Special Emphasis on Terrorism (March-2018)

Terrorist Activities in Pakistan

Suicide bombings/ attacks

On February 3, 11 Pakistani Army soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in a suicide bombing near a Pakistani Army camp in Kabal area in Swat District, reports Dawn. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack. According to reports, the suicide bomber blew himself up in a ground where soldiers were playing volleyball.

Bomb/IED attacks

A civilian, identified as Bachayo Bheel, was killed in a low intensity blast caused by a hand grenade placed in garbage near the Mehran shopping centre in the Qasimabad town of Hyderabad on January 29, reports Daily Times. Another passerby Rajab Ali was injured in the incident.

An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion has killed eight people including three women and a child at Maqbal area of Kurram Agency on January 30, reports Daily Times. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

An accidental hand grenade explosion in a home in the Tusp area of Panjgur District in Balochistan February 4 killed a woman and her daughter and injured her son, reports Dawn. Makran Division Commissioner Bashir Bangulzai said that the boy had found a hand grenade and taken it home. The grenade exploded while he was playing with it inside his house. The boy’s mother and sister died in the blast, while the injured boy was shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment.

At least one person was killed and seven passers-by injured in a roadside blast in Chitkan area of Panjgur district on February 5, reports Daily Times. Police said that unknown miscreants had planted a bomb in a motorcycle to target a pro government tribal notable Kamran Mengal. Baloch Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for the attack ads Dawn.

A tribal elder was killed and two others were injured in a landmine blast at Tor Simat area in Lower Orakzai Agency on February 15, reports Daily Times. The Political Administration said that tribal elder Malik Shah Khan, along with two aides, was travelling to Hangu when his vehicle hit a roadside landmine in the Tor Simat area of Lower Orakzai Agency.

A motorcycle containing Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded and injured three civilians including a Government official at Dir Colony on Peshawar’s Ring Road, on February 23, reports Daily Times. The injured civilians were identified as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority Deputy Director Muhammad Shakeel, Latif, (29) and Wadan Gul (47) Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s Jama’at-ul- Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for the attack.

Targetted Killings

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) local leader Malik Tufail was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Mughal Khel area of Bannu District on February 4, reports Dawn. Tufail was killed when unidentified assailants on a motorcycle opened fire at him in Mughal Khel area. The suspects escaped from the site after the incident.

A Chinese national, Chen Zhu (46), who was a top official at a shipping firm, was shot dead by unknown armed assailants in a ‘targeted’ attack at Zamzama Park in Clifton in Karachi on February 5, reports Daily Times.

At least four Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed in a targeted firing incident in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on February 14, reports Dawn. The FC personnel were patrolling the area near Sariab road early morning (February 14) when unidentified militants on a motorcycle opened fire at their vehicle, critically injuring all four who later succumbed to their injuries. Governor Balochistan Mohammad Khan Achakzai condemns the attack and urged the Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) arrest the culprits at the earliest.

Miscellaneous

Two security force personals were killed and three others were injured when their vehicle was targeted by terrorists in Mir Ali tehsil of North Waziristan on February 7, reports Dawn.

The United States (US) drone strike on February 8 killed at least three Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants including a key commander, identified as Sajna Mehsud, in the Gorwek area of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), reports The News. The sources said the drone fired two missiles on a militant compound close to the Afghanistan border.

Balochistan Chief Minister (CM) Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo on February 9 said that because of concrete steps taken by the Government, insurgency is on the wane in the province as militants have surrendered their weapons and joined the mainstream to play their role in the development of the country, reports Dawn. Talking to a delegation of British journalists, the chief minister said that a few elements sitting abroad had misguided the youth of Balochistan, but now they (the youth) had understood the designs of those people and foiled their conspiracies by joining mainstream politics. The CM, however, said that at present, the province was facing religious terrorism and both Federal and Provincial Governments were taking steps to end this scourge.

The Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on February 9 approved the death sentences of seven terrorists convicted for “heinous offences related to terrorism” by a military court, reports Dawn. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) handout, the convicts carried out multiple attacks on civilians, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and the armed forces. They were also held responsible for killing 85 people and injuring 109 others, the statement said. Arms and explosives were also recovered from the militants’ possession. A military court also sentenced five other convicts to jail.

Frontier Corps, during ongoing Operation Raddul Fasaad, recovered a huge cache of ammunition and weaponry from Sherani area in Dera Murad Jamali area of the District Nasirabad, reports Daily Times on February 11. “A huge cache of ammunition, weaponry, mobile SIMs, communication equipment was recovered during the action. However, no arrests were made during the process. The security forces cordoned off the area in search of the fleeing miscreants,” the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan Army Media wing, said.

A Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistani (TTP) ‘spokesperson’ has confirmed the death of its ‘commander’ Khan Said Sajna in a recent United States drone strike, reports Dawn. Azam Tariq Mehsud said ‘commander’ Sajna was killed in February 8 strike in a village along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. He said another ‘commander’, Mufti Noor Wali, has now been appointed in Sajna’s place. Tariq says Wali enjoys the backing of Mullah Fazlullah, the leader of the TTP who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.

Three terrorists were killed during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) conducted by the Security Forces in Dera Ghazi Khan on February 17, reports Daily Times. Two Rangers’ personnel were got injuries during the operation. Punjab Rangers, along with Elite Police and Intelligence Agencies, conducted the IBO as a part of Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad, killing three terrorists in exchange of fire and recovering ammunition from the site, a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on February 17 stated. An Improvised Explosive Device (IED), rocket launcher, AK-47, grenades and other ammunition were also recovered from the spot.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on February 18 arrested an Islamic State (IS) or Daesh ‘commander’ identified as Sabir Hussain alias Abu Yasir near Wania Wala road in Gujranwala, reports Daily Times. CTD has recovered an improvised explosive device (IED) and other weapons from the arrested terrorist thus potentially foiled an incident.

Inspector General (IG) of Balochistan Police Moazzam Jah Ansari has said that a proposal of establishing a police force, comprising around 1,500 personnel, exclusively for security duty in the Quetta city is under consideration, reports Daily Times.

Also, the IG Moazzam Jah Ansari said that recently 220 personnel of the Anti-Terrorist Force (ATF) had completed their training while another badge of ATF personnel would be sent for the specialized training soon. He said the proposal for establishing the new force for security duty had been sent to the chief minister for approval.

The Pakistan Army on February 19 killed two Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan suicide bombers near Ghatki Kaga, Mena in Bajaur Agency, reports Daily Times. “The two suicide bombers belonging to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] were tracked in an intelligence-based operation after they entered Bajaur Agency from Afghanistan through the Kagha Pass,” said an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, statement. A suicide jacket, anti-tank mines, magnetic mines, prepared remote-controlled Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), remote-controlled receivers, detonators and communication equipment bearing Afghan mobile company signatures were recovered from the suicide bombers.

Punjab Rangers, in an exchange, of fire on February 20 killed two unidentified militants at Sakhi Sarwar Road in Dera Ghazi Khan, reports Daily Times. Two accomplices of the deceased managed to escape from the scene. The security personnel recovered a Sub Machine Gun (SMG), and a 30-bore pistol from the custody of the deceased. Search is underway for the remaining accomplices of the militants.

PAKISTAN

444 suspects killed in encounters led by SSP Rao Anwar

As many as 444 suspects were killed in 192 police encounters led by Rao Anwar after his appointment as the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in the Malir District of Karachi, The News reported on January 26 quoting the inquiry report submitted by the Sindh Police in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The report detailing 745 encounters involving former SSP Malir Rao Anwar, after his appointment seven years back, was submitted by the Police after Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo notice of the alleged extra judicial killing of Naqeebullah Mehsood on January 13. According to the inquiry report, Rao Anwar led 192 police encounters in which 444 people were killed. Whereas, there were 553 cases that did not involve any killings. The report stated that Rao Anwar took some 891 suspects into custody during the last seven years as SPP of the Malir District. The first ten months of 2012 saw the most number of encounters, the report said. Two Police encounters took place in Jan 2018 that led to killing of eight people.

27 Taliban and Haqqani network suspects handed
over to Kabul last year, says Pakistani Foreign Office
Pakistan handed over 27 individuals suspected of having ties to the Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network to Afghanistan in 2017, reports Daily Times. In a series of tweets, the Foreign Office (FO) spokesman Mohammad Faisal on January 30 said that Pakistan is continuing to push any suspected Afghan Taliban and Haqqani elements with a view to “prevent them from using our soil for any terrorist activity in Afghanistan”. The suspected militants were handed over to Afghanistan in November 2017, he said.

Cabinet extends stay of Afghan refugees by 2 months

The Pakistani Government on January 31 decided to extend the stay of over 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan for another two months, reports Daily Times. The decision to give the sixth extension to Afghan refugees was made in the federal cabinet meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, said the PM’s spokesman. It was also agreed to extend the period for the proof of registration (PoR) cards for Afghan refugees living in Pakistan which automatically lost their legal status on Dec 31, 2017.

US General rules out military operations inside Pakistan

United States (US) Joint Staff Director Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie on February 1 assured Islamabad that the United States is not planning to conduct military operations inside Pakistan, reports Dawn. “We actually don’t contemplate military operations inside Pakistan,” Kenneth McKenzie said at a Pentagon news briefing. “On the other hand, we recognise because the strategy is inherently regional and Pakistan is geographically located at a critical nexus of a lot of different things Pakistan is a fundamental part of the strategy,” he added. The assurances followed a White House statement on January 30, saying that the US military had been given authority to eliminate militant safe havens in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

24 terror attacks despite ‘precise’ threat alerts issued by NACTA

According to The News, the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) claims to have issued threat alert with a “very high degree of accuracy and precision” before the deadliest Army Public School, Peshawar terrorist attack on December 16, 2014. According to NACTA, it has been able to predict 80 terrorist attacks, out of which 24 were predicted with a high degree of accuracy and precision about the target, place, suspected perpetrators, modus operandi etc. It adds that 56 of these attacks were city specific. However, despite precise threat alerts they could not be prevented. Since the setting up of NACTA’s Operation Wing in 2014, the authority has disseminated 4,700 threat alerts and information reports for pro-active measures by the provincial governments and the law enforcement agencies.

US names three Pakistanis as ´terrorist facilitators´

The United States (US) on February 8 named three Pakistanis as key “terrorist facilitators”, saying they worked closely with a well-known backer of al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and the Taliban known as Shaykh Aminullah, reports The News. The US Treasury placed Rahman Zeb Faqir Muhammad, Hizb Ullah Astam Khan, and Dilawar Khan Nadir Khan on its blacklist of “Specially Designated Global Terrorists,” in an effort to disrupt the group´s ability to obtain and distribute financing. All three were tied to Shaykh Aminullah, who has been on international terror blacklists since 2009. US officials allege that Shaykh Aminullah turned the Ganj madrassa, a boys school in Peshawar, into a training and recruiting base by al Qaeda, the Taliban and LeT. The three men were involved in providing financial and logistical support, explosives, and technological aid to the three extremist groups, the Treasury said.

Religious parties in Mardan protest conviction of 31 men in Mashal Khan’s murder

Life in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan District came to a halt on February 9 as thousands of workers and supporters of religious parties took to roads to pressure the Government into releasing the 31 men convicted in the murder of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan student Mashal Khan, who was lynched in April 13, 2017 after being falsely accused of blasphemy, reports Dawn. Thousands of members of the Tahaffuz Khatm-i-Nabuwat Organisation, Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) joined by locals participated in the protest that began at Pakistan Chowk after Friday prayers. Holding banners that read “Mashalyon [Mashal supporters], stop us if you can!”. the protesters chanted slogans against Mashal and the Government. The demonstration led by Tahaffuz Khatm-i-Nabuwat leader Qari Ikram-ul-Haq demanded that the men convicted for the murder be released. Several of the men acquitted by the court, including Ajmal Mayar, attended the rally and were given a “Ghazi welcome” [Muslim fighters’ welcome]. The rally was scheduled to march from Pakistan Chowk to College Chowk, but concluded earlier at Katlang Chowk after a dua (grand prayer) for those acquitted.

Anti-terror law amended to ban UN-listed groups and individuals, says report

President Mamnoon Hussain on February 9 promulgated an ordinance amending the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 with regards to proscription of terrorist individuals and organisations to include entities listed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), reports Dawn. The promulgation of the ordinance was made public on February 12. The ordinance amends Sections 11-B and 11-EE of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (XXVII of 1997). Section 11-B sets out parameters for proscription of groups, whereas 11-EE describes the grounds for listing of individuals. Both sections would now include Sub-Section ‘aa’, according to which organisations and individuals “listed under the United Nations (Security Council) Act, 1948 (XIV of 1948), or” will be included in the First Schedule (for organisations) and Fourth Schedule (for individuals), respectively, on an ex-parte basis. The move, which ends an old discrepancy between the UN sanctions list and the national listing of terrorist groups and individuals, has come over a week before the crucial Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris, scheduled to be held from Feb 18 to 23. The US and India are spearheading an effort to get Pakistan included in the watchdog’s international money-laundering and terror-financing ‘grey list’.

Punjab govt moves to seize assets of JuD and its welfare wing FIF

Punjab on February 15 started taking over all the moveable and immovable assets of the Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF) operating in the province, reports Dawn. The JuD’s Muridke Markaz along with its various schools, seminaries and health facilities was also taken over. There were similar reports from everywhere else in the province, as well as in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that a recent notification issued by the interior ministry reveals that JuD and FIF could no longer operate in the country, and that all their moveable and immoveable assets should be seized. A Statutory Notification (SRO) issued by the interior ministry on February 10 directs that “requisite action with regard to freezing and taking over of assets (moveable, immoveable and human resource) associated with JuD and FIF shall be taken in pursuance of ordinance No-II of 2018”.

Unilateral action by US against Pakistan won’t work, Interior Minister Ahsan

Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said that any unilateral action by the United States in Pakistan will not only bring the bilateral relations to an irreparable stage but also be counterproductive, reports Daily Times. During an interview to Cable News Network (CNN) on February 13, he said, “Any unilateral action in Pakistan will be a red line for Pakistan. Pakistanis are dignified people. We want to have a friendship, which is based on mutual respect but any effort to try to bully Pakistan or force Pakistan will be counterproductive.”

‘Anti-riot law drafted to end dharna politics once and for all’: AG Ashtar Ausaf Ali

Attorney General (AG) Ashtar Ausaf Ali informed the Supreme Court on February 16 that an anti-riot law was being drafted by the Federal Government to deal with the protesters in accordance with the law, reports Daily Times. A two-member Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, was hearing a suo-motu case pertaining to a sit-in by a religious party, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLY), at Faizabad interchange in Nov 2017, which kept the lives of citizens paralyzed for almost 23 days. The AG stated that an anti-riot law would soon be approved by parliament. During the hearing, the court also expressed dissatisfaction over the reports submitted by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Islamabad Police pertaining to characters and motives behind the Faizabad sit-in.

China woos Baloch militants to secure CPEC project, says news report

China has been quietly holding talks with the Baloch militants for more than five years in an effort to protect the $60bn worth of infrastructure projects it is financing as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), reports Daily Times. The news report takes Financial Times as a source for the claim. Financial Times citing three unnamed people with knowledge of the talks has reported that Chinese had been in direct contact with the Baloch insurgents, where many of the scheme’s most important projects are located. “The Chinese have quietly made a lot of progress,” said one Pakistani official. “Even though insurgents occasionally try to carry out the odd attack, they are not making a forceful push.” Pakistani officials have welcomed the talks between Baloch insurgents and Chinese envoys, even if they do not know the details of what has been discussed. “Ultimately, if there’s peace in Balochistan, that will benefit both of us,” said one unnamed official in Islamabad.

Supreme Court bars disqualified Nawaz Sharif from heading PML-N

A three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar in its five-page order, declared that any person who is disqualified under the Article 62 or 63 of the Pakistani Constitution is barred from holding the position of “Party Head” by whatever name called, reports Express Tribune. The judgment has thus disqualified Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from being the head of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).This judgment was given on petitions filed against Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s holding of the party position after his disqualification in the Panama Papers case.

FATF ‘grey list’ does not name Pakistan

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s public statement announcing the outcomes of its plenary session held in Paris this week remained silent on the US move to put the country on the watch list, reports Dawn. Pakistan does not feature on the list of countries with strategic deficiencies posing a risk to the international financial system issued along with the FATF statement following the meeting. The list now features nine countries Ethiopia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tabago, Vanuatu and Tunisia, while Bosnia and Herzegovina has been moved to the white list.

REGIONAL

Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics

PBCP ‘commander’ killed in Pabna

A ‘commander’ of Purba Banglar Communist Party (PBCP) was killed in a gunfight with Police in Dhalarchar area of Pabna District on January 31, reports The Daily Star. The deceased was identified as Julhash Mondol (42). Police recovered two pipe guns, one pistol, seven bullets, two machetes and some other sharp weapons from the spot.

Two JMB militants arrested in Rajshahi District

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested two militants of Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Rajshahi city of Rajshahi District on January 31, reports The Daily Star. The arrestees were identified as Atiullah (22) and Maksed-ul-Islam (23). RAB recovered one kilogram of gunpowder-like substance and bomb making materials including soda, circuits, and batteries from the duo.

Bangladesh journalists protest security bill

Hundreds of Bangladeshi journalists took to the streets on Feb 1 to protest against a new digital security bill that campaigners say would damage media freedom in the country. The Digital Security Act 2018 approved by the cabinet this week would mean a journalist could be convicted of espionage for entering a government office and gathering information secretly using an electronic device, an offence that would carry a 14-year jail sentence.

It also provides for a life sentence for spreading “negative propaganda” about the country’s war of independence or its founding leader Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman using a digital device. Media rights groups including the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) have already condemned the bill, which parliament has yet to vote on.

“The IFJ believes the proposed act provides more grounds to grossly misuse the provisions to harass journalists and restrict freedom of expression,” the Brussels-based group said. “It will also empower the law enforcers to search or arrest anyone without any court-issued warrants if a police officer believes that an offence under the act has been committed or is being committed.”

Around 200 Bangladeshi journalists gathered in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on Thursday to demand the government scrap the bill. “If this draconian law is passed in the parliament, it will not only curb investigative journalism, but also all kinds of reporting,” said M. Abdullah, general secretary of the Federal Union of Journalists.

18 people killed in ‘crossfire’ in Jan, says Odhikar

At least 18 people were killed in ‘crossfire’ in January, said a monthly report published by human rights organization Odhikar, reports New Age February 3. The human rights watchdog also said that at least six people died in jail and five people became victims of enforced disappearance in January. According to the report, at least nine people were killed and 619 others were injured in political violence in the month.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia jailed for five years for breaching of trust in Zia Orphanage Trust case
The Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-5 on February 8 jailed Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia for five years and her eldest son Tarique Rahman and four others for 10 years for breaching of trust in the Zia Orphanage Trust case on July 3, 2008 during the military-controlled interim regime, reports New Age. Judge Mohamad Akhtar-uz-zaman pronounced the verdict convicting the six. The court also fined Tarique, his cousin Moninur Rahman, former BNP lawmaker Qazi Saleemul Huq, businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed and former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddique BTK 2.10 crore each.

Meanwhile, at least five people, including a Police Constable, were injured during a clash between Awami League (AL) and BNP activists in the Court Point area of Sylhet Metropolitan City in Sylhet District following the pronouncement BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s prison sentence on February 8, reports Dhaka Tribune.

Separately, Police arrested 233 leaders and activists of BNP-Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) from different places on February 7 and 8, reports Dhaka Tribune. The arrests are part of a security crackdown ahead of a court verdict on a case accusing Khaleda Zia and several others of corruption.

In the meantime, Human Rights Watch (HRW) on February 8 urged the Bangladesh Government to stop the arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition BNP supporters and others, reports The Daily Star. Hundreds have been arrested or placed under preventive detention ahead of the verdict in the graft case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, and five others, including her son, the global rights group said in a statement. The government should publicly order the security forces to abide by international standards on policing demonstrations, it added.

ABT militant arrested in Dhaka

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on February 10 arrested a militant of Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) from Kamalapur area in the capital, Dhaka city, reports The Daily Star. The arrestee is identified as Toufiq Hossain Sumon (34).

130 BNP leaders and activists arrested from different places

Police arrested 130 Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leaders and activists from several Districts on February 10 as the party continued its demonstration against the conviction of its chief Khaleda Zia in a corruption case, reports The Daily Star. However, no major incident of violence was reported anywhere in the country amid a tight security.

Meanwhile, 20-party alliance on February 10 expressed its solidarity with the BNP’s protest programmes announced demanding the release of party Chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail, reports The Daily Star. The combine leaders also said they would take part in the programmes.

Two JMB militants arrested in Dhaka

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on February 12 arrested two militants of Jama’at-ul- Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) planning to murder Muslims who converted to Christianity from Tejgaon industrial zone in Dhaka city, reports Dhaka Tribune. Two machetes, extremist literature and $724 (about BDT 60,300) were also recovered from them.

BNP stages countrywide sit-in vowing to free Khaleda Zia

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) on February 13 staged countrywide sit-in vowing to free party chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail through movement, reports New Age. The sit-in was the second-day programme of three-day agitations of the opposition party for immediate unconditional release of Khaleda and cancellation of sentence against her elder son Tarique Rahman now in London.

India – Internal Dynamics

Two low intensity explosions in Assam

On January 26, three low intensity explosions were reported, suspected to have been triggered by Independent faction of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA-I) in Tinsukia District, reports Assam Tribune. Two explosions were reported near Jagun Police station while the third one occurred at Tirap colliery near the Ledo Police station. No fatalities were reported from the explosions.

Additionally, ULFA-I on January 25 circulated a video of them burning the Indian national flag and calling for a boycott of the Republic Day, reports Northeast Today. The video featured at least 10 ULFA-I militants.

IED explosion reported in Manipur

Unidentified militants detonated a remote controlled Improvised Explosive Device (IED) near the house of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), at Khurkhul Makha Leikai in Imphal West District on January 27, reports The Sentinel. No militant organization has claimed responsibility for the attack. While searching the area, the Police team found that the remote controlled IED was placed near the compound wall of the MLA’s residence.

Investigators see JMB hand in Bodh Gaya blast

The Indian security agencies suspect the involvement of Bangladesh-based terror outfit Jama’at-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in planting three improvised explosive devices (IED) in Bodh Gaya to avenge the atrocities on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by the Buddhists, The Times of India reports on January 28. An officer involved in the investigation of the blast followed by recovery of two IEDs close to the Tibetan monastery on January 19, 2018 said it was the handiwork of JMB. The banned terror outfit backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has active cadres in West Bengal (WB) and Assam. It’s several members are suspected to be hiding in West Bengal. The JMB has not been involved in any major terror attack in India.

The officer said the evidence strongly indicates JMB’s involvement in the failed terror attack, which had aimed to kill Buddhist monks and foreigners present in Bodh Gaya to listen to the sermons of Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. “A series of calls were made to some locations in West Bengal from Bodh Gaya just before and after planting the three IEDs,” the officer said, adding, “Calls were made to locations known to Indian security agencies as covert bases of JMB operating in WB for the past several years.” He also said the technique used in making the three IEDs is far different from that by Indian Mujahideen (IM) in Bodh Gaya and Patna in 2013 or other places in the country in the past.

Nagaland political parties refuse to contest Assembly polls till peace deal is finalized

All political parties in Nagaland signed a joint declaration, refusing to issue tickets or file nominations for the Assembly elections scheduled for February 27, reports NDTV on January 29. The declaration came following a crucial meeting in state capital Kohima, between the Naga tribal civil society groups, who have been pressing upon the Centre to find a solution to the vexed peace process before the elections. On January 28, militant groups including Isak-Muivah faction of National Socialist Council of Nagaland issued similar declaration of supporting the demand for a solution before the elections are held. The rebel group had said earlier that the elections will create serious obstacles for the peace process. Indian Express further adds that Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations (CCNTHCO) stated that ‘We on behalf of all the political parties and the intending candidates have, in compliance with the wishes of the people, decided not to go ahead with the issuance of party tickets or filing of nominations’.

Additionally, NSCN-IM ‘convener’ of ‘steering committee’ Rh Raising reaffirmed to cling to the ‘Framework Agreement’ and stand by it in “all weathers”, reports Assam Tribune on January 29. He also added that ‘Framework Agreement was officially signed between the Government of India (GoI) and the NSCN-IM as two entities on August 3, 2015, which recognizes the sovereign right, the unique history and identity of the Nagas and the land of the Nagas’. He also added that India and the Nagas will coexist as two entities and share sovereign power.

Civilian shot dead in Manipur

Unidentified assailants shot dead an individual identified as Thokchom Ratan, at Samaram Lamkhai in Thoubal District on January 30, reports Imphal Free Press. Earlier United National Liberation Front (UNLF ) had claimed responsibility for killing of another man accused of sexual assault at Lamsang Khunou area in Imphal West District on January 4.

IED making material seized during

Lohardaga Police recovered parts of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) bomb during a joint operation of the District Police Force and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Kerar area under Peshrar block in Lohardaga District, reports The Pioneer on January 30. Superintendent of Police (SP), Rajkumar Lakra said, “On January 27 the Police got information that a team of Naxal [Left Wing extremism (LWE)] organization is wandering near the areas of Peshrar, Chainpur and Kerar. After that a team was set up including Police Inspectors Vivek Kumar, RV Philip, Girish Prasad of 158 battalion CRPF Lohardaga, Gyan Ranjan Kumar Thana-in-charge Bagru thana and Jaiprakash Police-in-charge Peshrar picket.” SP, Lakra added the Police recovered electric line tester, automobile clock, battery, bolt, wires transistor, Naxal literature computerized printed and stainless steel box. The materials are to be used to build IED device.

Three CRPF personnel injured during exchange of fire with Maoists in Jharkhand

Three Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were injured during an exchange of fire with Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres in Madhuban Police Station area in Giridih District on January 31, reports The Telegraph. A joint team of State Police and the CRPF were conducting search operations in Parasnath Hills on the outskirts of Mohanpur village, 40 kilometres from Giridih District Headquarters and 200 kilometres from State capital, Ranchi. Around 5.30am, Security Forces (SFs) spotted some CPI-Maoist cadres who opened fire as the team approached them, compelling SFs to retaliate. The encounter lasted for around 15 minutes, but the CPI-Maoist cadres managed to flee.

Jihadist groups now using encrypted apps for communication, according to report

Nudging out WhatsApp that has been one of the most popular mobile applications among terrorist outfits, private chat rooms available on Google Play Store that do not leave any trail even for a single day are now becoming the top picks of jihadis, India Today reports on February 5. Sources in intelligence agencies say in the past few years many Android-based applications have come up in the market that draw users by promoting the unique selling proposition of end-to-end encryption.

“Apps such as ICQ, Wickr and Jabber are the most popular private messengers available on Google Play Store. The terror outfits have been using these apps for internal communication that includes radicalisation of youths and for spreading motivational speeches. These apps are now officially being used by the terror organisations for plotting strikes,” according to intelligence agency. Experts say jihadi fanatics can now instantly talk to each other using software that scrambles their messages so no one else can read them. Islamic State (IS) extremists were till recently using Viber, which also offers the ability to encrypt messages, but have now ditched it because it allegedly keeps a record of the messages users have sent.

Two AR troopers injured in twin grenade explosions in Manipur

Two Assam Rifles (AR) troopers were wounded on February 5 when unidentified militants hurled two grenades at the Polo Ground in Imphal West District which was hosting equestrian championship, reports The Telegraph. The wounded troopers have been identified as Uttam Kumar and Bahadur Limbu. No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Nine AR troopers wounded in grenade attack in Manipur

Two grenades exploded inside the Transit Camp of the Assam Rifles located near Minuthong bridge in Imphal West District on February 6 wounding nine AR troopers, reports Imphal Free Press. The wounded men have been identified as Amar Sargari, Raj Kishore, Pradeep Sharma, S. Pradhan, Dependra Subardi, Rajesh Kumar, Umesh Kumar, H. Konyak and Sanju Lambu.

Additionally, Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh stated that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will be constituted to investigate the February 5 grenade attacks in which two AR troopers were wounded, reports Imphal Free Press.

Separately, all Christian missionary schools in and around Imphal have been closed for indefinite period following threats from the Military Council faction of Kangleipak Communist Party (KCP-MC) militants, reports Morung Express on February 7. All the 72 Catholic schools, 17 higher secondary schools and three colleges in the state have been closed since February 5.

Four security injured in Chhattisgarh

Three Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF) personnel were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast triggered by Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres in Bijapur District on February 6, reports The Asian Age. Injured constables, Nitesh Dewangan, Anil Dhruv and Bhaluram Toppo, were returning to their base camp after conducting search operation in Kutru-Farshegarh area, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Khoman Singh, said. The Security Force (SF) personnel were returning after carrying out an anti-Maoist operation when the blast occurred in a forest near Ranibodli village, around 450 kilometres from State capital, Raipur.

Meanwhile, a jawan of the Border Security Force (BSF) sustained bullet injury in an early morning encounter on February 6, between SFs and armed Maoists in Gome Pahadi under Koyelibeda Police Station area in Kanker District, reports The Indian Express.

DRG jawan killed in blast in Chhattisgarh

A District Reserve Guard (DRG) Jawan (trooper), identified Sondhar Hemla, was killed in a Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast, suspected to be planted by the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres in Bijapur District on February 11, reports The Pioneer. The incident took place when the DRG team was out for an area domination operation in the forest near Tippapuram, nearly 500 kilometres south of Raipur (State Capital). DRG Assistant Constable, Sondhar Hemla, unknowingly stepped on IED and died on spot. The Police launched combing operation in the area against CPI-Maoist cadres.

Jamaat ul Mujahideen Bangladesh launched its Indian chapter, says report

Salahuddin Salehin and Jahid-ul-Islam alias Bomaru Mizan Bangladesh’s ‘Most-Wanted’ terrorists had launched an Indian Chapter of banned terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), reports Hindustan Times on February 10. In an interval interview given by Salehin to JMB’s media wing Sahm-al-Hind, he mentioned that the Indian chapter is named as Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India (JMI) and the module would ensure that Hindustan turned into the centric point of Hijra (Migration for religious battle) and Jihad so that Indians could play an important role in the foundation of next Caliphate. “We are unaware of any interview given by Salehin, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of Special Task Force (STF) Kolkata Police Muralidhar Sharma. In connection to Khagragarh blast in Burdwan District of West Bengal, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had declared rewards of INR 5 lakhs for any inputs on the duo—Salahuddin Salehin and Jahidul Islam. Bangladesh’s Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Unit (CTTCU) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police also had announced rewards of 5 lakhs Bangladeshi Taka on both.

Manipur records highest insurgency related incidents in Northeast

In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju in Lok Sabha (lower house of Indian Parliament) stated that Manipur had the highest number of insurgency related incidents amongst northeastern states in 2017, reports Assam Tribune on February 11. Manipur recorded 167 insurgency relate incidents in, which was followed by Arunachal Pradesh which recorded 61 incidents, Assam with 33 incidents, Meghalaya 28 incidents and Nagaland with 19 incidents. Manipur also accounted for maximum casualties with 23 civilians and eight Security Forces (SFs). Manipur was followed by Assam which recorded six civilian and three SFs, then by Nagaland with three civilian and one SF, Arunachal with three civilians and Meghalaya with two civilians.

Thirty crude bombs recovered in Tripura

On February 15, thirty country made bombs were recovered the Uttarpara area in West Tripura District hours before the arrival of Prime Minister of India, reports The Telegraph. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader stated that he suspected Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM) activists to be behind the incident. The state Assembly election is scheduled for February 18, 2018.

Four killed in explosion in Meghalaya

Four people including Jonathone N. Sangma ,the National Congress Party (NCP) candidate from William Nagar constituency were killed when militants ambushed the convoy of the candidate and exploded an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Samanda in East Garo Hills on February 18, reports The Shillong Times. An ex-Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) ‘commander’ identified as Nikam Ch Momin alias Baichung, a Security Personnel identified as Sameer Hassan and a Class 12 students were among those who were killed. Three people were also wounded in the incident. Police suspects GNLA was behind the killing. The militants had earlier issued warning against the NCP candidate and warned people of dire consequences if they supported the NCP candidate.

Four, including two policemen killed in separate incidents

Two Policemen were killed and six others injured in an encounter with the Communist Party of India-Maoist in Sukma District on February 18, reports Business Standard. The encounter took place in a forest under the Bhejji Police Station when a joint team of the Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG) and local Police was out on an “area-domination operation”, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG, South Bastar range), Sundarraj P said. As the team was passing through the forest between Bhejji and Elarmadgu, around 500 kilometres from State capital Raipur, it came under heavy firing from the ultras, leading to the gun-battle, the DIG said. “Assistant constables Madkam Handa and Mukesh Kadthi of the DRG were killed and six other Jawans were injured,” the DIG said.

Meanwhile, along the stretch between Bhejji and Elarmadgu, where a road construction project is underway in Sukma District, the Maoists killed Anil Kumar, the supervisor of the private contractor, and set vehicles engaged in the road construction work ablaze on February 18, reports UNI.

Separately, in another encounter in Errabore village area, the body of one Maoist, identified as Bhamiya Gad, who was killed in the encounter with Police has been recovered in Sukma District on February 18, reports The Hindu. Bhejji and Errabore are around 450 kilometres south of Raipur.

NPP candidate escapes assassination bid in Nagaland

A National People’s Party (NPP) candidate, T Chalukumba, who is contesting the February 27 assembly elections, escaped an attempt on his life in Mokokchung District on February 16, reports Northeast Today. According to Police a person tried to cause a commotion and opened fire at the candidate. However, the bodyguard thwarted the bid.

Maoist slit villager’s throat in Odisha

Communist Party of India-Maoist cadres killed a villager, after charging him to be a ‘Police Informer’ at Orapadar village inside the cut-off area across the Balimela reservoir in Andrahal Panchayat (village level local-self government institution) in Malkangiri District on February 20, reports The Telegraph. Around 20 CPI-Maoist cadres into the house of the person and kidnapped him. The CPI-Maoist cadres later killed him by slitting his throat on the outskirts of the village. The identity of the deceased is yet to be established, said Superintendent of Police (SP), Jagmohan Meena.

Meanwhile, CPI-Maoist cadres abducted a trader, identified as Ganapati Muduli, on February 18 because of suspicions that he might have shared information about their camp with the Police that led to the gun-battle, reports The Telegraph. The Police said the rebels took villagers along with them to carry their belongings from one place to another inside the forest on certain occasions.

Over 60 IEDs planted in East Garo Hills, reveals surrendered GNLA militant

A surrendered Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) militant has stated that the militant group has planted over 30 Improvised Explosive Device (IEDs) in and around East Garo Hills to sabotage the ensuing Assembly Elections, reports Northeast Today on February 21. Three of the 30 IEDs have been accounted for by the Security Forces (SFs). Superintendent of Police (SP) Ringrang Momin stated that ‘we have received the information but are yet to verify whether the same is true or exaggerated’. SP also said that SF 10, the Meghalaya Police commandos have been pushed into action to recover the remaining. According to Police one IED was recovered prior to the death of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate, while another was recovered on February 20 from Samanda in East Garo Hills District. Sources suspect that GNLA is trying to impose a sense of insecurity amongst the voters in Williamnagar as well as Songsak constituency with an intention to sabotage the election.

Maoists kill police warden in Maharashtra

The Kasansur Local Organizational Squad (LOS), a formation of the Communist Party of India-Maoist in South Gadchiroli killed Police Warden (patil) Katiya Peka Pungati (Kumoti) (55) outside Lanji village in Etapalli Taluka (revenue unit) in Gadchiroli District on February 22, reports The Times of India. He was abducted on February 21 and his dead body was found with his throat slit, and the face and head smashed with a stone, outside Lanji village. The letter of CPI-Maoist cadres considered Pungati to be a ‘Police Informer’. The Kasansur Dalam (armed squad), led by ‘commander’ Mahesh Gota, has claimed that they held Pungati responsible for the information of their presence in the forest of Tadpalli in Etapalli on January 10, 2018.

Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale described as ‘Martyr’ at Gurdwara in Punjab, says report

Attending the inauguration of a Gurdwara build in the memory of slain Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in his village on February 22, the representatives of major Sikh organisations described Bhindranwale as a ‘Martyr’ of 1984’s Operation Blue Star, reports The Times of India. The Gurdwara is located in Bhindranwale’s native village of Rode in Moga District of Punjab. The inauguration ceremony was attended by the heads of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Managing Committee (DSGMC), the Damdami Taksal and the Jathedars (leaders of Akal Takht) of five Takhts (seat of authority). The event was dominated by the discussions over the storming of the Sikh Holy Shrine the Sri Harmandir Sahib or mostly known as the Golden Temple, and killing of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in Amritsar, Amritsar District of Punjab in June 1984. The representative accused the Indian Government led by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the incidents.

Monthly Fatalities

The following casualties, related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of
terrorism occurred during the period Feb 26 to March 25, 2018:

	Civilian	Indian Security  Personnel	Militant	Total
Assam	03	00	00	03
Arunachal P	02	00	00	02
Manipur	02	00	01	03
Meghalaya	04	02	01	07
Left Wing	10	05	07	22
Total	21	07	09	37

Nepal – Internal Dynamics

Two explosions reported from Dailekh and Sankuwasabha Districts

Unidentified groups detonated Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) at Upper Karnali Hydropower and Arun-III Hydropower projects in Dailekh and Sankuwasabha Districts respectively on February 10, reports Kathmandu Post. In Dailekh District, the assailants detonated the IED at the dam site of the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project at Dab. In Sankhuwasabha District, an unidentified group of assailants detonated an IED in an under-construction powerhouse of Arun-III Hydropower Project. There were no human casualties in both the incidents, said Police. However, walls and security check posts were damaged in both the incidents.

CIEDP decides to open new complaint registration window

The Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) has decided to open a new complaint registration window, reports The Himalayan Times on February 12. The CIEDP said the new window will be open from February 13 to March 14. The move following requests from conflict victims who failed to file their complaints previously due to various reasons. The victims can also register their complaints at the CIEDP office in Pulchowk, Lalitpur, and at the Local Peace Committees based in 75 Districts. “As our term has now been extended, we decided to open the new complaint registration window as we are still receiving complaints from victims. Obviously, we want to accommodate all those as well as accept fresh ones from those who failed to lodge complaints previously,” said CIEDP Spokesperson Bishnu Pathak.

Meanwhile, International human rights bodies have said that mere extension of the terms of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the CIEDP by one year without necessary legal and institutional reforms was likely to prolong the justice process, reports The Himalayan Times on February 13. Amnesty International’s South Asia Director Biraj Patnaik said “The net worth of these two bodies has now been tested by the victims who are deeply dismayed at not having been served truth and justice.” “Families and victims of Nepal’s decade-long civil war have waited far too long for answers, and cynical government attempts such as extending the mandate without broader reform as directed by the highest court is a further slap in the face. The two commissions have gathered a lot of documentation, but authorities seem more committed to protecting perpetrators than ensuring justice,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director at Human Rights Watch (HRW). “Now a member of the UN Human Rights Council, the international community has high expectations of the government of Nepal. It needs to commit to ensure that these institutions function independently and free from political interference,” said Frederick Rawski, Asia Director of the International Commission of Jurists.

IED explodes at Ncell tower

An unidentified group exploded an improvised explosive device (IED) at Ncell tower in Sudal of Changunarayan Municipality in Bhaktapur District on February 13, reports The Himalayan Times. Some materials including Ncell tower battery were damaged in the incident.

Meanwhile, a bomb disposal team of the Nepal Army on February 14 defused a pressure cooker bomb planted at Ncell tower, on the roof of Sallaghari-based garment factory in Bhaktapur District, reports The Himalayan Times.

Two persons injured in IED explosion in Kaski district

Two persons were injured when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off near Bijaypur Bridge in Kaski District on February 20, reports Kathmandu Post. Police Constable Kul Bahadur Khatri and Radio Gandako Station Manager Ghanashyam Pandey were injured in the explosion. Police suspect that the IED could have been planted by the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal. The party had announced a countrywide shutdown on February 20 to protest the arrests of its leaders and cadres in Sunsari and Morang a few days earlier.

One killed in bomb explosion in Siraha district

One person was injured as a pressure cooker bomb exploded at a grocery shop at Lahan town in Siraha District on February 22, reports Kathmandu Post. The injured is identified as Anil Kumar Agrawal (42), who sustained injury on forehead and neck in the incident. According to the Armed Police Force Base Office, Lahan, the bomb was kept by Janatantrik Tarai Mukti Morcha-Krantikari (JTMK).

Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics

It is meaningless to continue with ban on LTTE within Sri Lanka, says NPC Chairman C.V.K. Sivagnanam

Northern Provincial Council (NPC) Chairman C.V.K. Sivagnanam told a news conference that it is meaningless to continue with the ban imposed on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) within Sri Lanka, reports Daily Mirror on January 30. “Eight years has lapsed since the war ended with even former LTTE members joining mainstream politics after surrendering their weapons and in such a scenario continuing with the ban on the LTTE is meaningless,” he said. The chairman said the LTTE wanted to win the rights of the Tamil people and the Tamil political leaders are also engaged in politics with the same intention. He said the time had come to consider the release of all LTTE suspects in custody and allow them to integrate into society after taking the necessary legal precautions and withdrawing the ban on the LTTE.

Govt will implement Enforced Disappearance Bill soon

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at an election rally in Vavuniya District on January 30 said that the Government will implement the Enforced Disappearance Bill soon, reports Daily Mirror. “The government has already got the Enforced Disappearance Bill approved and is now ready to implement it,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in its manifesto for the forthcoming Local Government (LG) election said that that the solution it seeks with regard to the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka was similar to what was in the Oslo Declaration, reports Daily Mirror on February 1. The TNA manifesto said that the same policy framework was placed before the people at the 2013 Northern Provincial Council election and the Parliamentary election in August 2015. It further said that one of the significant objectives of the forthcoming LG elections was to show the people of this country as well as the international community on whom the people in the North as well as the South have reposed their trust.

Two youths arrested for New Year greetings with LTTE emblem and picture of former LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on Facebook remanded

Colombo Magistrate Court on February 7 remanded two youths arrested for posting New Year greetings with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam emblem and a picture of the former LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on Facebook, reports Colombo Page. The Court remanded the two suspects, Dinesh Kumar and Vijaya Kumar Vidusha, residents of Ratnapura, until February 21 when the case was taken up for hearing.

Ruling parties suffer humiliating defeat at LG elections

Ruling parties in the National Unity Government (NUG) suffered humiliating defeat at the Local Government (LG) elections held on February 10 at the hands of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), reports Colombo Page. Although the official results are not completely released yet, the newly formed party, officially led by former Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris is said to have secured victory of over 250 out of the 340 LB bodies. Meanwhile, the election monitoring groups said the LG elections ended at 4 pm on February 10 was the most peaceful election held in the island’s history, reports Colombo Page. The head of the Center for Monitoring Election Violation (CMEV), Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu confirmed this. Similarly, Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Executive Director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon said that even though this is the biggest election in the entire history with over 52,000 candidates, generally a peaceful environment prevailed throughout the election period. Another election monitoring group, The People’s Actions for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFERAL) has deployed about 7,000 well-trained and well-equipped volunteers as observers for the Local Government Elections.

Separately, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who led the new political party, the SLPP to the LG election victory, on February 11 said it was clear that Sri Lanka needs a change, reports Daily Mirror. “Thank you to all who supported the vision of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna at the LG election. Your voices have been heard. It’s clear that our country needs a change. Despite the personal harassment they may have had to face over the past three years, I earnestly request all those who contested under the SLPP to celebrate this hard won victory peacefully and with restraint and in a manner that will not inconvenience the defeated side. I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to the voting public of Sri Lanka who have reposed their trust in us, and made this victory possible,” he said in a tweet.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe while meeting President Maithripala Sirisena for discussions on February 11 agreed continue the NUG formed under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena until 2020 when the President’s term expires, reports Colombo Page. Focusing on the message delivered by the people to the Government through the LG Elections during the meeting, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has decided to make a number of positive changes in the right direction to correct the situation in the next few days.

Australia issues deportation order for Sri Lankan LTTE suspect seeking asylum

Australian authorities have issued deportation order for Sri Lankan Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suspect seeking asylum in Australia, reports Colombo Page on February 13. The deportation order issued by the Australian Border Force for suspected LTTE asylum seeker Shantaruban says he will be deported on February 22. He will not be permitted any visitors at the airport when he is removed and he will be escorted on his flight to Colombo. He has refused to sign the order. Shantaruban has fled Sri Lanka fearing repercussions from Government security forces for his involvement with the LTTE. He arrived in Australia by boat in 2012. Having been released to live in the community, he was re-detained in 2015 and has remained in immigration detention since.

UNP decides to continue current NUG for remainder of its term

The United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka’s majority party in Parliament, on February 13 decided to continue the current National Unity Government (NUG) for the remainder of its term without any changes and the Ministers of its coalition partner, Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP), can decide on their own whether to stay with the Government or not, reports Colombo Page. Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe has conveyed his party’s decision to President Maithripala Sirisena at a special discussion held at the President’s Residence between the President and the Prime Minister along with the UNP Ministers.

Meanwhile, amid speculation of a new ruling coalition, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on February 13 said that it would not become part of any Government, but would cooperate on progressive measures adopted by it as far as the issues of Tamil people were concerned, reports Daily Mirror. Jaffna District TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran told that the Government formed in 2015, invited his party to join but the request was turned down. He said there were fundamental issues faced by the people who supported the TNA but as the main Opposition in Parliament, the TNA supported the NUG on progressive measures.

Swiss Attorney General demands harsh penalties from 12 Tamils for participating or supporting LTTE

Swiss Attorney General Juliette Noto demanded harsh penalties from 12 Tamils for participating or supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), reports Daily Mirror on February 21. For most of the 13 defendants, the federal prosecutor attested grave offenses and a high level of criminal energy. For the head of the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC), which was considered an offshoot of the LTTE in Switzerland, she demanded an unconditional imprisonment of 5 years and a fine of 180 daily rates of 80 francs. The Chief Financial Officer of the WTCC is to receive an unconditional imprisonment of 6.5 years and a fine of 180 daily rates of 100 francs. For the other defendants, the federal prosecutor demanded prison sentences of between 18 months and five years as well as fines.

Meanwhile, a Sri Lankan asylum seeker, who is an LTTE suspect, is to be deported from Australia after the UN Committee against torture had withdrawn a request to halt his removal, reports Daily Mirror on February 21. Shantaruban, currently held in immigration detention in Melbourne, has been in Australia since arriving by boat in 2012. Shantaruban’s claim for refugee status has been rejected. He says he has been unable to properly present his claim for protection because he was initially fearful to declare his association with the LTTE.

INTERNATIONAL

Dutch spies watched as Russians hacked US Democrats

Dutch intelligence services hacked Russian cyber attackers and alerted US counterparts after watching them transfer “thousands” of Democratic Party emails ahead of the 2016 US election, Dutch media reported on Friday, Jan 26.

The Dutch national intelligence service (AIVD) had been watching the notorious group known as Cozy Bear since 2014, according to the respected Volkskrant daily, and a Dutch TV news programme Nieuwsuur. But as well as stumbling upon the group’s computer network which was run out of a university building near Moscow’s Red Square, the Dutch agents also gained access to the security cameras surveilling the room.

“Not only can the intelligence service now see what the Russians are doing, they can also see who’s doing it,” the Volkskrant said, citing anonymous US and Dutch sources. The AIVD alerted its US counterparts when in 2015 it became a “witness to the Russian hackers harassing and penetrating the leaders of the Democratic Party, transferring thousands of emails and documents,” it said. “Yet, it will be months before the United States realise what this warning means: that with these hacks the Russians have interfered with the American elections. And the AIVD hackers have seen it happening before their very eyes.”

Cozy Bear has been widely blamed for meddling in the 2016 US elections won by now President Donald Trump. Although Trump has vehemently denied working with the Russians, his White House is under investigation by special prosecutor and former FBI director Robert Mueller.

Mueller’s team is seeking to uncover whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia’s efforts to sway the election, including leaks of hacked Democratic Party files. Mueller’s team has spent the past eight months interviewing members of Trump’s campaign and White House staff, and has issued four indictments, with two guilty pleas.

Russia ready to kill ‘many thousands’ of Britons: UK

Britain’s defence minister warned that Russia was looking to damage the British economy by attacking its infrastructure, a move he said could cause “thousands and thousands and thousands of deaths”, The Telegraph newspaper reported.

Relations between Russia and Britain are strained. Prime Minister Theresa May last year accused Moscow of military aggression and in December, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said there was evidence showing Russian meddling in Western elections.

Britain has also scrambled jets in recent months to intercept Russian jets near the United Kingdom’s airspace. “The plan for the Russians won’t be for landing craft to appear in the South Bay in Scarborough, and off Brighton Beach,” defence minister Gavin Williamson, tipped as a possible successor to May, was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

“What they are looking at doing is they are going to be thinking ‘How can we just cause so much pain to Britain?”. Damage its economy, rip its infrastructure apart, actually cause thousands and thousands and thousands of deaths, but actually have an element of creating total chaos within the country.

The Kremlin, which under Vladimir Putin has clawed back some of the global influence lost when the Soviet Union collapsed, has denied meddling in elections in the West. It says anti-Russian hysteria is sweeping through the United States and Europe.

Davos audience boos Trump for attack on press

US President Donald Trump drew boos from the audience at the elite Davos summit on Friday, Jan 26 when he attacked the press, repeating his frequent charge that media critical of him report “fake” news.

“As a businessman I was always treated really well by the press. it wasn’t until I became a politician that I realised how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the press can be,” Trump said in his address to the World Economic Forum gathering.

Some of the 1,500 delegates in the packed conference hall booed at those remarks, made during a question and answer session after an otherwise conciliatory address by Trump to the business world.

Speaking to reporters earlier as he arrived at the centre in the snowbound Swiss resort, Trump had specifically dismissed as “fake news” a bombshell report about him in the New York Times.

The newspaper cited four anonymous sources as saying that Trump had ordered the firing of Russia investigation special prosecutor Robert Mueller last year, but that he had to back off when the White House counsel threatened to resign.

14 Malian soldiers killed in attack

Fourteen Malian soldiers were killed and 18 wounded on Saturday, Jan 27 in an attack on their camp in Mali’s restive north, the army said, while military sources told AFP Jihadists were responsible.

Mali’s deteriorating security situation is of growing concern as al-Qaeda-linked groups mount increasingly deadly attacks on domestic and foreign forces, and the country’s president on Saturday cancelled his visit to an African summit.

A military source based in Bamako had told AFP the men were killed “during a cowardly terrorist attack on the Soumpi camp”. The local official confirmed the death toll, and said five wounded men were transferred to the town of Niafunke for medical treatment.

The Soumpi incident comes two days after 26 civilians including mothers and babies were killed when their vehicle ran over a landmine in Boni, central Mali, according to a UN death toll.

Islamic extremists linked to al-Qaeda took control of the desert north of Mali in early 2012, but were largely driven out in a French-led military operation launched in January 2013.

In June 2015, Mali’s government signed a peace agreement with coalitions of non-Jihadist armed groups. But Islamist insurgents remain active, and large tracts of the country are lawless.

Drone strike kills seven al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen

A drone strike early on Saturday, Jan 27 killed seven suspected al-Qaeda militants in southern Yemen, a security official said. The US military is the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen.

The official said the strike happened after midnight and targeted a car in Shabwa province. “All seven passengers, who were al-Qaeda members, were killed,” said the security source.

The United States considers the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to be the radical group’s most dangerous branch.

A long-running drone war against AQAP has intensified since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

AQAP has flourished in the chaos of the country’s civil war, which pits the Saudi-backed government against Huthi rebels.

Tillerson insists Russia to blame for Syria chemical attacks

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Saturday, Jan 27 said he stands by his claim that Russia bears responsibility for recent chemical attacks in Syria, despite strong denials from Moscow.

“These are just unacceptable deployments of chemicals in ways that violate all conventions which Russia itself has signed up for. It violates agreements that Russia undertook to be responsible for identifying and eliminating the chemical weapons inside of Syria,” Tillerson said during a visit to Warsaw. The chemical weapons are clearly there, they’re being used against civilian populations and the most vulnerable are children inside of Syria,” Tillerson told reporters, in a joint press conference with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.

“So we are holding Russia responsible for addressing this. They are Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ally. They are members of those conventions and they made commitments. They need to deliver on those commitments.”

Tillerson first made the accusations on Tuesday, as diplomats from 29 countries met in Paris to push for sanctions and criminal charges against the perpetrators of the chemical attacks in Syria.

Russia and China have blocked Western-backed efforts at the UN to impose sanctions on Damascus over their use.

On Wednesday, Russia lashed out at Tillerson for having “hastily accused the Syrian as they call it ‘regime’ for the attack in Eastern Ghouta,” adding “now they are trying to drag Russia into this as well.”

Damascus has been repeatedly accused of using chemical weapons, with the United Nations among those blaming government forces for an April 2017 sarin gas attack on the opposition-held village of Khan Sheikhun that left scores dead.

There have been at least 130 separate chemical weapons attacks in Syria since 2012, according to French estimates, with the Islamic State group also accused of using mustard gas in Syria and Iraq.

Deadly clashes split ranks of Gulf allies in Yemen war

Several people were killed as Yemeni armed groups allied to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates fought in the southern city of Aden on Sunday, Jan 28 local medical staff said, deepening a rift between forces that had been on the same side. The worst clashes yet between UAE-backed southern separatists and forces loyal to the Saudi-based government risk crippling their once united war effort against the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen’s north.

An unprecedented military adventure for the usually cautious Gulf states, the campaign in their much poorer and less politically stable neighbour was aimed at sending a decisive signal that they would oppose Iranian expansion in their midst. But Yemen has been torn apart by three years of conflict and the factional fighting in the south compounds the misery.

Prime Minister Ahmed bin Dagher denounced moves by southern separatists as a coup, saying the situation was moving toward “a comprehensive military confrontation. which is a direct gift to the Houthis and Iran”. Gunmen were deployed throughout most districts of Aden on Sunday and there was heavy automatic gunfire and explosions in the southern port city, according to Reuters witnesses.

Armed separatists wrested a key military base and several government buildings from soldiers loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as residents reported that hundreds of pro-Southern demonstrators had gathered in a main square.

The clashes come as a deadline imposed by the separatists for the government to resign expired on Sunday.

Although Hadi remains in exile in Saudi Arabia, his administration nominally controls about four-fifths of Yemen’s territory, but political and military leaders in Aden now want to revive the former independent state of South Yemen.

The southern separatists – the Southern Resistance Forces – last week accused Hadi’s cabinet of corruption and inefficiency and demanded they quit.

A top military adviser to President Hadi, Mohammed Ali al-Miqdashi, said any move toward rebellion would render the southerners an enemy.

In a statement late on Saturday before the clashes began, the Saudi-led coalition urged all parties to seek “calm and restraint, adhering to the language of a calm dialogue”.

Russian pilot killed after Syria rebels down plane

A Russian pilot was killed on Saturday, Feb 3 in clashes with rebels after they downed his warplane over Syria’s northwest province of Idlib, a monitor said.

“The pilot was killed as he fought rebels who had shot down his plane and were taking him captive,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman.

N Korea mocks US threats with mly parade

North Korea has held a major parade a day before the opening of the Winter Olympics in the South, in a clear warning to the United States that any act of invasion would be met with the toughest response possible.

State television broadcast recorded videos of the Thursday, Feb 8 parade in Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung Square, with leader of the country Kim Jong-un overseeing the extravagant event. The parade was held after Kim accepted to dispatch a group of North Korean athletes to the Winter Olympics in the South. He has also sent his sister, one of his senior advisers, to the games, and South Korean officials have said she would attend the kick-off ceremony Friday and then would have a luncheon with President Moon Jae-in.

Experts say Kim’s manner of dealing with the Winter Games is a sign he has become genuinely open to South Korea’s rapprochement efforts. However, Kim’s words during the Thursday parade showed that the same restraint toward the United States did not exist in principle. During the event, Kim called on the North Korean military to maintain a high level of combat readiness against the US and its allies and to prevent them from infringing upon “the republic’s sacred dignity and autonomy even by 0.001 millimeters.”

Disputes between Washington and Pyongyang escalated last July when North Korea test-fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) that analysts say are capable of hitting targets in the US mainland. Then in August, Pyongyang carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, prompting Washington to engineer some unprecedented international sanctions on the country.

North Korea has warned the US that it would respond to the crippling sanctions in due course.

85,000 displaced in 10 weeks of raging violencein Yemen: UN

The UN said on Friday, Feb 9 that surging violence across Yemen had pushed some 85,000 people from their homes in the past 10 weeks, with hundreds continuing to flee each day. More than 70 percent of those displaced since December 1 had fled a military escalation in the Hodeida and Taez governorates on Yemen’s west coast.

UNHCR voiced particular concern for displaced people remaining in areas close to the hostilities in the two governorates, where conditions are continuing to rapidly deteriorate, “exposing people to violence and disease, without basic services”.

The UN agency also said it was observing a spike in new displacements from other frontline areas across Yemen, including in the border governorates of Jawf and Hajjah, and in the oil-rich eastern province of Shabwa.

The UN last month made a record appeal for nearly $3 billion to combat imminent famine as well as cholera and diphtheria outbreaks in Yemen this year. UNHCR has asked for $200 million of that amount for its work in the country, but Pouilly lamented that so far only three percent of that amount has materialised. More than 9,200 people have been killed since the Saudi-led alliance joined the Yemen war in 2015, according to the World Health Organisation, triggering what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

Another nearly 2,200 Yemenis have died of cholera amid deteriorating hygiene and sanitation conditions, the World Health Organisation says. Yemen’s civil war took a dramatic turn in December when Huthi rebels killed Ali Abdullah Saleh, the country’s toppled ex-president, punishing him for switching sides and seeking peace with the Saudi-led coalition.

Nepal Communist alliance to form govt

Nepal’s Communist parties will form the next government, the election commission confirmed on Friday, Feb 9 after releasing long-delayed election results months after polls billed as a turning point for the Himalayan nation roiled by decades of political instability.

The alliance of the largest Communist party and former Maoist rebels has secured a strong majority in both the directly elected lower house of parliament and the indirectly elected upper house, according to official results from the commission.

The Communist alliance also has a majority in six of the seven newly-formed provincial assemblies. The final results were delayed by disagreements over how the new election rules in the constitution should be implemented.

The long delay has quashed much of the optimism that accompanied the polls, when many voters cast their ballots hoping a new government would bring much-needed stability and development to the impoverished country.

The leader of the Communist CPN-UML, K.P. Sharma Oli, is expected to be confirmed as the next prime minister in a parliamentary vote later this month. During his last term in office, sharp-tongued Oli tilted Nepal’s diplomatic relations towards China, straining ties with its traditional ally India.

Beijing responded by pumping vast sums of money into the impoverished Himalayan nation in the form of large-scale infrastructure projects. Delhi appears determined to redress that balance and nearly doubled its aid to Nepal in its latest annual budget. It also sent foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to Kathmandu last week on a charm offensive, which included meetings with prime minister-in-waiting Oli.

Turkish court jails 64 for life over 2016 coup attempt

A Turkish court on Wednesday, Feb 7 sentenced 64 military academy officers and trainees to life in prison for involvement in a failed military coup in 2016, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Another 100 defendants were acquitted in the case, it said. Those sentenced were involved with plotters of the coup and had flown unsuspecting military academy trainees to a military headquarters to confront civilians opposing the attempted putsch, Anadolu said, citing the indictment.

Four of the sentenced were given “aggravated life” sentences, the harshest punishment possible under Turkish law because it raises the minimum required for parole. The four were found guilty of attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. More than 240 people, most of them unarmed civilians, were killed on the night of the July 15, 2016, when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks and warplanes in an attempt to attack parliament and overthrow President Tayyip Erdogan.

Since the coup attempt, Erdogan has embarked on a sweeping crackdown, jailing some 50,000 people and sacking or suspending 150,000. Under the purge, Turkey shut down all of its military academies, schools that had been once seen as a pillar of the secular state.

Turkey detains 48 IS suspects ‘planning attacks’

Anti-terror officers in Istanbul and Ankara detained 48 alleged members of the Islamic State extremist group (IS) suspected of planning attacks, state media reported on Saturday, Feb 10.

Police detained 31 foreigners who were picked up in anti-terror raids in Istanbul, state-run news agency Anadolu said, without specifying their nationalities, adding that they were believed to have been preparing an attack.

Another 17 people were taken into custody in Ankara over alleged ties to IS who were also accused of plotting an attack, the agency reported later on Saturday without saying when the raids took place.

Turkey suffered a series of terror attacks in 2015 and 2016 as well as one in 2017 blamed on IS and Kurdish militants, killing hundreds. The last attack claimed by IS was in January 2017 when a gunman killed 39 people at the elite Istanbul nightclub Reina during New Year’s celebrations.

Drone strike kills six Qaeda suspects in Yemen

A drone strike killed six suspected al-Qaeda militants on Sunday, Feb 11 in central Yemen, a security official said. The US military is the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen. The official said the strike happened after sundown and targeted a vehicle in Bayda province.

“An unmanned drone likely American bombed the group’s vehicle in the area of Qayfa, where al-Qaeda is active,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. Al-Qaeda’s global network remains “remarkably resilient,” posing more of a threat in some regions than the Islamic State group, UN sanctions monitors said in a report seen by AFP on Wednesday.

The report sent to the Security Council said that the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) served as a communications hub for the UN-designated terror group as a whole.

A long-running American drone war against AQAP has intensified since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017. The extremist group has flourished in the chaos of Yemen’s civil war, which the UN has called the world’s biggest humanitarian disaster.

31 Turkish soldiers killed in Syria

The Turkish army on Monday Feb 12, said 31 soldiers had been killed since Ankara launched its offensive against a Kurdish militia in Syria last month.

Another 143 Turkish soldiers were wounded in the operation dubbed “Olive Branch” which began on January 20 against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in the western region of Afrin, a statement said.

While the United States has given armed support to the YPG against the Islamic State group in Syria, Turkey says the militia is a “terrorist” offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The PKK, proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies, has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. Turkey has been supporting Syrian rebels with ground troops and air strikes during the operation which Ankara has threatened to extend eastwards towards other YPG-held towns.

Turkey suffered its bloodiest day on Saturday when 11 military personnel were killed, including two after a helicopter taking part in the offensive was downed. Some 1,369 “terrorists” had been neutralised during the operation, the army said, referring to those killed but also those captured or wounded. It was not immediately possible to verify this figure.

‘End of combat does not spell end of IS’

Washington’s top envoy on Tuesday, Feb 13 called on allies to keep fighting the Islamic State group, saying that the end of major combat did not mean “enduring defeat” of the extremists. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke at a ministerial meeting in Kuwait of the US-led military coalition that has been fighting IS in Iraq and Syria, being held in parallel with a conference on reconstruction in Iraq. The Jihadist group has lost much of the territory it once controlled when it seized large swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014.

Suicide blasts kill 19 in Nigeria

Three suicide bombers killed 19 people at a fish market in northeast Nigeria, civilian militia leaders said on Saturday, Feb 17 in an attack blamed on Boko Haram Jihadists.

Friday’s deadly attacks came in the week that hundreds of Boko Haram suspects went on trial at civilian courts at a military base.

One fighter involved in the 2014 abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from the Borno state town of Chibok was jailed for 15 years.

The suicide blasts happened at about 8:30 pm (1930 GMT) on Friday in Konduga, some 35 kilometres southeast of the Borno state capital, Maiduguri.

Babakura Kolo and Musa Ari, from the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) assisting Nigeria’s military against the Islamists, said the bombers were all men. He said 22 of the 70 injured were in a critical condition. There was no immediate comment from the military or the police in Borno state, which has borne the brunt of the violence in Boko Haram’s nearly nine-year insurgency.

At least 20,000 people have been killed and more than 2.6 million others made homeless since 2009.

Nigeria’s military and government maintains the group is a spent force. But suicide attacks and raids persist, with civilians in hard-to-reach rural areas and outlying towns at risk. On January 31, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at Mandarari village, near Konduga.

Five killed in Dagestan church attack

A man in Russia’s southern province of Dagestan shot into a crowd of people leaving a church on Sunday, Feb 18 killing five and injuring at least five others, Russian news agencies reported, citing the local health ministry.

The attack occurred in the village of Kizlyar in the Muslim-majority republic of Dagestan, agencies said. The small republic in the Caucasus mountains borders Chechnya, where Moscow has led two wars against separatists and radical religious groups since the 1991 Soviet collapse and which has seen a large number of people join Islamic State.

Russian news agencies said the attack occurred as churchgoers celebrated Maslenitsa, a Christian holiday marking the last day before Lent according to the eastern Orthodox calendar.

IS kills 27 pro-govt Iraqi fighters

The Islamic State group killed 27 pro-government fighters in an ambush in Iraq, their paramilitary group said on Monday, Feb 19 underlining the threat still posed by the Jihadists despite Baghdad’s declaration of victory.

IS members, disguised as soldiers, attacked a Hashed al-Shaabi unit in the Hawija region about 300 kilometres north of Baghdad on Sunday evening, the auxiliary force said in a statement.

“The attackers were dressed in military uniforms and during the fighting 27 of our heroes were martyred,” added the Hashed, a key partner of the government in the battle against IS. The paramilitary unit was conducting operations to “arrest terrorists and dismantle sleeping cells” around the city, in the province of Kirkuk.

A Hashed official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP the Jihadists had set up a checkpoint close to Hawija. They asked the Hashed paramilitaries to stop, get out of their vehicles and stand beside the road, on the pretext of conducting a search. They then shot the Hashed fighters and fled, the official said.

Reinforcements arrived too late to stop the attack. A senior police officer in the province, who also asked not to be named, said most of the bodies had been beheaded.

It was the deadliest attack against Hashed fighters since October when pro-government forces retook Hawija, which was the Jihadists’ last urban bastion in northern Iraq. Iraq in December declared victory against IS after a years-long battle to retake large swathes of territory the extremists had seized in 2014. But the Hashed says IS has not completely disappeared and that “sleeper cells” have been fighting a guerrilla war against it.

78 killed in Sinai operation

Seven Egyptian soldiers and 71 jihadists have been killed since the launch of a wide-ranging operation to quell an Islamic State group affiliate in Sinai earlier this month, the military said.

“As a result of the heroic combat operations by our armed forces. seven heroes of the armed forces were martyred,” military spokesman Colonel Tamer Rifai said at a press conference aired on Thursday. Feb 22 on state television.

“71 extremists have been killed and five arrested,” he said. Rifai added that 1,852 other suspects have been rounded up in the operation that began on February 9, following an ultimatum by the President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to end the deadly insurgency.

IS attacks have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers in the Sinai Peninsula. The group has also killed over 100 Christians in the past year and targeted tourists.

Sisi ordered his security commanders to put an end to the attacks following a massacre at a northern Sinai mosque in November that killed more than 300 worshippers. IS is believed to have carried out the attack on the mosque but it has not claimed responsibility.

The group’s Egyptian branch has used the north of the Sinai Peninsula, which borders Israel, as a staging ground for its attacks.

Officials say IS has tried to move fighters to Sinai following defeats in Iraq and Syria, where it has lost most of its territory. Egypt is holding a presidential election next month, which Sisi is expected to easily win.

Explosive device thrown into US embassy in Montenegro

A suicide attacker blew themself up after throwing an explosive device into the US embassy compound in Podgorica, the Montenegrin government said on Thursday, Feb 22.

Authorities in Podgorica have not released any theories as to the motive for the early morning attack in Montenegro, which recently joined NATO. “In front of the @USEmbassyMNE building in #Podgorica, #Montenegro an unknown person committed suicide with an explosive device. Immediately before, that person threw an explosive device,” the government tweeted, saying the device was “most probably” a hand grenade.

It said the attacker threw the device “into the US embassy compound” from an intersection near a sports centre. A US State Department spokesperson confirmed “a small explosion near the US Embassy compound” saying officials were “working closely with police to identify the assailant(s)”.

Montenegro’s main daily paper Vijesti identified the attacker as a 43-year old man born in neighbouring Serbia but who was living in Podgorica. It also published a picture, apparently from his Facebook page, showing an award he won for his service in the Yugoslav army in 1999, which was signed by the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic. That was the year in which NATO struck Serbia to end the Kosovo war. In 2006, Montenegro declared independence and has espoused pro-Western policies ever since.

‘105 girls missing’ in Nigeria after Boko Haram school attack

More than 100 girls are reported missing after a Boko Haram school attack in northeast Nigeria this week that President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, Feb 23 called a “national disaster”. But locals in the remote town of Dapchi, in Yobe state, said they had been left vulnerable to attack because soldiers had been withdrawn in the last few weeks.

Nigeria’s government has been scrambling to contain a growing crisis that has revived memories of the 2014 mass abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok that shocked the world. The attack has also raised questions about the military’s repeated claims that the militants are on the verge of defeat, after nearly nine years of bitter fighting.

Terrified pupils fled the boarding school on Monday night when heavily armed fighters in military fatigues and turbans stormed the town, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”).

The authorities initially denied that any student had been kidnapped but fears have grown all week that they may have been seized, as dozens of girls failed to return home.

Hopes were raised on Wednesday evening, when the spokesman for Yobe state governor Ibrahim Gaidam appeared to confirm the abduction and said “some” of the girls had been rescued. But Gaidam on Thursday questioned whether there had been an abduction at all, while his spokesman apologised and said they had been “misled” with inaccurate information.

Former military ruler Buhari was elected in 2015 on a promise to defeat Boko Haram, after the jihadists grew in strength under his predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan.

Jonathan was lambasted for his tardy response to the Chibok abduction, which saw 276 girls from the town in Borno state taken in the dead of night.

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.