[BBC] The Taliban have released a US engineer they had held hostage since 2020 in exchange for an Afghan tribal leader held in US custody since 2005.
Mark Frerichs was handed over at Kabul airport on Monday, the Taliban said.
In return they received Bashir Noorzai, a Taliban ally serving a life sentence for drug trafficking.
There was no immediate word from the US government or the family of Mr Frerichs. Securing his freedom was an election pledge of President Joe Biden.
"Today Mark Frerichs was handed over to the US and Haji Bashir was handed over to us at Kabul airport," said Taliban acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Mr Frerichs, 60, was abducted by the Taliban the year before the group swept back to power in Afghanistan and its Western-backed government collapsed.
He had been living and working in Kabul as a civil engineer for 10 years.
The detention of the former navy veteran has been a major impediment to improving relations between the US and the Taliban, whose government is still to be recognised by any country in the world.
Bashir Noorzai was given a hero's welcome on his return to the Afghan capital, and was greeted by Taliban fighters carrying garlands of flowers.
"My release together with that of an American will make peace between the countries," he told a news conference.
Noorzai was a close ally and friend of Taliban founder Mullah Omar and helped finance the first Taliban government in the 1990s.
He did not hold an official position but "provided strong support including weapons", Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the AFP news agency.
Noorzai had served 17 years in US custody for heroin smuggling - prosecutors said he ran a vast opium-growing operation in Kandahar province, the Taliban's traditional heartlands in the south of the country.
At the time of his arrest in 2005, he was considered one of the biggest drug dealers in the world, controlling more than half of Afghanistan's drug exports, which account for most of the world's harvest.
In 2008, he was convicted by a court in New York of conspiring to smuggle more than $50m of heroin into the United States.
ONE YEAR OF GIRLS BANNED FROM SCHOOL — The United Nations and other international organizations released statements marking the one-year anniversary since Afghan girls’ were officially barred from attending secondary schools in Afghanistan. The statements sought to shame the Taliban regime and pleaded for a rollback of the unpopular policy. The Taliban has not responded.
CONFERENCE OF EXILES INSPIRES OFFENSIVE — The conclusion of the conference of exiled Afghan leaders seems to have been the catalyst for a new round of Resistance attacks in Afghanistan. Groups loosely aligned with the NRF also executed targeted operations against high-value targets in provinces around the country. It is unclear if Resistance groups will continue to put pressure on the Taliban over the coming week.
ZAKIR CONFIRMED ALIVE, INJURED — A Taliban spokesman has denied reports that the Taliban’s special commander in Panjshir, Abdul Qayyum Zakir, was killed but acknowledged that he was injured. However, Zakir’s deputy, Molavi Haroon, was confirmed to be killed in fighting in the 1st district. It was not clear exactly when the injury and killing took place. Zakir is said to be recuperating in a heavily guarded hospital in an undisclosed location.
FIRE IN KABUL MARKET — A large fire consumed several shops in a bustling clothing market in Kabul early on Sunday morning. Local eyewitnesses say the fire was contained quickly and was not allowed to spread into the general market.
CONFLICT TRACKER Helmand: Taliban repeatedly attacked suspected terrorist safehouse in an undisclosed location. Early reports claim 4 civilian women were killed and 4 more civilians maimed in the attack. Badghis: Two Talib commanders, Qari Nasir and Sayyid Agha were reportedly killed by the NRF in Jund district. Panjshir: Noted Talib commander Maulvi Habibullah Sheeran (a.k.a. Zarkqwi) was reportedly killed in battle with the NRF at an undisclosed location in the province. He was considered a favourite of senior Taliban leadership. Panjshir: NRF commander Sahib Mohammad Kabir Foulad is said to have led an arrack in an unidentified Talib position. The NRF claim to have killed 8 Talibs while taking no casualties. Kandahar: The militant wing of the NLF claims to have assassinated 3 Talib security forces personnel in Kandahar city during the evening. Among the dead is Talib commander Maulvi Shafi Amr. The killings may have taken place on a bypass road around the city.
Takhar: Unidentified gunmen were said to have shot and killed 1 Taliban security forces member in Dasht-e-Qala district yesterday evening. No group has claimed responsibility, and the circumstances around the killing are unknown.
NEXT 24 HOURS
TALIBAN LEADER SHAKEUP RUMORS — There are several uncorroborated rumors of an impending shakeup in the senior leadership at the Ministry of Defense. No specific names or positions have been mentioned, but a source claims that Taliban leadership in Kandahar has ordered the dismissal of 5 senior figures and their replacements are en route from Kandahar. The source continued to say that the Panjshir campaign (codename: Operation Al-Fath) has been an embarrassment to the regime, and the recent positive press coverage given to the NRF leader in Austria has convinced Supreme Leader Akhundzada that a change was needed.
INDIA ADVOCATES FOR SIKHS STUCK IN AFG— India is expected to make a plea to the Taliban for several Sikhs to be allowed to travel out of Afghanistan. The Sikhs were recently denied permission to exit because the Taliban said they were carrying holy documents that were considered blasphemous.
[Modern Diplomacy] According to intelligence information, the leading Taliban commander Maulvi Habibullah Sheeran, who was known as Zarqawi, a resident of Zhrhai District, Kandahar Province, in the southwestern zone of the Taliban was killed in Panjshir battle.
Meantime, the intelligence report indicates, Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, the general military officer of Panjshir and Andrab and the deputy of the Ministry of National Defense, was injured in Panjshir on Friday, September 16 at 3:25 p.m.
[ShabelleMedia] Troops from the Somali military with the support of villagers have managed to drive al-Shabaab ...... Somalia's version of the Taliban ...mindless ferocity in a turban... , functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... out of several areas in the Hiran region in the past 48 hours.
The recaptured villages are Aborey, Tardo, Sagaalgeed, Geedsamo, and Inameey, which are located on the outskirts of Bula-Burde town, according to the military officials.
The Gorgor brigade commanders vowed to keep up the operations until they secure the takeover of the whole areas that remained under al-Shabaab.
Hiran region saw an intensified operation by the Somali army along with armed residents who are aiming to finalize the presence of al-Shabaab faceless myrmidons in the rural areas.
The Somali government is mobilizing the residents to take arms against al-Shabaab after president Hassan Sheikh last month said an all-out offensive will be unleashed soon.
[Garowe] A government-allied Somali militia killed at least 45 al-Shabaab ...... the personification of Somali state failure... fighters and beheaded some of them, three witnesses said on Sunday, as citizens in central regions of the country increasingly take up arms against the krazed killers.
The beheadings on Saturday followed a battle in the Hiran region of Hirshabelle State, where there has been significant fighting this month between al-Shabaab and newly expanded militias allied with the federal government.
Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked Islamist group, has been fighting Somalia’s weak central government since 2006. It wants to implement a strict interpretation of sharia law.
Al-Shabaab has increasingly burned houses, destroyed wells, and beheaded civilians in the Hiran region, residents say; that, combined with its demands amidst the worst drought in 40 years, has pushed more taxes to take up arms.
"Al-Shabaab is not strong, it just burns people, beheads people, and puts their heads in the streets just to terrorize," said Ahmed Abdulle, a Hiran elder.
"Now, we are doing the same: we have ordered the beheading of al-Shabaab fighters," he told Rooters.
Videos widely shared on Telegram showed at least two beheaded alleged al-Shabaab fighters and dozens more dead bodies in fatigues and red-and-white checked scarves. Some of the dead appeared to have died in battle.
Rooters was not independently able to verify the authenticity of the videos, but three witnesses to the beheadings said they were real. Seven other residents, including Abdulle, said family members had been present and confirmed the deaths to them.
The three witnesses asked not to be named for security reasons.
"Al-Shabaab put us in hell...So our people decided to liberate themselves... My daughter is also fighting in the frontline, she has an AK-47 on her shoulder," resident Halima Ismail said.
Somali Interior Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
An al-Shabaab was not immediately available for comment. "I can say no more!" Fighters have retaken 10 villages from al-Shabaab in recent weeks, elder Hassaan Farah told Rooters.
Residents in nearby Galmudug ...a semiautonomous region in central Somalia, bordering Puntland on the north. Galmudug is not trying to obtain international recognition as a separate nation, but rather considers itself autonomous within the larger Somali federalism, for what that's worth... state are also taking up arms.
"This week, we have recaptured nine villages," said Ahmed Shire, the Galmudug information minister.
"It is a big revolution by Galmudug state."
On Saturday, the federal government sent troops to reinforce Galmudug fighters, the Somali National News Agency said.
Earlier this month, al-Shabaab snuffies killed at least 18 civilians and destroyed food aid trucks. In August, they killed more than 20 people in a hotel siege.
Somalia has been in civil war since 1991 when clan-based warlords overthrew a dictator and then turned on each other.
[HODHODYEMENNEWS] The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) militias suffered heavy casualties when al-Qaeda launched a new military attack in Ahwar area of 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 Sunday.
Local sources confirmed that dozens of the militias, all of whom were recruits of the sons of Yafa and Abyan, including a battalion commander, were killed or maimed in the attack that targeted Wadi Eumarn and al-Ahmar areas, east of Mudiyah district of the province.
In a related context, the "Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... " website affiliated with 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... published pictures of the terrorist attack launched by the organization on a security point belonging to the Security Belt Militia in Ahwar.
A statement issued by al-Qaeda confirmed 21 members of the STC and 8 members of the organization were killed in the attack that targeted the STC on September 6, in Ahwar area.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2022 00:00 ||
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[HODHODYEMENNEWS] Emirati aircraft have launched a series of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s on 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, in support of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) in southern 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... According to sources, Emirati warplanes carried out intensive raids on positions of Islah Lions of Islam in northern part of Mudiyah district, east of the province.
The sources said that explosions were clearly heard in conjunction with the sounds of aircraft flying.
The raids come after the failure of the STC forces to lift the siege imposed on them by the Islah Lions of Islam in the district.
Other military sources explained that the UAE raids were mistakenly hit the UAE-backed "Al-Amaliqa " Forces east of the village of Imbagira on the outskirts of Wadi O’mran east of the Mudiya district.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2022 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least three suspected bad boyz were potted by the personnel of Counter Terrorism Department during an intelligence-based operation in the Sur Kamar area of Jamrud in Khyber tribal district late on Friday evening.
A brief statement issued by the CTD on Saturday said the operation was conducted upon information about the presence of an gang that was busy planning terrorist attacks in the country.
Three gunnies were killed after an exchange of intense gunfire, while another two or three managed to escape taking advantage of the darkness.
The CTD statement said that some arms and ammunitions were seized during the operation.
Two of the killed suspects were identified as Ikramullah alias Muhsin, and Mursala Khan alias Qari alias Irshad.
According to APP, the faceless myrmidons belonged to the banned murderous MoslemIslamic 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.... group, also known by its Arabic acronym as ISIS.
The CTD team recovered three Kalashnikovs, 12 magazines, three hand-grenades and other weapons from their possession.
Police started search operation in the area to arrest the fleeing terrorists.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/19/2022 00:00 ||
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[OneIndia] The main message that ABT has been sending out to people is to eradicate democracy. The group said in a video message that democracy is the biggest enemy of Islam.
Late last month, a madrasa was demolished in the Barapeta area of Assam. Named Sheikhul Mahmudul Hasan Jamiul Huda, reports said that it was allegedly linked to terror groups al-Qaeda in the Sub Continent (AQIS) and the Ansarul Bangla Team (ABT).
In the same month, a woman was arrested from Dhubri in Assam for her alleged links with the ABT. Identified as Jahura Khan, the agencies alleged that her husband Abu Tallah is also wanted for his links with the proscribed outfit.
Earlier this week, the police arrested an Imam in Assam's Morigaon district on the charge that he was radicalising the Moslem youth of the state. Acting on the information provided by the arrested head of a madrasa Mufti Mustafa during interrogation, the police picked up the two from Sahariapam under Moirabari cop shoppe area, Deputy Superintendent of Police Moushumi Das said. One of the two is Ikramullah Islam, the Imam of Goroimari Jame Masjid, while the second person, Mussadik Hussain, is a farmer who occasionally works as a driver, the police also said.
These rapid and frequent developments around the ABT only goes on to show how deeply the outfit has penetrated into the society. The outfit is led by radical Islamic preacher Mufti Jashimuddin Rahmani who has been in jail since 2013.
The terror group was banned in the year 2015 and is responsible for the killing of 20 commoners, secular, and minorities while seriously injuring another 39, says the data by the United States Department of Homeland Security and the University of Maryland.
The ABT has been frequently publishing kill-lists. These are mostly those who oppose radical Islam. In 2015, the year it was banned, the ABT published a list of 20 bloggers accusing them of being anti-Islam.
The main message that it has been sending out to people in Bangladesh and India is to eradicate democracy. The group said in a video message that democracy is the biggest enemy of Islam.
In India the biggest threat the ABT poses is in Assam. An Intelligence Bureau official tells OneIndia that this outfit uses illegal migrant workers as its foot-soldiers and their network has penetrated so deep that their operatives are found in almost all parts of the country including many parts of South India.
In July this year, the police arrested one Zubair from Salem in Tamil Nadu who was an associate of another ABT operative Akthar Hussain.
The police said that Hussain who was working as a food delivery executive was using his job to understand the topography of the city. He was also in the process of setting up meetings to plan attacks in Karnataka.
The US report also goes on to note that they are trying to do in India what they are trying in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh their attacks are brazen and are often carried out in public to send a strong message out to the people. The database says that the outfit has used melee weapons 15 times, firearms thrice.
Officials have also pointed out that investigations against this group becomes hard as they operate in small groups of 4 and these are everywhere especially in Bangladesh. They are trying to replicate the same model in India by sending out their operatives across the country so that they can mingle with the people and attack when they want.
Recently Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that six Bangladeshi nationals belonging to Ansarul Islam had entered Assam to indoctrinate youths, and one of them was arrested when the first module was found at Barpeta in March this year.
Jihadi activity is very different from terrorist or insurgency activities. It starts with indoctrination for several years, followed by active participation in promoting Islamic fundamentalism, and finally going for subversive activities, the Chief Minister said.
The Bangladeshi nationals, "who entered the state illegally" in 2016-17, operated several camps during the COVID-19 pandemic, he also added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/19/2022 00:00 ||
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#1
Fuckin' idiots. Democracy is the biggest friend of Islam. If it weren't for democracy Islam would be just a bunch of underground cultists, Arabian nights cartoons and ululating belly dancers today.
[OneIndia] A hybrid terrorist has been arrested in Jammu and Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... . The terrorist has been identified as Zaffer Iqbal. He is the brother of Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Mohammad Ishaq who was killed in an encounter in Rajouri.
His relative Abdul Rashid is in Pakistain and also works with terror groups, a release by Jammu and Kashmir police said in a release.
The police raided and arrested the terrorist from Plaasu Nallah and put him under sustained interrogation. During interrogation he confirmed his association with terror groups and also about the offences committed by him.
On this a joint operation of teams of Reasi Police , 58 RR and 126 Bn of CRPF was launched in Angrala forest and on his disclosure arms, ammunition and explosive were recovered from a hideout.
The security agencies seized one pistol, a magazine pistol, 22 rounds of live ammunition and a grenade. An amount of Rs 18,000 was also seized from him.
Terming the arrest and recovery a big success Senior Superintendent of Police Reasi Amit Gupta-JKPS said that Zaffar was in touch with terror groups and with his arrest a major terror strike has been averted.
The SSP further added that Pakistain handlers are constantly making efforts to revive terrorism in the upper reaches of district Reasi and people like Zaffar are working for them. He appealed that peace loving citizens of Reasi disowned millitancy in the past also and no such attempt will be successful in this area .
#1
A cross between moss and chupacabra,
appeared in front of us, abracadabra!
For such encounters there be no rules,
but nor are we fools, ha ha ha!
We hit it on the head with a candelabra.
Iranian #Baloch sources claim that Pakistani forces fired mortars towards Pirkor village, in Sistan Baluchestan province, during a clash with Baloch insurgents near Iran-Pakistan border. No information about the casualties as yet. https://t.co/BXTWXMp5R4pic.twitter.com/hMtahFil1k
[IsraelTimes] Men taken to be questioned by Shin Bet; unclear whether they planned attack or sought to sell firearm.
The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday its troops had arrested two Paleostinian suspects at the West Bank security barrier, near the Israeli Arab city of Baqa al-Gharbiye, one of whom was armed with a submachine gun.
According to the IDF, soldiers operating surveillance cameras spotted the two men attempting to cross the West Bank security barrier close to the Baqa checkpoint that separates the Israeli city from the Paleostinian village of Baqa a-Sharqiyya.
The IDF said troops were dispatched to the scene and arrested the pair. One was found to be carrying a Carlo makeshift submachine gun in his bag.
The pair were taken to be questioned by the Shin Bet security agency. It was not immediately clear whether they planned an attack or were seeking to sell the weapon.
The IDF added that a third suspect was arrested nearby shortly after. He was not reported to have been armed.
Hebrew-language media reports, citing the IDF, said the two were believed to have been planning an attack in Israel or were going to sell the weapon in order for someone else to commit an attack.
In its statement, the IDF did not elaborate on their alleged intentions.
[Rudaw] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... claimed to have killed on Friday a suspected officer of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in a dronezap in Syria’s Raqqa province, state media reported on Sunday.
Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT) carried out an operation in northern Syria’s Ain Issa and allegedly killed Mehmet Gurbuz, code-named "Rojhat Karakocan," who state-owned Anadolu Agency described as the "so-called Euphrates region officer" of the YPG.
The YPG has not commented on the operation nor confirmed Gurbuz’s death.
Anadolu also said that the dronezap killed Gurbuz’s bodyguard, while a second drone attack on Friday killed a further three suspected YPG members and destroyed "two Grad missiles and various ammunition."
The backbone of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the YPG, is designated a terrorist organization by Ankara and considered the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The SDF is a critical opponent of 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) in Syria and has recently concluded a weeks-long operation to counter ISIS cells in al-Hol camp in Hasaka province. The operation was commended by the US-led coalition who reaffirmed commitment to their partnership with the Kurdish-led force to ensure the lasting defeat of ISIS in the region.
The operation saw the arrests of 226 ISIS suspects along with the confiscation of various types of weapons, according to the SDF.
Turkey has recently ramped up its attacks in northern Syria, as it seeks to target fighters and key figures of the SDF in preparation for a looming offensive it intends to launch against Kurdish fighters in the area.
In August, Turkey grabbed credit for the death of a YPG leader in Rojava. The SDF confirmed his death but did not disclose any leadership positions, instead only referring to him as a fighter.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
09/19/2022 00:05 ||
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Top|| File under: Sublime Porte
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[REGNUM] The Russian Aerospace Forces launched an airstrike on the base of militants of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization (an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) in Syrian Idlib. This was announced by the Deputy Head of the Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, Major General Oleg Yegorov .
He said that on September 17, the Russian Aerospace Forces launched a group air strike on the base of the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra (an organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) in the area of the settlement of Ash Sheikh Yousef in the province of Idlib.
“As a result of the strike, a warehouse with weapons, two warehouses of materiel were destroyed, more than 45 militants were liquidated, among them field commanders Bilal Said and Abu Dujana al-Diri , ” Yegorov said.
[REGNUM] Three Syrian soldiers were killed in a Turkish artillery attack on the border town of Ain al-Arab in northern Aleppo province. This was reported by the Arabic TV channel Al-Hadath.
The incident happened on September 18th. According to media reports, Turkish artillery shelled the city of Ain al-Arab in the north of Aleppo province, as a result of which the positions of the Syrian military were under fire. It is reported that three soldiers were killed.
Earlier, the Syrian authorities transferred armored vehicles and heavy weapons to the north of the country, which Ankara regarded as support for the Kurdish formations.
[An Nahar] U.S.-backed Syrian fighters said they have concluded a 24-day sweep at a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing tens of thousands of women and kiddies linked to 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.... group.
Dozens of Lions of Islam were detained and weapons were confiscated in the operation at al-Hol camp, which began on Aug. 25, the U.S.-backed forces said. The U.S.-backed force said two of its fighters were killed in festivities with Lions of Islam inside the camp during the operation.
IS sleeper cells preparing a new generation of turbans -- boys and girls being fed bad boy ideology to eventually try and set up a second so-called Islamic State caliphate -- were also uncovered, the statement by the Internal Security Forces said. It added that the operation was assisted by the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as well as members of the U.S.-led coalition.
The operation at al-Hol in the northeastern province of Hassakeh also led to the release of two Yazidi girls taken from Iraq as sex slaves years ago and four non-Yazidi women, who had been chained and subjected to torture.
"The operation was launched following the increasing crimes of killing and torture committed by ISIS cells against the camp residents," said the statement from the U.S.-backed forces, using another acronym for the Islamic State group. It added that since the beginning of the year, the Lions of Islam have killed 44 camp residents and humanitarian workers.
The statement also said that 226 people, including 36 women, were detained in al-Hol -- widely seen as a breeding ground for the IS.
Some 50,000 Syrians and Iraqis are crowded into tents in the fenced-in camp. Nearly 20,000 of them are children; most of the rest are women, wives and widows of IS fighters.
In a separate, heavily guarded section of the camp known as the annex are an additional 2,000 women from 57 other countries - they are considered the most die-hard IS supporters - along with their children, numbering about 8,000.
"ISIS has depended mainly on women and kiddies, as real resources related directly to the ISIS leaders, to maintain the ISIS bad boy ideology and spread it in the camp," the statement said.
The camp was initially used to house the families of IS fighters in late 2018 as U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces recaptured territory in eastern Syria from the Death Eaters. In March 2019, they seized the last IS-held villages, ending the "caliphate" that the group had declared over large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
The United States and other nations have struggled to repatriate the families, but have had only very limited success.
Follow the links all the way in this Twitter Thread. Iran ends up shooting directly into crowds all over the country
More on this story from yesterday. The tweets continue through Sunday.
Heavy security presence outside #Tehran's Kasra hospital where Mahsa Amiri, who had been arrested over "improper hijab", died after having a stroke while in police custody three days earlier. #مهسا_امینیpic.twitter.com/vBWpC1SZBm
Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Iran’s western Kurdish provinces (Rojhelat) in demonstrations condemning the controversial death of a Kurdish woman during detention in an Iranian prison, a human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... watchdog reported on Sunday, as the country’s President promised the woman’s family to investigate the incident.
Mahsa (Zhina) Amini was detained on Tuesday for allegedly not wearing a hijab properly and was taken to hospital a few hours later after she collapsed in prison. She died on Friday with the authorities claiming that the cause of death was a heart attack, but human rights activist muppets say she was tortured.
Following the burial in her home city of Saqqez, protests broke out, with a group of women removing their headscarves in protest.
Protests continued in Sanandaj on Sunday, leading to altercations between the demonstrators and local security forces, who used tear gas and bullets to disperse the protesters.
Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said that at least 38 people have been injured in the protests so far, with 13 others reportedly arrested. The human rights watchdog reported later that at least 10 others were arrested during Sunday's protests in Sanadaj.
A number of Kurdish political parties have called for general demonstrations to be held on Monday across the cities of Rojhelat, protesting Amini’s death.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi extended his condolences to Amini’s family through a phone call on Sunday, assuring them that he has ordered a thorough probe into the incident to clarify the situation.
"Your daughter is like my own daughter, and my feeling is that this incident happened to one of my loved ones. Consider me a partner in your misfortune and a sympathizer of your sorrow," Iranian state media cited Raisi as telling Amini’s family.
Amnesia Amnesty International called for an investigation into the death of Amini.
"The circumstances leading to the suspicious death in jug of 22-year-old young woman Mahsa Amini, which include allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in jug, must be criminally investigated," it said.
Posted by: 3dc ||
09/19/2022 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.
[BBC] The Taliban have released a US engineer they had held hostage since 2020 in exchange for an Afghan tribal leader held in US custody since 2005.
Bashir Noorzai was given a hero's welcome on his return to the Afghan capital, and was greeted by Taliban fighters carrying garlands of flowers.
...... Somalia's version of the 
...... the personification of Somali state failure...
...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...
...
...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 .jpg "Kashmir")
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
[An Nahar] U.S.-backed Syrian fighters said they have concluded a 24-day sweep at a sprawling camp in northeast Syria housing tens of thousands of 
