Senior ISIS member Abu Sayyaf and captured his wife in a rare US special forces ground raid in eastern Syria.
According to a US Department of Defense statement, Abu Sayyaf helped direct oil, gas and financial operations for the Islamic State, as well as holding a military role.
The statement said forces tried to capture Abu Sayyaf, but he was killed after engaging them.
It is the first time the US is known to have carried out a ground operation to attack ISIS within Syria.
The operation was authorized by President Barack Obama and was carried out by forces based in Iraq.
US officials said Abu Sayyaf was Tunisian, with one official telling CNN he was the chief financial officer “of all of [ISIS]” and that the US had seized “reams of data on how ISIS operates, communicates and earns its money”.
On Arabic social media, however, Abu Sayyaf was not being spoken of as a known public figure.
Oil and gas have been an important source of revenue for ISIS, which gained swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq last year.
On May 16, the group took control of the northern part of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, which it has been advancing on for three days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – a UK-based network that uses activists within Syria.
The US said the operation in Syria was conducted “with the full consent of Iraqi authorities”, though it did not inform the Syrian government in advance.
“We have warned [President Bashar al-Assad’s] regime not to interfere with our ongoing efforts against [ISIS] inside of Syria,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan, adding that “the Assad regime is not and cannot be a partner in the fight” against IS.
The Pentagon said Abu Sayyaf’s wife, Umm Sayyaf, is suspected of being an ISIS member and of being complicit in the enslavement of a young Yazidi woman who was rescued in the raid.
It said it believed at least 12 militants had been killed at the scene, that there was hand-to-hand fighting and that militants had tried to use women and children as shields.
Umm Sayyaf has been taken into military detention in Iraq.
The operation lasted for about 30 minutes around dawn in the residential quarters of the al-Omar oil field, which houses about 500 families of ISIS fighters.
In Iraq on Saturday, ISIS militants tightened their grip over the centre of the city of Ramadi but reportedly withdrew from a key government compound they had seized a day earlier.
Neither ISIS nor its supporters on social media were commenting publicly on the raid against Abu Sayyaf, with Twitter posts focusing instead on Ramadi.
The US has been carrying out air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. Shortly after they began, the Pentagon said there had been a failed raid in Syria to free American hostages – the only other ground operation inside the country it has acknowledged.
ISIS deputy leader Abdul Rahman Mustafa Mohammed, also known as Abu Alaa al-Afri, has been killed in a US-led coalition air strike in northern Iraq, the Iraqi ministry of defense says.
The second-in-command of Islamic State was inside a mosque in Tal Afar that was targeted, spokesman General Tahsin Ibrahim said.
Abu Alaa al-Afri had been meeting dozens of militants who also died in the strike, he added.
In recent weeks, there were unconfirmed reports that Abu Alaa al-Afri had taken temporary charge of ISIS operations.
Iraqi security sources claimed that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been incapacitated as a result of a coalition air strike in northern Iraq in March.
Last week, the US state department offered a reward of up to $7 million for information on Abu Alaa al-Afri, whom it identified as Abdul Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli.
ISIS claims it was behind the attack on a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in the Dallas suburb of Garland.
The Islamic State militant group said that “two soldiers of the caliphate” carried out the attack at Garland conference center.
ISIS’ al-Bayan Radio news bulletin said the exhibition “was portraying negative pictures of the Prophet Muhammad”.
Both suspects were shot dead after opening fire at the contest on May 3rd.
Correspondents say that it is believed to be the first time that ISIS has claimed to have carried out an attack in the US.
“We tell America that what is coming will be even bigger and more bitter, and that you will see the soldiers of the Islamic State do terrible things,” the statement released by the group said.
Court documents have shown that one of two gunmen, Elton Simpson, who was shot dead during attack, had been a terror suspect.
Elton Simpson had been under surveillance since 2006 and was convicted in 2010 for lying to FBI agents about plans to go to Somalia to engage in violent jihad, or holy war, the files reveal.
A judge found Elton Simpson guilty of making a false statement and he was sentenced to three years’ probation and a $600 fine.
The judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence that the false statement involved international terrorism.
Elton Simpson had shared a flat in Arizona with the person named by officials as the other alleged gunman, Nadir Soofi.
On May 4th, FBI agents searched Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi’s home in Phoenix and a white van parked outside.
Five teenage suspects have been arrested in Australia after police foiled an Islamic State-inspired plot to carry out an attack at ANZAC Day event in Melbourne.
One 18-year-old has been charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist act.
The men were planning to target police at an ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) memorial event in Melbourne next week, police said.
About 200 police officers took part in the counter-terrorism operation in Melbourne early on Saturday, April 18.
Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Neil Gaughan told reporters that evidence suggested the suspects had been influenced by ISIS.
One of the men, Sevdet Besim, appeared briefly in Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 18.
Victoria state police say a second man held on terrorism-related offences is also likely to be charged.
A third man, also 18, was arrested on weapons charges and two other teenagers, aged 18 and 19, were in custody and assisting with inquiries.
Officials referred to possible attacks using “edged weapons”, but Neil Gaughan said there was no evidence to suggest there was “a planned beheading”.
The men were “associates” of Abdul Numan Haider, a teenager shot dead in September 2014 after he stabbed two officers, police said.
ANZAC Day is an annual day of remembrance for servicemen and women from Australia and New Zealand. A series of events are planned for next week to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli, Turkey.
Australian PM Tony Abbott urged people to turn up to memorial events as planned.
“The best thing we can do to counter terrorism… as individuals is to lead normal lives,” he said, adding that the authorities were doing everything possible to keep people safe.
Police said that although officers were the primary target of the alleged plot there was also a threat to the public.
Search operations were continuing at several addresses in the south-east of Melbourne on April 18.
Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria, said the police presence at ANZAC Day events would be “significantly increased”.
“These individuals arrested today are not people of faith, they don’t represent any culture,” he added.
“This is not an issue of how you pray or where you were born… this is simply evil, plain and simple.”
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who was right-hand man to Iraq’s ex-leader Saddam Hussein, has been killed, Iraqi officials say.
They say the fugitive militant leader died in fighting in Salahuddin province, north of Baghdad. His supporters have denied the claim.
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, 72, led the Naqshbandi Order insurgent group, a key force behind the recent rise of Islamic State (ISIS).
He was deputy to Saddam Hussein, who was ousted when US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003 and executed in 2006.
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri was regarded as the most high-profile official of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party to successfully evade capture after the invasion, and had a large bounty on his head for years.
He was the King of Clubs in the famous pack of cards the US issued of wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s regime after its defeat.
There have been reports of Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri’s death or capture before. The now dissolved Baath party denied the latest claim.
However, al-Arabiya TV showed a picture of what it said was Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri’s body.
Salahuddin governor Raed al-Jabouri said he had died during an operation by soldiers and allied Shia militiamen east of Tikrit – a city that was recaptured by the government two weeks ago.
Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri is believed to have played a key role in masterminding a major offensive by ISIS in 2014.
ISIS seized swathes of territory in eastern Syria and across northern and western Iraq, in an effort to establish an Islamic “caliphate”.
In recent months Iraqi forces – backed by US-led air strikes since August – have recaptured 25% to 30% of the territory initially lost to ISIS.
ISIS still controls large areas in Iraq, including Mosul, the country’s second largest city.
Tunisia’s Bardo museum reopening after last week’s attack that killed at least 22 people has been delayed until March 29.
Bardo museum had been due to reopen on Tuesday morning, March 24, but there will now only be a symbolic ceremony.
Security concerns appear to have halted the reopening.
The reopening, less than a week after the attacks, was intended to show the gunmen “haven’t achieved their goal”.
Only the media will be allowed inside the museum on March 24. A small rally was held in front of the museum.
There are fears the attack – claimed by Islamic State (ISIS) – will hit Tunisia’s vital tourism industry.
On March 23, Tunisian PM Habib Essid dismissed six police chiefs.
Habib Essid’s office said he had noted several security deficiencies during a visit to the museum, which houses a major collection of Roman mosaics and other antiquities.
Two of the gunmen were killed by the security forces during last Wednesday’s attack, while a third is on the run, officials said.
The attack was the deadliest in Tunisia since the uprising which led to the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Suspects have been arrested over the attack but just two gunmen were thought to have raided the museum.
They are said to have been trained in Libya in an area controlled by ISIS militants.
Bardo Museum in Tunisia’s capital is due to reopen less than a week after gunmen killed at least 22 people, mostly European tourists.
A concert and a public rally are expected, with museum officials saying they want to show the world that the gunmen “haven’t achieved their goal”.
There are fears the attack – claimed by Islamic State (ISIS) – will hit Tunisia’s vital tourism industry.
On March 23, Tunisian PM Habib Essid dismissed six police chiefs.
Habib Essid’s office said he had noted several security deficiencies during a visit to the museum, which houses a major collection of Roman mosaics and other antiquities.
Two of the gunmen were killed by the security forces during last Wednesday’s attack, while a third is on the run, officials said.
The attack was the deadliest in Tunisia since the uprising which led to the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Suspects have been arrested over the attack but just two gunmen were thought to have raided the museum.
They are said to have been trained in Libya in an area controlled by ISIS militants.
Six Tunisian police chiefs have been fired following last week’s attack on the famous Bardo Museum, PM Habib Essid has announced.
PM Habib Essid had noted several security deficiencies during a visit to the museum, his office said.
The Islamic State (ISIS) said it carried out the attack on Bardo museum in the capital, Tunis, killing 23 people, mostly European tourists.
Two of the gunmen were killed by the security forces, while a third was on the run, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said.
“There were certainly three attackers… there is one who is on the run, he won’t get far,” President Beji Caid Essebsi said on March 22.
The attack was the deadliest in Tunisia since the uprising which led to the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
Photo AFP/Getty Images
The police chiefs of Tunis and the museum were among those dismissed, Habib Essid’s spokesman Mofdi Mssedi told AFP news agency.
Habib Essebsi said in an interview with French media that a monument would be erected in memory of the victims.
The gunmen are said to have been trained in Libya in an area controlled by ISIS militants.
The two gunmen seen in the video were named as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui. They were both killed in a gunfight with security forces inside the building.
In an earlier interview with Paris Match, Habib Essebsi said that “shortcomings” in Tunisia’s security system meant “the police and intelligence services had not been through enough in protecting the museum”.
However, Habib Essebsi added that the security services “reacted very efficiently” to the attack and had helped save dozens of lives.
Twenty foreigners were among those killed in the attack, including British, Japanese, French, Italian and Colombian tourists.
Following the attack, large numbers of Tunisians gathered outside the museum to protest against terrorism.
Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamist extremism since the 2011 revolution – the event that sparked the Arab Spring.
A video released by the Tunisian government shows gunmen walking through the Bardo museum during the attack that killed 25 people on March 18.
At one point the security camera footage, released by the interior ministry, shows the two attackers bumping into another man who is allowed to flee after the brief encounter.
Authorities said they had arrested more suspects in connection with the attack in the capital, Tunis.
The gunmen are said to have been trained in Libya in an area controlled by Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
ISIS has said it was behind the attack on the Bardo museum, which is next to Tunisia’s parliament.
The men, named as Yassine Laabidi and Hatem Khachnaoui, were killed in a gunfight with security forces inside the building. At least one of them was wearing an explosives belt.
Twenty foreigners were among those killed, including British, Japanese, French, Italian and Colombian tourists.
The footage shows the men carrying assault rifles and bags as they walk through the museum.
It also captures the moment a startled visitor comes face to face with them. The gunmen briefly point their guns at the man but allow him to run away as they make their way up a staircase.
Earlier, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor said substantial progress had been made in the investigation – but she did not give any details.
Authorities have arrested more than 20 suspects since the attack, including 10 people believed to have been directly involved.
“There is a large-scale campaign against the extremists,” interior ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui told reporters.
Tunisia has seen an upsurge in Islamist extremism since the 2011 revolution that ousted dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring.
The leader of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist party, Ennadha, says the country will continue to be under threat of attack as long as neighboring Libya remains unstable.
Pentagon is investigating an online threat allegedly made by Islamic State (ISIS) to about 100 of the US military personnel.
A list of names and addresses was posted on a website linked to ISIS alongside a call for them to be killed.
The group, which called itself the Islamic State Hacking Division, said it obtained the information by hacking servers and databases but US officials said most of the data was in the public domain.
It said the personnel named had participated in US missions against ISIS.
The group urged its supporters in the US to “take the final step” and “deal with” those named.
A US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “I can’t confirm the validity of the information, but we are looking into it.”
The US and its allies have been conducting air strikes against ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq since last September.
The US is withdrawing its troops from al-Anad air base in Yemen because of increasing insecurity there, Yemeni sources say.
About 100 troops, including Special Forces commandos, are leaving the base near the southern city of al-Houta, the officials said.
Al-Houta was stormed by al-Qaeda fighters on March 20, although they were later driven out by the Yemeni army.
The US military has not confirmed the evacuation.
It comes a day after suicide bombers killed at least 137 people in the capital Sanaa. Militants allied to Islamic State (ISIS) said they carried out the attack.
There are mounting tensions between various powerful, armed elements in Yemen, including Houthi rebels, al-Qaeda and ISIS.
US troops at al-Anad air base have been training Yemeni fighters to launch attacks against al-Qaeda operatives.
On March 20, al-Qaeda fighters took control of al-Houta, near to the airbase. But the militants were later driven back by the army.
The US closed its embassy in Sanaa in February after Houthi rebel forces took over the city.
Yemen is the base of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a powerful offshoot of the jihadist militant group.
ISIS is also gaining ground in Yemen, after setting up a base in the country in November.
According to Tunisian authorities, 23 people were killed – though it is not clear if totals provided by the authorities include the gunmen. Some of the countries involved have given different totals and not all the dead have been identified.
The dead include:
At least three Tunisians, including a police officer involved in the security operation
Five Japanese were killed, according to Tunisian PM Habib Essid – although Japan says it has only confirmed the deaths of three citizens
Four Italians
Two Colombians
Two Spaniards
One national each from the UK, Australia, France and Poland [youtube Gqs3LClwmjo 650]
Tunisian authorities have arrested 9 people in connection with Bardo Museum attack in Tunis on March 18, the Tunisian presidency says.
The attack left 23 people dead, including 20 foreign tourists.
It alleged that four were directly linked to the attack and five had “ties to the cell”.
The army will also be deployed to major cities, the presidency added.
In another development, Islamic State (ISIS) said in an audio message that it was behind the attack.
It said the attack was carried out by “two knights of the caliphate” and named them as Abu-Zakariya al-Tunisi and Abu-Anas al-Tunisi.
Photo Getty Images
A statement described the attack as a “blessed invasion of one of the dens of infidels and vice in Muslim Tunisia”.
The statement was published by Twitter accounts known to be reliable sources of ISIS propaganda.
One of two gunmen involved in the Bardo Museum attack, named by Tunisian officials as Yassine Laabidi, was reportedly known to the authorities.
Yassine Laabidi and his accomplice, named as Hatem Khachnaoui, were killed as security forces stormed the museum.
It was not immediately clear how the identities of the gunmen corresponded to the names given by ISIS. Jihadist groups, including ISIS, often give their fighters noms de guerre.
Tourists from Japan, Colombia, the UK and other European countries were killed in the attack and more than 40 people were injured.
The suspects arrested on March 19 were not identified and no further details of their alleged involvement were given.
In a statement, the presidency said Tunisia was facing “exceptional circumstances”, adding that “terrorist operations have now moved from the mountains to the cities”.
“After a meeting with the armed forces, the president has decided large cities will be secured by the army,” the statement added.
On March 19, two Spanish tourists and a Tunisian museum worker were found at the museum after having hidden there overnight believing the attack might not have been over, police said.
Two cruise companies – MSC Cruises and Costa Cruises – said they were suspending stopovers in Tunis.
MSC said in a statement that at least nine of those killed had been passengers on its MSC Splendida cruise ship which was docked in Tunis. It said another 12 of its passengers were injured and six were still unaccounted for.
Costa Cruises said that three passengers from the Costa Fascinosa had died. Eight others were injured and two were unaccounted for, company CEO Michael Thamm said in a statement.
US Air Force veteran Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, who is accused of trying to join Islamic State (ISIS), has appeared in court in New York and denied all charges.
Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, 47, spoke only to repeat his name to the judge.
His lawyer, Michael K. Schneider, entered the plea on his behalf.
The former New Jersey aircraft mechanic has been charged with trying to provide material support to a terrorist group and obstructing justice.
Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh was stopped at a Turkish airport in January with a laptop that had detailed information on border crossings into Syria and jihadist videos, according to court papers.
Photo LinkedIn
A letter he allegedly wrote to a woman thought to be his wife says: “I will use the talents and skills given to me by Allah to establish and defend the Islamic States.”
Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh is an American citizen who was born and raised in the US, prosecutors say.
According to a statement from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh served as an avionics specialist and mechanic in the US Air Force.
After he left the military, Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh did similar work for several companies in the United States and the Middle East.
Judge Nicholas Garaufis arranged for another hearing in May to review the evidence and discuss the plea.
Saddam Hussein’s tomb has been almost completely destroyed in fighting near Tikrit, Iraq.
Footage filmed by the Associated Press shows that all that remains standing of the once-lavish mausoleum in the village of al-Awja are some pillars.
Iraqi forces and Iranian-backed Shia militia are battling to drive Islamic State (ISIS) militants from Tikrit.
In 2014, the local Sunni population said they had removed the former Iraqi leader’s body and taken it to an unknown location.
The capture of the tomb came as fighting intensified north and south of Tikrit on March 15 as Iraqi security forces vowed to reach the city centre within 48 hours.
The footage shows the mausoleum, south of the city, reduced to concrete rubble.
Poster-sized pictures of Saddam Hussein that once covered the tomb have been replaced with Shia militia flags and pictures of militia leaders, including Iranian General Qassem Soleimani who advises the Shia militias.
There are suspicions among many in Iraq’s Sunni community that Saddam Hussein’s tomb was deliberately destroyed by the Shia militias.
AP said that its crew was embedded with the Iraqi military and may have been subject to reporting restrictions.
“This is one of the areas where ISIS militants massed the most because Saddam’s grave is here,” said Captain Yasser Numa, an official with the militias.
“The ISIS militants set an ambush for us by planting bombs around.”
ISIS said in August 2014 that the tomb had been completely destroyed but local officials denied this, saying it had been ransacked and suffered only minor damage.
Saddam Hussein, who was from Tikrit, was captured by US forces in 2003.
An Iraqi tribunal convicted him of crimes against humanity for the killings of Shia Muslims and Kurds and hanged him in 2006. Saddam Hussein’s body had been kept in the mausoleum since 2007.
The mausoleum featured a marble octagon with a bed of fresh flowers at the centre, covering the place where Saddam Hussein’s body was buried.
According to Iraqi media, loyalists removed Saddam Hussein’s remains last year amid fears that it would be disturbed in the fighting.
Tikrit was overrun by ISIS in June 2014 and several hundred militants are believed to be holding out there.
The Vatican backs the use of military force to stop attacks on Christians and other Middle East minorities by Islamic State (ISIS) if no political solution is found.
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican’s top diplomat at the UN in Geneva, said jihadists were committing “genocide” and must be stopped.
The Vatican traditionally opposes military intervention in the region.
However, Pope Francis decried the beheading in February of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by ISIS in Libya.
The militants have targeted minority religious groups in the parts of Syria and Iraq under their control. Thousands more people have been forced to flee their homes.
In an interview with US Catholic website Crux, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said: “What’s needed is a co-ordinated and well-thought-out coalition to do everything possible to achieve a political settlement without violence.
“But if that’s not possible, then the use of force will be necessary.”
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi added: “We have to stop this kind of genocide. Otherwise we’ll be crying out in the future about why we didn’t so something, why we allowed such a terrible tragedy to happen.”
Christians were the main target of ISIS attacks, the archbishop said, but all minorities were human beings whose rights had to be protected.
“Christians, Yazidis, Shias, Sunnis, Alawites, all are human beings whose rights deserve to be protected,” he said.
Any coalition, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi said, must include Muslim states from the Middle East and be guided by the UN.
Crux said the archbishop’s endorsement of military action was “unusually blunt”.
ISIS militants have posted a new video appearing to show the killing of an Israeli Arab man whom they accused of being a spy.
In the video, a 10-year-old boy from ISIS Young Lions is seen apparently shooting a man the militants identified as Said Ismail Musallam.
ISIS said Said Ismail Musallam, 19, had posed as a foreign fighter when he joined the militants in Syria.
It said he later confessed to being a spy for Israel’s Mossad – a charge denied by Israel and by his family.
They say Said Ismail Musallam went missing after travelling as a tourist to Turkey in 2014.
A few months later an online magazine linked to ISIS carried a long interview in his name in which he confessed he had been sent by Israel to infiltrate the organization.
The video purportedly showing Said Ismail Musallam’s death has not been independently verified.
It is the latest in a series of ISIS propaganda videos appearing to show the killing of hostages.
Last month ISIS militants in Libya released a video showing them beheading 21 Coptic Christians.
ISIS militants have reportedly kidnapped nine foreign oil workers in a raid in Libya after beheading eight guards.
Four Filipinos, an Austrian, a Bangladeshi, a Czech and a Ghanaian were taken with an unidentified ninth foreigner, Austrian officials say.
The foreign ministry in Vienna said ISIS had attacked the al-Ghani oil field.
The al-Ghani oil field, 440 miles south-east of Tripoli, had been attacked on March 6.
The foreigners were working for oilfield management company Value Added Oilfield Services (VAOS) at the field.
VAOS said it did not know which militants had carried out the attack or where the oil workers had been taken.
It insisted that none of its employees had “died or were physically harmed in the attack”.
Confirming that four of the missing workers were their nationals, the Philippines said it brought to seven the number of Filipinos now missing in Libya.
Last week, ISIS militants were reported to be behind an attack on two oil fields in Bahi and Mabruk.
Rival militias have been fighting for control in Libya since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in 2011.
Niger and Chad forces have launched a ground and air offensive against militant group Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria, officials say.
The campaign is said to be targeting militants in Borno state.
The move came as Nigerian officials dismissed Boko Haram’s pledge of allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS) as a reaction to military pressure from Nigeria and its allies.
The pledge was posted online on March 7 in an audio message by Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.
Abubakar Shekau called on Muslims everywhere to swear loyalty to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Boko Haram has been fighting an insurgency to create an Islamic state in northern Nigeria since 2009, and in recent months the violence has increasingly spilled over into neighboring states.
Chad, Cameroon and Niger have already been helping Nigeria in its battle against Boko Haram.
On March 6, the African Union endorsed the creation of a regional force of more than 8,000 troops to combat the group. However, the force’s remit will be limited to securing the Nigerian side of Lake Chad, rather than pushing further into Nigeria.
As the latest offensive began early on Sunday, a resident and an aid worker told AFP news agency there had been heavy arms fire close to Niger’s border with Nigeria.
A local radio station said that a convoy of more than 200 vehicles was moving towards the area, and that air strikes had been carried out on Saturday and early on Sunday.
The Nigerian military and troops from neighboring states have recently claimed some success in their campaign against Boko Haram, and Nigerian officials said the pledge of allegiance to IS was a sign of weakness
Army spokesman Col. Sami Usman Kukasheka said the Boko Haram leader was like a “drowning man”.
A spokesman for the Nigerian government, Mike Omeri, said Boko Haram needed help “as a result of the heavy casualties and bombardment and degrading of their capacity”.
However, Boko Haram militants have continued to launch deadly attacks.
On March 7, Boko Haram was blamed for a series of attacks in its former stronghold of Maiduguri, including suicide bombings, that left more than 50 people dead.
Nigeria postponed national elections by six weeks until March 28 in order to have more time to try to improve security in the north.
Col. Sami Usman Kukasheka called on Nigerians “to be more security conscious because given the onslaught on Boko Haram definitely they are bound to spring surprises”.
ISIS has forged links with other militant groups across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and in January, militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan pledged their allegiance.
According to an audio statement, Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (ISIS).
The message, which has not be verified, was posted on the Nigerian militant group’s Twitter account and appeared to be by Boko Haram’s leader Abubakar Shekau.
Boko Haram began a military campaign to impose Islamic rule in northern Nigeria in 2009. The conflict has since spread to neighboring states.
It would be the latest in a series of groups to swear allegiance to ISIS.
Photo AFP/Getty Images
Boko Haram’s insurgency has threatened Nigeria’s territorial integrity and triggered a humanitarian crisis.
The militant group has carried out frequent bombings that have left thousands dead and has also attacked targets in the capital, Abuja.
ISIS has forged links with other militant groups across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
In November 2014, ISIS leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi accepted pledges of allegiance from jihadists in Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
In January 2015, militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan announced that they were forming an ISIS province.
ISIS militants have begun destroying the ruins of the ancient city of Hatra in Iraq, Kurdish sources say.
Hatra was founded in the days of the Parthian Empire over 2,000 years ago and is a UNESCO world heritage site.
Earlier this week, ISIS militants began bulldozing the nearby ruins of the Assyrian city of Nimrud.
ISIS, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, says shrines and statues are “false idols” that have to be smashed.
It not yet clear how extensive any damage might have been.
Hatra, located about 68 miles south-west of Mosul, was a fortified city that withstood invasions by the Romans thanks to its thick walls reinforced by towers.
Said Mamuzini, a Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) local official, told Kurdish media that IS militants had started destroying the site.
“The city of Hatra is very big and many artifacts of that era were protected inside the site,” he said, adding that the militants had already taken away gold and silver.
There is no independent confirmation of the destruction.
Reports of the bulldozer attack in Nimrud, an Assyrian city founded in the 13th Century BC, emerged on March 5.
On March 6, UNESCO head Irina Bokova condemned the “cultural cleansing” in Iraq as a “war crime”.
“There is absolutely no political or religious justification for the destruction of humanity’s cultural heritage.”
The Parthian Empire was a major political and cultural force in ancient Iran. At the height of its power in the second century AD, it extended from modern-day Pakistan to Syria.
Hatra later flourished under Arab rulers, and became a major trading-post on the Silk Road across the Asian continent.
ISIS has sparked an international outrage after bulldozing the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq.
On March 5, ISIS – which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria – began demolishing the site, which was founded in the 13th Century BC, Iraqi officials said.
The Iraq director for the UN cultural agency UNESCO called it “another appalling attack on Iraq’s heritage”.
ISIS says ancient shrines and statues are “false idols” that have to be smashed.
“They are erasing our history,” Iraqi archaeologist Lamia al-Gailani said.
Nimrud lies about 18 miles south-east of Mosul.
Many of the artifacts found there have been moved to museums in Baghdad and overseas, but many remain on site.
ISIS “assaulted the historic city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy vehicles,” the tourism and antiquities ministry said on March 5.
It said the militants continued to “defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity”, calling for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss how to protect cultural heritage in Iraq.
A local tribal source told Reuters: “Islamic State members came to the Nimrud archaeological city and looted the valuables in it and then they proceeded to level the site to the ground.
“There used to be statues and walls as well as a castle that Islamic State has destroyed completely.”
Last week, ISIS released a video apparently showing militants with sledgehammers destroying historic artifacts in a museum in Mosul.
One militant was seen drilling through and pulling apart what appeared to be a stone winged bull.
That attack was condemned by the UN as a war crime.
ISIS has controlled Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, and nearby areas since June 2014 – a region with nearly 1,800 of the country’s 12,000 registered archaeological sites.
Dakota Johnson’s spoof advert for ISIS on Saturday Night Live show has caused a furor on Twitter.
Fifty Shades of Grey actress plays a girl saying goodbye to her father in the skit, which appeared on SNL.
Dakota Johnson appears to be leaving for college, but it transpires she is actually joining the Islamic State group.
“It’s just ISIS, dad,” she says.
One Twitter user wrote: “I found NOTHING funny about that ISIS #SNL skit. Sorry but no laughing matter. Ever.”
Later in the sketch, Taran Killam, who plays the father, tells the ISIS recruiter to “take good care” of his daughter, to which the ISIS member replies: “Death to America.”
Photo SNL
The skit ran shortly after the news broke that three British schoolgirls had run away from home to join the terrorist organization.
On Twitter, another user, Mike Smith, wrote: “Make sure you send a copy to the families of the people murdered… See if they think it’s funny. SNL went too far for a laugh.”
However, some users were more supportive. Pam Bell wrote: “Seems this may have been controversial, but SNL does this better than anyone, & if we don’t laugh, they win.”
Dakota Johnson, who can currently be seen in Fifty Shades of Grey also hosted this week’s SNL.
Her parents, actors Don Johnson and Melanie Griffiths, were in the audience.
Dakota Johnson joked with them that she was conceived during SNL when her mother hosted the show in 1988.
Iraqi troops have retaken some districts around Tikrit in their fight to recapture the city from Islamic State (ISIS).
A force of about 30,000 soldiers and militia are said to be attacking on different fronts, backed by air strikes from Iraqi jets.
Tikrit, north of the capital Baghdad, fell to ISIS militants last June.
The troops had seized control of the two districts of al-Tin, near Tikrit university north-east of the city, and the district of al-Abeid, in the west.
Earlier, fighting was also reported in al-Dour, south-east of Tikrit, as well as in al-Alam, north of the city, and nearby Qadisiya.
There were few details of the operation but army and medical sources were quoted as saying that five soldiers and 11 militia fighters had been killed.
The Pentagon said that the US was not providing any air power in support of the operation.
Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi declared the start of the operation late on March 1, as tens of thousands of troops and militia massed in the central town of Samarra.
Tikrit, in Salahuddin province, lies on the road to Mosul – Iraq’s second city which was also seized by ISIS last year.
Correspondents say the current operation is crucial to any Iraqi plans to retake Mosul.
Iraqi forces are being helped by Iran’s Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, Iranian and Iraqi media reported.
Since the ISIS advance across Iraq last summer, Gen. Qasem Soleimani has personally overseen the defense of Baghdad and helped to organize pro-Iranian Shia militia.
He has been pictured visiting the front lines north of the capital on several occasions.
Tikrit is the hometown of deposed leader Saddam Hussein and was seized last year by IS militants backed by anti-government Sunni allies loyal to Saddam’s banned Baath party.
Iraq is split between a Sunni Muslim minority, many of whom supported Saddam Hussein, and the Shia Muslim majority.
Since Saddam Hussein was toppled, Sunnis have felt increasingly marginalized by the Shia-led government in Baghdad.
Shia militia has done much of the fighting against ISIS militants but have also been accused of killing scores of Sunni civilians in apparent revenge attacks.
ISIS militants hold several areas of Salahuddin, a predominantly Sunni Muslim province.
ISIS has released 19 of an estimated 220 members of an Assyrian Christian community kidnapped in north-eastern Syria, activists say.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said an Assyrian commander had told it of the releases.
Some reports say the releases were made in exchange for a sum of money.
The kidnappings took place shortly before dawn on February 23, when ISIS militants swept into about 12 villages.
Men, women and children from the villages, located on the southern bank of the Khabur River, near the town of Tal Tamr, were taken captive.
Correspondents say that news of the releases will provide some comfort to the Christian Assyrian community – which has been devastated by the abductions – even though there is concern for those still being held.
Assyrian Christian officials said that the 16 men and three women who were released arrived safely on February 28 at the Church of the Virgin Mary in the city of Hassakeh.
The nineteen – all from the village of Tal Ghoran – had been transported by bus from the IS-held town of Shaddadeh, which is south of Hassakeh.
Some reports say that all those freed were about 50 or older, indicating that age might be a factor.
The Assyrian Human Rights Network said the captives gained their freedom after a Sharia court ordered them to pay an unspecified amount of money levied as a tax on non-Muslims.
Assyrian leaders and Sunni tribal sheikhs are trying to negotiate with ISIS to secure the release of the remaining captives, activists said.
It is estimated that up to 40,000 Assyrians lived in Syria – alongside the overall Christian population of 1.2 million – before the country’s civil war broke out in 2011.
The Assyrians, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, have been under increasing pressure since ISIS captured large parts of Syria.
Some 1,000 local Assyrian families are believed to have fled their homes in the wake of the abductions.
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