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PM David Cameron has defended the British security services amid criticisms they failed to stop Mohammed Emwazi, known as “Jihadi John”, from joining ISIS in Syria.
The prime minister said MI5 made “incredibly difficult judgments” on the UK’s behalf.
His comments came after it emerged Mohammed Emwazi was known to authorities.
David Cameron said he would not comment on specific cases but urged the public to back the security services.
Mohammed Emwazi, who is in his mid-20s, first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed American journalist James Foley.
He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of British aid worker David Haines, American journalist Steven Sotloff, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter Kassig.
UK-based advocacy group Cage has suggested that MI5 may have contributed to the radicalization of Mohammed Emwazi.
Downing Street said the claim was “completely reprehensible”, while London Mayor Boris Johnson described Cage’s comments as “an apology for terror”.
David Cameron defended the security services, praising the work of “these extraordinary men and women”.
He said: “I meet with them regularly, I ask them searching questions about what they do and in my almost five years’ experience as prime minister, I think they are incredibly impressive, hard-working, dedicated, courageous and effective at protecting our country.
“All of the time, they are having to make incredibly difficult judgements and I think basically they make very good judgements on our behalf, and I think whilst we are in the middle of this vast effort to make sure British citizens are safe, the most important thing is to get behind them.”
David Cameron went on to say the security services’ “dedication and work has saved us from plots on the streets of the UK that could have done us immense damage” within the last few months.
He said he was satisfied there was effective scrutiny of the work they do.
Mihammed Emwazi has appeared in videos dressed in a black robe with a black balaclava covering all but his eyes and top of his nose.
Speaking with a British accent, Jihadi John taunted Western powers before holding his knife to the hostages’ necks, appearing to start cutting before the film stopped.
Hostages released by ISIS said Jihadi John was one of three British jihadists guarding Westerners abducted by the group in Syria.
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The masked ISIS militant with British accent known as “Jihadi John”, who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, has been named as Mohammed Emwazi from London.
Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British man believed to be from West London, who was known to UK security services.
They chose not to disclose his name earlier for operational reasons.
Mohammed Emwazi first appeared in a video last August, when he apparently killed the American journalist James Foley.
He was later thought to have been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of American journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, British taxi driver Alan Henning, and American aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter Kassig.
In each of the videos, the militant appeared dressed in a black robe with a black balaclava covering all but his eyes and top of his nose.
Speaking with a British accent, the man taunted and threatened Western powers before appearing to kill the hostages.
Last month, the militant appeared in a video with the Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto, shortly before they were killed.
Friends of Mohammed Emzawi told the Washington Post that he was from a well-to-do family and that he studied computer programming at university.
Mohammed Emzawi is believed to be an associate of a former UK control order suspect, who travelled to Somalia in 2006 and is allegedly linked to a facilitation and funding network for Somali militant group al-Shabab.
The Washington Post said Mohammed Emzawi was believed to have travelled to Syria around 2012 and later joined ISIS, which has declared the creation of a “caliphate” in the large swathes of Syria and neighboring Iraq it controls.
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According to new reports, there are more members of an Assyrian Christian community in north-eastern Syria were abducted by ISIS militants than at first thought.
Sources in the community said as many as 200 people might have been seized on February 23 in raids on a string of villages near Tal Tamr, in Hassakeh province.
Most of the captives were women, children and the elderly.
Some 1,000 local Assyrian families are believed to have fled their homes in the wake of the abductions.
Kurdish and Christian militia are battling Islamic State in the area.
At least 90 Assyrians were seized by the militants on February 23 as they captured 12 villages along the southern bank of the Khabur river before dawn, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based opposition group that monitors the conflict in the country.
The Syriac National Council of Syria put the figure as high as 150, while Afram Yaboub of the Assyrian Federation of Sweden said sources on the ground had told him that at least 60 and up to 200 people were missing.
Osama Edward of the Sweden-based Assyrian Human Rights Network told the AFP news agency that the captives had been taken to the ISIS stronghold of Shaddadi, as did Syria’s state news agency, Sana.
“People were expecting an attack, but they thought that either the Syrian army, which is just 30km [20 miles] from there or the Kurds or the [US-led] coalition’s strikes would protect them,” Osama Edward said.
Hundreds of Assyrians who were living in villages on the north bank of the Khabur River and elsewhere are reported to have fled following the attack to the largely Kurdish-controlled provincial capital of Hassakeh, to the south-east, and Qamishli, another city to the north-east.
“Since Monday, 800 families have taken refuge in the city of Hassakeh and another 150 in Qamishli,” Osama Edward reported.
The Syriac Military Council had about 400 fighters in the area and at least four had been killed in clashes with the jihadists, he added. The YPG has deployed between 1,000 and 1,500 fighters.
The YPG was also reported to be continuing a major offensive launched on Sunday against IS some 60 miles to the east, near the border with Iraq – an area of vital importance to the jihadists.
The Syrian Observatory said at least 132 ISIS militants had been killed in the offensive, along with seven members of the YPG.
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At least 90 Assyrian Christians have been kidnapped by ISIS militants from villages in north-eastern Syria, activists say.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 90 men, women and children were seized in a series of dawn raids near the town of Tal Tamr.
Some Assyrians managed to escape and made their way east to the largely Kurdish-controlled city of Hassakeh.
It comes as Syrian Kurdish fighters backed by US-led air strikes continue to advance into ISIS-held territory.
On February 23, a Kurdish official said ISIS militants had been forced back to within 3 miles of the town of Tal Hamis by the Popular Protection Units (YPG).
The Syrian Observatory confirmed the advance by the YPG and said at least 12 ISIS fighters had been killed on February 23.
Hassakeh province is strategically important in the fight against ISIS because it borders both Turkey and areas controlled by the group in Iraq.
US Homeland Security has urged Americans to be vigilant following a terror threat to Western shopping centers, including Mall of America.
Secretary Jeh Johnson said he took the threat by the Somali-based group al-Shabab seriously.
In a video, al-Shabab urged followers to carry out attacks on shopping centers in the US, Canada and the UK.
Al-Shabab was responsible for the 2013 attack on Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi that killed 67 people.
Jeh Johnson told CNN that the threat was part of “a new phase” of terrorism in which attacks would increasingly come from “independent actors in their homelands”.
“Anytime a terrorist organization calls for an attack on a specific place, we’ve got to take that seriously,” he said.
In the video, a man with a British-sounding accent and full face covering calls on supporters of al-Shabab to attack “American or Jewish-owned” Western shopping centers.
He specifically mentions Minnesota’s Mall of America – the second-largest US shopping centre – and Canada’s West Edmonton Mall, as well as London’s Oxford Street and the UK capital’s two Westfield shopping centers.
Co-ordinates for the various targets were listed on the screen as they were described.
Both Mall of America and West Edmonton Mall have issued statements saying they were implementing additional security measures.
Minnesota is home to a large Somali population and a Minnesota man was indicted last week on charges of conspiring to support Islamic State (ISIS).
Police and security services in Canada, France and Denmark have been on high alert recently following attacks by so-called “home-grown” terrorists inspired by groups such as al-Shabab and ISIS.
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A Turkish military convoy have entered into northern Syria and evacuated a historic Ottoman tomb and the soldiers guarding it.
Turkey’s PM Ahmet Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah would be moved elsewhere in Syria.
He said troops had destroyed the tomb’s complex, apparently to prevent it from being used by Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
Turkey considers the shrine be to sovereign territory.
Suleyman Shah was grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman the first.
“We had given the Turkish armed forces a directive to protect our spiritual values and the safety of our armed forces personnel,” Ahmet Davutoglu said in televised remarks.
Earlier, in a series of tweets, Ahmet Davutoglu hailed the armed forces for carrying out a “highly successful” operation amid the “inherent risks” of conflict in Syria.
He said the remains had been moved to Turkey but would soon be rehoused in an area of Syria under Turkish military control, closer to the Turkish border.
The Turkish flag had already been raised over the site, Ahmet Davutoglu said.
There were no clashes with ISIS during the operation, but one soldier died in an accident, he added.
The operation began on Saturday at about 21:00 local time and ended on Sunday morning.
A large convoy, including 600 troops and almost tanks and armored vehicles, passed through Kobane – the city which Syrian Kurdish fighters retook last month from ISIS – and travelled some 20 miles south to the tomb on the banks of the Euphrates river.
Suleyman Shah is believed to have drowned in the river.
The tomb has been permanently guarded by a contingent of about 40 soldiers, who rotate periodically. The site is part of Turkish territory, according to a treaty signed in 1921.
The Turkish convoy was believed to be larger and more heavily armed than usual because of recent heavy fighting between the Kurdish militia and Syrian rebel groups against IS militants.
Since driving ISIS out of Kobane in January, the Kurdish Popular Protection Units and rebels have taken a number of surrounding villages.
They are now said to be only 15 miles from Tal Abyad – the strategically important border town east of Kobane that is used by ISIS militants to cross into Turkey.
ISIS has seized large swathes in Syria and Iraq, proclaiming a caliphate.
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Islamic State (ISIS) militants have burned to death 45 people in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi, the local police chief says.
Exactly who these people were and why they were killed is not clear.
However, Col. Qasim al-Obeidi said he believed some were members of the security forces.
ISIS militants captured much of al-Baghdadi town, near Ain al-Asad air base, last week.
Col. Qasim al-Obeidi said a compound that houses the families of security personnel and local officials was now under attack.
He pleaded for help from the government and the international community.
The fighting and poor communications in the area make it difficult to confirm such reports.
Earlier this month, ISIS published a video showing militants burning alive a Jordanian air force pilot, whose plane crashed in Syria in December.
Al-Baghdadi had been besieged for months by ISIS militants before its fall on February 12.
It had been one of the few towns to still be controlled by the Iraqi government in Anbar province, where ISIS and allied Sunni Arab tribesmen launched an offensive in January 2014.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters on February 13 that al-Baghdadi’s capture needed to be put in perspective.
He said it was the first time in the last couple of months that the jihadist group had taken new ground.
However, Ain al-Asad air base, where about 320 US Marines are training members of the Iraqi army’s 7th Division, is only 5 miles away.
The base was itself attacked by ISIS fighters, among them several suicide bombers, on February 13. The militants were eventually repelled by Iraqi troops backed by US-led coalition aircraft.
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Egypt has bombed ISIS targets in Libya, hours after the group published video showing the apparent killings of 21 Egyptian Christians.
State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas.
Libyan officials said Egypt had hit targets in the militant-held city of Derna in co-ordination with Libya.
A video emerged on February 15 showing militants forcing a group of men to the ground and decapitating them.
Islamic State militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which is in effect without a government.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, under the control of Islamist groups.
The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to ISIS. The victims were all wearing orange overalls as in previous videos of ISIS executions. It was one of the first such videos to come from an ISIS group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.
Egypt did not give the locations of the strikes, but reports said that Egyptian jets had taken part in co-ordinated air strikes on Derna.
Libyan Air force commander Saqer al-Joroushi told Reuters that Libyan planes had bombed targets in Sirte and Bin Jawad.
Earlier, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt had the “right to respond” against ISIS, whom he described as “inhuman criminal killers”.
“Egypt and the whole world are in a fierce battle with extremist groups carrying extremist ideology and sharing the same goals.”
Egypt has declared seven days of national mourning.
Leading international condemnation, the United States called the killings “despicable” and “cowardly”.
Libya is home to a large community of both Muslim and Coptic Egyptians, with most working in the construction sector.
In the first kidnapping in Sirte, in late December, a group of Coptic Christians was abducted at a fake checkpoint while trying to leave the city.
Days later, militants raided a residential compound in Sirte and separated Christians from Muslims before handcuffing their captives and taking them away.
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The Congress has received a draft authorization to formally use military force against the Islamic State group (ISIS) from President Barack Obama.
The resolution would not restrict where US forces could pursue ISIS but bans “enduring offensive combat operations”.
The US has already pursued air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
Congress has not formally voted for military force since 2002, for the Iraq war.
Barack Obama has called for ending that resolution, about the Iraq war, but the new draft does not make any changes to the Afghanistan war resolution in 2001.
Photo Reuters
The draft the president has sent Congress in regards to ISIS is limited to three years.
It will force Congress to vote on war for the first time in 13 years and it’s expected to set up a debate about America’s role in the Middle East and how to best counter the militant group.
In a letter sent to Congress along with his draft, President Barack Obama said while “existing statutes” allow the air strikes, he has “repeatedly expressed my commitment to working with the Congress to pass a bipartisan authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) against ISIL”.
Barack Obama said it “would not authorize long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those our nation conducted in Iraq and Afghanistan” but would provide flexibility to pursue rescue operations and special operations attacks.
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President Barack Obama has confirmed the death of American aid worker Kayla Mueller, who had been held hostage by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria.
Kayla Mueller’s family said they were “heartbroken” to learn the news, and released a letter written during her captivity.
Paying tribute to her, President Barack Obama said “she represents what is best about America”.
Last week, Islamic State said Kayla Mueller had died in a Jordanian air strike, without providing proof.
Kayla Mueller was abducted while working in Aleppo, Syria in 2013.
“Our hearts are breaking for our only daughter, but we will continue on in peace, dignity, and love for her,” her family said in a statement.
In a letter written in 2014, Kayla Mueller tries to reassure her family that she is safe and unharmed.
“I could only but write the letter a paragraph at a time, just the thought of you all sends me into a fit of tears,” she wrote.
“I know you would want me to remain strong. That is exactly what I am doing.”
Kayla Mueller’s death was determined after her family was contacted privately by her ISIS captors over the weekend, with US intelligence then confirming the details of the message.
“She has been taken from us, but her legacy endures, inspiring all those who fight, each in their own way, for what is just and what is decent,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.
“No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla’s captivity and death.”
Neither the White House nor Kayla Mueller’s family have given the circumstances behind her death.
She was the last known US hostage to be held by ISIS. Three others – journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig – were beheaded by the group.
The militants’ claims that Kayla Mueller was killed by a Jordanian air strike were dismissed by Jordan as propaganda.
Kayla Mueller worked with a number of humanitarian organizations at home and abroad. She travelled to the Turkey-Syria border in 2012 to work with refugees.
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An American female hostage has been killed in a Jordanian air strike in Syria, Islamic State (ISIS) militants have said.
ISIS named the woman as aid worker Kayla Jean Mueller in statements online.
The group provided no other proof for the claim beyond pictures of the alleged site of the air strike, in Raqqa, the group’s stronghold in Syria.
The White House said it was “deeply concerned” by the reports but that it has yet to verify them. Jordan has questioned the ISIS claims.
A graduate of Northern Arizona University, Kayla Jean Mueller, 26, first came to the Turkish/Syrian border in 2012 to work with refugees.
She was abducted while working in Aleppo, Syria the following year.
The ISIS statement said she was killed in the building where she was being held. It did not provide images of a body.
If Kayla Jean Mueller’s death is confirmed, she would be the fourth American to die while being held by ISIS. Journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig were beheaded by the group.
The Jordanian foreign minister Nasser Judeh tweeted that the ISIS claims were: “An old and sick trick used by terrorists and despots for decades: claiming that hostages [and] human shields held captive are killed by air raids.”
Jordan said it carried out aerial bombardments on ISIS targets in Syria on February 5, including on Raqqa.
The strikes were carried out in response to the killing of Jordanian fighter pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh by ISIS militants.
A video of Moaz al-Kasasbeh being burned alive in a cage was posted online by ISIS earlier this week.
Moaz al-Kasasbeh was captured by militants in December after his F-16 fighter jet crashed in Syria. The video is believed to have been filmed on January 3.
Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said Thursday’s strikes were “upping the ante” against ISIS.
Thousands rallied in Jordan’s capital, Amman, on February 6 in support of their government’s military response. Among those marching was Jordan’s Queen Rania.
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Jordan’s warplanes have carried out their first air strikes on Islamic State (ISIS) targets since the militants released a video showing the killing of captured Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh.
On their way back, the planes flew over the village of Moaz al-Kasasbeh.
Their flight coincided with a visit to the village by King Abdullah II, who was meeting the pilot’s family.
King Abdullah II has vowed to the step up the fight against ISIS. Jordan is part of a US-led coalition bombing the militants.
Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh was captured by the militants last year after his F-16 fighter jet crashed in Syria. ISIS this week released a video showing the pilot being burned alive in a cage, sparking outrage and calls for revenge in Jordan.
State television pictures on February 5 showed the king sitting somber-faced with Saif al-Kasasbeh, the pilot’s father, at a gathering in Aya village, near the city of Karak, south of the capital Amman.
The king gestured to the skies as the warplanes flew overhead, the Associated Press news agency said.
Saif al-Kasasbeh told mourners that the aircraft were returning from a raid on Syria’s Raqqa, the de facto capital of the militants’ self-declared caliphate, which spans territory in Iraq and Syria.
While Jordan did not specify the location of the air strikes, a security official quoted by Reuters said they had targeted ISIS in Syria.
However, anti-ISIS activists in Raqqa said there were no coalition air strikes in the city on February 4.
“The response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” King Abdullah said, after cutting short a trip to the US this week.
Jordan responded to the release of the gruesome video, which depicted the caged pilot engulfed in flames, by executing two convicts, including Sajida al-Rishawi, a failed female suicide bomber.
Jordan had earlier sought to secure the pilot’s release in a swap involving Rishawi.
However, it is now believed that IS had killed the pilot a month ago.
Saif al-Kasasbeh praised the king and condemned the militants.
“You are a wise monarch,” the Reuters quotes him as saying.
“These criminals violated the rules of war in Islam and they have no humanity. Even humanity disowns them.”
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Two jihadists, including a woman, have been executed in Jordan following the killing of one of its air force pilots by Islamic State (ISIS) militants.
The woman, failed suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi, and al-Qaeda operative Ziyad Karboli – both Iraqi nationals – were hanged at dawn, officials said.
The executions came hours after ISIS posted a video appearing to show pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh being burned alive.
Moaz al-Kasasbeh was seized after crashing during an anti-ISIS mission over Syria in December.
Jordan had attempted to secure Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh’s release in a swap involving Sajida al-Rishawi.
Sajida al-Rishawi had been on death row for her role in attacks in Jordan’s capital, Amman, which killed 60 people in 2005.
Ziyad Karboli was convicted in 2008 for killing a Jordanian national.
The two prisoners were executed at 04:00AM local time, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said on February 4.
Jordan earlier vowed an “earth-shattering” response after ISIS posted a video online showing what militants say is the pilot standing in a cage engulfed in flames.
Mamdouh al-Ameri, a spokesman for the Jordanian armed forces, said on February 3 that Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh had “fallen as a martyr”.
“His blood will not be shed in vain. Our punishment and revenge will be as huge as the loss of the Jordanians.”
Jordanian state TV reported that Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh was killed a month ago.
Jordan, which is part of the US-led coalition against ISIS, had tried to secure Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh’s release as part of a prisoner swap, offering to free Sajida al-Rishawi in exchange.
But ISIS had sought her release as part of a deal to free captive Japanese journalist Kenji Goto. A video that appeared to show Kenji Goto’s dead body was posted online four days ago.
Jordan’s King Abdullah hailed Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh as a hero, saying Jordan must “stand united” in the face of hardship.
The king decided to cut short a visit to the US after news of the pilot’s death, but he met President Barack Obama on Tuesday evening before flying home.
Many in Jordan have questioned its role in the air strikes against ISIS but the two leaders sought to reaffirm their joint resolve to destroy the group.
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Japanese hostage Kenji Goto has been killed by Islamic State militants, according to a video released online.
The video comes less than a week after news of the beheading of another Japanese man, Haruna Yukawa.
Kenji Goto Jogo, 47, is a well-known freelance journalist and film-maker who went to Syria in October, reportedly to try to secure Haruna Yukawa’s release.
Japan said it was trying to authenticate the video.
The video, which bears the same symbols as previous ISIS videos, shows a militant with a British accent killing Kenji Goto.
Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Japan was “outraged” by the video, adding that the cabinet was meeting to decide a response to it.
US National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said: “We have seen the video purporting to show that Japanese citizen Kenji Goto has been murdered by the terrorist group ISIL [ISIS].
“We are working to confirm its authenticity. The United States strongly condemns ISIL’s actions and we call for the immediate release of all remaining hostages. We stand in solidarity with our ally Japan.”
Japanese officials had been working with Jordan to secure the release of Kenji Goto and a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kasasbeh, who was shot down over Syria in December.
However, earlier on Saturday they said negotiations had become deadlocked.
An ISIS video released on January 27 said Kenji Goto had “only 24 hours left to live” and Moaz al-Kasasbeh “even less”.
They later gave a deadline of sunset on January 29 for a deal by which Kenji Goto would be freed in return for Jordan releasing captured Iraqi militant Sajida al-Rishawi.
But the deal may have been complicated by Jordan’s demand that Moaz al-Kasasbeh also be released.
It has also emerged that the militants had exchanged emails with Kenji Goto’s mother, who has pleaded publicly for her son’s release.
ISIS had initially demanded a $200 million ransom for the two Japanese hostages.
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Shannon Conley has been sentenced to four years in jail in Colorado after she pleaded guilty to trying to help the militant group Islamic State (ISIS).
Shannon Conley, a 19-year-old Muslim convert, was arrested in April while trying to board a flight to Turkey en route to Syria to marry an ISIS fighter.
Prosecutors offered a reduced term if she helped share information about other Americans looking to join ISIS.
Shannon Conley, who now calls herself Halima, said she deeply regrets her actions.
Handing down the verdict at a court in Denver, Judge Raymond Moore said the sentence was meant to deter others who wanted to join Islamic militants.
The judge also expressed doubt about Shannon Conley’s claim that she had disavowed jihad.
“Defiance has been a part of her fabric for a long time,” he said, adding that Shannon Conley needed mental help.
Shannon Conley appeared in the courtroom wearing a headscarf with her prison uniform. She had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
The woman had faced up to five years in prison.
Shannon Conley, who is a nurse’s assistant, told her parents she planned to marry Yousr Mouelhi, who she met online and believed to be a Tunisian ISIS fighter.
The FBI became interested in Shannon Conley after she alarmed employees of a church in Denver by taking notes on the layout of the building.
Over the course of eight months, FBI agents repeatedly tried to discourage Shannon Conley from travelling abroad, suggesting she explore humanitarian work instead.
Shannon Conley’s father, who had refused to let her marry her Tunisian suitor, discovered a one-way ticket to Turkey with her name on it.
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At least 200 members of the Yazidi religious community, mainly elderly people, have been released by the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group in northern Iraq.
The freed Yazidis people crossed out of ISIS-controlled territory and were received by Kurdish officials near the city of Kirkuk.
It is not yet clear why militants released them.
ISIS attacked the Yazidi minority community in Iraq last year, killing and abducting thousands of people.
Almost all of those released on January 17 were elderly or unwell, said Reuters. An early estimate of their numbers was put at 350, but later reports said there were some 200 in the group.
The group, including several sick infants, was taken directly by Kurdish Peshmerga forces to a health centre for treatment.
Khodr Domli, a leading Yazidi rights activist, was at the centre.
“Some are wounded, some have disabilities and many are suffering from mental and psychological problems,” he told the AFP news agency.
“These men and women had been held in Mosul,” Khodr Domli added.
One elderly Yazidi among those released said some of them feared they would be executed when the militants ordered them onto buses.
Instead, they were taken to a crossing point between ISIS-controlled Hawija and the Kurdish city of Kirkuk.
One of them, an elderly Yazidi man in a wheelchair, told AFP that they had spent months in captivity.
“It was so hard, not only because of the lack of food but also because I spent so much time worrying,” he said.
The circumstances surrounding the group’s release are still unclear.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces drove back Islamic State militants in north-western Iraq last month, breaking a long siege of Sinjar mountain where thousands of Yazidis had been stranded for months.
However, many Yazidi villages remain under ISIS control. Yazidi women and girls have been forced to marry or been sold into slavery by ISIS.
The Yazidi community estimates that around 3,000 women and children are still being held captive.
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The US Central Command’s Twitter and YouTube accounts have been suspended after being hacked by a group claiming to back Islamic State.
One message on Centcom’s Twitter feed said: “American soldiers, we are coming, watch your back.”
It was signed by ISIS, another name for the Islamic State. Some internal military documents also appeared on the Centcom Twitter feed.
Centcom said it viewed the breach as “cyber-vandalism” and not serious.
In a statement, the military command said there was no operational impact and no classified information was posted.
“We are viewing this purely as a case of cyber-vandalism,” it said.
The hack happened as President Barack Obama was giving a speech on cyber-security.
Reflecting on major breaches like a recent hack of Sony Pictures, President Barack Obama said in his speech the US had been reminded of “enormous vulnerabilities for us as a nation and for our economy”.
Barack Obama’s spokesman Josh Earnest said the US is looking into the Centcom hacking.
He said they were investigating the extent of the incident, and that there was a significant difference between a large data breach and the hacking of a Twitter account.
An unnamed Pentagon official told Reuters the hacking was an embarrassment but did not appear to be a security threat.
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Abu Saad al-Ansari, a cleric from the ISIS group, claims the radical militia was responsible for the deadly attack on the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
“We started with the France operation for which we take responsibility. Tomorrow will be in Britain, America and others,” Abu Saad al-Ansari said in a sermon in the Islamic State-controlled Iraqi city of Mosul.
“This is a message to all countries participating in the [U.S.-led] coalition that has killed Islamic State members.”
According to the Islamic State-linked pages on Twitter on January 7, the gunmen who shot 12 French journalists dead at Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris are closely related to ISIS.
According to tweets, ISIS elements celebrated retaliating journalists who drew caricatures scorning the prophet Mohamed of Islam in 2011.
“Don’t say we defend the prophet through his morals, but say we retaliated the insults of the prophet,” raid a tweet.
According to French official reports, the gun assault on the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine killed 12 and injured 10, 5 of them seriously.
The fugitive suspects are French-born sons of Algerian-born parents, both in their early 30s, and already under police surveillance.
One of them, Cherif Kouachi, 32, was jailed for 18 months for trying to travel to Iraq a decade ago to fight as part of an Islamist cell. Police said they were “armed and dangerous”.
Charlie Hebdo, where journalists were gunned down during an editorial meeting, had been firebombed in the past for printing cartoons that poked fun at militant Islam and some that mocked the Prophet Muhammad.
According to French officials, 12 people have been killed and seven others injured after gunmen attacked the Paris office of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
At least two masked gunmen opened fire with assault rifles in the office and exchanged shots with police in the street outside before escaping by car.
President Francois Hollande said there was no doubt it had been a terrorist attack “of exceptional barbarity”.
A major police operation is under way in the Paris area to catch the killers.
The latest post on Charlie Hebdo‘s Twitter account was a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The satirical weekly has courted controversy in the past with its irreverent take on news and current affairs.
The magazine was fire-bombed in November 2011 a day after it carried a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
People had been “murdered in a cowardly manner”, Francois Hollande told reporters at the scene.
“We are threatened because we are a country of liberty,” he added, appealing for national unity.
Two of those killed are police officers, AFP reports, and several of the wounded are in a critical condition.
An eyewitness, Benoit Bringer, told French TV channel Itele: “Two black-hooded men entered the building with Kalashnikovs.
“A few minutes later we heard lots of shots.”
The men were then seen fleeing the building.
Police have warned French media to be on alert and pay attention to security following the attack.
France was already on the alert for Islamist attacks after several incidents just before Christmas.
Cars were driven at shoppers in two cities, Dijon and Nantes, and police were attacked by a man wielding a knife in Tours.
While the French government denied the attacks were linked, it announced plans to further raise security in public spaces, including the deployment of around 300 soldiers.
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A Christmas Eve Mass has been held by in Bethlehem, the traditional birthplace of Jesus.
Christian pilgrims from across the world came to Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of our Lord.
In a homily, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal called on Jews, Muslims and Christians to “live together as equals”.
Referring to violence in Gaza and Jerusalem, Patriarch Fouad Twal said he hoped 2015 “would be better than this difficult year”.
Thousands of pilgrims earlier crowded into Manger Square to watch a procession led by Patriarch Fouad Twal.
The midnight Mass took place in the Church of the Nativity which marks the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born in the West Bank town.
Patriarch Fouad Twal, the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, said the region had become “a land of conflict”.
“I hope next year there will be no separation wall and I hope we will have bridges of peace instead,” he said, referring to the barrier Israel is building in and around the West Bank, which separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Israel says the barrier is necessary to prevent attacks by militants.
“Peace comes from justice and we have a cause which we hope will be solved soon,” the Patriarch added.
His sentiment was echoed by Palestinian Tourism Minister Rula Maayah.
“Our message this Christmas is a message of peace like every year, but what we added this year is that all we want from Christmas is justice,” the minister said.
“Justice for our people, justice for our case and the right to live like all other people in the world in our independent state without the occupation.”
Patriarch Fouad Twal urged Christians not to forget the residents of Gaza, where up to 19,600 families displaced by the 50-day conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants are still in need of medium- and long-term shelter, and the people of Syria and Iraq, who are struggling to cope with a civil war and the advance of jihadist militants from Islamic State (ISIS).
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Staff and customers at a Lindt cafe in Sydney, Australia, are being held hostage by a gunman.
The Lindt cafe in the city centre is surrounded by armed police. Officers have made contact with the gunman.
Five people have been seen running from the building. It is not clear how many remain inside. A black Islamic flag has been displayed at the window.
Australia’s PM Tony Abbott said it was “profoundly shocking” that people were being “held hostage by an armed person claiming political motivation”.
He was speaking after chairing a meeting of the national security committee in Canberra.
Earlier Tony Abbott said: “Australia is a peaceful, open and generous society – nothing should ever change that and that’s why I would urge all Australians today to go about their business as usual.”
Senior police officers say they are on a footing “consistent with a terrorist event”.
The incident began as people were arriving for work in Martin Place on December 15. Witnesses saw a man with a bag and gun walk into the Lindt chocolate shop and cafe.
Lindt said about 10 employees and 30 customers were thought to be inside at the time. Nearby offices were evacuated and police asked people to remain indoors and away from open windows.
An enormous police operation is in place, on a scale few Sydney residents will have seen.
About six hours into the siege, three people were seen running from the building housing the cafe. Two more people followed about an hour later. It is not clear whether they escaped or were released.
New South Wales Police deputy commissioner Catherine Burn said: “Those people are now being assessed to make sure their health is okay and then police will talk to them.”
“Our approach is to resolve this peacefully. It might take a bit of time but that is our priority,” she added.
Police negotiators were in contact with the gunman, Catherine Burn confirmed. The suspect also contacted local media and reportedly issued demands.
In a statement on Facebook, Lindt said it was “deeply concerned over this serious incident”.
An armed man wearing a backpack and a bandana could be seeing walking around inside the cafe.
TV footage showed at least three people, thought to be employees and who were visibly distressed, holding up to the window a black flag bearing the declaration of Islamic faith, which reads: “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.”
The flag is similar to those used by jihadist groups, but is different from the one used by Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
Martin Place is home to the state premier’s office and the headquarters of two of the nation’s largest banks. The state parliament house is also only a few streets away.
Australia – which has sent fighter jets to join the US-led coalition conducting air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq – raised its terror threat level in September.
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The Senate has passed a new annual defense bill expanding the military campaign against Islamic State (ISIS).
The bill approves a general Pentagon budget of $496 billion plus $64 billion for US wars abroad.
The measure also authorizes the training and equipping of moderate Syrian rebel fighters for two years.
The bill had already been passed by the House and has now been sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
ISIS controls large areas of Syria and Iraq, imposing a rigid version of Sunni Islam and persecuting or killing non-believers.
The US-led coalition has launched more than 600 air strikes against IS militant targets in Iraq since the campaign began on August 8.
The US, with Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has also carried out almost 500 attacks on IS in neighboring Syria since September 23.
Until now, US operations against ISIS had been funded from the existing Pentagon budget.
The new bill, which was passed by 89 votes to 11, approves $3.4 billion for the direct deployment of US forces against IS, and a further $1.6 billion for training Iraqi Kurdish forces for two years.
Democrat Senator Carl Levin said that US air power had “changed the momentum on the ground” but added that IS “cannot be defeated without an opposing force to take the fight to it”.
The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) had been the subject of cross-party talks for several months.
The bill rejected President Barack Obama’s request to approve the closure of the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
It also extended a ban on transferring inmates from the prison to the US.
The bill protected for another year the fleet of aging A-10 “Warthog” ground-support aircraft, whose retirement had been proposed.
A 1% pay rises for military personnel was also agreed.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lauded the bill, saying “it enhances our efforts to keep our warfighters safe on the battlefield, and it authorizes the resources needed to responsibly conclude our combat mission in Afghanistan”.
The bill also requires the provision of annual mental health screenings for military personnel.
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The death of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, whose killing was shown in a video posted by Islamic State (ISIS), President Barack Obama has confirmed.
Barack Obama called the act “pure evil” and offered his condolences to the family of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, 26.
Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known as Peter Kassig, was abducted in Syria last year.
The video, authenticated by the White House, shows a masked man standing over Abdul-Rahman Kassig’s severed head.
It also shows a beheading of 18 Syrians identified as army officers and pilots.
The president praised Peter Kassig as a humanitarian and said he was “taken from us in an act of pure evil by a terrorist group that the world rightly associates with inhumanity”.
“Today we offer our prayers and condolences to the parents and family of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known to us as Peter,” he added.
Barack Obama’s comments came as he flew back to the US from Australia where he was attending the G20 summit.
Peter Kassig was a former US Army Ranger who served in Iraq.
He later trained as an emergency medical technician and founded the Special Emergency Response and Assistance (SERA) organization, helping to supply camps on both sides of the Syrian border.
Peter Kassig was undertaking a project for SERA when he was captured in October 2013 while travelling to eastern Syria.
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Islamic State (ISIS) militants have released an audiotape they say was recorded by the group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, days after reports that he had been killed or injured.
In the recording, released via social media, the speaker says ISIS fighters will never stop fighting “even if only one soldier remains”.
Correspondents say the recording appears authentic and recent.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was said to have been caught in a US-led air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul last week.
Thursday’s 17-minute recording makes no direct reference to that air strike, but does mention some developments that have occurred since then.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was said to have been caught in a US-led air strike near the Iraqi city of Mosul
An English transcript of the recording was also released.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the US-led coalition fighting ISIS was making progress, but must “prepare for a long and difficult struggle”.
The ISIS audiotape mentions President Barack’s Obama decision to deploy an extra 1,500 troops to Iraq – a move announced shortly after the air strike on Mosul.
The recording calls on ISIS supporters to “erupt volcanoes of jihad” across the world.
He disparages opponents of ISIS as “Jews, Crusaders, apostates… [and] devils”, and says the US and its allies “are terrified, weak and powerless”.
The recording also calls for attacks in Saudi Arabia – describing Saudi leaders as “the head of the snake” – and says that the US-led military campaign in Syria and Iraq is failing.
Gulf state rulers, who have joined the US-led coalition against IS, are described as “treacherous”.
The recording also refers to new pledges of allegiance from jihadist groups in Libya, Egypt and Yemen that occurred in recent days.
“O soldiers of the Islamic State… erupt volcanoes of jihad everywhere. Light the earth with fire against all dictators,” the voice on the recording says.
In contrast to the audio messaging disparaging the coalition efforts, Chuck Hagel said US-led air strikes had helped in “degrading and destroying ISIL’s [ISIS] war fighting capacity and in denying safe haven to its fighters”.
“Directly and through support of Iraqi forces, coalition air strikes have hit ISIL’s command and control, its leadership, its revenue sources… and impaired its ability to amass forces,” he added.
The self-styled Islamic State – a jihadist group also known as ISIS, or ISIL – has seized swathes of Syria and Iraq since June, declaring a caliphate over territory it controls.
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi himself is a shadowy figure who only showed himself publicly for the first time in a video released in July, when he delivered a sermon in Mosul, Iraq.
He claims lineage from the family and tribe of the Prophet Muhammad.
Although currently limited to Iraq and Syria, ISIS has promised to “break the borders” of Jordan and Lebanon and to “free Palestine”.
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The US will send 1,500 more non-combat troops to Iraq to boost local forces fighting Islamic State (ISIS) militants, the White House has announced.
The Pentagon said the troops would train and assist Iraqi forces.
President Barack Obama authorized the deployment following a request from Iraq’s government, the Pentagon added.
ISIS militants control large areas of Iraq and Syria but have been targeted by hundreds of air strikes by a US-led coalition since August.
The 1,500 additional US troops will join several hundred military advisers that are already in Iraq to assist the country’s army.
A statement from the Pentagon said the troops would be establishing several sites to train nine Iraqi army and three Kurdish Peshmerga brigades.
The US military would also be setting up two “advise and assist operations centers” outside Baghdad and the northern city of Irbil, the statement added.
The US will send 1,500 more non-combat troops to Iraq to boost local forces fighting ISIS militants
“US troops will not be in combat, but they will be better positioned to support Iraqi security forces as they take the fight” to ISIS, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama would also be asking Congress for $5.6 billion to support the ongoing operations against ISIS fighters in both Iraq and Syria.
The announcement came hours after Barack Obama met congressional leaders in Washington for the first time after the Republicans won control of the Senate in Tuesday’s elections.
The Obama administration has said its aim was to “degrade and ultimately destroy” Islamic State militants, who control large parts of the country after launching an offensive in the north in June.
A US-led coalition has launched more than 400 air strikes on the group in Iraq since August, and more than 300 across the border in Syria.
The strikes have destroyed hundreds of the group’s armed vehicles and several of its bases, but Islamic State has continued its campaign to establish a caliphate.
Last week, officials in Iraq’s western Anbar province said ISIS militants had killed at least 322 members of a Sunni tribe who had tried to resist the jihadists.
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