News from in and around the Caliphates

From BBC:
Tunisia security forces kill nine 'Islamists'.   Tunisian security forces have killed at least nine suspected Islamist militants who are blamed for a deadly attack on a police patrol, officials say.
They say at least three other suspects were arrested in the operation in the Mount Taouyer area, about 70km (44 miles) west of the capital, Tunis.
Two policemen died when they were attacked in the area on Thursday.
Interior Ministry spokesman Mohamed Ali Aroui said the militants belonged to the Salafist Ansar al-Sharia group....

From CNN:
...  A senior military police commander was killed   by unidentified gunmen in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Friday, the country's official news agency, LANA, reported.
Col. Ahmed al-Barghathi was the director of military police in the Libyan army, LANA said.....

Rahat Hussain writing at WashingtonTimes:
A group of Americans visiting Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj were threatened and attacked earlier this week on Oct. 16 by a radicalized group of extremists. On one of the nights where Hajj pilgrims are required to stay overnight in the city of Mina, a group of young men began asking different sets of pilgrims if they were from the United States.
When they encountered a group that identified themselves as not only Americans, but also as Shiite Muslims, they were threatened and attacked by the group of men, who were apparently armed with knives and other blades.
During the attack, the men reportedly shouted “Our [holy pilgrimage] will be complete once we have killed you, ripped out your hearts and eaten them, and [then] raped your women.”
In continuing the assault, the men also shouted “We’re going to do Karbala all over again,” referring to an important historical event to Shi’ite Muslims, wherein the grandson of the Prophet, named Imam Husain, was brutally attacked and killed, after he was forced to witness the killing of many of his family members. The survivors of the incident, mostly women and children, were immediately imprisoned in circumstances that resulted in the deaths of some of the prisoners.
The Americans fled the tent area, which the Saudi government had specifically designated for American and European pilgrims. During the escape, many of the group, almost entirely U.S. citizens and mostly hailing from Dearborn, Michigan suffered bruises (in one case, due to an attempted strangulation), concussions, broken bones, and black eyes......

From Reuters:
.... Turkey on Saturday rejected European Union criticism  of its handling of anti-government protests earlier this year, but said a report on its progress towards joining the bloc showed it had come closer to European economic and democratic standards.
In the government's first official response to the commission's report, released on Wednesday, EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis said the European Commission's support for fresh talks on a new policy area proved Turkey was making progress in the reform process.
"We are pleased that this year's progress report emphasizes the important reforms Turkey has realized," Bagis said.
"It's indisputable that Turkey is now closer than ever to European Union standards in terms of democracy, human rights and economic developments," he said in an emailed statement.
The report on Turkish efforts to meet requirements to join the 28-nation EU may help breathe new life into Turkey's EU bid by backing the opening of talks on a new chapter.......

From NationalGeographic:
War and occupation directly and indirectly  claimed the lives of about a half-million Iraqis from 2003 to 2011, according to a groundbreaking survey of 1,960 Iraqi households. The violence peaked in 2006 and 2007, say public health experts who were part of the study.
On March 19, 2003, a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq, beginning a ground war that culminated in the rapid capture of Baghdad and overthrow of the regime led by Saddam Hussein. A coalition-led occupation of Iraq lasted until 2011, marked by repeated bombings, an al Qaeda-linked insurgency, militia warfare, and other bloodshed in the nation of 32.6 million people.
In the new PLOS Medicine journal survey, led by public health expert Amy Hagopian of the University of Washington in Seattle, an international research team polled heads of households and siblings across Iraq. The researchers, including some from the Iraqi Ministry of Health, aimed to update and improve past estimates of the human costs of the war and occupation.
"We think it is roughly around half a million people dead. And that is likely a low estimate," says Hagopian. "People need to know the cost in human lives of the decision to go to war.".........

From IrishTimes:
....Israeli and Saudi leaders could lose out  if Iran deprives the US of its enemy.  
‘The Saudis’ worst nightmare would be the administration striking a grand bargain with Iran. ” Robert Gordon, US ambassador to Riyadh in 2001-2003, so highlights the potential significance of this week’s constructive talks in Geneva between Iran and six world powers, chaired by the European Union.
They are to reconvene in three weeks, encouraging speculation that a larger geopolitical shift might be possible if agreement is reached on Iran’s nuclear programme and economic sanctions are lifted. Relations between the US and Iran, frozen since the 1979 revolution, could be transformed – putting in question fundamental US policies and alignments in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and Israel would be the main losers in any such realignment, or rather their existing leaderships would be.............