Up To 18 Civilians Killed By Australian Defence Force In 2017

February 1, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

The Australian Defence Force (ADF) says its fighter jets may have caused the deaths of up to 18 civilians in a strike on Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.

The incident in 2017 was part of the US-led coalition's bid to retake Mosul. However, the ADF said it was impossible to "definitively know" whether its forces, another coalition strike or "other actors" killed the civilians.

The deaths were "highly regrettable", military officials said.

Prisoner Freed By Armed Gang In Southern France

January 29, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

An armed gang has freed a prisoner from a police van in southern France.

The accomplices knocked a female guard to the ground and shot at the van in the town of Tarascon. The prisoner was being transferred from Beziers prison, 150km (90 miles) to the west. He was due to appear before judge on charges of armed robbery.

This is the second dramatic escape by a prisoner in less than a year in France. Last July gangster Rédoine Faïd broke out of prison in a hijacked helicopter. He was captured in Paris three months later.

Man Arrested After Louisiana Shooting

January 28, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

US police have arrested a man suspected of killing five people, including his parents, in two separate but related shootings in the state of Louisiana.

Saturday's shootings were in Livingston and Ascension parishes, south of Louisiana state capital Baton Rouge.

Authorities said the other victims are a woman thought to be his girlfriend, and her brother and father. Police believe Mr Theriot stole his father's grey and silver Dodge Ram pick-up truck, before driving to shoot his parents, Keith and Elizabeth Theriot. He had a gun with him at the time of his arrest, which authorities say he dropped w…

Five Sentenced After Killing Drill Music Rapper

January 25, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Five young people have been sentenced for their part in the killing of a 17-year-old boy amid a dispute fuelled by a YouTube drill music video.

Lyrico Steede, 17, was lured to a park in Nottingham after he appeared in a rap video mocking his attackers. While he lay dying in hospital, the man who stabbed him appeared in a response video bragging about violence.

Two of the killers were found guilty of murder while three were found guilty of manslaughter.

Violent Crime Increases

January 24, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Violent crime recorded by police in England and Wales has risen by 19%, latest figures show.

The number of homicides - including murder and manslaughter - has risen from 649 to 739, an increase of 14%, and the highest total since 2008.

Robbery went up by 17%, as did recorded sexual offences, according to the Home Office data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures cover the 12 months to the end of September 2018.

Overall crimes recorded by police went up by 7% in that period, with a total of 5,723,182 offences recorded.

Afghan Security Personnel Killed In Taliban Attack

January 22, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Dozens of Afghan security personnel were killed by Taliban militants who overran a military intelligence base near Kabul, officials have confirmed.

At least 43 people were killed and 54 injured in the attack, the NDS intelligence service said.

Insurgents blew their way into the base using a car bomb before opening fire. Some reports put the toll at over 100. It is one of the deadliest attacks on the secret service and follows a string of battlefield setbacks for the army.

New IRA Responsible For Bomb Blast In Londonderry

January 21, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

There is an ongoing security alert in Londonderry less than 48 hours after an explosion in the city centre on Saturday night.

The alert on Circular Road in the Creggan area follows a report of a vehicle being hijacked by three masked men shortly before 11:30 GMT on Monday.

Police said the men reportedly "threw an object in the back of it" before abandoning the vehicle. A number of cordons have been put in place and houses have been evacuated.

Human Rights Chief Calls For Use Of 'Flash Balls' To Be Halted

January 18, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

Appalling injuries caused by French police riot guns during the yellow-vest protests have triggered anger and calls for the weapon to be banned.

The LBD launchers known by protesters as "flash-balls" have left 40 people severely wounded, reports say.

One man emerged from a coma on Friday six days after being hit in the head. France's human rights chief has called for the weapon's use to be halted, but the government insists it is deployed only under very strict conditions.

Gun For Hire Given Whole-Life Sentence

January 17, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

A gangland hitman who gunned down a crime boss known as "Mr Big" has been given a whole-life sentence.

Nicknamed "The Iceman", Mark Fellows, 38, shot notorious crime figure Paul Massey, 55, with an Uzi sub-machine gun outside his Salford home in July 2015.

Mob "fixer" John Kinsella, 53, from Liverpool, was shot dead by Fellows three years later.

14 Dead After Nairobi Attack

January 16, 2019 / By Armoured Cars / In security

A deadly siege by suspected militants in Nairobi has ended after all the attackers were "eliminated", Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said.

Gunmen attacked a compound in the Westlands district of Kenya's capital on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people.

The Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab said it was behind the attack.