Isis
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IS terrorist 'Jihadi John' named as Mohammed Emwazi from London
26 February 2015
BBC News
The masked terrorist first appeared in numerous gruesome videos put out by Islamic State
The masked Islamic State terrorist known as "Jihadi John", who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named.
The BBC understands he is Mohammed Emwazi, a British man believed to be from West London, who was known to British security services.
They chose not to disclose his name earlier for operational reasons.
Emwazi first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed the American journalist James Foley.
He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter.
Last month, the terrorist appeared in a video with the Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, shortly before they were killed.
Emwazi is believed to be an associate of a former UK control order suspect, who travelled to Somalia in 2006 and is allegedly linked to a facilitation and funding network for Somali militant group al-Shabab.
Last year, Islamic State announced the creation of a "caliphate" in the large large swathes of Syria and Iraq it controls.
BBC News - IS militant 'Jihadi John' named as Mohammed Emwazi from London
26 February 2015
BBC News
The masked terrorist first appeared in numerous gruesome videos put out by Islamic State
The masked Islamic State terrorist known as "Jihadi John", who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named.
The BBC understands he is Mohammed Emwazi, a British man believed to be from West London, who was known to British security services.
They chose not to disclose his name earlier for operational reasons.
Emwazi first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed the American journalist James Foley.
He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter.
Last month, the terrorist appeared in a video with the Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, shortly before they were killed.
Emwazi is believed to be an associate of a former UK control order suspect, who travelled to Somalia in 2006 and is allegedly linked to a facilitation and funding network for Somali militant group al-Shabab.
Last year, Islamic State announced the creation of a "caliphate" in the large large swathes of Syria and Iraq it controls.
BBC News - IS militant 'Jihadi John' named as Mohammed Emwazi from London
ISIS: militants throw another 'gay' man off building then stone him to death after he survives fall
As he lay lifeless on the ground, men with AK47s across their backs pelted the body with rocks taken from plastic baskets.
ISIS: Twisted militants throw 'gay' man off building then stone him to death after he survives fall - Mirror Online
As he lay lifeless on the ground, men with AK47s across their backs pelted the body with rocks taken from plastic baskets.
ISIS: Twisted militants throw 'gay' man off building then stone him to death after he survives fall - Mirror Online
Islamic State has taken control of 90 percent of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Damascus outskirts where 18,000 civilians have suffered years of bombing, army siege and militia control, a monitoring group said on Saturday.
The hardline group's offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital. Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now only a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.
The United Nations has said it is extremely concerned about the safety and protection of Syrians and Palestinians in the camp.
Civilians trapped there have long suffered a government siege that has led to starvation and disease.
"The situation in Yarmouk is an affront to the humanity of all of us, a source of universal shame," U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said.
"Yarmouk is a test, a challenge for the international community. We must not fail. The credibility of the international system itself is at stake," he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said Syrian air force jet bombed the camp on Saturday.
The Islamic State on Wednesday launched an attack on other groups of fighters in Yarmouk, in particular Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, an anti-Assad militia of Syrians and Palestinians from the camp.
Islamic State supporters posted photos on social media of the severed heads of two men they said had been beheaded after fighting for Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.
The Observatory said Islamic State and al Qaeda's official Syria wing, the Nusra Front, made gains overnight, pushing into the northeast of the district, close to central Damascus. They now control 90 percent of the camp, it said.
Tayseer Abu Baker, head of the Palestinian Liberation Front in Syria, part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters over the phone that Islamic State had killed 21 people including fighters and civilians since Friday.
"Some families are trying to exit the camp but with Islamic State snipers on rooftops of high buildings that is very difficult," he said. He added Islamic State had kidnapped at least 74 people from the camp and that civilians were trying to flee.
Reuters cannot independently verify reports in Syria due to security and reporting restrictions.
Islamic State rules swathes of eastern Syria and Iraq and is the target of a U.S.-led campaign of air strikes.
Yarmouk was home to half a million Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011.
Islamic State takes 90 percent of Damascus refugee camp: monitor | Reuters
The hardline group's offensive in Yarmouk gives it a major presence in the capital. Islamic State, the most powerful insurgent group in Syria, is now only a few kilometers from President Bashar al-Assad's seat of power.
The United Nations has said it is extremely concerned about the safety and protection of Syrians and Palestinians in the camp.
Civilians trapped there have long suffered a government siege that has led to starvation and disease.
"The situation in Yarmouk is an affront to the humanity of all of us, a source of universal shame," U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) spokesman Chris Gunness said.
"Yarmouk is a test, a challenge for the international community. We must not fail. The credibility of the international system itself is at stake," he said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict from Britain, said Syrian air force jet bombed the camp on Saturday.
The Islamic State on Wednesday launched an attack on other groups of fighters in Yarmouk, in particular Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis, an anti-Assad militia of Syrians and Palestinians from the camp.
Islamic State supporters posted photos on social media of the severed heads of two men they said had been beheaded after fighting for Aknaf Beit al-Maqdis.
The Observatory said Islamic State and al Qaeda's official Syria wing, the Nusra Front, made gains overnight, pushing into the northeast of the district, close to central Damascus. They now control 90 percent of the camp, it said.
Tayseer Abu Baker, head of the Palestinian Liberation Front in Syria, part of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Reuters over the phone that Islamic State had killed 21 people including fighters and civilians since Friday.
"Some families are trying to exit the camp but with Islamic State snipers on rooftops of high buildings that is very difficult," he said. He added Islamic State had kidnapped at least 74 people from the camp and that civilians were trying to flee.
Reuters cannot independently verify reports in Syria due to security and reporting restrictions.
Islamic State rules swathes of eastern Syria and Iraq and is the target of a U.S.-led campaign of air strikes.
Yarmouk was home to half a million Palestinians before the Syrian conflict began in 2011.
Islamic State takes 90 percent of Damascus refugee camp: monitor | Reuters
US Poised to Expand ISIS Fight Worldwide -- News from Antiwar.com
US Poised to Expand ISIS Fight Worldwide
Officials Say Escalation Needed to Placate Coalition Partners
The war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria isn’t exactly making headway, indeed it seems destined to be the latest open-ended military boondoggle in a long line for the US in that region.
Still, that doesn’t mean the mess can’t get even bigger, and that’s exactly what’s likely to happen, according to officials familiar with the situation who say that the US is likely to agree to expand the ISIS war to include its assorted affiliates across the planet.
Certain nations within the US coalition, primarily Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are demanding the war be expanded to other countries with ISIS presences as well, and US officials say that keeping those nations satisfied will virtually oblige the administration to accept the demands.
Right now, the focus seems to be on getting the war expanded to Libya and to Egypt’s own Sinai Peninsula, where factions have pledged allegiance to ISIS and gained recruiting credibility as a result.
These are far from the only ISIS affiliates abroad, however, with Nigeria’s Boko Haram noteworthy in having renamed itself ISWAP to reflect its new position as Islamic State West Africa Province. Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan all also have meaningful ISIS presences. Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan are also struggling with ISIS attempting to set up shop there.
The ISIS war isn’t going particularly well to start with, however, and the White House still hasn’t gotten it authorized by Congress. It seems like this would be a particularly difficult time to sell the idea of expanding it from two countries to a dozen or more.
Obama and those who seek to profit from war need to understand that ISIS's affairs are none of our fcukkin business.
Just a gentle reminder to those selective readers who still insist that I have never criticized Obama.
US Poised to Expand ISIS Fight Worldwide
Officials Say Escalation Needed to Placate Coalition Partners
The war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria isn’t exactly making headway, indeed it seems destined to be the latest open-ended military boondoggle in a long line for the US in that region.
Still, that doesn’t mean the mess can’t get even bigger, and that’s exactly what’s likely to happen, according to officials familiar with the situation who say that the US is likely to agree to expand the ISIS war to include its assorted affiliates across the planet.
Certain nations within the US coalition, primarily Egypt and Saudi Arabia, are demanding the war be expanded to other countries with ISIS presences as well, and US officials say that keeping those nations satisfied will virtually oblige the administration to accept the demands.
Right now, the focus seems to be on getting the war expanded to Libya and to Egypt’s own Sinai Peninsula, where factions have pledged allegiance to ISIS and gained recruiting credibility as a result.
These are far from the only ISIS affiliates abroad, however, with Nigeria’s Boko Haram noteworthy in having renamed itself ISWAP to reflect its new position as Islamic State West Africa Province. Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan all also have meaningful ISIS presences. Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan are also struggling with ISIS attempting to set up shop there.
The ISIS war isn’t going particularly well to start with, however, and the White House still hasn’t gotten it authorized by Congress. It seems like this would be a particularly difficult time to sell the idea of expanding it from two countries to a dozen or more.
Obama and those who seek to profit from war need to understand that ISIS's affairs are none of our fcukkin business.
Just a gentle reminder to those selective readers who still insist that I have never criticized Obama.
With Malice Toward Nun
by Nina Shea April 30, 2015 12:00 AM
Sister Diana wants to tell Americans about ISIS persecution of Christians in Iraq, but the State Department won’t let her in. Why is the United States barring a persecuted Iraqi Catholic nun — an internationally respected and leading representative of the Nineveh Christians who have been killed and deported by ISIS — from coming to Washington to testify about this catastrophe?
Earlier this week, we learned that every member of an Iraqi delegation of minority groups, including representatives of the Yazidi and Turkmen Shia religious communities, has been granted visas to come for official meetings in Washington — save one. The single delegate whose visitor visa was denied happens to be the group’s only Christian from Iraq.
Sister Diana Momeka of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena was informed on Tuesday by the U.S. consulate in Erbil that her non-immigrant-visa application has been rejected. The reason given in the denial letter, a copy of which I have obtained, is:
The State Department officials made the determination that the Catholic nun could be falsely asserting that she intends to visit Washington when secretly she could be intending to stay. That would constitute illegal immigration, and that, of course, is strictly forbidden. Once here, she could also be at risk for claiming political asylum, and the U.S. seems determined to deny ISIS’s Christian victims that status.
In reality, Sister Diana wanted to visit for one week in mid-May. She has meetings set up with the Senate and House foreign-relations committees, the State Department, USAID, and various NGOs. In support of her application, Sister Diana had multiple documents vouching for her and the temporary nature of her visit. She submitted a letter from her prioress, Sister Maria Hana. It attested that the nun has been gainfully employed since last February with the Babel College of Philosophy and Theology in Erbil, Kurdistan, and is contracted to teach there in the 2015–16 academic year.
She also submitted an invitation from her sponsors, two highly respected Washington-area institutions, the Institute for Global Engagement and former congressman Frank Wolf’s (R., Va.) 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. For good measure, she also had a letter of endorsement for her visit from Representative Anna Eshoo (D., Calif.).
The State Department wasn’t buying. It either thought that they were all in on a scheme by the nun or that Sister Diana was plotting to deceive her well-placed friends and supporters, as well as the U.S. government.
Until ISIS stormed into Qaraqosh last August, Sister Diana had a distinguished academic career and had been teaching an intensive course on spiritual direction at St. Ephrem Seminary, as well as English and peacemaking courses. She, along with the town’s 50,000 other, mostly Christian, residents, fled for their lives from ISIS during the second week of August. Since then, the 30-something religious woman has served as a spokesperson for this community, as well as for the over 100,000 other Christians driven into Kurdistan under the ISIS “convert or die” policy. Through this, she has become internationally known as a charismatic and articulate advocate for religious freedom and human rights. Mr. Wolf, who met her in Kurdistan a few months ago, explained, “We had hoped to facilitate her trip to the States so that she could speak with great candor, as is her custom, to policymakers. Perhaps just as significantly, we viewed her as a critical voice to awaken the church in the West to the suffering of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq.”
But in the eyes of the U.S. consulate, she is just another Christian IDP. (Last October a delegation of IDP Yazidis were given U.S. visas to come to Washington to speak.)
Adding insult to injury: In its 2015 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, issued this week, the State Department pledged that “every overseas post and domestic bureau will seek opportunities to engage religious leaders,” as part of its pursuit of countering “violent extremism.” Opportunities to engage with everyone, that is, except Catholic nuns in Iraq — all of whom are now IDPs.
— Nina Shea is director of Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom.
Read more at: With Malice Toward Nun | National Review Online
by Nina Shea April 30, 2015 12:00 AM
Sister Diana wants to tell Americans about ISIS persecution of Christians in Iraq, but the State Department won’t let her in. Why is the United States barring a persecuted Iraqi Catholic nun — an internationally respected and leading representative of the Nineveh Christians who have been killed and deported by ISIS — from coming to Washington to testify about this catastrophe?
Earlier this week, we learned that every member of an Iraqi delegation of minority groups, including representatives of the Yazidi and Turkmen Shia religious communities, has been granted visas to come for official meetings in Washington — save one. The single delegate whose visitor visa was denied happens to be the group’s only Christian from Iraq.
Sister Diana Momeka of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena was informed on Tuesday by the U.S. consulate in Erbil that her non-immigrant-visa application has been rejected. The reason given in the denial letter, a copy of which I have obtained, is:
You were not able to demonstrate that your intended activities in the United States would be consistent with the classification of the visa.
She told me in a phone conversation that, to her face, consular officer Christopher Patch told her she was denied because she is an “IDP” or Internally Displaced Person. “That really hurt,” she said. Essentially, the State Department was calling her a deceiver.
The State Department officials made the determination that the Catholic nun could be falsely asserting that she intends to visit Washington when secretly she could be intending to stay. That would constitute illegal immigration, and that, of course, is strictly forbidden. Once here, she could also be at risk for claiming political asylum, and the U.S. seems determined to deny ISIS’s Christian victims that status.
In reality, Sister Diana wanted to visit for one week in mid-May. She has meetings set up with the Senate and House foreign-relations committees, the State Department, USAID, and various NGOs. In support of her application, Sister Diana had multiple documents vouching for her and the temporary nature of her visit. She submitted a letter from her prioress, Sister Maria Hana. It attested that the nun has been gainfully employed since last February with the Babel College of Philosophy and Theology in Erbil, Kurdistan, and is contracted to teach there in the 2015–16 academic year.
She also submitted an invitation from her sponsors, two highly respected Washington-area institutions, the Institute for Global Engagement and former congressman Frank Wolf’s (R., Va.) 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. For good measure, she also had a letter of endorsement for her visit from Representative Anna Eshoo (D., Calif.).
The State Department wasn’t buying. It either thought that they were all in on a scheme by the nun or that Sister Diana was plotting to deceive her well-placed friends and supporters, as well as the U.S. government.
Until ISIS stormed into Qaraqosh last August, Sister Diana had a distinguished academic career and had been teaching an intensive course on spiritual direction at St. Ephrem Seminary, as well as English and peacemaking courses. She, along with the town’s 50,000 other, mostly Christian, residents, fled for their lives from ISIS during the second week of August. Since then, the 30-something religious woman has served as a spokesperson for this community, as well as for the over 100,000 other Christians driven into Kurdistan under the ISIS “convert or die” policy. Through this, she has become internationally known as a charismatic and articulate advocate for religious freedom and human rights. Mr. Wolf, who met her in Kurdistan a few months ago, explained, “We had hoped to facilitate her trip to the States so that she could speak with great candor, as is her custom, to policymakers. Perhaps just as significantly, we viewed her as a critical voice to awaken the church in the West to the suffering of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq.”
But in the eyes of the U.S. consulate, she is just another Christian IDP. (Last October a delegation of IDP Yazidis were given U.S. visas to come to Washington to speak.)
Adding insult to injury: In its 2015 Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, issued this week, the State Department pledged that “every overseas post and domestic bureau will seek opportunities to engage religious leaders,” as part of its pursuit of countering “violent extremism.” Opportunities to engage with everyone, that is, except Catholic nuns in Iraq — all of whom are now IDPs.
— Nina Shea is director of Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom.
Read more at: With Malice Toward Nun | National Review Online
I don't particularly care what he does or doesn't like. What I don't like, and this is true of all governments, is a micro-managed script for dealing with issues, both foreign and domestic. No "truth" is one-sided, life doesn't work that way. If someone is interested in looking at the truth of a situation, then they better buckle up and be prepared to accept that the truth is often ugly and doesn't subscribe 100% to their wants, needs or beliefs. Anything less than that is a farce.
Islamic State Attacks Iraq’s Biggest Oil Refinery With Suicide Bombers and Car Bombs
Fierce fighting has erupted at Iraq's largest oil refinery after militant fighters with the so-called Islamic State (IS) used suicide bombers, car bombs, rockets, and mortars to attack the small contingent of Iraqi government forces charged with defending the sprawling facility.
"The refinery is highly contested, and there's a committed effort by [IS] to take it over," a senior US military official told VICE News about the fight at the Baiji refinery, about 150 miles north of Baghdad. "The Iraqis do not have the upper hand in this, it's stalemated."
The fighting at the Baiji refinery has continued, on and off, for more than a year. Islamic State originally captured the 14-square-mile refinery compound when the group first surged into northern Iraq in June 2014, but Iraqi security forces later recaptured much of it in November.
The US official, who spoke to VICE News on condition of anonymity, expressed frustration with the Iraqis' inability to go on the offensive and push IS out of the 14 square mile compound.
Several reports have indicated that IS has surrounded and trapped the Iraqi defenders inside the oil refinery after hundreds of militants overran government forces' positions late last week. One Iraqi officer told McClatchy news service on Saturday that his forces were under siege, and were low on ammunition, food and water.
"All of us now are thinking of committing suicide," an Iraqi federal police officer in the facility told the independent news site Iraq Oil Report on Thursday night. "We have very little food and ammunition,and we can't withstand the suicide bombers, snipers and rockets."
The US military official also said that while the refinery compound, which, at 14 square miles is 10 times the size of Manhattan's Central Park, is not technically surrounded by IS, the roads into the facility are lined with booby traps and explosives.
If they get overrun, they are all likely going to die, hence talk of committing suicide, before they get captured by ISIS and beheaded orburned in a propaganda video," he added.
Shroder said evacuation by helicopter would also be "extremely difficult" given that IS controls significant portions of the refinery compound and the surrounding area.
https://news.vice.com/article/sourc...l-refinery-with-suicide-bombers-and-car-bombs
Fierce fighting has erupted at Iraq's largest oil refinery after militant fighters with the so-called Islamic State (IS) used suicide bombers, car bombs, rockets, and mortars to attack the small contingent of Iraqi government forces charged with defending the sprawling facility.
"The refinery is highly contested, and there's a committed effort by [IS] to take it over," a senior US military official told VICE News about the fight at the Baiji refinery, about 150 miles north of Baghdad. "The Iraqis do not have the upper hand in this, it's stalemated."
The fighting at the Baiji refinery has continued, on and off, for more than a year. Islamic State originally captured the 14-square-mile refinery compound when the group first surged into northern Iraq in June 2014, but Iraqi security forces later recaptured much of it in November.
The US official, who spoke to VICE News on condition of anonymity, expressed frustration with the Iraqis' inability to go on the offensive and push IS out of the 14 square mile compound.
Several reports have indicated that IS has surrounded and trapped the Iraqi defenders inside the oil refinery after hundreds of militants overran government forces' positions late last week. One Iraqi officer told McClatchy news service on Saturday that his forces were under siege, and were low on ammunition, food and water.
"All of us now are thinking of committing suicide," an Iraqi federal police officer in the facility told the independent news site Iraq Oil Report on Thursday night. "We have very little food and ammunition,and we can't withstand the suicide bombers, snipers and rockets."
The US military official also said that while the refinery compound, which, at 14 square miles is 10 times the size of Manhattan's Central Park, is not technically surrounded by IS, the roads into the facility are lined with booby traps and explosives.
If they get overrun, they are all likely going to die, hence talk of committing suicide, before they get captured by ISIS and beheaded orburned in a propaganda video," he added.
Shroder said evacuation by helicopter would also be "extremely difficult" given that IS controls significant portions of the refinery compound and the surrounding area.
https://news.vice.com/article/sourc...l-refinery-with-suicide-bombers-and-car-bombs
"Known Wolf Terrorism"
By Kate on May 4, 2015 10:47 AM | 11 Comments
Very apt;
By Kate on May 4, 2015 10:47 AM | 11 Comments
Very apt;
Simpson was well known to the FBI, ABC News reported. Five years ago he was convicted for lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Africa, "but a judge ruled the government did not adequately prove he was going to join a terror group there."
More: ISIS takes credit.
NewsWatchCanada.ca™ @newswatchcanada ICYMI: New York: #ISIS boasts of ‘71 trained soldiers in 15 different US states’
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ela-geller-claims-militants-article-1.2211913
Islamic State destroys ancient shrines in Syria's Palmyra city
REUTERS
First posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 12:50 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 12:59 PM EDT
AMMAN - Islamic State militants have blown up two ancient shrines they consider sacrilegious in Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria, the ultra hardline Sunni Muslim group said on Tuesday.
The report was the first of any damage being done by the militants to buildings in Palmyra since they seized control of the city, also known as Tadmur, in May. Syrian forces have bombed the city, and the militants camped within it, since then.
Before-and-after pictures showed several militants carrying explosives and the shrines, which are not among the city's monumental Roman-era buildings, reduced to rubble.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said this week that the militants had planted mines in Palmyra but that it was not clear whether it was preparing to destroy the site or wanted to deter government forces from advancing towards it.
Syrian antiquities chief Abdul Maamoun Abdulkarim said, "In all the areas where they spread when they see tombs they destroy them as see them as sacrilegious and a return to paganism."
Hundreds of statues had been moved from the city to safe locations, before the militants, who control large swathes of Iraq and Syria, took over, he told Reuters.
Islamic State militants have blown up dozens of shrines in Iraq and Syria, many belonging to the Sufi sect, a mystical school of Islam opposed by puritanical Salafists from which Islamic State and al Qaeda draws many of its fighters.
A file picture taken on May 18, 2015 shows the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, a day after Islamic State (IS) group jihadists fired rockets into the city, killing several people. IS group militants have laid landmines and explosives at the site of the ancient ruins in Palmyra, a monitor said on June 21, 2015, adding the purpose of the move was unclear. AFP PHOTO / STR
Islamic State destroys ancient shrines in Syria's Palmyra city | World | News |
REUTERS
First posted: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 12:50 PM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 12:59 PM EDT
AMMAN - Islamic State militants have blown up two ancient shrines they consider sacrilegious in Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria, the ultra hardline Sunni Muslim group said on Tuesday.
The report was the first of any damage being done by the militants to buildings in Palmyra since they seized control of the city, also known as Tadmur, in May. Syrian forces have bombed the city, and the militants camped within it, since then.
Before-and-after pictures showed several militants carrying explosives and the shrines, which are not among the city's monumental Roman-era buildings, reduced to rubble.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said this week that the militants had planted mines in Palmyra but that it was not clear whether it was preparing to destroy the site or wanted to deter government forces from advancing towards it.
Syrian antiquities chief Abdul Maamoun Abdulkarim said, "In all the areas where they spread when they see tombs they destroy them as see them as sacrilegious and a return to paganism."
Hundreds of statues had been moved from the city to safe locations, before the militants, who control large swathes of Iraq and Syria, took over, he told Reuters.
Islamic State militants have blown up dozens of shrines in Iraq and Syria, many belonging to the Sufi sect, a mystical school of Islam opposed by puritanical Salafists from which Islamic State and al Qaeda draws many of its fighters.
A file picture taken on May 18, 2015 shows the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, a day after Islamic State (IS) group jihadists fired rockets into the city, killing several people. IS group militants have laid landmines and explosives at the site of the ancient ruins in Palmyra, a monitor said on June 21, 2015, adding the purpose of the move was unclear. AFP PHOTO / STR
Islamic State destroys ancient shrines in Syria's Palmyra city | World | News |
Purported Islamic State group video threatens to kill Croatian hostage in Egypt in 48 hours
Brian Rohan, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 12:15 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 03:06 PM EDT
CAIRO -- An Islamic State affiliate released a video Wednesday threatening to kill a Croatian hostage if Egyptian authorities do not release "Muslim women" held in prison within 48 hours, a day before the country plans to unveil a highly promoted new extension of the Suez Canal.
The video, circulated on social media by Islamic State sympathizers, shows a man wearing a yellow jumpsuit kneeling in the desert before a knife-wielding masked man in military fatigues. A black Islamic flag often used by the extremists flutters next to him. The video identifies itself as coming from the media arm of the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt's lawless Sinai Peninsula.
Reading calmly from a note in English, the man identifies himself as Tomislav Salopek, a married, 30-year-old father of two, adding that Islamic State fighters captured him on July 22. If Egyptian authorities do not act, he said, "the soldiers from Wilayet Sina will kill me." Wilayet Sina is the Arabic phrase for the Egyptian group calling itself the Sinai Province of the Islamic State.
It was not clear where the video was shot. The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage, entitled "A Message to the Egyptian Government," though it was shot in the style of previous Islamic State propaganda videos in which they threaten and behead hostages.
The reference to "Muslim women" apparently referred to Islamists who have been arrested in a broad government crackdown on dissent. Egypt, a majority Muslim country, now holds thousands of Islamists and suspected supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in prison following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Croatia's Foreign Ministry late last month said that one of its nationals with the same initials had been kidnapped in Cairo on July 22 while on the way to work. The company, which Salopek identified as France's CGG Ardiseis, works in the oil and gas sector and has a branch office in Cairo's leafy suburb of Maadi, where many expats and diplomats live.
Calls to CGG Ardiseis' office in Cairo were not immediately answered.
Croatian state television read out a statement on air Wednesday night saying the government was "doing all it can to promptly resolve the difficult situation," without elaborating. Croatian authorities could not be immediately reached and its embassy in Cairo was closed on Wednesday, which is a public holiday in Croatia celebrating its independence in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
An Egyptian security official said last month that Salopek is a petroleum engineer who was abducted by gunmen while driving on a highway west of Cairo. His car, its driver and the man's belongings were left behind, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists. He had said that a police investigation was underway.
Egypt has seen an increase in violence since Morsi's ouster, with attacks by suspected Islamic extremists in both the Sinai Peninsula and the mainland focusing primarily on security forces.
Foreign interests also have been targeted increasingly, including the Italian Consulate, which was hit with a car bomb last month. That came just days after another bomb killed Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat in an upscale Cairo neighbourhood. However, this is the first time the local Islamic State affiliate released a video showing a kidnapped foreigner in Egypt, a major escalation as the country tries to rebuild its crucial tourism industry after years of unrest following the 2011 revolt against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Last December, the affiliate claimed responsibility for the killing of an American oil worker with Texas-based energy company Apache Corp. Apache said that one of its supervisors had been killed in an apparent carjacking in the Western Desert, part of Egypt's mainland.
The Egyptian government had no immediate comment on the video Wednesday. Thursday, Egypt plans to unveil an $8.5 billion extension of the Suez Canal, a major event the government hopes will show the world it has recovered from the years of turmoil it has faced.
The Islamic State group holds about a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in its self-declared "caliphate." In Syria, Islamic State militants have killed foreign journalists and aid workers, starting with American journalist James Foley in August last year.
Foley's taped beheading was followed by the killing of American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, American aid worker Peter Kassig, as well as Japanese nationals Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.
In Sinai, Islamic militants have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks in recent months that have killed dozens of Egyptian soldiers and police. Government forces have been carrying out an intensified hunt for the militants in several northern towns in the peninsula.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iraqi forces battled Islamic State militants Wednesday in western Anbar province, leaving at least 17 troops dead, officials said.
A police officer, an army officer and a Sunni tribal fighter said the deadliest clashes took place east of Islamic State-held Ramadi, where six soldiers, four Sunni tribal fighters and two police officers were killed. Nine other troops were wounded, they said.
They say another five soldiers were killed and nine wounded when militants attacked troops near the Habbaniyah military base, where dozens of American advisers are stationed. The Iraqi officials all spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to talk to journalists.
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Associated Press writers Darko Bandic in Zagreb, Croatia, and Sinan Salaheddin and Murtada Faraj in Baghdad contributed to this report.
This image made from a militant video posted on a social media website on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, purports to show a militant standing next to another man who identifies himself as 30-year-old Tomislav Salopek, kneeling down as he reads a message at an unknown location. The video purportedly released by the Islamic State group threatens to kill the Croatian hostage if Egyptian authorities do not release "Muslim women" held in prison within 48 hours. (Militant website via AP)
Purported Islamic State group video threatens to kill Croatian hostage in Egypt
Brian Rohan, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 12:15 PM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 03:06 PM EDT
CAIRO -- An Islamic State affiliate released a video Wednesday threatening to kill a Croatian hostage if Egyptian authorities do not release "Muslim women" held in prison within 48 hours, a day before the country plans to unveil a highly promoted new extension of the Suez Canal.
The video, circulated on social media by Islamic State sympathizers, shows a man wearing a yellow jumpsuit kneeling in the desert before a knife-wielding masked man in military fatigues. A black Islamic flag often used by the extremists flutters next to him. The video identifies itself as coming from the media arm of the Islamic State affiliate in Egypt's lawless Sinai Peninsula.
Reading calmly from a note in English, the man identifies himself as Tomislav Salopek, a married, 30-year-old father of two, adding that Islamic State fighters captured him on July 22. If Egyptian authorities do not act, he said, "the soldiers from Wilayet Sina will kill me." Wilayet Sina is the Arabic phrase for the Egyptian group calling itself the Sinai Province of the Islamic State.
It was not clear where the video was shot. The Associated Press could not independently verify the footage, entitled "A Message to the Egyptian Government," though it was shot in the style of previous Islamic State propaganda videos in which they threaten and behead hostages.
The reference to "Muslim women" apparently referred to Islamists who have been arrested in a broad government crackdown on dissent. Egypt, a majority Muslim country, now holds thousands of Islamists and suspected supporters of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in prison following the 2013 military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Croatia's Foreign Ministry late last month said that one of its nationals with the same initials had been kidnapped in Cairo on July 22 while on the way to work. The company, which Salopek identified as France's CGG Ardiseis, works in the oil and gas sector and has a branch office in Cairo's leafy suburb of Maadi, where many expats and diplomats live.
Calls to CGG Ardiseis' office in Cairo were not immediately answered.
Croatian state television read out a statement on air Wednesday night saying the government was "doing all it can to promptly resolve the difficult situation," without elaborating. Croatian authorities could not be immediately reached and its embassy in Cairo was closed on Wednesday, which is a public holiday in Croatia celebrating its independence in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
An Egyptian security official said last month that Salopek is a petroleum engineer who was abducted by gunmen while driving on a highway west of Cairo. His car, its driver and the man's belongings were left behind, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists. He had said that a police investigation was underway.
Egypt has seen an increase in violence since Morsi's ouster, with attacks by suspected Islamic extremists in both the Sinai Peninsula and the mainland focusing primarily on security forces.
Foreign interests also have been targeted increasingly, including the Italian Consulate, which was hit with a car bomb last month. That came just days after another bomb killed Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat in an upscale Cairo neighbourhood. However, this is the first time the local Islamic State affiliate released a video showing a kidnapped foreigner in Egypt, a major escalation as the country tries to rebuild its crucial tourism industry after years of unrest following the 2011 revolt against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
Last December, the affiliate claimed responsibility for the killing of an American oil worker with Texas-based energy company Apache Corp. Apache said that one of its supervisors had been killed in an apparent carjacking in the Western Desert, part of Egypt's mainland.
The Egyptian government had no immediate comment on the video Wednesday. Thursday, Egypt plans to unveil an $8.5 billion extension of the Suez Canal, a major event the government hopes will show the world it has recovered from the years of turmoil it has faced.
The Islamic State group holds about a third of Iraq and neighbouring Syria in its self-declared "caliphate." In Syria, Islamic State militants have killed foreign journalists and aid workers, starting with American journalist James Foley in August last year.
Foley's taped beheading was followed by the killing of American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, American aid worker Peter Kassig, as well as Japanese nationals Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto.
In Sinai, Islamic militants have launched increasingly sophisticated attacks in recent months that have killed dozens of Egyptian soldiers and police. Government forces have been carrying out an intensified hunt for the militants in several northern towns in the peninsula.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, Iraqi forces battled Islamic State militants Wednesday in western Anbar province, leaving at least 17 troops dead, officials said.
A police officer, an army officer and a Sunni tribal fighter said the deadliest clashes took place east of Islamic State-held Ramadi, where six soldiers, four Sunni tribal fighters and two police officers were killed. Nine other troops were wounded, they said.
They say another five soldiers were killed and nine wounded when militants attacked troops near the Habbaniyah military base, where dozens of American advisers are stationed. The Iraqi officials all spoke on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to talk to journalists.
------
Associated Press writers Darko Bandic in Zagreb, Croatia, and Sinan Salaheddin and Murtada Faraj in Baghdad contributed to this report.
This image made from a militant video posted on a social media website on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, purports to show a militant standing next to another man who identifies himself as 30-year-old Tomislav Salopek, kneeling down as he reads a message at an unknown location. The video purportedly released by the Islamic State group threatens to kill the Croatian hostage if Egyptian authorities do not release "Muslim women" held in prison within 48 hours. (Militant website via AP)
Purported Islamic State group video threatens to kill Croatian hostage in Egypt
ISIS executes captured women who refuse sex with fighters: Report
Postmedia Network First posted: Thursday, August 06, 2015 12:28 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 06, 2015 05:16 PM EDT
Islamic State bandits have reportedly executed 19 women for refusing to have sex with fighters.
A media official with the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul, who spoke to English-language Iraqi News, said the woman were put to death for refusing "sexual jihad."
Said Mimousini told the site his sources also confirmed there's been a recent split in the ranks over payment and the distribution of captured women as sex slaves.
Tens of thousands of women and girls have been abducted by ISIS fighters and trafficked for sexual slavery, prostitution or ransom, rights groups have confirmed.
The news of the executions was met with anger by at least one politician in Canada.
"These cold-blooded murders are just the latest in a long list of unspeakable atrocities committed by ISIL's jihadist death squads on innocent civilians," Tory MP Stella Ambler said in a release.
Survivors have told horror stories of being bought, repeatedly raped then sold to other fighters up to six times.
An ISIS pamphlet, recently authenticated, indicates prices range from $75 to $172 depending on age, with children the most expensive on the list.
In some cases girls have been forced to undergo hymen reconstruction surgery so they can be re-trafficked as virgins.
Some women have been so traumatized that they have committed suicide.
"ISIS has introduced and legitimised the practice of sexual slavery on an unprecedented scale," said a report by Minority Rights Group International and the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights.
One Yazidi girl told activists she was taken to Syria with 350 other girls where they were displayed and sold in the streets "as if in a chicken market."
ISIS released a video last November showing what appeared to be a sex-slave market.
Women hold a banner during a demonstration marking the first anniversary of Islamic State's surge on Yazidis of the town of Sinjar, in front of the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, August 3, 2015. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
ISIS executes captured women who refuse sex with fighters: Report | World | News
Postmedia Network First posted: Thursday, August 06, 2015 12:28 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 06, 2015 05:16 PM EDT
Islamic State bandits have reportedly executed 19 women for refusing to have sex with fighters.
A media official with the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul, who spoke to English-language Iraqi News, said the woman were put to death for refusing "sexual jihad."
Said Mimousini told the site his sources also confirmed there's been a recent split in the ranks over payment and the distribution of captured women as sex slaves.
Tens of thousands of women and girls have been abducted by ISIS fighters and trafficked for sexual slavery, prostitution or ransom, rights groups have confirmed.
The news of the executions was met with anger by at least one politician in Canada.
"These cold-blooded murders are just the latest in a long list of unspeakable atrocities committed by ISIL's jihadist death squads on innocent civilians," Tory MP Stella Ambler said in a release.
Survivors have told horror stories of being bought, repeatedly raped then sold to other fighters up to six times.
An ISIS pamphlet, recently authenticated, indicates prices range from $75 to $172 depending on age, with children the most expensive on the list.
In some cases girls have been forced to undergo hymen reconstruction surgery so they can be re-trafficked as virgins.
Some women have been so traumatized that they have committed suicide.
"ISIS has introduced and legitimised the practice of sexual slavery on an unprecedented scale," said a report by Minority Rights Group International and the Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights.
One Yazidi girl told activists she was taken to Syria with 350 other girls where they were displayed and sold in the streets "as if in a chicken market."
ISIS released a video last November showing what appeared to be a sex-slave market.
Women hold a banner during a demonstration marking the first anniversary of Islamic State's surge on Yazidis of the town of Sinjar, in front of the United Nations European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, August 3, 2015. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
ISIS executes captured women who refuse sex with fighters: Report | World | News