Police warned of attack on Hindus
As India’s government on Tuesday blamed separatist rebels for gunning down seven Hindu pilgrims and wounding 19 more in Kashmir before fleeing into the night, rebel groups in the disputed region condemned the rare, deadly attack on civilians and insisted they had no part in it.
A memo that was circulated to regional police, military and paramilitary units two weeks ago indicates Indian security officials had been expecting an attack. The memo, marked “top secret,” warned that a “sensational attack by terrorist outfits cannot be ruled out” in the mostly Muslim region.
The memo, dated June 25 and verified as authentic by The Associated Press, said “terrorists have been directed to eliminate 100 to 150 yatris (pilgrims) and about 100 police.”
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) – Airstrikes, shelling and other heavy clashes shook a small sliver of western Mosul on Tuesday in renewed fighting, a day after the government declared victory over Islamic State militants in Iraq’s second-largest city.
Amnesty International, meanwhile, proclaimed the battle for Mosul to be a “civilian catastrophe,” with more than 5,800 noncombatants killed in the western part of the city. The top U.S. commander in Iraq rejected the group’s allegations, however, that the U.S.-led coalition violated international law.
In a sign that IS militants were still holding out in the shattered Old City, plumes of smoke rose as mortar shells landed near Iraqi troop positions and heavy gunfire rang out. Airstrikes pounded the edge of the neighborhood west of the Tigris River throughout the day.
On Monday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared “total victory” in Mosul, flanked by his senior military leadership at a small base in the city’s west.
The militants overran the northern city in summer 2014, when the extremists seized territory across Iraq and Syria. The campaign by Iraqi forces and the coalition to retake the city began in October 2016. The operation killed thousands of people, left whole neighborhoods in ruins and displaced nearly 900,000 from their homes.
A statement late Monday from IS said its fighters were still attacking Iraqi troops in the al-Maydan area of Mosul’s Old City, purportedly killing and wounding many and seizing weapons and ammunition.
Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend said in a recorded video after alAbadi’s declaration that the victory in Mosul did not eliminate IS from Iraq and “there’s still a tough fight ahead.”
Townsend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said the coalition will continue to support its Iraqi partners, and he urged Iraqis to unite and prevent a return of the conditions that allowed the rise of the extremists.
In Baghdad, Shiite politician Karim al-Nouri echoed those remarks, urging the government to review its policies in Sunni areas of Iraq to “avoid previous mistakes that led to the emergence” of IS.