Indian police seized explosives and arrested 14 people across the country in a major crackdown against Daesh members ahead of the country’s Republic Day celebration on Tuesday.

The suspects, aged 20 to 30, mostly students, were rounded up in four states.

It is learnt that four of them were arrested in Hyderabad, two in Mumbai, six in Karnataka and two in Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi police commissioner B. S. Bassi confirmed the arrests but declined to provide details on the ongoing operation which involves central security agencies.

Local media reported that police in Hyderabad had seized weapons and explosives from the suspects.

It is not clear whether the suspects were directly connected to each other but initial investigations indicated they were sympathisers of Daesh.

New Delhi has been on high security alert since early this week with the arrival of France president Francois Hollande in the capital on Sunday for the Republic Day celebration on Tuesday (Jan 26).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hollande are expected to finalise the sale of the latest Rafale fighter jets to India.

Last year, United States president Barack Obama was the guest-of-honour at the celebration.

Meanwhile, checks at government buildings along the Rajpath boulevard and famous India Gate, location of the parade, were closed to public.

More paramilitary troops were being deployed at major roads leading to city centre.

Security checks at airports, railway stations and shopping complexes have also been beefed up with travellers by international flights strictly reminded to check-in three hours prior to their departures.

There was also a report of a missing official SUV belonging to a police officer in city of Noida, about 50 kilometres from New Delhi, which has authorities worried about a Pathankot style attack.

In the Jan 2 Pathankot air force base attack in Punjab, armed terrorists had hijacked the four-wheel drive of a police officer and the vehicle was used in the attack.

Seven Indian security personnel and six terrorists were killed in the incident.

bernama.com/

Afghanistan on Wednesday said three of the four multirole Mi-35 helicopters that India donated to it last month have been assembled and are now fully operational to combat terrorism in the war-torn country, reports PTI.

According to the Defense Ministry, the helicopters will be used in the ongoing Helmand battle for the first time.

“We have always been helped by India. The helicopters donated by India to Afghanistan have been assembled and will help us fight terrorists,” Tolo news agency quoted Ghulam Sakhi Ahmadzai, deputy chief of procurement of the Defense Ministry, as saying.

Thanking India for its cooperation, Air Force commander Abdul Wahab Wardak said help from regional and global countries was crucial for bringing peace and stability to the country.

akipress.com

The Indian police arrested four members of the Islamic State (IS) who planned to attack shopping malls and trains in the capital, today revealed The Times of India.

Security sources explained to the newspaper that the group was arrested on Tuesday night in Haridwar city in Uttarakhand state.

Although so far no weapons were captured, the operation prevented a devastating scale attack, stresses the paper.

“The arrests confirmed the presence of IS in India for the first time, transforming what was until now a concern into an actual security threat,” it warns.

The four men, aged 19-23 years, were in touch with IS members in Syria and Iraq through several social networks, it added.

In the first interrogation, they confessed to be in the final phase of the weapon acquisition and preparing explosive devices to attack before the Republic Day celebrations on Tuesday.

Last week the government of Goa state received a letter signed by IS that threatens to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar.

According to official figures, at least 25 Indians traveled to Iraq and Syria in recent years to join IS ranks.

On Saturday, the Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh met with security agencies and police from 13 states to develop strategies against IS.

During the meeting, the IS media campaigns in social networks to attract supporters, especially young people, were discussed.

In his speech, Singh said that the influence of this group among the 150 million Indian Muslims is limited and almost insignificant compared to other countries, but he stressed the need for increasing vigilance.

plenglish.com

The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) have detected numerous tactics used by Malaysians to go to Syria to join the Daesh terrorist group.

Bukit Aman Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division Senior Assistant Director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the quarters concerned who were from the various strata of society used alternative routes to go to Syria.

He said the actions too were aimed at making it difficult for the authorities to detect their movements by shifting from one location to another.

“The online recruitment too is making it difficult to detect them, unlike in the past.

“If they (the recruits) communicate online with Malaysians in Syria, the latter will arrange (instruct), maybe…don’t depart from Kuala Lumpur (KL) …from KL go to Bangkok then Dhuha, Qatar, Dubai until Istanbul,” he told reporters here, Thursday.

According to Ayub Khan, upon their arrival in Istanbul, they would get in touch with their contact and would not depart directly for Syria and this made it difficult to detect their movement and journey.

“This makes it difficult to detect, they do not go directly to Istanbul…Now, they shift a lot to other places and only (communicate) via online,” he said.

He explained that until today there were still Malaysians leaving for Syria, because to them, the concept of jihad was still on despite being given explanations, clarifications and the arrests made.

He said such activities were still under control, to date, and the police were still able to detect and arrest (them) but more worrying was those who had gone there (to Syria).

The police found those involved in the activity comprised numerous groups including professionals, he added.

bernama.com

The threats were made during a discussion program on ‘Voice of the Caliphate,’ an elusive radio station operated by IS.

The Afghan reporters recognised the voice threatening them with death on the Islamic State group’s local radio station. It was a former colleague, who knows their names and where they work.

The threats were made during a discussion program on “Voice of the Caliphate,” an elusive radio station operated by one of the extremist group’s newest affiliates. The so-called Khorasan Province has battled Afghan forces and the Taliban alike, carving out an enclave in Nangarhar, a rugged eastern province bordering Pakistan.

It has adopted the media strategy of its mother organization in Syria and Iraq, including the production of grisly, professionally made videos showing battles and the killing of captives. But in impoverished Afghanistan, where few have access to the Internet, radio could prove more effective at recruiting fighters and silencing critics.

The group is actively targeting other media outlets to prevent them from competing with its chilling broadcasts. Militants bombed a building housing two radio stations in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, in October, and attacked the local offices of the independent Pajhwok news agency and Voice of America in July.

The menacing broadcast in mid-December, in which a former local radio broadcaster called on reporters to either join IS or risk being hunted down and killed, could be heard across Jalalabad.

“It is a great concern for us because he knows all the journalists who are working locally,” said Shir Sha Hamdard, chairman of the Journalists’ Union of Eastern Afghanistan.

“He also knows that as journalists we do not take sides and that our only weapon is the pen. We’ve tried to talk to representatives of IS to make sure they know this but we haven’t been successful,” he said. He and other Jalalabad-based reporters asked that The Associated Press not name the IS broadcaster for their own safety.

IS radio can be heard across Nangarhar on an FM frequency for 90 minutes a day in both the Pashto and Dari languages. Programs include news, interviews, vitriol against the Afghan government and the Taliban, recruitment propaganda, and devotional music in multiple languages.

The message is clear: the Afghan government is a doomed “puppet regime” of the Americans. The Taliban are a spent force hijacked by Pakistan. The caliphate is coming.

“Soon our black flag will be flying over the (presidential) palace in Kabul,” an announcer crowed in a recent broadcast.

The IS affiliate “is against everything – free media, civil society, education, all of which they say are secular, un-Islamic,” said Haroon Nasir, a civil society activist in Nangarhar. He said the message likely resonates among young men in impoverished rural areas, where after nearly 15 years of war many have soured on both the U.S.-backed government and the Taliban.

In those areas – which make up most of Afghanistan – Internet access is spotty at best, and computers and smartphones are a luxury. Just 10 percent of Afghanistan’s 30 million people have access to the Internet.

But nearly everyone has a radio.

A 2014 study by Altai Consulting found that 175 radio and 75 television stations had been set up since the 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban – which had one radio network and banned television. Wind-up radios that operate without electricity or even batteries have been widely distributed since then.

IS militants are believed to use mobile broadcasting units and cross back and forth along the porous border with Pakistan, making them difficult to track. The National Directorate of Security, the Afghan intelligence agency, did not respond to requests for comment.

Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, the spokesman for the Nangarhar police chief, said “Voice of the Caliphate” broadcasts had been banned and were rarely picked up, especially in Jalalabad.

But residents tell a different story. Jalalabad shopkeeper Janat Khan said IS radio is popular chiefly due to its novelty. “Most people are listening to them because they want to know about Daesh and its strategy,” he said, referring to the extremist group by its Arabic acronym. “The preachers are strong, their message is clear – they talk against the Taliban and against (President Ashraf) Ghani’s government.”

Although IS and the Taliban both want to impose a harsh version of Islamic rule, they are bitterly divided over leadership and strategy, with the Taliban narrowly focused on Afghanistan and IS bent on establishing a worldwide caliphate.

The U.S. State Department recently added the IS Afghan affiliate to its list of foreign terrorist organizations. It said the group emerged in January 2015 and is mainly made up of disenchanted former Taliban fighters.

Over the last six months the group has taken over four Nangarhar districts, where it has imposed the same violent interpretation of Islamic law championed by the IS group in Syria and Iraq, including the public execution of alleged informers and other enemies. In August, students at Nangarhar University staged a pro-IS demonstration. Security forces swooped in to make arrests and have since cracked down on campus activism nationwide.

As the group has expanded its reach, its media strategy has grown more sophisticated and more brutal.

“They have not only made every attempt to promote themselves through all mediums from mainstream media to social media, but they have also resorted to coercing tactics to force local media to publish their news and follow their agenda,” said Najib Sharifi, director of the Afghan Journalists’ Safety Committee.

“In areas where the government cannot provide sufficient security, media might resort to compromising their editorial independence out of fear – something that could make media turn into the propaganda machinery of Daesh.”

deccanchronicle.com

The Obama administration has granted the military new authority to strike the Islamic State in Afghanistan, signaling a more sustained fight against the extremist group outside of its base in Iraq and Syria, officials said Wednesday.

A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal decisions, said new rules of engagement approved last week permit U.S. commanders in Afghanistan to launch airstrikes against militants affiliated with the Islamic State, in the same way that the military targets fighters linked to al-Qaida.

The new arrangement “enables the United States to more actively target ISIL in Afghanistan,” the official said, using an acronym for the group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and has established outposts from North Africa to Central Asia.

Under previous rules, the U.S. military was able to conduct airstrikes in Afghanistan in three circumstances: to protect foreign forces; to help Afghan troops ward off an enemy onslaught; and to target al-Qaida and affiliated militants.

According to a second official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, the U.S. military has struck militants identified with the Islamic State in Afghanistan in the past, but those strikes were launched on the basis of the fighters’ “hostile intentions” rather than their affiliation with the group’s Afghan organization. The new rules were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

While the decision does not signal a dramatic change for U.S. activities in Afghanistan, it strengthens commanders’ authority against assorted militants there and, more generally, illustrates the expanding U.S. campaign against the Islamic State beyond its home base.

The change comes as the Afghan government struggles to beat back an emboldened Taliban, whose sustained attacks have jeopardized not just ordinary Afghans, but also President Obama’s hopes of ending U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan before he leaves office. Amid worsening security across Afghanistan, the White House has several times altered Obama’s original plans for withdrawing U.S. troops.

Now the country faces a new threat from militants who have aligned themselves with the Islamic State and are mostly arrayed near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter visited Afghanistan’s eastern Nangahar province in December and discussed the growing Islamic State presence there with Army Gen. John F. Campbell, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Taliban and Islamic State militants are battling one another for control of resources, even as both also fight government forces.

The granting of expanded strike authority follows the State Department’s designation this month of the Islamic State’s Afghan entity, called “ISIL-K,” or Khorasan, as a foreign terrorist organization.

stripes.com

A relatively large explosion rocked today the surrounding area of the Russian embassy in this capital, the Afghan authorities reported.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi confirmed that a suicide attack has taken place near the embassy, located in the Dar-ul-Aman area.

Although the official refused to provide further information for the moment, a report of the local agency TOLOnews said at least four people were killed and 24 wounded in the blast.

The attack coincides with therenewed efforts to revive the peace process with the Taliban, which broke off in July.

plenglish.com

The Obama administration has granted the military new authorities to strike the Islamic State in Afghanistan, signaling a more sustained fight against the extremist group outside of its base in Iraq and Syria, officials said on Wednesday.

A defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal decisions, said new rules of engagement approved last week permitted commanders in Afghanistan to launch air strikes against Islamic State militants because of their affiliation with the group, in the same way it targets fighters linked to al-Qaeda.

The new arrangement “enables the United States to more actively target ISIL in Afghanistan,” the official said, using an acronym for the group that controls much of Iraq and Syria and has established outposts from North Africa to central Asia.

Under previous rules, the U.S. military was able to conduct air strikes in Afghanistan in three circumstances: to protect foreign forces; to help Afghan troops ward off an enemy onslaught; and to target al-Qaeda and affiliated militants.

According to a second official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, the U.S. military has struck militants identified with the Islamic State in Afghanistan in the past, but those strikes were launched on the basis of the fighters’ “hostile intentions” rather than their affiliation with the group’s Afghanistan cell. The new rules were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

While the decision does not signal a dramatic change for U.S. activities in Afghanistan, it strengthens commanders’ authority against assorted militants there and, more generally, is another illustration of the expanding U.S. campaign against the Islamic State beyond its home base.

The change comes as the Afghan government struggles to beat back an emboldened Taliban, whose sustained attacks have jeopardized not just ordinary Afghans but President Obama’s hopes to end U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan before he leaves office. The White House has already altered Obama’s original plans for withdrawing U.S. troops several times amid worsening security across Afghanistan.

Now, the country faces a new threat from militants who have aligned themselves with the Islamic State and who are mostly arrayed near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Defense Sec. Ashton Carter visited eastern Nangahar province in December and discussed the growing Islamic State presence there with Gen. John F. Campbell, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

Taliban and Islamic State forces are now battling one another for control of resources, even as both stand off against government forces.

The decision follows the U.S. State Department’s designation this month of the Islamic State’s Afghanistan cell, called “ISIL-K,” or Khorasan, as a foreign terrorist organization.

washingtonpost.com

At least 30 people have been killed after gunmen attacked the Bacha Khan university campus in Charsadda, north-west Pakistan.

The gunmen entered the campus at about 9.30am local time (4.30am GMT), apparently using the cover of thick morning fog, and opened fire on students and teachers in classrooms and accommodation blocks. A gun battle between the attackers and Pakistan security forces ensued.

Four gunmen were wearing suicide bomb vests, according to reports.

A commander for the Tehreek-e-Taliban, a Pakistani militant group, claimed responsibility, though Mohammad Khurasani, the main spokesman, later denied that it carried out the attack and described it as “un-Islamic”.

By mid-afternoon local time the Pakistani army said the attack was over and that the site had been cleared.

Witnesses report a much higher death toll than that given officially. A 23-year-old student said he counted 56 bodies and saw gunmen shooting male and female students “without discrimination”.

About three hours after the attack started, the army said the campus was quiet as soldiers conducted a block-by-block search. Four attackers were killed, including two who were shot by snipers, it said.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, said he was “deeply grieved” over the attack, and vowed to fight to the end and destroy “the menace of terrorism”.

In December 2014, gunmen affiliated with Tehreek-e-Taliban attacked an army school in Peshawar, killing 132 children. Since then, the Pakistani authorities have killed and arrested hundreds of suspected militants in a renewed crackdown on counter-terrorism.

theguardian.com

Five fanatics of the the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) which is also known by its Arabic name Daesh have been killed in an airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province.

Colonel Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, spokesperson for the police headquarters of Nangarhar says the terrorists were targeted in Deh Sarak area of Achin District around 03:00 PM on Tuesday.

According to Col. Mashriqiwal, one of those killed was Sajid, a commander of the group.

Another report from Nangarhar suggest that police siezed several bombs, ammunition and drugs during separate raids in Behsood District.

A pestol was confiscated along with three home made bombs from Ajmal’s house in Buland Ghar area of the district.

A huge quantity of hashish was also recovered from a vehicle in Samarkhil area.

Driver of the vehicle has been arrested for interrogation.

khaama.com