[Kansas City Star] The United Nations has received "credible allegations" that more than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban took over the country Aug. 15, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says.
In a report obtained Sunday by The Associated Press, Guterres said that "more than two-thirds" of the victims were alleged to result from extrajudicial killings by the Taliban or its affiliates, despite the Taliban’s announcement of "general amnesties" for those affiliated with the former government and U.S.-led coalition forces.
The U.N. political mission in Afghanistan also received "credible allegations of extrajudicial killings of at least 50 individuals suspected of affiliation with ISIL-KP," the Islamic State extremist group operating in Afghanistan, Guterres said in the report to U.N. Security Council.
He added that despite Taliban assurances, the U.N. political mission has also received credible allegations "of enforced disappearances and other violations impacting the right to life and physical integrity" of former government and coalition members.
Guterres said human rights defenders and media workers also continue "to come under attack, intimidation, harassment, arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment and killings."
Honestly, at this point they’re protesting because they got everything they’d been demanding.
[IsraelTimes] Sudanese security forces fire tear gas in Khartoum at thousands protesting for civilian rule and against a military coup that took place last year, an AFP correspondent says.
Pro-democracy activists have upped calls for protests to restore a transition to civilian rule since the October 25 military takeover led by general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The coup, one of several in Sudan’s post-independence history, derailed a power-sharing arrangement between the army and civilians that had been painstakingly negotiated after the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir ...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it... Today’s demonstrations are taking place in the capital Khartoum, the neighboring city of Omdurman, Gedaref state in the east, and the northern cities of Atbara and Dongola, according to witnesses.
Sudanese authorities warned protesters against heading toward Khartoum city center as security forces seal off streets leading to the presidential palace. But protesters in the capital converge in large numbers as they head towards the palace and police fire volleys of tear gas when they approach, the correspondent says.
In Omdurman, demonstrators are seen carrying the Sudanese flag and chanting "blood is the path to freedom," while in Gedaref, protesters demand the military "go back to the barracks," according to witnesses.
At least 78 people have been killed and hundreds maimed in the crackdown on anti-coup protests, according to an independent group of medics, while authorities have also rounded up hundreds of freedom fighters.
[JPost] I don't think you want the Juice intervening...strategically. But, then again, you're Iranian cannon fodder
Thank you, President Trump.
President Isaac Herzog was confirmed to be safe amid the attack. His visit to the UAE will continue as planned.
Air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthis over Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, as Israeli President Isaac Herzog was conducting an official visit to the country on Sunday night.
The reports of air defenses being activated came out shortly after the Houthis announced that they would be releasing details about a large-scale military operation "in the depths of the UAE."
The Emirati Defense Ministry stated that the attack did not cause any injuries or damage as the remnants of the missile fell in an unpopulated area.
Air traffic movement is continuing normal and all flights are operating as usual, the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority said, according to Emirati state news outlet WAM.
Shortly after the attack, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen announced that it had destroyed a ballistic missile launchpad in the al-Jawf Governorate in Yemen. Footage of the attack on the launchpad was shared on social media by the Emirati Defense Ministry.
In US, leftists have displayed Nazi symbols at Trump rallies in order to malign the event. The photos go viral & reinforce liberal beliefs such displays are commonplace. Remains to be seen who this person is but here’s reporting I did on a similar incident:https://t.co/FsYqELv1Ldhttps://t.co/FZXE1ZiRsI
[Dawn] A priest was killed while another was injured after armed assailants opened fire on them in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire... on Sunday.
According to a police statement, the incident occurred near Ring Road within Gulbahar cop shoppe limits. The statement said a heavy police contingent had reached the scene and a search operation was underway.
"Evidence is being collected from the scene of the crime and CCTV cameras are also being checked," police said.
The statement added that the body had been shifted to the hospital for conducting an autopsy while further investigation was underway.
"William Siraj was a padre at a church within Chamkani cop shoppe limits," the statement said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, bullets whapped! around Butch as he tried to tie his scarf around his shoulder as a tourniquet...... a spokesperson for Lady Reading Hospital said that the injured priest was discharged after being provided medical treatment for minor injuries.
Speaking to the media at the scene of the crime, Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Abbas Ahsan said that the attack on the Christian community was tragic.
He added that according to initial reports, there were two attackers involved in the incident. "A comprehensive investigation has been launched," he said. CCPO Ahsan stated that members of the minority community were targeted, adding that it was a "terrorist act".
He said that in the past, police had identified the perpetrators of attacks targeting minorities and said that the same would also be done in this case. The officer said that officials were conducting geo-fencing and looking at other data.
"We are determined to protect minorities," the CCPO said, adding that a team consisting of officials from the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and Peshawar police had been formed to probe the case.
For a given value of protection, of course...
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, bullets whapped! around Butch as he tried to tie his scarf around his shoulder as a tourniquet...... Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the incident and directed the IG to take necessary steps for arresting the culprits.
He also condemned the fact that religious leaders of the Christian community were targeted, adding that the perpetrators would not be able to escape the clutches of the law.
Which law might that be? Pakistan is a Muslim country, openly submissive to Sharia law. And Sharia law places all unbelievers at the mercy of any passing member of the Master Religion. This time the mercy was withheld.
Khan offered his condolences to the Christian community and the family of the dear departed.
“Sorry your guy was attacked. Had he been Muslim, he wouldn’t have been.”
He also prayed for the swift recovery of the other padre injured in the incident.
The chief minister directed officials to provide the injured with the best possible medical treatment.
Speaking to the media, PTI MPA Wilson Wazir said that the dear departed padre did not face any threats and was coming and going freely.
"Police are investigating the incident and will reach the perpetrators soon," he said. The MPA said that it would be premature to comment on the incident at this time, adding that he had full confidence in the police.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, bullets whapped! around Butch as he tried to tie his scarf around his shoulder as a tourniquet...... PPP Senator Sherry Rehman strongly condemned the attacked.
"Terrorism that targets anyone, especially for their faith, is heinous and must be fought against with the full force of [a] clear, concerted policy and state power. No compromise, no equivocation," she said.
Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces are planning joint military operations to pursue and clear ISIS hotspots in the Makhmour district, the commander of the Iraqi army's 4th division, Major-General Abdullah al-Jubouri, said on Sunday.
Al-Jubouri's statements came in a joint presser with Nineveh's Deputy Governor, Sirwan Rozhbayani, during the latter's visit to Makhmour.
"The security situation in the district is stable. Preemptive operations are being deliberated with our brothers in the Peshmerga forces," al-Jubouri said, "the purpose of those operations is to secure the district completely."
Rozhbayani said that the efforts of the Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces will put an end to the terror of ISIS.
"Our visit to the district aims to gain first-hand information about the demands and needs of the people. The administration of the governorate does not prefer a district other another," he stated.
Iraqi security forces apprehended five persons wanted by the Iraqi judiciary for connections to the terrorist organization of ISIS, the Security Media Cell (SMC) reported on Sunday.
An SMC statement said that a land force from the third regiment of the Iraqi army's 29th infantry brigade was able to apprehend three ISIS members in al-Heet district, al-Anbar.
The operation was a coronation of the efforts of al-Jazeera Operations Command and the 29th brigade intelligence departments, according to SMC.
"The arrestees are wanted by the Judiciary pursuant to Article 4/Terrorism," said the SMC.
In another statement, SMC said that a security operation carried out by the 11th infantry division in the east of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, resulted in arresting 11 persons wanted for various charges, including a person wanted in accordance with Article 4/Terrorism.
The statement said that a force from the 55th brigade of the 17th infantry division captured a person wanted per Article 4/Terrorism at a checkpoint in southern Baghdad.
ISIS terrorist gangs launched an attack on a security point in Kirkuk governorate, causing casualties among the Federal coppers, a security source told Shafaq News agency.
The source said that the security point is located in al-Riyadh sub-district, noting that two coppers were killed and another was injured in the attack.
Iraqi Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s killed nine suspected Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... fighters, including four Lebanese, in retaliation for an IS attack on Iraqi army barracks earlier this month, officials said Sunday.
IS button men in Iraq broke into a barracks in the mountainous al-Azim district outside the town of Baqouba on Jan. 21, killed a guard and rubbed out 11 soldiers as they slept. It was one of the boldest attacks by the murderous Moslems in recent weeks and came amid an uptick in violence that stoked fears the group has been re-energized.
Yehia Rasool, the front man for Iraq's commander in chief, said the joint military operations room and the air force identified the cell behind the attack as its members hid in al-Azim, north of Baghdad.
Three airstrikes were launched that killed the nine holy warriors, he said.
A security official told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that four among the killed were Lebanese, natives of the northern town of 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... . He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to news hounds.
Tripoli is Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...In 2006 unknown persons blew up Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the car he was traveling in, the road he was traveling on, and a few innocent bystanders of no account whatsoever. The person or persons unknow weren't Hezbollah, you can bet on that. Really. Even though there was an international tribunal that said it was them... 's second largest city and the country's most impoverished. It has been prone to violence and murderous Moslems who, inspired by the Islamic State group, launched attacks against the Lebanese Army in 2014 in the most serious bout of violence in the city. As Lebanon faces an unprecedented convergence of crises, including a swift descent into poverty, many fear murderous Moslems may seek to exploit discontent among the city's majority Sunni residents.
Lebanon's al-Jadeed TV gave a higher corpse count, saying that five Lebanese were killed in Iraq. One family member appealed in the broadcast to Lebanese authorities to facilitate return of the bodies.
Also Sunday, Iraqi anti-terrorism units carried out an inspection campaign in seven prisons in Iraq holding IS holy warriors. The campaign comes after a brazen prison attack IS murderous Moslems carried out in northeastern Syria that lasted for over a week and in which an unknown number of suspects escaped, the anti-terrorism unit said in a statement.
IS was largely defeated in Iraq in 2017. The group was dealt a final blow in 2019 when it lost its last territory in southeast Syria during the U.S.-led military campaign in cooperation with Syrian Kurdish-led forces.
But thousands of murderous Moslems melted into the desert and have continued to wage attacks, frequently hitting security forces and military with roadside kabooms and firing on military convoys or checkpoints in both countries.
[IsraelTimes] A court orders that 15 Paleostinians who were arrested over recent rioting in East Jerusalem remain in jug.
Police say 10 of the suspects, all from the Issawiya and A-Tur neighborhoods, were arrested overnight on suspicion of throwing rocks and other objects at patrol cars last week. The other five suspects have been in jug since their arrests over the weekend.
The festivities between police and Paleostinians in East Jerusalem initially flared in A-Tur during a winter storm Wednesday, a day after a home demolition in the neighborhood.
[Rudaw] The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Sunday announced that they have fully secured al-Sina'a prison in Hasaka, northeast Syria (Rojava), following a week-long standoff with the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really 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 western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) group, with the large-scale conflict having killed at least 322 people.
"As part of the large-scale sweeping campaign launched by our forces against ISIS, we announce the end of the sweep campaign in al-Sina'a prison in Ghweran neighborhood of Hasaka, and the end of the last pockets in which ISIS forces of Evil were holed up in the [prison's] northern dormitories," the Kurdish-led force said in a statement.
The US-led Coalition's Special Operations Joint Task Force-Levant (SOJTF-Levant) on Sunday said in a tweet that the detainees "were relocated into an enhanced and hardened facility preventing further ISIS [ISIS] escape."
"This was a huge ISIS failure that ultimately sped up the clock to ensuring that the detainees are in a hardened facility from which they will never escape," Isaac Peltier, commander of SOJTF-Levant said.
Despite the SDF having declared previously, it said that 60 to 90 ISIS forces of Evil were resisting in the northern part of the prison. The Kurdish force had called for their safe surrender, promising "firm" implications in case of further resistance.
In light of the SDF's statement, the group also declared that they had arrested nine suspected ISIS members in the town of Hajin in Deir ez-Zor province.
According to the SDF, communication devices and documents were seized proving the member's intentions to carry out terrorist attacks in the future.
These developments come after the terror group’s major attack on the al-Sina'a prison in Hasaka on January 21. While the organization is fully devoid of territorial control, its daring attacks across Iraq and Syria are raising significant concern about its capabilities.
The terror group's failed incursion in the Hasaka prison has resulted in the deaths of 322 people according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Among them are 246 ISIS members, 79 security forces (Asayish) and prison guards, and seven civilians.
The death toll in fierce clashes since then rose to 332 as the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) found over 50 more bodies overnight in prison buildings and nearby areas, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based group, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said that 246 jihadists, 79 Kurdish fighters and seven civilian had been killed so far in the IS assault and battles since.
"The newly discovered bodies were inside and outside the prison," Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Observatory, told AFP.
He said the death toll was likely to rise further "because there are dozens of people who are wounded, others who are still missing, and information about more casualties" on both sides.
The SDF announced they had recaptured the prison on Wednesday but intermittent clashes continued until Saturday between Kurdish fighters and jihadists near the jail.
On Saturday, an AFP correspondent saw a truck carrying away piles of bodies from an area near the prison, believed to be those of IS fighters. A bulldozer dumped more bodies onto the truck, which then headed to an unknown location.
Farhad Shami, who heads the SDF's media office, told AFP that the bodies would be buried in "remote, dedicated areas" under SDF control.
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.
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to 
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistain's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire...
He also condemned the fact that religious leaders of the Christian community were targeted, adding that the perpetrators would not be able to escape the clutches of the law.
...In 2006 unknown persons blew up Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the car he was traveling in, the road he was traveling on, and a few innocent bystanders of no account whatsoever. The person or persons unknow weren't Hezbollah, you can bet on that. Really. Even though there was an international tribunal that said it was them...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
