• Car bombs kill at least two in Russia's Dagestan

    AFP - Getty Images

    Police investigators work at a blast site outside a building used by court officials in central Makhachkala, Russia, on Monday. At least eight people were killed and more than a dozen injured in twin car-bomb blasts.

    By Steve Gutterman, Reuters

    MAKHACHKALA, Russia - Two car bombs killed at least two people on Monday in Dagestan, a turbulent province in Russia's North Caucasus region where armed groups are waging an Islamist insurgency. 

    The mother of the two brothers suspected of the Boston Marathon bombing has told ITV News that her sons went to the event last year. Her chilling admission comes a day after her youngest son was charged with the crime in hospital. From her home town in Dagestan, ITV's Martin Geissler reports.

    Car bombs, suicide bombings and firefights are common in Dagestan, at the centre of an insurgency rooted in two post-Soviet wars against separatist rebels in neighbouring Chechnya. 

    Investigators initially said eight people had been killed by the successive blasts in the provincial capital Makhachkala, but law enforcement officials later put the death toll at two and said more than 20 people had been wounded.

    Both explosions were near the headquarters of the court bailiffs' service and appeared to have been detonated by remote control, said the federal Investigative Committee, a Russian state agency.

    Twisted wreckage of a car could be seen near the building, which was cordoned off by police.

    The main suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings in the United States, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, lived in Dagestan with his family about a decade ago and visited the region last year.

    The visit by Tsarnaev, who was shot dead by U.S. police after the April 15 bombings that killed three people and wounded 264 others, is being scrutinised by U.S. investigators for signs of ties with insurgents.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered law enforcement authorities to ensure insurgents do not attack the 2014 Winter Olympics next February in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, which is close to the North Caucasus.

    Most of the wounded and the two dead were caught by the second of Monday's explosions, a few minutes after the first, the investigators said.

    Insurgents in the North Caucasus have often sought to increase casualties by setting off an initial blast to attract law enforcement officers and then detonating a second bomb.

    Dagestan, an ethnically mixed, mostly Muslim region between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea, has become the most violent province in the North Caucasus, where insurgents say they are fighting to carve out an Islamic state out of southern Russia.

    At least 405 people were killed in Dagestan in violence linked to the insurgency last year, according to the Caucasian Knot website, which tracks developments in the region.

    Putin launched the second war in Chechnya as prime minister in 1999 and likes to take credit for preventing the region from splitting from Russia. But his 13 years in power have been marred by deadly attacks claimed by or blamed on the insurgents.

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    This story was originally published on Mon May 20, 2013 9:06 AM EDT

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  • Nigeria sends jets, attack helicopters to war against Islamist militants

    Tim Cocks / Reuters, file

    Nigerian forces gather Monday in the Islamist stronghold of Maiduguri. Soldiers poured in this weeek before the military on Friday launched a major offensive against the insurgents.

    By Lanre Ola, Reuters

    MAIDUGURI, Nigeria -- Nigerian forces used jets and attack helicopters to bombard Islamist militant camps in the northeast on Friday, in their biggest military offensive since Boko Haram launched an uprising in 2009.

    "A number of insurgents have been killed," the defense headquarters spokesman said, including at the Sambisa game reserve in Borno state, the epicenter of the insurgency.

    "It is not just Sambisa. Every camp is under attack. But we have not done the mopping-up operations on the ground to determine the numbers killed," Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade said by telephone. Another military source, who declined to be named, said at least 30 insurgents had been killed.

    Nigerian forces are trying to regain territory controlled by increasingly well-armed Boko Haram Islamist insurgents in their northeastern stronghold states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, put under a state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday.

    More troops arrived in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, on Friday, witnesses said.

    "I saw more than 20 trucks loaded with soldiers fully kitted for battle towards Marte. I wish them luck in ending this BH (Boko Haram) madness," resident Ahmed Ibrahim said by telephone.

    Beyond the region covered by the state of emergency, gunmen stormed a police station and a bank, the army said, a sign the offensive could provoke violence by smaller militant cells across the north.

    Boko Haram, other Islamist militant groups such as al-Qaeda-linked Ansaru and associated criminal gangs have become the biggest threat to stability in Africa's top oil-producing nation.

    Thousands have been killed since Boko Haram launched an uprising almost four years ago in an effort to create an Islamic state in a country of about 170 million split roughly equally between Christians, who are the majority in the south, and Muslims, who predominate in the north.

    Violence has mostly happened far from the commercial hub, Lagos, or political capital, Abuja, and hundreds of miles away from oilfields in the southeast.

    Military jets, helicopter gunships and thousands of troops are involved in the current offensive, which may answer some critics who accuse Jonathan, a southern Christian, of underestimating the severity of the crisis in the Muslim north.

    Rights groups are concerned the state of emergency will lead to more abuses they have document by Nigerian forces.

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  • 54 killed, 90 wounded in attack on Afghan compound

    Reuters

    Still image from April 3, 2013 video footage shows damage at the site of an attack by Taliban suicide bombers at a courtroom in Farah province in western Afghanistan.

    By John Newland, Staff Writer, NBC News

    At least 54 people were killed and 90 others wounded Wednesday in an insurgent attack on a government compound in western Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters were facing trial, local officials said.

    Nine insurgents with explosives strapped to their bodies stormed the compound in Farah province, bordering Iran, Reuters reported. Explosions were followed by protracted gun battles.

    The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

    Among the dead were 35 civilians, 10 members of the Afghan Security Forces and the nine suicide attackers, Mohammad  Akram  Khpalwalk, governor of Farah province, said.

    More than 50 people were killed in a militant attack on a government compound in western Afghanistan. NBCNews.com's Ron Allen reports.

    Most of the 90 to 95 people wounded were civilians, said Dr. Abdul Jabaar, the head of the hospital where victims were taken.

    The attack was the deadliest single assault in the country since 2011.

    President Hamid Karzai called the attack "genocide" against fellow Afghans and said a delegation would be sent Thursday to begin an investigation and to assist victims and their families.

    "Once again, terrorists shed the blood of our innocent people who went as individuals to local institutions for their work in Farah province," Karzai said in a statement.

    He pledged that the perpetrators would be accountable to the nation for the killings.

    NBC News' Jamieson Lesko and Akbar Shinwari contributed to this report.

     

    This story was originally published on Wed Apr 3, 2013 11:21 AM EDT

  • Muslim insurgents launch raid on Thai military base; 16 militants slain

    Tuwaedaniya Meringing / AFP - Getty Images

    Thai police stand guard after a suspected insurgent attack at a military base in southern Thailand on Wednesday. Scores of heavily armed gunmen stormed the base in a major assault that left 16 militants dead.

    By Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Reuters

    BANGKOK -- A pre-dawn raid on a Thai military base ended with 16 militant Muslim insurgents killed on Wednesday in the deadliest violence in the country's south in nine years, marking a dangerous escalation in one of Asia's least-known conflicts.

    Acting on a tip-off, marines lit flares and opened fire as up to 60 insurgents wearing military fatigues approached the base at about 1 a.m. local time in Narathiwat province on the Malaysian border, Internal Security Operations Command spokesman Pramote Phromin said. No Thai military members were hurt.

    Violence is common in Thailand's south, but the scale of the attack and targeting of a marine base illustrate the difficulty Buddhist-majority Thailand faces in preventing the low-intensity Muslim insurgency from turning into a more dangerous conflict.

    Surapan Boonthanom / Reuters

    Thai security personnel investigate around bodies of insurgents at the site of an attack on a military base in the troubled southern province of Narathiwat on Wednesday.

    Although there is no indication of the fighting spreading beyond the provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, just a few hours' drive from some of Thailand's most popular tourist beaches, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra appears powerless to quell the almost daily gunfights and bomb attacks.

    "It was only going to be a matter of time before this type of incident happened," said Anthony Davis, a Thailand-based analyst at security consulting firm IHS-Jane's.

    "The insurgents have been moving towards larger attacks on military bases since 2011. At the same time, there has been more proactive security intelligence work."

    Experts say the insurgency is becoming better organized. Wednesday's death toll was the biggest since security forces stormed a mosque, known as the Krue Se mosque, in 2004, killing 32 Muslims in a raid that intensified the insurgency.

    Since then, more than 5,300 people have been killed in the three provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, where insurgents are seeking greater autonomy.

    About 94 percent of the region's 1.7 million people are Muslim, the main religion in neighboring Malaysia and in nearby Indonesia, and about 80 percent of them speak a Malay dialect as a first language, according to a 2010 survey by the Asia Foundation.

    In recent weeks, attacks have appeared bolder. Five soldiers were killed by suspected insurgents on Sunday. That followed a spate of attacks on civilians, including one this month in which four fruit traders from outside the region were found shot dead with their hands and legs bound.

    The government is considering imposing a curfew in parts of the south, where the military already has wide-ranging powers of search and arrest under an emergency decree.

    Related:

    Journalist gets 10-year prison sentence for insulting Thai king

    Drug-resistant malaria in Thailand threatens deadly global 'nightmare'

    Car crash politics: Laws don't touch rich in Thailand

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Top US general's aircraft hit by rocket-fire in Afghanistan

    General Martin Dempsey was not on board at the time of the rocket attack, but the damage forced him to use another plane for Tuesday's flight to Iraq. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    By NBC News's Atia Abawi and wire reports

    Updated at 6:40 a.m. ET: An aircraft used by U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Martin Dempsey was damaged by rocket-fire at an airbase outside Kabul, Afghanistan, NATO said on Tuesday. The general was not on board at the time and no one was injured.

    At around 1 a.m. (4:30 p.m. ET) on Tuesday, insurgents fired rockets or mortars into the base airfield, a source in Bagram Air Field told NBC News.  Two landed  in the air field, with one of them hitting the plane used by Dempsey, the source added. 

    Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images

    Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey (C) poses at NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters in Kabul on Monday.


    Meanwhile, NATO's mission in Afghanistan confirmed that the plane had been damaged by incoming fire, saying it had been hit by "shrapnel from an indirect fire round."

    "The round was one of two that impacted Bagram last night. An ISAF helicopter was also damaged," the ISAF statement added.

    Photos: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    "(Dempsey) was nowhere near the aircraft. We think it was a lucky shot," NATO senior spokesman Col. Thomas Collins told Reuters.

    A new plane was brought in for Dempsey and he and his crew departed later in the morning.

    The aircraft was only being used temporarily by Dempsey and his staff. 

    Bagram targeted
    Dempsey had been in the country on a two-day visit for talks with NATO and Afghan commanders on a string of recent rogue shootings. 

    Bagram is occasionally targeted with rockets and mortar shells fired by insurgents from surrounding hills and fields. 

    What's leading Afghan troops to turn on coalition forces?

    Sporadic attacks also occur at NATO's other main airbase in Afghanistan, Kandahar Airfield, in the volatile south, although they rarely cause deaths or major damage. 

    Before leaving Afghanistan, Dempsey met his Afghan counterpart, General Sher Mohammad Karimi, who raised the issue of insider attacks by rogue forces that have killed 10 American troops in the past two weeks. 

    "In the past, it's been us pushing on them to make sure they do more," he said on Monday. "This time, without prompting, when I met General Karimi, he started with a conversation about insider attacks -- and, importantly, insider attacks not just against us, but insider attacks against the Afghans, too." 

    NBC's Atia Abawai explains what's behind the worsening attacks on U.S. military personnel by Afghan security and military to NBC's Andrea Mitchell.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Seven killed in attack on NATO base in Afghanistan

    By Atia Abawi, NBC News

    KABUL, Afghanistan -- Insurgents attacked a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan Friday, killing at least seven Afghan security forces and injuring 12 others, local police said.

    The attack began when a truck rammed the gates of forward operating base Salerno in Khost province and then the explosives it was carrying detonated.

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    Baz Ratner / Reuters

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

    The blast was followed by small arms fire between the insurgents and the international forces.

    Number 2 al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan killed in NATO airstrike

    NATO said the situation was under control and troops were clearing the area to make sure no insurgents remained in the vicinity.

    Afghan family, including six children, killed in NATO air strike

    It did not confirm if NATO forces had sustained casualties.

    NYT: No end to drug traffic in sight as US nears Afghanistan exit 

    Violence has surged across Afghanistan since the Taliban began its yearly summer offensive in April, vowing to target Afghan government and security forces, as well as the 130,000 foreign troops in the country.

    Reuters contributed to this report.

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  • Pakistan opposition leader: War on terror creating extremists

    The man who aims to become Pakistan's next president, Imran Khan, claims the West's strategy has caused nothing but trouble for Pakistan in the last ten years. He told ITN's Mark Austin there has to be a political not military solution and that Iran had to be involved in any talks.

    The West's policies in Pakistan are pushing the country's population toward extremism, says Imran Khan in this interview with Britain's ITN. To achieve a lasting peace, authorities need to talk to the Taliban, he says.

    Khan is not only a powerful politician -- he also served as captain of the country's cricket team and was married to British celebrity Jemima Khan (née Goldsmith).

  • US halts $700 million in aid to Pakistan, demands action on Taliban bombs

    By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

    Story updated 8:35 a.m. ET:

    A senior Pakistani official told NBC News the United States' decision to cut aid to Pakistan would only contribute to the growing sense of anti-Americanism within the population.

    He said the cut would deepen the perception within Pakistan that U.S. interests extend so far as its own foreign policy goals and would "strengthen our resolve to formalize and renegotiate our terms of engagement with USA."

    Following the NATO crossborder strike on November 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, military and government officials in Pakistan have called for a reassessment of the relationship with the U.S.

    The Army Chief issued new rules of engagement for his ground troops and commanders, granting them "full liberty" to respond with force if ever under attack, without any form of higher clearance.

    Story published 5:35 a.m. ET:

    ISLAMABAD - The United States has frozen $700 million in aid to Pakistan until it gets assurances that Islamabad is helping fight the spread of homemade bombs, a move likely to further strain ties between the countries.

    A Congressional panel halted the payment to Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country that is one of the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid, late on Monday as part of a wider review of defense spending.

    Calls are growing in the U.S. to penalize Islamabad for failing to act against militant groups and, at worst, helping them, after the secret U.S. raid on a Pakistan garrison town in which al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed in May.

    At least two dozen Pakistani troops along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border were killed by NATO aircraft, straining already tense relations between the U.S. and Pakistan. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.

    Homemade bombs, or improvised explosive devices (IEDs), are among militants' most effective weapons against U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan as they struggle to fight a resurgent Taliban insurgency.

    Many are made using ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer smuggled across the border from Pakistan.

    The freeze on U.S. aid was agreed as part of a defense bill that is expected to be passed this week.

    The U.S. wants "assurances that Pakistan is countering improvised explosive devices in their country that are targeting our coalition forces," Representative Howard McKeon, a House Republican, told reporters.

    The U.S. has allocated some $20 billion in security and economic aid to Pakistan since 2001, much of it in the form of reimbursements for assistance in fighting militants.

    Although the frozen $700 million is only a small portion of aid to Pakistan, it could presage even greater cuts.

    Harm to Pakistan-US relations
    Salim Saifullah, chairman of Pakistan's Senate foreign relations committee, warned that relations, which are already at a low point, could worsen further following the decision, by the U.S. House-Senate panel.

    "I don't think this is a wise move. It could hurt ties. There should instead be efforts to increase cooperation. I don't see any good coming out of this," Saifullah told Reuters.

    There have been many proposals to make U.S. aid to Pakistan conditional on more cooperation in fighting militants such as the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani network, which Washington believes operates out of Pakistan and battles U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

    The White House is being careful in its response in part because officials don't have all the facts. NBC's Kristen Welker talks to NBC's Lester Holt about the balancing act.

    But Pakistan's civilian leaders have in the past warned against aid cuts, saying it would only harden public opinion against the U.S.

    Pakistan says it is doing all it can to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban and has lost thousands of soldiers since it joined the U.S.-led war in 2001, some of them at the hands of coalition troops.

    Islamabad has accused NATO of deliberately killing 24 Pakistani soldiers in an air strike near the Afghan border last month and shut down supplies for foreign troops in Afghanistan in anger.

    The decision to freeze aid could prompt Pakistan to harden its stance toward Washington.

    "I think the Pakistan side will understand the type of signal that is coming, which shows it's not only a question of aid," said former general and security analyst Talat Masood.

    "The whole attitude of the U.S. and the relationship will be affected by these measures because they know Pakistan will not be in a position to control the smuggling."

    Two fertilizer factories
    U.S. lawmakers said many Afghan bombs are made with fertilizer smuggled by militants across the border from Pakistan into Afghanistan.

    "The vast majority of the material used to make improvised explosive devices used against U.S. forces in Afghanistan originates from two fertilizer factories inside Pakistan," Republican Senator John McCain said in the Senate last week.

    A Congressional Research Service report in October said the Pakistani factories, owned by one of the country's biggest companies, Pakarab, have been producing over 300,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate per year since 2004.

    The United States has urged Pakistan to regulate the distribution of ammonium nitrate to Afghanistan strictly. So far, Pakistan has only produced draft legislation on the issue.

    Pakistan's fragile economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, so cutting down on fertilizer output would hurt the sector.

    The provision freezing $700 million in aid was agreed upon by leaders of the armed services committees from both parties in the House and Senate, including McCain. It is part of compromise legislation authorizing U.S. defense programs expected to be approved this week, McKeon said.

    The bill would also require the Pentagon to deliver a strategy for improving the effectiveness of U.S. aid to Pakistan, he said.

    NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

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