35 dead in blast at busiest Moscow airport

MOSCOW — A suicide bomber carrying a suitcase walked into Moscow's busiest airport and set off a huge explosion Monday, killing 35 people and wounding 180.

The international arrivals terminal at Domodedovo Airport was engulfed by smoke and splattered with body parts after the mid-afternoon terror attack sprayed shrapnel, screws and ball bearings at passengers and workers. Hundreds of people were in the loosely guarded area at the time.

President Dmitry Medvedev immediately ordered authorities to beef up security at Moscow's two other commercial airports and other key transport facilities. He also canceled plans to fly out Tuesday to Davos, Switzerland, where he was going to promote Russia as a safe, profitable investment haven to world business leaders.

"Attempts were being made to identify" the suspected male suicide bomber, Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said, adding that the attacker appeared to have been wearing the explosives in a belt. The bomb was packed with metal objects to cause maximum damage, according to law enforcement authorities.

Two unconfirmed media reports out of Russia suggested that security services were tipped off to a terrorist attack on a Moscow airport in advance of Monday's bombing and had suspects in their sights.

The U.K.'s Telegraph quoted a source from Russian-language site Lifenews.ru as saying authorities knew of a planned attack a week ago.

"A tip-off with a warning that something was being prepared appeared one week before the explosion," the Lifenews.ru source said according to the Telegraph. "Even the place, by the customs, was named."

A law enforcement source told RIA Novosti news service that the security services were seeking three suspects who were able to gain access to the airport, witness the explosion, then leave.

The latest attack on the Russian capital also called into question Russia's ability to safely host major international sports events like the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and the 2018 World Cup. It was the second time in seven years that terrorists had hit the Domodedovo Airport: In 2004, suicide bombers penetrated the lax security there, killing 90 people as they blew up two planes.

Large-scale battles in Chechnya ended years ago, following two devastating wars between Russia and the republic's separatists, but Islamic militants have continued to carry out suicide bombings and other attacks. Most of the attacks have been in Chechnya and other predominantly Muslim provinces in the southern Caucasus region, but some have targeted Moscow, including its subways, buses and trains.

In Washington, President Barack Obama condemned the "outrageous act of terrorism" and offered any assistance Russia might want. Those comments were echoed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who spoke with Medvedev and assured him of his complete support.

The Emergencies Ministry said 35 people were killed, 86 hospitalized with injuries and 94 were given medical treatment. Two Britons were among the dead, Markin said.

The Russkaya aya Sluzhba Novostei radio station cited a traveler, identified as Viktor, as saying he heard a loud bang while he was waiting for a car outside the terminal.

"There was an explosion, a bang. Then I saw a policeman covered in fragments of flesh and all bloody. He was shouting 'I've survived! I've survived!'" he told the radio station.

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41231668/ns/world_news-europe/

Iraqi Police Recruits Are Killed by Bomber

BAGHDAD—A suicide bomber killed at least 49 people and wounded dozens at an Iraqi police building in the city of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, bringing an end to the period of relative calm that has prevailed since a new national unity government was formed last month.

The bomber struck in the early morning when hundreds of applicants had gathered outside police headquarters on the second day of a recruitment drive, according to officials in the local government in Salaheddin province, whose seat is Tikrit.

The applicants had congregated in an open space cordoned off with concertina wire and were being led into the police station building, which is barricaded with tall blast walls, in groups of 40 after a body search, according to police Col. Wahab Hamid. He said the bomber probably managed to infiltrate the crowd by posing as a recruit.

"I predict the al Qaeda network and outside parties are behind this attack to prevent the sons of the province from joining the police force," said Raad Mohammed, a spokesman for the local government., without being more specific.

Suicide bombings against crowds gathered for coveted jobs in the Iraqi forces were frequent after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The attacks, which are often seen as trademarks of al Qaeda-linked groups, have persisted even as overall levels of violence have fallen sharply in recent years.

In August a suicide bomber blew himself up amid a group of Iraqi army recruits in Baghdad, killing almost 60.

Col. Hamid said he was driving out of the Tikrit police building, but was still behind the blast walls when the bomber struck outside. "Bodies were tossed all over the place," said Col. Hamid, who spoke by phone from Tikrit after he was treated at the local hospital for his wounds.

The Tikrit Teaching Hospital was overwhelmed with casualties that reached at least 49 dead and 150 wounded, according to Mohammed Ayash, a medic in the ER unit.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703954004576089311511873304.html

Official says 3 men arrested with bombs in Nigeria

Three men were arrested with bombs in their possession one day after blasts ripped through the Nigerian city of Jos on Christmas Eve, a government official said Monday.

"They were heading to bomb a church when they were arrested," said Gyang Choji, a special advisor to the governor of Nigeria's Plateau state. He said one of the suspects is a citizen of the Republic of Chad, while the other two are Nigerian.

Choji did not say the men, who were arrested in the area of Dogon Dutse, were suspects in the Christmas Eve attacks, which killed at least 31 people and wounded 74. He had previously said it was unclear who set off the blasts or whether they were related.

"The security persons are carrying out the investigations," Choji said.

Jos lies on a faith-based fault line between Muslim-dominated northern Nigeria and the mainly Christian south.

Following the blasts, angry residents and young men took to the streets where they clashed with the military.

"On the 25th, as a result of the bombing on Christmas Eve, the angry youth in Angwan Rukuba were shouting and came out on the streets and demanded that the soldiers be removed from the streets," said Choji.

Two young men were killed by gunshots fired by soldiers and 25 people were wounded, he said.

Residents of Angwan Rukuba held a press conference Sunday, condemning the soldiers responsible for the shooting. Community members are also petitioning the government to request that those responsible be brought to justice, Choji said.

In recent weeks, the governor's office had received letters purported to be from some Muslim organizations threatening attacks against Christians, Choji had said previously.

"The security officials didn't take the threat letters seriously. They were thought of as gimmicks, and at the end of the day, they became reality," he said.

The government had increased security and checkpoints throughout the past week, including additional patrols in various areas of Jos, Choji had said.

In Nigeria -- Africa's most populous nation -- more than 13,500 people have died in religious or ethnic clashes since the end of military rule in 1999, the Human Rights Watch said in a report earlier this year.

There have been other deadly sectarian clashes in Nigeria over the years, including one outbreak in Jos in September 2001 that left about 1,000 dead, the Human Rights Watch said.

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http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/27/nigeria.violence/

Nine terrorism suspects appear in London court

The men, most of them of Bangladeshi origin, are charged with preparing bombing attacks against several targets in London and testing incendiary devices.



Mohammed Moksudur Rahman Chowdhury, 20, one of nine men charged with planning a terrorism attack, leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London.

Reporting from London —

Nine men accused of terrorism and conspiracy to blow up high-profile targets that reportedly included the U.S. Embassy and the London Stock Exchange in a Christmas bombing campaign made their first appearance in a central London court Monday.

Most of the nine, ages 17 to 28, are of Bangladeshi origin. They were among 12 men arrested a week ago in three cities across Britain. Three were released without charge.

They were charged late Sunday after a weeklong interrogation by counter-terrorism police at a London police station. They appeared at the city's Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday in three groups.

Anti-terrorism prosecutor Sue Hemming said the nine men were charged with preparing to commit terrorist acts or assisting in them.

The men were also accused of igniting and testing incendiary materials and downloading material for the preparation of acts of terrorism, Reuters news agency reported, and five of them were charged with possession of documents and records of potential use to terrorists. They will reappear in London's central criminal court, the Old Bailey, on Jan. 14.

The Guardian newspaper identified the nine as Nazam Hussain, 25, Usman Khan, 19, Mohibur Rahman, 26, and Abul Bosher Mohammed Shahjahan, 26, from Stoke-on-Trent in the Midlands area of England; Gurukanth Desai, 28, Omar Sharif Latif, 26, and Abdul Malik Miah, 24, who were detained in Cardiff, South Wales; and Mohammed Moksudur Rahman Chowdhury, 20, and Shah Mohammed Lutfar Rahman, 28, from London.

Though few details were revealed about the targets, the BBC reported that the men were accused of carrying out reconnaissance of high-profile targets, including the American Embassy and the London Stock Exchange.

Their arrest and charges come amid concerns about terrorism activity in Europe. On Dec. 11 a suicide bomber killed himself in an attack in Stockholm.

He was an Iraqi-born Swedish citizen known to have studied in Luton, England, home to three of the suicide bombers who detonated bombs in attacks on London's transport system on July 7, 2005.

Dutch authorities arrested 12 Somalis in Rotterdam over the weekend. Five of them have been released without charge.

Last week Italian anarchists said they were responsible for letter bombs that injured two people in embassies in Rome. Another device was found and defused at the Greek Embassy in Rome on Monday.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-britain-terror-20101228,0,2645731.story

2 Kassams hit South after IDF kills 2 Gazans planting bombs

Two Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip struck southern Israel on Sunday, hours after the IDF fired on several Palestinians suspected of planting explosives along the security fence, killing two Islamic Jihad terrorists.

A combined force of IAF helicopters and armored troops reported direct hits on the suspects. Islamic Jihad’s military wing said in a statement that two of its fighters had been killed in the incident east of Khan Yunis. Israeli military sources confirmed the two deaths.

An IDF statement noted that a number of bombs had been detonated near IDF patrols along the border in the past month.

“The presence of Palestinian civilians in the area adjacent to the security fence is used by terrorist organizations as a cover for their activities, including the planting of explosive devices, planning terrorist attacks and attempting to kidnap IDF soldiers,” the statement said. “For this reason, the IDF will not allow anyone to be present in this area.”

Speaking on the second anniversary of the start of Operation Cast Lead, Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom expressed the hope that there would not be an escalation of violence with Gaza.

“I hope there is not need for another operation such as Cast Lead,” Shalom told Israel Radio.

“But if this situation continues, if rockets keep being smuggled in and they continue shooting at Israel in an attempt to hit innocent civilians, then obviously we will have to respond, and respond forcefully.”

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http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=200984

UN condemns 'deplorable' Nigeria violence

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the "deplorable acts of violence" that left 38 people dead in Nigeria over Christmas.

Mr Ban conveyed condolences to the families of the victims and backed the government's vow to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The victims died in bomb blasts and an attack on churches in central Nigeria.

The area is a flashpoint between the mainly Muslim north and largely Christian south.

'Drastic measures'

Mr Ban said he was appalled by the acts of violence, especially as they happened at "a time when millions of Nigerians are celebrating religious holidays".

He said he "supported efforts by the Nigerian authorities to bring those responsible to justice".

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said: "I assure Nigerians that government will go to the root of this. We must unearth what caused it and those behind it must be brought to book."

Nigerian State Information Commissioner Gregory Yenlong said that "enemies of the state were at work" in the violence.

He appealed for people to remain calm, adding: "We expect drastic measures to be put in place - you can see how charged the atmosphere is."

African Union Commission chairman, Jean Ping, also expressed shock and sadness at the violence.

The main attacks were near the city of Jos and in the town of Maiduguri.

The unrest was triggered by explosions on Christmas Eve in villages near Jos.

The bomb attacks killed 32 people and left about 70 injured.

Reports said two bombs exploded near a large market. A third hit a mainly Christian area while the fourth was near a road leading to a mosque. No group has said it carried out the attacks.

About 30 attackers raided a church in Maiduguri, killing the pastor and others, and setting the building on fire.

Another church in the town was also attacked and a security guard killed, reports said.

Further violence between armed groups broke out in Jos on Sunday.

Witnesses said buildings were set alight and people were seen running for cover as police and soldiers arrived.

Jos has been blighted by religious violence over the past decade with deadly riots in 2001 and 2008.

The tensions stem from decades of resentment between indigenous groups and settlers from the north.

Correspondents say that although clashes are often blamed on sectarianism, poverty and access to land and other resources are often the root causes.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12081785

Gaza Rocket Hits Near Kindergarten, Israeli Strikes Wound Six

Israel’s air force struck at least eight different targets in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, wounding six people, and Palestinians fired a rocket into Israel that hit near a kindergarten, injuring two.

The situation is “fragile and explosive,” Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, told a parliamentary committee yesterday, according to the army website. Israel has stepped up operations in Gaza in response to “terrorists’ decision to intensify their activity,” Ashkenazi said.

About 15 mortar shells and rockets have hit Israel since Monday, the army said. The upturn in violence came as Israeli- Palestinian peace negotiations remained stalled and reconciliation talks between the Islamic Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority that runs the West Bank are frozen.

Hamas “is saying we are still here,” said Gerald Steinberg, a political scientist at Bar Ilan University outside Tel Aviv, adding that he expected “low-level escalation over the next few weeks” and nothing more than that.

Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union, refuses to recognize or negotiate with Israel. The Islamic movement seized control of Gaza in 2007 after winning parliamentary elections a year earlier, ending a partnership government with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party.

Mortar Attacks

Since the beginning of 2010, more than 200 rockets and mortar shells have been fired into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip.

The attack in southern Israel came after warplanes struck seven targets in Gaza early yesterday, the army said in a text message to journalists. Israel launched another strike in the afternoon, hitting what it said was a “Hamas terror activity center.”

In Gaza, Adham Abu Silmeya, spokesman for the Hamas-run Health Ministry’s emergency service, said two Palestinian militants and four civilians were wounded in Israeli air strikes.

Ronit Gil, a preschool teacher in Kibbutz Zikim, the collective community where the rocket fell, said she was getting out of her car and walking to the kindergarten when the air siren went off.

“I heard the boom,” Gil said on Army Radio. “Things are very tense here.”

A teenager and an adult were injured in the attack, the army said.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-21/gaza-rocket-strikes-near-israeli-kindergarten-as-violence-grows.html

Iran accuses US, Britain, Israel of deadly suicide bomb attack

Iran on Wednesday accused the United States, Britain and Israel of involving in the deadly suicide bomb attack in the country which left 39 killed and more than 50 others wounded.

The attack occurred in front of the Imam Hussein mosque in southeastern port city of Chabahar on Wednesday when people gathered for a mourning ceremony on the religious occasion of Tasua, local satellite Press TV said.

Tasua is commemorated by Shiite Muslims, marking the eve of the day when Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was killed.

According to media, the Pakistan-based Sunni rebel group Jundallah (God' s soldiers) has claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

Chief of Iran's Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi accused the United States and Britain of involving in the attack, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

"The experience from the past incidents indicate that the U.S. and U.K. intelligent services are behind the crimes like the Wednesday morning bombing in Chabahar," Boroujerdi was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Interior Minister Ali Abdollahi told official IRNA news agency that the equipment and facilities nabbed on Wednesday revealed that the bombing agents were supported by the intelligent services of the region and the United States.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Wednesday that such terrorist acts "are funded by the U.S. and Israeli intelligent services," according to local Mehr News agency.

"In the past, the United States recruited some in Afghanistan to create discord among Shiite and Sunni Muslims (by carrying out terrorist acts)," Larijani was quoted as saying.

Chabahar is the Iranian port city on the coast of Oman Sea situated in the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province with the majority of ethnic Baluchis and Sunni Muslims.

"Israel and the U.S. intelligent services are behind these terrorist acts and they should know that such behaviors will receive response from the Iranian nation," Larijani said.

According to the official IRNA news agency, Director General of Sistan-Baluchestan provincial Forensic Medicine Office Fariborz Ayati said some women and children were among the victims.

An unidentified police commander of Sistan-Baluchestan province was quoted as saying by ISNA that four policemen were among the victims as well.

According to an earlier report by ISNA, the explosion occurred at 10:30 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) in front of the governor's office building of Chabahar in Sistan-Baluchestan province close to an emergency car of the Red Crescent Society.

Over the past three days, there had been threats of bomb attacks against mourners in Sistan-Baluchestan, and the emergency staff has been on alert, Iranian Red Crescent Society chief Mahmoud Mozaffar was quoted as saying by ISNA, adding that among the injured, six were emergency workers.

Meanwhile, the state IRIN TV said three suicide bombers were involved in the attack. Only one of them succeeded, the second was shot dead, and the last was arrested.

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-12/16/c_13650701.htm

Capital 'minutes from catastrophe'

The Stockholm suicide bomber missed causing a massive catastrophe by a matter of minutes, the Swedish foreign minister has said.

Carl Bildt described how Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, 28, was heading towards crowds of people when the bomb went off.

Swedish authorities are working closely with the UK to investigate the botched plan, which left al-Abdaly dead and two people injured, and the bomber's links to Britain under scrutiny.

The Iraq-born graduate of Bedfordshire University left his wife and three children at their family home in Luton to travel to Sweden several weeks ago.

Swedish investigators said he visited family in Tranas where his father was celebrating his birthday. But on Saturday he loaded his white Audi with gas canisters and travelled to Stockholm in a bid to wreak carnage on streets packed with Christmas shoppers.

Evidence from the scene indicated the car failed to explode and al-Abdaly was killed about 300 metres away when explosives strapped to his chest detonated. Police suspect the device may have exploded prematurely as the terrorist walked to a nearby subway station or department store laden with three bombs.

Mr Bildt told BBC2's Newsnight the Swedish authorities were making an "intensive" effort to work out if al-Abdaly was acting alone or with accomplices. He also said Swedish media were reporting that al-Abdaly "was profoundly transformed by something that happened while he was in the UK". But asked if he believed the bomber was radicalised in Britain, he replied: "We don't know and it might be that we never find out."

Mr Bildt said: "It looks like he was heading into probably the most crowded place in Stockholm at the most crowded time of the year. He was heading into a place where, if he had exploded all the ordnance he had with him - and that was quite substantial - it would have been mass casualties of a sort we haven't seen in Europe for quite some time. (We were) just minutes and a couple of hundreds of metres away from something catastrophic."

Al-Abdaly was driven out of Luton Islamic Centre for preaching about suicide bombings and attempting to recruit extremists, according to religious leaders.

Email threats sent to security police and Swedish news agency TT before the blasts have been linked to al-Abdaly's mobile phone. In a chilling audio message, believed to be recorded by al-Abdaly, a man warned "our actions will speak for themselves". Speaking with an English accent, the extremist can be heard warning that an "Islamic state" has been created and many will die.

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Police unit frees children and teacher taken hostage at French school

FRENCH POLICE freed five children and their teacher after they were taken hostage for four hours yesterday by a teenager armed with two swords in the eastern French city of Besançon.

The 17-year-old was detained just before 1pm after an elite police unit entered the Charles Fourier pre-school and accompanied the children and their teacher to safety. The teenager had entered the building before 9am and took 20 people hostage, but released most of them within an hour after discussions with police negotiators.

Education minister Luc Chatel, who travelled to the scene yesterday morning, said the rescue took place when the children were being fed, which allowed the police to separate them from the hostage-taker. The young man was overpowered with a Taser electro-shock weapon, said Laurent Gresset, secretary general of the police union Alliance.

The hostage-taker’s motives were not known, although Jean-Marc Magda, administrative head of the mayor’s office, said he was known to suffer from depression and psychological problems.

Mr Gresset said he was “more depressive, even suicidal, than dangerous” and at one point during the stand-off requested a gun in order to take his own life. “He used no violence and never threatened the children,” Mr Gresset added.

“He is a clearly depressive individual who never had any other demand but to put an end to his own life,” Mr Chatel said.

Nathalie Roffet, the 37-year-old teacher who was with the children when they were released, said the atmosphere was calm and they never felt in danger.

“He came in and said, ‘this is a hostage-taking. I want the windows closed and the curtains drawn’,” Ms Roffet told iTélé. “He stayed in a corner, telephone in hand, and I think he called the police. He was talking to them all morning.

“He never spoke to the children. He simply replied to my questions. When I asked him could some of the children go and get a drink, he said, ‘yes, no problem’.” Shortly after the teenager entered the school, police surrounded the building and a unit of the commando-style GIPN division, which specialises in hostage-takings, arrived from Strasbourg. Police said telephone contact was quickly established with the teenager, resulting in the release of 14 people in three stages over the morning.

The children, aged between four and six, were wrapped in blankets and carried away by relatives. Affected families were being given psychological counselling to ensure that “this incident is no more than a bad memory”, said Mr Chatel.

President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was delighted by the outcome, praised the police and extended his “solidarity” to the teachers.

Mr Sarkozy was mayor of the Paris suburb of Neuilly in 1993, when it was the scene of the last major hostage-taking at a French school.

An armed man calling himself “Human Bomb” took a class of 21 children hostage and demanded a ransom of the equivalent of €15 million. Police shot him dead and the children were freed unharmed.

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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/1214/1224285486602.html

Arrests in Afghan attack that killed 6 US troops

Several suspects have been arrested after a suicide attack killed six American troops when an explosives-packed minibus blew up at the entrance of a joint NATO-Afghan base in southern Afghanistan, officials said Monday.

The blast on Sunday was the deadliest attack on coalition troops this month.

NATO spokesman Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said Monday that several arrests were made Sunday night.

"Individuals believed to be involved in yesterday's attack have been arrested by Afghan and coalition forces," Blotz said at a news conference, adding that no shots were fired as the suspects were taken into custody.

NATO has declined to identify the victims' nationalities. But an Afghan army official in southern Afghanistan said on Monday that the six were Americans. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about NATO casualties.

He said the confirmation came in an official report about the attack.

NATO has claimed improvements in security after months of raids, patrols and strikes on insurgents in Kandahar province, but Sunday's attack shows the area is still far from safe.

The assault came days ahead of a major White House review of its Afghan strategy following President Barack Obama's decision last year to send 30,000 American reinforcements in a bid to reverse gains by the Taliban since they were ousted from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Afghan officials said Sunday's suicide attack took place in Kandahar's Zhari district, where Mullah Mohammad Omar organized the Taliban in the early 1990s. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the blast, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for attacks on its fighters in the area in recent months.

U.S. and Afghan forces launched a major operation in September to secure Zhari, a lush farming region of irrigation canals and grape vineyards that the Taliban have used as a staging area for attacks in nearby Kandahar city and other parts of the south.

Zhari has remained insurgent territory despite five major NATO operations in recent years. In 2006, a Canadian-led force launched a concerted push in Zhari and nearby Panjwai district, driving out the Taliban but at a cost of 28 coalition lives. Months later, the Taliban were back.

More than 680 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in 2009. The last attack to kill that many NATO troops happened Nov. 29, when an Afghan policeman turned his gun on his American trainers in the east, killing six of them before he himself was shot dead. The Taliban claimed that they had sent him to join the police as a sleeper agent.

Two weeks before that attack, insurgents killed five U.S. soldiers in an attack in eastern Afghanistan.

The level of ongoing fighting and the mounting death toll will be key to the Obama administration's December review. The president has committed to begin withdrawing U.S. forces in June 2011, but the feasibility of that goal will depend greatly on whether commanders believe last year's surge has reined in violence to the point that Afghan forces can start taking the lead.

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Stockholm bomber warns 'actions will speak for themselves' in chilling warning

A man is heard describing the Islamic state as a "reality" in Europe and in Sweden.

The voice is thought to be of Taimur Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, a British university graduate who until recently was living in Luton.

He spoke hurridly but calmly and quietly and cleared his voice several times during the message that lasted less than a minute.

The recording states: "Now the Islamic state has been created. We now exist here in Europe and in Sweden. We are a reality. I don't want to say more about this. Our actions will speak for themselves."

He added: "We are not a lie, or imagination. We are real."

He also referred to the depiction of the prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog in a 2007 cartoon by a Swedish artist which enraged many Muslims.

He said: "Stop your drawings of our prophet...No more oppression against Islam or Muslims will be tolerated in any way or by any means."

Abdulwahab tried to set fire to a car bomb packed with gas canisters in a busy shopping street in the Swedish capital on Saturday. The car caught fire and the bomber fled the scene before blowing himself up 15 minutes later, injuring two bystanders.

He was due to turn 29 on Sunday and had a wife and three young children who still live in Luton. Neighbours said they had seen him in the town as little as two and a half weeks ago.

The former physical therapy student attended Bedfordshire University in Luton. He was born in Iraq and moved with his family to Sweden at the age of 11.

Until now the Scandanavian country has never experienced a suicide bombing and has not had a terrorist attack since the 1970s.

Prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said the attack was "unacceptable".

He said: "Sweden is an open society... which has stated a wish that people should be able to have different backgrounds, believe in different gods... and live side by side in our open society."

MI5 is now investigating possible links with extremists in Luton, whether the bomber was radicalised at the university and claims that he was helped by an extremist group in Yemen, the base for al-Queda in the Arabian peninsula.

Abdulwahab's Facebook page includes a group called Yawm al-Qiyaamah, meaning Day of Judgement, which featured a montage of Tower Bridge in flames.

It was also disclosed that he joined a Muslim dating site looking for a second wife. He described himself as a Sunni Muslim looking for a "strong believer" striving for "jannah" - paradise.


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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8198339/Stockholm-bomber-warns-actions-will-speak-for-themselves-in-chilling-warning.html

Mass evacuations as huge blaze threatens Haifa

Mass evacuations were continuing across northern Israel in the early hours of Friday morning as dry easterly winds fanned a massive brushfire towards the city of Haifa.

Over 13,000 residents, including 600 prison inmates, were evacuated as the blaze raged out of control, devastating hundreds of acres of pine forest as flames swept down the slopes of the Carmel plateau towards Israel's third largest city.

By mid-evening Thursday, fire chiefs had admitted publicly that they had lost control of the fire, believed to have started in an illegal landfill site.

As the flames neared the city limits, residents of Denya, an affluent district of Haifa – a busy port city and the north's economic heartland – were moved to safety.

At around 4:00 A.M., local time, firefighters said the blaze had reached Highway 4, a major traffic artery linking the north with Tel Aviv, but that they had succeeded in stopping the blaze from spreading further.

Earlier, 40 were killed when a bus carrying prison service trainees to assist in the evacuation was engulfed by fire after a falling tree blocked its path.

Two firefighters and a policeman were also among the dead. Elsewhere, at least two more fire crew were reported missing, while the Haifa district police chief was among the injured.

Across the region, traffic crawled to a standstill, with balck smoke and flames visible for miles around.

The blaze broke out shortly before lunchtime and spread rapidly across the tinder-dry Carmel countryside, parched by the hottest November in Israel in 60 years.

One of the first residential areas to be evacuated was Kibbutz Beit Oren, where all 400 residents reached safety before the entire collective farm was razed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said evacuations would continue and that authorities would take no risks where civilian lives were in danger.

"Evacuations will be conducted as needed, with sufficient advance warning. We do not want any more injuries," he said.

As the fire raged on, the town Isfiyeh, a center of Israel's Druze community, much of which is concentrated in the Carmel mountains, was next to be evacuated.

Police also evacuated prisoners from Prison 6 and Carmel Prison, as well as students in Haifa University dormitories, who were transferred to a nearby high school.

Some 200 patients from the Tirat Hacarmel psychiatric hospital were also evacuated.

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http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/mass-evacuations-as-huge-blaze-threatens-haifa-1.328517

India marks 2 years since Mumbai terror attack

India marked the second anniversary of the Mumbai terror attack Friday with somber ceremonies and a renewed promise to seek justice for the 166 people slain in an assault that has set back peace efforts with archrival Pakistan.

The 60-hour siege by 10 Pakistani militants, which has been called India's 9/11, paralyzed the financial capital and deeply wounded the national psyche.

The gunmen attacked ordinary commuters in a train station, targeted the rich and famous at luxury hotels, killed tourists at a popular cafe, overwhelmed the local police force and took over a Jewish center.

In a message of defiance, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the strength of the Indian people will conquer those threatening their way of life.

"We will never succumb to the designs of our enemies," he said. "We pledge to redouble our efforts to bring the perpetrators of this crime against humanity to justice."

The attack froze peace efforts between India and Pakistan to resolve their six-decade-old conflict. Though the nuclear-armed neighbors have haltingly renewed ties, India has refused to resume full-fledged peace talks until Pakistan prosecutes those responsible for the attack and cracks down on anti-India militant groups.

The only gunman to survive the assault, Ajmal Kasab, has been sentenced to death in India, but none of the seven alleged masterminds arrested in Pakistan has been put on trial. India repeated its demand that they be punished.

"Once again I call upon Pakistan to dismantle the terror machine operating with impunity in territories under its control and to bring all the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attack to speedy justice," Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said in a statement.

Officers flanked by special anti-terror vehicles marched through Mumbai on Friday morning from the Oberoi Trident Hotel, one of the attack sites.

Hundreds of students held a giant banner that read "The Great Wall of Mumbai," intending to show how the city remained defiant in the face of the attack.

Government ministers laid wreaths in a commemoration ceremony, while the father of a paramilitary officer slain in the attacks embarked on a bike ride from Bangalore to Mumbai to join a peace march. Families of the victims planned a candlelight vigil Friday evening.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama stayed in one of the targeted sites, the Taj Mahal Hotel, and paid tribute to the attack victims in a speech that pledged solidarity with India against terror.

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Al-Qaeda affiliate threatens more small-scale bomb attacks

Al-Qaeda is threatening to launch a wave of small-scale attacks similar to the recent failed parcel bomb plot, which the terrorist group describes as a low-budget operation that caused fear and costly countermeasures in the West.

The new threat was published Saturday in the latest issue of the group's English-language magazine, Inspire. The online magazine, published by al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen, features glossy photographs of UPS delivery vehicles and asserts that the group spent just $4,200 on a plot aimed at blowing up cargo aircraft headed for the United States.

"We will continue with similar operations and we do not mind at all in this stage if they are intercepted," one article said. "It is such a good bargain for us to spread fear amongst the enemy . . . in exchange for a few months of work and a few thousand bucks."

The publication represents a new propaganda ploy for al-Qaeda, marking the first time that that the terrorist organization has provided such a detailed description of its planning in the aftermath of an attack.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, as the Yemen-based arm is known, has emerged as a top concern of counterterrorism officials over the past two years, in part because of its willingness to experiment with small-scale plots.

The United States has recently begun employing Predator drones in Yemen in an expanding hunt for AQAP leaders, include Anwar al-Aulaqi, a Muslim cleric who was born in the United States.

The package bomb plot was thwarted late last month when authorities in the United Kingdom and Dubai - acting on an intelligence tip from Saudi Arabia - intercepted two parcels that had been mailed from Yemen containing ordinary printer cartridges packed with the explosive compound PETN.


Authorities have said the parcels made it past cargo screening systems and contained enough explosives to bring down a plane. The parcels were sent to addresses for Jewish institutions in Chicago but appeared to have been designed to detonate in transit.

Al-Qaeda's core group in Pakistan has traditionally focused on staging elaborate, simultaneous attacks on multiple targets - a preoccupation with the spectacular that made the plots more difficult to execute and easier to detect.

The parcel bomb attempt was aimed at a familiar Al-Qaeda target: aviation. But AQAP has embraced a philosophy of probing for vulnerabilities with plots that are more streamlined and more frequent.

The magazine refers to the parcel bomb plot as "operation hemorrhage" and asserts that its main objective was to damage the multibillion-dollar air freight industry and trigger a costly security response.

Taking down a plane "would add to the element of fear and shock," according to one article, "but that would have been an additional advantage . . . not a determining factor of its success."

In the same article, AQAP itemizes the plot's ingredients: "Two Nokia mobiles, $150 each, two HP printers, $300 each, plus shipping, transportation and other miscellaneous expenses."

The cover of the magazine shows the sum $4,200 over the blurred image of a cargo jet. Inside, authors warn that they intend to share details of how to construct their device with followers in countries where mail-screening systems have not caught up.

The magazine offers explanations for some of the decisions involved in the plot. The names in the addresses were drawn from historical figures associated with the Crusades and attacks on Muslims. The packages were sent to synagogues in Chicago, "Obama's city."

The magazine also includes photos of the printers that were shipped, as well as a Charles Dickens novel, "Great Expectations," that was packed in one of the boxes to reflect the group's optimism "about the outcome of this operation."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/21/AR2010112103908.html

We are against attack on Hajj pilgrims: Al-Qaeda

Riyadh : The terrorist group al-Qaeda said in a statement that it is against attacks targeting Hajj pilgrims in Mecca, after Saudi Arabian officials expressed fears of such attacks.

AQAP, the Al-Qaeda branch in Yemen on Sunday, Nov 14 posted a statement on internet saying that they are against the attacks on Hajj pilgrims.

"We assure our Islamic nation that we are against any criminal action aimed at the pilgrims," AQAP said in the statement.

Earlier on Saturday, Nov 13 Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz expressed the possibility of al-Qaeda attack on pilgrims.

"We cannot trust them. We do not rule out any attempt to disturb the security of the Hajj. We are ready for any act that might take place. God willing, nothing of that will happen, out of respect to this rite," Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said.

The Hajj pilgrimage for the year 2010 will start on Monday, Nov 15.

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Taliban attacks Karachi CID office; 18 killed

Karachi : The office of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) here became a target to a massive terror strike on Thursday, Nov 11. At least 18 people were killed and over 115 others injured, when a group of Taliban militants, heavily armed with bombs and guns, launched a daring attack in the high security zone.

The CID became the target of the attack as it is spearheading the drive against terrorists in Karachi. The Tehrik-e-Taliban, the Pakistan-arm of the banned militant group, not only claimed responsibility for the strike but also warned of more terror attacks saying that the next target would be the Presidential Palace in Islamabad.

After detonating an explosives-laden truck at the office at around 8:17 pm (local time), the attackers exchanged fire with guards outside the CID office.

The office is located in high security area with the Chief Minister's official residence and several five-star hotels and consulates in the vicinity.

Most of those killed in the attack were policemen and security personnel. The area around the CID office was cordoned off after the attack and an emergency was declared in hospitals.

The local media gave varying accounts on the number of attackers. It is also unclear if the militants were also among the dead.

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All Christians 'targets,' Iraqi militant group says

Iraqi Christians bury victims Tuesday of a church attack on October 31, for which the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility.

Baghdad, Iraq-- All Christians in the Middle East are now "legitimate targets," al Qaeda in Iraq announced Wednesday, as the group's deadline for Egypt's Coptic church to release alleged Muslim female prisoners expired.

An audio message released Monday gave the church 48 hours to disclose the status of Muslim women it said are imprisoned in Coptic churches in Egypt.

The message purportedly came from the Islamic State of Iraq, which claimed responsibility for an attack on a Baghdad church Sunday that killed 58 people and wounded 75. The umbrella group includes a number of Sunni extremist organizations and has ties to al Qaeda in Iraq.

The group said the women's alleged plight was the reason it stormed the church.

Wednesday, the group released a new message saying, "The Ministry of War of Islamic State of Iraq declares that all the centers, organizations and bodies of Christian leaders and followers have become legitimate targets by the Mujahedeens, wherever our hands will reach them."

Shortly after the message was released, Egyptian police sources confirmed that security has been reinforced at churches around the country.

Additional protection was also being provided to the head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, who is scheduled to give a sermon in Cairo in the evening, according to a police spokesman who could not be named in line with policy.

Copts are adherents of an Egyptian sect of Christianity. About nine percent of Egyptians are Coptic, according to the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook; 90 percent of Egyptians are Muslim.

"This is a matter of extreme seriousness and we should not underestimate the threat," said Yusif Sidhom, editor-in-chief of Watani, a weekly Coptic newspaper published in Cairo. "We have to keep our eyes wide open and take all measures to ensure that our buildings and churches are not infiltrated."

Sidhom said he was encouraged by the security measures taken by the Egyptian government, as well as by the position taken by political forces in Egypt, including the Muslim Brotherhood, which has condemned the attack on the church in Baghdad and condemned threats against Egyptian Copts.

Worshippers at the Sayidat al-Nejat church in Baghdad were about to begin Sunday night services when gunmen entered the church, according to Martin Chulov, a journalist for Britain's Guardian newspaper, who was at the scene.

As many as 120 people were taken hostage, said Lt. Col. Eric Bloom, a U.S. military spokesman. The gunmen held them for hours before security forces stormed in to end the standoff, arresting eight suspects.

Most of the hostages were killed or wounded when the attackers set off explosives inside the church, Iraqi Defense Minister Abdul Qader Obeidi said.

At least two of the attackers were wearing explosive vests, which they detonated just minutes before security forces raided the church, police officials said.

The gunmen were demanding that the Iraqi government release a number of detainees and prisoners in Iraqi prisons, saying the Christian hostages would be freed in return, according to the police officials. Iraq's defense minister later said on state television that the kidnappers had demanded the release of a number of prisoners in both Iraq and Egypt.

"The sword of slaughter will not be lifted off the necks of their followers until they denounce what the dog of the Egyptian church has committed, and until they show the Mujahedeens their serious endeavor to pressure the combatant (Coptic) church for the release of our Muslim sisters, who are captive in the prisons of their monateries," the militant group said Wednesday.

The group's claim that the Coptic Church in Egypt is holding female prisoners is based on widespread rumors of Coptic women in Egypt converting to Islam and being detained by the church in an attempt to compel or persuade them to return to their original faith.

Both the Egyptian Interior Ministry and the representatives of the Coptic Church in Cairo declined to comment on the matter.

37 hostages killed in church drama, Baghdad

Thirty-seven people taken hostage by militants in a Baghdad church were killed and 56 wounded in a drama that was ended when US and Iraqi forces stormed the building, a government official said on Monday. "The latest toll is that 37 of the hostages were killed and 56 wounded," an Iraqi interior ministry official said after Sunday's attack on the church, claimed by an Al-Qaeda group.

He said that seven security forces personnel also were killed and 15 wounded, but did not specify if any were Americans.

Five attackers were killed and eight arrested, he said, adding there had been more than 100 worshippers at the Sayidat al-Nejat church in central Baghdad when the hostage-takers stormed in.

The SITE monitoring group said that Al-Qaeda group The Islamic State of Iraq claimed its fighters were behind the attack.