April 18, 2016 - JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - A bus has exploded in Jerusalem, leaving around 16 casualties, Israeli media report, citing emergency medical services.
The massive explosion occurred in Hebron Way, west Jerusalem, with police citing "a militant attack" as the probable cause of the blast.
Multiple social media posts show smoke coming out of the burned-out bus, which is standing in the middle of the road.
Initial reports indicated there were 20 casualties. Now Jerusalem Post reports 16 people were injured in the blast, with two injured "seriously," one "moderately," and five "lightly." The newspapers cite sources in the Magen David Adom emergency service.
Some of the injured were evacuated to Jerusalem's Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Others were taken to Hadassah Hospital nearby.
The bus was reportedly not carrying any passengers when it exploded, an Israel Police spokesperson said, as cited in the media. The casualties were apparently due to being close to the blast.
“When I arrived at the scene I saw two buses going up in flames and about 10 causalities among them, one who was mortally wounded and another in serious condition,” Mickey Cohen, head of the Jerusalem emergency response service, told Haaretz.
Jerusalem district police say the bus could have been blown up by an explosive device or targeted by a suicide bomber who detonated the device inside the bus, according to news outlet Arutz Sheva.
Eugenia Ugrinovich, a freelance journalist in Jerusalem, has told RT that the police confirmed "there was an explosive device at the back of the bus that caused [the] fire," saying the casualties were suffering from injuries typical for an explosion.
She added that Jerusalem will be on high alert with security tightened in public places for days to come. The bus blast was the first since 2012, Ugrinovich said, adding that lone-wolf attacks like this are very difficult to prevent and will surely happen again in future.
According to the police, the bus departed from the southern part of the city and arrived at Moshe Baram Street, when apparently an explosion was heard and the bus caught fire.
Suicide attacks on Israeli buses took place regularly in the early 2000s, and became a hallmark of the Palestinian uprising. In March 2002, a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bus in Jerusalem, leaving 25 injured. Several months later, another suicide bomb attack on a bus in northern Israel killed 17 and injured 43, most of them IDF soldiers.
Violence between Israelis and Palestinians has abated somewhat recently after a series of stabbing attacks last year. At least 21 Israelis and 131 Palestinians were killed in that spike of violence. In early January, at least two people were killed and several others injured following a shooting at a bar in central Tel Aviv.
פיגוע בי-ם: פיצוץ באוטובוס ריק, אוטובוס לידו גם עלה באש שם נפצעו 2 קשה 3 בינוני 5 קל. צילום מדברים תקשורת pic.twitter.com/NBOpLx3Zu6
The gunman was described by an eyewitness as being "light-skinned and not Eastern looking," and as carrying an M-16. Further reports said the shooter, identified as 29-year-old Nashad Milkham, reportedly stole the gun from his father, who worked in the security industry.
The blast aboard the bus was caused by a bomb, Brachie Sprung, a spokeswoman for Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, told Reuters: "It was small, but it was definitely a bomb."
WATCH: Jerusalem bus explosion.
Police say the bus explosion was a terror attack after bomb disposal experts found parts of an explosive device at the scene.
Ruslan Kandaurov, head of the Russian Embassy’s consular section, has told TASS that one of the people injured in the blast is an Israeli-Russian dual national, who is presently “in moderate condition.”
Jonathan Hessen, a political analyst in Israel, told RT that Hamas has already claimed responsibility for the attack, carried out in response "for the atrocities, as they put it, committed by the State of Israel towards Al-Aqsa mosque and the Temple Mount." He said that Israeli leadership is committed to retaliate against any threat to citizens, but added that it will not necessarily escalate tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. - RT.
March 29, 2016 - YEMEN - Sick ISIS terrorists have carried out their horrific threat to crucify a priest who was kidnapped by the jihadis earlier this month.
Father Tom Uzhunnalil was allegedly seized when four armed militants stormed an old people's home in Aden in Yemen on March 4.
Now the Washington Times has reported the savage murder has been confirmed at the Easter Vigil Mass by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Vienna.
It is claimed the gunmen killed 16 people, including four nuns, in the brutal attack.
Last week, the Franciscan Sisters of Siessen posted on Facebook reports that the Salesian priest would be crucified in a brutal murder on Good Friday.
No group has come forward to claim responsibility for the kidnap of the priest, who was a member of the Silesian order in Bangalore, India, but a survivor said ISIS was to blame.
The Indian government's Ministry of External Affairs vowed it would leave "no stone unturned" in its efforts to find the missing priest before it was too late.
According to India Today, the department was working with the government in Yemen "to find the location of Father Tom".
Church offices in Vatican and Vatican diplomatic channels also worked to locate the priest and secure his release, UCA news reported.
Over the weekend the Franciscan Sisters of Siessen posted: "Was informed that the Salesian priest, Fr.Tom who was kidnapped by ISIS from the Missionaries of Charity Home in Yemen is being tortured and is going to be crucified on Good Friday.
"This calls for serious concerted prayers from all of us."
Some members of Fr Tom's order have dismissed the reports of his imminent death, saying they know nothing of his fate.
But they are unable to say where the priest may be held or whether he is alive or dead.
Father Mathew Valarkot, spokesman for the Salesians’ Bangalore province to which the kidnapped priest belongs, said: “We have absolutely no information on Fr Tom.
ISIS have cut a swathe of terror and death across the Middle East.
"But even today we do not know who has taken him and what their motives are because no one has claimed responsibility."
Fr Tom, 56, had been in Yemen for four years working as a chaplain to the Sisters of Mother Teresa.
He insisted on remaining in the dangerous country even though all but one of his fellow priests had left and his church had been torched by suspected terrorists.
Earlier this month, the sole survivor of the brutal attack, Sister Sally, described how the militants, who she said belonged to ISIS, killed everyone else.
Her account, reported in the Christian Post , described how she evaded death while the ISIS fighters searched for her by hiding behind a door
It reads: "They were killed one by one. They tied them to trees, shot them in the head and smashed their heads."
"These ISIS men were everywhere, searching for her, as they knew there were five [nuns]
"At least three times they came into the refrigerator room. She did not hide, but remained standing behind the door — they never saw her. This is miraculous."
Over the past year, the Houthi rebel movement and military units loyal to the former president have been battling a US-backed, Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally-recognised government.
Almost 6,300 people, half of them civilians, have been killed in the fighting and ISIS and al-Qaeda are exploiting that weakness to gain a foothold in the region. - Mirror.
March 27, 2016 - LAHORE, PAKISTAN - Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has claimed responsibility for
Sunday’s suicide blast outside a public park in Pakistan’s eastern city
of Lahore that killed at least 65 people and injured more than 280. Most
of the injured are women and children.
“The targets were Christians,” Ehsanullah Ehsan, a spokesman for the faction, said, threatening that more attacks in the region would follow.
“We want to send this message to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that we have entered Lahore. He can do what he wants but he won’t be able to stop us. Our suicide bombers will continue these attacks.”
Salman Rafique, a health adviser for Punjab’s provincial government, put the death toll at over 60 people.
“There are more than 280 injured people,” Rafique said. “Many are now being treated, and we fear that the death toll may climb considerably.”
Police say the blast had been carried out by a suicide bomber.
“Most of the dead and injured are women and children,” Mustansar Feroz, superintendent of police for the area told Reuters.
The explosion happened outside Gulshan Iqbal Park, near the park’s parking lot, just outside the exit gate and a few meters away from children's swings.
The park was crowded because Christians are celebrating Easter holiday and many families were leaving the park when the blast occurred, according to senior police officer Haider Ashraf. He also said the death toll could still rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.
Police said it was not clear whether the attack had deliberately targeted mainly Muslim Pakistan's small Christian minority.
Jam Sajjad Hussain, spokesman for Recuse 112, told Reuters most of the victims are women and children.
DawnNews reports there was little or no security present in the park area and around it.
An eyewitness, talking to DawnNews, said: “The park is huge and has many entrance gates. There was almost no security personnel present there.”
An emergency has been declared at all state hospitals in the city. Authorities are asking for blood donations because supplies are low.
Following the attack, the local government also ordered all public parks to be closed and announced three days of mourning in the province. The main shopping areas have also been shut down and many of the city's main roads are now deserted.
Facebook has activated its 'Safe Check' feature created to help track people after deadly incidents for Lahore.
Waqt News also reports the security personnel have surrounded the area and launched a search operation in and around the park, with rescue teams dispatched to the site.
The army was called in to control crowds outside the park, as some distraught relatives clashed with police and rescue officials.
WATCH: Deadly suicide blast in Pakistan.
The United States, Pakistan’s strategic ally, condemned the attack.
“The United States stands with the people and government of Pakistan at this difficult hour. We will continue to work with our partners in Pakistan and across the region... to root out the scourge of terrorism,” White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Islamist militants in Pakistan have often attacked Christians and other religious minorities over the past decade, while Christians have accused the government of doing little to protect them.
Lahore is the capital of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's political heartland of Punjab, which is the country’s biggest and wealthiest province. - RT.
Flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial following attacks in Brussels (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)
March 23, 2016 - BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - World leaders united in condemning the carnage in Brussels and vowed to
combat terrorism, after Islamic State bombers killed around 35 people in
a strike at the symbolic heart of the EU.Global landmarks from the
Eiffel Tower in Paris to Berlin's Brandenburg Gate were lit up in the
black, yellow and red of the Belgian national flag in solidarity.
In Brussels, hundreds crowded into Place de la Bourse in the capital's historic centre to grieve for the dead, while in London fans of Adele lit up the O2 stadium with their phones after the pop star asked them to "take a moment for Brussels".
The European Union vowed to defend democracy and combat terrorism "with all necessary means" after the bombings at Brussels airport and a metro station, only a short walk from the bloc's core institutions.
Bombs exploded at the Brussels airport and one of the city's metro stations Tuesday, killing at least 34 people and wounding dozens. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The EU said the Brussels attacks were an assault "on our open democratic society" at a time when the 28-nation group is already on edge after a wave of jihadist violence.
"This latest attack only strengthens our resolve to defend the European values and tolerance from the attacks of the intolerant. We will be united and firm in the fight against hatred, violent extremism and terrorism," said the statement by the leaders of the EU's member states and its institutions.
Officials said around 20 people were killed on the metro and 14 at the airport in the rush-hour assaults, which came days after the main fugitive suspect in November's gun and bomb rampage in Paris was arrested in Brussels.
- 'Nous sommes tous Bruxellois' -
"Our Union's capital is under attack. We mourn the dead and pledge to conquer terror through democracy," the Greek foreign ministry said on Twitter. "Nous sommes tous Bruxellois" -- "We are all citizens of Brussels."
Belgian colours lit up the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and hundreds joined a vigil in support of the Brussels victims. Flags were to fly at half mast in France, a nation still raw from last year's jihadist rampage.
"The whole of Europe has been hit," French President Francois Hollande declared, urging the continent to take "vital steps in the face of the seriousness of the threat".
German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed that "the horror is as boundless as the determination to defeat terrorism" and British Prime Minister David Cameron vowed: "We will never let these terrorists win."
Map locates Brussels airport and Maelbeek metro station the locations of deadly terrorist bombings.
Officials: Brussels bombers may have rushed attack.
US President Barack Obama branded the attacks "outrageous", calling on the world to stand "together regardless of nationality or race or faith in fighting against the scourge of terrorism".
"We can and we will defeat those who threaten the safety and security of people all around the world," he said in Havana.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was confident "Europe's commitment to human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence will continue to be the true and lasting response to the hatred and violence of which they became a victim today".
WATCH: People pay tribute to Brussels attacks victims at Bourse Square.
And Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia, which has been combating threats from homegrown jihadists, said his country was "absolutely shoulder to shoulder with Belgium".
He told the ABC: "Australia is allied with Belgium in this battle just as our forebears were 100 years ago in the fields of Flanders, in the First World War."
- Attacks 'un-Islamic' -
Turkey, which has seen hundreds killed a wave of bombings blamed on IS as well as Kurdish rebels, said the Brussels attacks rammed home the need to combat terrorism of every hue.
"The terrorists who targeted Brussels... are showing once again that they respect no value nor any human and moral limit," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country was left reeling after a Russian plane was downed by a bomb over the Sinai in October that killed 224 people, also lashed out at what he called "barbarous crimes".
"Fighting this evil calls for the most active international cooperation," he added.
Alerts and security measures in place in selected European countries following the attacks in Brussels
Religious leaders also spoke out against the attacks, which Pope Francis described as "blind violence".
In Cairo, the leading seat of learning in Sunni Islam, Al-Azhar, said the blasts "violate the tolerant teachings of Islam" and urged the international community to confront the "epidemic" of terrorism.
WATCH: Brussels attacks fierce debate - 'Close the borders' vs 'Stay united'.
The attacks also reverberated in the US presidential campaign, where Republican front-runner Donald Trump said the cause of the bloodshed was "no assimilation" by immigrants.
"This all happened because, frankly, there's no assimilation."
Thousands took to Twitter to express their own anger at Muslims using the #StopIslam handle, in comments rejected by other web users as Islamophobic and racist. - Yahoo.
MiG-29 jet fighters of the Russian aerobatic team Strizhi (The Swifts) perform near Moscow. (Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)
February 28, 2016 - UNITED STATES - The Feb. 21 front-page article “For Turkey, high stakes as troubles intensify”
highlighted a critical development: The growing military alliance
between Russia and Armenia is threatening Turkey, an indispensable U.S.
ally and partner in the fight against the Islamic State.
The
announcement that Russia is sending a new set of fighter jets and combat
helicopters to an air base only 25 miles from the Turkish border is
just the latest example of this alliance.
The two countries’
economic and military ties run deep, bolstered by economic and security
agreements and two military bases — including one just outside the
Armenian capital.
Most significant, Armenia is the only country in the
region that shares a border with Turkey and has Russian troops
permanently stationed.
Although Armenia has welcomed thousands
of Russian troops and advanced weaponry, these developments seemed to
have escaped the notice of U.S. officials, who were settling in for the
holidays while Russia and Armenia signed a sweeping air defense
agreement two days before Christmas.
It’s time for Washington to assess who our real allies in the region are. - Washington Post.
February 17, 2016 - ANKARA, TURKEY - At least 28 people have been killed and 61 injured in a car explosion in
Ankara, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister said. The blast happened in
close proximity to the Turkish parliament building, and reportedly
targeted military personnel.
The scene of the explosion is located in close proximity to Turkey's parliament, the Presidency of the General Staff, and Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard commands.
“We are very close to that place and we've heard two explosions,” one of the employees at a nearby hotel told RT by phone.
“I went to the rooftop of our hotel and saw smoke… I saw a big fire. There is a military building around there… this was about 1 kilometer from us.”
A Turkish military general staff official has confirmed to Reuters the explosion targeted a bus carrying military personnel.Social media users in Ankara say they heard a loud noise all across the city, and posted photos of a huge plume of smoke rising over downtown Eskisehir Avenue.
#Explosion hits military dormitory in central #Ankara - Turkish broadcaster NTV
Omer Celik, a spokesperson for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), said on his Twitter account that the explosion was the result of a “cowardly terrorist attack.”
A Turkish government spokesman has said that the attack was well planned.
President Recep Erdogan has postponed his upcoming visit to Azerbaijan in light of the incident.Twenty ambulances were sent to the scene of the blast, media reported, citing medical officials.Witnesses reported helicopters circling the area above the blast.
Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said that the government has imposed a media gag order banning organizations from broadcasting or printing graphic images of those who were killed or injured in the explosion.
WATCH: Bomb blast kill dozens in Turkey.
Meanwhile, NTV reported that there had been another explosion as demolitions experts destroyed a suspicious package discovered by police in a different area, near the Interior Ministry building.
There has been no claim of responsibility yet, however Turkish officials said they suspect that this was a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) attack.
Anonymous security sources in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast told Reuters they believed Islamic State militants (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) were behind the bombing.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu canceled his trip to Brussels which was due later on Wednesday, an official in his office said.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag has condemned the attack, which he called “terrorist” on his Twitter account.
Last October several explosions at a peace rally in the Turkish capital killed more than 100 people and injured dozens more. The explosions appeared to be the result of suicide bomb attacks. - RT.
"Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap."- Isaiah 17:1, The Bible.
February 13, 2016 - SYRIA - Russia warned of “a new world war" starting in Syria on Thursday after a dramatic day in which Gulf states threatened to send in ground forces.
Foreign and defence ministers of the leading international states backing different factions in the war-torn country met in separate meetings in Munich and Brussels following the collapse of the latest round of peace talks.
Both Russia and the United States demanded ceasefires in the long-running civil war so that the fight could be concentrated against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) - but each on their own, conflicting terms. But the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, staged their own intervention, saying they were committed to sending ground troops to the country. Their favoured rebel groups have been pulverised by Russian air raids and driven back on the ground by Iranian-supplied pro-regime troops.
They said their declared target was Isil. But the presence of troops from Gulf states which have funded the Syrian rebels would be taken as a hostile act by the Assad regime and its backers, and a sign that they were committed to staking their claim to a say in the final Syrian settlement.
A girl asks a passerby for help to pay a
medical bill, as her father sits in his wheelchair, in the Douma area
of Damascus earlier this month. Photo: Reuters
Russia issued a stark warning of the potential consequences. "The Americans and our Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war?" its prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, told Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper in an interview due to be published on Friday but released on Thursday night.
“It would be impossible to win such a war quickly, especially in the Arab world, where everybody is fighting against everybody.
"All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table instead of unleashing a new world war.”
Russia did not specify a date publicly but diplomats said that they had suggested March 1, which the Americans say would leave them another two weeks to achieve their military goals, including the defeat of “moderate” rebel forces in the north around Aleppo.
The United States countered by demanding an immediate ceasefire.
An Islamic State position on Kobane hill is taken out by an allied airstrike.
The rebels, whose main negotiators have been touring Europe in the wake of the collapse of the Geneva peace talks and the renewed assault on Aleppo, say a ceasefire can only happen in conjunction with a negotiated “political transition” - something which looks ever more unlikely in light of regime victories on the ground.
Under the United Nations security council resolution passed in December, any ceasefire would automatically exclude Isil, the local al-Qaeda branch Jabhat al-Nusra, which operates throughout rebel territory, and other UN-designated terrorist groups.
Since these are being struck by both the United States and Russia, as well as the regime, the terms of the resolution mean that the only group that would have to stop fighting under the terms of a ceasefire would be the “moderate rebels” backed by the West.
This they are unlikely to do voluntarily.
A
girl carrying a toddler inspects damage, in a site hit by what
activists said were airstrikes carried out by the Russian air force, in
Douma.
Saudi Arabia is said to be furious that their main regional rival, Iran, has been allowed to consolidate its power bases in both Iraq and Syria because of the civil wars in both countries and under the cover of an international air campaign supposedly targeting Isil.
Its defence ministry spokesman, Brig Gen Ahmed al-Assiri, said its decision to send ground troops to Syria was “irreversible”.
The kingdom, along with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, is offering to provide the troops the United States-led coalition are needed to take on Isil on the ground under coalition air cover.
Michael Fallon, who held talks in Brussels on the fringes of a defence ministers meeting with deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, said he welcomed the Saudi offer.
“The Saudis are leading the Islamic military coalition,” he said.
“We've always made clear this is a campaign that can't be won by western troops doing the fighting. It can only be won in the end by local forces that have the support of the local population.” That last phrase appears to refer to the undesirability in western minds of Isil being defeated from the air only for pro-regime troops to retake the territory it now holds, which is overwhelming Sunni and was previously in the hands of non-Isil Sunni-led rebels.
The Saudis are also testing American willingness to “lead from the front” in Syria in the face of the apparent defeat of their favoured rebels at the hands of an assertive Russian intervention.
“Saudi Arabia will not step back from its offer to send ground troops to Syria as part of an International Coalition operation,” Mohammed al-Yahya, a London-based Saudi analyst said.
Damaged buildings in the Douma area of Damascus.
“The strategies used to fight Isil so far have not adequately weakened it, let alone eliminated it. It has become clear that Assad and the forces allied to him, namely Hizbollah, Russia, and Iran, are focusing on fighting the Assad regime’s opposition, not Isil.” Meanwhile on the ground, Russian-backed Kurdish forces took new ground from the rebels near the Turkish border, seizing the Minnegh air base, a highly symbolic target as it was seized from the regime first by Isil and then from them by non-Isil rebels two years ago after some of the fiercest battles of the whole war.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said more than 50,000 people had now been displaced north of Aleppo in the latest bout of fighting, calling the situation “grotesque”.
“The warring parties in Syria are constantly sinking to new depths, without apparently caring in the slightest about the death and destruction they are wreaking across the country,” he said. - Telegraph.
January 31, 2016 - TURKEY - Almost 40 people have drowned in the Aegean Sea near the
Turkey’s western coast, as a migrant boat sank on its way to the Greek
island of Lesbos, local media report.
A 17-meter boat was carrying at least 120 people before it sank off the coast of Ayvacik, a town across from the Greek island of Lesvos, according to the Dogan news agency. The agency says at least five of those dead are children while almost 40 dead bodies have been discovered.
"Local people woke up to the sound of screaming migrants and we have been carrying out rescue work since dawn. We have an 80-kilometre-long coast just across from Lesvos, which is very hard to keep under control", Mehmet Unal Sahin, the mayor of Ayvacik, told CNNTurk.
Turkish coast guards have managed to rescue 75 people so far near the resort of Ayvacik, located in the Marmara Region, popular with tourists.
The migrants were admitted to the hospital with hypothermia symptoms. The survivors allegedly came from Afghanistan, Syria and Myanmar.
However, the number of victims may be higher, as the rescue teams are still conducting search and rescue operation.
Over 210 people have died this year so far trying to make the dangerous sea crossing from Turkey to Greece, according to estimates by the International Organization for Migration. Last year more than 700 drowned or were reported as missing in the Aegean Sea. The organization called the Mediterranean Sea, which claimed the lives of 3,700 people attempting to reach Europe in 2015, the world’s “deadliest.”
Turkey is a primary destination for asylum seekers and migrants who want to cross to Europe. About 500,00 refugees from Syria fled the embattled country through Turkey since the beginning of the Syrian military conflict.
People, forced to abandon their homes by the perils of the war, often venture into Europe in overcrowded rubber boats, without any protection, as was in the case with Alan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy who drowned in September last year on his route to the Greek island of Kos. After the pictures of his body washed ashore in Turkish resort city of Bodrum, made global headlines, he became a symbol of the struggles the refugees have to endure trying to make it to Europe.
Turkey now hosts more than 3 million refugees, with about 2.5 million of them from Syria.Last November, Turkey pledged to curb the flow of migrants streaming through its territory to the EU in return for 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) of financial aid designed to provide better living conditions for the Syrian refugees already living in Turkey. - RT.
A handout picture released by UNICEF and
taken on January 14, 2016 shows a UNICEF employee measuring the arm of a
malnourished child in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, as they
assess the health situation of residents of the famine-stricken town
(AFP Photo/)
January 31, 2016 - MIDDLE EAST - At least 16 more people have died of starvation in the besieged Syrian
town of Madaya since an aid convoy entered earlier this month, according
to Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Iraq says it needs $1.56 billion in 2016 to alleviate the humanitarian
crisis caused by the war against Islamic State, a government report
states. Baghdad has been affected by falling oil revenues and has called
on the international community for help. Two bomb blasts have struck the outskirts of Syria's capital, Damascus. Meanwhile, at least 30 people were killed and 40 wounded in twin blasts in the
mainly Shi'ite neighbourhood, Syria's Interior Ministry reported.
16 more starve to death in Syria's besieged Madaya: MSF
Several dozen more residents of the town are in "danger of death" because of severe malnutrition, the humanitarian group warned.
The latest deaths were reported as the Syrian Red Crescent told AFP it had gained rare access on Saturday to Madaya and two other besieged towns to assess humanitarian needs.
MSF said the additional deaths in Madaya brought to 46 the number of people reported to have died of starvation in the town since December.
It said real toll could be worse.
"The real number is almost certainly higher, as MSF is aware of reports of people dying of starvation in their homes."Located in Damascus province, Madaya is under government siege, and its fate has been one of the sticking points for fresh peace talks on the Syrian conflict that opened on Friday in Geneva after delays.
Residents of the besieged rebel-held Syrian
town of Madaya wait for a convoy of aid from the Syrian Arab Red
Crescent on January 14, 2016 (AFP Photo/Louai Beshara)
Syria's opposition wants to see the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions demanding an end to sieges before committing to new negotiations.
Madaya is one of four towns included in a rare deal last year that was intended to halt fighting and allow the entry of humanitarian aid.
But despite the deal, the UN and other aid groups have had only limited access to Madaya, along with rebel-held Zabadani, and the government-held towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, which are under opposition siege.
Conditions in Madaya have reportedly been among the worst, with about 42,000 civilians there surrounded by government troops who have laid mines around the town to prevent people leaving.
While the government has some ability to airdrop supplies to Fuaa and Kafraya, the opposition has no similar capacity.
Aid groups have regularly urged continuous aid access to all four towns, as well as the evacuation of those with malnutrition or other illnesses.
- 'Unhindered medical access' -
Citing medics it supports in the town, MSF said there were at least 320 cases of malnutrition in Madaya, including 33 that were so severe that the individuals could die without prompt treatment.
A convoy of aid from the Syrian Arab Red
Crescent heads to the besieged rebel-held Syrian town of Madaya, on
January 14, 2016 (AFP Photo/Louai Beshara)
"It is totally unacceptable that people continue to die from starvation, and that critical medical cases remain in the town when they should have been evacuated weeks ago," said MSF's director of operations Brice de le Vingne.
"The warring parties responsible for these besiegement strategies need to allow unhindered medical and humanitarian access immediately," he added.
After the September deal for the four towns, an initial aid delivery was made, but no subsequent assistance was allowed in until January 11, after reports of deaths in Madaya.
Additional convoys of food and medicine entered Madaya, Fuaa and Kafraya on January 14, and then all four towns on January 19,
On Saturday, the Syrian Red Crescent's operations chief Tamam Mehrez told AFP it had been able to enter Madaya, Fuaa and Kafraya to carry out humanitarian assessments.
"Our teams today entered Madaya in Damascus province, and Kafraya and Fuaa in Idlib province, as part of periodic access to check on the sick and review critical situations," he said.
He said he could not provide further details until the visits were finished, but added that the teams were not delivering aid.
A UNICEF employee measures the arm of a
malnourished child in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya, on January 14,
2016 (AFP Photo/)
The UN estimates around 486,700 Syrians are living under sieges imposed by the regime, rebels or the Islamic State group.
The UN's aid chief said this week that 75 percent of its requests for aid deliveries in Syria went unanswered by the government.
Stephen O'Brien told the UN Security Council that access to hard-to-reach areas was "simply not happening" and that the Syrian government had yet to give approval to most planned relief convoys. - Yahoo.
Iraq needs $1.5bn in humanitarian aid amid ISIS onslaught & funding gap
The Iraqi government stated in its report, which was released Sunday, that it will only be able to provide less than 43 percent of the necessary humanitarian aid from its state budget.
"The international community is necessary for bridging the deficit or financing gap," it added, as cited by Reuters.
On Sunday, the UN issued an appeal for $861 million in order to help Iraq meet its funding gap, as it presses to help those displaced.
"With the expanding needs, the allocation through the federal budget will not be sufficient. We expect that the highly prioritised (UN) Humanitarian Response Plan will help cover part of the gap," Iraqi Minister of Migration and Displacement Jassim Mohammed al-Jaff said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The #Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan launches today seeking funding to help millions affected by conflict pic.twitter.com/sioI2drr0L
Iraq has been ravaged by the conflict with Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), after the terrorist group seized large areas of territory in the summer of 2014. The war has seen more than 3.3 million people displaced as they have tried to flee the fighting, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Meanwhile, at least 18,800 civilians were killed and 36,240 wounded in violence in Iraq from January 2014 to October 2015, according to the United Nations.
The Iraqi government allocated around $850 million in 2015 to help with the humanitarian effort. However, they were only able to find less than 60 percent of the sum, the report stated, according to Reuters.
The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) highlighted the humanitarian problem by stating that the international community may be too focused on the threat posed by IS and was ignoring the plight of millions of refugees.
The organization added that the amount of humanitarian aid should be scaled up in proportion to the escalation of military operations. MSF says that if this is not done, then the gap between the needs and the aid that is actually being provided will only widen.
Iraq’s position has been hampered by falling oil prices, but also because IS have seized some of the country’s oil wells. In October, a spokesman for the Iraq Oil Ministry said that Baghdad was losing up to 400,000 barrels of oil a day.
According to the OPEC Monthly Oil Market Report, Iraq produced 4.14 million barrels per day in September. The country is the cartel's second biggest crude producer after Saudi Arabia. However, IS has been using the oil reserves under its control, which it is selling on the black market, to help finance its reign of terror.
In December, Russia accused Turkey of helping IS in the illegal oil trade, which helps finance the terrorist group.
In October 2014, the US Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen said Islamic State was earning $1 million a day from oil sales. - RT.
At least 30 killed, 40 wounded in Damascus suburb bombings, ISIS claims responsibility
The Islamic State terrorist group has taken responsibility for the attacks.
According to the television station of Lebanon's militant Shiite Hezbollah group, the attacks took place in the Sayeda Zeinab district, where Syria's major Shiite shrine is located.
Syrian state television reported that "two terrorist blasts, one of them a car bomb, followed by a suicide bomber," took place in the Sayyida Zeinab area.
It said there was "information about deaths and injuries," but gave no further details.
The Sayyida Zeinab mosque, which contains the grave of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed, is revered as a pilgrimage site by Shiite Muslims.
The site has been targeted before, including in February 2015, when a blast ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese Shiite pilgrims headed to Sayyida Zeinab, killing at least nine people, in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, AFP reported.
Also last year in February, two suicide attacks killed four people and wounded 13 at a checkpoint near the shrine.
State television showed footage of burning buildings and wrecked cars in the heavily populated area in the south of the city.
The explosions took place as representatives of Syria's government and the opposition began gathering in Geneva for the first UN-mediated peace talks in two years. The United Nations says the challenge could be six months of talks, seeking a ceasefire and finding a political settlement to a war that has killed over 250,000 people and left over 1 million injured. - RT.
Violence on the streets of Kasserine as youth return to protest incomplete revolution. Reuters.
January 22, 2016 - TUNISIA - Tunisia imposed a
nationwide overnight curfew Friday in response to growing unrest as
protests over unemployment across the country descended into violence in
some cities.
The week of increasingly violent demonstrations was triggered Sunday when a young man who lost out on a government job climbed a transmission tower in protest and was electrocuted. The suicide more than five years ago of another unemployed youth set off a popular uprising that overthrew Tunisia's longtime ruler and eventually gave rise to the "Arab Spring" uprisings across North Africa.
Tunisia built the only democracy to survive that movement, which spawned chaos elsewhere in the region. But the country's economy is foundering, and about one in three young people remains without work.
"Are we not Tunisians too? It's been four years I've been struggling. We're not asking for much, but we're fighting for our youth. We've struggled so much for them," said Leila Omri, the mother of an unemployed graduate in Kasserine.
A curfew from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m. was declared because the attacks on public and private property "represent a danger to the country and its citizens," the Interior Ministry said.
Overnight into Friday, police stations came under attack and security officers used tear gas to repel protesters armed with stones and Molotov cocktails. In housing projects on the outskirts of the capital, Tunis, roving groups of young people pillaged a bank and looted stores and warehouses.
The previous night, a police officer died after protesters flipped his car, the government said.
Tunisia's prime minister, Habib Essid, cut short a visit to France to deal with the protests. Tunisia's unemployment stands around 15 percent, but is 30 percent among young people.
Tunisia has been under a state of emergency since a suicide bombing in November killed 12 members of the presidential guard in the heart of Tunis - an attack that capped an unusually violent year for Tunisia. That bombing, as well as deadly attacks earlier in the year against the Bardo museum in Tunis and the tourist beach town of Sousse, were claimed by the Islamic State group.
In Paris just before leaving for home, Essid said the problem was not with democracy, but with the economy.
"We have a set of policies to try to solve this issue, which is one of this government's main challenges," he said after his meeting with the French president. "We don't have a magic wand. We can't solve the problem of unemployment in one go."
France promised aid worth 1 billion euros, much of it dedicated to inland regions far from the relatively glamorous coastal areas that include the resort of Sousse. But tourism, the main driver of Tunisia's economy, plummeted after last year's attacks, leaving even the coasts struggling.
"You want a solution? It's easy: give the people jobs, instead of pouring millions into Sousse," said Abid Khadhraoui, another unemployed graduate. "You had five years and nothing happened. All we want are jobs!" - AP.
January 22, 2016 - EUROPE - Billionaire financier George Soros has warned that the European Union
is on the "verge of collapse" over the migrant crisis and is in "danger
of kicking the ball further up the hill" in its management of the issue
which has seen more than a million migrants and refugees arrive in the
region in 2015.
In an interview with the New York Review of Books, Soros added that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is key to solving the crisis.
Merkel led Europe's response to the migrant crisis, opening Germany to the refugees that had travelled from the Middle East, in particular Syria, to try and find a new home in Europe. The decision by the German leader marked a sea-change in her policy. In the interview, Soros said he welcomed Merkel's move.
"There is plenty to be nervous about," the financier said.
"As she (Merkel) correctly predicted, the EU is on the verge of collapse. The Greek crisis taught the European authorities the art of muddling through one crisis after another. This practice is popularly known as kicking the can down the road, although it would be more accurate to describe it as kicking a ball uphill so that it keeps rolling back down."
"Merkel correctly foresaw the potential of the migration crisis to destroy the European Union. What was a prediction has become the reality. The European Union badly needs fixing. This is a fact but it is not irreversible. And the people who can stop Merkel's dire prediction from coming true are actually the German people. "
"Now it's time for Germans to decide: Do they want to accept the responsibilities and the liabilities involved in being the dominant power in Europe?"
George Soros.
Soros' comments come as Finland's Finance Minister, Alex Stubb, told CNBC that Germany's open policy on migrants was, "humane, that was probably the right thing to do at the time but the key issue here is that one of the fundamental freedoms of the European Union is under threat and that is the free movement of people and the whole Schengen agreement."
"On top of that, we've had a Euro crisis which is about free movement of money so two of the core pillars of European integration are under threat right now," said Stubb, to CNBC in Davos.
In his interview Wednesday, Stubb denied the idea that the Schengen zone, which allows the free passage of EU citizens through almost all of its members, is a security threat to Europe.
"We shouldn't draw parallels between [the] refugee crisis and terrorism. The roots of terrorism are much, much deeper than that."
"What we need to watch out for is radicalization. What does this mean? It means we need to get these people to work, we need to give these people employment, we need to give them hope, we need to integrate them into our societies, they need to learn our languages," said the Finance Minister, to CNBC.
Stubb, known for his fiscally hardline views, explained to CNBC why he wants to improve competitiveness in Finland.
"We basically need to do what Germany did in the late 1990s, early 2000s. We need to take some hard reforms; basically, I'm looking at a positive circle or a virtuous circle of the economy, that means number one, we become more competitive, number two, we get more exports, number three, we get more jobs, number four, we get more taxes, which I like as finance minister, and then number five, in order to finance our welfare state, we use those taxes."
Stubb also shared his thoughts on the UK referendum vote.
"I think it would be a great travesty both for the UK, economically, politically and otherwise, and a travesty for the European Union if there was a divorce," he said to CNBC. - CNBC.
The Pakistani Taliban reportedly scaled walls and attacked students in their dormitories at Bacha Khan University, but were killed before they could detonate suicide
vests. The death toll is expected to rise
in the deadly attack, which takes place under two years after the
Pakistani Taliban killed 145 people in another school attack.
January 20, 2016 - PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN - At least 22 people were killed and many more wounded when
militants attacked a university campus in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, a police official said.
A leader of the Pakistani Taliban said the group claimed responsibility for the attack, among the most brazen in a long insurgency it has waged against the authorities here that has targeted educational institutions in particular.
The site of Wednesday’s assault, Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, was just 25 miles from a school in Peshawar where the Pakistani Taliban killed 145 people, most of them children, in 2014. Two years earlier, the group shot Malala Yousafzai, the teenage activist for girls’ rights and future Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The Taliban have been weakened recently in Pakistan after the military launched an offensive in their main haven of North Waziristan, but the attack and a suicide bombing on Tuesday that killed 11 people together showed that they were still a dangerous force.
Under a heavy fog on Wednesday, gunmen scaled the rear walls of the university around 9 a.m., firing into the air, witnesses said.
Security forces killed the attackers before they could detonate suicide vests, said Saeed Wazir, the Charsadda police chief.
The dead included students, a senior faculty member and four guards, said Fakhr-i-Alam, a senior government official. At least 19 people were wounded. A Pakistani military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa, said that at least four attackers had been killed in exchanges of fire with the security forces.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, condemned the attack. “We are determined and resolved in our commitment to wipe out the menace of terrorism from our homeland,” he said in a statement from Switzerland, where he was attending the World Economic Forum. “The countless sacrifices made by our countrymen will not go in vain, inshallah.”
Raza Mohammed Khan, deputy superintendent of the police in Charsadda, said that all four attackers had been killed and that no more militants remained inside the university.
Coffins holding the bodies of victims at a hospital after an attack at Bacha Khan University, in Charsadda, Pakistan, on Wednesday. Credit Bilawal Arbab/European Pressphoto Agency
An injured man at a hospital after a university in Charsadda, Pakistan, was attacked on Wednesday. Credit Hasham Ahmed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Army soldiers outside Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan, on Wednesday. Credit Fayaz Aziz/Reuters
Students leaving the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda, Pakistan, after an attack by militants on Wednesday. Credit A Majeed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
“Bomb disposal people are on the spot defusing suicide vests,” Mr. Fakhr-i-Alam said. “The operation is over; clearance and search is on.”
Khalifa Umar Mansoor, a Pakistani Taliban leader, called reporters in Peshawar to claim responsibility for the attack and to say that four of their men were involved. He said the assault was in response for the execution in December of four men convicted of aiding the 2014 Peshawar school attackers.
An official at Bacha Khan University said that when she and her colleagues realized they were under attack, they locked the door of their office, turned off the lights and lay on the floor. “The university has its own security staff, but it’s not adequate enough to face the well-armed and -trained Taliban,” said the official, Salma Khan.She said many of the students were killed in their dormitories. “Our resolve of educating our children cannot be shaken by such cowardly acts,” she said.Sajjad Ahmed, a professor of sociology and gender studies, said he saw the attackers shoot a dozen students. “I will not forget this terrible scene for rest of my life,” he said. “Students were falling like someone was cutting down newly blossomed flowers.”Kasib Jan, a student, told ARY TV that he had seen four or five gunmen with black turbans shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great.”“They were firing all around,” he said. “University security guards first engaged them, but it was beyond their capacities. We hid behind the benches in the classrooms. We heard them walking around, but they moved away. We came out and ran away to safety.”He said that Wednesday was an exam day and that a peace concert had also been scheduled, so the campus was filled with students. Officials said 2,500 students and staff members were at the school during the attack.
Bacha Khan University was founded in 2012 and named after Abdul Ghaffar Khan, a Pashtun activist who advocated nonviolent means to resist British rule in South Asia. Wednesday was the 28th anniversary of the death of Mr. Ghaffar Khan, who was described as “the frontier Gandhi.”
A graduate student at a local hospital, being treated for a gunshot wound, told ARY TV that he could not see much of the attack because of the fog.
Peshawar and the surrounding region have faced repeated attacks in recent years. The December 2014 attack by seven Pakistani Taliban gunmen on a military-run school in Peshawar was the deadliest in Pakistan’s history and provoked a broad crackdown on militants in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province.
A Taliban attack on a Pakistani Air Force base near Peshawar killed 30 people in September. In the assault on Tuesday, a Taliban suicide bomber on a motorcycle killed 11 people at a police checkpoint in Peshawar. - NY Times.
January 12, 2016 - MIDDLE EAST - In five months of battling the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern
Turkey, Ankara has killed over 160 civilians, according to a rights
group report. Among them was an unborn child, whose mother was shot. Today, asuicide bomber carried out an attack in central Istanbul, killing
at least 10 foreigners, mostly German tourists, and injuring 15 more,
according to officials. Police said the suspect was of Saudi Arabian
origin. Meanwhile in Iraq, at least fifty one people lost their lives in a series of terrorist acts
that rocked the capital of Baghdad and two other towns on Monday.
Over 160 civilians, including unborn child, killed in Turkish crackdown on Kurds
In five months of battling the Kurdish insurgency in southeastern Turkey, Ankara has killed over 160 civilians, according to a rights group report. Among them was an unborn child, whose mother was shot.
In August, Ankara launched a ground operation to crack down on Kurdish fighters linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The violence ended a two-year truce with the Kurdish militants, who have been fighting a guerrilla war for independence for decades. An estimated 10,000 Turkish troops armed with heavy weapons and armored vehicles, including tanks, were deployed.Since August 16, Turkish troops have imposed at least 58 curfews in Kurdish regions, disrupting the lives of some 1.4 million people living in the affected provinces, Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT) said. Some lasted 10 hours or less, but others went on for days and weeks, and some are still ongoing. The curfews affected 19 districts in the provinces of Batman, Diyarbakır, Elazıg, Hakkari, Mardin, Mus and Sırnak.
While the curfews have been in place, at least 162 civilians have been killed. The death toll includes 29 women, 32 children, and 24 elderly people. One of the victims in the city of Cizre in Sırnak Province was an unborn child, who was killed by a gunshot to his mother's womb, the group said. The mother, Guler Yanalak, was seven month’s pregnant at the time and reportedly survived the injury.
The HRFT said at least 22 people were killed in their homes, some of them from heavy weapons used by the fighting sides. Four people were reported to have been killed in areas where no curfews had been declared. The violence against civilians appears to have escalated since December 11, the group said, with 79 civilian deaths reported since then.
The PKK, founded in 1978, has been fighting the Turkish state for Kurdish self-determination since 1984. Kurds make up between 10 percent and 25 percent of Turkey’s population. In late December, a congress of Kurdish non-governmental organizations called for Turkey’s southeastern regions to be granted autonomy via constitutional reforms.
The escalation of violence in Turkey came two months after the Kurdish militia in Syria, known as the YPG, as well as the Turkish pro-Kurdish party, the HDP, accused Ankara of aiding Islamic State in their offensive on Kurdish territories in Syria. At the time, the terrorists were laying siege to the Kurdish border town of Kobani.
Ankara has been stepping up its military operations on the border with Syria and Iraq since December. The area is a stronghold of the PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to continue the operation until the area is cleansed of Kurdish militants.
At least 10 foreigners killed, 15 wounded in suicide bombing on central Istanbul square
A suicide bomber has carried out an attack in central Istanbul, killing at least 10 foreigners, mostly German tourists, and injuring 15 more, according to officials. Police said the suspect was of Saudi Arabian origin.
At least nine German citizens were injured in the blast, Reuters reports citing a senior Turkish official.
One more injured is Norwegian and another one is Peruvian, according to Dogan news agency. Norway’s Foreign Ministry later confirmed that one Norwegian citizen was injured in the blast and is receiving treatment at a local hospital.
"It's not a life-threatening injury," Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Guri Solberg said.
There was a group of German tourists on the square at the time of the blasts, an official from a tour company told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The explosion took place on Sultanahmet Square. It occurred close to the Sultanahmet tram stop and Dikilitas, the Obelisk of Theodosius, in the heart of Istanbul’s tourist district.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a Syrian suicide bomber is believed to be responsible for the deadly attack.
WATCH: Suicide attack in Istanbul.
"I condemn the terror incident in Istanbul assessed to be an attack by a suicide bomber with Syrian origin. Unfortunately we have 10 dead including foreigners and Turkish nationals... There are also 15 wounded," Erdogan said.
Istanbul authorities are investigating the incident and the type of the explosives used in the blast, the governor’s office said.
The suicide bomber was identified as a Syrian born in 1988, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said during a press conference, adding that most of the victims of the blast are foreigners.
Dogan news agency later reported that the suspect had been identified as Saudi-born Nabil Fadlı. His birth year was confirmed as 1988, the agency said, citing police.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu also said the suspect may be a member of the terror group Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL). According to Turkish officials, he recently entered Turkey from Syria.
Erdem Koroglu, who was working at a nearby office at the time of the explosion, told NTV he saw several people lying on the ground following the blast.
“It was difficult to say who was alive or dead,” Koroglu said. “Buildings rattled from the force of the explosion.”
One woman who works at a nearby antiques store told Reuters that the explosion was very loud.
"We shook a lot. We ran out and saw body parts," she said.
"I started running away with my daughter. We went into a nearby building and stayed there for half an hour. It was really scary," a German tourist named Caroline told AFP.
"We're taking precautions against a second explosion," a police officer said.
Shortly after the blast, Turkish authorities slapped a media ban on covering it, Anadolu news agency said.
Sultanahmet Square, once a social center of the former Constantinople, is a popular tourist destination. A 30-meter-tall Obelisk of Theodosius made of red granite is located in the center of the square, as well as the famous German Fountain (The Kaiser Wilhelm Fountain) which was constructed by the German government back in 1900.
Another main attraction near the square is Hagia Sophia, one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture, which draws hundreds of tourists every day.After the explosion, the German Foreign Office issued a statement, urging its citizens to avoid public places and tourist attractions in Istanbul. The office added that it fears there is a risk of terrorist attacks across Turkey, and called on its citizens to “avoid staying near government and military institutions.”
The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has also issued a travel warning for British citizens in Turkey.
51 killed in single day of terror attacks in Baghdad & nearby towns
At least fifty one people lost their lives in a series of terrorist acts that rocked the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and two other towns on Monday. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) extremist group has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.
In the predominately Shia Muslim Baghdad al-Jadida district, a group of gunmen broke into the Jawaher mall after detonating a car bomb and staging a suicide attack at the entrance. At least 18 people were killed in the assault, which also left 50 wounded, AP reported, citing Iraqi officials.
Iraqi Samarra TV has released an alleged video of the attack.Initially, the country’s officials described the incident as a hostage situation, claiming that from 50 to 75 people were trapped inside the mall, but security forces quickly surrounded the building and deployed troops on the roof.As a result of clashes between the terrorists and security forces, two of the attackers were killed and four more arrested. Four police officers were also killed in the hour-and-a-half-long assault, AP reports, citing the police and medical officials.
Iraqi television channel Al Sumaria cited a statement from the county’s Interior Ministry that said the hostage crisis had been resolved.
Iraqi television channel Al Sumaria cited a statement from the county’s Interior Ministry that said the hostage crisis had been resolved.
“All the terrorists have been eliminated. The situation in the Baghdad Jadida district is under control,” the statement said.
The broadcaster also reported that all of the hostages inside the mall had been rescued.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement posted on social media in which the terrorist group said it had targeted Shiite Muslims because it sees them as “rejectionist heathens.”
Gunmen charged into the mall after a car bomb exploded outside the building, in the largely Shia Muslim area of New Baghdad [AP]
ISIL has frequently targeted Iraq's Shia Muslim community with car bombs [Reuters]
Following the incident, Iraqi authorities shut down Baghdad’s highly fortified Green Zone, where a number of foreign embassies and most of the country’s political elite reside. A number of major roads, shopping malls, and bridges around the Iraqi capital were also closed.
In addition, at least 23 people were killed and some 50 injured in two bombing attacks in the Iraqi town of Muqdadiya, 80 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, where a terrorist committed a suicide bomb attack inside a casino and then a car bomb parked outside exploded as medics and civilians gathered at the scene, Reuters reported, citing security and medical sources. Islamic State also claimed responsibility of the twin blast in Muqdadiya.
At least seven more people died and 15 were wounded as another suicide bomber driving a car attacked a commercial street in the southeastern Baghdad Sunni suburb of Nahrawan.
Earlier on Monday, IS said it was behind a car bomb which had killed three people and wounded eight near a restaurant in the town of Baquba, which is located 65 kilometers northeast of Baghdad. In response, security officials imposed a curfew in Diyala province, where the towns of Muqdadiya and Baquba are located.
Monday’s attacks claimed the lives of 48 people in total, leaving the highest death toll in three months, according to Reuters.
Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman, Brigadier General Saad Maan, blamed “this terrorist group after they suffered heavy losses by the security forces,” without mentioning Islamic State by name.
Last month, Iraqi government forces achieved a major victory over IS militants by liberating the country’s western city of Ramadi and recapturing territory that was once the extremists’ stronghold.
- RT.
