VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2015 —51
France launches anti-ISIS strikes from aircraft carrier
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RANCE has launched its first missions against Islamic State (IS) militants from its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, military sources said. The newly-deployed carrier has 26 fighters, tripling French capacity. French President Francois Hollande has vowed to intensify strikes against IS in Syria and Iraq after the group said it was behind deadly attacks in Paris. Belgian police meanwhile said they had arrested five more people in antiterrorism raids. France stepped up its bombings of IS following the attacks on Paris, in which 130 people were killed. The latest series of strikes launched from the Charles de Gaulle targeted sites in Iraq, the French military said. On Monday, Mr Hollande met British Prime Minister David Cameron for talks as part of a fresh
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•French President Francois Hollande and UK PM David Cameron paying their respects outside the Bataclan Concert Hall in Paris yesterday.
diplomatic push. He will also meet the leaders of the US, Germany and Russia this week.
USSIA will resume ex porting nuclear technology to Iran, President Vladimir Putin has decreed on a visit to Tehran. The move follows Iran’s agreement to international curbs on its nuclear programme. UN sanctions against Iran are to be lifted in exchange for that agreement, under a deal signed in July. Russia says it will help Iran’s export of enriched uranium and modification of nuclear facilities at Arak and Fordo. Iran says its nuclear programme is only for civilian, not military, purposes. Mr Putin is in Tehran to attend a summit of gas exporting countries. His talks with Iranian leaders are likely to focus on the war in Syria, where Russia and Iran are the main military backers of President Bashar al-Assad. Russia has been conducting intense air and missile strikes against Syrian rebels including so-called Islamic State (IS), while Iran has been helping Mr Assad’s forces on the ground. Under the July nuclear deal, six world powers se-
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P to 10,000 troops could be deployed on to British streets in the event of a Paris-style attack, David Cameron has said, as he announced plans for an extra £12bn for military
cured a pledge by Iran to set long-term limits on its nuclear research. Iran’s low-enriched uranium stockpile will be reduced by 98% to 300kg for 15 years. In a decree published on Monday, President Putin said Russia would support Iranian efforts to export any surplus enriched uranium that is, above the 300kg limit - by sending raw uranium to Iran in exchange. Russia will also help Iran to modernise the heavy water reactor at Arak and to modify two cascades at its Fordo uranium enrichment plant.
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equipment. The PM also said two 5,000-strong “strike brigades” would be created, as it was revealed the cost of renewing Trident could increase by £6bn. The extra spending also includes new F-35 jets and maritime patrol aircraft. Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn said proposed police cuts would reduce UK security. It comes after the prime minister held talks with French President Francois Hollande following the 13 November attacks in Paris, claimed by so-called Islamic State (IS), which left 130 people dead. Mr Cameron said he would make the case to MPs for extending air strikes against IS targets from Iraq into Syria on Thursday. He also announced the replacement of the UK’s four ballistic missile submarines, with the MoD saying the estimated cost has now increased to £31bn.
Trump says US Muslims cheered 9/11
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S Republican presi dential candidate Donald Trump has defended claims that he saw “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the attacks of 9/11. There is no evidence of large-scale celebrations in New Jersey in the wake of the attacks. Mr Trump made the comments first at a rally in Ala-
Belgium charges man over Paris attacks ELGIAN police have charged a man with involvement in the deadly attacks on Paris, the federal prosecutor said. An unnamed individual was one of the five people arrested in raids on Sunday. Two have been released while the remainder are still under
Mr Hollande said: “We will intensify our strikes, choosing targets that will do the most damage possible to this army of terrorists.”
10,000 UK troops to tackle terror attacks
Russia resumes nuclear trade with Iran
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Mali’s president doubts al-Mourabitoun role in attack
inquiry. A further 15 people who were held have now been released, the prosecutor said. The Belgian capital Brussels entered its third day of lockdown on Monday, with security at its highest level amid fears of a Parisstyle attack.
bama on Saturday before reiterating them on TV on Sunday. He has drawn criticism for his calls to increase surveillance of Muslims. “I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down,” he said at the rally. “And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down.” Later on a Sunday morning political talk show, the business mogul said, “There were people were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down”. The mayor of Jersey City, Steven Fulop released a statement later saying “Trump is plain wrong, and he is shamefully politicizing an emotionally charged issue.''
ALI'S president has questioned claims that al-Mourabitoun, an al-Qaeda-linked group, was responsible for last week’s assault on a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako. In his first interview since Friday’s attack that left 27 people dead, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita said despite early speculation, his intelligence service suggested that another group, the Macina Liberation Front, was responsible for it. “Initially it was said that this was the work of alMourabitoun but tonight all indications are it is the Macina Liberation Front who are behind this,” he said. “They’re acting as if Macina was a country or territory that needed to be liberated. At this precise moment I have no more details.” The November 20 assault on the Radisson Blu hotel was the latest in a series of deadly raids this year on
prominent targets in Mali, which has battled various armed groups based in its desert north for years. On Monday, Mali began a three-day mourning period with flags flying at halfstaff.
Members claiming to be part of al-Mourabitoun quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it carried it out “in coordination with Imarat al-Sahra group and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb [AQIM]”.
... State TV shows photos of against the hotel, a masterminds eration favourite of foreign busiMali state television showed images on Monday of two men, apparently dead, that it said were the “authors” of an attack by Islamist militants on a luxury hotel in the capital Bamako and appealed for information as to their identity. Twenty people plus two gunmen died in Friday’s assault on the Radisson Blu hotel. The victims included six Russians, three Chinese, an American, a Belgian, a Senegalese and an Israeli. Jihadist group Al Mourabitoun and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) declared they had carried out the attack in a joint op-
nessmen and diplomats. The pictures on state television were of two young black men, one of them lying on a metal gurney, a trickle of blood running from beneath his left shoulder. The broadcaster appealed for Malians who had any information about them to come forward. The bloodshed, which came a week after Islamic State attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, underlined deepening insecurity in Mali and the difficulties French and U.N. peacekeeping forces are having in stabilising the former French colony.
Tanzanian gold miner dies after rescue
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NE of the five gold miners rescued in Tanzania after being trapped underground for 41 days has died. Onyiwa Morris, 55, had digestive system complications after being admitted to hospital last week, his doctors said. The other four men are still receiving treatment at the Kahama District Hospital, where doctors say their health is improving. The miners survived on roots, soil, and insects after a shaft collapsed, blocking their exit from the mine. Many Tanzanians have been touched by their survival story, turning up at the hospital with gifts. These are likely to be gratefully received, given that many of the men’s possessions had already been shared out among family members, who presumed they were dead, the BBC’s Alice Muthengi reports from Tanzania’s main city
•The late Mr. Morris after he was rescued alongside his fellow miners, who claimed to have survived by eating cockroaches, frogs and other insects.
Dar es Salaam. Many people search for gold in unregulated mines in remote areas of Tanzania in the hope of becoming rich. The
US to sanction four in Burundi over violence
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HE United States will sanction four current and former Burundi government officials, including the minister of public
Kenyan soldiers wounded in blast claimed by al Shabaab
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HREE Kenyan soldiers were wounded, one of them critically, when their vehicle was hit in eastern Kenya by a roadside bomb that the Somali Islamist al Shabaab group said it had planted. The blast in Hulugho, Garissa County, which lies next to the Somali border, shows the group still has the abilitytostageattacksoutside Somalia even though the rebels have been driven out of major strongholds inside
incident took place at a mine in the north-western Shinyanga region, 900km (500 miles) west of Dar es Salaam.
the Horn of Africa nation. Kenya is part of an African Union force that has been battling the Islamist rebels. Al Shabaab has often staged attacks in Kenya and has said it will continue to launch strikes until Kenyan forces leave Somalia. “Three soldiers were injured. One was critical, but (they) were evacuated for medical attention,” Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman, Colonel David Obonyo, told Reuters in a brief message.
security, over ongoing violence in the country, the White House said on Monday. The White House said it has received multiple reports of targeted killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and political repression by security forces in Burundi. The White House said Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza’s pursuit of a third term in office has precipitated the crisis. Thousands initially protested against the president and opposed his reelection in a disputed July vote. Various vigilante units have been formed, and more than 200 people have been killed in violence since April.