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Post by Admin on Nov 13, 2015 19:54:10 GMT
Twin suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State killed dozens of people and wounded more than 200 in Beirut on Thursday, raising fears of intensified attempts by the radical Sunni group to undermine Lebanon’s fragile stability. In the worst attack to hit the Lebanese capital in years, assailants targeted a southern suburb where many loyalists of the powerful Shiite Hezbollah militia live. The incident killed at least 37 people, officials said, and left little doubt that the attackers struck with the intent of stirring up Lebanon’s volatile sectarian divisions. In the statement translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, the Islamic State said the first bomber struck with an explosives-rigged motorcycle, followed by a second assailant wearing a suicide vest. The statement, published on Twitter and other social-networking platforms, said the group targeted the Hezbollah “stronghold,” killing more than 40 people and wounding over 200. The statement’s authenticity could not be independently verified.
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Post by Admin on Nov 14, 2015 19:50:56 GMT
The likely death of Mohammed Emwazi — widely known as "Jihadi John" — is the latest high-profile killing of a notorious terrorist linked to Islamist extremist groups that target Westerners. Many of the top terrorists taken out by the U.S. in the past 15 years belong to al-Qaeda, its affiliates or offshoots, or more recently, the Islamic State.
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Post by Admin on Dec 5, 2015 19:51:48 GMT
Syed Rizwan Farook had contact with people from at least two terror organizations overseas, including the Nusra Front in Syria and Shabab in Somalia, a federal law enforcement official said Friday. The revelations came as the FBI formally announced it was investigating the shooting rampage as an act of terrorism. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, died in a police shootout on Wednesday, several hours after bursting into a holiday potluck for the San Bernardino County Health Department and killing 14 people. As the investigation expands, the law enforcement source said, agents are trying to learn more about the couple’s contacts in the U.S. and overseas, “especially those in Pakistan,” where Farook visited and Malik was born. One key question, said the official, “is if they had any weapons or terror training in Pakistan.” The source described "some kind" of contact between Farook and people from the Nusra Front and Shabab. It's unclear what type of contact or with whom. Witnesses and police have said Farook, a county public health worker, had been at the holiday party but left, possibly after a disagreement with a co-worker, and returned with Malik to attack the gathering. That could be construed as workplace violence, the source said, noting that evidence and witness recollections suggest that they shot Farook’s supervisors first. Or, the source said, that “after they got away” and were missing for several hours, they might have hoped to still launch a previous plan for an even larger strike. Malik pledged allegiance to an Islamic State leader in a Facebook posting, according to two federal law enforcement officials.
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Post by Admin on Dec 8, 2015 19:40:38 GMT
ISIS on Saturday hailed the two people who massacred 14 people in Southern California this week as "supporters" of the terror group -- a message that came after U.S. investigators said they suspect one of the shooters professed loyalty to the Islamist network. The terror group's official Iraq-based station made the declaration days after Wednesday's San Bernardino shooting that also left 21 injured, but -- notable for a group quick to claim attacks -- did not say the couple were members or that ISIS was responsible. Tashfeen Malik and her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, sprayed bullets at Farook's co-workers at a holiday party for the environmental health department in San Bernardino before being gunned down in a shootout with authorities the same day. "We pray to God to accept them as martyrs," ISIS' al-Bayan Radio declared Saturday. The ISIS radio report came a day after the FBI said it was treating the attack as an act of terrorism. It also came after reports that Malik made a public declaration of loyalty to ISIS' leader while the attack was underway. Three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation told CNN on Friday that Malik posted to Facebook a pledge of allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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Post by Admin on Dec 28, 2015 19:30:12 GMT
Iraq's army declared victory over Islamic State fighters in a provincial capital west of Baghdad on Sunday, the first major triumph for the U.S.-trained force since it collapsed in the face of an assault by the militants 18 months ago. The capture of Ramadi, capital of mainly Sunni-Muslim Anbar province in the Euphrates River valley west of the capital, deprives Islamic State militants of their biggest prize of 2015. The fighters seized it in May after government troops fled in a defeat which prompted Washington to take a hard look at strategy in its ongoing air war against the militants. A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State was unable to confirm at this point whether the militants had been cleared out of the the government complex. Television also showed nighttime celebrations in mainly Shi'ite cities south of Baghdad for the victory in Anbar, with people dancing in the streets and waving Iraqi flags from cars.
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