Israel/Palestinian Territories: Another air raid is launched after rockets and mortars hit Israel

Media reported that the Israeli air force had launched two air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Thursday night, in retaliation for the rocket and mortar attacks that had been fired from the Palestinian enclave against its territory over the last two days.

The information from the Israeli military indicated that the strikes targeted the underground tunnels that the terrorists use to smuggle weapons from Egypt and a base of the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas armed wing.

According to the statements of the terrorist Hamas movement, four sites in Gaza City, Rafah, Beit Hanoun and Deir al Balah were hit during the air raids, including the training base for its security forces, where allegedly five persons were wounded.

Philippines/Security: Armed men kill a mayor in Lanao Del Sur province

Media reported on Friday that Alimatar Guroalim, the Mayor of the Tugaya town in Lanao Del Sur province had been killed in an ambush carried by unidentified armed men while traveling in his vehicle to a neighboring village.

Reportedly, four of his escorts were also injured in the attack.

Authorities are still investigating the murder, but do not rule out the possibility that it might have been politically motivated, given that the official was running for re-election in the upcoming special polls set for November 6.

As a reminder, the voting in May was marred by violence, 21 people being killed in bombing and shooting attacks carried ahead and during the day of elections.

Afghanistan/Civil unrest: Three protesters killed in massive demonstrations against Qur’an burning plan

International Media reported that three people were killed, when a crowd protesting against plans of a U.S. pastor to burn copies of the Qur’an, attacked an NATO base in Faizabad city, the capital of Badakhshan Province in the North of Afghanistan on Friday.

Tens of thousand of angry protesters gathered outside the German-run NATO base and started hurling stones and shouting and forced NATO troops to open fire, according to the reports. Right after the incident Afghan security forces were deployed in the area to restore order. Three policemen were injured in clashes with protestors.

On Friday afternoon, it was still unclear whether the church would go through with the threat after the pastor had said that the plans were on hold. High U.S. officials, including President Obama and Defence Secretary Robert Gates, had asked the pastor to cancel the plan of burning the Qur’an saying it could further endanger the lives of Americans serving abroad and result in the recruitment of more supporters to al-Qaeda.

Pakistan/Civil Unrest: Hundreds of protesters take to the streets in Multan against the reported Qur’an burning plan

Media reported on Friday, that four separate demonstrations had gathered around 600 people, including religious leaders and politicians, in the Pakistani central city of Multan, in order to protest against the plan of a pastor in Florida to burn several exemplars of the Qur’an.

Reportedly, the protesters burned US flags and carried placards proclaiming “Death to America” and “We will give our lives and will not allow the desecration of the Qur’an”.

As a reminder, a pastor of a small religious group in Florida has recently threatened to burn exemplars of the Muslim holy book on Saturday, in order to commemorate the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Iraq/Terrorism: Two persons decapitated in the Diyala province

Media reported on Thursday that unknown assailants had decapitated the Imam of the Sunni mosque in Sansal village, near Mouqdadiya in the province of Diyala and then set his remains on fire in front of his house.

Reportedly, the Imam Abdouljabbar Saleh al-Joubouri had received multiple threats before because of the sermons that he was delivering against the Islamist groups in the respective village, known as a former stronghold of the Al-Qaeda.

In a separate incident, four disguised attackers stormed into the house of a police officer in Baqouba, the capital of the same province, and decapitated his wife.

Meanwhile, it was reported that four senior Al-Qaeda members had escaped from the US-controlled section of Karkh Prison in Baghdad on Wednesday night.

Somalia/Terrorism: Two blasts kill at least eight people at Mogadishu’s airport

Media reported on Thursday that two blasts had hit the airport in the Somali capital Mogadishu, claiming the life of at least eight people and injuring scores of others.

Reportedly, a first suicide bomber blew up the car he was driving at the main gate of the airport that was being protected by African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM). Shortly after, a second blast was heard inside the compound and was followed by gunfire.

According to witnesses, members of the AU peacekeeping forces were among the victims and the death toll was very likely to increase given that some of the injured were in critical condition.

Later in the day, the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab terrorists claimed responsibility for carrying the attacks.

Thailand/Insurgency: Three unexploded bombs found in Bangkok and the neighboring Nonthaburi province

Media reported on Thursday that three unexploded bombs had been found in Bangkok and the Nonthaburi province on the outskirts of the capital.

Reportedly, security forces found a first device near a school in the center of the capital, while two others were discovered in the parking lots of a shopping mall and of the Public Health Ministry in the neighboring province.

Police sources stated that the bombs had been assembled in a similar manner and therefore it was very likely that the same group would be responsible for placing them.

However, no official comment has been made regarding the potential perpetrators.

Pakistan/Terrorism: British journalist freed after held captive by terrorist group in North-west

The British High Commission in Islamabad confirmed that the British journalist, Asad Qureshi, has been released. Qureshi was abducted in the Pakistani tribal region of North Waziristan along with two former Pakistani intelligence officers in March.

The terrorists group that was behind the kidnapping is calling itself the Asian Tigers and they abducted the journalist while he was travelling in the Taliban stronghold of North Waziristan. One of the Pakistani intelligence officers in the group kidnapped was found in ditch shot dead shortly after the abduction.

Qureshi had been working for an independent production company on a documentary commissioned by Channel 4 on militancy.

Mexico/Organized Crime: El Naranjo Mayor killed by armed men

Media reported on Thursday that Alexander Lopez Garcia, the Mayor of the municipality of El Naranjo in the San Luis Potosi state had died in yet another targeted killing that the organized crime cartels have been perpetrating against officials of the local civil authorities across the Mexican states.

Reportedly, the incident occurred when a group of four armed men entered the city hall and opened fire on the official during a meeting. Other persons present at the scene at the moment of the attack remained unharmed.

As a reminder, this is the third case of a mayor being killed over the last month, after Edelmiro Cavazos Leal, the Mayor of Santiago, Nuevo Leon state had been found slain on August 18 and later on August 29 that of Hidalgo municipality in Tamaulipas, Marco Antonio Leal Garcia, had been also gunned down.

Russia/Terrorism: Suspected car-bomb blast in a Vladikavkaz market kills at least 12

Russian News Agencies reported on Thursday a major blast in a market in the capital city of North Ossetia, Vladikavkaz.

According to the statement of a law enforcement official, the explosion might have been triggered by the detonation of a car-bomb parked at the entrance to the market.
 
The latest report of casualties for this incident indicated 12 people dead and over 50 injured, but it is very likely for the death toll to rise, given the power of the blast.

Pakistan/Terrorism: Roadside bomb blast kills 10 in Kurram agency

According to Pakistani Government’s sources, 10 people were killed and four others wounded in the explosion of a roadside bomb in the village of Palaseen, in the Kurram tribal region on Thursday.

Reportedly, the remote-controlled bomb was detonated while a passenger van was passing by.

Meanwhile, it was reported that a powerful blast had been heard near the residence of the provincial finance minister in Quetta.

According to police sources, no casualties have been reported so far in this incident.

India/Terrorism: Police detains two suspects in the Pune deadly bomb blast 

Media reported on Wednesday that two men suspected to have been involved in the deadly bomb attack carried at a restaurant in Pune earlier this February had been arrested.

As a reminder, the respective blast occurred when a waiter of the “German Bakery” tried to open a package left unattended in the restaurant, killing 17 people.

Reportedly, the two suspected terrorists are believed to have links with the Pakistan-based Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that had also carried a series of major attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, killing around 170 people and wounding over 300.

Philippines/Insurgency: Four NPA rebels killed in clashes with the security forces in Masbate

Media reported on Wednesday that four rebels had been killed during a gun battle between security forces and members of the Maoist New People’s Army (NPA) in the outskirts of Mobo town in the central Masbate province on Tuesday.

Reportedly, the soldiers were on patrol in the area when around 10 suspected NPA rebels launched an attack against them, triggering an exchange of fire.

It is worth mentioning that the soldiers were conducting the raid after authorities had received information from civilians that the rebels were planning to set up improvised bombs in the area.

Israel/Terrorism: Palestinian mortar shells hits near Israeli schools

Israeli Military said that mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip on Wednesday morning landed near several children’s school buildings in a Sha’ar Hanegey regional council kibbutz. No injuries were reported but one of the school buildings was slightly damaged.

The attack occurred only 30 minutes before the school day was scheduled to begin and residents said if they attack had come later it could have ended in great tragedy.

The firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel has increased following the launching of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Rwanda/Sudan/Insurgency: UN Secretary-General in Rwanda after threatened Sudan pullout

International Media reported that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali on Wednesday morning. The meeting comes as a response to the Rwandan threat to withdraw its peacekeeping troops in Darfur.

It was the leak of a UN report in August, where Rwandan troops and allies tied to Kagame are accused of slaughtering tens of thousand of Hutus in Congo, that triggered the president’s outrage. Kagame say that the Rwandan peacekeepers will be withdrawn if the official report is published as planned on October 1st . Aides to Secretary-General Ki-Moon say that he made the unannounced trip to Kigali in order to try to solve the diplomatic conflict through direct talks with the Rwandan leader.

Rwanda has more than 3200 troops deployed in the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur. U.N. officials and diplomats have said a Rwandan pullout from Darfur would be a major blow at a time of increasing violence and fresh efforts to end the seven-year conflict.

Colombia/Insurgency: Six police men killed in guerrilla attack

International Media reported that six policemen were killed in a guerrilla attack on Tuesday. Allegedly, the clash took place in the Southern Province of Narino, a key area of the drug production and smuggling operations of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). 

Tuesday’s incident is the latest in a series of attacks which have resulted in the death of 45 police and rebels in the area in the past week, according to government sources. The authorities said that the fighting broke out when a number of rebels assaulted a police station, carrying guns and homemade missiles, near the town of Samaniego.

The socialist revolutionary groups, FARC and ELN, have stepped up their fight against the government since president Juan Manuel Santos, a conservative U.S. ally, took office last month.

Pakistan/Terrorism: At least 22 killed in car-bomb blast in Kohat

Media reported on Wednesday that a major car-bomb attack was carried at a police residential complex in the town of Kohat, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Tuesday evening, killing at least 22 people and injuring some 85 others.

Reportedly, a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden vehicle through the gates of the compound where over 100 police officers and their families were residing.

According to police sources, the powerful blast was caused by an approximate quantity of 300 kilograms of explosives and caused dozens of houses to collapse. 

No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, but it is worth mentioning that this latest incident came hours after Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) issued a statement, threatening to carry out more suicide attacks on government officials and security forces.

Iraq/Terrorism: Two blasts kill at least three in Baghdad

Media reported that two subsequent bomb attacks were carried near a bus terminal in the Bayaa district of south-western Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least three people and wounding scores of others, including Iraqi police officers and soldiers.

A first car bomb exploded near a garage at the respective bus terminal and was then followed by a roadside bomb detonation after people gathered at the scene.

According to sources of the Interior Ministry, the attacks have apparently targeted a police patrol.

Earlier on Tuesday, two US soldiers were killed and nine others wounded when an Iraqi soldier opened fire on them during a training session at an Iraqi military base near the city of Tuz Khurmato.

Thailand/Insurgency: Spike in insurgent violence triggers calls for school closure in the south

Media reported on Tuesday that multiple calls have been made for schools to be closed, after the latest attack that claimed the life of two teachers in the restive south.

Reportedly, two Buddhist teachers were gunned down by suspected insurgents riding a motorcycle in Tambon Manang Tayo in Muang district of the Narathiwat province earlier in the day.

This comes as the southern Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat are known to be the scene of violent targeted killings directed against Buddhists or Muslims associated with the Thai state, such as police, soldiers, government officials and teachers.

It is also worth mentioning that a series of attacks had been carried out also on Monday, claiming the life of one Muslim woman in the Banning Sata area in the province of Yala and of two other Muslims in separate drive-by shootings in Pattani’s Sai Buri district.

India/Civil Unrest: Curfew imposed in Srinagar in the aftermath of Monday’s violence

Media reported on Tuesday that a curfew has been imposed in Srinagar, the summer capital of Kashmir, after the death toll of the violence that stroke the state one day before had raised to four.

Meanwhile, the separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is put under house arrest, has issued another statement regarding the bloody protests that the region has been witnessing lately.

Geelani reiterated that in order to put an end to the violence, Delhi has to recognize Kashmir as an international dispute and to engage into its demilitarization, to release “political prisoners” and to withdraw “draconian laws”, such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and as well to punish the soldiers involved in the killings.

As a reminder, the violent protests against the Indian government have claimed the life of tens of people since their outbreak in the month of June.