Tag Archives: Islamic State

Turkish army says Islamic State putting up ‘stiff resistance’ in Syria

A Turkey military vehicle near an ISIS stronghold

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Islamic State militants in northern Syria are putting up “stiff resistance” to attacks by Turkish-backed rebel fighters, Turkey’s military said on Wednesday, almost two months after it launched an incursion to drive them away from its border.

Supported by Turkish tanks and air strikes, the rebels have been pushing toward the Islamic State stronghold of Dabiq. Clashes and air strikes over the past 24 hours have killed 47 jihadists, the military said in a statement.

“Due to stiff resistance of the Daesh (Islamic State) terror group, progress could not be achieved in an attack launched to take four settlements,” it said, naming the areas east of the town of Azaz as Kafrah, Suran, Ihtimalat and Duvaybik.

However, the operation to drive the jihadists away from the Turkish border, dubbed “Euphrates Shield”, has allowed Turkish-backed rebels to take control of about 1,100 square km (425 square miles) of territory, the military said.

A Syrian rebel commander told Reuters the rebels were about 4 km (2.5 miles) from Dabiq. He said capturing Dabiq and the nearby town of Suran would spell the end of Islamic State’s presence in the northern Aleppo countryside.

A planned major offensive on the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab, southeast of Dabiq and an important strategic target, depended on how quickly rebels could take control of the roughly 35 km (22 miles) in between the two cities, he said.

Al-Bab is also a strategic target for the Kurdish YPG militia, which, like the rebels, is battling Islamic State in northern Syria but is viewed as a hostile force by Turkey.

In a daily round-up on Euphrates Shield’s 50th day, the Turkish army said 19 Islamic State fighters had been “neutralized” in clashes and eight rebels were killed. Twenty-two rebels were wounded and Turkish forces suffered no losses.

Turkish warplanes destroyed five buildings used by Islamic State fighters, while U.S.-led coalition jets “neutralized” 28 of the jihadists and destroyed three buildings, it said.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Louise Ireland)

U.N. – situation ‘rapidly deteriorating’ in embattled Afghan city

Afghan security forces keep watch in front of their armoured vehicle in Kunduz city, Afghanistan

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Fighting in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz has led to a “rapidly deteriorating” humanitarian situation, officials said on Thursday, leaving thousands of people with limited access to food, water, or medical care.

Street-to-street gun battles have continued for four days after Taliban militants slipped past the city’s defenses on Monday.

Government troops, backed by U.S. special forces and air strikes, have repeatedly declared that they are in control of the city, but residents report that heavy fighting has forced many people to flee.

The fighting has forced as many as 10,000 people from their homes in Kunduz, the United Nations reported, with those who remain facing serious water, food and electricity shortages, as well as threats from the fighting.

“Many families were unable to bring their possessions with them and are in a precarious position,” Dominic Parker, head of the U.N.’s humanitarian coordination office, said in a statement. “We have had reports that some families have been forced to sleep out in the open and many have few food supplies.”

Among those fleeing Kunduz are about two-thirds of the staff at the city’s main public hospital, which was struck by several rockets and small arms fire, said Marzia Yaftali Salaam, a doctor.

The 200-bed public hospital is the main provider of medical care in Kunduz after a more advanced trauma center run by Medecins Sans Frontieres was destroyed by an American air strike last year.

In the past three days, the hospital has been inundated by at least 210 patients, many of them civilians, including women and children, wounded in the fighting, Salaam said.

“Many of the wounded had to be carried to clinics in surrounding districts and private clinics in the city,” she said. “If the situation remains the same, we may be forced to halt our services.”

During a lull in the fighting on Wednesday, nearly 50 casualties were rushed to the hospital in the span of a few hours, said Hameed Alam, head of the public health department in Kunduz.

The U.S. military command in Kabul said Afghan forces are “defeating Taliban attempts to take Kunduz,” with reinforcements on the way and commandos continuing to clear “isolated pockets” of Taliban fighters.

The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist from 1996 to 2001, are seeking to topple the Western-backed government in Kabul and reimpose Islamic rule.

“There is fighting in every street and the situation is critical,” said Ismail Kawasi, a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry in Kabul.

Additional medical supplies and personnel were positioned in neighboring provinces, but they must wait for the fighting to subside before they can be flown to Kunduz, he said.

(Reporting by Sardar Razmal; Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul; Writing by Josh Smith; Editing by Nick Macfie and Dominic Evans)

Suicide bombers hit Shi’ite gatherings in Baghdad, at least 11 dead: police

Member of Si

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Suicide bombers attacked two Shi’ite Muslim processions in Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 11 people and wounding more than 40, police and medical sources said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the blasts at the Shi’ite events commemorating the slaying of Prophet Mohammad’s grandson Hussein.

A bomber detonated his explosive vest in the middle of one Shi’ite procession in the Amil district of southern Baghdad, killing six and wounding 25, the sources said.

A similar attack hit a procession in the eastern Mashtal district, killing five and wounding 18, the sources added.

(Reporting by Karem Raheem and Ahmed Rasheed; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

World anger over ‘barbarous’ strikes in Syria, Russia sends more warplanes

People walk on the rubble of damaged buildings in the rebel held area of al-Kalaseh neighbourhood of Aleppo,

By Dmitry Solovyov and Ellen Francis

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) – Russia is sending more warplanes to Syria to further ramp up its campaign of airstrikes, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday, as Moscow defied global censure over an escalation that Western countries say has torpedoed diplomacy.

In a statement issued by the White House after the two leaders spoke by telephone, U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the Russian and Syrian bombing of Aleppo as “barbarous”.

Fighting intensified a week into a new Russian-backed government offensive to capture all of Syria’s largest city and crush the last remaining urban stronghold of the rebellion.

Moscow and its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, spurned a ceasefire this month to launch the offensive, potentially the biggest and most decisive battle in the Syrian civil war which is now in its sixth year.

Western countries accuse Russia of war crimes, saying it has deliberately targeted civilians, hospitals and aid deliveries in recent days to crush the will of 250,000 people trapped inside Aleppo’s besieged rebel-held sector.

Moscow and Damascus say they have targeted only militants.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the bombing and many hundreds more wounded, with little access to treatment in hospitals that lack basic supplies.

Children play with water from a burst water pipe at a site hit yesterday by an air strike in Aleppo's rebel-controlled al-Mashad neighbourhood, Syria,

Children play with water from a burst water pipe at a site hit yesterday by an air strike in Aleppo’s rebel-controlled al-Mashad neighbourhood, Syria, September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Abdalrhman Ismail

Residents say the air strikes are unprecedented in their ferocity, deploying heavier bombs that flatten buildings on top of the people huddled inside.

Russia joined the war exactly a year ago, tipping the balance of power in favor of its ally Assad, who is also supported by Iranian ground forces and Shi’ite militia from Lebanon and Iraq.

The Kremlin said on Friday there was no time frame for Russia’s military operation in Syria. The main result of Russian air strikes over the past year is “neither Islamic State, nor al Qaeda nor the Nusra Front are now sitting in Damascus”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“REALITY A NIGHTMARE”

Britain’s Special Representative to Syria, Gareth Bayley, said: “From Russia’s first air strikes in Syria, it has hit civilian areas and increasingly used indiscriminate weapons, including cluster and incendiary munitions.”

“Today, the reality in Syria is a nightmare. Aleppo is besieged again, with vital necessities such as water, fuel, and medicine running out for hundreds of thousands. Civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, are being attacked.”

The Izvestia newspaper reported that a group of Su-24 and Su-34 warplanes had arrived at Syria’s Hmeymim base.

“If need be, the air force group will be (further) built up within two to three days,” it quoted a military official as saying. “Su-25 ground attack fighters designated to be sent to Hmeymim have already been selected in their units and their crews are on stand-by, awaiting orders from their commanders.”

The Su-25 is an armored twin-engine jet which was battle-tested in the 1980s during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. It can be used to strafe targets on the ground, or as a bomber. Russia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday there was no point pursuing further negotiations with Russia over Syria. That leaves Washington – which is fighting Islamic State militants in northern Syria but has avoided direct involvement in the war between Assad and his main opponents – with no backup plan for a policy that hinged on talks co-sponsored with Moscow.

BATTLEFIELD VICTORY

After months of intensive diplomacy with Russia, conducted despite the scepticism of other senior Obama administration officials, Kerry reached agreement three weeks ago on a ceasefire. But it collapsed within a week, and Moscow and Damascus swiftly launched the latest escalation.

Western officials believe Moscow’s decision to spurn the truce signals the Kremlin believes Assad’s government can now win a decisive victory on the battlefield, after years of mostly stalemated war that killed hundreds of thousands of people and made half of Syrians homeless.

Syrian government forces and rebels fought battles on Friday in the city center and north of Aleppo, where government troops had re-captured a camp for Palestinian refugees on Thursday that had already changed hands once since the start of the attack.

The sides gave conflicting accounts of the outcome of Friday’s fighting. North of the city, the military said it had captured territory around the Kindi hospital near the refugee camp. Rebel sources denied the army had advanced there.

In the city center, the military said it had advanced in the Suleiman al-Halabi district. Rebel officials said troops had moved forward but had subsequently been forced to withdraw.

A Syrian military source said government forces captured several buildings in the area and were “continuing to chase the remnants of the terrorists fleeing them”. One of the rebel officials said government forces had “advanced and then retreated”, losing “a number of dead”.

The multi-sided Syrian civil war pits Assad, a member of the Alawite sect supported by Iran and Shi’ite militia, against rebels mainly drawn from Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, backed by Saudi Arabia and other regional Sunni states.

RISE OF ISLAMIC STATE

The rebellion includes several groups inspired by or linked to al Qaeda, and helped give rise to Islamic State, a hardline Sunni group that broke away from al Qaeda and declared a caliphate in swathes of Syria and Iraq.

Russia, which has been allied to Assad and his father since the Cold War, says the only way to defeat Islamic State is to support Assad. Washington and its European allies say the Syrian leader has too much blood on his hands and must leave power so the rest of the country can unite against the militants.

Some rebels have responded to the government onslaught by cooperating more closely with jihadist fighters – precisely the opposite of Washington’s aim. The rebels are demanding more weapons, above all anti-aircraft missiles.

Washington, which helps to coordinate the arming of rebel groups with weapons from Saudi Arabia and other states, opposes sending anti-aircraft missiles for fear they could fall into the hands of jihadists.

A Syrian rebel source familiar with the details of foreign military support said rebels had received promises of new arms, but so far there was nothing that would have an impact.

“If they don’t give us anti-aircraft, they have no value,” the source said.

(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Angus McDowall, Lisa Barrington in Beirut; Eric Beech in Washington, Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow, writing by Peter Graff, editing by Peter Millership)

U.S.-based cleric urges Europe act to stop “catastrophe” in Turkey

U.S. based cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania

ROME, Sept 23 (Reuters) – A U.S.-based Turkish cleric accused by Tayyip Erdogan of treason said the President was using a failed coup to promote himself as a national hero and urged Europe to intervene to prevent catastrophe” as purges from the army to the judiciary proceed.

Fethullah Gulen, who denies backing the July putsch, suggested in an interview with Italian daily La Stampa Europe’s leaders had done too little in criticizing Erdogan over the arrest of tens of thousands, from the army and journalism to the judiciary and arts, and the suspension of some 100,000 people.

“Internal pressure from refugees, the proliferation of radical groups, the persecution of tens of thousands of
civilians, Erdogan’s rash self-proclamation as national hero… should compel European leaders to take effective action to stop the…government’s move towards authoritarianism,” he said.

He did not say what form such action might take.

Erdogan has long been by far the most popular politician in Turkey – a popularity critics say he has abused to extend his powers and clamp down on dissent. After the failed coup his popularity rose still further.

Turkey hosts nearly three million refugees from war in Syria. Implementing a deal the EU struck with Turkey to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe has been delayed by disputes over Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws and the post-coup crackdown.

“Reinforcing democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in Turkey is absolutely necessary to manage the refugee crisis and the fight against (Islamic State) in the long term. If this doesn’t happen, Europe risks finding itself with an even bigger problem, a catastrophe,” Gulen said.

Gulen was once a close ally of Erdogan, but the relationship has become openly hostile in recent years, culminating in Erdogan accusing Gulen of orchestrating the July coup.

More than 240 people were killed in the July 15 coup. Gulen denies any involvement and has condemned it.

Gulen said European leaders should encourage Turkey’s entry into the European Union – another element of the refugee deal – as it could strengthen democracy and respect for human rights.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Assailant shot outside Israeli embassy in Turkey: officials

Riot police near Israeli Embassy in Turkey

By Umit Bektas and Jeffrey Heller

ANKARA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A suspected assailant was shot and wounded near the Israeli embassy in the Turkish capital Ankara on Wednesday, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman and Turkish police said.

“The staff is safe. The attacker was wounded before he reached the embassy,” the spokesman said in a text message. “The assailant was shot and wounded by a local security man.”

Broadcaster CNN Turk said the suspect, whom it described as mentally unstable, had attempted a knife attack.

Turkish police told Reuters the assailant shouted “Allahu akbar”, or “God is Greatest”, outside the embassy before he was shot in the leg.

Police were examining his bag but had so far not attempted to detonate it, a Reuters cameraman at the scene said. The area outside the embassy had been cordoned off.

The assailant was apprehended at the outer perimeter of the secured zone around the embassy, the Israeli spokesman said.

Private broadcaster NTV identified the suspect as a man from the central city of Konya.

It was not immediately clear if there was a second would-be assailant, but Turkish media reports had initially suggested that there had been two attackers.

Turkey faces multiple security threats, including Islamic State militants, who have been blamed for bombings in Istanbul and elsewhere, and Kurdish militants, following the resumption of a three-decade insurgency in the mainly Kurdish southeast last year.

(Additional Reporting by Ece Toksabay in Ankara and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Daren Butler)

U.S. probing Afghan-born bomber’s motive, foreign travel

A still image captured from a video from WABC television shows a conscious man believed to be New York bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami being loaded into an ambulance after a shoot-out with police in New Jersey

By Joseph Ax and Mica Rosenberg

LINDEN, N.J. (Reuters) – U.S. investigators were looking on Tuesday for clues to why an Afghanistan-born man might have planted bombs around the New York area over the weekend, including whether the suspect had accomplices or was radicalized overseas.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested on Monday in Linden, New Jersey, after a gun battle with police. They were summoned by a neighborhood bar owner who thought the bearded man sleeping against his closed tavern’s front door in pouring rain resembled the bombing suspect.

Rahami and two police officers were wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

The events put New York on edge and fueled the debate about U.S. security seven weeks before the presidential election, with candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton clashing once again on Monday.

Rahami was suspected of a spate of weekend bombings, including a blast in New York’s crowded Chelsea neighborhood that wounded 29 people, and two in suburban New Jersey that caused no injuries.

He lived with his family above the First American Fried Chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The suspect’s foreign trips were coming under scrutiny, with U.S. media reporting that he had traveled to Pakistan and his native Afghanistan multiple times. Police were looking into whether he was radicalized during that time.

U.S. security sources have confirmed that Rahami underwent secondary screening after returning from foreign travel in recent years and passed on every occasion.

Travelers coming from Afghanistan and Pakistan, which both have a strong Taliban presence, are routinely required to undergo secondary screening.

“There could have been a more intensive holding and screening in that situation,” U.S. Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine, told CNN. “The problem is what happened next didn’t really go into any depth.”

Rahami’s wife left the United States a few days before the bombings, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing a law enforcement source.

‘ACT OF TERROR’

Authorities did not offer any immediate information on the possible motives of Rahami, whom Union County prosecutors charged with five counts of attempted murder in the first degree and two second-degree weapons charges.

He was in critical but stable condition as a result of his wounds, and police had not yet been able to interview him in depth, New York Police Department Commissioner James O’Neill said on Tuesday.

O’Neill, who was sworn in as commissioner on Monday, said he was encouraged that officers found Rahami hiding alone.

“It’s a good sign that we found him in a doorway,” O’Neill told CBS “This Morning.” “Hopefully that means he had nowhere to go.”

More charges were expected to be brought against Rahami in federal court. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the Saturday night bombing “an act of terror.”

Rahami is also suspected of planting a bomb that exploded on the New Jersey shore on Saturday, a device found near the New York blast, and up to six more devices found near the Elizabeth train station on Sunday night.

All of the people injured in Saturday night’s blast have been released from hospitals.The bombings and subsequent manhunt prompted even greater security in New York. The largest U.S. city was already on high alert for a gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York for the annual General Assembly this week. An additional 1,000 officers were deployed.

The blasts, the manhunt and an apparently unrelated stabbing attack in Minnesota over the weekend created tensions similar to those that followed other recent attacks, such as the mass shootings in Orlando and San Bernardino, California.

The Minnesota attacker was described a “soldier of the Islamic State,” the militant group’s news agency said.

Rahami had not previously been identified as dangerous, but Elizabeth police knew of his family because of late-night noise and crowd complaints at its halal chicken restaurant.

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Julia Edwards, Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Roberta Rampton, Hilary Russ and Daniel Trotta in New York, Roselle Chen in Linden, New Jersey, Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles.; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Islamic State claims responsibility for Minnesota mall attack

 

By Dustin Volz and Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) – A man who stabbed nine people at a mall in central Minnesota before being shot dead is a “soldier of the Islamic State,” the militant group’s news agency said on Sunday, as the FBI investigated the attack as a potential act of terrorism.

The man, who was wearing a private security uniform, made references to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he assaulted them at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud on Saturday, the city’s Police Chief William Blair Anderson told reporters.

Authorities declined to identify the suspect, who was killed by an off-duty policeman, because the investigation was under way.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the incident a “potential act of terrorism,” Richard Thornton, FBI special agent in charge of the agency’s Minneapolis division, told a news conference on Sunday.

He said the investigation was in its early stages and it was not known if the man had discussed his plan with others.

Authorities said earlier there were eight stabbing victims. One injured person transported himself to a hospital and was not initially counted, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis told the news conference.

Three victims remained hospitalized as of Sunday but none had life-threatening injuries, Kleis said.

Kleis said Jason Falconer, the off-duty officer from the Avon Police Department, a jurisdiction outside of St. Cloud, “clearly prevented additional injuries and loss of life” by shooting the man.

Amaq, the news agency affiliated with the Islamic State group, issued a statement on Sunday saying, “The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.”

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the Amaq claim.

Somali community leaders in St. Cloud, about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul, condemned the attack and expressed concern about a possible backlash.

“The news of the St. Cloud mall was shocking to the friends, relatives and community of the deceased … We do not know the motive of that stabbing incident,” said Mohamoud Mohamed of the St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization.

“We are afraid of the consequences of this incident. We would like to say loud that our community in central Minnesota has no relationship with ISIS or any other Islamic terrorist group,” he added.

Dozens of people from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, many of them young Somali-American men, have traveled or attempted to travel overseas to support Islamic State or al Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant group, since 2007, according to U.S. prosecutors.

The attack in St. Cloud occurred the same evening that an explosion rocked New York City’s bustling Chelsea district on Saturday, injuring 29 people in what authorities described as a deliberate criminal act. But both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there was no indication it was linked to international terrorism.

A pipe bomb also exploded in a New Jersey beach town on Saturday along the route of a charity race to benefit military veterans but no injuries were reported in what investigators also were treating as a possible act of terrorism.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said she strongly condemned “the apparent terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York” and said Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the St. Cloud attack should “steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups.”

Investigators are looking for possible connections among the Saturday attacks but so far have not found any links.

In St. Cloud, the attacker entered the mall in the evening as it was busy with shoppers, Anderson said. He attacked his victims at several sites in the shopping center, which will remain closed on Sunday as police investigate, the police chief said.

The victims were male and female, Kleis said, and ranged in age from mid-50s to a 15-year-old girl.

Police officials said they were still interviewing witnesses hours after the attack.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, Omar Fahmy in Cairo, and Dustin Volz and Diane Bartz in Washington; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by James Dalgleish and Sandra Maler)

on Sunday, as the FBI investigated the attack as a potential act of terrorism.

The man, who was wearing a private security uniform, made references to Allah and asked at least one person if they were Muslim before he assaulted them at the Crossroads Center mall in St. Cloud on Saturday, the city’s Police Chief William Blair Anderson told reporters.

Authorities declined to identify the suspect, who was killed by an off-duty policeman, because the investigation was under way.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the incident a “potential act of terrorism,” Richard Thornton, FBI special agent in charge of the agency’s Minneapolis division, told a news conference on Sunday.

He said the investigation was in its early stages and it was not known if the man had discussed his plan with others.

Authorities said earlier there were eight stabbing victims. One injured person transported himself to a hospital and was not initially counted, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis told the news conference.

Three victims remained hospitalized as of Sunday but none had life-threatening injuries, Kleis said.

Kleis said Jason Falconer, the off-duty officer from the Avon Police Department, a jurisdiction outside of St. Cloud, “clearly prevented additional injuries and loss of life” by shooting the man.

Amaq, the news agency affiliated with the Islamic State group, issued a statement on Sunday saying, “The executor of the stabbing attacks in Minnesota yesterday was a soldier of the Islamic State and carried out the operation in response to calls to target the citizens of countries belonging to the crusader coalition.”

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the Amaq claim.

Somali community leaders in St. Cloud, about 60 miles (100 km) northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul, condemned the attack and expressed concern about a possible backlash.

“The news of the St. Cloud mall was shocking to the friends, relatives and community of the deceased … We do not know the motive of that stabbing incident,” said Mohamoud Mohamed of the St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization.

“We are afraid of the consequences of this incident. We would like to say loud that our community in central Minnesota has no relationship with ISIS or any other Islamic terrorist group,” he added.

Dozens of people from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, many of them young Somali-American men, have traveled or attempted to travel overseas to support Islamic State or al Shabaab, a Somalia-based militant group, since 2007, according to U.S. prosecutors.

The attack in St. Cloud occurred the same evening that an explosion rocked New York City’s bustling Chelsea district on Saturday, injuring 29 people in what authorities described as a deliberate criminal act. But both New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said there was no indication it was linked to international terrorism.

A pipe bomb also exploded in a New Jersey beach town on Saturday along the route of a charity race to benefit military veterans but no injuries were reported in what investigators also were treating as a possible act of terrorism.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said she strongly condemned “the apparent terrorist attacks in Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York” and said Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the St. Cloud attack should “steel our resolve to protect our country and defeat ISIS and other terrorist groups.”

Investigators are looking for possible connections among the Saturday attacks but so far have not found any links.

In St. Cloud, the attacker entered the mall in the evening as it was busy with shoppers, Anderson said. He attacked his victims at several sites in the shopping center, which will remain closed on Sunday as police investigate, the police chief said.

The victims were male and female, Kleis said, and ranged in age from mid-50s to a 15-year-old girl.

Police officials said they were still interviewing witnesses hours after the attack.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles, Omar Fahmy in Cairo, and Dustin Volz and Diane Bartz in Washington; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by James Dalgleish and Sandra Maler)

Turkey backed rebels could push further south in Syria, Erdogan says

Free Syrian Army fighters launch a Grad rocket from Halfaya town in Hama province, towards forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad stationed in Zein al-Abidin mountain,

y Orhan Coskun and Seda Sezer

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey-backed rebels may extend their zone of control in northern Syria by pushing south and are now targeting the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

Turkey’s “safety zone” in the region could eventually span an area of 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles), Erdogan told a news conference before departing for New York where he was due to address the United Nations’ General Assembly.

Ankara launched its operation in northern Syria known as “Euphrates Shield” last month, aiming to clear Islamic State from Turkey’s Syrian border area and to stop the advance of Syrian Kurdish fighters. So far, it has secured a thin wedge of land along its border.

“As part of the Euphrates Shield operation, an area of 900 square kilometers has been cleared of terror so far. This area is pushing south,” Erdogan said.

“We may extend this area to 5,000 square kilometers as part of a safe zone.”

Turkey has long argued for the need for a “safe zone” or a “no-fly” zone along its Syrian border, with the aim of clearing out Islamic State and Kurdish fighters and stemming a wave of migration that has fueled tensions in Europe.

But Western allies have so far balked at the idea, saying it would require a significant ground force and planes to patrol, marking a major commitment in such a crowded battlefield.

Erdogan said on Monday the Turkey-backed rebels – a group of Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighting under the loose banner of the Free Syrian Army – were now focused on capturing the Islamic State-held town of al-Bab.

“Jarablus and al-Rai have been cleansed, now we are moving towards al-Bab… We will go there and stop (Islamic State) from being a threat to us,” he said.

CONTROL OF AL-BAB

Gaining control of al-Bab, which lies on the southern edge of what Ankara sees as its potential buffer zone, is crucial to Turkey’s plans to keep the Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters in check, analysts say.

Ankara’s challenge now is to turn the fractured Free Syrian Army into a coherent force as a counterweight to the YPG.

Turkey, a NATO member and part of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria, regards the Washington-backed YPG as a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Ankara worries that advances by the YPG will embolden insurgents in its largely Kurdish southeast.

Erdogan has frequently castigated the United States for its support of the YPG. On Monday he accused Washington of exacerbating tension in the region, referring to an incident last week when a small number of U.S. forces entered the town of al-Rai but were forced to withdraw after the Free Syrian Army rebels protested against their presence.

The U.S. special forces entered the town to coordinate air strikes against Islamic State.

“The Syrian army did not and does not want interference from U.S. special forces,” Erdogan said. “Unfortunately, the behavior of U.S. officials has pushed the FSA to this point,” he said, in what appeared to be a reference to Washington’s support of the YPG.

Separately, Turkey’s military said on Monday it hit Islamic State targets in northern Syria in air strikes a day earlier, targeting barracks and an ammunition store.

Erdogan said he plans to address the Syria crisis, the fight against terrorism and Turkey’s failed July 15 military coup when he addresses the U.N. General Assembly later this week.

(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Gareth Jones)

More than 110 people charged since 2013 on counts related to IS

An Islamic State flag is seen in this picture illustration taken

By Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said on Monday that more than 110 people have been publicly charged in federal court since late 2013 on counts related to the Islamic State militant group that has overrun much of Syria and Iraq.

Carlin said the U.S. Justice Department needs the American public to be more proactive about alerting federal authorities when they witness someone showing support for foreign terrorist organizations, such as Islamic State, in remarks to reporters at the U.S. Justice Department.

In more than 80 percent of the Islamic State cases that have been prosecuted since 2013, someone in the community of the accused person believed they had witnessed the activity for which the person was ultimately charged, according to Carlin. In more than half of those cases, the witnesses did not report anything to law enforcement authorities until after the charges were made.

Many of the Islamic State supporters prosecuted since 2013 have been charged under “material support” statutes that prohibit supporting designated foreign terrorist organizations. No groups based on domestic ideology, such as white supremacists have that designation.

Carlin said he is open to considering whether affiliation with a domestic extremist group could “warrant a special penalty” for people already charged with committing a violent crime.

Simply supporting a domestic group where some of the members have committed crimes, should not be prosecuted, Carlin said, because it “runs into our Constitution and our values.”

“You’re getting close to making illegal ideas,” Carlin said.

The Department of Justice charged 60 people last year with supporting or committing crimes because of their sympathies to Islamic State, the largest annual figure on record. The number arrested this year has been less than last year’s figure.

(Reporting by Julia Edwards; Writing by David Alexander and Julia Harte; Editing by Eric Walsh, Bernard Orr)