French Beheading Suspect Was ‘Normal Neighbour’
New Age Islam News Bureau
27
Jun 2015
Europe
• French Beheading Suspect Was ‘Normal Neighbour’
• World Reacts to France, Tunisia, Kuwait Attacks
• Russian Officials Call on Schools, Colleges to Fight Brainwashing by Islamic extremists
• French Authorities Hold Suspect in Beheading and Explosion at Chemical Plant
• Tahir-ul-Qadri tells British Muslims to march for peace to show they don't quietly condone' terrorism
• Tony Abbott says Islamic State 'coming after us' after spate of terror attacks overseas
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Arab World
• Al-Azhar Muslim Clerics Slam Attacks on Tunisia, Kuwait and France
• ISIS Attack on Syria’s Kobane Kills 146
• Kurds, Syrian Army Battle ISIS in Syria’s Hasaka: Monitor
• Kurds Drive ISIS Militants from Syria’s Kobane
• Kuwait probes suspects linked to mosque attack
• Saudi-led jets bomb Yemen as Hadi govt rejects new talks
• Iraq F-16 pilot killed in crash on U.S. training mission
• Bahraini protesters demand release of Sheikh Salman
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Africa
• Al-Shabaab Kills Dozens of African Union Troops at Base in Somalia
• ISIS Claims Tunisia Beach Resort Massacre
• U.N. seeks ‘message of hope’ from Libya rivals
• Tunisia to close 80 mosques after shooting attack
• Shabab militants ‘overrun’ AU base
• Boko Haram kills 8,239 in two years –Report
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India
• Muslim Pilot Takes Hindu Kids, Ayush and Prarthana under Wing
• India-Pakistan Peaceniks Take To Video Chats To Bring Gen Next Together
• Why China loves Pakistan and India is the 'Kabab mein haddi'
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Mideast
• Vatican Signs First Treaty with 'State of Palestine'
• Volunteer Forces Kill 4 Jeish Al-Adl Terrorists in South-eastern Iran
• Hundreds of Saudi Soldiers, Commander Join Yemeni Forces
• Gunmen kill Houthi chief in Sanaa
• Senior Turkish Lawmaker Confirms Ankara's Role in ISIL's Penetration into Kobani
• Yemeni Forces Fire over 100 Missiles at Saudi Arabia's Najran, Jazan
• Turkey won’t allow Kurdish state in north Syria: Edogan
• Yemeni Army, Popular Forces Take Control over Parts of Saudi Bases in Southern Borders
• Yemeni govt rejects new talks
• Kerry arrives in Vienna seeking to seal Iran deal
• Spokeswoman Raps US Biased Report on Human Rights in Iran
• Deputy FM: Iran, World Powers Make More Progress in Final Deal's Main Text than Annexes
• What does the Turkey-Qatar deal mean for Arab conflicts?
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South Asia
• 37 Militants Killed In Afghan Military Operations
• At Least 12 Police Martyred As Afghanistan Retakes Control of a District in Nooristan
• Bangladesh more peaceful than India, Pakistan
• Landmine explosion claimed two lives in Laghman
• Group of Taliban militants detained in Nimroz
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Pakistan
• Imran Farooq Murder Case: Scotland Yard Team Arrives In Islamabad
• Terrorism Incidents Decreased Drastically After Military Operation: KP Report
• India funding claims: Documents purport to reveal MQM leader's statement
• MQM leader’s ‘confessional statement’ leaked
• Wars killed 149,000 in Pakistan, Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014
• Status of province sought for Fata
• Immunisation in Balochistan to be improved: official
• Man killed in blast outside Bajaur mosque
• Terrorism incidents declined by 64pc, claims KP govt
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Southeast Asia
• Muslim Group with Malaysian Links Praises US Court’s Decision To Legalise Gay Marriage
• Indonesia at high risk of MERS: officials
• CAP: 55 Malaysians going bankrupt daily
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North America
• Many Americans Believe Islam Threatens Religious Freedom In U.S.
• Did U.S. Demand Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Be Declared Winner in Egypt?
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/french-beheading-suspect-‘normal-neighbour’/d/103676
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Europe
French Beheading Suspect Was ‘Normal Neighbour’
By Reuters | Saint-Priest, France
Saturday, 27 June 2015
When suburban deliveryman Yassin Sahli set off for work on Friday, his wife said it seemed just like any other day.
Within hours, the 35-year-old father of three was arrested on suspicion of beheading his boss, then ramming their van into an industrial gases site in southeast France, setting off an explosion that authorities called an attempted act of terrorism.
“Yesterday he was at work, he came home as usual. We spent a normal evening and in the morning he left for work and didn’t come home between noon and 2. I was waiting for him,” a woman identified as his wife told Europe 1 radio.
Sources close to the investigation said the wife, who has not been officially named, was subsequently arrested and was being held by police for questioning.
Yassin Sahli was named as the chief suspect by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve in a brief statement at the site of the attack in the town of Saint-Quentin Fallavier, 30 km (20 miles) south of Lyon.
Very little has been officially released on his background.
Yet according to his wife’s brief radio interview, theirs was an ordinary Muslim family living in the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest, an account shared by neighbors who said contact with Sahli was limited to simple greetings.
He and his wife lived with their three children, aged between six and nine, on the ground floor of a three-story, nondescript social housing block.
The area is quiet, with green spaces, clean streets and a new tram link to the center of Lyon. It is far from the stereotypical image of a run-down city suburb.
“They are a very normal family,” a neighbor who gave her name as Brigitte said. I only talked with Madame, he didn’t say hello or goodbye,” the 46-year-old housewife said.
Though Sahli, of North African origin, had no criminal record, Cazeneuve said he was categorized by security services as far back as 2006 as someone at risk of being radicalized.
While that status allowed security forces to discreetly keep tabs on him, they did not see fit to renew it in 2008, although he was known to have contact with radical Islamists in France.
However, he was back on the radar of the DGSI domestic security service for at least the past two years and was described in 2013 as a “hardcore Muslim” in one intelligence memo, according to RTL radio.
Another memo dating from May 2014 said he had undergone a “radical” change, losing weight and shaving his beard. It said he was often away from home for unexplained absences of several weeks at a time.
The note said he held meetings at his home, hosting men who wore combat fatigues. Doorstep chatter with them was peppered with references to jihad, said RTL, citing the memo.
Sahli had been living in Saint-Priest for around six months. Before that, the EST Republicain newspaper said the suspect, whose late father was Algerian and mother Moroccan, lived in Pontarlier near the Swiss border. The town is home to a mosque known for the virulent views of its preacher, who has since left France.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2015/06/27/French-beheading-suspect-was-normal-neighbor-.html
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World reacts to France, Tunisia, Kuwait attacks
Staff writer, Al Arabiya News
26 June 2015
World leaders and institutions condemned on Friday a series of deadly attacks in France, Tunisia, and Kuwait, where attacks from suspected Islamist militants have killed dozens and left hundreds wounded.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said those “responsible for such appalling acts of violence must be swiftly brought to justice” and Interpol offered its help to all three nations.
“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to bring perpetrators of these reprehensible acts of terrorism to justice,” the 15-member body said in a statement.
“Far from weakening the international community’s resolve to fight the scourge of terrorism, these heinous attacks will only strengthen the commitment of the United Nations to help defeat those bent on murder, destruction and the annihilation of human development and culture,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.
The White House in a statement on Thursday condemned the three “terrorist” attacks, calling them “heinous.”
Germany stands united with France against “terror’s blind hate” and in defence of “free society”, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after a deadly attack Friday at a factory near Lyon.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “sickened” by the attacks, and expressed solidarity the three countries.
“I firmly condemn the attack carried out in Lyon. Barbarism will always be confronted by unity among democrats. #Spain with #France,” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wrote in a message on Twitter.
Cairo’s Al-Azhar, considered to be the highest Sunni Islamic body, calling for the international community to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which claimed responsibility for an attack on Shiite Mosque in Kuwait.
“Al-Azhar calls on the international community to defeat this terrorist group though all available means,” it said in a statement referring to ISIS.
A task force against extremism set up by Egypt’s mufti, the government’s interpreter of Islamic law, also denounced the attacks.
“What the (Islamic State) has done to malign the image of Islam is far more than what anyone else has done, whether Muslim or non-Muslim,” it said in a statement.
A gunman killed at least 37 people and wounded dozens more in an attack on a beach resort in Tunisia Friday.
In Kuwait, a suicide bomber killed at least 25 people, while a man with suspected ties to French Islamic radicals rammed a car into a gas factory in southeastern France, triggering an explosion that injured two people. The severed head of a local businessman was left hanging at the factory’s entrance.
Meanwhile, a Pentagon spokesman says it is too early to say if the three attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France were coordinated.
(With AP, AFP, and Reuters)
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2015/06/26/World-reacts-to-France-Tunisia-Kuwait-attacks.html
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Russian Officials Call on Schools, Colleges to Fight Brainwashing by Islamic Extremists
By Anna DolgovJun. 26 2015
Russia's children's rights ombudsman has appealed to the Education Ministry to step up efforts to prevent students from converting to extremist Islamic views, a news report said Friday, after a number of students left the country in an apparent attempt to fight alongside the Islamic State terrorist group.
In a letter to Education Minister Dmitry Livanov, ombudsman Pavel Astakhov argued that Russia's colleges need to “form a stable system of moral and meaningful foundations of personality, allowing [young people] to resist the ideology of extremism, nationalism, xenophobia and other negative social phenomena,” Izvestia newspaper reported.
He specifically singled out Islamist recruitment efforts, urging vigilance and monitoring in colleges, according to the report.
“Students should know how to avoid becoming the victims of radical Islamist recruiters, and whom to turn to in the event of encountering such a situation,” Astakhov was quoted as saying in his letter.
“The changes in the behavior of a victim who has given themselves over to radical Islamic views are very noticeable for the people around them, but not everybody considers it necessary to turn to educational officials and law enforcement bodies about this.”
His appeal comes on the heels of warnings by Russian security officials that hundreds of Russian nationals are believed to be fighting alongside Islamic State militants, and after a series of reports about students adopting radical views and seeking to join the terror group.
In one of the most publicized cases, Moscow State University student Varvara Karaulova was detained in Turkey and sent back to Moscow earlier this month after she allegedly tried to cross Turkey's border with Syria. Investigators are treating the young woman as a victim, officials have said.
The number of Russians who have successfully joined the terror group could be up to 2,000 people, according to various estimates, a deputy head of Russia's Security Council, Yevgeny Lukyanov, was cited as saying this week by the newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta.
Moscow is especially concerned about Islamist fighters returning home, with Lukyanov's boss, Security Council chief Nikolai Patrushev, warning in a recent interview that the militants' return will present the “gravest danger.”
Islamist recruitment efforts on Russia's social networks are largely aimed at young people, prompting increased calls for colleges and universities to counteract conversion attempts.
Communist lawmaker Valery Rashkin, a deputy head of the State Duma's ethnic affairs committee, also appealed to the education minister this month to appoint advisers at colleges whose job would be to counter extreme Islamist recruitment efforts, Izvestia reported.
In a country with a substantial Muslim population, Rashkin said the efforts could include inviting Muslim religious leaders to speak at colleges about “traditional Islam,” as opposed to the “hateful nature of the ideas promoted by Islamic fundamentalists,” or showing video footage of murders committed by Islamic State terrorists, Izvestia reported.
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-officials-call-on-schools-colleges-to-fight-brainwashing-by-islamic-extremists/524512.html
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French Authorities Hold Suspect in Beheading and Explosion at Chemical Plant
By AURELIEN BREEDEN and ALISSA J. RUBIN
JUNE 26, 2015
ST.-PRIEST, France — A deliveryman who French security officials say once had links to radical Islamist groups drove his truck into an American-owned chemical plant near Lyon on Friday, set off an explosion and, in a macabre twist, mounted his boss’s severed head on the plant’s gate.
Flags were placed on either side of the gruesome display, French officials said.
The interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, identified the suspect, who was apprehended, as Yassine Salhi, 35, a resident of nearby St.-Priest, a small town outside Lyon, in southeastern France.
Mr. Salhi was known to the employees and was waived in. He parked his truck at the end of an alley and for a few minutes was out of the range of security cameras. Then his truck could be seen speeding toward a hangar on the site, and there was an explosion that destroyed much of the structure, said François Molins, the Paris prosecutor.
Firefighters and emergency workers arrived on the scene within four minutes. As they were assessing the damage and securing the area, they went into a second hangar that held canisters of liquid air, acetone and gas. They found Mr. Salhi trying to open one of the canisters. The firefighters apprehended him and turned him over to the police.
Near Mr. Salhi’s destroyed vehicle they found a decapitated body on the ground with a knife nearby, and on the plant’s gate, the severed head and a cloth with the Muslim declaration of faith written on it: “There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet.”
It is not clear if the victim was killed before being beheaded and driven into the site, or if he was killed on the site when Mr. Salhi was out of the range of the security cameras. Mr. Molins described the victim as a 54-year-old man who lived in the area and who had employed Mr. Salhi in March.
Security officials had identified Mr. Salhi as having connections to Salafists, but surveillance on him was stopped in 2008. Salafists practice a fundamentalist form of Islam. The reason for stopping the surveillance was not immediately clear, but French intelligence officials have been overwhelmed in recent years as they have tried to monitor hundreds of young Muslims who have gone abroad to fight alongside the Islamic State and other groups. Mr. Cazeneuve emphasized that while Mr. Salhi was known to have links to Salafists, he was not believed to have links with terrorist groups.
There was no indication that Mr. Salhi was aligned with the Islamic State. However, after Frenchmen who professed allegiance to the Islamic State and Al Qaeda killed 17 people in attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and on a Jewish grocery store in Paris in January, the authorities here and elsewhere in Europe have grown increasingly concerned that citizens who have gone abroad to fight will return to stage attacks, or that Muslims who never left for jihad will be inspired by appeals over the Internet to act.
The chemical plant was attacked on the same day that terrorist attacks killed at least 38 people in Tunisia and at least 25 in Kuwait. There was immediate speculation that the attacks were part of a coordinated effort, perhaps orchestrated by the Islamic State, to sow mayhem during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Antiterrorism prosecutors in Paris said they had opened an investigation into murder and attempted murder “in an organized group with a terrorist undertaking.” However, given the work connection between Mr. Salhi and the victim, there may have been additional motivations for the attack.
It is similarly unclear why the plant was attacked. Although the initial conjecture was that it was because it was an American company, it seemed that Mr. Salhi’s interest might have been in the explosive substances on the grounds.
Mr. Molins said four people had been arrested in all: Mr. Salhi, his wife, his sister and another person.
Mr. Salhi had moved to the area only recently, according to his neighbors. Everyone interviewed, including his wife, who was reached by telephone by the radio station Europe 1 before the police detained her, said they found it hard to believe he would have been involved in an attack.
In the interview, his wife sounded confused and shocked that her husband had been involved in an attack at the local chemical installation, operated by Air Products.
“What did he want to do in this chemical factory?” she asked, adding that he had gone to work as usual that morning. “We are celebrating Ramadan. We have three children and a normal family life.”
A neighbor, Abdel Baiya, 53, who works at the Édouard-Herriot river port nearby, described Mr. Salhi as “a very normal person, a family man who played with kids out here,” pointing to the patch of grass outside the building.
“In the six months that he has been here, I saw him two, three times,” Mr. Baiya added. “He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who wanted to meet lots of new people.”
The Lyon area, like many urban centers in France, is home to a large number of Muslims. The rector of Lyon’s Grand Mosque said there were 150,000 to 200,000 in the urban area. While a handful of the mosques practice the Salafist form of Islam, the vast majority do not. Another Muslim official in the area said he could count on one hand the number of Salafist mosques.
Mr. Salhi did not attend a mosque in St.-Priest, said an official at the local Muslim organization, the Association for Peace for All. Another Muslim official said Mr. Salhi went to the Salafist-leaning mosque at Vénissieux, a town whose Muslim community has been noted for having more conservative views as well as some residents who have tried to go to Syria.
President François Hollande, who spoke from Brussels, where he was when the news of the attack first broke, urged the country to rally together. “Everybody remembers what happened in our country, and not just in our country,” Mr. Hollande said, referring to the attacks at Charlie Hebdo and at the kosher grocery. He said it was important not to “give in to fear” and not to create “useless divisions.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/world/europe/french-factory-lyon-attack-isis.html
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Tahir-ul-Qadr itells British Muslims to march for peace to show they don't 'quietly condone' terrorism
26 June 2015
The world’s leading Islamic scholar on countering the ideology of Isis today suggest that British Muslims hold a mass march for peace to publicly demonstrate that they do not “quietly condone” terrorism.
Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, a Pakistani theologian who achieved international fame after issuing a fatwa against suicide bomb attacks, said a major display of the community’s commitment to tenets of peace and non-violence – which he insists are central to Islam – would help counter the message of Islamist violence.
That murderous philosophy was in evidence across the world on Friday, with tourists massacred at a beach resort in Tunisia, the suicide bombing of a Shia mosque in Kuwait and a man beheaded in France.
Police officers surround a man (C) suspected to be involved in an attack on a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia June 26, 2015. Police officers surround a man (C) suspected to be involved in an attack on a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia June 26, 2015. But, in a leafy suburb of London, Dr Qadri was plotting a fight back of a most peaceful kind. The scholar, who has received death threats for stating that violence is wrong and Islam is a religion of love and compassion, is on a visit to Britain to promote ideas designed to break the vicious circle of terrorist attacks and Islamophobia.
Dr Qadri told The Independent that he would raise the idea of a march at a meeting of up to 700 imams, community activists, students and other people interested in his ideas in London.
Such a public demonstration would “show that the Muslim community at large, they are for peace, they are against any kind of terrorism, they are not silent, they are vocal and they don’t condone, they condemn it,” he said, echoing David Cameron’s controversial remarks earlier this month that some British Muslim communities “quietly condone” the “poisonous ideology” of Isis.
Dr Qadri said that if the march took place he hoped people of other faiths would make it a display of solidarity between different religions. “If the non-Muslim community also joined that march to show integration it would become more [significant] and the people would see they were together,” he said.
Speaking of the “extremely brutal” terrorist attacks in Tunisia, France and Kuwait, he said: “I condemn it a hundred times and it is the responsibility of every Muslim leader and scholar, every senior Muslim person, to condemn it.
“These are criminals, the enemies of humanity, the enemies of religion, the enemies of morality, the enemies of human values.”
In pictures: 'Isis' French factory attack
He said he respected countries that opposed the death penalty, but called for them to impose the strongest sentence on such terrorists – and said he personally believed they should be executed.
Full report at:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/islamic-scholar-tells-british-muslims-to-march-for-peace-to-show-they-dont-quietly-condone-terrorism-10349178.html
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Tony Abbott says Islamic State 'coming after us' after spate of terror attacks overseas
June 27, 2015
Terror attacks overseas show fundamentalist militants are threatening Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said.
"This illustrates yet again, as far as the Daesh death cult is concerned, they're coming after us," he said in response to recent attacks in France, Tunisia and Kuwait.
"We may not feel like we are at war with them, but they are certainly at war with us."
Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the suicide attack on a Kuwait Shiite mosque, which killed at least 27 people.
On the same day, a man was decapitated in France, while European tourists and locals were shot on a beach in Tunisia.
"It seems one of the other attacks was inspired by Daesh," Mr Abbott said.
"The death cult is regularly admonishing its supporters and sympathisers around the world to kill.
"Regrettably, as we saw in France, all you need for terrorism these days is a knife, a flag, a camera phone and a victim."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Australians have a right to be concerned about the terror attacks overseas.
"It's just deeply concerning to Australians," he said.
"We understand that there's no immediate evidence yet of it being all coordinated yet across four countries."
Full report at:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-27/abbott-condemns-spate-of-terror-attacks/6577786
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Arab World
Al-Azhar Muslim Clerics Slam Attacks on Tunisia, Kuwait and France
June 27, 2015
CAIRO— Muslim clerics condemned three militant attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait and France on Friday that killed dozens of people including holidaymakers.
Al-Azhar, a leading Sunni Muslim institution based in Egypt, said the "heinous" shooting at a Tunisian coastal resort which killed 28 people, mostly Europeans, was a "violation of all religious and humanitarian norms".
In a statement, it also condemned a suicide bombing at a Kuwaiti Shiite mosque that killed at least 25 worshipers in an attack claimed by Daesh (the so-called IS)group.
Al-Azhar, one of the oldest centres of Sunni Muslim learning, also denounced a suspected militant attack in France in which a man was beheaded.
"Al-Azhar calls on the international community to defeat this terrorist group though all available means," it said in a statement referring to Daesh.
The militant group, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq and commands affiliates in several other countries, had called for attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which began more than a week ago.
Full report at:
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20150627248563
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ISIS attack on Syria’s Kobane kills 146
26 June 2015
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobane and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as the second worst massacre carried out by the hardline group in Syria.
Fighting between the Kurdish YPG militia and ISIS fighters who infiltrated the town at the Turkish border on Thursday continued into a second day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group and a Kurdish official said.
A separate ISIS assault on government-held areas of the northeastern city of Hasaka was reported to have forced 60,000 people to flee their homes, the United Nations said, warning as many as 200,000 people may eventually try to flee.
ISIS has a record of conducting large scale killings of civilians in territory it captures in both Iraq and Syria, where it has proclaimed a caliphate to rule over all Muslims according to an ultra-hardline vision of Islam.
The attack on the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobane and the nearby village of Brakh Bootan marked the biggest single massacre of civilians by ISIS in Syria since it killed hundreds of members of the Sunni Sheitaat tribe last year, Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, said.
He said 146 civilians had been killed. Kurdish officials said at least 145 had died.
The assault included at least three suicide car bombs. The dead included the elderly, women and children, he said.
The ISIS fighters were reported to number in the dozens and entered the town in five cars disguised as members of the YPG and Syrian rebel groups.
In their other assault on Friday, ISIS fighters clashed with Syrian government forces in the south of Hasaka for a second day and shells hit areas in the center, the Observatory said.
It appeared that ISIS was also fanning out towards the southeast of the city, which is divided into zones run separately by the Syrian government and a Kurdish administration that oversees the YPG.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/ISIS-attack-on-Syria-s-Kobane-kills-146-.html
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Kurds, Syrian army battle ISIS in Syria’s Hasaka: monitor
27 June 2015
Kurdish forces and the Syrian army fought separate battles with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group around Hasaka city in northeast Syria overnight as the hardline group tried to capture more areas of the major urban center near the Iraqi border, a monitor said on Saturday.
ISIS launched an assault on government-held areas of Hasaka early on Thursday and the United Nations says the violence is estimated to have displaced up to 120,000 people.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground, said the Kurdish YPG militia fought with Islamic State fighters on the outskirts of the Ghwyran neighborhood in Hasaka’s southeast overnight.
Hasaka is divided into areas run separately by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government and Kurdish authorities and has a mixed population of Arabs, Kurds and Christians.
It is important to all sides fighting in an area that sits between ISIS-held territory in Syria and Iraq and which reaches north up to the Turkish border.
The YPG says it does not coordinate with the Syrian army and allied militia, which fought their own battles with Islamic State in the southwestern neighborhood of al-Nashwa and around a security building in the city, the Observatory said.
ISIS is back on the offensive after two weeks of defeats at the hands of Kurdish-led forces, supported by U.S.-led air strikes. This week the Kurds advanced to within 50 km (30 miles) of Raqqa city, the group's de facto capital.
ISIS also attacked the predominantly Kurdish town of Kobani on Thursday, which lies to the northwest of Hasaka on the Turkish border. It is reported to have killed at least 145 people in and around Kobani in what the Observatory has described as one of the worst massacres carried out by Islamic State in Syria.
The YPG has described the attack on Kobani as “a suicide mission” rather than an attempt to capture the town.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/27/Kurds-Syrian-army-battle-ISIS-in-Syria-s-Hasaka-monitor.html
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Kuwait probes suspects linked to mosque attack
27 June 2015
Kuwait began interrogating suspects linked to a deadly suicide attack on a Shiite mosque that claimed the lives of 27 people in the Gulf state’s capital, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.
An ISIS statement posted on social media earlier on Saturday identified the bomber as Abu Suleiman al-Muwahed and said the target was a “temple of the rejectionists” - a term used by the Islamist militant group to refer to Shiite Muslims - and said dozens were killed or wounded.
The bomb was reportedly detonated as worshippers kneeled on the ground halfway through the weekly Friday prayers at the Imam Sadiq Mosque, according to Al Arabiya.
The GCC Secretary General Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani said the Kuwait attack was a “horrifying crime” and against “Islamic values.”
Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah said on Friday that a suicide bombing at a Shiite Muslim mosque in the
Friday’s attack is the first such bombing targeting Kuwaiti Shiites, who make up around one-third of the country’s native population of 1.3 million people.
“This incident targets our internal front, our national unity,” Sheikh Jaber told Reuters after visiting the wounded at the Emiri hospital. “But this is too difficult for them and we are much stronger than that.”
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/27/Kuwait-interrogates-suspects-linked-to-deadly-suicide-attack.html
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Saudi-led jets bomb Yemen as Hadi govt rejects new talks
27 June 2015
Air strikes by Saudi-led forces hit military bases across Yemen on Friday, residents told Reuters, and the country's foreign minister was quoted as saying there was no need to convene another peace summit after the first round of talks failed.
Talks in Geneva last week ended without a resolution to the conflict, which has claimed more than 2,800 lives, as the Iran-allied Houthi militia and Saudi-backed President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi refused to back down.
Ten people were killed in air raids in Jawf, a northern province bordering Saudi Arabia, residents said. Fighter jets also struck the capital Sanaa, the Houthis' northern stronghold in Saada, as well as the provinces of Marib, Shabwa, Bayda and Aden in the centre and south of the country.
Hadi's foreign minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla said his government had no interest in organizing a new meeting in Geneva, Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday, and would instead work with all parties to implement United Nations Security Council resolution 2216.
The Houthis reject that resolution, which calls for them to withdraw from cities under their control, return seized arms and allow Hadi to return from his Riyadh exile.
Three months after an Arab coalition began air raids in support of Hadi on March 26, the Houthis and allied military units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh remain the dominant force on the ground, and have stepped up attacks on Saudi border posts in recent weeks.
Houthi fighters fired artillery into Saudi Arabia on Thursday, killing three Saudi soldiers and one from the United Arab Emirates, a member of the coalition.
U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed will hold talks in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the coming days on a draft peace proposal with the aim of reaching a preliminary agreement with Houthi fighters, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday.
In a possible blow for peace hopes, Yemen's Houthi-run state news agency Saba reported that Saudi-led forces had prevented an Omani aircraft with Yemeni delegates returning home from the Geneva peace talks from landing on Friday in Sanaa.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/27/Saudi-led-jets-bomb-Yemen-as-Hadi-government-rejects-new-talks.html
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Iraq F-16 pilot killed in crash on U.S. training mission
26 June 2015
Iraqi pilot Rasid Mohammed Sadiq was killed when his F-16 fighter plane crashed during a training mission in the United States, the Iraqi defense ministry said Friday.
Search teams found the body of Sadiq, a brigadier, at the site of the crash in the state of Arizona, said a statement mourning the death.
The accident, which took place Wednesday, happened during an aerial refueling maneuver, a U.S. defense official said.
The U.S. embassy in Baghdad said Sadiq “was in the final days of his training, and he was looking forward to returning to his home.”
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/Iraq-F-16-pilot-killed-in-crash-on-U-S-training-mission-.html
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Bahraini protesters demand release of Sheikh Salman
Jun 27, 2015
Bahraini protesters have once again taken to the streets to express their resentment over the continued detention of the Persian Gulf kingdom’s leading opposition figure and Shia cleric Sheikh Ali Salman.
Demonstrators held a rally in the northwestern village of Diraz, situated about 12 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of the capital, Manama, following Friday prayers, demanding the release of Salman, who heads Bahrain’s main opposition bloc al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.
The marchers, carrying portraits of Salman and Bahrain’s national flags, also censured a recent four-year jail term against the 49-year-old al-Wefaq leader as politically tainted, stressing that the Bahraini nation will never bow to injustice and tyranny, and protesters will press ahead with their drive to restore the rights of people.
Similar demonstrations were also staged in other parts of Bahrain, including Bilad al-Qadeem suburb of the capital, Manama, where people censured the latest verdict against Salman, calling for his freedom.
Bahraini protesters hold placards portraying Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of the opposition bloc al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, and Bahrain’s national flags during a demonstration against his arrest in the village of Diraz, Bahrain, on June 26, 2015.
Moreover, Bahraini protesters held rallies in the villages of Nuwaidrat, Shahrkan and Malkiya as well as Shakhoreh neighborhood on the outskirts of the capital to protest the torture of prisoners at Al Khalifa regime’s detention facilities.
The demonstrators hurled petrol bombs at regime forces, with the latter firing tear gas canisters and bird shots.
There are reports that Bahraini security forces detained at least 10 local residents in Shahrkan.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.in/Detail/2015/06/27/417679/Bahrain-protest-opposition-Sheikh-Salman-release
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Africa
Al-Shabaab kills dozens of African Union troops at base in Somalia
26 June 2015
Dozens of soldiers have been killed after Al-Shabaab overran an African Union base in Somalia, according to witnesses.
People in the village of Lego, about 62 miles north-west of the capital Mogadishu, described intense fighting on Friday which left corpses strewn on the ground. Witnesses said there were as many as 50 bodies, some of which had been decapitated, but this could not be confirmed.
Alinur Mohamed, a local elder, said: “The fighting was the heaviest ever around this area. Al-Shabaab took full control of the base and killed many soldiers.”
The military outpost had been manned by about 100 Burundian soldiers, part of the 22,000-strong African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom).
Residents said the dawn raid began when a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives into the entrance of the base, before dozens of militants armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades unleashed their assault.
Another elder, Ahmed Bulle, said Al-Shabaab fighters were later seen looting the base and loading supplies on to trucks.
He said: “Al-Shabaab took control of the area completely – the death toll could be more than 50. There are many dead bodies, most of them in military uniforms.”
Earlier on Friday, Amisom confirmed the attack but gave no further details as to possible casualties.
Full report at:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/26/al-shabaab-attacks-african-union-base-somalia-scores-killed
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ISIS claims Tunisia beach resort massacre
27 June 2015
ISIS on Saturday claimed responsibility for a massacre in a Tunisian seaside resort that left 39 dead in the worst attack in the country's recent history.
In a statement released on Twitter, the jihadists said the gunman, who they identified as Abu Yahya al-Qayrawani, was a "solider of the caliphate" and most of those killed were "subjects of states that make up the crusader alliance fighting the state of the caliphate".
The body of a tourist shot dead by a gunman lies near a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia June 26, 2015. Reuters
"Our brother, the soldier of the Caliphate, Abu Yihya al-Kairouni, reached his target the Imperial hotel despite the security measures," the statement said. It said he had attacked a "bordel" and killed 40 "infidels.”
Most of those killed in the massacre were British, the Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said on Saturday.
Police officers control the crowd (rear) while surrounding a man (front C) suspected to be involved in opening fire on a beachside hotel in Sousse, Tunisia, as a woman reacts(R), June 26, 2015. Reuters
"The majority are British," he told a news conference. "After come the Germans, then the Belgians and then other nationalities," he said, adding that there were also French among the victims.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/27/ISIS-claims-Tunisian-beach-massacre.html
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U.N. seeks ‘message of hope’ from Libya rivals
27 June 2015
U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon called for “a message of hope” as rival Libyan groups met in Morocco on Friday with a view to signing a deal on a unity government.
He made the appeal following the “horrific attacks” that occurred on Friday including in Sousse in Libya’s neighbor Tunisia.
Libya’s warring factions arrived Thursday in Morocco for a fresh round of UN-brokered peace talks aimed at ending months of fighting in the stricken North African state.
“I hope we can work in the coming days to find a peace agreement that will allow a solution for Libya and will also send an important message of hope,” Leon told reporters.
“All the Libyan representatives and those from the international community want to send a message of solidarity to the four countries that have suffered,” he added, referring to bloody attacks Friday in Tunisia, Kuwait, Somalia and France.
“These are horrific attacks, and Libya knows such attacks every day. We have to end this situation, we must find an agreement,” the Spanish diplomat said.
Oil-rich Libya has rival governments and parliaments, and jihadist groups and militants have seized on the chaos to make strategic gains.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/27/U-N-seeks-message-of-hope-from-Libya-rivals.html
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Tunisia to close 80 mosques after shooting attack
Jun 27, 2015
Tunisia has decided to close 80 mosques that are operating outside the government’s control, a day after a terrorist attack killed dozens in the African country.
“All 80 mosques will close within a week,” Tunisian Prime Minister Habib al-Essid announced on Saturday, adding that Tunisians must “coordinate and help” the government as confronting terrorism is a national duty.
“No mosque that does not conform to the law will be tolerated,” said the premier.
The move comes after a gunman opened fire and killed 38 people, mostly foreign tourists on vacation in the resort city of Sousse situated on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the country’s north.
Security forces reportedly shot one of the two attackers dead, while the other managed to flee.
Tunisian medics stand next to the body of a tourist following a shooting attack in the resort town of Sousse, a popular tourist destination 140 kilometers (90 miles) south of Tunis on June 26, 2015. (© AFP)
Friday’s attack was claimed by the ISIL terrorist group, which is also wreaking havoc in other parts of the world, mainly in Iraq and Syria.
This is the second attack that targeted foreign tourists in Tunisia this year. In March, a coordinated attack by several gunmen killed 21 people, mostly European nationals, who were visiting a museum in Tunis.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.in/Detail/2015/06/27/417689/Tunisia-Habib-alEssid-ISIL-Kuwait-France-
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Shabab militants ‘overrun’ AU base
June 27, 2015
MOGADISHU — Al Shabab militants claimed to have overrun an African Union army base in a village in southern Somalia on Friday, in the latest attack during the insurgents’ annual Ramadan fighting season.
The military outpost in Lego village, 100 kms (62 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu, is manned by Burundian soldiers who are part of the 22,000 strong African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
Full report at:
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20150627248568
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Boko Haram kills 8,239 in two years –Report
JUNE 27, 2015
The United States State Department has said that Boko Haram killed the most number of people in 2013 and 2014 when compared with other terrorist groups in the world.
The State Department, in a recent report, compiled a list of the world’s deadliest terrorist groups, with the total fatalities that they caused in 2013 and 2014.
The Boko Haram group killed the highest number of people in the period.
The Boko Haram group has killed thousands and displaced millions of Nigerians as a result of its activities in the North-Eastern part of the country.
The report said the Boko Haram group caused about 8,239 deaths in the period; the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq killed about 8,038 people. The Taliban group in Afghanistan caused 5,848 deaths.
Full report at:
http://www.punchng.com/news/boko-haram-kills-8239-in-two-years-report/
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India
Muslim Pilot Takes Hindu Kids, Ayush and Prarthana under Wing
Abhinav Garg
Jun 27, 2015
NEW DELHI: In a city where police and judges often come across brutal crimes done in the name of property or inheritance, a Muslim couple's bid to raise two Hindu orphans has earned praise from the Delhi high court. Moved by what it termed a "noble endeavour", the HC recently appointed Mohd Shahnawaz Zaheer, a commercial pilot, as the guardian of twins Ayush and Prarthana under the Hindu Minority & Guardianship Act.
In his landmark order allowing cross-religion guardianship, Justice Najmi Waziri also approved a Trust set up in the name of the siblings, where the Indian Commercial Pilots Association and other well-wishers have contributed over Rs 1 Crore. By virtue, the entire estate and remaining wealth of the dead parents will automatically go to the Trust and not to the guardian.
When TOI visited the Zaheer household earlier this week, it found the twins bonding well with the family. Zaheer said, "The HC order streamlined everything to allow the twins to integrate with us. I have a three-storey house and my in-laws and parents live with me. Ayush and Prarthana are the cynosure of their eyes. Since the court appointed me as guardian, now they will get a passport and can travel abroad with us."
Zaheer also disclosed how the court has entrusted one Arun Saini, a willing neighbour, to make sure the children receive Hindu religious instructions and can visit temple for prayers. "I don't want them to ever convert. They will be raised as Hindus," he said.
TRUE FRIEND: Zaheer's enlarged family. Aayush and Prarthana are at the front.
The twins lost their airhostess mother and pilot father within a year's time in 2012 and were at the mercy of the family driver who took care of their basic needs. Though their father Praveen Dayal extracted a promise from Zaheer that he will take care of the twins, the latter remained unsure as cousins and distant relatives of Dayals allegedly laid claim to bank accounts and family property.
A hectic flying schedule kept Zaheer busy till he got a call from the sobbing kids complaining of maltreatment. Zaheer then filed a suit under the Guardianship Act, urging the court to give legal approval to his role as a guardian.
In his plea, Zaheer informed HC that during the critical phase of his illness, Praveen Dayal requested him to take care of the children. He also placed on record a statement by Dayal's brother saying he has full faith in Zaheer for discharging the duty of guardianship of the children. With their maternal uncle and grandmother also settled abroad and expressing helplessness, the twins had nowhere to turn to, Zaheer pointed out.
"Poets and writers of different literatures have elegantly articulated and eulogized the principle of foster care and guardianship amongst the foremost and finest human duties. The essence of human endeavour is caring for innocent lives," Justice Waziri observed, quoting poets Nida Fazli and Javed Akhtar to stress that "taking care of orphaned children who are in urgent need of foster care and the protection of their interests is amongst the noblest of human endeavours."
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Muslim-pilot-takes-Hindu-kids-under-wing/articleshow/47837030.cms
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India-Pakistan peaceniks take to video chats to bring gen next together
Yudhvir Rana,TNN | Jun 27, 2015
AMRITSAR: Leaving aside hostilities and self-created fallacies by the governments of India and Pakistan, a band of peaceniks divided by the Radcliffe Line are keeping the younger generation of both the countries engaged in understanding each other through video-conferencing.
Convener of Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an Indo-Pak friendship initiative of India-based Mission Bhartiyam and Pakistan's The Catalyst, Ravi Nitesh told TOI on Friday that Indian youth activists, including Amrita Middey, Devika Mittal and Madhavi Bansal, addressed a gathering of Karachi-based 40 students in the 13-15 years age group through video-conferencing.
"The idea is to counter the stereotypes and misconceptions through a meaningful interaction with youths of either country," he said. During the interaction, Ravi said, Pakistan students were curious to know about Indian culture.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-Pakistan-peaceniks-take-to-video-chats-to-bring-gen-next-together/articleshow/47838013.cms
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What Is Ramadan and Why Do Muslims Fast All Day?
27th June 2015
DUBAI: Millions of Muslims around the world will mark the start of Ramadan on Thursday, a month of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts. Here's a look at some questions and answers about Islam's holiest month:
WHY DO MUSLIMS FAST?
The fast is intended to bring the faithful closer to God and to remind them of the suffering of those less fortunate. Muslims often donate to charities during the month and feed the hungry.
Fasting is an exercise in self-restraint. It's seen as a way to physically and spiritually detoxify by kicking impulses like morning coffee, smoking and midday snacking.
Ramadan is a time to detach from worldly pleasures and focus on one's prayers. Many Muslims dress more conservatively during Ramadan and spend more time at the mosque than at any other time of the year.
Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars of Islam, along with the Muslim declaration of faith, daily prayer, charity, and performing the hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.
HOW DO MUSLIMS FAST?
Observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking from dawn to dusk for the entire month of Ramadan, with a single sip of water or a puff of a cigarette considered enough to invalidate the fast.
Muslim scholars say it's not enough to just avoid food and drinks during the day, though. Spouses must abstain from sexual intercourse during the day, and Muslims should not engage in road rage, cursing, fighting or gossiping.
Muslims are also encouraged to observe the five daily prayers on time and to use their downtime just before breaking their fast at sunset to recite Quran and intensify remembrance of God.
To prepare for the fast, Muslims eat what is commonly called "suhoor," a pre-dawn meal of power foods to get them through the day.
HOW DO MUSLIMS BREAK THEIR FAST?
Muslims traditionally break their fast like the Prophet Muhammad did some 1,400 years ago, with a sip of water and some dates at sunset. That first sip of water is by far the most anticipated moment of the day.
After a sunset prayer, a large feast known as "iftar" is shared with family and friends. Iftar is a social event as much as it is a gastronomical adventure. Across the Arab world, juices made from apricots are a staple at Ramadan iftars. In South Asia and Turkey, yogurt-based drinks are popular.
Across the Muslim world, mosques and aid organizations set up tents and tables for the public Full report at:
Ramadan. Families usually spend the day at parks and eating — now during the day.
http://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/spirituality/What-Is-Ramadan-and-Why-Do-Muslims-Fast-All-Day/2015/06/27/article2888035.ece
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Mideast
Vatican signs first treaty with 'State of Palestine'
26 June 2015
The Vatican signed its first treaty with the “State of Palestine” on Friday, calling for “courageous decisions” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and backing a two-state solution.
The treaty, which made official the Vatican’s de facto recognition of Palestine since 2012, angered Israel, which called it “a hasty step (that) damages the prospects for advancing a peace agreement.”
Israel also said it could have implications on its future diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
The accord, which concerns the Catholic Church’s activities in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, also confirmed the Vatican’s increasingly proactive role in foreign policy under Pope Francis. Last year, it brokered the historic resumption of ties between the United States and Cuba.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister, said at the signing that he hoped it could be a “stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues to cause suffering for both parties.”
He called for peace negotiations held directly between Israelis and Palestinians to resume and lead to a two-state solution. “This certainly requires courageous decisions, but it will also offer a major contribution to peace and stability in the region,” he said.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Malki said he hoped it would help “recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, freedom and dignity in an independent state of their own, free from the shackles of occupation.”
The Vatican is particularly keen to have a greater diplomatic role in the Middle East, from where many Christians have fled because of conflicts in Syria, Iraq and other countries.
There are about 100,000 Catholics of the Roman and Greek Melkite rites in Israel and the Palestinian territories, most of them Palestinians.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/Vatican-signs-first-treaty-with-State-of-Palestine-backs-two-state-solution.html
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Volunteer Forces Kill 4 Jeish Al-Adl Terrorists in South-eastern Iran
Jun 26, 2015
The clashes between the volunteer forces and terrorists erupted when the terrorists tried to penetrate into Askan region near the border with Pakistan, leaving at least 4 terrorists dead and many others injured.
Other terrorists had to flee to Pakistan after they sustained heavy casualties.
In April, Commander of the Iranian Border Guards Brigadier General Qassem Rezayee urged Pakistan to stop terrorists' cross-border attacks from its soil and adopt practical measures in tightening their lax security control over borders with Iran.
"The border guards of this (Eastern) region are in fact in charge of security of both Iran and Pakistan borders, but unfortunately we are facing the negligence of the Pakistani side," General Rezayee said.
He reported over 70 cases of border clashes with the terrorists and drug traffickers last year, and said, "Whenever these clashes happen Pakistan is to blame for them."
The bordering areas between Iran and Pakistan have witnessed some insecurities in recent years.
Also in April, eight Iranian border guards were killed in a terrorist attack in the Southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan near the border with Pakistan.
Jeish al-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack.
Jeish al-Adl claimed on its tweeter page that its members had attacked the cars carrying the Iranian border guards in the Southeastern town of Negur and killed 8 of them when clashes broke out as they were trying to cross the Iranian border from neighboring Pakistan.
The terrorist group also claimed that none of its members have been wounded or killed during the clashes, while the Iranian officials had earlier announced the death of three terrorists during the attack.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940405000781
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Hundreds of Saudi Soldiers, Commander Join Yemeni Forces
Jun 26, 2015
"The latest blow at the Al Saud came as Hashem al-Ahmar, artillery commander of the Saudi army in al-Wadia border crossing and 300 soldiers joined the Yemeni army and the revolutionary forces," the Middle East Panorama website quoted Head of Yemen's Free Army Nasser bin Yahya al-Orujli as saying on Friday.
He noted that the Saudi regime is still in a difficult situation and the Saudi officials know it quite well.
Last Wednesday, tribal forces and activists in Saudi Arabia's Najran region formed a military and political opposition movement to the Saudi regime, called "Ahrar al-Najran" after the region declared earlier this month that it has separated from Saudi Arabia and joined Yemen in the war on Riyadh.
Activist and movement member, Abu Bakr Abi Ahmad al-Salami, told FNA that "all tribes of the region are members of the Ahrar al-Najran Movement".
He said the youths and political activists in Najran have demanded the "Yemeni popular forces and revolutionary committees, brothers, and the neighboring lands to provide military training for the younger generation of this region".
Al-Salami underlined the movement tough stance against the al-Saud regime, saying, "Saudi Arabia wrongfully imagines that it is the only defender of Islam, but they should know that we are the defenders of Islam and the two holy mosques, and we will rush to defend the two mosques (in Mecca and Medina) if necessary."
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940405000535
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Gunmen kill Houthi chief in Sanaa
26 June 2015
Gunmen have shot dead a Houthi militia commander in the Yemeni capital, as the militia came under attack elsewhere in the country, an official and tribal sources said Friday.
The men, on a motorbike, attacked low-ranking officer Ibrahim Hassan al-Sharfi near his Sanaa home late Thursday before they fled.
The Houthis’ Al-Masirah television confirmed the attack.
The militia group has been under fire from a Saudi-led air campaign that began in March, as they are locked in battle with pro-government fighters, Sunni tribesmen and southern separatists.
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group have also carried out several deadly attacks against the rebels.
Tribal sources told AFP gunmen also assaulted a Houthi checkpoint north of Sanaa with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades, killing several people late Thursday.
In the Shiite-populated Dhammar province, south of Sanaa, pro-government fighters attacked Houthi headquarters, killing five, tribal sources said.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes against a rebel-held army camp in the central city of Baida and hit their positions in oil-rich Marib province in Yemen’s east, witnesses said.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/26/Gunmen-kill-Houthi-rebel-chief-in-Sanaa.html
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Senior Turkish Lawmaker Confirms Ankara's Role in ISIL's Penetration into Kobani
Jun 26, 2015
"Once again the Turkish officials helped the ISIL terrorists to enter Kobani," Gaziantep MP Mehmet Shekar revealed on Friday.
He noted that the ISIL terrorists had reentered Kobani on seven vehicles, and said, "It is a shame that Turkey paves the grounds for the infiltration of ISIL terrorists to its neighboring country.
The Syrian TV reported on Thursday that the ISIL managed to return to Kobani through Turkey.
The report said that the terrorists reentered the Kurdish city through coordination with the Turkish intelligence-security apparatus.
The conflicts between the Kurdish forces of Kobani along with other Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the ISIL terrorists started again on Thursday morning.
The ISIL was forced out of Kobani and then the Kurdish peshmerga forces left the key Syrian town in April following a half-year deployment to fight terrorists.
The peshmerga, who had first deployed to Kobani in late October last year, successfully helped defeat the ISIL terrorists in the battle for the strategic town.
Syria has been grappling with a deadly crisis since March 2011. The violence fuelled by Takfiri groups has so far claimed the lives of over 200,000 people, according to reports. New figures show that over 76,000 people, including thousands of children, lost their lives in Syria last year.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940405000732
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Yemeni Forces Fire over 100 Missiles at Saudi Arabia's Najran, Jazan
26, 2015
The sources told the FNA that the Yemeni forces targeted al-Doud military base in Najran and its adjacent bases with over 12 missiles and further hit Nahougha military base with over eight missiles.
In the meantime, al-Mathab military base in the nearby areas of Shakhr al-Khouba in Jazan was raided by at least 12 missiles and tens of artillery shells which resulted in the destruction of the Saudi soldiers' shelters.
The Yemeni forces and popular committees also targeted Jabal al-Dhakhan and al-Qa'am mililitary bases in Zahran with 20 and 36 missiles respectively.
The sources added that al-Malhama, al-baida, and Sala'a regions were also targeted with the Yemeni army's Katusha missiles, mentioning that several vehicles were also destroyed in the al-Amoud military base too.
On Thursday, three Saudi soldiers and one trooper from the UAE were killed after Yemeni troops launched a rocket attack against Saudi border areas.
The Saudi authorities confirmed on Thursday that Sergeant Farhan Ahmad al-Haqvi and Private First Class Ahmed Musa Motmi were killed after Yemeni troops fired missiles into the Southwestern region of Jizan.
The attacks also claimed the life of Private First Class Ali Saeed al-Zahrani from frontier corps in the monarchy's Southwestern Asir region.
Also on Thursday, military officials of the United Arab Emirate confirmed the death of Officer Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940405000323
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Turkey won’t allow Kurdish state in north Syria: Edogan
Jun 27, 2015
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Syrian Kurds of trying to establish a state in the crisis-hit country’s north, saying Ankara will leave no stone unturned to prevent such an establishment near its borders.
Erdogan vowed Friday that Turkey “will never allow the establishment of a state in Syria’s north and our south. We will continue our fight in this regard no matter what it costs,” Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman reported.
The Turkish premier also accused Kurds of having undertaken “the operation to change the demographic structure of the region, stressing, “We will not turn a blind eye to this.”
The paper wrote that Ankara was “uncomfortable” with the gains made by Syrian Kurdish forces against ISIL Takfiris, which has been leading an unrelenting campaign of bloodshed against the minority in the militancy-afflicted Arab country.
Erdogan’s remarks come as Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units, known as the YPG, have taken up arms to defend the northern Syrian border town of Kobani in the face of fresh infiltration by ISIL terrorists in recent days.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.in/Detail/2015/06/27/417702/Turkey-Syria-YPG-Erdogan-Kobani-ISIL-Tal-Abyad
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Yemeni Army, Popular Forces Take Control over Parts of Saudi Bases in Southern Borders
Jun 26, 2015
The sources told the FNA that the country's army men and popular forces broke into the Saudi frontlines and entered several military bases near the border with Yemen.
The sources have not yet commented on the possible death toll and casualties the Saudis suffered after their defeat in defending the military bases.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 93 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940405000213
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Yemeni govt rejects new talks
June 27, 2015
SANAA: Air strikes by Saudi-led forces hit military bases across Yemen on Friday, and the country’s foreign minister was quoted as saying there was no need to convene another peace summit after the first round of talks failed.
Talks in Geneva last week ended without a resolution to the conflict, which has claimed more than 2,800 lives, as the Iran-allied Houthi movement and Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi refused to back down.
Ten people were killed in air raids in Jawf, a northern province bordering Saudi Arabia, residents said. Fighter jets also struck the capital Sanaa, the Houthis’ northern stronghold in Saada, as well as the provinces of Marib, Shabwa, Bayda and Aden in the centre and south of the country.
Mr Hadi’s Foreign Minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla said his government had no interest in organising a new meeting in Geneva, Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday, and would instead work with all parties to implement United Nations Security Council resolution 2216.
The Houthis reject that resolution, which calls for them to withdraw from cities under their control, return seized arms and allow Mr Hadi to return from his Riyadh exile.
Three months after an Arab coalition began air raids in support of Mr Hadi on March 26, the Houthis and allied military units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh remain the dominant force on the ground, and have stepped up attacks on Saudi border posts in recent weeks.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190693/yemeni-govt-rejects-new-talks
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Kerry arrives in Vienna seeking to seal Iran deal
27 June 2015
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived late Friday in Vienna seeking to wrap up a nearly two-year quest for a historic deal to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Undaunted by having to walk with crutches after breaking his leg last month, Kerry and his team were preparing to return to the negotiations on Saturday with a deadline for a deal just four days away.
Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will sit down in the Austrian capital ahead of Tuesday’s self-imposed deadline, which many officials expect to slip.
Significant gaps remain, notably over the sequencing of economic sanctions relief for Iran and the nature of monitoring mechanisms to ensure Tehran does not cheat on any agreement.
“The next few days will be extremely difficult,” a senior Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity, adding that the talks may slide at least two or three days past the deadline.
Senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi told Iranian reporters that the current negotiations were a “slow and difficult process.”
In addition to Iran and the United States, the talks include Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. Foreign ministers from all the nations are expected in Vienna in the coming days to “check in” on the progress of negotiations.
Officials close to the talks say they have yet to agree on the speed and scope of lifting sanctions, how Iran will reduce its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium, the future extent of Tehran’s enrichment-centrifuge research and development program, and access for United Nations inspectors to military and other sites, as well as U.N. access to Iranian nuclear scientists.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/06/27/Kerry-arrives-in-Vienna-seeking-to-seal-Iran-nuclear-deal.html
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Spokeswoman Raps US Biased Report on Human Rights in Iran
Jun 26, 2015
Afkham's remarks came in reaction to a recent report by the US State Department for the year 2014 where it accused Iran among some other countries of "human rights violation".
"This report has been prepared while Iranian President (Hassan Rouhani), who has been elected with over 73 percent of people's turnout, has presented the citizenship rights charter for the protection of the Iranian nation's rights to undergo nationwide dialogue in a move to fulfill his campaign promise… ," Afkham said.
She noted that the report comes while the highest number of protests by US citizens of color and violations of their rights has taken place in the same year and the US regional allies have committed the highest number of crimes against their nations in the same year.
"The numerous instances of human rights violations in the US, including racism, widespread discriminations against the African-Americans, growing rise in fight against Islam and religious minorities, discrimination against refugees, uncontrolled violence of the US police against US citizens, unconditional support of the US for the Zionist regime's crimes in the region and … have led to protests by different international bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council, and hence the mentioned concerns in this report are not credible to the addressees," Afkham added.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940405000759
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Deputy FM: Iran, World Powers Make More Progress in Final Deal's Main Text than Annexes
Jun 26, 2015
“As you know, there is a main text and several annexes; work on each of these has proceeded on different percentages although there has been more progress on the main text," Araqchi, also Iran's senior negotiator in talks with the world powers, told reporters in Vienna on Friday.
He underlined that drafting the annexes is a more difficult process because it needs going more into details.
Asked about the reports claiming that 90 percent of the text of the possible deal has been completed, Araqchi said, "No figures and percentages can be provided at this time."
The Iranian deputy foreign minister, meantime, said that bilateral and multilateral meetings are constantly being held by the negotiating sides in the Austrian capital.
He pointed to the pace of the negotiations, and said, "All in all, things are progressing hard and slowly."
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif underlined Tehran's determination to continue nuclear talks with the six major world powers to reach a permanent agreement before the July 1 deadline, and called on the other side, specially the US, to show the same resolve.
“The US will have lost a major opportunity, probably unique. But, for us, our population is accustomed to making necessary sacrifices to preserve its dignity and its rights,” Zarif told the New Yorker.
“It’s not about nationalism or chauvinism. It’s simply about having historical depth. Several years are a brief period in the history of a country with millennia as its depth,” he further added.
If the diplomacy fails, Zarif went on to say, “It won’t be the end of the world.”
On Tuesday, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said Tehran will neither agree with a 10-year-long restriction on its nuclear activities nor IAEA verification of its undertakings as acceptable terms for a deal with the world powers.
"The Americans are seeking to destroy Iran's nuclear industry and on the opposite side everyone in Iran, including me myself, the government, the parliament, the judiciary, the security and military bodies and all other bodies, are after a good agreement, that is a fair, just and honorable deal in line with Iran's interests, while stressing on (the country's) redlines," the Supreme Leader said, addressing a meeting with heads of the three branches of power and senior state and military officials, where he elaborated on Iran's redlines and policies in the nuclear talks in explicit words.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940405000682
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What does the Turkey-Qatar deal mean for Arab conflicts?
Strategic alliance
June 27, 2015
THE military agreement signed by Turkey and Qatar in December, whose details became public this month, has symbolic and material implications for security in the Gulf region.
Some experts say the impetus behind the agreement were the conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, as well as the rise of Daesh (the so-called IS) group.
However, others say unforeseen challenges may arise for Turkish soldiers deployed on Qatari territory.
The two countries also agreed to exchange operational training experiences, cooperate in the defense industry and carry out joint military exercises.
Turkey and Qatar will be able to use each other’s ports, airports, air space and military facilities, as well as share intelligence.
They will also further their counter-terrorism cooperation. “Any dispute that may occur during the implementation phase or in interpretation of this agreement shall be settled through consultations and negotiations between the parties.
They shall not apply to any national or international tribunal or third party,” says the 10-year agreement.
Metin Gurcan, a security policy researcher at Ankara’s Bilkent University and a former special-forces officer, said the agreement was spurred by the need to balance Iranian assertiveness in the Gulf, as well as China’s growing role in the Middle East.
“This military alliance will enable Qatar to boost its defense industry capacity and enhance its military experience, while diversifying its military partners in the region,“ Gurcan told Al Arabiya News.
Turkish ambitions
Experts say this move is consistent with Turkey’s ambitions to become a regional power using soft power such as diplomacy, along with hard power such as its military.
“The return of Turkish soldiers to Qatar, which it evacuated on Aug. 19, 1915, after one century carries a significant symbolic meaning.
However, the Turkish military takes these strategic steps by rigorously considering domestic and international norms,” Gurcan said.
He added that the last couple of years have seen more Gulf students educated in Turkish military schools, indicating the rising regional prestige of the Turkish army.
Qatar observed on June 18 the two-day Anatolian Eagle air exercise in Turkey’s Konya airbase, with the involvement of land, sea and air forces from Turkey, the United States, Germany, Britain, Spain, Pakistan and NATO.
The aim of the exercise was to evaluate countries’ war-readiness and expand multinational cooperation.
“If you add a security component to the political relations, the alliance will become longer-term... but you should avoid being trapped into local politics and sectarian conflicts,” Gurcan said.
Full report at:
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20150627248553
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South Asia
37 Militants Killed In Afghan Military Operations
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sat Jun 27 2015
37 militants have been killed in newest military operations in eight provinces of the country, the Ministry of Interior announced on Saturday.
According to a statement released by the ministry the militants were killed in Ghazni Takhar, Kunduz, Faryab, Badakhshan, Sar-e-Pul, Helmand and Oruzgan provinces in past 24 hours.
21 other militants were wounded and two arrested in these operations,
Afghan security forces defused 12 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) placed by militants, the statement adds.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/37-militants-killed-in-newest-military-operations-3552
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At Least 12 Police Martyred As Afghanistan Retakes Control of a District in Nooristan
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sat Jun 27 2015,
At least 12 policemen have embraced martyrdom during an attack of Taliban militants on Want Waigal District of eastern Nooristan province.
The district was briefly occupied by Taliban insurgents before government retook the control of it on Friday.
Hafiz Abdul Qayoum, the acting governor of Nooristan province said that Taliban occupied the district for few hours on Friday but government retook the control of it after Afghan National Army backed by Air Force arrived in the area.
The attack was launched on Thursday and Taliban were able to take the control of Want Waigal District by Friday morning.
Hafiz Abdul Qayoum said that 18 policemen have embraced martyrdom and 25 others wounded in the attack.
Abdul Qayoum further said that civilians were also harmed by Taliban during the attack. He said Taliban burned eight civilian homes in the area and their rocket wounded three civilians.
About the casualties of Taliban, Abdul Qayoum said that at least 20 Taliban have been killed and several others wounded.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/at-least-12-police-martyred-as-government-retakes-control-of-want-waigal-district-in-nooristan-3550
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Bangladesh more peaceful than India, Pakistan
June 27, 2015
Bangladesh has been ranked the third most peaceful country in South Asia, faring better than India and Pakistan in the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2015.
Published by the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP), the index puts Bangladesh on the 84th spot globally, up from the 98th in last year's GPI.
Having registered a gain in peaceful atmosphere inside the country, Bangladesh enjoys a "medium state of peace", according to the ninth edition of the report published recently.
The IEP is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit think tank dedicated to shifting the world's focus to peace as a positive, achievable, and tangible measure of human well-being and progress. It has offices in Sydney, New York and Mexico City.
Iceland has retained its place as the most peaceful country in the world, followed by Denmark and Austria, while war-ravaged Syria remained at the bottom of the rankings.
The report ranked 162 nations according to 23 indicators that gauge the absence of violence or the fear of violence. The factors include level of violence and crime, involvement in conflicts and degree of militarisation.
The United States is in the bottom half of the index, thanks to the level of militarisation, homicides and fear of violence persisting in the country. It's ranked 94th, 10 spots behind Bangladesh.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/bangladesh-more-peaceful-india-pakistan-103660
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Landmine explosion claimed two lives in Laghman
By ZABIHULLAH MOOSAKHAIL - Sat Jun 27 2015
Two people have lost lives in a bomb explosion in eastern Laghman province.
The planted bomb exploded on a police vehicle in Islamabad Bazaar area of Alishang District yesterday afternoon.
Sarhadi Zwak, spokesman for the governor of Laghman province said that two people lost lives and another wounded in the blast.
Those preyed to the explosion are a policeman and a civilian.
No group had claimed responsibility for the explosion by the time this report was filed but most of the attack on security forces has been carried out by Taliban militants in the past.
Alishang district is one of the restive districts in Laghman province where armed anti-government elements are operating in most of its remote areas.
http://www.khaama.com/landmine-explosion-claimed-two-lives-in-laghman-3557
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Group of Taliban militants detained in Nimroz
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sat Jun 27 2015
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency has detained five insurgents belonging to Taliban group in southwestern Nimroz province.
A statement issued by the NDS on Saturday states that the group was involved in a number of terror and destructive activities.
The statement further states that the group has confessed killing a local elder for 20,000 Pakistani Rupees in front of his home.
They five detainees are identified as Mullah Abdul Malik S/O Abdul Khaliq, Mullah Abdul Satar S/O Dad Mohammad a resident of Bakwah District of Farah province, Shafiullah S/O Abu Bakar, Khairullah S/O Mohammad Gul and Abdul Bari S/O Nadir a resident of Khas Rud District of Farah province.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/group-of-taliban-militants-detained-in-nimroz-3556
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Pakistan
Imran Farooq murder case: Scotland Yard team arrives in Islamabad
MATEEN HAIDER
SLAMABAD: A team from Britain's Scotland Yard (London Metropolitan Police) arrived in Islamabad on Saturday in relation to the investigation of the murder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr Imran Farooq.
Islamabad had requested that a team visit Pakistan and assist in an ongoing investigation into the murder case as under way in Pakistan. The team is also expected to be taken to meet suspects who are in custody of Pakistani authorities.
The team is scheduled to start its investigation from Monday and will carry out its operations under high security.
Take a look: Dr Imran Farooq murder suspects to be interrogated by Met police: Nisar
Earlier this week, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that the accused said to be linked to the murder of Dr Farooq would be brought to Islamabad where British authorities would question them in the coming days.
He had said that a two-member team of the Met Police would arrive in the capital by the end of the week, adding that the size of the team may be increased.
In April this year, the interior minister had announced the arrest of Moazzam Ali, a man from Karachi whom he had described as the primary suspect in Dr Farooq's murder case.
Meanwhile, last week, two men identified as Mohsin Ali and Khalid Shamim wanted in the murder case of Dr Farooq were said to have been taken in custody from near the Pak-Afghan border in Chaman.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190811/imran-farooq-murder-case-scotland-yard-team-arrives-in-islamabad
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Terrorism incidents decreased drastically after military operation: KP Report
June 26, 2015
Peshawar: A report by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department states that incidents of terrorism have decreased in the province, after military operations were launched in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency.
The report compared the first three months of 2014 to that of this year. According to the report, incidents of terrorism decreased by 64 per cent in the province, while suicide attacks decreased by 83 percent.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/26-Jun-2015/terrorism-incidents-decreased-drastically-after-military-operation-report
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India funding claims: Documents purport to reveal MQM leader's statement
Jun 27, 2015
KARACHI: Documents purported to be property of the London police surfaced on social media late Friday, suggesting that a senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader had disclosed the party's alleged links to India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intelligence agency during an interview with British authorities.
Three pages of text, some of it censored with what appears to be black ink, purport to reveal party leader Tariq Mir as saying that MQM had New Delhi's support and that supremo Altaf Hussain received funding from India.
"Mr H was getting money from India. H got his money from different sources [blocked text]," the document which appears to be the property of Edgeware Police Station reads.
It is unclear where the documents originated and who released them online. Upon being approached for a comment on the documents' veracity, the Metropolitan Police's press office told Dawn.com that it could not comment on people who have been interviewed.
Meanwhile, a London-based reporter associated with Geo News tweeted that Mir has refused to comment on the document.
Mir allegedly spoke to London police at the Edgware police station in May 2012, the document says, adding that he "attended voluntarily and was not under arrest".
“The Indian government supported us because they thought it was good to support us [blocked text]. I don’t remember when I first met the Indians. I did meet them," it reads, quoting an individual TM, believed to be Mir.
“They were from the Indian Intelligence Agency (RAW) as I understood. Research and Analysis Wing. The senior man was high up and had access to senior/prime minister level,” it reads, quoting TM.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190725/india-funding-claims-documents-purport-to-reveal-mqm-leaders-statement
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MQM leader’s ‘confessional statement’ leaked
June 27, 2015
LONDON - Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Tariq Mir has made shocking revelations regarding money laundering and Indian funding for the party.
According to a TV channel, Tariq’s confessional statement has been leaked on the social media on Friday.
TV said Tariq during investigations by the UK authorities disclosed that the MQM had received funds from Indian spy agency RAW since 2010.
He told the police officials that his first meeting with RAW agents took place in Rome where funds issue was discussed.
He also accepted that middle-level leadership of the MQM Karachi had been trained by RAW in India.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/27-Jun-2015/mqm-leader-s-confessional-statement-leaked
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Wars killed 149,000 in Pakistan, Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014
Jun 27, 2015
WASHINGTON: Wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan have killed at least 149,000 people between 2001 and 2014, says a recent report by a US think-tank.
The Watson Institute’s Costs of War Project also reports that another 162,000 have been wounded since the US-led offensive that toppled the Taliban government in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks.
The institute is affiliated with the Brown University, a prestigious Ivy League school, and publishes studies focusing on three main areas – development, security, and governance.
The 149,000 deaths include US military members, contractors, as well as at least 26,270 civilians in Afghanistan, and 21,500 in Pakistan.
The figures also include members of the Afghan and Pakistani national police and security forces, and opposition forces, such as the Taliban.
The report points out that war violence, the resulting displacement of individuals from their homes, and destruction of the environment and public services have also contributed to an untold number of indirect deaths from malnutrition, disease, and lack of access to care.
“This report reminds us that the citizens of Afghanistan and Pakistan have … suffered staggering untold and irreparable losses,” says said Catherine Lutz, Brown University Professor and co-director of the project.
“This report is the latest in our ongoing documenting of the significant human and financial consequences that the post 9/11 wars have had on the United States,” she adds.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190713/wars-killed-149000-in-pakistan-afghanistan-from-2001-to-2014
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Status of province sought for Fata
Jun 27, 2015
KHAR: Local leaders of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) have demanded of the government to grant Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) the status of a separate province so that problems of the tribal people could be resolved.
They also asked the government to take the local people into confidence before making any changes in the system for the region.
“Our party has decided to take productive steps for winning the status of a separate province for Fata, which is important for peace, stability and socio-economic development of the tribal areas,” said Asghar Khan, PkMAP local chapter president, while speaking at a press conference here.
He said that a separate province was necessary to resolve the longstanding problems of the tribesmen.
“A separate province is the easiest way to find solution to the problems and issues of the tribal people,” he said and added that they would continue their efforts till achievement of the goal.
Mr Khan said that no government till date had shown interest in solving the issues of the tribal Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190793/status-of-province-sought-for-fata
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Immunisation in Balochistan to be improved: official
Jun 27, 2015
QUETTA: The routine immunisation campaign in Balochistan will be carried out simultaneously with the polio eradication initiative in order to secure better result.
It was decided during a meeting attended by officials of the Extended Programme for Immunisation (EPI) and Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) Balochistan.
The government and its partners will provide technical and logistic support for the smooth implementation of immunisation programme, the meeting was informed.
EOC Coordinator Dr Syed Saifur Rehman presided over the meeting in which EPI Coordinator Dr Shakir Baloch and representatives of Unicef and the World Health Organisation also took part.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1190714/immunisation-in-balochistan-to-be-improved-official
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Man killed in blast outside Bajaur mosque
June 27, 2015
KHAR : A man was killed and two others injured in a bomb blast outside a mosque here on Friday.
Security sources said the blast took place in tehsil Mohmand of Bajaur Agency where unknown miscreants had planted explosive material outside a mosque which exploded when the people were coming out after offering Asr prayers.
A man died instantly in the blast while two others sustained critical injuries who were shifted to agency headquarters hospital for treatment.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/27-Jun-2015/man-killed-in-blast-outside-bajaur-mosque
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Terrorism incidents declined by 64pc, claims KP govt
June 27, 2015
PESHAWAR - The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Home Department Friday said that the incidents of terrorism have decreased by 64 per cent in the province.
The KP, which has been badly affected by acts of terrorism for the last one decade, is now seeing returning of a peace. Terrorists have killed thousands of people in blasts, however, now happening of such incidents have decreased to a great extent.
In this regard, a report prepared by the KP Home Department said that incidents of terrorism have decreased in the province after military operations were launched in North Waziristan and Khyber Agency.
Comparing the first three months of 2014 to that of the current year, the report said that incidents of terrorism have decreased by 64 per cent in the province while suicide attacks dropped by 83 per cent.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/27-Jun-2015/terrorism-incidents-declined-by-64pc-claims-kp-govt
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Southeast Asia
Muslim group with Malaysian links praises US court’s decision to legalise gay marriage
June 27, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — A US-based Muslim group with a Malaysian chapter has commended the Supreme Court’s ruling that legalised same-sex marriage throughout America.
The Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV), whose founder and president is a Malaysia-born named Ani Zonneveld, cited a “gender-neutral” verse in the Quran on marriage that read: “And among the signs of God is this: that God created for you spouses from among yourselves, that you may dwell in peace with them, and God has put love and mercy in your hearts, truly in this are the signs of God for those who reflect”.
“Our love for our LGBTQI siblings causes us to rejoice in today’s decision from the highest court of law in the United States, the US Supreme Court, recognising and uplifting the constitutional mandate of equality,” MPV said in a statement yesterday, using the initials for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex community.
“Muslims for Progressive Values recognises the worth of every human being as endowed by our creator. Seeking to enact justice through word and deed, MPV has worked to create inclusive spaces where LGBTQI Muslims could embrace both their faith and their sexual orientation and/or gender identity,” the Los Angeles-based group added.
The Supreme Court ruled yesterday by a 5-to-4 vote to uphold the right to same-sex marriage throughout the US, where gay people could already get married in the majority of states before the historic decision.
Full report at:
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/muslim-group-with-malaysian-links-praises-us-courts-decision-to-legalise-ga
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Indonesia at high risk of MERS: officials
June 26 2015
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, is at high risk of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus spreading with at least 1 million of its citizens going to the Middle East for religious trips annually.
The Health Ministry general director for disease control and environmental health, Muhammad Subuh, said on Friday that Indonesia was prone to MERS virus outbreaks because of the high number of Indonesians traveling for hajj pilgrimage and umrah (minor pilgrimage) to Saudi Arabia, where the virus originated.
He said there were 250,000 hajj pilgrims and 750,000 religious travelers travelling to Saudi Arabia every year.
"There is no country as big as Indonesia, whose citizens go in huge number to a MERS-infected country for a long time," he said as quoted by kompas.com.
Hajj and minor pilgrimages require Muslims to stay in Saudi Arabia for at least two weeks.
In 2014, Subuh said two Indonesians were infected by MERS with one of them infected during an umrah trip. Both of them were hospitalized in Saudi Arabia and returned to Indonesia after they recovered.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/26/indonesia-high-risk-mers-officials.html
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CAP: 55 Malaysians going bankrupt daily
June 26, 2015
GEORGE TOWN: On average 55 Malaysians are declared bankrupt daily. As the country’s household debt was currently as high as 88 per cent of the gross national product (GNP), Malaysians use up 44 per cent of their income to pay their debts.
Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president S.M. Mohamed Idris said that many of them would soon be unable to repay their debts. “With so many Malaysians in debt, we need to regulate the debt collecting business,” said Idris.
Bank Negara has come up with guidelines on fair debt collection practices to protect defaulting borrowers, he noted, but it only applies to those under the supervision of the central bank.
Idris said that with the regulations, the debtors can finally have fair treatment as currently, debtors are harassed and served with letters threatening them with arrest if debts are not paid.
Full report at:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/06/26/cap-55-malaysians-going-bankrupt-daily/
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North America
Many Americans believe Islam threatens religious freedom in U.S.
June 26, 2015
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—An almost equal number of Americans believe Islam poses as great a threat to their own nation’s religious liberty as consider it a danger to religious freedom internationally, new research shows.
Although most persecution occurs overseas, 39 percent of American adults say Islam threatens religious freedom in the United States—almost as many as the 40 percent who see Islam as a global threat, a survey by Nashville-based LifeWay Research finds.
lifeway islam threat425“Most recent headlines regarding Islam don’t paint a picture of religious freedom, so we should not be surprised by the strong minority that consider Islam a threat to religious freedom,” said Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research.
“However, it is worth noting less Americans see Islam as a threat to religious freedom than do not. What’s of particular interest to me is not people’s concern about international religious liberty—which I would expect—but that (about) 40 percent of Americans see Islam as a threat to religious liberty in the United States.”
A slim majority, 52 percent, believes U.S. religious liberties are not at risk because of Islam.
Religious liberty has been widely discussed recently, but social policy—not Islam—has been the focus of recent religious freedom disputes in the United States. Courts have weighed religious freedom arguments in deciding whether to permit same-sex marriage, allow businesses to turn away gay customers and require employers to pay for birth control.
Unsettled about the influence of Islam
On a global scale, Americans are unsettled about the influence of Islam. While 47 percent think it doesn’t endanger religious freedom internationally, almost as many (40 percent) believe it does, and 13 percent are unsure.
Researchers asked 1,000 Americans about their views in a phone survey Sept. 19-28, 2014. Earlier that same month, the Islamic militant group ISIS released videos of beheadings of two Americans, prompting President Obama to tell the public the extremist group also known as ISIL or the Islamic State is not Islamic.
But LifeWay Research found at the time 48 percent disagreed with the president’s statement, while three in 10 were unsure. More than one in four believed ISIS is a true indication of an Islam-controlled society.
Global concern about religious freedom is widespread, and data shows such concern to be warranted. Pew Research shows more than three-quarters of the world’s people live in countries with high religious restrictions, up from about two-thirds in 2007.
In the United States, restrictions are moderate but increasing, according to Pew. Its measurement of hostile acts involving religion in America climbed 63 percent from 2007 to 2013, and its accounting of government restrictions on religion nearly doubled.
Full report at:
https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/faith-culture/17970-many-americans-believe-islam-threatens-religious-freedom-in-u-s
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Did U.S. Demand Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Be Declared Winner in Egypt?
JUN 26, 2015 • BY JOHN ROSENTHAL
Back in the heady days when the Western world was still enthralled by what was then known as the Arab Spring, the 2012 Egyptian presidential elections represented a watershed – if albeit a mixed one, given the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsi. The coming-to-power of Morsi provided one of the clearest signals that the “Arab Spring” was turning out to be an Islamist spring. But as it occurred by democratic means, hardly anyone could object. The will of the people had been expressed and Egyptians had definitively turned their backs on three decades of Hosni Mubarak’s military rule. If they preferred an Islamist party, then so be it. This was democracy in action.
Clinton, Hillary
Never mind that a representative of the supposedly universally hated ancien régime, Mubarak’s last prime minister Ahmed Shafiq, won nearly half of the vote; nor that Shafiq’s campaign headquarters had been ransacked and set aflame after the first round of voting; nor that the Muslim Brotherhood leadership had made clear that it would not accept a Shafiq victory, in any case, and that tens of thousands of Brotherhood supporters had gathered in Tahrir Square, ready to make good on the thinly-veiled threats (see, for instance, here and here).
Now, however, the news website Al-Monitor reports that there is evidence that Morsi did not win the 2012 elections after all, but was merely declared the winner by the electoral commission, in order to avert the violence that was sure to follow an announcement to the contrary. The evidence consists of a letter allegedly sent by the commission’s general-secretary Hatem Bagato to General Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which ruled the country after Mubarak’s resignation in February 2011.
Full report at:
https://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/egypt-s-2012-elections-did-hillary-clinton-demand-muslim-brotherhood-candidate-be-declared-winner_977524.html
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/french-beheading-suspect-‘normal-neighbour’/d/103676