Attackers on Tuesday gunned down three women working to administer polio vaccine in eastern Afghanistan, officials said, a day after authorities launched a new campaign against the crippling children’s disease, like reported by stripes.com.

The women were killed in two separate attacks in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. Fared Khan, spokesman for Nangarhar police, said two were shot and killed in police District 7 and the third in District 4.

According to an official from the governor’s office, local media were reporting that no arrests have been made so far in the case. The official, who was not authorized to talk to the media, spoke on condition of anonymity.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but eastern Afghanistan has witnessed an increase of attacks by the Islamic State group. IS militants have declared war on Shiites and frequently target the country’s minority Hazaras.

The government on Monday launched another round of polio vaccinations across the country, aiming to inoculate 9.6 million children under 5 years of age. The polio drive came after 54 new cases of polio were reported in 2020, the highest number on record since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said the U.N. children’s agency “is outraged” at the attack and paid tribute to the three “courageous vaccinators who were at the forefront of efforts to combat the spread of polio and keep Afghanistan’s children safe from this disabling disease.”

She said “frontline health workers should never be a target of violence” and stressed that UNICEF remains “committed to supporting polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan.”

According to the United Nations, Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan are the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic, after Nigeria was last year declared free of the wild poliovirus. With an increase in the number of polio cases during the last three years, the battle to eradicate the disease has become a pivoting challenge for Afghanistan.

Most of the vaccination campaigns across the country are conducted by female health workers, who can gain better access to households and mothers and children in a door-to-door effort.

Earlier this month, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for killing three women who worked for a local radio and TV station, also in Jalalabad. Mursal Wahidi, Sadia Sadat and Shahnaz Raufi had left work together and were killed in separate attacks while on their way home.

Meanwhile, many other attacks have gone unclaimed. The government blames most on the resurgent Taliban, who today hold sway over nearly half the country. The Taliban, in turn, deny any role in some of the attacks and blame the government.

The Afghan intelligence agency—the National Directorate Security (NDS)– in a statement on Tuesday said that the NDS’s special operation units eliminated a “key member” of an Al Qaeda network and a “high-profile Taliban commander” during an operation in Giyan district of Paktika province, like reported by tolonews.com.

“Special forces of the National Directorate of Security during a targeted operation eliminated a key member of Al Qaeda network including a Taliban commander in Gilan district of Paktika province,” the statement said.

“Dawlat Bek Tajiki, known as Abu Mohammad Al-Tajiki, a key member of Al Qaeda network for the Indian subcontinent, and Hazrat Ali, also known as Hamza, a native of Waziristan and a commander of the Taliban terrorist group, were considered among the plotters of highly complicated attacks,” the statement said.

“These individuals were links between the Al Qaeda network and the Taliban terrorist group and were responsible for equipping and financing the Taliban terrorist group,” the statement said.

The NDS said that the two commanders were providing advice to the Taliban for their spring offensive.

According to the NDS, the two were also responsible for financing and providing weapons and military training to the Taliban in Ghazni and Zabul provinces.

The Ministry of Defense in a released statement announced the arrest of the Taliban intelligence chief for Nangarhar province, like reported by khaama.com.

The ministry stated on Monday, that Afghan commandos launched an operation in the Shirzad district of Nangarhar province.

During the defense operation, Shafiqullah, the Taliban’s intelligence chief for the province, was arrested along with two other suspects, according to the statement.

Ministry of Defense also stated that at least ten Taliban insurgents were killed and a car bomb incident was prevented during ANDSF operations in southern Kandahar province.

In the past 24 hours, Afghan national defense and security forces backed by air support conducted security operations in Arghandab, Panjwai, and Maiwand districts of southern Kandahar province, MoD said in a statement.

During the operations 10 Taliban militants were killed, 3 others were wounded, a motorbike and some quantity of weapons and ammunition were also destroyed by the ANDSF members.

ANA also discovered and defused a number of IEDs in the regions where defense operations were launched.

A Taliban explosive-laden vehicle was also wrecked before it could reach its target, preventing a bloodstained incident from occurring which resulted in saving the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians, MoD stated.

This comes as peace efforts continue but violence across the country intensified, causing many fatalities and losses.

Indonesian police discovered powerful explosives and arrested more suspected Islamist militants on Monday, after a series of raids following a suicide attack a day earlier outside a cathedral on the first day of the Easter Holy Week, like reported by reuters.com.

The two bombers were the only fatalities in Sunday’s attack in the city of Makassar on Sulawesi island, which wounded 19 people and took place as mass was finishing.

Police said the bombers were a married couple who belonged to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an Islamic State-inspired group suspected of suicide attacks on churches and a police post that killed at least 30 people in the city of Surabaya in 2018.

National police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo said 13 people in Greater Jakarta, West Nusa Tenggara and Makassar had been arrested since the attack and had different roles in its execution, from making the explosives to detonating them.

Listyo said 5.5 kg (12.13 lb) of explosives and several ingredients from the raids, including triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a powerful but unstable mixture often used by Islamist militant groups.

Listyo told a news conference the male bomber wrote a letter to family expressing his intentions to die for his beliefs.

About 20 suspected JAD members were arrested in January, and authorities believe JAD was involved in the twin suicide attack on a Philippine church in 2019 that killed more than 20 people and wounded more than 100.

Makassar, the biggest city on Sulawesi island, reflects the religious makeup of Indonesia, which is the world’s largest Muslim-majority country and has a substantial Christian minority, among other faiths.

As the Afghanistan government agrees to talks with the Taliban in Moscow on Thursday following the proposal by the Joseph R. Biden regime in the U.S., the security situation in Pakistan is worsening, like reported by thefloridastar.com.

The areas bordering Afghanistan provinces, encompassing the volatile provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have seen the resurgence of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the rise of the Islamic State in recent months.

The TTP’s re-emergence in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was witnessed in 2019 when locals from Miranshah in Pakistan’s Waziristan started receiving fatwas asking for bans on music, women leaving their homes, and polio vaccinations.

The threats have spread to other parts of the tribal areas in recent months, with pamphlets and letters scribed by the TTP chief Noor Wali Mehsud, who has been blacklisted by the United Nations in 2020, threatening government officials and journalists. A warning issued in February urged the locals to brace themselves for a rise in Taliban attacks.

The Pakistani Taliban have resurfaced after military operation Zarb-e-Azb in 2014 largely eliminated their presence in North Waziristan, where many of the TTP factions had moved in after the Rah-e-Nijat Operation in 2009.

The Islamic State, meanwhile, announced its presence in the region with its Khorasan faction launched in January 2015. In May 2019, months before the TTP reaffirmed its return to Waziristan, Islamic State announced its new provinces in India and Pakistan.

The Islamic State has worked in tandem with TTP allies and factions like the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al-Alami (LeJA) to launch terror attacks in Balochistan. The most notable among these are the attacks targeting a government hospital in Quetta in 2016, the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church attack in 2017, and the 2018 suicide bombing on an election rally in Mastung, in Balochistan province, which was the second deadliest terror attack in Pakistan’s tumultuous history.

The JuA, a LeJ faction, Hezb ul Ahar, TTP (Bismillah), TTP (Sajna), and the al-Qaeda-linked Amjad Farooqi group joined the TTP in 2020. Most of these groups had found refuge in Afghanistan, according to the United Nations Security Council report last year.

Following the reassembly, the TTP has increased its terror raids in the former FATA. On Feb. 21, six individuals were kidnapped in North Waziristan. A day earlier, four female social workers were shot dead in Mir Ali town of North Waziristan.

“There has been a rise in killings over the past two to three months,” rights activist and politician Abdullah Nangyal, a member of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, told Zenger News.

“Four women were killed last month; [on March 15] a woman was martyred in her home. It’s condemnable and against Pashtun culture to target women

“In the Dottani tribe of South Waziristan warfare has been going on for the past 25 days. Two, three people are dying every day. There are openly using rocket launchers and cannons. In the Barang area of Bajaur, intense bombings are ongoing. But the state is least bothered,” Nangyal said.

The former FATA was merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2018, after having been hitherto governed through the British Frontier Crimes Regulations of 1901. Before 2018, the Afghanistan-bordering FATA had become the hub of jihadist groups, most notably the TTP and its factions.

But two-and-a-half-years since the mainstreaming of FATA was initiated, locals say the attitude of the state apparatus remains the same. Many say that reforms that were to be carried out in former FATA haven’t even been initiated.

“The word qabaaili (tribal) is still being used in the former FATA,” Adnan Betani from Tank Subdivision, formerly Frontier Region Tank, told Zenger News.

“Qabaili is a concept, a thought process. Until you remove this world, the thinking won’t change,” Betani said.

Others point out that merely the names and designations of the law enforcement agents have been altered, but the same individuals are occupying the same positions.

“The changes are there only on paper,” FATA Research Centre President Saifullah Mahsud told Zenger News. “The political agent became the DC [deputy commissioner]. But confusion remains over duties and responsibilities of government officials.”

“Civil matters are not the army’s specialty. They are managing the region because they are already there and are considered the most powerful institution [in the country]. However, question marks remain over jurisdiction, and despite the constitution now applying in the area and the high court’s ruling also being applicable, the Jirga system remains,” he said.

The Jirga, a traditional assembly of tribal elders which issues verdicts on all matters, legally became redundant following FATA’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Many of the Jirgas have been spearheaded by the Taliban.

Local activists have argued that the longstanding legal vacuum in the tribal belt has allowed jihadists to flourish. Now rights groups and activists say that Pakistan’s bid to mainstream the Afghan Taliban in Kabul is pushing Islamabad to maintain the turbulence in former FATA.

“The road is being paved for militancy again. They’ve been doing it for over 40 years. To make the Afghan Taliban a stakeholder again, it is important to send reinforcements from this side. For that, you need turmoil here,” said Nangyal.

Nangyal’s Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, or Pashtun Protection Movement, was launched in 2018 following the extrajudicial killing of Pashtun laborer Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake encounter. It has since spiraled into a nationalist movement for countrywide Pashtuns demanding an end to human rights abuses carried out by the state.

The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement accuses the Pakistan Army of propping terror groups in the tribal areas. The Pakistani military establishment accuses the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement of aggravating the security situation by fabricating resentment among the locals against the Pakistan Army, which hinders counterterrorism operations. There is a blanket ban on local media coverage of the group.

However, some security experts argue that the local resentment is owing to the flawed operations in the region. They also accuse the state of jeopardizing peace in Pakistan by vying to control the future of Afghanistan through the duplicitous support for the Afghan Taliban.

“Supporting the Afghan Taliban is counterproductive,” Lieutenant General Talat Masood, a former secretary at Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production, told Zenger News.

“You can’t prevent the TTP from gaining strength if you support Afghan Taliban. How can we differentiate between the two? Also, how can we say that the Taliban are good for Afghanistan but not good for us?”

Masood also says that the Pakistan Army has used groups like LeJA to counter separatists in Balochistan. Many of those LeJA foot soldiers have now gravitated towards the Islamic State.

“They are always using one group against the other. That makes Pakistan very divisive. What is needed are policies that attract the large majority of the locals,” said Masood.

“They need to be fairer towards the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, which is pursuing a democratic route. You may not agree with some of their policies, but fundamentally they are promoting democracy, which is what Pakistan needs.”

With the disturbing news of radical Islamic militancy groups expanding network and capabilities in West Bengal and adjacent provinces, one can say – India is at risk! And unfortunately, West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress and its godmother Mamata Banerjee – instead of taking needful steps in fighting these evil forces – has been appeasing the jihadists while many of her party comrades have been even seeing these notorious groups as a “power force” against the central government of Bharatiya Janata Party (BNP) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, like reported by weeklyblitz.net.

Al Qaeda pamphlet in West Bengal
Back in 2014, intelligence officials in West Bengal recovered Al Qaeda pamphlets, which talked about establishing sharia rule in West Bengal as well as several eastern and northeastern provinces in India.

The pamphlet, credited to al-Qaeda’s media wing, specifically mentions West Bengal and Assam, though Indian intelligence officials suspected Bihar and Jharkhand also included in the terror group’s plans.

“If we manage to establish a Syria-like reign here then Muslims from Assam, Arakan (former name of Burma’s Rakhine State) and West Bengal too would be able to come here for hijrat (migration with religious agenda).

Simultaneously, anti-India revolts would intensify in seven eastern Indian states,” says the pamphlet. “This would be a huge blow for India, one of the key non-Muslim states in the changed situation of the world”.

The discovery of the jihadi literature came after al Qaeda announced its plans in September 2014 to open a branch in the Indian subcontinent. Indian intelligence officials claimed – since Al Qaeda urged people to restore the Islamic rule of pre-colonial India, it would pose security challenges amid growing communal polarization in West Bengal.

But the Indian intelligence agencies failed to find the real culprit behind the pamphlet. They quickly came to the conclusion of the pamphlet being “smuggled out into the state [West Bengal] through Bangladesh” – reality was totally different. Reason behind Indian intelligence’s anticipation of the pamphlet been smuggled into from Bangladesh was because of October 2 jihadist bomb blast in Burdwan in which two members of

The pamphlet, suspected to have been smuggled into the state through Bangladesh, was discovered a few days before the October 2 Burdwan blast in which two operatives of the militant outfit, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were killed while making bombs in a house.

But the Indian intelligence agencies did not go through forensic test of the pamphlet itself to get some vital clue. According to my own sources – those pamphlets were printed at any of the printing presses in West Bengal.

Al Qaeda launchpads in India
In February 2021, National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India filed a charge-sheet against 11 jihadists belonging to Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) for plotting terrorist attacks in India at the instruction of their Pakistan-based handlers.

According to NIA, Murshid Hasan, Mosaraf Hoseen, Mainul Mandal, Lea Yean Ahmed, Najmus Sakib, Iyakub Biswas, Samim Ansari, Abu Sufian, Atiur Rahman, Al Mamun Kamal and Abdul Momin Mandal have been named in the charge sheet under sections of the IPC, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Arms Act.

The case was registered by the NIA based on information about an al-Qaeda-inspired module sprouting and operating in West Bengal and Kerala under the leadership of Hasan, the spokesperson of the premier investigation agency told reporters.

The members of this module were in advanced stage of conspiracy to execute terrorist attacks in different parts of India.

In raids conducted on September 19, 2020 in West Bengal and Kerala, nine terrorists were arrested. Subsequently, two more terror operatives were arrested from West Bengal on August 26 and November 1 last year.

Hasan was in touch with al-Qaeda handlers based in Pakistan and had received instructions along with radical propaganda material through encrypted social media platform – Telegram.

NIA said, Hasan along with his other associates conspired to radicalize and recruit more individuals into al-Qaeda.

They disseminated radical material through social media and encrypted chat platforms with an intention to radicalize and recruit others for establishing a sharia state by waging a violent jihad in India.

They planned to attack individuals whom they consider ‘Kafirs’ [infidels] and conducted a series of conspiratorial meetings for raising funds for the purchase of arms and ammunition and explosive materials, radicalizing and recruiting more members and charting out the future course of action, including establishing a Markaz (a training center for providing religious and weapons training to new recruits).

The accused were also in active communication with an arms dealer through their foreign-based handlers and were planning to receive a consignment of sophisticated arms and ammunition in New Delhi, the NIA official said.

West Bengal, an epicenter of jihadist groups
In January 2021, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar expressed concern over the security environment and said it is under threat adding that terrorist organization Al Qaeda is spreading and growing in the state.

He said: Security environment (in West Bengal) is under threat. Al Qaeda has spread its network. Illegal bomb-making are rampant. I would like to know what are they (Mamata Banerjee’s administration) doing? The position of DGP in West Bengal is an open secret. That is why I say we have political Police.

West Bengal Governor criticized Mamata Banerjee’s administration for its failure in taking necessary steps in stopping jihadists forces such as Al Qaeda in Indian Subcontinent in further expanding networks and strength.

Mamata Banerjee’s party comrade defends Al Qaeda
On October 1, 2020, in a stunning statement, West Bengal’s minister of state Siddiqullah Chowdhury, who is known as one of the most trusted political aides of Mamata Banerjee demanded release of the Al Qaeda jihadists and termed them as “innocent”. He also blamed the NIA and Narendra Modi government of “defaming the Muslim community” in the name of terrorism.

Siddiqullah is the president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, a group accused of having links with radical Islamic organizations.

NDS’ special operatives clashed with Islamic State militants (Daesh) in the Mohmand district of eastern Nangarhar on Sunday night, like reported by khaama.com.

National Directorate of Security (NDS) special forces clashed with Islamic State militants in Mohmand district of eastern Nangarhar province on Sunday night, killing the district chief, Mahmood Jan, officials said.

“Mahmood Jan”, the ISI-K district chief was killed during the operation.

Sources indicated that the killed individual was a well-known Daesh fighter and the group’s commander, who time to time plotted violent attacks on security forces.

A provincial official reported that the Afghan security forces arrested three other Daesh members.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Saber Tokhi an area representative in the Qalat district was targeted by an IED explosion.

Hekmatullah Kochi, commander of Zabul police told the media, that the incident happened at around 9:00 am this morning in the Chowk area in Qalat city.

Taliban took the responsibility for the attack.

This comes despite peace efforts in Afghanistan, just recently Los Angeles times reported that Gen. Kenneth McKenzie said that the war in the country will intensify and the Taliban could threaten major cities unless the Biden administration does not push for an end to the conflict within the coming two months.

LA TIMES quoted Gen. McKenzie saying: “If we withdraw and no deal was made with the Taliban, I think the government of Afghanistan is going to be in for a very stiff fight to retain possession of towns and cities”.

President Ashraf Ghani and General McKenzie had a meeting on Saturday in Kabul, both discussed the security situation, the peace process, and America’s support to Afghan national defense and security forces.

The war in the country is so complex at a level that Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said that according to the MoI investigations, a private media outlet was involved in the transfer of explosives.

He added there are serious questions in this regard and that MoI is working to find the desired answer for it.

Arian did not provide any further details about the media outlet.

At least 134 Taliban fighters were killed in armed clashes with the national army in 10 provinces, said a statement issued by the ministry of defense on Tuesday. The statement said that another 65 insurgents were also wounded in the clashes took place over the past 24 hours, like reported by menafn.com.

Five militant commanders were among the dead, according defense ministry, which said the operations were launched in the provinces of Zabul, Kabul, Faryab, Balkh, Helmand, Farah, Ghazni, Herat and Kandahar.

Fawad Aman, deputy spokesman at the defense ministry, said that the Taliban launched offensives in 22 provinces over the past 24 hours. The offensive, he said, included firing of heavy weapons, terror cases, ambushes and landmine explosions.

He said that the army soldiers pushed the attackers back in many provinces, however he declined to provide details about army casualties.

Taliban did not immediately comment.

In another incident, a local police chief was killed by a roadside bomb in Ghazni province.

Provincial officials said that police chief for the Deh Yak district was killed on his road to an operation that a roadside bomb hit his vehicle.

Also in Daikundi province, Taliban militants attacked an army outpost in the Pato district. Provincial officials confirmed the attack, saying that four soldiers were killed and two injured.

In a night operation in Nangarhar province, NDS killed the deputy intelligence chief of ISIL for the province, like reported by khaama.com.

Afghan National Directorate of Security in a press release says that the deputy intelligence chief of Daesh (IS-K) was killed in a night raid in Nangarhar province.

NDS stated on Monday, that special forces of its unit carried out the night operation in Adur area of Khogyani district in Nangarhar.

According to the National Directorate of Security’s 02 unit, the operation lasted resulting in the seizure of three AK-57 rifles, a shotgun, a tactical vest, and a pistol.

Eastern Nangarhar is one of the insecure provinces in the country and in addition to the existence of Taliban fighters, Daesh-affiliated militants are also present and active in some areas of the region.

In recent years, Nangarhar province has been the main base of Daesh in Afghanistan, the group carries similar attacks like Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and other militant groups.

This comes as Unknown gunmen shot dead a civilian prosecutor, Mirwais Samadi, in the company area of PD 5, Kabul this morning.

Kabul Police confirmed the incident and added that an investigation is underway to determine the motive behind the assassination.

At least seven members of Afghanistan’s persecuted Hazara ethnic group were brutally murdered in the country’s restive east, officials said Thursday, in the latest attack to target the largely Shiite minority.

The group of migrant Hazara labourers had their hands bound behind their backs and were shot to death late Wednesday, according to Nangarhar provincial council member Ajmal Omar.

Juma Gul Hemat — Nangarhar’s provincial police chief — confirmed the murders, adding that four people had been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation.

The incident occurred roughly 20 kilometres from the eastern city of Jalalabad near the Pakistan border — an area where a large number of militants are believed to have influence, including the Taliban and the local affiliate of the Islamic State (IS) group.

No group has claimed responsibility for the murders.

Jalalabad has been hit hard by targeted killings in the last week with three female media workers gunned down in the city’s streets on Tuesday in separate attacks that occurred just minutes apart.

A female doctor was also killed by an explosion early Thursday after a magnetic bomb was attached to her vehicle.

For years, the Hazara have increasingly taken the brunt of rising violence across Afghanistan with IS suicide bombers attacking their mosques, schools, rallies and hospitals.

The Hazara make up roughly 10 to 20 percent of the Afghan population and have long been persecuted for their largely Shiite faith by Sunni hardliners in a country wracked by deep ethnic divisions.

The Taliban has also targeted the group over the years, kidnapping and killing Hazara commuters travelling on the country’s perilous roads with near impunity.

During the Taliban’s brief rule of the country in the 1990s, the jihadists were also accused of massacring large numbers of the group.

The Hazara have also been targeted outside of Afghanistan.

In January, a group of Hazara miners — most of whom were Afghan nationals — were brutally killed in another execution-styled massacre claimed by IS in Pakistan.