Terrorism Watch

A US drone killed at least four militants in a missile strike Saturday targeting a compound in northwest Pakistan's tribal belt, local security officials said. The attack took place in the village of Heso Khel around 35 kilometres (21 miles) east of Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan which is a notorious stronghold of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants. "At least four militants have been killed and the compound has been completely destroyed," a local security official in Miranshah told AFP. A second security official in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, confirmed the attack but said the death toll may rise. US drone attacks are deeply unpopular in Pakistan, but Washington views them as a vital tool in the fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants in the lawless tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has repeatedly protested against drone strikes as a violation of its sovereignty and the

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The United Nations human rights chief chastised Sri Lanka's government on Saturday, saying it is showing signs of becoming more authoritarian despite the end of the country's long civil war more than four years ago. In a hard-hitting statement ending a weeklong visit to assess the rights situation in Sri Lanka, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said she was "deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction." During her stay, Pillay met with government officials, politicians, rights activists and people affected by the war. Her visit followed a resolution by the U.N Human Rights Council in March that called on Sri Lanka to more thoroughly investigate alleged war crimes committed by government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the quarter-centur

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Nearly half of Mexicans feel drug-related violence has increased since President Enrique Pena Nieto took office in December, according to a newspaper poll released on Friday, heaping pressure on the president who vowed to tame the gangs and restore order. The El Universal/Buendia & Laredo poll found that 49 percent of the 1,000 people questioned thought drug violence had worsened since December, up 9 points since February. A quarter of respondents felt security had improved while another 25 percent thought it had remained steady. The survey makes for mixed reading for Pena Nieto, who came into power vowing to break with his predecessor's military-led tactics and put an end to Mexico's vicious drug war. Nearly 80,000 people have died in drug-related killings since former President Felipe Calderon sent in the army to quell the powerful drug bosses, a policy Pena Nieto has criticized but found tough to break with. Pena Nieto h

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosives near a police checkpoint and a bank in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, one of two attacks in the heartland of the insurgency that killed 18 people over 24 hours. Separately, a NATO service member was killed by insurgents in the country's east, according to a military statement. No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the attacks, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai blamed the bombings on the Taliban. The militants have escalated their activity as U.S.-led foreign forces reduce their presence in the country and are in the final phase of handing over responsibility for security to Afghan troops. Karzai said the militants should stop taking orders from foreigners — a veiled reference to Pakistan, whose intelligence services are alleged to be in league with the Afghan Taliban. The president said the security transition is nearly complete and the militants were desperate to derail it.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi authorities say that gunmen have stormed a Sunni mosque in Baghdad, killing five people. Police officials said the attackers entered the building in Baghdad's southeastern neighborhood of New Baghdad and shot at Sunni worshippers who were performing Saturday's dawn prayers. Police said the gunmen used weapons fitted with silencers. They said two other worshippers were wounded. Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Most attacks on civilians in recent years have been the work of Sunni extremist groups such as al-Qaida. But attacks on Sunni mosques have been on the rise in recent months, raising fears that Shiite armed groups are starting to retaliate. Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-kill-5-sunni-worshippers-iraq-065757361.html

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A suicide bomber slipped into a crowd of mourners at a funeral in northern Afghanistan on Friday morning, waited until the district governor and two of his bodyguards were leaving the mosque, and detonated his vest, killing eight people and wounding 16, officials said. The attack, the latest incident in a particularly bloody week, succeeded in killing Sheikh Sadruddin Saadi, the governor of the Dasht-e-Archi district of Kunduz province and the apparent target, said Mohammad Khalil Andarabi, the provincial police chief. The funeral was in honor of a local man who died of natural causes, Andarabi added. No one claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, which took place around 8 a.m., but analysts said they suspected the Taliban . Saadi, a high-profile mujahedeen leader in northern Kunduz province during the Soviet occupation, is a member of the anti-Taliba

Analysts have mostly focused on the risk of retaliation from Syria itself as the Obama Administration prepares to launch a war against them, but regional opposition could spark retaliation from other sources. That includes al-Nujaba, a key Shi’ite militant faction in Iraq which has promised to retaliate against US interests in Iraq and across the region in retaliation for the American attack on Syria. The overall capabilities of Nujaba aren’t clear, but the group has loyalty of a lot of militia factions left over from the US occupation of Iraq, including Mehdi Army fighters and Iraqi Hezbollah. The group has sent some of its fighters to neighboring Syria, initially to defend Shi’ite holy sites and at times also clashing with Sunni rebels inside Syria. The sectarian nature of the war has made it regional, and the US attack could rapidly suck America into the religious conflict. Source: http://news.antiwar.com/2013/08/30/iraqi-shiite-group-threatens-to-hit-us-inte

According to the latest intelligence reports, a team of four militants were sent to Turkey on a suicide mission by the terrorist group. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which announced a cease-fire as part of ongoing settlement talks between the Turkish government and the terrorist organization's leader, has sent four suicide bombers to Turkey from an undisclosed location abroad, according to latest intelligence reports. PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan and government officials have been negotiating a settlement for the decades-old Kurdish question since October of last year. This year in March, the PKK was ordered by Öcalan to leave Turkish soil. However, the numbers of militants who have left Turkey are not as many as Turkish government officials claim they agreed on with the PKK. According to the latest intelligence reports, a team of four militants were sent to Turkey on a suicide mission by the terrorist group. The National Police Department has alerted the police depa

The Maoist doctrine of revolution through guns has led to "serious degeneration of revolutionary politics" and discredited Marxism and the Left movement, according t o CPM general secretary Prakash Karat. He said the Maoists in Nepal through their "experience" have realised that such a path would not take them "anywhere ahead". A Maoist founder who never wore a uniform, never went underground Karat said the CPM would not hesitate to reach out to Maoists if they leave the path of violence like the Nepal Maoists did and added that the party found it easy to engage with the latter after they came to the mainstream. "Our fundamental criticism is that it has abandoned politics," Karat told The Indian Express journalists at an Idea Exchange interaction, outlining the reason for the Left's opposition to the Maoist movement in India. The other ultra-leftist, taking on the Maoist "A party as they call themselves CPI (Maoists) talks abo

Defence minister accuses rebel group of motivating angry demonstrations now in 11th day Militant Colombian rebels are infiltrating an increasingly violent national strike by farmers and state workers, the country's defence minister says. Juan Carlos Pinzon on Thursday blamed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for mobilizing groups of demonstrators who threw rocks and explosives at police on the 11th day of protests against President Juan Manuel Santos's agricultural and economic policies. "Everyone knows that the terrorist FARC end up infiltrating these kinds of protests and cause disorder," Pinzon told reporters in the capital of Bogota. "There are sectors that infiltrate these situations because, let's be frank, potato farmers, valuable people, workers, are not really prepared to use explosives against the police or burn cars; there has to be evil minds behind that." Demonstrators have clashed with police after blockading road

Colombia's constitutional court upholds law that was prerequisite for negotiations to end five-decade civil war The court ruling came as Colombia's president, Juan Manuel Santos, announced that his government was also preparing for peace talks with the Farc’s smaller counterpart, the National Liberation Army. Photograph: Fernando Vergara/AP A Colombian high court has upheld a law that allows peace talks with Marxist   Farc   rebels, rejecting a challenge based on the constitution that could have jeopardised efforts to end five decades of war. The legal framework for peace, which was approved in congress last year, modified the constitution and laid the foundation for the punishment of war crimes, reparations for victims and eventual peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of   Colombia . "The constitutional court considered that to reach stable and lasting peace, it is legitimate to adopt transitional justice measures like the mechanisms of selection and rank

Torture marks? The human rights watchdog Karapatan obtained these photos of Rolito Panesa, which the group said were taken three days after his arrest by the military on Oct. 5, 2012. MANILA, Philippines – The security guard arrested in Quezon City last year on allegations that he was a communist rebel leader was finally released late Friday night on orders of the Court of Appeals. The human rights group Karapatan said Rolito “Rolly” Panesa walked out of detention at 9:54 p.m. and was back with his relatives and counsel Jun Oliva of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, three days after the CA ordered “his immediate release from confinement.” Earlier in the day, Karapatan, which had been helping Panesa in his legal battle since he was arrested by the military in October, was set to celebrate his release and present him in a press conference scheduled at 4 p.m. In a statement, Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay accused the Philippine Army of delaying the release

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka –   A Sri Lankan Cabinet minister has questioned the impartiality of visiting United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay, accusing her of supporting ethnic Tamil separatists because of her own Tamil background. Pillay is a South African of Indian Tamil origin. She is visiting Sri Lanka to review its progress in investigating alleged abuses during a civil war between government troops and Tamil rebels. Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa said Pillay would prepare an "extremist and unjust report" that is unfair to Sri Lanka because of her ethnicity. He accused Pillay of holding secret meetings with activist groups outside her official schedule. Pillay's spokesman said she is conducting her mission as she would in any country. Pillay is to present her findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council next month. Read more:   http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/29/sri-lankan-cabinet-minister-questions-impartiality-un-rights-chief-because-her/#ixzz2dU

MANILA, Philippines -  Rights group Karapatan on Friday said officials of the Armed Forces of the Philippines should be held liable for the illegal arrest and detention of a security guard mistaken for a high ranking official of the communist movement. The group made the statement after the Court of Appeals granted the petition of writ of habeas corpus of security guard Rolly Panesa.   The appellate court also ordered the release of Panesa from jail after languishing for 10 months and 24 days in detention, Karapatan said.   "AFP Chief of Staff Emmanuel Bautista, Southern Luzon Commander Maj. General Alan Luga and all military and police officials involved in the illegal arrest, torture and detention of Panesa should be charged with violations of the Anti-Torture Law and Republic Act 7438 or the Rights of the Arrested or Detained Persons," the group's secretary general Cristina Palabay said.   Karapatan said that in Oct. 5, 2012, Panesa, his common-law wife

A unit of elite Australian special forces troops is under investigation for mutilating the body of at least one Afghan insurgent. The ABC understands the hands were removed from an insurgent's corpse and taken back to the Australian base at Tarin Kot. The incident occurred during a combined operation of the Afghan national security force and an Australian Special Operations Task Group force in Zabul province on April 28 that resulted in the killing of four insurgents. At the time, the Australian Defence Force announced only that an investigation was underway . Key points Special forces troops under investigation for mutilating insurgent's body ABC understands soldiers accused of cutting off insurgent's hands for fingerprints Occurred during combined operation in Zabul on April 28, when four insurgents were killed Mutilation of bodies of the dead is a violation of the laws of war ADF says it continues to investigate an incident of potential misconduct

At least 57 militants were killed in operations launched by the Afghan police, army and the NATO-led coalition forces since Thursday, the country’s interior ministry said on Friday. “During joint cleanup operations conducted by Afghan police, army and the coalition troops, 57 Taliban insurgents were killed, 10 wounded and four detained over the past 24 hours,”   Xinhua   reported citing a ministry statement. The raids took place in Baghlan, Kunduz Nangarhar, Kapisa, Sari Pul, Jawzjan, Kandahar and Helmand provinces to clear the areas from militants, the statement said. The joint forces also found weapons and ammunition, the statement said, without saying whether any member of the forces was hurt in the operations. Earlier Friday, the administrative chief of Dasht-e-Archi district in Kunduz province, Sheikh Saddruddin, was killed along with three others in a suicide bombing Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/57-militants-killed-in-afghan-raids/arti