Special Emphasis on Terrorism (March-2016)

Terrorist Activities in Pakistan

Suicide bombings
A terror bid was foiled by Police when a terrorist during an encounter with Police blew himself up in Domeli Mor area of Jhelum District on January 28, reports Dawn police said. The terrorist who was allegedly targeting the Rawalpindi to Lahore Pakistan Express tried to plant explosives on railway tracks near Grand Trunk Road when a passerby reported about this to Motorway Police. The terrorist lobbed a hand grenade at security personnel upon sight and then blew himself up, security sources said. Police recovered four hand grenades and two pistols, as well as two National Identity Cards and a vehicle from his possession.

Six soldiers of Pakistan Army and a child were injured as a suicide bomber blew himself near Cantt area of Zhob District on January 29. The attacker attempted to enter Cantt area when the Friday prayers were underway, said Provincial Home Secretary Akber Hussain Durrani. Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)-Mehsud faction claimed responsibility for the attack. The spokesman Azam Masood called Radio Free Europe Mashal correspondent in Dera Ismail Khan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and claimed responsibility for the attack.

Meanwhile, the Government of Balochistan during a meeting held with Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri in the chair on January 29 pledged that the responsibility of providing security to people would be fulfilled at all costs and actions against terrorists and anti-social elements and their facilitators would continue to purge the province of all terrorists, reports Dawn. He decided to pursue a `tit-for-tat policy’ to deal with terrorists and their facilitators to ensure fool-proof security in the Province. There was consensus among participants that terrorist attacks on police and other security personnel were a reaction to successful anti-terror operations being carried out by law enforcement agencies.

Three militants were killed when a suicide bomber detonated the explosives he was wearing, killing himself and two accomplices, in Giddir area of Kalat District on February 3, reports Dawn. Three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were injured. According to official sources, FC personnel on a tip-off about the entry of an explosive-laden pick-up in Giddir area launched a search operation. They spotted a suspected vehicle carrying three persons and tried to stop it. In retaliation, the suicide bomber detonated the bomb.

At least 10 persons were killed and 40 were injured in a suicide blast near the District courts in Quetta on February 6, reports The Nation. According to report, the attacker targeted a security vehicle close to Liaquat Park. Heavy firing was also heard in the area following explosion. Three Policemen were reportedly injured in the attack. Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Durrani said that a biker collided with the Frontier Corps (FC) car that caused a massive explosion. Several cars including FC truck and motorcycles were completely destroyed in the attack. A splinter group of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack in an e-mail sent to local media. However, the name of the group is not mentioned by the local media.

Bomb/IED blasts
Two bogies of the Jaffar Express were partially damaged in an explosion near railway tracks in Mithri area of Sibi District on January 28, reports Dawn. However, no casualties were reported.

Unidentified militants hurled a hand grenade at a Rangers check post in North Nazimabad Town in Karachi on January 29, reports Dawn. However, no casualties were reported.

Separately, as hand grenade was lobbed in a market in Liaquatabad Town on January 29, reports Dawn. No casualties were reported.

At least two persons were killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in the Havid area of Bannu District on February 8, reports Dawn. According to Station House Officer of Havid Police Station, Rizwan, the IED went off in front of a shop as a shopkeeper was about to open the door. The shopkeeper, Dilnawaz, and a rickshaw driver were killed on the spot.

A constable of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), identified as Muhammad Ali Khanzada, was found dead in a car parked on Lyari Expressway in Karachi on February 7, reports Dawn. Superintendent of Police (SP)-Jamshed Dr Fahad Ahmed said that it appeared that Khanzada was killed somewhere else and later the car and his body were abandoned at the expressway.

Three separate hand grenade attacks in Karachi created panic among the masses on February 12, reports The News. However, no loss of life has been reported. According to details, unidentified men hurled hand grenade at the main entrance of Mobina town Police Station. No loss of life was reported. Separately, unknown persons hurled hand grenade near APWA Girls College Karimabad. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Central Muqqadas Haider said the hand grenade was hurled from Karimabad flyover. Further, armed men launched hand grenade attack near a private school in North Nazimabad.

Three civilians were killed and one injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) blew up their car in Navi Mandi area of Data Khel tehsil (revenue unit) in South Waziristan Agency (SWA) on February 21, reports Dawn. The four were returned internally displaced persons (IDPs) traveling to Bannu to retrieve their belongings.

Separately, militants blew up part of a newly constructed Government school in the Tiarza tehsil area of SWA on February 19-night, reports Dawn. A splinter group of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Sajna group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Targetted Killings
Four Policemen were killed when Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants open fired at them while they were sitting inside a mini gas station situated on Munir Mengal Road in Satellite Town of Quetta on January 28, reports The Express Tribune. TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani said, “The TTP’s special unit STF’s commandos successfully carried out the attack at a police mobile at Quetta’s Satellite Town. The commandos disappeared after the attack”.

A Shia elder was shot dead while his son escaped unhurt in an attack near the Kohati Gate area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of KP, on February 8, reports The News. Locals said Malik Iftikhar Ali along with his son Hasnain was on the way in Kohati Gate when armed motorcyclists opened fire on them.

Traders’ leader, identified as Haji Abdul Haleem Jan (70), was killed in a targeted attack in his shop located in Qissa Khwani Bazaar of Peshawar on February 9, reports The News.

Unidentified militant shot dead six people after barging into a house in Bonistan area of Panjgur District on February 10, reports Dawn. The victims were identified as Muhammad Ismail, Noor Shoaib, Muhammad Nazar, Momin Ghulam Jan and Islamil.

A head constable of capital city police was killed and two others injured in firing by two motorcycle bourne unidentified assailants on February 12 at Pindora Chungi of Industrial area Police Station in Islamabad, reports Daily Times. The slain Policeman is identified as Head Constable Imtiaz and injured personnel were Police Constable Zahid and FC Constable Bismillah Jan.

The bullet-riddled dead body of a man, identified as 50-year-old Liaquat Ali Baloch (50), was found from under the Lasbela Bridge, situated within the jurisdiction of the Rizvia Police Station, in Liaquatabad Town of Karachi on February 14, reports The News. His body bore torture marks and had three bullet wounds. Baloch was the brother of Lyari gangster Barkat Baloch, who was actively involved in Lyari gang war.

Two Police Constables, identified as Muhammad Asif and Mubashir, manning a security check post in Chanab Pulli area of Iqbal Town in provincial capital Lahore were shot dead by three unidentified militants on February 17, reports Dawn.

At least three persons of the Marri tribe were killed and four others were injured in a firing incident in Quetta on February 17, reports The News. The victims were identified as Marri tribal leader Mozai Mari and his two sons.

Afghan religious scholar Abdul Haleem was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Sultan Khel area of Khyber Agency on February 19, reports Daily Times. According to SFs, unidentified attackers opened fire on Afghan religious scholar leaving him seriously injured and was rushed to hospital where he could not succumb to his injuries.

At least three Policemen were killed in a gun attack near Miran Wala Bangla Bypass in Faisalabad District of Punjab on February 19, reports Daily Times. The suspected miscreants opened fire at Policemen when they were stopped by patrolling Police near Miran Wala Bangla Bypass, resulting in the killing of three Policemen. However, the suspects managed to escape.

At least three bullet-riddled dead bodies were recovered from Shakha Dara area of Chaman town on February 19, reports Dawn Another bullet-riddled dead body was recovered in Toba Achakzai area of Qilla Abdullah District on the same day.

Separately, two people were shot dead when unidentified militants opened fire at them in the Dilsora Karez area of Chaman town on February 19, reports Dawn. No outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.

Miscellaneous
Frontier Corps (FC) killed four suspected militants in an exchange of fire during search operation in Winder area of Lasbela District on January 26, reports Dawn. FC Spokesman Khan Wasey said that Security Forces (SF) also recovered weapons from their possession, adding that the suspects were involved in carrying out bomb blasts, kidnapping-for-ransom and attacks on SFs in the Province.

Separately, SFs killed two militants in Pasni area of Gwadar District on January 26, reports Dawn. Illegal arms and ammunition were also recovered. The militants were identified as Mohammad Younus Kolanchi and Mohammad Hanif Kolanchi. “Their accomplices managed to escape,” a police official said.

Unidentified militants lobbed a hand grenade outside Balochistan Minister Changez Khan Marri’s house in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase II in Karachi on January 26, reports Dawn. However, the grenade failed to explode. No casualties were reported. Police booked militants affiliated with Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) for the attack. The Minister had arrived in Karachi on the night of January 25, 2016.

Separately, Rangers on January 26 arrested of six suspects, including four officials of the Fisherman Cooperative Society (FCS), who were allegedly working as facilitators for Lyari gangsters, during raid in Kalri area of Lyari Town, reports The News.

An improvised explosive device (IED), allegedly meant to target a school, was defused by Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) personnel in Bashirabad area of Peshawar on January 26, reports Dawn. Officials say unidentified suspects handed over the improvised bomb, fitted in a pressure cooker, to a child, asking him to take it to his school. But the little boy instead of taking it to school brought the IED home. A Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan slogan was written on the pressure cooker, officials said. On seeing the explosive, family members of the child alerted Police and BDS personnel were called in. According to BDS officials, around five kilogrammes of explosive material was used in the device.

Police claimed to have killed four Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, identified as Amirullah Mehsud, Khan Wali alias Khanewal and Khoni Khel, in an encounter near Safoora Goth area of Gulshan Town in Karachi on January 27, reports Daily Times. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Malir Rao Anwar said that Police conducted a raid in Safoora Goth area after receiving a tip-off about the presence of suspected militants.

A joint team comprising Police and Intelligence Officials on January 27 recovered a huge cache of weapons and ammunition from warehouses on GT Road and Kohat Road areas of Peshawar, reports Dawn. Officials claim militants wanted to carry out a major act of terrorism in the area, for which they were dumping dangerous weapons at the locations raided. Recovered arms include over a thousand M4 and M6 rifles, telescopes and a large numbers of bullets, officials said. An unnamed official said that the arms were foreign made.

Police defused five bombs planted under a 132KV electric tower in Peshawar on January 28, reports Dawn. The bombs, comprising 20 kilograms of explosive materials, were packed into four pressure cookers and a canister in Phando area the main transmission lines powering Peshawar.

The dead body of a polio worker, identified as Shah Faisal, who had gone missing from Jamrud tehsilof Khyber Agency in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on January 27, 2016, was found in Regi area of provincial capital Peshawar, on January 29, reports The News. Political tehsildar at Jamrud, Asmatullah Wazir, said that Shah was a contractual employee with the Health Department.

The local administration along with tribal elders on January 30 demolished 12 houses of suspected militants during a search operation in the Haleemzai tehsil (revenue unit) of Mohmand Agency, reports Dawn. Political naib tehsildar Mehmood Shah said that the local administration conducted the operation in Ghalanai Mian Gan, Adin Khel and other villages of the tehsil. The militants, whose houses were demolished, were identified as Sheraz, Mohammad Shah, Haroon, Aziz, Adnan, Ziarat Shah, Sazono, Ibrahim, Yasir, Akhtar Ali, Khatir and Subhan. Earlier, the local administration had handed over a list of 22 wanted militants to the Haleemzai elders to demolish their houses. An official statement said the administration conducted the operation with the help of Haleemzai elders.

Law Enforcement Agencies on January 31 arrested banned outfit ‘commander’, identified as Yaseen alias Papu, from Baghdadi area of Lyari Town in Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, reports The News.

Meanwhile, Ghosia Girls and Boys Elementary School in Paposh Nagar area of Nazimabad Town received a written threat from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan asking for immediate closure, reports Daily Times.

Two suspected militants were killed in an exchange of fire during an operation launched by Frontier Corps in Zhob District on February 8, reports Dawn. Two submachine-guns and two hand-grenades were recovered from their possession.

Two sons of a retired Major General Chaudhry Ahmad Khan were abducted from Lahore on February 9, reports Dawn. One of them, identified as Hammad (34), was kidnapped from outside his home on Sarfaraz Rafiqui Road and the other son, identified as Nauman, from his office on Walton Road.

A Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militant, identified as Chuthal Magsi, was arrested on February 9 during a raid by Police in Lasi Goth area of Malir Town in Karachi for his involvement in an attack on a shrine in Korangi Industrial Area on September 18, 2015, reports The News. Police recovered a pistol and grenade from his possession. Two of his accomplices, Mir Hazaar Bughti and Bilal Malik, managed to escape.

One Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI), identified as Sultan Mehmood, was killed and another, identified as Constable Shoaib, was injured in an exchange of fire during a raid in the Sajan area of Mardan District on February 10, reports Dawn. Police were conducting a raid on the house of a wanted individual, Imran, when they were ambushed, said District Police Officer Faisal Shahzad.

Unidentified assailants abducted Afghanistan’s former Governor of Herat province on February 12, reports Daily Times. Sayed Fazalullah Wahidi had arrived in Islamabad along with his family to get visas to travel to UK, diplomatic sources said. The former envoy had gone to a restaurant with his 12-year-old grandson when unidentified assailants arrived in two vehicles and kidnapped him, leaving the child. According to a Police official, the former governor was staying at a guesthouse in Islamabad’s F7 sector and was near Rana Market when he was abducted. Fazalullah Wahidi was considered an influential Governor as he remained very close to former President Hamid Karzai and also served as Governor of Kunar province.

The Security Forces (SFs) claimed on February 14 to have killed 10 suspected militants during a targeted operation in Sibi District of Balochistan, reports The Dawn. The security personnel reportedly conducted an operation in Sangaan area of Sibi district and apprehended 12 suspected militants following an exchange of fire in which 10 suspects were killed. An official informed that SFs also demolished three sanctuaries being operated by militants in Sangaan.

Meanwhile, the Spokesman for Balochistan Government, Anwar ul Haq Kakar, told that a key commander of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) Aslam Acho was reportedly killed by SFs in Sibi.

Police and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), in a joint operation, arrested a militant, identified as Usman Khan, who belonged to al Qaeda Barr-e-Sagheer, from the area of Saddar Town in Karachi on February 14, reports The News. The arrested militant has revealed his connections with the facilitators and masterminds of May 13, 2015, the Safoora attack. According to investigative sources, Khan is a dentist by profession and he was delivering to the al Qaeda the extortion money, collected from various areas of the city. One Kalashnikov and nine bullets were recovered from his possession.

At least nine militants, belonging Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Islam (LI), to were killed and five others were injured in air strikes in Rajgal and Kukikhel areas of Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on February 15, reports Dawn.

Seven militants, belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), who were on their way to launch an attack in Sharaqpur area, were killed in an exchange of gunfire during a Police encounter in Sheikhupura District on February 17, reports Daily Times. According to a statement from the Provincial Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), a dozen or so militants were riding motorcycles and were on their way to attack Police when they were intercepted. “When the firing stopped, seven unknown terrorists were found dead,” it said, adding that the men were killed “by firing from their accomplices who fled from the scene taking benefit of darkness”. Shahzad Sultan, a senior local Police Official confirmed the incident.

At least five Khasadar (tribal Police) force officials were killed when unidentified militants attacked a Khasadar check post at Mohmand-Peshawar Highway in Pandyali area of Mohmand Agency on February 27, reports The Express Tribune.

Separately, unidentified militants killed two Khasadars near sub-divisional headquarter Ekka Ghund in Darwazgai area near Mohmand-Charsadda border in lower Mohmand Agency on February 17, reports The Express Tribune. Following the attacks, the solar tube-well in Darwazgai was also set on fire, soon after which the attackers fled from the scene.

Two personnel of the Khasadar force (locally raised security formations selected from each tribe) were killed in Machni area of Mohmand Agency on February 18, reports Dawn. The incident occurred late in the night when the deceased personnel Taj Ali and Bilal were on duty at a solar tubewell in the area.

At least five militants were killed during search operation, conducted by Security Forces (SFs) in Karapa area of Pandyali tehsil (revenue unit) in Mohmand Agency on February 19, reports The News. The security personnel also seized explosive material from their possession.

Law Enforcement Agencies shot dead four militants who were seen planting an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the Abdul Rehman Zai area of Gulistan town of Qilla Abdullah District on February 19, reports The Express Tribune. “A large quantity of arms and explosives were also confiscated from their possession.

Twenty-four militants were reportedly killed in airstrikes by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) jet fighters in the Dattakhel subdivision of North Waziristan Agency on February 23, reports The News. Security officials said the aircraft started bombing the suspected militant positions early in the day, destroying eight sanctuaries in the remote and mountainous Shawal Valley of the Dattakhel subdivision near the Afghan border. The sources said that some of the sanctuaries established by the militants in Alwara, Khar Tangi and Maizar areas of Dattakhel were targeted by the airstrikes.

Separately, 15 militants were killed and eight of their hideouts destroyed near the Pak-Afghan border area after cross-border mortar shelling targeted a security checkpost in the Alwara Mandi, Khar-Tangi and Maizer areas of Kurram Agency on February 23, reports Dawn.

Three suspected terrorists were killed in a shootout with Rangers in Manghopir area of Gadap Town in Karachi on February 24, reports Dawn. According to details, Rangers personnel started a search operation in Manghopir on reports about the presence of some terrorists. The raid turned into an exchange of gunfire. “The armed men in the hideouts attacked the Rangers team when they were taking positions following a tip-off about the presence of terrorists in the area more forces were called in to join the operation and after an exchange of gunfire three terrorists were killed. They all belonged to a banned outfit.”“ said the spokesman.

PAKISTAN

Journalists and activists faced increasing hostility in 2015, reveals HRW Report
Journalists and activists in Pakistan faced an increasingly hostile climate in 2015 due to harassment, threats and violence from both the state and militant groups, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW) Report released on January 27, reports Daily Times. In the 659-page World Report 2016, which has reviewed human rights practices in more than 90 countries, HRW says the Government imposed new restrictions on free speech and funding of civil society groups in 2015 due to the security situation faced by the country.

Asia Director of HRW Brad Adams said that Pakistan should not curb freedom of expression and association under the threat of extremism. “Pakistan should reverse course and repeal or amend laws curbing freedom of expression and association,” he said, adding, “The Government should never use the threat of extremist violence as a pretext to violate the rights of independent voices.”

The Report further added that media was also deterred from reporting on or criticising human rights violations in the country’s counter-terrorism operations, it added. “Pakistan’s Government should take urgent steps to create an enabling environment for free expression and association,” Adams said. “Pakistan needs to fight terrorism, but denying its citizens fundamental freedoms and due process rights is an unlawful and extremely misguided approach.”

BLF leader among seven killed in separate encounters in Balochistan
Dr. Manan Baloch, a senior leader of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), and four other suspected militants were killed in an encounter with Security Forces (SFs) in Mastung District of Balochistan on January 30, reports Dawn. Addressing a press conference at the Chief Minister Secretariat in Quetta, Balochistan Home Minister Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti said Manan headed the Baloch National Movement (BNM), an organisation supporting militants. Bugti said SFs conducted a search operation in Killi Datu area of Mastung during which an exchange of fire took place between the SF personnel and militants hiding in a house. He said Manan and four other men were allegedly involved in subversive activities, including attacks on law enforcement agencies.

Meanwhile, two suspected militants were killed in an exchange of fire with SFs in Mastung District late on January 29, reports Dawn. Official sources said that unidentified assailants attacked a convoy of SFs in the Kanak area of the District. They fired rockets and shots. SF personnel in the convoy retaliated and the exchange of fire continued for about three hours.

Three religious seminaries sealed in Balochistan
Three madrassas (religious seminaries) were raided and sealed over alleged involvement in ‘suspicious’ and ‘illegal’ activities in Eastern Bypass area of provincial capital Quetta on February 1, reports Dawn The sealed seminaries include Madrassah Hussainia, Madrassah Taleem-ul Quran and Madrassah Abu Bakar Siddique. The raiding party also detained four clerics, identified as Qari Saifur Rehman, Surat Shah, Habibullah, and Qari Wali, for interrogation. Police said that the madrassas were sealed under the National Action Plan.

Main facilitator of Bacha Khan University attack arrested
In a major breakthrough, intelligence agencies on February 2 claimed to have arrested the main facilitator of the attack on the Bacha Khan University on January 20, reports Dawn. According to intelligence agencies, Waheed Ali alias Arshad, categorised as “Terrorist A”, was arrested in Nowshera last week. “He had made arrangements to flee to Afghanistan and hired a taxi to take him to the Pak-Afghan border at Torkham. Had there been any further delay, the man would have slipped away,” the sources said. “He had shaved his beard and had packed up. His taxi was intercepted and he was picked up after positive identification,” said the sources, requesting they not be identified.

In his initial statement, according to the sources, the alleged facilitator who is in his early 30s said the planning of the attack on the university had been in works for six months in Achin District of Afghanistan, the base of the militant commander Khalifa Omar Mansoor alias Omar Naray. He said he had surreptitiously made videos of the Punjab Regiment Centre and a police station in Mardan as possible targets and taken the footages in a memory chip to Omar Naray, but the plans had been dropped because of heavy security in the two places.

The mastermind and planners, Waheed said, later opted for Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan and prepared a group of four militants to carry out the attack. He said that he was the one who had made the video of the four attackers with Khalifa Mansoor and that was the reason why the Abdul Wali Khan University was mentioned in the video. He said Khalifa Mansoor had provided him PKR one million to execute the plan and procure arms and ammunition for the attack. The plan to attack the Abdul Wali Khan University was also cancelled because of better security arrangements and the mastermind was informed about the new target in Charsadda.

CM invites self-exiled Baloch leaders to the negotiating table in Balochistan
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri during the concluding session of a two-day seminar on Prospects of Peace and Prosperity in Balochistan on February 2 once again invited self-exiled Baloch leaders to the negotiating table for resolving their issues, reports Dawn. He said that the Government was ready to hold dialogue with the estranged leaders within the constitutional framework. “I empower Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed to approach self-exiled angry leaders and initiate talks with them,” Zehri said, adding that he believed negotiations, and not bullet, was the solution to the concerns of disgruntled Baloch leaders.

Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif on February 2 said that Balochistan has become a hotbed of proxy wars for regional and global grand strategy by many powers, reports Daily Times. “This is a battle that we all are fighting, and we shall continue to fight, till peace prevails across the width and breadth of the Province,” General Raheel said, adding that Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps, Police, Coast Guards, Levies and above all, the people of Balochistan, have defended the integrity of Pakistan with unflinching resolve for which they deserve special appreciation.

Czech govt paid USD six million ransom for women abducted in Balochistan
The Czech Government paid USD six million in ransom in March 2015 to secure the release of two women, Czech psychology students Hana Humpalova (24) and Antonie Chrastecka (24), kidnapped in Balochistan in March 2013, reports Daily Times. According to details, the women had entered from Iran as tourists and were escorted into Pakistan by a tribal Policeman. In a video released shortly after their kidnapping, the two young women had pleaded for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, jailed in 2010 in the United States. After two years in captivity, Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka announced the women’s release and return to Prague on March 28, 2015.

They both said they did not know who abducted them, because nobody introduced themselves or gave them any explanation for the kidnapping. Negotiations with the kidnappers on the payment of a ransom were carried out by the Czech state’s Security Council. “The talks weren’t easy, but in the end, none of us wanted to assume responsibility for the death of two young girls,” said an unnamed official involved in negotiations. “The decision to hand over the ransom was taken unanimously,” the source added.

IS emerging as a threat, warns IB chief Aftab Sultan
The Director General (DG) of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Aftab Sultan, on February 10 informed the Senate Standing Committee (SSC) on Interior that the Islamic State (IS) was emerging as a threat in the country because several militant groups had soft corner for it, reports Dawn. He named Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan as examples. Though IS and Afghan Taliban were rivals, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) coordinated with it, he added.

The Federal Ministry of Interior has been denying the presence of IS in Pakistan, saying that it was an Arab organisation. But DG Sultan said that the IB had busted a big IS network after several members reached Punjab following Karachi’s Safoora Goth carnage in May 2014. He said that terrorists were reorganising and stressed the need for a border control mechanism, particularly with Afghanistan, enhanced regional cooperation, implementation of the National Action Plan and de-radicalisation policy with a focus on counter-narrative. The IB chief called for a comprehensive policy for “rehabilitation of jihadi elements” and effective implementation of policy for monitoring social media and cyberspace.

Despite intelligence warnings that the Islamic State (IS) is an emerging threat, the Foreign Office (FO) on February 11 insisted that the terrorist group has “no organised presence” in the country, reports Dawn. “Let me reiterate that there is no organised presence of Daesh, the Arabic acronym for IS, in Pakistan,” FO spokesman Nafees Zakaria said.

COAS vows to defeat ‘externally funded’ terrorists and sympathisers providing refuge in Pakistan
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif while addressing the Corps Commander Conference at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi District on February 10 said that terrorists are being funded externally by hostile foreign intelligence agencies, and their sympathisers at home providing shelter and refuge. He said that Pakistan had achieved significant successes in operation Zarb-e-Azb, and the war against terror required unified response. The General reiterated that all efforts and resources would be employed to bring about lasting stability and socio-economic revival for prosperity and well-being of displaced people of affected areas.

Al Qaeda, LeJ and TTP working hand in glove, says Army
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa on February 12 revealed that the law enforcement agencies have successfully broken the nexus between al Qaeda (subcontinent chapter) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), reports Daily Times. Briefing media persons, the army spokesman said security forces have achieved a major success during the ongoing Karachi operation by arresting over 97 hardcore terrorists, including three high-value targets (HVTs). “We have broken the overall network and nexus of terrorists belonging to al Qaeda subcontinent chapter and LeJ. They were backed by Tehreek-e-Taliban… This is a major achievement, but we have much more to do,” Bajwa said. He said the terrorists were involved in almost all major incidents of terrorism in Karachi, adding that all of them are in army’s custody.

12 AQIS and LeJ terrorists killed in two separate encounters in Karachi
The Sindh Police killed 12 terrorists, belonging to al-Qaeda Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), in two separate encounters in Pipri area and Gadap Town of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh on February 22, reports The News. In the first encounter, at least eight militants were killed in Pipri area of Bin Qasim Town. “Eight militants were killed on the spot while four others, who fled the scene, were killed in Gadap area,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rao Anwaar of Malir District. In the second encounter, at least four militants were killed in Gadap Town. He further said that the encounters, which lasted several hours in a slum off the National Highway, occurred during a raid on a hideout after police received intelligence-based information that terrorists belonging to banned outfits had gathered there. The terrorists had been working jointly and targeting law enforcement agencies in Karachi, Rao added. Five of the deceased suspects were identified as Sohail, Khalil, Bilal, Talha and Abdul Salam. During the search operation the Police they found four pressure cooker bombs, suicide jackets, detonating cords, five hand grenades, ball bearings, five submachine guns, three 9mm pistols and hundreds of bullets.

REGIONAL

Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics

PBSP cadre killed in Pabna
Abdus Samad (45), a cadre of Purbo Banglar Sarbahara Party (PBSP), was hacked to death at Nengri in Pabna District on January 28, reports New Age. Police recovered the body from a mustard field of the village. Police said that members of the PBSP might have killed him over previous enmity as he left the party.

103 mosque committees cross country having leaders of JeI and other radical groups as members instigating militant activities identified
District-based Islamic scholars have so far identified some 103 mosque committees across the country having leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) and other radical groups as members instigating militant activities, reports Dhaka Tribune on January 29. The 103 mosques were identified in the northern part of the country in Rajshahi, Chittagong, Chandpur, Rangpur, Bogra, Gaibandha, Satkhira, Sylhet, Gazipur and Dinajpur Districts. The scholars are now gathering more information about the suspected militant sympathizers and the activities of the mosque committees. They would inform the law enforcement agencies about the committees and the persons after the 1, 00,000 signature campaigns against militancy ends. The fatwa involving 11 questions explains the relevant verses of the Qur’an and the Hadiths to discourage extremism and militant activities in the country. The campaign began on January 2.

Large cache of arms recovered near Indo-Bangla border
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on February 1 recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition from Garo Pahar area in Nalitabari sub-District of Sherpur District near the border with India, reports Dhaka Tribune. The recovered weapons cache included one anti-aircraft gun base, 220,000 heavy machine-gun bullets, 17,000 SMG bullets, a large number of bullets, two anti-aircraft spare barrel, eight heavy machine guns, five machine gun spare barrel, one spare target sight, twelve sniper rifles, one AK-56, one 7.62mm pistol, 20 MG drum, different types of machines for cleaning rifles, five satellite phones and short- and long-range walkie-talkies.

According to sources in different law enforcement agencies, the Garo Pahar area in Nalitabari sub-District of Sherpur District had become a safe haven for Indian group United Liberation Front of Asom, reports The Daily Star. ULFA had been active in the area between 2000 and 2010 under the leadership of its military commander Masud Ranjan Chowdhury. In December, 2010, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) recovered seven abandoned mines, one grenade, 97 bullets, detonators, Indian currency, walkie-talkies, and documents of ULFA. RAB on July 17, 2010, arrested Masud Ranjan Chowdhury and his associate Pradip Marak. On April 8, 2015, the duo were awarded life imprisonments and fined BDT 20,000. They are currently serving their terms in a Kishoreganj prison.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal on February 2 said that the seized arms and ammunition recovered by members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Sherpur District belong to an Indian separatist group, reports New Age.

PBCP ‘regional commander’ killed in Jhenidah district
Police on February 4 recovered the beheaded body of Anwar Hossain , a ‘regional commander’ of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) at Kismat-Ghoragachha village under Harinakundo upazila (sub-District) in Jhenidah District, reports The Daily Star.

More than 71% agree that terrorism is a major threat for the country, says Survey
In a survey conducted at the end of January by Bangla Tribune on the completion of two years in office by the current Government, more than 71% agree that terrorism is a major threat for the country, reports Dhaka Reports on February 9. But only 13.8% believe that it is the most important issue in the country that needs immediate addressing. Nationwide, people felt eliminating terrorism was the fourth most important issue for the government, behind political stability, holding national elections, and economic development. A total of 4,950 people were interviewed one-to-one from across the country for the poll.

Two GMF cadres killed in gunfight with RAB in Kushtia District
Two cadres of Gono Mukti Fouz (GMF) were killed in a gunfight with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Kushtia District on February 11, The Daily Star. The deceased are identified as Akam Uddin Hia (25) and Liakat Ali (30). RAB also recovered four firearms and 14 bullets from the spot.

Five JMB militants arrested in Gaibandha
Police arrested five militants of Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh while they were holding a closed-door meeting about their operations from Bujruk Boali village of Gaibandha District on February 12, reports The Daily Star. The arrestees are Saiful Islam (29), Shaheed Mia (18), Hyder Ali (20), Omar Faruk (25) and Ratan (23).

Counter terrorism and Transnational Crime unit starts functioning to enhance Police capability in combating militancy and terrorism
The much-sought-after “Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime” unit under Dhaka Metropolitan Police started functioning on February 16 headed by newly appointed Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Monirul Islam, reports The Daily Star. The 600-men Police unit specialising in technology has been formed to enhance Police capability in combating militancy and terrorism. The unit started its journey at a time when the country has witnessed a sharp rise in deadly attacks on bloggers, publishers, different Muslim sects, foreigners, and people of other religion. “The unit will work to mainly combat cybercrimes, terror financing and mobile banking related crimes,” DIG Monirul, also chief of the unit said.

ABT den busted in Dhaka city
Police on February 20 busted a den of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) in Dhaka city’s Mohammadpur area and recovered a large cache of bombs and explosives, reports Dhaka Tribune. Six hand grenades, two saucepan bombs and several bombs wrapped in tennis balls were recovered. Police said that of the explosives, some 3 to 4 kilograms are so powerful that if those are blasted about 100 to 150 people within the radius of 30 to 40 yards will be killed.

Hindu priest killed Panchagarh District
Jogeswar Dasadhikari (50), a Hindu priest at Sri Sri Shonto GaurioTtemple in Debiganj sub-District of Panchagarh District was killed by slitting his throat on February 21, reports The Daily Star. Two other devotees Gopal Chandra Roy (35) and Nitai Das (40) were injured in the incident. SITE, an intelligence group, on its website said that Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for killing Jogeswar. Police arrested Khalilur Rahman in connection with the killing.

India – Internal Dynamics

Maoists kill junior Police in Bihar
The Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres killed a junior Police, identified as Girija Paswan in Aurangabad District, reports Deccan Herald on January 26. The Maoists claimed that the 35-year-old Paswan was shot dead precisely because he had turned into a ‘Police informer’ and was suspected to have told his superiors about the whereabouts of Rajiv alias Bihari, a Maoist leader. Rajiv and his accomplices were killed by the Aurangabad Police earlier this month.

GNLA joins hand with ULFA-led group
The Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) on the eve of the Republic Day, January 25, announced it had joined hands with other major militant groups operating in the north east so as to be part of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and Khaplang faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K)-led United National Liberation Front of Western South East Asia (UNLFWSEA) coordination committee, reports The Shillong Times. The GNLA move to be part of a larger consortium of armed rebel groups fighting against the state is expected to create ripples across the security agencies at both the Centre and the state given that the dreaded ULFA-Independent is one of the main architects of the coming together of militant outfits. The GNLA publicity ‘secretary’ Gantong Marak issued a statement to the media on January 25, to announce that the GNLA had recently joined the new consortium after the highest ranking leaders of the group, presumably Sohan D Shira, held an emergent meeting at its headquarters in Asim. The armed group further went on to mention that it was now a part of the new joint organization which also includes the Khasi Hills based Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC) as a member. GNLA recently became a member nation in the organization UNLFWSEA. The consortium of the rebel groups is believed to have its headquarters in the jungles of neighbouring Myanmar (Burma).

Five Policemen, two civilians killed in Maoist landmine blast in Jharkhand
Five Policemen and two civilians were killed while eight others were injured in a landmine blast by the Communist Party of India-Maoist at Chattarpur Block in Palamu District of Jharkhand on January 27, reports NDTV. The Security Forces (SFs) were going towards the Kalapahari area in a convoy when their vehicle came under attack.

According to details, the Jharkhand Police had corned a group of Maoist in Kalapahari area in Chattarpur Block in the District two days ago. The Police and Maoists have since been engaged in a gun battle. “This afternoon, at around 2 pm, there was heavy exchange of fire between the forces and Maoists and we were rushing in reinforcements, when they were attacked,” said an unnamed Jharkhand Police officer.

Three Policemen injured in grenade attack in Assam
Three Policemen, identified as Dharmendra Das, Tilak Nath and R K Rajesh Singh, were injured when unidentified assailants hurled a grenade at them during patrol duty in Ram Nagar under Haflong Police Station in Dima Hasao District on January 28, reports Morung Express. Investigations are on and a search has been launched to nab the culprits, the Police officer said.

30000 people in India ready to work for IS to wage war against their own nation, says report
According to sources, over 30,000 people in India are in contact with Islamic State (IS) and are ready to wage war against their own country- India, Zee News reports on January 28. IS is using these people to hack secret data of Indian government the terror outfit will use the data to forge strategy to harm India. IS contacted these people online. According to Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) officials, they have blocked 94 websites so far. These websites had content related to IS.

Bihar police officer killed in encounter with Maoist supporters
A Police official was killed on January 30 in an encounter with alleged Communist Party of India-Maoist sympathisers in Munger District, reports The Hindu. Police said that on a tip-off a Police team led by Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Navin Kumar went to Lathiakoresi village to arrest a suspected Maoist Lallan Koda but in the exchange of fire an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Bhavesh Singh posted at Dharhara Police Station of Munger District, suffered bullet injuries. “The injured was brought to the Sadar Hospital where doctors declared him dead”, said Varun Sinha, Munger Superintendent of Police (SP). A Maoist sympathiser was also injured in the firing. Later, in police firing, two tribal people were injured after they laid siege to a police station. Further, protesting the Police operation, the villagers, mostly tribal, gheraoed the neighbouring Piri Police Station which forced the Policemen to take shelter inside the premises for some time.

PLFI cadres kill former village headman in Jharkhand
A former mukhiya (headman) of Murumguttu village in West Singhbhum District was shot dead by unidentified assailants near his house on February 1, reports The Telegraph. Superintendent of Police (SP) Michael S. Raj said that People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI) cadres were suspected to have killed Rajendra Hapathgara (45) who was associated with the outfit. PLFI is a splinter group of the Communist Party of India-Maoist.

After Indian Mujahideen, Bhatkal town now becomes new recruiting ground for IS, says report
Karnataka’s coastal town of Bhatkal, once known as recruiting ground for Indian Mujahideen (IM), is now being seen in the security establishment to be emerging as a possible incubator of the Islamic State’s (IS) Indian terror module after a string of arrests from the town and nearby areas in Karnatakaindia.com reports on February 3. Shafi Armar, who, intelligence agencies say is the main recruiter of Indian men lured to the IS ideology, also belongs to Bhatkal where he was born and lived with his two brothers, before leaving India in 2009.

“All the arrested suspected terrorists having links with Bhatkal are being quizzed to ascertain their role in the module. Interrogators are also trying to find out the exact number of people recruited from the town,” the sources said. The sources privy to the investigation, however, said that the arrested IS suspects were not only asked to target Bhatkal to recruit members but to seek sympathisers across India for which they had organised several meetings in Lucknow, Mumbai, Mangalore, Tumkur (in Karnataka), Haridwar and Hyderabad. Another official, said that the main India-module recruiter of IS has been targeting his former IM aides who belong to Bhatkal and nearby towns in Karnataka.

Two policemen injured in GNLA ambush in Meghalaya
Two Policemen were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast by the Garo National Liberation Army militants at Jadagitim under Nangalbibra Police Station in South Garo Hills District on February 5, reports The Sentinel. The two injured constable belong to the West Khasi Hills based 4th Battalion of the State Police. Superintendent of Police (SP) of South Garo Hills District Anand Mishra said that the blast was the handiwork of a hardcore militant Timtam who functions under the direct command of the GNLA ‘Finance Secretary’ and ‘area commander’ identified as Rakkam.

Newly floated militant outfit
Members of a newly-floated militant outfit of the Moran community, Moran Tiger Force (MTF) are said to be behind the two incidents of firings happened on February 3 in Tinsukia District, reports The Times of India on February 5. Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) (special branch) Pallab Bhattacharya said “We have reports about a new outfit, Moran Tiger Force, floated a week ago. We also have clues about Paresh Baruah’s involvement. The situation in Tinsukia district is tense and we have issued orders to bring the situation under control so that it does not spill over to Dibrugarh.”

The first incident took place at Ultapul near Digboi town in Tinsukia District at 6.45 pm on February 3. Three persons riding a car stopped in front of a paan shop owned by one Rameswar Majhi. Alighting from the car, they first asked for cigarettes. Suddenly, one of them whipped out a pistol and fired at the shopkeeper, missing him narrowly. The trio boarded the vehicle and sped off but not before firing again. No one was injured in the incident.

The second incident took place at Doomdooma in front of the residence of tea community leader and former Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Durga Bhumij at 7.40 pm on February 3. According to information, some unidentified persons travelling in a car opened fired near the entrance gate of Bhumji’s home before speeding off. Within an hour of the incident, local journalists received text messages from Moran Tiger Force which claimed responsibility for the two incidents. The outfit issued a warning to the tea community and Hindi-speaking people, asking them to leave Tinsukia within six months.

Maoists explode five IEDs, fire at CAF in Chhattisgarh
The Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres detonated five serial Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blasts and fired indiscriminately at a team of Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) in Bijapur District, reports The Business Standard on February 11. No one was injured in the incident. The Maoists exploded landmines between Bodli and Bhairamgarh under Bhairamgarh Police Station limits while a CAF’s squad was patrolling in the region to ensure security to the Geedam-Bhopalpatnam road, Bijapur Superintendent of Police (SP) K.L. Dhruv said. Later, during searching, three explosives, one IED weighing 10 kg, were recovered from the spot.

Militant threats halt films in Manipur
The Manipuri film industry shut down indefinitely on February 17 to protest against extortion threats by National Revolutionary Front of Manipur (NRFM) to the Film Forum Manipur, reports The Telegraph. “We have decided to suspend all Manipuri film-related activities after the National Revolutionary Front Manipur issued threats to us for not meeting its monetary demand. We will not resume our activities until the threat is withdrawn,” the chairman of the Forum, L. Surjakanta, said.

According to Surjakanta, the militant group first approached the Forum for “financial assistance” late last year (2015). In response, the Forum suspended all film activities from November 14, 2015. The Forum resumed work on December 28 after a public meet, attended by civil society and student organisations, appealed to the rebels to withdraw the threat. Surjakanta said the militants have not mentioned the exact amount to be paid, but continue to issue threats to the Forum. “Within days of resuming our activities, telephone calls came from the group, threatening us and warning us that no activities would be allowed until the group is paid. Our repeated appeals and pleas to withdraw the demand and threat went unheeded. After reviewing the situation and also in view of the rigid stance of the group, we have decided to suspend all activities indefinitely from today,” Surjakanta said.

Monthly Fatalities
The following deaths related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of terrorism occurred during the period Jan 26, 2015 to Feb 25, 2016:

	Civilian	Indian Security  Personnel	Militant	Total
Assam	00	00	09	09
Manipur	02	00	01	03
Meghalaya	04	00	01	05
Nagaland	03	00	01	04
Left wing	12	10	29	51
Total	21	10	41	72

Nepal – Internal Dynamics

58 persons lost their lives in Madhes agitation that began with promulgation of new Constitution, says Spokesperson for Home Ministry Yadav Prasad Koirala
Spokesperson for the Home Ministry Joint Secretary Yadav Prasad Koirala at a press meet organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications on February 1 said that 58 people lost their lives in the Madhes agitation that began with the promulgation of the new Constitution in the country, reports The Himalayan Times. According to Koirala, those killed during the course of the agitation include security personnel, agitators and common people. Necessary security arrangements have been put in place for smooth operation of major highways and routes linking the District headquarters to ease supply of essential commodities, including fuel.

Stop arresting and indicting UDMF cadres in various Districts or else UDMF would restart its agitation, say UDMF leaders
United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) leaders on February 15 met Home Minister Shakti Basnet and told him to stop arresting and indicting UDMF cadres in various Districts or else the UDMF would restart its agitation, reports The Himalayan Times. UDMF’s remark comes a day after the Police arrested three persons in Mahottari District in connection with the killing of Armed Police Force Sub-inspector Thaman Bahadur Bishwakarma.

On September 11, 2015, Bishwakarma was dragged out of an ambulance and was allegedly killed by UDMF agitators. Police indicted 100 people in the case and identified 30 accused.

Seven JTJP cadres arrested in Dhanusha District
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Police arrested seven cadres of underground outfit Janatantrik Tiger Janashakti Party (JTJP) in Dhanusha District, reports The Himalayan Times on February 21. The arrestees have been identified as Ram Rijhan Yadav aka Ajay (24), the ‘military commander’ of JTJP, Jogindar Mahato aka Anil Doctor (42), Amit Kumar Purbey (35), Nage Sah (22), Shubh Narayan Yadav aka Dilip (24), Bechan Paswan (24) and Jaslal Yadav (35). Police said that they were involved in shooting at Naseeb Muya Rain (45) and Sogarath Mahato (25) of Dhanusha District, leaving them seriously injured in the Kamala River Bridge on February 6.

Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics

HRW calls on Sri Lankan Government to fulfill its commitments to UNHRC
Human Rights Watch (HRW) on January 25 called on the Sri Lankan Government to fulfill its commitments to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by ensuring that foreign judges and prosecutors play a significant role in the mandated accountability mechanism for wartime abuses, reports Colombo Page. Referring to a statement made by President Maithripala Sirisena to the BBC on January 21 that he will not agree to international involvement as Sri Lanka have more than enough specialists, experts and knowledgeable people in our country to solve our internal issues, the HRW said the consensual resolution agreed at the UNHRC in October 2015 cannot be negotiated.

Meanwhile, Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the London-based Tamil Diaspora organization on January 25 expressed deep concern over the comments made by the Sri Lankan President regarding International Involvement on Accountability Mechanism, reports Colombo Page. The GTF said in a statement said “President Sirisena downplayed the serious findings of war crimes and Human Rights abuses by the Sri Lankan military outlined in the Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL report – released on 28 September 2015), on the basis that no names were mentioned in the report ignoring the fact that this is a standard procedural matter in such investigations.”

There were no allegations of war crimes at UNHRC in Geneva, only allegations of human rights violations, says President Maithripala Sirisena
President Maithripala Sirisena in an interview with the Al Jazeera news agency said that there were no allegations of war crimes at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, only allegations of human rights violations, reports Colombo Page. Rejected the allegations apparently contradicting key findings from a UN investigation into the country’s civil war, released in September 2015, the President said “I must say very clearly there is no allegations regarding ‘war crimes’, there were war crimes allegations during the early stages. But at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, mainly in the proposals presented in September, there were no ‘war crimes’ allegations against us. They contained allegations of human rights violations only. When you consider the facts surrounding the allegations of human rights violations, we are committed as a member of the United Nations, to implementing the main points and proposals.”

Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on January 29 expressed hope that Sri Lankan Government will abide by the commitment it made to the UNHRC when it co-sponsored the UN resolution, reports Colombo Page. Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric said “The UN Chief remains hopeful that the Sri Lankan Government stands by its commitments and fully implements the resolution.”

German court convicts Sri Lankan-born German national for supporting LTTE
A German Court on February 2 convicted a Sri Lankan-born German national on charges of supporting Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), reports Colombo Page. The Hamburg Court convicted Yogendran G. (53) for raising funds in Germany from 2007-2009 for the LTTE. The Court found that the man raised more than 81,000 Euros for combat and terrorist activities including suicide attacks by the LTTE in its campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka.

SL Nationalists Protest UN Rights Chief’s Visit On War Crimes
Hundreds of hardline nationalists gathered outside the United Nations’ office in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Feb 6 to protest against a visit by the UN human rights chief who will assess Sri Lanka’s progress in prosecuting alleged war crimes.

The UN says both Sri Lanka’s military and the Tamil Tiger rebels most likely committed war crimes during a 26-year war which ended in 2009. A UN resolution calls for post-war reconciliation and that all alleged war crimes be investigated and tried in special courts by international judges.

However, many Sri Lankans oppose foreign involvement and supporters of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa believe the UN resolution aims to punish the military unfairly despite defeating the Tamil Tigers.

Although the coalition of President Maithripala Sirisena has agreed to the resolution, the visit by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein follows comments by Sirisena saying that foreign participation was not needed for an impartial inquiry into the war.

Al Hussein began his four-day visit to Sri Lanka by visiting the UN office in Colombo to meeting UN officials. Hours afterwards, protesters outside shouted “Al Hussein, hands off Sri Lanka” and “where were you when people in Afghanistan and Iraq were killed?” Some held banners which read, “no war crime courts, no foreign judges” and “don’t send the military to guillotine”. They also set posters bearing Zeid’s face on fire and threw shoes and slippers at his image.

“We will not allow to set up courts to fulfill the need of Western nations. Al Hussein has come here to take our war heroes to guillotine, but we won’t allow that to happen,” Wimal Weerawansa, the NFF leader told the gathering.

Navy arrests two persons along with 50 kilograms of gelignite in North Central Province
Naval troops attached to SLNS Gajaba of the North Central Naval Command on February 22 arrested two persons while transporting 500 sticks of gelignite weighing 50 kilograms in the Wahamalgollewa area of Madawachchiya District in the North Central Province, reports Colombo Page. The arrested persons with the gelignite sticks have been handed over to Medawachchiya Police for further investigations.

INTERNATIONAL

Clashes Kill 23 As Curfew Widened In Southeast Turkey
Security forces killed 20 Kurdish militants in southeast Turkey while three Turkish soldiers died in a rebel attack, the military said on Wednesday, Jan 27 as authorities widened a curfew in the mainly Kurdish region’s largest city, Diyarbakir. Hundreds of locals, including children and the elderly, fled curfew-bound areas of Diyarbakir’s Sur district as gunfire and blasts resounded and police helicopters flew overhead, a Reuters witness said.

The southeast has endured the worst violence in two decades since a 2-1/2-year-old ceasefire between the state and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants collapsed in July, reviving a conflict that has killed 40,000 people since 1984.

The army said 11 PKK members died in the town of Cizre, near the Syrian border, and nine more in Sur on Tuesday, bringing the militant death toll in the two towns to some 600 since security operations began there last month. It said three soldiers were killed in a militant attack in Sur, where security sources said militants opened fire with rifles and a rocket launcher.

The ancient Sur district, enclosed by Roman city walls, has suffered extensive damage in the fighting and much of it has been under a round-the-clock curfew since Dec 2.

The district governor’s office said the curfew was extended to five more districts so security forces could remove explosive devices and barricades and fill in ditches set up by militants.

Turkey, the United States and the European Union all classify the PKK as a terrorist organisation. The PKK says it is fighting for autonomy for Turkey’s Kurdish minority.

The pro-Kurdish HDP party puts the toll at nearly 120. Rights groups have highlighted the plight of some 28 people sheltering in a Cizre cellar, where four have died and three are in a critical condition, according to information obtained by Emma Sinclair-Webb of Human Rights Watch.

Seven Hamas Gunmen Killed In Gaza
Seven Hamas gunmen were killed when a tunnel collapsed close to the Gaza Strip’s eastern border with Israel, the Islamist militant group’s armed wing said on Thursday, Jan 28. It said the collapse occurred on Tuesday night as a result of heavy rain and it took two days to find the bodies and announce the deaths.

Mosques across the Palestinian enclave mourned those killed, calling them “Martyrs of the Preparation”, a reference to their work digging tunnels used to attack Israel.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007, when it seized power after a brief civil war with the rival Fatah movement.

Hamas’s armed wing is one of several militant groups that operate in the territory, which is blockaded by Israel and Egypt.

During July and August 2014, Israel fought a 50-day war against Hamas, with the militants making widespread use of deep tunnels to launch surprise attacks on Israeli forces.

Israel heavily bombed the tunnels, but not all were destroyed. As well as the seven militants killed in the tunnel collapse, Hamas’s armed wing said four survived. Israeli officials have repeatedly warned about the rebuilding of the tunnels, with some politicians calling for pre-emptive action to neutralise the threat.

Kidnapped Al Jazeera Journalists Freed In Yemen
Two journalists and a driver working for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera Arabic TV channel were freed in Yemen on Thursday, Jan 28 the network said, ten days after they were abducted by gunmen in the war-torn southwestern city of Taiz.

The Doha-based channel said in a news report on its website that correspondent Hamdi Al-Bokari, cameraman Abdulaziz Al-Sabri and driver Moneer Al-Sabai were released by their captors, whose identity remains unclear.

Fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi are battling Iran-allied Houthi militia and loyalists of the country’s former leader in a war that has raged for nine months and in which some 6,000 people have been killed.

Al Jazeera, whose reporting of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings won it millions of viewers in the Middle East, has seen several of its journalists detained and killed in recent years in conflicts across the region.

Qatar is a member of the Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi, which is seeking to advance on the capital Sanaa through Taiz from its base in the southern port city of Aden, captured from the Houthis in July.

Hadi and his government are based in Yemen’s second largest city Aden, where gunmen widely believed to be Islamist militants have assassinated dozens of policemen and security officials in recent months.

Dozens of armoured vehicles accompanied by troops from the United Arab Emirates arrived in Aden’s port on Wednesday, security officials said.

Car Bomb At Yemeni Presidential Palace Kills Seven
A suicide car bomb killed seven people outside Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Rabbu Hadi’s residence in the southern city of Aden on Thursday, Jan 28 local officials and eyewitnesses said. Officials said President Hadi was inside the building at the time of the attack and was unharmed.

Hadi was forced to flee the capital Sanaa in 2014 and is now based in Aden, Yemen’s second largest city, where his embattled government is trying to project its authority after its loyalists, backed by Arab forces, seized it in July.

Dozens of armoured vehicles and troops from the United Arab Emirates arrived in Aden’s port on Wednesday.

US, British Spies Hacked Israeli Air Force
The United States and Britain have monitored secret sorties and communications by Israel’s air force in a hacking operation dating back to 1998, according to documents attributed to leaks by former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. Israel voiced disappointment at the disclosures, which were published on Friday, Jan 29 in three media outlets and might further strain relations with Washington after years of feuding over strategies on Iran and the Palestinians.

Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily said the US National Security Agency, which specialises in electronic surveillance, and its British counterpart GCHQ spied on Israeli air force missions against the Palestinian enclave Gaza, Syria and Iran. The spy operation, codenamed “Anarchist”, was run out of a Cyprus base and targeted other Middle East states too, it said.

Its findings were mirrored by stories in Germany’s Der Spiegel newsmagazine and the online publication The Intercept, which lists Snowden confidant Glenn Greenwald among its associates. The Intercept quoted a classified GCHQ report as saying in 2008.That year, Israel went to war against Hamas guerrillas in Gaza and began issuing increasingly vocal threats to attack Iranian nuclear facilities if it deemed international diplomacy insufficient to deny its arch-foe the means of making a bomb.

Asked for comment, the United States and Britain said through spokespeople for their embassies in Israel that they do not publicly discuss intelligence matters.

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, sought to play down the potential damage but said lessons would be learned. Israel insists that it ceased such missions since it ran US Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard as an agent in the 1980s.

The Intercept report included what it said were images of armed Israeli drones hacked from onboard cameras’ live feeds. Israel neither confirms nor denies having armed drones, though one of its senior military officers was quoted as acknowledging their existence in a 2010 US diplomatic cable that was previously disseminated by WikiLeaks.

Petrol Bombs Thrown Outside Greek Minister’s House
A group of unknown assailants threw makeshift petrol bombs outside the house of a Greek minister in central Athens early on Saturday, Jan 30 causing damage but no injuries, police officials said.

The attack took place outside the house of State Minister Alekos Flabouraris, a top adviser to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, in the downtown area of Exarchia, a police official said.

A car which belonged to Flabouraris’ security team parked outside his house was burned and another was seriously damaged, the official said.

The ruling leftist Syriza party condemned the attack, saying that it will not undermine democracy in the country.

Over 1,400 Civilians Killed In Russia’s Syria Air Strikes
Russian air strikes on Syria have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign nearly four months ago, a group monitoring the war said on Saturday, Jan 30. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of sources on the ground, said the Russian strikes had also killed 965 Islamic State fighters as well as 1,233 fighters from various other insurgent groups.

The main Syrian opposition group heading to Geneva peace talks on Saturday has demanded a halt to a joint Russian and Syrian bombing campaign they say targets mostly civilians in rebel held areas as a pre-condition for engaging in talks with the Syrian government.

S Arabia, Iran Should Compromise: UN
Regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran should reconcile and help resolve tensions in the Middle East, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday, Feb 1. “I hope that both Iran and Saudi Arabia, despite mistrust and difficulties, will bring realism, responsibility and compromise to their dealings, and to the region,” Ban said in a speech in Oman´s capital Muscat according to transcript emailed by the UN press office.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on the powers backing rival factions in the brutal four-year civil war in Syria to show “flexibility” during negotiations in Vienna. The five major foreign players in the conflict – the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey – are meeting in the Austrian capital on 30 October in a renewed bid to bring an end to hostilities, which has claimed 250,000 lives and forced 11 million to flee their homes.

It is the first time Tehran is taking part in such negotiations and also the first time that it is meeting face-to-face with arch-rival Saudi Arabia.

Ban urged top diplomats participating in the talks to “show their global leadership rather than their own national perspectives”.

Iraqis Running Out Of Food, Medicine In Besieged Falluja
A senior Iraqi official has appealed to the US-led coalition to air-drop food and medicine to tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Falluja, the Islamic State stronghold under siege by security forces. The city’s population is suffering from a shortage of food, medicine and fuel, according to residents reached by phone, and local media said several people had died due to starvation and insufficient medical care.

Insecurity and poor communications inside the city make those reports difficult to verify.

Sohaib al-Rawi, the governor of western Anbar province where Falluja is located, said an air-drop was the only way to deliver humanitarian supplies to residents after Islamic State mined the entrances to the city and prevented civilians from leaving.

“No force can enter and secure (the delivery). There is no option but for airplanes to transport aid,” he said in an interview to al-Hadath TV late on Monday, Feb 1 adding the situation was deteriorating by the day.

Falluja, a long-time bastion of Jihadists located 50-km west of Baghdad, was the first Iraqi city to fall to Islamic State in January 2014, six months before the group that emerged from al-Qaeda swept through large parts of northern and western Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

The Iraqi army, police and Iranian-backed militias have together imposed a near total siege on Falluja since late last year.

Aleppo Offensive Kills Aid Workers: UN
A military offensive around the city of Aleppo by Syrian government and allied forces has uprooted hundreds of families in nearby towns and killed three humanitarian aid workers, the United Nations said on Wednesday, Feb 3.

“The UN has received reports of displacement of hundreds of households in north-east towns of Bayanoun, Hariyatan, Anadan, Hayan and Rityan of Syria following an unprecedented frequency of air strikes in the past two days,” a UN spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters.

Meanwhile, several mortar bombs and gunfire from a part of Syria controlled by Islamic State hit a Turkish border town on Wednesday, close to where Turkish soldiers were clearing landmines, local residents and media reports said. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the town of Karkamis, which sits across the border from Syria´s Jarablus, controlled by the radical Sunni militants. A local official in Karkamis, reached by phone, said at least two mortar bombs landed in the town and that he had subsequently heard outgoing artillery fire, suggesting that the Turkish army had responded.

There was no immediate comment from the Turkish military.

But Wednesday´s incident occurred in a particularly sensitive area, with the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia also controlling territory close by.

The YPG is battling Islamic State in northern Syria with military support from the United States, but is viewed by Turkey as a terrorist group with close links to Kurdish PKK militants who have waged a three-decade insurgency on Turkish soil.

“Any Foreign Aggressors Will Go Home In Coffins’
Syria will resist any ground incursion into its territory and send the aggressors home “in coffins”, its foreign minister said on Saturday, Feb 6 in comments clearly aimed at Sunni Arab countries that have said they were ready to join such an operation.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem also told a news conference a ceasefire in the Syria conflict would be virtually impossible while rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad’s government were able to pass freely across the borders with Turkey and Jordan.

“Any ground intervention onto Syrian land without the agreement of the Syrian government is an act of aggression …and we regret that those who do so will return to their countries in coffins,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, both ruled by Sunni monarchies, said this week they were ready to participate in any ground operations in Syria if the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq decides to start such operations.

“I don’t think they will do what they say about using ground forces, but at the same time, when I look at their crazy decisions made not just in Yemen but in other areas nothing can be ruled out,” Moualem said, alluding to a Saudi-led military campaign against Iran-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen.

34 groups now allied to Islamic State extremists, says UN chief Ban Ki-moon
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report that thirty-four militant groups from around the world had reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) extremist group as of mid-December (2015) and that number will only grow in 2016, reports DNA on February 6. Ban Ki-moon said UN member states should also prepare for an increase attacks by IS associated groups from countries such as the Philippines, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Libya and Nigeria, traveling to nations. “The recent expansion of the ISIL sphere of influence across west and north Africa, the Middle East and south and southeast Asia demonstrates the speed and scale at which the gravity of the threat has evolved in just 18 months,” Ban said, using another abbreviation for the group. Adding to the threat, IS is “the world’s wealthiest terrorist organization,” Ban said, citing estimates the group generated $400-500 million from oil and oil products in 2015, despite an embargo. According to the UN mission in Iraq, cash taken from bank branches located in provinces under IS control totaled $1 billion. The mission also estimates that a tax on trucks entering IS controlled-territory generates nearly $1 billion a year, he said.

King Salman urges others not to interfere in Kingdom
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Sunday, Feb 7 called on other countries not to interfere in the kingdom’s internal affairs in what appeared to be a rebuke to Riyadh’s main foe Iran, which it accuses of attempting to stir unrest. “It is our right to defend ourselves, without interfering in the affairs of others. We call on others to not interfere in our affairs,” Salman said in a speech opening the annual Janadriya cultural festival in Riyadh, state news agency SPA reported.

“We cooperate with our Arab and Muslim brothers in all areas in defending our lands and ensuring their independence and guarding their government systems as sanctioned by their peoples,” he added.

Salman did not elaborate, but his remarks seemed aimed at Iran, which Riyadh accuses of destabilising Arab states and spreading sectarianism by backing militias in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen and fomenting unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

Iran denies seeking to destabilise the region or incite sectarian hatred. It in turn accuses Riyadh of fomenting discord by backing rebels in Syria, going to war in Yemen and propagating an ultra-conservative Sunni school that declares Shias heretical.

The Saudi king, who succeeded to power a year ago after the death of his half-brother Abdullah, brought together a coalition of Arab states to back military action in Yemen to restore its government after it was ousted by an Iran-allied militia.

Dual Citizens In Iran Face Espionage Charges
There are several detained dual citizens in Iran, most of whom face espionage charges, the judiciary spokesman was quoted as saying on Sunday, Feb 7 although he did not give details of any individual cases. The comments come after an Iranian-British former BBC journalist, Bahman Daroshafaei, was detained last week in Tehran. His family said on Saturday they had not been informed of any charges against him.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in London on Thursday that he did not know about the case.

Tehran released four Iranian-Americans on Jan 16 in a prisoner swap deal with Washington, including Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief who was arrested in July 2014 and accused of espionage.

The prisoner swap was announced as world powers, including the United States, implemented a landmark nuclear deal with Iran.

In exchange for the release of five Americans from Iran, the White House offered clemency to seven Iranians who were convicted or facing trial in the United States.

Another Iranian-British citizen, Kamal Foroughi, remains in detention after being arrested in 2011 while working in Tehran as a business consultant.

Iranian-American businessman Siamak Namazi, who was detained by Iranian authorities in October while visiting relatives, is still in jail.

‘Chechen Spies Infiltrate Islamic State In Syria’
Chechen spies loyal to the Kremlin have infiltrated Islamic State in Syria and are gathering intelligence the Russian air force uses to select bombing targets, the hardline leader of Chechnya told Russian state TV.

Ramzan Kadyrov, who as a close ally of President Vladimir Putin keeps tight control of a mostly Muslim region with a history of rebellion against Moscow, said Chechens had trained alongside Islamic State fighters at the start of the Syrian war.

“An extensive spy network has been set up inside Islamic State,” Kadyrov’s office quoted him on Monday, Feb 8 as telling Russia’s state-controlled Russia 1 channel. He said Chechnya’s “best fighters” had been sent to Syria to gather information about militants’ structure and numbers.” Thanks to their work as agents the Russian air force is successfully destroying terrorist bases in Syria.

When asked about the comments, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, declined to confirm the presence of Chechen forces in Syria. Kadyrov’s full interview on the subject is due to be broadcast on state TV on Wednesday.

Chechens opposed to Russian rule, many hardened by combat in two wars with Moscow, are known also to be fighting as commited jihadis on the side of Islamic State in Syria. Moscow fears they may return and mount attacks in Russia, as they have threatened. Russia launched air strikes in Syria on Sept 30 and has set up an air base to complement an existing naval facility.

It has infantry and armour there to protect its assets and has military trainers and advisers working with the Syrian army.

Western diplomats have said Russian special forces are also active in Syria; Russian authorities have been coy on that.

But state TV, in a teaser broadcast on Sunday evening ahead of the full programme later this week, said the time had now come to talk about the forces who were helping coordinate Russian air strikes in Syria “at the cost of their own lives”. It showed a training camp in Chechnya, which it said was where soldiers now active in Syria had honed their skills.

Hundreds of heavily armed men with four-wheel drive vehicles were shown lined up, with one man shown repeatedly firing a pistol as he navigated what looked like a special urban warfare training course.

Kadyrov, a former Chechen rebel turned Kremlin loyalist, was also shown firing a high-powered weapon at a target himself. He said his men in Syria had suffered losses. Kadyrov said in October he wanted to send Chechen servicemen to Syria to take part in “special operations” but would only do so if Putin authorised such a deployment.

10 Killed By Car Bomb In Damascus
A car bomb driven by a suicide attacker exploded Tuesday, Feb 9 near a police officers’ club in the Syrian capital Damascus, killing at least 10 people and causing wide-spread material damage, state media said. The state-run SANA news agency said the blast occurred near a vegetable market in the northern neighborhood of Masaken Barzeh.

SANA showed footage of the blast scene, including several damaged vehicles and one burnt-out car.

A source in the interior ministry stated that a car had tried to ram into the police officer’s club in the area, but was stopped by guards.

“A suicide bomber then detonated his explosives, causing deaths and injuries,” state television added, citing the source, without giving further details on the toll.

The club and the market are next to one another. State TV said the blast killed at least eight policemen and wounded 20 after it was detonated in the parking lot of the officers’ club.

North Korea executes Chief of Army Staff
North Korea has executed its army chief of staff, Ri Yong Gil, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, Feb 10 which, if true, would be the latest in a series of executions, purges and disappearances under its young leader.

The news comes amid heightened tension surrounding isolated North Korea after its Sunday launch of a long-range rocket, which came about a month after it drew international condemnation for conducting its fourth nuclear test.

A source familiar with North Korean affairs also told Reuters that Ri had been executed. The source declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter.

Ri, who was chief of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff, was executed this month for corruption and factional conspiracy, Yonhap and other South Korean media reported. Yonhap did not identify its sources.

The source who told Reuters the news declined to comment on how the information about the execution had been obtained. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service declined to comment and it was not possible to independently verify the report.

The North rarely issues public announcement related to purges or executions of high-level officials.

Syrian Forces Carrying Out Ethnic Cleansing
Syrian government forces backed by Russia are carrying out a deliberate policy of ethnic cleansing around the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday, Feb 10.

At a news briefing in The Hague with his Dutch counterpart, Davutoglu said 60,000 migrants had fled the violence to the Turkish border and that, while Turkey would not close its doors, the priority was providing aid to them inside Syria.

Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air strikes and Iranian and Lebanese Hizbullah fighters, have launched a major offensive in the countryside around Aleppo.

The United Nations warned that hundreds of thousands of civilians could be cut off from food if rebel-held parts of the city are encircled. Both the UN and the European Union have urged Turkey to open its border.

Davutoglu said it was hypocritical of those who had failed to stop Russian air strikes in Syria to now ask Turkey to keep its border open, pointing out that it had taken in more than 2.6 million refugees during the five-year war.

The border at Oncupinar, where tens of thousands fleeing the Aleppo assault have massed, remains closed to all but the seriously wounded and aid trucks and ambulances, with Turkish relief organisations delivering supplies to the Syrian side.

A major offensive in the countryside around Aleppo by Syrian government forces, backed by Russian bombardment and Iranian and Lebanese Hizbullah fighters, has choked opposition supply lines and left the rebels at risk of losing their northern power base.

A last-ditch intervention by Sunni backers including Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar could save their insurgency, they say, in a strategically critical part of Syria divided for years between government and rebel control. Turkey has sent weapons and assistance but now it should help us more.

Saudi Arabia has said it is open to sending in special forces as part of a US-led coalition against Islamic State, while the United Arab Emirates has said it too could supply ground troops to support any international coalition.

‘Hundreds Of Schools Attacked, destroyed During Ukraine War’
Hundreds of schools in eastern Ukraine have been attacked by both Ukrainian government forces and their Russian-backed militant opponents in the past two years, forcing many of them to close, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday, Feb 11.

Schools on both sides of the line of contact which separates the combatants have been hit, and many, especially in rebel-controlled areas, remain too damaged to reopen, HRW said. Both sides have deployed forces in and near schools, turning them into military targets. Even schools that were not being occupied have been attacked, the rights organisation said.

More than 9,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed since the conflict broke out in April 2014, when pro-Russian separatists rose up following Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

The head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors implementation of the ceasefire deal, voiced deep concern over escalating violence in eastern territories. When military forces occupied schools, they often destroyed school furniture and equipment and left behind heavy artillery or unused munitions, HRW said. In one case, HRW researchers found undetonated landmines in the school grounds, apparently thrown off a supply truck while it was parked in the schoolyard.

Progress has been made in repairing and reopening damaged schools, particularly in government-controlled areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, thanks in large part to leadership by parents and teachers, HRW said. But local authorities and school administrators in many places told researchers the risk of renewed fighting made them reluctant to fund or carry out school renovations.

Saudi Arabia To Send Planes to Turkey For IS Fight
Saudi Arabia will send aircraft to Nato-member Turkey’s Incirlik air base for the fight against Islamic State militants in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was reported as saying on Saturday, Feb 13.

Saudi Arabia has resumed its participation in air strikes against Islamic State in recent weeks and US Defence Secretary Ash Carter on Thursday welcomed its commitment to expand its role.

“Saudi Arabia is now sending planes to Turkey, to Incirlik. They came and carried out inspections at the base,” Cavusoglu told the Yeni Safak newspaper, adding it was unclear how many planes would come and that the Saudis might also send soldiers. Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Cavusoglu’s remarks.

US President Barack Obama has ruled out sending US ground troops to Syria. But Saudi Arabia this month offered ground forces to fight Islamic State and Cavusoglu said Turkey and the Saudis would support a coalition ground operation.

Major powers agreed in Munich on Friday to a pause in combat in Syria, but Russia pressed on with bombing in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, who promised to fight on until he regained full control of the country.

Four months of Russian air strikes in Syria have helped Assad wrest back territory from rebels fighting government forces, alarming Gulf Arab states who back the insurgents.

23 Dead As Missiles Hit Three Hospitals, School In Syrian Towns
At least 23 civilians were killed when missiles hit three hospitals and a school in rebel-held Syrian towns on Monday, Feb 15 residents said, as Russian-backed Syrian troops intensified their push toward therebel stronghold of Aleppo.

Fourteen people were killed in the town of Azaz near the Turkish border when missiles slammed into a school sheltering families fleeing the offensive and the children’s hospital, two residents and a medic said.

Bombs also hit another refugee shelter south of the town and a convoy of trucks, another resident said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence across the country, said one male nurse was killed and five female nurses, a doctor and one male nurse are believed to be under the rubble in the MSF hospital.

Also in Marat Numan, another strike hit the National Hospital on the north edge of town, killing two nurses, the Observatory said.

Residents in both towns blamed Russian strikes, saying the planes deployed were more numerous and the munitions more powerful than the Syrian military typically used. Rescue workers and rights groups say Russian bombing has killed scores of civilians at market places, hospitals, schools and residential areas in Syria.

Indonesia Plans Tougher Anti-terrorism Laws
Indonesia has drawn up plans for tougher anti-terrorism laws following last month’s militant attack on the capital, including detention without trial for up to three months compared with a week now, government sources told Reuters on Tuesday, Feb 16. The proposals are likely to draw fire from human rights activists, who have warned against jeopardising hard-won freedoms over nearly two decades since the end of authoritarian president Suharto’s rule.

However, officials anticipate little opposition in parliament to the legislation, which would not be as strict as counter-terrorism laws passed in recent years by neighbours Australia and Malaysia.

President Joko Widodo’s government moved quickly to reform the country’s 2003 anti-terrorism law after Jan 14, when four men attacked Jakarta’s business district with guns and explosives. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault, in which the militants and four others died.

Details of the overhaul have been kept confidential, but two government sources with direct knowledge of the draft law said it would broaden the definition of terrorism and make it easier to both arrest and detain suspects. The maximum period allowed for detention without trial will be lifted to 90 days and for preventive detention to 120 days, both from a current limit of one week.

The law will also allow authorities to target anyone who recruits members for, or cooperates with a militant group, and to use electronic communications, intelligence reports and financial transactions as evidence in court against suspects.

Indonesians who have joined militant training or participated in terrorist acts in a foreign country will be stripped of their citizenship.

Iraq Sentences 40 Members of IS To Death
An Iraqi court sentenced 40 captured members of Islamic State to death on Thursday, Feb 18 for the killing of hundreds of soldiers after their capture by the ultra-radical militant group as it swept across northern Iraq in 2014, a judicial spokesman said.

The slaughter of 1,700 soldiers after they fled from an ex-US army base outside the northern city of Tikrit has become a symbol of Islamic State’s brutality and the Sunni insurgent group’s sectarian hatred of Iraq’s Shia majority.

A Baghdad criminal court issued the death sentences based on what Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, said were convictions on terrorism charges.

Seven defendants were acquitted and freed for lack of evidence.

Security forces arrested dozens of suspects over the mass killing of the soldiers after retaking Tikrit from Islamic State last year.

Twenty-four were convicted and sentenced to death last July, and are awaiting decisions on their appeals.

There are more than 600 suspects in all, judicial officials say. 

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                                                                                   *

No threat to foreigners although there may be isolated incidents involving petty crime. No security precautions are required.

Threat Level 2                                                                                  **

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.