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Al-Nusra Launches Assault on Western-Backed Syria Rebels
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Africa North
Libya Dawn use air power for first time to strike at Zintanis
[Libya Herald] In continued fighting in western Libya between 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...
and Zintani and Washefani forces allied to the Libyan National Army (LNA), Libya Dawn today used air power for the first time to strike at its opponents.

There is some dispute, however, as to the aircraft used and where the action took place. According to pro-Libya Dawn media, "war planes" hit the Zintani and Washefani positions in the Bir Ghanem area.

Confirming the attack, a source at the Zintan Operation Room said that the aircraft had been a helicopter out of which explosives had been dropped. There had been no damages and no one was hurt, he said, alleging that the helicopter was an air ambulance. The action, he further claimed, had been south of Zawia.
Posted by: Fred || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Tripoli's night of widespread gunfire
[Libya Herald] A cargo plane is reported to have been burnt out at 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...
's Mitiga Airport this morning, after a night of violent festivities and road blocks in several parts of the capital.

The blazing aircraft, which appeared to be an Ilyushin Il-76 was not mentioned on the airport's web site and the incident, which sent a plume of black smoke into the sky, did not seem to have interrupted Mitiga's schedule. Calls to the airport went unanswered.

Posts on social media from people living near Mitiga said that there had been no Arclight airstrike before the aircraft caught fire.

The destruction of the Iluyshin came after a night of road blocks and fighting in several parts of Tripoli. A large kaboom was heard in Ben Ashour in the small hours. Gunfire was reported on the coast road, near the Rixos conference centre, where the rump of the old GNC has still been meeting, in Fashloum, Drebi, Abu Selim and at Camp 77 near Bab Al Aziziya. There were roadblocks of vehicles, burning tyres and rubbish at various point including Dahra and Al-Zawia Street.
Posted by: Fred || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Crap, I lived in Ben Ashour...and I worked near the Rixos.

Hmmm, glad I'm out of there, beautiful Libyan lady or not...
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 01/31/2015 13:33 Comments || Top||


New Sinai Clashes Kill Two Children
[AnNahar] Egypt's army clashed with jihadists in Sinai Friday, leaving two children dead as President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi flew home to deal with a wave of krazed killer attacks that killed at least 30 people.

Health officials said a six-month-old baby was hit in the head by a bullet during the festivities and a six-year-old was killed in a rocket blast in the peninsula.

Two more people including a 12-year-old were badly maimed by gunfire.

Friday's violence came a day after jihadists targeted security forces with rockets and a boom-mobile in North Sinai province in simultaneous attacks claimed by an affiliate of 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.

Most of those killed were soldiers.

Sisi pulled out of a gathering of African leaders in Æthiopia and flew home to oversee the response to the attacks.

"After the terrorist operations in the North Sinai last night, the president decided to cut short his participation in the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
summit after attending the opening session, and returned to Cairo to monitor the situation," a statement from Sisi's office said.

Security officials said the bodies of the 30 victims had been flown to Cairo.

It was the deadliest wave of attacks since October when 30 soldiers were killed and scores maimed in simultaneous assaults on security forces.

The fresh bloodshed came despite new security measures implemented in North Sinai since then.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula


Arabia
Two U.S. Citizens Shot at in Saudi, One Wounded
[AnNahar] Gunmen fired at two U.S. citizens Friday on a road in oil-rich Eastern Province, leaving one wounded, in the fourth anti-Western attack in Saudi Arabia in as many months, police said.

"At 2:00 pm today... a car carrying two American nationals... came under fire from an unknown source, resulting in one of them being wounded and hospitalized," said a police spokesman, quoted by the official SPA news agency. He was "in stable condition."

The two Americans were traveling on a road in Shiite-populated al-Ihsaa governorate of eastern Saudi Arabia, he said.

A resident of al-Ihsaa told Agence France-Presse that police blocked off a part of the city where a National Guard facility and a Saudi Aramco hospital and training school are located. No other details were immediately available.

U.S. embassy spokesman Johann Schmonsees, contacted by AFP, said: "We are aware of the reports and are looking into them."

It was the fourth attack since October on Westerners in the kingdom, which in September joined a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in Syria and Iraq.

Last month, Saudi authorities arrested three IS supporters for allegedly shooting and wounding a Dane in his car in Riyadh. The interior ministry said authorities arrested the suspected gunmen, driver and videographer, who wore masks during the shooting which was filmed and posted online by IS. The suspects, all Saudis, had "trained for two weeks" before the attack, authorities said.

Also in December, an assailant stabbed and wounded a Canadian as he shopped at a mall in Dhahran on the Gulf coast.

Canada and Denmark are also taking part in the U.S.-led air campaign against IS.

And in October, a Saudi-American fired from his job with a U.S. defense contractor shot dead an American former colleague and wounded another in Riyadh.

In November, Saudi Arabia blamed IS-linked suspects for the killing of seven Shiites, including children, in Eastern Province.

In a video posted on Tuesday, al-Qaida's Yemen branch (AQAP) called for lone-wolf attacks against the United States and the West, with one of the group's ideologues, Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, urging supporters to carry out "individual jihad."

A recording was released in November attributed to Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the IS spokesman, that urged Muslims to attack Westerners by any means, even if only to "spit on their faces."

The video on the Dane being attacked came with an audio recording, purportedly of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, warning that Riyadh will see "no more security or rest."

And the SITE Intelligence Group monitoring service said Tuesday that IS has released a video threatening to invade the Arabian Peninsula soon, "Allah permitting."

Last year, Saudi authorities arrested a man wanted for a number of violent crimes, including shooting at the car of two German diplomats in January 2013. The Germans escaped unharmed in the incident in the Shiite village of Awamiya in Qatif governorate of Eastern Province. Awamiya has been a focus of clashes between security forces and protesters from Saudi Arabia's Shiite Muslim minority.

Several Westerners in Saudi Arabia were killed in a wave of al-Qaida violence between 2003 and 2007.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Belgium Arrests Four in Raids Targeting Syria Recruiters
[AnNahar] Belgian police have tossed in the calaboose
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
four people during nationwide raids aimed at smashing groups that recruit jihadists to fight in Syria, prosecutors said Friday.

Police carried out 22 raids in areas across Belgium but found no weapons or ammunition, the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The prosecutor said the raids were not related to an operation earlier this month aimed at foiling a plot to kill coppers, in which two suspected forces of Evil were rubbed out.

"This file concerns people who want to go to Syria and fight there," the prosecutor's office said, adding that they wanted "to presumably join a terrorist group."

"The investigation concentrates on the organization who recruits those persons and sends them to Syria," it said.

A judge will decide later Friday whether to keep the four arrested men in jug.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336064 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Home Front: WoT
Former Beltway Cabbie Added to Most Wanted Terrorists List
[PJMEDIA] The FBI added a former D.C.-area cab driver to its list of Most Wanted Terrorists today, offering up to $50,000 for information that leads them to naturalized U.S. citizen Liban Haji Mohammed.

The Somali-born Mohammed is accused of not just providing support to al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab
... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...
, but recruiting while he lived and worked in the Beltway.

Authorities are also concerned about what reconnaissance he may have done in the nation's capital before leaving with his U.S. passport on or about July 5, 2012.

"Liban Mohammed is believed to have left the U.S. with the intent to join al-Shabaab in East Africa. We believe he is currently there operating on behalf of that terrorist organization," said Carl Ghattas, special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI's Washington Field Office, in a statement.

The FBI said the 29-year-old speaks English, Arabic and Somali.

"While living in Northern Virginia, Mohammed was a recruiter and radicalizer for al-Shabaab, which historically has targeted Westerners to go to Somalia and fight for them," Ghattas said. "Not only did Mohammed choose to go to Somalia and fight with al-Shabaab, he took a prominent role in trying to recruit people and have them train with weapons."
Posted by: Fred || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


India-Pakistan
Major terror bid foiled in Quetta as forces seize explosive-laden vehicle
[DAWN] Security forces on Friday morning foiled a major terror bid by seizing an explosive-laden vehicle in Quetta's Panjpai area.

A security official on condition of anonymity told Dawn that forces also apprehended an alleged jacket wallah along with the explosive-laden vehicle.

He said 200 bombs were recovered from the explosive-laden vehicle during the raid.

"Forces acted quickly and did not face any resistance," he said, adding that the explosive-laden vehicle was being brought to Quetta to carry out a major act of terrorism.

Intelligence agencies and anti-terrorist forces personnel also picked up a suspected Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) commander from 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...
's Pishin area on Friday morning.

Security sources said one low-level TTP krazed killer was also jugged
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
during the operation and forces recovered weapons from the suspect's possession.

In another incident, Frontier Corps personnel recovered arms and ammunition from an Alto car in the Gulistan area of Killa Abdullah district. No arrests were made as miscreants had abandoned the vehicle for fear of raid.

Since the catastrophic attack on 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.
's Army Public School on Dec 16, security forces in Balochistan have launched a crackdown against Lions of Islam of banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization
s in different parts of the province.
Posted by: Fred || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
US: Air strike kills IS ‘chemical weapons expert’
[IsraelTimes] Abu Malik had in the past worked in an WMD production plant under Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq

A US-led coalition air strike killed a chemical weapons specialist with 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 in Iraq who once worked for Saddam Hussein, US military officers said Friday.

The air raid carried out last Saturday near djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
took out Abu Malik, whose training "provided the terrorist group with expertise to pursue a chemical weapons capability," the military said in a statement.

Malik had worked at a chemical weapons production plant under Saddam's regime and later forged an affiliation with Al-Qaeda in Iraq in 2005, before joining the krazed killer IS group, according to Central Command.

"His death is expected to temporarily degrade and disrupt the terrorist network and diminish ISIL's ability to potentially produce and use chemical weapons against innocent people," it said.

US officials had not publicly referred to Malik previously as a key figure.

There has been no sign that the IS group possesses a major chemical weapons arsenal. But there have been allegations the jihadists have employed chlorine gas, which is classified as a "choking agent," though not as lethal as nerve agents.

Abu Malik, also known as Salih Jasim Mohammed Falah al-Sabawi, had been "involved in operations to produce chemical weapons in 2005, and planned attacks in Mosul with AQI [al-Qaeda in Iraq]," said a defense official.

"Based on his training and experience, he was judged to be capable of creating harmful and deadly chemical agents," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"We know ISIL is attempting to pursue a chemical weapons capability, but we have no definitive confirmation that ISIL currently possess chemical weapons," the official said.

The US-led coalition has carried out more than 2,000 air raids against the IS group in Syria and Iraq since August 8, including some bombing runs that targeted senior combatants.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  killed by hellfire missiles and the heartache of psoriasis, but mostly hellfire missiles
Posted by: Frank G || 01/31/2015 9:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Re #1: one of the very best of lines from the Ace o' Spades. I still snicker when I see it.
Posted by: Steve White || 01/31/2015 11:17 Comments || Top||

#3  ;-)
Posted by: Frank G || 01/31/2015 11:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Malik had worked at a chemical weapons production plant under Saddam's regime...

Wait, what? Weren't we told there were no such things?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 01/31/2015 11:29 Comments || Top||

#5  We were also told none of those non-existent chemical weapons were ever transferred to Syria.

* Chemical Weapons: Sometimes referred to as Weapons of Mass Distruction (WMD).
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/31/2015 11:43 Comments || Top||


Baghdad booms
Woman killed, two civilians injured in bomb blast in Baghdad

[IraqiNews.com] On Thursday, a source within the police force said, that a woman has been killed and two civilians were maimed in a kaboom in southern Baghdad.The source informed IraqiNews, "This evening, a bomb went off in the area of al-Latifiyah, located in southern Baghdad," noting that, "The kaboom resulted in killing a woman and injuring two civilians."

"Security forces shortly blockaded the area, while ambulances have carried the dead body to the Forensic Medicine Authority and the injured ones to a near hospital," the source added.

Dead and wounded in 3 suicide bombings north of Baghdad

[IraqiNews.com] On Thursday, according to a police source, a number of elements of the Army's associate members (volunteer fighters, known as al-Hashed al-Sha'bi, and rustics) had been killed or maimed in three suicide kabooms in al-Moshahada area north of Baghdad.

The source said in an interview for IraqiNews.com, "Three jacket wallahs wearing boom belts blew themselves up this afternoon, targeting a gathering of the Army's associate members in al-Moshahada area in the north of Baghdad, which led to the fall of a number of the associate members."

The source, who asked to remain anonymous, added, "Security forces cordoned off the scene, while ambulances transported the dead bodies to the Forensic Medicine Department and the maimed to a nearby hospital."

IED explodes in central Baghdad

[IraqiNews.com] An Improvised Explosive Device went off in central Baghdad on Friday.

Security source stated to IraqiNews.com "The IED was emplaced in a market place in al-Bab al-Sharqi area of central Baghdad."

"The kaboom resulted in killing and injuring a number of citizens," the source concluded.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:


Kurdish Peshmerga forces repel ISIS attack, kill 30 militants western Mosul
[IraqiNews.com] On Thursday, a local source in Nineveh province said, that the paramilitary Kurdish Peshmerga forces repelled a violent attack on western djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
and killed 30 elements of the ISIS group.

The source informed IraqiNews, "The Kurdish Peshmerga forces have managed to repel an attack by the ISIS group hard boyz in the area of Aski-Mosul, located 50 km northwest of Mosul," pointing out that, "The festivities between the two sides resulted in killing 30 elements of the ISIS group and wounding 4 soldiers among the Peshmerga forces."

"Small arms and heavy weapons were used during the festivities, which lasted for more than 4 hours," the source noted.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  30 Terrorists dead?


2,160 Needed
Posted by: BigEdLB || 01/31/2015 23:58 Comments || Top||


Iraqi forces destroy 10 ISIS boats, kill 4 militants northern Anbar
[IraqiNews.com] On Thursday, a security source in Anbar province said, that the security forces have managed to destroy 10 boats for the ISIS group and kill four ISIS hard boyz in northern Anbar.

The source informed IraqiNews, "The Rapid Intervention Force conducted a counter operation against ISIS sites in the area of al-Thurthar, located in northern Anbar," pointing out that, "Violent festivities occurred between the security forces and the ISIS group holy warriors, causing 4 deaths within ISIS ranks and destroying 10 boats that belonged to the group."
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq

#1  Did we leave any riverine patrol boats?
Posted by: Shipman || 01/31/2015 6:47 Comments || Top||

#2  "No Lucky Hats© for you!"

Snark of the day.
Posted by: Frank G || 01/31/2015 10:48 Comments || Top||


2 bombings hit central Kirkuk
[IraqiNews.com] Two kabooms hit central Kirkuk on Friday.

Security source said to IraqiNews.com "A jacket wallah detonates his explosives and a boom-mobile Prison in Kirkuk in an attempt to free terrorist prisoners."

"A curfew was imposed while Peshmirga elements heavily deployed at the streets f the province," the source concluded.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336064 views] Top|| File under:


28 ISIL terrorists killed, injured in Anbar
[IraqiNews.com] Informed source stated that the security forces killed and injured 28 ISIL Death Eaters in Anbar.

The source stated to IraqiNews.com "A security force foiled an attack by the ISIL Death Eaters in Milahma area of northern Fallujah to kill eight of them and injured three others."
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336062 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Top Iraq Kurd Officer among Six Killed in IS Attack
[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....
jihadist group killed a senior Kurdish commander and five fighters Friday in a major attack in Iraq's Kirkuk province, while bombings elsewhere left at least nine dead.

The IS assault on areas south and west of the northern city of Kirkuk began at around midnight, sparking fighting with medium and heavy weapons that was still ongoing Friday morning, a police brigadier general said.

Brigadier General Shirko Rauf and five other members of the Kurdish peshmerga forces were killed in festivities and 46 more were maimed, the police officer and a doctor said.

Atif al-Najjar, a commander in the Badr militia, said that 500 volunteer "popular mobilization" fighters have moved from the town of Tuz Khurmatu to positions in three areas south of Kirkuk to help defend against IS.

The Kirkuk province security committee announced a curfew beginning at 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Friday, saying it will be in effect until further notice.

A boom-mobile also went kaboom! near security headquarters in central Kirkuk city, wounding five people, a police colonel and the doctor said.

According to the colonel, jacket wallahs who were also armed with other weapons tried to take up positions on the roof of a hotel in the city, but were killed by security forces before they could do so.

Violence also struck Samarra, home to a revered Shiite shrine that was bombed in 2006, setting off a wave of Sunni-Shiite sectarian violence that killed tens of thousands of people.

- Samarra suicide kabooms -
One suicide bomber detonated a boom-mobile at a police checkpoint at an entrance to the city, while two more struck a police headquarters inside it, killing four police and wounding nine.

Another bomber was rubbed out, and sporadic festivities between security forces and IS also took place west of Samarra, police said.

In Baghdad, at least one bomb went kaboom! in a used clothes market in the central Bab al-Sharji area, killing at least five people and wounding at least 17, officials said.

IS spearheaded a sweeping offensive that has overrun much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland since June, presenting both an opportunity for territorial expansion and a threat to the country's three-province autonomous Kurdish region.

Several Iraqi divisions collapsed in the early days of the offensive, clearing the way for the Kurds to take control of a swathe of disputed northern territory that they have long wanted to incorporate into their region over Baghdad's objections.

But after driving south towards Baghdad, IS turned its attention to the Kurds, pushing them back towards their regional capital Arbil in a move that helped spark U.S. strikes against the jihadists.

Bolstered by the air strikes as well as international advisers and trainers, Kurdish forces have clawed back significant ground from IS.

The conflict is redrawing some of the de facto internal boundaries of Iraq in favor of broader Kurdish control in the north.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Video of the commander shortly before martyrdom. (Link)
Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 01/31/2015 6:05 Comments || Top||

#2  What gun was that in the video @ 7seconds?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/31/2015 13:13 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 What gun

Some sort of G36? Beyond that, no clue.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/31/2015 15:38 Comments || Top||


ISIS launches attack on oil-rich northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk
[CNN] Amman, Jordan (CNN)ISIS snuffies have attacked Kirkuk in northern Iraq, an effort that might be an earnest attempt to capture the key oil-rich city or perhaps to divert Kurdish troops fighting to capture the Islamist turban group's stronghold of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
For months, ISIS has been facing off with the Peshmerga -- armed fighters who protect Iraqi Kurdistan -- to the west of Kirkuk. It had gone into areas on Kirkuk's outskirts, but not the central city.

Until now, apparently.

Heavily armed snuffies attacked an abandoned hotel in central Kirkuk that local police had used as their headquarters.

Peshmerga and Kurdish anti-terror units later raided the hotel, wresting control of it from the snuffies and killing three of them, according to Peshmerga sources. In addition, two jacket wallahs detonated themselves in an attempt to keep the Kurdish forces out.

Also Friday, ISIS snuffies took over Maktab Khalid, an area about 12 miles southwest of Kirkuk,
... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time...
after heavy festivities with the Peshmerga.

Among those killed was Brig. Gen. Shirko Fateh, the highest-ranking operational commander of the Peshmerga brigade located in Kirkuk.

Photos posted by ISIS purportedly show the group's snuffies in control of parts of south and southwest Kirkuk, burning tents that had been used by Peshmerga troops.
Posted by: Fred || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Double Suicide Attack on Iraq Militia Base Kills Six
[AnNahar] A double suicide kaboom on a base housing Shiite groups fighting alongside the government north of Baghdad killed at least six people on Thursday, medical sources said.

"The car rammed an army checkpoint protecting access to the base" in Mishahada, a Baghdad hospital official said. The first blast killed at least three people, including a civilian.

Around five minutes later, a jacket wallah wearing an explosives belt went kaboom! at the nearby entrance of the base, which was left exposed when soldiers rushed to the site of the first kaboom.

Another three people were killed in the second blast, all of them members of Shiite groups that call themselves "popular mobilization" forces.

Another medical source confirmed the corpse count and said at least 28 other people were maimed.

Mishahada is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Baghdad, on the road to several frontlines where Iraqi forces and allied militias are battling jihadists.

Pro-government forces earlier this week expelled 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....
jihadist group from its last urban bastion in Diyala province, northeast of Baghdad.

According to the army, 70 members of pro-government forces and at least twice that number of IS fighters were killed in the operation near the town of Muqdadiyah that resulted in the "liberation" of Diyala.

There was no immediate claim for the double attack in Mishahada but IS has taken responsibility for most such attacks in recent months.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF stop two armed Palestinians who crossed from Gaza into Israel
[Ynet] IDF forces stopped two Paleostinians from Gazoo who had entered Israel without the proper paperwork. They were stopped at the Eshkol Regional Council and a grenade was found on their person.

Three armed Palestinians caught after crossing into Israel

[Ynet] IDF forces caught three Paleostinians Friday evening after they crossed into Israel from Gazoo Strip. They were stopped at the Eshkol Regional Council and were taken in for questioning.
Two incidents in a row? Israel really needs to beef up that border fence.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Jordan stands up to ISIS: "Kill our pilot and we'll execute ALL your prisoners"
And we (still) have this:
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp0029 || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ISIS/ISL is repor being all nice-n-silent now after learning of this + letting their new dealine pass.

Everyone is twitching their fingers on what kind of response they'll make.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 01/31/2015 0:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Champ is the wrong man on the wrong bike.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/31/2015 1:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Three minors, no helmets. :(
Posted by: Shipman || 01/31/2015 6:50 Comments || Top||

#4  AFT somebody remembered how to negotiate.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/31/2015 10:05 Comments || Top||

#5  we'll execute ALL your prisoners

Hopefully, in the most un-Islamic manner. No virgins for you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/31/2015 10:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Hanging is what I read, not very flattering.
Also, at Jawas, just chatter, about the death of the Airman.

So, as Joe said.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/31/2015 10:59 Comments || Top||

#7  *now looks like the ISJV has killed, or released the video of, a prisoner, probably not the pilot.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/31/2015 13:59 Comments || Top||

#8  How about Jordan executing a jihadi prisoner a day till they get their pilot back. AirDrop the body near the jihadi hive.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/31/2015 22:43 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Policeman gunned down in southern Thailand
[Bangkok Post] A deputy inspector at Nong Chik police station in Pattani province was gunned down early yesterday. Pol Capt Kamnueng Suwanyuha and three subordinates were attacked while on patrol.

Police said their attackers hid by the side of the road and then directed a hail of bullets at police vehicle. The three subordinates sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital.

Col Pramote Prom-in called on local civil organizations and NGOs to condemn the violence, which he blamed on insurgents.

Meanwhile, in Bangkok, the southern peace negotiation team was gathering intelligence on insurgent groups. They want to know who commands the groups, who provides their weapons and how influential they are. The talks' leader and chief adviser to the army, Gen Aksara Kerdphol said, "The information will be verified and reported to Malaysia [the facilitator of the talks], which will invite representatives of insurgent groups to negotiations."

Malaysia has its own list of militants, which will be compared with the Thai list, Gen Aksara added.
Posted by: ryuge || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
CIA and Mossad killed Senior Mughniyah in 2008

A joint effort, before this failure in office really established himself?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/31/2015 09:33 || Comments || Link || [336091 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Guess they had the foresight to do it before dickhead defanged us.
Posted by: chris || 01/31/2015 10:49 Comments || Top||

#2  The old Claymore in the spare tyre trick.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/31/2015 11:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Seems a tad early for details on that kind of op to come out. Glad he's dead. So very glad.
Posted by: Iblis || 01/31/2015 12:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Pre-obama CIA; the good old days.
Posted by: airandee || 01/31/2015 13:56 Comments || Top||

#5  It's interesting, I guess, living in a world where there aren't any secrets.
Posted by: Fred || 01/31/2015 14:56 Comments || Top||

#6  And this is news now why?
Posted by: Hupineger Glomomp0031 || 01/31/2015 22:03 Comments || Top||


Jihadists Shoot down Syria Warplane
[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 has shot down a Syrian regime warplane that was bombing opposition-held areas, killing the pilot, a monitoring group said on Friday.

Jihadists published photographs of the plane and the pilot's body on social media sites following the crash on Thursday night in Damascus province that was claimed by IS.

The jihadist group and rebel factions seeking Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
's overthrow have frequently brought down regime warplanes.

"A plane was shot down in the Bir Qasab area of southern Damascus province, leading to its pilot's death," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France Presse that IS used anti-aircraft weapons to shoot down the plane while it was on a bombing raid.

IS members and supporters published several photographs of the strike on their social media accounts.

One photograph published on social media sites showed a plume of black smoke rising over the apparent scene of the attack.

Others showed the pilot's bloodied corpse, as well as his military ID.

One widely shared jihadist tweet read: "The lions of the (IS) caliphate have shot down a (Syrian air force) plane in Bir Qasab... and its pilot was killed, thank God."

IS has bandidos bully boyz positioned in several areas of Damascus province, mainly the Qalamun area near Leb.

Regime warplanes and helicopters bombard opposition-held areas every day.

Rights groups say most of the casualties from the aerial bombardment are civilians.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336063 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Al-Nusra Launches Assault on Western-Backed Syria Rebels
[AnNahar] Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria battled Western-backed rebels Friday as the jihadists pressed their bid to seize control of northern areas, a monitoring group and rebels said.

The fighting comes nearly three months after 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...
Front expelled another group of Western-backed opposition fighters from Idlib province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the jihadists launched their offensive against the Western-armed Hazem movement on Thursday in Aleppo province.

"The jihadists expelled the rebels from Regiment 111, once a regime army base that Hazem had taken over," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence La Belle France-Presse.

"Then on Friday, the fighting spread to the north of Idlib province."

The Hazem group confirmed the attack.

"The so-called 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 .. ...
Front attacked the movement's positions and checkpoints in the west of Aleppo province ... We in the Hazem Movement will defend ourselves until the last drop of blood," it said in a statement.

Hazem is mainly present in northern Syria. Last year, it was the first to receive U.S.-made anti-tank missiles from its Western backers.

In November, al-Nusra jihadists expelled the Western-backed Syrian Revolutionaries Front from Idlib.

Elsewhere in Idlib, Salafist tough guys detonated explosives planted in a tunnel under an army position in the Jabal al-Arbaeen area, killing at least one soldier and wounding around 24 others, according to the Observatory.

Rebels from Suqur al-Sham group, a component of the massive rebel Islamic Front alliance, distributed videos claiming responsibility for the attack.

One video showed a huge cloud of smoke rising above the site of the kaboom.

State news agency SANA, for its part, said the army repelled an attack on Jabal al-Arbaeen, "killing a large number" of rebels.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 as a popular revolt seeking democratic change, but later morphed into civil war after Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
's regime launched a brutal crackdown against dissent.

More than 200,000 people have since been killed in a devastating conflict that has driven half of Syria's population from their homes.
Ynet adds a small detail:
A Hazzm official said by telephone festivities had spread to Idlib and that his group had retaken some areas previously controlled by Nusra.

"There is now fighting in Idlib, in the Jabal al-Zawiya area," he said. He said in Aleppo province, the two groups were also fighting in Atarib, a town 20 km (12 miles) from the Turkish border.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336087 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syria Kurds Kill 22 Jihadists around Kobane
[AnNahar] Kurdish fighters killed 22 jihadists around Kobane Thursday, days after recapturing the Syrian town, but 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 still controls hundreds of villages in the area, a monitor said.

"Nineteen IS members were killed in fighting against the (Kurdish) People's Protection Units (YPG) in the hills surrounding Manaz to the west of Kobane," said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman.

"Another three jihadists died in fighting around villages to the east of Kobane, while the YPG also took one IS member prisoner," he told AFP.

Kurdish forces recaptured the town on the Turkish frontier on Monday, in a symbolic blow to the jihadists who have seized large swathes of territory in their onslaught across Syria and Iraq.

The YPG had also recaptured five villages around Kobane this week, according to Abdel Rahman, whose Britannia-based group relies on a network of sources inside Syria.

"Another 350 villages remain under IS control," he said, referring to settlements in the area around Kobane.

One civilian was also killed.

"IS shelling in the western countryside of Kobane killed a civilian," said Abdel Rahman, who has repeatedly stressed that the fight for the Kobane area is far from over.

AFP journalists who have entered Kobane, which is known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab, have seen pulverized buildings and heavily armed fighters roaming otherwise deserted, rubble-strewn streets.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Terror Networks
US-led air strikes hit Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq
[Ynet] The United States and coalition partners launched six air strikes against 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....
targets in Syria, and 12 more in Iraq as they kept up pressure on the bad boy group, the US military said on Thursday.

Among the strikes, which occurred between 8 am local time Wednesday and 8 am on Thursday, were five near Kobani, striking an Islamic State fighting position, three tactical units and a large unit, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/31/2015 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  RIP Kenji Goto.

Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 01/31/2015 17:23 Comments || Top||

#2  ISIS formally admits defeat in Kobane due to airstrikes but vow to return.

"The warplanes were bombarding us night and day. They bombarded everything, even motorcycles," the (ISIS) fighter said.
Posted by: Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 || 01/31/2015 21:40 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
29[untagged]
10Islamic State
5Govt of Pakistan
4Arab Spring
3Govt of Iran
2Hezbollah
2Salafists
2Govt of Iraq
2al-Qaeda in Pakistan
1al-Nusra
1Jamaat-e-Ulema Islami
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Palestinian Authority
1Thai Insurgency
1TTP
1al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula
1al-Shabaab
1Boko Haram
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1Govt of Saudi Arabia

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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2015-01-31
  Al-Nusra Launches Assault on Western-Backed Syria Rebels
Fri 2015-01-30
  Today's Pakaboom: 49 dead in bomb blast at Shiite mosque
Thu 2015-01-29
  US drone strike kills seven in North Waziristan
Wed 2015-01-28
  Nigeria Loses City Of 100,000 To Boko Haram
Tue 2015-01-27
  Official: Eight dead, including five foreigners, in Tripoli hotel attack
Mon 2015-01-26
  Kurds 'Expel ISIS' from Strategic Kobane
Sun 2015-01-25
  U.S.: Coalition Air Raids Back up Kurdish Advance in Iraq
Sat 2015-01-24
  Iranian General Killed By Unlimited Minutes Cell Plan and Israeli Missiles
Fri 2015-01-23
  Yemen prez, govt quit
Thu 2015-01-22
  King Abdullah Tango Uniform
Wed 2015-01-21
  Shiite rebels shell Yemen president’s home, take over palace
Tue 2015-01-20
  45 Churches Torched in Niger Capital in Cartoon Demos
Mon 2015-01-19
  Heavy clashes in Sanaa, president reportedly flees
Sun 2015-01-18
  Gunmen Seize Yemen President's Chief of Staff
Sat 2015-01-17
  SSP militant hanged for sectarian killing

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