Japan knife attack: At least 19 dead and 45 injured at care center in Sagamihara

Nineteen people were killed in a knife attack at a treatment center for people with mental disabilities in the city of Sagamihara, outside Tokyo, Japan.

Such attacks is very rare in Japan, the incident is the worst mass killings in decades.

The suspect has been identified as Satoshi Uematsu, a 26-year-old former employee at the Tsukui Yamayuri En (Tsukui Lily Garden) facility in Sagamihara in kanagawa prefecture, about 40km southwest of Tokyo. He left his job in February.

Local police said that he sent a handwritten letter to politicians in February in which he threatened to kill hundreds of people with disabilities. He was kept in hospital for nearly two weeks before being released.

Staff at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en facility called police at 2.30am local time to report a man with a knife inside the building.

Nineteen people have been killed and up to 25 people injured and 20 people in a serious condition after a mass stabbing attack. Nine women and 10 men aged between 19 and 70 were among the dead, making this the worst mass killing in the country since the second world war.

The injured have been taken to at least six hospitals in western Tokyo.

After apparently breaking into a care facility at around 2.10am local time on Tuesday to carry out a mass stabbing, the suspect turned himself in to police. He has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and trespassing, an official from Kanagawa prefecture said.

He reportedly said that he wanted people with disabilities t "disappear".

The attack has shocked Japan, one of the safest countries in the world.

Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said it was "very heartbreaking and shocking incident in which many innocent people become victims."

source:

theguardian

 

Ansbach explosion: Syrian blows himself up outside German music festval

A 27-year-old Syrian man, who faced deportation to Bulgaria a year ago, blew himself up with a backpack bomb outside a crowded music festival in southern Germany, city of Ansbach and injured 12 people on Sunday.

About 2,500 people were evacuated from the venue after the explosion.

A spokeswoman for the Bavarian state police force said on Monday, it was unclear wether the men were Islamic militant, and that the investigations is continuing.

German newspaper, Die Welt, quoted the Bavarian Interior Minister, Joachim Herrmann, previously said, "my personal view is that it is unfortunately very likely that Islamic suicide attack is actually happening here."

Ansbach blast is reported to have occured around 10.10pm, outside Eugens Weinstube bar in the city center, which has a population of 40,000, southwest of Nuremberg and is home to a U.S. military base. Police said, three of the 12 wounded were in a serious condition.

The bomb exploded near the entrance to the Ansbach Open music festival.

A witness, Thomas Debinski, reported "panic" after the explosion, although some people think it was caused by a gas explosion.

"Then people came past and said it was a backpack that has exploded," he told Sky News.

The offender had been in treatment after twice before tried to commit suicide, though the blast on the Sunday night was more than just "a pure suicide attemp", an Islamic link can not be ruled out, Herrmann told reporters earlier.

"It's terrible...that someone who came to our country to seek refuge now had committed a heinous act and injured a large number of people who are at home here, some seriously," Herrmann added in a press conference on Monday morning.

Security services have sealed off the city center and experts are trying  to establish the kind of explosives used by bomber.

source:

BBC News

Police arrested the wife of Santoso, 18 terror suspects still at large

Jakarta-Indonesia. Members of a joint team of military and police has participated in the Operation of Tinombala have detained the wife of former leader of East Indonesia Mujahidin, Santoso, in the Tambarana area in Poso, Central Sulawesi on Saturday, July 23.

"We have received a report that Jumiatun Muslimayatun, Santoso's wife, has been arrested by a patrol of the task force. The evidence is still being examined. The suspect is currently in Poso," said Brig.Gen. Eddy hartono, chief of the National Police anti-terrorism Detachment 88.

He said, the are only 18 members of the group of Santoso who are still on the run. These include Basri and Ali Kalora, which is called as a replacement of Santoso.

Santoso and one of his men, Muchtar, were killed in the crossfire between the armed forces, with a five members of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) in Tambarana on Monday afternoon. three others escaped, a man and two women.

Police suspect that the people who are fled was Basri and his wife, and the wife of Santoso, Jumiatun.

source:

JakartaGlobe

Munich shooting, terrorism strikes Germany

A shooting at Munich that killed nine people was conducted by a gunmen who then killed himself, German police said.

The suspect was an 18-year-old German-Iranian dual national who lived in Munich, opened fire in a crowded Munich shopping mall and a nearby McDonald's, the chief of police in the Bavarian capital said on Saturday, but his motive was still "fully unclear".

Sixteen people were injured and three were in critical condition, police added.

Police gave a "cautious all clear" early on Saturday morning, more than seven hours after the attack began and brought much of the city standstill as all the public transport systems has been shut down amid a massive manhunt.

The body of the suspect was found about 1km (0,6 miles) from the Olympia shopping center in the north-western suburb of Mosach, and he appeared to have acted alone.

Munich police chief, Hubertus Andrae, told a news conference that the suspect's body was found about 2 1/2 hours after the attack and was determined to be the shooter based on witness statements and closed circuit television footage of the attack. The shooter was not previously known to police and there was no evidence of any links to terrorist organisations.

Witnesses had reported seeing three men with firearms near the Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall, but the police chief said, two other people who fled the area quickly were investigated but had "nothing to do with the incident".

First report of the shooting came in just before 6pm, local time on Friday. Witnesses said the attacker opened fire on people at a fast food restaurant in Hanauer Street before moving to the nearby Olympia shopping center.

After gunfire broke out at the mall, one of Munich's largest, the city sent a smartphone alert declaring an "emergency situation" and telling people to stay indoors, while all rail, subway and trolley service was halted in the city.

While police initially called the mall shooting an act of terrorism, they said they had "no indication" it involved Islamic extremism and at least one witness said he heard a shooter shout an anti-foreigner slur.

"The question of terrorism or a rampage is tied to motive, and we don't know the motive," Andrae said. "We can't question the suspect, so this is all a little more difficult."

Andrae also said inquiries suggested the suspect had lived in the city for more than two years and is not thought to have been known to law enforcement agencies.

Chief of staff of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Peter Altmaier, told national television, "we can not rule out that it is linked to terrorism, but we can not confirm it either, we are also investigating in this direction."

Police urged the public to avoid speculation on social media and to desist from using photos or video of their deployments online.

German security forces have been on alert since a teenage migrant stabbed and injured five people on a train in Bavaria on Monday, in an attack claimed by so-called islamic state.

The authorities had warned of the danger of further incidents.

Germany's allies rallied to give their support after Friday's attack.

U.S. President, Barrack Obama said, The U.S. would provide "all the support they need in dealing with this situation."

French President, Francois Hollande offered his "sympathy and support to the German people in this difficult hour".

British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, said he was "shocked and appalled" by the attack.

"We are ready to assist our friends in Gemany," he added.




source:
The Daily Telegraph 

Twitter crackdown after online abuse of "Ghostbusters" actor

Twitter Inc late on Tuesday permanently suspended a number of user accounts for harassment, vowing to redouble its efforts to quickly thwart abusive behavior and block repeat offenders from the social media site.

The move appeared to be a response to abuse and harassment that Ghostbusters actor, Leslie Jones, who is black, said on Monday had become so severe that she was quitting the service.

Jones retweeted and shared several abusive tweets she received on Monday before telling her 250,000 followers, "I leave Twitter tonight with tears and a very sad heart. All this cause I did a movie. You can hate the movie but the shit I got today....wrong."

Jones also shared some of the racist tweets targeted toward her, many of which compared her to an ape. User YellowArmedlmposter wrote, "Your Ghostbusters isn't the first to have an ape in it," which Jones shared with the comment, "I just don't understand."

Among those banned was Breitbart tech editor, Milo Yiannopoulos, a conservative who has been a provocative figure on Twitter for years and was accused by Jones and other Twitter users of feeding the abuse.

After Jones blocked him on Twitter, Yiannopoulos tweeted a screenshot of her page and wrote, "rejected by yet another black dude." He is also accused of sharing a racist tweet from an account purportedly belonging to Jones, according to the screenshot in a news article.

In a CNBC interview on Wednesday, Yiannopoulos denied sending sexist or racist tweets to Jones, and said the only "proof" was that he teased the actress on Twitter because he didn't like her movie. He added that he was not responsible for other people's tweets.

"I used to wonder why some celebs don't have Twitter accts now I know," she wrote in one tweet. In a separate post, she added, "Twitter I understand you got free speech I get it. But there has to be some guidelines when you let spread like that."

source:

Dailymail

A Frenchman was detained to barging into Cirebon Military Base in search of Pokemon

Jakarta, Indonesia

A 27-year-old French citizen, Romain Pierre, temporarily be detained by the police for unlawfully entering a military base in Cirebon, West Java, in search of Pokemon when playing Pokemon Go on his smartphone on Monday evening, July 18, an official said.

West Java police spokesman, Senior Commissioner. Yusri Yunus, said Pierre found by the security officers was walking inside the military base at around 11pm after jumping a fence to get into the compound.

Pierre fled when officers tried to question him. He then caught and detained by Cirebon police.

"According to his statement, the man was playing Pokemon Go on his cell phone and doing some evening jogging around the base. He was in Cirebon for business survey," said Yusri on Tuesday morning.

Pierre was released several hours later after police finished checking his immigration documents and his employer promised that he would not go to a military base again.

"The military base is a closed and vital facilities. You have to obtain an official permit to enter the area,"said Yusri.

Recently, security officials have voiced concerns about possible security breaches that can be caused by playing this game, which apparently collects data from the camera and the location map of the smartphone.

The House of Representatives has scheduled a meeting this month with the Minister of Communications, Rudiantara, to discuss the impact and dangers of playing Pokemon Go.

source:
JakartaGlobe

Islamic State flag 'found in the room of suspected German train attack'

A hand-drawn ISIL flag was found in he room of an Afghan teenager who attacked passengers on a train in nothern Bavaria, Germany, with an axe on Monday evening. Five people were injured.

Police shot dead the suspect, a 17-year-old Afghan refugee, as he attempted to flee the scene. The assault in Wurzburg was the latest suspected terror attack to shock Europe following the atrocity in Nice last Thursday.

The attacker was said to have been carrying "weapons for slashing and cutting", according to German media reports, including an axe.

The Bavarian interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said on Tuesday morning that the attacker apparently shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) as he stabbed people.

Herrmann told ZDF television, the alleged attacker came to Germany two years ago as an unaccompanied minor, and applied for asylum in March. He had lived at first in a shelter untill two weeks ago, then more recently with a foster family in nearby Ochsenfurt.

Three people were "seriously injured," 14 people were left in shock, and one other person suffered minor injuries. Among those injured, were four member of a Hong Kong family.

"After passengers managed to alert the driver, the train was stopped in the Heidingsfeld district of Wurzburg. The perpetrator was able to leave the train, police left in pursuit and as part of this pursuit, they shot the attacker and killed him," said a spokesman for the Wurzburg police.

An eyewitness who lives next to the train station told DPA news agency, that the train which was carrying about 25 people looked "like a slaughterhouse" after the attack, with blood covering the floor.

The man who declined to give his name, said he saw people crawling out of the train and asked for first-aid while the other victims lying on the floor inside.

No further details about the circumstances of the teenager's death, and the police refused to reveal the motives behind the attack.

"At this time everything is possible," the spokesman said.

The Wurzburg attack was on a train travelling from the Bavarian town of Treuchtlingen to Wurzburg, which is about 60 miles northwest of Nuremberg. The line was closed.

source:

The Telegraph News