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ANZAC Day terror plot foiled in Melbourne
Today's Headlines
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Page 4: Opinion
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Afghanistan
Explosion kills 22 in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad
An explosion in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad killed 22 people and injured around 50 on Saturday, the city's police chief said.

The blast took place outside a bank where government workers collect their salaries, police chief Fazel Ahmad Sherzad said, adding that a suicide bomber appeared to have been responsible. No further details were immediately available.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 12:27 || Comments || Link || [336105 views] Top|| File under:


US drone strike kills 4 in E Afghanistan
[Iran Press TV] At least four people have been killed in a US drone strike in the eastern Afghan province of Paktia.

According to Col. Mohammad Zama, a senior Afghan police official, the drone attack targeted a car carrying Taliban forces of Evil at the Sahako locality of Paktia's Zurmat district Friday morning.

Two Taliban capos are among the dead, he added.

This is while both the terrorist group and the US army have declined to comment on the incident so far.

While Washington claims the targets of the drone attacks are Talibs, local officials and witnesses maintain that, in most cases, civilians have been the victims of the attacks over the past few years.

The United States carries out killings through drone strikes in Yemen, Pakistain, Afghanistan, and Somalia.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336084 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Terrorists behead 5 Shia Hazaras in Afghanistan
[Iran Press TV] Terrorists have decapitated five Shia Moslems belonging to the Hazara ethnic group in the southeastern Afghan province of Ghazni.

"Their bodies were found today afternoon in the Malistan district. All five had their heads chopped off," Ramin Ali Hedayat, the district governor, said on Friday.

No group has grabbed credit for the cold-blood murder. However,
the hip bone's connected to the leg bone...
Hedayat stated that the hard boyz affiliated with the ISIL Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
terrorist group perpetrated the killings.

This is while Ghazni's deputy governor held Taliban hard boyz accountable for the beheadings, saying they had proposed to swap the victims with the holy warriors held by the Afghan government.

"Their demands were not met so they beheaded the Hazaras," Mohammad Ali Ahmadi stated.

The victims were reportedly kidnapped on Wednesday in Ghazni while they were on errands outside their home district.

Back in February, masked gunnies kidnapped 31 Shia Hazaras as they were traveling aboard two buses on the road between Kabul and the western city of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
On April 6, Afghan authorities recovered the dead bodies of two of the hostages in the southern province of Zabul.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa North
Tripoli outskirts rocked by night of clashes
[Libya Herald] The capital witnessed a night of heavy fighting as festivities broke out on the outskirts of Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
, lasting from the early hours of this morning until dawn.

Several loud kabooms were first heard shortly after midnight and one local resident identified them as being loudest in the east of Tripoli, coming from the direction of Tajoura. After around 1 am, intermittent rounds of anti-aircraft guns could be heard being fired from the same area, with further kabooms.

Fighting was still ongoing at 5 am. One man returning to central Tripoli from his farm near Tajoura said he had moved off the coastal road in search for cigarettes, and was terrified by a huge kaboom which shook his car. Although he did not see any fighting or military persence, he said he could hear missiles and heavy weaponry and, at one point, thought that his car was being targeted. Speeding back into the capital, he noted with surprise that there were no checkpoints.

Clashes were also reported on the other side of the capital. One resident in west Tripoli said he heard further fighting from the direction of the Al-Aziziya side of Janzour, describing the sound of heavy artillery fire as "frighteningly loud".

The festivities came after an extraordinarily loud evening of fireworks, especially in districts known to be sympathetic to the Libyan National Army (LNA), aligned with Operation Dignity, both of which operate under the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk. Although many assumed these were normal wedding celebrations, several local people posted on social media saying they represented a show of support to the LNA, who have gained ground at Al-Aziziya and now appear to be working on strengthening allied positions near Tajoura.

This morning, skirmishes were reported in several central districts, allegedly between pro-HoR local residents and Libya Dawn
...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar...
security personnel. Although it remains unclear whether anyone was killed or injured in the fighting, it sparked a number of road closures and blockades.

Libya Dawn has accused Tabour forces for being responsible for the surprise raid earlier this week on the Wadi Rabia military base east of Tripoli International Airport in which four, possibly five Dawn fighters were killed.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336087 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Tajoura and Fashloum fighting: Latest
[Libya Herald] Armed clashes between Libya Dawn and local forces in Tajoura supporting the Libyan National Army (LNA) intensified during the day with latest reports of a camp outside the west Tripoli suburb used by Dawn forces being bombed by Libyan National Army (LNA) aircraft . . .
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336091 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
12 killed by Boko Haram in Dia village in Cameroon
[Iran Press TV] Twelve civilians have been killed in an attack carried out by Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
Death Eaters in northern Cameroon
...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there...
, military officials say.

According to Major Nlate Eballe, operations officer of Cameroon's Operation Alpha special military unit, the Takfiri Death Eaters launched their cross-border attack on Dia, a village located in the country's far north region, early on Friday.

"They came in hundreds. They torched Dia village and killed 12 people" He further added.

"A large number of livestock" has also been "stolen" by the group, a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
Security forces have previously identified Dia as a recruiting ground for the Takfiri terrorists.

Cameroon declared war on Boko Haram last May after the group started to frequently infiltrate into the country from neighboring Nigeria.
An Nahar's reporter believes the village to be called Bia, and adds:
Bia, in the Far North region, which borders Lake Chad, has been identified previously by security forces as a recruiting ground for Boko Haram turbans.

The Nigerian-based Islamists also attacked a Cameroon army position in Amchide, on the border with Nigeria. "They burned houses in Amchide, but without losses on our side. The attack was repulsed. We don't know yet about casualties on the enemy side," the security source said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Iranian ship convoy moves toward Yemen, alarming US officials
what are you gonna do about it then, sink a few? Allow them to resupply the Houthi tools? Dither further? Preznit MomJeans is a Pantywaist except when dealing with domestic opponents
Iran is sending an armada of seven to nine ships ‐ some with weapons ‐ toward Yemen in a potential attempt to resupply the Shia Houthi rebels, according to two U.S. defense officials.
an "in-your-face" move
Officials fear the move could lead to a showdown with the U.S. or other members of a Saudi-led coalition, which is enforcing a naval blockade of Yemen and is conducting its fourth week of airstrikes against the Houthis.
fear? Why not take the provocation as what it is, a challenge?
Iran sent a destroyer and another vessel to waters near Yemen last week but said it was part of a routine counter-piracy mission.

What's unusual about the new deployment, which set out this week, is that the Iranians are not trying to conceal it, officials said. Instead, they appear to be trying to "communicate it" to the U.S. and its allies in the Gulf.
they sense weakness
It is not clear what will happen as the convoy comes closer to Yemen. Saudi Arabia has deployed ships around Yemen to enforce the blockade, as has Egypt. An official said the ship convoy could try to land at a port in Aden, which the Houthis have taken over.

Although the U.S. is assisting with the Saudi-led air campaign, it is not participating in the naval blockade of Yemen, said U.S. Central Command spokesman Col. Pat Ryder.
sink a few "inexplicably"
However, the U.S. Navy is in the region and has already "consensually boarded" one Panamanian-flagged ship in the Red Sea on April 1 on the suspicion it was illegally carrying arms for the Houthis.
If I had to guess, I'd guess the Egyptian navy has units in the region. They might try an interdiction.
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Probably use small high speed boats to land the arms. Takes maybe 15 minutes at 50mph to go from international waters to shore.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/18/2015 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  small high speed boats
Not faster than a DAP loaded Blackhawk, I expect.


Just first aid supplies and vaccines anyway.
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/18/2015 0:53 Comments || Top||

#3  If Iran would just agree to sign the nuke deal, Champ could provide tide, shore, and weather data, refueling, box lunches, etc.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2015 2:54 Comments || Top||

#4  If the Saudis/Egyptians have any shipboard helicopters, they will be reconnaisance/anti-submarine.

I expect the US has attack helicopters in Djibouti, but they aint going to sink Iranian ships on suspicion. That's an act of war.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/18/2015 3:32 Comments || Top||

#5  so is supplying and funding a rebellion against an elected government
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 8:00 Comments || Top||

#6  so is supplying and funding a rebellion against an elected government

And, in any case, the original international law (the strong do as they wish) applies here. If Saudis, or more likely Egyptians, sink the convoy---who's going to do anything?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 8:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Probably use small high speed boats to land the arms. Takes maybe 15 minutes at 50mph to go from international waters to shore.

And several hours to load each one?
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2015 11:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Lots and lots of sharks and rays in those waters. Not someplace you want to go down.
Posted by: 3dc || 04/18/2015 11:15 Comments || Top||

#9  This is where a few A-10s at Djibouti could make a significant difference.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/18/2015 20:30 Comments || Top||


36 Dead in Yemen Air Raids, Fighting
[AnNahar] Saudi-led warplanes pounded a rebel convoy headed to bolster an assault on loyalist forces in Yemen's battleground second city Aden, while fighting raged in the third city of Taez, officials said Friday.

At least 20 rebels were killed, and two tanks and four armored vehicles destroyed, in the overnight air strikes on the convoy headed out of Yemen's largest air base, Al-Anad, provincial official Abedrabbo al-Mihwali said.

The base was the main watch post for a long-running US-led war on Al-Qaeda in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
and its evacuation by Western troops as the rebels advanced last month has created a vacuum that the jihadists have exploited to make big territorial gains.

In Taez, in the central highlands north of Aden, at least 16 people were killed as soldiers that have remained loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi put up fierce resistance to an attack on their base by Huthi Iranian catspaws and renegade troops.

Three civilians were among the dead when a stray shell hit their home, a military source and residents said.

The 35th Brigade headquarters at the center of the fighting escaped the lightning offensive that saw the rebels advance from their stronghold in the mainly Shiite northern mountains this spring into mainly Sunni central and southern provinces.

The support of army units still loyal to longtime strongman President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
, ousted in 2012 after a bloody year-long uprising, has been crucial to their progress.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Two Qaida Suspects Killed in Yemen Drone Attack
[AnNahar] Two suspected al-Qaeda gunnies were killed overnight in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
in a drone strike believed to have been carried out by the United States, a tribal source said on Friday.

The late night strike targeted a vehicle in Habban, southeast of Ataq, the main town in southern Shabwa province.

It "killed the two occupants, two members of al-Qaeda," said the source, identifying one of the victims as Khaled Atef, a cousin of the province's al-Qaeda chief.

Al-Qaeda gunnies have exploited the breakdown of security since a Saudi-led coalition launched an air war last month against Iranian catspaws fighting Yemeni forces.

Among its gains, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000...
(AQAP) has seized almost all of Mukalla, the capital of Hadramawt province.

United States Defence Secretary Ashton Carter said last week that al-Qaeda was seizing terrain during the chaos in Yemen, but vowed that Washington would continue to combat the turban group.

Qaida Takes Key Yemen Army Camp, Heavy Weapons

[AnNahar] Al-Qaeda bully boyz in southeast Yemen on Friday seized heavy weapons as they overran a key camp in Hadramawt lovely provincial capital Mukalla, consolidating their grip on the city, an official said.

"Today Al-Qaeda gunnies took control of the 27th Mechanized Brigade's camp and seized heavy weapons including tanks and artillery," the official told AFP, confirming that Al-Qaeda now controlled all of Mukalla a day after seizing its airport.

Residents of the city confirmed the camp had been seized "without resistance".

Until Friday, the camp in eastern Mukalla had remained loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour al-Hadi and was the only military site not taken over by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The jihadist network's powerful Yemeni branch took advantage of the growing chaos in the country to target Mukalla, a city of more than 200,000.

It attacked on April 2 and in less than 24 hours seized key areas and freed more than 300 prisoners, including one of its leaders.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Down Under
ANZAC Day terror plot foiled in Melbourne
Two teenagers were arrested for planning an 'ISIS inspired' attack on an Anzac Day ceremony following anti-terror raids in southeast Melbourne.

Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton said the 18-year-old men were 'associates' of Abdul Numan Haider, who was gunned down after stabbing two officers outside a Melbourne police station on September 23. Both are still being questioned by police who plan to charge them with terror-related crimes and possessing prohibited items, including knives and swords, seized at some of the properties searched.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews called the plans "simply evil" on Saturday morning, while insisting that the individuals "do not represent any faith, culture or religion."

Australian Federal Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said, "It is alleged both men were undertaking preparations for a terrorist attack at an Anzac Day activity in Melbourne which included targeting police officers."

Commissioner Patton later added that, "Some evidence that was collected at a couple of the scenes and some other information we have, leads us to believe that this particular matter was ISIS-inspired."

A total of five teens have been arrested as part of the Melbourne Joint Counter Terrorism Team operation named Operation Rising, which saw 200 officers' raid seven properties this morning. It is understood that police chose to execute the search warrants immediately because they "couldn't be sure that they [the arrested men] wouldn't act earlier."

A young man from Narre Warren was also arrested and charged with weapon offenses, while two other men from the same suburb are currently in custody assisting police with enquiries.

Patton confirmed that the arrested men were not related, but were "associates", and that some had attended the Al Furqan Islamic study center in South Springvale. But he insisted that "the individuals were acting by themselves and are not representative of any religious, cultural or national group."
Posted by: ryuge || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336142 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews called the plans "simply evil" on Saturday morning, while insisting that the individuals "do not represent any faith, culture or religion."

Until this bullshit PC excuse-making stops, you'll always be on defense
Posted by: Frank G || 04/18/2015 8:43 Comments || Top||

#2  individuals "do not represent any faith, culture or religion."

To put such statements in proper perspective, remember Oklahoma City bombing.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 8:51 Comments || Top||

#3  ..yeah, and the media went on a binge trying to paint anything conservative as 'militia'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/18/2015 9:03 Comments || Top||

#4  And McVey as Catholic.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/18/2015 11:09 Comments || Top||

#5  The Times of Israel summarizes the arrests efficiently, to whit:

The suspects included two 18-year-olds who are alleged to have been preparing an attack at the ANZAC Day ceremony in Melbourne, Australian Federal Police Acting Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan told reporters.

Another 18-year-old was arrested on weapons charges and two other men, aged 18 and 19, were in custody and assisting police, police said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 12:09 Comments || Top||

#6  and assisting police, police testing new cattle prods and breaking in the #5 truncheons?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/18/2015 15:39 Comments || Top||

#7  testing again.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/18/2015 21:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Yawn...Another Day Another Terror Plot...Brought to you by the adherents of the "Religion of Peace" tm.
Posted by: Crorong the Obscure7387 || 04/18/2015 22:01 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Alleged terrorist arrested in Kohat
[DAWN] An alleged terrorist was placed in durance vile
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
near the Kohat Friendship Tunnel from a Bannu-bound coaster while carrying explosives during snap checking here on Thursday.

The police said that officials of Riaz Khan Shaheed cop shoppe stopped a vehicle coming from the tunnel side for checking. During search of Sher Nawaz, a resident of Bazidkhel area of Darra Adamkhel, three kilogrammes of kaboom and 11 metres fuse wire were recovered from him. They said that Nawaz had been handed over to the investigation team after registration of an FIR against him.

In another case, two persons were arrested on Thursday for alleged harassment of teachers of girls primary school-2 in Mitha Khan and forcibly stopping construction work.
How 'bout dat? Almost the same thing happened in New York. Only without the happy ending.
The school principal told the Ustarzai police that one Sakhi Syed and son of watchman, Gul Syed, allegedly entered the school building and started hooliganism. She said that the two also used abusive language against the teachers. She alleged that the suspects forcibly stopped construction work in the school building and hurled threats at the labourers.

The police have arrested both the suspects for meddling in the government work and threatening the school staff. Sources said that the principal had been transferred from the said school, but was not handing over charge to the new teacher for the last two months. Both the suspects were presented in the court which sent them to prison, the police said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  If Pakistan (or Iraq, USA, etc.,) would make the transport of bombs or bomb making material a capital offense, and carry out the sentence speedily, some of this viciousness might cease.
Posted by: Ulique Pelosi8805 || 04/18/2015 11:07 Comments || Top||


Security forces seize explosive-laden vehicle near Chaman
[DAWN] QUETTA: Security forces seized a vehicle packed with more than a tonne of explosives in the country's restive southwestern province of Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
, officials said Friday.

Government paramilitary troops recovered the vehicle along with a cache of ammunition and four boom jackets during a raid on a refugee camp close to the border with Afghanistan, officials said.

"A vehicle laden with explosives weighing 1,200 kilograms was recovered from an Afghan refugee camp in Roghani area near the Afghan border," Frontier Corps (FC) front man Manzoor Ahmed told AFP.

He said two people had been locked away
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
and taken to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for questioning.

"I cannot say which group the two men belong to but we had an intelligence tip-off that an explosive laden vehicle is about to be delivered in Quetta," he said.

FC front man Khan Wasey also confirmed, while talking to Dawn.com, that two Lions of Islam were arrested by forces during a successful raid conducted in Roghani area of Chaman. "Terrorists were preparing to carry out a major terror act either in Chaman or Quetta," he said.

Chaman is Pakistain's bordering town with Afghanistan and is considered a transit route for drug and weapons smugglers.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Iraq
12 ISIS militants killed in artillery shelling by Peshmerga forces east of Mosul
[Iraq News] On Thursday, a Kurdish official announced, that the paramilitary Kurdish Peshmerga forces have managed to kill 12 ISIS elements including a big shot of the group in east of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
Saeed Mumozini, the Kurdistan Democratic Party front man in Mosul, stated for IraqiNews, "The Peshmerga forces began shelling sites for the ISIS group Lions of Islam in the area of Khursabad near the area of Ba'shiqah (east of Mosul)," noting that, "The Peshmerga forces have used artillery shells and heavy weapons during the attack on ISIS sites."

"The attack resulted in killing 12 ISIS elements including Amir (top leader), known as Abu Esam al-Masri," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More please. More artillery for the Peshmerga and other Kurdish forces in the region. They will use it, and apparently are using what they do have effectively.
Posted by: OldSpook || 04/18/2015 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes - more heavy weapons for the Kurds. It seems like such an obvious thing to do.
Posted by: Odysseus || 04/18/2015 8:50 Comments || Top||

#3  Arm the Kurds! You Washington Turds!!
Posted by: Harry Sproing6080 || 04/18/2015 10:34 Comments || Top||


Kurdish police deters terrorist attack on U.S. consulate in Erbil
[ARA] On Friday, a car kaboom targeted the Police Station of Ain Kawa district in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, but members of the security forces opened fire on it, blowing up the car before reaching the U.S. consulate.

Security sources reported that the car was under surveillance minuts before heading to the district, adding it was containing a large amount of improvised bombs which explained the frequent kabooms after being targeted by the Kurdish police.

No official statements were released by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) or the American Secretary of State.

At least two non-combatants were killed due to the car's kaboom. They were both existing the nearby Nilly Cafe, according to eyewitnesses. Two security members were also injured during the operation.

Speaking to ARA News, Lieutenant in the Peshmerga forces Saadoun Sino said that the Kurdish security forces of Asayish in Erbil have been prepared for such terrorist attacks.

"That's why they were able to deter the attack and prevent the bomber from reaching the target," Sino said.

According to a medical source in Erbil, a Turkish national and an American were also maimed due to the kabooms in the district.
NBC News adds:
A boom-mobile went kaboom! on Friday outside the U.S. Consulate in the Iraqi city of Erbil, a State Department official told NBC News.

There were no immediate reports of injuries to consulate personnel or local guards, the State Department official said. A Kurdish medical official at the main trauma center in the city told NBC News two people died and eight others were maimed in the blast. The identities of the two dead are unclear.

Talmadge Payne, an American working as a consultant for a non-government organization in Erbil, told NBC News that he was sitting on the roof of his hotel, about a half-mile from the consulate, and felt the blast.

"If I could feel the blast from here it must have been pretty significant," he said. "The room shook, and a few things fell off the shelves."

He said there was a firefight, then about 10 minutes of calm, then more gunfire.

The News Agency that Dare Not be Named, citing one of its news hounds at the scene, said that the blast set nearby cars on fire.

The consulate is in a district called Ein Kawa, an upscale, mostly Christian neighborhood near the city center.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


130 ISIS elements killed, sleeper cells found in Tikrit
[Iraq News] The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and the House of Representatives, Ahmed al-Jubouri, announced on Thursday. that the security forces were able to locate ISIS sleeper cells and kill 130 ISIS elements in Tikrit, while expressed his refusal to let the displaced people return to the city until it's completely secured.

Al-Jubouri said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, "After liberating Tikrit city center, we had to address the issue of the improvised bombs and the houses and governmental institutions booby-trapped by the ISIS group snuffies when they controlled the city."

Al-Jubouri added that in the military operations to liberate Tikrit, the security forces were able to kill more than 130 ISIS element and find several sleeper cells where they were hiding.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Nothing sacred: ISIS destroys Christian grave sites in Mosul
[FOXNEWS] Even Iraq's dead Christians aren't safe from ISIS.

The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
's campaign of terror across the war-torn nation, which has already seen countless beheadings, destruction of priceless art and religious artifacts and insistence that Christians submit or die, now includes mass desecration of graves. Photos of the black-clad, bully boy ghouls smashing headstones in cemeteries in the key northern city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
were posted Thursday online under the title "Leveling Graves and Erasing Pagan Symbols."

"The April 16 destruction of Christian graves in Mosul, Iraq by the Islamic State (ISIS) is part of the organization's ongoing campaign against Christianity, in the Middle East and throughout the Moslem world," said Steven Stalinsky, executive director of The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which flagged the photos.

The shocking images appeared on the Shomoukh Al-Islam jihadi forum and other various websites, according to MEMRI. They show ISIS bully boyz shattering graves with sledgehammers and carving out the crosses that were engraved on the stones. The photos were released along with a statement claiming to justify the defacing. The "hadith," or Islamic teaching, stated that any grave higher than ground level must be shattered. Any images on such graves must be erased as well, according to the twisted edict.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel Arrests 29 Hamas Activists in West Bank
[AnNahar] Israeli security forces placed in durance vile
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
29 Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, activists overnight during a major sweep in the northern West Bank, the army said on Wednesday.

A Paleostinian security source confirmed that "around 30 people" were tossed into the calaboose in and around the northern city of Nablus, most of whom were Hamas members.

Among those arrested were university students and a journalist. Troops also confiscated computers and mobile phones, the source said.

The Israeli army confirmed arresting 29 people, among them senior figures within the movement and former prisoners detained for involvement in Hamas activity, in a joint operation which involved soldiers, police, border police and the Shin Bet internal security service.

"The arrests took place following an increase of Hamas activity in the Nablus area with the aim of carrying out terror activity against Israel. The detainees that were involved in funding and direction of Hamas branches overseas were sent to the Shin Bet for interrogation," a statement said.

The sweep raised to 49 the number of Hamas activists arrested by Israel since April 1, the army said.

Since the kidnapping and subsequent murders of three Israeli teenagers in the southern West Bank last June, there has been a rise in the number of Hamas activists arrested by the army, with hundreds now behind bars.

Hamas, which is the de facto ruler in the Gazoo Strip, has also faced a crackdown in the West Bank by the security forces of the Paleostinian Authority, which is dominated by the rival Fatah movement.

In March, between 40 and 60 Hamas activists were arrested by Paleostinian security forces.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Southeast Asia
Abu Sayyaf militant gunned down inside Philippine military camp
[Inquirer] An Army sergeant gunned down an Abu Sayyaf militant who ran amok inside a military camp in Sulu on Friday. Col. Allan Arrojado said the still unidentified man, who was armed with a knife, entered the camp in Indanan town shortly before noon. Arrojado said, "While shouting Allahu Akbar, he tried but failed to grab the M16 rifle of one of our duty officers."
Posted by: ryuge || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
IS Issuing Photo IDs in Syria's Raqa
Because real governments do all that document stuff, and charge fees for all those documents... and anyone who doesn't have approved documents will be in trouble.
[AnNahar] The Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group is now issuing photo identity cards in Syria's Raqa province, but only to males, along with a range of administrative documents, a monitor and activists said Friday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said IS had begun issuing "identity cards to those without proof of identity and boys over the age of 13 in Raqa province."

The Britannia-based group published a photo it said was provided by civilian sources showing a laminated card printed with the black and white flag of the Islamic State.

It carries the photo of the holder, his name, date and place of birth and his parents' names, and is marked "Wilayat (district of) Raqa."

An activist with the anti-IS "Raqa is Being Slaughtered Silently" group confirmed that IS had begun issuing identity documents.

IS is requesting "that people who do not have identity papers register at the civil registry in the city as a first step towards getting an identity card," activist Mohammed Saleh told AFP via the Internet.

He said its fighters were already receiving the new ID cards, but that civilians were still being registered to receive theirs.

The ID cards were not available for women "because printing their photos is considered forbidden."

"People don't want the cards, but they don't have a choice," he said.

Saleh said residents feared the cards would become compulsory for all those in the province, even if they already have other proof of identity.

"That's what happened with their driver's licenses and license plates... Now there are checkpoints where they make sure you have them," he said.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said issuance of the ID cards follows the introduction of a range of other administrative paperwork, including marriage and birth certificates, drivers' licences and car registrations.

Land and building registration documents and permits were also being issued, he added.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


U.N. moved to tears by video of Syrian chlorine attack
[ARA] Members of the United Nations
...an organization conceived in the belief that we're just one big happy world, with the sort of results you'd expect from such nonsense...
' Security Council were moved to tears while watching a video that showed victims of a chlorine gas attack in Idlib province of northwestern Syria.
Tears are easy. Did anyone commit to doing anything?
The videotape showed a number of doctors trying to revive Syrian children who were exposed to a chlorine attack in the town of Sarmin in Idlib province. The doctors' attempts were apparently unsuccessful.

On 16 March, pro-Assad warplanes reportedly targeted Idlib with at least five barrel bombs containing chlorine gas, which caused suffocation cases among civilians.

In the meantime, the Syrian regime denied its responsibility for Idlib's chlorine attack.

The attack caused six casualties from one family. Three children, aged one, two and three, their parents and grandmother.

Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the U.N., said that those responsible for the attack will be brought to justice, describing the U.N. meeting on Thursday as "emotional".

"If there was a dry eye in the room I didn't see it," Power told news hounds.

"The long arm of justice is taking more time than any of us would wish right now, but this documentary record will be used at some point in a court of law," she said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Did they have the same reaction when they showed the video of ISIS beheading Christians? Or was Samantha silently cheering?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 04/18/2015 13:52 Comments || Top||

#2  The videotape showed a number of doctors trying to revive Syrian children who were exposed to a chlorine attack in the town of Sarmin in Idlib province. The doctors' attempts were apparently unsuccessful.

Doctors who like their work filmed. Groovy!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/18/2015 14:06 Comments || Top||

#3  Did the UN draw a red line?
Posted by: AlanC || 04/18/2015 15:48 Comments || Top||


Syrian Army Kills More Militants in Various Areas
[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian army carried out more operations against positions of terrorist organizations on Friday, killing many of their members and destroying their weapons and ammunition.

Homs

Units of the army carried out concentrated operations in Rahoum village east of Homs city, killing a number of holy warriors from ISIL, in addition to destroying their arms and ammunition, a military source said.

Other army units targeted holy warriors from al-Nusra
...the current nom de guerre of al-Qaeda in the Levant, which isn't to be confused with al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Levant...
and the so-called "Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
" group in the villages of al-Sultaniyeh, Arshouneh, Abu Huwadit and al-Barghouthiyeh in the eastern countryside of Homs province.

Many were killed in the operations, the source told SANA.

Aleppo

Army units killed scores of holy warriors in the area south of Nubbul and al-Zahraa towns in the northern countryside of Aleppo province.

Units of Army and armed Forces clashed with members of al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
terrorist organization in the al-Ma'mel area which extends between al-Joud association and Byanon town in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

The festivities resulted in the destruction of vehicles, ammo and weaponry in addition to the killing of many holy warriors while others escaped leaving their weapons behind.

Terrorist organizations also suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment in Aleppo countryside. Adnan Jneid Abu Hilal, who is the leader of al-Nusra in the southern countryside of Aleppo, was identified among the dead.

Idleb

A military source said an army unit eliminated 12 holy warriors in Taftanaz town in Idleb countryside.

Quneitra

A unit of the army and armed forces killed a number of al-Nusra holy warriors north of al-Murabbaat village in the countryside of the southern Quneitra province.

Other army Units carried out heavy operations against gatherings of holy warriors in al-Hamidiyeh village west of Quneitra city, killing a number of them and injuring others, in addition to destroying their vehicles and equipment.

The army also killed more holy warriors in Um Batieh village in the eastern countryside of Quneitra province.
Posted by: Fred || 04/18/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336116 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
30[untagged]
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6Islamic State
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2Arab Spring
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2015-04-18
  ANZAC Day terror plot foiled in Melbourne
Fri 2015-04-17
  Top Saddam aide Izzat al-Douri killed
Thu 2015-04-16
  BIFF names new chief
Wed 2015-04-15
  Syria-bound British councilor's son arrested in UK
Tue 2015-04-14
  Ajnad Al Sham 'declares war' on ISIS south of Damascus: statement
Mon 2015-04-13
  U.S. drones kill 2 leaders in Pakistan
Sun 2015-04-12
  Paks free Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi, terrorist behind Mumbai attacks
Sat 2015-04-11
  Fierce fighting in south Benghazi as LNA 'masses forces' outside city
Fri 2015-04-10
  Saudi warplanes pound military airport in southern Yemen
Thu 2015-04-09
  Red Cross Says Situation 'Catastrophic' in Yemen's Aden
Wed 2015-04-08
  Teams Exhume Tikrit Mass Graves Suspected to Hold Bodies of 1,700 Iraqi Soldiers
Tue 2015-04-07
  27 Houthis reportedly killed in S. Yemen ambush
Mon 2015-04-06
  Shaboobs attack two checkpoints in Bossaso, wound mayor
Sun 2015-04-05
  Civilians flee as militants seize most of Yarmouk camp
Sat 2015-04-04
  Qaeda advances on Syria army base near Idlib: monitor

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