Al Qaeda announces India wing, renews loyalty to Taliban chief

Al Qaeda announces India wing, renews loyalty to Taliban chief.

DUBAI | Msn News | 06 Sep 2014 : :  Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri on Wednesday announced the formation of an Indian branch of his militant group he said would spread Islamic rule and "raise the flag of jihad" across the subcontinent.

In a 55-minute video posted online, Zawahri also renewed a longstanding vow of loyalty to Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in an apparent snub to the Islamic State armed group challenging al Qaeda for leadership of transnational Islamist militancy.

Zawahri described the formation of "Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent" as a glad tidings for Muslims "in Burma, Bangladesh, Assam, Gujarat, Ahmedabad, and Kashmir" and said the new wing would rescue Muslims there from injustice and oppression.

Counter-terrorism experts say al Qaeda's aging leaders are struggling to compete for recruits with Islamic State, which has galvanized young followers around the world by carving out tracts of territory across the Iraq-Syria border.

Islamic State leader Abu Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi calls himself a "caliph" or head of state and has demanded the loyalty of all Muslims.

The group fell out with Zawahri in 2013 over its expansion into Syria, where Baghdadi's followers have carried out beheadings, crucifixions, and mass executions.

As well being an indirect repudiation of Islamic State, the announcement could pose a challenge to India's new prime minister, Narendra Modi. He has already faced criticism for remaining silent about several incidents deemed anti-Muslim, underscoring fears that his Hindu nationalist followers will upset religious relations in the majority Hindi nation.

However, while al Qaeda is very much at home in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, due to influential contacts and a long presence there, it is a minnow compared to local militant groups in terms of manpower and regional knowledge. (Courtesy : Retures, Msn News )

910 'terrorists', 82 soldiers killed in North Waziristan.

Army says 910 'terrorists', 82 soldiers killed in North Waziristan.

ISLAMABAD | Dawn | 03 Sep 2014 : : A statement issued by the military on Wednesday put the official number of “terrorists” killed in Operation Zarb-i-Azb at 910 and added that 82 Pakistani soldiers had also lost their lives during the North Waziristan offensive.

The death tolls and their breakdowns could not be independently verified as journalists have limited access to the restive tribal region.

The statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) added that 27 explosives and arms making factories have also been destroyed and the operation in North Waziristan was on track and going according to plan.

The army says it has taken over complete control of major towns of Miramshah, Mirali, Dattakhel, Boya and Degan, which were previously considered militant strongholds.

The statement said the 88-kilometre-long Khajuri-Mirali-Miranshah-Dattakhel road and the Ghariom-Jhallar road have been cleared.

"Huge caches of arms and ammunition, communication equipment, and other logistics facilities used by terrorists have been destroyed; uprooting their ability to attack as a coherent force," the ISPR said.

"A total of 2,274 intelligence-led coordinated operations across the country have been carried out to avert any blowback of the operation and 42 terrorists have been killed and 114 hardcore terrorists detained in these operations." It further said that since the start of the operation 82 Pakistani soldiers have lost their lives and 269 were injured.

The ISPR said relief operations for those “temporarily dislocated” due to Zarb-i-Azb were continuing, adding that so far 19,376 tonnes of rations had been distributed among 97,570 displaced families at six relief delivery points in Bannu, Dera Ismail khan and Tank.

Military operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched on June 15 following a brazen militant attack on Karachi's international airport and the failure of peace talks between the government and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) negotiators.

Nearly a million people have fled the offensive in North Waziristan and taken shelter at camps for the displaced. ( Courtesy : Dawn )

Terrorists waiting to cross into Rajasthan from Pakistan, alert issued.

Terrorists waiting to cross into Rajasthan from Pakistan, alert issued.

Jaipur: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS )of Rajasthan Police has issued an alert over the possibility of a group of terrorists looking to enter Rajasthan from across the international border with Pakistan.

The alert has put the number of possible intruders at 15. Following the alert, the Border Security Force (BSF) has intensified patrolling in border areas, especially in Bikaner, Jodhpur, Barmer.

Strict vigil is being maintained to thwart any attempt to push in terrorists into India.

The ATS has also written to all SPs and IGs, warning them of the threat.

Infiltration bids from across the border remain a challenge for India given the long - 3,323 km - border we share with Pakistan.

Traditionally Jammu and Kashmir frontier has been the most active route for infiltration but with the Indian armed forces stepping up pressure there, Rajasthan has emerged as the new worry area.

Last week, the BSF had said it has spotted armed terrorists very close to the IB on at least three occasions. The BSF chief said the continued ceasefire violations are an attempt to help terrorists into India. ( Courtesy : Zee News )

Suspected Israeli revenge killing of Palestinian triggers clashes.

Suspected Israeli revenge killing of Palestinian triggers clashes.

JERUSALEM | Reuters | 02 July 2014 : :  The body of an abducted Palestinian youth was found in Jerusalem on Wednesday, raising suspicions he had been killed by Israelis avenging the deaths of three abducted Jewish teens.

News of the discovery of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khudair, who was last seen being bundled into a van earlier in the day, triggered clashes between rock-throwing Palestinians and Israeli police in the city.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Jewish settlers of killing Abu Khudair and demanded that Israel "mete out the strongest punishment against the murderers if it truly wants peace".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged police "to swiftly investigate who was behind the loathsome murder and its motive." He called on all sides "not to take the law into their own hands."

The United States also condemned the killing, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calling it a "despicable and senseless abduction and murder." He urged both Israeli and Palestinian officials "to take all necessary steps to prevent acts of violence and bring their perpetrators to justice." Police said they had found a body in the wooded outskirts of Jerusalem. Abu Khudair's father told Reuters the force had told him the body was his son.

An Israeli security source said Israel suspected the youth had been kidnapped and murdered, possibly in retribution for the killings of the Israeli teens, whose corpses were discovered on Monday, nearly three weeks after they were abducted in the occupied West Bank. Israel says Palestinian Hamas militants killed them. The Islamist group has neither confirmed nor denied the allegation.( Courtesy : F World )

APHC calls for strike on Modi's visit to India-held Kashmir.

APHC calls for strike on Modi's visit to India-held Kashmir.

All Parties Hurriyet Conference Chairman Mirwaiz
 Umar Farooq. — File photo

ISLAMABAD | APP | 02 July 2014 : :  Following Narendra Modi's visit to India-held Kashmir on Friday, All Parties Hurriyet Conference (APHC) has called on Kashmiris to observe a complete shutdown.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that issues surrounding Kashmir were not economic but political and no economic packages would serve until the dispute was resolved.

Future of one billion people was associated with the issue and it should be resolved as per the aspirations of the people, Farooq said.

The APHC Chairman alleged that India had turned Kashmir into a military garrison where human rights violations were taking place every now and then.

“This shutdown will be a protest against Narendra Modi's visit to Kashmir as Prime Minister. India claims to be the largest democracy in the world, but its democratic credentials become questionable when it comes to the present situation of Kashmir,” Farooq said adding that in this freedom struggle, tens of thousands of people have been martyred and thousands subjected to enforced disappearance.

“By observing shutdown on Modi's visit, the Kashmiris will reiterate the pledge that the sublime cause for which people have sacrificed their lives and property cannot be compromised with economical and financial grants,” Farooq maintained.

Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples' Movement, a constituent of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference, has also extended their support for the strike call. ( Courtesy: Dawn )

Militants capture northern Iraqi town.

A man checks a weapon as Iraqis volunteer to fight
 along side the Iraqi security forces against Jihadist
 militants who have taken over several northern
 Iraqi cities,on June 15 2014. — Photo by AFP

Militants capture northern Iraqi town.

BAGHDAD | AP | 18 june 2014 : : Militants captured the northern Iraqi town of Tal Afar early on Monday, its mayor and residents said, the latest blow to the nation's Shia-led government a week after it lost a vast swath of territory in the country's north.

The town, with a population of some 200,000 people, mostly ethnic Shia and Sunni Turkomen, was taken just before dawn, Mayor Abdulal Abdoul told The Associated Press.

The ethnic mix of Tal Afar, 420 kilometers (260 miles) northwest of Baghdad, raises the grim specter of large-scale atrocities by Sunni militants of the Al Qaeda-inspired Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, who already claim to have killed hundreds of Shias in areas they captured last week.

A Tal Afar resident reached by phone confirmed the town's fall and said militants in pick-up trucks mounted with machine-guns and flying black jihadi banners were roaming the streets as gunfire rang out.

The local security force left the town before dawn, said Hadeer al-Abadi, who spoke to the AP as he prepared to head out of town with his family.

Local tribesmen who continued to fight later surrendered to the militants, he said. “Residents are gripped by fear and most of them have already left the town to areas held by Kurdish security forces,” said al-Abadi.

The fall of Tal Afar comes a week after militants captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit in a lightening offensive. The town is some 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the border with Syria, where ISIL is fighting against President Bashar Assad's government and controls territory abutting the Iraqi border.

The capture of Tal Afar came just hours after Shia Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, addressing volunteers joining the security forces, vowed to recapture every inch of territory taken by the militants. “We will march and liberate every inch they defaced, from the country's northernmost point to the southernmost point,” al-Maliki said.

The volunteers responded with Shia chants. Fighting in Tal Afar began on Sunday, with Iraqi government officials saying that ISIL fighters were firing rockets seized from military arms depots in the Mosul area. They said the local garrison suffered heavy casualties and the main hospital was unable to cope with the wounded, without providing exact numbers.

Over the weekend, militants posted graphic photos that appeared to show their gunmen massacring scores of captured Iraqi soldiers. Iraq's chief military spokesman Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi confirmed the photos' authenticity and said he was aware of cases of mass murder of captured Iraqi soldiers in areas held by ISIL.

He told the AP that an examination of the images by military experts showed that about 170 soldiers were shot to death by the militants after their capture. Captions on the photos showing the soldiers after they were shot say “hundreds have been liquidated,” but the total numbers could not be verified.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the militants' claim of killing the Iraqi troops “is horrifying and a true depiction of the bloodlust that those terrorists represent. “ She added that an ISIL claim that 1,700 were killed could not be confirmed by the US

The grisly images could sap the morale of Iraq's security forces, but they could also heighten sectarian tensions.

Thousands of Shias are already heeding a call from their most revered spiritual leader to take up arms against the Sunni militants who have swept across the north in the worst instability in Iraq since the US withdrawal in 2011.

ISIL has vowed to take the battle to Baghdad and cities farther south housing revered Shia shrines.

( Courtesy : Dawn )

Terrorists Attack Airport in Pakistan, Killing 13.

Terrorists Attack Karachi Airport in Pakistan, Killing 23.

KARACHI | Pakistan | 9 June 2014 : : In a ferocious terrorist assault that stretched into Monday morning, suspected Islamist militants infiltrated Pakistan’s largest international airport in Karachi, waging an extended firefight against security forces that resulted in 23 deaths and shook the country’s already fragile sense of security.

Explosions and gunfire rang out across the airport through the night as police and security forces battled with attackers, and passengers waited anxiously in a nearby terminal and in airplanes stranded on the tarmac. Just before 5 a.m., after five hours of siege, the military reported that the last of 10 attackers had been killed.

The chief minister of Sindh Province, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, told reporters that in addition to the 10 attackers, 13 other people had died, including 10 members of the Airport Security Forces and a flight engineer with Pakistan International Airlines, the state airline. “They were well trained,” he said of the assailants. “Their plan was very well thought out.”

There was no claim of responsibility for the assault, which was the most ambitious of its kind in Pakistan since Islamist militants attacked a navy air base in central Karachi in 2011. Initial suspicions fell on the Pakistani Taliban and related Islamist groups that have become increasingly strong in the past two years in the city, a sprawling megalopolis of 20 million people and a major commercial hub.

Although elite commandos moved quickly to counter the assault, many Pakistanis expressed shock that militants could penetrate such a prominent target so thoroughly and raised questions about why the attack had not been prevented by the military’s powerful spy service, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate.

The attack began late Sunday night, when the gunmen made it past security checkpoints near the airport’s old terminal, which is mostly used for cargo or private flights for senior government officials and business leaders. Some news reports said the men wore identification saying they were members of the Airport Security Force.

Hurling grenades and unleashing automatic weapons fire, the attackers at least initially moved toward the nearby web of runways as they fought, according to news and witness reports.

News images showed a major fire blazing in the airport complex that filled the night sky with an orange glow and appeared to be near parked jets. But a senior spokesman for the Pakistani military, Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, denied news media reports that two planes had caught fire. He also denied reports that the gunmen had been trying to hijack an airliner.

All flights to Karachi were diverted to other airports. Television pictures showed ambulances racing from the airport, which is named after Pakistan’s founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, ferrying casualties to the hospital.

Some of the attackers were wearing suicide vests, and at least one blew himself up when police officers approached, senior police officials told reporters at the scene.

Although the fighting took place away from the main terminal that is used by commercial airlines, some passengers were stranded on airplanes that had been about to take off when the assault started. Among them was Farooq Sattar, a senior leader with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement political party, which has dominated Karachi politics for almost three decades. Others posted updates on Twitter and other social media.

At one point, Syed Saim A. Rizvi, a Twitter user who said he was on a flight, reported that commandos from the army’s elite Special Services Group had taken control of his plane. Moments later, he reported a “huge blast” and heavy firing outside and said there was a “full panic” on the flight.

Two hours later, he said that the Pakistani military had safely evacuated all passengers from the plane. ( Courtesy : The New york Times )