Terrorists ravage Chioggia
Jose Antonio Alba| March 15th, 2015
The town of Chioggia, with a population of some fifty thousand people and some thirty thousand Albiyan refugees has been the site for one of the bloodiest terrorist attacks in modern Ulthrannic history. At 8:30pm Ashizwean Standard Time , some forty to fifty armed insurgents launched an attack on the Albiyan border station in Qoryaale, the town opposite of Chioggia before continuing into Ulthrannic territory. The terrorists proceeded to divide themselves into two forces, one that attacked refugee centre Camp Vincent de Paul which was run by the Rodarian human rights group Association of the Immaculate Heart and another refugee camp run by the local government. The other that assaulted Chioggia proper, around twenty men, proceeded to open fire at local police and army units that they came across with small arms and grenades. Some of the men attacked the local Hotel Di Stefano where internationals are located, attempting to emulate several terrorist sieges that have occurred in Albiya such as the famous Al-Kema Siege of 2005.
Chioggia is a popular tourist town and one of the gateway towns that allows Albiya to connect with their disconnected northern provinces by land. International businessmen and tourists come to see the local Lake Anastasia known as the Ruby of the South in Ashizwe. And although Chioggia has been the scene for other terrorist sites, they have usually been more managed and vastly less violent than this concurrent strike, effecting primarily Qoryaale.
Using the darkness of the night and lightning fast attacks were able to avoid responding forces and hit Camp Vincent de Paul with two suicide bombers and a hail of small arm and RPG fire. They killed anyone indiscriminately although some emphasis was put on the section of the camp where Albiyan Arabs are located, which may be a hint as to the cause of the attacks.
The second group splintered into small kill-teams and caused chaos in the streets of Chioggia, attacking police stations and the small outposts run by the Livrichese Royal Army, the state's personal defense force. improvised explosive devices and RPGs were used in these attacks causing much damage to their desired targets. Such buildings targeted included two police stations, five military outposts, a Ulthrianist Prayer Garden and a group of two sprayed reportedly sprayed gunfire into a cafe operated by the Hyman family who hail from Belhavia.
Some of these terrorist kill teams would converge Hotel Di Stefano, where the terrorists had hoped to get hostages for their alleged cause, were thwarted by rapid reactionary forces from the Royal Army's local garrison just outside the city. After a day long battle to reclaim the hotel and the streets of Chioggia, the Livrichese Royal Army put down all terrorists within the city limits at the cost of fifty three civilian casualties and ten Royal Army and police casualties.
The chaos and confusion of the combined attacks has made it difficult for local authorities to clearly identify nationalities and where each casualty officially came from. Locals describe how firefighters and soldiers were attempting to put out the flames caused by the fighting and dragging away severely injured persons from the hotel and in the streets of Chioggia. What can be confirmed is that three Rodarians working for the AIH who died have been identified as, Ionel Popescu 55, Maria Lupescu 28 and Wadim Nicolescu 31, respectively. Their identities were confirmed by officials within the Rodarian embassy in Los Reyes and by AIH members in Chioggia, their remains are to be flown back to Romula for burial. In addition, numerous Belhavians, Westonarians and Emmerians were targeted and hospitalized with no known fatalities as of yet with only one Bryon Wallis, a traveler from Oured D.A, being known. Wallis, 49, was in a critical condition after sustaining injuries caused by a fragmentation grenade lobbed into the conference room that he and others were hiding in.
Secretary of State Grant Meradala has condemned the attacks will be holding a press conference at an unknown time later this week with the Emmerian embassy confirming that four of its citizens being hospitalized. No statement has yet to be released by the Belhavians nor the number of Belhavian casualties are being reported.
The Westonarian Embassy also released a statement confirming that two of its citizens, Johannes Van der Vyver and his wife Ineke Van der Vyver were killed after Johannes attempted to wrestle the gun from one of the attackers and was subsequently executed for the act. His wife died during the assault by the Royal Army although whether she was killed by the terrorists or in the crossfire is unknown at this time.
The attackers on the camp were pushed back by reinforcing local security forces and were intercepted by an aviation assault company from the 2nd Fuerza Expedicionaria de Ultramar stationed an hour from Chioggia, despite not requesting the border crossing action from the Albiyan government. General Dario Ardelean of the 2nd FEU said in a statement that his troopers performed with the ferocity and laser-guided accuracy that they are renowned for, neutralizing the enemy threat in Albiya.
By the time it was all over, some four hundred people would be killed and some seven hundred injured. The majority of these were Albiyan refugees killed in the camps but some sixty Ulthrannic citizens were killed in the attacks along with twelve police and Royal Army personnel. It is believed that the strike by the 2nd FEU killed the last remaining attackers although that cannot be confirmed as massive crackdowns begin to sweep border towns across Ulthrannic Ashizwe. Local government is reporting that over eighty suspects have been arrested in police and Royal Army raids across the border region.
However, there is criticism being lined against members of the local Tropas de Ultramar garrison who, after responding to the threat had been reported to have summarily executed two captured fighters by hanging although this report cannot be verified.
The conduct of the local defense force is being put into question by Los Reyes, some even believing that the ineptitude of the local border security was the cause of the crisis.
"If the Livrichese had put more efficient border security measures and personnel perhaps an event like this would not have ever occurred" Representative Raul Juanito Oleastro said during an emergency meeting in the Grand Assembly today, garnering much contempt from Livrichese representatives in the empire's lower house. An official hearing will be held by the military sometime in April. Attacks have been increasing along the border since ethnoreligious tensions bursted earlier this year in Albiya with anti-arab and white sentiment grew in the country alongside growing clashes between the tribes of the south. Nicodemo Fausto Morales, an specialist in Albiya believes that the attackers belong to the Ukhir tribe, radical Pan-Ashizwean supporters who have been behind numerous ethnic killings in the past.
"The slaughter that occurred in Camp Vincent de Paul, with Arabs and especially members of the Seddrat tribe being targeted does point towards the Ukhir being the perpetrators" Morales said in an interview with local television, although Los Reyes denies to confirm that any individual tribe or group in Albiya are behind the attacks.
The Grand Duchess of Livirica and her cabinet are rumored to be writing a plea to the Emperor to request that military actions be taken against the source of the terror and to end the violence currently afflicting the border region. Emperor Carlos X has called for a meeting with local officials and the Lord General of the Tropas de Ultramar to analyse what allowed such a situation to occur and potential solutions to the problem. An official memo from his office has claimed that the use of military action was not to be the preliminary response but wrote that 'such actions are not being excluded'. Hardliners from the Hijos de Oro Imperio and others like them have called for an immediate and devastating response to such an insult to the Empire, with a spokesperson from the Office of the Vicar saying that "Al-Kema and those who support such terrorist actions would know what the wrath of the Grand Ulthrannic Empire is."
Al-Kema has yet to release a statement although President Ghazzawy has confirmed he will be releasing a press statement and that the Albiyan government has condemned the attacks as "barbaric".
By RTVO Correspondent Ricardo Landin
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