Suicide bombers attack Afghan governor's compound

(Reuters) - As many as six suicide bombers and insurgent gunmen attacked the compound of a provincial governor in central Afghanistan on Sunday, the governor and a Reuters witness said, with bursts of gunfire heard soon after the attack began.The Reuters witness also reported hearing at least two large blasts during the attack on the Parwan provincial governor's compound. Parwan lies about an hour's drive northwest of the capital, Kabul."The enemies are still inside the compound. We are fighting back," Parwan governor Abdul Basir Salangi told private TOLO News television."Six suicide bombers attacked while we were holding a meeting," he said.There was no immediate word on possible casualties.
Insurgents, often from the Taliban, have launched a series of attacks against government targets over the past year, often in the east of the country near the porous border with Pakistan's largely lawless tribal lands.Violence across Afghanistan in 2010 reached its worst levels since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in late 2001, and 2011 has followed a similar trend.U.S. and other NATO commanders have claimed success in halting the momentum of a growing insurgency in the Taliban heartland in the south over the past year, although insurgents have shown a worrying ability to hit back with strikes against targets in once relatively peaceful parts of the country.

A recent spike in violence also followed the beginning of a gradual process to hand security responsibility back to Afghans last month.That process will end with the final foreign combat troops leaving Afghanistan by the end of 2014, although some U.S. lawmakers have questioned whether that timetable is not quick enough.

Australia bomb hoax 'was extortion attempt

The offender had had previous contact with Ms Pulver, police say

Australian police say an elaborate hoax in which a fake bomb was attached to a teenager was an attempt at extortion.

Madeleine Pulver, 18, was at home in Sydney when an intruder apparently entered and placed a suspected explosive device round her neck.Police took 10 hours to remove the device, evacuating nearby streets in the wealthy suburb of Mosman.They said the intruder left behind a note attached to the device that confirmed the motive was extortion.The offender had had previous contact with Ms Pulver and was wearing some sort of disguise, they said.'Hollywood script'
New South Wales Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Murdoch told journalists the device turned out to be "a very, very elaborate hoax"."But it was made and certainly gave the appearance of a legitimate improvised explosive device. We had to treat it seriously until we could prove otherwise and that's exactly what we did and that's why it took so long."The device was attached "by a chain or something similar," he told ABC radio.The demands made on the note have not been revealed but New South Wales police Detective Superintendent Luke Moore said: "We are treating this as an attempted extortion - a very serious attempted extortion."BBC correspondent Nick Bryant says police were baffled by the device, saying it was very sophisticated and very confusing.Bomb disposal experts used X-ray equipment to gain a better sense of precisely what they were dealing with, and even sought assistance from the British military.During the operation, several streets were cordoned off in Mosman, one of Sydney's wealthiest suburbs on the city's lower north shore. Ambulances and fire crews rushed to the area.Four people remained in the room with the schoolgirl during the operation, two bomb disposal experts and two police negotiators trying to keep her calm.Our correspondent says that Ms Pulver, who is part of a very rich family living in a very rich part of Sydney, was apparently in remarkable spirits throughout her ordeal.Ms Pulver was taken to hospital for checks before being released on Thursday and is now recovering with her parents.Agence France-Presse news agency said the teenager's father, William Pulver, was a successful businessman who was chief executive of a linguistic solutions software company.Mr Pulver said Madeleine was "in pretty good spirits".He told the Sydney Morning Herald: "She is a little tired and a little sore from holding this damn device in place for about 10 hours but she is now, as we are, eager to get on with her life."Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard told Fairfax radio she was shocked by the case."When I looked at it this morning, the first thing I said was, 'It's like a Hollywood script - the kind of thing you would see at the cinema or on TV,"' she said."You would never expect it to happen in real life in Australia."

Police outside the home of the 18-year old girl who called saying she had a bomb strapped to her earlier today, in Australia

* News * World news * US military US soldier arrested near Fort Hood 'with bomb-making material'

A US army soldier has been arrested after police found him in possession of possible bomb-making material at a motel near Fort Hood, Texas.
FBI special agent Eric Vasys said the soldier, who was absent without leave from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, was being held in a jail in the Texas town of Killeen, near Fort Hood, on an unrelated child pornography charge.
The soldier was identified as 21-year-old Naser Jason Abdo, originally from the Dallas area. He disappeared from Fort Campbell over the 4 July weekend, Bob Jenkins, a spokesman at the base said.
"Whatever threat Mr Nassar [sic Naser] posed yesterday or up until yesterday has been eliminated and mitigated, and there was nothing to indicate he was acting with anyone else," Vasys said.
He did not elaborate on the apparent threat, or on the charges Abdo might face. Vasys said he had no knowledge of any other arrests of soldiers.
Abdo was arrested on Wednesday after a "concerned citizen" reported that he had firearms and smokeless gunpowder in his Killeen motel room, Vasys said. "A search of his motel room revealed that he had some components which could be considered bomb-making materials."
Abdo applied for conscientious objector status in 2010 after he decided Islamic standards would prohibit his service in the US army in any war, military officials said.
Fort Hood was the scene of a November 2009 massacre in which 13 people were killed and 32 others wounded.
Army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan was charged with the shootings and is expected to face a court martial in March 2012.

Norwegians fill Oslo cathedral to mourn

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, center, his wife Ingrid Schulerud, and Eskil Pedersen, leader of the Labor Party youth wing, lay flowers before a memorial service at an Oslo cathedral. (July 24, 2011)

OSLO, Norway—
"Today we are mourning. Today we want to stop and remember those who died," Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said at the service, as attendees in the pews wept.

In all, 92 people were killed and 97 wounded in the Oslo bombing and Utoya Island shooting rampage. There are still people missing at both scenes, and divers were searching the waters around the island for bodies.

Stoltenberg grew emotional as he recalled a woman named Monica who had worked at the island youth camp for 20 years. "She has died, shot and killed while she tried to create safety and happiness for young people," Stoltenberg said.

"Soon we will be given the names and pictures of those who have died, and then the size and scale of this cruelty will become apparent. This will be a new trial for us, but we will manage that one as well. In the middle of all this tragedy I am proud to live in a country that is able to stand at such a critical moment, to stand together."

Also Sunday, Oslo Deputy Police Chief Sveinung Sponheim said the suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, was cooperating, and that "the dialogue between him and police has been good."

Police would not comment on the long right-wing online manifesto attributed to Breivik, saying only that it was part of the investigation.

Norway attacks in solo bombing

Norway Attack Suspect

Here is a brief update on what has happened in Norway over the last 24 hours.

The suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, has had ties to far-right, Christian fundamentalist movements in the past, but has reportedly been inactive in these groups for over 5 years now. He owned a farm where he had access to fertilizer, which could have been used to build the bomb that went off in the capitol yesterday. It would appear that my hypothesis in my prior article (which you can read here) was correct. However scary and unsettling it was, it appears to be the truth.

Appears to be like previous solo domestic terrorists. He had sympathies with groups who were against the government and felt something more had to be done. This is where the issue becomes more psychological rather than political and harder for me to understand. There was something psychologically different with Breivik that made him need to act in dramatic fashion where his old comrades were willing to sit on the side and wait. What the spark that set him off was may never be known, but there are posts on social media websites attributed to him that describe a belief that Muslims and non-Muslims cannot live together. Norwegian policies on this manor may have been his deciding factor for action.

There will always be people like Breivik and what needs to be discussed in the coming days is how to identify them before it is too late. That is the difficult question that will have to be answered for many to feel safe, however, it is most likely impossible to detect a solo actor on a mission. The only possible solution I see would be to give psychological tests to all known members of extremists groups, but there are obvious problems with this solution. First, everyone has human rights and many would feel this is a violation of those. Second, the government forcing an extremist group to submit to tests may force others into action. There is no simple answer for thwarting attacks such as these.

New methods will have to be developed and materials that cause damage such as this will have to be harder to come by. That is easy to say, but how do you stop a farmer from buying fertilizer? (Breivik owned and may have lived on a farm) The rest of the world should take warning from Norway and immediately set up committees to try and stop these acts before they occur. Many bright minds will have to be put to use in order to figure out a way to better predict domestic terror attacks before they occur. It will be interesting to see if anything changes in other countries besides Norway as a result of these attacks.