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Syrian regulars gain control of regions near Palmyra
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Afghanistan
10 Taliban die in airstrikes in Paktia province
At least ten Taliban insurgents were killed in an airstrike conducted in southeastern Paktia province of Afghanistan.

According to the local government officials, the airstrike was carried out late on Saturday afternoon in Dand-e-Patan district.

Provincial governor’s spokesman Zalmai Weesa confirmed the airstrike and said at least ten insurgents were killed.

He said the militants were targeted in the vicinity of Nari Kama village and some weapons and other materials belonging to the insurgents were also destroyed.

In the meantime, another official, said two modern equipments, including a biometric system confiscated by the Taliban were destroyed in the raid.

He said the other equipment was used to control the Improvised Explosive Device.

The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.

Paktia is located in southeastern parts of the country which lies close to the Durand Line and borders with the tribal regions of Pakistan.

The Taliban insurgents and militants belonging to the Haqqani terrorist network are actively operating in a number of its districts and often carry out insurgency activities.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


13 ISIS Bad Guys have a Very Bad Day in Nangarhar
At least thirty militants affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed in separate airstrikes in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) forces in East of Afghanistan said the militants were killed in Achin district and Deh Bala area.

The source further added that three of the militants were killed in Achin district while the remaining ten were killed in Deh Bala.

The provincial police commandment confirmed that the airstrike in Achin district was carried out by the US force based in Afghanistan.

The Afghan security forces and the local residents did not suffer any casualties during the operation, the source said.

This comes as both the Afghan and US forces conducted regular strikes against the loyalists of the terror group in this province.
The increased raids, usually involving drone strikes, by the US forces followed a broader role granted by the Obama administration earlier last year.

The broader role was granted amid concerns that the loyalists of the terror group are attempting to expand foothold in the country and turn the eastern Nangarhar province into a regional operational hub for its fighters.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Why is this a bad day for them? They get to go to heaven!
Posted by: gorb || 03/20/2017 9:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Because of the virgins the get to meet there.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 03/20/2017 10:04 Comments || Top||

#3  In Heaven, Mohammedans' urgings
Require there be plenty of virgins,
So they take it in turns
("Is this Heaven? It burns!")
And betweentimes they visit the surgeon.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 03/20/2017 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Actually, I think he was referring to the virgin goats . . . . :-)
Posted by: gorb || 03/20/2017 11:33 Comments || Top||


Fighting between competing tribes leaves 4 dead in Faryab
At least four people were killed during a clash between the irresponsible gunmen of Jamiat-e-Islami and Junbish-e-Millie in North of Afghanistan.

According to the local government officials in Faryab, the incident took place late on Saturday afternoon in Maimana city, the provincial capital of the province.

Provincial police spokesman Abdul Karim Yurish confirmed the incident and said at least ten people were also wounded during the clash.

He said a number of the police forces are also among those wounded during the clash.

Yurish further added that the clashes ended with the meddling of the local tribal elders and the situation is under the control at the moment

He also added that an investigation will be launched soon regarding the incident and those involved in the clashes will be introduced to the relevant security and judicial institutions.

This is not the first time clashes have taken place between the two parties as several incidents reported from the northern parts of the country, specifically the Faryab province last year.

The Junbish-e-Millie Party is led by the Second Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum while Jamiat-e-Islami is led mainly by the former northern alliance leaders, including Ata Mohammad Noor.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


ISIS spook busted in Nangarhar
The spy chief of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group offshoot in Afghanistan has been arrested by the security forces.

The provincial police commandment in Nangarhar said Taj Gul was arrested during an operation conducted in Haska Mina district.

The Afghan National Police (ANP) Special Forces also arrested another suspect having links with the terror group and a pistol, three mobile phones, and a laptop were confiscated.

In the meantime, at least three militants were wounded after attacking some check posts in Pacher Agam district, the police commandment said, adding that the local residents and security forces did not suffer any casualties during the operations.

Nangarhar is among the relatively calm provinces in eastern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed militant groups have recently increased their insurgency activities in some parts of the province during the recent years.

This comes as the Afghan forces are busy conducting counter-terrorism operations in the restive districts of Nangarhar under the Shaheen-25 operations launched several weeks ago.

The operations are being conducted with the support of the US forces based in Afghanistan who are providing close-air support under a broader role granted by the Obama administration earlier last year to target the terrorist groups in the country.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Taliban uses human shields in Baghlan fighting
Residents in the Baghlan-e-Markazi district of northern Baghlan province have said that the Taliban has destroyed their homes after taking control of their area.

They said that the Taliban changed their homes into military strongholds to battle security forces.

Meanwhile, security officials in Baghlan have also confirmed that the Taliban used civilian homes as shields in battles over the past month.

“Taliban established their trenches inside the residential areas, you know that we had no option except to demolish Taliban barracks,” said Abbas, an ANA colonel in Baghlan.

There are some reports however that one battle between the Taliban and security forces completely destroyed Mangalha village.

According to the residents, the Taliban turned their homes into military barracks after forcing civilians to leave the area.

“The people are very poor, we lost our houses and businesses, we want the government to help us so that we can rebuild our houses,” said another resident Jalil.

“The war has demolished our houses, we are devastated, one month ago we left our houses,” said a resident of Mangalha village Abdul Fatah.

The Taliban took over the village a month ago. They also surrounded an Afghan National Army (ANA) base.

The Afghan security forces however managed to recapture the village. Up to 100 Taliban fighters were killed and wounded during the battles.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Three US troops wounded after Afghan soldier opens fire
An Afghan soldier opened fire on Sunday inside a base in the southern Helmand province, wounding three US soldiers before being shot dead, an Afghan official said.

Colonel Mohammad Rasoul Zazai, an army spokesman, said the soldier had made a “mistake” and had not fired deliberately. A coalition-run Twitter account said an Afghan soldier shot and wounded three American soldiers, without providing further details.
It certainly was a mistake -- for the Afghan soldier. We could ask him if he learned anything from his mistake, except that he's dead...
Several US troops have been killed in Afghanistan in recent years in so-called insider attacks carried out by Afghan police or soldiers. In October, an Afghan man in a military uniform shot dead a US soldier and an American civilian contractor inside a military base in Kabul before being killed.

Last May two Romanian soldiers were killed and a third wounded after two members of a local Afghan police unit they were training shot them.

Camp Shorab in Helmand, previously known as Camp Bastion, is a major former US and British base now run by the Afghan army. The US said in January that about 300 marines would be sent to Helmand to assist Afghan forces battling the Islamist insurgents in intelligence and logistics matters.
Update from Ynet at 6:10 a.m. EDT:
A spokesman for the Afghan military in the south of the country said the Afghan special forces soldier was shot dead after firing at the Americans at Camp Shorab air base at around 3 p.m. local time.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Egypt’s army says killed 18 terrorists, arrested 37 suspects in North Sinai
[AlAhram] Egypt's army said it killed 18 "highly dangerous terrorists" in different parts of the restive North Sinai as well as locked away
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
37 suspects, two different statements on the army front man’s official Facebook page read.

Army forces killed the 18 suspected bully boyz in Arclight airstrikes in North Sinai’s al-Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuwayed cities.

The army said it also destroyed two major tunnels south of Rafah, each containing equipment such as electricity cables and oxygen tanks.
Why were there oxygen tanks?
A number of cycle of violences reportedly belonging to terrorist elements were also destroyed during the army raids.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)


Africa Subsaharan
Three suicide bombers kill four outside northeast Nigeria's Maiduguri
[Ynet] Three jacket wallahs killed four people and injured eight others in a village near the northeast Nigeria
... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border...
n city of Maiduguri, a police front man said on Sunday.

The blasts, around 7 kilometres from the city worst hit by jihadist group Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
's eight year insurgency, occurred on Saturday around 9:00 p.m (2000 GMT), said Maiduguri police front man Isuku Victor.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/20/2017 06:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram (ISIS)


Arabia
Yemeni missile hits Soddy airbase in Riyadh
Yemen’s Ansarullah fighters and their allies in the army have fired a long-range ballistic missile at an airbase in the Saudi capital Riyadh, marking the second such attack on the city, a report says.

The missile of Borkan-2 type accurately struck King Salman Air Base on Saturday, Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.

In a statement carried by Yemen’s official Saba news agency, a Houthi military official said the missile attack came in retaliation for the criminal Saudi war on Yemen.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni army pledged that missiles would target the Saudi territory until the regime’s bombing campaign stops.

It further announced that 108 ballistic missiles have been fired at positions held by Saudi invaders inside and outside Yemen so far.

Separately on Saturday, Yemeni fighters targeted with a Zelzal-1 missile a gathering place of Saudi mercenaries in the al-Ramzah district in the kingdom’s southwestern Jizan region.

They also launched a missile attack against positions held by the mercenaries in al-Maton district of Yemen’s northern Jawf province.

Source: Websites
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis

#1  Might I suggest the coordinates 21°25'20.7"N
39°49'34.3"E?

That would do a bit more damage to the Soddy economy.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 03/20/2017 8:22 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
'Suicide bomber' killed in Ashkona blast
A suspected suicide bomber was killed as four bombs carried by him exploded at a Forces Barrack of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) at Ashkona in the city on Friday noon.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of legal and media wing of Rab headquarters, said an unidentified young man entered the barrack, also the proposed site of the elite force’s headquarters, climbing the wall of adjacent Hajj camp around 1:05pm.

When two Rab members saw the unidentified young man, they challenged him. The young man started running away and at one stage, four bombs, attached to his body, went off with a big bang, leaving him dead on the spot
"Which spot?"
"THAT spot!"
and the two Rab men injured.
A hangnail and an owie...
The body was later sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) for autopsy.
Where he was still dead hours later...
The injured Rab officials -- Lance Corporal Mizanur Rahman and Constable Arif -- were taken to the Combined Military Hospital, said Nur-e Azam, officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station.

The OC also said the unidentified young man went to the main gate of the headquarters, saying he would perform ablution. “The Rab members challenged him for his suspicious movement. The bombs went off while he was running away,” he added.

A Detective Branch official said the youth, draped in black pants, was carrying five bombs in a bag with him. “Four of the bombs exploded while he was fleeing and a live bomb was recovered from the spot,” he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


5 killed in raid at Chittagong Neo JMB militant den
Law enforcers found the body of a child at “Neo JMB” hideout in Sitakunda upazila of Chittagong this evening, raising death toll from the raid by joint forces to five.

Four bodies of suspected militants including a woman were recovered from the hideout in Premtala area earlier in the day, reports our Chittagong correspondent quoting police. The suspected four militants were killed in sporadic gunfight with the joint forces since the morning. Some lawmen were also injured at that time.

Identities of the deceased could not be known immediately.

Meanwhile, 20 members of seven families, who were trapped inside the building during the overnight raid, were taken to safety before the final assault began around 6:00am this morning.

Four hours after the drive, Chittagong range Deputy Inspector General of Police Shafiqul Islam told the media that the drive codenamed “Assault 16” had ended and confirmed the death of four suspected militants.

Later, police found the child’s body lying inside the flat used as the den of the terrorist outfit, said Habibur Rahman, additional superintendent of police in Chittagong. The identity and age of the child could not be known immediately.

‘Neo JMB’

“Neo JMB”, as law enforcers call it, is an offshoot of the banned militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). Its coordinator Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury -- killed along with his two accomplices in an operation at a militant den in Narayanganj on August 27, 2016, -- was thought to be the Gulshan attack mastermind.

The “Neo JMB”, formed by leaders and operatives of mainstream JMB who did not accept the leadership of Saidur Rahman, follows the ideology of Islamic State (IS). Apart from Gulshan attack, the gang ensured ingredients for improvised grenades that were used in all attacks perpetrated by “Neo JMB” in recent years, police said.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)


Home Front: WoT
6 bodies found in Mohmand tribal region
GHALANAI: The bullet-riddled bodies of six unidentified men were found in Michni, a hilly area of Ekkaghound in the Mohmand tribal region, on Saturday, said an official of the political administration.

Security sources said that the men were killed during a clash with security forces in Michni. They claimed that the clash occurred after militants attacked security forces in the area.

Officials of the local administration shifted the bodies to the agency’s headquarters hospital in Ghalanai for post-mortem and identification of the deceased.

A source in the hospital said that the men appeared to be aged between 22 and 35 years.

It may be mentioned here that two suicide bombers attacked the FC training school in Michni on Friday in which one soldier of Frontier Constabulary was killed and three others were injured.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2017
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
2 Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen die in Mariwan
[ARA News] The Kurdish rebel group of Zagros Eagles launched an offensive on headquarters of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the Kurdish town of Mariwan, western Iran.

At least two IRGC members were killed and one was heavily injured and transported to a hospital, informed sources reported on Sunday.

Arash Saleh, representative of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI) in Washington, told ARA News: “They [Zagros Eagles] are an independent organization. They announced the anti-IRGC attack and our sources confirmed the occurrence of clashes and some casualties in Mariwan.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Zagros Eagles carry out more attacks during Newroz,” he added.

This year, the Iranian Kurdish parties are spreading the message of jamana, the scarf that the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters wear–which was banned by the Iranian government.

Iranian Kurds to Unite
Six of the biggest Kurdish parties met two weeks ago in order to organize joint Kurdish New Year celebrations on 21 March and to organize a joint struggle to fight against the Iranian government.

The meeting came after Iraqi Shiite members of the parliament called on the Kurdish parties from Iran in February.

The meeting included the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDK-I), all three factions of Komala, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP Iran), and Khabat.

“All parties agreed that this is an Iranian plan. Iranian regime wants to weaken the Kurdish movement. After the meeting all parties created a commission to meet with Iraq’s Parliament factions,” said Aso Saleh, PDK-I representative in Sweden.

Tensions have increased between Iranian Kurdish parties and the Iranian regime since the former decided to resume their armed struggle last year. Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of funding and arming the Kurdish parties, something, which the parties have denied.

The parties are principally seeking an autonomous Kurdish government in Iran, analogous to the KRG in Iraq.

Iran retaliated by bombing the PDK-I offices near Erbil in the town of Koy Sanjaq on 26 December, 2016, killing at least six. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) condemned the attacks.

The Iranian Kurds have called upon the new Trump administration to designate the IRGC as a terrorist group.

The long ignored Iranian Kurds have been suppressed for decades with Iran allowing minimal cultural rights and hundreds of Kurds executed for political activities.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


Mosul Offensive News


Iraqi forces capture 2 central Mosul sectors

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi security forces moved deeper inside central Mosul on Sunday, recapturing two neighborhoods while killing and arresting several Islamic State militants.

A security source was quoted by Skypress saying the forces took full control of Khaled ibn al-Walid and Bab al-Sijn neighborhoods near central Mosul’s Old City, opening safe exit routes for civilians. The troops moved on to al-Matahen (mills) area, killing 17 militants, including two suicide bombers, according to the agency.

Also near the Old City, Borhan al-Abdali, a lieutenant at the army’s Counter-Terrorism Force, told Anadolu Agency his forces retook Fatah al-Ali, an alleyway in the nearby Mosul al-Jadida district, killing 14 militants after two hours of intense fighting. Abdali quoted civilians reporting of many militants throwing their weapons and escaping to nearby alleyways.

Iraqi Federal Police chief said Sunday his forces arrested a senior Islamic State leader in western Mosul, while Kurdish Peshmerga forces said they killed others.

Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat said police arrested Hossam Shiit al-Jubouri, the official in charge of the extremist group’s hisbah (vigilantism) office in western Mosul’s Bab al-Sijn district.

The IS body had acted as a disciplinary police force, arresting violators of the group’s extremist rule. Many of its offices reportedly closed upon the launch of Iraqi government operations to retake western Mosul mid February.

In the town of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, Kurdish Peshmerga forces also said they killed a senior Islamic State leader, identified as Taha Gawish, and an unidentified number of his aides, in an artillery shelling at Baki Quot village near the strategic town.

his forces were very close to the Grand Nuri Mosque in Old Mosul, another primary target for Iraqi security forces seeking to eradicate IS from western Mosul since February.

“Federal Police troops have become very close to liberating al-Hadbaa Minaret, the second most important strategic target in western Mosul after the liberated government buildings,” Jawdat said, using the Arabic common reference to the mosque’s “leaning” minaret.

The Nuri Mosque was the location where IS supreme leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivered his famous sermon in 2014 to declare the establishment of a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq, appointing himself as a Caliph “ruler” of the proclaimed state.

Jawdat added that his forces, advancing towards the mosque, killed tens of militants and destroyed 23 booby-trapped vehicles.

Iraqi government forces recaptured eastern Mosul from IS in January after three months of fighting.

Government forces, backed by a U.S.-led coalition have made remarkable achievements since February, retaking main government buildings, the city’s airport and a major military base. The troops have recently pushed deeper into the Old City, a densely-populated and -structured area which military officials view as central to the desired victory over IS militants.

17 ISIS Baddies die in western Mosul attack

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) A Federal Police Officer announced on Sunday, that 17 members of the Islamic State were killed, while trying to attack security forces in the liberated areas, west of Mosul.

Colonel Khodeir Saleh said in a press statement that security forces repulsed an attack, launched by the Islamic State group, on the liberated areas of al-Resala and Naples, west of Mosul.

The battles resulted in the killing of 17 members of the Islamic State group, including five suicide bombers, as well as arresting three foreign militants, the source added on condition of anonymity.

Noteworthy, the Islamic State is occasionally attacking the liberated areas, while security forces and al-Hashd militia manage to repulse these attacks, as well as inflicting heavy losses on the terrorist group.

Iraqi forces detain 15 ISIS suspects in Mosul

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) An officer in Nineveh Operations Command revealed on Sunday, that Iraqi army forces arrested 15 members of the Islamic State group, during extensive search operations conducted in al-Qayyarah area, south of Mosul.

Major Aziz Tayeh said in a press statement that security forces carried out search and raid operations, based on accurate intelligence information, in the area of Qayyarah, south of Mosul.

The operations resulted in arresting 15 members of the Islamic State group, after raiding houses containing weapons and equipment, including dozens of missiles, rockets and adhesive explosive devices, the source added on condition of anonymity.

The source further explained that security forces transferred the detainees to the headquarters of Nineveh Operations Command for interrogation.

Iraqi spec ops group captures Naples area in Mosul

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) We Are Coming, Nineveh Operations Command announced on Sunday, that the Counter-Terrorism troops liberated Naples neighborhood, and raised Iraqi flag over its buildings.

Commander of operations, Lieutenant General Abdel Amir Yarallah, said in a press statement that the Counter-Terrorism troops managed to liberate Naples neighborhood, as well as raising Iraqi flag over its buildings.


Google Maps view of the neighborhood of Naples (marked) in western Mosul.
The security forces also inflicted heavy human and material losses on the enemy, Yarallah added.

Nineveh Province is witnessing extensive military operations, after Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced launching an offensive to liberate the western side of the city of Mosul, in addition to capturing the last stronghold of the Islamic State in the city.

Iraq is witnessing an extraordinary security situation, where ongoing military operations take place to drive out the Islamic State, while the US-led international coalition intensifies its air strikes on the group’s headquarters.
Google Map at the link
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi forces drive back ISIS attack in Salahuddin
Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) A security source in Salahuddin Province informed that security forces repulsed an attack launched by the Islamic State group on key roads, northwest of Salahuddin Province, Bas News reported on Sunday.

The source said that the self-proclaimed Islamic State group launched an attack on al-Seneiyah-Haditha road, northwest of Salahuddin, while pointed out that security forces and Baiji’s Hashd forces (PMU) managed to repulse the attack, as well as inflicting dozens of human losses on the terrorist group.

The attack that lasted for one hour resulted in the killing of two security members, the source added on condition of anonymity. Different kinds of weapons were used during the attack.

The Islamic State attack was launched from north of Tharthar axis, that is linked to west of Mosul and al-Hadar vicinity, the source explained.

Noteworthy, the Islamic State is occasionally attacking the liberated areas, while security forces and al-Hashd militia manage to repulse these attacks, as well as inflicting heavy losses on the terrorist group.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Anbar Antics


Iraqi airstrike destroys ISIS communications center in western Anbar

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Airstrikes by Iraqi fighter jets destroyed Sunday an Islamic State communication facility in western Anbar, according to an Iraqi army officer.

Brig. Gen. Nawman al-Zawbai, commander of the army’s 7th division, was quoted by Aljournal News website saying Iraqi Sukhoi fighters carried out an offensive on Um al-Wiz, Okashat and al-Obeidi, all regions in the western, IS-held towns of Rawa and al-Qaem, killing four members of the extremist group and destroying a communication center run by the extremist group.

The strikes also eliminated a booby-trapping and IEDs workshop, according to Zawbai.

Islamic State held Anbar’s western regions, close to the borders with Syria, since it emerged to proclaim a self-styled “Islamic Caliphate” in 2014. Those areas have sustained occasional bombardments by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition fighter jets.

There has not been an officially-declared military campaign to free those regions, but the province’s military command launched a brief assault early January that managed to recapture some western villages before stopping again.

Local officials believe Islamic State is holding thousands in those regions to use them as human shields against any future security offensive.

The province’s borders with Syria have recently witnessed exchanges of attacks between IS and border guards.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Baghdad Bomb and Bullet Bulletin: 1 dead


Soldier dies in IED attack in Akakouf

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) An Iraqi army soldier died and two others were wounded on Sunday when a bomb hit their patrol west of Baghdad, security sources were quoted saying.

The explosive device exploded at a farmland in Akakouf, west of the capital, while aan army patrol was passing by, killing the soldier and wounding two of his comrades.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombing, but Islamic State militants have said
they had been responsible for several bloody explosions and attacks that hit the capital in the past months, leaving casualties among civilians and security troops.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) says violence in the country left nearly 392 dead and 613 injured, excluding security members, during February. Baghdad was the second most affected province with 120 deaths and 300 injuries, according to the organization’s monthly casualty count. It excludes death toll among security members after Iraqi authorities had asked to get such information exclusively from security commands.

Some observers believe Islamic State have begun to escalate attacks outside the city of Mosul, where the group has been losing ground and personnel since October, so as to relieve pressure by government forces on that front and to divert attention from group losses. They are concerned that the group could, however, shift to a guerrilla-style war and lone wolf attacks after the recapture of Mosul.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Fear, hunger, destruction loom large in Mosul, yet people willing to fight
Long hand-wringer about the plight of the civilians in Mosul.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Fight or Die.
Posted by: Skidmark || 03/20/2017 10:00 Comments || Top||


Iraqi airstrike kills 6 senior Daesh figures in Mosul
Iraqi airstrikes have killed six senior Daesh figures in Mosul, Sputnik reported.

The militants, all foreigners, included a Russian national called Abdul Karim Al Rusi who was in charge of the so called Tariq ibn Ziyad Battalion, as well as French, UK, Turkish and Moroccan nationals, the Al Sumaria channel reported, citing Iraqi intelligence sources.

Iraqi troops and pro-government militias are closing in on the remaining Daesh enclave in west Mosul months after starting the operation to liberate the city from terrorists. The eastern part of the city was liberated by the Iraqi troops, backed by the US-led international coalition, in January, with the advance on west Mosul starting in February.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Lions’ Gate stabber was part of radical WhatsApp group — police
[IsraelTimes] 18 members of social media group, ’The path to heaven,’ tossed in the clink after attack in which 2 were maimed near Jerusalem’s Old City

Police tossed in the calaboose
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
18 members of a WhatsApp group allegedly used to plan last week’s stabbing attack against coppers in Jerusalem.

Police spokeswoman Luba Sumri said on Sunday that, as part of police investigations into the attack last Monday at Lions’ Gate, it was discovered that the stabber, Ibrahim Mahmoud Mattar, a 25-year-old resident of East Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, was a member of a WhatsApp group called "The path to heaven."

According to police, the group was set up to spread murderous Moslem religious views and its members, including Mattar, were recently radicalized.

A day after the attack, police arrested 18 members of the group, residents of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, who are suspected of conspiracy to commit a crime. Eight of the detainees were conditionally released and the remand of 10 suspects was extended until Monday.

Two Border Police officers were moderately maimed in the attack which occurred on in the early hours of the Purim festival.

The assailant was shot and critically maimed during the attack. He later died of his injuries.

According to police, the assailant entered a guard booth where the two officers were stationed holding a large butcher’s knife. Inside the cramped post, he began stabbing and hitting them.

After a brief struggle, one of the officers fought his way out of the guard booth, loaded his weapon and shot the assailant, police said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/20/2017 06:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  After a brief struggle, one of the officers fought his way out of the guard booth, loaded his weapon and shot the assailant, police said.

???
Posted by: gorb || 03/20/2017 9:39 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
23 Moro militants killed in three-day assault
[Inquirer] The Philippine military said air and ground assaults on hideouts of Moro militants suspected of providing shelter to terrorists had killed at least 21 militants and injured 26 others. The offensives took place from March 13 to 16.

Abu Misry Mama, spokesperson for the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, said the attacks only led to displacement of villagers. He said, "The bombs only hit trees and the marshland. We were not there when the bombings occurred. We are not affected, only the civilians were displaced."

"We are still here," Mama said, denying that the BIFF was providing shelter to terrorists.

Early Saturday morning, five weapons were recovered following a brief clash between troops and the BIFF in Raja Buayan, Maguindanao. Military spokesman John Encinas said soldiers also found manuals for bomb-making that indicated the presence of terrorists in the area.

The militants and their trainees were allegedly targeting power lines and other civilian installations in Mindanao. Encinas said the group that the soldiers encountered in Raja Buayan was among those trained by slain international terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, who was killed in Maguindanao, in January 2015.

The group with links to Marwan has been training local rebels, including members of the Maute Group, to make bombs. Test missions include bombing power pylons and public places.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian regulars gain control of regions near Palmyra
Syrian Army units regained control over the mountains chain north of al-Mazar Mountains in the northern countryside of Palmyra in eastern Homs after destroying the latest ISIL fortifications in it, SANA reported.

A military source told SANA Sunday that the army continued advance towards ISIL posts east and north of Palmyra city and established control over the mountains chain, about 30km north of the mountains of al-Mazar and al-Haram.

Later, army units, in cooperation with allied forces, established control over the chain of Talila Heights, 20 km southeast of Palmyra.

An army unit destroyed a large ammunition depot for al-Nusra terrorists in Deir Foul in the northern countryside of Homs.

Syria Dismisses Media Lies on Damascus

In Damascus, Syrian ground forces and warplanes have repelled a multi-pronged attack by the Takfiri terror group Al-Nusra front (now known as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham) in Damascus’ countryside.

The terrorists and their allies started advancing from the Eastern Ghouta District near the capital early Sunday. Government forces engaged them in the suburban Jobar District later in the day.

The military killed and injured a number of the Takfiris, destroyed two of the attackers’ explosives-laden vehicles, and stopped them as they tried to make an inroad into the district through underground tunnels.

Jobar separates Eastern Ghouta, which holds large Takfiri concentrations, from Damascus proper.

Meanwhile, SANA reporter denied media reports claiming that the terrorist organizations have taken over al-Abbassiyeen bus station area, northeast of Damascus city.

“All rumors and lies circulated by media outlets which are involved in the shedding of the Syrians’ blood about terrorist organizations having taken control over al-Abbassiyeen bus station area are untrue,” the reporter stressed.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Heavy fighting erupts near Damascus
BEIRUT, Lebanon: Heavy clashes rocked eastern districts of the Syrian capital on Sunday after opposition forces and jihadists launched a surprise assault on regime forces there, a monitor and state television said.

Opposition forces and allied jihadists, led by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh Al-Sham Front, attacked government positions in the Jobar district and advanced into the neighboring Abbasid Square area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

“They targeted government forces with two car bombs and several suicide attackers,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Britain-based Observatory had no immediate information on casualties from the clashes.

Control of Jobar — which has been a battleground district for more than two years — is divided between rebels and allied jihadists on one side, and government forces on the other.

Syrian state television reported that the army was “thwarting an attack by terrorists” with artillery fire and had ordered residents to stay inside.

It aired footage from Abbasid Square, typically buzzing with activity but now empty except for the sound of shelling.

AFP correspondents in Damascus said army units had sealed off the routes into Abbasid Square and explosions could be heard across the city.

Several schools announced they would close through Monday, and many civilians cowered inside in fear of stray bullets and shelling.

According to the Observatory, the Islamist Faylaq Al-Rahman rebel group and the Fateh Al-Sham Front — known as Al-Nusra Front before it broke ties with Al-Qaeda — were present in Jobar.

“This neighborhood is the most important front line because it’s the closest rebel position to the heart of the capital,” said Abdel Rahman.

Government forces have long sought to push the rebels out of the district because of its proximity to the city center in Damascus.

But with Sunday’s attack, Abdel Rahman said, “rebels have shifted from a defensive position in Jobar to an offensive one.”

“These are not intermittent clashes — these are ongoing attempts to advance,” he said.

The Observatory said rebels had launched the attack from Jobar as a way to relieve allied fighters in the nearby districts of Barzeh, Tishreen, and Qabun from government attacks.

“Nine regime forces and at least 12 Islamist rebels were killed” in those three districts over the last 24 hours, the Observatory said.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


IDF kills Syrian pro-gov't militia commander in drone strike
[Ynet] Only several hours after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatens to destroy Syrian air defense systems, the Israeli Air force reportedly kills a member of a pro-regime militia in a dronezap.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Sunday that Israeli aircraft struck a vehicle driving near the town of Khan Arnabeh in the Quneitra province, on the road to Damascus, killing its driver.

The National Defense Force, a pro-regime militia formed in 2012 and organized by the Syrian government during the Syrian Civil War as a part-time volunteer reserve component of the Syrian military, claimed the man killed was from among their ranks, naming him as Yasser Hussien Assayed.

Israel has been reported to target members of that militia in the past, apparently for planning and preparing for hostile activities against it.

"The national defense force mourns with pride and sorrow the news of the martyrdom of the heroic fighter Yasser Hussien Assayed," the group said in a Facebook post.

The group published four pictures it said were from the scene of the alleged Arclight airstrike. According to the group, an Israeli drone carried out the strike.

The Paleostinian daily al Quds earlier on Sunday cited Syrian sources who said the Syrian army had targeted an Israeli drone in Quneitra, causing the drone to retreat.

The IDF refused to confirm or deny these reports.

The reported strike came hours after Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to destroy Syrian air defense systems, after Israeli aircraft were targeted during a bombing run early Friday morning.

"The next time the Syrians use their air defense systems against our planes we will destroy them without the slightest hesitation," Liberman said on Israel Radio.
The Times of Israel adds the following as well as photos of the erstwhile gentleman in question and his erstwhile vehicle:
The group, reportedly set up with the held of Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, published four pictures it said were from the scene of the alleged Arclight airstrike.

The Lebanese news channel NBN reported that the man killed was a Syrian air defense commander. Other reports said Assayed was a civilian.
It could be that at various times all were true. Now he is merely very sincerely dead.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Terror Networks
Using Special Forces Against Terrorism, Trump Seeks to Avoid Big Ground Wars
[NYT] MARA, Chad -- From Yemen to Syria to here in Central Africa, the Trump administration is relying on Special Operations forces to intensify its promised fight against the Islamic State and other terrorist groups as senior officials embrace an Obama-era strategy to minimize the American military’s footprint overseas.

In Africa, President Trump is expected to soon approve a Pentagon proposal to remove constraints on Special Operations airstrikes and raids in parts of Somalia to target suspected militants with the Shabab, an extremist group linked to Al Qaeda. Critics say that the change -- in one of the few rejections of President Barack Obama’s guidelines for the elite forces -- would bypass rules that seek to prevent civilian deaths from drone attacks and commando operations.

But in their two months in office, Trump officials have shown few other signs that they want to back away from Mr. Obama’s strategy to train, equip and otherwise support indigenous armies and security forces to fight their own wars instead of having to deploy large American forces to far-flung hot spots.
Posted by: Besoeker || 03/20/2017 13:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Beatings Will Continue: Iraqi Edtion


ISIS destroys 14 residences near Mosul

Nineveh (IraqiNews.com) An Officer of Iraqi elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) informed on Sunday, that the Islamic State militants blew up houses belonging to civilians, south of the city of Mosul.

Major Ali Mohsen said in a press statement that the self-proclaimed Islamic State group detonated 14 houses belonging to civilians, south of Mosul.

The terrorist group transferred these residences to headquarters earlier, Mohsen added. The Islamic State detonated the houses, after a complete evacuation.

Noteworthy, earlier this month the Islamic State group also blew up ten houses, few hours before the security forces storm into Nabi Sheth area, south of Mosul.
Posted by: badanov || 03/20/2017 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
23[untagged]
9Islamic State
2Taliban
2Govt of Syria
2Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (IS)
1Boko Haram (ISIS)
1Commies
1Govt of Iran
1Sublime Porte
1Hezbollah
1Houthis
1Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (IS)
1Jamaat-e-Islami
1al-Nusra
1Moslem Colonists
1Arab Spring
1Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
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Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
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Besoeker
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2017-03-20
  Syrian regulars gain control of regions near Palmyra
Sun 2017-03-19
  Four wanted Maute militants nabbed in Lanao
Sat 2017-03-18
  Man shot dead at Paris Orly airport this morning after taking soldier's gun: official
Fri 2017-03-17
  Four Killed as Bangladesh Police Storm Islamist Hideout
Thu 2017-03-16
  Kommander Abdullah, 10 others die in airstrike in Paktika
Wed 2017-03-15
  Dozens killed in suicide bombing at Damascus "Palace of Justice" courthouse
Tue 2017-03-14
  Suspected ISIS gas attack hits Iraqi forces in west Mosul
Mon 2017-03-13
  Kenyan police nab 6 terror suspects in coastal town
Sun 2017-03-12
  Double suicide attack kills 40 in Damascus
Sat 2017-03-11
  Syrian force a ‘few weeks’ from Raqqa, U.S. Marines deployed
Fri 2017-03-10
   Ax attacker at Düsseldorf main train station arrested
Thu 2017-03-09
  Baghdadi abandons Mosul fight to field commanders
Wed 2017-03-08
  IS gunmen dressed as medics kill 30 at Kabul military hospital
Tue 2017-03-07
  Mufti Hannan jailbreak attempt fails
Mon 2017-03-06
  New wave of US air raids on Qaeda in Yemen

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