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Recent Appearances...

Southeast Asia

Too good to be true? Unpacking Jemaah Islamiyah’s self-declared disbanding

2024-09-08

2024.07.10
[BenarNews] At an event organized last month by the Indonesian counter-terrorism agency (BNPT), Abu Rusydan and 15 other leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah announced their group’s dissolution.

JI, the Southeast Asian affiliate of al-Qaeda, had carried out a string of devastating attacks in the 2000s, including Indonesia’s deadliest-ever terror attack — the 2002 Bali bombings. But now it was "ready to actively contribute to Indonesia’s progress and dignity," Abu Rusydan declared as he read from a prepared statement during the event on June 30.

This is not the first time that a bully boy group has disbanded itself. The Provisional Irish Republican Army unilaterally broke up in 2005, throwing itself solely into legal activities through its political arm, Sinn Féin. In 2018, the Basque separatist organization ETA also unilaterally disbanded.

But Jemaah Islamiyah’s announcement surprised many people, and left others feeling skeptical.

There are three interrelated questions that need to be asked about the move by JI: How did we get here? Is this for real? And what does this mean for regional security?

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
Jemaah Islamiyah, which has its roots in the Darul Islam movement, was founded in Malaysia in 1993, when its two founders, Abdullah Sungkar and

Abu Bakar Bashir
... Leader of the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council and proprietor of the al-Mukmin madrassah in Ngruki. The spriritual head of Jemaah Islamiya, which he denies exists. Bashir was jugged and then released in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings, which he blamed on a conspiracy among the U.S., Israel, and Australia. In 2014, as leader of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), he pledged allegiance to ISIS. Currently in jug...
, were on the run from Suharto’s New Order government in Indonesia.

While in Malaysia, they served as a way-station for several hundred gunnies who traveled to Pakistain to join the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, putting them in direct contact with al-Qaeda.

In 1996, a charter (the PUPJI) created the group’s organizational structure and codified JI’s Salafi ideology. At the time, the group also reached an agreement with the Philippine armed separatist organization, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, to allow al-Qaeda to establish training camps in the southern Philippines.

In Indonesia, JI perpetrated terrorist attacks on Christian churches and established two paramilitary organizations to wage sectarian conflict in the Maluku Islands and Central Sulawesi province.

Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the al-Qaeda leadership called for diversionary attacks. One of these was the twin Bali bombings that killed 202 people a year later.

Between 2002 and 2007, JI perpetrated a major attack almost every year. But each attack left the organization weaker as counterterrorism forces became more adept and better resourced.

This led to an ideological split in the organization between proponents of the line of targeting the "far enemy," versus those who wanted to foment sectarian conflict in order to rebuild their depleted ranks.

The government legally banned JI in 2008, but allowed it to operate as an entity as long as it refrained from violence.

In 2010, more than 100 JI members were swept up, including Abu Bakar Bashir, breaking the organization’s back. JI’s last terrorist act took place that year.

Yet, from 2020-2023, Indonesian counter-terrorism efforts were as focused on JI as it was on the pro-Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
umbrella group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). Security forces originally saw JI as an off-ramp for the more radical JAD, but attitudes hardened.

In 2019, when counterterrorism police arrested JI’s emir, Para Wijayanto, they were shocked by the group’s size and national reach. Its madrassas and charitable arms had grown, while its corporations and publishing arms had created a steady revenue stream. As many JI members were arrested in 2021 and 2022 as JAD suspects.

Indonesian counter-terrorism forces have applied a softer approach. Though seemingly campy, they’ve held mass rallies where former gunnies pledge allegiance to the republic.

Former gunnies have established madrassas for the children of incarcerated bully boys, so they are not raised in JI or JAD-run schools, breaking terrorist social networks.

They’ve gotten leaders, including the JAD Emir Aman Abdurrahman, who is on death row, and Umar Patek, to publicly renounce violence.

Meanwhile the conflict in Poso, which served as a rallying point for all bully boy groups in Indonesia, has been stamped out.

Internationally, there has been more cooperation amongst the regional security services. And while ungoverned space and institutional weakness remains in the southern Philippines, bully boy groups are no longer attracting JI and other foreign bully boys.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front continues to implement the grinding of the peace processor and build up institutions that will help the autonomous Moslem region transition to self-governance. There has been an unprecedented sustained attack on the Abu Sayyaf
...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder...
, which is now fighting for survival.

IS THIS FOR REAL?
While JI has not been in a position to engage in terrorism, until now, it has never renounced violence. Many in the organization were simply waiting for the right circumstance to resume operations.

It’s easy to be cynical about the group’s prepared statement, especially at an event stage-managed by the BNPT. Some of those who were on hand had been arrested and gone through government disengagement programs.

To young radicals, they’re sell-outs, and past their prime. The average age of the men who renounced violence was in the late 50s or older.

To what degree will younger members follow the leadership and pursue a legal-political alternative?

In many ways, this is more promising. JI’s campaign of militancy failed to bring about the establishment of an Islamic State governed by Sharia. Democratic politics have advanced their political agenda more effectively.

It’s not that Islamist parties do terribly well at the national level. Indeed, in Indonesia’s 2024 general election, they collectively represented about 20% of the electorate and won 101 of 580 seats. But they are important members of political coalitions, which tend to give them a disproportionate voice.

It’s at the local level where we see faith-based parties make their mark, especially in the passage of public policy and Sharia compliant codes, which the majority of provinces and districts now have.

Islamist parties are riddled with rivalries and have never formed a cohesive bloc.

Perhaps for that reason, JI saw an opening for a tactical shift. In May 2021, JI established the Indonesian People’s Dakwah Party (PDRI). Yet, counter-terrorism forces arrested its founder, Farid Ahmad Okbah, that November for being a senior member of JI. Two others were arrested.

The PDRI did not contest the 2024 elections. But it seems likely that with JI’s dissolution, the government will give former members more political space.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR REGIONAL SECURITY?
JI’s manpower and locus were largely-Indonesian based, but it remains a Southeast Asian organization.

Some affiliates gravitated elsewhere. Darul Islam Sabah, for example, went from facilitating JI and the movement of foreign gunnies in and out of the southern Philippines to working with the JAD and other groups.

There has always been more fluidity between Southeast Asian bully boy groups than those in the Middle East or South Asia. Abu Bakar Bashir defected from being pro-al Qaeda to being pro-Islamic State, with large numbers of acolytes, without consequence.

As such, many younger gunnies who are committed to using violence to achieve their political aims are likely to defect to other groups.

What those groups may be, though, is unclear. The JAD is decimated and leaderless, though to be fair, it was always far more horizontally structured. It has not executed a major terrorist attack since 2019.

At present there is no apparent charismatic leader for bully boy Salafists
...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them...
to coalesce around. And while one would expect external events, such as the war in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
, to serve as a catalyst, to date it has not.

JI still runs a network of madrassas, including some very large ones like al-Mukmin and Pesantren Hidayatullah in Balikpapan. These continue to be ideological incubators and hate factories.

It’s hard to see state educational personnel intervene and change their curriculum. But Indonesian security forces have not let up, despite the decline in organizational strength or the tempo of operations.

Terrorism will be a persistent but manageable threat in Indonesia. JI’s dissolution makes it more so, providing a legal-political alternative that is more moral, but also proven to be more effective.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or BenarNews.

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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

2004: Novaya Gazeta Releases Details of Tank Shooting at School in Beslan

2024-09-07

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Sometimes the Russians are their own worst enemy.
[KavkazUzel] The crews of four tanks deployed to the school building in Beslan were ordered to fire on the building when hostages were inside, according to materials from interrogations of servicemen and hostages published by Novaya Gazeta.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, on the twentieth anniversary of the terrorist attack in Beslan, the cultural and patriotic center for the prevention of terrorism "Beslan School No. 1" was opened. The school grounds had to be preserved, says Emma Tagaeva. The center will become international and is necessary to preserve the memory of the terrorist attack, says Atsamaz Misikov.

The project took three years to implement, and 206.1 million rubles were allocated for the creation of the center. Twenty years later, the authorities have still not given a concrete answer as to how terrorists managed to organize the 2004 seizure of a school in Beslan, which resulted in the deaths of more than three hundred people, North Ossetian journalists noted.

On September 1, 2004, militants took 1,128 hostages in the gymnasium of School No. 1 in Beslan. The operation to free them ended on September 3, 2004. As a result of the terrorist attack, 334 people were killed, including 186 children, and another 810 people were injured. The "Caucasian Knot" has prepared a report "Terrorist attack in Beslan (September 1-3, 2004)" and a chronicle of the terrorist attack and the events that followed.

The Beslan attack was a project of Shamil Basayev, head of the Chechen insurgency (which at that time called itself the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, renamed two years later as Al Qaeda’s Caucasus Emirate), financed by Abu Omar Al Seif, who was Al Qaeda’s man in Chechnya. It is said that the money he brought came from the Saudis, and that the jihadis involved in the attack on Beslan School Number One, some of whom were Arabs, were trained in al Qaeda camps.

On the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack in Beslan, Novaya Gazeta published materials from the criminal case that Russia submitted to the ECHR. In particular, journalist Elena Milashina's publication "Tanks in Beslan" states that FSB representatives gave orders to conscripts to shoot at the school from tanks.

As follows from the interrogation protocols of the Chief of Staff, Head of the UFSB of North Ossetia Valery Andreyev, the Chief of the FSB Special Operations Center, General Alexander Tikhonov, reported that on September 2 he asked the command of the 58th Army to provide tanks to the Alpha and Vympel special forces to conduct the operation to rescue the hostages. The Commander of the 58th Army, Viktor Sobol, who was also part of the operational headquarters, gave the order to bring tanks into Beslan.

At 18:00 on September 2, exactly one hour after the former President of Ingushetia, General Ruslan Aushev, led 26 hostages out of the school seized by terrorists and managed to convince the militants to continue negotiations and allow the bodies of the dead hostages to be taken away, tanks entered Beslan and stopped near a transformer substation next to a railroad crossing, three hundred meters from the school seized by terrorists.

The hostages stood in the windows and waved white rags

The first shot from the tank was fired on September 3 at 14:25 Moscow time. At the same time, conscript Dmitry Godovalov, who commanded tank #328, said that the tank crews, who were in their combat vehicles, could clearly see the hostages through the viewing slits and triplex on the windows of the canteen. "The hostages were standing in the windows and waving white rags," he said during interrogation.

"This cafeteria became a real trap for the hostages. The fact is that in the entire first school, only the cafeteria windows had bars installed. Moreover, the bars were installed not on the outside of the windows, as is usually the case, but on the inside of the building. This fact is clearly recorded in numerous photographs of the cafeteria destroyed during the assault, including such photos in the materials of the criminal case. These bars became the main obstacle for the operational combat groups "Alpha" and "Vympel" deployed from Kominterna Street, because they did not allow the special forces to get inside the school. The headquarters tried to develop a scenario for the assault with a minimum number of casualties among both the hostages and the special forces - General Tikhonov spoke about this at a meeting of the parliamentary commission, in addition, this point is reflected in the situational examination. The bars on the cafeteria windows could have become a determining factor in the decision to use tanks. Because the internal fastening of the bars did not allow them to be knocked down or torn out using heavy equipment," writes Milashina.

At 14.25, one of the tanks fired directly at the window of the canteen, where the terrorists had placed their hostages as a human shield. Yuri Savelyev, a member of the federal parliamentary commission, who analyzed in detail in his special opinion the use of tanks during the storming of the Beslan school, assumes that it was tank No. 325, since it had more powerful active armor than other tanks. The shell hit the school gatepost and flew into the assembly hall.

Only 14 years after the tragedy, in December 2018, the presidential envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District, Alexander Matovnikov, made the first official admission since the terrorist attack that the storming of the school had been planned from the very beginning, despite protests from local residents. The presidential envoy also confirmed that the school had been shelled from a tank.

More than 50 witnesses from among former hostages and city residents testified that tanks fired at the canteen between 15:00 and 16:00 (closer to 16:00) on September 3. It was at this time, at 15:10, that General Tikhonov gave the order to the Alpha and Vympel combat groups to directly storm the school. Until that time, the school, mainly the combat positions of the militants, was actively shelled with small arms and grenade launchers. Until 15:10 Moscow time on September 3, not a single special forces soldier was in the school building, the publication says.

The tank crews fired at the windows of the canteen, so the damage to the school's façade wall was minimal; the main damage to the walls, ceilings and floors from tank shells was recorded inside these rooms. At that time, dozens of hostages were able to escape from the gymnasium, which had been destroyed by the first explosions, either on their own or with the help of local residents. However, a significant number of hostages, at the request of the terrorists, moved from the gymnasium to the main part of the school (classrooms, canteen, kitchens) and to its southern wing, the article notes.

The author of the article also emphasized that the number of hostages killed directly in the cafeteria will most likely never be known.

"Immediately after the assault, all the bodies of the dead were taken out of the cafeteria. An autopsy of the bodies and the establishment of the real causes of death of the people killed in the school were not carried out. And in the criminal case and death certificates they wrote that all the hostages died as a result of explosions in the gym," claims Elena Milashina.

At this time, an attempt was made to tear off the bars from the dining room window by the crew of BTR-80 No. 834, commanded by the commander of the reconnaissance and airborne platoon of military unit 12356 Andrei Shuvarikov. However, the terrorists, using the hostages as cover, stopped this attempt with direct fire to kill.

Trying to carry out the order, Andrei Shuvarikov and Warrant Officer Sergei Ryabikhin were wounded, and the BTR was hit by terrorists with an under-barrel grenade launcher.

The investigation, despite the fact that the attempt was unsuccessful, supported the official version, stating that the servicemen of the crew of the armored personnel carrier #834, Shuvarikov and Ryabikhin, managed to hook a cable and tear off the bars on the windows. But this was denied in court by both the hostages and the only, according to the investigation, surviving terrorist Nurpasha Kulaev.

"When they fired from the tank, the bars [in the dining room] fell... The bars were inside. They did not shoot with the tank at the second floor. They shot at the bars. This is inside the first floor," he said.

The hostages who survived in the dining room said that the bars "flew off" as a result of the shelling. "I remember that there was a loud shot, and then the bars [flew off]. I determined by ear that these were shots from a tank, by the way the room shook when they shot. Before that, the militants also shot from machine guns and something else. Then the building shook, too, but not to such an extent," said hostage Zhanna Tsirikhova.

On September 4, during an inspection of the school, investigators actually found window bars inside the cafeteria. In addition, the same inspection recorded a large number of characteristic destructions of the interior walls, floors and ceiling of the cafeteria and adjoining utility rooms, which could not have occurred from the use of firearms and grenades, the publication says.

During the interrogation of the participants in the events in September 2004, a version about the grating, the cable and the APC emerged. The tankers in their testimony claim that only one tank, No. 325, fired seven shots, and that it was in the evening. This tank was commanded by Guram Abuladze.

The second wave of interrogations of the tankers took place in 2005, after the victims testified at the Kulaev trial that all the tanks had repeatedly fired at the canteen during the day, when the hostages were still there. The repeated interrogations of the tankers and servicemen of military unit 12356 almost word for word coincide with their first interrogations.

Only one phrase is added: "Tank No. 325 fired at the school when there were "no more living hostages" in it." The tank crews were interrogated for the third time in 2006. From these interrogations it follows directly that the commander of tank No. 325, Guram Abuladze, voluntarily changed his testimony between 2005 and 2006 and testified under the protocol that on September 3, 2004, he and other tank crews received orders from officers to fire at the canteen where the hostages were. But Guram Abuladze apparently refused to carry out this order, Milashina notes in the publication.

Ivan Bazhenov, a tank driver, said on May 18, 2006, that on the afternoon of September 3, "the Alpha special forces began preparing to storm the school."

According to him, he heard an order on the radio for one of the tanks not to get nervous and not to shoot. "No one fired from the tanks during the assault, at least I did not hear any shots. I did not hear anyone on the radio ordering Abuladze to shoot at the school, at least when I was in the tank, and when I got out of it, I could not hear the radio," he said.

Another conscript, Aleksandr Asharin, said on June 9, 2006, that he did not know that "Abuladze refused to carry out the order <...> to shoot at the school when there were hostages there." "I cannot explain why witnesses and victims claim that the tank fired during the daytime; maybe they got something mixed up," he said.

I know that there was an order to fire at the school during the day when there were hostages there.

This testimony proves that Abuladze told the investigation about the order from the officers to shoot at the school, the publication notes.

This was confirmed by Dmitry Godovalov, commander of tank No. 328. "I know that there was an order to fire at the school during the day, when there were hostages there. But we refused to fire at the school, since the hostages were standing in the windows and waving white rags," he said.

Sixteen years after the terrorist attack, the investigation admitted that tanks had indeed fired at the school during the assault - in 2020, VGTRK aired a film by Alexander Rogatkin about the tragedy in Beslan. The author of the film stated that "a tank was also used." "He fired blanks in order to “to make breaches in the walls for the passage of special forces, and with combat shells,” Rogatkin asserts.

Albert Khasanov, senior investigator for especially important cases of the Investigative Directorate for the North Caucasus Federal District, also spoke about this in the film.

"The T-72 tank had been used before, but it fired blanks. The combat use of the tank, that is, when it fired high-explosive fragmentation shells, was after 21:00," he said.

However, in the weapons reports available in the criminal case, all T-72s only have high-explosive fragmentation shells. According to Milashina, "the version about the "blanks" was created by the victims themselves, who saw the tanks shooting at the school, but they could not imagine that the tanks could shoot at hostages standing in the windows and waving white rags." At the same time, all the interrogated tank crews confirmed that there were no "blanks" in the ammunition of their tanks, the article says.

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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Residents of Chechnya call paid education in madrassas in demand

2024-08-11

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Paid teaching of the Koran and Arabic is in demand in Chechnya, and the demand to introduce free education in madrassas was an attempt by the mufitites to gain control over this area, local residents and a Caucasus expert said.

As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on August 7, at a meeting of directors and teachers of commercial madrassas with the Mufti of Chechnya, Salakh Mezhiyev, it was decided that madrassas would not charge fees to students who could not afford paid tuition.

On August 6, the MRB of Chechnya called on the heads of commercial madrassas to conduct training free of charge and explained this recommendation by numerous complaints. The Muftiate emphasized that it does not demand that madrassas be closed and does not prohibit teaching the Koran, but only asks not to charge for training. There are 413 madrassas operating in Chechnya, of which 131 are commercial and 282 work free of charge.

Representatives of the muftiate and madrassas have agreed that fees "will not be collected on a mandatory basis," a representative of the Chechen DUM told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "There have been inquiries about why fees are so high in some madrassas, and that sometimes people cannot afford to pay for tuition. Directors and teachers of commercial madrassas have agreed at a meeting with the mufti that they will not charge students "mandatory fees." No one is planning to close these schools," he said.

In different regions of Russia where Muslims live, madrassas are sometimes understood to teach the basic principles of Islam, the basics of the Arabic language and reading the Koran, the chairman of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of the Asian part of Russia, Mufti Nafigulla Ashirov, told a correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".

These are often courses or, say, Sunday schools at mosques.

"These are often courses or, say, Sunday schools at mosques. This is a crash course, an education for all those who want to learn about Islam. The teaching is done by imams of mosques or even students of Muslim theological institutions. No special expenses are required for this. In most cases, no fee is charged for this training or it is symbolic," he said.

Along with this "lower level" of education, there are secondary specialized educational institutions called madrassas, he explained. "The activity models of these madrassas may differ. There are madrassas that are maintained by charitable organizations or patrons, often not one, but a group of patrons. Such educational institutions also, as a rule, operate at mosques, and mosques help maintain them. Madrassas and mosques exist due to donations from believers themselves. Such madrassas are located in various regions of the Russian Federation, including the Caucasus. In addition, a number of Islamic institutes and universities have been opened in the Caucasus. In most cases, students of secondary and higher Muslim educational institutions are not charged tuition fees," Ashirov said, adding that Sharia law permits charging tuition fees.

The mufti noted that he is not deeply familiar with the Islamic education system in Chechnya, but he has been there and seen a number of educational institutions. "In Chechnya, among other things, there are Koran Hafiz Training Centers, where 500-600 people study. But they exist at the expense of the budget of the DUM CR, which is formed from donations from believers," he said.

They charge from a thousand to four rubles, as a rule. Everyone is satisfied

A resident of Chechnya, Yuni, said that almost "in every village" there are people who teach the Koran and Arabic, and their services are in demand. "People sign up themselves, sign up their children and undergo training. [They] are charged from a thousand to four rubles, as a rule. Everyone is happy. There is training at madrassas, the authorities call them commercial. Now they are proposing to either switch to free training, and the DUM will pay the teachers, or close them.

Apparently, they want to subjugate all the teachers. But the system is paid, it is convenient because it is within walking distance in both villages and cities. It seems that the authorities are not doing anything terrible, but the reasons are still unclear. Take control of training, teachers, have the opportunity to tell the world that everyone is taught for free?... I don't know," Yuni told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Another resident of the Republic of Beslan believes that the name "commercial madrasah" is inaccurate in relation to these institutions. "In essence, these are private courses in teaching Arabic, tajweed (rules of reciting the Koran). Often, other languages are taught in parallel in these schools, including Chechen. Of course, those who maintain such language schools need to cover expenses, and student fees help with this. The fee is up to 3-4 thousand rubles," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

According to him, they are monitored, as are all educational institutions. "Each [institution] has its own methods. But of course, everything is monitored anyway," he said.

Apparently, in Chechnya, the situation is worse with collecting zakat for Islamic education

A Russian Caucasus expert, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the existence of "commercial madrassas" in Chechnya was a revelation to him. "In Dagestan, all madrassas operate free of charge for students, using funds from zakat collection and donations from sponsors. In Dagestan, there are even religious educational institutions with boarding schools.

Students can receive free education, accommodation, and meals. If commercial madrassas exist, then, apparently, the situation in Chechnya with collecting zakat for Islamic education is worse, or not everyone is satisfied with it," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The Caucasus expert suggested that these madrassas have no relation to the Spiritual Administration, and therefore charge a fee for their existence. "But the very call of the DUM of Chechnya to remove the fee is indicative. In that case, it would be interesting to know who and how will ensure the activities of these madrassas? Will the DUM be able to ensure their existence, or will they have to close? Since they are calling for the abolition of the fee, then there is probably something wrong with the control," he noted.

The educational programs in any madrasah can be controlled, the specialist added. "Because educational activities require a license in any case. This presupposes the presence of control," he said.

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India-Pakistan

TTP Leader Denies Operating from Afghan Soil, Rejects Al-Qaeda Support

2024-07-16

[TOLONEWS] The Tahreek-e-Taliban
Taliban

...mindless ferocity in a turban...
Pakistain has denied receiving fund and training from al-Qaeda and being operative from the Afghan soil or any Afghan citizen involved in their attacks.

In a written message to the religious scholars and national and politicians of Pakistain, Noor Wali Mehsud, the leader of the TTP said that they receive no cooperation from the Islamic Emirate.

The TTP leader claimed they need no foreign aid to carry out their operations nor they have foreign agenda but to defend "their nation from the oppression of generals and the rulers."

"We receive no foreign cooperation in this war of ours, nor do we feel any need to seek it. With the permission of Allah, we have fought a successful 20-year-long guerrilla campaign through the support and cooperation of our nation, and we have the capability to do so for years to come," part of the message reads.

The Pak Taliban have asked Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
and other Islamic countries to investigate whether they are Death Eaters and if war has been imposed on them and that they had no choice but to defend themselves.

Mehsud thanked Pakistain’s religious, political, and national leaders for opposing the country’s new military operations called Azm-e-Istehkam.

Last month, Pakistain’s military launched operations in the country after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s approval.

The TTP leader accused Pakistain’s generals and rulers of refusing to sit at the negotiating table with the group, adding that they had experience of talks with the Pak government during Imran Khan
...aka The Great Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...
’s premiership.

"We've never refused to take part in negotiations, and just as we know how to properly fight a war, we also know how to sit at the negotiating table and solve issues through dialogue (which the world witnessed during Imran Khan's time in power)," wrote Mehsud in the message.

Noor Wali Mehsud also said that the war was imposed on the Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line following 9/11, aiming to eliminate tribal independence.

Mehsud’s message also reads that Pak military and American drones have killed thousands of men, women, and children and destroyed the tribal people’s schools, houses, mosques, and madrassas, leaving them no option but to pick up weapons against the perpetrators.

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Africa Horn

Sudan's descent into chaos sets stage for al-Qaida to make a return to historic stronghold

2024-05-13

[AFRICANEWS] "Sudan
Sudan

...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
's moment has come; chaos is our chance to sow the seeds of jihad," warned Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani, a high-ranking al-Qaeda leader, in an October 2022 manifesto.

His words may have seemed premature at the time, but a year of brutal civil war has now plunged Sudan into the kind of chaos in which terrorist groups thrive. The risk of al-Qaeda gaining ground in Sudan is now very real and imperils, I believe, not only the country itself but also regional — and potentially global — security.

In April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, creating a power vacuum that Lions of Islam are eager to fill.

At the same time, the Rapid Support Forces — a group that developed under and was once allied to Sudan's al-Qaeda-harboring former president Omar al-Bashir
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...>
— has been solidifying its grip in strategic areas such as Darfur and southern Khartoum.

Indeed, both the paramilitary group and the armed forces have been accused of recruiting Islamist fighters, fueling fears that the civil war will — regardless of the victor — prove a toehold for bully boy groups.

As a defense policy researcher and counterterrorism expert, I'm concerned that Sudan risks becoming an al-Qaeda stronghold — and a potential base for orchestrating attacks on the U.S. and its allies. A potential Rapid Support Forces takeover in Sudan could mirror pre-9/11 Afghanistan, where Taliban
...Arabic for students...
control facilitated al-Qaeda's rise.

Al-Qaeda members, seeking opportunities to achieve what they couldn't in the Middle East, are already heeding calls to head to Sudan.

DECADES OF TURMOIL AND EXTREMISM
Sudan's civil strife predates the current fighting by decades. It ignited in 1989 when al-Bashir seized power, aligning the nation with radical Islamist ideologies. He imposed Sharia law and in 1991 sheltered al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse......
. Under al-Bashir's regime, bin Laden established training camps and expanded al-Qaeda's financial network, laying the groundwork for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Facing international sanctions over its support of terrorism, Sudan expelled bin Laden in 1996.

But al-Bashir's sponsorship of the Janjaweed militia group, the architects of the 2003 Darfur genocide, further solidified his alignment with Islamist bully boys. Under scrutiny, al-Bashir rebranded the Janjaweed as the Rapid Support Forces in 2013, appointing ex-Janjaweed member Mohammed Hamdan "Hemeti" Dagalo as its leader and retaining their brutal tactics.

The 2021 coup, orchestrated by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Hemeti of the Rapid Support Forces, soon devolved into a power struggle between the two men, igniting Sudan's current conflict.

Today, with Hemeti at the helm, the paramilitary group continues its oppressive campaign in West Darfur, engaging in alleged ethnic cleansing against the Indigenous Masalit people.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy's udder had begun to ache...
a prison attack in April 2023, which the Sudanese army blamed on Rapid Support Forces rebels, facilitated the escape of al-Bashir's allies, though the former president remains hospitalized under guard.

SUDAN AT THE HEART OF JIHAD
With conflicts in the Middle Eastand Eastern Europe, the West might be overlooking the crisis in Sudan and the potential it holds for al-Qaeda, a group that has long harbored ambitions of returning to Sudan.

Despite his expulsion, bin Laden continued to emphasize Sudan's importance in his plans for global jihad. This was evident in his 2006 audiotape and diary entries in which he referred to Sudan as a pivotal operational base.

A 2023 publication by key al-Qaeda figure Ibrahim al-Qussi titled "Fragments from al-Qaeda's History" revealed that bin Laden directed an investment of US$12 million solely for jihad in Sudan, highlighting the region's ongoing relevance to al-Qaeda's objectives.

Sudan's appeal to Lions of Islam extends beyond its connections to bin Laden. Strategically bridging North and sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan is a key location for Islamist Lions of Islam aiming to expand their influence across the region.

After the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's return to power, al-Qaeda reestablished a presence in the country, reopening training camps and madrassas.

Well before that, however, al-Qaeda had long since evolved from a centralized organization in Afghanistan into a decentralized network with global affiliates — from the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian subcontinent all the way to sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel.

HISTORIC TIES, NEW AMBITIONS
Recent developments highlight al-Qaeda's increased focus on Sudan and are driven by detailed expansion plans of Sudanese al-Qaeda leader Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani. A former bin Laden associate with a notorious background in Afghanistan and Iraq, al-Sudani issued a renewed call for jihad.

Following the onset of civil war in Sudan, al-Sudani's 2022 manifesto, "Now the fighting has come: War messages to the Mujahideen in Sudan," not only prescribes a military strategy of targeted strikes and guerrilla warfare across Sudan but also a vision for jihad extending from Dongola in the country's north to Darfur in its south, with Khartoum as the command center.

Al-Qaeda further articulated its threat in a message on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the U.S., promising, "It is only a matter of time before the next strike eclipses the horrors of 9/11."

This declaration, combined with the group's escalating presence in conflict zones such as Niger and Libya, actively positions them to target U.S. interests worldwide. Indeed, a 2022 United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
report indicated that al-Qaeda was planning high-profile attacks, possibly at sea.

What an bully boy takeover would mean

Al-Qaeda's potential in resource-rich Sudan should not be underestimated. Historically, the group's operations from resource-limited Afghanistan were devastating; in Sudan, with its abundance of oil, gold and fertile land, their capabilities could be significantly magnified.

Sudan provides a lucrative base for whoever holds power. Forging links with both sides of the civil war would no doubt be of huge financial benefit to al-Qaeda should either side prevail, in the same way al-Bashir's rule was a generation earlier.

And Sudan's Red Sea access makes it potentially an even greater threat than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

Gaining a Sudanese stronghold could empower al-Qaeda affiliates across Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, Somalia and the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, exacerbating regional conflicts and threatening crucial Red Sea trade routes. Interestingly, a United Nations July 2022 report revealed that al-Qaeda's Yemen branch had been boosting its maritime capabilities.

The resurgence of al-Qaeda capabilities in the region could lead to increased piracy, militarized blockades and unregulated arms flow, escalating regional tensions and causing broader geopolitical unrest.

But as the United States redirects resources and attention to wars in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and the Middle East and countering China, Sudan has seemingly slipped down its priority list. Complicating matters further, U.S. responses are tangled in the conflicting interests of its Gulf allies supporting various factions in Sudan's civil war.

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Afghanistan

Resurgent al-Qaida training camps latest black eye from Biden Afghanistan withdrawal

2024-02-25

[JustTheNews] UN report claims al-Qaida now has eight training camps in Taliban-controlled country.

Two reports released just days apart are providing stark new evidence of the lasting consequences of President Joe Biden’s bungled withdrawal from Afghanistan and his administration’s dealings with the Taliban ever since.

The United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team reported late last month that the terrorist group al-Qaida, though weakened from its heyday in the early 2000s, has reconstituted as many as eight training camps and five religious training schools known as madrassas on Afghan soil under the Taliban’s rule while also increasing its propaganda operations and recruitment.

“The relationship between the Taliban and Al-Qaida remains close, and the latter maintains a holding pattern in Afghanistan under Taliban patronage,” the report stated bluntly. “Regional States assess that the presence of Al-Qaida senior figures in the country has not changed and that the group continues to pose a threat in the region, and potentially beyond.”

You can read the full report here.

While the UN report blamed the Taliban for its hosting of al-Qaida, the Biden administration continued to send massive humanitarian dollars to the Afghan regime, in many cases through the UN and global charities, according to a separate report from an American watchdog.

John Sopko, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, reported a few days after the UN report was issued that the United States accounted for all but $300 million of the $2.9 billion in humanitarian aid sent to the Taliban since the withdrawal of American troops in August 2021. Most of it, he noted, came in cash.

“The U.S. is the largest international donor, having provided about $2.6 billion in funding for the UN, other PIOs, and NGOs operating in Afghanistan since August 2021,” the report noted. “More than $1.7 billion of that funding came from State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support humanitarian activities.”

You can read Sopko's report here.

Experts said the flow of cash to help the Taliban while it allows al-Qaida to flourish sends a dangerous message to bad actors, and much of it is routed through the very UN that issued the report.

“America is the biggest funder of this thing. So the United States taxpayer is disproportionately on the hook paying for these activities,” former Deputy National Security Adviser Victoria Coates said recently.

And coupled with the billions in high-tech weaponry Biden left behind in Afghanistan, the dynamic is creating heartburn in Congress.

“This administration has a history of giving money to terrorist organizations, abandoning $80 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan so the Taliban can run around with our M4s and our Blackhawks, and all of our equipment. They have an American last agenda,” Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., told the Just the News, No Noise television show last week.

The Taliban, of course, claims it does not harbor al-Qaida and that the UN report was “propaganda.”

"There is no one related to al Qaeda in Afghanistan, nor does the Islamic Emirate allow anyone to use the territory of Afghanistan against others," the Taliban said in a statement.

But U.S. officials told Just the News they have significant intelligence of al-Qaida’s presence and reconstitution inside Afghanistan since the Taliban overthrew the democratically elected government as U.S. troops were withdrawing in 2021.

They noted that when U.S. drones killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2022, he was living inside a Taliban Cabinet member’s guest house in Kabul’s diplomatic district.

U.S. officials added they are concerned by al-Qaida’s resilience, especially since American intelligence efforts have less visibility inside Afghanistan since the bungled withdrawal.

The UN report, culled from intelligence from its various member nations, said that while al-Qaida does not have the capability to command and conduct long-range terror attacks like 9/11 right now, it is clearly showing signs of expansion and regional reach after years of diminishment from the Bush to the Trump years.

“Al-Qaida was reported to have established up to eight new training camps in Afghanistan, including four in Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan and Uruzgan Provinces, with a new base to stockpile weaponry in the Panjshir Valley,” the report said. “Some camps might be temporary.

“Five Al-Qaida madrasas operate in Laghman, Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan and Parwan Provinces,” it added. “The group maintains safe houses to facilitate the movement between Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Provinces of Herat, Farah and Helmand, with additional safe house locations in Kabul.”

Equally troubling, the Islamic State terrorist group is also showing resiliency in several regions of the world, particularly Afghanistan, the UN warned.

“Member States assessed that, despite the recent loss of territory, casualties, and high attrition among senior and mid-tier leadership figures, ISIL-K continued to pose a major threat in Afghanistan and the region,” it noted.

Link

India-Pakistan

NDM chief Mohsin Dawar injured in North Waziristan firing

2024-02-11

[GEO.TV] National Democratic Movement (NDM) Chairman Mohsin Dawar was injured in a firing incident in North Wazoo

Wazoo's Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
, Geo News reported on Saturday citing police officials.

The incident took place when Dawar's supporters were protesting against the delay in election results.

According to the protesters, the police started firing and shelled tear gas during the demonstration.

Moreover, some of Dawar's associates also sustained injuries in the incident.

The police said that Dawar, along with others who were maimed, have been taken to Miranshah Hospital.

Miranshah District Police Officer (DPO) Rokhanzeb Khan, in conversation with Geo News, said the firing took place at a protest rally of a political party.

"During the firing, four people including political figure Mohsin Dawar were maimed. The armed persons present in the demonstration opened fire," the DPO said.

The NDM politician was contesting from the NA-40 constituency in North Waziristan for a seat in the National Assembly and lost against a Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
(PTI)-backed independent candidate Aurangzeb Khan, who won the seat with 20,443 votes.

Earlier this year in January, Dawar's convoy came under a gun attack by bully boyz in Tappi village in North Waziristan.

North Waziristan District Police Officer (DPO) Rohan Zaib confirmed to Geo News about the attack but noted that the politician remained safe due to the law enforcers deployed for his security.

According to the police, several gunshots were fired at Dawar's convoy but he remained safe because his car was bulletproof and the security personnel accompanying him fired back at the assailants, which forced them to flee from the scene.

"Cowardly attacks cannot dampen our spirit. The patrons of the attackers should come in the field themselves instead of using others' children against us," Dawar said in reaction to the attack.

Link

India-Pakistan

10 policemen martyred in DI Khan terrorist attack

2024-02-06

[GEO.TV] At least 10 coppers were martyred and six others injured in a late-night attack on a cop shoppe in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
district, police said on Monday.

Police said gunnies attacked the cop shoppe with heavy weapons at 3am in Tehsil Daraban of the district.

The injured have been shifted to DHQ Hospital, they added.

The gunnies attacked the cop shoppe from all sides with grenades and heavy gunfire.

The police also retaliated, but the gunnies escaped in the darkness of the night, the law enforcement agency added.

The forces have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to hunt down the fleeing Death Eaters, while the quick response force has reached with additional force, according to the police.

Funeral prayers of martyred police personnel will be offered in the police line, they added.

Last month, three cops and two soldiers were martyred in two different terror incidents in Kohat, Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
and Lakki Marwat on Wednesday, while an independent candidate for the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and his two other colleagues were killed by person or persons unknown during the election campaign in Wazoo.

Pak districts along the border with Afghanistan have seen a dramatic spike in attacks since the Taliban
Taliban

...mindless ferocity in a turban...
returned to power there in 2021.

Islamabad claims Kabul is sheltering allied ~~bandidos~~ murderous Moslems such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) allowing them to strike on its soil with impunity.

According to the statistics issued by the Department of Interior and Tribal Affairs KP, the areas most affected by terrorism include Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
, Khyber, Bajaur, and Tank while Dera Ismail Khan and North Waziristan and South Waziristan are included in the terror-affected areas.

The documents of the Home and Tribal areas revealed that a total of 1,050 incidents of terrorism took place in KP last year while 419 incidents of terrorism took place in the arranged districts, and 631 incidents in the merged districts.

Link

India-Pakistan

Security forces kill two terrorists in KP operations

2023-10-11

[GEO.TV] The security forces killed two Lions of Islam in separate encounters with Death Eaters late on Monday night in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the Inter-Services Public Relations said on Tuesday.

A terrorist named Ikram was bumped off in an intense exchange of fire during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in the general area of Kulachi in Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
.

"He remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces including the recent terrorist attacks on Police Station Hathala and Rori Police Check Post," the military's media wing added.

In another encounter with Lions of Islam in the general area of Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
, in the North Wazoo

Wazoo District, troops effectively engaged the terrorist location and eliminated another terrorist.

Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the slain terrorists, according to the ISPR.

It further added that the locals of the area appreciated the operation and expressed their full support to eliminate the menace of terrorism.

Link

India-Pakistan

Army convoy escapes suicide attack in Bannu

2023-09-10

[Dawn] A convoy of security forces narrowly escaped a suicide kaboom on Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
road in Bannu on Thursday.

An official source said that the convoy was passing through the busy road connecting Bannu with Miranshah, headquarters of North Wazoo

Wazoo district, when the jacket wallah tried to target it.

"When it reached near the airport, a suicide bomber tried to hit it but the boom vest he was wearing went kaboom! before he could reach the target," he maintained. He said the earth-shattering kaboom was heard in the surrounding areas but it did not cause any casualties. "A vehicle was partially damaged in the blast," he said.

The official source said that body parts of the bomber were found in the fields near the site of the earth-shattering kaboom. "Police and security experts collected evidence from the site while the security forces launched a search to eliminate other forces of Evil found in the area," he added.

Security was also beefed up after the attack and local police increased patrolling in the district.Meanwhile a policeman embraced martyrdom as forces of Evil attacked Samiullah check-post here in the limits of City cop shoppe late on Wednesday night.

According to a police front man, unknown assailants shot up the post and as a result, levies police constable Ehsanullah of Kalai Umar Adda embraced martyrdom.

The police team deployed at the check-post retaliated but the forces of Evil managed to escape from the scene.

Soon after the incident, Tank DPO Ifekhar Ali Shah along with SP Investigation Haji Nasir Khan and a heavy contingent of police reached the site, surrounded the area and started a search operation.

Link

India-Pakistan

Army major, among three, martyred in gun fights with terrorists in KP

2023-09-02

[GEO.TV] An army major and another soldier were martyred during an intelligence-based operation conducted by the security forces in North Wazoo

Wazoo District’s Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
’s general area, the military’s media wing said in a statement on Friday.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said when the security forces launched the operation a "party of snuffies was spotted and intercepted by Major Amir Aziz, who was leading the operation from the front".

During the exchange of fire, one terrorist was killed while another was injured.

However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all...
29-year-old Major Amir and 27-year-old Sepoy Muhammad Arif were martyred during the heavy exchange of fire.

The army’s media affairs wing said that the sanitisation of the area is being carried out to eliminate the snuffies present in the area.

"Security forces of Pakistain are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our soldiers further strengthen our resolve," the ISPR said.

TIRAH EXCHANGE OF FIRE
The report of Major Aziz and Sepoy Arif’s martyrdom came minutes after the ISPR had shared that a soldier was martyred while a terrorist was killed during an exchange of fire in the Khyber district.

The ISPR said that on the night between August 31 and September 1, a fire exchange took place between the army troops and the snuffies in the general area of Tirah in Khyber District.

The troops "effectively" engaged at the terrorists’ location, resulting in the killing of one terrorist, the ISPR said.

"The killed terrorist remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against security forces and killing of innocent civilians."

During the intense exchange of fire, Havildar Muntazir Shah, 36, having fought gallantly, embraced martyrdom.

NATION CANNOT BE "COERCED" BY TERRORISTS: GEN MUNIR
Earlier today, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir vowed that the nation cannot be "coerced" by "cowardly tactics of the terrorists" who hold the "misbelief that they can challenge the iron resolve of the soldiers and writ of the state".

As per the military’s media wing, the army chief passed the remarks while visiting Bannu in KP where, a day earlier, nine soldiers were martyred when a jacket wallah went kaboom! himself near a military convoy in the Jani Khel area.

"The army, law enforcement agencies and the nation can never be coerced by the cowardly tactics of the terrorists, who have a misbelief that they can challenge the iron resolve of the soldiers and writ of the state," Gen Munir said while interacting with officers and troops deployed in the area.

The COAS further said that the nation has "fought for long and will continue to fight the menace of terrorism till the end".

"The nation pays rich tribute to those who have laid their lives and their sacrifices will forever be honoured," he added.

Link

India-Pakistan

Suicide bombing claims four lives in North Waziristan

2023-07-06

[Dawn] At least four security personnel and a child bit the dust in separate explosions in tribal districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Wednesday.

Three security personnel embraced martyrdom in a vehicle-borne suicide kaboom in the Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
area of North Wazoo

Wazoo, the military’s media wing said in a statement.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the jacket wallah intended to target the security forces’ post, but the assailant was timely intercepted by on-duty soldiers who "prevented a major catastrophe".

It stated that 41-year-old Naib Subedar Sahib Khan, a resident of Mianwali, 40-year-old Naik Muhammad Ibrahim, a resident of Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
, and 24-year-old Sepoy Jehangir Khan, a resident of Mardan, embraced martyrdom while three civilians were critically injured in the earth-shattering kaboom. "Security forces of Pakistain are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve," the statement read.

Police informed that the Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) of the security forces was clearing the route for a convoy of the security forces when the suicide bomber went kaboom! himself.

They said that a child along with nine other passengers in a van also sustained injuries in the attack, adding that the injured persons were immediately shifted to Mir Ali hospital — a child, however, later succumbed to injuries.

An attendant with one of the injured persons stated that doctors were not present at the hospital neither was any medical equipment available for treatment. They added that the injured persons were later shifted to another nearby hospital.

Meanwhile,
...back at the dirigible, the pilot and the copilot had both hit the silk.

Jack! Cynthia exclaimed. Do you know how to drive one of these things?

Jack wiped some of the blood from his knuckles.

No, he said. Do you?...
a paramilitary official embraced martyrdom and another sustained injuries when an improvised bomb (IED) went off near vehicles of the paramilitary forces in South Waziristan. Police informed that the paramilitary forces were clearing the road when the IED, planted on a roadside, went kaboom!.

Link

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