Homeland Security News

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau appeared on video for the first time in more than a year on Thursday, rejecting rumours about his death but appearing to signal his time in charge of the Nigerian jihadist group may be coming to an end.  In a message that contained none of the defiant bluster, taunts and denunciation of political leaders of previous videos and will likely be interpreted as an admission of defeat, the dejected-looking Shekau declared in the Hausa language: "For me the end has come".

"This is a message of greeting and joy for you to see my face," said Shekau, who in March 2015 had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group in an audio message.  "This is my desire: that whoever sees this will hear nothing but greetings between me and you. Only Allah knows the rest, as you believed (and) as you submitted. For me the end has come.  "This is only the message I want to send to you for you to understand that this is certainly I. This is why I did this.

Read more: Yahoo News (AFP)

The brothers behind this week's Brussels bombings also spied on a top nuclear researcher and hoped to build a so-called "dirty bomb," an expert involved in a probe into ISIS threats told NBC News on Thursday.  Khalid and Ibrahim El Bakraoui were responsible for planting a hidden camera outside the Belgian researcher's house, according to Claude Moniquet, a French former intelligence official who was hired to investigate potential plots targeting Europe's nuclear sector.

This camera produced more than 10 hours of film showing the comings and goings of senior researcher at a Belgian nuclear center and his family — footage that was seized during a Belgian raid in November, officials announced last month.  Moniquet, who is CEO of the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center private consultancy, revealed to NBC News on Thursday that the El Bakraoui brothers were behind that failed plot.

Read more: NBC News

Syrian government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, on Thursday pushed into the ancient town of Palmyra, which has been held by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since May, state TV reported.  The advance came after the troops managed this week to capture several hills and high ground around the town, famed for its priceless archaeological site and Roman ruins. Syrian troops have been on the offensive for days in an attempt to capture the town.

The state TV broadcast footage of its reporter, embedded with the Syrian military, speaking live from the entrance of Palmyra and saying that as of midday Thursday, the fighting was concentrated near the archaeological site on the southwestern edge of the town.   Maamoun Abdulkarim, who heads the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, said he hopes that the "nightmare" of Palmyra is over after forces entered the city.  Cracks of gunfire and explosions echoed as the reporter spoke. The TV also aired footage showing soldiers walking and SUVs driving near a building that appears to have been a hotel.

Read more: CBS News

Iraq's armed forces started an offensive against Islamic State in the northerly Nineveh province on Thursday in what a military statement described as the first stage of an operation aimed at liberating the city of Mosul.

Read more: Reuters