Tag Archives: Terrorist

Texas father and son among scores killed in France attack

French police secure the area as the investigation continues at the scene near the heavy truck that ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores who were celebrating the Bastille Day

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – A Texan and his 11-year-old son on a family vacation were among at least 84 people killed when an attacker crashed a heavy truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French seaside city of Nice, officials said on Friday.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott named the two as Sean Copeland and his son Brodie. Sean, 51, and Brodie were from Lakeway, about 20 miles (30 km) northwest of Austin, and were in the southern Riviera city on a European vacation, family friend Jess Davis told the Austin-American-Statesman newspaper.

French President Francois Hollande called Thursday night’s attack a terrorist act by an enemy determined to strike all nations that share France’s values.

The U.S. State Department confirmed two U.S. citizens were among the dead but did not identify them.

“We are heartbroken and in shock over the loss of Brodie Copeland, an amazing son and brother who lit up our lives, and Sean Copeland, a wonderful husband and father,” the family said in a statement.

Sean Copeland was the vice president of North and South America for Kapow Software, Davis said. Kapow is a division of Lexmark International Inc..

The governor’s office said the French flag is being flown over the governor’s mansion in Austin in remembrance of the victims. “While every heinous attack like this is tragic, this latest one hits close to home,” Abbott said in a statement.

“Sean was not only a terrific leader … but a phenomenal person who will be dearly missed,” said Lexmark spokesman Jerry Grasso.

Haley Copeland, a niece of Sean, wrote on Facebook that “losing a loved one is hard no matter the circumstances but losing a loved one in such a tragic and unexpected way is unbearable. Prayers are much appreciated.”

A photo of Brodie playing in French Riviera waters was posted on Facebook by his youth baseball league, Hill Country Baseball, which said it received it hours before the attack.

The post was followed by hundreds of comments, many offering condolences and prayers. Sean Copeland was remembered by several people in the baseball league as a loving and caring father.

A GoFundMe.com page was set up, seeking to raise $100,000 for the family.

U.S. Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security, wrote on Twitter: “A truly heartbreaking loss of life in #Nice, my condolences and prayers are with the Copelands and the community of Lakeway, TX today.”

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York, David Brunnstrom in Moscow and Jon Herskovitz in Austin; Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson and James Dalgleish)

Truck attacker kills 84 celebrating France’s Bastille Day

A woman places a bouquet of flowers as people pay tribute near the scene where a truck ran into a crowd at high speed killing scores and injuring more who were celebrating the Bastille Day national holiday in Nice

By Sophie Sassard and Michel Bernouin

NICE, France (Reuters) – An attacker at the wheel of a heavy truck plowed into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice, killing at least 84 people and injuring scores more in what President Francois Hollande called a terrorist act.

The driver, identified by police sources as a 31-year-old Tunisian-born Frenchman, also appeared to open fire before officers shot him dead. The man, named as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel, was not on the watch list of French intelligence services but was known to the police in connection with common crimes such as theft and violence, the sources said.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said 18 people were in a critical condition after the attack on Thursday night, when the white truck zigzagged along the seafront Promenade des Anglais as a fireworks display marking the French national day ended just after 10:30 p.m. (4.30 p.m. ET).

The dead included several children, while the U.S. State Department said two American citizens had been killed. Russian student Viktoria Savchenko was also among the dead, according to the Moscow academy where she studied.

According to one city official, the rented truck careered on for up to 2 km (1.5 miles).

“People went down like nine-pins,” Jacques, who runs Le Queenie restaurant on the seafront, told France Info radio.

The attack seemed so far to be the work of a lone assailant.

Hollande said in a pre-dawn address that he was calling up military and police reservists to relieve forces worn out by enforcing a state of emergency begun in November after Islamic State gunmen and suicide bombers struck Paris entertainment spots on a Friday evening, killing 130 people.

Only hours earlier he had announced the emergency would be lifted by the end of July. Following the attack, he said it would be extended by a further three months.

“France is filled with sadness by this new tragedy,” Hollande said. “There’s no denying the terrorist nature of this attack.”

Major events in France have been guarded by troops and armed police since the Nov. 13 attacks. But it appeared to have taken many minutes to halt the progress of the truck as it tore along pavements and a pedestrian zone.

One witness said she thought the attacker was firing a gun as he drove.

“I saw this enormous white truck go past at top speed,” said Suzy Wargniez, a local woman aged 65 who was watching from a cafe on the promenade. “It was shooting, shooting.”

A local government official said weapons and grenades were later found inside the vehicle which was made by Renault Trucks.

Nice-Matin newspaper said on Twitter that police were searching the attacker’s home in the Nice neighborhood of Abattoirs. It gave no source of the information.

(GRAPHIC: Map of Nice truck attack http://tmsnrt.rs/29LqLWk)

ISLAMIC STATE TARGETS FRANCE

After the Paris attacks, Islamic State said France and all nations following its path would remain at the top of its list of targets as long as they continued “their crusader campaign”, referring to action against the group in Iraq and Syria.

France is conducting air strikes and special forces operations against Islamic State, as well as training Iraqi government and Kurdish forces.

“We will further strengthen our actions in Syria and Iraq,” Hollande said, calling the tragedy – on the day France marks the 1789 revolutionary storming of the Bastille prison in Paris – an attack on liberty by fanatics who despised human rights.

France has also sent troops to west Africa to keep Islamist insurgents at bay. The country is home to the European Union’s biggest Muslim population, and critics say it has alienated some in the community through strict adherence to a secular culture that allows no place for religion in schools and civic life.

Dawn broke on Friday with pavements smeared with dried blood. Smashed children’s strollers, an uneaten baguette and other debris were strewn about the promenade. Small areas were screened off and what appeared to be bodies covered in blankets were visible through the gaps.

The truck was still where it came to rest, its windscreen riddled with bullets.

There had been no claim of responsibility on Friday morning.

The truck careered into families and friends listening to an orchestra or strolling above the beach on the Mediterranean Sea toward the grand, century-old Hotel Negresco.

Bystander Franck Sidoli said he had seen people go down. “Then the truck stopped, we were just five meters away. A woman was there, she lost her son. Her son was on the ground, bleeding,” he told Reuters at the scene.

The Paris attack in November was the bloodiest among a number in France and Belgium in the past two years. On Sunday, a weary nation had breathed a sigh of relief that the month-long Euro 2016 soccer tournament had ended without serious incident.

Four months ago, Belgian Islamists linked to the Paris attackers killed 32 people in Brussels.

Vehicle attacks have been used by isolated members of militant groups in recent years, notably in Israel, though never to such devastating effect.

Pop star Rihanna canceled a concert scheduled to be held in Nice on Friday. Riders on the Tour de France, the top event on the international cycling calendar, observed a minute’s silence before Thursday’s stage, held three hours’ drive northwest of Nice. Security has been tightened for the three-week race, which is watched by huge crowds lining the route around the country.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned what he said “appears to be a horrific terrorist attack”. Others joining him included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pope Francis, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and officials from Spain, Sweden, the European Union, NATO and the U.N. Security Council.

Turkey, where Islamic State and Kurdish militants have staged a number of attacks in recent months, offered its condolences. “For terrorist groups, there is no difference between Turkey and France, Iraq and Belgium, and Saudi Arabia and the United States,” said President Tayyip Erdogan.

On social media, Islamic State supporters celebrated the high death toll and posted a series of images, one showing a beach purporting to be that of Nice with white stones arranged to read “IS is here to stay” in Arabic.

HIDING IN TERROR

Nice-Matin journalist Damien Allemand had been watching the firework display when the truck tore by. After taking cover in a cafe, he wrote on his paper’s website of what he saw: “Bodies every five meters, limbs … Blood. Groans.”

“The beach attendants were first on the scene. They brought water for the injured and towels, which they placed on those for whom there was no more hope.”

Officials have warned of the continuing risk of Islamist attacks in Europe. Reverses for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have raised fears it might strike again, using alienated young men from the continent’s Arab immigrant communities.

Nice, a city of 350,000, has a history as a flamboyant, aristocratic resort but is also a gritty metropolis. It has seen dozens of its Muslim residents travel to Syria to fight.

At Nice’s Pasteur hospital, medical staff were treating large numbers of injuries. Waiting for friends who were being operated on, 20-year-old Fanny told Reuters she had been lucky.

“We were all very happy, ready to celebrate all night long,” she said. “I saw a truck driving into the pedestrian area, going very fast and zig-zagging.

“The truck pushed me to the side. When I opened my eyes I saw faces I didn’t know and started asking for help … Some of my friends were not so lucky. They are having operations as we speak. It’s very hard, it’s all very traumatic.”

(Additional reporting by Matthias Blamont, Maya Nikolaeva, Michel Rose, Bate Felix, Brian Love adn Bate Felix in Paris, Alastair Macdonald in Brussels, Omar Fahmy in Cairo and Andreas Rinke in Ulaanbaatar; Writing by Alastair Macdonald, Andrew Callus and David Stamp; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Pravin Char)

Two French Police killed in attack claimed by Islamic State

Police vehicles at the scene where a French police commander was stabbed to death in front of his home in the Paris suburb of Magnanville

By Chine Labbé and Simon Carraud

PARIS/LES MUREAUX (Reuters) – A suspected Islamist attacker stabbed a French police commander to death outside his home and later killed his companion, a policewoman, in an attack claimed by Islamic State and denounced by the government as “an abject act of terrorism”.

The assailant, a 25-year-old Frenchman of Moroccan origin, was jailed in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan and had been under security service surveillance, including wiretaps, at the time of the attack, police sources said.

The attacker filmed part of the assault live on the social network Facebook, according to David Thomson, a journalist specialized in radical Islamists. In his Facebook message, he linked the attack to the Euro 2016 soccer tournament now under way in France, saying: “The Euros will be a graveyard.”

The attacker, named by police and justice sources as Larossi Abballa, knifed the 42-year-old commander repeatedly in the stomach on Monday evening.

He then barricaded himself inside the house in Magnanville, a suburb some 60 km (40 miles) west of Paris, taking the man’s 36-year-old partner and their three-year-old son hostage.

Police commandos shot Abballa dead when they stormed the house after negotiations failed but they found the woman, a secretary at a police station in a nearby suburb, killed with a knife, a source close to the investigation said.

The boy was unharmed but in a state of shock.

“An abject act of terrorism was carried out yesterday in Magnanville,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after an emergency government meeting, before visiting Les Mureaux, where the police commander worked.

President Francois Hollande said the killings were “undeniably a terrorist act” and that the terrorist threat in France was very high.

Police searched Abballa’s home and other locations on Tuesday and detained two people close to him for questioning, a police source said.

The killings came as France, which has been under a state of emergency since Islamic State gunmen and bombers killed 130 people in Paris last November, was on high security alert for the Euro 2016, which began last Friday.

Police are under “extreme pressure” and “close to burn-out,” the head of FO labor union Jean-Claude Mailly told France 2 television.

ISLAMIC STATE

Islamic State claimed the attack. “God has enabled one of the caliphate’s soldiers in city of Les Mureaux near Paris to stab to death the deputy police chief and his wife,” an official broadcast on its Albayan Radio said.

If it is confirmed that the group was behind the killing, it would be the first militant strike on French soil since the multiple attacks on bars, restaurants, a concert hall and the national soccer stadium in Paris in November.

Details started to emerge on the profile of the attacker. Abballa was born in the nearby town of Meulan and lived in Mantes-la-Jolie, where he had set up a fast food outlet in April, documents from the Versailles court showed.

He was given a three-year prison sentence in 2013 for helping Islamist militants go to Pakistan. His name appeared in a separate ongoing investigation into a man who went to Syria, but he was not considered a threat, a source close to the probe said.

“He wanted to do jihad (holy war), that was clear,” Marc Trevidic, a former anti-terrorism judge who was in charge of the 2013 investigation told Le Figaro newspaper. But he was seen as having a minor role in that case, he said.

Abballa had also been convicted three times on charges of aggravated theft and driving without a license, a source close to the investigation said.

“Many things are being analyzed,” a justice source said, including messages posted on social networks.

Thomson, an RFI radio journalist specialized in Islamic radicalism, wrote on his Twitter page that Abballa had filmed himself on Facebook live during the attack.

With the couple’s boy behind him he said: “I don’t know yet what I’m going to do with him,” Thomson wrote.

Islamic State’s claim of responsibility came after the Islamist militant group said it was responsible for the shooting that killed 49 people in a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

(Additional reporting by Leigh Thomas, Marc Joanny, Matthieu Rosemain, Richard Lough in Paris and Muhammad Yamany in Cairo; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Paul Taylor and Dominic Evans)

Top Cleric of Yemen’s Al-Qaeda Branch Killed

A terrorist leader with a $5 million bounty on his head has been killed in Yemen.

Yemen’s Al-Qaeda branch posted a statement saying that Ibrahim al-Rubaish was killed along with other terrorists in a Sunday night drone strike.  The statement did not say where the strike that killed the terrorist leader took place.

Al-Rubaish once was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay but had been released in 2006.  He joined Al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch and was considered the main theological advisor to the group.  His writings and sermons were among the most viewed in terrorist publications.

If the drone attack is verified, it will be the first drone strike since the country devolved into war when Islamic terrorists backed by Iran advanced into the nation.  Saudi Arabia has been leading a coalition of airstrikes against the terrorist’s advances.

Al-Qaeda is a rival of the advancing terrorist group and has launched their own assaults to stop the advanced of the Iranian-backed group.  U.S. intelligence sources say that as Al-Qaeda is forced to focus on stopping the terrorist advance, they have less resources and time to plot against Western interests in the region.

Palestinian Stabs 2 Israeli Soldiers in West Bank

A Palestinian terrorist attacked two Israeli soldiers with a knife on Wednesday, stabbing two before he was killed by one of the wounded soldiers.

One of the soldiers is in critical condition after being wounded in the neck.  Both wounded soldiers remain hospitalized in Jerusalem.

The attack happened 30 miles north of Jerusalem in the town of Shilo.  The attacker came from the nearby Palestinian town of Sinjil.

While Israel endured a series of attacks last year during the Passover holiday season last year, this attack highlighted the overall lack of attacks this year.

Israeli leaders praised the wounded soldier who shot and killed the attacker for his bravery and quick response.

“This should be the fate of anyone who harms innocent Jews,” Cabinet Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters. “This is how such a serious incident must end.”

Prosecution Rests Case In Boston Marathon Terror Trial

The prosecution has rested its case in the trial of accused Boston Marathon terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The prosecution saved their strongest evidence for the last part of their case, the injuries sustained by 8-year-old Martin Richard who died as a result of the explosion.

The boy’s parents, Bill and Denise, watched from the second row during the testimony of Dr. Henry Nields, chief medical examiner for Massachusetts.  The wounds were so intense that courtroom witnesses say some of the jurors cried while others stared at Tsarnaev with visible anger.

The defense team has said their goal in the trial is to keep Tsarnaev from receiving the death penalty for his crimes.  Their opening of their case showed pictures of the bomber was more than just a few feet away from the family with the intent of showing the bomber did not target the children.

The defense is claiming that while their client was a participant in the bombing, his brother was the driving force and the plotter of the terror attack.

ISIS Executes Starving Child For Stealing Food

A family that escaped from ISIS in Mosul is relating stories of the terrorist group’s brutality toward children.

The family showed a video to a reporter with the news organization Rudaw a video of a pre-teen child being executed because the child was starving and stole food.  Mosul has been suffering a food storage since the terrorist group took control of the village.

The boy who recorded the video, identified only as Ibrahim, says that the father of the child was begging loudly before the shooting of his child for the group to spare the child’s life.

In addition to the execution, the group has cut off the hands of children accused of stealing.

“Yesterday they cut off the hands of four kids, ages 12, 11, 13 and 16,” the family’s daughter, SA, told the reporter. “One of the kids stole a toy bird, another stole an electric cable.”

The family also said that the terrorists routinely go into the schools and abduct girls to force them into marriages.  Girls as young as 8 have been taken by the terrorists.

Muslim Brotherhood Attacks Egyptian Christian Church

A group of Islamic extremists attacked a Christian church in Egypt because the church planned to honor 21 Christian martyrs killed by the extremist group ISIS.

“I called the police many times and asked them to come to guard us but they came late and after their arrival they didn’t guard the church. They stopped in the entrance of the village. Even still they allowed the cars of the attackers to enter the village and attack us and the church without any intervention from them to protect us,” Fr. Makar Issa told the International Christian Concern.

Daily News Egypt reported that the attackers are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, the former political party that is now outlawed in the country as an Islamic terrorist organization.

The Virgin Mary Church is the only Christian church in Al-Our for the village’s 2,500 Christians.

“They shot guns at the church and pelted the church with stones and blocks,” Fr. Issa said.

“They smashed the sign of the church, destroying the ground of the church yard and breaking the widows of the service buildings of the church. They also burned a car that was parked in the front of the church.”

 

ISIS Destroys Fourth Century Monastery

ISIS has destroyed another historic Christian site in their attempts to cleanse the region of all remnants of other faiths.

In addition to the monastery, the terrorists also blew up the homes of 10 Christian families in Ninevah.

The terrorist group released photos on their social media accounts showing their destruction of the ancient Christian Bar Behnam Monastery in the town of Qaraqosh.  The monastery had contained the most valuable Syrian library in Iraq.

The bombing also blew up tombs of people lead to Jesus by the apostle Matthew.

The bombing comes a week after their destruction of a 10th century Catholic monastery in Mosul.

Human Rights Watch has released reports on the destruction in the region during the terrorist offensive.

 

Iraq Special Forces Advance on Tikrit

Iraqi Special Forces are advancing on Tikrit, driving out the terrorist group ISIS from what had been considered a major win for the terrorists.

The advance has been assisted by the U.S. airstrikes against key parts of the terrorist’s defense network within the city.  The attacks were the first major air assault by U.S. forces in several weeks.

“The Iraqi and coalition air forces conduct strikes in order to remove the enemy and then our forces advance,” said General Tahsin Ibrahim Sadiq. “When the attacking forces advance, they clear any pockets of resistance and allow for the rest of our forces to move in and barricade further ahead.”

Officials say the airstrikes are also targeting ISIS leadership’s command locations.

More than 20,000 Iraqi troops and paramilitary groups are involved in the Tikrit offensive.

The assault came as two Shi’ite militias withdrew from the battle because the United States demanded that Iranian officials and Iranian troops withdraw from the battle.  The militias are protesting that U.S. is forbidding Iranian involvement.