The United States has deliberately created the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group to establish American military foothold in Syria, according to a former US Senate candidate.

Mark Dankof, who is also a broadcaster and pastor in San Antonio, Texas, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday while commenting on a report which says senior US military officers have provided Washington with manipulated reports on the war against ISIL terrorists in Iraq and Syria.

"This has been an ongoing problem with American intelligence for many, many years. You can go all the way back, of course, to the classic example of the Vietnam War,” Dankof said.

“You were seeing a situation where the US military was providing intelligence estimates of what was going on, on the ground in South Vietnam, what was going on with the airstrikes over North Vietnam, both of which proved to be absolutely false in terms of giving the president of the United States, first Lyndon Johnson, and later Richard Nixon, what they wanted to hear in regard to the conduct of the war rather than what was actually happening there," he added.

"In the case of what is now going on in Syria, it is apparent that the American policy in Syria is coming apart like a cheap suit. On the one hand, you have the situation with the Russians, who are clearly beginning to do some things to bolster President Assad’s [government],” the analyst noted.

According to a report published by the New York Times on Monday, Russia is using the airspace over Iran and Iraq to fly military equipment and personnel to a new air field in Syria.

On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry called Lavrov and warned that Washington is deeply concerned of reports of "an imminent enhanced Russian military buildup."

“The second thing that comes up here is that more and more Americans through alternative media are becoming aware of the fact that the United States and Israel and Saudi Arabia have virtually created this ISIS organization, have funded it, and have introduced it into Syria through both Jordan and Turkey," Dankof said, referring to another acronym for the terrorist group.

"This begs the question of whether or not the United States has been involved in a deliberate attempt to create this ISIS organization to introduce into it into Syria as a means of fomenting unrest that would then justify escalating the American military presence in that country, first from the air,” he stated.

“Later, ominously enough, we have people like [Republican Senator] Lindsey Graham talking insanely about putting thousands of American ground troops into that country," he noted.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. More than 230,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence mainly fueled by the foreign-sponsored militants.

The United States and its regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- have been supporting the militants operating inside Syria since the beginning of the crisis.

The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, are engaged in crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.

They have been carrying out horrific acts of violence such as public decapitations and crucifixions against all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.

(PRESS TV)

Kiev (AFP) - Ukraine faced widespread condemnation Thursday for blacklisting dozens of foreign reporters as it expanded sanctions against Russia for its actions in the war-torn former Soviet state.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said more than 40 journalists and bloggers from various countries were included on the list.

Among those banned were three Moscow-based employees of the BBC and a German correspondent whose names' were later removed.

But it maintained the ban on a Spanish writer and historian along with dozens of other mostly-Russian reporters due to their allegedly biased coverage of Ukraine's 17-month campaign against pro-Moscow insurgents in the separatist east.

The surprise decision raised immediate concerns that Ukraine's Western-backed government was abandoning European values in order to win its high-stakes propaganda war against the Kremlin.

"We are appalled by this ban, which represents an absurd, counter-productive breach of freedom of information," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

And the CPJ said it "deplores" the decision by Ukraine's pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko, questioning his commitment to media rights.

"While the government may not like or agree with the coverage, labelling journalists a potential threat to national security is not an appropriate response," it said.

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President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree enacting punitive measures against some 400 officials and …

- Kremlin joins Western fury -

Poroshenko signed a decree late Wednesday enacting punitive measures against some 400 officials and 90 companies held responsible for Ukraine's bloody pro-Russian uprising and Moscow's annexation of Crimea last year.

It affected several major state-owned Russian media companies as well as financial giants like national flag carrier Aeroflot and Gazprom Bank.

Russia portrays the Ukrainian conflict as a "civil war" in which it has played no part.

"The fact that many media representatives are on these lists is, certainly, absolutely unacceptable," Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

The Kremlin's anger was echoed by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) -- a Cold-War era body that has spearheaded attempts to negotiate an end to the continent's bloodiest crisis since the 1990s Balkans wars.

"I fully respect governments' legitimate right to fight terrorism and to protect their national security and their citizens," said OSCE media freedoms representative Dunja Mijatovic.

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Ukraine ranks 129th out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' 2015 world press freedom …

"But introducing ... restrictions that curb free movement of journalists is not the way to ensure security."

Washington's Kiev envoy Geoffrey Pyatt tweeted that "press freedoms are very important to building a modern, European Ukraine."

And EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn said he was both surprised and concerned.

"I will certainly discuss it, after having analysed it, with colleagues in Ukraine, because I wouldn't say it was in a European spirit," he said in Brussels.

- Ukraine backtracks -

Ukrainian officials appeared shocked by the backlash and promised a full review of the list.

Poroshenko's office said he had personally intervened on behalf of the BBC correspondents because "a free press was a fundamental value".

Ukraine's powerful new information policy ministry said Poroshenko had simply signed off on legislation drafted independently by Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council (RNBO).

It also said it was lifting restrictions on two correspondents from Spain.

But it said the ban on Cesar Vidal -- a Spanish radio host and historian -- would remain in place because he had allegedly referred to Ukraine as "an artificial state that is being used (by the West) as a weapon to threaten the Kremlin".

The ministry said it would keep "propaganda-spouting" Russian media personalities, such as the virulently anti-Western weekly TV show host Dmitry Kiselyov, out of the country for the coming year.

The ban was on Thursday further broadened to include disgraced former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi because he visited Crimea last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The UN estimates that the conflict in Ukraine has killed nearly 8,000 people -- most of them civilians -- since April 2014.

Children rescued from Boko Haram in Sambisa forest react at the Internally Displaced People's camp in Yola, Nigeria May 3, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

ABUJA (Reuters) - The number of children forced to flee Boko Haram's insurgency in Nigeria and neighbouring countries has reached 1.4 million, the U.N. children agency UNICEF said on Friday.

Around 500,000 were displaced in the last five months after a sharp rise in attacks by the Islamist jihadi group, it said.

The militants have been waging a six-year insurrection to establish an Islamist state in the northeast of Nigeria that has killed thousands and displaced 2.1 million people, most of whom are children.

"In northern Nigeria alone, nearly 1.2 million children – over half of them under 5 years old – have been forced to flee their homes. An additional 265,000 children have been uprooted in Cameroon, Chad and Niger," UNICEF said in a statement.

Boko Haram controlled vast swathes of territory across three states in northeastern Nigeria at the beginning of 2015 but was pushed out by Nigerian troops with the help of Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Now heavily splintered, Boko Haram factions have reverted to guerrilla tactics, raiding villages for supplies and bombing soft targets like places of worships, markets and bus stations.

Attacks spiked between the end of May through July though the rainy season has seen a relative lull over the last month.

UNICEF scaled up its operations and vaccinated over 315,000 children against measles this year as well as arranged safe drinking water for 200,000 people. It has also provided schooling and counselling.

UNICEF said it has encountered funding problems after receiving only 32 per cent of the $50.3 million required this year for its humanitarian response across the Lake Chad region, creating a shortfall in measles vaccinations and other aid.

The largest concentration of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and therefore children are in camps or host communities in Borno state capital Maiduguri, the birthplace of the insurgency. While the army has freed the last few towns still under some form of Boko Haram control, IDPs are reluctant to return home.

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Taliban Attack Pakistan Mosque, Kill At Least 16

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A brazen Taliban attack on a Pakistani military base on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar killed 29 people on Friday, including 16 worshippers who were gunned down when the militants stormed a mosque inside the compound during prayers.

The army said the militants came from neighboring Afghanistan, without providing details.

The attack triggered an hours-long firefight at the base and army spokesman Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said all 13 attackers were killed. In addition to the 16 slain inside the mosque, 13 air force and army employees at the base were also killed, Bajwa said. Another 29 people were wounded.

The attack was a major blow to Pakistan's military, which had stepped up operations against militants following a horrific Taliban attack last December at a Peshawar school that killed 150 people, mostly children. It also underscored the ability of the militants to stage spectacular attacks on targets linked to the country's military and government.

More than 2,000 employees were on Badaber base at the time of the attack, Bajwa said. The attackers first stormed the guard room and then tried to move toward its administrative block, but were stopped by security forces, he said.

The base was established in 1960s but in recent years has mostly been used as a residence for air force employees and officers from Peshawar.

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Pakistani commandos arrive at an air force base in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. Milit …

Bajwa said the assault was quickly repulsed because of timely and coordinated action by security forces. He told reporters in Peshawar that "the attackers came from Afghanistan," though he stressed he did not mean that the government in Kabul was behind the assault. He declined to provide more details on the claim.

There was no immediate response from Afghanistan.

Independent Pakistani analyst Zahid Hussain said Pakistan and Afghanistan should work together to eliminate militants, who were their common enemy. "I think both Pakistan and Afghanistan should act against militants without indulging in any blame game as there will be no end to it," he said.

A wounded security official, Mohammad Rizwan, said he was coming out of the mosque when he was hit by a bullet. "I fell down and I saw some of the attackers, but I don't know what happened later, I fell unconscious," he said.

A wounded soldier, Akram Ullah, said from his hospital bed that he was inside the mosque and remembered seeing a gunman with a grenade enter the building.

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Commandos stand on alert outside an air force base in Peshawar, Pakistan, Friday, Sept. 18, 2015. Mi …

Fayaz Hussain Chaudhry, father of slain army Capt. Asfand Yar, told the Dunya TV station that his son gave his life for his country. "He fought at the front of the battle today and he killed terrorists," he said.

Shortly after the attack, a suspected U.S. drone strike hit a home in the South Waziristan tribal region, south of Peshawar, killing at least three militants and wounding five, according to two Pakistani security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the country's powerful army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, rushed to Peshawar and attended some of the funerals of the victims. According to Muslim tradition, the deceased are buried as soon as possible.

Earlier, the army chief met with the security forces taking part in the clearing operation at the base and also visited a military hospital where doctors were treating soldiers wounded in the attack.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Mohamad Khurasani, claimed responsibility for the attack. In a statement to the media, he said 14 Taliban fighters were involved in the assault. They offered "safe passage" to women and children after attacking the base, Khurasani said. He added that the Taliban "targeted" 50 security forces, without explaining what that meant.

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Pakistani security officials rush their colleague to a local hospital, Friday, Sept. 18, 2015 in Pes …

Pakistani TV footage showed army helicopters hovering near the base, as police and troops surrounded the area.

Friday's attack came a day after Pakistan reported the arrest of a militant figure behind a recent failed attempt to target an air force facility in Kamra, also in the northwest of the country. Counter-terrorism officer Junaid Khan in the southern port city of Karachi, where the raid took place, identified the suspect as Umar Hayat and said he was being questioned.

On Thursday, the Pakistani police in Karachi also reported the arrest of another prominent suspect, Syed Sheaba Ahmad, a former air force pilot who allegedly helped finance al-Qaida's newly formed South Asian affiliate.

The Pakistan air force has been playing an important role in the fight against militants since June 2014, when the army launched the much-awaited operation in North Waziristan, a restive tribal area along the Afghanistan border. Peshawar is the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders the tribal area. The air force frequently target militant hideouts in the tribal area and elsewhere.

The army says it has killed more than 3,000 militants so far in the North Waziristan offensive. The region was once considered to be the headquarters of the Pakistani Taliban who have been targeting security forces and public places in an effort to topple the elected government to enforce harsher version of Islam.

___

Ahmed reported from Islamabad.

BOSTON (AP) — A mother was arrested and her boyfriend was charged with murder in the death of a little girl whose body was found inside a trash bag on a Boston Harbor island this summer and who became known as Baby Doe, a prosecutor said Friday after a monthslong campaign to learn the girl's identity.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said that he authorized the murder charge for the boyfriend, Michael McCarthy, and that the mother, Rachelle Bond, was under arrest for accessory to murder after the fact.

The girl became known as Baby Doe as investigators trying to find out who she was and how she died launched a massive social media campaign including a composite sketch of her, showing her chubby cheeks and brown eyes. Her real name was Bella Bond, prosecutors said Friday.

"At just shy of 3 years old, Bella Bond was a true innocent," Conley said at a news conference announcing the charges.

"This child, whose very name means beauty, was murdered," he said.

After Baby Doe's body was found in June, police immediately appealed to the public for help. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, using photos of her remains, created a composite image of what she might have looked like when she was alive. Within two weeks, the image had reached an estimated 47 million people on Facebook.

Photos of Bella posted on her mother's Facebook page looked strikingly similar to the composite image.

Conley didn't comment on a possible motive behind the girl's death.

"That's always a perplexing matter for us," he said. "Why does anyone kill a 2-year-old child? What could she have done?"

State House Speaker Robert DeLeo said Bond and McCarthy were blaming each other for the death.

McCarthy, 35, was being treated at a hospital for a medical condition unrelated to the case, prosecutors said. Bond, 40, was in custody. Neither could be reached for comment on the charges. They are due to be arraigned Monday.

Officials from the state's child protection agency said they had contact with Bella twice, for four months in 2012 and for three months in 2013. In both cases, officials described the involvement as "support for neglect," and the cases were later closed.

Between 2001 and 2006, the Department of Children and Families terminated parental rights for two of Bond's older children. One of the children was later adopted by her maternal grandmother; the other was adopted by someone outside the family.

A spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, Rhonda Mann, said the agency had been working with law enforcement to help police identify Baby Doe.

"Now that we know her name, the story is no less tragic," she said.

Baby Doe's body was found June 25 inside on Deer Island in Winthrop by a woman walking a dog.

Despite the publicity, a text tip line and billboards with the girl's composite image, investigators were frustrated for months as they tried to learn her identity. They got their big break after police received a tip and a search warrant was executed Thursday at Bond's apartment.

Conley would not say how the girl's body got to Deer Island but implied her mother placed it there. He said evidence led authorities to charge the mother with being an accessory to murder after the fact.

Bond, who has a history of drug and prostitution arrests, appears on her Facebook page to be a doting mother, posting numerous photos of Bella, whom she calls Bell or Monkey.

In a posting on Aug. 18, 2014, Bond wrote: "My Bella loved her birthday party and all the awesome things she got. Broke the bank on it but it's all worth it to see her happy and laughing and smiling."

A few weeks later, a photo shows Bella wearing a tight-fitting, one-piece romper.

"Look at my Bell," Bond wrote. "The outfit isn't supposed to be a catsuit ...Love her to death. I am on top of the world because of her."

Conley said he received at least 10 offers from people, including Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who wanted to pay for the little girl's burial. He would not comment on how the girl died but said more information may be released when McCarthy and Bond are arraigned.

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Associated Press writers Collin Binkley, Bob Salsberg and Steve LeBlanc contributed to this report.