Defence:

• Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh reviews MoD’s efforts to fight COVID-19
• IAF Continues its Support towards Fight against Coronavirus
• NCC offers its volunteer cadets for national duty to fight COVID-19 under ‘Ex NCC Yogdan’
• ESM rise to occasion with motto of ‘Service before Self'
• DRDO develops bio suit with seam sealing glue to keep health professionals fighting COVID-19 safe
• Armed Forces working hand-in-hand with civilian authorities in fight against COVID-19;
• Defence PSUs, OFB pitch in to fight against COVID-19
• DRDO develops kiosk for COVID-19 sample collection

International Terrorism:

Africa

• Cameroon- Boko Haram suicide bombers killed seven people in Amchide.

• Chad- Security forces destroyed five bases of Boko Haram in Niger and Nigeria.

Afghanistan

• Arrested IS-KP Emir confessed relations with ISI.

Pakistan

• Sindh HighCourt overturned death sentence of key al-Qaeda leader.

Domestic Terrorism:

Jammu and Kashmir

• Four HM terrorists killed in CT operation in Kulgam;
• Security forces killed JeM commander in Baramulla;
• JeM terrorist arrested from Baramulla.

Left-Wing Extremism

• Three Maoists killed in CI operation in Jharkhand.

Islamist-inspired Extremism (including Islamic State)

• NIA to investigate Kabul Gurdwara attack in Afghanistan;
• NIA filed supplementary charge sheet in JMB case;
• NIA registered case against Kasaragod native in Kabul Gurdwara attack.

DEFENCE

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh reviews MoD’s efforts to fight COVID-19

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh reviewed on 01 April through video conference the assistance being extended by various organisations of Ministry of Defence to fight COVID-19. Raksha Rajya Mantri, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Naval Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Chief of Army Staff, Defence Secretary, Secretary (Defence Production), Secretary (Ex-Servicemen Welfare), Secretary (Defence Finance), Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), Director General Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), Director General Indian Coast Guard, heads of Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs) and other senior civil and military officials attended the meeting through video conferencing.

Chief of Defence Staff General informed Shri Rajnath Singh that separate hospitals have been identified to exclusively deal with COVID-19 and more than 9,000 hospital beds have been made available. Over 1,000 evacuees are quarantined at facilities in Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Chennai, Manesar, Hindan and Mumbai. Their quarantine was completed on April 7, 2020. Chief of Air Staff informed that the Air Force planes conducted several sorties within the country in the last five days to transport approximately 25 tonnes of medical supplies. He said, critical operational work is continuing while ensuring all necessary precautions. Chief of Army Staff informed Raksha Mantri that more than 8,500 doctors and support staff are available to extend necessary assistance to civilian administration. Referring to RM’s direction that help should be provided to neighbouring countries, he said assistance to Nepal in the form of medical equipment will be delivered shortly.

Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO informed that 50,000 litres of sanitizers made by DRDO labs were supplied to various security entities and another one lakh litres were supplied all over the country. Further 10,000 masks of N99 type have already been made and soon per day production will be extended to 20,000. DRDO labs have also supplied 40,000 other face masks. Another DRDO laboratory has also made arrangements to make 20,000 PPE per day. DRDO is also engaged in minor modification of ventilators so that one machine can support four patients at the same time. DG AFMS informed that necessary equipment has been procured and dispatched to various hospitals. Retired health professionals have also been kept in readiness to volunteer their services. Approximately 25,000 National Cadet Corps (NCC) cadets are being mobilised to provide necessary local assistance. Click here to read....

IAF Continues Its Support towards Fight against Coronavirus.

IAF has airlifted nearly 25 tons of essential medical supplies from 28-31 March 2020 from Delhi, Surat, Chandigarh to Manipur, Nagaland and the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh. Regular airlift of COVID test samples from the Union Territory of Ladakh to Delhi is also being carried. Towards this C-17, C-130, An-32 and AVRO & Dornier aircraft of IAF are being tasked on as required basis and IAF is adequately geared up to meet all the emerging demands.

In addition, several quarantine facilities created at various IAF bases across the country, continue in a state of readiness. Medical care to Indian citizens evacuated from Iran and Malaysia is being provided at Air bases at Hindan and Tambaram respectively. COVID-19 testing laboratory at Command Hospital Air Force, Bengaluru is operational for testing. IAF also on 01-02 April airlifted essential medical supplies and commodities from nodal points to Guwahati, Dibrugarh and Mohanbari in North Eastern region; Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Bareilly and Agra in the Central region; and the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh.

In addition, IAF airlifted critical medical supplies to Male, Maldives as 'Operation Sanjeevani' on 02 Apr 20. Maldives has faced shortage of essential medical supplies as its connectivity with India– its main source of medical supplies, was broken after COVID-19 lockdown. Active support of MEA, HQ IDS, MoH & FW and various other government agencies was invaluable to the success of this mission. Click here to read....

NCC offers its volunteer cadets for national duty to fight COVID-19 under ‘Ex NCC Yogdan’.

National Cadet Corps (NCC) has offered a helping hand to civilian authorities in the country’s fight against COVID-19 by extending the services of cadets under ‘Exercise NCC Yogdan’. The tasks envisaged for NCC cadets include, manning of helpline/call centres; distribution of relief materials/medicines/ food/essential commodities; community assistance; data management and queue & traffic management. Click here to read....

ESM rise to occasion with motto of ‘Service before Self'

Department of Ex-Servicemen welfare (ESW), Ministry of Defence (MoD) has taken the initiative to mobilise services of Ex-Servicemen (ESM) community as a part of augmentation of precious human resource to assist the State and District administration, wherever required. RajyaSainik Boards, Zila Sainik Boards are playing a dynamic role in identifying and mobilising maximum ESM volunteers to assist the State and District Administration in performing public outreach activities such as contact tracing, community surveillance, management of quarantine facilities or any such tasks assigned to them. Click here to read....

DRDO develops bio suit with seam sealing glue to keep health professionals fighting COVID-19 safe

Scientists at various DRDO laboratories have applied their technical know-how and expertise in textile, coating and nanotechnology to develop the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) having specific type of fabric with coating.The suit has been prepared with the help of the industry and subjected to rigorous testing for textile parameters as well as protection against synthetic blood. Click here to read....

Armed Forces working hand-in-hand with civilian authorities in fight against COVID-19

Armed Forces have been working round-the-clock to provide medical and logistics support to the needy to contain COVID-19 pandemic and has deployed its resources to aid the civilian authorities at this crucial time. Armed Forces are running six quarantine facilities at Mumbai, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Hindon, Manesar and Chennai. One thousand seven hundred thirty seven persons have been handled at these centres, of which 403 have been released so far. Three positive COVID cases – two from Hindan and one from Manesar – were referred to Safdarjung Hospital in the national capital for further treatment. In addition, 15 other facilities are being kept ready as standby for use, if required. Dedicated COVID-19 facilities including High Dependency Units, Intensive Care Unit beds are being prepared in 51 hospitals of the Armed Forces across the country. Some of these facilities are located at Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Dundigal near Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kanpur, Jaisalmer, Jorhat and Gorakhpur.Five viral testing labs at Armed Forces hospitals which can carry out COVID-19 test have been made part of national grid. These include Army Hospital (Research & Referral), Delhi Cantt; Air Force Command Hospital, Bangalore and Armed Forces Medical College, Pune; Command Hospital (Central Command), Lucknow and Command Hospital (Northern Command), Udhampur. Six more hospitals are being equipped shortly with the resources to begin COVID-19 testing.

Special flights of Indian Air Force have evacuated people and carried medical supplies. A C-17 Globemaster III comprising of crew, medical team and support staff has carried 15 tonnes of medical supplies to China and airlifted 125 persons, including five children comprising Indian nationals and few citizens from friendly countries on its return. The C-17 Globemaster III has made another journey, this time to Iran and brought back 58 stranded Indians that included 31 women and two children. The aircraft has also brought 529 samples for COVID-19 investigation.

The C-130J Super Hercules aircraft has ferried around 6.2 tonnes of medicines to Maldives. An Army Medical Corps team consisted of five doctors, two nursing officers and seven paramedics was deployed in Maldives for capacity building measures and assist in setting up their own testing, treatment and quarantine facilities between March 13-21, 2020.

Transport fleet of IAF is being used to assist in transportation of essential supplies, medicines and medical equipment. So far, approximately 60 tonnes of stores have been airlifted to various parts of the country. Twenty eight fixed wing and 21 helicopters are on standby at various locations across the country.

Defence PSUs, OFB pitch in to fight against COVID-19

The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has planned for 280 isolation beds across 10 hospitals spread over six states in the country. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has stepped in at the request of Ministry Health and Family Welfare to manufacture and supply 30,000 ventilators for ICUs within the next two months. The design of these ventilators was originally developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation, which was improved upon by M/s Skanray, Mysore, with whom BEL has collaborated. Ordnance Factory, Medak has undertaken repair of ventilators in various hospitals in Hyderabad. Click here to read....

BRO opens strategic Srinagar-Leh highway after four months

Border Roads Organisation (BRO) opened strategic Srinagar-Leh highway that connects Ladakh with the rest of the world on 11 April 2020. About 18 oil tankers and other essential commodities were initially allowed to move towards Leh/Ladakh from Zojilla pass. This was managed despite fresh snowfall in the Zojila pass. The 425 kilometre road was closed since December last year due to heavy snowfall at Zojila pass. Snowfall this year had broken records of the last six decades.

INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM

Africa

Camroon

Boko Haram suicide bombers killed seven people in Amchide

On 05 April 2020, two suicide bombers of Boko Haram terrorist group attacked and killed seven people in the village in Amchide. The attack took place when the villagers were returning home through a ‘dangerous’ zone declared by the security officials. Click here to read....

Chad

Security forces destroyed five bases of Boko Haram in Niger and Nigeria

On 04 April 2020, Chad security forces attacked and destroyed five bases of Boko Haram in Niger and Nigeria, as retaliation to the 23 March attack in which Boko Haram terrorists killed 98 Chadian soldiers. The operation was named as “Operation Boma’s Wrath”. Click here to read....

Afghanistan

Arrested IS-KP Emir confessed relations with ISI

In a Counter-Terrorism (CT) operation on 04 April, Afghan security forces arrested Islamic State Khurasan Province (IS-KP) Emir –Aslam Farooqi and 19 other terrorists. In the initial interrogation, Aslam Farooqi confessed of strong relations between IS-KP and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). A Pakistan national, Farooqi was earlier associated with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He was operating as Islamic State’s (IS) military wing commander in Pakistan’s Peshawar. Later, he replaced Mawlawi Zia-ul-Haqaka Abu Omar Khorasani and became IS-KP Emir or chief. Click here to read....

Pakistan

Sindh High Court overturned death sentence of key al-Qaeda leader

On 02 April, Pakistan’s Sindh High Court overturned the death sentence of British-national and key al-Qaeda leader— Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. Ahmed Omar was convicted for abduction and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Omar was arrested in February 2002 from Lahore (Pakistan) and was sentenced to death in July 2002 by anti-terrorism court. The Sindh High Court commuted the death sentence of Omar (46 years-old) to seven years in prison. Click here to read....

DOMESTIC TERRORISM

Jammu and Kashmir

Four HM terrorists killed in CT operation in Kulgam

In a Counter-Terrorism (CT) operation on 04 April 2020, security forces killed four terrorists of Hizb ul-Mujahideen (HM) in Man Gori village of Khul Batpora area in Kulgam district. However, two security personnel were injured in the gun-battle with terrorists. It was the first CT operation after the gap of 11 months in Kulgam district. The terrorists were identified as Shahid Sadiq aka Azan, Waqar Itoo, Ajaz Naiko aka Musa, and Ashraf Malik aka Saddam. Click here to read....

Security forces killed JeM commander in Baramulla

On 08 April 2020, security forces killed a key commander of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)—Sajad Nawab Dar, in Sopore area of Baramulla district in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). Acting upon specific inputs, the joint team of Army’s 22 Rashtriya Rifles (RRs) and J&K police carried out Cordon and Search Operation (CASO). After few hours, hiding terrorist opened fire leading to the gun-battle. Click here to read....

JeM terrorist arrested from Baramulla

On 08 April 2020, security forces arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist— Bashir Ahmad Beigh, from Shimlaran Nallah in Chandoosa area of Baramulla district. An AK-47 rifle and some ammunition were recovered from his possession. Click here to read....

Left-Wing Extremism

Three Maoists killed in CI operation in Jharkhand

In a counter-insurgency (CI) operation on 04 April 2020, joint team of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and Singhbhum district police killed three Maoists, identity undisclosed, in forest near Chirungreda village in West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand. Arms and ammunitions were recovered from the operation site. Click here to read....

Islamist-inspired Extremism (including Islamic State)

NIA to investigate Kabul Gurdwara attack in Afghanistan

In its first overseas case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on 01 April 2020, registered an FIR (First Information Report) to investigate the Gurdwara attack in Kabul, Afghanistan. Under the recent amendments in the NIA Act, the agency received powers to investigate terror-related cases that are committed at any place outside India against Indian citizens or affecting the interests of India. Click here to read....

NIA filed supplementary charge sheet in JMB case

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), on 03 April 2020, filed a supplementary charge sheet before the NIA Special Court in Guwahati (Assam) against two Jamaat ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) terrorists—Hafizur Rahman and Azharuddin Ahmedu, in Barpeta case in Assam. The case was re-registered by NIA on 21 December 2019, which had arisen out of FIR No. 1557/2019 dated 30 July 2019 registered at Police Station Barpeta, Barpeta District Barpeta in Assam. According to the NIA’s statement, on 30 July 2019, Barpeta police raided the house of Hafizur Rahman and recovered a country-made revolver, five rounds of live ammunitions, and ‘jihadi’ literature. Click here to read....

NIA registered case against Kasaragod native in Kabul Gurdwara attack

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered a case against Kasaragod native— Mohammad Muhsin aka Abu Khalid al-Hindi (pseudo name given by IS-KP), for his involvement in Kabul Gurdwara attack on 25 March 2020 in Afghanistan. Muhsin was claimed to have left for Afghanistan in 2018, however no case was registered against him. “As per the preliminary investigation, one Muhsin from Thrikkaripur, Kasaragod district in Kerala and others who had joined IS-KP (Islamic State-Khurasan Province) are suspected to have been involved in the said terrorist attack”, read the statement released by the NIA. Click here to read....