Terrorist Activities in Pakistan
Suicide Attacks
A suicide bomber, identified as Mohammad Asif, denoted his vest when Security Forces (SFs) arrested him while he was travelling in a bus on Main Grand Trunk (GT) Road near Rawalpindi District on January 20, reports Dawn. Earlier it was reported that a Police constable, identified as Shahid, was injured while foiling the terror bid. Officials of Law Enforcement Agencies and Police on January 21 were trying to unscramble a code which was found scribbled on a piece of paper recovered from the pocket of the suicide bomber. The man got off a bus and blew himself up with a hand grenade when the bus was stopped at a Police picket on GT Road near Mughal Garden in Wah. The piece of paper with the number 21110 written on it was recovered from him along with PKR 7,000 in cash, a pair of sunglasses and two pieces of clothing.
A Police investigator said that officials from different agencies have joined hands with police to crack this code. They believe that this number could be a code for a possible target – a place or a person. The investigator said that the officials are trying to solve the mystery with the help of information which has already been gathered from terrorists in Police custody. Asif hailed from Fateh jang tehsil (revenue unit) of Attock District. Police sources said some of his family members had been picked up and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Police are also interrogating the bus driver, a resident of Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and his Afghan assistant.
Bomb/IED Blasts
One Security Force personnel was killed while two others were severely injured on December 30 in two separate Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts in Qandharo area of Safi tehsil (revenue unit) in Mohmand Agency. An official of the political administration in Ghallanai said that a couple of security officials were bringing water back from a nearby spring when an IED went off near them. Following this, the SFs launched a search operation in the area. Meanwhile, another IED planted in the locality also exploded, killing Lance Naik Gulzar Khan on the spot. Jama’at-ul-Ahrar (JuA) claimed responsibility for the blast.
A Frontier Corps (FC) official was killed and three others injured after their vehicle was bombed at the Harnae Phatak close to Police Line in Sibi town of same District in Balochistan in the morning of January 1.
The Ghizer Police on January 2 defused an eight kilogram bomb planted on a road leading to the home of the Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Peer Karam Ali Shah, reports Dawn. A Police source said that Governor Peer Karam Shah usually used the road to go his home situated at Chatorgan in Ghizer District. The Police official said that the Ghizer District was a peaceful place and that the incident was first of its kind in the area.
An unidentified man was killed in a bomb blast in Musa Colony on Sariab Road in Quetta on January 5, reported Dawn.
A polio worker, identified as Sanab Gul, was injured in a remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Chamarkand area of Safi tehsil (revenue unit) in Mohmand Agency on January 5, reported Dawn.
Separately, a Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) was injured while defusing a bomb in Soran area of Bezai tehsil in Mohmand Agency on January 5, reports Dawn.
Four Security Force (SF) personnel were killed and two others injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion apparently targeting the vehicle of SFs in Lower Kurram Agency on January 8, reports Daily Times. According to security officials, three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel and one Levies Force personal lost their lives in the blast.
Eight persons were killed and 25 others wounded in a bomb blast on Imambargah (Shia place of worship) Aun Muhammad Rizvi at Chittian Hattian locality of Rawalpindi city of Punjab on January 9, reports The News. The blast occurred at a time when a Mehfil-e-Milad to celebrate the birth of the holy Prophet (Peace Be upon Him) was in progress at the Imambargah. The Police earlier claimed it was a suicide attack but later the Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Rawalpindi Akhtar Laleka said that blast was not a suicide attack. Around 4-5 kilo explosive were planted in a Nullah outside the Imambargah.
An employee of the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) was injured in a blast in Tajaban area of Kech District in Balochistan on January 10, reports Dawn. Security officials said the blast occurred near a vehicle of FWO personnel when they were working on the under-construction Gwadar-Turbat-Reto-Dero national highway.
Separately, one person sustained injuries in a landmine blast in Jori area of Dera Bugti District on January 11, reports Daily Times. As per details, the blast took place when one farmer, who was watering the fields, put unconsciously his foot on the landmine injuring him.
Unidentified miscreants blew up an 18-inch gas pipeline near Dera Murad Jamali in Naseerabad District on January 23, reported Dawn. The explosion caused suspension of gas supply from Sui to Uch Power Plant.
Separately, unidentified militants blew up a 6-inch gas pipeline in Sohbatpur area of Jaffarabad District suspending gas supply to different villages on January 23, reports Dawn. No outfit claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Meanwhile, Rawalpindi-bound Jaffar Express escaped a bomb blast in the 13 Mile area of provincial capital Quetta on January 23, reported Dawn. However, no casualties were reported.
Targetted Killings
Two men, identified as Shahid and Irfan were shot dead by unidentified armed assailants near Nasir Colony in Korangi Town of provincial capital Karachi on December 29, reports Daily Times.
Separately, a man, identified as Hazrat Iqbal was shot dead near Mauripur Road in Macchar Colony of Kiamari Town on December 29, reported Daily Times.
In another incident, one Mahir was shot dead near Singo Lane in Lyari Town on December 29, reports Daily Times.
Levies personnel on December 30 recovered three bullet-riddled dead bodies from Mand area of Turbat District, reports Dawn. “The victims had received multiple bullet wounds,” said Levies sources, adding that the victims were shot from a close range. Two of the victims were identified as Waleed Chakar and Muhammad Raheem Shahmurad.
A tortured dead body of a Shia man, identified as Sikandar Rizvi (40) was found from Hub River Road in Mawach Goth area of Baldia Town in Karachi on December 30, reports Daily Times.
Separately, a man, identified as Muhammad Ismail (30), was shot dead and another man, identified as Muhammad Akbar (40), sustained injuries near Khayaban-e-Badiban DHA Phase-4 in Saddar Town on December 30, reports Daily Times.
In another incident, one Naseer (40) was shot at and injured by unidentified armed assailants near Johar Morr in Gulistan-e-Jauhar area of Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town on December 30, reports Daily Times.
Awami National Party’s (ANP) District West President, Haji Saifullah Afridi was killed in a targeted attack while he was on his way home from the mosque in Ittehad Town of Baldia Town in Karachi on January 5, reported The Nation. ANP’s Provincial The law enforcers believe that the militants from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)-Swat Chapter, who were also involved in previous attacks and killings on the ANP leaders and workers in Karachi, were behind Afridi’s killing..
Separately, a man, identified as Nazeer (30), alias Siraiki was shot dead in Mawach Goth within the jurisdiction of Mochko Police Station in Baldia Town on January 5, reported The Nation. According to Police, three gangsters, identified as Imran, Yasir and Arafat, affiliated with Kamu group of Uzair Baloch group, called the victim outside his home, shot him multiple times and escaped from the scene.
In another incident, an unidentified man was shot dead in Baghdadi area of Lyari Town on January 5, reported The Nation.
Three bullet riddled bodies were found at a graveyard in Qandhari area of Safi tehsil (revenue unit) in Mohmand Agency on January 6, reports Dawn. The political administration shifted the bodies, which were yet to be identified, to Ghalanai Headquarters.
Unidentified assailants shot dead four labourers while leaving another injured on the Qambarani Road in Quetta on January 7, reports The News. Several people including Afghan nationals were arrested in a search operation by law enforcing agencies in Quetta.
In addition, two Levies personnel were killed and five others sustained injuries when unidentified assailants attack the paramilitary force vehicle in Jhao tehsil (revenue unit) in Awaran District on January 7, reports The News. Levies sources the unidentified assailants attack the paramilitary force vehicle when it was returning from Uthal. The assailants managed to escape from the scene. The martyred Levies men have been identified as Abdul Majeed and Zahoor Ahmed.
Three persons, including two Policemen, lost their lives in separate incidents of violence in different parts of Karachi on January 8, reports The News.
Unidentified assailants shot dead one Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) and his two brothers and a passer-by in Mohallah Hayatkhel in the limits of City Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan town of same District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on January 14, reports The News.
Two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers, identified as Mohammad Ashraf alias Guddu and Mohammad Abdul Rehman, were shot dead while they were sitting along the road outside their homes near Taqva mosque in Rizvia Society of Liaquatabad Town in Karachi on January 13, reports Dawn.
Separately, in another incident, unidentified armed assailants shot dead the joint in-charge of the MQM Balochistan Committee, identified as Ashraf Khan (35) in Farid Colony of Orangi Town on January 13, reported Dawn.
Two officials of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), identified as Sohail Yusuf Bhatti (47), and Yusuf Talat Khan (56), were shot dead in a targeted attack near the Federal Urdu University on the main University Road in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town of Karachi on January 18, reports Dawn.
Separately, Two Policemen, identified as Abdul Ghafoor (50), and Muhammad Farooq, were shot dead in North Nazimabad Town on January 18, reported Daily Times.
Elsewhere, a doctor, identified as Dr. Farooq Ahmed Shaikh (55), was shot dead in a targeted attack in Federal B area of Gulberg Town on January 18 on his way home after work around 1:45am when he was shot dead in a target attack in Federal B Area. In 2014, 17 doctors were shot dead in targeted attacks in different parts of the city. Since the beginning of 2015, four doctors, including Shaikh, have been killed.
In another incident, a man, identified as Rehan (50), was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants near Chhota Maidan area within the limits of Paposh Police Station in North Nazimabad Town on January 18, reports Daily Times.
An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), identified as Tabassum Ali, was shot dead by unidentified armed assailants while he was providing security to polio team in Banaras area of Orangi Town in Karachi on January 19, reported Daily Times. Later, the anti-polio drive was suspended in Orangi Town and SITE Town.
An activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Unit-6, identified as Danish (30), was shot dead and another man, identified as Touseef (26), was shot at and injured in Malir Town of Karachi on January 20, reported Daily Times.
Three Shia men, identified as lawyer Fayyaz Hussain Shah (40), and his two nephews Mir Ghazi Shah (20) and Mir Hamza Shah (22) were shot dead while they were returning home from a religious gathering in Rawalpindi District on January 16.
A man, identified as Shoaib (30), was killed by unidentified armed assailants near Madni Masjid in Azizabad area of Gulberg Town in Karachi on January 21, reports Daily Times.
Separately, one Muhammad Ali was shot dead wn and another man, identified as Abdul Rasheed (35), was injured near Jhat Patt Market on Muhammad Ali Road in Lyari Town on January 21, reported Daily Times.
One person was killed and three others were injured in separate incidents of violence in Karachi on January 24, reports Daily Times. Unidentified men gunned down an unknown person aged about 30 near Rangers check post in Mehmoodabad 2. In another incident, one person aged about 30 was shot and injured by unidentified armed men near Shah Latif town in Bhens Colony Landhi. Separately, Arif Abbas (45) was shot and injured by unidentified gunmen in his house near Total Petrol Pump in Korangi.
Miscellaneous
At least 23 militants were killed during airstrikes conducted by military fighter jets targeting militant hideouts in Madakhel, Lataka and Basikel areas of Dattakhel in North Waziristan Agency on December 26, reports Dawn. At least six hideouts were destroyed. The airstrikes targeted the hideouts of Uzbek militants and there are reports that a key ‘commander’ is among the dead.
Separately, at least 12 militants were killed and five Security Forces (SFs) were injured when SFs repulsed attacks on two check posts in Shindara and Khazana Kandao area of Orakzai Agency on December 27 (today), reported Dawn.
In addition, SFs seized a huge quantity of arms and explosives, including 22 mortar shells, 66 landmines and 35 kilograms of explosives, from a house during a search operation in Lakaro area of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency on December 26, reported Dawn. Sources added that the SFs have also recovered rockets from the house.
Two terrorists were killed in an alleged Police encounter in Karachi on December 27, reports The News. According to Police, the shootout with terrorists took place within the limits of Mominabad Police Station. Police recovered weapons, hand grenade and a snatched vehicle from the possession of the militants.
At least eight militants and one Frontier Corps (FC) soldier was killed while seven soldiers were injured in clash between militants and Security Forces (SFs) that erupted after the militants attacked the FC vehicle, killing one soldier in Loti area of Dera Bugti District on December 27, reported Dawn. Eight militants were in retaliatory attack. No outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.
Separately, two suicide bombers were killed during a search operation in Gawal Ismailzai area of Zhob District on December 27, reports Dawn. One suicide bomber blew himself up while the other one was killed by security forces,” said an unnamed security officer.
Meanwhile, Police foiled a major terror bid by defusing two bombs planted on railway track on Sariab Road in provincial capital Quetta on December 27, reports Dawn.
Five Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants were arrested from Ittehad Town in Baldia Town in a raid conducted by Crime Investigation Department’s (CID) Anti-Terrorism Cell on December 29, reported Dawn.
Security Forces (SFs) arrested 14 suspected militants, including a key ‘commander’, during an operation in the Eastern Bypass area of provincial capital Quetta on December 29, reports Dawn. “Forces acted on an intelligence tip-off,” said an unnamed intelligence officer, adding that a militant belonging to Jundullah, who was the mastermind of the November 26, 2014 attack on polio workers in Quetta was among the arrested militants. The SFs also recovered arms and ammunition from their possession.
At least 23 militants were killed when Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighter jets on December 31 pounded suspected militant positions in the Shawal area of North Waziristan Agency, reports The News.
Three Policemen were killed in a clash with militants near the mountainous areas of Katkala and Shoprang in Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on December 31, reports The News. The sources said the Police were tipped off about the presence of militants in the Katkala and Shoprang areas. A Police party reached the area and launched a search operation to locate the militants. The militants attacked the Police and killed three cops identified as Assistant Sub-Inspector Waris Khan and constables Taj Muhammad and Ghani Rehman in the clash. Station House Officer of Jawar Police Station Noorul Anwar sustained injuries in the clash.
The Frontier Corps (FC) on January 2 claimed to have killed four suspected militants in the Naal area of Khuzdar District, reports Dawn. One FC trooper was also killed during an exchange of fire with suspected militants.
Separately, a suspected Tehreek-e- Taliban Pakistan militant, involved in the attack on a Levies Thana in Zhob District, was killed in an exchange of fire with Security Forces on January 1, reports Dawn.
Twelve militants were killed in shelling by gunship helicopters of the Army while four terrorist hideouts were also destroyed in Mama Ziarat and Khadarkhel areas of Datta Khel tehsil (revenue unit) in North Waziristan Agency on January 7, reports The News. Seven vehicles of militants were also destroyed in the action.
Four Al-Qaeda terrorists, including a ‘commander’, were killed in alleged encounter with Police in Qayyumabad area of Karachi, reports The News on January 9. CID Incharge Raja Umer Khattab said the shootout with terrorists took place in sector D area of Qayyumabad. Police also recovered suicide jackets and weapons from the custody of terrorists. He said Al-Qaeda ‘commander’, identified as Sajjad, was among the dead.
At least seven Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) militants were killed and several others injured in explosions at a terrorist centre in the Sipah area of Khyber Agency on January 9, reports Daily Times. According to sources, a landmine detonated inside the militant camp in Sipah area, killing four suspected terrorists. As the insurgents were trying to move the bodies, security forces fired mortar shells at the building, killing another three militants.
Separately, six militants were killed in an exchange of fire with Security Forces (SFs) in Dattakhel tehsil (revenue unit) of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on January 9, reports Daily Times.
Seven personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) were killed and one injured when militants attacked a checkpost of the Security Forces (SFs) in the Mekhtar area of Loralai District in Balochistan on January 12, reports The News. The FC officials said that around 40 militants armed with automatic weapons attacked the FC checkpost. As a result, all the eight personnel of the force sustained multiple bullet injuries and seven of them died on the spot. The FC personnel launched a counter attack, killing one attacker and injuring many others.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar claimed on January 13 to have killed five alleged terrorists in an encounter at Gulshan-e-Bunair area of Karachi, reports Daily Times.
Police on January 16 rescued five abducted foreigners and arrested two kidnappers during search operations in Satellite Town and overseas colony area of Turbat District, reported Dawn. Imran Qureshi, the District Police Officer (DPO) said that the foreigners include three Yemenis and two Tanzanian nationals. He further stated that weapons were also recovered from the possession of the kidnappers.
A Police constable, identified as Shahid, was injured when a terror bid was foiled by intercepting a suspected suicide bomber travelling in a bus on Main G.T. Road near Rawalpindi District on January 20, reports Dawn. The bus that was en route to Rawalpindi from Peshawar was stopped and one of the bus passengers was taken into custody by Police on suspicion. Upon trying to escape, the suspect was fired at by Police in response to which he hurled a hand-grenade, injuring the Police. However, earlier reports said the suspect blew himself up after being intercepted at the Sardar checkpost in Wah Garden.
Unidentified militants shot dead an official of the Levies Force, Khaliq Jan, in Mamond tehsil (revenue unit) of Bajaur Agency on January 21, reports The News.
Separately, Operation Commander Hangu and Orakzai Agency Brigadier Muhammad Jilani on January 21 said that the Security Forces (SFs) had cleared 50 percent area of Orakzai Agency from militants, reports The News. Brigadier Muhammad Jilani said the return process of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their native areas would be started once the area was cleared of militants.
Three Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants were arrested from the Baghat area of Hangu District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on January 23, reports Dawn. Official sources said Police carried out an operation in Baghat area and arrested three suspected Taliban militants. Four army uniforms, eight hand grenades, four Kalashnikovs, two bombs, detonators, explosives and hundreds of bullet rounds were also seized from the suspects’ possession.
PAKISTAN
56 terrorists in death row in Punjab
According to official statistics as many as 56 more prisoners, including 11 convicted on terrorism charges by military courts, are likely to be hanged after rejection of their mercy petitions by the President of Pakistan, reported Dawn on December 27. Of the 17 prisoners convicted in terrorism cases by military courts and imprisoned in Provincial jails, six have been hanged in Faisalabad District Jail so far. Through an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore issued death warrants of two more condemned prisoners convicted on terrorism charges, jail sources claimed no such warrants were received by Faisalabad District Jail officials.
Official statistics available show that as many as 5,722 condemned prisoners, including 43 females, are languishing in 32 Provincial Jails out of which 56, including one woman and 11 convicted by military courts in connection with terrorism, are awaiting executions. There are 455 condemned prisoners whose appeals are pending with the President, while appeals of two others are in the army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) and of one prisoner is with the Federal Shariat Court. There are some 897 condemned prisoners, including four females, whose appeals are pending with the Supreme Court, while appeals of 4,273 male and 38 female prisoners are pending with the high court.
Ministry of Finance and SBP directed to investigate accounts in order to stop terror funding
In order to stop the flow of funds to terror outfits, Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif on December 26 constituted a Special Committee for the implementation of the National Action Plan on counter-terrorism, the specifications of which would be finalised in a follow-up meeting scheduled for December 27, 2014 at the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad, while the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Ministry of Finance have been directed to stop terror funding, reports Daily Times.
While chairing a high-level meeting at the PM House, Nawaz directed the Ministry of Finance and SBP to pull the plug on the terrorists’ finances by enhanced financial scrutiny to make sure that the public funds did not reach any terror outfit. The SBP has been directed to supervise anti-terror financing in Pakistan and freeze all accounts which were being used for funding terrorists. The PM has also issued directives to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and the State Bank to start investigating accounts in an effort to stop financial assistance being provided to terrorists.
Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif on December 26 said that Pakistan would not survive if terrorists were not eliminated from the country, reports The News. As per his earlier pronouncement that he would lead the war against terrorism personally, the PM dedicated yet another full day for the execution of the National Action Plan to counter terrorism that was agreed upon and adopted by all the political parties. “I will personally supervise the implementation of the plan and will make sure that it is a swift and effective execution,” PM Nawaz vowed at a consultative meeting at the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad. He announced that besides the Operation Zarb-e-Azb, another operation would be launched in major cities and streets to wipe out the terrorists. He further said that an irreversible process of elimination of militants had started.
600 NGOs licences being confirmed to curb terror funding
In order to implement the National Action Plan to root out the menace of terrorism, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has decided to re-validate the licences of hundreds of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to curb terrorist financing, The News reported on January 1. “Yes, the SECP has decided to confirm the licences of over 600 NGOs registered under Section 42 of Companies Ordinance 1984,” official sources in the Ministry of Finance confirmed to The News. The SECP, the sources said, started issuing notices to all registered NGOs as most of them did not comply with the rules to submit audited accounts and get renewal of their licences after a lapse of five years. The SECP had ed certain clauses in 2008 binding the NGOs to renew their licenses after five years in 2013 but most NGOs did not comply with the instructions of the regulator.
2,841 terrorists, 327 security officials and 882 civilians killed in 2014
The year 2014 remained deadly for Pakistan with over 4070 casualties in terrorism related activities including killings of 2851 terrorists, 327 security personnel and 892 civilians as compared to the year 2013 which had seen 3268 deaths including 1448 civilians, 360 security officials and 1460 terrorists, Daily Times reported on January 1. Army Public School Peshawar attack remained the deadliest one by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on December 16 which claimed 148 lives including 134 schoolchildren in retaliation Pakistan security forces killed as many as 178 terrorists in air strikes and special operations only in five days until December 21. Hence, the year also remained worst for the terrorists as a total 2841 terrorist were killed while in the year 2013 as many as 1460 terrorists were killed. According to the data compiled with the help from the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) and Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), in addition to over 4070 killings as many as 2114 others were injured in terrorism incidences.
Police and Rangers killed 925 suspects across Karachi in encounter
A total of 925 suspects were killed across Karachi in shootouts and 160 personnel of Police and Rangers fell in the line of duty during the year 2014, Dawn reported on January 1. According to official figures, 701 suspects were killed in ‘encounters’ with Police and 224 were gunned down in shootouts with the paramilitary Rangers while 143 personnel of police and 17 of Rangers were killed in targeted attacks in the metropolis, said spokespersons for police and Rangers.
The fallen Policemen included Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Chaudhry Aslam Khan, who died in a suicide attack on his vehicle and five inspectors, sub-inspectors and constables, said Police spokesman Atiq Ahmed Shaikh. In addition, 111 suspected terrorists and gangsters were arrested and 50 Rangers’ men suffered injuries during the ongoing targeted operation, said the Rangers spokesman.
824 persons killed and another 2,339 injured in bomb attacks across Pakistan in 2014, says report
At least 824 people were killed and 2,339 others injured in 372 bomb attacks, including 26 suicide bombings that occurred across Pakistan during 2014, Daily Times reported on January 2 quoting according to official statistics. According to the data, the suicide attacks killed 249 people and left 582 wounded in different areas of the country last year. In 2014, the number of suicide attacks dropped by 34 percent from the year of 2013 when 39 suicide blasts took place. Terrorists staged 21 suicide attacks during the first six months of the year, seven in January, six in February, one each in March and April, two in May and four in June, which killed 163 people and injured 348 others. But the number of suicide attacks dropped in the second part of the year after the launch of the military operation “Zarb-e-Azb” against militants in the country’s northwestern tribal region bordering Afghanistan.
During the second half of the year, terrorists carried out only five suicide attacks that killed 86 people and left 234 wounded. As the country’s military and law enforcement agencies started actions against terrorists, the number of total casualties in 2014 dropped by around 46 percent from the previous year, when 1,532 persons were killed in 324 bomb attacks. In terms of the number of deaths, January of 2014 was the deadliest month when 168 people lost their lives and 401 others sustained injuries in 42 bomb attacks. The month of August was second most deadliest, when 103 people were killed and 309 others injured in 53 attacks. The worst attack of the year occurred on November 2, when a suicide bomber exploded his jacket amid a crowd of over 200 people who were returning after attending a “lowering of the flags” ceremony and Rangers parade at the Wagah border crossing between Pakistan and India. The attack killed at least 62 people and left over 150 others injured.
Terror bid foiled
Frontier Corps (FC) and paramilitary force on January 4 foiled a major terror bid in Sibi District by defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) planted in a motorcycle parked on the road where a procession in connection with Eid Milad-un-Nabi (Prophet’s birth anniversary) was scheduled to pass, reports Dawn. According to sources in FC, militants had planted four kilogram of explosives in the motorcycle to target the procession. “Major terror bid was foiled prior to the arrival of procession,” they said.
Separately, one FC soldier was injured during an exchange of fire with the militants in Ziarat District on January 4, reported Dawn. Later, the Security Forces (SFs) arrested two Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition from their possession. “The arrested militants belong to TTP,” sources claimed.
Resurgence of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz poses security threat, warn Security Agencies
A report titled ‘Activities of Maulana Abdul Aziz’, forwarded to the Federal Ministry of Interior by the Security Agencies on January 4 warned the Government that due to his links with militant outfits and his anti-government rhetoric the resurgence of Lal Masjid cleric Abdul Aziz poses security threat to the law and order situation in Islamabad, reports Dawn. The report states that the “Lal Masjid mafia” has links with militant groups and land grabbers and is currently reorganising the Ghazi Force spawned by his own followers after the Lal Masjid operation in 2007. “Activities of Maulana Abdul Aziz and Lal Masjid administration, if not checked / contained can subsequently create [a] serious law and order situation in [the] twin cities,” the report said.
The report also highlighted the links between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the Lal Masjid cleric, stressing the importance of the TTP choosing Maulana Abdul Aziz as a representative on the committee formed to negotiate with the Government on their behalf.
It also stressed the need for a check on the growing number of madras’s (seminary) in Rawalpindi and Islamabad who also have overt and covert links with militant groups. The report names “notorious land grabber” Taji Khokhar as someone who has been arranging land for the construction of seminaries, funded by the Lal Masjid administration, and also assists them with their court cases. The report also names property tycoon Malik Riaz and former Member of National Assembly (MNA) Shah Abdul Aziz of Karak as the controversial cleric’s “sympathizers”.
Pakistan now has a native Daish Ameer
In a disturbing development for Islamabad, a former commander of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed Khan, has replaced an Afghan national, Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, as the Ameer (chief) of the Khorasan chapter (which includes Pakistan) of Daish or the Islamic State (IS), led by Abu Bakar Al Baghdadi, The News reported on January 13. The previous Daish Ameer for the Khorasan chapter, Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost, was a former Guantanamo prisoner, who had earlier spent several years in a Pakistani prison after being freed by the Americans. He had been appointed for an interim period to organise the Khorasan chapter of the IS which includes Pakistani, India, Afghanistan, Iran and some Central Asian territories. Rahim was operating from the Zamindawar District of Afghanistan which is situated on the right bank of the Helmand River to the northwest of Kandahar. However, Maulvi Saeed Khan, the new Ameer of the Khorasan chapter of Daish, comes from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of Pakistan and belongs to the Mamozai area of Orakzai Agency. Before discarding the TTP umbrella in mid-October 2014, Saeed was the Ameer of the Orakzai Agency chapter of the TTP.
2000 terrorists killed in North Waziristan Agency so far: DG ISPR Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa
Director General (DG) Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa while addressing a think-tank of the Royal United Services Institute (USI) in United Kingdom (UK) on January 16 said that Security Forces have killed 2,000 militants in North Waziristan Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in the ongoing Operation Zarb-e-Azb, reports The Express Tribune. He also said that 200 soldiers had been killed during the operation, and 800 others had sustained injuries. He reiterated the army’s resolve to ensure writ of the state in Bajaur and North Waziristan Agencies at all costs by wiping out militants. The DG ISPR said that effective military operations are under way to purge the areas of terrorists.
REGIONAL
Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics
ICS cadre stabs AL leader
Activists of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), allegedly stabbed Rafiqul Islam (40), a local leader of the ruling Awami League (AL) in Khansama upazila (sub-district) of Dinajpur District on December 30, reports The Daily Star. Islam, son of Tamij Uddin of Dakkhin Balapara village of the upazila, is an executive member of Khamarbari union unit of AL.
Arms and ammunitions recovered in Sirajganj District
Police recovered a 7.6mm foreign pistol, a pipe-gun, 10 pieces of plastic pipe bomb, two long machetes, 33 pieces of different types of knives from a shop owned by a leader of Islami Chhatra Shibir, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) at Balshabar of Ullapara in Sirajganj District on January 1, reports New Age. However, the owner of the shop, Muhamad Emran Hossain, the Ullapara municipality unit president of ICS, was able to flee the scene.
20 petrol bombs recovered in Dhaka city
Police recovered 20 petrol bombs from a house in Gendaria of Dhaka city on January 5 amid simmering political situation centering the first anniversary of January 5 elections, reports The Daily Star. Police said that the petrol bombs were found in an abandoned state from a building at Swamibagh.
BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda to get ready to face murder charges, warns Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu
Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu at a press conference held at the Secretariat in Dhaka city on January 6 warned that Begum Khaleda Zia, Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), to get ready to face murder charges, reports The Independent. He said “If murder charges can be brought against the contractor responsible for the death of four-year-old Jihad, who had died after falling down a well shaft in Shahjahanpur Colony on January 26, then BNP chief Khaleda Zia should also face similar charges for orchestrating countrywide atrocities during the last three years and for instigating party activists to commit crimes in the name of movement.”
Khaleda Zia defiant despite siege
Bangladesh’s besieged opposition leader accused Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday, Jan 5 of trying to cling on to power by force, as police clamped down on protests on the first anniversary of Hasina’s re-election.
Riot police are confining Khaleda Zia, firebrand leader of the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, to her office to stop her leading rallies in protest at alleged vote-rigging a year ago. At least seven people were killed in clashes between followers of Zia’s BNP, police and the ruling Awami League, highlighting the prevailing instability in a country that has seen around a dozen coups in its short history.
The two women, who have ruled Bangladesh for most of the last three decades, are bitter rivals. Their enmity flared up once again after Zia was confined to her office over the weekend.
The siege intensified on Monday as security forces parked a convoy of trucks laden with sand and bricks outside the office compound. They then padlocked the gates to prevent Zia from leading protests designed to force fresh elections.
When dozens of her supporters tried to break the siege, riot police fired pepper spray at them. Television footage showed BNP members wiping away tears after they tried to open the compound gates. Zia could be seen sitting in her car, with the engine revving. She later spoke to journalists who managed to sneak over the wall.
Zia’s confinement evoked memories of voting day on January 5, 2014, when she was prevented by riot police from leaving the compound. The BNP was one of 20 opposition parties which boycotted last year’s election, claiming that the outcome would be rigged.
Hasina, in power since 2009, had refused to step down before the election so the poll could be organised by a neutral caretaker administration.
The boycott meant most members in the 300-seat parliament were returned unopposed, handing Hasina another five years in power.
Voting was overshadowed by firebomb attacks on polling booths and clashes which left around 25 people dead.
Twelve months on, there were similar scenes in cities and towns around the country. Police in the northern district of Rajshahi fired live rounds at hundreds of protesters after they attacked them with firearms, petrol bombs and rocks, said local police chief Alamgir Kabir.
BD court bans reporting of opposition chief’s son
A Bangladesh court on Wednesday, Jan 7 banned local media from reporting speeches by the son of the besieged opposition leader, after authorities sought to muzzle dissent amid a wave of deadly anti-government protests.
Tarique Rahman, the eldest son of opposition leader Khaleda Zia and her heir apparent, has made a series of speeches and comments criticising Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her independence hero father.
Rahman, who has been living in London since 2008, was declared a fugitive more than a year ago for failing to appear in Bangladesh courts in connection with corruption cases.
The High Court’s ruling on Wednesday coincides with deadly protests which authorities have blamed on Zia, although the judges made no mention of the violence in their decision.
Zia, confined by authorities to her office since Saturday, has called on her supporters to block railway lines, highways and ports since Monday as part of efforts to topple her arch-rival Hasina and pave the way for fresh elections.
In a series of speeches in London he has also claimed that his own father, late military dictator Ziaur Rahman, was actually the country’s first president instead of Hasina’s father.
Govt should end use of excessive force,stop arbitrary arrests of members of opposition parties and lift restrictions on media, says HRW
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a press release on January 9, said that the Government should immediately end use of excessive force, stop arbitrary arrests of members of opposition parties and lift restrictions on the media, reports The Daily Star. Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW said “The Government’s indiscriminate use of force, arbitrary arrests, and censorship will only inflame an already tense situation. Authorities have an obligation to protect the public, but need to do it in a way that doesn’t throw human rights and the rule of law out the window.”
Three killed and many injured during BNP-led 20-party alliance nationwide blockade
Three persons were killed and many others were injured on the sixth day of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led 20-party alliance nationwide blockade on January 11, reports The Daily Star. In Gaibandha District, one person was killed and two others injured when blockaders hurled a petrol bomb at a bus heading for Dhaka city. Parvez (25) tried to escape the flames jumping out of the window but was crushed under the wheels of a truck. Two other people sustained burn injuries. In Dhaka city, bus helper Murad Mollah (20), who suffered burn injuries as alleged blockaders set fire to his vehicle in Jessore District on January 6, died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. In Habiganj District, 20 people including three Policemen were injured in a clash between Police and BNP activists in Poddarbari area. In Barisal District, two Policemen were injured in an attack on their vehicle by blockaders in Rahamatpur area.
JeL leader killed in Dhaka
A Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) leader was killed in a gunfight with Detective Branch (DB) of Police at Motijheel in Dhaka city on January 19, reports The Daily Star. The deceased, Imrul Qayes (35), was the ward-1 councillor of Narail municipality and also the president of the JeI. Police said the gunfight broke out after a DB team went to the AGB Colony on information that some criminals had gathered there to carry out subversive activities. Sensing the presence of Police, the criminals opened fire at them, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate by firing. Later, Police found the bullet-hit body of Imrul on the spot but his cohorts fled.
PBCP-Janajuddha ‘regional commander’ killed in Jhenidah District
Police recovered the body of Nasir Uddin (45), a ‘regional commander’ of Purbo Banglar Communist Party- Janayuddha faction (PBCP-Janayuddha) from a field at Mohanpur village of Jhenaidah District on January 19, reports The Daily Star. Police said that Nasir might have been killed by his rivals in the party adding that he was wanted in four cases, including two for murder.
Four ISIS militants including its coordinator in Bangladesh arrested in Dhaka city
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested four members of militant outfit Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including its coordinator in Bangladesh, from Dhaka city’s Jatrabari on January 18, reports The Daily Star. The arrestees were identified as Sakhawatul Kabir, a representative and coordinator of ISIS in Bangladesh, Nazrul Islam, a financier, Anwar Hossain alias Baten, a convict of an explosive case, and Rabiul Islam. Police recovered a huge quantity of leaflets, videos on militant training, laptops, four mobile phone sets, one passport, and a visa application form of Pakistan embassy from their possession.
India – Internal Dynamics
Death toll in Assam violence reaches 81
DNA reports that 81 were killed in the ongoing violence in Assam. Two persons, one each in Sonitpur and Chirang District, injured in December 23’s attack by IK Songbijit faction of National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB-IKS) militants succumbed to their injuries on December 25, while a charred body was recovered from Gossaigaon in Kokrajhar District on December 26, a Police spokespersons said on December 26. Further, three Adivasis were killed in Police firing in Sonitpur District on December 24. The violence started on December 23 when about 80 NDFB-IKS militants, shot dead 69 Adivasis at different places spread out in Sonitpur, Chirang and Kokrajhar Districts. Later, six bodies were recovered from one of the violence affected villages of Sonitpur on December 25.
Meanwhile, NDFB-IKS militants lobbed a grenade at Sashastra Sema Bal (SSB) personnel and exchanged fire with them at Phoisana Bazar area under Bijni sub-division in Chirang district along the Indo-Bhutan border on December 26, reports Sangai Express. None was injured in the incident.
Grenade blast injures 4 in Manipur
At least four persons sustained injuries when a hand grenade, lobbed by some unidentified persons, exploded inside Angels Digital Media Service, a video editing studio, located at Uripok in Imphal West District on December 27, reports The Sangai Express. The injured victims have been identified as studio proprietor Yambem Birla alias Subash, (41), Potsangbam Gunindro (32) and Takhellambam Ibomcha (28).
Rajasthan ministers receive threat email
Police in Jaipur and other Rajasthan cities sounded a high alert on December 26 after an email purportedly sent by Indian Mujahideen (IM) appeared on the computers of 16 State Ministers, including the State Home Minister, threatening terror strikes across the state on January 26, 2015, reports The Times of India. It reads, “Dear minister, we are Indian Mujahedeen. You people be careful. We are going to give you a Big Bang surprise. You can do whatever you want but it’s a challenge that we will carry out many bomb strikes in Rajasthan. We will act on January 26. Stop us if you can — Notice by IM.”
The outfit’s motive may be to avenge the arrest of at least 14 of its terrorists over the May 13, 2008 Jaipur serial blasts which killed 71 people. Police termed the mails “serious” with the state Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) writing to Google for verification of the location of the mail sent from a Gmail account. The sender, who goes by the name identified as Lionazarda, is yet to be identified.
Cybercrime go up by 40%: Report
Cybercrimes have registered an annual increase of more than 40 per cent in India in the past two years, The Times of India reports on December 30. According to Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) statistics, as many as 71,780 cyber frauds were reported in 2013, while 22,060 such cases were reported in 2012. There have been 62,189 incidents of cyber frauds till June, 2014. In 2013, a total of 28,481 Indian websites were hacked by various hacker groups spread across the globe. The number of hacking incidents were 27,605 in 2012 and 21,699 in 2011.
The cyber attacks have been observed to be originating from a number of countries including the US, Europe, Brazil, Turkey, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria and the UAE.
As per the cybercrime data maintained by National Cyber Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 1,791, 2,876 and 4,356 cases were registered under the Information Technology (IT) Act in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively. A total of 422, 601 and 1,337 cases were registered under cyber crime-related sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
ASP killed in Chhattisgarh
A Policeman, identified as Assistant Constable Somlu Hemla (30), was killed by suspected Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres with bow and arrow at Patelguda village in Bijapur District on January 2, reports The Business Standard. Soon after information was received, Security Forces (SFs) were rushed to the spot.
Meanwhile, Maoists torched a road roller and a motorcycle at Sarhandi Sihari village under Tadoki Police Station limits in Kanker District, reports The Business Standard on January 2. A group of armed Maoists reached the spot where construction of a road was underway and set ablaze the road roller and the motorbike. After committing the crime, the Maoists fled deep into the forest. A combing operation has been launched in the region to arrest the insurgents.
Two guards injured as Maoists attack Congress leader’s house in Chhattisgarh
Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres on January 5 stormed the residence of Chhattisgarh Congress leader Manturam Pawar and attacked his guards, injuring two of them at Pakhanjur in Kanker District, reports The Times of India. Manturam Pawar who is in Raipur confirmed the incident saying that he and his family were safe as Maoists couldn’t barge inside the home. He further said “Maoists attacked my residence at around 8.15 pm on Monday and opened indiscriminate firing at my guards. Though guards retaliated but two of them were severely injured in the incident. As police force rushed to the spot immediately, Maoists couldn’t get through the house. My family is safe.” The Maoists also fled the spot and took away four Insas rifles, one SLR and 500 rounds of bullets from the injured guards and were on motor bikes.
Policeman killed in Chhattisgarh
A Police constable was killed and three others were grievously injured in an encounter with the Communist Party of India-Maoist near Botha village under Hawrai Police Station in Narayanpur District on January 10, reports The Hindu. The incident took place near Botha village when a joint team of District Police personnel and the Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) was on a routine combing operation, Superintendent of Police (SP) Amit Kamble said. “Constable Athanas Bada was killed and Constable Lalit Kashyap, Kamleshwar Sahu and Rajendra Nishad were injured in the encounter,” said Additional Director-General (ADG) of Police, Naxal [Left Wing Extremism (LWE)] Operations, RK Vij.
Heart attacks and suicides killed more CRPF personnel than Naxal encounters, says report
Heart attacks, malaria and a host of other diseases coupled with suicide cases have killed more personnel in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) than encounters with Naxal-[Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) groups and insurgents over the last half decade, reports, The Pioneer on January 13. A report prepared on the state of affairs of this vital force of the country has said amongst the diseases, heart attack and cardiac illness instances have claimed the maximum number of lives of the CRPF personnel and women as over 600 personnel have succumbed to them between 2009 and 2014. The report said “hard and harsh” working conditions in the force have led to “adverse bearing” on the physical and mental state of CRPF officers and personnel. While over 2,900 personnel of the force died due to diseases and non-operational tasks during the said period, 252 personnel were killed during operations or security tasks during the comparative period. Amongst the other major medical causes which claimed the lives of CRPF troops are suicides (207 cases), cancer (231 cases), malaria (102) and HIV/AIDS (153 cases. A total of 614 cases of death due to heart attack or cardiac diseases were recorded during the same period, making it the most alarming cause of medical challenge for the three-lakh personnel strong central paramilitary. Amongst the other causes of death in service for these men and women were fratricide (36 cases), tuberculosis (33 cases) while 1,544 troops died due to other reasons like hepatitis, jaundice, brain hemorrhage, renal failure, heat stroke, accidents and a variety of idiopathic illnesses. The report, accessed by PTI, has been submitted to the Government for action and redressal.
10000 detonators recovered in Jharkhand
Police on January 18 recovered 10,000 detonators from a Ranchi-bound passenger bus and arrested the driver, reported The Times of India. The bus was coming from Odisha and was stopped at Namkum in Ranchi District of Jharkhand. Ranchi Police said the driver, Ravi Shankar Pandey (35), is from Bihar’s Sheikhpura District and worked on the Odisha-Jharkhand route. Ranchi Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Prabhat Kumar said that “The huge quantity of explosives indicates that some large network is behind its transport.” Probe has already started to find who had ordered the explosives. However, the Police did not find any Maoist link.
Monthly Fatalities
The following deaths related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of terrorism occurred during the period Dec 26, 2014 to Jan 25, 2015:
| Civilian | Indian Security Personnel | Militant | Total | |
| Assam | 80 | 01 | 05 | 86 |
| Manipur | 02 | 00 | 04 | 06 |
| Meghalaya | 02 | 00 | 00 | 02 |
| Left-wing | 10 | 09 | 08 | 27 |
| Total | 94 | 10 | 17 | 121 |
Nepal – Internal Dynamics
SL’s largest Muslim party defects from govt
Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim political party on Sunday, Dec 27 defected from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to support the opposition candidate in next month’s presidential election.
The announcement by Sri Lanka Muslim Congress will be a major blow to Rajapaksa’s campaign for a third term in office, with more than 20 lawmakers and ministers defecting to the opposition.
Ameer Faaiz, a leader of the party that represents minority Muslims in overwhelmingly Buddhist Sri Lanka, cited the Rajapaksa administration’s “intolerance toward religious minorities” and disagreement with his style of rule.
He said the party consulted its supporters, who were of the overwhelming opinion that they could no longer stand with Rajapaksa and would throw their support behind his rival Maithripala Sirisena.
An attack on Muslims in June that was provoked by a Sri Lankan Buddhist ultranationalist and left three dead and dozens injured exacerbated ethnic tensions in the aftermath of a decades-long civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels that ended in 2009.
Rajapaksa’s government had come under heavy criticism in recent years for backing extremist Buddhist groups and turning a blind eye to the recent anti-Muslim violence.
Sirisena is a former health minister who split from Rajapaksa last month to run for president in the biggest challenge for the incumbent since he was first elected in 2005.
Another faction within CPN-Maoist wing
On January 10, a dissatisfied group from Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) has formed a new Maoist outfit bearing the name CPN-Maoist (Revolutionary), reports Myrepublica. A press conference was held to inform about the formation of the party. The party has been formed under the leadership of Bhojendra Prasad Chaulagain, who previously was involved in the decade-long insurgency and has lately been active with the CPN-Maoist faction led by Mohan Baidya. Akash Sharma has been appointed as the General Secretary of the party. The chairman of the newly formed party told the media that they were forced to open the new party as the Maoist leadership deceived them by submitting arms and ammunition to the government in the name of peace and prosperity. “Submitting the arms to the government, the then Maoist party cheated us dragging themselves to an unimpressive path, and hence we were compelled to announce this new party”, said Chaulagain.
Around 1000 SF personnel deployed outside CA building to secure from possible incidents of violence
Around 1,000 Security Force (SF) personnel are being deployed outside the Constituent Assembly (CA) building in Kathmandu on January 22, the deadline for the promulgation of a new constitution which by now is highly unlikely, reports Kantipur Online. Given the increasing polarization between the major political parties over constitution writing process and the recent spate of violence that erupted inside and outside the CA Hall, the Government is stepping up security around the CA building and in areas that have been designated as prohibited zones. Nepal Police will deploy over 450 officers around the CA building while an equal number of Armed Police Force personnel will accompany them to secure the perimeter from possible incidents of violence. A three-layer security ring has been planned to stave off protesters from breaking inside the prohibited zones. The SF will be armed with water cannons, tear gas shells and rubber bullets.
Meanwhile, ten packets of chilli powder have been recovered from CA building, reports Kantipur Online on January 22 (today). The packets were found on the several corners of the building half an hour before the meeting began. The CA meeting is scheduled to begin at 11 am.
Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics
Opposition candidate’s election office attacked
The Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), the official poll monitor for the Sri Lanka Presidential election, reports of an attack on an election office of the opposition New Democratic Front (NDF) located at Erakkandi in Trincomalee District, reports Colombo Page. The Secretary for Monitoring Election Activities for NDF in the Erakkandi area had reported that the attack had taken place at around 1.00 Am on December 28. According to the complainant, 7 iron polls which were used for hanging flags of the party had been stolen and office decorations had been completely destroyed.
Separately, Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel have been deployed in the Beruwala area in Kalutara District on December 27, following a clash between United National Party (UNP) and United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) supporters, Police spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ajith Rohana said, reports Colombo Page.
INTERNATIONAL
Ukraine, rebels try to revive peace talks
Ukrainian and pro-Russian rebel leaders tried on Friday, Dec 26 to revive peace talks that stalled after just one round due to stark difference over how to end the eight-month separatist war. A tense meeting mediated by European and Russian envoys in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Wednesday was due to have been followed by a final one on Friday at which a comprehensive peace accord was signed.
But Wednesday’s session broke up after more than five hours with a deal reached on only the least contentious of the four agenda points: a prisoner swap that will involve 225 guerrillas and 150 Ukrainian troops. Smaller such exchanges have been frequent and often involved dozens of men. Yet they appear to have built far less trust between the warring parties than Ukraine’s Western allies would have hoped.
Belarussian foreign ministry said spokesman Dmitry Mironchik told AFP by telephone that “there will be no contact group meeting today”. And an aide to one of the two rebels at Wednesday’s negotiations said he was heading back to the separatist east Ukranian region of Donetsk because there appeared to be little point in staying in Minsk.
But a senior Ukranian source told AFP there was still a chance that a Minsk meeting could be arranged for Friday if more preliminary consultations were held.
The talks were meant to reinforce two September deals that aimed both to end one of Europe’s bloodiest conflicts in decades and to preserve Ukraine as a single nation in which Russian-border regions enjoyed more self-control.
Yet little of what was agreed nearly four months ago has been achieved.
The heavily-Russified industrial regions of Lugansk and Donetsk staged their own leadership polls in November that infuriated Kiev and dampened early glimmers of hope of a political settlement being reached soon.
And insubordinate field commanders from both sides continued ignoring the formal truce declaration and waged battles that killed 1,300 more people.
UN officials fear that their total toll of 4,700 deaths may be too conservative because militias have been hiding their losses and denying outsiders access to their burial sites.
The most difficult task facing European mediators is finding a way for the sides to begin pulling back their tanks so that a 30-kilometre buffer zone could be established across the war zone.
The insurgents are currently most interested in seeing the resumption of social welfare payments that Kiev suspended last month out of fear that they were being used to finance the revolt.
Accounts of Wednesday’s meeting suggest that the teams cannot even agree what issues they should be discussing in the first place.
Both the European and Russian mediators have so far kept an official silence and let the two foes try to find common ground.
Regime strikes kill 52 civilians in Syria
Syrian regime air strikes killed at least 52 civilians, including seven children, in strongholds of the Islamic State group, a monitoring group said on Friday, Dec 26 in a new toll. The raids struck Al-Bab and Qbasin Thursday in the northern province of Aleppo, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground.
Previously the toll had stood at 37 dead.
The regime air force has killed thousands of people since it was first deployed in the war in July 2012. Activists accuse the government of killing more civilians than jihadists in the raids.
The UN and international rights groups have repeatedly called on the government to refrain from using its air force against inhabited areas. The country’s multi-sided civil war has killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced half of its population. A US-led military coalition is carrying out regular air strikes against the Islamic State group, which has seized large areas in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
On Thursday, about 60 jihadists were killed in fighting with Kurdish forces for control of territory in northern Syria, according to the Observatory.
With just blankets to shield them against the icy wind and rain, Abu Ali’s family huddles in a flimsy tent in Lebanon—among the thousands of Syrian refugees struggling as winter sets in.
Sixty-year-old Abu Ali is now relatively safe after fleeing the threat of Islamic State group jihadists in northern Syria’s Raqa province, but some of his 14 children are already coughing badly.
They have taken shelter at an unofficial camp in Al-Saadiyeh, a village in the eastern Bekaa Valley home to tens of thousands of Syrian refugees inadequately equipped to cope with the cold.
The United Nations says more than half of the 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in substandard housing.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees says humanitarian agencies have provided 400,000 people with fuel vouchers or cash for November and December, but that funding shortfalls mean many refugees are left “in cold, adverse conditions”.
Iran’s army tests suicide drone in drills
Iran’s army has deployed a suicide drone for the first time in massive ongoing military drills near the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, the army’s chief commander of ground forces, is quoted by Iranian state media on Saturday, Dec 27 as calling the unmanned aircraft “a mobile bomb”. The drone, named Yasir according to one Iranian newspaper, has been designed to plunge into aerial and ground targets, as well as ships.
The six-day military exercise is being carried out over 527,000 square kilometers in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, Sea of Oman and the eastern part of the Persian Gulf, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.
Iran is believed to have produced its own remotely piloted suicide drone, the Raad-85, which is designed to crash into targets and set off its warhead.
Iran frequently touts advances in its homegrown aerospace industries. It says its most advanced drone, the Shahed-129, can reach much of the Middle East, including Israel. The drone is said to have a range of 1,700 kilometers and a 24-hour flight capability, and can carry eight bombs or missiles capable of hitting both stationary and moving targets.
Cameroon air strikes hit Boko Haram for first time
Cameroon has sent warplanes into action against Nigerian Boko Haram fighters for the first time, after the large force of Jihadists crossed the border and seized a military camp, the government said.
President Paul Biya personally ordered Sunday’s air strike, which forced the insurgents to flee the camp at Assighasia, Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said in a statement late on Sunday, Dec 28.
The extremists of Boko Haram, which roughly means “Western education is forbidden”, have made frequent raids into neighbouring Cameroon since they began their insurgency in northern Nigeria in 2009. Boko Haram tactics include massacres of civilians on both sides of the frontier, bomb attacks on state institutions and schools, and the razing of villages and mass kidnappings.
Since early in 2014, the movement has sent growing numbers of fighters into Cameroon, prepared to battle the army head-on as well as attacking and intimidating villagers.
On October 15, Boko Haram forces equipped with a captured tank and an armoured vehicle attacked a military base at Amchide, near the border, in a raid that killed several dozen civilians and eight soldiers, according to officials. Several hundred Boko Haram fighters assaulted the Assighasia camp early on Sunday, so that “Cameroonian defence forces had to withdraw after trying to defend the position”, the government said.
The air strikes marked “a new escalation in the Cameroonian response… to multiple enemy attacks by the Boko Haram terrorist group,” the statement said, but it also sent a signal to other countries.
Cameroon’s neighbours, together with former colonial power France, have long criticised the authorities for what they considered a passive response to the actions of the Jihadist movement even as its members used Cameroonian territory to rest and buy food and weapons.
When a French family was kidnapped in 2013, along with two Italian priests and a Canadian nun, President Biya sent major army reinforcements to confront the Islamists in “Operation Alpha”. The hostages were freed this year in Nigeria.
Suicide bomber kills 17 in Iraq
A suicide bomber attacked pilgrims north of Baghdad on Monday, Dec 29 killing at least 17 people, officials and a survivor of the blast said.
The attack in the Taji area, which targeted a tent serving refreshments to pilgrims, also wounded at least 35 people.
Pilgrims from Iraq and abroad are making their way to Samarra, north of Baghdad.
“We were distributing food, fruit and tea to the pilgrims who were walking to Samarra, and a suicide (bomber) blew himself up,” Sajjad, 25, said at a Baghdad hospital where his brother Mustafa was being treated for shrapnel wounds.
The bomber carried a flag as a disguise and yelled “Allahu akbar” (God is greatest) before detonating the explosives he carried, Sajjad said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suicide bombings are almost exclusively carried out by Sunni extremists in Iraq, including the Islamic State group.
IS spearheaded a June offensive that overran large parts of the country, and Iraqi security forces, Kurdish fighters and Shiite and Sunni militiamen are battling to push the militants back.
A US-led coalition is carrying out air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria, and also providing training to Iraqi forces.
IS claims killing of Iranian military adviser in Iraq
The Islamic State group has claimed the killing of a senior Iranian officer advising Iraqi forces in their fight against the Jihadists, in posts on Jihadist Internet forums on Monday, Dec 29.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Sunday announced the death of Brigadier General Hamid Taghavi, who had been training the army and Iraqi volunteers in the city of Samarra, north of Baghdad.
One Jihadist forum posted an image of the officer standing next to three others, with a red circle around his head and the caption:
“A photo of the miscreant Hamid Taghavi who was killed by the men of IS in the region of Samarra.”
Another image on the forum purportedly showed the body of the Iranian officer.
IS has not said how Taghavi died, but his funeral was held in Tehran on Monday in the presence of several senior officials. “If people like the martyr Taghavi were not engaged in Syria and Iraq against the terrorists, the enemy would surely look to create insecurity in our country,” Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani told mourners, the official Fars news agency reported.
Iran has sent military advisers to Iraq to help train and equip troops and allied militias in their counter-offensive against IS, which seized large areas of the country in a lightning June assault. It has also armed Kurdish forces in northern Iraq and Iranian media have reported the deaths of several military personnel in both Iraq and Syria this year.
Iranian Defence Minister General Hossein Dehgan on Monday underscored his country’s support for Iraq, during talks in Tehran with his Iraqi counterpart Khaled al-Obeidi.
IRNA said Obeidi also insisted on the “strategic” cooperation between the two neighbours and urged Iran to step up its assistance to Baghdad to fight “terrorism and corruption”.
Al-Qaeda kills two Yemeni soldiers
Two Yemeni soldiers were killed and 11 wounded on Monday, Dec 29 when al-Qaeda militants ambushed a regional army chief in southeastern Hadramawt province, a military official said.
“Members of al-Qaeda” set an ambush for the convoy of General Abdulrahman al-Hulaili, the head of the First Military Region, the official told AFP.
They detonated explosives planted on the roadside and opened fire as the convoy passed, but Hulaili escaped unscathed, the official added.
In central Baida city, two gunmen on a motorbike shot dead intelligence officer Nasser al-Wahishi, a local authority official said, adding that the assailants were suspected of belonging to al-Qaeda.
The attacks come a day after a similar bombing targeted the commander of the 31st Armoured Battalion, General Farej al-Atiqi, in the southern city of Aden.
Atiqi escaped unharmed but his driver was killed and two bodyguards were wounded.
Security forces are often the targets of attacks blamed on al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which the United States regards as the deadliest branch of the global extremist network.
AQAP has exploited the weakened central authority in Yemen since the 2012 departure of president Ali Abdullah Saleh following a year-long popular uprising.
The group’s presence is strongest in the south and southeast of the impoverished country, but AQAP has also launched attacks in the capital itself.
Car bomb near Syriag as plant kills nine
A car bomb explosion near a gas plant in Syria’s Homs province on Monday, Dec 29 killed nine people including four soldiers, a monitoring group said, updating an earlier toll.
The Jihadist Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attack and said the two bombers were killed.
State news agency SANA confirmed the attack but said that troops had captured the bombers.
“Five employees and four regime troops guarding the Firqlos gas plant were killed in a car bomb blast near the facility in the east of Homs province,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The explosion also wounded 15 people.
It took place “at the start of the working day”, the Britain-based group added.
SANA, quoting a military source, said “guards captured the two terrorists who detonated the pick-up truck at the entrance to the plant while they were trying to flee.” IS said the two men, both Moroccan, had died.
The Jihadists have targeted oil and gas facilities in Iraq and Syria as the group seeks funds for its fight to seize territory for a self-proclaimed Islamic “caliphate”.
In November, Syrian troops backed by pro-regime militiamen recaptured the Shaer gas field in central Homs province, a week after IS fighters overran parts of the complex.
IS killed some 350 regime troops and loyalist militiamen, as well as gas plant workers, during its attempt to take Shaer.
London security stepped up
Security has been stepped up at royal guard posts in London including the sentry points on Whitehall where tourists from around the world take pictures of stern-faced guardsmen on horseback.
An armed police officer was seen next to the famous horse guards this week in what British media said was a response to recent concerns over Islamist militants.
The Mail on Sunday newspaper quoted an officer on duty at the Horse Guards Parade on Whitehall saying: “We are a recent addition here. It’s us guarding the Guards.”
118 journalists killed in 2014
One hundred and eighteen journalists and media staff were killed around the world in 2014, with Pakistan and Syria the deadliest countries, the International Federation of Journalists said on Wednesday, Jan 1.
The IFJ said those killed, 13 more than in 2013, were either targeted for their work or caught in the cross-fire while another 17 died in accidents or natural disasters while on assignment.
It renewed its call to governments to “make the protection of journalists their priority”.
Journalists are “targeted not only to restrict the free flow of information, but increasingly as leverage to secure huge ransoms and political concessions through sheer violence,” IFJ president Jim Boumelha said in a statement.
He said some media organisations are now wary of sending reporters to war zones or even using material from freelancers there, warning that war coverage will “be poorer for lack of independent witnesses” unless media safety is improved.
Pakistan was the deadliest country with 14 journalists killed, followed by 12 dead in Syria and nine each in Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.
Among those killed this year was AFP journalist Sardar Ahmad, 40, who was shot dead in March when Taliban militants stormed a hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul. He died along with his wife and two of his three children.
Eight journalists each were killed in Iraq and Ukraine while six died in Honduras and five in Mexico.
Dozens arrested after failed Gambia coup
Dozens of military personnel and civilians were arrested and a large cache of weapons and explosives found after an alleged coup attempt in The Gambia, an intelligence source said on Jan 1.
The suspects have been interrogated and were being held in “four villas” in or near the tiny west African nation’s capital Banjul, said a source close to Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA).
A group of heavily armed men led by an army deserter attacked the presidential palace before dawn, but were repelled by forces loyal to Gambia’s leader of 20-years, Yahya Jammeh.
The strongman, who was visiting Dubai at the time of the attack, blamed unidentified foreign dissidents and “terrorists” for the assault on his presidential palace on Tuesday.
Jammeh insisted that the armed forces “are very loyal” and that only former soldiers, including a senior commander, had taken part in the attack on his palace.
Investigators have allegedly seized the plan laying out the attack, in which the three suspects, including the alleged ringleader, were killed, according to a military officer.
One alleged conspirator also led authorities to “a large quantity of very sophisticated automatic weapons and explosives,” in a shipping container disguised as second-hand clothing at Banjul’s port, the source close to the NIA said.
Four officers suspected of participating in the attempt had taken refuge in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, a military source told AFP.
Jammeh returned home to his palace overnight Wednesday from Dubai, where he had been on a private visit.
The 49-year-old, who seized power in a 1994 coup that ousted Gambia’s founding leader Sir Dawda Jawara, has come under fire for serious human rights abuses, including repression of the media and the disappearance of rivals.
US launches 23 air strikes against IS in Syria, Iraq
The United States and allies staged 23 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq on Jan 1, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Friday.
A dozen strikes near the Syrian cities of Kobani, Ar Raqqah and Al Hasakah destroyed Islamic State vehicles, buildings and fighting positions and also hit a large Islamic State unit.
Eleven strikes in Iraq targeted Islamic State units, buildings, vehicles, equipment, a shipping container and a weapons cache near the cities of Taji, Al Asad, Fallujah, Baiji, Al Qaim and Mosul.
Islamic State fighters have taken parts of Syria and Iraq in a bloody campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate.
Activist groups, meanwhile, reported strikes on and around Raqqa, the de facto Isis capital. An anti-Isis activist group called Raqqa is Silently Being Slaughtered reported at least 13 coalition strikes and said the Furoussiyeh area and the Division 17 military base were among the targets hit.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist collective also confirmed the air raids.
In Iraq, the Combined Joint Task Force said 11 strikes targeted ISIS units, buildings, vehicles, equipment, a shipping container and a weapons cache near the cities of Taji, Asad, Fallujah, Baiji, Qaim and Mosul.
ISIS fighters have taken control of parts of Syria and Iraq in a bloody campaign to establish an Islamic caliphate.
Strikes against ISIS in Iraq began on 8 August and in Syria on 23 September. On 24 December, ISIS captured a Jordanian pilot whose F-16 came down during a coalition mission.
In Iraq’s western Anbar province, more than 300 US troops are posted at a base in the thick of a pitched battle between Iraqi forces, backed by tribal fighters, and well-armed Islamic State militants.
The militants, positioned at a nearby town, have repeatedly hit the base with artillery and rocket fire in recent weeks. Since the middle of December, the US-led military coalition has launched 13 air strikes around the facility.
US troops have suffered no casualties in the attacks. But the violence has underlined the risks to American personnel as they fan out across Iraq as part of the expanding US mission against the Islamic State, even as President Obama has pledged that US operations “will not involve American combat troops fighting on foreign soil.”
In a sign of the risks, military officials said American soldiers have been transported to the Ayn al-Asad base under the cover of night by helicopter — partly to maintain a low profile for the renewed US operation in Iraq but also to protect US personnel amid fierce fighting west of the capital, Baghdad.
Overall, they are a tiny force compared with the more than 160,000 US troops who were stationed in Iraq at the height of the 2003-2011 war. But American military officials recognise that Iraq remains a “dangerous neighborhood in places,” as a spokesman for the US Central Command put it.
19 killed in rebel fire in Syria
At least 19 people were killed overnight by Syrian rebel fire on government-controlled parts of the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said on Friday, Jan 2.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included at least five children, three of whom were killed with their mother when a rocket hit the car they were in.
The Britain-based group said at 32 people were wounded in Thursday night’s violence in the western part of the city.
Once Syria’s economic hub, Aleppo has been ravaged by fighting that began there in mid-2012.
The city is divided with government forces controlling the western part and rebels controlling the east.
However, government forces have advanced steadily around the eastern outskirts of the city, threatening to besiege opposition-held districts.
More than 200,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, according to the Observatory.
Sweden demands end to mosque arson attacks
More than a thousand protesters took to the streets in Sweden on Friday, Jan 2 to urge an end to a spate of attacks against mosques, amid growing tensions over the rise of an anti-immigration party.
The demonstrations in Sweden’s three largest cities, Stockholm, Malmoe and Gothenburg, came a day after what was believed to be the third arson attack on a mosque in the space of a week.
Eyewitnesses saw a man throwing a petrol bomb at a mosque in Uppsala in eastern Sweden early on New Year’s day, three days after a late-night blaze at a mosque in Esloev in the south, which police suspect was also arson.
The slogan “Go home Muslim shit” was also emblazoned across the doors of the building.
On Christmas Day, five people were injured in another suspected arson attack on a mosque in Eskilstuna, west of the capital Stockholm.
Swedish police said that they were stepping up security around mosques and continuing to search for the culprits.
“We are working flat out with the investigation but we have no leads to report yet,” police spokeswoman Lisa Sannervik in Uppsala told AFP.
According to the anti-racism magazine Expo, there have been at least a dozen confirmed attacks on mosques in Sweden in the last year and a far larger number are believed to have gone unreported. In a government survey of hate crimes in November two-thirds of Swedish Muslim associations said their buildings had been vandalised.
Sweden’s Minister for Culture and Democracy Alice Bah Kuhnke said the latest attacks “aimed at intimidating and diminishing” people.
The mosque attacks come as debate intensifies in Sweden over immigration in the traditionally tolerant Nordic country, which is expected to receive about 100,000 asylum applications this year, a record.
Boko Haram seizes 40 boys, men in northern Nigeria
Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have kidnapped 40 boys and young men in a remote village in northeast Nigerian Borno state on New Year’s Eve, residents who fled the isolated settlement said on Saturday, Jan 3.
Scores of Boko Haram militants stormed the Malari village and whisked away the males, aged between 10 and 23, into the nearby Sambisa forest, believed to be one of the militants’ major bases.
The news of the abductions came out only days later, when residents who fled the village arrived in the state capital Maiduguri late on Friday.
“They came in pick-up trucks armed with guns and gathered all the men in the village outside the home of the village chief where they preached to us before singling out 40 of our boys and taking them away,” Bulama Muhammed said.
Malari village lies 20 kilometres from the Sambisa forest and close to the town of Gwoza, which the militants captured last June.
There was no immediate comment on the incident from the military in Maiduguri.
Boko Haram is still holding in captivity more than 200 schoolgirls it abducted from their school in Chibok in Borno state last April.
The insurgents are believed to control large swathes of territory in Borno as well as several towns and villages in two other northeastern states, Adamawa and Yobe.
Boko Haram’s five-year uprising in Nigeria has claimed more than 13,000 lives and has seen dozens of people, including women and children, kidnapped.
Fears over latest Boko Haram town, military base seizure
Boko Haram’s seizure of a key town and military base in Nigeria’s far northeast has tightened its grip on the region, undermining efforts to tackle the insurgency, experts said on Tuesday, Jan 6. The capture of Baga and the headquarters of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) now means the Islamists control all three of Borno state’s borders with Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Analysts said that as a result, the militants were in a better position to launch fresh attacks both within Nigeria, including against the key city of Maiduguri, and across borders.
Boko Haram has had Baga in its sights for months, as it was said to be one of the last towns in northern Borno under federal government control. The militants have seized more than two dozen towns in northeast Nigeria in the last six months in their quest to establish a hardline Islamic state. With Baga the latest to fall, Boko Haram has effectively encircled the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, where it was founded in 2002 and which has been repeatedly attacked. Analysts assessed that the group’s control of border areas potentially secures it important supply lines for weapons as well as a wider recruitment base to replenish its ranks.
The loss of Baga not only reinforces long-held doubts about Nigeria’s inability to tackle the insurgency but fears about holding national and state elections next month.
The main opposition party has said the overall result could be in doubt if tens of thousands of voters are disenfranchised because of the violence.
International Crisis Group senior Nigeria researcher Nnamdi Obasi said the fall of Baga on Saturday “dims the already bleak prospect of holding any elections in northern Borno state next month”.
Ryan Cummings, chief Africa analyst for risk consultants Red24, added that the attack could signal the start of an increase in violence before the ballot.
To do so “would undermine the inclusiveness and legitimacy of the vote”, he said.
Strategically, Baga is an important commercial and agricultural centre for northeast Nigeria and the whole Lake Chad region across to the Central African Republic and Sudan.
Car bomb kills 37 at Yemen police academy
A car bomb tore through dozens of Yemenis lined up at a police academy in Sanaa on Wednesday, Jan 7 killing 37 in the latest attack highlighting the country’s growing instability.
Police said another 66 people were wounded in what it described as a “terrorist bombing” targeting potential police recruits, in a statement cited by the official Saba news agency.
Unstable and impoverished Yemen has been hit by a wave of violence in recent months, with a powerful militia, known as Huthis, clashing with Sunni tribal forces and the country’s branch of al-Qaeda.
A security official told AFP the bomb was in a minibus, of which only scraps of metal remained.
Rescue workers loaded bodies into ambulances, which pushed their way through gathered onlookers, many taking pictures of the carnage with their mobile telephones.
The health ministry urged Sanaa residents to “donate blood at government hospitals to help the wounded”.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the blast but al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Jihadist network’s powerful affiliate in Yemen, has claimed responsibility for previous attacks on security forces.
Speaking to AFP at the scene, a member of the unofficial Huthi security forces blamed “radicals belonging to al-Qaeda” for the attack. And a Huthi statement denounced “this despicable crime,” whose perpetrators “will not go unpunished.” The interior ministry said registration at the academy would be suspended for a week.
IS uses kids in propaganda targeting next generation
A young boy raises a pistol, aims at two kneeling men and fires, in a shocking propaganda video highlighting the Islamic State Jihadist group’s efforts to indoctrinate another generation with its brutal ideology. The boy, who doesn’t look older than 11 or 12, has allegedly just executed two men said to have confessed to spying for Russia, the voiceover saying their bodies “lay humiliated” at the feet of the young Jihadist.
Their fate could not be independently confirmed.
When asked in another video what he wanted to do in the future, the boy said: “I will be the one who slaughters you, O kuffar (unbelievers). I will be a Mujahed (holy warrior).”
The video is one of many examples of propaganda aimed at spreading IS’s beliefs to a younger generation to aid recruitment and to perpetuate the “caliphate” the group has declared in areas it holds in Iraq and Syria.
Charles Lister, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre, said that over the past six months IS media materials “have steadily escalated the level of violence involving and being carried out by children, with this video being the most extreme level reached so far”.
Also, indoctrinating young boys “into such a violent mindset helps to ensure the environment in which IS is now operating will be one in which it can continue to recruit from in the years to come.”
One of the IS videos shows young boys undergoing classroom instruction in religion and Arabic, then firearms practice and physical training.
Jeffrey Bates, the spokesman for the UN children’s agency Unicef in Iraq, said ideological indoctrination or participation in violence is incredibly damaging psychologically to the children who undergo it, and poses a major problem for the country.
Young boys feature in IS propaganda photos, including one showing a group of children wearing ski masks, dressed in camouflage uniforms and holding Kalashnikov rifles in front of an IS sign.
Another shows a very young child with two Kalashnikovs, wearing a magazine carrier and standing in men’s combat boots that are far too big for him. IS photos said to be from the Jihadist stronghold of Raqa in Syria also show young girls wearing Muslim headscarves holding toy assault rifles.
‘Red alert’ as 3,000 in Turkey linked to IS
Around 3,000 people in Turkey are believed to be linked to the Islamic State (IS) Jihadist group, a Turkish intelligence report said on Saturday, Jan 17 warning of possible attacks by extremists. The report called for enhanced surveillance of the 3,000 people, including identifying their rank within the extremist group or whether they were active within it, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Saturday.
A “red alert” had also been sent to security units warning of possible attacks on the embassies of Western countries by IS Jihadists following last week’s deadly Islamist attacks in France, the report said.
Security at the diplomatic missions had been increased to the maximum level, the report said, adding that Nato facilities and Western nationals were also potential targets. And it warned of possible bomb attacks “anywhere and anytime” in Turkey by “sleeping cells”.
Most of the vehicles stolen in Turkey ended up in the hands of IS Jihadists, it said, warning that they could be used in car bomb attacks in the country.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday said up to 700 Turkish nationals had joined the IS.
He added that Turkey had barred entry to around 7,250 people from abroad who were planning to join IS and said 1,160 would-be Jihadists were also deported.
Turkey has long been accused of not doing enough to stem the flow of Jihadists seeking to join the IS group which has captured large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq.
The Turkish government said on Monday that Hayat Boumeddiene, the wanted partner of one of the gunmen involved in last week’s Paris attacks, crossed into Syria via Turkey days before the assaults, amid reports that she may have joined IS.
A female suicide bomber killed herself and a policeman last week in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district, home to the city’s greatest concentration of historical monuments.
Bloody bus attack in Ukraine
At least 41 people were killed in Ukraine’s east on Jan 20, one of the deadliest days in the separatist war, with a bloody bus shelling in Donetsk as government forces abandoned their defence of the city’s strategic airport. In a graphic illustration of the degenerating nine-month conflict, pro-Russian rebels also paraded some 20 captured Ukrainian soldiers through Donetsk and forced them to kneel before enraged locals who threw snowballs and glass at them, some of it from the shattered bus.
The trolleybus shelling in the rebel bastion city was the day’s bloodiest incident, with 13 civilians killed and Kiev alleging that ultimate blame for the tragedy rested with Russia.
The violence came only hours after peace talks in Berlin called for a ceasefire and as the toll from the conflict surpassed 5,000 dead, with a million people also forced from their homes.
Another 10,000 have been wounded by rocket and mortar strikes raining down daily on the industrial region’s residential districts, Michael Bociurkiw of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe told Ukrainian radio.
With intensifying clashes rocking Donetsk airport in recent days, Ukraine’s military said early on Thursday that its troops had abandoned most of the site. The airport had become the symbolic prize of the conflict, with the army and rebels continuously battling for control.
Defence officials said fighting continued around the ruins of the air hub — once one of eastern Europe’s most modern and busiest — but they admitted that government forces controlled little more than a few isolated buildings on its outskirts.
The trolleybus shelling was among the bloodiest incidents involving civilians in recent months in a conflict that has devastated the ex-Soviet republic’s industrial heartland and brought Ukraine’s economy to its knees.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the attack “a monstrous crime” whose ultimate responsiblity rested with “‘the party of war’ in Kiev and its foreign sponsors.” Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk made similar charges against Moscow, accusing the insurgents of committing “a horrible act against humanity.”.
The strike occurred just south of Donetsk’s city centre far from the front line, with concerns having been raised over shelling that has at times moved closer in from the airport northwest of the city, putting civilians in increasing danger.
Thursday’s violence came hours after the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France ended a crisis meeting in Berlin with a joint call to cease hostilities, but no breakthrough agreement to stop the bloodshed. The talks had been held against the unpromising backdrop of fresh clashes and after Ukraine’s president accused Moscow of fuelling the war with fresh troops and tanks.
S Arabia building hi-tech border fence
Saudi Arabia border security forces both in the north and south of the kingdom are ready to deal with any situation, including shooting any infiltrators trying to cross into the country illegally, a security official has said.
“They are well prepared in light of the events unfolding in some of Saudi Arabia’s neighbouring countries and they have the authority to reciprocate and shoot any illegal infiltrators,” Mohammad Al Ghamdi, the spokesperson for the border security forces, said.
The official added that the northern borders were secure and that the rate of infiltration into Saudi Arabia was nil, stressing that the modern technology used by the border patrols succeeded in tracking anyone trying to enter the kingdom illegally. “We deal with infiltrators in the 20-kilometre no-man zone,” he said.
The tracking of infiltrators trying to enter the kingdom by using aeroplanes is coordinated with the interior ministry security aviation, he said.
On September 5, King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud inaugurated the first phase of a border security barrier along the kingdom’s northern borders, stretching from Hafar Al Batin, near the Iraq-Kuwait border, to the northeast town of Turaif close to Jordan.
The Saudi Press Agency reported that the multilayered barrier runs along 900km of the northern border and consists of 50 radars, 78 monitoring towers, eight command centres, ten mobile surveillance vehicles, 38 night vision camera-equipped gates, 32 rapid-response centres, and three rapid intervention squads, all linked by a fibre-optic communications network. The official news agency said that 3,397 people were being trained by 60 trainers to man the barrier.
The ten kilometre-deep barrier consists of a sand berm, two fences, and a patrol road that connects the various watchtowers and supporting facilities.
Saudi Arabia has said that fence would bring the “number of infiltrators, drug, arms and cattle smugglers to zero.”
The border programme is one of the huge steps taken by Saudi Arabia to protect its vast desert frontiers amid growing concern over deteriorating security situation in neighbouring countries.
Over 50 cops killed in clash with Muslims in Philippines
More than 40 Philippine police commandos were killed in an 11-hour firefight with Muslim rebels which erupted while they were chasing one of the region’s most wanted militants, police said on Monday, Jan 26.
The clash — which broke out despite a peace pact with the main rebel group — was “the single largest loss of life in recent memory by our security forces”, said interior minister Manuel Roxas.
A total of 51 commandos were killed Sunday in the remote town of Mamasapano, a known rebel stronghold, on Mindanao island in the south, the national police chief Leonardo Espina told a news conference.
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 References
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, especially if traveling.
Threat Level 3 ***
Indicates that law and order situation is cause for concern and travel should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Foreigners should rehearse plans for evacuation.
Threat Level 4 ****
Indicates complete breakdown of civil administration and law and order leading to possible anarchy. All foreigners 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.
