Single Sniper’s Bullet Kills Six Taliban Fighters

A British sniper killed five Taliban insurgents and a would-be suicide bomber in Afghanistan with one bullet, the Ministry of Defence has said. The 20-year-old marksman, a lance corporal within the Coldstream Guards, hit the trigger switch of the device from 930 yards away, causing the bomb to blow up. The blast killed the would-be bomber and five men around him, an MOD spokesman said. The incident in December in Kakaran, southern Afghanistan, have been disclosed as Britain prepares to depart from the rustic by the top of the year. Lt Col Richard Slack, commanding officer of 9/12 Royal Lancers,... Read More »

China Maps Out Its First Air Defense ID Zone

China has established its first air defense identification zone according to Chinese law and international practices to safeguard its sovereignty, the Ministry of National Defense announced on Saturday. The move allows early-warning time and helps China protect its sovereignty and territories, and guarantee regional air security, officials and analysts said. An air defense identification zone is a defensive area of airspace established by a coastal state beyond its territorial airspace, explained Wang Ji, a Chinese expert on domestic and international law from an establishment affiliated with China’s air force. It is used to spot, monitor, control and react in a... Read More »

US backs Japan as China tensions soar on air zone

The America on Monday joined ally Japan in vowing to not recognize China’s declaration of an air defense zone over much of the East China Sea, a move that has sharply escalated tensions. China and Japan each summoned the other’s ambassador after Beijing said Saturday it had established an Air Defense Identification Zone — which might require aircraft to obey its orders — over a local featuring islands administered by Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has vowed no compromise on sovereignty issues, called on China to “restrain itself” over the move, which put Tokyo’s conservative government in rare... Read More »