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/

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 )

US jets drop unarmed bombs on Great Barrier Reef.

US jets drop unarmed bombs on Great Barrier Reef.

SYDNEY | AFP | 22 Jul 2013 :: US fighter jets dropped four unarmed bombs on Australia's Great Barrier Reef in an "emergency jettison" during a training exercise, officials said on Sunday, ruling out any risk to the public or environment.

The US 7th Fleet said two Harrier aircraft dropped the ordnance on the iconic reef's marine park off the Queensland coast on Tuesday.

"The selected emergency jettison area was in a deep channel away from the reef to minimize the possibility of reef damage," the US 7th Fleet said in a statement.

"It is approximately 50 to 60 metres deep and does not pose a hazard to shipping or navigation."

An Australian Defence Force spokesman told Australian Associated Press that the bombs posed "minimal risk or threat to the public, the marine environment or civilian shipping transiting the reef area".

"Defence is working closely with the US military, the Australian government and environmental organisations to ensure there is no danger... now or in the future," he said.

US and Australian officials are seeking to issue an appropriate navigation notice until charts can be updated showing the location of the unexploded ordnance, the 7th Fleet said.

The two AV-8B Harrier planes had intended to drop the bombs on a range on a nearby island but were unsuccessful despite several attempts.

"After being unable to expend their ordnance during a planning training mission, and having insufficient fuel to reach their pre-designated jettison area, the pilots jettisoned the ordnance in an unarmed condition on July 16," the 7th fleet said.

The fleet said each Harrier jettisoned one BDU 45, which are inert ordnance, and one GBU 12, which were dropped in an unarmed state.

About 28,000 Australian and US military are involved in training exercise Talisman Saber in Queensland, which began on July 15 and ends on August 5.(Courtesy:Google News)

Iraq: 21 dead as bomb blasts strike Sunni mosques in Baghdad.

14 Jul 2013 :: Bombs have exploded outside two Sunni mosques in Baghda, killing at least 21 people leaving prayers and extending a wave of daily violence rippling across Iraq since the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

A separate attack at a funeral northeast of the capital killed at least three others.

Police said the first Baghdad blast went off around 10pm near the gate of the Khalid bin al-Walid mosque in the capital's southern Dora neighbourhood, a largely Sunni Muslim area. It struck just after the end of special late-evening prayers held during Ramadan.

At least 16 people were killed and 31 were wounded, police said. A hospital official confirmed the casualty toll.

Soon after, a car bomb exploded at another Sunni worship center, the Mullah Huwaish mosque, in the Hay al-Jami'a area in western Baghdad. That blast killed five and wounded 19, according to police and health officials.

Iraq is weathering its worst eruption of violence in half a decade, raising fears the country is heading back toward the widespread sectarian fighting that peaked in 2006 and 2007. More than 2,600 people have been killed since the start of April.

The pace of the bloodshed has picked up since Ramadan began on Wednesday, including a suicide bombing at a coffee shop in the northern city of Kirkuk late Friday that killed dozens.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the recent wave of attacks.

Sunni extremists, including al-Qaeda's Iraq branch, frequently target Shias, security forces and civil servants in an effort to undermine the Shia-led government in Baghdad. They also could be behind Saturday's attack on the Sunni mosques, hoping that the bombings will spark a sectarian backlash against Shias.

Shia militias, which have been remobilizing and sending fighters to confront mostly Sunni rebels in neighboring Syria, also could be to blame.

Once-rare attacks on Sunni places of worship have risen in recent months as sectarian tensions grow, raising the prospect that Shia militias are growing more active.

Iraq's minority Sunnis have been protesting for months against the Shia-led government, alleging they receive second-class treatment. Sunni militant groups have tried to tap into that anger by linking their cause to that of the demonstrators.

In another attack Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral in the town of al-Abbara, near the city of Baqouba, which is about 60 kilometers (35 miles) northeast of Baghdad. Police and hospital officials said that attack killed three and wounded 10.(Courtesy:The Telegraph)