ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey will take it upon itself to deal with attacks on the border town of Kilis if it receives no outside help, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, in a sign Ankara may be willing to act against Islamic State on its own.
“We will overcome the Islamic State. We will solve that issue ourselves if we don’t receive help to prevent those rockets from hitting Kilis,” Erdogan told an international meeting of ministers in Istanbul.
Kilis, which is just across the border from an Islamic State-controlled area of Syria, has come under frequent rocket fire in recent weeks. Turkish officials say Ankara needs more help from the U.S.-led coalition in protecting its border.
(Writing by Ece Toksabay; Editing by David Dolan)
A recent study published by the IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Center stated that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, has increased the amount of attacks by 42% within the last 3 months.
The consulting and analysis firm said that between July and September of 2015, ISIS claimed a total of 1,086 attacks. The new daily average of their attacks increased from 8.3 to 11.8, according to NBC News.
IHS estimates that the numbers are even higher, but their study only includes attacks that have been officially claimed by the Islamic State or were definitively linked to the group by government officials.
The study conducted by the IHS also reports an increase on the average daily death toll. The results showing that there is an average of 32.4 non-militant deaths per day, which is a 65.3% increase from the past 3 months.
“The group’s capacity to wage a territorial-focused insurgency in conjunction with a punitive campaign of terrorist attacks remains undiminished despite an increasingly broad spectrum of armed opposition,” IHS told NBC News.
The report concentrates on the Islamic State’s activity based in areas where it has claimed the territory including: Egypt, Yemen, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Nigeria, Libya, the North Caucasus, Algeria, and parts of Iraq and Syria.
As a wave of Syrian refugees attempting to escape the violence of the Middle East drew closer to the Hungarian border, Germany announced they would be welcoming in anyone escaping the civil war.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the situation the biggest migration crisis since World War II.
The announcement comes as some smaller nations have declared states of emergency because of the mass wave of people fleeing ISIS and the Syrian war. Macedonia first tried to use their military to keep out the migrants and when they were overrunning chartered trains to take the migrants directly to Germany or France.
German and French officials are working together to create a joint plan for all of Europe to deal with migrants from war torn areas. The outline will provide expedited asylum for those refugees as well as returning to home countries those who are not arriving from an area of conflict.
“There are moments in European history when we face exceptional circumstances, and these are exceptional circumstances that will last,” Hollande said alongside Merkel before they met for talks in Berlin. “So rather than wait and then cope on a day-to-day basis, we must get organized and strengthen our policies.”
Germany announced they expect to absorb 800,000 migrants this year, after only receiving 44,417 in the first six months of the year.
Officials are dealing with a wave of anti-immigrant violence. A shelter for migrants in the German town of Heidenau was attacked three consecutive nights despite police guarding the facility.
Recently we enjoyed our Fourth of July Celebration during seven amazing days of praise and coming together! Each anointed speaker that was on our show gave us insight into our world like nobody else could! In their words we cannot help but know that God is working, ALWAYS working out of his love for us! Jim and I felt so blessed each and every day as we saw so many wonderful people leaving their burdens in Jesus’ hands and remembering that God has great blessings for them! Continue reading →
FBI Director James Comey told reporters at FBI Headquarters that a least 10 people radicalized by ISIS were arrested in connection with plots to kill Americans on July 4th.
“I do believe that our work disrupted efforts to kill people, likely in connection with July 4th,” Comey said.
Comey did not release details of the arrests or investigations but said they involved “very serious efforts to kill people in the United States.” He could not confirm all those arrested were plotting Independence Day attacks but said “some of them were focusing on the Fourth of July.”
Comey had previously told Congress this week that ISIS and westerners being radicalized by the Islamic terror group had been using sophisticated encryption to keep investigators from being able to track their plans.
He said that because of the system being used, ISIS can activate potential terrorists on any day or the terrorists themselves could just decided to launch their plans.
“Rahim in Boston, I believe, was bent on doing something in the future,” Comey said referring to terrorist Usaama Rahim, “and woke up on the morning of June the 2nd and said, ‘You know what, I think today is the day,’ and just went out to try and kill people.”
The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram reportedly is working on a new offensive campaign of terror using young children to bomb “soft targets”: markets, restaurants and worship centers.
Mike Omeri of the Nigeria National Information Center told reporters that intelligence reports finding credible plans from the group for attacks on citizens in places most people previously considered off limits by the terrorists.
Available intelligence reports indicate a plan by Boko Haram to use young suicide bombers disguised as cobblers to hide explosives in their tool boxes and detonate them on soft target areas such as markets, restaurants, ATM locations, political rallies, and worship centers,” Omeri said.
“Also, there is indication of a plan by this group to use livestock such as goats, cows, donkeys and camels laden with explosives to attack chosen targets,” Omeri added. “In view of these, people who rear goats and cows in the centre are advised in their own interest to restrict such movements because actions could be taken, and nobody should blame the police and other security agencies for taking the necessary steps.”
The announcement comes as Boko Haram released a video on social media showing a training camp for child soldiers.
An IDF officer has released a report showing the number of IED attacks by Palestinians on Israelis has jumped ten fold in 2014.
The rise of 20 IEDs during 2014 compared to 2 in 2013 is indicative of a rise of across-the-board violence in the West Bank.
“The level of sophistication is not very high,” said Maj. Irad Hershkovitz, the demolitions officer of the Shomron Regional Brigade. “It’s not Yahya Ayyash. It’s not the Second Intifada. But there has been a very significant rise.”
Maj. Hershkovitz told the Times of Israel that most of the IEDs are explosives placed inside a cheap metal casing along with a watch or cell phone timer.
However, he said a crackdown has been taking place on bomb makers in the West Bank.
“The solution is the waves of arrests that we do,” he said, noting that the army is active in Area A, which is under full Palestinian control, and within the refugee camps surrounding Nablus. “There is not a night in which a few Palestinians are not arrested,” he said. “Nothing else can be done. That is what stops the wave of terror.”
