Islamic State group presses assault on Syrian town near Turkish border ADVERTISING Islamic State group presses assault on Syrian town near Turkish border MURSITPINAR, Turkey — Islamic State fighters backed by tanks and artillery pushed into an embattled Syrian town
Islamic State group presses assault on Syrian town near Turkish border
MURSITPINAR, Turkey — Islamic State fighters backed by tanks and artillery pushed into an embattled Syrian town on the border with Turkey on Monday, touching off heavy street battles with the town’s Kurdish defenders.
Hours after the militants raised two of their Islamic State group’s black flags on the outskirts of Kobani, the militants punctured the Kurdish front lines and advanced into the town itself, the Local Coordination Committees activist collective and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
“They’re fighting inside the city. Hundreds of civilians have left,” said Observatory director Rami Abdurrahman. “The Islamic State controls three neighborhoods on the eastern side of Kobani. They are trying to enter the town from the southwest as well.”
The center of the town was still in Kurdish hands, Abdurrahman said. Kurdish officials could not be immediately reached for comment.
Chicago teen arrested, accused of trying to travel to Syria to join ISIS
CHICAGO — A 19-year-old American left a letter expressing disgust with Western society for his parents before trying to board a plane in Chicago, the first step in his plan to sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to a federal criminal complaint released Monday.
Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a U.S. citizen who lived with his parents in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, was arrested Saturday while trying to board a plane to Turkey, which borders Syria, at O’Hare International Airport. He is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group.
Before heading to the airport, Khan allegedly left a three-page, handwritten letter in his bedroom for his parents, explaining why he chose to join the Islamic State. The letter, according to the complaint, read: “We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day.”
Investigators say Khan also wrote that he was upset that his U.S. taxes were going to kill his “Muslim brothers and sisters,” an apparent reference to a bombing campaign against Islamic State militants by the U.S and other nations. The letter was signed, “Your loving son.”
Khan appeared in a federal court Monday in orange jail clothes, calmly telling a federal magistrate that he understood the allegations. Later, as marshals led him away in handcuffs, the slight, bearded young man turned to smile at his parents at the back of the room.
Surprising Brazil election gives boost to candidate facing incumbent in runoffs
SAO PAULO — Aecio Neves’ surprisingly strong showing in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election has turned the nation’s politics on its head and put him within striking distance of incumbent Dilma Rousseff, but the former governor still faces a heavy task if he is to unseat her.
The business-minded Neves came within 8 percentage points of Rousseff in Sunday’s vote and has momentum and a strong central-right party on his side. The challenge for Neves, who was born into affluence and political power, will be to connect with Brazil’s poor, millions of whom have directly benefited from Rousseff’s policies.
The 54-year-old economist has three weeks to do it.
Neves defied expectations in Sunday’s first-round vote, finishing second with 34 percent to Rousseff’s 42 percent. Socialist Party candidate Marina Silva, who at one point led Rousseff in polling, finished third at 21 percent and will not advance to the Oct. 26 runoff.
Veterans agency moves to fire 4 senior executives in crackdown after scandal
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Affairs Department said it is firing four senior executives as officials move to crack down on wrongdoing following a nationwide scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking medical care, and falsified records covering up the delays.
The dismissals are the first since Congress passed a law this summer making it easier for veterans who experience delays to get care outside VA’s nationwide network of hospitals and clinics. The law also made it easier for the agency to fire senior officials suspected of wrongdoing, shortening their appeals process to 28 days.
Among those being fired were a top purchasing official at the Veterans Health Administration, directors of VA hospitals in Pittsburgh and Dublin, Georgia, and a regional hospital director in central Alabama, the VA said.
By wire sources
