a nexus to target political leadership in Karachi to “sabotage forthcoming elections and trigger destabilisation in the country”, said Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Junaid Ahmed Sheikh on July 18, reports Dawn. “The ASP, TTP and LeJ have developed a sort of alliance to redouble their capability and capacity for terrorism as they sustained heavy losses during the ongoing targeted operation against them in the city,” said SSP Junaid Ahmed Sheikh. He said this emerged during initial interrogation of four held suspects Mohammed Jawad, Abu Bakar, Mohammad Ibrahim and Mohammed Fahad.
Islamabad high court on July 18 ordered the Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) not meddle in the affairs of other departments, reports Times of India. Islamabad high court made this explicit declaration worried over the perception of a state within a state, something security analysts in India, the US and elsewhere have been well aware of as being the norm in a country has seen military coups three times. In fact, Islamabad HC's Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui went so far as to say that these military and intelligence elements conspired to manipulate Government and the judiciary. "Everyone knows how (court) proceedings are manipulated, from where strings are pulled, and when power (is) wielded and manoeuvred to achieve the desired results," he said.