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IS claims beheading of US aid worker in latest video
UAE bans five Pak-based terror outfits
Nigerian army retakes town from jihadists
Afghan female lawmaker survives suicide attack
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MH17 wreckage removal starts in rebel-held eastern Ukraine
Bird flu shows head at Dutch chicken farm
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IS claims beheading of US aid worker in latest video
Beirut, November 16 "This is Peter Edward Kassig, a US citizen of your country," said a black-militant wearing a balaclava, the same outfit worn by the man who beheaded two American journalists and two British aid workers in earlier videos. The man stood over a severed head bearing a resemblance to Kassig, a former American soldier who risked his life to provide medical treatment and aid to those suffering from Syria's civil war. "Here, we are burying the first American crusader in Dabiq, eagerly waiting for the remainder of your armies to arrive," the militant said. Dabiq is the site of a major 16th century battle in what is now northern Syria that saw the Ottomans defeat the Mamluks and begin a major expansionist phase of an empire the IS group considers to have been the last caliphate. In a highly choreographed sequence earlier in the video, jihadists marched at least 18 prisoners said to be Syrian officers and pilots by a wooden box of long military knives, each taking one as they passed, then forced them to kneel in a line and decapitated them. IS spearheaded a militant offencive that overran much of Iraq's Sunni Arab heartland since June after seizing major territory in neighbouring Syria, and carried out a series of atrocities in both countries. The group has killed hundreds of Iraqi and Syrian tribesmen who opposed it, attacked religious and ethnic minorities, sold women as slaves, executed scores of Iraqi security personnel and carried out beheadings on camera. — AFP Who was Kassig?
Kassig’s parents say awaiting confirmation on death
The parents of US aid worker Peter Kassig said on Sunday that they were awaiting official confirmation on the death of their "treasured son." "We are aware of the news reports being circulated about our treasured son and are waiting for confirmation from the government as to the authenticity of these reports," Ed and Paula Kassig said in a statement. Kassig's parents asked for media coverage to focus not on the gruesome footage but on their son's work and life. |
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UAE bans five Pak-based terror outfits
Dubai, November 16 The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Cabinet yesterday announced the names of 86 extremist groups that also include Al-Qaida, responsible for 9/11 attacks in the US, and the Pakistani Taliban among others, the state-run WAM news agency reported. The Muslim Brotherhood and its local affiliates have also been named on the list. The list comes after an anti-terror law was issued by President Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The law authorises the government to issue a list of groups designated by the UAE as terrorist organisations, which makes it a criminal offence for any individual or group that communicates with them, engage in their activities, or provide support by any means. The Nusra Front and the Islamic State, whose fighters are battling Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have also been named on the list by the UAE. Pakistan-based groups Jaish Muhammad, the East Turkestan movement in Pakistan, Haqqani network and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), have also been included in the list. — PTI |
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Nigerian army retakes town from jihadists
Abuja, November 16 The army recaptured the town yesterday evening from Boko Haram militants, spokesman General Olajide Olaleye told AFP in a text message. "Mopping up ops ongoing. (The) town is now secured," he said. Leading elder Pogu Bitrus told AFP the town was re-taken in a joint operation with local vigilantes known as the Civilian Joint Task Force, who back up the military in several parts of the northeast where Boko Haram is active. He said the vigilantes fought inside the town while army soldiers "stayed outside the town to mop up the insurgents trying to escape." Boko Haram had captured the town on Thursday after a battle lasting several hours. Several inhabitants said the army had fled the assault, leaving the vigilantes to fight on their own. Control of Chibok is crucial to the reputation of the army and the government, which have come under harsh criticism for their failure to rescue the schoolgirls. The Islamists stormed the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok on the evening of April 14 and forced 276 students onto trucks in a mass abduction that caused global outrage. — AFP |
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Afghan female lawmaker survives suicide attack
Kabul, November 16
The blast, in which the attacker detonated an explosives-packed car, left the MPs' vehicles badly damaged on a main road in the west of Kabul, close to the parliament. "(Shukria) Barekzai is fine and suffers small injuries," interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said of the politician via Twitter. "Unfortunately three civilians (were) martyred and around 17 injured in today's attack." Barekzai is renowned as a campaigner for improved women's rights in Afghanistan, a stance that attracts fierce opposition from many Islamist groups and Muslim conservatives. Shinkay Karokhil, another female MP, told AFP, "The target was a convoy of MPs who were driving toward Parliament. Shukria Barekzai was affected by the attack but she is fine." — AFP
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MH17 wreckage removal starts in rebel-held eastern Ukraine
Grabove, November 16 Dutch experts supervised a crew from the emergency ministry of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic as they began cutting pieces of the plane's wreckage with metal saws at the crash site near the village of Grabove, an AFP reporter at the scene said. Investigators from the Netherlands heading the probe into the disaster, in which 193 Dutch citizens died on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur in July, said it could take "several days". "Today the recovery of wreckage from flight MH17 has started. The Dutch Safety Board commissioned the recovery and transportation to the Netherlands of the wreckage as part of the investigation into the cause of the crash of flight MH17," the Dutch experts said in a statement. The investigation team said the wreckage would be collected before being transported to the Ukrainian government-controlled city of Kharkiv and then flown to the Netherlands. The Dutch experts eventually intend to reconstruct a section of the doomed airliner. A rebel official said they hoped to finish the operations in the next ten days and that work would start on the largest chunks of fuselage first. Some 15 members from the rebel recovery crew used a crane to winch wreckage onto two trucks waiting nearby to shift the evidence from the scene. — AFP
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Bird flu shows head at Dutch chicken farm
The Hague, November 16 The Ministry for Economic Affairs today said the outbreak is deadly to poultry and can also be transmitted to humans. Spokesman Jan van Diepen said the exact strain of bird flu has not yet been established. All 150,000 chickens at the farm in Hekendorp, 65 kilometers south of Amsterdam, were being slaughtered. It was not clear how the farm became infected. As well as halting the movement of poultry, other birds and eggs nationwide for 72 hours, the government is imposing other restrictions. — AP |
Napoleon’s two-pointed hat goes under hammer
Russia, Germany in expulsion row China’s showpiece fighter jet crashes on test flight
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The Islamic State jihadist group today claimed to have executed Peter Kassig, a US aid worker kidnapped in Syria, as a warning to the United States.
Kabul, November 16
Workers today began removing the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, four months after it was shot down killing 298 passengers and crew.
Peter Kassig (pic) was captured last year while helping provide medical aid to Syrians. His friends say he converted to Islam in captivity and changed his name to
Abdul-Rahman.
