A top Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist, believed to be nephew of the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, was on Thursday gunned down by security forces in an encounter in north Kashmir's Bandipora district.
Taliban's supreme commander Mullah Mohammad Omar, now in hiding, has put pressure on his groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan to form a new grouping which has pledged to stop targetting Pakistani security forces and instead focus attention on US-led troops in Afghanistan.
'There is a sense of realism in the Pakistan army that if they needled India during the Ladakh standoff, they would have seen a strong retaliation.' 'Pakistan was hoping that India would come out looking weaker in the region and get embarrassed, but that obviously has not happened.'
A new bill passed by the Pakistani parliament may snatch the remote control of the country's nuclear bombs from President Asif Ali Zardari.
'A six month extension, if not extended further, would make General Bajwa a lame duck chief, altering the balance of his equations with the senior peer group of lieutenant generals,' says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
'With the extension issue settled clearly in his favour, Gen Bajwa would be free to fashion a more hardline policy against India. 'We could, therefore, expect a raising of the ante in Kashmir,' says Rana Banerji.
The team of 21 Rashtriya Rifles had entered the house of a civilian to prevent a hostage situation when they came under attack from the terrorists who had already reached there. While the four army personnel and the police Sub Inspector lost their lives in the encounter, the civilians trapped in the house were safely evacuated.
Four terrorists were killed on Friday in an encounter with security forces, while another surrendered in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
Last month, Trump had ordered withdrawal of troops from Syria. The then Defense Secretary James Mattis resigned in protest.
India and Oman held discussions in Muscat aimed at enhancing defence cooperation between the two countries.
Wang Yang and Xi Jinping's visits signal the beginning of a major Chinese push to bring about a transformation of Tibet, observes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RA&W officer.
The failure to restructure our armed forces in line with contemporary needs 14 years after the Kargil war will impose strategic costs beyond just delays and scandals, says Nitin Pai
The Indian delegation at Thursday's talks is likely to be led by Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the external affairs ministry, they said.
In an apparent snub to India, a Russian ground forces contingent on Friday arrived in Pakistan to participate in the first-ever joint military exercises starting from Saturday.
A self-styled district commander of the Lashker-e-Tayiba was killed and a civilian wounded in a fierce gun-battle between ultras and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district on Saturday afternoon.
The country's top security body "concluded that India has committed uncalled for aggression to which Pakistan shall respond at the time and place of its choosing," it added.
'Already, there is talk of a possible extension for Raheel Sharif in the context of his perceived sterling, but incomplete work in the war against terror, as also the cleansing of crime and extortion networks in Karachi,' says Rana Banerji.
A Central Reserve Police Force officer was killed on Friday during an anti-Naxal operation in Jharkhand's Giridih district.
'In the present era of strategic uncertainty and rapidly changing threats, no military professional now disputes the unavoidable necessity of a joint planning staff for the planning and conduct of joint operations so that integrated operations can be planned 'top down',' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
BSF Commandant S H Dhillon handed over seven boxes of traditional Indian sweets and a big basket of fruits to the Wing Commander of Pakistan Rangers Mohhammad Akbar Ali Bhatt at the joint check post at Attari Border.
The killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani is a huge victory for security forces, a security expert has observed, adding that it would have huge repercussions and ramifications.
'Everybody spies on their friends as well as their enemies. That's the way the world works these days'
India has the ability in all respects to be a great power and address our security challenges in the best national interests, says Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
This will be the fifth time that Prime Minister Sharif will pick the top commander of the country's nearly 550,000 ground troops.
Some organisational changes are likely in some of the key army formations.
The arrival a couple of days ago of a Chinese nuclear submarine for the first time in Karachi port, coinciding with a Chinese military delegation's visit, points to Pakistan's importance for China, says former R&AW officer Jayadeva Ranade.
The separatists termed the state government's appeal for help to restore normalcy as "childish and illogical".
The two sides held diplomatic talks through video conference on the border standoff in midst of fresh details emerging that China has strengthened its position in several areas in eastern Ladakh including Galwan Valley where a violent clash on June 15 left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
A commanding officer of the counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles, a cop and two militants were killed and a soldier was seriously wounded in a fierce encounter in south Kashmir's Tral area on Tuesday afternoon.
India has experienced hands and will emerge with flying colours, declares Inspector General Gurdip Singh Uban (retd).
Corps Commander Lt Gen K J S Dhillon of the Chinar Corps also requested mothers of Kashmiri militants to persuade their sons to surrender.
Army troops today busted a militant hideout and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition including a sniper rifle, one universal machine gun and 13-kg explosive in Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir.
'Any conventional conflict could trigger a nuclear war with results that neither India nor Pakistan could survive easily.' >A revealing excerpt from Shuja Nawaz's The Battle For Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship And A Tough Neighbourhood.
IAF versus USAF: the air exercises begin
If push comes to shove, Trump is probably planning to order the US army to clear his path for a second term. What if the armed forces refuse to obey their commander-in-chief?, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Under the India-China agreement on the disengagement process in eastern Ladakh, the Chinese army will pull back its troops to east of Finger 8 areas in the northern bank of Pangong lake, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in Parliament on Thursday, in what is seen as a significant step to dial down tensions in the key face-off site.
Four militants, including a self-styled divisional commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit, were shot dead in separate encounters in Kashmir Valley. The self-styled divisional commander of LeT Mehboob Ahmed Afradi alias Jugnu was killed in a joint operation by army and police personnel in Baramulla district on Friday, a defence spokesman said.In another operation, police and army personnel killed three militants at Sona Pindi in Kupwara on Thursday night.
"He was instrumental in the creation of the 'Joint Command' of Bangladesh and Indian Forces for the final assault which led to victory," read the citation conferred on Jagjivan Ram, who was India's defence minister during the 1971 war.
Operation Sankat Mochan, aimed at evacuating over 500 Indians stuck in the war-torn South Sudan, got underway on Thursday.
Security forces on Sunday claimed to have busted hideout of two Hizbul Mujahideen commanders, wanted for their roles in 2011 Delhi high court blast, and seized huge cache of arms and ammunition in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir.
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