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Police: Terror Suspect Came at Cops with Knife

BOSTON (AP) — A knife-wielding man killed by the terror investigators who had him under surveillance was confronted because he had bought knives and talked of an imminent attack on "boys in blue," the FBI said Wednesday.

Usaama Rahim plotted for at least a week to attack police, the FBI said in a complaint against a family member who was arrested Tuesday, the day Rahim was shot to death. On Wednesday, the relative, David Wright, was ordered held on a charge of conspiracy with intent to obstruct a federal investigation.

The FBI said Rahim, who had previously discussed beheadings, bought three fighting knives and a sharpener on or before May 26 and he told Wright on Tuesday he would begin trying to randomly kill police officers.

An anti-terror task force of FBI agents and Boston police, faced with an imminent threat, confronted Rahim on a sidewalk and fatally shot him when he refused to drop his knife, authorities said.

An affidavit written by an FBI agent assigned to Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force refers to a recorded conversation between Rahim and Wright in which Wright made a comparison to "thinking with your head on your chest." The FBI said that was a reference to Islamic State propaganda videos showing severed heads on the chests of beheading victims.

The FBI affidavit said Rahim initially told Wright about a plan to behead someone outside Massachusetts. On Sunday, Rahim, Wright and an unidentified man met on a beach in Rhode Island to "discuss their plans," the FBI affidavit said.

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The knife brandished by a man under surveillance by a joint terrorism task force who was shot and ki …

"Wright indicated that he agreed with Rahim's plan and supported it," the affidavit states.

Authorities searched a home in Warwick, Rhode Island, on Tuesday and Wednesday but wouldn't confirm the search was related to the investigation. They also wouldn't confirm how Rahim, 26, and Wright, 24, are related.

Early Tuesday morning, Rahim called Wright and told him he had changed his plans and no longer planned to kill someone in another state, the affidavit says. Instead, he said he was going to "go after" the "boys in blue," it says, an apparent reference to police officers.

During the recorded conversation, Rahim told Wright, "Yeah, I'm going to be on vacation right here in Massachusetts. ... I'm just going to, ah, go after them, those boys in blue. Cause, ah, it's the easiest target and, ah, the most common is the easiest for me," the affidavit says.

The FBI said the phrase "going on vacation" refers to committing violent jihad.

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Names are listed on a mailbox at the apartment building in Everett, Mass., Wednesday, June 3, 2015, …

Authorities allege that during that conversation, Wright advised Rahim to destroy his smartphone, wipe his laptop computer and prepare his will.

On Wednesday, authorities moved swiftly to manage perceptions of the shooting, which killed a black man whose family is well known among Muslims and African-Americans in Boston.

Rahim's mother is a nurse at Boston University. His older brother, Ibrahim Rahim, is a scholar known for preaching after the Boston marathon bombings that violence is anti-Islamic.

Ibrahim Rahim initially posted a message on Facebook alleging police repeatedly shot his brother in the back while he was on a cellphone calling their father for help. But his version unraveled Wednesday after police showed their video of the confrontation to community leaders.

Darnell Williams, president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said he could "150 percent corroborate" the police account. The images clearly show that Usaama Rahim "was not on a cellphone and was not shot in the back," Williams said.

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The apartment building where David Wright was taken into custody the previous day, is seen, Wednesda …

Police Commissioner William Evans said officers confronted Rahim because "military and law enforcement lives were at threat."

The video, which police did not make available publicly, shows that Rahim menaced the officers with a large military-style knife and they initially backed away before shooting him when he refused to drop it, police said.

Williams said he's not ready to call the shooting justifiable, and a Boston Muslim leader, Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, said it was unclear from the "inconclusive" video whether police had to use deadly force.

"They might have approached him in a different way," Faaruuq said.

Ibrahim Rahim could not be reached for comment Wednesday as he traveled to Boston to bury his brother.

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Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley speaks as FBI Special Agent in Charge of Boston Vi …

Usaama Rahim was under investigation after spreading Islamic State propaganda online and communicating with other people about it, said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.

"These cases are a reminder of the dangers posed by individuals radicalized through social media," the Texas Republican said.

Prosecutor Stephanie Siegmann said Wright posed a serious risk of fleeing or obstructing justice if not held pending a June 19 hearing. Wright's attorney, Jessica Hedges, denied that, saying he has deep roots in the Boston area and an "incredibly loving and supportive family."

Hedges urged the government to be "as transparent as possible" and "abide by the law" as it investigates this case, saying "we have serious concerns about that already."

Authorities quickly showed the video to black and Muslim community leaders. The meeting "was all about pulling the community together," Evans said.

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A police officer stands near a multi-storied home Tuesday, June 2, 2015, in Everett, Mass., being se …

After the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, Ibrahim Rahim described Jihadis who promote terror as "hell-bent on Islam's destruction from within," and he urged fellow Islamic leaders to drive "a mass recall of the rhetoric of hate and to suppress any and all human desire to harm others based on any contrived justification."

Yusufi Vali, executive director of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, where Usaama Rahim briefly worked as a guard, said Ibrahim Rahim "is a great guy and preaches a very moderate form of Islam." Vali said Usaama Rahim did not regularly pray at the center and did not volunteer there or serve in any leadership positions.

Boston voter registration records describe Rahim as a student. Other records show he applied for a security guard license in Florida in 2011 but didn't follow through. A spokeswoman said Rahim had worked for CVS since March.

Rahim's shooting is being investigated by the Suffolk district attorney's office and the FBI, routine for shootings involving police. The Council of American-Islamic Relations said it's monitoring them. The Black Community Information Center, an activist group in Boston, called for the U.S. Department of Justice to lead a more independent review.

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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley and Phil Marcelo contributed to this report from Boston, and Eric Tucker contributed from Washington.

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This story has been corrected to show the FBI alleges only Rahim, not Wright, bought three knives.

Wochit
Isis Closes Ramadi Dam Gates

Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State jihadist group will use its seizure of a dam in Ramadi to mount fresh attacks on pro-government forces preparing to besiege the city, Iraqi officials warned Wednesday.

The day after the US-led coalition opposing IS met in Paris, General John Allen -- who is coordinating international efforts against the jihadists -- warned the fight to defeat them could last "a generation or more".

A string of IS advances last month cast doubt on the coalition's strategy, but Washington has insisted it is on the right track.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said after the May 17 fall of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, that his men would take it back within days but operations are instead focusing on sealing off the city.

IS militants used an unprecedented wave of suicide truck bomb attacks to seize Ramadi in a three-day blitz last month, and have again used this weapon in recent days.

IS claimed responsibility Tuesday for a huge suicide attack that killed 47 people at a police base, which had been recently retaken as part of efforts to tighten the noose on Anbar.

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An Iraqi pro-government militiaman holds a position on a road after the liberation from Islamic Stat …

As they edge towards Ramadi, officials said Iraqi forces risked coming under attack because IS had closed the gates of a dam in the city to dry up the Euphrates.

The move will enable IS fighters to cross or operate near the river more easily and to infiltrate more territory.

- 'Water war' -

"Daesh is now waging a filthy water war," said Sabah Karhout, the head of Anbar's provincial council, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

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Security forces defend their headquarters against attacks by Islamic State extremists during sand st …

"Cutting the water is the worst crime they could commit. It will force children, women and elderly people to flee and allow them to move in to launch attacks," he said.

"Daesh may not have enough fighters to face us in a conventional battle right now," said Arkan Khalaf al-Tarmuz, another provincial council member.

"So they are using water as a weapon to weaken areas where there are military bases," Tarmuz said.

US Deputy Security of State Anthony Blinken told France Inter radio that 10,000 IS members had been killed since the start of a nine-month-old US-led air campaign in Iraq and Syria.

IS fighters have repeatedly attempted to control dams in Iraq, in some cases reducing the flow of water to areas under government control or flooding swathes of land to impede military operations.

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Iraqi pro-government militiamen talk to a young boy hearding cows as they hold a position on a road …

"In the arid lands where the Islamic State fights, control of water is the ultimate weapon of terror," the Soufan Group intelligence consultancy said in a briefing note Wednesday.

After Ramadi fell, Abadi had to call in the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, an umbrella for mostly Shiite Iran-backed militias and volunteers.

He and Washington had been reluctant to deploy them in Anbar, a Sunni bastion, for fear of stoking sectarian tensions.

Speaking at a forum in Qatar, Allen admitted that it would be Shiite forces retaking ground from IS.

"But then we have to secure the population and that should be done with Sunni police or Sunni tribes, and we're trying to invigorate both of those," he said.

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A Syrian opposition group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, fighte …

At a meeting in Paris that wrapped up on Tuesday, Western powers and other members of the 60-nation coalition vowed more support for Abadi's efforts.

- 'Winning strategy' -

Abadi had said that IS's regained momentum on the ground was a sign of the "failure" of the international community to provide adequate support.

But Washington, which continues to refuse to send combat troops back to Iraq, and the coalition insisted they had a "winning strategy" of air strikes combined with thousands of forces training and advising Iraqi forces.

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US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks following a meeting with members of the anti-Isla …

"In Iraq right now we have the right strategy, a combination of air strikes, training and effective global partners," Blinken said at the meeting.

On Syria, where a civil war has raged for more than four years and the humanitarian situation is even worse than in Iraq, Washington and its coalition partners said a solution would have to start with a political process.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's "unwillingness" to fight IS made a UN-backed process for a more inclusive leadership the only way forward, a statement said.

On Wednesday, Syrian regime aircraft dropped barrels bombs in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, killing at least 33 people including 10 children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Assad has denied using barrel bombs -- crude weapons made of containers packed with explosives, known for causing indiscriminate damage -- but evidence collected by activists and rights groups includes footage of the barrels being pushed from army helicopters.

Tehran (AFP) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday called for unity in the face of the country's "enemies", at a tense religious ceremony during which he was repeatedly interrupted.

"We need unity and cohesion," Rouhani said, citing Islamic republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who died on June 4, 1989, at a ceremony on the eve of the anniversary.

"The enemies want to create discord among ethnic groups and religions... The first step is to be united," he said.

Iran and the P5 + 1 -- the United States, Russia, China, France, UK and Germany -- have been negotiating since 2013 on limiting the nuclear ambitions of Tehran, suspected of trying to acquire the atomic bomb, in exchange for lifting international sanctions imposed since 2006.

Both parties have given themselves until June 30 to prepare a full and final text.

Rouhani's speech at the Imam Khomeini mausoleum in southern Tehran was interrupted several times by the crowd chanting pro-Khomeini slogans and for his successor, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iranian and US negotiators are under intense pressure from conservatives in Iran.

The country's negotiating team, led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, is accused of having made too many concessions to the West in the talks.

Khamenei, while supporting the Iranian negotiators, has often expressed his doubts about the possible outcome of the negotiations.

A flight attendant who refused to give a Muslim passenger an unopened can of Coca-Cola, allegedly telling her it could be used "as a weapon," will no longer be serving customers for that airline, the company said today.

United Airlines issued an additional apology for what occurred on Tahera Ahmad's Shuttle America flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C., last week, noting that after investigating the incident, the flight attendant will no longer serve United customers.

Shuttle America is a regional airline affiliated with United.

"After investigating this matter, United has ensured that the flight attendant, a Shuttle America employee, will no longer serve United customers," the company added in its statement. "United does not tolerate behavior that is discriminatory -- or that appears to be discriminatory -- against our customers or employees."

Ahmad, a chaplain at Northwestern University, told ABC's Chicago station WLS on Sunday that she requested a closed can of soda "for hygienic reasons."

"And so she said, 'Well, no one has consumed from this can.' And I said, 'That's fine but I would really prefer for hygienic reasons and health concerns,'" Ahmad recalled. "She said, 'Well, it is against our policy to give people unopened canned beverages.'"

"And then she said, 'No diet coke for you,' and she picked up the beverage from my tray table and took it back," she said.

Ahmad said the same flight attendant then served an unopened can of beer to another passenger.

When she confronted the attendant, "She said it is against our policy to give people unopened can beverages because they may use it as a weapon."

"So I said, 'Well I think that's strange because you're discriminating against me because clearly you gave the passenger next to me an unopened beverage can.' And so she looked at that, picked it up, opened it and put it back. And as she was putting it back she said, 'It's because you would use it as a weapon.'"

"At that point I was in utter shock," she told WLS. "I was almost tearing up."

Ahmad said she then asked the other passengers, "Did you all just witness this discrimination?" and she claims another passenger muttered "you Muslim" and told her to shut up.

"And he said, 'You know you would use it as a weapon,'" Ahmad recounted.

"I just couldn't believe what he had said," Ahmad said. "I was in tears."

The attendant apologized after the flight, Ahmad said, but she told the attendant that her actions made her feel "very threatened."

United Airlines initially called the incident a "misunderstanding."

In today's statement, the company noted that all employees for Shuttle America who deal with customers "undergo cultural sensitivity training, and United will continue to work with all of our partners to deliver service that reflects United’s commitment to cultural awareness."

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli warplanes struck multiple militant targets in the Gaza Strip early Thursday in response to Palestinian rocket fire, but nobody was injured according to Palestinian security sources.

They said that the raids hit three training bases of the Ezzedine al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, in Gaza City and a fourth in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

The rocket fire was claimed by a group calling itself Supporters of the Islamic State in Jerusalem which recently emerged in the Gaza Strip.

It said the attack was to avenge the death of a radical Islamist in Gaza this week.

An Israeli military statement confirmed the air strikes but did not identify the targets.

"Yesterday, June 3, 2015, two rockets were launched at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip," it said, adding that they fell on open ground near the southern city of Ashkelon and the town of Netivot. "No injuries were reported."

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Experts have warned that the growing appeal of jihadist groups, particularly among Gaza's disaff …

"In response to this attack, the Israel Defence Forces struck three terror infrastructures in the Gaza Strip," it said.

Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon blamed the territory's de facto rulers Hamas for the rocket fire.

"We will hold Hamas responsible for everything that happens in the Gaza Strip and we will not tolerate any attempt to harm our citizens," he said in a statement.

"We will not compromise the security of Israeli citizens and we will not accept a return to a situation of regular fire (from Gaza)."

Israel has a general policy of holding Hamas responsible for every rocket attack from the territory under its control, no matter which group actually launched it.

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Hamas security forces have been waging a harsh crackdown on Salafist groups operating in the Gaza St …

On Wednesday night Israeli police reported that three rockets were fired but that patrols were searching to find where they had fallen.

Israeli public radio said the latest volley could be related to internal Gaza infighting between Hamas and its extremist opponents.

Hamas security officials shot dead local Salafist leader Yussef al-Hanar on Tuesday after he tried to flee following a confrontation at his house, the interior ministry said.

Some witnesses said he belonged to a group affiliated with IS.

The incident came as Hamas stepped up measures against militants belonging to Islamic extremist groups.

Salafists are Sunni Muslims who promote a strict lifestyle based on that of early "pious ancestors".

In Gaza they have made no secret of their disdain for Hamas over its observance of a tacit ceasefire with Israel and its failure to implement Islamic law.

Since last summer, when Israel and Hamas fought a deadly 50-day war in and around Gaza, there have been growing signs of internal unrest between Hamas security forces and extremist splinter groups.