Bleak Lands situation still unstable

In the early hours of the morning, a 7th Fleet communications array in an isolated sector of Haras was destroyed. Reports from survivors have positively identified the attackers as the Minmatar organization called the Defiants.

The communications facility is one of several recently established by Admiral Saracen's 7th Fleet and was reportedly under guard by a detachment of Navy vessels. The Navy engaged in a brief but ferocious fire fight, leading to the eventual destruction of the communications facility. According to initial reports, the facility itself was the main target of the attack. The Defiants only turned their weapons on the Amarr Navy vessels after the facility had been destroyed. Witnesses have stated that the attackers sustained numerous casualties, with several ships retiring from the engagement heavily damaged. There are some concerns as to whether the communications tower was boarded during the firefight, but no confirmation of this has yet filtered in.

The 7th Fleet has refused to officially comment on the attack and have since ordered all non-command personnel to refrain from speaking with reporters.

Less than an hour following the destruction of the Naval facility, a supply depot belonging to House Torash on the far side of the system was attacked and destroyed. Representatives of House Torash have declined to comment, but it is widely suspected that the raid was conducted in order to loot local resources to fuel the Defiants escalating operations in the area.