Local officials say it’s a miracle anyone survived the crash of a TransAsia flight in Taiwan on Wednesday that left at least 26 people dead.
A man driving on Taiwan’s National Freeway No. 1 captured the crash on video which made it appear the engines failed causing the plane to fall out of the sky. The plane barely missed the main highway before clipping a taxi and the edge of a bridge on the way into a river.
Officials say that 18 people are still missing in the river but that 15 people were rescued and rushed to hospitals including a toddler. The driver of the taxi and passenger were also injured in the incident.
Local Taiwan broadcasters played a recording of the plane’s last contact with the control tower where the pilots repeat “Mayday” three times. The pilots offered to details as to what may have caused the crash.
TransAsia director Peter Chen told reporters that plane was one of the newest in their fleet and had been in service for less than a year. The pilot reportedly had 4,900 hours of flight experience, leading officials to say it’s likely mechanical failure was the cause over pilot error.
The brutal murder of a Jordanian pilot by Islamic extremist group ISIS has drawn an unusually sharp response from Jordan’s King Abdullah.
King Abdullah told security chiefs that the pilot’s death would not “be in vain” and that Jordan would strike quickly and harshly on the terrorists.
“The blood of martyr Moaz al-Kasasbeh will not be in vain and the response of Jordan and its army after what happened to our dear son will be severe,” King Abdullah reportedly said. “This evil can and should be defeated.”
The King cut short a visit to the United States after the posting of the video to return home to deal with the fallout of the murder.
Jordan immediately executed two ISIS terrorists held after a failed bombing.
The family of the slain pilot spoke with the King and with Jordan military officials and asked them to completely eliminate ISIS.
A report from a former vice chief of staff for the Army regarding ISIS that was mostly negative had one bright spot from a military standpoint: the top chemical weapons expert for the terror group was killed in an airstrike.
Retired General Jack Keane told new members of the Senate Armed Services Committee that Abu Malik was killed last Saturday in an airstrike near Mosul. Malik was a chemical weapons engineer for Saddam Hussein who joined al-Qaeda and then ISIS after the fall of Saddam.
“His death is expected to temporarily degrade and disrupt the terrorist network and diminish ISIL’s ability to potentially produce and use chemical weapons against innocent people,” US Central Command said in a statement.
But the news was tempered by Gen. Keane’s view that ISIS has begun to “dominate” in multiple countries.
“After U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq in 2011, ISIS emerged as a terrorist organization in Iraq, moved into Syria in 2012. Is it possible to look at that map in front of you and claim that the United States policy and strategy is working? Or that al-Qaeda is on the run? It is unmistakable that our policies have failed,” Gen. Keane said.
“In my view, we became paralyzed by the fear of adverse consequences in the Middle East after fighting two wars,” he added. “Moreover, as we sit here this morning, in the face of radical Islam, U.S. policymakers refuse to accurately name the movement as radical Islam. We further choose not to define it, nor explain its ideology, and most critical, we have no comprehensive strategy to stop it or defeat it.”
Islamic extremist group ISIS has killed a Jordanian pilot captured over Syria by burning him alive inside a cage.
The video posted online shows Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh inside a steel cage. He tries to cover his head before falling to his knees and being burned to ash. The 22 minute video shows the terrorists parading the captured man through the streets before the brutal killing.
Jordanian state television confirmed the man in the video is Lt. al-Kasasbeh and that the death happened a month ago. The terrorists had been sitting on the video while negotiating with the Jordanian government for millions of dollars for the pilot’s release.
President Obama told reporters that the video gives “one more indication” of the hate that comes from the terrorist group.
“I think it will redouble the vigilance and determination of the part of the global coalition to make sure they are degraded and ultimately defeated,” he added.
Public officials in Jordan say that the public is calling for the government to execute ISIS terrorists currently held in jails.
Muslim extremists murdered a popular Nigerian pastor who is being remembered as a “dedicated servant to the poor.”
Pastor Joshua Adah, who founded and operated a school giving free education to over 400 children in Bantaje, was slaughtered by a group of Muslim herdsmen who may be connected to the terrorist group Boko Haram.
The attackers reportedly seized Adah after his car broke down while on the way back to the mission from an outreach event.
“The pastor’s car broke down at Chediya on his return from Koji. He then phoned his mechanic at Jalingo to help him fix the car. When the mechanic arrived, the two men agreed to hire a vehicle nearby Dan Anacha, which would tow the car to Jalingo,” a police spokesman said. “The mechanic upon returning to scene could not find the pastor. … After a thorough search, his body was found in the area.”
A supporter of Pastor Adah said after finding Christ in 2000 he experienced a radical life transformation.
“Not too long after he got born again, he left the comfort and ‘luxury’ of city life for a remote village on a hill without light nor potable drinking water, not even a well in sight,” the supporter explained. “He was there with his humble wife and kids to answer the call of God at this time when larger cities meant greener pastures, fatter offerings and sizeable tithes to others doing ministry. He continued to preach the Gospel and hold campaigns, not in the urban areas but mostly in rural areas.
“I don’t know why God allowed Boko Haram to cut his life short. Even when it became dangerous, he refused to get out but kept preaching Christ in villages where many will not go,” she added .
In the midst of the horror of ISIS in Iraq, one unidentified Iraqi man is using his wealth to try and make a difference for good.
The man is reportedly using stand-ins to purchase sex slaves from the terrorist group and then reuniting the women with their families in other parts of Iraq.
The terrorist group has been funding part of their campaign of terror through selling captured women as sex slaves or as brides in forced marriages. The women are usually killed if they refuse or try to escape.
Critics within Iraq and in activist groups around the world against ISIS have been slamming the man for giving money to the terrorist group but he told a reporter working for YouTube channel StreamDZ that all he cared about was freeing the women and returning them to their families.
One of the former slaves who has been freed told the story of a girl named Jilan who had been one of several that committed suicide after capture rather than endure the horrors subjected to them through ISIS.
“We were 21 girls in one room, two of them were very young, 10 to 12 years. One day they were given clothes that looked like dance costumes and were told to bathe and wear those clothes. Jilan killed herself in the bathroom,” the woman said. “She cut her wrists and hanged herself. She was beautiful. I think she knew that she was going to be taken away to a man and that is why she killed herself.”
The Islamic extremist group Taliban has claimed responsibility for a terror attack that left three American contractors dead.
The group release a statement Friday claiming one of their members had infiltrated the Afghanistan security forces and launched the attack Thursday night at Kabul International Airport.
“Yesterday in the evening he managed to get to a crowd of invading and infidel American military forces where he turned his gun towards them and opened fire,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Majahid said. “During the gun battle, Ehsanullah was also killed by the enemy.”
Majahid said the terrorist had been “waiting a long time” for a chance to strike a target like a group of Americans. The terrorist had been in an Afghan army uniform before his attack.
The attack was the first major violence in the country’s capital city in almost three weeks.
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has made a major advance in their attempt to take over Nigeria.
The terrorists captured the city of Monguno over the weekend, leaving over 200 people dead following an intense battle with military forces. The terror group is now attempting to drive the military out of the town of Maiduguri.
“Our soldiers initially repelled the terrorists but they mobilized more fighters and came back in full force. They overwhelmed our troops and forced them to retreat,” said one Nigerian officer to the Associated Press.
Monguno is a city of 100,000 residents. Maiduguri has over 600,000.
The terrorist group has reportedly been reinforced with Islamic extremists from other nations after formally linking to terrorist group ISIS. Fighters from Chad and Cameroon have been found as part of the Boko Haram network.
“So long as we have the resources, we will continue to regard the efforts to reclaim peace our No. 1 area of commitments. I want to reassure the good people of Borno state that we will never abdicate from our responsibility as those they entrusted with leadership,” Borno Governor Kashim Shettima said while admitting the terrorist group is becoming too hard for his local police to fight.
A man who was seen as a major stabilizing figure in the turbulent Middle East is dead at the age of 90.
Saudi King Abdullah died early Friday after what palace sources called “a short illness.” Abdullah had ruled Saudi Arabia since 2005 after the death of King Fahd.
Many residents of the nation saw Abdullah as a reformer. He allowed women the right to vote and to compete in the Olympics. He maintained close relationships with the United States and Britain, buying most of the nation’s defense equipment from the two nations.
He also made domestic violence against women a crime for the first time in the nation’s history.
He was also a major opponent to Islamic terrorism and called it not only a threat to the region but also to Islam. He launched education programs that were aimed at stopping Al-Qaeda from gaining a foothold with youth. He also took actions to keep the most extreme parts of Saudi Arabia’s religious establishment from being able to spread their message in the nation.
King Abdullah was found through diplomatic messages published by Wikileaks to have asked the United States to implant microchips on all terrorists at Guantanamo Bay to allow world governments to track their movements. He also privately urged the U.S. to attack Iran to destroy their nuclear program.
Former Crown Prince Salman became King. He appointed officials to new roles within hours of the death of King Abdullah, unusual in the Saudi succession pattern, which usually took months. Reportedly King Salman wanted to “show strength to Islamic extremists” that “Saudi Arabia is united.”
The executions of Islamic terrorist group ISIS is continuing as 17 men were crucified for refusing to submit to the terrorist group’s “caliphate.”
The terrorists released a group of photos on a social media site showing the murders of the men. One showed two men being thrown off a tall building. Others showed the brutal crucifixion process.
The videos and photos posted by the group are intended to have “Muslims come watch the application of the law.”
In addition to the men, a woman was shown being stoned to death on accusations of adultery in a wooded area hidden from public view.
“The Islamic State group has executed 16 men in Deir Ezzor and one more in Raqa, to send a message to all their opponents after recent assassinations of 12 Syrian, Iraqi and Algerian jihadists,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Director Rami Abdel Rahman. “ISIS is sending a message to all people living under its control, to say: ‘This is what will happen to any opponent.'”
