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by Staff Writers Baghdad (AFP) June 6, 2012 Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has begun posting Internet advertisements offering training for suicide bombers to target the US, Israel and France, adverts on several jihadist web forums show. The advertisements ask for volunteers to get in touch via e-mail with details about their own experience and proposed targets, and were posted on a variety of jihadist forums, including Al-Fidaa, Shmoukh al-Islam and Honein. "The aim of this training is to continue with our brothers who are seeking to carry out operations that make for great killing and slaughtering of the enemies of Islam," said the advertisement attributed to Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. "It is clear now that the individual jihad, or what is called the lone wolf, has become more widespread and its features have started showing -- in summary, it is a complete jihadist operation to be carried out by a single bomber." It said the targets of the attacks were "those who are fighting the Muslims and Islam" and specifically pointed to "economic, military and media interests of the enemy." "Their identity must be, according to priority, American, Israeli, French and British." Al-Qaeda and its regional offshoots often use jihadist Internet forums to post statements claiming responsibility for attacks, and to communicate with followers.
Forum on terrorism in Istanbul as Syrian conflict rages The meeting comes as Western powers are pushing for increased pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to stop his regime's assault against the population. Despite claiming to have agreed to mediator Kofi Annan's peace plan for a ceasefire on April 12, violence in Syria continues and as many as 2,400 of the more than 13,500 people killed since the uprising began in March 2011 died after a UN-backed ceasefire was meant to take effect, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. Iran's nuclear programme is also set to top the agenda at the ministerial forum, the second of its kind, after one in New York last September. Clinton, whose visit to Istanbul would end a nine-day trip around Scandinavia and the Caucasus, will attend the first day of the two-day forum. She will also hold a joint press conference with her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu. "A wide range of subjects are on the menu -- boosting the fight against terror is obviously one ... but also other current topics such as the situation in Syria and Iran's nuclear programme," a Turkish diplomat told AFP. The European Union will be represented by its foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is also due to meet with Turkish diplomats. World powers believe Iran has military nuclear ambitions, while Tehran has insisted its programme is peaceful. Ankara's so-far fruitless attempt at playing middleman between Tehran and world powers on the topic is also expected to be raised during the Istanbul meeting, Turkish and European diplomats said. Meanwhile, Turkey would also use the forum to seek "closer cooperation" against Kurdish separatists' financial and political branches in Europe, the Turkish diplomat said. The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and by much of the international community, took up arms in Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed some 45,000 lives. Kurdish separatists use their bases in northern Iraq as a springboard for attacks into Turkey's southeast.
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