An explosion in central Istanbul killed eight people wounded 81; the authorities suspect the involvement of a woman

Istanbul police have arrested 46 people in connection with the explosion in the busy Istiklal Avenue of Turkey’s largest city. At least eight people died in the blast while 81 others suffered injuries. Interior minister Suleyman Soylu revealed that the suspects included the “person who left the bomb that caused the explosion.” The authorities suspect the involvement of a woman. She admitted being trained by Kurdish militants in Syria and had gained entry into Turkey through northwest Syria’s Afrin region. Security sources say two other Syrian nationals were involved in the attack. The police captured the woman, in her late 20s or early 30s, from the place where she was staying. Istanbul police checked the security cameras near the site of the explosion. They have also conducted raids at different addresses where the female suspect had links. Turkish police arrest 46 people over Istanbul explosion.

Kurdish separatists, ISIL (ISIS), and other groups have targeted Istanbul and other Turkish cities in the past. These included a series of attacks in 2015 and 2016. In December 2016, twin bombings outside an Istanbul football stadium killed 38 people and wounded 155. Countries like Azerbaijan, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Pakistan, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States condemned the latest attack. Greece “unequivocally” denounced the blast and expressed condolences, while the US said it stood “shoulder-to-shoulder with our NATO ally in countering terrorism.” French President Emmanuel Macron said - “We share your pain. We stand with you in the fight against terrorism.” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine tweeted - “The pain of the friendly Turkish people is our pain.” European Council President Charles Michel tweeted - “My thoughts are with the victims and their families.”

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Airstrikes kill at least 27 ISIS militants in Iraq

International coalition against IS posts in the IS-held areas in Iraq's western province of Anbar have killed at least 27 militants belonging to the ISIS. The strikes were carried out by the US-led coalition aircraft and the target was an internet cafe that was used by IS militants as a headquarters in the town of al-Qaim near the border with Syria.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 15 May 2017.

A second airstrike destroyed an IS post in the city of Aana and left another six militants dead. An international airstrike also bombed a booby-trapped vehicle in which its driver was killed. These actions are taken to drive out the ISIS militants their major stronghold in the western side of Mosul in northern Iraq.


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Bomb blast in Lahore upscale shopping centre kills at least 10

It was a bomb blast in an upscale shopping centre in Lahore that killed at least 10 people and is the latest attack in a surge of violence that has shaken the country. The intensity of the blast smashed the windows of most of the nearby buildings. It was in a residential neighbourhood where there are banks and coffee shops.
The bomb that was detonated either remotely or by a timer and it has resulted in a huge crater at the site.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 24 February 2017.

Such militant attacks are not new in Pakistan. In recent weeks such attacks has taken a toll of at least 130 people. One of the attacks was in a Sufi shrine in southern Sindh province where 90 people were killed. Government and military officials are determined to hunt down militants across the country. Pakistan has already shut its border with Afghanistan and, after the shrine bombing, Pakistani security forces are believed to have eliminated more than 100 suspected militants in targeted campaigns across the country.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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ISIS carries out car bombing in Baghdad - kills at least 55

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Mayor of London worried about ISIS attacks on the city

Suicide bomb attack kills at least 72 in a Sufi shrine in Pakistan

A suicide bomb attacked in the crowded Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan has killed at least 72 persons and wounded dozens more. The attack was carried out by the Islamic State and it is believed to have been the deadliest one on the wave of bombings across Pakistan this week.
The Islamic State militant group which has a small but increasingly prominent presence in Pakistan and has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 17 February 2017.

While the death toll was indicated as 72, with more than 150 injured, the death toll could rise.
The attack on the famous Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in the town of Sehwan Sharif has reveal that militants still pose a major threat to stability in the nuclear-armed country of 190 million people. In August last year, at least 74 people, mostly lawyers, were killed in a suicide bombing of a hospital in Quetta. Responsibility for that attack was claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban - Jamaat-ur-Ahrar - and the IS.
Moreover, Jamaat also claimed responsibility for a bombing in Lahore in which 13 people died.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Militants in Indonesia looking for women terrorists

An online conversation between two women, who wanted to carry out suicide bombing on a government agency, was picked up last August by researchers who were studying the radicalization of women in Indonesia. Subsequently, after four months, Indonesian police arrested two women in connection with a plot to bomb the presidential palace in Jakarta.
The arrests marked a major strategy shift which indicated that militants in Indonesia, who were loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), were recruiting women terrorists to carry out attacks.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 4 February 2017.

The study by a Jakarta-based Institute has confirmed that ISIS has brought about a fundamental change in how extremists view the role of women in their cause. To them, the role of women as wives, mothers and teachers in militant groups continued to be a priority. Simultaneously, ISIS plan to deploy women on terrorist duties.
This is a major shift in the thinking of militant groups.
Earlier, leaders of the old Jemaah Islamiah militants did not promote the culture of allowing women to take an active role in terror causes. Exception would be made for emergency circumstances or for self-defence. However, today's Indonesian women, many of whom work overseas as domestic helpers have become interested in ISIS. The women are useful for terror operations because they do not attract suspicion easily.


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ISIS militants have destroyed part of the Roman amphitheatre in the ancient city of Palmyra. As indicated by Syria's antiquities chief, the tetrapylon - a group of four pillared structures which were mainly modern replicas - have also been ruined.
The jihadists had recaptured the UNESCO-listed archaeological site in December from government troops and had destroyed other monuments after it first seized Palmyra in May 2015. ISIS had held the site and nearby city known locally as Tadmur for 10 months.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 20 January 2017.

ISIS had been forced out by a Russian-backed government offensive in March 2016, but they regained control when the pro-government forces where focused on battling for the city of Aleppo late last year. Reports of the destruction had initially come out of Palmyra late in December, and subsequently, satellite images have confirmed the destruction.
It seems only two of the tetrapylon's columns remain, and from all appearances, the monument has been intentionally destroyed by the use of explosives. Only one of the structure's columns is original, the others had been rebuilt in 1963.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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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.


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Truck bomb in a petrol station kills at least 70 in Iraq

At least 70 people, most of them Iranians, have been killed and another 45 wounded when a truck bomb ripped through a petrol station south of Baghdad. The incident happened in the village of Shomali near the city of Hilla which is located some 75 miles southeast of the capital Baghdad.
The target appeared to have been buses that were ferrying Iranian pilgrims heading home after participating in Arbaeen, a major Shia holiday in the holy city of Karbala.
This has been reported in news.sky,com dated 24 November 2016.

Head of the provincial security committee for Babylon, the province where the bombing happened, has revealed that several buses were targeted and that it was a suicide attack. There are at least 70 dead and fewer than 10 were Iraqis, remaining were Iranians.
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack.
As per reports, more than 20 million people visited Karbala this year, and the Iraqi authorities have indicated that around three million of them were Iranians. Iraq had positioned nearly 25,000 members of the security forces in and around the shrine city to protect the pilgrims from a feared IS attack.
Iraqi forces are at present engaged in driving out militants from the northern city of Mosul which had been captured by the ISIS in 2014. This Iraqi city is the last major urban centre still held by the extremist group.


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Iraq special forces advanced into Mosul while ISIS militants killed 20

The battle to regain control of Mosul is continuing and Iraq's special forces are working to fully clear neighborhoods on Mosul's eastern edge of Islamic State (ISIS) militants. This is a slow-paced work because the advancing troops have to penetrate into populated areas deeper inside Mosul. In view of the presence of a large number of civilians, they cannot resort to airstrikes.
Meanwhile suspected ISIS militants had struck far from the front lines. They resorted to two bombings that killed at least 20 people. One of these was a suicide attack directed against Shiite pilgrims north of Baghdad which killed at least 11 people.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 6 November 2016.

There are reports of some civilians fleeing from the combat zone, while ISIS militants are holding others back for use as human shields. This is making it harder for Iraqi commanders on the ground to get approval for requests for U.S.-led coalition air strikes.
Incidentally, Iraq's special forces are some of the country's best troops, but they depend to a great extent on air support to clear the terrain.
It may be recalled that ISIS had captured the city of Mosul in 2014, and have erected fortifications like trenches and berms that have converted the streets and alleyways of a neighborhood into a maze. In addition, concrete blast walls have blocked off access to other areas.
In April 2015, Iraqi security forces had succeeded in driving out ISIS militants from Tikrit which is located about 80 miles north of Baghdad.


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Terrorists attack police training college in Quetta and at least 51 reported killed

Three terrorists had attacked a police training college in Quetta and an operation had to be launched by military and Frontier Corps forces to clear the premises which houses at least 600 police cadets. At least 51 people, most of them cadets, were killed and 97 others were injured in the attack.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 25 October 2016.

There were three terrorists, all wearing suicide vests, and were reportedly in contact with their handlers in Afghanistan. Two of the suicide attackers blew themselves up, which resulted in casualties, and the third one was shot dead by the troops.
The training college is situated on Sariab Road, believed to be one of the most sensitive areas of Quetta.
Incidentally, militants have been targeting security forces in the area for almost a decade and, the training college has come under attack in the past in 2008 and 2006 when attackers had fired rockets into the college playground.
The college is spread over an acre of land and is located about 13 kilometres outside the main city of Quetta.


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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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Twenty people have been killed after gunmen struck a popular restaurant Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka and took dozens of hostages during a 12-hour siege. It has been officially confirmed that those who died had been killed with sharp weapons. Around six and 10 attackers stormed the building in the Bangladesh​i capital's diplomatic zone.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 2 July 2016.

Six gunmen were killed and one captured while 13 hostages were rescued and the operation was declared over. Bangladesh's Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, has confirmed that one of the militants had been arrested. As per the eyewitness of a kitchen staffer, the gunmen were armed with firearms and bombs and entered the bakery at around 9.20pm local time and took customers and staff hostage at gunpoint. There were 20 foreigners taken hostage.
A massive firefight erupted outside the bakery located in the Gulshan area of the capital and near a small hospital as well as the Nordic Club - this is a private members' club popular with expats. CNN says - all the 20 killed in the attack were foreigners and ISIS has claimed responsibility.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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The al-Shabaab has links with al-Qaeda and they have claimed responsibility for the attack.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 25 June 2016.

The terrorists are believed to have taken a number of hostages because it is a popular location among the Somali political elite and members of the nation's diaspora who return to the city on business. The terrorists took positions behind blast walls and sandbags and armed guards are trying to repel the militants and, as per reports of eyewitnesses, there was a huge blast followed by heavy machine gunfire.
The intention of the al-Shabaab is to topple the Western-backed government and it has been observed that during Ramadan they target public areas where people gather before they break their daily fast. It may be recalled that in early June an overnight siege by extremist gunmen at another hotel in the capital had left 15 people dead, two of them were members of parliament and al-Shabab had claimed responsibility for that attack also.


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