Tag Archives: Terrorist Attack

Featured, International

Brussels Attack: Manhunt Continues as Police Identify Bomb Suspect, Suicide Bombers

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Belgian police have identified multiple suspects who they say are responsible for explosions at an airport and a metro station in Brussels Tuesday morning.

The Associated Press reported that police “conducted raids into the night and circulated a photo of three men seen in the airport suspected of involvement,” and that Belgian state broadcaster RTBF identified two of the suspects as brothers Khalid and Brahim El-Bakraoui.

RTBF also reportedly claimed that the two El-Bakraoui brothers involved in the attacks acted as suicide bombers, with Brahim El-Bakraoui at Brussels’ Zaventem airport, and Khalid El-Bakraoui at the Maelbeek metro station.

The news agency noted that while the brothers had criminal records for armed robbery charges, they were not known as suspected terrorists. Khalid El-Bakraoui reportedly rented one of the apartments raided by police in their search for Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the Paris terrorist attacks, who was arrested four days before the attacks in Brussels, and was linked to the Islamic State.

As previously reported, Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels, claiming that “Islamic State fighters carried out a series of bombings with explosive belts and devices on Tuesday, targeting an airport and a central metro station in the center of the Belgian capital Brussels.”

Belgian prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said Wednesday that police found a computer with a will left by Brahim El-Bakraoui, and that two other men captured on CCTV at the airport with Brahim have not been identified.

Reuters reported that although Belgian media reported that Najim Laachraoui, a prime suspect in the airport bombings, was detained Wednesday, they later reported that the person arrested was misidentified.

The AP reported that Belgian police have been searching for Laachraoui since last week, because he is “a suspected accomplice of Abdeslam,” and he is “believed to have made the suicide vests used in the Paris attacks.”

While the death toll is currently at 34 with 260 wounded, Health Minister Maggie De Block said that it will likely rise, due to the fact that some of the victims of the bomb blasts were blown to pieces and it is hard for officials to identify them.

Follow Rachel Blevins on Facebook and Twitter.

Featured, International

French Prosecutor: Suspected ‘Mastermind’ of Paris Attacks Killed in Police Raid

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The suspected mastermind behind the terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 129 last Friday was killed in a police raid on Wednesday, according to a Paris prosecutor.

The suspect, Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, a 28-year-old Belgian militant, was killed after police investigations led them to the Paris suburb of St. Denis and “heavily armed officers stormed the building before dawn, triggering a massive firefight and multiple explosions.”

“Abdel Hamid Abaaoud has just been formally identified, after comparing fingerprints, as having been killed during the raid,” Paris Prosecutor François Molins said in a statement. “It was the body we had discovered in the building, riddled with bullets.”

Police “fired around 5,000 rounds of ammunition in the confrontation and used strong munitions that spurred a floor to collapse,” but that the exact way Abaaoud died is unknown.

The statement from Molins claimed “We still don’t know whether Abaaoud blew himself up or not.”

[RELATED: France Moves to Strip Citizens of Civil Liberties After Paris Attacks]

There was one other fatality in Wednesday’s St. Denis raid: a woman identified as Hasna Aitboulahcen.

Three police officials have reportedly said Aitboulahcen was Abaaoud’s cousin, and one official said she is “believed to have detonated a suicide vest after a brief exchange with police officers.”

[RELATED: France Declares State of Emergency, Military Enacts Full Control]

Following the attacks last Friday, France declared a “state of emergency” which gave the government the authority to utilize censorship, regulate circulation and gathering in some areas, close places of gathering altogether, and to conduct house-to-house searches at any time without judicial oversight.

At an assembly meeting, where a three-month extension of the “state of emergency” status was being debated, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls warned that “we must not rule anything out” when looking at the prospect of terrorists “using chemical weapons.”

“France has been attacked,” Valls said. “French people are under shock. They are expecting from all of us some strong, quick and effective reactions.”

Featured, International, Politics

Gunmen Ambush Paris Satirical Newspaper Office In Reported Terrorist Attack; 12 Reported Dead

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Paris- As many as 12 people have been killed after masked gunmen bombarded the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday and opened fire. At least 20 people have been reported injured.

The New York Times reported that Xavier Castaing, the head of communications for the Paris Police Headquarters, said that three armed men carrying AK-47s forced entry into the newspaper’s offices and fired shots into the lobby. The attack reportedly lasted for several minutes before the gunmen fled in a vehicle. Multiple news reports have stated that the incident was a terrorist attack. A U.S. official stated that the attackers had said that the Prophet Muhammed had been “avenged” according to social media reports.

Charlie Hebdo is known for its satirical cartoons mocking political and religious figures, including the Prophet Muhammed. The offices of the paper were attacked previously in 2011 in a firebomb attack after an issue of Charlie Hebdo, titled “Charia Hebdo”, was published with Prophet Muhammed jokingly credited as the “guest editor”.

A lawyer for Charlie Hebdo stated that several editors, staffers and cartoonists were killed, including the paper’s editor, publisher and cartoonist Stéphane Charbonnier, and cartoonists Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac. Two police officers were also killed.

The gunmen have not yet been found.

“An act of indescribable barbarity has just been committed today in Paris,” said President Francois Hollande. “Measures have been taken to find those responsible, they will be hunted for as long as it takes to catch them and bring them to justice.”

“I am extremely angry,” said Hassen Chalghoumi, the imam of the Drancy mosque in Paris. “These are criminals, barbarians. They have sold their soul to hell. This is not freedom. This is not Islam and I hope the French will come out united at the end of this.”

President Obama released a statement saying that “France, and the great city of Paris where this outrageous attack took place, offer the world a timeless example that will endure well beyond the hateful vision of these killers. We are in touch with French officials, and I have directed my administration to provide any assistance needed to help bring these terrorists to justice.”

 

 

 

International, Politics, US

BREAKING: Federal government grounds all UPS flights leading many to conspiracies on possible attack

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WASHINGTON, September 11, 2014– According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), all UPS flights were grounded this morning regardless of their destination.

The Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC) advisory reads: “Stop all UPS flights regardless of destination.” According to the advisory, UPS was experiencing a computer malfunction, but details remain scarce, which has led some to generate conspiracies regarding a possible terrorist attack.

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