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Today: 57 articles and 131 comments as of 12:14.
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Senior Qaeda-linked figure captured in Lebanon
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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2 14:25 Thrusoque Dark Lord of the Veal Cutlets8401 [] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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8 22:07 Mike Kozlowski []
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
7 19:16 Sven the pelter []
5 12:24 Abu Uluque []
13 16:21 Ebbart Glererong5900 []
Afghanistan
Daesh Leader Killed In Nangarhar Drone Strike
[Tolo News] Local officials on Friday confirmed the death of Hafiz Saeed
-- one of the key leaders of Daesh [Islamic State] -- in a drone strike by foreign troops in eastern Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province.

Achin district chief Ghalib Mujahid told TOLOnews that Hafiz Saeed
Not the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, another learned hafiz.
was killed with 10 other fighters in the air strike which was carried out in Zhwara area in the district.

He said that the son of Mangal Bagh
...a former bus driver, now head of the Deobandi bandido group Lashkar-e-Islam and the Terror of Khyber Agency...
, another key leader of the group, is also among the dead.

This comes after reports in last July confirmed the death of Hafiz Saeed along with 30 others in a drone strike in the district.

Saeed was a former leader of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) before pledging allegiance to Daesh [Islamic State].
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  Not the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, another learned hafiz

damn. I wuzza hoping
Posted by: Frank G || 01/16/2016 8:46 Comments || Top||


Heavy Fighting Underway In Helmand's Gereshk
[Tolo News] Heavy fighting
... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy...
between Afghan cops and the Taliban is underway in Gereshk district in southern Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
province.

Tribal elders in the province warned if fresh troops are not sent in, the collapse of the district will also lead to the fall of Helmand province.

They called on government to send in reinforcement troops so as not to let Gereshk district to fall to the Taliban.

A tribal elder from the district said that Gereshk was a strategic district and its fall could lead to the fall of Helmand province.

"It has been almost one week that security troops in the district have not slept, they haven't received any equipment and as compared with the enemy they don't have enough weapons," he added.

He stressed that if government failed to send in fresh troops and take other necessary measures, then the fall of the district will definitely lead to the fall of Helmand province.

Meanwhile,
...back at the pie fight, Bella grabbed the cocoanut cream...
Gereshk district chief, Muhammad Sharif, said that if reinforcement troops are not deployed, they will not be able to ensure the security of the district.

"We urge leaders of security organizations to act on time and move forward, because it is still early. Send us more troops. The security troops that are currently stationed in the district are on the defensive," he said adding, "although the national army has supported police forces in the district, it was not enough and more measures should be taken."

Afghan soldiers, who are fighting on the frontline against the Taliban in Gereshk district, said due to lack of enough weapons they cannot move forward. They, however, claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on bully boys.

An Afghan soldier said that dead bodies of the snuffies are on the ground and the Taliban are trying to take away the bodies.

"It has been five days that we are fighting. We have defeated them. In every fighting, 10 to 12 snuffies are being killed. They (the Taliban) cannot stand against us," he added.

The fighting has forced scores of families to leave their houses in the district. The displaced families seek humanitarian assistance.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  GERESHK-where the German circus geeks live in the off season wunderbar and farten nugguty!
Posted by: Lampedusa Creretch3679 || 01/16/2016 8:59 Comments || Top||

#2  And hier Ich thoughten der circus Mir der lflashing lights were auf Sarsota geganen.

Keaton Beach, 1988. Eating fried mullet at a seaside dive, suddenly a rumble of many motor cycles. I am like ah fooey, time to go. They came in with maximum leathers, no colors and mostly spoke Hohe Deutsch. Upper class Germans on a motorcycle tour of the South. Once I figured that out (24 minutes), Gemütlichkeit decended upon the joint. I walked back to house at about 4 am. I may have left the tab, actually I did leave the tab. :)
Posted by: Shipman || 01/16/2016 9:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't post 'under the influence', Kids!
Posted by: Pappy || 01/16/2016 14:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Not enough weapons? Existing troops are unarmed? Maybe grab the weapons from the bad guys that you kill. By weapons does the author mean ammo? Is he looking for a spectre gunship?
Posted by: Spinesh Grumble5885 || 01/16/2016 14:38 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Several Dead as Shebab Storm African Union Base in Somalia
[AnNahar] Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab snuffies stormed an African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
base manned by Kenyan troops in the country's southwest on Friday, with several killed in fierce shootouts.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta that "regrettably some of our patriots in uniform paid the ultimate price" as he offered condolences to the families of those killed, without giving details of how many died.

Somali army colonel Idris Ahmed said a Shabaab suicide commando blasted into the El-Adde base in the Gedo region, which borders Kenya and Æthiopia, in a pre-dawn attack.

"There was suicide kaboom followed by the fighting and it seems that the base was stormed," Ahmed said.

Both Somali troops and Kenyan soldiers with the AU force, AMISOM, are deployed at the isolated base.

"Our gallant soldiers reacted swiftly to protect their camp - to protect their peace and stability that they are in Somalia to secure, and to protect our country from its enemies," Kenyatta said in a statement.

Shabaab front man Abdiaziz Abu Musab claimed 63 Kenyan troops were killed, but this could not be immediately verified.

"The mujahedeen fighters carried out a successful operation this morning on a military base at El-Adde, and they have killed many of the Christian soldiers from Kenya," Musab said. "We have counted 63 dead bodies inside the base."

The Shabaab frequently exaggerates the number of troops they kill, while AMISOM rarely gives exact tolls.

The attack came as politicians met in the southern port of Kismayo, with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud leading a "National Consultative Forum" to debate planned elections due later this year.

"Somalia is no longer a failed state," Mohamud said in a statement, which made no reference to the attack.

"Somalia is building a strong foundation to support a better future."

Local elder Hussein Adam said he heard a huge kaboom followed by intense gunfire for about 45 minutes.

"We don't know about the casualties, but people who went there saw many dead bodies strewn around," he said, having spoken to those who went to the base.

The Shabaab, fighting to overthrow Somalia's internationally-backed and AU-protected government, has launched a string of similar attacks.

In September 2015, Shabaab fighters stormed a Ugandan AMISOM base in Janale district, 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Mogadishu in the Lower Shabelle region.

And in June, Shabaab killed dozens of Burundian soldiers when they overran an AMISOM outpost northwest of Mogadishu.

The snuffies also stage frequent suicide attacks in the capital.

But the 22,000-strong AMISOM force has also made significant gains against the Shabaab, pushing them out of several strongholds in the southwest.

The Shabaab have also staged attacks in Kenya, killing at least 67 people at Nairobi's Westgate Mall in 2013 and massacring 148 people at a university in Garissa in April 2015.

The snuffies say the attacks are retaliation for the Kenyan military presence in Somalia and "war crimes" committed by Kenyan troops.

But Kenyatta said the troops would continue in their mission.

"We will hunt down the criminals involved... our soldiers' blood will not be shed in vain," he said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab

#1  "Somalia is no longer a failed state"

I'm trying to think of a word that means "beyond failed." Maybe it's in German.
Posted by: Pappy || 01/16/2016 10:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Lets wait for Besoeker to log in.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 01/16/2016 11:00 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm trying to think of a word that means "beyond failed."

"Detroit"
Posted by: Frank G || 01/16/2016 11:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Somalia, not to demean ya,
But golly, your civic asthenia
And Musulman folly
Would make us choose Mali
Or even our Taenia from Kenya.
Posted by: Zenobia Floger6220 || 01/16/2016 15:54 Comments || Top||


Africa North
At least 20 dead as Al-Qaeda gunmen attack hotel in Burkina Faso
[IsraelTimes] Armed men storm Ouagadougou hotel popular with Westerners; La Belle France calls incident a 'terrorist attack'

At least 20 people have been killed and another 15 maimed in an ongoing assault on a hotel in the capital of Burkina Faso
...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and will leave office feet first, one way or the other...
on Friday night, a hospital chief told AFP.

"For the dead, we do not have a precise figure, but there are at least 20 dead," said Robert Sangare, the head of Yalgado Ouedraogo hospital.

"We have had at least 15 maimed with bullet wounds and others who suffered injuries during the panic to escape."

An Al-Qaeda affiliate grabbed credit for the attack on the four-star Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou. The "mujahideen brothers" of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb "broke into a restaurant of one of the biggest hotels in the capital of Burkina Faso, and are now entrenched and the festivities are continuing with the enemies of the religion," the SITE Intelligence Group quoted an Arabic-language AQIM message as saying.

The French embassy called the assault a "terrorist attack" and the US Embassy in Ouagadougou tweeted: "We are closely following the situation downtown."

Sporadic exchanges of fire between the attackers and security forces could be heard near the hotel in the city center, an AFP news hound said, in an attack that began around 7:45 p.m. GMT.

An News Agency that Dare Not be Named news hound near the scene said that several cars were also ablaze outside the 147-room Splendid Hotel in downtown Ouagadougou. The AP news hound saw an armored vehicle with security forces arrive nearly three hours after the attack.

A video uploaded to YouTube claimed to document the attack from near the hotel.
Video can be seen at the link.
Witness Vital Nounagnon told the AP that he saw four men attack the hotel and neighboring Cappuccino Cafe about 7:30 p.m. Another witness who gave only his first name, Gilbert, said that when security forces first arrived, they turned around rather than confront the attackers.

"But we know that the gunnies won't get out of the hotel alive," he said. "Our country is not for jihadists or terrorists. They got it wrong."

While Burkina Faso has largely been spared the violence wracked by Islamic bad boy groups in Mali, a Romanian national was kidnapped last April. Jihadists have attacked hotels before in neighboring Mali, including a devastating attack on the Radisson Blu hotel in November that left 20 people dead.

Burkina Faso, a largely Muslim country, has been in turmoil since its longtime president was ousted in a popular uprising in late 2014. Last September members of a presidential guard launched a coup that lasted only about a week. The transitional government returned to power until Burkina Faso's November election ushered in new leaders.
Al Ahram's report appears to have been written after the above, adding:
Security forces battled suspected Islamist fighters who were holding hostages at hotel used by foreigners in Burkina Faso's capital on Friday, gendarmes and witnesses said.

The gunnies stormed the Splendid Hotel in Ouagadougou's business district, burning cars outside and firing in the air to drive back crowds before security forces arrived, prompting an intense exchange of gunfire.

The hotel is sometimes used by French troops with Operation Barkhane, a force based in Chad and set up to combat Islamist forces of Evil across Africa's vast, arid Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
"It is continuing at this time. We are trying to know how many attackers they are to better coordinate our actions. Hostages have been taken. The operation could take several hours," a bigwig with the national gendarmes said, asking not to be named.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Looks like AQ is competing for market share with "The JV Team."
Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 || 01/16/2016 19:40 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Yemen: Pipeline between Oil Port and Refinery in Aden Blown up
[ALMANAR.LB] An unidentified group bombed dawn on Friday a major pipeline in Aden connecting the oil port and refinery in Briqa region.

An official source at Aden Refinery said that unknown people planted an bomb that went kaboom! in the pipeline and caused fire.

The source stated that the blast caused extensive damage in the pipeline.

He stressed that refineries' crews immediately cut off fuel supplies passing through the pipeline.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Europe
Police Prevent Stoning of Two Transsexual Men in Dortmund, Afghanistan Germany
The link is a German TV news report. Here's a summary:
In Dortmund, Germany three North African men accosted and attacked two transsexual men. One of the attackers said "You whores must be stoned.

The assailants then picked up stones from a rock garden(?) and threw them at the victims.

A police patrol became aware of the situation, stopped the attack and arrested the suspects.
The police will apologize and release the perps in 3 .. 2 .. 1...
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/16/2016 01:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Islamophobes!

(can I play the Left's game?)
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/16/2016 13:44 Comments || Top||

#2  This is a link to the police's press release.

The offenders are a 16 y/o, a 17 y/o 'known to the police' and an 18 y/o repeat offender.

The 16 y/o was released into the custody of his parents, the 17 y/o was released, the 18 y/o remains under arrest.

One of the transvestites speaks Arabic and responded to the insults in Arabic. This might have contributed to the escalation.
Posted by: Elmerert Hupens2660 || 01/16/2016 17:57 Comments || Top||

#3  C'mon, everybody must get stoned.+
Posted by: Glenmore || 01/16/2016 19:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Welcome to the new normal.
Posted by: gorb || 01/16/2016 19:55 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish army bombs Kurdish town of Cizre, three children killed
[ARANews] CIZRE -- At least five non-combatants were killed, including three children, in Turkish bombardment on the Kurdish town of Cizre in Sirnak province, southeast The Sick Man of Europe Turkey
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
, local sources reported on Friday.

The Turkish army continued its military operations against Cizre town for the third week under the pretext of combatting rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"The Turkish troops hit on Friday civilians' houses in the neighborhoods of Dag and Shah in Cizre town with heavy artillery shelling. Five people were killed, including three children," a local civil rights activist told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
for security concerns. "Also, four other civilians were maimed in Friday's bombardment.

"Cizre suffers constant cut of electricity and water, and a sharp shortage of medicines and food. Civilians are suffering the most under the ongoing military campaign," the source reported.

Cizre town has been under army siege for weeks, while a 24-hour curfew has been imposed by the authorities. The artillery shelling by the army forces repeatedly hit residential neighborhoods in the town, causing more than 50 civilian casualties in the past three weeks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yet they're still in NATO...
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 01/16/2016 7:17 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Seminary run by Jaish-e-Mohammad in Sialkot sealed
[DAWN] SIALKOT: The Counter-Terr­orism Department (CTD) sealed a mosque-cum-seminary and tossed in the clink
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
14 people in Mundeyki Goraya village on Thursday.

The mosque and seminary were being run by the defunct bad boy organization Jaish-e-Mohammad
...literally Army of Mohammad, a Pak-based Deobandi terror group founded by Maulana Masood Azhar in 2000, after he split with the Harkat-ul-Mujaheddin. In 2002 the government of Pervez Musharraf banned the group, which changed its name to Khaddam ul-Islam and continued doing what it had been doing before without missing a beat...
(JeM).

A bigwig said that a contingent of CTD and police raided and sealed Jamia Masjid and Madressah Al-Noor located some 14km from Daska. The team detained 14 activists of the banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization
but did not reveal their identities.

The official said that the record and printed material from the seminary were seized during the raid and people taken into custody were whisked away for interrogation.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad


Afghan consulate official's Peshawar residence targeted in late-night drive-by
[DAWN] PESHAWAR: Armed bully boyz attacked an Afghan consulate official's residence in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
's posh Town area in the early hours of Friday, SP Cantonment Area Kashif Khan said. Consulate official Humayun Yousafzai is unhurt.

Unidentified gunnies on cycle of violences opened fire on Yousafzai's house around 2am, the SP said.

Initial investigation revealed a sub-machine gun was used to fire at the house and 29 bullet casings have been recovered from the site of the attack, he said.

Photos from the scene of the crime show the boundary wall of the house marred with bullets.

Bullet holes seen in the boundary wall of the house. ─ Photo by author
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Four Indian Maoist Rebels Killed in Shoot-out
[ALMANAR.LB] Four Maoist rebels have been killed in a shootout with police in a forest in central India's Chhattisgarh state, security forces said Friday.

Police said the shoot-out happened early Friday morning in Bijapur, around 470 kilometers (290 miles) from state capital Raipur.

"After the fierce shootout, bodies of one female and three male Maoist cadres, along with four rifles and four Chinese hand grenades, have been recovered," Bijapur district police chief Kanhaiya Lal Dhruv told AFP.

The remote, underdeveloped region of the state is believed to have been a rebel stronghold for nearly two decades.

Police said that they had launched a search operation after an intelligence tip-off that the Maoists were in the forested Ganglaur area, where the shoot-out occurred.

Officers are still searching for weapons and the bodies of any more rebels killed in the incident.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Commies

#1  Maoist? That seems outre even for the chicoms.
Posted by: Sven the pelter || 01/16/2016 1:17 Comments || Top||

#2  " shoot-out happened early Friday morning"

04:00? RAB? No recovered bullet?
Posted by: Thrusoque Dark Lord of the Veal Cutlets8401 || 01/16/2016 14:25 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Coalition Airstrike Destroys ISIS Finance Distribution Center Near Mosul, or maybe Library
Video of 11. January airstrike.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/16/2016 04:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  The only reason 0bean agreed to it is because one of his generals jokingly referred to it as redistribution of wealth.
Posted by: gorb || 01/16/2016 19:53 Comments || Top||


30 ISIS militants, including commanders, killed in U.S. strike north Iraq
[ARANews] Warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition bombed a building where leading members 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....
(ISIS) radical group were meeting in Iraq's northwestern province of Nineveh, activists reported on Friday.

At least 30 ISIS holy warriors, mostly military commanders and security officials, were killed in the Arclight airstrike.

Speaking to ARA News in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
, head of Nineveh Media Office Raafat Razazi confirmed the death of prominent ISIS officials in the U.S.-led Arclight airstrike.

"Leading members of ISIS were holding a meeting to discuss the recent preparations to defend the group's major bastion of Mosul against the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi army troops. However,
Caliphornia hasn't yet slid into the ocean, no matter how hard it's tried...
the coalition targeted the building where the gunnies were meeting, killing at least 30 of them," Razazi said.

"This was one of the most painful strikes to ISIS, as the group has lost several military commanders and security officials who used to plan ISIS's operations in Nineveh province, especially in Mosul city and its suburbs," Razazi told ARA News.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


French Jets Strike IS Comms Center in Iraq
As the war continues, the planners plot their next moves.
[AnNahar] French warplanes bombed an Islamic State communications hub near Mosul in northern Iraq overnight, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Thursday.

"Last night we bombed a Daesh telecommunications center, a propaganda center, near Mosul," Le Drian told BFMTV, using an Arabic acronym for the IS jihadists.

"We have struck seven times since Monday," Le Drian said of the French bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria.

"Daesh is pulling back in Iraq" where it has lost control of the cities of Sinjar and Ramadi, Le Drian said.

IS fighters seized Raqa in Syria in early 2014 and declared it the capital of their so-called caliphate. In June the same year, the jihadists seized Mosul.

Another major Iraqi city, Ramadi, fell in May 2015 but local Iraqi forces -- backed by coalition air support and troop training -- recaptured the town at the end of last month in what was seen as a major blow for the jihadists.

Sinjar was recaptured in November with the help of Kurdish forces.

Since coalition air strikes began in August 2014, the Pentagon estimates IS has lost about 40 percent of the territory it once held in Iraq, and about 10 percent of the land it claimed in Syria.

"The battle for Mosul will have to be taken on one day," Le Drian said, adding that it would be "much more complicated."

"Iraqis and Kurds must be sufficiently war-hardened to take on this battle."

Defense ministers from the seven countries taking part in the anti-IS coalition -- France, the United States, Australia, Germany, Italy, Britain and the Netherlands -- will meet in Paris on January 20 to discuss their military strategy.

"We are going to see how to increase our efforts in Iraq and Syria," said Le Drian.

Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Wednesday that recapturing Raqa and Mosul would be key to the ongoing fight against the jihadists.

Raqa and Mosul "constitute ISIL's military, political, economic, and ideological centers of gravity," Carter said, using an alternative acronym for the IS group.

"That's why our campaign plan's map has got big arrows pointing at both Mosul and Raqa. We will begin by collapsing ISIL's control over both of these cities and then engage in elimination operations throughout other territories ISIL holds in Iraq and Syria," he added, without giving a timeframe.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State

#1  "Der Kamph geht wieder."
Posted by: Nguard || 01/16/2016 2:23 Comments || Top||


Iraqi forces kill ISIS executioner in Anbar
[Rudaw] Iraq's defense ministry announced Thursday that its forces had killed a wanted 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....
(ISIS) leader responsible for the execution of civilians and the criminal mastermind behind many boom-mobiles.

Mohammed Abul Manaf al-Rawi was severely maimed in air strikes on January 7, and died at the Shifa hospital in the tonw of Albu Kamal in Anbar on Wednesday. .

Al-Raqi was reportedly the al-Qaeda's suicide kabooms criminal mastermind in Iraq prior to joining the Islamic State, said the defense ministry.

A defense statement said that al-Raqi was behind many car kabooms Baghdad and Ramadi and carried out numerous executions in Hit and Rawa in the Western Anbar province.

Another prominent ISIS figure behind many boom-mobiles in the Kirkuk area was killed in a coalition air strike this week.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Iraqi Force Enters Southern Oil City To Disarm Tribal Fighters
[NRTTV] Iraq has sent an armored army division and a police strike force into the southern oil city of Basra to disarm residents amid intensified feuding among rival Shi'ite Muslim tribes, local officials and security sources said on Friday (Jan. 15).

Forces had been deployed earlier to restore calm to rural areas running north of the city towards West Qurna and Majnoon oilfields on Wednesday (Jan. 13), but a local official reassured foreign companies their assets were secure.

"Tribal fighting has never been in areas close to (oil) fields. It has not affected work on these fields. The roads to Rumaila, West Qurna and the Zubair district and the center of the city are safe and we do not have any issues in this regard. They (the forces) are here to protect the citizens and not the (oil) companies because the companies are completely safe and we do not have any problems with that. The forces that arrived in the city with the Iraqi Prime Minister (Haider al-Abadi) are to protect the people of Basra," said Sabah al-Bazouni, head of Basra's provincial council.

The tribal fighting and military response are a sign of the growing problems that could face foreign oil companies, even though they operate far from areas of conflict with 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).

The disputes have forced Baghdad to divert critical security resources from the frontlines with those Lions of Islam in the north and west to the south, where oil fields account for more than 85 percent of production by the major Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member.

"They (forces) have entered areas north of Basra. Then they will enter all the neighborhoods of Basra. They are disarming areas that have seen a lot of tribal festivities. These areas are well known by former police and army forces of the Basra Operation. These areas will be disarmed," Bazouni said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi held his weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (Jan. 13) in Basra where he called on security forces to "strike with an iron fist (against) the gangs that tamper with Basra's security".

With tanks and heavy machine guns, the security forces entered overnight the northern Basra district of al-Hussein, a flashpoint for tribal fighting also known as al-Hayaniya. Backed by army helicopters, they began raiding homes and seizing weapons, according to the head of security committee of Basra's provincial council, Jabar al-Saadi.

Security forces incarcerated
You have the right to remain silent...
around 30 people on criminal charges and seized machine guns, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and large ammunition caches, the security sources said.

As the holder of the world's fifth-biggest crude reserves, oil makes up around 40 percent of Iraq's gross domestic product and more than 90 percent of fiscal and current external receipts.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
2 Palestinians said killed in Gaza clashes with IDF
It's Friday, and the Gazan lads have nothing better to do than practice their sling work and battle cries.
[IsraelTimes] Army says troops opened fire when 'dozens of rioters breached the buffer zone' in Strip; soldier lightly hurt by stones in West Bank

Paleostinian sources said Friday that two people were killed in festivities with IDF soldiers in separate incidents in the Gazoo Strip.

In the first incident, a youth was killed during a riot near the Bureij refugee camp, in the center of the coastal strip. Ashraf al-Qudra, a front man for the Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,-run Health Ministry named him as Mohammed Abu Zaida, 18, and said he died after being shot in the neck.

Two other Paleostinians were maimed during the festivities east of Bureij, he added.

The IDF confirmed it had fired on protesters after they breached the "buffer zone" along the border.

"Dozens of rioters have breached the buffer zone and are attempting to damage the fence," a spokeswoman said. "Forces shot rioters posing a threat of infiltration and the riot is ongoing."

Several hours later, another Paleostinian youth was killed during a confrontation with Israeli troops, local media said, according to Channel 10 television.

In the central West Bank, an IDF soldier was lightly hurt when Paleostinians hurled stones at an army force close to Beitunia. The soldier was treated at the scene and later evacuated to hospital, the Walla website said.

Molotov cocktails were thrown at two buses south of Karmi Tzur in the Eztion settlement bloc on Friday afternoon, Army Radio reported. There were no injuries.
Al Manar adds:
Medics added that at least 10 other Paleostinian youths had been shot and maimed by live fire during the festivities.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Senior Qaeda-linked figure captured in Lebanon
[Ynet] Lebanese security forces said on Thursday they had nabbed a senior member of an al Qaeda-linked murderous Moslem group that has carried out attacks in the country.

A security source described Bilal Mezher as an "important catch", close to Sirajeddine Zureiqat, head of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades
... Leb's current al-Qaeda affiliate, named after a guy whose car the current head of al-Qaeda had boomed...
. Mezher, who is Lebanese, was arrested in a special operation in Naameh area south of Beirut.

"This special operation is part of a wider campaign to arrest gunnies and all those linked to terrorist groups," the source told Rooters.

The Abdullah Azzam group, named after a Paleostinian regarded as the one-time spiritual mentor of al Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse...
, has claimed attacks across the region including a double suicide assault on Iran's Beirut embassy in 2014.

The Azzam Brigades are designated by the US State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Syrian Army Controls Two More Villages in Aleppo Eastern Countryside
[ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian army's intensified operations against terrorist organizations have resulted in achieving more advances in various areas, establishing control over more areas in Aleppo eastern countryside.

Aleppo

Army units established control over al-Abboudiyeh village, to the southeast of Ein al-Bayda village, and al-Ajouziyeh village in the eastern countryside of Aleppo, sources on the ground told SANA on Wednesday.

Meanwhile,
...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind...
army Units targeted hideouts and gatherings of ISIL holy warriors in al-Bab, Arran, Tal Beijan, Qiter, al-Mifilseh and Wadiaa in the eastern countryside of Aleppo province.

The army's operations resulted in destroying vehicles and sites, in addition to heavy and medium weapons.

The army also inflicted heavy losses upon holy warriors in al-Mansoura village and Khirbet Hazmar in the western countryside of the province.

In Aleppo city, a number of bad boyz were potted and their weapons and ammunition were destroyed during army operations in the neighborhoods of al-Ameriyeh, al-Rashidin, al-Khalediyeh, al-Lairamoun, al-Kastello and Bani Zaid.

An army unit destroyed arms and weapons for al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli sh-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 .. ...
holy warriors in al-Ameriyeh, located on the southeastern outskirts of Aleppo city.

Daraa

In southern Syria, an army unit destroyed a vehicle for al-Nusra (Qaeda Branch in the Levant) holy warriors west of al-Bajabjeh quarter in Daraa al-Balad neighborhood in Daraa city.

A number of bad boyz were potted and their arms and weapons were destroyed.
Posted by: Fred || 01/16/2016 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
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1al-Qaeda in Pakistan
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1Salafists
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2016-01-16
  Senior Qaeda-linked figure captured in Lebanon
Fri 2016-01-15
  U.S. designates ISIS in Afghanistan as foreign terrorist organization
Thu 2016-01-14
  Terror attacks in Jakarta -- 7 die so far
Wed 2016-01-13
  Suicide bomber kills 10 people, mainly Germans, in Istanbul
Tue 2016-01-12
  Bombings at Iraq cafe kill 20: Officers
Mon 2016-01-11
  It begins: Cologne gangs attack foreigners
Sun 2016-01-10
  US drone strikes kills 25 suspected militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan
Sat 2016-01-09
  Philadelphia police officer ambushed 'in the name of Islam'
Fri 2016-01-08
  ISIS Man Executes His Mom
Thu 2016-01-07
  Iran says Saudi-led airstrike hit Iranian Embassy in Yemen, but no damage seen
Wed 2016-01-06
  1 US soldier killed, 2 wounded in Taliban attack in Helmand
Tue 2016-01-05
  44 ISIS Bad Guys die in battles near Fallujah
Mon 2016-01-04
  38 die in Kurd, ISIS battles in Raqqa
Sun 2016-01-03
  Fierce Fighting Erupts Between Afghan Forces, Taliban In Marjah
Sat 2016-01-02
  Death sentences for nine 'hardcore terrorists' in Pakistan

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