Fisher: Canadian CF-18 fighter jets launch first attack on Islamic State targets in Iraq

A Canadian Armed Forces aircrew member waits for the arrival of the CP-140M Aurora aircraft in Kuwait. The Auroras , with their cutting-edge sensors, have been a boon to coalition forces. Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera, Department of National Defence

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait — Canadian fighter jets dropped bombs over Iraq late Sunday night, Iraqi time, Defense Minister Rob Nicholson announced in a statement from Ottawa.

“Today, Canada’s CF-18s conducted their first combat strike since joining the fight against ISIL on Oct. 30. Co-ordinated with our coalition partners, two CF-18s attacked ISIL targets with GBU12 500-pound laser-guided bombs in the vicinity of Fallujah, Iraq,” Nicholson said

“The approximately four-hour mission included air-to-air refueling from Canada’s Polaris aircraft. All aircraft returned safely to their base.”

Nicholson said the assessment of damage was continuing.

It was the middle of the night in Kuwait, where the Canadian warplanes are based, and nobody connected with Task Force Iraq was available to comment.

Ottawa received word of the attack at about noon Ottawa time (or around 8 p.m. in Iraq).

First word of the successful sortie came in a statement from the minister shortly after 6 p.m. ET.

Few other details were released about the airstrike, which was the first use of bombs by CF-18 Hornets since the war to oust Moammar Gadhafi.

“We are all proud about the first strike,” an officer in Ottawa familiar with the operation said.

“It’s all good news, but we cannot possibly release information because it has to all come out at once at a tech brief where all the information will be covered so that you have the whole picture.”

As of Sunday evening, that brief for journalists was scheduled to be given in Ottawa on Tuesday.

It is the fourth time that Canada’s venerable CF-18s have dropped bombs, but not the first time that they have been used against Iraq. During the first Gulf War, which routed Saddam Hussein’s army from Kuwait in 1991, several dozen CF-18s flew for weeks against targets in Kuwait and Iraq. For that mission they flew out of a base in Qatar that was dubbed Canada Dry Two. Canadian support elements were housed nearby at Canada Dry One.

Eighteen of Canada’s 30-year-old fighter jets were deployed again in 1999 against Serbian forces during the Kosovo conflict. They flew combat missions again over Libya three years ago.

The bombing run of Sunday may put to rest a minor controversy over whether the laser-guided munitions used in Sunday’s air strike were up to the job because they have trouble identifying targets in cloudy weather. That was a problem during the first two days of Canada’s part in the air campaign, which began on Thursday. But skies were clear Sunday.

To see through the clouds the CF-18s are about to receive GPS-guided bombs as well. The blogosphere was alive this weekend with suggestions that Canada did not have enough of these weapons. It was a charge strongly denied by airmen in-theatre and back in Canada.

But Canada’s mix of bombs is about to improve. All-weather GPS-guided bombs for the CF-18 Hornets are expected to arrive from Canada in the next day or two.

Canadian Armed Forces flight crew service the CP-140M Aurora Long Range Patrol aircraft as they arrive in Kuwait. Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera, DND IS2014-5784

There was some speculation in the blogosphere that the delay in getting the GPS-guided weapons from Canada to the Middle East had arisen because Ottawa had failed to order new supplies of munitions after the air war that Canada was part of over Libya three years ago. Several military and civilian sources insisted that supplies of ordnance for the CF-18 were sufficient for the present needs and that the Hornets would be flying with a mix of laser and GPS-guided bombs under their wings very soon.

“We have established an air bridge between Canada and Kuwait and expect them to arrive and to be used in the coming days,” Devenney said.

The Department of National Defence purchased 400 bomb-guidance kits from the U.S. last week that make smart bombs work better in poor weather. “There is no shortage in ammunition stocks,” DND spokeswoman Ashley Lemire told Postmedia reporter David Pugliese before the Canadians began combat sorties over Iraq.

The bomb-guidance kits were not an emergency purchase but had been made because it was thought the air campaign could last for some time, defence sources in Canada said this weekend. The Harper government has until now authorized the mission for six months.

The announcement of the air strike on the fourth day of operations came after the chief spokesman for Task Force Iraq said that the mission had been going well since it started on Thursday, with the CP-140 M Aurora spy planes singled out for praise.

The mostly Canadian-built electro-optical and infrared sensors on the pair of upgraded Block 3 CP-140M Aurora spy planes the Royal Canadian Air Force has been flying over territory held by Islamic State  in western and northwest Iraq have been a boon to Hornets pilots and other coalition aircrews. The lumbering 30-year-old propellor-powered Auroras used to be regarded mostly as anti-submarine warfare platforms. That is why they have been based in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. But the cutting-edge systems the aircraft have received recently have turned them into effective battlefield surveillance platforms, too.

“We are extremely pleased with how it is going, especially the Aurora,” Lt.-Col. Dave Devenney, Joint Task Force Iraq’s spokesman, said over the telephone from a base in Kuwait. “They’ve been giving a good, clear image that allow us to assess the effects that coalition aircraft have been having on the ground.

“This the first outing for the Block 3 Auroras. They are providing us with an enhanced picture of the battle space that we can further analyze later. That information is being used in direct support of coalition air missions.”

Canadian Armed Forces aircrew members wait for the arrival of the CP-140M Aurora Long Range Patrol aircraft in Kuwait. Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera, DND IS2014-5784

The information collected by Auroras’ sensors were being used by the U.S.-led  Combined Air Operations Centre in real time or brought back for processing and then distributed across the wider intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) network, said Col. Daniel Constable, the commander of Canada’s air campaign.

Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has threatened to target Canadians, Australians and others in their homelands. It also has encouraged its followers to harm U.S. forces deployed around the Persian Gulf and even the children of western diplomats and other workers who are enrolled at English language schools across the Middle East.

Whether these warnings could have consequences for the 600 Canadian troops in Kuwait is impossible to say. It has been considered unlikely because the Canadian Forces have made no secret of the fact their personnel here are confined to compounds and airfields within highly secure bases.

Nevertheless, two weeks ago nobody would have predicted the murder of two unarmed Canadian troops in separate incidents in Canada.

“The safety of our people, that is my personal number-one concern,” Constable said. “The area where we are operating from is force-protected. There is a level of protection provided by the host nation and by our coalition partners. We definitely contribute to that force protection.

Justice Minister Peter MacKay, left, talks with crew as two CP-140M Aurora reconnaissance aircraft prepare to leave CFB Greenwood in Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

“We’re always assessing threats and adjust our force protection (posture) to take into account any threats.“

Devenney confirmed what the colonel said, adding: “Regardless of what the threat may or may not be, we have had no need to be outside the base. We are still building our camp and have been focused on getting operations underway. There is still so much to do.”

The RCAF had anticipated a slow start to its modest part in the bombing campaign against Islamic State because its pilots had to become used to the terrain in Iraq and a complex operational environment that puts dozens of warplanes, intelligence aircraft and refuelling tankers into the air at the same time. As well as keeping a close eye out for possible fire from the ground, the Canadian aircrews have been testing their connectivity and inter-operability with aircraft from at least 11 other countries and the coalition’s air and land-based command and control structure.

Although cloud cover made dropping laser-guided munitions problematic during the first two days that Canadian aircraft were over Iraq, the weather has improved. Coalition jets carried out strike missions Saturday and Sunday in Iraq.

Bombing in Pakistan kills nearly 45, police say

In this file photo, Pakistani paramilitary troops stand guard during a clash between police and protesters in Islamabad, Pakistan in September. Photo: Anjum Naveed/ Associated Press

LAHORE, Pakistan — A bomb exploded near a Pakistani paramilitary checkpoint Sunday, killing at least 45 people near the country’s eastern border with India in an attack suspected to be the work of a suicide bomber, police said.

The explosion hit near a checkpoint at the Wagah border crossing on the outskirts of Lahore, Punjab provincial police chief Mushtaq Sukhera said.

The death toll was likely to rise because over 70 people were wounded, with several in critical condition, he said.

Police are investigating the bombing, and had intelligence reports in advance that there could be such a blast in the city, he said.

Another Lahore officer, Haider Ashraf, said some paramilitary soldiers were among the dead and wounded. The paramilitary forces’ provincial Director General Tahir Javed said three soldiers died.

Pakistani police examine a damaged bus at the site of a bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, in February. (Shakil Adil/ Associated Press)

All the officers said they did not know what the target could have been. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Security has been increased in all major Pakistani cities to thwart possible attacks on minority Shiite Muslims observing Ashura, a 10-day ritual to commemorate the death of Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad.

But, Haider said, there was no such Shiite processions happening in the area where the incident took place.

Suspicion likely is to fall on Pakistani Taliban or any of their allied militant groups.

The militants have been waging a war against the state for over a decade in a bid to topple the government and install their own harsh brand of Islam, killing thousands of Pakistanis.

Leader of Nigeria’s extremists says kidnapped girls all married off, threatens to kill German

By Haruna Umar And Michelle Faul

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — With a malevolent laugh, the leader of Nigeria’s Islamic extremists tells the world that more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls have all been converted to Islam and married off, dashing hopes for their freedom.

“If you knew the state your daughters are in today, it might lead some of you … to die from grief,” Abubakar Shekau sneers, addressing the parents of the girls and young women kidnapped from a remote boarding school more than six months ago.

In a new video released late Friday night, the Boko Haram leader also denies there is a cease-fire with the Nigerian government and threatens to kill an unidentified German hostage.

“Don’t you know we are still holding your German hostage (who is) always crying,” he taunts. “If we want, we will hack him or slaughter him or shoot him.”

A file image from video by Nigeria’s Boko Haram terrorist network shows their leader Abubakar Shekau speaks to the camera.” (AP Photo/File)

A German development worker was kidnapped at gunpoint in Gombi, a town in Nigeria’s northeast Gombi in July. Police reported he was ambushed as he drove to work.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier last week told reporters in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, that he had no new information about a German abductee.

In the new video, Shekau wears a camouflage tunic and pants and the black and white flag of al-Qaida is by his side. He is flanked by masked and armed fighters standing in front of four military pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns. Boko Haram has looted many weapons and vehicles including armoured cars from Nigeria’s military.

The military has several times claimed to have killed Shekau, and says any new videos are made by a look-alike. But the United States has not removed a $7 million ransom on the head of the extremist leader.

On Oct. 17, Nigeria’s military chief, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, announced that Boko Haram had agreed to an immediate cease-fire to end a 5-year insurgency in which thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have been driven from homes in northeast Nigeria. And government officials said they expected the Chibok girls to be released any day.

But Shekau denies in the video that he has agreed to any truce and says he is dedicated to fighting and dying a martyr’s death to guarantee him a place in paradise.

“You people should understand that we only obey Allah, we tread the path of the Prophet. We hope to die on this path … Our goal is the garden of eternal bliss,” he says.

He said Boko Haram is interested only in “battle, hitting, striking and killing with the gun, which we look forward to like a tasty meal,” he said.

The fighting and abductions have continued, with Boko Haram seizing the commercial centre of Mubi this week and fighting raging Friday around nearby Vimtin, the village where Badeh was born.

And the only news of the girls has come from Shekau, who appeared to dash hopes that they would be released in an exchange for detained Boko Haram fighters.

“The issue of the girls is long forgotten because I have long ago married them off,” Shekau says with a chortle. The extremist fighters have ordered girls to stay out of Western-style schools and get married. Boko Haram is a nickname meaning “Western education is sinful” in the Hausa language.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister issued a statement condemning Boko Haram.

“There is no more cowardly and pathetic crime than preying on young girls and children,” John Baird said in a statement.

“Canada calls on Nigerian authorities to redouble their efforts and bring this nightmare to an end, and bring those responsible to justice.”

FILE – In this Thursday, May 8, 2014 file photo, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan speaks. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

An earlier video in May showed some of the kidnapped girls, including two explaining why they had converted to Islam. Unconfirmed reports have indicated the girls have been divided into groups and that some have been carried across borders, into Cameroon and Chad. There also have been reports that they were forced to marry fighters who paid a nominal bride price equivalent to $12.

Some 276 girls and young women were kidnapped in the early hours of April 15 from a boarding school in the remote town of Chibok. Dozens escaped on their own in the first couple of days but 219 remain missing.

The plight of the girls attracted international outrage, with demands that Boko Haram free them. The Nigerian government and military’s failure to secure their release has brought criticism that President Goodluck Jonathan is uncaring of their fate.

Shekau in August announced that Boko Haram wanted to establish an Islamic caliphate, along the lines of the IS group in Syria and Iraq. Fleeing residents have reported that hundreds of people are being detained for infractions of the extremists’ version of strict Shariah law in several towns and villages under their control.

Shekau’s video announcement further discredits the government of President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian southerner who on Thursday formally announced his candidacy for elections on Feb. 14, 2015, in Africa’s most populous nation. Nigeria’s 160 million people are divided almost equally between Muslims who dominate the north and Christians in the south. The West African nation is the biggest oil producer on the continent and has its biggest economy.

Slain warrant officer Patrice Vincent ‘left way too soon’ (with video)

LONGUEUIL, Que. — Friends, relatives and dignitaries paid tribute to slain warrant officer Patrice Vincent on Saturday, with one colleague saying he “left way too soon.”

About 1,000 people, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, packed into a church near Montreal to say goodbye to Vincent, who was killed Oct. 20 after being hit by a car driven by an attacker with known jihadist sympathies.

One of Vincent’s sisters, Louise, read a statement to reporters after the ceremony.

“Patrice’s message is to go home tonight, look at those who contribute to your happiness, to your life, and have gratitude for the love they give you, for the help they give you,” she said.

“And he would tell you also ‘Love them, share with them your help in the way you can.’ And this was what Patrice was doing, trying to be a better man every day of his life. This made him a hero but none of us saw this coming.”

Chief warrant officer Martin Rousseau, who gave a eulogy at the funeral, described Vincent, 53, as a quiet and determined person who was always looking to help others.

“He left way too soon,” Rousseau said in an interview before the service.
Vincent would have been overwhelmed by the pomp and circumstance of the funeral, he added.

“I can tell you that he never would have expected this,” he said. “He never would have asked for this.”

At the request of Vincent’s family, the service was not televised and media were not granted access to the church.

The Prime Minister’s Office later issued a transcript of Harper’s remarks to the congregation.

“All of Canada shares your pain,” Harper said of Vincent’s family.

“Patrice did not deserve to die, and you do not deserve to be going through this ordeal.

“Someone dear to you has been taken away by the revolting actions of a person motivated by a barbaric ideology, an ideology contrary to the values of justice, freedom and compassion that we share as Canadians.”

Warrant officer Patrice Vincent is pictured in a National Defense handout photo. A funeral will be held Saturday in Longueuil, south of Montreal for Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent who was killed when he was struck by a car.

Vincent was killed in the parking lot of a shopping mall in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, southeast of Montreal, when Martin Couture-Rouleau plowed into him and a fellow soldier, who survived.

Vincent’s casket was carried out of the church in Montreal-area Longueuil by eight pallbearers and was draped with the Maple Leaf.

Hank Gigandet, a 67-year-old Montrealer, said he wanted to pay his respects to a fallen slider.

“Our military does a great job, ” he said before the service.

“I thought it was a good occasion to come here and show our respect.”

Vincent’s death came two days before Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was fatally shot while standing sentry at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

His attacker, Michael Zehaf Bibeau, was then killed in a dramatic shootout in the halls of the Parliamentary Buildings.

Vincent was working as a member of the military’s personnel support staff in the IT department at 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadron in Saint-Hubert, near Montreal.

Vincent joined the Forces in the spring of 1986 as a combat engineer. After completing his initial trade training, he was posted later that year to CFB Valcartier, near Quebec City.

In 1990, he redeployed as a military firefighter and served at a number of Canadian Forces bases, including Comox, B.C; Trenton, Ont; Edmonton; and North Bay, Ont.

Vincent also served around the world on several warships.

Egypt court convicts 8 men for ‘inciting debauchery’ over same-sex wedding video

Eight Egyptian men convicted for "inciting debauchery" following their appearance in a video of an alleged same-sex wedding party on a Nile boat cover their faces as they leave the defendant's cage in a courtroom in Cairo Photo: AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

CAIRO — An Egyptian court has convicted eight men for “inciting debauchery” following their appearance in an alleged same-sex wedding party on a Nile boat, sentencing each of them to three years in prison.

The Internet video shows two men exchanging rings and embracing among cheering friends. In September, a statement from the office of Egypt’s chief prosecutor said the video clip was “shameful to God” and “offensive to public morals.”

Saturday’s verdict is the latest in a crackdown by authorities against gays and atheists. The campaign also targets liberal and pro-democracy activists and violators of a draconian law on street protests.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in September that Egyptian authorities have repeatedly arrested and tortured men suspected of consensual gay conduct.