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Showing posts from February 10, 2019

India to hand over dossier to global terror financing watchdog over Pakistan’s role in Pulwama attack

A dossier, nailing the culpability of Pakistan in the terror attack in Pulwama, will be given to the FATF, an international terror financing watchdog, to expose the neighbouring country’s links with terrorism and seeking its blacklisting, officials said on Saturday. Press Trust of India A dossier, nailing the culpability of Pakistan in the  terror attack in Pulwama , will be given to the FATF, an international terror financing watchdog, to expose the neighbouring country’s links with terrorism and seeking its blacklisting, officials said on Saturday. Security agencies are preparing the dossier with the evidence gathered so far related to the attack carried out by  Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad  and the help being provided to the outfit by the country, they said. This will be a dossier on Pakistani agencies’ links with the JeM and how the terror group is being aided by them, a security official said. The details of the terror attacks carried out by the JeM in the past will be

First time since 2000, more local recruits killed than foreign militants: J&K cops

Over the last three years, the total number of militants killed, both local and foreign, climbed from 130 in 2016 to 200 in 2017 and 240 in 2018. For the first time since 2000, the number of local militants killed in the Valley in 2018 was significantly higher than the number of foreign militants shot dead by security forces. Of the 246 militants killed in different encounters, 150 were local residents and 90 foreigners, according to official figures available with the J&K Police. After the terror attack on the CRPF convoy Thursday,  the Jaish-e-Mohammad owned up  and said a local recruit, Adil Ahmad Dar, had carried out the bombing. Over the last three years, the total number of militants killed, both local and foreign, climbed from 130 in 2016 to 200 in 2017 and 240 in 2018. In the first 46 days of 2019, 31 militants have been killed in the Valley. In 2018, there were 99 operations in the Valley, with 28 civilian casualties. At least 57 of these operations took pl

Why car bombs are worrying our forces

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NEW DELHI: In 2018, highly trained sniper terrorists changed the rules of the game in  Kashmir 's insurgency and sharpshooters from the National Security Guard were despatched to the Valley. Now, after  Pulwama , vehicle-borne IEDs (VBIEDs) are the latest worry for security forces with intelligence inputs indicating more such attacks could be planned.  Sources said bomb-makers prefer to install explosives in more than one vehicle as the process is time-consuming and requires expertise. So, such  IED  experts may rig four-five vehicles before returning to their bases, possibly in Pakistan-controlled territory across the LoC.  To counter the threat, security forces and agencies have initiated a manhunt to track down IED specialists - JeM commander and  Afghan war veteran Abdul Rasheed Ghazi  +  tops the list - and locate possible assembly sites. An advisory mentioning ways to deal with such attacks is also going to be issued shortly, a source said.  As per intelligence officials, VB

PIO British ISIS fighter may have been killed in Syria

LONDON: An Indian-origin British ISIS fighter may have been killed with his wife and five children by coalition airstrikes in Syria.  Siddhartha Dhar had been named as a specially designated global terrorist by the US department of state in January 2018.  Dhar is Bengali and has relatives in Benares and Lucknow. His mother and siblings, who live in north London, have not heard from him since June 2017.  An ISIS telegram channel, run by ISIS supporters, monitored by Danish ISIS PhD researcher Tore Hamming, has published a post by “Green birds of Paradise” which states: “abu rumaysah al-britani May Allah accept him”. Next to it are three photos of Dhar when he was alive, one masked and pointing a gun.  Dhar, who would now be 35, was born in London as a Hindu to Indian parents but switched to Islam at the age of 13 and changed his name to Abu Rumasayah. He got radicalised by a childhood friend, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, a convicted Islamist militant, from the same north London neighbourho

Observatory: SDF take control of last IS enclave in east Syria

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said U.S.-backed fighters seized the last Islamic State enclave in eastern Syria on Saturday after the jihadists who were still there surrendered. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. The UK-based war monitoring group said the last few hundred Islamic State militants, many of them foreigners, had surrendered in the past two days to the Syrian Democratic Forces. It said some militants may still be hiding in underground tunnels. With the help of U.S. air strikes, the Kurdish-led SDF has battled to crush Islamic State in the shrinking Baghouz enclave east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border. Source:  https://in.news.yahoo.com/observatory-sdf-control-last-enclave-east-syria-070439123.html

U.S. backs India's right to self-defence over Kashmir attack

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India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays tribute as he stands next to the coffins containing the remains of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying them in south Kashmir on Thursday, at Palam airport in New Delhi, India, February 15, 2019. India's Press Information Bureau/Handout via REUTERS By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The United States supports India's right to self-defence against cross-border attacks, India's foreign ministry said on Saturday after a deadly car bombing in disputed Kashmir raised tensions with rival neighbour Pakistan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised a strong response after a Pakistan-based militant group claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on a military convoy on Thursday that killed 44 paramilitary policemen. India's government said it had evidence the group, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), had the backing of Pakistan and demand

Dismissed employee kills five co-workers in Illinois factory shooting

AURORA, Ill. (Reuters) - A gunman opened fire at an Illinois factory just after receiving notice of termination from his job there on Friday, killing five fellow workers and wounding five policemen before he was slain by police, authorities said. The assailant, identified as Gary Martin, 45, had worked at the Henry Pratt Company for 15 years before Friday's violence unfolded at the firm's sprawling facility in Aurora, 40 miles (65 km) west of Chicago, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said. At a late-night news conference, Ziman said it was not yet clear whether the suspect, armed with a Smith & Wesson handgun, was carrying the weapon at the time of his dismissal or whether he "went to retrieve it" before opening fire. An eyewitness and fellow employee told CNN he saw the gunman running through the building carrying a pistol fitted with a laser sight. Also uncertain was the degree to which the shooting was premeditated, Ziman told reporters. "

30% PC users attacked online in Q4 2018: Report

The year 2018 was challenging for the cyber world, including in India. Kaspersky Lab’s threat review for the last quarter of 2018 reveals that 30.1% of computer users in India were hit by a web-based attack, and over half (52.4%) were targeted by a local threat, such as an infected USB device. The quarterly threat overview is based on data obtained and processed using the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) and provides global and regional insight on the mainline online and computer threats. Online (web threats) Attacks via browsers are the primary method for spreading malicious programs to unsuspecting users. In the period of October-December 2018, Kaspersky Lab products detected 39,718,184 different internet-borne cyberthreats on the computers of KSN participants in India (30.1% of users). This places India in 21st place worldwide when it comes to the dangers associated with surfing the web. The following methods were used most often by cybercriminals to penetrate systems: •

Pulwama or no Pulwama, China not to call Masood Azhar a global terrorist

New Delhi :  China has again declined to back India's appeal to list Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist by the United Nations following Thursday’s Pulwama attack that killed 40 jawans. China has remained defiant in supporting India’s efforts to list Jiash chief Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN. China, however, expressed ‘deep shock’ over the Pulwama terror attack. “China has noted the reports of suicide terrorist attack. We are deeply shocked by this attack. We express deep condolences and sympathy to the injured and bereaved families,” spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang told a media briefing in Beijing. “We firmly oppose and strongly condemn all forms of terrorism. We hope relevant regional countries will cooperate to cope with the threat of terrorism and jointly uphold regional peace and stability,” Geng said. When asked about China's stand on the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council,

Spain can't get over its Catalan problem as elections loom

Catalan nationalism is the cause that keeps dividing Spain as the country faces its third election in less than four years. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is set to call a snap vote on Friday after parliament exposed the dwindling authority of his minority government by rejecting his budget plan in a vote Wenesday. Talks with Catalan independence parties broke down last week, leaving him short of the support he needed to pass his spending plan for 2019. Tensions in Catalonia have been simmering ever since separatist groups attempted to engineer a split from Spain at the end of 2017 in defiance of the constitution. As Sanchez weighs his options for calling elections, he will be conscious how the regional conflict continues to influence the national political scene in ways he may find hard to predict. "The Catalan crisis is an open issue," Ignacio Jurado, an analyst with political risk consulting firm Quantio in Madrid, said. "And it's a very frui

ISIS and other extremist groups could push CHRISTIANITY to EXTINCTION in East warns expert

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A CHRISTIAN persecution expert has warned that ISIS and similar extremist groups could force Christianity to go “extinct” in the very Middle Eastern countries where Jesus' early teachings began. By  Gerrard Kaonga   PUBLISHED:  07:31, Fri, Feb 15, 2019   | UPDATED:  07:31, Fri, Feb 15, 2019 Extremist groups could cause Christianity extinction says expert Senior Policy Officer of the Christian Persecution charity Open Doors, Matthew Rees, revealed that Christians are heavily persecuted in eastern countries like Iraq and Syria by extremists like ISIS. As Christians in this part of the world are often in a minority they are often targeted by terrorist and extremist groups as  Christianity  is perceived as a western religion, despite originating in the eastern of the world. In an interview with Express.co.uk, Dr Matthew Rees explained the hardships and violent persecution that Christians face because of their faith and reiterated that persecution of Christians

Dems must face embarrassment of their extremism: Varney

A series of "incidents" has tarnished and split the  Democratic Party . Their leadership has lost control. This is becoming a big political embarrassment. Rep.  Ilhan Omar  has made anti-Semitic comments. She demands a boycott of Israel. And she warns against America "interfering" in Venezuela.  She still sits on the  House Foreign Affairs Committee  and used her position to attack our envoy to Venezuela. Next week Rep. Omar will speak at a dinner sponsored by Islamic Relief USA, which supports radical Islamist organizations. She is splitting the Democratic Party. Then there is New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez. Embarrassed by a question about the Green New Deal. He wouldn't answer. He threatened to call the police. And there is the chronic embarrassment of the Green New Deal itself. This is the fantastical plan submitted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Four Democratic presidential candidates support it. You know: Inspect and upgrade every building in the co

Increasing conflict in the world endangers children

Munich:  At least 100,000 babies die every year because of armed conflict and its impact, from hunger to denial of aid, Save the Children International said. In the 10 worst-hit countries, a conservative estimate of 550,000 infants died as a result of fighting between 2013 and 2017. They succumbed to war and its effects, among them hunger, damage to hospitals and infrastructure, a lack of access to health care and sanitation and the denial of aid. It said children face the threat of being killed or maimed, recruited by armed groups, abducted or falling victim to sexual violence. "Almost one in five children are living in areas impacted by conflict, more than at any time in the past two decades," said the charity's CEO Helle Thorning-Schmidt in a statement. "The number of children being killed or maimed has more than tripled, and we are seeing an alarming increase in the use of aid as a weapon of war," she said on releasing the report at the Munich Securi

"On Her Shoulders" — an illuminating documentary about Yazidi activist Nadia Murad

Last week, Nadia Murad was Rep. Jeff Fortenberry’s guest at President Trump’s State of the Union address, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner having been introduced to the congressman by Lincoln‘s Yazidi community. Three years ago, the then 23-year-old Murad was in Lincoln, speaking to some of the 3,000 Yazidi refugees who have settled here, having fled an ISIS created genocide in their homeland in Iraq. Murad’s Lincoln appearance was part of an international speaking tour that covered 20 countries. She told her story of being abducted, raped and made a sex slave by the ISIS fighters while her village was being destroyed. She lost 18 family members, including her mother, who was found in a mass grave with 80 other Yazidi women in Sinjar, Iraq. Murad managed to escape from ISIS, made her way to Germany, where she began to tell her story, aided by Yazda, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping Yazidi survivors. “On Her Shoulders,” a documentary about Murad and h