On Wednesday, the Air Force will award three prestigious valor combat decorations to its three combat controllers in the battle, service officials said. Senior Airman Dustin H. Temple will receive the rare and prestigious Air Force Cross, which is second only to the Medal of Honor in honoring heroism in combat in the service. Goodman and Tech. Sgt. Matthew J. Greiner will receive the Silver Star, which is two levels below the Medal of Honor.
The battle marks just the second time in the 14 years since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, that more than one airman has received such prestigious awards for heroism, Air Force officials said. An awards ceremony will be held at Pope Army Airfield in North Carolina.
One U.S. Special Forces soldier, Sgt. 1st Class Andrew T. Weathers, 30, suffered a gunshot to the head during the battle, and died Sept. 30 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany after being evacuated from the battlefield, the airmen said. But remarkably, no other American or Afghan commando sustained any serious injuries.
A least 21 insurgents were killed, based on airmen's award citations.
#3
Outstanding. They were much, much more brave than any insurgent that I have ever had throughout my deployments there,” [said] Senior Airman Goodie J. Goodman. Of course, the brave lions of Islam might have been stoked up on drugs. It wouldn't be the first time.
#4
You know John, you bring up a valid point, ie, stoked on drugs.
I wonder how many of these homegrown engagements, Garland, TX for one, have been the result of drug induced acts? We never hear much from the medical examiners, do we ?
#5
I think drugs actively used are less of a matter than in-prison indoctrination. Seems like a lotta black prison pop gets the "convert!" message constantly
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/07/2015 21:15 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I know promotion is slow in the AF but how many deployments as a Combat Controller is needed to promote? Both Temple and Goodman are still only Senior Airmen after how long?
[AnNahar] Four Afghan men were sentenced to death Wednesday for the savage lynching of a woman falsely accused of blasphemy, a landmark judgement in a nation where female victims often have little legal recourse.
The Kabul primary court also sentenced eight people to 16 years in prison while 18 others were found not guilty after a three-day trial broadcast live on national television.
A furious mob turned on 27-year-old Farkhunda on March 19, beating her in broad daylight and setting her body ablaze on the banks of the Kabul River.
The attack came after an amulet seller, whom she had reportedly castigated for peddling superstition, falsely accused her of burning the Koran.
Her killing triggered protests around Afghanistan and drew global attention to the treatment of Afghan women.
Forty-nine people were placed in durance vile Book 'im, Mahmoud! , including 19 coppers, some of whom were shown standing by and doing nothing to stop the mob in cellphone videos recorded by bystanders.
The trial, which drew praise for its fast-track nature but also prompted concern over its fairness, saw the suspects facing various charges including assault, murder and inciting others to participate.
Judge Safiullah Mojaddidi, announcing the verdict, said Zainul Abiddin, Mohammad Yaqub, Mohammad Sharif and Abdul Bashir would be hanged.
"It is not a final decision and their right to appeal is reserved," the judge said.
Farkhunda's parents, who were in court on Wednesday, said before the verdict was announced that they "only want justice, nothing else".
Her brother Mujibullah said his family was not happy with the large number of acquittals in a murder caught on cellphone cameras and circulated on social media.
There were dozens and dozens of people "involved in killing of my sister and the court only sentenced four to death", he told AFP.
"We want the court... to bring more perpetrators to justice."
- 'Quick and dirty process' -
The judges didn't wear powdered wigs and black robes?
Human Rights Watch ... During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, HRW received a pledge from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, of which George Soros is Chairman, for general support totaling $100,000,000. The grant is being paid in installments of $10,000,000 over ten years.Through June 30, 2013, HRW had received $30,000,000 towards the fulfillment of the pledge.... said it was "very concerned" over whether due process was followed in the swift trial in which many of the accused did not appear to have lawyers.
"To reach a verdict against 30 defendants on such serious charges in... days, on its face raises serious due process concerns," said Heather Barr, a senior researcher with the group on women's rights in Asia.
"This trial leaves the impression that the Afghan government wants a quick and dirty process to get this case out of the headlines and move on -- rather than real justice and a real examination of how such a terrible attack could have happened."
The verdicts on the coppers accused of "negligence of duty" will be announced on Sunday and the court also ordered security forces to arrest three other key suspects.
Farkhunda's case become a symbol of the endemic violence that women face in Afghanistan, despite reforms since the hardline Taliban regime fell in 2001
The backlash highlighted the angst of a post-Taliban generation in Afghanistan -- where nearly two-thirds of the population is under 25 -- that is often torn between conservatism and modernity as the country rebuilds after decades of war.
Last October five Afghan men were hanged over a gang rape that sparked a national outcry, even though the United Nations ...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks... and human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... groups called for President Ashraf Ghani ...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money. .. to stay the executions.
A recent UN report entitled "Justice through the eyes of Afghan women" urged the government to strengthen access to justice for women victims of violence.
Most cases of violence against women are settled through mediation, highlighting perceived deficiencies in the Afghan criminal justice system including allegations of corruption and abuse of power, the report said.
MOGADISHU -- Al Shabaab gunmen have killed the Deputy Commissioner of Mogadishu’s Wadajir district in drive-by shooting according to officials on Wednesday, Garowe Online reports.
Assailants sprayed Late Abdifatah Barre’s car with bullets in Nasteho neighborhood. Al Shabaab gunmen sped-off shortly after the drive-by shooting.
Security forces have stepped in after the killing, pressing ahead with brief search operation.
"How brief an investigation we gotta do, Muldoon?"
"Look Toody, there's a bullet-riddled body. What else do we need?"
"Right. We can wrap this up and go back to the traffic jam in Harlem."
Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group claimed responsibility for the killing.
Over the last three days, six people including sitting and former officials and soldiers have been targeted in planned assassinations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Shabaab
Summary: Something definitely happened, but in the end Sudan's mighty armed forces inevitably won, because that is ever Allan's will, donchaknow.
[Ynet] Arab media outlets quote Sudanese army as saying it intercepted an IAF drone; initial reports claimed 'foreign planes' hit targets in area, but Sudanese military denied attack, saying Air Defense systems 'shot down moving object'.
Hezbollah-affiliated television channel Al-Mayadeen and foreign media outlets quoted a message issued by the Sudanese army saying that Sudanese forces shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle north of the capital of Khartoum overnight Tuesday. Sudanese citizens reported hearing loud kabooms during the night. Officials in the Sudanese army arrived at the scene of the strike.
The Al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper reported overnight Tuesday that "foreign planes" had struck a target in Omdurman, in the capital state of Khartoum, citing Sudanese military officials described as "credible".
According to the report, which has not been officially confirmed, a military source said that "members of the Air Defense Command in Sudan hit targets, with the assumption being that the strike was carried out by a warplane in the area of Wadi Seidna in the city of Omdurman."
The Sudanese Army front man Colonel Al-Sawarmy Khaled Saad said in an interview with Arabic-language Sky News Arabia news channel on Wednesday that the army's Air Defense systems intercepted overnight Tuesday a "moving object that resembles a plane or a rocket' in the area of the city of Omdurman.
In contrast to reports in Arab media outlets, the front man denied the military facilities were targeted by a domestic or foreign source. He claimed that the Air Defense forces intercepted the object after finding it suspicious.
According to the report, bigwigs in the Sudanese army arrived at the scene of the strike but have yet to ascertain the target of the attack.
Witnesses in Omdurman said they heard kabooms near a military bases and that a number of houses were shaking. A police official said that a citizen called a local cop shoppe and reported seeing a "glowing entity in the sky".
A witness who lives near the site of the attack told the Sudan Tribune newspaper that he had seen a "flame in the sky and the house shook. It started at around 10:30 pm. I didn't hear airplanes in the area." The strike was also reported by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's Al Arabiya news network.
IAF planes reportedly struck targets in Sudan in the past. On one occasion, an Israeli plane allegedly targeted an ammunition warehouse in Khartoum.
Fighting, mainly sniper fire and wildly targeted mortar shelling in Leithi, Sabri and Garyounis, continue despite advances by the Libyan National Army. On the past three days, according to Jalaa Hospital, it has received 22 injured and one dead, all Libya army fighters. Most, include the dead man, were involved in the Leithi fighting. Other were wounded in Sabri and Garyounis.
There are claims too that the LNA has finally taken the small south Benghazi harbour at Mresa, used to supply the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council forces with arms and fresh fighters, and ship out the wounded to Misrata. A source in 309 Brigade told the Libya Herald that when the area fell, an Islamist tired to escape Mreisa with his family. Finding his way blocked, he then surrendered himself, waving a white flag, and asking that no harm should come to his family.
According to the army source, the man was a Libyan.
Otherwise the city, like Tripoli, has been quiet in the past two days, apart from random rockets continuing to fall in certain areas.
However, three people are reported wounded as a result. One has been named as Ayyoub Wanis Hamad, 23, who was hit in Buhdeim area by shrapnel in his left leg. The others are Hamza Ali Faituri, aged 13, hit by shrapnel in his right hand in Hadaiq area, and Muhamed Ali Al-Jazhawi, also 13, who suffered a bullet in the head.
[AnNahar] One policeman was killed and five others maimed in festivities with supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in a Nile Delta city, police said on Wednesday.
Clashes erupted late Tuesday when police nabbed You have the right to remain silent... a group of Morsi supporters, including 13 women, who were demonstrating in a nightime rally in a key square in Damietta, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Port Said.
Police said an officer who was hit by birdshot during the festivities died later on Tuesday. Five other coppers, including an officer, were also maimed in the fighting.
The health ministry said a total of 22 people were maimed in the festivities.
Supporters of Morsi have regularly attempted to stage rallies demanding his reinstatement, but their demonstrations have lost momentum amid a deadly government crackdown.
Hundreds have died and thousands have been incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! in the crackdown targeting Morsi's supporters since his ouster in July 2013.
Morsi was ousted by then army chief President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi after mass street protests against his sole year of divisive ...politicians call things divisive when when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive, they're principled... rule.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Arab Spring
[AnNahar] The Egyptian military Wednesday shot dead three Palestinian gunmen who infiltrated through a smuggling tunnel in the Sinai town of Rafah on the border with Gaza, security officials said.
They said the "armed Palestinians" and the military clashed in a buffer zone established along the border.
The original 0.5 km deep buffer zone, the 1 km extension, or the extension after that? I've lost track how deep the buffer zone is these days, and how deep they've discovered the hard way it needs to become.
The gunmen had infiltrated through one of the smuggling tunnels used to transport fuel and food supplies to the Gaza Strip.
Cairo accuses militants of the Palestinian movement Hamas, which controls Gaza, of using the tunnels to infiltrate Egypt and aid jihadists who launch regular attacks on security forces in the Sinai Peninsula.
The army says it has destroyed hundreds of underground tunnels, many since the ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
An Egyptian branch of the Islamic State jihadist group has staged several deadly attacks in Sinai despite stringent security measures.
The buffer zone was established after 30 soldiers were killed in a deadly attack in North Sinai last October.
Egyptian authorities have also passed a law laying down life jail sentences for the building or use of illegal tunnels.
[AnNahar] Nigerian troops have rescued 25 more women and kiddies from Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... 's northeastern stronghold in the Sambisa Forest, killing a number of holy warriors and destroying Islamist camps, the military said Wednesday.
"Seven additional snuffies camps were yesterday destroyed as more snuffies also died in the ongoing onslaught to flush them out of Sambisa forest," the defense headquarters said in a statement.
"An additional 25 women and kiddies were rescued in the process," it said.
According to the military, more than 700 women and kiddies have been saved from Islamist captivity during a weeks long assault on the notorious forest in Borno state
At least 275 have been taken for rehabilitation to hospitals and camps in Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, which neighbors Borno.
The military said soldiers in the latest operation had to evade landmines laid by the Salafist tough guys before storming the camps.
"Various weapons including Rocket Propelled Grenades, anti-aircraft guns and a number of vehicles were either captured or destroyed during the operation. Four soldiers were maimed and have evacuated for treatment," it said.
The military said troops would continue "to search the forests for terrorists, arms and hostages."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Boko Haram
#1
Hurry up - my carefully manicured hands are getting tired of holding this damned "#bringbackourgirls" sign!
Members of Yemeni tribes entered Saudi soil from Yemen’s northwestern Saada Province and took control of the military posts in Najran and Jazan regions on Monday.
Several Saudi troops were detained by the Yemeni tribesmen as well.
The US-backed Soddy warplanes launched a series of raids on the Yemeni province of Saada, killing and injuring several people.
The raids of Kitaf region in Saada killed 7 civilians, including women and children, al-Manar sources said.
In Saada also the raids inflicts damage upon the farms and the infrastructure in the region.
Other raids targeted the province of Maareb, using internationally prohibited weapons, causing massive explosions in several areas across the province.
Yemen has been since March 26 under brutal aggression by Saudi-US coalition.
Riyadh launched the attack on Yemen in a bid to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi who is a close ally to Saudi Arabia.
On April 21, Saudi Arabia declared the end of the aggression, dubbed “Decisive Strom,” and the start of another campaign called “Restoring Hope.” The Saudi-led warplanes are still conducting airstrikes on several areas across Yemen.
Thousands have been martyred and injured in the attack, with the vast majority of them are civilians.
The Yemeni army, backed by the popular committees, controlled al-Tawahi area in Aden province, expelling the terrorists from the area.
The Yemeni army and the popular committees killed one of the key commanders of Hadi's militiamen in al Tawahi.
The Saudi warplanes continued striking the various Yemeni cities, killing or wounding a number of civilians.
Yemen has been since March 26 under brutal aggression by Saudi-US coalition. On April 21, Saudi Arabia declared the end of the aggression, dubbed “Decisive Strom”. However, the Saudi-led warplanes are still conducting airstrikes on several areas across Yemen.
More than 3,500 people were martyred by the Saudi aggression, most of them are civilians. Thousands more were injured.
[AnNahar] Rebel fighters on Wednesday rubbed out the commander of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's loyalist forces in southern Yemen, a military official said.
General Ali Nasser Hadi was killed as he led forces fighting Huthi Iranian catspaws in the Tawahi district of the port city of Aden, the official told Agence La Belle France Presse.
General Hadi, who is not related to the exiled president, was appointed in March to lead loyalist forces in a southern area including the provinces of Aden, Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... and restive Lahj ... a Yemeni governate located in the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is the stomping grounds on the southern secessionist al-Harak movement Pro-Hadi forces, including military units and militia fighters, have been battling the Iran-backed rebels for weeks in Aden, the president's former stronghold.
Hadi fled Aden in late March as the Huthis advanced on the city after seizing control of large parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
A Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels including in Aden, where fighting has continued to rage.
The city's health chief Al-Khader Laswar said early Thursday that the previous 24 hours of fighting in Aden had left seven people dead and 95 others maimed -- including pro-Hadi fighters and civilians.
A military source said that coalition raids had also killed 17 rebels overnight in Aden.
[AnNahar] Shells fired from Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic... killed five people in Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... on Wednesday in a second day of cross-border bombing blamed on Shiite Houthis, civil defense authorities said.
Two civilians in a car and two passers-by were killed by a shell in the city of Najran, while 11 others were maimed, the civil defense department said in a statement carried by the SPA state news agency.
A prison security officer was also killed and another maimed when a second shell landed on their patrol in the same area, the statement said.
Nb: a commenter at the link claimed all those killed were Saudi soldiers. Judge that how you will, dear Reader, as I have no insights on the subject.
[Ynet] British police placed in durance vile You have the right to remain silent... on Wednesday seven men as part of an investigation into an alleged fraud linked to bandidosLions of Islam in Syria.
Counterterrorism officers raided six locations in the London area and detained the seven. The men, aged 21 to 38, were arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud and money-laundering.
Police said the men were being investigated for their alleged part in a large-scale fraud, in which suspects posing as coppers call vulnerable and elderly people at home to obtain their bank account details.
[AnNahar] German police jugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! four people Wednesday accused of belonging to a far-right "terror" organization that acquired explosives for attacks on Moslems and refugee homes.
The early-morning swoops in five states occurred with the country already on edge after authorities last week said they had foiled a planned Islamist attack by a German-Turkish couple armed with a pipe bomb and other weapons.
They also came amid an increase in attacks on lodgings for asylum seekers as Germany takes in record numbers of people fleeing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
The raids turned up "pyrotechnics with large explosive power"
... an interesting locution...
that Sherlocks believe were intended for use in attacks, said the federal prosecutor's office in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe.
"To what extent the suspects had set targets or dates for attacks will be the subject of further investigation," it said in a statement.
The four suspects, three men and a 22-year-old woman identified only as Denise Vanessa G., are accused of starting a "far-right terrorist organization" called Oldschool Society with a larger group of people last November.
Group emblems published on media websites feature Germanic runes popular in the neo-Nazi scene, bloody hatchets and skulls with the slogan: "One bullet is not enough".
Amateur videos posted on YouTube and attributed to Oldschool Society use racist and xenophobic slurs in appeals for new recruits to join and feature members of the group posing in neo-Nazi gear.
Two of the accused, named as 56-year-old Andreas H. and Markus W., 39, are believed to be the ringleaders, using the titles "president" and "vice president".
The fourth suspect was listed as 47-year-old Olaf O. All are German citizens, prosecutors said.
"According to the findings to date, the aim of the organization was to mount in smaller groups attacks on well-known Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... , mosques and hostels for asylum seekers in Germany," prosecutors said.
The four far-right suspects were arrested based on warrants issued Tuesday by a federal judge on charges of founding a terrorist organization.
About 250 officers from special units of police forces in five states and the federal police searched the homes of the four accused as well as those of five other suspects.
The investigation was launched based on information gleaned by agents from Germany's domestic security watchdog, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the prosecutors said.
German Sherlocks have been on high alert for violent far-right groups since it emerged in 2011 that a neo-Nazi cell calling itself National Socialist Underground (NSU) allegedly bumped off 10 people, mainly Turkish immigrants, between 2000 and 2007.
The country's intelligence services were forced to admit major failings in the probe of the murders.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told news hounds that Oldschool Society may have had the potential to become a deadly extremist force in Germany similar to the NSU.
"As worrying as this development is, we are very happy about this significant investigation success," he said.
Meanwhile violence against refugee shelters is on the rise.
Two German non-governmental organizations, Amadeu Antonio Foundation and Pro Asyl, said in a recent report that 25 such homes have been attacked since the start of the year including three with Molotov cocktailings.
Activists blame the rise in attacks in part on anti-migrant sentiment whipped up by groups such as the high-profile movement PEGIDA, "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident", which organized a series of weekly marches that drew thousands of participants and intense media coverage.
Last year, asylum requests to Germany rose 60 percent to more than 200,000, leaving many communities scrambling to house the newcomers in old schools, public buildings, mobile homes and army barracks.
Overseas Development Minister Gerd Mueller said Tuesday the number could double to reach up to 400,000 this year.
[Dawn] PESHAWAR: Four people were killed in an exchange of fire which followed an attack on spectators watching a football match between two local teams in the playground of a school in the Alizai town of Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... on Wednesday.
According to eyewitnesses, two men tried to attack around 2,000 people watching the final match between the teams of Parachinar and Alizai in the football ground of the Government High School in the town, some 37km east of Parachinar, the administrative headquarters of the tribal agency.
There were conflicting reports about the incident. Political Agent Amjad Ali Khan told newsmen in Parachinar that seeing the two men, who appeared to be wearing boom jackets, approaching the playground Levies Force personnel signalled them to stop but they opened fire. The Levies personnel fired back, killing both men on the spot.
But some residents said the attackers had started firing soon after reaching the ground and one of them went kaboom!, when primitive returned fire. One of them, Mohammad Najjb, told Dawn that the other attacker lobbed a hand-grenade when he was chased by people.
Panicked by the attack, the spectators ran for cover, the resident added.
He said Siraj Hussain, an employee of a government hospital in the town, and a person identified as Hamid Hussain died in the exchange of fire. Muharrir of the office of the political agent Hashim Khan and two other people were maimed.
Sources said that some bandidosDeath Eaters who had beat feet from Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency in the wake of the ongoing military operation there had taken refuge in parts of Kurram.
Pakistain's tribal police on Wednesday prevented two jacket wallahs from blowing themselves up inside a packed football ground in the tribal region near the Afghan border, officials said.
The incident happened in Shiite-dominated Alizai area of lower Kurram tribal region where a football match was being played between local teams.
Kurram is one of the seven autonomous tribal districts bordering Afghanistan where Islamist bully boyz rose up against the Pak state in 2004.
Pakistain began a long-awaited push to clear Death Eater bases from the North Wazoo tribal district last June after a bloody Taliban attack on Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... airport finally sank faltering peace talks.
The semi-autonomous tribal areas on the Afghan border became a hideout for Islamist snuffies of all stripes in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Pakistain has also been hit by a rising wave of sectarian violence in recent years, most of it carried out by hard boy Sunni Moslem groups targeting Shiites.
[Ynet] The US-led military coalition launched 11 air strikes in Iraq against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... hard boyz since early Tuesday, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement.
The strikes targeting the hard boyz in Iraq destroyed vehicles, fuel tanks, buildings and other structures near the cities of Bayji, Ramadi, djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... and others, the task force said on Wednesday.
The coalition conducted no strikes in Syria during the 24-hour period through Wednesday morning, the task force said.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – A source within Salahuddin province police announced on Wednesday, that 16 ISIS militants, including three suicide bombers, have been killed, and four vehicles were destroyed in the province.
The source said in an interview to IraqiNews.com, “A force from the 2nd Commandos Regiment of the federal police were able today to kill three suicide bombers and destroy a vehicle belonging to ISIS in the vicinity of the Baiji oil refinery.”
The source, who requested anonymity, added, “Another force from the federal police was able to kill 13 terrorists and destroy three vehicles near the Chinese neighborhood intersection in Salahuddin.”
(IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar – On Wednesday, a security source in Anbar province said, that 4 ISIS elements have been killed in an air strike by the international coalition in west of the province.
The source informed IraqiNews.com, “Warplanes of the international coalition have carried out an air strike on an ISIS site in the city of al-Qa’im,” pointing out that, “The aerial bombing resulted in killing 4 ISIS elements and the destruction of two vehicles carrying machine-guns.”
The city of al-Qa’im is located 350 km west of Ramadi.
(IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar – On Wednesday, a security source in Anbar province said, that 4 ISIS elements were killed as they were trying to booby-trap a house in an area in eastern Ramadi.
The source told IraqiNews.com “At noon, a residential house has exploded in the area of al-Sufiyah in eastern Ramadi, as a group of ISIS militants were trying to booby-trap the house,” adding that, “The explosion, which resulted in the destruction of the entire house, has also killed 4 of them.”
(IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar – On Wednesday, a source in Anbar province revealed, that 18 ISIS elements have been killed in an artillery strike by the army forces against ISIS sites in Fallujah.
The source informed IraqiNews.com, “Based on accurate intelligence received by the military intelligence, army forces conducted an artillery strike against ISIS shelters in Fallujah,” noting that, “The shelling resulted in killing 18 terrorists and destroying a workshop to to prepare explosives.”
The source added, “Abu Seri al-Maslawy, ISIS financial leader in Fallujah, was among the dead.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – On Wednesday an official source in the security committee of Baghdad Provincial Council revealed that 10 key ISIS leaders entered Baghdad with displaced persons, noting that the security forces managed to arrest half of them.
Mohammed al-Rubai, a member of the Baghdad Provincial Council’s Security Committee stated to IraqiNews.com that “Investigations and information on the recent bombings that hit different areas of the capital indicate that the booby-trapped vehicles belonged to ISIS,” noting that, “10 key ISIS leaders have entered the capital with the displaced persons and organized these operations.”
He also confirmed, “5 of these leaders have been detained,” asserting that, “the ongoing investigation will facilitate for us the arrest of the entire cell which had entered Baghdad.”
(IraqiNews.com) Kirkuk – On Wednesday, a security source in Kirkuk province said, that 35 ISIS fighters were killed in an aerial bombing by the international coalition in southwest of the province.
The source stated for IraqiNews.com “This afternoon, warplanes of the international coalition had carried out a number of air strikes against sites for the ISIS militants in al-Bakara airbase in the district of al-Hawija and al-Malh Airport in the outskirts of al-Fatha area, located in the district of Baiji,” pointing out that, “The air strikes resulted in killing 15 ISIS fighters and wounding 20 others.”
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad -The Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday, that 26 ISIS components, including Arabs and foreigners, have been killed in a rocket attack in the district of Fallujah.
The Ministry of Defense said in a statement received by IraqiNews.com, “Military intelligence carried out missile strikes to ISIS hideouts in Fallujah.”
“The bombing resulted in killing 26 ISIS elements, including Arabs and foreigners, in addition to the destruction of a large arms depot and two vehicles,” the Ministry added.
[Bangkok Post] Insurgents killed a couple in a hail of bullets, and then burned their bodies in Yala province. A man and his wife were driving a pickup truck in Bannang Satar district.
Bannang Satar police station superintendent Chartchai Chanasit said the vehicle was attacked on Wednesday afternoon. Police, a bomb squad and forensic experts found the burned truck with several bullet holes and the two burned corpses on the road. Investigation showed the two were killed in the ambush and their bodies dragged from the truck to be set alight before the miliatants fled.
[Bangkok Post] As a pickup truck carrying rangers on patrol in Narathiwat province was travelling through Waeng district, an improvised explosive was detonated at the side of the road. Five Thai rangers were injured, two of them seriously.
The Syrian army and its allies controlled most of the strategic hill of Khirbet Nahle which overlooks Assal al-Ward and Brital.
The Syrian army also discovered a facility for booby-trapping cars in the area.
A number of terrorist commanders were killed in Qalamoun barrens, what pushed Nusra leader to sack the group's commander in al-Jibba, amid a state of confusion.
The Syrian army and its allies also killed 7 terrorists and wounded scores of others after targeting their positions in the area.
Posted by: badanov ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
[AnNahar] A shell fired from the Syrian side of the border landed between the western Bekaa towns of al-Manara and al-Suwairi on Wednesday, amid a border clash between the Syrian army and Lion of Islams.
Leb's state-run National News Agency said the shell hit a cement plant between the two towns, causing material damage.
It also reported that a clash erupted when the Syrian army detected an gang that tried to infiltrate Syrian territory from the "al-Masnaa-al-Suwairi-Jdeidet Yabous area."
"It fell into a Syrian army ambush and a clash ensued during which flares were fired," NNA said.
LBCI television meanwhile said Syrian forces clashed with an gang "in the Eastern Mountain Range on the Lebanese-Syrian border after the group tried to sneak into Syria."
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Help is on the way. The Sternly Worded Letter to be sent sometime next month, or so.
I wouldn't wanna be ISIS when that letter arrives, Hoo boy!
Istanbul, Turkey – U.S. officials said Wednesday that the U.N. Security Council is holding a closed meeting on Thursday to discuss latest developments in Syria, especially the frequent use of chlorine gas against civilians.
The United States is seeking to put pressure on the Council’s members to urge their direct condemnation to the party which uses toxic gas in the Syrian war, as well as defining the directly responsible parties for these attacks.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution condemning the responsible party for the recent chlorine gas attacks in Syria.
The meeting is expected to include a word for the Chairman of the Chemical Weapons’ Prohibition Organization to inform the council on the latest developments regarding the latest results of the investigations about the chlorine attacks in Syria.
Several countries in the Security Council have tried in the past to accuse the Syrian regime directly of using these weapons against areas beyond its control, but Russia and China were always vowing to veto any resolution that blames Assad regime for such violations.
Posted by: badanov ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
Hasakah, Syria – On Wednesday, four civilians were killed and another injured on Wednesday after several mortar shells hit the Kurdish-majority districts of Salihiya and Mufti in the city of Hasakah, in northeastern Syria.
The shells were reportedly fired from strongholds of Islamic State (IS/ISIS) militants located south of the city.
Speaking to ARA News in Hasakah, activist Saad Khalaf said that amid a state of panic seven mortar shells fell on the Salihiya and Mufti neighborhoods, killing three civilians, including two women, and injuring another.
“Sounds of clashes were heard on the western outskirts of the city,” he added.
The human rights activist Mohammed Akram told ARA News that all the victims were from the Mufti district.
“The victims were: Sherin Ramadan Ali, 16, Shamsa Abdo, 45, Ahmad Abdul Wahab, 21, Salwa Bashir Hiddo, 45.”
In the meantime, a security member of the Asayish forces stated to ARA News that a car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the Asayish leadership in the Nasira neighborhood resulted in the death of a security member.
Kobane, Syria – Although the joint forces (YPG, FSA, and Peshmerga) were able to expel the Islamic State group (IS/ISIS) from the war-torn city of Kobane in northern Syria, the IS danger to Kobane hasn’t been entirely eliminated.
The group still holds Raqqa and Jarablus, from which it sends military reinforcements to the countryside of Kobane, hoping to regain the strategic city on the Turkish border.
According to observers, the departure of the Peshmerga forces, sent by the Iraqi Kurdistan government, may increase the potential danger by radicals to the area.
For months the Kurdish Peshmerga forces have played a remarkable role in backing their Syrian peers with heavy artillery during anti-IS operations.
Kurdish activists believe that Turkey has put pressure on Iraqi Kurdistan to pull its forces from Kobane after IS withdrew from the city. Turkey also urged allied rebels of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to participate in anti-IS operations in the Kurdish areas of northern Syria, in an attempt to guarantee dependence of the Syrian Kurdish forces on other factions and to change the prevalent Western opinion that Turkey provides support to IS and other radical groups.
Aleppo, Syria ــ On Wednesday, militant fighters of the Islamic State (IS/ISIS) gained control over the head office at the entrance of Kwairis Military Airport, east of the city of Aleppo in northern Syria, after targeting the entrance with three car bombs.
Military sources told ARA News that the clashes are still ongoing between IS insurgents and the Syrian regime army at the airport’s entrance, pointing out that the group also took over large areas of the airport after three bomb attacks.
Speaking to ARA News in Aleppo, media activist Abu Omar al-Halabi said that the regime warplanes launched more than fifty airstrikes on the vicinity of the airport with guided missiles in order to stop the jihadists from entering the Kwairis Military Airport.
On the other hand, the rebel brigades of Abu Amara for Special Tasks and Noureddin Zanki announced in a statement that their fighters targeted locations of the pro-regime forces in the northern areas of Rashideen district of Aleppo with homemade rockets, stressing that they have caused casualties in the ranks of Assad army there.
[AnNahar] At least 16 members of the Syrian Kurdish security forces were killed Wednesday in an Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group attack on a base in the northeastern province of Hasakeh, a monitor said.
"There was a large kaboom at dawn today in Hasakeh city caused by an Islamic State car kaboom on a base belonging to the Kurdish internal security forces," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britannia-based group said IS jihadist gunnies opened fire on Kurdish forces after the blast, prompting fierce festivities.
All the attackers were killed, the Observatory said, without specifying the number of IS fighters involved in the assault in the quiet provincial capital, where Kurdish and regime forces share control.
IS holds large areas of the countryside around Hasakeh and has attacked it on previous occasions.
Syrian state media reported a "terrorist boom-mobile" in Hasakeh city had left several dead and maimed, without giving a toll, and said the jihadists had also bombarded the city.
"IS bully boyz targeted neighborhoods (of Hasakeh city) with rockets and mortars," killing three people and wounding four more, the official news agency SANA said.
The Observatory said at least four people had been killed in the bombardment.
In the southern province of Quneitra, rebel fighters led by Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front chased out IS-linked Jaysh al-Jihad from areas bordering the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights.
The Observatory said the nine-day battle had left at least 78 fighters dead in total, including 46 from Al-Nusra and its allies, and 32 from Jaysh al-Jihad.
He said the coalition of Al-Nusra, Islamist factions and local rebels had retaken control of the village of Al-Qahtaniyah and surrounding areas.
Clashes and fierce shelling in the area began on April 27, after Jaysh al-Jihad ambushed local rebels, killing six.
East of the Syrian capital, the Observatory said rebels had regained control of a town and a key road leading to the besieged anti-regime bastion of Eastern Ghouta.
"Regime forces collapsed and were forced to withdraw from the area," the Observatory said.
Syria's army on Sunday seized the village of Maydaa and cut off the nearby opposition supply route leading to Eastern Ghouta, but rebels regained both two days later.
"We retook Maydaa on Tuesday, and on Wednesday we took control over other areas previously under the control of the army," said Islam Alloush, front man for Jaysh al-Islam, the largest rebel group in the area.
"We are advancing," he said.
Syria's conflict began with peaceful protests in March 2011, but has since spiraled into a multi-front war that has left more than 220,000 people dead.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
[AnNahar] The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... jihadist group launched an offensive Wednesday in Deir Ezzor city in eastern Syria in a bid to seize a major regime airport nearby, a monitor and activist said.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman said festivities and at least one suicide kaboom had rocked eastern neighborhoods of Deir Ezzor controlled by regime forces.
The jihadists also clashed with government troops on the outskirts of Deir Ezzor's military airport, but Abdel Rahman said they had yet to make any advance on the ground.
IS already controls most of Deir Ezzor province and roughly half of its bustling provincial capital, said local media activist Mohammed al-Khleif.
"The most violent festivities between IS and the regime now are in the neighborhoods of Al-Sanaa, al-Rasafa, and al-Omal in the east of the city," Khleif told AFP.
He said the areas were strategic because of their proximity to Deir Ezzor military airport and to the regime's "security quarter" in the city's west, besieged by IS for more than four months.
If IS succeeds, Deir Ezzor would be the second bustling provincial capital to fall to the group, after it named the northern city of Raqa the capital of their "caliphate."
Abdel Rahman said Wednesday's festivities had killed one regime officer and three soldiers, but he could no details on IS casualties.
Deir Ezzor lies at the crossroads of several key highways in Syria, leading east to the Iraqi border and north to Hasakeh province, which borders The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... and where IS has been locked in battle with Kurdish militia.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
05/07/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Islamic State
They're doing their best, with ISIS and Al Nusra staring hungrily across the border and the government still being run by the remaining caretakers while negotiations to form a new government continue, however lackadaisically.
[AnNahar] An army post in al-Sharawneh neighborhood in the Bekaa city of Baalbek was targeted by gunfire, the military command said in a communique issued on Wednesday.
According to the statement "two soldiers were slightly injured."
"The attack compelled the army unit to respond to the sources of fire and stage patrols in search of gunnies."
The statement pointed out that a suspect was detained and a weapon was seized from his possession as the army is pursuing the remaining suspects.
The state-run National News Agency reported that the army raided the neighborhood overnight and carried out patrols in the area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another kaboom... the army said in its statement that a unit detained in the Akkar town of Shadra on Tuesday night Ammar Ahmed al-Ahmed and Ali Hassan al-Sheikh for the possession of rifles and a quantity of ammunition.
Another unit apprehended four people for exchanging fire in al-Faour area in the Bekaa and seized from their possession two rifles and an amount of light ammunition.
The detainees and the seized possessions were referred to the competent authority.
The Lebanese security forces began implementing recently strict security measures and kicked off security plans across the country to reduce crime rates and clamp down on terrorists.
Police and army have been carrying out large-scale raids and managed to arrest scores of offenders.
[MSN] DEN HAGUE -- She was a redheaded rebel, the singer in the family, a trash-talking, tattooed 21-year-old wrapped up in a hip-hop dream of becoming Holland's Eminem. Then Betsy found Allah.
After her sudden conversion to Islam last summer, Betsy -- a name given by her family to protect her identity -- began dressing in full Muslim robes. By January, the once-agnostic Dutch woman, raised in a home where the only sign of religion was a dusty Bible on a shelf, began defending homegrown terrorists. A feud with her father over her apparent radicalization prompted her to leave home -- turning up days later, her parents and Dutch authorities now say, in Syria, where she would become the bride of an Islamic State fighter. I blame the dusty Bible.
She also became part of a growing crisis in Europe, where a surging number of young people from non-Muslim homes are flocking to the Middle East to heed the call of violent jihad. It is happening, terror experts say, as converts emerge as some of the most dangerous and fanatical adherents to radical Islam -- a fact driven home this week by Elton Simpson, a 30-year-old American convert who joined one other man in opening fire on a Garland, Tex., contest for cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.
"I don't blame Islam," said Betsy's mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her daughter. "I blame the people who made her believe in a radical way of life."
As the Islamic State's recruiting efforts have grown, concern in the West has largely centered on Europe's entrenched Muslim communities -- communities that have spawned more than 4,000 mostly young and socially isolated Muslims who have left to join Islamist militants fighting in Syria and Iraq. Once there, the new arrivals can transform into what intelligence officials call the most dangerous kind of radical: one with a Western passport.
Yet the Islamic State's allure is hardly confined to traditional Muslim homes. In fact, as many as 1 in 6 or 7 Europeans joining the self-styled caliphate are converts to Islam from non-Muslim faiths including Christianity, as well as nonreligious backgrounds. In some countries, such as France, the ratio of converts among those leaving is significantly higher: about 1 in 4, according to European intelligence officials and terrorism experts.
The swell of converts happens as the Islamic State appears to be actively wooing them, using savvy social media outreach and recruitment drives. A number of female converts who have joined the Islamic State, for instance, have turned to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to encourage others to join. Increasingly, converts are being deployed in Islamic State propaganda aimed at the West, including videos for recruitment as well as for stirring fear.
#3
Islam is not a religion.
Do not insult religion and put the deep need of human beings to find a reason for life.
This need is part of the beautiful miracle of Creation.
Islam is only a cult, and to be more specific, Islam is a cult of death.
Posted by: Ana ||
05/07/2015 11:03 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning..."
Maybe their version is: "Give me your murderous psychopaths, truly fvcked up, totally crazy, dregs of society..."
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.
On Wednesday, the Air Force will award three prestigious valor combat decorations to its three combat controllers in the battle, service officials said. Senior Airman Dustin H. Temple will receive the rare and prestigious Air Force Cross, which is second only to the Medal of Honor in honoring heroism in combat in the service. Goodman and Tech. Sgt. Matthew J. Greiner will receive the Silver Star, which is two levels below the Medal of Honor.
The second Libya Dawn warplane in six weeks has been shot down in the west apparently during a sortie against Zintan airport . . .
Kurram Agency.png)
Wazoo
(IraqiNews.com) Al-Anbar – On Wednesday, a security source in Anbar province said, that 4 ISIS elements were killed as they were trying to booby-trap a house in an area in eastern Ramadi.
[Bangkok Post] As a pickup truck carrying rangers on patrol in Narathiwat province was travelling through Waeng district, an improvised explosive was detonated at the side of the road. Five Thai rangers were injured, two of them seriously.
[AnNahar] At least 16 members of the Syrian Kurdish security forces were killed Wednesday in an 
[MSN] DEN HAGUE -- She was a redheaded rebel, the singer in the family, a trash-talking, tattooed 21-year-old wrapped up in a hip-hop dream of becoming Holland's Eminem. Then Betsy found Allah.
