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Tag: IS

  • IS claims responsibility for Toronto shooting – AMAQ

    Islamic state has claimed responsibility for a shooting in Toronto on Sunday that killed two people and wounded 13, the group’s AMAQ news agency said on Wednesday.

    The attacker “was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the attack in response to calls to target the citizens of the coalition countries,” a statement by the group said.

    The group did not provide further detail or evidence for its claim.

    NAN reports that Canadian officials identified the suspect in Sunday’s deadly shooting in Toronto as Faisal Hussain, 29.

    The Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU) said it was releasing his name due “to the exceptional circumstances of this tragic incident”.

    A 10-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman died after a gunman opened fire on a busy avenue in Canada’s largest city.

    Thirteen others were injured in the rampage in Canada’s largest city.

    The SIU, which looks into incidents involving police which result in death, said a post-mortem examination on the suspected shooter is scheduled for Tuesday.

    According to the SIU, the gunman was tracked by officers to Bowden Street during the shooting, which happened on Sunday evening shortly after 2 a.m. on Monday.

    “An exchange of gunfire” then took place, before the man fled once more. He was found dead about 100m (328ft) away on Danforth Avenue.

    In a statement released to various media outlets, Hussain’s family expressed their “deepest condolences” to the victims and their families for what they called “our son’s horrific actions”. ​

    They said their son suffered from serious mental health challenges and had struggled with untreatable psychosis and depression most of his life.

    “Our hearts are in pieces for the victims and for our city as we all come to grips with this terrible tragedy,” they said.

    The first victim to be identified was Reese Fallon, 18.

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    Local member of Parliament, Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, confirmed that she was one of the two killed in the shooting.

    Mr Erskine Smith told media that the family was “devastated” and was asking for privacy at this time.

    “She was a local young Liberal, smart, passionate and full of energy,” the Liberal MP told the BBC in a statement.

    “It is a huge loss.”

    Ms Fallon was a recent high school graduate and, in a statement, the Toronto District School Board said they were “heartbroken” by the news.

    The school board said she “was highly regarded by staff and loved by her friends”.

    According to her Facebook profile, she was about to begin studying at McMaster University.

    On Tuesday, police released the identity of the 10-year-old victim: Julianna Kozis of Markham.

    Emergency services were called out just after 22:00 (02:00 GMT Monday) to the Greektown district of Toronto, a busy avenue known for its restaurants and summertime patios.

    Witnesses described hearing volleys of shots as people tried to run from the gunfire.

    Police say eight women and seven men were shot, ranging in age from 10 to 59.

  • Turkey detains 201 IS members planning New Year attacks

    Turkey detains 201 IS members planning New Year attacks

    Turkish authorities have detained 201 suspected members of the Islamic State extremist group over the past 48 hours accused of planning attacks on New Year’s Eve celebrations.

    State-run Anadolu news agency reported that the police carried simultaneous raids in 14 separate provinces, netting 124 suspects with alleged ties to the Sunni extremist group on Thursday and another 77 on Friday.

    According to the news agency, the suspects included foreign nationals.

    Police seized documents and digital material that revealed plans for separate attacks on New Year’s Eve.

    The raids came nearly a year after an Islamic State gunman attacked the Reina nightclub in Istanbul as revellers were celebrating New Year’s Eve, killing 39 people.

    Read also: How Buhari doused tension between Nigeria, Turkey

    The Reina shooting preceded a wave of smaller attacks by Islamic State and hardliner Kurdish nationalists in Turkey in 2015 and 2016.

    The news agency reported on Wednesday, security forces in Istanbul cited security concerns in issuing a ban on New Year’s Eve celebrations in three central districts, including the iconic Taksim Square.

    Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country, set aside January 1 as a public holiday.

    Trees and ornaments appear in public displays to mark the occasion, but Islamists have pushed back against them as symbols of Christmas.

    (dpa/NAN)

  • France repatriates three children of suspected jihadists from Iraq

    France repatriates three children of suspected jihadists from Iraq

    Three French-born children belonging to suspected Islamic State ( IS ) militants and who were being held by Iraq authorities have been flown back to Paris, France Capital, a foreign ministry official said on Thursday.

    The International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) said it was the first such repatriation of French children from Iraq.

    It has suffered a series of deadly militant attacks over the past three years and is grappling with the threat of homegrown militancy as well as the risks posed by IS fighters slipping back across French borders.

    “Their return was organised in coordination with the authorities in Iraq,” a foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters.

    French media reported that the family had left France for Iraq in 2015.

    “The father was killed during the battle for Mosul and Iraqi forces later detained the mother and her four children in July.

    “She and her youngest child remain in detention in Iraq,’’ Vincent Brengarth said, the lawyer acting on her behalf.

    Her three older children, aged between three and eight years, were now in foster care after arriving back on December 18.

    Reuters revealed in September that Iraqi authorities were holding about 1,400 foreign wives and children of suspected IS combatants at a single camp after government forces routed the jihadist group from Mosul, its last major urban redoubt in Iraq.

    However, it was not clear if the three children had been among the same group.

    French officials have indicated a preference for their citizens held in Iraq and found to be affiliated to IS to be prosecuted there, although in mid-November President Emmanuel Macron said the fate of women and children should be examined on a case-by-case basis.

    The head of France’s domestic spy agency last month said some 700 men and women either of French nationality or who had resided in France, as well as 500 children, were in Iraq and Syria or linked to the militants.

    Meanwhile several hundred others have already slipped back into France.

    (Reuters/NAN)

  • IS conflicts: US sends Marines to Syria

    The United States has sent several hundred Marines to Syria to support an allied local force aiming to capture the Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa.

    Defence officials told the Washington Post they would establish an outpost from which they could fire artillery at IS positions some 32km (20 miles) away.

    US Special Forces are already on the ground, advising the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, the BBC reports.

    The alliance is expected to launch an assault on Raqqa in the coming weeks.

    Over the weekend, a separate force of elite US army Rangers was also deployed near a town north-west of Raqqa in heavily armoured vehicles, in an attempt to end clashes between SDF fighters and a Turkish-backed rebel force.

    The defence officials told the Washington Post that the Marines were from the San Diego-based 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and that they had flown to northern Syria via Djibouti and Kuwait.

    They are to set up an artillery battery that could fire powerful 155mm shells from M777 howitzers, the officials said.

  • Iraqi forces seize Mosul airport from IS

    Iraqi security forces have recaptured Mosul airport, a key part of the government’s offensive to drive the so-called Islamic State (IS) from the western half of the city.

    The operation lasted four hours, the BBC reports.

    IS continued to fire mortars at the airport from further inside the city after losing the ground to the army.

    The jihadists have also entered a nearby military base amid further clashes, a military spokesman said.

    The BBC says the airport’s runway has been destroyed by IS, but it still has value

    The assault began with overnight air strikes by the United States-led coalition before armoured columns advanced to the airport’s perimeter.

  • ‘Foiled Paris attack was directed by IS’

    Three women arrested over a foiled attack in Paris were directed by so-called Islamic State (IS) from Syria, a French prosecutor has said.

    The group “wanted to make the women into fighters,” Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.

    A policeman was stabbed during an operation late on Thursday to arrest the women, after the discovery of a suspect car containing gas canisters, the BBC reports.

    The vehicle was found near Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Sunday.

    Police shot and wounded one of the women during the operation in Boussy-Saint-Antoine, south-east of the city.

    One of the three women, aged 19, reportedly declared her allegiance to IS in a letter.

    The others arrested were said to be aged 39 and 23.

    President Francois Hollande said: “An attack was derailed… a group has been disbanded, but there are others and we must be able to act each time before it is too late and that’s what we’re doing.”

    Mr. Molins said the latest plot showed IS was now recruiting women to carry out attacks.

     

  • Two suspected IS members arrested in Spain

    Spanish Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday in Madrid the arrest of two people suspected of belonging to a “highly qualified” terrorist sect that recruited jihadists for the Islamic State.

    It said the security forces apprehended a 32-year-old man in Mataro, near Barcelona, and a 19-year-old woman in Pajara on the Canary Island of Fuerteventura.

    The ministry said both suspects natives of Morocco, had direct contact with Islamic State leaders in Syria and were capable of carrying out attacks.

    “The alleged suspects circulate Islamic State propaganda material online and dispatched death threats in France and Spain.

    “The new Islamic State fighters no longer need to travel to Syria or Iraq in order to be trained.

    “The training takes place in the country where the new jihadists live,’’ it said.

    The ministry said government had detained 100 alleged Islamists since the beginning of this year.

  • Turkey detains 22 IS suspects

    Turkey detains 22 IS suspects

    Turkish police detained 15 Islamic State (IS) suspects in Ankara and another seven in southern Turkey on Monday according to media report.

    The report said that the Turkish police raided several houses in Hacibayram District, Ankara, where the households of the IS members were reportedly located.

    It said the police also detained seven suspected IS members in Mersin province in southern Turkey.

    Monday’s operations were part of a series of such kind since a week ago after a suspected IS suicide bomber killed 32 people in southern Suruc of Sanliurfa province in southeastern Turkey bordering neighbouring Syria.

    Over 600 suspects have been detained since Friday in the police’s anti-terror operations against the IS, outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front.

    On Thursday, a Turkish soldier in southern region bordering Syria was killed by gun fire opened from across the border.

    Turkey has carried out its first ever military operations against the IS on the Syrian side of the border and destroyed several IS targets.

  • 5,000 Russians fighting in IS – Agency

    The head of Russia’s anti-terrorism agency said on Wednesday that between 2,000 and 5,000 Russians were fighting for the Islamic State (IS).

    Russian police Col.-Gen. Andrei Novikov, told newsmen that authorities confirmed that a minimum of around 2,000 Russian passport holders had joined the extremists army in Iraq and Syria.

    In southern Russia, several, mostly Muslim regions at the edge of the Caucasus Mountains, have been coping with a simmering Islamist insurgency for decades.

    Several of the Emirate’s members were shown in videos late last year declaring allegiance to the Islamic State around the time of a terrorist attack in Chechnya that the group took credit for.

    The Caucasus rebels, battle-hardened by two separatist wars with Russia, are rumored to be some of the Islamic State’s most successful fighters.

    Red-bearded Caucasus rebel, Tarkhan Batirashvili, whose combat name is Omar al-Shishani, is believed to be an IS commander in Syria, with a series of decisive victories attributed to him.

    Novikov warned that the IS might have obtained nuclear material capable of making a bomb that would cause “worldwide panic.”
    However, he did not say how the material could have been obtained.

    The IS said in May in its online propaganda magazine, Dabiq, that it could buy a nuclear weapon from the predominantly Muslim nation of Pakistan.
    It added that IS allegedly helped North Korea obtain atomic arms in the 1990s.

  • Boko Haram joins Islamic State

    The Boko Haram terrorist group has reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State ( IS) according to an audio statement on it’s Twitter account.

    BBC said the message could not be verified.