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Showing posts from February 7, 2016

Despite warning, Pakistan says no organised presence of Islamic State

Islamabad : Different officials in Pakistan's government have taken seemingly contradictory stands on Islamic State's influence in the country, after a rare warning by an intelligence chief that the Middle East-based militant group posed a domestic threat. Reports of stepped-up recruitment by Islamic State and a bloody attack linked to the group last year have stoked fears the movement is gaining momentum in Pakistan, despite the government rejecting its formal presence. The government reasserted its view on Thursday, a day after Intelligence Bureau director general Aftab Sultan told a parliamentary panel that Islamic State was coordinating with militant groups and that hundreds of people had left Pakistan to join its fight in Syria, media reports say. "Let me reiterate that there is no organised presence of Daesh in Pakistan," foreign office spokesman Nafees Zakaria told reporters in Islamabad, using the Arabic acronym for the group. He declined any further

Bangladesh begins survey of undocumented Rohingya Muslims

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 Around 33,000 Rohingya have been documented in two official camps in the southern coastal district of Cox's Bazar that borders Myanmar, but officials say another 300,000 to 500,000 remain unaccounted. (Photo: AP) Dhaka : Authorities in Bangladesh began a survey to determine the number of Rohingya Muslims who have fled persecution in majority-Buddhist Myanmar. Around 33,000 Rohingya have been documented in two official camps in the southern coastal district of Cox's Bazar that borders Myanmar, but officials say another 300,000 to 500,000 remain unaccounted. Bangladesh's Bureau of Statistics began the exercise this week with the help of the Geneva-based International Organisation of Migration, said survey director Alamgir Hossain. He said the survey across six districts will end on Wednesday and will be followed by a census of the Rohingya next month. The census will also focus on the living conditions and socio-economic status of the Rohingya and the informati

Former Afghan governor kidnapped in Islamabad

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 The F-7/2 sector where Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi was seized is a high security area that houses politicians, bureaucrats and expats. (Photo: AFP) Islamabad : A former governor of Afghanistan's Herat province has been kidnapped from a market in an upscale district of Islamabad, Pakistani police said on Saturday. Pakistan is in the grip of a homegrown Taliban insurgency but the tightly-guarded capital has a very low crime rate in general and the F-7/2 sector where Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi was seized is a high security area that houses politicians, bureaucrats and expats. Wahidi was going to a restaurant in the market with his grandson on Friday evening when he was abducted by unidentified men, a police official, who requested anonymity, the boy reported the kidnapping to the local police station and said Wahidi was in Islamabad to apply for a British visa, police said. "We have registered a case against kidnapping of the former Afghan governor and the case is being inves

Islamist group Ansar Dine claims attack on Mali UN base

Dakar : Malian Islamist militant group Ansar Dine said it carried out a suicide and rocket attack on a UN base in Kidal, north Mali, on Friday that killed six peacekeepers, the Site Intelligence Group said. Ansar Dine, led by Tuareg commander Iyad Ag Ghali, briefly seized the desert north alongside al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in 2012 and the two groups are involved in an intensifying insurgency that has spilled over Mali’s borders. In its statement, Ansar Dine named the suicide bomber who blew himself up with a truck bomb as Muhammad Abdullah bin Hudhayfa al Hosni from Mauritania. Heavy weapons fire ensued. It was not immediately clear if Ansar Dine was also responsible for an ambush on Malian soldiers near Timbuktu on Friday that killed three. “The (Kidal) operation is a message to the crusader invaders and all those who support them and promise to send their soldiers to us, like the German President said in his current visit to Bamako,” according to the statement

Russia, facing widespread criticism, denies bombing civilians in Syria | Reuters

MUNICH  France led international criticism of Russia on Saturday for bombing civilians in Syria, a charge Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev rejected as major powers bickered openly just a day after they agreed a pause in combat in Syria. The differences between the stakeholders in a Syria settlement highlighted their lingering divisions despite Friday's "cessation of hostilities" agreement, which was not signed by any of the warring parties on the ground - government forces and the opposition - and does not take effect for a week. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, in a head-to-head debate with Medvedev at a security conference in Munich, pressed Russia to stop bombing civilians in Syria, saying this was crucial for achieving peace in the country. "France respects Russia and its interests ... But we know that to find the path to peace again, the Russian bombing of civilians has to stop," Valls told the conference. The major powers clinche

Was instructed by ISI to recruit Indian Army personnel: Headley tells court

Mumbai : Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley's deposition over the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack entered fifth day on Saturday. LeT operative told the court that ISI's Major Iqbal wanted him to visit Indian Army's Southern Command headquarters at Pune. He said that on March 16, 2009 he went to Pune and visited the Southern Command headquarters there. "Earlier too, Major Iqbal had also asked me to visit this place. At that time, I had made a general video of the (Army) station from outside," he said. Also, "Major Iqbal wanted me to try recruiting someone from the Army who would give us classified information. It was the same like the BARC (drill)." "In all three cities, I took general videos of several locations there," he said. Headley said that in March 2009 he had visited Pushkar, Goa and Pune and had recced the cities as sought by Ilyas Kashmiri of al-Qaeda. Headley also told the court that after 26/11 attacks, he w

Six Afghan security men killed in Taliban attack: officials

Kabul:  Taliban insurgents killed six Afghan security personnel Saturday in two separate attacks, Afghan officials said. Four policemen were killed and seven others wounded in double-suicide attacks on their checkpoint outside a security forces station in the southern Helmand province, said Gen. Abdul Rahman Sarjang, provincial police chief in Helmand. Sarjang said five insurgents equipped with suicide vests were shot and killed by security forces. Mohammad Rasoul Zazi, an army spokesman in Helmand, said one soldier was killed and another was wounded in the attack. Meanwhile, another policeman was killed and four others wounded when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in the southern Uruzgan province, said Rahimullah Khaliqi, the district administration chief. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in Helmand and Uruzgan. The Taliban have stepped up attacks on Afghan security forces in the past year, waging offensives across the country. Also Saturday, the

'Qaeda' attack kills 5 police in Yemen's Aden

Aden : Suspected Al-Qaeda members killed five police officers on Friday in an attack in Yemen's second city of Aden, a security source said. The masked assailants attacked a police outpost in the Basateen area of northern Aden before fleeing, the source said. The incident came a day after three pro-government soldiers were killed by suspected jihadists in the southern port city. Al-Qaeda controls parts of Aden, where the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has set up base in its battle against Shiite Huthi rebels who control the capital Sanaa. With support from a Saudi-led coalition, Hadi's forces have driven the rebels out of Aden and four other southern provinces since last July but the Shiite rebels control much of the north. Al-Qaeda and the rival Islamic State jihadist group have taken advantage of the conflict to gain ground in southern cities such as Aden. They have claimed a string of attacks and assassinations in recent months. The UN says t

Syrian army edges towards Islamic State bastion, jets hit rebel towns | Reuters

BEIRUT/MUNICH  Syrian government forces were poised to advance into the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa province and allied Russian jets kept up air strikes on rebel-held towns north of Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday. An advance into Raqqa would re-establish a Syrian government foothold in the province for the first time since 2014 and may be aimed at pre-empting any move by Saudi Arabia to send ground forces to fight Islamic State militants in Syria. Russia is pressing ahead with its four-month-old air campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad ahead of "a cessation of hostilities" agreed by major powers on Friday. The agreement is due to come into effect in a week. The Syrian army announced the capture of more ground in the northern Aleppo area, where its advances backed by allied Lebanese Hezbollah and Iranian fighters have cut the main rebel supply route from Turkey into opposition-held parts of Aleppo. If it

Hamas, Israel digging in for another war

Since the end of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Aug. 2014, there has been a deceptive appearance of calm along the border between Israel and Gaza. It took the collapse of  Hamas -dug tunnels to redirect attention back to the fragility and volatility of relations between the militant Islamic movement that rules Gaza, and the Jewish state that blockades it. Most observers would agree that neither side is interested or would benefit from another round of violence. However, there is genuine fear that internal political dynamics, an unforeseen trigger or a mere miscalculation might lead to a new flare-up. Inflicting daily misery on Gazans is a combination of Israeli punishment for electing Hamas, and an unfounded belief that it will lead to a popular uprising against the current government Yossi Mekelberg The collapse of the tunnels, claiming the lives of at least nine Palestinians, unleashed predictable and provocative rhetoric from both sides. Senior Hamas official Ma

Hezbollah has no merits in Lebanon

Lebanese parties that support Hezbollah are aware that they need it to provide them with security and money to survive, after living under Syrian tutelage. They also need the votes of Hezbollah supporters whenever there are elections, given that their numbers are great, and the Shiite party can control and mobilize them. However, Hezbollah - despite its money, power and supporters - is no different from other parties when it comes to the domestic political formula, as it is also captive to the current system that is based on sharing with other sects, religions, parties and leaders. Its ministers have not achieved anything significant, and its MPs’ stances have not correlated with the principles they have always bragged about. On the contrary, news of corruption linked to those close to Hezbollah has often surfaced. Presidential vacuum The situation has not been better regarding the presidential affair. Hezbollah has obstructed the process of electing a president - and thus ob

The Case for Delisting the PKK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization

Removing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) would create conditions for greater security cooperation between the United States and the PKK in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In exchange for delisting, the PKK could be required to reiterate its rejection of ISIS, pledge to further support the campaign to degrade and destroy the terror group, and officially renounce violence aimed at achieving political objectives. Delisting could also catalyze political negotiations between the Turkish government and the PKK, resulting in an arrangement enhancing Turkey’s security while enshrining greater political and cultural rights for Kurds. Evolution of the PKK The PKK was established in 1974, with roots in Marxist-Leninist ideology. Its founder, Abdullah Ocalan, initiated an armed struggle in 1984 to create a Greater Kurdistan on Kurdish-populated territories in Turkey, Iraq, I