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ISIS claims responsibility for deadly suicide attack on mosque
in southern Afghanistan
Death toll raised to 47
16 Oct, 2021 10:12
© Twitter / @Nilofar_Moradi1
Islamic State terrorist group says Friday’s suicide bombing attack on a Shia mosque in southern Afghanistan that killed 47 people and left dozens wounded was carried out by its members.
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Fatimiya Mosque in Kandahar province in a statement, distributed on social media by its Amaq news agency.
The statement included the names of the two male suicide bombers, saying they first shot and killed the guards at the entrances to the site.
After that, one of the attackers detonated explosives at the entrance to the mosque, while the other blew himself up inside the building, it added.
It is the second major attack by IS since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in mid-August amid the withdrawal of US troops from the country. Last week, the terrorist group targeted a Shia mosque in the northern city of Kunduz, killing 46 people and injuring 143 others.
The Afghan branch of Islamic State, known as ISIS Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), had previously been active mainly in east of the country, but these recent bombings indicate that the group is expanding its operations, despite promises by the Taliban to restore peace and security in the country.
The attack in Kandahar is presumed to be especially painful for the Taliban as the province is seen as the group’s spiritual heartland.
ISIS-K was behind the suicide bombing outside Kabul’s airport on August 26 during the chaotic evacuation of the US and its allies from Afghanistan. The massive explosion and subsequent gunfire killed 13 US soldiers and over 160 Afghan civilians.
US forces responded to the attack with airstrikes against IS targets in eastern Nangarhar Province and a drone strike in Kabul intended to target a terrorist, but which ended up killing 10 civilians, seven of whom were children.
Today, the Pentagon offered condolence payments to the victims of that errant attack.
British police officially declare fatal stabbing of MP David Amess
‘terrorist incident’
15 Oct, 2021 23:24 / Updated 14 hours ago
The Metropolitan Police officially declared the murder of Conservative MP Sir David Amess in Essex to be a terrorist incident, and put Counter Terrorism Policing in charge of the investigation.
“The fatal stabbing in Leigh-on-Sea has tonight been declared as a terrorist incident,” by Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, the Met announced late Friday, adding that “The early investigation has revealed a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism.”
The Counter Terrorism Command is “working closely with colleagues from the Eastern Region Specialist Operations Unit (ERSOU) and Essex Police,” the Met added.
Amess was attacked and stabbed multiple times on Friday, during a weekly meeting with constituents at the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea. The authorities identified the suspect only as “a 25-year-old British man” who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and is currently in custody at a police station in Essex.
Within hours, however, the British media said the suspect was “of African appearance” and identified him as being of Somali origin. His name has not been released.
Police said they believe the suspect acted alone, and are not seeking anyone else in connection with the incident at this time. Officers are currently searching two addresses in the London area as part of the investigation.
Amess was a prominent and popular Tory MP, who represented Basildon from 1983 to 1997, and Southend West since then. He is the second serving MP to be stabbed to death in the past five years, after Labour MP Jo Cox was killed in June 2016.
18th Oct 2021
A 25-year-old named as Ali Harbi Ali has been detained, having previously been arrested on suspicion of murder. The investigation into the incident is being conducted by the UK’s counter-terrorism police.
Leigh on Sea, UK
British-Iranian woman targeted by Iran's government
could be headed back to prison
By Jake Thomas
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of imprisoned Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, outside the Iranian Embassy in London, Britain, 21 June 2019 (reissued 26 April 2021). Zaghari-Ratcliffe could face more prison time after her lawyer said she lost an appeal on Saturday. File photo by ANDY RAI/EPA
Oct. 16 (UPI) -- An Iranian appeals court has upheld the sentence for Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a British-Iranian aid worker accused of plotting against the country's Islamist government.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in 2016 along with other dual citizens. A project manager with Thomson Reuters Foundation charity, she was taken into custody by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The guard accused her of being a "main ringleader of hostile institutions who had been involved in criminal activities over the past years under the auspices of the foreign governments' media and espionage services."
At the time of her arrest, she was attempting to board a flight from Tehran to Britain with her then 22-month-old daughter, Gabriella. She was initially sentenced to five years in prison for planning a "soft overthrow" of the Iranian government. In 2017, she faced additional charges.
A Twitter account from the campaign seeking Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release said on Saturday that her appeal on a more recent set of charges had failed.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe was imprisoned for five years in 2016, spending her final year on parole at her parents' home in Tehran, reports the BBC. She completed her term in March only to face new charges carrying a one-year prison term for "propaganda against the system."
Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, told the news outlet that she's now waiting for the call summoning her back to prison and was "traumatized at the thought of having to go back to jail."
Ratcliffe has not seen his wife in person since she was imprisoned in 2016 and their daughter has been living with him in the U.K. since 2019, according to the BBC. He has said his wife is being used as a bargaining chip over a $550 million debt Iran claims Britain owes it for an incomplete tank deal.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss took to Twitter to denounce what she called the "baseless charges against Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe."
"There are no credible grounds to continue to hold her and she must be released permanently," she said. "I will do all I can to help Nazanin and her family."
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