Friday, May 4, 2012

8 al-Qaida militants killed in southern Yemen: ministry

ADEN, Yemen, May 3 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni army killed at least eight al-Qaida militants in a battle in the southern province of Abyan on Thursday, the defense ministry said.

The 39th Armored Army Brigade repulsed an armed attack by al- Qaida terrorist group in Bajdar neighborhood near Abyan's provincial capital Zinjibar, killing at least eight terrorists and injuring several others, the ministry reported in a brief statement posted on its website.

"The army troops managed to foil an al-Qaida attack against a military post positioned on the outskirts of Zinjibar," the statement said.

Meanwhile, a tribal chief told Xinhua anonymously that 12 al- Qaida militants were killed on Thursday evening in clashes with tribal fighters near the Lauder town in Abyan.

Hundreds of soldiers and insurgents have been killed since last month in Lauder and Mudiyah towns in Abyan during ongoing battles between the Yemeni army and al-Qaida militants.

Taking advantage of the one-year-long political conflicts in Yemen, resurgent Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), locally known as Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), has taken control of several cities and swathes of land across the restive southern provinces.

The AQAP, mainly entrenching itself in Yemen's southern provinces of Abyan and Shabwa, is on the terrorist list of the United States, which considers it as an increasing threat to its national security.

Enhanced by Zemanta

3 Turkish soldiers killed in clashes with PKK in Turkey's east

Districts of Tunceli
Districts of Tunceli (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
ANKARA, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Three soldiers of the Turkish security forces were killed in clashes with the militants of the outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in eastern Turkey early Friday, private Dogan news agency reported.

The clashes erupted between the PKK and the Turkish security forces in Alacik village in Tunceli province as the Turkish troops were on duty in the region, leaving one sergeant and two soldiers dead, according to the report.

Due to the heavy fog and rain, the Turkish helicopters could not land in support of the Turkish security forces, said the report, which added that the security forces started an operation in the area to capture the PKK members, who had escaped from the scene.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms in 1984 in a bid to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Since then, more than 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts involving the group.

Enhanced by Zemanta

15 insurgents killed in eastern Afghanistan

GARDEZ : At least 15 insurgents were killed and three others wounded over the past 24 hours in eastern provinces of Afghanistan, officials said on Friday.

Six militants were killed and two others injured by the bomb they were making in a mosque in the Kotikhel area of Zurmat district in Paktia province, the governor’s spokesman said.

Roohullah Samoon told Pajhwok Afghan News four foreigners were among the dead militants. However, the gubernatorial did not give their nationalities.

A resident of the district, Haji Gul, confirmed the blast, but had no information about casualties.

One of the injured men, evacuated to the district hospital, was later shifted to Kabul in serious condition, a doctor at Gardez Civil Hospital said on condition of anonymity.

Separately, seven insurgents were killed in an airstrike by US-led coalition forces in the Naka district of neighboring Paktika province, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

A brief statement from the alliance said the raid was conducted after militants opened fire on Afghan border police.

In another incident, foreign and Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers killed two guerrillas and injured a third in the Watapur district of eastern Kunar province.

In the central Logar province, ANA and coalition forces detained a Haqqani Network adherent in Mohammad Agha district during, the statement said, adding the detainee was being interrogated by coalition forces.

from Pajhwok

Enhanced by Zemanta

Somalia: Mortars Hit Presidential Palace

Mogadishu — Nearly 10 mortars slammed at Somalia's presidential palace on Friday night as explosions and gunfire rocked Mogadishu in the latest outbreak of violence in chaotic Somalia, witnesses said.

"I can confirm two mortars have hit near VillaSomalia," a source told Shabelle Media of the building where President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed stays. "We do not have word yet if there were casualties or not."

More than a dozen explosions boomed across Mogadishu and gunfire rattled out to break a lull in the violence of several days in the coastal capital of the Horn of Africa nation.

"I have heard more than a dozen explosions ... now there is no gunfire," said a resident

Also in the news, unknown gunmen have overnight attacked on government bases in Mogadishu, triggering face-to-face gun-battle that lasted two hours.

At least four government soldiers were killed last night in Mogadishu. Al shabab group has so said it was behind the killing.


from allAfrica

Enhanced by Zemanta

Deadly suicide bomb blast foiled in capital Kabul

Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate for Security officials on Thursday said Afghan security forces foiled a deadly suicide bomb blast in capital Kabul.

The officials further added the militants were looking to carry out suicide bomb blast using a truck laden with explosives.

An Afghan NDS officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said a Pakistani militant wanted to detonate a truck packed with explosives in Kabul-Jalalabad road.

He also said Afghan security forces managed to detain the suicide bomber before he reach his target.

This comes as a suicide bomber on Wednesday attacked a NATO military camp in the same area, killing at least 7 civilians and injuring 17 others.

from KHAAMA
By Ghanizada
Enhanced by Zemanta

17 killed, 40 injured in suicide attack in NW Pakistan

Seven agencies of Federally Administered Triba...
Seven agencies of Federally Administered Tribal Areas along with Six frontier regions of F.A.T.A. in Pakistan. 1. Bajaur, 2. Khyber, 3. Kurram, 4. Mohmand, 5. North Waziristan, 6. Orakzai, 7. South Waziristan. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
ISLAMABAD, May 4 (Xinhua) -- At least 17 people were killed and over 40 others injured when a suicide blast ripped through a crowded bazaar in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of Bajaur Agency on Friday morning, according to official sources.

An official with the political administration of Bajaur Agency, who asked not to be named, said that 17 people were killed and over 40 others injured in the blast and some of the injured were in critical condition.

Some local media said that around 30 people were killed in the blast, but this is not officially confirmed.

The killed include eight security personnel and nine civilians, said local Urdu TV channel DAWN.

The slightly injured have received medical treatment at the local hospitals while the seriously wounded have been rushed to the hospitals in the neighboring city of Peshawar, the largest city in northwest Pakistan, local officials said.

Both Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack. The prime minister has instructed the hospital administrations to provide the best medical treatment to the injured.

The blast took place at about 8:10 a.m. local time when a suicide bomber, reportedly aged about 14, detonated his suicide jacket while security personnel patrolling at a market in Khar, a major town in Bajaur Agency, stopped him on suspicion and were about to frisk him.

At least five vehicles and four shops were destroyed in the blast, said local media.

The blast caused huge panic in the market area and all the shops and schools in the nearby areas have been closed following the blast.

A curfew was imposed in the area after the attack.

No group has claimed the responsibility for the attack yet.

Friday's suicide blast was the 15th of its kind in Pakistan since this year. Up to date, at least 130 people have reportedly been killed in these attacks.
Enhanced by Zemanta

At least 13 dead, scores injured in blasts in Dagestan

A police officer guards the site of a powerful explosion on the outskirts of Makhachkala, southern Russia, Friday, May 4, 2012. – Photo by AP
MAKHACHKALA (DAWN.com): At least 13 people have been killed and scores more injured in two powerful explosions in Russia’s restive North Caucasus.
Emergency ministry chief physician in Dagestan, Kazanfar Kurbanov, said on Friday that more than 120 people were injured and 15 of them are in critical condition. Authorities are treating the blasts on Thursday night as an attack by insurgents.

Dagestan is plagued by frequent attacks on police and civilians by Islamist insurgence.

The insurgency spread to the region from neighboring Chechnya where Russian federal forces have fought two wars with separatists since 1994.
Enhanced by Zemanta

11 Taliban militants killed in southern Afghanistan

Cropped version of a larger map to show detail...
Cropped version of a larger map to show detail around Lashkar Gah (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, May 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 11 Taliban militants were killed over night when the NATO-led forces launched an air attack in Gereshk district of southern Helmand province, a police source said on Friday.

"Eleven Taliban rebels were killed after they were spotted with weapons in Hous-e-Khoshk area of Gereshk district Thursday night," a police official and head of the coordination center of joint forces in the province, Muhammad Ismail Hotak, told Xinhua.

He said the armed militants intended to launch attacks on security check posts in the area and the police forces called in an air support killing the entire attackers on the spot.

The Taliban militants, whose regime was toppled in a U.S.-led incursion in late 2001, announced on Wednesday that they will launched a spring rebel offensive dubbed "Al-Farooq" from May 3 and the targets are foreign and Afghan troops as well as legislators and government functionaries.

Meantime, Hotak also confirmed that Taliban militants launched armed attacks in Naw Zad, Musa Qala and Sangin districts Thursday night but Afghan police and army soldiers repelled the attacks and causing no casualties on side of security forces.

However, a Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi told local media that the insurgent fighters launched massive coordinated attacks across the Helmand province killing several Afghan and foreign troops.

Notorious for growing poppy and militancy the Helmand province has been branded as Taliban hotbed in southern part of the insurgency-hit country.

Separately, nine Taliban insurgents were killed in eastern Afghan provinces when Afghan and NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched cleanup operations in the region within 24 hours ended on May 3, the ISAF's Regional Command East said in a statement on Friday morning.

Operations in Regional Command East are still ongoing, the statement added.
Enhanced by Zemanta

May 04., 2012. - ISAF Joint Command Morning Operational Update

KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan led security force supported by coalition troops detained a Taliban leader during an operation in Imam Sahib district, Kunduz province, today.

The leader planned and conducted roadside bombings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition troops throughout the province. He also coordinated the movement of insurgents from Pakistan to Kunduz.

The security force detained two additional insurgents as a result of this operation.

In other International Security Assistance Force news throughout Afghanistan:

South

In Lashkar Gah district, Helmand province, an Afghan and coalition security force detained a Taliban leader during an operation today. The leader conducted roadside bombings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces. Several additional insurgents were also detained.

In Khash Rod district, Nimroz province, an Afghan and coalition security force discovered a drug cache during a routine patrol yesterday. The cache consisted of approximately 645 pounds (493 kilograms) of opium. The security force destroyed the cache on-site without incident.

East

In Terayzai district, Khost province, an Afghan and coalition security force detained a Haqqani leader during an operation today. The leader conducted roadside bombings and other attacks against Afghan and coalition security forces in Khost district. The security force detained multiple additional insurgents and seized several weapons along with bomb-making materials as a result of this operation.

Finally, an Afghan and coalition security force conducted an operation to detain a Taliban leader in Andar district, Ghazni province, today. The leader organizes roadside bombings and other attacks against Afghan National Security Forces and coalition troops. The security force detained several suspected insurgents and seized multiple improvised explosive device components as a result of the operation.

Enhanced by Zemanta

Search this blog