MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — More than 300 people are dead after the truck bombing in Somalia’s capital and scores of others remain missing, authorities said Monday, as the fragile Horn of Africa nation reeled from one of the world’s worst attacks in years. As funerals continued, the government said the death toll is expected to … Continue reading
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special envoy to Yemen is warning that the dangerous military escalation following a breakdown in the cease-fire between government supporters and Shiite rebels is fueling the spread of al-Qaida and the Islamic State extremist group. Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that the two … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — Al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria released more than a dozen Lebanese soldiers and police it has held for more than a year on Tuesday as part of a Qatar-brokered deal in which Lebanon freed at least 11 prisoners, including a former wife of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The release caps Lebanon’s … Continue reading
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The president of Somalia, a country plagued by violence from Islamic militants, said Tuesday that al-Qaida and the Islamic State group constitute the same “evil force” and must be confronted in the wake of the attacks on Paris. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud knows the danger extremist groups pose. He … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — U.S.-trained rebels who recently returned to Syria said Wednesday they have lost contact with one of their officers and that they are investigating reports he defected and handed over his weapons to al-Qaida’s branch in the country. The allegations come only days after the group of about 70 rebels returned to Syria … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — After a two-year siege, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria and other insurgents on Wednesday captured the one remaining Syrian army air base in Idlib province, a development that activists said effectively expelled the last of President Bashar Assad’s military from the northwestern province. It was the latest in a series of setbacks for … Continue reading
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Jeb Bush sharply criticized President Barack Obama on Tuesday for withdrawing troops from Iraq, but he declined to say whether he would order additional ground forces into the country to repel Islamic State militants. Speaking to about 60 business and Republican leaders in New Hampshire, the former Florida governor and … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — If President Barack Obama or his predecessor thought fighting a war with coalition partners was hard, they might consider Osama bin Laden’s frustrations. Among documents gathered from his compound in Pakistan after U.S. Navy SEALs stormed the building and shot him to death is a lengthy complaint by the al-Qaida leader about working with … Continue reading
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan has expressed “shock and sorrow” over the inadvertent deaths of an American and an Italian hostage held by al-Qaida in a U.S. drone strike in January near the Afghan border. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended Pakistan’s condolences in a statement Friday, saying the deaths of hostages Warren Weinstein and Giovanni … Continue reading
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A Dutch national who was held in captivity by Islamic militants for more than three years has left Mali and is headed back home, officials said Tuesday. Sjaak Rijke, who was abducted from a hotel in northern Mali in November 2011, flew into Mali’s capital Bamako on Tuesday. He stepped out … Continue reading
BEIRUT (AP) — It was a bruising week for Syria’s Bashar Assad. The rapid collapse of his forces on two fronts in the north and south brought the opposition its biggest victories in two years, raising serious questions about the president’s ability to fend off increasingly sophisticated rebel campaigns. After losing the capital of Idlib … Continue reading
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Al-Shabab militants blasted their way into a Mogadishu hotel and took positions inside, exchanging fire with security forces seeking to regain control of the facility late Friday, a Somali police official said. At least four gunmen had trapped an unknown number of people inside the building, Capt. Mohamed Hussein told … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A video purported to be by Somalia’s al-Qaida-linked rebel group al-Shabab urged al-Qaidato attack al-Qaidas in the U.S., Canada, Britain and other Western countries. The threat came in the final minutes of a more than hourlong video in which the extremists also warned Kenya of more attacks like the September 2013 … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 