Syrian conflict
- Daily Mail
Women and children who joined ISIS in Syria are being 'terrorised by female extremists'
Women and children, including those of dead Australian terrorist Khaled Sharrouf, who say they regret joining ISIS in Syria are being attacked by female extremists while living in overcrowded camps. Sharrouf's 17-year-old pregnant daughter Zaynab Sharrouf, her siblings Hoda, 16, and Humzeh, eight, and Zaynab's two children are living in a camp at al-Hawl near the Iraq border, having moved there when ISIS lost control of the Syrian village Baghouz in March. Five Australians among 73,000 people living at the camp have said they regret travelling to the Middle East to support ISIS. They have been targeted by female extremists within the camp and have had their tents slashed for speaking out, the
- Associated Press
Wisconsin woman pleads guilty to terrorism charges
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A Wisconsin mother of seven pleaded has guilty to trying to plan terrorist attacks on behalf of the Islamic State group by distributing information on making explosives and biological weapons.
- Associated Press
Syria says it will allow Qatar Airways to use its airspace
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's transport minister says Qatar Airways' request to fly through Syrian airspace has been approved. Airlines have avoided Syria since the civil war broke out in 2011, causing long detours.
Fox NewsReport: Over 4,300 vacate Syria displaced camp
DAMASCUS, Syria – Syrian state media is reporting that more than 4,300 residents of a remote displaced people's camp near the border with Jordan have returned to government-controlled areas over the last month. SANA on Monday quoted a Syrian-Russian coordination committee that oversees efforts to vacate the Rukban camp. The camp has been a source of tension between Russia and the U.S., as it lies near a U.S military base near the border and inside a so-called "de-confliction zone" agreed to by Moscow and Washington. Moscow and Damascus say the U.S. is obstructing emptying the camp. Washington denies the claims. The U.N. says those leaving the camp must have safety guarantees they will not be
- Talk 1370am
Kosovar returnees from Syria eager to leave shelter, go home
VRANIDOLL, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo families waited Monday outside a shelter, trying to talk with relatives who have been repatriated from Syria and are eager to get home. On Saturday, 110 Kosovar citizens — four alleged foreign fighters, 32 women and 74 children — were brought back home with the assistance of the United States. The return of such a big group is a first for Europe. Experts say getting the families reintegrated into the society will be a hard challenge for Kosovo authorities and the families themselves. Hidajete Delia waited for hours Monday morning to meet up with her sister Dafina, 23, and her sister's two little children at the camp in Vranidoll, 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Pristina,
- Reuters
Saudi security forces arrest 13 accused of planning attacks: SPA
DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Monday it had arrested 13 individuals in connection with planning attacks in the kingdom, a day after security forces said they had thwarted an attack north of the capital, state news agency SPA reported. Islamic State claimed responsibility for Sunday's attempted attack on a state security building in Zulfi, a small city about 250 km (155 miles) northwest of the capital. Security forces have said they killed four alleged Islamic State militants who had planned Sunday's attack. They later raided a nearby rest-house they said the militants had rented for use as a bomb factory, and seized suicide vests, homemade bombs, Kalashnikov rifles and Islamic State
- Reuters
Sri Lanka attacks likely the work of Islamist militants - experts
JAKARTA/SINGAPORE, April 22 (Reuters) - Coordinated Easter Sunday bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka bore the hallmarks of militant groups Islamic State or al Qaeda, security experts said on Monday, citing the level of sophistication of the attacks. No group has claimed responsibility for the explosions, many of them suicide bombings, which killed 290 people and wounded 500 others - the deadliest attack in the island nation since the end of a civil war in 2009. Experts said the targeting of churches and hotels where foreign tourists stay in Sri Lanka, which endured several suicide bombings targeting government officials and installations during the civil war, was a "new and worrying development" in the predominantly Buddhist country.
- The Economic Times
ISIS role suspected in Sri Lankan terror attacks; revenge for New Zealand church attacks probable motive
India will offer all possible assistance to neighbouring Sri Lanka in probing ghastly terror attacks that rocked the island on Sunday and handling aftermath of the strikes that killed over 200, even as allegations including role of Islamic State and revenge for New Zealand mosques flew thick and fast over the motive behind return of terror to Colombo after a decade. The serial terror attacks, one of the worst in South Asia, sent alarm bells ringing in Delhi which in the past grappled with civil war in Lanka until it came to close in 2009. Sources here claimed that this is a typical Islamic State attack – way the blasts have been synchronised and orchestrated. The Modi government is working closely
- Stars and Stripes
Islamic State claims Kabul attack that killed 7
KABUL, Afghanistan — Islamic State's Afghanistan affiliate has claimed a suicide attack in the capital that killed seven people. The group said in a statement Sunday that four “martyrdom seekers” targeted the Telecommunications Ministry the day before. Afghan officials said a suicide bomber struck outside the ministry, clearing the way for four other gunmen to enter the heavily guarded compound in central Kabul. All the attackers were killed in an gunbattle that lasted hours. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the number of attackers. ISIS has carried out several attacks in Afghanistan in recent years, mainly targeting the country's Shiite minority. They also have clashed
- https://www.oneindia.com
Islamic State module: NIA questions 4 including highly radicalised lady
New Delhi, Apr 21: The National Investigation Agency is questioning four suspects in connection with an Islamic State case. Searches were carried out in Hyderabad and Wardha, Maharashtra by the NIA. The module was busted after three accused persons were deported from Abu Dhabi in 2016. NIA officials tell OneIndia that it picked up four suspects including the wife of a chargesheeted person, Abdullah Basith. The lady was highly radicalised, the NIA official also said. The officer added that the agency carried out searches at 3 places in Hyderabad and 1 at Wardha. During the searches conducted, a number of digital devices including 13 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards,1 iPad, 2 Laptops, 1 External Hard
- https://www.oneindia.com
Islamic State module planning to bomb Delhi, UP busted
New Delhi, Apr 21: The National Investigation Agency has arrested one persons from here in connection with an Islamic State module case. The arrested person has been identified as Mohammad Gufran. He is 13th accused to have been arrested in the case. During investigation, the role of said accused person had surfaced as one of the key conspirators in planning to carry out terrorist attacks in Delhi NCR and UP. Gufran was inspired by ideology of ISIS which is a proscribed organisation under UAPA and formed a pro-ISIS module namely Harkat Ul Harb-e-Islam with the help of accused persons arrested earlier to wage war against Government of India. Investigation revealed that he was instrumental in procurement
- AFP
A month after IS 'caliphate' defeated, challenges aplenty
Sleeper cells, prisons teeming with jihadists, camps crammed with their wives and children -- perils abound in Syria, nearly a month after the Islamic State group's "caliphate" was declared defeated. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces announced victory over the IS proto-state on March 23, after a nearly five-year battle against the militant group. The elimination of the physical "caliphate" closed a long chapter in the Syrian conflict, but the SDF and the US-led military coalition have warned the fight is far from over.
- Reuters
Syria's Assad discusses peace talks, trade with Russian envoys
BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met senior officials from his strongest ally Russia in Damascus on Friday and Saturday to discuss upcoming peace talks and trade between the two countries, state media in Syria reported. Russia has helped Assad's forces to take back most of the country but the eight-year-long war continues. Swathes of the northeast and northwest are out of his control, while sanctions and a fuel shortage are constricting the economy. Moscow has pushed for a political process involving talks on a new constitution and elections as a way to end the conflict, but Assad has played down the possibility that the Turkey-backed opposition or foreign countries might participate.
- Stars and Stripes
ISIS loyalists regroup in a Syrian refugee camp
AL-HOL, Syria — A militant band of women loyal to the Islamic State is terrorizing others who fled the battlefront for this sprawling camp in northeastern Syria, demanding they adhere to the strict codes once enforced by the group and creating a vexing problem for the Kurdish-led forces controlling the site. Intelligence officials say Islamic State loyalists also have formed cells inside the camp to mete out punishment in a more systematic way. The leaders of this movement are women from countries such as Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, which have produced some of the Islamic State's most militant followers in recent years, according to officials from the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, the Kurdish-led troops. While there are scores of instigators, the ranks of those who remain staunchly behind the Islamic State could still number in the thousands, and they are committed to upholding its ideology even as the self-declared caliphate has been brought to an end.
- Reuters
Iraq court sentences four to death for joining IS
An Iraqi court has sentenced four people to death by hanging for belonging to the Islamic State militant group and committing terrorist crimes in Iraq and Syria, a judiciary statement said on Sunday. The four men, wanted by Iraqi authorities, were handed to Iraq by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the statement said. A Baghdad criminal court convicted them for joining IS and "carrying out criminal operations that targeted innocent civilians with the aim of undermining peace and stability in Iraq and Syria".