[RT] An Islamic State offshoot has amassed around 5,000 militants in northern Afghanistan on the border of post-Soviet republics of Central Asia, the director of Russia’s FSB has warned, adding that many of them have fought in Syria.
“Especially worrying is re-deployment of terrorist groups into northern provinces of Afghanistan,” Alexander Bortnikov told chiefs of ex-Soviet intelligence services in Dushanbe. He warned that ‘Wilayat Khorasan’, a local Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) affiliate, had managed to gather 5,000 fighters in the area.
Terrorist cells are now infiltrating into former Soviet countries where they are forming ties with organized crime. To keep a low profile, they try to pose as refugees and migrants, according to Bortnikov.
[RADIOSHABELLE] Somali court of appeal for the armed forces has upheld the death penalty handed to two al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia... fighters in Mogadishu.
The first degree of the army court had previously sentenced Anshur Osman Abukar and Mohammed Alio Borow to death. Now do it. Painfully
The convicts moved to the appeal court to decided their cases.
In a statement, the appeal on Monday said it concluded the cases of the two convicts.
Following the conclusion of testimonials and evidence brought during the hearing of two men’s appeal, the Court of Appeal backed an earlier ruling which found two guilty of taking acts to destabilize the country.
According to the statement, the court has upheld the initial ruling of the first-degree court ruling the two death sentence.
The court said that Anshur Osman Abukar and Mohammed Alio Borrow confessed to taking part al-Shabaab attacks including one in Mogadishu.
Human rights groups have accused Somali military court previously for executions of suspects with unclear investigations, claiming the convicts were denied a chance to defend themselves.
Somali military court handles cases related to security, mainly terrorism.
It has sentenced several al-Shabaab suspected to death before.
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[RADIOSHABELLE] A boom-mobilewent kaboom! in the Somali capital Mogadishu on Sunday evening, police and witnesses said.
The kaboom of the explosive-laden vehicle occurred near El-Gabta junction in Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district, a police officer, who demanded anonymity said.
"So far we know that the car was parked near El-Gabta junction. We will establish more details on the incident," the officer said.
Liban Farah, a local resident, told the media that he heard a huge blast in Hamarweyne district but did not know if there were casualties.
The blast Sunday came at a time when Mogadishu is on high alert as police forces blocked the main roads of the capital to prevent possible attacks by holy warriors.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the latest bombing but al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab ... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia... conducted similar attacks in the past.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... forces scored a new advance inside of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... this past weekend, as their troops seized a military base in the Asir Province.
According to the official media wing of the Houthi forces, their troops captured at least military bases during a powerful attack along the Yemeni-Saudi border.
The Houthi forces also captured four military centers after they overran the Saudi Army’s defenses in southern Asir.
In addition to their advance in the Asir Province, the Houthi forces also launched a new offensive inside Yemen’s Hajjah Governorate.
The Houthi forces are attempting to retake the Hajjah-Saudi border, which was mostly lost during a large-scale offensive by the Saudi Coalition troops earlier this year.
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The Arab Coalition has confirmed that the Royal Saudi Air Defense had intercepted aerial targets early Monday morning over the cities of Jeddah and Taif.
According to eyewitnesses, the two Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... ballistic missiles were intercepted over Taif, one heading for Mecca and the other for Jeddah.
The Kingdom's air defense forces were able to destroy the ballistic missiles.
In light of the attack, the Yemeni government said that it strongly condemns the Houthi attempt to target Mecca, adding that the attack on the holy site is "a full-fledged terrorist act".
According to an Al Arabiya correspondent, the fragments of the missile landed in Wadi Jalil, which extends to Mecca, noting that this is the second time the Houthi militias attempt to target the holy city.
Earlier in March, Yemen’s Houthi militias warned they could launch attacks against the capitals of Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... and the United Arab Emirates.
"We have aerial photographs and coordinates of dozens of headquarters, facilities and military bases of the enemy," Houthi militia front man Yahya Saree had said in comments carried by the militia’s al-Masirah channel.
"The legitimate targets of our forces extend to the capital of Saudi Arabia and to the emirate of Abu Dhabi," he said.
The Iran-linked Houthi militias have targeted Saudi border towns and Riyadh with ballistic missiles and also claimed drone attacks on the airports of Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the past.
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#1
the two Houthi ballistic missiles were intercepted over Taif, one heading for Mecca and the other for Jeddah.
#2
How hard can it be to hit that big black cube in the middle of Mecca they call the Kaaba? It's long past time that the heathen symbol of the Arab pagans were vaporized.
[Dhaka Tribune] At least 32 people were killed in a prison riot in Tajikistan, including 24 members of the Islamic State jihadist group and three guards, authorities said Monday.
Five inmates and the three guards were initially killed by prisoners in the riot that erupted on Sunday evening, and the others died in clashes with security forces trying to restore order, the justice ministry said in a statement.
The prison in Vakhdat, 17km east of the capital Dushanbe, holds 1,500 inmates.
The ministry said the rioters first stabbed to death three guards, and then five other inmates "in order to intimidate" the others.
They then took other prisoners hostage before opening fire on the jail's medical facilities.
At least 32 people, including three prison guards and 29 inmates, have been killed in a high-security prison in Tajikistan after convicted ISIL fighters started a riot.
"Following a reprisal operation, 24 members of this group were killed and 35 others arrested. The hostages were freed" and calm restored to the prison, the statement said.
Two of the prisoners murdered by the rioters were well-known activists of the banned opposition group Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, the local prison service said.
Among the leaders of riot, authorities identified Bekhruz Gulmurod, the son of the former head of Tajik special forces who became a member of the IS leadership in Syria and was killed there in September 2017.
The 20-year-old was sentenced to ten years in prison in July 2017 for attempting to join IS in Syria. He was previously detained at Dushanbe airport before boarding a flight to Istanbul.
Authorities said the prison was now functioning normally, with the "situation currently under control."
The prison is a short drive from Dushanbe, with residential neighbourhoods nearby. It houses inmates convicted of various crimes, including terror and extremism charges, and is secured by armed guards.
Families of inmates gathered near the prison on Monday to find out if their relatives were safe.
In November 2018, another riot claimed by IS left 26 people dead in Khujand, a city in the northeast of the country. That riot was initiated by a former IS member seeking to spark a mass escape.
Tajikistan, an impoverished mountainous country of just under 9 million people bordering Afghanistan, has suffered severe conflict since it gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Tens of thousands of people were killed in Tajikistan during a five-year civil war in the 1990s when rebel groups including Islamists rose up against the government.
Authorities in the majority-Muslim country have said that more than 1,000 Tajiks, including a high-ranking police officer who defected in 2015, joined IS in Syria and Iraq in recent years.
In July 2018, an attack on foreign cycling tourists left four dead and two injured. The assault was widely attributed to IS, although the government has refused to acknowledge the link.
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[Long Wars] On May 16, a jury in Manhattan found Ali Kourani guilty of committing various crimes on behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which plans terrorist operations around the world. The Department of Justice announced the jury’s verdict the following day.
Among other offenses, Kourani surveilled various targets in New York City for possible IJO-orchestrated terrorist attacks. Kourani, who lived in the Bronx, scoped out JFK Airport, US military and law enforcement facilities, including the Jacob Javits federal building at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.
The IJO, which oversaw Kourani’s work, has an extensive terrorist history. Hizballah’s external operations arm first began targeting the US in Lebanon during the 1980s. It was led by Imad Mugniyah, Iran’s master terrorist, who was responsible for orchestrating some of the first jihadist suicide bombings in the modern era. Mughniyah was killed in 2008, but Hizballah obviously stayed in the terrorism business after his demise.
The DOJ describes the IJO as a "highly compartmentalized component of Hizballah" that is "responsible for the planning, preparation, and execution of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities" outside of Lebanon’s borders.
It is also known as External Security Organization and "910." The IJO was responsible for a worldwide Iranian terror campaign in 2012, targeting a bus full of Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, a bombing that left six people dead and wounded 32 others. Other IJO plots that same year were thwarted by authorities.
[ALMASDARNEWS] The jihadist rebels launched a new attack on Aleppo city this evening, targeting the western and northern districts of the bucolic provincial capital.
According to a report from Aleppo city, the jihadist rebels fired several missiles towards the al-Khalidiyah and New Aleppo districts. The report said no casualties have been reported thus far.
This latest attack by the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham comes just days after the Russian Air Force launched a number of Arclight airstrikes over their positions inside the Aleppo Governorate.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Ottoman Turkish-backed Euphrates Shield forces sent a large number of reinforcements to the northwestern countryside of the Hama Governorate this past weekend. The primary reason for their redeployment was to help retake the areas their rebel allies lost earlier this month.
Upon their arrival, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels attempted to reclaim these lost areas near the key town of Kafr Naboudeh. During their attack on Sunday, the Euphrates Shield forces and their allies attempted to crack the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) lines at the Kafr Naboudeh front.
Despite their best efforts to advance in northwestern Hama, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels were ultimately routed by the Syrian Arab Army and their allies after a fierce battle on Sunday. "Run awaaaaayyyyy!"
According to a military source near the front-lines in northwestern Hama, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels suffered heavy casualties near Kafr Naboudeh, prompting them to abandon their assault at this front. The source added that a large number of the casualties were from the Euphrates Shield forces that were redeployed to this front.
For the Syrian Arab Army, this was an important victory against the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels, especially after they suffered a number of casualties as a result of the Free Syrian Army ... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... ’s ATGM attacks.
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[ALMASDARNEWS] For the second time in the last 24 hours, the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels have launched a major counter-offensive to retake the areas they lost to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northwestern Hama.
Led by the National Liberation Front ...the Turkic paramilitaries intended to replace with their native jihadi ferocity all the highly trained Turkish soldiers Sultan Erdogan I the much beloved has jailed in the last few years for not worshipping the ground he walks upon. The Uighurs and so forth who did not join Al Nusra or ISIS seem to have ended up here... , the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels began the assault by storming the Syrian Army’s defenses at the small towns of al-Masasneh and Hamamiyat. A fierce battle would ensue as the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels send hundreds of soldiers towards the Syrian Army’s defenses.
Thus far, no advances have been reported by either side. The Syrian Air Force is now active over the northwestern countryside of the Hama Governorate.
The previous attack that was launched by the Ottoman Turkish-backed rebels resulted in heavy losses within their ranks. Most of these casualties were from the Euphrates Shield forces, who recently deployed to the Hama Governorate from the Afrin region.
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#1
sequence-wise, this article would be more effective if it came before, not after, the article indicating that got their butts kicked. just sayin'
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Iranian activists on social media have been sharing a video purporting to show Iranian Revolutionary Guards transporting made S-300 air defense systems to areas along the Gulf.
According to the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz, an activist group, the vehicles transporting the defense systems and other military equipment in the coastal city of Asaluyeh in the southern province of Bushehr.
According to the activists, the air defense systems are being moved to protect a nuclear reactor and sensitive sites along the Gulf from any possible attack.
The moves come as Iran’s air force chief Aziz Nasirzadeh on Monday threatened to bomb regional capitals and target oil installations in the Arabian Gulf in response to heightened tensions with the United States. with F-14s cobbled together from spare parts
Trump has tightened economic sanctions against Iran, and his administration says it has built up the US military presence in the region. It accuses Iran of posing threats to US troops and interests. Tehran has denied this, describing the US moves as "psychological warfare" and a "political game."
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia...
[ALMASDARNEWS] The 
[Long Wars] On May 16, a jury in Manhattan found Ali Kourani guilty of committing various crimes on behalf of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which plans terrorist operations around the world. The Department of Justice announced the jury’s verdict the following day.
