Tag Archives: Terrorist Attack

US Department of Justice arrested Afghan man in alleged US election day planned attack in the name of the Islamic State

Exterior of FBI building

Important Takeaways:

  • The suspect, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, is a citizen of Afghanistan residing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, according to prosecutors.
  • “This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a statement on Tuesday.
  • The FBI said he was attempting stockpile firearms, and had taken steps to liquidate his family’s assets and relocate members overseas.
  • Mr Tawhedi is charged with providing, attempting to provide, and conspiracy to provide support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization; and with trying to procure firearms and ammunition to use to commit a felony or act of terrorism.
  • Mr Tawhedi sought AK-47 assault rifles to use in the attack, authorities claim. On 7 October, he and the co-conspirator met with individuals who actually worked undercover for the FBI to purchase the weapons and ammunition.
  • After the purchase, Mr Tawhedi and his co-conspirator were arrested.
  • In an interview conducted after his arrest on Monday, the FBI said Mr Tawhedi allegedly confirmed he planned an Election Day attack that would target “large gatherings of people” and that he planned to die carrying it out.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Putin very stern vowing revenge in response to terrorist attack

Devastated-Concert-Hall-Russia

Important Takeaways:

  • VLAD VOWS REVENGE Putin says Moscow concert hall gunmen who killed 133 tried to flee to UKRAINE despite ISIS claiming terror attack
  • In his speech Putin, declared March 24 a day of national mourning for the victims.
  • Unblinking and tight-lipped, he said: “I am speaking to you today in connection with the bloody, barbaric terrorist act, the victims of which were dozens of innocent, peaceful people.”
  • He continued: “All four perpetrators of the terrorist act who shot and killed people have been detained.
  • “They were travelling towards Ukraine … We will identify and punish everybody who stood behind the terrorists, who prepared the attack.”

Read the original article by clicking here.

Explosions at event for Iran General killed in US drone strike leaves 103 dead

Iran-Blast-at-Ceremony

Important Takeaways:

  • At least 103 killed in Iran ‘terrorist attack’ at event honoring general taken out in US drone strike, Tehran says
  • Explosions at an event honoring a prominent Iranian general slain in a U.S. airstrike in 2020 have killed at least 103 people and wounded 170 others, state-run media in Iran reported Wednesday.
  • One official called them a “terroristic” attack.
  • Babak Yektaparast, a spokesman for Iran’s emergency service, gave the casualty figure to state media.
  • The blasts struck an event marking the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force. who died in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January 2020.
  • The explosions occurred near his gravesite in Kerman, about 820 kilometers (510 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
  • Authorities said some people were injured while fleeing afterward.
  • Footage suggested that the second blast occurred some 15 minutes after the first.

Read the original article by clicking here.

According to an insider Russia has plans to blow up a power plant; The creation of a nuclear disaster zone will act as a safeguard

Zaporizhzhia-Nuclear-Power-Plant

Revelations 6:3-4 “when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • Plan to blow up Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant approved, situation has never been so severe before ― Chief of Defense Intelligence
  • Source: Budanov, in an interview with The New Statesman, as cited by Defense Intelligence website
  • Quote: “The situation has never been as severe as now.”
  • Details: According to Budanov, Russia has completed preparations for the terrorist attack on the ZNPP.
  • When asked whether the Russians decided to blow up the power plant, Budanov said the plan was entirely “drafted and approved.” The only element missing is the order to act. “Then it can happen in a matter of minutes,” he said.
  • Ukrainian intelligence has determined that Russian troops have moved vehicles packed with explosives to four of the six power units.
  • According to the head of the Defense Intelligence, Russia’s order to commit a terrorist attack on the ZNPP may have been caused by the defeat of the Russian occupation forces on the Left Bank of Dnipro ― Russia considers creation of a nuclear disaster zone a safeguard for the further advance of the defense forces of Ukraine.
  • There is frustration in Ukrainian intelligence and government circles that the international community’s response to the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam on 6 June was so muted that this could provoke further use of “scorched Earth tactic,” the newspaper notes.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Americans fear terrorist style attack due to open borders

Biden Trump DeSantis

Deuteronomy 28:43-53 43 “Foreigners who live in your land will gain more and more power, while you gradually lose yours. 44 They will have money to lend you, but you will have none to lend them. In the end they will be your rulers. 45 “All these disasters will come on you, and they will be with you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and keep all the laws that he gave you. 46 They will be the evidence of God’s judgment on you and your descendants forever. 47 The Lord blessed you in every way, but you would not serve him with glad and joyful hearts. 48 So then, you will serve the enemies that the Lord is going to send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, and naked – in need of everything. The Lord will oppress you harshly until you are destroyed. 49 The Lord will bring against you a nation from the ends of the earth, a nation whose language you do not know. They will swoop down on you like an eagle. 50 They will be ruthless and show no mercy to anyone, young or old. 51 They will eat your livestock and your crops, and you will starve to death. They will not leave you any grain, wine, olive oil, cattle, or sheep; and you will die. 52 They will attack every town in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and the high, fortified walls in which you trust will fall. 53 “When your enemies are besieging your towns, you will become so desperate for food that you will even eat the children that the Lord your God has given you.

Important Takeaways:

  • Exclusive new poll: Huge number of Americans fear ‘nuclear 9/11’ attacks from Middle East terrorists coming through Mexico
  • With the Biden White House refusing to do everything necessary to stop the flood of 5.7 million people illegally entering the United States through Mexico, and an exclusive new ALL ISRAEL NEWS poll showing just how much Americans fear Middle Eastern terrorists will use the border crisis to unleash catastrophic attacks inside the homeland…
  • Fully 66% of Americans say they are “worried” or “very worried” by such a scenario
  • 46% of Americans who fear terrorists will come into the U.S. through Mexico to pull off 9/11-style attacks
  • 20% of Americans who fear that terrorists coming through Mexico will really want to attempt a “nuclear 9/11” with nuclear “dirty” bombs.
  • 1% of Evangelicals fear Middle Eastern terrorists coming through Mexico want to pull off major attacks inside the homeland.

Read the original article by clicking here.

Maldives former president Nasheed critical after bomb blast

By Mohamed Junayd and Waruna Karunatilake

MALE (Reuters) -The Maldives speaker of parliament and former president, Mohamed Nasheed, was in critical care on Friday after being severely wounded in a bomb blast outside his home, hospital authorities said, in what police are treating as a terrorist attack.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for Thursday’s explosion in the capital Male that has revived security concerns in the Indian Ocean islands, known for luxury resorts but which have also faced political unrest and Islamist militant violence.

Nasheed, the Maldives first democratically elected president who is now parliament speaker, had previously warned about militants infiltrating the Islamic country. He was getting into his car when the blast occurred.

Local media said the explosion was caused by a device planted on a motorcycle parked near his car.

Doctors operated to remove shrapnel from Nasheed, who was now in critical condition in intensive care, ADK hospital said.

“Over the course of the past 16 hours he had life-saving surgery on injuries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs,” the hospital said in a statement.

In 2015, former president Abdulla Yameen escaped unharmed after an explosion on his speedboat. In 2007, a blast that was blamed on Islamist militants targeted foreign tourists and injured 12 people.

Police Commissioner Mohamed Hameed said 450 officers had been deployed to investigate the latest incident.

“We are treating this as a terrorist attack,” he told a news conference, adding that the national security threat level had been raised to its highest rating of 3.

The government is seeking technical support from foreign partners in the case. A team from the Australian Federal Police is expected to join the investigation on Monday.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, a close ally of Nasheed, said Thursday’s blast was an attack on nation’s democracy and its economy.

(Reporting by Mohamed Junayd in Male and Waruna Karunatilake in Colombo; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Edmund Blair)

‘So many dead’: Survivors describe terrifying Burkina Faso ambush

‘So many dead’: Survivors describe terrifying Burkina Faso ambush
OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – A mine worker shot during an ambush on a mining convoy in Burkina Faso said on Friday he was one of only three survivors from a bus with up to 80 people aboard, suggesting the death toll may be much higher than officially reported.

A fellow survivor gave a similar account of Wednesday’s militant attack on the convoy of five buses, which Burkinabe authorities said killed 38 people and injured 60.

Abel Kabore, 35, described the attackers, some speaking a foreign language and shouting “Allahu Akbar”, – Arabic for “God is great”, raking three buses with bullets after a security vehicle escorting the convoy hit a landmine. The first two buses were able to escape, he said.

“The three buses which were shot…there were so many dead. It was over 100. We were on the ground. We saw everything,” he said quietly at a hospital in the capital Ouagadougou. Of the people on his bus, “only 3 of us survived.”

He said each bus had been carrying 70-80 people. A security source who works in the sector and a worker at the mine had previously said the convoy was likely carrying around 250 people in all, leaving dozens unaccounted for based on the authorities’ casualty list of 38 dead and 60 wounded.

Neither Canadian gold miner Semafo <SMF.TO> nor the Burkinabe authorities have confirmed how many people were in the convoy when it was ambushed on a road leading to the company’s Boungou mine in eastern Burkina Faso.

Neither responded to queries on Friday.

Panicked workers tried to flee the buses during the attack, then desperately scrambled back onboard away from gunmen in the bush, said another wounded survivor, Bakary Sanou.

“People were trying to go back into the buses. I tried to run away into the bush, and saw that they (the attackers) went back onto the buses, opened the doors and tried to kill everyone,” said Sanou, an oversize bandage on his right foot. A mobile phone lay charging next to him on rumpled pink sheets.

IDENTIFYING VICTIMS

Distraught and angry relatives gathered outside the morgue of the Bogodogo District Hospital in Ouagadougou, begging authorities to let them view the bodies.

“I understand the coroner has to carry out their work on the bodies, but they should identify them too,” one man, Ismail Roamba, told Reuters. “The government should allow at least one family member to go and identify a body.”

Public prosecutor Harouna Yoda said the government had opened an investigation into the attack.

It was still unclear who carried out Wednesday’s ambush.

A homegrown, three-year-old insurgency has plunged parts of Burkina Faso into bloodshed, amplified by a spillover of Islamist militant violence and criminality from its chaotic northern neighbor Mali.

In 2016, an Islamist attack on a hotel and restaurant in the capital killed 30 people. A similar assault the next year killed 19 people. In 2018, militants hit the French Embassy and the army headquarters in Ouagadougou, killing 16.

The Boungou mine is located in Burkina Faso’s Eastern region about 355 km (220 miles) from Ouagadougou. Semafo has said the mine site is secured, but it has suspended operations there.

(Additional reporting by David Lewis and Edward McAllister; Writing by Anna Pujol-Mazzini and Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Mark Heinrich)

9/11 We will not forget!

By Kami Klein

On September 11th, 2001, we witnessed the worst of humanity; an evil we could not imagine. Over 3000 lost their lives that day when a group of terrorists shook our nation to its core. The loss of so many rippled throughout the world.  Families were torn apart within a few hours. The grief was unimaginable and America’s heart was broken. 

 After the attacks, countless stories unfolded revealing extraordinary acts of courage, sacrifice, kindness, and compassion. In the aftermath of the World Trade Center in New York City alone over 16.000 people performed rescue, recovery, demolition and debris cleanup.  These amazing men and women did not know or care about the dangers of their task but rose up in tremendous courage to show the best of what America stands for. 

Ground zero contained toxic dust that held heavy metals and asbestos and other dangerous chemicals.  We are seeing the aftermath years later as countless of these heroes of 9/11 have died or are very sick from illnesses related to this tragedy.  Scarring in the lungs has effected hundreds of responders and experts say this is only the beginning.   

So far, 156 New York City police officers have died from 9/11 related illnesses. 182 in the Fire Department. Countless others are facing debilitating lung disease and aggressive cancers. 

We cannot forget those who lost their lives on 9/11.  We cannot forget now, those that are still giving their lives for our country because of that day and the days following 9/11.  

Eighteen years ago, the nation turned to God.  The churches were filled and prayers were said all over the world. We embraced each other no matter what political belief or religious faith. We were not offended by each other because together we were at war with evil. 

We are still at war but somehow we have turned on one another. 

The attack of 9/11 is not over.  Our heroes from that day are the victims now. We must remember those who are still suffering and fill our churches with faith and prayer. We the people of the United States must feel called upon to honor these brave men and women.  May we come together again, as we did on that day when Love won over hate, Good over evil, and all of us remembered that we are Americans and were willing to sacrifice for each other.

The Lord worked through the very best of us that day and continued doing so during the months and years that have passed. In our prayers, in our memories, and in the stories that we must pass on, these are the people and heroes we cannot afford to ever forget!   

 

Frenchman convicted to life in Jewish museum attack, tells jury ‘life goes on!’

By Clement Rossignol

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – French citizen Mehdi Nemmouche was sentenced to life in jail on Monday for shooting dead four people in a Jewish museum in 2014, telling the court “life goes on” in his last words to the jury.

The families of victims and survivors of the attacks voiced relief at the end of a two-month-long jury trial dogged by controversy over what they denounced as conspiracy theories put forward by Nemmouche’s defense lawyers.

Nemmouche, 33, who staged the attack after coming back from Syria, spat out just that one short phrase ahead of the jury’s final deliberation on the length of his penalty on Monday.

Nacer Bendrer, another French citizen being tried as Nemmouche’s accomplice told the court, “I am ashamed to be here … I am ashamed to have crossed paths with this guy. He is not a man, he is a monster.”

The 12-person jury convicted Bendrer to 15 years in prison for acting as an accomplice. He was suspected of providing the weapon used in the shooting.

The attack in May 2014 – the first by a Western European who fought with Islamist militant factions in Syria’s civil war – highlights the threat posed by jihadist returning home.

The shooting killed an Israeli tourist couple, Myriam and Emmanuel Riva, and two employees of the museum, Dominique Sabrier and Alexandre Strens.

In final words, the prosecutor Yves Moreau called on the jury to hand down a tough sentence: “He will get out of jail and he’ll go on another crusade and start killing again,” he was cited by the state broadcaster RTBF as saying on Monday.

Turning to Nemmouche, who was largely impassive and refused to speak during the trial, he took aim at his lack of contrition. “The cherry on the cake: you aren’t even capable of taking responsibility for your acts,” he said.

Nemmouche, 33 – who was radicalized in the jail, according to investigators – is also facing charges in France over his role in holding hostage journalists in Syria.

During the high-profile trial, the two French journalists had testified that they remembered Nemmouche as a deeply anti-Semitic, sadistic and full of hatred.

Defense lawyers, who had alleged that prosecutors doctored video footage of the attack and that Nemmouche was framed in a settling of accounts between spies including Mossad agents, said he would not appeal the sentence.

(Reporting by Clement Rossingnol; Additional by Clare Roth; Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Jan Strupczewski)

Car hits pedestrians in suspected terrorist attack at UK parliament

Armed police officers stand at a cordon after a car crashed outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, Britain, August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

By Kylie MacLellan and Hannah McKay

LONDON (Reuters) – A man deliberately drove a car into London pedestrians and cyclists on Tuesday before ramming it into barriers outside Britain’s parliament in what appeared to be the second terrorist attack at the building in just under 18 months, police said.

Three people were injured. The driver, a man in his 20s, was arrested by armed officers moments later. He was not cooperating with detectives, the British police counter-terrorism chief said.

“Given that this appears to be a deliberate act, the method, and this being an iconic site, we are treating it as a terrorist incident,” the officer, London Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, told reporters.

In March 2017, Khalid Masood, 52, killed four people on nearby Westminster Bridge and stabbed an unarmed police officer to death in the grounds of parliament before being shot dead.

It was the first of five attacks in Britain last year that police designated as terrorism, three of which used vehicles as weapons.

Basu said the suspect in Tuesday’s incident was in custody but not cooperating. He said the man had not been formally identified but was not believed to be known to security forces.

The BBC, citing unnamed sources, said the man was from the Birmingham area and known to police, although not to intelligence or counter-terrorism agencies.

Forensic investigators work at the site after a car crashed outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, Britain, August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Forensic investigators work at the site after a car crashed outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London, Britain, August 14, 2018. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

NO OTHER SUSPECTS

Basu said there were currently no other suspects from the scene of the incident and no indications of further danger.

Police said a silver Ford Fiesta had driven through a group of cyclists and pedestrians during the morning rush hour before hitting a barrier in front of the Houses of Parliament at 7:37 a.m. (0637 GMT).

Video footage showed the vehicle making an illegal turn before veering across the road and into a security lane leading to parliament before smashing into the protective barrier as two police officers jumped to safety.

The man was detained on suspicion of terrorist offenses and no weapons were found, Basu said.

Two people were taken to the hospital and one woman was still receiving treatment for serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Armed officers swarmed the scene and sealed off a large area around parliament that is usually bustling with tourists and government workers.

“I saw the cyclists, injured cyclists. I don’t know if he’s hit these people or if they’ve just dived to escape,” bystander Jason Williams told reporters. “It didn’t swerve, there was not another car going behind him. It looked like it was planned.”

Images shot by a Euronews journalist showed police pointing their guns at the vehicle shortly after the crash. Footage on social media showed a man being led away in handcuffs.

“TERRIBLE SCENES”

Prime Minister Theresa May, who like other lawmakers is on holiday during parliament’s summer recess, urged Britons to remain vigilant but to carry on as normal.

“For the second time in as many years the home of our democracy, which is a potent symbol of our precious values of tolerance and freedom, has just witnessed terrible scenes just yards from its door,” she said in a statement.

Britain is on its second-highest threat level, “severe”, meaning an attack is considered highly likely.

May’s spokesman said that, since Masood’s attack in Westminster last year, 13 Islamist and four far-right plots had been foiled. At the end of June, security services were carrying out 676 live investigations.

Last week, a Muslim convert admitted plotting to kill more than 100 people by driving a truck into pedestrians on London’s Oxford Street, the capital’s major shopping thoroughfare.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who has previously spoken out about security issues in London, tweeted: “These animals are crazy and must be dealt with through toughness and strength.”

Cordons around parliament began to be lifted about six hours after the incident and Westminster Underground station, close to parliament, was reopened. However, streets immediately surrounding the scene remained closed off.

(Additional reporting by Michael Holden, James Davey, Alistair Smout and Paul SandleWriting by William Schomberg; Editing by Janet Lawrence)