Extrajudicial Killing: Police Gun Down 26 Suspected Cultists in Rivers State, Nigeria

PORT HARCOURT – At least twenty six suspected cultists have been reportedly killed by men of the Rivers state Anti Robbery Squad, SARS , in  a forest around Obesemini community in Egi part of Ogba Egbema Ndoni local government area.

FBI Admits No Major Cases Cracked with Patriot Act Snooping Powers

FBI agents can’t point to any major terrorism cases they’ve cracked thanks to the key snooping powers in the Patriot Act, the Justice Department’s inspector general said in a report Thursday that could complicate efforts to keep key parts of the law operating.

Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz said that between 2004 and 2009, the FBI tripled its use of bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows government agents to compel businesses to turn over records and documents, and increasingly scooped up records of Americans who had no ties to official terrorism investigations.

The FBI did finally come up with procedures to try to minimize the information it was gathering on nontargets, but it took far too long, Mr. Horowitz said in the 77-page report, which comes just as Congress is trying to decide whether to extend, rewrite or entirely nix Section 215.

Backers say the Patriot Act powers are critical and must be kept intact, particularly with the spread of the threat from terrorists. But opponents have doubted the efficacy of Section 215, particularly when it’s used to justify bulk data collection such as in the case of the National Security Agency’s phone metadata program, revealed in leaks from former government contractor Edward Snowden.

The new report adds ammunition to those opponents, with the inspector general concluding that no major cases have been broken by use of the Patriot Act’s records-snooping provisions.

“The agents we interviewed did not identify any major case developments that resulted from use of the records obtained in response to Section 215 orders,” the inspector general concluded — though he said agents did view the material they gathered as “valuable” in developing other leads or corroborating information.

The report said agents bumped their number of bulk-data requests under Section 215 from seven in 2004 to 21 in 2009 as a result of technological advances and legislative changes that the intelligence community believed expanded the reach of the law.

Increasingly, that meant scooping up information on those who weren’t targets of a terrorism investigation, Mr. Horowitz said. He said that while Section 215 authority allows the government to do that, the FBI needed more checks to make sure it was using the power properly.

“While the expanded scope of these requests can be important uses of Section 215 authority, we believe these expanded uses require continued significant oversight,” he concluded.

The report was an update to a previous study done in 2008 that urged the department to figure out ways to minimize the amount of data it was gathering on ordinary Americans even as it was targeting terrorists.

In Thursday’s report Mr. Horowitz said the administration finally came up with procedures — five years later. He said it never should have taken that long but that he considers that issue solved.

The report was heavily redacted, and key details were deleted. The entire chart showing the number of Section 215 requests made from 2007 through 2009 was blacked out, as was the breakdown of what types of investigations they stemmed from: counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cyber or foreign intelligence investigations.

Section 215 of the Patriot Act is slated to expire at the end of this month. The House, in an overwhelming bipartisan vote, passed a bill to renew it but also to limit it so the government could no longer do bulk collection such as the NSA phone data program. That legislation is known as the USA Freedom Act.

But Senate Republican leaders have balked, insisting the NSA program and Section 215 should be kept intact as is.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is leading the fight to protect the NSA program, is counting on his opponents not being able to muster the 60 votes needed to pass the bill, leaving them with the choice of either extending Section 215 or seeing all of the powers expire — including those that would go after specific terrorist suspects. Mr. McConnell believes that, faced with that choice, enough of his colleagues will vote to extend all of the powers.

FBI Director James B. Comey asked Congress this week to make sure Section 215 and two other parts of the Patriot Act, also slated to expire at the end of the month, are preserved. Those other powers include the ability to target lone wolf actors and to switch wiretaps if suspects switch their phones.

As for Section 215, Mr. Comey said Congress should at least preserve the power to go after individuals’ records.

“If we lose that authority, which I don’t think is controversial with folks, that is a big problem,” he said Wednesday at a forum at the Georgetown University Law Center.

But most of the Section 215 debate has revolved around bulk collection. Earlier this month a federal appeals court ruled that the Patriot Act does not envision the kind of phone program the NSA has been running, which gathers and stores five years’ worth of records of the numbers, dates and durations of calls made in the U.S.

For anti-bulk surveillance advocates, Thursday’s report further undermines Section 215.

“This report adds to the mounting evidence that Section 215 has done little to protect Americans and should be put to rest,” said American Civil Liberties Union Staff Attorney Alex Abdo.

Bulk data collection creates false leads, ties up investigative resources and, essentially, undermines national security, said Stephen Kohn, an attorney at Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, LLP and advocate for government whistleblowers. Also, increased FBI dependency on that bulk data collection indicates that the agency is lacking the appropriate resources for conducting successful counterterrorism operations, Mr. Kohn said.

“They have a large amount of agents who are working counterterrorism that have no human resources, no leads, no infiltrations, so they have nothing else to do,” he said. “In other words, when they staffed up and made [counterterrorism] a major priority, these agents need to do something. And they’re doing what they know to do, and that’s electronic surveillance.”

But former FBI agents said opponents wanted to callously cripple one of the government’s investigative agencies by depriving it of a critical data collection tool at a time of new terror threats.

“ISIS is singing a siren song, calling people to their death to crash on the rocks — and it’s the rocks that ISIS will take credit for,” said Ron Hosko, president of Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund and former assistant director of the FBI. “They’re looking for those who are disaffected, disconnected and willing to commit murder. So if we’re willing to take away tools, OK, congressman, stand behind it [and] take the credit for putting the FBI in the dark.”

Source:
Washington Times

BREAKING: Muslim Youths Burn Sharia Court To Protest ‘Blasphemous Comments’

Hundreds of Muslim youths have burnt the sharia court located at Rijiyar Lemo area of Kano, Kano state, in protest of “blasphemous comments” made by Abdul Nyassect, a leader of the Tijjaniyya sect.

Accident Investigation Bureau Releases Report Identifying Causes of 4 Accidents on Nigerian Airspace

The Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has released the final reports of the investigations carried out on four accidents that occurred within the Nigerian airspace.

How Nigeria Turned A Corner Against Boko Haram

After five years of insurgency, the military has made significant gains on the battlefield. But now the battle for peace must begin, says Max Siollun. The Nigerian army has recaptured all of the major towns occupied by Boko Haram in recent months, and rescued nearly 1,000 kidnapped women and children. It claims to have destroyed several of the militants’ camps, pursued the group into the Sambisa forest and arrested those suspected of supplying food and fuel.

Boko Haram: 579 Officers, Soldiers Are Facing Military Court Martial - Nigerian Army

ABOUT 579 officers and men of the Nigerian Army are facing court martial for various offences. The Acting Director of the Department of Army Public Relations (DAPR), Colonel Sani Usman, who disclosed this at the monthly press briefing yesterday, in Abuja, also said the trials are taking place in two locations: One, “at the Army Headquarters (AHQ) Garrison where there are 473 officers, and ranks and also at 81 Division where 106 are docked.

CIA Declassifies Documents Retrieved From Osama Bin Laden Raid

US intelligence officials have released a collection of documents they said were recovered during the 2011 raid on the compound in Pakistan where US forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

Ranking of World Cities Facing ‘Extreme’ Terrorism Risks – Verisk Maplecroft

People are more likely to experience terrorism in Baghdad than in any other city in the world, while Bristol is ranked at higher risk than London, according to a new report. The report, which ranks 1,300 cities and commercial centres, says terrorism poses an "extreme risk" in the capitals of 12 countries, including Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan - based on what happened over the last six years.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Pushing for Abortions on Babies of Girls Raped, Impregnated by Boko Haram

In Nigeria, the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, has released women and girls from captivity and some are pregnant. Since 2009, the terrorist organization has been capturing, raping and sometimes forcing girls to marry in Nigeria. For example, in 2014, they abducted 500 girls from the northern part of the country, of which 276 were from a secondary school.

Male Suicide Bomber Kill 9 At Garkida Cattle Market, Adamawa State

YOLA – A suspected male suicide bomber Tuesday afternoon attacked the Garkida cattle market in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State.

How Untaxed Cigarettes Can Lead To Funding Terrorism

I’d like you to introduce you to Theophilus Burroughs. You’ve actually met him already. He’s the former Stuyvesant High School music teacher who allegedly decided a few years ago that he wanted to be one of those lone-wolf terrorist types.

How Boko Haram Cultivates Girls for Suicide Bombing Missions - Chilling Story

One of the women freed by soldiers from Boko Haram’s captivity, Meriam, 36, has narrated how Boko Haram terrorists trained and prepared girls and women for suicide missions.

Nigerian military says it destroyed 10 Boko Haram camps

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's military destroyed 10 Boko Haram camps in the country's remote northeast on Sunday as it pressed on with an offensive against militant Islamist fighters now confined to a final hideout there, the army said.

Wanton Kidnappings Continue in Ekiti As 3 More Women Are Abducted

Adding  to the orgy of kidnap that had hit Ekiti State in recent past, three women, whose identities were yet to be unveiled by security agencies were on  Friday afternoon  abducted by unknown gunmen.

They were said to have been kidnapped  with their husbands and unspecified number of children along Igbole-osi road while travelling in a Toyota RAV 4 Sports Utility Vehicle to Ibadan, Oyo State, for a wedding.

The spate of kidnaps has prompted Governor Ayo Fayose to cry out to the Inspector general of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase to quickly come to the aid of the state to stem the evil act and ensure that people in the state had confidence to go about their normal business.

Sources revealed that their captors later dropped the men and the children while the women were driven away in the car after collecting the phones and other valuables of the victims.
The wailings of the husbands and children allegedly attracted sympathisers who came to their aid.

The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the report to our correspondent.

"The Divisional Police Officer in Ido called in today to give the report about the kidnapped women. We have already launched investigation into the case but I can't speak about it," he said.

The whereabouts of the women remained unknown while contact had not been established with the families as at press time.

It will be recalled that no fewer than five people, including a former Chief Medical Director of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Dr Patrick Adegun, a senior nurse at the Federal Teaching Hospital Ido Ekiti, Mrs Margaret Aladenika and a lecturer of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, had been kidnapped in the last two weeks in the state..

  Fayose’s letter calling for  Arase’s special intervention to stem the spate of kidnappings that has hit the state in the last few weeks was dated May 15,  and personally signed by the Governor.

According to a statement in Ado-Ekiti on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, the governor promised the people that the situation would soon be put under control.
The letter read in part, "It is with great concern that I am appealing to you to help in our quest for a lasting solution to the spate of kidnappings and abductions in our dear state. The development has created fear in the minds of our people and no meaningful development can take place under such atmosphere.

"As a responsible government, we are taking all necessary steps to curtail and put an end to these dastardly acts, and we believe a special attention from your office on the matter to our state would no doubt, lead to finding a quick solution to the problem"

Source:
ThisDay Newspaper

Boko Haram Recaptures Border Town of Marte in Borno State

The Boko Haram terrorist group on Friday recaptured Marte, a border town in the northern part of Borno State.

Security sources said members of the terrorist group, who fled Sambisa forest, had now regrouped in Marte.

Borno State Deputy Governor, Alhaji Zannah Mustapha, also confirmed the recapture of the town by Boko Haram terrorists during a press conference in Maiduguri.

“It is sad as we have been made to understand that Marte is today (Friday) completely fallen under the control of the insurgents, which to us is a very huge setback,” he said.

Mustapha raised the alarm that 600 women and girls had been dispatched by the terrorists as suicide bombers with the aim of causing multiple explosions in Maiduguri.

The deputy governor urged residents to be patient with the security agencies in spite of the attendant hardships caused by the dusk to dawn curfew imposed on Maiduguri.

He said, “It is unfortunate that we are experiencing yet another attack in Maiduguri at this time that we are thinking that the insurgency should have subsided following the taking over of Sambisa forest by the military.

“Our thinking was that every other place should have been blocked so that the insurgency would be curtailed to a restricted area, but that has not been the case because the insurgents have been fleeing to other communities.

“Initially, we were opposed to the suggestion by the military, but when we received a security report that about 600 women have been kitted as suicide bombers and are to be sneaked into Maiduguri during the attack, couple with the gory pictures of some of the women who detonated themselves during the attacks, we had no option than to okay the curfew.

“But the curfew has been relaxed from noon to about 5pm to ease the hardship and afterwards it may be reviewed. Our government is going to do everything possible by supporting the military to ensure that Maiduguri and other parts of Borno State are not attacked or taken over by the insurgents.”

The capture of Marte happened as soldiers sustained the 24-hour curfew imposed on Maiduguri, the Borno state capital on Thursday after Boko Haram terrorists attempted an invasion of the city on Wednesday night.

Source:
Punch Newspaper