‘sex jihad’ waging women

Official: few Tunisian women waging Syria ‘sex jihad’.

Rebel fighters scouting in the Syrian city of Homs. (File photo: AFP)

AFP | Tunis | 07 Oct 2013 :: The number of Tunisian women travelling to Syria to wage “sex jihad” by comforting Islamists fighting the regime is very low, a senior interior ministry official told AFP on Sunday. 

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, seemed to play down previous government statements that suggested “sex jihad” was more widespread. 

“At most about 15 Tunisian women went to Syria, most to care for fighters or to do social work,” the official said. 

But some of them were forced to have sexual relations with Islamist fighters once they were in the country, the official said. 

“Four of them came back from Syria, and one is pregnant,” he added.

“The pregnant woman said that she was caring for fighters and had to have sexual relations with them.”

The official said, however, that women from Chechnya, Egypt, Iraq, France and Germany had travelled to Syria for “sex jihad”. 

“They were targeted for indoctrination over the internet and by foreign sheikhs,” he added, referring to information obtained from Tunisian women returning from Syria. 

Interior Minister Lotfi ben Jeddou told the National Constituent Assembly in September that Tunisian women had gone to Syria where “they have sexual relations with 20, 30, 100” militants.

“After the sexual liaisons they have there in the name of ‘jihad al-nikah’ -- (sexual holy war, in Arabic) -- they come home pregnant,” Ben Jeddou said at the time.

Ben Jeddou did not elaborate on how many Tunisian women had returned to the country pregnant with the children of jihadist fighters.

Jihad al-nikah, permitting extramarital sexual relations with multiple partners, is considered by some hardline Sunni Muslim Salafists as a legitimate form of holy war.

Meanwhile the head of the relief association for Tunisians abroad, Badis Koubakji, said “dozens of Tunisian women have come back” from Syria after carrying out the jihad al-nikah there and that “hundreds” were still there.

Koubakji said there was a camp for the women in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. 

“It’s a complete network and the interior ministry is not being transparent on this issue,” he said on Sunday. 

He said that these young women aged between 17 and 30 would not talk about their experiences because their families wanted to “preserve their honour”. 

NGOs in Tunisia have urged the government to do more to tackle networks recruiting young girls to travel to Syria. 

The interior ministry said earlier this year that it had beefed up checks at airports to stop young Tunisians trying to reach Syria. 

Ben Jeddou had said that since he assumed office in March “six thousand of our young people have been prevented from going there” to Syria.

Local media outlets in Tunisia have published several anonymous witness accounts from young women saying they had come back from Syria, but AFP has been unable to verify them. 

Media reports say thousands of Tunisians have, over the past 15 years, joined jihadists across the world in Afghanistan Iraq and Syria, mainly travelling via Turkey or Libya.(Courtesy:Al Arabiya)

Islamist stronghold near Cairo.

Egypt police raid Islamist stronghold near Cairo.

Security forces determined to assert control over pro-Morsi areas, bring to justice killers of 15 policemen in attack last month

CAIRO | 24 Sep 2013 :: Egypt’s state TV said security forces raided a village near the Giza Pyramids west of Cairo hunting for suspects in the brutal killing of 15 policemen last month.

The Tuesday security sweep of Nahya, a stronghold for Islamist groups, was the latest move by authorities to assert control over towns and villages seized by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi after his July 3 overthrow by the military.

The police officers were killed in the nearby village of Kerdasa, and their bodies mutilated, in apparent retaliation for an August 14 assault by the security forces on pro-Morsi protest camps that left hundreds dead. Security forces reoccupied Kerdasa last week, arresting scores of suspects.

State TV showed security forces in body shields and masked special commandos searching suspects’ home.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)

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)

6 killed as bombs hit Egyptian security HQ in Rafah.

6 killed as bombs hit Egyptian security HQ in Rafah.e

17 wounded when suicide attacks destroy two-story military building near Gaza border

Egyptian army soldiers stand guard on the border with
 Egypt in Rafah. (photo credit: Hatem Moussa/APFile)

EL-ARISH | Egypt | AP | 11 Sep 2013 ::  A pair of suicide bombers rammed their explosives-laden cars into military targets in Egypt’s volatile Sinai on Wednesday, killing at least six soldiers and wounding 17 people, security officials and a military spokesman said.

One of the two bombings in the town of Rafah brought down a two-story building housing the local branch of military intelligence, while the other struck an army checkpoint.The near-simultaneous attacks nudged the violence in the strategic Sinai Peninsula closer to a full-blown insurgency, compounding Egypt’s woes at a time when the country is struggling to regain political stability and economic viability more than two years since longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a popular uprising.

The attacks also came less than a week after a suicide car bombing targeted the convoy of Egypt’s interior minister, who is in charge of the police, shortly after he left his home in an eastern Cairo district. Mohammed Ibrahim, the minister, escaped unharmed, but the blast caused extensive damage in the area. An al-Qaida-inspired group based in Sinai claimed responsibility for that bombing.

Wednesday’s attack on the intelligence building in Rafah collapsed the entire structure and buried an unspecified number of troops under the rubble, two security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The second attack targeted an armored personnel carrier deployed as part of an army checkpoint not far from the intelligence headquarters, the officials added. The officials said the remains of the two suicide bombers have been recovered.(Courtesy:Times of Israel)

Egyptian army bombards Sinai militants.

Egyptian army bombards Sinai militants.

BBC News | 07 Sep 2013 :: The Egyptian army has attacked militants in the Sinai peninsula using tanks and helicopters, killing or injuring at least 30 people.

Tanks, armoured vehicles and troops were deployed in towns along the border with the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses say.

The operation is said to be the biggest of its kind in recent years in Sinai.

Elsewhere, soldiers discovered mortars and other explosives on a railway line near the Suez Canal, the state news agency reports.

There have been frequent attacks on pipelines and security forces since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

On Thursday a powerful explosion targeted Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim as he left his Cairo house for work. He survived unscathed, but officials say another person died.(Courtesy:BBC News)Read More>>>

Egyptian interior minister survives car bombing.

Egyptian interior minister survives car bombing.

Mohammed Ibrahim targeted in attack on convoy in Cairo’s Nasr City district, a stronghold of the Muslim Brotherhood; several injuries reported

Site of the targeted attack of the Egyptian interior
 minister September 5, 2013. (Photo credit: Twitter)

CAIRO | 05 Sep 2013 :: Egypt’s interior minister says his convoy was targeted by a “large” explosive device that was likely detonated by remote control on Thursday.

Speaking on state television after Thursday’s attack in an eastern Cairo district, a clearly shaken but unscathed Mohammed Ibrahim said the explosion targeted his own car. He says four other cars in the convoy were damaged.

Ibrahim said two police officers in the convoy were in serious condition and that a child who was near the explosion suffered a serious leg injury.

Security officials said six passers-by were injured in the attack, but that there were no fatalities. The blast damaged several cars parked on the street and shattered the windows of several nearby apartment buildings.

The Interior Minister is in charge of the country’s police force.

The Qatari news network Al-Jazeera tweeted the following picture it says is from the site of the attack . (Courtesy:The Times of Israel)Read More>>>

Egypt’s Sinai emerges as new theater for jihad.

Egypt’s Sinai emerges as new theater for jihad.

Peninsula becoming a hotbed for terror groups since the ouster of Islamist president Morsi

Egyptian Army personnel supervise the destruction of tunnels
between Egypt and the Gaza Strip at the border, near the town
 of Rafah, northern Sinai, Egypt, Tuesday Sept. 3, 2013
 (photo credit: AP/AP Television)

CAIRO  | AP | 04 Sep 2013 ::  An Egyptian doctor once close to Osama bin Laden is bringing together multiple al-Qaida-inspired militant groups in Egypt’s Sinai to fight the country’s military, as the lawless peninsula emerges as a new theater for jihad, according to Egyptian intelligence and security officials.

There have been other signs of a dangerous shift in the longtime turmoil in the peninsula bordering Israel and Gaza since the military’s July 3 ouster of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, the officials say. With the shifts, Sinai’s instability is becoming more regionalized and threatens to turn into an outright insurgency.

Sinai has seen an influx of foreign fighters the past two months, including several hundred Yemenis. Several militant groups that long operated in the area to establish an Islamic Caliphate and attack their traditional enemy Israel have joined others in declaring formally that their objective now is to battle Egypt’s military.

Also, Sinai has become the focus of attention among major regional jihadi groups. Al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq last weekend called on Egyptians to fight the military, as did al-Qaida’s top leader, Ayman al-Zawahri. The militant considered the most dangerous man in the Sahara — one-eyed terror leader Moktar Belmoktar, a former member of al-Qaida’s North Africa branch — joined forces with a Mali-based jihadi group last month and vowed attacks in Egypt.

Topping the most wanted list in Sinai is Ramzi Mawafi, a doctor who joined al-Qaida in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Mawafi, 61, escaped from an Egyptian prison in 2011 in a massive jailbreak that also sprung free Morsi and more than a dozen Muslim Brotherhood members during the chaos of the uprising against autocrat Hosni Mubarak.(Courtesy: Times of Israel)

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)

Latest Egypt clashes kill 5 civilians, say Ministry.

Latest Egypt clashes kill 5 civilians, say 

Ministry.

Thousands of Mursi’s supporters had marched across the country
 on Friday denouncing the July 3 coup that overthrew the
 Islamist president. (File photo: Reuters)

Cairo | AFP | 31 Aug 2013 :: Five civilians died in clashes in Egypt on Friday when opponents and supporters of ousted President Mohammad Mursi clashed in several cities, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Three were killed in clashes in the Giza district in Cairo, one in the canal city of Port Said and one in the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya, the ministry said in a statement.

Thousands of Mursi’s supporters had marched across the country on Friday denouncing the July 3 coup that overthrew the Islamist president.

Separately, the interior ministry said two policemen were killed in militant attacks on Friday in North Sinai, where security forces have been battling a semi-insurgency since Mursi’s overthrow.(Courtesy:Al Arabia)

White House spokesman jokes about Islamic attacks on Christian churches in Egypt.

White House spokesman jokes about Islamic attacks on 

Christian churches in Egypt.

The DC | 23 Aug 2013 ::  The White House’s deputy press secretary today downplayed Muslim attacks on Christians in Egypt, joking about the savagery  that has left at least six Christians dead.

Press secretary Josh Earnest was asked by Fox News’ correspondent, Ed Henry, if President Barack Obama has a “red line” beyond which he would act against Muslim attacks on Egyptian Christians.

“Well, I didn’t bring my red pen out with me today,” Earnest joked.

After making his joke, Earnest said the administration is “outraged… and concerned” about the Muslim attacks on almost 100 churches, monasteries, orphanages and other marked Christian sites. Many Christians’ shops and homes have also been looted and burned by mobs.

But Earnest didn’t name or criticize the attackers, even though he did charge the military with perpetrating “violence… against peaceful protestors.”

“I can tell you that we have condemned in unambiguous terms all the violence that’s has been perpetrated there in Egypt,” he said.

“We have been concerned and condemned the violence that has been perpetrated by the government against peaceful protestors, and we’re just as outraged and just as concerned about reports that Christian churches have been targeted,” he said.

During the last year, Obama backed the brotherhood-backed elected prime minister, and is now considering whether to strongly push for its return to power.(Courtesy:The DC)

36 Muslim Brotherhood members die in Egypt.

36 Muslim Brotherhood members die in Egypt.

CAIRO | 21 Aug 2013 :: At least 36 members of the Muslim Brotherhood were killed in a riot in Egypt when they attempted to escape while being moved to a jail, state news agency MENA reported.

Armed clashes broke out Sunday between security forces and militants, who intercepted and attacked police vehicles carrying the Muslim Brotherhood detainees to the Abu Zaabal prison near Cairo, Xinhua said Monday.
The clashes took place before the police vehicles entered the prison.
The detainees tried to escape with the help of the militants, who took a police officer hostage. The security men fired tear gas shells in response. Some detainees suffered from suffocation while several militants were shot dead.
More than 600 people have been sent to 15 days in custody pending investigation over Saturday''s clashes at Al-Fatah mosque which left at least 79 dead.(Courtesy:News24)

Egypt: Militants Kill 24 Army Troops In Ambush.

Egypt: Militants Kill 24 Army Troops In Ambush.

Militants have killed 24 army troops in an ambush in the wake of the military's brutal crackdown, according to Egyptian officials.

Egyptian army soldiers outside the Supreme
 Constitutional Court in Cairo

UK | 19 Aug 2013 :: Militants have apparently killed 24 military personnel in an ambush in northern Sinai, officials in Egypt have claimed.

It follows the brutal suppression of supporters of the ousted president Mohammed Morsi, in which 750 people were killed.

The military cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood, raiding homes and making hundreds of arrests following scenes of bloodshed in Cairo.

In response the supporters have pledged days of protest.

It comes as European Union ambassadors are to meet today to discuss the crisis in Egypt amid international alarm at the growing death toll from unrest across the country.

The meeting comes as Egypt's interim military government cracks down on the supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy have issued a rare joint statement warning that the EU would "urgently" review its relations with Egypt over the coming days.

Prime Minister David Cameron and French president Francois Hollande have called for today's meeting of ambassadors in Brussels to be followed by an emergency session of EU foreign ministers.

Britain has condemned the "disproportionate use of force" by the Egyptian authorities and called on all sides to end the violence and to enter dialogue.

In their statement, Mr Barroso and Mr Van Rompuy said all political forces in Egypt must recommit to the country's democratic future and called on the army to support a move towards early elections and the establishment of a civilian government.(Courtesy:Sky News)

Egypt's carnage kills 578 as crisis deepens.

Egypt's carnage kills 578 as crisis deepens.

A man grieves as he looks at one of many bodies
 laid out in a make shift morgue after Egyptian
security forces stormed two huge protest camps
at the Rabaa al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda squares
where supporters of ousted president Mohamed
 Morsi were camped, in Cairo, on August 14,
 2013. — Photo AFP

CAIRO | AFP | 16 Aug 2013 ::  At least 578 people were killed in the violence that swept Egypt Wednesday, the health ministry said, with more than 300 of them losing their lives after police assaults on Cairo sit-ins.

The death toll included 43 policemen and 318 protesters killed in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda square protest camps, senior health ministry official Khaled al-Khatib told AFP Thursday. In total, 535 civilians died nationwide.

The army-backed interim government imposed a month-long nationwide state of emergency, and curfews in Cairo and 13 other provinces.

Shortly after the curfew ended on Thursday morning, light traffic began returning to Cairo's streets, with roads blocked for weeks by the pro-Morsi protests now reopened.

A health ministry official said at least 300 civilians had been killed throughout the country, updating an earlier toll. The interior ministry added that 43 security personnel had lost their lives.

Egypt's press carried photos Thursday of Morsi supporters brandishing weapons and throwing stones at police during the previous day's confrontations.

“The nightmare of the Brotherhood is gone,” daily Al-Akhbar's front page headline read.

“The Brotherhood's last battle,” added Al-Shorouk.

At least four churches were attacked, with Christian activists accusing Morsi loyalists of waging “a war of retaliation against Copts in Egypt”.

The day's violence was the worst since the 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak, with an AFP correspondent counting at least 124 bodies in makeshift morgues in the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest site.(Courtesy:Dawn)Read More>>>

Egypt Death Toll at Least 95, 874 Injured, State of Emergency.

Egypt Death Toll at Least 95, 874 Injured, State of Emergency.

Supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed
 Morsi, stand among debris and smoke in background
 as they confront Egyptian security forces trying to
clear the smaller of the two sit-ins, near the Cairo
University campus in Giza, Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday,
 Aug. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Imad Abdul Rahman)

AFRICA | 14 Aug 2013 :: At least 95 have been killed and 874 injured in a military crackdown on ousted president Mohammed Morsi’s supporters Wednesday. A nationwide state of emergency has been declared. 

Bulldozers demolish barriers, gunfire is frequent and prolonged in BBC footage. 

Media supportive of the military rule show infrared footage of pro-Morsi gunmen firing rounds; the claim is that Morsi supporters have contributed to Wednesday’s violence. 

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon urged Egyptian authorities to respond to ongoing demonstrations diplomatically. 

Ban’s office issued a statement Wednesday, saying: “With Egypt’s rich history and diversity of views and experiences, it is not unusual for Egyptians to disagree on the best approach forward.  What is important, in the Secretary-General’s view, is that differing views be expressed respectfully and peacefully.  To the Secretary-General’s regret, that is not what happened today.”

Egyptian security forces have stormed the main sit-in camp of supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi in eastern Cairo after clearing out a smaller sit-in near Cairo University’s campus.

Wednesday’s developments are the latest chapter in the turmoil that has roiled Egypt since the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak and are likely to deepen the nation’s division between the camp of Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood on one side, and secularists, liberals, moderate Muslims and minority Christians on the other.(Courtesy:Epoch Times)

5 killed in series of attacks on el-Arish.

5 killed in series of attacks on el-Arish.

12 injured as terrorists aim to drive out Egyptian military and form an ‘Islamic Emirate’ in the restive Sinai peninsula.

Egyptian military vehicles in the northern Sinai following
 a July 4, 2013 attack by Islamist gunmen. (photo credit
: image capture from YouTube)

Egypt | El-ARISH | AP | 22 Jul 2013 :: Coordinated day and nighttime attacks Sunday by emboldened militants in Egypt’s northern Sinai Peninsula targeted different areas in the main city of el-Arish and a border town, killing one civilian and four security officers, according to officials.

The pace of attacks on the police and military in northern Sinai has intensified since the July 3 ouster of President Mohammed Morsi from power, but assaults have largely been confined to desolate desert areas of the region.

Sunday’s assault was significant in that it struck in the heart of el-Arish and killed a 32-year-old man driving his car in the most populated city in northern Sinai, which is also its provincial capital. The city is home to about 150,000 people.

For militants in Sinai, however, restoring Morsi is not the priority — they have said their goal is to drive out the military and the authority of the central government in order to create an “Islamic Emirate.” Morsi’s ouster by the military, though, took away a leader seen as reining in security crackdowns.

The attacks Sunday highlighted the security crisis Egypt’s military-backed interim leaders face in restoring stability after more than two years of turmoil since the popular uprising that toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

The northern part of Sinai has been the most lawless corner of the country since then. Police stations have been torched and security forces kicked out of tribal areas, where they were notorious for abuses against the powerful tribes of the region.

In the nighttime attacks Sunday, security officials said militants fired automatic weapons at a police club, a police station and a security post outside a bank in the center of el-Arish.

A 25-year-old woman walking in the street near the bank was struck by a bullet and seriously wounded. A soldier outside the bank was killed in the clash, officials said. The bank is on a main square in el-Arish.

Officials said a gun battle raged for several minutes between militants and security forces at the police station. A male driver was killed outside the station when a bullet hit him.

Also at night, a police camp in the city of Rafah on the Egypt-Gaza border came under attack by militants, who fired rocket-propelled grenades at the building, wounding four civilians and six soldiers protecting the site.

Earlier in the day, three policemen were killed by sniper fire in another coordinated attack while guarding an administrative building, a TV station and the police station in el-Arish, according to a security official. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Sunday’s deaths push to 14 the number of policemen and soldiers killed in Sinai since Morsi’s ouster. At least four civilians have been killed, including one woman and two Christians.

Also, a Christian ambulance worker was stabbed and wounded Sunday in northern Sinai when a man spotted a tattoo of a cross on his wrist, a trademark of many Coptic Christians in Egypt, security officials said.

In Cairo, military-backed civilian leaders forged ahead with a fast-track transition plan aimed at bringing the country back to democratic rule.

A panel tasked with amending Egypt’s constitution began its work Sunday in the face of opposition from Morsi’s supporters who denounce the military coup that overthrew the Islamist leader and reject the new political order that has replaced him.

The new 10-member-panel of legal experts and senior judges met for the first time to begin drawing up proposed amendments to the constitution. The panel has 30 days to do so. A second 50-member committee then will have 60 days to review those amendments before citizens vote on the new constitution in a referendum.

The drafting of the constitution that will be amended was one of the most divisive issues of Morsi’s one and only year in office.

His Muslim Brotherhood and their Islamist allies have vowed to stage daily rallies until he is reinstated, saying his ouster was unconstitutional. They rallied outside military buildings in Cairo and the southern cities of Luxor and Assiut on Sunday.

Protesters in Cairo took to the streets to also protest the deaths of three women killed by unidentified assailants at a Brotherhood rally in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura Friday. Egypt’s prosecutor general opened an investigation and top figures of the new leadership have condemned the killings.(Courtesy:The Times of Israel)