Archive for category: News

Iraqi security forces killed 498 terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, including non-Iraqis, during the liberating operation of Jurf al-Sakhar, sources said.

Thirty of the ISIL terrorists were from Chechen and 24 others were from Syria and Saudi Arabia, the sources said, adding that 60 of the killed terrorists were snipers and 29 others were suicide bombers.

The Iraqi security forces liberated the district of Jurf al-Sakhar from the control of the ISIL terrorists on Friday.

“The security forces and brave men of the volunteers eliminated the ISIL terrorism in the district,” Governor of Babil province, Sadiq al-Madlol, said.

The ISIL Takfiri terrorists currently control parts of Syria and Iraq. They have threatened all communities, including Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians, Ezadi Kurds and others, as they continue their atrocities in Iraq.

Senior Iraqi officials have blamed Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and some Persian Gulf Arab states for the growing terrorism in their country.

The ISIL has links with Saudi intelligence and is believed to be indirectly supported by the Israeli regime.

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Twenty four banks in the European Union have failed health checks of their finances, a European banking regulator has warned.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) identified a 25-billion-euro ($32-billion) shortfall for the banks, saying that 14 of the lenders must act to raise more capital to be able to endure a series of economic shocks, including high levels of unemployment and low economic growth.

The review, which was based on the banks’ financial health at the end of 2013, examined 123 EU banks.

The EBA report put the focus on Italian banks, Banca Carige, Monte dei Paschi, Banca Popolare di Milano, and Banca Popolare di Vicenza. It said the worst affected was Monte dei Paschi, which had a capital shortfall of 2.1 billion euros.

Austrian bank, Oesterreichische Volksbanken, Cypriot bank, Hellenic Bank Public Company, Irish bank, Permanent TSB, and Portugal’s Banco Comercial Portugues failed the stress tests, the EBA added.

Two Greek banks, two Belgian banks, and two Slovenian banks also failed the financial health check, meaning that they have not raised enough capital.

The EU banking regulator said the banks will have from six to nine months to fill the gaps.

“We are still far from a solution to the banking crisis and the challenges facing the banking sector,” Colin Brereton, from the world’s second largest professional services network, PwC, said.

Britain’s Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays were also subjected to the EBA financial stress tests. The banks did not fail the health checks but Lloyds passed the tests narrowly, with capital under adverse scenarios of 6.2 percent, close to the 5.5-percent benchmark.

MOS/HMV/SS

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 800 people have been killed during ongoing clashes between Kurdish fighters and Takfiri ISIL militants in the Syrian border town of Kobani.

The Britain-based monitoring group said on Sunday that 481 ISIL terrorists have been killed in exchange of fire with Kurdish forces, while 313 Kurds have lost their lives fighting to defend Kobani, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab.

The figures do not include ISIL losses to US-led airstrikes, which the Pentagon alleges to stand at “several hundred.”

Also 21 civilians have been killed in Kobani ground fighting.

Meanwhile, the first contingent of forces from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), known as Peshmerga, will head for Kobani on Sunday.

According to Kurdish media, 150 Peshmerga soldiers – led by Sihad Barzani, the brother of the KRG President Massoud Barzani and the commander of the region’s artillery brigade, will operate heavy weapons to provide cover for Syrian Kurdish fighters defending Kobani.

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.

MP/HJL/SS

QUETTA: Security forces foiled a major terrorism plot on Saturday when they seized a huge cache of arms and explosives from Balochistan’s Mastung district, a security official said.

The official, requesting anonymity, told Dawn.com that intelligence agencies acting on a tip-off conducted a raid at a house in Kanak area of Mastung district, some 50 kilometres southwest of Quetta.

He said a suspect was arrested during the raid and was shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

“One of the rooms was filled with explosive material,” he said, adding that forces also recovered arms and ammunition from the house.

“Forces did not face any resistance during the operation,” he said.

He said the intelligence suggested that the explosive material and weapons were being brought to Quetta to carry out terrorism activities during the holy month of Muharram.

Quetta, the capital of insurgency-hit Balochistan province, has been plagued by rising sectarian violence in recent years.

The raid by security forces follows major acts of terrorism in the city earlier this week, which included a suicide bombing on Maulana Fazlur Rehman – the leader of the largest religious political party in Pakistan’s parliament – who escaped unhurt in the attack.

Terror stalked the provincial capital on Thursday when three separate gun-and-bomb attacks claimed at least 13 lives.

A deadly gun attack on a bus killed eight members of the ethnic Hazara Shia community, which has been a constant target of sectarian militants. A planted bomb attack on security forces later on Thursday claimed the lives of three more civilians.

Banned militant group Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attempt on the JUI-F chief’s life, while sectarian militants Lashkar-i-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Hazara community and security forces.

Earlier today, the Balochistan police department constituted three teams headed by two senior officers to probe the recent acts of terrorism in the capital.

Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Quetta, Razzaq Cheema formed investigation teams headed by Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asad Raza and SSP Operations Aitzaz Goraya, to probe the recent incidents in Quetta.

According to a senior police officer, the CCPO entrusted the task of investigation to both officers and directed them to submit reports as early as possible.

“Investigation teams have collected body parts of the suicide-bomber from the spot and has sent them for DNA testing to Lahore,” he said.

Members of the investigative teams also visited the spot of the suicide bombing on the Jamit Ulema-i-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) rally to collect clues regarding the attack.

Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch had taken serious notice of the terrorism incidents and had ordered police to catch the culprits.

“We have got leads in one case,” said Quetta Police chief Razzaq Cheema.

He said that police had detained around 30 suspects, who were currently under interrogation.

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The al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front militants have threatened Lebanon’s army following its launch of a major operation against terrorist activities in the flashpoint city of Tripoli.

The Takfiri militants threatened in a statement issued on Sunday that they will execute Lebanese soldiers they kidnapped in the northeastern border town of Arsal if the army continues the operation in Tripoli.

“We warn the army against carrying out its military escalation against our … brothers in Tripoli,” the statement said, adding, “We demand that it end its siege of them and launch a peaceful solution” to the situation there.

“We will otherwise be forced within the next few hours to end the file of the captives and consider them as prisoners of war,” the terrorist group warned, saying, “The first execution of one of the captives will take place at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.”

The Lebanese army has deployed its units to the crisis-hit neighborhoods of the city, following heavy clashes with militants in the area.

The army has said it will push ahead with its operation “until the gunmen are eradicated and all armed appearances are prevented in Tripoli.”

Tensions have soared in Lebanon since August, when the army fought deadly clashes with the al-Nusra Front in Arsal.

The Takfiri terrorists have abducted more than three dozen soldiers and security forces over the past few months. They have executed at least three of the hostages.

The Takfiris say Beirut must release fellow militants held in Lebanese jails in exchange for the captive soldiers.

Over the past months, Lebanon has been suffering from terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda-affiliated militants as well as random rocket attacks, which are viewed as a spillover of the conflict in Syria.

IA/HSN/KA