Special Emphasis on Terrorism (June – 2013)

Terrorist Activities in Pakistan

Suicide Bombings
A policeman and two women were killed and 27 others injured as a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into Domail Police Station in Bannu city of same District at 5:00am on May 8. Officials said the bomber drove the car through the densely populated area before hitting the Police Station, destroying the building and several nearby houses and shops. Police constable Rehmanullah and two women were killed and 27, mostly children and women, suffered injuries in the attack. The bomb disposal unit personnel said 400kg explosives were used in the explosion, which created an eight feet deep crater.

Balochistan Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Sukhera narrowly escaped a suicide attack in the high security zone on Zarghoon Road in Quetta on May 12 that killed at least six persons and injured 46 others, reports Daily Times. IGP Sukhera had just entered his residence on Zarghoon Road when a suicide bomber in a vehicle laden with explosives blew themselves up outside. “At least two policemen, three paramilitary soldiers and one passerby were killed outside the inspector general’s residence and 46 others were wounded,” Home Secretary Akbar Durrani said. The windowpanes of several government premises and other buildings, including that of media organisations, were smashed in the blast. The four-story building of Quetta Press Club was also damaged, while a journalist sitting inside the press club received injuries.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) on May 13 acknowledged perpetrating the May 12 suicide bombing attack on Zarghoon Road in Quetta, reports Central Asia Online. At least eight persons, mostly Police and SFs, were killed in the suicide bombing, which targeted Balochistan Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mushtaq Sukhera. However, he had escaped unhurt.

Bomb Blasts
At least 11 persons, including a minor, were killed and 45 others were injured in a bomb blast at an election gathering of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Orangi town of Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh, on April 26, reports Daily Times. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the blast.

Five supporters of independent candidate Syed Noor Akbar for NA-39 (Orakzai Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas) seat were killed when his election office was targeted with bomb in the Kacha Pakka area of Kohat Town in same District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in the morning of April 28, reports Daily Times. “It was a remote-controlled blast in which five kilogrammes of explosives were used,” the Kohat District Police Officer (DPO) Dilawar Khan Bangash said. “The IED was planted outside the election office. At least five people have been killed and 22 injured,” Noor Akbar is canvassing for votes among the numerous Orakzai Agency residents forced to flee the District to Kohat by Army operations against militants. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan claimed responsibility for the Kohat blast and vowed to carry out more attacks.

Meanwhile, three persons were killed and 26 others injured in bomb attack on the elections office of independent candidate Nasir Khan Afridi for NA-46 seat was targeted on Charsadda Road in Peshawar. The blast also damaged two vehicles and window panes of nearby houses and shops. Nasir Khan is a former senator. The independent candidate is said to be a fierce critic of militants in his Bara constituency of Khyber Agency in FATA, where Army was fighting the militancy for the last three years.

Separately, two persons, including a seven-year-old, were killed in the attack, while 16 others were injured in a remote-controlled blast took place when people were leaving after attending the election rally of Awami National Party (ANP) candidate Ameer Rehman in the PK-32 constituency in Swabi town of same District. Sources said that the bomb exploded as Ameer Rehman drove past in a convoy of dozens of vehicles.

Two SF personnel were killed and three others, among them a captain, injured when their convoy was hit by a bomb blast on the Razmak-Esha road at Kam Sarobi area near Razmak town of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on May 5, reports Dawn. Officials said the convoy was going from Razmak to Bannu when the explosive device placed on the road near Kam Sarobi was detonated by remote control. The deceased were identified as sepoys Ehsanullah and Tahir and the injured as Captain Sultan Ayaz, Subedar Sarwar and Sepoy Atif.

Meanwhile, the main entrance to the house and adjacent hujra of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for NA-40 NWA were damaged in a blast caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Mir Ali. Family members of the PTI candidate Engineer Abdul Qayyum Khan said that unidentified persons had planed an IED near the main entrance to his house and hujra (guesthouse) at Haider khel village in Mir Ali subdivision. The IED went off in the evening and damaged the main gate of the house of the PTI candidate and his neighbour. The blast, however, did not cause any human loss to the PTI candidate or his neighbours.

At least two activists of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) and as many Police constables were injured when an improvised explosive device planted on a roadside went off when a PTI procession was passing from there to attend a public meeting in Gharibabad area of Takhbai tehsil (revenue unit) in Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on May 5, reports Dawn.

Meanwhile, a bomb planted to target a candidate of the Awami National Party (ANP) for PK-8 was defused in Khidrakhel village in the jurisdiction of Khazana Police Station in Peshawar, reports The News. Assistant Inspector General of the bomb disposal unit (BDU) Shafqat Malik said that around four kilograms of explosives had been planted in fields outside the house of Farzand Khan, the ANP candidate for PK-8.

Twenty-three persons were killed and more than 70 others injured in a blast at the election rally of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidates at a Madrassa in Sewak village in Kurram Agency on May 6, reports The News. Along with the local tribesmen, two bodyguards of the JUI-F candidate from NA-38, Munir Orakzai, and six of his close relatives were also injured in the blast. There were conflicting reports about the nature of the explosion as some said a suicide bomber blew himself up when Munir Orakzai was about to leave the venue after delivering his speech. However, his family members insisted that unidentified people had planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in the seminary where the election rally had been organised. Kurram Agency Political Agent Riaz Mehsud said that the blast was caused by an IED. He added that 10 kilograms explosives were used in the blast.

Meanwhile, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack on the JUI-F rally and said Munir Orakzai was the target. It added that the JUI-F party activists weren’t a target. TTP ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan said they had been trying for long to locate and kill Munir Orakzai as he had remained an active member of the coalition Government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Awami National Party (ANP). TTP ‘chief’ Hakimullah Mehsud had mentioned Munir Orakzai’s name in a videotape released in the past by his organisation. In the video, Hakimullah Masood is seen personally shooting dead former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) official Colonel Ameer Sultan, commonly known as Colonel Imam, while accusing Munir Orakzai of selling the Arab fighters to the US.

At least 12 persons were killed and 35 others were injured in a remote-controlled blast when a candidate of the Fazlur Rehman led Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) was conducting his election campaign in Doaba Town of Hangu District on May 7, reports The News. District Police Officer (DPO) Sajjad Khan said militants had parked an explosive-laden motorcycle in the main bazaar and triggered the explosion when the JUI-F candidate Mufti Syed Janan along with his supporters reached there to meet the shopkeepers and seek votes.

Separately, five persons, including Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Muhammad Zahir Shah Khan, were killed in a remote-controlled bomb blast near the Babagam village in Maidan area of Lower Dir District.

Two persons were killed and 18 others, including a Policeman, women and some children, injured in a remote-controlled blast in Jani Chowk of Hangu Bazaar in Hangu District on May 8. Police said the bomb was planted in a handcart parked on Railway Road in Hangu Bazaar. Police Sub-Inspector and platoon commander Ahmad Hussain was among the injured.

At least six persons including three Policemen were killed and more than 10 others injured in a remote controlled blast near a Police van in Sarmal Nusrat Khel area in Torghar town of same District on May 9, reports Daily Times. According to Police, militants detonated a remote-controlled device concealed in sand near the River Indus. A police party was deployed to check the passengers of ferries moving from Judbah to Darband and other parts of Hazara when the blast occurred.

Separately, unidentified militants lobbed a hand grenade inside the building, the meeting place of an Awami National Party leader, Haider Ali, in Katlang area of Mardan District. An official of the Katlang Police said that around 12:30 am, an explosion was heard at the ANP leader’s meeting place, while a car and motorbike parked inside were damaged as a result. None were killed or injured.

Two workers of Awami National Party (ANP) were killed in a series of bomb blasts which also damaged a polling station and three election offices in Swabi on May 10, reports Dawn. Three people were injured in the blasts. One blast took place at the MCB Chowk in Yar Hussain bazaar near the election office of an ANP candidate for provincial assembly seat PK-33. Two people killed in this blast were identified as Farman Ali and Arbab Ali. Police said an improvised explosive device had been placed near the election office. Officials said two other blasts occurred in Swabi Khas, damaging election offices of two ANP candidates for provincial assembly seats PK-32 (Swabi-II) and PK-31 (Swabi-I). No one was injured. Sources said explosive devices had been placed in guest houses of candidates Itibar Khan and Safdar Khan. The fourth blast damaged a Government school building where a polling station had been set up. School’s watchman Sher Azam was injured in the blast.

A bomb exploded in a bus in Mianwali Colony area of Pirabad in Karachi on May 11 that left one person dead and wounded five. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Zahid Hussain said that bomb was concealed in a metal box that was laid on front seat of a bus. He said the bomb was exploded through Improvised Explosive Device (IED), which also contained nut bolts and balls bearing weighing around one kilogram. DSP Hussain further said the bus carried ANP workers and they were the main target of terrorists.

At least 16 persons were killed in a blast that ripped through a passenger bus in Miranshah town of North Waziristan Agency on May 12, reports Daily Times. The nature of the blast could not be ascertained immediately.

Targeted Killings
At least six people, including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), were killed while a religious cleric was injured in separate acts of violence across the Karachi on April 27, reports Daily Times.

At least six persons, including an Awami National Party (ANP) leader and a Policeman, were killed while nine others were injured in separate incidents in Karachi on April 28, reports Daily Times. A Policeman, identified as Police constable Fida Hussain (32), and a person, Umar Hussain (35), were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Sultanabad within the jurisdiction of Manghopir Police Station.

At least five persons, including a Policeman, were killed in separate incidents of violence in Karachi on April 29, reports Daily Times. A Police Sub-Inspector, identified as Sadru Abro (48), was shot dead and his daughter was injured in a targeted attack in Orangi town within the premises of Iqbal Market Police Station.

At least 11 persons, including activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Sunni Tehreek (ST), were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on April 30, reports The News. Two persons, identified as Haji Guddu (45) and Muhammad Niaz, were shot dead and three others were injured near Noorani Mosque located in Lyari within the precincts of Kalri Police Station. Lyari Superintendent of Police (SP) Najam Tareen said PPP leaders and members were at the party’s election office in Agra Taj Colony when eight to 10 motorcyclists opened fire on them.

At least eight persons, including a Navy sailor, were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on May 1, reports Daily Times. Two watchmen of Chitargo School, identified as Chaman Ali and Hafizullah, were shot dead and other Mohsin was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Sultanabad area within the limits of Manghopir Police Station.

At least three persons, including a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) activist were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on May 2, reports Daily Times. A person affiliated with PPP, identified as Nadeem Ahmed, was shot dead and another was injured by unidentified assailants in North Karachi within the jurisdiction of Khawaja Ajmer Nagri Police Station.

Separately, a person was shot dead in Baldia town within the remits of Baldia town Police Station. Police officials said that deceased identified as Abdul Rehman was standing near his residence when pillion armed riders targeted him and managed to escaped from the scene.

In a separate incident, a dead body of a missing person from Balochistan was found near Northern Bypass within the premises of Surjani Police Station. The body was identified as Nasebullah, who hailed from Dashti Bazaar of Turbat District in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, eight persons were injured in a low-intensity explosion near the Muttahida Qaumi Movement sector office located near Fresco Chowk, Burns Road. It was the 42^nd attack on electioneering since April 11, 2013, reports Dawn. Including bombings and armed assaults, has claimed more than 70 lives, including two contesting candidates, and left over 350 injured in Karachi.

At least six persons, including an Awami National Party (ANP) candidate, was killed in Karachi on May 3, reports The News. A lawyer, Shakeel Ahmed Jan Bangash, was killed and his father Ali Ahmed Jan was injured by unidentified assailants in a targeted attack at ICI Bridge of Baghdadi area.

A Sunni Tehreek (ST) leader, Khurram Qadri, was shot dead by unidentified assailants near Food Street of Tibi City of Sialkot District, on May 3, reports Daily Times.

A cadre of the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jama’at (ASWJ) and also an activist of the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (MDM) Election Committee for PS-128 Landhi, Hafiz Mohammad Sajjad, was shot dead by unidentified assailants near the Usman Ghani mosque at Vita Chowrangi in the Korangi Industrial Area of Karachi on May 15, reports The News. ASWJ ‘spokesman’ Maulana Akbar Saeed Farooqi accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) of orchestrating the murder and said that the MDM member had been threatened on May 11 when he had resisted rigging and violence against voters during the elections. ASWJ cadres claimed that the funeral prayers were also attacked and two of their party workers were injured, while six others were abducted.

Two activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement identified as Anis Ilyas and Qasim Muzaffar, were shot dead and one other, identified as Jalal Saeed, was injured in an attack on the party’s office in Juma Himayati Goth area of Korangi town in Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh, on May 7, reports Dawn.

Three activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement identified as Qasim Saeed, Anis Ilyas and Bilal Ahmed, were shot dead and one other, identified as Muhammad Hussain was injured by unidentified assailants in Jumma Goth area within the premises of Ibrahim Hyderi Police Station of Karachi on May 8, reports Daily Times.

Separately, two MQM activists, identified as Muhammad Ali and Muhammad Aslam were shot dead and three others were injured near the Liberty roundabout in Hyderabad city of same District, on May 7, reports Central Asia Online.

Two cadres of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were shot dead by their colleagues in Mianwali Colony of Karachi, reports Dawn.

In a separate incident, a person, identified as Qari Hakim was shot dead in Super Market within the remits of Sohrab Goth Police Station, reports Daily Times.

In another incident, a person, identified as Kashif Soomro was shot dead near Crown cinema of Mauripur road. Police suspected that Lyari gangsters were behind the incident.

Also, a Policeman, identified as Dilawar Khan, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants in Frontier Colony within the remits of Pirabad Police Station.

At least 14 people were killed and 61 others injured in three separate bomb blasts in Karachi city on May 11, reports Daily Times. According to details, at least 11 people were killed while 45 others were wounded in a blast that occurred near Awami National Party (ANP) office situated at Dawood Chali locality of Quaidabad. Police officials said the bomb was planted in a rickshaw parked near the election office of ANP, targeting its party leader Amanullah Mehsud. However after the explosion Mehsud remained safe.

Seven persons, including political activists and an ASWJ cadre, were killed in separate incidents of violence across Karachi on May 12, reports The News. Two activists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Adeel and Anees, were shot dead and another, Kamran, was injured near Datta Chowk in Sector-11½, Orangi Town. Iqbal Market Station House Officer (SHO) Amjad Kiyani said two men riding a motorcycle opened fire on them and escaped. Adeel and Anees were shot several times with 9mm pistols.

At least four persons were killed in separate incidents in Karachi on May 13, reports The Express Tribune. A Philanthropist and social activist Abdul Waheed, was shot dead by unidentified assailants at his medical store in Islamia Colony of Manghopir area. The suspects also injured his one-year-old daughter Pareesha and his elder brother Naseeb Taj.

Separately, a person, identified as Shahbaz, was killed by unidentified assailants near Karachi Medical and Dental College (KMDC) located in North Nazimabad town within the jurisdiction of Taimuria Police Station, reports Daily Times.

Meanwhile, Waseem (27), a trainee Police constable, was killed near Saeedabad Police training centre of Baldia town, reports The News.

Elsewhere, an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), Syed Maqbool Shah, was killed in Farid Colony of Mominabad area.

A cadre of the Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jama’at (ASWJ) and also an activist of the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz (MDM) Election Committee for PS-128 Landhi, Hafiz Mohammad Sajjad, was shot dead by unidentified assailants near the Usman Ghani mosque at Vita Chowrangi in the Korangi Industrial Area of Karachi on May 15, reports The News. ASWJ ‘spokesman’ Maulana Akbar Saeed Farooqi accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) of orchestrating the murder and said that the MDM member had been threatened on May 11 when he had resisted rigging and violence against voters during the elections. ASWJ cadres claimed that the funeral prayers were also attacked and two of their party workers were injured, while six others were abducted.

Miscellaneous
At least six persons, including a Levies official, were critically injured when the convoy of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) candidate for PB-30, Haji Muhammad Hashim Shahwani, came under attack in Mach area of Kachhi District, on April 26, reports Daily Times. Haji Muhammad Hashim Shahwani remained unhurt in the incident. Balochistan Levies sources said that the convoy of Shahwani was attacked with a time bomb which followed an exchange of firing and hand grenades.

One person was killed and two others sustained injuries on April 29 in an attack on the Awami National Party (ANP) office in Nowshera town in KP. Unidentified assailants attacked the election office of the ANP candidate for PK-13, killing one of his security guards and injuring two other persons. The slain guard was identified as Johar Ali (19), while the injured party workers included Shahid Khan and Adalat Khan. The attackers escaped after the attack. Two vehicles parked in the hujra (meeting place) were also damaged in the incident.

Further, a passerby was killed and 20 others sustained injures when ANP candidate for PK-17, Muhammad Ahmad Khan, was attacked with a remote controlled bomb in Sar Dheri of Charsadda town of same District. Khan escaped unhurt. Bomb disposal Unit officials said two kilogram explosive was used in the explosion.

In addition, the hujra and a nearby mosque were partially damaged when a bomb planted by militants exploded near the house of the ANP leader Khan Daraz Khan in Hajyanoo Koroona in Ghundo village in the limits of Katlang Police Station in Mardan District.

Separately, two unidentified motorcyclists attacked the vehicular procession of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Sami (JUI-S) candidate for NA-15 Karak and JUI-S Deputy General Secretary Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz in Jangrezi area of Banda Daud shah tehsil (revenue unit) of Karak District. It was learnt that both the candidates and their workers remained unhurt in the attack.

Also, two assailants opened fire on the hujra of former Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) and now independent candidate for PK-41 Karak-I Malik Qasim Khan in Khojaki area of Takht-e-Nasrati on the Indus Highway.

Elsewhere, a Government boys’ school was blown up with four bombs in the wee hours in Bannu town of same District, reports Daily Times. According to Police, four back-to-back bombs exploded in the school, completely damaging the school building. No casualty was reported.

At least eight militants were killed as jet fighters pounded their hideouts in Dabori area of Orakzai Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), on May 1, reports Dawn. Police said the bombing resulted in the destruction of four militant hideouts and the killing of eight militants. Security Forces (SFs) launched a search operation in Kago Qamar, Arkhang, and Nandar Mella and Yahya Khan Kalley areas in the agency. SFs said a huge quantity of explosives, landmines and rocket shells was seized during the operation.

Meanwhile, two security officials were injured as a result of cross-border firing from Afghanistan at a security checkpost in Mohmand Agency, reports The Express Tribune.

Elsewhere, a candidate of the Qaumi Watan Party, Akbar Khan, who is running for a National Assembly seat (NA 40 North Waziristan) was abducted from an area near Mir Ali of North Waziristan Agency, reports Dawn.

Four militants and one security official were killed during a clash when militants tried to ambush a security checkpost in Ladha area of South Waziristan Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on May 3, reports Daily Times.

At least eight militants were killed and three hideouts destroyed in Security Forces’ action against militants in Upper tehsil (revenue unit), including Qismat Sanga and Sheen Qamar, of Orakzai Agency on May 4, reports Daily Times.

A bullet-riddled body was recovered in a deserted area of Spain Karez, in the outskirts of Quetta on May 4, reports Daily Times. The victim could not be identified.

The Security Forces (SFs) on May 5 destroyed two militant hideouts and killed 16 militants after heavy overnight fighting at a flashpoint near the Afghan border in the Tirah Valley in the Khyber Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in which two soldiers also died, reports Daily Times.

Four persons were killed when the convoy of Sardar Sarfaraz Khan Domki and Mir Dostain Khan Domki, grandsons of late Nawab Bugti, contesting elections for national and provincial assembly seats, came under bomb attack in Tali area of Sibi District on May 4, reports Dawn. The candidates remained safe but their two security guards were killed. Two attackers were also killed in an exchange of fire soon after the blast. Sources said that Sardar Sarfaraz, a candidate for PB-21 Sibi seat, and his cousin Mir Dostain contesting for the NA-265 seat were going to their native town Lehri after completing their election campaign when the bomb exploded near their convoy, leaving two security guards dead. Three vehicles in the convoy were damaged.

Separately, two activists of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Nazaryati) were injured in a hand grenade attack on an election campaign office of the party at Killi Deba area of Quetta, reports Daily Times. Police said that the victims were at the party election campaign office when unidentified men riding a motorbike hurled a hand grenade at the camp.

Meanwhile, as many as nine persons were injured as the offices of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and National Party were attacked in different parts of Balochistan. Local Police sources said unidentified men attacked the office of PML-N candidate from NA 271 Kharan cum Panjgur General (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch with a hand grenade in Kharan town. The explosion left five PML-N workers present in the office injured besides damaging the electoral office. Further, militants lobbed a hand grenade at the electoral office of a National Party candidate in Mach town of Bolan district leaving three party workers injured.

Rangers arrested 13 suspects during different targeted raids and operations in Karachi on May 6, reports Daily Times.

Police arrested the Karachi ‘chief’ of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Qari Shafi Ansari on May 7 during a raid at Hub River Road, reports Daily Times. Police also claimed to have recovered two hand grenades, one rifle, one 8mm pistol and TT pistols from his possession. The Police said Ansari is allegedly involved in number of sectarian killings and was made ameer (Chief) of Karachi chapter of the group after the arrest of Hafiz Qasim Rasheed. Ansari was earlier arrested in 2001 but set free in 2008.

Meanwhile, Police arrested a suspected Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militant involved in a number of bank robberies and extortion cases, reports The News. Crime Investigation Department (CID, Operations Wing) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohammed Fayyaz Khan said following a tip-off, his team raided a hideout in the Korangi Industrial Area and after a shoot-out arrested Imran alias Kami. During interrogation, Imran revealed that he was a member of the TTP. He and his associates were involved in the robbery at the Soneri Bank branch in Soldier Bazaar on December 13, 2011, in which they had walked away with PKR 5.2 million. They had also robbed PKR 6.8 million from the UBL Bank branch in Naval Colony. They had looted PKR 1.8 million from the Bank Al-Islami branch near Lasbela Chowk. Imran further disclosed that he was trained in Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and also involved in attacks on military and intelligence personnel. He was instructed by his commander in Waziristan to rob banks in Karachi in order to generate funds for his organisation.

Two Policemen, a woman and a suicide bomber were killed and another militant arrested with a suicide vest during an encounter in Rasheed Garhi area of Peshawar on May 8 evening, reports Dawn. According to an official, terrorists hurled grenades at Police when they launched an operation in the locality. Elite Force personnel Misbahullah of Mian Gujar and Wahab Ali of Mashogagar of Badbher were killed and a woman and a child injured. The Police official said an injured intending suicide bomber had been arrested and he had identified himself as Saadat Khan. City Police Chief Liaquat Ali Khan told reporters that another suicide bomber had blown himself up in a house, killing a woman. He said the militant had forced his way into the building after attacking Police, but detonated his suicide vest after police surrounded the house.

At least nine militants were killed and their three hideouts destroyed in an operation by Security Forces in Mamozai and surrounding areas of Orakzai Agency on May 8, reports Daily Times. According to details, SFs engaged the suspected militants in Mamozai and surrounding areas with heavy artillery fire. In SFs’ bombing three hideouts were destroyed resulting in the death of nine militants injury to several others. Sources said that death toll may rise further as many militants were reported buried under the rubble of destroyed hideouts.

Nine militants and three soldiers were killed in a gunfight in Para chamkani area of Kurram Agency on May 10, reports Dawn. According to official sources, militants launched an attack on Security Forces (SFs) in Mohammad Top area early in the morning, killing three soldiers and injuring four others.

At least 15 persons were killed and 20 others were injured when unidentified assailants attacked the convoy of the candidate of PB-28 Syed Khadim Hussain’s nephew in Naseerabad District on May 11, reports The News. The assailants fired several rockets hitting the passenger bus, which was on its way back to drop the supporters, after the polling. Reports suggested that the assailants had taken positions on Naseerabad road and the attackers fired several rockets at the bus as it approached them at around 10:30pm.

Two Policemen were killed and eight other persons were wounded in two separate attacks in Badaber area of Peshawar in the night of May 11, reports The News. Police said a patrolling party of the Badaber Police Station was on a routine duty when two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted on the roadside in Malikhel area was triggered with a remote-control. An assistant sub-inspector Amjad Kamal and a Constable Sohail Khan were killed in the twin blasts while four constables and two civilians were wounded in the attack.

Police arrested alleged Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ‘commander’ and target killer Abid aka Charger and two other militants during a raid on a house in the Bahadur Banda area of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on May 14, reports Central Asia Online. Hand grenades and other weapons were recovered from the possession of the arrested militants, District Police Officer Hangu Sajjad Khan said.

Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) arrested three persons, who were involved in selling explosives to banned-militant outfits, from Pishin town of same District, on May 16, reports Daily Times. According to sources, the three arrested persons carried license to sell explosives to mining companies. The sources said that instead of selling explosives to the mining companies, they were selling it to militants. The Police also recovered 500 kilograms of explosives from their custody.

PAKISTAN

Three persons killed and 40 others injured TTP’s three bomb attacks in Karachi
Three persons were killed and 40 others injured in Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan three bomb attacks on two political parties Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Karachi on April 27, reports Daily Times. TTP targeted MQM unit office in Qasba Colony 2 ½ within Pirabad Police Station limits, killing Aslam Rafiq and injuring at least 25 people. According to eyewitness accounts, in the first attack terrorists on a motorcycle, threw a cracker on a mosque, and as people gathered to take a look, another blast shook the locality. The second bomb was concealed in a pickup van, parked near the MQM unit office. On the other hand, another powerful blast occurred in Kumhar wara, Lyari, during a meeting of the PPP, led by Aziz Memon. When the powerful blast struck, several people including candidate of PS-111 Adnan Baloch, women and children were wounded. The blast claimed two lives, including 5-year-old Muskan and a man Kamran, and injured 15 people.

2 Afghan diplomats among 10 killed in suicide attack in Peshawar
At least 10 persons, including two Afghan diplomats and a journalist, were killed and over 60 others sustained injuries in a suicide attack on the University Road in Peshawar on April 29, reports The News. A suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden motorbike into a Police van, moments after Commissioner Peshawar Sahibzada Mohammad Anis had passed through the area. “Around five kilograms of explosives were planted on the back seat of the motorbike. Ball-bearings were also embedded in the explosive layers to cause more casualties and damage,” Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) Shafqat Malik said.

Those killed in the blast included the Afghan consulate’s Business Attache, Qazi Hilal, and an official of its refugee section, Mohammad Idrees. Qazi Hilal was son of the former deputy leader of Hezb-i-Islami and Afghanistan’s Former Minister for Justice and Communications, Qazi Amin Waqad. A journalist, Arif Shafi, was also among those killed, while another journalist Gohar Ali’s daughter, Ayesha Ali, was wounded.

Conspiracy afoot to bring pro-TTP PM, says Former Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik
Former Federal Minister of Interior Rehman Malik on April 30 said a conspiracy is afoot to break the country by bringing in a pro-Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Prime Minister (PM), reports The Express Tribune. Speaking at a joint press conference with Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Farooq Sattar and Awami National Party (ANP)’s Shahi Syed at MQM headquarters Nine-Zero in Azizabad, a sub-division of Federal B. Area, of Karachi, he, while referring to the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), said “The public wants to know your agreement with the Taliban.” “I had been told that the upcoming elections would be against terrorists. The election is in fact against the anti-Taliban parties,” Malik added. He said that the parties campaigning on the symbol of bat and tiger are actually supporting the Taliban, but they should remember that their parties only exist if the country remains.

2 polling stations blown up in Balochistan
Two schools designated as polling stations for the May 11 elections were blown up in the Nasirabad District on May 1 and 2, reports Dawn. Police sources said that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted in a Government middle school in Tahir Kot area was detonated on May1 and a primary school was blown up on May 2 in a nearby village in Chatter tehsil (revenue unit).

Pakistan Ulema Council challenged TTP for religious debate on ‘sanctity of vote’
Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, taking a taut position again on the ‘Fatwa on sanctity of vote as Islamic duty of every Muslim male and female’ has challenged the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, who are declaring the practice of democratic right of vote in Pakistan as a sin and holding terror attacks in response, for an open debate, Daily Times reported on May 3. Addressing a huge press conference at the Lahore Press Club, the PUC chairman called the TTP for holding a debate with him anywhere and anytime, and to give him a chance to explain the real teaching of Sharia (Islamic ideology) about the sanctity of vote with references from the Holy Quran and Sunnah. In support of his religious stance, Maulana Ashrafi said that casting vote is mandatory in the Islamic Sharia having three aspects – first, it would be used as a testimony second, as a council and third, as an advise. He said that no Muslim, man or women, could avoid it under any circumstances, so stopping the people to use their right to vote was not according to Islam. He also highlighted the issue of TTP barring women to use their right to vote as ‘wrong’ and ‘itself a sin’. He said that it was necessary for women voters that they should be provided an opportunity to cast their votes in separate polling stations, where only female polling staffs were deputed.

FIA prosecutor handling 26/11 Mumbai attack and Benazir Bhutto assassi nation case shot dead in Islamabad
A senior prosecutor handling the 26/11 Mumbai attack case and Benazir Bhutto assassination case was shot and killed by unidentified assailants in the busy commercial area of Karachi Company in Islamabad, the federal capital nation, on May 3 (Today), reports Times of India. Assailants riding a motorcycle fired at the car of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfikar Ali in the busy commercial area of Karachi Company at 7.30am. Ali, who was driving, was hit by several bullets and lost control of the car. The vehicle hit a woman crossing the road and she too died later in hospital. His bodyguard, Frontier Corps trooper Farman Ali, was injured in the attack. The assailants managed to escape after the shooting. Ali was heading for an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi for a hearing of the Bhutto assassination case when he was attacked.

Peshawar-bound Quetta Express train escapes rocket attack in Balochistan
Peshawar-bound Quetta Express train escaped a rocket attack by unidentified assailants in Mach Railway Station of same District, on May 3, reports Daily Times. However, the rockets landed in an open area causing no loss.

Six journalists killed in 2013
A report, ‘Press Freedom Report’, released by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) on May 3 said that at least six journalists have been killed in the line of duty in Pakistan during first four months of 2013, Two of them were purposely targeted and murdered because of their work while remaining four were killed in suicide blasts, reports Daily Times. The report said that 54 journalists were killed in the country during the period of Jan 2002 to Apr 2013. 35 of them were murdered deliberately because of their work, disclosed the Press Freedom. Of the 54 journalists killed in the line of duty during these 12 years, 15 were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 10 from Federally Administrated Tribal Agencies (FATA), 16 from Balochistan, 8 from Sindh, 3 from Punjab and 2 from the federal capital, said the report. Of the 35 journalists murdered since the year 2002 because of their work, 10 were from KP, 10 from Balochistan, five from FATA, six from Sindh, three from Punjab and one from Islamabad. Twenty of them were shot six targeted in suicide attacks, one killed in a bomb blast, while eight abducted before murder, stated the report. Balochistan remained the most dangerous province for journalists in 2013, where four journalists were killed in the line of duty. Many journalists received direct life threats sometimes by security agencies and militants. Cable operators were also forced to shut down channels in 14 Districts of Balochistan after receiving threats from banned groups.

KP approve compensation policy for terror victims
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah on May 3 approved the long-awaited compensation policy for the terrorism-affected people of Federally Administrated Tribal Agencies (FATA), reports Daily Times. Apart from the introduction of financial assistance criteria for the heirs of martyrs, the policy has also determined the compensation amount to help those whose vehicles, houses, shops, plaza, petrol pumps and CNG stations have been destroyed and animals killed. The Police have clearly defined the process for submission of claims and disbursement of the compensation. It merits a mention here that the policy is the first document of its nature in respect of FATA and to materialise it speedily, special efforts are already underway.

According to the details, all Government employees in FATA will get equal treatment and incentives which are already being granted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to compensate the real heirs of those who embrace martyrdom, a communiqué said. Apart from this, in FATA Rs 6,000 will be paid for each sheep and goat killed in both natural calamities and terrorism-related incidents, while Rs 20,000 will be provided for each cow, buffalo, horse, donkey and camel lost. However, the compensation amount in respect of shops, markets, commercial plazas has been bifurcated into two categories, according to which Rs 50,000 have been fixed for kacha shops, while Rs 100,000 will be provided to the affected people for each room of cemented markets.

3 killed and 35 injured injured in twin bomb attacks on MQM office in Karachi
At least three persons were killed and 35 others, including Rangers personnel and children, were injured when two consecutive blasts jolted a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) office near the MQM head office Nine Zero in Karachi (Karachi District), the provincial capital of Sindh, in the evening of May 4, reports Daily Times. According to details, the first bomb exploded at around 8:50pm near the MQM Unit-153 office in Azizabad Block-8. MQM workers were present at party office at the time of blast, which injured several people. Following the first blast, MQM’s supporters, rescue workers and law enforcers rushed to the crime scene and were busy shifting the injured to the hospital when, at around 9:10pm, the second and more intensive blast occurred.

The second blast turned out to be more lethal in terms of casualties, as many party workers, children, journalists, rescue workers, and personnel of law enforcement agencies were injured in the follow-up blast. The victims were shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Sindh Government Hospital and other private hospitals for treatment. Doctors said that three of the injured were death, while more than 30 injured were admitted for treatment. The condition of 15 of the victims was critical, Doctors added. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan ‘spokesman’ Ehsanullah Ehsan has reportedly claimed responsibility for the blasts.

Militants abduct former PM Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son after killing his secretary and a bodyguard in Punjab
Former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son, Ali Haider Gilani (27), was abducted by unidentified assailants on the outskirts of Multan on May 9, reports Daily Times. Officials said his secretary and a bodyguard were killed and four persons were injured. “People came on a motorbike. They also had a car with them and they opened fire and abducted Yousaf Raza Gilani’s son Ali Haider in a black Honda,” Police officer Khurram Shakur told reporters. There was no claim of responsibility for the abduction. Yousaf Raza Gilani alleged that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has abducted his son. “The election is a national obligation and we will not boycott,” he said. “Kidnapping of my son following killing of his secretary in a firing attack is a horrific incident,” he added.

Separately, three Karachi targeted killers were killed by Lahore and Karachi Police in a joint operation in the Satukatla area of Lahore District, on May 9, reports Central Asia Online. Police said that two Policemen also lost their lives during operation.

Peshawar High Court orders shooting down of drones
The Peshawar High Court on May 9 ordered that drones entering Pakistani airspace be shot down, reports Daily Times. In its detailed verdict about drone attacks, the court has said they constitute a violation of international law and the basic human rights and also violate the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan. The court directed the Government to stop drone strikes and contact the International War Crimes Tribunal (IWCT) over the issue. A two-member bench of the PHC headed by Chief Justice Dost Muhammad heard the case against the CIA-led drone strikes in Pakistan. Justice Dost Muhammad said drone attacks should be declared a war crime and issued wide-ranging directives to the Federal Government and Security Forces to ensure halt to such attacks and that included the raising of the issue at the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.

“The drone strikes carried out in the tribal areas (FATA), particularly North and South Waziristan, by CIA and the US authorities, are blatant violation of basic human rights and are against the UN Charter, the UN General Assembly resolution adopted unanimously, the provision of Geneva Conventions and thus, it is held to be a war crime cognizable by the International Court of Justice or Special Tribunal for War Crimes constituted or to be constituted by the UNO for this purpose,” the court ruled.

Chairman of APNA Sardar Arif Shahid killed in Punjab
Chairman of All Parties National Alliance (APNA) Sardar Arif Shahid was killed by two unidentified assailants in Rawalpindi city of same District, on May 13, reports Kashmir Times. His party, Jammu & Kashmir National Liberation Conference has announced three-day mourning across Kashmir.

Military action likely in 29 villages of Kurram Agency of FATA
The Government has formally declared 29 villages in Paracham kani area of Kurram Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) a conflict zone, where, officials say, Security Forces are gearing up for action against militants, Dawn reported on May 16. An official source in FATA Secretariat told Dawn that the office of the FATA secretary (law and order) on May 13 had notified 29 villages of Paracham kani as a conflict zone and that notification had been issued to all authorities concerned.

Meanwhile, Fata Disaster Management Authority (FDMA) in collaboration with the United Nations aid agencies is planning to begin registration of around 5,000 internally displaced families from May 16. Officials said around 6,000 more families would be dislocated from the area in the next few days and the relevant authorities had requested the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to intimate its partners to make all necessary arrangements to provide relief to displaced families. They said the newly-displaced families would be accommodated at New Durrani Camp near Sadda in Kurram Agency, where 3,525 displaced families from central subdivision were already living. Over 180,000 families have already been displaced from different agencies of Fata due to violence and military operation during the last five years.

REGIONAL

Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics

Minor girl killed and 12 injured
A minor girl was killed during a clash between cadres of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), and Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of Awami League (AL) in Satkania sub-District of Chittagong District on April 25, reports UNBconnect. The deceased minor girl is identified as two-and-half-year-old Sukhi. Witnesses said ICS cadres blocked Satkania-Banshkhali road at Adarsha Gram in the District. At one stage, the BCL activists attacked the ICS cadres, triggering a clash. Sukhi died on the spot as a bullet hit her during the clash that also left five people injured.

Meanwhile, at least seven Hefazat-e-Islam (HeI) cadres were injured as AL men attacked them in Jessore District on April 25, reports New Age. The group’s District unit general secretary Maulana Abdul Mannan said that HeI will hold a rally to push for its 13-point demands in the Jessore District on April 27 (today). Abdul Mannan said that they would deploy 313 volunteers for the rally.

Three persons killed and 50 others injured in clash between JeI-AL cadres in Chapai nawabganj District
At least three persons were killed on April 28 in a clash between the Awami League (AL) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) cadres that ensued after a group of JeI cadres attacked an AL meeting at Umarpur village under Shibganj sub-District of Chapai nawabganj District, reports New Age. The deceased were identified as AL activists – Nurshed Ali and Nasir Uddin and JeI cadre Bhabanipur Madrassah. The fierce clash also left at least 50 others injured. During the clash, JeI cadres exploded at least 10 crude bombs and set fire to several houses belonging to AL supporters.

32 killed as HeL cadres enforce their “Dhaka siege” programme across Dhaka City
At least 28 people have died on the second day of street battles between Police and tens of thousands of Hefajat-e-Islam (HeI) cadres in Dhaka city on May 6, reports The Times of India. Police said they used sound grenades, water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse at least 70,000 Islamists who were camped at Motijheel as part of a push for a new blasphemy law. Mozammel Haq, a Police inspector at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said that 11 bodies were brought to the clinic. One victim was a Policeman who had been hacked in the head by protesters with machetes. Eleven other bodies were taken to three other clinics. There was also deadly violence at Kanchpur on the southeastern outskirts of the capital. More than 5,000 Islamists clashed with police and border guards, prompting security forces to respond with live rounds. At least six people were killed there including three Policemen and a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

On May 5, at least four civilians were killed and hundred others injured as HeI cadres enforced their “Dhaka siege” programme across Dhaka City on May 5, reports New Age. Two of the deceased were identified as Siddiqur Rahman and Zubair. Identities of two others could not be known. By evening, the Home Ministry deployed 20 platoons of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and they were patrolling the city. In the night, Police did not allow any kind of gathering at any crossing across the city. Ruling party activists also took to the streets alongside the Police at the instruction of the party high command.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Dr Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir said that the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and its student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) cadres have joined the procession and rally under the garb of the HeI and they have attacked the Police, damaged and burned down public property, reports The Independent. Alamgir told reporters at his secretariat office in Dhaka city “We have talked to the leaders of the HeI and they have confirmed that the people who attacked Police are not their activists.” Later, he claimed that the situation, prevailing in the capital, is under control.

27 killed in clashes between SFs and HeI cadres in Narayanganj, Chittagong and Bagerhat Districts
At least 27 persons, including three Security Forces (SFs), killed in clashes between SFs and Hefajat-e-Islam (HeI) cadres in Narayanganj, Chittagong and Bagerhat Districts on May 6, reports The Daily Star. In Narayanganj District, 20 persons, including two Policemen and a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) soldier, were killed. In Chittagong District, six people were killed and 50 others, including five Policemen, injured. In Bagerhat District, one HeI cadre was killed and at least 20 other persons, including SFs and journalists, were injured during the running battles.

Meanwhile, Police arrested HeI Secretary General Junaid Babunagari at the Dhaka city’s Lalbagh just 45 minutes after its Ameer Shah Ahmad Shafi left Dhaka for Chittagong District. Police said that the HeI leader will be grilled in connection with the recent killings of Policemen and violence by his party cadres.

Further, the Director General of the Islamic Foundation, Shamim M Afzal claimed that the cadres of HeI caused a damage of BDT 15.17 crore to Baitul Mukarram Market during May 5 violence, reports New Age. Talking to reporters on the premises of the Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka, he said they were going to file a case against thousands of unnamed HeI cadres in this connection. Shamim said HeI cadres carried out vandalism at the market and set fire to several shops and one of their buses on May 5.

Separately, HeI claimed that “hundreds of its activists” were killed during the pre-dawn operation of the law enforcers at Motijheel in Dhaka, reports The Independent. In a press statement, 15 high-ranking leaders of the city unit of the Chittagong-based hardline pro-Islamic organization condemned the attack and said it would be treated as the greatest massacre in history. They also claimed that armed cadres of Chhatra League and Juba League, the student and youth wings of the ruling Awami League (AL) were involved in the mayhem at the adjacent areas of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka on May 5.

15 ICS cadres arrested with bombs and explosives in Rajshahi District
Police arrested 15 cadres of Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS) from two messes in Rajshahi city of Rajshahi District and recovered two homemade bombs, 500 grams gunpowder, 100 grams potassium, 100 marbles, four sharp weapons, 40 Jihadi books, and 100 posters from them on May 10, reports The Daily Star. Police said that the arrested ICS cadres are students of the city’s different educational institutions and were involved in recent attacks on Police and planning to commit subversive acts in the city after the death sentence of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) Assistant Secretary General Muhammad Kamaruzzaman by the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) on May 9 for committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 independence war.

Four dead as Islamists seek blasphemy law
Hundreds of thousands of Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law on Sunday, May 6 blocked highways and fought running battles with police, leaving four people dead and hundreds injured in the Bangladeshi capital. At least 100,000 Islamists demanding a new blasphemy law blocked major highways on Sunday cutting off the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka from the rest of the country, police said. Chanting “Allahu Akbar!” (“God is the greatest!”), activists from Hefazat-e-Islam marched down at least six highways, stopping road transport between Dhaka and other cities and towns.

Hefazat held the mass protest to push for a 13-point list of demands which also includes a ban on men and women being able to mix freely together and the restoration of pledges to Allah in the constitution.

The newly created Islamist group is also calling for the death penalty for those who defame Islam. Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of Hefazat activists to disperse them as they entered Dhaka, an AFP photographer at the scene said. There were no reports of injuries.

Ismail Hossain, police chief at Tongi town, which links Dhaka with northern Bangladesh, told AFP that “at least 100,000 Hefazat activists” had been blocking the main highway since dawn. “They are peaceful. We don’t have any report of violence,” he said.

Marchers also blocked highways at Jatrabari and Demra, cutting the city off from the north-east and south-east, including the main port city of Chittagong. The major rally is the latest in a series of mass actions by Hefazat to increase pressure on the government to meet its demands.

India – Internal Dynamics

Manipur Minister’s house attacked by Kuki militants
Newly formed Kuki National Front- Nehlun faction (KNF-N) attacked the official residence of Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Ngamthang Haokip with a hand grenade at around 6.40 pm on April 25, reports Sangai Express. However, the grenade did not explode. ”Publicity Secretary of KNF-N, Gou Vaiphei told The Sangai Express over the phone that the attack was carried out as the Minister turned down the request of the outfit to extend monetary help. The ‘publicity secretary’ further warned that the outfit would not only carry out other attacks in future but also take the life of the Minister if he fails to extend monetary help to the outfit.

8750 kg of ammonia nitrate seized in Rajasthan
8,750 kg of illegal ammonium nitrate were seized on April 22 from Nangal village in Bharatpur District, reports The Times of India. Along with explosives, 25 detonators, 75-meter fuse wires, 21-meter safety fuse wires and five boosters were also recovered. The seizure has again raised the concern over illegal trade of explosives going unabated in the Mewat region.

2 policemen killed and 2 injured in Chhattisgarh
Two Policemen, including a Station House Officer (SHO), were killed in a nearly-hour-long gunfight with Communist Party of India-Maoist after a Police patrol was attacked by the rebels in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker District on April 27, reports The Times of India. The attack took place in a jungle pocket of Kanker. Police said that a team of Police and Border Security Force (BSF) troopers went for conducting a routine search operation in nearby areas. While the team was returning, a group of Maoist rebels hiding in bushes ambushed it at Sakti Ghat. SHO Santosh Ekka and Head Constable Aliram Usendi died on the spot while two other personnel – Ravindra Mandawi and Samaru Ram – were seriously injured.

PLFI cadres kill journalist in Jharkhand
People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist, cadres killed a journalist in Khunti District, on April 27, 2013, reports Zee News. Sub-Divisional Police Officer Aswini Kumar said “Jitendra Kumar Singh, who was working with a Hindi newspaper in Murhu, was gunned down by PLFI activists yesterday at Pasrabeda-Khatanga route under Murhu Police Station.” A note left by the PLFI claimed responsibility for the killing of the scribe.

Two Assam Rifles personnel injured in IED explosion in Manipur
Two Assam Rifles (AR) personnel were injured when three improvised explosive devices (IED), planted at a roadside by unidentified militants, exploded at interior Yairipok area in Imphal East District on April 28, reports Times of India. The three IEDs exploded simultaneously by using remote-controlled device when personnel of 40^th AR battalion were passing through the area. The injured AR troopers were identified as, Anand Singh (Havildar) and Jakir Husain (driver).

Maoists kill BJP leader in Chhattisgarh
A leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was shot dead by Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres in Katekalyan region of Dantewada District on April 29, reports Zee News. Dantewada Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), Rajesh Kukreja said, “The Vice-President of District unit of BJP Shiv dayal Tomar (50) was shot dead by ultras in Kawad village under Katekalyan Police Station area when he had gone to inspect an under-construction bridge there”. A native of Dantewada town, Tomar owned a construction company and took contracts of roads and bridge construction in the region.

MLA escapes IED blast in Manipur
The Sangai Express reports that MK Preshow Shimray, a Member of Legislative assembly (MLA) representing Chingai Assembly Constituency, had an escape when unidentified persons fired and triggered a blast targeted at his convoy near Kuivakazo village in Ukhrul District on April 30 afternoon. A 10-vehicle convoy including the MLA, Autonomous District Council (ADC) Member, Horyaola Vashum and security escorts were reportedly returning from Talui (Tolloi) after attending an ADC Handloom Mela when the attack was launched. After spot inquiry of the incident, Officer in-charge of Ukhrul Police station, P Longpinao told media persons that an IED was exploded by unknown persons, who also fired a shot towards the convoy. This is the second time in recent years that an MLA from Ukhrul District has come under attack from militants. On April 15, 2011, the late MLA from Phungyar Assembly Constituency, Wungnaoshang Keishing was ambushed near New Canaan village under Litan Police Station. Though the MLA escaped unhurt, seven Security Force personnel and a civilian driver were killed in the ambush.

Maoist training camps in 7 Maoist-infested states worry Government
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has raised concern over Communist Party of India-Maoist terror training camps organised to impart military training for new recruits and planning of special operations against Security Forces in at least seven Maoist-infested States, reports The New Indian Express. The Maoist bastion in Dandakaranya forest region extending over an area of 92,300 square km had held maximum number of camps in the last one year. The camps were organised in Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Kanker District in Chhattisgarh and Gadchiroli District of Maharashtra. “In 2012, 26 training camps were reportedly organised in these Districts. During the current year, till April 15, six such training camps have been reportedly organised in these districts,” Minister of State for Home Affairs RPN Singh told Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament) on April 30. Singh said these training camps were an important component of the overall military tactics of the CPI-Maoist. Similar camps are organised in other left wing extremists affected states, including Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Maoists refer to the area as Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ) in their military literature. In the last one year, 14 training camps for ultras were organised in Jharkhand followed by 8 camps in Odisha.

5 persons injured in blast in Manipur
The Sangai Express reports that at least five persons were injured when some unidentified persons attacked a bakery by lobbing an explosive at Chingmeirong Mamang Awang Leikai in Imphal East District on May 3. All the victims belonged to Nagaon in Assam.

Government websites hacked over 1,000 times in past three years, according to Union Minister of State for Home Affairs R.P.N. Singh
Government has taken several steps to protect its websites, but firewalls and other measures did not prevent hackers to hack its websites over 1,000 times since 2010, according to The Times of India. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, R.P.N. Singh on May 7 informed the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) that a total of 303, 308, 371 and 48 Government websites belonging to various ministries and departments were hacked during 2010, 2011, 2012 and up to March 2013, respectively. The minister, in his written reply to a Parliament Question, however, said, “The department of information technology has taken necessary preventive actions to prevent hacking of the government websites/sensitive data”. He shared the hacking data that was compiled by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In).

Maoists kill one trooper and injure three others in Chhattisgarh
Constable Parshu Markam of Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) was killed and three others were injured in an encounter with Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres in Sukma District on May 8, reports NDTV. A senior Police official said over phone, “The incident took place in the jungles of Kistaram Police Station area of the District when the CAF jawans (troopers) were on a combing operation in the region early this morning”. When the patrolling party reached near the forest of Kistaram village, the Maoists opened indiscriminate fire on them, killing one and injuring three others.

2 constables killed in a Maoists attack on Doordarshan tower in Chhattisgarh
Maoists attacked a television tower of public broadcaster Doordarshan, killing two constables and injuring their colleague on May 11 at Maranga in Bastar District, according to The Times of India. The attack comes a day after the Chhattisgarh state government extended its ban on Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its six frontal organisations by another one year under the provisions of Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act-2006.

Separately, Maoists had pasted posters and displayed banners at Geedam in Dantewada District, threatening to eliminate senior Congress leader and former leader of the opposition in the assembly Mahendra Karma, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Dantewada Bhima Mandavi and four others.

4 policemen killed in Chhattisgarh
Four policemen were killed and another was injured in two separate attacks by suspected cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist in Bastar and Sukma Districts of Chhattisgarh on May 12, reports The Hindu.

Maoists kill Salwa Judum leader
On May 12, Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres dragged Banshilal Gota (40), the elder brother of former Salwa Judum (anti-Maoist vigilante group) leader Chinnaram Gota, out of his house, beat him with lathis and then strangled him to death in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh, reports The Times of India. Police said that Banshilal was not associated with the Salwa Judum. Earlier in December 2012, his brother and prominent Salwa Judum leader Chinnaram was shot dead by Maoists in Bijapur. A Police man who was guarding him was also killed in that incident.

Coastal security arrangements in Kerala not up to standard
The coastal security arrangements in Kerala, mainly along Thiruvananthapuram, are not up to standard and cannot effectively thwart possible infiltration bid by terrorists, The Times of India reports on May 13. The drawbacks in the existing coastal security system came to the fore after officers of the Indian Navy, coast guard, Police and other government agencies analyzed the outcome of Gemini-2, the recently concluded second edition of coastal defence drill held for Kerala and Lakshadweep Islands. The drill was anchored by the Indian Navy and coordinated by the joint operations centre at the Southern Naval Command.

A senior officer of Indian Navy commented, “Coastal security arrangements in Lakshadweep Islands are more efficient compared to that in the mainland. The inimical forces found it hard to infiltrate the coasts of Lakshadweep Islands while they managed to get through the coastal belt in mainland, particularly in Thiruvananthapuram…We need to rope in the fishing community living along the coastline. To bring them close to the forces, the agencies are planning to make certain modifications in the format of the exercise.”

ULFA-ATF criticizes Assam Government for honouring film personality Sharmila Tagore
The Anti-Talks faction of United Liberation Front of Asom criticized the Assam Government for conferring the Srimanta Sankardev Award for the year 2008 on to veteran film personality Sharmila Tagore, reports Times of India reported on May 15. In an email statement issued by Arunodoi Asom, ‘publicity secretary’ of (ULFA-ATF/ ULFA-I) said, “Selecting Bollywood actor Sharmila Tagore alias Begum Ayesha Sultana for the prestigious award is an insult to the Vaishnavite saint in whose honour the award was constituted. The actor has made no contribution to spreading the aura and ideologies of the saint. How could Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi select her for the award?”

BSF personnel escapes IED attack
Kanglaonline reports that militants triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion at Wangjing Heitupokpi, 10 kilometres east of the Thoubal Police Station in Thoubal District, at around 4.45pm on May 15, targeting a team of Border Security Force (BSF). However, no BSF personnel sustained injuries in the incident. The IED was planted on the southern portion of the road opposite Okram Leirak between Heirok Part-I and Wangjing Heitupokpi.

Also, a powerful IED was found planted at the roadside of Pukhao-Shantipur under Sagolmang police station of Imphal East District at around 10am. The IED was diffused.

Fatalities
The following deaths related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of terrorism occurred during the period April 26 to May 25, 2013:

	Civilians	Indian Security personnel	Militant	Total
Assam	03	00	00	03
Meghalaya	07	00	01	08
Nagaland	01	00	01	02
Manipur	00	00	02	02
Left wing	38	16	16	70
Total	49	16	20	85

Nepal – Internal Dynamics

Amnesty could undermine peace in Nepal: UN
Nepal risks more bloodshed in the future if a planned panel set up to investigate crimes committed during a decade-long civil war is given the power to offer amnesty, a senior official from the UN human rights agency said on Friday, April 26. The volatile Himalayan nation is still recovering from a brutal civil conflict which ended in 2006 and in which more than 16,000 were killed, hundreds disappeared and thousands injured.

Sabina Lauber, in charge of Nepal at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said giving amnesty to anyone guilty of serious crimes ran counter to Nepal’s obligations to humanitarian law and would deny victims their right to justice. “The state of Nepal has an obligation to investigate the truth and prosecute those responsible for grave human rights violations,” Lauber, on a visit to Nepal, told Reuters. “Amnesty prevents genuine peace and risks new conflict,” she said after a meeting with conflict victims and human rights workers in Kathmandu. “Victims don’t forget these crimes.”

Nepal’s main political parties, including Maoist former rebels, finalised an order last month to set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of a Comprehensive Peace Accord aimed at healing wounds left by the war. As part of a deal, they included a clause allowing the panel to grant amnesty in some cases. Victim groups fear the vague wording is designed to let powerful rights abusers off the hook, possibly even those guilty of serious abuses.

Both the security forces and the Maoists have been accused of human rights violations including unlawful killings, torture and rape during the conflict. The army has promoted suspects while Maoists accused of serious crimes occupy senior positions in the party.

In response to a petition from victims, the Supreme Court has ordered the government not to set up the commission before explaining to the court the decision to include the possibility of amnesty.

As many as 1,606 illegal weapons have been collected from different Districts in the far-west after a second notice was issued calling for submission of illegal weapons to the Police by April 30, reports The Himalayan Times. 1,045 arms were collected from nine Districts – Bajura Kailali, Doti, Achham, Bajhang, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, Darchula, and Baitadi Districts collecting 609, 27, 69, 214, 77, nine, eight, 30, and two respectively. Separately, 503 illegal weapons collected from Dailekh District and 58 weapons from Kapilvastu District.

227 illegal arms collected in Rolpa District
District Police Office in Rolpa District on May 7 said that they have collected 227 illegal weapons since the nationwide arms collection drive began, reports The Himalayan Times. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Saroj Paudel said, “Unauthorised weapons were collected from different Police posts after a public notice was issued urging locals to submit their illegal arms on February 15.” 164 weapons were collected till March 28 and 63 more were collected after the Ministry of Home Affairs extended the deadline till April 28. Locals submitted the illegal arms in their possession after District Administration Office and District Police Office jointly circulated a public notice through different local media and police posts in order to make the District an illegal weapon free zone.

Two bombs recovered
Two bombs have been recovered at Mainaghat-based Saraswati School in the Nawalparasi District on May 9, reports The Himalayan Times. The bombs are planted by an unidentified group targeting a mobile camp of District Administration Office for citizenship distribution and voters’ list collection. Tikaram Wagle, coordinator of the mobile camp, informed slogans demanding dismissal of the Government among others has been written at three muds filled sacks kept few metres away.

SP launches indefinite hunger strike demanding election date in Parsa District
Cadres of Sadbhawana Party (SP) on May 13 launched indefinite hunger strike in Birgunj area of Parsa District demanding that the Government announce the election date immediately, reports Nepalnews.com. The party said the ongoing relay hunger strike has been turned into fast-unto-death after the Government did not respond to its demands, which also includes formation of a commission for fresh delineation of election constituencies. The SP, which is a constituent of the Madhesi Front that is part of the High Level Political Committee (HLPC), has also demanded amendment to the Citizenship Act to make it possible to obtain citizenship cards in mother’s name.

Meanwhile, the Government appealed to the agitating alliance of various 33 parties led by Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist-Baidya) to come to negotiating table without any preconditions, reports Myrepublica.com. The Government also asked all the agitating parties to help in conducting the upcoming election by mid-December. In response to the Government’s invitation for talks, CPN-Maoist-Baidya-led alliance has put forth three conditions including scrapping of the appointment of Lok Man Singh Karki as chief of Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA), scrapping of the 25-point ordinance endorsed by the president to resolve the constitutional difficulties and immediate halt to the citizenship certificates distribution to ‘immigrants’ by birth as preconditions for talks.

Further, the HLPC recommended the Government form a constituency delimitation commission and announces the date for holding fresh Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, reports Kantipuronline.com. The HLPC, comprising top leaders of the four major political forces, decided to hold extensive talks with poll-opposing parties within the next two days and try to bring them on the election track. Committee members said top leaders of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) will hold talks separately with the agitating parties.

Two APF personnel injured in clash with CPN-Maoist-Baidya cadres in Surkhet District
Two Armed Police Force (APF) personnel were injured in a clash with the Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party Nepal-Maoist-Baidya (CPN-Maoist-Baidya) in Mainatada village of Surkhet District on May 15, reports Kantipuronline.com. The clash ensued when APF intervened into the Maoist activists’ bid to disrupt an integrated mobile service camp organized by the local administration at the Village Development Committee (VDC). Eight protesters were arrested in connection with the incident.

Meanwhile, a senior Home Ministry official told on May 15 that the Government has started preparations to declare more than two dozen United Nations (UN) registered weapons belonging to former Maoist combatants as ‘illegitimate’ after stakeholders concerned failed to hand them over within the deadline. The Home Ministry had issued a notice on April 19, asking the ‘concerned individuals’ to submit the 32 weapons used for security of Maoist leaders since 2006 to the Government by May 14. The missing weapons include sophisticated ones like the Israel-made Galil, AK-47, SMG, SLR and Insas rifles. Of the 94 weapons of the erstwhile Maoist army allocated for VVIP security, the Maoist leadership had deposited 62 at the Shaktikhor-based People’s Liberation Army (PLA) cantonment in August 2011.

Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics

Three police officers arrested for a killing attributed to LTTE in 2008
Police on April 30 arrested three Police officers for allegedly killing three civilians in Gomarankadawala village in Trincomalee District in 2008, reports Colombo Page. A confession of a person involved in the murder has led to the arrests. The Police officers included an Inspector, a Sergeant and a Constable. They were arrested from Thambalagamuwa, Serunuwara and Udamaluwa Police Stations of Trincomalee District. Earlier, the Police believed the killings were committed by the Tamil Tiger terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam militants who were active in the area at the time.

National Mine Action Centre said on April 29 that ninety five percent of the Confirmed Hazardous Area has been cleared of mines and an area of 96 kilometers remains to be cleared at the end of March 2013, reports Daily News. A total of 1,968,369,553 square kilometers have been completely cleared of mines in the North, Eastern and North Central Provinces during the last four years. In June 2009, a month after the defeat of LTTE, the government with the support of donor communities such as, US, Australia, Japan, China, India, European Union (EU) etc, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), national and international mine action operators implemented a comprehensive and rapid de-mining programme to clear the affected areas estimated to be 2,064 square kilometers.

SL acting harsher on critics
The Sri Lankan government is intensifying a crackdown on critics by sanctioning abuses often committed by security forces or their proxies, Amnesty International said on Tuesday, April 39. Journalists, the judiciary, human rights activists and opposition politicians are among those targeted in a pattern of threats, harassment, imprisonment and violent attacks, the report said. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government promotes an official attitude that equates opposition with treason, the human rights group said.

The Sri Lankan government gave no immediate comment on the report, but it has previously rejected similar accusations.

A constitutional amendment pushed through by Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition in 2010 boosted the president’s control over the judiciary, police and elections officials, while eliminating term limits for the presidency. At the same time, government critics have been harassed, attacked and sometimes killed, Amnesty said, detailing dozens of such cases, both before and after 2009.

Amnesty also said the government undermined the judiciary’s independence ‘by making threats against judges who rule in favour of victims of human rights violations.’

In January, Parliament impeached Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake while not complying with court orders that called into question the fairness of the process. Rajapaksa appointed a close aide as the new chief justice.

Amnesty also cited intimidation against journalists. The report said at least 15 have been killed since 2006 and others were forced to flee the country. While much of Sri Lankan media is firmly in the hands of the government, authorities have targeted independent outlets that have criticised government policies or conduct.

Two weeks ago, the Tamil language Uthayan newspaper in the former war zone said it was attacked by armed men who set fire to printing machines and newspapers that were ready for distribution. It was the second attack in a month, and publisher E. Saravanapavan suspected that the attack was carried out by the military or a paramilitary group due to a report that criticised the military.

The government, however, said the attack was orchestrated by the newspaper itself to embarrass the government.

TNA plans to file 5000 cases demanding land in the North
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M. A. Sumanthiran on May 2 said that TNA is planning to file a large number of cases demanding the lands taken over by the military for security purposes from Northern Province, reports Colombo Page. He said that they would file a case in Colombo against the acquisition, later this week, and appealed to people to file at least 5,000 cases in various courts.TNA had reportedly summoned the people, who make claims for land supposedly taken over by the military, to provide them legal assistance to file the cases. TNA and other Tamil groups say that 6,000 acres of land are taken over by military for the High Security Zones.

JVP asks government to repeal the PTA
Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) says the Government should take steps to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), reports Colombo Page. JVP Propaganda Secretary and parliamentarian Vijitha Herath said that the PTA is a draconian piece of law that needs to be repealed. Pointing out that the Government has used the PTA as a tool to suppress dissent before Herath said the Act could be misused to detain people during the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections to silence political dissent. The JVP, according to Herath, would campaign to demand the Government to repeal the PTA. He noted that the leader of the Muslim Tamil National Alliance, Azath Sally is the latest victim of the PTA. Sally was arrested under Section 120 of the Penal Code and provisions under the PTA for violating clause 21 of the PTA.

6 army personnel injured in accidental explosion
On May 7, at least six Army personnel sustained injuries following an accidental explosion in Oddusuddan town of Mullaitivu District, reports Colombo Page. According to the Army spokesman, preliminary investigations have revealed that a stock of detonators hidden by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had exploded when a soldier dug the ground for the construction work.

Meanwhile, the Government ruled out the possibility of repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) despite requests by opposition political parties, reports Daily Mirror. In response to a question by Opposition United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne told Parliament that though the LTTE was militarily defeated, there were attempts to revamp the organisation in different parts of the world. The Prime Minister said the provisions of the PTA were required to deal with the discovery of weapon hauls hidden by the LTTE. He said the PTA was needed to take action with regard to LTTE suspects who did not surrender after the war ended in 2009.

TNA on the verge of split
Sri Lanka’s Tamil political sources say that several parties in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) are planning to register the TNA without the support of the major Tamil party Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK), reports Colombo Page on May 8. ITAK also known as Federal Party says the TNA could not be registered due to legal barriers. However, the other parties in the alliance are mounting pressure on the ITAK to formally establish the alliance. Sources say that there is a division among the ITAK and the former militant parties, Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) led by MP Suresh Premachandran, Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) led by MP Selvam Adaikalanathan and People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) led by former MP D. Siddarthan which have joined hands to register the TNA. The parties have also joined with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree. Political analysts say that there is a possibility of these parties contesting separately as TNA under TULF, unless TNA would not be recognized before the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) election scheduled for September.

INTERNATIONAL

Jordanians protest US troop deployment
Jordanian protesters torched a US flag at a demonstration in Amman on Friday, April 26 against an American troop deployment in Jordan in connection with the war in neighbouring Syria as hundreds also rallied in other cities. An AFP photographer said about 400 people took to the streets of the old city of Amman after weekly Muslim prayers chanting: “We don’t want to see American” soldiers in our country.

The demonstrators set off from the Al-Husseini mosque in a protest organised by opposition leftist parties and youth groups, carrying signs that read: “The (Jordanian) Arab army protects us” and “US presence undermines national sovereignty.”

Some demonstrators set on fire a US flag before the rally broke off into two groups, one heading towards the royal palace that overlooks downtown Amman, while the other marched on the main square outside city hall.

Similar protests were held in the northern city of Irbid and in Zarqa, east of the capital, a stronghold of Islamists, where demonstrators chanted: “America is the head of the snake” and “Syria free, free. America out”, witnesses said.

Nearly 100 Gitmo inmates on hunger strike
More prisoners have joined a hunger strike to protest their indefinite detention at the US-run Guantanamo military prison, with 97 out of 166 detainees refusing food, a spokesman said on Friday, April 26. Among the strikers, 19 have been given feeding tubes, and five of those are hospitalized but do not have life-threatening conditions, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel House said in a statement.

The rapidly growing protest movement began on February 6, lawyers for the detainees said. Prison authorities began releasing figures on the strike on March 11, saying nine inmates were participating.

Lawyers for the detainees say the official numbers are too low and that around 130 inmates are observing the hunger strike. The strikers are protesting their incarceration without charge or trial at Guantanamo in the 11 years since the prison went into use for terror suspects detained in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The hunger strikes began when inmates claimed prison officials searched their copies of the Holy Qur’an for contraband. Officials have denied any mishandling of Islam’s holy book.

“The illegal detentions without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay have gone on for more than a decade with no end in sight, so it’s not surprising that detainees feel desperate,” said Laura Pitter, counterterrorism advisor at Human Rights Watch.

Russia detains 140 Muslims at prayer room
Russian law enforcement officers detained 140 people at a Muslim prayer room in Moscow on Friday, April 26 as part of a search for Islamist militants, Russian news agencies quoted Federal Security Service (FSB) officials assaying.

FSB and Federal Migration Service officers took the detainees, including more than 30 foreigners, to police stations near the site in southern Moscow, state-run RIA cited the FSB’s Moscow branch as saying.

There was no indication of any link to the April 15 attack at the Boston Marathon, in which US authorities believe two ethnic Chechen brothers with roots in Russia’s North Caucasus set off bombs that killed three people and wounded 264. President Vladimir Putin said in a television appearance on Thursday that the Boston bombings justified his tough line against militants in the North Caucasus and that Russia and the United States must step up cooperation against militants.

RIA reported that law enforcement authorities said some people who had been at the prayer room in the past had joined an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus.

But government critics say such raids are aimed largely at flushing out illegal migrants from the ex-Soviet republics of the South Caucasus and Central Asia, and to show that the authorities are taking action against Islamists.

Erdogan hails Kurd rebel pullout as end of ‘dark era’ for Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday, April 28 hailed the planned withdrawal of Kurdish rebel fighters from Turkey as the end of a “dark era” but warned against potential sabotage of a historic peace process. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which seeks autonomy for Turkey’s Kurdish southeast, on Thursday ordered its fighters in Turkey to begin withdrawing to its main base in the mountains of northern Iraq under a carefully choreographed peace plan.

The withdrawal, due to begin on May 8, follows months of negotiations between Turkish intelligence officers and Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK’s jailed leader, to try to end hostilities after the bloodiest fighting in a decade erupted in June 2011. More than 40,000 people, mainly Kurds, have died in the conflict since 1984. “The door is closing on a dark era. Turkey is changing its ill fortune and is entering a new phase,” Erdogan told a business group in comments broadcast live by state television, his first since the withdrawal was announced. “No one should try to pull this process in a different direction,” he added. “We remain vigilant against sabotage, against provocations, but today we are much more hopeful, determined and optimistic.” Some 2,000 PKK rebels are set to retreat in small groups in a process that will take months and is to be monitored by Turkish intelligence on one side and the Kurdish regional government in Iraq on the other.

The withdrawal is a significant advance in a process offering the best chance in more than a decade of ending a conflict that has blotted Turkey’s human rights record and stunted economic growth.

Yet nationalists have slammed the jailhouse negotiations with Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence for treason, arguing that it means surrender to the demands of “terrorists”. Others have asked what the government has promised Ocalan in return for a PKK withdrawal. Erdogan’s government is now expected to tackle some of the political reforms sought by Kurds, including constitutional changes on citizenship, changes to anti-terrorism laws and broader Kurdish cultural and political rights.

Since sweeping to power 10 years ago, Erdogan has ushered in major changes for Turkey’s estimated 14 million Kurds, especially in allowing more use of the Kurdish language, which was completely banned until two decades ago. But his government has also clamped down on Kurdish political activity, jailing thousands of elected officials, journalists, academics, activists and others from the main Kurdish opposition during trials that are taking years to complete.

Syria rejects US, UK claims on chemical arms
Syria dismissed as a “barefaced lie” on Saturday, April 27 American and British claims it may have used chemical arms, as staunch ally Russia warned against using such fears to launch a military intervention in the strife-torn country.

“First of all, I want to confirm that statements by the US secretary of state and British government are inconsistent with reality and a barefaced lie,” Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi said in an interview published on the Kremlin-funded Russia Today’s website. “I want to stress one more time that Syria would never use it — not only because of its adherence to the international law and rules of leading war, but because of humanitarian and moral issues,” Zohbi said.

“We do not trust the American and British experts from a political point of view,” Zobhi said. “We also do not trust their qualifications. Their aim is to juggle with facts.” But he said Syria would accept Russian inspectors. “We won’t mind if Russians would be among the experts; quite the contrary, we only welcome this idea. We are quite sure in their high qualification and ability to clearly see into such matters,” he was quoted as saying. Along with China, Russia has blocked several UN Security Council draft resolutions threatening sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

US President Barack Obama warned Syria on Friday that using chemical weapons would be a “game changer,” after the US, Israel and Britain cited signs that Assad’s regime attacked with the deadly agent sarin. But Obama said Washington must act prudently, and establish exactly if, how and when such arms may have been used, promising a “vigorous” US and international probe into the latest reports.

The spectre of the invasion of Iraq and subsequent conflict, which killed tens of thousands of Iraqis, looms large.

Yemeni intelligence military official killed
Two suspected Islamist militants shot dead a provincial military intelligence chief in Yemen on Saturday, April 27 a security official said, the latest in a series of assassinations in the impoverished state’s lawless south and east.

The gunmen opened fire from a motorbike, killing Colonel Ahmed Abdulrazzaq, intelligence head in Yemen’s Hadramawt Province, outside his home in Mukalla on the Arabian Sea.

Stability in Yemen is seen as important beyond the country’s own borders because of its location next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and international shipping routes. It is also home to al- Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which Washington says is the movement’s most dangerous arm.

Around 60 military and security officials have been assassinated in southern and eastern Yemen in the past two years after an Islamist insurgency sprang up. Militants allied to al-Qaeda took advantage of Yemen’s political chaos and splits in the military during mass Arab Spring protests to seize control of some southern cities.

Car bombs, shootings kill 23 across Iraq
At least 23 people were killed in Iraq on Monday, April 29 in a series of car bombs and militant attacks, medics and police sources said, taking the week’s death toll to nearly 200 as sectarian violence intensifies.

Clashes have increased as the civil war in Syria puts strain on fragile relations between Sunnis and Shias. The tensions are at their highest in Iraq since US troops pulled out more than a year ago.

The latest bout of blood-letting began when security forces raided a Sunni protest camp near Kirkuk last week triggering clashes that quickly spread to other Sunni areas including the western province of Anbar, which borders Syria and Jordan. Iraq decided on Monday to close a border crossing with Jordan for two days starting on Tuesday due to “organisational issues”, the interior minister said without giving any details. It is the second time this year that authorities have ordered the closure of the Traibil border post in Anbar where Sunnis have been protesting against the government since December. The demonstrations had eased in the past month, but this week’s army raid on a protest camp in Hawija, near Kirkuk, 170-km north of Baghdad, angered Sunnis and appears to have given insurgents more momentum.

Early on Monday, at least nine people were killed and 40 wounded in two car bomb explosions in Amara, 300-km southeast of Baghdad. The first of two blasts in Amara, ripped through a market where people were meeting to eat breakfast, and the second hit an area where day labourers were gathering to look for work. Another car bomb was detonated in a market in Diwaniya, 150-km south of Baghdad, killing two people, police said.

Wave of Iraq violence kills 460 in April
Violence in Iraq rose sharply in April, killing 460 people according to AFP figures, as May started off with attacks that left 13 people dead Wednesday, May 1 including six police and four anti-Qaeda fighters.

The majority of the April deaths came during a wave of unrest that began near the end of the month when security forces moved on Sunni anti-government protesters in north Iraq, sparking clashes that killed 53 people. Dozens more people died in subsequent violence that included revenge attacks on security forces, raising fears of a return to the all-out sectarian conflict that cost tens of thousands of lives in Iraq from 2006 to 2008. The demonstrations erupted in Sunni areas of Shiite-majority Iraq more than four months ago.

Protesters have called for the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shiite, and railed against authorities for allegedly targeting their community with wrongful detentions and accusations of involvement in terrorism. Unrest in April also wounded 1,219 people, according to the AFP figures, which are based on reports from security and medical sources.

Among the dead in April were 54 police, 53 soldiers, 14 Sahwa anti-Qaeda militiamen, and two members of the Kurdish security forces. The wounded included 171 police, 76 soldiers, eight Sahwa fighters and five Kurdish security forces members. The majority of the rest of those killed and wounded in April were civilians, although the figures also include some gunmen who died or were injured in clashes with security forces. In March, 271 people were killed and 906 wounded in violence, though those figures only included security forces and civilians. The month of May began with more deadly attacks.

The wave of unrest at the end of April raised fears in Iraq of a return to sectarian conflict. Maliki has warned of “those who want to take the country back to sectarian civil war,” and also said that sectarian strife “came back to Iraq because it began in another place in this region,” an apparent reference to Syria. The civil war in neighbouring Syria pitting mainly Sunni Muslim rebels against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam, has killed more than 70,000 people.

62 bodies found in Syria’s Banias
The bodies of at least 62 murdered residents have been found in a Sunni neighbourhood of the Syrian city of Banias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday, May 4. The latest incident was condemned by the opposition Syrian National Coalition, which said reports of several mass killings in the area raised the spectre of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

On Thursday, the Observatory said at least 50 people had been killed in the Sunni village of Bayda, south of the coastal city. “Witnesses from the village say no less than 50 civilians were killed, including women and children,” the group said. “Some were summarily executed, shot to death, stabbed or set on fire.”

After the deaths, which were reported on Friday, regime forces began shelling several Sunni neighbourhoods of Banias, prompting residents to flee the area early on Saturday.

The Syrian National Coalition condemned “a proliferation of massacres that is transforming into an ethnic cleansing operation like that carried out by Serbian forces in Bosnia 20 years ago.” The conflict in Syria has claimed more than 70,000 lives, according to the United Nations, with numerous incidents of mass killings reported in more than two years of fighting.

On Saturday, the United States said it was “appalled” by the reported killings in Bayda. “The United States is appalled by horrific reports that more than 100 people were killed May 2 in gruesome attacks on the coastal town of Bayda, Syria,” the US State Department said in a statement.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this tragedy.” Banias has a small majority of Sunni residents, but is situated in the predominantly Alawite region of Tartus.

Egypt mob lynches teenage son of an Islamist leader
An angry Egyptian mob has lynched the teenage son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, accusing him of killing a man over Facebook comments critical of the Islamist movement, security sources said Saturday, May 4. The violence that took place on Thursday in the Nile Delta was the latest in a spate of vigilante killings in the region amid growing lawlessness since the 2011 revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak. Yussef Rabie Abdessalam, 16, pulled out a gun and opened fire indiscriminately, killing a passerby and wounding another after a heated argument with a man who had openly criticised the influential Brotherhood on the Internet, the sources said.

His action sparked fury in Qattawiya, a village in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, where Yussef’s father, Rabie Abdessalam is an official at the local branch of the Justice and Freedom Party, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood of President Mohamed Mursi. An angry mob surrounded the Abdessalam house seeking revenge, but the family refused to give Yussef up and hurled stones from inside the residence at the protesters. A man outside the house was fatally wounded. Police tried in vain to contain the violence and attempted to evacuate the Abdessalam family but the mob set fire to the house and in the confusion grabbed Yussef and lynched him.

The mob beat him up “and dragged him across 500 metres (yards) to his death,” the Freedom and Justice Party said on its Facebook page. “This is not a political incident,” the Islamist party said, calling on all sides to show restraint.

39 die in Nigerian religious violence
Thirty-nine people died and 30 were injured in fierce fighting between Christian and Muslim mobs in central Nigeria’s Taraba state on Saturday, May 4 prompting a round-the-clock curfew, police said.

Scores of houses were set ablaze and destroyed during the clashes in the town of Wukari which come amid a surge in religious violence in the west African nation.

“We have so far compiled a death toll of 39 people while 30 others were seriously injured,” state police spokesman Joseph Kwaji told AFP on Saturday. Local residents told AFP that the death toll could rise.

“Thirty-two houses have also been destroyed in the violence,” Kwaji said of the unrest which has prompted authorities to impose an indefinite all-round curfew in the predominantly Christian city. He added that 40 suspects were arrested in the aftermath of the violence. State information commissioner Emmanuel Bello said that extra troops were deployed to the city on Saturday to bolster security.

“We have deployed more troops today to Wukari to ensure that the situation, which has been brought under control, is strengthened,” he told AFP.

The police spokesman Kwaji said Friday’s violence erupted when the funeral procession of a traditional chief from the predominantly Christian Jukun ethnic group marched through a Muslim neighbourhood chanting slogans, which Muslims viewed as an act of provocation.

Libya adopts law barring Qadhafi-era officials
Libya’s General National Congress, under pressure from militiamen, on Sunday (May 5) voted through a controversial law to exclude former regime officials from government posts, a move that could see the premier removed from office. Gunmen who had surrounded the foreign and justice ministries to press for officials from the dictator Moamer Qadhafi’s regime who hold top government jobs to be sacked welcomed the vote and lifted their siege. State television broadcast live coverage showing 164 lawmakers in the 200-member GNC vote in favour of the law with just four deputies present voting against.

Under the law, all those who held key official posts from September 1, 1969 when Qadhafi took power, until the fall of his regime in October 2011 will be excluded from government, but it was not immediately clear for how long. An earlier draft bill seen by AFP said the ban would last five years, but later GNC sources said it could be up to 10 years before it is lifted. The proposal for the law caused a stir among Libya’s political elite, as senior members of the government could be affected, including Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and GNC president Mohamed Megaryef. Both were diplomats under Qadhafi before joining the opposition in exile. Fifteen lawmakers also risk loosing their jobs once the GNC’s legal commission ratifies the law, including the vice president of the national assembly Jomaa Atiga, an official said.

Megaryef, who was ambassador to India in the 1980s, was not present for the vote and sent the GNC a letter saying he would stay away to avoid “embarrassing” the lawmakers as they cast their ballots. A special commission will now be set up to implement the new law which also affects former government ministers, ambassadors, security officers as well as state media officials, public university professors and union leaders.

The gunmen, many former rebels who helped topple Qadhafi, had encircled the foreign ministry for a week and the justice ministry since Tuesday to pressure the national assembly to pass the law. They vowed to stand their ground and expand their action unless their demands were satisfied, and warned against any GNC attempt to make exceptions to allow key individuals to keep their jobs.

Vice president Salah al-Makhzum said last week that a compromise had been reached among the political blocs by adding “exceptions” in the bill in order to retain key individuals. Before Sunday’s vote the GNC, Libya’s national assembly and top political body, had debated the law several times without reaching an agreement. The bill proved particularly controversial with the National Forces Alliance, the liberal coalition that dominated elections in July, who feared it was aimed at their leader Mahmud Jibril who headed an economic council under Qadhafi.

Human Rights Watch had warned the GNC against a hasty vote. “The GNC should not allow itself to be railroaded into making very bad laws because groups of armed men are demanding it,” Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at HRW, said in a statement on Saturday.

Saudis held over Tanzania bombing
Tanzanian police arrested six people on Monday, May 6 including Saudi nationals over a deadly bombing at a church mass that President Jakaya Kikwete described as an “act of terrorism”. Two people were killed and 64 wounded in the attack on the church in the northern town of Arusha on Sunday, officials said, one of the first such incidents in Tanzania.

“This is an act of terrorism perpetrated by a cruel person or group who are enemies of the country,” Kikwete said in a statement. Four of those arrested are from Saudi Arabia and two from Tanzania, with police hunting for more suspects, officials said.

Officials have given no indication as to who might have carried out the attack, but tensions have been high between Tanzania’s Christian and Muslim communities in recent months.

“Investigations are ongoing,” Arusha’s commissioner Magesa Mulongo said, adding that the four Saudis arrested had arrived at Arusha airport on Saturday. The two Tanzanians arrested were Christian, he added, but gave no further details.

Internal Affairs Minister Emmanuel Nchimbi told parliament that police and army explosives experts were examining the blast site.

“Preliminary investigations show that the bomb was thrown into the church compound, but we don’t know its nature,” Nchimbi said, adding that there were “indications that more people are involved”.

Bahrain lawmakers spurn US envoy
Bahraini lawmakers have urged the government to stop the US ambassador in Bahrain from “interfering in domestic affairs” and meeting government opponents, newspaper reports and a lawmaker in the US-allied Gulf state said on Monday, May 6. The reports said the government had agreed to the proposal and would take diplomatic measures, but it was not immediately clear what those steps would entail. The decision highlights the sensitivity in relations between the strategic allies, particularly in the wake of Bahrain’s displeasure about a US State Department report which was critical of the Gulf Arab country’s government.

Pro-government daily Akhbar al-Khaleej reported that a cabinet session had agreed to the parliamentary proposal, which also called for the government to stop the ambassador, Thomas Krajeski, attending “repeated meetings with those who inspire sedition”, an apparent reference to the opposition. Asked to comment, Information Minister Samira Rajab told Reuters without elaborating: “We affirm that nothing will affect the presence of the US ambassador in Bahrain”.

Bahrain, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet, is ruled by the al-Khalifa family which crushed a pro-democracy demonstrations that began in February 2011. At least 35 people were killed in the unrest, though the opposition says the number is higher. Lower-level unrest has since continued.

Under criticism from human rights groups, the government invited an independent inquiry to examine its handling of the trouble. Its report said the authorities had used widespread and excessive force, including torture to extract confessions.

The US State Department report from last month said the government had failed to implement the most important recommendations detailed in that report, a finding rejected by the Bahraini government.

A Bahraini lawmaker who declined to be named confirmed news of the parliamentary proposal and echoed displeasure with the State Department report. “The US ambassador has a lot of interference in Bahrain and in the politics of the Bahraini emirate, since he is in constant contact with the opposition,” the lawmaker told Reuters, speaking by telephone from Manama. “The people were very upset. The public in Bahrain were very upset … The report wasn’t even,” he said.

The US Embassy in Bahrain declined to comment. In Washington, a US State Department spokesman had no comment, saying it was not aware of any new legislation or proposal.

Key powers urge Assad to step down
Major Powers urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday, May 22 to commit to peace and step down as they gathered in neighbouring Jordan to discuss preparations for a Russian- and US-proposed peace conference. Ahead of a meeting of the Friends of Syria group in Amman, US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Assad to make a “commitment to find peace” after more than two years of conflict that have killed more than 94,000 people. But he said that “in the event that we can’t find that way forward, in the event that the Assad regime is unwilling to negotiate… in good faith, we will also talk about our continued support and our growing support for the opposition to permit them to continue to be able to fight for the freedom of their country.” Britain and Qatar urged Assad to step down.

Representatives of the Syrian opposition on Tuesday demanded international guarantees that Assad would step down as part of any peace deal and have no further stake in Syria’s future.

The foreign ministers of Britain, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United States are attending the meeting in the Jordanian capital.

The United States and Russia, which back opposite sides in the conflict, earlier this month proposed a peace conference dubbed Geneva 2 to bring together rebels and representatives of Assad’s regime.

The aim of the conference, Hague stressed, would be to agree on the formation of “a transitional government with full executive authority, formed on the basis of mutual consent.” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius agreed. “There are some conditions and in particular conditions about participation, which must be representative and which must not include countries which are against success,” he told reporters in Amman, in an apparent allusion to Assad ally Iran.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile hailed the Assad regime’s “constructive reaction” to the conference as he welcomed Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Muqdad in Moscow. But Lavrov said the initiative was being “undermined” by the actions of the opposition in Syria.

Current Threat Levels:

City/Region	Threat	Level
Islamabad	Level 2	**
Karachi	Level 2	**
Lahore	Level 2	**
Punjab	Level 2	**
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa	Level 3	***
Peshawar	Level 2	**
Quetta	Level 2	**
Upper Balochistan	Level 3	***
Lower Balochistan	Level 2	**
Upper / Rural Sindh	Level 2	**
Gilgit and Northern areas	Level 3	***
Tribal areas, close to Afghan border	Level 3	***

Index to Threat Level Perceptions
Threat Level 1 *
Indicates there is no threat to foreigners although there may be isolated incidents involving petty crime. No security precautions are required

Threat Level 2 **
Indicates there is no specific threat to foreigners; however because of the overall general law & order situation, some security precautions are advised if traveling.

Threat Level 3 ***
Indicates that law and order situation is cause for concern and travel should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Level dictates that foreigners should rehearse plans for evacuation.

Threat Level 4 ****
Indicates complete breakdown of civil administration and law & order leading to anarchy. All foreigners advised to remain indoors and confined to their own city. Families and staff not required to be evacuated retaining only a skeleton staff.

Threat Level 5 *****
Indicates complete breakdown of law and order, enemy action/hostilities, invasion /occupation by enemy.