One of Saddam Hussein’s former intelligence officers masterminded Islamic State’s takeover of northern Syria after becoming embittered by the US-led invasion of Iraq, according to a report by the German magazine Der Spiegel

Documents uncovered in Syria reveal meticulous planning for the group’s structure and organisation, the report says, with the 31 pages of handwritten charts, lists and schedules amounting to a blueprint for the establishment of a caliphate in Syria.

The documents were the work of a man identified by the magazine as Samir Abd Muhammad al-Khlifawi, a former colonel in the intelligence service of Saddam Hussein’s air defence force, who went by the pseudonym Haji Bakr, Spiegel says.
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The files suggest that the takeover of northern Syria was part of a meticulous plan overseen by Haji Bakr using techniques – including surveillance, espionage, murder and kidnapping – honed in the security apparatus of Saddam Hussein.

Bakr was “bitter and unemployed” after the US authorities in Iraq disbanded the army by decree in 2003, the article says. Between 2006 to 2008 he was reportedly in US detention facilities, including Abu Ghraib prison.

The Iraqi national was reportedly killed in a firefight with Syrian rebels in January 2014, but not before he had helped secure swathes of Syria, which in turn strengthened Islamic State’s position in neighbouring Iraq.

“What Bakr put on paper, page by page, with carefully outlined boxes for individual responsibilities, was nothing less than a blueprint for a takeover,” the story by Spiegel reporter Christoph Reuter says.
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“It was not a manifesto of faith, but a technically precise plan for an ‘Islamic Intelligence State’ – a caliphate run by an organisation that resembled East Germany’s notorious Stasi domestic intelligence agency.”

Between 2006 to 2008, Bakr was reportedly in US detention facilities, including Abu Ghraib prison.

In 2010, however, Bakr and a small group of former Iraqi intelligence officers made another former US detainee, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the official leader of Islamic State, with the goal of giving the group a “religious face”, the report says.

Two years later, the magazine says, Bakr travelled to northern Syria to oversee his takeover plan, choosing to launch it with a collection of foreign fighters that included novice militants from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Europe alongside battle-tested Chechens and Uzbeks.

Iraqi journalist Hisham al-Hashimi, whose cousin served with Bakr, describes the former officer as a nationalist rather than an Islamist. The report argues that the secret to Islamic State’s success lies in its combination of opposites – the fanatical beliefs of one group and the strategic calculations of another, led by Bakr.

Spiegel said it had obtained the papers after lengthy negotiations with rebels in the Syrian city of Aleppo, who had seized them when Islamic State was forced to abandon its headquarters there in early 2014.

India Navy’s new stealth destroyer, Visakhapatnam, designed indigenously and fitted with advanced features, was launched here today, boosting the maritime force’s firepower capability.

The Kolkata-class warship, the first of P15-B stealth destroyers, was launched by Minu Dhowan, wife of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R K Dhowan, at Mazgaon Docks Ltd (MDL).

Top Navy and MDL officials were present on the occasion.

The ship, weighing approximately 3,000 tons during the launch, is slated to be christened as ‘INS Visakhapatnam’ on commissioning.

The 163-metre-long vessel will be propelled by four gas turbines, and is designed to achieve a speed of over 30 knots at a displacement of approximately 7,300 tons.

The indigenously designed stealth destroyer will have state-of-the-art weapons, sensors, an advance Action Information System, in Integrated Platform Management system, sophisticated Power Distribution System and a host of other advanced features.

It will be fitted with supersonic surface-to-surface missile system. The system enables the ship to engage shore-based and naval surface targets at long range, making it a lethal platform for strike against enemy targets.

The ship’s air defence capability, designed to counter the threat of enemy aircraft and anti-ship cruise missiles, will revolve around the vertical launch and long range surface to air missile system.

Four 30 mm rapid-fire guns will provide the ship with close-in-defence capability, while an MR gun will enable her to provide effective naval gunfire support.

Indigenously developed twin tube torpedo launchers and rocket launchers will add punch to the ship’s anti-submarine capability. The vessel is follow-on of P15A Kolkata-class destroyers with enhanced features.

The vessel is expected to be commissioned in the Navy in 2018.

The indigenisation content in P15-B class destroyers is a notch above her illustrious predecessors in line with the ’Make in India policy’ of the Government.

The P15-B stealth destroyers have been designed by the force’s in-house unit — Directorate of Naval Design.

The design of Project 15B destroyers is testimony of the Navy’s firm commitment towards achieving indigenisation by using high-end technology in the field of weapons/sensors/ machinery and stealth.

Mazagaon Docks, the country’s premier warship building yard, is engaged in producing sophisticated world—class warships and submarines. At present four destroyers and six submarines are under various stages of construction at MDL

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said his government was committed to develop Mumbai as an international financial centre and strive to provide investors with the best financial services.

Fadnavis said his government will create conducive environment for fund managers in Mumbai to attract them to the metropolis and invest heavily.

“Mumbai has the capacity to be an international financial centre and also to fulfil the capability. Tax on financial transactions done by fund managers would be waived off. This provision has been made in the state budget,” Fadnavis said.

Similarly, he said the government will easily facilitate MoUs in Mumbai by streamlining various taxes, so that the state exchequer will also get revenue.

“We need to build two iconic buildings in the Bandra Kurla complex (BKC) for attracting investors across the globe. We will take every effort to make Mumbai a global financial centre,” he said.

Earlier, Fadnavis inaugurated the northbound stretch of the Kherwadi flyover. The 580 m-long north arm of the flyover was completed in less than six months.

He also performed bhoomi-pujan of the 1.6 km elevated BKC-Chunabhatti connector project. Once completed this Rs 200 crore elevated connector will help motorists coming from Eastern suburbs to reach BKC in short time.
PTI

Mumbai: Mumbai resident Neha Chande has bagged a gold medal in the ‘Beauty Therapy’ segment of WorldSkills Oceania competition 2015 held in New Zealand.

Five other children from India have also won two silver and three bronze medals across the categories.

WorldSkills Oceania, which is hosted by WorldSkills New Zealand, had over 100 participants from seven countries– New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Canada, Malaysia, China and India– this year.

This is the first time WorldSkills India has sent its contingent to participate in WorldSkills Oceania. Out of 14 candidates, who represented India at the competition, six have been announced winners and felicitated with medals of excellence in their respective categories.

These candidates are part of the Final 29 India team, which will also be representing the country in WorldSkills at Sau Paulo in Brazil in August 2015.

A statement issued by WorldSkills said, Union Minister of State for Skill Development Rajiv Pratap Rudy congratulated the Indian team on the success.

“This is a remarkable performance by our India contingent and this is just the first step towards making our mark in the skills landscape,” Rudy said.

“My ministry has been entrusted by our Prime Minister, with making our country a skilled nation and we are currently creating synergies across departments and ministries to ensure that this happens very quickly,” he added.

Dilip Chenoy, Managing Director and CEO, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) said: “My heartiest congratulations to all 6 winners, who have made the country proud. This is a great beginning and a fabulous achievement for us”.

“I am happy to learn that 2 of the 6 medalists are women. I am happy to see the enthusiasm, passion and competitive spirit that the participants have showcased,” he added.

WorldSkills India is an initiative of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

The selection of Team India which was drawn over an 11 month period starting from April 2014, saw in all 1050 participants from across the country. The finals held in Delhi saw the selection of 29 winners from 27 different skills.

Widely and informally regarded as the Skills Olympics, WorldSkills Competitions are held in different countries every two years and brings together over 1,000 participants, below 23 years, from across the world to compete in more than 46 skills.
PTI

Kolkata: India’s religious diversity and tolerance are acting as a buffer against the ISIS, whose appeal is “much less among the Indian population” compared to other countries, US expert on terrorism Gary Lafree said on Monday.

“Being a visitor to this country, its religious diversity and expression is really fascinating. So many religious groups living in harmony is actually a buffer, as ISIS is trying to create a wedge between Islam and other religions,” Lafree, the director of the National Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) said.

“In countries which have predominately one religion, there it is easy for ISIS to unite Muslims. But in India because of its diversity it is not possible, where so many religions, churches, mosques, exist side by side.

“India has very few foreign fighters, compared to the size of the country even compared to Europe. The appeal of ISIS is much less in India. In US and Europe we are very concerned about ISIS,” Lafree said.

Terming ISIS as a formidable group, Lafree said ISIS has a “deep bench” of leadership and it will not be a easy task to wipe off ISIS.

Lafree, however, pointed out that terrorism based on religious radicalism was on the rise in India.

“In India terrorism based on religious radicalism is on the rise. India ranks fourth in the list of global terror attacks in 2014. The first three are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. India tends to have all kind of terrorism whether religious, left wing, right wing and many more. Sixty per cent of the attacks have been from Maoists and Left wing terrorism,” noted.

PTI

MUMBAI: Sunday saw a rash of protests across the city against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s draft development plan 2034 and the proposed hawking policy. Thousands took to the streets following the civic authorites’ reluctance to rectify its mistakes. The present deadline for submitting objections/suggestions to the DP is April 24.

The protests were organized with help from activists, NGOs and local residents’ associations.

Nearly 1,000 residents of Parsi Colony (Dadar) came out, along with members of other associations, to protest against the hawking zones. The protestors walked for more than a km to make others and the authorities aware about their concerns. “They are randomly marking hawking patches near schools and an agiary. We are opposing it as footpaths are meant for walking, not for hawking,” said Mehernosh Fitter, All-Dadar East People’s Team Association.

AGNI & NAGAR, along with local residents’ associations, organized protests at seven places across the city. They stated that the BMC’s decision to accommodate more hawkers in peaceful areas will create a nuisance for locals and will change the city’s character forever.

Jennifer Shetty of AGNI stated that the protests were mainly to emphasize that BMC should project greater accountability in maintaining a balance between citizens’ needs, instead of tilting towards hawkers. She added that there was a need to redraft the guidelines to implement the Street Vendors’ Livelihood Act, 2014.

Nariman Point Churchgate Citizens’ Association (NPCCA) members organized a human chain outside Jawaharlal Nehru garden at Nariman Point, the reservation of which has changed from a recreational ground in the 1991 DP to commercial/residential in the draft DP 2034. The citizens’ association has accumulated around 3,500 objection letters and plans to submit them to the BMC this week. With banners and posters like ‘Return our garden’ and ‘Free our garden’, local residents and association members were on the streets, protesting against losing an open space in a prime area. Atul Kumar, vice-president of the citizens’ group, said that there was a great turnout, with senior citizens and even those in wheelchairs, besides children.

Andheri resident Vishwa Shah, along with residents of Sundervan Housing Society, protested against the proposed hawking zones off JP Road. She said, “We encourage business and livelihood but we would like that to happen in an organized manner. The protesters would like to also tell the government to encourage growth in the right direction.”

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