The Syrian cease-fire appears near collapse after scores of Syrian soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were killed in a United States-led coalition air strike on Saturday. 
 
One of the key tenets of the Syrian &quot;cessation of hostilities&quot; brokered by Washington and Moscow was to freeze all attacks on forces allied to either camps. 
 
But the latest air strike, which killed at least 62 soldiers of the Syrian regime at&nbsp;Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor airport, has jeopardised the truce signed by the US and Russia.&nbsp; 
 
Moscow called for an emergency UN security meeting with the US but that ended abruptly. 
 
While Washington dubbed Moscow&#39;s request for the meeting as a &quot;stunt&quot;, Russia said the US was violating the peace agreements.&nbsp; 
 
The US, however, has apologised for the Saturday strike, saying they had intended to attack &quot;Daesh (IS) fighting position&quot;.&nbsp; 
 
The Pentagon said coalition forces &quot;would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit&quot;. 
 
But the latest development has got Moscow &quot;deeply worried&quot; about the continuation of the peace deal signed earlier this week.&nbsp; 
 
The Syria cease-fire was signed by US and Russia on September 12, halting months of deadly violence in Syria.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;The actions of the pilots &mdash;&nbsp;if they, as we hope, were not taken on orders from Washington &mdash;&nbsp;fall between criminal negligence and direct pandering to IS terrorists,&quot; a statement from the Russian foreign ministry said, AFP reported. 
 
Russia is also worried about US&#39; inability to get all factions of Syrian rebels give their full backing to the cease-fire.&nbsp; 
 
The US-allied Syrian rebels have agreed to &quot;cooperate positively&quot; to the peace deal but they have voiced their concerns about its long-term efficacy.&nbsp; 
 
Meanwhile, government forces which are supported by Russia have launched a fresh offensive against Islamic State in the key airbase of Deir Ezzor, AFP quoted unnamed military sources as saying. 
 
The Syrian government said the offensive was necessary as the truce has given IS time to recover and plan its next strikes. 
 
The airbase is crucial as IS is using it to bomb Syrian army aircraft. On Sunday, IS claimed to have struck a Syrian plane close to Deir Ezzor, killing one pilot.&nbsp; 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies) 
 
&nbsp;

Washington's 'unintentional' bombing of a Syrian army position has got Moscow 'deeply worried' about the efficacy of the peace deal

The Syrian cease-fire appears near collapse after scores of Syrian soldiers loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were killed in a United States-led coalition air strike on Saturday. One of the key tenets of the Syrian "cessation of hostilities" brokered by Washington and Moscow was to freeze all attacks on forces allied to either camps. But the latest air strike, which killed at least 62 soldiers of the Syrian regime at Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor airport, has jeopardised the truce signed by the US and Russia. Moscow called for an emergency UN security meeting with the US but that ended abruptly. While Washington dubbed Moscow's request for the meeting as a "stunt", Russia said the US was violating the peace agreements. The US, however, has apologised for the Saturday strike, saying they had intended to attack "Daesh (IS) fighting position". The Pentagon said coalition forces "would not intentionally strike a known Syrian military unit". But the latest development has got Moscow "deeply worried" about the continuation of the peace deal signed earlier this week. The Syria cease-fire was signed by US and Russia on September 12, halting months of deadly violence in Syria. "The actions of the pilots — if they, as we hope, were not taken on orders from Washington — fall between criminal negligence and direct pandering to IS terrorists," a statement from the Russian foreign ministry said, AFP reported. Russia is also worried about US' inability to get all factions of Syrian rebels give their full backing to the cease-fire. The US-allied Syrian rebels have agreed to "cooperate positively" to the peace deal but they have voiced their concerns about its long-term efficacy. Meanwhile, government forces which are supported by Russia have launched a fresh offensive against Islamic State in the key airbase of Deir Ezzor, AFP quoted unnamed military sources as saying. The Syrian government said the offensive was necessary as the truce has given IS time to recover and plan its next strikes. The airbase is crucial as IS is using it to bomb Syrian army aircraft. On Sunday, IS claimed to have struck a Syrian plane close to Deir Ezzor, killing one pilot. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Syria truce frays after US-led air strike kills soldiers

A US-led coalition air strike killed an Islamic State leader who oversaw the militant group&#39;s propaganda, said Pentagon said on Friday. 
 
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement that the airstrike took place near Raqqa, Syria, and targeted and killed Wa&#39;il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, also known as Dr. Wa&#39;il, on September 7. 
 
The US Department of Defense said Wa&#39;il was the minister of information and a prominent member of the IS. 
 
&quot;Wa&#39;il oversaw ISIL&#39;s production of terrorist propaganda videos showing torture and executions,&quot; Cook said in the statement, using an Arab acronym for the group. &quot;He was a close associate of Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the ISIL spokesman and leader for plotting and inspiring external terror attacks.&quot; 
 
On August 30, Islamic State said Adnani was killed in a US airstrike in Syria, which was later confirmed by the Pentagon. 
 
(WION with inputs from Reuters)

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement that the air strike took place near Raqqa, Syria, and targeted and killed Dr Wa'il

A US-led coalition air strike killed an Islamic State leader who oversaw the militant group's propaganda, said Pentagon said on Friday. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement that the airstrike took place near Raqqa, Syria, and targeted and killed Wa'il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad, also known as Dr. Wa'il, on September 7. The US Department of Defense said Wa'il was the minister of information and a prominent member of the IS. "Wa'il oversaw ISIL's production of terrorist propaganda videos showing torture and executions," Cook said in the statement, using an Arab acronym for the group. "He was a close associate of Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the ISIL spokesman and leader for plotting and inspiring external terror attacks." On August 30, Islamic State said Adnani was killed in a US airstrike in Syria, which was later confirmed by the Pentagon. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

US-led coalition air strike killed IS information minister: Pentagon

A 15-year-old boy was arrested in Paris on suspicion of planning an attack, two judicial sources said on Saturday.&nbsp; 
This is the second alleged plot with links to the terror group Islamic State this weekend.&nbsp; 
 
Last Sunday, seven people including two women were arrested when a car loaded with gas cylinders was found near Notre Dame cathedral.&nbsp; 
 
France has been under a state of emergency since the IS attacks on Paris in November killed 130 people.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 
Three suicide bombers had struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis during a football match on November 13, 2015. This was followed by several mass shootings, and a suicide bombing, at caf?s and restaurants. Gunmen carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at a concert in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. 
 
The boy had been under house arrest since the attacks but was arrested on Saturday after he was suspected of planning an attack, two sources said on condition of anonymity. They did not say why he was under house arrest. 
 
The second source said the boy had been in contact with suspected French Islamist militant Rashid Kassim. Kassim had also guided one of the women arrested last week in the plot to attack a train station in Paris, the source added.&nbsp; 
 
One of the sources said Kassim, 29, had also led two men to carry out an attack in a French church.&nbsp; 
 
An 84-year-old priest was killed and four other people were&nbsp;taken hostage by two armed men during the attack.&nbsp; 
 
(WION with inputs from Reuters) 
&nbsp;

The boy had been house arrest since the 2015 November terrorist attack, sources said

A 15-year-old boy was arrested in Paris on suspicion of planning an attack, two judicial sources said on Saturday. This is the second alleged plot with links to the terror group Islamic State this weekend. Last Sunday, seven people including two women were arrested when a car loaded with gas cylinders was found near Notre Dame cathedral. France has been under a state of emergency since the IS attacks on Paris in November killed 130 people. Three suicide bombers had struck outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis during a football match on November 13, 2015. This was followed by several mass shootings, and a suicide bombing, at caf?s and restaurants. Gunmen carried out another mass shooting and took hostages at a concert in the Bataclan theatre, leading to a stand-off with police. The boy had been under house arrest since the attacks but was arrested on Saturday after he was suspected of planning an attack, two sources said on condition of anonymity. They did not say why he was under house arrest. The second source said the boy had been in contact with suspected French Islamist militant Rashid Kassim. Kassim had also guided one of the women arrested last week in the plot to attack a train station in Paris, the source added. One of the sources said Kassim, 29, had also led two men to carry out an attack in a French church. An 84-year-old priest was killed and four other people were taken hostage by two armed men during the attack. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

15-year-old boy arrested in France on suspicion of planning attack

A ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States took effect in Syria at sundown Monday, but there was deep scepticism over whether it would hold. 
 
The initial 48-hour truce entered into force at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) across Syria except in areas held by jihadists like the Islamic State group. 
 
Syria&#39;s armed forces immediately announced a seven-day &quot;freeze&quot; on military operations, lasting to midnight next Sunday. 
 
But opposition forces had yet to formally sign on and the deal&#39;s fragility was underscored just hours before sundown when President Bashar al-Assad vowed to retake the whole country from &quot;terrorists&quot;. 
 
The agreement, announced Friday, after marathon talks between Russia and the United States, has been billed as the best chance yet to halt the bloodshed in Syria&#39;s five-year civil war. 
 
As well as bringing a temporary end to the fighting, it aims to provide crucial aid to hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians. 
 
AFP correspondents in Syria&#39;s devastated second city Aleppo, divided between a rebel-held east and regime-controlled west since mid-2012, said fighting appeared to have stopped as the ceasefire took effect. 
 
A final rocket was fired from the east into government areas just five minutes before 7:00 pm, while rebel neighbourhoods had not been hit by bombardments for about two hours, they said. 
 
Just before the truce came into force, senior Russian military official Sergei Rudskoi said the ceasefire would cover all of Syria except &quot;terrorist targets&quot;.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;Today from 1900 (local time) the cessation of hostilities is being resumed across all the territory of Syria,&quot; Rudskoi said at a Moscow briefing, adding that Russia would &quot;continue to carry out strikes against terrorist targets&quot;. 
 
Rebels demand guarantees 
 
Under the agreement, fighting will halt in areas not held by jihadists and aid deliveries to besieged areas will begin, with government and rebel forces ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access in particular to divided Aleppo city. 
 
The ceasefire will be renewed every 48 hours and, if it holds for a week, Moscow and Washington will begin unprecedented joint targeting of jihadist forces. 
 
World powers have thrown their weight behind this new deal after several rounds of peace efforts failed to end the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people. 
 
But Syria&#39;s opposition and rebels are deeply sceptical that Assad&#39;s regime will abide by the truce agreement, and demanded guarantees before endorsing a deal. 
 
&quot;We are asking for guarantees especially from the United States, which is a party to the agreement,&quot; Salem al-Muslet from the High Negotiations Committee, the main opposition umbrella group, told AFP Monday. 
 
&quot;We fear that Russia will classify all the Free Syrian Army (rebel factions) as terrorists,&quot; as it was unclear how the deal defined &quot;terrorist groups&quot;, he said. 
 
Rebel groups on Sunday sent a letter to the US saying they would &quot;deal positively with the idea of the ceasefire&quot; but listed several &quot;concerns&quot; and stopped short of a full endorsement. 
 
&quot;The clauses of the agreement that have been shared with us do not include any clear guarantees or monitoring mechanisms... or repercussions if there are truce violations,&quot; they said. 
 
Ahmad al-Saoud, who heads the US-backed Division 13 rebel group which signed the letter, said they had received no response. 
 
Questions remain about how the ceasefire will apply in parts of Syria where the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front, previously known as Al-Nusra Front, is present. 
 
A crucial part of the deal calls for rebels to distance themselves from the group before joint US-Russian operations against it begin. 
 
But Fateh al-Sham cooperates closely with many of Syria&#39;s rebels, including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham faction, which on Sunday issued a scathing condemnation of the Russian-US deal. 
 
October peace talks? 
 
Russia&#39;s deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told state-run news agency RIA Novosti that peace talks could resume within a month. 
 
&quot;I think that probably at the very beginning of October, (UN envoy Staffan) de Mistura should be inviting all parties&quot; to talks, he said. 
 
Syria&#39;s government and its allies including Iran and Lebanon&#39;s Hezbollah movement have backed the truce. 
 
But on Monday Assad made clear he was intent on recapturing all of Syria. 
 
&quot;The Syrian state is determined to recover every area from the terrorists,&quot; he said as he toured Daraya, a former rebel stronghold that surrendered last month after a four-year government siege. 
 
&quot;The armed forces are continuing their work, relentlessly and without hesitation, regardless of internal or external circumstances,&quot; he added.&nbsp; 
 
The run-up to the truce saw a spike in violence, with at least 74 people killed in weekend strikes on Aleppo and Idlib cities. 
 
Just moments before the ceasefire came into force, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported three people killed in regime shelling in the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus. 
 
At least 13 civilians were also killed in unidentified air raids on a town in Idlib province hours before the truce began, the Observatory said. 
 
Fresh raids had also earlier on Monday hit Aleppo, an AFP correspondent said, where residents have struggled to celebrate the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival amid shortages created by a renewed government siege. 
 
In August, rebels broke a weeks-long regime siege of the east, but Assad loyalists restored the blockade on September 8. 
 
&quot;We hope there will be a ceasefire so that civilians can get a break,&quot; said east Aleppo resident Abu Abdullah. &quot;Civilians have no hope any more.&quot; 
 
(AFP)

Syria's armed forces immediately announced a seven-day 'freeze' on military operations, lasting to midnight next Sunday

A ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States took effect in Syria at sundown Monday, but there was deep scepticism over whether it would hold. The initial 48-hour truce entered into force at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) across Syria except in areas held by jihadists like the Islamic State group. Syria's armed forces immediately announced a seven-day "freeze" on military operations, lasting to midnight next Sunday. But opposition forces had yet to formally sign on and the deal's fragility was underscored just hours before sundown when President Bashar al-Assad vowed to retake the whole country from "terrorists". The agreement, announced Friday, after marathon talks between Russia and the United States, has been billed as the best chance yet to halt the bloodshed in Syria's five-year civil war. As well as bringing a temporary end to the fighting, it aims to provide crucial aid to hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians. AFP correspondents in Syria's devastated second city Aleppo, divided between a rebel-held east and regime-controlled west since mid-2012, said fighting appeared to have stopped as the ceasefire took effect. A final rocket was fired from the east into government areas just five minutes before 7:00 pm, while rebel neighbourhoods had not been hit by bombardments for about two hours, they said. Just before the truce came into force, senior Russian military official Sergei Rudskoi said the ceasefire would cover all of Syria except "terrorist targets". "Today from 1900 (local time) the cessation of hostilities is being resumed across all the territory of Syria," Rudskoi said at a Moscow briefing, adding that Russia would "continue to carry out strikes against terrorist targets". Rebels demand guarantees Under the agreement, fighting will halt in areas not held by jihadists and aid deliveries to besieged areas will begin, with government and rebel forces ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access in particular to divided Aleppo city. The ceasefire will be renewed every 48 hours and, if it holds for a week, Moscow and Washington will begin unprecedented joint targeting of jihadist forces. World powers have thrown their weight behind this new deal after several rounds of peace efforts failed to end the conflict that has killed more than 290,000 people. But Syria's opposition and rebels are deeply sceptical that Assad's regime will abide by the truce agreement, and demanded guarantees before endorsing a deal. "We are asking for guarantees especially from the United States, which is a party to the agreement," Salem al-Muslet from the High Negotiations Committee, the main opposition umbrella group, told AFP Monday. "We fear that Russia will classify all the Free Syrian Army (rebel factions) as terrorists," as it was unclear how the deal defined "terrorist groups", he said. Rebel groups on Sunday sent a letter to the US saying they would "deal positively with the idea of the ceasefire" but listed several "concerns" and stopped short of a full endorsement. "The clauses of the agreement that have been shared with us do not include any clear guarantees or monitoring mechanisms... or repercussions if there are truce violations," they said. Ahmad al-Saoud, who heads the US-backed Division 13 rebel group which signed the letter, said they had received no response. Questions remain about how the ceasefire will apply in parts of Syria where the jihadist Fateh al-Sham Front, previously known as Al-Nusra Front, is present. A crucial part of the deal calls for rebels to distance themselves from the group before joint US-Russian operations against it begin. But Fateh al-Sham cooperates closely with many of Syria's rebels, including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham faction, which on Sunday issued a scathing condemnation of the Russian-US deal. October peace talks? Russia's deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov told state-run news agency RIA Novosti that peace talks could resume within a month. "I think that probably at the very beginning of October, (UN envoy Staffan) de Mistura should be inviting all parties" to talks, he said. Syria's government and its allies including Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah movement have backed the truce. But on Monday Assad made clear he was intent on recapturing all of Syria. "The Syrian state is determined to recover every area from the terrorists," he said as he toured Daraya, a former rebel stronghold that surrendered last month after a four-year government siege. "The armed forces are continuing their work, relentlessly and without hesitation, regardless of internal or external circumstances," he added. The run-up to the truce saw a spike in violence, with at least 74 people killed in weekend strikes on Aleppo and Idlib cities. Just moments before the ceasefire came into force, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported three people killed in regime shelling in the rebel-held town of Douma near Damascus. At least 13 civilians were also killed in unidentified air raids on a town in Idlib province hours before the truce began, the Observatory said. Fresh raids had also earlier on Monday hit Aleppo, an AFP correspondent said, where residents have struggled to celebrate the start of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival amid shortages created by a renewed government siege. In August, rebels broke a weeks-long regime siege of the east, but Assad loyalists restored the blockade on September 8. "We hope there will be a ceasefire so that civilians can get a break," said east Aleppo resident Abu Abdullah. "Civilians have no hope any more." (AFP)

Syria ceasefire takes effect under US-Russia deal

Twenty Islamic State militants were killed in Turkish air strikes in northern Syria on Saturday, the Turkish military said. 
 
Three buildings, one vehicle and a motorbike were targeted in the town of Tel el-Hawa as part of the attack. 
 
&lsquo;Operation Euphrates Shield&rsquo;, a Turkish incursion into Syria against the IS and Kurdish militia fighters was launched more than two weeks ago. The operation would &ldquo;continue decisively&rdquo;, local broadcaster NTV reported.

(WION with inputs from agencies)

The air strikes targeted three buildings, one vehicle and a motorbike in the town of Tel el-Hawa

Twenty Islamic State militants were killed in Turkish air strikes in northern Syria on Saturday, the Turkish military said. Three buildings, one vehicle and a motorbike were targeted in the town of Tel el-Hawa as part of the attack. ‘Operation Euphrates Shield’, a Turkish incursion into Syria against the IS and Kurdish militia fighters was launched more than two weeks ago. The operation would “continue decisively”, local broadcaster NTV reported. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Turkish air strikes kill 20 Islamic State fighters in Syria

While 9/11 failed to bring America to its knees as Al-Qaeda hoped, it ushered in an era of instability, especially in the Middle East, that Islamic extremists have skilfully exploited, analysts say. 
 
By reacting with a doctrine of &quot;Shock and Awe&quot; and invading Iraq in 2003, the US committed a series of missteps that indirectly helped foment jihadism, say critics. 
 
Founded in the 1980s, Al-Qaeda was gravely weakened after being expelled from Afghanistan in 2001 by the US-led invasion of the country that had harboured the terror group&#39;s leader Osama bin Laden. 
 
But the occupation of Iraq offered them a new opportunity, underlining how jihadist groups have resisted attempts to vanquish them and have now expanded into franchises in the Middle East, Asia, the West and parts of Africa. 
 
&quot;September 11 was the culmination of several years of planning by Al-Qaeda of &#39;the big one&#39;,&quot; Didier Le Bret, who recently resigned as France&#39;s national intelligence coordinator to run in next year&#39;s parliamentary election, told AFP. 
 
&quot;Above all it marked the start of a realisation (by the Americans) of their vulnerability on home soil. And that is something they cannot bear.&quot; 
 
He said the invasion illustrated the dangers of acting first and worrying about the consequences afterwards. 
 
Among the consequences was the damage done to America&#39;s reputation by the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, the camp opened by George W Bush at a US base in Cuba to hold &quot;enemy combattants&quot; captured around the world. 
 
For Le Bret, the conflict in Iraq was &quot;an unfinished war, built on a lie&quot; that ended up destabilising the whole region. 
 
Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor of Middle East studies at Sciences-Po University in Paris, said it also squandered support for the US among its allies. 
 
&quot;The US enjoyed unprecedented international solidarity in its campaign against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda (in Afghanistan),&quot; he said. &quot;But after that campaign, which was crowned with success within a few weeks, the Neoconversatives imposed a strategy of a &#39;global war on terror&#39; which reignited global jihad.&quot; 
 
Tai chi terror tactics 
 
The US presence in Iraq made it a magnet for jihadists, with Al-Qaeda in Iraq becoming a major force in the post-war insurgency that later morphed into the Islamic State (IS) group. 
 
IS extremists, seeing power vacuums created through weak governance in Iraq and a civil war in Syria, grabbed territory in both countries after declaring their &quot;caliphate&quot; for Muslims in 2014. 
 
Spurred by social media and the forces of globalisation, they have since encouraged Muslims to take up arms against the West which they see as an ideological enemy. 
 
While conducting a campaign of mass murder and terror in territories under their control, they have spread their tentacles worldwide, inspiring or carrying out attacks in France, Germany, the United States, Turkey or Bangladesh. 
 
&quot;Daesh, or the so-called Islamic State, was born out of the alliance of two totalitarianisms, that of Al-Qaeda and the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein,&quot; Filiu said. 
 
&quot;Instead of taking the measure of this new threat, Barack Obama was for a long time in denial, allowing the emergence of a &#39;terror caliphate&#39; that has spread around the world,&quot; he argued. 
 
Obama&#39;s reticence to commit the US to a new battle in the Middle East reflected the caution of a nation scarred by Iraq, where thousands of US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians died during the post-invasion insurgency.&nbsp; 
 
Bin Laden&#39;s son said 9/11 was aimed at setting up a grand showdown with America in Afghanistan where the Soviet army had been defeated by US-backed mujahideen. 
 
&quot;I was surprised the Americans took the bait&quot;, Omar bin Laden, one of 11 sons, told Rolling Stone magazine in 2010, a year before his father&#39;s death at the hands of US special forces. 
 
By forcing Washington out of its isolationism and luring it into Iraq, bin Laden was using what historian Yuval Noah Harari calls the &quot;tai-chi masters method.&quot; 
 
&quot;The terrorists hope that even though they can barely dent the enemy&#39;s material, power, fear and confusion will cause the enemy to misuse its strength,&quot; the author of Sapiens, a history of humanity, wrote in The Guardian newspaper last year. 
 
&quot;Terrorists calculate that when the enraged enemy uses its massive power against them, it will raise a much more violent military and political storm than the terrorists themselves could ever create.&quot; 
 
(AFP)

By reacting with the doctrine and invading Iraq in 2003, the US committed a series of missteps that indirectly helped foment jihadism

While 9/11 failed to bring America to its knees as Al-Qaeda hoped, it ushered in an era of instability, especially in the Middle East, that Islamic extremists have skilfully exploited, analysts say. By reacting with a doctrine of "Shock and Awe" and invading Iraq in 2003, the US committed a series of missteps that indirectly helped foment jihadism, say critics. Founded in the 1980s, Al-Qaeda was gravely weakened after being expelled from Afghanistan in 2001 by the US-led invasion of the country that had harboured the terror group's leader Osama bin Laden. But the occupation of Iraq offered them a new opportunity, underlining how jihadist groups have resisted attempts to vanquish them and have now expanded into franchises in the Middle East, Asia, the West and parts of Africa. "September 11 was the culmination of several years of planning by Al-Qaeda of 'the big one'," Didier Le Bret, who recently resigned as France's national intelligence coordinator to run in next year's parliamentary election, told AFP. "Above all it marked the start of a realisation (by the Americans) of their vulnerability on home soil. And that is something they cannot bear." He said the invasion illustrated the dangers of acting first and worrying about the consequences afterwards. Among the consequences was the damage done to America's reputation by the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, the camp opened by George W Bush at a US base in Cuba to hold "enemy combattants" captured around the world. For Le Bret, the conflict in Iraq was "an unfinished war, built on a lie" that ended up destabilising the whole region. Jean-Pierre Filiu, professor of Middle East studies at Sciences-Po University in Paris, said it also squandered support for the US among its allies. "The US enjoyed unprecedented international solidarity in its campaign against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda (in Afghanistan)," he said. "But after that campaign, which was crowned with success within a few weeks, the Neoconversatives imposed a strategy of a 'global war on terror' which reignited global jihad." Tai chi terror tactics The US presence in Iraq made it a magnet for jihadists, with Al-Qaeda in Iraq becoming a major force in the post-war insurgency that later morphed into the Islamic State (IS) group. IS extremists, seeing power vacuums created through weak governance in Iraq and a civil war in Syria, grabbed territory in both countries after declaring their "caliphate" for Muslims in 2014. Spurred by social media and the forces of globalisation, they have since encouraged Muslims to take up arms against the West which they see as an ideological enemy. While conducting a campaign of mass murder and terror in territories under their control, they have spread their tentacles worldwide, inspiring or carrying out attacks in France, Germany, the United States, Turkey or Bangladesh. "Daesh, or the so-called Islamic State, was born out of the alliance of two totalitarianisms, that of Al-Qaeda and the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein," Filiu said. "Instead of taking the measure of this new threat, Barack Obama was for a long time in denial, allowing the emergence of a 'terror caliphate' that has spread around the world," he argued. Obama's reticence to commit the US to a new battle in the Middle East reflected the caution of a nation scarred by Iraq, where thousands of US troops and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians died during the post-invasion insurgency. Bin Laden's son said 9/11 was aimed at setting up a grand showdown with America in Afghanistan where the Soviet army had been defeated by US-backed mujahideen. "I was surprised the Americans took the bait", Omar bin Laden, one of 11 sons, told Rolling Stone magazine in 2010, a year before his father's death at the hands of US special forces. By forcing Washington out of its isolationism and luring it into Iraq, bin Laden was using what historian Yuval Noah Harari calls the "tai-chi masters method." "The terrorists hope that even though they can barely dent the enemy's material, power, fear and confusion will cause the enemy to misuse its strength," the author of Sapiens, a history of humanity, wrote in The Guardian newspaper last year. "Terrorists calculate that when the enraged enemy uses its massive power against them, it will raise a much more violent military and political storm than the terrorists themselves could ever create." (AFP)

'Shock and awe' response to 9/11 helped jihad's spread: Analysts

A militant suspected to be involved in the attack on Dhaka&#39;s Holey Artisan bakery killed himself during a raid on a hideout in Dhaka, media reports quoted Bangladesh police as saying.&nbsp; 
 
The Dhaka Tribune said Bangladesh police captured three female militants from a hideout in Dhaka&#39;s Azimpur area last night, while another killed himself.&nbsp; 
 
National police chief Shahidul Hoque&nbsp;said the man was identified as Abdul Karim and was suspected of being one of the attack&#39;s planners. Reuters said he was suspected to have rented a flat for the militants who carried out the attack. 
 
Another official, Sanwar Hossain, was quoted as saying: &quot;He killed himself inside the flat so that we can&rsquo;t collect information from him through interrogation.&quot; 
 
Police said the women also attacked and wounded five officers from the counter-terrorism unit. Police said the women used&nbsp;chilli powder, explosives and knives. 
 
Police said one of the women could have been the wife of a man killed last week in a shootout. That man is believed to have trained the attackers. 
 
The July attack which left 22 of the bakery&#39;s patrons dead was claimed by Islamic State; the Bangladesh government however blamed home-grown militants for the attack. 
 
US secretary of state John Kerry, referring to the attack&nbsp;during a visit to Dhaka last month, said elements of Islamic state are &#39;&#39;connected&#39;&#39; to operatives in Bangladesh. 
 
More than two dozen suspected militants have been killed by the police since the attack.&nbsp; 
 
(WION wit Reuters)

National police chief Shahidul Hoque?said the man was identified as Abdul Karim and was suspected of being one of the attack's planners

A militant suspected to be involved in the attack on Dhaka's Holey Artisan bakery killed himself during a raid on a hideout in Dhaka, media reports quoted Bangladesh police as saying. The Dhaka Tribune said Bangladesh police captured three female militants from a hideout in Dhaka's Azimpur area last night, while another killed himself. National police chief Shahidul Hoque said the man was identified as Abdul Karim and was suspected of being one of the attack's planners. Reuters said he was suspected to have rented a flat for the militants who carried out the attack. Another official, Sanwar Hossain, was quoted as saying: "He killed himself inside the flat so that we can’t collect information from him through interrogation." Police said the women also attacked and wounded five officers from the counter-terrorism unit. Police said the women used chilli powder, explosives and knives. Police said one of the women could have been the wife of a man killed last week in a shootout. That man is believed to have trained the attackers. The July attack which left 22 of the bakery's patrons dead was claimed by Islamic State; the Bangladesh government however blamed home-grown militants for the attack. US secretary of state John Kerry, referring to the attack during a visit to Dhaka last month, said elements of Islamic state are ''connected'' to operatives in Bangladesh. More than two dozen suspected militants have been killed by the police since the attack. (WION wit Reuters)

Dhaka cafe attack suspect killed himself during raid, police say

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Sunday of new terror attacks against France. 
 
Paris was put on high alert last week after French authorities said they had dismantled a &#39;terrorist cell&#39; planning to attack a Paris railway station under Islamic state&#39;s guidance. 
 
&quot;This week at least two attacks were foiled,&quot; Manuel Valls said in an interview with Europe 1 radio and Itele television on Sunday, Reuters reported. 
 
Three French women were arrested this Friday after a car loaded with gas cylinders was found near Notre Dame cathedral. 
 
Valls, however, said former president Nicolas Sarkozy&#39;s proposals to boost security was not the right way to deal with threats. 
 
Sarkozy had suggested special courts and detention facilities for citizens suspected of militant links in an interview to local newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. 
 
&quot;Every Frenchman suspected of being linked to terrorism, because he regularly consults a jihadist website, or his behavior shows signs of radicalisation or because is in close contact with radicalised people, must be preventively placed in a detention center,&quot; Sarkozy had said in the interview. 
 
Last month, Sarkozy announced his candidature for the 2017 presidential election. 
 
&quot;He (Sarkozy) is wrong about trying to wring the neck of the rule of law,&quot; Valls said in response to Sarkozy&#39;s statement. 
 
Valls said there were 15,000 people on the radar of police and intelligent services who were in the process of being radicalised, Reuters reported. 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies)

Officials said last week they had dismantled a 'terrorist cell' that planned to attack a Paris railway station under IS guidance

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned Sunday of new terror attacks against France. Paris was put on high alert last week after French authorities said they had dismantled a 'terrorist cell' planning to attack a Paris railway station under Islamic state's guidance. "This week at least two attacks were foiled," Manuel Valls said in an interview with Europe 1 radio and Itele television on Sunday, Reuters reported. Three French women were arrested this Friday after a car loaded with gas cylinders was found near Notre Dame cathedral. Valls, however, said former president Nicolas Sarkozy's proposals to boost security was not the right way to deal with threats. Sarkozy had suggested special courts and detention facilities for citizens suspected of militant links in an interview to local newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche. "Every Frenchman suspected of being linked to terrorism, because he regularly consults a jihadist website, or his behavior shows signs of radicalisation or because is in close contact with radicalised people, must be preventively placed in a detention center," Sarkozy had said in the interview. Last month, Sarkozy announced his candidature for the 2017 presidential election. "He (Sarkozy) is wrong about trying to wring the neck of the rule of law," Valls said in response to Sarkozy's statement. Valls said there were 15,000 people on the radar of police and intelligent services who were in the process of being radicalised, Reuters reported. (WION with inputs from agencies)

French prime minister warns of new attacks, says 15,000 people on police radar

Two bomb blasts in a shopping mall in Iraq&rsquo;s central Baghdad killed at least 13 people and injured more than 30 on Friday night. 
One explosion came from a parked car and another was caused by a suicide bomber in a vehicle outside Nakheel mall on Palestine street, the police informed. 
 
The blast also shattered windows of nearby structures. 
 
Shops in the mall were likely to be open until late in the night ahead of Eid al-Adha festival on Monday. 
 
No one claimed immediate responsibility for Friday&rsquo;s bombing but the Islamic State had said that it had carried out the previous attacks in Baghdad&rsquo;s shopping centres. 
 
A car bomb had killed seven people on Tuesday in Baghdad&rsquo;s Karrada district and another suicide bombing in July had left more than 300 people dead. 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies)

The two blasts in a shopping mall follow a series of blasts that rocked the capital city in the last few months

Two bomb blasts in a shopping mall in Iraq’s central Baghdad killed at least 13 people and injured more than 30 on Friday night. One explosion came from a parked car and another was caused by a suicide bomber in a vehicle outside Nakheel mall on Palestine street, the police informed. The blast also shattered windows of nearby structures. Shops in the mall were likely to be open until late in the night ahead of Eid al-Adha festival on Monday. No one claimed immediate responsibility for Friday’s bombing but the Islamic State had said that it had carried out the previous attacks in Baghdad’s shopping centres. A car bomb had killed seven people on Tuesday in Baghdad’s Karrada district and another suicide bombing in July had left more than 300 people dead. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Blasts in Baghdad kill at least 13, injure more than 30

Three Islamic State-linked women, who were planning to launch a jihadist attack&nbsp;in France, were arrested on Thursday, French authorities said on Friday. 
 
The suspects were arrested after French police found a car laden with gas cylinders. 
 
A half-lit cigarette&nbsp;and a flammable material&nbsp;found in the boot of the car were used to launch the cylinder attack, investigators said. Fortunately, the women were unable to blow up the car. 
 
&quot;A terrorist cell made up of young women totally receptive to the deadly ideology of Daesh (IS) has been dismantled,&quot; France&#39;s anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said a press conference.&nbsp; 
 
France is on high alert after security services received warnings about a potential attack in railway stations. 
 
The incarcerated women were hiding in an apartment in&nbsp;the&nbsp;Paris&nbsp;suburb of Boussy-Saint-Antoine. 
 
One policeman was stabbed during the Thursday night operation. 
 
Prosecutors have also found&nbsp;links between one of the arrested women and IS. 
 
Nineteen-year-old Ines Madani, suspected to lead the radical group, was the fiancee of&nbsp;Larossi Abballa. Madani had also individually pledged her allegiance to the IS, prosecutors said. 
 
In June, 25-year-old&nbsp;Abbala had murdered policeman&nbsp;Jean-Baptiste S and his partner in Magnanville, a&nbsp;Paris suburb. 
 
Madani was then engaged to another IS jihadist&nbsp;Adel Kermiche who&nbsp;killed priest Jacques Hamel in July.&nbsp; 
 
The other two women have been idenified as 23-year-old&nbsp;Sarah H&nbsp;and Amel S, who is 39 years of age. Amel&#39;s daughter has also been taken to police custody. 
 
Sarah was the woman who stabbed the policeman in the Thursday swoop. 
 
The developments also demonstrated IS&#39;s willingness to use women to launch fatal attacks in France. 
 
(AFP)

Three radicalised women were 'determined' on launching an attack in the city, French investigators said

Three Islamic State-linked women, who were planning to launch a jihadist attack in France, were arrested on Thursday, French authorities said on Friday. The suspects were arrested after French police found a car laden with gas cylinders. A half-lit cigarette and a flammable material found in the boot of the car were used to launch the cylinder attack, investigators said. Fortunately, the women were unable to blow up the car. "A terrorist cell made up of young women totally receptive to the deadly ideology of Daesh (IS) has been dismantled," France's anti-terrorism prosecutor Francois Molins said a press conference. France is on high alert after security services received warnings about a potential attack in railway stations. The incarcerated women were hiding in an apartment in the Paris suburb of Boussy-Saint-Antoine. One policeman was stabbed during the Thursday night operation. Prosecutors have also found links between one of the arrested women and IS. Nineteen-year-old Ines Madani, suspected to lead the radical group, was the fiancee of Larossi Abballa. Madani had also individually pledged her allegiance to the IS, prosecutors said. In June, 25-year-old Abbala had murdered policeman Jean-Baptiste S and his partner in Magnanville, a Paris suburb. Madani was then engaged to another IS jihadist Adel Kermiche who killed priest Jacques Hamel in July. The other two women have been idenified as 23-year-old Sarah H and Amel S, who is 39 years of age. Amel's daughter has also been taken to police custody. Sarah was the woman who stabbed the policeman in the Thursday swoop. The developments also demonstrated IS's willingness to use women to launch fatal attacks in France. (AFP)

France foils IS-directed gas cylinder explosion in Paris

United Kingdom-based Anjem Choudary was handed a five-and-a-half year prison sentence today for mobilising support for Islamic State. 
 
Choudary was convicted by a UK court on July 28, 2016, for using his online lectures to influence &quot;impressionable&quot; youth to rally for the Middle East-based jihadist organisation. 
 
His associate&nbsp;Mohammed Mizanur Rahman was also slapped with the same sentence. 
 
Judge&nbsp;Justice Holroyde said the pair had &quot;indirectly encouraged violent terrorist activity&quot;. 
 
Choudary remained seated when the judge read out the prison sentence. The judgement was followed by cries of &#39;Allahu Akbar&#39; (God is great) from his followers sitting in the court room. 
 
Choudary ran into trouble in 2014 when his name appeared in an oath that legitimised the purpose of the Islamic State.&nbsp; 
 
Although the 49-year-old has denied his role in any militant activity, the police have long seen him as a key source in galvanising support for the IS and radicalising young Muslims to participate in the war against the West.&nbsp; 
 
Choudary gained notoriety for making incendiary comments in his videos. In one of them, he had spelled his desire to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque.&nbsp; 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies)

The judge said Choudary and his confidant, who was also handed the same prison sentence, had "indirectly encouraged terrorist activity"

United Kingdom-based Anjem Choudary was handed a five-and-a-half year prison sentence today for mobilising support for Islamic State. Choudary was convicted by a UK court on July 28, 2016, for using his online lectures to influence "impressionable" youth to rally for the Middle East-based jihadist organisation. His associate Mohammed Mizanur Rahman was also slapped with the same sentence. Judge Justice Holroyde said the pair had "indirectly encouraged violent terrorist activity". Choudary remained seated when the judge read out the prison sentence. The judgement was followed by cries of 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) from his followers sitting in the court room. Choudary ran into trouble in 2014 when his name appeared in an oath that legitimised the purpose of the Islamic State. Although the 49-year-old has denied his role in any militant activity, the police have long seen him as a key source in galvanising support for the IS and radicalising young Muslims to participate in the war against the West. Choudary gained notoriety for making incendiary comments in his videos. In one of them, he had spelled his desire to convert Buckingham Palace into a mosque. (WION with inputs from agencies)

UK Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary jailed for supporting IS

The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for a spate of bomb attacks across Syria on Monday that left dozens dead in mostly government-controlled territory.&nbsp; 
 
The IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said the jihadist group was behind a &quot;string of simultaneous suicide attacks&quot; in Damascus, coastal Tartus, central Homs, and Hasakeh in the northeast. 
 
At least 48 people died in the blasts, Syrian state media reported, a majority of them in a double bombing in President Bashar al-Assad&#39;s coastal stronghold of Tartus.&nbsp; 
 
Quoting the head of Al-Bassel hospital in Tartus, state television said 35 people were killed and 43 others wounded in the attack.&nbsp; 
 
In the northeast of the country, at least eight people were killed by a bomber on a motorbike in Hasakeh city, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, though the regime is also present. 
 
State media said the dead were six members of the Kurds&#39; Asayesh security forces and two civilians. 
 
Amaq said in a statement that a bomber wearing a suicide belt had attacked an Asayesh checkpoint there. 
 
Another four people were killed in a car bomb in Homs city&#39;s Al-Zahraa neighbourhood, whose residents mostly belong to the same Alawite sect as Assad.&nbsp; 
 
A bomb attack was also reported on Al-Sabura road west of the capital Damascus, with state media saying one person was killed and three were wounded. 
 
(AFP)

The IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said the jihadist group was behind a 'string of simultaneous suicide attacks'

The Islamic State jihadist group claimed responsibility for a spate of bomb attacks across Syria on Monday that left dozens dead in mostly government-controlled territory. The IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said the jihadist group was behind a "string of simultaneous suicide attacks" in Damascus, coastal Tartus, central Homs, and Hasakeh in the northeast. At least 48 people died in the blasts, Syrian state media reported, a majority of them in a double bombing in President Bashar al-Assad's coastal stronghold of Tartus. Quoting the head of Al-Bassel hospital in Tartus, state television said 35 people were killed and 43 others wounded in the attack. In the northeast of the country, at least eight people were killed by a bomber on a motorbike in Hasakeh city, which is mostly controlled by Kurdish forces, though the regime is also present. State media said the dead were six members of the Kurds' Asayesh security forces and two civilians. Amaq said in a statement that a bomber wearing a suicide belt had attacked an Asayesh checkpoint there. Another four people were killed in a car bomb in Homs city's Al-Zahraa neighbourhood, whose residents mostly belong to the same Alawite sect as Assad. A bomb attack was also reported on Al-Sabura road west of the capital Damascus, with state media saying one person was killed and three were wounded. (AFP)

48 dead in IS-claimed string of bomb attacks across Syria

Turkey ramped up its its offensive against the Islamic State in Syria on Saturday as its tanks crossed into the northern part of the country from the Kilis province. 
 
Turkey&#39;s fresh military impetus helped Syrian rebels retake two villages held by the IS.&nbsp;
&quot;Today, they (Turkey-backed Syrian rebels)&nbsp;managed to take control of the villages of Arab Ezza, al-Fursan, and have moved towards Lilwa,&quot; Ahmed Othman,&nbsp;a commander in the pro-Turkey rebel group Sultan Murad, told Al Jazeera from Aleppo&#39;s northern suburbs.&nbsp;
Howitzers belonging to the Turkish force pounded IS strongholds in the area, Dogan news agency reported. 
 
A Reuters cameraman in the area earlier heard a repeated booming sound and saw plumes of smoke rising from the Syrian side of the border. 
 
The tanks are reported to have crossed the frontier near the Turkish village of Cobanbey.&nbsp; 
 
The area is some 55 kilometres southwest of Jarablus, where last week Turkish-backed Syrian forces launched &quot;Operation Euphrates Shield&quot;, Turkey&#39;s first major incursion into Syria since the civil war began five years ago. 
 
Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have made advances against IS militants on one hand and the US-backed Kurdish rebels on the other.&nbsp; 
 
The same day, Turkish-backed rebel factions from the Free Syrian Army announced that they had seized several villages from the Islamic State, news that was confirmed by monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.&nbsp; 
 
The Hamza Brigade, a group fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, said it had taken control of Arab Ezza, a village near which Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes on Friday. 
 
A source in the Failaq al-Sham rebel group said FSA factions had also captured the villages of Fursan, Lilawa, Kino and Najma just south of Arab Ezza. 
 
The US has voiced concerns about Turkish strikes on Kurdish-aligned groups which it backs in its battle against the Islamic State stating that it would jeopardise the broader goal of ridding Syria of the militant group. 
 
(WION with inputs from Reuters)

Turkish tanks crossed into northern Syria to intensify its attack on Islamic State

Turkey ramped up its its offensive against the Islamic State in Syria on Saturday as its tanks crossed into the northern part of the country from the Kilis province. Turkey's fresh military impetus helped Syrian rebels retake two villages held by the IS. "Today, they (Turkey-backed Syrian rebels) managed to take control of the villages of Arab Ezza, al-Fursan, and have moved towards Lilwa," Ahmed Othman, a commander in the pro-Turkey rebel group Sultan Murad, told Al Jazeera from Aleppo's northern suburbs. Howitzers belonging to the Turkish force pounded IS strongholds in the area, Dogan news agency reported. A Reuters cameraman in the area earlier heard a repeated booming sound and saw plumes of smoke rising from the Syrian side of the border. The tanks are reported to have crossed the frontier near the Turkish village of Cobanbey. The area is some 55 kilometres southwest of Jarablus, where last week Turkish-backed Syrian forces launched "Operation Euphrates Shield", Turkey's first major incursion into Syria since the civil war began five years ago. Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have made advances against IS militants on one hand and the US-backed Kurdish rebels on the other. The same day, Turkish-backed rebel factions from the Free Syrian Army announced that they had seized several villages from the Islamic State, news that was confirmed by monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Hamza Brigade, a group fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army, said it had taken control of Arab Ezza, a village near which Turkish warplanes carried out air strikes on Friday. A source in the Failaq al-Sham rebel group said FSA factions had also captured the villages of Fursan, Lilawa, Kino and Najma just south of Arab Ezza. The US has voiced concerns about Turkish strikes on Kurdish-aligned groups which it backs in its battle against the Islamic State stating that it would jeopardise the broader goal of ridding Syria of the militant group. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

Turkey ups its offensive against IS in Syria

Pakistan has foiled Islamic State&#39;s plans to launch attacks in the country, its military establishment&nbsp;said. 
 
Pakistani authorities have so far arrested 309 extremists to nip terror attacks in the bud. 
 
&quot;They (the apprehended men) were involved in attacks on media and security personnel and were planning attacks on government, diplomatic and civilian targets,&quot;&nbsp;said&nbsp;Lieutenant-General Asim Bajwa, Pakistan&nbsp;military&#39;s top spokesperson.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;They tried to make an ingress, and they failed, and they have been apprehended so far,&quot; he further said. 
 
Most of the arrested&nbsp;militants are Pakistani jihaidists who switched allegiances to the IS. There were a few foreign fighters&nbsp;including some from Afghanistan and Syria. 
 
Bajwa also said authorities have arrested a core group of 20 organisers. &quot;We have captured all of them, except for one who I am sure is not in Pakistan.&quot; 
 
The comments come a few days after a bomb explosion ripped through a Quetta hospital, killing 70. The attack was claimed by the IS, stoking fears that the West Asia-based jihadi&nbsp;militants were building up a presence in the country.&nbsp; 
 
A Pakistani Taliban splinter group also claimed responsibility for the attack. This prompted Bajwa to say IS&#39;s claims of perpetrating the bomb attack were false.&nbsp; 
 
Bajwa also said there were IS militants active in the Afghan provinces of&nbsp; Nangarhar, Khost and Kunar.&nbsp; 
 
The spokesman also responded to US secretary of state John Kerry&#39;s comment made in India that Pakistan was not doing enought to wipe out militants from their country. 
 
&quot;Terrorists&nbsp;of all organisations, including Haqqanis, including Afghan Taliban, have been killed and some apprehended ... so if you say that you know actions have not been taken or (are) not being taken, that is wrong,&quot; he said, referring to US concerns about the country being lenient towards certain jihadist groups. 
 
&quot;We have paid $106.9 billion (on) this war ... If anyone points a finger at Pakistan or casts an eye of suspicion on Pakistan, they need to know this cost,&quot; said Bajwa. 
 
(WION with added inputs from Reuters)

The country's military said over 300 Islamist militants, who were planning 'attacks on government and civilian targets', have been arrested

Pakistan has foiled Islamic State's plans to launch attacks in the country, its military establishment said. Pakistani authorities have so far arrested 309 extremists to nip terror attacks in the bud. "They (the apprehended men) were involved in attacks on media and security personnel and were planning attacks on government, diplomatic and civilian targets," said Lieutenant-General Asim Bajwa, Pakistan military's top spokesperson. "They tried to make an ingress, and they failed, and they have been apprehended so far," he further said. Most of the arrested militants are Pakistani jihaidists who switched allegiances to the IS. There were a few foreign fighters including some from Afghanistan and Syria. Bajwa also said authorities have arrested a core group of 20 organisers. "We have captured all of them, except for one who I am sure is not in Pakistan." The comments come a few days after a bomb explosion ripped through a Quetta hospital, killing 70. The attack was claimed by the IS, stoking fears that the West Asia-based jihadi militants were building up a presence in the country. A Pakistani Taliban splinter group also claimed responsibility for the attack. This prompted Bajwa to say IS's claims of perpetrating the bomb attack were false. Bajwa also said there were IS militants active in the Afghan provinces of Nangarhar, Khost and Kunar. The spokesman also responded to US secretary of state John Kerry's comment made in India that Pakistan was not doing enought to wipe out militants from their country. "Terrorists of all organisations, including Haqqanis, including Afghan Taliban, have been killed and some apprehended ... so if you say that you know actions have not been taken or (are) not being taken, that is wrong," he said, referring to US concerns about the country being lenient towards certain jihadist groups. "We have paid $106.9 billion (on) this war ... If anyone points a finger at Pakistan or casts an eye of suspicion on Pakistan, they need to know this cost," said Bajwa. (WION with added inputs from Reuters)

Pakistan has thwarted IS attacks in country: Military

Islamic State spokesman and head of external operations Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has been killed in Aleppo in Syria, the organisation&#39;s Amaq news agency said on Tuesday. 
 
The United States carried out an air strike targeting Adnani, a US&nbsp;defense official said after the militant group announced the group&#39;s longest-serving leaders&nbsp;had been killed. 
 
The Amaq&nbsp;news agency, however, reported that Adnani was killed &quot;while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo&quot;. 
 
The US&nbsp;official said the strike targeted a vehicle in the town of al-Bab in Syria. 
 
He declined to say whether Adnani was killed.&nbsp; 
 
Adnani was one of the group&#39;s most prominent leaders&nbsp;along with group&#39;s caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. 
 
He has been the group&#39;s chief propagandist since he declared in a statement that the group was establishing a caliphate cover huge swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. 
 
Recent advances by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it. 
 
According to Hisham al-Hashimi, a&nbsp;security analyst who advises the Iraqi government on Islamic State, Adnani was injured in a coalition strike on August 17 in north of Aleppo. 
 
The Islamic State is fighting Turkish and US-backed Syrian rebels there. 
 
A US&nbsp;counter-terrorism official who monitors Islamic State said that Adnani&#39;s death will hurt the militants &quot;in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base ... and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere&quot;. 
 
Designated a &ldquo;global terrorist&rdquo; by the US this year, Adnani was one of the first foreign fighters to oppose US-led coalition forces in Iraq since 2003. 
 
(WION with inputs from Reuters)

The US carried out an air strike targeting Adnani, a US defense official said after IS announced the leader had been killed

Islamic State spokesman and head of external operations Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has been killed in Aleppo in Syria, the organisation's Amaq news agency said on Tuesday. The United States carried out an air strike targeting Adnani, a US defense official said after the militant group announced the group's longest-serving leaders had been killed. The Amaq news agency, however, reported that Adnani was killed "while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo". The US official said the strike targeted a vehicle in the town of al-Bab in Syria. He declined to say whether Adnani was killed. Adnani was one of the group's most prominent leaders along with group's caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He has been the group's chief propagandist since he declared in a statement that the group was establishing a caliphate cover huge swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Recent advances by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias, and by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, have made inroads into Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province, cutting them off from the Turkish border and supply lines along it. According to Hisham al-Hashimi, a security analyst who advises the Iraqi government on Islamic State, Adnani was injured in a coalition strike on August 17 in north of Aleppo. The Islamic State is fighting Turkish and US-backed Syrian rebels there. A US counter-terrorism official who monitors Islamic State said that Adnani's death will hurt the militants "in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base ... and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere". Designated a “global terrorist” by the US this year, Adnani was one of the first foreign fighters to oppose US-led coalition forces in Iraq since 2003. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

Islamic State propaganda chief killed in Syria's Aleppo

Turkey warned Monday it would carry out more strikes on a US-backed Kurdish militia in Syria if it fails to retreat, as Washington said President Barack Obama will meet his Turkish counterpart over the weekend. 
 
Turkish forces pressed on with a two-pronged operation inside Syria against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and the Syrian Kurdish People&#39;s Protection Units (YPG), shelling over a dozen targets. 
 
The strikes against the YPG are hugely sensitive as the outfit -- seen as a terror group by Ankara -- is allied with Turkey&#39;s NATO partner the United States in the fight against IS in Syria. 
 
Ankara has said it killed 25 Kurdish &quot;terrorists&quot; in strikes on YPG positions on Sunday -- meaning the two US-backed partner forces are now fighting each other. 
 
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the clashes were &quot;unacceptable and a source of deep concern.&quot; 
 
He called for steps to de-escalate the situation and said Washington had once again told the YPG to retreat east of the Euphrates. This has &quot;largely occurred,&quot; he added. 
 
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter later said he had appealed to both sides not to fight. 
 
&quot;That&#39;s the basis of our cooperation with both of them -- specifically not to engage one another,&quot; Carter said. 
 
Two US defense officials told AFP that SDF forces had &quot;all&quot; withdrawn east of the Euphrates, but they said some Kurdish people remained to the west. 
 
Turkey&#39;s operation aims to push the YPG back across the Euphrates to prevent it joining up a region east of the river already under its control with a Kurdish-held area to the west.
<h2>&#39;Ethnic cleansing&#39;</h2>
Ankara fears the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria would bolster Kurdish rebels across the border in southeastern Turkey. 
 
The situation in northern Syria is yet another complication in the country&#39;s already tangled civil war, and potentially throws a wrench in US plans to defeat the Islamic State group in the region. 
 
US Vice President Joe Biden said last week that Washington had ordered the YPG to retreat or risk losing American support. But Ankara says it had seen no evidence of this. 
 
President Obama will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday in China on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, with Syria high on the agenda, top aide Ben Rhodes announced Monday, stressing the need &quot;to stay united.&quot; 
 
It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. 
 
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the Kurdish militia of &quot;ethnic cleansing&quot; in the mainly Arab area around the city of Manbij, west of the Euphrates, which the YPG wrested from IS earlier this month. 
 
Turkey considers the YPG an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly insurgency on Turkish territory for over three decades. 
 
On Monday, the Turkish air force launched air strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq, state media said.
<h2>&#39;Deep concern&#39;</h2>
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 40 civilians were killed in Turkish shelling and air strikes on pro-Kurdish positions in northern Syria on Sunday. 
 
Ankara strongly denies killing any civilians. 
 
The army said 10 more villages had &quot;been cleared of terrorist elements&quot; Monday by Turkish-backed anti-regime Syrian fighters. 
 
A 400-square-kilometre (154-square-mile) area has been cleared since the operation began on August 24, it added. 
 
President Erdogan said in a statement the offensive would continue until &quot;the threat of Daesh and YPG/PKK is over.&quot; Daesh is an acronym for IS. 
 
On Monday, at least five people were injured in the Turkish town of Kilis by rockets fired across the border from an IS-held area, NTV television reported. The army returned fire, the report said. 
 
Ankara-backed forces faced little resistance when they captured the IS border stronghold of Jarabulus last week, days after a suspected IS suicide bombing killed 55 people in southeast Turkey. 
 
But the standoff with the Kurdish militia has been intense, with a Turkish soldier killed on Saturday in a YPG rocket attack on his tank.
<h2> 
&#39;Turkey&#39;s crimes against humanity&#39;&nbsp;</h2>
The Turkish army said it had fired 61 times on targets in northern Syria in the previous 24 hours. It did not say which group was targeted. 
 
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said all relevant parties had been forewarned of Turkey&#39;s operation in Syria, including the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a bitter enemy of Ankara who had been informed by its ally Russia. 
 
Syria&#39;s official Sana agency said Damascus had written to the UN Security Council to protest Turkey&#39;s &quot;crimes against humanity&quot; in the country. 
 
(AFP)

Strikes against YPG are sensitive as the outfit is allied with Turkey's NATO partner, the United States, in its fight against IS in Syria

Turkey warned Monday it would carry out more strikes on a US-backed Kurdish militia in Syria if it fails to retreat, as Washington said President Barack Obama will meet his Turkish counterpart over the weekend. Turkish forces pressed on with a two-pronged operation inside Syria against Islamic State (IS) jihadists and the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), shelling over a dozen targets. The strikes against the YPG are hugely sensitive as the outfit -- seen as a terror group by Ankara -- is allied with Turkey's NATO partner the United States in the fight against IS in Syria. Ankara has said it killed 25 Kurdish "terrorists" in strikes on YPG positions on Sunday -- meaning the two US-backed partner forces are now fighting each other. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said the clashes were "unacceptable and a source of deep concern." He called for steps to de-escalate the situation and said Washington had once again told the YPG to retreat east of the Euphrates. This has "largely occurred," he added. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter later said he had appealed to both sides not to fight. "That's the basis of our cooperation with both of them -- specifically not to engage one another," Carter said. Two US defense officials told AFP that SDF forces had "all" withdrawn east of the Euphrates, but they said some Kurdish people remained to the west. Turkey's operation aims to push the YPG back across the Euphrates to prevent it joining up a region east of the river already under its control with a Kurdish-held area to the west. 'Ethnic cleansing' Ankara fears the emergence of an autonomous Kurdish region in Syria would bolster Kurdish rebels across the border in southeastern Turkey. The situation in northern Syria is yet another complication in the country's already tangled civil war, and potentially throws a wrench in US plans to defeat the Islamic State group in the region. US Vice President Joe Biden said last week that Washington had ordered the YPG to retreat or risk losing American support. But Ankara says it had seen no evidence of this. President Obama will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday in China on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, with Syria high on the agenda, top aide Ben Rhodes announced Monday, stressing the need "to stay united." It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since a failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the Kurdish militia of "ethnic cleansing" in the mainly Arab area around the city of Manbij, west of the Euphrates, which the YPG wrested from IS earlier this month. Turkey considers the YPG an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a deadly insurgency on Turkish territory for over three decades. On Monday, the Turkish air force launched air strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq, state media said. 'Deep concern' The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 40 civilians were killed in Turkish shelling and air strikes on pro-Kurdish positions in northern Syria on Sunday. Ankara strongly denies killing any civilians. The army said 10 more villages had "been cleared of terrorist elements" Monday by Turkish-backed anti-regime Syrian fighters. A 400-square-kilometre (154-square-mile) area has been cleared since the operation began on August 24, it added. President Erdogan said in a statement the offensive would continue until "the threat of Daesh and YPG/PKK is over." Daesh is an acronym for IS. On Monday, at least five people were injured in the Turkish town of Kilis by rockets fired across the border from an IS-held area, NTV television reported. The army returned fire, the report said. Ankara-backed forces faced little resistance when they captured the IS border stronghold of Jarabulus last week, days after a suspected IS suicide bombing killed 55 people in southeast Turkey. But the standoff with the Kurdish militia has been intense, with a Turkish soldier killed on Saturday in a YPG rocket attack on his tank. 'Turkey's crimes against humanity' The Turkish army said it had fired 61 times on targets in northern Syria in the previous 24 hours. It did not say which group was targeted. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said all relevant parties had been forewarned of Turkey's operation in Syria, including the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, a bitter enemy of Ankara who had been informed by its ally Russia. Syria's official Sana agency said Damascus had written to the UN Security Council to protest Turkey's "crimes against humanity" in the country. (AFP)

Turkey warns Syrian Kurd militia of more strikes

Around 35 civilians were killed as Turkish warplanes and artillery struck areas held by Kurdish YPG (people protection units) militia in north Syria on Sunday, said reports. 
 
Turkey is involved in a cross-border campaign launched last week with its Syrian rebel allies and says that its campaign is against the Islamic State while attempting to stop Kurdish forces from extending their control in other territories. 
 
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that Turkish warplanes had struck areas north of Manbij, a city south of Jarablus captured by Kurdish-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces this month in a US-backed operation. 
 
&nbsp;25 Kurdish militants were killed in its air strikes.&nbsp; 
 
Turkish officials say their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not expand the territory they already control along Turkey&#39;s border as it is about driving Islamic State from its strongholds. 
 
The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group with a network of sources in Syria, said Turkish-allied forces had seized at least two villages south of Jarablus, Jub al-Kousa and al-Amarna, that were held by militias loyal to the SDF. 
 
The fighting killed 20 civilians in Jub al-Kousa and 15 in al-Amarna, while scores more were wounded, the group said. 
 
Ankara wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of an unbroken swathe of Syrian territory on Turkey&#39;s frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish PKK militant group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey. 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies)

Turkey last week launched a cross-border campaign with its Syrian rebel allies against the Islamic State

Around 35 civilians were killed as Turkish warplanes and artillery struck areas held by Kurdish YPG (people protection units) militia in north Syria on Sunday, said reports. Turkey is involved in a cross-border campaign launched last week with its Syrian rebel allies and says that its campaign is against the Islamic State while attempting to stop Kurdish forces from extending their control in other territories. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that Turkish warplanes had struck areas north of Manbij, a city south of Jarablus captured by Kurdish-aligned Syrian Democratic Forces this month in a US-backed operation. 25 Kurdish militants were killed in its air strikes. Turkish officials say their goal in Syria is as much about ensuring Kurdish forces do not expand the territory they already control along Turkey's border as it is about driving Islamic State from its strongholds. The Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group with a network of sources in Syria, said Turkish-allied forces had seized at least two villages south of Jarablus, Jub al-Kousa and al-Amarna, that were held by militias loyal to the SDF. The fighting killed 20 civilians in Jub al-Kousa and 15 in al-Amarna, while scores more were wounded, the group said. Ankara wants to stop Kurdish forces gaining control of an unbroken swathe of Syrian territory on Turkey's frontier, which it fears could embolden the Kurdish PKK militant group that has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey. (WION with inputs from agencies)

At least 35 civilians killed as Turkish warplanes hit north Syria

Around 50 armed men stormed into a Philippines jail and freed 28 inmates&nbsp;on Saturday, authorities said today. 
 
Eight of the 28 escapees, who were arrested barely a week ago for carrying bombs and pistols in a van, belong to the notorious Maute group. 
 
The rest of the detainees took advantage of the jailbreak to escape jail, provincial police chief senior superintendent Agustine Tello said,&nbsp; 
 
The armed militants, believed to be operatives of the local Maute group, raided&nbsp;the jail in the southern city of Marawi. 
 
Authorities will probe why the guards did not fight the attackers and why security in the prison had not been upgraded after high-risk suspects were brought in. 
 
The Mautes are a notorious group and have carried out several kidnappings and bomb attacks in the Phillippines, including the February attack on an army outpost in the&nbsp;Mindanao town of Butig which displaced thousands of people and injured many during the week-long siege.&nbsp; 
 
(WION with inputs from agencies) 
 
&nbsp;

The militants, suspected to be Maute gang operatives, freed eight of their comrades who were recently held for carrying bombs, firearms

Around 50 armed men stormed into a Philippines jail and freed 28 inmates on Saturday, authorities said today. Eight of the 28 escapees, who were arrested barely a week ago for carrying bombs and pistols in a van, belong to the notorious Maute group. The rest of the detainees took advantage of the jailbreak to escape jail, provincial police chief senior superintendent Agustine Tello said, The armed militants, believed to be operatives of the local Maute group, raided the jail in the southern city of Marawi. Authorities will probe why the guards did not fight the attackers and why security in the prison had not been upgraded after high-risk suspects were brought in. The Mautes are a notorious group and have carried out several kidnappings and bomb attacks in the Phillippines, including the February attack on an army outpost in the Mindanao town of Butig which displaced thousands of people and injured many during the week-long siege. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Armed men storm Philippines jail, free 28 detainees

Islamic State has warned of repeated attacks in Bangladesh and beyond until rule by sharia, Islamic law, is established, saying in a video last week&#39;s killing of 20 people in a Dhaka cafe was merely a glimpse of what is to come. 
 
Five Bangladesh militants, most from wealthy, liberal families, stormed the upmarket restaurant on Friday and murdered customers, the majority of them foreigners from Italy, Japan, India and the United States, before they were gunned down. 
 
&quot;What you witnessed in Bangladesh...was a glimpse. This will repeat, repeat and repeat until you lose and we win and the sharia is established throughout the world,&quot; said a man identified as Bangladeshi fighter Abu Issa al-Bengali, in the video monitored by SITE intelligence site. 
 
Bangladesh has rejected the Islamic State&#39;s claim of responsibility for the Friday attack and blamed it on a domestic militant group.&nbsp;It was one of the deadliest attacks in Bangladesh, where Islamic State and al-Qaeda have claimed a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the past year. The government has also dismissed those claims. 
 
The IS video began with pictures of recent attacks in Paris, Brussels and Orlando in the United States that the Middle East-based militants have claimed. 
 
The fighter in the video, who spoke in both Bengali and English, said Bangladesh must know that it was now part of a bigger battlefield to establish the cross-border &quot;caliphate&quot; the group proclaimed in 2014. 
 
&quot;I want to tell the rulers of Bangladesh that the jihad you see today is not the same that you knew in the past,&quot; he said from a busy street in the militant group&#39;s de facto capital of Raqqa, in Syria.&nbsp;&quot;The jihad that is waged today is a jihad under the shade of the Caliphate.&quot; 
 
Though Bangladesh has rejected the IS claim of responsibility for Friday&#39;s attack, police said they were stepping up security in response to the video threat.&nbsp;&quot;We are taking this issue seriously. All our concerned units are working tirelessly,&quot; said deputy police inspector general Shahidur Rahman. 
 
Police believe the domestic Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, played a significant role in organising the band of privileged, educated young men who carried out the attack. 
 
Police have said they are hunting for six members of the group suspected to have helped the attackers. 
 
But foreign security experts say the scale and sophistication of the attack on the Holey Artisan bakery cafe pointed to some level of guidance from international militant groups.&nbsp;Officials in Dhaka said on Tuesday police commandos had mistakenly shot dead a restaurant chef during the operation to end the siege. 
 
HT Imam, a political adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also said security officials had seen online warnings about an impending attack on Friday and ordered major hotels and restaurants in the neighbourhood of the cafe shut.&nbsp;But they missed the actual target, he said. 
 
(Reuters)

IS warns of repeated attacks in Bangladesh and beyond until rule by sharia, Islamic law, is established throughout the world

Islamic State has warned of repeated attacks in Bangladesh and beyond until rule by sharia, Islamic law, is established, saying in a video last week's killing of 20 people in a Dhaka cafe was merely a glimpse of what is to come. Five Bangladesh militants, most from wealthy, liberal families, stormed the upmarket restaurant on Friday and murdered customers, the majority of them foreigners from Italy, Japan, India and the United States, before they were gunned down. "What you witnessed in Bangladesh...was a glimpse. This will repeat, repeat and repeat until you lose and we win and the sharia is established throughout the world," said a man identified as Bangladeshi fighter Abu Issa al-Bengali, in the video monitored by SITE intelligence site. Bangladesh has rejected the Islamic State's claim of responsibility for the Friday attack and blamed it on a domestic militant group. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Bangladesh, where Islamic State and al-Qaeda have claimed a series of killings of liberals and members of religious minorities in the past year. The government has also dismissed those claims. The IS video began with pictures of recent attacks in Paris, Brussels and Orlando in the United States that the Middle East-based militants have claimed. The fighter in the video, who spoke in both Bengali and English, said Bangladesh must know that it was now part of a bigger battlefield to establish the cross-border "caliphate" the group proclaimed in 2014. "I want to tell the rulers of Bangladesh that the jihad you see today is not the same that you knew in the past," he said from a busy street in the militant group's de facto capital of Raqqa, in Syria. "The jihad that is waged today is a jihad under the shade of the Caliphate." Though Bangladesh has rejected the IS claim of responsibility for Friday's attack, police said they were stepping up security in response to the video threat. "We are taking this issue seriously. All our concerned units are working tirelessly," said deputy police inspector general Shahidur Rahman. Police believe the domestic Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, played a significant role in organising the band of privileged, educated young men who carried out the attack. Police have said they are hunting for six members of the group suspected to have helped the attackers. But foreign security experts say the scale and sophistication of the attack on the Holey Artisan bakery cafe pointed to some level of guidance from international militant groups. Officials in Dhaka said on Tuesday police commandos had mistakenly shot dead a restaurant chef during the operation to end the siege. HT Imam, a political adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also said security officials had seen online warnings about an impending attack on Friday and ordered major hotels and restaurants in the neighbourhood of the cafe shut. But they missed the actual target, he said. (Reuters)

Dhaka cafe attack a glimpse of what's coming, says Islamic State

Turkey on Thursday said it had &quot;every right&quot; to intervene if Syrian Kurdish militia do not withdraw east of the Euphrates River in Syria, as promised by the United States. 
 
The Syrian Kurdish forces &quot;must move to the east of the Euphrates and Turkey is following this very closely,&quot; defence minister Fikri Isik said. 
 
He was speaking on a day Ankara launched an operation in Syria on Wednesday aimed both at the Islamic State group (IS) and Syrian Kurdish forces. 
 
&quot;If this withdrawal doesn&#39;t happen, Turkey has every right to intervene,&quot; Isik added. 
 
Turkey has said the operation in Syria is aimed not just at IS jihadists but also the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People&#39;s Protection Units (YPG) militia. 
 
Turkey sees the YPG as a terror group bent on carving out an autonomous region in Syria. 
 
Ankara&#39;s hostility to the YPG puts it at loggerheads with its NATO ally, the United States, which works with the group on the ground in the fight against IS. 
 
US Vice-President Joe Biden, visiting Turkey on Wednesday, made clear that Washington has strictly told the YPG not to move west of the Euphrates and would no longer receive American support if they did. 
 
But the minister said there was as yet no sign of the withdrawal. 
 
&quot;They have not yet withdrawn but we are watching and monitoring whether they will withdraw. Turkey will be following, moment by moment,&quot; Isik said, adding the withdrawal was promised within a week. 
 
A spokesman for the US-led coalition against IS had tweeted that the Syrian Kurdish forces &quot;have moved east across the Euphrates to prepare for the eventual liberation&quot; of the IS stronghold of Raqqa. 
 
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said only a small number of the Kurdish forces had moved east back across the river, and most were still on the western side. 
 
The Kurdish forces were still present around the Syrian town of Manbij seized from IS earlier this month, which lies well west of the Euphrates, it added. 
 
But the YPG said it had no interest in listening to ultimatums laid down by Turkey. 
 
&quot;The YPG are Syrians and they are present on Syrian land -- Turkey cannot impose restrictions on the movements of Syrians on their land,&quot; said YPG spokesman Redur Xelil. 
 
(AFP) 
 
 
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Turkey wants the Kurds to move east of the Euphrates, says it 'is following this very closely'

Turkey on Thursday said it had "every right" to intervene if Syrian Kurdish militia do not withdraw east of the Euphrates River in Syria, as promised by the United States. The Syrian Kurdish forces "must move to the east of the Euphrates and Turkey is following this very closely," defence minister Fikri Isik said. He was speaking on a day Ankara launched an operation in Syria on Wednesday aimed both at the Islamic State group (IS) and Syrian Kurdish forces. "If this withdrawal doesn't happen, Turkey has every right to intervene," Isik added. Turkey has said the operation in Syria is aimed not just at IS jihadists but also the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia. Turkey sees the YPG as a terror group bent on carving out an autonomous region in Syria. Ankara's hostility to the YPG puts it at loggerheads with its NATO ally, the United States, which works with the group on the ground in the fight against IS. US Vice-President Joe Biden, visiting Turkey on Wednesday, made clear that Washington has strictly told the YPG not to move west of the Euphrates and would no longer receive American support if they did. But the minister said there was as yet no sign of the withdrawal. "They have not yet withdrawn but we are watching and monitoring whether they will withdraw. Turkey will be following, moment by moment," Isik said, adding the withdrawal was promised within a week. A spokesman for the US-led coalition against IS had tweeted that the Syrian Kurdish forces "have moved east across the Euphrates to prepare for the eventual liberation" of the IS stronghold of Raqqa. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said only a small number of the Kurdish forces had moved east back across the river, and most were still on the western side. The Kurdish forces were still present around the Syrian town of Manbij seized from IS earlier this month, which lies well west of the Euphrates, it added. But the YPG said it had no interest in listening to ultimatums laid down by Turkey. "The YPG are Syrians and they are present on Syrian land -- Turkey cannot impose restrictions on the movements of Syrians on their land," said YPG spokesman Redur Xelil. (AFP)

Turkey says has 'every right to intervene' if no Syrian Kurd withdrawal

Rebels belonging to a West-backed rebel camp killed atleast 30 militants of the Islamic State after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the camp near the Jordanian border on Wednesday and attacked several of their outposts.&nbsp; 
 
The rebels, who belonged to the Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo, claimed that they had killed at least 30 of the attackers and suffered at least three casualties. The clashes took place in a sparsely populated desert area near the crossroads of the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;We repelled the attack by Daesh (Islamic State) on several areas, and they failed to make any progress and have retreated,&quot; the rebels&#39; spokesman, Saeed Saif, said.&nbsp; 
 
The Islamic State also claimed the attack and said in a statement by its Damascus province that a suicide bomber named Abu Hafs al-Damashi had driven his car into the headquarters of those who it called &#39;Sahwat&#39;, a term used for forces backed by the West who are viewed as apostates by the ultra-hardline Sunni militants, &nbsp;killing at least 19 of them. 
 
The group said simultaneous attacks on several locations within the camp also killed another seven FSA fighters and were also able seize weapons before ending their operation. 
 
The Force of Martyr Ahmed al-Abdo is one of the groups aligned to the so-called Southern Front that a coalition of Western and Arab countries support and was one of the earliest Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups to get US-made anti-tank missiles. 
 
That backing is part of a strategy of preventing opposition-held southern Syria and the south-eastern desert area from falling into the hands of radical jihadist groups. 
 
The group&#39;s leader, Saleem Bakour, was killed in June by a suspected Islamic State militant. 
 
Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack launched from the same area in June when a car crossed into Jordan and killed seven Jordanian border guards. 
 
US-backed rebels based in the Syrian border town of al-Tanf, further northeast, periodically clash with Islamic State militants who have a presence in the vast sparsely populated southeastern Syria desert. 
 
(WION with inputs from Reuters) 
&nbsp;

The Islamic State said in a statement that a suicide bomber had driven his car into the headquarters of those who it called 'Sahwat'

Rebels belonging to a West-backed rebel camp killed atleast 30 militants of the Islamic State after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the camp near the Jordanian border on Wednesday and attacked several of their outposts. The rebels, who belonged to the Forces of Martyr Ahmad al-Abdo, claimed that they had killed at least 30 of the attackers and suffered at least three casualties. The clashes took place in a sparsely populated desert area near the crossroads of the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq. "We repelled the attack by Daesh (Islamic State) on several areas, and they failed to make any progress and have retreated," the rebels' spokesman, Saeed Saif, said. The Islamic State also claimed the attack and said in a statement by its Damascus province that a suicide bomber named Abu Hafs al-Damashi had driven his car into the headquarters of those who it called 'Sahwat', a term used for forces backed by the West who are viewed as apostates by the ultra-hardline Sunni militants, killing at least 19 of them. The group said simultaneous attacks on several locations within the camp also killed another seven FSA fighters and were also able seize weapons before ending their operation. The Force of Martyr Ahmed al-Abdo is one of the groups aligned to the so-called Southern Front that a coalition of Western and Arab countries support and was one of the earliest Free Syrian Army (FSA) groups to get US-made anti-tank missiles. That backing is part of a strategy of preventing opposition-held southern Syria and the south-eastern desert area from falling into the hands of radical jihadist groups. The group's leader, Saleem Bakour, was killed in June by a suspected Islamic State militant. Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack launched from the same area in June when a car crossed into Jordan and killed seven Jordanian border guards. US-backed rebels based in the Syrian border town of al-Tanf, further northeast, periodically clash with Islamic State militants who have a presence in the vast sparsely populated southeastern Syria desert. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

33 dead in Islamic State suicide bomb attack on West-backed camp on Jordan-Syria border

Turkish President Erdogan said yesterday Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have taken the Syrian town of Jarabulus back from Islamic State. 
 
&quot;Jarabulus is completely liberated,&quot; Ahmad Othman, a commander of the Sultan Mourad rebel group, told the media from the scene, while another rebel spokesman said IS fighters had fled towards Al-Bab to the southwest. 
 
Turkey&#39;s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that just one Syrian rebel fighter was killed and 10 wounded. No Turkish forces lost their lives. 
 
Turkish tanks and hundreds of opposition fighters thrust deep inside Syrian territory yesterday in a lightning operation that within hours ousted Islamic State jihadists from the key Syrian border town. 
 
The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into the Syrian border town of Jarablus at around 0100 GMT and Turkish and US warplanes pounded IS targets with airstrikes as part of the operation, Turkish military sources said. 
 
Erdogan had earlier emphasised the operation was also targeting Kurdish militia fighters strongly opposed by Ankara -- but backed by the US as a key ally against IS - who had also been closing in on Jarabulus. 
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<h5>Turkey will continue operations until we are convinced that imminent threats against the country&#39;s national security have been neutralised,&quot; a Turkish official said.</h5>
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<div class="share-blockquote"><a been="" class="twitter popup" have="" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Turkey will continue operations until we are convinced that imminent threats against the country" national="" neutralised="" s="" security="">&nbsp;</a></div>
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US vice-president Biden reassured Turkey that Washington had told the Kurdish fighters under no circumstances to cross west of the Euphrates River or face the total loss of American support. 
 
This is the first time warplanes from NATO member Turkey have struck in Syria since November, when Turkey downed a Russian jet near the border, and the first significant incursion by Turkish special forces since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February 2015. 
 
&#39;Don&#39;t cross the river&#39; 
 
The operation - named &quot;Euphrates Shield&quot; - began at around 4.00 am (0100 GMT) with Turkish artillery pounding dozens of IS targets around Jarabulus. 
 
Turkish F-16 fighter jets also hit targets inside Syria. A dozen Turkish tanks then rolled into Syria along with hundreds of Syrian opposition fighters in pick-ups who then moved south towards Jarabulus. 
 
US A-10s and F-16s warplanes also hit IS targets in Syria in support of the offensive, a US official said. The speed of the advance was stunning and stood in stark contrast to the long, grinding battles required for Kurdish forces to recapture towns from IS in northern Syria, such as Kobane and Manbij. 
 
Turkey&#39;s NTV television said that IS militants had shown little resistance to the advancing forces. The Dogan news agency said 46 jihadists were killed but this was not confirmed by officials. Syrian fighter reconnaissance teams have begun working in the centre of Jarabulus to check for any explosives left behind by the jihadists. 
 
A Turkish official, who declined to be named, said: &quot;Turkey will continue operations until we are convinced that imminent threats against the country&#39;s national security have been neutralised.&quot; 
 
Turkey wants to show it is serious about taking on IS, which has been blamed for a string of attacks inside the country -- the latest a weekend attack on a Kurdish wedding in Gaziantep that left 54 people dead, many of them children. 
 
Ankara has in the past been accused of turning a blind eye to the rise of IS in Syria and even aiding it logistically, claims the government had always vehemently denied. 
 
Turkey has long been alarmed about the activities inside Syria of the People&#39;s Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Washington sees as an ally but Ankara regards as a terror group. 
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<h5>Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both IS and PYD - &#39;terror groups that continuously threaten our country in northern Syria&#39;. &quot;We have said &#39;enough is enough&#39;. This now needs to be resolved,&quot; he said.</h5>
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Biden yesterday said Washington had made clear to pro-Kurdish forces in Syria that they must not cross west of the Euphrates River. 
 
&quot;They cannot, will not and under no circumstances (will) get American support if they do not keep that commitment. Period,&quot; he said. 
 
Saleh Moslem, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the YPG&#39;s political wing, tweeted that Turkey was now in the &quot;Syrian quagmire&quot; and would be &quot;defeated&quot; like IS. 
 
&#39;Enough is enough&#39; 
 
Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both IS and PYD -- &quot;terror groups that continuously threaten our country in northern Syria&quot;. 
 
&quot;We have said &#39;enough is enough&#39;... This now needs to be resolved,&quot; he said. 
 
The Turkish air strikes were the first since a November diplomatic crisis with Russia sparked when the Turkish air force downed one of Moscow&#39;s warplanes. 
 
The developments have come at a critical juncture for Turkey in Syria&#39;s five-and-a-half-year war, with signs growing it is on the verge of a landmark policy shift. 
 
Ankara has always called for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad, putting Turkey at odds with his main supporters Iran and Russia. 
 
However Prime Minister Binali Yildirim acknowledged at the weekend for the first time that Assad was one of the &quot;actors&quot; in Syria and may need to stay on as part of a transition. 
 
But in a note of discord, Russia said it was &quot;deeply concerned&quot; at the situation on the border warning of a &quot;further degeneration of the situation&quot;. 
 
Assad&#39;s government condemned the incursion as a &quot;flagrant violation&quot; of Syria&#39;s sovereignty.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported just one Syrian rebel fighter killed and 10 wounded. No Turkish forces lost their lives

Turkish President Erdogan said yesterday Turkish-backed Syrian rebels have taken the Syrian town of Jarabulus back from Islamic State. "Jarabulus is completely liberated," Ahmad Othman, a commander of the Sultan Mourad rebel group, told the media from the scene, while another rebel spokesman said IS fighters had fled towards Al-Bab to the southwest. Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported that just one Syrian rebel fighter was killed and 10 wounded. No Turkish forces lost their lives. Turkish tanks and hundreds of opposition fighters thrust deep inside Syrian territory yesterday in a lightning operation that within hours ousted Islamic State jihadists from the key Syrian border town. The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into the Syrian border town of Jarablus at around 0100 GMT and Turkish and US warplanes pounded IS targets with airstrikes as part of the operation, Turkish military sources said. Erdogan had earlier emphasised the operation was also targeting Kurdish militia fighters strongly opposed by Ankara -- but backed by the US as a key ally against IS - who had also been closing in on Jarabulus. Turkey will continue operations until we are convinced that imminent threats against the country's national security have been neutralised," a Turkish official said. US vice-president Biden reassured Turkey that Washington had told the Kurdish fighters under no circumstances to cross west of the Euphrates River or face the total loss of American support. This is the first time warplanes from NATO member Turkey have struck in Syria since November, when Turkey downed a Russian jet near the border, and the first significant incursion by Turkish special forces since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February 2015. 'Don't cross the river' The operation - named "Euphrates Shield" - began at around 4.00 am (0100 GMT) with Turkish artillery pounding dozens of IS targets around Jarabulus. Turkish F-16 fighter jets also hit targets inside Syria. A dozen Turkish tanks then rolled into Syria along with hundreds of Syrian opposition fighters in pick-ups who then moved south towards Jarabulus. US A-10s and F-16s warplanes also hit IS targets in Syria in support of the offensive, a US official said. The speed of the advance was stunning and stood in stark contrast to the long, grinding battles required for Kurdish forces to recapture towns from IS in northern Syria, such as Kobane and Manbij. Turkey's NTV television said that IS militants had shown little resistance to the advancing forces. The Dogan news agency said 46 jihadists were killed but this was not confirmed by officials. Syrian fighter reconnaissance teams have begun working in the centre of Jarabulus to check for any explosives left behind by the jihadists. A Turkish official, who declined to be named, said: "Turkey will continue operations until we are convinced that imminent threats against the country's national security have been neutralised." Turkey wants to show it is serious about taking on IS, which has been blamed for a string of attacks inside the country -- the latest a weekend attack on a Kurdish wedding in Gaziantep that left 54 people dead, many of them children. Ankara has in the past been accused of turning a blind eye to the rise of IS in Syria and even aiding it logistically, claims the government had always vehemently denied. Turkey has long been alarmed about the activities inside Syria of the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, which Washington sees as an ally but Ankara regards as a terror group. Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both IS and PYD - 'terror groups that continuously threaten our country in northern Syria'. "We have said 'enough is enough'. This now needs to be resolved," he said. Biden yesterday said Washington had made clear to pro-Kurdish forces in Syria that they must not cross west of the Euphrates River. "They cannot, will not and under no circumstances (will) get American support if they do not keep that commitment. Period," he said. Saleh Moslem, head of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the YPG's political wing, tweeted that Turkey was now in the "Syrian quagmire" and would be "defeated" like IS. 'Enough is enough' Erdogan said the operation was aimed against both IS and PYD -- "terror groups that continuously threaten our country in northern Syria". "We have said 'enough is enough'... This now needs to be resolved," he said. The Turkish air strikes were the first since a November diplomatic crisis with Russia sparked when the Turkish air force downed one of Moscow's warplanes. The developments have come at a critical juncture for Turkey in Syria's five-and-a-half-year war, with signs growing it is on the verge of a landmark policy shift. Ankara has always called for the removal of President Bashar al-Assad, putting Turkey at odds with his main supporters Iran and Russia. However Prime Minister Binali Yildirim acknowledged at the weekend for the first time that Assad was one of the "actors" in Syria and may need to stay on as part of a transition. But in a note of discord, Russia said it was "deeply concerned" at the situation on the border warning of a "further degeneration of the situation". Assad's government condemned the incursion as a "flagrant violation" of Syria's sovereignty.

Turkish-backed rebels sieze Syrian border town from Islamic State

Turkish special forces units and jets supported by warplanes from the US-led coalition launched an operation in Northern Syria today to wipe out IS militants along the border with Turkey, Turkish officials said. 
 
The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into the Syrian border town of Jarablus at around 0100 GMT and Turkish and US warplanes pounded IS targets with airstrikes as part of the operation, Turkish military sources said. 
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This is the first time warplanes from NATO member Turkey have struck in Syria since November, when Turkey downed a Russian jet near the border, and the first significant incursion by Turkish special forces since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February 2015. 
 
Turkey and the US hope that by sweeping IS from the border, they can deprive it of a smuggling route which long saw its ranks swollen with foreign fighters and its coffers boosted by illicit trade. 
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<h5>Turkey had vowed on Monday to &quot;completely cleanse&quot; Islamic State militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep.</h5>
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White and grey plumes of smoke rose from atop the hills of Jarablus, visible from the Turkish town of Karkamis across the border. The boom of artillery fire was audible as tanks opened fire from just inside Turkish territory. 
 
Turkish military sources said a ground incursion had yet to start, but a group of Turkish special forces had entered Syria while Turkish and US-led coalition jets hit four Islamic State targets and Turkish artillery struck more than 60 targets. Tanks were being positioned to secure the border, they said. 
 
&quot;The aim of the operation is to ensure border security and Syria&#39;s territorial integrity while supporting the US-led coalition against Islamic State,&quot; one military source said, adding work to open a passage for ground forces was underway. 
 
US vice-president Joe Biden is due to visit Turkey later today, the most senior US &nbsp;official to visit since the failed July 15 coup shook confidence in the ability of the NATO member to step up the fight against Islamic State. 
 
Turkey had vowed on Monday to &quot;completely cleanse&quot; Islamic State militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. 
 
Military sources said the air strikes hit 12 Islamic State targets, while artillery fire hit 70 targets. Counter-terrorism police launched dawn raids targeting Islamic State members across Istanbul on Wednesday, the Dogan news agency said. 
 
Turkey is also concerned about the growing influence of Syrian Kurdish militant groups along its border, where they have captured large areas of territory since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. Ankara sees them as tied to the Kurdish militants fighting an insurgency in Turkey.&nbsp; 
 
At least nine mortar shells from Jarablus landed in Karkamis and nearby on Tuesday, forcing many residents to flee, a Reuters witness said. Another hit an empty field on Wednesday. 
 
The Syria operation came as Syrian rebels backed by Turkey had said they were in the final stages of preparing an assault from Turkish territory on Jarablus, aiming to preempt a potential attempt by Syrian Kurdish YPG militia to take it. 
 
(WION with inputs from Reuters) 
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Turkey and the US hope that by sweeping IS from Jarablus, they can deprive it of a smuggling route which long saw its ranks swollen

Turkish special forces units and jets supported by warplanes from the US-led coalition launched an operation in Northern Syria today to wipe out IS militants along the border with Turkey, Turkish officials said. The Turkish army began firing artillery rounds into the Syrian border town of Jarablus at around 0100 GMT and Turkish and US warplanes pounded IS targets with airstrikes as part of the operation, Turkish military sources said. ? This is the first time warplanes from NATO member Turkey have struck in Syria since November, when Turkey downed a Russian jet near the border, and the first significant incursion by Turkish special forces since a brief operation to relocate the tomb of Suleyman Shah, a revered Ottoman figure, in February 2015. Turkey and the US hope that by sweeping IS from the border, they can deprive it of a smuggling route which long saw its ranks swollen with foreign fighters and its coffers boosted by illicit trade. Turkey had vowed on Monday to "completely cleanse" Islamic State militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. White and grey plumes of smoke rose from atop the hills of Jarablus, visible from the Turkish town of Karkamis across the border. The boom of artillery fire was audible as tanks opened fire from just inside Turkish territory. Turkish military sources said a ground incursion had yet to start, but a group of Turkish special forces had entered Syria while Turkish and US-led coalition jets hit four Islamic State targets and Turkish artillery struck more than 60 targets. Tanks were being positioned to secure the border, they said. "The aim of the operation is to ensure border security and Syria's territorial integrity while supporting the US-led coalition against Islamic State," one military source said, adding work to open a passage for ground forces was underway. US vice-president Joe Biden is due to visit Turkey later today, the most senior US official to visit since the failed July 15 coup shook confidence in the ability of the NATO member to step up the fight against Islamic State. Turkey had vowed on Monday to "completely cleanse" Islamic State militants from its border region after a suicide bomber suspected of links to the group killed 54 people at a Kurdish wedding in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. Military sources said the air strikes hit 12 Islamic State targets, while artillery fire hit 70 targets. Counter-terrorism police launched dawn raids targeting Islamic State members across Istanbul on Wednesday, the Dogan news agency said. Turkey is also concerned about the growing influence of Syrian Kurdish militant groups along its border, where they have captured large areas of territory since the start of the Syrian war in 2011. Ankara sees them as tied to the Kurdish militants fighting an insurgency in Turkey. At least nine mortar shells from Jarablus landed in Karkamis and nearby on Tuesday, forcing many residents to flee, a Reuters witness said. Another hit an empty field on Wednesday. The Syria operation came as Syrian rebels backed by Turkey had said they were in the final stages of preparing an assault from Turkish territory on Jarablus, aiming to preempt a potential attempt by Syrian Kurdish YPG militia to take it. (WION with inputs from Reuters)

Turkish military, US-led coalition strike Islamic State to free Syrian border town

Turkey&#39;s border region with Syria must be &quot;completely cleansed&quot; of Islamic State and Ankara continues to support operations in the fight against the jihadists, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. 
 
Syrian rebels are preparing to launch an attack to seize the Syrian town of Jarablus from Islamic State on the border with Turkey, a senior rebel said on Sunday, in a move that would frustrate Kurdish hopes to expand in the area. 
 
Cavusoglu was speaking to reporters at a news conference after holding talks with his Lithuanian counterpart Linas Linkevicius. Turkey said Islamic State sent a child as young as 12 laden with explosives into a wedding party late on Saturday and killed 53 people. 
 
(Reuters)

Turkey's finance minister Mevlut Cavusoglu added that Ankara continues to support the fight against IS

Turkey's border region with Syria must be "completely cleansed" of Islamic State and Ankara continues to support operations in the fight against the jihadists, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. Syrian rebels are preparing to launch an attack to seize the Syrian town of Jarablus from Islamic State on the border with Turkey, a senior rebel said on Sunday, in a move that would frustrate Kurdish hopes to expand in the area. Cavusoglu was speaking to reporters at a news conference after holding talks with his Lithuanian counterpart Linas Linkevicius. Turkey said Islamic State sent a child as young as 12 laden with explosives into a wedding party late on Saturday and killed 53 people. (Reuters)

Turkey says border region with Syria must be 'completely cleansed' of Islamic State

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