Pakistan agencies foil IS plot to bomb ISI office in Multan

Agencies
August 21, 2018

Lahore, Aug 21: Pakistan's security agencies claimed to have foiled a terror plot to bomb the offices of spy agencies - the ISI and the Intelligence Bureau - and arrested two suspected Islamic State terrorists in Multan city in Punjab province.

"A CTD team along with police arrested two suspects belonging to the militant Islamic State (IS) group during a raid in Multan. A huge cache of explosives and weapons, including hand grenades, were seized during the raid," said the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police.

It also said that money that was to be used for terror financing has also been recovered from them.

The suspected IS members arrested on Monday from Multan district, some 350-km from Lahore, had plans to bomb the buildings that house offices of intelligence agencies -- Inter-Services Intelligence and Intelligence Bureau -- in the city.

The police said it received information that IS terrorists possessing arms and explosives were present at Vehari Road, Multan and planning to target vital installations and offices of intelligence agencies.

"After receiving information, CTD along with police and intelligence teams launched an operation and managed to arrest the suspected terrorists identified as Waseemur Rehman and Samiullah," it said in a statement.

It said Samiullah was an accomplice of Azfaal Ahmad, who was the leader of the local Al-Qaeda chapter that later merged into IS.

"Samiullah was involved in recruitment for the IS from Khanewal and Multan districts of Punjab and also provided a hideout to the group members and was involved in transportation of weapons," it said, adding that Rehman is a close associate of Kashif Qayyum, the former head of the local IS network.

The CTD said more disclosures are expected as the arrested suspects are being interrogated.

The Pakistan government often claims that there has been no presence of IS network in the country but at times the security agencies arrest suspects belonging to the deadly terror group.

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Agencies
June 16,2020

China on Tuesday justified the killing of an army officer and two soldiers of India and accused Indian troops of crossing a disputed border between the two countries.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Indian troops crossed the border line twice on Monday, "provoking and attacking Chinese personnel, resulting in a serious physical confrontation between border forces on the two sides".

An Indian Army officer and two soldiers have been killed in a "violent face-off" with Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), disrupting the fragile peace talks.

"During the de-escalation process underway in the Galwan Valley, a violent face-off took place last night with casualties on both sides," the Indian Army said in a statement.
 

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June 1,2020

Washington, Jun 1: As protesters gathered outside the White House on Friday night in Washington DC, US President Donald Trump was briefly taken to the White House underground bunker, The New York Times reported citing a person having firsthand knowledge about the incident.

Trump was there for less than an hour before being brought upstairs. After hundreds of people surged towards the White House on Friday, Secret Service and the United States Park Police officers sought to block them.

Trump's team was surprised by the protests that were witnessed outside the White House on Friday night, according to the US daily. It is, however, unclear if Melania Trump and Barron Trump were also taken down with him.

in response to the continuing protests against the death of African-American man George Floyd in police custody.

National Guard members have been activated in 15 states and Washington, DC with another 2,000 prepared to activate if needed.

Demonstrators across the United States have been protesting since May 25, when George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, died under the police custody in the city of Minneapolis.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Tehran, Feb 28: The coronavirus epidemic in Iran has cost 26 lives, the health ministry announced Thursday, with a vice president becoming the latest top official to be infected as the spread appeared to accelerate.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour told a news conference that the tally of infections had risen to 245 with 106 more cases confirmed -- the highest number for a single day since Iran announced its first infections on February 19.

The Islamic republic has the highest death toll from the virus outside China, where COVID-19 first emerged.

Among the latest coronavirus sufferers is one of Iran's seven vice presidents, Massoumeh Ebtekar, who oversees women's affairs.

Ebtekar, a former spokeswoman for students who took 52 Americans hostage at the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, is being treated at home and members of her team have been tested, state news agency IRNA reported.

Mojtaba Zolnour, head of parliament's national security and foreign affairs committee, also contracted the virus, appearing in a video posted by Fars news agency saying he was in self-quarantine.

The cleric is a deputy for the Shiite holy city of Qom in central Iran where the country's first cases were detected.

According to media reports, among the deceased in Qom on Thursday was theologian Hadi Khroroshahi, who in 1981 was named Iran's first ambassador to the Vatican.

The announcement by Zolnour comes two days after another top official, deputy health minister Iraj Harirchi, head of the government's coronavirus task force, said he too had contracted the virus.

On Wednesday, Iranian authorities announced domestic travel restrictions for people with confirmed or suspected infections.

They also placed curbs on access to major Shiite pilgrimage sites, including the Imam Reza shrine in second city Mashhad and the Fatima Masumeh shrine in Qom.

Visitors to the shrines will be allowed to visit on condition they are provided "with hand-washing liquids, proper (health) information, masks", Health Minister Saeed Namaki said.

They must "not gather together in groups but just pray and leave", he said.

In a rare move, authorities announced the cancellation of the main Friday weekly prayers in Tehran, Qom and Mashhad as well as in the capitals of 22 of Iran's 31 provinces and other infected areas.

"All of these decisions are temporary and if the situation changes, we might intensify or ease them," Namaki said.

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