Boko Haram Terror Group Seizes Northern Nigerian Towns

Two weeks after the northeastern Nigerian town of Baga was attacked and torched by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, the group launched simultaneous attacks on two municipalities near the border with Chad and Cameroon.

Monguno, a town of about 100,000 people in northeast Nigeria, is about a 135-kilometer (85-mile) drive from Maiduguri, a city of more than 600,000. Both cities are tucked into the corner of the country, near the borders with Chad and Cameroon.

Babagana Musa, a Monguno resident who fled to Maiduguri, said, "Several trucks carrying soldiers drove into Maiduguri. We learned the town (Monguno) has been taken over by Boko Haram."

Monguno, with its huge military barracks, has a strategic importance ‎in that it acts as a buffer to keep Boko Haram from advancing towards Maiduguri. Its fall means Boko Haram is in good position to advance on Maiduguri, which has been its goal for months.

Boko Haram had been confined to the fishing town of Baga since its fighters seized it January 3, hesitant to move south towards Maiduguri because of the military presence in Monguno.

The Islamists attacked the nearby village of Jintilo around 5 a.m. and were engaged in a gunbattle with troops stationed there. The village is about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the center of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state.

The fighting in Jintilo forced residents to evacuate their homes and flee into the city, while military authorities imposed a round-the-clock curfew to prevent infiltration by the militants.

"All the residents of neighborhoods near Jintilo have fled into the city due to the ongoing battle between troops and Boko Haram gunmen who want to enter the city," said Modu Zannari, who lives nearby.

"Boko Haram gunmen in their hundreds attacked Jintilo around 5 a.m., just before the morning prayers, but soldiers stationed there fought back," Zannari said

"Since 5 a.m. all we hear are cracking of guns and booming explosions coming from the direction of Jintilo," said Babakaka Said, a resident of another neighborhood near the scene of the fighting.

"There have been radio announcements of indefinite curfew in the city and we have all been asked to remain indoors," said Adam Kolo‎, who lives in the heart of the city.

Hundreds of troop reinforcements deployed in Jintilo and military jets carried out aerial bombardment of Boko Haram positions, said a member of a civilian vigilante group fighting Boko Haram alongside troops.


The attack came a day after President Goodluck Jonathan made a campaign stop in Maiduguri ahead of the February 14 presidential election. He has promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency if re-elected.

Boko Haram is also believed to be responsible for a cross-border raid into neighboring Cameroon where three were killed and as many as 80 people were abducted- many of them children.

Air Algerie Flight Crashes in Mali, All 118 Aboard Killed.

An Algerian airliner flying between Burkina Faso and Algeria crashed over a remote stretch of the Sahara desert on Thursday, killing all 118 on board.

At least 54 of those passengers were from France. French President Francois Hollande declared three days of mourning as soldiers from Mali and the UN have been combing the wreckage for human remains. However, conditions on the ground- even under the best of circumstance- are pretty grim. The nearest town from the crash site is Gao, which has been fought over by the Malian government, Tuareg rebels, Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists and the French Foreign Legion over the last 24 months. Both the remote location of the crash site and the fact that the nearest population center is in an unstable war zone have slowed down transportation and communications considerably.

Two flight data recorders have been recovered from the crash site and flown back to France for further examination by that country's Bureau of Investigations and Analysis- the agency responsible for investigating major air accidents.

With Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 being shot down by a surface to air missile the week before, the downing of Air Algerie Flight 5017 led to concerns that terrorism could've played a role in the downing of the aircraft. However, Algeria has ruled out terrorism in the crash and AFP has reported that the pilots had asked to turn back shortly before the crash.

The Aircraft- a McDonnel-Douglas MD80- actually belonged to Spain's Swiftair and was leased to Air Algiere earlier this year.

US Special Forces Nab Primary Suspect in 2012 Terrorist Attack on US Consulate in Benghazi

More than 18 months after the deadly attack on the US consulate that killed American ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya's second largest city of Benghazi, US Special forces have reportedly nabbed the suspected mastermind of the attacks in a lightning raid on Sunday.

The mission to nab Benghazi terror suspect Ahmed Abu Khattala was months in the making. Once a Delta Force team at last launched into Libya on Sunday to carry out the plan, it was over in 32 minutes.

The details of the secret mission were confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday, and begin to shed light on how Khattala -- who lived in plain sight and brazenly gave media interviews over the course of nearly two years -- suddenly fell into U.S. custody.

Officials still face questions over why it took so long for the U.S. to go after Khattala. After all, U.S. teams had been following the suspect and knew his whereabouts since about five or six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2012 attack, when he started giving interviews.

But the mission itself, on Sunday, was described as clean and casualty-free.

U.S. military sources told Fox News that the Delta Force operators who carried out the mission did so "efficiently," completing it in 32 minutes.

The team captured him at his home south of Benghazi, though it's not clear whether he was inside or outside his home at the time.

According to reports, Khattala is now being held on the USS New York and is being questioned on board as the vessel sails back to the USA. The White House and Justice Department have said that Khattala will be tried in Federal court and not taken to the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.

After the attacks, Khattala didn't even bother going into hiding and conducted interviews with media outlets such as FOX New and the New York Times in person, daring the US or Libyan government to come after him. However, since earlier this month Khattala's Ansar al Sharia militia has been engaged in skirmishes with forces loyal to renegade Libyan general Khalifa Haftar, who is accused by Libya's government of plotting a military coup.

In addition to Ambassador Stevens, US Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Dohety. During the attack Ambassador Stevens was reportedly pulled from the wreckage, taken to a medical facility controlled by Ansar Al Sharia where he later died from his injuries. The attack took place on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 and with the Presidential election still a few weeks away, the White House and State department spun the politically expedient narrative that the attack was the end result of a spontaneous demonstration that had spiraled out of control, despite reports that Ansar al Sharia fighters showed up with heavy weaponry such as mortars and antiaircraft guns.

At Least 50 Slain By Islamist Gunmen in Northern Kenya

Police and eyewitnesses in the coastal town of Mpeketoni say that dozens of gunmen attacked on Sunday night, killing at least fifty after opening fire on pedestrians, hotels and fans gathered to watch a World Cup match in a meeting hall and setting fire to houses and vehicles.

According to witnesses, the attackers arrived in minibuses and fanned out. Some of them accosted villagers and shopkeepers before asking if they were Muslim or spoke Somali- apparently shooting them if they received an unsatisfactory answer. Others proceeded to hotels or the meeting hall where the World Cup was being shown, separated the women from the men before shooting them in front of the women. The rampage reportedly lasted for more than three hours before the gunmen were pursued by arriving Kenyan troops.

The Somalia-based Al Shabaab terror group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to a Somali website. Al Shabaab seeks to topple Somalia's UN-backed government in Mogadishu and replace it with an Islamic state governed by Shari'a law and has launched cross-border raids into Kenya, attacking police and abducting westerners for ransom. The group has previously launched terrorist attacks in Kenya and Uganda in retaliation for those nations sending troops to Somalia as part of an African Union peacekeeping force. Last September, Al Shabaab terrorists launched a brazen attack in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya that killed at least 67. In 2010, Al Shabaab was responsible for twin suicide bombings of crowds gathered to watch the World Cup in Uganda's capital of Kampala.

Mpekitoni is located near the Lamu Islands and about 100km south of the border with Somalia and near the UNESCO World Heritage site on Lamu Island and has been popular with tourists since the 1970s. However, a number of Western governments- including the USA, UK, Canada, France and Australia- have issued advisories to their citizens about travelling in Kenya and Al Shabaab had previously threatened that tourists visiting Kenya were jeopardizing their lives by doing so.

Nigerian Islamist Group Boko Haram Abducts Hundreds of Schoolgirls, Continues Attacks On Northern Villages

At least 200 Nigerian schoolgirls in the northeastern state of Borno were abducted last month by the islamic terrorist group Boko Haram- which literally translates to 'Western Education is Sinful'. Both the mass abduction and a subsequent video in which Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau promised to sell the captive girls off into slavery released earlier this month prompted international outrage, but Nigerian officials are no closer to finding the missing girls than they were several weeks ago.

According to at least one of the kidnapped girls who was able to escape, a nighttime attack on the nearby town of Chibok preceded the mass abduction. Boko Haram gunmen dressed in military fatigues then showed up at the girls dormitory and said they were part of a Nigerian Army detachment who had been sent to evacuate them. However, after herding the girls into waiting trucks, the convoy then started moving along back roads through dense forests instead of the main highway into town. Some of the girls sensed something was amiss and were able to escape the slow-moving convoy in the dead of night and make their way to nearby villages.

Days after Shekau's video was released, Boko Haram attacked another village along the border of Cameroon. Nigerian officials say that as many as 300 people could've been killed in the attack on the village of Gamboru Ngala, but the exact toll was difficult to confirm due to the remote location of the village and the fact that Boko Haram had torched a number of shops and building.

Despite the international outcry, the mass abduction of schoolgirls [reportedly ranging in age from 11-16- NANESB!] in Borno was not the first time Boko Haram targeted schools. In 2013, Boko Haram carried out multiple raids on boarding schools in the northern part of the country, stabbing, shooting and burning alive students in the dormitories. The islamist group has also bombed churches and government installations while carrying out brazen jailbreaks of captured members.

The group has been mostly active in the northeastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa and has also targeted Nigerian officials elsewhere. Officially the group is a little over a decade old, but until recently their attacks were limited to hit and run attacks on Nigerian policemen and troops. After the 2009 death of Shekau's predecessor- Mohammed Yusuf- in police custody, Boko Haram intensified their attacks against both civilian and government targets. The fall of Mummar Ghdaffi's regime in Libya after the 2011 civil wae also left open the possibility that the group was arming themselves with heavy weaponry taken from the regime's armories and spirited across several unsecure borders with the aid of allied groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

At Least 59 Boarding School Students Killed in Nothern Nigeria Islamic Terrorist Attack

Attackers from the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram stormed into a government school in the northern state of Yobe in the overnight hours on Monday, shooting and burning 59 students according to government officials and a hospital in the state capital of Damaturu. The death toll was revised upwards from earlier reports of 29 after further bodies were discovered in the brush outside the school where the attack took place.

Survivors said that the assailants arrived on the campus of the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi in 11 Toyota Hilux pickups, a government-run secondary school similar to others that Islamist group Boko Haram has targeted in the past.

All the victims were teenage boys and 11 others were seriously injured. Most of the school was burned to the ground.

Teachers at the school in Buni Yadi said the gunmen gathered the female students together before telling them to go away and get married and to abandon their education.

Earlier this month, gunmen from Boko Haram surrounded a Christian village in Borno province along the border of Cameroon and opened fire before moving through the village and torching homes. That attack on Izge village was believed to have killed 90 people.

Boko Haram has carried out terrorist attacks near Nigeria's capital, including a January 2012 series of bombings on police stations and government offices in the northern Nigerian city of Kano that killed more than 160 people in 2012. The terrorist group has also carried out intermittent bombings and jailbreaks in the country's interior and capital city of Abuja.

Despite launching a military counteroffensive against Boko Haram strongholds in northern Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan has come under criticism for his government's inability to quell the frequent Boko Haram attacks against civilians. The stated purpose of Boko Haram [who's name roughly translates to 'Western Education is Forbidden'- NANESB!] is to overthrow the secular government seated in the predominantly Christian center of the nation and impose Islamic shari'a law throughout the country.

Nobel Prize Winner and Former South African President Nelson Mandela Passes Away At Age 95

Nelson Mandela, a former prisoner of South Africa's apartheid regime who would go on to become the nation's first black president passed away from a lung infection last week.

The 95 year old Mandela served as president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, campaigning as a candidate for the previously banned African National Congress party less than three years after his release from prison.

After a trial on charges of sabotage in 1963, Mandela and several other ANC accomplices were found guilty and sentenced to prison. Mandela ended up serving time at three prisons- the most infamous of which was located on Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town. By 1982, Mandela had been transferred to another prison where he was allowed to correspond with international activists. At the time, South Africa was engaged in the Border Wars or Bush Wars which pitted South Africa against communist guerillas and Cuban forces in the newly-independent former Portuguese colony of Angola. With communist insurgencies in Angola, a full fledged civil war in neighboring Mozambique and white-ruled Rhodesia falling into Robert Mugabe's iron grip and rechristened as Zimbabwe, Mandela was reportedly offered early release by the apartheid government of PW Botha if he would publicly and unconditionally renounce violence. However, Mandela refused.

By 1990, South Africa, Cuba and the Soviet Union agreed to a treaty where South West Africa would gain independence and South African troops would withdraw from what's now known as Namibia in return for Soviet and Cuban forces leaving Angola. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ANC's Soviet benefactors leaving Angola and Mozambique, ailing South African president PW Botha was replaced by FW DeKlerk. Feeling the apartheid system was unsustainable, DeKlerk ordered the release of Mandela and the legalization of all previously outlawed political parties in February 1990.

Mandela's most notable achievement as president of South Africa was overseeing the relatively peaceful transition from apartheid to a multi-party parliamentary system. In lieu of punishing officials from the previous regime, Mandela's government established what were called 'Truth & Reconciliation' committees where perpetrators of human rights violations would testify about their activities under apartheid in exchange for immunity from prosecution. This applied not only to white Afrikaners working for the apartheid government, but also senior members of Mandela's own ANC- including Mandela's ex-wife Winnie- for kidnapping and murdering blacks that they considered 'collaborators' with the Afrikaner apartheid regime [Winnie Mandela was on record for endorsing a particularly gruesome practice known as necklacing in which a tire filled with kerosene in placed around the victim and lit on fire- NANESB!].

In 1993, Mandela and his predecessor FW DeKlerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their respective roles in ending apartheid in South Africa. The peaceful transition of power in a historically violent continent such as Africa was a major accomplishment. However, many of South Africa's problems didn't simply vanish once Mandela was sworn into office.

While the institutionalized discrimination of apartheid ended with Mandela's election into the office of president, South Africa has been facing a sharp increase in violent crime, an AIDS epidemic and attacks against white farmers, immigrants and foreign workers. The situation is worsened by Mandella's ANC successors- President Thabo Mbeki has on occasion denied that AIDS or HIV is an issue in South Africa while current South African President Jacob Zuma sang a ballad called Shoot the Boer at an ANC Youth rally a few years ago, was accused of rape in 2005 and has openly praised Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's expropriation of white farms in Zimbabwe as 'land reform'.

US Special Operations Raids in Africa Target Terrorist Leaders

Members of the US Navy's SEAL Team 6 carried out a raid at a compound in southern Somalia that was believed to be housing senior members of the Al Shabaab islamist terrorist group over the weekend. Experts said the raid was aborted midway when the SEALs were spotted and a firefight broke out, negating the chances of taking their intended target alive.

As the mission progressed, the SEALs came out of the Indian Ocean in small boats before dawn, but they were spotted as they moved toward a seaside compound. A firefight broke out.

With the element of surprise gone, the SEALs lost their chance to take him alive. The SEAL commander decided not to call in air strikes because of women and children in the compound. Instead, he ordered his men to withdraw to a Navy ship offshore.

The raid comes less than two weeks after gunmen from Al Shabaab massacred at least 68 people in a shopping mall in the Kenyan capitol of Nairobi.

On Monday, the Kenyan military released the identities of the mall attackers who were killed when the portion of the mall they were in collapsed in an explosion. They include an American Somali known as Khattab al-Kene, who may have been living under a different name in Minnesota. Other assailants identified included a Sudanese national with purported Al Qaeda ties and couple of Kenyan muslims from Mombassa- including Omar Nabhan who is said to have a role in the 1998 twin bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi and the Tanzanian capitol of Dar Es Salaam as well as a 2002 attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa and a failed attempt to shoot down a chartered Israeli passenger plane.

The intended target of the Somali raid is reportedly an al Shabaab operative known as Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir or Ikrima. Kenya's intelligence agency has implicated Abdulkadir in a thwarted plot to attack Kenya's parliament and UN Offices in Nairobi.

The mall attacks represent a dramatic shift for al Shabaab, which got its start in the Horn of Africa a few years ago with the stated goal of implementing islamic shari'a law and overthrowing Somalia's provisional government.

Last month, the Toronto Star obtained documents from one of Abdulkadir's predecessors that highlighted detailed plans for an attack against civilian targets in London using tactics reminiscent of the 2008 Lashkar-e-Taliba terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India that targeted upscale hotels, cafes and Mumbai's Chabad House. The documents were discovered in a Toyota where al Shabaab commander Fazul Abdullah Mohammed was shot an killed by Somali troops while attempting to run a roadblock northwest of Mogadishu in 2011.

Also over the weekend, an Al Qaeda operative under indictment for the 1998 twin embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania was arrested in Tripoli, Libya

The Pentagon said senior al Qaeda figure Anas al Liby was seized in the raid in Libya [....]

Liby, believed to be 49, has been under U.S. indictment for his alleged role in the East Africa embassy bombings that killed 224 people. The U.S. government has also been offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture, under the State Department's Rewards for Justice program. "As the result of a U.S. counterterrorism operation, Abu Anas al Liby is currently lawfully detained by the U.S. military in a secure location outside of Libya," Pentagon spokesman George Little said without elaborating. Liby, also known as Nazih al-Ragye, was arrested at dawn in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as he was heading home after morning prayers, a neighbor and militia sources said. "As I was opening my house door, I saw a group of cars coming quickly from the direction of the house where al-Ragye lives. I was shocked by this movement in the early morning," said one of his neighbors, who did not give his name, "They kidnapped him. We do not know who are they." Two Islamist militia sources confirmed the incident. CNN reported in September last year that Liby had been seen Tripoli. It quoted Western intelligence sources as saying there was concern that he may have been tasked with establishing an al Qaeda network in Libya. That CNN report quoted counterterrorism analysts as saying that Liby may not have been apprehended then because of the delicate security situation in much of the country, where former jihadists hold sway. It quoted one intelligence source as saying that Liby appeared to have arrived in Libya in the spring of 2011, during the country's civil war.

Al Liby was spotted in the Libyan capitol shortly after Ghdaffi's downfall and is believed to be establishing a foothold for Al Qaeda in post-Ghdaffi Libya.

Kenyan Forces Re-Take Nairobi Mall Attacked By Al Shabaab Terrorists, At Least 39 Still Missing

The death toll in last week's terrorist attack at an upscale shopping mall in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi has reached 67 with aid agencies saying that at least 39 people were still unaccounted for after a withering firefight and series of bomb blasts as Kenyan security forces re-took the building floor by floor.

A twitter account purportedly belonging to the Somali-based Al Shabaab islamist group claimed responsibility for the massacre and threatened further attacks in Kenya, although the ownership of a second, English language account couldn't be independently verified. Twitter reportedly suspended the first Al Shabaab account within hours of the mall attack.

Kenyan soldiers and medical officials said that some of the victim's bodies they found had shown signs of torture and mutilation in addition to those who were shot while trying to flee.

Investigators believe that the assailants or their associates rented a shop in the Westgate mall in the months leading up to the terrorist attack, smuggling in weapons and explosives unnoticed. Kenya's intelligence service reportedly warned lawmakers that Al Shabaab was casing a number of potential targets within the country- including the mall- about a year or so before the attack as part of a routine situational report to that government's legislators.

Reports of some of the terrorists being identified as Americans or at least from the Somali community in and around Minneapolis and St Paul, MN have also reportedly caught the attention of the Minneapolis branch of the FBI, although that has yet to be confirmed. A Somali activist in Minnesota said that his warnings about the Abubakar as-Siddique mosque in the Twin Cities being used as a recruiting center for Al Shabaab or other islamist groups in recent years were either ignored or downplayed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Investigators from both the FBI and Scotland Yard are reportedly on scene in Nairobi to comb through forensic evidence left behind at the Westgate mall.

Meanwhile, Interpol has released a 'Red Notice' arrest bulletin for a British convert to Islam named Samantha Lewthwaite, who was a widow of one of the 7/7 London bombers and was thought to have participated in the attacks- eyewitnesses describe a pale-skinned woman taking part in the attacks early on.

Muslim Terrorists Kill At Least 159 in Northeastern Nigerian Attacks

Terrorists reportedly belonging to the Islamist group Boko Haram murdered scores of motorists and truckers in a pair of roadside attacks on highways running through Borno State in the northeastern part of Nigeria. The attacks were carried out by assailants wearing Nigerian military uniforms and set up roadblocks.

In the first attack, on Tuesday, Boko Haram guerrillas wearing army uniforms stopped traffic on a highway between the cities of Maiduguri and Damaturu, dragging people out of their vehicles and killing them, with 143 bodies recovered so far.

Tuesday's toll was initially given as "more than 20", but information often takes days to trickle out of the remote and sparsely populated region, where roads are bad, curfews are in force and the military has cut the phone network since May.

"We have been picking corpses off the roadsides all day, there are more in the bush," said Abdulazeez Kolomi, an Environmental Protection Agency official in Benisheik village.

"They are all travelers slaughtered by Boko Haram gunmen. We have so far picked up 143 corpses."

On Thursday, following a similar pattern, Boko Haram insurgents killed at least 16 people in an attack on travelers plying a highway from Maiduguri to Bamboa, a police source collecting bodies on the scene told Reuters.

Eyewitnesses said that uniformed gunmen stopped vehicles on the highway, ordered the passengers out and separated the women from the men before opening fire or attacking them with knives, bayonets or even power tools. Some of the dead were travelling to the neighboring state capital of Yobe to make telephone calls, since phone lines in Borno had been shut down by security forces as a precaution.

A commercial cab driver, Sani Babayo, said it was another day of horror along the Kano-Maiduguri Highway.

"We thought they were soldiers because their uniforms, vehicles and guns suggested so," recalled Mr. Babayo. "But when they ordered us to come down from the vehicle and began to ask if we are residents of Maiduguri, it immediately dawned on us that we had fallen into the hands of Boko Haram.

"After separating the women and girls from the group, they ordered the men to run into the bush for our lives. No sooner had we started running than they opened fire on us. I saw many of my passengers fall after being hit by flying bullets. I kept running for my dear life until I was out of their range of fire."

Mr. Babayo, who looked dishevelled with tell-tale bruises on his skin and blistered feet, was among few of the very lucky travellers who escaped the Tuesday carnage. Many did not.

Most of the victims were those who had gone to make phone calls in the neighbouring Yobe State capital, Damaturu, 136 km from Maiduguri.

For four months now, telecom lines have been grounded as a security strategy to combat Boko Haram. Residents of Borno State, since the restoration of phones lines in Yobe State, had had to travel over there to make calls.

A young woman, Sarah Hyeladi, was returning to Maiduguri from Damaturu, where she and her elder brother, Markus, had gone to make phones calls when they encountered gunmen. Ms. Hyeladi was lucky but her elder brother was not.

"When our vehicle was stopped at about 6 p.m., and we saw how those ahead were being shot at, Markus and I had to run into the bush, but suddenly some uniformed gunmen appeared from the bush and ordered us to go back," Ms. Hyeladi recalled.

"We had to comply because one man was pointing a big gun at us. As we were going towards where people were being killed, one of the gunmen dragged Markus and put a knife on his neck. Before I could beg them to spare him, my brother was writhing on the floor in a pool of his own blood."

"Many people died from bullet wounds but a lot were killed by something that looked like an electric saw; the moment they put it on a person's neck, the head will go off," said a middle aged woman who was spared.

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency for northern Nigeria back in May after Boko Haram staged a series of attacks against schools and churches. The group is also believed to have carried out a number of bombings and jailbreaks closer to the Nigerian capital city of Abuja earlier this year.

Islamic Terrorists Murder At Least 39 In Attack on Shopping Mall in Kenya's Capital, Hostages Still Reportedly Trapped

Jonathan Kalan- AP Photo

Officials in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi are reporting that at least 39 people have been killed in a gun and grenade attack on an upscale shopping mall that was popular with expats, well-heeled Kenyans and diplomats.

At least 39 people have been killed and more than 150 injured in the attacks, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a televised address late Saturday. Wearing a casual plaid shirt, Mr. Kenyatta offered his condolences to those who lost loved ones—and included himself in that group.

"I know what you feel having also personally lost very close family members in this attack," Mr. Kenyatta said, without elaborating further. He called the strike a terrorist attack and urged Kenyans not to give in to fear.

The death toll is expected to rise as police make their way through the large complex, which has three main floors and a smaller fourth floor housing a movie theater, to confront the assailants, who they believe are holding hostages.

The Kenyan government's National Disaster Operation Center said that Kenyan military and special forces had taken control of the upper floors of the mall but that lower floors were still unsecured.

It wasn't clear how many people were still trapped inside.

Patrons of the mall were sitting down for lunch or strolling through the facility when cars packed with an unknown number of gunmen drove up to the main entrance of the mall around 12:30 p.m. and started shooting as they rushed through the open doors where guests usually wait in line to have their bags checked by security guards, witnesses said.

The attackers shot into the crowds of people at outdoor restaurants and pushed farther into the mall, firing their weapons and throwing grenades as they raced to the higher levels of the mall. Shoppers crawled into back storerooms and bathrooms, locking doors where they could. At least one bank was able to lock its customers in a safe room, witnesses said. Those near exits raced out of the mall, some taking refuge in nearby apartment buildings to catch their breath and call family members.

Police arrived and cordoned off the parking lot, at first believing they were dealing with a robbery attempt. But as wounded survivors started piling into ambulances it became clear that the attackers had opened fire, that they hadn't appeared to be after anything and that they seemed to be targeting non-Muslims.

Police and military forces slowly started the work of pushing into the mall and pulling out those hiding and the injured while trying to close in on the attackers without knowing exactly how many assailants there were or where they were shooting from.

As survivors emerged, some with their hands up to show they weren't carrying weapons, Red Cross workers escorted them to a nearby building and assured them they were safe.

Canada's Ministry of foreign affairs has confirmed that at least two citizens, including a diplomat from the embassy, were among those killed in Saturday's terrorist attack. Reports were also circulating that four American nationals were injured in Saturday's attack. The death toll is expected to increase amid reports that the attackers took a number of hostages as they moved through the mall.

Police had initially believed the gunfire was from armed robbers until survivors emerged from the mall and told police and reporters how the assailants were firing indiscriminately, lobbing grenades and singling out non-Muslims for execution. By early Sunday, there were conflicting reports that the police had one of the wounded attackers in custody and the rest were barricaded inside a Nakumatt supermarket within the mall.

The Somalia-based Al Qaeda affiliated terrorist group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attacks and said that there would be no negotiations between the hostage takers and Kenyan security forces. In recent years, Al Shabaab has attacked Somalia's UN-backed interim government, engaged in piracy and kidnapped foreign nationals for ransom. The terrorist group has threatened both Kenya and Uganda for sending troops to Somalia in support of the interim government as part of an African Union peacekeeping force.

Sunday's shooting would be the deadliest terror attack in Kenya since the summer of 1998 when Al Qaeda launched simultaneous attacks targeting the US Embassies in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

In 2010, Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Kampala, Uganda that killed more than 70 people and coincided with the finale of the 2010 World Cup. In 2012, a combined Somali and Kenyan military force launched raids into Somali territory targeting Al Shabaab-held towns and encampments.

UPDATE- 9/22: Officials have revised the death toll to 59 while the total injured is said to be 175. Kenya's NTV reports that there are still anywhere from 10 to 15 attackers barricaded in the market.

Two Years After Fall of Ghdaffi, Libya's Government Struggling With Militias, Lawlessness and Declining Oil Output

Ismail Zitouny- Reuters

Amid a wave of strikes, political assassinations and open insurrection from some of the Islamist groups that fought in Libya's 2011 Civil war Libya's nascent post-Ghdaffi government appears to be on the brink of losing any semblance of control on the country.

The murky security situation is threatening stability in a desert nation with North Africa’s largest oil reserves. And it is causing new jitters in a region already on edge over rising violence in neighboring Egypt and the looming prospect of U.S. military strikes in Syria.

As the postwar government struggles to rebuild after 42 years of dictatorship, it has left security primarily in the hands of hundreds of private militias, which are far larger and better armed than the country’s poorly trained and equipped police and army.

The militias, most of which were formed to oust Gaddafi in the 2011 revolution, range from ragtag outfits of a couple of dozen men to organized forces of thousands of fighters.

During the revolution, they sprang up in villages, towns and cities across this country of 6.4 million people. Mechanics, merchants and farmers formed militias based on family, tribal, neighborhood or religious ties. They took weapons from Gaddafi’s vast arsenals and became a wildly diverse network united only by the goal of removing Gaddafi.

After the dictator’s death in October 2011, many militia fighters — suddenly regarded as war heroes and liberators — never laid down their weapons.

Many still fight — with guns blazing — over long-standing rivalries. Some have morphed into criminal gangs, some are religious extremists. Many are a mix of everything — cops and robbers, patriots and jihadis — making it hard to identify which are helping Libya’s post-revolutionary transition and which are hindering it.

Human rights groups claim that more than 50 people- including judges and active members security forces- were killed in recent weeks and the new government's security forces are spread too thin and outgunned by most militia groups.

In many instances, including protecting the nation's oil facilities or policing the capital city of Tripoli, security duties are often contracted out to various militias by the central government. However, a number of these groups have been striking since July claiming that they're owed back pay by the central government.

In the latest disruption, security guards re-imposed a strike they called off over the weekend, forcing the closure of Libya’s two main crude oil export terminals. Operations had resumed on Sunday at the ports of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf after a two-week stoppage. The two ports have a combined export capacity of around 600,000 barrels per day.

The work stoppage came just hours after gunmen wounded a guard and ransacked an oil service center Sunday evening in the eastern oasis town of Awjila. Libyan officials said they believe the attack was linked to competition between militia groups over oilfield contracts and the placement of their members in the newly created national Petroleum Facilities Guard, a force under the direct authority of the Defense Ministry, but made up largely of former militia members who have often fought among themselves.

Last week, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan warned of the economic consequences of the off-and-on disruption to oilfield, production and export terminals. He said oil exports had plunged by 70 percent – a devastating financial setback for Libya, which relies on oil exports for nearly all of its foreign revenues.

Oil industry officials said the export terminals at the Es Sider, Amna and Sirtica oilfields had already filled up their storage tanks to capacity and had to shut down production.

Libya's oil minister said Monday the government was working to end the disruptions by meeting with the protesters and appointing a new head of the Petroleum Facilities Guard -- but that appointment also appears to have enraged some of the strikers.

The crisis has caused Libya's oil output to fall to just 160,000 barrels a day- a figure that industry observers say is less than 15% of the nation's output prior to the 2011 civil war. Some striking workers reportedly attempted to sell quantities of stockpiled oil on the black market, but Libyan forces opened fire on a Liberian-flagged tanker as it approached the export terminal of Es Sider that was held by striking workers at the end of August.

In June, rights groups claimed that at least 28 people were killed after militiamen from the Libyan Shield Brigade in the eastern city of Benghazi opened fire on a crowd of protestors. The eastern city of Benghazi is Libya's second largest city and is better known as the cradle of the 2011 uprising that ultimate overthrow and execution of Libyan dictator Mummar Ghdaffi thanks in part to NATO airstrikes targeting Ghdaffi's military assets. However, amid a deteriorating security situation US Ambassador Chris Stephens was murdered in a terrorist attack at the American consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 [despite the assailants using heavy weaponry and showing clear signs of prior coordination, the Obama Administration insisted for weeks that the Benghazi attack was a 'spontaneous demonstration' over an anti-Islamic You Tube video- NANESB!].

Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Torch Christian Churches Throughout Egypt Amid Deadly Clashes With the Army

Coptic Pope Tawadros II seen on a visit to the Vatican with Pope Francis in May

Human rights officials in Egypt say that at least 25 churches throughout the country have been torched by supporters of ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, although the unofficial count may be more than double that number. Numerous eyewitnesses described the attackers as chanting slogans in support of Morsi as they attacked the churches as well as businesses and homes owned by Christians.

According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), at least 25 churches across Egypt were attacked by arsonists on Wednesday and Thursday, following the violence in the capital, Cairo, between security forces and supporters of Mr Morsi.

Christian schools, shops and homes were also targeted, it said.

The Mar Gergiss church in Sohag, a city about 390km (240 miles) south of Cairo, with a large community of Coptic Christians, was one target.

Witnesses likened the area to a ghost town, with residents hiding indoors.

Patriarch Louis Sako, the head of the Chaldean Catholic church which is based in Iraq, said churches belonging to his community in Egypt were among those targeted on Wednesday.

"This is a real disaster," he told the AFP news agency, saying the region was a "dangerous volcano".

The Coptic Church is Egypt's largest and oldest Christian denomination, dating back to 42 AD. Other denominations include Greek Orthodox and Protestant.

Last month, the Coptic Church's Pope Tawadros II expressed his support for the massive demonstrations throughout Egypt calling for the removal of Mohammed Morsi from office. Many Christians said the rights of Egypt's 12 million Copts were eroded by a constitution written by the formerly outlawed Islamist party while Morsi's supporters say that the church was inviting attack by supporting the massive demonstrations that led to the Egyptian military ousting the Muslim Brotherhood.

According to Egypt's Health Ministry, at least 638 people were killed in clashes this week when security forces moved in to clear out an encampment of pro-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators. Defense Minister and interim president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has also promised to rebuild the damaged churches in a statement on Egyptian state TV shortly after the coordinated attacks.

More Than 1000 Inmates Freed From Benghazi Prison in Massive Jailbreak As Anti-Muslim Bortherhood Protests

Another day, another jailbreak in a troubled Middle Eastern nation racked by widespread conflict and unrest in recent years.

More than 1,000 prisoners have escaped from a Libyan jail this afternoon, it has emerged.

Libyan security officials said the mass jailbreak occurred at Koyfiya prison, near the eastern city of Benghazi.

The jailbreak happened as protesters stormed the offices of Islamist-allied parties in Libya's main cities.

Protesters had massed across the country angry over the killing of an activist critical of the country's Muslim Brotherhood group.

It is not known if the jailbreak was part of the protests or if inmates received outside help.

A security official from the prison said most of the inmates were being held on serious charges.

There was confusion initially about how many prisoners broke out, with numbers of escapees ranging as high as 1,200.

Benghazi's security situation is among the most precarious in post-revolution Libya.

Although Libyan officials say about 100 escaped inmates were recaptured after the jailbreak, there was no immediate word on the nature of the charges the prisoners were convicted of or awaiting trial for or if any of the inmates were affiliated with Al Qaeda or Ansar Al-Shari'a.

The jailbreak coincides with protests in Benghazi that saw demonstrators attack the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood. Prior to the jailbreak and demonstrations, unidentified assailants shot and killed activist Abdelsalam al-Mismari as he left a mosque after Friday prayers. Al-Mismari was a key figure in the initial 2011 uprising that eventually led to Western intervention and the toppling of the Ghdaffi regime. Al-Mismari was also the leader of the Feb 17th Martyrs Brigade and a vocal critic of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Likely emboldened by the ongoing protests and overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the demonstrators broke down the doors to the Benghazi offices of the Muslim Brotherhood's Justice and Construction party, chanting that the Muslim Brotherhood's days in Benghazi were numbered before setting fires and throwing documents from office windows.

Benghazi has been considered off limits to foreigners ever since the deadly attack on the US Consulate on the eleventh anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. Using mortars and RPGs in a well-coordinated assault, the attackers killed American ambassador Chris Stevens and three others while setting fire to buildings on the diplomatic compound. The Obama Administration blamed the attack on a 'spontaneous' protest over a You Tube video for several weeks before backtracking about the nature of the murder of Ambassador Stevens, Information Management Officer Sean Smith and ex SEALS Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Meanwhile, the assailants in the September 11, 2012 consulate attacks are still at large.

Boko Haram Terrorists Massacre 42 At Nigerian Boarding School

Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan ordered the closing of all schools and an increased presence of troops in the northeastern state of Yobe after a deadly attack by muslim terrorists killed 42 at a boarding school in the Mamudo district over the weekend.

During the assault, Boko Haram Islamists marched students and staff into a dormitory, throwing explosive devices into the room with them. They then opened fire on the building and set it alight.

It is believed many of the victims had been sleeping as the Islamists approached the school, with the killing itself starting around 5.30am.

Survivors of the attack say their assailants surrounded the building after setting it ablaze and opened fire on anybody attempting to flee the burning structure. Among the dead are 29 pupils- authorities ordered the closing of schools until September in the wake of this weekend's attacks.

As part of a declaration of a state of emergency, Jonathan also ordered all mobile and satellite phone service cut throughout the region to disrupt Boko Haram communications. However, land lines are extremely rare in the region, and the move was criticized by local officials who say the move also prevents residents from reporting any suspicious activity to authorities.

Some area residents have speculated that the attack on the boarding school could be retaliation after a government raid killed 20 members of Boko Haram after a raid near the village of Dogon Kuka last week. In the last two years, Boko Haram has stepped up attacks against schools, banks, police stations, churches and newspapers not only in the muslim-majority north, but also in the suburbs of the capitol in the predominantly Christian south.

Boko Haram- which roughly translates to 'Western education is forbidden'- started about a decade ago and has been attempting to impose islamic shari'a law in the northern part of the country, but has only recently been able to step up the lethality of their attacks. This has led many to believe Boko Haram fighters were being trained by foreign groups such as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and armed with weapons from Mommar Ghdaffi's collapsed regime in Libya.

Egyptian Army Commander Warns Latest Protests "Could Lead to a Collapse of the State"

In comments posted on the Egyptian Army's official Facebook page, Army Commander General Abdul Fatah al Sisi warned that the ongoing unrest and demonstrations against Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohammed Morsi could lead to a total collapse of the Egyptain state and "threaten future generations".

He made his statement following a large military deployment in three cities along the Suez Canal where a state of emergency has been declared.

More than 50 people have died in days of protests and violence.

In response, President Mohammed Morsi has cut short a planned European trip.

His spokesman said he would still visit Germany on Wednesday as planned, but the two-day trip has been cut to just a few hours and a visit to France has been cancelled.

On Monday night, thousands of people in Port Said, Ismailia and Suez - where some of the worst unrest has been - ignored a night-time curfew imposed by Mr Morsi to take to the streets.

Thousands were again on the streets of Port Said on Tuesday for the latest funerals of those killed, with mourners calling for the downfall of the president.

There were also was continuing sporadic clashes in the capital, Cairo.

Gen Sisi's lengthy statement appears to be a veiled threat to protesters and opposition forces as well as an appeal for calm and an attempt to reassure Egyptians about the role of the military, the BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo says.

The latest unrest stems from an Egyptian court in Port Said sentencing 21 defendants to death for their part in a postgame soccer melee that killed more than 70 people last year.

Immediately after Saturday's verdict was read live on state TV, two policemen were shot dead outside Port Said's main prison when angry relatives tried to storm the facility to free the defendants. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets, as well as live rounds, at the crowd outside the prison.

In other parts of the city, residents tried to storm the governor's office, police stations, the power station and the main court building. Residents occupied one police station in the east of Port Said.

The director of hospitals in Port Said, Abdel-Raham Farah, said two local soccer players were shot to death Saturday as they were apparently on their way to practice. He identified them as Mahmoud Abdel-Halim al-Dizawi, who played for the city's Al-Marikh club, and Tamer al-Fahla, who used to play for the city's main Al-Masry team. Al-Diwazi was shot three times, the doctor said.

The widespread unrest also coincides with the second anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising that eventually led to the ousting of Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

After an interim military junta ruled Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi was elected to the office of president in the June 2012 presidential elections. However, he has been facing increasing opposition after granting himself and his cabinet sweeping new powers and immunity from Egypt's judicial branch in November.

Morsi insisted these new powers were temporary and would be relinquished once a new constitution was put in place for Egypt. A Muslim Brotherhood-backed draft was approved by voters in December, although critics said it provided no protection for minorities or women in Egypt.

However, by Monday, protesters in other Egyptian cities were clashing with riot police. Looters seized the opportunity to break into a luxury hotel along the Nile River in the capital city of Cairo on Tuesday. The death toll in Port Said alone is at least 39 people. Opposition demonstrators claim that gangs of sexual predators are roaming the area around Tahrir Square, harassing and assaulting female demonstrators with the tacit approval of the regime.

Meanwhile, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has proposed legislation that would halt the sale of arms to Egypt. Last year, Lockheed Martin [NYSE- LMT] delivered 20 F-16 fighter jets to Egypt as part of a 2010 agreement reached with the Mubarak regime. However, no less than a dozen additional F-16s and 200 Abrams tanks will reportedly be sent to Egypt by the end of 2013.

Standoff Between Algerian Army and Al Qaeda Terrorists At Natural Gas Facility Comes to Bloody Conclusion

Algerian Military truck seen on the road to Ain Aminas. Anis Belghoul- AP Photo

A standoff between the Algerian Army and Al Qaeda terrorists who took foreign hostages at a natural gas field in eastern Algeria came to a violent end when Algerian Special Operations Forces stormed the facility on Saturday.

Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with an Al Qaeda-linked terror group that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.

The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape.

Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent mediation -- first on Thursday, then on Saturday.

"To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with efficiency and professionalism to neutralize the terrorist groups that were first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities," Algeria's Interior Ministry said in a statement about the standoff.

In the final assault, the remaining band of militants killed the hostages before 11 of them were in turn cut down by the special forces, Algeria's state news agency said. The military launched its Saturday assault to prevent a fire started by the extremists from engulfing the complex and blowing it up, the report added.

A total of 685 Algerian and 107 foreigner workers were freed over the course of the four-day standoff, the ministry statement said, adding that the group of militants that attacked the remote Saharan natural gas complex consisted of 32 men of various nationalities, including three Algerians and explosives experts.

The military also said it confiscated heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, missiles and grenades attached to suicide belts.

The facility at Ain Aminas is run by Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company- along with BP [NYSE: BP] and Norway's Statoil [NYSE: STO]. Sonatrach officials said the entire refinery had been mined with explosives, and that the process of clearing it out is currently under way.

Algerian officials believe the raid on the Ain Amenas facility and subsequent seige was done with inside help.

At least some of up to 70 Islamist guerrillas who stormed in before dawn on Wednesday launched their operation hours earlier, barreling over smugglers tracks across the Libyan border just after midnight, an Algerian security official told Reuters, citing evidence from mobile phones traced to the militants.

The ease with which they entered the fortified housing compound and nearby natural gas plant also left Algerians in little doubt the gunmen had allies among people at the site.

"They had local cooperation, I'm sure, maybe from drivers or security guards, who helped the terrorists get into the base," said Anis Rahmani, editor of Algeria's Ennahar newspaper and a writer on security issues who said he was briefed by officials.

Officials from Algeria's Interior Ministry said troops had moved in to prevent the terrorists from moving the captured hostages across the border to more lawless areas of Libya or Mali. An Algerian hostage said that some of the foreign hostages were forced to wear explosive vests or belts and that the Algerian hostages were more loosely guarded by the attackers. At least one American and one Briton were confirmed killed in the seige while another American and five Norweigans are unaccounted for.

Algeria has taken a hard line against terrorists and Islamic militants since a prolonged civil war in the 1990s between the military and jihadists killed an estimated 100,000 people.

Islamist Constitution Apprears Headed For Approval After First Round of Voting in Egyptian Referendum

"Why so serious?". Graffiti in Cairo depicting Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi as the queen of clubs on a card dealt by Batman villian the Joker. Photo via Ghazala Irshad

A draft of Egypt's constituion endorsed by the Muslim Brotherhood and President Morsi appears headed for a likely victory after the first round of voting over the weekend.

An official tweet by the Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful political group, said its tallies showed nearly 57 per cent of voters said "yes" to the disputed charter, while about 43 per cent voted 'no.' The vote was held on Saturday in 10 of the country's 27 provinces, including Cairo and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city.

A second round of voting is set to take place for Dec 22nd where the Muslim Brotherhood is expected to carry most of Egypt's rural areas.

However, a number of rights groups, observers and opposition leaders allege that this weekend's balloting was marred by women and Christians being barred from some polling stations as well as people falsely identifying themselves as judges showing up at the polls.

Mohamed ElBaradei, Egypt's best known reform leader, was as frustrated by how the referendum was run as the rights groups.

"Is a referendum held under insufficient judicial supervision, clearly tenuous security and the violence and violations we are witnessing the road to stability or playing with the country's destiny? the Nobel Peace Laureate and former U.N. nuclear agency chief wrote on his Twitter account.

Most of Egypt's judges has announced ahead of the weekend that they intended to boycott the referrendum on the Muslim Brotherhood backed draft of the new constitution. The move was repotedly never intended to halt the vote outright, but rather undermine its legitmacy should it have been approved.

Egypt's political crisis began on Nov. 22 when Morsi issued a decree granting himself — and the Islamist-dominated panel that drafted the constitution — immunity from judicial oversight or challenge, sparking mass demonstrations.

The constituent assembly then hurriedly approved the draft constitution in a marathon overnight session, prompting hundreds of thousands of the president's opponents to take to the streets in massive rallies — the largest since the uprising that toppled Mubarak in February 2011.

The vast majority of Egypt's judges, meanwhile, said Tuesday they would not oversee the referendum on the draft constitution. Ahmed el-Zind, chairman of the Judges' Club and a fierce Morsi critic, told a news conference that 90 percent of the nation's judges would join the boycott.

Observers have speculated that the unrest and chaos that resulted from Morsi's November 22 decreee was by design, pressuring voters to approve the Muslim Brotherhood-supported draft of the constitution without giving it any scrutiny.

Over the weekend, Morsi also authorized the Egyptian military [which is expected to recieve up to 20 new F-16 fighter jets courtesey of the Obama Adminstration- NANESB!] to assume joint responsibility with Egyptian police for public safety during the staggered balloting this weekend and next.

Balk Like An Egyptian- Muslim Brotherhood Cancels Pro-Morsi Rallies as Opposition Grows

As opposition to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohammed Morsi and his decree giving himself nearly unlimited powers last week grows, the Muslim Brotherhood has cancelled a series of planned mass demonstrations in support of the Egyptian president.

In Cairo, thousands of Egyptians flocked to Tahrir Square for a massive protest against Morsi on Tuesday in a scene reminiscent of the 'Arab Spring' from earlier this year that toppled the 30-year rule of strongman Hosni Mubarak.

By early afternoon, nearly 20,000 people were at Tahrir, birthplace of the 18-day popular uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime nearly two years ago. Security was tightened across Cairo, with police checking ID papers and searching cars coming into the center, but there was no sign of protesters being stopped from reaching Tahrir.

A chaotic city of some 18 million people, Cairo's traffic was uncharacteristically light on Tuesday, with many businesses and government offices closing shop early in anticipation of possible unrest.

A new banner in the square proclaimed, "The Brotherhood stole the country" and one protester, Mahmoud Youssef, said: "We are here to bring down the constitutional declaration issued by Morsi." Many chanted the iconic slogans "the people want to bring down the regime."

Several thousand lawyers meanwhile gathered outside their union building in downtown Cairo ahead of their march to Tahrir to join protesters there. "Leave, leave," they chanted, addressing Morsi, who narrowly won elections in June to become the country's first freely elected civilian president.

In the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, some 3,000 anti-Morsi protesters gathered outside the main court at the center of the ancient city.

The mass demonstration follows reports of angry mobs ransacking and torching offices of the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm- the Freedom and Justice party- in Mahallah and the Mediterranian port city of Alexandria.

Meanwhile, Morsi told top officials from Egypt's judiciary that he did not infringe on their authority when he granted himself near-absolute powers last week. Morsi had previously defended the move by telling the public that such measures would be temporary.

Since Morsi's decree and the gathering political unrest, shares in Egypt's stock exchange- the EGX30- have tumbled by as much as 9%, which was comprable to market activity leading up to the protests that swept Mubarak from power.

Protests Erupt as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Grants Himself Sweeping New Powers

Consider this a combination of 'Meet the new boss, same as the old boss' and a sarcastic 'Gee- didn't see that coming', Egypt's new president has granted himself broad new- what some are calling dictatorial- powers this week.

Clashes between police and protesters broke out in Cairo and Alexandria not even a full day after Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi issued a proclamation that granted himself sweeping new powers. The decree reportedly shields any decisions by him from any challenge by Egypt's judicial branch and has led to domestic and international observers dubbing the president 'Pharoah Morsi'.

Morsi today usurped all state powers & appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh. A major blow to the revolution that cld have dire consequences
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) November 22, 2012

Earlier in the week, Morsi had won international praise for attempting to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after the IDF retaliated against a continuous barrage of rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Not surprisingly, Egypt's judiciary slammed Morsi's proclamation- which seemed to be directed almost exclusively at the court system and the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court.

Egypt's liberal and secular forces -- long divided, weakened and uncertain amid the rise of Islamist parties to power -- are seeking to rally themselves in response to the decrees issued this week by President Mohammed Morsi. The president granted himself sweeping powers to "protect the revolution" and made himself immune to judicial oversight.

The judiciary, which was the main target of Morsi's edicts, pushed back Saturday. The country's highest body of judges, the Supreme Judical Council, called his decrees an "unprecedented assault." Courts in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria announced a work suspension until the decrees are lifted.

Outside the high court building in Cairo, several hundred demonstrators rallied against Morsi, chanting, "Leave! Leave!" echoing the slogan used against former leader Hosni Mubarak in last year's uprising that ousted him. Police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of young men who were shooting flares outside the court.

The edicts issued Wednesday have galvanized anger brewing against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, ever since he took office in June as Egypt's first freely elected president. Critics accuse the Brotherhood -- which has dominated elections the past year -- and other Islamists of monopolizing power and doing little to bring real reform or address Egypt's mounting economic and security woes.

Opposition groups have called for new nationwide rallies Tuesday -- and the Muslim Brotherhood has called for rallies supporting Morsi the same day, setting the stage for new violence.

Some observers believe that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies in Egypt's Parliament are attempting to consolidate power while there is still some goodwill from the international community for brokering a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and before more secular, pro-democracy factions in Egypt could galvanize and pose any significant opposition to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government.

Although the Egyptian military has been conspicuous by their silence, there are reports in Arabic-language media that Egyptian officers tacitly approve of the anti-Morsi demonstrations taking place throughout the nation. This could lead to a tenuous alliance between Egypt's military and the nation's Supreme Constitutional Court- many of whom still have officers and officials appointed by the Mubarak regime- and the 'Arab Spring' protesters who ultimately ousted the former Egyptian strongman. Hosni Mubarak has been incarcerated and is reportedly in poor health since June.