Terrorism Watch

  Tripoli: Security for foreign instructors was increased after an American teacher was shot dead while jogging in Benghazi, amid fears that the death was not an isolated attack but rather one of an increasing number of targeted killings by Islamic militants or other gunmen with a strong presence in the volatile eastern Libyan city. Ronald Thomas Smith II’s body was found near the residential compound that housed him and other Benghazi International School teachers in an upscale neighbourhood. He had been at school in the morning but went home to change his clothes and go jogging at midday, according to the school’s director Adel Al Mansouri. The area is also the site of the US diplomatic mission, where the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed last year. The United States, viewed by many Libyans as a protector who led Nato airstrikes that helped rebels oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, has nonetheless become an enemy to militants who have flour

Dubai: An estimated 30 million people worldwide are living in modern-day slavery, according to the inaugural Global Slavery Index published on Thursday. The index, compiled by the Walk Free Foundation, said that while India by far had the largest number of enslaved people, the problem was most prevalent in the west African nation of Mauritania, where four per cent of the population was deemed to be held in slavery. There are an estimated 14 million slaves in India and a further 2.1 million in Pakistan. The foundation’s definition of modern slavery includes slavery itself, plus slavery-like practices — such as debt bondage, forced marriage and the sale or exploitation of children — human trafficking and forced labour. The WFF hopes the annual index will help governments to monitor and tackle what it calls a “hidden crime”.   “A lot of governments won’t like hearing what we have to say,” chief executive Nick Grono told AFP. “Those governments that want to

Manila: Members of a Filipino-Muslim rebel group released a police chief hours after being abducted during an attack at a police headquarters in the southern Philippines, sources said. Members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) group, which has been engaged in peace talks with the Philippine government since 1997, released Police chief Supt Christopher Panapan of Marawi City in Nosa village, Balindong town in Lanao del Sur province on Friday afternoon, Col Glen Macasero, commander of the Philippine Army’s 103rd Infantry Brigade, told ANC, a TV network. Emissaries of the MILF turned over Panapan to former Wato Mayor Benjamin Bagul, said Macasero. Panapan was abducted early on Friday morning when 50 MILF rebels raided the police headquarters of Marawi City, with the aim to bolt out two MILF members who were earlier detained for illegal possession of firearms, Macasero said, adding that during the attack, MILF rebels also shot dead Panapan’s relative. Pana

(Reuters) - Opposition activists again accused President Bashar al-Assad's forces of using poison gas in Syria's civil war on Thursday, and said victims had been discovered with swollen limbs and foaming at the mouth. The activists told Reuters two shells loaded with gas hit a rebel-held area in the town of Nabak, 68 km (40 miles) northeast of Damascus, on a major highway in the Qalamoun region. They reported seven casualties. Separately, the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union also accused Assad's forces of using poison gas. "We have documented nine casualties from poison gas used by the regime in neighborhoods of Nabak," it said on its Facebook page. A nerve gas attack killed hundreds of people in rebel-held neighborhoods on the edge of Damascus on August 21. Each side blamed the other. Assad subsequently agreed to give up his chemical weapons arsenal under a deal struck between Moscow and Washington that averted a U.S. attack on Damascus, an

Thousands of Christian civilians sought refuge at an airport guarded by French soldiers on Friday, fearing retaliatory attacks by former rebels of a mostly Muslim alliance. Citing figures from local Red Cross officials, national radio announced that at least 280 people had been killed after Christian militias attacked the capital, Bangui, on Thursday. About 1,000 French troops were expected to be on the ground by Friday evening, France said. The State Department said it was “deeply concerned” by the violence and praised France’s quick intervention to protect civilians in the country, a former French colony. The rebel alliance seized power in March, but clashes with Christian militias and other fighters loyal to the ousted president, François Bozizé, have continued. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/07/world/africa/central-african-republic-civilians-flock-to-french-troops-for-safety.html?_r=0         

Aden: Yemeni military investigators say 12 militants, mostly Saudi nationals, were responsible for a brazen attack on the Defence Ministry’s complex in the capital. The committee led by Yemen’s Chief of Staff Gen Ahmad Al Ashwal put out a report on Friday that set the death toll at 56, with another 215 wounded. It described Thursday’s attack as a two-stage operation, in which attackers disguised in military uniform drove a car packed with explosives into the complex, blew it up, then split into two groups. One swept through a military hospital while the second group attacked a laboratory. Both killed everyone they found. A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press. Officials earlier said 11 militants were killed. It was not clear if the 12th attacker was captured or escaped. Source:  http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/yemen/saudi-militants-among-attackers-of-ministry-complex-investigators-say-1.1264190

British officials have expressed on Wednesday serious security reservations toward al-Qaeda’s apparent determination to develop harder-to-detect bombs as part of its new strategy. And since Al-Qaeda Yemen has been flagged as the most dangerous operating cell in the region, r Whitehall officials have had the eye decisively set on Sana’a, assessing the best course of action. Although no one can deny that coalition President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi has successfully crack-downed on Islamic militants over the past years, having built an impressive network of alliances with local tribes and local officials to flush out terror cells and drive out militants, Islamic radicals have proven more resilient than anticipated. Several security analysts have actually argued that Yemen is paying the price of its own success now that al-Qaeda has been backed into a corner, forced to fight for its very survival as opposed to planning its expansion. Because terror militants leave in th

Beirut: At least 17 people, including children, have been killed by regime forces in a shelter in the town of Nabuk, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. Citing activists inside the town north of Damascus, the watchdog said the bodies of the civilians were found in Nabuk’s Al Fatah district. It was unclear when the 17 civilians had been killed, and the Observatory called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to be given access to the area. Regime troops and rebels have been battling for days in Nabuk, as the Syrian army fights to capture the Qalamoun region north of Damascus. The army has seized nearby Qara and Deir Attiyah, which lie north of Nabuk along the key Damascus-Homs highway. But it has also seen rebels seize the town of Maalula, a historic Christian hamlet in Qalamoun, as the fighting in Nabuk continues. The Observatory said that elsewhere in the country at least 16 people were killed in regime air raids on the town of

Paris — French President Francois Hollande on Friday told African leaders it is time for their continent to take charge of its own security as a major summit went ahead against the sombre backdrop of mourning for Nelson Mandela. Hollande unveiled a major new initiative under which France would train 20,000 African troops a year over five years as part of efforts to give the continent a greater capacity to handle its own security problems. But what would have been a headline-making pledge on any other day was overshadowed as the summit succumbed to the emotion that has washed over much of the world in the wake of Mandela's death. Hollande began the two-day meeting, attended by some 40 African leaders, by delivering an emotional tribute to the hero of the anti-apartheid struggle. "He became a global hero because he was profoundly human and profoundly good," the French Socialist leader said. Flags above the presidential Elysee Palace flew at half-mast

Pakistan continues to support terror operations in India even after Nawaz Sharif has taken over as the new Prime Minister, a former top Pentagon official and an eminent defence analyst has told the US Congress. "They support terror operations in India with terrorist organisations. They support the Haqqani network and the Taliban in conducting operations against the United States and NATO and Afghanistan. They've got blood all over their hands with the casualties," General (Retd) Jack Keane said. Currently the Chairman of the Board of top US think-tank, Institute for the Study of War, Keane said during a Congressional hearing that he does not expect much from the current regime. "This is a regime that is dominated by its military, who puts its military self above the state. We've got a weak civilian government, fundamentally corrupt. The economy is in the tank. We've got a raging insurgency. We've got an escalating nuclear power,"

Sheela Bhatt Were they Indians? They were Indians. But what does that mean? Who told you this? On the Pakistan side... That they were... That they were working with 10 local people. Adrian Levy, co-author of the book The Siege: The Attack on the Taj , speaks to Rediff.com 's Sheela Bhatt in a compelling interview. In the first part of the exclusive interview, Levy revealed how America's compromise with David Coleman Headley, one of the masterminds of the attacks, affected India's national interest. Part I: 26/11: 'America sacrificed Mumbai to keep Headley playing' In the second part, he speaks of the 26/11 conspiracy, how Ajmal Kasab and the other nine terrorists we picked and trained, the mysterious Honeybee and possible local help for the terrorists in Mumbai. 26/11 Exclusive: How the LeT chose Kasab and who Honeybee could be This is the third and final part of the interview: W as it an Inter Services Intelligence operation? The I

'Lashkar is full of soldiers; it is full of spies, and you never know who is retired and who isn't... Headley asked one of the army majors, who claimed to be a retired officer, from where a lot of the information was coming from and he was told the military have become particularly proud of a series of sources they have in India.' Adrian Levy, co-author of the book The Siege: The Attack on the Taj , speaks to Rediff.com 's Sheela Bhatt in a compelling interview. In the first part of the exclusive interview, Levy revealed how America's compromise with David Coleman Headley, one of the masterminds of the attacks, affected India's national interest. Part I: 26/11: 'America sacrificed Mumbai to keep Headley playing' Y ou have tried to understand David Headley's psyche. Can you tell me what his understanding of India is? It is so conflicted. I think we wrote this in the book really clearly that he loves Mumbai. He thinks it is a really ramb

'What America could figure out is that this finally was an American with an American passport operating in Pakistan who had access to Al Qaeda. Now the prime objective of that time was the capture of bin Laden.' 'This is three years before Abbottabad, the only thing that the US intelligence agencies were thinking about was how do they decapitate him, how do they cut the head off of Al Qaeda and here was this tantalising, untrustworthy, difficult, hard to control, psychopathic individual, who was American.' Adrian Levy, co-author of the book The Siege: The Attack on the Taj , speaks to Rediff.com 's Sheela Bhatt in an compelling interview. T his is one book that was dying to be written. The siege of the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai which began on November 26, 2008 by Pakistani terrorists and ended three days later was one emotion-filled, historic event that caught the world's attention. Not just Mumbai, but India was under siege as Pakistani jiha