Free Republic

Last week’s bombing near the grave of the Quds Force general that killed 84 is the latest episode in ISIS’s war on Shiite Muslims.. In the immediate aftermath of the January 3 blast that killed at least 84 people near the grave of general Qassem Soleimani in the Iranian city of Kerman, some low-level Iranian officials hinted at a possible Israeli involvement. Iran’s deputy parliament speaker claimed it had the signs of an Israeli assault — even though it showed radically different features from Israel’s alleged operations in enemy territory, which usually involve precision killings of key enemy figures. The...

In this video-clip, posted on the Internet on August 18, 2014, the preacher at a mosque in Al-Raqqah, Syria, says: "The whole world has witnessed the greatest events in contemporary history: The caliphate has been declared, and the Muslims have been appointed a caliph." Following the sermon, the mosque-goers pledged allegiance to the Emir of the Believers, and cried: "We pledge to hear and obey." Preacher: In the month of Ramadhan this year, the whole world has witnessed the greatest events in contemporary history: The caliphate has been declared, and the Muslims have been appointed a caliph, who would preserve...

Baghdad (AFP) - Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the enigmatic self-proclaimed "caliph" of a state straddling Iraq and Syria, is increasingly seen as more powerful than Al-Qaeda's chief. The leader of the powerful Islamic State (IS) militant group was on June 29 declared "caliph" in an attempt to revive a system of rule that ended nearly 100 years ago with the fall of the Ottoman Empire. In a video posted online on Saturday, purportedly the first known footage of Baghdadi, he ordered Muslims to obey him during a Ramadan sermon delivered at a mosque in the northern militant-held Iraqi city of Mosul.

<p>BAGHDAD – The Al Qaeda breakaway group that has seized much of northern Syria and huge tracks of neighboring Iraq formally declared the creation of an Islamic state on Sunday in the territory under its control.</p> <p>The spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, made the announcement in an audio statement posted online. Islamic extremists have long dreamed of recreating the Islamic state, or caliphate, that ruled over the Middle East in various forms for hundreds of years.</p>

Image that accompanied Abu Bakr al Baghdadi's audiotape announcing the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The flag was originally al Qaeda in Iraq's banner, but has been adopted by other al Qaeda affiliated and associated groups. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group. The emir of al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), Abu Bakr al Baghdadi (also known as Abu Dua), has announced a new brand for his organization's efforts: the "Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant." The new name replaces all previous brands used by al Qaeda's affiliates in Iraq and Syria, including the...

Uncomfirmed reports in Iraqi media said, Sunday, that security forces have arrested Abu-Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the top leader of the Al-Qaeda international terror network in Iraq. Abu-Bakr was named head of a number of terror organizations following the killing of Abu-Omar Al-Baghdadi in a United States air strike in 2010. .....

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese troops on Saturday killed two Islamist militants including a head of an Al-Qaeda-inspired group which fought a battle with the army in 2007 that cost hundreds of lives, a military spokesman said. "Abdel Rahman Awad, one of the key leaders of Fatah al-Islam," was killed along with another militant known as Abu Bakr during clashes in the eastern Bekaa Valley region, the spokesman told AFP. A judicial source said Abu Bakr was Awad's key deputy who provided military training to members of Fatah al-Islam, a shadowy group said to be inspired by Al-Qaeda. In 2007, Fatah...

SNIPPET: "The police arrested two terrorist suspects at the house: Fahri Tanjung, also known as Hilmi, and Hamzah. The police also found chemicals they believed were to be used to make explosives and an activated hand-made high-explosive bomb inside the house. West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutarman said the police detonated the high-explosive bomb on location after failing to defuse it. Books and VCDs on jihad, as well as an air rifle were seized as evidence. One of the VCDs was titled Afghanistan jihad: The journey of the oppressed. Sutarman said the suspects had been involved in acts of...

Four men including former PNCR Member of Parliament Abdul Kadir were yesterday charged by United States law enforcement officials with allegedly conspiring to blow up the John F Kennedy International airport as well as tanks storing aviation fuel and underground fuel pipelines. Those charged with Kadir are former JFK worker Russell Defreitas, a Guyanese-born US citizen; Kareem Ibrahim, an imam from Trinidad; and Guyanese Abdel Nur. Kadir and Ibrahim were arrested in Trinidad, while Defreitas was held in New York. Up to press time, however, Nur had not been apprehended and was thought to be still at large in Trinidad....

The twin-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago would seem to be the last place to raise alarm bells over the threat of radical Islam. Trinidad was briefly catapulted into the spotlight in June 2007 when reports surfaced that one of the suspects linked to an alleged plot to attack New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was a Trinidadian national and that the suspects reached out to Yasin Abu Bakr, the leader of Jamaat al-Muslimeen (JAM, Association of Muslims), for assistance in executing their plan. JAM is an enigmatic Trinidadian Muslim militant group that is implicated in violence,...

Bali bombing cleric attacks western tourists By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 25/03/2008 Western tourists in Indonesia are "maggots, snakes and worms" who should be beaten up, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings has told hardline Islamic followers. Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric who was convicted of conspiracy over the Bali bombings but later cleared and released from prison after 26 months, said the island resort had been overrun by scantily-clad tourists who deserved to be attacked for their immorality. "Worms, snakes, maggots... those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali... those infidel...

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have arrested Wan Min Wan Mat, a key leader of Kumpulan Militant Malaysia (KMM) during an operation in Kota Baru Friday morning. Inspector-general of police Tan Sri Norian Mai said the 42-year-old former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) lecturer was arrested at about 9.30am. Police are looking for eight suspects who are key KMM members and are offering a RM50,000 reward for information on each leader.

KUALA LUMPUR, November 10 (IslamOnline) - The Muslim leader accused of terror links with the al-Qaeda and the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) Abu Bakar Bashir risks deportation to Malaysia, Singapore or the U.S. if he is stripped of his Indonesian nationality, sources said Sunday, November 10. Singapore and Malaysia have in the past urged Indonesia to arrest Bashir for his alleged role in terror activities on their soil. Basyir is accused by Singapore of being the spiritual leader of the JI while Malaysia has him high on the terror list allegedly for connections with the Malaysian Mujahidin Movement (KMM). The U.S....

Trinidad police arrest two members of Islamic group after bomb found ... Trinidad also has experienced a rash of bombings this year: four bombs were detonated in Port of Spain and St James, on the capital outskirts, between July and October, injuring about 25 people. Police haven't charged anyone in those bombings and haven't said they believe Jamaat al Muslimeen was involved.

CANBERRA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - An Australian Muslim cleric who said Osama bin Laden was a "great man" has been named by police as the spiritual leader of a group of 16 men charged on Tuesday with planning a terrorist attack in Australia. Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, has long been monitored by Australian authorities and grabbed headlines in August after he praised bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. He is a self-styled leader of a fundamentalist Islamic group of young followers in the suburbs of Australia's second-biggest city, Melbourne....

SYDNEY, Australia - Three recently arrested terror suspects had been stopped and questioned by police last December near Australia's only nuclear reactor, according to a police document released Monday. The document also outlined what it said were plans by the men to stockpile chemicals for making explosives and that they "obtained extremist advice and guidance" from a firebrand cleric arrested along with them. The three men arrested near the nuclear reactor were among 18 terror suspects arrested in Sydney and Melbourne last week and accused of plotting to carry out a "catastrophic" attack in Australia. The police document identifies the...

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - Trinidadian police have arrested an Islamic leader, whose group stormed Parliament 15 years ago and took the prime minister and his Cabinet hostage. Yasin Abu Bakr, 64, leader of Jamaat al-Muslimeen, was arrested Monday and charged on Wednesday with sedition and violent incitement. On Thursday, police forced their way into his compound, detaining as many as 11 people, before releasing most of them, authorities said. The police razed the compound. Abu Bakr last week called for war against all rich Muslims who refuse to pay zakaat, an Islamic tithe used to alleviate poverty. In 1990, Abu Bakr's...

WASHINGTON - Retired Gen. Wesley Clark sought the political support of a Muslim group that is under FBI investigation for terror ties, sources told the Daily News. The Democratic presidential candidate's videotaped message was played Dec. 27 in Chicago for the annual conference of the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle of North America - a Queens group being probed by the FBI counterterrorism agents, said two federal law enforcement officials. Both groups have held conferences featuring speakers accused of terror ties and have published material supporting suicide bombings against Israel. Clark campaign spokesman Matt Bennett said yesterday they...