Nine killed as al-Qaeda attacks south Yemen town

At least nine people have been killed in an attack by al-Qaeda militants on security and government buildings in the south of Yemen, officials say.

The official Saba news agency said car bombs were used in the dawn assault on the town of Bayda, which was repelled.

There were conflicting reports about how many troops and militants had died.

Al-Qaeda's local offshoot reportedly targeted security forces in Bayda because it saw them as sympathetic to Shia rebels who recently overran Sanaa.

The jihadist group has vowed to fight the Shia Houthis in defence of Sunnis.

"Your heads will fly off," it threatened the rebels, alleging that the deadly violence in the capital last month was the "outcome of a Persian plot", a reference to the Houthis' links to regional Shia power Iran.

Premiership dispute
On Tuesday, the Houthis rejected President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi's nominated candidate to take over as prime minister, potentially jeopardising a peace deal.

Mr Hadi said the appointment of Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak had been agreed by all parties, but a rebel statement said it was not "consensual" and "makes a mockery of Yemen's independence and sovereignty as well as the will of the people".

Houthi rebels deployed on the streets of Sanaa on 7 October 2014
Houthi rebels are patrolling the streets of Sanaa despite agreeing to withdraw from the capital
Senior rebels had previously told the Associated Press that they objected to the choice of Mr Mubarak because he was a close associate of the president.

The 46-year-old businessman-turned-politician led an effort by Yemen's various factions to devise a political roadmap for the transition to democracy launched after President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to step down by a popular uprising in 2011.

Under the deal brokered by the UN after the Houthis took control of the capital on 21 September, Mr Hadi agreed to reverse the unpopular fuel subsidy cuts he introduced in July, form a new "technocratic national government", and appoint advisers nominated by the rebels.

In return, the rebels were supposed to withdraw from Sanaa and other northern cities, and hand over their weapons to the authorities within 45 days. However, armed Houthis were still deployed outside government buildings in the capital late on Tuesday.

The Houthis have staged periodic uprisings since 2004 in an effort to win greater autonomy for their northern heartland of Saada province.

Iran rebels ambush security forces near Pakistan border

Rebels killed three members of the Iranian security forces in a violence-plagued southeastern region near the border with Pakistan, state news agency IRNA reported.

The attack happened on Wednesday afternoon in the border province of Sistan-Baluchistan.

"Armed rebels called the police emergency line and when members of the security forces went there they were killed in cold blood," General Hossein Rahimi, head of the provincial security forces, was quoted as saying.

Sistan-Baluchistan, which has a large Sunni Muslim community in an otherwise predominantly Shiite country, often sees violence involving Sunni extremists and drug smugglers.

Last month an Iranian soldier was killed and two pro-government militiamen were wounded in an attack blamed on the Sunni extremist group Jaish-ul Adl (Army of Justice).

The same group captured five Iranian soldiers in February, four of whom were released in April. The fate of the other man remains unknown.

Kakav je u Afganistanu ? Nisam nešto upućen.

In the past decade more than 3,000 Iranian border guards have been killed in gun battles with drug-smuggling gangs, but in recent years the fighting has grown more sectarian.

Tijekom proteklog desetljeća više od 3000 iranskih graničara ubijeno je u puškaranjima s bandama krijumčara droge, a zadnjih godina borbe su poprimile izrazitiji sektaški značaj.

How Tunisia became a breeding ground for jihadists

The liberal standard-bearer of the Arab Spring has become the biggest recruiter of jihadist fighters

By Louisa Loveluck, Tunis 7:10AM GMT 04 Nov 2014

It is just the sort of neighbourhood that Tunisia’s revolution was meant to help. Douar Hicher’s concrete flats are filled with young men and women who drove the uprising that kicked off the Arab Spring of 2011, hoping to usher in a new era of opportunity.
But something has gone wrong. These few square miles of dusty sprawl in the capital, Tunis, have not welcomed the western-style freedom that many thought the Tunisian revolution was supposed to usher in. Instead, it has become notorious for another sort of revolution: at least 50 of its young men are now fighting with the jihadists in Syria and Iraq.
“Jihad is an Islamic obligation,” says 30-year old Abdelmoneim as wanders through the backstreets. “If it was organised for me, I'd go."
Several of Abdelmoneim’s friends travelled to fight in Syria last year. “Seeing their photos on Facebook, I cannot blame them,” he says. “Life is good there.”

Nestled in Africa’s northern crest, Tunisia is often hailed as a lone Arab Spring success story. As much of the region was wracked by fighting, a week ago Tunisians went to the polls for the second free parliamentary vote since the fall of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

But the country also stands out for another reason – it is now the largest source of foreign fighters joining the Islamic State (Isil) and other extremist groups in Syria and Iraq. By some estimates, the number could be as high as 3,000. US officials say the total number of foreign fighters is around 16,000.

In March, an fighter from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant named as Abu Anas al Tunisi – Abu Anas the Tunisian – carried out a suicide attack on an Iraqi government complex, disguised in military uniform. Photos on Isil-linked social media accounts show groups of hoodie-clad Tunisians, smiling and clutching their guns.

Radicalised Tunisians have also been found with jihadist groups in Algeria, Iraq, Libya and Mali.

Dating back to the repressive days of Ben Ali, jihadist recruitment networks have found fertile ground in neighbourhoods like Douar Hicher, where joblessness and frustration remain acute. Four years after the revolution, Tunisia's notoriously brutal police force has not changed its stripes, and young men in poor areas across the country still suffer disproportionately from its aggression. Torture in custody remains endemic.

“Syria is an escape. These boys are told they can make thousands by travelling there,” says 28-year old Ayman Zamali, surveying the crowd around a nearby mosque where residents say Ansar al-Sharia, a jihadist group that has encouraged its followers to join an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, has built considerable support.
“The preachers set their passions alight with superficial ideas of religion," says Mr Zamali. “They’re being brainwashed.”

Ironically, the freedoms of the Arab Spring aided the rise of Ansar al-Sharia and other extremist groups. Tunisia’s moderate Islamist-led government granted new religious and political freedoms after half a century of forced secularisation, a novelty that hardliners exploited.

A number of Tunisian militants returned from jihadist theatres abroad, and others were freed from the country’s jails, along with others who had been radicalised inside.

Among them were the leaders of Ansar al-Sharia, which announced its formation in April 2011. The group focused on winning support within poor communities by providing local services. Independent hardline preachers, some with limited formal religious training, also built followings of their own.

At the same time, the moderate Islamist Ennahda party was keen to bring Tunisia’s ultraconservative salafist movement into the political system after years of repression. While the vast majority remained peaceful, a violent minority rallied publicly against perceived slights on their faith.

In June 2012, the Tunisian authorities were forced to institute a night-time curfew in the capital and seven other areas, after protesters hurled rocks and gasoline bombs at police stations, a courthouse and the offices of secular parties.

In 2013, the government cracked down hard on religious extremism, and Ansar al-Sharia were banned after the assassination of two leftist political leaders. Local media now harangues against domestic terrorism, winning public support for a wider crackdown that has affected Salafists across the country.

But fighters continue to flow to Syria, even with the most visible recruiters forced underground. Many are groomed online.
“The Arab revolutions raised an expectation that wasn't met – people thought their lives would improve, but instead they got worse,” says Imen Triki, a lawyer who has represented or advised over 70 Tunisian fighters on their return.

“In Syria, they are told they’ll get houses, they’ll get wives. These people are so alienated from our society that some choose this option in a heartbeat.”

Yet Tunisia’s jihadist problem transcends its class divide. One woman, interviewed by The Telegraph on condition of anonymity, spoke of the shock of learning that her cousin has left to fight in Syria in December 2012. “We thought it could happen to others, but not to us,” she said, describing her family as middle class leftists. “It broke us inside.”

Gunmen Attack Military Bus in Tunisia, Kill 4
TUNIS, Tunisia — Nov 5, 2014, 1:08 PM ET

Tunisia's Defense Ministry says gunmen have attacked a bus carrying soldiers and their families in the mountainous northwest region, killing four service members and wounding 11 people.

Ministry spokesman Rachid Bouhoula said the attack took place near El-Kef, part of the rugged border region with Algeria.