The Islamic terrorist group ISIS has claimed responsibility for a bombing near the U.S. Consulate in the Kurdish Iraqi city of Irbil.
The terrorists said the consulate was their target.
Police said four people are dead and at least 18 people were injured by the car bomb. The U.S. State Department said that all Consulate personnel were safe.
Police told reporters that a small improvised bomb detonated in the area which was followed by a car moving toward the consulate. Security personnel began to fire on the car and when it was clear they would not make the consulate, the people within the car detonated their devices.
A witness reported a gun battle between the terrorists and police.
The blast took place across the street from a row of bars, cafes and shops frequented by consular employees.
“The United States will continue to stand with the people of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and all Iraqis as we work together in confronting these terrorist acts and towards our shared goal of degrading and defeating (ISIS),” the State Department said in a statement.
ISIS terrorists are starting a campaign to destabilize Yemen and overtake the government by launching twin mosque attacks that killed 46 during Friday prayers.
Witnesses say that at least four terrorists blew themselves up in the mosques used by the Shia Muslim Houthis. The attacks also left hundreds injured.
The terrorists also attacked the residents where the country’s former president has been living since the Houthis ousted him.
Local officials confirmed 46 dead but said that they also have many unaccounted for in the attacks. Rebel TV stations say that hospitals have reported 137 dead and 345 people have been injured.
Police reportedly stopped a fifth bomber attack on another mosque.
The attack is the first major terrorist action by ISIS in Yemen.
At least 14 people were killed when terrorists attacked their churches.
Officlals in Lahore, Pakistan said that at least 70 were wounded in the twin attacks. One church was Catholic, the other was Protestant.
Geo TV reported that police stopped one of the bombers outside the church, forcing him to detonate outside killing one officer and wounding others. The second bomber was able to enter the church and detonate in the middle of services.
“Islamist militants in Pakistan have attacked Christians and other religious minorities often over the last decade or more. Many Christians, who make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s population of more than 180 million, accuse the government of doing little to protect them, saying politicians are quick to offer condolences after an attack but slow to act to improve security,” Retuers reported.
The Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they are planning to attack more churches.
In their latest assault on civilians, terrorist group Boko Haram has used a girl believed to be around 7 years old on a homicide bombing.
The attack happened in Potiskum in the northeastern part of Nigeria. The attack killed five people along with the girl and sent 19 others to various hospitals.
The girl had been seen around a market by security guards who kept sending the girl away because “given her age, she did not have anything to do in the market.” The security guards had been screening people for explosives before allowing them into the market when the girl detonated her device.
Security officials could not say if the girl was one of the 200 kidnapped from a boarding school in Borno state in April 2014.
An Israeli intelligence analyst has told reporters that Hamas has over 3,000 soldiers who have said goodbye to their families and are waiting to make a homicide bomb vest attack on Israel.
Gershon Baskin says all the fighters have their suicide vests and are just waiting for the order to carry out their attacks.
The information was released to the media just hours after the Hamas homicide bomb attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and ended a 72-hour humanitarian cease-fire.
“I was told by someone who had spoke to al-Qassam, the military wing of officer who said that before the ground operation began they were all instructed to go to their families and say goodbye to their families with the intent that they would not be returning alive from this battle,” Baskin told CNN. “This is one of the very difficult things about fighting with an organization like Hamas, particularly these very dedicated soldiers, combatants who are not afraid to die.”
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said that his country will do whatever it takes to defend themselves from Hamas.
The Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has made another deadly attack on a Christian church in Nigeria.
The terrorists bombed Saint Charles Catholic Church in Kano, Nigeria on Sunday, killing at least 5 people and wounding 8 others. The bombing happened shortly after the ending of Sunday mass as the crowd was beginning to leave the building. Police estimate the weapon was an IED thrown from across the road.
The attack was one of two attempted in Kano on Sunday. A woman wearing a homicide bomb vest was surrounded and isolated by police, detonating her device where she could not cause damage. Five officers were slightly wounded when she detonated the device.
In a surprising show of support to the Christian community of Kano, Muslim officials cancelled the city’s celebrating of the Eid festival marking the end of the Muslim month of Ramadan.
Government officials say that Boko Haram has started receiving weapons and training from other al-Qaeda related groups like Al-Shabab in Somalia.
The Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria accepted responsibility for a homicide bombing in Baghdad that has left at least 31 people dead.
Another 58 people were injured in the blast, some very severely, and officials say it’s likely the death toll is going to rise.
Christian bishops in Iraq are now calling for the government to protect Christians who are being killed and driven out of their homes in masses. They’re calling for the government to also provide funding for the thousands of families suddenly displaced by Islamic extremists.
Over 35,000 Christians have been forced to flee the city of Mosul after ISIS threatened to kill them unless they convert to Islam or pay a huge fine. Many of them have fled to Baghdad, where ISIS targets them in attacks.
Christian relief group World Compassion estimates at least 750,000 Christians have been forced to leave their homes since the Islamists began their campaign in northern Iraq.
Officials say that half of the Israeli population is in bomb shelters because of ongoing rocket attacks in central Israel by the Islamic terrorist group Hamas. The terrorist group has declared in a public statement “all Israelis have now become legitimate targets.”
The leaders of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem opened their city’s public bomb shelters because of the level of the attacks. Officials also told residents to open and prepare their private bomb shelters for the possibility of a prolonged assault.
An Iron Dome battery was able to successfully shoot down an incoming rocket over Tel Aviv. Hamas announced they had fired four rockets at the capital but there was no evidence of three more rockets impacting in the city.
According to the Israeli Defense Force, over 120 rockets struck within the Israeli borders during the night. Iron Dome destroyed 23 rockets in Ashdod, Ashkelon and communities along the Gaza border.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev told reporters that Israel had reached out to the terrorist group in an attempt to de-escalate the situation and found that the terrorist group was not interested in ending the current conflict. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called world leaders to tell them their position that they could not sit by and allow their country to be attacked by a terrorist organization and not respond to their provocation.
The Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram bombed a market in northern Nigeria Tuesday morning leaving dozens dead and at least 50 injured.
Witnesses say that the bomb was located under a load of charcoal that was in a pickup parked near the market in Maiduguri. The bomb was powerful enough to reduce sales stalls to rubble and even completely destroy nearby vehicles.
A trader said the bomb went off just before 8 a.m. local time, before most of the traders and customers arrived for daily business.
Officials cordoned off the area, refusing to allow access because of previous patterns of Boko Haram bombings where secondary devices were timed to hit rescue and emergency personnel.
The attack is the second major assault on a shopping area by Boko Haram in the last two weeks. Last week a bombing at a major shopping area in the nation’s capital of Abuja killed 24 and wounded dozens.
Nigerian military sources reported the arrest Monday night of a prominent businessman who they say had been working with Boko Haram by funding many of their terror attacks. They stated the businessman, Babuji Ya’ari, had been working with a vigilante group as a cover to provide information to the terrorists.
An Islamic terrorist group attacked an open-air market in western China, leaving 31 people dead and close to 100 injured.
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported that terrorists drove off-road vehicles into a market in Urumqi and began to throw bombs into the crowds of shoppers. One of the vehicles was then abandoned in the center of the market and exploded as the terrorists fled the scene.
Witnesses say the majority of the dead are elderly people who visited their market to get fresh food for their family’s daily meal.
The attack comes as Chinese officials crack down on the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, who they accuse of launching the Tiananmen Square attack last October and an attack on a train station in Urumqi last month.
An expert in ethnic relations in China says the attacks show a shift by the Muslim group. They had previously focused attacks and actions against military targets and government installations; now they are targeting innocent civilians with the intent of causing maximum casualties.