Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has been killed in a US drone strike, a senior commander with the militant group has said.

Mullah Abdul Rauf told The Associated Press today that Mansour died in the strike late Friday night.

He said the strike took place “in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area”.

The office of Afghan president Ashraf Ghani confirmed the strike but could not confirm Mansour’s death.

Mansour formally led the Taliban after the death of the movement’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar, was announced last summer.

Mansour, Mullah Omar’s deputy, concealed Mullah Omar’s death for more than two years, and ran the Taliban in his name until the death was disclosed by the Afghan government.

Speaking live on television as he chaired a cabinet meeting, Abdullah said Mansour’s death would have a positive impact on attempts to bring peace to Afghanistan, where the Taliban have been waging an insurgency for 15 years.

Mansour was “the main figure preventing the Taliban joining the peace process”, Abdullah said.

“From the day he took over the Taliban following the death of Mullah Omar, he intensified violence against ordinary citizens, especially in Afghanistan.”

Mullah Rauf was an early detractor of Mansour’s but decided this year to declare loyalty to him in the interest of unifying the movement.

Earlier, the US Department of Defence said a drone strike had targeted Mansour “in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region”.

Afghan officials said the drone strike took place in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, in the Ahmad Wal area.

The Afghan government has long accused the Pakistani authorities of harbouring and supporting the Afghan Taliban.

The drone strike targeted Mansour’s vehicle which was carrying Mansour and one other person at the time, a US military source said.

Another Taliban source identified the driver as Muhammad Azam Hasanai, and said the vehicle the two men were travelling in was completely destroyed in the drone strike.

breakingnews.ie

premierchristianradio.com

In a video monitored by SITE, Islamic State mocks Muslims living in harmony with Hindus and urges them to travel to IS-held territories in the ‘Caliphate’

In a rare appeal to India’s Muslim minority, Islamic State says it is planning to avenge the deaths of Muslims killed in riots in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat and elsewhere.

India, a Hindu-majority country, is home to more than 160 million Muslims, but only a handful of them have joined the Middle Eastern group. Indian leaders and members of the community say this testifies to the strength of the country’s secular democracy.

In a video monitored by the US intelligence group SITE, Islamic State mocked Muslims living in harmony with Hindus who worship cows, trees and the sun, and urged them to travel to IS-held territories in the “Caliphate”.

“In this land you get to have hatred for the kuffar. In this land you get to perform jihad,” said an Indian fighter who is identified as Abu Salman al-Hindi operating in the Syrian province of Homs.

“In this land your religion is safe. In this land Allah’s Law is the highest. In this land you have nothing that stops you from doing good deeds, from doing da’wah, from preaching Islam. In this land your life, your honour, your property is protected.”

Another fighter then says Islamic State will come to India to liberate Muslims and avenge the violence perpetrated against them in 2002 in Gujarat as well Kashmir and the destruction of a Babri mosque in 1992.

“We will come back, with the sword, to free you, to avenge Babri mosque, Gujarat, Kashmir,” the fighter says. More than 1,000 people were killed in Gujarat. Most of them were Muslims, attacked by Hindu mobs in retaliation for the burning of Hindus in a train.

Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time and faced allegations that he did not do enough to stop the bloodshed. But a Supreme Court-ordered investigation has said there was no case against him.

India has suffered from Islamist attacks. In 2008 a militant group based in Pakistan launched a rampage through the city of Mumbai that killed 166 people and traumatised the country.

livemint.com/

Infighting between supporters and opponents of Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor in the western Herat province left five fighters dead early Tuesday, a local official said.

“The clash erupted between Mullah Sia Khan, a Taliban commander loyal to Mullah Akhtar Mansoor and his rival commander Mullah Toofan of Mullah Mohammad Rasoul’s faction in Niak village of Obe district in the wee hours of today which lasted for hours and left five insurgents dead,” district police chief, Shir Agha Alkozai, told Xinhua.

All those killed in the fighting belonged to Akhtar Mansoor’s faction, the official added.

Taliban militants have yet to make comments.

This is the second bloody fighting between the two rival factions in the western region over the past three days.

On Sunday, seven more militants were killed from both sides as clashes flared up in Balamurghab district of the western Badghis province, according to Balamurghab district governor, Ahmad Zia Akazai.

Militants loyal to Mullah Rasoul also publicly executed three fighters from Mansoor group in Balamurghab district on Monday after capturing them alive, Akazai asserted.

Since confirmation of the death of Taliban former leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in August last year, Omar’s deputy Mullah Akhtar Mansoor succeeded him. However, his rival Mullah Mohammad Rasoul challenged Mansoor’s leadership and since then fighting occasionally erupts between the two groups in parts of the country.

xinhuanet.com

The Philippine terror group Abu Sayyaf has threatened to execute one of two foreign hostages on June 13 unless a ransom worth 600 million pesos ($13 million) is paid.

Canadian Robert Hall and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad have been held by Abu Sayyaf since September, when they were abducted from a luxury resort in the Mindanao region managed by Sekkingstad. Last month Abu Sayyaf militants beheaded John Ridsdel, another Canadian kidnapped in the same raid.

“I appeal to my government and the Philippine government, as I have appealed before, for help,” said Hall in a new video released on May 13 and posted on SITE, a U.S. research group that tracks jihadist sites.

A four-decade Muslim insurgency in the southern island of Mindanao has left as many as 200,000 people dead. Kidnappers in the region, including Abu Sayyaf, often take hostages for ransom to finance their operations. The violence has hampered development in a region that holds half of the country’s mineral reserves.

The military hasn’t confirmed the latest video, military spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla told reporters in Manila Monday. Efforts to rescue the remaining hostages continue, he said.

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who hails from Mindanao and has served more than two decades as mayor of Davao City, has pledged to revive peace talks after he takes office on June 30. Congress failed to pass a peace deal signed by outgoing President Benigno Aquino with the leading separatist group that would have granted more autonomy to the region in return for peace.

“To the whole Moros in the Philippines, I extend my hand in peace,” Duterte said.

Abu Sayyaf was not party to the peace agreement, and Duterte has called for the group to lay down its arms.

“We don’t go to war with our own people but at one time, I would ask them to release the hostages,” Duterte told reporters in Davao City early Monday, referring to Abu Sayyaf. The abductions in Mindanao must stop because it’s hurting the country’s image and “there has to be a time when they have to surrender and account for what they did,” he said.

Implementing a peace plan would add to pressure on Abu Sayyaf to end its campaign. The peace pact reached with the main militant group provides a road map for a new autonomous entity called Bangsamoro, whose structure would be defined by Congress. Under the deal the Moro Islamic Liberation Front must abandon its pursuit of a separate state in return for more power, control of natural resources and territory.

Duterte has also signaled that he wants exiled communist leaders to return to the Philippines and play key roles in peace talks with their militants. Duterte on Monday offered cabinet positions to leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines, including its founder Jose Maria Sison, who lives in exile in the Netherlands. Duterte has pledged to guarantee his safe return and that of Luis Jalandoni, chief negotiator of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, if they would return to participate in peace talks.

stripes.com

India’s moves towards “second strike capability” in its nuclear programme would compel Pakistan to follow suit, an official of Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division has said, according to reports.

“Development of second strike capability (by India) … would put pressure on Pakistan to take remedial measures and develop its own version of the capability,” said the official from SPD, which serves as the secretariat of the country’s National Command Authority, Dawn newspaper reported on Sunday.

The reported successful testing of nuclear-capable K-4 Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) last month from its nuclear-powered INS Arihant has taken India closer to what is described as “second-strike capability” in nuclear deterrence. It refers to the capability of a military to hit back at an enemy in a situation where its land-based nuclear arsenal had been neutralised.

The Pakistani official was speaking at a round-table discussion on ‘Growing Challenges to Strategic Stability in South Asia,’ organised by the Centre for International Strategic Studies (CISS), the paper reported.

Speakers at the CISS round-table discussion say that the reported SLBM tests by India will impact the delicate strategic balance of the region, it said.

Following the test, a statement issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Office had said: “The reported Indian tests of a Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile and development of a nuclear submarine fleet are serious developments, which impact the delicate strategic balance of the region. It has resulted in the nuclearisation of the Indian Ocean.”

Suggesting that Pakistan could have already moved in that direction, the SPD official recalled that Islamabad had set up its Naval Strategic Force Command (NSFC) in 2012.

At the time of the commissioning of NSFC Headquarters, the Inter-Services Public Relations had said that it “will perform a pivotal role in development and employment of the Naval Strategic Force. The Force, which is the custodian of the nation’s second strike capability, will strengthen Pakistan’s policy of Credible Minimum Deterrence and ensure regional stability”.

Former defence secretary, retired Lt Gen Naeem Khalid Lodhi, had claimed last year that Pakistan possessed second strike capability against India. However, defence analysts had questioned the claim, saying that Pakistan was yet to achieve submarine-based ‘assured second strike capability for stable deterrence.

The SPD official, speaking about India’s development of anti-ballistic missiles, said it could give its military planners “false sense of security” while contemplating military action against Pakistan.

He said up-gradation of military hardware by India for operationalising the Cold Start Doctrine, building a variety of nuclear capable missiles ranging from tactical weapons to intercontinental ballistic missiles, enabling of its nuclear triad, acquisition and up-gradation of aircraft carrier fleet and nuclear submarines were all worrisome developments that would destabilise the nuclear stability, Dawn reported.

Alongside these, the official said, India was also “disturbing sub-conventional stability” by shifting Pakistan military’s orientation from external to internal security challenges by using its intelligence agencies.

At the round-table, Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal of the Quaid-i-Azam University said it would be wishful to think of strategic stability in the region as long as mistrust existed between India and Pakistan.

He said although there was imbalance of power between India and Pakistan, still ‘balance of terror’ (due to modernisation of weaponry) was sustaining a semblance of strategic stability in the region.

Dr Riffat Hussain, a professor at NUST, said that any additional military capability acquired by India would hurt Pakistan.

CISS Executive Director Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi said that Pakistan needed to closely watch the India-US strategic partnership, especially in the context of the upcoming Logistic Support Agreement (LSA) and accordingly assess its policy options. LSA is to be signed later this year between India and the US.

The prospects of conflict between the two nuclear armed rivals have only increased due to absence of an institutional dialogue process and “deliberate escalation by India” both by covert and overt instruments against Pakistan, he added.

hindustantimes.com

Key members of Congress are not prepared to support military aid to Pakistan without some specific actions and the Obama administration has to follow their decision, says the U.S State Department.

At a Thursday afternoon news briefing in Washington, a State Department official, Elizabeth Trudeau, pointed out that the U.S administration also wanted Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network, AP reported.

“Key members of Congress have been clear they’re not prepared to support U.S military aid to Pakistan absent of some specific actions,” she said.

Trudeau said the United States had clearly conveyed its views to Pakistan on the activities of the Haqqani network and Islamabad knew what to do.

“Pakistan has spoken that they will not discriminate against [militant] groups. We could encourage them to continue to live up to that,” she said when asked if the State Department was willing to certify that Pakistan had taken the ‘specific actions’ needed to justify releasing military funds to the country.

The statement coincided with a debate in the Pakistani parliament where Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz conceded that relations with the U.S had been under stress for the past three months.

Last week, a U.S congressional panel endorsed a move to block $450 million of military aid to Pakistan for failing to take action against the Haqqani network. And late last month, U.S senators stopped the administration from using foreign military financing for subsidizing the sale of eight F-16s to Pakistan.

Responding to another question, Trudeau said that while only Congress could explain its position on the issue, the administration was “committed to working with Congress to deliver security assistance to our partners and allies”.

Doing so, she added, “furthers U.S goals by building capacity to meet shared security challenges”.

When asked if the Obama administration and Congress were on the same page on the matter, she said: “We continue to work with Congress,” making it clear that the administration on its own could not release the funds.

After improving a bit, relations between Pakistan and the U.S began to deteriorate again early this year when Pakistan’s efforts to persuade Taliban to join the Afghan reconciliation talks failed.

Some analysts say that Pakistan does not have enough influence on the Taliban to persuade them to accept a peace deal. They argue that the militants will only join peace talks if they realise that they cannot win the war.

tolonews.com

At least three Afghan policemen have been killed after a suicide bomber detonated a car packed with explosives. The incident took place near a police training base in southern Helmand province.

An Afghan Local Police (ALP) academy was the intended target of the attack, according to the Kuwait News Agency. The provincial governor’s spokesman, Omar Zwak said that 12 others, including two civilians, were injured in the attack which took place on 14 May. He added that the incident took place in the Nad Ali district.

Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Taliban spokesman Qari Yusouf Ahmadi. The latest assault follows a string of attacks on police checkpoints in the area.

The Taliban announced its spring offensive in April and there has been a noticeable increase in violence in Helmand during the past fortnight. On 10 May, 15 members of Afghanistan’s police force were killed after Taliban militants descended on two checkpoints in Helmand’s capital city, Lashkar Gah.

A senior security official in the region who was speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity following the incident called on the Afghan government to intervene swiftly and warned “there will be disaster” if authorities failed to act. Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the world’s heroin, and the source for more than two-thirds of that is from Helmand’s opium poppies, according to figures published by the UN in 2015.

Speaking after the death of the 15 police personnel, Bashir Shaker, a member of Helmand’s provincial council warned: “The threat is becoming bigger minute by minute. If the government does not take action soon, we will witness the collapse of Lashkar Gah.”

A bumper crop is expected from this year’s opium harvest, which the Taliban directly imposes tax on. The country’s opium territory means significant income for whichever group controls it.

ibtimes.co.uk

At least 14 Daesh affiliates were killed and 10 others were wounded following air raid launched by Afghan Air Forces on Daesh’s hideouts in eastern Nangahar province.

A senior commander of police in the east of the country told BNA, the Daesh members targeted, while they were involved on organizing a series of terrorist activities in their hideouts in Achen district of the province.

It has been said, several foreigner nationals were among the dead and wounded of Daesh affiliates.
There were no damages to civilians during the air attack, the source added.

The tense ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan heightened another notch as the two countries deployed tanks and armoured personnel carriers along the Torkham border.

Political administration sources told Dawn that the move comes besides sending more troops after their negotiating teams failed to resolve the border fencing dispute.

Pakistan started fencing some vulnerable points of the border with Afghanistan to halt illegal and secret border crossings and movements of people.

Afghanistan has objected to the border fencing and officially protested to Pakistan over the issue.

Because of the tense situation, the border remained closed for the third consecutive day.

aninews.in