hostages – praag.org

Police kill three Charlie Hebdo suspects

Heavily armed SWAT teams moved into Porte de Vincennes after the hostage situation developed at a kosher grocery, involving a black gunman and at least one hostage, police said.

The Paris Public Prosecutor’s office confirmed the standoff had been connected to another hostage situation that had occurred at the same time outside Paris, where police shot dead two gunmen suspected in Wednesday’s Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Police told ABC News that a suspect in the Thursday fatal shooting of a police officer in Paris’ Monrouge area, identified as Amedi Coulibaly, 32, was believed to have been involved with the grocery standoff.

Police issued a wanted poster for both Coulibaly and another female suspect named Hayat Boumeddinene earlier in the killing of the policewoman. Police also gave more details about the attack, saying Coulibaly wore body armor when he allegedly killed the officer.

Coulibaly had met with Nicolas Sarkozy. He worked at a Coca-Cola plant in his hometown.

He and nine other people like him visited the President of the Republic in 2009, who wanted to meet companies engaged in favor of the employment of young blacks.

Sarkozy was not really very popular with black and Arab youths. But “the encounter in real life, it is impressive. Like it or not, it’s still the president,” Coulibaly said then.

The other hostage situation ended in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele outside of Paris. The two men, identified by police as Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, were holed up in a printing company in a town northeast of Paris, taking one male employee hostage, before they were shot dead by police.

Both had been on a US No Fly List ‘for years,’ a US official said. According to different revelations, one of the suspects trained with Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Yemen.

French-born sons of Algerian parents, they were both logged in the US government’s Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) system, a database on known or suspected international terrorists, US counterterrorism sources said on condition of anonymity. TIDE contains over one million names.

The casualty situation in Vincennes is still not clear. There have been reports of at least four hostages killed, but they have not been confirmed by French authorities. Other sources spoke of four “critically wounded”.

Second French jihad attack as driver ploughs into pedestrians

A driver shouting “Allahu Akbar” ploughed into pedestrians in eastern France Sunday, injuring 11 of them, just a day after a man yelling the same words was killed in an attack on police officers.

Two of the people injured in the car attack in the city of Dijon were in a serious condition, a police source said, adding that the driver had been arrested.

France is still reeling from a suspected radical Islamic attack on Saturday that saw a French convert to Islam shot dead after attacking police officers with a knife while also reportedly crying “Allahu Akbar” in the central town of Joue-les-Tours.

The assailant, Burundi-born French national, Bertrand Nzohabonayo seriously injured two officers — slashing one in the face — and hurting another.

The 20-year-old attacker also cried “Allahu Akbar” during the assault, said a source close to the case speaking on condition of anonymity.

The assault prompted the government to step up security at police and fire stations nationwide.

The anti-terror branch of the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a probe into that attack, with the line of inquiry focusing on whether it was motivated by radical Islam.

The weekend incidents in France come as governments around the world brace for so-called “lone wolf” attacks by individuals returning from waging jihad abroad, or who are simply following Islamic State group calls for violence in the countries involved in a coalition fighting the militants in Iraq and Syria.

The group has repeatedly singled out France for such attacks, most recently in a video posted on jihadist sites this week.

Last week in Australia, an Iranian-born Islamist with a history of extremism and violence entered a cafe and held people hostage for 16 hours before being killed. Two of the hostages also died.

Source: Yahoo

Australia warned of ISIS security risk

Up to 160 Australians have either been involved in fighting in the Middle East or actively supporting it, officials have said.

At leats 20 are believed to have returned to Australia and pose a security risk, the head of the national spy agency said last week, according to Reuters.

As The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

Highlighting the risk of homegrown militants returning from the Middle East, Abbott pledged on Sunday to send a 600-strong force as well as strike aircraft to join a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Iraq.

Top terrorist recruiter Mohammad Baryalei is behind an Islamic State plot to murder Australians on video, police say, sparking the nation’s biggest ever counter-terrorism raids and prompting warnings of a high alert for a further 18 months.

NSW and federal police as well as ASIO officers raided homes across Sydney and Brisbane on Thursday morning, arresting 15 men, some of them as young as 18 or 19.

They swooped amid fears for the public’s safety after Baryalei allegedly spoke by phone with Omarjan Azari on Tuesday to discuss a plan to kidnap and murder – presumably by beheading – a random person on camera, the footage of which would then be posted online by the Islamic State’s sophisticated and powerful propaganda wing.

Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Neil Gaughan told Fairfax Media that the terrorism alert level would have to stay on “high” despite the arrests – perhaps for a further 18 months.

“There is no doubt in my view the terror alert needs to stay high for the foreseeable future. We have seen an unprecedented increase in activity over the last 12 months,” he said.

“And it’s based on a lot of factors – ISIL, the declaration of the caliphate, an intent by people to do things in support of that, people continuing to recruit … We are in totally uncharted waters. I do not see any respite in the next 18 months.”

Led by a “British-speaking” murderer, ISIS released beheading videos of US journalists initially.

Australian police have now raided hundreds of homes foiling a direct ISIS provocation to publicly behead a random citizen in Sydney.

As Reuters reports, more than 800 police were involved in the pre-dawn security operation in Sydney and Brisbane, which was described as the largest in Australian history.

A 22-year-old Sydney man was arrested, after links were found to top ISIS recruiter Mohammad Baryalei that PM Abbot stated were “clearly designed to shock and horrify, perhaps terrify” the community.

Armed Sydney attacker hoists black Islamic flag

A police operation is underway at a café in central Sydney, where up to 40 hostages are being held by an armed attacker and a black flag with Arabic inscriptions can be seen. Australia is contributing to the US-led operation against the Islamic State.

As the siege was about to enter its sixth hour, at least five people apparently escaped from the building. Live footage showed heavily-armed police regrouping near the cafe’s door, but not entering it.

A senior Lindt Australia official said that 10 staff and up to 30 customers could be held inside the Lindt Chocolate Café in Martin Place. There were “probably 30 customers” at the time of the attack, Sky Business quoted Lindt Chief Executive Steve Loane as saying.

There was no immediate confirmation of the exact number of assailants.

Live TV footage showed people standing inside the café with their hands pressed against the windows. At least one attacker was caught on camera wearing a traditional Islamic cap.

The hostages were forced to hold a black flag with an Arabic inscription, prompting fears that ruthless Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants were behind the attack.

The flag – which appeared different from the one typically used by the IS – was identified as the shahada, or the statement of Islamic faith. The shahada itself only contains the religious inscription “There is no god but the God, Mohammed is the messenger of the God.”

The armed Islamist gunman reportedly contacted a local radio station saying that four bombs were planted and demanding negotiations with Australian PM Tony Abbott.

The attack, which took place in Sydney’s central business district, forced nearby buildings in Martin Place – including the Reserve Bank of Australia – into lockdown.

The US has evacuated its Sydney consulate, which is close to the Lindt Cafe, Reuters quoted a spokeswoman as saying.

Reports on the ground suggest that young women being held hostage in the cafe are being used as a shield.

Earlier, Australian 2GB radio host Ray Hadley said that the captor had demanded to speak with Prime Minister Tony Abbott live on the radio.

Hadley added that hostages inside the cafe contacted him, but he declined to air their conversation due to safety concerns of those inside the building.

Another report claimed that gunmen have explosive suicide belts.

Meanwhile, NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said that no direct contact was made with the captor(s).

Dozens of police, including a SWAT team, were dispatched to the scene, and a couple hundred people were held back by cordons amid the evacuation of nearby buildings.

Media speculations connecting the attack to the Islamic State have sprung up, as Australia has been supporting the US-led anti-IS coalition in Syria and Iraq. Back in September, Canberra contributed 600 troops and up to 10 military aircraft to the campaign.

In October, Australia launched its first fighter jet mission in Iraq against the IS. “The Super Hornet aircraft conducted an air interdiction and close air support mission over northern Iraq overnight,” the Australian Defence Force said in a statement.

ABC News live video showed that at least three people escaped through the emergency exit. A Sydney police representative confirmed that the hostages who had managed to escape were safe.

Police task force subdue hostage takers

The four Mangaung prison inmates who held a woman hostage were successfully overpowered by a special police task force, national police commissioner Riah Phiyega announced on Thursday.

The woman, an official of G4S which manages the Mangaung prison, was rescued just after 10pm on Wednesday when the task force entered the cell occupied by the hostage-takers and their victim.

“Ultimately, at 10.16 pm last night, a tactical assault on the area where the hostage-takers had barricaded themselves was conducted by members of the elite Special Task Force,” said Phiyega.

Police said no shots were fired during the operation and the hostage, who was held for 13 hours, did not sustain any injuries during the rescue operation.

“We can confirm that the hostage [situation] at Mangaung Correctional Centre has been concluded,” G4S Africa head Andy Baker said in a separate statement.

Local police said the woman was unharmed but was nevertheless referred to Rosepark Hospital for a medical check up and treatment.

“We are extremely pleased to report that our employee was not physically harmed… and is receiving care and counselling support,” Baker said.

Free State police spokesman Brigadier Billy Jones said the four inmates were arrested and would be charged with kidnapping and attempted murder of two G4S workers, who were injured earlier on Wednesday.

Jones said that after the woman was accosted and overpowered by the four inmates, they dragged her into one of the cells and locked themselves in.

In the process two male employees, who tried to rescue their colleague were stabbed in the arms and legs by the hostage-takers.

They were apparently armed with sharp objects, believed to be scissor parts.

Jones said the two prison officials were treated at the scene and were reported not to be in a serious condition.

The hostage-takers were serving time for rape, murder and robbery.

Phiyega said in the eventual rescue the task force members acted in accordance with their training and used minimum force to rescue the woman.

She thanked all police officers involved in the peaceful resolution of the hostage situation. – Sapa