Homeland Security News

A Carroll County man was arrested and charged with second-degree assault and malicious destruction of property for allegedly ramming a pickup truck into Taneytown City Hall Friday.

The crash happened just before 6 p.m. Friday when a “disgruntled resident” drove a Dodge Dakota into city hall, Mayor Bradley Wantz said in a statement.

Wantz said the crash caused “significant damage” to city hall and forced front office staff to temporarily move. The building will be closed Tuesday, and beginning Wednesday, front desk staff will work from the police department offices.

Read more: WJZ

A man has been arrested and charged with possessing explosive devices, an incident that resulted in the cancellation of the annual South Plainfield Labor Day Parade.

Thomas G. Kaiser, 55, was arrested and charged with second-degree possession of a destructive device for an unlawful purpose and one count of third-degree possession of a destructive device, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office announced in a news release around noon Monday, two hours after the parade was scheduled to commence.

Gov. Phil Murphy and first lady Tammy Murphy were scheduled to attend the parade, according to the governor's public schedule.

It is anticipated that additional charges will be forthcoming, the county prosecutor's office said.

Read more: USA Today

A draft peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban would withdraw 5,400 U.S. troops from five bases in Afghanistan within five months of the deal being signed, the top U.S. negotiator said Monday after briefing Afghan officials.

In an interview with Afghan news outlet ToloNews, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad described the proposed plan as “an agreement with the Taliban in principle” but cautioned that “it is not final until the president of the United States also agrees to it.”

In a meeting last month, President Trump gave Khalilzad the go-ahead to finalize such a deal.

Read more: Washington Post

A journalist who went missing in the Maldives five years ago was killed by a local affiliate of al-Qaeda, an investigator has said, publicly acknowledging for the first time the hardline group's existence and efforts to silence liberal voices in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, whose disappearance in 2014 shook the Maldives, was forced into a car at knifepoint outside his home on the island of Hulhumale and taken to a boat out at sea where he was killed, said Husnu Suood, the head of a presidential commission set up to investigate the case.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Suood said the commission's nine-month investigation found that then-President Abdulla Yameen tried to "divert the focus" of the police investigation, while his former deputy tried to obstruct justice in the case.

Read more: Al Jazeera

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed six southern separatist fighters on Friday, the militant group’s Amaq news agency said.

The attack was carried out by a militant on a motorcycle and targeted a patrol from the Security Belt group, part of a separatist front fighting Yemeni government forces for control of the major port city.

Aden has been the scene of a surge of fighting that has complicated efforts to end Yemen’s complex war.

Read more: Reuters