Befitting reply to Chattisgarh Naxal attack will be given at appropriate time: Amit Shah
Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said a befitting reply will be given to the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh at an appropriate time.
He also said search operations are continuing in Chhattisgarh following the encounter.
''As far as the numbers are concerned, both sides have suffered losses and exact casualty figures cannot be ascertained immediately'', Shah said, after cutting short his election campaigning in Assam. The home minister is flying back to Delhi to take stock of the situation.
''Our security men have lost their lives, we will not tolerate this bloodshed and a befitting reply will be given at an appropriate time'', he added.
Bodies of 17 of the 18 jawans missing after the encounter were recovered on Sunday, taking the death toll to 22, police said separately.
Shah, addressed his first rally of the day at Sorbhog.
Though he arrived at Sualkuchi, in Jalkubari constituency, to campaign for NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, he left the area, without making any speeches to take a chopper back to Guwahati en-route to Delhi on learning of the Naxal attack.
The home minister said that he was appealing to people to vote for Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to ensure Sarma's victory by a huge margin.
He added that the vote would strengthen the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his work for Assam and the North East.
Shah said that both Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Sarma are working to develop the state and ''we want this to continue''.
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Trump pauses Project Freedom, claims great progress for final agreement with Iran
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump has suspended “Project Freedom,” to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, claiming progress in negotiations with Iran toward an agreement to end the war.
In a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, Trump said, “Great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran.”
“Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump said.
Project Freedom was launched on Monday to escort ships, stranded due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, out to safety. Trump had announced the operation on Sunday and the US Central Command began implementing it the next day.
However, the Project led to friction in the vicinity of the narrow seaway, a key route for transporting one-fifth of the global oil supplies, with the UAE claiming that its ships were attacked by Iran. The US also claimed to have destroyed several Iranian small boats.
Trump’s statement on Truth Social came hours after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Operation Epic Fury, launched on February 28, had concluded as its objectives have been achieved.
"Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. We're not cheering for an additional situation to occur. We would prefer the path of peace. What @POTUS would prefer is a deal... that is, so far, not the route that Iran has chosen," Rubio told a press conference at the White House on Tuesday.
On Project Freedom, Rubio said the goal was to rescue almost 23,000 civilians from 87 different countries who were trapped inside the Persian Gulf and left for dead by the Iranian regime.
"This is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation, and what that means is very simple: there’s no shooting unless we're shot at first. We’re not attacking them, but if they're attacking us or they’re attacking a ship, you need to respond to that," Rubio said.
