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Showing posts from April 22, 2018

Yemen strike kills 38 Houthis including two commanders: Saudi TV

Saudi-led coalition attack kills dozens of Houthi rebels in Sanaa, including two commanders, Saudi television reports.  An air strike on Yemen's capital by a Saudi-led military coalition has killed dozens of Houthi rebels including at least two commanders, Saudi television reported. Saudi state-owned news channel Al-Ekhbariya on Saturday said two high-ranking rebels were killed in the raid in Sanaa on Friday evening. Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said a total of 38 rebels were killed in the strike on a Houthi interior ministry building. A police building adjacent to the Houthi-controlled ministry was also struck. The Houthis confirmed an air strike on Sanaa but gave no details. The war in  Yemen  has entered its fourth year. Houthis  and the Yemeni government have battled on and off since 2004, but much of the fighting was confined to the Houthis' stronghold, northern Yemen's impoverished Saada province. In September 2014, the Houthis took control of Sanaa

Basque separatists Eta 'truly sorry' for victims of campaign of terror

T he Basque militant group Eta yesterday/Fri apologised to the victims of its five-decade campaign of terror in which more than 800 people were killed. “We are truly sorry”, the organisation said in a statement to relatives of those killed, injured, kidnapped, and people who have been forced to flee Spain’s Basque Country region before the organisation declared an end to violence in 2011. “Eta recognises the direct responsibility it has for that pain, and wishes to declare that none of all this should ever have happened, or not over such a long period of time”, the statement published in the Basque newspaper Gara read. But reaction to the apology across Spain has been mixed. The Spanish government said it was “good that the terrorist group asks its victims for forgiveness, because the victims, their memory and dignity have been decisive in Eta’s defeat”. The president of the Foundation of Terrorism Victims, Mari Mar Blanco, said: “This apology is not good enough for me”.

Terrorism : Despite political differences Morocco and Spain manage to collaborate

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The former head of the Spanish intelligence services, Jorge Dezcallar, who served from 2001 to 2004, praised the collaboration between his country and Morocco in the fight against terrorism. Cooperation «has always been excellent even during moments when the two countries have political differences», he said in an  interview with Elconfidencial. In fact, collaborating to fight against radical islamist groups, he said, offers politicians «reliable channels» to communicate, stressing that «ISIS is a serious danger for both Morocco and Spain». For the record, Dezcallar, who served in the past as Spain’s ambassador to Morocco, was the first civilian to head the Spanish intelligence services agency. Las week, during a meeting held in Madrid with Moroccan MPs, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido, hailed the efforts made by «Moroccan intelligence services which share information» and collaborate with Spain to fight against terrorism. He announced that «in the coming days,

'We have four generations of former terrorists here today': Rehabilitating extremists in Indonesia

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Machmudi Hariono, a former militant, cooks in the kitchen of his restaurant in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia. (Achmad Ibrahim / Associated Press) The Indonesian media has dubbed him "The Terrorist Whisperer." In a hotel conference room here, Noor Huda Ismail welcomed the participants in his three-day workshop.   "We have four generations of former terrorists here today," said the jovial 45-year-old as he bounded around the room in a batik shirt, black glasses and Nikes. He gave a shout-out to the lone representative of the eldest generation, a graybeard who had joined the U.S.-backed  mujahedin  to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. With a smile and a nod, he acknowledged two former fighters from a Muslim group that sought to impose Islamic rule on the Philippines in the 1990s, then six veterans from Indonesia's Muslim-Christian disputes a decade later. "And the latest generation is here too," he s

Will IS-linked Indonesian and Malaysian women detained by Kurdish rebels return home?

Analysis: A group of women linked to IS were detained by Kurdish forces in February, but Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur are working to extradite them, reports Zam Yusa. A group of Indonesian and Malaysian women linked to the Islamic State group [IS] were among the hundreds of women and girls detained by Kurdish forces in Syria in February. Since then both governments have claimed to be working on their release, but progress has remained slow.   Approximately 800 women from various countries were detained and kept at detention sites. Among them were at least 15 Indonesians and one Malaysian woman.  Nadim Houry, the terrorism and counter-terrorism programme director of Human Rights Watch, spoke with many of the women during visits to detention camps in Kurdish-held areas, and revealed that most of the women had children with them. They were reportedly being held separately from captured IS fighters and were given a certain amount of freedom - but were not allowed to leave the cam

Southeast Asia: One-Size-Fits-All Approach Not Right in Fight against Extremism, US Official Says

Southeast Asian governments have to step up their games to counter the Islamic State (IS) threat as the extremist group seeks to establish safe havens in the region following defeats in Syria and Iraq, a senior U.S. State Department official said. Irfan Saeed, director of the department’s Bureau of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), specifically named Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines while also praising their counter-terrorist efforts during a conference call this week from Washington with reporters in East Asia. “We need to understand both the global and local drivers of violent extremism because situations are not the same on the ground,” he said, adding that drivers that trigger radicalization of people in the Philippines were different than those in Indonesia or Malaysia. Saeed stressed the need for research into identifying local drivers of violent extremism as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach. Research, he said, was the first of a five-prong approach to

In Malaysian Politics, Winning Polls Supersedes Security Concerns

Two issues have dominated the run-up to Malaysia’s general election on May 9: Corruption allegations against Prime Minister Najib Razak linked to a financial scandal around the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund, as well as the soaring cost of living and growing inequality. But Malaysia’s political stability and economic growth depend largely on the security situation. And while Malaysia appears stable, the situation is more tenuous than it seems. Najib’s government is trying to take credit for controlling the nation’s security. Questions about security tend to be a low concern for the electorate; perhaps because the country is so stable, and the security forces, while not immune from politicization, are still able to perform their core responsibilities with competence.  What can the government legitimately take credit for? And where is it more vulnerable to opposition attacks? There are five security issues (apart from the South China Sea dispute) where there have been some tenuous success

Colombia: FARC's Leadership Reaffirms Commitment to Peace, Thanks European Union for Support

Rodrigo "Timochenko" Londono , president of the  Common Alternative Revolutionary Force  (FARC), has thanked the European Union's (EU) special envoy for the Colombian peace process,  Eamon Gilmore , for reaffirming the bloc's support for the accord, which was signed between the former guerrilla group and the government in 2016. Gilmore , who arrived in Colombia Tuesday, is scheduled to visit  Jesus Santrich , a leader in the now disarmed guerrilla group.  Santrich  has been accused of drug trafficking, and the United States has requested his extradition on the charges, which he firmly denies. "In today's fruitful meeting with the representatives of the European Union, we analyze the political situation and the difficulties that the peace process has undergone, especially regarding the implementation of the agreements, and the EU reiterates its unwavering support," Londono tweeted. The meeting between Londono and Gilmore also included the EU Amb

More than 70 countries commit to combat terror financing

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, third left, Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, left, French prosecutor in charge of terrorism Francois Molins, second left, and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire welcome international delegations for a conference to discuss ways to combat financing for the Islamic State group and Al-Qaida, at the OECD headquarters in Paris, Thursday, April 26, 2018. The initiative was launched by French President Emmanuel Macron to coordinate efforts to reduce the terror threat in the long term.  More than 70 countries committed Thursday to bolster efforts in the fight against terrorism financing associated with the Islamic State group and al-Qaida. Participants at an international conference in Paris vowed to improve international coordination and enhance transparency of financial flows. In a final declaration, they agreed to "fully criminalize" terror financing through effective and proportionate sanctions "even in the absence o

Forgotten people of the People’s War

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  Share   Tweet   Share   Email   Share Anupa Rai posed last week in Phidim with her son Rabin who is now in Grade 7. After the media wrote about her war wounds, a hospital in Birtamod finally offered to extract shrapnel lodged in her head. Pic: Bhim Kumar Banskota Anupa Rai was in Grade 8 in Okhaldhunga when she was so stirred by the revolutionary zeal of the Maoists that she and her brother joined the militia. At age 16, she went through weapons training and was hopeful that the war would improve the lives of neglected communities like hers. Fresh out of school, with the energy and drive of a newly converted rebel, Rai was fully focused on the movement.  The teenager was soon deployed at the frontlines of Maoist attacks on security bases in eastern Nepal. She fought in the battles of Salleri, Bhakundebesi, Chainpur, Sindhuli and Rumjatar. During the fighting in Chainpur, Rai was chargi