Gunmen kill at least 26 in Kenya attack: official

MOMBASA: At least 26 people were killed when some 50 insurgents flying black flags swept into a Kenyan coastal town firing guns in an unprecedented attack, a local government official said Monday.

"So far we have collected over 26 bodies and taken them to the mortuary, but we are still looking for more," Benson Maisori, deputy commissioner for the district told.

Gun battles began Sunday evening and continued into the early hours of Monday morning, but by dawn, the town of Mpeketoni was reported calm.

The insurgents were reported to have been from Somalia´s Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab.

"There were around 50 attackers, heavily armed in three vehicles, and they were flying the Shebab flag," Maisori added, speaking from the town, where several buildings including hotels, restaurants, banks and government offices were razed to the ground.

"They were shouting in Somali and shouting ´Allahu Akbar´", he added, meaning "God is great", in Arabic.

Cafes and bars were reportedly packed with people watching the World Cup on television when the gunmen attacked.

The town of Mpeketoni, a trading centre on the main coastal road, lies on the mainland some 30 kilometres (20 miles) southwest of Lamu island, a popular tourist destination whose ancient architecture is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Kenyan army spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir described how the gunmen had stormed the town, overwhelming local police officers, and firing from vehicles "shooting people around in town".

Chirchir also said the attackers were "likely to be Al-Shebab," although there was no immediate claim of responsiblity from the Islamists themselves.

Attackers tried to storm a police post including an armoury, but Maisori said officers had defended the building and fought the gunmen off.

It was the latest in a series of attacks or bombings to hit Kenya -- most usually blamed on the Shebab or their supporters -- but the reported scale and nature of this attack is rare.

Kenyan troops crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to fight the Shebab, later joining the now 22,000-strong African Union force battling the insurgents.

The Shebab vowed revenge, carrying out attacks, including one on Nairobi´s Westgate mall in September 2013 in which at least 67 people were killed.

 

‘Qaeda’ gunmen kill 12 Yemen soldiers, civilian: security

ADEN: Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen killed 12 Yemeni soldiers and a civilian on Thursday in a southern province where troops have been battling the militants since late April, a security official said.

The militants attacked a checkpoint near the Shabwa province village of Bayhan with automatic rifles, also wounding a number of soldiers, the official said.

The army has been engaged in a major ground offensive against Al-Qaeda in Shabwa and neighbouring Abyan province in a bid to expel it from smaller towns and villages that escaped a previous sweep in 2012.

Gunmen attack Iraq military base, kill 10 soldiers

BAGHDAD: Militants launched a brazen attack on a military base in a restive area in northern Iraq on Thursday, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding 12, officials said.

The morning attack at the base outside the city of Mosul, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, started with a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives-laden truck at the gates of the facility, an army officer and a police officer said.

A group of gunmen then opened fire from apparently commandeered military Humvees and a shootout ensued. At least 10 troops were killed and 12 were wounded, the officials said.

Eight militants were also killed in the fighting.

A medical official confirmed the causality figures.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to media. (AP)

 

Gunmen kill one young man in Quetta

QUETTA: Some unknown armed men opened fire killing one person at Satellite Town on Sunday here, Geo News reported.
Police said that the unidentified gunmen shot dead one young man at Bhoosa Mandi in Satellite police station limit and fled away.

Rescue volunteers shifted the body to Civil Hospital. The motive behind the firing could not immediately be known, however, police investigation into the incident continues.

Iraqi troops kill 40 gunmen near Baghdad

Fighting between government troops and al-Qaeda—inspired militants has killed 40 gunmen and an army officer near the capital, Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

In a statement posted on the Interior Ministry’s website, spokesman Saad Maan Ibrahim said Thursday that members of security forces foiled an assault by the militants on a military base in Youssifiyah, killing 40 “terrorist attackers.”

Maan said that one army officer was killed during the clashes. Youssifiyah is about 20 km south of Baghdad

Police officials said the attack started late Wednesday and lasted a few hours.

They confirmed the military’s account and said the attackers withdrew after the arrival of security enforcements to the area.

Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalist

Gunmen fire shots in air during raid at Crimean naval base

Armed men, believed to be Russian servicemen, march outside an Ukrainian military base in the Crimean city of Simferopol Monday. Reuters

Unidentified armed men fired in the air as they moved into a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea on Monday in the latest confrontation since Russian military groups seized control of the Black Sea peninsula.
With diplomacy at a standstill, Russia said the United States had spurned an invitation to hold new talks on resolving the crisis, the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, who said he would address the UN Security Council on Thursday, put the blame for the crisis on Russia and accused Moscow of undermining the global security system by taking control of Crimea.
Russian forces have in little more than a week taken over military installations across Crimea, home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Russian territory until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in 1954.
Pro-Russian separatists have taken control of the regional parliament, declared Crimea part of the Russian Federation and announced a referendum for Sunday to confirm this.
President Vladimir Putin says Moscow is acting to protect the rights of ethnic Russians, who make up a majority of Crimea’s population, after Ukraine’s president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in what Russia says was an unconstitutional coup.
On Monday, a group of about 10 unidentified armed men fired in the air at a Ukrainian naval post in Crimea, a Ukrainian defence spokesman was quoted as saying.
Ukraine’s Channel 5 television quoted Vladislav Seleznyov as saying the shooting took place at a motor pool base near Bakhchisaray. The men in two minibuses drove into the compound and demanded Ukrainian personnel there give them 10 trucks.
Earlier, Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted an unnamed Ukrainian official describing the men as Russian troops and saying none of the Ukrainians at the site was injured.
Russian forces, who have been in control of Crimea for more than a week, have not so far exchanged fire in anger with Ukrainian troops. Shots were fired over the heads of a group of Ukrainians during a standoff at a military airfield last week.
In other armed action, Russian forces took over a military hospital and a missile unit. Reuters correspondents also saw a big Russian convoy on the move just outside the port city of Sevastopol near a Ukrainian air defence base.
It comprised more than 100 vehicles, including around 20 armoured personnel carriers, plus mobile artillery.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Putin that Russia’s position on Ukraine remained at odds with the West, but US Secretary of State John Kerry had declined an invitation to visit Russia Monday for talks. “It is all being formulated as if there was a conflict between Russia and Ukraine.,” Lavrov told Putin.