US offers $5 mn reward for IS foreign fighter smuggler

UNITED STATES - The United States issued a $5 million reward Wednesday for information leading to the capture of a Saudi-born jihadist accused of smuggling foreign fighters into Syria.

The State Department said that Tirad al-Jarba, known under the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Shimali, is a senior member of the Islamic State extremist group.

He had already been designated a terrorist by the United States and the UN Security Council, which has imposed a travel ban on him and ordered his assets frozen.

According to his UN sanctions listing he is 35 years old, and will turn 36 on Friday. He is said to be from Saudi Arabia and to have been a former Al-Qaeda member.

The State Department wanted notice issued on Wednesday describes him as the IS leader in the Syrian border town of Jarablus, opposite the Turkish town of Gaziantep.

From there he is said to arrange passage for foreign IS fighters from Australia, Europe and the broader Middle East, while managing a recruitment center in Azaz.

Jarba's name was added to the "Rewards for Justice" program as Turkey and the United States were preparing a major operation to secure the border near Jarablus.

And it comes as the French aircraft carrier De Gaulle steams towards the region to step up strikes against IS in wake of last week's foreign fighter attacks in Paris.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

CIA chief warns Islamic State may have other attacks ready

WASHINGTON - CIA Director John Brennan warned on Monday that the attacks in Paris claimed by the extremist Islamic State movement were not a “one-off event” and that the militants may have similar operations ready to launch.

Foiling those plots, however, could prove difficult because Europe's intelligence and security resources are severely stretched trying to keep track of the hundreds of European extremists who have returned home from fighting in Syria and Iraq.

"A lot of our partners right now in Europe are facing a lot of challenges in terms of the numbers of individuals who have traveled to Syria and Iraq and back again, and so their ability to monitor and survey these individuals is under strain,” Brennan said.

Brennan’s comment at a Washington policy institute came as France, Belgium and other countries intensified a manhunt for suspects in Friday’s attacks on a concert hall, sports stadium, restaurants and bars in Paris that killed 129 people.

U.S. intelligence still hasn’t confirmed that the Islamic State was responsible, said Brennan. But, he added, the Paris attacks and the suspected bombing of a Russian airliner in Egypt on Oct. 31 that killed all 224 passengers and crew aboard “bear the hallmarks” of the Islamist group.

The Islamic State, which threatened in a new video on Monday to attack in Washington, appears to have formed an external operations branch that may have readied follow-up strikes to the Paris attacks, he said.

“I would anticipate that this is not the only operation that ISIL has in the pipeline,” Brennan said, using an acronym for the Islamic State. “And security intelligence services right now in Europe and other places are working feverishly to see what else they can do in terms of uncovering it.”

Careful planning for the Paris strikes is believed to have taken place over several months “in terms of making sure they had the operatives, the weapons, the explosives, the suicide belts,” Brennan said.

The attacks did not surprise the U.S. intelligence community, which had “strategic warning” that ISIL was planning to strike somewhere outside of the Middle East and was “looking at Europe in particular,” Brennan said.

“I certainly wouldn’t consider it (the Paris attacks) a one-off event,” he said.

One major problem is the huge burden that tracking extremists who’ve returned from Syria has imposed on resource-short European intelligence agencies, he said.

European officials estimate that as many as 5,000 Europeans have gone to fight in Syria since 2011. That number includes an estimated 1,400 French nationals, of whom some 900 have returned to France.

Moreover, between 10,000 and 20,000 individuals have been flagged by French authorities as potential security threats under a procedure known as an “S Notice,” said Roland Jacquard, a French counter-terrorism expert.

“We're in a situation where the services are overrun. They expect something to happen, but don't know where and you have to see how much stress they are under,” said Nathalie Goulet, the head of a French Senate investigation into jihadi networks.

Belgium, where investigators believe the Paris attacks were plotted, has been striving to keep track of more than 70 returnees from Syria. Officials estimate that 350 Belgium nationals have gone there to fight.

U.S. and European officials say that as many as two dozen to three dozen officers must work around the clock to keep a single suspect under full-time surveillance.

At least two men identified by French investigators as having carried out the Paris attacks were known to European and U.S. intelligence agencies before the carnage.

A Belgian man suspected of masterminding the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was identified in the New York Times in January as a prime suspect in a foiled plot to strike targets in Brussels. He also was known to U.S. spy agencies, said a U.S. government source.

Another problem confronting intelligence services is that militant groups have intensified their security measures as a result of “unauthorized disclosures,” said Brennan.

While he did not elaborate, Brennan may have been referring to former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations of the agency’s massive communications monitoring operations and leaks of classified documents by Wikileaks.

(Reporting by Jonathan S. Landay; Editing by Alistair Bell and Stuart Grudgings)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Pinoys outraged over Rolling Stone cover of bombing suspect

NEW YORK CITY -- America usually celebrates the cover of popular magazine, Rolling Stone, when it is graced by great actors, music legends and even the president of the united states.

But the rockstar-like image of suspected terrorist Dzokhar Tsarnaev on the cover of Rolling Stone outraged many, including Filipinos in New York City.

“You’re encouraging more crime to happen when people, especially the young ones, see this,” said Cecilia Magsino-Skala.

“He (Tsarnaev) has no place being on the cover of a glamour magazine,” added Susan Apat.

For Rolan Ocampo, who crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon minutes before the bombs exploded, seeing the face of Tsarnaev on the cover of Rolling Stone, rubs wounds that are still raw.

“It hurts because the magazine chose to feature this alleged terrorist first. And besides, it’s too soon. The magazine should have featured the victims, their families and the volunteer rescuers — not Tsarnaev,”he said.

Ocampo added that if Tsarnaev was shown on the cover wearing a prison jumpsuit or in handcuffs, it would have come off differently to people.

“Instead, he was made to look like a pretty boy, a rockstar, a celebrity,” he pointed out.

Tsarnaev recently pleaded not guilty to the 30 counts of a federal indictment related to the Boston bombings — which killed three people and injured at least 260 others.

If found guilty, Ocampo believes Tsarnaev doesn’t even deserve the privilege of a quick death sentence.

“I would rather he get a life sentence, without the possibility of parole. He should rot in jail,” said Ocampo.

Big pharmacy chains like CVS and Walgreens, as well as stores like Stop and Shop and Tadeschi food shops have announced their refusal to sell the August issues of Rolling Stone.

In a statement, Rolling Stone said that while their hearts go out to the victims, they also felt it was important to gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens and how a charming kid with a bright future became a monster.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com