Latest news with #insurgency
Al Arabiya
a day ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
India's Prime Minister Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to make his first visit to contested Kashmir since a conflict between India and Pakistan last month, inaugurating a strategic railway to the mountainous region, his office said Wednesday. The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, divided between them since independence from British rule in 1947. Modi is set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-metre-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 meters above the river below. 'The project establishes all-weather, seamless rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country,' the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. Modi is expected to flag off a special train. Last month, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides. The conflict was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing -- a charge Islamabad denies. Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan. The 272-kilometre (169-mile) Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway -- with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges -- has been constructed 'aiming to transform regional mobility and driving socio-economic integration', the statement added. Its dramatic centerpiece is the Chenab Bridge, which India calls the 'world's highest railway arch bridge.' While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China. Indian Railways calls the $24-million bridge 'arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history.' The bridge will facilitate the movement of people and goods -- as well as troops -- that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and air. The train line could slash travel time between the town of Katra and Srinagar, the region's key city, by half, taking around three hours. The bridge will also revolutionize logistics in Ladakh, the icy region in India bordering China. India and China, the world's two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia. Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands. The railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army's northern command, and runs north to Srinagar.
Arab News
a day ago
- Business
- Arab News
India's Modi to visit Kashmir to unveil strategic railway
SRINAGAR, India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to make his first visit to contested Kashmir since a conflict between India and Pakistan last month, inaugurating a strategic railway to the mountainous region, his office said Wednesday. The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the center of a bitter rivalry between India and Pakistan, divided between them since independence from British rule in 1947. Modi is set to visit on Friday to open the Chenab Bridge, a 1,315-meter-long (4,314-foot-long) steel and concrete span that connects two mountains with an arch 359 meters above the river below. 'The project establishes all-weather, seamless rail connectivity between the Kashmir Valley and the rest of the country,' the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement. Modi is expected to flag off a special train. Last month, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan fought an intense four-day conflict, their worst standoff since 1999, before a ceasefire was agreed on May 10. More than 70 people were killed in missile, drone and artillery fire on both sides. The conflict was triggered by an April 22 attack on civilians in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi accused Pakistan of backing – a charge Islamabad denies. Rebel groups in Indian-run Kashmir have waged a 35-year-long insurgency demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan. The 272-kilometer (169-mile) Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway – with 36 tunnels and 943 bridges – has been constructed 'aiming to transform regional mobility and driving socio-economic integration,' the statement added. Its dramatic centerpiece is the Chenab Bridge, which India calls the 'world's highest railway arch bridge.' While several road and pipeline bridges are higher, Guinness World Records confirmed that Chenab trumps the previous highest railway bridge, the Najiehe in China. Indian Railways calls the $24-million bridge 'arguably the biggest civil engineering challenge faced by any railway project in India in recent history.' The bridge will facilitate the movement of people and goods – as well as troops – that was previously possible only via treacherous mountain roads and air. The train line could slash travel time between the town of Katra and Srinagar, the region's key city, by half, taking around three hours. The bridge will also revolutionize logistics in Ladakh, the icy region in India bordering China. India and China, the world's two most populous nations, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia. Their troops clashed in 2020, killing at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, and forces from both sides today face off across contested high-altitude borderlands. The railway begins in the garrison city of Udhampur, headquarters of the army's northern command, and runs north to Srinagar.
The Independent
2 days ago
- General
- The Independent
Extremists kill dozens of soldiers at a Mali military base, sources say
Extremists have killed dozens of soldiers in an attack on a military base in Mali, civil society and military sources said Tuesday, in the latest militant violence in West Africa 's restive Sahel region. The attack on Sunday on the base in Boulkessi, near the border with Burkina Faso, killed at least 60 soldiers and wounded 40 more, a civil society activist in the area told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. The al-Qaida-linked JNIM group claimed responsibility. A military source told the AP there were around 280 soldiers in the base, and 'all of those who didn't die were taken prisoner by the terrorists.' The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Mali's army acknowledged the attack in a statement Monday, adding that soldiers had fought 'to their last breath.' It did not provide an exact death toll. Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has battled an insurgency by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, they have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for security assistance. In a separate attack on Monday, JNIM claimed responsibility for coordinated attacks on a military airport, a military base and army checkpoints in the northern town of Timbuktu. Mali's army said Monday on social media it repelled the attack and that 13 extremists had been killed. It did not say whether any soldiers were killed. A hospital employee in the town said one soldier died of his wounds and 10 other people were wounded. The employee spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. Timbuktu residents said they heard heavy gunfire and saw armed men enter the town on motorcycles. They spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. Rida Lyammouri, a Sahel expert at the Morocco-based Policy Center for the New South, said the high level of coordination in the two attacks shows that JNIM had been planning them for a while. Attacks by extremists have been on the rise in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso in recent weeks. JNIM has established a strong presence in both.
Arab News
2 days ago
- General
- Arab News
Pakistan military says seven militants killed in counter-terror operations in Balochistan
ISLAMABAD: Seven militants were killed in two separate counter-terror operations in southwestern Pakistan on June 2, the military's media wing said on Tuesday as Islamabad battles insurgency in its Balochistan province. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military's media wing, said five militants were killed during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan's Machh town located in the Kachhi district on June 2. The same day, it said two other militants were killed in a separate IBO in Margand area located in Balochistan's Kalat District after security forces discovered a 'terrorist' hideout. The ISPR said weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the slain militants, who it alleged were actively involved in numerous militant activities. 'Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of Indian-sponsored terrorism from the country,' the military's media wing said. 'And reaffirm the nation's unwavering resolve to bring the perpetrators of Indian-sponsored terrorism and their facilitators to justice.' Pakistan's security forces have been battling an insurgency in Balochistan, the country's most impoverished province, for years. Separatist militants have often targeted security forces, police, foreigners and ethnic Punjabi commuters and workers, who they see as 'outsiders,' by wresting control of highways and remote towns in the area. Pakistan has repeatedly rejected allegations by ethnic Baloch militant groups that it denies locals a share in Balochistan's mineral and gas resources. The government points to various health, educational and development schemes in Balochistan that it supports. Balochistan has seen a spike in militant violence in recent days. An IED blast killed two tribal leaders and injured seven others on Saturday in a remote mountainous town in Quetta district. Pakistan's military accuses India of funding and training ethnic Baloch separatist outfits, the most prominent of which is the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), to carry out attacks on Pakistani soil. Delhi rejects the allegations and accuses Pakistan of stoking militancy in the region of Kashmir that India administers. In March, BLA fighters stormed a train in Balochistan and held hundreds of passengers hostage before the military launched an operation to rescue them.
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- General
- Bloomberg
Nigeria Attacks Surge as Islamic-State Affiliate Hits Army Bases
Islamist militants have ramped up an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria and attacked dozens of fortified army bases since the start of the year, setting back President Bola Tinubu's efforts to restore security in Africa's most-populous nation. There were 45 verified incidents in May, the most since the same month in 2020, data collated by risk-analysis company Seerist shows. Most were linked to a group known as Islamic State West Africa Province, or Iswap, an Islamic State affiliate that emerged in 2016. The most recent incursion was staged in the northeastern Borno state on May 26.
