Archives for July 2016

Suicide attacker killed and two officers wounded in blast near the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi interior ministry says.

Five gunmen stormed the US consulate in Jeddah in 2004 in a gun and bomb attack [File: AP]

A suspected suicide bomber has died after blowing himself up near the US consulate in Saudi Arabia’s city of Jeddah, the interior ministry has said.

Security officers early on Monday became suspicious of a man near the parking lot of Dr Suleiman Faqeeh Hospital, which is directly across from the US diplomatic mission.

When they moved in to investigate, “he blew himself up with a suicide belt inside the hospital parking”, the ministry said, adding that two security officers were lightly wounded.

The attack happened at around 2:15am (23:15 GMT) on July 4, the day when Americans celebrate their independence.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

An investigation was ongoing, and some people were being questioned for their suspected links to the attack, security sources told Al Jazeera.

In a statement, the US consulate said there were no casualties or injuries among its staff, adding that it and the US embassy were in contact with Saudi authorities investigating the incident.

The US State Department also said it was aware of the explosion in Jeddah and it was working with Saudi authorities to collect more information.

In 2004, five people stormed the US consulate in Jeddah with bombs and guns, killing four Saudi security personnel outside and five local staff within.

Three of the attackers were killed in the assault and two were captured.

Dhaka: Two persons were arrested on Monday in connection with the Bangladesh’s worst terror attack at a cafe in Dhaka in which 22 people, mostly foreigners, were brutally killed by suspected ISIS militants, as authorities stepped up probe into the international links of the hostage-takers.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) A.K.M. Shahidul Haque, however, did not disclose the identities of either of the detainees or where they were being kept.

He said both of them were unwell and will be quizzed after their condition improves.

“One of them is in hospital, the other is in custody,” he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Bangladesh Army said one terrorist was captured alive from the site of the attack. However, the identity of the suspect was not disclosed.

“They (attackers) may have some contact with international terrorist groups,” he said.

Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the killing of the 20 hostages and two police officers during the 12-hour siege that ended after the Army stormed the Holey Artisan Bakery popular with expats in the diplomatic zone here, killing six attackers and capturing one alive.

Hostages who were killed include 19-year-old Indian girl Tarishi Jain. Nine Italians, 7 Japanese, one American of Bangladeshi origin, and two Bangladeshis were also among the people who were killed.

“You have seen the pictures of the slain militants supplied to the media, we have found out the background of four of them,” a senior police officer familiar with the investigation said, preferring anonymity.

The official added that all the attackers were in their 20s. Four of them came from wealthy families and studied at elite schools and universities in Dhaka and abroad.

One of the slain assaulters was studying in a Malaysian university, while his family said they had no idea that he returned home and took part in the attack.

He said the fifth youth who hailed from a village in northwestern Bogra and studied in a madrassa there led the attackers during the Friday night’s massacre.

“This Khairul (of Bogra) was wanted by police for the past seven months for three deadly militant attacks in northwestern region…We understand it is him who led the Holey Artisan restaurant attack on that night,” the official said.

According to mass circulation Prothom Alo Khairul was missing for the past several months. Bogra police had detained his parents for questioning.

One of slain attackers, private BRAC university student Rohan Imtiaz, was the son of a leader of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Awami League, while his mother was a teacher Dhaka’s posh Scholastica School.

The family reported him missing in December last year.

Of the five pictures of five bodies provided by police, four appeared to be the ones seen in the photos published by SITE in which the youths were seen smiling in front of an Islamic State black flag.

(PTI)

Israeli forces have surrounded the village of Bani Naim in response to a deadly stabbing in a nearby Hebron settlement.

The teenage settler was killed in a house on the edge of the Kiryat Arba settlement [Mussa Qawasma/Reuters]

Israeli forces have blockaded a Palestinian village in the southern West Bank just hours after a teenage settler was allegedly stabbed to death by a Palestinian in a nearby settlement.

“Israeli forces have begun a full siege on the village of Bani Naim,” Issa Amro, a Hebron-based human rights activist and founder of Youth Against Settlements in Hebron, told Al Jazeera.

The village, just east of Hebron city in the southern West Bank, is home to the alleged assailant, 17-year-old Muhammad Nasser Tarayra.

Tarayra was shot and killed on Thursday after “infiltrating” the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba and stabbing a 13-year-old girl to death, according to an Israeli spokeswoman.

The girl, identified as Hallel Yafa Ariel, later died from her wounds in hospital.

“They [Israeli authorities] are threatening to revoke the family’s permits to work in Israel, and they’ve arrested the boy’s father,” Amro said.

Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Jerusalem, said Israeli authorities had also “begun discussions as to whether they will demolish the home of the suspected attacker”.

Amro in Hebron said an obligatory curfew had been imposed across the city’s entire H2 area, the portion of the Palestinian city under full Israeli control. Israeli forces had also erected an additional 20 checkpoints.

“It is supposed to end this evening, but who really knows,” said Amro, referring to the curfew which began at 5pm.

The Israeli army has also reportedly closed down the adjacent section of Road 60, a major north-south highway that runs through the southern West Bank and into present-day Israel.

Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned Israel’s punitive measures against Palestinian communities in the wake of attacks, and say they constitute “collective punishment”.

Amro denounced the killing but said the Israeli occupation was to blame.

“We are against this killing as Palestinians, but it must be understood that Netanyahu and the Israeli government are responsible at the end of the day. They’re using their kids as human shields to take Palestinian land,” he said.

“This kid wanted to attack the settlement, but the occupation is responsible for killing him and for the death of this young girl.”