[Dawn] A roadside kaboom hit a police vehicle on patrol in southern Afghanistan, leaving five coppers dead and one maimed, a senior police official said Saturday.
The bomb hit the pickup truck in Trin Kot, the capital of Uruzgan province, late on Friday, senior provincial police officer Gulab Khan told AFP.
"Five coppers were killed and one maimed," he said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but roadside kabooms are frequently planted by Taliban beturbanned goons fighting a decade-long war against NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... -led foreign troops and Afghan government forces.
Afghan police are particular targets for the jihad boys, as the country prepares to take over full responsibility for security from some 130,000 foreign troops by 2014.
On Friday afternoon, a car was also hit by a roadside kaboom in the Khinjak area of the lovely provincial capital of Uruzgan province, killing one person and wounding two others, according to police front man Farid Ail.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
A Haqqani network leader was captured in a joint operation by Afghan and Coalition troops in eastern Khost province ... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name... on Friday, Isaf said.
"An Afghan led and coalition supported security force captured a Haqqani Network leader during an operation yesterday," Isaf said in a statement.
The leader operated a bomb-making cell in Mandozai district and planned attacks against coalition forces throughout the province, it said.
During the operation, the security force seized multiple AK-47 assault rifles, shotguns, a chest rack, ammunition and bomb-making materials, it added.
Several suspected Islamic fascistiwere also jugged for further questioning, Isaf said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch, Butch and the Kid finally brought their horses under control... the statement said an Afghan and Coalition security force captured a Taliban leader during an operation in Nad Ali district of Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... province on Friday.
The leader used specialised weapons to conduct direct-fire and roadside kabooms against Afghan cops throughout Marja district.
One additional suspected jihad boy was jugged during the operation.
[An Nahar] Two days of fresh fighting in Sudan's Blue Nile state have left "heavy losses" among rebel troops, the army said on Saturday, without giving casualty figures for either side.
The combat occurred west of Dindiro, some 100 kilometers southwest of the state capital of Ed Damazin, said Sudanese army front man Sawarmi Khaled Saad.
"There are heavy losses among the SPLM troops, people killed and equipment destroyed," he told Agence La Belle France Presse.
Rebels from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) in Blue Nile could not be immediately reached for comment. Too busy dying?
Access to the state is restricted, making independent verification difficult.
Fighting began months ago in Blue Nile and nearby South Kordofan state between the government and ethnic minority hard boyz who fought alongside the former rebels now ruling South Sudan.
On Thursday the United Nations ...aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society... humanitarian agency (OCHA) said fighting had continued in parts of Blue Nile and South Kordofan during the first days of February.
More than 140,000 Sudanese refugees have decamped to South Sudan or Ethiopia since fighting erupted last June in South Kordofan, followed by Blue Nile in September, OCHA said.
The United Nations has backed statements by the United States that there could be a famine unless urgent aid is allowed to enter the two states, where Sudan has severely restricted the work of foreign relief agencies.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
Security forces intercept weapons cache in northern Sinai believed to be slated for smuggling into Strip.
Egyptian security forces seized a weapons cache in the Sinai Peninsula that was suspected of being prepared for smuggling into the Gazoo Strip, Paleostinian news agency Ma'an quoted officials as saying on Saturday.
A number of anti-aircraft missiles and several tons of TNT were among the weapons seized in the operation in northern Sinai, according to the report.
The Jerusalem Post reported in December that Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, had established forward bases and rocket production facilities in Sinai in an effort to protect them from Israeli air strikes.
Israel has called on Cairo to increase its efforts to restore order in Sinai and to prevent attacks, but the Egyptian military has held back from dismantling the Hamas infrastructure in the Peninsula.
More than a dozen Egyptian army battalions allowed into Sinai with Israel's permission (required because of limits placed on Egyptian forces there under the Camp David peace treaty) are still operating there, although with limited success in stopping terrorist activity and arms smuggling to the Gazoo Strip.
Recent arms smuggled into Gazoo have included advanced weaponry stolen from Libyan military storehouses such as Russian- made shoulder-to-air missiles.
#1
90 Tons is allot of weight. I wonder how much they are willing to invest in this adventure. This airfield must be long enough and built well enough to support this activity. I don't know myself. There is allot of interest in Africa these days.
Two kabooms went off on Friday outside a customs building in Nigeria's flashpoint city of Maiduguri, the base of Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. Currently wearing a false nose and moustache and answering to Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, or Big Louie... Islamists blamed for a series of attacks, residents have said.
The spokesperson for a special military squad established to crack down on Boko Haram in the area confirmed the kabooms with AFP
"We have deployed our field men to the scene of the blast, and I will have to wait for the briefing before I can say anything," said Hassam Mohammed, front man for the Joint Task Force in Maiduguri.
The kabooms went off near a station where locals board rickshaw taxis, located outside the customs building, witnesses said.
Witnesses said that the first bomb was planted at the foot of the wall of the customs office when commuters were waiting for rickshaws, while the second one, went off some metres away. The whole area was cordoned off by soldiers and it was very difficult for one to determine the number of casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
Islamist militants in southern Yemen executed early on Sunday three men they accused of giving the United States information used to carry out drone strikes in the area, a spokesman for the group said in a text message. Residents of the towns of Jaar and Azzan said two Saudis and one Yemeni were beheaded at dawn by militant group Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law).
Sorry guys, you executed the wrong three. It's three other guys, all deeply buried in your organization. You'd better do a mole hunt. Trust no one, especially your cousins...
Weakened by months of protests against outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's government has lost control of whole chunks of the country, giving Islamist militants room to tighten their grip in the south, notably in Abyan province.
The United States, a prime target of al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, which tried to blow up an airliner over Detroit in 2009, has been launching drone strikes against militants in the south. Last month, at least 12 people were killed in one such attack.
[Iran Press TV] People in Soddy Arabia's Eastern Province have staged fresh anti-regime protest rallies to show their anger with the ruling Al Saud family.
People erupted into the streets in the cities of Qatif, Awamiyah and Safwa on Saturday, calling for an immediate regime change.
Saudi forces reportedly opened fire on peaceful demonstrators, who also condemned the monarchy's deadly crackdown on peaceful protests.
The mass rallies came one day after a protester was killed and many more were maimed as regime forces attacked a large crowd of protesters in the oil-rich Eastern Province.
According to human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. groups, the crackdown has claimed several lives since November.
Rights groups have slammed Riyadh for its persecution of protesters and called for an investigation into the killings.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[Yemen Post] Violent festivities flared up on Friday, breaking a fragile ceasefire brokered by tribal mediation to end the sectarian fighting, between Shiite Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates.... fighters and Sunni rustics in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah.
What a surprise.
"Fierce festivities took place in Aham district between al-Houthi rebels and local rustics on Friday, leaving at least 18killed and scores others maimed from the two sides," local tribal dignitary told Yemen Post, requesting anonymity.
Two maimedrustics are in a very critical condition, said the local source.
"Al-Houthis have breached the briefed ceasefire agreement, which was signed on Thursday by representatives from the two parties, by attacking some posts of the Sunni Tribal alliance." The source added.
Local media quoted, Abdullah Wahban, a member of the tribal mediation committee, as saying" efforts are ongoing to stop the festivities and apply the ceasefire agreement,"
Wahban called on al-Houthis to stop their obstinacy and retreat to their hometown of Saddah as stated in the agreement, the local media reported.
Sectarian festivities broke out in the far northern Yemeni provinces of Hajjah and Sadaa when al-Houthis sought to expand their authority to adjacent areas.
Shiite minority in Yemen have called for boycotting the forthcoming presidential elections, describing it a sham as it has only a sole candidate.
Al-Houthis supported and participated in the uprising against the 33-rule-year rule of President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... , who signed a deal under which he relinquished power to Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the consensus candidate for the upcoming presidential elections due to take place on February 21, in exchange for immunity from prosecution.
Soddy Arabia have voiced their gravest concerns over Shiite control of some areas in Yemen, and called the National Unity Government to regain control of Sadaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Houthis
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] An Uzbek man living in the United States pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in the southern state of Alabama to planning to kill US President Barack Obama. On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today... Ulugbek Kodirov, 22, was nabbed in an undercover operation while trying to obtain explosives and guns, the US Justice Department said in a statement.
US Attorney Joyce White Vance, who worked on the case, expressed "appreciation to the Mohammedan community of Birmingham, which was instrumental in helping law enforcement shut down this threat."
Kodirov pleaded guilty to one count of providing material support to terrorist activity, one count of threatening to kill the president and one count of possession of a firearm by an illegal alien.
As part of his plea agreement, Kodirov admitted he had communicated "with an individual whom he believed to be a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)," and that he "interpreted these conversations to mean that he should kill President B.O.."
The US State Department considers the group a terrorist organization.
Kodirov also admitted to discussing with another person his desire to kill Obama and strategies for carrying out the liquidation.
The other person -- who the Justice Department did not identify -- introduced Kodirov to an undercover US agent from whom the Uzbek man planned to purchase weapons.
They met in July 2011 at a motel in Leeds, Alabama. The agent showed Kodirov an M15-A1 machine gun, a sniper rifle with a telescopic lens and four disassembled hand grenades.
Kodirov chose the machine gun and hand grenades, but was nabbed before he could leave the motel.
Kodirov entered the United States from Uzbekistan on a student visa in June 2009. His visa was revoked in 2010 when he failed to enroll in school, and he was living in an extended-stay Alabama motel when police nabbed him.
Kodirov faces up to 30 years in prison on the charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
#1
" ...visa was revoked in 2010 when he failed to enroll in school, and he was living in an extended-stay Alabama motel when police nabbed him."
Couldn't decide between ITT and The School of Culinary Arts. Delayed his final decision pending achieving Craft Master status for his Magician on Runescape and pending completion of the next season of Game of Thrones. Decided to kill the president in his spare time.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/12/2012 14:55 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'm sorry, I can't resist reposting this _again_.
#1
I think there is a problem in Gadsden. I seem to recall another jihadi incident there in the last year or two.
Gadsden is right next door to Anniston, AL, home of former Fort McClellan, that had both the Military Police and Chemical Corps headquarters, as well as being a basic training post.
Its Chemical Corps HQ hosted a lot of foreign officers taking courses in chemical weapons defense, many of whom were from Muslim countries.
Back in the 1980s, a quiet agreement was reached with Saudi Arabia to buy a home in Anniston for use by these Muslim officers as a mosque and meeting area. Scheduling was hard because of the different cultures and rituals.
Though Ft. McClellan is closed, there are now Muslim centers in both Anniston and Gadsden. I suspect at least one of them has been radicalized.
#2
I designed the base Wine and Liquor store at Fort Mclellen back in 1983. Did a lot of work on the hospital, too. Anniston is where the M1 tanks are refurbished. Gadsden is not a very big city.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/12/2012 13:40 Comments ||
Top||
#3
That's Anniston Army Depot, still in operation, but separate from Fort McClellan.
[Dawn] The Pakistani army has started court martial proceedings against a brigadier and four other officers over suspected ties to a banned extremist group that has called for ousting the US-backed government, security officials said Saturday.
Brig Ali Khan and the other four officers were detained in May, 2011 for suspected links to the Hizb-ut-Tehrir group. Khan was working at the army's headquarters near the capital Islamabad at the time of his arrest. Khan's family has denied the allegations against him.
Two senior security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the military trial started recently but did not provide any other details. It was also not clear yet where the trial is taking place and what punishment the officers might face, if convicted.
Hizb is banned in Pakistan because of its extremist propaganda. The group also campaigns in Pakistan against the country's alliance with the Unites States in the war on terror.
The group insists it has rejected violence, although observers say it promotes an intolerant mindset that can ultimately lead some followers to embrace militancy.
Khan's lawyer, retired Col Inam Rahim, said after the arrest that his client had claimed he was detained for demanding that someone within the military be held accountable for the covert US Navy SEALs raid that killed bin Laden in Abbottabad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Security officials say the Pakistani army has started court martial proceedings against a brigadier and four other officers over suspected ties to a banned extremist group that has called for ousting the US-backed government.
Sounds like the usual office politics in Pak-land...
Brig. Ali Khan and four other officers were detained in May, 2011 for suspected links to the Hizb-ut-Tahrir group. Khan was working at the army's headquarters near the capital Islamabad at the time of his arrest. Khan's family has denied the allegations against him.
Two senior security officials said the military trial started recently but did not provide any other details. It was also not clear yet where the trial is taking place and what punishment the officers face, if convicted.
Sent to the International Criminal Court to listen to Carla del Ponte?
Hizb-ut-Tahrir is banned in Pakistan because of its extremist propaganda. The group also works to re-establish the Islamic caliphate and campaigns in Pakistan against the country's alliance with the Unites States in the war on terror.
Western officials have long suspected some Pakistani military officials of having ties to Islamist groups.
No, really? Where'd they get those crazy ideas?
Khan's lawyer, retired Col. Inam Rahim, said after the arrest that his client was detained for demanding that someone within the military be held accountable for the covert US Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
ION DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > PAKISTAN
CONSIDERING [mulls] HIGHER PRICES FOR REOPENING OF ISAF LAND SUPPLY ROUTE.
Toll Roads-Bridges.
* SAME > FRANCE SAYS UZBEKISTAN [CAR = Central Asian Region]CHARGING HIGHER FEES FOR NATO TRANSIT [2014 pullout/withdrawal].
* ARTIC > FRENCH DM Gerard Languet = US is curren paying the CAR US$500.0Milyuhn per year to move non-lethal cargo, Roughly 75% of NATO Supplies into Afghanistan now goes oer the cost-prohibitive NDN;; NATO CORRIDOR ACROSS PAKISTAN IS PREFERRED.
* SAME > [US is] STOKING BALOCHISTAN'S FIRE, of Separatism.
BLOGGERS > US = China = India = all would like to see a Balochistan/Baluchistan formed from Pakistan + Iran as per WARM-WATER TRADE, NAVAL PORTS.
> US, India = to counter Rising China + PLAN access to GWADAR,PAKISTAN [other Pak?].
> China = to counter India at CHABAHAR [Iran].
> India = to counter Pak Navy; + China at both Gwadar + Chabahar.
> Iran > fears Pak will allow US, Indjuh access to Gwadar.
OOOOOOOOO, you just know RUSSIA'S NAVY is in there somewhere.
[Dawn] Two Western aid workers kidnapped in Pakistain in January are being held by the Pak Taliban near the border with Afghanistan, told a senior turban commander on Saturday.
"The two NGO (non-governmental organization) workers who were kidnapped in Multan nearly a month ago are in our custody near the border. We haven't made any demands yet," a senior commander of the Pakistain Taliban said.
"They are in good health."
A German and an Italian citizen were kidnapped from their house in Multan in southern Punjab province on Jan 19, according to local officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
"We haven't made any demands yet."
Ie, we have to do a market analysis on how much the governments of Italy and Germany have secretly been willing to pay to release kidnap victims, then we'll invoice them accordingly.
Posted by: American Delight ||
02/12/2012 11:03 Comments ||
Top||
[Dawn] Protesters blocked a main highway in restive Indian administered Kashmire on Saturday after a young man was rubbed out by the army in what military officials described as an "accidental" shooting.
Ashiq Hussain Rather, 22, was killed late on Friday when a soldier accidentally fired his rifle as security forces combed the area for Death Eaters, the army said.
The killing occurred in the Baramulla district of the scenic Kashmire valley.
"It was a case of the accidental discharge of a single bullet by a soldier which led to the unfortunate incident," Lieutenant General S.A. Hasnain told the Press Trust of India.
"The dear departed was innocent. Inquiries have been ordered," he added.
Police used baton charges and teargas to disperse the protesters who were blocking traffic along the main Kupwara-Baramulla highway in Indian administered Kashmire, according to media reports.
There are nearly a dozen Kashmire Death Eater groups fighting for the divided Mohammedan-majority region to become part of Pakistain and over 47,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the separatist insurgency in Kashmire in 1989.
But Death Eater violence has dropped sharply in Kashmire since India and Pakistain, which each hold part of the Himalayan region and claim it in full, started a grinding of the peace processor in 2004.
The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmire State, Omar Abdullah, said the government would investigate the death.
"We will ascertain the facts and any action will follow after that," Abdullah told India's NDTV channel.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[An Nahar] Seven people including a tribal chief were killed on Saturday in attacks west of Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... and in the capital itself, police and medics said.
A roadside kaboom at Amariyat al-Fallujah in Anbar province killed Sheikh Najem Mustafa al-Hafez, head of the Aweissat tribe, along with his brother, his wife and their two-year-old son, police lieutenant Jabbar Hamad said.
Hamad said Hafez was well-known for his hostility to Orcs and similar vermin and his loyalty to the police and army.
A doctor at Fallujah hospital 60 kilometers west of Storied Baghdad confirmed that the facility had received four bodies after the incident.
The hospital also received the remains of two people killed when a magnetic bomb attached to their car in the city went kaboom!.
In the capital, an interior ministry employee named as Haidar Shamki was killed when unidentified gunnies opened fire on his car in east Storied Baghdad, a ministry official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
The lethality of magnetic bombs in the Middle East just goes to prove that "many Muslims are made of magnetic media." A charming alliteration.
Life in the hysteresis(*) loop that is Islam.
(*) an ancient Greek word meaning "deficiency" or "lagging behind". Applies equally well to magnetic media and Muslims.
[An Nahar] A rocket fired by Paleostinian snuffies from the Gazoo Strip hit southern Israel on Saturday night causing no casualties or damage, an Israeli police front man said.
"A rocket was fired from the Gazoo Strip at the Eshkol region. It landed in an open area without causing any damage or injuries," Micky Rosenfeld told Agence La Belle France Presse.
On Friday night, a rocket struck between two houses near the southern port city of Ashkelon, causing no casualties but damaging the houses and an electricity pylon.
There was no immediate claim for the Friday attack from any Death Eater group in Gazoo.
But a member of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Moslem Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the liquidation of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... , was maimed early on Saturday in a blast in Beit Lahiya near Gazoo City, witnesses said.
A security official for the Islamist Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, movement which rules Gazoo told AFP that the kaboom was the result of an Israeli air strike.
But an Israeli armed forces spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of any military activity in Gazoo early on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Two Palestinians were moderately injured late Saturday in four Israeli airstrikes on targets belonging to militant groups in eastern and southern Gaza Strip, medics and witnesses said, dpa reported.
"Gadzooks! I have been moderately injured!"
Witnesses said Israeli mlitary jets flew over the coastal salient ruled by Islamic Hamas movement and fired on targets in eastern Gaza City and the southern towns of Rafah and Khan Younis. Security officials said the airstrikes were in retaliation for homemade rockets attacks fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel early Saturday.
The Gaza injuries occurred in the Israeli strike on militants southeast of Gaza City, where paramedics said that at least two Palestinians were injured and were taken to Shiffa Hospital in the city.
The other Israel strikes hit an empty area east of Gaza city, where an underground tunnel used as a weapons cache was destroyed, and destroyed an empty building in Rafah and a tunnel east of Khan Younis. No injuries were reported from those strikes, witnesses said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
heh, AOS. I lol'd
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/12/2012 11:49 Comments ||
Top||
Long look at the bomb-builder of the Bali terrorist attack. Worth noting the connections to Abbottabad and his proximity to bin Laden for a time.
JAKARTA, Indonesia: An Indonesian militant charged in the 2002 Bali terrorist attacks told interrogators he spent weeks holed up in a rented house, painstakingly building a half-ton bomb using household items including a rice ladle, a grocer's scale and plastic bags.
A transcript of the Umar Patek's interrogation obtained by The Associated Press offers extraordinary detail of the Bali plot just days before Patek -- a radical once Southeast Asia's most-wanted bomb-making suspect -- goes on trial in Jakarta for his alleged role in the nightclub attack that killed 202 people.
Patek, known as "Demolition Man" for his expertise with explosives, says he and other conspirators stashed the 1,540-pound (700-kilogram) bomb in four filing cabinets, loaded them in a Mitsubishi L300 van along with a TNT vest bomb. The van was detonated outside two nightclubs on Bali's famous Kuta beach on Oct. 12, 2002. Most of those killed were foreign tourists.
Although homemade bombs are easily assembled by militants all over the world, making such powerful devices as those used in Bali -- and using such unsophisticated equipment -- would have taken enormous amount of care and expertise.
Patek, 45, goes on trial Monday following a nine-year flight from justice that took him from Indonesia to the Philippines to Pakistan, reportedly in pursuit of more terrorism opportunities. He was finally caught in January 2011 in the same Pakistani town where US Navy Seals would kill Osama Bin Laden just a few months later.
Boy howdy, what a coincidence. Wonder if he and Binny shared the community pool?
Patek was hiding out in a second-floor room of a house in Abbottabad, a $1 million bounty on his head, when Pakistani security forces, acting on a tip from the CIA, burst in. After a firefight that left Patek wounded, he was captured and extradited to Indonesia.
Should have been extradited to Diego Garcia...
His capture was seen as a yardstick of the successes that Asian security forces, with US help, have achieved against Jemaah Islamiyah, the Al-Qaeda-linked regional terror group blamed for the Bali bombings and several other attacks in Indonesia. All its other leaders have been executed, killed by security forces, or are on death row.
Patek is charged with premeditated murder, hiding information about terrorism, illegal possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit terrorism, and now faces a possible death sentence as well. The indictment also accuses Patek of providing explosives for a string of Christmas Eve attacks on churches in 2000 that claimed 19 lives.
Interviews with intelligence officials in Indonesia and the Philippines, the interrogation report and other documents obtained by the AP reveal the peripatetic life Patek led after the Bali attacks as he ranged widely and freely, often without passing through immigration checks, while allegedly passing along his bomb-making skills to other terrorists.
Patek, whose real name is Hisyam bin Alizein, is the son of a goat meat trader. He went to computer school and learned English before being recruited into Jemaah Islamiyah by Dulmatin, a fellow militant who was gunned down by Indonesian police in March 2010.
After his arrest, Patek told his interrogators that he learned to make bombs during a 1991-1994 stint at a militant academy in Pakistan's Sadda province, and later in Turkhom, Afghanistan, where bomb-making courses ranged "from basic to very difficult."
He said he was living in Solo, Indonesia, when mastermind Imam Samudra approached him to make a bomb in Bali. He agreed and flew to Denpasar, Bali's capital, and was taken to a rented house.
"In one room of the house, I began to mix the explosive ingredients, which were already in the rental house," he said. "For about three weeks, I made the explosive ingredients into black powder with the assistance of Sawad (a co-conspirator). For tools used in the mixing of the ingredients, I used (a) scale that will usually be used in a food store, rice ladle and plastic bags as containers."
Dulmatin separately worked on the electronic circuits, which were later attached as detonators to the bombs packed into the filing cabinets.
"When we were lifting the filing cabinets into the white L300 van, an explosion occurred which was caused by friction of the filing cabinet with the floor of the room, because the floor still had some leftover black powder on it," he said.
Patek left Bali a few days before the attacks were carried out.
Afterward, officials said, Patek and Dulmatin went to the Philippines and allegedly joined forces with the local extremist group Abu Sayyaf, spending the next several years training militants and plotting attacks, including against US troops in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Imam Samudra and two other masterminds of the Bali attacks -- brothers Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron -- were caught, tried and executed.
Patek returned to Indonesia in June 2009, living in various rented houses in Jakarta. He held several meetings with radicals and aspiring militants at home and held assault rifle and bomb-making training sessions at a beach in Banten near Jakarta.
But Patek's heart was set on going to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taleban or other extremist groups, said Ansyaad Mbai, Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief. He told the AP that Patek intended to continue his fight in a more defined battleground with a larger radical group, and refused Dulmatin's offer to become an instructor in a new militant camp in Indonesia's Aceh province.
"He wanted to fight with a larger extremist group, and Afghanistan was the ideal battleground for him," Mbai said.
But to reach Afghanistan, he would have to go to Pakistan first. A police investigator said that a 37-year-old Pakistani in Indonesia, Nadeem Akhtar, helped Patek get a Pakistani visa from his embassy in Jakarta.
Why not just print up a fresh one?
After Patek arrived in Lahore, a courier with links to Al-Qaeda then brought him to Abbottabad, possibly to meet with Bin Laden.
Mbai did not rule out the possibility that Patek went to Abbottabad to not only gain a foothold into Afghanistan but also to obtain funds for setting up a militant training camp in Jolo in southern Philippines. But before he could make much progress or meet Bin Laden, he was caught.
Patek's trial not only seeks justice for the Bali bombings, but also is a coup for intelligence officials. He is believed to have valuable information about Al-Qaeda and its links with Jemaah Islamiyah, which was founded by Indonesian exiles in Malaysia in the early 1990s.
The Bali bombing remains JI's most spectacular attack. Though there have been several others since, but none as deadly. Analysts credit a crackdown that has netted more than 700 militants since 2000, including the death of several key leaders in police action.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
London Times claims Mossad agent in Azerbaijan confirmed existence of intelligence agency's base near Iran; says Baku is 'ground zero for intelligence work'
#1
Because he was told to. I doubt MOSSAD would have any tolerance for bad CIA agent-type antics like blabbing to the press.
Remember what happened to Mordechai Vanunu (nuclear engineer who talked about the Israeli nuclear weapons program).
So the reason for doing this could be any of a number of things, such as anger at Azerbaijan, or calling al-Quds to come play, or counter-threatening Iran with non-linear attacks, or plans 'D' through 'ZZ'.
[An Nahar] "An armed terrorist group" bumped off a Syrian general in Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... on Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported, saying he was in charge of a military hospital in the capital.
"An armed terrorist group this morning assassinated brigadier general and doctor, Issa al-Khawli, the director of Hamish hospital, outside his home in the district of Ruknaddin," in northwest Damascus, SANA said.
"Three gunnies had watched General Khawli leave his house and shot him," the news agency said, adding that he was a father of four, including three daughters.
State television showed footage of what it said was the general lying in a pool of blood outside his home, his head pixelated.
The report could not be independently verified. But if confirmed, it would be one of the most brazen attacks on a ranking officer in the Syrian capital since an uprising erupted in March last year.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/12/2012 11:58 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Makes you wonder how top heavy the Syrian forces are. Sadaam's force seemed to have more generals than majors. The guy might have been in charge of vending machine replenishment.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/12/2012 14:46 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"#2 Same guy as the story yesterday, right?"
Yeah, apparently they killed him yesterday and then shot him again today. Assad called and said "Are you sure he's dead?", and then a shot rang out and the answer came back "Yes, sir, he's dead".
Two corpses allegedly belonging to Hizbullah members were reportedly entered to Leb from Syria on Friday, said al-Mustaqbal ... the Future Movement, political party led by Saad Hariri... daily on Saturday.
The corpses were transferred to a hospital in the southern city of Tyre where forensics experts sought to inspect them, but they were later prevented by Hizbullah, whose members cordoned off the building before entering it, sources from the city told the daily.
The Hizbullah members removed the corpses, which were allegedly brutally murdered, to an unknown location.
The identity of the dead remains unknown, reported al-Mustaqbal.
Informed sources told Future News that the individuals were likely killed in Syria.
They added that the party secretly buries its dead who were killed in Syria, requesting officials in the area from disclosing its activity, reported the news channel.
On Friday, Hizbullah issued a statement denying the reports.
In January, British Prime Minister David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... accused Hizbullah and its main regional ally Iran of supporting the Syrian regime's violent crackdown on the country's uprising.
In August, Hizbullah denied a French media report accusing the party of being involved in the killing of Syrian soldiers who had refused to shoot at anti-regime protesters.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
that will endear Hezbollah to the Syrians after Assad falls. I hope they died slowly and painfully
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/12/2012 12:00 Comments ||
Top||
[An Nahar] A ceasefire was announced on Saturday between the rival Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of thich is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen under the army's sponsorship after fierce festivities killed and maimed a number of civilians and troops.
The Lebanese army is deployed on the outskirts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh, namely near Syria Street which separates the rival neighborhoods.
Tripoli MPs confirmed, after meeting at MP Mohammed Kabbara's residence, the commitment to the ceasefire and handing the army the responsibility of restoring order in the city.
The gatherers denounced any security breach in Tripoli, stressing on the importance of coexistence and safeguarding the civil peace and rejecting sedition.
They announced their "full cooperation" with the army, which is the only side qualified to maintain peace in the area.
The meeting was held in the presence of State Minister Ahmed Karami, MPs: Samir al-Jisr, Moein al-Merehbi and representatives from the army and the security services and religious leaders.
Gun battles erupted on Friday shortly after Friday prayers in the northern city between the dominant Alawite Tripoli neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen and mainly Sunni neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh.
Voice of Leb radio reported that four people were maimed during the festivities on Saturday.
However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse that three died and 23 were maimed, adding that seven soldiers were among those maimed in the fighting.
A 17-year-old girl died of her wounds later.
Ten soldiers were among those maimed in the fighting, among them a sergeant whose wounds were critical.
The two sides were firing guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other in the bloodiest festivities since last June when six people were killed in the wake of demonstrations against the Syrian government.
In a statement, the Lebanese army said that it will reinforce its security measures in the area, vowing to confront those who are meddling with security "regardless of the party they belong to."
"The army conducted raids in places where festivities erupted and set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock a number of gunnies, and confiscated weapons they carried," the statement added.
It stressed that the "delicate situation that the country is passing through will not provide cover to those who are tampering with the country's stability and security."
The army said one soldier was at death's door.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel meanwhile, voiced fears that the festivities may be the beginning of strife in Leb as one form of the repercussions the unrest in Syria will have on the country.
"This situation requires decisive positions from the president and various politicians," he stressed.
Meanwhile, ...back at the dirigible, Jack stuck the cigar in his mouth, stepped onto the gantry, and asked Got a light, Mac?
Von Schtinken stopped short, lowering the dagger and trying to control his features. If you light that thing, Herr Armschtröng, he pointed out, his voice tense, we all die!... the National News Agency reported that a rally was staged near Tripoli Serail calling for "Arms-Free Tripoli."
The protesters condemned the festivities that erupted in the city, demanding the cabinet and the parliament to support the army to take the necessary measures to halt the riots and shootouts.
The Sunni-majority coastal city has in the past few years been the scene of intense festivities between Sunni supporters of the anti-Syrian opposition and Alawite Moslems loyal to a Hizbullah-led alliance backed by Iran and Syria.
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Despoiler of Deraa... , who is fighting an unprecedented revolt against his regime, hails from the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[An Nahar] Syria has asked Tunisia and Libya to close their embassies in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... in a tit-for-tat move after they both expelled Syria's envoys, a foreign ministry front man said on Saturday.
"Syrian authorities have asked Libya and Tunisia to close their embassies in Damascus in a reciprocal move," Jihad Makdisi told news hounds.
The decision comes days after similar moves by Tunisia and Libya -- where veteran strongmen have been ousted by popular uprisings -- in protest at the Damascus regime's lethal crackdown on democracy protests.
Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) closed the Syrian embassy in October and two days ago it ordered Syrian diplomats still in the country to leave within 72 hours.
That decision comes less than a week after the opposition Syrian National Council -- which has already been recognized by the NTC -- took control of the country's embassy in Tripoli.
And earlier this month the Tunisian presidency said it had started a procedure to expel the Syrian ambassador in protest at the rising corpse count of civilians killed by regime forces over the past 11 months.
Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, whose government was brought in by elections that followed the Arab Spring's first uprising, this month also called on all nations to expel their Syrian ambassadors.
Jebali last week said that in the absence of strong U.N. action, countries should take their own action by cutting all diplomatic ties with Damascus, as Tunisia has already done.
"We have to expel Syrian ambassadors from Arab and other countries," the premier said.
His remarks came after Syrian activists and rights groups reported that more than 230 civilians died under bombardment by Syrian forces in the city of Homs on a single day last week.
And earlier this week Gulf monarchies said they would also withdraw their envoys from Syria, joining mounting international pressure on Damascus over the killings of civilians.
"State members have decided to withdraw their ambassadors from Syria and ask at the same time for all the ambassadors of the Syrian regime to leave immediately," the six Gulf Cooperation Council states said on February 7.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[An Nahar] Four gunnies intercepted on Saturday a car that entered Leb through the border and kidnapped three Syrian nationals in the Bekaa town of Taanayel, according to the National News Agency.
The Syrian nationals were traveling in a Jeep Mazda holding a Syrian license plate when four masked, gunnies forcibly removed them from the car and kidnapped them to an unknown area.
The abductors decamped to an unknown location.
The NNA reported that the Internal Security Forces and the Lebanese army cordoned off the area.
Investigations were launched to track down the kidnappers.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Dawn] Three people died and 23 were maimed during fierce festivities on Saturday between Lebanese Sunni Moslems hostile to Syria's regime and Alawites who support it, a Lebanese security official said.
"A Sunni and an Alawite were killed and 23 people were maimed in festivities that continued since Friday between people from the neighbourhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh" in the northern city of Tripoli, the official told AFP.
A 17-year-old girl died of her wounds later.
Ten soldiers were among those maimed in the fighting, among them a sergeant whose wounds were critical, the official added.
The two sides fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at each other in the bloodiest festivities since last June when six people were killed in the wake of demonstrations against the Syrian government.
Sunni-majority Tripoli has in the past few years been the scene of intense festivities between Sunni supporters of the anti-Syrian opposition and Alawite Moslems loyal to a Hezbullies-led alliance backed by Iran and Syria.
Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... , who is fighting an unprecedented revolt against his regime, is from the Alawite community, an offshoot of Shia Islam.
The Lebanese army is deployed on the outskirts of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tebbaneh, namely near Syria Street which separates the rival neighbourhoods.
Some residents have decamped the area while those who stayed behind -- both Sunnis and Alawites -- said they are afraid that festivities will erupt anew while blaming the other side for the fighting.
"I am paying the price of a war which is not mine," said Zeinab Yaghi, a 55-year-old Sunni Moslem mother of five whose house was hit in the crossfire.
"I know nothing about politics but supporters of the Damascus ...Capital of the last remaining Baathist regime in the world... regime are causing problems here," she said after fleeing her home with her children.
One Sunni man who declined to be identified said "rockets have been raining down on us since yesterday (Friday)." "They are constantly provoking us and waving pictures of Bashir al-Assad," he said of his Alawite neighbours, adding however that he was not against the Alawites.
Some Alawites also expressed concern ...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended... , saying they were afraid for their lives.
"We are afraid because there is a sectarian spin to things," said Khaled al-Ali, a taxi driver.
"Since the crisis began in Syria we have been treated like foreigners. They provoke us all day long by staging anti-Alawite rallies," he said.
"The imams in the mosques are setting the (Sunnis) against us in their sermons and we constantly receive threats saying we would be expelled from Tripoli if the regime in Syria falls," he added.
The fighting erupted on Friday but subsided by Saturday afternoon after the army negotiated a truce between the two communities, officials said.
"I could not care less what happens in Syria," said Mohammed Khaldiye, an Alawite.
"I just want to live in peace with my neighbours, in my city" of Tripoli.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[Iran Press TV] A terrorist group has assassinated the head of a hospital in Syria's capital Damascus, ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... Brigadier General Issa al-Kholi, the Syrian state media say.
Al-Kholi was killed in front of his house in Rukn Eddin neighborhood in the capital on Saturday, SANA news agency reported.
Three gunnies ambushed and shot him outside his home, according to SANA.
The liquidation comes one day after two powerful kabooms left at least 28 people dead and scores more injured in the northern city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... The rebel Free Syrian Army has grabbed credit for the attacks that targeted security headquarters.
Terrorist groups fighting against the government of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Lord of the Baath... have attacked several security and military sites.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March 2011.
While the opposition blames the government for the violence, Damascus says ''outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups'' are responsible and that it is being orchestrated from abroad.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/12/2012 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Dawn] A 
A Haqqani network leader was captured in a joint operation by Afghan and Coalition troops in eastern 
Two 
[Iran Press TV] People in 
Violent 
The Pakistani army has started court martial proceedings against a brigadier and four other officers over suspected ties to a banned extremist group that has called for ousting the US-backed government, security officials said Saturday.
[Dawn] Two Western aid workers kidnapped in Pakistain in January are being held by the Pak Taliban near the border with Afghanistan, told a senior
David Cameron
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[Iran Press TV] A terrorist group has assassinated the head of a hospital in Syria's capital 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
