#12
It's easy to be optimistic after the "One" leaves office. Damn, he is still meddling around on the way out trying to set the table for Trump. What a vindictive jerk.
#15
934 saw the turning point in the great depression in America with unemployment decreasing to 22% . But in other parts of the world some of the political changes occurring would cause the next world war , in Germany Adolf Hitler declared himself the fuhrer.&
[WJACTV] The Pennsylvania State Police have confirmed that Jason Robison, the man accused of shooting Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Landon Weaver, is dead. Stay with 6News on this developing story.
UPDATE: Trooper David McGarvey tells us the house on Bakers Hollow Road that police have been searching is still an active scene, and has not been cleared as of 9:50 a.m. Saturday morning.
District Attorney David Smith has also confirmed a large police presence in the area, but says he could not say more on the subject.
"I can't say the public shouldn't be concerned," said Smith. He did reiterate to 6News police are actively searching for the suspect.
A witness contacted our Dillon Richards, texting that police were lined up outside her driveway this morning. Her car was searched when she left for work.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 12:08 ||
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A loyalist of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group hailing from Pakistan was arrested from the eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan.
The Counter-terrorism Directorate of the Ministry of Interior said the detained militant has been identified as Muslim who is originally a resident of Pakistan.
The official in the Counter-terrorism Directorate said Muslim has confessed that he is a member of ISIS terrorist group and was involved in several terrorist related activities in Afghanistan.
The officials further added that the security forces confiscated 2 hand grenades, 1 pistol, and some other explosives from Muslim.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the ISIS loyalists have not commented regarding the report so far.
This comes as reports emerged recently suggesting that the ISIS loyalists are attempting to expand presence and activities in eastern Kunar province.
The National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar earlier said up to 80 percent of ISIS loyalists operating in Afghanistan are originally hailing from Pakistan and that they escape to the tribal regions of Pakistan after the Afghan forces conduct raids against them.
Both the Afghan and US forces conduct regular airstrikes against the ISIS loyalists to prevent them from expand foothold in the country.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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A leader of the minority Sikh community was shot dead by unknown gunmen in the strategic Kunduz city in northern Afghanistan, local security officials said.
The incident took place earlier this morning after a group of unknown gunmen opened fire on Sikh leader, Lala Dilsuz.
Provincial security chief Stanikzai confirmed the incident and said Dilsuz was shot dead around 9 am as he was on his way to his shop.
No group including the anti-government armed militant groups have commented regarding the incident so far.
According to the relatives of the deceased, a similar attack aimed to assassinate him took place nearly five years ago but escaped the attack unharmed.
They added that Dilsuz did not have any personal enmity with any individual and succumbed to his injuries after shot by the gunmen.
Kunduz is among the relatively volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan where the anti-government armed militants have been openly operating in its various districts and often carry out insurgency activities.
However, attacks by militants on minority Hindu and Sikh communities have been rarely reported although they face harassment in different parts of the country, leading to abandoning of the country by almost 99 percent of the Afghan Hindus and Sikhs.
The Taliban insurgents suffered casualties in an airstrike conducted by the US forces in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.
The provincial police commandment in a statement said at least 3 Taliban insurgents were killed and 7 others were wounded in the airstrike.
The statement further added that the airstrike was carried out in Chaparhar district of Nangarhar.
The Taliban insurgents group has not commented regarding the report so far.
Nangarhar is among the relatively calm provinces in eastern Afghanistan but the anti-government armed militant groups have increased their insurgency activities in some remote districts of the province during the recent months.
Both the Taliban insurgents and ISIS loyalists are actively operating in some of the remotely located districts of the province.
The increased insurgency activities by the Taliban militants and ISIS loyalists forced the US forces based in Afghanistan to resume airstrikes under a broader role granted by the Obama administration earlier this year.
The increased raids by the US and Afghan forces followed amid concerns that the ISIS loyalists are attempting to turn the province into its regional operational base besides the Taliban insurgents conducting militancy.
At least 13 civilians were wounded in a mortar attack in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, local officials said Thursday.
The incident took place late on Wednesday evening in the restive Bati Kot district with the local officials blaming the militant groups for the incident.
The provincial police commandment said at least 5 children and 2 women were among those wounded.
According to the local officials, some of the wounded civilians were discharged after receiving treatment while some are still being treated in the provincial hospital.
No group including the Taliban insurgents has so far claimed responsibility behind the incident.
Both the Taliban insurgents and militants loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group are actively operating in the restive Bati Kot district.
This comes as the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said late in October that the mission has documented 8,397 conflict-related civilian casualties (2,562 deaths and 5,835 injured) between 1 January and 30 September, representing a one per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2015.
Ground engagements remained the leading cause of civiliancasualties, followed by suicide and complex attacks, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
UNAMA further added that the anti-Government Elements caused 61 per cent of civilian casualties – 1,569 civilian deaths and 3,574 injured (5,143 total civilian casualties).
At least 10 Taliban insurgents were killed and 19 others were wounded during a series of air and artillery strikes in northern Faryab province.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the raids were conducted in the restive Qaisar district of Faryab.
The anti-government armed militant groups including the Taliban insurgents have not commented regarding the report so far.
Faryab is among the relatively volatile provinces in northern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents and militants belonging to other insurgent groups are actively operating in a number of its remote districts.
The shadow provincial governor of the Taliban group was killed along with five others during an operation in this province earlier this week.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the militants were killed during an operation in the restive Ghormach district.
MoD further added that 8 other militants also sustained serious injuries during the operation.
No further details were given regarding the identity of the Taliban leader killed in the operation.
The Afghan forces are busy conducting their annual operation under the name of Shafaq which they are saying has been launched in response to Taliban’s annual spring offensive.
According to the security officials, the main purpose of the operation is to eliminate the senior leaders of the militants plotting and conducting attacks against the government.
At least 11 police force members were killed after their outpost was attacked by a group of Taliban militants in Farah city on Thursday night, sources told TOLOnews.
Farah governor’s spokesman Mohammad Nasir Mehri confirmed the incident, but said two policemen were killed in the attack.
According to him, the militants took away all weapons following the raid on the police outpost.
Based on another report, a Taliban commander known as Mullah Tahir rejoined the militant group with his 15 fighters in Jawzjan province, security chief of Jawzjan Police Headquarters, Abdul Hafiz Khashi said.
He said the Taliban commander has taken a number of weapons and eight Border Police force members with him.
He added that Tahir joined the peace process with 35 fighters four months ago.
The closure of Helmand-Kandahar Highway for the past four days - due to the presence of Taliban and its damaged bridges – has raised concerns among residents of the two provinces.
Helmand residents said the Taliban has destroyed majority of bridges along the road.
A number of passengers meanwhile said they travel through alternative routes where Taliban has built check posts and are stopping people on the way to Helmand.
Abdul Samad, a resident of Helmand, said they urge government to reopen the road and launch a large-scale military operation to clear it of militants.
“Passengers are using alternative ways and different cars to reach their destination,” he said.
Meanwhile, local security officials said they have started a military operation to clear the road in the near future.
“Afghanistan’s and the Afghan people’s enemies are trying to destroy bridges and close the road for Helmand residents. We managed to clear major parts of the road in order to pave the ground for reconstruction of the bridges and the damaged parts of the road,” said Abdul Ghani Abrar, Executive Officer of 215 Maiwand Corps in Helmand.
[Libya Herald] Representatives from civil society organizations and local elders from al-Buwanis municipality near Sebha today demanded that the Libyan National Army (LNA) and Misrata’s Third Force stop fighting in the south. They also demanded the demilitarisation of their area and that the Third Force pull out.
The local protests come amid growing expectations of major festivities at any minute between the two sides. Locals have already been warned to evacuate their homes because of fears of an iminent outbreak of fighting.
Buwanis municipality includes Tamenhint airbase. The LNA’s Brigade No. 12 led by Colonel Mohammed Ben Nayel is now just a few kilometres away from it, and the LNA today claimed that representatives from the brigade were in discussions with airbase staff on its takeover.
Earlier this week it ordered the Third Force to quit the region but the Misratans have refused. Instead, the Misratan-dominated Bunyan Marsous ...(al-Bunyan al-Marsous, Solid Base) An operation carried out by Misratan forces loyal to the Libyan Goverenment of National Accord to dislodge ISIS forces from Sirte. 2,500 turbans were reported killed in the operation, which lasted from May through December.GNA's Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj officially announced the end of military operations on 18 December 2016... (BM) operation, which a fortnight ago finally smashed ISIS in Sirte, has threatened Arclight airstrikes against Nayel’s fighters.
Making the threat, the BM front man Colonel Mohammed Ghasri claimed that Ben Nayel and his forces had given shelter to the remnants of ISIS which had fled Sirte. They would be targeted, he warned.
"Ben Nayel has provided these fleeing holy warriors with weapons and shelter and we call on residents of Brak al-Shatti to stop them taking over their military and civil airport," he said on TV this afternoon.
The Brak al-Shatti airport was taken over by Ben Nayel three weeks ago after the Third Force pulled out.
The deteriorating situation in the area has already resulted in flights from Tamenhint being cancelled and the airport closed.
Tamenhint was also the airport from which the Afiqiyah Airways flight to 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... , hijacked to Malta on 23 December, took off.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Yemeni army and popular committees defeated the Saudi-led mercenaries’ attack on Tabbi Hamraa in Marib province, according local media reports.
The reports added that the Yemeni forces sniped a Saudi soldier in Ghalb exit in Asir province.
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... has been since March 26, 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led coalition.
Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to runaway ex-president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to 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...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] One police officer and two suspected Lions of Islam have been killed in a shootout in Russia's volatile North Caucasus.
Fatina Ubaydatova, spokeswoman in Russia's republic of Dagestan ...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus republic currently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca... , said on Friday a police squad was trying to stop a car with suspected Lions of Islam outside the city of Khasavyurt late on Thursday when people in that car opened fire on them. Police identified the two men as local Lions of Islam who attacked coppers earlier this week in the regional capital, Makhachkala.
Islamic turbans in Dagestan have mounted frequent attacks on police and officials, and some have sworn 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.... group.
The shootout comes a day after Russia's security agencies in Dagestan tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! seven people suspected of preparing New Year's terror attacks in Moscow on orders from the Islamic State group in Syria.
[BBC] Many injuries have been reported in an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey's NTV said. The report said around 20 to 30 people may have been hurt in the attack, which took place in the Reina nightclub, in the Ortakoy area, at about 1:30 a.m. local time.
NTV reported two attackers were involved, and CNN Turk reported they were dressed in Santa costumes. Unconfirmed reports say one attacker may still be inside. There were reportedly several hundred people in the nightclub at the time.
ANKARA: Turkey’s state-run news agency says police have detained some 40 suspected militants linked to the Daesh group in raids in southern Turkey.
Anadolu Agency says special forces police, backed by armored vehicles and a helicopter, conducted the raids in the city of Adana early on Friday.
Those detained are suspected of membership in the extremist group and of engaging in Daesh propaganda, the agency said.
Turkey has, since 2015, suffered a wave of deadly bombing attacks carried out either by Daesh militants or by Kurdish militants.
The country sent troops and tanks into northern Syria in August to support Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters in clearing a border area of the Daesh group and curbing the territorial expansion of Syrian Kurdish groups.
The Turkish military said on Friday a total of 1,294 Daesh militants and 306 Kurdish militants had been “neutralized” since the start of Turkey’s incursion into Syria.
In a statement, the Turkish military said 1,171 of the Daesh militants and 291 of the Kurdish militants had been killed.
Syrian rebels, backed by the Turkish military, have launched an incursion into northern Syria, an operation dubbed as “Euphrates Shield” on August 24 to drive Daesh away from the border area and halt advances of Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara sees as a hostile force.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
"With all the jails packed with Gulenists, the Turks are confining the forty Islamists in a spare bedroom at Erdogan's new Presidential Complex..."
Israel's anti-terrorism directorate on Friday issued a travel warning for India, citing an immediate threat of attack to Western and tourist targets, particularly in the south-west of the country.
"A particular emphasis should be put on events in the coming days in connection with beach and club parties celebrating the New Year where a concentration of tourists will be high," part of the warning said.
#1
If they really wanted to make a statement and at the same time create an impact in the US, the bad guys should be targeting the software hotbeds of telecomm, et. al., in Chennai.
"Cheap IT labor is one of the main fact that has attracted multitude of multi-billion-rupee foreign software companies such as Microsoft to establish their business in the city as well as in other software centers of India like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Delhi making the country a booming software exporter worldwide."
[DAWN] RAHIM YAR KHAN/SAHIWAL: Two personnel of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of police foiled the attempt of a jacket wallah to apparently target people coming out of a mosque after the Friday prayers in Rahim Yar Khan. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... the two personnel were maimed when a man in burqa in the guise of a female beggar went kaboom!.
Also on Friday, another official of the CTD was injured in an attack in Sahiwal.
Police sources said that after noticing that a burqa-clad person was approaching the mosque in Rahim Yar Khan’s Shafi Town, the two personnel tried to stop him. But the man went kaboom!, injuring the two personnel.
The injured CTD personnel, identified as Qamar Abbasi and Nadeem, were taken to the Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital, where doctors said their condition was stable.
Later talking to journalists, the personnel said they had suspicion that the burqa-clad person was not a woman. They said when they tried to stop the man he went kaboom!.
DCO Jameel Ahmed Jameel said the alertness of the two personnel had averted loss of lives.
DPO Zeeshan Asgher said that the attacker had apparently come to target acting DSP of CTD Mohammad Ashraf who was present nearby since the CTD office was in the same vicinity.
The sources said a special team was coming from Bahawalpur to investigate the attack.
According to city’s DSP Maqsood Ahmed Gujjar, the attacker was waiting for the CTD officials in the guise of a beggar.
Personnel of Rangers and police cordoned off the area after the blast.
The CTD is leading civilian departments in Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... in the fight against terrorism under the National Action Plan.
In Sahiwal, a district officer of the CTD and his driver were maimed when two men opened fire on them early in the morning.
Asif Mirza was going to his office in the official vehicle when it came under attack.
Sources said that when Mr Mirza left his home two men on a cycle of violence followed his vehicle. When the vehicle was passing through an area between Shadab Town and Pakpattan Chowk, the two men intercepted it. They opened fire on the vehicle and fled.
Mr Mirza received a bullet in his jaw while the driver, identified as Saeed, in his shoulder.
They were taken to the district headquarters hospital, where doctors said Mr Mirza would have to be shifted to a hospital in Lahore.
SP (Investigation) Shakir Ahmed told Dawn that it appeared to be a case of assassination. However, there's no worse danger than telling a mother her baby is ugly... he added, police were seeing it from multiple angles.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] MUZAFFARABAD: After a silence of nearly two weeks, guns roared across the Line of Control (LoC) on Friday, leaving three civilians maimed in Azad Jammu and Kashmire (AJK).
A police official, Mohammad Ilyas, told Dawn from Abbaspur in the southern Poonch district that Indian troops shelled from across the LoC between "Asar and Maghreb," injuring three persons in Taroti village.
The policeman identified the injured as Mohammad Mushtaq, 57, his son Shahbaz Mushtaq, 20, and another man Zeeshan Amin, 20.
The condition of injured was said to be stable, he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the argument, Livia had made her point with her knee to Jane's stomach... in a tweet, the newly appointed Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) chief Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said that Indian troops resorted to "unprovoked mortar shelling" in Chirikot sector from 4:40pm to 5:40pm, which was "effectively responded" by Pak troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[Daily Excelsior] After a lull of several days, Pakistain army today again pounded forward areas along Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch sector, violating ceasefire and killing a civilian while Indian troops retaliated effectively to silence the Pak guns amidst credible inputs by the Intelligence agencies that Pakistain army was trying to push hard boyz into the Indian territory with under the cover of ceasefire violations.
Official sources told the Excelsior that troops all along the LoC have been put on very high alert following two ceasefire violations by Pakistain army in as many days in Poonch sector.
"Army was maintaining strict vigil to thwart any infiltration attempt by the hard boyz on the LoC in view of Intelligence reports that some hard boyz have been spotted at launch pads in Pakistain Indian Kashmiree (PoK), waiting for an opportunity to sneak-in,’’ sources said, adding that Pak troops might have been resorting to mortar shelling and firing to facilitate the intrusion bids.
However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... sources said, Army was on the high alert along the LoC in twin border districts of Poonch and Rajouri and would thwart any attempt of infiltration into this side.
After November 23 meetings between Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistain, the ceasefire violations had virtually come down to naught, both along LoC and International Border. However, there's more than one way to skin a cat... two ceasefire violations in as many days, have put a question mark on the intentions of Pakistain.
Sources said Pak troops resorted to heavy shelling and firing with automatic weapons at Khari Karmara, Bigial Dara, Digwar and Gulpur areas, about four kilometers from Poonch town along the LoC at 4.45 pm today.
They fired several mortar shells targeting forward Indian posts and civilian areas along the LoC. The troops from this side retaliated effectively.
The people living along the LoC were caught unaware as for past several days, there was peace on the LoC. A youth Tanvir Ahmad son of Fazal Mohammad was trapped in the Pakistain firing and was killed due to mortar shell kaboom near his house.
Exchange of heavy shelling between the two sides continued for over an hour. The shelling stopped at 6.05 pm, sources said, adding that body of the dear departed civilian has been shifted to the hospital for post-mortem.
Some houses sustained minor damage in Pakistain shelling.
Sources said the shelling by Pakistain was completely unprovoked and was directly aimed at killing the civilians as several villages were pounded with 82mm mortar shells. Pakistain side was also reported to have suffered extensive damage in retaliatory firing by the Indian troops.
Yesterday, Pakistain army had opened firing in Khari Karmara forward area of Poonch sector in which an Indian Army jawan was injured.
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12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[FINANCIALEXPRESS] A day after the police trashed reports of funds being raised to meet the legal expenses of tossed in the clink Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! alleged al-Qaeda terror operative Abdul Rehman,
...a common name in that part of the world...
the locals today staged a dharna in front of Salepur cop shoppe demanding a thorough probe into the incident to clear the air on the sensitive issue.
Sheikh Tahimur Ali (53) of Sahipada village lodged a police complaint yesterday alleging that some youths of the village were "coercing" him to donate Rs 50,000 towards the legal expenses of Rehman.
He also alleged that he and his son were threatened of dire consequences if he did not cough up the amount.
Salepur police, after conducting an investigation, came to the conclusion that the allegations were "baseless and false". "He (Tahimur) had lodged the complaint against the youths, implicating them with Rehman, only to teach them a lesson due to a grudge related to a personal rivalry," police had said.
But, as rumours spread that Tahimur had approached the police at the behest of one Ranjit Das of the locality, the latter today sat on the dharna in front of the cop shoppe along with his supporters. Claiming that he had no role in the entire incident, Das demanded a thorough probe into the matter as also into the "secret meetings" held in the locality to garner support for Rehman.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[EXPRESS.CO.UK] A TWIN kaboom in Baghdad has killed at least 28 people and injured more than 50 people in a suspected terror attack.
Police and medics said 54 people were maimed in the kaboom, which killed at least 28 people at a busy market in central Baghdad, Iraq.
The blast is said to have occured in the Iraqi capital at the Sinak Market in the al-Rasheed district.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but 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.... regularly targets civilians in the Iraqi capital.
Police said the blasts went off near car spare parts shops in Sinak during the morning rush.
One of the kabooms was triggered by a jacket wallah, the other was a planted explosive, an Interior Ministry official said.
Civilians picked through the debris of the kabooms including a food cart torn apart by the blast as medics carried off the casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 12:25 ||
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MOSUL: Iraqi forces faced car bombs and fierce resistance from Daesh militants in southern Mosul on Friday, the second day of a renewed push to take back the city after fighting stalled for several weeks.
An officer in the federal police forces, which joined the battle on Thursday, said there were heavy clashes in the southeastern Palestine district, but they had made progress in two other neighborhoods, disabling a number of car bombs.
Another officer, from an elite Interior Ministry unit fighting alongside federal police, said his forces were gaining ground in the Intisar district despite heavy clashes there.
Iraqi forces in the east and north of the city were clearing areas they had recaptured on Thursday before advancing any further, officers said, and the army was trying to cut supply lines to the town of Tel Keyf, north of Mosul.
Since the offensive began 10 weeks ago, US-backed forces have retaken a quarter of the jihadists’ last major stronghold in Iraq in the biggest ground operation there since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Recapturing Mosul would probably spell the end for Daesh self-styled caliphate, and Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has said the group would be driven out of Iraq by April.
Elite forces pushed into Mosul from the east in October but regular army troops tasked with advancing from the north and south made slower progress and the operation stagnated.
After regrouping this month, they renewed the offensive on Thursday, advancing from the south, east and north of the city, which has been under militant control for more than two years.
The second phase of the operation will see US troops deployed closer to the front line inside the city.
On Friday, a Reuters reporter saw a handful of Americans in their MRAP vehicles, that tower over Iraqi tanks, accompanying top commanders to meetings in a village just north of Mosul.
Although the militants are vastly outnumbered, they have embedded themselves among Mosul residents, hindering Iraqi forces who are trying to avoid civilian casualties. Despite food and water shortages, most civilians have stayed in their homes rather than fleeing as had been expected.
NORTHERN FRONT
On the nothern front, Iraqi forces have yet to enter Mosul itself but on Friday they were clearing just-recaptured areas on its periphery as well as trying to cut off Tel Keyf.
“The enemy had occupied this area and used it for resting and resupplying toward Tel Keyf and Mosul,” Major General Najm Al-Jubbouri, a top commander in the offensive told Reuters in the northern district of Sada, which was recaptured on Thursday.
“It (Tel Keyf) is surrounded from the other sides and by our forces here,” he said.
Jubbouri said the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces had killed 70 militants since late on Thursday and were using Apache helicopters, HIMARS rocket launchers and fighter jets.
Mosul is bisected by the Tigris river, and Iraqi forces have yet to enter the western side, where 2,000-year-old markets and narrow alleyways are likely to complicate any advance.
Coalition forces bombed the last remaining bridge connecting east and west Mosul late on Monday in a bid to block Daesh access across the Tigris River.
A medical source in Mosul told Reuters a large number of wounded militants had been ferried across the river to the emergency hospital on the western side of city on Thursday.
The source said the militants were denying wounded and sick civilians access to the hospital.
More than 114,000 civilians have been displaced from Mosul so far, according to the United Nations — a fraction of the 1.5 million thought to still be inside.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[RUDAW.NET] Airstrikes by the US-led coalition killed at least 70 ISIS hard boyz Friday morning on the northern part of djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... a day after the Iraqi military launched the second phase of its offensive to retake the city from the radical group.
Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri commander of the Mosul Liberation Operation told Rudaw that the army has been advancing on the Hadba neighborhood in northern Mosul and "is trying to retake the Mosul-Tel Skuf road."
Jabouri added that the "Iraqi counter terrorism forces together with the ninth division have been trying to link up the southern and eastern neighborhoods to make a buffer wall preventing ISIS boom-mobiles from reaching the liberated neighborhoods."
He explained that tough fighting is happening at al-Quds2 "after al-Quds1 was liberated yesterday."
The Iraqi commander reiterated that their forces will reach the Tigris river as soon as possible as only "five to six more neighborhoods are left to be liberated."
He also voiced concern over the worsening conditions of the civilian in the neighborhoods locked in intense festivities.
"We are doing our best to protect civilians and trying to carry them away from the war-torn neighborhoods," he claimed.
The operation to liberate Mosul was launched more than two months and the army has since retaken 40 neighborhoods, it claims.
On the first day of the second phase, Iraqi forces advanced on three fronts and liberated several neighborhoods, the military detailed in a statement published Thursday evening.
To the north of the city, Iraqi security forces liberated the villages of Tawilah and al-Sada, and on the southeastern front, Counter-Terror forces took al-Quds1 neighborhood.
On the southern front, the statement reads, the army pushed forward in the al-Salam, Intisar and al-Shaimaa neighborhoods.
The military also announced that over 150 ISIS hard boyz had been killed throughout the day, including a commander for the northern coast of the left bank, Abu Hazaifa, who was killed in an Arclight airstrike.
[RUDAW.NET] Iraqi forces progressed north of the city on the second day of the reinvigorated fight to liberate djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... from ISIS.
The Iraqi army pushed south two kilometres along the Tel Kaif-Mosul road, a statement from the media office announced Friday evening.
Maj. Gen. Najim al-Jabouri commander of the Mosul Liberation Operation told Rudaw earlier on Friday that the army has been advancing on the Hadba neighborhood in northern Mosul and "is trying to retake the Mosul-Tel Skuf road."
The aim of the operation was to cut supply lines into the town of Tel Kaif, north of Mosul, Rooters reported, citing a military officer.
Heavy festivities between Iraqi forces and ISIS turbans took place in southern and eastern neighbourhoods of the city.
The army reported killing more than 50 ISIS turbans on the northern front and more than 95 in the south of the city.
[RUDAW.NET] With no news of his daughter, kidnapped by ISIS, for 16 months, a father feared she was dead until he received a phone call in the middle of the night.
Parwin Ali was released from ISIS captivity by a man known only as Abu Ghanim, buying her freedom for $20,700.
She is one of four Yezidi women held for more than two years by ISIS who have beat feet fromdjinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and are now being reunited with their families.
"On December 30, three Yezidi women previously held captive 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.... were freed in the Iraqi province of Nineveh. The Lahib tribe is looking after them now. They will reunite with their families in the coming hours," Falah Hassan, Iraq’s agriculture minister, told Rudaw on Friday.
A fourth woman fled the city and reached the Peshmerga frontline. Preferring to stay anonymous, she told Rudaw that she had been kidnapped with her sister. Nearly 11 of her family members were kidnapped, including herself. She is the only one to have escaped so far.
According to statistics recorded by Dohuk’s office of the affairs of the kidnapped, over 3,700 Yezidis are still held captive by ISIS, many of whom are women and kiddies.
The head of the office had earlier told Rudaw that they have rescued 2,669 people from ISIS thus far.
Parwin, who was sold on a near monthly basis, was taken from Shingal, to Tal Afar, Mosul, Raqqa, and Aleppo before being brought back to Mosul.
"We will never forget their good deed," said Parwin’s father of the men who freed his daughter.
He welcomed his daughter home with "great respect."
"We kneel down before them and will respect them even more than before. She is our daughter. She is from our flesh and blood."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Security forces shot and maimed a Paleostinian woman on Friday at the Qalandiya checkpoint in the West Bank as she tried to carry out a stabbing attack, police said. There were no other injuries.
"She approached the security forces with a knife in her hand. She did not respond to the calls of the soldiers to stop," police said, adding that the threat was "neutralized."
Soldiers fired at her legs when she refused to stop.
She was "lightly" maimed and tossed in the clink Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! , police said.
There have been a series of attempted stabbings at the Qalandiya checkpoint, a major crossing point between Jerusalem and the Qalandiya refugee camp north of the capital.
The Qalandiya crossing has two approach lanes, one for pedestrians and the other for vehicles. Israel Radio reported that she came through the vehicle lane.
Defense officials have pointed to a trend among some young Paleostinian women who, often due to personal problems, have in recent months attempted to commit suicide by staging knife attacks against soldiers and police with the expectation that they will be shot.
[Ynet] Friday evening, shots were fired at an IDF position nearby the northern West Bank village of Ya'bad. There were no injuries. IDF forces are searching the area.
[AFP] The Philippine government blamed Islamic insurgents Friday for bombings that left 52 people wounded during the country's Christmas holidays.
A bomb blast ripped through boxing fans watching a bout in the central town of Hilongos on late Wednesday, while six people were injured in a roadside bomb attack on the southern island of Mindanao the same night.
Police said 13 people were also wounded in another explosion outside a Catholic church during Christmas Eve mass in Mindanao on Saturday.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, "It looks like they are employing diversionary tactics elsewhere to ease military pressure on them."
Two small Mindanao-based militant groups, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Maute group, are suspected of involvement in the bomb attacks after they formed a tactical alliance and began sharing bomb-making technology, according to Lorenzada.
Philippine president Duterte has been pursuing peace talks with the MILF, while ordering a crackdown on Mindanao militant factions that spurned his peace drive.
The BIFF is a breakaway faction from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front which has been observing a ceasefire with the government. Like the Maute group, which has fought skirmishes with Phillipine forces in another area of Mindanao this year, the BIFF has been seen using the black flags associated with Daesh. The third group targeted in the military crackdown is the Abu Sayyaf.
In November, Philippine police detained two suspected Maute militants who allegedly planted an improvised explosive device near the U.S. embassy in Manila. Earlier that month, the military blamed the group for a roadside bomb that wounded seven of Duterte's military bodyguards ahead of his visit to the region.
[Anadolu Agency] A bombing and a shooting have shaken southern Thailand, a week after the military government revealed new plans to counteract the insurgency in the region.
An investigator at the Rueso district police station in Narathiwat said that a bomb exploded Thursday while a police patrol car passed on a local road. Police Captain Marut Nikolsi said, "The remote-controlled bomb was buried on the roadside. The car was damaged by shrapnel, but no one was injured."
Another incident Thursday evening left one person wounded in Sungai Padi district in the same province.
Police Sub-Lieutenant Kittisak Iat-het said, "An indeterminate number of people ambushed and shot at the car of a 51-year-old villager who was driving along a local road."
In a plan revealed last week, the junta called for more security and the promotion of investment in rural communities in the three southernmost provinces in order to combat the influence of militants. A handout detailing the plans said, "We envision the completion of 'model villages' throughout the region to increase social security for citizens."
Such villages are heavily subsidized by the government to provide jobs and security for local residents. They are singled out by the military for their strategic and geographical importance, along with a high risk of recruitment.
A recent report by Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group has claimed that peace negotiations have "foundered" because both sides "prefer hostilities to compromise."
[RCP] There is a new cease-fire agreement in Syria, but this time without the U.S. at the negotiating table. Will it last when so many others have failed? William Brangham speaks with Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma about the symbolic significance of the move and what’s next for the rebels, the Assad regime and Syria.
About the ceasefire negotations, Tabler said, "by pausing now and going into diplomacy, I think it shows that the Russians are setting the table for President-elect Trump to become involved in some sort of diplomatic process."
#1
When invited to sit down at the table with Putin and Assad, Trump needs to bear in mind the old grifters rule: When you come to the table and you don't know who the mark(chump) is, you are the mark.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
12/31/2016 11:49 Comments ||
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[ARA News] Aleppo – The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) reported on Friday that their positions were being attacked by Turkey’s military and Islamist rebels. The anti-YPG offensive targeted military installations across northern Aleppo Governorate.
“The Turkish Army and allied jihadist groups launched a renewed offensive in the Kurdish areas of Rojava, targeting YPG headquarters with heavy weapons and airstrikes,” the Protection Unit’s leadership said in a statement.
The Turkish military shelled YPG security offices in the villages of Yabsa, Kerbnav and Seloula with heavy artillery. The artillery bombardment in eastern Kobane, coincided with Turkish air raids on the YPG-held village of Khane.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: badanov ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Alert Gary Johnson!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/31/2016 8:21 Comments ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A nationwide ceasefire in Syria, brokered by Russia and The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... which back opposing sides in the conflict, got off to a shaky start after midnight on Friday (2200 GMT on Thursday) in the latest attempt to end nearly six years of bloodshed. Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... , a key ally of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... , announced the ceasefire on Thursday after forging the agreement with Turkey, a longtime backer of the opposition.
Monitors and a rebel official reported festivities between bandidos hard boys and government forces along the provincial boundary between Idlib and Hama, and isolated incidents of gunfire further south less than two hours after the truce began. Warring sides appeared to have stopped firing in many other areas, however.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the United States could join the grinding of the peace processor once President-elect 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... takes office on Jan. 20. He also wanted Egypt to join, together with 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... , Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... , Iraq, Jordan and the United Nations ...an organization originally established to war on dictatorships which was promptly infiltrated by dictatorships and is now held in thrall to dictatorships... A number of rebel groups have signed the agreement, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Several rebel officials acknowledged the deal, and a front man for the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA), a loose alliance of hard boy groups, said it would abide by the truce. One FSA commander was optimistic about the truce deal, the third serious attempt this year at a nationwide ceasefire.
[EN.ZAMANALWSL.NET] Several breaches reported on Friday for the nationwide ceasefire that had been brokered by Russian and Turkish to end the war in Syria and lead to peace talks between rebels the Syrian regime.
Activists said regime forces and allied militias tried to advance in Jabal al-Arbaeen in Southern countryside of Aleppo, but the the Syrian resistance’s fighter stopped them.
Moreover, attempts to invade the town of Abo Rowil of regime were stopped by rebels.
Osama Abo Zid, legal advisor of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA), reported that they had informed the Turkish side of the ceasefire breaches and they are waiting to see the procedure, although, 12 hours are not enough to evaluate the commitment to the truce.
In regard to areas controlled by ISIS which is not included with the factions signed the truce, 10 non-combatants were killed and 3 maimed by Russian air strikes on al-Bab city in the eastern countryside of Aleppo.
Regime’s warplanes carried out about 20 raids against rebels in many towns in Idlib and Hama, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR.
Moreover, SOHR mentioned that regime helicopters also struck northwest of Damascus in the rebel-held Wadi Barada valley, and clashed between regime forces and allied forces were recorded.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALMANAR.LB] The Syrian army Friday regained control over Sharifa village in southwestern Tifur airport in Homs eastern countryside, killing scores of ISIS terrorists.
The Syrian Army, backed by the air force, stormed Nusra terrorists’ positions in Wadi al-Bardi region in Western Gouta, killing or injuring a number of holy warriors.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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[ARA News] Aleppo – The Islamic State (ISIS) radical group on Friday executed a young man in the city of al-Bab in Syria’s northern Aleppo Governorate after accusing him of helping civilians evacuate the city.
Mustafa al-Hazouri, 24, was beheaded by ISIS on charges of smuggling citizens to areas beyond the group’s control.
“He was captured by ISIS militants while helping a group of civilians escape from al-Bab,” a local source told ARA News, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The extremist group publicly executed al-Hazouri in central al-Bab.
“They wanted to punish him because the group has banned the people of al-Bab from leaving the city under any circumstances,” another source told ARA News.
This comes amid fears of ISIS using civilians as human shields in al-Bab, where fighting continued between the group and rebel factions of the Euphrates Shield Brigades.
Last week, ISIS executed Abdulkarim al-Hassan, a truck driver, for trying to smuggle three families out of Raqqa. “Al-Hassan was caught by the militants near the western exit of Raqqa. He was hiding three families from Raqqa inside his truck, apparently trying to smuggle them to areas held by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),” local media activist Muhammad Murdam told ARA News, citing ISIS officials.
The pro-ISIS Sharia Court of Raqqa decided to execute and crucify the man on charges of treason and apostasy. In front of hundreds of people, al-Hassan was executed by firing squad and his body was crucified on an electricity pole, eyewitnesses told ARA News.
[ARA News] Raqqa – The radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) has promoted a number of foreign jihadists to leading positions in Syria’s northeastern Raqqa Governorate, to replace senior local jihadists.
The Islamic State named Abu Saraqeb al-Maghribi, a Moroccan, as Head of Security in Tabqa city in Raqqa Governorate, an informed source told ARA News, adding that al-Maghribi was promoted after the Syrian head of security in Tabqa was arrested by ISIS on corruption charges.
ISIS has also named an Egyptian, known as Abu Jandal al-Masri, as Chief of Information in Raqqa. Al-Masri replaced the Syrian jihadist Abu Ahmed al-Souri at the request of the ISIS supreme leader al-Baghdadi.
Furthermore, the group has replaced another Syrian official with an Algerian, called Abu Muhammad al-Jazrawi. Al-Jazrawi was named as Chief of Hisba –or Islamic Police.
Jawad al-Ali, a Syrian political analyst, told ARA News that promoting foreign jihadists to such leading positions “shows that ISIS no longer trusts its local members.”
ISIS has recently executed dozens of people, including its own militants, on charges of spying for hostile forces in Syria.
“The Islamic State tries to take some preventive steps in a bid to avoid any breaches in its security institutions in Raqqa [ISIS’ de facto capital],” al-Ali said.
“However, isolating Syrian jihadist leaders in this way may lead to a serious internal conflict within the group,” he told ARA News.
This comes amid an ongoing military campaign by the SDF, backed by an air cover from the US-led coalition, as part of the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation for Raqqa. The SDF has so far captured over 1400 km² in western Raqqa within the second phase of the operation, that started on December 10. During the first phase of Euphrates Wrath, that was launched on November 6, the SDF captured roughly 560 km² of land in northern Raqqa.
The SDF launched the second phase of the Euphrates Wrath Operation with the objective of securing Raqqa’s western countryside and Tabqa Dam, which bridges the Euphrates River. The long-term objective of Euphrates Wrath is the elimination of the Islamic State in its de facto capital, Raqqa city.
Posted by: badanov ||
12/31/2016 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[WJACTV] The Pennsylvania State Police have confirmed that Jason Robison, the man accused of shooting Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Landon Weaver, is dead. Stay with 6News on this developing story.
...(al-Bunyan al-Marsous, 
[BBC] Many injuries have been reported in an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey's NTV said. The report said around 20 to 30 people may have been hurt in the attack, which took place in the Reina nightclub, in the Ortakoy area, at about 1:30 a.m. local time.
[Anadolu Agency] A bombing and a shooting have shaken southern Thailand, a week after the military government revealed new plans to counteract the insurgency in the region.
[RCP] There is a new cease-fire agreement in Syria, but this time without the U.S. at the negotiating table. Will it last when so many others have failed? William Brangham speaks with Andrew Tabler of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Joshua Landis of the University of Oklahoma about the symbolic significance of the move and what’s next for the rebels, the Assad regime and Syria.
[ARA News] Aleppo – The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) reported on Friday that their positions were being attacked by Turkey’s military and Islamist rebels. The anti-YPG offensive targeted military installations across northern Aleppo Governorate.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
