The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Islamic State

  • UN finance ministers meet to cut Islamic State financing

    UN finance ministers meet to cut Islamic State financing

    Finance ministers of UN Security Council member states began a meeting on Thursday to pass a resolution making global financial system to stop funding of the Islamic State group.

    U.S. ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said in New York that the meeting would bring together leaders in an effort to coordinate financial systems worldwide.

    She said that the time had come for a unanimous decision to starve the Islamic State of its funding.

    She said that finance ministers had the technical expertise needed to consolidate efforts to successfully cut off the extremist group from its resources.

    Adam Szubin, acting Under Secretary of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Department of Treasury, said the council would adopt a resolution to strengthen existing UN sanctions regime on al-Qaeda to focus on the Islamic State.

    He said the text would allow the UN to impose sanctions on any entity that aided or associated with the extremist group.

    Szubin said that the body would also call on countries to step up information sharing across borders and with the private sector.

    “It’s about when banks see a suspicious transaction, are they flagging that for financial authorities?
    “Is that information accessible to law enforcement and can it be married with travel and intelligence data, so that we can have the best possible chance of disrupting the next attack?’’ he said.

    The Security Council adopted a resolution in February aiming to cut off funding sources of the Islamic State by suppressing illegal oil exports, trafficking of cultural heritage, ransom payments and donations to the extremist groups.

  • 3,000 African youths in terror groups – AU official

    3,000 African youths in terror groups – AU official

    Smail Chergui, African Union (AU) Commissioner for Peace and Security, said African countries were concerned about the possible return of between 3,000 and 6,000 youths who joined the Islamic State (IS).

    The commissioner said on Wednesday in Algiers that the youth fighters, returning home to join terrorist groups in the Middle East were real threat to Africa.

    He urged African nations to draw up a “de-radicalisation system” to encourage people to adopt more moderate views in terms of religion.

    Chergui said this had become very urgent because no country in the region was safe from terrorist acts.

    He also said that establishment of Africa’s police cooperation mechanism (Afripol) had become essential.

    According to him, Afripol will boost cooperation and coordination of efforts among African police bodies to efficiently deal with the spread of transnational terrorism and organized crime.

    Chergui pleaded for identifying the real causes of radicalism and putting a strategy that deterred youngsters from taking to violence.

    He said that military action was not enough to fight against terrorism, stressing that governments should launch economic projects that generated jobs for youths and met their socio-economic needs.

  • 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.

  • Paris attacks, act of war – Hollande

    Paris attacks, act of war – Hollande

    … Islamic State claims attacks

    The near-simultaneous attacks in Paris that killed nearly 130 people were an “act of war” organised by the Islamic State (IS) militant group, French President, Francois Hollande, has said.

    He said the attacks, carried out by eight gunmen and suicide bombers were “organised and planned from outside.”

    The targets included bars, restaurants, a concert and a high-profile football match.

    IS claimed the attacks.

    Mr. Hollande has declared three days of national mourning.

    He has raised the security threat level to its highest point and imposed a nationwide state of emergency.

    This is the deadliest peacetime attack in France and the worst in Europe since the 2004 Madrid bombings. At least 180 people were wounded, 80 of whom are in a critical condition.

    The night of violence unfolded soon after 21:00 (20:00 GMT) as people were enjoying a Friday night out in the French capital.

    A gunman opened fire on Le Carillon bar in the rue Alibert, not far from the Place de la Republique, before heading across the road to Le Petit Cambodge (Little Cambodia), killing at least 12 people.

    “We heard the sound of guns, 30-second bursts. It was endless. We thought it was fireworks,” Pierre Montfort, a resident living close to Le Petit Cambodge, said.

    A few streets away, diners sitting on the terrace of La Casa Nostra pizzeria in rue de la Fontaine au Roi, were also fired on, with the loss of at least five lives.

    At around the same time, on the northern outskirts of Paris, 80,000 people who had gathered to watch France play Germany at the Stade de France heard three explosions outside the stadium about half an hour after kick-off.

    President Hollande was among the spectators and was whisked to safety after the first explosion. It later emerged three suicide bombers blew themselves up at fast food outlets and a brasserie near the stadium.

  • Turkish PM blames bombing on Islamic State

    The Islamic State group is the prime suspect in the Ankara bombings that killed nearly 100 on Saturday, Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, has said.

    No group has said it carried out the attack, but the government believes that two male suicide bombers caused the explosions.

    The official death toll is 97, but one of the main groups at the march put the number of dead at 128, the BBC reports.

    The funerals of more of the victims are taking place on Monday.

    Saturday’s explosions ripped through a crowd of activists gathering outside the main railway station in the Turkish capital.

    They were due to take part in a rally calling for an end to the violence between Turkish government forces and the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

    Speaking on Turkish television, Mr. Davutoglu said the bombings were an attempt to influence the forthcoming elections, due to take place on November 1 after a vote in June left no party able to form a government.

    Many of the victims were activists of the pro-Kurdish HDP party, which says it is now considering cancelling all election rallies.

    The HDP believes its delegation at the march was specifically targeted.

    On Saturday the PKK unilaterally declared a ceasefire. However, this was rejected by the Turkish government, which carried out cross-border air strikes on PKK positions in southern Turkey and Iraq on Sunday.

    Mr. Davutoglu said authorities were close to identifying one of the suicide bombers.

    Some local media have implicated the brother of a man who carried out an IS bombing in the southern border town of Suruc in July, which killed more than 30 people.

  • Militants loyal to Islamic State claim Abuja bombings

    Militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State said they were behind suicide bombings near the Nigerian capital Abuja which killed at least 15 people, a statement on Twitter said on Sunday.

    Suicide bombers attacked two suburbs of Abuja on Friday, Reuters reported.

    President Muhammadu Buhari had blamed Boko Haram, which has waged a six-year campaign to carve out an Islamist state in northern Nigeria, for the Abuja attack.

    But militants claiming loyalty to Islamic State said they had conducted the suicide bombings, according to the statement. The authenticity of the statement, which did not mention Boko Haram and was issued under the name Islamic State West Africa, could not be verified.

    It named three suicide bombers who it said were behind the attacks.

    In May, the leader of the IS that controls parts of Syria and Iraq accepted a pledge of allegiance from Boko Haram, according to his spokesman.

    But the extent of cooperation between the two groups is not known.

    IS, an ultra-hardline offshoot of al Qaeda, has declared a caliphate, a state governed in accordance with Islamic law, in captured territory in Iraq and Syria.

    The militants have gained global notoriety for killing or kidnapping members of ethnic and religious minorities and posting videos of its members killing Arab and Western hostages.

  • Russia wants ‘co-ordination’ against IS

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a regional “co-ordinating structure” against the Islamic State.

    Mr. Putin reiterated his support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who Western countries and the Syrian opposition have said must go, the BBC reports.

    The crisis is expected to be high on the agenda as world leaders gather at the United Nations in New York.

    Mr. Putin will hold rare talks with United States President, Barack Obama, to discuss the issue later on Monday.

    Relations between Russia and the West have been strained over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula last year and support for separatist rebels.

    In a separate development, United Kingdom Prime Minister, David Cameron, is expected to soften his stance against Mr. Assad in a speech this week.

    He is due to tell the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly that Mr. Assad could remain temporarily in power at the head of a transitional government.

    Mr. Cameron – along with Mr. Obama and French President Francois Hollande – has previously demanded that Mr. Assad be removed from power as a condition of any peace deal, a position consistently rejected by Mr. Putin.

    Speaking as he arrived in New York on Sunday, Mr. Cameron said: “[Bashar al-] Assad can’t be part of Syria’s future. He has butchered his own people. He has helped create this conflict and this migration crisis. He is one of the great recruiting sergeants for IS.”

    Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani – a key regional ally of President Assad – said the government in Damascus “can’t be weakened” if IS militants are to be defeated.

    He was speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

    European leaders are intensifying calls for a diplomatic push in Syria in the wake of a massive influx of refugees heading for Europe.

  • IS: France launches air strikes in Syria

    France has carried out its first air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria.

    French planes destroyed a training camp in the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, President Francois Hollande said.

    A United States-led coalition has been carrying out air strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq for more than a year, the BBC reports.

    Speaking in New York, Mr. Hollande said a political solution was needed to end the Syrian war, but President Bashar al-Assad could not be part of it.

    France, like the United Kingdom, has previously confined its air strikes against the Islamic State group to Iraqi airspace.

    The UK announced earlier this month it had carried out a drone strike against two British citizens in Syria but has yet to fly manned operations in Syrian airspace.

    Mr. Assad has a staunch ally in Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    In order to secure Russia’s support in the fight against IS, Mr. Cameron is expected to tell the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York that Mr. Assad could remain temporarily in power at the head of a transitional government.

    European leaders gathering at the UN are intensifying calls for a diplomatic push in Syria in the wake of a massive influx of refugees heading for Europe.

     

  • Egypt’s forces kill 55 militants in Sinai

    Egyptian security forces killed 55 militants in Sinai on the ninth day of operation against Islamists in the area, the military said in a statement on Tuesday.

    It was not possible to independently confirm the figure.

    Egypt is battling an insurgency that gained pace after its military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood Islamist movement in mid-2013 in the wake of mass protests against his rule.

    The insurgency, mounted by Islamic State’s Egyptian affiliate, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police and has started to attack Western targets within the country, Reuters reported.

    In Tuesday’s fighting, two soldiers were killed, the military said.

    The military had announced a new “comprehensive operation” carried out by joint units from the military and the police against militants in Sinai starting on September 7.

    Operation “Right of the Martyr” has so far resulted in the killing of 415 militants and the arrest of 320 people, according to daily military statements.

    One officer and eight soldiers have been killed since the operation began.

    President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi described Islamist militancy as an existential threat to Egypt, the most populous Arab state and a close United States ally.

     

  • Spain, Morocco arrest 14 Islamic State militants

    Spain and Morocco have arrested 14 people in a joint operation targeting suspected recruiters for the so-called Islamic State group.

    The arrests were made in suburbs of Madrid and in various Moroccan cities, the BBC reports.

    Those arrested are suspected of involvement in a network to send fighters to areas of Syria and Iraq under IS control.

    On Friday a Moroccan who had lived in Spain was arrested following a foiled attack on a high-speed French train.

    Ayoub El-Khazzani, 25, originally from Tetouan in northern Morocco, arrived in Spain in 2007 and lived there for seven years, in Madrid and Algeciras, before moving to France.

    He is suspected of having had contact with radical Islamists and had been put on a list marked as “potentially dangerous” by Spanish authorities. They flagged this up to French counterparts in February 2014.

    Spanish counter-terrorism sources quoted on Monday by the Spanish Cadena Ser radio network said that some 800 people with a radical Islamist profile were in Europe and ready to strike, having returned from Syria and Iraq.

    The latest arrests took place in the San Martin de la Vega district of Madrid, and in the Moroccan cities of Fez, Casablanca, Nador, al-Hoceima and Driouech.

    The Spanish interior ministry said the operation was ongoing, without giving specific details.

    Both Spain and Morocco have arrested dozens of suspected radical Islamists in recent years.

    IS fighters have overrun large parts of Syria and Iraq since launching an offensive in June 2014 in western Iraq.