[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least four people were killed following an kaboom in southern Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province of Afghanistan this evening.
A local security official said the incident took place around 5:00 pm local time in Lashkargah, the capital city of Helmand province.
The official further added that the bank?s branch manager was killed along with two other bank employees and a police officer.
Eyewitnesses in the area are saying that the blast took place due to a magnetic improvised bombkaboom which was planted in the vehicle of the bank employees.
No group including the Talibs has so far grabbed credit behind the incident.
Helmand is among the volatile provinces in southern Afghanistan where anti-government armed myrmidon groups are actively operating and frequently carry out insurgency activities.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[AnNahar] Six Somali soldiers and one civilian were killed on Friday in an attack by Shabaab bully boyz on a military checkpoint in Baidoa and in a boom-mobileing in the capital Mogadishu, officials said.
A Somali military official, Colonel Mohammed Hassan, said six soldiers died when the Shabaab, al-Qaeda's main African affiliate, carried out a pre-dawn raid against their post near Baidoa, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) northwest of Mogadishu.
"The Shabaab fighters attacked three locations including the checkpoint outside Baidoa. Three of their fighters were killed," said Suleyman Abdulahi, another local official.
In another incident, a civilian was killed and two other maimed in a boom-mobileing blamed on the Shabaab, who are fighting to topple Somalia's internationally-backed government.
"They attached a boom-mobile to the civilian's car. The civilian was killed and two others maimed," interior ministry front man Mohammed Yusuf told news hounds.
The attacks came at the end of a week which saw the United States conduct another air strike against the group. The Somali government said the Shabaab's intelligence chief, Abdishakur Tahlil, was killed in Monday night's raid.
The Shabaab's former leader Ahmed Abdi Godane was also killed by a U.S. air strike in September.
[IsraelTimes] Troops open fire at 23-year-old Paleostinian in city of Rafah; circumstances of incident still unclear
Egyptian soldiers firing from across the border rubbed out a Paleostinian man in the Gazoo frontier town of Rafah on Friday, medics said, although the motive was not immediately known.
The border troops shot the 23-year-old man ?in the back and the bullet settled in the heart. He was struck down in his prime,? emergency services front man Ashraf al-Qidra told AFP.
The shooting was confirmed by the front man of the interior ministry in Gazoo, Iyad al-Bazm, in a message on his Facebook page.
?A Paleostinian citizen, aged 23, was killed by Egyptian army fire on the Egyptian-Paleostinian border and the security agencies are investigating the incident to find out the motives,? it said.
The man, whose identity was not revealed, is the first Paleostinian ?to have been killed in a long time? along the border between the Gazoo Strip and Egypt, according to Qidra.
[Ynet] Several army tanks and armored vehicles were seized by armed rustics rival to the country's Iranian catspaws, officials said Friday, as rebels in control of the capital have been intensifying security measures on eve of their large ceremony commemorating Prophet Muhammad's birthday.
Officials say the seizures came after festivities broke out Thursday night in the eastern city of Marib between rustics and army troops. They say the rustics suspected that the soldiers were heading to join the Iranian catspaws who have been gathering outside of Marib for several weeks. Six soldiers and two rustics were killed in the festivities, officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
[ARABNEWS] The Ministry of Interior has announced that security forces have nabbed Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! a man on its list of 23 most wanted criminals in Awamiya in the Eastern Province.
Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said that Montathir Ali Saleh Al-Sabti was arrested on Thursday. No one was injured and there was no damage to property caused by the operation.
He said the government is determined to track down and arrest those involved in terrorist and criminal activities in the country, according to the SPA.
The government has accused the people on the list of serving the agenda of a foreign power, a reference to Iran.
In December, security forces killed four Death Eaters in eastern Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... in a raid on a hideout used by gunnies who rubbed out a policeman in the area earlier that month.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[AnNahar] Saudi police have nabbed Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! a man wanted in connection with a 2011 protest movement organised by Shiite residents of the kingdom's restive Eastern Province, the interior ministry said Friday.
Muntadher Ali Saleh al-Sabity was detained on Thursday evening in an operation in the town of Awamiya, the official SPA news agency quoted a ministry front man as saying.
Sabity is one of 23 Saudis wanted in connection with protests and violence in Eastern Province, home to more than two million Shiites in the Sunni-majority kingdom.
The group, some of whom have been detained or killed, is accused of acting "on behalf of foreign parties" -- a reference to Iran, which authorities have blamed in the past for fomenting unrest among Saudi Shiites.
Most live in the oil-rich east, and many complain of marginalization.
Protests erupted in Eastern Province in February 2011 after an outbreak of violence between Shiite pilgrims and inquisitors religious police in the Moslem holy city of Medina in western Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... Awamiya, just west of Dammam city on the Gulf coast, has witnessed festivities between security forces and protesters.
Earlier this month, a court sentenced to death a man who opened fire numerous times on police in the town.
Sixteen months after the death of Chechen Republic Ichkeria President Doku Umarov in the fall of 2007, the continued viability of the Caucasus Emirate (IK) is open to question. Over the past six weeks, at least three Chechen and three Dagestani commanders have retracted their oath of obedience (bayat) to Umarov's successor as Caucasus Emirate leader, the Avar theologian Sheikh Ali Abu-Muhammad (Aliaskhab Kebekov), and instead pledged loyalty to Islamic State leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Sultan Zaynalabidov, Rustam Aselderov, Abu-Mukhammad Agachaulsky, Makhran Saidov and two other commanders known as Khamzat and Usman are now loyal to the IS. How many more rank-and-file jihadis have done the same is not clear, but Kebekov's warning about an imminent split within the insurgency suggests the number is significant.
Experts are unclear why the realignment has happened. It is possible that some Islamic radicals in Russia may be turned off by a more "moderate" approach, or that generational disagreements may be a factor.
Posted by: ryuge ||
01/03/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[AnNahar] Madrid's Atocha station, the scene of the worst terror attack in Spanish history, was evacuated Friday after a false alert when a man threatened to blow himself up.
Police said a man claiming to be carrying a bomb in his backpack was tossed in the clink Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! , but nothing was found.
Islamist holy warriors killed 191 people and injured nearly 2,000 in a series of coordinated backpack kabooms on trains travelling to the station on March 11, 2004, that became known as the 11-M attacks.
"We searched a train and the rails but we found nothing," police told Agence La Belle France Presse.
[AnNahar] An outlawed Turkish Marxist group on Friday said it was behind an attempted attack on an Ottoman-era Istanbul palace that formerly held the offices of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... The Revolutionary People's Liberation Party?Front (DHKP-C) said one of its members carried out the attempted attack on Thursday afternoon outside the historic Dolmabahce palace in Istanbul on the Bosphorus.
The man, named as Firat Ozcelik, hurled two grenades at the police honor guard on duty outside the palace but they failed to explode.
He was swiftly tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! and on Friday morning was being interrogated by police in Istanbul, Turkish television said.
The DHKP-C said in a statement on its website that the "armed action had been realized by one of our warriors."
The Dolmabahce Palace -- one of the last great palaces of the Ottoman Empire and also where the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, died in 1938 -- is one of Istanbul's major tourist attractions.
Part of the palace is open to the public but another wing hosts reception rooms and offices of the Turkish prime minister, a post Erdogan held from 2003-2014 before becoming president.
The DHKP-C said it had been targeted as a reprisal for the death of Berkin Elvan, a teenage protester who died in March 2014 after spending 269 days in a coma due to injuries inflicted by the police in the mass anti-government protests of May-June 2013.
"The Justice and Development Party (AKP) are the killers" of Elvan, it said, referring to the ruling party. "Then prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ordered the massacre," it added.
The Hurriyet daily said that Ozcelik shouted slogans in support of the DHKP-C after being arrested by police.
Besides the grenades the suspect was armed with a "very old" machine gun and a pistol, police said.
Ahmet Davutoglu, who succeeded Erdogan as prime minister, was not believed to be in the building at the time.
The DHKP-C -- a radical Marxist organization considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United States -- has over the last years carried out a string of sporadic and sometimes deadly attacks in Turkey and abroad.
It claimed a suicide kaboom in February 2013 at the U.S. embassy in Ankara where a security guard was killed.
[DAWN] Two city coppers have been suspended for releasing a religious leader who was caught overnight but released after a civil judge granted him bail on Thursday.
In a late night move, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... ordered the suspension of Senior Superintendent of Islamabad Police Asmatullah Junejo and another officer for showing leniency to the activist of a religious outfit jugged Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! on charges of displaying weapons.
According to a government?s front man, the prime minister ordered the action against the coppers to make them an example for other officers of the police and law enforcement agencies particularly at a time when the country was faced with menace of terrorism.
A capital police press statement said that Mufti Tanveer Alam Farooqui of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ...which is the false nose and plastic mustache of the murderous banned extremist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain, whatcha might call the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi... (ASWJ) - a reincarnation of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain ...a Sunni Deobandi organization, a formerly registered Pak political party, established in the early 1980s in Jhang by Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi. Its stated goal is to oppose Shia influence in Pakistain. They're not too big on Brelvis, either. Or Christians. Or anybody else who's not them. The organization was banned in 2002 as a terrorist organization, but somehow it keeps ticking along, piling up the corpse counts... sectarian group - was caught with his bodyguards for carrying arms but all were charged lightly by the police.
Since the accused were not displaying their weapons when intercepted, the police thought they could not be booked on that charge, according to the press statement.
IGP Tahir Alam Khan and Assistant Inspector General of Police Operation Dr Sultan Azam Temuri are inquiring into the matter.
Dawn has, however, learnt from police and government officials that in view of the prevailing peculiar security situation SSP Mir Waiz Niaz of the Security Wing has been given additional charge of SSP Operations.
Neither senior coppers of the city nor the suspended officers were available for comments.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... ASWJ Islamabad?s President Ghulam Mustafa Baloch commented that the SHO could have granted bail to Mufti Tanveer Alam Farooqui but asked his colleagues to approach the court for the purpose, which they did.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2015 03:58 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
[DAWN] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... on Friday wrote a letter to President Mamnoon Hussain, urging him to reject the mercy petitions of five condemned prisoners who were convicted for their involvement in terrorism cases.
The convicts include:
Muhammad Ikramul Haq alias Lahori alias Farooq Haider (son of Bashir Ahmed)
Ahmed Ali alias Asif alias Shish Naag (son of Ghulam Abbas)
Mohammad Tayyab alias Sajjad (son of Nabi Ahmed)
Ghulam Shabbir alias Doctor alias Nasir alias Zeeshan alias Sohail (son of Bashir Ahmed)
Zulfiqar Ali (son of Abdul Hameed)The five prisoners hailing from Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and convicted for murders had been locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
in different instances.
On Dec 17, Nawaz had approved the removal of moratorium on the death penalty after the attack on Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. 's Army Public School which killed 148 people ? including more than 132 schoolchildren.
In the wake of the removal of the moratorium on the death penalty, seven executions have been carried out.
The moratorium on the death penalty was imposed by former president Asif Ali Zardari during the tenure of the Pakistain Peoples Party government in 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2015 03:56 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
[DAWN] The Frontier Corps (FC) on Friday claimed to have killed four suspected holy warriors in Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... 's Khuzdar district. One FC personnel was also killed during an exchange of fire with suspected bad boys.
Spokesman FC Balochistan said several suspected holy warriors were also apprehended by security forces during the operation conducted in Naal area of Khuzdar district.
The forces also seized weapons and arms from the possession of holy warriors during the action.
"Forces also demolished the camp of miscreants," the front man said. The FC's claim could not be verified by independent sources.
He stated that the forces launched the operation in the aftermath of an attack on a levies check post in the area.
The holy warriors had snatched weapons and cycle of violences from levies personnel during the attack.
"They all belonged to a banned bad boy group", he added.
In another incident, FC front man stated that forces also locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! a bad boy commander and recovered arms and ammunition from his possession from Barkhan area.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2015 03:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[9 views]
Top|| File under:
[Dawn] NEW DELHI: The crew of an alleged Pak fishing boat blew up and sank their vessel after trying to evade capture at the hands of the Indian navy in a high-speed chase at sea, officials said Friday.
What an odd response.
All four people on board the vessel from Keti Bunder, near Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... are believed to have been killed in the dramatic episode in the Arabian Sea on New Year's Eve, India's defence ministry claims.
Although the defence ministry would only say that the crew were planning ?some illicit transaction?, it also stated that the boat was carrying explosives.
Indian media has played up the event, alleging that a terror threat was imminent from what Times of India has termed the "Pak Terror Boat".
However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... links to terrorism have not been established or claimed.
Of course not. All proof is now sinking rapidly to the bottom of the ocean, where it will wait to puzzle archeologists a thousand years in the future.
Ajay Kumar Pandey, a front man for the Indian Coast Guard, declined to comment when asked whether the explosives believed to be on board the fishing boat, which sank, were intended for use in a possible attack.
The incident has evoked memories of the 2008 Mumbai attacks when Pakistain-based bandidosfaceless myrmidons managed to sneak into India's financial capital by sea and then began a 60-hour siege of India's economic capital that left 166 people dead. India reacted furiously last month to a Pak court's decision to grant bail to the alleged criminal mastermind of the Mumbai attacks Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, although he has since been detained again.
One can see why such things might make the Indians a tad touchy, if one squints very hard...
The chase
Indian Coast Guard ships and aircraft tried to intercept the boat near the maritime border with Pakistain, around 365 kilometres from the coastal state of Gujarat ...where rioting seems to be a traditional passtime... , following an intelligence tip-off.
*ring ring* " Mahmoud the Weasel here. Listen closely, I will say this only once."
However, the hip bone's connected to the leg bone... the boat increased speed and tried to escape away from the Indian side of maritime boundary. The hot pursuit continued for nearly one hour,? a defence ministry statement added.
Although the boat did eventually stop after warning shots were fired, the four-man crew then allegedly hid themselves below deck before setting the boat on fire which triggered a large kaboom.
Ooooh, secondaries!
?Due to darkness, bad weather and strong winds, the boat and persons on board could not be saved or recovered. The boat burnt and sank in the same position, in early hours of January 1,? said the statement.
Pakistan: Fishing boat and crew were from Keti Bunder, near Karachi in Pakistan.
Other details: Indian defense ministry reviewing a call intercepted between two people who are believed to be a terrorist on the boat and a handler. Times Now sez the point of origin of the calls was Pakistan. Media also sez that the radio found on the boat similar to the models used by the Pak army.
#4
The Indian Express: Small-time liquor and diesel smugglers.
No reason terror-bound jihadis couldn't catch a ride with professional smugglers. It makes no sense that small time smugglers would blow up their boat instead of surrendering, if that's all they were protecting.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/03/2015 14:31 Comments ||
Top||
#6
It makes no sense that small time smugglers would blow up their boat instead of surrendering
Just a conjecture, but perhaps the smugglers were trying to scuttle the boat by and somebody either mishandled an explosive device or created a spark in the process.
Alcohol and diesel aren't exactly safe to be around.
#7
When zero time came the crewman turned to explain
"Hajis, its too tough to flee them"
Near Karaci bay their will started to fray
"Fellos, its bin laden for us!"
The captain wired in to explosives within
and last thoughts churned in humans turned ferel
And later that flight the ship blew out of sight
came the wreck of the Achmed Fitzgereld
Does anyone know where the love of allah goes
when coasties turn jihadis to crab food
The imams all say they'd have made Mumbai way
Had they read 15 more suras that morning
They might have blown up or they might have selfdowned
But they did run fast for safe water
All that remains is the feces and brains
of the terrible smugglers of allah
[Dawn] QUETTA: Four suspected Lions of Islam and a Frontier Corps soldier were killed in a gunbattle in Sonari area of Khuzdar district on Friday.
According to official sources, several suspected Lions of Islam were taken into custody during the clash and a huge quantity of arms and ammunitions and vehicles were seized. Some of the vehicles seized had been snatched by Lions of Islam from Levies personnel recently.
They said the FC personnel launched a search operation in the area on a tip-off that a krazed killer camp existed in Sonari area near Naal. As the troops were moving to the area, Lions of Islam opened fire on them. The FC personnel retaliated and a shootout continued for several hours.
A spokesperson for Frontier Corps claimed that the four suspects killed in the clash belonged to the banned Baloch Liberation Front.
He identified them as ‘commander’ Sattar Ilyas Malik, Sabzal, Dad Mohammad and Amanullah and said they were involved in kidnappings for ransom, assassinations and other heinous crimes.
The FC spokesperson, however, did not mention the killing of the soldier in the clash.
According to sources, gunnies had attacked a convoy of Levies Force a few months ago and taken away their weapons and at least two vehicles.
In a separate development, the FC personnel claimed to have captured an important krazed killer leader in Rakhni area of Bakhan district on Friday.
FC officials identified the krazed killer leader as Nisaruddin Marri and said he was caught during a search operation.
They claimed that Nisaruddin Marri was a key figure of the proscribed United Baloch Army.
[Dawn] SIALKOT: The Indian Border Security Force (BSF) resorted to unprovoked firing on Pak border villages in Shakargarh sector along the Working Boundary here on Friday.
As unprovoked as previously, when the Pakistnis forgot that they'd fired both first and extensively, no doubt.
It was the third consecutive day of Indian shelling on the border villages.
According to Chenab Rangers officials, the BSF personnel started unprovoked firing on Pak villages at 08:30pm, targeting the civilian population there.
The Chenab Rangers retaliated in a befitting manner to the Indian firing. No casualties were reported.
[Dawn] KHAR: Security forces destroyed the houses of three holy warriors involved in several sabotage activities in different areas of Khar tehsil of Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... the other day, a local administration official said.
The official said that security forces and personnel of Bajaur Levies during a joint search operation destroyed the houses of three holy warriors in Shinkoot and Shahnary areas.
The official, who didn?t disclose the name of holy warriors, claimed that they were wanted to the administration for their alleged involvement in various terror activities in the region.
The official said that the three holy warriors had been hiding for the last several months. He said that the security forces with the help of local administration had started search operation against the suspected holy warriors across the agency.
?Such actions against the holy warriors will continue in the entire agency to keep the region free of holy warrior activities,? said the official.? Correspondent
[DAWN] Police officials involved in selling thousands of bullet rounds and other weapons to smugglers have been locked away I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... province.
Police officials deployed at Balochistan Constabulary's arsenal depot sold out 750,000 rounds of SMGs and other weapons in Quetta during last few years.
?We have detained six police officials and four smugglers in connection with weapons sale,? Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Quetta, Razzaq Cheema told a presser on Friday.
He said that the accused set the arsenal depot of police on fire to conceal their robbery. They sold out Rs35's bullet from Rs100 to Rs150 in open market between 2011 and 2014, he added.
Cheema stated that an inquiry was ordered by the commandant Balochistan Constabulary after fire was reported from weapons depot.
Police officials and weapon smugglers earned millions of rupees through the sale of police department's weapons in the open market. Hitherto, low level police officials have been arrested and officers are yet to be arrested, Cheema said.
When asked about sale of weapons to snuffies and criminals, the CCPO said, ?Possibility of selling weapons to miscreants cannot be ruled out?.
The CCPO said that a case was also registered against the accused involved in stealing official weapons. ?All robbers would be punished as per law,? he assured, saying that security of police arsenals was tightened in the aftermath of the robbery.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/03/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[IraqiNews.com] 15 ISIL murderous Moslems including leaders where killed in djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... Security source stated to IraqiNews.com ?The US-led coalition bombarded the ISIL murderous Moslems in Mosul to kill 15 of them.?
Posted by: trailing wife ||
01/03/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[IraqiNews.com] Three corpses for coppers were discovered of southeastern Tikrit.
Security source stated to IraqiNews.com “The ISIL forces of Evil killed three coppers in Dour district of southeastern Tikrit after kidnapping them where the security forces discovered their corpses and sent them to the morgue.”
[IsraelTimes] Jihadist group seizes dozens of men from northern Iraqi villages as part of investigation into desecration of its banner
The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group seized dozens of men from two villages in northern Iraq on Friday while searching for people who burned its flag, officials and residents said.
An intelligence officer said that a total of 170 men were taken from the villages of Al-Shajara and Gharib in Kirkuk province, after two IS flags were burned in the area, an account confirmed by other officials from the province.
“Members of the (IS) organization who were driving around 30 vehicles took the kidnapped (people) to the centre of Hawijah,” a nearby town where they have a court and a prison, the officer said.
A resident of Al-Shajara said that women pleaded with the IS murderous Moslems not to harm the men, to which the fighters responded that they would investigate and only punish those responsible for the flag burning in the village.
A resident from Gharib said they took around 90 people from that village, and that the fighters said they were searching for 15 men who burned their flag there.
It is not the first time IS has turned to mass detentions as it seeks to quell resistance in the swathes of territory in Iraq that it has overrun since June.
It seized 50 people in Kirkuk province after residents burned one of their positions and flag in September, and 20 more the following week for allegedly forming a resistance group.
Some of those seized by IS have been subsequently released.
But the group has also executed thousands of people in areas it controls in Iraq and Syria, sometimes in grisly beheadings it videotapes and posts online.
[AnNahar] Gunmen killed three Sunni holy mans near the mostly Shiite city of Basra in southern Iraq, a government front man said Friday, an apparent sectarian attack that drew immediate calls for calm.
Interior Ministry front man Saad Maan told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the assailants ambushed a car Thursday night carrying the holy mans in the mostly Sunni district of Bab al-Zubeir near Basra, shooting dead the three and seriously wounding two other holy mans traveling with them.
The ministry, he said, was investigating the killings. He gave no other details.
There was no claim of responsibility for the ambush and no reports of retaliatory attacks by Sunnis.
The attack followed a visit to Basra this week by Shiite Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his tour of a Sunni area north of Baghdad on New Year's Eve. Al-Abadi on both visits spoke emphatically about the need for all of Iraq's religious and ethnic communities to close ranks in the face of the threat posed by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group.
An association of Sunni holy mans also called for calm in a statement issued Friday, arguing that the attack was carried out to ignite sectarian violence in Basra. Speaking later on state Iraqi television, the association's head, Khaled al-Mullah, said the Islamic State group and its supporters were the only beneficiaries of the attack.
In other violence Friday, a roadside kaboomwent kaboom! in central Baghdad, killing four civilians and wounding 12, police and hospital officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
[Ynet] Police incarcerated Book 'im, Mahmoud! a Paleostinian who is illegally staying in Israel on a bus on Highway 2 on Friday after receiving a warning that there was a plan to execute a terrorist attack.
The Paleostinian was located after traffic police blocked the highway in both directions near the Netanya Interchange - leading to traffic jams.
[IsraelTimes] IDF raids Ramallah house where suspected perpetrator was hiding since last week?s attack; 2 soldiers lightly hurt
IDF troops locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! a Paleostinian man overnight Thursday-Friday on suspicion that he was behind the stabbing of two Border Police officers last Friday in Jerusalem?s Old City.
The army said Mohammed al-Ajlouni, an East Jerusalem resident, was caught during a raid on a house in the West Bank city of Ramallah to which he had escaped after the attack.
Two Israel Defense Forces soldiers were lightly hurt during the capture, Israel Radio reported.
The Paleostinian news agency Shehab published photos it claims were of the house that was raided by the IDF.
Last Friday morning, two Border Police officers were lightly hurt in a stabbing attack at Lions Gate in the Old City. One of the officers, 19 years old, was stabbed in the neck while the other officer, 35, was stabbed in the hand as he struggled with the assailant.
The incident has somewhat embarrassed the police, as a video that emerged of the scene showed the coppers?s sluggish response to the attack.
The footage shows the attacker running up behind the two officers as they stood in a doorway. He starts swinging his knife at the coppers. One of the officers pushes the assailant back, while the other pulls out his club. The policeman manages to swing at the assailant, who briefly runs up a side alley. He returns to struggle with the first officer, and they swing at each other while disappearing down another side street, with the second officer in chase. The video ends with the attacker, dressed in a striped sweater, fleeing down the street.
The attacker managed to escape, as security forces conducted a search in the area.
The incident occurred as worshipers were leaving the Temple Mount complex after morning prayers.
Lions Gate, which leads into the Moslem Quarter, marks the beginning of the Via Dolorosa, the path which, according to Christian tradition, Jesus took on his way from prison to crucifixion.
[Gulf Today] A mayor on Friday blamed members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) for a deadly New Year’s Eve bombing in North Cotabato as the number of fatalities rose to two when one of the four seriously injured victims died. One woman died at the scene and another woman died at the hospital early on Friday morning due to severe injuries she received during the blast that also injured 33 others.
Mayor Joselito Pinol of M’lang said, "I have concrete evidence that could prove the BIFF was behind the explosion," where an improvised bomb was detonated on Thursday afternoon at a public market crowded with residents making last-minute New Years shopping. Pinol revealed that earlier on Tuesday, police nabbed a BIFF suspect linked to the bombing of a pool hall at the height of a town festival on November 23 that killed three high school students and injured 25 others.
BIFF spokesman Abu Misry Mama denied Pinol's claim in a text message, saying, "We don’t have a hand in the explosion but we know where the bomb came from."
That's some denial.
The BIFF warned it would continue to oppose the agreement signed in March by the government and the MILF that called for the establishment of a new Bangsamoro autonomous region.
Hat tip to Ebbomosh Hupemp2664, who posted it in the thread here.
[ArutzSheva] The Islamic State terror organization has executed Jordanian pilot 1st Lt. Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, who was taken prisoner in Syria last week, according to a report this morning (Friday) by the Lebanese Al Mayadeen news agency.
Last week the Islamic State boasted it had brought down a fighter jet over northern Syria, taking the pilot prisoner. While Jordanian sources confirmed the report, US sources denied it, saying that the plane had crashed.
Ebbomosh Hupemp2664 also noted attempts to rescue the lieutenant, which is probably why he was quickly killed instead of the process dragged out for maximum destroyed hopes.
[AnNahar] At least 19 people were killed overnight by Syrian rebel fire on government-controlled parts of the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said on Friday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the dead included at least five children, three of whom were killed with their mother when a rocket hit the car they were in.
The Britannia-based group said at 32 people were maimed in Thursday night's violence in the western part of the city.
Once Syria's economic hub, Aleppo has been ravaged by fighting that began there in mid-2012.
The city is divided with government forces controlling the western part and rebels controlling the east.
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... government forces have advanced steadily around the eastern outskirts of the city, threatening to besiege opposition-held districts.
It’s a rookie social media mistake and one that intelligence and law enforcement agencies pray for when tracking criminals. This week one of New Zealand’s well known jihadists, Mark Taylor (Twitter aka: Kiwi Jihadi or @M_Taylor_Kiwi), removed 45 tweets after he discovered that he was broadcasting his twitter location to every intelligence agency (and others) keeping tabs on him. Unfortunately for him we captured all of them prior to him removing the tweets and will discuss the value of the intelligence they contained. Taylor isn’t the first jihadist to broadcast his whereabouts via social media and in fact looking at the battlefield in Syria we see fighters from Canada, France, and other western countries making the same mistake. The benefit of material like this when examining foreign fighters is it allows investigators to establish the extent to which an individual is tied to a terrorist group like Daesh (ISIS). In this manner they can better justify potential criminal charges against the individual and at the very least build grounds for their detention and investigation upon their return. And there I was, knee deep in hand grenade pins and empty mags....
[IsraelTimes] Air raids said to be heaviest in area since capture of Jordanian pilot last week
US-led coalition warplanes carried out more than a dozen Arclight airstrikes overnight in and around the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group’s de facto capital in northeastern Syria, three activist groups said Friday.
The air raids on the outskirts of Raqqa were the heaviest coalition strikes on the city along the Euphrates River since Islamic State group turbans captured a Jordanian pilot after his F-16 jet went down near the city on December 24.
The anti-Islamic State activist group called Raqqa Is Silently Being Slaughtered reported on Friday at least 13 coalition strikes. It said the Furoussiyeh area and the Division 17 military base were among the targets hit.
The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist collective also confirmed the air raids.
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.
...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth...
