Twin attacks on US consulate and police station in Istanbul leave many dead

Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey faced twin attacks on the U.S. consulate and a police station as tensions built up over the government's air campaign against Kurdish militants. It seems a suicide bomber detonated a vehicle packed with explosives at a police station in the Sultanbeyli district on the Asian side of Istanbul just after midnight. The attack wounded 10 persons, three of them were from the police. The clashes with police apparently went on throughout the night as other militants fired on the police station.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 10 August 2015.

Two militants were killed by police but their political links have not been established. One policeman also died in the clashes.
In the meantime, two militants, one of them a woman, attacked the US consulate in the district of Istinye on the Bosphorus on the outskirts of the city. The woman was wounded and captured.
Moreover, four Turkish police officers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the Silopi district of Sirnak province that borders Iraq and Syria – this attack was blamed on Kurdish militants. And, a Turkish soldier was killed in yet another attack when militants targeted a military helicopter with rocket launchers as it was transporting personnel in Sirnak's Beytussebap district.
This attack led to an aerial operation by the Turkish military with Cobra helicopters bombing the area. (Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Britain’s MI6 joins Turkey to fight ISIS

Based on intelligence provided by MI6, dozens of Islamic State safe houses in Istanbul have been raided and almost 300 suspects have been arrested in the crackdown in the Turkish city. This city has become the gateway for UK citizens who want to join the terror group.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 25 July 2015.

As per information, MI6 had made available intelligence that had been used to conduct raids at 140 addresses by some 5,000 police. It seems telephone intercepts were resorted to in order to pinpoint the support network for Britons travelling to Syria and Iraq.
It was a joint action and documents and laptops that have been seized have linked IS recruiters of European jihadis to some of the addresses where men and women were housed in the course of their transit to join the group.
These arrests are a result to the major change in stance by Turkey toward IS in which US warplanes were given permission for the first time to fly from a major southern Turkish base at Incirlik. Moreover, Turkey’s own F-16 fighter jets attacked jihadi positions inside Syria and hit three targets in which nine militants were killed.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has remarked that the US and Turkey’s air strikes have completely destroyed ISIS targets.
The dramatic change in Turkey’s stance can be attributed to the attack in the southern Turkish border city of Suruc by a suspected IS suicide bomber in which 32 anti-IS activists were killed.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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British girls off to Syria to become jihadi brides – parents should lock up their passports

#JihadiBrides #WilliamHague #passports #ISIS Three teenage British girls are believed to be trying to go to Syria to become jihadi brides and William Hague has reportedly advised parents of all such girls who are at risk of being radicalized to confiscate their passports. That could act as a deterrent and stop them from travelling to join Islamic State.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 21 February 2015.
William Hague feels the families have a ‘big responsibility’ to spot signs that their loved ones are preparing to join jihadists in Iraq and Syria and has called for tougher laws to intercept online messages.
These developments have come after the families of Shamima Begum, and Amira Abase, both 15-year-olds and 16-year-old Kadiza Sultana reported that the girls are feared to have fled Britain to join ISIS – the parents have pleaded with them not to cross the border into Syria. They are believed to have reached Istanbul.
The comments of William Hague have come against the backdrop of Inspire, a Muslim women’s human rights group, that has urged schools to take suitable action to tackle the ‘romanticized notion’ of ISIS that is being presented to young people to win them over through propaganda.
As the head of Inspire has admitted – the girls are getting all their information online. The information is glorified and romantic and gives a wrong impression that it is one big happy family out there which is certainly not the case. Hence the proposal to keep passports of the daughters under lock and key.

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