MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — A Filipino doctor accused of wiring money for a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York’s subway and Times Square rejects the allegations and has vowed to fight US extradition, his lawyer said Tuesday. Russell Salic and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to stage the attacks in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016. On Tuesday, his […]
Tag: jihadist
Philippines: NY ‘plotter’ was allegedly doctor to pro-IS gunmen
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — A Filipino doctor wanted over a foiled jihadist plot targeting New York’s subway and Times Square previously treated pro-Islamic State (IS) group militants in the mountains of southern Philippines, the military said on Monday. Russell Salic, 37, had links to the Maute group, which since May had been occupying parts of the Philippines’ most important Islamic city of Marawi in a bid to establish an IS caliphate in Southeast Asia, Philippine […]
Anti-IS force says near ‘final’ week of Raqa fight
by Maya Gebeily and Gihad Darwish Agence France Presse RAQA, Syria (AFP) — US-backed fighters battling to oust the Islamic State group from Syria’s Raqa were nearing the “final week” of their assault, the campaign’s commander told AFP on Sunday. The Syrian Democratic Forces have captured around 90 percent of IS’s one-time bastion and are closing in on the jihadists in a pocket of territory near Raqa city centre. Captured by IS in 2014, the […]
Philippines to start extradition process for Filipino jihadist involved in NY terror plot, says DOJ chief
A Filipino suspect in a thwarted jihadist plot targeting New York’s subway and Times Square will face legal proceedings seeking his extradition to the United States, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said on Sunday. Russell Salic and two others have been charged with involvement in the plan to carry out the attacks in the name of the Islamic State group during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in 2016. Salic was arrested in the Philippines […]
French minister promises troops the means to tackle jihadists
NDJAMENA, Chad(AFP) — French Defence Minister Florence Parly arrived in Chad on Sunday, at the start of a tour of three Sahel countries, assuring that French troops in the region will have the means to carry out their mission against jihadist insurgents. “You can count on my determination that you will have the necessary means to carry out your mission,” she told the head of Operation Barkhane — a 4,000-man French mission to shore up […]
US has no proof IS leader Baghdadi is dead: Mattis
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Friday he cannot confirm whether or not Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, after reports from Syria that the jihadist leader had been killed. “If we knew, we would tell you — right now, I can’t confirm or deny it,” Mattis said. “Our approach is we assume he’s alive until it’s proven otherwise, and right now I can’t prove it otherwise.” The Britain-based […]
Paris attacker on terror watchlist; had gun license
by Katy Lee Agence France Presse Questions arose Tuesday over how a known radical Islamist who rammed a car into a police van on Paris’s Champs-Elysees was able to hold a gun license. Adam Djaziri, a 31-year-old who had been on a watchlist for radical Islamists since 2015, was killed on Monday as his car loaded with a gas canister smashed into the van on the French capital’s most famous avenue. Two handguns and a […]
Islamic State jihadists claim Melbourne hostage incident
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for taking a woman hostage in a Melbourne apartment during an incident in which three police officers were injured by gunfire. Australian police on Monday shot dead the man who had taken the woman hostage and said they were investigating whether the incident was terror-related. Hours later, the Amaq news agency — which is affiliated with the Islamic State group — said: “The executor […]
Islamic State jihadists claim London stabbing rampage
by James Pheby Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The Islamic State group claimed responsibility Sunday for an attack by knife-wielding men who mowed down and stabbed revelers in London, killing seven people before being shot dead in a barrage of police gunfire. Saturday night’s rampage at a popular nightlife hub around London Bridge by three men wearing fake suicide vests was the third deadly terror attack in Britain in less than three […]
Saudi king slams Iran as ‘spearhead of global terrorism’
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Sunday accused regional rival Shiite Iran of exporting extremist Islamic movements to the world and vowed to eliminate the Islamic State group. “The Iranian regime has been the spearhead of global terrorism since the (Ayatollah Ruhollah) Khomeini revolution” in 1979, King Salman said in a speech to leaders including US President Donald Trump. “We did not know terrorism and extremism until the Khomeini revolution reared […]
US-led strikes against IS have killed 352 civilians: Pentagon
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — United States-led strikes aimed against the Islamic State group have “unintentionally” killed 352 civilians since the offensive began in 2014, according to the US military. The tally from the Combined Joint Task Force did not include findings from an investigation the coalition said it had launched into one allegedly particularly deadly strike on March 17 in west Mosul. US General Stephen Townsend had said coalition forces “probably had a role […]
Syria army retakes ancient Palmyra from IS
by Maya Gebeily Agence France Presse BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Syrian troops backed by Russian jets completed the recapture of the historic city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group Thursday, the Kremlin and the army said, in another blow to the jihadists. Bolstered by air strikes and ground troops from their ally Moscow, Syrian forces battled through the desert for weeks to reach Palmyra. The oasis city has traded hands several times during Syria’s […]





