[Garowe] The United States has warned that Somalia-based al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban ...Arabic for students... , functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... faceless myrmidons are capable of hitting aircraft flying at low altitudes in the Northeastern part of the East Africa nation, particularly along the troubled Kenya-Somalia border.
Federal Aviation Authority [FAA[ said al-Shabaab is in possession of weapons capable of hitting aircraft flying at altitudes of up to 25,000 ft, thus endangering the lives of millions of people using the airspace.
"Such weapons could target aircraft at low altitudes, including during the arrival and departure phases of flight, and/or target airports and aircraft on the ground, especially at airfields located east of 40 degrees east longitude," read a statement in part.
In most cases, flights from the United Arab Emirates [UAE], China, India, and many other East African countries use the airspace in northwestern. al-Shabaab has a huge presence in Garissa, Mandera, and Wajir counties.
Family members of Bureau De Change operators arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) for allegedly financing terrorism have called on the Nigerian government to release their sons, husbands and fathers or take them to the court.
In March 2021, Senior Special Assistant to The President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the Nigerian Government had arrested some Bureau De Change operators who were facilitating the transfer of money to Boko Haram terrorists.
He had said some Nigerians transferring money to the sect from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were working with the BDC operators.
“Bureau de change are facilitating money to terrorists. We have already worked with the UAE. Convictions have been achieved of Nigerians who are transferring money to Boko Haram terrorists and this also happens domestically. And I tell you that by the time we finish this investigation, the shocking details will surprise many Nigerians,” Shehu had said.
“Dozens of persons have been arrested by security agents in an ongoing nationwide crackdown on suspected financiers and collaborators of Boko Haram.”
Those arrested are being kept in military and DSS facilities in Abuja and other places.
It was learnt that the Nigerian government last month granted their family members access to them for the first time since their arrest, 11 months ago.
The protesters, who demonstrated in Kano on Wednesday, lamented that the absence of their breadwinners had continued to take a negative toll on their families.
Posted by: badanov ||
03/03/2022 00:00 ||
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[Iraq] The United States has resumed reviewing cases of Iraqis that have served alongside US service members, over a year after the program was put on hold, the US Department of State said on Tuesday.
"After an extensive review, we have resumed case processing for a select number of Iraqi P-2 cases that had been previously suspended during our review of the program," read a statement from the State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.
The statement added that during the review, they had "identified and resolved the issues that led to our suspension of the program in January of 2021" and that the US is "committed to ensuring that only bona fide and qualified Iraqis who supported U.S. efforts in Iraq are considered for this important humanitarian program."
The direct access program was authorized by the Congress during the US occupation of Iraq in an aim to fasten the process of resettling Iraqis that have faced danger by working with the US.
Over 40,000 applications covering over 104,000 people were frozen when the program was put on hold in January 2021, Rooters reported, adding that US Sherlocks at the time suspected some 4,000 false applications being submitted.
Shafaq News/ Iraqi security forces launched a large-scale campaign to construct defensive fortifications to secure Diyala's borders with Saladin, a commander of the Tribal Mobilization in Diyala said on Wednesday, criticizing the lack of security initiatives in the governorate of Saladin.
Tribal Mobilization Commander Mohammad Ibrahim Dhayfan told Shafaq News Agency, "the security authorities deployed 500 troops from the 34 brigade of the ninth division in a 60-kilometer rectangular strip that extends along the borders of Diyala with Saladin between the outskirts of al-Udhaim dam and al-Imamayn road near the village of Um al-Karami."
"The fortifications include constructing concrete and earthen berms and installing surveillance spots to hinder ISIS operatives from sneaking outside the 'loose areas' infested with terrorist groups."
Dhayfan lambasted "the lack of fortifications and security initiatives from Saladin's side despite the expansion of the terrorist groups' threat."
Posted by: badanov ||
03/03/2022 00:00 ||
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[BenarNews] The Filipino military said Wednesday that it had identified the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... turban group’s new emir for Southeast Asia as the leader of a local bully boy faction being targeted in an offensive underway in the southern Philippines.
Abu Zacharia (also known as Jer Mimbantas and Faharudin Hadji Satar) is believed to have survived the military operation in Lanao del Sur province that was launched on Tuesday and involved air strikes and ground troops.
"We have information that Abu Zacaria was designated as (IS) emir for Southeast Asia," Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II told news hounds on Wednesday. Cuerpo is the commanding officer of 103rd Infantry Brigade, which led the assault.
The offensive overran Zacharia’s base in a hinterland village in Maguing town, the military said. It announced that another suspected bully boy had died, bringing the corpse count to three Death Eaters and one soldier.
Lanao del Sur is where hundreds of pro-IS Death Eaters laid siege to Marawi, the historic provincial capital, for five months in 2017.
On Tuesday, the military launched pre-dawn Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s while sending ground troops to attack positions of Zacharia and his men. The military has been pursuing Zacharia’s group since January, Cuerpo said, adding that a recent intelligence report warned that his group might be preparing for a new round of hostilities.
"We have evidence, that is why we launched the offensive," Cuerpo said.
Abu Zacharia succeeded Owaida Marohombsar (also known as Abu Dar), the leader of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group who was killed in Lanao del Norte, a neighboring province, sometime in March 2019. Daulah Islamiyah means Islamic State in the local language.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
03/03/2022 00:41 ||
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[BenarNews] The Indonesian military and police pledged Wednesday to crack down on personnel who attend religious gatherings involving radical preachers, after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had warned the institutions to improve discipline in their ranks.
Speaking at the annual leadership meeting of the military and police a day earlier, Jokowi also cited cases of soldiers and police discussing controversial government policies in online messaging groups as an example of poor discipline.
"The president’s directive is for the common good to curb the spread of radicalism," national police front man Dedi Prasetyo told news hounds in Jakarta. "If there’s evidence of violations, the Professional Investigator and Safeguard Division [of the police] will take firm action against members."
The army chief of staff, Gen. Dudung Abdurachman, also told news hounds that the armed forces (TNI) would comply with the president’s order.
"Don’t let us make the wrong choice by inviting a preacher who has been exposed to radicalism," Dudung said. "Don’t let our families be exposed to misguided teachings."
Jokowi on Tuesday emphasized that members of the armed forces must follow orders of their superiors, noting it is necessary to be selective in choosing a preacher to speak at a religious study session to minimize the spread of radical ideas.
"The same goes for the ladies [wives of TNI and police members]. They can’t just hold gatherings with others and invite preachers as they please in the name of democracy," Jokowi said. "Be careful lest you invite radical preachers."
In November, Ahmad Nurwakhid, a director at the National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT), said Lions of Islam linked to the outlawed Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)
...Al Qaeda’s branch in Southeast Asia, naturally linked to the other groups in the region...
radical group had tried to infiltrate the Indonesian military, police and government ministries for more than a decade.
One month earlier, police said officers had arrested 876 JI members since the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people. But they warned that the number of members and sympathizers was estimated to be 10 times as many, with 67 JI-affiliated religious schools suspected to be breeding grounds for bad boys.
JI, which was outlawed in 2008, has not staged a major attack since 2011.
Still, police said they arrested 339 suspected Lions of Islam belonging to JI and other groups in 2021, an increase of 56 percent from the previous year. Officers also killed 18 suspected Lions of Islam last year.
— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) March 2, 2022
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – On Wednesday, a high-ranking official said they received intelligence information detailing that the Islamic State (ISIS) is planning for a full-scale control over Hawl Camp in the east of Hasakah, northeastern Syria.
Two days ago, clashes could be heard in the first sector of Hawl Camp where thousands of ISIS family members and IDPs shelter, eyewitnesses told North Press.
Since the prison break in Hasakah, the source said they have received information of a likely widespread attack by ISIS on Hawl Camp.
“Last Monday, a group of ISIS cells were planning for a full-scale attack in the camp, and it is possible that this group is the first one to plan for such attacks,” the source said.
“We noticed a crowd of people in the first sector and when the security forces headed to the scene to question about reason of the gathering, ISIS cells started shooting,” the sources said.
Two members of ISIS cell were killed and others were injured. The rest of them were arrested.
On the other hand, two members of the Asayish as well as four Iraqi refugees (a man, a child, and two women) were also injured.
Their health condition is stable, the source said.
Some of ISIS members wore suicide vests, the source added.
The Hawl Camp is a house for about 15,300 families in total of 56,000 individuals including 2,423 families of ISIS detained or killed militants, who hail from over than 60 countries.
Reporting by Hoshang Hassan
Posted by: badanov ||
03/03/2022 00:00 ||
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— NORTH PRESS AGENCY - ENGLISH (@NPA_English) March 2, 2022
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – The children of Abdulwahhab Abdullah, a resident of the town of Abu Hamam, east of Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, attend a destroyed school which located 500 meters away from his house.
“The school suffers from many problems, it does not have water, the windows are broken and do not protect the children from the cold, as well as the heaters have been robbed,” Abdullah said.
Dust fills the faces and clothes of Abdullah’s children due to the school’s rubble, “if the situation remained like that, many students would stop attending it.”
During the battles between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Islamic State (ISIS), 60 schools were completely or partially destroyed in the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor.
The eldest son of Abdullah is in the fourth grade while the youngest is in the first, they both suffer from dust allergy, so he called on the concerned parties and those responsible for educational process to pay more attention to these problems.
The towns and countryside of east Deir ez-Zor include about 600 schools, where about 212,000 students study, according to the Education Committee in Deir ez-Zor.
Muhammad Aboud, the co-chair of the Education Committee in the eastern region, revealed to North Press that there will be a meeting in the coming period with the Education Committee in Deir ez-Zor.
The meeting will focus on developing a mechanism for restoring the partially destroyed schools, after receiving several complaints from educational staff and the parents, regarding the impacts of the schools’ destruction on the educational process, according to Aboud.
Students’ dropout is a major problem facing school administrations in the region, Aboud said.
The educational staff is facing many difficulties, due to the destruction of the school’s infrastructure, according to Maha Ahmad, principal of Hawi Abu Hamam School, east of Deir ez-Zor.
Hawi school has neither main gate nor fence, therefore “Sometimes students leave school and go home without telling us, we cannot control the students.”
Beside these problem the school’s floor is not leveled and is covered with dirt, the same applies to sanitary facilities and bathrooms, Ahmed further explained.
“The situation is very bad in the school, the teachers are suffering and can’t give any lessons when it is windy, some students stopped attending school because they are suffering from allergic or asthma.”
Most of the school’s property was stolen, and local and international organizations contributed to the repairs after the residents returned to the city, where they worked to restore what they could, but that require a huge financial resource, according to local residents.
Perhaps what Ahmad hopes at this stage, from the organizations and the Education Committee of the Autonomous Administration is to reconsider the course of the educational process, through reforming schools to facilitate the return of students to them.
Reporting by Anwar al-Midan
Posted by: badanov ||
03/03/2022 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.
...... Somalia's version of the 
...
