Herat: Militants went unnoticed as no CCTV cameras on road

It took 44 seconds for the Indo Tibetan Border Police personnel to neutralise the lone militant who managed to sneak in at the Indian consulate building in Afghanistan’s Herat, said a senior official. Due to objections raised by local women, Indian authorities are prohibited from installing CCTV cameras that could have captured images of militants proceeding towards the compound as the attack took place in the early hours on May 23. All the CCTV cameras are installed inside the complex, located in a crowded residential area. It was PTZ camera number 14, facing the internal walls of the compound that captured the leg of the gunman. The ITBP personnel monitoring control room immediately raised an alarm and the intruder was shot dead.

Investigations revealed that the attack was aimed at the office-cum-residence of consul general Amit Mishra as the only shell fired from a rocket propelled grenade launcher landed below his room. The maximum damage, officials said, was to his residence and it seemed they wanted to create a hostage situation as the gunman killed inside the compound had enough ammunition and dry fruits on him to have lasted three-four days. The other three gunmen suspected to belong to Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed by the Afghan security forces.

“The gunmen had taken refuge in a nearby building so they could aim at the consul general’s room. The personnel were asked to sparingly use their ammunition even though the Afghan security personnel managed the situation outside the compound,” said an official.

Following the incident, the Afghan security forces have intensified security around the compound. “Another High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV) has been stationed around the compound and the Afghan authorities have increased the number of security personnel,” said a senior official. ITBP has submitted a preliminary report to the MHA on the incident.

When foreign secretary Sujatha Singh visited Afghanistan last week, authorities suggested the consulate building could be shifted to an area away from crowded residential area.

DG ITBP Subhash Goswami, who visited Afghanistan after the attack, said they would recommend President’s Police Medal for Gallantry for the five jawans who thwarted the attack.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/herat-militants-went-unnoticed-as-no-cctv-cameras-on-road/

Security at Indian missions in Afghanistan Herat enhanced

Security measures at Indian missions in Afghanistan have been enhanced with both ITBP and Afghan security forces strenthening the defence mechanisms in the wake of the recent attack on the Consulate in Herat.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force chief Subhas Goswami, who had recently visited that country for an on-the-spot assessment, said the Indian Embassy in Kabul and four Consulates in Herat, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Mazar-e-Sharif have been brought under heightened security measures right after the attack on May 23.

"We have already strengthened our security and defences at all the missions we are guarding in Afghanistan including at Herat. Some more measures will be deployed soon.

"The Afghan police has already created more pickets and deployed round-the-clock security by mobile police squads outside the Herat consulate," Goswami, who returned from Afghanistan last week, told PTI.

In a related development, discussions were underway for shifting the location of the Consulate in Herat as the present location was not safe.

While the ITBP chief did not comment on it, sources in the security establishment said the possibility of moving the Consulate General of India (CGI) at Herat to a new and safer location was also being mulled and it is the prerogative of the Ministry of External Affairs.

The CGI is currently located in a built-up residential area in Herat.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/security-at-indian-missions-in-afghanistan-enhanced-114060301801_1.html

Afghan President Hamid Karzai lauded the Indo-Tibetan Border Police

NEW DELHI: Even as India has stopped short of blaming any Pakistan-based terrorist group for the attack on its consulate in Heart last Friday, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba for the strike that was foiled by Afghan security forces and Indian paramilitary forces. Karzai, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Tuesday, claimed that the Afghanistan government had received information from a Western intelligence agency that the attackers belonged to the LeT.

This is not first time that the LeT has been blamed for an attack on the Indian Embassy or consulates in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan President did not name the agency, which gave a written report to the Afghanistan government in this regard. Besides, Karzai, whose comments came at a time when Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was still in India, did not blame Pakistan directly for the attack in Herat last Friday. Karzai shared the information with a select section of the media on Tuesday before leaving for Kabul. He was in India to participate in Modi's swearing-in ceremony held on the previous evening.

The outgoing Afghan President also lauded the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel and the Afghan National Security Forces for their response. "Herat attack was very clearly a terror strike against Indian and Afghan interests. The Indian and Afghan security forces were alert and they prevented major damage to life and property," Karzai said. While he did not specify whether he had shared the information with Modi, he is understood to have shared information with the Indian authorities.

Asked whether India and Afghanistan were victims of cross-border terror emanating from Pakistan, Karzai said, "Both Afghanistan and India hope that Islamabad would act against terror sanctuary." Pointing out that India has been a great friend of Afghanistan for decades, Karzai said, "We have given a weapons wish list to the Indian government. Some equipment has been supplied and the remaining will hopefully be done." India has worked out a deal with close ally Russia to supply arms as desired by Afghanistan. Responding to a question on whether a Taliban government could return to Kabul, Karzai said, "All powers in the region need to come together to defeat terror."

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/35644252.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Herat attack: ITBP DG, officers’ rush to Afghanistan

A team of senior ITBP officers, led by force chief Subhas Goswami, has been rushed to Afghanistan to take stock of security preparedness at all Indian missions in the war-torn country in the backdrop of the recent attack on the Consulate in Herat.

Officials said Director General Goswami and his officers, drawn from the operations and intelligence wings, will tour the Indian Embassy in Kabul and its four Consulates in Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat and they are expected to meet the Indian Ambassador and local Afghan police and administrative authorities.

“The team will take stock of security arrangements at all the Indian missions which include the Kabul Embassy and other Consulates which are under the security cover of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in Afghanistan,” official sources said. The team will prepare an assessment report after their return from the country, they said.

ITBP troops had repulsed and averted an audacious attack on the Consulate in Herat on May 23 when four heavily armed terrorists tried to breach the security of the mission. The force, recently in April, bolstered the security of not only the Herat mission but other Consulates and the Embassy in Kabul by deploying a fresh squad of 79 commandos who were distributed equally amongst all the five locations. The touring team will also look into the requirements of additional logistical and operational gadgets of the paramilitary troops deployed at these installations.

The force has beefed up security at all these locations and a high alert has been sounded in the wake of the latest incident.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/south-asia/herat-attack-itbp-officers-rush-to-afghanistan/article6049466.ece

ITBP steps up vigil in Afghan missions

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has stepped vigil at the Indian diplomatic missions in Afghanistan where it has been deployed following the terrorist attack on Herat consulate early Friday morning.

Senior ITBP officials said a high alert has already been sounded at the Indian Embassy in Kabul and consulates in Jalalabad, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Herat.

All the four terrorists, who targeted the facility in Herat, were killed. Officials said one of the terrorists was killed by ITBP personnel while the others were neutralised by Afghan forces.

All Indian diplomatic staff is safe, they said. The ITBP, which renders perimeter security and access control duties at Indian installations besides being also trained to undertake special rescue and VIP security duties, had deployed an additional 79 commandos in Afghanistan in the past six months in addition to the 219 commandos already deployed there. Twenty-three personnel were deployed at the Herat facility.

The force had deployed more personnel after analysing the security situation in the country and the need for enhancing security at Indian installations.

A senior security official said a decision to increase the deployment was taken last year following the August 3 suicide bomb attack near the main consulate complex in Jalalabad, which killed 12 civilians. Sources said there was no weakness in the intelligence-sharing mechanism.

A security analysis done in the recent past showed that the Indian assets in Afghanistan were facing threats from not only al- Qaeda and the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, but also from smaller militant groups based in Pakistan.

Security officials are not discounting the possibility of terror networks trying to send a signal to India at a time that a new government under Narendra Modi is being sworn in.

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/409193/itbp-steps-up-vigil-afghan.html