Several Taliban suicide bombers stormed the main provincial prison in southern Afghan province of Ghazni early Monday, killing four police officers and freeing hundreds of inmates, officials said.

“Around 10 Taliban suicide bombers early today morning attacked Ghazni prison, the first attacker detonated his car full of explosives near to the prison gate, and allowed others to enter ” a provincial spokesman, Shafiqullah Nang, told Afghanistan Times.

Four police officers and three bombers were killed and seven security forces and two inmates were injured he said.

Deputy Provincial Governor of Ghazni, Muhammad Ali Ahmadi, said around 355 inmates escaped as result of the attack that lasted for several hours.

During the attack, more than 420 inmates, including Taliban prisoners were kept in the jail.

Officials said Taliban were equipped with heavy and light arms and were using RPGs against the coming security forces, while the roads leading to the prison were also blocked with land mines.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack which is the largest prison break after the Kandahar jailbreak in which Taliban released 500 prisoners in 2011.

“This successful attack was carried out at 2:00 am and continued for several hours where the jail was under our control for hours” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

“More than 400 innocent inmates were freed in the attack, some of our high-ranking Mujahidins were also among those fled in the attack” he said in a statement.

The Taliban, who launched a countrywide summer offensive in late April, are known to exaggerate and distort their public statements.

afghanistantimes.af

More than 1 000 Muslim clerics in India have ratified a religious ruling condemning ISIS, calling the extremist group’s actions “un-Islamic”.

Religious leaders from hundreds of Islamic mosques, education institutions and civic groups across India have signed the edict, or fatwa, saying the actions of the ISIS went against the basic tenets of Islam.

The edict was issued by a leading Mumbai-based cleric, Mohammed Manzar Hasan Ashrafi Misbahi, and has been signed by the leaders of all the main mosques in India.

“The acts of ISIS are inhuman and un-Islamic,” said Abdul Rehman Anjaria, a Muslim leader.

India’s 172 million Muslims mostly follow a moderate version of the religion and have opposed the extreme practices of IS and al-Qaeda.

The loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group executed a Mullah Imam in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

According to the local government officials, the incident took place in Achin district and the victim was teaching a Madrasa and originally hailed from Pakistan’s Swat valley.

The main motive behind the killing of the Mullah Imam has not been ascertained so far which comes the loyalists of the terror group have executed numerous people besides dozens of others are kept in their private prisons.

In the meantime, the district administrative chief for Achin Haji Ghalib Mujahid said the family members of the victim were forced to leave their home after he was shot dead.

He said a gun battle also broke out after the ISIS loyalists attacked the house of the Mullah Imam and preliminary reports suggest at least one ISIS fighter was killed adn three others were wounded.

The ISIS loyalists are believed to be mostly the members of the Pakistani Taliban group – Tehrike-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Janan Mosazai said earlier the militants of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are shifting over to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group.

Speaking during a seminar on Countering Violence Extremism, Mosazai said the former TTP militants have infiltrated into Nangarhar province and switched over to the black flag or Daesh, which we have been containing,” Mosazai quoted by local media reports said.

Mosazai warned that that the terror group was spreading “its propaganda and obscurantist worldview” also in Pakistan, similar as other parts of the world.

khaama.com

Japan has ordered beefed-up security at its embassies worldwide, a top official said Friday, after the Islamic State group mentioned its missions in Indonesia, Malaysia and Bosnia-Hercegovina as part of a broader threat.

The move comes about eight months after IS claimed to have beheaded two Japanese hostages in Syria and amid anxiety at home over impending legislation that critics fear could drag the officially pacifist country into wars overseas.

In its Dabiq online magazine’s latest issue, the Jihadist group issued a broadly worded threat against 70 “crusader nations” and “apostate armies”.

“What, for example, prevents (a jihadi) from targeting… communities in Dearborn, Michigan, Los Angeles, and New York City? Or targeting Panamanian diplomatic missions in Jakarta, Doha, and Dubai? Or targeting Japanese diplomatic missions in Bosnia, Malaysia, and Indonesia? Or targeting Saudi diplomats in Tirana, Albania, Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Pristina, Kosovo?” it said.

Top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo on Friday that security would be ramped up at Japan’s nearly 200 diplomatic missions around the world.

“We are aware of the (threat) and, in cooperation with host countries, are tightening security,” he said.

He did not elaborate on what steps were being taken.

Erika Nakano, a spokeswoman for the Japanese embassy in Jakarta, said the heavily fortified building already has “very tight security” and business was going on as usual.

“We are okay and we have a good relationship with the Jakarta police — that’s all I can tell you,” she said in response to questions from AFP.

Japan’s parliament is expected to pass legislation next week that will expand the role of its military, and possibly put troops into combat for the first time since the end of World War II.

However there is no suggestion that Japan has any immediate plan to get involved in the military campaign against Islamic State.

The changes to a pacifist constitution imposed by US occupiers after the war has been deeply unpopular among the general public and sparked protests involving tens of thousands of demonstrators, with critics warning that it could thrust Japan into foreign wars.

Japan has long avoided involvement in Middle East conflicts and has rarely been affected by religious extremism.

But in a video released in January, Islamic State militants said they had beheaded war correspondent Kenji Goto, a week after the group also claimed responsibility for the death of his friend Haruna Yukawa, a self-styled contractor.

Their killings came after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged $200 million in aid for refugees fleeing jihadist-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq during a tour of the Middle East.

Militants had demanded the same sum in exchange for the release of the pair, whom they had been holding for months.

bangkokpost.com

India will buy 10 armed drones from Israel at a cost of $400 million, the Economic Times reported Friday, citing sources within India’s ministry of defense. Officials from Israel Aerospace Industries were currently in India and exploring joint production of drones, the report added.

The Heron TP drones will be operated by India’s air force, and their procurement was being fast-tracked by India’s federal government. The deal was approved by India last week and the drones might be commissioned within a year, the paper reported.

India, which already uses an unarmed version of the drone for surveillance and intelligence gathering, sees the armed drones giving it an edge in combating cross-border scenarios, the paper reported. They can carry payloads of over 1,000 kilograms (about 2,200 pounds) and will be fitted with air-to-ground missiles.

The drones are particularly useful in attacking targets in scenarios that pose a risk to the lives of soldiers, the newspaper reported, citing the officials.

India is investing in a program to build its own unmanned aerial vehicles, all commonly called drones, but is some years away from actually commissioning one for use in combat, the paper reported.

The program, started in 2006, is being developed by the country’s umbrella organization for defense technology, the Defense Research and Development Organization, and the contract to build the first version, Rustom 1, was awarded to state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Bharat Electronics Ltd., Mint newspaper reported in 2010.

In January this year, India invited private companies to take on the serial production of Rustom 2, the second, more advanced version, Defense World reported. The Indian government has also offered to bear 80 percent of the development costs, according to the report.

The Foreign Office on Thursday said Pakistan was cooperating with Afghanistan to counter terrorism, including the Daesh threat.

“We think terrorism is our common enemy and a cooperative approach is required to deal with this menace. Pakistan is against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations,” said spokesman Syed Qazi Khalilullah.

At the same time, the spokesman reiterated that there was no footprint of Daesh in Pakistan. “However, we are cognizant of the threat it poses and have alerted our security agencies accordingly. As far as Pakistan is concerned, there are no good or bad terrorists.”

The spokesman said the Afghan ambassador had with his public comments on Wednesday pointed to the complexities of bilateral relations and the way forward to the revival of peace negotiations when he claimed that the Afghan Taliban had joined Daesh and was a new and emerging threat for both Afghanistan and Pakistan, which needed a collective effort to combat. “If Pakistan is to believe that the Taliban have joined Daesh, then how can it encourage them and the Ashraf Ghani government to sit across the table?”

To a query in this regard, the spokesman responded: “It is not for me to comment on what is happening in Afghanistan. The ambassador of Afghanistan is the right person to comment on that.”

To another query, Qazi Khalilullah said in accordance with the assurance given to Sartaj Aziz, the Afghan authorities had taken measures to enhance the security of Pakistan Embassy personnel and premises.

“The purpose of the MoU signed between the ISI and NDS was to have better coordination between the two security agencies for dealing with security threats faced by the two countries. However, it is for the Afghan government to decide whether it wants to proceed under the MoU or not,” he responded to another query.

The spokesman said Pakistan was ready for talks with India without pre-conditions and there would be no talks if Kashmir was not on the agenda.

“As it was recently reiterated by Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan is ready for talks without pre-conditions; there will be no talks if Kashmir is not included,” he said.

The spokesman said Pakistan’s position on the Kashmir dispute was very clear.

“It is internationally recognized as a disputed territory. The dispute needs to be resolved in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions on the issue and aspirations of the people of Kashmir,” he said.

Khalilullah lauded the media for playing an “important” and “appreciable” role in highlighting Pakistan’s internal and external policies.

Commenting on the recent brutal and unjustified killing of two journalists linked with Geo in Karachi and attack on another journalist in Pakhtunkhwa, the spokesman said: “We sympathise with the media fraternity and are saddened at such incidents. We want to offer our condolences to the bereaved families. As you are aware, efforts are being made under the National Action Plan to improve the law and order situation.”

On incorrect reports about postings of new envoys, the spokesman clarified that the media reports about the appointment of a new high commissioner to the UK were factually incorrect and baseless. “Our high commissioner to the UK is not being transferred from London,” he said.

thenews.com.pk

al-monitor.com

The bullet-riddled bodies of six anti-Taliban militia fighters were discovered Wednesday in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, taking the number of tribesmen found executed by Islamists this week to 11.

Around 20 members of the pro-government Toheed-e-Islam militia or “lashkar” were captured by the Taliban affiliated Lashkar-e-Islam militant group on Friday, who dumped five bodies in the Qamar Khel area of Khyber district on Monday.

The bodies of six more militiamen were found in the same area Wednesday, a senior government official told AFP.

“All dead bodies are bullet-riddled. We also found hand-written notes by Lashkar-e-Islam from near the dead bodies claiming the killings,” he said.

Shamsul Islam, another senior official, confirmed the incident and said the authorities were looking into reports of another three more bodies being found.

Khyber is one of Pakistan’s seven semi-autonomous tribal areas which have been at the forefront of an Islamist insurgency that began after Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters fled across the Afghan border following the US-led invasion of that country.

Radicalised tribesmen carried out a campaign to eliminate hundreds of tribal elders, the traditional backbone of their society, in order to wrest power for themselves. They later formed the umbrella Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistani Taliban) in 2007.

In response, Pakistan’s government recruited tribesmen to form pro-government militias, in addition to waging several military offensives with its well-funded and powerful army.

The military is currently carrying out major operations in Khyber and North Waziristan tribal areas, while the remaining five districts are relatively calm.

Many analysts believe the Pakistani Taliban’s capacity to mount major attacks has taken a serious hit following the latest offensives.