U.S. slaps terrorism authorizes on Iranian intelligence agency

The Obama administration is slapping sanctions on Iran’s ministry of intelligence and security, claiming that it supports global terrorism, commits human rights abuses against Iranians and participates in ongoing repression in Syria.

On Thursday the Treasury Department announced that it added the ministry to its list of specially designated global terrorists. The step freezes any assets the group may have in U.S. jurisdictions, bars Americans from doing business with it and bans ministry employees from travel to the United States. The effect of the sanctions will be largely symbolic as it is not known to have holdings in the U.S.
The announcement said the ministry had helped al-Qaida agents in Iran and provided then with identity cards and passports and had given money and weapons to al-Qaida in Iraq.

Bangkok explosions linked to the New Delhi attack

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, an Iranian man carrying explosives blow his own legs and wounded four other people in two blasts in Bangkok, Thai authorities said. A third blast took place in a nearby house.
Bangkok has been on the watch for a terror attack since police last month charged a Lebanese man suspected of planning a strike following a US warning that tourist areas might be target.

"Yesterday's incident was caused by current international tensions in world politics," National Security Council Secretary General Wichean Potephosree told a news conference.National Security Council chief Wichean Potephosree said that, the authorities are investigating the possible targets and if there was any link between Tuesday's explosions in Bangkok and one a day before New Delhi — an attack Israel blamed on Iran. Authorities say it's unclear whether the Bangkok explosions were linked to the New Delhi attack.

Cyber Crime Attack - Israeli hackers release Arab credit card details

Cyber attacks between Israeli and Arab hackers was raised yesterday, as a shadowy Israeli group released the details of 4,800 Arab credit-card holders and tried to launch attacks on the websites of the UAE Central Bank and the Arab Bank Palestine.

Early yesterday, hackers who said they were Israeli posted the credit card numbers, security codes and expiration dates of the cards, which they said they obtained from the website of a major Saudi bank. The Central Bank said the website did become inaccessible for about 20 minutes but the problem had been quickly solved.The Arab Bank website remained inaccessible for most of the day when accessed in Abu Dhabi.
"They did target the website, but they didn't do any damage," said Bob Thomson, chief manager of information technology projects at the Central Bank, who described the incident as "a concentrated attack".The hackers' email message to The National linked to an online warning calling on "terrorists to stop their terrorist acts against Israel and attempts to disrupt the normal course of life in Israel".

British voice behind a call to supports for Somalia's terrorists

Video reports of al-Shabaab battles with Somali forces feature jihadist with London tone of voice. An aggressive Islamist group in Somalia that has declared its allegiance to al-Qa'ida is using a young British man to file video propaganda from the front lines of the country's civil war to try to draw English-speaking Muslims to the Horn of Africa for jihad, The Independent can reveal.

The man, who stays behind the mask throughout his videos, speaks in fluent English with a clear London accent and presents breathless reports of battles that the militant groups have fought against Somali government and foreign forces.Intelligence sources and terrorism experts believe the man was either born in Britain or spent considerable time here and that he may have even had some media training before heading abroad to join the militant network..The Independent has collected at least three videos in which the man features.
The first – which runs for 11 minutes and is titled "African Crusaders" – was released in June 2010 and only contains the man's voice. A second 21 minute long video – "Mogadishu – the Crusader's Graveyard" – was released a month later and shows the young reporter appearing with his face covered in front of burning tank that he claims was destroyed by Islamist fighters.

12 men arrested in suspected UK terrorism plot

In the biggest anti-terrorist sweep in Britain in nearly two years, police have arrested a dozen men accused of plotting a large-scale terror attack on targets inside the United Kingdom.

The suspects, who ranged in age from 17 to 28, had been under surveillance for weeks and were believed to have links to Pakistan and Bangladesh, security officials said.

The arrests come amid growing concerns in Europe over terrorism following a suicide bombing in Sweden and reported threats of a terror attack on a European city modeled on the deadly shooting spree in Mumbai, India.