Tag Archives: Islamic Terrorism

Iran-backed Iraqi force says takes Islamic State villages near Syria

By Maher Chmaytelli

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi Shi’ite force backed by Iran said it pushed Islamic State out of several villages on the border with Syria on Monday, potentially reopening a supply route to send Iranian weapons to President Bashar al-Assad.

The maneuver could also be the prelude to a connection with the Assad’s Iranian-backed forces, although they are yet to reach the Iraqi border from the Syrian side.

Syrian rebel sources have warned of advances by the Syrian army and Iranian-backed militia to reach the border.

The territory taken by the Popular Mobilisation force on Monday is located north of the Islamic State-held town of Baaj.

For Popular Mobilisation, it is a step towards achieving a linkup with Assad forces, giving him a significant advantage in fighting the six-year rebellion against his rule.

But the territory is connected with land held by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish groups on the Syrian side, who are more focused on fighting Islamic State than Assad.

It is not known whether the Syrian Kurds would allow the Iraqi Shi’ite force to use their territory to reach Assad’s troops, deployed further south and further west.

In a statement on its website, Popular Mobilisation described its advance to the border with Syria as “a Ramadan miracle”, referring to the Muslim fasting month which started over the weekend.

Popular Mobilisation is taking part in the U.S-backed Iraqi campaign to defeat Islamic State in the city of Mosul and the surrounding province of Nineveh.

Iraqi government armed forces are focusing their effort on dislodging insurgents from the city of Mosul, Islamic State’s de-facto capital in Iraq.

While reporting nominally to Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government, Popular Mobilisation has Iranian military advisers, one of whom died last week fighting near Baaj.

MOSUL CAMPAIGN

Iran has helped to train and organize thousands of Shi’ite militia fighters from Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Syrian conflict. Fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah are also working closely with Iranian military commanders in Syria.

Eight months into the Mosul campaign, Islamic State fighters have been dislodged from all of the city except an enclave by the western bank of the Tigris river.

Iraq’s army on Saturday launched a new offensive to take the militants’ enclave, which includes the densely populated Old City, amid concern over the fate of the civilians trapped there.

Up to 200,000 people still live behind Islamic State lines in Mosul, struggling to get food, water and medicine, U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator Lise Grande told Reuters.

Government forces have been dropping leaflets over the districts telling families to flee, but many have remained out of fear of getting caught in the crossfire.

“We have been informed by authorities that the evacuation is not compulsory … If civilians decide to stay … they will be protected by Iraqi security forces,” said Grande.

“People who choose to flee will be directed to safe routes. The location of these will change depending on which areas are under attack and dynamics on the battlefield,” she added.

“The fighting is extremely intense,” a government advisor told Reuters. “The presence of civilians means we have to be very cautious,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity, explaining the slow progress of the campaign.

(Reporting by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

Masked gunmen kill 26 in attack on Christians in Egypt

Aftermath of attack on buses and truck carrying Coptic Christians in Minya Province, Egypt, May 26, 2017. EGYPT TV via REUTERS

By Omar Fahmy

CAIRO (Reuters) – Gunmen attacked a group of Coptic Christians traveling to a monastery in southern Egypt on Friday, killing 26 people and wounding 25 others, the Health Ministry said.

Eyewitnesses said masked men opened fire after stopping the Christians, who were traveling in a bus and other vehicles.

Local television channels showed a bus apparently raked by gunfire and blackened by smoke.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which came on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. It followed a series of church bombings claimed by Islamic State.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called a meeting of security officials, the state news agency said, and the cabinet said the attackers would not succeeded in dividing the nation.

Muslim leaders condemned the killings. The grand imam of al-Azhar, Egypt’s 1,000-year-old center of Islamic learning, said the attack was intended to destabilize the country.

“I call on Egyptians to unite in the face of this brutal terrorism,” Ahmed al-Tayeb said from Germany, where he was on a visit. The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Allam, condemned the perpetrators as traitors

The attack took place on a road leading to the monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor in Minya province, which is home to a sizeable Christian minority. An Interior Ministry spokesman said the unidentified gunmen had arrived in three four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Security forces launched a hunt for the attackers, setting up dozens of checkpoints and patrols on the desert road.

ISLAMIC STATE

Coptic Christians, whose church dates back nearly 2,000 years, make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 92 million.

They say they have long suffered from persecution, but in recent months the frequency of deadly attacks against them has increased. About 70 have been killed since December in bombings claimed by IS at churches in the cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta.

An Islamic State campaign of murders in North Sinai prompted hundreds of Christians to flee in February and March.

Copts fear they will face the same fate as brethren in Iraq and Syria, where Christian communities have been decimated by wars and Islamic State persecution.

Egypt’s Copts are vocal supporters of Sisi, who has vowed to crush Islamist extremism and protect Christians. He declared a three-month state of emergency in the aftermath of the latest church bombings in April.

But many Christians feel the state either does not take their plight seriously enough or cannot protect them against determined fanatics.

The government is fighting insurgents affiliated to Islamic State who have killed hundreds of police and soldiers in the Sinai peninsula, while also carrying out attacks elsewhere in the country.

(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein, Omar Fahmy and Mohamed Abdellah; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Philippine president urges IS-linked rebels to halt siege, start talks

Residents carrying belongings walk past a mosque towards an evacuation center after government troops continued an assault on fighters from the Maute group who have taken over large parts of Marawi city, southern Philippines May 26, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

By Tom Allard

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to Islamist militants on Friday to abandon hostilities and start dialogue in an effort to end their bloody occupation of a southern city that experts called a major blow to regional security.

Duterte said the presence of foreign fighters in street battles that have raged since Tuesday in Marawi City was proof that Islamic State had gained a foothold on the restive island of Mindanao, but there was still a chance for peace.

“You can say that the ISIS is here already,” Duterte told soldiers in nearby Iligan City, referring to Islamic State.

“My message mainly to the terrorists on the other side is we can still solve this through dialogue. And if you cannot be convinced to stop fighting, so be it. Let’s just fight.”

Special forces commandoes were deployed to drive out the remaining 20 to 30 Maute group rebels holed-up in Marawi but encountered heavy resistance on Friday. The army said 11 soldiers and 31 militants have been killed.

Fighting erupted on Tuesday after a bungled raid by security forces on a Maute hideout, which spiraled into chaos, with gunmen seizing bridges, roads and buildings and taking Christians hostage. Duterte responded by declaring martial law throughout his native island of Mindanao.

Rohan Gunaratna, a Singapore-based security expert, said the siege was a wake-up call for the Philippines.

“Islamic State capturing a major city in the Philippines is a very significant blow to the security and stability of this region,” he said.

“The Filipinos need to get their act together … They must understand the truth that IS ideology took hold in their country. The local groups have transformed.”

Malaysians, Indonesians and other foreigners were among the guerrillas killed on Thursday, which the government said demonstrated how the Philippines could become a haven for overseas militants.

The White House on Thursday said it backed the Philippine fight against “cowardly terrorists”.

Duterte has warned of “contamination” by Islamic State, exploiting the poverty, lawlessness and porous borders of predominantly Muslim Mindanao island to establish a base for radicals from Southeast Asia and beyond.

He has pleaded with political and Islamic leaders to keep foreign and local militants at bay. Months of air and ground offensives in Mindanao have not dented their resolve.

FOREIGN INVASION

“What’s happening in Mindanao is no longer a rebellion of Filipino citizens,” Solicitor General Jose Calida told reporters in explaining why martial law was imposed.

“It has transmogrified into invasion by foreign terrorists, who heeded the call of the ISIS to go to the Philippines if they find difficulty in going to Iraq and Syria.”

Most of Marawi’s 200,000 inhabitants fled after the gunmen ran amok on Tuesday, seizing and torching buildings, freeing militants from jails and taking a priest and churchgoers hostage at the city’s cathedral.Duterte has dealt with separatist unrest during his 22 years as mayor in Mindanao but the Maute’s rise and signs that it has ties to another group, the Abu Sayyaf, present one of the biggest challenges of a presidency won on promises to fight drugs and lawlessness.

Philippine intelligence indicates the two groups from different parts of Mindanao are connected, through Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of a radical faction of Abu Sayyaf.

Abu Sayyaf has a track record of banditry, piracy and violence, while the lesser-known Maute group has proven itself a fierce battlefield opponent for the military, able to sustain air and artillery bombardments and regroup after heavy losses.

Hapilon was the target of Tuesday’s botched raid and Duterte said Islamic State in the Middle East had anointed him as its man in the Philippines, and Hapilon was revered as its leader.

Military chief General Eduardo Ano said the fierce resistance by the Maute in Marawi was to protect Hapilon, who was in poor condition after being wounded in a January air strike.

“If we capture him, all the better. But if he fights back we have to do what is necessary,” he told reporters.

Convoys of vehicles packed with evacuees and protected by soldiers streamed into Iligan. Mark Angelou Siega, a Christian, described how students fled their campus.

“We were so scared and so were our Muslim brothers and sisters. We were sure they would get to us,” he said.

“These terrorists are not real Muslims.”

Calida said the Maute group and Islamic State were radicalizing young Muslims and the government was not the only target of their aggression.

“People they consider as infidels, whether Christians or Muslims, are also targets,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in DAVAO CITY, Kanupriya Kapoor in SINGAPORE, Romeo Ranoco in MARAWI CITY and Enrico dela Cruz and Manolo Serapio Jr in MANILA; Writing by Martin Petty)

Philippines deploys top commandoes, attack helicopters to retake city from Islamist rebels

Military vehicles carrying government troops drive along a main highway of Pantar town, Lanao Del Norte, as they travel to reinforce Marawi city, southern Philippines May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

By Romeo Ranoco and Roli Ng

MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) – The Philippines deployed attack helicopters and special forces to drive out Islamic State-linked rebels holed up in a besieged southern city on Thursday, as efforts to take back control met heavy resistance.

Ground troops hid behind walls and armored vehicles and exchanged volleys of gunfire with Maute group fighters, firing into elevated positions occupied by militants who have held Marawi City on Mindanao island for two days.

Helicopters circled the city, peppering Maute positions with machine gun fire to try to force them from a bridge vital to retaking Marawi, a mainly Muslim city of 200,000 where fighters had torched and seized a school, a jail, a cathedral, and took more than a dozen hostages.

“We’re confronting maybe 30 to 40 remaining from the local terrorist group,” said Jo-Ar Herrera, spokesman for the military’s First Infantry Regiment.

“The military is conducting precise, surgical operations to flush them out … The situation is very fluid and movements are dynamic because we wanted to out-step and outmaneuver them.”

The battles with the Maute group, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, started on Tuesday afternoon during a failed raid by security forces on one of the group’s hideouts, which spiraled into chaos.

The turmoil was the final straw for President Rodrigo Duterte, who delivered on his threat to impose martial law on Mindanao, the country’s second-largest island, to stop the spread of radical Islam.

Islamic State claimed responsibility late on Wednesday for Maute’s activities via its Amaq news agency.

At least 21 people – seven soldiers, 13 rebels and a civilian – have been killed and religious leaders say militants were using Christians taken hostage during the fighting as human shields.

The White House condemned the Maute group as “cowardly terrorists” and said in a statement the United States was a proud ally of the Philippines and would continue to support its fight against extremism.

GETTING OUT

Hundreds of civilians, including children, were sheltering in a military camp in Marawi City as troops helped clear the few remaining people from streets where smoke lingered in the air.

“We’re leaving,” said a resident named Edith, walking along a rundown street carrying a small suitcase.

“We can no longer take it and we need to save our children.”

Sultan Haji Ismael Demasala said he was staying and would leave his fate in God’s hands.

“If Allah wills it so, then we cannot stop it,” he said, pointing his finger in the air.

Hostilities eased overnight but flared late on Thursday morning when troops started their clearing operations.

A major obstacle was an armored vehicle parked across a bridge, which Maute fighters were using for cover, a Reuters journalist said.

Marawi is in Lanao del Sur province, a stronghold of the Maute, a fierce, but little-known group that has been a tricky opponent for the military.

Tuesday’s raid was aimed at capturing Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of radical faction of another militant group, the Abu Sayyaf. The government says Hapilon is a point man for Islamic State and has been collaborating with the Maute group.

“Based on our intelligence, Isnilon Hapilon is still in the city,” Herrera said.

The Maute group’s rise is a source of concern for Mindanao native Duterte, who is familiar with Muslim separatist unrest but alarmed by the prospect of rebels helping Islamic State to recruit and establish a presence in the volatile region of 22 million people.

Duterte has threatened harsh measures and said martial law would remain be maintained for as long as it took to restore order.

The president was due to hold a cabinet meeting on Thursday in Davao, his home city and the biggest on Mindanao.

Security was stepped up in Davao, with more military checkpoints and some businesses sending staff home during daylight hours. Residents were urged to stay vigilant.

In the city where Duterte was mayor for 22 years, and enjoys a cult-like following, residents were supportive of martial law.

“It’s not a hassle. It is good because it prevents harmful events,” said manicurist Zoraida Jakosalem Himaya.

“He is like a father telling his children what to do.”

(Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales in DAVAO CITY and Enrico Dela Cruz and Manuel Mogato in MANILA; Writing by Martin Petty)

UK police hunt Manchester bomber’s network, angered by U.S. leaks

City council employees move flowers from the townhall in Albert Square to St Ann's Square in Manchester, Britain, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

By Michael Holden and Andy Bruce

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Police scrambled to close down a network around the Manchester suicide bomber with arrests in Britain and Tripoli on Wednesday, as details about the investigation were leaked to U.S. media, infuriating authorities who fear a second attack is imminent.

British-born Salman Abedi, 22, who was known to security services, killed 22 people at a concert venue packed with children on Monday.

Authorities believe he had help in building the bomb, which photographs published by the New York Times showed was sophisticated and powerful, and that his accomplices could be ready to strike again.

Manchester police arrested five men and one woman on Wednesday, bringing the total held for questioning to seven, and searched multiple addresses in northern and central England.

Explosives were found at one site, the Independent reported, citing security service sources.

A source said British investigators were hunting for anyone who may have helped build the suicide bomb.

“I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating,” police chief Ian Hopkins said outside Manchester police headquarters.

“And as I’ve said, it continues at a pace. There’s extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester as we speak.”

Abedi, who was born in Manchester in 1994 to Libyan parents, blew himself up on Monday night at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande attended by thousands of children and teenagers.

Police in Tripoli on Wednesday arrested Abedi’s younger brother and his father, who said he did not expect the attack.

“I spoke to [Salman Abedi] about five days ago … there was nothing wrong, everything was normal,” Ramadan Abedi told Reuters, moments before he was arrested.

A spokesman for the local counter-terrorism force said his brother Hashem Abedi was arrested on suspicion of links with Islamic State and was suspected of planning to carry out an attack in the Libyan capital.

The first arrest made in Britain on Tuesday was reported by British and U.S. media to be Abedi’s older brother.

Earlier, interior minister Amber Rudd said the bomber had recently returned from Libya. Her French counterpart Gerard Collomb said he had links with Islamic State and had probably visited Syria as well.

U.S. LEAKS

Authorities in Britain have become increasingly angered by U.S. leaks from the investigation, including the bomber’s name on Tuesday and the photos of blood-stained fragments from the bomb on Wednesday.

British police chiefs said the breaches of trust between security service partners were undermining their efforts.

Rudd had earlier scolded U.S. officials for leaking details.

“The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise, so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources, and I have been very clear with our friends that should not happen again,” she said.

But, hours after the warning, the New York Times published the detailed photographs.

A government source told the Guardian newspaper, “Protests have been lodged at every relevant level between the British authorities and our U.S. counterparts.”

British Prime Minster Theresa May will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at a NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday, but officials said she would cut short the second leg of her trip to the G7 summit in Italy.

The Manchester bombing has raised concern across Europe.

Cities including Paris, Nice, Brussels, St. Petersburg, Berlin and London have suffered militant attacks in the last two years.

SOLDIERS ON THE STREETS

The 22 victims in Manchester included an eight-year-old girl, several teenage girls, a 28-year-old man and a Polish couple who had come to collect their daughters.

Britain’s official terror threat level was raised to “critical”, the highest level, late on Tuesday, meaning an attack was expected imminently.

But with just over two weeks to go until a national election, May’s Conservatives and political parties said they would resume campaigning in the coming days.

The Manchester bombing was the deadliest attack in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London’s transport network.

Rudd said up to 3,800 soldiers could be deployed on Britain’s streets, taking on guard duties to free up police to focus on patrols and investigation. An initial deployment of 984 had been ordered, first in London and then elsewhere.

Soldiers were seen at the Houses of Parliament, May’s Downing Street residence and at the London police headquarters at New Scotland Yard.

The Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, a draw for tourists, was canceled because it requires support from police officers, which authorities decided was not a good use of resources given the threat level.

A source close to the bombing investigation told Reuters that the focus was on whether Abedi had received help in putting together the bomb and on where it had been done.

The bomb used in the attack appeared to contain carefully packed shrapnel and have a powerful, high velocity charge, according to leaked photographs from the investigation published by the New York Times.

The BBC reported that security services thought the bomb was too sophisticated for Abedi to have built by himself.

Police arrested three people in South Manchester, one woman in North Manchester, a man in the nearby town of Wigan, and another man in the central English town of Nuneaton.

CANCELED TOUR

Ariana Grande’s representative said on Wednesday she was suspending her tour to assess the situation and to “pay our proper respects to those lost”. The U.S. singer had been scheduled to perform two shows at London’s O2 arena this week.

Chelsea soccer club said it had canceled a victory parade that had been set to take place on Sunday to celebrate its Premier League title.

Several high-profile sporting events are coming up in Britain, including the soccer FA Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium and the English rugby club competition final at Twickenham on Saturday and the UEFA Champions League final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on June 3.

Britain also has a national election scheduled for June 8.

All campaigning was suspended after the attack, although major parties said they would resume some activities on Thursday and national-level campaigning on Friday.

The government said a minute’s silence would be held at all official buildings at 1000 GMT (6.00 a.m. ET) on Thursday.

Greater Manchester Police said they were now confident they knew the identity of all the people who lost their lives and had made contact with all the families. They said they would formally name the victims after forensic post-mortems, which would take four or five days.

The bombing also left 64 people wounded, of whom 20 were receiving critical care for highly traumatic injuries to major organs and to limbs, a health official said.

France, which has repeatedly been hit by devastating militant attacks since 2015, extended emergency powers.

(For a graphic showing where the blast hit, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2rbQAay)

(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton, Alistair Smout and Kylie MacLellan in London, and Mark Hosenball in Washington, Writing by Estelle Shirbon, Paul Sandle and William James; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Toni Reinhold)

Manchester bomber was part of a network: police

Messages and floral tributes left for the victims of the attack on Manchester Arena lie around the statue in St Ann's Square in central Manchester, May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Jon Super

By Michael Holden and Andy Bruce

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – The Manchester suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a concert venue packed with children was part of a network, the city’s chief of police said on Wednesday as troops deployed across Britain to help prevent further attacks.

Police made four new arrests and searched an address in central Manchester. A source said investigators were hunting for accomplices who may have helped build the suicide bomb and who could be ready to kill again.

“I think it’s very clear that this is a network that we are investigating,” police chief Ian Hopkins said outside Manchester police headquarters.

“And as I’ve said, it continues at a pace. There’s extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester as we speak.”

Earlier, interior minister Amber Rudd said the bomber, Salman Abedi, had recently returned from Libya. Her French counterpart Gerard Collomb said he had links with Islamic State and had probably visited Syria as well.

Rudd scolded U.S. officials for leaking details about the investigation into the Manchester attack before British authorities were prepared to go public.

The Manchester bombing has raised concern across Europe. Cities including Paris, Nice, Brussels, St Petersburg, Berlin and London have suffered militant attacks in the last two years.

British-born Abedi, 22, blew himself up on Monday night at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande attended by thousands of children and teenagers.

His 22 victims included an eight-year-old girl, several teenage girls, a 28-year-old man and a Polish couple who had come to collect their daughters.

Britain’s official terror threat level was raised to “critical”, the highest level, late on Tuesday, meaning an attack was expected imminently.

But, just over two weeks away from a national election, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives and political parties said they would resume campaigning in the coming days.

SOLDIERS ON THE STREETS

The Manchester bombing was the deadliest attack in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London’s transport network.

Rudd said up to 3,800 soldiers could be deployed on Britain’s streets, taking on guard duties to free up police to focus on patrols and investigation. An initial deployment of 984 had been ordered, first in London and then elsewhere.

Soldiers were seen at the Houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May’s Downing Street residence and at London police headquarters at New Scotland Yard.

A source close to the investigation into the bombing told Reuters that the focus was on whether Abedi had received help in putting together the bomb and on where it had been done.

The BBC reported that security services thought the bomb was too sophisticated for Abedi to have built by himself.

Police arrested three people in South Manchester and another in Wigan, a town 17 miles to the west of the city on Wednesday, bringing the total number of arrests related to the attack to five. Police said they were assessing a package carried by the man in Wigan.

A man arrested on Tuesday was reported by British and U.S. media to be Abedi’s brother. A different brother was also arrested in Tripoli on suspicion of links to Islamic State, local counter-terrorism police said.

Police also said that they had searched an address in central Manchester as part of the investigation.

In London, the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, a draw for tourists, was canceled because it requires support from police officers, which authorities decided was not a good use of police resources given the threat level.

Chelsea soccer club said it had canceled a victory parade that had been scheduled to take place on Sunday to celebrate its Premier League title.

Several high-profile sporting events are coming up in Britain, including the soccer FA Cup final at London’s Wembley Stadium and the English rugby club competition final at Twickenham on Saturday and the UEFA Champions League final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on June 3.

U.S. LEAKS “IRRITATING”

Britain also has a national election scheduled for June 8. All campaigning was suspended after the attack, although major parties said they would resume some activities on Thursday and national-level campaigning on Friday.

The government said a minute’s silence would be held at all official buildings at 1000 GMT on Thursday.

Greater Manchester Police said they were now confident they knew the identity of all the people who lost their lives and had made contact with all the families. They said they would formally name the victims after forensic post-mortems, which would take four or five days.

The bombing also left 64 people wounded, of whom 20 were receiving critical care for highly traumatic injuries to major organs and to limbs, a health official said.

Rudd was asked by the BBC about the fact that information about Abedi, including his name, had come out of the United States before it was cleared by British authorities.

“The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise, so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources, and I have been very clear with our friends that should not happen again.”

France, which has repeatedly been hit by devastating militant attacks since 2015, extended emergency powers.

(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Costas Pitas, Kate Holton and Kylie MacLellan in London, Writing by Estelle Shirbon and William James, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

North American leagues urge vigilance after Manchester attack

A man looks at flowers for the victims of the Manchester Arena attack in central Manchester, Britain May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth

By Rory Carroll

(Reuters) – North America’s major sports leagues have strict safety procedures at their arenas but have urged fans attending games to be vigilant following Monday’s suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester, England, officials said on Tuesday.

The attack, which killed 22 people, has raised concerns in the U.S. ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, when fans flock to baseball stadiums to kick off the summer.

It also comes during the playoffs for the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA), high-profile games that typically take place before sold-out crowds.

“We already have a very thorough and detailed security plan in place at all of our arenas to ensure the safety of our fans,” said Bill Daly, deputy commissioner of the NHL.

“Obviously, with yesterday’s events, arenas have been reminded to re-double their efforts and to maximize their vigilance”

The league requests that anyone attending a game report anything that they observe as suspicious or out of the ordinary to law enforcement, security or arena personnel, he said.

An NBA official echoed that sentiment.

“We are in communication with the appropriate authorities and taking all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of our fans, teams and staff,” said Mike Bass, an NBA spokesman.

League officials typically do not share the specifics of their security measures for safety reasons.

The attacker in Manchester targeted Europe’s largest indoor arena, which was full to its 21,000 capacity, about the size of most NHL and NBA arenas.

Major League Baseball, which recently began its season and mostly plays its games in outdoor stadiums that are larger than NHL and NBA arenas, has a similar approach to fellow leagues.

“Fan safety and ballpark security are always our top priorities, and we will continue to do everything possible to provide a safe environment for our fans,” the league said in a statement to Reuters.

The National Football League, which has some stadiums that hold more than 80,000 people, is currently in its off-season.

(Editing by Ken Ferris)

Manchester bomber had ‘proven’ links to Islamic State: French minister

A community support officer places flowers near Manchester Arena in Manchester, Britain May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

By Michael Holden and Andy Bruce

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – The Manchester suicide bomber who killed 22 people at a concert venue packed with children had recently returned from Libya, a British minister said, and her French counterpart said he had links with Islamic State and had probably visited Syria too.

Interior minister Amber Rudd said Salman Abedi had likely not acted alone, and troops were being deployed to key sites across Britain to help prevent further attacks after the official threat level was raised to “critical”.

Police made three new arrests in South Manchester on Wednesday in connection with the concert bombing. They provided no details on the individuals held.

Rudd said up to 3,800 soldiers could be deployed on Britain’s streets, taking on guard duties at places like Buckingham Palace and Downing Street to free up police to focus on patrols and investigation. An initial deployment of 984 had been ordered, initially in London, then elsewhere.

The Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, a draw for tourists, was canceled because it requires support from police officers, which authorities decided was not a good use of police resources given the threat level.

Rudd also scolded U.S. officials for leaking details about the investigation into the Manchester attack before British authorities were prepared to go public.

British-born Abedi, 22, blew himself up on Monday night at the Manchester Arena indoor venue at the end of a concert by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande, attended by thousands of children and teenagers.

His 22 victims included an eight-year-old girl, several teenage girls, a 28-year-old man and a Polish couple who had come to collect their daughters.

Greater Manchester Police said they were now confident they knew the identity of all the people who lost their lives and had made contact with all the families. They said they would formally name the victims after forensic post-mortems, which would take four or five days.

The bombing also left 64 people wounded, of whom 20 were receiving critical care for highly traumatic injuries to major organs and to limbs, a health official said.

UNLIKELY ABEDI ACTED ALONE

“It seems likely, possible, that he (Abedi) wasn’t doing this on his own,” Rudd said on BBC radio. She said Abedi had been known to security services before the bombing.

The BBC reported that the security services thought Abedi may have been a “mule” for a bomb made by someone else, because they thought the device was too sophisticated for him to have put together by himself.

Asked about reports that Abedi had recently returned from Libya, Rudd said she believed that had now been confirmed.

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said British investigators had told French authorities Abedi had probably traveled to Syria as well.

“Today we only know what British investigators have told us — someone of British nationality, of Libyan origin, who suddenly after a trip to Libya, then probably to Syria, becomes radicalized and decides to carry out this attack,” Collomb told BFMTV.

Asked if he believed Abedi had the support of a network, Collomb said: “That is not known yet, but perhaps. In any case, (he had) links with Daesh (Islamic State) that are proven.”

Islamic State, now being driven from territories in Syria and Iraq by Western-backed armed forces, claimed responsibility for the Manchester attack, but there were contradictions in its accounts of the action and a telling lack of detail.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced late on Tuesday that the official threat level had been raised to its highest level for the first time in a decade, meaning an attack could be imminent.

The UK Independence Party was the first party to announce it would resume campaigning. It plans to unveil its policy pledges on Thursday.

WASHINGTON REBUKED OVER LEAKS

Abedi was born in Manchester in 1994 to parents of Libyan origin, according to U.S. sources citing British contacts.

As Collomb was speaking in France, Rudd was asked by the BBC about the fact that information about Abedi, including his name, had come out from the United States and whether she would look again at how information was shared with other countries.

“Yes, quite frankly. I mean the British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise, so it is irritating if it gets released from other sources and I have been very clear with our friends that should not happen again.”

Asked whether the U.S. leaks had compromised the investigation, she said: “I wouldn’t go that far but I can say that they are perfectly clear about the situation and that it shouldn’t happen again.”

France, which has repeatedly been hit by devastating militant attacks since 2015, extended emergency powers after the Manchester bombing.

It was the deadliest attack in Britain since July 2005, when four British Muslim suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks on London’s transport network.

Attacks in cities including Paris, Nice, Brussels, St Petersburg, Berlin and London have shocked Europeans already anxious over security challenges from mass immigration and pockets of domestic Islamic radicalism.

(Additional reporting by Costas Pitas, Kate Holton and Kylie MacLellan in London; Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Ralph Boulton)

Defiant Duterte threatens harsh measures as thousands flee Islamic State

A government troop stands on guard checking vehicles evacuating residents from their hometown of Marawi city in southern Philippines, as it drives past a military checkpoint in Pantar town, Lanao Del Norte, Philippines May 24, 2017. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

By Romeo Ranoco

PANTAR, Philippines (Reuters) – Thousands of civilians fled fighting in the Philippines on Wednesday as troops sought to contain Islamic State-linked militants who took over large parts of a city, set building ablaze and captured a Catholic priest and other Christians.

President Rodrigo Duterte said he had no choice but to declare martial law on his native island of Mindanao following a failed raid by soldiers on Tuesday on a hideout of the Maute militant group, which triggered clashes and chaos across the largely Muslim city of Marawi.

Duterte said Islamic State could not be allowed to gain a foothold in the Christian-majority Philippines and he would do whatever it took to rebuff extremists from the Maute group and the allied Abu Sayyaf, even if it meant many would die.

“Anyone now holding a gun, confronting government with violence, my orders are spare no one, let us solve the problems of Mindanao once and for all. Do not force my hands into it,” said Duterte, who cut short his visit to Russia to return to Manila.

“If I think you should die, you will die. If you fight us you will die. If there’s an open defiance you will die and if it means many people dying, so be it. That’s how it is.”

Soldiers and rebels set up checkpoints and roadblocks on routes in and out of Marawi as a stream of men, women and children fled. Long queues of pickup trucks and jeeps crammed full of people and loaded with belongings snaked on roads leading into nearby towns.

Battles abated on Wednesday as the military tried to isolate Maute fighters while awaiting reinforcements to the city of 200,000 people, which an official described as a ghost town. Maute snipers and booby traps were hampering operations, which could last three more days, the military said.

Thirteen militants and seven members of the security forces have so far been killed and 33 troops wounded in the fighting, according to the military.

Duterte said martial law would mean checkpoints, arrests and searches without warrant, and it would go on for as long as it took to restore order, but he would not tolerate abuses of power by police or soldiers.

He said he would consider some legal measures in the central Visayas region next to Mindanao to facilitate arrests, and might even declare martial law nationwide if he felt extremists had proliferated. He was also furious that the Maute group had hoisted the flag of Islamic State.

EXTREMISTS HAVE ARRIVED

“I made a projection, not a prediction, that one of these days the hardest things to deal with would be the arrival of ISIS in our country,” Duterte said, referring to Islamic State.

“The government must put an end to this. I cannot gamble with ISIS because they are everywhere.”

The military has not explained how the raid on an apartment hideout went so badly wrong and resulted in Maute gunmen going on the rampage and taking over roads, bridges, buildings and a hospital.

Duterte said he had heard reports that a police chief in Marawi may have been beheaded by the Maute.

The armed forces said it was on top of the situation but residents who fled told a different story.

“The city is still under the control of the armed group. They are all over the main roads and two bridges leading to Marawi,” student Rabani Mautum told Reuters in Pantar town, about 16 km (10 miles) from Marawi.

Duterte said martial law in Mindanao, which would apply for 60 days initially, would be like that of the 1970s rule of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, remembered by many Filipinos as one of the darkest chapters of recent history. He said Marcos’ use of martial law was “very good”.

The Catholic church said rebels had taken hostage Father Chito Suganob, a priest at Marawi’s Cathedral of Our Lady Help of Christians, and several churchgoers.

“They have threatened to kill the hostages if the government forces unleashed against them are not recalled,” said Father Socrates Villegas, president of Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

“We beg every Filipino to pray fervently.”

Tuesday’s raid was aimed at capturing Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the Abu Sayyaf group notorious for piracy, banditry and for kidnapping and beheading Westerners.

The Maute and Abu Sayyaf have pledged allegiance to Islamic State and have proved fierce opponents for the military.

Critics chided Duterte for what they saw as an overreaction in declaring martial law on an island the size of South Korea and the second biggest in the Philippines, after an incident in one city.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, a group of human rights attorneys, called it “a sledgehammer, knee-jerk reaction” that would “open the flood gates for unbridled human rights violations”.

(Additional reporting by Karen Lema, Enrico dela Cruz, Manuel Mogato in Manila; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)

British police name suicide bomber, May condemns ‘sickening’ attack

A girl leaves flowers for the victims of an attack on concert goers at Manchester Arena, in central Manchester, Britain May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

By Michael Holden and Andy Bruce

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – British police on Tuesday identified the suicide bomber who killed 22 people, including children, in an attack on a crowded concert hall in Manchester, and said they were trying to establish whether he had acted alone or with help from others.

The man suspected of carrying out Britain’s deadliest bombing in nearly 12 years was named as Salman Abedi, aged 22, but police declined to give further details about him.

U.S. security sources, citing British intelligence officials, said he was born in Manchester in 1994 to parents of Libyan origin. He is believed to have traveled by train from London before the attack, they said.

“Our priority, along with the police counter-terrorism network and our security partners, is to continue to establish whether he was acting alone or working as part of a wider network,” Manchester Police Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said.

The attacker set off his improvised bomb as crowds streamed out of the Manchester Arena after a pop concert by Ariana Grande, a U.S. singer who is especially popular with teenage girls.

“All acts of terrorism are cowardly,” Prime Minister Theresa May said outside her Downing Street office after a meeting with security and intelligence chiefs.

“But this attack stands out for its appalling sickening cowardice, deliberately targeting innocent, defenseless children and young people who should have been enjoying one of the most memorable nights of their lives.”

Islamic State, now being driven from territories in Syria and Iraq by Western-backed armed forces, claimed responsibility for what it called a revenge attack against “Crusaders”, but there appeared to be contradictions in its account of the operation.

Police raided houses in Manchester and arrested a 23-year-old man.

FRANTIC SEARCHES

Witnesses related the horror of the blast, which unleashed a stampede just as the concert ended at Europe’s largest indoor arena, full to its capacity of 21,000.

“We ran and people were screaming around us and pushing on the stairs to go outside and people were falling down, girls were crying, and we saw these women being treated by paramedics having open wounds on their legs … it was just chaos,” said Sebastian Diaz, 19. “It was literally just a minute after it ended, the lights came on and the bomb went off.”

A video posted on Twitter showed fans, many of them young, screaming and running from the venue. Dozens of parents frantically searched for their children, posting photos and pleading for information on social media.

Singer Grande, 23, said on Twitter she was devastated: “broken. from the bottom of my heart, i am so so sorry. i don’t have words.”

The attack was the deadliest in the UK since four British Muslims killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London’s transport system in 2005. But it will have reverberations far beyond British shores.

Attacks in cities including Paris, Nice, Brussels, St Petersburg, Berlin and London have shocked Europeans already anxious over security challenges from mass immigration and pockets of domestic Islamist radicalism. Islamic State has repeatedly called for attacks as retaliation for Western involvement in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

While claiming responsibility on its Telegram account, the group appeared to contradict the police description of a suicide bomber. It suggested explosive devices were placed “in the midst of the gatherings of the Crusaders”.

“What comes next will be more severe on the worshippers of the cross,” the Telegram posting said.

It did not name the bomber, as it usually does in attacks it has ordered, and appeared also to contradict a posting on another Islamic State account, Amaq, which spoke of “a group of attackers”. That reference, however, was later removed.

“DEPRAVED”

May said security services were working to see if a wider group was involved in the attack, which fell less than three weeks before a national election. Campaigning was suspended as a mark of respect.

May spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and several other foreign leaders on Tuesday about the attack, her spokesman said. She also visited the police headquarters and a children’s hospital in Manchester.

The White House said Trump had agreed with May during their telephone conversation that the attack was “particularly wanton and depraved”.

Macron and senior French ministers walked to the British embassy in Paris to sign the condolence book.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it “will only strengthen our resolve to…work with our British friends against those who plan and carry out such inhumane deeds”.

The U.N. Security Council condemned “the barbaric and cowardly terrorist attack” and expressed solidarity with Britain in the fight against terrorism.

Queen Elizabeth held a minute’s silence at a garden party at Buckingham Palace in London.

Manchester remained on high alert, with additional armed police drafted in. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said more police had been ordered onto the streets of the British capital.

Police raided a property in the Manchester district of Fallowfield where they carried out a controlled explosion. Witnesses in another area, Whalley Range, said armed police had surrounded a newly built apartment block on a usually quiet tree-lined street.

On Tuesday evening thousands of people attended a vigil for the dead in central Manchester.

British police do not routinely carry firearms, but London police said extra armed officers would be deployed at this weekend’s soccer cup final at Wembley and rugby at Twickenham. Security would be reviewed also for smaller events.

In March, a British-born convert to Islam plowed a car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge, killing four people before stabbing to death a police officer who was on the grounds of parliament. The man was shot dead at the scene.

In 2015, Pakistani student Abid Naseer was convicted in a U.S. court of conspiring with al Qaeda to blow up the Arndale shopping center in the center of Manchester in April 2009.

(Additional reporting by Alistair Smout, Kate Holton, David Milliken, Elizabeth Piper, Paul Sandle and Costas Pitas in LONDON, Mark Hosenball in LOS ANGELES, John Walcott in WASHINGTON, D.C., Leela de Kretser in NEW YORK, Omar Fahmy in CAIRO and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; writing by Guy Faulconbridge, Nick Tattersall and Gareth Jones; editing by Mark Trevelyan)