'Asbos For Extremists' To Tackle UK Jihadists

By Jon Craig, Chief Political Correspondent

Home Secretary Theresa May is planning to bring in new laws to tackle the threat of British jihadists - including "anti-social behaviour orders" for extremists.

Mrs May will announce a three-point plan to counter British Muslim extremists, warning that the security threat to the UK will continue for decades.

The measures would target the activities of radical preachers, such as Anjem Choudary, whose extreme rhetoric currently does not constitute a crime.

Full details are yet to emerge, but the new power will be designed to restrict extremists' behaviour and language.

As with an Asbo, it could result in a criminal conviction carrying a jail term if breached.

Mrs May has unveiled her crackdown in an article in the Daily Telegraph.

Theresa May's warning echoes recent comments from David Cameron

She discloses that she will make it illegal to join extremist groups that preach violent views, but are not directly involved in terrorism.

Currently, the threshold for banning membership of organisations, such as the Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIL), requires the Home Secretary to prove that the group is directly involved in terrorist acts.

The new power could target Islamist political organisations and other Muslim groups that tacitly support extremism.

In addition, state-funded organisations such as councils and schools will be given a new legal obligation to combat extremists.

Mrs May uses the Telegraph article to echo a warning about extremism made by the Prime Minister in a newspaper report last weekend.

The Home Secretary writes: "We are in the middle of a generational struggle against a deadly extremist ideology.

Cardiff students Khan (L) and Muthana (C) appeared in an IS video

"We will be engaged in this struggle for many years, probably decades. We must give ourselves all the legal powers we need to prevail.

"I am looking again at the case for new banning orders for extremist groups that fall short of the legal threshold for terrorist proscription, as well as for new civil powers to target extremists who seek to radicalise others."

The measures proposed by Mrs May are similar to recommendations for legislation made by the Government's Extremism Task Force last December.

Those recommendations were surprisingly omitted from the Queen's Speech this year.

But there is no suggestion yet that the Home Secretary plans to introduce emergency legislation when MPs return to the Commons on September 1.

David Cameron said during his brief return to Downing Street from his holiday after the murder of journalist James Foley that there would be "no knee-jerk reaction".

Radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary

The problem of radicalisation was highlighted in June when two Cardiff students - Reyaad Khan, 20, Nasser Muthana, also 20, - were identified in a propaganda video for IS posted on YouTube.

The two men along with Muthana's younger brother Aseel, 17, were lured to join extremists fighting in Syria and Iraq.

And a jihadi fighter in Syria told Sky News in July that he was training British teenagers as young as 16 to fight in the war.

Yvette Cooper, Labour's shadow home secretary, said: "More action is needed to respond to the serious problem of people travelling to fight with ISIL.

"The Home Secretary's confirmation that she is continuing to look at the recommendations of the Prime Minister's Taskforce, announced last December, is welcome.

"Though there remains no detail on things like civil powers to tackle extremists or extremist groups for people to consider.

"However I remain concerned that the Government is not addressing the gaps in the Prevent programme - especially the lack of support for community led approaches to preventing radicalisation.

"And the Home Secretary also needs to respond to the concerns raised by the current and previous Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation about the decision to weaken control orders, where they have advised that stronger measures should be put in place."

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Russia Aid Trucks 'Take Ukraine Military Goods'

A Ukrainian army spokesman has accused Russia of using aid trucks to take production equipment from two military plants.

A convoy of about 200 vehicles entered the country on Friday without the permission of the Ukraine government - and left on Saturday after dropping its cargo.

However, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the trucks had taken equipment from a factory in Luhansk that makes firearm magazines and a Topaz plant that produces radars.

The convoy's departure comes as German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Kiev for talks with Ukraine's pro-Western leaders on the ongoing conflict.

Russian aid trucks pictured upon their return to the border crossing

It had been agreed the lorries - which had waited on the Russian side of the border for a week - would only be allowed into eastern Ukraine if they were escorted by the International Red Cross.

However, the charity pulled out after not receiving enough security guarantees as fighting continues to rage.

Kiev's foreign ministry informally allowed the convoy to pass to avoid "provocations".

Russia previously let journalists look inside a handful of the lorries, which it said were carrying 1,800 tonnes of aid including food, water, medicine and electrical generators.

This was questioned by Nato's top military commander, Philip Breedlove, who claimed the trucks looked like a disguised attempt to reinforce separatist forces. Russia denies backing the rebels.

Ms Merkel will hold talks with Mr Poroshenko

The UN Security Council discussed the convoy on Friday and no country came to Russia's defence, according to British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant.

Members called it an "illegal and unilateral" action.

Following a phone call, US President Barack Obama and Ms Merkel condemned the act.

They also expressed concern that the large numbers of Russian troops on the Ukraine border and fighting in eastern parts of the country represented a "dangerous escalation".

Ms Merkel will hold talks with Ukraine's pro-European President Petro Poroshenko, three days before he meets Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and top EU officials.

A Ukrainian rebel controls an area after a shelling in Donetsk

The German leader is expected to call for a ceasefire while trying to consolidate Ukraine's relationship with the EU.

Mr Poroshenko has pledged to "talk peace" with the Russian President but insists the conflict - which has claimed more than 2,200 lives - will end only when pro-Kremlin fighters leave.

Meanwhile, Ukraine continues to pound rebel strongholds such as Luhansk and Donetsk, where water has been cut off and supplies are dwindling.

At least two civilians were killed by shelling on Saturday.

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IS Has Iraqi Towns In Lockdown As Battles Rage

Kurdish forces are struggling to defend themselves against Islamic State (IS) militants in northeast Iraq and are appealing for more international help.

There has been fighting around towns including Jalula and Sa'dya, which have been controlled by the well-armed Sunni extremists for several weeks.

The IS insurgents have seized large swathes of the country since a June offensive but have been hit by US airstrikes in some areas including around Mosul Dam.

However, Sky's Chief Correspondent Stuart Ramsay, reporting from outside Jalula, north of Baghdad, said the Kurdish peshmerga fighters want more weaponry from the outside world and are "getting little or no air support".

Thousands of peshmerga and counter-terrorism soldiers have been deployed, including many around the town.

Sky's Stuart Ramsay outside the town of Jalula

He said the Kurds have some heavy weapons but the equipment is old, while the jihadists "have modern equipment and lots of money".

Ramsay said the two sides are fighting to control territory not the towns themselves as IS have them "under total lockdown".

The Kurds are trying to cut their supply lines and one fighter told Sky News: "We need weapons to make the battle equal."

Ramsay said: "Peshmerga front-line positions are regularly hit from far away. There are scorch marks and burning patches everywhere."

Roadside bombs laid by the extremists are also "causing more casualties than ever before," he added.

Meanwhile, eight people have been killed after a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle packed with explosives at the interior ministry's intelligence headquarters in Baghdad.

PM designate Haider al Abadi is trying to form a more inclusive government

It comes a day after a sectarian attack at a mosque killed at least 68 Sunni Muslims, plunging efforts to form a united front against the jihadists into crisis.

Officials say a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Imam Wais mosque north of Baghdad, with Shia militiamen picking off fleeing worshippers with machine guns.

Diyala has seen heavy fighting between Iraqi troops and IS. File pic

Attacks on mosques are acutely sensitive and have in the past unleashed a deadly series of revenge killings and counter attacks in Iraq.

The attack, in Diyala province, is seen as a blow to government efforts to secure backing from Sunni groups in its battle against the extremists.

The US says the killing of James Foley was a "terrorist attack" on America

Prime Minister designate Haider al Abadi, a moderate Shia, is attempting to form a more inclusive government following the resignation of outgoing PM Nouri al Maliki.

But two influential Sunni politicians - Parliamentary Speaker Salim al Jabouri and Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al Mutlak - have now pulled out of talks with the main Shia political alliance after the massacre.

The US, which is carrying out airstrikes against militants, has ramped up its rhetoric over the beheading of journalist James Foley.

In Washington, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said the murder "represents a terrorist attack against our country".

He said the US would not be restricted by the Iraq-Syria border when it considers further action against IS militants.

Having poured in from Syria across a desert border that it does not recognise, the Islamist movement has declared its own caliphate.

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IS Demanded Release Of Woman In Texas Jail

One of the demands made by kidnappers who killed US journalist James Foley was the release of a woman once named among America's seven most wanted terrorists.

In the final email the Islamic State militant group sent to Mr Foley's parents, the jihadists claimed they offered prisoner exchanges for the journalist's freedom. The one name mentioned in the email was that of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

The US-educated, Pakistani-born scientist was arrested in the street in Afghanistan's Ghanzi province in 2008.

When local police searched her handbag they found she was carrying handwritten documents referring to a "mass casualty attack" as well as a toxic substance called sodium cyanide, US prosecutors said.

The final letter sent to James Foley's parents named Siddiqui

The mother of three's notes listed locations such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge, according to the FBI.

There was also information on how to create a dirty bomb, destroy reconnaissance drones and use underwater bombs, and excerpts from the book "Anarchist's Arsenal", according to US prosecutors.

Upon her arrest, Siddiqui was taken by local police to a compound but, left unsecured behind a curtain, she managed to grab an M4 rifle and fire at the US team who had come to interview her, yelling "death to America", her trial heard.

She did not hit anyone, but Siddiqui herself was shot.

The 42-year-old was flown to the US and following her two-week trial in 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in a Texas jail for trying to kill American servicemen.

Siddiqui married a relative of the 9/11 mastermind

No terrorism charges were filed, but prosecutors painted her as a potentially dangerous terrorist.

Siddiqui's lawyers - three of whom were paid by the Pakistani government - argued she had shot at the US officials in a panic and she was mentally ill.

She appeared in a wheelchair, looking frail, and frequently disrupted the proceedings with outbursts at her own lawyers, the jury and witnesses.

Protests in Pakistan following Siddiqui's sentencing

Dubbed "al Qaeda Mom" and "Lady Qaeda" by US tabloids, Siddiqui was born in Karachi, Pakistan, but moved to America in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

She trained as a neuroscientist at prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University.

US authorities claim she returned to Pakistan in 2003 after marrying a relative of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

But her disappearance for the next five years is unexplained and has caught the attention of human rights groups.

One theory is that she was detained by America after being named by Mohammed during interrogation. Her lawyers had claimed she had been held in secret US detention.

Imran Khan is among Siddiqui's supporters

However, in 2004 US attorney general John Ashcroft listed her among the seven most wanted al Qaeda fugitives.

Her eventual detention, trial and sentencing prompted mass protests across Pakistan.

Activists poured on to the streets shouting "death to America" and burning effigies of President Barack Obama when she was sentenced.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan led one rally in Lahore, condemning her jailing as "unethical and inhuman".

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Major Operation To Retake IS-Held Towns In Iraq

Kurdish forces have started a major assault to try to retake the northeast Iraqi towns of Jalula and Sa'dya from Islamic State (IS) militants.

It comes as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the threat posed by IS extremists, who have seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq, was "beyond anything we've seen".

The group, which beheaded American journalist James Foley in response to US airstrikes in Iraq, was "beyond just a terrorist group", Mr Hagel said.

A Kurdish peshmerga fighter

"They marry ideology, a sophistication of … military prowess," he added.

Sky's Alex Crawford, reporting from the outskirts of Jalula, said the operation was being carried out by the Kurdish military's elite counter-terrorism unit, backed up by peshmerga forces.

James Foley in Libya in 2011

She said the towns, near the Iranian border and the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, had been under the control of IS insurgents for more than two months.

The Kurdish forces have already taken back a major checkpoint, which the Sunni militants had controlled.

Alex Crawford said: "What is significant about this assault is that they (the Kurds) are doing this pretty much entirely on their own.

"They've had very little air support. There is no evidence of any outside weaponry, military hardware to back them up."

A rough outline of the caliphate declared by IS militants

Meanwhile, US airstrikes in Syria - where Mr Foley disappeared in November 2012 - have not been ruled out.

When asked about that possibility, Mr Hagel said Washington was "exploring all options".

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, also did not discount attacks on IS fighters in Syria.

Militants vowed to attack US targets in another video clip

"This is an organisation that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated," he said at a briefing.

"To your question, can they be defeated without addressing that part of their organisation which resides in Syria? The answer is no.

"That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially at this point a non-existent border."

The fighter who killed James Foley

IS, which was formerly known as ISIS, declared an Islamic state, or caliphate, covering large parts of the two countries earlier this year.

Michael Scheuer, a former CIA senior officer who ran operations against al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, has told Sky News defeating IS will require an "enormous" number of Western troops on the ground which would mean an "enormous bloodbath".

He said: "It's a greatly bigger problem than we've seen before, it's better armed, it's better led and certainly more vicious than al Qaeda was in the initial years."

US President Barack Obama has insisted the scope of the US strikes will remain limited, while Prime Minister David Cameron has said Britain will not fight another war in Iraq.

A criminal investigation has now been opened into Mr Foley's murder, which was recorded by the militants in a video that emerged earlier this week.

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Final Email From James Foley's Killers Revealed

IS Demanded Release Of Woman In Texas Jail

Updated: 11:34am UK, Friday 22 August 2014

One of the demands made by kidnappers who killed US journalist James Foley was the release of a woman once named among America's seven most wanted terrorists.

In the final email the Islamic State militant group sent to Mr Foley's parents, the jihadists claimed they offered prisoner exchanges for the journalist's freedom. The one name mentioned in the email was that of Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

The US-educated, Pakistani-born scientist was arrested in the street in Afghanistan's Ghanzi province in 2008.

When local police searched her handbag they found she was carrying handwritten documents referring to a "mass casualty attack" as well as a toxic substance called sodium cyanide, US prosecutors said.

The mother of three's notes listed locations such as the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge, according to the FBI.

There was also information on how to create a dirty bomb, destroy reconnaissance drones and use underwater bombs, and excerpts from the book "Anarchist's Arsenal", according to US prosecutors.

Upon her arrest, Siddiqui was taken by local police to a compound but, left unsecured behind a curtain, she managed to grab an M4 rifle and fire at the US team who had come to interview her, yelling "death to America", her trial heard.

She did not hit anyone, but Siddiqui herself was shot.

The 42-year-old was flown to the US and following her two-week trial in 2010, she was sentenced to 86 years in a Texas jail for trying to kill American servicemen.

No terrorism charges were filed, but prosecutors painted her as a potentially dangerous terrorist.

Siddiqui's lawyers - three of whom were paid by the Pakistani government - argued she had shot at the US officials in a panic and she was mentally ill.

She appeared in a wheelchair, looking frail, and frequently disrupted the proceedings with outbursts at her own lawyers, the jury and witnesses.

Dubbed "al Qaeda Mom" and "Lady Qaeda" by US tabloids, Siddiqui was born in Karachi, Pakistan, but moved to America in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

She trained as a neuroscientist at prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University.

US authorities claim she returned to Pakistan in 2003 after marrying a relative of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

But her disappearance for the next five years is unexplained and has caught the attention of human rights groups.

One theory is that she was detained by America after being named by Mohammed during interrogation. Her lawyers had claimed she had been held in secret US detention.

However, in 2004 US attorney general John Ashcroft listed her among the seven most wanted al Qaeda fugitives.

Her eventual detention, trial and sentencing prompted mass protests across Pakistan.

Activists poured on to the streets shouting "death to America" and burning effigies of President Barack Obama when she was sentenced.

Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan led one rally in Lahore, condemning her jailing as "unethical and inhuman".

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Foley: Secret US Raid Failed To Free Journalist

US special forces were sent to Syria this summer in an attempt to rescue US hostages, including journalist James Foley, but the secret raid failed.

Administration officials said the team found, after a fight with Islamist militants, that the hostages had already been moved.

News of the raid followed the release of a gruesome propaganda video by Islamic State (IS) militants that showed Mr Foley being beheaded.

The rescue mission was authorised after intelligence agencies believed they had identified the location inside Syria where the hostages were being held.

Officials had also become convinced that "these hostages were in danger with each passing day", Lisa Monaco, Mr Obama's senior counterterrorism adviser, said in a statement.

Militants have also threatened to kill Steven Sotloff

"The US government had what we believed was sufficient intelligence, and when the opportunity presented itself, the President authorised the Department of Defense to move aggressively to recover our citizens," Ms Monaco said.

"Unfortunately, that mission was ultimately not successful because the hostages were not present."

Several dozen special operations forces were dropped by aircraft into Syria and engaged in a fight with members of the Sunni militant group.

As they fought their way toward the spot where the hostages were believed to be kept, the US forces realised there were no captives to rescue.

Several militants were killed in the gunfight, administration officials said. No Americans died but an aircraft came under fire and one American sustained a minor injury.

The New York Times said the raid targeted an oil refinery in northern Syria and was carried out by two dozen Delta Force commandos.

The newspaper quoted a Defense Department official as saying missing the hostages may have been "a matter of hours, perhaps a day or two".

News of the beheading of Mr Foley, a 40-year-old American, shocked the public opinion. President Barack Obama and officials around the Western world have expressed revulsion.

James Foley disappeared in Syria in November 2012. Pic: Nicole Tung

The disclosure of the rescue mission marks the first time the US has acknowledged that American military personnel have been on the ground in Syria since a civil war there broke out more than three years ago.

Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, said the administration never intended to disclose the mission but was forced to do so because a number of media outlets were preparing to report on it.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said: "As we have said repeatedly, the United States government is committed to the safety and well-being of its citizens, particularly those suffering in captivity.

"In this case, we put the best of the United States military in harm's way to try and bring our citizens home."

IS, an offshoot of al Qaeda that operates in Syria and Iraq, has warned that another captured American, Steven Sotloff, would also be killed unless the US called off airstrikes in Iraq.

James Foley's younger brother Michael has criticised the US government, saying he thought it could have done more to save Mr Foley.

He said, as a result, it needed to do more to free Mr Sotloff.

The US officials have not specified how many Americans are believed to be held captive.

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Video Shows Yazidis 'Converting To Islam'

An Islamic State video has emerged purporting to show dozens of captured Yazidi people converting to Islam.

The footage emerged shortly after the group released a video showing one of its black-clad fighters beheading American journalist James Foley.

The latest film, titled "Hundreds of Yazidis convert to Islam", gives no indication of the bloodshed that prompted tens of thousands of people to flee.

In the video, two Islamic State fighters field questions in Arabic. One of the fighters is a bearded middle-aged man dressed in black with an AK-47 assault rifle.

The men get off a bus and greet militants

The other is dressed in a crisp grey military uniform and camouflage cap.

"What has been said is the opposite of reality," the older man says.

He also says that Islamic State has provided the Yazidis with everything they need.

"Men, women and children have converted and I was with them and they are happy with their conversions," he says.

The video shows men asking questions to Islamic State fighters

He adds: "We advise the Yazidis to come down from the mountain and convert."

This is a reference to Mount Sinjar, where thousands who feared death at the hands of the militants took refuge.

"If they stay on the mountain, they will die of starvation and thirst. This talk about aid from Western and crusader countries is all lies.

"If they convert, we will give them everything they need. They will live a happy life."

Thousands of Yazidis have been displaced by the IS advance

The video then shows dozens of Yazidis getting off a bus, walking past a truck mounted with an anti-aircraft weapon and hugging Islamic State militants.

IS fighters had previously threatened members of the ancient religious group with death if they failed to convert to Islam.

IS has been accused of killing hundreds of Yazidis since the militants moved into the area of northern Iraq where the community lives.

More than 400 men were reported to have died in the village of Kocho over two days and their families forced to move with IS militants to Tal Afar.

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Iceland Volcano: Mini-Quakes Revealed In Video

Geologists have released a computer-generated video showing a swarm of mini-earthquakes threatening to trigger a volcanic eruption in Iceland

The images emerged after Iceland's authorities evacuated an area close to the country's Bardarbunga volcano over fears it could erupt.

Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted in 2010, producing an ash cloud that severely disrupted air travel.

The Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland Pic: Icelandic Met Office

The video - by the Icelandic Met Office - shows a mass of seismic activity, stretching deep beneath the mountain range.

The area - which is 190 miles from the capital Reykjavik - has no permanent residents but sits in a national park which is popular with tourists.

The dots show areas of seismic activity (pic: Icelandic Met Office)

More than 3,000 small earthquakes have occurred since Saturday at Bardarbunga -  the country's largest volcano system.

Geologists said the magnitude of the earthquakes had been relatively small. Seismologists add that magma is moving horizontally, rather than vertically.

Ash billows from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano In Iceland in 2010

The country's aviation alert level for the risk of a possible eruption is currently at orange, the second-most severe level.

The risk level was raised on Monday after magma movements were detected around six miles from the surface.

The 2010 ash cloud shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days. More than 10 million people were affected.

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PM Returns From Holiday After IS Beheading

David Cameron is cutting short his holiday in Cornwall and returning to Downing Street following the beheading of a US journalist.

The Prime Minister's return follows the release footage appearing to show a masked man - speaking with a British accent - killing James Foley, who was seized by armed men in Syria in November 2012.

A No 10 statement said: "If true, the brutal murder of James Foley is shocking and depraved.

"The Prime Minister is returning to Downing St this morning. He will meet with the Foreign Secretary and senior officials from the Home Office, Foreign Office and the agencies to discuss the situation in Iraq and Syria and the threat posed by ISIL terrorists."

Mr Cameron said he was ready to return from his Cornish holiday if needed

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the video appeared to be genuine and was "an appalling example of the brutality of this organisation".

Mr Hammond told Sky News: "This is an evil organisation with an evil ideology."

Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander MP said: "The horrific footage of the killing of James Foley has shocked and outraged the world.

"Suggestions that the attack may have been carried out by a UK national are particularly concerning and the Government must now work with international partners to establish the facts and uncover any possible information about the perpetrator."

Meanwhile, the French President Francois Hollande said the crisis in Iraq represented the "most serious" international situation since 2001.

Mr Cameron had only been in Cornwall for a day, where he was pictured with his wife Samantha sipping coffee at Surfside cafe on Polzeath beach in Wadebridge.

He insisted he remained in control while on holiday and was "always within a few feet of a BlackBerry".

Earlier this month, the PM had to cut short a holiday to Portugal to respond to the Iraq crisis, and said he would do the same again "instantly" if necessary.

Mr Cameron has said Britain should use all its assets, including its "military prowess", to help tackle the threat posed by Islamic State (IS) extremists in Iraq, but insisted the UK would not get drawn into another war.

More follows...

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