Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula did something almost unheard of for a terrorist organization: they apologized for an attack.
The group attacked the Yemeni Ministry of Defense on December 5th but one of their members apparently decided to attack a nearby hospital as part of the assault. The bombing and shooting in Sanaa left dozens of people dead.
The leader of AQAP released a video Sunday saying that the hospital assault was the mistake of one lone fighter and that he had orders not to attack the hospital or a nearby mosque.
“We confess to this mistake and fault. We offer our apologies and condolences to the families of the victims,” leader Qassim Al-Raimi said in the video. “We did not want your lost ones; we did not target them on purpose. This is not of our religion or our morals.”
Raimi went on to say the terrorist organization would financially compensate those killed in the hospital attack.
A blast in the center of Damascus has left at least 8 people dead.
Police officials saw at least 50 were wounded in the explosion at Hijaz Square outside the offices of a railway company.
A second blast happened in the town of Suweida outside the headquarters of the Air Force’s intelligence headquarters, killing 8 including the head of the intelligence branch.
The government blamed the attack on “terrorists,” their code word for the rebels attempting to overthrow the government of President Bashir al-Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights disputed the government’s account of the Damascus bombing saying that it could not be determined if the attack was from a bomb or a mortar shell. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Just a week after Islamic terrorists attacked Tiananmen Square killing two pedestrians and three terrorists, another attack took place on the provincial government headquarters in Taiyuan.
Police say the blasts struck just after 7:40 a.m. local time from what appeared to be “home-made explosive devices” that were filled with ball bearings.
State broadcaster CCTV reported one person was injured and two cars seriously damaged. The bombs were reportedly hidden inside flowerbeds by the roadside.
Police have sealed the area and are restricting access in a manner similar to last week’s closure of Tiananmen Square. Witnesses claimed hearing as many as seven blasts.
A commander of militia in northwest Pakistan fighting the Taliban was injured in a homicide bomb attack that killed 15 people.
The Taliban admitted being behind the attack on the compound of Nabi Hanafi. Officials said there were wounded but were unable to agree on the number. At least one woman and child were among the wounded.
Witnesses told the BBC that gunmen fired on the compound after driving an explosives-laden vehicle through the compound gate.
Hanafi at one time was closely associated with the Taliban until 2008 when he formed his own militia and began to fight against the Islamic extremist group. The Pakistani government has been reported to have helped Hanafi’s group in fighting the terrorists.
The compound was hit with a homicide bomber attack last year that killed 18.
Bombings aimed at markets in Baghdad has killed at least 23 people.
Local officials say that 40 others were injured, some critically, in the attacks. At least 16 were killed in a packed market in the Sabaa al-Bour section in northern Baghdad while at least 7 died in a bombing at a market in Dora district south of Baghdad. Continue reading →
At least 78 Christians are dead after Muslim homicide bombers walked to a church on Sunday and detonated bomb vests.
The worshipers had just left All Saints Church in Peshawar, Pakistan after morning service and were starting to line up in the church yard to receive free food. Continue reading →
Over 160 Somali religious scholars have declared a fatwa against the al-Qaeda related terrorist group al-Shabab. The group said that al-Shabab has no place as a part of Islam.
Al-Shabab is in control of most of the rural areas of Somalia although government and African Union forces have driven the terror group out of the cities. Continue reading →
Islamic extremists attacked soldiers in the Sinai peninsula killing at least six.
Officials say that another 10 soldiers were wounded as well as seven civilians. The military has been pushing an offensive on the peninsula since the rise in attacks by Islamic terrorists after the removal of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi. Continue reading →
A Syrian rebel group with connections to the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda attacked the historically Christian village of Maaloula Wednesday starting with a homicide bomber from the Jabhat al-Nusra group blowing himself up at a government checkpoint according to the Observatory for Human Rights.
The rebels then seized the checkpoint and a mountaintop hotel that was used as a base to bomb Christian churches throughout the town. A Jewish temple was also damaged in the bombing assault. Continue reading →
Two Islamic clerics have been arrested in connection with bombing in Tripoli last week that killed 42 people and wounded hundreds.
Sheikhs Hashem Minkara and Ahmad Gharib were arrested with three other men and charged with forming a terror cell to attack government buildings. The clerks are believed to have close ties to a Sunni group in Syria. Continue reading →
