The US has dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb it has ever used in combat in eastern Afghanistan on a series of caves used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, according to the Pentagon. The GBU-43 bomb was dropped on Thursday from a MC-130 aircraft in the Achin district of Nangarhar province, close to the border with Pakistan, said Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesperson. Also known […]
A car bomb blast killed at least 23 people and wounded more than 45 others in a mainly Shiite district in southern Baghdad on Monday, police and medical sources said. The explosion occurred on a busy commercial street , the sources said. The blast happened at around 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) in the busy business district of in the Amil neighbourhood west of the city, sources said. There was no […]
This is the second in a series of articles by VOC reporter Yaseen Kippie, reflecting on his recent trip to the Syria-Turkey border From its roots in the popular Arab uprisings in 2011, the Syrian war has been going on for the past 6 years, as citizens launched a peaceful protest opposing President Bashar al-Asad’s regime. Responding with force, the chaos caused by the army created the uprising caused a […]
As the Muslim Judicial Council’s journey to Syria comes to a close, VOC’s correspondent, Yaseen Kippie provides the latest on the delegations interaction with Syrian civilians, who continue to call for an end to six-year war. The delegation is travelling to the Turkish-Syrian border to deliver humanitarian aid with the Turkish IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation. The delegation this week arrived in Turkey where they were informed about the current issues […]
A suicide car bombing has killed at least 39 Iraqis in a busy market in Baghdad's Sadr City district, the interior ministry said. The attack in the mainly Shia suburb on Monday was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. The bomber lured poor labourers close to the bomb site, promising them work, before blowing himself up. Bodies were scattered across […]
Iraqi troops backed by US-led air strikes have pushed deeper into eastern Mosul after a two-week lull in the operation to retake the city held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. Staff Lieutenant-General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior officer in Iraq's counterterrorism service, said the second phase of the operation, now in its third month, began on Thursday. He told the AFP […]
OPINION by Shafiq Morton IN every way, 2016 has been a challenging year to be a journalist. Shrinking print space, incessant cyber-attacks, the dumbing down of hard news, local mamparas, diminishing employment opportunities and increasing danger in doing one’s job, have been the background to an eventful and action-packed 12 months. In 41 years I have never ended a year on such a note of global fretfulness, unpredictability and street […]
ISIS probably killed more than 300 Iraqi former police three weeks ago and buried them in a mass grave near the town of Hammam al-Alil south of Mosul, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. A Reuters reporter visited the site of the mass grave, where residents said the militants buried victims who had been shot or beheaded. The residents said they believed up to 200 people were killed in the […]
Human Rights Watch has warned that the Islamic State (IS) group is using chemical weapons as it retreats in the face of an operation by Iraqi forces to retake the city of Mosul. According to the organisation, IS launched at least three chemical attacks on the town of Qayyarah, 60km south of Mosul, in September and October after the town was captured by Iraqi forces in August. The attacks, which […]
VOC became the first Muslim radio station in South Africa when a special events license was granted to the station in Ramadan/January 1995. Subsequent temporary broadcast licenses were granted, permitting the station to broadcast for 24 hours.
