Terrorism Watch

Kochi: It has been more than 2 days since two Indian fishermen were killed allegedly by the crew members of Italian ship Enrica Lexie but no arrests have been made yet. The Prime Minister will now be consulted as the issue has taken a diplomatic turn and the Ministry of External Affair's advice will be sought as well. Sources in the Ministry said that the police has been asked to prepare for detention of the Italian ship crew. Police Chief has been asked to take the help of the Coastguard, added sources. Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy taking a strong stand on the incident said, "The killing of fishermen is a cruel incident. We will not let it pass till justice is done. We will not allow the culprits to escape from legal proceedings." The IG of internal security in Kerala told CNN-IBN that exact location of where the firing took place is still unclear despite the MHA maintaining that the incident did take place in Indian waters. S Anand Krishnan said,

QUETTA:  Two security personnel were killed and nine others were wounded when their vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb in Dera Bugti on Saturday. According to sources, unidentified people had planted an explosive device in the Sangsela area of the tribal territory, and detonated it using a remote control when a vehicle of paramilitary troops passed by. Two personnel, identified as Lutfullah and Mohammad Riaz, received serious injuries and died on the spot while nine others sustained injuries. The vehicle was destroyed in the explosion. The deceased and injured were taken to a nearby state-run hospital. A heavy contingent of security forces rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area. The security forces also launched a manhunt in the area. Banned outfit Baloch Republican Army (BRA) claimed the responsibility for the blast. BRA spokesperson Sarbaz Baloch called the reporters from an undisclosed location and claimed that his organisation carried out

BARA - At least two security personnel were martyred and four others injured in a remote controlled bomb blast by the militants here on Saturday. According to official sources, during search operation by the security forces in Tirrah Valley of Khyber Agency, unknown miscreants blew up remote controlled explosive device planted by roadside. As a result of blast two troops were killed on the spot while four others sustained serious wounds. The injured soldiers were rushed to agency’s headquarter hospital for treatment where according to hospital sources their condition was serious. The security forces cordoned off the area after the blast and launched search operation but no arrest has been made. Source: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/02/two-soldiers-killed-four-injured-in-khyber-agency-bomb-blast/

Bangkok: Taxi drivers are the best indicators of the public mood in Bangkok. These days, they tell you that Iranians have spoiled the peace of the city. “No terrorism in Bangkok, but for the Iranians,” said one. The city was still in the new year hangover when explosives went off in a house in busy downtown Sukhumwit on 14 February. The driver is unhappy and angry. He, however, is quick to add that there won’t be bilateral tension between Thailand and Iran because of the trade ties – Thailand exporting mostly rice while importing a good part of its oil from Iran. Thai immigration officers escort detained Iranian Mohammad Kharzei, centre, at the immigration headquarters in Bangkok on 16 February 2012. Sakchai Lalit/AP Iranians also account for a sizable chunk of the Arab tourists that the country receives. Arab men are everywhere in Sukhumwit – on the streets, in shopping malls, upmarket hospitals and brothels. Of late, one can see a lot of African sex workers in

India’s neglect of holistic strategic planning, intelligence, energy security, seapower and national security have again exposed our vulnerabilities, as shown by the following recent events: * On February 7, a coup in the Maldives ousted at gunpoint the country’s first elected President, Mohamed Nasheed, after just three years in power. * A study by the American Georgetown University recently said that China possibly possessed 3,000 nuclear weapons. * Seychelles has offered to provide refuelling facilities to Chinese warships. * After the NATO-inspired and aided violent regime change in oil-rich Libya, it appears now it’s the turn of oil and gas-rich Iran and its close ally, Syria. * The apparent thaw in Indo-Pak relations, coming as it does against the backdrop of Pakistan’s problems with the United States and Afghanistan. All these events have a bearing — direct or indirect — on India’s national security. First Maldives. The coup represents, in part, the failu

Piggybacking on the anti-Iranian sentiments, an anti-India campaign seems to be gaining ground in the United States. This comes amidst escalation in tension between Iran and Israel and the United States slapping additional sanctions on the Iranian regime. The anti-India lobby, which was lying low for the past several years in the aftermath of the historic Indo-US civil nuclear deal, is using the opportunity to portray New Delhi as a 'villain' which is providing an escape route to the Iranian regime from international sanctions. This week alone, the Indian Ambassador to the US, Nirupama Rao, has received two letters - one from two key lawmakers and other from the powerful Israeli lobby in Washington - against India's relationship with Iran. Friends of India at the Capitol Hill and the Obama administration believe that this might gain momentum in the coming days as the anti-India lobby wants to capitalise on the popular anti-Iran sentiments here and vilify

Kashmiri youths are increasingly leaning towards non-violence and also moving away from Pakistan. So says a survey by a New Delhi-based research body. The survey by the Institute for Research on India and International Studies (IRIIS) also holds the "historical baggage" of Jammu and Kashmir and the "presence of security forces" for the disconnect between the Kashmiri youth and the Indian state. But there is a significant departure from the past when the youths from Kashmir were interested in Pakistan. Conducted in 2011 on behalf of the Indian home ministry, the survey says the young in Kashmir spend more time listening to music and watching Hindi movies and also watching cricket. The survey blames three successive governments of the National Conference, Congress-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Congress-National Conference for showing little interest in reopening the cinema halls that got shut in the Kashmir Valley due to separatist violence in

BEIJING: The Chinese government has detained several hundred Tibetans who returned from India after attending teaching sessions overseen by the Dalai Lama, and is forcing them to undergo political re-education, a human rights group said. New York-based Human Rights Watch said it believed it was the first time since the late 1970s authorities had detained Tibetan laypeople in such large numbers, and comes as China frets about unrest in Tibetan parts of the country. China allowed about 7,000 Tibetans to attend the sessions with exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Bihar in India between Dec. 31 and Jan. 10, in what the rights group said seemed to be a sign of a relaxation of policy towards Tibetans. "However, that changed against a backdrop of unrest in the eastern Tibetan areas and apparent fears it might spread to Lhasa," it said in an emailed statement received on Friday, referring to Tibet's capital. At least 15 Tibetans are believed to have

To a question on whether the United States had raised with Pakistan its view on the Difa-e-Pakistan Council rally in Karachi last week, the State Department said it was “concerned about the recent public appearances of Jamaat-ud-Dawa leader Hafiz Saeed,” at the rally. Pointing out that the Lashkar-e-Taiba and its front group Jamaat-ud-Dawa were internationally sanctioned because of their associations with al-Qaeda, a State Department spokesperson said, “We have and continue to urge the Government of Pakistan to uphold its obligations in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267/1989. That resolution calls for all countries to freeze assets of sanctioned groups, prevent the transfer of arms to them, and prevent sanctioned individuals from entering or transiting their territories.” In comments to The Hindu Lisa Curtis, Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a think tank based in Washington, said, “It is reprehensible and irresponsible on the pa

[AFP/Farouk Batiche] Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz says that no Libya arms have seeped into Mauritania. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) is determined to exploit Mali's security fragility to stage deadly attacks against Sahel states, Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz told Le Monde in an interview dated February 10th. The north of Mali has been locked in intense fighting between Malian troops and Touareg rebels for over a month. The conflict is a "great concern" and "the outbreak of war creates problems for the entire region", Ould Abdel Aziz told the French newspaper. There are two movements pitted against the Malian government, the president specified, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and Iyad Ag Ghali, who "has forged alliances with terrorist groups". "The north of Mali is an area left behind and almost free for terrorism. That's where they sta

Hostages Held By Pirates On Vessels: 233 (in addition to an unknown number from fishing vessel hijacked this week) On Land: 26 Total: 259 Incidents Hijacks: 1 Unsuccessful Attacks: 7 Over the course of the last week, there was one successful and seven unsuccessful pirate attacks on vessels in the region. Pirates targeted a bulk carrier, crude oil tanker, an offshore supply ship, a chemical products oil tanker, a container ship, a fishing vessel and an Indian dhow. Somalia Report has also received information that an oil tanker, MV Leila, was hijacked yesterday afternoon, however we are yet to receive official confirmation. It is believed that the Harardhere-based Fathi pirate group might be behind the possible hijacking. (Update: As of 1200 GMT today, Somalia Report received news that the vessel was heading towards the Yemeni coast, possibly to be used as a mothership. As of yet, there have been no communications from the allegedly hijacked

Islamabad: Seventeen pro-Taliban militants, a soldier and three members of a pro-government militia were killed in a clash today in Pakistan's restive northwestern Khyber tribal region, officials said. The clash erupted when troops and the anti-Taliban 'lashkar' or militia launched a joint operation in Spindand area of Khyber Agency, which borders Afghanistan. At least 17 militants were killed in the clash in the fighting along with a soldier and three members of the lashkar, officials told the media. Two security personnel and four members of the lashkar were injured, they said. The joint operation by the troops and the militia was directed against the Lashkar-e-Islam, a banned pro-Taliban group. Pakistani troops have conducted several offensives in Khyber Agency but have been unable to control the activities of groups like the Lashkar-e-Islam. Source: http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/WOR-SAS-17-pro-taliban-militants-among-21-killed-in-pak-operation-2876

Tal Yehoshua Koren, the diplomat's wife who was hurt in in a terror attack in New Delhi on Monday, told local police that she saw a black-clad motorcyclist nearing her car and felt the car being pushed before the bomb went off, The Times of India reported. The police told the newspaper they would review security camera footage from the region again in search for an assailant who matched Yehoshua Koren's description. (Ynet) Source: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4191228,00.html

Summary: The Anonymous hacktivist movement is planning to launch a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) on the Internet’s root DNS servers, using a Reflective DNS Amplification DDoS tool. According to a note left by members of the Anonymous hacktivist movement on Pastebin.com , the group is planning to launch a distributed denial of service attack (DDoS) on the Internet’s root DNS servers, using a Reflective DNS Amplification DDoS tool specifically created for ‘Operation Global Blackout’. More details: We have compiled a Reflective DNS Amplification DDoS tool to be used for this attack. It is based on AntiSec’s DHN, contains a few bug fix, a different dns list/target support and is a bit stripped down for speed. The principle is simple; a flaw that uses forged UDP packets is to be used to trigger a rush of DNS queries all redirected and reflected to those 13 IPs. The flaw is as follow; since the UDP protocol allows it,we can c

Mario Aguilar -  Just a week after hacking the CIA , Anonymous continued its onslaught of attacks on US government websites early this morning by hacking several websites belonging to the American Federal Trade Comission. The Associated Press reports: “The loosely organized collection of cyber rebels said it attacked the FTC’s consumer protection business center and the National Consumer Protection Week websites. Both sites were replaced with a violent German-language video satirizing the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA.” As of right now, both NCPW.gov and business.ftc.gov are not responsive, so we can’t confirm the attacks. The FTC’s main homepage appears unaffected. We’ll know soon enough if it’s just a temporary oversight or next on the hit list. [ The Associated Press via Time ] Source: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/02/anonymous-hacks-the-ftc-in-protest-of-internet-censorship-bill/

A MOROCCAN man was arrested yesterday as he sought to carry out a suicide attack on the US Capitol under the watch of the FBI, which was conducting a sting, officials said. The FBI said it conducted an undercover operation as part of a longstanding terrorism probe of the suspect, who was arrested blocks from the Capitol building as he allegedly hoped to detonate what he believed to be live explosives. "Explosives the suspect allegedly sought to use in connection with the plot had been rendered inoperable by law enforcement and posed no threat to the public,"' the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. US officials identified the man as Amine El Khalifi, 29. US media reported that Khalifi was arrested after he accepted a vest, which he believed was filled with explosives, but which actually contained harmless material. Authorities briefed US politicians - who gather in the Capitol building to debate and vote on legislation

Instability peaks as Beijing cracks down On Saturday, Feb. 12 an 18-year-old nun named Tenzin Choedron from the Mamae Dechen Choekhorling nunnery set herself afire in China's Sichuan province, shouting protest slogans against the Chinese government before setting herself alight, an exile based rights group said. With nearly two dozen self-immolations and a series of mass protests in the Himalayan plateau region inside China over the past months, there is growing concern over the possibility of an uprising equivalent to the one that shook Sichuan and Gansu in 2008 when deadly rioting in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, extended to areas in neighboring provinces. As the tension has grown, China is said to be rushing additional security personnel to the region. “We worry that more cases of immolation may occur in the coming days as our new year is approaching and the 10th March national uprising day as well, ” said Tsering Tashi, an exiled Tibetan and a member of the Stu

Religion as geopolitics The Buddhist holy sites of Bodh Gaya in India and Lumbini in Nepal -- two of the religion’s most sacred pilgrimage locales, are becoming the dual epicenters of a Great Game between India and China. Bodh Gaya is considered the undisputed heartland of the Buddhist world. However, Bodh Gaya’s eminence is being challenged, directly or inadvertently,  by the Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Exchange and Co-operation Foundation, which is backing Lumbini as Prince Siddhartha Gautama's birthplace. The foundation’s executive vice chairman, the Beijing-born Xiao Wunan, has described developing Lumbini into a Mecca as part of scheduled Chinese US$3 billion investment in Nepal. For hundreds of years the faithful have flocked to Bodh Gaya, a small town some 100 kilometers south of Patna, the capital of the Northeastern Indian state of Bihar, bordering the Himalayas. Known in the Buddha’s time as Uruvela, it is the place where all Buddhas have become enl

What is striking about “Honor in the Dust,” Gregg Jones’s fascinating new book about the Philippine-American War, is not how much war has changed in more than a century, but how little. On nearly every page, there is a scene that feels as if it could have taken place during the Bush and Obama administrations rather than those of McKinley and Roosevelt. American troops are greeted on foreign soil as saviors and then quickly despised as occupiers. The United States triumphantly declares a victorious end to the war, even as bitter fighting continues. Allegations of torture fill the newspapers, horrifying and transfixing the country . Nowhere will this book resonate more profoundly with modern readers, however, than in the opening episode, which is as difficult to read as it is jarringly familiar. Jones describes the use of an interrogation technique whose name alone instantly brings to mind a recent, highly contentious tactic. To force information from a Filipino mayor bel

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Oklahoma Center for Conscience and Peace Research (OCCPR) announced that it has nominated U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning , the U.S. soldier accused of passing secret materials to Wikileaks, for the Nobel Peace Prize , OEN reported. In its nomination, OCCPR stated that it chose Bradley Manning because of his alleged role in leaking documents and other evidence of war crimes, corruption and lies related to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the notorious "collateral murder" video (downloadable online at http://www.opednews.com/populum/www.collateralmurder.org) which U.S. forces firing on unarmed Iraqi civilians, members of the press and children. "Bradley Manning should have received full whistle-blower protections for his actions but instead has served 19 months in prison without a trial, including 10 months spent in solitary confinement," said James M. Branum, OCCPR Legal Director. "

A COURT has granted a P200,000 bail for the temporary liberty of a ranking member of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, but the military on Friday expressed concern on its possible effects on its campaign against the insurgents on Negros Island. Maj. Gen. Jose Mabanta, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division based in Jamindan, Capiz, said the peace-and-order situation in Negros had been getting better since the arrest of 54-year-old Romeo Nanta on Nov. 7, 2011, but the situation could change with his release. “The decision to grant his request for bail lies with the court, and we will always uphold the rule of law,” Mabanta said. Judge Jose Aguirre of the ourt and Judge Victor Magahud of the Ilog-Candoni Municipal Circuit Trial Court recommended the bail for Nanata on the charges of rebellion, frustrated murder and attempted murder against him. But Judge Moises Nifras of the San Carlos City Regional Trial Court denied Nanta’s request for ba

PanARMENIAN.Net - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday, February 17 strongly condemned the Syrian regime for “butchering” its people, but ruled out military intervention, saying Syria was different from Libya, AFP reported. “What is happening in Syria is appalling. You have a government that is butchering and murdering its own people,” Cameron told a joint press conference with Sarkozy in Paris after a bilateral summit. But, he said, “We have to recognize there are different circumstances in Syria to those that applied in Libya.” When Western powers intervened in Libya, it was with the authorization of the United Nations, a call from the Arab League for action and a “clear opposition in Libya that worked on behalf of the whole country.” Those conditions did not exist in Syria, Cameron said. For Sarkozy, the main obstacle to a resolution of the conflict was “not blocking by such and such a country at the United N

Raipur : Chhattisgarh police backed by para-military Border Security Force (BSF) Friday busted a major explosives unit of the outlawed Communist Party of India- Maoist (CPI-Maoist) in violence-hit Bastar region, officials at police headquarters said. A contingent comprising dozens of state policemen and BSF personnel raided a Maoist hideout in Abujhmad forest in Kanker district and busted an explosives unit where over 250 kg explosives materials being mainly used for IED blasts were recovered, a senior police official told IANS. The officer said that Maoists had fired a few rounds of bullets at policemen when they stormed into their forested hideout but the rebels ran away when they found it tough to counter the cops. No policemen or Maoists were injured in the brief gun battle, police said. Abujhmad falls under the 40,000 sq km Bastar Source: http://twocircles.net/2012feb17/maoists_major_explosives_unit_busted_chhattisgarh.html