Seventy-one people died and over 120 were injured when a bomb exploded under a bus in a crowded bus station in Abuja, Nigeria.
Christian leaders in the nation said that the attack was carried out by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram in their deadliest attack on the country’s capital.
Friar Patrick Tor Alumuku, the director of Communications for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, told reporters that the bus depot where the explosion happened destroyed 16 luxury busses and 24 minibuses.
“The bus depot where the explosion took place is normally used by a large number of commuters to get to work in the center of the capital,” FFr. Alumuku said. “The victims are therefore normal people, who belong to the working class.”
The bus station was described as being in a “poor, ethnically and religiously mixed” area. Boko Haram has been working to create a civil war in the nation that is almost evenly split between Christians and Muslims.
The Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda is calling on its members to launch terrorists attacks in their home countries.
The terror group released a statement in the latest copy of their magazine Inspire that calls for a series of car bombings in countries that they feel are working against Allah.
The magazine piece specifically calls on jihadists to launch attacks in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. The article also specifically calls for attacks in “crusading” countries Great Britain and France.
“Choosing the place and time is a crucial factor to success in any operation,” the magazine reads. “Choose targets in your own country. You know the enemy better, you are within … The important thing is that you target people and not buildings.”
The bombers are used to making attacks during “election seasons” and between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
The article also gave instructions on how to make a simple bomb.
Security for the February Sochi Russia Olympic Games is being called into question after back-to-back days of terror attacks in a major transportation hub north of the Olympic city.
A deadly homicide bombing on a bus in Volgograd has killed at least 11 and wounded dozens the day after a female homicide bomber detonated a backpack of explosives and shrapnel at the security checkpoint for the city’s main train station. At least 17 people are dead from that attack and hospital officials say the number of critically wounded patients means the death toll is likely to rise.
No group has claimed responsibility for the terror attacks.
Investigators say there is strong evidence linking the two attacks.
Volgograd is a major railroad hub for the region and thousands pass through the city every day heading to Moscow. The town is expected to be a major route for international visitors who will fly into Moscow and then travel to Sochi for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
At least one terrorist group has vowed to carry out attacks on the Winter Olympics.
Leaders within Egypt’s security forces are reportedly meeting in private over concerns that the Islamic militancy growing under the Muslim Brotherhood could be a major disruption in moving the country forward.
The concern has been heightened by a bus bombing in Cairo and homicide car bombing at a police headquarters in Mansoura that killed 16 people.
“If this battlefront for militants becomes Cairo and urban centers, then the prospect for the security situation and the human toll becomes pretty grim,” Michael Hanna, an Egypt expert at the New York-based Century Foundation, told the Wall Street Journal.
While the government did not publicly blame anyone for the Thursday attack on the Cairo bus, the unspoken allegation ties it to the Muslim Brotherhood who was designated a terrorist organization by the Egyptian government on Wednesday.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Egypt’s foreign minister to express his concern about the Muslim Brotherhood being designated a terrorist group.
The Taliban attempted an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan on Christmas Day.
Two rockets struck the compound before dawn on Christmas Day. Officials at the Embassy report that no one was injured and there was no damage to consular buildings. A U.S. Embassy official called the rockets “indirect fire” in an apparent attempt to show the insignificance of the assault.
The Taliban immediately issued a claim of responsibility that said four rockets struck the compound and caused mass casualties despite the evidence showing the opposite.
The Taliban also detonated a bicycle bomb outside a restaurant in Puli Alam, killing 6 and wounding 13 including several children.
The Taliban has been ramping up attacks as the U.S. and other nations continue to withdraw troops before a deadline at the end of 2014 for all troops to leave the country.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula did something almost unheard of for a terrorist organization: they apologized for an attack.
The group attacked the Yemeni Ministry of Defense on December 5th but one of their members apparently decided to attack a nearby hospital as part of the assault. The bombing and shooting in Sanaa left dozens of people dead.
The leader of AQAP released a video Sunday saying that the hospital assault was the mistake of one lone fighter and that he had orders not to attack the hospital or a nearby mosque.
“We confess to this mistake and fault. We offer our apologies and condolences to the families of the victims,” leader Qassim Al-Raimi said in the video. “We did not want your lost ones; we did not target them on purpose. This is not of our religion or our morals.”
Raimi went on to say the terrorist organization would financially compensate those killed in the hospital attack.
A blast in the center of Damascus has left at least 8 people dead.
Police officials saw at least 50 were wounded in the explosion at Hijaz Square outside the offices of a railway company.
A second blast happened in the town of Suweida outside the headquarters of the Air Force’s intelligence headquarters, killing 8 including the head of the intelligence branch.
The government blamed the attack on “terrorists,” their code word for the rebels attempting to overthrow the government of President Bashir al-Assad.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights disputed the government’s account of the Damascus bombing saying that it could not be determined if the attack was from a bomb or a mortar shell. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings.
Just a week after Islamic terrorists attacked Tiananmen Square killing two pedestrians and three terrorists, another attack took place on the provincial government headquarters in Taiyuan.
Police say the blasts struck just after 7:40 a.m. local time from what appeared to be “home-made explosive devices” that were filled with ball bearings.
State broadcaster CCTV reported one person was injured and two cars seriously damaged. The bombs were reportedly hidden inside flowerbeds by the roadside.
Police have sealed the area and are restricting access in a manner similar to last week’s closure of Tiananmen Square. Witnesses claimed hearing as many as seven blasts.
A commander of militia in northwest Pakistan fighting the Taliban was injured in a homicide bomb attack that killed 15 people.
The Taliban admitted being behind the attack on the compound of Nabi Hanafi. Officials said there were wounded but were unable to agree on the number. At least one woman and child were among the wounded.
Witnesses told the BBC that gunmen fired on the compound after driving an explosives-laden vehicle through the compound gate.
Hanafi at one time was closely associated with the Taliban until 2008 when he formed his own militia and began to fight against the Islamic extremist group. The Pakistani government has been reported to have helped Hanafi’s group in fighting the terrorists.
The compound was hit with a homicide bomber attack last year that killed 18.
Bombings aimed at markets in Baghdad has killed at least 23 people.
Local officials say that 40 others were injured, some critically, in the attacks. At least 16 were killed in a packed market in the Sabaa al-Bour section in northern Baghdad while at least 7 died in a bombing at a market in Dora district south of Baghdad. Continue reading →