The Netherlands: French forces rescue Dutch hostage held in Mali since 2011

French forces have freed a Dutch man held hostage in Mali since 2011 by al Qaeda’s north African arm, the French defence ministry said. It said Sjaak Rijke, who was kidnapped in Timbuktu in November 2011, was freed on Monday during a special operation and had been transferred “safe and sound” to a temporary base in Tessalit, north-east Mali.

French forces had also killed two militants and captured two others during fighting that took place during the early morning operation, said Lieutenant Colonel Michel Sabatier, a spokesman for Barkhane, the French counter-insurgency operation in the region.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said Rijke was in good condition considering the circumstances and receiving medical treatment under Dutch supervision.

“The liberation of Mr Rijke underscores France’s staunch determination to fight armed terrorist groups in the Sahel region as part of the Barkhane operation,” the French ministry said in a statement.

In November Rijke’s captors, the al Qaeda-affiliated AQIM group, issued a video of him along with French national Serge Lazarevic.

Read more: Africa - French forces rescue Dutch hostage held in Mali since 2011 - France 24

Middle East - UN says 25,000 foreigners have joined IS group, al Qaeda

The panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions against al-Qaida said in the report obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press that its analysis indicates the number of foreign terrorist fighters worldwide increased by 71 percent between mid-2014 and March 2015.

It said the scale of the problem has increased over the past three years and the flow of foreign fighters “is higher than it has ever been historically.”

The overall number of foreign terrorist fighters has “risen sharply from a few thousand ... a decade ago to more than 25,000 today,” the panel said in the report to the U.N. Security Council.

The report said just two countries have accounted for over 20,000 foreign fighters: Syria and Iraq. They went to fight primarily for the Islamic State group but also the Al-Nusra Front.

Looking ahead, the panel said the thousands of foreign fighters who traveled to Syria and Iraq are living and working in “a veritable ‘international finishing school’ for extremists,” as was the case in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

A military defeat of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq could have the unintended consequence of scattering violent foreign terrorist fighters across the world, the panel said.

 And while governments are focusing on countering the threat from fighters returning home, the panel said it’s possible that some may be traumatized by what they saw and need psychological help, and that others may be recruited by criminal networks.

Read more: Middle East - UN says 25,000 foreigners have joined IS group, al Qaeda - France 24

Turkey - Syria - USA: Al Qaeda's Turkish base?

Located 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) southeast of Ankara, Ceylanpinar was once known for its gigantic agricultural complex. However, this city with a population of 40,000 is now yet another victim of the Syrian war. Since October 2012, four residents have been killed and dozens have been wounded by stray bullets, mortars and rockets.

From the beginning of the uprising in March 2011, Syria's Kurds vowed a "third way" - neither with Assad, nor with the insurgents. Theirs is a neutral position that has led to clashes with both sides, but in July 2012 they took over their stronghold areas, in the north of the country.

The YPG - the main Kurdish militia group - and the Free Syrian Army signed a ceasefire on July 12 in Ras al Ayn but Jabhat al-Nusra distanced iself from the truce.

Many local residents told DW that Ankara is hosting Jabhat al-Nusra fighters in a camp near an unchecked border crossing west of Ceylanpinar.

Ibrahim Polat, a local journalist for the Dicle News Agency, says the allegations are true and adds that Ankara's alleged backing of Islamists goes even further:

"During the last months hundreds of fighters have been taken by Turkish ambulances from Syria to Ceylanpinar hospital and those with more serious injuries were taken to Balikdigol hospital in Sanliurfa, the provincial capital. Kurdish militiaman are systematically rejected in the local hospitals so they are taken to Qamishlo, Syria's main Kurdish city," he told DW.

From his office, Musa Çeri, District Governor and member of the AKP, the ruling party in Turkey, dismisses such claims as "false rumors."

"It is ridiculous to believe that Turkey could possibly back terrorist groups of any kind. My government would never do such a thing," he told DW, adding that the government of Ankara is "only" struggling to address the ever-growing number of Syrian refugees on Turkish soil - over 200,000 according to UN figures. "Our religion, Islam, compels us to meet the people's needs," he says.

Nonetheless, he doesn't hide his concern for what he considers to be Turkey's "most pressing terrorist threat."
"The Syrian Kurdish fighters are nothing but a branch of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers Party. If they finally get strong in their areas, they can easily conduct terrorists attacks against us across the border," he explains.

One of Ankara's biggest fears, he says, is a Kurdish autonomous region similar to that in northern Iraq on Syrian soil.

Read more: Al Qaeda's Turkish base? | World | DW.DE | 18.09.2013

Terrorism: France confirms death of top al Qaeda leader Abou Zeid

French President François Hollande confirmed Saturday that Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, a top leader of al Qaeda’s North Africa branch, was killed in a French military operation in northern Mali late last month.

The Algerian-born militant was the leader of one of the most hardline brigades – or katibas – of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The French presidential statement released on Saturday noted that “the end of one of the main leaders of AQIM is a milestone in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel” – referring to the remote transitional zone between the Sahara desert and the African savannah.

Read more: France confirms death of top al Qaeda leader Abou Zeid - MALI - FRANCE 24

Al Qaeda's Abou Zeid 'killed by Chadian troops' - MALI - FRANCE 24

One of the most dreaded leaders of al Qaeda’s North African branch, Algerian national Abou Zeid was reportedly killed by Chadian troops in Mali on February 26, 2013, Chad’s president said Friday.

"It was Chadian forces who killed two jihadi leaders, including Abou Zeid," President Idress Deby told opposition politicians in the presence of journalists after a funeral ceremony for Chadian soldiers killed in the fighting.

The news of his death was originally reported on Algerian TV station Ennahar and attributed to French troops.

Known to be brutal and fanatical, Abou Zeid – real name Mohamed Ghdiri – heads the “Tareq Ibn Ziayd” or “El Fatihine” katiba, one of the most radical branches of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), responsible for the execution of British tourist Edwin Dyer in 2009 and French aid worker Michel Germaneau the next year.

Read more: Al Qaeda's Abou Zeid 'killed by Chadian troops' - MALI - FRANCE 24

Mali: New explosion rocks Gao in wake of street battles

A fresh explosion rocked the largest northern Malian city of Gao early Monday following street battles between Islamists and French and Malian troops. MUJAO Islamists have claimed responsibility for two suicide bombings in the city in recent days.

Sunday's attack by Islamist gunmen on territory reclaimed by French-led forces was the first large-scale urban guerrilla assault of the conflict.

It started early in the afternoon when Malian soldiers clashed with Islamists in the city centre, near an empty police station which the rebels had used as their base until being driven from the city last month.

Residents ran for cover as Kalashnikov bullets and 14.5-millimetre rounds pierced the air.
One witness said that after a fierce gunbattle, French troops had intervened. He reported seeing one body, which he thought was probably a civilian caught in the crossfire.

Rocket-propelled grenade explosions and fire from heavy machine guns and light weapons resounded late into the afternoon before dying down in the evening, when a power cut plunged the city into darkness.

Read more: New explosion rocks Gao in wake of street battles - MALI - FRANCE 24

Mali: French Forces Pressing Mali Campaign Seize Rebel Stronghold - by Rick Gladstone and Alan Cowell

French troops took control overnight of the airport of the last major northern Mali town still in rebel hands, officials said on Wednesday, after Islamist militants abandoned two other principal settlements in the vast, desert region where residents’ relief and elation has given way to some measure of reprisal and frustration. French troops took control overnight of the airport of the last major northern Mali town still in rebel hands, officials said on Wednesday, after Islamist militants abandoned two other principal settlements in the vast, desert region where residents’ relief and elation has given way to some measure of reprisal and frustration.

A French military spokesman in Paris, Col. Thierry Burkhard, said French troops reached the airport of Kidal, in the remote northeast of Mali, in an operation that is continuing. 

Haminy Maiga, a local official, told news agencies that French forces met no resistance when they arrived aboard four airplanes that landed late on Tuesday without encountering resistance. France also sent helicopters, he said. 

Kidal is the capital of a desert region of the same name. Secular Tuareg rebels claim to be in control of the town after Islamists fled. A newly formed Islamist splinter group that broke with the main Ansar Dine Islamist force also claims to have a power base there.

Read more: French Forces Pressing Mali Campaign Seize Rebel Stronghold - NYTimes.com

Germany could assist in Mali military training mission says Merkel

Germany could take part in any European training mission to Mali to help its government prepare troops to counter Islamist insurgents in the north of the African country, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday.

Northern Mali has been taken over by al Qaeda-linked Islamists. Regional leaders and international organisations failed to resolve differences on how to tackle the growing security threat when they met in Mali's capital Bamako last week.

"Free and democratic states cannot accept that international terrorism is finding a safe haven in the north of the country," Merkel said at a conference of Germany's armed forces in the city of Strausberg near Berlin.

Read more: Germany could assist in Mali training mission - Merkel- swissinfo

Bin Laden death 'major achievement in terrorism fight' says EU president Herman Van Rompuy

In a joint statement, EU president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Bin Laden's killing was "a major achievement in our efforts to rid the world of terrorism".

"His death makes the world a safer place and shows that such crimes do not remain unpunished."
"Osama bin Laden was a criminal responsible for heinous terrorist attacks that cost the lives of thousands of innocent people," the statement added.

"The European Union continues to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the United States, our international partners and our friends in the Muslim world in combating the scourge of global extremism and in building a world of peace, security and prosperity for all."

For more: Bin Laden death 'major achievement in terrorism fight': EU - Sowetan LIVE

Al Qaeda Lays Out Demands to France - by David Gauthier-Villars

Al Qaeda's affiliate organization in North Africa has warned France that the release of five French hostages held in the Sahara desert depends on France's pulling its troops out of Afghanistan.

In an audio message, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb—a group of Islamic militants who pledged allegiance to al Qaeda in early 2007—also said the release had to be negotiated directly with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a sign that the once-peripheral Maghreb group may be seeking to play a bigger role in global jihad.

The audio message was attributed to AQIM leader Abdelmalek Droukdel, also known as Abu Mossab Abdelouadoud, and broadcast late Thursday by Qatar-based news station al Jazeera. The five French nationals were kidnapped together with a Madagascan and a Togolese two months ago.

For more: Al Qaeda Lays Out Demands to France - WSJ.com

British Ambassador in Yemen discusses yesterday's attack on the Embassy Car

Al Qaeda militants fired a rocket at a British Embassy car in Yemen yesterday. The Deputy Ambassador was inside and although she escaped unharmed, one of her colleagues was injured. It's the second time in six months that British officials have been targeted. A suicide bomber tried to kill the British Ambassador Tim Torlot in April.

For the complete interview go to: British Ambassador discusses yesterday's attack in Yemen

Terror plot targeting Europe uncovered - by Sam Reeves

Western intelligence agencies have uncovered an al-Qaida plot to launch Mumbai-style terrorist attacks in Britain, France and Germany, reports said Wednesday.

Militants based in Pakistan were planning simultaneous strikes in London and major cities in France and Germany, Britain's Sky News television reported, citing intelligence sources.

It was "one of the most serious al-Qaida attack plans in recent years" and was inspired by the terror group's fugitive leadership in Pakistan's tribal areas, said the BBC.

For more: Terror plot targeting Europe uncovered: Reports

Enerpub: Terrorists target Heads of State EU meeting in Bruxelles Today - Al Qaeda terrorists arrested- by Martin Barillas

For the complete report from EnerPub click on this link

Terrorists target Heads of State EU meeting in Bruxelles Today - Al Qaeda terrorists arrested- by Martin Barillas

Belgian police arrested 14 presumed Al Qaeda terrorists this morning December 11, one of whom may have been ready to carry out a terrorist attack. This comes just hours before the summit meeting of European heads of state and of the European Union slated for the afternoon. Three of the men arrested arrived not long before from Afghanistan. One of these had given his final farewells to his family, something that led the police to believe that he planned a suicide mission perhaps at the summit. All of those arrested are thought to have connections to local Al Qaeda cells. Belgian prosecutor Johan Delmulle said to the media that the terrorist operation was related to the European Summit in Brussels, moving some 242 police officers to descend on the presumed Al Qaeda members in 16 distinct raids in Brussels and Liege. Said Delmulle “We do not know where the attack was to be committed, and it could be an operation to be carried out in Pakistan or Afghanistan, but neither Belgium or Europe can be dismissed as the target.”

Spokesmen for France ruled out any cancellation of the afternoon summit, while European Union sources were not aware of any additional security needed for the summit.

Pakistan Observer: al Qaeda strike imminent? - Is a similar 9/11 conspiracy in the making? - by Akhtar Jamal

For the complete report from the Pakistan Observer click on this link

al Qaeda strike imminent? - Is a similar 9/11 conspiracy in the making? - by Akhtar Jamal

Is a similar 9/11 conspiracy in the making - by Akhtar Jamal

An Israeli intelligence site claimed Sunday that “US president-elect Barack Obama, European and Russian heads of states in Washington G20 conference were briefed over the weekend about a probable early al Qaeda attack.” Isreali intelligence news site, “Debka”, also claimed that “Obama and his team have been advised that a new al Qaeda strike is highly probable in the United States or against a key US target in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.” However, there was no indication from the American official or media about such a possible attack or conspiracy. The “Debka” claim coincided with a regional intelligence report that Israeli Mossad and Indian RAW regional chiefs have held an important meeting in a European capital and discussed “possible preparatory reaction” to a new mystery yet to unfold. Regional watchers have also cautioned against fast growing strategic and secret cooperation between certain foreign elements in the neighorbood of Pakistan.

The DEBKA report claimed that al Qaeda’s Yemen base, a reliable barometer for Osama bin Laden’s schemes, issued a Directive to All Fighters in Arabia on Nov. 9 presaging a major operation in the United States that will “change the political and economic world” and be “far bigger than 9/11.”