Go, Bears!

No, this isn't a sports posting.

A bear killed two militants after discovering them in its den in Indian-administered Kashmir, police say.

Two other militants escaped, one of them badly wounded, after the attack in Kulgam district, south of Srinagar.

source: BBC News

One bear vs. four rifle-armed miltants... Go, Bears!

Naxal violence spikes up

In an extraordinary spike of violence, Maoist insurgents in eastern India have conducted a spate of attacks on police, military and social services in diverse locations. The worst attack came over last weekend as 29 officers were killed in an ambush in the dense terrain of Chhattisgarh State. 13 other police personnel are missing. The grave concern now is that the insurgency is growing.

The rebels, estimated to have 22,000 fighters, operate in large parts of the eastern, central and southern countryside, and officials say they are spreading to cities and bigger towns.

Naxal Terror Watch is reporting several other attacks, including another round of fighting near Lalgarh in West Bengal.

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Previous posts about this topic June 21st and June 22nd here at CompHyp.

Indian Maoist Campaign Spreads

The conflict against the Naxal People's War Groups (Maoist insurgents) has spread in the wake of the Lalgarh counter-offensive. Five States now at WARNING.

Extend that West Bengal Travel Advisory appropriately.

West Bengal operation against Maoist PWG

The Government of India has finally taken action against the Maoist Naxal (People's War Group; PWG) that has been beseiging the town of Lalgarh in West Bengal.

The situation remained tense in West Bengal state's town of Lalgarh where security forces were acting against a Maoist siege and citizens, especially politicians, were advised by the Indian government Sunday not to travel to the area. More than 1,500 paramilitary and police personnel began an operation Thursday to flush out Maoists from Lalgarh and its surrounding villages, about 200 kilometres west of state capital Kolkata.

...

"Security forces must carry on their work without distraction. Hence I appeal to all citizens, especially political leaders, NGOs, and others, not to go to the conflict area," the minister said.

Yes, that is an attempt to put a curtain on media reports. None the less, given the use of roadside bombings by the Maoists, this should be considered a *travel advisory* for rural West Bengal.

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There are some excellent sources on the web for information on the various Maoist insurgencies against India. Here is one that reprints media reports from inside India on the topic: Naxal Terror Watch.

Gander, meet Goose

Statements reprinted by DPA (Deutche Press) make it sound like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India is not exactly supportive of the Israeli counter-attack in Gaza, to say the least.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday strongly condemned Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip and expressed hope that the world community will work together to restore peace in the region. In his first public statement on the ongoing attacks, Singh said India strongly condemns the incidents and regrets the loss of many innocent lives.

Coincidentally, the Government of India also released to DPA the following remarks by M. Singh regarding the ongoing India-Pakistan matters related to the Mumbai (Bombay) attacks of last month:

Speaking in Chennai, Singh said the forces of extremism and terrorism would not be allowed to destabilize the economy and polity of India. He promised to work with the global community to ensure that there are no safe havens or launching pads for terrorists.

Noting that the Mumbai attacks were a grim reminder of the threat posed by extremism to India's pluralistic and liberal traditions, Singh said, "There are some who would not like to see India succeed. But we have shown, over and over again, that we will not allow the forces of terrorism and extremism to destabilize our polity, our economy and our society," he said.

Not seeing any implied contradiction there; nope.

Gentlemen, the same fanatical ideology, the same methodology, and the same root causes are behind LeT and Hamas; perhaps the same enablers are playing a role as well.

It might be at least half a good idea to consider that given India's current need for diplomatic maneuvering room if push comes to shove and India has to strike inside Pakistan, it is less than beneficial to be denouncing someone else for going into a terrorist nest and taking out some of the trash.

It might also have been wiser to run the Press Release on both of these items straight out to all media, rather than leaving DPA the opportunity to spread the shall-we-say-edited message *they* wanted to.

Anybody else seeing this as a failure of focus?

Pakistani Army is reported to be diverting troops away from the FATA and Northwest Frontier, as of today. The redeployment is to the Indian border, supposedly to dissuade India from any reprisals for the Mumbai terror attack.

This takes some of the heat off the Pakistani Taliban, and is likely just what the terrorists who planned the Mumbai attacks intended.

Damn.

Well, that certainly clears that up.

Gosh, it is sure great to have the Iranian daily newspaper Kayhan around.

According to their insights, the Mumbai attack wasn't al-Qaeda or the Government of Pakistan...

...it was clearly an Indo-Israeli-American-mosthatedEnglish Plot.

Just one more reason to cancel your newspaper subscriptions, turn off the TV, and start getting IRNA's press releases as your sole source of news.

Oh, and stop reading 'blogs like Competing Hypotheses.


a heartfelt tip of the hat to the great translators over at MEMRI for this item.

Mumbai Multiple Terror Attacks

This is a breaking story, and one better reported in detail by wire-services and Indian local media, but the ongoing terror raid in Mumbai (formerly-Bombay), India, is highlighted here because reports are coming in that the raiders are targeting foreign passport-holders.

Mumbai police have told the media that at least 80 people have been killed, 250 injured.

Strength and victory to the Indian Security Forces in this tragic time.

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Update1: There are reports of hostage-taking in one of the occupied hotels.

Update2: Animesh Roul at CTB is following this. You could not ask for a more expert observer.

Update3: FOXNews Urgent Queue cites multiple hostage situations, Indian NSG Paramilitary Special Response Unit on the way.

Update4: NHK radio news at 0600 local time (Japan) reports 1 Japanese National confirmed as amongst the injured.

***
Update Thursday: The death toll is up to 127, including 7 foreign nationals. The fighting still continues in three locations, with hostage situations in all three places.

The Times of India has it (in various stories) as 125 dead, including 14 police. Over 300 wounded.

Reports are of the terrorists having arrived by ship from Karachi, Pakistan, and now there are claims by the Indian Army commander on the scene that the attackers are (were) Pakistani. Not Pakistani-sponsored... Pakistani.

I am going to have to concur with some opinions circulating about those claims: That India basically *must* claim foreign agency in the attacks, or there will be a storm of domestic controversy as to how the Indian security services missed detecting a home-grown plot. It is just a whole lot easier to claim outside plotters *if* in fact it was an outside plot.

There is something fishy about this, certainly

The day after retired Indian Navy RAdm. Raja Menon fired off this rather unflattering opinion piece in the New Express directed at the U.S. and NATO pirate fighting (or non-fighting) efforts, it seems almost too much of a coincidence that

"A US Official with knowledge of last week's incident in the Gulf of Aden tells Fox News there is no evidence to suggest that any pirates were on board the commercial fishing vessel that was destroyed by the Indian Navy."

The supposed owner of the (former?-)Thai fishing vessel that was sunk as a pirate-controlled vessel has also surfaced, claiming his ship had just been captured by pirates and the crew was endangered / killed by the naval engagement.

*Somebody* is putting out a political smokescreen, that is for sure.

. The Indian Navy, looking to justify the action?

.. Foreign fishing interests, looking to cover up poaching?

... Someone in the U.S. trying to whitewash American inaction, for whatever reasons (good or bad)?

.... Someone in diplomatic affairs acting even more pathetically petty?

The only thing clearly known about the incident is that when the INS Tabar fired on the trawler, it went up with a rather spectacular and out-sized explosion.

Some fish, eh?