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SSS announces arrest of another ‘top Boko Haram terrorist’
Today's Headlines
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 10:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
NDS foil major attack plot by Haqqani network in Khost
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A major attack plot by Haqqani terrorist network was foiled by the Afghan intelligence operatives in eastern Khost province
... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name...
of Afghanistan.

The Afghan Intelligence, National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS), said a huge cache of weapons and explosives prepared by the terror network for the attack was seized by NDS operatives.

A statement by NDS said the cache was discovered during a joint operation by Afghan National Police from Chargoti village in Alisher district.

The statement further added that the cache included 30 Ak-47 assault rifles, 2 rifles, 3000 rounds of Ak-47 ammunition, 2 Improvised Explosive Device, 4 fake Pak vehicle registration plates, 1 van, 5 military uniforms.

NDS in its statement further added that the terror network was looking to use the explosives to carry out coordinated attack in Khost province.

According to NDS, two suspects were also jugged
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
in connection to the attack plot by the Afghan cops.

This comes as the Afghan intelligence operatives foiled a major attack plot by the terror network on Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
International Airport.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Haqqani Network

#1  Obviously NDS is not Klingon-trained.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/14/2016 15:01 Comments || Top||


Taliban militants suffer casualties after attacking Kunar security posts
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs suffered casualties after attacking security posts in eastern Kunar province
... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country.....
of Afghanistan, local officials said.

Provincial police chief General Abdul Habib Syed Khel said Talibs launched coordinated attacks on security posts in Marwara and Sarkano districts earlier today.

He said festivities still continued between the turbans and Afghan cops, leaving at least 9 Talibs dead.

Gen. Syed Khel further added that a policeman also sustained injuries during the shootout with the Talibs.

Talibs grabbed credit behind the attack and said heavy casualties were incurred to the security personnel.

However,
by candlelight every wench is handsome...
the local security officials have rejected the Taliban claims as baseless.

Kunar is among the volatile provinces in eastern Afghanistan where anti-government armed Lion of Islam groups including the Taliban murderous Moslems are actively operating in a number of its districts and frequently carry out insurgency activities.

Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Takhar PC member killed as clash erupts among ex-Jihadi commanders
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] A provincial council member has been killed as clash erupted among the ex-Jihadi commanders in northeastern Takhar province of Afghanistan.

The local security officials have confirmed that festivities erupted among Mullah Perum Qul and Ainuddin Rustaqi supporters earlier this evening.

The officials further added that Mullah Qul was also a former Afghan politician in the parliament and his supporters have killed Rustaqi during the shootout.

At least two others have also bit the dust during the shootout, the officials said, adding that security forces were deployed to bring the situation under the control.

The main reason behind the bloody clash among the two ex-Jihadi commanders has not been ascertained so far.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
12 Shaboobs pining for fjords in US airstrikes in Somalia
A Pentagon spokesman says the U.S. conducted airstrikes Monday and Tuesday in Somalia that killed an estimated 12 militants affiliated with the al-Shabab Islamic extremist group.The spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said the targeted militants posed an imminent threat to U.S. personnel who were assisting Somali government forces north of the city of Kismayo in southern Somalia.

Local residents said the U.S. airstrike struck Al shabaab camp in Yoontoy village, some 20Km north of Kismayo city, the regional capital of Lower Jubbada province.

These were the latest in a series of U.S. attacks in Somalia aimed at al-Shabab, which has ties to al-Qaida. Al-Shabab has been carrying out a campaign of deadly violence targeting government officials and international troops, as well as hotels and restaurants in the capital.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Bombing, clashes leave 6 people dead in NW Libya
[Iran Press TV] A total of six people have bit the dust in a bombing as well as festivities between security forces and snuffies in Libya’s northwest.

Aziz Issa, head of the media office at Misrata's central hospital, said a boom-mobile went off at a checkpoint, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the Libyan port city.

The bombing left a member of the security forces in Libya dead and four others maimed, he added.

No individual or Death Eater group has yet grabbed credit for the incident, but the Takfiri
...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed...
ISIS terrorist group has carried out several attacks on checkpoints on the coastal road south of Misrata, which leads toward the group’s stronghold in the city of Sirte.

The photo released on February 18, 2015 shows purported ISIS hard boyz parading in a street in Sirte, Libya. ©AFP
Meanwhile,
...back at the palazzo, Don Smilzo looked for an avenue of escape. The only window opened a hundred feet above the moat. The nearest of the hired assassins hold a bloody axe.
The window was looking better all the time....

an unnamed security source said snuffies raided a military camp early on Wednesday near the town of Bani Walid, southeast of Misrata, and seized weapons and ammunition.

Two members of the security forces bit the dust in the festivities along with three camp workers who had been beheaded, according to an unidentified official from Bani Walid's town council.

Libya has been dominated by violence since a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
military intervention followed the 2011 uprising that led to the toppling and killing of longtime dictator, Muammar Qadaffy
...a reminder that a single man with an idea can change an entire nation, usually for the worse...
The oil-rich state has had two rival administrations since mid-2014, when snuffies overran the capital and forced the parliament to flee to the country’s remote east.

The two administrations reached agreement on a unity government last December, and the new government received endorsement by the United Nations
...a formerly good idea gone bad...
. However,
nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits...
it has had difficulty taking over.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Three French Soldiers Die in Mali Mine Blast
[AnNahar] Three French peacekeeping soldiers died after their armored car ran over a landmine in Mali, the French presidency said Wednesday.

One soldier was killed immediately in the blast on Tuesday and President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
learned "with great sadness" that two more soldiers had died in the west African country, a statement said.

The car was leading a convoy of around 60 vehicles travelling to the northern desert town of Tessalit when it hit the mine, according to the French defense ministry.

The troops were part of Operation Barkhane, under which La Belle France has some 3,500 soldiers deployed across five countries in the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, south of the Sahara desert, to combat the jihadist insurgency raging there.

The latest deaths bring to seven the number of French soldiers killed in combat in the operation, according to defense ministry figures.

Ten French soldiers were killed in an earlier military intervention launched in January 2013 to oust Salafist tough guys who had taken over vast stretches of northern Mali in the chaos following a coup.

Countries across west Africa are scrambling to tighten security following a string of attacks against hotels and restaurants popular with foreigners that have highlighted the growing reach of jihadist groups in the region.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Mourabitounes


Fighting in Benghazi continues
Mortar fire by militants in Benghazi hit an army ammunitions store in there city’s central district of Juliana today, a Libyan army source has told the Libya Herald. It is not known, however, if the store was deliberately targeted by forces linked to the so-called Islamic State (IS) or was just a lucky hit.

The day has seen a wave of 122-mm mortar strikes against Juliana. At least ten hit the area, although there are no reports of anyone being injured. One mortar also hit the city centre this afternoon. They are thought to have been fired from south Benghazi’s Garyounis district, although there are claims of mortars also being fired from Sabri and Suq Al-Hout.

Both were reported to have been liberated in January by the Libyan National Army under General Khalifa Hafter.

Yesterday, mortars landed in the city’s Jamal Abdul Nasser Street, killing a 47-year old Benghazi University administrator.

The fresh mortar attacks follow a series of Libya air force strikes on vessels delivering arms and ammunition to the militants. In the past couple of days, six boats, all thought to have come from Misrata, have been targeted. Two were attacked today sailing towards Khashem Al-Kabesh near Gemenis, south-west of Benghazi. Also today, another vessel was reported attacked north-west of Benghazi.

In response to today’s attacks, the Libyan air force launched counter strikes into Garyounis. The result of these strikes in unknown at present.
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
SSS announces arrest of another ‘top Boko Haram terrorist’
[PREMIUMTIMESNG] You may recall that last week, this Service informed the public of the arrest of Khalid AL-BARNAWI, known for his leadership and notoriety in terrorism activities in Nigeria. Nigerians were also informed of his talent-spotting and recruitment of young people into the Ansaru/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...
terrorist groups. With the arrest of AL-BARNAWI, the Department of State Services (DSS) has made an uncommon success in the decimation of these groups and their leadership. Similarly, the Service wish to inform that it has further tossed in the clink
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
Bello DANHAJIYA, a close associate and presumed second in command to AL-BARNAWI.

DANHAJIYA is a Fulani from Zamfara State and a strategic accomplice of AL-BARNAWI. Preliminary investigations have disclosed his involvement in gun-running, cattle rustling and other nefarious criminal activities principally on the directives of his commander, AL-BARNAWI. So far, efforts are being made to conclude the investigations and commence prosecution in line with
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Clashes kill pro-Hadi commander in Yemen: Report
[Iran Press TV] The commander of an army brigade loyal to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Yemen’s resigned president, has been killed in festivities with Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
Ansarullah fighters while a shaky truce is in place in the war-torn country.

According to loyalist military sources and medics, a Houthi sniper fatally shot Major General Zaid al-Huri, early Wednesday in the northeast of Sana’a Province. They said the Houthi fighters fired a mortar round in the same area, wounding six loyalist soldiers.

Pro-Hadi Major Abdullah Hasan said two Death Eaters were killed and seven injured in several hours of overnight festivities with Houthis in Ma'rib Province. At least one Houthi fighter was also killed and several hurt and captured during the Ma'rib fighting, Hasan added.

The confrontations came as the ceasefire between Yemen’s warring sides took effect at midnight (2100 GMT) on April 10. The truce was announced by the UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, as a step to calm the situation ahead of peace talks scheduled to be held in Kuwait on April 18.

In a statement, a Houthi military official accused loyalist forces and 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...
of "violating the ceasefire" on Tuesday in the provinces of Ma’rib, Jawf and Ta'izz.

In breach of the truce, Saudi mercenaries hit several areas in Sana’a’s Nihm District with Katyusha missiles. They further targeted positions held by the Yemeni army and Popular Committees in areas across the provinces of Jawf, Ta'izz, Shabwah and Bayda while Saudi fighter jets also violated the airspace of the same regions.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Houthis


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russian police identify Stavropol suicide bombers
[RFE/RL] Russian police say they have identified three suicide bombers who were killed when they tried to attack a police station in southern Russia.

Officials in Russia's Investigative Committee said the three attackers were all residents of the village of Kitayevskoye in the Novoselitsky district of the Stavropol region. Kitayevskoye is close to the police building that came under attack on April 11.

The attackers were named as Zaur Akayev, Ramazan Khaibulayev, and Isai Abdulatipov.

Initial reports said one of the men had been a suicide bomber, but investigators later said that all three men detonated suicide vests during the attack.

An Interior Ministry spokesman said that the authorities had responded to the attack by activating the "Fortress Plan," meaning police had been put on a higher state of military readiness.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Spain detains suspect for supplying arms to Paris supermarket gunman
[FRANCE24] Spanish police have tossed in the clink
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
a French man suspected of supplying the arms used by an Islamist holy warrior to kill four people at a kosher supermarket and a policewoman in Gay Paree in January 2015, Spain’s interior ministry said on Wednesday.

Antoine Denive, a 27-year-old from Sainte Catherine in La Belle France, was arrested on Tuesday on a European arrest warrant in Rincon de la Victoria, a town close to Malaga on Spain’s southern coast, the ministry said in a statement.

Two other men from Serbia and Montenegro linked to arms trafficking were also arrested during the raid, which was coordinated by French police, the ministry said.

The Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibaly killed a policewoman in a Gay Paree suburb on Jan. 8 last year and attacked the supermarket the following day before being rubbed out by police. Two other gunnies shot 12 people at and near the offices of the Charlie Hebdo
...A lefty French satirical magazine, home of what may well be the majority if the active testicles left in Europe...
newspaper in Gay Paree on Jan 7.

Neither the ministry nor police said where the weapons were handed over but the ministry said Coulibaly had been in Spain several days before the attacks, which he dedicated to 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....
holy warrior group in a video.

The ministry said Coulibaly was in Spain with his wife Hayat Boumeddiene and an unknown third person, before he accompanied Boumeddiene to Madrid’s Barajas airport where she took a flight to Istanbul with the aim of joining Islamic State in Syria.

Denive fled La Belle France several weeks after Coulibaly stormed the supermarket, the ministry said, and set up a new base in Malaga where he continued his illegal arms dealing using fake papers and a valid European passport in the name of a different person.

The ministry did not say what weapons Denive supplied to Coulibaly but said Coulibaly was armed with two AK 47 assault rifles, two semi-automatic pistols, 20 sticks of industrial dynamite and a combat knife when he died.

A front man for Spain’s High Court said on Wednesday Denive had denied selling arms to Coulibaly but said he was willing to be extradited to La Belle France. The judge ordered that Denive be kept in jail but he would be tried in La Belle France as long as no other cases against him in Spain were found.

La Belle France’s Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve had congratulated his Spanish counterpart Jorge Fernandez Diaz on the success of the operation, a ministry front man in Madrid said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


IS says Brussels brothers also behind Paris attacks
[IsraelTimes] 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....
’s online magazine, Dabiq, praises the attackers who killed 32 in Brussels last month, and hails two brothers who were jacket wallahs in the attack as key actors in November’s bloodbath in Gay Paree as well.

The group has grabbed credit for both acts of carnage targeting Western European capitals.

"All preparations for the raids in Gay Paree and Brussels started" with Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 30, and his brother Khalid, 27, Dabiq says. "These two brothers gathered the weapons and the explosives."

It is “firstly due" to the El Bakraouis that the November 13 attacks that killed 130 victims in the French capital occurred, Dabiq says. Subsequently, it says, Khalid El Bakraoui had a dream "which motivated him to carry out another istishhadi (martyrdom) operation."

The younger El Bakraoui went kaboom! in a rush-hour Brussels subway train on March 22, killing 16 victims. That same morning, his older brother was one of two jacket wallahs who detonated explosives-laden suitcases at Brussels Airport, killing another 16.

Dabiq also confirms Belgian and French police findings that Najim Laachraoui, the second Brussels Airport jacket wallah, manufactured the explosives used in both the Gay Paree and Brussels attacks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


The Grand Turk
Turkish artillery hits ISIS targets in Syria
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the Turkish military struck targets from the ISIS terrorist organization in Syria on Wednesday in retaliation after four rockets that hit the southeastern Turkish border town of Kilis for the third straight day on Wednesday.

Davutoglu said in a speech the Turkish army struck in back in line with its rules of engagement.

More than 20 people have been wounded this week alone as multiple rockets struck Kilis, a town that is home to an estimated 110,000 Syrian refugees and is frequently hit by shelling from across the border, a region controlled by ISIS.

Four rockets hit Kilis on Wednesday but they landed in an empty field and no casualties were reported, Mayor Hasan Kara told Reuters.

Northern Syria has witnessed fierce battles recently as ISIS – despite retaking the town of al-Rai from rebels – is pushed back by rebels, Kurdish fighters and Syrian government forces.

Kilis residents watched as the Turkish military carried out their retaliatory missions across the border.

Davutoglu said measures would be taken to ensure the safety of citizens. “Daesh targets have been struck within the rules of engagement,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the terrorist hardline group.

“We are conducting a decisive battle to protect our citizens from this circle of fire,” he said.

Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz, Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar and the head of the national intelligence agency Hakan Fidan were visiting Kilis to inspect the area and discuss border security, Davutoglu said.

“We go to sleep to the sounds of rockets and we wake up to the sound of rockets,” Kara told Reuters by telephone, adding that the death toll from Tuesday’s rocket attack had risen to two after another person died in hospital overnight.

The military has now struck 146 ISIS targets across the border from Kilis since January 9, Yilmaz said at a news conference in Kilis.

“Based on our information, we think they have suffered 362 casualties and 123 injuries,” he said.

The Turkish armed forces often respond to such attacks by firing at targets in Syria. In March, two people, including a young child, were killed by rocket fire into Kilis.

Turkey is confronting a number of security threats on multiple fronts. As a member of a U.S.-led coalition, it is fighting ISIS in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling Kurdish militants in its southeast, since the collapse of a ceasefire last year which has triggered the worst violence since the 1990s.

Two Russian Men Arrested

Turkish police have arrested two Russians, over the killing of a Chechen militant commander in Istanbul last year, the Haberturk newspaper said on Wednesday, one of several killings of Chechens in the country.

The Russian consulate has confirmed the information, saying the Russian citizens deny all the accusations.

The two men were detained in Istanbul on April 8 in an operation by Turkish police and intelligence agents as they made preparations for another unspecified operation. Istanbul police declined to comment.

The reported arrests come against a background of poor relations between Turkey and Russia following the shooting down of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border by Turkish military jets last November.

The newspaper said the 52-year-old Yury Anisimov and 55-year-old Aleksandr Smirnovare are reportedly suspected of having killed jihadist Abdulvakhid Edelgireyev from the Chechen Republic, Russia.

Haberturk said they were found to be carrying fake ID papers and memory sticks containing photos of security cameras, parking areas and license plates.

Many Chechen dissidents have settled in Turkey since the two wars in the 1990s between Russia and militants in its Chechnya region and there have been several murders of Chechens there that remain unsolved.

In May 2013 a prominent figure in the Chechen diaspora was shot dead in his Ankara office. In 2011, three Chechens were shot dead in broad daylight on a suburban street in Istanbul.
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  For anyone believing Erdogan's Islamists would strike their spawn of the Daesh(Isis), I have a nice big bridge to sell in Brooklyn...
Posted by: hotspur666 || 04/14/2016 21:49 Comments || Top||

#2  I'll believe it when Rudaw confirms it.
Posted by: mossomo || 04/14/2016 22:06 Comments || Top||


Kurd kommies kill dozens of Turkish troops
QAMISHLI ــ At least 34 Turkish army troops have been killed during the military operations in the mainly Kurdish areas in Turkey’s south-east, according to the People’s Defense Forces (HPG), the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The PKK’s media center issued a statement, obtained by ARA News, saying: “In response to the Turkish-led offensive on the cities of Kafr, Nusaybin and Şırnak, our forces [HPG] carried out an operation against military headquarters in the township of Hani in Amed (Diyarbakir) province.”

“We were able to kill at least 34 soldiers of the Turkish army and wound more than 70 others,” the statement read.

The HPG leadership explained that many ambulances went to the operation’s area and transferred the injured to the hospitals.

“We were able to destroy a large deal military equipment during the operation,” it stressed.

Speaking to ARA News, the Kurdish mayor of Nusaybin Sara Kaya had said that the Turkish army forces have been bombing the Kurdish city of Nusaybin southeastern Turkey for weeks. At least seven neighborhoods in the city have been under heavy bombardment, according to Kaya.

Major Kurdish cities and towns in southeastern Turkey have been witnessing daily battles between the Turkish army forces and PKK rebels.

Since the start of the Turkish military campaign last July, over a 1000 civilians have been reported dead, hundreds more injured and tens of thousands displaced due to the military operations by the Turkish forces southeastern the country. More than 100,000 displaced people have been documented in two months, while many others remain stranded in war-torn towns and villages in the Kurdish region, according to local activists.

Over the past two months, the army has been targeting the PKK strongholds in Nusaybin and Şırnak with tanks and artillery from the hills that overlook the two Kurdish areas, in a bid to remove the PKK-led checkpoints erected on the roads linking the cities in Turkey’s south-east, according to Turkish military sources.

Turkey-PKK violence has raged in the Kurdish region since July subsequent to the collapse of peace talks–aimed at ending a three-decade conflict in the country that claimed lives of over 40,000 people.
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Taliban convene key meetings in their safe havens in Pakistan: CoAS
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Taliban group leaders are convening key meetings in their safe havens inside the Pak soil, a top Afghan defense official said Wednesday.

The Chief of Army Staff General Qadam Shah Shaheem told news hounds in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
that the Taliban gatherings, including meetings to pledge allegiance are taking place in Pakistain.

Gen. Shaheem also criticized the cross-border shelling by Pak military in eastern provinces and said the Afghan leadership is hopeful that the provocative acts are immediately stopped.

According to Gen. Shaheem, the Taliban group is facing unity challenges and their central command has been weakened which he says is a good news for the Afghan armed forces.

The remarks by Gen. Shaheem comes as reports emerged earlier this week that the Haqqani terrorist network has played a key role in resolving the leadership issues of the Taliban group.

According to local media reports in Pakistain, the Haqqani network leader Sirajuddin Haqqani
...son of Pashtun warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, still titular head of the Haqqani Network....
intervened to resolve the issues of the Taliban leadership and managed to secure key posts Mullah Omar
... a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality...
’s son and brother in Taliban leadership council.

The report emerged days before the Taliban group announced their spring offensive and vowed to carry out more attacks across the country as the group’s insurgency enters to its 15th year.

The Afghan officials have long been criticizing Pakistain for supporting the anti-government armed holy warrior groups by providing them with shelters inside their soil.

Although the Pak officials have repeatedly denied support to the Taliban group but the country’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj PrunefaceAziz
...Adviser to Pak Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, who believes in good jihadis and bad jihadis as a matter of national policy...
earlier acknowledged the Pakistain has influence on Taliban leaders which could be used as a leverage to force the group to participate in peace talks.

Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Iraq
Kurd troops prepare for offensive in Mosul
HASAKAH – Kurdish Peshmerga forces would participate in any offensive operation to recapture the city of Mosul in northern Iraq from the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS), Karim Sinjari, interior minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, said on Wednesday.

The Kurdish minister told local reporters that the Peshmerga forces have no intensions to enter the city of Mosul while participating in the upcoming anti-ISIS operation.

Speaking to ARA News, political activist Marwan Eidi said: “Certainly there is no intention by the Kurdistan leadership to annex the city of Mosul to the Kurdish autonomy, except for some areas in the Nineveh Plain, villages and towns that were formerly under the control of Iraqi central government.”

“These areas in Nineveh province are mainly part of the Kurdistan homeland in northern Iraq; the liberation of this region from ISIS’s terrorists was delayed for several factors, including political and regional reasons,” Eidi argued.

The Kurdish activist stressed that the participating of the Peshmerga in liberating the city of Mosul is necessary. “The Peshmerga will likely retake the disputed areas in accordance with Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution,” he reported.

“The visit of the French Minister and before representatives of the Czech Republic and Germany came to agree on specific points regarding their strategy towards the battle for Mosul,” Eidi told ARA News.

The powers which prepare for the anti-ISIS battle to liberate Mosul include the Kurdish Peshmerga forces, the Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the National Defense group, the Iraqi army in addition to the US-led coalition forces.

The visits of Western leaders to the Kurdistan region of Iraq came within the framework of coordinating and supporting the Kurdish Peshmerga forcesــ which have been playing a remarkable role in pushing back the terror group away from the areas held by Kurds in northern Iraq, according to Kurdish monitoring groups.

Noteworthy, Mosul was controlled by ISIS in June 2014. The presence of a social incubator of Sunni tribes – who had been strained by the former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s policy– has facilitated the radical group’s control over the city, according to military experts.
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Kirkuk Kombat Chronicle
ISIS rocket artillery hit Taza

(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – A security source in Kirkuk Province announced on Wednesday, that the so-called ISIS attacked Taza area in southern Kirkuk, using Katyusha rockets.

The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “This afternoon, ISIS launched two Katyusha rockets from the vicinity of Kasabat Bashir toward the center of Taza area in southern Kirkuk,” noting that, “Two other rockets fell north of the vicinity.”

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “The attack did not result in any casualties or damage.”

Kurds detain 12 ISIS suspects

(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – On Wednesday the security forces from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in Kirkuk Province announced arresting 12 members of the so-called ISIS in central Kirkuk, while pointed out that the detainees had entered the city as displaced people.

The Kurdish security forces spokesman, Brigadier Samko Mahmoud, said in press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The Kurdish security forces (Asayish) arrested 12 militants from ISIS in the city of Kirkuk.”

Mahmoud added, “The detainees had entered the city of Kirkuk as displaced people.”
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


ISIS Bad Guy dies in shooting in Diyala
(IraqiNews.com) Diyali – A security source in Diyali province said on Wednesday, that a security force killed an ISIS element during clashes with him in an area east of Baqubah.

The source said in a brief statement received by IraqiNews.com, A combat force from the [army’s] 20th Brigade of the 15th Division conducted a tactical operation in the vicinity of Shalgham al-Nada (55 km east of Baqubah) and clashed with one of the ISIS militants who barricaded himself inside a residential house before he was killed.”

The source, who requested anonymity, added, “The force found an explosive belt and a [roadside] bomb in possession of the dead,” noting that, “The dead [man] was wanted on charges of terrorism.”
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Anbar Antics: 35+ die

Dozens die in ISIS mortar attack

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – On Wednesday, an informed source in Fallujah revealed, that dozens of civilians were either killed or wounded by a shelling carried out by ISIS on the outskirts of the city.

The source said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Today, ISIS shelled the outskirts of Fallujah using mortar shells, killing and wounding dozens of civilians inside the city.”

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, added, “ISIS incited the civilians against the security forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi through the mosques’ speakers.”

Iraqi forces clear 34 booby trapped residences.

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – The commander of Anbar Operations Command, Maj. Gen. Ismail al-Mahalawi, announced on Wednesday cleansing 34 booby-trapped houses in different areas of the province.

Mahalawi said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “A force from the engineering force of the [army’s] Tenth Division had managed to cleanse 12 booby trapped houses on the international highway road in the area of al-Hamediyah east of Ramadi,” pointing out that, “[Another] force from the engineering force of the Sixteenth Division managed to cleanse 12 booby-trapped houses in the city of Heet (70 km west of Ramadi).”

The source added, “A [security] force from the Third Regiment of the [army’s] Sixteenth Division was also able to cleanse 10 booby-trapped houses northeast of the city of Heet.”

33 ISIS troops die in ongoing Heet operations

(IraqiNews.com) Anbar – Heet District Council in Anbar Province announced on Wednesday, that the joint forces liberated an area in central Heet, while pointed out to the killing of 33 ISIS fighters during the operation.

The Head of Heet Council Mohammed Mohannad al-Hiti said in press statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “The joint forces were able, at noon today, to liberate al-Jamiya al-Thaniya neighborhood in central Heet from the control of ISIS.”

Hiti added, “The joint security forces also killed 33 ISIS militants during the operation.”

Iraqi militia officer dies clearing IEDs

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – A security source in Anbar province said on Wednesday, that an officer within al-Hashed al-Asha’ri militia was killed while defusing a roadside bomb east of Ramadi.

The source said in a statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “An explosive device that was planted on the side of a road in al-Sajariyah area east of Ramadi exploded against one of the officers within al-Hashed al-Asha’ri [militia] while he was trying to dismantle the bomb alongside the security forces and the engineering force.”

The source, who requested to remain anonymous, added, “The blast killed the officer,” noting that “The dead body was taken to the forensic medicine authority.”

Iraqi warbirds destroy bomb making factory

(IraqiNews.com) al-Anbar – Media officials with the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday the destruction of laboratories for manufacturing explosives belonging to the ISIS during an aerial bombing in the districts of Heet and Sharqat.

The official said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “The Iraqi F-16 warplanes pounded ISIS shelters in the areas of Heet, Sharqat and Qayyarah, targeting the headquarters of the ISIS elements,” noting that, “[The bombing] resulted in the destruction of a set of vehicles and booby-trapping factories.”

The statement added, “[This] was based on intelligence by the Anti-Terrorism Directorate and the Federal Investigations Agency.”
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  It's like Chicago - but with crew-served weapons.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/14/2016 1:55 Comments || Top||


1 dead in Baghdad market bombing
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – A source in the Iraqi Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday, that eight people had been either killed or wounded in a bomb blast near a fruits and vegetables market in southern Baghdad.

The source said in a statement followed by IraqiNews.com, “This morning, a bomb exploded near Rasheed fruits and vegetables market in Abu Dshir neighborhood in al-Darwa District in southern Baghdad, killing one person and injuring five others.”

The source, who asked anonymity, added, “A security force rushed to the area and transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital for treatment and the dead body to the forensic medicine department, while a raid was carried out to search for the perpetrators of the bombing.”
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hezbollah acquires advance Russian air-defense systems
[Wash Times] Israeli intelligence has confirmed to the German newspaper Bild, that Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed terrorist army that has vowed to destroy the Jewish state, has acquired advanced Russian anti-aircraft weapons systems that were given by the Russian military to the Syrian armed forces, reports The Times of Israel. The SA-17 Buk missile battery is a game changer and will directly threaten Israeli aircraft operating in northern Israel and the region.

This development would be "interesting," said Nadav Pollack, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Studies, whose research focuses on Hezbollah. "It’s a big deal. Israel calls these weapons ’tie-breakers,’ " Pollack said, using a Hebrew phrase similar to the English "game-changer." The Buk is a derivative of the system that shot down a civilian airliner over East Ukraine, killing all aboard, in 2014.

The SA-17 can target high to low altitude aircraft at medium range and is mobile, making it harder to find and destroy. Israel has destroyed multiple anti-aircraft systems before while being transferred to Hezbollah. Many analysts believe these were in fact SA-17s, highlighting the seriousness with which the Israeli Air Force views the weapon.

The private intelligence company, StratFor has also stated that Hezbollah is building fortified positions inside Syria to attack Israeli forces. We have written before here at Threat Assessment that Hezbollah has stated that after the Syrian civil war winds down, Hezbollah will focus their efforts again on destroying the Jewish state.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/14/2016 07:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Buk, meet Israeli 155mm artillery.
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 7:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Ima thinkern 'drones' meself.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/14/2016 10:59 Comments || Top||

#3  will directly threaten Israeli aircraft operating in northern Israel and the region

Northern Israel is Lebanon, with 'the region' as Jordan and Syria. What's the Buk defense dome missile radius, 20 miles? Is that really a threat with a Tomahawk standoff range of 200 miles?
Posted by: Skidmark || 04/14/2016 11:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Somehow I think the Israelis have a way to kill this thing pretty quickly.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/14/2016 13:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Badman this is the ticket:

The M107 was also used by the Israel Defense Forces in the various Arab–Israeli conflicts from the Yom Kippur War on. During the Yom Kippur War it was one of the few weapons able to destroy Egyptian and Syrian anti-aircraft missile positions. Of the 15 SA-2 batteries lost by Egypt on the east bank of the Suez Canal, 13 were destroyed by M107s. When the IDF crossed the Suez Canal in Operation Gazelle, M107 SP guns were among the first to cross together with tanks and APC's. M107s also had sufficient range to hit the Syrian capital of Damascus.

When these guns were outranged by rocket fire from Tyre, they were upgraded with the addition of extended range, full-bore ammunition and new powder supplied by Gerald Bull's Space Research Corporation. This allowed operations over 50 km with increased accuracy. The IDF acquired over 200 vehicles.[8] In IDF service, the M107 is known as the Romach (spear or lance).


from Wiki
Posted by: Shipman || 04/14/2016 14:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Prepare for the yapping of "world community" when such batteries, placed inside villages, are destroyed.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/14/2016 15:09 Comments || Top||

#7  What if Israel straps a bunch of Korans to their warplanes? Arabs couldn't shoot at them, right?

/sarc
Posted by: Iblis || 04/14/2016 19:58 Comments || Top||


Bedouin journalist arrested for allegedly promoting Islamist group
[IsraelTimes] Khaled abu Hamra’s brother insists he was not the source of pro-Northern Branch programming on Rahat pirate radio station

Police on Monday locked away
... anything you say can and will be used against you, whether you say it or not...
a Bedouin Israeli journalist for allegedly broadcasting content sympathetic to a banned Islamist movement on a pirate radio station operating out of the Negev city of Rahat.

Khaled abu Hamra was remanded into custody until Saturday by the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court for promoting the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement on the a-Rif radio station, the Haaretz daily reported on Tuesday.

Last year, the government voted to outlaw the group, accusing it of links to terrorist groups and incitement during the recent wave of violence.

Hamra’s brother Otwa strongly denied
No, no! Certainly not!
the accusations, telling the newspaper his 31-year-old brother was in charge of advertising and had no say in the content of the station’s programming.

He said Hamra was summoned for questioning last month by Israeli security forces, who were aware he worked at an illegal radio station. After warning Hamra not to broadcast "programs that interfere with the state," in Hamra’s words, he was released and allowed to return to work at a-Rif.

Some Rahat residents confirmed police suspicions to Haaretz, saying Hamra was involved in broadcasting the movement’s messages.

On Monday, police also arrested two other suspected members of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement from the Bedouin city. Sheikh Yusef abu Jamaa and Sheikh Osama al-Yacoubi are expected to be remanded during a Wednesday hearing at the Beersheba court.

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan praised the Rahat arrests, saying, "combating the incitement of the Islamic Movement, which encourages young Paleostinians to commit acts of terror, was a top priority."

In November, the security cabinet voted to designate the group a terror organization, making membership in it or participation in its activities a "criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence."

The Northern Branch rejects the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Paleostinians, boycotts national elections on the grounds that they legitimize the Jewish state, has claimed repeatedly that Israel seeks to demolish the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount and is accused of encouraging terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

The movement is headed by firebrand
...firebrands are noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments...
holy man Raed Salah, who in 2013 was sentenced to 11 months in prison for incitement to violence and racism over a sermon he delivered in 2007 in Jerusalem.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that the Justice Ministry ban Salah from visiting the volatile Temple Mount holy site during the upcoming Jewish festival of Passover in a bid to prevent the stoking of further violence during the holiday.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Jordan closes headquarters of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated group
[Iran Press TV] Police in Jordan have raided and closed the headquarters of a group affiliated with the Egyptian Moslem Brüderbund movement in the capital, Amman, in a move condemned by the group as "illegal."

On Wednesday, a Jordanian official, who spoke anonymously, said the headquarters of the group was sealed because the group is "illegal and not licensed." The source said "illegal" internal elections had been held secretly within the group.

The Moslem Brüderbund in Jordan split into two groups in March 2015 when a number of the Jordanian Brotherhood members disavowed themselves from the movement originally based in Egypt.

The splinter group continues to be licensed in Jordan.

The other group, which did not initially split from Egypt’s Brotherhood but did later break ranks with it too, was the one that saw its headquarters closed on Wednesday. It remained unauthorized even after splitting from Egyptian Brotherhood.

The members and supporters of the Moslem Brüderbund in Egypt have been under mounting pressure by the Egyptian government ever since former Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi, who was affiliated with the movement, was ousted in a military coup led by the then-military chief and current President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in July 2013.

The Brotherhood was later blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the Cairo officials in a move seen by observers as an attempt to prevent its affiliates from running in elections.

Another senior Jordanian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the judiciary had ordered the transfer of property from the illegal Brotherhood to the licensed group.

Jordan has recently tightened its crackdown on the Brotherhood, with a Jordanian court sentencing Zaki Bani Rsheid, the deputy leader of the unauthorized branch, to 18 months in prison due to criticizing the United Arab Emirates for blacklisting of the Moslem Brüderbund as well as more than 80 other groups.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Muslim Brotherhood


Southeast Asia
Two abducted workers beheaded in Mindanao
[InterAksyon] Two of six sawmill workers, earlier abducted by members of the Maute Group, in Lanao Del Sur province, were found beheaded Tuesday afternoon. This was confirmed by Western Mindanao Command spokesperson Major Filemon Tan on Wednesday.

The bodies were identified as Salvador Hanobas and Jaymart Hanobas, Tan said. The bodies and the heads were placed inside two sacks.

Lanao del Sur police chief Senior Superintendent Rustom Duran said, "Salvador Hanobas and Jaymart Hanobas were beheaded by their abductors. Locals brought the heads and the torsos to the mayor's office."

The fatalities are among the six sawmill workers seized by members of the Maute Group last April 4 in the belief that they were spying on the militants on orders from the government. The rebels released Julieto Hanobas, Alfredo Anoos, Gabriel Permites, and Adones Mendez unharmed on Monday.

Duran said the kidnappers belonged to an Islamist militant group that battled Philippine security forces for a week in February, leaving three soldiers dead and forcing 20,000 people to flee their homes.

Police found black flags identical to those flown by Daesh jihadis in Iraq and Syria in the fighters' hideout in the town of Butig.
Al Ahram adds:
Philippine militants that want to ally with Islamic State group militants (IS) have beheaded two local hostages, police said Wednesday.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Islamist troops, supported by Turkish artillery advance
ALEPPO – Subsequent to fierce clashes with the western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Islamist rebels were able Wednesday to recapture areas in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo, local sources reported.

Local activists confirmed that a number of Islamist factions, backed by Turkish artillery shelling, were able to deter an SDF-led offensive on their positions and seize control of areas fell to the latter earlier on Tuesday.

The SDF forces include the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), Arab and Christian fighters –mainly supported by the United States in the war on radical Islamists.

Speaking to ARA News, media activist Walid al-Sheikh, based in the town of Sheikh Issa in Aleppo province, said that the Sham Corps and the First Regiment along with other militant fighters were able to repel an SDF-led attack towards the town of Sheikh Issa after the latter took over a number of nearby villages.

“Both sides have used mortar shelling, but the SDF were forced to retreat towards their positions in the town of Tel Rifaat,” he reported.

In February, the YPG forces, baked by SDF allies, took control of major parts of the strategic Tel Rafaat town, which has been one of the main supply routes for the radical Islamist groups in northern Aleppo

The source also confirmed that sporadic clashes continued between the two sides on Wednesday midnight on the road connecting Tel Rafaat with Sheikh Issa, without reports of progress by any party.

Over the past few weeks, the US-backed SDF attempted to advance towards the towns of Sheikh Issa and Maree, but Islamist opposition factions were able to repel the progress of these forces. Also, ISIS has been trying to break into the strategic town of Maree in Aleppo’s northern suburbs.

After the Kurdish forces and SDF allies have cut off the Azaz-Tel Rafaat road subsequent to fierce clashes with militants of Nusra Front and the Islamic Movement Ahrar al-Sham, “the SDF became able to make larger gains against the Islamists in the northern countryside of Aleppo,” according to Kurdish military sources.
Posted by: badanov || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
US, allies stage 9 strikes against Islamic State in Iraq, Syria
[Ynet] The United States and its allies conducted nine strikes against Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
in Iraq and Syria on Tuesday, the coalition leading the operations said.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Combined Joint Task Force said two strikes near Al Hawl and Mar'a in Syria hit a tactical unit and destroyed a fighting position.

In Iraq, seven strikes near five cities hit several more tactical units and destroyed machine gun positions, assembly areas and a vehicle-borne bomb, among other targets, the statement said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


ISIS militant ranks are at ‘lowest level since 2014’
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] ISIS's ranks have been pared back by international and local military action in Iraq and Syria to their lowest level since Washington began monitoring the group, a bigwig said Tuesday.

The comments from deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken came one day before President Barack Obama
If you like your coverage you can keep it...
was due to convene his national security team at CIA headquarters to take stock of the anti-ISIS fight.

"Working by, with and through local partners, we have taken back 40 percent of the territory that ISIS controlled a year ago in Iraq and 10 percent in Syria," Blinken told US politicians in prepared testimony.

"In fact, we assess ISIS's numbers are the lowest they've been since we began monitoring their manpower in 2014," he added, using one of three terms US officials use interchangeably to refer to ISIS.

Blinken did not put a new figure on the size of the holy warriorgroup's fighting force in his statement to the Senate committee overseeing funding for the State Department's program to counter violent extremism.

But in September 2014, the last estimate to which Blinken referred, a US intelligence official told AFP news agency that the CIA believed the group could put between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters in the field, both imported muscle and local recruits.

Since then, US-backed Iraqi and Kurdish forces have pushed ISIS fighters back from the cities of Tikrit and Ramadi and taken territory in northern Syria, while Syrian forces receiving Russian support have recaptured the Syrian city of Palmyra.

On Wednesday, Obama and his top aides are set to evaluate the progress made so far in the anti-ISIS fight and weigh proposals for upping the pressure on the holy warriors.

"The president has asked them to come to him with suggestions for how it is possible to reinforce those elements of our strategy that are showing the most success," White House front man Josh Earnest told news hounds Tuesday.

When asked about a possible increase in the number of US troops in Iraq, Earnest refused to say if any announcements were on the horizon, saying only that Obama would make a statement after the meeting.

"It's not uncommon for the president to make decisions in the context of these meetings," he said.

Washington has led an international coalition against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since August 2014.

The United States, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in 2011 after eight years of war, officially redeployed 3,870 troops to the insurgency-wracked country in recent months.

But the actual number is likely about 5,000, according to media reports.
Posted by: Fred || 04/14/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State



Who's in the News
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2016-04-14
  SSS announces arrest of another ‘top Boko Haram terrorist’
Wed 2016-04-13
  Belgian police arrest 3 in Paris terror attacks investigations
Tue 2016-04-12
  Saudi FM: Red Sea islands have returned to the kingdom
Mon 2016-04-11
  Ahrar al-Sham commander slain in Aleppo clashes
Sun 2016-04-10
  Four Brussels suspects charged with terror offenses
Sat 2016-04-09
  Lebanon sentences ex-minister Samaha to 13 years in prison
Fri 2016-04-08
  Danish Police Arrest Four Alleged ISIL Fighters, Seize Weapons
Thu 2016-04-07
  Secular Bangladeshi writer murdered in the street
Wed 2016-04-06
  Tripoli authorities cede power to Libyan unity government
Tue 2016-04-05
  al-Nusra Top Dawg dies in Idlib airstrike
Mon 2016-04-04
  Strikes kill Qaeda spokesman, militants in Syria
Sun 2016-04-03
  Salah Abdeslam 'refused to blow himself up', says brother
Sat 2016-04-02
  Nigeria’s Boko Haram Releases New Video Denying Surrender
Fri 2016-04-01
  Kurd Arab alliance drives ISIS troops from oil rich area near Raqqa
Thu 2016-03-31
  Gitmo aumnus Mullah Zakir ends rifts with Mullah Akhtar Mansoor

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