Bodies of 3 suspected militants retrieved after Jordan shootout

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Security forces are seen near a damaged building one day after the security incident at the city of Al Salt, Jordan, on August 11, 2018. (REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)
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An ambulance and a Jordanian police car is seen one day after the security incident, at the city of Al Salt, Jordan, August 11, 2018. (Reuters)
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Security forces are seen near a damaged building one day after the security incident at the city of Al Salt, Jordan, on August 11, 2018. (REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed)
Updated 12 August 2018
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Bodies of 3 suspected militants retrieved after Jordan shootout

  • Police have arrested 3 terror suspects so far
  • The raid comes a day after a rare bomb blast targeted security forces near Amman

AMMAN: Security forces on Sunday pulled the bodies of three suspected militants out of a partially collapsed building in Jordan’s central city of Salt following a shootout, a government spokeswoman said.
Security forces had raided the building in a search for those responsible for a bomb attack on a police van on Friday.
Government spokeswoman Jumana Ghunaimat said security forces had also seized automatic weapons in a “continuing operation.”
Four security personnel were killed during a shootout on Saturday evening with the suspected militants who had been holed in a building in the hillside city of Salt.
Ghuneimat said suspects rigged a building with explosives and detonated them when police raided it.

Twenty people were also injured, when a building collapsed during the raid, according to Al-Arabiya.
The security forces eventually arrested three suspects, Ghuneimat said, adding that the operation in Salt was still "ongoing".
Salt lies a few kilometers north of Al-Fuhais, a mostly Christian town.
Ghneimat said that the security forces raided the house in Salt after receiving a tip-off.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's bomb blast and the identity of the suspects in Salt was not immediately known.

The Interior Ministry said the bomb that went off late Friday was planted in an area where a police vehicle usually stops during an ongoing music festival in the town of Fuheis, 12 kilometers (8 miles) west of the capital.

"It killed Sergeant Ali Adnan Qawqaza and wounded six other members of the patrol," the ministry said, adding that an investigation was underway into the cause of the blast.
Security forces had been deployed to protect the town's annual festival, which hosts prominent Arab music acts.
Prime Minister Omar Al-Razzaz vowed that Jordan would "not be complacent in the hunt for terrorists".
"Jordan will always be at the forefront of the fight against terrorism and obscurantist ideas which target the lives of innocents and try to undermine security and stability," he said in remarks carried by the official Petra news agency.
Jordan has played a key role in the US-led coalition fighting Daesh in neighboring Syria and Iraq, using its air force and allowing coalition forces to use its bases.
The Kingdom was hit by a string of militant attacks in 2016, including a suicide bombing in June that killed seven guards near the border with Syria that was claimed by Daesh.
Months later in December a shooting rampage, also claimed by Daesh, killed 10 people including a Canadian tourist.

(With Reuters)


Italy wants military to stay in Lebanon after peacekeepers leave

Updated 2 sec ago
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Italy wants military to stay in Lebanon after peacekeepers leave

  • Defense Minister Guido Crosetto says Italy will continue to 'do its part' even after UNIFIL mission ends next year
ROME: Italy said Monday it intends to keep a military presence in Lebanon even after the UN peacekeeping force it belongs to leaves as planned from December 31, 2026.
“Even after (the peacekeeping force) UNIFIL, Italy will continue to do its part, supporting with conviction the international presence and supporting the capacity development of the Lebanese armed forces,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said during a visit to Lebanon, according to a statement.
Asked by AFP if this meant Italy wanted to maintain a military presence in the country, a ministry spokesman confirmed that this was the case.
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has acted as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon since 1978, remaining after Israel ended an occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.
Lebanon had wanted UNIFIL to stay.
But the UN Security Council voted in August to allow only one final extension for UNIFIL after pressure from Israel and its US ally to end the mandate.
UNIFIL is currently led by Italian Major General Diodato Abagnara and numbers 9,923 troops from 49 countries, according to the force’s website.
Italy is the second biggest contributing country with 1,099 soldiers deployed after Indonesia which has 1,232 soldiers.
Israel has hailed the termination of UNIFIL and urged the Beirut government to exert its authority after an Israeli military campaign which devastated Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
Under a truce between Israel and Hezbollah, the long-fledgling Lebanese national army has been deploying in southern Lebanon and dismantling Hezbollah’s infrastructure.
“Support is needed to strengthen the Lebanese armed forces, so that they are in the best possible position to defend the country, ensuring security and respect for its borders,” Crosetto said in Monday’s statement.
“We will guarantee our presence in multilateral and bilateral contexts,” he said.