The National Defence Security and Afghanistan National Army (ANA) are combing certain hot spots to flush out terrorists. An operation at Mirza Khel in Khogyani district led to the killing of 31 militants, asianlite.com. Sources said the toll includes 18 Afghan Taliban and 13 Pakistani militants belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed. These miltants were affiliated to Maulsvi Sohail based at Khogyani. A miltant has been captured alive who is reportedly from JeM.

The violence against Afghan civilians and troops are on the rise in recent past. At least 250 Afghan security force members were killed and over 300 others injured in 220 attacks carried out by the Taliban in the past three weeks in the 11 provinces of the country.

The TOLO News report said the majority of casualties among the government forces occurred in the north and southeast regions of the country.

Under the US-Taliban peace agreement which was signed in Doha on February 29, the Taliban committed to not stage attacks on the key highways and provincial capitals. However, over the recent days, Zabul-Kandahar, Baghlan-Samangan and Kabul-Nangarhar highways have witnessed massive attacks, said the TOLO News report. Of the 11 provinces, Kunduz has witnessed heavy clashes.

In another development, a report submitted to the United Nations Security Council indicates that the total number of “Pakistani foreign terrorist fighters” in Afghanistan is estimated at “between 6,000 and 6,500, most of them with Jaesh-e-Mohammed and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).’

The presence of Pakistani militants in Afghanistan will put the Islamic republic in a tight spot over their commitments to Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which clearly ordered Pakistan to disassociate from all sort of terror funding and terror activities.

The FATF plays a crucial role in combatting terrorism. It sets global standards to combat terrorist financing, assisting jurisdictions in implementing financial provisions of the United Nations Security Council resolutions on terrorism, and evaluating countries’ ability to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute the financing of terrorism.

The report says the TTP fighters in Afghanistan are led by Amir Noor Wali Mehsud, supported by his deputy Qari Amjad and TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani, Tolo news reported.

The report says that according to UN member states, “Al Qaeda is covertly active in 12 Afghan provinces and Aiman al-Zawahiri remains based in the country.”

The report says that the UN Monitoring Team estimates the total number of Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan at “between 400 and 600 and that the leadership maintains close contact with the Haqqani network.”

In February 2020, “al-Zawahiri met with Yahya Haqqani, the primary Haqqani Network contact with Al Qaeda since mid-2009, to discuss ongoing cooperation,” the report said.

The report says that according to Member States, the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), presence in Afghanistan is mainly in Badakhshan, Kunduz and Takhar Provinces.

Approximately “500 fighters of the group operate in Badakhshan, primarily in Raghistan and Warduj Districts,” the report says.

The report says Daesh has suffered further severe reverses in its former Afghan strongholds of Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, but it is too soon to discount it as a threat.

Although in territorial retreat, Daesh remains capable of carrying out high-profile attacks in various parts of the country, including Kabul, the report says.

Daesh also aims to attract Taliban fighters who oppose the agreement with the United States, the report added, saying that in case of further military pressure on Daesh in Kunar, the group is expected to retreat to Badakhshan and other northern provinces.

A number of other terrorist groups are active in Afghanistan, most operating under the umbrella of the Taliban but some aligned with Daesh.

Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) operates under the Taliban umbrella from Nimruz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces, the report says, adding that the group reportedly has between 150 and 200 members from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and Pakistan.

The current leader of AQIS is Osama Mahmood, who succeeded the late Asim Umar. AQIS is reportedly planning retaliation operations in the region to avenge the death of its former leader, according to the report.

The Afghan army released a photo a couple of militants who joined Taliban ranks after being released from prison few weeks ago, like reported by khaama.com.

The 209th Shaheen Corps issued a photo of Taliban militants who were allegedly arrested during an operation, few weeks after after they were released from prison.

According to a statement released by Shaheen Corps, the two militants took oath by placing their hands on Holy Quran after being released from prison but arrested by joining the Taliban ranks.

The statement further added that the security forces arrested the two militants during an operation which they conducted in Sheesha Khana area of Faizabad district in Jawzjan province.

The security forces apprehended the two militants as they were planning to ambush the security forces in the area, the 209th Shaheen Corps added.

The Taliban group has not commented in this regard so far.

Twelve Afghan forces have been killed in overnight Taliban attacks in northern Kunduz and northwest Badghis province, officials said according to 1tvnews.af.

Eight deaths happened in Kunduz province where militants attacked security posts in provincial capital, also Kunduz, and on highway from the city to Ali Abad district, said Esmatullah Muradi, a spokesman for provincial governor.

The deaths included five police and three army soldiers, he said.

Three police and two soldiers were wounded in the attacks, the official said. He said that the Taliban also suffered casualties in counterattacks, but did not provide an exact figure.

Meanwhile, militants attacked an Afghan army convoy in Qadis district of Badghis province last night, killing four soldiers and wounding another, said Mohammad Haidar Sharifi, the district governor.

He said that one militant was also killed in the counterattack.

Piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asian waters in the first half of 2020 shot up to its highest level in five years and nearly double the number recorded in the same period a year earlier, like reported by time.com.

A total 51 incidents were reported in the region in the January to June period, 50 of which were actual and one was an attempt, according to data from ReCAAP ISC, a piracy information group with 20 member nations, mostly in Asia. That compared with 28 incidents reported in the same period a year earlier and is the highest tally since 114 recorded in the first six months of 2015, the data showed.

The incidents occurred in the Singapore Strait and South China Sea, as well as waters off countries including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Thirty-one of the 51 incidents occurred while the ships were anchored and the remaining when they were in transit, according to the data.

Piracy and armed robbery in the Singapore Strait, one of the world’s busiest commercial maritime routes, doubled from a year ago to 16 incidents. Chinese ports recorded no such occurrence in the period versus three incidents last year.

Seven Afghan security forces were killed in a joint assault by the Taliban, al Qaeda and Daesh on a checkpoint in northeast Badakhshan province, an official said Monday according to 1tvnews.af.

Nek Mohammad Nazari, a spokesman for Badakhshan governor, told 1TV that two more security forces were injured in the attack which happened in Arghanjkhwa district.

He said that five militants were killed while several others were wounded in the counterattack.

The attack coincides a Taliban assault on checkpoints in Kunduz province, which killed six police and wounded seven others.

A suicide truck bomber targeted a police district headquarters in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province on Wednesday, killing three officers, a local official said. Three other police officers, including a district police chief, were killed in a roadside bombing in eastern Ghazni province, like reported by dailymail.co.uk.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for both attacks.

In the Kandahar attack, the suicide bomber struck in the district of Shah Wali Kot, according to Bahir Ahmadi, the provincial governor’s spokesman. The explosion also wounded 14 people, both policemen and civilians.

Ahmadi said the guards at the district headquarters realized the truck was suspicious and opened fire before it could reach the building. But the shooting set off the explosives’ load, triggering a huge blast that caused the casualties and damaged several nearby buildings as well as the district headquarters, which also houses the office of the police chief and the district administrative department.

In the roadside bombing in Ghazni, Wahidullah Jamazada, the provincial governor’s spokesman, said Habibullah, the police chief of Dayak district, was killed along with his two bodyguards. Habibullah, who like many Afghans used only one name, was inspecting checkpoints early in the morning when the attack happened, Jamazada said.

Separately, the Defense Ministry said Afghan soldiers repelled Taliban attacks on Tuesday on army checkpoints in the district of Khogyani in eastern Nangarhar province. The statement said at least 20 Taliban insurgents were killed, including their group leader.

The Taliban did not claim responsibility for the Nangarhar attack or issue any statements about it. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Nangarhar. Afghanistan has seen a recent spike in violence, with most attacks claimed by the local IS affiliate.

The Taliban and the Afghan forces have been trading blame over the recent surge in attacks across the country – even as peace efforts press on to try and bring about the start of a direct peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

The Taliban accuse government forces of targeting them in their homes, their families bearing the brunt of those anti-Taliban operations. Kabul, meanwhile, accuses the Taliban of stepping up attacks against both civilians and the security forces.

The violence has been a key obstacle to any negotiations between the Taliban and the Kabul government – talks that were envisaged by the U.S.-Taliban deal signed in late February to end 19 years of war in Afghanistan.

The deal also called for the Afghan government to free 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for the Taliban releasing 1,000 government and military personnel they hold captive. So far, the government has freed 4,015 imprisoned insurgents while the Taliban have freed 669, according to data by the Afghan government.

Four gunmen attacked the Pakistani Stock Exchange building in the city of Karachi on Monday (June 29) but security forces soon killed them all, police said. Two other people were also killed, the military said according to straitstimes.com.

The gunmen attacked the building, which is in a high security zone that also houses the head offices of many private banks, with grenades and guns, Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon told Reuters.

“Four attackers have been killed, they had come in a silver Corolla car,” Memon said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Pakistan has long been plagued by Islamist militant violence but attacks have become less frequent in recent years.

The gunmen initially threw a grenade then opened fire on a security post outside the building. The four were killed when security forces posted there responded.

“There was very heavy firing,” said Abid Ali Habib, chief executive officer at Aba Ali Habib Securities Pvt. who was in his office on the fourth floor. “We decided to close our office doors with no movement inside or out.”

“The situation is still unfolding and management, with the help of security forces, is managing the security and controlling the situation,” the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) said on Twitter.

The compound has two main buildings, with one for stock exchange management and another for brokerage houses. People have been asked to evacuate the buildings by the security agencies for a final check, said head of administration Nisar Ahmed Qazi.

Karachi was once a hotspot for crime and political and ethnic violence, with heavily armed groups tied to politicians frequently gunning down opponents and launching attacks on residential areas.

However, the situation has largely stabilised in recent years following operations by security agencies against armed political outfits and Islamist militants.

The operations were coupled with a series of large-scale military offensives targeting homegrown insurgents as well as Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants – often based near the lawless border with Afghanistan.

Militant groups however still retain the ability to launch periodic attacks in many rurals areas of the country.

Monday’s attack comes more than a week after a grenade was thrown at a line of people waiting outside a government welfare office in the city, killing one and injuring eight others, according to a statement from municipal authorities.

In 2018, separatist militants launched a brazen daylight attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi that killed four people.

Philippine security officials killed four suspected Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-linked militants on Friday (June 26) in a city just south of Manila, like reported by straitstimes.com.

They were killed during a raid at around midnight on a house where they were staying inside a gated community in Don Bosco district in Paranaque city, just an hour’s drive from the capital.

One of the men fired at the policemen and tried to lob a grenade that went off prematurely.

An officer was injured when his legs were hit by shrapnel.

Police reports identified those killed as Bensaudi Sali, 37, Ramin Hussin, Jamal Kalimming, and a woman in her 40s, Merhama Abdul Sawari.

“The unwanted presence of (terrorists) in Metro Manila… proves that terrorist groups know no pandemic,” said General Felimon Santos Jr, the military chief.

“Not even Covid-19 could deter or prevent (them) and their cohorts from planning and looking for the opportune time to strike and kill.”

Intelligence sources cited by the online news site Rappler said all four were likely a sleeper cell sent to Metro Manila by Abu Sayyaf chieftain Hatib Sawadjaan, described in previous reports as the “acting emir” in the Philippines of ISIS.

Rappler said Sawari was a “group finance and logistics facilitator”.

She received remittances from Indonesian terrorist Yoga Fabrianto, who was arrested in Sabah, Malaysia, last year, it said.

Rappler said the money was meant to finance the deadly attack in January last year on a Roman Catholic cathedral on Jolo island in the Muslim province of Jolo.

Sawari’s husband, Sali, had purportedly been working as a security guard at a condominium, also in Paranaque. The two other suspects were security guards as well.

Sawadjaan, 60, and his small but brutal faction in the Abu Sayyaf group reportedly plotted the attack on the Jolo cathedral.

At least 23 people were killed and over 100 injured in the attack.

Military reports said an Indonesian couple blew themselves up minutes apart, one inside and the other outside, the cathedral.

Pro-ISIS militants are said to be fanning out well beyond their enclaves in southern Philippines to tap into dense urban areas and far-flung towns and villages where they can move around unencumbered by a military drive bent on eradicating them.

Sawadjaan is the father-in-law of Malaysian militant Amin Baco.

Baco, who has had lengthy experience fighting a guerrilla war in Sulu, was once rumoured to have been designated as ISIS’ “emir” in South-east Asia, replacing Isnilon Hapilon, the Abu Sayyaf chieftain killed in the five-month siege in 2017 of the southern city of Marawi.

At least 13 Taliban militants were killed and 12 others wounded in clashes with Afghan security forces in southern Kandahar province, police confirmed according to ariananews.af.

Jamal Nasir Barikzai, a spokesman for Kandahar police told Ariana News that the Taliban fighters attacked security outposts in Zherai and Takhta pul districts of the province on Tuesday which faced resistance by Afghan forces.

The militants stormed a security outpost in Zherai at around midnight Tuesday, in which at least 8 insurgents were killed and three others injured, Barikzai said.

He added that one policeman was killed and another was wounded in the shooting exchange.

Meanwhile, at least five Taliban fighters were killed and 9 others wounded as the group attacked a security outpost in the Bedak area of Takhta pul district on Tuesday night, Barikzai said, adding no security forces were harmed in the clash.

In a separate incident, the Taliban militants attacked an Afghan army outpost in Taluka area of Kunduz city on Tuesday, as a result, five soldiers were killed and 7 others wounded, a source said.

The spokesman for the provincial governor confirmed the attack but did not provide further details on casualties.

The Taliban militant group yet to make a comment about the attacks.

At least four public uprising forces and 11 Taliban were killed in clashes in northeastern Kapisa province on Sunday night, said Mohammad Hussain Sanjini, head of of provincial council, like reported by tolonews.com.

The clashes took place in Tagab district after the Taliban attacked a security checkpoint of public uprising forces, he said, adding that “11 public uprising forces and 18 other Taliban were wounded.

“The Taliban have taken 12 checkpoints after the attack and the clashes are still ongoing at the area,” he said. “The Taliban have also advanced to the center of the district.”

However, the local security officials and the Taliban have not yet commented on the clashes.

New figures by security institutions reveal that 171 personnel of the Afghan National Security Forces lost their lives in clashes with the Taliban in a week, despite an unannounced ceasefire between the two sides that is part of the peace efforts by the Afghan government and its international partners.

250 others were wounded in the clashes, according to the numbers. The data also shows that 222 attacks were carried out by the Taliban during the last week in 29 provinces.

Afghan officials say that this could jeopardize the peace process, which has reached an important phase.

“The Taliban’s movements and attacks have killed and wounded 422 security force members,” said Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Affairs.

In April, the National Security Council (NSC) provided details on Taliban attacks after the peace deal they signed with the US on February 29 in Doha.