Terrorism Watch

A Somali soldier runs to hold position as an al-Shabab militia storm a government building in Mogadishu, Somalia, March 23, 2019. (Reuters Photo) Ahmed Muse Nur, the governor of Mudug, in Somalia's Puntland State, was killed by the al-Shabab terrorist group on May 17, 2020. He was Somalia's third regional governor killed by the group in less than a year. The group earlier killed the Governor of Nugal, Abdisalam Hassan Hirsi, on March 29, 2020, and the Governor and Mayor of the capital Mogadishu, Abdirahman Omar Osman "Yarisow," on Aug. 1, 2019, in a particularly horrific suicide bombing inside his own office. The more emboldened al-Shabab has become, the busier it has been ever with operations and attacks of all kinds – from ambushes on African Union forces in Somalia to complex, organized attacks against government and diplomatic installations and targeted assassinations of civilians, the group has become more and more active in recent years. Since Somalia's curr

Arab opposition groups are active in Iran's diverse and oil-rich area of Khuzestan, and a recent protest took place in the province against the lack of drinking water. The Iranian authorities have arrested members of a separatist group in the country’s southwest. The move follows a protest in the oil-rich Khuzestan province with a large Arab population. Iranian police said they  arrested 14 members of “takfiri and separatist groups” on Wednesday, according to the US government-funded Radio Farda, which covers news in Iran. “Takfiri” is an Arabic-language term referring to Muslims who commit apostasy. The Iranian authorities sometimes use it to refer to their enemies. An Iranian police official in the province said that members of an unidentified group were arrested for flying their flag, Radio Farda reported, citing Iranian state media. Iran's state-owned Al-Alam News Network also reported that  14 people were arrested in the province for flying the flag and also opening fire o

The ISIS genocide in 2014 against Yezidis in Iraq and Turkey's occupation of parts of northern Syria since 2018 have brought a long-suffering people to the attention of the world. The Yezidis (or Yazidis/Ezidis) are a non-Muslim community indigenous to northern Mesopotamia. Named after their ancient faith, Yezidis have a rich oral tradition combining aspects of various ancient Mesopotamian religions such as Zoroastrianism. According to their oral history, Yezidis have suffered from 72 massacres prior to the 2014 genocide of Yezidis in Iraq. "Over the course of 700 years," according to the Yezidis International Organization, "nearly 23 million Yezidi people have been murdered, thus bringing their civilization to the brink of extinction." Territory and political power in the Middle East are often fought over by Muslims. But one thing appears to have united them: their obsessed desire to exterminate Yezidis. Historian Amed Gökçen, the author o

NEW DELHI: A cyber criminal has put on sale records of 4.75 crore Indians claimed to be sourced from online directory Truecaller for about Rs 75,000, according to online intelligence firm Cyble. A Truecaller spokesperson denied any breach of its database and said it is a compiled database which is being sold by using the name of the company so that the data look credible. "Our researchers have identified a reputable seller, who is selling 47.5 million Indians Truecaller records for USD 1,000 (about Rs 75,000). The data is from 2019. We were also taken off by surprise with such a low price point," Cyble said in a blog. The data on sale includes phone numbers , gender, city, mobile network, Facebook id etc. "Cyble researchers are progressing with their analysis, but clearly, this leak may have a potential impact on broader users in India such as spams, scams, identity thefts etc. We will update this blog as we get more information," Cyble said. W

Western security sources said that ISIS was resurgent and was using the coronavirus crisis to rebuild its strength for an offensive. The terrorist group has capitalised on the confusion and chaos caused by the pandemic to recruit and rearm, the sources said. With the US distracted by the crisis and in the process of pulling troops from the front lines in Afghanistan, pressure on the extremists has eased, allowing them to regroup. This month, ISIS attacked Iraqi paramilitaries, killing at least 10 people. The assaults included a bomb planted in the path of reinforcements and the use of boats to outflank security forces. “You cannot take your eye off the ball with these people as they have not gone away,” a western security source told The National . “They are resurgent. They’re not at their high point by any means, but their trajectory is going up, whereas a couple of years ago it was going down, and Covid is certainly making it a bit difficult to keep a lid on Daesh.

CCTV footage shows the man breaking the Gurudwara's windows. New Delhi: A gurdwara in the English city of Derby was vandalised on Monday in an apparent incident of hate-crime. Sources in the Indian government said, according to information received, a man of Pakistani origin has been arrested for causing damages worth thousands of pounds at the Guru Arjan Dev Gurdwara, around 200 km from London. The man also left a note mentioning Kashmir on the walls of the gurdwara, according to the communique received by New Delhi. "Try to help Kashmir people otherwise problem everyone," the message read, along with a phone number. Local police said the man arrested was a Pakistani national and have launched an investigation. "When the attack took place, it was time of kirtan (prayer) but due to lockdown, no one was in the gurdwara," a senior government official told NDTV. Police in Derby have launched an investigation into the incident. According to him, becau

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday ordered the military to scale up the battle preparedness, visualising the worst-case scenarios and asked them to resolutely defend the country's sovereignty. Though he did no mention any specific threat, his comments came amid a face-off between soldiers of India and China at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Xi, 66 who is also the General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and head of the two-million-strong military with prospects of lifelong tenure in power, made the remarks while attending a plenary meeting of the delegation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Armed Police Force during the current parliament session being held in Beijing. Xi ordered the military to think about worst-case scenarios, scale up training and battle preparedness, promptly and effectively deal with all sorts of complex situations and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and developme

Shi Zhengli said if we don't study the unknown viruses there can be another outbreak. Shi Zhengli, a virologist renowned for her work on coronavirus in bats, said in an interview on Chinese state television that viruses being discovered now are "just the tip of the iceberg" and called for international cooperation in the fight against epidemics. Known as China's "bat woman," the deputy director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology said research into viruses needs scientists and governments to be transparent and cooperative, and that it is "very regrettable" when science is politicized. "If we want to prevent human beings from suffering from the next infectious disease outbreak, we must go in advance to learn of these unknown viruses carried by wild animals in nature and give early warnings," Shi told CGTN. "If we don't study them there will possibly be another outbreak." Her interview with TV channel CGTN coincide

Source: https://in.news.yahoo.com/indias-relationship-taliban-comes-full-075801959.html There have been some possibly game-changing incidents recently. Those were related to Afghanistan but relates closely also to Pakistan and India. For the latter, these incidents require some fervent thought, its preoccupation with the fast-spreading virus notwithstanding. First, the most obvious and probably the least relevant, the visit of US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad to New Delhi, and his subsequent statement that India should talk directly to the Taliban. Outgoing State department head for South Asia Alice Wells topped that with her statement that India was a 'critical player in Afghanistan, rather a change from the stance of excluding New Delhi for years due to Pakistan's strong objections. Then came a definite statement from Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban 'spokesperson' that it had no intention of interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. This follo

On 20 May Government of National Accord (GNA) troops in Tripoli paraded a captured Russian Pantsir air defence system The US military has accused Russia of sending fighter jets to Libya to support Russian mercenaries there. There was no immediate response from the Russian Defence Ministry to the US Africa command (Africom) allegation. Earlier this month a leaked UN report spoke of hundreds of mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group operating in Libya. Russia backs renegade Gen Khalifa Haftar's army. The country has issued a new call for a Libya ceasefire and political talks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the conflict with an ally of Gen Haftar by phone on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said. He told Aguila Saleh Issa, a parliament speaker, that "there needs to be a constructive dialogue involving all the Libyan political forces" and "an immediate ceasefire". Russian group Wagner 'fighting in Libya' Who are Russia's shadowy

The bugs were seen over Dubai on Sunday evening and in the capital last week Officials said they were monitoring swarms of desert locusts on Monday after they were spotted in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Residents told of clusters of bugs in areas across Dubai on Sunday evening, including the Marina, Barsha and Palm Jumeirah, following a bout of rain and high winds. Ahmed Al Kamali, a forecaster with the National Centre of Meteorology, said the centre was aware of suspected sightings in Dubai and also in Abu Dhabi last week. He said swarms, which have been seen in the Gulf in recent months, could have travelled in with the high winds that hit the Emirates on Sunday. “Some research papers we have studied about these insects say they follow the low pr

The first time Wael Amr got on a plane was not quite what he had hoped for. Air travel in films led him to imagine how glamorous it would be to leave Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province for an exotic holiday abroad. Instead, in March the 22-year-old signed up with Turkish military recruiters and travelled over the border to Turkey. From there he took his first ever plane journey, to Libya , where he is now fighting on a dangerous frontline in someone else’s war. “They told me I would be in the support line or medical units working for good money, but the fighting here is worse than anything I experienced in Syria. It’s all close combat in narrow streets,” he said. “Some Syrians are here for money, some say they support the Libyans against tyranny. But personally I don’t really know why Turkey asked the Syrian opposition to fight in Libya. I didn’t know anything about this country except the revolution against [Col Muammar] Gaddafi.” Amr, along with an estimated 8,000 to 10