Underground stories 092414

French hostage Herve Gourdel beheaded in Algeria

France has confirmed that an Algerian jihadist group linked to Islamic State (IS) militants has beheaded tourist Herve Gourdel, seized on Sunday.

Jund al-Khilafa killed Mr Gourdel, 55, after its deadline for France to halt air strikes on IS in Iraq ran out.
French President Francois Hollande condemned the killing as a "cruel and cowardly" act.
He said that French air strikes which began on IS targets in Iraq last week would continue.
Speaking at the UN general assembly, Mr Hollande said that Mr Gourdel's abduction and decapitation was a barbaric act of terrorism which presented a problem not only for the region but also for the world.
He said the fight against terrorism should know no borders and that France was now in mourning.
"It is not weakness that should be the response to terrorism but force," he said.
Jund al-Khilafa posted a video of Mr Gourdel being killed which was entitled "Message of blood for the French government".

Kurds accuse Turkey of supporting Islamic State, suggest that could jeopardize peace at home

SURUC, Turkey –  A Kurdish organization has accused the Turkish government of backing Islamic State militants fighting with Kurds in Syria, and suggested that could jeopardize a truce that Kurdish rebels in Turkey began in March 2013.
The statement was issued Wednesday by the Kurdish Communities Union, whose honorary leader is Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, the Kurdish rebel group that has long fought Turkey for autonomy.

The umbrella group accused Turkey of "waging a war against the Kurdish people" and vowed to step up its "struggle."
It accused Turkey of supporting Islamic State group battling Syrian Kurdish forces along the Syria-Turkish border, and of stalling the peace process that it launched two years ago with the Kurdistan Workers' Party that led to the cease-fire in Turkey.

US aircraft launch another wave of airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria

American aircraft continued to attack Islamic State terrorists in Iraq and Syria with a series of airstrikes that were launched Tuesday and Wednesday, U.S. Central Command says.
The airstrikes were carried out by a mix of attack, bomber and fighter aircraft.

Two airstrikes west of Baghdad destroyed two ISIS armed vehicles and a weapons cache. Another two airstrikes, southeast of Irbil, destroyed ISIS fighting positions.
A fifth airstrike damaged eight ISIS vehicles in Syria in an area northwest of the Iraqi town of Al Qa'im, according to U.S Central Command.
All aircraft exited the area safely.
A senior defense official told Fox News that Jordan also conducted an airstrike against ISIS in Syria on Wednesday.
In a separate statement, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby said the strikes in eastern Syria hit a staging area used by the militants to move equipment across the border into Iraq.
He did not specify exactly where the air raids took place, but the Iraqi town of Al Qa'im is across the border from the Syrian town of Boukamal, where Syrian activists reported at least 13 airstrikes on suspected Islamic State positions on Wednesday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not immediately clear who carried out the airstrikes in and around Boukamal, but it cited locals as saying the intensity of the air raids was similar to that of strikes on the town early Tuesday by the U.S.-led military coalition.

In Airstrikes, U.S. Targets Militant Cell Said to Plot an Attack Against the West

WASHINGTON — American forces took advantage of the airstrikes against the Islamic State extremist group in Syria to try to simultaneously wipe out the leadership of an unrelated cell of veterans of Al Qaeda that the White House said Tuesday was plotting an “imminent” attack against the United States or Europe.

 The barrage of bombs and missiles launched into Syria early Tuesday was aimed primarily at crippling the Islamic State, the formidable Sunni organization that has seized a large piece of territory to form its own radical enclave. But the blitz also targeted a little-known network called Khorasan, in hopes of paralyzing it before it could carry out what American officials feared would be a terrorist attack in the West.

 American military and intelligence analysts were still studying damage reports from the initial air assault, but senior Obama administration officials expressed hope that they had killed Muhsin al-Fadhli, the leader of Khorasan and a onetime confidant of Osama bin Laden. The officials said they had been contemplating military action against Khorasan in recent months, but President Obama’s decision to hit the Islamic State’s forces inside Syria provided a chance to neutralize the other perceived threat.

Related: Muhsin Al-Fadhli Dead? Pentagon Investigating Reports That Khorasan Leader Was Killed In Syria Airstrike

Military: Hundreds of Islamic extremists surrender in Nigeria, Cameroon following clashes

ABUJA, Nigeria –  Military authorities say hundreds of Islamic extremists have surrendered in Nigeria and neighboring Cameroon following the military's recent victories with air and ground attacks.
The Nigerian Defense Ministry also said it has killed hundreds of insurgents in the northeast including a man identified as having posed in videos as Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau.

The Nigerian army said it was victorious around Konduga town just 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Maiduguri, birthplace of Boko Haram and the headquarters of the military offensive to contain the Islamic uprising.
A Defense Ministry statement Wednesday said troops thwarted four attacks in six days on Konduga.
It said 135 insurgents surrendered Tuesday night.
Cameroon's defense ministry said more than 300 Boko Haram fighters have surrendered there this month.

Parliament to be recalled to endorse UK air strikes in Iraq

Opposition leader Ed Miliband has told the PM he will support UK involvement in Iraq, but not at this stage in Syria

Parliament is to be recalled on Friday to endorse British air strikes in Iraq following assurances from the leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, to the prime minister, David Cameron, that his party will support UK involvement in the country.
Britain is likely to send RAF Tornado aircraft into action, possibly as early as this weekend, once MPs have voted.
In a short statement, a Downing Street spokesman said: “The Speaker has agreed to the prime minister’s request to recall parliament this Friday to debate the UK’s response to the request from the Iraqi government for air strikes to support operations against Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq.
“The Commons will meet on Friday for a debate on a substantive motion. The prime minister will open the debate and the deputy prime minister will close the debate. The prime minister has called a meeting of the cabinet tomorrow at 1pm.”
Parliament will not debate any UK action in Syria at this stage, after Labour indicated it would not support UK involvement there without a UN resolution to authorise action in a country where military help to fight Isis has not been requested. The request to Miliband came at lunchtime in a phone call from the prime minister. Labour sources emphasised that the leadership would not support military action in Syria and any request to do so would require a further second motion. Cameron did not press the Syria issue with Miliband because he knew Miliband was opposed.
At the close of the Labour party conference in Manchester, Miliband convened an emergency meeting of the shadow cabinet to endorse military action in Iraq so providing Cameron the assurance he needed that he would win the Commons vote.
The path was also cleared after Cameron met the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, in New York to receive a formal request for military action, so clearing a vital legal hurdle to UK involvement.

David Cameron holds talks with Iran's Hassan Rouhani

The UK's prime minister has held talks with the Iranian president for the first time since Iran's 1979 revolution.

David Cameron and Hassan Rouhani's meeting in New York is being taken as a sign of a thawing of relations.
It came after the US and five Gulf and Middle East countries began bombing Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria.
The UK parliament is expected to be recalled on Friday to discuss taking part in military action in Iraq.
Nuclear concerns US Secretary of State John Kerry has said Iran, which supports Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria, has a role to play in the fight against IS.
But Iran's leaders have questioned the US's intentions and have argued that air strikes will not eliminate the threat from IS.
Relations between the UK and Iran have improved in recent months, with the UK government announcing in June that it was to re-open its embassy in Tehran. It closed after it was stormed in 2011.
Tensions also remain over Iran's uranium-enrichment programme, which it insists is for energy purposes, but the UK and other countries say could be used to build weapons.
Related: Leaders of UK and Iran meet for first time since 1979 Islamic revolution

Ukraine crisis: Nato sees 'significant' Russian troop pullback

Nato says it has observed a "significant" withdrawal of Russian troops from eastern Ukraine, but adds that some forces still remain there.

Nato spokesman Lt Col Jay Janzen says it is difficult to determine the number of soldiers in Ukraine, as pro-Russian rebels control some border crossings.
Moscow denies arming the rebels and sending Russian troops to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
UN officials say 3,245 people have been killed since fighting began in April.
A shaky ceasefire has held since 5 September, and the two sides have since agreed to set up a 30km (19 miles) buffer zone.
But there were reports of overnight shelling in Donetsk, Avdiivka and Debaltseve.
In March, Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea southern peninsula - a move condemned by Ukraine and the West.
The European Union and the United States later imposed sanctions against Russia over its role in the Ukraine conflict.
'Special forces' "There has been a significant pullback of Russian conventional forces from inside Ukraine, but many thousands are still deployed in the vicinity of the border," Canadian Lt Col Janzen said on Wednesday.

Philippine militants threaten to kill German hostages

A Philippines-based militant group has threatened to kill two German hostages it captured in April.

Abu Sayyaf demanded a ransom and an end to German support for the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS), a monitoring service called SITE reports.
Abu Sayyaf has proclaimed allegiance to IS, a hardline Islamist group that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria.
Germany said it had "heard about the report" but refused to withdraw support for US action against IS.
A German foreign ministry spokeswoman said that threats were "not an appropriate way to influence our policy in Syria and Iraq".
She added that there would be no change to the existing German strategy, which consists of logistical support and military supplies for Kurdish peshmerga fighters battling IS militants in Iraq.
Abu Sayyaf has been active since the early 1990s.
It is a small but violent Islamist militant group which operates in the southern Philippines.
It is considered a "foreign terrorist organisation" by the US, and has been blamed for attacks including beheadings.
It is also known to kidnap foreign and local hostages for ransom.
The group claimed responsibility for the 2004 SuperFerry 14 bombing, the Philippines' deadliest terror attack in which 116 people were killed.

Irish navy intercepts massive cocaine shipment off coast of Cork

Armed sailors raid yacht containing up to €80m worth of drug, thought to have been smuggled to Ireland from South America

Ireland’s navy confirmed on Wednesday evening that it has intercepted a yacht with a consignment of cocaine worth up to €80m (£63m) on board.
It also said three men believed to be from the UK were arrested on board the vessel in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The yacht, the Makayabella, was stormed by armed Irish sailors 200 miles off Mizen Head, County Cork.
The operation was carried out by a joint task force comprising members of the customs service, the Garda Síochána and navy. The task force works in conjunction with an international headquarters in Lisbon which monitors suspicious shipping coming into European territorial waters.
Two Irish naval vessels – LÉ Niamh and LÉ Roisin – identified the yacht in a surveillance operation in the Atlantic Ocean.
The drugs found are understood to have been smuggled from South America with the yacht sailing from a port in the Caribbean.
Up to 40 bales of cocaine are believed to have been concealed on board the yacht.
It was boarded under cover of darkness by specially trained armed sailors in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The crew are not believed to have put up resistance.
Details of the operation were kept secret until Wednesday evening to protect follow-up investigations in Ireland and abroad.
A spokesperson for the Irish Defence Forces said the operation was based on intelligence from the National Crime Agency in the UK and the French customs service, the DNRED.
The yacht has been taken by tow into the Haulbowline port near Cork City. Armed Irish military police have sealed off the naval base.

Ann Romney stokes speculation Mitt will run again in 2016 by saying: ‘we will see’

• Ann Romney suggested that her husband would consider getting in the race if former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush did not
• Mitt Romney has competed for the presidency two times before and was the 2012 Republican presidential nominee
• He's said he'd run again only if other qualified candidates stepped aside 
• Romney's allies say they'd back him in 2016 if he does enter the race  

Mitt Romney may be considering another presidential run after all, his wife Ann suggested in an interview that aired Tuesday.

Prodded about her husband's intentions, Ann Romney told Fox News' Neil Cavuto that 'at this point' she and Mitt are 'not making plans' for 2016.

Asked moments later what Mitt would do if a presumed candidate like Jeb Bush, a moderate Republican from Florida, decided not to run, Ann told Cavuto: 'Well, we will see, won't we Neil?'

Mitt, a two-time Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Governor, has sworn up and down that he’s not plotting another presidential campaign, and it would take some serious begging from fellow Republicans to get him into the 2016 race.

The 2012 presidential nominee has adamantly said he’s had his turn and ‘someone else has a better chance’ at winning.

Allies of the Republican power broker say he should stay open minded to the idea of a comeback campaign, however, and insist they’d be right there supporting him if he did choose to run again.

Missing Afghan soldiers charged with immigration violations after leaving Cape Cod base

US officials says three Afghan army soldiers, who went missing from Cape Cod base, are charged with immigration violations

Three Afghanistan national army officers who vanished during training in Massachusetts were placed in the custody of US immigration and customs enforcement on Tuesday after being detained on the Canadian border, authorities said.
The agency, in a brief statement, said the officers faced removal proceedings after being charged with administrative immigration violations. A spokesman for ICE said the agency could not provide more details on the charges or say where the men were being held.
The Massachusetts national guard said earlier that the Afghan soldiers, identified as Major Jan Mohammad Arash, Captain Mohammad Nasir Askarzada and Captain Noorullah Aminyar, had been detained by the Canadian border security agency on Monday as they tried to enter Canada on the Rainbow Bridge, which connects New York and Ontario at Niagara Falls.
Military officials said the men had been participating along with officers from Tajikistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Mongolia in a US Central Command regional cooperation training exercise at Joint Base Cape Cod. They were reported missing Saturday after leaving Camp Edwards on an off day to visit a shopping mall.
The exercises, scheduled to end Wednesday, have been held annually since 2004 to promote cooperation and interoperability among forces, build functional capacity, practice peacekeeping operations and enhance readiness, officials said.
US authorities have stressed that they do not believe the men posed any danger to the public. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, who had been briefed over the weekend, said on Monday the soldiers had been fully vetted before entering the US, adding there was speculation within the military that they might be seeking to defect.

Obama’s U.N. speech praises Muslim cleric who backed fatwa on killing of U.S. soldiers

President Obama favorably quoted and praised on Wednesday in his speech before the United Nations a controversial Muslim cleric whose organization has reportedly endorsed the terror group Hamas and supported a fatwa condoning the murder of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

[Sheikh Abdallah] Bin Bayyah himself has long been engulfed in controversy for many of his views, including the reported backing of a 2004 fatwa that advocated violent resistance against Americans fighting in Iraq. …
“Look at the new Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies—Sheikh bin Bayyah described its purpose: ‘We must declare war on war, so the outcome will be peace upon peace,’” Obama said, quoting the controversial cleric.

Majority of Americans want a third party

Democrats and Republicans are held in such low esteem that for the second year in a row a majority of U.S. adults said a third political party is needed, according to a new Gallup poll.
Since 2007, the call for a third political party has never dipped below 46 percent. Fifty-eight percent now want a third party, down only two points from last year’s high of 60 percent.

Gallup started asking the question in 2003, the last time that a majority of Americans thought both parties were doing an adequate job. That figure has now dropped to 35 percent.
The desire for a new party is even between both parties: 46 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of Democrats. But it's stronger among nonpartisans: 71 percent of independents want a third political party.
Click for more from WashingtonExaminer.com

Five arrested in Ferguson after protests break out over burned memorial 

As many as 200 protesters returned to streets, with reports of smashed windows near spot where teen was shot dead by police

Michael Brown death and protests in Ferguson – full coverage

Five people were arrested and two law enforcement officers were hurt in Ferguson after protests over the death of Michael Brown again intensified, authorities said Wednesday.
Missouri highway patrol captain Ron Johnson said it wasn’t clear if a fire at a makeshift memorial for Brown led to the unrest Tuesday night in the St Louis suburb. Reports of smashed windows and possible arson came hours after the memorial of teddy bears, signs and other items burned.
Ferguson was the site of sometimes violent protests and looting in the days after 18-year-old Brown, who was black, was shot by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on 9 August.
About 150 protesters gathered late Tuesday night. Johnson, whom Missouri’s governor put in charge of security in Ferguson, said Wednesday that one person was arrested for inciting a riot and four others for failure to disperse.
He said one of the two officers hurt was struck with a rock below the eye. He described the other officer’s injuries as minor.
Windows were smashed at a beauty shop on West Florissant Avenue, where much of the looting happened last month. Johnson said looters also tried to steal a cash register from the shop. A small fire outside a custard shop appeared to be intentionally set, according to fire officials.
Johnson said officers reported seeing gunfire from the protesters but that no one was struck.
Police began clearing the street around 12.15am Wednesday.
One of two memorials at the site where Brown was shot was destroyed in a fire early Tuesday morning. Police are investigating the cause of the blaze, but the fire renewed anger, especially among residents of the apartment community where Brown was killed.
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