[AlAhram] The Taliban ...Arabic for students... released 235 hostages from a remote village in northern Afghanistan where it allegedly massacred around 50 civilians along 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.... group Lions of Islam but others were still feared held, officials said Tuesday.
"This evening 235 people including women and kiddies were released from Mirzawalang as a result of mediation by the local elders and provincial officials," Zabihullah Amani, a front man for the provincial governor, told AFP.
"They have been safely evacuated to Sar-e Pul city, but there are still an unknown number of people being kept hostage there," he added.
An Afghan security source said he thought there were still around 100 people being held hostage in Mirzawalang, situated in the Sayad district of Sar-e Pul province, after Lions of Islam captured it at the weekend.
Taliban and IS group fighters killed around 50 men, women and kiddies in the mainly Shia village on Saturday after overrunning a government-backed militia in a 48-hour battle, according to local officials, who also said they took a number of residents captive.
"Despite the efforts of elders the bodies of the victims have not been recovered," Mohammad Zaher Wahdat, the provincial governor, told Tolo News, an Afghanistan television news channel.
"Two hundred and thirty-five hostages have been released. They are so shocked they can't even speak to tell us about anymore other hostages," he added.
Amani, the provincial front man, has said that dozens of Taliban and IS group fighters, under the command of a local Taliban Überstürmbannführer who he claimed pledged allegiance to IS group, launched a co-ordinated attack on the area on Thursday.
They defeated the Afghan Local Police (ALP) after a 48-hour battle before massacring civilians, he claimed. The majority of those killed were Shia. Most were shot or beheaded, he said.
Afghan defence ministry front man Dawlat Waziri told AFP that 34 civilians were known to have been killed.
The discrepancy highlights the difficulty of verifying information from poor, mountainous areas of Afghanistan made inaccessible by fighting and with patchy communications. AFP was not able to access the village.
Before confirmation of the release of hostages Amani said that 150 families were being held while Waziri said "an unknown number of people" had been taken hostage.
"Since the villages is cut off, we can't confirm any new killings by the terrorists," Amani told AFP.
The Taliban confirmed capturing Mirzawalang but said it did so alone. It has also denied allegations it had killed civilians.
Taliban and IS fighters have regularly clashed in Afghanistan over the past two years but security sources say they have teamed up in the past to strike Afghan forces in certain areas.
"Commando forces have been deployed to the area, air strikes are being carried out as we speak, and commanders on the ground are busy planning the recapture of the valley," said Waziri, the defence front man.
"The operation to retake the valley will happen soon, and the snuffies will pay for their crimes," he added.
Mawlawi Ahmadshah, Taliban shadow district governor for Faizabad district of northern Jawzjan province has been killed in a clash with security forces, local officials said on Monday.
In addition, four other insurgents died in the fighting.
The clashes took place in Muradyan village of the Faizabad district of the province after dozens of Taliban insurgents attacked the village and clashed with security forces, provincial governor, Sayra Shekib Sadat said.
“The clashes started on Sunday and the Taliban suffered heavy casualties,” Sadat said.
However, she did not provide further details nor details of casualties the security forces suffered in the clashes.
The Taliban have not yet commented over the attack.
[RADIOSHABELLE] A police official in Puntland ...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... says security forces in the state’s commercial hub of Bosaso town have incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! the killer of former Bari deputy governor on Tuesday, August 8.
Speaking to news hounds in Bosaso, Bari police commissioner Col Abdihakim Hussein Yusuf confirmed the capture of killer whom he said is now in the hands of the security forces.
Yusuf has declined to provide further details about the suspect who was transferred to the Central Police Station in Bosaso, and will soon appear before the court after the inquiry..
On Monday, the former Bari deputy governor Khalar Ismail Abdulle aka (Buncun) was rubbed out in Bosaso port town by unidentified gunnies, who escaped the scene shortly.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Gunmen believed to be Al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... militia hijacked three vehicles in an attack along Lafey-Omar Jillow Road in Mandera County.
Regional coordinator Mohamud Saleh said targeted vehicles were for civilians, adding that they believe the attackers who were armed were Al-Shabaab Death Eaters who may have crossed from Somalia.
Saleh said no injuries were reported in the Monday afternoon incident and a team of security agents had been sent to the area to pursue the gang that is suspected to have crossed to Somalia with the four wheel drive cars.
"Public service vehicles had passed through the same route earlier on. We don’t know why they targeted the private cars," he said.
Similar attacks have been witnessed in the area recently, last week Death Eaters hijacked a vehicle belonging to a politician with its party colours and escaped with it.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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It has emerged that the chairman of Libyan Airlines, Fathi Al-Shatti, was seized nearly three weeks ago and is allegedly being held by without charge at Mitiga airbase by members of the Rada (“deterrence’) force led by Abdul Raouf Kara.
According to sources in the airline, Shatti’s family and his lawyer have been refused permission to see him.
The sources said that he was taken by Rada after he refused demands by two Libya Airlines pilots and other members of staff to be transferred to the airline’s offices outside the country, in particular, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. They, the sources alleged, had then gone to Rada and accused Shatti of corruption.
“This is kidnapping in the name of the law,” one staff member said. “If there is a case to answer, then he should be properly charged and tried in a court of law.”
The member, who did not want to be identified, said that no one wanted to talk publicly about the matter because they feared they too would be grabbed by Rada.
One of the issues allegedly now being raised against Shatti by Rada is why he had used members of the Buni brigade.
“That’s simple,” the staff member said. “They had guns. No one dared say no to them.”
The Buni brigade controlled the terminal at Mitiga until it was supressed by Rada and many of its members arrested following infighting which resulted in a missile being launched by one of them which landed on a nearby beach killing a family of five and wounding some three dozen others.
This is the second time that Fathi has been seized in apparent power struggles within the airline. He was kidnapped in October last year and held for nine weeks before being released. The circumstances of his abduction were never revealed. Prior to that, there was an attempt to kidnap him in January 2016.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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[AnNahar] At least 31 fishermen have been killed by Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... jihadists in two separate attacks on islands in Lake Chad in northeastern Nigeria, fishermen and vigilantes fighting the Islamists told AFP late Monday.
Armed jihadists stormed the fishing islands of Duguri and Dabar Wanzam in the freshwater lake Saturday, attacking fishermen working in the area and shooting and hacking their victims.
"Boko Haram attacked Duguri and Dabar Wanzam islands and killed 31 people," a member of a local militia fighting the jihadists in Maiduguri, Babakura Kolo told AFP.
"They (Boko Haram) killed 14 in Duguri and another 17 in Dabar Wanzam," Kolo said.
The fishermen had returned to the fishing hub of Baga on the lake's shores days earlier and had paddled out to the two islands in wooden canoes on Friday, looking for fish, said another militia Musa Ari, who gave similar account.
News of the attacks was slow to emerge with communication in the area difficult as Boko Haram has destroyed telecom masts in the region in attacks over the last few years.
The Boko Haram jihadists first attacked Duguri island where they killed 12 fishermen and injured two others who later died, said fisherman Sallau Inuwa.
"The attackers split into two groups. While the first attacked Duguri the second went to nearby Dabar Wanzam where they laid in wait for those who fled the attack in Duguri. They killed 17 in Dabar Wanzam," Inuwa told AFP.
The attackers spared one fisherman in Duguri and loaded the 12 bodies of the men they killed in a canoe and ordered him to take them to Baga as a warning that no one should fish in the lake, said another fisherman Dauda Tukur.
"They told the man they spared to inform the troops in Baga that they were waiting for them on the islands," he said.
The military and Nigerian officials have not yet commented on the attacks.
The attacks happened a week after military authorities lifted a two-year ban on fishing in the freshwater lake that straddles Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... and Chad.
Nigerian military banned fishing on the Nigerian side of the lake following accusations that Boko Haram was using proceeds from fishing to fund its armed campaign.
The ban left thousands of displaced residents impoverished, forcing them to rely on food handouts from government and aid agencies.
The lifting of the ban drew many fisherman back to the area.
Although the military reclaimed Baga from Boko Haram in February 2015 allowing some residents to move back, jihadists continued to launch sporadic attacks from their hideouts on several islands dotting the lake, where dense vegetation provides cover against military attacks.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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Taiz – The military command tasked with restoring Taiz into full government control in Yemen launched a large-scale operation west of the city on Monday morning, aiming to complete the liberation of its western areas.
Several pro-government brigades and military police joined the Taiz operation, which is receiving aerial coverage by the Arab coalition. Most of these forces aided in targeting remaining militia positions.
A local military source, who spoke under anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the operation made great progress.
The army has managed to liberate a number of positions that were under putschist control. Clashes left dozens dead and wounded among militia ranks, in addition to significant material losses.
“The army completed the security clearance of al-Qadra, Hamli and Madarat areas, and west of Taiz— freeing them from militias hold,” the military source added.
“Ultimately, the goal is to control vital sites, securing the strategic ‘60’s’ route, which links Taiz to Ibb province, Sana’a and the northern provinces,” the source said.
Further explaining the importance of the land passage, the source stated that it is a key supply route for armed coupists and plays a role in aiding advances from the west coast.
As fighting intensified, locals reported that Taiz’s factory had been evacuated from its workers and guards.
Responding to the advance of the national army on the western front, Iran-aligned militias amped violent artillery bombardment of eastern and southern countryside neighborhoods.
In Taiz’s western region, government forces, backed by Arab Coalition air fighters, continued their push to control Mokha.
In this context, the military source pointed out that “militiamen shelled the area of Madarat in a failed attempt to impede the progress of the national army.”
The army troops bypassed coup barracks and strongholds, despite the fire exchange.
Houthi leader Hussain Rajih and a number of his companions were killed just off Najran, in the Sa’ada governorate, by coalition air strikes that coincided with an ambush. Government forces successfully destroyed an insurgency arms depot, southwest of the capital Sana’a.
[Iran Press TV] At least eight Saudi-backed krazed killers, loyal to Yemen’s former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, have been killed and nearly 30 others sustained injuries after a group of Lions of Islam attempted to storm their military camp in southern Yemen.
The incident occurred in Juhayn district of the town of Loder in Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... province on Tuesday, when assailants, suspected to be members of the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... (AQAP) Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... terrorist outfit, attempted to drive an explosives-laden vehicle, supported by gunfire of a group of terrorists, into a newly established position by Hadi’s holy warriors in the town.
Hadi’s forces managed to bar the vehicle and the gunnies who accompanied it from entering the base but the huge kaboom and the exchange of fire between the two sides not only killed eight holy warriors but also slew at least six Takfiri terrorists, including the driver of the vehicle.
AQAP as well as the Takfiri ISIS terrorist group have exploited more than two years of 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... ’s war against the Yemeni nation, trying to deepen their influence in the impoverished country by launching bombings and shooting attacks.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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This is the Telegraph liveblog, last updated at 10:17 a.m. British Summer Time. I am assuming this is Sudden Jihad Syndrome.
[Telegraph] French police launched a manhunt on Wednesday after a car rammed into soldiers near their barracks outside Paris, injuring six people, two of them seriously.
Police were scrambling to track down the vehicle, which took off after the incident described by local mayor Patrick Balkany as "without a doubt a deliberate act".
The vehicle took off after the incident, at about 6am GMT in the north-western suburb of Levallois-Perret.
Mayor of Levallois-Perret Patrick Balkany has said he saw a BMW drive into the group of soldiers and has "no doubt" it was a deliberate act.
"Without any doubt, it was a deliberate act," Balkany told BFM TV.
Television station BFM said there are three hypotheses: A terror attack, a complete accident, or a mentally unstable driver.
Witnesses have said the car was parked in a cul-de-sac before the incident and that the driver was alone.
The driver is understood to have ploughed into the soldiers during a changing of the guards on a side street.
Police are still currently chasing the driver and on the lookout for the BMW he as driving.
Counter terror police are still not involved in the investigation as the manhunt continues, Le Parisien newspaper reports, writes Oliver Gee.
The soldiers were actually hit by their own vehicle, which had in turn been rammed by the BMW in question, Le Parisien adds.
Update at 9:00 a.m. EDT:
Man shot in hunt for driver
French security forces have shot and incarcerated Into the paddy wagon wit' yez! a man suspected of being behind an attack on a group of soldiers on Wednesday morning in a Gay Paree suburb, security sources said.
The man, aged in his late 30s, was intercepted on a motorway north of the French capital in a vehicle used to drive into the soldiers, the sources said, asking not to be named.
Suspect identified as Hamou Bachir, 36, an Algerian not known to police
He also uses the name Benlatreche and is thought to be an illegal immigrant facing deportation to Algeria
Bachir was shot five times by police before he could be taken into custody
A building search is underway in Sartrouville as part of the investigation
Six soldiers were injured when a car drove into their unit in the Paris suburb of Levallois-Perre, which houses the HQ of France's national anti-terrorism agency
#6
The motivation ? Delayed product recall by BMW for catalytic convertors me thinks. He just wanted to elucidate the concept of 'timely action'. I'll bet he shouted 'Hurry yapp , you louse ! ' to the cops as he mowed 'em.
[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Brussels police opened fire on an exploding car after a high-speed chase through the suburb of Molenbeek.
Shots were fired at the vehicle after it became stuck in traffic and the driver reversed into a police car.
Police cordoned off the area and told residents to remain indoors while military units checked for explosives.
Brussels police spokeswoman Dorothee Cattrysse said 400 to 500 people were being kept in the stores.
Police spokeswoman Ine van Wymersch told Rooters: 'The man was driving suspiciously and failed to stop at a traffic light.
'When the police incarcerated Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! him, he claimed to have explosives so not to take any risk, the army has been called in to check.'
She said 'mentally unstable' suspect was from Rwanda and was not known to have a police record.
The vehicle was reportedly registered in Germany. It was understood the man was alone. No-one was injured.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) on Tuesday claimed to have foiled a terror bid targeting police personnel in Lahore's Saggian Bridge area hours after a blast at nearby Outfall Road maimed at least 46 people.
Four suspected Tehrik-e-Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... Pakistain Death Eaters were "found dead" after a shootout with CTD personnel, whereas three to four others expeditiously departed at a goodly pace of the "encounter".
The CTD team in Sheikhupura received information from a credible source saying that six or seven TTP Death Eaters were coming to Lahore from Sheikhupura to "launch [an] attack on police personnel deployed on duty" around 12:30am today, read a CTD blurb.
The CTD cordoned off the area near Saggian Bridge on the Sheikhupura side. "Police party saw the Death Eaters coming and challenged them to surrender," the CTD said. "Instead, the Death Eaters started firing at CTD officials who took precautions."
Four 'terrorists' were "found dead" after the ensuing shootout, the CTD said, while "three to four fled away taking benefit of darkness."
Explosives, two Kalashnikov rifles, pistols and ammunition were recovered from the suspected terrorists, who are being identified.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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Babil (Iraqinews.com) Six paramilitary fighters were killed and wounded late Monday in a double bombing north of Babil governorate, Baghdad Today News reported.
A security source told Baghdad Today that two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) exploded late Monday near a patrol of al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units) in Jurf Al-Nasr (formerly known as Jurf Al Sakhar) in northern Babil, leaving one fighter dead and five others wounded.
“The three wounded were taken to a hospital for treatment.” the source added.
More than 500 Iraqis were killed and injured during the month of July due to violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
Iraqi Government previously recognized the PMUs, an alliance of more than 60 mostly Shia militias, as a national force under the Prime Minister’s command.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi Security forces have arrested an Islamic State senior intelligence official on Tuesday in the eastern side of Mosul, Shafaaq News reported.
A security source told Shafaaq News that the National Security Forces, in coordination with the Nineveh police, have managed to arrest Ahmed Sabhan Abdel Wahid al-Dulaimi, a senior IS intelligence official, in the eastern side of Mosul.
“The detainee was an IS leader, who was responsible for the intelligence units in eastern Mosul before liberating the City,” the source added.
The Iraqi government declared victory over Islamic State militants in western Mosul on July 10, saying it concluded more than eight months of battles to recapture the city which the militants held as the capital of their self-styled “caliphate” since 2014. The eastern side of the city was retaken late January.
Since the declaration of victory, Iraqi forces have been in efforts to comb the recaptured areas for remnant IS cells, countering occasional attacks by the group and arresting many hiding among civilian refugees.
IS lost more than 250.000 fighters in the Mosul campaign, according to Iraqi commanders.
The group still holds a few holdouts in Nineveh, Kirkuk, Salahuddin and Anbar, all are targets for future offensives by the Iraqi forces, the U.S.-led coalition and pro-government paramilitary troops.
Iraqi tank division arrives in Tal Afar A tank division means the Iraqis aren't screwing around
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Iraqi army’s ninth armored division arrived to boundaries of Tal Afar town, west of Nineveh province, Waradana news website reported on Tuesday.
“Army troops arrived to the boundaries of the town, expected to be freed from the Islamic State group later,” a army source said.
Moreover, a source from the division said “both the Iraqi troops and U.S.-led coalition began shelling the group’s infrastructure ahead of invading the town.’
On Monday, the Defense Ministry declared conclusion of arrangements ahead of military invasion of the town. An army official was quoted as saying that an army division was ordered to leave Mosul toward Tal Afar within preparations to retake the town, which has been set as the next target of operations after victory was declared in Mosul on July 10.
In July, Iraqi Defense Ministry said a date has been set for the invasion of the town, however, it will not be declared to maintain the secrecy of the intended operations.
Tal Afar is one of the important strongholds still held by IS in Nineveh since August 2014, when the militants occupied a third of Iraq to proclaim its self-styled “caliphate”.
Tal Afar (IraqiNews.com) Seventeen Islamic State militants, including leaders, were killed in artillery shelling in west of Mosul, an Iraqi army official said on Tuesday.
“An army artillery unit targeted IS strategic and tactic sites by 12 missile strikes on Tuesday at al-Beshmata village, in Tal Afar, depending on intelligence information,” Lt.Gen. Ali al-Daini, told Anadolu Agency.
“The strikes killed each of Abi al-Hareth al-Ahmadi, an Iraqi national from Mosul, who used to be in charge of the security protection in Tal Afar, Abi Ali al-Afari, an Iraqi national who was in charge of booby-trapping workshops and bombs manufacturing and Zidan Jamal al-Jirba, a prominent leader in the town and a main geographical expert there,” Daini added.
Such operations, according to Daini, “have the biggest impact in destroying the group’s fighting capabilities.They also allow the ground troops deployed at the boundaries of the town to go through the battles with minimal losses.
An Iraqi army source was quoted saying on Tuesday as saying that the army’s ninth armored division arrived to boundaries of the town ahead of anticipated battle to free it from IS.
On Monday, the Defense Ministry declared conclusion of arrangements ahead of military invasion of the town. An army official was quoted as saying that an army division was ordered to leave Mosul toward Tal Afar within preparations to retake the town, which has been set as the next target of operations after victory was declared in Mosul on July 10.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) An Islamic State leader was killed in an armed attack in north of Salahuddin province, a security source said on Tuesday.
“Unknown gunmen killed on Tuesday IS member known as abu Dajana al-Muhajir in the western side of Shirqat town, north of Salahuddin province,” the source told AlSumaria News. “Muhajir used to be in charge of the group’s intelligence in the so-called ‘Al-Jabal State’, located between Salahuddin and Diyala provinces.”
The official, according to the source, who preferred anonymity, “was a first-line leader in the group. He used to head a senior security position in the so-called ‘Diyala State’.”
At least 170 IS militants were reportedly killed on Monday in airstrikes launched by the Iraqi army jets in the town.
In September, Iraqi army said its forces recaptured the western coast of the town, located south of Mosullies on the west bank of the Tigris river, after being surrounded for months by Iraqi troops and the pro-government Shi’ite militias. The eastern coast of Shirqat, is still under the IS control.
Pivotal regions that link between each of Diyala, Salahuddin and Kirkuk, are still held by the militants posing threats to the liberated regions. IS havens are expected to be targeted by the Iraqi government, after security achieved victory in Mosul, the group’s biggest stronghold in Iraq.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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Kirkuk (IraqiNews.com) A senior Islamic State (IS) leader and five other elements were killed as an air raid targeted a rest house, south of Kirkuk governorate, Alsumaria News reported on Tuesday.
A local source told Alsumaria News that an air raid targeted a rest house belonging to the IS on the outskirts of al-Riyad town, killing Abu Wahab al-Iraqi, an IS emir who is known as al-Aawar (the one-eyed emir), and five other elements.
“Al-Aawar was a senior leader in IS’ soldiers office and was close to the emir of the so-called state of Kirkuk,” the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Riyad city is still under the grip of IS.
On Saturday, an airstrike by warplanes from the United States-led coalition killed 15 Islamic State members in Kirkuk.
Islamic State has held a few havens in southwestern Kirkuk, most notably the town of Hawija, since 2014, when the group proclaimed an “Islamic caliphate” on a third of Iraq and Syria. The group had reportedly relocated commands of areas lost to security forces to Kirkuk, with some sources previously quoted saying it became the group’s new capital.
The group lost more than 25.000 members in military operations since their launch in October, according to Iraqi generals. A few thousands are thought to remain in Kirkuk, Anbar, Salahuddin and Tal Afar.
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08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed on Tuesday in an armed attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, while two others were wounded in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion, Alsumaria News reported.
A police source said unknown gunmen opened fire early today towards an electrical appliances shop owner in Taji district, north of Baghdad, leaving him dead.
“A security force arrived to the crime scene and took the body to the forensic medicine department,” the source added.
Meanwhile, two other civilians were wounded in IED explosion near a local market in al-Radwaniyah area, west of Baghdad.
Ambulances transferred the wounded to a nearby hospital to receive the needed treatment, a police source told Alsumaria.
Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State Sunni extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in 2014.
Bombings and armed attacks are seen on almost a daily basis against security members, paramilitary groups and civilians since the Iraqi government launched a wide-scale campaign to retake IS-occupied areas in 2016.
More than 500 Iraqis were killed and injured during July due to violence and armed conflicts, according to a monthly count by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI).
[IsraelTimes] IDF says two of the terror group’s ’posts’ struck in Paleostinian enclave, hours after projectile lands in southern Israel
Israeli jets struck two Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, targets in the Gazoo Strip overnight Tuesday, hours after a rocket fired from the Paleostinian enclave hit an open area in southern Israel.
The Israeli military said in a statement that in response to the projectile attack in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council earlier Tuesday, "IAF aircraft targeted two Hamas posts in the northern Gazoo Strip."
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
On Tuesday evening, warning sirens blared in southern Israel as the rocket from the Gazoo Strip was fired into the country. It struck an open area in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council, the army said.
While no group immediately claimed Tuesday’s rocket fire, Israel holds Hamas responsible for all rockets emanating from the Strip.
Hamas, the terror group that rules Gazoo, has largely refrained from firing rockets into Israel since it fought a devastating war with Israel in 2014. Launches have often been ascribed to radical Salafist groups.
[IsraelTimes] While formally maintaining freeze in security cooperation, PA nabs relatives of assailant rubbed out trying to stab soldiers
Despite the Paleostinian Authority’s formal insistence that security coordination with Israel remains frozen, PA forces earlier this week tossed in the clink Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! two relatives of an assailant who attempted to stab IDF soldiers and was rubbed out.
The uncle and cousin of Abdullah Takaatka were detained outside Bethlehem in the aftermath of his July 28 attack at the Gush Etzion Junction, Paleostinian sources said.
PA security forces have also recently arrested several Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", and Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... activists, according to reports on Paleostinian social media.
This activity is taking place despite the formal position set out by PA officials that its security coordination with Israel remains on hold in the wake of the Temple Mount tensions last month. PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... announced a freeze in all contacts with Israel on July 21.
Abbas’s adviser Mahmoud al-Habash said in a Thursday morning interview with the Paleostinian Ma’an news agency that the PA had a number of conditions Israel needed to meet in order for the security coordination to resume.
Among these demands, al-Habash said, are that Israel cease all activity in the PA-controlled Area A of the West Bank, that free movement of Paleostinian civilians be ensured without restrictions, and that PA illusory sovereignty at border crossings be respected. In the context of that last demand, the PA is demanding that its forces be present at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between the West Bank and Jordan, as it says was agreed in accords with Israel.
Abbas suspended the coordination to protest the installation of metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount, which were placed after three Israeli Arab gunnies killed two coppers outside the compound on July 14 with guns they had smuggled into the site.
The new security measures sparked mass protests by Moslem worshipers, who boycotted the compound for 12 days until Israel removed the measures on July 25.
Speaking with The Times of Israel on July 29, a senior Paleostinian official praised the Israeli government decision to remove the security measures and said that the coordination would gradually increase as long as Moslem access to the Temple Mount remained unrestricted.
Also that day, The Times of Israel learned the PA has continued to make arrests of Hamas members in the West Bank.
A Fatah official confirmed that arrests of Hamas members were ongoing, but said apart from "critical matters," security coordination with Israel had not yet resumed.
The PA’s head of preventative security in the West Bank, Ziyad Hab al-Rih, also confirmed the arrests, saying the Hamas operatives were planning attacks in an effort to escalate tensions between Israel and Paleostinians.
Rih said a number of Hamas activists were arrested that week in Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Ramallah and at Hebron’s Polytechnic University.
The security cooperation between Israel and the PA, in place for years despite near-frozen diplomatic ties, is seen as critical for both Israel and Abbas’s Fatah faction to keep a lid on violence in the West Bank, particularly from the Hamas terror group.
London, Beirut- Jaysh al-Islam fighters tightened the noose on al-Nusra Front positions in Damascus’ Ghouta following an attack launched on Monday, as battles raged between Syria’s regime forces and Faylaq al-Islam, a group also engaged in battles with another opposition faction: Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
“Violent clashes broke out between regime forces and their allied militiamen on one hand and Faylaq al-Rahman on the other, in areas in the vicinity of al-Motahalik al-Janobi (the Southern Bypass) that separates Jobar neighborhood and Ein Tarma area,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Monday.
The Observatory added that the clashes were accompanied by regime forces’ heavy artillery and tanks shelling on the same areas, in addition to 18 raids carried by regime warplanes in Ein Tarma and the Jobar neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Faylaq al-Rahman militias announced taking some regime forces as hostages.
Germany’s news agency reported that regime forces and their allied militias launched on Monday more than 40 surface-to-surface missiles on Ein Tarma and the Jobar neighborhood, leaving immense damages in the buildings and areas hit by the attack.
The developments in Ein Tarma coincided with “tension documented in eastern Ghouta following internal clashes, rifts and arrests between members of the largest military factions currently operating in the area.
“Jaysh al-Islam launched an intense attack against Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham in Al-Ash’ari area and controlled al-Ash’ari mosque and school, in addition to 25 farms located in eastern Ghouta,” the Observatory said.
Also, Al-Faylaq militiamen placed checkpoints in the central area of Ghouta and started arresting any member from Tahrir al-Sham.
Al-Faylaq controlled all Hay’at Ahrar al-Sham positions in Arbeen, following additional rifts in the ranks of the group.
Opposition sources revealed that regime forces had sent new military reinforcements to the Jobar frontlines, where the army of Bahsar Assad had lost the battle four years ago.
[ARA News] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday shelled positions of the Turkey-backed rebels in the Kaljibrin town in northern Aleppo.
The offensive comes in response to ongoing attacks by the Turkey-backed Syrian rebels on the Kurdish district of Afrin, northwest of Aleppo.
“The Syria Democratic Forces shelled areas in Kaljibrin town in the northern countryside of Aleppo, causing material damages,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The SOHR reported last night that the Turkish Forces shelled places in Raju area located in Afrin countryside.
“Several injuries were reported as a result of the shelling. It should be noted that the area has been witnessing during the past few weeks shelling by the Turkish Forces and their backed factions targeting areas in Afrin countryside and SDF-controlled areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo,” the observatory reported.
Simultaneously, the SDF shelled rebel-controlled areas in the northern countryside of Aleppo, leaving dead and injured in most of the shelled areas.
The Turkish government has threatened to launch the Euphrates Sword operation in order to surround Afrin canton, which is held by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday threatened to attack the Kurds in Afrin (also known as Efrîn).
“We will not leave the separatist organization in peace in both Iraq and Syria,” Erdogan said, in reference to the YPG.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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#1
Not Blue on blue. With all the different sides in Syria, what's this called? Taupe on Chartruese?
Posted by: Chunky Prince of the Giants7198 ||
08/09/2017 14:40 Comments ||
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[ARA News] The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Tuesday saved seven Christians from ISIS militants in Raqqa province.
The SDF-linked Syriac Military Council (MFS) said on Tuesday that the rescued civilians were from Syriac and Armenian origins, adding that they are originally from Raqqa city in northeastern Syria.
“Our forces have saved two Armenian families today,” said Mustafa Bali, Director of the Information Office of the SDF.
Saws Karabidian, a Christian woman who was among those rescued by the SDF, said: “They [ISIS] forced us to wear the headscarf and allowed us to reveal our faces to distinguish us from Muslims. We had to hide our faces to avoid insults.”
“We were forced to pay tribute by hand and we were humiliated and insulted, what a homeland that makes you pay an additional tax because you are different,” Karadij Karadjian, another Christian civilian who was rescued on Tuesday, told SDF fighters. “Today is a new birth for us.”
A small number of Christians lives in Raqqa city, however the majority of them fled when ISIS took over the city and moved to the Kurdish-held Hasakah province.
Over 200 fighters of the Syriac Military Council (MFS) now fight alongside other SDF factions in Western Raqqa to liberate the city from ISIS.
“Daesh [ISIS] are using civilians as human shields inside the city,” MFS fighter Alexi Chamoun told ARA News.
“Some civilians are fleeing and surrending themselves to us, with them children and women. Daesh is known for it’s brutal actions and behavior,” he added.
Posted by: badanov ||
08/09/2017 00:00 ||
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Deir Ezzor (Syria News) Unknown warplanes carried out several air strikes on different locations in al-Mayadin area, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that unidentified warplanes conducted several air strikes on al-Mayadin area, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, which suffered heavy air strikes in the last few weeks.
The air strikes resulted in the injury of more than twenty persons, including children, the observatory added.
This morning, SOHR revealed that unknown warplanes bombarded, after midnight yesterday, areas in Albukamal city, in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, but no casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, Islamic State group shelled, using mortar missiles, several areas in the neighborhoods of the regime-held Deir Ezzor, killing three civilians and wounding many others.
Deir Ezzor (Syria News) Syrian regime forces and allied militias managed, yesterday, to recapture the area of Wadi al-Duwaikhla, south of Deir Ezzor.
Qasioun News reported that violent clashes broke out between the regime forces and the Islamic State militants, amid mutual artillery and rockets shelling, where the Syrian forces recaptured the area of Wadi al-Duwaikhla, located 10 km south of Deir Ezzor.
The clashes left several casualties among the ranks of the Islamic State radical group, according to Syrian regime media sources.
Meanwhile, Syrian Air Force carried out several air strikes on the neighborhoods of al-Hawayka and al-Umal in the city of Deir Ezzor, without leaving any casualties.
It is noteworthy that Syrian regime forces advanced into wide areas of the western and southern countryside of Deir Ezzor in the last few days, while also recaptured the city of Sukhna.
Raqqa (Syria News) 17 members of the Islamic State group were killed and others were wounded, at noon today, in a booby-trapped vehicle explosion in Raqqa.
Qasioun News reported that 17 members of the self-proclaimed Islamic State group were killed, while others were wounded in the explosion of their booby-trapped vehicle,
Their own vehicle? Allah clearly did not approve...
in the outskirts of Hesham Ibn Abdelmalek neighborhood in Raqqa, before using it to attack the Syrian Democratic Forces in the area.
The Syrian Democratic Forces managed to detonate the vehicle before reaching its target in the outskirts of the neighborhood, and then clashes broke out between the two sides, amid mutual artillery and rockets shelling, leaving several casualties among the IS members.
It is noteworthy that the Syrian Democratic Forces militia is now controlling 50% of the city of Raqqa, since the launch of the assault to retake the city in June 2017.
Hama (Syria News) The Islamic State militants attacked, on Monday, the Syrian regime forces and allied militias and killed 10 soldiers, east of Hama.
Qasioun News reported, on Tuesday, that the Islamic State militants launched an attack on the village of Marina, near Athriyah Town, in the eastern countryside of Hama, killing ten members of the Syrian regime forces and allied militias.
Media sources belong to the Islamic State group informed that the group’s militants managed to sneak into the locations of the Syrian regime forces, where violent clashes broke out between the two sides.
Moreover, the sources published photos claiming to be of the operation’s spoils, including light and medium weapons, as well as various ammunition.
It is noteworthy, Islamic State group killed more than 80 members of the Syrian regime forces and allied militias in the last few days.
[Iran Press TV] Syrian government forces, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have made fresh territorial gains against the Takfiri ...an adherent of takfir wal hijra, an offshoot of Salafism that regards everybody who doesn't agree with them as apostates who must be killed... ISISholy warriors in the country’s southernmost province of Suwayda.
Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... , told Syria’s official news agency SANA on Tuesday that Syrian troops and their allies had established full control over Tal Asadi, Tal Jarin, Tal al-Rayahin and al-Sabouni districts as well as an area expanding 100 square kilometers.
The sources added that Syrian army units and their allied forces, who launched a major clean-up operation in Suwayda last Friday, are now combing liberated areas for mines and hidden improvised bombs (IEDs) in addition to last remnants of ISIS Takfiris.
The developments came only a day after elite units of the army, positioned on the strategic Mount Qasioun that overlooks the capital Damascus, struck Jobar district, located some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) east of the Old City walls, as well as Ain Terma suburb, located 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) east of Old Damascus.
Syrian army troops also struck myrmidon outposts in Zamalka, located 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) northeast of Old Damascus, Harasta city and Kafr Batna town.
Meanwhile, ...back at the alley, Bugs Moroni was holding Slats from behind while his brother Greasy Thumb was pounding his face into paste ... Syrian Air Force jets bombarded ISIS positions in al-Bawlieh Mountain, Ma'adan subdistrict, al-Khamaiseh, al-Jaber and al-Numaisa districts south of the northern city of Raqqah.
Elsewhere in Salamiyah district of the central province of Hama, Syrian military aircraft pounded ISIS position, inflicting heavy losses on their ranks.
Syria has been fighting different foreign-sponsored myrmidon and terrorist groups since March 2011. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimated last August that more than 400,000 people had been killed until then.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/09/2017 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.
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
[IsraelTimes] While formally maintaining freeze in security cooperation, PA nabs relatives of assailant 
[Iran Press TV] Syrian government forces, backed by allied fighters from popular defense groups, have made fresh territorial gains against the 
