Daesh claims responsibility for Manchester bombing that killed at least 22

1 / 5
Armed police officers stand near the Manchester Arena, where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, in Manchester, in northern England, Britain on Tuesday. (REUTERS)
2 / 5
A police vehicle is seen outside the Manchester Arena, where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing in Manchester, northern England, Britain on Tuesday. (REUTERS)
3 / 5
A police officer talks to locals outside the Manchester Arena, where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, in Manchester, northern England, Britain on Monday. (REUTERS)
4 / 5
An ambulance drives away from the Manchester Arena, where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing, in Manchester, northern England, Britain, on Tuesday. (REUTERS)
5 / 5
Police set up a cordon outside the Manchester Arena in northern England where U.S. singer Ariana Grande had been performing in Manchester, Britain, on Monday. (REUTERS)
Updated 23 May 2017
Follow

Daesh claims responsibility for Manchester bombing that killed at least 22

MANCHESTER, England: Daesh has claimed responsibility for Monday’s deadly bombing of a concert at the Manchester Arena in the UK, in which at least 22 people were killed.
 
British authorities have identified the suspected suicide bomber as Salman Abedi, according to US officials quoted by AP.
 
The attack, which targeted a show by US singer Ariana Grande, involved explosives planted at the arena, according to a statement by the terror group posted on Telegram.
 
Daesh said “a soldier of the caliphate planted bombs in the middle of Crusaders gatherings,” then detonated them. It did not say whether the attacker was killed.
 
British police earlier said they believed that the attack was carried out by a lone suicide bomber who was also killed in the blast.
 
Daesh also claimed that “30 Crusaders were killed and 70 others were wounded,” higher than the totals confirmed by authorities in Manchester.
 
The US’ top intelligence official said however that the US government has not yet verified that Daesh was responsible for the attack.
 
Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence, told Congress that the extremist group frequently claims responsibility for terror attacks.
 
Daesh operational involvement ‘not clear’
 
Terrorism expert Lee Marsden, a professor at the University of East Anglia in the UK, said it was not yet clear whether Daesh had any direct involvement in the Manchester bombing.
 
But he said attacks of this nature are likely to become more frequent as the extremist terror group loses ground in the Middle East.
 
Daesh has “claimed responsibility, as has been a consistent pattern with attacks in the West. However, what is less clear is whether the organization had any operational involvement in the attack or whether they inspired the suicide bomber concerned through calling for attacks through any means available,” Marsden told Arab News.
 
“As Daesh is facing defeat in Iraq and Syria and foreign fighters return home then the propensity for such attacks is likely to increase. In Britain, terror attacks have largely been perpetrated by British citizens and the ongoing activity by police in the Manchester area may reflect a local connection. Although it is clearly too early and inappropriate to speculate.”
 
Europe has seen several “low-tech” terror attacks, such as the incident in March in which 52-year-old Briton Khalid Masood drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster Bridge.
 
But the use of explosives and suicide bombings on the British mainland, though rare, have “been flagged up as increasingly likely” as British men and women return home after fighting for Daesh in Syria, Marsden said. 
 
“The sophistication of this latest terror incident reveals the difficulties of trying to combat either tight cells of terrorist operatives or lone-wolf attacks. Although police have made one arrest, it is too early to say the extent to which this was an organised and coordinated attack,” he said. “Large gatherings of people without a strong police or security presence affords an easy target for those wishing to advance their cause through inflicting maximum casualties.”
 
‘A callous terrorist attack’
 
The British Prime Minister Theresa May called the bombing a “callous terrorist attack... that targeted some of the youngest people in our society.” The first victims to be named were teenager Georgina Callander and 8-year-old Saffie Roussos, according to Sky News.
 
Speaking on Tuesday morning in London, May said that many of the 59 people injured are being “treated for life-threatening conditions.”
 
Police said the apparent suicide attack is believed to have been carried out by one person with an improvised explosive device, who was also killed in the blast. A 23-year-old man was arrested in South Manchester in connection with the attack, according to Sky News.
 
May said on Tuesday morning that “police and security services believe they know the identity of the perpetrator,” but are not disclosing the name at present. Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn called the attack an “appalling act of violence.”
 
The attack is the deadliest terror assault on Britain since four militants killed 52 people in suicide bombings on London’s transport system in July 2005.
 
There was no immediate change in the UK national terror threat level, which remains at “severe,” one level below the top level, “critical,” which means that an attack is underway or imminent. May said the threat level would be assessed over the coming hours and days.
 
Sky News reported that the nearby Arndale Shopping Center in Manchester was evacuated on Tuesday morning, as armed police made an arrest. It was not immediately clear if the incident was related to the terror attack on Monday.
 
Attacker “specifically targeted kids’ concert”
 
Police last night responded to reports of an explosion at Manchester Arena shortly after 10:35 p.m. (2135 GMT) at the arena, which has a capacity for 21,000 people, and where Grande had been performing to an audience that included many children.
 
Terrorism experts said that the target of the attack — a concert popular with teenagers and children — made it distinct from other Daesh atrocities in Europe.
 
Peter Lehr, lecturer in Terrorism Studies at the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrews University, Scotland, said that the attacker would have been well aware that many of the victims would have been children.
 
“In yesterday’s attack, it was the young ones who were targeted: after all, Ariana Grande is a teen idol, attracting mainly teens as a result,” Lehr told Arab News.
 
“Although we don’t have enough information on the suicide bomber, I am very sure that he was aware of that, and that he chose this particular target, and this particular evening, for this very reason.”
 
Lehr said the Manchester bombing differed to previous attacks in Europe such as that in Paris in November 2015, which targeted people in cafes, bars, and at a heavy metal concert. 
 
“In the Berlin Christmas market attack, (the target was again) mainly middle-aged middle class people,” he added.
 
A witness who attended the concert said she felt a huge blast as she was leaving the arena, followed by screaming and a rush by thousands of people trying to escape the building.
 
A video posted on Twitter showed fans, many of them young, screaming and running from the venue. Dozens of parents frantically searched for their children, posting photos and pleading for information on social media.

 
“We were making our way out and when we were right by the door there was a massive explosion and everybody was screaming,” concertgoer Catherine Macfarlane told Reuters.
 
“It was a huge explosion — you could feel it in your chest. It was chaotic. Everybody was running and screaming and just trying to get out.”
 
A spokesman for Ariana Grande, 23, said the singer was “okay.”
 
Paula Robinson, 48, from West Dalton about 40 miles east of Manchester, said she was at the train station next to the arena with her husband when she felt the explosion and saw dozens of teenage girls screaming and running away from arena.
 
“We ran out,” Robinson told Reuters. “It was literally seconds after the explosion. I got the teens to run with me.”
 
Robinson took dozens of teenage girls to the nearby Holiday Inn Express hotel and tweeted out her phone number to worried parents, telling them to meet her there. She said her phone had not stopped ringing since her tweet.
 
“Parents were frantic running about trying to get to their children,” she said. “There were lots of lots children at Holiday Inn.”
 
Global reactions
 
US President Donald Trump condemned the “evil losers” behind the attack on Manchester Arena, saying: “I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that’s a great name.
 
“So many young, beautiful, innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered,” he said.
 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced “sorrow and horror,” adding: “This suspected terrorist attack will only strengthen our resolve to work with our British friends against those who plan and execute such inhuman acts. I assure the people in Britain: Germany stands by your side.”
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was ready to boost anti-terror cooperation with Britain after “this cynical, inhuman crime.
 
“We expect that those behind it will not escape the punishment they deserve,” he said.
 
Harun Khan, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, issued the following statement: 
 
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. I understand teenagers and children have been caught up in what the police has confirmed to be a terrorist attack. This is horrific, this is criminal. May the perpetrators face the full weight of justice both in this life and the next.
 
“I pay tribute to the police and emergency services who have worked valiantly to save lives last night. They were helped by civilians who rushed in to offer their support. I urge all those in the region and around the country to pool together to support those affected.”
 
British counter-terrorism police have said they are making on average an arrest every day in connection with suspected terrorism.
 
In March, a British-born convert plowed a car into pedestrians on London’s Westminster Bridge, killing four people before stabbing to death a police officer who was on the grounds of parliament. He was shot dead at the scene.
 
In 2015, a student Abid Naseer was convicted in a US court of conspiring with Al-Qaeda to blow up the Arndale shopping center in the center of Manchester in April 2009.
 
Manchester Arena, the largest indoor arena in Europe, opened in 1995 and is a popular concert and sporting venue.
 
— With Reuters, AP

 


Undocumented immigrants in US ‘terrified’ as Trump returns

Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

Undocumented immigrants in US ‘terrified’ as Trump returns

  • Trump repeatedly rail against illegal immigrants during the election campaign
PHOENIX: Since learning that Donald Trump will return to the White House, undocumented immigrant Angel Palazuelos has struggled to sleep.
The 22-year-old, a graduate student in biomedical engineering who lives in Phoenix, Arizona, is haunted by the incoming president’s promises of mass deportations.
“I was terrified,” said Palazuelos, reflecting on the moment he heard the news.
“I am in fear of being deported, of losing everything that I’ve worked so hard for, and, most importantly, being separated from my family.”
Born in Mexico, he has lived in the United States since he was four years old. He is one of the country’s so-called “Dreamers,” a term for migrants who were brought into the country as children and never obtained US citizenship.
Throughout the election campaign, Palazuelos heard Trump repeatedly rail against illegal immigrants, employing violent rhetoric about those who “poison the blood” of the United States.
Trump has never specified how he intends to go about his plan for mass deportation, which experts warn would be extremely complicated and expensive.
“What do mass deportations mean? Who does that include?” Palazuelos asked.
“Does it include people like me, Dreamers, people that came here from a very young age, that had no say?“
Compounding the stress, the southwestern state of Arizona has just approved by referendum a law allowing state police to arrest illegal immigrants. That power was previously reserved for federal border police.
If the proposition is deemed constitutional by courts, Palazuelos fears becoming the target of heightened racial profiling.
“What makes someone a suspect of being here illegally, whether they don’t speak English?” he asked.
“My grandma, she’s a United States citizen, however, she doesn’t speak English very well. Meanwhile, I speak English, but is it because of the color of my skin that I would possibly be suspected or detained?“
Jose Patino, 35, also feels a sense of “dread” and “sadness.” His situation feels more fragile than ever.
Born in Mexico and brought to the United States aged six, he now works for Aliento, a community organization helping undocumented immigrants.
He personally benefited from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigrant policy brought in by Barack Obama, offering protections and work permits for those in his situation.
But for Patino, those safeguards will expire next year, and Trump has promised to end the DACA program.
Indeed, Trump already tried to dismantle it during his previous term, but his decree was scuppered by a US Supreme Court decision, largely on procedural grounds.
Faced with this uncertainty, Patino is considering moving to a state that would refuse to report him to federal authorities, such as Colorado or California.
He remembers well the struggle of being undocumented in his twenties — a time when he could not obtain a basic job like flipping burgers in McDonald’s, and could not apply for a driver’s license or travel for fear of being deported.
“I don’t personally want to go back to that kind of life,” Patino said.
For him, Trump’s electoral win is not just scary, but an insult.
“We’re contributing to this country. So that’s the hard part: me following the rules, working, paying my taxes, helping this country grow, that’s not enough,” he said.
“So it’s frustrating, and it’s hurtful.”
Patino understands why so many Hispanic voters, often faced with economic difficulties, ended up voting for Trump.
Those who are here legally “believe that they’re not going to be targeted,” he said.
“A lot of Latinos associate wealth and success with whiteness, and they want to be part of that group and to be included, rather than be outside of it and be marginalized and be considered ‘the other,’” he said.
Still, he is angry with his own uncles and cousins who, having once been undocumented themselves, voted for Trump.
“We cannot have a conversation together, because it’s going to get into argument and probably into a fight,” he said.

Putin says Ukraine must remain neutral for there to be peace

Updated 16 min 10 sec ago
Follow

Putin says Ukraine must remain neutral for there to be peace

  • “If there is no neutrality, it is difficult to imagine the existence of any good-neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said
  • Putin said Russia had recognized Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders based on the understanding that it would be neutral

SOCHI, Russia: President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Ukraine should remain neutral for there to be a chance for peace, adding that the borders of Ukraine should be in accordance with the wishes of the people living in Russian-claimed territory.
“If there is no neutrality, it is difficult to imagine the existence of any good-neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” Putin said.
Putin said Russia had recognized Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders based on the understanding that it would be neutral. The US-led NATO military alliance has repeatedly said that Ukraine would one day join.
If Ukraine was not neutral, it would be “constantly used as a tool in the wrong hands and to the detriment of the interests of the Russian Federation,” Putin said.
Russia controls about a fifth of Ukraine after more than two and a half years of war. Putin on
June 14
set out his terms for an end to the conflict: Ukraine would have to drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from all of the territory of the regions claimed by Russia.
Ukraine rejects those conditions as tantamount to surrender and President Volodymyr Zelensky has presented a “victory plan” for which he has requested additional Western support.
“We are determined to create conditions for a long-term settlement so that Ukraine is an independent, sovereign state, and not an instrument in the hands of third countries, and not used in their interests,” Putin said.
Asked about the future borders of Ukraine, Putin said: “The borders of Ukraine should be in accordance with the sovereign decisions of people who live in certain territories and which we call our historical territories.”
Ukraine says that it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is ejected from its territory though even US generals say that such an aim would take massive resources that Ukraine currently does not have.


Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia kills four, wounds 40

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia kills four, wounds 40

  • Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in Zaporizhzhia in recent days
  • “The death toll as a result of Russia’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia has risen to four,” the emergency services said

KYIV: Russian aerial attacks on the frontline city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday killed at least four people and wounded another 40, including children, officials said.
Another two were killed in a separate attack on the eastern Donetsk region, strikes that followed a wave of overnight drone attacks, including on the capital Kyiv.
Russian forces have stepped up their attacks in Zaporizhzhia in recent days and are making rapid advances in the industrial territory of Donetsk, both of which the Kremlin says are Russian territory.
“The death toll as a result of Russia’s strikes on Zaporizhzhia has risen to four,” the emergency services said in a statement on social media.
“Forty were wounded, including four children,” governor Ivan Fedorov said in a separate statement.
Officials said earlier that a hospital had been damaged in Zaporizhzhia, which had a pre-war population of more than 700,000 people and lies around 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the nearest Russian positions.
A four-month old girl and boys aged one, five and 15 were wounded in the attacks, Fedorov said.
Officials posted images showing rescue workers pulling victims from the rubble and holding back distressed locals from getting to the destroyed buildings.
The strikes later in the Donetsk region killed two people and wounded five more in the village of Mykolaivka, the region’s governor Vadym Filashkin announced on social media.
“One of the shells hit a five-story building and four buildings nearby were damaged,” he wrote on social media.
He posted a photo of a Soviet-era residential building on fire, dozens of its windows blown out with debris littering the ground beneath it.


Grenade attack targeted Israeli embassy in Denmark: report

Copenhagen Police investigated two explosions near the Israeli embassy in Copenhagen last month. (AP)
Updated 57 min 58 sec ago
Follow

Grenade attack targeted Israeli embassy in Denmark: report

  • The grenades landed on the terrace of a house adjacent to the embassy
  • Two Swedes aged 17 and 19 have been detained

COPENHAGEN: Israel’s embassy in Denmark was likely the target of grenades thrown nearby last month, Danish media reported Thursday, citing the pre-indictment of two teenage suspects detained in the case.
Two Swedes aged 17 and 19 went before a judge in Copenhagen who remanded them for another 20 days.
Their pre-indictment, citing investigations, said they were suspected of violating terrorism laws by “throwing hand grenades at the Israeli embassy in Denmark on October 2,” the Ritzau news agency reported.
The grenades landed on the terrace of a house adjacent to the embassy, where they exploded, causing no injuries.
The two suspects were arrested at a Copenhagen railway station hours later initially on suspicion of violating gun laws.
They have since been accused of a terror offense and police, who have arrested a man in his fifties in connection with the incident, are also looking for other accomplices.
“It makes no sense to imagine this is an act they committed alone. There must be accomplices,” Ritzau quoted prosecutor Soren Harbo as saying at the start of the hearing.
The teens deny the accusations.
The case comes against a backdrop of severe tensions in the Middle East, with conflict in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as increasing gang violence with Danish criminal gangs suspected of recruiting underage Swedes to settle scores.


Renowned Indian scholar, philanthropist Dr. Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini dies aged 80

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Renowned Indian scholar, philanthropist Dr. Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini dies aged 80

KALABURAGI, India: Dr. Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini, a prominent scholar, educationalist, philanthropist and chancellor of Khaja Banda Nawaz University in India’s Karnataka state, died on Wednesday evening aged 80.

Funeral prayers were held on Thursday evening at the Sharif Mosque. He is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.

He completed a Master of Arts in Islamic Studies at McGill University in Canada and was awarded a Ph.D. from Belford University, US, for his research work.

Since 2007 he brought significant changes to the Khaja Education Society on the organizational, administrative and functional levels. He also expanded existing institutions and was instrumental in establishing Khaja Bandanawaz Institute of Medical Sciences at Kalaburagi in 2000.

Through perseverance, he established Khaja Bandanawaz University in August 2018. As vice-president of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board and chancellor of Khaja Banda Nawaz University, he played a vital role in promoting modern and Islamic education in India.

In addition to his administrative skills, Hussaini was known for his deep and scholarly understanding of Sufism. He was awarded the prestigious Karnataka Rajyotsava Award for excellence in education by the government of Karnataka in 2017.

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and other political leaders expressed their condolences over his death.