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Germany fears terror attack by one of its own
Fears of a terror attack in Germany are mounting as Eric Breininger, an Islamist German suspected of planning a strike in his homeland, remains on the loose.
The BKA, Germany’s federal police force, has been hunting for Breininger (21) since last Thursday. They believe the young German, who spent time in Afghanistan receiving specialised training at a terrorist camp, is dangerous and is planning an attack in his home country.
What makes Eric Breininger so dangerous?
His motivation: The BKA released a personality profile of Breininger. Investigators determined that the young man has a need of recognition. He wants to be important, at least once - by carrying out a violent attack.
Read more... Fears of a terror attack in Germany are mounting as Eric Breininger, an Islamist German suspected of planning a strike in his homeland... more -
Sudanese confess to US diplomat murder
Five Sudanese Islamists admitted in filmed confessions their role in murdering a US diplomat and his driver in the Sudanese capital on New Year's Day, a court has heard.
John Granville, 33, who worked for the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and his 40-year-old Sudanese driver Abdel Rahman Abbas were shot dead in their car before dawn in Khartoum on January 1.
Confessions filmed by police after the arrest of the five were shown to a crowded courtroom in Khartoum.
"The American car braked suddenly, and we stopped behind it," one of the defendants, Mohammed Makawi, 23, said on the video. "Then I shot two bullets from a pistol."
Abdelbaset al-Hajj al-Hassan, a 29-year-old merchant, then fired with an AK-47 assault rifle.
The murder sent shock waves through the sizable Western community in Khartoum, a city usually considered one of the safest in Africa.
The prosecution case is due to continue on Monday. The men risk hanging if found guilty.
Relations between Sudan and the United States are strained, with Washington accusing Khartoum of genocide during the conflict in the western region of Darfur.
Granville was killed a day after US President George W Bush signed a law encouraging divestment from companies which do business in Sudan, in an effort to up economic pressure on Khartoum over Darfur.
According to the United Nations, up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their homes since the conflict between the Arab regime and ethnic rebels erupted in 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed. Five Sudanese Islamists admitted in filmed confessions their role in murdering a US diplomat and his driver in the Sudanese capital on... more -
Troops die in Mauritania ambush
Twelve Mauritanian soldiers have been killed in an ambush by suspected Islamist rebels, officials have said.
The attack occurred east of Zouerat, close to the border with Western Sahara, officials said.
They indicated that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has been blamed for previous attacks in the country, could be responsible.
The group had threatened action after a recent coup that toppled Mauritania's first democratically elected president.
Following the 6 August coup, an internet message attributed to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb urged Mauritanians to take up arms against the military leaders who seized power.
The group is largely based in neighboring Algeria but was blamed for the killing of four French tourists in Mauritania last December.
It was also believed to be behind an attack on the Israeli embassy in the capital, Nouakchott, two months later.
The US has identified the desert regions of Mauritania and its neighbors as a potential haven for Islamist militants, setting up joint-security programmes in the area.
But the US also suspended more than $20m (£11m) in non-humanitarian aid following the August coup. Twelve Mauritanian soldiers have been killed in an ambush by suspected Islamist rebels, officials have said. ... more -
Al-Qaida and the US Agree on Mauritania
Al-Qaida and the United States are not usually on the same side of an issue. One exception though: Mauritania. After the bloodless military coup of Aug. 6 in this North African country, both al-Qaida and the U.S. were quick to denounce very vocally the new regime.
While it is true that this coup puts a stop to the recent democratization process, it would have been wise for the West to read between the lines and assess that one of the major reasons for this event was to stop the Islamists.
Mauritania has a history of coups: The country has had 31 coup attempts since 1978; some were successful. Sheikh Sidi Ould Abdallahi, the president that was unseated, was the first democratically elected leader of Mauritania in 2007. He was a civilian and a democrat but had been contested within his own majority and the country had witnessed a major political crisis in the three months preceding the coup.
Abdallahi made mistakes that made him unpopular with the population and the very powerful military. He opened up the prisons, freeing at the same time dangerous Islamists. According to a Mauritanian intellectual: "This was a mistake because, in a country with an oriental mentality where the despotic [need] remains very strong, this democratic concession was seen as a sign of weakness." Thus the Islamists have been all the more active for the past two years. Furthermore, the president made several gestures to please the Islamists, such as re-establishing the Muslim week-end (Friday and Saturday), building a mosque in the presidential palace, allowing the creation of an Islamist political party that legitimized Islamists.
But what was not tolerated by many people is the wave of terrorism that Mauritania experienced. Indeed, in a span of one month between December 2007 and January 2008, the Paris-Dakar race had to be canceled because of credible terror threats in Mauritania and three serious terrorist attacks that took place.
Among a large portion of the population, these terror attacks represented a tipping point. Mauritanians blamed the president for not having a strong grip on the Islamists, as his predecessors did. In fact, after the attacks the president seemed hesitant to take the appropriate measures to forcefully tackle the terrorist issue. And contestation of his power started to grow stronger, especially among the military that called for a tougher stance on terrorists.
Mauritanians have a long tradition of tolerance -- it is one of only three Arab countries hosting an Israeli embassy. Ahmed Ould Daddah, a leader of the opposition and nephew of the first president of independent Mauritania, said: "Mauritanians are very humiliated. For us, a foreigner is sacred. Never were any Frenchmen so coldly murdered. This is a new phenomenon, a very serious one."
The security situation also went from bad to worse, and it was not a major surprise that the military decided to seize power to reverse this trend.
Al-Qaida right away knew that this change of regime was going to be a setback for them. So, AQIM issued a communiqué on the web calling for all the forces in the Maghreb to converge to Mauritania to kick out the new regime and install an Islamic state. Also interestingly, AQIM accused the United States and France of being the instigators of the coup. Weirdly enough, at about the same time, the U.S. and France both forcefully condemned the coup calling the new regime illegitimate and suspended their non-humanitarian help, which actually included financial support to fight the war against radical Islam.
The fact that al-Qaida and some Western nations agree over the new Mauritanian regime should make the U.S. and French diplomacy review their troubling assessment of the situation. This all the more so that North Africa has become a very important battlefield for al-Qaida and that Mauritania, a vast and sparsely populated (three million), has always been the soft underbelly of the region. Al-Qaida and the United States are not usually on the same side of an issue. One exception though: Mauritania. After the bloodless mil... more -
Tunnels to Egypt keep Hamas in business
One year after assuming total power over the Gaza Strip, Hamas is stronger then ever. Its weapons caches are overflowing and its control over daily life is secure. The Islamists can go about their business largely thanks to the supplies that get in via the tunnels connecting Gaza to Egypt.
The king of the tunnel builders had given a dazzling party, with roses from Egypt and dancing into the early morning hours. Thousands of people came to the event to celebrate his wedding to his 15-year-old bride. He had chosen the girl, and her family gave her up gladly, because no one contradicts the man they call Abu Ibrahim.
He is the richest man in Rafah and is believed to be worth millions. He drives a gold-colored Jeep and has built a multistory commercial building, the only structure of its kind far and wide. He already has one wife and 10 children, and now he has this second wife, for whom he had a wedding bed, a refrigerator and two television sets brought in from Egypt through the tunnels.
Abu Ibrahim, 38, has Hamas to thank for his wealth, and Hamas owes its power in the Gaza Strip to Abu Ibrahim. A quarter century ago he dug his first tunnel under the border to Egypt. He was 13 years old at the time and one of the first to venture into the underworld of Rafah. At first he smuggled gold, cheese and cigarettes, but after the beginning of the second Intifada in 2000 his business shifted mainly to weapons. It was Ibrahim who helped arm the Islamists and provided them with the Kalashnikovs, ammunition and explosives they have used since assuming power in June of last year.
Read more... One year after assuming total power over the Gaza Strip, Hamas is stronger then ever. Its weapons caches are overflowing and its contr... more -
Somalia bombing 'kills 15 women'
A roadside bomb has killed at least 15 people in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, reports the BBC.
The explosion hit a group of women gathered to clean the street, witnesses said. They told of bloody scenes with several dozen people injured.
One witness told the AFP agency most of the dead were female street cleaners.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but tensions are high in Mogadishu as Ethiopian troops battle Islamist insurgents.
"They were cleaning the street when this huge explosion rocked the entire neighbourhood," eyewitness Hasan Abdi Mohamed told the AFP news agency.
"I counted 15 bodies, most of them are women who were torn to pieces," he added.
The UN says 1.5 million people have fled after recent fighting.
Somalia's opposition groups, which include Islamists ousted from power in 2006, are opposed to Ethiopian troops remaining in Somalia.
According to one estimate, more than 8,000 civilians have been killed and one million forced from their homes since the start of last year by fighting between the interim government and the insurgents.
Has the rest of the world forgotten about Somalia? Is it any worse that civilian women simply cleaning the streets were killed in this attack? A roadside bomb has killed at least 15 people in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, reports the BBC. ... more -
Top Fatah officials held in Gaza
A number of top representatives of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have been arrested in the Gaza Strip, officials from his Fatah movement say.
Fatah officials Ibrahim Abu Naja and Zakaria Agha were among those detained as part of a continuing Hamas crackdown following a coastal bombing last week.
Mr Abbas appointed the two men to run Fatah in Gaza when the Islamist Hamas seized control of the area in 2007.
Fatah says dozens of its men are being held, but Hamas has not given a number.
A Hamas spokesman said the latest arrests were in response to the detentions of Hamas men in the West Bank.
Read more... A number of top representatives of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas have been arrested in the Gaza Strip, officials from his Fatah mov... more -
Why Sunday's Bombings Could Help Erdogan
Sunday's terror attack in Istanbul hit Turkey at a particularly critical juncture. The country's highest court is expected to rule soon on the legality of the prime minister's Islamist-rooted AKP party. But Erdogan himself stands to profit if the bloodbath leads the judges to issue a ruling that fosters national unity.
Regardless who was responsible for the bombings on Sunday evening in Istanbul, the attackers could hardly have chosen a more sensitive time to hit the country. Just a few hours after the massacre in the district of Güngören, which killed 17 people and left more than 150 injured, the Constitutional Court in Ankara convened to deliberate the case seeking to ban the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). A verdict is expected by the end of the week. It is possible that by next week the country could be without any political leadership at all.
Meanwhile another historic case was launched on Friday by a different prosecutor -- for the first time former generals were indicted on charges of plotting a putsch to overthrow the government. They are accused of having formed a shadowy organization called Ergenekon along with ultranationalist commandos, far-right lawyers, well-known business leaders and journalists with radical Kemalist sympathies.
Read more... Sunday's terror attack in Istanbul hit Turkey at a particularly critical juncture. The country's highest court is expected t... more -
Podcast: Pakistan is on the brink of renewed political instability.
Pakistan is on the brink of renewed political instability.
• Political confusion will undoubtedly distract government attention from important national problems like confronting radical Islamist fighters.
• Critical matter for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies, including Canada, attempting to establish security in that country. Pakistan is on the brink of renewed political instability. ... more
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