Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Indian police gun down escaped Islamist prisoners

POLICE in India gunned down eight Islamists today (October 31) after they escaped from a high-security jail by slitting the throat of a prison guard and scaling the walls with knotted bedsheets.

The members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) had staged the breakout from the prison in Bhopal by attacking and murdering the warder with sharpened prison-issue steel kitchen plates in the middle of celebrations to mark Diwali.


Police said they were later cornered on the outskirts of the city in the central state of Madhya Pradesh but resisted efforts to take them back into custody and were subsequently shot dead.

“We asked them to surrender but they tried to break the police cordon,” Yogesh Choudhary, Bhopal’s inspector general of police, said.

“They were unarmed, but attempted to attack the police with stones. We had to shoot them.”

After using their sheets to climb and descend several walls inside the prison, the inmates made their way on foot to a village 15 km (10 miles) south of the city centre, despite a massive search.

Police said local residents had alerted them about suspicious movements in the village, leading to the raid in the late morning.

The home ministry had earlier issued a nationwide red alert over the jailbreak while police had released mugshots of the prisoners, asking for the public to be on the look-out.

Police insist there was no breakdown in security at the prison, a supposedly maximum security facility which has a round-the-clock electronic surveillance system.

However four officials, including the prison’s superintendent, have been suspended and an inquiry launched into the escape.

Madhya Pradesh’s chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told reporters the breakout posed a threat to national security and authorities swiftly mobilised all law enforcement arms to track the fugitives.

He said the National Investigation Agency had been asked to open an inquiry into the breakout and anyone found to have acted incompetently would be prosecuted.

Most of the inmates had been awaiting trial for “terror-related activities, sedition and robbery” for more than three years, although two of them had only been detained since February.

The breakout happened on the night of Diwali, when revellers set off fireworks which can shroud the night skies.

Seven SIMI members escaped from a jail in the town of Khandwa in 2013 and were arrested last year after being on run for over two years, later prompting the government to house all the arrested SIMI members in the high-security facility in Bhopal.

Indian authorities have accused SIMI of carrying out several deadly bombings and of having links with Pakistan-based militant groups.

Police blamed the group for the serial bombing of Mumbai commuter trains in 2006 which killed 187 people, as well as bomb blasts in New Delhi.

The government banned the group in 2001 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington.

More For You

New body led by Sir Sajid Javid aims to amplify ‘unheard’ voices
Sajid Javid

New body led by Sir Sajid Javid aims to amplify ‘unheard’ voices

A NEW independent commission to improve cohesion would engage across all nations and regions of the UK by moving beyond Westminster-centric discussions and include more diverse voices, the director of British Future thinktank has said.

Sunder Katwala said building confidence across different groups will be a priority, as economic pressures and tensions due to Middle East conflict have polarised communities in the UK.

Keep ReadingShow less
Yarl’s-Wood-detention-centre-Getty

In 2018, she was detained at Yarl’s Wood detention centre after being told she would be deported. (Photo: Getty Images)

Court awards £100,000 to Pakistani asylum seeker over unlawful detention

A PAKISTANI asylum seeker has been awarded nearly £100,000 after a UK court ruled that she was unlawfully detained and subjected to breaches of her rights by the Home Office.

Nadra Almas, who arrived in the UK on a student visa in 2004, overstayed after her visa expired. She argued that returning to Pakistan would put her at risk as a Christian.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pakistan court gives unusual punishment to Youtuber Rajab Butt for owning lion cub

Pakistani zookeeper Mohammad Amir holds the confiscated lion cub at Lahore’s safari zoo last Tuesday (28)

Pakistan court gives unusual punishment to Youtuber Rajab Butt for owning lion cub

A PAKISTANI YouTube star who was gifted a lion cub on his wedding day avoided jail after promising a judge to upload animal rights videos for a year.

Rajab Butt has one of the largest online followings in south Asia, and his week-long nuptials in December were plastered over celebrity gossip websites.

Keep ReadingShow less
Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

The Labour government has pledged to address the rise in retail crime through stronger measures to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour

iStock

Theft and violence in retail shops hit record high in 2024

THEFT and violence against retail workers in Britain soared to record levels last year, driven partly by criminal gangs, and are “out of control”, according to a report last Thursday (30).

The British Retail Consortium's annual crime survey found that more than 20 million thefts occurred in the year to August 31, 2024 – an average of 55,000 a day – costing retailers £2.2 billion.

Keep ReadingShow less
33 Gujaratis deported from US land in Ahmedabad

Indian immigrants who allegedly illegally migrated to the US arrive at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, in Ahmedabad. (ANI Photo)

33 Gujaratis deported from US land in Ahmedabad

A PLANE carrying 33 people from Gujarat, who were among 104 Indians deported from the US for illegal immigration, landed at Ahmedabad airport from Amritsar on Thursday (6) morning, officials said.

Soon after their arrival, the 33 immigrants, including some children and women, were transported to their native places in Gujarat in police vehicles, assistant commissioner of police, 'G' division, R D Oza said.

Keep ReadingShow less