ISIS Has Sent 400 Fighters to Attack Europe, Officials Say

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The Islamic State group has trained at least 400 fighters to target Europe in deadly waves of attacks, deploying interlocking terror cells like the ones that struck Brussels and Paris with orders to choose the time, place and method for maximum carnage, officials have told The Associated Press.

The network of agile and semiautonomous cells shows the reach of the extremist group in Europe even as it loses ground in Syria and Iraq. The officials, including European and Iraqi intelligence officials and a French lawmaker who follows the jihadi networks, described camps in Syria, Iraq and possibly the former Soviet bloc where attackers are trained to attack the West. Before being killed in a police raid, the ringleader of the Nov. 13 Paris attacks claimed he had entered Europe in a multinational group of 90 fighters, who scattered “more or less everywhere.”

But the biggest break yet in the Paris attacks investigation — the arrest on Friday of fugitive Salah Abdeslam— did not thwart the multipronged attack just four days later on the Belgian capital’s airport and metro that left 31 people dead and an estimated 270 wounded. Three suicide bombers also died. (Read more from “ISIS Has Sent 400 Fighters to Attack Europe, Officials Say” HERE)

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Fears Grow for Priest ‘Kidnapped by ISIS’

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By Ruth Halkon. Fears are growing for a priest believed to have been kidnapped by ISIS as sickening reports suggest he may be crucified on Good Friday.

Father Tom Uzhunnalil was seized when four armed militants stormed an old people’s home in Aden in Yemen on March 4.

The gunmen killed 16 people, including four nuns, in the brutal attack on the home run by the in a brutal raid which killed 16 people including four nuns.

No group has come forward to claim responsibility for the kidnap of the priest, who was a member of the Silesian order in of Bangalore, India, but a survivor said ISIS was to blame.

Now reports shared on social media suggest the priest faces being brutally tortured this Friday as Christians mark the day Jesus died. (Read more from “Fears Grow for Priest ‘Kidnapped by ISIS'” HERE)

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Quantity of Explosive Found in Belgium Surprises Officials

By C. J. Chivers. The announcement by the Belgian authorities that they had confiscated more than 30 pounds of the explosive TATP from a dwelling used by the attackers in Brussels was, in some ways, an expected development. But it contained one detail that bomb-disposal technicians and security officials regarded with surprise: the quantity of the particular explosive involved.

TATP, also known as triacetone triperoxide, is a white, crystalline explosive also used in the attacks in Paris in November, though it caused few casualties compared with the terrorists’ assault rifles. Highly unstable and sensitive to shock, friction and heat, it breaks down quickly in air. And while it can be made with basic chemistry skills and relatively simple equipment, it is more dangerous and tedious to manufacture than a commonly used fertilizer-based explosive, ammonium nitrate, which an American official, citing intelligence shared by Belgium, said the attackers had also used.

Unlike ammonium nitrate, TATP is typically seen in small quantities, not in the tens of pounds. One American official who had reviewed the intelligence related to the bombs in France and the newer intelligence from Belgium said the recovery of more than 30 pounds indicated an increased capacity since the Paris attacks. And that figure did not include any explosive actually used in the bombs that killed 31 people on Tuesday. (Read more from “Quantity of Explosive Found in Belgium Surprises Officials” HERE)

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What Was Heard Seconds Before Brussels Attack Confirms The Worst

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Echoes of shouting in Arabic rang out in the Brussels airport moments before two explosions ripped through a departure area, the Belgian news agency Belga has reported.

The news agency also reported that shots were fired just before the two blasts took place that left up to 20 dead. The overall death toll from explosions at the airport and a Brussels subway station was 34, with more than 130 injured.

“There were two explosions in the departure area, one probably caused by a suicide bomber,” said Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw. Police reported finding a Kalashnikov assault rifle next to one dead attacker at the airport. A suicide vest found in the airport was later detonated by police.

Airport worker Alphonse Youla, 40, told Reuters a man was yelling in Arabic before the first blast. “Then the glass ceiling of the airport collapsed” . . .

“This was no doubt a warning strike to European leaders and there may be more to come,” said Natasha Underhill, an expert on terrorism in the Middle East at Nottingham Trent University. “The group has time and time again issued statements that it will have no mercy in targeting those who are supporting the U.S. and who are fighting against the group.” (Read more from “What Was Heard Seconds Before Brussels Attack Confirms the Worst” HERE)

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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Brussels Terror Attacks

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By Morgan Chalfant. A series of coordinated terror attacks in Brussels Tuesday have put Belgium on its highest threat level alert and sparked the U.S. Embassy there to warn American citizens in the city to shelter in place.

Multiple explosions targeted two locations in Brussels Tuesday morning. Two blasts struck a departure hall of Brussels Airport in Zaventem, and one occurred at the Maelbeek subway station.

The subway station is close to the offices of the European Union in central Brussels. At least one of the attacks is believed to have been the result of a suicide bomber.

Officials have confirmed that at least 31 people were killed in the attacks and 187 injured. Belgian media reports have indicated that the death toll has been elevated to 34.

“The level [of] threat in Belgium has been raised to 4 (maximum alert) with special emphasis on transport hubs, airports, stations, and nuclear plants,” Prime Minister Charles Michel said Tuesday. (Read more from “ISIS Claims Responsibility for Brussels Terror Attacks” HERE)

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Belgian Terrorists Can Still Enter US Without a Visa

By Adam Kredo. Leading lawmakers identified Belgium as a hotspot for terrorism months ago and are warning that many of the radicalized individuals living there are still able to travel to the United States without first obtaining a visa and undergoing thorough security checks.

Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Washington Free Beacon Tuesday afternoon that current flaws in the U.S. visa waiver program—which facilities travel to the United States from partner nations including Belgium—have created a loophole that could permit radicalized individuals to legally enter the United States with minimal background checks.

DeSantis is warning of these flaws on the heels of deadly mass terrorist attack in Brussels on Tuesday that has killed at least 30 and wounded hundreds more.

“The visa waiver reform, this is something we have been perusing and the [Obama] administration has brushed us off at every turn,” DeSantis said, explaining that current policy does not mandate more strenuous checks on individuals identified as coming from terrorist hotspots, such as the small Belgian town of Molenbeek, which has emerged as a principal training site for jihadists.

“It’s the case that if those folks are citizens of Belgium they qualify for the visa waiver program and can hop on a plane and get here,” he added. “Clearly, that is not adequate given what happened.” (Read more from “Belgian Terrorists Can Still Enter US Without a Visa” HERE)

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Cuban Refugees Flocking to Texas Border

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The same week President Obama makes the first trip to Cuba by an American president in almost 90 years, The Rolling Stones will play a free concert in Havana — the first open-air show there by a British rock band.

But changing times in the Communist country haven’t stopped tens of thousands from fleeing the island and saying gimme shelter to American immigration officials at Texas land ports.

From October 2015 to February 2016, more than 18,500 Cubans arrived at Texas’ Laredo field office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes ports from Del Rio to Brownsville. If that trend continues, it will shatter last year’s numbers for the same ports, when a record 28,371 crossed. During the 2015 fiscal year, more than 43,150 arrived at the 20 CBP field offices in the United States that process immigrants. More than half — 25,800 — arrived in only the first five months of the current fiscal year.

The president’s visit to Cuba Monday was the latest step in his mission announced in late 2014 to normalize relations with the Castro regime.

“I’ve come to Havana to extend the hand of friendship to the Cuban people,” Obama said in a statement Monday. “I’m here to bury the last vestige of the Cold War in the Americas and to forge a new era of understanding to help improve the daily lives of the Cuban people.” (Read more from “Cuban Refugees Flocking to Texas Border” HERE)

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Marine Is Second U.S. Combat Death in Fight Against ISIS

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A U.S. Marine was killed in a rocket attack by Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in northern Iraq on March 19, the Pentagon reported.

“Earlier today a U.S. Marine providing force protection fire support at a recently established coalition fire base near Makhmur in northern Iraq was killed after coming under ISIL rocket fire,” the Pentagon said. “Several other Marines were wounded and they are being treated for their varying injuries.”

It was the second U.S. combat death in the fight against the terrorist organization.

Makhmur, which is 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) southeast of ISIL’s Iraqi stronghold in Mosul, lies within territory controlled by the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan, but Baghdad has recently been deploying federal forces there to prepare for a siege on Mosul . . .

While the U.S.-led coalition’s main role in the fight against ISIL is to provide air support, the U.S., France, Britain, Australia and Italy also have significant contingents deployed on the ground in Iraq. Their official role is to train and advise local Iraqi forces. (Read more from “Marine Is Second U.S. Combat Death in Fight Against ISIS” HERE)

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MISUNDERSTANDERS OF ISLAM: Violence and Riots Break out in Molenbeek After Paris Terror Suspect’s Arrest

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The most wanted terrorist in Europe, considered the mastermind in November’s multi-targeted attack in Paris that left 130 people dead, was arrested Friday by Belgian authorities.

But residents in the Molenbeek district of Brussels, where Saleh Abdeslam was captured, didn’t breathe a sigh of relief. Within hours, the district, which has a majority Muslim population, erupted into riots. Dozens of Abdeslam’s fans attacked police with bottles, stones, and other objects, local press reported, angered by the arrest of their “hero.”

The situation is developing.

Worse yet, Belgian newspaper De Morgen reported that “the whole neighborhood” knew where Abdeslam was ever since the Paris attacks. Nobody tipped off authorities.

The violence and code of silence over Abeslam’s hideout is not as surprising as it might seem. As we’ve noted previously, the Paris attacks were hatched in Molenbeek, in addition to the 2015 attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s offices. (Read more from “MISUNDERSTANDERS OF ISLAM: Violence and Riots Break out in Molenbeek After Paris Terror Suspect’s Arrest” HERE)

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Flydubai Plane Crashes in Russia; 62 Aboard Reported Dead

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A passenger jet circled a southern Russian airport in high winds and poor visibility before making a second, fatal attempt at landing Saturday, killing all 62 people aboard.

The flydubai Boeing 737 jet crashed at the Rostov-on-Don airport after traveling from Dubai, Russia’s Southern Regional Emergency Center said Saturday.

All those on board Flight FZ981 died, Russian state news agency Tass reported, citing an official at the emergency center. (Read more from “Flydubai Plane Crashes in Russia; 62 Aboard Reported Dead” HERE)

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China Acquiring U.S.A. One Company at a Time

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What’s the best way for a country like China to exert its influence over the U.S. economy? Acquire American-owned companies like Chinese-owned Haier just did when they purchased General Electric’s (GE) appliance business for $5.4 billion . . .

America can no longer claim to be an independent nation when our manufacturing base is under foreign ownership or foreign control. After all, ownership equals control, and control equals sovereignty. We lose our sovereignty as a nation when foreign companies buy our land, factories, and companies.

How so? Because the more Chinese and other foreign companies establish ownership of American assets, plants and factories, the more they have the right to demand how our U.S economy is run, because how it is run affects them, too.

So since GE’s appliance business (not the entire company) is now under foreign ownership and therefore foreign control, what options are left for patriotic American consumers who want to keep profits, jobs, and tax revenue within the borders of the United States?

Whirlpool just happens to be the only remaining major American-owned appliance company in the United States, and we need to support them with our consumer dollars when we shop for appliances. Whirlpool owns such popular brands as Maytag, Amana, KitchenAid, and Jenn-Air. (Read more from “China Acquiring U.S.A. One Company at a Time” HERE)

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U.S. Student Sentenced to 15-Years Hard Labor in North Korea

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An American tourist cried hysterically in a North Korean courtroom Wednesday after a judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison with hard labor on a subversion charge, as US officials demanded his release and the White House announced tough new sanctions on the insular Southeast Asian state.

Otto Warmbier admitted to attempting to steal a propaganda banner from a restricted area of his hotel at the request of an acquaintance who wanted to hang it in her church.

Warmbier, a 21-year-old University of Virginia undergraduate student, was convicted and sentenced in a one-hour trial at the North’s Supreme Court.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the sentence was ‘unduly harsh’ and urged North Korea to pardon Warmbier and release him on humanitarian grounds.

‘Despite official claims that U.S. citizens arrested in the DPRK are not used for political purposes, it’s increasingly clear from its very public treatment of these cases that the DPRK does exactly that,’ Toner told reporters, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. (Read more from “U.S. Student Sentenced to 15-Years Hard Labor in North Korea” HERE)

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