Oklahoma Beheading: Fired Man's Knife Rampage

A man who had just been sacked at an Oklahoma food plant decapitated one female worker and stabbed another before he was shot and wounded by the boss.

Police said Alton Nolen, 30, was "angry" after losing his job when he launched into a knife rampage at Vaughan Foods in Moore on Thursday afternoon.

Mark Vaughn, chief operating officer of the business and also a reserve police officer, is being hailed as a hero after he shot Nolen while the suspect was stabbing a second woman.

The scene outside the plant in the aftermath of the attack

Authorities say it appears Nolen targeted the workers at random.

The attack began at about 4pm when he went to the car park and drove his vehicle to the front of the warehouse where he hit another car. 

Nolen then walked through the main entrance and began his rampage.

Police spokesman Jeremy Lewis told a press conference that Nolen's colleagues had said "he recently started trying to convert several employees to the Muslim religion".

However, it is not clear if his beliefs had any link to the attack. The FBI is also investigating the incident.

The first victim has been identified as 54-year-old Colleen Hufford.

Mr Lewis told Friday morning's press conference: "He did kill Colleen and he did sever her head."

Nolen and the second victim, 43-year-old Traci Johnson, are both in a stable condition in hospital, said police.

Mr Lewis praised Mr Vaughn's swift action.

"It could have gotten a lot worse," he said. "This guy (Nolen) was definitely not going to stop."

There were said to be several hundred employees inside the warehouse at the time of the attack.

According to the state department of corrections, Nolen was convicted in 2011 of marijuana possession, intent to distribute cocaine, escape from detention and assault on a police officer.

Vaughan Foods spokeswoman Danielle Katcher said everyone at the company was "shocked and deeply saddened" by Thursday's attack.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the team member we lost and all those affected," said her statement.

Employees would be offered counselling, she added.

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Tribal Elders Blamed For IS Militant Advances

By Stuart Ramsay, Sky News Chief Correspondent

Sirens wailing, lights flashing, the truck carrying six armed paramilitaries and a roof gunner from the Kurdish state security branch, Asayish, guided us into a notorious Arab neighbourhood in downtown Kirkuk.

It's from these virtual ghettos that the sporadic car bomb attacks in Kurdistan are planned and built.

Our guards are themselves a target and throughout our visit were jumpy and unhappy. I was assigned one of their number, a huge man armed to the teeth, for the whole time. He never left my side.

The rest of the security detail were deployed on the streets and alleyways. We were, they said, both a kidnap and bomb risk.

It felt a bit like over kill to be frank; but I didn't actually have a choice.

A military convoy drives towards Kirkuk, to reinforce peshmerga troops

Outside a school building I could see a few children playing in the street and a sort of greeting party forming up.

We were meeting displaced people, Sunni Arabs who have left Iraq proper to find sanctuary in Kurdistan.

Our security didn't know them and feared fundamentalists amongst their ranks.

Armed men walking into the temporary homes of Arab families, their children and their wives and daughters and their space, violated by our arrival.

I could sense the tension and approached the most senior looking guy and extended my hand and made the traditional greetings in Arabic.

Kirkuk has been the scene of several bombings in recent months

Within minutes I was surrounded by a group of their leaders. A friendly, scared and ultimately grateful group of men.

They crossed here to escape the bombing and fighting in their towns; to avoid Islamic State for sure, but also to escape the wrath of blood thirsty Shia militia.

This microcosm of Iraq speaks volumes.

They do not want some looney form of IS Islam. They don't want fighting. They want a fair share of Iraq, a government that represents them, an army that protects them.

IS has survived because they have offered a protection from the Baghdad government and are offering a society where they will be allowed to be Sunni without fear of attack.

Displaced Sunni Arabs are sceptical more airstrikes will help the conflict

These people are the ones who will decide the future of IS. One of the men asked to speak to me away from the group.

"I am Sunni. I agree with my friends here. But IS is being allowed to do all this by our tribal elders. The elders are behind everything. Tell your governments you have to speak to them," he said.

As airstrikes gain momentum and Britain decides to join in, I asked the group what they thought of it all.

Quite sceptical would best sum up their response.

They fear who would replace IS and they doubt they can be driven out from the air.

"What do your countries want us to do?," one of them asked.

"Will you arm us to fight IS? Will you support us in the future? Our government is a joke we trust none of them.

"They may have changed the faces and made a new government, but they are the same people. Nothing is changing."

IS and peshmerga troops are metres away from each other near Kirkuk

The basic strategy of the West is to attack IS but to try and urge the new government to be inclusive of all the religious and ethnic groups that make up this country.

That will take a very long time of course and that is really the problem because as every day passes IS are getting more bedded in.

It has only been a few months but their command and control of areas is staggering.

The most striking part of this incredibly informative hour or so was their total "getting" of Kurdistan.

An ethnic group of majority Sunnis who see Nation above Religion; in much the same way as the UK does.

"This country protects its people and they are protecting us. They have no need to but they are. That is what we want. A country that looks after all of us," one of them said.

Not an unreasonable demand. But right now it's just a hope.

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Iraq: Islamic State Threat Is World's Problem

Iraq's deputy prime minister has told Sky News that it is the "duty of the world" to stand up against Islamic State extremists.

Saleh al Mutlaq also said he welcomed the UK parliament's decision to back airstrikes against the militants in his country.

He said that IS was "not just the problem of Iraq. It is the problem of all countries".

"Outsiders" from nations including Britain, Australia and the Emirate countries were fighting for IS and the coalition aerial raids should target militias as well as the jihadist group, he claimed.

Mr al Mutlaq said: "It is an invitation for every country which can participate in this coalition to do what they can in order to get rid of IS forever.

"Iraq is now fighting on behalf of the world."

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US Coalition Pounds IS Targets For A Third Night

US and Arab coalition aircraft have bombarded Islamic State targets in Syria for a third night as Barack Obama promised to "dismantle this network of death".

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates joined the operation to destroy oil refineries in eastern Syria which are capable of producing millions of dollars' worth of revenue for the group.

A mix of manned and remotely-piloted aircraft were used to target oil production facilities near Al Mayadin, Al Hasakah and Abu Kamal.

US Navy F-18E Super Hornets leave after receiving fuel over northern Iraq

A statement released by US Central Command said early indications suggested the strikes had been successful.

"These small-scale refineries provided fuel to Isil (Islamic State) operations, money to finance their continued attacks throughout Iraq and Syria, and an economic asset to support their future operations.

"The US conducted these strikes as part of the President's comprehensive strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy Isil.

"The US and partner nations will continue to conduct airstrikes against Isil in Syria and Iraq and support Iraqi forces as they go on the offensive against this terrorist group."

Syrian Kurds fleeing the Islamic State cross into Turkey

But Syrian Kurds who fled towns and cities overrun by Islamic State said the group had responded to the airstrikes by focusing its assault near Syria's border with Turkey.

Despite the coalition's military superiority, an intensifying advance by IS militants on the northern town of Kobani underscored the difficulty Washington faces using airpower alone.

"Those airstrikes are not important. We need soldiers on the ground," said Hamed, a refugee who fled into Turkey from Islamic State.

A teacher from Kobani who made it across the Turkish border said two of his brothers had been captured by the group.

Obama warned IS militants to "leave the battlefield while they can"

Mazlum Bergaden said: "The situation is very bad. After they kill people, they are burning the villages. When they capture any village, they behead one person to make everyone else afraid.

"They are trying to eradicate our culture, purge our nation."

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 14 militants and five civilians were killed in the airstrikes.

Some 140,000 Syrian Kurds have crossed into Turkey in the last four days alone, and authorities are preparing for many more.

US President Barack Obama has called on the world to join together to destroy Islamic State, which he branded a "network of death".

Addressing the United Nations, he vowed to keep up the pressure on the militants, warning them to "leave the battlefield while they can".

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Hannah Graham: Missing Student Suspect Held

The main suspect in the disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham has been arrested on a Texas beach.

Police believe Jesse Matthew was the last person seen with the UK-born Ms Graham, who went missing on September 13 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Authorities obtained a felony warrant for his arrest late Tuesday. He has been charged with abduction with intent to defile.

Matthew, 32, was captured at a beach in the community of Gilchrist after police received a call reporting a suspicious person, the Galveston County Daily News reported.

Hannah Graham is a sophomore at University of Virginia

Matthews reportedly had pitched a tent on the beach with his car parked nearby.

Authorities told the newspaper that a check of the car's plates revealed it was the vehicle sought in connection to the case.

Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo said the suspect was in custody in Galveston, Texas, and would be extradited to Virginia.

Mr Longo said that police were still searching for Graham.

"This case is nowhere near over," he said.

"We have a person in custody but there's a long road ahead of us."

The disappearance of the teenager has shaken the college town about 100 miles southwest of Washington, with hundreds of residents turning out to help look for her.

Authorities said Matthew, who has worked as a nursing assistant at the University of Virginia's medical centre since 2012, appeared at a police station on Saturday.

But he left after a brief discussion and took off at high speed, shaking officers who tried to tail him.

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Apple 'Pulls Back' iOS 8 Update Due To Flaws

New iPhone Selling For Thousands In China

Updated: 12:17pm UK, Tuesday 23 September 2014

Consumers in China are willing to pay as much as £2,000 to get their hands on a new iPhone 6.

The latest phone from Apple is not yet available in China, despite being made there, but that has not stopped the most dedicated of consumers from trying to buy from overseas sellers.

Sky News has seen numerous posts on Chinese social media websites where the phones are being sold at massive premiums.

One phone, apparently bought in Hong Kong, is now being advertised on China's Taobao marketplace for RMB19,500 (£1,950). Another appears to have been bought in Britain and shipped out to China for re-sale.

A standard iPhone 6 retails at £539 in the UK without a contract, and is as little as £99 with a contract.

The border between China and Hong Kong has been a smuggling route for centuries. The trade was once opium and weapons, but now it is phones.

Over the past three days, 600 iPhone 6 handsets have been seized by customs in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, having been smuggled over the border with Hong Kong.

According to the China's Guangzhou Daily newspaper, smugglers had hidden the phones in boxes of tea, coffee and toothpaste.

The iPhone 6 has not yet been given a launch date in mainland China because the telecoms authorities are yet to give it a licence.

But even without access to the Chinese consumer market, Apple still managed to sell 10 million of the new handsets globally in one weekend alone.

Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, said: "Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn't be happier."

The first batch of iPhones was only available in the US, Japan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, France, Germany and the UK. The limited release has caused mayhem among the Apple faithful.

In Japan, the release marked the first time that iPhones were sold without a SIM lock. This prompted dozens of Chinese buyers to fly to Japan and queue outside Japanese Apple stores.

At one Apple store in the city of Osaka, police were called after Chinese customers' anger boiled over when the store ran out of the phones.

An Apple representative in Beijing refused to comment on the unofficial market and would not confirm when the phone would be released in China. 

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Families Living In Fear In IS-Controlled Raqqa

By Jason Farrell, Sky Correspondent

Children in Syria are being taken from their families to be trained as Islamic State fighters and used as informants, according to a civilian who fled the city of Raqqa.

Former student Abu Abrahim Raqqawi gave Sky News a chilling account of life inside the IS-controlled city where he claimed children are being indoctrinated to become jihadists.

Abu, whose name has been changed, is able to talk because he was smuggled out of Raqqa two weeks ago but remains in regular contact with more than a dozen other underground activists in the city.

Abu Abrahim says there is no education for children in Raqqa

"They (IS) say to the young people, those between 16 and 18, 'Okay, we will give you money if you say who are talking about us or are saying something bad about us'.

"There is a camp for under-16 children. They took a lot of children without their families knowing, and it's very bad. It's just a special camp for young people. They make them like a bomb; a time bomb."

The US launched airstrikes against IS targets in Syria on Tuesday and Abu Abrahim said IS members in the city were killed after rockets struck their communications hub and a hospital used exclusively by the militants.

The US has launched airstrikes against IS targets in Syria

But there are mixed feelings about the Western military intervention.

Abu Abrahim said: "There is anger because the city is being destroyed but some accept they have to do a deal with the devil to get rid of IS.

"But others feel if the US cared about the people here, Obama would have acted when President Assad crossed the red line."

Here he is referring to the Syrian leader's alleged use of chemical weapons last year.

Several Syrian cities and IS strongholds were targetted in the attack

"There are a lot of executions, secret executions and public executions, especially after the Friday sermons - crucifying, beheading and things like that," he said.

He provided images to back this up; some showed children watching the gruesome events.

"There are no hospitals inside the city of Raqqa now. When there is an airstrike (previously from President Assad's forces) wounded people are taken to small hospitals in houses without any equipment," he said.

"They're dying in the street. ISIS have their own hospitals that do not allow citizens to go in."

The group have made rapid advances across swathes of Iraq and Syria

Abu Abrahim says there is no education in the city and some families are struggling to find food.

He claims IS fighters have also seized people's homes to house foreign fighters, but the biggest problem is access to medicine and hospital treatment.

His friends have been filming and taking photographs - posting images on a Facebook page called "Raqqa Is Being Silently Slaughtered".

One of the group was killed by IS when his activities were discovered. Despite being tortured, he didn't release the names of the others.

IS has ousted the Free Syrian Army from Raqqa - the original resistance movement to the Syrian leader Bashar al Assad is much diminished by the terrorist group across Syria.

Abu Abrahim said: "I think if the West wants to do something to kick ISIS out from Syria, they must bomb the Assad regime. If the Assad regime gets bombed and down, then easily the ISIS regime will get out of Syria because the FSA and all the fighters will just fight ISIS and not both ISIS and Assad."

IS fighters proclaim Raqqa is a paradise, but Abu says normal civilians are struggling for survival - that life in a terrorist-controlled city is one of fear, and lives are being risked to tell the real story of the city.

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Abu Qatada Cleared Of Terror Charges In Jordan

Radical preacher Abu Qatada has been cleared of terror charges in Jordan and will be released from prison there.

He was deported from the UK last year following an expensive eight-year battle by the Home Office.

The Palestinian-Jordanian preacher was once referred to as "Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe" by a Spanish judge.

He was facing charges over trial over 1998 and 2000 bomb plots targeting Americans and Israelis in Jordan.

The cleric had already been convicted and sentenced on both charges by a trial in absentia, but had avoided Jordanian justice after being granted asylum in the UK.

He lost his refugee status in the UK in 2002 when he was detained on suspicion of terrorism offences, and a long deportation process began in 2005.

Qatada was finally flown out of the country last July after a 'memorandum of understanding' signed between the UK and Jordanian governments assured he would receive a fair trial.

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Rebel Leader Hails 'Revolution' In Yemen

Large parts of Yemen's capital Sanaa have been taken over by Shia rebels in what their leader described as a "successful revolution".

Around 200 people were killed in fighting last week between the Houthi insurgents and government forces.

Yemen's president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has signed a power-sharing agreement with the rebels, who had called for the "corrupt" government to quit.

Rebel leader Abdel Malik al Houthi said the deal had been a victory for "all the people".

And he said it could lead to price cuts and economic reforms to ease pressure on Yemen's poorest amid fuel price rises.

In a dramatic power shift, the rebels had pushed deep into the capital and control the central bank and several military bases.

Mr al Houthi said in a televised speech: "These great efforts created this great success - victory - for all the people, forcing an answer to popular demands.

"If it is implemented, this agreement will also change the government, which the people called to fall, to fail, because it stood on an unjust, non-consensual basis."

The rebels have taken over key buildings in the capital

He said the rebels had also removed "the most dangerous obstacles facing the state".

This was a reference to the Houthis' main opponents - Sunni tribal fighters and a powerful general, Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, who is backed by Sunni Islamists but was defeated by the rebels.

Mr al Houthi also vowed to go after al Qaeda in the country, calling the terror group the "remaining obstacle".

He said the way to battle them was through building a strong army and security forces with support of the "popular committees", a phrase used to refer to his rebel forces.

The president has defended himself, insisting he had not surrendered the capital to the rebels and saying a foreign "conspiracy" was at work.

Yemen's president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi

That appears to be a veiled reference to Iran, which he has accused of arming and supporting the Houthis. Iran denies doing so.

Yemen has struggled to recover after veteran autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh was ousted amid Arab Spring protests in 2011.

The military split between forces loyal to Mr Saleh and those backing General al Ahmar, who had backed the uprising and went on to become a military adviser to Mr Hadi.

The divisions contributed to the rise of al Qaeda militants and the advance of the Houthis.

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Islamist Group Threatens French Hostage In Video

A kidnapped Frenchman has appeared in a video, saying he is being held by an Islamic State splinter group based in Algeria.

In the footage, a spokesman for the group - which calls itself Jund al-Khilafah or Caliphate Soldiers - threatens to kill the man unless France ends its military operation against Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

France's Foreign Ministry has confirmed the video is genuine, identifying the hostage as Herve Gourdel, 55.

In a statement it said Mr Gourdel had been kidnapped on Sunday in the eastern Algerian region of Tizi Ouzou, where he was on holiday.

It said: "The threats made by this terrorist group show once again the extreme cruelty of Daech (Islamic State) and those who say they are affiliated to it."

The mountainous Tizi Ouzou region is a known hideout for al Qaeda

The video shows Mr Gourdel reading a message to camera, flanked by two armed men. 

He says: "I am in the hands of Jund al-Khilafah, an Algerian armed group. 

"This armed group is asking me to ask you (President Francois Hollande) to not intervene in Iraq.

"They are holding me as a hostage and I ask you Mr President to do everything to get me out of this bad situation and I thank you."

Jund al-Khilafah is thought to be an al Qaeda splinter group which has broken away in recent weeks and pledged allegiance to IS.

The mountainous Tizi Ouzou region is a known hideout for North Africa's al Qaeda branch, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The abduction is reported to have taken place hours after IS threatened attacks on French citizens. The threat came after Paris launched airstrikes against them on Friday.

IS has threatened to target France, which has launched airstrikes in Iraq

An IS spokesman called on its followers to kill Europeans and Americans, and "especially the spiteful and filthy French".

Responding to the video, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France would not be swayed by the militants' threats.

"We will do everything we can to liberate hostages," he told reporters.

"But a terrorist group cannot change France's position."

Mr Hollande's office, meanwhile, released a statement saying the president had spoken with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal by phone. It said the two had agreed "total cooperation" in finding Mr Gourdel.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Algerian security official said he had been hiking with two friends when all three were taken. 

The Associated Press news agency quoted the official as saying the victim's companions were later released and alerted the authorities.

IS has taken over large swathes of Iraq and Syria in recent months, where it has declared an Islamic state, or caliphate.

The group has released videos showing the murders of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and British aid worker David Haines. 

It has warned that fellow British captive Alan Henning will be next if Prime Minister David Cameron continues to support the fight against the jihadist organisation.

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US And Arab Allies Attack IS Targets In Syria

The US and five Arab countries have begun airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria for the first time.

The aerial raids were carried out using fighter jets, bombers, drones, and Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from US ships in the northern Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.

And the strikes form part of the expanded military campaign against IS that was authorised by President Barack Obama two weeks ago.

An image apparently shows one of the airstrikes. Pic: Alatareb

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar were involved in the raids, a US official said, although their exact roles were unclear. The strikes did not involve the UK.

Damascus said Washington informed Syria's UN envoy before launching the bombings.

At least 50 airstrikes were carried out on IS militant targets and 20 fighters were killed, according to activists, who added the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front was also hit.

The sites reportedly included the IS headquarters in the stronghold of Raqqa, weapons supplies, checkpoints and a Syrian army base the insurgents recently seized.

As well as Raqqa, there were strikes on the towns of Tabqa, Ein Issa and the border town of Tel Abyad near Turkey, activists claimed.

Saudia Arabia, UAE, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar were involved in the raids

US military officials said targets including militants' command and control centres, re-supply facilities, training camps and other key logistical sites were expected to be hit.

Residents in Raqqa had said last week that IS was moving underground after Mr Obama signalled on September 11 that air attacks on its forces could be expanded from Iraq to Syria.

The group had evacuated buildings it was using as offices, redeployed its heavy weaponry, and moved fighters' families out of the city, the residents said.

The strikes follow a summit of world leaders in Paris where agreement was reached to form a broad coalition to counter the advance of IS in Syria and to provide military aid to Iraq to fight the extremist network.

Military leaders have said about two thirds of the estimated 31,000 IS militants are in Syria.

Islamic State have made rapid gains in Iraq and Syria

International efforts to combat the group, who have grabbed swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq, have taken on an added urgency after the beheading of two US journalists and British aid worker David Haines, and the threat to kill UK hostage Alan Henning.

The US action comes four days after France destroyed an IS logistics depot in its first airstrikes against the militant group in Iraq.

A second video of UK hostage John Cantlie has been released by IS

Meanwhile, a second propaganda video of British hostage John Cantlie has been released by IS.

Speaking to the camera and seemingly under duress, he addresses the coalition of states targeting the group, though it is not clear when the video was filmed.

The group is still holding British hostage Alan Henning

"Everyone now is getting involved," he said. "Denmark and France have sent air power, Britain is arming the Kurds, Iran is sending troops and contractors are being sought in Iraq.

"Even Bashar al Assad, until earlier this year the most hated and villainised tyrant in the Arab world, is being approached for permission to go into Syria.

"It's all quite a circus. Not since Vietnam have we witnessed such a potential mess in the making."

An IS splinter group has threated to kill French tourist Herve Gourdel

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Israel Says It Has Shot Down Syrian Aircraft

The Israeli military says it has shot down a Syrian jet over Israeli-controlled airspace.

The Israeli Defence Forces said they intercepted the aircraft in mid-flight over the Quneitra area of the Golan Heights.

A Patriot missile was fired at the fighter plane, which was identified in Israeli media reports as a MiG-21.

Fighting from Syria's civil war has occasionally spilled over into the Golan territory, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

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Ebola Lockdown: 92 Bodies Found In Sierra Leone

Ninety-two bodies and at least 56 new infections have been discovered in Sierra Leone during a nationwide ebola lockdown.

The three-day measure came into effect on Friday to try to stem the worst ebola epidemic on record.

The country's six million residents were ordered to stay indoors as volunteers circulated to educate people about the outbreak and isolate the sick.

Some 123 people contacted authorities during the lockdown, believing they might be infected.

Of these, 56 tested positive for ebola, 31 tested negative and 36 were still awaiting their results, officials said.

Residents largely complied with the plan, and the streets remained mostly deserted, except for ambulances and police vehicles.

On Sunday evening, even before the lockdown officially ended at midnight, residents in some parts of the capital Freetown emerged onto the streets to celebrate.

Police in the western part of the city said they had made a number of arrests in an attempt to enforce the lockdown in its final hours.

A health worker helps a woman to an ambulance in Monrovia, Liberia

Earlier in the day, Stephen Gaojia, head of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)  that leads the national Ebola response, said a few areas had still not been reached by the government's teams.

"Even though the exercise has been a huge success so far, it has not been concluded in some metropolitan cities like Freetown and Kenema," he said.

The EOC announced last night that it would not extend the campaign in order to reach the remaining households as it had earlier said might be required.

"It cannot be extended because its objectives have largely been met," Mr Gaojia said.

British officials recently announced they were setting up a treatment centre in Kerrytown following a direct request for help to combat the outbreak.

The 62-bed facility will treat victims of the disease, including local and international health workers and volunteers.

The West Africa outbreak has so far killed more than 2,600 people and infected around twice as many since March.

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Blair: Airpower Alone Not Enough To Defeat IS

Tony Blair has said Britain should not rule out sending forces into Syria and Iraq to counter the threat posed by Islamic State.

In a 6,500-word essay, the former prime minister said that while no desire existed for ground engagement in the region, airpower alone would not be enough to defeat the group.

"We have to fight groups like ISIS," he said. "There can be an abundance of diplomacy, all necessary relief of humanitarian suffering, every conceivable statement of condemnation which we can muster.

Tony Blair: 'The enemy we're fighting is fanatical'

"But unless they're accompanied by physical combat, we will mitigate the problem but not overcome it.

"Airpower is a major component of this to be sure, especially with the new weapons available to us. But - and this is the hard truth - airpower alone will not suffice.

"If possible, others closer to the field of battle, with a more immediate interest, can be given the weapons and the training to carry the fight.

"I accept fully there is no appetite for ground engagement in the West. But we should not rule it out in the future if it is absolutely necessary."

France and the US have launched airstrikes on IS positions

The militant Islamist group has made rapid territorial gains across the region and released graphic videos depicting the beheading of two US journalists and British aid worker David Haines.

Mr Blair warned that any solution to the threat posed by the extremist group would involve casualties. 

"Because the enemy we're fighting is fanatical, because they are prepared both to kill and to die, there is no solution that doesn't involve force applied with a willingness to take casualties in carrying the fight through to the end," he said.

The US and France have already launched airstrikes against IS targets, and the UK has not ruled out joining the bombing campaign.

He said the lessons learned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had improved Western forces' "capacity and capability" to respond to the threat of IS and similar groups.

Former taxi driver Alan Henning is being held by the group

"To those who say that after the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq we have no stomach for such a commitment, I would reply the difficulties we encountered there are in part intrinsic to the nature of the battle being waged," he said.

"And our capacity and capability to wage the battle effectively are second to none in part because of our experience there."

Former taxi driver Alan Henning, from Manchester, is currently being held hostage by IS after he was kidnapped in the Syrian town of al Dana while volunteering with a humanitarian aid convoy.

The group has threatened to kill Mr Henning and warned Britain and America not to get involved in another Middle East war.

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Rwandan Militia Commander 'Tired Of War'

Key Events In Rwanda

Updated: 8:40am UK, Monday 22 September 2014

Up to five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo during two decades of violence which followed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

 Many of those blamed for the mass killings fled to DRC, which was then known as Zaire.

Here is a timeline of the key historical events affecting Rwanda:

:: January 1, 1932: Belgium, which controlled Rwanda, introduced identity cards which distinguished between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis for the first time. These cards helped identify Tutsis in the 1994 massacre.

:: November 5, 1959: A Hutu rebellion against the Belgian colonial power and the favoured Tutsis led to 150,000 Tutsis fleeing to Burundi.

:: July 1, 1962: Rwanda and Burundi became independent, with the Hutus ruling in Rwanda and Tutsis retaining power in Burundi.

:: December 1, 1963: Up to 20,000 Tutsis were massacred in Rwanda in response to a cross-border attack by exiled Tutsis in neighbouring Burundi.

:: June 10, 1987: Exiled Tutsis from Rwanda formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in Uganda.

:: October 1, 1990: A 7,000-strong RPF force attacked Rwanda from Uganda following the death of thousands of Tutsis at the hands of the government-trained Interahamwe militia.

:: August 4, 1993: The Arusha Accord brought an end to the civil war and a power-sharing agreement between the RPF and the Hutu-led government.

:: October 5, 1993: The UN Security Council established a peacekeeping mission and around 2,500 UN military personnel were deployed.

:: April 6, 1994: An aircraft carrying President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down, killing all on board.

:: April 7, 1994: Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, a moderate Hutu, and 10 Belgian Peacekeepers were murdered by Rwandan government soldiers.

This marked the start of 100 days of genocide which saw up to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus killed by extremist Hutus.

:: July 19, 1994: The RPF took control of Rwanda and set up a Government of National Unity. About two million Hutus, including some involved in the genocide, fled to Zaire fearing revenge attacks.

In the following 20 years, fighting continued in DRC, with Rwanda accused of invading to pursue Hutus implicated in the genocide and of supporting rebel movements there.

Numerous ceasefires failed to stop the bloodshed and the UN declared that by 2001, 2.5 million people had died.

Further peace deals followed, with agreements to hand over Hutus blamed for the genocide in Rwanda.

But more fighting erupted in 2008 as Rebel general and Tutsi Laurent Nkunde's forces clashed with Congolese troops. Rwanda denied backing Nkunde.

Other groups, like the infamous Lord's Resistance Army and pro-Hutu militias intent on the overthrow of the Rwandan government, have operated inside DRC and added to the bloodshed.

More recently, warlords like Bosco Ntaganda and Thomas Lubanga have been brought to justice, but Congolese and Rwandan troops clashed on the countries' borders as recently as June this year.

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Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

One the freed hostages is reunited with their family

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

The PM (R) kisses Turkish consul-general Ozturk Yilmaz after his release

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Mr Davutoglu (L) with the freed captives in Ankara

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The hostages were taken in Mosul and returned to Sanliurfa

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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IS Releases Gruesome Full-Length Film

Freed Islamic State Hostages Return To Turkey

Updated: 3:51pm UK, Saturday 20 September 2014

Dozens of Turkish hostages seized by Islamic State militants in Iraq have been freed in what Turkey's president described as a secret rescue operation.

The 49 hostages - including diplomatic staff, special forces soldiers and children - were taken from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11 after the city was overrun by IS fighters.

Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said they were released after a "pre-planned operation" involving the country's intelligence services.

"After intense efforts that lasted days and weeks, in the early hours, our citizens were handed over to us and we brought them back to our country," he said.

The release of the hostages came as a full-length propaganda film produced by IS emerged.

It was not immediately clear what Turkey had done to secure the return of the hostages, but independent broadcaster NTV said no ransom was paid and there were no clashes with insurgents during the operation.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "I thank the Prime Minister and his colleagues for the pre-planned, carefully calculated and secretly conducted operation throughout the night.

"MIT (the Turkish intelligence agency) has followed the situation very sensitively and patiently since the beginning and, as a result, conducted a successful rescue operation."

Police formed a cordon outside the airport in the southern Turkish city of Sanliurfa as the hostages arrived in buses with curtains drawn.

The Prime Minister, who cut short an official trip to Azerbaijan to travel to Sanliurfa, hugged the hostages before boarding a plane with them to the capital, Ankara.

Mr Davutoglu did not provide further details on the circumstances of the release, but said it was carried out through "MIT's own methods".

Hostages quizzed by journalists as they got off the plane said they could not go into detail as to the nature of their ordeal, but a couple of them hinted at ill treatment and death threats.

Alptekin Esirgun told the state-run Anadolou Agency that militants held a gun to Consul General Ozturk Yilmaz's head and tried to force him to make a statement.

Mr Yilmaz thanked Turkish officials involved in his release but did not give details about their captivity or how they were freed.

He refused to take more questions, saying: "I haven't seen my family for 102 days. All I want to do is to go home with them."

Seizure of the hostages put Turkey in a difficult position as a summit of 30 countries met in Paris last week to co-ordinate their response to IS.

The nations agreed to "support the Iraqi government by any means necessary - including military assistance".

Turkey resisted joining the coalition and the United States was careful not to push Ankara too hard as it worked to free the hostages.

The hostage release comes as Turkey opened up its border to thousands of Kurds fleeing clashes with IS in neighbouring Syria.

Under tight security, the refugees, mostly women and children, crossed to the Turkish side of the border in the southeastern village of Dikmetas.

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Rwanda Militia Commander 'Tired Of War'

By Alex Crawford, Special Correspondent

The commander of one of the Rwandan militia hiding out in the eastern Congolese mountains has told Sky News his men will not disarm without guarantees for their safety.

Colonel Bonheur - as he called himself but which is almost certainly not his real name - said his band of soldiers would be forced to continue fighting unless a political solution can be found.

Speaking from his mountain hideout, he said: "We are tired of war. We want peace. But we need the international community to step in and mediate.

"They know what they have to do and they know very well how to solve the problem. They need to pressurise Rwanda."

He said he and his men want to return to Rwanda and reform the militia as a political party.

The militia soldiers are living in straw huts in the Congolese mountains

That is unlikely to be accepted by the current President Paul Kagame, who they want to unseat.

The colonel and his unit - which he called the Tigers - are a branch of the FDLR (The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) - and are wanted by the United Nations for war crimes.

They are accused of being among those who tried to wipe out the Tutsis in Rwanda way back in 1994.

The genocide then has been the backbone of the region's woes ever since. Wars have led to an estimated four million people losing their lives over the past 20 years.

The FDLR militias have been blamed for continued mass killings and rapes inside the Congo ever since and their existence has led to the creation of an estimated 30 Congolese armed groups who are also responsible for atrocities, as all the different armed groups battle for control of the region.

Colonel Bonheur says the international community must intervene

Military action against the FDLR was threatened by the UN, but it was persuaded to hold off until December after South Africa and Tanzania - who are allied with Congo's Joseph Kabila - argued the militia should be given time to voluntarily surrender their weapons.

It is an option America does not believe the rebels will take.

The colonel said: "We urge the international community to take pity on us."

He insisted some of his men had surrendered and handed in their weapons but the remainder are fearful of giving up their guns because of reprisals from the Congolese.

Instead they have shifted on to the mountains with their families, where they shelter in straw huts, some with plastic sheeting but most without.

One woman said: "We are starving. We just eat leaves boiled in water."

Another man told us: "We are a people without a country now. We need help."

A global day of peace means little to these people.

Most were unaware of it and the colonel said disparagingly: "The Americans can sort peace here in an instant. They just don't want to."

He, like many others weary of the war in this region, believe the chaos and instability caused by it suits many who are plundering the country of its rich natural resources.

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