[AnNahar] Ten turbans and nine soldiers have died in festivities between the Malian army and a Tuareg rebel alliance, the defense ministry said on Thursday, raising fears for the country's fragile grinding of the peace processor.
The announcement came a day after fighters from the Tuareg-led Coordination for the Movements of Azawad (CMA) ambushed military positions in the central town of Lere, near the Mauritanian border.
"The provisional toll of the festivities is: armed forces -- nine dead, six injured, six hostages, one damaged vehicle. Enemy side: 10 dead and 16 injured, two vehicles destroyed; one vehicle, arms and ammunition recovered," the ministry said in a statement.
Defense Minister Tieman Hubert Coulibaly said Lere was under control and "encourages the armed forces to fulfil their duty with determination to the service of our country", the statement said.
A foreign security source confirmed the fighting had stopped late on Wednesday, adding there was "no winner, no loser", with the rebels controlling the south of the town and the army dug into their positions elsewhere.
Wednesday's attack came on a day of violence which started when unidentified turbans opened fire on troops in the former Islamist stronghold of Goundam, 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Timbuktu, killing two soldiers and a child.
The CMA warned on Tuesday it would assert its right to "exercise legitimate self-defense" after coming under attack from a pro-government militia.
[Libya Herald] The brother of the Mohammed Tantoush, the leader of the Warshefana Shoura Council of Elders, was kidnapped today in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... . According to reports, Al-Mabruk Tantush was seized near Janzour by an gang that had following him while he was driving in his car, accompanied by his wife. She was left in the vehicle when he was grabbed.
Al-Mabrouk is said to have had no political involvement. But it is unlikely to have cut any ice in the current political environment. Probably more important to the abductors was the fact that he and his brother are cousins of Omar Tantoush, who heads the Warshefana military forces.
With the shift in the military balance in the area following the decision by Misratan brigades to pull out, the Warshefana have been making significant territorial gains. Omar Tantoush is on the record as saying that his forces will not enter Tripoli and that their aim is to secure the Warshefana area. However, today is that tomorrow you were thinking about yesterday... the Warshefana are known to regard Janzour as part of their territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] The Beida-based Libyan government says that the five members of the Cyrenaica TV crew kidnapped last August have been murdered 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.... (IS). So too have the two Tunisian journalists, Sofiane Chourabi and Nadhir Gtari, kidnapped last September.
IS claimed to have executed the Tunisians in January but the Tunisian authorities have insisted that they are still alive, suggesting they have been in contact with the abductors.
The Libya government now thinks otherwise, an Ministry of Justice official said today. Following the arrest of a Libyan and three Egyptians, reported as members of IS, he said it was now believed that all seven had been murdered and their bodies buried somewhere near Derna.
Claims that the Cyrenaica TV crew were murdered by IS surfaced earlier this week but there were then doubts about the story after their bodies remained undiscovered.
The government now says that those tossed in the slammer Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! have claimed to have been involved in killing both groups.
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05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[Libya Herald] Forces of the Libyan National Army (LNA) claim that they have cut the coastal highway between Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... and Zawia, taking Maya and Bridge 27, both to the west of Janzour, as well as Al-Najila, 20 kilometres south west the capital. They also claim to have moved into the nearby southern Tripoli suburb of Krimea ("Crimea") on the Swani road.
The claims have not been confirmed.
Reports that the forces, mainly Warshefanis, today entered Janzour appear to be untrue.
The west Tripoli suburb was formerly part of the Warshefana district of Jafara and until last summer a large percentage of its inhabitants were Warshefanis. Many have since fled. The Warshefana regard it as part of their "territory" and the publicly stated aim of Omar Tantoush, the commander of the Warshefana forces is the liberation of the entire Warshefana area.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... Janzour is unlikely to fall into Warshefana hands without a bloody fight. Two Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... forces are in the district, the Fursan Janzour (Janzour Knights) and the Mobile Forces, and both are well armed and deeply antagonistic to the Warshefana, which they regards as Qadaffy supporters.
If Janzour were to fall into Warshefana hands, it is thought it could lead to a "domino effect" in Tripoli. The neighbouring suburb of Ghut Shaal is strongly anti-Dawn.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#3
Nominally, the LNA. Fred describes the background of Libya Dawn in the article. The others are also described in the article - which apparently nobody bothers to read.
[Libya Herald] Both sides in the fighting in Benghazi have been taking a break today after intensive festivities earlier this week. There has been almost no firing during the day.
The army says that following an advance in the south of the city at the beginning of the week, it now controls Garyounis, Gwarsha and Venezia Street as well as Buhdeima and parts of Leithi. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... the extent of LNA "control" in unclear. Snipers from the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council (BRSC) have been active in various areas, preventing LNA forces from moving freely.
As part of the advance, the LNA now controls the base of 17 February Brigade, part of BRSC, off Venezia Street. Following its capture, LNA bomb disposal experts were brought in to deal with a number of missiles at the camp.
There have been no reports today of random missiles falling today. Last night a rocket hit an apartment in Hadaiq but no one was hurt. Rockets also landed in Salmani. No on was hurt but two cars were hit.
Also yesterday a member of the Criminal Investigation Department named as Imhemed Al-Sahli, was rubbed out in Sabri.
The body of a man was found today in Kuwaifiya. He had been shot in head.
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[AnNahar] The leader of a Ugandan rebel group with alleged links to al-Qaeda has been locked away Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! in Tanzania, state-owned Ugandan media reported Thursday.
Uganda's New Vision newspaper said Jamil Mukulu, leader of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), was being held in Tanzania ahead of his extradition.
The ADF is a Ugandan Islamic militia based in neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... Ugandan and Tanzanian police neither confirmed nor denied the report.
Mukulu, believed to be 51, is wanted in Uganda for a range of crimes including terrorism and murder. The international police agency Interpol has issued a warrant for his arrest at Uganda's request.
The ADF emerged in the mid-1990s in response to a crackdown against the Salafist Tabliq sect and is believed to have had the support of President Omar al-Bashir Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it. 's government in Sudan.
Under Mukulu's leadership the group moved to eastern DR Congo in 1995 where it has been based ever since.
The United States listed the ADF as a terrorist organization in 2001, and Uganda's government accuses it of links to Somalia's Shabaab and to al-Qaeda.
[CHRON] Scores more women and kiddies have been rescued from Islamic bully boyz in the remote Sambisa Forest, Nigeria's military said amid reports that some of the women fought their rescuers fiercely.
A community leader from the area of northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... said Thursday that a senior army officer who was at the scene described the women opening fire on shocked troops in the village of Nbita a week ago, with Boko Haram
Continued on Page 49
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[AnNahar] A Saudi-led coalition pressed on with air strikes Thursday against Iranian catspaws in south Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... where fierce festivities raged between the forces of Evil and southern pro-government fighters, local sources said.
Warplanes hit Huthi rebel positions in the main southern city of Aden, in the districts of Khor Maksar and Dar Saad, helping pro-government forces to retake positions, sources among the southern fighters said.
Eight people were killed in overnight festivities in Aden, including five pro-government fighters and three civilians, according to the city's health chief Al-Khader Laswar.
He said 44 others were maimed. Details of losses on the rebel side were not available.
Shiite Huthi fighters backed by troops loyal to former strongman President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... had made advances in Aden, which is now defended by local militia dubbed "popular resistance" units that have sided with forces loyal to embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
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... assembled a multi-country coalition last month that launched attacks on the rebels following a request by Hadi, who has since fled Aden to Riyadh.
Although the coalition said it had halted its air campaign on April 21, strikes have continued to pound rebel positions throughout Yemen.
Overnight raids targeted Huthis in the southern provinces of restive Lahj ... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement and Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... , southern fighters said.
Heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy... meanwhile raged between the local militia and rebel forces in Kirsh, a town linking Lahj with the central city of Taez, leaving casualties from both sides, local officials said.
Rebel forces used tanks to shell residential areas in Kirsh as Arab coalition planes dropped arms to pro-Hadi forces, the officials said.
Residents also reported fighting in the southern city of Daleh.
[VOA News] German police said Thursday they have foiled an alleged Islamic bully boy terrorist attack on a popular May Day bicycle race planned for Friday.
Police in Frankfurt have locked away Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! a Turkish-German man and his Turkish wife.
An employee of a hardware store alerted police after the male suspect bought an unusually large amount of chemicals that could be used to make explosives.
Authorities raided the couple's home and found a stash of weapons and bomb-making ingredients.
Police believe the two may have planned to bomb the annual Frankfurt bike race which attracts thousands of people.
Hesse state police chief Stefan Mueller said "Clearly since the Boston Marathon [ bombing in the U.S. two years ago ] these security concerns have been part of the considerations of how to deal with that [ danger ] before every marathon race in Germany. And that is also valid for the cycle race."
Despite the arrests, officials have canceled Friday's race as a precaution.
German police have locked away Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! a married couple suspected of having planned an attack and have seized an assault rifle, ammunition and a pipe bomb in their home, Die Welt daily reported Thursday.
The newspaper's online edition identified the couple arrested overnight in western Hesse state only as Halil and Senay D., saying they were believed to have links to Salafist and Islamic bully boy groups.
Authorities had noticed them last month when they purchased a large amount of hydrogen peroxide and methylated spirits that can be used to make explosives, giving a false name to the building supplies shop in the western city of Frankfurt, the report said.
Local police confirmed to AFP they had arrested a man and a woman in the town of Oberursel near Frankfurt,
... a pretty little town in the very pretty Taunus hills above Frankfurt am Main. We ate our first proper meal in Germany at the Indian restaurant on the town square...
Germany's financial capital, and that more locations were being searched, but did not provide further details.
Die Welt said the couple had been under observation by a special police unit for several days.
It said Sherlocks believed the male suspect had contact with the ultra-conservative Islamic Salafist community in Frankfurt, and al-Qaeda.
Police had decided to raid the home late Wednesday and arrest the couple after the man had been spotted walking through a nearby wooded area which will be part of the route of a cycle race on Friday, because they wanted to rule out any possible security threat to participants and onlookers.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
Damn Krauts, even when they do something right, it turns out wrong!
[AnNahar] An American who allegedly claimed to be an 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.... sympathizer and wanted to shoot people has been placed in durance vile Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! on charges of illegal arms possession, the FBI said in a court filing.
Miguel Moran Diaz, 46, was arrested April 2 after discussing his plans to kill people with an FBI informant, the agency said in a criminal complaint.
"During the ensuing conversation, Diaz described himself as a 'Lone Wolf' for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)," the complaint alleged.
It said he kept a Facebook page under the name Azizi Al Hariri in which he published articles about IS.
Moran Diaz, who was convicted in 2005 of cocaine trafficking, was charged with violating a law that prohibits felons from carrying weapons.
The affidavit said a search of his apartment turned up additional weapons.
His arrest was the latest in a string targeting suspected supporters in the United States of Islamic Death Eater groups like IS.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/01/2015 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Does this mean the ISIS in Miami = NOT Afghanistan???
[Gates of Vienna] One man was hospitalized Saturday night after an officer-involved shooting at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
After the shots were fired, police blocked off a portion of Terminal 1 for several hours to investigate.
According to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, which was called in to help with the investigation, airport police were responding to a report of suspicious persons in the terminal's car rental ramp around 9:30 p.m.
As the officers were walking on the second level of the parking ramp, a vehicle deliberately drove at them. A press release states that police shot at the vehicle. The driver was taken to a nearby hospital. His condition is not known. Authorities identified the suspect Sunday as 36-year-old Abdulkadir Sheikh Mahmoud. Once he's out of the hospital, he'll be facing aggravated assault charges.
Sheriff Rich Stanek said officers were interacting with a vehicle when a second vehicle intentionally drove at officers who were on foot. The suspect in the vehicle, identified as Mahmoud, attempted to run over the officers and he was shot. Authorities said the suspect drove at officers without notice or provocation. Now, why does this seems so familiar?
The release also states that an officer was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Stanek said they believe the incident was isolated and does not appear to have any ties to homeland security. Of course not.
#1
it would be cheaper and easier if he just dies. however that is the humanity that separates us from our islamist enemy that he was medically treated and not killed.
what we could do is ban sharia as an alternate legal system not a religion, the congress would have the right to do this
[ABC.NET.AU] A Pak court has tossed in the slammer Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! 10 men for life for their involvement in the 2012 shooting of teenage activist Malala Yousafzai ...a Pashtun blogger and advocate for girls' education from Mingora, in Swat. She started blogging at age 11-12. She was 15 when a Talib boarded her school bus and shot her in the head in 2012. She was evacuated to a hospital in Britain and the Pak Taliban vowed to kill her and her father. Among other awards, she received the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, which she deserved more than Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Yasser Arafat, or Rigoberta Menchu... , who was targeted for her campaign against the Taliban denying girls education.
Pak Talibs grabbed credit for attacking Malala as she travelled home from school in the town of Swat, northwest of the capital, Islamabad.
"Ten attackers who were involved in the attack on Malala Yousafzai have been sentenced to life imprisonment," a court official told AFP news agency. Life prison sentences in Pakistain are 25 years.
News of the sentencing was confirmed by a lawyer present at the hearing in the north-western town of Mingora, as well as a security official.
They were the first convictions for the attack.
A security official said none of the four or five men who carried out the attack on Malala were among the 10 men sentenced.
"But certainly they had a role in the planning and execution of the liquidation attempt on Malala," said a police official in Swat ...a valley and an administrative district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistain, located 99 mi from Islamabad. It is inhabited mostly by Pashto speakers. The place has gone steadily downhill since the days when Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat... who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
The man suspected of actually firing the gun at Malala, named by officials as Ataullah Khan, is believed to be on the run in Afghanistan, along with Pak Taliban chief Mullah Fazlullah ...son-in-law of holy man Sufi Mohammad. Known as Mullah FM, Fazlullah had the habit of grabbing his FM mike when the mood struck him and bellowing forth sermons. Sufi suckered the Pak govt into imposing Shariah on the Swat Valley and then stepped aside whilst Fazlullah and his Talibs imposed a reign of terror on the populace like they hadn't seen before, at least not for a thousand years or so. For some reason the Pak intel services were never able to locate his transmitter, much less bomb it. After ruling the place like a conquered province for a year or so, Fazlullah's Talibs began gobbling up more territory as they pushed toward Islamabad, at which point as a matter of self-preservation the Mighty Pak Army threw them out and chased them into Afghanistan... , who ordered the attack.
Pakistain's military announced the arrest of the 10 suspects in September 2014 as part of an operation that involved the army, police and intelligence agencies.
The army front man Asim Bajwa said the group had a hitlist of 22 targets in addition to Malala, all ordered by Fazlullah.
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[RFE/RL] A Pakistani policeman was killed and two others injured when a suicide bomber attacked the convoy of a senior politician in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Officials say Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, the head of the Qaumi Watan Party and formerly Pakistan's interior minister, was the target of the attack. Reports say that Sherpao was not wounded.
The suicide bomber ran towards Sherpao's vehicle as it was traveling through the province's western district of Charsadda. Security officials say the attacker first shot at Sherpao's vehicle, then detonated his explosives when police began to return fire.
Sherpao said later that it was the fourth time he has survived an attempted assassination..
[Rudaw] ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A suicide attack by ISIS jihadists in the disputed Iraqi town of Baiji has killed at least 16 members of Iraqi security forces, local agencies reported Friday.
Earlier on Friday, the Iraqi Ministry of Defense announced that a tense battle was ongoing between national security forces and extremists trying to capture parts of Baiji, including its refinery complex which is the biggest oil facility in Iraq.
A police officer in Salahaddin province, where Baiji is located, said Iraqi fighters protecting the refinery were under intense attacks by the jihadists. According to the officer, ISIS fighters have been able to surround Iraqi forces inside the refinery and cut off military support.
The Iraq Oil Report, an independent news outlet, reported Friday that after a series of assaults the jihadists now control most of Baiji refinery.
***
[Subject Back Ground - US Perspective Two Weeks Ago Link
A more vital battleground is to the north at Beiji, home to a major oil refinery that the Islamic State group has been targeting for months, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey said at a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
Dempsey said IS fighters, who already control the town of Beiji, have "penetrated the outer perimeter" of the sprawling oil compound. He said, however, that "the refinery itself is at no risk right now."
The U.S. is focusing a lot of airborne intelligence, surveillance and aerial bombing on Beiji, said Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.]
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05/01/2015 11:27 ||
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[ARA] General Command of the Kurdish forces of the People's Protection Units (YPG) said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the Assyrian commander of Haras al-Khabur, David Jendo, was assassinated last week and his lover companion injured in a terrorist attack in northeastern Syria.
"We in the General Command of the YPG, the Syriac Military Council and Haras al-Khabur forces consider this to be a crime against all the ethnic and religious groups in the region, especially simce the liquidation coincided with the anniversary of the Assyrian genocide of Sayfo," the statement read.
"This crime (Jendo's Assassination), coincides with the heroic resistance of our forces in the face of terror (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.... IS/ISIS), especially in the villages located around the al-Khabur area and the town of Tel Temir, claiming the lives of dozens of heroes," the YPG leadership added.
The YPG leadership emphasized that this crime will not go unpunished, pointing out that a special committee was formed to investigate the liquidation operation in order to uncover the truth and bring the perpetrators to justice.
The leader of the Syriac Union Party, Hanna Malki, told ARA News: "We are highly concerned about the mass displacements taking place in the province of Hasakah. The IS gunnies and al-Qaeda bully boyz are displacing civilians on the basis of ethnic and religious identities."
The Haras al-Khabur force and the Syriac Military Council are part of a joint force called for by the Kurdish YPG fighters to combat IS bully boyz in the countryside of the town of Tel Temir in the province of Hasakah.
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[AnNahar] Six men, including an Indonesian suspected to be an arms expert, were charged on Thursday for allegedly conspiring to plot terror attacks in Malaysia.
The men, aged between 25 and 48, were charged with being "party to a conspiracy to promote terror in Malaysia", according to court documents obtained by AFP.
"They were handcuffed and brought to court under heavy security," lawyer Shariff Mat told AFP after the men, who include five Malaysians, appeared at a sessions court in the northern state of Kedah.
Shariff said no plea was recorded and they were expected to appear in court on May 31, with the case to be transferred to the high court.
The six included the group's alleged criminal mastermind 48-year-old Murad Halimmuddin Hassan and his 25-year-old son Abu Daud.
The Indonesian, Ali Saifuddin, is alleged to be an arms expert formerly with the Southeast Asian Death Eater group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
They were among a group of 17 detained in early April for a suspected plot to kidnap high-profile figures and launch terrorist attacks.
National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar had previously said the plotters were believed to have been inspired by the murderous MoslemIslamic 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.... (IS) group and its bloody jihad in Syria and Iraq.
The group was said to have been planning attacks in the capital Kuala Lumpur and in nearby Putrajaya, which houses Malaysia's federal government apparatus.
They had also been planning to rob banks to raise funds, and raid armed forces installations and cop shoppes to obtain weapons, according to Khalid.
In February, Home Minister Zahid Hamidi warned that IS members in Malaysia had planned to kidnap tycoons and rob banks to finance terrorist activities.
Just last weekend, officials enjugged Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! 12 suspected Islamic turbans who were plotting attacks in the country just as it was preparing to host a prominent Southeast Asian summit with regional leaders and ministers.
According to officials, so far about a hundred people have been arrested for suspected involvement in the IS jihad in Syria.
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[Philippine Star] The mayor of Naga in Zamboanga Sibugay, whom unidentified gunmen seized at her home on April 6, is now in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. Police earlier tagged a renegade faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the kidnapping. Presumably the BIFF
Rear Admiral Reynaldo Yoma said Mayor Gemma Adana’s captors have handed her over to the Abu Sayyaf. He said, "We cannot give their exact location as they are constantly on the move."
Adana was having dinner with her family when six unidentified gunmen nabbed her then escaped on a motorboat.
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[Gulf Today] Four New People's Army and two Philippine soldiers were killed in an encounter in a remote village in Misamis Oriental province, the military reported on Thursday.
Provincial military spokesman Captain Patrick Martinez said two other troops and a civilian were injured in a clash that occurred in the town of Longalong, Misamis Oriental on Tuesday morning. The civilian was injured when he was hit by a stray bullet as soldiers battled the militants in the 30-minute encounter. The soldiers had been sent to check on complaints that armed men were extorting food and money, and making threats against the villagers.
Meanwhile, the military declared the town of New Corella in Davao del Norte free from communist militants signaling the end of the of the government's local Peace and Development Outreach Program.
Colonel Harold Cabreras said the declaration meant the absence of NPA militants from the town, explaining, "We receive reports there are still armed groups roaming in the municipality from neighboring provinces but it does not mean the area is NPA-affected. It just means the community no longer wants to join the activities of the rebels."
[AnNahar] Twenty-five fighters from 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 were killed when a powerful blast rocked an explosives manufacturing plant in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear whether the kaboom was accidental or the result of a missile strike, the Britannia-based Observatory said.
"A strong kaboom took place this evening in an IS explosives factory in the town of Al--Mayadeen in the province of Deir Ezzor," the monitoring group said.
"Several other kabooms followed, shaking the whole town. Twenty-five IS fighters were killed, around 20 others were maimed," it added.
The Islamic State group, which imposes a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, controls most of the oil province of Deir Ezzor, which borders Iraq. But government forces still hold parts of the lovely provincial capital and small pockets of areas of less strategic significance.
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Fatah Army on Wednesday has seized control of al-Joma military base, pressing hard to capture the own of Ariha and al-Mastoma camp, activists said Wednesday.
Zaman al-Wasl news hound said the alliance of Islamist groups including the Nusra Front, has engaged in heavy fighting with Syrian forces near Museibeen village close to strategic Ariha town.
Rebels, who captured Jisr al-Shughour town early this week, seek a complete-liberated province of Idlib, such a mission that seems not impossible.
In response, Syrian air force has continued the fiercest aerial campaign in months on rebel-held Aleppo and Idlib. At least 26 people have been killed and dozens maimed in air strikes on Aleppo and Idlib, activists and monitoring group said Wednesday.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 people, including 2 children, were killed in barrel-kaboom on Bennish town in Idlib province.
In Aleppo, Syrian warplane have also stormed the neighborhood of al-Ferdous, killing 12 people, including two children. Another 6 people were killed in Deir Hafer town near Aleppo city, activists said.
Fatah Army is a reference to the conquests that spread Islam across the Middle East from the 7th century.
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05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] At least 26 people have been killed and dozens maimed in Syrian air strikes on Aleppo and Idlib northern Syria, activists and monitoring group said Wednesday.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 10 people, including 2 children, were killed in barrel-kaboom on Bennish town in Idlib province.
In Aleppo, Syrian warplane have also stormed the neighborhood of al-Ferdous, killing 12 people, including two children. Another 6 people were killed in Deir Hafer town near Aleppo city, activists said.
Bashir al-Assad's air force has continued the fiercest aerial campaign in months on rebel-held Aleppo and Idlib in response to the remarkable advances achieved by an alliance of Islamist factions called itself ' Fatha Army', a reference to the conquests that spread Islam across the Middle East from the 7th century.
Activists said that 57 Syrian regime fighters were killed in al-Jadida district in the Old City of Aleppo when rebel stormed their building by local-made shells led to to huge kaboom.
On Tuesday, Syrian raids hit Red Thingy hospital in the neighborhood of al-Sakhour in Aleppo, leaving four maimed, activists said.
The barrel-kaboom on the only active hospital in the eastern district of Aleppo has left major damage as big part of the building had turned to rubble, Zaman al-Wasl news hound said.
In relevant development, Salafist tough guys active in Aleppo have formed a new command room called 'Fatah Aleppo' in step imitates their counterparts in neighboring Idlib province who made remarkable gains started by taking control of Idlib city and most of its countryside.
The new command room, according to source from Fastaqem Kma Amrt, will take advantage of the humiliating defeats of Syria forces in Idlib inflicted by the Army of Fatah, an alliance that includes Nusra, the Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... movement and Jund al-Aqsa.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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CNN has learned that U.S. Navy warships will now accompany U.S.-flagged commercial vessels that pass through the Strait of Hormuz due to concerns that ships from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps navy could try to seize a U.S. cargo ship.
Pentagon officials provided clarification Thursday afternoon that not every ship will necessarily be accompanied by the Navy. But this is still a significant change in the U.S. military posture in the Strait. The classified plan was approved by the Pentagon earlier Thursday, according to a senior defense official.
So don't tell anyone since it's classified...
While the Navy maintains a routine ship presence in the Persian Gulf and the North Arabian Sea, this new effort specifically requires an armed warship to be in the narrow channel between Iran and Oman when a U.S. commercial vessel passes through.
What about ships flying the flag of the Marshall Islands?
The decision to go ahead with this plan comes as Iran Revolutionary Guard ships harassed a U.S.-flagged vessel, the Maersk Kensington, on Friday and then later seized another cargo ship, the Maersk Tigris, flagged in the Marshall Islands.
The worry is that with the uncertainty around Iran's intentions, any seizure of a U.S.-flagged vessel could provoke an international incident with Iran.
"This is a way to reduce the risk of confrontation," the official told CNN.
The official emphasized the Navy is not trying to "play up" the current situation, but said the orders were approved "based on tensions in the region."
A second U.S. official said if it becomes necessary, U.S. warships are prepared to escort U.S. commercial vessels throughout the entire Gulf.
There are a number of U.S. ships and aircraft in the immediate vicinity, including four ships and several aircraft monitoring the status of the Marshall Island vessel, which remains in Iranian custody allegedly over a 2005 financial dispute. U.S. Navy ships will be moved in and out of the area depending on the transit schedule of U.S. cargo vessels.
Iranian officials said the seizure of the Marshall Islands-flagged ship Maersk Tigris was due to a court decision.
And if you can't trust the legal decision of an Iranian court...
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday that the ship had "some rather peculiar activity" in its past that resulted in court action, according to lawyers with whom his ministry has been in touch.
"Simply, our naval forces implemented the decision of the court," he added.
Rickmers Shipmanagement, the company managing the Maersk Tigris, a Maersk Line ship, said in a statement Thursday that the apparent issue dates back to 2005, when another Maersk Line vessel delivered a shipment to Dubai that was later disposed of when no one collected the containers.
A spokesperson for Rickmers Shipmanagement also said that 24 people -- none American -- are on board the Maersk Tigris and that they are all doing well. However, the company continues to "insist that the crew and vessel are released as soon as possible."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
OTOH JAPAN TIMES > [2 ea.]IRAN DESTROYERS MOVE TO ENTRANCE TO KEY YEMEN STRAIT: TEHRAN.
Bab el-Mandab, a key or strategic strait into the Red Sea located between Aden + Djibouti.
Is it just me, or did anyone else get a sudden feeling its 1956, Eisenhower is POTUS + Krushchev is Premier of the USSR, + the Brits, French, + Israelis are about to invade the Suez Canal widout US-Soviet approval???
#4
Earnest Will was a low-key war. Not much of it made it into the media. It eventually evolved into Operation Praying Mantis.
BTW, some additional info on the Maersk Tigris.
* DAILY STAR LEBANON > US MAY ACCOMPANY OTHER NATIONS' SHIPS IN STRAITS OF HORMUZ, agz burgeoning IRAN naval or maritime treat to trade.
VERSUS
* MEHR NEWS IRAN > NAVY COMMANDER [Iran Navy RADM. Habibollah Sayyari]: NO POWER COULD ISSUE WARNINGS ON IRAN DESTROYERS | IRAN WILL NOT TOLERATE FOREIGN WARNINGS AGZ ITS WARSHIPS.
* BIGNEWSNETWORK > [New = Obama-led] US-IRAN DETENTE' COULD BACKFIRE IN MIDDLE EAST.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > GULF STATES TO PUSH FOR US PLAN TO CONTAIN IRAN.
The Bammer = US already has a plan - ITS CALLED US-N-ONLY-US, UNILATERAL = SELF-IMPOSED, OWG GLOBALIST "RETREAT/FALLBACK IS WORLD PEACE".
SAVING AMERIKA FROM AMERICANS.
Again, PROBLEM/SNAFU/FUBAR = No one has yet answered the question how much is "too much", andor how far is "too far", etc. for the US to unilaterally give up or fallback, etc. across the World widout being EXISTENTIALLY THREATENED.
OWG-NWO OR NO OWG-NWO, Space Govt-Order or no Space Govt-Order, ...@etc. THE "GREAT GAME" OF GEOPOLITICS = SUBSTITUTION/REPLACEMENT OF ONE NATION BY ANOTHER(S) GOES ON IRREGARDLESS OF THE MERITS OR CIRCUMSTANCES. The "Game" nevar! ends.
[ARA] On Thursday, Salafist tough guys of Ahrar al-Sham ...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... in Syria seized a crossing in Quneitra province near the Israeli border.
Ahrar al-Sham took over the crossing of al-Qahtaniya after three days of fierce festivities with another Islamist group known as Army of Jihad --which has pledged allegiance 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.... (IS/ISIS).
Haitham Nassar, a media activist accompanying Ahrar al-Sham in Quneitra, told ARA News that dozens were killed on both sides during the festivities.
According to military sources, the crossing of al-Qahtaniya is considered a strategic one for its proximity to Golan Heights.
Ahrar al-Sham has played a role in the rebels operation in Idlib that resulted in the control of the city after forcing Assad army to withdraw.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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I sense a mysterious (nobody taking credit) bombing in the Force.
[ARA] Syrian warplanes launched several Arclight airstrikes against rebel-held areas in the southern province of Daraa on Thursday.
Speaking to ARA News in Daraa, civil rights activist Ahmed Hassan reported that pro-regime helicopters dropped several barrel bombs on the city of Nawa in the countryside of the province, causing the injury of a at least nine civilians.
"Similar bombing targeted the areas of al-Malzuma, Bas al-Hareer, Salmin and the rebel-held neighborhoods of Daraa," he reported.
In the meantime, rebels of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) targeted gatherings of pro-regime forces with missiles in the university area of Lajat, and also targeted "Brigade 12″ in the city Izraa.
Local sources reported that the rebels' shelling of the strongholds of pro-Assad forces caused large kabooms. The number of casualties remains unidentified.
Also on Thursday, the rebel-linked Courthouse in Horan region in southern Syria issued a statement, calling upon allied factions in Horan and the Golan area are asked to arrest commanders of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade after they swore allegiance to the radical group of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , and killed a number of FSA fighters while on their way to fight the Assad forces in the Baath City of Quneitra province.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Western and Arab demands for the ouster of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... have fueled years of unnecessary bloodshed as they have prevented negotiations on a political settlement, Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Iran's top diplomat, Mohammad Javad Zarif, also rejected suggestions that 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.... forces of Evil have been able to attract new recruits because of abuses by Assad's military in the four-year-long civil war.
"People who are accusing the government of Syria, and who are saying the government of Syria has the blood of so many people on its hands should go back and do a bit of soul-searching and tell themselves what prevented a ceasefire in Syria a few years ago," said Zarif, who is in New York for a U.N. meeting on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The only thing that prevented a ceasefire ... was a precondition" that Assad not be part of any transitional government in Syria, Zarif said at New York University.
European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Tuesday said a successful nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers could open the door to Iran playing a constructive role in resolving regional crises.
Zarif suggested Iran, an ally of Assad's, should be party of any talks on Syria. "Others were trying to exclude Iran, to their own detriment," he said.
A 2012 peace conference involving Syrian government and opposition groups, the United States Russia and United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... produced the "Geneva Communique," which called for a political transition but left Assad's fate ambiguous.
Iran did not sign on to the communique and was excluded from the January 2014 "Geneva II" meeting. Zarif said outsiders deciding that Assad should not be part of any political process was a mistake.
"You cannot tell (Syrians) that this person should not be a part of your future, the other person should not be a part of your future," he said. "This will prevent a negotiation from taking place."
Western and Arab governments say Assad should be excluded from any transition.
Zarif said Iran was open to "all options," though the grinding of the peace processor should be Syrian-led.(
Posted by: Fred ||
05/01/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
IRAN + BEST FRENEMY FOREVAR! BABY ASSAD ...
versus
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > SOUTH SYRIAN/SYRIAN FSA REBELS SAY THERE WERE PROMISED ["Arab" = KSA Coalition?] AIR COVER.
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.
[VOA News] German police said Thursday they have foiled an alleged Islamic
[ABC.NET.AU] A Pak court has 
[Philippine Star] The mayor of Naga in Zamboanga Sibugay, whom unidentified gunmen seized at her home on April 6, is now in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. Police earlier tagged a renegade faction of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the kidnapping.
[Gulf Today] Four New People's Army and two Philippine soldiers were killed in an encounter in a remote village in Misamis Oriental province, the military reported on Thursday.
No 'international incident' over this one in 1968. I doubt our Champ is too concerned. 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
