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Tag: abduction
Jihadists Claim Beheading Of Frenchman Captured In Algeria

Jihadists Claim Beheading Of Frenchman Captured In Algeria

Algiers (AFP) — Jihadists linked to the Islamic State group claimed to have beheaded a Frenchman abducted in Algeria in a video posted online Wednesday, after Paris rejected their demand to halt strikes in Iraq.

Herve Gourdel, 55, was kidnapped on Sunday by Jund al-Khilifa, or “Soldiers of the Caliphate,” while hiking in a national park that was once a major draw for tourists but became a sanctuary for Islamists

It follows a call by IS for Muslims to kill Westerners whose nations have joined a campaign to battle the jihadist group in Iraq and Syria.

The video, entitled “A Message with Blood to the French Government”, was posted on jihadist websites.

It begins with a clip of French President Francois Hollande before showing Gourdel on his knees with his hands behind his back, surrounded by four armed militants whose faces were covered.

One of the jihadists reads a speech in which he denounces the intervention of the “French criminal crusaders” against Muslims in Algeria, Mali and Iraq.

It came a day after Hollande vowed not to give in to the jihadists’ 24-hour deadline to end air raids in Iraq.

“As grave as this situation is, we will not give in to any blackmail, any pressure, any ultimatum, no matter how odious, how despicable,” he said on the sidelines of an official trip to New York.

France has ruled out joining military operations in Syria, where a U.S.-led coalition began strikes against IS on Tuesday.

AFP Photo

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Japan’s Abe Says North Korea Agrees To Probe Abductions

Japan’s Abe Says North Korea Agrees To Probe Abductions

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that North Korea had agreed to reinvestigate its past abductions of Japanese nationals.

The announcement came after diplomatic talks this week in Stockholm between Japan and North Korea.

Tokyo said it would lift some sanctions on North Korea once Pyongyang launches its reinvestigation and that it would supply humanitarian assistance.

Abe’s government is eager to make progress on the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean agents in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Japan lists 17 nationals kidnapped by North Korea. Five were returned alive in 2002.

Pyongyang has contended that eight have died and four others never entered the country, and it previously said repeatedly that it considers the issue resolved.

 Flickr via Yoshikazu Tsuno

Turkish Soldiers Inside Syria Abducted By Islamist Rebels, News Reports Say

Turkish Soldiers Inside Syria Abducted By Islamist Rebels, News Reports Say

By Roy Gutman, McClatchy Washington Bureau

ISTANBUL — Turkish troops conducting a resupply mission to a small Turkish military post inside Syrian territory were ambushed and detained Wednesday by Islamic extremists affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, according to Turkish media reports.

The troops were later returned to Turkey, news outlets in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa said. But it wasn’t clear what happened to the four armored personnel carriers they’d been traveling in. One report said ISIS had kept the vehicles, which had been seen flying ISIS flags.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday confirmed that a convoy had been sent to the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. The tomb lies about 15 miles inside Syria, but Turkey claims sovereignty over the area under a 1921 territory. Erdogan said the convoy had been sent to deliver supplies to the Turkish military contingent assigned to guard the tomb.

He did not, however, mention the ISIS ambush or the abduction of the Turkish troops, an incident that could put Turkey’s military, widely regarded as the region’s best equipped, on a collision course with ISIS, whose militants are fighting both Syrian government forces and other anti-government rebel groups for control of eastern Syria.

“Right now, the issue is not about ISIS,” he told reporters in Ankara. “The job of our convoy is to transfer aid to the Suleyman Shah tomb.”

The Turkish military said the dispatch of the convoy was a planned activity, and nothing out of the ordinary.

Local news reports said the vehicles crossed into Syria from the Sursitpinar border gate and were ambushed near the town of Manbij. The troops — the exact number was not reported — were then taken to Manbij and later repatriated to Turkey, Sanliurfa.com reported, citing local Syrian sources and another unidentified source.

The news portal, without naming its source, said that the vehicles, after their capture, were being driven about with ISIS flags on them.

In mid-March, ISIS demanded that Turkey abandon its military outpost at the tomb and threatened to attack and destroy it. This apparently gave rise to a secret conversation among top Turkish officials about whether Turkey should seize the opportunity to take on ISIS, an Iraq-based offshoot of al-Qaida that is also fighting the Iraqi government for control of western Iraq and is considered a serious menace to regional stability. Al-Qaida leaders denounced the group earlier this year for disobeying orders to withdraw from Syria, where another rebel group, the Nusra Front, is al-Qaida’s recognized affiliate.

A recording of the secret conversation about a possible incursion into Syria was posted on YouTube and proved deeply embarrassing to the Erdogan government, which launched a major investigation to find the source of the security breach. The government also blocked access to YouTube and Twitter in an effort to halt dissemination of the recording.

According to news accounts, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu can be heard on the recording saying that “without a strong pretext,” Turkey would not receive support for an intervention into Syria from the United States or other allies. The chief of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, reportedly responded that “if needed, I would dispatch four men to Syria” and “have them fire eight mortar shells at the Turkish side and create an excuse for war.” He added: “We can also have them attack the tomb of Suleyman Shah as well.”

If the government was seriously considering doing anything at the time, it was put on hold following the publication of the discussion.

Based on the scanty details available Wednesday, it wasn’t possible to determine whether the resupply convoy was a genuinely routine operation or a probe to test ISIS’ intentions.

Adem Altan AFP