1. Spain Raids Jihadist Cell ‘Led by Ex-Guantanamo Inmate’
(Let us hope that his next cell is a lot less pleasant than the Club Fed the Americans set up for these guys in Cuba)
Madrid: Spanish police arrested eight people in pre-dawn raids in Madrid on Monday against a jihadist recruitment network led by a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, the government said.
The cell found and dispatched recruits for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants based in Syria and Iraq, Spain’s interior ministry said in a statement.
“It should be highlighted that the leader of this cell lived in Spain after passing through Guantanamo, having been arrested in Afghanistan in 2001,” it said, without providing further details.
2. Dozens killed after Islamists strike Kenya town close to tourist resort of Lamu
Gunmen flying the flag of Somalia’s al-Qaeda affiliate roared into a Kenyan coastal town and opened fire indiscriminately on pedestrians, shop-owners and people watching the World Cup, leaving at least 48 people dead.
3. Islamist gunmen kill at least 48 in Kenya attack
Mombasa (Kenya) (AFP) – At least 48 people were killed when suspected Shebab militants from Somalia stormed into a Kenyan coastal town and launched a major assault on a police station, hotels and government offices, officials said on Monday.
Around 50 heavily-armed gunmen drove into the town of Mpeketoni, near the coastal island and popular tourist resort of Lamu, late on Sunday. Witnesses said they first attacked a police station, before starting to randomly shoot at civilians, some of whom had been watching the World Cup in local bars and hotels.
District deputy commissioner Benson Maisori said several buildings in the town — which is around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the border with Somalia — were burned down including hotels, restaurants, banks and government offices.
“There were around 50 attackers, heavily armed in three vehicles, and they were flying the Shebab flag. They were shouting in Somali and shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ (‘God is Greatest’),” he said.
4. Recent report on Kenya attack:
5. Live from attack site in Kenya
And some fools say that religion has nothing to do with the wars going on around the world.
And yet – as you see from prayers for the kidnapped boys in Israel – we turn G-d when wars render us helpless. That may not be “religion” per se, but it’s the path we use to reach up.
There’s an incredibly good section in the NYT on Isis, but there’s a paywall. I just caught a glimpse. Here’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/15/world/middleeast/rebels-fast-strike-in-iraq-was-years-in-the-making.html?_r=0
Death penalty in Xinjiang for China Tiananmen crash (BBC, June 16, 2014)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27864060
“Three men have been sentenced to death in China over a car crash in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square last October that left five people dead. The men were convicted of carrying out a “violent terror attack” by a court in Xinjiang province, state media said.
Reports said at least two appeared to be from Xinjiang’s Uighur ethnic minority, which Beijing accuses of waging a violent separatist campaign. Another 13 people were executed on Monday over separate attacks. Verifying reports from Xinjiang is difficult because the flow of information is tightly controlled.
State-run news agency Xinhua reported that the three men sentenced in connection with the Tiananmen car crash – Husanjan Wuxur, Yusup Umarniyaz and Yusup Ahmat – were guilty of “organising and leading a terrorist group and endangering public security”.
Five others were given jail sentences for “participating in a terrorist group” and endangering security….”
13 executed over terror attacks, violent crimes in Xinjiang (xinhua, June 16, 2014)
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-06/16/c_133411927.htm
“Thirteen people were executed on Monday over terrorist attacks and violent crimes in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. They were involved in seven cases, according to local courts.
Also Monday, three other people were sentenced to death by the Urumqi Intermediate People’s Court over a terror attack near Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square in October 2013.”
Oh… That Muslim Youth seems to be the original culprit one more time…
Sri Lanka Muslims killed in Aluthgama clashes with Buddhists (BBC, June 16, 2014)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27864716
“At least three Muslims have been killed in overnight clashes with hardline Buddhists in southern Sri Lanka. The men died of gunshot wounds near a mosque in the town of Aluthgama in what is seen as Sri Lanka’s worst outbreak of sectarian violence in years.
More than 78 others have been seriously injured in the violence, justice minister Rauf Hakeem said.
A curfew is in place in Aluthgama and nearby Beruwala. Muslims make up 10% of Sri Lanka’s mainly Buddhist population.
The men who were killed were shot after midnight following several hours of clashes between two factions in which stones and bottles were lobbed, reports the BBC’s Charles Haviland in Aluthgama.
Mr Hakeem, a Muslim, said he was “outraged” at the police failure to keep law and order and that the authorities had allowed Buddhists to demonstrate three days after a smaller sectarian clash in the area, involving Muslim youths and a Buddhist monk’s driver….”
Afghan police kill militants accused of chopping voters’ fingers (BBC, June 16, 2014)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27872071
“Afghan security forces say they have killed two Taliban insurgents accused of cutting off the ink-stained fingers of a group of elders who voted in Saturday’s presidential election….”
Pakistan jets renew strikes on tribal North Waziristan (BBC, June 16, 2014)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-27864332
“Pakistani fighter jets are reported to have carried out fresh air strikes against militants based in the north-west tribal area of North Waziristan.
The army says at least 160 militants have been killed since the start of the offensive. The army said six of its soldiers died in a bomb blast.
Many civilians fled in anticipation of the offensive, which the army hopes will disrupt militant strongholds.
It comes a week after a deadly militant attack on Karachi airport.
On Sunday, the government proclaimed that Abu Abdul Rehman al-Maani, an Uzbek believed to have helped organise the Karachi airport assault, was among those killed in the offensive in the mountainous area bordering Afghanistan….”
Iraq conflict: Militants ‘seize’ city of Tal Afar (BBC, June 16, 2014)
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-27865759
“Sunni militants have seized the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar, officials and residents say. Militants led by ISIS – the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant – captured key cities including Mosul and Tikrit last week, but some towns were retaken.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said the “apparently systematic series of executions [of non-combatants] almost certainly amounted to war crimes”.
The US earlier announced it might use drone strikes to halt the ISIS advance….”
‘My husband told them we were Christians and they shot him in the head’: How al-Shabaab militia went from door to door killing non-Muslims as Kenyan village watched World Cup
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2658751/Red-Cross-34-die-militant-attack-Kenya-town.html