Archive for month: October, 2014

The death toll from a recent assault on Egyptian security forces in the volatile Sinai Peninsula has risen to 31, making it the deadliest single attack on the country’s army in decades.

On Friday, Egyptian security sources said a bomber had rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into an army checkpoint in an area near the northern Sinai town of el-Arish, close to the border with the Gaza Strip.

Following the bomb attack, the assailants fired rocket-propelled grenades that hit a tank carrying ammunition, causing a second explosion.

At least 31 soldiers lost their lives and some 30 others were also wounded in the assault, which was described as “well-planned” by Egyptian security officials.

In another incident, armed men shot dead an officer and injured two soldiers at another checkpoint located south of el-Arish.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.

Following the Friday assaults, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi held an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council to discuss the new spate of violence in Sinai, and announced three days of mourning in the country.

The council also declared a state of emergency “for a duration of three months” in the northern and central parts of the Sinai Peninsula.

The Sinai Peninsula has long been considered a safe haven for gunmen who use the region as a base for their acts of terror.

Since the ouster of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s former president, on July 3 last year, gunmen have launched almost daily attacks in Sinai, killing members of security forces.

Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, an al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group, has claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist attacks in the restive region.

MSM/MKA/MHB

A recent report shows that British MPs have received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of VIP tickets and foreign trips.

According to an analysis of the current register of the interests of the MPs published in the Guardian on Friday, they have received around $160,000 (£100,000) worth of free tickets to the opera, sports events and balls and $1.28 million (£800,000) of free foreign trips.

Large corporations offered parliamentarians the perks in order to curry favor.

Tobacco companies were among the highest givers of corporate hospitality, dishing out thousands of dollars worth of tickets to sporting events.

The UKs Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow is among the keenest recipients of free tennis tickets.

The former education secretary, Michael Gove, also received free tickets.

In accordance to British parliamentary regulations, MPs are permitted to accept the hospitality and overseas visits as part of the perks of the job, as long as the free services are declared to the government.

SRK/MKA/MHB

Three major Russian banks say they have filed lawsuits against the European Union over the sanctions imposed on them for Moscow’s alleged role in the crisis in Ukraine.

Russia’s top bank Sberbank said on Friday that it had lodged a case at the EU Court of Justice in Luxemburg to overturn the bloc’s restrictive measures.

In similar announcements, two other Russian banks, VTB and Vneshekonombank, also said they had filed lawsuits against the EU, asking the high court to lift the economic bans.

The 28-nation bloc imposed punitive measures on five Russian financial institutions in July to restrict their access to main European monetary markets.

In recent months, the Western states have imposed sanctions on Russia, including on its financial and energy sectors, putting a number of Russian nationals close to President Vladimir Putin on a sanctions list.

In a tit-for-tat measure, Moscow also imposed year-long food bans on the United States, the EU, Australia, Canada and Norway in August. The move is estimated to cost European agricultural industries millions of dollars.

The West accuses Moscow of having a hand in the crisis in eastern Ukraine, which erupted when Kiev launched military operations in April to silence pro-Russia protests. However, the Kremlin denies the accusation.

In August, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would exhaust all efforts to safeguard its “legitimate interests” should the Western states adopt more sanctions against the country.

MSM/MKA/MHB

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the United States promotes terrorism by financing terrorists and creating division instead of strengthening unity among world nations.

The Russian leader made the comments on Friday during a speech at the plenary session of the 11th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi.

“In Syria, just like in old times, the US and its allies began to provide militants with direct funding and weapons to incite filling of their ranks by mercenaries from different countries,” Putin said, adding that this is how the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group has turned into a “de facto army.”

“They [ISIL terrorists] are active in a highly effective manner, from the military perspective, they are real professionals,” he stated.

Putin also said another reason why the ISIL has gained so much power is because the so-called anti-ISIL coalition, led by the US, is creating division among regional powers.

The Russian president went on to say that such “unilateral dictatorship” does not help anti-terror efforts; instead it causes “growing chaos” in stable states.

Those who support terrorism should reflect on their actions, said Putin, stressing that the same terrorists they are backing will “someday come and sow death to their countries.”

The ISIL terrorists currently control large swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq.

Since September 23, the US and its allies have been conducting airstrikes against the ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.

Washington has also been carrying out similar air raids against ISIL positions in Iraq since August, but the raids have so far failed to dislodge the ISIL.

Analysts have questioned Washington’s sincerity in its fight against terror as the US and many of the parties to the so-called anti-ISIL alliance have been among the major supporters of the Takfiri terrorists working to topple the Syrian government since March 2011.

SRK/MKA/MHB

Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region has decided to send reinforcement troops to the Syrian city of Kobani next week to aid Kurds fighting against the ISIL Takfiri militants.

“The forces that will be sent are support forces and their number will not exceed 200 fighters,” AFP quoted Halgord Hekmat, a spokesman for the ministry responsible for the Kurdish fighters also known as Peshmerga, as saying on Friday.

“We are not able to specify the day but it will definitely be during the next week,” he added.

The Kurdish official declined to provide details on the exact route through which the forces will be sent to Kobani. Reports, however, said that the forces will be probably sent to the strategic border city via Turkey.

The Kurdish spokesman also said the Peshmerga forces will be equipped with automatic weapons, mortars and rocket launchers.

The decision could be a turning point in the battle in the Syrian Kurdish city.

Meanwhile, Syrian Kurdish fighters in Kobani denied reports of an agreement with Turkey to allow in the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) militants to fight the ISIL terrorists.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier said that the Syrian Kurds had “accepted 1,300 people from the Free Syrian Army and they are holding talks to determine the transit route.”

The Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has accused Ankara of helping the ISIL terrorists by turning a blind eye to at least 120 militants crossing the border into Syria earlier this week.

Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages.

The ISIL advance in the region has forced tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee into Turkey, which is a stone’s throw from Kobani.

Turkey continues to block any delivery of military, medical or humanitarian assistance into Kobani where the ISIL terrorists are feared to be aiming at massive bloodletting.

Analysts say Ankara, having already won the US green light, plans to let the terrorists seize the Kurdish town of Kobani before sending tanks and troops to fight them in a bid to capture and possibility annex the Syrian territory.

Meanwhile, Press TV has learned that Washington has moved its base from Jordan to Turkey to train radical extremists who are fighting the Syrian government.

IA/MKA/MHB