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 Kagame say that the Rwandan peacekeepers will be withdrawn if the official report is published as planned on October 1st .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.

Mozambique/ Civil unrest: Total number of arrested over Mozambique riots rise to 286

The Authorities in Mozambique stated that police had arrested a total 286 people during 3 days of violent protests that left 13 dead and more than 400 injured last week. The riots were triggered by the government decision to raise the price on bread and left the capital Maputo in a paralysed state.

More than 1000 angry demonstrators took to the streets of Maputo on Wednesday in riots that were characterised by violence, vandalism and looting of small businesses. The unrest later spread to several other cities in the centre and north of the country, according to police sources.

The riots were further fuelled by widely spread text messages which urged demonstrators to continue the protests against the sharp increases in the price of food, fuel and other basic necessities. The import-dependent country has seen prices rise sharply in recent months as the Mozambican currency, the metical, has fallen 43 per cent against the South African rand since this time last year.

Pakistan/Terrorism: The TTP claim responsibility for the Lakki Marwat suicide blast

Media reported on Tuesday that the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists had claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that had been carried at a police station in Lakki Marwat earlier on Monday in which 19 people had been killed and tens of others injured.

Reportedly, the TTP spokesman Ihsan Ullah Ihsan also warned in the statement that the US forces as well as the Pakistani law enforcement agencies were “enemies of the Taleban”.

Meanwhile, it was reported that five terrorists had been killed in the village of Khar Qamar in North Waziristan on Monday.

Somalia/Terrorism: At least 3 people killed in Mogadishu fighting

Media reported on Tuesday that at least three people had been killed and some 23 others wounded during clashes between the government-backed troops and fighters of the terrorist group Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu.

According to the statements of Ali Muse, director of the ambulance service in Mogadishu, around 500 shells have been fired on the southern and northern areas of the capital.

As a reminder, the violent fights have been renewed on August 23, after the terrorists had threatened a “massive war” against the government forces backed by the African Union peacekeeping troops and have been continuing since then.

Iraq/ Terrorism: Iraqi Al Qaeda claim army base suicide raid

International Media reported that Al Qaeda’s Iraqi Affiliate claimed responsibility for the raid by suicide bombers on an army base in Central Baghdad on Tuesday. The attack resulted in the death of twelve people.

The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella group of Al Qaeda, claimed in a statement posted on a website that five suicide bombers had carried out the attack. According to the statement, the first attackers blew up an explosives-laden vehicle at the back gate of the military compound and four attackers later stormed the compound and occupied the building.

The attack came only two weeks after at least 57 Iraqi army recruits and soldiers were killed by a suicide bomber in the same compound. Washington declared U.S. combat operations as formally over last week. This implies that the U.S. soldiers that are still in Iraq will focus on advising and helping Iraqi police and forces. It still does not rule out that U.S. troops get in involved in fighting if attack, which was the case in today’s raid.

Afghanistan/ Terrorism: Further insurgent attacks towards government officials

Afghan Officials reported that an Afghan district governor was killed by insurgents in an ambush while driving his car in the northern Baghlan Province. This is the sixth politician who has been reported killed in the country in the last couple of weeks.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) launched an air strike that killed an unspecified number of Taleban insurgents in the area of southern Kandahar on Monday, according to U.S. Military Sources. The same sources reported that insurgents killed three afghan children and wounded five in an attack on an ISAF combat outpost in southeastern Paktika Province on Monday. Lastly four Afghan government workers were reported kidnapped by suspected insurgents while travelling in eastern Kunar Province on Monday.

Meanwhile, NATO officials said that U.S. and NATO commanders in Afghanistan officially put in a request on Monday for another 2000 troops for the foreign ISAF force. The number of foreign troops killed this year has reached at least 500, compared with 521 in all of 2009, according to an independent monitoring site on Monday and a Reuters tally.

India/Civil Unrest: At least three people killed in new Kashmir violence

Media reported on Monday that security forces have opened fire on hundreds of stone-throwing protesters in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, killing at least three people and injuring ten others.

Reportedly, a teenaged protester was killed on the spot when security forces opened fire in the Palhalan village, 35 kilometers away from Srinagar, while two others succumbed to their wounds on the way to the hospital.

It is worth mentioning that with these latest fatalities, the death toll of the violence in the Kashmir Valley since the beginning of June has risen to 68.

Philippines/Terrorism: Three Abu Sayyaf terrorists killed in raid operation in Jolo Island

Media reported that commandos of the Philippine Special Action Force had attacked a cell of the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf in the village of Lapa, Jolo Island, killing three of its members and injuring several others.

Based on reports of the intelligence services, the armed men were allegedly guarding Marwan, a Malaysian member of the terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, responsible with assisting the Philippine terrorists with perfecting their techniques in carrying bomb attacks.

Reportedly, among the three slain Abu Sayyaf members was also Gafur Jumdail, the brother of one of the group’s leaders, Umbra Abu Jumdail.

Afghanistan/Terrorism: Taleban threatens to disrupt the upcoming election

International Media reported on Sunday that the Afghanistan Taleban vowed in a threat to derail the election this month and warned Afghans to boycott the vote. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid further told the news agency Reuters that the Islamists first target would be foreign forces and next the Afghan ones.

The current situation in Afghanistan has been reported as the most violent since the start of the war in 2001. Security is a major concern ahead of the vote, with four candidates killed already in recent weeks, according to the United Nations officials. Furthermore, one election candidate was wounded, and 10 of his campaign workers killed, in an air strike in northern Takhar Province on Friday.

Several scores of small attacks against last year’s presidential poll were carried out by the Taleban without disrupting the process significantly.

Iraq/Terrorism: A series of coordinated suicide bombings kill at least 12 in a Baghdad military base

Media reported that at least 12 people were killed and 36 others were wounded in an attack carried at an Iraqi army base in the Bab al-Mouazam area of the capital Baghdad on Sunday.

Reportedly, up to six suicide bombers, armed with rifles, stormed the Rusafa compound, which had been the target of another suicide attack last month.

It is worth mentioning that a fierce gun battle followed the blasts, during which the US military provided air support to the Iraqi forces.

Pakistan/Terrorism: Al least 19 people killed in car-bomb blast at police station

Media reported on Monday that at least 19 people, including nine police officers and two children, were killed and 34 others were wounded after a suicide bomber drove his explosives-laden car into a police station in the town of Lakki Marwat in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

According to local police sources, the building of the police post was completely destroyed in the explosion, while a part of the nearby hospital was also damaged. 

No responsibility for the attack has been claimed up to this moment, but it is worth mentioning that the respective town is located not far away from the tribal areas known to be a stronghold of the Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) and other Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist groups.

As a reminder, this latest attack comes days after some 90 people lost their lives in a wave of suicide bombings that targeted religious processions of the Shi’ite minority in the cities of Lahore and Quetta last week.

Pakistan/Terrorism: 44 people killed in suicide attacks in Quetta

Media reported on Friday that 44 people were killed and at least 78 others were wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the south-eastern city of Quetta. 

Reportedy, the attack targeted a Shi’ite rally marking the Youm-al-Quds.

This comes two days after three blasts targeting as well Shi’ite religious procession claimed the life of at least 33 people in Lahore and left at least 170 others injured.

Thailand/Insurgents: Two killed in clash between army and rebels in troubled south

Thai Army Officials stated that one soldier and one Islamist separatist had been killed in a clash in the southern Yala Province early Friday morning. Allegedly, a group of ten armed rebels ambushed a troop of soldiers while they were patrolling a road in the outskirts of Yala town.

Meanwhile, a separate incident was reported in the same province later in the day when  two soldiers were wounded while entering the home of Mohammed Sarai, an alleged Islamist rebel. Sarai, who was suspected of making bombs that were used to target civilians, was later shot dead by the soldiers.

The southern Thailand provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have been the scene for an extremely violent insurgency since 2004 which have resulted in the death of over 4000 people.

Afghanistan/Terrorism: Another attack targets parliamentary candidate in the south

Sources of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced that another candidate for the parliamentary polls scheduled to take place in September was the target of an attack in southern Afghanistan on Thursday.

Reportedly, the parliamentary candidate Moulana Abdul Rahman and a civilian were wounded when a grenade was launched against the Governor’s compounds in the city of Ghazni. 

As a reminder, at least four candidates have been killed and at least 15 campaign workers and supporters have been wounded in recent weeks, raising strong concerns over the security and transparence of the upcoming elections.

India/Insurgency: Maoist rebels kill policeman held hostage in Bihar

Media reported on Friday that authorities had found and identified the dead body of one policeman who had been kidnapped by Maoist rebels along with three other officers in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district on Monday.

Reportedly, the rebels had earlier warned the state authorities that on Thursday they would start killing the officers held hostages, unless eight jailed Maoists were released.

As a reminder, some 150 Maoist rebels staged an attack on a police patrol in the forest areas of Lakhisarai district at the beginning of this week, triggering a violent exchange of fire in which seven police officers were killed and several others were reported missing.