Australian ‘terror bomb package mailed from Turkey’ “No surprise”

August 4, 2017 By administrator

Australian ‘terror bomb, from turkey An Australian man sent his unsuspecting brother to Sydney airport to catch an Etihad Airways flight carrying a homemade bomb disguised as a meat-mincer built at the direction of a senior Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) commander, police said on Aug. 4.

Detailing one of Australia’s “most sophisticated” militant plots, police said high-grade military explosives used to build the bomb were sent by air cargo from Turkey as part of a plot “inspired and directed” by ISIL, police Deputy Commissioner National Security Michael Phelan said.

The plot targeted an Etihad Airways flight on July 15 but the bomb never made it past airport security, he said.

“This is one of the most sophisticated plots that has ever been attempted on Australian soil,” Phelan said.
Police allege that one of the two men charged late on Aug. 3 had been introduced to ISIL by his brother, who they said was a senior member of the group in Syria.

Communication between the accused man and ISIL began around April, police said. Under the instruction of the unidentified ISIL commander, the men built a “fully functioning IED” [improvised explosive device].

One of the brothers was unaware that he was carrying a bomb, disguised as a commercial meat mincer, in his luggage, and tried to check it in at the airport, police said.

“We’ll be alleging that the person who was to carry the IED on the plane had no idea they were going to be carrying an IED,” Phelan said.

Such a device would work like a large grenade, exploding with enough force to blow a hole in an airplane, even if it went off in the cargo hold, said Professor Greg Barton, a security expert at Deakin University in Melbourne.

“I think the logic would be that you pack your explosives in and seal it up, and if someone does a quick physical inspection it just looks like what it is, a meat grinder, because it’s not electrical or electronic, it’s less likely to be suspicious.”

Police said there was “a little bit of conjecture” about what happened next, but it appeared one of the accused then left the airport, taking the luggage with him. The man’s brother boarded the plane and has not since returned to Australia.

“I want to make it quite clear – it never got near screening. I don’t want anyone to suggest that it … penetrated airport security layers … because it did not. It didn’t go anywhere near it,” Phelan said.

Etihad said in a statement on Aug. 4 it had been working closely with the Australian investigation.

August/04/2017

Syria: 3 Syrian forces killed in fresh Israeli attack on Syrian military camp

April 23, 2017 By administrator

Three Syrian forces have been killed in a fresh Israeli attack on a military camp near the southwestern city of Quneitra, a military official says.

The attack hit the al-Fawwar camp on Sunday, wounding two others, the unnamed official told the French news agency AFP.

It was not clear whether the assault was an airstrike or shelling. The attack comes after Israel struck a Syrian army position in the province of Quneitra on the Golan plateau on Friday, “causing damage.”

A Syrian military source told the official SANA news agency that the Israeli aggression came after an attempt by terrorists to infiltrate military positions in Quneitra was foiled and the assailants suffered heavy losses.

The Israeli military confirmed the raid in a statement, saying it was conducted shortly after three mortar shells allegedly fired from Syria hit an open area in the northern occupied Golan Heights.

The Tel Aviv regime regularly hits positions held by the Syrian army in the Golan Heights, claiming that the attacks are retaliatory. Syria says the raids aim to help ISIS militants fighting against government forces.

In the past, the Syrian army has confiscated Israeli-made arms and military equipment from terrorists fighting the government forces. There are also reports that Tel Aviv has been treating the extremists wounded in Syria.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and later occupied it in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

The regime has built tens of illegal settlements in the area ever since and used the region to carry out military operations against the Syrian government.

Army advances against militants

Separately on Sunday, Syrian forces recaptured Halfaya town in the west-central Hama Province, the Lebanon-based al-Mayadeen TV channel reported.

Meanwhile, pro-opposition media reported fierce clashes between the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants and US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northern countryside of Hama.

US defense officials also told Fox News that the Daesh terrorist group is now centered in the city of Dayr al-Zawr, some 144 kilometers southeast of Raqqah, the Takfiri outfit’s de facto capital in Syria.

They said that US military drones have watched hundreds of Daesh “bureaucrats” or administrators, leaving Raqqah in the past two months.

Afghanistan: Karzai strongly condemns US dropping of huge bomb

April 14, 2017 By administrator

Afghanistan’s former President Hamid Karzai has blasted the US for dropping its largest non-nuclear bomb in the Asian country, saying Washington is using his country as a “testing ground” for its new weapons.

“I vehemently and in strongest words condemn the dropping of the latest weapon, the largest non-nuclear #bomb, on Afghanistan by US military,” Karzai wrote on Twitter on Thursday, referring to the strike that was carried out earlier in the day.

Karzai, who became Afghanistan’s first president under an agreement largely negotiated by Western countries after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, further called on his country to “stop” the US.

“This is not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons. It is upon us, Afghans, to stop the #USA.”

Earlier on Thursday, the US military said it had conducted a strike on a Daesh tunnel complex in Achin district in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.

A military statement said a GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb had been dropped from a US aircraft in the strike. It claimed that US forces had taken every precaution to avoid civilian casualties with this strike, without elaborating.

Afghan officials said on Friday that the US strike had killed at least 36 suspected Daesh terrorists, smashing a deep tunnel complex in the area. They said no civilian casualties had been caused.

“As a result of the bombing, key Daesh hideouts and a deep tunnel complex were destroyed and 36 fighters were killed,” Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, described the bombing as “very, very successful.”

Achin district governor Esmail Shinwari said the bomb landed in the Momand Dara area of Achin district. “The explosion was the biggest I have ever seen. Towering flames engulfed the area.”

The huge bomb — delivered via an MC-130 transport plane — has a blast yield equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT, and been designed to intimidate the enemy as well as to clear broad areas, according to the US military.

Saudi king congratulates US for attacking Syria with missiles

April 8, 2017 By administrator

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has called US President Donald Trump to praise in person Washington’s recent missile strike against a Syrian army air base.

During the phone conversation on Friday, King Salman congratulated US President Donald for what was said to be his “courageous decision,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Meanwhile, a Saudi Foreign Ministry official told the SPA that the kingdom “fully supports the US military operations against military targets in Syria.”

Trump’s missile launch was the right response to the Syrian government as the international community has failed to put a halt to Damascus’ actions, the official further claimed.

Early on Friday, US warships in the Mediterranean launched a barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles against Shayrat Airfield in Syria’s Homs Province. Damascus denounced the US assault as a “blatant aggression” that killed up to 15 people, including civilians, and caused “significant material damage.”

Saudi Arabia was among the first parties to speak out in praise of the Friday attack, expressing full support for the American military strike.

Riyadh, which has long pushed for the ouster of the Syrian government, stands accused of supporting anti-Damascus Takfiri groups both ideologically and materially.

Takfirism, which is a characteristic of many terrorist groups operating in the region, is largely influenced by Wahhabism, the radical ideology dominating Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom is a member of the US-led coalition, which has been conducting air raids against what are said to be Daesh terrorists inside Syria since September 2014 without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Last February, Saudi Arabia offered for the first time to send ground troops to Syria to fight Daesh.

“The kingdom is ready to participate in any ground operations that the coalition (against Isis) may agree to carry out in Syria,” said military spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri in an interview with al-Arabiya TV news.

The Saudi bid was a source of tensions with former US president Barack Obama.

Syria Bomb Islamic State ISIS, Israeli jets strike inside Syria,

March 17, 2017 By administrator

The Israeli military has said it struck several targets inside Syria early Friday morning, an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) statement said, according to CNN report.

Several anti-aircraft missiles were fired at the Israeli jets, the IDF said, including one missile that was shot down by an “aerial defense system.” The statement denied that the mission put Israeli civilians or the aircraft involved at risk.

“At no point was the safety of Israeli civilians or the IAF aircraft compromised,” the statement said, referring to the Israeli air force.

Israel has reportedly struck Syria multiple times in the past, often targeting weapons shipments headed for Hezbollah. The IDF rarely acknowledges these strikes, however, making Friday’s statement very unusual.

İzmir Turkey At least 3 wounded in car bomb attack

January 5, 2017 By administrator

A car bomb attack in the Agean province of İzmir near the courthouse left at least three people wounded on January 5, Hurriyet Daily News reports, citing Doğan News Agency.
According to state-run Anadolu Agency, three militants also entered into an armed clash with police, two of whom were later killed.

The agency said a car was burning car at the scene. A reporter for Doğan News Agency said the attack occurred at the entrance for judges and prosecutors.

A number of ambulances were dispatched to the scene.
A temporary gag order was also issued on the attack.

The attack marked the second in just the first five days of 2017, as the country was rocked by a series of terror attacks last year.

A gunman opened fire on New Year revelers at a packed nightclub on the shores of Istanbul’s Bosporus on Jan. 1 killing at least 39 people, including many foreigners, before fleeing the scene.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) had claimed responsibility for the attack.

In December, 2016, two bombs placed by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants exploded outside a football stadium in central Istanbul, killing 44 people.

On December 17, 2016, a car bomb by the PKK killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded 56 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty soldiers in the central city of Kayseri

Terrorist State of Turkey: Bomb blast rocks governor’s residence in Mardin, Several people have sustained injuries

November 10, 2016 By administrator

People walk past a damaged car after a blast in the Kurdish-dominated southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir, Nov. 4, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

Several people have sustained injuries after a bomb explosion rocked the residence of a district governor in the restive province of Mardin in southeast Turkey on Thursday.

The blast took place in the district of Derik after which several ambulances were sent to the scene of the incident.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion, but Turkey’s Ihlas news agency said the blast had been caused by a rocket attack by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants.

Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against PKK militants in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has been pounding the group’s positions in northern Iraq as well.

Turkey’s operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern town of Suruc. Over 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on Daesh.

After the bombing, PKK militants who accuse the government of supporting Daesh, launched a series of attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the the army to carry out a massive operation in the country’s southeast.

Bomb Explodes in New Jersey Before Planned Marathon

September 17, 2016 By administrator

explosion-nj A bomb has exploded in Seaside Park in New Jersey before planned 5km race, a prosecutor and local media said Saturday. The authorities in New Jersey are evacuation about 30 homes near the site of explosion.

An improvised explosive device exploded on Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, along the route of a major charity race that was expected to involve some 5,000 athletes, according to the local prosecutor’s office. “An explosive device discharged within a garbage pail… at approximately 9:35 am [13:35 GMT]. There are no reported injuries or damage to surrounding structures. The Ocean County Prosecutors Office Arson Unit is on scene and will be assisted by FBI, ATF and NJ State Police Bomb Squad,” the office said in a statement. A Semper Five race, that was expected to have started by then, was delayed due to late sign-ins, “which thankfully avoided a large number of runners in the area”, the statement read. Another device was reportedly found nearby later in the day after police put the area on lock down and began search operations, according to the prosecutor’s office spokesman.

State police, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) searched the area while local authorities evacuated some 30 houses near the site of the explosion, reports said, quoting the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office.

US security forces have stepped security at sports events after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260. In early 2016, the FBI sent over 200 agents while police deployed some 5,000 officers to monitor April’s Boston Marathon with the operation also incorporating lessons learned from the terrorist attacks in San Bernardino and in Europe.

Three killed in PKK car bomb attack in Turkey’s Diyarbakır & 25 people, including eight police in Murat Uçar

August 15, 2016 By administrator

AA photo

Two police officers and a child were killed in an Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) car bomb attack targeting a traffic police station in the Şükürlü village located between the Çınar and the Bismil districts of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Aug. 15, the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office has announced.

The governor’s office also said in a statement that 25 people, including eight police officers, were wounded in the attack targeting the Murat Uçar Regional Traffic Inspection Station at around 1 p.m.

The wounded were transferred to nearby hospitals.

The blast also created a hole with a depth of five meters in the road, which was closed to traffic.

Meanwhile, security forces conducted an operation in the region to apprehend the militants responsible for the blast.

August/15/2016

Just last week, 12 people were killed in a series of attacks targeting Turkish police and soldiers.

ksb/se (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Kurdish freedom fighters PKK bombing kills five soldiers eight injuries in southeastern Turkey

August 10, 2016 By administrator

Five Turkish soldiers have lost their lives and eight others sustained injuries in a roadside bomb explosion that targeted a military vehicle in Turkey’s troubled southeast.

Turkish security sources said anonymously that militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) detonated by remote control the bomb they had earlier planted on the side of a road in the Uludere district of Sirnak Province.

The development came only a few hours after PKK members clashes with Turkish army forces as the latter were conducting an anti-terror operation in the rural Lice and Kulp districts in Diyarbakir Province, also in Turkey’s southeast.

One soldier was killed on the spot and three others suffered wounds in the shooting. One of the injured later died at hospital.

An unnamed military official said an operation to arrest the assailants was underway in the region.

Turkish military forces have been conducting ground operations as well as airstrikes against PKK positions in Turkey’s troubled southeastern border region as well as Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region over the past few months.

The campaign began following the July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc, which claimed more than 30 civilian lives. Turkish officials held the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group responsible for the act of terror.

PKK militants, who accuse Ankara government of supporting Daesh, launched a string of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish security forces after the bomb attack, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations.

The Turkish military’s involvement in the anti-PKK operations comes as it is reeling from the aftermath of a failed July 15 coup attempt.