News – December 2025


  • Nigeria: Female soldier, children, others injured in Nasarawa grenade explosion

    December 26, 2025

    A female soldier, identified as Mohammed and two children were injured in an explosion involving a hand grenade at Maraba, Abacha Road, Nasarawa. The explosion occurred at about 11:46 am on Wednesday, December 24, 2025. According to an incident report exclusively obtained by PUNCH Online on Friday, a woman brought out the grenade from her apartment ...

  • Bangladesh: Crude bomb explodes at Malibagh

    December 26, 2025

    A crude bomb was exploded near Malibagh intersection in the capital Dhaka on Thursday, a day after a youth was killed in a crude bomb explosion at Moghbazar on Wednesday. A case has been filed in connection with the murder of the youth, the police said. At Malibagh, the crude bomb was exploded at about 12:00pm, ...

  • Cyprus: Homemade explosive damages referee’s home in Limassol

    December 25, 2025

    The home of a 36-year-old football referee in Limassol was targeted in a criminal attack late on Wednesday night, police said. According to the police, the explosion occurred at around 10.25pm, prompting officers to rush to the scene and cordon off the area. Initial investigations showed that the blast was caused by a low-powered improvised explosive ...

  • Gaza: IDF officer lightly hurt by explosive device in Rafah

    December 25, 2025

    An IDF officer was lightly injured when an armored vehicle was hit by an explosive device in southern Gaza’s Rafah earlier today, the military says. The Namer armored personnel carrier had been involved in efforts to clear Rafah’s Jenina neighborhood — located on the Israeli side of the Yellow Line — of Hamas infrastructure, according to ...

  • Nigeria: Boko Haram suicide bomber behind Borno mosque blast

    December 25, 2025

    The headquarters of Operation Hadin Kai, Nigerian Army, has confirmed that the explosion at a mosque in Borno State on Wednesday December 24, 2025, was carried out by a suicide bomber. PUNCH Online had reported that at least five people were confirmed dead, while 35 others sustained injuries following the blast at Al-Adum Jumaat Mosque in ...

  • Greece: Powerful explosion hits bank branch in Thessaloniki on Christmas morning

    December 25, 2025

    A powerful explosion rocked a residential area of Thessaloniki early on Christmas morning, damaging a bank and nearby buildings. According to Greek authorities, there were no injuries reported. The explosion occurred at around 3:20 AM local time outside a bank branch in the Evosmos district, shattering windows, damaging parked vehicles, and causing structural harm to surrounding ...

  • Pakistan: Train services suspended after blast on tracks near Dera Murad Jamali

    December 24, 2025

    A bomb planted on a railway track near Dera Murad Jamali exploded on Tuesday, damaging a section of the track, while another explosive device was defused by police. Police said unknown miscreants had planted an improvised explosive device (IED) on the main railway track near the Notal area of Nasirabad district. The device detonated before the ...

  • Nova Scotia: Annapolis County man faces charges after police find cache of firearms, explosives

    December 24, 2025

    An Annapolis man has been arrested after RCMP seized a stash of firearm parts, ammunition and improvised explosive devices during series of searches. In a news release, Annapolis County District RCMP say a 34-year-old from Brickton will face numerous charges after an investigation that took place over several days. On Dec. 16, Mounties learned that a ...

  • Russia: Two traffic police officers killed in explosion in southern Moscow

    December 24, 2025

    Two policemen died in an explosion while detaining a suspicious person in southern Moscow, the suspect is also dead, the press service of the Russian Investigative Committee reported. TASS has compiled the main information about the incident. According to the investigators, in the early morning hours of December 24, two traffic police officers saw a suspicious ...

  • Malaysia: Nilai police hunt local suspect after Desa Palma vehicle blast

    December 23, 2025

    Police are hunting a 60-year-old local man following a vehicle explosion in Desa Palma, Nilai, earlier this morning that left authorities uncovering three suspected improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Negeri Sembilan Police Chief Datuk Alzafny Ahmad said preliminary investigations found that the suspect acted alone, without the involvement of any other individual or group, according to BuletinTV3. ...

  • UK charity to expand work to clear explosives in Gaza

    December 23, 2025

    The Gaza Strip will need extensive work to remove explosives and reconstruct amid the “immense” level of devastation caused by the war, the world’s largest landmine-clearing charity has said. The Halo Trust will be expanding its activities in the Palestinian enclave in 2026, helping to keep people safe from explosives and dangerous debris, as it looks ...

  • Turkey: Senior figure of ISIS terror group captured in Afghanistan-Pakistan region

    December 23, 2025

    The individual had taken an active role in ISIS camps and had risen to a so-called administrator position over time. As a result of MIT’s intelligence work, it was identified that the individual was Mehmet Goren, codenamed Yahya, a so-called administrator, who had been tasked with carrying out suicide attacks on behalf of the terror ...

  • Pakistan: Blast damages structures in Nasirabad

    December 23, 2025

    A powerful blast rocked the Rabi canal area of Nasirabad district on Monday, damaging some structures close to the blast area, but causing no human loss. Police said that some unknown miscreants planted an improvised explosive device (IED) in Rabi canal area of Dera Murad Jamali which exploded, damaging some structures in Rabi canal area. However, ...

  • Autonomy in Action: Advancing CBRN Defense Capabilities with Unmanned Systems

    December 22, 2025

    Our Nation’s warfighters encounter many known and unknown hazards on the modern battlefield including chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats. Hand-held detection and identification capabilities enhance situational awareness and enable early warning and mitigation, but they can also be time intensive and physiologically burdensome. Additionally, some environments pose too great a risk or are simply ...

  • Estonia: Man arrested after deliberate explosion at Tallinn’s Ülemiste Centre

    December 22, 2025

    A 60-year-old man has been arrested in connection with Saturday’s explosion at Ülemiste Centre, Estonia’s largest shopping centre, which injured one person and prompted the evacuation of shoppers and staff. State Prosecutor General Astrid Asi said the suspect, a Tallinn resident who is not an Estonian citizen, was detained on suspicion of deliberately causing the explosion ...

  • Iraq: Floods unearth hidden mines, reviving a wartime threat from Kirkuk to the Iran border

    December 22, 2025

    Heavy rains and flash floods are bringing an old danger back to the surface across Iraq: landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) long buried under soil that many communities had come to treat as “safe.” From southern Kirkuk and the outskirts of Tuz Khurmatu’s Amerli district in Saladin to the Iraqi-Iranian border belt in Wasit, residents and ...

  • Singapore: St Joseph’s Church volunteer used wires, cardboard rolls for fake improvised explosive device

    December 22, 2025

    The police have arrested a 26-year-old church volunteer in connection with the case of a suspicious item found at St Joseph’s Church in Bukit Timah on Sunday (Dec 22) morning. In their final update on the case at about 5.20pm, the police said the male volunteer claimed to have discovered a suspicious item in a drain ...

  • Russia: Senior Russian general killed in bomb blast in Moscow

    December 22, 2025

    The head of the Operational Training Directorate at the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, was killed in an explosion in southern Moscow on Monday morning, Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told TASS. “According to an investigation, on the morning of December 22, an explosive device planted under a ...

  • Nigeria: Troops uncover IED, arrest terror logistics suspects in Borno

    December 21, 2025

    Nigerian troops operating under Operation HADIN KAI have discovered and neutralised an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and arrested two suspected terrorist logistics suppliers during separate operations in Borno State, the army said on Saturday. The Joint Task Force (North East) said the operations were carried out under Operations Desert Sanity IV and V, aimed at disrupting ...

  • Thailand: Army seizes Cambodian IED after border encroachment detected

    December 21, 2025

    Thailand’s Second Army Area has disclosed details of the seizure of an improvised explosive device (IED) from a military area under Cambodian control, after what it described as an incursion to establish a military operating base and use the site to store weapons and equipment. An inspection found a homemade IED assembled using a TM-57 anti-tank ...

  • Pakistan: Trains suspended after Balochistan attacks

    December 20, 2025

    Unidentified miscreants targeted the railway infrastructure near the Machh-Sibi section with an improvised explosive device (IED) on Friday evening, destroying a portion of the railway track and forcing authorities to suspend several passenger train services. After the blast, security forces cordoned off the affected area, while bomb disposal and investigation teams collected evidence. Authorities have formally ...

  • Netherlands: 1,356 explosion attacks recorded this year, near last year’s total

    December 20, 2025

    The number of explosion attacks in the Netherlands remains exceptionally high this year, with police reporting 1,356 incidents so far—nearly matching the total for all of 2024, when 1,543 attacks were recorded. Authorities say the figures point to a sustained national trend rather than a decline. The latest figures come from the Offensief Tegen Explosies, a ...

  • US military launches strikes in Syria targeting Islamic State fighters after American deaths

    December 20, 2025

    The Trump administration launched military strikes Friday in Syria to “eliminate” Islamic State group fighters and weapons sites in retaliation for an ambush attack that killed two U.S. troops and an American civilian interpreter almost a week ago. A U.S. official described it as “a large-scale” strike that hit 70 targets in areas across central Syria ...

  • Mince pies and brews: Defence Secretary thanks troops working over Christmas

    December 19, 2025

    Defence Secretary John Healey travelled to Merville Barracks in Colchester to visit troops who will be on duty over Christmas. Mr Healey spoke to soldiers from 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Search Regiment. The Defence Secretary got a demonstration of their kit, and he also asked them about their individual roles and what life is ...