Wednesday, September 25, 2013
A group of powerful rebel units have rejected the authority of the Western-backed Syrian opposition leadership abroad and called for it to be reorganized under an Islamic framework, according to a video statement posted on the internet.
At least 13 rebel factions were said to have endorsed the statement, including the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and the powerful Islamist battalions Ahrar Asham and the Tawheed Brigade.
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The Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) endured a six-hour clash on Monday morning with the Burmese army in northern Shan state’s Namtu township, a spokesman for the ethnic army told DVB.
Capt Sai Phone Harn of the SSA-N information team said the group engaged in a six-hour exchange of small arms with the Tatmadaw in the early hours of 23 September in Namtu’s Mongyin village-tract which was the scene of a shorter battle one week ago.
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Sunday, September 22, 2013
Kenya’s armed forces say the hostage standoff has nearly ended at the Westgate mall in Nairobi, where militants attacked shoppers with guns and grenades on Saturday, killing 68 people, including at least two Canadians.
“Most of the hostages have been released, and the Kenya Defence Forces has taken control of most parts of the building,” Kenyan military spokesman Colonel Cyrus Oguna told the television station KTN. He did say how many hostages had been held or freed.
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Tragedy has struck Kenya as news of a brutal shopping mall massacre has rolled in overnight.
Armed men from the Al-Qaeda linked Somali terrorist organisation Al Shabaab descended the Westgate shopping complex in the Nairobi capital on Saturday afternoon, with current reports stating 39 people have been killed and 150 more have been injured. Al Shabaab confirmed their involvement behind the attacks via twitter; their account has since been suspended.
According to the ABC, the attack was, “retribution for Kenya’s operations against the group in Somalia.”
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Friday, September 20, 2013
Al-Qaeda-linked fighters and a rival Syrian rebel group declared a truce on Friday after two days of clashes near the Turkish frontier in which the militant Islamists overran a border town, rebels said.
Fighters from an al-Qaeda affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), on Wednesday killed at least five members of the Northern Storm Brigade, a rebel group that controls the border.
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