Jihadist Violence

Former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has condemned the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh during Durga Puja. She criticised the attackers as "jihadists" who "believe it's pleasing to God to burn and destroy temples."

Afghan forces on Sunday wrested control of a northern district bordering Tajikistan from the Taliban, officials said, two months after its capture stoked fears the jihadists' violence could spread to Central Asia.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the murder this week of a Bangladesh policeman, as fears of Islamist violence grow in the moderate Muslim-majority country.

A Syrian rebel group which is part of a new US-backed alliance that also includes the Kurdish YPG militia announced on Thursday plans for an imminent offensive against Islamic State militants in Raqqa province, the jihadists' stronghold in Syria.

French police, the heroes of January's jihadist attacks in Paris, now complain they have been forgotten and will hold a rare protest today over a lack of resources to fight an "explosion of violence".

A growing number of "disillusioned" Islamic State fighters are defecting from the jihadist group and could be used by governments to deter potential recruits, a report published today said.

A senior leader of an Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that has been blamed for a spate of violence in Tunisia was among five militants killed by security forces in a recent raid, an official said Saturday.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi on Saturday declared a state of emergency following last week's jihadist beach massacre in which 38 foreign tourists were killed, his office said.

Five people including two Europeans and a Malian policeman died in an assault on a Bamako nightclub today, the first attack targeting Westerners in a city braced for jihadist violence since 2012.

French investigators believe they have established that the jihadists who struck Paris last month were in direct contact before the attacks, a security source said on Tuesday.

A team of US troops was on the ground in Iraq's Anbar province on Tuesday as Washington steps up efforts to help Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are facing increasing violence as tensions in the country rise after jihadists kidnapped and killed Lebanese security forces, a human rights group warned on Tuesday.

Australia may participate in United States airdrops of food and water to civilians threatened by jihadist violence in Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today.

France said Monday it was ready to help facilitate asylum for Christians in Iraq displaced by a jihadist onslaught, saying it was "outraged" by their persecution.

As jihadists storm through the Sunni heartlands of Iraq towards Baghdad, where a Shi'ite government they regard as heretic clings on, they have lifted the veil on deep sectarianism which has also stoked the fires of Syria's civil war and is spilling over into vulnerable mosaic societies such as Lebanon.

Former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has condemned the violence against Hindus in Bangladesh during Durga Puja. She criticised the attackers as "jihadists" who "believe it's pleasing to God to burn and destroy temples."

Afghan forces on Sunday wrested control of a northern district bordering Tajikistan from the Taliban, officials said, two months after its capture stoked fears the jihadists' violence could spread to Central Asia.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the murder this week of a Bangladesh policeman, as fears of Islamist violence grow in the moderate Muslim-majority country.

A Syrian rebel group which is part of a new US-backed alliance that also includes the Kurdish YPG militia announced on Thursday plans for an imminent offensive against Islamic State militants in Raqqa province, the jihadists' stronghold in Syria.

French police, the heroes of January's jihadist attacks in Paris, now complain they have been forgotten and will hold a rare protest today over a lack of resources to fight an "explosion of violence".

A growing number of "disillusioned" Islamic State fighters are defecting from the jihadist group and could be used by governments to deter potential recruits, a report published today said.

A senior leader of an Al Qaeda-linked jihadist group that has been blamed for a spate of violence in Tunisia was among five militants killed by security forces in a recent raid, an official said Saturday.

Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi on Saturday declared a state of emergency following last week's jihadist beach massacre in which 38 foreign tourists were killed, his office said.

Five people including two Europeans and a Malian policeman died in an assault on a Bamako nightclub today, the first attack targeting Westerners in a city braced for jihadist violence since 2012.

French investigators believe they have established that the jihadists who struck Paris last month were in direct contact before the attacks, a security source said on Tuesday.

A team of US troops was on the ground in Iraq's Anbar province on Tuesday as Washington steps up efforts to help Iraqi forces battle the Islamic State jihadist group.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are facing increasing violence as tensions in the country rise after jihadists kidnapped and killed Lebanese security forces, a human rights group warned on Tuesday.

Australia may participate in United States airdrops of food and water to civilians threatened by jihadist violence in Iraq, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today.

France said Monday it was ready to help facilitate asylum for Christians in Iraq displaced by a jihadist onslaught, saying it was "outraged" by their persecution.

As jihadists storm through the Sunni heartlands of Iraq towards Baghdad, where a Shi'ite government they regard as heretic clings on, they have lifted the veil on deep sectarianism which has also stoked the fires of Syria's civil war and is spilling over into vulnerable mosaic societies such as Lebanon.