U.S. special forces carried out an overnight raid in northwestern Syria that killed Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of the Islamic State terrorist group, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
“Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation,” Biden said in a statement. “Thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces, we have removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — the leader of ISIS.”
“All Americans have returned safely from the operation,” he said.
At least 70 people were killed and more than 130 injured when an airstrike hit a detention center in Yemen on Friday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said, as the Saudi-led coalition continued to ramp up its deadly offensive on rebels in the war-torn nation.
(CNN)At least 70 people were killed and more than 130 injured when an airstrike hit a detention center in Yemen on Friday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said, as the Saudi-led coalition continued to ramp up its deadly offensive on rebels in the war-torn nation.
Another airstrike early Friday hit a telecommunications building in the strategic port city of Hodeidah, causing a nationwide internet blackout, according to NetBlocks, an organization that tracks network disruptions. At least three children were killed in that attack, Save the Children said.
The Norwegian Refugee Council said the internet blackout, which was still ongoing as of Friday evening, would affect aid delivery.
The Iran-back Houthi rebels, who control much of Yemen, blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the strikes. CNN has reached out to the coalition for comment.
A fourth man is arrested after a taxi explodes outside a Liverpool hospital on Remembrance Sunday.
An explosion outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday has been declared a terror incident by police.
A taxi exploded and was engulfed in flames just before 11:00 GMT at a drop-off zone near the entrance, killing the passenger and injuring the driver.
The cabbie, named locally as David Perry, was declared a hero by Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson for locking the suspect inside the vehicle.
Four men have been arrested in the city under the Terrorism Act.
Head of Counter Terrorism Policing North West, Russ Jackson, said the taxi passenger appeared to have made an “improvised explosive device” which caused the blast.
The man’s motivation was “yet to be understood”, he added.
Alowemer is charged with planning an attack on a church on Pittsburgh’s North Side in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a designated foreign terrorist organization.
PITTSBURGH —
A Northview Heights man, Mustafa Alowemer, charged with plotting a potential terror attack against a Pittsburgh church pleaded guilty on Thursday morning before U.S. District Judge Marilyn J. Horan.
Former President Trump made a surprise visit with New York City police and firefighters Saturday to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks.
In remarks to assembled guests, the former president sharply rebuked President Biden and the US pullout from Afghanistan.
“It was gross incompetence and I hate to talk about it on this day,” Trump said.
Trump praised New York’s Finest, telling the crowd, “if they let you do your job you wouldn’t have crime in New York!”
As some in the crowd nodded their heads, The Donald jokingly warned them to “just stand and just be perfect.”
The families of 9/11 victims say the FBI document validates their claim that Saudi Arabia played a role in the attacks
The Biden administration has declassified a 16-page FBI report tying 9/11 hijackers to Saudi nationals living in the United States. The document, written in 2016, summarized an FBI investigation into those ties called Operation ENCORE.
The partially redacted report paints a closer relationship than had been previously known between two Saudis in particular — including one with diplomatic status — and some of the hijackers. Families of the 9/11 victims have long sought after the report, which painted a starkly different portrait than the one described by the 9/11 Commission Report in 2004.
While the Commission was largely unable to tie the Saudi men to the hijackers, the FBI document describes multiple connections and phone calls.
At least three Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were killed and 20 wounded in a suicide attack in the southwest on Sunday, officials said, part of a spike in attacks on security forces in recent weeks as neighboring Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. #Pakistan#PakistanSuicideAttack#News#Reuters
A New Zealand supermarket chain announced that it was temporarily removing all scissors and knives from its shelves following an attack that left several people injured at one of its stores on Friday.
A general manager of supermarket chain Countdown said it was also considering if they would sell such items in the future.
“Last night, we made the decision to temporarily remove all knives and scissors from our shelves while we consider whether we should continue to sell them,” Kiri Hannifin, Countdown’s general manager for safety, said in a statement on Saturday.
“This is in no way a reflection on our customers, but an act of support for our team. We want all of our team to feel safe when they come to work, especially considering the events of yesterday,” Hannifin said.
Reuters noted, citing local reports, that sharp knives had been taken off shelves at other supermarkets too.
On Friday, a Sri Lankan national who was previously known to security forces in New Zealand entered a Countdown supermarket, going after several customers and stabbing them, witnesses said. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted that the attacker “was a supporter of ISIS ideology.”
Officials said Friday that six people were injured from the attack, with three transported to the hospital in critical condition. One person was in serious condition, and two others were in moderate condition.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States military struck back at the Islamic State on Saturday, bombing an IS member in Afghanistan less than 48 hours after a devastating suicide bombing claimed by the group killed as many as 169 Afghans and 13 American service members at the Kabul airport.
U.S. Central Command said the U.S. conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State member in Nangahar believed to be involved in planning attacks against the U.S. in Kabul. The strike killed one individual, and spokesman Navy Capt. William Urban said they knew of no civilian casualties.
It wasn’t clear if that individual was involved specifically in the Thursday suicide blast outside the gates of the Kabul airport, where crowds of Afghans were desperately trying to get in as part of the ongoing evacuation from the country after the Taliban’s rapid takeover.
The airstrike fulfilled a vow President Joe Biden made to the nation Thursday when he said the perpetrators of the attack would not be able to hide. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said. Pentagon leaders told reporters Friday that they were prepared for whatever retaliatory action the president ordered.
“We have options there right now,” said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.
EXCLUSIVE: NBC has opted not to renew missing-plane drama series Manifest for a fourth season. The decision came down Monday night, just hours before the options on the cast were to expire Tuesday and amid a strong showing of Manifest on Netflix, where it has been No. 1 in the U.S. for the past three days.
Manifest, from Warner Bros. TV and Universal TV, was the highest-rated on linear among NBC’s four bubble shows by a wide margin, especially in total viewers. Of the four, three — Debris, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and now Manifest, have been canceled. The remaining series, Good Girls, is looking good for renewal.
Manifest was conceived by creator Jeff Rake and was sold to NBC with a six-season plan that has been mapped out. That plan — and fans’ three years of devoted following — will fall through unless another network/platform steps in to pick up the series following its NBC cancellation.
Washington (CNN)US investigators have recovered millions in cryptocurrency they say was paid in ransom to hackers whose attack prompted the shutdown of the key East Coast pipeline last month, the Justice Department announced Monday.
The announcement confirms CNN’s earlier reporting about the FBI-led operation, which was carried out with cooperation from Colonial Pipeline, the company that fell victim to the ransomware attack in question.
Specifically, the Justice Department said it seized approximately $2.3 million in Bitcoins paid to individuals in a criminal hacking group known as DarkSide. The FBI said it has been investigating DarkSide, which is said to share its malware tools with other criminal hackers, for over a year.
The ransom recovery, which is the first seizure undertaken by the recently created DOJ digital extortion taskforce, is a rare outcome for a company that has fallen victim to a debilitating cyberattack in the booming criminal business of ransomware.
Colonial Pipeline Co. CEO Joseph Blount told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published last month that the company complied with the $4.4 million ransom demand because officials didn’t know the extent of the intrusion by hackers and how long it would take to restore operations.
The US Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday issued a national terrorism bulletin warning of the lingering potential for violence from people motivated by anti-government sentiment after Joe Biden’s election.
The bulletin suggests the riot by a mob of Donald Trump supporters at the US Capitol on 6 January may embolden extremists and set the stage for additional attacks.
DHS did not cite any specific plots, but pointed to “a heightened threat environment across the United States” that it believes “will persist” for weeks.
It is not uncommon for the federal government to warn local law enforcement through bulletins about the prospect for violence tied to a particular event or date, such as the Fourth of July holiday. But this particular bulletin, issued through the department’s national terrorism advisory system, is notable because it effectively places the Biden administration into the politically charged debate over how to describe or characterize acts motivated by political ideology and suggests that it sees violence aimed at overturning the election as akin to terrorism.
(CNN)Twin suicide bombs rocked a busy market in central Baghdad on Thursday morning, killing at least 28 people and injuring 73 others, a security official told CNN.
Security forces say they pursued the two attackers before they blew themselves up. It was the first suicide attack to strike Baghdad in nearly two years.
The first bomber entered the marketplace and, pretending to be sick, asked for help, causing people to gather around him before he blew himself up, according to officials and state media. The second bomber then drove to the scene on a motorbike before detonating his explosive vest.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, though it bears the hallmarks of Sunni jihadi groups who have carried out numerous similar attacks in Iraq.Double bombings were common in the country during the height of its sectarian war between 2005 and 2007.
“The twin terrorist bombings against the safe citizens of Baghdad at this time confirm the attempts and endeavors by dark groups to target the national needs and aspirations of the Iraqi people for a peaceful future,” Iraqi President Barham Salih said in a tweet. “We stand firmly against these rogue attempts to destabilize our country,” he added.
The country’s interior minister said the attack was carried out by an “Islamist terrorist” who was shot dead by police after a rampage through central Vienna.
A U.S. Army veteran discussed online his desire to avenge the New Zealand mosque attacks and professed to be inspired by martyrdom. He allegedly intended to strike a planned white supremacist rally.
Six nearly simultaneous explosions struck three churches and three hotels frequented by tourists on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, according to a security official in Colombo, the capital of the island nation in the Indian Ocean.
At least six explosions rocked churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. A hospital official said scores were injured and at least two dozen dead. BBC News reports from the scene in Colombo.
