Terrorism Watch

Blasts outside Bangalore stadium before IPL match

Source: Rightsidenews The recent  news  that  Hamas  militants broke into a Gaza Strip branch of  the Bank of Palestine  and stole $400,000 which had been frozen as part of terrorism investigation indicates that no matter what the Palestinian Authority may try, Hamas is willing to use violence to protect its interests. While the fractured government in the Palestinian territories has been making small steps towards stemming the flow of terrorist  financing , it remains an uphill battle. In a recent  speech , the  Assistant Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the Treasury  Department, David S. Cohen explained: "The Palestinian Authority, which understands the threat that Hamasposes to peace in the region, has taken important steps to limitHamas's influence by supervising both the Palestinian  banking system  and the charitable sector  in the West  Bank and Gaza." At the forefront in this fight has been the  Palestine Monetary Authority  (PMA), the de fac

Source: TOI BANGALORE: Two low-intensity explosions, one at M Chinnaswamy Stadium and another half-a-kilometre away, before the start of an Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians on Saturday injured five people and caused panic among the spectators. Explosives placed near the outer wall of the stadium went off at around 3.15pm, 45 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the match, which was delayed by an hour. Four policemen and a private security guard were injured, police commissioner Shankar Bidari told reporters at the stadium. "It appears an explosive was planted near gate No. 12 behind a plastic billboard. Four policemen suffered minor injuries while a security guard was seriously hurt," Bidari said. "It was not a powerful explosive. Forensic experts will examine the site and determined the nature of the explosive," he said. Another explosion took place at around 3pm near Anil Kumble Circle, less than h

Source: ET WASHINGTON: The US appears to have extracted a "pledge" from Pakistan to cooperate fully with Washington and New Delhi to ensure that anti-Indian terrorists groups are punished for their crimes and ultimately eliminated. The US has been "concerned about the presence of extremist groups in countries of South Asia regardless of where they are," State Department spokesman Philip J Crowley told reporters on Friday when asked about a UN report's finding that Pakistan's Army and its spy agency ISI continue to have links with Lashkar-e-Taeba (LeT) and the Taliban. "This has been a part of our ongoing dialogue with Pakistan," he said noting it came up in the discussions that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had with Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani during last week's nuclear security summit. "And I just simply would say that we emphasise again this is a shared struggle. We believe very strongly in the aggressive step

Source: TOI Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Washington visit is being viewed as a having yielded some gains for Indian foreign policy,having secured an apparent endorsement of the Indian role in Afghanistan.The implication,both overt and covert,has been that India scored a win over Pakistan given the latter's attempts to curtail India's presence in the country.The perspective is not new.The success and failure of the Indian role and presence in Afghanistan since 2001 has been largely interpreted through the Indian ability to influence the international community on Pakistan.Bringing pressure on elements within Pakistan and the Pakistani establishment,which are supportive of insurgents with a totalitarian worldview is certainly a valid concern and gains have been made in this area. However,by restricting its role and influence to this narrow interest,Indian foreign policy is losing sight of the bigger picture.The wider strategic interests of the international community th

By: Delaney Lovett Although Ted Nugent played a song for the crowd, he didn’t come to NMU to showcase his musical talents. The musician, outdoorsman and conservative political activist shared his views with an audience much composed of camouflage and plaid. Nugent’s speech, “Kill It and Grill It,” promoted some of his outspoken stands on topics like gun control, hunting, being drug-and alcohol-free, political correctness and environmentalism. Nugent warned the audience not to just sit back and let the government provide them what they need, challenging Americans to practice self-government and take a stand. “If you think I’m talking to you when I say you’re too stupid to take care of yourself and if you’re feeling a little angry, that would be guilt,” Nugent said. “The worst curse of mankind is dependency. It will render you soulless.” He encouraged the audience members to dedicate themselves to rid life of the bad and the unhealthy things like drugs and debt, and

Source: Alternet Threats of right-wing violence have doubled in the past year. What is behind the latest upsurge in the movement to create a Christian theocratic state? April 15, 2010  |      When Scott Roeder, the murderer of Wichita Kansas abortion clinic provider Dr. George Tiller, had his day in court, he spent much of his rambling self-defense quoting the words of another abortion clinic assassin, Reverend Paul Hill . In the 1990s my own research had brought me into conversation with others in the inner circle in which Hill and Roeder were at that time involved. So it was a chilling experience for me to realize that this awful mood of American Christian terrorism—culminating in the catastrophic attack on the Oklahoma City Fede

Source: ET 15 Apr 2010, 0007 hrs IST, PTI WASHINGTON: With India requesting for higher-level training from the United States in the wake of 26/11 Mumbai attacks, the Obama Administration has asked the Congress to double its anti-terrorism budget to India to $4.5 million for the fiscal 2011. Testifying before a Congressional committee, Coordinator for Counter-terrorism in the Department of States Daniel Benjamin on Wednesday said such a decision by the Obama Administration follows a request from India in the aftermath of the Mumbai-terrorist attack that killed more than 166 people, six of whom were Americans. "Under our FY 2011 request, India's ATA bilateral budget would almost double, to $4.5 million, to meet the increasing political will on the part of the Indian government, which has requested more and higher-level training in the aftermath of the Mumbai attack," Benjamin said. Anti-terrorism assistance or ATA continu

Source: 24hour news Posted on ANI on April 14, 2010 Peshawar, Apr 12(ANI): At least 23 militants were killed in clashes with Pakistani security forces , in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) restive Orakzai Agency. According to local officials, the soldiers used helicopters and heavy artillery in the operation carried out to target Taliban hideouts near the Afghan border. The ambush comes a day after 40 militants were killed and over 20 injured in air strikes in the same region. A statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations in Peshawar said that militants had started fleeing to Tirah valley of the adjacent Khyber tribal region and other parts of FATA and Afghanistan due to the successful operation in Orakzai, The Dawn reports. The statement said Tirah, a stronghold of the proscribed Lashkar-i-Islam, had become a hub of Tahrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Swat Taliban and foreign militants. Over 215 extremists have been

Source: Examiner Thursday, April 15, 2010 - 07:43 AM A drugs-war gun battle erupted on the main coast boulevard in the heart of Mexico’s tourist mecca Acapulco, killing six people, including an eight-year-old girl and her mother. A police officer died in yesterday’s shootout but at least three of the other victims seemed to have been caught in the crossfire at a junction in the Pacific resort. Five other people were wounded and about a dozen vehicles were riddled with bullets. Police said today they had arrested a 26-year-old man who apparently worked for Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a US-born drug boss who has been engaged in a bloody battle in the Acapulco area with former colleagues in the Beltran-Leyva cartel. Police said the gun battle started when “armed men travelling in several vehicles opened fire on the occupants of another vehicle”, killing both men. It was unclear why the men were targeted. Police tried to intercept the gunmen’s vehicles and “in their

Source: 24 world news New Delhi , March 29 (ANI): India is as concerned with the worsening security situation inside Pakistan as it is with the continuing infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir, it has been brought out in the Annual Report of The Ministry of Defence for the year 2009 – 10, released here on Monday. “The increasing incidents of terrorism within Pakistan targeting, inter alia, the security establishment and senior military personnel, and the rising tide of extremism underlined the serious threat to Pakistan itself and to the region”, says the report, noting that “the Pakistani Government made some progress in tackling jihadi insurgency in Swat and the adjacent districts and also in south Waziristan”. Expressing concern over infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC) and existence of terrorists camps across the Indo-Pak border, India has said that Pakistan should undertake effective steps to address India’s concern on terrorism being perpetrated from the t

Source: 24worldnews Washington, Mar.25 (ANI): Amidst talk of reconciliation with the Taliban in Afghanistan , US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates , has said it is too early for the Karzai government to be able to persuade top Taliban leaders to shun their violent ways. Addressing a House committee, Gates said talks are necessary, but for a positive outcome it is important that the Afghanistan government is in a position of strength and the ‘Taliban convinced they are going to lose.’ “I don’t think we’re there yet,” The News quoted Gates, as saying. Earlier, Gates told a congressional hearing that Pakistan has now realised the fact that the Taliban presents an acute threat to the democratic set up of the country. He said Islamabad understands that it is facing an ‘existential threat’ from the banned terror outfit. “It really has been extraordinary in my view, seeing what Pakistan has done over the last more than a year – in terms of becoming engaged, in terms of their

April 06, 2010 — Attackers detonated seven blasts across the city, using homemade bombs and a car packed with explosives, Iraqi military spokesman Maj Gen Qassim al-Moussawi told AP news agency. Some buildings collapsed under the force of the blast, burying residents under the rubble, the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad says. A restaurant in the central area near Haifa Street was also destroyed, reports said. The areas were reportedly strongholds of the Mehdi Army, the armed militia connected to the Sadrist Movement led by Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr. By attacking Shia areas, the bombers appear set on rekindling sectarian passions, as happened in 2006, our correspondent says. Fears have been expressed that political wrangling to form a new government might leave a vacuum which insurgents could exploit, he adds. Bombs have destroyed seven buildings in three areas of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing at least 35 people and wounding 130, an Iraqi official says. The attacks took place in main

April 06, 2010 — Distraught relatives started collecting the bodies of their loved ones from a hospital morgue early on Easter Monday, one day after a coordinated series of suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad. [Umm Rafed, Relative of Deceased]: "It was an awful blast. Six of my relatives were hurt in the attack, the youngest was a one-year-old and he was hurt in his head, he is in the neural injuries hospital. It was an awful morning." Three suicide bombers detonated car bombs within moments of each other in the attacks on foreign missions in central Baghdad on Easter Sunday, killing as many as 41 people and wounding more than 200. Authorities had warned of a possible escalation of violence after the March 7th parliamentary election, an event that Iraqis hoped would bring stability to their country. But no such success in absence of political security. Main blasts were near the Iranian, Egyptian and German embassies. One bomb from Easter Friday blew up in front of the Iranian em

( CP ) – 2 hours ago KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The body of the latest Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan has begun the long journey home. More than 1,500 Canadian and NATO soldiers attended a ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield for Pte. Tyler William Todd, who was killed by a roadside bomb while on foot patrol Sunday southwest of Kandahar city. His best friend, Pte Christian Winter of Vancouver, delivered a tearful tribute, saying Todd had a way of keeping his buddies happy all the time and that his death is a terrible loss for the platoon. Winter says it was a privilege to know him. Todd, who was 26, was born and raised in Ontario's Waterloo region and was member of the Edmonton based 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. The blast that killed him occurred in Belanday, a village in Dand district, where there have been a number of Canadian casualties over the last few months. Todd's death raises to 142 the number of Canadian soldiers killed since

Source: Latest news By Priyanka Sabharwal - Monday, April 12th, 2010 5:31 pm BELFAST – After hijacking a taxi, Republican militants exploded it near British army barracks in Belfast. The blast occurred just after few minutes of transfer of police and legal powers hailed from London to Belfast. The militant group IRA who has claimed the responsibility of the blasts has also murdered two British soldiers previous year in barracks depicting the height of violence in Ireland. Police hasn’t confirmed any causality as yet but told that an elder man got injured in the blast which is under British Headquarters. Issues related to intelligence handled by MI5 will remain under British control. “The taxi driver got out (of the car) and shouted ‘It’s a bomb, it’s a bomb!’ and we were evacuating the area when it exploded,” a police spokeswoman said. The blast occurred when peace process in Northern Ireland was going on at 12:24 a.m and province assembly voting is also due on Monday. “

Source: All voices Following the arrest of six terrorism suspects on April 11, Greek police and counter-terrorism squads have stepped up the pace of investigation as they search for further suspects and a weapons cache. Five men and one woman, aged between 30 and 41, were charged with multiple counts of attempted homicide and other offences as members of the anarchist guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle. The arrests are seen as the most positive breakthrough in domestic counter-terrorism since the liquidation of November 17, Greece’s deadliest terrorism group, in 2002. Revolutionary Struggle rose to attention in 2003, and claimed headlines for a rocket attack on the American Embassy in Athens in 2007 and a blast at the Athens Stock Exchange in 2009. A police spokesman named the suspects as Nikolaos Maziotis, 39, Evangelos Stathopoulos, 32, Christoforos Kortesis, 31, Sarantos Nikitopoulos, 32, Constantinos Gournas, 30, and Maziotis’ pregnant partner Panayiota Roupa, 41. Maziotis,

Source: People s daily A car bomb struck an Iraqi Army patrol in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib on Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding 15 people, an Interior Ministry source said. The blast took place on a main road in Abu Mnaiseer district, part of Abu Ghraib area, when an explosive-laden vehicle detonated near a passing army patrol, destroying a military vehicle, killing two soldiers and wounding three others aboard, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. Twelve civilians were also wounded by the powerful blast, which also damaged several nearby civilian cars, the source said. Iraqi security forces sealed off the scene and conducted a search operation in the surrounding area, the source added. Sporadic attacks continue in Iraq more than a month after the country held its landmark parliamentary election which is widely expected to shape the political landscape of the war-torn country.

By John Murray-Brown Source: FT Published: April 12 2010 05:13 | Last updated: April 12 2010 14:08 The Northern Ireland assembly on Monday appointed its first locally-elected justice minister in almost four decades, marking a key milestone in the normalisation of security arrangements in the province following years of civil conflict. The appointment of David Ford, leader of the non sectarian Alliance party as the new justice minister, comes just hours after a bomb blast outside the barracks in county Down which acts as the local headquarters of MI5, the security service. The bomb was claimed by the Real IRA, a breakaway republican group opposed to the Northern Ireland peace process . The blast at Palace Barracks occurred around midnight on Sunday. Officials believe the bomb was timed precisely to coincide with the legal transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to the Stormont assembly. Agreement on policing devolution is seen by the UK government as the last pie

Source: TOI NEW DELHI: One person was injured as a crude bomb sent in a courier exploded on Monday evening in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area. The blast took place at around 4pm when Mohammad Uzair, 45, a resident of Shaheen Bagh in Jamia Nagar, opened a courier. Uzair works as a manpower supplier and the blast occurred at the ground-floor of a three-storeyed building. Uzair suffered burn injuries and was rushed to the AIMMS Trauma Centre. His condition is reported as stable. Police investigations have revealed that the bomb was kept inside a shoe-shaped box, which was kept in a plastic bag. The bag was then delivered to Uzair. The person who delivered the courier fled as soon as the bomb exploded. Investigations by forensic experts revealed that it was a crude bomb which contained battery splinters. The police have registered a case under IPC 307 and the Explosive Act. It is suspected that the parcel bomb might have been sent by someone with whom Mohammad Uzair had enmity

Source: Australia plus the lorry drivers from Somaliland suffer to be released. See the Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor for background info and the map of the PIRACY COASTS OF SOMALIA . CASES NOT COMPLETELY CLOSED: MS INDIAN OCEAN EXPLORER and S/Y SERENITY - presumed sunken, but wrecks not secured. BARGE NN - an unnamed barge (allegedly with chemical waste) is held at Kulule (near Bendar-Beyla) since mid March. Ownership and circumstances could not yet be clarified. In the meantime local people have developed some ailments. Community awareness campaign was carried out, barge is provisionally secured. The case needs an immediate solution. S/Y JUMLA or YUMLA ? - a mysterious yacht with three Africans on board was/is kept since a long time near Dinooda on the Indian Ocean coast. Rumors say the yacht was involved in the sea-jacking of NAVIOS APOLLON and was then sighted near Hobyo. FV INTMAS 6 [aka FV TAWARIQ 2]: Was missing since March 2009. FV INTMAS 6 (sometimes n