Murders of elderly, Brisbane couple a ‘terror event’: Police
Police outside the dead couple's Parkinson home on Thursday night.
The New Daily
Queensland Police say the alleged murders of an elderly couple in Brisbane are being treated as a terrorism event. In a disturbing development, they have also urged anyone who has relatives in the Parkinson area of Brisbane to check on them.
The bodies of the 87-year-old man and 86-year-old woman were discovered in their Ulinga Crescent home on Thursday afternoon when police performed a “welfare check”. Both had suffered significant injuries.
On Friday, Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said police had discovered a link between the dead couple – whose names are yet to be released – and a man shot dead by police on one of the city’s major motorways.
Raghe Abdi, 22, was shot by police on the Logan Motorway on Thursday morning after threatening them with a knife.
It has since been revealed that Abdi had been influenced by Islamic State. He was on bail and had previously been arrested by counterterrorism officers.
“Further examination of both that scene and the scene of the police shooting yesterday has uncovered for us what we believe to be a direct link between the two matters,” Ms Linford said.
“That link relates to the fact that there was an item located with Mr Abdi that we believe has come from the address of the deceased elderly couple and we are also looking into items of property that were located at their address that were believed maybe owned by Mr Abdi.”
Police have been door-knocking in the area to find out if anyone heard anything and to check on the welfare of others. “That door-knocking is continuing today and can I ask anybody who is watching today or listening to your news, if you have family living in that Parkinson area, it would be a good time to check in on them and make sure they’re OK,” she said.
Earlier, Ms Linford said Abdi’s bail conditions included wearing a GPS tracking device. He appeared to have cut that off prior to the motorway shooting. “We were notified last night that there did appear to be some tampering with that tracking device,” she said on Thursday.
Officers went to his home address twice and searched bushland where the GPS device was pinging. They could find neither Abdi nor the device.
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Ian McCartney said Abdi was known to the Queensland joint counterterrorism team.
The AFP believes he had been influenced by Islamic State. In May 2019, he was arrested on suspicion of an attempted foreign incursion when trying to depart Brisbane Airport for Somalia.
He was released without charge due to insufficient evidence but had his passport cancelled.
In June 2019, he was charged with further offences, including refusing to give the passcode for his phone.
He was remanded in custody after refusing to answer the magistrate or acknowledge the authority of the court, before being granted bail in September 2020.
So, he had complete contempt for Australia's judicial system, yet they found it convenient to grant him bail. Does that make sense to anyone?
Ms Linford said the officers who responded to Thursday morning’s incident did not know the man’s identity and confirmed she had seen body-worn camera footage of the shooting.
“There are occasions when lethal force is the only option available to the police,” she said.
The Ethical Standards Command is investigating the shooting with oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission.
340+ Nigerian schoolboys freed after abduction claimed
by Boko Haram militants – governor
17 Dec 2020 23:10
Nigerian soldiers are seen at the Government Science school in Kankara, Nigeria, where more than
300 students were kidnapped last week, December 13, 2020. © Reuters / Afolabi Sotunde
More than 300 schoolboys reported to have been abducted by Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria have been freed after nearly a week in captivity, officials said. The news came after a video emerged showing children begging for release.
The 344 students were released to authorities on Thursday and are set to be transported back to the state capital of Katsina City in northern Nigeria, Governor Aminu Masari told state media in a televised interview. Officials said the students were in good condition, but they have yet to receive a full medical check.
“At the moment, 344 of the students have been released and handed over to the security operatives. I think we can say at least we have recovered most of the boys, if not all of them,” Masari said.
Photos purporting to show the boys after their release have circulated online.
It was not immediately clear if all of the students abducted last week had been freed, however, with AFP citing a security source who noted some of the boys remained with their captors. A local newspaper, the Daily Trust, also reported that school records showed that more than 500 students were missing after the December 11 attack, for which Boko Haram has claimed responsibility. Hours before the governor’s announcement, the group released a video alleged to show some of the abductees.
One of the boys in the video claimed that some of them had been shot and killed.
It also remains unknown whether a ransom was paid to secure the boys’ release, as few details about the negotiations have emerged.
This action of kidnapping and then retrieving some of those kidnapped has been going on in Nigeria for many years. I wonder if the government and military are not complicit. There is so much corruption in Nigeria that anything is possible.
Or, it could be that Boko Haram just found out how much food 400+ teenage boys can eat!
But it is disturbing that the response for the boys was so fast, and yet, there are still hundreds of girls, many from Chibok, still in the hands of their captors.
After they are taken to Katsina City, the boys will reunite with their families, undergo medical checks and meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, government officials said. In a pair of tweets later on Thursday night, Buhari said the students’ release was a “huge relief to the entire country,” hailing Governor Masari and the country’s police and intelligence agencies for the rescue effort.
The kidnapping last Friday at the Government Science Secondary School followed a spate of similar abductions by bandits and local armed groups in recent years, with Boko Haram claiming responsibility for the 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls in northeastern Nigeria, among others. The country has also been wracked by violence involving the militant factions, seeing some 8,000 killed in attacks and sporadic fighting since 2011, according to the International Crisis Group.
At least 15 children killed in explosion in eastern Afghanistan
as religious gathering is targeted
18 Dec 2020 16:36
The death toll from a bomb blast at a religious gathering in eastern Afghanistan has risen to 15, officials said on Friday, and all of the victims are children. About 20 civilians were also wounded in the attack.
The explosion took place in Ghazni province. “Unfortunately, as a result of this incident 15 people, all children, were martyred,” said Wahedullah Jumazada, a spokesman for the governor.
Police officials in Ghazni also said that all those killed in the blast were children.
The Interior Ministry also confirmed casualties, saying the explosion occurred in Agho Jan village in Ghazni’s Gelan district on Friday afternoon local time.
The explosives were loaded on a motorbike that was parked near a house where a group of people had gathered to attend a Koran recitation ceremony, according to ministry spokesman Tariq Arian.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack, saying in a statement that “the Taliban should accept the people’s call for ceasefire, refrain from terrorist attacks that are against humanity and Islam and should accept the peace process.”
The Taliban has not immediately commented on the attack.
Violence continues in Afghanistan despite continuing talks between the government in Kabul and Taliban insurgents aimed at ending the 19-year war.
On Thursday, Ghani invited the Taliban to Kandahar province, saying that if the insurgents are willing to bring peace to the country, they must hold talks with the negotiating team of the government.
However, he warned that Kabul will not continue to free Taliban prisoners because the movement has not reduced its violence. “We saw that the bloodshed did not stop. They must stop the bloodshed so we can talk,” he said.
Let's face it, without violence, the Taliban doesn't know what to do with itself.
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