Sri Lanka: Major Islamic terror attack thwarted on ancient Buddhist shrines Jihad Watch By Shwe Kalaung During the search for suspects wanted for a series of anti-Buddhist hate crimes in Mawanella, on January 17, 2019, where several Buddha statues were destroyed several weeks before, the authorities in Sri Lanka discovered a large amount of high explosives (100 kg, or 220 pounds), along with 100 detonators and various other items, including firearms, chemicals and dried food rations. An elite force of police commandos raided the remote compound near the Wilpattu National Park wildlife sanctuary, where the two suspects were known to be hiding when the shocking discovery was made at the makeshift compound operated by Islamic jihadis. The current explosives seizure has thwarted a significant Islamic terror attack in Sri Lanka. Authorities indicate the terrorists were planning to destroy sacred Buddhist shrines in the ancient city of Anuradhapura with C4 high...

  Agence-France Presse A suicide bomber attacked a convoy of US troops and their allies in Syria on Monday, killing five members of a Kurdish-led force fighting the Islamic State group, a monitor said.The assault, claimed by IS jihadists, came less than a week after another deadly attack on US forces in Syria, and a month after Washington announced a US troop pullout from the war-torn country.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five fighters from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces were killed in the blast on a road in northeastern Hasakeh province."A suicide attacker driving a bomb-laden car targeted a convoy of American forces accompanied by the SDF on the Hasakeh-Shadadi road," said the Observatory, a monitor that relies on a network of sources inside Syria.Shadadi lies to the south of Hasakeh, capital of the eponymous province, which has been relatively spared by the war that erupted in...

The Asian Age by Munir Akram The endgame in Afghanistan is evolving rapidly. Expectations of an end to America’s long military adventure in Afghanistan have unleashed multiple moves to shape the country’s future.Current diplomacy may lead to either a political settlement which brings a semblance of peace to Afghanistan and the region or a unilateral or disorderly US-Nato withdrawal which sets the stage for the next iteration of Afghanistan’s 40-year civil war. Yet, other scenarios are possible, as several forces clash and coalesce in the endgame. The most visible force is the momentum of the Afghan Taliban insurgency. It is now dominant in 60 per cent of the country and exerting relentless pressure on the demoralised Afghan security forces. Brimming with self-confidence, the Taliban refuse to negotiate peace with the beleaguered Ashraf Ghani government and want to talk only to the US about a timetable for withdrawal of foreign forces,...

DW Documentary Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey: tourists to these countries are often targeted by terrorists. A climate of fear prevails and holidaymakers are staying away. ...

By: FOX 10 Staff PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- A man who was shot and wounded in Fountain Hills after allegedly advancing toward a Maricopa County Sheriff's sergeant with a knife has been charged with terrorism-related charges.According to court documents, 18-year-old Ismail Hamed has been charged with two counts of Intentional Act of Terrorism, which is a felony, in a direct complaint to the court that was filed on Tuesday. In court documents obtained by FOX 10, Hamed is accused of providing advice, assistance, direction or management to ISIS on January 7, and accused of commiting an act of terrorism on the same day. Court documents did not provide any further information on the exact nature of the criminal complaints. In the deputy involved shooting incident, Sheriff's officials say Hamed called 911, saying he wanted to talk to a deputy at MCSO's Fountain Hills substation northeast of Phoenix. They say an...

The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center At the Israeli Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center Following is an overview of the situation in Syria, against the backdrop of the Trump declaration and the American political and media activity surrounding it: The ISIS-controlled enclave on the east bank of the Euphrates River is gradually shrinking. It is now reduced to a pocket around 10 km long and 6 km wide. A senior SDF official announced that ISIS operatives were “living their final moments.” A spokesman for the Coalition said that the SDF was advancing but the fighting was still ongoing. According to one report, ISIS operatives asked the SDF to open a safe passage for them, leading to the desert areas of Iraq. It is possible that the ISIS operatives are also considering the possibility of fleeing to the desert areas west of the Euphrates River. The evacuation of the...

PULSE by Motolani AlakeInstead of dying slowly, terrorists groups across Africa are using one strategy and its working. While the global terrorism index reported that deaths from terrorism fell by about 27% in 2017, Nigeria was still ranked third on the list of most terrorized countries with a score of 8.660. Other Africans in the top 20 are Somalia and Egypt with a score of 8.020 and 7.345 respectively.The drop from the Global Terrorism Index released in December 2018 continues the trend of consistent dwindling of terrorism deaths since 2014. The reason for the welcome dwindling in numbers is the result of ISIL’s continuing decline. The index reports that, “The number of deaths from terrorist attacks attributed to ISIL fell by 52 per cent in 2017, with total incidents falling by 22 per cent.“There was a corresponding decrease in the lethality of attacks, highlighting the weakening capacity of the organization....

EXCLUSIVE: The elite forces operative was on an admin run but ran back to his car to collect his equipment Mirror UK By Matt Roper The British SAS hero who stormed alone into an under-seige hotel in Kenya to rescue hostage was out shopping when the attack was launched, military legend Chris Ryan has revealed.The elite soldier, who is in Kenya training the country's special forces, was on an "admin run" when al-Shabaab terrorists stormed the nearby hotel complex, killing 14 people, including a British charity worker.And he sprinted back to his car, where he had left his equipment, before heading to the hotel to take on the terror gang single-handedly.It had been reported that the soldier, a serving member of the elite unit, had been taking part in training Kenyan troops when they got word of the attack and went to respond.Read more: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/sas-hero-who-stormed-kenya-13865997...

JDSUPRA by Dentons As of this writing, a partial government shutdown is ongoing, driven exclusively by disagreement over funding for President Trump’s long-sought border wall. The President, with support from key Congressional Republicans, is insisting on the inclusion of $5.7 billion in border wall funding in the Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act, which has been met with staunch resistance from Congressional Democrats. Since Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives on January 3, both sides have become further entrenched in their respective positions. However, mounting political pressure on both parties arising from the real-world impacts of the shutdown, including: air travel safety and security issues; a potential food stamp funding shortfall; federal employees applying for unemployment benefits in the face of their first missed paycheck; a delay in disaster relief funding for US farmers; national parks being turned into wastelands; a freeze on...

One America News Network OAN NewsroomThe Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in Syria, which took the lives of at least 20 people. At least two of the fatalities were reportedly American service members.The blast happened early Wednesday near a U.S.-led coalition patrol in Manbij. A man wearing an explosive vest struck a military patrol near a vegetable market. The man was allegedly targeting U.S. troops, who were conducting a routine patrol. The coalition group Operation Inherent Resolve has confirmed American military members were killed in the attack. Read more: https://www.oann.com/u-s-service-members-killed-in-suicide-bombing-in-syrian-city-of-manbij/...

Close Call: Dashcam video from a Mokena, Illinois Police Officer reveals how close he came to being hit by a train. ...

Extremists launch deadly attack on luxury hotel in Kenya's capital Nairobi CBS News Nairobi, Kenya -- Extremists launched a deadly attack on a luxury hotel in Kenya's capital Tuesday, sending people fleeing in panic as explosions and heavy gunfire reverberated through the complex. "It is terrible. What I have seen is terrible," said Charles Njenga, a man who ran from the scene.  As night fell, gunfire continued for more than two hours after the first shots were heard at the complex, which includes the DusitD2 hotel, along with bars, restaurants, banks and offices. It is located in a well-to-do neighborhood with large numbers of American, European and Indian expatriates.It was not clear how many attackers took part in the attack, which was claimed by Al-Shabab, the Somalia-based Islamic extremist group that carried out the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi that left 67 people dead."We are aware that armed criminals...

American Military News Tribune News Service - Tom Vanden BrookThe Pentagon will send a fresh deployment of active duty troops to the southern border at the request of officials from the Department of Homeland Security.Late Monday, the Pentagon also announced that deployments of active duty troops would extend through September.The new contingent of troops will include combat engineers to fortify border crossings and aviation units to help ferry Border Patrol agents, according to a Defense Department official who was not authorized to speak publicly.The troops will also help with surveillance at the border, according to the Pentagon statement.The new deployment has been anticipated since Homeland Security officials made the request to the Pentagon for additional resources late last month. There are about 2,350 active duty troops and an additional 2,200 National Guardsmen at the border. Read more: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2019/01/pentagon-to-send-more-active-duty-troops-to-southwest-border/...

The Algemeiner by Sander Gerber and Yossi Kuperwasser On Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. The UN announcement of the meeting doesn’t refer to Abbas as president; rather, it uses the term “His Excellency,” which is the UN protocol title for a country’s leader. Then on Tuesday, the “State of Palestine” will assume the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 — a coalition of 134 developing nations, designed to promote its members’ collective economic interests and create an enhanced joint negotiating capacity in the United Nations.Abbas’ recognition by the UN as the legitimate ruler of the Palestinian people is nearly as bizarre as the UN’s near-acceptance of the idea that the Palestinian Authority (PA) contributes to global peace and prosperity. All this begs a question: Does the UN want to enable terror or disable terror?PA law mandates that “salaries” be paid...

Doofus Alert: Dem Wants to Replace Terrorism Subcommittee With...Town Hall by Beth Baumann The new Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committees, Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), admitted he plans to get rid of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and use those resources to launch a Subcommittee on Investigating President Donald Trump.“We just thought, if we’re going to do something relevant in this era where Congress is going to reassert itself, where there are so many questionable activities of this Administration vis-à-vis foreign policy, that it made sense to have this," Engel told The New Yorker. And, naturally, the new Subcommittees first action would be investigating whether or not President Trump colluded with Russia. Read more: https://townhall.com/tipsheet/bethbaumann/2019/01/13/doofus-alert-dem-wants-to-replace-terrorism-subcommittee-with-n2538972...

San Francisco Chronicle by Kevin Fagan A federal magistrate judge has recommended that the terrorism convictions that have kept a Lodi man in federal prison since 2006 be overturned on the grounds that his lawyer didn’t adequately represent him.Hamid Hayat was 23 when — in a case that riveted the nation’s attention — a federal jury convicted him of training at a terrorist camp in his family’s homeland of Pakistan and returning to the United States to lie in wait for orders to kill Americans as a jihadi. He is now in a federal prison in Arizona and has served half of the 24-year sentence he drew.However, U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Barnes on Friday filed her recommendation that the convictions be thrown out based on her examinations of the case and of testimony by more than a dozen witnesses and experts. Barnes concluded that the failure of Hayat’s trial attorney,...

Jewish Policy Center President Trump’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy by Clifford D. May and David Adesnik • Winter 2019 “We remain a nation at war.” President Trump’s new National Strategy for Counterterrorism, released in early October, begins with that simple statement of fact. Despite the West’s victories in the several major wars of the 20th century, the 21st century is not an age of peace. It is yet another age of conflict.We don’t like that. It’s more comforting to believe, as President Obama asserted on numerous occasions, that “the tide of war is receding.”For the 44th president, that phrase became both a mantra and an idée fixe following the May 2, 2011 midnight raid by U.S. Navy SEALs on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.Obama initially used the phrase on June 23, 2011, in his prime-time address from the East Room of the White House, announcing the first phase of U.S....

Moment suicide bomber ignores police warning shots and blows herself up in Chechnya ...

The Epoch Times The porous southwest border—where Border Patrol says it catches just 35 to 40 percent of illegal crossers—poses a major security threat By Charlotte Cuthbertson WASHINGTON—Every day, an average of 10 known or suspected terrorists are prevented from entering the United States, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). These are individuals flagged on a U.S. terror watch list; most are encountered at airports or even while still overseas as they apply for a visa.On top of that, 3,000 “special-interest” aliens were apprehended at the southwest border last year, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said on Jan. 4.Special-interest aliens (SIAs) are labeled as such for their travel patterns and behavior. They hail from dozens of countries in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa, where terrorist groups operate. Read more: https://www.theepochtimes.com/thousands-of-suspected-terrorists-try-to-enter-america-each-year_2761769.html...

National Review By Deroy MurdockHere are some examples. The Trump-hating media have pounded White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for her “unfortunate misstatement” (as presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway put it) on Fox News Sunday that some 3,700 “known or suspected terrorists” were caught at the U.S.–Mexico border. In fact, these “special-interest aliens” include terrorists, people who have lived or traveled through terrorist hotbeds, and others whose whereabouts trigger closer scrutiny when entering the U.S. This number includes people apprehended on the border, but mainly at airports and other locations. Trump’s detractors have used this dustup to imply that if there are not 3,700 ISIS killers in Tijuana pole-vaulting into San Ysidro, then terrorists must be as rare there as polar bears. This echoes the words of former U.S. representative Robert Francis O’Rourke (D., Texas). He claimed last year that “precisely zero terrorists, terrorist groups, or terror plots have ever...