Russian court bans 'extremist' Qu'ran

(Huffington Post)
Top cleric tells Putin the ban is "outrageous" and "illiterate".

Moscow:
Russia's top Islamic cleric has protested a provincial court order to declare a translation of the Quran as extremist and to destroy it.

Ravil Gainutdin, the head of the Council of Muftis of Russia, said in an open letter to President Vladimir Putin released Monday that the ruling was "illiterate" and "provocative."

The Quran is available in Russian translation, but the court last week ruled that the translation by Elmir Kuliyev published in Saudi Arabia in 2002 violated federal law banning extremist materials.

Gainutdin said that the "Russian Muslims were appalled by the neglect of law shown by the court" in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk and demanded that the verdict be revoked. He said the court's order to destroy the Muslim holy book was particularly outrageous.

Militants attack police station, army camp in J&K, six killed

(NDTV)
September 26, 2013

 J&K: Militants dressed in army fatigues attacked a police station this morning in Hiranagar of Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district, killing six people, including four cops. They then escaped and have surfaced in the adjoining Samba district, where they have reportedly attacked an Army installation.

Early reports say the group of militants escaped after the first attack in a truck. They are reportedly heavily armed and are now engaged in a gun battle with the Army in Samba.

Hiranagar in Kathua is about a kilometre from the border with Pakistan and the militants are believed to have infiltrated into India recently.

The audacious attack comes only a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh confirmed that he will meet Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the US on the sidelines of a United Nations session. The two leaders are expected to meet on Sunday.

Kashmir watchers say militants tend to step up attacks just before a round of talks between India and Pakistan.

Sources said there have been intelligence reports warning that there could be militant attacks in the Jammu region.