February 07, 2012

I wouldn't make any plans to visit Nigeria any time soon:

Explosion rocks military base in Nigeria

Blast in Kaduna comes just hours after reported killing of eight suspected Boko Haram members in another northern city.

An army source said earlier on Tuesday that security forces had killed eight suspected Boko Haram members in a raid on an alleged hideout of the group in Kano that prompted a five-hour shootout.

The raid, on the outskirts of Nigeria's second city, was carried out Monday evening as the attackers, believed to be Boko Haram members, bombed a police station in another city neighbourhood, where they also shot an officer in the leg.

February 02, 2012

Dude found hiding under his bed...

(Reuters) - Nigeria's secret service arrested the purported spokesman for Islamist militant sect Boko Haram Wednesday, a group that has claimed responsibility for a string of deadly bombings and gun attacks, a secret service source told Reuters.

A swat team stormed the dwelling of the man known as 'Abu Qaqa' in the northern city of Kaduna in the early hours of the morning and found him hiding under his bed, said the highly-placed source, who asked not to be named.

The past three months have seen a surge in violence by Boko Haram, a movement loosely modeled on Afghanistan's Taliban which says it is fighting to install sharia law across Nigeria.

The arrest of a senior Boko Haram figure would be a coup for the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan which has been criticized for failing to curb the sect's violent activities in the mainly Muslim north.

The reported arrest came two weeks after the prime suspect in a Christmas Day bombing on a church on the edge of Abuja escaped from police custody, prompting Jonathan to sack his police chief.

"We are still talking to him. Since 'Abu Qaqa' is a pseudonym for the Boko Haram spokesman, we want to be sure of who we have with us. But we have been on his trail for months now. He's been changing locations and contacts," the State Security Services (SSS) source said.

"He is fairly educated. He is from the Ibiza ethnic group, from Kogi state in north central Nigeria," the SSS official added.

A spokeswoman for the SSS said she had no information on the incident. The police spokesman also declined to confirm it.

A man calling himself Abu Qaqa often appeared in local media after bomb and gun attacks to claim them for the group and justify the choice of target.

For a long time Abu Qaqa was the closest thing the sect had to a public face, before its purported leader Abubakar Shekau posted a video of himself last month on YouTube.

January 19, 2012

Banana Republic doesn't describe the mess that is modern Nigeria with any amount of justice:

Nigerian police officials disclosed Wednesday that the suspected mastermind of the Christmas Day attacks - which claimed 38 lives - had escaped from police custody, it promptly sparked suspicions across Africa’s most populous nation.

Kabiru Sokoto, the man suspected of planning the Christmas Day bombing at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, escaped while he was being transferred just outside the Nigerian capital of Abuja.

In a statement, a Nigerian federal police spokesman said police officers escorting Sokoto were attacked by suspected gang members, who broke the high-profile suspect free....

The news of Sokoto’s escape on Wednesday further fuelled those suspicions. “It is possible that he [Sokoto] was deliberately allowed to escape so he doesn’t make disclosures about the possible involvement of members of the security services and the police,” said Sani.

January 11, 2012

Runaway!

Al-Shabaab, Somalia's al-Qaeda-linked militant group, has repeatedly promised to attack Kenya in retaliation for Kenyan forces moving into southern Somalia in October. The group's spokesperson threatened to bring Nairobi's skyscrapers down, and though an attack of that magnitude appears unlikely, intelligence officials fear some attack is imminent.

One Western diplomat said recent intelligence reports show that Al-Shabaab is trying to obtain security guard uniforms they can wear while carrying out an attack, a common tactic used by militants in Afghanistan. The diplomat spoke on condition he was not identified discussing sensitive intelligence matters.

One analyst said he is surprised large-scale attacks haven't happened already.

January 09, 2012

Another day closer to full blown civil war in Nigeria:

Suspected Islamists have shot dead three poker players near a church in the latest attacks targeting Christians in northeast Nigeria, residents said Sunday....

"The gunmen, believed to be members of Boko Haram, riding a motorcycle, opened fire on a group of Christian residents playing poker outside the abandoned Honeymoon Hotel near EYN church and killed three people," Ba'na Ubaidu, a resident, told Agence France Presse....

"They just fired into the group of about 15 people playing cards, and killed three people," Shamaki said, adding that seven people were wounded.

"The attackers fled into the bush and disappeared. They are by all indications members of Boko Haram," Shamaki said.

November 05, 2011

This is why I'm the least disappointed person in the world over Obama's decision to send military advisers into Africa:

A terror group linked with al Qaeda's affiliates in Africa has launched a series of attacks in northern Nigeria that have killed scores of people. The recent attacks launched by Boko Haram included suicide assaults, roadside bombs, and gunmen, and took place in several cities and towns in the north.

So, Nigeria made concessions to the Islamists in the north by agreeing to let provinces adopt sharia law. But that's never quite enough, is it?

A common argument for including Islamists in the political process is that the demands of democracy will moderate their positions and force them to eschew violence. This is commonly advocated in foreign policy circles as a reason why groups like the Muslim Brotherhood should be embraced.

But if Nigeria is a case study of this position, then do we that see that the most hardline Islamists -- the ones who were most likely to be violent in the first place -- will never be satisfied with sharing power and moderating sharia? And if so, then what might this tell us about a country like Egypt?

Just something to think about.

October 24, 2011

News you really didn't want to know...but you now know, at least at Jawa Report, unless you have seen it already at BreitbartTV

Dude didn't even wear a surgical glove or stuff when doing that to Gaddafi.

Do I care? No, but what our guys have been accused of by the leftist idiots now look the other way with this..par for the course.

Shakes head..this is really sick shite.

Eye for eye I suppose..but...WTF?

ZH#3 has more

UPDATE: Howie put's this in prospective: More Proof the Mujahideen are Gay.

Update by Howie: Wow CBS reports that there is some speculation that the object in question was a knife.

GlobalPost correspondent Tracey Shelton said there is some question as to whether the instrument was a knife from the end of a gun, which Libyans call a Bicketti, or a utilitiy tool known as a Becker Knife and Tool, which is popularly known as a BKT.

October 06, 2011

A million dollars worth of Libyan anti-tank missiles were seized.

Algiers, 6 Oct. (AKI) - Algeria says it killed eight Al-Qaeda terrorists and wounded another three in a military operation along the border with Niger, according to a local news report.

Algerian authorities said the operation dismantled a major network that smuggled arms from Libya. Four people were arrested, including some Libyan citizens.

h/t switch_d

October 04, 2011

BBC

Eyewitnesses said a truck carrying explosives was driven into a gate near a government ministry and detonated.

A spokesman for the Islamist militant group al-Shabab told the BBC it had carried out the attack.

It is the largest attack since al-Shabab withdrew its forces from Mogadishu in August[...]

Among those killed were students who had been queuing at the main gate to take an exam at the education ministry in order to gain a scholarship to study in Turkey.

Ali Abdullahi, a nurse at Medina hospital in the city, said victims were being brought in with horrific wounds, including burns and lost limbs. Some had been blinded, he said.

September 28, 2011

They don't want to be Nazi Nazis just Nazis. WTF?

September 23, 2011

Three arrested including an "active blogger" on jihadist websites

RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan security has arrested three people, including an active blogger on jihadist websites, who had planned to receive training at an al Qaeda camp abroad in order to carry out attacks in Morocco, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

The suspects, who were to be trained in camps of al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), had "planned to assassinate members of the security services in order to seize their weapons and use them in planned sabotage acts", the state news agency MAP said, citing a statement from the Interior Ministry.

MAP said the cell was led by "one of the most active individuals on jihadist websites with links to al Qaeda and who managed to forge close relations with leaders of terrorist organisations in Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Iraq and elsewhere"

Should prove interesting to find out who this active jihadist blogger is..

h/t Berger

September 20, 2011

They must really be hard up for recruits! h/t Andrea

September 16, 2011

Why do people vacation next to volatile regions?

Somalia's government says it believes a British tourist kidnapped in Kenya is being held by the Islamist insurgent group al-Shabab.

Judith Tebbutt, 56, was kidnapped by gunmen from a remote Kenyan resort at Kiwayu, near Lamu island.

The gang also shot dead her 58-year-old husband, David Tebbutt.

Somalia's defence minister, Hussein Arab Issa, said Mrs Tebbutt, from Hertfordshire, had been taken across the border into Somalia by al-Shabab.

UPDATE: Report: Al Qaedas al Shabaab to use her as a human shield because US bombed one of their bases. No, they are just cowards..

Assmaggots..

August 30, 2011

A nanny who worked for one of Colonel Gaddafi's sons has told how boiling hot water was poured over her head after she refused to beat his daughter.

Shweyga Mullah's entire body is covered in weeping scabs after she was allegedly burned by Hannibal Gaddafi's wife, Aline Skaf.

Beotch Aline Skaf

She was found abandoned in a room at one of the family's luxury seaside villas in western Tripoli[...]

Reporter Dan Rivers said that when he walked in the room, he thought she was wearing a hat because her injuries were so bad.

'Then the awful realisation dawned that her entire scalp and face were covered in red wounds and scabs, a mosaic of injuries that rendered her face into a grotesque patchwork.

'Her chest, torso and legs are all mottled with scars -- some old, some still red, raw and weeping. As she spoke, clear liquid oozed from one nasty open wound on her head'.

A guard eventually took to a hospital, where she received some treatment but when Aline found out, he was threatened with imprisonment if he dared to help her again.[More..]

h/t ZH#3

August 27, 2011

Taliban style Shariah law.

The terrorists had pulled out of Mogadishu but needed to leave their mark to show they are still in charge or something. The beheaded bodies were thrown into a former spaghetti factory building and into a livestock market

Recently al-Shabaab has beheaded 14 including these two, accusing them of being infidels aka wrong kind of Muslims

Evil sadistic savages.

August 26, 2011

Doing what they do best, killing people:

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — A radical Muslim sect blamed for attacks across northeast Nigeria bombed a police station and robbed two banks Thursday, killing 12 people in an assault highlighting the group's escalating willingness to shed blood, authorities said.

The sect, known locally as Boko Haram, stormed into the city of Gobi in Adamawa state in broad daylight, first attacking the police precinct with bombs and raking the building with gunfire, police commissioner A.T. Shinaba said. The group killed four police officers and a soldier guarding the area, he said.

The sect members then shot their way into two local branches of First Bank PLC and United Bank for Africa PLC, killing seven bank employees before speeding away with an unknown amount of cash, Shinaba said. Four others suffered injuries in the attack.

Boko Haram seeks to impose Taliban style Shariah law in Northern Nigeria

The official name of the group is Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, which in Arabic means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad

(Abuja, Nigeria) About 10:24 AM Nigerian time, the United Nations building in Abuja experienced an explosion, claiming several lives.

August 25, 2011

That's the "report". I find it hard to believe he didn't flee to the south to hook up with tribal loyalists.

Fighting in central Tripoli has continued - as rebels claim they have besieged a cluster of apartments where they believe Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and some of his sons are hiding.

Rebels have been exchanging fire with Col Gaddafi troops inside the buildings.

A fighter said: "They are together. They are in a small hole. Today we will finish. Today we will end that."

August 24, 2011

(INN) — The Muslim Brotherhood has threatened to kill Israel’s ambassador to Cairo if he does not leave the country. The radical Muslim group has been leading daily protests at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, demanding the expulsion of the envoy and a break in relations between Egypt and Israel.

Hundreds of demonstrators surrounded the embassy Monday as armored military and police officers prevented them from repeating Saturday night’s incident when rioters broke down the gate. One firebomb smashed through a front window of the embassy’s office.

One anti-Zionist, now referred to as ”Spiderman,” became an instant hero throughout Egypt by scaling the multi-story wall and replacing the Israeli flag with one of Egypt

The Israeli flag was burned

While anti-Israel activists have been demonstrating outside Israel’s embassy in Cairo for the fifth day in a row, Egyptian daily al-Youm al-Saba’a reported Wednesday that protest organizers are now calling for “a million-man protest” to take place outside the embassy on Friday.

Using Facebook and other social media tools, organizers allege the demonstrations aim is to forcibly remove Israel’s ambassador to Egypt and close the Israeli embassy altogether.

Protesters reportedly chant “expell the ambassador immediately.” Some demonstrators have even gathered outside the ambassador’s Cairo residence and called on local residents to join them in order to “force the ambassador to leave Egypt.”

Related:
Egyptians Demonstrate In Front Of Israeli Embassy In Cairo With Swastika Signs Saying “The Gas Chambers Are Ready”

UPDATE: Hmf.. fixed it:

Allahu Akhbar!!

August 22, 2011

h/t ZIP

The protests are over apparent killing of Egyptian guards by IDF when terrorists, dressed in Egyptian military uniforms, launched attacks near Eilat using Egypt's porous border with Israel. Israel apologized to Egypt and has started an investigation into the incident. Naturally, the apology wasn't accepted.

A must read: The trend to make Israel apologize for being attacked

An Egyptian was hailed a hero Saturday for climbing up to the top of the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, removed the Israeli flag and replaced it with the Egyptian flag:

Related, from Kenny, with my WTF? On The Menu: Submission Au Gratin & Surrender A La Mode

August 21, 2011

Interesting fact:

RT @MatthewWells: The 3 main network reporters in Green Sq all women: Sky's Alex Crawford, AJE's Zeina Khodr and now Sara Sidner of CNN #libya

What will tomorrow bring?

August 19, 2011

"U.S Officials" tell NBC he could be out in days.

There is a lot in the article about the progress the rebels are making. There is one line that references what is the most likely reason that Gadhafi is ready to bolt, IMO.

Back in Tripoli, Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi said the government was in negotiations with rebels.

UN envoy, Turkey, and a quiet Russia collectively means a thrown towel for Colonel Creepy Lookin'

August 18, 2011

***Bumped to the top. Because I can. ***

The New York Times finally recognizing al Qaeda's growing presence in Africa:

A shadowy Islamist insurgency that has haunted northern Nigeria — surviving repeated, bloody efforts to eliminate it — appears to be branching out and collaborating with Al Qaeda’s affiliates, alarming Western officials and analysts who had previously viewed the militants here as a largely isolated, if deadly, menace.

But wait, their online presence is pretty new but its there. This seems to be Boko Haram's official website, hosted by Blogspot right here in America. Blogspot is 100% owned by Google, natch.

In related news, a good friend's blog "Terror Free Somalia" has been taken offline by Google's blogspot.

Apparently the "Don't be evil" means support terrorism and harass those that oppose it or something.

August 08, 2011

With enemies like this, maybe we're doing something right?

"That’s why I say NATO is now a terrorist organisation as well. If it defies international law. It has lost its legitimacy; it has become terrorist and beware this they can do on any other African country than Libya. We must always be in a state of preparedness."~"President" Robert Mugabe

August 05, 2011

Islamists suck testes:

Related: Egypt: HDNet Reveals Plight of Christians, Women Post-Revolution[I might add the Muslim Sisterhood is fairing quite well..ed]

July 30, 2011

It's about time the Treasury Dept. put American traitor Omar Hammami (aka Abu Mansour Al-Amriki) on the list. I wonder if this is a result of Rep Kings hearing this past week on al-Shabbab.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Treasury is putting two members of the Somali insurgent group al-Shabab on a terrorist blacklist.

The move against Omar Hammami and Hassan Mahat Omar would freeze any assets they hold in the United States and lock them out of the U.S. financial system.

The US Treasury Department announced on Friday that it is imposing financial sanctions on a Kenyan described as both a key figure in Somalia's al Shabaab insurgency and the leader of a mosque in Nairobi's Eastleigh estate.

Hassan Mahat Omar is said by the department to have decision-making authority regarding the internal political and operational affairs of al Shabaab, which the United States terms a terrorist organisation.

Mr Omar as well as other top militants use the Eastleigh mosque to "raise funds, recruit and disseminate propaganda on behalf of Shabaab,"

July 25, 2011

I'm happy to see Long War Journal's Thomas Joscelyn as one of the witnesses!

Via ny03 king/hearing house.gov:

July 24, 2011

List Includes Ahmed Hussen, William Anders Folk and Thomas Joscelyn

Washington, D.C. (Sunday, July 24, 2011) – Today, U.S. Rep. Peter T. King (R-NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, announced the names of the witnesses he will call to testify this Wednesday at the third in the series of hearings on radicalization of the Muslim-American community.

The hearing, entitled “ Al Shabaab: Recruitment and Radicalization within the Muslim American Community and the Threat to the Homeland,” will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 27th, in 311 Cannon House Office Building.

The witnesses King will call at the hearing are:

Ahmed Hussen
• Mr. Ahmed Hussen is a member of the Canadian government’s Cross Cultural Roundtable on Security and has distinguished himself as one of North America’s most prominent and respected Somali community activists and East Africa security and governance analysts. He is National President of the Canadian Somali Congress.

William Anders Folk
• Mr. William Anders Folk is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota. In his capacity as a federal prosecutor, he was the lead prosecutor on more than a dozen high-profile al Shabaab terrorism cases originating in the Minneapolis area and represented his office on the Minneapolis Joint Terrorism Task Force. Prior to his work as a federal prosecutor, Folk served as JAG officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Thomas Joscelyn
• Mr. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the Center for Law and Counterterrorism at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. As a result of his extensive research and writings, he has distinguished himself as a leading terrorism expert focusing on how al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations operate around the world. Joscelyn is senior editor of The Long War Journal. [Yeah!..ed]

Statement by Rep Peter King:

Chairman King on the hearing:

“In our first two hearings, the Committee has examined radicalization of Muslim-Americans generally and focused on the problem of radicalization in U.S. prisons.

“At this hearing, the third in a series, we will examine Somalia-based terrorist organization al Shabaab’s ongoing recruitment, radicalization, and training of young Muslim-Americans and al Shabaab’s linking up with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

“In Minnesota, Ohio, and other states, dozens of young Muslim males have been recruited, radicalized, and then taken from their communities for overseas terrorist training by al Shabaab. In a number of cases, the men – including both Somali-Americans and other converts -- have carried out suicide bombings or have otherwise been killed, often without their families even knowing where their sons have gone. There has not been sufficient cooperation from mosque leaders. In at least one instance, a Minnesota imam told the desperate family of a missing young man not to cooperate with the FBI

“There are growing concerns that al Shabaab in Somalia is linking up with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen to better train these radicalized young men in order to attack Americans around the world, as well as launch attacks against our homeland.

“This coordinated and ongoing recruitment and radicalization of young Muslim men in the U.S. is a serious and growing threat to our homeland security and simply cannot be ignored.”

July 12, 2011

They were shooting video of Suez Canal, said they were journalist but had no credentials.

Nothing to see here, move along.

July 09, 2011

Letters recognizing the Republic of South Sudan as a new nation have been flowing in from the international community.

Congratulations!

July 08, 2011

Unsurprisingly, the Islamist government of Omar Hassan al-Bashir continues to murder and ethnically cleanse the non-Arab peoples of the Sudan still under his control. Bashir's targets are not only Christians and animists, but also Muslims who are not part of the Arabic speaking majority.

Hat tip: The American Antislavery Group

June 14, 2011

Drinking is a sin. They deserved to die:

Suspected members of a radical Islamic sect have shot dead four people at a beer garden in a north Nigerian town where the group recently staged bomb and gun attacks, police said Monday.

"Four people were killed in an attack by gunmen suspected to be members of Boko Haram sect on a beer parlour in the Bulunkutu surburb of the city last night," Zakari Adamu, assistant police commissioner for Borno state told AFP.

June 11, 2011

Big get......big.

The mastermind of the 1998 twin bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam Fazul Abdullah has been killed by Somalia government forces in Mogadishu.

Mr Abdullah, who holds a Kenyan passport, was wanted for the fatal bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that left at least 250 people dead and many injured.

He was reportedly killed by the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces on Wednesday at a roadblock.

The run-away terrorist, who was on the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) watchlist of most wanted terrorists, is believed to have taken over the leadership of al Qaeda’s branch in Somalia, al-Shabaab from where he directed world attacks and African terror operations.

Confirming the reports, Kenya’s Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere said he was working with security officers in Somalia to get a comprehensive report.

"TFG forces have confirmed they gunned him down at a roadblock on Wednesday," Mr Iteere told the Nation Saturday.

Somalia militant group al Shaabab told the AFP news agency that Mr Abdullah was one of those killed.

"One of the men that was killed near Mogadishu was Fazul Abdullah, may Allah bless his soul. He is not dead as thousands like him are still in the fight against the enemy of Allah," a senior Al Shaabab commander had earlier told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Image credit: Long War Journal.

Update(Matt Damon): US confirms

June 07, 2011

As Farah Mohamed Beledi.[Caution, nasty splodey image...lots of flies and stuff eating him and stuff]

Previous:
Good News: American from Minneapolis Blows Himself up in Somalia for al-Shabaab

May 28, 2011

MySanAntonio

A Somali couple have been arrested in a federal terrorism investigation in San Antonio in which the pair are alleged to have lied to FBI agents and an immigration court.

Abdullah Omar Fidse, 22, already was in custody in Texas, and his wife, Deka Abdalla Sheikh, who's in her 20s, was taken into custody Thursday in Wisconsin.

A federal grand jury in San Antonio indicted the pair Wednesday on charges of conspiring to obstruct a proceeding before a federal department or agency, and conspiracy to make false statements to the executive branch during a terrorism investigation.[More]

Calling it "the most discouraging memorandum" he'd ever penned as a lawyer, a defense attorney for a woman accused of aiding terrorists asked a federal judge Thursday to stop the government from using the electronic surveillance it gathered against his client.

Defense attorney Daniel Scott contends that much of the evidence against Amina Farah Ali was gathered through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, and that government agents had no reason to use a law aimed at gathering foreign intelligence to eavesdrop on the Minnesota woman[...]<

Scott also raised the specter of whether the Somalis were being selectively prosecuted; it is the second time this month that a defense attorney has raised the issue.

"One questions whether there would be criticism of an equivalent expenditure of scarce investigative resources to go after an Irish bar that was raising an equivalent amount for the IRA," Scott wrote.

Earlier this month, the attorney representing another Somali immigrant charged with aiding al-Shabaab argued that his client was being selectively prosecuted because the government never goes after Israeli-Americans who enlist to fight for the Israeli Defense Forces.[emphasis mine..ed]

In a reply to that, federal prosecutors said the comparison was flawed because Americans who enlist in the IDF are fighting for a government, while the men who traveled to Somalia were fighting against a government.

UPDATE: Yes the Irish bar and the IRA was just as dumb. Me thinks this has to do with Rep King's hearing on radical Islam.

May 05, 2011

American turned traitor Omar Hammami

“We have received reports of that Al-Shabab plans to attack the home of Mama Sarah in Kolego,” Said Kenyan Official

Not good...not good at all..fecking cowards...........

May 04, 2011

Stay safe, African Taliban (al-Qaeda's al Shabaab) will not like[<----exclusive pics from Rahm]

May 03, 2011

Music to me ears...

April 28, 2011

Via AJ

Al-Qaeda's North African arm has released a video showing four French nuclear workers kidnapped last year in north Africa urging France to pull its troops out of Afghanistan.

A copy of the video, distributed on Tuesday by SITE, a US-based terrorism watchdog, shows a series of photographs of Pierre Legrand, Daniel Larribe, Thierry Dol and Marc Furrer with armed men standing behind them.

Over the photos is recorded an audio track that appears to be the men reading a prepared statement, one by one.

"We urge the president of the French republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, to respond positively to al-Qaeda's demand he withdraw French troops from Afghanistan, as the French have really no interest in the war in Afghanistan," they say.

According to the voices, the recordings were made on April 11, 12 and 13.

Reacting to the video, Laurent Wauquiez, France's minister for European affairs, told the French news network BFM-TV that Paris would "not allow its foreign policy to be dictated by kidnappers".

Prayers they will be released unharmed and returned to their families..sigh

UPDATE: Video:

Previous:

AQIM to hostages, say cheese

Just really like the gif's

Honest!

Developing

ABC

A massive explosion ripped through a cafe popular among foreign tourists in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on Thursday, killing 14 people and wounding 20 in what the government called a suspected criminal act.

If confirmed as terrorism, the blast in the iconic Djemma el-Fna square would be Morocco's deadliest bombing in eight years.

The explosion just before noon tore the facade off the two-story terracotta-colored Argana cafe, leaving awnings dangling. Panicked passersby dragged away bodies and tried to put out flames with fire extinguishers, witnesses told The Associated Press.

Notice the al-Qaeda flag.

April 26, 2011

Meetings to be held over best office space rental for the terrorist organization