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Showing posts from May 17, 2015

PKK Surround Iranian Kurdish Peshmerga on KRG-Iran border

QANDIL In the Kielashin region on the border between the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and Iranian Kurdistan, Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) guerrillas have surrounded a number of Peshmerga from the Iranian opposition party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI). A PKK official says they are trying to resolve the situation. On Thursday May 21 st , a number of KDPI Peshmerga deployed around Kielashin. The area is on the border between the KRG and Iran and close to the Kurdish Iranian city of Shino in Urmia Province. The Peshmerga they have been surrounded by the PKK fighters, and are being prevented from leaving. A senior official from the KDPI, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to BasNews on Saturday that their Peshmerga are surrounded by the PKK. “Yes, our Peshmerga are currently surrounded by PKK fighters and we are in talks with a PKK representative to resolve the problem,” said the KDPI official. The official said that so far the KRG hasn’t taken any steps to try to so

PKK releases kidnapped Turkish soldier, technician

A statement released on Friday by the Muş Governor's Office on its official website said the PKK had released a soldier and a technician on Friday. The statement added that an investigation of the incident was being carried out by the Turkish authorities is continuing. The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had announced on Wednesday that two people, one a gendarmerie corporal, were kidnapped by the outlawed PKK in the eastern province of Muş on Monday night. “Terrorists belonging to a Separatist Terrorist Organization kidnapped two people, one a Gendarmerie Corporal, in the area between the villages of Mescitli and Bostankent in Muş province,” read Wednesday’s statement by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). According to Doğan News Agency, the corporal was on annual leave and had gone to his hometown of Erzurum in eastern Turkey. He had joined his friend who was heading to Muş province to check the radio uplink station at Baltaş village. The uplink company contacted the Gendarmerie after they

Farc suspends truce after Colombia army attack

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Colombia's Farc leftist rebel group has suspended a unilateral ceasefire after 26 of its fighters were killed in a government air and ground offensive. The ceasefire had been in place since December 2014. Farc said it wanted a full bilateral truce but stressed it was not abandoning the long-running peace talks taking place in Havana. Meanwhile President Juan Manuel Santos has called on the rebels to "speed up" the negotiations. The two sides have been in on-off negotiations since 2012 in an attempt to end more than half a century of conflict. Thursday's attack - in the country's south-western Cauca region - was the deadliest since the  resumption of air strikes against the rebels last month. Eleven Colombian soldiers were killed in a clash with Farc rebels last month The guerrilla group said in a statement that the ceasefire suspension was the result of "five months of land and air offensives against our structures all over the country". "We deplore

Colombia's Rebels Suspend Ceasefire over Deadly Air Raid

Colombia's FARC guerrillas suspended their unilateral ceasefire Friday after a government air strike killed 26 rebels, plunging peace talks to end the five-decade conflict into a new crisis. The December ceasefire announcement by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had raised hopes that the two-year-old peace negotiations were approaching a breakthrough. But tensions have spiraled since the rebels killed 11 soldiers in an ambush last month. On April 15, the day after the ambush, a furious President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the military to resume air strikes against the FARC, which he had suspended on March 11 in recognition of their ceasefire. Thursday night's air strike and ground attack was the deadliest assault on the FARC since that announcement. It targeted a FARC base in the western department of Cauca, the FARC stronghold where the rebels carried out the ambush. The strike came on the same day the government and FARC opened a new round of peace talks, see

Clerics call for calm in Saudi Arabia after ISIS attack on mosque

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AFP photo Saudi Arabia's top Sunni cleric on Saturday branded a deadly attack on Shi'ite Muslims a bid to sow chaos, after villagers targeted in the bombing vented their anger at what they saw as the Sunni-dominated government's indifference to their safety. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of al-Qadeeh town on Friday evening, hours after a suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers in a packed Shi'ite mosque, the first attack in the conservative kingdom to be claimed by Islamic State militants. Demonstrators mourning the victims said security forces had left their communities unprotected, arguing that the official Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam inspires Sunni militants and encourages intolerance of the kingdom's Shi'ite minority. It was one of the deadliest assaults in recent years in the largest Gulf Arab country, where sectarian tensions have been aggravated by nearly two months of Saudi-led air strikes on Shi'ite Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.

Al Shabaab attacks soldiers in south Somalia, at least 24 dead

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Representational Image   AFP photo At least 24 people were killed in southern  Somalia  after fighting between  al Shabaab Islamist militants and government forces, residents and the rebel group said on Saturday. Al Shabaab launched an attack on government troops on Friday evening in the Awdigle district and Mubarak village in the Lower Shabelle region, south of the capital. Clashes lasted until Saturday morning, residents said. Rebels and government troops, which control the two places, also fought there last week. The African Union's AMISOM peacekeeping force and Somali soldiers have pushed al Shabaab, which wants to topple the Western-backed government, into smaller pockets of territory, but the group still launches regular attacks from those areas. "We did not sleep last night because they exchanged shells and gunfire throughout the night," resident Afrah Hussein told Reuters from Awdigle district, adding he had counted 17 dead but could not say if they were soldiers

INTERVIEW-Global refugee crises will hinder resettlement of Asian "boat people" - UNHCR

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Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Fri, 22 May 2015 14:12 GMT More on: Refugees and Displacement A Rohingya migrant mother (R) and her child, who recently arrived in Indonesia by boat, hold a placard while posing for photographs for immigration identification purposes inside a temporary compound for refugees in Aceh Timur regency, Indonesia's Aceh Province May 22, 2015. REUTERS/Beawiharta By Alisa Tang BANGKOK, May 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Resettling asylum seekers who are among the thousands of boat people in temporary shelters in Indonesia and Malaysia will prove "extremely difficult" due to the mounting refugee crises around the world, a U.N. official said. Responding to international concern about thousands of migrants adrift at sea, Indonesia and Malaysia on Wednesday said they would offer shelter to 7,000 migrants, provided they were repatriated or resettled in third countries within a year. "Those places are very, very precious. There are perhaps 10

Army nabs CPP-NPA-NDF political officer, five others in Davao Oriental

A suspected political officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and five others were arrested in Lupon town in Davao Oriental Friday afternoon.   In a statement released on Saturday, the military's Eastern Mindanao Command identified the political officer as a certain Carla, while the others were Renato "Tata" Cuevas, a certain Gelai, and a certain Jessie. The two others have yet to be identified.   Eastmincom said the suspects were apprehended by the Army 28th Infantry Battalion in a security operation in Sitio Tabontabon in Barangay Don Mariano at 3 p.m. on Friday.  Soldiers recovered two improvised explosive devices, two cal. 45 pistols with magazines and ammunition, a fragmentation grenade, backpacks, and subversive documents.   The six were turned over to the Lupon Municipal Police Station for filing of criminal charges.   "Carla and the five other bandits did not resist when apprehended by ou

NPA frees two jail guards in Surigao

  May 22, 2015  ZAMBOANGA CITY:   Communist rebels have freed two jail guards they took as prisoners of war in the southern Philippines following appeals made by their families and humanitarian groups. The duo—Juan Salazar and Feliciano Polan—were released on Thursday by the New People’s Army (NPA) on a hinterland village in Surigao del Sur’s San Miguel town. They were held captive since April 27 after rebels ambushed their vehicle to free a prisoner, Jojean Alameda, who was falsely indentifed as a member of the rebel group. The military’s Eastern Mindanao Command insisted that Alameda is a rebel and a bomb expert. The prisoners were handed over to church and politi-cal leaders led by Tandag Bishop Nerio Odchimar and Surigao del Sur Governor Johnny Pimentel. The NPA also mocked the military for its failure to rescue the prisoners despite its pronouncements that rebel forces are now dwindling in the region due to their anti-insurgency operations. Last December, rebels also seized Compos

Philippines strives to end recruitment of child soldiers

The publicity surrounding an 11-year-old communist rebel reported to have surrendered to the Philippines military this month has served as a harsh reminder of the work still to be done to rid the Southeast Asian country of the scourge of child soldiers. The boy, referred to in news reports by his nickname Dodong, was recruited aged just six into the New People’s Army (NPA), which has been waging a Maoist insurgency in the southern Philippines for decades. “He personally witnessed and was involved in laying some improvised explosive devices along the highways. He figured in at least six gun battles,” said Philippines army spokesman Major Emmanuel Garcia. “The NPA are grossly violating the rights of children and subjecting them to dangerous situations,” he added. “People need to know this.” Requests to interview the boy to verify his story were denied, but IRIN understands he is now in the hands of social workers, who are trying to reunite him with his parents. The NPA, thought to number

Shi'ite militia deploy from base near Iraq's Ramadi

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A convoy of Shi'ite militia fighters and Iraqi army forces set out from a base near the western provincial capital of  Ramadi  on Saturday, heading towards areas controlled by Islamic State militants, an eyewitness and a local official said. Anbar provincial council member Azzal Obaid said hundreds of fighters, who arrived at the Habbaniya air base last week after Ramadi was overrun by Islamic State, were in Khalidiya and were approaching Siddiqiya and Madiq, towns in contested areas near Ramadi. While pro-government forces are seeking to retake Ramadi, Islamic State insurgents have been pushing forward in the direction of Fallujah in a bid to take more territory in Anbar province that would bring them closer to the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Source  http://dnai.in/cHNM

US military aid better situates Pakistan to wage war against India: Expert

WASHINGTON: The American military assistance to Pakistan, a latest list of which was recently put out by the independent Congressional Research Service (CRS), better situates its military to wage a war against India and not to fight terrorists, a noted US expert on South Asia has said. "This assistance better situates Pakistan to wage war against India while doing nothing to shape Pakistan's will or capabilities to target terrorists and insurgents," Christine Fair, author of several well-researched books on Pakistan and its military wrote in a recent article, days after the CRS in a report listed out the military hardware including fighter jets that the US has given to Pakistan. "The items that Washington has conveyed to Pakistan have little utility in fighting insurgents and terrorists; rather, they enable Pakistan to better fight India, a democratic American partner that has long endured Pakistani predations," Fair said. A new American policy towards Pakistan,

South Sudanese shot and drown in the bush as they flee fighting

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Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Fri, 22 May 2015 15:45 GMT More on: War and Conflict South Sudanese children sit outside their makeshift shelter in SPLA-IO rebel control area in the Southern part of Unity State Paynjiar County, March 20, 2015. Picture taken March 20, 2015. REUTERS/Denis Dumo NAIROBI, May 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - An upsurge in fighting has forced tens of thousands of South Sudanese into the bush where they have been shot, drowned and abducted, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Friday. MSF evacuated its hospital in Leer, in South Sudan's northern oil-rich Unity State, on May 9 as government forces advanced on the rebel-controlled town. It spoke by satellite phone to a member of staff who had fled to an island in a swamp with many residents of the town. "Men with guns came on to the island and started shooting at the civilians," Paul Critchley, MSF's South Sudan head of mission said at a news conference. Everyone ra

Islamic State group radio claims Saudi mosque suicide attack

CAIRO: The Islamic State group's radio station has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing Friday on a Shia mosque in Saudi Arabia, warning that more ''black days'' loom ahead for Shias.  The attack killed at least 21 people and wounded dozens in the eastern town of Qatif as worshippers commemorated the birth of a revered saint.  The statement on the Islamic State group's al-Bayan radio station, read aloud Friday night and posted Saturday morning to militant websites associated with the extremists, identified the suicide bomber as Saudi citizen Abu Amer al-Najdi and posted a purported picture of him.  The station also identified the attack as being carried out by a new branch in ''Najd Province,'' referring to the historic region of the central Arabian Peninsula home to the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Source  http://m.timesofindia.com/world/middle-east/Islamic-State-group-radio-claims-Saudi-mosque-suicide-attack/articleshow/47394955.cms

'Perfect Storm' brewing? Islamic State says it could acquire nuke from Pakistan for attack on US

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The Islamic State (IS) has suggested that it can use the “billions of dollars” in its coffers to acquire a nuclear device from Pakistan for carrying out a spectacular attack on the United States.   The claim was made in an article in the latest issue of Dabiq, the glossy online propaganda magazine of the IS. The article “The Perfect Storm” was attributed to John Cantlie, a British correspondent who was kidnapped by militants in Syria in November 2012.   The article, full of bluster and exaggerated claims, noted that several terror groups such as Boko Haram have already pledged allegiance to the IS. It posited that the acquisition of a nuclear device would be the logical next step after militants have seized weapons like tanks, rocket launchers, missile systems and anti-aircraft systems.   “The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilayah (chapter) in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the

Most migrants stranded at sea are not Rohingyas, says Indonesia

Indonesia has told Australia that most of the migrants stranded at sea in Southeast Asia are illegal labourers from Bangladesh, not oppressed Muslim Rohingya, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in comments published today. More than 3,500 migrants have swum to shore or been rescued off the coasts of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh since a Thai crackdown on human-trafficking in early May threw the illicit trade into chaos. Speaking to The Weekend Australian newspaper, Bishop said Indonesia estimated that only 30 to 40 % of the thousands still stranded at sea were Rohingya – an impoverished Muslim community from Myanmar's western Rakhine state. "They (Indonesia) believe there are about 7,000 people at sea [and] they think about 30 to 40 % are Rohingya, the rest are Bangladeshi; and they are not, in Indonesia's words, asylum-seekers, they are not refugees -- they are illegal labourers. They've been promised or are seeking jobs in Malaysia," Bishop said.

THE UK’S RAPE JIHAD: A SURVIVOR’S TALE

For years now, Muslim rape gangs in Britain have operated with impunity, preying upon non-Muslim girls while terrified authorities stood by and did nothing, for fear of being accused of “racism.” One of them recently contacted me and told me her harrowing story:  I was the victim of Muslim grooming gangs for well over a decade. I was very young when it started. I have a very fuzzy memory of the very beginning. My childhood friend remembers me being picked up from a primary school by an older man and being given ketamine, coming home completely out of it, with lots of new underwear, so it began earlier than I remember. My parents worked a lot, so they weren’t really around to notice anything. My friend did at some point tell my parents, but I’m not sure when she did that.  We ended up moving areas, but not too far, now my earliest clear memory starts at 14, we had moved house. I was waiting to be accepted into a school, from what I remember. This man, the very same man picking me up fro