US brands Foley beheading a ‘terrorist attack’

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <header class="post-header cf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 21px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="featured" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 14px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/james-foley-cnn.jpg" itemprop="image" rel="prettyPhoto" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="US brands Foley beheading a ‘terrorist attack’"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="Journalist beheaded" class="attachment-main-slider wp-post-image no-display appear" height="336" src="http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/james-foley-cnn-702x336.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out; border: 0px; height: auto; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; opacity: 0.8; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.4s ease-in-out; vertical-align: baseline;" title="US brands Foley beheading a ‘terrorist attack’" width="702" /></span></a></div> <h1 class="post-title" itemprop="name" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 35px 0px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 18px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">US brands Foley beheading a ‘terrorist attack’</span></span></h1> </header><div class="post-container cf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="post-content-right" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div class="post-content description" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px -1.857em; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(WASHINGTON DC, U.S)</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Washington has declared the beheading of an American journalist a “terrorist attack”, upping the stakes in its confrontation with the Islamic State (IS) group, as militiamen gunned down 70 people at an Iraqi mosque.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The apparent revenge attack at the mosque in Diyala province Friday will increase already significant anger among Iraq´s Sunni Arab minority with the Shiite-led government, undermining an anti-militant drive that requires Sunni cooperation to succeed.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">It came as the US, which is carrying out airstrikes against IS, ramped up its rhetoric over the grisly killing of journalist James Foley, which was carried out by the terrorist group and shown in a video posted online.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In Washington, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said the beheading of Foley “represents a terrorist attack against our country”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Rhodes also said that paying ransoms to free hostages is “not the right policy”, confirming Washington´s long-standing position amid claims from IS that other countries had paid to have their nationals freed.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In an unanimous statement Friday, the UN Security Council strongly condemned Foley´s murder as “heinous and cowardly”.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Army and police officers said the attack on the Musab bin Omair Mosque in Diyala Friday came after Shiite militiamen were killed in clashes, while other sources said it followed a roadside bomb near one of their patrols.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Doctors and the officers put the toll from the attack, in which worshippers were sprayed with machine gun fire, at 70 dead and 20 wounded.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Two officers had earlier blamed IS for the attack, but the preponderance of accounts point to militiamen.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The government turned to militiamen to bolster its flagging forces during the IS offensive, sparking a resurgence of groups involved in brutal sectarian killings in past years that will be difficult to dislodge.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ibrahim Aziz Ali, whose 25-year-old nephew was among those killed, told he and other residents heard gunfire and rushed to the mosque, where they were fired on by snipers.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“We found a massacre” at the mosque, he said.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Five vehicles with images of revered Imam Hussein were parked at the mosque, Ali said, adding that residents clashed with the militiamen who withdrew when the Iraqi army arrived.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Iraqi premier designate Haidar al-Abadi issued a statement calling for unity and condemning the killings, which may complicate the already-contentious process of forming the country´s next government.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">US Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that Washington would back a federal system in Iraq.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Writing in a Washington Post opinion piece, Biden pointed to “functioning federalism” as an approach to breach the divisions in the country. Biden is a longtime supporter of the plan under which Iraq would be divided into three semi-autonomous regions for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, respectively.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 1.857em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">(<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">AFP</em>)</span></div> <div id="adscontainer" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 1.857em; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <div style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

US brands Foley beheading a ‘terrorist attack’

US brands Foley beheading a ‘terrorist attack’ (WASHINGTON DC, U.S) Washington has declared the beheading of an American journali...

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