Foreign Operations & Deployments

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Aditya G
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

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Sitanshu Kar ‏@SpokespersonMoD 2h2 hours ago New Delhi, Delhi
INS Sahyadri entering Da Nang Harbour in Vietnam earlier today on a 4-day operational deployment.

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http://swarajyamag.com/culture/foreign- ... -the-foot/
Why has Indian Navy shied away from foreign bases? Bharat Karnad reflects on this exasperating behaviour of the Indian defence establishment in this section from his book Why India Is Not a Great Power (Yet)

Why India Is Not A Great Power (Yet), Bharat Karnad, Oxford University Press, 2015

Vietnam is no brash belligerent. While prepared to fight any comer in defence of its claims and interests, it is mindful of its military weakness with respect to China, one of which is its seaward flank. Hanoi has, therefore, viewed a meaty presence particularly of out-of-area friendly naval powers, such as India, with outstanding territorial disputes of their own with China, as insurance to ward off dangers.

A Vietnamese military delegation headed by its naval chief, Vice-Admiral Ngyuyen Van Hien, visiting New Delhi in late June 2011 offered the port of Nha Trang on the South China Sea with line-of-sight on Hainan Island for the Indian Navy’s exclusive use—the only foreign navy so favoured—besides agreeing to accord docking rights to Indian naval ships in Cam Ranh Bay, 60 miles down the coast.

In October 2014, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung renewed the offer, first made a year earlier, of extensive new offshore oil and gas blocks to up the Indian energy stake in the South China Sea. Indian naval ships voyage frequently between India’s eastern coast and the Andaman Command, often proceeding to the Gulf of Tonkin. Their sailings are sustained by a provisioning arrangement with Vietnam on the central coast, an Indian forward position that can seriously impair Chinese naval and strategic activity. It is an analogue of the access the Chinese navy enjoys to the Pakistani port of Gwadar, and can aggravate China’s offshore situation already roiled by the US Navy’s loitering in this area, contested, other than by Vietnam and China, by Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei…

Karnad
In the western Indian Ocean, there was a long-standing offer to India from the Mauritius government of the two-island set of the Agalegas, nearest to the Indian mainland, to anchor Indian military presence. In July 2012, the visiting Mauritius defence and trade minister Arvin Boollel for the first time publicly dangled these two islands before New Delhi in return for retaining the 1983 Double Taxation Accordance Agreement in its current form, which is beneficial to Mauritius. The agreement has long been suspected by New Delhi as a channel for laundering unaccounted Indian money as foreign investment into India.

The Indian Navy has already hydrographically surveyed the island nation’s extensive sea territories, and the strategic attractions of the islands are obvious enough. The 12.5-kilometre-long North Agalega Island has an air strip that can be lengthened and widened to take heavy lifters like C-17s and C-130Js, and to embark P-81s and fighter aircraft, and the South Agalega Island provides deep-water anchorage.

Building up these islands as military bases would enable Indian forces to sandwich any hostile Chinese naval actions out of Sri Lanka, assuming Colombo can survive being treated as ‘belligerent’ by India.

The navy’s enthusiasm for the Agalegas, however, was not reciprocated by the Manmohan Singh government, primarily because of Defence Minister A.K. Anthony’s misguided Leftist ideological view that foreign bases are ‘imperialist’ in nature. It dulled the service’s strategic ambitions. New Delhi’s interest has so far been limited to securing the Indian Ocean, providing security to Seychelles, Mauritius, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka, without any permanent foreign bases.

The navy has sought reconsideration of the Agalegas offer, arguing that it would extend air and sea surveillance area and increase manifold the sustainability of Indian naval operations and the sea-time warship groups can pull in the antipiracy mission and sea order patrols. Another self-imposed limitation that has cramped the Indian military’s interest in the Agalegas is the MEA’s attitude of approving military-related ventures only when there is no opposition in the region, or only after regional resistance is overcome by an elongated process of consensus-seeking.

With European powers in the Indian Ocean opposing Indian bases in Mauritius, New Delhi, in effect, handed a virtual veto to France and the UK with their Indian Ocean territories, centred respectively on Reunion Island, and the Chagos chain, a part of which, Diego Garcia, claimed by Mauritius, was transferred in the 1960s by the British to the United States. Prime Minister Modi signed an accord for developing defence infrastructure during his official visit in March 2015, permitting Indian military use of the Agalegas.

The telling reason why New Delhi has eschewed foreign basing is the MEA’s view, seconded by the Defence Ministry cell dealing with Planning and International Cooperation, that it is redundant. With reference to the east, it is argued, for instance, that the Nha Trang option should be held in abeyance because, with the South China Sea disputes in the international limelight and the US Navy engaged, India can free-ride without incurring any of the costs of such deployment or the risks of rubbing up against China.

The Agalegas have been neglected for similar reasons of free security being afforded by the US military ex-Diego Garcia in the southern Indian Ocean.

In the event, the Indian Navy is restricted to unobtrusively showing interest in the security of the member states of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) involving the littoral states, Australia, and the Southeast Asian countries participating in the annual Milan multilateral naval exercise, and to communicating Indian readiness to cooperate in joint security enterprises.

It has utilised these forums to show respect for the littoral navies and their concerns, and to expose them to its own professionalism in onshore events, supported by regular naval exercises on a bilateral basis, such as those conducted regularly with Singapore since the mid-1990s, Indonesia and Thailand since 2004, and, more recently, in the Gulf with Oman and Iran.

It pumps up the navy’s reputation and India’s image as a concerned, helpful and friendly power. With interaction in these forums supplemented by gifts to island nations of fast attack craft, patrol boats, aerial surveillance aircraft, helicopters, and radar stations India has sought to tighten its grip on the IOR.

The good feelings spawned by such gestures led, for instance, to Mozambique requesting the Indian Navy for perimeter security for the 2003 African Union summit staged in Maputo and the 2010 World Economic Summit. It eventuated in the 2006 comprehensive accord with Mozambique for Indian military assistance to train that country’s military personnel, and transfer military equipment and technical know-how for repairing and servicing military vehicles, patrol boats, and small aircraft.

Such military cooperation is all very well but is simply not the equal of foreign basing for the Indian military.

The MEA’s skittishness to date about overseas bases is also because an influential section of the military seems unsure about their utility. ‘What do you mean by bases? Do you need to set up colonies? We have basing rights in Oman, Seychelles, and Sri Lanka, we have agreements with these countries that any Indian ship can put in any of their ports at 24 hour notice to pick up fuel, water, or whatever you need. These are as good as bases’, says Admiral Prakash, who, much like the Congress Party defence minister Antony, conflated foreign bases with colonialism. ‘All you need are way-stations to turn around in. A good navy should be able to sustain itself at sea…If you have good, hardy sailors and officers, who don’t mind a bit of deprivation, you don’t need bases’. Indeed, he considers foreign bases a liability. ‘Why go all the way to create a base and go under obligation to somebody? If you have friends you don’t need bases.’

Excerpted from the chapter ‘Hard Power and the Deficit of Strategic Imagination’ in Bharat Karnad’s ‘Why India Is Not a Great Power (Yet)’ (Oxford University Press, Rs 875)
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

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IAF (i.e. ARC) rendition services .... sirf aap ke liye

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 695968.cms
....

The special IAF aircraft carrying Rajan, Gulfstream-III, landed at the technical area at 5.45am. Rajan got off and kissed the ground saying he was happy to be back after 27 years. However, before he could pull off any more stunts, cops shoved him in a bulletproof car which was led and tailed by six vehicles each. The last two vehicles at both ends had 24 SWAT commandos armed with MP5 sub machine guns and Glock pistols.
...
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

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http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-ke ... an-2159508
...

The troops were donning their patchy and cloudy camouflage combat uniform when they met Modi, who was in Afghanistan on way from Russia for a brief visit as he inaugurated the new Parliament complex of the country besides other official engagements. Apart from the main Indian High Commission complex here, the ITBP also guards India's four consulates in Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat. The force has about 300 commandos (both men and women) stationed at these five locations keeping in mind the threat emanating from terror groups like al Qaeda to Indian assets and people working in the Mission.

Indian facilities have seen at least two major attacks in the past in this country, once at the High Commission here in 2008 which killed over 50 people and diplomatic staff and a deadly attack on the Consulate in Herat last year. In May 2014, the Indian consulate in Herat was attacked by four heavily-armed gunmen, who were subsequently killed in an encounter. India had attributed the strike to terror elements "beyond the borders" of the war-torn country.

...
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

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Posting this here to avoid clouding the pathankot thread:

http://in.mobile.reuters.com/article/id ... 3?irpc=932

logo



«Business

Explosions, gunshots at Indian consulate in Afghan city Mazar
Mon Jan 4, 2016 12:04am IST

By Bashir Ansari

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan security forces battled a group of gunmen near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday, officials said, as gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades rocked the surrounding area.

The incident occurred while Indian security forces were still trying to suppress an attack on an air base in Pathankot, near the border with Pakistan that has killed at least seven military personnel and wounded 20 others.

With an unknown number of gunmen holed up in a house across the street from the consulate, special forces units prepared an operation to clear the attackers, police spokesman Shir Jan Durani said.

Two loud explosions and gunshots were heard earlier as the gunmen launched an attack from a nearby house, Muneer Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the Balkh province governor said.

No details were immediately available on any casualties or damage or on the number of attackers and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Farhad said insurgents had hidden in a house near the consulate and struck after darkness fell.

He said the attackers had tried to enter the consulate but had not been able to and had shut themselves into a house across the street.

"Right now our security forces are fighting them," he said.

An Indian official said there had been no reports of Indian casualties so far and it was not certain that the consulate itself was the target of the attack. "Details are very sketchy at this point in time," he said.

The attack came amid renewed efforts to reduce longstanding tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad and restart peace talks with the Afghan Taliban as part of a broader drive to improve stability in the region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited both Kabul and Islamabad last month, the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian premier in over a decade.

The attack took place shortly after India beat Afghanistan in the final of a regional soccer championship, a game that attracted wide interest in Afghanistan.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie; Editing by Stephen Powell)
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http://wap.business-standard.com/articl ... 008_1.html
..m

"We are being attacked," an Indian consulate official told AFP by telephone from inside the heavily-guarded compound. "Fighting is still going on."

The official, who was hunkered down in a secure area within the complex, said all consulate employees were safe and accounted for.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes just a day after a deadly assault by suspected Islamist militants on an Indian air base near the Pakistan border.

A local police spokesman in Mazar-i-Sharif, a city in the relatively tranquil province of Balkh, said security officials had cordoned off the area where sporadic gunshots were ringing out after a series of explosions.

Another official told AFP that government forces had launched an operation to gun down the assailants, but it was not clear if they had managed to breach the consulate.

Vikas Swarup, a spokesman for India's ministry of external affairs, said that no Indian casualties had been reported so far.

The consulate assault is the latest in a series of attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in the main eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, detonating an explosives-packed car.

...
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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/i ... 065483.ece
Two alert constables of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force thwarted an attempt by terrorists to storm the Indian Consulate building at Mazar-i-Sharif in Northern Afghanistan, which came under attack on Sunday night, a senior government official said.

The two terrorists were either injured or killed by the ITBP commandos as the jawans saw the bodies being dragged away by other members of the group.

Three bodies were recovered outside the Consulate on Monday, though an unknown number of terrorists engaged in a fierce gun battle with the Afghan forces till late on Monday night. “The role of the ITBP was to secure the premises when it was attacked during the night. Our men performed that duty quite well. Their morale is high and it is because of their alertness, the attack could be averted,” said Krishna Chowdhury, DG, ITBP.

Though the Ministry of External Affairs initially said the Consulate building could not have been the target, ground reports and analysis of the grenade fired from the rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launcher establish that the terrorists wanted to attack the building. The RPG burst missed the Consulate but hit another building behind, which led the MEA to believe initially that they were not the target, a senior government official explained.

The first attempt to storm the Consulate was made at 9.15 p.m. on Sunday, when the terrorists fired thrice from the RPG. This alerted the ITBP commandos who stopped them at least 150 metres away from the main entrance.

More commandos joined in and they held fort for more than two-and-a-half hours till the Afghan National Police took over from them. Late on Monday night, the Afghan authorities declared that the gun battle had ended and all terrorists had been killed.
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We now know what exactly we were doing in Ayni ... thanks to the secrecy the nation at large does not know how much trouble we cause for Pakis and their friends....

http://sandbastion.blogspot.in/2015/11/ ... ip_12.html
...

The mystery of Massoud’s Mi-24s were solved at the home of a politician who served as an influential minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. “We bought those machines from the Russians and gave it to Massoud,” the former minister told me with a smile as he gently sipped his tea. The transaction was made in the late 1990s soon after Massoud had turned into a friend of India's bulwark against the Taliban. The two Hinds and three Mi-8 troop transports, secretly bought with Indian taxpayer money, were serviced by IAF technicians at a disused Soviet airfield - Ayni, in Tajikistan.

...
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

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http://indiannavy.nic.in/content/deploy ... rveillance
The Indian Navy has deployed a P 8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft to Seychelles since 20 Mar 16, for surveillance in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Seychelles, in accordance with the MoU between the Governments of India and Seychelles. The Indian Navy has, in the past, undertaken surveillance missions in the Seychellois EEZ twice a year, by deploying IN ships. The last such deployment was undertaken by ships of the 1st Training Squadron of the Indian Navy, in Oct 15. This is the first time that the P8I aircraft has been deployed to Seychelles.

The aircraft will remain deployed till 23 Mar 16. During this period, the aircraft will undertake surveillance of the Seychellois EEZ. In addition, the deployment will facilitate professional interaction between the aircrew and the Seychelles People’s Defence Force (SPDF).

Deployment of Indian Navy’s latest and technologically most advanced maritime reconnaissance aircraft is an indicator of India’s commitment towards ensuring the security of Seychellois EEZ. This deployment would assist in curbing illegal activities and piracy as well as contribute towards security and stability in the Indian Ocean Region.
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

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Adding heft to diplomacy, India to send flotilla of warships to Persian Gulf - Rajat Pandit, ToI
India is dispatching a flotilla of warships to the Persian Gulf to add military heft to its ongoing stepped-up diplomatic outreach to countries of the region, while striking a fine balance between Sunni-led Arab states like Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait on one hand and the Shiite Iran on the other.

Defence ministry sources on Saturday said guided-missile destroyer INS Delhi, stealth frigates INS Tarkash and INS Trikhand, missile frigate INS Ganga and tanker INS Deepak of the western naval fleet will leave Mumbai for Dubai (UAE) on May 3.

After three days in Dubai, the warships will reach Kuwait around May 12 before heading for Manama (Bahrain) and Muscat (Oman) and then finally return to Mumbai by May 27-28. Around the same time, from May 20 to 23, another Indian warship will be at the famous Bandar Abbas port city on southern coast of Iran.

That's not all. While defence minister Manohar Parrikar is slated to visit Oman in May, IAF's Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jets and IL-78 mid-air refuelling aircraft will also touch down in UAE for an exercise while returning from the Red Flag exercise at the Eielson airbase in Alaska (US) being held from April 28 to May 13.


With India's primary area of strategic interest stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Strait, the country's military establishment is cranking up ties with the Arab states as well as Iran. "The visits by our warships and aircraft to the Persian Gulf are aimed at enhancing defence relationships and inter-operability with the countries there as well as showing the Indian flag in this region of strategic importance," said an official.

This military diplomacy is in tune with the political one to bolster economic and security bonds with a region that has around eight million Indian expatriates, apart from being a big trading partner and major source of energy, but has more than a few regional fault-lines.

India and Iran are also poised to revive their long-standing defence ties now after international sanctions against Teheran have been lifted. Apart from holding some joint naval exercises in the past, India had even helped the Iranian Navy to upgrade its Russian-origin Kilo-class submarines in the mid-1990s.
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http://www.janes.com/article/59867/indi ... o-maldives
The Indian Navy (IN) deployed one of its helicopters to the Maldives, along with a 33-member team, including officers and technicians on 27 April, to assist the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) in coastal surveillance and reconnaissance.

In an official statement, the IN stated that the indigenously developed Dhruv Mk III Advanced Light Helicopter (AHL) will be based on Kadhdhoo island on the archipelago's Laamu Atol in central Maldives and would support MNDF communication, logistics, search and rescue and casualty evacuation missions.

Alongside, the IN contingent, which includes 13 technicians, will train MDNF pilots and engineering personnel to operate and maintain the ALH, ahead of eventually transferring its ownership to the MNDF by the year end who will then independently operate it.
I like this method of transferring own assets to friendly nations. Though 'second hand', many of these countries have a much lower op tempo and can put the hardware to use for a good number of years. We also get to notch up an overseas customer for our products.

This strategy can be win-win if IN/ICG immediately order a brand new replacement unit from HAL.
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

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Was not sure where to post this ...
Vijay Kumar Singh‏Verified account
@Gen_VKSingh
Following
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Visited Peshmarga frontline in Mosul area to seek information on Indians held by ISIS. Peshmerga still clearing ISiS held areas.
5:10 AM - 12 Jul 2017
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sudhan
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

Post by sudhan »

I din know Indians were still held hoatage by IS worthies..

Kudos to Gen.VKS!
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

Post by Bala Vignesh »

Where is his entourage and protection detail?? I only see Iraqi troops there.
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

Post by Khalsa »

Must be behind the scenes my friend , besides how does his entourage of 6 or 12 or 18 will help when you approach the IS frontLine where a Corps Level troops are milling around.
You are likely to see their troops.

By the way, those are Iraqi Kurdish troops.
Interesting their badges and regalia, they are certainly and quietly forging an national identity for themselves out of Iraq.

meh anyway, India has managed to maintain fairly decent relations with all Iraq factions.
Well done to our Foreign Policy.
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Re: Foreign Operations & Deployments

Post by IndraD »

^ Not only this...I have Iraqi colleagues; irrespective of what they are (Shia or Sunni) they have nice words for India, in fact it is evident from the photos that they are in awe of Gen Singh.
It is very reassuring to see that Gen is visiting war torn Mosul to find Indians.
Had it been congys or Mili juli sarkar...forget any thing like this, even optics would have been ignored.
And let me add most of the Indians who go to ME to work are muslims, not Hindus.
So this govt has successfully maintained descent relations with several warring factions of ME.
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^ aye sir
agreed.
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IndraD wrote:^ Not only this...I have Iraqi colleagues; irrespective of what they are (Shia or Sunni) they have nice words for India, in fact it is evident from the photos that they are in awe of Gen Singh.
It is very reassuring to see that Gen is visiting war torn Mosul to find Indians.
Had it been congys or Mili juli sarkar...forget any thing like this, even optics would have been ignored.
And let me add most of the Indians who go to ME to work are muslims, not Hindus.
So this govt has successfully maintained descent relations with several warring factions of ME.
In this particular incident it is 29-30 Sikh/Punjabis who went to work there.
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How difficult is for Gen VKS to convince Kurds to host a team from special group for final assault and hostage rescue?
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Post by Karthik S »

In furtherance to that, can we send our special forces to do some black ops or get some exposure to the situation under the radar?
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http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... l-4752908/
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday met the families of 39 Indians who are missing in Iraq since 2014 along with Ministers of State for MEA MJ Akbar and Gen VK Singh (retd) in New Delhi. “The day Iraq PM declared Mosul is liberated from ISIS, I asked VK Singh to go to Erbil,” Swaraj was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Speaking on the missing men, she added: “Sources there told VK Singh that the missing Indians are most probably in a jail in Badush where fighting is still going on.”

The meeting comes five days after Singh went to Iraq to get information on the missing Indians. Devinder Singh, brother of one of the missing men Gobinder Singh, had earlier told The Indian Express that this would be the 12th meeting with Sushma since the Indians went missing.

The men are believed to have been abducted by Islamic State militants on June 11, 2014. “Family members had been making several calls to MEA to know about the missing men. That appears to be the reason that the minister has apparently called a meeting to brief the family members collectively,” Devinder told The Indian Express. “I got a call about the meeting and was told that the minister would share information gathered by V K Singh,” said Gurpinder Kaur, one of the missing men Manjinder Singh’s sister.
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http://www.business-standard.com/articl ... 440_1.html
Thirty-nine Indians abducted in Iraq by the ISIS three years ago may be lodged in a jail in Badush in north-west Mosul, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today said, and added that her Iraqi counterpart may bring fresh information about them when he visits India on July 24.

Swaraj today briefed family members of the abducted men, who are mostly from Punjab, about information gathered by the Minister of State for External Affairs, V K Singh, who was sent to the Gulf nation after its Prime Minister announced the liberation of Mosul from the dreaded terror group ISIS.

Swaraj said an authoritative official quoting intelligence sources told Singh the Indians were deployed at a hospital construction site and then shifted to a farm. They were then taken to a jail in Badush in West Mosul, where fighting between the ISIS and Iraqi forces is carrying on.

Ministers of state Singh and M J Akbar and senior ministry officials were also present at the meeting with the family members.

She said Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari is scheduled to visit India on July 24 and may bring updated information about the missing men.

"East Mosul has been completely freed from ISIS and now buildings are being sanitised and authorities are not allowing civilians to go there as there may be bombs and other explosives," she said.

In West Mosul, fighting is still carrying on, she said.

"An official who quoted intelligence sources told Gen Singh that they were deployed for a hospital construction and then in a farm. From there, they were sent to a jail in Badush. There has been no information since then," Swaraj told reporters.

There would be fresh information once the fighting in Badush was over, she added.

Swaraj said she had spoken to foreign ministers of all the countries in the region which could help India in locating the men.

The external affairs minister had written a letter to her Iraqi counterpart and it was handed over to him in Baghdad by Singh. Singh returned from Iraq yesterday.

She said if required, Singh would again travel to Iraq.

"We called family members of all those who were abducted in Iraq. I had already met them 10 or 12 times, but this time the situation was different as the Iraqi prime minister had declared that Mosul had been freed from the ISIS. That very day I asked V K Singh to go to Iraq and collect details about the Indians," Swaraj said.

The Indians were abducted by the ISIS in Mosul in June 2014.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Delhi Defence Review‏ @delhidefence
Indian Army peacekeepers operating under a UN mandate in the DR of Congo have thwarted an attack on their post by 'Mai Mai' rebels.

Two attackers killed, two wounded. Two Indian peacekeepers suffered minor injuries in the attack.
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India, Seychelles sign six agreements
India and Seychelles today agreed to work together on a project to develop a naval base at the Assumption Island keeping each other’s concerns in mind after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Danny Faure.

India also announced a USD 100-million credit to Seychelles for augmenting its defence capabilities. “With this credit, Seychelles will be able to buy defence equipment to boost its maritime capacity,” Prime Minister Modi said in his joint media statement with Faure.

On the project to develop a naval facility at the island, which would give India a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region, Modi said, “We have agreed to work together on the Assumption Island project based on each other’s rights.”

Faure, in his remarks, said the Assumption Island project was discussed and the two countries equally engaged to work together bearing each other’s interests.
...
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Indian contingent, part of UN peacekeeping mission, awarded for 'selfless service'
The 7 Garhwal Rifles Infantry Battalion Group was awarded the United Nations Medal for "selfless service" in the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, the Army said on Friday.
The ceremony, held yesterday, was attended by a number of military and civil dignitaries, including Brigadier General Mohammed Al Masoom, Commander United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and a host of senior commanders of various nationalities.
The parade was reviewed by Major General Bayarsaikhan Dashdondog, Deputy Force Commander for United Nations Mission in South Sudan, the Army said in a statement.
The two-hour ceremony saw immaculate drill parade by the Indian contingent led by Major Aman Lamba.
In his message on the occasion, Major General Bayarsaikhan Dashdondog, Deputy Force Commander, complimented the Indian Battalion for carrying out numerous operational tasks with utmost professionalism and dedication to the UN mandate.
He further emphasised the legacy of supreme service and sacrifice by the Indian Peacekeepers under the UN flag.
"Indian Battalion has played an active and decisive role in ensuring peace and stability in Jonglei State. I congratulate each member of the contingent for being awarded with the UN peacekeeping medal for his service," Masoom said in his remarks.
India is a leading contributor to the United Nations Peacekeeping missions.
According to the data obtained from UN Peackeeping Missions website, India contributes over 6,000 troops in 14 missions across the world.
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