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Thousands Shout ‘Death to America’ in Islamabad
AFP/Yahoo! News
Pakistanis poured onto Islamabad's streets Monday, chanting "death to America" and demanding holy war at a rally whipped up by right-wing, religious and banned organizations linked to Al-Qaeda. It was the latest show of support for Defense of Pakistan, a coalition of around 40 parties chaired by a cleric dubbed the father of the Taliban that include organizations blacklisted at home and abroad as terror groups. Allah Buksh, a senior police official, said 2,500 attended the demonstration as it got underway, but witnesses estimated the crowd at 3,500 as hundreds of riot police, armed with batons and wearing bullet-proof jackets stood guard. "Death to America" and "America deserves one treatment: jihad, jihad" shouted the crowd in a bustling commercial area, an AFP reporter said.
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Tourists Stoned in Jerusalem: 13 Palestinians Held
News24.com
Israeli police arrested 13 Palestinians in the grounds of Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque complex on Sunday after police and tourists visiting the site were stoned, a police spokesperson said. "Stones were thrown at tourists and police officers. Police have made thirteen arrests," Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. Nasser Kos, a resident of Jerusalem's Old City who was at the site during the incident, said that a group of Christian tourists entered the compound. Among them, Palestinians identified religious Jews and began hurling stones at police, Kos said. Police used tear gas to disperse the Palestinians. A Palestinian protest was staged a week ago at the site, which is revered by Jews as the site of their biblical Jewish temple, when a group of Jewish nationalist hardliners attempted to visit.
British Muslims Recruited
to Fight for 'al Qaeda' in Somalia
The London Telegraph
Dozens of radicalised British Muslims are being trained by militant Islamists to fight in a “holy war” in Somalia, it can be revealed. Up to 50 British “volunteers”, including white Christian converts and British-Somali men, have been recruited to fight for Al Shabaab, the al Qaeda inspired Somali terrorist group. Intelligence experts believe the British volunteers form the core of an international force of foreign fighters drawn from the United States, Canada, Europe and East Africa. Government officials now fear that the failed state is rapidly becoming a recruiting ground for British Jihadists in much the same way as Afghanistan was in the 1990s. MI5 already ranks Somalia as one of the top three countries in the world, alongside Yemen and Pakistan, that poses a potential terrorist threat to Britain.
Al Qaeda 'Operates in Afghanistan
Under Flag of the Islamic Emirate'
The Long War Journal
A Taliban spokesman who identified himself as an "Authorized Correspondent by the Media Committee of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" said that the Taliban will not renounce al Qaeda and that the terror group operates under the command of the "Military Command of the Islamic Emirate." The Taliban official, Abdullah al Wazir, made the statement yesterday in response to a posting at Shumukh al Islam, a jihadist Internet forum linked to al Qaeda. Wazir was replying to a question from a forum member who thought "that by agreeing to negotiations with the United States, the Afghan Taliban has taken the 'first step' to abandon al Qaeda," said the SITE Intelligence Group, which translated the statement. "They are an example of discipline and accuracy in the execution of missions," Wazir said, calling al Qaeda "lions in war."
Al Qaeda Links with Southeast Asian Group Fraying
Associated Press
A top Indonesian terror suspect captured in the Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was later killed insists he was unaware of the al Qaeda leader's presence there, according to the video of his interrogation obtained by AP. Alleged master bomb maker Umar Patek also described his frustration in re-establishing militant ties in his quest to go to Afghanistan and fight American soldiers. After flying on his own to Pakistan, he waited there for months before a years-old militant contact finally came for him. His remarks, if true, would further bolster evidence that Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist movement, responsible for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, is now largely cut off from its long-standing al Qaeda sponsorship, thanks in part to a relentless crackdown that has largely decimated their ranks.
Islamist Was Heading to
US Capitol for Suicide Mission
FOX News
Authorities arrested and charged Friday a Virginia man allegedly on his way to the US Capitol for what he thought would be a suicide attack on one of the nation's most symbolic landmarks. The federal criminal complaint against the suspect identifies him as Amine El Khalifi, a 29-year-old Moroccan citizen who has been living in the US illegally since 1999 after his visa expired. He was nabbed following a lengthy investigation by the FBI, initiated after he allegedly expressed interest in conducting an attack. He came onto the radar screen in early December after he told an undercover agent about an earlier plan to bomb a northern Virginia building. He first entered the country that year on a tourist visa, which expired and was never renewed. Khalifi was charged Friday with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Top US Intelligence Officials
Confirm al Qaeda Role in Syria
McClatchy Newspapers
Al Qaeda appears to have infiltrated Syrian opposition groups and was likely responsible for recent suicide bombings in Damascus and the industrial capital of Aleppo, senior US intelligence officials told Congress Thursday. "We believe that al Qaeda in Iraq is extending its reach into Syria," Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. It was the first time that a top US official publicly confirmed the involvement of al Qaeda in Iraq in the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad, which began nearly a year ago as peaceful protests for an end to his family's four-decade-long rule. Clapper's comments came one week after a report quoted unnamed US officials as saying that AQI was responsible for suicide bombings in Damascus in December and January.
Iran Helping al Qaeda Plot Attack on West
Sky News
Iran and al Qaeda's core leadership under Ayman al Zawahiri have established an "operational relationship" amid fears the terror group is planning a spectacular attack against the West. There are concerns such an attack, possibly targeting Europe, would be in revenge for the killing of Osama bin Laden by the US last year. Iran has been supplying al Qaeda with training in the use of advanced explosives, "some funding and a safe haven" as part of a deal first worked out in 2009 which has now led to "operational capacity." Although some intelligence agencies remain skeptical about an “alliance,” the US has become so concerned about the relationship that it issued a $10 million reward for information leading to the whereabouts of a Syrian al Qaeda leader in Iran, Ezedin Abdel Aziz Khalil, better known as Yasin al Suri.
Scores Killed in Gun Fight in Syria’s Largest City
Sky News
At least 14 people have been killed in gun attacks between security troops and armed forces in Syria's largest city Aleppo. Residents in the city said they had been hearing gun shots since two car bombs exploded there last week. The attacks mark the beginning of a new, violent chapter for the formerly peaceful city, compared to the escalating violence in other parts of the country. More than 90 people have been injured in the gun attacks. Seventeen-year-old Abdu was one of the innocent citizens injured during the fight. "Masked people in a black car kept shooting citizens randomly and my son was shot," Abdu's mother said. A doctor at the city's Laqi Hospital said he had never seen so many people injured or killed. "The injured includes security soldiers and citizens but most were security soldiers," he said.
Islamists Spring 200 in Nigeria Prison Break
AFP/Yahoo! News
Islamist gunmen bombed their way into a prison in central Nigeria before opening fire on the wardens and emptying the jail of its 200 inmates Thursday. The attack in the central Kogi state left one warden dead and while there was no official confirmation of the raiders' identity, local residents suspected the Boko Haram Islamist sect which has been wreaking havoc in Nigeria. In September 2010, Boko Haram attacked a prison in northern Bauchi state and freed more than 700 inmates. Boko Haram has been blamed for series of gun and bomb attacks in several parts of Africa's most populous country in recent months, mostly in the Muslim-dominated north. The spiralling violence has shaken the country, whose 160 million population is roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south.
Israel Points Finger at Iran in Bangkok Explosion
AP/FOX News
An Israeli Cabinet minister says his country will "settle the score" with the perpetrators of a bombing attempt in Bangkok, heightening the state of alert throughout Israel Tuesday. An Iranian man carrying grenades blew his own legs off in the blast. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday the explosion, which wounded four civilians, was an attempted terrorist attack backed by Iran. Israel has also blamed Iran for a pair of attacks on Israeli diplomatic targets in India and Georgia on Monday. Speaking on Israel Radio, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch did not mention Iran explicitly, but strongly implied Israel would seek revenge. "We know who carried out the terror attacks, we know who sent them, and Israel will settle the score with them," he said. Israel also blamed Iran for Monday's attacks in India and Georgia.
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