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Tag: shooting

  • New ISIS Video Calls For Revenge For Fallen New Zealanders In Mosque Shootings

    New ISIS Video Calls For Revenge For Fallen New Zealanders In Mosque Shootings

    ISIS leaders have called for extremists to take ‘revenge’ in the wake of the New Zealand mosque shootings.

    The terror group’s spokesman, Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, is said to have issued the appeal in a 44-minute audio recording.

    Dozens of worshippers were murdered when a terrorist went on a gun rampage through two mosques in the city of Christchurch on Friday. Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, a suspected white supremacist, was charged with murder on Saturday.

    According to the New York Times, Al-Muhajir broke six months of silence to call for revenge.

    ‘The scenes of the massacres in the two mosques should wake up those who were fooled, and should incite the supporters of the caliphate to avenge their religion,’ he said.

    He compared the Christchurch slaughter to the battle raging over the terror group’s last remaining slither of territory in Syria – the village of Baghouz.

    ‘Here is Baghuz in Syria, where Muslims are burned to death and are bombed by all known and unknown weapons of mass destruction,’ he added.

    The true identity of al-Muhajir, an invented name, is not known and it is understood that he has not appeared in any photographs or in ISIS propaganda videos.

    The attacks in Christchurch left 50 dead and 50 more injured with nine of the wounded victims described as being in a critical condition.

    Preparations were underway today to begin burials of victims after days of intense grieving.

    Bodies of the victims of Friday’s attacks were being washed and prepared for burial in a Muslim ritual process, with teams of volunteers flown in from overseas to assist with the heavy workload.

    ‘We’ve been very conscious of the need to work sensitively with requirement of each family,’ Sarah Stuart-Black, Director for the Ministry of Civil, Defence & Emergency Management, said at a press conference in Christchurch.

    Tarrant was remanded without a plea and is due back in court on April 5, where police said he was likely to face more charges.

    The victims, killed at two mosques during Friday prayers by a gunman with semi-automatic rifles, were largely Muslim migrants, refugees and residents from countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Turkey, Kuwait, Somalia and others.

    Source: MSN

  • Gunmen Open Fire On Muslims Outside French Mosque, Eight Injured

    Gunmen Open Fire On Muslims Outside French Mosque, Eight Injured

    Two gunmen injured eight people after opening fire on a group of Muslims outside of a French mosque Sunday.

    The group was exiting the house of worship in the southern French city of Avignon at about 10:30 p.m. when the gunmen, who were reportedly wearing masks, opened fire.

    Two of the eight wounded were hospitalized after the incident, according to the source, who also said that worshipers leaving the mosque had not been the intended target.

    Sources told Reuters the gunmen were trying to settle a score with someone else, and a judicial source told the La Provence regional newspaper that officials are “not at all treating it as terrorist related” and instead suspect it stemmed from a dispute between youths.

    Four people were wounded outside the mosque while a family of four in their apartment about 50 yards away took shrapnel, La Provence said.

    Police arrested a man in the Paris suburb of Creteil last week after he tried to drive car into a crowd in front of a mosque.

     

    Source: https://nypost.com

  • Philippines: Gunman Dead After Shooting At Resorts World Manila

    Philippines: Gunman Dead After Shooting At Resorts World Manila

    A man who fired shots inside a casino in the Philippine capital apparently killed himself on Friday (Jun 2), the national police chief said, after initially claiming police shot the assailant dead.

    “The lone gunman is already neutralised. He is dead. He burned himself inside the hotel room,” police chief Ronald Dela Rosa told reporters outside.

    “He lay down on the bed, covered himself with a thick blanket, apparently poured petrol on the blanket and burned himself.”

    Dela Rosa made the comments about an hour after claiming in a television interview that police had shot the gunman dead.

    “He’s dead. He was killed by our troops,” Dela Rosa had told the GMA television network.

    Dela Rosa did not explain to reporters why he initially claimed police killed the man.

    LIKELY MOTIVE ROBBERY: POLICE

    Earlier, people ran screaming out of Resorts World Manila, which is across a road from one of the main terminals of the Philippines’ international airport, after the gunman fired what police chief dela Rosa said was an M4 assault rifle.

    “There hasn’t been anyone shot … there are only injuries from people who tried to escape in a stampede or from smoke,” Dela Rosa said on DZMM radio.

    Officials said at least 30 people were hurt, some seriously, as they rushed to escape.

    Police have said that the likely motive was robbery.

    Dela Rosa said the gunman, who appeared to be acting alone, walked into one of the gambling rooms and fired the rifle at a large television screen then poured gasoline onto a gambling table and set it alight.

    He said the man then fired again at a stock room containing gambling chips and filled a backpack with them. The man then left the room and went upstairs to a hotel section of the complex, according to dela Rosa.

    Windows were smashed on the second floor of the complex just before daylight broke, but it was unclear why and by nearly 6am police did not report any breakthrough in the hunt for the gunman.

    The Islamic State group immediately claimed responsibility.

    IS said “lonewolf soldiers” from its group carried out the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group that monitors terrorist organisations.

    But dela Rosa said: “We cannot attribute this to terrorism.” He said it may have just have been an attempted robbery, pointing out the gunman tried to steal the gambling chips.

    TERRIFIED

    People inside the casino recounted feelings of terror when the shooting occurred.

    “I was about to return to the second floor from my break when I saw people running. Some hotel guests said someone yelled ‘ISIS’,” Maricel Navaro, an employee of Resorts World, told DZMM radio.

    “Guests were screaming. We went to the basement locker room and hid there. People were screaming, guests and employees were in panic,” Navaro said.

    “When we smelled smoke, we decided to go for the exit in the carpark. That’s where we got out. Before we exited, we heard two gunshots and there was thick smoke on the ground floor.”

    The local Pasay Chapter of the Philippine Red Cross said 25 people had been taken to hospital.

    Jeri Ann Santiago, who works in the emergency room at the San Juan de Dios hospital, close to Resorts World, said 13 people were being treated, but more were on the way.

    Most of the patients were suffering the effects of smoke inhalation and some had injuries such as fractures, she said, adding that none had gunshot wounds.

    Local media reports said that police, fire trucks and a SWAT team were in the area.

    Resorts World Manila is currently in lockdown following the reports of gunfire from unidentified men, the company said earlier on its Twitter account. It added that it was working closely with the Philippine National Police to ensure that all guests and employees were safe.

    “We ask for your prayers during these difficult times,” it said.

    ABS-CBN cited eyewitnesses saying that armed men, wearing masks and black shirts, fired shots and burned tables.

    Another employee told GMA News said that five shots were fired from the third floor before they were told to leave the establishment.

    Resorts World Manila chief operating officer Stephen Reilly subsequently told local journalists in a media conference: “We’re searching the area as much as we can, to make sure the building is clear.”

    However Mr Reilly would not confirm how many gunmen were in the building, and said that he did not yet know of any reported injuries.

    A casino worker from the third floor of the complex, named Julio, told DZMM radio he heard many gunshots and saw people running up the stairs from the second floor.

    Ronald Romualdo, a maintenance worker at Resorts World, told the station he saw a woman fall from an upper floor while trying to escape. “Several people were injured,” he said.

    Resorts World Manila is a popular tourist destination opposite Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3. It comprises hotels, a casino complex and a shopping mall.

    The US State Department issued an alert for travellers to avoid the area.

    Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law last week across the southern region of Mindanao to crush what he said was a rising threat of Islamic State there.

    He declared martial law shortly after militants went on a rampage through the southern city of Marawi, which is about 800 kilometres south of Manila.

    Security forces are still battling the militants in Marawi, and the clashes there have left at least 171 people dead.

    Duterte said last week he may need to declare martial law across the rest of the country if the terrorism threat spread.

    A Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Philippines has killed more than 120,000 people since the 1970s.

    The main Muslim rebel groups have signed accords with the government aimed at forging lasting peace, giving up their separatist ambitions in return for autonomy.

    However a range of hardline militants groups have rejected the peace process and in recent years have sought to unite behind IS.

     

    Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Parramatta Shooting – Australian Police Search Mosque In Shooting Investigation

    Parramatta Shooting – Australian Police Search Mosque In Shooting Investigation

    The Parramatta Mosque has been searched, a senior police source has told the ABC, as investigations into Friday’s fatal shooting of a civilian police force employee continue.

    Farhad Jabar Khalil Mohammad, 15, shot and killed 17-year police force veteran Curtis Cheng at close range outside the Parramatta police headquarters.

    A senior police source told the ABC Farhad attended a mosque shortly before the shooting.

    The mosque believed to have been searched overnight is a few blocks away from the site of the shooting that killed Mr Cheng, 58, as he left work at 4:30pm on Friday.

    A senior figure at the Parramatta mosque has confirmed that police searched the mosque to look for a black backpack which they believe Farhad used to carry the gun he used to kill Mr Cheng.

    Police said the warrant was undertaken by arrangement with leadership at the mosque, who gave their full assistance to police.

    Earlier, a police source said the teenager had been armed with a revolver and did not know Mr Cheng.

    After shooting Mr Cheng, Farhad fired at officers who emerged from the building to respond to the incident, but was killed when special constables returned fire.

    Earlier, senior law enforcement sources said it appeared the teenager had acted alone.

    “The people there (at the mosque) went looking for him after prayer,” one source said.

    “There is a fair bit of information that he acted alone.”

    They said after prayer he changed into a black robe.

    Neil El-Kadomi from the Parramatta Mosque said Farhad visited the building in the past on occasion but he did not know him by name.

    “Because he was very quiet nobody noticed him,” Mr El-Kadomi said.

    “He’s not known in the mosque. He came to the mosque to heal himself before he did the crime, which is wrong.”

    Mr El-Kadomi said the mosque had nothing to do with the shooting and did not condone it.

    “The boy, he did it alone. He died and his motive died with him,” he said.

    “You have to be an active person in society, you have to join others in building Australia.

    “So, we don’t agree with what happened in Parramatta.

    “We’ve got nothing to do with it and I hate the linking of the mosque with the crime.”

    Shooter’s relative tipped off police

    The ABC was told by a senior police source that it was the older brother of the Parramatta shooter who tipped off them off about the identity of Farhad.

    It is also understood Farhad’s sister Shadi went missing on Thursday and flew out of Australia on a Singapore Airlines flight bound for Istanbul, and may be attempting to reach Iraq or Syria.

    Her family told police she had taken all her belongings.

    Police searched Farhad’s North Parramatta home and confiscated computer equipment.

    ABC’s police source said the youth had been “carrying on” outside police headquarters for a few minutes before the shooting.

    “He drew attention to himself to the extent some people caught it on their iPhones,” they said.

    The gunman walked past a plain clothes female detective.

    “She was wearing a business suit and she wasn’t carrying a gun,” a source said.

    “This poor bloke [the victim] was apparently the first one to walk out of the building — he had a connection to the police force — that was it.”

    Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and NSW Premier Mike Baird have been holding talks with Muslim community leaders following the shooting.

    Ms Bishop said the issue of radicalisation must be addressed.

    “So we’re certainly reaching out to the leaders of the Muslim community … but working with the families at a grassroots local level … it’s the families that will be a frontline of defence against radicalised young people … so we will be working very closely with them,” she said.

    The ABC’s Fran Kelly told the Insiders program that a phone hook-up between “the Premier, the Police Commissioner and the Prime Minister with seven or eight members of the Muslim community” took place last night.

    She said Mr Turnbull used the phone call to convey the message that “we have a remarkably cohesive society, respect is key to that and [urged] everyone to work together to expose preachers of hate”.

    The ABC understands the community leaders were impressed by the move and communicated their willingness to work with governments. One leader said the conversation reset the relationship.

    Muslim community leaders said they were shocked by the tragic shooting of Mr Cheng.

    They called for more to be done to stop extremist leaders from recruiting vulnerable youths.

    Sydney Muslim community leader Ahmad El-Hage said the Government only acted when extremist thoughts turn into acts of violence.

    “And we tell them this is not correct we need to act way before that,” he said.

    Mr El-Hage said the Government needed to focus on the extremist leaders rather than the young people they target.

    Youth worker Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, who works with high school boys to counter radical ideas, said the acts of one person should not reflect upon the broader Muslim community.

    He also said some of the youth he worked with feel marginalised.

    “Some of them in their families feel that there’s a disconnect, some of them come from broken families and so there is an array of issues that can lead to criminality,” Mr Charkawi said.

    He said despite youth being impressionable and often naive, nothing could justify what the shooter did.

    Relative known to police and counter-terrorism authorities

    As part of their investigation, police are now trying to trace the ownership and history of the revolver used by Farhad in the attack.

    The ABC has been told the youth had never come to the attention of police.

    “We don’t know anything about him,” the source said.

    But it is understood a relative was known to law enforcement or intelligence agencies.

    “[The relative] was a bit of a problem, he did come to the attention of police and counter-terrorism [authorities],” a source said.

    One source confirmed the teenager was a Sunni Muslim who was born in Iran.

    He said he was of Iraqi-Kurdish background and may have been a refugee.

    “It is interesting he is a Kurd, the Kurds are among those bearing the brunt of ISIS, it doesn’t make any sense,” the source said.

     

    Source:www.abc.net.au

     

  • Shangri-La Shooting: Men Acted In Aggressive And Threatening Manner

    Shangri-La Shooting: Men Acted In Aggressive And Threatening Manner

    The men who tried to breach a checkpoint near where the Shangri-La Dialogue was taking place in May had acted in a “non-compliant, aggressive, and threatening manner”, said Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean in Parliament on Monday (Jul 13).

    In the early hours of the morning on May 31, three Singaporean men in a Subaru Impreza defied orders to allow police to check the car boot at a highly-secured checkpoint. Instead, the driver crashed the car through the barricades. Police opened fire at the vehicle, and the driver was shot dead.

    Mr Teo, who is also Home Affairs Minister, noted that the use of lethal force is provided for under the Criminal Procedure Code, and that the level of force used should be proportionate to the threat faced.

    “In a situation where a driver ignores police’s repeated orders to stop, and crashes his vehicle through the concrete barriers, causing an imminent threat to lives, police’s procedure, as a last resort, is to open fire at the driver of the vehicle to neutralise the threat immediately to prevent it from causing danger to the event and the delegates and others involved in the event.” he said.

    Mr Teo said the measures taken by the police were precise and their effect limited to the vehicle and those in it.

    “They were stopped from penetrating into and posing a danger to an event which was assessed to be subject to a high level of threat. The vigilance, alertness and composure of our police officers in this incident reflect the high level of professionalism and skill which comes from realistic training and regular exercises to enhance their readiness and validate contingency plans,” he said.

    Mr Teo added that a coroner’s inquiry will be conducted in the coming months to establish the detailed cause of, and circumstances that led to the shooting and death of the driver.

    He noted that the Home Affairs Ministry is also reviewing the incident thoroughly and will incorporate any relevant findings from the coroner’s inquiry to ensure that police’s measures continue to be effective in deterring, preventing and dealing with potential security threats.

    Mr Teo pointed out that in the current security climate, a major international security event like the Shangri-La Dialogue is a “prime target for terrorists”.

    A high security protection level was therefore adopted for this event, which included road blocks and security checks on people and vehicles at or around the Shangri-La Hotel. These checks also ensure that vehicles are not carrying dangerous weapons or explosives.

    Mr Teo noted that according to this year’s Global Terrorism Index Report, explosives have been consistently been the most prevalent type of weapon used in attacks, accounting for over 60 per cent of all incidents globally.

    “Past incidents in the Middle East involving the use of vehicle bombs have resulted in heavy death tolls. In 2001, the Jemaah Islamiyah network had planned to use truck bombs against embassies, MRT stations and military installations in Singapore. The Bali bombings in 2002 and the Marriott Hotel attack in Jakarta in 2003 also involved the use of VBIEDs (vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices). These are all sober reminders that Singapore is not immune to this threat,” he said.

    Mr Teo added that the threat of terrorism is real and present, and said police will continue to do their utmost to counter security threats and protect Singaporeans from those who wish to carry out acts of violence and destruction.

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com