Tag Archives: Terrorism

President Admits Flaws In Plan Against ISIS

President Obama has admitted there were flaws in his plans to subdue the Islamic extremist group ISIS in Iraq.

The President insisted, however, that despite the flaws the U.S. is not losing in the battle against ISIS.

“I don’t think we’re losing,” Obama told The Atlantic in an interview days after the fall of Ramadi.

“There’s no doubt there was a tactical setback, although Ramadi had been vulnerable for a very long time, primarily because these are not Iraqi security forces that we have trained or reinforced.They have been there essentially for a year without sufficient reinforcements, and the number of ISIL [ISIS] that have come into the city now are relatively small compared to what happened in [the Iraqi city of] Mosul.”

Members of Congress have been critical of the President and his plans for not using ground troops in Iraq to stop the terrorists.

Senator John McCain of Arizona said the fall of Ramadi to the terrorists was “one of the most disgraceful episodes in American history.”

ISIS Online Manual Teaches How To Carry Out Attacks

A “secret agent training manual” has been released on the internet for ISIS supporters in western nations to plan and carry out their own terrorist attacks.

Radio Free Europe reported the 71 page e-book was originally published in March but has recently made the rounds on the internet.  The book contains 11 chapters and advises those who read it to make sure not to appear as if they are devout Muslims so they do not catch the attention of law enforcement.

The book lays out instructions for supporters to “blend in” with western society.  One example is not growing a beard despite that being a requirement for living in the areas that ISIS claims as their “caliphate.”

Another example in the book is for the supporters to use a more “western” name because those with Arab names tend to have trouble finding jobs.

“People with Islamic names get less jobs than those with [Western] names. This alias might be important if you need an important position in a specific job, i.e. Mujahideen send people to work in power plants or enemy governmental positions to spy on and leak reports to the Islamic State leadership (as double agents),” the Middle East Media Research Institute quoted the book as stating.

The e-book even makes reference to the Boston Marathon Bombers and how they carried out their attack in 2013.

The guide also tells supporters they can flee to more than just Syria or Iraq if authorities discover their plans.

“Now that the Islamic State has been established in the Muslim world, believers can celebrate, because we are living in a unique time in history,” the manual asserts. “Muslims can now do an act of terrorism and escape the country secretly and find places of refuge in the world. … So if the Muslim finds it hard to flee to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria through Turkey, he can escape to the Islamic State in Libya, or Khorasan [Waziristan in Pakistan], or in Nigeria [under Boko Haram territory.]”

Abortion Activist Group Rushes To Women Impregnated By Boko Haram

Pro-life groups are raising the alarm about an abortion group that has entered Nigeria with a focus on the women who have been impregnated during their captivity by Boko Haram.

Last month we reported on the rescue of nearly 700 women from the clutches of the Islamic terrorist group.  Nigerian officials said that many of the women were impregnated by the terrorists as part of their campaign.

“Boko Haram insurgents deliberately raped women with the intention of getting them pregnant so they would give birth to future insurgents as successors of their violent struggles, hence the need for a special program to break the chain anticipated by the insurgents,” Isa Gusau, spokesperson for Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima, also explained.

“The sect leaders make very conscious efforts to impregnate the women; some of them, I am told, even pray before mating, offering supplications for [Allah] to make the products of what they are about doing become children that will inherit their ideology.”

Now, the United Nations Population Fund, one of the biggest worldwide groups promoting abortion in underdeveloped nations, is providing counseling to the women who have been attacked.  While the group hasn’t explicitly said they were there to provide abortions, pro-abortion groups like the Center for Health and Gender Equality promoted the presence of UNFPA saying they provide access to abortion.

“UNFPA is one of the leading international groups promoting abortion in the developing world,” explained the UK-based Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) in a statement this week. “SPUC fears that these emotionally vulnerable, malnourished women will be pressured into aborting their babies.”

“It is extremely worrying that some of these women may undergo abortions, which could cause them further physical and emotional trauma in their already weakened state,” Antonia Tully of SPUC added. “The deaths of their unborn babies would add to the toll of lives lost in this tragic situation.”

Nigeria sees about 760,000 abortion every year.  Many Nigerian based pro-life groups are speaking out demanding the UNFPA be blocked from aborting the children of the Boko Haram victims.

ISIS Captures Key Iraqi City

In a stunning reversal of recent fortune, the Islamic terrorist group ISIS has finally captured the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Ramadi, only 70 miles from the country’s capital city of Baghdad, is the largest city in Western Iraq.  It is also the regional capital for the Anbar province and is a major area for Sunni muslims.

The takeover of the town was confirmed by Ramadi Mayor Dalaf al-Kubaisy. He said that anti-terrorist forces were driven out to the east of the city.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the advance by the terrorists but said that the battle for the city was far from over.

“It is possible to see the kind of attack we have in Ramadi, but I am absolutely confident in the days ahead that will be reversed,” Kerry said on Monday during a visit to Seoul, CNN reported. “Large numbers of Daesh were killed in the last few days, and will be in the next days because that seems to be the only thing they understand.”

Local officials say the terrorists have been carrying out mass murders and burning bodies in the streets.  At least 250 civilians have been murdered by the terrorists in two days.  Many of those executed are supporters of the current government and leadership.

The United Nations says that in the last month over 110,000 residents have fled the city in advance of the terrorists.

Boko Haram Repelled After Surprise Attack

Nigerian military officials imposed a curfew in Maiduguri after Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram launched a surprise attack.

Witnesses say the streets are empty in the town with all schools, markets and hospitals shut down.  The army claims the action is in place to protect the city.

The terrorists were fought off by a coalition of military troops and local residents.  The terrorists reportedly focused on taking over a heavily fortified army base.

Maiduguri is the largest city in north-eastern Nigeria with around two million citizens.  The town had been a base for Boko Haram until recent military victories drove the terrorist group out of villages and into the woods.

Military officials called it the strongest attempt by the terrorists to recapture the town since March declaration by the government that all major towns have been cleared of the terrorist group.

A leader of the civilian troops told AFP news agency that the terrorists suffered “serious casualties” before they withdrew.

The Army says that Boko Haram has now planted land mines around the border of the game reserve where they are hiding after being driven out of the cities.

British Citizens Returning From Syria Public Threat

British officials say that hundreds of British citizens who traveled to Syria to join ISIS have found their way back to British shores.

Scotland Yard officials say that the number of citizens radicalized in Syria by the Islamists increases the possibility of terrorist attacks on British soil.

“There is no doubt of the horrific nature of the offenses being committed overseas,” Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said. “The influence of those who wish to bring similar violence to the streets of the UK has been an increasing threat here.”

Scotland Yard says as many as 700 extremists are believed to have traveled to Syria with the majority joining ISIS.

Terrorism related arrests in the UK have risen 33% in the last year.

“The type and level of the threat is complex and ranges from lone actors intent on carrying out crude and violent attacks to sophisticated networks set on completing ambitious and coordinated plots,” Rowley said.

“ISIL and other terrorist groups are trying to direct attacks in the UK,” Rowley said, referring to ISIS by an another name, “encouraging British citizens to travel to Syria to fight and train, and are seeking, through propaganda, to provoke individuals in the UK to carry out violent attacks here.

Investigators say that changes in technology are leading to blind spots that need to be corrected by legislation to allow police to investigate in new ways.

Pope Francis Condemns ISIS, Boko Haram

Pope Francis condemned the prosecution of Christians by Islamic terrorists groups like ISIS and Boko Haram.

The Pope held a mass with a reading from John 16:2-3 where Jesus says “the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or Me.”

Francis said that Christians should take heart when they see people who are killing “Christians in the name of God because they think they are infidels” because Jesus said His followers would be persecuted as He was persecuted.

The Pope cited the murder of 21 Coptic Christians on a beach by ISIS terrorists.

“I called to mind his faithful, who were slaughtered on the beach because they are Christians. Because of the strength given them by the Holy Spirit, they were not scandalized,” he said. “They died with the name of Jesus on their lips. This is the power of the Spirit. Witness. Martyrdom is the supreme witness.”

Vatican police have said that the Islamic terrorist extremists have threatened the Pope’s life.

Al-Shabaab Threatens More Terrorist Attacks In Kenya

Authorities in Kenya have reported that Somalian Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab is sending leaflets in the country threatening to carry out more attacks like the assault on Garissa University last month.

The terrorists singled out Christian students in the assault, asking students their faith before executing the non-Muslims.

“No amount of precaution or safety measures will be able to guarantee your safety, thwart another attack or prevent another bloodbath from occurring in your cities,” the terrorists said in an emailed statement days after the attack.

Security officials in Elgeyo-Marakwet County say that the messages on the leaflets focuses on the area’s four primary schools.  The local government has increased security in the area and investigators are looking into the leaflets to try and verify the source.

Kenya’s newspaper, the Daily Nation, reports that a Christian girl has been arrested on charges she was part of al-Shabaab.  She reportedly had just converted to Catholicism from Protestanism before joining al-Shabaab.  The newspaper said that threats like the leaflets have been common since the attack at Garissa.

Kenya has been attacked several times by al-Shabaab after sending troops to join the African Union force driving the terrorists out of Somalia in October 2011.

Iraqi Nun: Christians In Iraq Have Lost Everything

An Iraqi nun displaced by the Islamic extremist group ISIS testified before Congress that Christians in her country are having their identity wiped from the earth.

Sister Diana Momeka told the House Foreign Affairs Committee she is one of 120,000 civilians who had to leave their homes and property behind to flee from the terrorists’ takeover of the Mosul region.  She said that Iraqi Christians are in “dire need” of assistance to liberate their land.

Momeka said that Christians were the first to settle the Nineheh Plains and that the only Christians left in the area are the ones who were unable to escape the terrorists.

“Why should we leave our country? What have we done? The Christians of Iraq are the first people of the land,” Momeka said. “Uprooted and forcefully displaced, we have realized that ISIS’ plan is to evacuate the land of Christians and wipe the earth clean of any evidence that we existed. This is cultural and human genocide. The only Christians that remain in the Plain of Nineveh are those who are held hostage.”

Momeka admitted Christians have faced persecution for centuries, but that it’s currently worse than it’s ever been in the region.

“While our ancestors experienced all kinds of persecution, they stayed in their land, building a culture that has served humanity for the ages,” Momeka stated. “But the current persecution that our community is facing is the most brutal in our history. Not only have we been robbed of our homes, property and land, but our heritage is being destroyed as well. ISIS has and continues to demolish and bomb our churches, cultural artifacts and sacred places like Mar Behnam and his Sister Sara, a fourth century monastery, and St. George’s Monastery in Mosul.”

ISIS Second In Command Reportedly Killed

The Iraqi ministry of defense has reported that the second in command for the Islamic terrorist group ISIS has been killed.

Abdul Rahman Mustafa Mohammed, also called Abu Alaa al-Afari, was killed in a strike on a mosque targeted by Iraqi troops according to Brigadier General Tahsin Ibrahim.

Gen. Ibrahim said that dozens of other terrorists were killed in the strike on the al-Shuhada mosque in the town of al-Iyadhiya near Tal Afar.  ISIS took over Tal Afar and the region in June 2014.

The general did not say which nation carried out the air strike.

The Pentagon said they were unable to confirm the death but the Governor of Nineveh said that his contacts had confirmed the death of al-Afari.

Iraqi officials have announced the deaths of ISIS leadership in the past only to have the subject surface alive in new locations.  The U.S. had added al-Afari to their list of designated global terrorists in 2014.