31 Maoists, two Indian soldiers killed in gunfight— police 

31 Maoists, two Indian soldiers killed in gunfight— police 
This photo taken on June 27, 2018 shows Indian security forces patrolling around Ghagra village in Khunti district in India's eastern Jharkhand state, following the kidnapping of three policemen. (AFP/File)
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Updated 09 February 2025
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31 Maoists, two Indian soldiers killed in gunfight— police 

31 Maoists, two Indian soldiers killed in gunfight— police 
  • Over 10,000 have been killed in decades-long insurgency waged by rebels
  • Maoists demand land, jobs and share of central India’s natural resources for locals 

New Delhi: At least 31 Maoist rebels and two Indian commandos were killed in a gunfight in the dense jungles of central India Sunday, as security forces ramp up efforts to crush the long-running insurgency.

More than 10,000 people have been killed in the decades-long insurgency waged by the rebels, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized Indigenous people.

“31 rebels and two security personnel are dead and two other security personnel are injured,” senior police officer Sundarraj P. told AFP.

The official said the toll could be even higher as the police continue to carry out search operations in the area.

“Additional forces have been rushed to the encounter site,” he said.

Police have recovered automatic weapons and grenade launchers from the scene, a police statement said.

The gunfight broke in the forested areas of Bijapur district in the state of Chhattisgarh, considered the heartland of the insurgency.

“This is a big success in the direction of achieving a Naxal-free India,” said Amit Shah, India’s home minister, who last year said the government expected to crush the rebellion by 2026.

A crackdown by security forces has killed some 287 rebels in the past year, an overwhelming majority in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.

The Maoists demand land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents.

They made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south, and the movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s.

New Delhi then deployed tens of thousands of troops in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”

The conflict has also seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces. A roadside bomb killed at least nine Indian troops last month.
 


Britain’s King Charles highlights interfaith values in Easter message

Britain’s King Charles highlights interfaith values in Easter message
Updated 12 sec ago
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Britain’s King Charles highlights interfaith values in Easter message

Britain’s King Charles highlights interfaith values in Easter message
  • Monarch praised Islam’s ‘deep human instinct’

LONDON: Britain’s King Charles has praised the ethics of Judaism and the human instinct of Islam in his Easter message, calling for greater love and understanding across all faiths.

In a message issued on Maundy Thursday, the King wished the public a “blessed and peaceful Easter,” reflecting on the enduring importance of compassion. “The greatest virtue the world needs is love,” he said.

In his Easter message, the King said: “On Maundy Thursday, Jesus knelt and washed the feet of many of those who would abandon him.

“His humble action was a token of his love that knew no bounds or boundaries and is central to Christian belief.

“The love he showed when he walked the Earth reflected the Jewish ethic of caring for the stranger and those in need, a deep human instinct echoed in Islam and other religious traditions, and in the hearts of all who seek the good of others.”

Since becoming monarch, King Charles has made interfaith dialogue one of his key priorities, often highlighting his admiration for the values found across different religions and encouraging greater communication between faiths.

While he has issued Easter messages in previous years, including during his time as Prince of Wales, this year’s message marks one of his clearest acknowledgements yet of the shared principles across Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and other traditions.


’Defend ourselves’: Refugee girls in Kenya find strength in taekwondo

’Defend ourselves’: Refugee girls in Kenya find strength in taekwondo
Updated 2 min 37 sec ago
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’Defend ourselves’: Refugee girls in Kenya find strength in taekwondo

’Defend ourselves’: Refugee girls in Kenya find strength in taekwondo
Kakuma is Kenya’s second-largest refugee camp, home to over 300,000 people — from South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Burundi
Taekwondo black-belt teacher Caroline Ambani, who travels sporadically from Nairobi, pushes the sport’s discipline in each lesson

KAUMA, Kenya: Along one of the many dirt tracks leading into Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp there is a large hidden compound, where inside, twice a week, adolescent girls gather to learn taekwondo, the martial arts lessons offering a safe space in the often chaotic settlement.
Kakuma is Kenya’s second-largest refugee camp, home to over 300,000 people — from South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Burundi — and managed by the Kenyan government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since its establishment in 1992.
The camp endured protests last month when rations were reduced after the announcement of the USAID cuts, with President Donald Trump’s decision to slash aid funding impacting many within the area.
But the compound — on the outskirts of the camp proper, down ‘New York City’ lane — was calm when AFP visited.
Roughly 80 teenage girls crammed into an open-sided room, their raucous chatter bouncing off the corrugated metal structure.
Fifteen-year-old twins Samia and Salha are among them, Samia explaining they joined because they live in the camp’s dangerous Hong Kong district.
“In the past when we were beaten up, we couldn’t defend ourselves but now we are able to defend ourselves,” Samia told AFP.
Her twin, Salha — who can neither speak nor hear — is just as fiery as her sister, their father Ismail Mohamad said with a grin.
The 47-year-old, who fled Burundi 15 years ago, was initially hesitant about letting his daughters join, but the difficulties that Salha faces in the camp changed his mind.
“I thought it would be good if I brought her here so she could defend herself in life,” he said.
“Now, I have faith in her because even when she’s in the community she no longer gets bullied, she can handle everything on her own.”
Taekwondo black-belt teacher Caroline Ambani, who travels sporadically from Nairobi, pushes the sport’s discipline in each lesson.
Yelling through the chatter, she tried to bring the excitable girls to order: “Here we come to sweat!“
But her affection and pride in her students is evident, particularly girls like Salha.
“Some of these girls have been able to protect themselves from aggressors,” she told AFP.
However, the three-year program, run by the International Rescue Committee and supported by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is coming to the end of its funding.
Instructors hope the skills they have imparted will be enough to see the girls through the coming years.
One of the captains, 18-year-old Ajok Chol, said she will keep training.
She worries about violence in the camp — like what she fled in South Sudan aged 14.
“We were so scared about that,” she told AFP. “We came here in Kakuma to be in peace.”
Now she wants to become an instructor herself, “to teach my fellow girls... to protect the community.”

Karachi mob kills member of Ahmadi minority

Karachi mob kills member of Ahmadi minority
Updated 22 min 57 sec ago
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Karachi mob kills member of Ahmadi minority

Karachi mob kills member of Ahmadi minority
  • The mob of 100-200 people beat a 47-year-old owner of a car workshop to death

KARACHI: A mob attacked a place of worship of Pakistan’s Ahmadi minority community in Karachi on Friday, killing at least one man, police and a community spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Ahmadi community, Amir Mahmood, said the mob of 100-200 people beat a 47-year-old owner of a car workshop to death with bricks and sticks and was still surrounding the building, with around 30 people trapped inside.
The superintendent of police for Karachi’s Saddar neighborhood, Mohammad Safdar, confirmed the death and told Reuters that police were mobilizing efforts to subdue the crowd.
Ahmadis are a minority group considered heretical by some orthodox Muslims.
Pakistani law forbids them from calling themselves Muslims or using Islamic symbols, and they face violence, discrimination and impediments blocking them from voting in general elections.


Kyiv receives 909 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers

Kyiv receives 909 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers
Updated 18 April 2025
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Kyiv receives 909 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers

Kyiv receives 909 bodies of Ukrainian soldiers
  • The exchange of prisoners and war dead is one of the few areas of cooperation
  • Russia has not commented on the latest patriation

KYIV: Kyiv said Friday it had received the bodies of hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers killed during battles with Russia, the second such patriation in the space of three weeks.
The exchange of prisoners and war dead is one of the few areas of cooperation between the two sides since Russia invaded Ukraine more than three years ago.
“As a result of repatriation activities, the bodies of 909 fallen Ukrainian defenders were returned to Ukraine,” the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, a government agency, said in a statement on social media.
On 28 March, the two countries conducted a similar exchange, with Kyiv receiving the same number of bodies, 909, and Moscow 43, according to Russian state media.
Russia has not commented on the latest patriation.
In mid-February, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told US broadcaster NBC News that more than 46,000 of his soldiers had been killed and some 380,000 wounded.
Russia has not reported on its losses since autumn 2022, when it acknowledged fewer than 6,000 soldiers killed.
An ongoing investigation by Mediazona and BBC News Russian has identified the names of around 100,000 dead Russian soldiers since the beginning of the war, based on information from publicly available sources.


US Vice President says he is ‘optimistic’ Russia-Ukraine war can be ended

US Vice President says he is ‘optimistic’ Russia-Ukraine war can be ended
Updated 18 April 2025
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US Vice President says he is ‘optimistic’ Russia-Ukraine war can be ended

US Vice President says he is ‘optimistic’ Russia-Ukraine war can be ended
  • Vance saw Meloni in Washington on Thursday
  • “We do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close”

ROME: The United States is optimistic it can put an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, Vice President JD Vance said on Friday as he met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for the second time in 24 hours.
Vance saw Meloni in Washington on Thursday and the two have since flown to the Italian capital ahead of the Easter holidays.
“I want to update the prime minister on some of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine ... even in the past 24 hours, we think we have some interesting things to report on,” Vance told reporters sitting alongside Meloni.
“Since there are the negotiations I won’t prejudge them, but we do feel optimistic that we can hopefully bring this war, this very brutal war, to a close,” he added.
Hours earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said US President Donald Trump would walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there were clear signs that a deal could be done.