At least 30 members of the minority Sikh community were at the Karte Parwan Gurdwara in Kabul’s Bagh-e-Bala area when an explosives-laden vehicle blew up near the Sikh temple at about 6.30 am. Taliban officials later said the vehicle had been prevented from reaching the gurdwara.
Sub-inspector Farooq Ahmad Mir, attached to the 23rd India Reserve Police battalion, was the seventh off-duty cop to be shot and killed in J&K this year and the third in just over a month. Terror outfits have also gunned down 13 civilians, including school staff, migrant workers and a prominent TV singer-actor, in a series of targeted killings since the start of the year.
The Andhra police has arrested Avula Subba Rao, a retired havaldar of the Army who runs several coaching centres, on charges of instigating aspirants against the scheme, while the Secunderabad railway police arrested 45 people on Saturday for turning the city’s railway station into a battle zone on Friday.
Addressing an event to celebrate the 200th year of the coronation of Maharaja Gulab Singh, the defence minister said the delimitation exercise has been completed and now the number of seats has gone up to 90 in J&K, with Kashmir having 47 seats and Jammu 43. “By this year-end, there is a possibility of holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
The slain terrorists were identified as Junaid Ahmed Bhat and Basit Ahmed Wani, both from Anantnag. Junaid had been active since June 10, 2018, while Basit had been operating since August 18 2021, IGP (Kashmir Range) Vijay Kumar said. Basit was involved in the murder of sarpanch Ghulam Rasool Dar and his wife, a panch, on September 9, 2021, in Anantnag, added the IGP.
General Manoj Pande said the initial notification for the Army recruitment process will be issued within the next two days, with the training of the first Agniveers to begin in December, while Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said IAF will begin the selection process under Agnipath on June 24.
Security forces killed two trapped Hizb terrorists, including the one who had shot teacher Rajni Bala dead outside her school gates in Kulgam on May 31, in an encounter that went on for three days in Mishipora-Kujjar area of Yaripora, in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. The terrorist who killed Bala was identified as “Zubair Sofi of Mohan Pora Kulgam”, the IGP said, adding that the identity of the second militant slain in Mishipora-Kujjar was being ascertained.