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Showing posts from October 13, 2013

Turkish government delays Kurdish bid: PKK leader

ISTANBUL Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed PKK leader, is struggling to sustain the peace process as the government isn’t taking the necessary legal steps needed for transformation, a senior Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) lawmaker has quoted him as saying. Öcalan also says he has the power to ensure the disarmament of all militants but government’s apathy in moving forward prevents him doing so Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair Pelvin Buldan conveyed the messages of imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, in an interview with daily Özgür Gündem. AA photo The jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party  (PKK), Abdullah Öcalan, has urged the government to establish a legal basis for the peace process to shift the talks into the “deep negotiation stage” while accusing it of effectively stopping the process. “Good or bad, we have exited a one-year process, but any legal basis has not been established. Despite o

Colombia: FARC attack on bus kills 1, injures 6

BOGOTÁ , Colombia – The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) opened fire on a bus, killing one person and wounding six others after its driver ignored orders to stop, police said on Oct. 16. The attack occurred during the night of Oct. 15 near the town of Valdivia in the department of Antioquia where FARC terrorists had blocked a road with a parked truck, police said. Police said the guerrillas flagged down the bus, but the driver tried to drive on, triggering the attack. The bus was on a route between the town of San Carlos and Medellín. The FARC – the country’s largest terrorist group – has been in peace talks with the government since November in Havana, Cuba, but the sides have made little progress and fighting has continued in the absence of a cease-fire. Source  http://infosurhoy.com/en_GB/articles/saii/newsbriefs/2013/10/17/newsbrief-03

Can FARC’s new website on female rebel fighters improve its image?

Girl soldiers learn how to use assault rifles when they are just 11 years old. Women and girls undergo forced abortions and are used by commanders as sex slaves in the rebel ranks. That’s what women who have deserted Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), have told me, and that’s what reports by human rights groups say too. But the FARC says female rebel fighters are not victims, they are women who are proud to fight in Latin America’s longest-running Marxist insurgency to defend the rights of poor and landless peasants against the rich elite. That’s the message that  Farianas  , a website recently launched by the leftist guerrilla group, wants to spread, as the rebels and the Colombian government press on with peace talks in Havana, Cuba, in a bid to end nearly 50 years of war. Farianas is run by and dedicated to its female members and has posts from leading rebel fighters. It aims to give an insight into why women join the FARC, life in the

Maoists trigger cane bomb blast to kill 7 in 'revenge attack' in Bihar

GAYA: In a daring attack, suspected Maoists on Thursday evening detonated a cane bomb - a trademark IED used by them- to blow up a vehicle, killing all its seven occupants near Pathara village in Aurangabad district, about 130 km from Patna.   The victims included Sushil Pandey, suspected Ranvir Sena activist and husband of Zila Parishad member Usha Devi. The Maoists targeted the vehicle when when Pandey was on way to his village, Pisai. The Maoists suspected Pandey's hand in the killing of their cadres in the Magadh region by the Sena, sources said.  The attack comes barely a week after the Patna high court acquitted all the accused in the Laxmanpur Bathe massacre case for lack of evidence. Maoists hold Ranvir Sena responsible for the Bathe massacre that claimed the lives of 58 dalits on the night of December 1, 1997.  Principal secretary (home) Amir Subhani said as per initial reports, six persons including Pandey, were killed in the incident. Further details were awaited, said S

Myanmar police: Bombers trying to scare investors

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police say bombings that have rocked Myanmar in the last week were aimed at scaring away foreign investors. The country's police chief, Zaw Win, said Friday that a man identified as Nato promised a former member of the  Karen National Union  ethnic rebels a gold mine permit if he succeeded in planting bombs at luxury hotels and restaurants. He said the alleged assailant, Saw Myint Lwin, was given $500 and a bag of locally made explosives. The 25-year-old allegedly checked into a room at the Traders Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar's commercial capital, on Sunday night, attached a small bomb to the back of the toilet, and timed it to go off within 48 hours. The bomb detonated just before midnight Monday, injuring an American woman. Source  http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/world/article/Myanmar-police-Bombers-trying-to-scare-investors-4906486.php

2 alleged NPA members killed in Samar

MANILA -- Two suspected New People's Army (NPA) rebels, reportedly campaigning for candidates in the coming barangay elections, were killed in clashes with government troops in Samar province. Capt. Amado Gutierrez, spokesperson of the Army's 8th Infantry Division, said soldiers were dispatched to Rizal village in Matuguinao town last Tuesday where the rebels were said to be roaming. "The informant also said that the NPAs were urging the people to vote for a certain candidate the rebels are supporting and were extorting food and money from barangay folks," said Gutierrez. At around 7 a.m., he said soldiers from the 43rd Infantry Battalion briefly clashed with the undetermined number of rebels at the village. This was followed by another brief firefight 15 minutes later in the same village. Apart from the killing of the two rebels, the clashes resulted in the recovery of an M16 rifle and a 12-gauge shotgun. Gutierrez said the rebels were pushing for the candidacy of le

Bets told to reject NPA extortion try

Friday Oct 18th at 3:19pm By Alexis Romero MANILA, Philippines - The military on Friday reminded candidates of the barangay polls to reject the demands of communist rebels and to work closely with security forces in their respective areas. Armed Forces public affairs chief Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala said giving in to the extortion demands of the New People’s Army (NPA) would enable the group to conduct more atrocities. “It (giving in to NPA demands) runs counter to their (candidates) desire to serve the people. They should not support the people who seek to destroy our institutions,” Zagala said in an interview Friday. “The money to be collected (by the rebels) will used to further their armed struggle,” he added. Zagala called on candidates to coordinate with authorities to ensure a peaceful campaign period. “We need everybody’s cooperation especially those who are running,” he said. The Commission on Elections earlier reminded candidates to comply with all the rules governing the campaign

Bosnian police arrest 8 war crimes suspects

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Police in Bosnia have detained eight Serb men suspected of taking part in looting, expulsions and killing of civilians during the country's 1992-95 war. The prosecutor's office in Bosnia said Thursday the men were arrested in the eastern town of Rogatica where the alleged crimes were committed in September 1992. One of the arrested men is suspected of gunning down 20 Muslim civilians, including women and children, in a barn where they had been hiding from the Serb soldiers. Some 100,000 people were killed in the Bosnia's war that broke out when the country joined several republics of former Yugoslavia and declared independence. Well-armed Bosnian Serb minority opposed the move and took up arms in its attempt to carve out parts of the country by expelling and killing non-Serbs. Source  http://www.wral.com/bosnian-police-arrest-8-war-crimes-suspects/13005183/

The Most Dangerous Continent

Global Security Newswire Some problems travel well. Sometimes too well. Financial crashes have taught us that in some cases what starts as a very local economic problem quickly escalates and becomes a global crisis. Think Greece -- or more recently Cyprus. And we know that terrorism also has a way of going global in unpredictable and dangerous ways. But what about regions? Which continents are more prone to infect the rest of the world with their problems? Africa and Latin America's woes, for example, remain mostly insulated. Of course, the mass emigration of Africans to Europe and Latin Americans to the United States is an example of how one continent’s problems spill over into another, but this contagion has had much less of an impact than the economic crisis in the U.S. or Europe, for example. Millions of people all over the world, and especially in Europe, are still paying the consequences for that financial earthquake. The point is that the problems of some continents are more

Indonesian Anti-Terror Squad Kills Suspected Terrorist

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On June 4, police investigators collect evidence from the blast site, next to a damaged motorcycle, by a suicide bomber in Poso, on Sulawesi island known for militant attacks. The nation’s anti-terror squad continues to make arrests of suspected terrorists.   Agence France-Presse/Getty Images By Joko Hariyanto and I Made Sentana Indonesia’s counter-terrorism squad on Thursday killed one suspected terrorist and arrested two other alleged terrorists in an eastern province, seizing weapons and alleged bomb-making materials, police said. Suardi, 51, was fatally shot as he opened fire on police officers who were trying to stop his mini-van outside a forest in Bone district, in South Sulawesi Province, South Sulawesi police spokesman Endi Sutendi told The Wall Street Journal. The district, about 1,400 miles northeast of the nation’s capital of Jakarta, is located on the eastern coast of the southern part of the Sulawesi Island. The police spokesman said the anti-terrorism squad arrested two

Curfew hours in strife-torn Zambo reduced: Philippines

10/18/2013 12:25 PM ZAMBOANGA CITY - The Crisis Management Committee has reduced the number of curfew hours in Zamboanga City to four hours more than a month since the siege of followers of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founding chairman Nur Misuari. The standoff left around 200 MNLF rebels, soldiers, policemen and civilians dead. Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabel Climaco said that upon the recommendation of the business sector and authorities, curfew hours will now be from midnight until 4 a.m only. The curfew is by virtue of a resolution of the CMC. Climaco said after the crisis and flooding in the city, she has seen positive indications such as the peaceful celebrations of the Fiesta Pilar and Eid'l Adha that the city will rise again. Majority of the schools in the city have already resumed classes. Climaco appealed to residents to stop circulating text messages and posts on Facebook stating unverified reports of alleged presence of armed groups in the city. Meanwhile, C

US urges DRC, rebels to reach peace deal

Washington - The United States called on Thursday on the Democratic Republic of Congo and opposition rebels to end months of dragging negotiations and conclude a peace deal. The talks in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, began on 10 September , but have yet to make any real progress. US special envoy to the Great Lakes Russ Feingold and the UN special envoy Mary Robinson are both in the region hoping to push the negotiations along. "Now is the time for both parties to demonstrate their commitment to a peaceful resolution," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington. "The envoys met today with the delegations to the talks calling for the parties to finalize an agreement and to promptly conclude the talks. "These have been going on for 10 months. They're pivotal to moving things forward in the country, and... [the] message that's being sent on the ground, is that further delays would be counterproductive." The UN experts have accused

Ugandan Police Issue Terror Alert

KAMPALA Uganda—The Ugandan police Friday issued a red terror alert, a few days after the U.S. embassy in Uganda warned that Kampala could face a terror attack similar to last month’s siege at Nairobi’s Westgate mall. “The alertness has been raised to class one,” said deputy police spokesman Patrick Onyango Source wallstreet journal 

Rebels kill top Syrian intelligence chief

BEIRUT — A senior Syrian intelligence chief has been killed by rebel forces in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, the opposition and Syrian state media said Thursday, as the rebels claimed new gains in the region. Gen. Jameh Jameh, who led the Syrian military intelligence unit in the province, died “carrying out his mission in defending Syria,” state television said in a report. It gave no details, but Lt. Col. Mohammad Abboud, a top rebel commander for the eastern front, said Jameh, 59, was fatally shot near his home in the al-Joura neighborhood of Deir al-Zour city, the provincial capital. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebel snipers shot Jameh in the midst of a battle. Jameh, one of Syria’s most powerful generals, was frequently linked to the 2005 car-bomb assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri , a former Lebanese prime minister and an outspoken critic of the Syrian army’s presence in his country. Jameh, who was based in Beirut at the time, was questioned by

Two killed in blast near mosque in Russian Caucasus

(AFP)  Moscow — Two people were killed Friday when a bomb exploded outside a village mosque in the Russian Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria, the interior ministry said. "A powerful explosion went off at 3:20 am in the village of Dugulubgei close to the village mosque... Fragments of the bodies of two unidentifed people were found at the scene," the regional interior ministry said in a statement. Russia's powerful Investigative Committee named the preliminary cause of the explosion as the two dead "blowing themselves up." It said the explosion took place at the gates of the village's graveyard close to the mosque. An earlier report by the Interfax news agency quoted a law enforcement source as saying that the victims apparently blew themselves up accidentally while planting the IED. The Investigative Committee said operatives found "a large amount of arms: shells, grenades, a Kalashnikov and two pistols" at the scene. The blast occurred close t

Five Yemeni soldiers killed in suicide attack on military base

ADEN (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed at least five Yemeni soldiers on Friday in a suspected Islamist militant attack on a military base in the south of the country, a Yemeni military official said. Militants linked to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) are increasingly targeting Yemeni army facilities in the U.S.-allied state, which shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and flanks major shipping lanes. The military official said the bomber drove a car laden with explosives and blew himself up at the gate of the army camp in Ahwar, an area in the southern province of Abyan. Other militants attacked soldiers in the camp with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), the source said, adding that 15 soldiers were wounded in the clashes. The military official gave no detail on any casualties among the militants, but said the fighting was still going on. Local witnesses said a helicopter, apparently belonging to the Yemeni army, was circl

Norway Investigates Possible Assailant in Kenya Mall Siege

LARVIK, Norway — The trail in the investigation into the deadly attack on a Kenyan shopping mall leads all the way to Scandinavia, where the Norwegian police have identified a man who may have been among the assailants. Investigators are questioning relatives and friends of Hassan Abdi Dhuhulow, a Norwegian citizen born in Somalia, to try to determine whether he was one of the four militants captured on surveillance footage inside the shopping mall, calmly killing shoppers on a Saturday afternoon last month. His sister, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said in an interview that officers from the Norwegian security police had asked her whether her brother had placed calls from Nairobi, including from the Westgate shopping mall, during the siege. She said that he had not and that the family was unaware of any role he might have played in the attack. “My mother and father and me, we don’t even know if he is dead or alive,” she said. “We are waiting for the whole issue to become cl

Saudi Arabia, angered over Mideast, declines Security Council seat

By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, in an unprecedented show of anger at the failure of the international community to end the war in Syria and act on other Middle East issues, said on Friday it would not take up its seat on the United Nations Security Council. The kingdom condemned what it called international double standards on the Middle East and demanded reforms in the Security Council. Riyadh's frustration is mostly directed at Washington, its oldest international ally, which has pursued policies since the Arab Spring that Saudi rulers have bitterly opposed and which have severely damaged relations with the United States, Saudi analysts have said. Saudi Arabia has also been angered by a rapprochement between Iran, its old regional foe, and the United States, which has taken root since President Barack Obama spoke by telephone last month to the new Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, in the highest-level contact between the two countries in more than three decade

Spate of attacks on Shi'ite Muslims kills 59 people in Iraq

MOSUL,   Iraq   (Reuters) - Attacks on Shi'ite Muslims killed at least 59 people across Iraq on Thursday, including a suicide truck bomb targeting members of the country's Shabak minority, police and medics said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for any of the attacks, but Shi'ites are viewed as apostates by hardline Sunni Islamists who have been regrouping and gathering pace in an insurgency this year. Militants linked to al Qaeda have in the past attacked Shabaks, who are mainly Shi'ite. Sectarian tensions in Iraq and the wider Middle East have been brought to a boil by Syria's civil war, which has drawn Sunnis and Shi'ites from the region and beyond into battle. Ten bombs exploded in primarily Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital late on Thursday, killing 44 people in all, police and medics said. One blast occurred near an amusement park north of Baghdad's Sadr City neighbourhood, killing six children. Earlier in the day, a suicide bom

Jihad or Terrorism? The Semantic Arguments of Islam's Authorities by Raymond Ibrahim

A recent Arabic article appearing in Egypt's  Al Ahram  newspaper titled "Is Terrorism Jihad?" written by Islamic law expert Dr. Abdul Fatah Idris offers important lessons—from the fact that jihad does  involve subjugating non-Muslims to why the Western mentality is still incapable of acknowledging it. Idris, professor and chairman of Al Azhar University's Department of Comparative Jurisprudence at the Faculty of Sharia Law, is a well-reputed legal scholar. He begins his article by quoting from various international bodies that correctly define terrorism as violence or threats of violence as a means of coercion. Idris also mentions how "the Islamic Research Academy, in its report issued on November 4 th , 2001, defines terrorism as terrorizing  innocent  people and the destruction of their properties and their essential elements of living and attacking their finances and their persons and their liberties and their human dignity  without right  and spreading corru

Mali terrorism is 'a wake-up call'

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Ghanaian soldiers preparing to fly out to Mali earlier this year in support of the international operation to rid the country of Islamist militants. 17 October 2013 Recent terrorist attacks are an important "wake-up call" highlighting the challenge of restoring security to Mali, the senior UN envoy to the country said. Albert Koenders told the  UN Security Council  yesterday that the successful presidential election this summer and progress in recent months have opened up new prospects for Mali's recovery and longer-term future. But the recent attacks demonstrate the need to address the root causes of the country's near-collapse last year along with its serious humanitarian needs and shocking malnutrition levels, he warned. He pointed to a suicide attack by extremist elements in Timbuktu on September 28, and the shelling of Gao on October 7 by other extremists. And Mr Koenders noted the tense situation in the northern city of Kidal, where volleys of gunfire erupted in