March 19, 2014 - TERRORISM - Al-Qaeda
is using the latest edition of its magazine to call for car bombs
across the United States and other "crusader countries."
The Spring 2014 edition of Inspire details how to build a bomb and suggests the best way to plan and execute a successful attack.
Unsurprisingly, the magazine notes that "America is our first target," and it recommends Washington (specifically restaurants and bars on M Street), Northern Virginia (including Arlington and Alexandria), Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles as specific targets.
In addition, it notes that a potential terrorist should look for places "flooded with individuals," including sports events—specifically the U.S. Open tennis tournament, campaign events, festivals, and holiday gatherings on Christmas, New Year's Eve, or New Year's Day.
"The important thing is that you target people and not buildings," notes the article, located in the magazine's "Open Source Jihad" section.
And with the Boston Marathon coming up next month, the article strikes a soberingly familiar note with a recipe on how to build a bomb using a pressure cooker—the type used in the April 2013 attack.
Top defense and Homeland Security officials have warned about an increasing risk from individuals who work alone to plan or carry out a terrorist attack without direct instructions from a terrorist organization.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said last month that the Boston Marathon bombing could be "a sign of the future" and that terrorist threats from so-called "lone wolf" or "self-radicalized" terrorists are in many ways harder to detect.
DHS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the magazine article. - National Journal.
A series of evening car bombs targeting commercial neighbourhoods of
Iraq's capital killed at least nine people on Saturday, security and
medical officials said. The five blasts also wounded dozens, the latest in a months-long surge
in bloodshed that has hit the country with less than two months left
before national parliamentary elections.
The attacks, all car bombs at markets or commercial shopping areas of the Sadr City, Amil, Amin, Shuala and Qahira neighbourhoods, killed nine people in all, said police and medical sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
More than 30 people were wounded, they said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bloodshed, but Sunni militants, including those linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant jihadist group, are often blamed for carrying out coordinated mass-casualty bombings.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has singled out Saudi Arabia and Qatar for effectively waging war on Iraq, accusing the two Gulf states of backing militant groups.
He told France 24 in an interview this month that Riyadh and Doha provide political, financial and media support to militant groups, and also accused the Saudis of supporting global "terrorism".
Elsewhere in Iraq on Saturday, a gun attack on the outskirts of the confessionally mixed city of Baquba killed a mother and her son, while a car bomb in the predominantly Sunni city of Tikrit near the home of a police colonel wounded 15 people.
More than 230 people have been killed already this month, according to an AFP tally.
Iraq is grappling with its worst prolonged period of violence since it emerged from a bloody sectarian war that left tens of thousands dead in 2006-07.
Analysts and diplomats have urged the Shiite-led government to reach out to the Sunni community, who allege they are mistreated by the government and security forces.
But with elections looming on April 30, political leaders have been loath to be seen to compromise. - Yahoo.
The Spring 2014 edition of Inspire details how to build a bomb and suggests the best way to plan and execute a successful attack.
Unsurprisingly, the magazine notes that "America is our first target," and it recommends Washington (specifically restaurants and bars on M Street), Northern Virginia (including Arlington and Alexandria), Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles as specific targets.
In addition, it notes that a potential terrorist should look for places "flooded with individuals," including sports events—specifically the U.S. Open tennis tournament, campaign events, festivals, and holiday gatherings on Christmas, New Year's Eve, or New Year's Day.
"The important thing is that you target people and not buildings," notes the article, located in the magazine's "Open Source Jihad" section.
And with the Boston Marathon coming up next month, the article strikes a soberingly familiar note with a recipe on how to build a bomb using a pressure cooker—the type used in the April 2013 attack.
Top defense and Homeland Security officials have warned about an increasing risk from individuals who work alone to plan or carry out a terrorist attack without direct instructions from a terrorist organization.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said last month that the Boston Marathon bombing could be "a sign of the future" and that terrorist threats from so-called "lone wolf" or "self-radicalized" terrorists are in many ways harder to detect.
DHS didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the magazine article. - National Journal.
Baghdad Car Bombs Kill Nine
 |
| Iraqis stand near burnt out vehicles after a car bombing in Baghdad on March 7, 2014 (AFP Photo/Ali Al-Saadi)
|
The attacks, all car bombs at markets or commercial shopping areas of the Sadr City, Amil, Amin, Shuala and Qahira neighbourhoods, killed nine people in all, said police and medical sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.
More than 30 people were wounded, they said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bloodshed, but Sunni militants, including those linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant jihadist group, are often blamed for carrying out coordinated mass-casualty bombings.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has singled out Saudi Arabia and Qatar for effectively waging war on Iraq, accusing the two Gulf states of backing militant groups.
He told France 24 in an interview this month that Riyadh and Doha provide political, financial and media support to militant groups, and also accused the Saudis of supporting global "terrorism".
Elsewhere in Iraq on Saturday, a gun attack on the outskirts of the confessionally mixed city of Baquba killed a mother and her son, while a car bomb in the predominantly Sunni city of Tikrit near the home of a police colonel wounded 15 people.
More than 230 people have been killed already this month, according to an AFP tally.
Iraq is grappling with its worst prolonged period of violence since it emerged from a bloody sectarian war that left tens of thousands dead in 2006-07.
Analysts and diplomats have urged the Shiite-led government to reach out to the Sunni community, who allege they are mistreated by the government and security forces.
But with elections looming on April 30, political leaders have been loath to be seen to compromise. - Yahoo.
Car Bombs Kill At Least 8 At Libya Army Academy In Benghazi
 |
| Men stand next to a car damaged after an explosion exploded outside a Libyan army base in the eastern city of Benghazi March 17, 2014. Credit: REUTERS/Stringer |
A powerful car
bomb attack targeted a military academy in Libya's eastern of city of
Benghazi on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding more than
a dozen, hospital and security officials said.
An American schoolteacher was also killed by gunmen in December. Western diplomats are concerned the violence in Benghazi will spill over to the capital, Tripoli.
Instability in the eastern city is part of the struggle a weak central government faces in controlling armed groups, militias and brigades of former rebels who once battled Muammar Gaddafi and now refuse to disarm.
A first bomb exploded at the front gate of the academy as soldiers were leaving a graduation ceremony, security officials said. Several cars parked outside exploded. One or two other bombs exploded around the same time, wounding 18, security and hospital officials said.
In a separate explosion hours later in Benghazi, one person was killed when another car bomb went off near the state oil firm Brega Petroleum Marketing Co, which sells fuel products inside Libya, a security source said.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombings in Benghazi, where Libyan armed forces have been battling militants from hardline Islamist groups such as Ansar al Sharia, listed as a foreign terrorist organization by Washington.
The government called the academy bombing a "terrorist act" and declared three days of mourning, according to a statement.
Most countries have closed their consulates in Benghazi and some foreign airlines have stopped flying there since the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in an Islamist militant attack in September 2012.
Gunmen killed a French citizen earlier this month, while police found seven Egyptian Christians shot dead execution-style on a beach outside Benghazi, home to several oil firms. No one has claimed responsibility for that killing. - Reuters.
Kenya Police Park Massive Car Bomb Outside Their Offices After Missing Explosives In Vehicle
 |
| Kenyan troop stand guard at the Garrisa airstrip near the Somali-Kenyan border. Photo: REUTERS |
Kenyan police failed to realise that a car that they impounded from a Somali
man and stored outside their anti-terror unit offices for a week was packed
full of explosives already attached to a Nokia detonator.
The blue Toyota four-wheel-drive was only thoroughly checked when foreign counterterror officers believed to be from the FBI saw the vehicle and recognised it was on an international alert list.
Six separate pipe bombs made up of a total of 130lb of plastic explosive were welded into the vehicle’s rear seats, enough to collapse a multi-storey building, according to Kenyan police.
An AK-47, 250 rounds of ammunition, detonators and grenades were also found when a full search was eventually carried out and completed on Tuesday.
The vehicle was impounded in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa on March 11, and the driver, a Somali, and his passenger, a Kenyan of Somali origin, were arrested and charged with illegally importing a vehicle.
Fresh charges linked to international terrorism will now be drawn up,
prosecutors in Mombasa said.
Security sources in the city said initial investigations suggested one of the men had called telephone numbers also contacted by suspected terrorists linked to Kenya’s Westgate attack in September, but this could not be confirmed.
“This is a continuous investigation process and it is not correct to give details before everything is known,” Robert Kitur, Mombasa police chief, told The Telegraph.
The amount of explosives were enough to cause “mass destruction”, but the potential target was not yet known, another senior official, Nelson Marwa, Mombasa county commissioner, said.
The vehicle was a collection of parts from different cars, he added.
"It is a Toyota ... the chassis does not belong to that vehicle, the engine does not belong to that vehicle, the number plate does not belong to that vehicle," Mr Marwa said.
Islamic extremists in Somalia have vowed to continue attacks on Kenya, following the Westgate siege in September, when 67 civilians died after four gunmen took over the upscale mall in the capital, Nairobi.
They were sent by al-Shabaab, Somalia’s al-Qaeda-linked militia, which on Monday carried out a suicide bombing of a hotel in southern Somalia where African Union soldiers had gathered. Eight were killed.
Separately, Uganda’s intelligence services have warned that al-Shabaab cells may be planning to hijack petrol transport lorries and use them as improvised truck bombs. - Telegraph.
Lebanon Car Bomb Kills A Hezbollah Leader
A suicide car bomb attack has killed at least four people in a
Hezbollah-dominated area of the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, near the border
with Syria.Among those killed in the attack, which struck the village of al-Nabi Othman late on Sunday, was Hezbollah's local leader Abdul Rahman al-Qadhi, according to Al Jazeera's Ehab al-Okadi, reporting from Lebanon.
"The blast was carried out by a suicide attacker. Hezbollah members knew he was about to carry out the attack, and tried to stop the vehicle. That was when the attacker detonated the vehicle," a Lebanese security source told AFP.
WATCH: Lebanon car bomb kills a Hezbollah leader.
Hezbollah-dominated areas in eastern Lebanon and south Beirut have suffered a series of deadly attacks, many of them suicide car blasts, since the powerful Shia movement acknowledged sending fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's troops as they battle rebels.
The latest attack was claimed by Jabhat al-Nusra in Lebanon, as well as by the little-known Liwa Ahrar al-Sunna in Baalbek, a Sunni Muslim armed group opposed to Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian conflict.
"Liwa Ahrar al-Sunna in Baalbek officially takes responsibility for the heroic martyrdom [suicide] operation 'revenge for Yabrud' in the village of al-Nabi Othman," the group said on Twitter.
It also warned Hezbollah and the Lebanese army - which Sunni groups in Lebanon say has sided with the Shia movement - to: "prepare for the transfer of the battle of Yabroud into Lebanese territory."
The attack came hours after the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, captured Yabroud, a former rebel bastion in Syria near the Lebanese border.
Hezbollah and Lebanese security forces have said many of the car bombs used in previous suicide attacks came from Yabroud.
Lebanon has been dragged into Syria's violence by different political groups announcing support for rival parties to the war next door. - Al Jazeera.
Suicide Car Bomb Kills 20 Soldiers In Central Somalia Town
Buloburde (RBC) At least 20 soldiers, including two senior officers
were killed in a suicide car bomb that hit a hotel in Buloburde town,
where government and AMISOM officials were sleeping around 2.20p.m local
time on Tuesday morning, RBC Radio reports.
The Chief military officer in Hiran region, Col. Mohamed Amin Aadan Jesow was among those killed in the attack, according to former Hiran governor Yusuf Ahmed Hagar who has survived from the attack.
At least six soldiers of the AMISOM forces from the Djibouti contingent were killed in the attack.
According to local sources, the suicide car bomb with no lights was seen suddenly as it approached Hotel Camalow as most of the hotel guards and security officials were sleeping. Heavy explosion was heard as then a fierce gun battle followed, the locals said.
Al Shabab militant group claimed the attack saying the attack was well planed aimed to destroy the invaders of AMISOM those seized the town last week in non resistances operation.
AMISOM Spokesman Col. Ali Aden Houmed has confirmed the death of three Djiboutian soldiers and three Somali soldiers in the attack.
Somalia government forces and the AMISOM troops took the town of Buloburde is 125km from Beletweyne in South Central Somalia from Al Shabab on Thursday last week. The town was described an al Shabaab stronghold and their supply nerve center. - RBC Radio.
15 Killed In Car Bomb Blast In Afghanistan
Separately, a suicide bomber killed 15 people in an attack yesterday on a busy marketplace in northern Afghanistan, officials said.
The Taliban have threatened to kill anyone who takes part in the elections, and eight people involved in political campaigning have been killed since electioneering started last month. A group of election officials has also been kidnapped. It was not clear if the bombing was related to the election.
At least 47 people were wounded when the suicide bomber driving a three-wheel rickshaw blew himself up in Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab province, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
“It was a bazaar day and everybody was busy buying or selling when the bomber detonated his explosives,” Faryab governor Mohamedullah Batash told Reuters. Two children were among the dead, the UN said.
Nicholas Haysom, the top UN official in Afghanistan, said such bombings could be a war crime.
“Their use in a distinctly civilian location such as a market is atrocious and cannot be justified,” he said in a statement.
The UN said such bombs - called improvised explosive devices - have killed 190 civilians in Afghanistan so far this year, a 14% increase from the same period last year. - Gulf Times.
The Taliban have threatened to kill anyone who takes part in the elections, and eight people involved in political campaigning have been killed since electioneering started last month. A group of election officials has also been kidnapped. It was not clear if the bombing was related to the election.
At least 47 people were wounded when the suicide bomber driving a three-wheel rickshaw blew himself up in Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab province, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
“It was a bazaar day and everybody was busy buying or selling when the bomber detonated his explosives,” Faryab governor Mohamedullah Batash told Reuters. Two children were among the dead, the UN said.
Nicholas Haysom, the top UN official in Afghanistan, said such bombings could be a war crime.
“Their use in a distinctly civilian location such as a market is atrocious and cannot be justified,” he said in a statement.
The UN said such bombs - called improvised explosive devices - have killed 190 civilians in Afghanistan so far this year, a 14% increase from the same period last year. - Gulf Times.
