Category Archives: Gun-violence

Erdogan says Kurdish militants will be ‘annihilated’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East – Armenian Genocide Deja Vu – The Turkish Caliphate Sticks Again!

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Kurdish militants Dec. 15 that “you will be annihilated,” and pledged that Turkish security forces will continue their massive military assault on Kurdish towns in southeastern Turkey until they are “completely cleansed and a peaceful atmosphere established.”Metin Gurcan reports that the escalation in military operations in towns where Kurdish militants associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) have taken hold has increased the possibility of a civil war.

Source: Erdogan says Kurdish militants will be ‘annihilated’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

California Clergyman Shot By Instructor During Gun Safety Class: SFist

When the pastor of a Modesto church went to a firearms safety class, he was reportedly hoping to protect himself “from potential dangers.” But the dangerous situation found him, when the instructor of the course appeared to confuse his demonstration gun with his real one, and shot the clergyman in the classroom.Tom Smith is the “Family Life Pastor” at The House Modesto, a seemingly massive Christian church in the Central Valley city. He was a student at a firearms-related self-defense class at Modesto’s Personal Protection Institute on December 5 when, Fox 40 reported Tuesday night, the instructor of the course shot him during “a role-playing scenario.”According to the Modesto Bee, instructor Phillip Rushing had used “a training gun, a rubber fake with no firing mechanism,” during the class, but “as the class was ending…he removed that prop from his holster and replaced it with his real handgun.”That’s when a student asked Rushing how to manage an attacker armed with a knife. Smith volunteered to play the attacker role and “During the scenario, the instructor drew the firearm and it accidentally discharged,” Modesto Police Department spokesperson Heather Graves says.Smith was struck on his right side just above his hip, Fox 40 reports, and has been in the hospital ever since.

Source: California Clergyman Shot By Instructor During Gun Safety Class: SFist

Turkey intensifies military operation against Kurds | News | DW.COM |{Turkish Genocide Part Two – After the Armenians, the Kurds become target for Turkish Ethnic Cleansing by death?}

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to continue the operations and pursue the militants “neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house, and street by street.””We will turn … every piece of our homeland into an area of peace, stability and freedom,” the premier said on Tuesday.The conflict between the PKK and Ankara has killed over 40,000 people since 1984. The Kurdish minority, which comprises 15 percent of Turkey, complains of systematic discrimination by the state.The renewed violence also coincided with two general elections in Turkey this year; in the first, a pro-Kurdish party cleared the prohibitive 10-percentle hurdle to win seats in parliament. Davutoglu’s ruling AK Party, unwilling or unable to form a coalition afterwards, ultimately called a fresh ballot – whose build-up was overshadowed by clashes between the PKK and the military. Second time around, the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) fell short of the 10 percent of the vote needed to enter parliament.Escalating violenceThe army offensive in Turkey’s southeastern towns has angered the residents as they protest against search operations, curfews and barricades set up by the authorities.Three police officers were killed in a roadside bombing on Tuesday. Ankara blamed the attack on Kurdish rebels based in the Diyarbakir province. The attack came after two Kurds were shot dead on Monday during violent clashes between local Kurds and security forces in the Sur district of Diyarbakir.

Source: Turkey intensifies military operation against Kurds | News | DW.COM | 16.12.2015

The jihadist of the Islamic State behead three well-known imams in Mosul – Fides News Agency

Mosul (Agenzia Fides) – The self-styled Islamic State of jihadists (Daesh) beheaded three well-known Sunni imams in Mosul in the public square accused of not obeying orders that forced them to recruit young people for the Jihad. The three imams, known by the local people for their profile of authentic men of God: Kazim Abdulkarim, Bilal al- Sheikh Agha and Abdullah al-Hayalli, had opposed to the atrocities committed by jihadists in the name of their bloody religious ideology. They were killed on Monday, December 14, in front of dozens of people gathered to witness the beheading. On the same day – report local sources to ARA Kurdish News Agency, also Ashwaq al-Nouaymi was murdered, a professor of Mosul who refused to give his students the teachings included in the new school curriculum imposed by Daesh.Already in June 2014, a few days after having conquered Mosul, jihadists of Daesh had killed many Sunni imams of the city, including the Grand Imam, for refusing to swear allegiance to the Islamic Caliphate. The slaughter of the imam in Mosul was virtually ignored by the Western media. All Christians in the second Iraqi city managed to escape, and their houses were expropriated by jihadists.

Source: The jihadist of the Islamic State behead three well-known imams in Mosul – Fides News Agency

Young people vote far-right in Europe | Europe | DW.COM | 14.12.2015

Rudolf van Hüllen, a political researcher and expert on right-wing extremism, believes that young people in Germany don’t fall for the NPD in droves, because the country does a good job educating them about the horrors of the last time a far-right regime was in power during the Third Reich. Starting prevention early, he says, is key.”That’s what makes youth and young adults less susceptible to any form of extremism: right-wing, left-wing and Islamism,” van Hüllen told daily “Die Welt.” “I see encouraging success there. It’s a strong and self-confident generation that’s growing up today.”Still, the NPD is also aiming to garner more support among young people by shedding its skinhead neo-Nazi style .

Source: Young people vote far-right in Europe | Europe | DW.COM | 14.12.2015

Spain arrests man known as ‘The Nurse’ for forced abortions on Colombia rebels | World news | The Guardian

Montealegre said there was evidence that Farc fighters used forced abortions to avoid losing female fighters “as an instrument of war”. In the past the Farc has denied forcing women and girls to undergo abortions and said contraception is provided to female fighters in their ranks.Spanish police said that according to Colombian authorities, victims of “The Nurse” had been raped by Farc fighters and included at least 50 underage girls. Some were forced to abort in the late stages of pregnancy.Most of the abortions were carried out between 1998 and 2000, the police added.

Source: Spain arrests man known as ‘The Nurse’ for forced abortions on Colombia rebels | World news | The Guardian

Humans of New York

“This is a photo of me right before the war came. Maybe my parents knew the war was coming, but they didn’t tell me. I wouldn’t have understood. I didn’t even know the meaning of war. Bombs started falling all around us. We lived very near one of Saddam’s castles. My mother told us: ‘It will be very loud, but nothing bad will happen to us. We will all be here together.’ Many houses in our neighborhood were destroyed, but I’d close my ears and sing songs whenever the bombs came close. In the cartoon shows, the good always wins, so I thought that we were good and nothing would happen to us. Then one day I heard a big sound and I saw that my best friend Miriam’s house had been destroyed. We walked to school together every day. I went to see if she was OK and I saw Miriam on the ground. She didn’t have any legs and she was screaming and I can still hear that sound now. They pulled me away but I saw everything. I don’t think it was good for a child to see this.”

(Gaziantep, Turkey)

Source: Humans of New York

ISIS launches app to spread terror agenda – Times of India

For IS, social media is prominent in formulating recruitment strategies.According to theconversation.com, Facebook is a key platform to gather young fans, supporters and recruits to incite them to acts of violence by the means of propaganda and the use of Islamic grievance.When it comes to real-time orchestrating of terror strikes, IS network works with encrypted messaging applications — including Kik, Surespot, Wickr and Telegram — that are very difficult to hack.

Source: ISIS launches app to spread terror agenda – Times of India

Israel attacks West Bank college twice in one week | The Electronic Intifada

The Israeli army attacked the Palestine Technical University in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem twice this week.Nine Palestinians were shot Thursday as Israeli soldiers tried to suppress a protest on the campus. On Monday, five students had to be hospitalized for gunshot wounds.Known as Kadoorie, the university has been subject to a series of such attacks since early October, when students began organizing marches against the Israeli occupation.Live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas have all been fired by Israel during the attacks.Twenty students have been detained so far, the International Solidarity Movement stated last week.None of the students has been released.Military campThe university is located next to the massive wall that Israel is building in the West Bank. According to the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, Israel confiscated 200 dunums (50 acres) from Kadoorie to build the wall and another 23 dunums (5.5 acres) for a military training camp within the campus.Israel has also established a military checkpoint at the university’s entrance. The attacks have been so severe that the university has had to close on occasions.Students have also reported that Israeli soldiers have pointed their guns directly at them, giving the impression that the soldiers were about to open fire.When a number of students responded to such threatening behavior in October by throwing stones and fireworks at the military training area, the Israeli soldiers fired large quantities of tear gas into the university.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBw1rIhIC5s

Source: Israel attacks West Bank college twice in one week | The Electronic Intifada

Easy Access To Firearms, Main Cause Of Shootings In The U.S. | La Prensa San Diego

According to a new study made public by the U.S. Mass Shooting Tracker, there have been three hundred and fifty-five shootings in the U.S., most of them in public spaces. The last fifteen years have seen the worst massacres in the country’s history. Most of them have been perpetrated by teenagers, for reasons never to be known, but easy access to firearms in the U.S. has been the common denominator leading to these events.Fifteen thousand people are killed by firearms annually in the United States; according to statistics, eighty-eight percent of its population owns a gun or some other firearm, and political analysts believe that gun ownership has become a part of U.S. culture. The ensuing political debate has come to the point that President Barack Obama has spoken in favor of amending laws the law in order to keep these tragedies – such as the one in San Bernardino, which took place at a rehabilitation center last Wednesday, December 2nd, when a young Pakistani couple ended the life of fourteen people, and left over two dozens more injured – from happening again.

Source: Easy Access To Firearms, Main Cause Of Shootings In The U.S. | La Prensa San Diego