Suicide bombing in mosque kills 61 in Pakistan

#suicidebombing #mosque #karachi #shiitemuslim It was a tragedy of unimaginable proportions when suicide bombers killed 61 worshippers in a mosque in Shikarpur district of southern Sindh province as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 31 January 2015 – this is located about 300 miles north of Karachi, the biggest city in Pakistan.
As a result, thousands of Shiite Muslims took to the streets to protest against the when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the middle of a mosque during Friday prayers.
The incident happened during Friday prayers and people in large numbers attended the funeral prayers for the dead on Saturday. This day had been designated as a day of mourning by the provincial government. Other took to the streets to protest against the bombings.
The crowds consisted mostly of Shiite Muslims. They carried black flags and beat their chests as they offered their prayers, one after another.
Karachi is the economic heart of Pakistan and Sindh's provincial capital. It was also shut down for the day, with hundreds of Shiites staging protest rallies.
As reported by the police, the devastating explosion was a suicide attack. The explosives were strapped to the body of the suicide bomber and he selected such a place in the mosque that would cause huge destruction and maximum damage. The bomb was loaded with steel pellets, ball bearings and other types of shrapnel.
The shadowy Jandullah militant group, a splinter faction of the Pakistani Taliban, has accepted responsibility or the attack.

27 persons killed in four attacks in Cairo

#northsinai #suez #cairo It was one of the deadliest attacks in Cairo when 27 persons were killed in four attacks in the North Sinai and Suez regions of Egypt as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 30 January 2015. It was some of the worst anti-state violence in months and too place after commemorations around the anniversary of the 2011 uprising turned violent and deadly this week.
The government of Egypt is faced with an Islamist insurgency that is based in Sinai and there is growing discontent with what critics perceive as heavy handed security tactics.,br> The first attack was the bombing of military buildings in the capital of North Sinai province – in this attack, 25 persons were killed and another 58 were injured, 9 of them were civilians. This is as per information provided by the security and medical sources.
Suspected militants then killed an army major and wounded six others at a checkpoint in Rafah.
This was followed by a roadside bomb in Suez city that killed a police officer, and an assault on an army unit south of Al-Arish that wounded four soldiers.
Militants who are based in Sinai have killed hundreds of security officers ever since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood from power as a result of mass protests against his rule.

43 students missing in Mexico were kidnapped, murdered and incinerated by police

#iguala #mexico The revelation that 43 students, who had disappeared in Mexico in September last, had in fact been kidnapped, murdered and incinerated by the police is bound to send shock waves everywhere. The revelation has been made by officials who had been investigating the disappearance of the students.
Families of the victims were under the impression that they were still alive - but Mexico's attorney general has confirmed that all the students were killed and burned and subsequently, their remains were thrown into a river. He has rejected claims that the army had any involvement in the mass killing.
Of course, he has indicated that the investigation will not be closed till the culprits are arrested.
The forensic evidence would tend to suggest that the fuel and temperature of a fire at a garbage dump which was used to dispose the bodies was capable of turning 43 bodies into ashes. The Mexican authorities have succeeded in identifying only one body based on DNA test and Austrian scientists who are working on the case have indicated that it is impossible to identify the remaining victims.
Apparently, the conclusion that all 43 students have been killed is based on the testimony of Felipe Rodriguez Salgado, a prime suspect who was arrested a fortnight ago. This man is one of 99 people who have been detained in connection with the crime. The investigation was a massive one and involved 39 reported confessions, nearly 400 declarations, almost 500 forensic tests, 16 raids apart from two reconstructions.
It is also reported that all the 43 students were men who were getting trained to become teachers. The bus in which they were traveling was attacked in the city of Iguala by police who then handed them over to gangs.

Masked gunmen storm luxury hotel in Tripoli and kill 8 persons

#corinthiahotel #tripoli #lybia #gunmen Masked gunmen struck the Corinthia luxury hotel, which sits along the Mediterranean Sea, in Tripoli and killed 8 persons – five of them were foreigners and the other three were security guards. The hotel usually has Italian, British and Turkish guests but was largely empty when the attack happened.
It is understood that the Tripoli branch of Islamic State (ISIS) has claimed responsibility, the Site Intelligence monitoring group said.
The attack included a car bombing and, Mahmoud Hamza, commander of the Special Deterrent Force, has indicated that the situation was under control. He could not, however, confirm the whereabouts of the gunmen.
There were rumors about hostages being taken but that has not been confirmed. Two commercial landmark towers located behind the hotel were evacuated due to security concerns.
Incidentally, this hotel is where the militia-backed prime minister, Omar al-Hassi, usually resides – he was not in the hotel when the attack took place.
In the opinion of experts, the attack was designed for maximum impact because it comes at a time when the UN is beginning a new round of Libya peace talks in Geneva.
The Pentagon had warned in December about the presence of ISIS in Libya and that its influence was growing. Also, that there was evidence that it had set up training camps. In the last nearly six months of fighting, more than 1000 have died while some of the towns are in ruins and over 400,000 people have been displaced.

43 Filipino commandos killed in a single day in Mamasapano

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