The Taliban Insurgents attacked Deh Yak district of central Ghazni province, killing six Afghan security forces, local officials said on Friday.

Ghulam Sakhi Zabuli, a member provincial council told Ariana News that the militants stormed the district on Thursday night.

Zabuli said, as a result, at least six Afghan soldiers were killed and seven others wounded.

However, the Taliban claimed in a statement that their fighters have captured the Deh Yak police headquarters adding that 35 security forces including the district police chief have been killed.

Meanwhile, Khaled Wardak, the police chief of Ghazni rejected the Taliban claim adding that the district is under control of government forces.

On May 27, Afghan security forces retook control of Deh Yak district after a year from the Taliban militants.

Ghazni is among the volatile provinces in the central part of Afghanistan where the insurgents are actively operating in a number of its districts.

The Afghan Special Forces killed 6 Taliban militants and detained 4 others during separate raids in three provinces, like reported by khaama.com.

The informed military sources said Thursday that the Special Forces killed 5 Taliban militant in Chak-e Wardak district of Wardak province.

The sources further added that the Special Forces killed 1 Taliban fighter during a separate raid in Chimtal district of Balkh.

Furthermore, the Special Forces destroyed a cache of ammunitions during the same operation.

Meanwhile, the Special Forces detained 4 Taliban fighters during an operation in Baraki Barak district of Logar.

The Special Forces also confiscated 1 vehicle and destroyed 5 motorcycles during the raid.

The Taliban group has not commented regarding the operations so far.

Three suicide bombers stormed a police compound in southwestern Pakistan on Wednesday morning, killing one policeman and injuring two others, Anadolu Agency reported, quoting officials.

The militants, wearing suicide vests, stormed the compound in the remote Loralai district in Balochistan, said Inter-Services Public Relations, the Pakistani military’s media wing.

One militant was killed by police at the entrance, but the other two managed to enter the compound premises. One was killed, and the other detonated his suicide vest.

In a statement, Jam Kamal, Balochistan’s chief minister, condemned the attack, saying security forces acted swiftly and foiled the terrorist attempt.

In a statement, Mohammad Khurasani, a purported spokesperson of the Pakistani Taliban’s mother coalition, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack, the latest in a series of similar incidents in the mineral-rich province in recent years.

The large Balochistan province, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, is strategically important due to the presence of copper, zinc, and natural gas, but has been beset by violence for over six decades.

The province is also a key route of the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) — a part of Beijing’s ambitious One Belt, One Road project.

Various sectarian outfits, including the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, have also been active in the region for the last decade, especially in Quetta.

The Afghan Special Forces killed 7 Taliban militants during an operation in Helmand, like reported by khaama.com.

The informed military sources said Tuesday that the Special Forces conducted the operation in Sangin district of Helmand.

The sources further added that the Specials also destroyed a weapons cache during the same operation.

Furthermore, the Special Forces destroyed 24 Improvised Explosive Devices, 15 pounds of homemade explosives and a Rocket Propelled Grenade.

The anti-government armed elements have not commented regarding the operation so far.

Three terrorists associated with a banned outfit were gunned down in a shootout with the police in the Sohrab Goth area, like reported by thenews.com.pk.

District Malir SSP Irfan Ali Bahadur said that acting on the information that some hardcore terrorists were present in the SITE Superhighway police jurisdiction, teams were formed with the police station concerned and a raid was planned in Khuda Bux Goth.

As the teams moved towards the location, they came under fire, following which the police retaliated and, after a brief encounter, arrested three injured suspects, while their accomplices escaped.

The injured were taken to a hospital but they died on the way. The deceased were identified as Al-Qaeda Sindh chief Talat Mehmood, alias Yousuf, Usman Noor Alam and Shaikh Shahid. Their hideout’s search yielded a 10kg prepared suicide jacket, two submachine guns, a pistol, two hand grenades, two remote control circuits, a prepared remote controller, two hand grenade detonator assemblies, two detonators, approximately four metres of detonating wire and safety fuses. The suicide jacket and hand grenades were defused by the Bomb Disposal Squad.

The suspects

SSP Bahadur said Mehmood was also associated with Daesh and his name was in the Red Book, adding that he was a close friend of Safoora Goth carnage mastermind Umar Kathiyo. Mehmood was involved in the martyrdom of several policemen and a jailer in Hyderabad.

The officer said Shahid was involved in the kidnapping and murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, for which he was in jail between 2002 and 2006. He possessed the expertise of making bombs and was a close aide of the notorious terrorist Naeem Bukhari, who was already arrested.

The SSP said Alam was involved in the 2013 attack on policemen in Korangi that left four cops martyred. That same year he carried out an attack on an Imambargah by hurling a grenade at it. The officer said their investigations also revealed that the suspects were involved in the killing of four workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in Korangi during 2014.

That same year they martyred a policeman in Zia Colony, and the next year they attacked soldiers of the Sindh Rangers in Orangi Town and martyred four of them. In 2016 they attacked a Military Police vehicle and martyred two soldiers.

Four militants affiliated to the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) were killed Sunday in a gunfight with security forces in South Kashmir’s Shopian district. The AGH claims to be an affiliate of al-Qaeda, like reported by indianexpress.com.

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According to the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the encounter broke out at the Panzar area of Shopian in the morning after security forces launched a cordon and search operation following reports that militants were present in the area.

“During searches, terrorists fired upon the search party. The fire was retaliated leading to an encounter,” said police. In a statement, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, Srinagar-based defence spokesperson, said: “Total four terrorists eliminated… weapons recovered.”

The militants killed in the encounter were identified as Rafi Hassan Mir of Kralchak, Shopian; Suhail Ahmad Bhat of Batmuran, Shopian; Showkat Ahmad Mir of Rajpora in Pulwama; and, Azad Ahmad Khanday of Bamnoo, Pulwama.

Police sources said that the operation took place in an orchard and the gunfight began at around 6 am. “…no collateral damage happened during the encounter,” said police.

In a statement, police said that among the four killed militants, Showkat had a “long history of terror crime records since 2015”. “He was initially part of the proscribed terror outfit HM (Hizbul Mujahideen),” police said, adding that several cases were registered against him.

According to police, Showkat Mir was also instrumental in recruiting “Azad Ahmad, Rafi Hassan and Suhail Ahmad who had recently joined the terrorist fold”. Recently, pictures of Suhail and Rafi holding weapons surfaced on social media in the Valley, which also mentioned that the duo had joined the AGH outfit.

A senior police officer in South Kashmir told The Indian Express that they believe Showkat had shifted to the AGH recently. Last month, Zakir Rashid Bhat, alias Zakir Musa, considered the head of the AGH, was killed in a gunbattle in Pulwama district.

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Though AGH’s presence has diminished after Musa’s death, the outfit is trying to attract more young men, said police. “There is a very minimal presence of AGH on the ground. Recently, we saw Suhail and Rafi announcing that they joined Ansar, which is an indication that AGH is trying to recruit more men,” said a police officer.

There has been an increase in anti-militancy operations in the Valley. While one militant was killed Saturday in an encounter in Baramulla district, earlier this week, a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant, who owned the car that was used in February 14 suicide bombing attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, was among two militants killed in a gunbattle in Anantnag district.

The security forces killed 6 Taliban militants during the operations in Farah and Nimroz provinces, like reported by khaama.com.

The security forces also detained 4 others during the same operations.

The informed military sources said Thursday that the Afghan Special Forces killed 2 Taliban militants during an operation in Bala Boluk district of Farah.

The Special forces also wounded another Taliban fighter and destroyed 1,000 pounds of Hashish and a small cache of weapons.

Meanwhile, the security forces conducted an airstrike in Bala Boluk district and killed 4 Taliban militants.

The Afghan Special Forces also detained 4 Taliban militants during a separate operation in Khash Rod district of Nimroz province.

The anti-government armed militants have not commented regarding the operations so far.

Intelligence reports have warned that India and Sri Lanka are likely to be under threat with terror group ISIS in wake of losses across Syria and Iraq, reported NDTV.

As per the reports, three letters were sent by the state intelligence to top Kerala police officers that hinted at the possibility of such a development.

One of the letters accessed by NDTV read: “After loss of territory in Iraq and Syria, IS is urging operatives to take up violent forms of jihad while staying back in their respective countries.”

Senior officials said Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kashmir are the most vulnerable states to the ISIS influence in the country. According to police, at least 100 people are believed to have joined ISIS from Kerala in the last years.

District police chiefs have been asked to strengthen internal security cells while around 10 to 12 online honey traps have been put in place.

The Kerala coast has been on alert to prevent the entry of ISIS terrorists from the island nation since May-end.

The security forces carried out two separate airstrikes in Nangarhar province killing at least 5 ISIS militants, like reported by khaama.com.

The informed military sources said Wednesday that airstrikes in Khugyani district killed 2 ISIS militants.

The sources further added that the security forces conducted similar airstrikes in Pachir Wa Agam district killing 3 ISIS militants.

This comes as the security situation in some districts of Nangarhar has deteriorated during the recent years.

Both Taliban and ISIS militants are active in some districts of the province and often conduct terrorist related activities.

Meanwhile, the Afghan forces are busy conducting counter-terrorism operations against the anti-government armed groups in this province.

The U.S. forces also conduct regular airstrikes in restive parts of the country to suppress Taliban and other anti-government militants.

Security forces in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have suffered 10 casualties in the last seven days while eliminating four terrorists in two districts of Anantnag and Pulwama, like reported by dnaindia.com.

The latest casualty came in Anantnag where security forces gunned down Sajjad Maqbool Bhat and Tawseef Ahmad Bhat, both affiliated with Jaish-e-Muhammad terror outfit, but rifleman Anil Kumar Jaswal also lost his life in the exchange of fire. Two army men were also injured in the gunbattle.

Army’s Srinagar based spokesperson while confirming the killing of two terrorists said that “Sajjad was the one who managed the vehicle for Pulwama 14 Feb CRPF IED incident,” adding that Tauseef was his handler.

Jammu and Kashmir police while giving details about the slain, said that “as per the material evidence collected during the course of the investigation it was learned that Maruti Eco vehicle used for carrying out the blast in Lethpora was owned by one Sajad Bhat of Marhama. As the news of  Sajad’s involvement spread, he escaped and joined the proscribed terror outfit JeM.”

In the morning, two Indian army soldiers who were injured in a VBIED – vehicle-borne improvised explosive device – attack on a Hardened ALS vehicle carrying army men in Arihal area of Pulwama district, succumbed at army’s 92 base hospital in Srinagar. Although the police said 6 army men were hurt but sources say at least 9 of them suffered injuries. 

Sources in the police said that Sajad was also involved in Monday’s IED attack in Pulwama. 

On the same day, Major Ketan Sharma died fighting terrorists in Anantnag while another Major rank officer and two other jawans suffered injuries, who are undergoing treatment. One foreign terrorist was also eliminated in the encounter. 

On 12th June, terrorists carried out a suicide attack on security forces deployed at KP road in Anantnag district, killing 5 CRPF personnel and injuring four others including a J&K police Inspector Arshad Khan, who later succumbed to his injuries at AIIMS New Delhi. One foreign terrorist was also shot dead while he was firing at the security forces. 

VBIED ATTACKS:

Yesterday’s vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in Pulwama was third of such nature. First, on 14 February, a Maruti ECO car was used by a local Jaish terrorist to target security forces convoy which resulted in the killing of 40 CRPF men at Lethpora. The incident triggered tension in the sub-continent as both India and Pakistan indulged in a dogfight. 

After Pulwama, yet another suicide attack was attempted in Banihal area in Ramban district on a CRPF convoy which was moving towards Jammu. According to sources, the attacker, at the final moment, changed his mind and left the car, which blasted without causing any major damage. Police later arrested the terrorist and his other associates in Kashmir. 

Arihal VBIED attack was the third such incident in J&K. This has raised an alarm in the security establishment, who were successful in minimizing collateral damage in encounters. The question here is that are the IEDs and VBIEDs making a comeback in the Kashmir valley?