Islamist group kidnaps Frenchman in Algeria news provider AP | By AOMAR OUALI And PAUL SCHEMM Published September 22, 2014 03:22PM EDT
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — An al-Qaida splinter group has kidnapped a French citizen and announced on Monday that it will execute him unless France ends its participation in air strikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq.
In a video that appeared on social media, a masked member of a group calling itself Jund al-Khilafah, or Soldiers of the Caliphate, warned French President Francois Hollande that it would execute the hostage if France doesn't end its military actions against the Islamic State group.
The French Foreign Ministry confirmed the kidnapping of a French citizen in Algeria, but did not identify him or his kidnappers.
French forces joined the U.S. on Sept. 19 in carrying out airstrikes against forces from the Islamic State group which have overrun large swathes of Syria and Iraq.
The Frenchman appeared in the video flanked by two armed masked men and said he was taken hostage by the group on Sunday and reiterated its demands that French airstrikes end.
The Jund al-Khilafah group broke away from the al-Qaida's North African branch in recent weeks and has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which has emerged as a brutal rival to al-Qaida.
An Algerian security official in the mountainous city of Tizi Ouzou, in the region where the kidnapping happened, said the 55-year-old man was a mountain guide from the French city of Nice and was hiking with two friends when he was abducted Sunday.
The three had spent the night at a ski lodge near the town of Tikdjda, 110 kilometers (65 miles) from the capital, Algiers.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media. The area is now being combed by army and elements of the local guard.
On Sunday, the spokesman for the Islamic State group, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, urged followers to kill Europeans and Americans, and "especially the spiteful and filthy French." The group has beheaded two American journalists and a British aid worker.
Responding to the statement at the time, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he was confident of the country's security.
"This threat to kill civilians, added to the execution of hostages and to the massacres, is yet another demonstration of the barbarism of these terrorists, justifying our fight without truce or pause," Cazeneuve said Monday. "France is not afraid because it is prepared to respond to their threats."
Algeria has been battling Islamist militants since the 1990s and in recent years has confined them to a few mountainous regions in the north of the country and in the Sahara desert in the extreme south.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb made millions of dollars over the last decade kidnapping Western tourists in the Sahara Desert.
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Islamic State group calls for attacking civilians
news provider AP | By DIAA HADID And MAAMOUN YOUSSEF Published September 22, 2014 03:57PM EDT
BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group's spokesman said its fighters are ready to battle a U.S.-led military coalition, casting it as a historic clash between Muslims and their enemies and calling for attacks at home and abroad.
Abu Mohammed al-Adnani's 42-minute audio statement, which appeared to be a rallying cry, was the group's latest response to efforts by U.S. President Barack Obama to form a global coalition against it.
He said the group welcomed the possibility of a ground war with the U.S., and he called on Muslims worldwide to kill civilians of nations that join the coalition.
"Oh, believer, do not let this battle pass you by wherever you may be. You must strike the soldiers, patrons and troops of the tyrants. Strike their police, security and intelligence members," al-Adnani said in the statement released Sunday.
"If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that joined a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be."
Militants in Algeria seized a French citizen on Sunday and later issued a statement saying it was in response to al-Adnani's appeal. In a video that appeared on social media, a masked member of an al-Qaida splinter organization calling itself Jund al-Khilafah, or Soldiers of the Caliphate, said he would kill his captive within 24 hours if France did not withdraw from the coalition seeking to destroy the Islamic State group.
While Islamic State loyalists frequently warn that their Western fighters will one day return to wreak havoc in their own countries, they do not typically call for militant attacks abroad, preferring to focus on expanding the territory under their control in Iraq and Syria.
Despite the abduction in Algeria, it was unlikely that all but a few Muslim extremists would heed al-Adnani's call. Most Muslims do not follow the extreme interpretation of Islam that the militant group advocates.
American and French warplanes have been carrying airstrikes against the group in Iraq since August, and Washington says some 40 countries will take part in the alliance. The U.S. is also planning to train up to 5,000 Syrian rebels in Saudi Arabia to be used in conjunction with potential U.S. airstrikes in Syria.
Perhaps tapping into fears among Americans of the mission broadening, al-Adnani vowed the U.S. would be "drawn and dragged" into a ground war. "It will come down to the ground and it will be led to its death, grave, and destruction. ... Know that our knife is sharp and hard. It cuts off the hands and strikes the necks."
Al-Adnani promised that the expected battle against the U.S. alliance would be the final chapter of a war that he cast as centuries old, dating to the Medieval Crusades. He also appeared to try tap into regional anger toward Israel by claiming that the alliance was formed only to protect Jews.
Islamic State fighters appear to have readied for airstrikes on their self-declared capital in the northeastern Syrian city of Raqqa, melting among civilians and sending away their wives and children. But they have also openly defied the threat of airstrikes by launching an attack on the Kurdish area of Kobani in northern Syria, forcing the flight of tens of thousands of Kurds.
The statement was released in Arabic by the Islamic State group's media arm, Al-Furqan, and appeared on militant sites used by the group. The speaker sounded like that of previous recordings attributed to al-Adnani.
Al-Adnani is the nom de guerre of a senior Islamic State group leader born as Taha Sobhi Falaha in Syria.
In late June, al-Adnani formally declared the establishment of a caliphate, or Islamic state, under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and demanded allegiance from Muslims worldwide. His July 30 call for Muslims to flock to the self-declared Islamic State has gone mostly unheeded.
The latest audio recording is part of the Islamic State's relentless outreach to potential followers, as it combines the harshness of a puritan state with modern trappings. The group produces slickly made videos of beheadings and mass killings — but also a family-style glossy magazine in English that says only trained doctors are used to cut off the hands of thieves.
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Islamic State offensive poses problems for Turkey
news provider AP | By DESMOND BUTLER Published September 22, 2014 03:52PM EDT
SURUC, Turkey (AP) — Fierce fighting Monday between the Islamic State militant group and Kurdish forces just over the border in Syria brought the battle closer to Turkey, triggering a surge of tens of thousands of refugees and raising pressure for the government to step up efforts to take on the Sunni extremists.
Turkey is resisting because it fears that arming Kurdish men to fight the group could complicate peace talks with Turkish insurgents within its own borders.
The Islamic State group's offensive against the Syrian city of Kobani, a few miles from the border, has sent 130,000 refugees to seek safety in Turkey in the last few days. The conflict in Syria had already led to more than 1 million people flooding over the border in the past 3½ years.
But in addition to the refugee crisis, hundreds of Kurds in and around this city near the frontier have clashed with Turkish police, who fired tear gas and water cannons. The Kurds say Turkey is hampering their efforts to let them cross into Syria and help their brethren.
An 18-year-old Turkish citizen in Suruc said he wanted to join the Kurdish fighters in Syria. He identified himself only by his first name of Azam for fear of reprisal from authorities.
"The Islamic State is on the other side of the border and moving freely, slaughtering people, but they are just sitting and watching," he said of the Turkish authorities.
"If I get a chance to get a weapon, I'll go to help our brothers by end of the day," he said. "Kobani is our land, too, and people there are our people."
Syrian Kurdish fighters were crossing back and forth over the border, while other Syrian Kurds were seen selling livestock to raise money for weapons.
Not far away on the border, the black flag of the Islamic State could be seen flying in a captured Syrian village along with the smoke from mortar fire.
Spillover from the Syria poses a problem for Turkey. The only local fighters capable of resisting the Islamic State group are Syrian Kurds aligned with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Turkish officials have said PKK militants from Turkey are streaming to Syria to join the fight. The conflict in Syria already is inflaming tensions with Turkish Kurds and could undermine peace talks with the PKK. Turkey's ambivalence about the fight between Kurds and the Islamic State group, which could leave the PKK either drained or emboldened, could further complicate its participation in a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group.
While joining the coalition, Turkey had declined to take part in combat, citing the Turkish hostages held by the Islamic State group in Mosul, Iraq. But even after the 46 Turks and three Iraqis were freed, Turkey has not changed its stance.
Turkish government officials have not revealed how they managed to secure the release of the captives. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied paying a ransom but has been vague on whether there was a prisoner swap.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington now expects Turkey to step up in the fight against the militants.
Erdogan has said that Turkey will discuss its participation in the coalition during this month's U.N. General Assembly. The U.S. ally and member of the NATO military alliance has made commitments of only limited help in the fight against the Islamic State group, which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq and rules by its harsh version of Islamic law.
The U.S. is looking for major participation from nations in the region in the campaign to destroy the Islamic State group. President Barack Obama has pledged that no American troops will be involved in combat missions against the group, and the U.S. expects nations in the region to provide those.
The Islamic State group released a new audio recording online late Sunday in which a spokesman urged Muslims worldwide to kill civilians of those nations that join the fight. A French citizen was kidnapped in Algeria by an al-Qaida splinter group that said it will kill him unless France ends its participation in airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Iraq, officials said.
Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday he remained hopeful that Turkey would participate in the coalition.
"We need Turkey, frankly," he said during a visit to Croatia, because of its military capability, regional influence and political gravitas in the Muslim world.
But Turkey may also have questions for the U.S., if the support that Washington gives to Kurds in Iraq is extended to the Kurds fighting in Syria. Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters are already starting to get training by Iraq's Western allies in fighting the Islamic State group.
"The U.S. says it will make sure that arms won't go to the PKK, but this isn't possible," said Hasan Koni, a professor of international law at Istanbul's Kultur University. He added that the tensions have brought the peace process to its most difficult phase as Kurds question Turkey's ambivalent stance in their fight in Syria and Iraq.
"The Kurds could say: what kind of a peace is this? We are being strung along," he said.
Turkish authorities may have concerns that Turkey's Kurds, bolstered by Western arms and emboldened by battlefield success, could harden their demands on the government in Ankara.
Beyond the political questions, the conflict is adding to a huge burden for Turkey. On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus warned that the number of Syrians crossing the border could rise further to "a refugee wave that can be expressed by hundreds of thousands."
"This is not a natural disaster. ... What we are faced with is a manmade disaster," Kurtulmus said of the surge of mostly women, children and the elderly that started late Thursday.
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
OH NOOOOO!!!! You can't attack a nations civilians in an attempt to end a war! That's a war crime!!! Wait...Didn't the USG drop 2 nuclear bombs on two cities killing hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting innocent civilians? Never mind...Next argument to justify the perpetual wars.
OH NOOOOO!!!! You can't attack a nations civilians in an attempt to end a war! That's a war crime!!! Wait...Didn't the USG drop 2 nuclear bombs on two cities killing hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting innocent civilians? Never mind...Next argument to justify the perpetual wars.
What perpetual war....it's all fake...it's all staged...it doesn't exist.....ISIL is a fabrication!!! TIC
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
"They are kidnapping Frenchmen and holding them hostage!" IT'S NOT REAL....aren't you paying attention????? This is all fabrication....a FALSE FLAG!!!! Pay Attention!
JUST BECAUSE SISSY SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO...BUT HE THINKS IT DOES!!!!! JUST BECAUSE MC1 SAYS SO DOESN'T MAKE IT SO!!!!!
"They are kidnapping Frenchmen and holding them hostage!" IT'S NOT REAL....aren't you paying attention????? This is all fabrication....a FALSE FLAG!!!! Pay Attention!
It's very real!!! ISIL's media relations department is sending press releases to the Associated Press announcing it. It must be real
NO, NO, NO...it's a FALSE FLAG....it's an excuse fabricated by the USG.... it's Hollywood at it's best....smoke and mirrors.....pay attention! TIC
No completely real and a direct threat to national security. I swear, I seen it myself on FOX NEWS with Greta. She had an entire hour about ISIL. It's pretty cut and dry, they want to kill every american and have a worldwide caliphate. Sean Hannity Bill O'Reily say the same. So this is very very real, and very very scary. The greatest minds on TV and in the media tell me so. I expect to see Totota Tundra's with machine guns on the back rolling into NYC VERY SOON!
As a matter of fact, first thing tomorrow morning, I'm bringing my kids down to the local recruiting office to sign them up so I can make sure they are on the front lines. Our nation is under attack. We must pull together and make sure our children are defending us from ISIL. They need to know - FREEDOM ISN'T FREE.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Qatar all assisted with the operation, sources told CNN. "It's a remarkable diplomatic achievement," said CNN political commentator Peter Beinhart. "I don't think it was expected that there would be this much Arab support." Former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Mudd said the inclusion of Sunni-majority countries fighting a radical Sunni militant group sends a strong message. "Prominent religious leaders have said ISIS is not representative of Islam, and now you have countries that are coming to the fore to attack it," he said.
CNN
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
U.S. also attacks al Qaeda [img]ISIS wasn't the only terror group targeted by U.S. strikes. On Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said the United States has "taken action to disrupt the imminent attack plotting against the United States and Western interests" conducted by Khorasan, a new al Qaeda franchise operating in Syria. "These strikes were undertaken only by U.S. assets," the military said. In total, U.S. Central Command said it conducted eight strikes against Khorasan targets west of Aleppo. The targets included training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communication building and command and control facilities.[/img]
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Can't wait to see Boxy flip-flop and fully support the eventual ground troops we will be landing in Syria.
"Approval ratings go up and down for various reasons... An example is the high post 911 support for GWB even though he could be said to be responsible for the event." --- Box A Rox '9/11 Truther'
Melania is a bimbo... she is there to look at, not to listen to. --- Box A Rox and his 'War on Women'
Can't wait to see Boxy flip-flop and fully support the eventual ground troops we will be landing in Syria.
Combat troops in Syria? Similar to GWB "combat troops in Iraq"... of course I oppose both.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
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