LEAD

The name of terrorist group Jaish al-Adl started doing the rounds this morning after Pakistan accused Iran of carrying out an airstrike in its territory, killing two children.

While Tehran has not made any official comment so far, Iran's state-run Nour News agency said the attack had destroyed the Pakistan headquarters of "jihadist group" Jaish al-Adl, news agency AFP reported.

Jaish al-Adl is a Sunni Salafi organisation that operates mainly in south-eastern Iran bordering Pakistan. Jaish al-Adl, meaning "Army of Justice", was formed in 2012. It hit headlines in 2013 after it claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 14 Iranian guards. According to reports, the terrorist group had then said that the attack was an answer to the "violent crimes" of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Crops in Syria and "the oppression and crimes the regime has committed against the oppressed Sunnis of Iran". The group claims to be fighting for the independence of Sistan and Baluchistan province and more rights for Baluch people in Iran. It is currently led by Salahuddin Farooqui.

Dense to very dense fog enveloped Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, and Eastern Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday leading to cold wave to severe cold wave conditions across most parts of Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, as reported by the Meteorological Department.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) classification, 'very dense' fog occurs when visibility ranges from 0 to 50 meters, 'dense' fog is between 51 and 200 meters, 'moderate' is within 201 and 500 meters, and 'shallow' fog is in the range of 501 to 1,000 meters.

Ayodhya, the Uttar Pradesh town situated on the banks of Saryu, is set to witness the seven-day rituals of the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ or consecration ceremony of the Ram temple, that begins on Tuesday. The rituals will culminate on January 22 with the grand ceremony that will be presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by thousands of VVIP guests.

The construction of the Ram temple began after the Supreme Court had settled the decades long dispute on the site in November 2019, paving the way for its construction.

Rahul Gandhi is set to embark on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from Manipur to Maharashtra, between January 14 to March 30, on Friday, just ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024. The yatra is touted as the second leg of his Bharat Jodo Yatra, which he undertook from late 2022 to January 2023.

This East-to-West yatra is expected to become the party’s main outreach programme ahead of the 2024 elections — it will conclude on March 20, days before the polls.

During the course of the first yatra, the Gandhi Scion covered 75 districts and 76 Lok Sabha constituencies across 12 states and two Union territories. He addressed 12 public meetings, more than 100 street-corner meetings and 13 press conferences. He also held more than 275 planned walking interactions and over 100 sitting interactions.

Suspected militants opened fire Friday evening on an army convoy at Khanetar near Krishna Ghati area of the border Poonch district in Jammu and Kashmir.

Confirming the incident, Army’s White Knight Coros on X said: “At around 1800h today, a Security Forces convoy of vehicles was fired upon by suspected terrorists from a jungle near Krishna Ghati #Poonch sector. No casualties to own troops. Joint search Operations by #IndianArmy and #JKP are in progress”.