Hi there, !
Today Tue 06/27/2017 Mon 06/26/2017 Sun 06/25/2017 Sat 06/24/2017 Fri 06/23/2017 Thu 06/22/2017 Wed 06/21/2017 Archives
Rantburg
531197 articles and 1854391 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 65 articles and 165 comments as of 1:10.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Jihadist who threw grenade in French kosher shop gets 28 years
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 18:08 Rambler in Virginia [336115] 
9 22:00 irishrageboy [336098] 
0 [336075] 
4 16:05 Pappy [336072] 
1 21:51 Skidmark [336090] 
0 [336067] 
3 11:32 ed in texas [336113] 
4 11:45 g(r)omgoru [336068] 
0 [336070] 
1 11:22 CrazyFool [336067] 
0 [336075] 
0 [336074] 
3 11:30 ed in texas [336075] 
0 [336090] 
0 [336070] 
0 [336072] 
0 [336075] 
0 [336070] 
0 [336074] 
1 10:35 Frank G [336076] 
0 [336076] 
3 21:58 TopRev [336108] 
0 [336073] 
0 [336072] 
0 [336070] 
0 [336074] 
0 [336097] 
1 21:54 Skidmark [336104] 
Page 2: WoT Background
1 21:56 Skidmark [336102]
4 21:57 Skidmark [336108]
0 [336070]
4 06:39 Skidmark [336082]
3 11:34 ed in texas [336073]
0 [336066]
0 [336067]
5 14:33 Sock Puppet of Doom [336072]
0 [336071]
0 [336069]
1 22:18 TopRev [336099]
0 [336075]
Page 3: Non-WoT
1 17:05 trailing wife [336078]
2 21:59 Skidmark [336085]
5 12:52 Frank G [336070]
2 18:27 ed in texas [336115]
7 21:34 airandee [336096]
2 08:06 Besoeker [336069]
0 [336071]
0 [336070]
6 11:57 g(r)omgoru [336073]
3 11:44 ed in texas [336068]
0 [336069]
1 06:48 Skidmark [336066]
0 [336081]
0 [336067]
12 20:13 Zenobia Floger6220 [336097]
13 20:21 Capsu78 [336080]
Page 4: Opinion
8 17:40 Zenobia Floger6220 [336072]
3 18:36 ed in texas [336086]
7 23:12 Procopius2k [336098]
8 16:49 trailing wife [336067]
7 22:29 TopRev [336103]
7 21:58 Silentbrick [336086]
8 15:35 Iblis [336071]
2 20:39 Capsu78 [336110]
Page 6: Politix
9 22:25 Skidmark [336099]
Afghanistan
Takhar province top Taliban kommander dies
The Taliban militants group has lost one of its most senior leaders during a military operation in northeastern Takhar province, the 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan National Army said Thursday.

According to a statement by the Shaheen Corps, the deputy military commission chief of the group Mawlavi Shukoor was killed during the operations of the Afghan security forces being conducted under the name of Pamir-8.

The statement further added that Mawlavi Shukoor was killed along with his nine companions during the operation.

At least nineteen Taliban insurgents were also wounded during the operations, the statement said, adding that the group’s two senior commanders identified as Mullah Abdul Hadi and Mawlavi Belal were also among those wounded.

The Taliban insurgents group has not commented regarding the report so far.

Takhar is among the relatively calm provinces in northeastern Afghanistan which rarely witnessed insurgency since the fall of the Taliban regime.

However, the insurgent groups have increased their activities in this province during the recent years and often carry out insurgency activities, including coordinated attacks.

The province borders some of the restive provinces in the north from where the insurgents are frequently commuting for the insurgency activities.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Taliban shadow officials security detail guns him down
The shadow district governor of the Taliban group was shot dead by one his own guards in northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan.

According to the local government officials, the incident took place on Thursday in the relatively volatile district of Darzab.

Provincial security chief Abdul Hafiz Khashi confirmed the incident and said at least five other militants were also killed in the attack.

He said the attacker has apparently joined the ISIS ranks in Jawzjan province after killing the shadow district chief of the Taliban.

The Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.

The security situation in Jawzjan province has started to deteriorate during the recent years with the rampant insurgency led both the Taliban and ISIS militants.

The latest attack on Taliban district chief by his guard having links with the ISIS group reflects the ongoing rivalry among the militants which has so far claimed the lives of scores of insurgents while dozens more have been wounded.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  More popcorn please, with extra butter.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/24/2017 11:22 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egyptian police kill leading figure in Hasm militant group during shootout: Ministry
[AlAhram] Egypt’s Ministry of Interior said on Friday that police have killed one of the leaders of holy warrior group Hasm in 6 October city during a shootout.

A statement on the ministry's Facebook page said that the National Security Agency received information that a meeting of Hasm, which is designated a terrorist organization by the state, was set to be held in the area of Wahat Road.

According to the statement, after securing the prosecution's permission police combed the area, and when they approached two parked cars those inside shot at officers. The officers fired back, killing 38-year-old Mohammed Abdel-Moneim Zaki Abo Tabikh, who is wanted in a terror-related case.

On Sunday, Hasm grabbed credit for an attack on a police checkpoint earlier that day in Maadi, Cairo which killed one policeman and injured four others.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


LNA captures Benghazi sector
The Libyan National Army (LNA) says it has finally taken full control of Benghazi’s central Suq Al-Hout area.

LNA spokesman Colonel Ahmed Mismari told the Libya Herald that the whole area had now been liberated, although it had lost six men in the fighting today, one of them a commander. Elsewhere though, he said there were still some snipers operating in the area, such a by the old city hall, but these were being dealt with.

At a press conference today, the LNA said the militants were hiding in drains and underground tunnels.

This evening, heavy clashes were reported in Al-Sharif Street which separates the old town from Suq Al-Hout.

Meanwhile there have been extensive and heavy bombing raids during the day over Sabri, where LNA units are reported to be advancing from the eastern part which it already controls. The fighting was now near the Wahda Bank, close to the Suq Ahdash area and the unfinished Hyatt Regency hotel on the sea front.

In a separate incident, two LNA soliders, named as Abdussalam Al-Twergi and Akram Al-Warfali, were killed today in a mine explosion in Lathama district which is near Sabri. The area has been liberated for some time.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian security forces foil 4 Eid bombing attacks
The Nigerian state security agency announced on Friday that it thwarted plans by militants to detonate explosives in four cities in the north of the country during celebrations to mark the Islamic Eid al-Fitre holiday.

The Department of State Services (DSS) said the attacks were planned in Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna and Maiduguri during the June 26and 27 public holidays to celebrate Eid, which marks the end of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.

Maiduguri and surrounding parts of the northeastern Borno state have been attacked by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in the last few weeks including suicide bombings that killed 12 people on Monday and a raid on June 7 which killed 14.

The DSS said since Tuesday it had arrested three suspects – two in the northwestern city of Sokoto and another in Kano in the north – and seized weapons including eight assault rifles, 27 hand grenades and live ammunition.

“Their aim was to hit on soft targets such as markets, public parks, public processions, recreation centres, as well as worship centers especially the Eid praying grounds and other densely populated areas,” it said in a statement.

The DSS did not specify who it thought was behind the plans. Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people and forced some 2.7 million people to flee their homes in the last eight years in its attempt to create a state adhering to a strict interpretation of sharia law in northeast Nigeria.

In April, the DSS said it had thwarted Boko Haram plans to attack the British and United States embassies in the capital Abuja.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Arabia
Saudi security forces foil attack on Grand Mosque in Mecca
[REUTERS] Saudi security forces foiled an attack on the Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca on Friday, state television Al-Ekhbariya and Al Arabiya TV reported.

Al Arabiya said security forces had found two groups of terrorists in Mecca and a third group in the city of Jeddah. The foiled attack targetted worshipers at the mosque, it said.

Neither Al Arabiya nor Al-Ekhbariya gave any further details.
An Nahar adds:
The first operation was foiled in Mecca's Assila district, while the second was thwarted in Ajyad al-Masafi neighborhood.

A jacket wallah, who was hiding in a house in the Ajyad neighborhood, opened fire on security forces and refused to comply with calls to turn himself in. He later went kaboom! after being encircled, wounding six foreign residents and five members of the security forces, the security spokesperson said.

Security forces tossed in the slammer
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
five suspects, including a woman, who are currently being interrogated.
Posted by: Fred || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Saudi Arabia


Europe
Jihadist who threw grenade in French kosher shop gets 28 years
[Ynet] The French jihadist who perpetrated the 2012 attack in Sarcelles, injuring one, is to serve 28 years behind bars; prosecution describes decision as 'a miracle'.

A French jihadist who threw a grenade at a Jewish store in 2012
...that would be the Naouri kosher supermarket...
was sentenced overnight to 28 years in prison by a court which also sent several others to jail after the dismantling of an Islamist cell which had planned other attacks.
When its members were arrested in late 2012, the "Cannes-Torcy cell" was described as the most dangerous jihadist group in France.
In addition to grenade-thrower Jeremy Bailly, the jury court sentenced eight others to prison for between 12 and 20 years, with the lengthier terms handed to two men who spent time in Syria, where 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....
bad boy group has its base.

The convictions in a late night ruling on Thursday brought a close to an affair that predated the spate of Islamist-inspired attacks in La Belle France from early 2015 onwards, in which more than 230 people have been killed.
France was at the time roiled by protests against Israel and naturally also attacks on local Jews and Jewish institutions.
Another member of the jihadist cell--Jeremie Louis-Sidney--died in a shootout with police when they tried to arrest him in the eastern French city of Strasbourg in October 2012.

The grenade-attack at a Jewish food store in Sarcelles
......known as "Little Jerusalem" because of the large number of North African Jews who settled there after immigrating in the 1960s, as did a large number of non-Jewish North Africans. They have on occasion clashed...
north of Gay Paree the same year injured one person but killed nobody, an outcome prosecutors described as "a miracle".

The dismantling of the cell allowed police to thwart another attack planned against an army camp in the Var area of southern La Belle France in 2013, prosecutors said.

They added that the cell, half of whose members were converts to Islam who bonded on a camping holiday in Cannes, southern La Belle France, had also planned but not executed an attack on a McDonald's fast-food restaurant.

In all, the trial concerned 20 people. Two were acquitted. Among others sentenced was a 23-year-old Laotian man who was judged as the driver of the car from which Bailly hurled the grenade. He was enjugged
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
for 18 years.

Among others sentenced but not present in court were a man who joined the Islamic State bad boy group in Syria and thought to have possibly died there, and another on the run in Africa.
The Times of Israel adds:
Analysts say the Cannes-Torcy network signaled a historic shift in La Belle France’s struggle against terrorism, to battling mass attacks by Islamic faceless myrmidons inspired, or even guided, by foreigners.

During the hearing at a special anti-terror tribunal in Gay Paree, the cell was described as "the missing link" between the self-proclaimed al-Qaeda terrorist Mohammed Merah -- who murdered three Jewish children and a teacher in an attack at their school in the southwestern city of Toulouse
...lies on the banks of the River Garonne, half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The Toulouse metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in La Belle France...
in 2012 -- and the Islamic State network that hit the Bataclan concert hall in 2015, killing 130 people.

The prosecution demanded "exemplary punishments" for the cell, headed by Jeremie Louis-Sidney and described as a violent leader with a "boiling" hatred for Jews.

Kevin Phan, the group’s driver during the attack, was sentenced to 18 years in jail.

Sentences of 14 to 20 years’ imprisonment were given to gang members who had traveled to Syria, including Ibrahim Boudina, who spent sixteen months in Syria and was accused of "returning to commit an attack" on the Cote d’Azur.

Lawyers said the court had noted the diverse profiles of the twenty men, some of whom were from well-to-do families, and came from Algeria, Laos and La Belle France. Half were converts to Islam.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336113 views] Top|| File under: Salafists

#1  French are very serious about food.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/24/2017 3:08 Comments || Top||

#2  IMO, the French should bring back the guillotine in response to these crimes against the State and its people.
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/24/2017 10:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Here he is, trying to help tenderize the meat, and this is the thanks he gets...
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/24/2017 11:32 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Kurd Kommies kill 20 Turkish soldiers
[ARA News] Rebel fighters of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) attacked a convoy of the Turkish Army in the southeastern Hakkari province, military sources reported on Thursday.

At least 20 Turkish soldiers were killed and several others were wounded in the attack, where the PKK used mortar fire and heavy machine guns.

“Our fighters ambushed the Turkish army on the road of Cile Çola Mirek in Hakkari province,” a PKK spokesman told ARA News.

“The operation resulted in the death of more than 20 soldiers, the injury of dozens more, and the destruction of three military vehicles,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said that the PKK-led operation came in response to the recent Turkish bombardment of Kurdish villages in Hakkari.

“We won’t remain calm while Turkey destroys our villages and kills our people,” the PKK spokesman told ARA News.

Since the break down of the two-and-a-half-year ceasefire between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in July 2015, clashes intensified between both sides, causing the death of thousands of civilians, the displacement of more than 400,000 people and massive urban destruction in some south-eastern districts populated by Kurds.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Turkey sends first cargo ship with aid for Qatar
[DAWN] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
on Thursday sent a first ship loaded with aid for its embattled regional ally Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates...
, which has been hit by sanctions from Gulf powers led by Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, state media said. Almost two dozen Turkish troops also arrived in Qatar as Ankara ramps up military support for Doha, even as it tries not to irritate Riyadh.

Turkey has already sent over 100 planes with food and other aid for Qatar, but this is the first time a fat merchantman has embarked on the voyage to Doha. The ship left the Aegean port of Aliaga in Izmir province with around 4,000 tonnes of fruit, vegetables and other foodstuffs on board, the Anadolu news agency said. It should arrive in 10 days.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain broke off relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "terrorism" and leaving Doha economically and politically isolated.

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Wednesday that Turkey had already sent 105 cargo flights to Qatar loaded with aid to help the country through the crisis.

A bill was also fast-tracked through the Turkish parliament this month allowing Ankara to send up to several thousand troops to a base in Qatar.

Posted by: Fred || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336108 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Qatar (MB)

#1  So it'll be a three-way match between the Salafists, the Shiites, and the Muslim Brotherhood?
Posted by: Pappy || 06/24/2017 15:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Diesel, airplane parts, then bandages?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/24/2017 21:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Almost. MB and Salafis -- by whom I take you mean ISIL -- are one and the same, just different and somewhat but not really competing strains. Remember Turkey, who is MB, supports ISIL. I think it best to think of all Salafi Jihadis as one and the same: Salafi Jihad.
Posted by: TopRev || 06/24/2017 21:58 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
40 people killed in bomb, gun attacks in 3 Pakistani cities
[Ynet] At least 40 people were killed and nearly 100 maimed Friday in four separate bomb and gun attacks in three major Pak cities, officials said.
No doubt Dawn will have all the details tomorrow.
A jacket wallah was involved in the first boom-mobileing near the office of the provincial police chief in the southwestern city of Quetta that killed at least 12 people and maimed 20. There were conflicting claims of responsibility for this attack from different bully boy groups.

Hours later twin bombings, minutes apart, hit a crowded market in a Shiite-dominated city in Parachinar, the main city in the Kurram tribal region and killed 24 people, mostly minority Shiite Moslems, according to government administrator Zahid Hussain.

Friday evening, gunnies in the port city of Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
attacked coppers at a roadside restaurant and killed four of them before fleeing, according to senior police officer Asif Ahmed.

The bomb and gun attacks come a few days before the Moslem holiday of Eid-al-Fitr, which ends the holy month of Ramadan. TV footage showed panicked people rushing to safety following the Parachinar market bombings.

13 killed in suicide attack on Quetta's Gulistan Road

[DAWN] At least 13 people ─ including seven policeman ─ bit the dust, while 19 others were maimed in a suicide kaboom that shook Shuhada Chowk in Quetta's Gulistan Road area on Friday morning, police said.

The injured were moved to Quetta's Civil Hospital, where an emergency was declared. Security was tightened across the city following the attack.

According to DawnNews, the blast occurred close to Inspector General of Police Ehsan Mehboob's office.

The blast was powerful enough that it was heard across the city, shattering windows of nearby buildings, said police front man Shahzada Farhat.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:


4 policemen gunned down in Karachi's SITE area during iftar
[DAWN] Four coppers were bumped off in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
's SITE area on Friday in what appeared to be an incident of murder, officials told Dawn.

SITE Station House Officer (SHO) Rana Maqsood said the coppers were having iftar at a hotel located between Siemens Chowk and Habib Bank Chowrangi when three unidentified persons on two cycle of violences opened fire on them.

The coppers ─ Assitant Sub-Inspector Muhammad Yousuf, and police constables Shabir, Khalid and Israr ─ was struck down in his prime while the suspects managed to escape.

Maqsood initially claimed that the assailants belonged to a "defunct terrorist organization".

However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) official Raja Umer Khattab told Dawn that a new krazed killer organization called the Jamaat-ul-Ansar al-Sharia
...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet...
Pakistain had grabbed credit for the attack on the coppers in pamphlets dropped at the site of the shooting.

Members of the krazed killer outfit had doubled back to the scene of the crime after the attack and dropped pamphlets claiming responsibility for the attack, Khattab said.

Khattab said that the krazed killer organization was "newly established" and had previously grabbed credit for the murder of a retired army officer in Karachi.

Posted by: Fred || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: TTP


14 suspects linked to drug smuggling ring arrested: DG ANF
[DAWN] At least 14 people involved in a drug smuggling gang, including Pakistain International Airlines (PIA) officials and former airport security officials, have been enjugged
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
, Director General (DG) Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) Major General Mussarat Nawaz Malik said at a presser on Friday.

The suspects, who were allegedly involved in the smuggling of narcotics via PIA flights at London's Heathrow Airport and Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
International Airport (BBIA), had been apprehended with the help of surveillance footage, the DG ANF disclosed at the Rawalpindi ANF headquarters.

Maj Gen Malik said that the arrest of a few more suspects would help establish the network's international links.

"The capture of two more suspects will concretely determine their connections to those in London who have been facilitating the operation," he said, adding that raids are being conducted to arrest international suspects.

Posted by: Fred || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Twin blasts kill dozens in Parachinar market
[Al Jazeera] At least 34 people have been killed and more than 70 maimed when twin kabooms destroyed a crowded market in northwest Pakistain, according to officials.

The kabooms, minutes apart, took place at Toori Bazar in the town of Parachinar, capital of Kurram tribal district
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
, during rush hour on Friday afternoon.

"When people rushed to the site ... to rescue the maimed, a second blast took place," Nasrullah Khan told the AFP news agency.

"We fear that the corpse count will increase," Khan said, adding that no further details were available yet.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from the capital, Islamabad, said a state of emergency had been declared in Parachinar.

"The military sent two helicopters from Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
to ferry the ones that are in need of help," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The twin attacks followed a bombing earlier in the day outside the office of the police chief in southwestern Quetta, capital 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...
province, that killed at least 13 people.
Posted by: Fred || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
The Secret Lives of ISIS Fighters
[BBC] Warning: Disturbing content
Note: very long, lots of photos and things in Arabic for those who read Arabic.
Mohammed is giddy with excitement as he films the discovery of three IS fighters on his mobile phone.

"Shoot him," he shouts, gesturing at one of them.

His nervousness gives him away as the unit’s cook. He’s unarmed, but his fellow soldiers from the Iraqi police special forces - known as the Emergency Response Division - are armed to the teeth and are not taking any chances.

The ISIS fighter in the foto is holding a scoped Czech vz-52 with the proprietary 10 rnd magazine removed. It is likely a Model 52/57 which would have been re-chambered from the original 7.62x45 to the more common 7.62x39. The modern scope employs a left side'offset' mount as the weapon's extractor throws the empty casing forward, which is somewhat unique. Not a weapon commonly seen on the modern battlefield.

Posted by: Besoeker || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Romantic story.
Nice intel, using Google Maps to generate targeting coordinates.
Classic WWII Soviet weapon still around because it works.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/24/2017 6:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Interesting stuff
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2017 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3  All would fall in rapid succession, but the closer to Mosul they come, the more IS fighters they encounter, and the more bodies end up strewn across the roads and pathways.

So then, the campaign against Daesh is successful?
Posted by: JohnQC || 06/24/2017 10:35 Comments || Top||

#4  They're all subscribers to Victoria's secrets catalog?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/24/2017 11:45 Comments || Top||


50 casualties reports in Mosul airstrike


Mosul (IraqiNews.com) At least 50 civilians were killed and wounded when a missile fell on a marketplace in western Mosul, news reports said Friday.

Alnoor News website, quoting a medical source at Mosul’s public hospital, said the missile hit a market in Mosul al-Jadida, leaving 10 dead and 40 wounded.

No official statement has been made yet regarding the reported incident.

Mosul al-Jadida had previously been the stage for civilian massacres in March, when airstrikes left more than 200 civilians dead. The United States had admitted its warplanes had killed 105 in the strike.

Meanwhile, Cap. Jabbar Hassan, from the Iraqi Federal Police service, told Anadolu Agency that forces managed on Friday to rescue more than 200 civilians who had been trapped inside five booby-trapped houses in Bab al-Beed neighborhood in the Old City. He said the rescue came after intense encounters with IS militants whom, he said, used the civilians as human shields.

Iraqi troops have advanced closer to the Old City’s Grand Nuri al-Kabir Mosque, where Islamic State’s supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the group’s rule in 2014. IS members blew up the mosque’s ancient minaret on Wednesday as troops advanced, a move which the Iraqi command said signalled an imminent defeat to the extremist group.

A few hundred militants are thought to remain inside the Old City, but are holding at least 100.000 civilians who are shot dead or caught and executed while trying to flee the neighborhood.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said in statements on Thursday that Mosul would be declared Islamic State-free within a few days.

Iraqi forces continue their advance in Mosul

MOSUL/ERBIL: Iraqi forces battled their way along two streets that meet in the heart of Mosul’s Old City on Friday and said they aimed to open routes for civilians to flee Daesh’s last stand there.

US-trained urban warfare units are leading the fight in the maze of narrow alleyways of the Old City, the last district in the hands of the insurgents.

Iraqi authorities are hoping to declare victory in the northern Iraqi city in the Eid holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, during the next few days.

Military analysts say the government troops’ advance will gather pace after Daesh militants blew up the 850-year-old Al-Nuri mosque and its famous leaning minaret on Wednesday.

Its destruction gives the troops more freedom in attack, as they no longer have to worry about damaging the ancient site.

A US-led international coalition is providing air and ground support in the 8-month-old offensive to drive the militants from their de facto capital in Iraq.

A map published by the Iraqi forces media office showed the elite Counter Terrorism Service pushing along Al-Faruq Street, from north to south, and Nineveh Street, from east to west.

The two roads cross in the center of the Old City. When the troops reach this point, they will have isolated the remaining Daesh militants in four separate pockets.

“The aim is to open ways for civilians to evacuate; we give them indications by lousdspeaker when it’s possible,” an Iraqi military spokesman told Reuters by phone.

At least 7,000 civilians were brought out of the Old City during the day, the Iraqi state news website said.

Reuters journalists in Mosul saw people reaching safety. Some were injured, and some had been carried on army Humvees to rear positions where they were given bananas, biscuits and water.

“The army’s 16th division evacuated us,” said a man who had fled with his wife and 15-day-old baby.

“God bless them,” said another man, who was limping.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) reported an influx of wounded people to its trauma clinic in the west of the war-torn city on Friday morning.

“This ... is yet another example of the horrific suffering and indiscriminate violence suffered by civilians, including women and children,” said Jonathan Henry, MSF Emergency Coordinator for West Mosul, in a statement.

More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, are trapped in the crumbling old houses of Old City, with little food, water or medical treatment.

Aid organizations say Daesh has stopped many from leaving, using them as human shields. Hundreds of civilians fleeing the Old City have been killed in the past three weeks.

Rubble of ‘The Hunchback’

The Iraqi government once hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the bloody campaign has dragged on as the militants reinforced positions in civilian areas, launched suicide car and motorbike bombs, laid booby traps and kept up barrages of sniper and mortar fire.
The military said it had defused dozens of booby traps as troops advanced on Friday.

The area still under Daesh control is about 2 sq. km in extent, alongside the western bank of the Tigris river which bisects Mosul.

The fall of Mosul would mark the end of the Iraqi half of the militants’ state structure, but Daesh would remain in control of large areas of both Iraq and Syria.

Daesh posted a video online showing the remaining square base of the mosque’s leaning minaret amid a mountain of rubble, with wrecked cars nearby.

The destruction caused anger and grief for Mosul’s people, who affectionately call the tower Al-Hadba, or “the hunchback.”

Daesh’s black flag had been flying on the 150-foot minaret since June 2014. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said the militants’ decision to blow it up was an admission of defeat.

Al-Baghdadi has left the fighting in Mosul to local commanders and has been assumed to be hiding in the Iraqi-Syrian border area. There has been no confirmation of Russian reports over the past week that he has been killed.

In Syria, the insurgents’ “capital,” Raqqa, is nearly encircled by a US-backed Kurdish-led coalition.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "Oops! Our bad"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2017 10:35 Comments || Top||


9 die in suicide bombing attacks in Anbar


Anbar (IraqiNews.com) One Iraqi soldier and eight civilians were killed when an Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up west of Anbar, a military source was quoted saying in a press statement.

Col. Walid al-Dulaimi said that four suicide bombers snuck into al-Shohadaa region in al-Baghdadi, west of Anbar. Security forces shot three dead after trapping them at a house. But the fourth blew himself up, killing eight civilians and one army member.

The blast wounded 11 other people, including eight soldiers.

Baghdadi is currently under the control of security forces and allied paramilitary troops. IS members have regularly infiltrated the area to wage attacks against civilians and security forces.

Anbar’s western towns of Annah, Qaim and Rawa have been held by the extremist group since 2014, when it emerged to proclaim a self-styled Islamic “Caliphate”.

Fighter jets from the Iraqi army and the U.S.-led international coalition have also regularly pounded IS locations in the province. The Iraqi government is expected to aim at those strongholds once its campaign in Mosul, now in its eighth month, is concluded.

Violence and armed conflicts left 824 Iraqis dead and wounded during the month of May, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq which excludes security members deaths
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Mother of Palestinian terrorist who killed policewoman: 'Thank God I Am Proud'
[LI] Hadas Malka was a 23-year-old Israeli policewoman who was stabbed to death in a coordinated attack by three Palestinian men outside the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem. All three attackers were shot to death during the attack.

ISIS and Hamas issued competing claims of responsibility.

The ruling Fatah Party, led by Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the shooting of the terrorists, and called it a war crime.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/24/2017 07:52 || Comments || Link || [336098 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ruling Fatah Party, led by Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the shooting of the terrorists, and called it a war crime.

"By Allah! We will only pay the family 7/8ths of the normal Martyr's Compensation"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2017 8:10 Comments || Top||

#2  When people make such statements, they are accessories to the crime and should suffer the same fate. Kill the families of terrorists who express joy publically at their crimes.

Honestly, I'm long past the point of saying Israel needs to build a wall and answer any thrown rock, molotov, bullet, etc with 5 hours of widespread destruction.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/24/2017 11:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Silentbrick, the grandparents of these "people" didn't live in the Land of Israel and didn't think of themselves as "Palestinians". We, with a bit of help from American frackers, will just have to restore that state of affairs. Fortunately, they - and the rest of Arabs - have worked hard to erase any shred of empathy or sympathy we might've felt toward them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/24/2017 11:40 Comments || Top||

#4  I know and understand that. And Israel has bent over backwards trying to live in peace with them. It's painfully obvious to any normal human that they absolutely refuse to do it. So it's time to deal with them as the Romans would. Push them out and away from Israel with the message that even voicing hate for Israel carries a death sentence.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 06/24/2017 13:41 Comments || Top||

#5  I hope she will equally as pleased when the IDF comes to tear down her home.
Posted by: jvalentour || 06/24/2017 15:56 Comments || Top||

#6  She was arrested for incitement, and her arrest has been extended. Quite possibly she will be safely housed in an Israeli jail while her home is destroyed.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2017 17:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Simply another case of hating their enemy more than they love their children. Pretty much sums up while I support Israel.
Posted by: AuburnTom || 06/24/2017 17:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Quite possibly she will be safely housed in an Israeli jail while her home is destroyed.

They should have locked her inside the house and then destroyed it.
Posted by: Crusader || 06/24/2017 21:30 Comments || Top||

#9  We continue to blame the tool and not the wielder of the tool ... abbas.
Posted by: irishrageboy || 06/24/2017 22:00 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Moderate Islamic teacher gunned down in Thai south
The murder of a respected Islamic teacher in Pattani province on Tuesday night was an act of terrorist behavior, the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) said Wednesday. Awae Tohsatu had contributed greatly to the restoration of peace in the far South and his death is greatly lamented, said Col Pramote Phrom-in in his capacity as ISOC spokesman.

Awae, a teacher at Ponoh Padaela-nga School, was gunned down about 9:30pm as he left a mosque with his family after prayers in Nong Chik district. Police said they will look into what may have prompted the killing as the victim had a number of important roles in education, religion and peace-building.

Pramote said the teacher was a key figure in local religious circles who adhered to the tenets of Islam and helped the government create better understanding with local people as well as convincing insurgents to defect. Awae had also served as a justice adviser to ISOC's southern command since 2007, and declared himself against all forms of insurgent violence, the spokesman said. The teacher's murder was an act of "extreme, dictatorial and terrorist behavior", he added.

According to the victim's wife, she and Awae were heading home from prayers with their son when the attack took place. The family lived in the school compound about 30 meters from the mosque.
Posted by: ryuge || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israel attacks Syrian tanks in response to wayward projectiles
Israeli Air Force aircraft attacked a number of targets belonging to the Syrian regime loyal to President Bashar Assad on Saturday afternoon in response to mortar shell fire earlier in the day that landed in Israeli territory.

And if you don't like it,
you can complain to your pals in DC.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/24/2017 11:41 || Comments || Link || [336115 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  Wonder if the Egyptian diesel made it to the Gaza power plant?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/24/2017 15:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Somehow I get the feeling that being around Syrian military hardware is going to become even more unhealthy in the next few months.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/24/2017 16:58 Comments || Top||

#3  This happens periodically. If Israel did not respond firmly, it would happen frequently.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2017 17:47 Comments || Top||

#4  When we were in Israel in 2011, our tour group went up into the Golan Heights. There were fences around areas near the road with signs in Hebrew, English and Arabic warning of mines. I suggested to the Israeli tour guide that they change the Arabic to read "Come pick the flowers".
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 06/24/2017 18:08 Comments || Top||


White Helmets member caught on camera disposing of Syrian soldiers' mutilated bodies
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/24/2017 05:37 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


IS Reportedly Executes Hizbullah Member after Killing Two
[AnNahar] The jihadist 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 has killed three Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
members in Syria, one of whom was executed, media reports said on Friday.

The three Hizbullah members were in a car that fell in an IS ambush in the Syrian desert east of Palmyra on Thursday, reports said.

Pro-Hizbullah media reports said the three members of the Lebanese group were a medic and two logistical support officers and that they had lost their way before falling into the ambush.

The IS group's propaganda agency had on Thursday published a video showing the bodies of two Hizbullah members as well as the captive Death Eater who was eventually executed.

A Lebanese ID that appears in the video belongs to 29-year-old Rami Bassam al-Asaad.

Hizbullah has announced the death of five of its members over the past hours, identifying them as Rami Bassam al-Asaad, Rabih Afif Ollaiq, Ali Abbas Badran, Ahmed Haidar al-Asmar and Ali Dandash Dandash who was described as a commander.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2017 02:27 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Ahhh, good.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/24/2017 3:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Moral of the story: Nobody's ALL bad
Posted by: Frank G || 06/24/2017 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes. All bad, but with the stray endearing quality...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/24/2017 9:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Breathlessly awaiting Hemingway's "Moslem Values*" remark.

*Which is a kinda odd thing to think, considering a) they're all 'Moslems' and b) The same thing happened during the American Revolution, the French Revolution of 1848, the U.S. 'Civil War, the Spanish Civil War, numerous South American revolutions, the U.S. during the late 60s and early 70s...
Posted by: Pappy || 06/24/2017 16:05 Comments || Top||


Man behind Car Bombs that Hit Lebanon Arrested
[AnNahar] Army intelligence agents have tossed in the slammer
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
a man who played key roles in several bomb and rocket attacks that hit Leb in recent years, media reports said.

The reports identified the man as Arsal resident Mohammed Badreddine al-Krenbi, saying he has been referred to the judiciary on charges of "booby-trapping cars, firing rockets and planting bombs in several regions."

"Krenbi has confessed that the booby-trapped cars he prepared were used in most of the suicide kabooms and bombings that rocked several parts of Leb," LBCI television said.

Voice of Leb radio (93.3) said the suspect was arrested as he was heading from Beirut to his hometown Arsal two days ago.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/24/2017 02:27 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What, no 'alleged'?
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/24/2017 21:51 Comments || Top||


Russian navy launches missile attacks on ISIS positions
Two Russian Navy warships and a submarine launched six Kalibr cruise missiles on ISIL targets in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

“The Russian Navy’s Admiral Essen, Admiral Grigorovich frigates and Krasnodar submarine launched six Kalibr cruise missiles from the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea on ISIL terrorist group targets in Syria,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that the Krasnodar submarine performed a submerged launch of the cruise missiles.

The Russian Aerospace Forces have destroyed the remaining ISIL positions in Syria following sea launches of six Kalibr cruise missiles, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday.

“The remaining Daesh (ISIL) terrorist fighters and targets have been destroyed by Russian Aerospace Forces bombers’ airstrikes,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Russian military had informed Turkey and the Zionist entity in advance of Russian Navy Kalibr cruise missile launches on ISIL targets in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“The commands of Turkey and Israel were informed in a timely manner of the cruise missile launches through channels of interaction,” the ministry said in a statement.

“As a result of a surprise saturation missile attack, Daesh command posts, as well as large ammunition depots, have been destroyed in the vicinity of the town of Akerbat in the province of Hama, where a militant arsenal detonated after a pinpoint hit by the Kalibr cruise missile,” the ministry said in a statement.

Source: Sputnik
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  The Rooskiis are certainly getting a lot of operational practice, what with heavy bombers flying from the Rodina and naval cruise missile launches. Pity the Strategic Rocket Forces can't get in the game.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/24/2017 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2  U.S.: Russia Gave Heads-Up About Cruise Missile Strike
The prior warning about an attack on Islamic State group targets in Syria indicates a supposedly shuttered deconfliction line is open.
I like pragmatism.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 06/24/2017 4:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, g(rom), when you're shooting in the general direction of strategic antimissile defenses (Israel) that have mere seconds to react to incoming, prior notification will probably help your rockets get to their assigned targets.
And then there's the 'possible response' issue.
The Russians have a long history of pragmatic planning; then also, watching how the monitoring systems react to being 'tickled' is also educational.
Posted by: ed in texas || 06/24/2017 11:30 Comments || Top||


Turkish rocket artillery attack wounds 3 in Hasaka
Two women and a girl were injured when a rocket shell fired from Turkish territory fell on al-Rawiya village in the northern countryside of Hasaka.

SANA reporter said that two women and a baby girl were seriously injured on Thursday night due to a rocket shell fired from the Turkish territory on al Rawiya village in Ayn al-Arab area in the northern countryside of Hasaka.

Source: SANA
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Syrian Army attacks ISIS positions in Homs
A Syrian Army and Armed Forces unit clashed on Friday with an ISIL terrorist group that was trying to infiltrate from the direction of Jabbab Hamad village towards one of the military points east of Umm al-Tababeer village in the eastern countryside of Homs, a military source said.

The source added that the clashes ended up with eliminating all members of the terrorist group and destroying the weapons and ammunition were in their possession.

According to the source, army units also thwarted an attack by al-Nusra Front terrorist groups on a number of military points from the direction of Jawalak-al-Mahatta-Sensil in the eastern countryside of Homs, eliminating a number of terrorists and destroying their weapons and ammunition.

Later, an army unit, in cooperation with supporting forces, thwarted an attack carried out by al-Nusra terror organization and groups affiliated to it in the southwestern part of Damascus Countryside.

SANA’s reporter in Quneitra said that the army and supporting forces that attempted to sneak from Beit Jinn farm towards al-Tal al-Ahmar in the surroundings of Harfa village, attacking farmers who were harvesting wheat in that area.

The reporter said that the clashes resulted in killing a number of terrorists, injuring others, and destroying the weapons, ammo, and vehicles that were in their possession, adding that terrorists also targeted with mortar shells and machinegun fire homes in Harfa village, causing material damage and fires in cherry and olive orchards.

Source: SANA
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


ISIS bag man dies in Deir Ezzor airstikes
[ARA News] The US-led coalition confirmed on Friday that an airstrike on al-Bukamal (Abu-Kamal) town in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province led to the death of a key ISIS financial facilitator, June 16, in the first US action to specifically target ISIS-affiliated money-services business.

Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi, a Syrian native and an experienced terrorist financial facilitator, moved millions of dollars for the terror organization’s attack and logistics network, according to the coalition.

He owned the Hanifa Currency Exchange in Abu-Kamal, which he used along with a network of global financial contacts to move money into and out of ISIS-controlled territory and across borders on behalf of the group.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, pursuant to U.S. Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism, imposed sanctions on al-Rawi and his company, Hanifa Currency Exchange’s branch in Abu-Kamal, Dec. 13, 2016.

The U.S. Department of Treasury designated al-Rawi for providing financial and material support to ISIS.

Al-Rawi pledged loyalty to ISIS in 2014 and used his network of global financial contacts to help ISIS conduct weapons and ammunition deals at a time when the terrorist group was seizing land and committing atrocities across Syria and Iraq.

“In 2015, he facilitated ISIS financial transactions and money storage, including payments to ISIS foreign terrorist fighters; his property was also used by senior ISIS leaders for weekly meetings. As of May 2016, he was considered an ISIS finance emir, whose money exchange business was used for ISIS-related transactions,” the coalition added.

In the past, several of al-Rawi’s close terrorist associates have also been targeted and killed by the Coalition, such as Samir Idris, a key ISIS financial facilitator for external terror attacks and an international money launderer, was killed June 7, 2017, near Mayadin, Syria.

“He was trusted by senior ISIS leadership to move funds across borders to pay for external terror attacks,” the coalition said.

Furthermore, the US-led coalition killed Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, a foreign fighter and external terror attack facilitator, was killed April 6, 2017, near Mayadin, Syria. He was a close associate of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and helped facilitate the high profile attack which murdered 39 people on New Year’s Eve at the Reina night club in Istanbul.

In addition, Abd al-Basit al-Iraqi, a senior external terror attack facilitator, was killed Nov. 12, 2016, in Raqqa, Syria.

“He was responsible for attacks across the Middle East, including against American, Turkish, and other European targets of interest, and was also involved in assassination plots, hostage situations, convoy reconnaissance, and helped arm, fund and move terrorist fighters,” the coalition said.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Battle of Raqqa: Kurds capture South bank of Euphrates. The rats are now trapped
[SouthFront.org] Map!
Posted by: Frozen Al || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336104 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Seen dat b4.
Posted by: Skidmark || 06/24/2017 21:54 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi Edition


3 ISIS Turbans die of food poisoning in Hawija

Hawija (IraqiNews.com) Three Islamic State members have died of a poisoned meal in the group’s stronghold of Hawija, southwest Kirkuk, a security source said Friday.

The trio died at a checkpoint run by the group when they were offered a meal by unknown individuals, but the food was apparently poisoned, according to the source.

Islamic State fighters were deployed immediately in the streets of Hawija in search for the plotters.

Islamic State militants, who adopt an extreme version of Islam, have regularly sentenced violators of their religious directives to harsh sentences that could mount to death in many cases. Their government style forced thousands to flee the town.

Islamic State militants have been in control over Hawija and a few other surrounding regions since 2014, when they proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” spanning a third of Iraq and Syria.

Local tribal leaders and politicians from Kirkuk have mounted pressure on the Iraqi government to hasten with invading Hawija, suggesting that its people were experiencing a humanitarian crisis under the group’s rule. The Iraqi government is currently employing the largest portion of its military effort in Mosul, IS’s previously=proclaimed capital in Iraq where the group is reportedly cornered in a few square kilometers.

12 die in suicide attack in Mosul

IRAQ: A suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday among civilians fleeing Mosul’s Old City, where Iraqi forces are gaining ground against jihadists mounting a fierce but desperate defense, officers said.

Ahmed Hashem, a major and medic in the Iraqi army speaking to AFP from a field hospital, said the attack took place in the Mashahda neighborhood of the Old City.

“We received 12 people killed and more than 20 wounded in our field hospital, including women and children,” he said.

A colonel in the army’s 16th infantry division said it was difficult to get a definitive casualty toll because the area where the attack happened was not fully cleared.

“The suicide bomber infiltrated a group of displaced people and blew himself up among them before reaching our troops,” he said.

Thousands of civilians have fled the Old City of Mosul since Iraqi forces launched their most perilous assault yet against the Daesh group.

Around 100,000 more remain trapped by the jihadists, who have made human shields a key element in their defense of the Old City, their last redoubt in Iraq’s second city.

The security forces have been wary of Iraqi Daesh members attempting to flee the Old City death trap by blending in with the population, while the Chechen, French and other foreign jihadists stay behind to mount a suicidal last stand.
Posted by: badanov || 06/24/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
27[untagged]
9Islamic State
4Govt of Pakistan
3Sublime Porte
2TTP
2Govt of Qatar (MB)
2Govt of Syria
2Moslem Colonists
2Muslim Brotherhood
2Taliban
1Houthis
1Commies
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
1Narcos
1Govt of Iran
1Palestinian Authority
1Govt of Saudi Arabia
1Salafists
1Hezbollah

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2017-06-24
  Jihadist who threw grenade in French kosher shop gets 28 years
Fri 2017-06-23
  Philippine military: Omar Maute likely dead
Thu 2017-06-22
  BIFF Bravely Takes Hostages at Philippine School
Wed 2017-06-21
  ISIS Lord High Holy Man, al-Baghdadi confidant, killed by US-led coalition forces
Tue 2017-06-20
  Afghan forces clear strategic Tora Bora of ISIS militants: Gen. Waziri
Mon 2017-06-19
  IRGC completely dismantles terrorist group in southeast Iran: Commander
Sun 2017-06-18
  Afghan forces recapture Tora Bora in Nangarhar
Sat 2017-06-17
  Taliban rejects report on Kandahar bombing that killed UAE ambassador, diplomats
Fri 2017-06-16
  Army takes over Mosul’s Old City entrance, IS trapped
Thu 2017-06-15
  SDF capture former IS member known as Jihadi Jack
Wed 2017-06-14
  Senior Republican politician and several aides shot at baseball practice near Washington
Tue 2017-06-13
  Taliban’s military commission chief killed in Helmand drone strike
Mon 2017-06-12
  London Police Chief: Terror Victims Show How Diverse We Are
Sun 2017-06-11
  Libyan group says it has freed Gaddafi son Seif al-Islam
Sat 2017-06-10
  Islamic State claims it killed two Chinese in Pakistan

Better than the average link...



Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
44.213.80.174
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (12)    Non-WoT (16)    Opinion (8)    (0)    Politix (1)