A man suspected of drunk driving in the Netherlands has received 10 weeks in the slammer, after intentionally coughing on police who pulled him over. He claimed to be infected with Covid-19, but later tested negative.
The culprit, identified by local media as a 23-year-old male from Leiden, was allegedly speeding and snaking through lanes before being stopped by police. According to reports, he refused to be tested for alcohol. Instead of cooperating with authorities, the young Dutchman reportedly coughed in the faces of the two officers, telling them: "I have the coronavirus and now you do, too."
A district court found the suspect guilty of assault and making death threats, and sentenced him to 10 weeks in prison on Friday. A post-arrest test revealed that he was not in fact infected with Covid-19.
During sentencing, the judge described the man's behavior as "reprehensible" and said that the prison term serves as a warning to those who might want to do harm to the country's emergency services.
The Dutch government shut down all schools and daycare centers last week in a bid to stop the spread of Covid-19. Cafes and restaurants have also been shuttered until at least April 6.
The Netherlands has around 3,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus resulting in 106 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
25 Sikh worshipers killed in attack on temple in Afghanistan
By Clyde Hughes
Bodies of victims killed in the Sikh temple attack are burned during a ceremony Thursday in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Photo by Jawad Jalali/EPA-EFE
March 27 (UPI) --
The families of multiple Sikh worshipers killed this week in an attack at a temple in Afghanistan's capital are demanding a government investigation.
Authorities say
militants attacked the temple Wednesday and killed 25 people before police ended the siege. Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said eight were injured.
"The Sikh community of Afghanistan are among the most resilient, peaceful and country-loving citizens," Afghan activist Samira Hamidi said. "There are so many of them who have preferred living in Afghanistan despite all the threats against them."
The Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility for the attack but some Afghan government officials believe the Haqqani Network may have been involved in retaliation for violence against Muslims in India recently, tied to its controversial law that establishes citizenship for non-Muslim refugees..
"The Taliban and other terrorist groups sponsored by the governments in our region have in the past also attacked our society and tried create divisions among people," Javid Faisal, spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council, said.
"Such past events instill fear and insecurity within the community and can affect the unity of the nation, too."
Wednesday's attack led to calls for solidarity within
Afghanistan's Sikh community, whose numbers have dwindled drastically over nearly two decades of war.
"[The Organization of Islamic Cooperation] strongly condemned suicide attacks on a Sikh place of worship in Kabul," Huseyin Avni Botsali, an ambassador of the OIC in Kabul, said.
The families of some of the victims want the government to do more. "We want investigations," relative Dip Singh said. "Our 25 people have been killed."
Some say the attackers took their violent crusade too far by attacking a place of worship.
"In which book do you come to attack a mosque and attack a [temple]?" asked relative Andar Singh. "In what religion does that happen?"
Let me guess... is it the Quran?
Mozambique jihadists seize key town in Cabo Delgado
Islamist insurgents have seized control of a key town in northern Mozambique, close to where foreign companies are working on a $60bn (£52bn) natural gas project.
The militants staged an overnight attack on
Mocimboa de Praia,
taking a military base and raising their flag, police said. The army and police have launched a counter-offensive, police added.
This is the first time Mozambican jihadists have attacked a major town. They usually attack villages and farms.
Panicked residents said the fighters had blocked all exit routes, and they could not leave the town. "They are taking residents to the mosque and locking them there," the privately owned Moz24h website quoted a resident as saying.
Hundreds have been killed and thousands displaced during the three-year insurgency in Cabo Delgado.
The government has battled to curb the insurgency, despite support from a Russian military company.
The militants call themselves al-Shabab although it is unclear whether they are linked to the significantly larger Somali movement of the same name.
Cabo Delgado is one of Mozambique's poorest regions, but it is rich in untapped mineral resources.
In 2010, Mozambique discovered huge gas reserves in Rovuma Basin, off the Indian Ocean coast of Cabo Delgado.
Last October, ExxonMobil unveiled plans to invest more than $500m in the initial construction phase of its gas project in the region.
Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
In Krasnodar, Russia arrested man was preparing
a terrorist explosion
By Thomas Channeton
Law and Lawyer Journals, Poland
Probably translated by Google
The public relations Center of the FSB reported on the prevention of a terrorist attack in Krasnodar.
The statement said that
investigators were able to detain the citizen of the Russian Federation 26-27 and prepared the explosion.
In the car of the detainee they discovered an improvised explosive device. At the same time the
suspect continued correspondence with members of the banned terrorist organization “Islamic state”.
Norway handed over the terrorist plans of the
sentenced Mullah Krekar to Italy
By John Torrendo
Another apparent Google translation
The terrorist acts of designing (designed by?) a convicted preacher mullah Krekar has been handed over from Norway to Italy. The Norwegian minister of justice Monica Mæland told me this afternoon that according to Italy now was a good time.
Mælandin, according to Italy, is convinced that the country is safe to arrive at the corona virus epidemic, and that Krekar can get the help they need.
Norwegian broadcasting NRK: according to (another service) Krekar’s most recent remand decision states that he belongs to the corona virus, the risk to the group. 63-year-old Krekar’s lawyer says diabetes and high blood pressure.
The Italian broadcasting company RAI told (another service), that Krekar arrived Thursday morning to Rome airport, where he was transported to the outskirts of the city located in Rebibbian prison.
An Italian court sentenced last July Krekar to 12 years in prison. Norway decided earlier this year that Krekar can be on request, extradited to Italy. Krekar was opposed to extradition, because he was afraid the Italians would give him to in Iraq.
Krekar was arrested in Norway in November 2015 at the request of Italy, the terrorism plans on suspicion.
Krekar has been on the UN terrorist list since 2003. Krekar is a native of the Northern Iraqi Kurdish evening
(???). In Norway he became a refugee in 1991 from Iraq.
He is the suspect led to the jihadist group Rawta Shaxi (New direction), which is linked to the Isis organization and the aim of which is Northern Iraq to work kurdihallinnon
(Kurdish administration) downfall.
He has also served as an Islamic extremist Ansar al-Islam organization as a leader.
The Organization has had contacts also in Finland.
Nearly 100 Chadian Soldiers Killed in Boko Haram
attack on base
by Steve Balestrieri
Boko Haram has targeted a Chadian army base located on an island and inflicted the deadliest attack on Chad’s military forces yet.
At 05:00 on Saturday, the terrorist group attacked the isolated Chadian base. The base is located across the Bohoma peninsula in Lac Province amid the large, marshy area bordering Lake Chad. The seven-hour firefight left 98 Chadian soldiers dead, 47 wounded, and the morale of the army reeling.
“Bohoma will remain as a scar for the army,” said an anonymous Chadian officer.
Boko Haram has been increasing its attacks around the borders of Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Niger.
The jihadists, using their knowledge of the marshy areas and small islands in the region, were known to be conducting smaller raids and suicide attacks. But this one was a large coordinated assault. At least 24 vehicles, including armored ones, were destroyed in the assault and captured arms and equipment were taken by boat across Lake Chad.
The Chadian army had drawn down the strength of the army unit in the peninsula, something the Boko Haram terrorists undoubtedly knew about.
Chad had promised to send a battalion of 480 men to help fight the jihadists operating in the Sahel.
In response, the Chadian government has declared a state of emergency in the two departments that border Niger and Nigeria. This emergency decree will allow local and military officials to prohibit traffic and to search homes for terror suspects. President Deby vowed a “lightning response” to the attack.
President Idriss Deby said in a statement on Chadi television that he traveled to the base to pay tribute to the dead soldiers, stating it was the first time so many troops had been lost. The president mentioned that 92 soldiers were killed, but other reports put that number at 98.
“We lost 92 of our soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers,” in the attack in Boma, the president said. “It’s the first time we have lost so many men,” he added.
The reinforcements sent to relieve the troops became targets themselves and were stopped, military officers said to AFP. “The camp is on an island where the ways in were controlled by Boko Haram fighters, they were able to leave as they wanted and without being forced out by the army,” one army officer said.
Boko Haram’s terrorist campaign, which began in 2009 in Nigeria has killed over 36,000 people and displaced nearly two million in northeastern Nigeria, according to the United Nations.
Since 2015, the countries in the region have created the Multinational Joint Force, a regional coalition engaged around Lake Chad with the help of local residents formed into small militias. But it hasn’t been nearly enough to stop the jihadist violence.
On the other side of the border in Nigeria, another group from the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWAP) ambushed a large column of Nigerian soldiers, during an attack on the village of Gorgi, killing 70 of them. Using rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weapons, they decimated the Nigerian troops.
In 2019 in Cameroon, 275 people were killed by jihadist attacks, most of them civilians, according to a report published by Amnesty International in December.
And in Niger, the army is reeling from three attacks in December and January where 174 soldiers were killed.
It's my contention that there is so much corruption in central Africa that most of the money allotted for the military gets siphoned off by politicians, military officers, and suppliers, that little of it reaches the soldiers. They are poorly paid, and poorly equipped, and in poor morale. A recipe for Islamic takeover.
