The Ministry is undertaking the exercise with support from other state security agencies.

It explained that the exercise is to prepare the country against any potential threats posed by terrorists.

[contextly_sidebar id=”0HKGiBKOjYpvaQeiiCDQkJmy8P2iMakx”]Speaking at a media briefing in Accra, the Director of Counter-terrorism at the Ministry for National Security, COP George Asiamah, said threats posed by terrorism require proactive state measures hence the exercise.

Although he said Ghana has not experienced such attacks internally, “some regional, global trends and recent incidents in the neighbouring states gives serious cause for concern.”

“These threats and trends have necessitated for a holistic approach to preventing acts of terrorism. Terrorist acts culminate in crisis situations requiring a multi-agency response including strategies beyond conventional warfare to make us combat ready and ever prepared to combat terrorist threats. To this end therefore, we are going to embark on a security exercise coded Exercise Home Shield,” COP Asiamah added.

COP Asiamah further explained that, the ‘Exercise Home Shield’ will among other things include a simulation of terror attacks to assess how prepared the country’s security agencies are to handling such situations.

“This is a simulation exercise to mimic real life professional scenarios for an objective assessment of capabilities of counter-terrorism response agencies. In a nutshell, it is a form of rehearsal to sharpen our capabilities to respond to terrorist attacks and to recover from it,” he added.

Canada, UK issues terror attack alert in Ghana

The Canadian and US governments had recently issued terror alert to its citizens traveling to Ghana.

“There is a threat of terrorism. Terrorist targets could include shopping malls, government buildings, public areas such as bars, restaurants, hotels and sites frequented by Westerners. Be aware of your surroundings in public places,” a notice posted by the Canadian government in August added.

Man arrested for false terror alert at Accra Mall

The Ghana Police on November 3, 2017, arrested a 30-year-old suspect in connection with a false terrorist attack alert at the Accra Mall.

“The suspect was arrested in his hideout at Offinso in the Ashanti Region on 1st November, 2017, and is currently assisting Police in investigations,” the Police said in a statement.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Anass Seidu/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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According to the police there were reports on social media that the incident occurred at the mall on Sunday.

“The Police this [Sunday] afternoon monitored information on social media that a group of terrorist had attacked the Accra mall.The police on receiving the information conducted a security checks on the mall and found the information to be false,” a statement from the police and sighed by Director-General of the Public Affairs Unit, Assistant Commissioner of Police, David E. Eklu added.

[contextly_sidebar id=”5lrypEssm6ABAKfkcSXamNIzkfDaABll”]The police in the statement further cautioned persons behind such false information to desist from it “since it has serious implications for the security of the whole country.

The police further assured that it is investigating to identify those behind the false information “for necessary action to be taken.”

Canada, UK issues terror attack alert in Ghana
The false terror report comes on the back of a terror alert the Canadian government issued to its citizens traveling to Ghana in August 2017.

“There is a threat of terrorism. Terrorist targets could include shopping malls, government buildings, public areas such as bars, restaurants, hotels and sites frequented by Westerners. Be aware of your surroundings in public places,” a notice posted by the Canadian government added.

The United Kingdom also in August added to Ghana’s terrorism concerns with travel advice on its website indicating that “terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Ghana.”

“While there have been no recent attacks in Ghana, terrorist groups in west Africa have demonstrated their capability and intent by mounting attacks in 2015 and 2016 in Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali, targeting beach resorts, hotels, cafes and restaurants visited by foreigners,” UK stated on its website.

Security services in Ghana in April 2016 warned of such terror attacks on the country but later said enough measures had been put in place to avert terrorism.

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

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“The cell has been fully dismantled in Barcelona, after examining the people who died, the people who were arrested and carrying out identity checks,” he told a news conference.

But the regional Catalan government said there could be further arrests.

A key suspect linked to the Barcelona attack and a later one is still sought.

Thursday’s attack in the Catalan capital saw a van driven at high speed along Las Ramblas – the pedestrianised avenue popular with tourists and residents alike.

Spanish police are searching for Moroccan-born Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, who they suspect may be the driver who escaped the scene on foot.

Only hours later, early on Friday, there was a second van attack in Cambrils, west of Barcelona.

A woman was killed and police shot dead five suspected attackers, including Moussa Oukabir, 17, originally reported as the key suspect in the Barcelona attack.

Oukabir is suspected of using his brother’s documents to rent the van used in Barcelona and another found hours later in the town of Vic, north of Barcelona, that was intended as a getaway vehicle.

The terror cell is reported to comprise 12 men. The Catalan Interior Minster, Joaquim Forn, stressed that the police operation could not be considered over until all those suspected of being part of the cell were in custody.

Police say the suspects had been planning more sophisticated attacks, but an explosion on Wednesday at a house in the town of Alcanar deprived them of bomb material, so they carried out simpler attacks using vehicles.

Abouyaaqoub lived in the town of Ripoll to the north of Barcelona. Three people have been arrested in Ripoll, and one in Alcanar.

In Ripoll the apartment of an imam was raided on Saturday.

Another van, a Renault Kangoo, is also being sought, amid reports it may have been driven across the border into France.

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Source: BBC

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The men, wearing explosive belts, were linked to the first attack, police say.

Thirteen people died and dozens were hurt when a van hit crowds in the Las Ramblas area of Barcelona on Thursday. The driver fled and is still at large.

Spain’s PM Mariano Rajoy described it a “jihadist attack”, which so-called Islamic State said it had carried out.

Mr Rajoy has announced three days of national mourning and a minute’s silence will be held later on Friday.

The authorities are now also linking the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils with an explosion at a house on Wednesday evening in the town of Alcanar that left one person dead.

Police chief Josep Lluis Trapero said it appeared the residents at the Alcanar house had been “preparing an explosive device”.

In Cambrils, seven people, including a police officer, were wounded when a car was driven into them early on Friday, Catalan emergency services said. One person is in a critical condition.

Spanish media reported that the attackers’ vehicle overturned and when the men got out they were quickly fired upon by police.

A series of controlled explosions was then carried out.

Meanwhile police are continuing to search for the driver of the van used in the Barcelona attack, who fled on foot. He is believed to be the sole attacker there.

Tourists and locals fled when the rented vehicle sped down Las Ramblas in the centre of the city, mowing down people.

Witnesses said the van deliberately targeted people, weaving from side to side as it drove down the boulevard.

Two people have been arrested, but police say neither was the driver.

Police have released a photo of a man named as Driss Oubakir, whose documents were used to rent the van involved in the attack.

Local media say he is in his 20s, and was born in Morocco. However, latest reports suggest he has told police he was not involved, and that his documents were stolen.

So-called Islamic State has said it was behind the Las Ramblas attack, saying in a brief statement carried by its Amaq news agency that it was carried out by “Islamic State soldiers”. The group gave no further evidence or details to back this claim.

Vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of attacks across Europe since July last year.

In another incident, police shot dead a man who drove into officers at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Barcelona, but the authorities said there was no evidence that he was connected to the attack in Las Ramblas.

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Witnesses were quoted as saying that three gunmen opened fire on customers seated outside a restaurant.

Security forces killed three attackers, but some people are still trapped in the building, Communication Minister Remis Dandjinou says.

A jihadist attack on a cafe nearby left 30 people dead in January last year.

There are fears that the attack is the work of one of the affiliates of al-Qaeda that are active in the Sahel region, the BBC’s Alex Duval Smith reports.

Mr Dandjinou said it was unclear how many assailants had been involved.

“They are confined to one part of the building they attacked. Security and elite forces are conducting an operation,” he said on television.

The shooting began shortly after 21:00 (21:00 GMT) on Sunday on Ouagadougou’s busy Kwame Nkrumah Avenue.

The Aziz Istanbul Restaurant appears to have been at the centre of the shooting.

“The attack claimed 17 victims, their nationalities are yet to be confirmed, and eight injured,” said a government statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

A hospital in the city said that one of those killed was Turkish.

The attack is similar to one in January 2016, when gunmen targeted the Splendid Hotel and the Cappuccino restaurant, only 200m further along Kwame Nkrumah Avenue from the scene of the latest attack.

Over 170 people were taken hostage and 30 were killed. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for that attack.

Burkina Faso is part of the Sahel region, which includes Mali where Islamist groups have been active since 2012.

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Source: BBC

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The head of Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee said the blast hit a train between Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations.

The committee said an explosive device was later found and made safe at another station nearby.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a Facebook post that the explosion was “terrorist attack”.

An anti-terror investigation has been opened, but other possible causes are being investigated.

What happened?

Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGES

The first images posted on social media showed a train at a platform in Tekhnologichesky Institut station with a hole blown in its side, along with a number of casualties.

Initial reports suggested there had been two explosions, one each at Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations.

But the Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee later confirmed there had been only one explosion between the two stations, at about 14:30 local time (11:30 GMT).

Senior investigator Svetlana Petrenko told Russian media the train driver’s decision to continue to the next station almost certainly helped save lives, as it allowed people to be rescued quickly.

The number of casualties given by officials has differed throughout the day. In the most recent update, Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said 10 people had died – seven at the scene, one in an ambulance and two in hospital – and that 37 people were hurt.

The entire St Petersburg underground network has now been shut down, and metro officials in the capital Moscow said they were introducing extra security measures there as a result.

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Source: BBC

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In a statement to the Commons, Theresa May said he had been investigated some years ago over violent extremism but had been a “peripheral figure”.

The so-called Islamic State group has said it was behind the attack.

Eight arrests in London and Birmingham followed Wednesday’s attack that left four dead – including the attacker.

Those killed by the attacker were PC Keith Palmer, Aysha Frade, who worked at a London college, and a man in his 50s.

Seven of the injured are still in hospital in a critical condition. A further 29 had been treated in hospital, police said.

In the attack on Wednesday afternoon, a man drove a car along a pavement on Westminster Bridge, knocking down pedestrians, creating panic and leaving dozens injured.

He then ran towards Parliament where he stabbed PC Palmer who was unarmed. Armed police then shot dead the attacker in the grounds.

Mrs May paid tribute to PC Palmer saying: “He was every inch a hero and his actions will never be forgotten.”

She also said one of three police officers injured as they returned from an event to recognise their bravery was in a stable condition.

She told MPs, many of whom had been caught up in the commotion: “We will never waver in the face of terrorism.”

The so-called Islamic State claimed through its news agency that the Westminster attacker was a “soldier of the Islamic State”.

Mrs Frade worked at a London sixth form college just a few hundred metres from Westminster Bridge.

Principal at DLD College, Rachel Borland, said she was “highly regarded and loved by our students and by her colleagues”.

Mrs May said 12 Britons were admitted to hospital and other victims included three French children, two Romanians, four South Koreans, one German, one Pole, one Irish, one Chinese, one Italian, one American and two Greeks.

Thierry Terret, who is in charge of schools in Brittany, said the three injured students were not in a life threatening condition and were expected to be back home by Friday.

An emotional James Cleverly MP asked Mrs May to consider recognising posthumously the “gallantry and sacrifice” made by PC Palmer, who he knew from his time in the Army.

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