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Egypt: 8 killed in Sinai security raids, multiple explosions

5 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

As unrest in Sinai continues, security carried out raids on militants, tunnels used for smuggling and tightened security along the Egypt-Gaza border on Tuesday.

Eight alleged terrorists were killed, five were injured, and an unknown number were arrested during a security raid in the cities of Arish and Sheikh Zuwaid, according to security sources.

Additionally, a bomb exploded while military patrol was passing near the borders between Egypt and Gaza.

No casualties were reported, the sources added.

Another bomb detonated on the international road at the entrance to Rafah City, targeting military vehicles but harming no one. Security cordons were raised around sites of the two blasts while the military searched for other bombs as well as the culprits.

Meanwhile, investigations resumed on several explosions at the natural gas pipeline in Arish, also occuring on Tuesday.

The gas company closed all the valves to stop the fire at the pipeline. A source from the company said the blast did not harm the natural gas supply to Arish.

Other security forces issued raids along the border to destroy tunnels used for smuggling that were recently found.

In related news, thousands of residents in Daqahliya, Qalyubia and Kafr al-Sheikh mourned four victims of the terrorist blast that occured in Sinai last week. The funeral turned into an anti-terrorism protest.

Source: egyptindependent

ISIS is making Libya part of their ‘caliphate’: 3,000 Islamist fighters have pledged alliegance to Daesh

5 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Washington: The US war against Daesh has not yet extended to Libya. But the terror group is rapidly expanding its presence and activities there, and the embattled government is asking for Washington to include Libya in its international fight against the Islamist extremists.

Top US intelligence officials have publicly stated their concerns about Daesh expansion in North Africa, following the group’s ramping up of its public acts of mayhem. It has taken credit for the brazen attack on the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, which resulted in the death of 12 people including one American contractor.Lieutenant General Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the House Armed Services Committee this week that “with affiliates in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, the group is beginning to assemble a growing international footprint that includes ungoverned and under- governed areas.”

That’s no surprise to the internationally recognized Libyan government in Tobruk, which has been battling Daesh in several Libyan cities, including Benghazi. (It is also in a civil war against a rival government in Tripoli, the capital, under Prime Minister Omar Al Hassi.) A top Tobruk government representative told US officials during a visit to Washington this week that Daesh expansion in Libya is much worse than what is publicly understood.

“We are seeing an exponential growth of ISIS (Daesh) in Libya,” Aref Ali Nayed, Libya’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates told me in an interview. “Libya, because of its resources, has become the ATM machine, the gas station, and the airport for ISIS (Daesh). There is an unfortunate state of denial about all of this, and that is the most dangerous thing.”

Daesh has had an operations base in the port city of Derna for years, but has now established a headquarters at the main conference center in Sirte, where it controls the airport. It has also expanded in southern Libya, recruiting and setting up bases, and has held open marches in Tripoli.

Daesh has long used Libya as a route for money and other supplies going to the fight against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, and as a training base for its fighters headed to Syria and Iraq. But the group’s social media propaganda and official statements now assert that it plans not only to expand its “caliphate” to Libya but also to use Libya as a base of operations for further attacks on the West. This could be ominous for nearby Europe, which is still reeling from the attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

Nayed estimated there are between 2,000 and 3,000 Islamist fighters in Libya pledging allegiance to Daesh, a number that could not be independently confirmed. He added that the Libyan parliament in Tobruk last week issued a statement calling on the US-led coalition against Daesh in Syria and Iraq to expand its air strikes into Libyan territory.

“What happened in France is just a sign of things to come,” he said. “It makes no sense to do this in compartments. You cannot have a consortium that is bombing ISIS (Daesh) in Syria and Iraq and not doing so in Libya.”

The Kalam Research and Media organization, an Arab think tank based in Dubai and Tripoli with which Nayed is affiliated, has compiled an exhaustive list of Daesh’s recent activities in Libya. The report includes three car bombings and four beheadings in November in the eastern province of Barqa, a car bombing outside the Algerian embassy in Tripoli in December, the kidnapping of Egyptian Coptic Christians in Sirte, and a January attack on Libyan forces in the southern region of Fezzan.

“As noted in the 5th edition of ISIS (Daesh)’s (Daesh) online magazine Dabiq, its largest foreign base of support is Libya,” the report states. “The drastic increase in bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings throughout Libya by organizations allied to ISIS (Daesh) seems to have proven these claims true.ISIS (Daesh) in Libya has been able to take advantage of the nation’s post-revolutionary political turmoil to establish a base of support, though to a lesser degree, using the same tactics as in Iraq and Syria.”

The Pentagon’s Africom commander, Gen. David Rodriguez, told reporters last month that the US intelligence community has mixed views about the scale of Daesh expansion in Libya, but that its training sites there were well established.

Harleen Gambhir, an analyst at the Institute for the Study of War in Washington, told me that many of the Daesh fighters who had transited through Libya on their way to Syria are now coming back. There were reports last September that Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, the Daesh leader, sent an emissary to Derna to preside over the Libya caliphate and expand its activities. In November, Al Baghdadi released an audio statement announcing the expansion of the Daesh to Saudi Arabi, Yemen, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.

Gambhir cautioned that determining which groups in Libya are Daesh, Daesh-affiliated or Daesh-wannabes is no easy task. “Derna is a foothold and from there we are seeing smaller ISIS (Daesh) efforts come up, especially in Benghazi and Tripoli, with operational capacity,” she said. “The difficulty in tracking what is and isn’t ISIS (Daesh) activity in Libya is the fact that there are so many Islamist groups operating in Libya under various monikers.”

ISIS (Daesh) has actually benefited from the Libyan government’s limited progress against other extremist groups, such as Ansar Al Shariah, whose leader was killed by the Tobruk government’s forces late last year.

Michael Smith, a principal at Kronos Advisory, a research firm that tracks Islamist extremism, said that because Daesh is in direct competition with other militant groups, it has an incentive in the short term to ramp up their violent attacks.

“Much information available about Daesh’s membership in Libya suggests these militants were previously affiliated with much lower-profile militia enterprises,” he explained. “Given that there is little evidence many Daesh members in Libya are very influential figures within the larger militant spheres present in the country, it is very likely that, in order to elevate their profile so as to attract local support, these militants will continue resorting to attention winning-attacks.”

A senior Obama administration official told me that while the US government will continue to recognize the Tobruk government, it is not contemplating expanding US air strikes against Daesh to Libya at this time. The White House is betting on United Nations negotiations in Geneva, although neither side in Libya’s civil war has much faith in that process.

President Obama explained in a CNN interview this weekend why he wants to keep strict limits on the US fight against Daesh forces. He said the US can’t play “Whac-A-Mole” by sending armies to fight every terrorist group, and that Americans shouldn’t overestimate the danger posed by these groups.

“When you look at ISIL (Daesh), it has no governing strategy. It can talk about setting up the new caliphate, but nobody is under any illusions that they can actually in a sustained way feed people or educate people or organize a society that would work,” Obama said.

Experts sympathetic to the administration position agree on the need to differentiate between those terrorist groups posing a threat to the US and those who are currently only active in their own region. But many also note that the Obama White House has not paid close attention to the situation in Libya since the international intervention that toppled Muammar Gadaffi in 2011.

“People identifying with ISIS (Daesh) and acting in ISIS (Daesh)’s name are expanding in Libya. It is a huge problem for Libya, but the US point of view is that Libya is not a priority for the US,” said Brookings Institution scholar Dan Byman.

Washington used to operate by what Colin Powell called the Pottery Barn Rule: you break it, you bought it. But the Obama administration has always said their Libya intervention was a better model than the George W. Bush administration’s nation-building. US power and influence should be used sparingly, and post-revolution countries would have to rely on themselves to solve big problems.

Yet the current government(s) in Libya simply can’t deal with the presence of Daesh and they are sounding the alarm. History has shown that failed states where terrorists have free reign can end up being very direct threats to American interests, including the Sept. 11 attacks. The requested air strikes may be a bridge too far, but let’s hope the Obama administration finds a middle ground before it’s too late.Source: gulfnews

Boko Haram kills dozens of civilians after Chad offensive

5 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Boko Haram fighters went on the rampage in the Cameroonian border town of Fotokol Wednesday, massacring dozens of civilians and torching a mosque before being repelled by regional forces.

The onslaught came a day after Chad sent troops across the border to flush the jihadists out of the Nigerian town of Gamboru, which lies some 500 metres (yards) from Fotokol on the other side of a bridge.

Chad’s army said it had killed more than 200 Boko Haram militants in the intervention — the first by regional forces against Boko Haram on its home ground. But some of the insurgents escaped, it added.

On the Cameroonian side of the border, the Boko Haram assault on Fotokol left nearly 70 civilians and six Cameroonian soldiers dead, a local security source told AFP.

There were also Boko Haram bodies “everywhere,” the source added.

“Boko Haram inflicted so much damage here this morning. They have killed dozens of people,” Umar Babakalli, a resident of Fotokol, told AFP by telephone.

Source: punchng

Erdogan and the end of the Constitution in Turkey

4 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The regime of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken control of Bank Asya, which was founded by sympathizers of the Hizmet movement. The regime’s pretext to control the bank is ridiculous. For about a year Erdoğan has been breaking all sorts of banking, finance and stock exchange laws to sink the bank but the bank has proved resilient, thanks to the devout support of Hizmet volunteers.

As a result, the regime was not able to seize the bank on the basis of financial weakness and instead made the simple accusation that the major owners of the bank did not give the authorities the details of their wealth in time, after giving them extremely short notice.

This simple pretext shows that the bank’s figures are strong, despite Erdoğan’s claims. If Turkey did not need foreign money to run its economy, the Erdoğan regime would not need to find such ridiculous pretexts and would directly seize the bank. Let us see if Saudi Arabia and/or Russia undertake the job of sending the Erdoğan regime tens of billions of dollars to help him so that the regime may have the luxury of seizing the property, assets and banks of dissidents.

Erdoğan keeps visiting and contacting his great friends in these countries in this hope. We do not know what he promises in return. He is desperate due to the extremely robust evidence of corruption against him and given his survival instincts to save himself from the rule of law, he is ready to destroy everything, including the Constitution, Turkey and its relations with the West. You will see that he knows no limits to save his skin.

It is a well-known secret that the Erdoğan regime is attacking Bank Asya for purely political and personal reasons. The bank was suddenly “discovered” to be financially weak only after the Dec. 17 corruption investigation, which Erdoğan has framed as a coup attempt. Even within his own party there so few people who believe in this extravagant narrative that Erdoğan keeps nagging his friends about not speaking up against the coup.

He must know that they are not desperate like him, other than to try to keep their political positions, such as parliamentary seats. They are not bogged down by huge corruption investigations, so unlike Erdoğan and a few of his zealots, they do not risk breaking the law and then eventually being tried by the courts when the rule of law returns to the country.

They know that whatever the Erdoğan regime is doing to sink Bank Asya would be a serious crime under normal conditions and deserve very serious punishment. They know that as Reuters reported last October, “Seeking to show loyalty to Erdoğan, state-owned firms and institutional depositors earlier in the year withdrew 4 billion lira ($1.75 billion), or some 20 percent of Bank Asya’s total deposits.” Bank Asya is listed on the İstanbul Stock Exchange (İMKB) and an important chunk of it is owned by its many shareholders.

They will definitely sue the Erdoğan regime and its collaborators in international courts. Reuters also reported in October that Erdoğan “said he wanted Bank Asya’s keys on his table when he came back,” according to a source “who had direct knowledge of the matter and asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.” Even when denying all these crimes, Erdoğan has unintentionally made a confession and also committed a crime, telling the Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TÜSİAD) in İstanbul: “It is being said that there are efforts being made to sink a bank. There is no work being done to sink a bank.

This bank has already failed.” Everybody knew that he meant Bank Asya and for those who could not remember what had been happening, the Erdoğan media made it clear to their audience that Erdoğan meant Bank Asya. These are all crimes under current Turkish law and Erdoğan has been trying to make these crimes legal thanks to the majority of seats that he controls in Parliament.

The Erdoğan regime has become addicted to crime. The only way to keep itself from the rule of law and a fair, transparent and just judicial trial is to commit more crimes. What a catch-22 situation and what misery for a politician who started his journey as a humble man. We are simply witnessing another “evilization” that humans have been consistently warned against by holy books.

Source: todayszaman

Top Muslim body calls for ‘killing, crucifixion’ of IS militant

4 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s most prestigious centre of learning, expressed outrage at the Islamic State group for burning to death a captive Jordanian pilot, saying its militants deserve to be killed or crucified.

After a video was released showing the caged fighter pilot, Maaz al-Kassasbeh, dying engulfed in flames, the Cairo-based authority’s head, Ahmed al-Tayib, expressed his “strong dismay at this cowardly act”.

This “requires the punishment mentioned in the Koran for these corrupt oppressors who fight against God and his prophet: killing, crucifixion or chopping of the limbs.”

“Islam forbids killing of the innocent human soul… It forbids mutilating the human soul by burning or in any other way even during wars against an enemy that attacks you,” Tayib added in a statement.

IS itself has implemented such punishments against its own members for robbery at checkpoints or stealing funds from religious endowments in territories controlled by the group in Iraq and Syria.

Source: thepeninsulaqatar

ISIS calls for new France attacks in latest video

4 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

The “Islamic State” (ISIS) terrorist group called for fresh attacks against France in a video released Tuesday, nearly a month after a deadly Islamist assault on a Paris magazine shocked the world, AFP reports.

In the video, an unidentified, masked jihadist is seen surrounded by militants calling on French Muslims to quit their country for ISIS’ self-proclaimed “caliphate”, which covers parts of Iraq and Syria.

The video also called for more killings in France and demanded that France release Islamist detainees and allow them to leave the country.

The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group called for fresh attacks against France in a video released Tuesday, nearly a month after a deadly Islamist assault on a Paris magazine shocked the world.
In the video, an unidentified, masked radical is seen surrounded by militants calling on French Muslims to quit their country for ISIS’ self-proclaimed “caliphate”, which covers parts of Iraq and Syria.
In the video, which was widely shared on Twitter and militant forums by ISIS supporters, the masked fighter calls for more killings in France.
He asks supporters to attack police and military targets, as well as those who participated in mass protests last month to condemn the killing of 12 people at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Jan 7.
The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, but has attracted praise from militant groups elsewhere.
The fighter in the video also demanded that France release Islamist detainees and allow them to leave the country.
Three soldiers were wounded in the French city of Nice on Tuesday by a knife-wielding assailant, leaving two injured, a police source said.
In September, France joined the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against ISIS militants in Iraq, but it has not joined the United States in its aerial campaign against the militants in Syria.
– See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/world/middle-east/story/isis-calls-new-france-attacks-latest-video-20150204#sthash.a2tOf8Jx.dpuf

Gunmen Storm Libya’s Al-Mabrook Oilfield

4 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Gunmen from Ansar al Sharia have stormed the al-Mabrook oilfield in Central Libya, a spokesman for state-run National Oil Corp (NOC) said on Wednesday.

Armed factions allied to two rival governments are fighting for control of Libya four years after the ousting of leader Muammar Gaddafi, Reuters reported.

“Ansar al Sharia gunmen stormed the Mabrook oilfield last night,” NOC Spokesman Mohamed El Harari said, without providing details.

Operations at the field, located South of Sirte, were closed following clashes which closed the Es Sider oil port in December.

France’s Total, which operates the field with NOC, said it had already withdrawn staff from the site.

Sirte is home to members of the Ansar al-Sharia extremist group. The region has seen fighting as armed groups vie for control of the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports.

OPEC member Libya’s oil output has fallen to around 350,000 barrels per day, the latest data shows, from 1.6 million pumped during Gaddafi’s reign.

Somalia, drone strike targeted senior Al-Shabaab militant

4 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

US drone aircraft targeted a senior figure in Somalia’s Al-Shabaab militia, the Pentagon said Tuesday, in the latest bid to take out leaders of the Al-Qaeda-linked group.

US special operations forces “using unmanned aircraft and several Hellfire missiles” carried out the strike on Saturday against Al-Shabaab’s chief of external operations and planning, spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.

“We are still assessing the results of the operation and will provide additional information when and if appropriate.

“At this time, however, we don’t assess there to be any civilian or bystander casualties as a result of the strike,” Kirby said.

The operation was conducted at about 1400 GMT on Saturday south of Mogadishu. The Pentagon identified the Al-Shabaab senior figure as Yusuf Dheeq.

SIGNIFICANT BLOW

Somali government officials and witnesses told AFP over the weekend that a house used by members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants had been hit in an air raid on Saturday.

In September last year, the Al-Shabaab ‘s leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a US strike. And Washington carried out another air raid in December which Somali officials said took out a top Al-Shabaab intelligence figure.

Saturday’s operation demonstrated Washington’s commitment to Somalia and “it goes to show again how long our reach can be when it comes to counter-terrorism,” Kirby said.

If the raid proved successful, “if he no longer breathes, then this is another significant blow to Al-Shabaab and their ability to conduct, plan, prepare for and strike against targets inside and outside Somalia,” he said.

There are roughly 100 US military advisors, mainly Green Beret special forces, deployed to Somalia to help the government in its fight against Al-Shabaab, officials said.

The Al-Shabaab militants are fighting to overthrow Somalia’s internationally backed government and have also carried out a string of revenge attacks in neighbouring countries.Source: nation.co.ke

Syria to Jordan: help us fight Islamic State, al Qaeda

4 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Syria urged Jordan to work with it to fight Islamic State and al Qaeda’s Syria wing, condemning what it described as the “heinous” killing of a Jordanian pilot by militants, Syria’s state news agency SANA said on Wednesday.

The Syrian foreign ministry called on Jordan, which is part of a U.S.-led aerial campaign against Islamic State, “to cooperate in the fight against terrorism represented by the organisation Daesh and Nusra Front … and other terrorist organisations associated with them in Syria and the region.”

Daesh is a pejorative Arabic acronym for Islamic State and Nusra Front is al Qaeda’s Syria wing.

Both have seized land in Syria.

The United States has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad cannot be a partner in the fight against Islamic State.

Afghanistan: 3 ANA martyred, 52 insurgents killed in clearance operations

4 Febbraio 2015 By Redazione Islamedianalysis

Defense ministry of Afghanistan says that three Afghan National Army soldiers have embraced martyrdom in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion.

A statement issued by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday morning does not specify the exact location of the incident but states that in took place in past 24 hours.

The statement further states that 48 insurgents were also killed and 69 others injured during the past 24 hours while in confrontations with the Afghan National Army occurred in six provinces.

According to the statement 13 Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) were also discovered and defused by the military.

In the meantime, a statement issued by the Interior Ministry states that nine insurgents were killed in police operations in past 24 hours.

Interior Ministry statement further states that the operations were conducted in Kabul, Khost, Paktika, Laghman, Paktiya, Helmand, Ghazni, Kandahar, Maidan Wardak, Nimroz and Faryab provinces.

Afghan National Police were also assisted by the Afghan National Army soldiers and personnel from the National Directorate of Security (NDS) where six IEDs were also defused by the security forces, the statement adds.

Source: khaama