News – December 2024


  • Premier US military CBRNE command improves interoperability at Yama Sakura

    December 20, 2024

    CAMP ASAKUSA, Japan – American Soldiers and Army civilians from the U.S. military’s premier Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives (CBRNE) Command participated in Exercise Yama Sakura from Japan and Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. Highly specialized units from the 20th CBRNE Command took part in the 44th iteration of trilateral exercise that brought together forces from ...

  • Greece: Man detained in psychiatric hospital after threatening to detonate improvised explosive device

    December 20, 2024

    A Greek-British man has been detained in a psychiatric hospital after threatening to detonate an improvised explosive device outside a Thessaloniki courthouse. The 41 year old had been arrested after he was found to be in possession of the explosive device and a replica gun in a public place, where he was shouting, “I will blow ...

  • U.S. Central Command Forces Kill ISIS Leader During Precision Strike in Syria

    December 20, 2024

    On Dec. 19, U.S. Central Command Forces conducted a precision airstrike targeting ISIS leader Abu Yusif aka Mahmud in the Dayr az Zawr Province, Syria resulting in two ISIS operatives killed, including Abu Yusif. This airstrike is part of CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to ...

  • ADF Specialised facility counters IED threats

    December 20, 2024

    Gallipoli Barracks was recently the scene for an inspection of one of the ADFs new level two counter-IED weapons technical intelligence (L2 WTI) laboratories being delivered by Project Land 154-2 in association with the Defence Science and Technology Group. Each L2 WTI facility is a self-contained containerised and deployable processing facility that allows ADF personnel to ...

  • Germany: Vehicle plows into crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing 2 and injuring dozens

    December 20, 2024

    At least two people were killed, and more than 60 were injured when a car plowed through a crowded Christmas market in eastern Germany on Friday. The suspected driver, identified as a doctor from Saudi Arabia who lived in Germany, was detained, according to a local official. The suspect acted alone, and there was no ongoing ...

  • US drops bounty for Syria’s new leader after Damascus meeting

    December 20, 2024

    Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior U.S. diplomat said Friday, following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus — the first ...

  • Cambodia: CMAC to clear UXOs in three rivers next year

    December 20, 2024

    The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) is setting out to clear unexploded ordnances (UXO) in approximately 500 hectares across three river locations next year. Director General Heng Ratana said yesterday that CMAC has designated the three locations on the Tonle Sap River, the Mekong River, and the Bassac River. The announcement follows the meeting of the ...

  • Virginia college student arrested by FBI for plotting terrorist attack on Israeli Consulate

    December 20, 2024

    A Virginia college student was arrested by the FBI this week for allegedly plotting a terrorist attack on the Israeli Consulate in New York City. Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an Egyptian national and 18-year-old student at George Mason University in Virginia, was taken into custody on Tuesday by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Joint Terrorism ...

  • Azerbaijani serviceman receives injury due to mine explosion

    December 20, 2024

    “On December 20, at around 12:00, Azerbaijan Army serviceman, Salmanov Ziyad Ilgar was injured stepping on an anti-personnel mine while performing service and combat tasks in the direction of the Sadarak district of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on the Azerbaijani-Armenian conditional border,” Azernews reports, citing Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry. “After receiving first medical aid, the wounded ...

  • Mexico: 2 more soldiers killed by an improvised landmine, after 2 died earlier this week

    December 19, 2024

    Two more members of Mexico’s armed forces have been killed by an improvised landmine, just days after two soldiers died in a similar blast, officials confirmed Thursday. The blasts, both in the western state of Michoacan, mark an unprecedented one-week death toll from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, planted by drug cartels in Mexico. Carlos Torres, ...

  • California declared an emergency over bird flu

    December 19, 2024

    California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S. That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial poultry and many mammal species. The virus, also known ...

  • Iraq: Over 500 mines and explosives removed in Duhok

    December 18, 2024

    On Wednesday, the General Directorate for Mine Affairs in Duhok province announced the removal and detonation of over 500 landmines. The Directorate’s Media Official, Reger Besfki, told Shafaq News that a mine and ordnance removal team successfully conducted an operation in the Kawashi village of the Simele (Sumail) district, clearing and detonating 530 explosive devices. Besfki further ...

  • Montreal synagogue firebombed in suspected hate crime

    December 18, 2024

    Firefighting teams responded to the scene at 3 a.m. to extinguish the flames. The synagogue’s window and door were shattered in the blaze. Witnesses reported seeing at least one individual near the site before the fire began. Beth Tikvah, located near Montreal’s Jewish Federation building, also houses a school, making it a central hub for the ...

  • Jammu and Kashmir: Police hosts workshop on IED data management, post blast operation

    December 18, 2024

    A One-day training program on IED data management and post blast investigation was organized by Zonal Police Kashmir at PCR Kashmir in collaboration with officials of National Security Guards. The training program was inaugurated by IGP Kashmir & was attended by SSP Srinagar, SO to IGP Kashmir and other senior officers of Police Headquarters through virtual ...

  • Mexico: Explosion kills 2 soldiers in suspected booby trap by drug cartel after dismembered bodies found

    December 18, 2024

    An improvised land mine apparently planted by a drug cartel killed two Mexican soldiers and wounded five others, Mexico’s defense secretary said Tuesday. Before the blast, the soldiers had discovered the dismembered bodies of three people, officials said. Gen. Ricardo Trevilla acknowledged that the army had already suffered six deaths from such improvised explosive devices, or ...

  • Pope assassination plot foiled by UK intelligence

    December 18, 2024

    A plot to assassinate Pope Francis during a trip to Iraq was stopped following a tip-off from British intelligence, according to his upcoming autobiography. The Pope writes that, after landing in Baghdad in March 2021, he was told an event at which he was set to appear was being targeted by two suicide bombers. Both attackers ...

  • Russia: FSB detains Uzbek national for carrying out terrorist attack that killed Russian general

    December 18, 2024

    The suspect behind the terrorist attack that killed Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Protection Troops, has been arrested. “The terrorist confessed to being recruited by Ukrainian intelligence. He was sent to Moscow on their orders, where he received a powerful improvised explosive device and placed it on an electric scooter, ...

  • Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Council of Ministers of BiH approved Two Million BAM for Demining

    December 17, 2024

    The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the proposal of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, adopted the Decision on the Approval of a Multi-Year Project for Co-financing Demining Costs for the Period 2025-2027. This is the first time that significant funds have been allocated from the budget of the institutions ...

  • New York: Luigi Mangione Indicted on Terrorism Charge over Brian Thompson Murder

    December 17, 2024

    Luigi Mangione, the suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been charged with murder as an act of terrorism, prosecutors in New York announced on Tuesday. Mangione faces an 11-count indictment, including one count of murder in the first-degree and two counts of murder in the second-degree. A suspect can only be charged with murder ...

  • India: ‘We thought it was a ball’ – the bombs killing and maiming children

    December 17, 2024

    Over the last three decades, at least 565 children in the Indian state of West Bengal have been injured or killed by home-made bombs, a BBC Eye investigation has found. So what are these deadly devices and how are they linked to political violence in West Bengal? And why are so many Bengali children paying the ...

  • New IAEA Publication on the Security of Nuclear and Other Radioactive Material in Transport

    December 17, 2024

    A new IAEA publication on the security of nuclear and other radioactive material in transport has been released. “It is essential that nuclear and other radioactive material is managed securely and is properly protected against criminal or intentional unauthorized acts during their transport,” said Heather Looney, Head of the Nuclear Security of Materials and Facilities ...

  • Somalia concludes explosive management training with Chinese support

    December 17, 2024

    The Somali Explosives Management Authority (SEMA) on Monday concluded a training program aimed at tackling the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of war. Funded by the Chinese Embassy in Somalia, the initiative trained 81 participants from federal member states, including Hirshabelle, Galmudug, Banadir, Southwest, Puntland and Jubbaland. The program focused on building collaboration, technical expertise ...

  • Pakistan: Two police officers killed in Shangla grenade attack

    December 17, 2024

    Terrorists carried out a grenade attack on a police checkpoint in Chakesar, District Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, resulting in the martyrdom of two policemen and injuries to three others, Geo News reported on Tuesday. Terrorist attacks have been rampant in the provinces of KP and Balochistan, targetting especially the law enforcement and security forces. A police constable ...

  • Russian general, his aide killed in Moscow blast

    December 17, 2024

    Chief of Russia’s Radiation, Chemical and Biological Protection Troops Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov and his aide were killed in a blast in southeastern Moscow on Tuesday morning. The blast was caused by an explosive device that had been planted in an electric scooter, Spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko said. “On the morning of ...