Hotel Intercontinental in Kabul comes under attack; hostages reportedly taken

The Intercontinental Hotel in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul is under attack.

Terrorists have taken several hostages in the hotel, according to local police sources.

The gunmen entered through the hotel kitchen, before moving to rooms 104 and 105, according to local journalist Bilal Sarwary, who cited an Afghan special forces commander.

Security services are responding to the crisis.

An official at the Afghan spy agency said that the gunmen were “shooting at guests”.  The terrorists appeared to include at least one suicide bomber.

The attack began at about 21:00 local time. There were no immediate details of casualties.

The hotel was attacked by the Taliban in 2011. 21 people were murdered, including 9 Muslim terrorists.

Details to follow.

Gaza family shoots dead own member for collaborating with Israel, in ISIS-like execution

A family in Gaza said on Friday it had executed a relative they said had helped Israel track down and eliminate three senior Hamas terrorists, including one of the man’s own clan.

In a statement, the family of Ahmed Barhoum said it had shot him in the city of Rafah after they were told by Hamas that he had provided information to Israel. This, the statement said, guided an Israeli air strike during the 2014 Protective Edge operation in Gaza that targeted the Hamas terrorists.

“In light of our religious and moral commitment we have executed the collaborator Ahmed Barhoum after he was handed over by the resistance factions,” the statement said.

The family said they had listened to their relative’s confession and saw the evidence against him. The Barhoums are one of Rafah’s largest clans of terrorists and well known for their closeness to Islamist terror groups.

Hamas, the Islamist terror group that dominates Gaza, issued a statement praising the Barhoum family’s action as illustrating “its nobleness and deep affiliation with the (anti-Israel) resistance (terrorism)”.

The Israeli military declined to comment.

Israel eliminated the three Hamas’ senior terrorists—Rafah Division commander Raed al-Attar, Southern Division commander Mohammed Abu Shmallah and Rafah Division senior commander Mohammed Barhoum—in an overnight strike on August, 2014.

 

The targeted elimination was a joint operation of the Shin Bet and IDF.

Over the years, Israel has established a network of contacts in the Palestinian Authority and Gaza, using a combination of pressure and sweeteners to entice Arabs to divulge intelligence.

Hamas has sentenced 109 people to death and executed at least 25 in Gaza since 2007. Human rights groups have repeatedly condemned such use of the death penalty, and urged Hamas and its Western-backed rival based in Judea and Samaria, the Palestinian Authority, to abolish it.

‘I smell a rat’: Congressman claims he has credible evidence that ISIS was behind Las Vegas shooting

Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry appeared on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Thursday and claimed that he has been “made aware” of “credible information regarding potential terrorist infiltration through the southern border” on the Las Vegas massacre.

Scott Perry of Pennsylvania told Fox News host Tucker Carlson: ‘I smell a rat like a lot of Americans do.’

‘Recently, I have been made aware of what I believe to be credible evidence, credible information regarding potential terrorist infiltration through the southern border regarding this incident,’ Perry told Carlson.

‘I smell a rat like a lot of Americans do’: Rep. congressman Scott Perry told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he has 'credible evidence' that ISIS was behind Las Vegas shooting. pic.twitter.com/3ItEr6xKlJ

— Behind The News (@Behind__News) January 20, 2018

‘Terrorists?’ Carlson asked in response.

‘Twice before the attack, ISIS warned the United States that they would attack Las Vegas in June and August, and after the attack claimed responsibility four times,’ Perry said.

‘Meanwhile, the local law enforcement investigative services are telling us there is no terrorist connection, lone gunman, again, something is not adding up.’

Catherine Lombardo, a lawyer representing the victims of the Las Vegas attack refuted the congressman’s suggestion.

Perry replied: ‘I’m just telling you, I have received what I feel to be…credible evidence of a possible terrorist nexus.

‘We’re going to have to wait until that situation develops.’

Perry also said during the interview that the National Counterterrorism Center should have a role in the investigation, stating, “If ISIS warns about an attack and then an attack occurs and claims responsibility after the fact, it seems to me that at a minimum, they should have some portion of the investigation to clearly debunk that claim and, yet, it hasn’t happened.”

ISIS claimed responsibility for the Las Vegas massacre, but the FBI has stated that there is ‘no connection’ between international terrorism and the gunman who killed 59 people and injured 527 at an outdoor concert on October 1.

TERROR IN LAS VEGAS – BREAKING: ISIS issues official statement on Las Vegas terror attack, identifying Paddock as their terrorist "Abu Abd Abdulbar al-Ameriki". pic.twitter.com/gQWihKzu6o

— Behind The News (@Behind__News) October 2, 2017

Earlier this week, police in Nevada said that more charges could be filed against others in connection with the shooting.

Federal court documents made public Friday showed that as of October 6, the FBI considered Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, ‘the most likely person who aided or abetted Stephen Paddock’.

According to the documents, Stephen Paddock’s girlfriend told investigators they would probably find her fingerprints on bullets because she helped him load ammunition magazines but the FBI agent in charge in Las Vegas, said in October that Danley was not a suspect.