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Showing posts from January 9, 2022

Maoists kill villager in Bastar’s Bijapur

Raipur:  Maoists  have murdered yet another villager in  Bijapur  in Bastar division — the third in four days, apart from two of their own cadres. The victim, 32-year-old grocery shop owner  Jagat Sori , was dragged out of his home in  Ketulnar village , around 30km from the district headquarters, on Monday night and killed him. He was asleep when Maoists barged into his house and took him away. Kutru police officers said they are not sure why he was killed. Sori’s family members and some villagers have filed an  FIR , saying it was a Maoist attack. Police have questioned a few villagers who were around when the Maoists struck but didn’t get any leads on the motive. They are interviewing the victim’s kin and some villagers. Sori’s body will be handed over to his family after autopsy, said police. A few days ago, Maoists had killed a mentally ill person after dragging him away from his home on the suspicion that he was a police informer.  Source:  https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cit

Taliban Meet Fighter Who Put Up Resistance In Last Afghan Holdout

  Kabul:  The Taliban's foreign minister said Monday he held talks in Iran on the weekend with Ahmad Massoud, son of the late legendary Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, and guaranteed his security if he returned home. Massoud's Panjshir Valley forces provided the last resistance in September to the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, weeks after government troops capitulated. In a video posted Monday by state media on Twitter, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said he also met Ismail Khan, a Herat province warlord who surrendered to the Taliban and left the country. The Taliban had announced Muttaqi's departure to Tehran for talks with Iranian officials but made no mention of any plans to meet exiled leaders. "We met commander Ismail Khan and Ahmad Massoud, and other Afghans in Iran, and assured them that anyone can come to Afghanistan and live without any concerns," Muttaqi said in the video. "It's home to all, and we do not create insecu

Magawa, Cambodia's landmine-sniffing rat hero, dies at 8

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Magawa, an African giant pouched rat wearing his gold medal received from PDSA for his work in detecting landmines in Siem Reap, Cambodia. A landmine-hunting rat that was awarded a gold medal for heroism for clearing ordnance from the Cambodian countryside has died, his charity said Tuesday. Magawa, a giant African pouched rat originally from Tanzania, helped clear mines from about 225,000 square metres of land -- the equivalent of 42 football pitches -- over the course of his career. After detecting more than 100 landmines and other explosives, Magawa retired in June last year. Magawa passed away "peacefully" this weekend at the age of eight, the Belgian charity APOPO, which trained him, said in a statement. "All of us at APOPO are feeling the loss of Magawa and we are grateful for the incredible work he's done," the group said. APOPO said Magawa was in good health and spent most of last week playing with his usual enthusiasm. But towards the weekend "he s

Northeast rebels regrouping in China-Myanmar borderlands: Experts

There is a China angle to the resurgence of militancy. Several groups have people in China, Maj Gen Bhabani S Das, former Inspector General of Assam Rifles, told PTI. Kolkata : Security experts believe a resurgence in militant attacks, which have rocked India’s northeast in recent months, have come about as militants work to regroup in China’s borderlands with Myanmar, and expect more to follow even as elections to Manipur and peace talks in Nagaland are held. Naga splinter groups impatient with stalled talks as well as rebel Manipuri groups who have a stake in disrupting upcoming elections to the state assembly, are believed to be regrouping in the borderlands of China’s Yunnan province and Myanmar, taking advantage of the turmoil in the latter by using it as a transit corridor. There is a China angle to the resurgence of militancy. Several groups have people in China, Maj Gen Bhabani S Das, former Inspector General of Assam Rifles, told PTI. Groups such as the United Liberation Front

Maoist accused of attack that killed 23 jawans surrenders in Bastar

 RAIPUR: A Maoist commander allegedly Involved in the April 2021  Tekulguda Maoist ambush, in which 23 security personnel were killed, surrendered before Bijapur police in  Bastar  on Monday. He carried a bounty of Rs 3 lakh.  “Pandu Ram Savlam was the self-styled deputy commander of the Vajedu local operation squad, which functions under the Naxals’ Telangana state committee. He was involved in the Tekulguda encounter in Bijapur last year,” Bastar range IG P Sundarraj said.  Savlam is a native of Jagargunda in Sukma district. According to police, he has said that Maoists are under immense pressure and that the state’s rehabilitation policy persuaded him to give up arms. He feels Maoist ideologies are ‘hollow’ and was fed up with a life of daily struggle and ‘harassment and biased behaviour’ by senior cadres, say police.  Police have not said if they have extracted any new information from him on the Tekulguda attack. They say he will be interrogated thoroughly.  Pandu had joined the M

Wanted TTP commander Mohammad Khurasani killed in Afghanistan

  Outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson and the militant group’s most wanted commander Khalid Batli alias Mohammad Khurasani was killed in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan, defence sources said on Monday. Khurasani, the senior TTP commander, was involved in the killing of civilians and personnel of security forces in Pakistan. He was killed in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, defence sources said, without disclosing the details. A senior security official confirmed Khurasani’s death but refused to share details about the circumstances around the high-profile killing. Khurasani, around 50, belonged to the Gilgit-Baltistan region and joined the extremist ranks in the Swat area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province around 2007. He became close to the militant leader Mullah Fazlullah who later became chief of the TTP, according to the security official. He was appointed spokesperson of the TTP in 2014 and since then played a key role i

NE rebel groups regrouping in China-Myanmar borderlands: Security experts

  Security experts believe a resurgence in militant attacks, which have rocked the North East in recent months, have come about as militants work to regroup in China’s borderlands with Myanmar, and expect more to follow even as elections to Manipur and peace talks in Nagaland are held. Naga splinter groups impatient with stalled talks as well as rebel Manipuri groups who have a stake in disrupting upcoming elections to the state assembly, are believed to be regrouping in the borderlands of China’s Yunnan province and Myanmar, taking advantage of the turmoil in the latter by using it as a transit corridor. “There is a China angle to the resurgence of militancy. Several groups have people in China,” Maj Gen Bhabani S Das, former Inspector General of Assam Rifles, told PTI. Groups such as the United Liberation Front of Assam (I), People’s Liberation Army of Manipur and splinter factions of the NSCN (K) who are against peace talks, are believed to be re-grouping in the borderland. Said San

Chattisgarh: Maoist lovers who ran away from camp to marry murdered by fellow comrades in Bastar

Two Maoist lovers who broke away from their Naxal camp to marry have been found murdered in the Bijapur district of Bastar, Chattisgarh. The incident took place on January 06 while it is suspected that the couple was chased by their fellow Naxal comrades. Bastar range IG P Sundaraj has  stated  that the couple is among three people allegedly killed by the Maoists in the district. He further said, “Police got information from multiple sources that the Maoists have killed three people in Gangaloor region. It appears that the Naxals have killed two of their former comrades on January 6”.  The police officer further added that there was information that the couple broke away from the Maoist ranks and fled the camp to get married. The deceased have been identified as Kamlu Punem, a militia platoon commander, and Mangi, a Naxal member along with another member who is not yet identified. Kamlu Punem had a track of 11 cases registered against him while Mangi was wanted in three cases at variou