Terrorism Watch

Islamabad:  Pakistani air strikes on Saturday killed at least 44 militants in the country's lawless tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, the military said, part of a massive operation against the Taliban. In Khyber district's Tirah valley where troops are battling Taliban militants and Islamist groups, air strikes killed 28 militants, the military said in a statement. While in North Waziristan, another northwestern tribal district bordering Afghanistan and a Taliban stronghold, air strikes killed 16 militants, it added. The military began its latest offensive in Khyber in October 2014 carrying out airstrikes and using artillery, mortars and ground troops. The Tirah valley is considered a stronghold of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant groups. The area is remote and off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the army's claims -- and the number and identity of those killed. Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for over a de

A Mexican army helicopter has been shot at in the western state of Jalisco, killing three soldiers and injuring 12 others. The country's defence minister said the aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing after it came under fire from members of a drug cartel. A government official said the Jalisco New Generation gang was believed to be behind the attack, Reuters reports. There were violent clashes elsewhere in the state on Friday. Jalisco's Governor Aristoteles Sandoval said at least seven people had been killed and 15 injured. Vehicles were set on fire and banks and petrol stations were damaged across the region. "This is a reaction to an operation to detain leaders of this cartel," said Mr Sandoval, without naming the group. The Jalisco New Generation is considered one of the most powerful criminal organisations in Mexico and is involved in large-scale drug trafficking along the Pacific Coast. The military helicopter was taking part in the

Tens of thousands of children have been forced from their homes in eastern Ukraine, because of the war. But many more continue to live in areas close to the front line, where there is still fighting. Many schools have remained open, even in the line of fire. Tom Burridge reports from Donetsk. Source:  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32548913

RIYADH (Reuters) - A new branch of the Islamic State group in Yemen on Thursday issued a video showing what it said was the beheading of four Yemeni soldiers and the shooting of 10 others, the SITE Intelligence group reported. Islamic State in Yemen has claimed responsibility for attacks before, and has issued an online film showing it conducting training, but Thursday's video, attributed to the group's branch in Shabwa province, is its first to show killings. The film did not say when the killings took place, but before their execution the men spoke to the camera saying they were from the Yemen army's Second Mountaineer Brigade. Local media reports had said 14 soldiers from that unit were massacred in mid-April, the U.S.-based SITE monitoring service said. The video, shot at night, showed a group of men kneeling on the ground with masked figures behind them. It then showed four bodies with a severed head on the chest of each before showing the other men being shot i

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S.-led military coalition launched 18 air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic State since early Thursday, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement. The seven strikes targeting the militants in Iraq struck five units of Islamic State fighters and destroyed several fighting positions and other targets near the cities of Bayji, Falluja, Mosul, Ramadi and Tal Afar, the task force said on Friday. In Syria, 11 strikes near al Hasaka, Dayr az Zawr and Kobani also struck eight Islamic State fighting units as well as two vehicles and other targets, the statement said. Source:  http://news.yahoo.com/u-allies-stage-18-air-strikes-against-islamic-132355676.html

Rescuing even some of the Chibok girls seized last year would boost President Goodluck Jonathan's battered legacy before he leaves office this month. Each time the Nigerian Army has announced the rescue of women and children this week, the world has held its breath in anticipation of news of the girls from Chibok The 260 girls kidnapped last year in the northeastern town of Chibok have become a symbol of Nigeria’s failure to protect its citizens from Boko Haram militants. The kidnappings aroused international outrage and brought the Islamist extremist group to the world's attention with the hashtag campaign #BringBackOurGirls. Officials say 219 of them are still missing. But despite the steady progress  of the Nigerian military (flanked by South African mercenaries) and a multinational force charged with pushing back Boko Haram, evidence that the tides have turned will be measured by whether the Army can rescue the girls. Outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan vowed on Th

SEATTLE/OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Crowds clashed with police during May Day marches in several U.S. west coast cities late on Friday, as officers responded with stun grenades and pepper spray, police and media said. Anti-capitalist protesters hurled wrenches and rocks at officers in Seattle, police said. Demonstrators in Oakland, California, and several other cities, rallied against a series of police killings of unarmed black, local media reported. Footage on social media showed protesters smashing shop windows in Seattle and crowds scattering as police clad in riot gear threw in "flashbang" grenades. Demonstrators set fire to garbage and damaged at least two dozen vehicles, police said. "This is no longer demonstration management, this has turned into a riot," Seattle Police Captain Chris Fowler said in a statement. At least three officers were injured, two seriously, and at least 16 people were arrested, Seattle's police department said on its Twit

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's Sunnis fleeing the fighting in western Anbar province have provided a cover for Islamic State militants to carry out a wave of bombings that struck Baghdad, political and security officials in the Iraqi capital claimed on Friday — an assertion vigorously disputed by Sunni lawmakers The spike in bombings in Baghdad in the past week, with multiple blasts each day, has raised residents' suspicions over the flood of displaced fleeing the fighting in nearby Anbar province. On Thursday night alone six bombings killed 21 people and wounded scores. Fighting in Anbar's provincial capital of Ramadi sent at least 110,000 refugees fleeing towards Baghdad over the past two weeks and they are now living on the outskirts of the city. "We cannot deny the fact that there is a link between the recent attacks in Baghdad and the entry of displaced families from Anbar, which has been used by the terrorists to send large amounts of explosives and Daesh members i

IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Two years after fleeing from her home in Damascus, 22-year-old Rahaf Abdullah is working at a gleaming mall in Iraq's Kurdish region, selling sweets to local women who largely refuse to take such jobs. While the mall job is a rite of passage for teenagers in America, in Iraq's conservative and relatively well-off Kurdish region the idea of women working — particularly in menial or retail jobs — is frowned upon. That has created opportunities for some of the tens of thousands of Syrian refugees and displaced Iraqis who have sought refuge here. "The Kurdish girls are a bit conservative — no, a lot conservative," Abdullah said as she organized boxes of Middle Eastern sweets made of spun sugar, fruit, pistachio nuts and honey. "Their logic is that the women never have to work, they only have to go to school and then return home." Syria's civil war, now in its fifth year, has killed more than 220,000 people and created nearly

ABUJA –  AFP-Jiji Nigeria troops have freed another 234 women and children from Boko Haram’s stronghold in the Sambisa forest, the military said Friday. The defense headquarters said in a statement the hostages were rescued on Thursday through the Kawuri and Konduga end of Sambisa forest. Some 500 women and children have already been rescued by the military in the past few days. “They have been evacuated to join others at the place of ongoing screening,” the military said. It said the “assault on the forest is continuing from various fronts and efforts are concentrated on rescuing hostages of civilians and destroying all terrorists camps and facilities in the forest.” The military had pledged to free more hostages from the Islamists after rescuing hundreds earlier this week. On Thursday, it announced that about 160 hostages had been rescued from Sambisa in addition to 200 girls and 93 women freed on Tuesday. The numbers underlined the scale of the mass abduction tactic used by the mili

Washington (CNN) A year after ISIS became a household name in America, using brutality and savvy propaganda to challenge al Qaeda and its affiliates for jihadist adherents, U.S. prosecutions of would-be recruits have exploded. The flurry of arrests -- at least 25 people have been detained since January -- is a sign that complicated, manpower-intensive investigations begun when ISIS started seizing swaths of territory a year ago are finally being completed. But they also highlight the unique challenges that ISIS poses in comparison with al Qaeda, which has attracted fewer U.S.-based recruits. Like a new rock band storming the music charts, ISIS has benefited from a media environment that amplifies its propaganda, law enforcement officials said. The group quickly reached early recruits through videos that showcased the fear its adherents instilled in nonbelievers. At first, most of the recruits were self-starters -- people radicalized on their own from consuming ISIS propagan

Watch Fareed Zakaria's special report, "Blindsided: How ISIS Shook the World," Monday at 9 p.m ET/PT on CNN. (CNN) It has all the key points you'd expect on a birth certificate -- baby's weight, length and date of birth confirmed with an official insignia. The difference here is the governing authority's stamp: The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. It's one of many official documents relating to matters such as vaccination schedules, fishing methods and rent disputes in the areas now controlled by ISIS. For ISIS sees itself as a government operating under a rule of law, even if the group is most often talked about for its barbaric punishment of anyone who resists or defies its medieval interpretation of that Islamic law. The ISIS documents, some shared with CNN by researcher Aymenn Al-Tamimi, give a window into the bureaucracy of the self-declared caliphate. Last summer, ISIS fighters swept through the Iraqi city of Mosul. Once they took power