ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

At least 3 people were kileld and about 30-50 others were wounded as a vehicle has rammed into a crowd of people in the western German city of Muenster on April 7. The incident may been a terrorist attack, the German Rheinische Post reported, citing police sources. However, an official confirmation is still needed. The attacker committed suicide, media reported citing police. Currently, security forces are View image on Twitter Paul Fegmann @Pauli_Feger # münster 16:46 - 7 Apr 2018 352 596 people are talking about this Twitter Ads information and privacy

The ISIS-linked news agency Amaq reported on April 7 that ISIS fighters had killed 9 soldiers and 4 officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) during clashes in the Patikul area of the southern province of Sulu on April 5. Click to see the full-size image Amaq didn’t provide clear information about ISIS fighters who had clashed with the AFP. However, experts believe that the fighters are members of the ISIS-affiliated Abu Sayyaf group, that has been operating against the AFP in Sulu province for months now. On April 5, the AFP announced in an official statement that its units had killed 11 fighters of Abu Sayyaf group and had captured 13 others in Sulu province since the beginning of April. 60 other fighters of the ISIS-affiliated group, including a commander named “Nurhassan Jamiri”, surrendered to the Philippines authorities, according to the statement. The AFP stepped up its security operations in Sulu province during March in an attempt to free several Philipp...

The Government of India is planning to construct 14,460 bunkers for civilians in five border districts in Jammu & Kashmir – Samba, Poonch, Jammu, Kathua, and Rajouri – which reside along Line of Control (LoC) and the international Indo-Pakistani border, reports  The Times of India . The state-owned National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) will build these bunkers in populated regions that rest within 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) from the de facto border between the two countries, which have experienced an increasing amount of incursions by the Pakistani Army. In February, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti announced during a State Assembly that 41 civilians had been killed in ceasefire violations along the LoC by Pakistan between 2015 and 2017.  To safeguard civilians from Pakistani shelling across the border, NBCC will build 13,029 small bunkers and 1,431 more massive community bunkers.  The Times of India said the construction program woul...

Mohammed bin Salman / AFP PHOTO / FAYEZ NURELDINE Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud said during an interview with the Time magazine, which was released on April 5, that Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad will stay in his position and added that a strong Iranian influence in Syria is not within the interest of the Assad. “I believe Bashar is staying for now. And Syria has been part of the Russian influence in the Middle East for a very long time. But I believe Syria’s interest is not to let the Iranians do whatever they want in Syria for the mid-term and long-term because if Syria changes ideologically, then Bashar, will be a puppet for Iran,” Bin Salman told the Times. Bin Salman said that he hopes that the Syrian president and the growing influence of Russia will play a key role in countering the Iranian influence in the war-torn country. However, the Saudi Crown Prince didn’t specify to what level Saudi Arabia is actually counting on this. “So better for hi...

On April 6, the US Army Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced in an official statement that it had destroyed a vehicle armed with a heavy machine gun and had killed three fighters of the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab group in an airstrike on the town of Jilib in the Middle Juba region, 240km south of the city of Mogadishu. Click to see the full size-image AFRICO claimed that no civilians had been hurt in the airstrike and confirmed that it had been conducted in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia. “US forces will continue to use all authorized and appropriate measures to protect US citizens and to disable terrorist threats,” AFRICOM added in its official statement. The US had conducted seven airstrikes against al-Shabaab in Somalia since the beginning of 2018, according to AFRICOM. These airstrikes are usually conducted by unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs). Despite of the increased number of the US airstrikes, al-Shabaab is still capable of carrying...

Pantsir-S air defense system. FILE IMAGE: Sputnik. Evgeny Biyatov The Russian military has modernized its Pantsir-S1 short to medium range air defense systems using experience gained in Syria, Commander of Russia’s Air-Defence and Missile Defense Troops Lieutenant General Viktor Gumenniy said in an interview with the Russian Defense Ministry’s newspaper Red Star. Lieutenant General Gumenniy noted that the Pantsir-S1 is capable of shooting down not only aircraft and missiles, but also projectiles. Thus, the systems have been able to repel repeated militant shelling attacks on the Khmeimim airbase. The general also revealed that over 4,000 servicemembers of the Air-Defence and Missile Defense Troops have gained expirience in Syria since the start of the Russian antii-terrorist campaign in the country.

FILE IMAGE: 9news . com .au On April 5, China launched an unprecedented in its dimension naval military drills in the South China Sea. The exercises involved the Liaoning aircraft carrier and more than 40 vessels from the North, East and South Sea fleets, which China’s military muscle. “China wants to show the outside world its determination to defend the fruits of its economic reforms over the past 40 years,” Chinese military analyst Zhou Chenming commented on the situation, according to “South China Morning Post”. Chinese military spokesman Ren Guoqiang confirmed that the aircraft carrier would lead large-scale naval drills, but that was “routine” exercises of China’s “defensive” military policy and those activities posed no threat to other countries. “Like the US, China’s military might is one of the government’s political tools to protect the country’s national interests”, Zhou Chenming emphasized. Beijing deployed naval forces in response to the US increasing ...

Airport security in most countries is already tight enough as it is, with multiple points of inspection often present beginning from the arrival area going inward. But there are some who think that security efforts can be increased even further. In Dubai, a new experimental robot is being tested , and its sole purpose is to find and catch suspicious or wanted individuals. Indeed, a robot that is said to have the ability to detect and also report any and all suspicious people will be deployed at Dubai airports very soon. While unprecedented, this initiative is already in its initial stages, with the implementation of the new robot currently undergoing a pilot phase. It is said that the robot will be placed mainly at the arrival section of the airport, and when you think about it, that’s about the best place that it could be positioned in. According to Khalid Al Zarooni, an innovation specialist at the Dubai Custom’s Innovation Center , this suspicious-people-targeting robot c...