Terrorism Watch

Shari Baloch, the  suicide bomber  who killed three Chinese nationals at the University of Karachi on Tuesday, was a primary school teacher and an academician, PTI quoted Pakistani media reports. A mother of two young children, the 30-year-old had posted a goodbye message on her Twitter account ten hours before she carried out the attack. The explosion triggered by the Baloch woman ripped through a van of the Confucius Institute at the University of Karachi,  leaving three Chinese teachers dead and one injured  and causing several Pakistani casualties. A native of Kech district in Balochistan, Shari was a primary school teacher. Having completed her B.Ed in 2014 and M.Ed in 2018, she completed her masters in zoology from the University of Balochistan and an MPhil from the llama Iqbal Open University. Her father served as a director in a government agency and was also a member of the district council for three years. Baloch's husband is a dentist while her brother-in-law a lecturer.

  As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 62nd day, we take a look at the main developments. Here are the key events so far on Tuesday, April 26. Get the latest updates  here Fighting The British Ministry of Defence says Russian forces are likely attempting to encircle heavily fortified Ukrainian positions in the east of Ukraine. Oleh Synehubov, governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, tells the country’s public broadcaster that four people were killed and nine wounded in Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region. Two villages in Russia’s Belgorod region came under fire from Ukraine, and at least two people were wounded, the region’s governor says. Officials have in the past few weeks reported cross-border shelling. Russian forces carried out air raids on Ukrainian positions in the Azovstal steel plant, the main remaining Ukrainian stronghold in Mariupol where more than 1,000 civilians are also sheltering, Ukrainian officials say. Diplomacy, sanctions, aid United Nations chief Antonio Guterres

  The long-awaited first trial of the Special Criminal Court of the Central African Republic opened on Monday but was immediately postponed to May 16. The court, known by its French acronym CPS, was set up in the capital Bangui seven years ago to prosecute war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity committed in the country since 2003. Unique for being in a country that is still in civil war, the trial could have been a key moment in fostering accountability in a country scarred by decades of violence. The case on Monday involves three suspects – Issa Sallet Adoum, also known as Bozize, Ousman Yaouba and Mahamat Tahir – who were members of the Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation (3R) armed group, one of the most powerful rebel movements in the country. They are accused of being responsible for the massacre of 46 civilians in two villages near the northwestern town of Paoua in May 2019. The initial date of the trial’s first hearing was set for April 19, but a no-show of the d

Dozens of people have recently been killed in violence that includes beheadings and sexual attacks in a volatile county in South Sudan, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan said Monday. The mission said it documented 72 civilian deaths between Feb. 17 and April 7 in Unity State's Leer county. Among the victims was a local staffer with the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, it said. Sixty-four cases of sexual violence, including gang rapes, were recorded in Leer in the same period. The attacks were carried out by “armed youth” from the neighbouring counties of Koch and Mayendit. “I am strongly appalled by these horrific attacks on civilians in Leer," Nicholas Haysom, special representative of the U.N. secretary-general for South Sudan, said in a statement. “We must all do everything we can to ensure that victims and survivors get the justice they deserve and receive the care and support they need.” Markets, homes, humanitarian facilities and warehouses were looted

  Source:  Mali jihadist group claims capture of Russian Wagner group | Africanews The main jihadist alliance in the Sahel is holding a Russian member of the private military company Wagner, "captured" in central Mali, according to a claim on behalf of the movement sent to AFP. This is the first time that the al-Qaeda-linked has announced the capture of a Russian engaged in the anti-jihadist struggle in Mali. However, the GSIM did not provide any evidence to prove the accuracy of its announcement made in a communiqué on Sunday night. Mali, which has been run by the military since 2020, has called on what it describes as "instructors" from Russia to support its army, while Paris and Washington regularly denounce the presence in the country of "mercenaries" from the private Russian group Wagner, accusations firmly denied by Bamako. It was "during the first week of April" that the GSIM claimed to have "captured a soldier from the Russian Wagner

Officials say unknown assailants attacked the state security ministry in Tiraspol using grenade launchers.   Officials in the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria have reported several explosions at the state security ministry following what it called a grenade-launcher attack. No injuries were immediately reported from Monday’s assault. In a statement on Facebook, the interior ministry of Transnistria said the attack took place in the city of Tiraspol at 6pm (15:00 GMT) on a public holiday for the Orthodox Easter. It said some of the building’s windows were broken and that “smoke is billowing out of” the structure. Preliminary information shows the attackers had used a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, it added. The Pervy Pridnestrovsky television channel cited witnesses as saying they had heard several blasts. De-miners, firefighters and paramedics were called to the scene. The TVS television showed a picture of a grenade launcher abandoned at the scene. No one has claimed

  Peace talks with local militias operating in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC continued on Monday in Nairobi but without representatives of the M23 rebels. The rebel group had been present on the first day of talks on Saturday, but the Congolese delegation demanded and obtained their expulsion after news of renewed fighting in the Rutshuru territory eastern DRC. "These clashes resumed this afternoon. We are in a position of self-defense. We are defending ourselves so as not to give up a single meter of territory to the invaders,"  Lieutenant-Colonel Muhindo Lwanzo, chief of staff of the military administrator of the Rutshuru territory (North Kivu, east), told AFP. But in an official statement, the M23 accused the Congolese military of provoking Saturday afternoon's clash. The Nairobi consultations comes on the backheel of a mini peace summit which brought together several Heads of States from the East African Community (EAC) last week. The second day of

  Across northwest Nigeria, individuals are turning to self-help as Nigeria’s security forces remain acutely understaffed. Tsafe, Nigeria  – It was a sunny afternoon in March. Abdulrahman Yusuf was quiet as he lit a cigarette and drew heavily, puffing twice before passing it to a colleague. The stern eyes of the 17-year-old vigilante told a story of a child who had had to become a man earlier than he should have. In his penultimate year of high school, Yusuf voluntarily joined a vigilante group to face criminal gangs in his hometown of Tsafe, Zamfara, northwest Nigeria. It was a mission of revenge after a close friend died in an attack by one of the gangs,  locally known as bandits , in a nearby village. KEEP READING list of 4 items list 1 of 4 Is Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis out of control? list 2 of 4 Nigerian states impose curbs in bid to stop kidnappings, violence list 3 of 4 Deadly cattle raids in Zamfara: Nigeria’s ‘ignored’ crisis list 4 of 4 Will Nigeria crackdown on crime in Za

On April 9, a video emerged showing a mother and her 13-year-old daughter in the back of a police vehicle in Saudi Arabia. The woman pleads in Uighur, "We are in a police car. Save us, we are on our way to death. They are taking us to Riyadh to send us [to China]." They are among four Uighur people who NGOs say have been arbitrarily arrested in Saudi Arabia and who now face the possibility of extradition to China.  ADVERTISING In China, hundreds of thousands of members of the Uighur Muslim minority have been locked in camps and forcibly assimilated into Chinese culture, arbitrarily imprisoned, forced to work or even tortured. The inhumane treatment has been documented by numerous testimonies, NGO reports as well as journalistic investigations. Although Beijing denies the claims, several international governments, including the French, have condemned the treatment of Uighurs in China.  It's against this backdrop that Buheliqiemu Abula, a Uighur woman, sent the video of her

  Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and visiting Rwandan leader Paul Kagame on Sunday agreed to push for joint regional peace and stability to address the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Museveni said the problems affecting the region like the crisis in Congo need a collective approach from all regional members of the East African Community, which brings together Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, South Sudan, and DRC, according to a State House statement issued here Sunday. "This time we must insist on working together because these people have suffered a lot. I told President Kenyatta that if we don't come in as a region, Congo may become like Sudan," Museveni said. President Uhuru Kenyatta is Kenya's president. He hosted a regional heads of state meeting in Nairobi on Thursday regarding the situation in DRC. President Kagame said leaders and all parties must talk to solve the Congolese crisis once and for all. The regional leaders

Srinagar, April 24: A 17-year-old boy from Srinagar's Khanyar is among the three LeT militants killed in a gunfight in Pulwama district on Sunday, IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar said. In a statement issued after the gunfight, IGP Kashmir identified one of the three slain militants as Arif Hazar alias Rehan deputy of LeT’s top commander Basit police said was involved in killings of Insp Parvez infront of a mosque in Srinagar's Nowgam, SI Arshid Ahmad and a mobile shop owner in downtown. "Arif Hazar @ Rehan deputy of LeT’s top cmdr Basit killed in PulwamaEncounter. Involved in killings of Insp Parvez infront of mosque, SI Arshid & 1 mobile shop owner in downtown. Several FIRs against him in Sgr city. Identification of other 2 terrorists yet to done," IGP Kashmir said. While police is yet to officially identify the other two militants, news agency GNS quoted the IGP Kashmir saying they have been identified as ‘Haqqani’ of Pakistan and teenager Natish Shakeel Wani of Baba De

Six soldiers were killed and 20 injured in simultaneous attacks targeting three army bases in central Mali Sunday, the army said. Targets in Sevare, Niono and Bapho were all hit by "armed terrorist groups (who) used suicide vehicles packed with explosives", the Malian army said in a statement. A group linked to the firebrand preacher Amadou Koufa claimed the attacks, according to audio sent to AFP Sunday from a source close to the suspected attackers. The group, Katiba of Macina, belongs to the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), an Al-Qaeda-linked alliance and the biggest jihadist network in the Sahel. "On Sunday morning, the mujahideen of the Katiba of Macina struck three camps of the (Malian armed forces)," a member of the group told AFP in an audio message. The source said Bapho and Niono were hit, in line with information from Mali's army. It also said Segou was attacked, which was not among the targets mentioned by the Malian army. "We hit thes

SHANGHAI:  Shanghai  authorities battling an outbreak of  Covid-19  have erected fences outside residential buildings, sparking fresh public outcry over a lockdown that has forced much of the city's 25 million people indoors. Images of white hazmat suit-clad workers sealing entrances of housing blocks and closing off entire streets with roughly two metre-tall green fencing went viral on social media, prompting questions and complaints from residents. "This is so disrespectful of the rights of the people inside, using metal barriers to enclose them like domestic animals," said one user on social media platform Weibo. One video showed residents shouting from balconies at workers trying to set up fencing before relenting and taking it away. Other videos showed people trying to pull fences down. "Isn't this a fire hazard?" asked another Weibo user. Many of the fences were erected around compounds designated "sealed areas" - buildings where at least one

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Palli Panchayat in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir to participate in the celebration of National Panchayati Raj Day. Here in Jammu, he will address all the Gram Sabhas across the country. During the visit, the Prime Minister will inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of multiple development initiatives worth around Rs 20,000 crore. He will also inaugurate the Banihal Qazigund Road Tunnel, built at a cost of over Rs 3100 crore. This is his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir after the repeal of special status to J&K under Article 370.   PM Modi in Jammu: Distance of Jammu and Srinagar from Banihal cut by 2 hours PM Modi in Jammu: Now the distance of Jammu and Srinagar from Banihal Kanjigund Tunnel has reduced by 2 hours. The country is also going to get an attractive arch bridge linking Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla soon. The Delhi-Amritsar-Katra highway is also going to reduce the distance from Delhi to the court of Maa Vaishno Devi. PM Mod