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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting. Much of Europe remains on high alert.
Belgium's justice minister says the alleged mastermind of last week's foiled terror attack remains at large. Koen Geens says that the suspect was not among four people arrested in Greece, where he is believed to have fled. But Belgian prosecutors still plan to ask Greece to extradite one of those arrested. Belgian media have named the wanted mastermind of the plot as Abdelhamid Abaaoud. The 27-year-old Belgian of Moroccan descent is suspected of leading an Islamic extremist cell in the eastern town of Verviers. Authorities say the cell was about to launch a major terrorist attack on police targets before officers raided their hideout last Thursday, killing two in a fierce gunbattle. French authorities, meanwhile, say the two brothers in the Charlie Hebdo massacre who were killed by police have been buried in secret, unmarked graves in France. Israel says it broke up an Islamic State cell in the occupied West Bank and charged seven Arabs with terrorism-related offenses. The Israeli domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet says it arrested the suspects in November and December. But information about the case was kept under a gag order until an indictment was issued Sunday. Authorities say the Israeli Arabs were plotting to carry out attacks in Israel and to target Druze Israelis before eventually fighting in Syria. The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah says five of its fighters have been killed by an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian sector of the Golan Heights. The Israeli army declined to comment, but sources in the Mid-East say an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles Sunday close to the line dividing the Syrian part of the Golan Heights from the Israeli-occupied sector. News agencies report among those killed was a Hezbollah commander responsible for Syrian and Iraqi operations. This is VOA news. Both Israel and the United States are criticizing a decision by the International Criminal Court to consider the possibility that war crimes were committed against the Palestinians last year. The Palestinians liked the move. Robert Berger has more in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the International Criminal Court in The Hague for launching a preliminary inquiry into possible war crimes during the Gaza conflict last year. Mr. Netanyahu said the Islamic militant group Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians while using Palestinian civilians as human shields. The Palestinian Authorities, which governs the West Bank, says that it is pleased that its request for a war crimes inquiry was accepted by the ICC. The United States has backed Israel's right to self-defense and criticized the Palestinian initiative. Robert Berger, for VOA news, Jerusalem. Officials in Cameroon say Boko Haram militants abducted at least 60 people in a cross-border raid from Nigeria. A government spokesman says three people were killed and 80 homes destroyed in Sunday's raid, which targeted villages in Cameroon's far north region. Police in Niger used tear gas to break up a banned opposition protest in the capital, Niamey. Several hundred demonstrators gathered in the capital Sunday for the long-planned march that was organized before the riots over publication of a French magazine depicting Islam's prophet. But Niger authorities banned the demonstration following the two says of violent protests. The Islamic State group at least released 200 Yazidis after five months of captivity in Iraq. Officials say almost all of those released Saturday were elderly or sick, including several children. Islamic State fighters attacked the Yazidis in August, forcing thousands of them to flee to Mt. Sinjar. The Ukrainian military says it cleared pro-Russia rebels from much of the Donetsk airport in a massive overnight operation. The clashes killed four soldiers Sunday and injured dozens more in the bloody months-long battle for control of the facility. The U.S. Secret Service says multiple gunshots were fired from a vehicle passing near the Delaware home of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday night. The shots were fired from a public road outside his home security perimeter. Authorities are looking to see whether any of the rounds hit the Biden home or any nearby residences. Mr. Biden and his wife Jill were not at home when the shooting occurred. And the military of Libya's internationally recognized government agreed to a cease-fire. It comes two days after militias in the country signed on to a United Nations-mediated truce. The embattled factions that have divided the country are preparing to resume talks in Geneva in the coming days. I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |