Terrorist group al-Qaeda is seeing a resurgence in Iraq.
The terror group and its affiliates detonated nine separate car bombs on Sunday at various markets and police checkpoints in Baghdad killing dozens.
The campaign of violence by the terrorists has resulted in more than 5,300 Iraqis being killed in 2013. Local officials worry of worsening security conditions, as the government appears unable to stop the terrorist network in the two years since American troops withdrew from the country.
An interior ministry official told the Washington Post that 40 people died in attacks on neighborhoods in Baghdad while 14 soldiers were killed in Mosul when a homicide bomber drove a car into a group of troops.
The violence from terrorists was on the wane after a US troop surge in the 2000s helped Sunni fighters turn the tide against al-Qaeda but over the last year violence has escalated as sectarian groups choose sides.
The terrorist groups have been strengthened by the release of hundreds of captured members through various prison raids.
Masked gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire outside a church in a Cairo suburb on Sunday killing at least three people including an 8 year old child.
The terrorists reportedly shot randomly at the guests exiting the church and did not appear to be attempting to discern between Christians and other wedding guests.
A Coptic priest at the wedding told Reuters that he was inside the church when the gunfire began but rushed outside to find a dead man, a dead woman and many wounded wedding guests laying around the front of the church building.
Coptic Christians make up around ten percent of Egypt’s population and had been living in peace with the majority Muslims in the country for years. However, the Muslim Brotherhood told supporters that the Christians were behind the removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi on July 3rd and called for retaliation.
Analysts in the region say the violence against Christians in Egypt since the removal of Morsi and the government disbanding of Muslim Brotherhood protest camps on August 14th is unprecedented.
Boko Haram terrorists wearing military uniforms slaughtered 19 people at a checkpoint in Nigeria’s northern Borno state.
While the terrorist group has not yet claimed official responsibility, the BBC is reporting that multiple witnesses linked the killers to the terrorist organization. Borno state has been under a state of emergency as the Nigerian military has been trying to eliminate the Islamic extremist group.
“We were asked to get out of our vehicles and lie face down by nine men dressed as soldiers who blocked the road,” a witness told AFP news agency. “They shot dead five people and went about slaughtering 14 others before someone called them on a phone and said that soldiers were heading their direction.”
Witnesses say the terrorists fled the scene on motorcycles. They claim they knew the men were not soldiers because the military does not allow soldiers to have beards.
The terrorist group targets both military and civilians and has killed more than 2,000 people since 2011. Most recently, they attacked an agricultural college in northeast Nigeria and shot 50 students while they slept in dorms.
Security is being increased at shopping centers and other public locations after U.S. intelligence discovered plots for a terrorist attack similar to the attack last month in Kenya that killed over 66 people.
The BBC is reporting that cars are being searched along with bags of pedestrians in Kampala. Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo told the BBC he was thankful the U.S. told them of the impending attack.
Somalia’s al-Shabab terrorist group, who carried out the Kenyan attack, launched a terror attack in Kampala in 2010 that killed more than 70 people. Two restaurants filled with soccer fans watching the World Cup were hit with homicide bombers.
Al-Shabab has threatened Uganda because they have contributed troops to the African Union force helping Somalia’s legitimate government destroy the terrorist group.
A Brazilian drug cartel is threatening mass terror attacks during next year’s World Cup.
The cartel, First Capital Command in Sao Paulo, murdered more than 100 police officers in the city last year. The threat of increased terror and violence came as government prosecutors worked to move cartel members to a more secure jail facility.
Six 2014 World Cup matches, including the tournament’s opening game, is scheduled to be held in Sao Paulo.
Soccer’s World Cup draws millions of fans from around the world and would be a major economic boom for Brazil. The recent spate of violence and the threats from drug cartels is putting tourism in question. Officials said that they could not guarantee the safety of anyone who comes Brazil for the tournament.
Rio de Janiero is scheduled to host the Olympics in 2016 and there are fears of violence causing delays in construction of Olympic venues or threaten safety for athletes.
Turkey has raised concerns about the number of al-Qaeda related terrorists in northern Syria.
Turkish officials say that the “indiscriminate terror” which is the normal tactics of the al-Qaeda related fighters could be turned north toward Turkish military troops and U.S. soldiers who are based their to help protect Turkish airspace.
The al-Qaeda fighters call themselves ISIS, which they translate into “Greater Syria”. They have aligned with the Free Syrian Army to oust President Bashir al-Assad. However, the group has stated a goal of turning the nation into a key piece of a radical Sunni Islamic empire.
The group sees Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as not a “real Muslim” because he is a moderate leader.
The group has also been fighting against rebel groups that are pro-west in nature. Last month they destroyed a pro-western rebel group called Northern Storm in the city of Azaz. ISIS has repeatedly torn down churches and Christian symbols.
The Israeli army has discovered a mile long tunnel running from the Gaza Strip into Israel where government officials say it’s likely terrorists used the tunnel for attacks on civilians.
Israel has shut down all transfers of construction material to Gaza while Hamas is claiming that Israel is “exaggerating” the situation.
While Hamas’ political leaders were saying the claim by Israel was just an attempt to “justify the blockade” of the Gaza Strip, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said “the minds which manage to dig the tunnel can dig dozens more” implying that the tunnel was a military asset.
The Israeli military found explosives inside the tunnel that was about 60 feet deep. Experts said it would likely have taken a month to dig the tunnel.
Hamas has previously used tunnels as a tool in attacking Israeli civilians. For example, a tunnel was used in the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was kept prisoner in Gaza for over five years.
U.S. intelligence groups and Special Forces carried out raids Saturday that landed one of the world’s most wanted terrorists.
American troops with FBI and CIA assistance arrested Abu Anas al-Liby on a street in Tripoli, Libya. Al-Liby had been indicted in 2000 for his part in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. There was a $5 million bounty on al-Liby; intelligence groups had been searching for the al-Qaeda leader for 15 years.
Libya’s government denied knowledge of the operation and citizens were very upset that a foreign military conducted an operation on their soil.
In Somalia, a Navy SEAL team exchanged gunfire at the home of a major leader of the al-Shabab terrorist group. The raid was in response to the al-Qaeda related terrorist group’s raid on a Nairobi shopping mall that killed more than 60 people.
Unfortunately, the SEAL team had to withdraw from the fight before confirming the senior leader of al-Shabab was killed in the assault.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem told the United Nations General Assembly that “terrorists from more than 83 countries” are attacking Syrian soldiers and that the “invasion” was similar to the 9/11 attacks on New York.
He also told the BBC that peace talks would not succeed while Turks, Saudis and Qataris are helping the rebels in their battle with the government. Continue reading →
A British woman is being sought by Interpol on charges of possessing explosives in 2011 but is widely suspected as being a part of the terrorist attacks on a Kenyan shopping mall last week.
Samantha Lewthwaite, 29, was married to one of the four homicide bombers who launched an attack in London on July 7, 2005. Nicknamed the “white widow,” she has been closely linked to the al-Qaeda related terrorist organization al-Shabab. That group claimed responsibility for the Kenyan mall attack. Continue reading →
