Terrorism Watch

Shocking newly-acquired video footage shows an unscrupulous government informant entrapping four unworldly men from a poverty-stricken town into a world of crime to further a post-9/11 government agenda that plays upon American fears and unfairly targets Muslim-Americans at their places of worship. That’s the compelling and provocative story that HBO Documentaries’ film, The Newburgh Sting , by directors David Heilbroner and Kate Davis, wants to tell, and does, in cinematic fashion. There’s only one problem. It’s not even remotely true. The documentary, which debuts at 9 p.m. EST July 21, covers the case of the “Newburgh 4”: James “Abdul Rahman” Cromitie, David “Daoud” Williams, Onta “Hamza” Williams, and Laguerre “Amin” Payen, who were convicted on May 3rd 2011 for “a plot to launch missiles at an Air National Guard Base at Stewart Airport in Newburgh NY, and bomb two synagogues in the Bronx.” The documentary uses highly selective edits of recorded conversations betwee

The clashes broke during a ground operation on Gaza's coast by Israeli commandos- the first ground assault since the offensive against Hamas began.   Israeli naval commandos clashed with Hamas militants in a raid on the coast of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in what appeared to be the first ground assault of a six-day Israeli offensive on the territory aimed at stopping Palestinian rocket fire. With aerial support from fighter jets, the Israeli force attacked a site in northern Gaza used to launch long-range rockets, an Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, said. Militants opened fire, wounding four commandos, but the launch site was hit, he said. Hamas said its fighters had fired at the Israeli force offshore, preventing them from landing. Lerner said the forces had “completed their mission” and that the results of the raid “would be the first published ground activity” by naval troops in Gaza, in an offensive that Palestinian officials sai

Ukraine has accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels of destroying evidence from the wreckage of a Malaysian airliner that Kiev says militants shot down. Ukraine accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels on Saturday of destroying evidence of “international crimes” from the wreckage of the Malaysian airliner that Kiev says militants shot down with a missile, killing nearly 300 people. Fighting and artillery barrages flared near the Russian border in the hours after President Barack Obama called the loss of flight MH17 a “wake-up call” to Europe to join the US in threatening Moscow with heavier economic sanctions if it does not use its influence to help end a conflict that has driven the gravest East-West confrontation since the Cold War. Malaysia, whose national airline has been battered by its second major disaster this year, said it was “inhumane” to bar access to the site around the village of Hrabove, near the city of Donetsk, and said Russia was doing its “level best” to he

NAIROBI — Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga has accused the government of failing to safeguard national security in the face of a wave of Islamist attacks and has warned of mounting internal ethnic tensions. He said the east African nation was now in a state of permanent anxiety because of attacks by Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents, and that Kenya should pull its troops out of Somalia. He also accused the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta of using the worsening security situation "to score political points against their political adversaries." "There’s a great degree of anxiety in the country. People are worried about the security situation in the country," the former prime minister, who lost to Kenyatta in last year’s elections, said. "You’ve seen a lot of killings that have taken place in the country, which have reached unprecedented levels. "People had expected an improvement but instead what so far has been seen

It’s a Bizarro Cinderella story. Nineteen-year-old Colorado girl, Shannon Conley, meets thirty-two year old Tunisian terrorist online. He asks her to marry him. She enthusiastically accepts and allegedly pledges to devote her life, (between most likely having innumerable babies), to using her nursing skills to bring wounded terrorists back to health. There’s only one little hitch. This April, the U.S. Marshals showed up at Denver International Airport and arrested Miss Conley before she could hop aboard a jet bound for the Middle East. Miss Conley lived only a few miles down the road from me. She attended our local high schools , (3 of them before dropping out for a GED), and briefly attended Faith Bible Church, which I drive by every day. Despite her rocky high school years, she ended up at a private university, Regis, and was working as a certified nurse aide . Not bad for a nineteen-year-old in this economy. How does a local girl born and raised in normalcy sta

Birmingham-based former detainee pleaded not guilty to all charges 45-year-old will face 7 charges appearing at the Old Bailey on October 6 Accused of attending a terrorism training camp in crisis-hit Syria Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Moazzam Begg pleaded not guilty yesterday to seven terror offences connected with Syria’s civil war. The 45-year-old Briton appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from prison. Wearing a white T-shirt, khaki cotton trousers and black trainers, Begg sat throughout the hearing and said 'not guilty' to each of the charges. +2 Pleaded: Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, has denied terror charges linked to Syria The first count relates to attending a terrorism training camp in Syria between October 9 2012 and April 9 2013. The next five charges are for the possession of 'an article' for a purpose connected to terrorism between December 31 2012 and February 26 2014. They were listed as bei

ANKARA, Turkey –   Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan intensified his fiery rhetoric against Israel over its ground invasion of Gaza on Friday, accusing the country of state terrorism and genocide and saying the two countries will not mend ties on his watch. Earlier, hundreds of protesters pelted the top Israeli diplomat's residence in Ankara with stones, and the private Dogan news agency said police in Istanbul used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters trying to enter the Israeli Consulate grounds. Turkish legislators leaving a late-night debate in parliament also protested against Israel. Turkey intensified security around Israeli missions but the demonstrations prompted Israel to call home the families of Israeli diplomats and to keep staff in the embassy and consulate to a minimum. Tzachi Moshe, a spokesman for Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, said Israel "sharply protested the flagrant violation of diplomatic rules."

A group of Ethiopian bloggers and journalists have been charged with terrorism for having alleged links to an outlawed group and planning attacks. A group of Ethiopian bloggers and journalists detained for nearly three months have been charged with terrorism for having links to an outlawed group and for planning attacks, a judge said on Friday. The seven members of the blogging collective Zone Nine and three journalists were arrested in April, prompting an outcry from rights groups who said the case was an assault on press freedom. The group is accused of planning attacks in Ethiopia and working in collusion with the US-based opposition group Ginbot 7, labelled by Ethiopian authorities as a terrorist organisation. “They took training in how to make explosives and planned to train others,” Judge Tareke Alemayehu told the court. The Zone Nine website, proclaiming “we blog because we care”, features mostly social and political commentary, often critical of the government.

Associated Press A Nigerian soldier (centre) walks, at the scene of an explosion in Abuja, Nigeria Maidugiri:   Survivors say Boko Haram gunmen invaded a northeastern Nigerian town just 85 kilometers (53 miles) from Maiduguri city before dawn, killing many villagers and setting homes ablaze. Residents of Damboa town called an AP reporter to say they were piling up corpses. A spokesman for the Nigerian Vigilante Group says its civilian defense fighters are reporting that half the town of Damboa is burning. The town has been besieged for two weeks, since Islamic extremists on July 4 attacked a new military base set up on its outskirts. The Defense Ministry had reported repelling that attack and killing at least 50 insurgents with six soldiers killed. But locals say soldiers were driven from the base and the extremists have twice ambushed military convoys trying to reach it in the past week. Source  http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/many-killed-as-suspected-boko-haram-militants-attack-nig

Addis Ababa:   A group of Ethiopian bloggers and journalists detained for nearly three months have been charged with terrorism for having links to an outlawed group and for planning attacks, a judge said Friday. The seven members of the blogging collective Zone Nine and three journalists were arrested in April, prompting an outcry from rights groups who said the case was an assault on press freedom. The group is accused of planning attacks in Ethiopia and working in collusion with the US-based opposition group Ginbot 7, labelled by Ethiopian authorities as a terrorist organisation. "They took training in how to make explosives and planned to train others," Judge Tareke Alemayehu told the court. The Zone Nine website, proclaiming "we blog because we care!" features mostly social and political commentary, often critical of the government. The judge said their work was a cover for "clandestine" activities and accused them of plotting "to destabilise the

Beirut, Lebanon:   Jihadists in the northern Syrian province of Raqa have accused a woman of adultery and stoned her to death, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. It was the first "execution" of its kind by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, which has proclaimed the establishment of an Islamic "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq. "The Islamic State carried out its first sentence of death by stoning against a woman in Tabaqa, accusing her of adultery," said the Britain-based Observatory, referring to a town in Raqa province, most of which is under IS control. An activist in the province confirmed the report, and said the stoning took place in a public square in the Tabaqa market area on Thursday evening. "This is the first time that this has happened here," added Abu Ibrahim. A second activist in Raqa, Hadi Salameh, said the woman was reportedly in her thirties, but that few details were known about her except that she wa

NICOSIA — The leading Kurdish insurgency movement has intervened to save its compatriots in Syria. PKK fighters The Kurdish Workers Party has sent nearly 1,000 fighters to stop an offensive by Al Qaida’s Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The party, known as PKK, sent fighters from Iraq through Turkey and into Syria to end the ISIL siege of the Kurdish city of Ain Al Arab. “The Kurds are preparing for an assault by ISIL,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The British-based Syrian opposition group reported more than 800 PKK fighters in the area around Ain Al Arab. The deployment, ordered by the PKK leadership in northern Iraq, was said to have begun around July 10. ISIL has sought to expand in Syria by capturing the Kurdish enclave along the border with Turkey. The Al Qaida-aligned movement, the biggest in the Middle East, has been bolstered by the recruitment of thousands of fighters from Islamic rebel militias in Syria as well as the capture of U.S.-origin

GOVERNMENT troops have captured three New People’s Army (NPA) rebels following a clash in a remote village in Zamboanga del Norte, the police reported Friday. Zamboanga del Norte police director James Mejia did not identify the identities of the captured rebels except in saying they are two males and a female. Mejia said the rebels were captured following a firefight with the Army’s 32nd Infantry Battalion around 3:55 p.m. Wednesday in the boundaries of Barangays Carupay and Fimagas in Katipunan municipality. He said the firefight ensued as the troops spotted on at least 18 NPA rebels while they were conducting security operation. He said the captured rebels were placed under investigation while appropriate charges are set to be filed against them. Source:  http://www.sunstar.com.ph/zamboanga/local-news/2014/07/18/troops-capture-3-npa-rebels-354579

Israeli infantry soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip unearthed eight tunnels in the first day of the IDF's ground incursion into the Hamas-ruled enclave, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said on Friday. The military released pictures of the tunnels on its Twitter account. Israel has stated that it seeks to destroy Hamas' network of tunnels that are used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. The tunnels were discovered by soldiers in the Paratroopers Brigade, according to the army. In one instance, IDF troops exchanged fire with a Palestinian gunman, wounding him. The gunman was subsequently rushed to Soroka Medical Center for treatment. Meanwhile, IDF tanks engaged a Hamas cell armed with an anti-tank missile and fired on its members, killing them. Thus far, a total of at least 19 casualties were reported among Palestinian combatants since the ground operation began. The Israeli military on Friday also accused Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives in the

a raid on a plantation of Del Monte Philippines Incorporated (DMPI) in Quezon, Bukidnon, military officials said. The NPA under the South-Central Bukidnon (NPA-SCB) Sub-Regional Command raided the compound of Kiantig Development Corporation (KDC) – a Del Monte pineapple grower – in Sitio Kiantig, Barangay San Jose on Tuesday, July 15. The military said the NPA killed two civilians – security guard Rey Baylon and warehouse caretaker Reynald Pangkat. They allegedly took 17 firearms, and burned a tractor and 4 motorcycles belonging to farm workers. Major Christian Uy, the Philippine Army’s 4th Infantry Division spokesperson, said the rebels also burned down the plantation’s chemical warehouse and workers' bunkhouses. Uy said that the 10th Infantry Division is conducting clearing operations in Quezon, Bukidnon. Allan Juanito of the NPA-North Central Mindanao Regional Command said in a statement that the rebel group is punishing Del Monte for its alleged “massive criminal c

BEIRUT (AP) — Islamic militants killed about 100 Syrian troops, guards and workers as they captures a gas field in central Syria following daylong clashes, activists said Friday. The attack was the deadliest fighting so far between fighters of the Islamic State group and forces loyal to President  Bashar Assad . The militants have in the past few weeks seized a huge chunk of territory straddling the Iraq-Syria border where they declared a self-styled caliphate, and have already captured much of Syria's oil-rich eastern province of  Deir el-Zour . The massive assault Thursday began with a suicide bombing and an attack on army checkpoints near the Shaer gas field in the desert region of Palmyra, according to an activist in the central province of Homs, who goes by the name Beibares Tellawi. The militants seized the field after fierce clashes with government forces, Tellawi said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for  Human Rights  said 115 people were killed. The Syri

MANILA, Philippines - His appointment order for the Army top post was reportedly recalled earlier, but then Northern Luzon Command (NOLCOM) commander, Lt. Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang, got the better, albeit more challenging, plum on Friday as he was installed new Armed Forces Chief of Staff. At the turnover of command at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, President Benigno Aquino III gave Catapang his marching orders: continue ongoing reforms in the military, which under Bautista had picked up pace in its modernization program amid increasing challenges in the West Philippine Sea, where China is beefing up fortification to assert its sweeping territorial claim. “To Lt. Gen. Catapang: now that the Armed Forces has been transformed, may you maximize every opportunity under your leadership in order to further strengthen and stabilize our institution, in the name of meaningful service to the people and the flag,” said the President, speaking in Filipino. He told Catapang he was expected not

Too many governments are "rubber-stamping" mass surveillance programmes, the UN human rights watchdog warns. In a report , the UN body said more needed to be done to ensure that surveillance was balanced against its harm to personal privacy. It added that mass retention of data to aid surveillance was "neither necessary nor proportionate". The report comes as the UK passes an emergency law to make ISPs and mobile companies store user data. The document was written by the office of Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who said it revealed a "disturbing" lack of transparency about the reasons governments approve or start large-scale monitoring of what people do online. Mass surveillance, said Ms Pillay, was becoming a "dangerous habit rather than an exceptional measure" for governments. 'Constant stream' These programmes necessarily interfered with privacy, and governments must do more to ensure that this

Six Naxals, carrying reward on their heads were arrested on Friday during a joint search operation by security personnel in Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh, police said. The cadres were apprehended by a joint team of CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) and district force from restive Koranda forests under Benoor police station limits, Narayanpur Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) OP Sharma told PTI. The joint contingent of 139 battalion of CRPF and a team of local police were on a combing operation in Benoor region, around 350 kms away from the state capital this morning. When they reached in Koranda forests they spotted some suspects trying to escape into the deep forests following which they chased and arrested them, the ASP said. Six wanted Naxals arrested in Chhattisgarh During interrogation they admitted to being involved in the outlawed CPI (Maoist), he said.  Those arrested were identified as Somnath, Kajru, Ratiram, Raiju, Rajnu and Rajman, all aged bet