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Terror chief especially wants Americans to be nabbed. Ayman al-Zawahiri says the victims could then be exchanged for imprisoned terrorists.Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri has called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, particularly Americans, who could then be exchanged for jailed jihadists including a blind Egyptian cleric convicted in 1995 of conspiring to attack the United Nations and other New York landmarks. In a wide ranging audio interview, the al Qaeda leader expressed solidarity with the Muslim Brotherhood which is facing a violent crackdown by the army-backed government in Egypt and urged unity among rebels in their fight against Syrian President...

CHIBOK, Nigeria (AP) — Parents say 234 girls kidnapped from Nigerian school by Islamic extremists, up from 85.

Exactly forty years ago Patricia Hearst stunned the nation when she turned up as a bank robber, a mere two months after she was kidnapped by the violent cult that called itself “The Symbionese Liberation Army.” Her astonishing transformation was documented by bank cameras on April 15, 1974.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Masked gunmen abducted the Jordanian ambassador in the Libyan capital early Tuesday, officials said, the latest in a wave of abductions in the North African nation still plagued by lawlessness more than two years after the ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

In a serious escalation of tension in Crimea, a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest was kidnapped on Saturday. Sources in Ukraine say Father Mykola Kvych, a pastor and a Ukrainian military chaplain, was abducted by pro-Russian forces after celebrating the liturgy. Reports Saturday evening suggest Father Kvych may have been released, but those reports have not yet been confirmed. “Every abduction is a terrible event for everybody involved,” said Bishop Borys Gudziak, the Eparch of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Eparchy. “It’s a gross violation of human rights and God-given human dignity.” He expressed his grave concern about the repercussions of the...

“We could tell there were some horrific assaults going on in that house,” said Chief Paul Nelson. An arrest warrant provided new details about the alleged torture of two women that included waterboarding, two-hour long beatings, and forced sex. One of the women, 29-year-old Rebecca Schaller, was found dead inside the home on January 28. When officers responded to the home at 715 Pierce, they said none of the eight adults or six children at the home seemed concerned Rebecca was lying dead on a bedroom couch.

Burnet police say after a two-month investigation they've arrested three people involved in the year-long kidnapping of an adult woman. Police say Charlotte Elaine Arms (pictured left), 45, Thomas Allon Simon (pictured right), 31, and Walker Wayne Shapland, 24, have been arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a family member, both first degree felonies, and aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury on a family member, a second degree felony. And more sick gory details at http://kxan.com/2014/03/12/affidavit-women-were-waterboarded-sexually-assaulted-in-home/ - According to the sister’s statement to police, Arms and Shapland would abuse the two sisters, using...

Families in Westchester said they are breathing a sigh of relief following a kidnap attempt Wednesday. The families are crediting an employee of T2 Tacos, a restaurant in the 7100 block of Manchester Drive, for being the hero who stopped the kidnap attempt. Residents told KCAL9′s Brittney Hopper that a nanny was walking with a 4-year-old boy Wednesday afternoon — in broad daylight — when a man attempted to steal the child. The employee — a man named Jesus Delgado – intervened, stopped the man and held him until authorities arrived. (The suspect has been arrested and charged with kidnapping.)...

Gillette, WY (AP) - Campbell County sheriff's officials say a 15-year-old boy fatally shot a man who was trying to abduct a woman in Wright.

A heroic Los Angeles-area taco stand employee saved a four-year-old boy from a deranged kidnapper. Jesus Delgado, a grill cook at T2 Tacos, in Westchester, jumped out from behind the counter Wednesday and rescued Grady O’Brien from a North Hollywood man who took him after punching his nanny in the face. Witnesses told KTLA the man was ranting about being in the CIA before sucker punching the nanny and making off with the child yelling he was the father – Grady’s six-year-old brother Brendan screamed for help until Delgado sprang into action. The children were walking home from school with the nanny...

A Missouri grade school coach has been charged in the murder and kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl whose suspected body was found in his basement with what police said was a gunshot wound to the head. Craig Wood, a football coach and teacher's aide at Springfield's Pleasant View K-8 School, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of Hailey Owens, whose body police believe was found in a storage bin. The little girl was last seen walking just a block from her home at 4:48 p.m. Tuesday when a terrified couple called 911 to report her seen being...

Police worked a crime scene all night at 1538 E. Stanford St. as they investigated the kidnapping and murder of 10-year-old Hailey Owens. She was taken from the 3200 block of West Lombard Street as she walked from a friend's home to her home two blocks away late Tuesday afternoon.

Testimony heated up during the second day of a federal trial for the alleged mastermind behind a kidnapping on the UTPA campus. Miguel Angel Navarro is accused of planning the kidnapping of 27-year-old Ana Elizondo from a parking lot. Kidnapping victim Ana Elizondo was the first witness to take the stand on Wednesday morning. Elizondo relived the horrifying experience after being kidnapped from a parking lot on the University of Texas Pan American campus in Edinburg. She recalled how she saw one of her kidnappers praying ot the Santa Muerte, a cult figure followed by some criminals. Her father Jorge...

As the British government urges the UN to crack down on ransoms to terrorist groups, jihadists in the Maghreb are upping their hostage prices. In the past three years, jihadists groups linked to al-Qaeda and other radicals have raked in at least $70 million in ransom money—and with each year, the average financial demand from abductors has jumped, according to the British Foreign Office.

A 15-year-old is stuck in a Boston hospital after the medical facility took custody of her when her parents argued against her diagnosis. For the last nine months, Justina Pelletier has been sneaking messages to her parents in Connecticut through folded origami notes. “It is kidnapping,” Lou Pelletier, the girl’s father, told WTIC-TV. The local news station investigated the case, for which a judge later issued a gag order, and has the background leading up to the ongoing custody battle:

A French hostage held in Nigeria managed to escape on Saturday while his captors, Islamist militants from the Ansaru group, were praying. Francis Collomp, 63, is due to brought home to Paris by France’s Foreign minister later on Sunday. French hostage Francis Collomp, 63, escaped his captors in Nigeria, the office of President François Hollande said in a statement on Sunday. Collomp had been held since being abducted by the Ansaru Islamist group on December 19, 2012. FRANCE 24’s correspondent in Nigeria, Aminu Abubacar, reported that there were no military operation involved and that Collomp managed to escape entirely on...

SNIPPET: "WASHINGTON – Four members of a violent guerilla organization were indicted on Friday on conspiracy and hostage-taking charges stemming from the kidnapping of more than 60 people in Colombia in 2000, including three United States nationals."

The family of a kidnapped woman in Duson, La., Bethany Arceneaux, took justice into their own hands Friday when they rescued Arceneaux from her captor, Scott Thomas, killing Thomas in the scuffle that ensued. Arceneaux, 29, was kidnapped on Wednesday from a child-care center parking lot by Thomas, 29, the father of her son, reported The Advertiser. Their two-year-old son was in her car at the time, and was not harmed. Arceneaux’s family received a tip that she was being kept in an abandoned house nearby. As law enforcement had not yet acted, a half dozen family members assembled at...

A dramatic scene unfolded Friday when family members searching for Bethany Arceneaux, 29, who was kidnapped earlier in the day, miraculously found her and her kidnapper in an abandoned property. Police told KLFY-TV that family members searched an abandoned property in Duson, La., and saw Arceneaux inside. When they confronted her kidnapper, 29-year-old Scott Thomas, he reportedly started attacking the woman, who appears to be his child’s mother. Though details are still a little murky, police said a family member defended Arceneaux and shot Thomas. The suspect was later pronounced dead, though it is unclear if the family member delivered...

Crime News 2 charged with kidnapping cancer patient from St. Louis County hotel by KMOV.com staff KMOV.com Updated yesterday at 7:06 PM (KMOV.com) – Authorities have filed charges against two suspects accused of kidnapping a man with cancer from his hotel room in Bridgeton. Marcus Pratt-Pegues, 24, and Eunique Cooper, 21, were each charged Thursday with kidnapping and first-degree burglary. According to authorities, the suspects kidnapped Thomas M. Nedich, 63, from his room at America’s Best Value Inn at 3655 Pennridge Dr. around 1:30 p.m. Monday. Authorities say Pratt-Pegues threw a chair through the window and demanded money from Nedich,...