Terrorist Activities in Pakistan
Bomb/IED attacks
At least sixteen persons including three Policemen sustained injuries in a roadside blast targeting Police vehicle in Dera Murad Jamali in the evening of May 28, reports The News. According to Police, unidentified militants had planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in a motorcycle parked on the roadside to target the Police vehicle passing through the area. The explosion occurred when a Police vehicle passing through the area, injuring at least 16 people including three Policemen. The windowpanes of nearby shops and houses were smashed due to the impact of the blast.
Three Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed and two others injured in a suicide bombing at a check-post on the Quetta-Karachi highway in the Khud-Cocha area of Mastung District of Balochistan on June 4, reports Dawn. According to official sources, the suicide bomber blew himself up near the FC Aziz check-post in the Khud-Cocha area of Mastung. “A young man wearing an explosive-laden jacket tried to enter the FC check-post and when he was challenged by security personnel, he blew himself up near the check-post,” security officials said. “As a result of the explosion, three FC personnel were killed on the spot and two others were injured,” sources added. The deceased were identified as Subedar Munir Jan, Sepoy Ahmed Jan and Pervez Ahmed. Sepoy Nasir and Sepoy Irshad were injured in the blast.
An explosion targeting a Police van on patrol in the Maidan Circle area near Sara Panra in Lower Dir District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on June 7 claimed the lives of a Station House Officer (SHO), the vehicle’s driver, and a passerby, reports Dawn. It appeared to have targeted a Zimdara Police Station van, which was on patrol at the time, Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP) Rehmatullah said. The blast was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Zimdara SHO Bakht Munir Khan and his driver Irfan were killed, while one FC official identified as Hazrat, a gunner to the SHO, was injured. The blast also wounded some passers-by.
Targetted Killings
Two Policemen and two militants were killed in Quetta on May 27, reports Daily Times. The incident occurred at Sarki Road where the militants opened fire on Policemen. As a consequence, two Policemen were killed and four passers-by injured. In the meantime, personnel in a Police vehicle passing by opened fire on the attackers, killing two of them. One of the injured attackers, however, fled the scene, Police said. Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abdul Razzaq Cheema said unknown miscreants opened fire on Abdul Rasheed and Bashir Shah in the Capri Cinema area, killing them on the spot.
A social activist and prominent member of the Sikh community, Charnjeet Singh was shot dead in a suspected target killing incident in the Scheme Chowk area on Kohat Road within the limits of Inquilab Police Station in Peshawar on May 29, reports Dawn. According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Operations, Javed Iqbal Wazir said the incident occurred in the Scheme Chowk area when unidentified men opened fire at Charnjeet Singh who was on his way home from his shop. Charnjeet Singh died on the spot while the attackers managed to escape.
Meanwhile, a Police constable Hayatullah Khan was shot dead by unidentified militants riding a motorcycle on the Circular Road East near the Sate Life building in Dera Ismail Khan town of same District on May 29, reports Dawn. Hayatullah Khan was on a routine patrol on his bike on the Circular Road when two armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on him. As a result, he got serious bullet wounds and was shifted to the District Headquarters Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
Three Levies personnel were killed in an ambush near Kali Bangalzai in Sariab area in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan on June 16, reports The News. Suspected militants opened fire on Levies vehicle, killing the three personnel of the paramilitary force on the spot. Police said the attackers opened fire at the Levies vehicle and then escaped. Two of the victims, Habibullah and Najeebullah, were brothers. Anwar Ali was the third.
A man, identified as Gul Mohammad, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the main bazaar of Awaran town (Awaran District) in Balochistan on June 18, reports Dawn. In another incident, one Mullah Noor-ul-Haq was shot dead in Qila Saifullah town of same District on June 18, reports Dawn. Separately, a man identified as Ahmed Jan was killed in the Garisha area of Khuzdar District on June 18, reports Dawn.
A Police constable was shot dead on June 21 when unidentified assailants on motorcycle opened fire on a Police post in the Hayatabad area of Peshawar, reports Dawn. According to Police, the incident occurred at around 9:45pm, within the jurisdiction of Hayatabad Police Station. The deceased official was later identified as Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) Constable Shah Fahad, Cantonment area Superintendent of Police (SP), Wasim Riaz said.
Miscellaneous
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) team from Lahore shot dead six militants in Upper Jhelum area of Gujrat District in Punjab in the night of May 26, reports The News. According to spokesman, the personnel of CTD had blockaded the area when eight militants opened fire. Six militants were killed in the ensuing shootout. The militants killed in the encounter have been identified as Abdul Muqeem, Faisal, Usman, Azeem, Rauf and Sohaib, whose name was included in the red book. Two other militants managed to flee. The CTD spokesman said the militants were involved in Ferozepur Road (Lahore) blast on July 24, 2017, that had claimed lives of 26 people including eight Policemen. They were also involved in the killing of Brigadier Zahor Qadri in Sargodha town of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on September 6, 2014, and other several bomb explosions.
Security Forces (SFs) repulsed terrorist attacks from across the Pak-Afghan border, killing six militants in Bajaur Agency on June 3, reports Dawn. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the attacks targeted border posts and border fencing parties. SF personnel have foiled seven infiltration attempts in the Bajaur area alone during the last 24 hours, it added. “Four security personnel and a soldier of the Pakistan Air Force, deployed at an observation post, got injured during the exchange of fire,” read an ISPR press release.
Meanwhile, at least four people, including two activists of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), were killed and dozens of others injured in a militant attack in Wana town of South Waziristan Agency on June 3, reports Dawn. Sources said that the militants targeted a PTM rally that was organised to welcome one of the movement’s leaders, Ali Wazir. PTM leader Mohsin Dawar confirmed the incident, saying the militants opened indiscriminate fire at the rally, killing and injuring a number of PTM supporters.
Security Forces (SFs) repulsed terrorist attacks from across the Pak-Afghan border in Qamar Din Qarez area of Balochistan on June 3, reports Dawn. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the militants from Afghanistan attacks targeted border posts and border fencing parties.
Three Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) militants were killed in a gun battle with Security Forces (SFs) in a far flung area of Kohlu District on June 4, reports Dawn. The shootout began when personnel of Frontier Corps (FC) cordoned off a place following a tip-off that militants were hiding there. The suspected militants opened fired on the security men when they were searching the area. However, the personnel retaliated and the heavy exchange of fire continued for at least two hours. The militant hideout was destroyed in the operation.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) councilor Rehman Afzal survived a firing incident in the night of June 8 when unidentified assailants on motorcycle opened fire on him in Amin Colony of Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, reports The Nation. Separately, a man was wounded after an unidentified gunman opened fire in a mosque in Shaheed Abad locality of Peshawar on June 8, reports The Nation.
Police on June 8 recovered a cache of arms form a car in Defence Khayaban-e-Tanzeem area of Karachi, the provincial capital of Sindh, reports The Nation. According to Police, a patrolling Police team stopped a suspected car in Defence Khayaban-e-Tanzeem, during checking Police seized a huge cache of weapons including 11 Kalashnikovs, seven repeaters, 10 9-MM TT pistols, four 30-bore pistols, and a large number of bullets from the hidden compartments of the car.
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on June 11 claimed to have arrested three suspects with links to banned outfits, two of whom were said to be “highly educated” from Sultanabad and Jubilee areas of Karachi, reports Dawn. The three arrested persons were identified as Shahsawar, Mujeeb Rehman and Khalid Pervez. One of the detained men had remained a faculty member at a public university in Dera Ismail Khan while another had graduated from a ‘prestigious’ institute in Karachi. The third suspect is a religious scholar who provides online courses of the Holy Quran, revealed CTD Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Junaid Ahmed Shaikh. The university teacher had been allegedly involved in deadly attacks on NATO forces in Afghanistan, Security Forces in Pakistan and sectarian violence in the past, the senior officer added.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on June 14 said it had arrested the alleged murderer of prominent Sikh social activist Charanjit Singh in Peshawar on May 29, reports Dawn. The CTD said that the alleged target killer, Sheheryar, was caught by a special team of the department tasked with the investigation of the case. It said that the accused has also named some accomplices during the investigation, for whose arrest a separate team has been formed.
Five terrorists and three Army soldiers were killed during action when the militants from across the Pak-Afghan border attempted multiple raids on Pakistani posts in Shawal area of North Waziristan Agency, reports The Nation. According to Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Security Forces valiantly repulsed all attempts to overrun posts and inflict major damage. Five terrorists were killed by Pakistan Army in retaliation during their failed attempts. During exchange of fire, three Army soldiers Havaldar Iftikhar, resident of Sargodha, Sepoy Aftab from Chitral and Sepoy Usman resident of Gujarat, embraced Shahadat.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) apprehended Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander Moulvi Bahadur Jan from Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar, The News reported on June 17 quoting immigration sources. The most wanted TTP Commander Bahadur Jan was taken into custody by FIA Immigration personnel from the Airport when he was trying to flee Dubai via a private airline. The TTP commander, whose name was included in the stop list by Federal Ministry of Interior, had changed his getup, the sources said and added that he was arrested while verification of his travel documents.
A senior cleric in Balochistan returned home on June 15 nine months after he, along with a son and driver, was kidnapped from Airport Road in Quetta on September 8, 2017, reports The Express Tribune. Maulana Abu Turab, the provincial ameer of Jamat Ahle Hadees, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from Airport Road while he was travelling to his seminary. Later, the kidnappers had released his son and driver but took away Maulana Abu Turab. On June 15, the kidnappers released Maulana Abu Turab but his family refused to share any details with the media. It was not immediately known if the family has paid any ransom for his release.
The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) on June 20 killed four militants in an operation in Dashta area of Quetta, reports Daily Times. According to the CTD, the operation was three hours long and left four security officials injured. CTD spokesperson informed that a woman is also among the deceased terrorists.
Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) personnel along with the Police disposed a hidden hand grenade warding off a terror attack in Sector I-10 of Islamabad, on June 19, reports The News. The Station House Officer (SHO) of the Sabzi Mandi Police Station informed that the hand grenade was defused following apt operation by Police and BDS personnel.
An Army soldier identified as Sepoy Niaz Ali, was killed in an exchange of fire across the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan District on June 24, reports Dawn. “We shall… complete the fencing undeterred,” Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor vowed, as he tweeted news of the sepoy’s martyrdom. He added that Afghan cooperation is required [for fencing of the border], which he said was in the mutual interest of both countries.
PAKISTAN
Police repulse militants’ attack on DI Khan post
The police on Wednesday, May 30 repulsed a militant attack on their post in the Kulachi area in the district, police said. They said that the militants staged an attack on a police post in Kulachi Daraban Bypass Road the other night.
The cops manning the post returned the fire and forced the militants to retreat. No cop was hurt in the attack, police said. The police lodged a case against unknown militants under sections-324 and 353 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Weak prosecution results in high acquittal rate in Sindh, says CTD
A weak and inconsistent prosecution due to lack of professional investigating officers (IOs) has resulted in a whopping 86.05 per cent acquittal rate by Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATCs) in Sindh, Dawn reported on June 1 quoting Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) data. Data compiled by CTD suggested that during the first four months of 2018, a total of 2,774 cases were disposed of by the ATCs across the province. Out of them, accused persons were acquitted in 2,387 cases while they were found guilty in 387 cases. The acquittal rate stands at 86.05 per cent and the conviction rate is a mere 13.95 per cent. Such a low acquittal rate disappointed the Police hierarchy, notably the CTD which exclusively deals in terrorism cases. “Investigation is not being done in professional manner on scientific lines and prosecution is not strong and consistent,” said Additional Inspector General Dr. Sanaullah Abbasi, the chief of Sindh CTD.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government concerned over presence of terror group on Afghan border
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Government on May 31 expressed concerns over strengthening of militant Islamic State (IS) group in the border areas of Afghanistan and termed its activities an indicator of unrest in the region, reports Dawn. However, the provincial authorities claimed that the security situation in KP was satisfactory. According to sources, the concern about strengthening of IS on the border areas was shown by KP Inspector General of Police (IGP) Salahuddin Mehsud Khan during a briefing to the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) in Islamabad. NACTA has already intimated to the Government that Jamat-ul-Ahrar (JuA), IS and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been a serious threat to security of the country.
CTD claims arrest of important TTP commander in Karachi
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on June 4 claimed to have arrested an ‘important commander’ of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Rehmat Ali Shah, from the City Railway Colony area of Saddar Town in Karachi, reports Dawn. CTD Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) (Investigation) Junaid Ahmed Shaikh said Rehmat Ali Shah was allegedly involved in attacks on Security Forces and generating funds for terror. During an initial probe, the arrested TTP suspect ‘confessed’ to his involvement in several acts of terrorism. The suspect with 10 to 15 other TTP militants attacked a Police post with a bomb in the Buner District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) in 2009. He with 40 to 50 TTP militants attacked and captured an FC camp in Buner District in the same year, which remained under their control for one month before it was vacated after the army operation there. Rehmat was also involved in killing one person in Buner over suspicion of being an ‘informer’. Besides, he had been generating funds for the banned outfits of TTP and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LeJ) in Karachi since 2009.
No space for war between nuclear states, says DG ISPR Major General Asif Ghafoor
The Director General (DG) of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor on June 4 said that Pakistan Army would be compelled to retaliate if India targeted civilian population, reports The News. “DG MO has given an undertaking to his Indian counterpart about respecting the 2003 ceasefire agreement and Pakistan army is committed to uphold it. But we will give a befitting response if Indian army hits our civilian population,” Asif Ghafoor briefed media at GHQ. “India should decide how it wants to proceed. We are two nuclear powers and there is no space for war,” he said. “Our priority is to respect the ceasefire agreement, we will not respond to the first bullet fired by Indian at us. But if civilians are targeted, we will be forced to retaliate,” he said. “We request the Indian army and media to defuse tense situation,” he said.
Pakistan Rangers personnel killed and two others injured during targeted operation in Karachi
One Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) personnel was killed and two others suffered injuries during a shootout with suspected Mohajir Qaumi Movement – Haqiqi (MQM-Haqiqi) militants in Zaman Town area of Korangi in Karachi on June 6, reports Dawn. According to a statement issued by Pakistan Rangers, the shootout occurred when suspected militants opened fire on the security officials during a targeted operation conducted in Zaman Town area. During the exchange of fire with suspected militants, three Rangers officials suffered bullet wounds and were rushed to a military hospital, however, one official succumbed to his injuries. The dead soldier has been identified as Havaldar Ilyas, while sepoys Ibrahim and Ameer are being treated for injuries. The Rangers spokesperson said that the targeted operation was carried out to arrest a suspect named Shafiq alias Kala associated with MQM- Haqiqi.
Former Ministers’ house blown up in Balochistan
The house of former Balochistan Minister and central leader of the Balochistan National Party (Awami) Mir Asghar Rind was blown up in Gomazi area of Mand in Gwadar address in talks with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif next week.
The Israeli strikes in Syria come just days after US President Donald Trump withdrew from a key 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, in part because it does not attempt to curb Tehran’s role in several crises in the Middle East.
Tehran has portrayed itself as the focus of Middle East “resistance” against Israel, which said it struck the Syria sites in retaliation for rocket fire it blamed on Iran’s Al-Quds force.
The foreign ministry reiterated France’s “unwavering support for Israel’s security and condemns all attempts to harm it.” He also called for “restraint by all sides in order to avoid a dangerous escalation of tensions in the Middle East.
“That is why, as the president has said, it hopes in particular to begin talks with Iran over a larger frame- work that would encompass its nuclear activities as well as its ballistic missile programme and a solution to crises in the region,” it said. Iran is backing the regime of Syrian President Bashar A1-Assad in his seven-year civil war against rebel opposition groups, and is also supporting Shiite militia forces in Iraq.
UN experts have also accused Iran of violating an arms embargo in Yemen by sending missiles and other weaponry to Huthi rebels fighting government forces backed by Saudi Arabia, Tehran’s archrival in the region.
Four dead as suicide blast hits Baghdad mourners
Four people were killed and 27 others wounded on Wednesday, May 16 when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a tent filled with mourners in north Baghdad, Iraqi police and medical sources said.
The attack hit the Taji district of the Iraqi capital at around 1030 GMT, a police source said. Medical sources at a local hospital confirmed the toll. Security forces central command said the attack had “killed and wounded civilians” with-out providing figures.
A source from the Hashed al-Shaabi militia that was influential in the fightback against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in the past three years said members of the force were present when the suicide bomber struck. IS has lost most of the territory it seized in Iraq in 2014 but still carries out regular individual attacks.
Toll from blasts at Syria airbase climbs to 28
At least 28 pro-government fighters have been killed in a string of blasts at a regime airbase in central Syria earlier this week, a monitor said on Sunday, May 20 giving a new toll.
The deadly explosions tore through weapons and fuel depots on Friday at a military airport in Syria’s Hama province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. “The toll has gone up to at least 28 regime forces and loyalist fighters, all Syrian,” said the Britain- based monitor, after initially reporting 11 killed.
It said the death toll could rise as “dozens” are wounded “some in of them in critical condition,” it said. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said there may also be casualties from other nationalities, as fighters from regime backer Iran and allied Lebanese militia Hizbullah were deployed there.
But a joint operations room of Syria’s regional allies denied any of their forces had been killed in the explosions. “We have no military advisers in the Hama airbase. We have no depots and have not positioned forces from Iran or else- where at this airport,” it said in a statement carried on Hizbullah’s War Media Channel.
Syrian state media reported the blasts at the time but did not provide any details, while the Observatory had said they were likely due to a technical malfunction. Tensions are high in Syria after several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on regime positions, as well as military installations reportedly used by Iran.
The latest wave came in the early hours of May 10, when Israel carried out dozens of raids against what it said were “Iranian” targets in Syria. Israel has repeatedly threatened to act if Iran developed an entrenched military presence in southern Syria, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. More than 350,000 people have been killed since Syria’s conflict erupted in March 2011 with protests that spiralled into a brutal war.
S Arabia intercepts Yemen missile
Saudi air defences on Monday, May 21 intercepted a ballistic missile over southern city Jizan fired from rebel-held territory in neighbouring Yemen, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said.
Debris from the missile landed in residential areas of Jizan, but without causing casualties, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency. Yemen’s Iran- allied Huthi rebels have in recent months ramped up missile attacks against neighboring Saudi Arabia which leads a military coalition against them.
Two rebel missiles targeted the southern city of Khamis Mushait or Saturday, according to Maliki. One missile was intercepted arm destroyed by Saudi forces, while the other crashed in an unpopulated desert area, he said. Saudi Arabia earlier this month tested a new siren system for the capital Riyadh and southeast Turkey, northern Iraq and northwest Syria. The T129 choppers are Turkey’s first locally made platforms under license. The T129 features a tandem seat, twin-engine and NATO-interoperability for attack, armed reconnaissance, and precision-strike and deep-strike mission capabilities for day and night and in all weather conditions. In another deal, TAI upgraded a batch of 41 F-16 fighter jets for the Pakistani Air Force. That program involved avionics and structural modernization of the aircraft. TAI also is in talks with Pakistan for the sale of its Hurkus basic trainer aircraft.
Taliban unveil new ‘punk-inspired’ uniforms
Pakistani Taliban fighters have used a propaganda video to sport unusual matching training outfits, including fingerless gloves and trousers tucked into knee-length white socks, reports foreign media. The recently released video shows eight militants wearing identical t-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “no tension” while practicing with rocket-propelled grenades. The video shows “martyrdom seeking Mujahideen “training at a “war college”, according to screen shots published by Military Times.
Militants of the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been blamed for dozens of suicide bombings and hundreds of deaths in a war with Pakistan’s government and military. A series of successful military campaigns have put the militants on the back foot, but officials say they remain the biggest terrorist threat to the country.
Khalid Mehsud, the deputy leader of the movement, was killed in February by a US drone strike in North Waziristan, near the border with Afghanistan. The jihadist’s latest aesthetic drew some mockery online, where the outfits were likened to “punk rock uniforms”.
Raffaello Pantucci, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said the new outfit did not necessarily herald a new direction. He said: “I’m not sure it shows anything substantial.”
REGIONAL
Bangladesh – Internal Dynamics
JMB is amassing money through robberies for reorganizing: RMP Commissioner
Rajshahi Metropolitan Police (RMP) Commissioner Mohamad Mahbubur Rahman said Jama’at-ul-Mujahedeen Bangladesh (JMB) is amassing money through robberies for reorganizing, reports The Daily Star on May 27. He said JMB operatives robbed BTK 17.50 lakh in Rajshahi on October 5, 2017. Five persons in this connection and four of them disclosed that a group of at least 14 militants of JMB orchestrated it. The report of JMB getting involved in robbery first surfaced in 2000 when it was attacking offices of different NGOs. Following a pause of years, JMB’s involvement in robbery came to light again in 2014 when investigators found them engaged in robbing BTK 6 lakh at a shop in Kaunia of Rangpur, BTK 35 lakh from a garment factory in Gazipur and BTK 28 lakh in Baliadangi of Takhurgaon. On December 21, 2015, locals caught four armed JMB members red-handed when the militants attempted a robbery at a filling station in Dinajpur.
BNP Chairperson secures bail in two criminal cases filed in Comilla District
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia on May 28 secured bail for six months from the High Court in two criminal cases filed in Comilla District of Chittagong Division, reports New Nation. But she was denied bail in another case of Narail District. Hours after she secured the bail, the Government filed separate appeals with the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the High Court’s order. Among the three cases, two were filed in Comilla District on charges of vandalizing vehicles on January 25, 2015, killing seven persons and injuring 25-26 others by setting fire to a passenger bus in Chauddagram on February 2, 2015. The third one was filed by one Raihan Faruki Imam with a Narail court on September 24, 2015, against Khaleda for making a statement about the number of freedom fighters and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman. The High Court denied bail in the case saying that “the petition was not properly moved”.
BD kills 86, arrests 7,000 in anti-drugs campaign
Bangladesh police have killed at least 86 people and arrested about 7,000 since launching a crackdown on drug trafficking this month, officials said on Monday, May 28 raising fears from rights activists of a Philippines-style war on drugs.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the anti-narcotics campaign in early May to tackle the spread of ya ba, as methamphetamine is widely known in Asia, and worth an estimated $3 billion annually, government officials say. The drug is sourced from Myanmar’s northeast and smuggled into neighbouring Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has said an influx last year of Rohingya fleeing Buddhist-majority Myanmar is partly to blame for soaring methamphetamine use. But many Rohingya say their young people are being pushed into crime because they cannot legally work or, in many cases, get access to aid.
The 86 deaths occurred when police defended themselves in confrontations with suspected drug traffickers, said Mufti Mahmud Khan, a director of the police Rapid Action Battalion. “It’s their legal right to save themselves from the attack,” Mufti told Reuters.
Human rights activists are worried the Bangladesh campaign is taking a page from the Philippine drugs war, in which thousands of people have been killed in the past two years. “The Sheikh Hasina government says it is a protector of human rights, so it should reform its domestic record, set an example, instead of wishing to be compared to an abusive regime,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
Bangladeshi restaurant owner arrested for smuggling weapons to international terrorists in Malaysia
A 41 year-old Bangladeshi, who owns a restaurant in Bukit Bintang, Malaysia, was arrested for allegedly smuggling weapons to international terrorists, reports The Daily Star on June 2. He wasn’t named. “He was flagged under Interpol’s red notice,” Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said in a statement.
Prominent writer and publisher killed in Munshiganj District
A prominent writer and publisher Shahzahan Bachchu (60), an outspoken proponent of secular principles and owner of a publishing house ‘Bishaka Prokashoni’ that specialized in publishing poetry, was gunned down in his ancestral village Kakaldi in Munshiganj District of Dhaka Division on June 11 by five armed men, reports Daily Hunt. Shahzahan had gone to meet friends at a pharmacy shop near his home before iftar, when the five attackers on two motorcycles came into the area. They blasted a crude bomb outside the pharmacy, creating panic. They then dragged Shahzahan out of the shop and shot him. Although no group has claimed responsibility, Police officials from the counter-terrorism department are investigating the murder as a possible targeted attack by Islamist extremists. Writer Shahzahan Bachchu had previously received threats from extremist groups due to his outspoken support for secularism. He was a former District General Secretary of the Communist Party of Bangladesh and was known as a free-thinking writer. His publishing house ‘Bishaka Prokashoni’ is based in Dhaka’s Banglabazar area.
Prominent Liberation War researcher and publisher receives death threat in Chittagong District
Jamal Uddin, a prominent Liberation War researcher in Chittagong District and proprietor of Balaka Prakashan, received death threat on June 11 from an unidentified person, reports Dhaka Tribune. The person who called him threatened to kill the publisher and blow up Balaka Prakashan office. Jamal Uddin, a member of Chittagong Union of Journalists (CUJ), has been engaged with publishing books for the last 19 years.
War crimes witness found dead on railway tracks in Dhaka
War crimes witness Shumon Zahid was found dead on the railway tracks at Khilgaon Bagicha in the capital Dhaka on June 14, reports New Age. Only son of martyred intellectual Selina Parvin, Shumon was the key prosecution witness in the war crimes case against absconding convicted war criminals and Al-Badr bosses Chowdhury Mueen Uddin and Ashrafuzzman Khan. Since Shumon was a war crimes witness he regularly received threats on his life. In 2017, in a general diary filed with the Shahajanpur Police Station Shumon informed the Police about the threats he was receiving. On July 21, 2013, Shumon testified in the International Crimes Tribunal-2 (ICT-2) that Al-Badr ring leader Chowdhury Mueen Uddin was in the group that had picked up his mother blindfolded in his presence from their New Circular Road residence in Dhaka on December 13, 1971 and her body was found at Rayer Bazar Killing Fields after the Liberation War. Shumon told the court that he was then eight-year old. On November 3, 2013 Al-Badr ring leaders Mueen and Ashraf were sentenced to death in absentia. The court found them guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and murdering in cold blood 18 intellectuals in the fag- end of the Liberation War. Mueen lives in the United Kingdom and Ashraf in the US.
AL leader shot dead in Dhaka
Farhad Hossain (52), the General Secretary of the Awami League (AL)’s Badda Union wing, was shot dead by unidentified militants while he was heading home after offering prayers in Baitus Salam Jame Mosque in Dhaka on June 15, reported bdnews24.com. Hossain sustained bullet wounds in his head and chest. “Farhad Hossain was shot dead on the spot when he was leaving the mosque after Jumma prayers,” said Police Inspector Abul Kalam Azad.
Rohingya camp leader murdered in Cox’s Bazar District
A Rohingya camp leader has been hacked to death by unknown assailants inside the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar District on June 18, reports Dhaka Tribune. Arif Ullah (35), the head majhi of block 11, Balukhali camp (2/2), was dragged down from an autobike, hacked with sharp weapons and then his throat was slit. When refugees living in the area came out hearing the commotion, the assailants fled. The majhis are leaders designated by authorities to represent the refugees living in a certain part of the camp, often because of their knowledge of Bangla.
India – Internal Dynamics
Two persons arrested with explosives in W. Bengal
Murshidabad Police arrested two persons Manglu Khan (30) and Sadekul Khan (30) and recovered bomb-making chemicals/explosives weighing 98 kgs, from Nimtita in Murshidabad District in West Bengal on May 24, reports Hindustan Times. The border between India and Bangladesh is not very far from where Manglu and Sadekul were arrested. Preliminary investigation has revealed that duo were engaged in bomb making and selling it to either Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen (JMB) or Ansarullah Bangal Team (ABT) banned terror outfits in Bangladesh, said an unnamed District Intelligence officer. Manglu Khan and Sadekul Khan bought the explosives material from an arms dealer based in Jharkhand. Allegedly, the duo has sold more than a tonne explosive to local criminal gangs in Malda and Murshidabad Districts.
STF arrested a man and recovered 11,000 Gelatin sticks, 50,000 detonators and sacks of Ammonium Nitrate in West Bengal
The Kolkata Special Task Force (STF) on May 29 has arrested a man Anar-ul Sheikh and recovered 11,000 Gelatin Sticks, over 50,000 detonators and sacks of Ammonium Nitrate from Bahadurpur village in Birbhum District of West Bengal, reports The New Indian Express. The explosives were smuggled from neighbouring State Jharkhand in two vehicles but the drivers are absconding, revealed the preliminary investigation. It is believed that the explosives shall be used for illegal stone quarries but the terror angle is also not ruled-out in the case, said an unnamed investigator. “Investigation during the Burdwan blast case revealed that Birbhum District has a good presence of Jihadi terrorists and several Islamic terrorists were nabbed from the district in subsequent operations. It is also possible that any terror module might have collected the raw materials for a massive terror plot in West Bengal or any other State. We are trying to locate the drivers of the vehicles”, said an unnamed top Police official.
CPI-ML Red Star leader arrested in Odisha
The politburo member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML) (Red Star), a Naxalite [Left Wing Extremist (LWE)] outfit, identified as Alik Chakraborty was arrested in a joint raid of Odisha Police and West Bengal Police from a private hospital in Bhubaneswar, capital of Odisha on May 30, reports KalingaTV. Chakraborty faces around 70 cases pending against him at various Police Stations in West Bengal. He is said to be active in Purulia. He had been leading the anti-power grid agitation in Bhangar in South 24 Parganas District in West Bengal for the last few years, adds The Times of India.
Investigation so far has proved that Government officials diverted funds, states NIA
National Investigation Agency (NIA) on May 31 claimed that investigation so far has “clearly established” involvement of 10 arrested Nagaland government officials in diversion of public funds to National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K), reports The Telegraph. NIA filed a supplementary charge sheet against 10 officials, including a retired officer at a special NIA court in Dimapur for raising funds from government sources for NSCN-K.
The arrested government officials are Alienba Pangjung Jamir, joint director, department of land resources, Kohima, K. Lashito Sheqi, upper division assistant/cashier, department of land resources, Tulula Pongen, joint director, department of social welfare, Vilepral Aja, additional director attached to directorate of agriculture, K. Hutoi Sema, executive engineer, irrigation and flood control department, Kekhriesatuo Tep, superintendent of fisheries, Purakhu Angami, retired director, department of tourism, G. Ikuto Zhimomi, director, directorate of agriculture, Sangtemchuba, divisional accounts officer, directorate of urban development and Ketouzo Peseyie, executive engineer, directorate of rural development, Kohima.
Twelve STF personnel injured in an encounter with Maoists in Chhattisgarh
Twelve Special Task Force (STF) personnel, including a ‘platoon commander’ were injured in an encounter with Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) cadres at a forest in Kistaram village in Sukma District on June 2, reports Outlook. Separate joint squads of the STF and the District Reserve Guard (DRG) launched an anti-Maoist operation in the forest areas of Kistaram and Chintagufa villages following a tip-off about the presence of Maoists. When the patrolling teams were cordoning-off the forest areas near Sakler, Salatong and Tondamarka villages, multiple encounters took place between the Security Forces (SFs) and the CPI-Maoist cadres. Police recovered four muzzle-loading guns, four VHF (very high frequency) sets, two Garmin GPS sets, one colour printer, material used to assemble bombs and Naxal uniforms from the site.
Two SFs injured in Nagaland
One Assam Rifles jawan was seriously injured another officer suffered minor injuries when suspected militants attacked a Assam Rifles outpost at Lampong Shanghah village in Mon district on June 5, reports Nagaland Post. The injured troopers included an Army major, on deputation to Assam Rifles, and a rifleman identified as Modak. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
State Government Employees march against Citizenship amendment Bill in Assam
State Government employees took out a march in Guwahati demanding the Centre to scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 on June 6, reports The Telegraph. The state government employees and All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), under the banner of the Sodou Assam Karmachari Parishad, marched to Raj Bhavan (Governor’s House), protesting against the bill that has evoked widespread protests in the state. The bill, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to certain religious communities from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, has been alleged to be a move to legitimize the Bangladeshi Hindus who entered Assam after 1971 illegally.
Maoist conspiracy to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed by Police in Maharashtra
Maharashtra Police intercepted an internal communication of Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), which revealed that they were planning a ‘Rajiv Gandhi-type’ assassination of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, reports The New Indian Express on June 8. Police recovered a letter from the residence of one of the five persons arrested in connection with the Bhima-Koregaon violence on June 6. The establishment of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) Governments in more than 15 States will mean immense trouble for the CPI-Maoist on all fronts. Police recovered pen drive, hard disk and some other documents from the arrested and sent to forensic investigation.
Maoist mini gun factory unearthed in Bihar
Police unearthed a mini gun factory and arrested its owner Naresh Yadav, a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) linkman, at Kachanpur village under Aanti Police Station in Gaya District on June 10, reports UNI. 21 half-finished country pistols, several half-finished revolvers, arms manufacturing equipment, Naxal [Left Wing Extremism, LWE] literature and other incriminating objects were recovered from the house of Naresh, Superintendent of Police (SP), Arun Kumar said. Naresh who was an associate of an unnamed ‘commander’ of the CPI-Maoist was also involved in demanding extortion. The mechanic Began Mistri, who had assisted Naresh in manufacturing illegal firearms, was also arrested.
Three SFs killed in Nagaland
At least three security personnel were killed and around six injured in an ambush near Tenyak River, about two kilometres away from Aboi town under Mon District on June 17, reports Nagaland Post. The deceased have been identified as one Hawaldar Fateh Singh, Rifleman Sachin Kumar both belonged to Assam Rifles and Hongnga Konyak belonging to the 164 (Naga) Battalion of Territorial Army. Nationalist Socialist council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was “a series of on-going ‘Summer Offensives’ to sanitise the land against the illegal deployment of occupational Indian forces and to rein in their illegal activities, provocative movements there by wrecking havoc, perpetrating terror and disturbances of peace and tranquility in the Naga country.” United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I) has claimed that it was part of the ambush along with NSCN-K adds Times8.
Assam Police registers case against ULFA-I after it launched its Facebook page
The (ULFA-I)’s Facebook page named Swadhin Asom has received hundreds of Likes and a few citizens have also shared their mobile numbers on the page, expressing their desire to join the outfit prompting Police to register a case, reports Times of India. “We have registered a case against the outfit,” Additional Director General of Police-Special Branch (ADGP- SB) Pallab Bhattacharya said. “We are moving cautiously and waiting to see what information comes our way. We have seen some youths have provided details of their thereabouts and expressed interest in joining the outfit,” he added. ULFA-I had launched the page on June 15. “Use of Facebook, however, will be limited. Our comments and statements will be posted in the Facebook also, apart from the other means of communication. In a word it will be a sort of experiment,” the ULFA-I statement following the launch stated.
Monthly Fatalities
The following casualties, related to ongoing insurgencies and acts of terrorism occurred during the period May 26 to June 25, 2018:
| Civilian | Indian Security Personnel | Militant | Total | |
| Arunachal P | 02 | 00 | 01 | 03 |
| Nagaland | 00 | 03 | 00 | 03 |
| Left wing | 11 | 03 | 06 | 20 |
| Total | 13 | 06 | 07 | 26 |
Nepal – Internal Dynamics
NC rejects executive presidential system
Nepali Congress (NC) on June 8 rejected the executive presidential system, reports Kathmandu Post. NC senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel expressed his dissatisfaction and rejected Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Co-Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal suggestion that Nepal should adopt the directly elected executive presidential system. He said “Prachanda tries to trigger political debate by talking about the directly elected executive presidential system. Political debate will stop the country from development.” Paudel warned that democracy would be at stake if the party with two-thirds majority talks about the directly elected executive presidential system. Nepal has promulgated the best constitution; he said and stressed the need of taking the country on the path of prosperity by implementing the constitution.
Earlier, as the Government now holds a two-thirds majority in the Parliament, enough to amend the constitution, NCP Co-Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal is preparing to make the idea of directly-elected executive part of the national political discourse, reports The Himalayan Times. The idea has already become a common agenda of the ruling parties the NCP and the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal (FSF-N) which are of the view that just two-thirds majority will not ensure political stability. The FSF-N too has long been advocating a directly-elected executive presidential system.
IED exploded at Arun-III Hydropower Project office in Sankhuwasabha District
An unidentified group set off an improvised explosive device (IED) at the office of Arun-III Hydropower Project in Sankhuwasabha District in Province No 1 on June 13, reports The Himalayan Times. The office has been repeatedly attacked, with the blame often going to Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal (CPN). The explosion did not cause any serious damage.
Sri Lanka – Internal Dynamics
Prime Minister pledges to accelerate development of Northern Province
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during a tour in the Northern Province on May 28 to inspect the progress of development projects launched in the Province pledged to accelerate the development of the island’s poorest province strengthening the state machinery and going beyond concretization to increase the economic productivity helping the people, reports Colombo Page. Participating in the progress review meeting of the development projects in the Kilinochchi District secretariat, the Premier emphasized that measures should be taken to increase economic production aiming at improving the quality of life of the people. “We must remember that Northern Province is the poorest among the nine provinces of the country. Except Jaffna, the situation has a major impact in the province, mainly in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu areas. There has been some progress in the Vavuniya area,“ he noted.
Muslim families evicted by LTTE from Jaffna region in 1990 meet Minister of Industry and Commerce
Muslim families, who were evicted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from Jaffna region in 1990 and living in a camp that borders Colombo 28 years after their initial displacement, met with the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen on June 4, reports Colombo Page. Minister Bathiudeen informed the IDPS that he understood their suffering and promised to take measures to provide a permanent solution. “I and my family too were evicted from the Northern Province in 1990 and I can understand what you face. I shall discuss your housing and sanitary issues immediately with our Housing Minister Sajith Premadasa. I shall also discuss with officials for a relief package.” Among the 24,000 Northern Muslim families expelled overnight from their traditional homes on October 30, 1990 by the LTTE was the eight-member family of Minister Rishad Bathiudeen.
Former Military Intelligence Director re-remanded till June 26 in connection with abduction and assault of journalist in 2008
Former Military Intelligence Director and Chief of Staff of the Army, Major General (Retired) Amal Karunasekara was re-remanded till June 26 by Mount Lavinia Additional Magistrate Lochana Abeywickrema on June 13. Major General Karunasekara was arrested in connection with the abduction and assault of journalist Keith Noyahr in 2008. Amal Karunasekara was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Army hospital on April 5 in connection with the abduction and assault of senior journalist Keith Noyahr on May 22, 2008.
Swiss Court acquitted 13 LTTE financiers
Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona, Switzerland on June 14 ruled on 13 supporters of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) charged of financing the terror outfit by extortion, fraud and other illegal means escaped jail terms and they were either given suspended custodial sentences or acquitted, reports Colombo Page. The 13 defendants 12 Swiss citizens of Tamil origin plus one German were alleged to have been involved in a criminal organization from 1999 to May 2009 and supported the criminal organization funneling more than CH15 million ($15.3 million). In this context some of the defendants were accused of document falsification, money laundering, fraud and extortion. The accused are from Switzerland, Germany and Sri Lanka. Some are former members of the World Tamil Coordinating Committee (WTCC), which represented the LTTE in Switzerland until 2009, and include its founder, his deputy and the person in charge of finances. In its judgement, the court noted that the hierarchical link between the LTTE and WTCC was not sufficiently established. The judges also felt there was not enough concrete proof to consider the LTTE as a criminal organization.
Meanwhile, President’s Media Division has announced that a Presidential Task Force has been appointed to operate development programs in the North and East, reports Colombo Page on June 14. The task force headed by President Maithripala Sirisena will be responsible for operating coordinating and follow up of all development programs in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Following the end of the war in 2009 many programs had been implemented in the two provinces for social and economic development. However, the programs have not made a significant contribution for uplifting the livelihood of the people in the war-torn region. The President has also informed the cabinet regarding the task force. The Prime Minister, Provincial Governors, Chief Secretaries of the two provincial councils, top military and police officials and representatives of all relevant factions are included in the task force.
Ruling leaders are responsible for delaying justice to conflict victims, says CIEDP chief Lokendra Mallik
Speaking at a function organized in Kathmandu on June 18 Commission of Investigation on Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP) chief Lokendra Mallik said ruling leaders are responsible for delaying justice to conflict victims, reports Republica. Lokendra Mallik said, “We have not been able to work as efficiently as we had thought due to the negligence on the part of the government in providing necessary vehicles, funds and human resources, and in making necessary laws. Some of the cases are in their final stage but there are no laws that say how to prosecute the guilty.” At the same function, member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Mohana Ansari said that the insurgency period cannot be said to be over until justice is served to the victims.
Government bars 14 LTTE members from entering country
The Government has barred 14 individuals from entering the country by including in the list of designated persons, reports Colombo Page on June 23. The Government has issued an extraordinary gazette notification listing the names of 14 individuals living overseas with links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as Designated Persons. The names of the 14 LTTE members, who are believed to be residing overseas, have been listed along with their both foreign and local addresses.
INTERNATIONAL
Social Media is a ‘threat’ to National Security, says Maldivian Defence Minister
The Maldives’ Defence Minister Adam Shareef blamed the social media platform for ‘exaggerating’ the social issues in the Island and the irreligious discourse and politicisation of religious extremism are grave threat to the National Security of the Maldives, reports Maldives Times on May 28. “We know there is the problem of religious fundamentalism in the Maldives, but we are not a country selling concubines,” said Shareef at graduation ceremony at Clique College and referred to the statements by former President Mohamed Nasheed that Maldivians had been sold as concubines in the Syrian war [as fighters]. The Opposition party claimed that approximately 250 Maldivians are fighting in Iraq and Syria whereas Defence Minister Adam Shareef has said in January 2018 that official counts of Maldivians in Syria are 61. In April 2018, the Maldives government published a new policy paper addressing apostasy, foreign fighters and religious freedom that imposed stringent penalties on hate speech and which will be criminalised, and a tougher stance on mockery and misinformation regarding religion.
Maldives was disappointed with remarks of Indian Naval Chief, says report
The Maldivian Government has expressed its disappointment over the statement given by the Indian Naval Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba in which he stated that Maldives is a challenge in cooperation due to its inclination towards China, reports The Tribune on May 30. If such statement comes from a Naval Chief, it is too political for a statement. Such statements could lead to uneasiness and ‘blow up’ a situation. The deliberate political motives must not be read into every act of the Indian Ocean nation while emphasising that despite ups and downs there was visible engagement between the defence forces of two nations [India and the Maldives], said an unnamed Maldivian Government official.
Suicide blasts kill three in Nigeria
Two female suicide bombers suspected to be Boko Haram Jihadists killed at least three people in northeast Nigeria, emergency services said on Monday, May 28. The bombers detonated their explosives inside a house and near a mosque in the Mashamari area of Konduga, 35 kilometres southeast of the Borno State capital Maiduguri, on Sunday evening.
Ibrahim Liman, of the civilian militia force assisting the military against Boko Haram, said two more victims died on the way to the hospital in Maiduguri, raising the death toll to five. The attack came two weeks after five militia members were killed by a male bomber who detonated explosives concealed on him at a checkpoint outside Konduga.
Boko Haram’s nine-year violence to create a hard-line Islamic state has killed 20,000 people and displaced 2.6 million from their homes in Nigeria. The violence has spilled into neighbouring Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Although the militant group has been considerably weakened in a regional fight back mustering troops from Nigeria and its neighbours, attacks persist. The Jihadists have resorted to the use of suicide bombers, mostly women and girls, targeting military checkpoints, mosques, markets, bus stations, schools and other crowded places.
20 killed in suspected Jihadist attack in Mali
Around 20 people including civilians were killed in a suspected Jihadist attack in northeastern Mali near the border with Niger, sources said.
The deaths came after more than 100 people including many civilians, particularly from the Fulani and Tuareg communities, died in recent months as a result of attacks by rival armed groups in the region. A local official in the town of Talataye where Saturday’s attack took place said late on Sunday that the assailants arrived in three vehicles and on a motorcycle. Khalil Toure, a teacher, added: “They opened fire on a group of people resting under a tree, killing five people on the spot and wounding two.”
Death toll from Cameroon clashes rises to 32
The death toll from a firefight in an English-speaking region of Cameroon shaken by an armed separatist campaign stands at 32, including five “hostages”, the government said. The clashes erupted at a motel last Friday, June 1 in Menka, in the Northwest Region one of two regions gripped by fighting over the last eight months. “Twenty-seven terrorists were neutralised” by a 30-member special unit of police and troops, government spokesman Tchiroma Bakary, who is also communications minister, said late on Monday.
The group, which were attacked at a hotel, was an “armed gang” that for months had been “sowing terror and desolation” in the region, killing gendarmes and carrying out kidnappings, rape and extortion, he charged.
Out of “15 hostages” taken by the group, five died, all of them at the hands of the attackers, he said. About a fifth of French-speaking Cameroon’s population of 22 million is anglophone. For years, resentment built among anglophones, fostered by perceived marginalisation in education, the judiciary and the economy at the hands of the French-speaking majority.
Demands for greater autonomy were rejected by 85-year-old President Paul Biya, in power for more than 35 years. The crisis escalated last October after the declaration of the self-described “Republic of Ambazonia” in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, causing scores of deaths and prompting tens of thousands to flee their homes.
Human-rights watchdogs point to a range of abuses, including abductions and targeted killings. Security forces found five pump-action shotguns, of a type only used by special forces, as well as 17 combat guns and 10 hunting rifles, about 30 military uniforms as well as five berets “which belonged to police and gendarmes who were shot dead in cold blood by the same terrorists,” Tchiroma said.
He denied “allegations that the Cameroonian army carried out a massacre on the civilian population”. Tchiroma said images of the dead at Menka have been widely distributed on social media, prompting human-rights watchdogs and opposition politicians to voice outrage.
Cameroon’s linguistic division dates back to the colonial period. It was once a German colony and was divided between Britain and France after World War I. In 1960, the French part gained independence, becoming Cameroon, and the following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, becoming the Northwest and Southwest Regions.
US mly looking at deploying anti-missile system in Germany
The US military has held preliminary discussions about moving a powerful missile defence system to Germany to boost European defences, according to two sources familiar with the issue, a move that experts said could trigger fresh tensions with Moscow.
The program to send the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Europe predates US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, and comes amid a broader push to strengthen Europe’s air and missile defences.
While Europe and the United States are at odds over the fate of the nuclear agreement, they share concerns about Iran’s continued development of ballistic missiles. Iran’s Shahab 3 missiles can already travel 2,000-km, enough to reach southern Europe, and its Revolutionary Guards have said they will increase the range if threatened since the range is capped by strategic doctrine, not technology constraints.
US European Command has been pushing for a THAAD system in Europe for years, but the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord has added urgency to the issue, said Riki Ellison, head of the non-profit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.
A senior German military official cited the need to add more radars across Europe to better track and monitor potential threats, and cue interceptors if needed. The US Defence Dept said no such action had been decided.
Talk of deploying a THAAD system in Europe also comes against the backdrop of rising tensions between the West and Russia. Nato has long insisted that its missile defence programme is not directed at Russia, but the alliance has adopted a tougher tone toward Moscow in the wake of the poisoning of a Russian former spy in England.
Moscow denies any involvement in the poisoning, and blames the tensions on NATO’s military expansion eastward, and its assembly of a ballistic missile shield with a key site in Romania that was declared combat-ready in 2016.
Moving THAAD to Germany could plug a radar gap caused by a two-year delay in completion of a second Aegis Ashore missile defence site in Poland that was initially due to open this year. The issue may be raised in a new Pentagon missile defence review expected in early June.
Traffickers kill 12 migrants trying to flee Libya camp: UN
More than 12 migrants were shot dead by human traffickers last week while trying to escape a camp in Libya, where some were subjected to “torture abuse”, the United Nations said on Friday, June 1.
The incident, previously reported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and local sources, occurred on May 23 in the town of Bani Walid, 170 kilometres southeast of Tripoli. “Human traffickers in Libya reportedly killed more than a dozen people and wounded many others after a group of some 200 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis, being held captive, attempted to escape,” the UN refugee agency said in a statement, adding that those killed “were shot”.
“The survivors spoke of torture abuse and exploitation at the hands of traffickers – some being held in captivity for up to three years,” the statement added. A local organisations called the Commission of Civil Society, which helps care for migrants in Bani Walid, has however denied reports that anyone was killed during the escape. But in a May 27 statement, the group condemned “the inhuman treatment” of migrants.
Bani Walid is a transit point for migrants aiming to reach Europe by boat from the coast further north. People traffickers and kidnappers run around 20 detention centres in the town, telephoning the migrants’ families to deliver ransom demands. Since the 2011 fall and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Qadhafi, Libya has become a key launch pad for migrants making desperate bids to reach Europe.
Saudi king threatens to wage war on Qatar over possible S-400 deal
Saudi Arabia has threatened military action against Qatar if it goes ahead and acquires Russia’s top of the range S-400 air defence missile system, Le Monde daily reported.
Citing information it had obtained, Le Monde said on Friday, June 1 that Riyadh had written to French President Emmanuel Macron asking him to intervene to prevent the deal going ahead and to help preserve regional stability. There was no immediate official reaction from the president’s office or the French foreign ministry to the report.
Saudi Arabia, backed by other regional powers including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, broke off relations with Qatar in June last year, accusing the Gulf state of supporting Islamist groups and of being too close to Iran Riyadh’s arch rival in the region.
They subsequently imposed economic sanctions on Qatar which has consistently rejected the charges against it.
In an effort to ease its isolation, Qatar has sought new friends, including Russia. In January, it announced that talks with Moscow on supplying the sophisticated S-400 system were at an “advanced stage”.
Le Monde said that in the letter sent to the French president, Saudi King Salman had expressed his “deep concern” with the discussions between Doha and Moscow and warned about the risk of escalation.
Saudi Arabia “would be ready to take all necessary measures to eliminate this defence system, including military action,” the newspaper wrote. In January, Qatar’s ambassador to Russia had also said that negotiations for the acquisition of S-400 were “at an advanced stage.”
The announcement came about three months after Russia and Qatar inked an agreement on military and technical cooperation during a visit by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Doha last October.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Russia-based defence analyst Pavel Felgenhauer said Saudi’s opposition to the possible Qatar deal will not affect Russia’s decision, as Moscow’s years-long efforts to forge trade ties with Saudi Arabia have not worked out due to Riyadh’s political expectations.
“Saudi Arabia has been clearly attaching political strings to any possible deal with buying Russian weapons. that Russia should scale down its cooperation with Iran primarily and maybe modify its position in Syria,” Felgenhauer said.
“Qatar is not attaching such strings (and) Russia would not militarily try to get involved in anything that is happening in the (Persian) Gulf. In any case these anti-aircraft missiles, if they ever appear in Qatar, this will not be any time soon,” he added.
To further pressure Qatar, Saudi Arabia totally closed its land border with its tiny neighbor, through which much of Qatar’s food supply crossed.
Five Kenyan police killed in roadside bombing
Five Kenyan paramilitary police were killed on Wednesday, June 6 when their vehicle struck a homemade landmine in Liboi, close to the eastern border with Somalia, a government official said.
“It was an IED [improvised explosive device] attack and we have lost five police officers,” said Harun Kamau, deputy county commissioner in Dadaab, adding three others were injured. The use of improvised explosive devices against police and military patrols in the border region is relatively common.
Over the past year, Shabaab insurgents, based in Somalia, have claimed several such attacks killing dozens of Kenyan police and soldiers. Kamau said the officers from the General Service Unit were travelling in a police truck which was destroyed by the explosion.
‘Onus on Qatar’ to end Gulf standoff: UAE
The four Arab states facing off against Qatar in the Gulf diplomatic crisis will not ease up pressure one year after launching their boycott, the United Arab Emirates said on Thursday, June 7.
“The four countries have made their point. They don’t have to escalate. We have become more or less accustomed to dealing with our region through isolation of Qatar,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper. “The onus is on Qatar if it really wants to come out of its current isolation.”
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt cut all ties with Doha on June 5, 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and Iran. Qatar, a small peninsula nation, found its only land border closed, its state-owned airline barred from using its neighbours’ airspace, and Qatari residents expelled from the boycotting countries.
Doha was handed a list of 13 demands, including closing broadcaster Al Jazeera, removing Turkish troops from the country and scaling back its cooperation with Iran, with which it shares the world’s largest gas field.
Qatar has not fulfilled any of these, but Gargash insisted they remain a basis for talks even as a “deficit of trust” continues. Gargash in the interview accused Qatar of “undermining the Bahraini regime” and “systematically supporting Saudi opposition” by providing a “platform to try and play a seditious role”.
He called on Doha to halt its alleged support for extremism and links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, insisting “it can change its policies and end this crisis. We hope that it will”. Qatar has denied all the allegations against it and remains defiant.
Five shot dead in Thailand
Five men were shot dead early on Monday, June 11 in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south, police said, as violence in the troubled region surges towards the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramazan.
The bodies, with bullet wounds to the head, were found outside a house in Bannang Sata district of Yala province. “We believe the shooting was a result of a dispute over underground business,” Lieutenant Colonel Akepong Waedang told AFP, without elaborating.
Akepong said two of the victims lived in the property while the other three were neighbours. A shadowy conflict in the country’s southern provinces has killed some 7,000 people since 2004 as militants seek more autonomy from Bangkok in the culturally distinct region.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence over the years. But the ethnically Malay region is also a transit point for illicit trade and provides a hideout for both rebels and crime gangs in an area awash with weapons. Last Thursday four members of a Muslim family were killed while panning for gold in Narathiwat province.
On Friday evening unidentified gunmen shot the deputy president of an Islamic committee in Yala as he left prayers. He died from his wounds two days later. No arrests have been made. While attacks often rise during Ramazan, they are more aimed at security forces. The holy month started in Thailand on May 17 and ends later this week.
Suicide blasts in NE Nigeria kill at least 31
Suspected Boko Haram Jihadists killed at least 31 people in a twin suicide bomb attack on a town in northeast Nigeria, a local official and a militia leader told AFP on Sunday, June 17.
Two blasts ripped through the town of Damboa in Borno state on Saturday evening targeting people returning from celebrating the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday, in an attack bearing all the hallmarks of Boko Haram.
Following the suicide bombings, the Jihadists fired rocket-propelled grenades into the crowds that had gathered at the scene of the attacks, driving the number of casualties higher. Two suicide bombers detonated their explosives in Shuwari and nearby Abachari neighbourhoods in the town around 10:45 pm (2145GMT), killing six residents, said Kolo, speaking from the state capital Maiduguri, which is 88 kilometres from the town.
The attack is the latest example of Boko Haram’s continued threat to Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, said Ryan Cummings, Africa analyst at the Signal Risk consultancy in South Africa. Boko Haram still maintains both the intent and operational capacity to launch mass casualty attacks in parts of northeastern Nigeria.
The Jihadist group has regularly deployed suicide bombers many of them young girls in mosques, markets and camps housing people displaced by the nine-year insurgency. On May 1 at least 86 people were killed in twin suicide blasts targeting a mosque and a nearby market in the town of Mubi in neighbouring Adamawa state.
The attacks have devastated Nigeria’s northeast, one of the country’s poorest regions where illiteracy and unemployment are rampant. Seeking purpose and money, disillusioned and jobless young men have turned to the radical Islam of Boko Haram, which decries Western colonialism and the modern Nigerian state.
Americans own 40 percent of world’s firearms: study
Americans make up only four percent of the global population but they own 40 percent of the world´s firearms, a new study said Monday, June 18. There are more than one billion firearms in the world but 85 percent of those are in the hands of civilians, with the remainder held by law enforcement and the military, according to the Small Arms Survey.
The survey, produced by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, says it bases its estimates based on multiple sources, including civilian firearms registration data from 133 countries and territories and survey results in 56 countries. Of the 857 million guns owned by civilians, 393 million are in the United States more than all of the firearms held by ordinary citizens in the other top 25 countries combined.
Japan and Indonesia are at the other end of the spectrum with less than one firearm per 100 people. Only 28 countries released information on their military stockpiles while 28 nations offered information the firearms owned by law enforcement agencies. Civilian firearms registration data was available for 133 countries and territories.
Shells hit south Syria city for first time in three years
Rebel shellfire slammed into the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Tuesday, June 19 for the first time in three years, a monitor said, as fresh regime reinforcements arrived in the area. The government holds most of Sweida province, but rebels still control much of the nearby Daraa and Quneitra governorates. On Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said opposition forces fired shells into Sweida city, “which led to loud blasts but no casualties”.
“It is the first time since 2015 that the city has been subjected to shellfire,” said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman. State news agency Sana also blamed rebels “spread out in the towns and villages in eastern parts of Daraa province” for firing shells on Sweida.
It also said one girl was killed and two people were wounded in opposition fire on government-held parts of Daraa city. Sweida, whose residents are mostly from the Druze minority, has remained relatively insulated from seven years of war that ravaged the rest of the country.
But rebels hold a sliver of territory in western Sweida that borders their main bastion in the province of Daraa, and clashes and exchanges of fire have erupted in that area in recent days. Syria’s government has set its sights on ousting rebels from the south and has been dispatching troops and equipment there for weeks. Rebel commander Abu Hassan told AFP on Tuesday his units had seen the reinforcements and were on high alert.
IS ‘danger’ grips Iraqi desert
Seven shepherds and farmers have been found murdered after the Islamic State Jihadist group kidnapped dozens of people in the desert region of central Iraq, a local official said on June 20.
In a renewed threat to the region, IS attacked several remote villages and seized 30 locals from their homes, Ali al-Nawaf, a municipal council chief, told AFP. “The bodies of seven of them have been found and security forces are searching for the others,” he said.
The victims, in pictures posted on social media, were discovered with their hands tied behind their backs and eyes bound with red-and-white keffiyeh headscarves.
Fierce battle claims 374 lives: Civilians flee combat zones around Hodeida
Clashes between Yemeni government forces and Huthi rebels around the Red Sea port city of Hodeida eased on Friday, June 22 as more civilians fled the combat zones for fear of a fierce showdown, a UN humanitarian agency said.
It said some of the displaced had arrived in the capital but specific figures were not yet available. On Thursday, OCHA said more than 30,000 residents of Hodeida and the province of the same name had fled their homes this month.
The latest violence was “at a less severe scale, as a general decrease in clashes, bombardments and airstrikes has been reported”, said OCHA. “Humanitarian partners continue to respond to the needs of the displaced population” with the provision of food, water and health services in and around Hodeida, it said.
In the port city itself, however, “access to warehouses has become difficult due to ongoing fighting and blockage of some roads”. An AFP video journalist said a column of dozens of trucks loaded with Red Cross relief supplies from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was waiting to cross into rebel-held territory from the coastal city of Mokha to the south.
And the UN´s World Food Programme on Friday distributed aid in Hajjah province of northwest Yemen to displaced families from Hodeida, according to an AFP photographer. Yemeni government forces backed by UAE troops have since June 13 set their sights on recapturing Hodeida from the Shiite Huthi rebels who have vowed to fight to the end. The UN estimates 600,000 people live in and around the city.
The battle for Hodeida, which medical sources say has killed at least 374 people, has raised UN concerns for vital aid shipments and food imports through its docks. The pro-government forces announced the capture of Hodeida airport on Wednesday morning. It had been disused but housed a major rebel base.
Saudi crown prince, UAE diplomat, Israeli PM hold secret meetings
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has held secret meetings with the leaders of the Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates, media reports have claimed.
The Israel’s Maariv newspaper reported on Friday, June 2 that Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have held secret meetings in Amman. The two leaders met at the Royal Palace in the Jordanian capital on the sidelines of a visit to Amman by White House special adviser Jared Kushner and US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt. Citing an informed source, the report said Mohammad bin Salman’s meetings with Netanyahu took place both with and without the presence of Jordan’s King Abdullah.
Israel and Saudi Arabia have no diplomatic relations, but they are widely believed to have secret liaisons. Latest reports say the two regimes are working behind the scenes to establish formal relations. Kushner and Greenblatt are on a regional tour to discuss Washington’s so-called peace plan with officials in the occupied territories, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Qatar. As part of the tour, US President Donald Trump’s envoys met with Mohammad bin Salman on Wednesday, June 22. The two sides discussed “increasing cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the need to facilitate humanitarian relief to Gaza, and the Trump administration’s efforts to facilitate peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,” a White House statement read. The meeting came one day after the envoys spoke about similar topics with the Jordanian king in Amman. Separately, Netanyahu met with King Abdullah in Amman on Monday. Riyadh has been supporting the US initiative purported to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Meanwhile, the New Yorker published a report chronicling, among other things, Israel’s recent outreach to Gulf Arab states to work together in countering Iranian influence in the region and to kill the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. It reports that “US intelligence agencies learned of phone calls between senior the United Arab Emirates and Israeli officials, including calls between a senior Emirati leader and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
According to a report by the Associated Press, Netanyahu met the UAE’s ambassador to Washington, Yousef al Otaiba, during his visit to the American capital two months ago.
Blast rocks Zimbabwe president’s rally
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa survived a blast at a ruling ZANU-PF party rally on Saturday, June 23 his spokesman said, adding that he had been taken to safety after the incident.
An AFP correspondent at the scene reported multiple injuries but could not immediately give a precise toll. Images broadcast on Zimbabwean TV showed scenes of chaos and medics fighting to save those wounded by the blast at the White City stadium in the country’s second city Bulawayo.
Mnangagwa had been in the city to campaign for votes ahead of nationwide elections due on July 30. They are the first polls since veteran leader Robert Mugabe was ousted following a brief military takeover in November last year, after 37 years in power.
It will be a key test for Mnangagwa, who succeeded the long-serving autocrat Mugabe seven months ago, and remains untested at the ballot box. He has pledged to hold free and fair elections as he seeks to mend international relations.
Ethiopian PM escapes grenade attack at rally
Ethiopia’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed escaped a grenade attack on Saturday, June 23 at a rally in the capital although scores of people were wounded, officials and witnesses said.
The attack was launched by an unidentified assailant moments after 41 year-old prime minister, a former soldier who took office in April, finished his speech to tens of thousands of people gathered in Meskel Square in the centre of Addis Ababa. The prime minister’s chief of staff said 83 people were wounded, with six in critical condition.
But he said no one was killed, despite earlier statements by the authorities indicating several deaths. A senior police officer said 100 were wounded.
Addressing the nation on television shortly afterwards, Abiy said the attack was an “attempt by forces who do not want to see Ethiopia united”. Abiy had promised in his rally speech to bring more transparency to government and reconciliation to a nation torn by years of protests.
Eritrea, which has long been at loggerheads with Ethiopia over a border row that Abiy has sought to resolve, condemned the incident. The European Union and the United States condemned the attack.
Despite boasting one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, opponents say the benefits have not been shared fairly between ethnic groups and regions in the country, which has been run by the same ruling coalition for more than quarter of a century.
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.
