Car bomb in Turkish city of Kayseri kills 13 soldiers and injures another 48

A total of 13 soldiers were killed and 48 more injured in a car bomb attack in the Turkish city of Kayseri. The car bomb hit a bus that was transporting off-duty military personnel in the central Turkish city. This incident comes one week after a twin bombing targeted police in Istanbul.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 17 December 2016.

Last week's bombing left 44 dead and wounded more than 150 and these blasts have angered a Turkish public that is frustrated by a string of deadly bombings this year - some of these have been claimed by Kurdish militants. However, no agency has claimed responsibility for the car bomb in Kayseri.
It seems the bus transporting the military was stopped at a red light near the campus of Erciyes University in Kayseri when a car approached it and detonated the car bomb. Kurdish militants have previously targeted buses that were carrying military or security forces.
Turkey is faced with multiple security threats including spillover from the fight against Islamic State in northern Syria - there Turkey is a member of a U.S.-led coalition against the militant group. Turkey also faces regular attacks from Kurdish militants.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org
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Militant attack on a Shiite shrine in Kabul leave 14 dead

A militant attack on a Shiite shrine in Kabul has left behind at least 14 dead with another 26 people wounded in the attack on Sakhi Shrine in the city's western suburbs. The dead included 13 civilians and one policeman and, in addition, another three police officers were wounded.
This shrine is the largest such shrine in Kabul.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 11 October 2016.

Initially it was given to understand that there were three gunmen but, actually, only one gunman was involved and he was shot dead by police. The incident happened as Shiites had gathered ahead of Wednesday's Ashoura. This is a holy day of mourning to commemorate the death in 680 AD of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein.
Kabul police had alerted the Shiites against large gatherings because attacks were expected. It seems there were credible reports that Ashoura activities would be targeted and Shiites had been advised to hold the ceremonies "within limits."
Incidentally, Shiites make up an estimated 15 percent of Afghanistan's population of around 30 million people and most of the Afghan Shiites are ethnic Hazaras. Since militant Sunni fundamentalists like the Taliban and the Islamic State group look at Shiites as apostates, there are frequent attacks on Shiite mosques and public gatherings.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Gang of 80 suspected Boko Haram men attack village in Cameroon and kill 23

#bokoharam #cameroon #nigeria #islamicstate A gang of more than 80 assailants stormed the village of Kamouna, located near Lake Chad in the northern strip of Cameroon that lies between Nigeria and Chad and killed 23 – most of the dead are children.
It is suspected to be an attack by Boko Haram militants as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 21 July 2015.

There were hardly seven soldiers guarding the village and they were no match against the gang. The residents of the village had requested the military for more protection last week following raids by suspected Boko Haram fighters on the village and stealing livestock.
Nigeria-based Boko Haram has recently linked up with the Islamic State group and has been targeting northern Cameroon continuously in retaliation for its participation in a regional military effort against the extremists. Last week, bombs had been planted at a bar in north Cameroon by suspected Boko Haram fighters and 14 people were killed in that attack.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Yazidis kill Arabs in Sinjar who helped ISIS to eliminate the minority community

#yazidis #sinjar #islamicstate It is a retaliation of sorts as members of Iraq's Yazidi minority carry out revenge attacks on Sunni Muslim villagers who, they believe, had helped Islamic State to commit atrocities on their community last year as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 12 February 2015.
Arabs who are living in Sinjar in Iraq's Nineveh province have revealed that groups of heavily armed Yazidis have made four raids on the villages over the past two weeks killing at least 21 people and leaving a further 17 missing.
It may be recalled that Yazidis, whose ancient religion has elements of Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam, had suffered grievously in the ISIS offensive last year and hundreds of them were killed and thousands captured, enslaved and raped by the Sunni Muslim militants. All because they considered Yazidis as worshippers of the Devil.
With the ISIS having been driven out from Sinjar, the Yazidis are gradually returning to their homes and uncovering mass graves one after another – sordid evidence of the atrocities committed by the ISIS and, therefore, some of the Yazidis are striking back.
It is miso unfortunate that Arabs and Yazidis, who once were friends and farmed together could never bring back Sinjar to its earlier glory before the arrival of Islamic State.

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Another interesting blog - Ramblings