Four Libyan soldiers killed in Benghazi attacks.

AFP/AFP/File - Libyan security forces are seen advancing during clashes with anti-government forces following an attack on a Benghazi police station, early on May 2, 2014

Four Libyan soldiers killed in Benghazi attacks.

Yahoo News |AFP | 16 May 2014 : : Four Libyan soldiers were shot dead on Sunday in separate incidents in the restive eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 uprising, security and medical sources said.

"Unidentified gunmen killed four soldiers and wounded another in Benghazi, while another was wounded in an assassination attempt," a security official told AFP.

A spokeswoman at the city's Al-Jala hospital, Fadia al-Barghathi, confirmed the soldiers' deaths. The security official said they had been killed in separate attacks.

An officer died in a hail of bullets in the city centre district of Al-Hadaek. His son, who was with him in his car at the time, escaped unscathed.

The same source said three more soldiers were killed and one wounded in two attacks in the Assalem neighbourhood.

It was in Benghazi that the 2011 uprising which ended dictator Moamer Kadhafi's four-decade rule began.

The city has since been plagued by violence that has killed dozens of members of the security forces, judges and foreigners.

A suicide bombing targeting a security post near the city in December killed 13, and on May 2 five soldiers and a policeman died in clashes between jihadists and army special forces.

Libya's central authorities have struggled to assert their control over the vast, mostly desert country, which is effectively ruled by a patchwork of local militias and awash with heavy weapons.

In March, the authorities acknowledged for the first time the existence of "terrorist groups" in v, particularly in Benghazi and in Derna, an eastern city with a history of Islamist militancy. ( Courtesy : Yahoo News )

More chaos as Kashmiris boycott India polls.

More chaos as Kashmiris boycott India polls.

SRINAGAR | The Nation | 07 May 2014 : :  A bomb blast near a polling booth in Kashmir injured a policeman today, amid further stone-throwing protests and a widespread boycott of India's general election in the mainly Muslim region.

Separatists have called on voters to shun the election in India's northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, holding staggered voting in its six parliamentary seats to allow 700,000 army troops and police to mount a mobile security operation.

That has failed to prevent a string of killings of village elders, blamed by police on militants seeking to intimidate voters. In the most serious incident, three insurgents and one army officer were killed in a clash on April 27.

The bomb exploded outside a polling station at a village in the Baramulla constituency, one of two voting today in northern Kashmir, injuring a police reservist, police said.

There were numerous reports of protesters throwing stones at police and election officials in the valley. A bomb was also thrown at a police station the Baramulla district, but no one was injured.

Only a quarter of voters have turned out in Jammu and Kashmir so far in the five-week election, in a show of passive resistance to rule from New Delhi and concern over a likely victory by Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kashmir has been a source of strife since British India was divided into independent India and Pakistan in 1947, with many Kashmiris, and Pakistan, saying the region should have been part of Muslim Pakistan, not Hindu-majority India.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since 1947, two of them over Kashmir. India says Pakistan supports the separatist militants. Pakistan denies this, saying it only offers moral support to the Kashmiri people.( Courtesy : The Nation )

Taliban leaders establish new political movement.

Former Taliban leaders establish new political movement.

KABUL | The Nation | 01 may 2014   : : A new political movement was established by a number of former Taliban group leaders and members in Afghanistan, with a motive to form an independent Islamic government in the country.

The political movement - Rah-e-Nejat Afghanistan 'Ways to Save Afghanistan' announced its establishment during a gathering in Kabul city, which was attended by a number of Taliban group members. The movement is led by former Taliban leader Syed Akbar Aqa, who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for abducting three UN officials in 2004. Syed Akbar Aqa was released from the prison by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in 2010.

Addressing the gathering Akbar Aqa called on foreign forces to return to their homes and promised the neighboring countries of Afghanistan that theY shared and mutual interests of each other would be considered. He said the Ulemas, former Mujahideen members who were not involved in civil war, students, teachers and members of the civil society can obtain membership of the political movement. A statement was also released by the political movement which stated that the bilateral security agreement between Kabul and Washington was proposed in a situation where only a few cities and areas were in control of the current government. The political movement in its statement also criticized the government of Afghanistan for growing corruption.( Courtesy : The Nation ) 

Twin blasts hit train at Chennai station.

1 killed and 14 injured after twin blasts hit train at Chennai station.

The blasts damaged three coaches, S3, S4 and S5. The train finally left the station at 12:15 pm.

Chennai Police have detained a suspect in connection with blasts while
an investigation by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been ordered.
(Reuters)

The Indian Express | 02 may 2014 : : A 24-Year-old woman software engineer was killed and 14 people injured when two low-intensity bombs went off in quick succession in two coaches (S4, S5) of the Bangalore-Guwahati superfast express train at the Chennai Central railway station on Thursday morning. Officials said all the injured, including two who underwent surgery, are in a “stable” condition.

The train was running an hour-and-a-half late when it pulled into platform 9 at Chennai Central at 7.05 am. The first blast occurred about 10 minutes later. It was followed by a second blast just minutes after, triggering panic among the passengers.

Tamil Nadu intelligence chief DGP Anoop Jaiswal told The Indian Express that “low-intensity IED fitted in pipes, triggered by a timer device” was suspected to have been used. Officials pointed to the use of an ammonium nitrate-based explosive.

“Chennai may not have been the target because the train was running late. Some other location could have been the target,” said Tamil Nadu DGP K Ramanujam. Jaiswal said there were no alerts about a possible terror strike, adding that any speculation at the moment was “premature”.

Sources said a passenger was detained on suspicion as he had provided a false name and address while booking his ticket. A senior Bangalore Police officer said CCTV footage showed the suspect  roaming around in the Bangalore station on Wednesday.

The victim has been identified as Swathi Parachuri, 24, a software engineer with TCS Bangalore. Swathi, who was in the S5 coach, was on her way home to Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.

Two of the injured, Sumanto Devanath, 37, and an unidentified passenger, are said to be “serious but stable”. Barring one passenger who had injuries on his neck, the rest suffered injuries on their legs. One of the injured, A Anjaneyalu from Ongole, Andhra Pradesh, a software engineer working in Bangalore, said he was lying down on his berth when the explosion hurt both his legs.

All the injured were rushed to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital which is near the station. “We have specialists attending to the patients. The condition of all the injured is stable,” said Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan. The blasts damaged three coaches — S3, S4 and S5. The train finally left the station at 12:15 pm. “We have CCTV footage which will be checked by investigators,” said zonal general manager Rakesh Mishra.( Courtesy : The Indian Express )

Link : http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/live-blast-at-chennai-central-station-10-feared-injured-reports/

U.S.: Qaeda affiliates surge, attacks on the rise.

U.S.: Qaeda affiliates surge, attacks on the rise.

The State Department in its Wednesday report counted
9,707 terrorist attacks around the world in 2013, resulting
 in more than 17,800 deaths and more than 32,500
 injuries. (File photo: Reuters)

Al arabiya | 01 may 2014 : : Terrorist attacks have increased more than 40 percent worldwide between 2012 and 2013, the State Department said Wednesday in its annual global terrorism report, adding that a surge in aggressive al-Qaeda affiliates in the Middle East and North Africa poses a serious threat to U.S. interests and its allies. 

Losses in al-Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan have “accelerated” the network’s decentralization. That has resulted in more autonomous and more aggressive affiliates, notably in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, northwest Africa and Somalia, it said.( Courtesy : Al arabiya )

Chappals with symbol of 'OM' sold in Pakistan market.

Chappals with symbol of 'OM' sold in Pakistan market.

Chappals with the symbol of 'OM' on them were available in one of the markets of Pakistan. Om or Aum is of paramount importance in Hinduism.

The chapplas were sold in Mirpur Sindh where large number of Hindu pop live.

However, many journalist in Pakistan have condemned the circulation. 

Shameful: slippers with word Om sacred to Hindus sold in Mirpur Sindh where large Hindu pop lives pic.twitter.com/BIYNTVmBQG imagine if reverse April 17, 2014.

Link :- http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chappals-with-symbol-of-om-sold-in-pakistan-market/1/356268.html

Taliban inmates break out of Afghan prison.

Taliban inmates break out of Afghan prison.

KABUL | AP | 21 April 2014 ::  An official says three Taliban insurgents escaped from a prison in northern Afghanistan using weapons smuggled into the facility in a jailbreak that killed three police guards.

A spokesman for the Faryab provincial government, Ahmad Jawad Dedar, said on Friday that the breakout took place the previous night. A fourth inmate who was also trying to escape was killed in a shootout with security forces.

Dedar says the fugitives are low-level Taliban operatives who were jailed for planting roadside bombs. The four inmates launched their breakout during the nightly count of prisoners, throwing several grenades and shooting guards with at least one pistol.

Dedar said authorities have launched a search for the three fugitives and are investigating how the weapons were smuggled into the prison.( Courtesy : Dawn )