Acts of Terrorism megathread

[Duque de Bragança]

Last figure I heard mentioned 28 dead.

Islamic extremists opened fire on the French Embassy and army headquarters in separate attacks in Burkina Faso's capital Friday, killing at least seven soldiers, while eight of the militants were slain, a government official said.
Many others were wounded among the security forces, and it was feared the death toll could rise, said the official, Communications Minister Remy Danjuinou. Five emergency centers were set up in Ouagadougou to treat the high number of casualties in the former French colony.


It was not clear if more militants were involved in the violence, which was called a terrorist attack by Jean Bosco Kienou, director general of Burkina Faso's police, and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. There was no claim of responsibility.

Gunfire and explosions resounded for hours but subsided by midday. Workers fled offices near the site of the violence, and helicopters were seen above the embassy.

Defense and security forces responded to the attacks, police said, and barricades were set up.

Witnesses at the state television offices that face the embassy told The Associated Press that five attackers arrived in a pickup truck and started shooting after shouting, "Allahu Akhbar." They then set fire to the truck and continued shooting, the witnesses added.

The neighborhood also houses other embassies, the prime minister's office and UN offices.

Across central Ouagadougou to the west, heavy smoke rose from the army joint chief of staff's office, where witnesses reported loud explosions.

The assailants there also arrived in a pickup and starting shooting at soldiers, said Moussa Korbeogo, a trader at a nearby market.

"Some of the soldiers ran into a nearby bank to seek shelter. Several were killed outside and inside the premises," Korbeogo said.

French and Burkinabe reinforcements deployed to site of embassy attack, says local reporter Jean-Baptiste Dipama.


Five of the extremists were killed at the embassy and at least three were killed near the army headquarters, according to Danjuinou, the communications minister.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement that Burkina Faso's security forces had been mobilised with the support of the French to "reduce the threat."

A crisis center was set up at the ministry in Paris to monitor the situation, he said, adding that the safety of French citizens in Ouagadougou "is my priority."

The ministry's website recommended that people stay off the streets and remain in a safe place.

One of the poorest countries in the world

Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It shares a northern border with Mali, which has long battled Islamic extremists.

Ouagadougou has been attacked by Islamic extremists targeting foreigners at least twice in the past few years.

In August, extremists opened fire as patrons dined at a restaurant, killing at least 18 people. In January 2016, Islamic extremists attacked another cafe popular with foreigners, killing 30 people.

Security forces struggled to contain the attacks.

Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the 2016 killings along with the jihadist group known as Al Mourabitoun. But the terror threat in Burkina Faso is increasingly homegrown, experts say.


The northern border region near Mali is the home of a local preacher, Ibrahim Malam Dicko, who has claimed responsibility for recent deadly attacks on troops and civilians. His association, Ansarul Islam, is considered a terrorist group by Burkina Faso's government.

Among his objectives has been ending the use of French, the former colonizer's language, in regional schools. Forces backed by the French military have failed to capture Dicko.

Longtime President Blaise Compaore was ousted in a popular uprising in late 2014, and a coup was mounted the following year but ultimately failed. Some critics say the military has suffered during the years of political upheaval.

During the 2016 assault, security forces waited for hours before trying to intervene.

Threats by Islamic extremists also moved into new parts of Burkina Faso in February with an attack by 10 people in an eastern town that killed an officer and wounded two others.

Increased attacks at the border with Mali have forced thousands to flee in the past year. An Australian doctor who had spent decades treating civilians was also abducted along this border and remains missing.

http://www.france24.com/en/20180302-attack-underway-burkina-faso-capital-ouagadougou

[mongers]

Interesting story developing locally, appears police/emergency services took two people to Salisbury hospital yesterday later afternoon. Both are now critically ill. Subsequently a special unit has decontaminated an area outside the hospital and also a place within a shopping complex in the city proper.

Could just be two people overdosing on the zombie drugs overpowered with Fentanyl.  But one of them is a 60+ year old former Russian intelligence agent, who worked for MI6 and was part of a 2010 spy swap. 


edit:
more details:

Critically ill man is former Russian spy

5 March 2018 

A man who is critically ill after being exposed to an unknown substance in Wiltshire is a Russian national convicted of spying for Britain, the BBC understands.

Sergei Skripal, 66, was granted refuge in the UK following a "spy swap" between the US and Russia in 2010.

He and a woman, 33, were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday.

Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury has been closed by police "as a precaution".

The substance has not been identified, but Public Health England said there was no known risk to the public's health.

Wiltshire Police are investigating whether a crime has been committed. They said the pair had no visible injuries but had been found unconscious at the Maltings shopping centre.

They have declared a "major incident" and multiple agencies are investigating. They said it had not been declared as a counter-terrorism incident, but they were keeping an "open mind".

Col Skripal, who is a retired Russian military intelligence officer, was jailed for 13 years by Russia in 2006 for spying for Britain.
Sergei Skripal: Who is the former Russian colonel?

He was convicted of passing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe to the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.

Russia said Col Skripal had been paid $100,000 for the information, which he had been supplying from the 1990s.

He was one of four prisoners released by Moscow in exchange for 10 US spies in 2010, as part of a swap. Col Skripal was later flown to the UK.

He and the woman, who police said were known to each other, are both in intensive care at Salisbury District Hospital.

A number of locations in the city centre were cordoned off and teams in full protective gear used hoses to decontaminate the street.

The hospital advised people to attend routine operations and outpatient appointments unless they were contacted. It said its A&E department was open but busy because of the weather.

On the restaurant closure, police said Public Health England had reiterated the advice that there was no known risk to the wider public, but as a precaution advised that if people felt ill they should contact the NHS on 111.

"If you feel your own or another's health is significantly deteriorating, ring 999," police said.

Neighbours at Sergei Skripal's home in Salisbury say police arrived around 17:00 GMT on Sunday and have been there ever since.

They said he was friendly and in recent years had lost his wife.

Eyewitness Freya Church told the BBC it looked like the two people had taken "something quite strong".

She said: "On the bench there was a couple, an older guy and a younger girl. She was sort of leant in on him, it looked like she had passed out maybe.

"He was doing some strange hand movements, looking up to the sky...

"They looked so out of it I thought even if I did step in I wasn't sure how I could help."

.....

Full item here:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43295134

[DGuller]

So what's the deal with all these assassinations in Britain?  Do the British politicians go "Thank you for your blood money, please come again, and help yourselves to some exiles, just don't draw attention to yourselves.  ".  Or is there some diplomatic proocol that requires you to declare each assassination of an exile as suicide?  Whatever the reason, the British are not coming off looking great in all of this.

[DGuller]

So it was a nerve agent, and one of the cops is also in a coma.  I don't know how nerve agents work, but I imagine that being in a coma for that long probably means eventual death or vegetative state.  Will that be enough for the Brits to finally fight back against Russian assassins on its soil?

[Eddie Teach]

For a Russian agent, you sure are critical of Russian methods. 

[DGuller]

For a Russian agent, you sure are critical of Russian methods. 

I'm old school, I believe in being covert.

[mongers]

Given where I live and my background, odd that I should be the Languishite nearest, in time and space, to a nerve agent attack. 

[dps]

My money's still on Timmay.

[mongers]

My money's still on Timmay.

Yeah, inevitable. 

[Razgovory]

For a Russian agent, you sure are critical of Russian methods. 

I'm old school, I believe in being covert.

Now they are going investigate a several unexplained deaths that happened recently.

[mongers]

For a Russian agent, you sure are critical of Russian methods. 

I'm old school, I believe in being covert.

Now they are going investigate a several unexplained deaths that happened recently.

I didn't realise his statistical expositions were that deadly dull.

[Eddie Teach]

I've never really paid attention. For all I know, he's just an accountant posing as an actuary.   

[katmai]

The serial bomber who was terrorizing Austin area is apparently dead. Killing himself once he was cornered.

[jimmy olsen]

24 year old white man. 

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/21/us/austin-explosions/index.html

[Razgovory]

"very fine people on both sides"!