| FBI: Indianapolis-area teen tried to join Islamic State Posted: 21 Jun 2016 04:49 PM PDT INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — FBI agents arrested an 18-year-old from suburban Indianapolis as he tried to board a bus to New York and join the Islamic State terror group overseas, federal authorities said Tuesday. |
| No 'magic bullet' against jihadist propaganda, Lynch says Posted: 21 Jun 2016 04:36 PM PDT  ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The Orlando massacre at a popular gay nightclub shows no one yet has "found the magic bullet" to prevent Americans from being inspired to violence by jihadist propaganda on the internet, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday as she visited a city still shaken by the shootings.
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| Kerry meets authors of dissenting cable on U.S. Syria policy Posted: 21 Jun 2016 03:31 PM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met on Tuesday with about 10 of the 51 State Department officials who last week wrote a cable disagreeing with U.S. policy toward Syria and arguing for "a more militarily assertive U.S. role." Multiple U.S. officials have said they do not expect the memo, conveyed through the State Department's relatively rarely used "dissent channel," a conduit for voicing contrary views, to change U.S. President Barack Obama's policy. In the cable, the diplomats call for military strikes against President Bashar al-Assad's government to stop its persistent violations of a civil war ceasefire Obama's policy toward Syria, where a civil war has burned for more than five years, has been predicated on the goal of avoiding deeper military entanglements in the Middle East, and has been widely criticized as hesitant and risk-averse.
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| Suicide attacker kills six Jordanian troops at Syria border Posted: 21 Jun 2016 02:47 PM PDT  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - Six Jordanian border guards were killed by a suicide bomber who drove a car at speed across the border from Syria and rammed it into a military post on Tuesday, security officials said. The explosives-laden vehicle blew up a few hundred meters from a camp for Syrian refugees in a remote, desolate area where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet, a Jordanian army statement said. The southeastern desert area is close to where Islamic State militants are known to operate, according to a security source who requested anonymity.
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| Boko Haram fracturing over Islamic State ties, U.S. general warns Posted: 21 Jun 2016 02:24 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nigerian militants Boko Haram have fractured internally, with a big group splitting away from shadowy leader Abubakar Shekau over his failure to adhere to guidance from the Iraq- and Syria-based Islamic State, a senior U.S. general said on Tuesday. Marine Lieutenant General Thomas Waldhauser, the nominee to lead the U.S. military's Africa Command, suggested the internal division was illustrative of limits of Islamic State's influence over Boko Haram so far, despite the West African group's pledge of allegiance to it last year. "Several months ago, about half of Boko Haram broke off to a separate group because they were not happy with the amount of buy-in, if you will, from Boko Haram into the ISIL brand," Waldhauser said at his nomination hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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| Jordan declares Syria border 'military zone' after bombing Posted: 21 Jun 2016 02:23 PM PDT  Jordan declared the desert border regions with Syria and Iraq "military zones" barred to civilians after a suicide bomber killed six Jordanian soldiers near the Syrian frontier on Tuesday. King Abdullah II vowed to hit back with an "iron fist" after meeting top civilian and military officials to discuss the attack in an area where thousands of Syrian refugees are stranded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Jordan is part of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, and has been targeted by IS jihadists before.
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| World's forcibly displaced people need millions of surgeries each year Posted: 21 Jun 2016 02:07 PM PDT By Andrew M. Seaman (This is a repeat of a story from May 30, 2016) In 2014 alone, the nearly 60 million refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers in the world needed nearly 3 million surgeries, according to a new analysis. "We know the refugee populations are going to develop pneumonia, need vaccinations and develop diarrhea because there is risk of cholera in the camps, but you don't often hear about the surgical component," said Dr. Adam Kushner, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. |
| 34 Libya pro-govt fighters dead in clashes with IS Posted: 21 Jun 2016 01:53 PM PDT  At least 34 Libyan pro-government forces were killed Tuesday and 100 wounded in clashes with Islamic State group jihadists as they prepared for a final assault on the jihadist stronghold of Sirte. It was one of bloodiest days since forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) launched an offensive in May to retake Sirte from IS. A statement by the GNA said Tuesday's fighting took place in several parts of Sirte, where jihadists are pinned down in pockets of the coastal city.
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| Iraqi forces retake two Falluja districts from Islamic State, push west Posted: 21 Jun 2016 01:31 PM PDT  Iraq's armed forces pressed on with their offensive to retake the city of Falluja from Islamic State on Tuesday, dislodging the militants from two eastern districts and pushing them back into a handful of northern and western neighborhoods. Islamic State still held the northern districts of Jughaifi and Golan as well as the western banks of the Tigris river. Fighting to recapture the Iraqi city longest held by Islamic State, now in its fifth week, has forced more than 85,000 residents to flee to overwhelmed government-run camps.
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| U.S. stands with Orlando shooting victims, attorney general says Posted: 21 Jun 2016 01:10 PM PDT  By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Fla. (Reuters) - The U.S. government is providing $1 million in emergency funds to cover overtime for first responders to the Orlando nightclub massacre and stands in support of the LGBT community after the tragedy, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said on Tuesday. Lynch spoke in Orlando after meeting with relatives of some of the 49 people killed and 53 wounded in the June 12 rampage and said there was no doubt it was a "shattering" attack on the United States, its people and its most fundamental ideals. The gunman, Omar Mateen, who used an assault rifle and pistol, was killed by police after a three-hour standoff.
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| U.S. military says will not disclose details on injured service members Posted: 21 Jun 2016 12:52 PM PDT The U.S. military will not provide details on specific cases of American service members injured in Iraq and Syria because it could give information to Islamic State militants, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday The spokesman, Peter Cook, was responding to a question at a Pentagon press briefing seeking confirmation that four Americans had been wounded in Syria earlier this month. According to Pentagon data, there have been 16 American service members wounded in action since the start of Operation Inherent Resolve, the military's name for an operation targeting Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria which started in 2014. |
| Suicide attack on Jordan army post near Syria border kills 6 Posted: 21 Jun 2016 12:30 PM PDT  AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A suicide attacker driving a truck packed with explosives barreled through Syria's border with Jordan on Tuesday, setting off a blast that killed six members of the Jordanian security forces and wounded 14.
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| Man with salt and biscuit 'suicide belt' sparks Brussels alert Posted: 21 Jun 2016 12:03 PM PDT  A man with psychiatric problems who was carrying a fake suicide belt full of salt and biscuits was arrested Tuesday after he triggered a major anti-terror operation at a Brussels shopping mall, prosecutors said. Belgium remains on high alert after the Islamic State group claimed double bomb attacks in March that left 32 people dead at Brussels main airport and at a metro station near the headquarters of the European Union. Prosecutors said the 26-year-old man, identified only as J.B., said he fabricated his earlier claim that he had been abducted and driven to the City 2 mall in central Brussels fitted with an explosives belt for remote detonation.
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| US-led coalition says only 1/3 of Fallujah cleared of IS Posted: 21 Jun 2016 11:54 AM PDT  BAGHDAD (AP) — Only a third of Fallujah has been "cleared" of Islamic State militants, the U.S.-led coalition said Tuesday, days after the Iraqi government declared victory in the city west of Baghdad, which was held by the extremists for more than two years.
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| US steps up aid to Iraq refugees Posted: 21 Jun 2016 11:50 AM PDT  Washington (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday assigned another $20 million to help Iraqis displaced by the fight against the Islamic State group.
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| Libya militias seize radio station, mosque in IS bastion Posted: 21 Jun 2016 11:24 AM PDT BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Libyan militias battling Islamic State militants say they have seized a radio station and a mosque in the extremist group's last remaining bastion in the North African country. |
| Young Syrians get 100 percent praise at 'Refugees Got Talent' contest in Iraq camp Posted: 21 Jun 2016 11:17 AM PDT  By Sofia Barbarani SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Belting out an emotional song in honor of Kurdish military forces under a full moon, Syrian refugee Mizzgin Rumi's shyness transformed to confidence as he captivated his audience. Rumi, 19, was one of 10 acts on stage at the dusty Arbat refugee camp in the semi-autonomous northern region of Iraqi Kurdistan competing in the highly-anticipated final of the talent contest "Refugees Got Talent". Surrounded by a band of professional musicians, Rumi's singing dazzled hundreds of refugees, all of whom have fled the war in Syria, and he took the lead in the competition at Arbat where families live in rows of cinder brick homes.
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| Obama pick to lead U.S. military in Africa favors powers to strike Islamic State Posted: 21 Jun 2016 11:07 AM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the U.S. military in Africa on Tuesday backed the idea of gaining greater power to strike Islamic State, including in Libya, which he described as the group's Plan B as it loses territory in Iraq and Syria. Marine Lieutenant General Thomas Waldhauser told his Senate confirmation hearing that the U.S. military was making preparations for possible military strikes in Libya against the militants.
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| Israeli troops kill Palestinian teen in West Bank Posted: 21 Jun 2016 10:29 AM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli troops shot and killed a 15-year-old Palestinian early Tuesday in the West Bank and wounded four others in what the army said appeared to be an accidental shooting.
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| Families from Iraq's Fallujah flee one hell to find another Posted: 21 Jun 2016 09:57 AM PDT  They fled starvation and jihadist tyranny in Fallujah for the safety of displacement camps but thousands of Iraqi families still have nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. "The government told us to leave our homes, so we did. The way they described it, we were going to find heaven," said Ayyub Yusef, a 32-year-old from Fallujah.
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| More than 700 doctors killed in Syria war: UN Posted: 21 Jun 2016 09:22 AM PDT  Attacks on hospitals since Syria's war broke out five years ago have left more than 700 doctors and medical workers dead, many of them in air strikes, UN investigators said Tuesday. The UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria also condemned horrific violations by jihadists and voiced concern that Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants may have recruited hundreds of children into their ranks. Pinheiro, who was presenting the commission's latest report to the council, said attacks on medical facilities and the deaths of so many medical professionals had made access to health care in the violence-wracked country extremely difficult -- and in some areas completely impossible.
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| 80,000 Fallujah residents escape IS, but face new crisis in desert camps Posted: 21 Jun 2016 09:19 AM PDT When Umm Ammar and her family tried to leave Fallujah last week, IS fighters at the checkpoint fired warning shots and started beating her husband and teenage son with plastic cables. Fallujah is a traditional hotbed of Sunni militancy where both IS and its predecessor, Al Qaeda in Iraq, first took root. |
| Islamic State regains areas lost to Syrian government Posted: 21 Jun 2016 09:15 AM PDT BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group has retaken large areas in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa that it recently lost to government troops, opposition activists said Tuesday. |
| Iran says arrests ten 'terrorists' who planned to bomb 50 targets Posted: 21 Jun 2016 09:04 AM PDT Iran has arrested 10 Sunni Muslim militants who were planning to bomb 50 targets across the country, Iranian intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi said on Tuesday, according to the Fars News site. Officials in predominantly Shi'ite Iran have said in recent weeks that Sunni militants from Islamic State have been trying to target the country. Alavi said the arrests took place in the last week in Tehran and three other provinces in central Iran and along the border. |
| Injured Veterans and Their Families Advocate for Hope Posted: 21 Jun 2016 08:40 AM PDT WASHINGTON, June 21, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, Thomas Jefferson wrote to Dr. Hosea Humphrey about advances in science and medicine on June 15, 1816. Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) brought families to Capitol Hill last week including Wednesday, June 15, 2016, to meet with congressional delegates. "I lost so many abilities, I lost so much, but no service member should lose the chance to start a family," Matt Keil said. |
| Leave campaigner Boris Johnson has a lot riding on EU vote Posted: 21 Jun 2016 08:21 AM PDT  LONDON (AP) — Boris Johnson has made his move. He should find out Friday morning if it pays off.
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| U.S. aircraft carrier docks in Crete after Islamic State battles Posted: 21 Jun 2016 08:08 AM PDT  (Reuters) - The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier arrived in Crete on Tuesday, giving its 5,500 crew members a Greek island break after seven months at sea and over 2,000 missions launched against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. Navy extended the Truman's deployment by one month to "keep the pressure" on Islamic State until the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier arrived to take over, Vice Admiral James Foggo, commander of the Navy's Sixth Fleet, told Reuters. The 1,096-feet (334-metre) Truman, as long as the Empire State Building in New York City is tall and with a 4. ...
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| The Latest: US says only 1/3 of Fallujah cleared of IS Posted: 21 Jun 2016 07:12 AM PDT BAGHDAD (AP) — The Latest on Iraq's battle against the Islamic State group (all times local): |
| Smithsonian to host 1st major US Quran exhibition Posted: 21 Jun 2016 06:02 AM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Quran, revered by Muslims, is the centerpiece of a first-of-its-kind exhibition in the United States as the Smithsonian displays exquisitely decorated manuscripts from one of the top Quran collections.
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| Russia calls for swift resumption of Syria peace talks Posted: 21 Jun 2016 05:59 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Russia called on Tuesday for a swift resumption of stalled Syrian peace talks, saying it was the only way to halt "massive violations" of human rights perpetrated in the five-year-old conflict. Russia, a strong ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, launched air strikes in September to support the Syrian army and its militia allies battling rebels and Islamic State fighters, and is backing an offensive on rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo. It supports proposals for a political settlement under which some Syrian opposition figures would be brought into a Syrian unity government - steps which rebels and their foreign backers say do not go far enough.
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| Jordan's king vows to hit back against attack near Syrian border Posted: 21 Jun 2016 05:51 AM PDT  AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan's King Abdullah vowed to hit back "with an iron fist" against attackers who killed six army border guards with a car bomb near the frontier with Syria on Tuesday, a palace statement said. The explosives-laden vehicle blew up a few hundred meters from a camp for Syrian refugees in a desolate area where the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan meet, Jordan's army said. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi)
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| An Attack in Jordan Posted: 21 Jun 2016 05:46 AM PDT A car bomb that detonated near a Syrian refugee camp and a Jordanian military post killed six soldiers and wounded at least 14 other people on Tuesday. |
| Warrior Games: West Point grad, amputee returns to compete Posted: 21 Jun 2016 05:26 AM PDT  WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — William Reynolds breezed past the finish line first in his 100-meter race at West Point, down the hill from where he once marched as a cadet and a dozen years since the attack in Iraq that cost him part of his left leg.
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| Jordanian soldiers killed in car bomb attack on Syria border Posted: 21 Jun 2016 02:07 AM PDT  A car bomb outside a Syrian refugee camp in Jordan killed six soldiers on Tuesday in a remote desert area where hundreds have been held for screening for suspected links to the Islamic State group. There was no immediate claim for the bombing but Jordan is a leading member of the US-led coalition fighting IS in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, and has been the target of jihadist attacks in the past. The army said the bomb struck at 5:30 am (0230 GMT) in Rukban, on the Syrian border in the far northeast of the kingdom.
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| Several Jordanian troops killed, hurt in car bomb attack Posted: 21 Jun 2016 12:16 AM PDT AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A car bomb exploded on the Syrian-Jordanian border early on Tuesday, the Jordanian military said, killing and wounding several Jordanian border guards in an attack that raised new questions about the pro-Western kingdom's stability. |
| During siege, Orlando gunman told police he was 'Islamic soldier' Posted: 20 Jun 2016 08:45 PM PDT  The Florida nightclub killer called himself an "Islamic soldier" and threatened to strap hostages into explosive vests in calls with police during the three-hour siege, according to transcripts released by the FBI on Monday. In a first call he made to a 911 emergency operator, Mateen said "I pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, may God protect him, on behalf of the Islamic State," referring to the head of Islamic State. The FBI and U.S. State Department released partial transcripts of the four calls with the emergency operator and crisis negotiators earlier on Monday, omitting the shooter's references to the leader of Islamic State, saying they did not want to provide a platform for propaganda.
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