Patience wanes for Israeli aggression

First person by Bouthaina Shaaban

The endorsement by the UN Human Rights Council of Justice Richard Goldstone’s report on the war in Gaza – despite American and British criticism, Israeli threats, delays and different interpretations – demonstrates that the world has changed.

It shows that those with free conscience have started to be fed up with criminals and their war crimes; particularly those committed by Israel’s rulers against unarmed Palestinians for over 60 years. It also shows that despite Israel’s efforts to prevent coverage by world media of what is happening in Gaza and Palestine, some facts have started to surface; and no human being with a free conscience can tolerate or accept them – even if they were Jewish, or friends of Israel.

It is remarkable that during the days preceding the vote on the report, Israeli authorities treated the whole world as if it were populated by unarmed Palestinians; warning of the threat to the peace process if the report was accepted. It is as if there were a peace process, and as if the world had not heard the statements made by Netanyahu and Lieberman refusing to stop illegal settlement, rejecting the right of return for Palestinian refugees; as if the world does not see the judaization of Jerusalem; Israeli bulldozers demolishing Palestinian houses and throwing families in the streets; bringing foreign settlers to replace the Palestinians expelled by Israeli oppressive authorities, who attack farmers and burn their olive trees.

What Israel is trying to do after it has been exposed on the international arena, is either to threaten to “torpedo the peace process,” which is already stalled, or level random accusations of “anti-Semitism.” These accusations are not convincing to anybody any longer. Israeli officials and officers have, from now on, to take account of international prosecution and accountability before they commit their crimes against civilians.

As usual, Israel, Jewish lobbies and their agents in the mass media, parliaments and political bodies start political, diplomatic and media mobilization whenever it is criticized and whenever reports expose the crimes it is committing against civilians. It imposes a comprehensive media blackout, prevents politicians from criticizing it in public, and prevents reporters from accessing the crime scene.

This is what happened when Swedish journalist Donald Bostrum published his investigative report about killing Palestinians and harvesting their organs, which aimed at initiating international investigations into this decades-old practice which affected the US itself: American Jewish rabbis were involved in building criminal networks for trafficking human organs. Israel raised a media-storm against the journalist. His country, Sweden, prevented him from entering Palestine in order to divert the world public opinion from this horrible crime. Not only that, it also called for prosecuting those who wrote about this crime and tried to uncover it and put an end to it.

Bostrum presented the names and photographs of some of the victims, hoping that the investigation would be completed in order to reveal the extent and ugliness of these crimes. This was necessary due to the lack of an Arab authority which could push this file through international forums and courts, and continue to expose such crimes and bring to justice their perpetrators: politicians, military officers or Israeli intelligence staff; responsible for assassination, torture, kidnapping, demolishing houses, shelling civilian areas, and killing demonstrators.

In this context, it is worth recalling the lies promoted by the administration of US President George W. Bush about Muslims’ hatred of the United States. His question: “Why do they hate us?” was a mere cover for his war on Iraq which killed a million unarmed Iraqi civilians and aimed to justify kidnapping, torture, and secret prisons. We can also recall the money spent and the efforts made by that administration in order to improve the image of the US in the world. Today, after a president who respects Islam and Muslims has been elected, it is shown that the problem was not in Muslims and the Islamic world, neither was it in the inevitable clash of civilizations some have promoted, but in the policies of the American administration which promoted wars, killing, torture and destruction.

As the American people discovered today that Bush’s acts were responsible for the distortion of America’s global image, conscientious people of the world have started to condemn crimes committed against civilian Palestinians by the rulers of Israel and try to stop them. Israel will no longer be able to hammer the world with its never-ending blackmail dating back to the Nazi era 70 years ago.

The same applies today to the noise made by Israel about a Turkish television series which shows clips of what Israel commits on a daily basis against Palestinians, like killing children, and the abuse and humiliation they exercise on their checkpoints, which have no parallel in today’s world.

Instead of feeling shame as a result of committing crimes, Israel resorts to its usual methods, summoning the Turkish ambassador to protest against broadcasting such scenes, not against the crimes themselves. It describes the series, not the crimes, as “barbaric,” British newspaper The Independent reported. The question here is: can a television series be barbaric, terrorist and violent; or is it the crimes of killing children, committed by Israeli soldiers every day, which are barbaric and shameful to those who commit them?

The game began to unravel when Israel started to concentrate on a lie which it invented, like the fake footage of an explosion in the village of Teir Fleisa in Lebanon, only to divert attention from the Goldstone report. The lie, regrettably taken on and promoted by some Arab media, was quickly and competently exposed. The lie was quickly buried.

Despite all the efforts made by Israel to cover up its crimes, its Foreign Minister Ehud Barak – implicated in assassination and war crimes against unarmed civilians – had to ask for special protection from the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in order to avoid arrest and imprisonment on a recent state visit. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, had to face a group of students at Chicago University calling for the cancellation of a talk he was to give, wondering how the university could receive a war criminal to give a lecture.

The conclusion is that the world has started to change, and that it will not wait for the Israelis to write proudly about their crimes as if they were achievements, as former Israeli security chief, Avi Dechter, did in his lecture about Israel’s role in destroying Iraq. The world has even started to bring Israel to account for its crimes. But this process should continue to the end, until it brings justice to the victims and help the Palestinians gain their freedom and salvation from the last form of slavery in the world.

China sentences three to death in mafia-plagued city

Beijing - Two courts in the south-western city of Chongqing on Wednesday sentenced three men to death after convicting them of leading organized crime rings, state media said. They were among 31 alleged members of two criminal gangs tried this week as the first of hundreds of people in Chongqing, including several top officials, accused of involvement in some of China's largest organized crime rings.

Three other members of the two gangs were given suspended death sentences on Wednesday, while the other 25 defendants were given prison sentences ranging from one year to life, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Prosecutors accused the gang members of crimes including murder, illegal possession of firearms, running illegal coal mines, false imprisonment, robbery, extortion and forgery, the agency said.

Chongqing police questioned more than 2,000 suspects during a six-month crackdown on organized crime, including 67 alleged gang leaders and 50 government officials.

Police formally arrested more than 600 suspects, while Chongqing state prosecutors had charged 263 people by the end of August.

Wen Qiang, the former director of the city's justice bureau, and a former deputy police chief were among those detained by police for questioning, earlier reports said.

Chongqing was reportedly one of China's biggest centres for weapons trafficking, while the gangs also controlled prostitution, gambling, drugs, entertainment and many local businesses, including one city bus company.

City courts also tried a major organized criminal gang in April, sentencing 19 people after convicting them of murder, drug trafficking, robbery, illegal possession of firearms, and bribing police officers.

In an editorial on Monday, the official China Daily newspaper said the provision of "protective umbrellas" to the gangs by municipal government officials and police officers was a problem of China's "transition from a planned economy to a market one."

France flies three illegal Afghan immigrants back to Kabul

Paris - France has flown three Afghan citizens, who were illegally on French soil, to the Afghan capital Kabul, Immigration Minister Eric Besson said Wednesday. The flight, made jointly with British authorities, left Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport near midnight Tuesday and was the first such "charter" carrying forcibly expelled immigrants from France back to their home country in four years.

It was not clear how many Afghans expelled from Britain were on the plane.

Besson told Europe 1 radio that the three men would be returning to Kabul, "where there is no threat to their physical safety."

But a broad alliance of charities working with immigrants have mounted a vocal opposition to the flights, saying they contravened the European Declaration of Human Rights because they exposed the returning Afghans to war and terrorism.

On October 6, a planned flight of illegal immigrants to Afghanistan was annulled when the European Court of Human Rights suspended the forced expulsion of seven Afghans on a technicality.

North Korea 'more lethal' than ever, says US

North Korea's nuclear program and its proliferation of nuclear know-how gravely imperil the global stability, says Robert Gates warning that the US does not accept a nuclear-capable Pyongyang.

The US defense secretary, addressing a gathering of US and South Korean soldiers in Seoul on Wednesday, warned that Pyongyang with its nuclear arsenal poses threats "even more lethal and destabilizing" than before.

"America's long-term military commitment here recognizes that the peril posed by the North Korean regime remains, and in many ways has become even more lethal and destabilizing," Gates was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"There should be no mistaking that we do not today, nor will we ever, accept a North Korea with nuclear weapons," said Gates, who was in South Korea after visiting Japan.

Gates added that Washington will not hesitate to protect its regional allies against Pyongyang by providing a nuclear umbrella or deploying a missile shield.

North Korea has so far defied Washington's threats against its nuclear program. It has tested numerous missiles this year and has boosted the number of its soldiers to ward off a possible military encounter with the South.

Israel bars French visit to Gaza

JERUSALEM, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has rejected a request by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to visit Gaza, an Israeli official said.

Netanyahu said Hamas would take advantage of such a visit to create media frenzy and show the damage caused in Israel's military offensive in Gaza earlier this year, the official told Haaretz Wednesday.

The Israeli prime minister reportedly stated his reasons in a letter sent to Kouchner, the newspaper said.

Kouchner had planned to visit a local hospital in Gaza currently being rebuilt after Netanyahu approved a French government request to allow the entry of building materials into the Gaza Strip last month, Haaretz said.

Netanyahu turned down similar requests submitted by European Union policy chief Javier Solana and Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to visit Gaza in the past.

In September, while attending the United Nations General Assembly, French President Nikolas Sarkozy asked Netanyahu to permit the entry of building materials in order to rebuild the hospital damaged during Operation Cast Lead.

India's new missile is able to attack China's Harbin

October 14, 2009

India's Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) has made its forthcoming Agni-5 missile highly road-mobile, or easily transportable by road, which would bring Harbin, China's northernmost city within striking range if the Agni-5 is moved to northeast India.

The Agni-5 is similar to the Dongfeng-31A presented in China's National Day Military Parade in Beijing . India is going to test-fire the missile in early 2011.

The ASL, which develops India's long-range, nuclear-tipped missiles, enables the Agni-5 to reach targets far beyond its stated 5,000-km range by quickly moving closer to the target. Therefore, from various places across India, the Agni-5 can reach every continent except North and South America.

US firm buys UK airport for $2.5b

An American investment fund has agreed to buy Gatwick Airport, Britain's second busiest hub, for £1.51 billion ($2.5 billion).

Airport operator BAA said it would 'sell its 100 percent interest in Gatwick Airport Limited to an entity controlled by Global Infrastructure Partners for £1.51 billion'.

The agreement came under the pressure of British regulators to end a dominance that 'hurts passengers and airlines'.

Regulators have forced BAA to hand over three of its seven airports in Britain — two in London and one in Scotland.

"BAA is changing and today's announcement marks a new beginning for both Gatwick and BAA," BAA chief executive Colin Matthews said.

Ferrovial, Spain's second largest builder, bought BAA for £10.23 billion in 2006.

US presses Japan on base pact

The US defense secretary has pressed the Japanese government to quickly proceed with a plan to relocate a controversial US military base to southern Okinawa Island.

After meeting Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Japan to stick to a 2006 agreement to allow for a new replacement airbase to be built on the island by 2014.

Gates said the base move was the 'lynchpin' of the wider agreement, under which both countries also agreed to move 8,000 Marines to Guam, a relocation to be partly financed by Japan.

"Our view is this may not be the perfect alternative for anyone but it is the best alternative for everyone," Gates said in a joint press briefing with Kitazawa.

Many residents of Okinawa, fed up with aircraft noise and the large US troop presence, want the base to be moved off the island or even out of Japan — a view Hatoyama and his coalition allies have supported in the past.

Hatoyama has said he plans to review the wider Tokyo-Washington agreement that included the relocation of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Base from an urban area of Okinawa to a less-populated northern coastal area.

The United States has some 47,000 troops based in Japan, more than half of them on Okinawa island, where residents have also been angered by crimes committed by service members and environmental concerns.

Gates' two-day visit is the first by a member of Obama's cabinet since Japan's new government took power, which has signaled it wants a less subservient relationship with the US.

Gates later left for Seoul, where he was due to hold talks on the nuclear-armed North Korea, before heading Thursday to Slovakia for a NATO meeting of defense ministers on Friday.

Ties between Japan's center left government and the Obama administration has been clouded due to Okinawa issue.

US President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Japan next month.

UN fires Afghan vote staff for fraud

The UN secretary general says that it will fire most of the election staff complicit in Afghanistan's presidential election for widespread vote rigging.

Speaking in New York on Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon said the UN had learned 'a painful lesson' after noticing the widespread fraud in the August election in Afghanistan.

“We have learned very valuable and painful lessons from the first round,” Ban told reporters. “We will try to ensure that all Afghan people should be able to express their own will freely and without any intimidation or threat.”

Ban said the UN would advise the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) not to employ officials who may have been involved in recent fraud to make sure that mistakes would not be repeated.

"We will try to replace all the officials who have been implicated in not following the guidelines or who have been complicit in fraudulent procedures,” he told the BBC.

The UN investigation found evidence of massive vote-rigging in the recent presidential election in Afghanistan.

Ban told the BBC that 200 top officials who had been involved in fraud should leave, to ensure a run-off vote due next month was 'transparent and credible'.

It came after a UN-backed commission lowered Karzai's vote share below 50 percent.

The second round of vote, between Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, has been scheduled for November 7.

US, Israel to launch largest war game

Israel and the United States plan to begin their largest-ever joint war exercise on Wednesday to simulate possible missile attacks on Israel.

The Juniper Cobra air defense drill will involve some 1,000 troops from the US European Command and the same number of Israeli soldiers, the Israeli army said in a Tuesday statement.

The 16-day war game, which was originally scheduled to start last week, will also test the Israeli Arrow (Hetz) missile defense system together with three US systems, including the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), the ship-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, as well as Patriot and Hawk anti-aircraft systems.

The US has also dispatched 17 warships, including those planned to fire dummy projectiles to test defenses, and radar ships that will play an integral part in the exercise.

The US-made Forward Based X-band Tactical radar, capable of detecting long-range missiles, has been erected in the Negev and will work along with the Arrow missile system, while also transmitting data to a US joint tactical ground station.

The Israeli army claims the fifth biennial Juniper Cobra drill is not in response to any world events, but is 'part of a routine training cycle designed to improve the interoperability of both air defense systems'.

The drills will simulate the firing of long-range missiles against Israel, and towards the end will include a 'live missile interception', the Yediot Aharonot daily reported.

The air drill is based on expectations that the United States will provide Israel with missile defense systems that will operate alongside Israel's Arrow 2 system in the event of a war, the paper added.

'CIA, FBI paranoid about Israel's Mossad' and Jews

Jerusalem, Oct.21 : A former US official has said that both the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are extremely paranoid about the Israeli secret service Mossad and Jews, and adds that the charges of espionage against US Defense Department scientist Stewart Nozette reflect this fear and 'extreme view'.

These fears against Israel, former AIPAC staffer Steve Rosen tells The Jerusalem Post, could harm US-Israel relations.

"One of the things that our case revealed is the very extreme views that are held by some in counter-intelligence agencies of the CIA and FBI about Israel," Rosen said.

"They believe that the Mossad spied on the US on a huge scale and they believe that the Pollard case was the tip of some sort of iceberg,” he added.

"When you keep repeating that the Mossad is spying on America, Israel is harming the United States, of course it harms the alliance between Israel and the US," he continued.

"The current case is even more peculiar because the government of Israel did nothing. It''s revealing that they used Israel for the sting. They could have used China, or others. But they chose Israel," he says.

Describing an "obsession" with Israel within certain parts of the CIA and FBI, Rosen said if his own case had gone to trial, details reflecting the extreme views of his investigators would have come out.

"There was no wrongdoing," he said, reflecting on the case against him and Weissman.

Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the Nozette case is part of a "troubling" pattern of targeting Israel and Jews as potential spies against the United States.

The US Defense Department has repeatedly singled out Jewish employees for possible disloyalty, Foxman said.

The situation has escalated, with increasing cases of Jews having difficulty obtaining security clearance. If you have relatives in Israel, speak Hebrew, or practice Orthodox Judaism, he said, "changes are, you won''t get clearance. That's the mindset out there."

Taiwan opposes China missile build-up

Taiwan says the build-up of at least 1,000 missiles by China aimed at the island goes against an agreement between the two sides to create mutual confidence.

In white papers released Tuesday, Taiwan's Defense Ministry warned that Taipei and Beijing cannot establish trust between their militaries as long as China does not remove the short-range and mid-range missiles from its coastal military bases.

The defense report says that China had 'continued its arms build-up to the point that it has tipped the military balance in the Taiwan Strait', the AFP news agency reported.

Taiwan officials say from 1,000 to 1,500 missiles are deployed to hit the island that lies just 160 kilometers away at the closest point.

China, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory, has not yet reacted to the Taiwanese documents.

China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when the forces of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) lost the Chinese civil war against Communists and Mao Zedong swept to power.

Beijing still considers Taiwan as an integral part of China and has pledged to bring the island back under its rule, keeping Taiwan's forces on alert for 60 years.

China-friendly Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has been bucking the trend of his predecessors by trying to develop closer ties with China.

In an interview on Monday, Ma urged China to scrap the growing number of missiles aimed at Taiwan, warning that the establishment of the new missiles could threaten trade ties.

Australia reconsidering Afghan mission

Australia shows signs it may withdraw its forces from Afghanistan as soon as it is appropriate, despite US and NATO calls for a surge in troops deployed.

Australian Defense Minister John Faulkner said on Wednesday Canberra was weighing options to complete operations in the 'shortest time-frame possible'.

"I've certainly asked the Australian Defense Force for any recommendations they have about ensuring we do complete that important role," Faulkner told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Faulkner admitted that Australia's decision would affect the strategy of the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

"There will be impacts on the approach that NATO and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] partners will be taking as a result of Gen. McChrystal's 60-day assessment," he said.

Australia has the largest non-NATO presence in Afghanistan with 1,500 troops deployed.

McChrystal warned last month that the coalition forces would lose ground within a year if extra troops are not deployed.

US President Barack Obama is considering plans to boost US troops by 40,000 to more than 100,000.

The Australians have lost 11 soldiers in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of 2001.

About 100,000 international troops are currently based in Afghanistan.

UN Security Council condemns terrorist attack in Iran

The UN Security Council has condemned a recent terrorist attack in southeast Iran that killed at least 41 people, including some senior military commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

"The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the deadly terrorist attack that occurred in the border city of Pishin in Iran on 18 October 2009, causing at least 57 deaths and 150 injuries," said Le Luong Minh, the ambassador of Vietnam, which holds the rotating presidency of the council this month.

The terrorist group Jundallah has claimed responsibility for the bombing that was carried out in Sistan-Baluchestan Province on Sunday.

The Iranian ambassador to the UN, Mohammad Khazaee, had earlier said, "Iran is determined to take all the measures necessary to bring this terrorist group to justice."

"We expect the international community, including neighboring countries, to fulfill their international obligations in this regard," he added.

Belarus registers new Iranian bank

The National Bank of Belarus (NBB) has registered a second bank in the country with Iranian capital, an official at NBB says.

The new Iranian bank, which was registered last week as "Honor Bank", will provide financial services for foreign trade relations between Iran and Belarus, said the head of banking supervision at NBB, Sergei Dubkov.
He was speaking at a conference on cross-border cooperation, organized by the International Reserve Bank.

Dubkov added that the authorized capital of the new banking institution is 11.5 million euros.

According to another informed source, the new bank will not only focus on Iran-Belarus joint investments, but also act as mediator between Belarus and the Arab market.

Last year, Iran's Tejarat bank and Belarus' Lada OMS Holding set up a new bank in Belarus with an authorized fund of more than 5 million euros, with Tejarat owning more than 96 percent of the shares.

UN, Venezuela condemn terrorist attack in Iran

The United Nations and Venezuela have condemned a bloody terrorist attack, which killed dozens in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

At least 42 people, including senior commanders from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh, were killed in a Sunday morning bombing carried out by the Pakistan-based Jundullah separatist group in Pishin, a borderline region in southeastern Iran.

"The secretary-general strongly condemns yesterday's terrorist attacks in the Sistan-Baluchistan province of Iran which resulted in the death of a large number of people and many injured," UN chief Ban Ki-moon's office said in a statement on Monday.

Venezuela also denounced the Sunday terror act, saying the South American government was a "revolutionary brother" of Iran.

A Venezuelan foreign ministry statement said that Caracas "energetically and decisively condemns the attack carried out against a meeting of community leaders and a group of commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps".

Britain, Pakistan and the US also have all condemned the terrorist attack and denied any involvement in the bombing, in which dozens were also injured.

Iran, however, says it has evidence that the deadly attack was launched from Pakistan and that the US and Britain aided the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, said the presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan was 'unjustifiable' and urged Islamabad to 'quickly confront' the Jundullah terrorists.

The ring has been behind a torrent of bombings and terrorist attacks in Iran.

Iran urges Europe to revise past policies

Iran says Europe can establish better ties with the Islamic Republic by revising past approaches and adopting an independent strategy.

"Europe can revise its past attitudes (toward Iran) and adopt foreign policy independent (of the United States) to witness different relations (with Tehran) in the coming four years," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said.

Mottaki says fair and constructive talks with Europe are in the best interests of both sides.

The Iranian foreign minister added that chilly relations between Iran and Europe have only served to the disadvantage of Europe, because Iran cut back on its trade volume with the continent.

Europe's alignment with US foreign policy has no future for the European Union, "because Iran reduced its trade volume with Europe and made great progress in its peaceful nuclear industry," he said.

US hints readiness for talks with North Korea

The United States has hinted willingness to hold direct discussions with North Korea in a bid to resume denuclearization of the communist state.

The US State Department's under-Secretary for East Asia, Kurt Campbell says that America seeks dialogue with the North Korean government, provided that Pyongyang "rapidly" returns to the six-nation talks.

"I think we were very clear that we would be prepared for, in the right circumstances at some point, some initial interaction that would lead rapidly to a six-party framework," noted the US official at a convention of America's influential foreign policy think tank, Council on Foreign Relations.

The announcement comes after an early October declaration by North Korea leader, Kim Jong-II who had expressed interest in US's direct participation in the country's nuclear negotiations.

The six-nation talks intended to dissuade North Korea from its nuclear status pursuit involved Russia, China, Japan, the Koreas and the United States.

However, Pyongyang has repeatedly demanded international recognition of its nuclear capabilities and tested two nuclear devices in the past two years in an order to demonstrate its membership in the so-called nuclear club of nations.

North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks in April following a United Nations condemnation of the country's medium-range missile program and the imposition of economic sanctions on the North.

India-US air force exercise begins in Agra

India and the United States' Air Forces begin a five-day exercise at India's Taj Mahal base demonstrating evidence of growing ties between the two militaries.

The exercise being conducted in Agra and code-named COPE-India-09', involves seven Indian planes and five US transport planes. The practice involves various techniques including airdrops and joint land to air missions.

The two countries planes taking part in the exercise are three C-130H Hercules, one C-17 Globemaster III, and one C-130J aircraft while the IAF (Indian Air Force) will field one IL-76 Gajraj, four AN-32 Sutlej, two MI-17 Pratap, and one Chetak Alouette III aircraft.

"The IAF Garuds (elite units) will train along with the US Air Force Special Operations force to validate concepts and interoperability for executing special operations in a simulated hostile environment," said Air Commodore Shouvik Roy, who is in overall charge of the Cope India exercise that concludes on Oct 24.

"The Garuds would be exposed to new fields such as para-rescue and combat search and rescue operations. This would help the Garuds to shape their future operational philosophy and training format and upgrade their equipment profile," he added.

Switzerland condemns deadly Iran bombing

Switzerland has condemned Sunday's terrorist attack in Iran that killed at least 41 people, including seven senior military commanders, in a southeastern borderline region.

The terrorist attack targeted a gathering of Shia and Sunni tribal leaders. It was carried out by the Pakistan-based Jundullah terrorist group in Pishin.

Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Monday, saying the country "deplores the loss of human lives and presents its condolences to the members of the victims' families."

The ministry also appealed "for differences of opinion to be resolved by means of dialogue and not by violence."

Two senior commanders from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Nour-Ali Shoushtari and Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh, were among those killed in the atrocity. 28 people remain wounded and in critical condition.

Iran has vowed to deliver a crushing response to the culprits who carried out the attack. Britain, Pakistan and the US have denied having involvements in the terrorist act.