Reports surfaced over the past week of Islamic State (ISIS) terror attacks on the much-abused Kurdish border city of Kobani in Syria, but it now appears ISIS only recaptured parts of the town for a few days. Kurdish forces have reportedly driven ISIS from Kobani for the second time this year. The victory came at horrible cost, as NPR reports ISIS may have killed about 300 civilians over the past 24 hours, many of them slaughtered in a brutal house-to-house massacre.
by John Hayward29 Jun 2015, 6:21 AM PST0
Women and children freed from captivity under the jihadist terror group Boko Haram are being held at an undisclosed location by the Nigerian military after accusing each other of continuing to communicate with and work for the terrorist group. Nigerian officials claim they have been relocated to an undisclosed location for more focused therapy to help them work through their trauma.
by Frances Martel22 May 2015, 5:20 PM PST0
Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/IS) terrorists are now demanding $100,000 per head to free each of the 250-300 Assyrian hostages they presently have in custody, according to an officer within the Assyrian leadership.
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.10 Apr 2015, 12:16 PM PST0
Fresh off a horrific 12-hour siege at a Somali hotel that left 17 dead, Islamist terror group Al-Shabaab has struck in Kenya, sending a squad of gunmen on a rampage through Garissa University College.
by John Hayward2 Apr 2015, 6:57 AM PST0
Islamic State (ISIS) militias have uploaded a video showing the conversion to Islam of one of the Assyrian Christian hostages captured during the offensive carried out in the Khabour river valley last February. The video has provoked accusations of forced conversion under torture and the shameless exploitation of prisoners for propaganda.
by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.25 Mar 2015, 5:44 AM PST0
Syrian Christians have this morning put out a desperate appeal for help as ISIS launches new attacks against them along the Khabour River in northeast Syria. According to Rima Tüzün of the European Syriac Union, members of the community who have taken up arms to defend themselves are without ammunition, and 17 Syriac Military Council fighters are surrounded by ISIS in the town of Tel Maghasneh.
by Katie Gorka7 Mar 2015, 7:31 AM PST0
The latest ISIS terror video is apparently running behind schedule—it was supposed to be released on Wednesday—but all indications are that it will include a threat to murder their Christian hostages, including women and children, if the bombing campaign against the Islamic State is not halted.
by John Hayward26 Feb 2015, 8:41 PM PST0
After a day spent in denial, the Obama administration finally seems ready to admit that an attack in Paris last month was anti-Semitic. But the denials were fun while they lasted.
by John Hayward11 Feb 2015, 12:11 PM PST0
Jordan has responded to a claim by the Islamic State (ISIS) on Friday that American hostage Kayla Jean Mueller was killed by collateral damage from Jordanian airstrikes, saying that ISIS has provided no proof of Mueller’s death, and is lying about either the fact or manner of her death. American officials also said they had seen no evidence that Mueller was killed.
by John Hayward7 Feb 2015, 11:19 AM PST0
One never knows how seriously to take the output of the Islamic State’s media apparatus, but they announced on Friday morning that their female American hostage, Kayla Jean Mueller, was killed in a Jordanian air strike.
by John Hayward6 Feb 2015, 9:40 AM PST0
Members of Japan’s opposition party are beginning to publicly criticize Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for his choice to send humanitarian aid to nations fighting the Islamic State, a decision blamed for triggering a hostage crisis that took the lives of two Japanese citizens.
by John Hayward3 Feb 2015, 9:36 AM PST0
The Islamic State’s brutal murder of its second Japanese hostage, Kenji Goto, has Japan’s government talking about vengeance — a major shift in tone for post-war Japan, observers have noted.
by John Hayward2 Feb 2015, 12:43 PM PST0
Yesterday, Jordan reportedly agreed to swap a female al-Qaeda terrorist for captive Jordanian pilot Mu’ath al-Kasaesbeh, held hostage by ISIS since his fighter jet went down near the city of Raqqa in December.
by John Hayward29 Jan 2015, 6:09 AM PST0
Jordan has reportedly agreed to release a female jihadi named Sajida al-Rishawi, imprisoned since 2006 under a death sentence for her role in a 2005 hotel bombing in Amman that killed 60 people, in exchange for captive pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, held by ISIS since his F-16 fighter went down near the Islamic State’s capital city of Raqqa last December.
by John Hayward28 Jan 2015, 10:39 AM PST0
In their latest Internet hostage video, the Islamic State demanded $200 million from Japan in exchange for the lives of security contractor Haruna Yukawa and freelance journalist Kenji Goto Jogo, promising they would be killed within 72 hours if the ransom was not paid. After vowing that his nation would not submit to terrorist demands, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked several prominent Middle Eastern leaders for help, including Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
by John Hayward22 Jan 2015, 9:23 AM PST0
A man believed to have been the suspect in yesterday’s shooting of unarmed policewoman Clarissa Jean-Philippe yesterday has taken women and children hostage at a kosher grocery store in the eastern Parisian district of Porte de Vincennes.
by John Hayward9 Jan 2015, 6:24 AM PST0
