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Africa North

IS claims suicide bombing in Benghazi

2016-07-31

A foto of the dear departed at the link A suicide car bomb attack which yesterday killed two members of the Libyan National Army in Benghazi’s Gwarsha district and wounded another four has been claimed by the so-called Islamic State (IS). It named the suicide bomber as Ziyad Fawzi Gergum, posting photos of him and of the attack taken by a camera-mounted drone. Funeral prayers for him were organised by the family today in Misrata where they have been living recently. The family, however, are claiming that he was killed, not in a suicide bombing, but in a French airstrike. For its part, Sadek Al-Ghariani’s Tanasah TV said that he died in an operation carried out by the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council against the LNA. Gergum himself, before the attack, posted a photo of Osman Bin laden on his Facebook page. According to a source in Benghazi, he was a member of a relatively well-to-do local family involved in the shoe whole-selling business and was born in 1990. Following the revolution, when he was a member of the 17 February Brigade, he went to Syria where he was a member of Liwa Al-Umma under former Tripoli mayor Al-Mahdi Al-Harathi. Wounded there, he was taken to Turkey for medical treatment. He then returned to Benghazi where he joined IS but was wounded in Benina and sent this time for medical treatment to Misrata where his family joined him. Leaving them there after recuperating, he went to Sirte, remaining there for some time before returning to Benghazi where he remained until yesterdays’ suicide operation.

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Arabia

Fire forces 1,500 pilgrims out of Makkah hotel; 4 injured

2015-09-22

[ARABNEWS] Four Yemeni pilgrims sustained minor injuries as a result of a fire that broke out in their room at 11th floor of a 15-floor hotel in Makkah. Col. Abdullah Al-Orabi Al-Harathi, director of media and front man of Civil Defense, said the incident occurred at 2:45 a.m. Monday. Al-Harathi said some 1,500 pilgrims are the hotel were evacuated as a precautionary measure, but were later allowed to return after Civil Defense teams put out the fire. Initial inspections showed that the fire was caused by a short-circuit in one of electrical connections of a room. Not a cooking fire in the middle of the floor that escaped to freedom? How unusual. On Thursday about 1,000 Asian pilgrims were evacuated from their high-rise hotel in Makkah when a fire broke out. Two Indonesian pilgrims were maimed. The Haj has been almost incident-free for the past decade but 108 people, including foreign pilgrims, died earlier this month when a construction crane fell on the circumambulation area of the Grand Mosque.

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Arabia

Yemen demands material evidence from Security Council Comittee

2007-02-27

A reliable source in the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it told the Security Council Committee to present clear evidence before it could take any measures against citizens. The foreign affairs ministry confirmed that it demands that material evidence should be presented by the Security Council’s committee against the Yemeni citizens whose names are on their list. The ministry said that they will start taking measures as soon as this evidence is presented. The source said that Yemen abides by the Council’s resolution. It highlighted The Yemeni efforts in fighting terrorism. A source said that the Yemeni government participated actively in fighting terrorism. It detained many terrorist, tried them and they received different sentences. The source added that Yemen is ready to take any measures against any of its citizens if he is proofed to be involved in any acts of financing terrorism; however this evidences are presented by the Security Council Committee, or any other friendly or brotherly countries. The Yemeni announcement came after the American continuous demand to extradite Sheikh Abdulmajeed Alzandani, Head of Al-Iman University and head of Islah party consultancy council. He is one of the prominent Islamic leaders in Yemen. The Security Council Committee had declared freezing Alzandani balances, following accusations that he is among the list of terror supporters. Yemen rejected these accusations and demanded presentation of material evidences and that he should be tried inside Yemen. The American demands of extraditing terrorists are increasing tension in their already tense relationship with America. Yemenis think that the Americans don’t positively evaluate the Yemeni efforts of fighting terrorism. This reached its peak in the case of the assassination of Al-Harathi, one of the attackers of USS Cole, when an American plane attacked and killed him. Yemen considers the American trial for some Yemenis as an intervention in its internal affairs and doesn’t help in consolidating bilateral Relations. A clear example is the 75 years imprisonment of Shiekh Al-Moyad in addition to a fine of $250,000. His aide Mohamed Ziad was also sentenced to 45 year’s imprisonment. Yemen complains that its efforts in terror fighting are not appreciated and that assistance from the west has been meager and ineffective. Yemen’s policy in trying terrorists is also attributed to the heavy losses it experienced due to their attacks. Terrorism in Yemen is a major cause of reluctant foreign investment and exacts a high toll on the lives of the nations defense and security personnel.

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