Somalia/Terrorism: 29 civilians killed in renewed Mogadishu fighting

Media reported on Tuesday that 29 civilians were killed and almost 100 people were injured during clashes that had erupted in the capital Mogadishu between terrorists of the Al-Shabaab and forces of the Somali Government on Monday.

Reportedly, the fighting erupted on several front lines, in the Holwadag, Hodan and Bondhere areas of the Somali capital.

It is worth mentioning that this renewed violence came after a statement of an Al-Shabaab spokesperson had announced on Monday the beginning of a major offensive “against the Christian invaders and the apostate government".

India/Civil Unrest: One protester dies, 31 police officers wounded in the latest Kashmir protests

Media reported on Monday that 31 police officers, including a local police chief, and at least one protester were injured over night during clashes that erupted in five separate locations in Kashmir’s southern district of Pulwana.

Meanwhile, another protester who was injured earlier during violence in the northern district of Baramulla, has succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Srinagar.

Reportedly, the announcement of his death sparked new protests in which hundreds of people blocked the main road leading to the home village of the victim Singhpora, near Pattan.

Belgium/Spain: Suspected ETA member arrested in Ostende

Quoting sources of the Spanish Ministry of Interior, media reported that a suspected member of the Basque separatist group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna), Luis María Zengotitabengoa, had been arrested in the Belgian north-western port city of Ostende on Saturday.

Reportedly, the man was arrested while arriving to a hotel with false documents and was preparing to flee towards Great Britain.

It is worth mentioning that Zengotitabengoa was subject to a European arrest warrant on suspicion of transporting explosives to Portugal on behalf of ETA and of being linked to an ETA bomb-making hideout in Obidos, Portugal, where 1.5 tones of explosives and equipment to carry out attacks had been discovered in February.

Afghanistan/Terrorism: Four foreign troops killed in roadside bomb blasts

The Hungarian Ministry of Defense announced on Monday that a Hungarian soldier was killed when his convoy was hit by a blast and then attacked with gunfire near the Pul-e Khumri town in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan.

Reportedly, other three soldiers were wounded in this attack.

Separately, roadside bombs killed other three members of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, including one American.

No information has been released regarding the nationalities of the other two victims.

Mali/Spain: An official statement expected concerning the fate of the two Spanish hostages held by AQIM

Media report on Monday that the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is expected to issue an official statement concerning the fate of the two Spanish hostages who had been held by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) terrorists for almost nine months in northern Mali, as soon as these ones will be in a completely safe place.

This comes as the Spanish Government denied on Sunday night the earlier press reports announcing that Roque Pascual and Albert Vilalta would have been already released, given that the two were allegedly “still in the hands of terrorists”.

However, it is worth mentioning that AQIM had apparently expressed its intention to deliver them to the mediator of the kidnapping, Mustafa Chafi, Councilor to the President of Burkina Faso.

Pakistan/Terrorism: At least seven killed in a bomb explosion in Kurram agency

Sources of the Pakistani Government announced that at least seven people were killed when a bomb exploded at a meeting of tribal elders (jirga) in the Kurram agency, near the border with Afghanistan, on Monday.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, but it is worth mentioning that Tehreek-e-Taleban Pakistan (TTP) have waged a bombing campaign across the northwest region and in the Pakistani heartland in the past.

Iraq/Terrorism: American soldier killed in rocket attack

Media reported that an American soldier had been killed in a rocket attack carried in the southern province of Basra on Sunday.

It is worth mentioning that this incident marks the first American fatality since the last US combat troops had left the country last week.

Currently, there are still about 52,000 US troops in Iraq, but more are scheduled to leave over the next week in order to bring their number to 50,000 by the end of August, under a deadline set by the Obama administration.

Yemen/Terrorism: At least 11 soldiers killed in AQAP ambush

Media reported that at least 11 soldiers had been killed in an attack carried by terrorists of the Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) near the town of Lawdar, Abyan governorate on Saturday.

Moreover, in the exchange of fire that erupted between the two sides, also seven terrorists were killed.

Reportedly, this new violence came after reinforcements had been dispatched to the city and authorities had issued an ultimatum to AQAP, calling on its members operating in the area to surrender.

Afghanistan/Terrorism: 30 security guards killed in Taleban attack in Helmand

Media reported on Friday that 30 security guards were killed and some 15 others were injured in a Taleban attack in the restive southern province of Helmand on Thursday.

According to the statements of Daoud Ahmadi, spokesperson of the Helmand Governorate, violent clashes erupted between the guards assuring the security of the workers on the construction site of a highway in Sangin district and Taleban terrorists.

Reportedly, a spokesperson for the Taleban, Zabihullah Mujahed, claimed responsibility for the attack and said that terrorists had taken control over 30 checkpoints on the highway.

Pakistan/Security: A new wave of political violence shatters Karachi

Media reported that Obaidullah Yousufzai, a local leader of Awami National Party (ANP) had been killed close to the airport in Karachi on Thursday and that at least 13 people were later gunned down in apparent revenge attacks.

Provincial government spokesman Jamil Soomro stated that the targeted killings occurred in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Banaras, Orangi Town, Korangi and Qasba Colony and that over ten vehicles were also set on fire.

As a reminder, around 80 people have been killed in the city in the last month in violence between rival political and ethnic groups.

Colombia/Venezuela/Organized Crime: Venezuelan drug lord arrested in Colombian Norte de Santander

Media reported on Friday that Colombian police forces had arrested Walid Makled – a Venezuelan businessman accused by US officials of being a major global drug trafficker – in Norte de Santander, at the border with Venezuela, on Thursday.

Reportedly, Makled and his brothers ran an airline and part of the Venezuelan port Puerto Cabello, from where they had allegedly been exporting 10 tones of cocaine each month until 2008, when the other three were arrested after police had found 300 kilograms of cocaine on a family ranch.

It is worth mentioning that Walid Makled is also accused of being behind the murder of journalist Orel Sambrano, who covered stories on his family’s connections to illegal activities.

Iraq/Terrorism: Al-Qaeda claims responsibility for the deadly blast at the Baghdad army recruitment center 

Media reported on Friday that an Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group had claimed the responsibility for the attack carried against the army recruitment center in Baghdad on Tuesday that claimed the life of around 60 soldiers and recruits and injured some 120 others.

Reportedly, the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), a local Al-Qaeda umbrella group, posted a statement on a jihadist website, saying that the attack was carried by one of its suicide bombers who targeted “a gathering of disbelieving cattle and other apostates who sold their religion for little money.”

The statement further added that army recruits were offering themselves as “weapons in a war against Sunni Muslims” waged by the Shi'ite-led authorities of Iraq.

Thailand/United States/Terrorism: Viktor Bout to be extradited to the US

Media reported on Friday that an appeal court in Thailand had accepted, after more than two years of proceedings, the request of the United States to extradite Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, following an international arrest warrant on charges of terrorism.

It is worth mentioning that the request for extradition had been rejected by a court of first instance last year.

Viktor Bout, a former officer in the Soviet Air Force, was arrested in March 2008 in Bangkok and now faces life imprisonment if he is found guilty of conspiracy to provide weapons to a terrorist organization, conspiracy to kill US officers and conspiracy to acquire anti-aircraft missiles.

He is known to have supplied air missiles to the Taleban terrorists and weapons to other groups, including the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia).

India/Insurgency: Two insurgent hideouts destroyed in Kashmir districts

Media reported on Friday that two hideouts of Kashmir insurgents were busted by the security forces in separate operations in the Doda and Rajouri districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

In the first operation carried in the Kalmat forest belt in Doda district, folowing an anonymous tip-off, members of the Territorial Army seized a grenade, five chargers, three detonators and other ammunition.

Separately, troops led by Rajouri Senior Superintendent of Police R. K. Jalla seized two AK rifles with 211 rounds, explosives and other ammunition in a hideout in the Kapper forest belt of Kalakote tehsil in Rajouri district.

Mexico/Organized Crime: Three beheaded bodies, including that of a police officer, found on a highway

Media reported on Friday that three beheaded bodies, including that of a police officer from the state of Morelos, were found dumped on a highway some 100 kilometers away from the capital Ciudad de Mexico.

According to sources from the local Prosecutor’s Office, a “narco-message” left behind at the scene seems to indicate a settlement of accounts between rival drug cartels.

It is worth mentioning that the state of Morelos is the scene of a constant fighting for succession between rival cells of the Beltran Leyva cartel, after its leader Arturo Beltran Leyva had been killed in December 2009 during a military operation in Cuernavaca.

Yemen/Terrorism: Two soldiers killed in Abyan

Media reported on Friday that two soldiers had been killed and two others wounded late on Thursday during clashes with armed men in the province of Abyan, southern Yemen.

Reportedly, clashes erupted when gunmen attacked two soldiers in a market in Loder and seized their weapons, triggering the intervention of the army.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack so far, but authorities blame it on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorists.

Meanwhile, sources of the security forces announced that Commander Abdul Khaliq Chaeh, Chief of the Judicial Police in the southern province of Daleh, was injured over night by a bomb placed in his car.

Afghanistan/Terrorism: 12 Taleban terrorists killed in raid in Logar

NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan announced on Thursday that Afghan and coalition troops had killed 12 Taleban terrorists, including the commander of the respective cell, during a raid carried in Logar province on Wednesday.

Reportedly, an operation was launched in order to hunt down Commander Qari Muir and an exchange of fire erupted when Taleban terrorists tried to attack the coalition forces.

It is worth mentioning that Muir has held several positions in the past under the Taleban rule, including that of military commander and chief of intelligence services in the province of Logar.

Democratic Republic of Congo/Insurgency: Two suspects arrested in the killings of three peacekeepers in North Kivu

Media reported on Thursday that the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) had arrested two rebels suspected of having killed the three Indian Blue Helmets on Wednesday in Kirumba, the eastern province of North Kivu.

Reportedly, Mumbere Tembea, one of the two suspects arrested, confessed to have been sent to track down and kill the members of MONUSCO (United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), but the masterminds of the attack have not been identified.

Moreover, the suspect stated to belong to the Mayi-Mayi PARECO (Coalition of Patriots in the Congolese Resistance) insurgent group that is operating in the Lubero sector in North Kivu and indicated as reason of the attack the fact that MONUSCO does not facilitate their integration into FARDC.

South Africa/Civil Unrest: Police disperse protesters by firing rubber bullets

Media reported on Thursday that police had to use force to disperse crowds of protesters that had been blocking traffic on a road and preventing patients from entering into a nearby hospital in Soweto, 15 kilometers south-west of Johannesburg, in the Gauteng province.

According to the statements of Captain Nondumiso Mpantsha, rubber bullets were fired and water cannons were also deployed to disperse the crowds.

It is worth mentioning that this incident occurred as more that 1 million civil servants had started an indefinite general strike on Wednesday to ask for higher wages.

China/Security: Seven killed in Xinjiang blast

Media reported on Thursday that seven people were killed in an explosion that occurred near the town of Aksu in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Province, as a member of the Uighur minority had driven an explosive-laden vehicle into a crowd.

Reportedly, police forces arrested the suspect, but no information has been released concerning the potential motives of the attack so far.

However, it is worth mentioning that this province has been marked by ethnic tensions between the Uighur minority and the Han majority population and that prior attacks have been blamed on violent separatist groups who want to establish an independent state of the East Turkestan.     
 
As a reminder, around 200 people were killed in July 2009 in the provincial capital Urumqi during ethnical violence that erupted between the two populations.