Massacres 40 Shiite Turkmen
ISIS has massacred as at least 40 Shiite Turkmen during expulsions from four villages in the northern province of Salahduin, officials and members of the ethnic group say. The Washington Post witnesses a mass burial of two women and 13 men from Bashir, located 30 miles north of the other three villages. Kirkuk deputy police chief Gen. Turhan Abdel-Rahman confirms at least 25 other deaths in Chardaghli, Brawchi and Karanaz, which are located 50 miles south of Kirkuk and says there are more deaths uncounted:
There are other bodies still inside Bashir.
Diyala mosque attack kills 73
An attack by suspected Shia militia kills dozens of Sunni worshipers at a mosque in Diyala province. A suicide bomber apparently blows himself up at the Bani Wais village mosque south of the city of Baquba, about 75 miles from Baghdad, and militants also machinegun worshipers in an attack thought to be a retaliation for a bombing of the militia group’s recruiting drive. Death toll estimates rise to at least 73 including at least one child. Al-Abadi:
I strongly condemn the killing of civilians and worshipers in Diyala province and I call on the citizens to reject these attempts by the enemies of Iraq to exploit the incident in order to stir up strife between the sons of the same homeland.
1.45 million Iraqis displaced
The UNHCR reports that the number of Iraqis displaced by the conflict this year has risen to 1.45 million, a fifth higher than its planning estimate:
As a result of the displacement triggered primarily by the advancement of armed groups in both northwest and east of Mosul city in and around the districts of Jalawla (Diyala) and Sinjar (Ninewa), since 3 August, the United Nations has increased its planning number of people displaced in Iraq to 1.45 million. This is an increase of 250,000 from the previous planning figure of 1.2 million.
The number excludes Iraqis displaced before this year and a Syrian refugee population of 225,000 located in the north of the country.
Expert: Foley killer has British accent
0 CommentsUK experts expect voice evidence in the videotaped beheading of Global Post journalist James Foley to provide the best clue to his killer’s identity. University of York linguistics expert James Kerswill says the killer is definitely British:
It’s quite hard to tell the ethnicity of this person from his voice alone. He’s probably not British white. He could be of Pakistani origin; he could be of Somali origin; he could be South American origin or something. It’s very, very hard to pinpoint … Some commentators may say it’s not a British English accent. Well, it is a British English accent; it’s one that’s grown up in this multilingual environment.
‘May have crossed Mexico border’
Texas Gov. Perry (R) says ISIS may have taken advantage of chaos at the border with Mexico to send operatives across into the U.S. In a speech at the Heritage Foundation:
There’s the obvious great concern that because of the condition of the border from the standpoint of it not being secure and us not knowing who is penetrating across, that individuals from ISIS or other terrorist states could be [crossing the border]— and I think there is a very real possibility that they may have already used that.
He says there is no clear evidence that ISIS has crossed the border but that amid growing criminal activity at the demarcation line, disregarding the possibility is risky:
We have no clear evidence of that but your common sense tells you when we’ve seen the number of criminal activities that have occurred — and I’m talking about the assaults, the rapes, the murders — by individuals who have come into this country illegally over the last five years, the idea that they would not be looking at [the border] … is not a good place to be.
Failed Special Forces rescue
A Pentagon spokesman says dozens of elite U.S. Special Forces commandos from units like Delta Force and Seal Team 6 flew into Syria aboard helicopters during the summer in a mission to rescue ISIS captives including Global Post journalist James Foley, but were unable to locate the hostages. Rear Adm. John Kirby:
Unfortunately, the mission was not successful because the hostages were not present at the targeted location
Survivor: ISIS massacred villagers
ISIS massacres 80 men from a Yazidi village and kidnaps the women and girls after its sheik refuses to convert to Islam. Survivor Khalof Khodede, a survivor:
Islamic State kidnapped about 400 to 600 people in our village and the majority of those people are women and children. They killed most of the men
The militants initially do not plan on the killings:
First they wanted us all to convert to Islam and we said yes just to save our lives. We were all very afraid. Then our sheikh said ‘I won’t convert to Islam’. And then they gathered us inside the village school,’ he said.
After seizing gold and jewelry, the militants take the men are taken to the first floor of the school and the women to the second. They are loaded onto minibuses in groups of 10 to 20 and told they are being taken to the ancestral Yazidi homeland of Sinjar, but the militants stop the vehicles and open fire. Khodede is among few survivors:
They started shooting at us randomly. They had heavy guns like machine guns. I was hit in my leg and on my pelvis.
Austria arrests nine terror suspects
Austria arrests nine people suspected of intending to join Islamic groups in Syria. The suspects are reported to be under questioning and a decision is pending on whether to place them in investigative custody. Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner:
There can only be a zero tolerance policy against jihadists. Those who themselves trample on tolerance cannot expect us to tolerate that.
Teen girls arrested for jihad plans
France arrests two girls aged 17 and 15 in Lyon, Rhone, and Tarbes in the Hautes-Pyrenees for alleged involvement in jihad. The arrests form part of a broader enquiry into jihadism in the country. Around 900 French citizens are implicated in jihad – meaning that they have either taken part in a conflict, plan to participate in one, or are returning from one. Both girls are reported to have been planning to travel to Syria to join militant activities there. Paris-based international security consultant Samuel Laurent:
Obviously this is proof of how appealing caliphate ideology is for French and European citizens
‘More UK Muslims join ISIS than army’
Khalid Mahmood, the MP for Perry Barr in Birmingham, estimates that there are twice as many UK Muslims fighting for ISIS as there are in the army. He says at least 1,500 young British Muslims have been recruited by extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria in the last three years, and recruitment has increased since the start of the conflict:
If you look across the whole of the country, and the various communities involved, 500 going over each year would be a conservative estimate.
Captor’s demanded $132.5 million
Philip Balboni, the president and chief executive of GlobalPost, where Foley worked, tells The Wall Street Journal ISIS demanded money from GlobalPost and Foley’s family in exchange for Foley’s release. He says the captors demanded a ransom of 100 million euros ($132.5 million), and states the messages started last fall:
The captors never messaged a lot. There was a very limited number with a very specific purpose. … They made demands.
He goes on to say that last week Foley’s family was notified by the captors and were told he would be killed:
The message was vitriolic and filled with rage against the United States. It was deadly serious. Obviously, we hoped and prayed that would not be the case. … Sadly, they showed no mercy.
He says Foley’s family responded to the email begging for mercy, but they never received a reply.
Supplies arrive for displaced citiczens
A Boeing 747 carrying 100 tons of aid to help those forced to flee their homes due to ISIS attacks has landed in Irbil. Other deliveries by land and sea are expected over the next 10 days carrying supplies from Turkey, Jordan and Iran. The UNHCR plans to bring 2,410 pounds of aid into the region between now and the start of September. UN High Commissioner Antonio Guterres:
This is a massive logistics operation to bring relief supplies by air, land and sea to help the hundreds of thousands of desperate people who have fled suddenly with nothing but their lives, and are now struggling to survive in harsh conditions. It’s the largest single aid push we have mounted in more than a decade.
Suspends accounts showing beheading
Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo announces that the platform is “actively suspending” accounts which are tweeting beheading pictures. This is in response to the tweeting of pictures allegedly showing the Islamic State (ISIS) beheading James Foley, an American journalist. Screenshots of the video, which remained on You Tube for four minutes and 40 seconds, as well as other images were then posted and shared on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/dickc/status/502005459067625473
Reacts to James Foley’s murder
Obama tells reporters on Martha’s Vineyard that “the entire world is appalled” by Foley’s murder:
No just God would stand for what they did yesterday or every single day,” he said. “A group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century…They have rampaged across cities and villages killing innocent, unarmed civilians in cowardly acts of violence. They abduct women and children and subject them to torture and rape and slavery. There has to be a common effort to extract this cancer so that it doesn’t spread.
His full remarks can be seen here
James Foley beheaded by ISIS
Foley is beheaded by ISIS in a video posted online and titled A Message to America. Foley addresses the camera before his death, leaving a message for his brother, John, who serves in the US Air Force:
I died that day, John, when your colleagues dropped that bomb on these people. They signed my death certificate.
Foley recites a long list of anti-American statements, and ends his speech with:
I wish I had more time, I wish I could have the hope of freedom and see my family once again, but that ship has sailed. I guess all in all, I wish I wasn’t American.
There is a member of the Islami State shown standing over Foley:
Any attempt by you, Obama, to deny Muslims liberty & safety under the Islamic caliphate, will result in the bloodshed of your people.
Foley is then beheaded, and his head is placed on top of his body.
‘We will drown all of you in blood’
ISIS threatens to attack US targets ‘in any place’ as revenge for the American air strikes against them in Iraq. The group posts a video showing a blood-spattered American flag next to a jihadist flag with the message in English:
We will drown all of you in blood.
The message is accompanied by photographs of an American who was beheaded during the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
‘Thank you, America’
Kurdish soldiers thank America for its assistance is driving ISIS militants from the Mosul Dam. Kurdish intelligence chief Masrour Barzani, the son of the president of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan, describes the dam as a “nuclear weapon,” and he says that retaking the dam prevented a calamity. Many feared ISIS would blow the dam up, sending a tsunami of water throughout the region.
Captures Japanese ‘mercenary’
ISIS captures and interrogates Japanese national Haruna Yukawa, believed to be operating as a mercenary in Aleppo, Syria. Youtube video apparently shows Yukawa identifying himself under interrogation at knifepoint by ISIS militants speaking English with British accents, and stating that he is a journalist and doctor. Reports show that his name matches that of the chief executive of a self-described mercenary firm, and a Facebook posting appears to identify him as the chief executive of a Japanese security outfit named Private Military Company.
Airstrikes kill 31 militants
Syrian fighter jets unleash more than two dozen airstrikes on the ISIS stronghold city of Raqqa, killing at least 31 militants and wounding dozens more. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 26 strikes hit ISIS-controlled buildings, including the military court and bases in the city. Sources say that at least six civilians are killed and 10 injured in the bombing campaign, which has now lasted five days. Raqqa resident:
About 30 percent of the strikes hit the Islamic State positions, the rest hit civilian areas
UN blacklist
The United Nations Security Council places six members of ISIS and the al-Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian wing, on a blacklist in a move intended to weaken the groups. The council unanimously votes to adopt the resolution. (Full details here.) Mark Lyall Grant, UK ambassador to the UN:
We have watched in horror their brutal actions. They are deliberately targeting civilians.