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SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian military spy planes will start flying missions over the southern Philippines to help in the fight against Islamic militants terrorizing the area, the government said Friday. Fighters linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have been battling troops for a month around Marawi city in the Mindanao region in a conflict that has claimed lives. Canberra, which has an extensive defense cooperation program with Manila, said two high-tech AP-3C Orion aircraft […]
(Eagle News) — The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia on Thursday agreed to “task senior officials to consider a proposed plan of action” that will counter terrorism and violent extremism in the region. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a press conference after a meeting with his counterparts in Pasay that the proposal will discuss ways to: enhance efforts and cooperation in addressing the root causes and underlying conditions of extremism including but not limited […]
by Delil Souleiman Agence France-Presse RAQA, Syria (AFP) – Khalil al-Hussein fled the Islamic State group’s Syrian stronghold Raqa 18 months ago, but now he is back and fighting to help oust the jihadists from his hometown. The 25-year-old is one of several members of a Kurdish-Arab alliance fighting IS who are originally from the northern city. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces began an operation to capture Raqa last year, and finally entered the city […]
RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) – Syrian Democratic Forces are pressing their offensive against Islamic State (IS) in Raqqa, advancing further towards the city centre. One fighter said they were advancing quickly against IS, noting that mines left by IS militants were slowing down their progress towards the city centre. Video footage obtained by Reuters showed a number of fighters gathering, testing drones and preparing military equipment. The Syrian Democratic Forces, made up predominantly of Kurdish fighters, […]
RAQQA, Syria (CCTV) — The Syrian government has blamed the U.S.-led coalition for bringing down a Syrian Su-22 warplane from over the country’s northern city of Raqqa on Sunday. The pilot is reported as missing, according to the Syrian state news agency. The Syrian government forces have blamed the downing of its warplane as overt infringement upon the country’s sovereignty. The downed warplane was on a combat mission against the Islamic State (IS) group. The general […]
by Sara Hussein Agence France-Presse BEIRUT, Lebanon – The battle to oust the Islamic State group from its stronghold of Raqa is creating daunting challenges for aid groups responding to the latest humanitarian crisis in the Syrian conflict. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled Raqa and its surroundings since the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began its operation to capture the jihadist stronghold last year. But new waves of displacement are expected as the […]
by Ali Noorani and Eric Randolph Agence France-Presse TEHRAN, Iran – Gunmen and suicide bombers stormed Iran’s parliament and the shrine of its revolutionary leader on Wednesday, killing 12 people in the first attacks in the country claimed by the Islamic State group. Dozens were injured in the attacks, which targeted two of Iran’s most potent symbols: its parliament complex in central Tehran and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who led the 1979 […]
by Ian Timberlake with David Harding in Doha Agence France-Presse RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Arabia and several of its allies on Monday cut relations with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremism, in the biggest diplomatic crisis to have hit the region in years. Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and the Maldives also severed ties with gas-rich Qatar, which Riyadh accused of supporting groups, including some backed by Iran, “that aim to destabilize […]
by James Pheby Agence France Presse Police carried out fresh raids and arrested “a number of people” on Monday after the Islamic State group claimed an attack by three men who mowed down and stabbed revellers in London, killing seven people before being shot dead by officers. Saturday night’s rampage at a popular nightlife hub around London Bridge by men wearing fake suicide vests was the third deadly terror attack in Britain in less than […]
By Paul Sandle and David Milliken | LONDON Militants drove a van at high speed into pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing Saturday night revellers on the street and in nearby bars, killing at least six people and wounding more than 30. Armed police rushed to the scene and shot dead the three male attackers in the Borough Market area near the bridge, as authorities urged Londoners on Twitter to “run, hide, tell” if they […]
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — President Donald Trump has condemned the “barbaric” truck-bombing in Kabul in a phone call with his Afghan counterpart, as global outrage swells over the massive blast that ripped through the diplomatic quarter, killing at least 90 and injuring hundreds. No group has so far claimed the attack, launched from a sewage tanker packed with explosives, which tore a massive crater in the ground and blew out windows across the […]
Gonzales: Gov’t battling between 400 to 700 Islamist terrorists from ASG, Maute, BIFF, other groups (Eagle News) — Former National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales said that the Marawi situation is “very, very serious” and “dangerous” as the Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon had managed to merge a combination of forces numbering between 400 to 700 from the Maute group, the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) in his campaign to establish a caliphate […]
