Tag: attack

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India News West Bengal

MoS Muraleedharan’s convoy attacked in WB

Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan

The incident took place when Muraleedharan accompanied by BJP state leader Rahul Sinha was going to Ghatal in East Midnapore to meet some of the BJP supporters…reports Asian Lite News

In a shocking incident, the convoy of Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan was attacked by a group of unidentified miscreants at Panchkhuri area in West Midnapore district on Thursday afternoon.

The BJP alleged that the attack was a handiwork of the TMC goons but it was strongly refuted by the TMC leadership alleging that the BJP leadership is provoking people to resort to violence.

The incident took place when Muraleedharan accompanied by BJP state leader Rahul Sinha was going to Ghatal in East Midnapore to meet some of the BJP supporters who were injured in the attack allegedly by the TMC goons. When his convoy was at Panchkhuri that falls under West Midnapore, suddenly there was brick batting on his vehicle and people came with sticks and other things and stopped his vehicle.

He posted a video on Twitter and wrote, “TMC goons attacked my convoy in West Midnapore, broke windows, attacked personal staff. Cutting short my trip.”

Later speaking to the reporters, the union minister said, “The attack was orchestrated by TMC workers. He said that the incident took place in the presence of police, adding that the Mamata Banerjee government has turned a blind eye. I shall give my report to the central government”.

Also read:Mamata accuses BJP of instigating violence

The Ministry of Home Affairs asked West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to send a report on the law-and-order situation in the state, sources in the government said.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the ruling Trinamool Congress is responsible for this. “The Trinamool violence has crossed all limits. So far 14 BJP workers have been killed and lakhs of people have left their homes. This cannot be democracy”.

New Delhi: MoS External Affairs V. Muraleedharan participated in the 27th Regional Forum Ministerial via video conferencing in New Delhi on Sep 12, 2020. (Photo: IANS/MEA)

The Trinamool Congress leadership has strongly refuted the allegation. TMC district secretary of West Midnapore Ajit Maity claimed that nothing had happened and BJP was trying to create sensation.

Speaking to the media, veteran Trinamool leader Sougata Roy said, “Muraleedharan is a person from Kerala. What was he doing in West Bengal? They are now defeated and so they are trying to create disturbance in different areas. The BJP has won in most of the places where there are disturbances. I ask them to go back. We will take care of the law-and-order situation”.

Also read:Cong leaders praise Mamata, ignoring defeat

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-Top News Afghanistan Asia News

Security Council strongly condemns Afghan terror attack

Security Council strongly condemns Afghan terror attack

The Council members reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation…reports Asian Lite News

The UN Security Council condemned “in the strongest terms” the terror attack in Afghanistan’s Logar province on April 30 that killed at least 26 people and injured 71 others.

In a statement on Monday, the members of the Security Council expressed their sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Afghan government, wishing the injured a speedy and full recovery, reports Xinhua news agency.

Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security, the Council members said.

They underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of the attack accountable and bring them to justice, urging all states to cooperate with the Afghan government and all other relevant authorities.

Afghanistan’s killing fields: Taliban and its mentors have blood on their hands

The Council members reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed.

They reaffirmed the need for all states to combat threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts, while observing relevant laws and regulations.

Also read:Taliban attack at the peak in Afghanistan 

On Saturday and Sunday, the Taliban has conducted 141 attacks in Afghanistan, mostly in Uruzgan, Zabul, Kandahar, Nangarhar, Badakhshan and Takhar provinces, sources said.

Information obtained by TOLO News shows that at least 20 people were killed in the attacks.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry said that more than 100 Taliban fighters were also killed in the last 24 hours. The militant group has however, rejected the figure.

Data collected by TOLO News revealed that in the last 30 days, 438 members of Afghan forces and civilians were killed and more than 500 others were injured.

The data shows that 190 bombings, targeted attacks and offensives took place in the last month.

The figures come as US forces started their withdrawal from Afghanistan on May 1.

The Defence Ministry said that Camp Antonik in the Washir district in the southern province of Helmand was officially handed over to the Afghan National Army’s 215 Maiwand Corp on Sunday.

The Ministry said the camp will be used as a base for Afghan special forces.

Also read:‘Al-Qaeda is still active in Afghanistan’


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Business India News Technology

Targeted ransomware attacks grow 767% in India

From 2019 to 2020, the number of users encountering targeted ransomware increased by around 767 percent…reports Asian Lite News.

The ransomware attacks on high-profile targets such as corporations, government agencies, and municipal organisations globally increased by a whopping 767 percent in one year (from 2019 to 2020), according to a new report.

Targeted ransomware attacks have become a major concern globally in the past few years, especially for organisations and businesses in the APAC region, especially India.

“At least 61 entities from the region were breached by a targeted ransomware group in 2020. Australia and India being the top two countries that logged the highest number of incidents across APAC,” said Chris Connell, Managing Director, Kaspersky (APAC).

The increase in targeted ransomware occurred alongside a 29 percent decrease in the overall number of users affected by any kind of ransomware, with WannaCry still being the most frequently encountered family, according to cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

Targeted ransomware attacks involve significantly more sophistication (network compromise, reconnaissance and persistence, or lateral movement) and a much larger payout.

From 2019 to 2020, the number of users encountering targeted ransomware increased by around 767 percent.

The ransomware family most frequently encountered by users is still WannaCry, the ransomware Trojan that first appeared in 2017 and led to damages of at least $4 billion across 150 countries.

Nearly 22 percent of the users that encountered ransomware in 2019 encountered WannaCry, but this decreased to 16 percent in 2020.

“We’ll most likely see fewer and fewer widespread campaigns targeting everyday users. Of course, that’s not to say users aren’t still vulnerable,” said Fedor Sinitsyn, a security expert at Kaspersky.

“However, the primary focus will likely continue to be on companies and large organisations, and that means ransomware attacks will continue to become more sophisticated and more destructive,” he added.

The ransomware threat — when attackers encrypt private information and hold it to ransom — became mainstream news in the 2010s following large-scale outbreaks, such as WannaCry and Cryptolocker.

They targeted tens of thousands of users and often requested relatively small amounts from victims to have their files returned.

Some of the most prolific targeted ransomware families during this time were Maze, the infamous group involved in several loud incidents, and RagnarLocker, also covered in the news.

Both of these families began the trend of exfiltration of data in addition to encrypting it and threatening to make the confidential information public if the victims refused to pay, according to the report.

Also Read-World economy Lost $1 Tn to Cyber Attacks: Report

Read More-‘India ready to combat China’s cyber attacks’

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India News

Maoists release abducted CoBRA commando

Manhas, a constable of the 210th CoBRA was safely handed over to the state police and to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)…reports Asian Lite News

CRPF commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas, who was held captive by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh for over 100 hours after the April 3 gun battle, was released on Thursday evening, the CRPF said.

Manhas, a constable of the 210th CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), an elite wing of the CRPF, was safely handed over to the state police and to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

“Our CoBRA commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas has reached our camp safely. He is being sent for medical examination,” CRPF’s IG, Operations, C.G. Arora told IANS.

Manhas is physically fine, he added.

In Jammu, family members of Manhas celebrated the news of his release.

Neighbours and family members reached his residence, raised slogans and celebrated the news of his release by distributing sweets. His wife said she had not slept since he was made captive by the Maoists.

Also read:Tight security in Bengal ahead of polls

“I want to thank the Prime Minister. I wasn’t able to sleep for the last six days,” said Meenu.

“I am very happy that he has been released… we just got the news,” said his brother Sahil.

The trooper had gone missing during the fierce gun battle with over 300 PLGAs ultras in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on April 3 in which 22 security personnel were killed and 31 were injured. Over 1,000 security personnel of the CRPF and Chhattisgarh’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) took part in the operation. The gun battle took place on Saturday noon near Tekulgudem village under Tarrem police station.

The Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of the outlawed CPI-Maoist on Tuesday announced Manhas was “safe” in their custody and sought an interlocutor appointed to for his release.

As the Ministry of Home Affairs, in close coordination with the Chhattisgar government, was busy in scrutinising the names of likely interlocutors, the ultras released Manhas.

Also read:23 jawans killed after walking into Maoist trap

Categories
-Top News China India News

‘India ready to combat China’s cyber attacks’

According to the official data, India witnessed a nearly 300 per cent spike in cyber attacks last year in comparison to 2019…reports Asian Lite News

China can disrupt systems by launching cyber attacks on India and a mechanism is being readied to combat any such move, Chief of Defence Staff(CDS), General Bipin Rawat, said at an event here on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Vivekananda International Foundation on shaping the armed forces to meet the likely current and future challenges, General Rawat said, “We may not be able to fully catch up with China. So we are trying to develop some kind of a relationship with the western nations and see how better we can get some support from them, during peace time at least, which will help us overcome this deficiency.”
Rawat said that China has the first movers advantage as India was slow to adopt cyber warfare capabilities, which has led to the gaps.

“The biggest differential lies in the cyber field. We know that China is capable of launching cyber attacks on us and it can disrupt a large number of systems,” he said.

According to the official data presented in the Parliament, India witnessed a nearly 300 per cent spike in cyber attacks last year in comparison to 2019, from 3,94,499 cases in 2019 to 11,58,208 in 2020, which is alarming for the government.

“What we are trying to do is create a system which will ensure cyber defence. We have been able to create a cyber agency within the armed forces and each service also has its own cyber agency, so that even if we come under a cyber attack, the downtime of the attack doesn’t last long,” Rawat said.

Also read:China cries foul against India at WTO

The CDS said while China has a lead in this respect, India is evolving its technologies to match up.

“While we are trying to create firewalls for cyber attacks, someone may break through them. We are trying see how long your systems will be down and how will you be able to operate through the phase of cyber attack that we have been put through. That is what we are seriously looking at.”

The CDS said the key for combating such attacks is to integrate the resources of the three services. “The Navy is far ahead of the Army and the Air Force in the way it has imbibed technology,” he said.

On other security challenges, Rawat said that India faces multiple and varied security threats and challenges across the full spectrum of conflict – from proxy war to hybrid to non-contact, conventional and collusive wars under a nuclear overhang.

“There is an emergent need to develop a vision for the region. However, one must be careful to not ‘bite more than one can chew’. The vision for the region or even our global vision must be intrinsically linked to our national interests, which are directly linked to national security,” the CDS said.

Also read:China warns US on global affairs

Categories
India News

23 jawans killed after walking into Maoist trap

The lengthy gunfight between Maoists militants and security personnel broke out on Saturday at a remote hilly site in Bijapur district, close to Sukma district border in sprawling Bastar division…reports Sujeet Kumar

Over 1,000 police personnel drawn from CRPF’s elite CoBRA unit, and the state police’s District Reserve Guard (DRG) and Special Task Force (STF) walked into a deadly trap of Maoists in deep jungle in a rebel-dominated patch in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar, purely on an unverified intelligence input that top ultra leader Madvi Hidma was holed up at a hilly site along with his colleagues.

But the input was basically a well-planned trap of the Maoist guerrillas as they gunned down 23 security personnel and walked away with their weapons too. The casualty figure could further rise as at least 31 security personnel sustained multiple injuries and were airlifted to Raipur for better medical attention.

The lengthy gunfight between Maoists militants and security personnel broke out on Saturday at a remote hilly site in Bijapur district, close to Sukma district border in sprawling Bastar division where Maoists are attempting to run a de facto government in deep forests since late 1980s.

“Guerrillas armed with heavy weapons including rocket launchers were waiting for security personnel contingent… once a larger team of the search operation approached a hill, the militants who were positioned on top of the hill started spraying bullets in a flash from three sides,” a local DRG policeman who was part of the search team told IANS.

The attack site is located roughly 500 km south of state capital Raipur.

India_Chhattisgarh_location_map (wikipedia)
Also read:Indian army man eyes Guinness record

“The security personnel were stunned by Maoists’ heavy gunfire… actually, it was an ambush designed in U-shape but the troopers too retaliated hard.”

Reports say that Maoists brought 3-4 tractors on Saturday night to the attack site to ferry away dead bodies of their comrades.

The local police officials are now claiming that intelligence inputs should have been verified from multiple credible sources before rushing a larger team to catch Hidma, one of the most wanted terror faces in the mineral-rich Bastar.

The brutal killings of troopers have created a widespread anger in the state and people in tribal stronghold Bastar have called for immediate revenge.

Chhattisgarh’s Bastar division, which is made up of seven districts including Bijapur and Sukma, has been the epicentre of major Maoist attacks in past three decades. Rebels had killed 76 CRPF men in a single attack in April 2010 in Bastar which is described the deadliest attack by Maoists on security forces in India.

In May 2013, Maoists carried out an audacious attack on a Congress party convoy at Jheeram ghati in Bastar in which entire top-ranked leaders of the party in the state were wiped out including then state chief Nandkumar Patel, popular tribal leader Mahendra Karma and former Union Minister V.C. Shukla.

Also read:Modi to visit France after India-EU summit


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Lite Blogs Woman

Timely action can stop acts of violence

A good example of this is Breakthrough’s popular ‘Bell Bajao’ or ‘Ring The Bell’ campaign from 2008, which showed men and boys stepping up and ringing the bell to interrupt when they overheard domestic violence behind closed doors…writes Siddhi Jain.

 If you saw an act of violence being committed against a woman in a public space, would you step up and intervene? As per data from a recent report by Breakthrough India, 55.3 per cent have observed the discomfort of the woman/girl facing violence, and almost as many have intervened in an incident of violence against women in a public space.

“What I understand by bystander action is, you see something happening to someone and you’re not comfortable with it, it might be overt or not, but at that point of time, speak out or try to come between the perpetrator and victim through some strategic move. Ally with the person going through the suffering,” Sohini Bhattacharya, President and CEO, Breakthrough, explained. A swift and effective action by an onlooker can, then, prevent acts of violence, and possibly injury and even death.

A good example of this is Breakthrough’s popular ‘Bell Bajao’ or ‘Ring The Bell’ campaign from 2008, which showed men and boys stepping up and ringing the bell to interrupt when they overheard domestic violence behind closed doors.

The latest survey on bystander intervention was conducted in states such as Jharkhand (Hazaribagh district), Bihar (Gaya district), Haryana (Jhajjar district), Delhi, Maharashtra (Mumbai), Telangana (Hyderabad) and Kolkata, covering over 721 respondents. Most participants, particularly women, identified violence as a broad term, consisting of physical, mental, verbal, and sexual abuse.

In the survey, 78.4 per cent respondents say that they have experienced violence in public spaces, while almost 7 out of 10 experienced violence in public transport.

Why do people intervene? The survey found that the urge to do the ‘right’ thing often drives bystanders to intervene. A handful of respondents revealed that they were victims of child sexual abuse and domestic violence. But they could not resist their perpetrators at that time. It was this unresolved rage at their own helplessness that pushed them to intervene later in their lives. The respondents also said that better knowledge and awareness about gender issues also helped them intervene.

When it comes to techniques of bystander intervention, the survey revealed some interesting methods: swapping seats with the survivors/victims; giving one’s mobile number to connect later; taking the survivor for medical help; physically escorting someone home when she is being harassed; and employing patriarchal scripts like “Don’t you have a mother and sister?”.

As per Bhattacharya, it is very important to know how to actually intervene, based on the situation’s specific context. “It doesn’t have to direct calling out, always”.

“Often, we think someone else is going to take action, and that stops us from taking action. If more and more people have this urge to do the ‘right thing’, maybe the rates of daily sexual harassment which is often normalised, will come down,” said Bhattacharya.

The survey also reveals that building safer public spaces for women requires work at several structural and systemic levels. An important aspect among them is bystander support. The lack of positive action from bystanders is not just because they do not care. The fear of being blamed for the violence, of getting stuck in police and legal processes are some challenges that stop people. Not knowing what to do in such situations is another hurdle that bystanders often face.

“The survey respondents who have had the experiences of bystander intervention expressed their exasperation at the ‘silence’ of most victims of abuse and sexual violence. A few of the respondents acknowledged the critical role played by structural and social conditioning in influencing female behaviour and choices. They pointed out how girls were taught from childhood to be submissive and not challenge their surroundings, at least not overtly. The silence of the victims often discourages bystander intervention in public spaces,” says Breakthrough.

Also Read-Self defence tips for women

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