BREAKING...UPDATED

BREAKING NEWS: At least 13 dead and dozens injured in Barcelona terror attack after van crashes into pedestrians in Las Ramblas tourist district before 'two gunmen take hostages at restaurant'

At least 13 people have been killed and dozens injured after a van in Barcelona ploughed into pedestrians before two men entered a restaurant with guns.

Pictures and video emerging from the scene show armed police and paramedics rushing to Las Ramblas, a busy tree-lined promenade in the centre of the city.  

Horrifying footage from the scene shows dozens of victims lying injured on the floor. 

Police have confirmed that 32 people are injured, with Catalonia's interior minister Joaquim Forn saying it is 'very possible' that the number of dead will rise because of the 'very serious' wounds to victims.

Gunfire was heard at the Corte Ingles store in the area after police announced a 'massive crash'. 

Police officers were said to be negotiating with two attackers in a Turkish restaurant where they have taken hostages. 

Officers were also searching for a second van the attackers may have hired as a getaway vehicle.

The civil guard has said the van used in the attack was rented by a man named Driss Oukabir, in the town of Santa Perpetua de la Mogada, El Pais reports.

Two armed men entrenched in Barcelona bar after van crash - Spanish media

MADRID (Reuters) - Two armed men have entrenched themselves in a bar in Barcelona's city centre after a van mowed down dozens of people, El Periodico newspaper reported on Wednesday.

El Periodico reported gunfire in the area of La Boqueria Market, although it did not cite the source of the information.

It was not immediately clear that the men were the drivers of the van.

=======

Follow-on attack against police:

per Fox a white Focus did not stop at a checkpoint, rammed a police officer, got out, fired at police, then took off.

Subway system in Barcelona shut down.

======================

Per Fox/Catherine Herridge the second van was supposed to be used in the attack as well but wasn't.

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Second van linked to Barcelona attack found in town of Vic

MADRID (Reuters) - A second van linked to an attack in Barcelona on Thursday has been found in the small town of Vic in Catalonia, local authorities there said on Twitter.

Police had cordoned off the area and were inspecting the vehicle, the city council said. Another van earlier mowed down crowds in a busy district in central Barcelona, killing at least 13 people according to local media.

Spanish media earlier reported that a second van had been rented as a getaway car by attackers.

AOW here with an update indicating that another vehicle and occupants involved in the terror attack in Las Rambla in Barcelona were stopped several miles away at a police checkpoint:

...19:00 There are conflicting reports from Spanish media on the status of the person shot by security forces in Sant Just Desvern after running over police at a checkpoint. Some outlets say the suspect was injured, others say he was shot dead.

[...]

18:43 Police have confirmed that police exchanged fire with the driver of a Ford Focus that failed to stop at a police checkpoint.

18:38 La Vanguardia and TV-3 are reporting that one of the suspects has died in a shootout with police....

La Rambla, which dates back to the Middle Ages as a marketplace, is a major tourist area in Barcelona. La Rambla on a typical day:

The poet Federico García Lorca referred to La Rambla as "the only street in the world which I wish would never end."

Stabbed In The Neck

(with a hat tip to Tammy Swofford, who provided the medical information in this blog post)

We spend much time discussing jihadists. What of their victims, particularly their surviving victims?

Image credit: Candice Hedge, from Brisbane, was viciously attacked in the city's centre on Saturday night while having a drink after work. She has described the horrifying moment her throat was slashed.

What kind of man looks a woman in the eye, then stabs her in the throat?

Candice Hedge, survivor of the London Bridge jihad attack, appears to have a "Panda tube" coming out of her nose. The Panda tube is a weighted feeding tube. Ms. Hedge probably sustained a tear in her esophagus. Thank God it was not her trachea!

From London attack: Australian woman Candice Hedge stabbed in neck (dated June 4, 2017):

An Australian woman has been left unable to speak after she was stabbed in the throat during the terror attacks in London, her family says.

Candice Hedge, 34, from Brisbane, is recovering at St Thomas Hospital following emergency surgery for a knife wound to her neck.

"She can't talk. She's been stabbed around her neck, her throat. She's all bandaged up." her mother, Kim Del Toro, told Fairfax Media.

"She went into surgery, but she's going to be fine, thank goodness."

[...]

Ms Hedge has been living in London for the past year and she was working with her boyfriend, Luke, at a bar and restaurant in the Borough Market when one of the terrorists stormed the building on Saturday night.

"He heard some commotion out the front and went out to see what was going on," Ms Hedge's mother said.

"He saw some men with knives coming toward them, and he ran back inside to see where Candice was."

In the chaos, he couldn't find her and police yelled for everyone to stay down.

Then, she came running toward him, holding her bleeding neck.

He grabbed her and the two of them took an ambulance to hospital....

Read the rest HERE.

What will Ms. Hedge's life be like from this point on? The Panda tube is typically a long-term medical device, and such a device typically requires daily or every-other-day maintenance as long as the device remains in place.

And after the Panda tube is removed, will Ms. Hedge's throat still hurt every time she swallows? A slash into any part of the body typically causes nerve damage, damage which can persist lifelong.

Survivors of jihad attacks may persevere in spirit, but their bodies may still suffer for the rest of the survivors' lives.

Video: What Pisses Me Off About the London Bridge Terrorist Attack

"Stop being blind!"

[about Stefann Molyneux]

More Of Obama's Hubris — And Lies

The bragging emitting from the mouth of the Narcissist In Chief just never stops.

Notice that one man rubbed his eyes after Obama's proclamation:


Money quote: “We should take great pride in the progress we’ve made over the last eight years. No foreign terrorist organization has successfully planned and executed an attack on our homeland.”

From Few troops clap for Obama during final national security speech (dated December 6, 2016:

...As mild applause broke out, the cameras cut to the audience.

Of the roughly 20 service members shown at MacDill Air Force Base, only three were clapping.

Most sat with their hands folded or motionless. One man rubbed his eyes.

Most didn’t applaud likely because they remembered attacks being carried out in San Bernardino, California, and Orlando, Florida by jihadis vowing allegiance to ISIS.

And they likely remembered, too, ISIS claiming credit for the attack on Ohio State University by a Somali “refugee.”

Here is a full list of terrorist attacks in the world since Obama became president in 2009, courtesy of the Daily Wire.

Eighteen Years Ago Today

Received via email this morning from a cyber friend who frequents I Love Dino Martin:

US EMBASSIES IN KENYA AND TANZANIA BOMBED 18 YEARS AGO TODAY

Today marks the anniversaries of two of the most well known terrorist bombings in US history. On August 7th, 1998 our U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by radical Islamic Jihadist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and others.

The terrorists used trucks packed with explosives which smashed through the gates of our embassies in each country. They were set off almost simultaneously between 10:30 AM and 10:40 AM. The bombs killed approximately 212 people and injured 4,000 more in Kenya while the bomb in Tanzania killed 11 and injured 85.

12 Americans were killed. Though the attacks targeted American embassies, the majority of those killed were natives. This is the same pattern that Al Qaeda continued to follow in Iraq and Afghanistan, willingly slaughtering innocent civilians for a chance to get at US troops.

Remember these tragic attacks and let them remind us that the War on Terror did not start on September 11, 2001, nor even with these bombings in 1998, it goes back much further. For decades, these Jihadist groups have been targeting US and Israeli citizens...and they show no sign of stopping.

While President Obama talks about having Al Qaeda and ISIS on the run, we have seen more terror attacks during his administration. The terrorists remains bent on killing Americans and westerners while Obama continues to claim that global warming represents a bigger danger to America.

Emergency Plan For Islamic Terror Attacks

How the West deals with these attacks, no matter how frequently they occur and no matter how horrific they are:

Remotely Detonated?

One thing has puzzled me ever since Russian Airbus A321 fell from the sky....

How could ISIS have timed the explosion and spiraling of the Russian jetliner (if, indeed, the video below is authentic)?



Could an explosive device have been remotely detonated by someone who brought aboard a carry-on bag? 

After all, remote detonation by someone aboard would have ensured that an unforeseen flight delay would not have interfered with ISIS's making of the propaganda film, which must have required that the videocam was in place.

The passenger detonating the device in the cargo hold would have been following the flight path on one of those screens showing the exact flight path of the airplane in real time.

Another reason that I've been thinking along these lines: the recent uptick in screening measures of both passengers and carry-on bags.

BREAKING: Multiple Shots Fired In Chattanooga On The Armed Forces Career Center AND Navy Recruitment Center

JUST NOW ON THE NEWS @ 2:22 PM, EDT: FOUR MARINES KILLED!

From Reuters:

There have been shootings at multiple places in Chattanooga, including near a U.S. Army Reserve center and a Navy recruiting center in the Tennessee city on Thursday, and a police officer was hit by gunfire, officials and local media reports said.

There have been several shootings at several different locations," said Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman John Harmon. "It's a fluid situation," said Harmon, whose agency was helping local authorities.

"We've got an officer down," Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke told reporters, calling it a "very terrible situation."

The U.S. Navy said it was investigating a report of a shooting at a Navy recruiting center in Chattanooga....

An eyewitness, a woman who states that she was 10 feet away from shooter, is saying that she was "a white guy in a silver Mustang." No tags on the car. The shooter was using a "high-powered rifle."

The photo that I'm seeing on CNN is showing at least 18 bullet holes in the doors of the Navy Reserve Recruiting Station, which is in a strip mall.

There is also an unconfirmed report of a man driving a black BMW firing on the other location.

The two sites fired upon are 7.5 miles apart.

CNN's ongoing coverage is HERE.

Addendum 1: Chattanooga Police are Tweeting out that the active shooter situation is resolved. News conference coming in a few minutes.

Addendum 2: According to reports on CNN, the shooter is dead. Buildings still remain on lock down, however.

Addendum 3: Four Marines injured [UPDATE: MARINES KILLED]. Chattanooga City Police officer wounded, but not seriously.

Addendum 4: Lock downs have ended. There are reports that the shooter and/or the police fired 100 rounds and that there was a shootout between the shooter and the police - with the end coming with two shots at the shooter after he fled into the woods of the big park in that part of Chattanooga.

SITUATION STILL FLUID AT THIS TIME (2:25 PM, EDT)

UPDATE, with thanks to Anonymous for tips:

Police sources are saying that the shooter's name was Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.

From Heavy.com:

He Was a Naturalized U.S. Citizen Originally From Kuwait.

An ISIS-Affiliated Account Tweeted #Chattanooga Just Before the Shooting Occurred Along With a Warning to Americans.

Read the rest HERE.

Furthermore and apparently:

Youssuf Abdullazeez was appointed as a special policeman for the City of Chattanooga Department of Public Works according to this City Council resolution.

Screen shot (Click on the image to enlarge it):

NOTE:

The screen shot may be in error. See Point 3 HERE.

Heavy.com now has this information:

Abdulazeez graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga in 2012, according to posts on his mother’s Facebook page and a resume posted on Indeed.com.

He graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. He worked from April 2009 to April 2010 as an intern with the Tennessee Valley Authority. He also had internships at Mohawk Industries and Global Trade Express.

CBS News incorrectly reported that he was an employee of the city of Chattanooga.

Islam: The Murder Machine

A non-comprehensive list of deadly deeds committed by the sons of Allah in the name of Allah (most from the list below, from this October 23, 2014, article in the New York Times):

Oct. 23, 2014: New York police officer critically wounded in hatchet attack

Oct. 22, 2014: Canada's parliament attacked, soldier fatally shot nearby

Oct. 20, 2014: Hit-and-Run Kills Canadian Soldier

Sept. 26, 2014: ISIS Lieutenant Tries to Coordinate Attacks in Australia

Sept. 25, 2014: Woman Is Beheaded in Oklahoma

May 24, 2014: 3 Shot Dead at Jewish Museum in Brussels

May 22, 2013: Attack Near Military Barracks in South London [UK soldier beheaded]

March 2012: Gunman Kills 7, Including 3 Soldiers, in France

November 2009, July 2011, and April 2014: Fort Hood Attacks [Yes, THREE jihad attacks on Fort Hood]

June 1, 2009: Gunman Kills Soldier Outside Arkansas Recruiting Station

Go to THIS LINK to read the details about most of the above events.

The common thread is Islam. Denial doesn't change that fact.

I'll end this post with the graphic below:

Open your eyes, see the truth.

Bergdahl Held Prisoner By Haqqani, Not The Taliban?

According to this article in Human Events:

...While it is almost universal for the media to describe this deal as a prisoner swap with the Taliban, the Washington Post article on the five released detainees very gingerly brushes past an important fact, about fifteen paragraphs in: Sgt. Bergdahl was not a prisoner of the Taliban. He was captured and held by the Haqqani terrorist network...

[...]

Which makes the content of this prisoner swap even more suspicious, because only one of the five released detainees, Mohammed Nabi Omari, had strong ties to the Haqqani network (and also to al-Qaeda.) Thor wonders if the White House is breaking the law not only to grab a front-page “Obama saves captive American all by himself” media coup, but to conceal other aspects of the deal, such as a cash payment to the money-obsessed Haqqanis...

More at the above link. Read it!

The Haqqanis and the Taliban are not the same group.  The Haqqanis do, however, have strong ties to Al Qaeda.

What the hell is Obama doing?

Furthermore (dated February 5, 2014):

The US Treasury Department has added three senior Haqqani Network leaders to the list of Specially Designated Global terrorists today. The designations highlight the Haqqani Network's continued support of al Qaeda, as well as its members' ability to travel to and receive funding and aid from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Saidullah Jan, a senior commander and financier; Yahya Haqqani, a senior leader involved with "military, financial, and propaganda activities"; and Muhammad Omar Zadran, a military commander, were added to the US' terrorism list.

Both Saidullah and Yahya are directly linked to al Qaeda. Saidullah traveled to Saudi Arabia to raise funds, most recently "in late 2013." Yahya "coordinated the transfer of supplies from the United Arab Emirates" to another Haqqani leader. Top Haqqani Network leaders are known to travel to Saudi Arabia to fundraise for both the network and al Qaeda.

The Haqqani Network is a powerful Taliban faction that operates in eastern, central, and northern Afghanistan, and is based in North Waziristan in Pakistan. The terror group has close links with al Qaeda, and is supported by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate. Sirajuddin is the operational commander of the Haqqani Network and leads the Miramshah Shura, one of four major Taliban regional councils. The US added Haqqani Network to list of global terror groups in August 2012.

Clearly, the Obama administration has negotiated with Islamic terrorists.

Peter Taylor: Algeria and the Rise of Islamist Extremism

BBC: Watch seven-year-old Abdelkahar Belhadj address a political rally
BBC: One of the most remarkable archive sequences we came across while researching the Age of Terror programme, features a seven-year-old Algerian boy called Abdelkahar Belhadj. He is seen addressing a political rally of thousands in 1991 with all the confidence and fire of a mature adult.

"There are a billion Muslims and we don't have a state that rules by God's Holy Law. Isn't that a dishonour and a shame on us?" he proclaims in the voice of a child.

He is cheered ecstatically and lifted on high. It was revelatory to hear the philosophy of jihad - the struggle to overthrow infidel regimes and replace them with Islamic states under Sharia law - emerging from the lips of one so young.

In 2007, 16 years later, we watched another clip, a propaganda video announcing the launch of al-Qaeda in North Africa featuring non other than Abdelkahar Belhadj, now a fully-fledged jihadi.

When I first saw the clip of the young Belhadj, I was instantly reminded of an interview I'd done in an IRA stronghold in Belfast in the mid-seventies with a little boy called Sean. I vividly remember he had the initials IRA inked on the back of his hand.

Sean told me he wanted to fight and die for Ireland. Years later I met him again, this time on an IRA wing inside the Maze prison. He had gone to jail after fighting for the cause he had embraced all those years ago.

Sean and Abdelkahar Belhadj illuminate the bigger picture of the Age of Terror: how the "cause", be it Islamist or Republican, Basque or Palestinian, flows from one generation to the next and on through the veins of history. Algeria and the Rise of Islamist Extremism >>> By Peter Taylor | April 29, 2008

BBC:
Age of Terror Website

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)