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Showing posts from December 6, 2009

Kerala HC asks govt to frame laws to stop ‘love jihad’

Source: ET   10 Dec 2009, 0510 hrs IST, ET Bureau KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday found indications of ‘forceful’ religious conversions under the garb of ‘love’ in the state, and asked the government to consider enacting a law to prohibit such ‘deceptive’ acts. “Under the pretext of love, there cannot be any compulsive, deceptive conversion,” the court said. Justice KT Sankaran of the Kerala High Court made this observation while dismissing the anticipatory bail applications moved by two people accused of participating in activities of ‘love jihad’, allegedly involving converting girls from other religions to Islam after enticing them to marry Muslim boys. After perusing the case diary in ‘love jihad’ cases, justice Sankaran concluded that there were indications of forceful religious conversions. From some of the police reports, it was clear there was a ‘concerted’ effort to convert girls of a particular religion to another with the “blessings of

Briton guilty of plotting 'deadly terror attack'

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Source: BBC NEWS The three men have been found guilty of terror charges A British Muslim has been convicted of conspiring to murder civilians in a "deadly terrorist attack". Adam Khatib, 23, a factory worker from Walthamstow, east London, was part of a terror cell run from Pakistan. The cell was led by Abdullah Ahmed Ali, convicted of plotting to blow up transatlantic passenger airliners. Co-defendant Nabeel Hussain was found guilty of engaging in preparing terror acts and Shamin Uddin was convicted of possessing terror items, namely a CD. Deputy Assistant Commissioner John McDowall, head of the Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism command, said Khatib was a "footsoldier to Abdullah Ahmed Ali". Uddin, 39, of Stoke Newington, north London, was also charged with engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorist acts but cleared by the court. Hussain, 25, of Chingford, east London, was found guilty of preparing for terrorism by mee

FBI investigates 'US arrests' in Pakistan

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Source: BBC NEWS The FBI is probing if the men are those missing from Virginia The FBI is investigating the arrest in Pakistan of five suspected US nationals for possible extremist links. The men were held in a raid on a house in Sarghoda in eastern Punjab province, Pakistan's US embassy told the BBC. The FBI said it was trying to determine whether they were the same men reported missing from their homes in the US state of Virginia late last month. Relatives reportedly found a farewell video message, showing scenes of war and saying Muslims must be defended. The US state department is also seeking information on the men. Pakistani police told the BBC that the passports of the five were all American, but they are being checked to make sure they are not forged. Three of the men are reported to be of Pakistani descent, one of Egyptian heritage and the other of Yemeni background. The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that while it is not unusu

Philippines gunmen 'release' students and teachers

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Source: BBC NEWS Armed bandits have released dozens of students and teachers they held hostage for several hours in the southern Philippines, military officials say. At least 65 people were seized at a village primary school near Prosperidad on the east coast of Mindanao island. Military spokesman Lt Col Romeo Brawner later told the BBC all the hostages had been freed, following a stand-off. A BBC correspondent says there is no sign it was linked to the killing of 57 people on Mindanao last month. The BBC's Rachel Harvey in Bangkok says there is much lawlessness in the southern Philippines. 'Demands' About 15 gunmen - described by officials as members of a criminal gang - took part in Thursday's abductions. Lt Col Brawner told the BBC's World Today programme: "Initially they released a first group of about 18 - 17 children and one adult - and just recently they have released every hostage already." Police chief Marco Arc

IT companies soft targets for terrorists: Home Secy

Source: TOP NEWS Union Home Secretary G. K. Pillai on Wednesday warned that India’s software companies were most vulnerable to terror strikes, while nuclear installations and refineries still remained high on the target list of terror groups. “We are world leaders in software. But software industry is high on the threat list,” Pillai said while addressing a conference on Challenge of Terrorism to India’s Infrastructure and Economy here. The government, however, has taken serious measures to improve intelligence gathering mechanism in the past year, while security agencies have been successful in neutralising terrorist modules, he informed. Pillai said the software industry is taking measures to protect itself. The government would also provide them support to deal with any such threat. The country’s software exports jumped from Rs 28,350 crore in 2000-01 to around Rs 2,16,300 crore in 2008-09 despite the global slowdown. On the intelligence inputs regarding threat to petroleum

India's Schools Caught in Naxal Crossfire

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The view of one of the destroyed doors and wall at Dwarika Middle School in Jharkhand. Local residents now use the classroom to store tobacco leaves. Human Rights Watch Source?: TIME Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1946516,00.html#ixzz0ZHfsUiPW The Maoist insurgency gripping India's heartland has been blamed for more than 800 violent deaths this year, and will soon be a target of a major counter-offensive by Indian security forces. But the so-called Naxalite movement — as well as the fight against it — has a hidden cost: the education of thousands of India's most vulnerable children, whose schools have been blasted by rebels, occupied by security forces, or both. A report released Dec. 9 by Human Rights Watch found that at least 39 schools in the Eastern states of Jharkhand and Bihar have been attacked by Naxals in the last year. That doesn't includ

Naxalism hampering education in Bihar & Jharkhand: HRW

Source: My News My News Posted On: 10-Dec-2009 12:29:27 Ranchi: The ongoing conflict between the Maoists and government forces is disrupting the education of tens of thousands of India's marginalised children mainly in Bihar and Jharkhand, a report issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW) informed. The 103-page report, ''Sabotaged schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in Bihar and Jharkhand'' details how the ultras were targetting and blowing up state-run schools. At the same time the police and paramiltary forces were hampering education for long periods by occupying schools as part of their anti-Naxal operations. The report was based on visits to 22 schools in Bihar and Jharkhand and interviews with over 130 people, including 48 children as well as parents, educators, police and local officals. ''The Maoists say they are fighting for the India's poor but their attacks on schools deprive these children of the education th

Sri Lanka - LTTE trained Naxalites - Naxal leader

Source: PRIU A senior Naxal leader who surrendered in Maharashtra, India last week has claimed that two LTTE cadres had visited camps in India twice to give training to the Naxal terrorists. Naxal leader Rainu said that the LTTE cadres had taught the Naxals how to lay mines and handle grenades, reported the Indian Express. Maoist groups in India have been known to collaborate with their counterparts across the border in Nepal and also occasionally with sympathizers elsewhere in South Asia but the senior Naxal leader claimed that a warfare expert from the Philippines also visited and stayed in a Bastar Naxal camp in Abujmad, stated the Indian Express. “It is not very difficult for LTTE men to pass off as Indians, but how the Naxals managed a safe passage for a Filipino into territory where even the police can’t go, and back, is very curious,” said a security official who did not want to be named, the Indian Express further said.

4 killed in Assam bomb Blast

Source: Zee news Zeenews Bureau Guwahati: Atleast four people were killed and 12 others injured in a bomb blast in Assam’s Sonitpur district Thursday. According to initial media reports, the blast occurred in Gorubandha Bazar near Missamari police station. National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), which is demanding a separate Bodoland, is suspected to be behind the blast. The injured have been rushed to Tejpur civil hospital; seven to eight persons are said to be in a critical condition. Official communication is awaited. Assam has been a hot bed for the extremists. Last month a blast triggered by the ULFA had killed seven people and injured 55.

Multan Blast In Cantt Area

More than 120 killed in Baghdad bombings

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Source: telegraph More than 120 people were killed in a string of car bombings in Baghdad as the Iraqi government announced a date for elections in the new year.   By Richard Spencer Published: 6:38PM GMT 08 Dec 2009 More than 120 people were killed in a string of car bombings in Baghdad   Photo: AFP / GETTY The interior ministry, a court building and the temporary home of the finance ministry, which was moved after its previous premises were destroyed by a truck bomb in August, were all targeted in the third co-ordinated attack on the heart of the city in four months. The oil ministry, due to host the next in a series of auctions of contracts to international energy companies later this week, was also shaken. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the attacks bore the hallmarks of what the government believes is a collaboration between al-Qaeda-backed cells and supporters of the Ba'athist regime of the late leader, Saddam Hussein. They will renew fears of a

Raw Video: Multiple Baghdad Bombings Kill 118

A coordinated series of attacks in Baghdad killed at least 118 people and wounded hundreds on Tuesday. Five separate attacks created the worst wave of violence to strike the Iraqi capital in more than a month.

Bomb explosion in Multan cantt leaves 12 dead Tuesday, 08 Dec, 2009

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Source: DAWN The explosion took place in the Qasim Bela area of Multan cantt, according to a DawnNews report. MULTAN: A bomb explosion at a security check-post in Multan killed at least 12 people and injured 15 others on Tuesday. The explosion took place at a security post in the Qasim Bela area of Multan cantonment and damaged several buildings. ‘We have shifted 12 dead bodies to the Combined Military Hospital and Nishtar Hospital and at least 15 people have been injured,’ Dr Kaleemullah, a Rescue 1122 official told Express 24/7 news channel. This is the first time Multan has been hit during a surge of violence that began in October and has already killed more than 400 people.

Hardline rebels take Somali border town near Kenya

Source: Reuters MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Rebels suspected of links to al Qaeda seized a Somali town near the Kenyan border on Saturday, sending civilians fleeing toward the neighboring country. WORLD Al Shabaab insurgents, who Washington says are a proxy in Somalia for Osama bin Laden's group, drove into the town of Dhobley after rival insurgents, Hizbul Islam, fled. "I see a lot of battle wagons and heavily-armed militia. They came into the town a few minutes ago and they have captured the police station ... without any fighting," said Dhobley resident Nor Yusuf Ali by telephone. Together, the two rebel groups have been fighting the Western-backed government in the capital Mogadishu, but a battle for control of the lucrative southern port of Kismayu has pitted the former allies against each other. Violence has plagued Somalia since 1991 and about 19,000 civilians have been killed since the start of 2007 when Islamists launched an insurgency to topple the government.

FACTBOX: Who are Somalia's al Shabaab rebels?

Source:( Reuters ) - A suicide bomber killed at least 19 people including three Somali government ministers Thursday at a graduation ceremony in a Mogadishu hotel. The bombing showed once again the insurgents' ability to strike the government at will, and suspicion for the blast immediately fell on the al Shabaab group which controls large swathes of the country. Here are some details about al Shabaab: * WAGING WAR IN SOMALIA: -- Al Shabaab, which means "Youth" in Arabic, is an al Qaeda-inspired militant group that has taken control of large areas of south and central Somalia. The Horn of Africa nation has been mired in anarchy since warlords toppled military dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. -- The interim government's attempts to restore central rule have largely been paralyzed by infighting and the Islamist-led insurgency. Fighting has killed more than 19,000 people since the start of 2007 and uprooted at least 1.5 million civilians. The chaos has also help

Blasts toll rises to 49, injures 180 in Pakistan's Lahore

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Source: China view ·The death tally of the twin blasts in Lahore has mounted to 49. ·The two blasts occurred within seconds of each other at Lahore's busy Moon Market. ·Pakistani president and prime minister strongly condemned the twin blasts in Lahore.     ISLAMABAD, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- The death tally of the twin blasts in eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Monday evening has mounted to 49 while another 180 persons were injured including some in the worst critical condition, city official said Tuesday.     According to sources, the two consecutive blasts ripped through Lahore's commercial center late on Monday night. The first blast was a suicide attack while the second was detonated through remote control device. People rush an injured person to a local hospital in Lahore, Pakistan on Monday, Dec. 7, 2009.  (Xinhua/AP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>     However, the district administration said that both the blasts were result of suicide bombing and that the heads

Philippine Police Clash with Clan Supporters

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Source: VOA Philippine government says forces loyal to a powerful Muslim clan in the south have engaged federal troops in a gunfight. Brian Padden | Jakarta 07 December 2009 A government soldier uses his rifle scope as his comrades rush to the field in pursuit of unidentified armed men in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province, 07 Dec 2009 Philippine troops clashed with militia forces and arrested more than 60 people in the southern province of Maguindanao. The government has imposed martial law in the region and is pursuing thousands of militia men aligned with the family it says is responsible for the country's worst political massacre. Presidential press secretary Cerge Remonde said Monday the police fought off an attack late Sunday night in the southern province of Maguindanao.  "According to the military, there were about 30 to 40 rebels that attacked a patrol of the special action force of the Philippines National Police," said Remonde.  "There was a gun bat

Headley's indictment important day in fight against terror: US

Source: TOI IANS 8 December 2009, 11:57am IST WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama believes that the indictment of Pakistani-American terror suspect David Coleman Headley, charged with criminal conspiracy in the Mumbai terror attacks, is an "important day" in efforts to protect the American people. "Obviously, I continue to say, and the president does, too, that we have taken and will continue to take every step necessary to protect the American people," White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs told reporters. "Today was an important day in doing that." Gibbs' comments came after prosecutors in Chicago charged Headley, 49, the son of a Pakistani diplomat and an American socialite mother with carrying out surveillance on targets in India in advance of the 26/11 terror attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans. At the State Department, spokesperson Ian Kelly said the visit of a Department of Justice and FBI team to New Delhi to share with Indi

Iraq school blast kills children

A bomb detonated outside a primary school kills seven children and injures many more even as civilian deaths are officially at their lowest since the 2003 US invasion. Click here for video

lahore moon market bomb blast

Suicide blast in Lahore, 5 policemen reportedly dead---Captured by OMER RANA LAHORE: Five police officials have been reportedly dead while 20

Five killed in attacks by gunmen in Iraq

Source: New Kerala Baghdad, Dec 5 : Five people, including a police officer, were killed in three separate attacks carried out by unknown assailants in Iraq's northern Mosul district Saturday, police said. A police officer and two guards were killed when unknown gunmen opened fire on them in the area. Later, a woman was killed and her daughter injured by gunmen who fled the scene after the attack. In the eastern Mosul, unidentified men killed an elderly man, according to police.

Indian Navy foils piracy attempt off Gulf of Aden

Source: ET 7 Dec 2009, 1801 hrs IST, IANS NEW DELHI: The Indian Navy on Monday thwarted a piracy attempt on a Norwegian-flagged tanker off the Gulf of Aden, an official said in New Delhi. The Indian Navy ship, on anti-piracy patrol in one of the busiest sea lanes in the Gulf of Aden, got a distress signal at around 3 o'clock. "As pirates started approaching the Norwegian tanker it sent out a distress message. And we immediately launched a helicopter to thwart the attempt," said an Indian Navy spokesperson. "The helicopter prevented the piracy attempt, and in the meantime the Indian Navy warship arrived in the area," said the official. An Indian Navy warship has been patrolling the piracy-infested Gulf of Aden since last year and has thwarted several piracy attempts on Indian-flagged ships and vessels of other countries.

Explosions in Pakistan Hit Peshawar Court, Lahore Market

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Source: VOA 07 December 2009 Police in Pakistan's eastern city Lahore say two explosions in a busy outdoor market have wounded at least 20 people A Pakistani police officer is seen near burning vehicles after a suicide bombing in Peshawar, Pakistan, 07 Dec 2009 Police in Pakistan's eastern city Lahore say two explosions in a busy outdoor market have wounded at least 20 people. Television footage of the Monday evening blasts show rescue workers battling large fires.  Authorities have released few details about the explosions, which occurred in an area of the city called Moon Market. A local television station, Pakistan news express 24/7, says the blasts hit multi-story buildings that have shops on the ground level and apartments on higher floors. Hours earlier, police in Peshawar said a suicide bomber killed ten people and wounded more than 40 others in an attack outside a courthouse. Authorities say the bomber detonated his explosives when he was st

12 killed, 60 injured in twin blasts in Pakistan's Lahore

source: chinaview 2009-12-08 ISLAMABAD, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- Two explosions killed 12 persons and injured at least 60 others in eastern Pakistan's Lahore on Monday evening, local TV channel reported. Twin blasts took place outside Moon Market police station in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, the private TV Express News reported. Several shops and a bank caught fire due to the blasts. Witnesses said that large number of shoppers were present at the market at the time of blasts. Ambulances and rescue teams reached the blast site, and at least 60 people were shifted to Services hospital, Jinnah Hospital and other nearby hospitals where emergency have been declared. Police sources said that the killed and injured included children and women. The condition of several injured is said to be serious. Power supply to the area has been suspended after the blasts. The channel footage showed that fire fighters are making efforts to tackle the fierce blaze. Several vehicles parked in t

Somaliland forces arrest six terror suspects

Source: somaliland press LAS ANOD , 4 December 2009 ( Somalilandpress ) — Somaliland anti-terrorist forces have arrested six men suspected of planning acts of terrorism in the southern town of Las Anod, the regional capital of Sool on Tuesday [1st December], QaranTv reported. Somaliland government issued a statement on their website stating the six men were arrested after bomb-making materials and small arms were discovered in their possession. In a separate press conference in Las Anod, Somaliland’s police chief of Sool region, Mr Farah Awale told local reporters that the weapons consisted of two anti-personnel landmines, mobile phones and bomb-making materials. It is not clear if the men have being charged yet but Mr Farah said there was an on-going investigation. The police did not give details of how they arrested the six suspects but said they had been under police surveillance for two weeks. The arrest comes a month after a roadside bomb killed Somaliland’s 12th infan

Death Toll in Bulgarian Orphanage Blast Rises to 3

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Source: novinite Society   |  December 5, 2009, Saturday Social Minister, Totyu Mladenov, is on his way Saturday evening to the Krumovgrad orphanage where three children died after a homemade bomb exploded. Photo by BGNES Three boys, ages 13, 15 and 16, died Saturday when a homemade bomb exploded in an orphanage in the southern Bulgarian town of Krumovgrad. The device went off around 2 pm. One of the boys died on the scene while the other has been taken to the Krumovgrad hospital where he later died. A third boy was listed in critical condition in the hospital in the regional center – the city of Kardzhali, and died during surgery. Police arrived shortly after the blast and found remains from a homemade explosive. It is still unclear if the children were trying to make the bomb or it came from outside and exploded while the boys were handling it. Forensic experts and members of the anti-terrorist task force are searching the location while psychologists are helping the other child

One dead after bomb blast in southern Philippines: police

Source: Mysinchew Foreign 2009-12-05 14:54 ZAMBOANGA, Dec 5 (AFP) - One person was killed and six policemen wounded Saturday when a bomb exploded near a police station on a southern Philippine island known as a haunt for Muslim extremists, police said. The bomb blast, in Jolo town on the island of the same name, damaged the police station and a neighbouring building constructed with US assistance to promote peace, said local police head Chief Inspector Usman Pingay. One local government employee was killed and six policemen wounded, he said. Pingay said that the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim extremist group, known for kidnapping and bomb attacks, may be behind the blast, although investigations had only just begun. The Abu Sayyaf has been blamed for a series of attacks on Jolo in recent months, including a roadside bomb blast that killed two US soldiers. Set up in the 1990s allegedly with money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, it has been blamed for the Philippines' worst ter

The Man Behind Russia's Deadly Train Blast

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Source: Time By SIMON SHUSTER / Moscow Thursday, Dec. 03, 2009 An undated photo of a man identified as Chechen separatist leader Doku Umarov kavkazcenter.com / AP When Illyas Musayev heard that the Neva Express train had been bombed on Nov. 27, killing 26 well-to-do Russians and injuring about 100 others, the Chechen separatist was incredulous. He didn't want to believe that his former comrade in arms Doku Umarov had kept the pledge he made in August to bring his holy war out of the isolated Caucasus Mountains and into central Russia. But that is the picture that has emerged. On Wednesday, Umarov's Islamist group, the radical wing of the Chechen resistance, claimed responsibility for the attack on the train en route from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Now Musayev and experts agree that Russia, having ignored Umarov's stated intention in August to broaden his targets, faces the prospect of a nationwide insurgency. "Yes, these attacks will most likely continue,"