Terrorism Watch

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry says a Saudi Arabian individual has hacked its website, putting offensive, sectarian-charged content on it. Ministry spokesman Ahmad Jamal announced the news on Saturday, saying the ministry staff were trying to fix the problem, according to the country’s Arabic-language al-Sumaria TV network. The cyber-attack came only a day after Iraq’s Foreign Ministry reacted harshly to earlier remarks by Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who had said Baghdad should not recruit Iraqi volunteer fighters known as al-Hashad al-Sha’bi or Popular Mobilization Units in its pending push to liberate the northern city of Mosul from the Takfiri terror group of Daesh. The fighters have proven a pivotal force in extricating the country from the clutches of the terrorists, who have been ravaging it since 2014. Iraqis carry a coffin during the funeral of members of the Iraqi government forces and volunteer fighters, who we

The high court of the region of Catalunya confirmed on Thursday that Artur Mas, the former president of the regional government, will stand trial for allegedly disobeying the national Constitutional Court and organizing the informal independence consultation vote on 9th November 2014. In a week when there has already been considerable tension between Catalan separatists and the national authorities of Spain, with the Town Hall of Badalona making a defiant and highly publicized gesture and failing to observe the national holiday on Wednesday, this decision will certainly do nothing to calm matters down. Ever since the vote was held almost two years ago the possibility of Sr Mas being taken to court has been weighed up, and it has now been decided that this is the right cause of action despite the risk that it could backfire and convert the former president into a martyr for the separatist cause.  The public prosecutor’s office in Catalunya has at least stopped short

CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said in comments published on Saturday that his country's war against Islamic militants in the Sinai Peninsula would be long, but that conditions in the vast and arid region were improving. In an interview with Egypt's three state-owned newspapers, he acknowledged that both the militants and government forces were getting better at fighting each other in the strategic area bordering Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "Conditions in Sinai are improving and (our) efforts are continuing because the war is long," said el-Sissi, whose comments came one day after Islamic State militants attacked an army checkpoint in Sinai, killing 12 soldiers and wounding at least six more. "The terrorists are evolving and we are improving our operations," he said. IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement Saturday, saying its fighters killed 20 "apostates" and seized all weapons

On Wednesday, in the wake of Israel’s announcement of hundreds of more units in West Bank settlements, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a page on its website articulating its view that building in the occupied West Bank is legal under international law and is not, as many critics claim, an impediment to peace. The fact that the MFA felt the need to make such a case indicates that rising international criticism, particularly from the U.S., is having an impact, and that case bears an examination of its key claims. Israel claims that the settlements are not illegal because the laws of belligerent occupation do not apply to the West Bank and that the prohibition against transferring citizens of an occupying power to occupied territory “…applied to forcible transfers and not to the case of Israeli settlements.” The vast majority of legal opinions, including those of the High Court of Justice in Israel and the US State Department (which consistently refers t

RIYADH - The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemeni rebels said Saturday that one of its warplanes had "wrongly targeted" a funeral in the capital Sanaa that killed more than 140 people, and announced disciplinary proceedings. A Saudi F-15 fighter jet lands at the Khamis Mushayt military airbase "Because of non-compliance with coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries," an inquiry team found. "Appropriate action... must be taken against those who caused the incident, and... compensation must be offered to the families of the victims." The October 8 strike prompted an international outcry and strong criticism even from Saudi Arabia's closest Western allies. Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1111361/saudi-led-coalition-says-it-wrongly-targeted-yemen-funeral

– The Rivers state government accuses some unrepentant cultists in the state of frustrating the amnesty programme of Governor Wike – The special adviser on amnesty, Ken Chinda, calls on groups in Omuma local government area of the state yet to submit their arms to do so within the 48 hours – Chinda, says the Rivers government will not fold its hands and allow cult groups to continue engaging in criminality The administration of Governor Nyesom Wike has warned all cultists yet to embrace the amnesty offer by the government to do so within 48 hours or be ready to face the wrath of the law. According to Guardian, Mr. Ken Chinda, the special adviser on Amnesty to Rivers state governor issued the warning in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Saturday, October 15. Chinda accused some unrepentant cultists in the state of frustrating the amnesty programme He said leaders of the Iceland Cult group in Obiozimini and others in Egi land, Ogba/Egbeme/Ndoni Local Government A

Powerful states in the Middle East are more capable than the United States and Russia to find a solution to end the five-year-old crisis in Syria, says an activist and political commentator. “It is probably more of the work of the Organization of Islamic [Cooperation] or the Arab League or the immediate partners like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iran and Syria and also Turkey in order to find one way out” of the conflict, Hazem Salem told Press TV’s "The Debate" program. On Saturday, a new round of Syria peace talks is scheduled to be held in Switzerland among foreign ministers of several countries, including Iran, Russia and the US, to find a solution to the conflict. According to Salem, the Lausanne conference on Syria will have a tangible result if countries including Syria, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia try to find a common ground in order to “freeze the violence” and pursue a way out of the conflict through “negotiations.” Sin

DNA traces from a notorious neo-Nazi who died in 2011 have been found in woods where the body of a nine-year-old girl was hidden in eastern Germany. Peggy Knobloch went missing in Bavaria in 2001 and her remains were found last July, in a thickly wooded part of Thueringen. DNA was found on a tiny piece of cloth at the scene, and matched that of Uwe Boehnhardt. He was in a neo-Nazi cell accused of murdering 10 people. A woman linked to him is on trial. Beate Zschaepe is accused of involvement in those killings. She denies that and also denies membership of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) cell. The group carried out a series of racially motivated murders, bomb attacks and robberies between 2000 and 2007.   Uwe Boehnhardt and Beate Zschaepe are seen here in an undated photo      Beate Zschaepe is on trial in Munich - two alleged fellow neo-Nazis died as police were closing in  The discovery that the cell had acted

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The US views the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as a terrorist organization, and will not support the participation of the group in Mosul operation, said the US State Department spokesperson on Thursday. Mark Toner stated that the Washington will not support PKK to play a role in the military operation of liberating Mosul from the Islamic State (IS). “We clearly view the PKK as a terrorist organization, so we would not be supportive,” Toner said during the daily press briefing. On Thursday, the spokesperson of Turkey’s President Ibrahim Kalin expressed Turkey’s concern over the possibility of the PKK’s participation in the military operation. "Reports that the PKK may take part in the Mosul operation concern us." In June 2014, IS occupied Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq. Now, Iraqi security forces and Kurdish Peshmerga with the help of the US-led coalition are preparing to launch an offensive to clear

The second round of the peace talks between the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and the communist-led National Democratic Front (NDF) ended with both parties agreeing on the framework and outline of the proposed agreements on socioeconomic reforms, political and constitutional reforms, and the end of hostilities and disposition of forces. The negotiations were conducted in Norway. The rebels have been waging a Maoist-inspired guerrilla warf in the Philippine countryside since 1969. The peace process started in 1986 after the downfall of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The peace talks produced some landmark agreements like the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) which was signed in 1998. It also facilitated the declaration of brief intermittent ceasefires between government troops and rebels. But overall, the process has failed to end the armed conflict and address the people’s desire

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet his US counterpart and other representatives in Lausanne, Switzerland, this weekend to mull the revival of the Syrian peace process. Moscow, however, believes that Western partners have so far shown little commitment to any agreements reached.    Lavrov is expected to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday as well as representatives of the foreign ministries from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and possibly Qatar in the Swiss city of Lausanne. Reviving the Russia-US peace deal agreed on September 9 and the respective UN resolutions will be top of the agenda. “We will offer concrete steps which are necessary for the implementation of these [UN Security Council] resolutions in order to fulfill the Russian-US agreements,”  Lavrov said on Friday during a visit to the Armenian capital, Erevan. However, he stressed that the respective “steps” are not new proposals, but rather ways to stick to already agreed plans

Washington: The US has told Pakistan to go after those terrorists who seek and "sometimes find safe haven" in the country and delegitimise all terror groups operating on its soil. "We continue to urge Pakistan to take action to combat and delegitimise all terrorist groups operating on its soil," State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner told reporters at his daily news conference. Representational image. AFP "Obviously Pakistan has suffered greatly at the hands of terrorists and violent extremists. We want to help Pakistan confront this terrorist threat, but we also want Pakistan also to go after those terrorists who seek and sometimes find safe haven on Pakistan territory," he said in response to a question yesterday. His remarks come amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan following the Uri terror attack in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed and India's surgical strikes on seven terror launch pads across the Lo

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – A suicide bomber detonated himself on Saturday in a Shia Muslim gathering in Baghdad, killing at least 31 people, and injuring 30, police said. According to police, the explosion occurred inside a tent filled with people participating in Shia rituals of Ashura, the mourning of Hussein’s killing in the seventh century, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed. The tent was set up in a crowded market, located in the district of al-Shaab, northern Baghdad. Following the explosion, ambulances rushed to the scene and transferred the wounded people to the nearby hospitals. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Source: http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/9d8bed07-da77-424f-9da5-40a8883a8a85/Suicide-bomber-targets-mourning-tent-in-Baghdad--kills-31

India and Russia strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations : Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar in a media briefing "We saw Russia more as a friend than as a partner. The sense of the meeting was that the relationship has recorded very substantial progress. Both leaders also noted that the high-level exchanges were essential in taking the relationship forward. A lot of the discussions were focussed on military-technical cooperation; the S400 systems. New proposals were agreed upon on the industrial conference and developments on the nuclear energy side were also discussed. "PM Modi particularly expressed appreciation on the support Russia extended India over the NSG issue. The joint statement underlines the long-standing mutual trust between India and Russia; reaffirms the strategic partnership; reviews the progress of economic, commercial, civil nuclear issues and transport corridor. India and Russia ties have been strong and a time

ISLAMABAD: A leading Pakistani daily on Wednesday asked the civilian and military establishment why action against JeM chief Masood Azhar + and JuD's Hafiz Saeed was "danger" to the country's national security. The strong editorial in The Nation, considered close to the government and military establishment, came as a prominent journalist, Cyril Almeida , of Dawn was banned + from leaving Pakistan because of his front-page report on a rift between the military and the civilian government over the military's covert support to militant groups like the Haqqani network, Taliban and the LeT. The editorial titled 'How to Lose Friends And Alienate People' said the government and the military instead of taking actions against Azhar and Saeed was lecturing the press. Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader and Pathankot terror attack mastermind Azhar and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai

The events following the Uri terrorist attack have witnessed many diplomatic manoeuvrings by both India and Pakistan at the United Nations that continued at other international forums too, and are still on. However, the emerging opinion points to the fact that the conventional superiority notwithstanding, India should not engage militarily with Pakistan beyond destroying the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) based terrorist camps. The advantage of ‘escalation dominance’ seemed to have rested with Pakistan so much as that it would scare the world of a nuclear holocaust in the Indian subcontinent in the event of any military action across the Line of Control (LoC). However, that perception has now been broken after the surgical strikes on PoK’s terrorist launch pads on the night of 28 September 2016. India, later, unilaterally announced that its purpose of neutralising terrorists has been met and it does not want any further escalation and rather called upon Pakistan to j

Researchers surveyed over 1,500 Americans from across the country Top fears are government corruption, terrorist attacks, and money trouble Also looked at belief in conspiracy theories, finding 'a degree of paranoia' The survey also revealed 'disturbing' insight on Islamophobia in the US  And, they found two-thirds of people believe in 'something paranormal' Clowns and spiders may send an occasional chill down your spine, but according to a new study, Americans are more plagued by the thought of Obamacare, gun control, and government corruption. More than 1,500 adults were asked to rank 79 fears from a wide range of categories, including both man-made and natural disasters, the future, and health. The results reflect the idea that people fear what they cannot control, with government issues and terrorism topping the list, and reveal that the US is a ‘strongly conspiratorial society’ as many responses exhibited ‘a degree of paranoia.’

Turkey claims that the company managing Ohio charter schools, including Horizon Science Academy in Youngstown, funds terrorists YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Lawmakers in Youngstown are calling for reform of the charter school system. This comes after Turkey’s government said money from Ohio charter schools could be supporting terrorists . “Ohio is the wild, wild west of charter schools and we need to have charter school reform,” said Representative Michele Lepore-Hagan. “The charter school industry should be held to the same set of standards as our public schools. It’s about educating our children and it’s really so unfair if these dollars are not going back into the classroom.” Lepore-Hagan has traveled the state, calling for more oversight of charter schools. She says she isn’t surprised by allegations that money from some of them, including Horizon Science Academy in Youngstown, could be funneling back to a Turkish religious movement. “We’re not sure where our tax do

DAKAR, Senegal –   France and Senegal have agreed to expand cooperation in the fight against extremism to at least 14 other African countries. French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve made the announcement with his Senegalese counterpart Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo after meetings Friday in Senegal's capital, Dakar. Cazeneuve said the decision expands on already established intelligence agreements to fight extremism, looking to include more countries to help secure borders, exchange intelligence and foster cooperation between special and local security forces in the region. Diallo said talks will include countries within a French West African economic and monetary union, expanding to Ghana, Liberia and Cameroon. West African leaders earlier this year discussed setting up a force to combat extremists in the region following major attacks by al-Qaida-linked militants in Mali, Burkina Faso and in Ivory Coast. Source  http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/10/07/france-sene

Shannon Stapleton / Reuters Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during the presidential town hall debate with Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., October 9, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY It's clear both from the earlier "Commander-In-Chief Forum" and from the two presidential debates to date that Donald J. Trump needs much better senses of the past and the future in international affairs, which are insights Hillary Clinton has in abundance as a highly accomplished former First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State. From listening both to Mr. Trump's foreign relations speeches and comments over the last sixteen months and to certain of his international affairs rants on Sunday evening, let's start with what he keeps missing about the past. For the 44 years following the end of the Second World War until the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall,