Tag Archive for: news

Afghan officials say 150 Taliban militants have been killed and dozens of others wounded in an operation aimed at retaking northern Kunduz Province’s capital city.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement released on Thursday that 90 militants had also been injured in the fight for the city of Kunduz, which is located 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the country’s capital, Kabul.

According to the statement, there were no civilian casualties in the operation.

Afghan Special Forces earlier said they had recaptured the city from the militants.

Taliban militants seized Kunduz on September 28, taking over government buildings, a hospital, and also releasing some 600 prisoners at a detention center, including Taliban commanders.

The recapturing of the strategic city was significant for Afghan troops as Kunduz Province lies on a crossroads that connects some key regions of the country.

The city has been witnessing battles between security forces and militants since April.

Ongoing violence in Afghanistan comes 14 years after the US and its allies invaded the country as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. Although the Taliban were removed from power because of the invasion, many areas in the country are still threatened by insecurity.

/257

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham on Thursday voiced the country’s support for Russia’s attacks against Takfiri terrorists in Syria.

A real fight against the root causes of the phenomenon of terrorism, which is a common threat against regional and global peace and security, is a necessity, Afkham stressed.

The fight against terrorism requires “serious resolve and joint international action based on cooperation with the Iraqi and Syrian governments that shoulder the main burden of the anti-terror campaign,” she added.

“Given the official request of the Syrian government from the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers Russia’s military operation against armed terrorist groups in Syria as a step in line with the fight against terrorism and towards the resolution of the ongoing crisis in the region,” Afkham announced.

Russia launched its first air strikes against terrorist targets in Syria hours after Russian parliament gave a formal consent to President Vladimir Putin to use the country’s military in Syria to fight terrorism at a request from the Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“In accordance with the decision by Supreme Commander of Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin, aircraft from the Russian Aerospace Force began today (Wednesday) an operation which involves precision airstrikes on ISIL land-based targets in Syria,” spokesman for Russian Defense Ministry Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.

Meanwhile, the office of Assad welcomed Russia’s decision to carry out air strikes in Syria, saying the military support came at the request of Damascus.

Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011. In the past four years, more than 240,000 people have died in Syria -overwhelmingly civilians– and around 4 million Syrian people are now refugees in other countries. Another 7.6 million are displaced inside Syria.

/257

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman urged the Saudi government to accept full responsibility for a last week’s crush of people in Mina that killed thousands of Hajj pilgrims, including hundreds of Iranians, saying Riyadh owes the Islamic countries an apology.

Marziyeh Afkham on Tuesday once again blamed the tragic incident on Saudi Arabia’s “mismanagement and incompetence,” urging the Kingdom to stop shirking responsibility and shifting the blame onto others.

She said Riyadh’s obstinacy, deflecting the blame for Mina deaths and shirking responsibility for the disaster will further “taint the image of Saudi Arabia in the world.”

The Thursday crush of pilgrims in Mina, near the Saudi city of Mecca, has killed more than 4,000 people during religious rituals, marking the worst ever Hajj disaster.

So far, around 240 Iranian pilgrims have been pronounced dead in the incident. Some other Iranians are still unaccounted for.

Elsewhere in her comments, Afkham slammed Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir’s recent comments about development in Syria and Yemen as “unconstructive and irrelevant”, stressing that “military interference” in Syria and Yemen have just escalated extremism and instability across the region.

“By adopting belligerent policies, Saudi Arabia has unfortunately turned into the main source of spread of extremism and bellicosity,” she deplored.

The spokeswoman also called for the international community’s serious action to prevent Saudis from continuing their aggressive policies and killing of civilians.

Saudi Arabia has been involved in a military campaign against Yemen since March 26.

Leading a military coalition, Riyadh has been launching deadly air strikes against Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

On Monday, two airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition targeting the Houthis struck a wedding party, killing 28 people and wounding dozens.

/257

Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, the head of Tqrib Global Association condemned the Saudis neglects in Mina event and asked the World Court and other international associations to investigate the case.

Ayatollah Araki who was interviewing with the correspondent of the Center of Supervision on Mosques Affairs, stated his words in condemning Saudis. He said:

“Saudis at least were charged to deliver drinking water to the wounded. Even no SOS helicopter were not sent to shed water on their bodies in order to protect them in front of high temperature in Mina. Hundreds of people are killed in such condition that there had not been no bomb explosion or any other causes of suddenly death. They are died gradually. It means, Saudi SOS and police had enough time to save the wounded pilgrimages but they neglected and didn’t do that. Instead, they left the wounded people to be died slowly”

Ayatollah Araki continued: “It was not the first year of Mina Ceremonies execution. This ceremony backs to hundred years back. But it is never happened like this. Surely, closing the way caused to this incident. Those people who had been in Mina, know this matter very well that for happening such bitter event, just it enough to close one of the entrances ways to Mina. “

The head of Tqrib Global Association condemned the Saudis neglects in Mina event and asked the World Court and other international associations to investigate the case.

/257

A number of Senegal Muslim scholars and cultural figures have sent condolence messages over the death of Iranian Hajj pilgrims in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca.

According to the Iranian Cultural Center in Senegal, Sheikh Muhammad Joop, director of Al-Huda Al-Mubin Educational Institute, Sheikh Ali Badr, the Friday prayers leader and imam of mosque in Kaolack region, and Sheikh Sharif Ambalo, director of Al Yasin Institute condoled the tragedy in a phone call with Seyyed Hassan Esmati, Iranian cultural attaché in Senegal.

Expressing their sympathy with the Iranian families of the pilgrims, the scholars asked for the formation of Hajj Committee in the Muslim World and stressed that the Saudi government should provide answers to all Muslims.

Some Senegalese scholars, such as Sheikh Muhammad Nyang have objected to the policy of the Saudi government and said that instead of inviting Senegal to cooperate in Hajj affairs, the Saudi government asks the African country to get involved in the war against Yemeni Muslims.

He added that this is while 10000 Senegalese Muslims participated in the Hajj rituals this year and five pilgrims of the country were martyred in the Mina incident and more than 60 others are still missing.

The Saudi government on Tuesday confirmed the death toll in the Mina crush has reached 4,173.

/257