Army kills seven Pak soldiers in ‘retaliation’

INFILTRATION BID FOILED Jaish ultras gunned down in Uri sector

JAMMU: The Indian Army said on Monday it killed seven Pakistani soldiers along the Line of Control in Mendhar sector of Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir in “retaliatory action” against an “unwarranted and inhumane act”, days after an Indian soldier died in cross-border firing.

Both the countries accused each other of violating the 2003 ceasefire agreement amid celebrations in India on its 70th Army Day and a warning from the Army chief that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism would be met with a “stronger” response from his force. Also Monday morning, at least five suspected Jaish-emohammad (JEM) militants planning to carry out a suicide mission were gunned down by security forces in Uri sector .

The publicity wing of Pakistan’s army, Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR), said four sol- diers were killed and that they were busy with the maintenance of a communication line when they were “fired upon and hit by [a] heavy mortar round” in the Jandrot sector of POK.

A post by the government of Pakistan on its Twitter handle also said four soldiers were killed.

Islamabad summoned Indian deputy high commissioner JP Singh to lodge a protest.

A senior army officer, however, denied there were casualties on the Indian side.

Meanwhile, army said a major infiltration bid - the first of 2018 has been foiled along the LOC in Uri sector . An army spokesperson said alert troops picked up the movement as the terrorists were moving along the banks of Jhelum. In the ensuing firefight, the army neutralised five ultras. NEWDELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday moved to enable facial recognition as an additional means of Aadhaar authentication.

It is to be used only in combination with existing options of biometric authentication such as fingerprint or iris scan.

The facility will be made available on registered devices from July 1.

The move is aimed at improving inclusion, particularly in ensuring that genuine beneficiaries are not denied benefits under various welfare programmes as their biometrics (fingerprints) no longer match with what is recorded on the central database of UIDAI.

“This facility is going to help in inclusive authentication of those who are not able to biometrically authenticate due to their worn out fingerprints, old age or hard work conditions,” a statement from UIDAI on Monday said. Arguing similarly, former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani tweeted, “Authentication via facial photo matching builds on the principle of inclusion and delivers on the promise of evolving with the times!”

The facility will be available along with other existing means of authentication — fingerprint, iris or one-time password (OTP) on devices registered with the UIDAI.

At present, a person has the option to give his/her biometrics — either fingerprint or iris, along with their 12- digit identity number during authentication or E-KYC (know your customer) for accessing various benefits and services from service providers such as banks or telcos. Face authentication will now serve as an “additional option” for the users.

To facilitate this authentication service, UIDAI will work with biometric device providers to integrate face modality into the certified registered devices, it said.