ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

At least six people, including three paramilitary forces personnel and two policemen were killed and another 46 were injured in a suicide attack on the convoy of the Balochistan inspector general police in Quetta late on Sunday night. A police official said the suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into the convoy of IG Police Mushtaq Sukhera. He said the IG narrowly escaped the attack which shattered the windows of nearby homes. When contacted, Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told Pakistan Today that the explosives weighed 1,000 kilogrammes. He said the IG had just reached the residence when the blast occurred, adding that three personnel of Frontier Corps and two policemen were among the dead. At the time of the blast, the activists of the Balochistan National Party were also passing by. After the blast, the electricity supply was disrupted due to damages to power pylons. No group has claimed the responsibility for the blast until the filing this repor

ISTANBUL — Nine people have been arrested in Turkey in connection with twin car bombings that killed at least 46 people Saturday in a town close to the Syrian border. Syria is denying Turkish charges of involvement. Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler said some of those detained took part in planning the attack - conducting a site survey and disguising cars. He also said the alleged mastermind of Saturday's attack was among the nine Turkish citizens detained, all of whom he linked to Syria. He said the incident was carried out by an organization which is in close contact with pro-regime groups in Syria, and very clearly, with Syrian intelligence. But Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi strongly denied any involvement. He told a news conference in Damascus that Syrian values would never allow it to do such a thing. He also said the responsibility for the bombing lay with the Turkish government. Turkish authorities are working hard to collect evidence and say more arrest

Government issues ultimatum to Manila following fatal shooting of Taiwanese fisherman in disputed water. Taiwan's government has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Philippines' government, demanding an apology over the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman. The Taiwanese coastguard on Sunday dispatched four vessels to guard the disputed water where the shooting incident took place. "The government is determined to protect our fishermen," cabinet spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen said in a statement as vessels headed towards the Bashi Strait, claimed by both governments, where the fisherman was killed on Thursday. If the Filipino government fails to respond in a positive manner within 72 hours, the hiring of Philippine workers will be frozen. Lee Chia-fei , Taiwan presidential office spokeswoman Ao Ming-wei, the captain of the coastguard vessel Tainan Jian said his vessel was prepared to face provocation and the crew would fire against possible threats. Taiwan has demanded M

Thousands face death, alcoholism and rising crime while eking out a dangerous livelihood in eastern state of Jharkhand. Jharkhand, India - Every morning at the crack of dawn, 13-year-old Sagar Kujur joins many others of his age and even younger to trudge towards the coal pits of Ramgarh in Jharkhand, a state in eastern India. Armed with shovels and cane baskets, they tip-toe over the jagged surface, settle down in a corner and start digging a hole through rocks of solid coal. A few back-breaking hours later, their baskets fill up with pieces of coal that had been chipped away, and they hurry to the nearest market to sell their day’s treasure. Children like Kujur, blackened with coal dust, serve as daily reminders to the dark secrets of the 15,000-odd coal mines in the state. Jharkhand is mineral-rich, but a majority of its people is dirt poor. As in the rest of India where, according to UNICEF, some 28 million children work to supplement their families’ meagre income, 400,000

Amnesty International says ex-rebel government jails at least 10,000 political prisoners to 'silence dissent'.  Eritrea's hardline regime has jailed at least 10,000 political prisoners, many in "unimaginably atrocious conditions", rights group Amnesty International said in a report. With political opposition banned, independent media quashed and religious minorities targeted, the ex-rebel government uses a system of underground cells and shipping containers to house the prisoners, the report released on Thursday said. "The government has systematically used arbitrary arrest and detention without charge to crush all opposition, to silence all dissent, and to punish anyone who refuses to comply with the repressive restrictions it places on people's lives," said Claire Beston, Amnesty's Eritrea researcher. The report says "at least 10,000" prisoners have "disappeared into secret and incommunicado detention" in the Horn