It is not clear why the release of the video – via an IS outlet on messaging app Telegram – was delayed until now.

The video consists mainly of raw footage, including images apparently filmed using a helmet camera belonging to one of the soldiers.

The video seems to suggest that the attack was carried out by IS militants.

The deaths became a major political row in the US when the widow of one of the soldiers, Army Sgt La David Johnson, said President Donald Trump had made her cry during a condolence phone call by suggesting her husband “knew what he signed up for”.

The president later called a US congresswoman’s account of the phone call “totally fabricated”.

What happens in the video?

The propaganda film begins with still images showing an alleged pledge of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by members of the Sahel-based group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).

JNIM was formed from a number of West African jihadist groups in March 2017, and originally had pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda.

This alleged switch to IS was reported last month by a number of analysts, but it had not been promoted by IS outlets on social media.

The graphic video shows several armed militants walking and running in a desert area, apparently heading for the ambush, reports BBC Monitoring.

The soldiers are seen driving away in a white vehicle, with coloured smoke grenades providing cover.

After a cut in the video, the US soldiers are seen around another vehicle, with one soldier driving and the other two walking beside while seemingly firing at their attackers.

Then, one of the soldiers drops to the ground. The man wearing the helmet camera tries to raise the fallen man.

The soldier driving the vehicle jumps out and helps drag the soldier to cover, before he and the camera-wearer run into the scrub.

While running, the soldier wearing the camera falls to the ground. The footage ends with the camera unmoving, and militants surrounding the soldier, firing at point-blank range.

–

Source: BBC

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It is not clear why the release of the video – on an IS outlet on messaging app Telegram – was delayed until now.

The video consists mainly of raw footage, including images apparently filmed using a helmet camera belonging to one of the soldiers.

The video seems to suggest that the attack was carried out by IS militants.

It begins with still images showing an alleged pledge of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by members of the al-Qaeda-linked, Sahel-based group Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).

The alleged pledge was reported last month by a number of analysts but it had not been promoted by IS outlets on Telegram.

The deaths later caused controversy when the widow of one of the soldiers said President Donald Trump had made her cry during a condolence phone call by suggesting her husband “knew what he signed up for”.

The video shows several armed militants walking and running in a desert area apparently heading for the ambush, reports BBC Monitoring.

It then shows footage that appears to have been filmed by one of the US soldiers. At one point the footage shows US soldiers seemingly exchanging fire with their assailants.

One soldier is then shown apparently dead.

Fighting continues until the other soldiers are killed, including apparently the one who was filming.

–

Source: BBC

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Rory Stewart claimed it should be the sole response to people who had “essentially moved away from any kind of allegiance” to the UK to join the terror group.

He told Pienaar’s Politics on BBC Radio 5 Live that there were “very difficult moral issues”.

But the Foreign Office minister warned: “They are absolutely dedicated, as members of the Islamic State, towards the creation of a caliphate.

“They believe in an extremely hateful doctrine which involves killing themselves, killing others and trying to use violence and brutality to create an eighth century, or seventh century, state.

“I’m afraid we have to be serious about the fact these people are a serious danger to us, and unfortunately the only way of dealing with them will be, in almost every case, to kill them.”

A former diplomat, Mr Stewart went on to say: “These are people who are executing people in the back of their heads, who have held women and children hostage, who are torturing and murdering trying by violence to impose their will.

“Our response has to be, when somebody does that, I’m afraid, to deal with that.”

Mr Stewart also urged Britons who wanted to join the fight against IS to do so through official channels.

“If you wish to serve your country and you wish to fight terrorism, then please apply to join the military or join the police or join our intelligence services, we’ll train you, we’ll work with you to do it in a legal and controlled fashion,” he said.

MI5 believes at least 850 Britons have gone to fight for IS since 2014, with around half having returned home.

The most notable conscripts include former punk rocker Sally Jones, who worked as an IS recruiter, and “Jihadi John” – real name Mohammed Emwazi – who appeared in multiple videos showing the execution of foreign hostages.

Both died in drone strikes in Syria but hundreds more are expected to still be fighting for IS in the country.

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Source: Sky News

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A report issued by the Libyan government said Ghanaian migrants feature prominently as members of the terrorist group.

[contextly_sidebar id=”K2uEXmeMLmXzS4dDeqM7pmjiq3rkSO5A”]The report placed Ghana in the second highest category suggesting that between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants are frontline fighters for the so-called Islamic State in Libya.

Following the report, the Minority in Parliament charged government not to allow the Ghanaian IS fighters into the country until they are properly investigated and given security clearance.

“Government must put measures in place to ensure that none of these alleged Ghanaian Islamic State fighters are allowed to return to Ghana without strict security clearance and surveillance,” the Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The Minority also called on government to ensure that Ghana’s international reputation is not affected over Libyan report.

But Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Frank Annor Dompreh, at a counter press conference said government will certainly break its silence on the matter after the investigation.

“This is not a matter that is new, the government is fully aware of this. We have done enough checks at the Ministry [of Foreign Affairs], and the Ministry is already aware. What is important is that, the ministry is conducting investigations on this matter… We think that soonest, the Republic and for that matter the government, will come up with the full disclosure and findings of what indeed is the truth or otherwise,” he said.

Mr. Dompreh also challenged the report,  saying for now, the identity of the supposed Ghanaians believed to have joined the terrorist group, has not been confirmed.

“In the report, it is being alleged that some Ghanaians have been mentioned – the authenticity of these Ghanaians have not been proven at this stage,” he added.

KNUST student joins ISIS

This comes on the back of reports that a graduate from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Nazir Nortei Alema had joined the terrorist group in 2015.

Harry Sarfo, a German Ghanian, had also in the early part of 2017, confessed to having been a fighter for ISIS.

The 28-year-old, who is serving a three-year prison term in Germany on terrorism charges, said he had however avoided participating in the group’s violence.

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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“Government must put measures in place to ensure that none of these alleged Ghanaian Islamic State fighters are allowed to return to Ghana without strict security clearance and surveillance,” the Minority spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

[contextly_sidebar id=”rwY8U45kYJ0IH5awzRcDAsoHe7C1nWrl”]A report issued by Libya’s Attorney General’s Chief Investigator, Al-Seddiq al-Sour, said Ghanaian migrants feature prominently as members of the terrorist group.

The report placed Ghana in the second highest category suggesting that between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants are frontline fighters for IS in Libya.

Addressing the media, Mr. Ablakwa described the report as worrying.

“….Rather worrying for Ghana, we are considered to belong to the second highest category of 50- 100. This has been explained by the Attorney General of Libya’s office to mean between 50 to 100 Ghanaian migrants in Libya, have been identified as active frontline fighters of ISIS in Libya. Ghana appears in this category with seven other countries namely; Senegal, Gambia, Chad, Niger, Eretria, Mali and Somalia.”

He further asked government to ensure that Ghana’s international reputation is not affected following the report.

“While it is obvious to us that many Governments and intelligence agencies across the world would find the content of the Attorney General of Libya’s inquiry very disturbing, we in Ghana ought to be even more concerned due to the revelations made about our dear country…The Ghanaian reputation – internationally acclaimed for being a peace loving people and a people who abhor and detest violence must be jealously guarded by all of us,” he added.

The Minority also gave a nine point proposal to government  to consider in addressing the issue.

In the proposal, the Minority asked government to provide the needed assurances on the security of Ghanaians.

Below is the nine point proposal:

• Government must publicly react to this inquiry by the Libyan Attorney General’s Office due to its grave ramifications to Ghana’s image.
• Government must provide the needed assurances to Ghanaians and our international security partners that this matter is receiving very high level. attention within a Ghana Libya Counter Terrorism Framework and the global fight against terror.
• Government must take steps to ascertain to what extent the Ghanaian nationality claims in the report is accurate.
• Ghana’s national security apparatus must exchange intelligence with their Libyan counterparts on how these Ghanaians if indeed they are Ghanaians are being recruited and radicalized with the view to eliminating all such threats and conduits.
• Government must put measures in place to ensure that none of these alleged Ghanaian Islamic State fighters are allowed to return to Ghana without strict security clearance and surveillance.
• Government should consider establishing a generous and enticing reward scheme for families, friends and loved ones who volunteer vital and credible information on any known ISIS ties of their loved ones either living in Libya or being recruited to go to Libya.
• Government should provide details of all steps it is taking to work with other friendly countries who have previously provided intelligence support to monitor all terrorist recruitment activities and what steps it is taking to deal with the challenge to a joint Parliamentary committee of Defense and Interior and Foreign Affairs so that the people’s representatives can be assured that government is taking all necessary steps to protect the Ghanaian people.
• Government should explain what steps are being taken to provide public information on how terrorist recruitment is conducted in order that citizens can be aware of how the “signs of radicalization” in our young people should be looked out for.
• Government should engage religious leaders of both Moslem & Christian groups to get them to reach out to their congregations and develop programmes within their organizations to create awareness of attempts to radicalize young people and to prevent them from falling prey to ISIS propaganda.

KNUST graduate joins ISIS

In 2015, the Daily Guide newspaper reported that, a 25-year- old graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Nazir Nortei Alema, had joined the terrorist organization.

Extracts from Nazir’s WhatsApp message, received by Kabir, his brother, read as follows: “Pray for me, for I will never forget you in my prayer and it’s my hope and prayer that we meet again if not in this world then in Jannah (paradise). I love you all. May Allah grant us understanding and guide us all to the straight path. Asalaamu alaikum.”

“I told you a lie to please my Allah. The deception was to go do some research work in far away Prestea while the main idea was to move far away from you all to the Islamic State (IS). I know it might sound kind of crazy for you but your son really had to take this bold step to get out of the corrupt system of Ghana which has democracy first on its list.”

Nazir’s family confirmed his disappearance, and he has since not returned.

German-Ghanaian who denounced ISIS faces war crimes charges

Harry Sarfo, a German Ghanian, earlier this year, also confessed to having been a fighter for ISIS. The 28-year-old, who is serving a three-year prison term in Germany on terrorism charges, said he had however avoided participating in the group’s violence.

Click here for the Minority’s full statement:

–

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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People searching for certain terms relating to the so-called Islamic State group will be offered playlists of videos “debunking its mythology”.

YouTube said it wanted to help prevent people being radicalised.

The company told the BBC that uploading IS propaganda was already against its terms and conditions.

In a blog post, the video-streaming giant said it was implementing ideas from the Redirect Method, a campaign that tries to steer the IS audience towards videos that debunk the group’s recruitment tactics.

The themed video playlists challenge claims by the so-called Islamic State group that it provides good governance, is a strong military force, and that world powers are conspiring to harm Muslims.

Rather than producing new material, the playlists contain videos already uploaded to YouTube that present an opposing point of view, such as:

• testimony from people who have left IS, describing what life in the group was really like
• footage of a suffering elderly lady confronting two IS fighters and telling them to “return to the way of God”
• speeches by imams denouncing violence and extremism
• footage from inside IS-controlled areas, showing the reality of life there

The Redirect Method says pre-existing videos, rather than specially commissioned content, are more effective because they are seen to be more trustworthy.

“Media created by governments or Western news outlets can be rejected on face value, for a perception of promoting an anti-Muslim agenda,” the organisation says in its methodology.

It said videos uploaded by the public “would not be be rejected outright by our target audience”.

YouTube told the BBC that it would begin redirecting users searching for particular terms in English, but would later add other languages including Arabic.

Algorithms will help determine whether other search keywords need to be included in the scheme, and the company will monitor whether people are engaging with the curated playlists.

While anybody searching for terrorist propaganda would be redirected, including academics and journalists, YouTube said such content was already against its terms and conditions and was removed when discovered.

–

Source: BBC

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IS deployed large numbers of suicide bombers in different parts of the northern Iraqi city but the affected areas were quickly brought under control, Iraqi officials say.

IS has now been squeezed into a square mile of territory in Mosul’s Old City.

It is the final phase of an Iraqi offensive to remove them from Mosul.

It is clear that these are the dying days of IS in Mosul, the BBC’s Orla Guerin reports from the edge of the Old City where she is moving with Iraqi forces.

The jihadists blew up the city’s landmark al-Nuri mosque last Wednesday. This has now given Iraqi forces a clear hand to move more swiftly against IS and they have certainly done so, our correspondent adds.

There were some 20 air strikes against the group on Sunday, and more overnight. Helicopter gunships pounded IS positions and extensive mortar fire was heard.

At least two IS counter-attacks were reported on Sunday night. The Baghdad-based Kurdish Shafaq news agency reported three attacks by the group in western Mosul – in Al-Tanak, Rajm Hadid and Al-Yarmouk districts.

Residents’ houses were set on fire, the agency said.

Eyewitness: Sally Becker, aid worker

I was just a couple of streets away from one of the IS counter-attacks.

We had around 20 bodies (Iraqi soldiers) here yesterday and many more injured. In fact the trauma stabilisation point (TSP) is full of soldiers right now. A brigadier arrived with a bullet in his neck yesterday afternoon and it was shortly after that everything went a bit crazy.

There were cars set alight on and the roads were closed.

According to sources here around 20 jihadists escaped from the Old City and popped up a couple of blocks from our TSP. In addition to this, the jihadist snipers have night vision goggles which meant the Iraqi army could only move very slowly.

It’s definitely calmed down a bit now although between about 5 and 7 this morning it was pretty full on.

The offensive against IS in Mosul, the group’s biggest and last urban stronghold in Iraq, was launched on 17 October 2016.

Thousands of Iraqi security forces, Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, Sunni Arab tribesmen and Shia militiamen, assisted by US-led coalition warplanes and military advisers, are deployed.

The government announced the full “liberation” of eastern Mosul in January 2017, but the west of the city, with its narrow streets, has presented a more difficult challenge.

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Source: BBC

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It said President Donald Trump would be held accountable for “every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries” and ended “I love Islamic state”.

The hacking was carried out by a group calling itself Team System DZ.

The Ohio governor’s website was down for maintenance for some time on Sunday, before coming back online.

The message in the hacking attack contained an Arabic symbol and was written mainly in the black and white used in the flag of so-called Islamic State.

The message on Mr Kasich’s site also played an Islamic call to prayer.

The message read: “You will be held accountable Trump, you and all your people for every drop of blood flowing in Muslim countries.”

A spokeswoman for Mr Kasich, Emmalee Kalmbach, said in a statement: “As soon as we were notified of the situation, we immediately began to correct it, and will continue to monitor until fully resolved.”

A number of other officials website were affected, including those of the Ohio Office of Health Transformation and the Ohio Department of Medicaid. They later came back online as well.

However, the websites of Ohio’s First Lady Karen Kasich, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections and the Ohio Inspector General were still down for maintenance at midnight (04:00 GMT on Monday).

Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel posted a tweet telling “freedom-loving Americans” that radical Islam was “infiltrating the heartland”.

The New York Post said the website of the New York state town of Brookhaven was also affected.

The group known as Team System DZ has carried out a number of hacking sprees in the past, many carrying anti-Israel messages.

The US is currently holding high-level inquiries into alleged cyber attacks by Russia aimed at influencing the result of last year’s presidential election.

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Source: BBC

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He died 10 days ago in an joint special forces operation in eastern Nangarhar province, the US military said.

Hasib is believed to have been behind March’s attack on a military hospital in Kabul, killing at least 50 people.
Last month, the Pentagon said Hasib had probably been killed in a raid by US and Afghan special forces.

Two US army rangers also died in the raid, near an underground system of tunnels believed to be used by IS which were targeted by the largest conventional bomb ever used by the US.

There has been no confirmation of the death by IS.

Abdul Hasib was appointed as the leader of IS in Afghanistan last year after his predecessor was killed in a US drone strike.

He is credited with masterminding the Kabul hospital attack, although some Afghan security experts questioned whether a group still thought to be relatively small in Afghanistan could be capable of planning and carrying out such a large scale operation.

In addition to killing Hasib, the US military said US and Afghan forces had killed or captured hundreds of IS militants in an offensive this year.

“To date, the campaign has liberated over half of the districts that IS controlled, which has allowed local residents to return to their homes for the first time in more than two years,” the statement said.

There is no independent confirmation of the claims.

Sediq Sediqi, a spokesman for the Afghan president, blamed Hasib for the hospital attack and congratulated the military for killing him.

“AFG Special Forces hunted down the leader of IS in Afghanistan; big success for our heroes,” he tweeted.

IS announced it was moving into Afghanistan and Pakistan when it declared its so-called Khorasan Province (sometimes called ISIS-K) in 2015, and has since carried out a number of deadly and high-profile attacks.

In July 2016, a suicide bomb attack on a Shia Muslim rally in Kabul killed about 80 people.

Three months later, two similar attacks during the Shia religious festival of Ashura claimed about 30 lives, and in November 2016 an attack at a mosque in Kabul killed more than 30.

IS also claimed a suicide attack at Kabul’s Supreme Court in February that killed 22 people, and the group has stepped up activity in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But it has faced armed opposition from the larger and more powerful Afghan Taliban – correspondents say as a consequence, IS has struggled to increase its support or the amount of territory it holds in Afghanistan.
Its main strongholds are in the eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar.

The failure of IS to widen its political and territorial base in Afghanistan is one reason advanced by analysts for its focus in recent months on headline grabbing attacks in the capital and elsewhere.

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Source: BBC

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The most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever used by the US in combat was dropped on an IS base in Nangarhar province.

A network of tunnels and caves was destroyed on Thursday evening local time, US officials said.

The death toll was confirmed to the BBC by Ismail Shinwary, the governor of Achin province within Nangarhar.

IS had earlier said it had not suffered any casualties in the blast.

No civilians were killed in the explosion, Mr Shinwary said. The Chief Executive of Afghanistan, Abdullah Abdullah, said the attack had been carried out in co-ordination with his government and “great care had been taken to avoid civilian harm”.

However, one resident close to where the blast happened told the BBC some homes were destroyed. The explosion lit up the whole night sky, he said.

Known as the “mother of all bombs”, or MOAB, the device was dropped on Thursday evening by an MC-130 transport plane, falling in Nangarhar’s Achin district.

It was the first time the bomb, one of only 15 ever built, had been used in combat.

When IS announced the establishment of its Khorasan branch – an old name for Afghanistan and surrounding areas – in January 2015, it was the first time the group had officially spread outside the Arab world.

“The enemy had created bunkers, tunnels and extensive mine fields, and this weapon was used to reduce those obstacles so that we could continue our offensive in southern Nangarhar,” said Gen John Nicholson, the most senior US military commander in Afghanistan.

While the attack was supported by the Afghan government, former president Hamid Karzai said it represented an “inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons”.

Mr Shinwary had earlier confirmed to the BBC that Afghan special forces, with the help of American air support, had begun anti-IS operations in the area two weeks ago.

But reports say fighting has intensified in recent days. Last Saturday, an American special forces soldier was killed fighting militants.

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Source: BBC

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