MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

AP – “BAGHDAD – A gang of gunmen disguised in military-style uniforms and carrying forged arrest warrants killed 25 police Monday, then hoisted the battle flag of Al Qaeda in a carefully planned early morning shooting spree in western Iraq, officials said.

The killings in Haditha highlight Al Qaeda’s success in regaining a foothold in an area they once dominated through police executions and murdering city officials.

By going after police, the militants demonstrate to the residents of Haditha, a desert city closer to the Syrian border than to Baghdad, how isolated they are from the central government’s protection and intimidate those who want to join the security forces.

The city’s proximity to the border, just 65 miles away, means it is vital territory to Al Qaeda if they want to ramp up operations in Syria to help overthrow the government of President Bashar Assad. Already, Sunni militants who revile Assad because he’s a member of an offshoot religion of Shiism are crossing from Iraq into Syria.

The killings carried out by Al Qaeda Monday morning demonstrated a high degree of coordination, knowledge of their targets and a boldness that indicated little fear of the local security forces ability to fight back.” Read more.

Huge death toll doubles in Yemen ‘slaughter’ by Al Qaeda affiliated Islamists – “The death toll from a sophisticated attack by Islamic extremists against soldiers in Yemen jumped to 184 Tuesday, three Yemeni officials told CNN. Air raids on militant positions since the attack have left at least 42 militants dead in Abyan province, security officials said. The attack Sunday at an army base by Ansar al-Sharia, which is allied with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), originally claimed the lives of 90 soldiers and wounded many others. A spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington issued a statement giving a much lower death toll, saying ’73 martyrs’ died in the ‘battles in Abyan.’ But officials on the ground in Abyan gave CNN the higher death toll. The attack ‘illustrates AQAP’s complete disregard for human life,’ U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement.” Read more.