Corsican nationalists warn jihadists of tough response

A Corsican nationalist group has said it will retaliate for any attack by Islamists on the French island.

For decades the armed Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC) carried out bombings and robberies targeting the French state. In 2014 the FLNC declared a ceasefire, but did not disarm.

The FLNC warned of a "determined response, without any qualms" for any jihadist attack in Corsica, in a message to the Corse Matin newspaper.

Jihadists stormed a church on Tuesday.

The two attackers killed an elderly priest, Father Jacques Hamel, and took hostages in the Normandy church, before police shot the pair dead outside.

So-called Islamic State (IS) released a video of what it said were the two men pledging allegiance to the group.

It is the latest jihadist atrocity to hit France, still traumatised by the Paris attacks last year in which 147 people died.

In December protesters in Ajaccio, Corsica, vandalised a Muslim prayer hall and trashed copies of the Koran.

The FLNC message - issued by a faction called 22 October - called on Muslim leaders in Corsica to "take a stand against radical Islam" and "alert us to any excesses you notice among disillusioned youths inclined towards extremism".

Addressing jihadists, the FLNC said "your medieval philosophy doesn't scare us". It added: "You should know that any attack against our people would trigger a determined response, without any qualms... The Salafists clearly want to establish the Daesh (IS) policy among us, and we're prepared for that."

Nine French policemen were killed in 34 years of pro-independence violence led by the FLNC.

Iraq shrine attack: IS kills dozens in Balad

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionThe site was attacked by suicide bombers, gunmen and mortar fire

At least one bomber blew himself up outside the mausoleum of Sayid Mohammed bin Ali al-Hadi, which was then stormed by gunmen, reports say.Suicide bombers and gunmen have killed at least 35 people in an attack by so-called Islamic State (IS) at a Shia shrine in the Iraqi town of Balad.

Another bomber is said to have blown himself up among fleeing worshippers.

Meanwhile the death toll from Sunday's suicide bombing in Baghdad has again been raised, from 281 to 292.

Amid growing public anger over the truck bombing, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi fired the three top security officials in Baghdad on Friday.

They were the head of Baghdad's security command, the head of interior ministry intelligence for Baghdad and the official responsible for Baghdad in the national security adviser's office.

IS said five of its members had carried out the raid on the site in Balad. The militant group follows an extreme form of Sunni Islam and often targets Shias, who it regards as apostates.

About 50 people were injured in the attack, police and medical sources said.

Worshippers were marking the Eid al-Fitr festival, celebrating the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, when the site came under mortar fire.

The first bomber then struck a market at the entrance to the shrine.

A third bomber was shot dead before he was able to detonate his explosive vest, reports say.

It came four days after IS carried out the deadliest bombing in Baghdad, 45 miles (70km) south of Balad, since the 2003 US-led invasion.

That attack target a shopping complex in the mainly Shia Muslim district of Karrada.

IS militants overran large parts of northern and western Iraq two years ago, but government forces have since regained much of the territory.

In response to the battlefield setbacks, including the recent loss of the western city of Falluja, the militants have stepped up their attacks on civilians.

The Iraqi government has been accused of not doing enough to protect its citizens and has stepped-up security in Baghdad in response to the latest violence.