A massive explosion rocked Kabul city in the early hours of Monday morning with preliminary reports suggesting a Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) was detonated.
The incident took place around around 1:30 am local time targeting a compound frequented by the foreigners.
It is believed the compound is North Gate which provides accommodation to the foreign military and civilian organization in the country.
There are also reports at least four militants launched gun attack following the massive blast that resulted into power outage in the city.
The Taliban group claimed responsibility behind the attack and said a coordinated attack has been launched on a guesthouse of the foreigners in the city.
There are no reports regarding the casualties as a result of the incident.
More horny than devout, and very devout, you betcha..
A group of the Taliban militants have reportedly gang raped a woman in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan, a local security official has claimed.
The official speaking on the condition of anonymity said the incident took place four days ago in Balo Jan village in Nahr-e-Saraj district.
The official further added that four Taliban insurgents were involved in the incident who were fighting under the command of commander Omari.
According to the official, the Taliban insurgents forced into a residential house in the village and attacked the woman and raped her in front of the children, including a 14-year-old boy.
The individuals involved in the incident have been arrested by commander Omari, the official said, adding that commander Omari has warned the woman to keep the issue as a secret without informing anyone.
The Taliban militants have not commented regarding the report so far.
This is the not the first the group has been accused of sexual violence against the ordinary civilians of the country.
Earlier the group was accused of raping some women in a hostel in northern Kunduz city which was briefly captured by the group last year.
A former Afghan lawmaker has been shot dead by unknown gunmen in Kabul city in the latest wave of target killings which has been on the rise amid deteriorating security situation.
According to the security officials, the former lawmaker Dr. Asadullah Hematyar was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the vicinity of Stanikzai Meena.
The police district#6 police chief Mohammad Dawood Paktiawal said the gunmen opened fire on Dr. Hematyar near his clinic.
Hematyar was representing the central Logar province in the Lower House of the Parliament, Wolesi Jirga and was working as a physician when he was assassinated.
The main motive behind his assassination has not been ascertained and no group has so far claimed responsibility behind the attack.
The attack on Dr. Hematyar followed a day after a magnetic bomb explosion targeted a vehicle carrying the head of the HR department of the Afghan parliament, leaving him dead along with another individual.
Another prominent Afghan lawmaker Sher Wali Wardak was also killed in an explosion in Kabul city earlier last month.
MP Wardak was killed after an explosive device was planted in an electricity tower close to his residence.
The Taliban group claimed responsibility behind the attack on MP Wardak and explosion that targeted the HR head of the parliament.
[WJLA] Taliban attacks on a district in the southern Afghan province of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province killed at least 24 coppers over the past two days, an Afghan official said on Sunday.
Kareem Atal, the director of Helmand's provincial council, said that battles between government forces and turbans have been raging in the Kanashin district since late Friday, when the Taliban took control.
The fighting has spread north to other districts, where turbans are targeting checkpoints and have killed at least seven coppers, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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Let us take a moment to ponder the secondaries as 46 Lions of Islam make their hurried way to Hell.
[Ynet] Sky News reported Sunday that 46 gunnies in the northern Sinai region were killed by an Egyptian air force Airstrike. The Egyptians' target was, according it Sky, a plant manufacturing explosives.
According to Egyptian security officials, their intelligence indicated that a large number of 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.... (ISIS) members were concentrated in the area, and so they executed the strikes.
#1
Another reason for breast-feeding. We've been warned that baby formula is tricky but did we listen?
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
08/01/2016 7:50 Comments ||
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#2
There's something about an air force bombing its own country that just seems wrong. It makes it clear that the country is not stable when you need the air force rather than the police.
#7
Either they were having a picnic during this moment, or those secondaries were enough to turn a Texan green with envy.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/01/2016 13:04 Comments ||
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#8
Just a matter of time G(r)om, play your cards right and eventually the Egyptians will pay you a goodly sum to take it off their hands, fee simplex etc.
[AlArabiya] More than 120 bodies of migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe have washed up around Sabratha in western Libya this month, the city's mayor said on Sunday.
Hussein Thwadi said bodies had washed up on a daily basis, with 53 found on a single day last week.
Libya is a common departure point for migrants seeking to travel to Europe by boat, many of them fleeing violence, repression or poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
Political turmoil and armed conflict in Libya have given smugglers the space to work with impunity, running trafficking networks that bring migrants across the Sahara desert to the coast.
Of more than 3,000 migrants known to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, about three out of four perished trying to reach Italy from North Africa, mainly Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Nearly 90,000 migrants had crossed the central Mediterranean to Italy as of this week, the IOM said, a 14 percent increase on the previous year.
As the number of attempted crossings from Libya picked up in the spring with the arrival of calmer weather, many of the boats have been leaving from the coastline near Sabratha.
“The whole coast of Sabratha is open,” Thwadi told Reuters by phone. “There are patrols but they do not have enough capacity to tackle this crisis.”
“Illegal migration existed before, but with insecurity and the lack of state authorities the crisis has become worse and worse.”
Thwadi said most of the migrants whose bodies washed up this month were from sub-Saharan African states, though there were also 23 Tunisians. Red Crescent volunteers and local officials have been removing them for burial in a cemetery for unidentified bodies in Sabratha, he said.
A UN-backed government that has been trying to establish itself in Tripoli since March says tackling migration is among its priorities.
But the government is struggling to manage complex security and economic challenges, and still faces political opposition on the ground.
Thwadi said he had raised the issue with the new government's leadership but had not yet received any concrete response.
[DAILYPOST.NG] Sequel to the capture from Boko Haram and subsequent occupation of Damasak town and surrounding villages by Sector 4 of the Multinational Joint Task Force Headquarters, MNJTF, troops of OP LAFIYA DOLE (Nigeria) are currently consolidating their defences in the cleared town and stabilising the area.
Colonel Muhammad Dole, MNJTF Public Information Officer, in a Saturday night, however noted that remnants of Boko Haram Terrorists fleeing the general area of operation are relocating to remote settlements along the borders of the MNJTF member countries, mostly disguising as normal civilians.
“The Commander, MNJTF, Major General Lamidi Adeosun wishes to appeal once again to the law abiding and good citizens residing along the borders to be security conscious and report arrival of new persons/settlers as well as unusual movement of persons to the nearest security agencies,” it said.
“The onslaught against the Boko Haram terrorists continues till they are all smoked out of their hiding places. This is a task that would be achieved with the continued support of all”.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAILYTRUST.NG] The Nigerian army says troops on blocking position in Pulka on Friday ambushed and killed two fleeing 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... myrmidons.
A statement from army front man Colonel Sani Usman said: "It is equally believed one of the Death Eaters escaped with gunshot wounds."
He said the troops also recovered 1 AK-47 rifle with registration number S 77411, a General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) with registration number FN 131908, one Motorcycle, 1 Bicycle and 5 Fabrique Nationale (FN) rifle magazines.
He said other items recovered from the Death Eaters include 1 AK-47 rifle magazine loaded with 28 rounds of 7.62mm (Special) ammunition, 67 rounds of 7.62mm linked (NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... ) ammunition and Tecno brand of mobile telephone handset with NEXTTEL SIM card, as well as sacks of foodstuffs.
Usman said the troops have continued their routine operations maintaining vigilance to prevent escaping Boko Haram Death Eaters out of Sambisa forest through that axis.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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[AlArabiya] Salafists in Yemen have blown up a 16th century mosque housing the shrine of a revered Sufi scholar in the city of Taiz, a local official said Sunday.
Gunmen led by a Salafist local chief known as Abu al-Abbas blew up the mosque of Sheikh Abdulhadi al-Sudi on Friday night, the official told AFP, confirming media reports of the attack.
Yemen’s commission for antiquities and museums condemned the destruction of the site that is considered the most famous in Taiz.
It said the mosque’s white dome was “one of the biggest domes in Yemen and one of the most beautiful religious sites in old Taiz.”
Images of the site before destruction showed a white square-shaped, single-storey structure topped by a large central dome circled by smaller ones.
Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed on Saturday Houthi fighters from Yemen seeking to infiltrate Saudi Arabia, killing tens of Houthi militiamen, security sources said.
The bombing took place on the Yemeni side of the border close to the Saudi city of Najran, they said. Clashes were also seen in the northwestern Yemeni town of Haradh which borders the kingdom, Reuters reported according to witnesses.
The escalation in violence was one of the worst since peace talks began in Kuwait in April between Yemen’s government and the Houthis to end a 16-month conflict that has left more than 6,400 people dead, nearly half of them civilians, and displaced more than 2.5 million.
A truce that began in April has slowed the momentum of fighting, but violence continues almost daily.
Prospects for progress in the talks dimmed further this week when Houthi rebels and their allies in the political party of former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced they had decided to form a political council to unilaterally rule the country.
Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations Yemen envoy, said the move gravely violated U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216, which calls on the Houthis “to refrain from further unilateral actions that could undermine the political transition in Yemen”.
The Yemeni army and popular committees forces destroyed on Saturday three Saudi military vehicles in Najran region.
A military official explained to Saba that an Abrams tank and a hummer and another military vehicle of the Saudi enemy were destroyed in al-Makhroq site in Najran.
These military operations on Saudi sites is a response to the violations of the Saudi aggression against the country, the official said.
National delegation insists on comprehensive solution
The National delegation participating in Kuwait consultations on Saturday confirmed its insistence on a comprehensive solution ensures the cessation of aggression and lifting the siege.
During a session of consultations held in Kuwait with the United Nations envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh, the delegation stressed that the solution agreement should be comprehensive and be signed in one stage without partition.
The delegation underlined that the solution should ensure also the consensus on the executive authorities of the state institutions, including the presidency and the government, as well as the security and military arrangements, stopping the war by land, sea and air, and lifting the blockade.
The Command of the Arab Coalition Forces to Support the Legitimacy in Yemen have said that Saudi armed forces stationed at the Saudi-Yemeni border intercepted an infiltration attempt by Houthi militias and forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh on Saturday morning.
According to a statement released by the Command, the sporadic infiltration and penetration attempts by the rebel forces was "in flagrant violation of the agreed truce between the two sides," and as a result, "the aggressors have sustained human and military equipment losses following their infiltration attempts in
Al-Raboo'a region in Najran sector," the Saudi Press Agency, SPA, reported.
The statement added that coalition planes yesterday raided Houthi gatherings at the border, killing many and destroying military vehicles.
Meanwhile, one officer and six servicemen from the Saudi Armed forces were killed, the statement announced.
The statement also said that Saudi air and land forces continue to chase infiltrators in order to keep the border region free from any remnants, reported SPA.
[Gateway Pundit] Belgian priest Jos Vanderlee, suffered several wounds after an asylum seeker stabbed him in his own home. The man asked Father Jos for a shower to clean up then stabbed the priest after he wouldn't give the man his money.
A priest has been stabbed in his own home by an asylum seeker he allowed in to use his shower ‐ according to local prosecutors. The priest - named locally as 65-year-old Jos Vanderlee -suffered injuries to his hands during the incident in Lanaken, Belgium.
Public Prosecutor of Limburg Coppin Bruno said the attack happened at around 2.40pm local time (1.40pm UK time) but have stressed they do not believe it was terror-related.
Prosecutors say the suspect had knocked on the priest's home to ask for a shower and help. After the shower the man allegedly asked for money and stabbed the priest when he said no.
[AnNahar] Militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) killed four Turkish soldiers Sunday in two separate attacks, local media reported.
Three soldiers were killed during a military operation in Ordu, located on the Black Sea coast in northeastern The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , the province's governor said in comments carried by private Dogan news agency.
Irfan Balkanlioglu said the soldiers were shot by PKK holy warriors and two others were maimed, Dogan, said. The operation, in Mesudiye district, was continuing.
In another attack, one soldier was killed and six were maimed in festivities with PKK holy warriors in the southeastern province of Hakkari, the army said in a statement.
One soldier was seriously maimed, the army added. The state-run Anadolu news agency reported the festivities occurred in Altinsu district.
[AlArabiya] Seven Islamist extremists were killed in a shootout in Pakistan's wealthy Punjab province as police raided the group suspected of launching attacks on security posts, officials said Sunday.
Gunfire erupted between police and 10 suspected militants early Sunday morning in a house where the group was holed up.
Police said the seven dead were killed by bullets from their own men.
“When the firing stopped, seven terrorists were found dead by the firing of their own accomplices and the remaining escaped in the darkness of the night,” a police statement said.
The shootout occurred in Pakistan's central Punjab province about 56 kilometers (35 miles) west of Lahore.
Police said the Islamists belonged to the Pakistani branch of the Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and the banned sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).
They were accused of planning attacks on security posts and law enforcement agencies in Punjab.
Rights activists have blamed Pakistani police for staging raids to kill suspects they fear could be freed if tried in a court.
Pakistan launched a countrywide campaign against militancy called the National Action Plan in 2015 after a deadly Taliban attack on a Peshawar school killed more than 150 people, mostly children.
The Sunni LeJ group has claimed responsibility for some of the most brazen attacks on Shiites in Pakistan's recent history, including a January 2013 bombing in Quetta that killed over one hundred members of the Shiite Hazara minority group.
Sectarian violence – in particular that carried out by Sunni militants against Shiites, who make up roughly 20 percent of Pakistan's population of 200 million – has claimed thousands of lives in the country over the past decade.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Infamous Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... terrorist Abu Dujana was spotted at a rally orgainsed by separatists in the Pulwama district of south Kashmire.
The rally was organised by the parents and supporters of the turbans who bit the dust in festivities against security forces in the Valley.
Slain Hizbul Mujahideen commander (and Burhan Wani’s father) Muzafar Wani was expected to join the rally, but according to reports he wasn't in attendance.
Abu Dujana is believed to be one of the key figures in the Pulwama region in South Kashmire.
It is believed that Dujana joined the Lashkar-e-Tayiba when he was 17 and swiftly rose up the ranks after his detailed planning and execution impressed those above him
As soon as Dujana was recognised at the rally he was whisked away by his supporters and was soon lost in crowd.
The rally, which saw thousands of supporters joining in to pay their respect to the ’deaders’, took place despite a curfew in the town.
Curfew remains in force in some areas - Anantnag, Pulwama, parts of Baramulla town and Shopian - as restrictions on four or more people gathering continue in the whole of Kashmire.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – A security source in Nineveh Province informed that three ISIS members were killed in an airstrike carried out by the international coalition aviation south of Mosul.
Sharing details the source said, “International coalition aviation today carried out an airstrike targeting an ISIS headquarters at Matya village, northwest of Qayyarah airbase. Three ISIS members were killed in the strike.”
“The airstrike also destroyed an ISIS mortar launcher,” added the source.
(IraqiNews.com) Nineveh – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) announced that airstrike by internal coalition aviation in eastern Mosul killed six ISIS members.
PUK spokesman Gayath al-Surji said, “Aircraft of the international coalition aviation, launched an attack at noon today and targeted a vehicle ferrying ISIS members at al-Ghabat area in eastern Mosul.”
“Apart from completely destroying the vehicle, six ISIS members were also killed in the strike,” Surji added.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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(IraqiNews.com) KIRKUK – A well placed source in Kirkuk province infomred on Sunday that at least two civilians were killed and three others injured due to a children brawl at north of the province.
Sharing details the source said, “The hospitals of Kirkuk province this evening received bodies of two civilians along with three injured, all of whom were injured in an armed clash that too place on Saturday evening between two families after the children of both the families were involved in a brawl. The incident took place at Rahim, north of Kirkuk.”
Seeking anonymity the source said, “Police forces cordoned off the area and have commenced a probe into the incident.”
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A well placed source in Kirkuk informed that unidentified gunmen stormed into a gas station of North Oil Company in western Kirkuk and killed four employees.
“At dawn today, four gunmen stormed into the A.B.2 gas station of the North Oil Company, situated some 20 kilometers from western Kirkuk along Kirkuk-Dibs road. Firing indiscriminately, the gunmen injured the guards and killed four employees who were stationed in the control room,” the source said while describing the incident in details.
“Five IEDs were also planted by the gunmen inside the station, out of which two exploded and the remaining five were diffused by the Civil Defense teams,” the source added.
(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Commander of Anbar Operations, Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahlawi revealed on Sunday that it successfully pushed back an ISIS attack in Khalidiya Island, east of Ramadi.
Mahlawi in a press statement, said, “A suicide bomber driving a booby trapped vehicle tried to target al-Hashed al-Shaabi forces in Khalidiya Island, 23 km east of Ramadi.”
Mahlawi added, “The vehicle was bombed before reaching the target, causing no damage or injuries in the ranks of al-Hashed al-Shaabi forces.”
The commander of Anbar Operations Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahlawi, on Saturday further announced about the launch operation to liberate Khalidiya Island from ISIS control.
(IraqiNews.com) ANBAR – A source in the border guard command in Anbar province announced on Sunday that two border police were killed and five others wounded in a suicide bombing attack that was targeted on their headquarters west of the province.
Speaking to Iraqi News the source said, “A booby trapped vehicle, driven by a suicide bomber, targeted the headquarters of the Second Battalion of the border guard command in Anbar, west of Ramadi.”
The source, seeking anonymity, added, “The bombing killed two officials of the Border Police and wounded five others. The headquarters was also damaged in the bombing.”
It is worth mentioning here that the border guard forces in Anbar province are exposed to such kinds of attacks quite often and the forces have suffered a number of casualties owing to these.
(IraqiNews.com) ANBAR – Khalidiya Council Chairman in Anbar Ali Dawood, informed on Sunday that the security forces liberated Krtan gas station in Khalidiya island, east of Ramadi.
In a statement issued to the media Dawood said, “The security forces crossed Albu Obeid area and accessed Krtan area in Khalidiya Island and later liberated Krtan gas station.”
It is worth mentioning here that according to information shared by Commander of Anbar Operations Maj. Gen. Ismail Mahlawi, the security forces on Saturday morning carried out military operations to liberate Khalidiya Island from ISIS control.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Ministry of Interior reported of five casualties in southern Baghdad due to the explosion of an improvised explosive device.
Sharing details about the incident the source said, “This morning an IED exploded near a lake at Suteih village in Madain district in southern Baghdad, killing two persons and wounding three others.”
“Security forces rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital and the dead bodies to the forensic. They further cordoned off the area and barred anyone from approaching it,” the source added.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense informed on Sunday that a family of seven was killed in an armed attack carried out by unidentified men in southern Baghdad.
Sharing details the source said, “This morning, unidentified armed men stormed into a house at Arab Jabbour village in al-Dawra area in southern Baghdad- the owners of which were two brothers and they belonged to al-Hashd al-Ashari. Firing indiscriminately, the unidentified men not only killed the two brothers on the spot, but they also gunned down two women and three children.”
“Security forces rushed to the area of incident and transferred the dead bodies to the forensic department and commenced a probe into the incident for identifying the killers,” added the source.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Ministry of Interior on Sunday reported that a bomb blast in northern Baghdad killed at least two persons and injured nine others.
“The IED exploded at noon today near a popular market in Tarmiya district in northern Baghdad,” the source informed in details.
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – Security forces today have cut off al-Jumhoria bridge and some other roads that lead to al-Tahrir Square in central Baghdad and further intensified their presence near the Green Zone.
According to information shared by a source in the Ministry of Interior, “The security forces cut off al-Jumhoria bridge and some roads that lead to Tahrir Square in central Baghdad and intensified their presence near the Green Zone after tens of activists gathered in the area to celebrate the anniversary of the demonstrators that called for reform and services.”
It is worth mentioning here that Sadrist movement leader Muqtada al-Sadr has prevented his followers from demonstrating for a period of 30 days.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Reports from Kirkuk say that heavy festivities are ongoing between security forces and several snuffies 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.... (ISIS) who launched an attack against the Bay Hassan gas supply compound Sunday morning, killing at least four coppers and civil servants.
Brigadier Sarhad Qadir of the Kirkuk suburban police told Rudaw that three jacket wallahs blew themselves up inside the compound, wounding three coppers and one Peshmerga soldier, among them Lieutenant Fayaq Chuchani, head of the compound.
"Fire has broken out inside the compound and more suicide bombers are suspected to be in there," Brig. Qadir said.
Bay Hassan is a major source of oil and gas west of Kirkuk. Security officials believe the snuffies aimed at blowing up the wells.
Earlier in the day, Kamal Krikuki, a Peshmerga commander in the region told Rudaw that a force had been dispatched to Bay Hassan to help the police repel the ISIS attack and defend the area.
Security officials said that the suicide bombers who numbered six were members of the group’s secret cell.
A Peshmerga officer said that six snuffies had infiltrated the compound and spent 1.5 hours planting bombs around the installation.
The name of the compound is K2 and within the Peshmerga-controlled territory.
Peshmerga colonel, Shwan Hama Gharib told Rudaw that they had information of a planned ISIS attack on the area the day before, but unsure of the exact location.
"Since yesterday we had information on ISIS movements and that they had plans to attack the Peshmerga defense lines or some important locations and therefore we focused more on our lines and civilian areas," Col. Hama Gharib said.
Col. Hama Gharib deployed his forces Sunday morning to reinforce the Bay Hassan area.
He added that the snuffies had only attacked the gas compound after they had failed to breach the fortified Peshmerga defense lines.
"At 2:00 am we were informed that AB2 compound had been attacked," Col. Hama Gharib reported. "The snuffies were not able to attack the fortified the places and therefore went to an area that had fewer guards and they succeeded in that."
"Before we reached the compound they had already killed four workers and there was the fear of bombing having been planted which was exactly the case," he added.
Col. Hama Gharib explained that collecting intelligence on ISIS is not an easy task due to the vastness of the area and lack of cooperation from some of the Arab villagers "who support the snuffies and shelter them, too."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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have attacked a gas facility and an oilfield in northern Iraq, killing five people. Gunmen on motorbikes opened fire on the facility’s guards, then killed four of its employees and planted bombs before escaping, officials from Iraq’s North Oil Company and Kurdish peshmerga forces said on Sunday.
Militants also attacked the nearby Bai Hassan oilfield, the largest in oil-rich Kirkuk province, killing an engineer and causing a major fire, officials said. Attacks inside Kurdish-controlled areas of the province are rare.
A peshmerga colonel said security forces had killed two suicide bombers at the oilfield. A third detonated explosives, setting oil tanks ablaze, and a fourth was still at large.
Brig Gen Sarhad Qader confirmed that three bombers were dead. An engineer was also killed in the assault and seven people were wounded, according to the peshmerga colonel.
The jihadi-linked Amaq agency, which often carries claims of Islamic State attacks, said the assault on Bai Hassan had taken place, but did not attribute it to Isis.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the gas facility. It may have been carried out by Isis, but it is more common for the group’s militants to fight to the death in such assaults.
Forces from Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region control part of Kirkuk and Isis also holds territory in the province.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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Iraq’s Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi has said that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leaders and their families have sold their belongings and ran away fled Mosul as Iraqi forces close in on the northern city.
Iraqi forces are conducting operations to set the stage for an assault on Mosul, the country’s second city that has been held by ISIL since June 2014, but the final push to retake it is likely still months away.
“A number of the families... and leaders of [ISIL] in Mosul, they and their families sold their belongings and withdrew towards Syria,” whose border west of the city, Obeidi told Iraqiya state television.
Some also sought to infiltrate towards Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, located north and east of Mosul, Obeidi said during an interview which was broadcast on July 30 night.
That's a bad idea. They ain't from 'round thar and ev'ryone's going to know it...
Mosul is the last city held by ISIL in Iraq, but retaking it poses a major challenge, and the operation could unleash a humanitarian crisis unless plans are made for people who would likely flee the fighting. The Red Thingy Cross has said it believes that up to a million Iraqis could be displaced in the coming months by fighting against ISIL, including the operation to recapture Mosul.
If the civilians have remained after this long in a Mosul under ISIL rule, there's a reason why. Sure, some might just have been stuck, but a fair number might be happy with ISIL rule. I won't have much sympathy for them...
ISIL overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes, training and other assistance.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Which side is the large, hairy Djinn on?
Difficult to war game this with out knowing the loyalty and capabilities of the LHD. I figure (from open sources) that it is fast, smart and lethal, able to move strategically without rail or road immediately without pause. Dealing with this sucker, if OPFOR, can only be said to be
[Ynet] Israeli police officers stopped a cab at the Tapuach junction in the West Bank Sunday evening, acting on intelligence information, according to a statement by an Israel Police spokesperson. They searched the vehicle, finding parts of an M-16 assault rifle. The driver was taken in for questioning.
[IsraelTimes] A Palestinian man attempted to stab Israel Defense Forces soldiers outside the Palestinian city of Nablus on Sunday before troops shot and killed him, the army said. There were no other injuries in the incident, which took place at the Hawara checkpoint near the entrance to the northern West Bank city.
According to the IDF, after the assailant reached the checkpoint, he exited his car and began running towards the soldiers holding a knife. Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint shot him dead at the scene.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the assailant as 31-year-old Rami Awartani.
[IsraelTimes] Two relatives of a Palestinian youth murdered two years ago were charged Sunday with a laundry list of crimes, including attempted assault of police officers, throwing rocks at cars, public disturbance, arson and discharging a weapon in a residential area.
Muhammad and Nasser Abu Khdeir, 21 and 19, respectively, of the Shuafat neighborhood in East Jerusalem, were indicted at the Jerusalem District Court for the alleged crimes said to have been perpetrated two summers ago, after their relative was murdered by Israeli extremists. Prosecutors requested that the two be held until the end of proceedings.
Muhammed Abu Khdeir was abducted and killed in East Jerusalem on July 1, 2014, by three Israeli attackers. An autopsy found that the 16-year-old had been burned alive. The Jerusalem District Court handed down a life sentence, plus 20 years in jail, to Yosef Ben David, found to be the ringleader of the group that murdered Abu Khdeir. The two other killers — both minors — were sentenced to life in prison and 21 years, respectively.
[IsraelTimes] Israeli security forces detained four Palestinian men suspected of planning a terror attack with an ax south of Hebron in the West Bank on Sunday, an army spokesperson said.
Earlier in the day, the Israel Police received advanced intelligence about the threat of a possible attack involving an ax in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. Dozens of officers were sent into the area to provide additional protection, a police spokesperson said.
Following the “security alert,” troops in the West Bank discovered an abandoned vehicle with an ax inside it near the Khirbat Umm al-Khair village in the Hebron Hills, an army spokesperson said. Soldiers searched the area for the car’s owners and found four men who appeared to have fled from the vehicle. They were brought in for questioning, the spokesperson said.
[IsraelTimes] Two West Bank Palestinian men who told police they possessed knives were arrested and indicted, police said in a statement Sunday.
Last week, a 36-year-old Palestinian man in Israel without a permit called police to tell them he had a knife and was planning to carry out an attack against Israelis. Officers arrested the West Bank resident after tracing the phone call and determining his location. A body search of the man uncovered a knife in his possession. He was remanded into custody at a Beersheba court, where he repeated his intentions to attack Israelis. The Palestinian man, who was not named, was indicted on charges of illegally entering Israel, possession of a knife and making threats.
In a separate incident last week, a 19-year-old Palestinian man called the Israel Police hotline and told officers: “I have a knife.” He was arrested outside the Negev Bedouin town of Hura and taken in for questioning. The suspect was indicted at a Beersheba court later in the week on unspecified charges, police said. It wasn’t clear if he was in Israel legally.
#1
Israeli soldiers manning the checkpoint shot him dead at the scene.
The Scene? WTF? The scene? Can't anybody write good anymore? A perp is killed on THE SPOT, not at the scene. Scenes are part of movies. The SPOT, which one? That one! Are where the late are befallen aus.
[WAPO] MOSCOW -- A Russian transport helicopter was shot down in Syria on Monday and all five people onboard were killed, the Kremlin said, in the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its involvement in Syria’s civil war.
The Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Idlib province while returning to the Russian air base on Syria’s coast after delivering humanitarian goods to the city of Aleppo, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The helicopter had three crew members and two officers deployed with the Russian center at the Hemeimeem air base on the Syrian coast.
"From what we know from information provided by the Defense Ministry, all those who were on the helicopter died," Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman told journalists. The ministry statement released earlier said their fate was still unknown.
[ARA News] HASAKAH – Over 7.6 million Syrians have been internally displaced between the different provinces of the war-torn country, as fighting continues between the various armed groups across Syria, according to the United Nations humanitarian agency.
Deir ez-Zor province, where the Assad regime and the Islamic State group (ISIS) share control, has witnessed a mass displacement among civilians amid mounting violence.
More than five years have passed since thousands have been displaced from the Deir ez-Zor province, taking shelter in the northeastern Hasakah province. Some of them took shelter in school buildings that have been evacuated for them in Hasakah city. Local sources told ARA News that the displaced are encountering hard living conditions there, lacking basic supplies amid inability by the local aid organisations to provide sufficient help to thousands of displaced families.
Speaking to ARA News, Zainab Laila, a displaced woman from Deir ez-Zor who recently arrived to Hasakah, said: “We suffer shortage of basic supplies such as water. Here we’re obliged to buy water for 150 Lira per barrel. As for food, in the past we’ve been provided with food supplies and other aid every two or three months. However, now we barely find someone to give us some food. This is our life under those hard conditions.”
Some of them try to find a work in Hasakah city in order to cover daily needs of their families, but the law wages prevent them from providing their families with the basic supplies.
Ahmed Biebi, a displaced Syrian man from Deir ez-Zor, told ARA News: “I’m here with my wife and six daughters, and I cannot afford the basic needs for my family.”
“Prior to displacement I was employee, but I haven’t received my salary since more than two years. Now in this situation I need to find any job in order to be able to support my family,” he said.
“I hereby appeal to the international organisations to provide us with help, either work opportunities or aid. Those displaced families need support in order to survive this crisis,” Biebi told ARA News.
Thousands of displaced Syrian families have found a safe haven in Hasakah province for years. However, the recent surge of violence that hit the province has made it harder for the people, causing a state of instability even among its own inhabitants.
“The situation here [in Hasakah] is just a sample for the difficulties that the Syrian people encounter,” Laila said. “Nowhere is save inside this country. We became victims of this bloody war, and every armed group only cares about seizing more control, no matter how many innocent lives that would cost.”
[ARA News] RAQQA – Extremists of the Islamic State (ISIS) on Sunday punished a young Syrian man in the northeastern city of Raqqa by cutting off his right hand after accusing him of theft, activists reported.
Two ISIS militants carried out the punishment in front of dozens of people in a public square in Raqqa city.
“The man’s right hand was amputated after the ISIS-linked Hisba police accused him of stealing, but they didn’t explain what this young man has exactly stolen,” a media activist told ARA News in Raqqa, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A member of the ISIS-led Sharia Court read a statement prior to conducting the punishment on Sunday afternoon, saying that the Islamic Sharia recommends the amputation of the right hand of any citizen charged with theft.
“This kind of punishment is barbaric. It is merely meant to terrify people, besides the ISIS-led sharia court doesn’t have the basic capabilities to investigate any such case,” Syrian human rights activist Omar al-Muthanna told ARA News.
“They accuse and punish people publicly to show that they’re still in control and have the power to establish order, especially in Raqqa, which is the de facto capital of their alleged Caliphate,” Muthanna said.
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08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) group has successfully captured 40 percent of the strategically-important city of Manbij from 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.... (ISIS), after their recent pushes into the city allowed them to seize key areas from the turbans.
With coalition air support the SDF pushed further into the city taking most of its eastern parts, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights conflict monitor reported on Sunday. They are now in control of the al-Jazira turning, Mestosaf neighbourhood, and Ghasania school, according to the Observatory.
Spokesperson for the SDF, Shervan Derwish, said that his forces are in control of more than 70% of Manbij.
At least 2,300 civilians in the city have been able to leave thanks to these SDF advances. ISIS has shot at civilians who attempted to flee.
Women who have made it out of Manbij have taken off their black robes and burned them, celebrating their freedom from Islamic State rule, according to images published by Derwish.
The SDF have had the city encircled for months now after beginning their offensive against ISIS faceless myrmidons in that region in late May. Seizing Manbij from ISIS will further isolate the group’s main stronghold in Syria, the city of Raqqa.
Progress into Manbij city has been slow in spite of the coalition air support. The SDF offered ISIS an ultimatum whereby the faceless myrmidons would be allowed safe passage out of the city with their light weaponry in order to save civilian lives. ISIS refused their offer and remains dug-in.
The US has come under severe criticism over reports that their Arclight airstrikes have killed civilians in that city.
On Friday the Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook addressed these concerns, emphasizing that air support to the SDF would continue and that ISIS are responsible for placing civilians in harm’s way.
"They [ISIS] are not taking steps to protect civilians ‐ innocent civilian life," Cook explained.
"Well, those local forces we’re supporting might have a different view if we weren’t conducting those Arclight airstrikes in their support," he added. "I imagine you would be asking me some of the same questions if those forces came under attack from ISIS, because we weren’t providing some of the air support to them."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2016 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Infamous 
[WAPO] MOSCOW -- A Russian transport helicopter was shot down in Syria on Monday and all five people onboard were killed, the Kremlin said, in the deadliest single incident for the Russian military since its involvement in Syria’s civil war.
