6 killed in car bomb attack in Philippines
Manila, July 31 : Six people, including a soldier and four militia men, were killed on Tuesday when a powerful bomb apparently rigged to a vehicle exploded in the southern Philippines island of Basilan.
A military report said the attack occurred at 5:50 a.m. local time in a village in Lamitan City on Basilan, an island province off Mindanao.
The incident report said a "white van" was detonated at a military checkpoint in Colonia village in Lamitan City.
"While troops were conducting ocular inspection, the van suddenly exploded which resulted (in) the death of one soldier and four (militia men) and wounding of two other militia men," Xinhua quoted the report as saying.
The military said the Abu Sayyaf militants may have been behind the attack.
Abu Sayyaf Group is a small, violent, and faction-ridden jihadist groups that operates in the western fringes of the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and on the Sulu islands extending from Mindanao. They are notorious for carrying out bombings in southern Philippines.
The group has pledged allegiance to Islamic State and has carried out kidnappings for ransom of both foreigners and Filipinos.
Authorities said the group, which was set up in the 1990s, is thought to be holding a number of hostages which they keep in the jungles of Basilan and Sulu, their stronghold.
The Abu Sayyaf helped the Maute militants in attacking Marawi City in May last year, triggering a five-month fierce battle that left more than 1,200 dead.
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Man arrested with Rs 2.54-crore heroin in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): Police have arrested a man and seized over 500 grams of heroin worth Rs 2.54 crore in the illicit market from him in Mumbai, officials said on Friday.
The police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) made the drug seizure in Santacruz in the western suburbs. The operation was conducted by the Kandivali unit of the ANC on Thursday as part of a special crackdown against drug trafficking in the area, they said.
Acting on specific inputs, an ANC team conducted a raid in Santacruz (East) and intercepted a man. During a search, the team recovered 508 grams of high-grade heroin from his possession, an official said.
The seized contraband, a highly addictive, opioid drug derived from morphine, is estimated to be worth Rs 2.54 crore in the international market, he informed.
Following the seizure, a case was registered against the man under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and he was formally placed under arrest in the early hours of Friday.
The police are currently investigating the source of the drug and trying to identify the intended recipients of the consignment, he said.
