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From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David Byrd reporting. Authorities say they are exploring every lead associated with Thursday's deadly shootings at military facilities in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
At a press conference in Chattanooga Friday, [FBA] FBI, that is, special agent in charge Ed Reinhold said it was "premature to speculate" about why gunman Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez killed four Marines and wounded several other people on Thursday. "Because the investigation is still in its early stages, it would be premature to speculate on exactly why the shooter did what he did. However, we are conducting a thorough investigation to determine whether this person acted alone." Reinhold said the FBI has not yet determined if the shootout was an act of terrorism but it is being investigated as terrorism which allows for a higher level and more intense investigation. 24-year-old Abdulazeez was a naturalized U.S. citizen. The SITE Intelligence group reports that he wrote a blog and on Monday he said that "life is short and bitter." U.S. President Barack Obama has met with Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, at the White House as the United States continues its efforts to sell the Iran nuclear agreement to skeptical allies. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said that the two sides talked about the recent nuclear deal and discussed how to further enhance their close and longstanding partnership. The historic nuclear deal reached last week between Iran and six world powers is expected to be approved early Monday by the U.N. Security Council in Vienna, according to diplomatic sources. This is VOA news. At least 40 people have been killed in a powerful car bombing at a town in Diyala province, Iraq, in one of the Islamic State's deadliest attacks since it took over parts of the country. Police and medical authorities say the bombing in the town of Khan Bani Saad was so powerful it knocked down several buildings. Many of the dead were gathered at a market place to celebrate the end of the [month] Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Some reports put the death toll as high as 100. Islamic State said in a statement issued on Twitter that the attack was to avenge the killing of Sunni Muslims in the northern Iraqi town of Hawija. It said that the suicide car bomber was carrying around 3 tons of explosives. Iraqi officials declared victory over Islamic State in Diyala earlier this year after security forces and Shiite paramilitaries drove them out of towns and villages there. However, the insurgents remain active in the province. Police in Nigeria say suicide bombers attacked an open-air prayer area in northeastern Nigeria Friday, killing at least 13 people in the city of Damaturu. The explosions struck an area where worshippers were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan. At least 15 others were injured in the attack. Officials say the bombings were carried out by an elderly woman and a 10-year old girl. An earlier bombing in the town of Gombe Thursday killed at least 50 people. Ukrainians on Friday marked the first anniversary of the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 by a missile over the rebel-held eastern part of the country. People brought flowers, toys and paper airplanes with messages to the Dutch embassy where the Dutch flag was flying at half staff. The majority of the 298 people killed on the plane were Dutch nationals. Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, a solemn ceremony marked the first anniversary. Evert van Zijtveld is a member the MH17 Aviation Disaster Foundation, who lost teenage children on the flight. "It was the ceremony organized by ???. It was beautiful dignity with enormous amount of emotions. We have felt emotions in the whole and we cried." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Friday called the downing of MH17 a "ruthless terror attack" and he said the fatal [missile could shot] missile shot, that is, could only have happened with participation from Russia. Ukraine blames pro-Russian rebels for the shoot-down. Russia and the rebels deny any responsibility. They blame Ukrainian forces. For more on these stories, please visit our website voanews.com. I'm David Byrd in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |