In brief: Palestinian stabs 11 people during Tel Aviv rush hour
TEL AVIV, Israel – A knife-wielding Palestinian stabbed 11 morning commuters on and near a bus Wednesday, striking in the heart of Tel Aviv and reigniting fears of continued violence ahead of Israeli elections in March.
The attack was the latest in a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israelis over recent months, which has been largely reserved to Jerusalem but has also spilled over to the West Bank and Tel Aviv.
Tuesday’s stabbing took place near a busy intersection during morning rush hour. Police identified the attacker as Hamza Mohammed Matrouk, 23, from the West Bank town of Tulkarem. Police said Matrouk confessed to the attack, saying last summer’s Gaza war, tensions surrounding a Jerusalem site holy to Jews and Muslims, and extremist Islamic videos promising him an “arrival to heaven” fueled the violence.
Gaza’s ruling Hamas praised the attack, calling it “brave and heroic,” but did not claim responsibility.
BERLIN – Diplomats from Russia and Ukraine agreed Wednesday on a dividing line from where both sides should pull back their heavy weapons, just hours after separatist forces deployed more arms and manpower to an emerging flashpoint in eastern Ukraine.
Germany’s foreign minister, who hosted a meeting of his counterparts from Russia, Ukraine and France, said the four parties had agreed the demarcation line defined in the Minsk agreement of last year should form the basis for the withdrawal. Under the plan, Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists would pull back their heavy arms 9 miles on either side of the line, though there was no agreement on a withdrawal of all troops.
“Today we have finally agreed that the demarcation line mentioned in the Minsk agreement is the line from where the withdrawal of heavy weapons needs to take place now,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after the meeting in Berlin.
France anti-terror plan calls for hiring more agents
PARIS – Reeling from the Paris terror attacks, France announced broad new measures to fight homegrown terrorism, such as giving police better equipment and hiring more intelligence agents.
Prime Minister Manuel Valls laid out the counterterrorism initiatives just as the Paris prosecutor announced preliminary charges against four men for allegedly providing logistical support to one of the attackers behind a three-day spree of violence this month that killed 17 people before the three gunmen were shot dead by police.
France plans to spend $490 million over the next three years for the new measures. They include leaning on Internet companies and social media to help in the fight, creating an improved database of suspected extremists, and increasing intelligence-gathering on jihadis and other radicals – in part by making it easier to tap phones. About 2,600 counterterrorism officers will be hired.
Boko Haram leader claims massacre, makes threats
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau has claimed responsibility for the mass killings in the northeast Nigerian town of Baga and threatened more violence.
As many as 2,000 civilians were killed and 3,700 homes and businesses were destroyed in the Jan. 3 attack on the town near Nigeria’s border with Cameroon, Amnesty International said.
The leader of Nigeria’s Islamic extremists took responsibility for the killings in a video posted Tuesday on YouTube, the same day International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she is examining the allegations of mass killings and will prosecute those most responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Nigeria.
“We are the ones who fought the people of Baga, and we have killed them with such a killing as He (Allah) commanded us in his book,” Shekau said, according to a translation from Arabic provided by SITE Intelligence Group.