rt.com

A senior commander of Taliban was killed in recent clashes by security forces in Kunduz province, said interior ministry.

According to interior ministry press office to BNA, a senior commander of Taliban named Haqyar with his seven followers was killed in a clash by police forces in outskirt of Qala-e-Zal district, Kunduz province.

The source added that the clashes started while a group of Taliban insurgents attacked on several security police checkpoints in the mentioned district, which were faced with serious reaction of police forces and killed.

bakhtarnews.com.af

Over 90 anti-government armed militants were killed and 48 others were wounded during the clearance operations of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) in the past 24 hours.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the operations were conducted in Nangarhar, Ghazni, Maidan Wardak, Khost, Kandahar, Zabul, Badghis, Farah, Jawzjan, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Baghlan, Kunduz and Helmand provinces.

A statement by MoD said the operations were conducted by the security forces who were receiving artillery and close-air support.

The statement further added at least 22 of the militants were killed in Sangin district of Helmand which included a group’s commander.

At least 38 militants were killed and 13 others were wounded during the operations in Dasht-e-Archi, Khanabad and in the outskirts of Kunduz city, MoD said, adding that 8 others were killed and 13 more were wounded in a seprate operatoin in Sayad district of Sar-e-Pul province.

The Afghan forces killed 11 militants and wounded 12 others during a separate operation conducted in Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahbuddin of Baghlan, the statement added.

A clearance operation was conducted in Farah province in the west of the country where 6 militants were killed and 3 others were wounded, MoD said.

The statement by MoD also added that 8 militants were killed and 7 others were wounded during an operation in Andar and Deh Yak districts of Ghazni province.

According to MoD, at least 5 soldiers of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces also lost their lives during the operations.

khaama.com

The U.S. air campaign and joint operations with Afghan forces have contained Daesh to a few districts, a Pentagon official said Thursday.

“From the first of January until the 31 of March, U.S. forces took just under 100 counterterrorism strikes. The majority of those, probably between 70 and 80, were focused on Daesh,” Army Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland said via video conference from Kabul.

The spokesman for the NATO-led Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan told reporters that the U.S. military estimates that Daesh controlled six to eight districts in Nangarhar province a few months ago but now it is believed to control two to three districts.

Cleveland also said U.S. Special Forces helped Afghanistan Special Forces to conduct a ground operation against Daesh in Nangarhar about a week ago.

The general did not say if American commandos were close to the frontlines during the operation.

“It was really about a 36-hour operation, maybe a little bit less,” he said, noting that U.S. airstrikes also helped the operation from the air.

According to Cleveland, Daesh militants, being pressed from northern Nangarhar province, are trying to move into either Kunar or Nuristan provinces to the north — along the Pakistani border — or Ghazni province further south.

“We don’t think they’re moving because they’re able to expand, because they’ve got additional capacity. What we think is that they’re trying to survive,” he said.

He also claimed that some Daesh fighters are defecting either to the Afghan government or back to the Taliban.

aa.com.tr/

The National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2016, which proposed 14-year imprisonment or Rs50 million fine or both for those linked to terrorism through the Internet or mobile.

Penalty of one-year imprisonment and fine worth Rs100 million would be imposed in case someone supports banned outfits and hate speech. The Bill stated that access to data of sensitive installations without permission would result in five years of imprisonment or fine worth Rs5 million.

Hacking, counterfeiting e-mail or any account and unauthorised use of SIM cards would result in three years of imprisonment or fine worth Rs0.5 million. Interference in information statistics would result in two years of imprisonment and fine worth Rs0.5 million. The government has announced establishment of computer emergency response teams to counter any cyber attack on a government information system.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) protested for not including some of their amendments to the bill.

Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman Khan presented the bill with clause-by-clause reading along with several amendments. The Senate must approve the bill before it is signed into law. The draconian bill, which has been criticised by the IT industry and civil society for curbing human rights and giving overreaching powers to law enforcement agencies, was submitted to the NA for voting in Jan 2015 by the Ministry of IT. It was referred to the NA Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication to address concerns raised by the opposition members and stakeholders from the industry.

The standing committee cleared the draft cyber crime bill in September and then it was forwarded to the NA for final approval, without showing to the members a copy of the bill.

According to the critics, the proposed bill criminalises activities such as sending text messages without the receiver’s consent or criticising the government actions on social media with fine and long-term imprisonment. Industry representatives have argued that the bill would harm business as well. Online criticism of religion, the state, its courts and the armed forces could invoke official intervention under the bill.

The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2016 has extended special protection to women. Whoever, with a malicious intent, knowingly and publicly, exhibits, displays or transmits any electronic communication that harms the reputation of a woman, causes sexual harassment to a woman, superimposes a photograph of a woman over sexually explicit images or distorts the face of a woman, will face the consequences.Political criticism and political expression in the form of analysis, commentary, blog, cartoon, caricature and meme has been criminalised. ‘Obscene’ or ‘immoral’ messages on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms have been made offences without defining obscenity or immorality, thus giving sweeping powers to investigating agencies to implicate anyone on these charges.

According to the bill, currently Pakistan has no law to comprehensively deal with the growing threat of cyber crime. The centuries old criminal justice legal framework was inadequate and ill equipped to address the sophisticated online threats of the 21st century cyber age. The introduction of this legislation would effectively prevent cyber crimes and contribute to national security. Both the opposition and the treasury benches termed the passage of the bill a great achievement.

The House also passed the Foreign Exchange Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and the Foreigners (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The parliamentary secretary for finance presented the Second Quarterly Report for the year 2015-16 of the Central Board of Directors of the State Bank of Pakistan on the state of the Pakistani economy.

Parliamentary Secretary for Industries and Production Rao Ajmal moved a calling attention notice in the National Assembly and said that Rs26 billion corruption had been detected at the Pakistan Steel Mills. Action against corruption is National Accountability Bureau’s discretion and his department can do nothing about corruption, he said.

Ajmal said the Pakistan Steel Mills had been closed for eight months. The Sindh government proposed buying the corporation, but there was no progress on this issue yet. He said that 13,000 extra workers were a burden on the Pakistan Steel Mills.

paktribune.com/

The tribal elders of Kurram Agency and their Afghan cousins holding lands on both sides of the border have started negotiations to continue to force militants of Daesh and its affiliates out of their territory in Afghanistan’s Paktia province.

A source privy to these developments told Dawn that the elders of Turi in Kurram Agency and Zazi (Jaji), their cousin tribe in Afghanistan, were holding talks to build confidence to take measures for averting threat of Daesh and other groups in their areas.

The last meeting between the two sides was held at no-man’s-land near Borki village in Kurram Agency on April 4. The elders of both the tribes discussed situation arising after regrouping of militant groups suspected to be affiliated with Daesh (IS) on the Afghan side.

“Elders from both tribes have held four meetings and discussed threat from Daesh and other militant groups to people of Kurram Agency,” said the source.

The source said that a recent incident involving kidnapping of four residents of Kurram Agency was also discussed in those meetings. Armed groups, suspected to be affiliated with IS, were demanding Rs20 million for the release of the four kidnapped men.

In a related development, military commanders of Pakistan and Afghanistan have also held a border coordination meeting near Borki village, a notified Customs checkpost between the two countries, on Monday.

A security official confirmed the meeting. He said that regrouping of militants in Afghan areas close to Kurram Agency was also discussed in the meeting.

Kurram valley is one of the most sensitive tribal regions due to its strategic location since it shares border with three provinces of Afghanistan — Khost, Paktia and Nangarhar. The area also has a violent history due to sectarian clashes in the recent past. It witnessed the worst clashes erupted in 2007 leaving thousands of people dead and wounded.

An official in the law and order department at Fata Secretariat said that intelligence reports suggested that threat from across the border existed to villages along the border in Kurram Agency. The administration in the area had already been intimated to take precautionary measures, he added.

“Intelligence reports suggest that militants from across the border may attack villages near in Kurram. On the basis of these reports, the local administration was intimated to ask villagers to be vigilant particularly at night. There are many groups on the Afghan territory, but I can’t confirm whether it is Daesh or any other outfit,” he said.

According to reports, Zazi tribe after receiving complaints from their cousins expelled militants from Estia area of Paktia province. An elder of Turi tribe said that militants had shifted their sanctuaries to Shpola area in Dany Pattan.

“Shpola also belongs to Zazi and our apprehensions have not been addressed,” said the elder.

Turi claimed that they had several agreements with Zazi tribe under which both the tribes were bound to abide those agreements to safeguard each other’s interest.

“Under these agreements, Turi and Zazi are bound that they will not harm each other’s interests and will not allow outsiders to use their territories for subversive activities,” said the elder.

After receiving threat alert from the local administration, people in Bughday, Borki, AKherlachi, Kunj Alizai, Malikhel in upper tehsil and Anzeri and Bilyameen in lower tehsil of Kurram Agency have started keeping vigil during night. Villagers have formed committees in these areas and armed volunteers take positions on the hilltops and other key locations along the border.

Meanwhile, the elders have suggested to the administration to stop supply of goods to the border areas in Afghanistan via Kurram Agency to build pressure on the local tribes to take action against militant groups hiding in their area.

dawn.com

At least 13 Islamic State-linked jihadists were killed by the Philippine Army this past weekend during a major offensive in the southern part of the country.

The Philippine military also lost 18 soldiers in fierce clashes against members of Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).

Maj. Filemon Tan, a spokesman for the Philippine army, confirmed that “18 soldiers were killed and 53 were wounded” in the ten-hour battle on Saturday, Reuters reports.

Saturday marks the Philippine military’s largest single-day combat loss this year.

“The killings occurred as the Philippines marked its Day of Valor holiday to remember its war dead,” notes the Associated Press (AP).

Five jihadists were killed on Saturday, including Mohammad Khattab, a Moroccan.

On Monday, AP quoted Maj. Tan as saying that “four Abu Sayyaf gunmen who were wounded in battle Saturday later died, and four other militants were killed in fresh fighting Sunday in the hilly outskirts of Tipo Tipo town on Basilan island,” bringing the number of fatalities incurred by the ISIS-linked group to thirteen.

Tan reportedly revealed that the Moroccan “was wearing a suicide vest rigged with pipe bombs when he died.”

The United States has offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the capture and prosecution of Abu Sayyaf commander Isnilon Hapilon, considered a key target of the operation over the weekend.

A top commander from the ISIS-linked group was reportedly wounded along with at least20 other members.

Citing Tan, AP notes, “A ruthless Abu Sayyaf commander, Puruji Indama, was seriously wounded. … Indama has been linked to deadly bombings, kidnappings for ransom and beheadings of Filipino marines.”

AP adds:

More than 1,500 army troops are involved in the offensive, including ground forces pursuing Abu Sayyaf gunmen on Basilan, a poor, predominantly Muslim province, about 880 kilometers (550 miles) south of Manila. The Abu Sayyaf was founded there in 1991 as an extremist offshoot of a decades-old Muslim separatist rebellion in the south, homeland of minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

Many of the Abu Sayyaf jihadists were armed with M203 grenade launchers and were able to gather between 100 and 150 fighters on Saturday alone.

On Monday, the Philippine army defended its weekend offensive.

“Military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said the troops had been adequately trained and the operation had been well coordinated, but they had been lured into a trap of improvised landmines that could not have been anticipated,” reportsReuters.

breitbart.com

A suspected ISIS militant is being hunted in India over fears they are planning to carry out attacks while Kate and William are visiting the country.

The Sikh-Canadian woman is believed to be travelling to Delhi to link up with associates already lying in wait in the city.

Intelligence agencies have the passport details of the 35-year-old and an alert has been sent to airports and other security services tracking jihadists.

The manhunt comes as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent their second day in the Indian capital, where they met underprivileged children at the city’s train station before having lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Police also issued a terror alert days before their trip, warning that three jihadists may have entered the country and could target Delhi, Goa and Mumbai – the city where the couple began their tour.

In the latest warning, Mail Today reported that it had details of Canadian’s passport but her identity was being withheld due to the ongoing intelligence operation.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has arrested 25 recruits and is probing several cases related to ISIS, has also been called in.

Sources said the information regarding the possible entry of the Canadian-Indian woman was shared with Indian intelligence agencies by their counterparts in another country.

Intelligence reports have recently raised fears of Indians living abroad being attracted to the Sunni jihadi group, which has lured hundreds of youths from the West.

Sources say over 40 people suspected of having links with ISIS have been arrested from across the country.

A total of 24 Indians have so far joined the terror outfit, of whom six were reportedly killed in different incidents.

While two returned, 16 are still reportedly part of ISIS. Several Indian youths aspiring to join ISIS have been stopped from travelling abroad.

An intelligence official said: ‘In the past, Adil Fayaz Wada, an Indian living in Australia, travelled to Syria to be part of jihad.

‘This is the first time, though, that information has been generated of a Sikh living abroad and suspected of having links with ISIS.’

One of the Indians reportedly killed fighting in Syria, Atif Vaseem Mohammed, who was a resident of Hyderabad, also lived in the US for a brief period before returning to India and travelling to Syria.

Some Indians living in UAE have been identified for their alleged ISIS links.

In January, three Indian nationals who were based in Abu Dhabi were deported and later arrested by the NIA on suspicion of being involved in activities linked to ISIS.

The growing influence of ISIS on Indians living in the Gulf has alarmed the security establishment.

The concern was flagged at a recent meeting chaired by union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to combat the ISIS threat.

‘Several Indians living in the Gulf are getting attracted to ISIS,’ a government official said.

‘These are Indian citizens and the threat of them coming back and carrying out strikes in the name of ISIS cannot be ignored.’

Sources said it is feared that many members of home-grown terror group Indian Mujahideen who fled the country following a crackdown ended up fighting on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border or the Af-Pak region, before joining ISIS.

Earlier in the year, the NIA busted an Indian module drawing inspiration from ISIS called Janoodul- Khalifa-e-Hind, or the Army of Caliph in India, after countrywide raids prompted several arrests.

India adopted a unique strategy to combat the ISIS threat by carrying out a de-radicalisaiton programme for young people attracted by ISIS ideology.

Some went through counselling sessions, but the hardened ones were arrested.

the-star.co.ke

A suicide bomber struck a bus of army recruits in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 12 people and wounding dozens, officials said on Monday.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said in a statement that all those killed in the attack, at 4 p.m. in the Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar Province, were army recruits, and that at least 26 people were wounded. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar, put the number of injured at 38.

“The bus was coming to Kabul from Jalalabad city when a bomber riding a Zarang three-wheeler blew himself up,” the Defense Ministry statement said.

The Afghan Army, which has struggled with casualties and attrition as it has taken the combat lead after NATO’s drawdown, recruits heavily in the east and north of the country. The army and the police lost a combined total of about 6,000 men in 2015, nearly half of those casualties coming in the southern province of Helmand, which is the country’s largest province both in terms of territory and opium production.

A lack of alternative job opportunities has kept young Afghan men coming to the security forces for the entry-level salary of roughly $200 a month, despite a grim picture of what they are signing up for.

While no group has taken responsibility for Monday’s attack, the targeting of the recruitment centers has long been a Taliban strategy. A suicide attack near the police academy in Kabul, the Afghan capital, in August killed more than 20 people. And in northern Kunduz Province in 2011, a Taliban bombing outside an army center left 36 people dead and 40 others wounded.

The attack on Monday came just a few hours after yet another deadly bombing in Kabul, in which at least two people were killed and seven wounded after a magnetic bomb exploded on an Education Ministry commuter bus.

That bombing happened early in the morning, soon after staff members had left the suburb of Bagrami for the ministry’s headquarters in the city.

“In the attack on our commuter bus, two of our colleagues were martyred and seven others wounded,” said Kabir Haqmal, head of communication and information at the Education Ministry.

“The Education Ministry is neither a political nor military organization,” Mr. Haqmal said. “We educate everyone’s child, so why were we targeted?”

nytimes.com