News – October 2023


  • Pakistan: CTD issues list of 127 most wanted militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

    October 16, 2023

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) has issued a list of the most wanted militants across the province with mostly from Swabi district. The list carries names of 127 militants with the highest head money of Rs8 million against Said Qadar followed by Rs7 million against Zahir Qadir – both residents of Katlang area of ...

  • Israeli Merkava Tanks Appear With ‘Cope Cage’ Armor

    October 16, 2023

    Israeli Merkava tanks have emerged with metal armor screens on top of their turrets as the country continues to prepare for a major ground assault into the Gaza Strip. The Russian military was the first to employ this kind of add-on armor, often derisively referred to as “cope cages,” on tanks and other armored vehicles. ...

  • UK: Counter-terror police investigate death of man in Hartlepool

    October 16, 2023

    Counter-terrorism police are investigating the death of a man and the assault of another in Hartlepool. A 44-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after the incident in the Tees Street area of the town in the early hours of Sunday. Cleveland police said they were working with counter-terrorism policing north-east to ...

  • Israel: IDF seized Hamas weapons cache

    October 16, 2023

    Israel Defense Forces confiscated a large cache of weapons and supplies from Hamas terrorists amid the attack against Israel, the group announced Sunday. The weaponry removed from Hamas’ possession included rockets, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition. The IDF pointed to labels on the weaponry that it says show the materials were produced by Hamas. The seized ...

  • Nigeria: Troops seize explosive devices, clear terrorist camps in Imo, Anambra

    October 15, 2023

    Troops of “Operation UDO KA II’’ conducted clearance operations on terrorist camps in Imo and Anambra on Saturday. The troops arrested a suspected terrorist and also recovered improvised explosive device-making materials, motorcycles, stored foods, and other logistics items in the camps. Acting deputy director of army public relations, 82 Division, Enugu, Lt.-Col. Jonah Unuakhalu stated on ...

  • Ukraine: Two teens blow up on mine in Mykolaiv region

    October 15, 2023

    In Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region, one teenager died and another was injured after a mine set off. This was reported by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ihor Klymenko. “A 14-year-old teenage boy died in the Bashtanka district, Mykolaiv region. His 12-year-old friend sustained injuries. Children were playing in the field outside the village where hostilities had been ...

  • Israel: IDF kills Hamas commander involved in deadly attacks as rocket fire on south resumes

    October 15, 2023

    The military on Sunday said it killed another commander in Hamas’s commando forces who led the murderous attacks on southern Israeli communities last weekend, as Israel moved to evacuate a border city ahead of the Israel Defense Forces’ expected ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. The IDF said Billal al-Qedra, the commander of the so-called Nukhba ...

  • Cambodia: Vietnam War era U.S. aerial bomb safely removed in Phnom Penh’s suburb

    October 15, 2023

    A Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC)’s expert team safely removed a war-left U.S.-made MK-82 aerial bomb from an area in the northwestern suburb of Phnom Penh, a mine clearance chief said. CMAC’s Director-General Heng Ratana said the team discovered the unexploded bomb and safely transported it to the CMAC’s disposal center. “Buried underground for over 50 ...

  • UK: WWII bouncing mine found at Devon recycling centre

    October 14, 2023

    A Second World War bouncing mine has been found in a Devon recycling centre. Police in Kingsbridge confirmed that the unexploded ordnance was discovered at Torr Quarry earlier today (Saturday October 14). A spokesperson for Kingsbridge Police said the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal Squad from Plymouth was called in after the mine was found by staff. ...

  • Canada to conduct flights, airports security audit in Pakistan

    October 14, 2023

    A delegation of Transport Canada will visit Pakistan in December to conduct a flight and airport security audit, ARY News reported on Friday. Canada is expected to conduct a security audit of direct flights and airports in Pakistan in December. The Transport Canada delegation will arrive in Karachi in the first week of December and audit ...

  • France raises security level after school knife attack

    October 14, 2023

    The French prime minister has put the country on its highest state of counter-terrorism alert after an assailant fatally stabbed a teacher and seriously wounded two others. Witnesses say the knifeman shouted “Allahu Akbar”, or “God is greatest”, during the attack at a school in Arras, northern France. He is now in custody. The “attack emergency” level ...

  • UK: Devon man admits encouraging terrorism online

    October 14, 2023

    A man has admitted encouraging terrorist activity but denies threats to kill two terrorism experts. Harry Parris, 22, pleaded guilty to four counts of encouraging terrorism online on the basis he was “reckless”. On dates between 2019 to 2021 he published on video hosting services and messaging apps, the Old Bailey heard. Parris, of Bittaford, Devon, ...

  • Jammu and Kashmir: IED destroyed in Baramulla

    October 14, 2023

    A major tragedy was averted by troops on Friday by timely detecting and defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) along the Handwara Baramulla Highway. An army official said a high-powered IED connected with three 10-kilogram LPG Cylinders was spotted by an alert Road Opening Party near Langait-Watergam raod in Handwara. He said the IED was planted on ...

  • Almost €500 million allocated for mine clearance in Ukraine

    October 13, 2023

    Ukraine has allocated about €500 million for mine clearance, which will be spent on survey equipment, machinery and equipment for bomb disposal experts. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that taking into account previous support packages, about €500 million have been raised for demining for Ukraine. That includes, in particular, €100 million from Switzerland, about €20 million ...

  • Azerbaijan: One civilian killed, another injured in landmine blast in Fuzuli

    October 13, 2023

    On October 13, a landmine explosion occurred in the village of Ashaghi Veysalli, Azerbaijan’s Fuzuli district, the Interior Ministry and the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency (ANAMA) said in a joint statement. As a result of the explosion of an anti-tank mine, the driver of a GAZelle, Abilov Famil Ilyas (born in 1987) was killed, and the ...

  • U.S. Army Explosives Forensics Stakeholders Meet to Collaborate on Future Defense Capabilities

    October 12, 2023

    Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD – The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center (DEVCOM CBC) recently hosted the first Stakeholder Engagement Day for the Army Explosives Forensics program. This program aims to develop and augment sensor technologies for the semi-autonomous detection of explosives and other chemical hazards, supported by over 40 scientists and engineers ...

  • Florida: Man hid firework mortars with shrapnel attached inside Eustis home before assaulting woman

    October 11, 2023

    Lake County deputies said a man who fled after assaulting a woman in Eustis on Sunday hid improvised explosive devices inside the home before he left. The sheriff’s Office said David Flores, 37, was taken into custody early Wednesday in Sorrento. And on Wednesday afternoon, deputies said they received a call from the home on Bates ...

  • Military divers from Vancouver Island to conduct mine clearance training in South Korea

    October 11, 2023

    A team of highly specialized divers from CFB Esquimalt is travelling to South Korea for a training mission. The clearance divers with Fleet Diving Unit Pacific find and dispose of underwater mines. “I don’t think a lot of people realize it, but there are thousands of mines leftover from World War II and they’re just floating ...

  • India: Border Security Force recovers bombs, foils major attack plan

    October 11, 2023

    Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on Tuesday recovered bombs dumped in a forest in Odisha’s Malkangiri district during an anti-Maoist operation, thus averting a major explosion. The explosives were randomly placed underground reportedly by Maoists to cause extensive casualty at the Kamarguda forest under the Padia police limits in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected region. According ...

  • Norway to allocate additional $18.5M for mine clearance activities in Ukraine

    October 11, 2023

    The Government of Norway will allocate an additional NOK 200 million (about $18.5 million) in funding earmarked for clearance of mines and other explosives in Ukraine. “Clearing mines saves lives and protects civilians, especially children. Mine clearance is also essential to be able to provide other types of emergency assistance and rebuild infrastructure. Preventing further loss of ...

  • Minnesota: Advanced EOD Conventional Course provides confidence and validation

    October 11, 2023

    The 148th Fighter Wing Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Flight created and hosted an advanced conventional course for 30 technicians at the Minnesota National Guard’s Camp Ripley Training Center, Little Falls, Minn, Sept. 18-22, 2023. The advanced course focused on the five lines of effort required to execute EOD’s strategic vision to include restore readiness, invest in ...

  • UK-led coalition to give Ukraine 100 million pound mine-clearing support package

    October 11, 2023

    A British-led group of European countries will provide Ukraine with a 100 million pound ($122.70 million) package to support its armed forces including equipment to clear minefields. Britain’s defence ministry on Wednesday said Ukraine was “now the most mined country on earth,” which had become an obstacle in its counter-offensive this year, and that mine clearing ...

  • IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine – Update 187

    October 11, 2023

    International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts were today granted access to the rooftop of reactor unit 2 of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) and did not observe any mines or explosives there, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said. From the top of the building, the IAEA team could also observe the entire rooftop of its ...

  • Ireland: Bomb squad carries out controlled explosion in south Dublin

    October 10, 2023

    Dublin residents in the Sandymount / Ringsend area were shocked this evening as army bomb disposal experts and gardaí rushed to the scene of a discovery which required a controlled explosion. A statement from an Garda Síochána this evening said: “Gardaí were alerted to the discovery of a device at a premises on the Pigeon House ...