Dost Mohammad Obaida, the head of security at the Taliban Badakhshan Security Command, stated on May 9 that four individuals were arrested in connection with an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeting a Taliban military convoy in Faiz Abad District of Badakhshan Province on May 8, reports Tolo News. He further said, “We have apprehended four suspects linked to this event and they are under investigation. Details will be clarified later."
On May 9, Taliban’s media oversight commission announced that it has banned cooperation with the Afghanistan International news network, accusing it of broadcasting against the regime, reports Amu TV. Analysts, experts, and journalists were warned against associating with the network to avoid sanctions.
The security personnel gunned down a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre during a combing operation in Nabarangpur District of Odisha on May 9, reports The Times of India. The identity of the deceased Maoist is yet to be confirmed, said the Police. Based on intelligence inputs about the presence of a group of Maoists in the Hathigaon Reserve Forest under Raighar Police limits, a counter-insurgency operation was launched by two separate teams of the Special Operations Group (SOG) on May 8. The operation continued into Thursday [May 9] when security personnel encountered heavy gunfire from Maoists positioned advantageously. “There were around 15 to 20 Maoists, and it was a transit camp of the rebels. Our personnel took cover and urged the Maoists to surrender, but their calls went unheeded. In response, our forces engaged in controlled firing," stated Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP), South-Western Range, Charan Singh Meena. He added, “Search operations in the region have been intensified.”
On May 9, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) found planted at the residence of one person identified as Sapam Romi, at Singjamei Mayengbam Leikai in Imphal West District was defused seconds before explosion in a timely intervention by the locals, reports Imphal Free Press. Police also seized about three-metre-long wire along with the IED.
On May 9, the Border Security Force (BSF) recovered one drone (DJI Mavic 3 classic) in damaged condition along with one packet of suspected heroin (gross weight 480 grams) from a farming field near Bharopal village in Amritsar district of Punjab, reports The Tribune. The narcotics were wrapped in yellow adhesive tape, and a metal ring was also found attached to the packet.
In another instance, on May 9, Border Security Force (BSF) troops successfully recovered one drone (DJI Mavic 3) in a harvested field in Roranwala Khurd village in Amritsar District of Punjab, reports The Tribune.
On May 9, the police busted an inter-state weapon-smuggling racket and arrested two men, identified as Harpreet Singh alias Happy Mattu of Rayya and Rahul Masih, and recovered six pistols, including five 32-bore pistols and one.30-bore pistol, along with seven magazines in Chawinda Devi village in Amritsar District of Punjab, reports The Times of India.
Six Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres, who were allegedly involved in the killing of 65 security personnel, surrendered in Sukma District in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh on May 9, reports The Times of India. The Maoists carried combined bounties of INR 3.6 million. Sukma Superintendent of Police (SP) Kiran Chavan said that there was a married couple among the surrendered Maoists, Dudhi Pojja (27) and Dudhi Pojje (24), from People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) battalion 1, and they carried bounties of INR 800,000 each. Pojja had joined the banned outfit in 2015 as a member of the Maoists' children’s wing, ‘Bal Sangham’. He was a member of the headquarters' team from June 2016 to 2020 and was then inducted as a People’s Party Committee Member (PPCM) of the PLGA in 2021. His wife, Pojje, joined the outfit in 2021 as a headquarters party member. Others, who surrendered before Sukma Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), carried rewards of INR 500,000 each and were identified as Kawasi Mudha (30), Karam Naranna (65), Rainu Madkam (35), and Jayakka alias Aayte Korsa (51), a woman. They were all involved in the 2017 Burkapal ambush that claimed the lives of 25 security personnel, the 2020 Minpa attack that killed 17 personnel, and the 2021 Tekulguda attack that killed 23 security men.
A Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadre, identified as Muchaki Joga (30), carrying a reward of INR 200,000 on his head, surrendered before the Security Forces (SFs) in Sukma District of Chhattisgarh on May 6, reports devdiscourse.com. Joga, a member of platoon number 21 under the Mad division of the CPI-Maoist, turned himself in before personnel of the Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), citing disappointment with the ''hollow'' and ''inhuman'' Maoist ideology. He will be provided facilities as per the state government's surrender and rehabilitation policy, Sukma Superintendent of Police (SP) Kiran Chavan said.
On May 9, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) attached the immovable properties of four associates, identified as Mohammad Alam Bhat, Mohammad Yousuf Khawaja, Shabir Ahmed Gakhad, and Zakir Hussain Mir of the banned terror outfit Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) in the Kupwara District of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), reports the Daily Excelsior. NIA investigations revealed that the four men were involved in the illegal supply of weapons, arms, ammunition, and narcotics. “They were actively engaged in spreading and strengthening militancy in Kashmir.”
A Frontier Corps (FC) personnel was killed in a targeted sniper attack in Sararogha area of South Waziristan District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 9, reports The Khorasan Diary.
The bomb disposal squad (BDS) recovered five kilograms of bomb placed on the front gate of a Basic Health Unit in Momand Khel area of Bannu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on May 9, reports The Khorasan Diary. A letter with the explosives threatens polio workers and doctors associated with the polio eradication initiative (PEI).
The Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan said on May 8 that recent remarks by the spokesperson of the Pakistani Army, claiming that the soil of Afghanistan is being used by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) against Islamabad, are far from reality, reports The Balochistan Post. Enayatullah Khwarazmi, the spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense, also said that occasionally the soil of Pakistan is used against Afghanistan, and ISIS elements enter Afghanistan from there. According to the spokesperson, the area where Chinese citizens were targeted in an explosion is under intense security coverage by Pakistan’s Army. Khwarazmi added “We have cases where ISIS extremists have entered Afghanistan from Pakistan and are using Pakistani soil against our land. Pakistan must answer for this.”