[RADIOSHABELLE] At least three people were killed and two others injured Thursday night in a grenade attack in Bosaso, the commercial citu of Somalia’s northeastern Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... region, police said.
Mohammed Jama, a police officer in Bosaso, confirmed the incident on Friday.
The attackers hurled hand grenades at security officers at a checkpoint in Bosaso, killing one soldier and two civilians, Jama told media.
Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... has grabbed credit for the attack.
Bosaso has seen several such attacks in recent months, all conducted by the al-Shabaab myrmidon group
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[ARABNEWS] A Greek appeals court on Friday rejected a Ottoman Turkish demand for the handover of eight Ottoman Turkish soldiers accused by Ankara of having played a direct role in the abortive coup against President Tayyip Erdogan in 2016.
It was the third extradition request Greek courts have refused, an issue which has further strained relations between the long uneasy NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and structure.... allies. The Greek court said it had concerns the eight would not face a fair trial in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... The group fled to Greece in a helicopter on July 16, 2016, as the coup attempt against Erdogan crumbled. Turkey says they are traitors and coup plotters.
In a unanimous decision, the Athens-based Court of Appeal rejected Turkey’s extradition request, filed on the basis of eight charges the soldiers face in their country.
Those charges included involvement in the coup, attempted murder, participation in an armed terrorist group, military desertion and theft of military material.
In its verdict, the court said the charges were vague and had introduced no new elements to materially sway earlier verdicts.
"In each case there are valid concerns of an unfair trial, and the risk of facing torture and humiliating behavior," a court official said, citing the verdict.
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Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Two civilians were maimed Friday as a bomb went kaboom! near a popular market in southeastern Baghdad, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Alghad Press, the source said, "A bomb placed by unknown people in al-Mada’in district in southeastern Baghdad went off, leaving two civilians maimed."
"A security force cordoned off the blast site and carried the maimed to a nearby hospital for treatment," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, pointed out.
Anbar (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Eight Iraqi soldiers were killed and injured Friday in an armed attack launched by 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) bully boyz on a security checkpoint in Anbar, a security source was quoted as saying.
Speaking to Basnews website, the source said, "A security checkpoint set up on a highway in al-Qa’im district, west of Anbar, was targeted by a group of IS bully boyz in the wee hours of Friday."
"The armed attack left four Iraqi soldiers killed, and four others maimed," according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He pointed out that the "injured soldiers were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment, while a security force arrived at the scene and opened a probe into the incident."
"A manhunt was launched in search for perpetrators of the attack, who fled to unknown locations in the desert," the source concluded.
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[IsraelTimes] Seven demonstrators said maimed by Israeli fire along Gazoo border fence; two Israeli troops lightly hurt in West Bank riots
Hundreds of Paleostinians clashed with Israeli soldiers Friday in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip in a "day of rage" marking 100 days since US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Some 150 Paleostinians were said to have taken part in riots along the Gazoo border, with the Paleostinian Authority’s official Wafa news agency reporting seven demonstrators were maimed by Israeli fire during the festivities.
In the West Bank, hundreds of Paleostinians protested at a number of locations, with some throwing rocks and molotov cocktails at Israeli troops. Channel 10 reported that two Israeli soldiers were lightly maimed, with one taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba after a rock struck him in the face near Tulkarem.
The violent demonstrations came after Paleostinian factions in the West Bank and Gazoo Strip called Thursday for Paleostinians to protest Trump’s decision by staging rallies after Friday prayers. The protests were being held under the banner of "Friday rage for Jerusalem."
The Paleostinian National and Islamic Forces, a coalition consisting of various groups, called on Paleostinians to confront IDF soldiers and settlers immediately after prayers.
On Thursday, Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, issued a separate appeal to Paleostinians to participate in Friday’s protests. The terror group that rules the Gazoo Strip urged Paleostinians to initiate festivities with IDF soldiers and settlers, saying the rage should continue until Trump’s decision is withdrawn.
The so-called "day of rage" was the latest in a series of weekly demonstrations, many of them violent, which have taken place since the December 6 announcement. The protests shrunk in size after the first few weeks.
Also Friday, Israel’s military liaison to the Paleostinians issued a warning to Hamas, a day after two improvised bombs were detonated against a military patrol vehicle driving along the border in northern Gazoo.
"The provocations by Hamas and other terrorist organizations could lead to an escalation" of violence along the Gazoo border, Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, wrote in his Facebook page.
He said the kaboom could have damaged a nearby sewer treatment facility that serves 300,000 Paleostinians in Gazoo.
There were no Israeli injuries reported in the IED attack, to which the IDF responded with tank fire.
It was not immediately clear which terrorist group in the Gazoo Strip set off the explosives. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... in accordance with its policy of holding Gazoo’s Hamas rulers responsible for any act of violence emanating from the coastal enclave, the army said it targeted several of the organization’s military positions.
"IDF troops retaliated by firing from a tank at positions belonging to the Hamas terrorist group," the army said.
The military later clarified that in addition to striking Hamas targets, it hit a site belonging to the Iran-backed Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... group. In total, the army said it struck five terrorist positions in Gazoo.
[IsraelTimes] Paleostinian driver hits 4 troops along road outside Mevo Dotan settlement, south of Jenin.
A Paleostinian driver hit four Israeli soldiers with his car Friday afternoon, killing two of them and seriously injuring the others, outside the Mevo Dotan settlement in the northern West Bank.
The military confirmed that the incident was a terror attack. The driver was injured and placed in durance vile Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! at the scene, the army said. According to Hadashot news he is known to security forces and has in the past been incarcerated for terror-related activities.
Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, welcomed the attack, saying it "proves our people’s readiness to continue the Jerusalem intifada." The Paleostinian Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... terror group also said it "commends" the attack and "calls for further attacks against the Zionist occupation. Paleostinian groups had called for Friday to be a "day of rage," in response to US President Donald Trump ...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... ’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December.
The car-ramming occurred next to an army observation post along the 585 highway near the entrance to Mevo Dotan, approximately 10 kilometers southwest of Jenin.
Video from the scene showed Israeli and Paleostinian medics treating the maimed. The area was also filled with IDF personnel, who inspected the wrecked car, which was tangled in barbed wire.
One of the victims was reportedly pronounced dead at the scene. A second died a short time later, after attempts to save his life failed. Two more were at death's door, according to the ZAKA emergency response organization.
The injured soldiers were taken by helicopter to Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Medical Center for treatment, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
The driver was lightly maimed and taken to Hillel Yaffe hospital in Hadera.
A second Paleostinian man was treated by the Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy medical service. It was not immediately clear how he was involved.
The driver was identified as Ala Qabha, 26, of the village of Barta’a in the northern West Bank.
Haaretz reported that Qabha was released from Israeli prison in April of last year after completing a 17-month sentence, though there were no immediate details on his crime. According to Hadashot news he was incarcerated for security-related activities.
Paleostinian media reported that military forces searched the Qabha family’s home in Barta’a and questioned family members following the attack. Qabha’s brother was placed in durance vile Please don't kill me! , and the Israeli work permits of several family members were revoked.
Meanwhile Qabha’s family claimed the incident was an accident and not an attack, with one relative telling Haaretz that the young man was a painter, and had been on his way home from Jenin after buying supplies. "He’s not politically affiliated and doesn’t belong to any organization," he said.
[ALMASDARNEWS] After two days of intense festivities, troops from the Syrian Army’s Elite Republican Guard have managed to impose full control over the district town of Jisreen in Damascus’ East Ghouta region.
The 48-hour battle witnessed government forces first seize the farmland and high points around Jisreen, followed by a storming of the district’s western neighborhoods and then a final push into the eastern residential areas.
The rollback of hard boy defenses inside Jisreen by Syrian troops was assisted with supporting fire from armor, artillery and warplanes (both Russian and Syrian).
The fall of the district town to the Syrian Army has major implications for rebel fighters ‐ now their main line of defense that guards the hard boy-controlled urban heartland of East Ghouta has been breached and there exists fewer prepared positions to effectively block follow up assaults by government forces towards Saqba and Kafr Batna.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The so-called 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 (ISIS) offensive in the southern districts of Damascus has stalled after several days of fighting in Yarmouk Camp and al-Qadam.
According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Army was able to forestall the Islamic State’s advance in al-Qadam after the terrorist group made an attempt to enter the central neighborhoods.
The source added that the Syrian Army firmly controls 70 percent of al-Qadam, with the Islamic State only possessing the eastern part of the district near the Yarmouk Camp axis.
ISIS was hoping to capture all of the al-Qadam after the rebels agreed to handover the district to the Syrian Army; however, the latter quickly entered al-Qadam in order to thwart any attempt by the terrorist group to expand further.
While ISIS still maintains control over most of Yarmouk Camp and eastern al-Qadam, the Syrian Arab Army is now in position to finally to strike back against the terrorist group.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) High Command announced on Friday that their forces had taken full control of Jisreen after a short battle in the East Ghouta region.
Led by the Tiger Forces and 4th Division, the Syrian Arab Army was able to overpower the Salafist tough guys at Jisreen on Friday, following the capture of most of the farms surrounding the town.
With Jisreen captured, the Syrian Arab Army can now push further into the East Ghouta suburbs that are controlled by the Islamist bully boyz of Faylaq al-Rahman and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham .
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Minutes ago, Jaish al-Islam ...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful... published a statement claiming that their forces struck a Syrian Army chopper over the East Ghouta region of Damascus.
According to the statement, Jaish al-Islam fighters fired an anti-aircraft missile from their OSA system, scoring a direct hit on the Syrian Army chopper.
However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the Jaish al-Islam statement did not clarify whether or not the Syrian Army chopper went down ‐ the Syrian military has not confirmed corroborated these claims.
The OSA surface-to-air system was captured by Jaish al-Islam in 2013, when their forces managed to capture a Syrian Air Defense base in the East Ghouta.
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[Hurriyet Daily News] The Ottoman Turkish intelligence agency is undergoing efforts to remove radical groups from Eastern Ghouta through communication with moderate opposition groups in the field, in order to end the regime’s attacks on civilians in the last rebel stronghold that has been under siege by the Syrian government since 2013, according to sources.
"The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire.... is carrying out work through some moderate opposition, which are also represented in the Astana process, in order to evacuate radical elements from the region that have been shown by the regime as an excuse for attacks on civilians in Eastern Ghouta," Ottoman Turkish security sources told Hurriyet Daily News on condition of anonymity.
Turkey is concerned about the humanitarian emergency in East Ghouta and is trying to find a solution in a bid to prevent further civilian casualties, sources have said, noting that hundreds of civilians bit the dust and hundreds were maimed during attacks last week because of the regime’s air and land elements.
Turkey will focus on the evacuation of civilians from Syria’s East Ghouta in the upcoming period and its National Intelligence Agency (MIT) is carrying out work for the removal of al-Nusra ...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ... from the besieged area, Ottoman Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said on March 15.
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[ARABNEWS] The Russian military said its planes had not taken part in the Syrian regime’s assault in Eastern Ghouta where a monitoring group says Arclight airstrikes killed 80 civilians in rebel-held zones on Friday.
"The claims of the SOHR (Syrian Observatory of Human Rights)... on the so-called Russian strikes in Eastern Ghouta are only one more piece of ’fake’ (news)," Russia’s defense ministry said, according to news agencies.
"Russian aviation has no military mission in Eastern Ghouta and has not undertaken any" in this region, it added.
The British-based Observatory, which says it determines whose planes carry out raids according to type, location, flight patterns and munitions used, said at least 76 non-combatants were killed in Russian air strikes on the southwestern Ghouta pocket on Friday.
A month-long government offensive on the rebel-held enclave on the outskirts of Damascus has killed at least 1,346 civilians, according to the Observatory, despite a United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... cease-fire calling for an end to the onslaught.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his shoulder. Ow! he exclaimed, with feeling...... thousands of civilians poured out of Eastern Ghouta on Thursday after a month-long bombardment brought the Syrian regime closer to recapturing the devastated rebel enclave close to Damascus. UN special envoy to Syria Staffane De Mistura said that UN teams were not coordination the civilian evacuation from eastern Ghouta towns.
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[IsraelTimes] Omar Alloush, found dead in his apartment, played an important role in forming the US-backed civil council for Raqqa
A senior Kurdish official who played a key role with the United States in implementing its post-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.... policy in northern Syria has been found dead in his apartment, Kurdish officials said Thursday.
Omar Alloush’s death is a blow to the post-IS efforts in the region, as he played a key role in mediating between Arabs and Kurds and in shaping US policy in the area.
The main Kurdish party in Syria said Thursday the death of Alloush is under investigation and officials suspect foul play.
Alloush was found dead in his apartment in Tal Abyad, a majority Arab town in northern Syria where he helped set up a joint Arab-Kurd administrative council after it was liberated from IS in 2015.
Alloush moved on to play a key role in forming the US-backed civil council for Raqqa, also a majority Arab town which was also the de-facto capital of IS. Raqqa was cleared of the group last year after months of fighting.
Alloush and other Arab tribal leaders were instrumental in negotiating a deal with the remnants of IS to evacuate the city after they were squeezed into a small sliver of land.
The October evacuation deal allowed a number of IS fighters to leave Raqqa in a convoy of vehicles, sparking criticism that the fighters were let off the hook. The US-led coalition said it was not involved in the negotiations, which aimed to save lives.
Another Arab mediator who played a key role in an evacuation deal of IS from Tabqa, a town near Raqqa, was also found killed last month in Syria.
Top Kurdish official Fawza Yusef said Alloush’s killing is a blow to joint Arab-Kurdish action and social peace following the defeat of IS.
"Omar Alloush had a key role in forming the Raqqa city council and in developing the concept of coexistence in Tal Abyad, Raqqa and Tabqa," she said, naming also another major town west of Raqqa that was recaptured from IS.
Those who killed him "want to incite sedition between ethnic groups and ignite internal infighting," she said.
Yusef accused The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... of being behind the liquidation of Alloush, saying he received threats before. Turkey views the dominant Kurdish militia, which is the US partner in the fight against IS in Syria, as a terrorist group.
Nicholas Heras, a Middle East Security Fellow at the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, said Alloush’s suspected killing was a "terrible blow" to the US efforts to stabilize Raqqa and therefore US strategy in Syria. The Kurdish-led forces have "a big bulls eye on its back and the road ahead will not be easy."
[IsraelTimes] Ottoman Turkish military urges tens of thousands of residents still inside the town to leave and Kurdish Lions of Islam to surrender
Ottoman Turkish shelling and Arclight airstrikes on the northern Syrian Kurdish town of Afrin killed at least 20 civilians on Friday, Kurdish officials said, as the Ottoman Turkish military urged residents of the town to leave and the Syrian Kurdish Lions of Islam to surrender to besieging Ottoman Turkish forces.
The media office for the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led and US-backed force that operates in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Syria, said that along with 20 killed, at least 30 were maimed in the attacks.
Victims lay dead in the streets in pools of blood, according to a video from the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors Syria’s seven-year civil war and which put the corpse count at 18.
Since their January offensive began, Ottoman Turkish forces have nearly encircled Afrin in an effort to drive the Syrian Kurdish fighters from the town and the surrounding region. Residents say they are facing bread, water, and electricity shortages.
Hundreds of civilians were seen leaving the town to neighboring villages on Thursday looking for relief. Tens of thousands of civilians are believed to still be inside.
Earlier Friday, Ottoman Turkish aircraft dropped flyers in Arabic and Kurdish on Afrin, asking residents to stay away from "terrorist positions" ‐ a reference to the Syrian Kurdish fighters ‐ and to not let themselves be used as "human shields."
The leaflets claimed that civilians desiring to flee Afrin would be guaranteed safety by the Ottoman Turkish military and urged Syrian Kurdish fighters to "trust the hand we extend to you."
"Come surrender! A calm and peaceful future awaits you in Afrin," the leaflets read.
[AlAhram] Turkish forces shelled the Syrian town of Afrin heavily overnight and killed at least 18 people, and the Kurdish YPG fighters were waging battles with Turkish and allied forces trying to storm the town, a YPG spokesman said.
Brusk Hasakeh, the YPG spokesman in Afrin, said the Turkish forces and their Syrian militia allies were trying to storm Afrin from the north. "They are shelling in order to storm (Afrin)," Hasakeh said by phone. He said the YPG and its all-female affiliate, the YPJ, were waging battles with the attacking forces.
[AlAhram] The United States should withdraw Syrian Kurdish militants from the east of the Euphrates river in Syria if it wants to cooperate with Turkey, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
Speaking at a congress for his ruling AK Party in the northeastern province of Erzurum, Erdogan also said Ankara remained open to all cooperation offers regarding the Syrian town of Manbij, but was unsure what approach incoming U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would have on the issue.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
Baghdad (Iraqinews.com) ‐ Two civilians were 
...Liwa al-Islam (Brigade of Islam) was established by Zahran Alloush, the son of Saudi-based religious scholar Abdullah Mohammed Alloush, after Syrian authorities released him from prison in mid-2011 where he had been serving time for his Salafist activism. The group claimed responsibility for carrying out the July 2012 Damascus bombing that killed Defense Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Defense Minister Asef Shawkat, and Assistant Vice President Hassan Turkmani. It was a driving force behind actions in the Damascus region. It cooperated and conducted joint operations with al-Nusra. In Sptember 2013 Saudi Arabia engineered Liwa al-Islam's merger with fifty other more or less Salafist groups as a counterweight to al-Nusra, which the Learned Elders of Islam considered was growing too powereful...
