Terrorism Watch

Indonesia's communications and information ministry has shut down more than one million pornographic Web sites ahead of Islamic holy month of Ramadan commencing Jul. 19, according to a newswire. Observers of the Muslim month of fasting refrain from eating, drinking and sexual relations from dawn until sunset. All of the sites were reportedly outside the country and more will be clamped down this month, XBIZ newswire reported Wednesday . However, this does not mean that such sites will be allowed to operate during the rest of the year, Indonesia's communication and information minister, Tifatul Sembiring said. This measure is also in line Indonesia's electronic information and transaction law, and telecommunications law, which targets "negative content"--defined as porn, defamatory speech and malicious viruses--within the country, Sembiring noted. He also called on the public's assistance to block the Internet's two bill

The Yemeni authorities said on Wednesday they have removed all landmines from the public offices and schools in Abyan in the south after the victory on Al-Qaeda last month. After weeks of work, the authorities have removed 80% percent of landmines in Zinjibar, the capital, which were planted by Al-Qaeda militants during the occupation of key towns in Abyan, officials said. "All public offices and schools are now free from landmines," spokesman for the military committee, Saeed Ubaid, said. The technical teams will continue their job during Ramadan to help the displaced families return to their homes, Ubaid added. The remarks were given at a ceremony where senior officials gathered to witness the detonation of 1518 landmines and explosives removed from Abyan. Scores of civilians and soldiers have been killed in landmine explosions in weeks since families started to come back after driving Al-Qaeda out of their strongholds. Member of the landmine removal committ

SAMPANG, Indonesia — The problems began shortly after Tajul Muluk, a Shiite cleric, opened a boarding school in 2004. The school, in a predominantly Sunni Muslim part of East Java, raised local tensions, and in 2006 it was attacked by thousands of villagers. When a mob set fire to the school and several homes last December, many Shiites saw it as just the latest episode in a simmering sectarian conflict — one that they say has been ignored by the police and exploited by Islamists purporting to preserve the purity of the Muslim faith.  Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, has long been considered a place where different religious and ethnic groups can live in harmony and where Islam can work with democracy. But that perception has been repeatedly brought into question lately. In East Java, Sunni leaders are pushing the provincial government to adopt a regulation limiting the spread of Shiite Islam. It would prevent the country’s two ma

ISLAMABAD -- A van carrying minority Shiite Muslims hit an anti-tank land mine Wednesday in northwestern Pakistan, killing 14 passengers in what police described as the country's latest sectarian attack. Eight members of one family, including three women and three children, were among those killed in the blast on the outskirts of Kohat city, police official Naeem Khan said. The group was traveling from Spai, a predominantly Shiite village in the Orakzai tribal area. "It was a terrorist act. It apparently seems to be a sectarian incident," Mr. Khan said, adding that it was unclear who had buried the mine that hit the minibus. Sunni militants in the region, including the Pakistani Taliban, have carried out attacks against Shiites in Orakzai and the neighboring Kurram tribal area. They have used anti-tank land mines in past attacks, Mr. Khan said. Pakistan is a majority Sunni Muslim country, and most Sunnis and Shiites live peacefully together. But th

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Syria's government has been moving its stockpile of chemical weapons — thought to be the world's largest. It is not clear whether the regime is preparing to use them or simply trying to keep them out of rebel hands, but either way the news was disturbing: The use of chemical weapons would radically escalate a conflict that has already claimed more than 10,000 lives, and the prospect of unsecured stores of nerve agent raises serious proliferation concerns. As Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned American lawmakers in March: "We need to be especially alert to the fate of Syria's chemical weapons. They must stay exactly where they are." With the exception of reports that the CIA and other foreign intelligence agencies are covertly providing arms to Syrian rebels, the United States has been unwilling or unable to take military steps to stop the slaughter of protesters. Th

KABUL: Eight Afghan civilians were killed in a Taliban bombing in northern Afghanistan on Thursday and two NATO soldiers were killed in similar bombs elsewhere in the troubled country, officials said. The civilians died in northern Faryab province when their mini-van struck a home-made bomb of the kind widely used by Taliban insurgents in attacks aimed at military forces. "Eight civilians, including a woman and child, were killed and six others wounded," provincial police chief, Abdul Khaliq Aqsai said, adding that a police convoy had been passing as the bomb exploded. Jawed Badar, a spokesman for the provincial administration, said the civilians were travelling to the provincial capital for Ramzan, the Muslim fasting month which is set to start within days. In separate but similar explosions two NATO soldiers were killed in eastern and southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the military said, giving no further details. Roadside bombs are the most the comm

The King of Jordan today confirmed the presence of al-Qaeda in Syria . During a CNN interview he said: “Our information is that there is a presence of Al Qaeda in certain regions inside Syria; has been there for a while.” “And, again, one of the worst case scenarios as we are obviously trying to look for a political solution would be if some of those chemical stockpiles were to fall into unfriendly hands,” he warned. (see article: Al-Qaeda could get Syria’s chemical weapons , Jordan King warns http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/07/19/227161.html ). “If al-Qaeda could gain possession of chemical weapons would be a huge disaster of epic proportion!”, said one private security expert, who declined to be named in this report. “With chemical weapons al-Qaeda could hold entire cities hostage and demand anything it wants”, he said. © 2012 NAVTEQ © 2012 Microsoft Corporation Location: Jordan, Amman 31.949382781982 ; 35.93290710

Thursday, 19 July 2012 The Grum botnet was made up of more than 120,000 infected computers, researchers said A botnet which experts believe sent out 18% of the world's spam email has been shut down, a security firm said. Grum's control servers were mainly based in Panama, Russia and Ukraine. Security company FireEye and spam-tracking service SpamHaus worked with local internet service providers (ISPs) to shut down the illegal network. A botnet is a network of computers that has been hijacked by cybercriminals, usually by using malware. "Grum's takedown resulted from the efforts of many individuals," wrote Atif Mushtaq, a security researcher with FireEye. "This collaboration is sending a strong message to all the spammers: Stop sending us spam. We don't need your cheap Viagra or fake Rolex." 'Bad news' Mr Mushtaq wrote that on Monday he learned that a Dutch server involved in Grum had been shut down. He said it "at least

Small- and medium-sized industries are unwilling to invest in security as CBR threats are essentially perceived as a future problem, a study said New Delhi: India is facing a serious threat of chemical, biological and radiological (CBR) attack from terrorist groups but the government has not shown itself to be determined enough to counter this on a priority basis, according to a joint study by the Royal United Services Institute and the Observer Research Foundation. The report said the country does not have a dedicated body to deal with such threats. “The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) forms an important backbone in responding to CBR incidents, man-made or otherwise, (but) its focus remains on a post-disaster response,” the study said. NDMA Act was enacted in 2005 with the Prime Minister as its head. A file photo of a fungus Small- and medium-sized industries are unwilling to invest in security as CBR threats are essentially perceived as a future p

Police have found a huge collection of old guns and explosives at an elderly man's home in Sydney's south. The man had several licences to hold firearms, including one allowing the weapons to be used in theatrical productions in film and television, police say. However, many of the more than 750 weapons found during raids on the property in Lugarno on Thursday morning were not stored safely, they say. The weapons, which police are seizing, include ex-military and antique guns dating from the early 1900s and old explosive ordnance devices. There were so many that police said they would need the rest of Thursday and all day Friday to catalogue them all. "Holding a firearms licence carries with it great responsibility," Chief Superintendent Brad Shepherd said in a statement. "It is vital firearm licence holders ensure all relevant regulations are adhered to so the dangerous weapons they own do not fall into the wrong hands." It was not immedi

A Mumbai metropolitan court Thursday extended till July 23 the police remand of Parvez Tak, a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba extremist and step-father of murdered Bollywood starlet Laila Khan. New Delhi: The police custody of the prime accused in the missing Bollywood starlet Laila Khan case, Parvez Tak, was on Thursday extended till July 23. Tak was charged with the kidnapping and murder of Laila Khan after he said he had committed the murders and led the Mumbai Crime Branch to the starlet's Nashik bungalow where six skeletons were found. A forensic analysis report, however, is awaited. Tak, who was allegedly the second husband of Laila's mother, was arrested recently by the Jammu and Kashmir Police and handed over to the Maharashtra Police. Laila and her family members went missing over an year ago. With the recovery of the skeletons, the crime branch is likely to register a case of murder against Tak and one Shakir Hussain, who allegedly helped him in commi

QUETTA, (SANA): At least seven persons were killed in target killing incidents in different parts of Balochistan; meanwhile FC and Aman Lashkar get released two abductees from kidnapers and one kidnaper was also killed in exchange of firing with FC and Aman Lashkar. On Wednesday morning, two persons were killed at Saryab Road by two armed motorcycle riders; meanwhile the attackers were managed to flee from the scene after the attack. After two hours the armed motorcycle riders killed another person on Saryab Road. In Mastung areas unidentified persons opened firing on retailer shop and killed two persons; meanwhile one Levies (retd) Hawaldar was severely injured in the result of the firing of unknown gunmen who was shifted in Civil Hospital Quetta for treatment. Two unidentified motorcycle riders open firing on a butcher shop and killed the butcher. It is said that butcher belong to Sindh. Meanwhile the FC and peace lashkar get released the two abductees from Dera

B EIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian state television warned citizens on Thursday that gunmen were planning to attack people in the capital using military uniforms as disguises. Several neighbourhoods in Damascus have been rocked over the past five days by fierce clashes between security forces and rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad. Syria TV said uniformed men in those districts may not actually be from the armed forces. "Armed men in Tadamon, Midan, Qaa and Nahr Aisha (neighbourhoods) are wearing military uniforms with the insignia of the Republican Guard . This confirms they are planning to commit crimes and attack people, exploiting the trust of citizens in our courageous armed forces," Syria's official channel said in a message flashed across the screen. Opposition activists have accused security forces of using heavy artillery to attack rebellious areas like Tadamon and Midan, forci

OTTAWA — Canadian police searched Wednesday through a backyard bunker in Ontario province after uncovering 80 bombs, along with booby traps and guns at a home linked to two men recently arrested over a 1978 murder. Police explosives specialists in protective gear, bomb disposal robots and forensic scientists brought in to analyze various chemicals found in the house on a quiet street in the town of Barrie, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of Toronto, wrapped up a weeklong search of the residence on Tuesday night. They were also dismantling the weapons. "We're still searching" for more explosives, Constable Angela Butler told AFP. Butler said investigators have begun carefully searching for more bombs in a two-by-three-meter (six-by-10-foot) cement bunker, stocked "for survival" with food and water, in the backyard about two meters beneath a stone patio. "Officers are in the most intensive area now," she said. A suspect in

ADEN (Reuters) - A bomb ripped through the car of a senior Yemeni security officer on Thursday in the southern port city of Aden, killing him instantly in an attack that another security official blamed on Islamist militants with ties to al Qaeda . The explosive was stuck to the side of the vehicle and went off as Colonel Abdallah al-Mawzai turned the key in the ignition, the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The killing Of Mawzai, the top security officer in the city's sixth district, was the latest in a string of assassinations of security officials in the region, where al Qaeda's Yemeni wing and local affiliates have established a presence. A group calling itself Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), which pledged allegiance to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, seized parts of southern Abyan province last year as an uprising against Yemen 's former president, Ali

One soldier, two villagers and two militants were shot dead in a battle at a military outpost in Narathiwat’s Rueso district on Tuesday night, duty officer at Rueso police station Lt Sithanon Samlee said on Wednesday. Another three soldiers and two civilians were wounded in the attack, according to Pol Lt Sithanon. About 6.50pm, Rueso police received a reported of a gunfight at an outpost inside a multipurpose building of tambon Rueso municipality in Ban Tha Rua of tambon Rueso, he said. Police rushed to the scene and only to find out the militants had placed logs and burning tyres on the local road to obstruct them from reaching the scene, 1.5 kilometres away. After ten minutes of clearing off the road, police reached the spot and found more than 100 spent empty cartridges from M16 and AK47 assault rifles scattered in the area. Nearby villagers told police that the injured people and dead bodies were already taken to Rueso hospital. Witnesses told police that so

An intelligence unit in Yala on Wednesday warned soldiers, police and territorial defence volunteers stationed in provincial municipality to prepare for possible major attacks by militants ahead of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The southern intelligence unit said it received a report that five or six militants were now hiding in Yala municipality, looking for an opportunity to attack the city with two carbombs. The first car to be used was a blue coloured Isuzu pickup truck, licence plate 8099 Bangkok, and the other an unknown licence plate number white colour Toyota Fortuner, according to the report. The unit warned that police and soldiers on duty at various security checkpoints were the main targets of the militants Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/security/303095/warning-of-car-bomb-attacks-in-yala

A village defence volunteer was shot dead in Khok Pho district of Pattani provnce early Thursday morning. Pol Lt-Col Chamlong Suwalak, chief of Napradu police station, said Somsuk Phuphasuk, 43, was shot twice in the body while travelling on a motorcycle past a village in tambon Chang Hai Tok by two men who followed him on another motorcycle. Somsuk, a defence volunteer of village No 3 in tambon Chang Hai Tok, died instantly. Police were investigating. Source: http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/303245/volunteer-slain-in-pattani

AMMAN (Reuters) - Clashes erupted on Thursday near Syrian government headquarters in Damascus after rebels attacked forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad , who have deployed armoured vehicles and increased roadblocks across the city, activists and residents said. At least one person was reported killed in the fighting in Ikhlas neighbourhood near the Council of Ministers , a huge complex, and a Damascus University campus, they said. Hundreds of families were fleeing the area, located between the districts of Kafar Souseh and Mezze, they said. "The refugees have nowhere to go. There is fighting across Damascus," said a housewife watching the fighting from a tower block on Mezze Autostrade near the prime minister's office. Fighting has been focused in the southern and north-eastern suburbs of the city, as well as the central areas of Mezze and Kafar Souseh where several security sites are located.

The Union home ministry has alerted Jharkhand about the build-up of Maoist military companies in the state as operations by Cobra and other anti-Naxal forces have failed to track them down so far. There is the possibility of attacks by Maoists on security forces and other installations in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, senior security officials said. The build up by the armed Maoist cadres began in the first week of July with top area commanders coming from tri-junction of Latehar, Garhwa in Jharkhand and Balrampur in Chhattisgarh districts besides others. The MHA advisory, sent on Wednesday, warns the Jharkhand government about the presence of a large group of armed CPI(Maoist) extremists at different places in Palamu district under the command of half a dozen senior Maoist leaders. “The extremists appear to have congregated for an important meeting scheduled to be held shortly for reviewing organisational affairs as armed contingents have been requisitioned from elsewhe

KORAPUT: Special Operation Group (SOG) and CRPF personnel on Tuesday night seized a huge cache of explosives in Rayagada district. Based on information provided by arrested Maoist cadre Ramesh Tama alias Dasrath, a team of security personnel conducted a raid in Saplaguda forest under Chandrapur police station area in the district and recovered the Maoist belongings. The seized items included six powerful landmines, 10 bullets, one pistol and electronic detonators among other things. "We were tipped-off by the arrested rebel. The arms and explosives were dumped in a plastic container in the forest. No arrest has been made as during the raid no rebels were present at the crime spot," said additional superintendent of police (Rayagada) Rabi Narayan Shi. "While changing camps, the Maoists usually dump explosives at one place for future use. They retrieve it when they launch some offensive," he said. "Possibility of the presence of mo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The senior Islamic official in Russia 's largely Muslim Tatarstan region was wounded in a bomb attack and a deputy was killed in a separate shooting on Thursday, rocking a province seen as a showcase of religious tolerance in Russia. Tatarstan 's mufti, Ildis Faizov , was hospitalised after three powerful blasts threw him from a vehicle in Tatarstan's capital Kazan , the federal Investigative Committee said. Reuters television footage showed the vehicle engulfed in flames and billowing smoke on a wide, green-lined avenue in central Kazan, a popular destination for tourists from Moscow, about 735 km (450 miles) east of Russia's capital. Around the same time, deputy mufti Valiulla Yakupov was shot dead outside his home, the Investigative Committee said. Militants fighting to carve an Islamic state out of a strip of mainly Muslim regions of the Caucasus along Russia's souther

London, July 18 ( ANI ): Secret wartime papers exchanged between MI5 officials have revealed that the Nazis' plans to conquer Britain included a deadly assault on Sir Winston Churchill with exploding chocolate. Adolf Hitler 's bomb-makers coated explosive devices with a thin layer of rich dark chocolate and then packaged it in expensive-looking black and gold paper. The Germans planned to use secret agents working in Britain to discreetly place the bars of chocolate - branded as Peter's Chocolate - among other luxury items taken on trays into the dining room used by the War Cabinet during the Second World War. The lethal slabs of confection were packed with enough explosives to kill anyone within several metres. But Hitler's plot was foiled by British spies who discovered that they were being made and tipped off one of MI5's most senior intelligence chiefs, Lord Victor Rothschild. Lord Rothschild, a scientist in peace time as well as a key memb

Aizawl/New Delhi, July 19 (IANS) A top leader of a Mizo militant outfit was arrested by a combined team of Delhi Police and Mizoram Police from Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi , a minister said Thursday. Hmar People's Convention-Democrats (HPC-D) self-styled Chairman H. Sangbera "was arrested at the airport Tuesday night soon after he landed from ( Manipur capital) Imphal by a flight via Guwahati. The militant leader was brought to Aizawl late Wednesday evening," Mizoram Home Minister R. Lalzirliana said in Aizawl. The 65-year-old HPC-D supremo was being interrogated by senior officers of Mizoram police. The minister said that the arrested HPC-D leader has 32 cases pending at different police stations in Mizoram. "The rebel outfit (HPC-D) also befriended the other tribal militant outfits in order to disturb peace and create violence in Mizoram," which borders Myanmar and Bangladesh, Lalzirliana added. "The HPC-D was o

Vicky Nanjappa With the patronage of the ISI, Dawood Ibrahim and his aides continue to run a major fake currency racket that funds terror activities in India, says Vicky Nanjappa. The dossier that will be handed over to Pakistan by Indian authorities on March 28-29 -- when the two sides hold much-anticipated talks -- includes the names of nearly 400 terrorists who are believed to be hiding in the neighbouring country. A major challenge for Indian investigating agencies is tracking down and blocking the flow of funds for terror activities. According to these agencies, fake currency rackets are the main source of funding for terror activities. Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is considered to be a key player in this racket, which is run by his aides Aftab Bakti and Babu Gaithan. While these two men are believed to be hiding in the United Arab Emirates, Indian authorities will bring up the issue during talks with Pa

Russia has identified underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Pakistan-based terror outfits Lashkar-e-Tayiba, Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi as financiers of terrorism through money laundering. The comprehensive list also recognises Jamaat-ud-Dawa, led by Mumbai terror attack accused Hafiz Saeed, as a cover used by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. The list was published on Wednesday by the Russian government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta , which said the purpose of publishing it was to help banks and the public, because money launderers often use normal channels for their activities. The first part of the list in English is compiled by the Russian foreign ministry on the basis of United Nations' figures and other data. It includes nearly 600 foreign companies, outfits and individuals. The second part compiled by the Russian justice mi

KISSIMMEE – The investigation of the American Front neo-Nazi group in Osceola County grew out of an FBI domestic terrorism investigation of ties between Florida motorcycle clubs and white supremacy groups in North America and Europe, according to court records released this week. The small neo-Nazi group in Holopaw had aspirations of becoming dominant force in the nationwide skinhead movement about two years ago when an informant infiltrated its ranks, records show. No stranger to crime, the informant was a mid-level drug dealer who hung out for years with bikers across Central Florida. In late 2009, he started dealing ounces of cocaine every month to St. Cloud members of the Kavallerie Brigade, another neo-Nazi group of bikers under surveillance by the federal, state and local law enforcement, records state. Those records do not state when or why the drug-dealer became an informant but the most common reason involves getting arrested and being given an opportunity