Alerted by intelligence reports over a possible spillover of terrorist activities into Himachal Pradesh, army has mounted a strict vigil along Chamba district and certain areas along the Jammu and Kashmir-HP border.
A junior commissioned officer of the counter insurgency Rashtriya Rifles committed suicide in a camp in central Kashmir Budgam district by shooting himself with his automatic service rifle on Friday evening.
Counter insurgency operations alone will not end Naxalism as the government needs to address its "root cause", which is the issue of forests and land rights, former BSF Director General E N Rammohan, who probed the Dantewada killings last month, said Friday.
Terrorist fired on a joint 'naka' of police and the Central Reserve Police Force at Pantha Chowk area late on Saturday night.
An acute equipment shortage and an army that has only been trained to fight against India has left the Pakistani army highly ineffectual in its counter-insurgency efforts against the Taliban, said South Asia expert Stephen Cohen.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has refuted the whining of Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani who had contended in a recent article in the Wall Street Journal that the main reason Pakistan's counter-insurgency efforts this far against the Taliban and other extremist groups was because it had not been provided with proper equipment --attack helicopters and night visions goggles -- by the United States as promised.
"The Centre has given consent for the sanction of 452 additional paramilitary companies for security duties in connection with assembly elections in the state," Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda told PTI. He said each company will have strength of 60 securitymen and deployed for security purposes during elections in the state.
"Two militants of Jaish-e-Mohammed hiding inside the house began indiscriminate automatic gunfire at the security forces. The cordon around the house was further tightened, resulting in a sustained firefight at the end of which both militants were killed," a senior police officer said in Srinagar. Arms and ammunition,including two AK-47 rifles and two magazines were recovered from the encounter site.
Gen Singh, who has vast experience in counter-insurgency operations and till lately was the GOC-in-C of Kolkata-based Eastern Command, was handed over charge by Gen Kapoor at a ceremony in the South Block in New Delhi.
Singh was in the news recently when he recommended action against four General-ranked officers indicted by a probe in the Sukna land scam in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
The spokesman said the bodies of the deceased soldiers were recovered by rescue teams, which swung into action immediately after the avalanche struck the post.
In a first, French soldiers will march down the Rajpath on Republic Day along with Indian troops in the presence of President Francois Hollande who is the chief guest for this year's celebrations.
'Under Doval, foreign powers traditionally suspicious of India were wooed.' 'Enemies were embraced.'
The sources said that insurgents opened fire from a distance at Chaljang area and security personnel returned the fire. But there were no casualties on the side of Assam Rifles. Official sources said security forces had intensified counter-insurgency operations along Khengjoi hill range, Dingpi and several villages including Chaljang since November 25 to flush out MPA insurgents.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday said he will step down as the chairman of the counter-insurgency Unified Command in order to concentrate on development activities. The chief secretary will take over the responsibility. "I want to focus more on development work as it is the development that will ultimately neutralise insurgency. Had there been no insurgency, the state could have afforded to pump more money into development and welfare schemes," he said.
The security forces in Assam have decided to beef up security throughout the state after receiving intelligence inputs about militants' design to carry out attacks during Christmas and harvest festival Bihu.
As soon as the operation ended, local residents started pelting stones at the security forces, he said, adding the clashes were going on till reports last came in.
A source in the chief minister's office informed that the judicial inquiry would continue simultaneously along with the investigation that was being carried out by the Additional Chief Secretary of the State Alok Party. Gogoi has made it clear that no official would be spared if found guilty of intentional killing of 'any innocent person' in the name of counter-insurgency operation in general.
Eight militants were killed across Jammu and Kashmir in three different gunfights between security forces and militants Wednesday.
"I had clearly said that any case of moral turpitude and corruption will be dealt with in a very stern manner. The Court of Inquiry has recommended that we should go in for court martial proceedings. Last month, an Army Court of Inquiry indicted Maj Gogoi for "fraternising" with a local woman at a Srinagar hotel and being away from his place of duty.
India has over 4,000 medium tanks, but not a single light tank. It remains to be seen whether the Ladakh face-off with China galvanises a change, observes Ajai Shukla.
'All the government needs to do is to identify clear political and strategic objectives and to give the military planners a free hand,' asserts Ajai Shukla.
A senior officer of the elite counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles was killed and a member of the special operations group critically wounded in two continuing north Kashmir encounters on Friday.
Even as the Indian Army wants the imposition of tougher laws in support of the counter-insurgency operations against the banned United Liberation Front of Asom, the insurgent group has termed the move, 'a reflection of the failure of the Army' in demoralising and neutralising ULFA members despite its prolonged operations in Assam.
The two-day-long bloody gunfight between the security forces and the militants ended in Srinagar on Wednesday afternoon in which two army majors and nine militants were killed.
A security source informed that the bomb was planted in a moped in the area that is close to a barrack of Manipur State Police Commandos and a camp of Assam Rifles, both of which are engaged in counter-insurgency operation in the state.
As the grenades burst, the extract and explosive material get dispersed in the atmosphere giving acute irritation to the throat and skin. The grenade material also chokes the respiratory tract causing difficulty in breathing. It will also be possible to create a smoke screen with the grenade burst, the sources said.
The field intelligence units of the Army coupled with inputs comprising HUMINT (human intelligence) and TECHINT (technical intelligence) indicate that around 300 terrorists, mainly of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT), are waiting across the border to sneak in, officials said, citing reports from Srinagar collated in the national capital.
'Romeo Force', the Army's counter insurgency group, has organised workshops in the remote areas of Poonch district for students of class 10 and 12, to train them on how to identify various explosive devices and undertake safety measures to save lives. A variety of Improvised Explosive Devices, landmines and grenades, made by militants to trigger blasts, were on display at the workshops, in which over 200 students from various schools of Poonch district participated.
Following in the footsteps of the US Armed Forces, the Indian Army soldiers will soon be armed with laser guns to help take on militants without even firing a single shot.
The Assam government's efforts to woo the 'B' company of the now dissolved 28th battalion of the banned United Liberation Front of Assam has so far failed, in view of the belligerence shown by the Army operating under the counter-insurgency unified command structure in the state.
One of the slain militants were identified as Wasim, a Pakistani national and self-styled district commander of JeM.
The C-17 Globemaster can airlift around 230 passengers in one go and takes less time to fly between different places.
The slain person, who was shot dead at his residence, was a former member of the banned outfit and was working closely with security forces engaged in counter-insurgency operations.
Army said after the Pulwama terror attack the security forces launched an offensive against the JeM.
The proscribed United Liberation Front of Assam, which is now reeling under sustained and intensified counter-insurgency operation by the Army -- especially in Eastern Assam areas and the two hill districts of the state -- has alleged that the government of India was interested in crushing the 'ULFA revolution' by using force and not at all interested in a political solution to "Assam-India" conflict.
New Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma Monday said controlling the 'alarming' COVID-19 situation in the state is his first priority and his aim will be to make the state one of the top five in the country in the next five years.
A security source said it was part of ULFA's strategy to mount pressure on the Army, which has put ULFA strongholds in Tinsukia district and areas adjoining the Arunachal Pradesh border under strict surveillance.
Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd) lists why India must not do away with AFSPA, but ensure enough transparency to avoid confrontation with human rights.
"We have plugged all routes, making it difficult for the ULFA to bring in weapons and cadres from their bases in neighbouring countries," said Lt Gen B S Jaswal. ULFA militants were facing a shortage of food and medicines in their jungle camps.
