Suicide bomber kills 48 students in Nigeria.

POTISKUM | Dwan | AP | 10 nov 2014 : : A suicide bomber disguised in school uniform detonated explosives at a high school assembly in the northeast Nigerian city of Potiskum on Monday, killing at least 48 students, according to survivors and a morgue attendant.

Soldiers rushed to the scene, grisly with body parts, in the capital of Yobe state, but they were chased away with stones and calls by people angry at the military's inability to halt a five-year-old Islamic insurgency that has killed thousands and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

A suicide bomb attack in the same city killed 30 people one week ago, when suspected Boko Haram fighters attacked a religious procession of moderate Muslims.

Some 2,000 students had gathered for Monday morning's weekly assembly at the Government Technical Science College when the explosion blasted through the school hall, according to survivors who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.

“We were waiting for the principal to address us, around 7:30 am, when we heard a deafening sound and I was blown off my feet, people started screaming and running, I saw blood all over my body,” 17-year-old student Musa Ibrahim Yahaya said from the general hospital, where he was being treated for head wounds.

Hospital workers said dozens are being treated including people with serious injuries that may need amputations.

A morgue attendant said 48 bodies were brought to the hospital and all appeared to be between the ages of 11 and 20 years old. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to give information to reporters. (Courtesy : Dawn.com)

Jammu: 3 terrorists killed in twin terror attack.

Jammu: 3 terrorists killed in twin terror attack.

Security personnel in Dayalachak (ANI Photo)

Jammu | Hindustan Times | 28 March 2014 : : Three terrorists dressed in army uniforms on Friday struck at two places in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, killing a civilian and a soldier and injuring three others, not far from the spot where Lashkar-e-Taiba militants gunned down 10 security personnel last year.

A lesser-known militant outfit 'Al Shohada Brigade', believed to be a shadow outfit of Lashker-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the twin attacks.

A 'spokesperson' of the outfit called some news organisations in Srinagar and claimed the responsibility for the attack.

In the first attack at Dayalachak in Hiranagar, 60km from Jammu city, three terrorists stopped an SUV and asked the occupants to get down.

The passengers who survived the attack said the terrorists separated the driver and sprayed bullets over the rest of them, killing Ajit Ram, a Jammu resident. Three other passengers, followers of Radha Soami sect, on their way to Punjab after attending a religious function here, were injured in the firing. The body of driver was found in the evening.

The SUV, hijacked by the terrorists, was then intercepted 7km away near the camp of the army's 111 Rocket Regiment in Janglote area. In the first burst of fire, the terrorists killed a soldier, V Anthony, who was guarding the rear gate of the camp and injured another jawan.

In the gunfight that ensued and lasted about 12 hours, the three terrorists were killed.

"Three AK-47 rifles, three pistols and ammunitions were recovered from them. They were also carrying grenades and food items," said Jammu inspector general of police Rajesh Kumar.

The terrorists had probably crossed the nearby international border. Chief minister Omar Abdullah, expressing concern over infiltration, tweeted: "The ease with which militants exploited gaps in the fence to cross the international border is a matter of grave concern. The BSF needs to take a look at vulnerable areas and plug these gaps because these militants haven't given up and we can't let them succeed."

BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had addressed an election rally in Hiranagar on Wednesday. The state security agencies have warned of possible militant attacks during the elections.

In September last year, three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists stormed a police station and an army camp in Hiranagar, killing six soldiers, including a colonel and five others.( Courtesy : Hindustan Times )

Syria to target Israel if US attacks.

‘Syria to target Israel if US attacks’

Press TV | 14 Sep 2013 :: The Syrian minister of reconciliation warns that Israel will be among Syria’s prime targets in case of any US attack on the Arab country, Press TV reports.

In an interview with Press TV on Friday, Ali Haidar said the right of Damascus to defend itself will begin from within Syrian territories and extend beyond its borders. 

Haidar also highlighted Saudi Arabia’s role in the Syrian conflict, saying the head of kingdom’s intelligence apparatus Prince Bandar Bin Sultan is the man who is pushing for government-change in Syria. 

On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reached an agreement on a framework for Syria to verify it is eliminating all its chemical weapons. 

Under the agreement, the government of President Bashar al-Assad must destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons by mid-2014. 

On September 9, Syria welcomed a proposal made by Russia to put its chemical weapons stockpile under international control. 

The Russia plan was aimed at averting a US military strike in retaliation for an alleged chemical weapons attack last month in the suburbs of Damascus which the White House blames on the Syrian government. 

Damascus has categorically rejected the allegation, saying the foreign-backed militant groups staged the attack to incriminate the government. 

The Syrian ambassador to the UN said on Thursday that his country became a full member of the international treaty prohibiting the use of chemical weapons. (Courtesy:Press Tv)

Egyptian soldiers kill 9 militants in Sinai operation.

Egyptian soldiers kill 9 militants in Sinai operation.

File photo shows Egyptian soldiers in military vehicles
 proceedin toward the al-Jura district in el-Arish in northern Sinai.

Press Tv | 11 Sep 2013 ::The Egyptian military has killed nine militants in the Sinai Peninsula, where the army has launched a major clearing operation against extremist insurgents.

The strike was carried out by army troops, who backed by helicopter gunships, attacked militant hideouts in the restive area, a military source said, on condition of anonymity, on Tuesday. 

Ten others were also arrested in the raids, he added. 

On Monday, the army also discovered explosives, weapons and ammunition during its operation in the villages of el-Mahdiya and Naga Shabana. 

Egypt launched a major military offensive against extremists in Sinai on September 7, after months of clashes with militants. 

The army has described the campaign as "the largest military operation to purge Sinai of terrorism." 

Nearly 30 militants have been killed in the operations over the past three days. 

Violence in Sinai has intensified since Egypt’s first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi was ousted by the military in early July, with militants launching near-daily attacks on security forces. (Courtesy:PressTv)

1 security man killed, 6 injured in militant's attack on district court Kohat.

1 security man killed, 6 injured in militant's attack on district court Kohat.

The Nation | 09 Sep 2013 :: One security man was killed and six injured when armed militants attacked office of DPO Kohat located in the premises of district court on Monday.

According to DPO Kohat office, eight to ten militants attacked district court with hand grenades and heavy arms. 

Exchange of fire took place between the attackers and security forces within the court premises as four security men were reported injured.

Two attacking militants were also killed as the security forces retaliated the attack, informed an official of DPO office. While remaining attackers escaped from the scene.

Presently Police has surrounded the area and evacuated people from the court and offices.

Officials of Bomb Disposal Unit (BDU) is checking the court premises and after clearance it will be opened for general public.(Courtesy:The Nation)

Al-Qaeda affiliate claims attacks against Shi'ites in Baghdad.

Al-Qaeda affiliate claims attacks against Shi'ites in Baghdad.

Baghdad | Retures | 09 Sep 2013 :: An al-Qaeda affiliate has claimed responsibility for a series of car bombs that killed around 60 people in predominantly Shi'ite districts of the Iraqi capital last week.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which was formed earlier this year through a merger between al-Qaeda's Syrian and Iraqi branches, said it had carried out the attacks in response to the Shi'ite-led government's tightening security Flames rise from a vehicle at the site of a car bomb in Talibiya in Baghdad on September 3, 2013. (AFP)measures.

Sunni Islamist groups including al Qaeda, which view Shi'ites as non-believers, have been regaining momentum in Iraq, invigorated by a conflict in neighboring Syria which has brought sectarian tensions across the Middle East to the boil.

“The operations encompassed targets that were carefully selected deep within the rejectionist strongholds inside Baghdad,” read a statement posted by the group on militant internet forums, using a derogatory term to refer to Shi'ites.

The group said it could now regularly reach the outskirts of the heavily fortified “Green Zone” in Baghdad, where many foreign embassies are located, online monitoring group SITE said.

The monthly toll of Iraqis killed in acts of violence has risen at times this year to the highest since the intercommunal bloodletting that peaked in 2006-07, raising concerns of a return to full-blown civil conflict.

Some 800 Iraqis were killed in acts of violence in August, according to the United Nations.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

Spate of Iraq attacks kills 13.

Spate of Iraq attacks kills 13.

BAGHDAD | AFP | 03 Sep 2013 ::  Attacks in Baghdad and mostly Sunni areas of Iraq killed 13 people Monday, including eight in a coordinated attack on the home of an anti-Qaeda militia chief, officials said.

The Turkish consul to the northern city of Mosul and a top criminal judge in executed dictator Saddam Hussein's home town were also caught in bomb attacks.

The violence was the latest in a surge of unrest that has killed more than 3,800 people since the start of the year and sparked widespread concern that Iraq is slipping back towards the all-out bloodshed which plagued it in 2006 and 2007.

Authorities have pushed a massive security campaign targeting militants, but analysts and diplomats have cautioned that the government must also address the root causes of the violence.

Monday's deadliest attack was against the west Baghdad home of Wissam al-Hardan, who was appointed earlier this year by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to lead the Sahwa, a collection of Sunni tribal militias.

Officials said two suicide bombers blew themselves up outside Hardan's home at around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT), followed by a car bomb that went off as emergency responders arrived at the scene.

In all, eight people were killed and 14 were wounded, including Hardan himself.

The militia chief was taken to a hospital inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, home to the US and British embassies and parliament.

From late 2006 onwards, Sunni tribal militias turned against their co-religionists in Al-Qaeda and sided with the US military, helping to turn the tide of Iraq's bloody insurgency.

As a result, however, Sunni militants view them as traitors and frequently target them in attacks.(Courtesy:The Nation)

Al Qaeda affiliate urges attacks on Egyptian army.

Al Qaeda affiliate urges attacks on Egyptian army.

DUBAI | Reuters | 31 Aug 2013 ::  One of al Qaeda's most militant affiliates has called on Egyptians to take up arms against their army, saying a bloody crackdown on Islamist protesters showed peaceful methods were futile, according to an Internet statement posted on Saturday.

Scores of Egyptian security forces have been killed in a series of attacks by suspected Islamist militants - mostly in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula - since Islamist President Mohamed Mursi was deposed last month.

Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood renounced violence decades ago and denies any links with militants, including those in Sinai who have gained strength since President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in 2011.

"There is nothing more right in God's religion (Islam) than those who speak of the infidelity, reneging on Islam and abandonment of religion, and call for the necessity to fight these armies, foremost of which is the Egyptian army," said Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, spokesman for the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), according to the Arabic recording.

"The Egyptian army is part and a mere copy of these armies which are seeking in a deadly effort to prevent God's laws from being adopted and trying hard to consecrate the principles of secularism and man-made laws," he said.

Mounting insecurity in Sinai worries the United States because the area is next to Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, as well as the Suez Canal.

Adnani lashed out at the Brotherhood and the smaller, Salafist al-Nour party, saying they have been co-opted to non-violence and what he called the futile secular approach to power through elections and democracy, which he said had left Muslim Brotherhood members either in jail, dead or fugitives.(Courtesy:Reture)

Attacks kill at least 58 people in Iraq: Officials.

Attacks kill at least 58 people in Iraq: Officials.

BAGHDAD | 29 Aug 2013 ::  A coordinated wave of bombings tore through Shia Muslim areas in and around the Iraqi capital early Wednesday, killing at least 58 and wounding many more, officials said.

The blasts, which came in quick succession, targeted residents out shopping and on their way to work.

The attacks are the latest in a relentless wave of killing that has left thousands dead since April, marking the country's worst spate of bloodshed since 2008. They raise fears that Iraq is hurtling back toward the brink of a civil war fueled by ethnic and sectarian differences.

Insurgents deployed explosives-laden cars, suicide bombers and other bombs and targeted parking lots, outdoor markets and restaurants in predominantly Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad, according to officials. A military convoy was also hit south of the capital.

The northern neighborhood of Kazimiyah, home to a prominent, gold-domed Shia shrine, was the worst hit.

Two bombs went off in a parking lot in the neighborhood, followed by a suicide car bomber who struck onlookers who had gathered at the scene. Police said a total of 10 people were killed and 27 wounded in that attack(Courtesy:Dawn) Read More>>>

Al-Qaeda in Yemen denies U.S. claims on attack plots.

Al-Qaeda in Yemen denies U.S. claims 

on attack plots.

Yemeni security forces at a checkpoint in Sana’a. Embassies were
 closed during August due to allegations that the al-Qaeda was
planning attacks in Yemen. (File Photo: AFP)

Dubai | AFP | 27 Aug 2013 :: Al-Qaeda in Yemen has denied U.S. allegations it is plotting massive attacks that prompted the closure of Western missions in the country this month, in a statement posted online.

The extremist network also denied reports confirmed by Yemen’s President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi that U.S. intelligence services had intercepted a conversation between al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, head of the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

“Hadi repeated the nonsense and propaganda published by U.S. intelligence on telephone calls between jihadist leaders to justify the US plot to kill Muslims in Yemen through continued raids,” AQAP said in the statement posted on jihadist Internet forums.

Hadi had “claimed the jihadists were plotting to target oil terminals in the country using bomb-laden trucks,” said AQAP.

“We deny what he said and regard it as an attempt to justify US criminal practices.”

“We also affirm our concern... in preserving the blood of Muslims,” the statement added.

A source close to Hadi quoted the Yemeni leader as saying Friday that in the alleged conversation between the al-Qaeda leaders Wuhayshi told Zawahiri he would be hearing of something “that will change the course of history”.

Hadi and U.S. President Barack Obama had discussed the matter at the White House on August 1, according to the same source.

On August 4, the United States shut 19 of its consulates and embassies in the Arab and Muslim countries amid what American officials said was a threat of an imminent al-Qaeda attack.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)Read More>>>

Police: Attacks around Iraq kill 9 people.

A police officer inspects a police vehicle destroyed by a car
 bomb attack in Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, on July 15, 2013

BAGHDAD  | AP | 15 Jul 2013 ::  Attacks across Iraq killed nine people on Monday, including a 10-year-old boy out swimming with friends, in the latest in a surge of violence rocking Iraq during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Violence in Iraq is now at its deadliest level in half a decade, raising fears the country is returning to the widespread bloodshed that pushed the country to the edge of civil war. More than 2,800 people have been killed since the start of April.

Police said Monday's deadliest attack was a mortar barrage near a group of people trying to escape the blistering summer heat by swimming in the Tigris River near Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

Four people were killed in the mortar shelling, including the boy, and 11 others were wounded, police said.

Temperatures in Baghdad soared above 115 degrees.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb went off near a passing security patrol, killing a policeman and wounding 11 other people, including four civilians.

The blast left a crater six feet wide near the side of the road, and the charred hull of the blue police pickup truck lay mangled in the street.

Hours later, a suicide bomber slammed his explosives-laden car into an army checkpoint near Kirkuk, killing two soldiers, according to Lt. Gen. Mohammed Khalaf, a senior military commander in the city.

More than 140 people have been killed since Muslims in Iraq began observing Ramadan on Wednesday.

The American and British Embassies each issued statements Monday condemning the daily rash of attacks.

"That these attacks have taken place during the holy month of Ramadan, a time for charity and compassion is especially disturbing," said Britain's charge d'affaires in Iraq, Robert Deane. "This continued violence is clearly intended to fuel sectarian strife and destabilize the country."

Pious Muslims go without food, drink, smoking and sex in the daytime during the holy month, when feelings of spiritual devotion are high. In the years following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the start of Ramadan often also brought a wave of insurgent attacks — a pattern being repeated this year.

In other violence on Monday, police said gunmen sprayed a security checkpoint with bullets just south of Baghdad, killing two soldiers and wounding four others.

Hospital officials confirmed the death toll. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Monday's attacks came a day after a wave of coordinated bombings in mostly Shiite cities and other attacks left at least 38 dead and scores wounded.(Courtesy:USA TODAY)