Ex Congolese Rebel Leader Guilty Of War Crimes

March 21, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba has been found guilty of war crimes in a landmark trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Bemba was accused of failing to stop his rebels from killing and raping people in neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR) in 2002 and 2003. He had sent more than 1,000 fighters to help put down an attempted coup.

Paris Attacker Salah Abdeslam Had More Attacks Planned

March 21, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam was preparing attacks in Brussels before he was arrested, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has suggested.

Abdeslam is being interrogated in Belgium following his arrest in a dramatic raid in Brussels on Friday. Many weapons and a new terror network had been uncovered in the city, Mr Reynders told a foreign policy forum.

Paris Attacks Suspect Salah Abdeslam's Accomplice Identified

March 21, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Belgian prosecutors say that DNA has identified an accomplice of captured Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam.

The man is named as Najim Laachraoui, 24, still on the run. A statement said he had been using false ID and that his DNA had been found in houses used by the suspected jihadist network. Abdeslam was captured in Brussels on Friday and is still being interrogated.

Eight Years In Jail For German Triple Agent

March 18, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

A former German intelligence employee has been sentenced to eight years in jail for spying for the US and Russia.

Markus Reichel admitted handing over more than 200 documents over four years to the CIA in exchange for at least €80,000 (£63,000, $90,000).

The court in Munich heard that these included the real and cover names and addresses of German agents abroad. The 32-year-old was also found guilty of treason for giving three documents to the Russian secret service.

89 Boko Haram Members Sentenced To Death In Cameroon

March 18, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Cameroon has sentenced 89 members of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram to death, local media report.

They were convicted on terror charges by a military court for their roles in several attacks in Cameroon's northern region which borders Nigeria. Cameroon passed an anti-terror law in 2014 which introduced the death sentence.

This is the first time the death sentenced has been used since that law was passed. The 89 are among 850 people arrested in Cameroon on charges of links to Boko Haram.

British Diplomats Questioned On Spying

March 17, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Two British diplomats have been caught illegally filming military aircraft near an airfield in North Ossetia, Russian state TV has claimed.

Rossiya 1 said defence attache Carl Scott and assistant naval attache Ryan Coatalen-Hodgson from the Moscow embassy were spying near Mozdok base. The Foreign Office confirmed that two British men were stopped.

Four Arrested In Paris As Attack Fears Grow

March 17, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Four people have been arrested in the Paris area as part of a wider investigation into a possible plot to attack France, officials say.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said police had information to suggest one of those arrested "could undertake violent actions in France".

But he played down French media reports that an attack was imminent.

Militant Group TAK Claim Ankara Bombing

March 17, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

The Kurdish militant group TAK says it carried out Sunday's deadly attack in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

In an online statement it said the attack, which killed 37 people, was in revenge for military operations in the mainly Kurdish south-east.

The TAK, an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), had already said it was behind another bombing in Ankara last month.Authorities in Turkey have blamed the latest attack on the PKK.In a further development, Germany closed its embassy in Ankara and its consulate and a school in Istanbul on Thursday citing a "concrete threat" of an imminen…

At Least 41 Killed In Yemen Air Strike

March 16, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

At least 41 civilians have been killed and 35 others wounded in an air strike by Saudi-led coalition warplanes in northern Yemen, medics say.

Witnesses said at least two missiles hit a busy market in the Mustaba district of Hajja province at midday.

Video footage purportedly of the aftermath showed what appeared to be the bodies of several children. Hajja is controlled by Houthi rebels, who the coalition is battling on behalf of Yemen's government.

Australian Lawyer Victim Of Contract Killing

March 16, 2016 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Police in Australia believe a lawyer who represented some of the country's most notorious organised crime figures was the victim of a contract killing.

Joe Acquaro was shot dead in Melbourne in the early hours of Tuesday. Investigators believe underworld bosses may have put a price on his head.

The lawyer was well-known in the city's Italian community and his body was found outside a cafe he owned.

Clients included crime bosses accused of extortion, drugs and arms offences.