Indian Consulate in Afghanistan attacked, 4 gunmen killed.

Afghanistan's National Army soldiers walk out of the Indian
 Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, after a clash between
 insurgents and security forces on Friday that
killed four militants.

Indian Consulate in Afghanistan attacked, 4 gunmen killed.

The Hindu | AP |24 May 2014 : : The Indian consulate in Herat in Afghanistan was attacked on Friday by four heavily armed gunmen who tried to enter the complex. All four attackers were killed, officials said, adding that the Consulate staff were safe.

The attack began at 3.15 a.m. when the four gunmen tried to break into the consulate, located 600 km from Kabul. Earlier reports had indicated the involvement of three gunmen.

The audacious attack comes ahead of the May 26 swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as India’s next prime minister. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed that he will attend the oath-taking ceremony.

Modi tweeted: “I condemn the attack on our consulate in Herat, Afghanistan. Closely monitoring the situation. I have spoken to the Ambassador as well.”

Syed Akbaruddin, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson, told IANS in New Delhi: “All the staff of the Indian consulate are safe.”

“The attempt was thwarted by the staff of the (ITBP) Indo-Tibetan Border Police, who were joined by the Afghan security forces,” said Mr. Akbaruddin providing the latest update on the situation.

He said that Mr. Modi had spoken with Indian Ambassador Amar Sinha and bolstered the morale of the Indian staff there.

Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh is monitoring the situation and is in touch with her counterpart in Afghanistan, said Mr. Akbaruddin.

Mr. Akbaruddin tweeted: “Firing continuing. Situation remains uncertain. But staff at our consulate safe. India monitoring situation.”

“We are glad to tell that all Indian personnel remain safe. We have rechecked that while the situation remains uncertain, there is no threat to the Indian staff,” he added.

Shaida M. Abdali, the Afghan Ambassador to India, told TIMES NOW TV channel in New Delhi that all four gunmen had been killed.

Mr. Abdali described it as a terror attack.

Asked if the Taliban were behind the attack, Mr. Abdali said: “There is no doubt that it is a terror attack, an attack on the friendship of India and Afghanistan.”

“This attack can only embolden our determination that we will keep this friendship at all costs,” he said.

An ITBP official told IANS in New Delhi: “One of the attackers was killed at the entry point only, while three others managed to flee and enter the adjoining building.”

“But in the meantime, Afghan forces joined the operation and gunned down the other three attackers,” the official added. The area has been cordoned off.

The attack in Herat has surprised many as the city, which lies near Afghanistan’s border with Iran, is considered one of the safest in the country. ( Courtesy : The Hindu )

Suicide attack in Baghdad cafe kills 12 people.

Suicide attack in Baghdad cafe kills 12 people.

BAGHDAD | 21 March 2014 : : A suicide bomber struck inside a Baghdad cafe overnight where customers were watching a football game on TV, killing at least 12 people and wounding 38, Iraqi officials said Thursday.

The attack in the western Washash neighborhood took place late on Wednesday night, two police officers said. The bomber had mingled with the cafe crowd and set off his explosives-laden belt as they watched the game.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Iraq has been struck by a surge in violence unseen since 2007, relentless attacks that have become the Shiite-led government's most serious challenge.

Violence has spiked since last April, when security forces cracked down on a Sunni protest camp north of Baghdad in clashes that left 45 dead.

Scores of people have been killed in the Iraqi capital, in recent attacks that have targeted busy areas, restaurants and other public places.

On Tuesday, a series of bombings struck both commercial streets and security forces in Baghdad and its surroundings, killing 15 people.

No one has claimed responsibility for the latest attacks, but they bear the hallmarks of an Al Qaeda breakaway group that frequently uses car bombs and suicide attacks to target public areas such as cafes, restaurants, mosques and markets to undermine the government's efforts to maintain security in the country.

According to the UN 8,868 people were killed in Iraq last year the country's highest death toll since a peak of sectarian bloodletting in 2007. ( Courtesy : Dawn )

                 

Islamists exercised their Peace Powers in Kolkata against Paris Nude protest against Islam. Frightened Hindus just enjoyed it !

Islamic Peace-lovers attacked Civil Society in Kolkata for defending Islam. Hindus are in Panic. Courtesy: TMC.

Hinduexistence |Upananda Brahmachari | Kolkata | 11 March 2014 :: There was a vulgar nude protest against Islam in Paris.  A number of Arab and Iranian women staged an unusual protest in the Louvre Art Museum’s Square to call for equality and secularism on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, March 08, 2014. Tunisian activist Amina al-Souboui, Egyptian Alia al-Mahdi and five other Arab and Iranian women demonstrated fully naked and called, in French, for freedom, equality and secularism. Protest organizer Safia Lebdi says the demonstration was connected to International Women’s Day. She said the women waved flags of Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Iran to highlight the many legal and cultural restrictions imposed on women in the Muslim world. These women were protesting against Sharia, Islamic injustice to the Muslim women and obviously the gender discrimination in Islam.

Nude protests in Europe and America are getting more casual than earlier and the electronic medias generally grab it to increase their trp (Television Rating Points) and print medias also crave into the focus on it. It runs across the globe, though vulgar, but the protesters enjoy the rights of vulgarity in  America and Europe as such without comments. We, Indians don’t support such vulgarity, but attack upon civil society in the name of defending Islam is brutal enough and more condemnable. The nudity against Islam in Paris created a panic in Kolkata (Capital city of West Bengal and the so called Cultural City of India), while the Islamist maroons went on rampage in Park Circus area on the broad day light on 11th March 2014. Under the nose of Police, the Muslim goons attacked civil society, tried to put fire on vehicles and vandalized public properties. They all did it in the name Islamic peace and in the name of defending Islam.

As a matter of fact the Bengali daily ‘Khabor 365 Din’ carried its cover page of the tabloid entertainment supplement ‘Bibi’ with the lead heading ‘Nari Nirjataner Pratibade’ (In protest of  torture against women) with the sub heading ‘Nari Dibase Biswa jure Pratibad’ (Protest worldwide in the Women’s day) and also published the caption ‘Paris-er Luvor Pyramid-er samne femener pratibad’ (Protest of feminists in front of Louvre Pyramid in Paris). The Cover story of the Tabloid was continued in pages 4 and 5, with more photographs of naked women protesting with Arabic texts and perhaps that contained the name of Allah and Muhammad in their bodies.

Traffic in the city was  thrown out of gear when people from fundamental Islamic groups put up blockades at places to protest the publication of AFP and Getty Images photographs in ‘Khabor 365 Din’  that they said hurt their religious sentiments. Hurt at their hearts the fundamental Muslims created panic into the Civil society of Kolkata to make the public in their sense with the Jihadi illustrations of Islamic peace as it is.

Jihadi Activism in Kolkata against Paris Nude protest against Islam. Attacking Others is an Art of Islam in the name of Defending Islam.

Kolkata Police said around 15 people gathered outside the newspaper office near Kala Mandir in Shakespeare Sarani at about 11 a.m. and started demonstrating. Police rushed to the spot and dispersed the mob. But it was too late as Islamist of Kolkata retrieved their way of earlier offensive agitations against Taslima Nasrin (actually some TMC leaders issued death warrant against Taslima) , The Statesman (for reproduction an article of Johnn Hari  in Independent - Why should I respect these oppressive religions? ) or the American Center (attacking American Centre for the amateur film Innocence of Islam).

An Islamic media claimed that `Khabor 365 Din’ is seen as pro-TMC paper and publication of such “anti-religious” photographs that is seen as “hurting the sentiments” just before the elections, may affect the elections’ outcome, many TMC insiders feel. According to source of CMO, Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee is herself looking at the situation.

Nude Protests against Sharia, Islam and Rights Violation is increasing in Europe and America.

They also narrated that Police immediately swung in action and took stock of the situation. Within minutes the news reached the state administration office as well as the Chief Minister Office at Nabbana. Protesters demanded the arrest of the Editor of the Bengali Daily. Source said, Police Head Quarter at Lalbazar called the Assistant editor of the `Khabor 365 Din’ Mr Abhijit Majumder and their Crime reporter to meet the higher police officials.

They entire area from Park Circus Maidan (the original hub of Indian Mujaheddin) upto Mallick Bazar was turned panic stricken as the fanatic Muslims started attacking on Hindu properties and vehicles owned by Hindus and they also put fire on a huge number of copies of the impugned supplement of ‘Khabar 365 Din’.

The TMC leader and State Urban Minister, Mr. Firhad Hakim (Bobby) and the Imam of Nakhoda Mosque rushed to the spot, but did that what they knew well.

Kolkata again saw another nightmare of the peaceful activities of Islam that gave a sign of Islamic control over the city of Direct Action perpetrated by the Rajakars and the Muslim Leaguers before independence. They are still living and increasing in Kolkata under the protection of present ruling party.

Hindus of Kolkata  feel an insecurity under Islamic brawl and Mamata Banerjee has nothing to do to check Islamic fundamentalism and fanatic insurgency in Kolkata. ( Courtesy : Hinduexistence )

Three Nato troops killed in Afghanistan insider attack.

Three Nato troops killed in Afghanistan insider attack.

Three US special forces have been killed by an Afghan wearing a security forces unfiorm, in the first apparent "insider attack" in months.

 Three foreign special forces have been killed by an
 Afghan wearing a security forces unfiorm Photo:
AFP/Getty Images

The Telegraph | 21 Sep 2013 :: Since last year, attacks by Afghan soldiers on their allies in the NATO-run ISAF force have become a serious problem, threatening to further undermine waning support for the war among Western nations sending troops here.

"Three International Security Assistance Force service members died when an individual wearing an Afghan National Security Forces uniform shot them in eastern Afghanistan today," ISAF said in a statement.

A US defence official confirmed to the AFP news agency that the three victims were from the United Sates.

US forces provide the bulk of ISAF troops in the east. The attack was the seventh reported insider attack this year, and 12 ISAF personnel have been killed.

The last reported insider attack was on July 9, when an Afghan soldier at a military base in Kandahar shot dead one soldier and wounded three others.(Courtesy:The Telegraph )

Syrian Troops Attack Sunni Village, 15 Killed.

Syrian Troops Attack Sunni Village, 15 Killed.

VOA | 21 Sep 2013 :: Syrian activists say government troops backed by militia fighters have killed at least 15 people during a raid on a Sunni village in the center of the country.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday two women and a child were among those killed in the attack on Sheik Hadid village.

The group said the fighters used guns and knives to kill the residents, calling the raid a "massacre." It said it is not clear if the rest of the men killed were rebel fighters or civilians.

Syria's government is fighting a Sunni-dominated rebel force. Over 100,000 people have been killed in the two-and-a-half-year conflict.

Diplomatic efforts have recently focused on a U.S.-Russian deal that would require Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to give up his stockpile of chemical weapons.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons says the Syrian government has begun supplying information about its chemical weapons, in line with the deal.

In a VOA interview Friday, spokesman Michael Luhan said the group has received a partial inventory of the weapons and expects to receive additional information by this weekend.

He said the OPCW would not release details of what was in Syria's declaration.

U.S. and Russian officials agreed, last Saturday, on a framework for ending Syria's chemical weapons program that included a one-week deadline for Damascus to submit a comprehensive list of such weapons.

The plan also calls for Syria to eliminate or remove all chemical weapons material and equipment by mid-2014.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Syrian non-compliance could lead to a request for punitive action in the U.N. Kerry said Friday that he had discussed prospects for a "firm and strong" U.N. resolution with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.

Luhan said the next step for his agency was supposed to be a Sunday meeting to discuss plans regarding Syria's chemical weapons. However, he says the meeting has been postponed indefinitely.

A U.N. report released earlier this week showed overwhelming evidence that chemical weapons were used in an attack near Damascus, last month. However, the report does not assess blame.(Courtesy:Voice of America)

Firefight at U.S. Consulate in Western Afghanistan.

Firefight at U.S. Consulate in Western Afghanistan.

Afghan security forces carried a wounded police officer on
Friday during an attack on the American Consulate in Herat.

KABUL | Afghanistan  | 14 Sep 2013 ::  An attack in the western city of Herat that killed seven people and wounded 20 on Friday morning underscored the continued fragility of the security situation in the country, even in pockets of Afghanistan long considered peaceful.

The attack began around 5:30 a.m. when a group of five suicide bombers detonated a van full of explosives near the auxiliary gate of the American Consulate, according to the office of the governor of Herat Province. As many as 20 civilians in the area were also sent to hospitals for treatment, said Sayed Wahid Qattali, the head of the provincial council.

After the explosion, which shattered the glass of the consulate building and structures in the surrounding area, attackers mounted an assault on the consulate. An hourlong firefight resulted in the deaths of several insurgents, who were unable to breach the gate, according to provincial and police officials. American security personnel helped fight off attackers who tried to enter the compound, according to a statement from the State Department.

The dead included two security guards. The American ambassador to Afghanistan condemned the attack, expressing sadness for the loss of life and the toll suffered by Afghan contract workers at the consulate and civilians swept up in the attack.“We are reminded again of the very real human toll exacted by terrorism,” Ambassador James B. Cunningham said in a statement. “The perpetrators of this attack have shed Afghan blood on Afghan soil.”

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault.

The last few months have been especially violent ones in Herat, an area long known for its rich history and, until recently, its relative stability.

In July, the brother of Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Afghanistan’s national security chief, was fatally shot in a district that neighbors the city of Herat, the provincial capital. In mid-August, insurgents killed nine construction workers and one police officer just outside the capital. Days later, militants executed six government engineers working on a road project in the province. And just last week, violent protests outside the Iranian Consulate in the provincial capital resulted in the fatal shooting of one protester and the wounding of two others.(Courtesy:The New York Times)

6 killed as bombs hit Egyptian security HQ in Rafah.

6 killed as bombs hit Egyptian security HQ in Rafah.e

17 wounded when suicide attacks destroy two-story military building near Gaza border

Egyptian army soldiers stand guard on the border with
 Egypt in Rafah. (photo credit: Hatem Moussa/APFile)

EL-ARISH | Egypt | AP | 11 Sep 2013 ::  A pair of suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden cars into military targets in Egypt’s volatile Sinai on Wednesday, killing at least six soldiers and wounding 17 people, security officials and a military spokesman said.

One of the two bombings in the town of Rafah brought down a two-story building housing the local branch of military intelligence, while the other struck an army checkpoint.The near-simultaneous attacks nudged the violence in the strategic Sinai Peninsula closer to a full-blown insurgency, compounding Egypt’s woes at a time when the country is struggling to regain political stability and economic viability more than two years since longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising.

The attacks also came less than a week after a suicide car bombing targeted the convoy of Egypt’s interior minister, who is in charge of the police, shortly after he left his home in an eastern Cairo district. Mohammed Ibrahim, the minister, escaped unharmed, but the blast caused extensive damage in the area. An al-Qaida-inspired group based in Sinai claimed responsibility for that bombing.

Wednesday’s attack on the intelligence building in Rafah collapsed the entire structure and buried an unspecified number of troops under the rubble, two security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The second attack targeted an armored personnel carrier deployed as part of an army checkpoint not far from the intelligence headquarters, the officials added. The officials said the remains of the two suicide bombers have been recovered.(Courtesy:Times of Israel)

French Muslim Attacked for Interfaith Ties to Jews.

French Muslim Attacked for Interfaith Ties to Jews.

02 Sep 2013 :: A French imam known for promoting Jewish-Muslim relations said he was physically assaulted in Tunisia by a man who called him a “Zionist.”

The attacker of Hassen Chalghoumi, the imam of Drancy near Paris, punched him in the chest and shoved him to the ground on Sunday near Hotel Gammarth near Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.

“He insulted me, called me a ‘Zionist and collaborator’ and then he hit me,” Chalghoumi was quoted Monday as telling Le Parisien daily. Chalghoumi was assaulted in front of his wife and children, who also were hit by the unnamed attacker, the report said.

According to the report, the man, who addressed Chalghoumi in French, was detained by hotel staffers and arrested by police. Chalghoumi was taken to hospital after the incident, according to the French news agency AFP. Neither he nor his family members sustained serious injuries.

Chalghoumi, who is well-known in France for his involvement in interfaith forums and initiatives, has received many death threats in France for his friendly ties with CRIF, the umbrella group representing French Jewish communities, and for visiting Israel several times.(Courtesy:The Jewish Daily Forward)

Fears Growing as Syrians Wait for U.S. Attack.

Fears Growing as Syrians Wait for U.S. Attack.

BEIRUT | Lebanon  | 30 Aug 2013 ::  In a narrow alley in the old city of Damascus, a shopkeeper who opposes the Syrian government spent Thursday as usual, drinking coffee with the other merchants who keep him company in place of long-vanished tourists. But the calm on the cobblestone street, he said, could hardly mask the fear and ambivalence over an American military strike.

“Disorder, revenge. Sectarian violence,” he said in a text message, ticking off what he sees as the worst potential consequences of the missile strikes that American officials have threatened against President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which they blame for a deadly chemical attack last week.

In Damascus, as people stock up on food and water and the government closes central streets and moves troops and matériel into residential areas and schools, even staunch supporters of the uprising against Mr. Assad are divided on the looming attack.

Many here feel even a limited strike threatens to inject a new, unpredictable dynamic into a civil war that has largely spared their storied city. And some opponents of the government are loath to see direct American military intervention in their fight, fearful it will hijack and discredit the uprising they have waged for more than two years at great cost.

Though some called early on for NATO intervention, others said they wanted support and arms from Washington — not an attack by the American military.(Copy from:The New York Times)

Missile strikes may lead to terror attacks on UK.

Missile strikes may lead to terror attacks on UK.

29 Aug 2013 ::  Britain risks sleep-walking into a full-scale war by launching missile strikes against Syria, former top brass warned last night.

Retired commanders cautioned that an ill-thought-out attack against President Assad’s brutal regime could provoke revenge attacks at home and abroad.

Lord West of Spithead, a former First Sea Lord, General Lord Dannatt, a former head of the British Army, and Major General , a commander during the first Gulf War, all warned of the ‘unintended consequences’ of a military campaign.

It also emerged that Israel was taking precautions against a possible Syrian attack, including bolstering missile defences and handing out gas masks to civilians.

A coalition spearheaded by the US, Britain and France is preparing to punish Assad for allegedly gassing to death hundreds of innocent people last week.

Defence chiefs favour a strike against important military installations, including airbases, arms dumps and communications hubs, using long-range cruise missiles fired from warships or submarines amassing in the Mediterranean. (Courtesy:Mail Online)

Suicide bombing in park, attacks kill 32 in Iraq.

Suicide bombing in park, attacks kill 32 in Iraq.

BAGHDAD | AP | 24 Aug  2013  :: A suicide bomber attacked a park in northern Baghdad crowded by cafe- and restaurant-goers Friday night, the bloodiest attack in a day of violence that killed at least 32 people across the country, authorities said.

Attacks have been on the rise in Iraq since a deadly security crackdown in April on a Sunni protest camp. More than 3,000 people have been killed in violence during the past few months, raising fears Iraq could see a new round of widespread sectarian bloodshed similar to that which brought the country to the edge of civil war in 2006 and 2007.

The suicide bomber struck a park in the Qahira neighborhood of Baghdad late Friday night, an area popular with locals, police said. The bomber detonated his explosives in a crowd of people, killing at least 26 people and wounding 55.

Violence has stepped up in strikes on so-called soft targets in Iraq — like civilians at coffee shops or those shopping along busy commercial streets.

There was no claim of responsibility for Friday's suicide bombing. Sunni extremists such as al-Qaida's Iraq arm that seek to undermine the Shiite-led government are frequently blamed for attacks targeting civilians.

Elsewhere in the country, police said gunmen broke into a house of a Shiite merchant at dawn Friday in the northern town of Dujail, killing him, his wife and elderly mother. Authorities said the motive behind the killing wasn't immediately unclear.

Dujail, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, is a Shiite Muslim town surrounded by Sunni areas.

Meanwhile, two police officers said bombs exploded near Sunni mosques in two neighborhoods in Baghdad as worshippers were leaving after Friday's sermon, killing three people and wounding 18.

Police officers and medical officials confirmed the casualty figures from the attacks Friday. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release the information to journalists.(Courtesy:USA TODAY)

White House spokesman jokes about Islamic attacks on Christian churches in Egypt.

White House spokesman jokes about Islamic attacks on 

Christian churches in Egypt.

The DC | 23 Aug 2013 ::  The White House’s deputy press secretary today downplayed Muslim attacks on Christians in Egypt, joking about the savagery  that has left at least six Christians dead.

Press secretary Josh Earnest was asked by Fox News’ correspondent, Ed Henry, if President Barack Obama has a “red line” beyond which he would act against Muslim attacks on Egyptian Christians.

“Well, I didn’t bring my red pen out with me today,” Earnest joked.

After making his joke, Earnest said the administration is “outraged… and concerned” about the Muslim attacks on almost 100 churches, monasteries, orphanages and other marked Christian sites. Many Christians’ shops and homes have also been looted and burned by mobs.

But Earnest didn’t name or criticize the attackers, even though he did charge the military with perpetrating “violence… against peaceful protestors.”

“I can tell you that we have condemned in unambiguous terms all the violence that’s has been perpetrated there in Egypt,” he said.

“We have been concerned and condemned the violence that has been perpetrated by the government against peaceful protestors, and we’re just as outraged and just as concerned about reports that Christian churches have been targeted,” he said.

During the last year, Obama backed the brotherhood-backed elected prime minister, and is now considering whether to strongly push for its return to power.(Courtesy:The DC)

Bomb detonated at Beijing airport; attacker only casualty.

Bomb detonated at Beijing airport;attacker only casualty.

34-year-old wheelchair-bound man sets off small explosion — motive unknown

Medical workers and policemen work at the smoke-filled
 terminal 3 of the Beijing International Airport in Beijing, 

BEIJING | AP | 20 Jul 2013 ::  A man in a wheelchair set off a homemade bomb in a crowded terminal at Beijing’s main airport on Saturday evening, injuring himself but no one else, Chinese state media and witnesses said.

Order was quickly restored and no flights were affected by the explosion at Terminal 3, the airport’s main international terminal, state-run China Central Television said on its microblog.

The official Xinhua News Agency said a wheel-chaired Chinese man set off the device outside the arrivals exit of Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport at around 6:24 p.m. It said the man was being treated for injuries, but that no one else was hurt in the explosion.

“The explosion sound was loud,” said a witness who gave only his family name, Chen. He said he was only 25 meters (27 yards) away from the explosion when it occurred.

Chen said there was only one explosion, and that the terminal was crowded with people. “Since there was no second explosion, many people took out their phones and gathered near the explosion spot to take photos,” he said.

He said police responded to the explosion immediately.

CCTV, which also reported that no one else was hurt, identified the man in the wheelchair as Ji Zhongxing, born in 1979 and from the eastern province of Shandong.

It was not immediately clear why the man allegedly set off the bomb. Police are investigating the incident, Xinhua said.

Photos posted by CCTV on its microblog showed the area near the arrivals exit empty and filled with smoke. One photo showed medical staff and police officers gathering at one spot, with a wheelchair sitting on its side a few steps away.

Reached by phone, the airport’s news office said it was not aware of the explosion, and airport police declined to answer questions.

Terminal 3, which opened in 2008 just ahead of the Beijing Olympics, is the airport’s hub for international flights. United Airlines and American Airlines operate out of the terminal. Calls to both carriers were not answered Saturday night in China.(Courtesy: Times of Israel)

Gunmen kill 30 in Nigeria school attack.

A file screengrab taken from a video released
 on You Tube on April 12, 2012 apparently shows Boko
 Haram leader Abubakar Shekau (C) sitting flanked
 by militants.— Photo by AFP

POTISKUM |AP | 06 Jul 2013 ::  Militants attacked a boarding school before dawn Saturday, dousing a dormitory in fuel and lighting it ablaze as students slept, survivors said.

At least 30 people were killed in the deadliest attack yet on schools in Nigeria's embattled northeast.

Authorities blamed the violence on Boko Haram, a radical group whose name means ''Western education is sacrilege.''

The militants have been behind a series of recent attacks on schools in the region, including one in which gunmen opened fire on children taking exams in a classroom.

''We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me,'' Musa Hassan, 15, told The Associated Press of the assault on Government Secondary School in Mamudo village in Yobe state.

He put his arm up in defense, and suffered a gunshot that blew off all four fingers on his right hand, the one he uses to write. His life was spared when the militants moved on after shooting him.

Hassan recalled how the gunmen came armed with jerry cans of fuel that they used to torch the school's administrative block and one of the dormitories.

''They burned the children alive,'' he said, the horror showing in his wide eyes.

He and teachers at the morgue said dozens of children from the 1,200-student school escaped into the bush but have not been seen since.

On Saturday, at the morgue of Potiskum General Hospital, a few miles kilometers from the scene of the attack, parents screamed in anguish as they attempted to identify the victims, many charred beyond recognition.

Some parents do not know if their children survived or died.

Farmer Malam Abdullahi found the bodies of two of his sons, a 10-year-old shot in the back as he apparently tried to run away, and a 12-year-old shot in the chest.

''The gunmen are attacking schools and there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers,'' he said as he wept over the two corpses. He said he is withdrawing his three remaining sons from another school.(Courtesy:Dawn)Read More>>>

Afghan insurgents kill 7 in attack on NATO supply compound.

Afghan security officials inspect the site of
 a suicide bomb blast targeting a logistics company
providing services to NATO-led coalition forces.

ABUL, Afghanistan  | 05 Jul 2013 ::  Militants launched a pre-dawn attack Tuesday on a NATO supply company’s compound in Kabul, killing at least seven people as insurgents continued to step up high-profile assaults within the Afghan capital.

The attack occurred at about 4:30 a.m. at a heavily secured compound run by C3PO, an international logistics firm that provides supplies and transport services to NATO troops in Afghanistan and carries out construction work across the country, said an official at C3PO, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The compound also houses a hotel catering to international firms and government agencies working in Afghanistan, the C3PO official said.

The assault began when a suicide bomber detonated his truck packed with explosives at the compound’s front entrance, said Mohammad Daud Amin, a deputy Kabul police chief. The blast killed two Afghan truck drivers parked outside the gate.

Four other suicide bombers then ran into the compound and exchanged gunfire with guards at the compound, Amin said. Four Nepalese guards and an Afghan guard deployed to secure the compound were killed in the gunfire.

Afghan police arrived and after about an hour, shot and killed the four attackers, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement. At least five Afghan civilians were injured in the attack. The blast also damaged nearby buildings housing other international logistics companies, Amin said.

The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

In recent weeks, insurgents have ramped up attacks on military and civilian targets, with several of the assaults and bombings occurring in the capital.

Last week, a team of insurgents was able to get past a perimeter gate at the presidential palace compound in Kabul before being shot and killed by Afghan security forces. Three Afghan guards died in that attack.

In mid-June, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb in front of the Afghan Supreme Court in Kabul, killing 17 people and injuring 38 others. A day before that attack, seven militants were killed while trying to storm the military portion of Kabul International Airport.

The surge in attacks reflects the Taliban’s resolve to maintain military pressure on Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces even as the insurgent movement establishes its new political office in the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar in preparation for talks aimed at ending nearly 12 years of conflict in the war-torn nation.

A rift between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and officials in Washington has held up the talks. Karzai was angered that the U.S. did not insist that the Taliban renounce violence, communicate directly with the Afghan government and recognize the country’s constitution before being allowed to enter into peace negotiations.

Karzai also was unhappy that the Taliban opened its office in Doha, Qatar’s capital, under its own banner of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” and its own flag. U.S. officials say the sign and the flag have been removed.(Courtesy: Los Angeles Times)

Taliban Launch Deadly Attack in Kabul.

KABUL, Afghanistan |25 June 2013::  The third in a series of audacious strikes by the Taliban in the capital in recent weeks came early Tuesday, when one of two vehicles carrying attackers and explosives penetrated one of the most secure areas of Kabul, near the presidential palace and a C.I.A. compound, officials said.

Though the attackers caused relatively little loss of life — three private guards were killed — the assault’s progress past a major checkpoint troubled many. There were ripples far beyond the capital, as well. Afghan officials with the government’s High Peace Council said the attack would further jeopardize any hopes of salvaging a stalled effort to open negotiations with the Taliban in Qatar.

“Today’s attack will definitely have a negative impact on the peace talks,” said Musa Hotak, a member of the council. “The only conclusion from today’s attack that I can draw is that the Taliban want to put pressure on the Afghan government to accept their preconditions for talks and give up on some of its preconditions.”

The Afghan delegation to the talks remains in the country, stalled after Taliban envoys appeared to be using the opening of their political office in Doha to establish a higher international profile and stage a publicity coup. Though the Taliban later removed a flag and a sign that the Afghan government found offensive, the continued pattern of attacks within Afghanistan has kept the chill in place.

Tuesday’s attack, less than two weeks after a suicide bomber killed 17 people near the Supreme Court and a little more than two weeks after an attack on Kabul airport,underscored the capital’s continuing vulnerability.

“The tempo is quite relentless,” said one Western official here.

In the latest attack, the militants used the sole entrance to the secured area that had only one entry checkpoint. The other entrances have multiple barriers spaced at least 100 feet apart where vehicles and passengers are scrutinized, another Western official said.

Driving two vehicles with counterfeit vehicle passes and wearing international-style military uniforms, the militants approached the eastern gate to the government Green Zone early Tuesday, according to Kabul’s deputy police chief, Gen. Daoud Amin.

The first vehicle got inside, driving about 100 yards until it was close to one of the entrances of the C.I.A. compound. But the second was stopped by the checkpoint guards, who began shooting at the insurgents, according to both Afghan and international security officials. In early reports by Afghan officials, they said that the Taliban were driving sport utility vehicles that resembled those used by international forces here, but late Tuesday, some Western officials said that at least one of the vehicles was a smaller car.

The insurgents in the second vehicle began shooting, and at least one detonated his suicide vest. Three private security guards were killed and one was wounded, said Sediq Sediqi, the Interior Ministry spokesman.

In the meantime, the attackers in the vehicle that had entered the secure area were killed either by Afghan or Western guards during a long firefight near the C.I.A. compound’s gate. That compound was not breached, an American official said.

The total number of Taliban attackers was still unclear late Tuesday, but international officials put the number at between 8 and 10, while the Afghan authorities said there were five.(Courtesy:Google News)

Sharifullah Sahak, Sangar Rahimi and Habib Zahori contributed reporting.

Taliban insurgents during an attack .

Taliban insurgents during an attack .

Afghan police officers guard a building that was used by Taliban insurgents during an attack June 10 at the airport in Kabul. Seven militants were killed.  Massoud Hossaini, AFP/Getty Images 

(Courtesy:USA TODAY)

Myanmar jails man for attack that sparked rioting.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP):13|June|2013:: — A Muslim man whose attack on a Buddhist woman set off sectarian rioting in Myanmar's northeast has been sentenced to 26 years in prison, a local politician said.

The court sentenced 48-year-old Ne Win on Tuesday after he was convicted of attempted murder, causing serious injury and possession and use of illegal drugs, said National League for Democracy member Sai Myint Maung, who attended the trial.

The rioting in Lashio in Shan state marked the extension of deadly anti-Muslim violence from areas in western and central Myanmar.

The failure of President Thein Sein's government to stop the religious strife has cast doubts on the progress of his ambitious political and economic reforms, begun when he took office in 2011 after almost five decades of repressive military rule. The violence has also tarnished the reputation of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has not unequivocally condemned the tide of prejudice.

The unrest in Lashio began May 28 after Ne Win splashed gasoline on a woman and set her on fire. She was hospitalized with serious burns.

Buddhist mobs took revenge by burning several Muslim shops, one of the city's main mosques, an Islamic orphanage and a movie theater. One person, a Muslim, died.

While Muslims have overwhelmingly been the victims of the past year's violence, the justice system has been slow to punish the perpetrators, who come mostly from the overwhelmingly Buddhist majority.

The sectarian violence began in western Rakhine state last year, when hundreds died in clashes between Buddhist and Muslims that drove about 140,000 people, mostly Muslims, from their homes. The violence had seemed confined to that region, but in late March, similar Buddhist-led violence swept the town of Meikthila in central Myanmar, killing at least 43 people.

Several other towns in central Myanmar experienced less deadly violence, mostly involving the torching of Muslim businesses and mosques.(Courtesy:Yahoo News)Read More>>>