MARJAH, Afghanistan — Military commanders raised the Afghan flag in the bullet-ridden main market of the Taleban's southern stronghold of Marjah on Wednesday as firefights continued to break out elsewhere in the town between holed-up militants and US and Afghan troops.
With the assault in its fifth day, an Afghan army soldier climbed to the roof of an abandoned shop and raised a large bamboo pole with Afghanistan's official green-and-red flag. A crowd including the provincial governor, a few hundred Marine and Afghan troops and handfuls of civilians — Afghan men in turbans and traditional loose tunics who were searched for weapons as they entered the bazaar — watched from below.
The market was calm during the ceremony and Marines there said they are in control of the neighborhood. But the detritus of fighting was everywhere. The back of the building over which the flag waved had been blown away. Shops were riddled with bullet holes. Grocery stores and fruit stalls had been left standing open, hastily deserted by their owners. White metal fences marked off areas that had not yet been cleared of bombs.
Afghan soldiers said they were guarding the shops to prevent looting and hoped the proprietors would soon feel safe enough to return.
The Marines and Afghan troops ‘saw sustained but less frequent insurgent activity' in Marjah on Wednesday, limited mostly to small-scale attacks, NATO said in a statement.
NATO forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Eric Tremblay told journalists in Brussels that by Wednesday most of the objectives the attack force had set itself had been achieved. He declined to specify what percentage of Marjah had been occupied, but said the allied forces were now intent on clearing the last pocket of resistance in the western part of the town.
‘Perhaps the pocket in the western side of Marjah still gives freedom of movement to the Taleban, but that is the extent of their movement,' Tremblay said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Nato forces say an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan has killed more than a dozen insurgents near the Pakistani border, reports AP.
The military coalition said Wednesday that a Nato patrol saw a group of individuals near the border on Tuesday and identified them as insurgents. The soldiers called in air support and precision-guided munitions were dropped on the location, killing more than a dozen insurgents.
Nato did not disclose the specific location of the airstrike, but it was not related the massive military offensive under way around the town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Nato forces say an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan has killed more than a dozen insurgents near the Pakistani border, reports AP.
The military coalition said Wednesday that a Nato patrol saw a group of individuals near the border on Tuesday and identified them as insurgents. The soldiers called in air support and precision-guided munitions were dropped on the location, killing more than a dozen insurgents. Nato did not disclose the specific location of the airstrike, but it was not related the massive military offensive under way around the town of Marjah in southern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] Four Afghan police were killed Tuesday as a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in Kandahar, officials said. At least five others were wounded in the explosion that occurred in Kandahar's Registan district, bordering Pakistan.
"A police patrol hit a roadside bomb in Registan," Kandahar Police Chief, Gen Sardar Mohammad Zazy, said.
The deaths take place as thousands of Afghan and NATO forces attack Taliban strongholds in Helmand province, neighbouring Kandahar. Operation Moshtarak, involving 15,000 troops, enters its fifth day in Marjah and Nad Ali districts of Helmand province.
NATO officials say that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have hampered the Helmand offensive, which has been launch to sweep out Taliban from their formidable strongholds.
Afghan Defense Minister Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak also said last week to the reporters that "the area has been heavily mined, that's why we are moving so slowly."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] A roadside bomb struck a civilian vehicle in Helmand province on Tuesday, wounding at least ten civilians. The bomb went off Tuesday evening in the volatile district of Nad Ali, where thousands of international forces have launched a major offensive to capture the key Taliban stronghold.
Nearly 15,000 foreign and Afghan troops have been fighting Taliban insurgents in their strategic bastions in the districts of Nad Ali and Marjah. Afghan officials said the operation, now in its fifth day, has been slowed down as Taliban militants have planted improvised explosive devices in the area of the operation.
Taliban have vowed to defeat the foreign and Afghan troops involved in the offensive -- the biggest push since 2001. The Afghan Interior Ministry says the Taliban cannot confront Afghan and NATO forces, therefore, they have been planting roadside bombs and have adopted a hit-and-run tactic.
At least 15 Afghan civilians have been killed during the Operation Moshtarak in Helmand province, with a dozen of them in a single incident as a US rocket mistakenly hit a house in Nad Ali.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] A terrorist killed by Algerian security services last week near Tizi-Ouzou has been identified as the treasurer of al-Qaeda's Al Ansar brigade, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Tuesday (February 16th). Guemoum Mahfoudh, 32, of Boumerdes, was previously the brigade's emir. His adjutant, Mustapha Rekik, was reportedly wounded in the same operation.
This article starring:
GUEMUM MAHFUDH
al-Qaeda in North Africa
MUSTAPHA REKIK
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Palestinian Authority police spokesman al-Dameeri played down Hamas's accusations that the two Palestinians were working for the Palestinian Authority security forces. "We have information that is painful to Hamas."
Palestinian Authority police spokesman General Adnan al-Dameeri played down Hamas's accusations that the two Palestinians who have been arrested in Dubai on suspicion of participating in the assassination of senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh were working for the Palestinian Authority security forces.
Or perhaps they were Dogmushes ...
Al-Dameeri told Asharq Al-Awsat that "we have complete information about their identities, and I say to you, they work for the security apparatus of Hamas, and one of them who holds the rank of major traveled to work in Sharjah [in the UAE], as for how he obtained this rank and why he traveled to Sharjah, it is up to Hamas to answer." General al-Dameeri also said that he "challenges them [Hamas] to declare their names" and he called on the Hamas leadership to "draw lessons from this incident."
General al-Dameeri also said "I ask them [Hamas] to reconsider and open investigations into all previous assassinations,
Yes, a purge please
and inform us how Hamas Interior Minister Said Seyam was assassinated, as well as [former] Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, and senior Hamas member Ismail Abu Shanab, and many others." He added "in all cases of the assassination of Hamas leaders, did Hamas conduct investigations [into these]? Where are the results?"
Take that you sons of camels! Or something ....
Al-Dameeri described Hamas's accusations as being "baseless" and told Asharq Al-Awsat "they have been infiltrated, and any security apparatus in the world can be breached, but they need to have the courage to admit this."
Al-Dameeri also expressed great confidence in the ability of the Dubai Police Force to reach conclusive results, and said "we have information that is painful to Hamas, and we do not want to open doors that will hurt them, and it is up to them to tell us what they know about who knew about al-Mabhouh's travel arrangements, his flight number, what hotel he would be staying in, and his room number."
The Dubai Police Force had announced that the Jordanian authorities had handed over two Palestinians suspected of providing logistical support for the assassination of al-Mabhouh into their custody. Dubai Police Chief General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said that one of these Palestinians was a military official in the Palestinian Authority.
Against this backdrop, the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas movement exchanged accusations on Tuesday night with regards to involvement in the assassination of al-Mabhouh.
Fayek al-Mabhouh, the brother of the victim, said that he was not surprised at the news that two Palestinians had been arrested on suspicion of being involved in his brother's death, and that he had said from the outset that if Israeli was responsible, it could not have been working alone. In an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Tuesday, Fayek al-Mabhouh added that "it is likely that the assassins received a green light from parties in the Palestinian Authority" and he added "we are not surprised at the news of the arrests of Palestinians in Dubai, because we know that some members of the Mohammed Dahlan group [i.e. Fatah in Gaza] who had fled the Gaza Strip were living in Dubai as businessmen and they have business interests there."
#5
The Blonde : Got : Fake Passports : Either : Romania , Bosnia , Croatia and Austria ! The Underworld Allies : Andorra , Lichenstein , France , Monaco , Czech State , Slovakia , Bosnia , Spain , Finland , Norway and Sweden !
Posted by: Moi : Nakey : Deli del dykes ||
02/18/2010 16:47 Comments ||
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Rather long, but tells the story of how the plan came together. If you don't have patience to watch the whole thing (about as long as an episode of Cheers, but has a much happier ending) then go to 4:00 of part 3 to watch Mahmoud's last minutes on Earth. Highlights:
The assassins walking through the airport and checking in to their hotels.
They didn't call each other's mobile phones, instead calling a number in Austria and communicating through there, probably securely.
Shows them going into a hotel room and coming out in disguise.
The hit squad checked out another hotel where Mahmoud was known to frequent, but he didn't stay there.
Surveillance teams at the airport and in the hotel lobby, waiting for Mahmoud to show up.
Hotel surveillance team (holding tennis rackets) gets in the elevator with Mahmoud and watches him go into his room.
Team uses sekr3t communication device to tell other team member to rent the room directly across from Mahmoud's.
Mahmoud leaving the hotel to go do whatever nefarious deeds he came to Dubai to perform, being tailed by a team member, who gives out his car's description.
The team tried to electronically change the door keycard, but failed. They got into his room some other way.
Mahmoud returning and going to his room to meet his destiny, walking past team member who is guarding the hallway.
Team makes rapid getaway, 1-2 hours after the dirty deed.
The next day at 1:30pm, the hotel staff enters to find out why he didn't check out, and the door has been latched and chained from the inside.
#2
Target had experienced previous attempts on his life yet failed to use personal security survival tools such as surveillance detection routes (SDR), personal disguises, secure safe houses, personal security detail (PSD), host-nation law enforcement or intelligence coordination, intrusion detection systems, personal firearm. Target was very sloppy.
#3
Most modern hit teams are very small and efficient, but it's been noted that in past the Israelis have tended to kind of over staff operations, in part because they do not keep permanent assignment support personnel in other countries, with the exception of the US.
The US is a training area for foreign ops, and young Israeli spies are sent here to avoid third country counterintelligence operations against them. Before 9-11, they overdid it, and so the US expelled about 200 of them, in the "art school student" spy ring.
That so many would try to fit under one umbrella shows both inexperience and a lack of confidence. But ordinarily it would have been a disaster for them, so hopefully they learned their lesson.
#4
in part because they do not keep permanent assignment support personnel in other countries >Anonymoose
Long term, clandestine presence in the ME is very difficult to maintain due to both the potential of compromise and cost. The risk of prolonged loitering rises exponentially, hence the highly successful swarm technique.
The volume of CCTV data immediately released, publicity, and hue and cry by Dubai could also support other theories not mentioned.
#6
It's to get away with it leaving no evidence. Penguin
I beg to differ. The hit team sent a 'clear and present message' back to the nest, ie, we are willing to potentially lose a dozen people to get you! Books will be written about this one I assure you.
#7
penguin what has ever went politically correct for Israel? they are damned if they do and damned if they don't
Posted by: chris ||
02/18/2010 10:39 Comments ||
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#8
Dubai made a hue and cry, and put together the brilliant forensic work. It appears. I think that they are happy with the hit. They don't really want Hamas around.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/18/2010 11:26 Comments ||
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#9
I'm not saying they shouldn't have whacked him. He deserved whacking. I'm saying his whacking wasn't worth compromising their agents and operations. If they cased the joint, they would know there were cameras. I'm also assuming that they didn't plan on erasing videos and passport machines and failed at that.
#13
Very interesting, Gromky. There are 5 more possibly connected, besides the 11 from various Euro locations, and several used US credit cards through a US bank. A message of solidarity among the world's intel orgs against Hamas/Iranian cooperation?
#14
B-Ker, Being on this guys PSD team would have been a trainwreck from the get-go. I've dealt with principals that were somewhat similar, but not this outrageous. A Greek Diplomat about drove my boys and I nuts once or twice, but he wasn't near the HVT as this Mahmoud guy. The hit team obvously had their poop in one shoe on this Op.
#15
My take on it as well Bodyguard. Message was sent.......hey, yea it's us again! We came after the bastid with a platoon and we left with the same platoon! No KIA/WIA, and the target is dead meat. Take that you muzzie losers. Who will step up to be next?
#16
"Barbara, how are we on popcorn supplies as we head into Friday's mosque sermons?
Another boxcar just got dropped off on the siding, lotp. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/18/2010 18:37 Comments ||
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#17
A big group with fake mustaches and stuff doesn't sound very slick to me. I think real pros (Mossad) could do it with just one, two or three agents. That leads me to believe it was probably an internecine hit, i.e. Jordanians, P.A., or even Hamas copying Mossad M.O. to the best of their ability, yet kind of making a mess of it.
RIYADH, Saudi-controlled Arabia - Saudi Arabia has arrested a Saudi militant suspected of links to Al Qaeda in a major oil centre, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
Ahmad Al Hadhli was arrested on Friday in the southern Saudi town of Yanbu, said Mansour Al Turki, the Interior Ministry spokesman for security affairs. Hadhli, 36, had been on a wanted list of 85 people issued by the Saudi authorities last year. Seventy-four are still on the run and most are believed to be outside the kingdom, the world's top oil exporter.
A security source said Hadhli had been monitoring oil and industrial facilities at Yanbu, site of a large oil refinery, an oil terminal and petrochemical plants. Turki declined to comment, saying Hadhli was still being questioned. "Ouch! Ooch! I'll talk! Put those down!"
Two men on the wanted list were killed in clashes with security forces in Saudi Arabia and another died in a failed suicide attack that targeted the kingdom's top anti-terrorism official, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef.
Turki declined to comment on reports that Saudi Arabia was holding Abdullah Saleh Al Eidan, an Al Qaeda field commander allegedly caught in January with documents and the contact details of some 300 people in Oman.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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JERUSALEM - Israel's foreign minister said on Wednesday the use of the identities of foreign-born Israelis by a hit squad suspected of killing a Hamas militant in Dubai did not prove the Mossad spy agency assassinated him.
'There is no reason to think that it was the Israeli Mossad, and not some other intelligence service or country up to some mischief,' Avigdor Lieberman, asked about the operation and alleged passport subterfuge, told Army Radio. Nope, nope, no reason at all. Mabhouh had lots of enemies and no friends ...
But Lieberman did not deny outright Israeli involvement in the killing of Hamas's Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel last month, saying Israel has a 'policy of ambiguity' on intelligence matters and there was no proof it was behind the assassination. "We're not even sure we knew him. Mahmoud, you say? Lots of Mahmouds out there."
Men with the same names as seven of the 11 suspects whose European passport photos were distributed by Dubai live in Israel, and those reached by reporters insisted their identities had been stolen and noted the pictures were not a match. "Look, the guy in the picture has a beard, and I ain't got no beard! Couldn't have been me!"
Six of the men are Britons who immigrated to Israel. The seventh is an American-Israeli, whose name Dubai said was on a German passport used by one of the assassins.
Some Israeli commentators on intelligence matters suggested the Mossad may have blundered -- if it carried out the attack and had hoped to keep its involvement secret -- by using the identities of people who could be traced back to Israel. Not more than, oh, five million people in Israel.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas has blamed Israel for the assassination and Dubai police have said they could not rule out Israeli involvement.
A security source in Israel said the target, Mabhouh, played a key role in smuggling Iranian-funded arms to Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip. Hamas confirmed the information. So we're not exactly going to miss him much ...
Dubai said it issued international arrest warrants for all suspects, who also include Irish and French passport holders. A government source said six other people, not yet identified, were also believed to have been involved.
As the mystery over suspects' identities deepened, Britain, France and Ireland said they believed passports from their countries used by the alleged killers were fake. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his government was investigating. Fake passports? Did you check with the Pakistanis?
A source close to the French intelligence services told Reuters a French passport which Dubai said was used in the operation had a valid number but incorrect name.
'It was a very good fake,' the source said. See, told you! Must be Pakistanis who did this. Pakistanis of Irish background ...
The Irish government said it was trying to reach three of its citizens whose passport numbers were used on the forgeries recorded in Dubai. As with the French passports, identity data on the fakes was not that of those three people, it added.
Austria's Interior Ministry said it had launched an investigation into the suspected use of at least seven mobile phones with pre-paid austrian chips by Mabhouh's killers.
In the radio interview, Lieberman shrugged off any prospect of diplomatic problems with Britain over suspicions a Mossad team had used counterfeit British passports.
'I think Britain recognises that Israel is a responsible country and that our security activity is conducted according to very clear, cautious and responsible rules of the game. Therefore we have no cause for concern,' he said. "Buzz off!"
Hit squads dispatched by Mossad have used foreign passports in the past, notably in 1997 when agents entered Jordan on Canadian passports and bungled an attempt to kill Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal with poison.
In 1987, Britain protested to Israel about what London called the misuse by Israeli authorities of forged British passports and said it received assurances steps had been taken to prevent future occurrences.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
I just don't think Mossad did it. They've never made these kind of silly mistakes before, why start now? Now, some other group hoping to pin it on Israel, like Syrian or Iranian agencies, that sounds much more plausible.
#4
But Lieberman did not deny outright Israeli involvement in the killing... saying Israel has a 'policy of ambiguity' on intelligence matters and there was no proof it was behind the assassination.
Since the Israelis are going to be blamed anyway due to the rampant irresponsibility in that region, oderint dum metuant is indeed the best policy.
#8
Israel would get blamed regardless but lots of others had motives, as he was going to a newly-proclaimed nuclear Iran to get arms. Wouldn't facial recognition software reveal a suspected agent? But then, maybe we really don't want Hamas to know anything and fear everyone.
#10
I'm pretty sure that this was an Israeli operation. Over staffed, overly complicated, all at once, with some really amateurish glitches.
KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Most of the planning should have gone for plausible deniability, making it look like an accident, and using layered deception.
For example, make it look sort of like a robbery in which the room was turned. But then stab him 40 times, especially around the genital region, to make it look like a crime of passion.
This way the police first think robbery, then change their mind and emotionally invest in thinking it was a crime of passion. Once this happens, they will be very hard to convince otherwise.
[Iran Press TV Latest] French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bernard Valero says that checks on a passport-holder identified as one of the suspects in the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Dubai revealed that the French passport was forged.
Valero added that the French Foreign Ministry "is not in position to confirm the authenticity of the French identity document that would be held by one of the suspects in this case."
Dubai authorities launched an international manhunt for 11 suspects in the murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in his hotel room on January 19, hours after he arrived in Dubai from Syria.
Police on Monday identified 11 suspects -- 10 men and one woman -- who had arrived in Dubai one day before the killing al-Mabhouh. Dubai Deputy Attorney General Issam Issa Homeidan said in a statement the warrant was issued "against all the killers of al-Mabhouh since they committed a premeditated murder on Dubai soil."
The warrant was issued based on United Arab Emirates law and treaties with the suspects' countries of origin, the statement said. "The UAE has an agreement with these nations to hand over any criminal once they are arrested."
Dubai police on Monday announced that the 11 suspects had European passports -- one from France, three from Ireland, six from Britain, and one from Germany. A French national, one Peter Elvinger, was said to be the logistical mastermind.
Last month Dubai police identified another six suspects believed to be behind the killing of al-Mabhouh. According to a report published in The New York Times, the individuals are in addition to the 11 European passport holders named earlier this week. The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has accused Israel of killing al-Mabhouh, and vowed revenge.
This article starring:
MAHMUD AL MABHUH
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Unlike three other Canadians recently convicted of terrorism, Mr. Namouh never got his hands on bomb-making material and took few concrete steps toward carrying out his plot. But Judge Claude Leblond said he is still extremely dangerous and, unlike the others convicted of terrorism in Canada, he showed no remorse and no prospect of rehabilitation. "The evidence shows his enthusiasm to participate in the project," Judge Leblond said. "In fact, he was probably destined to be the suicide bomber."
Mr. Namouh was convicted in October on four charges of taking part in terrorist activities, including the bomb plot. His group had a long list of potential targets in Europe.
Mr. Namouh, a member of the Global Islamic Media Front, was also found guilty of trying to extort Germany and Austria into withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, and other propaganda activities. In Internet jihad circles, the GIMF is known as one of the oldest and most far-reaching networks. Writing under the pseudonym "Ashraf," Mr. Namouh submitted 1,075 postings to a GIMF site.
Crown prosecutor Dominique Dudemaine said Mr. Namouh's plot was far more advanced than idle chatter. "He was about to board the plane, when he was arrested, he was in the process of obtaining the visa to leave the country. He was ready to work," Mr. Dudemaine said. Mr. Namouh engaged in hundreds of online conversations and produced videos praising extremist attacks. He distributed ransom demands for the kidnappers of a British journalist in Gaza.
In August, 2007, Mr. Namouh planned a trip to Egypt for a bomb attack in Europe. In one brief online comment, he proclaimed his expertise in explosives. His handler and alleged co-conspirator sent him $800, suggesting he buy a gun. At his sentencing hearing, Mr. Namouh said he knew nothing about guns and explosives and never had violent intent. The judge said Mr. Namouh has "no credibility."
Mr. Namouh came to Canada from Morocco after marrying a Quebec woman in 2002. He took odd jobs and was chronically short of cash. The couple split a short time later. Mr. Namouh, who was given credit for time served awaiting trial since his arrest in 2007, is also facing a deportation order.
#2
He'll have an . . . interesting . . time inside, trying to get along with the natives. Ten years of physical attacks while hearing C & W music, both mixed with the smell of sweetgrass ain't a gonna help his mental state much. Interesting, how the Will of Allan works, innit?
Fox News is interviewing a guy (former military) named Robin DeHaven who works for a glass replacement company named Binswanger. He drove to the building after seeing plane and smoke from the crash, put his ladders up to the building -- and when he saw that the people at the window were 'panicked' -- climbed into the building, and helped get five people out. "Let's roll!"
Posted by: Mike ||
02/18/2010 15:29 ||
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A small single-engine plane crashed into a seven-story office building in Austin, Texas, around 10 a.m. local time Thursday. An NTSB official told Fox News that they are investigating this as an intentional act, and said it appears the pilot set his own house on fire and then got in his plane and flew it into the building. An NTSB spokesman, however, told FoxNews.com that "we can't confirm any of that." Rumor mill is going at high speed
An Internal Revenue Service office is located inside the building. IRS Agent William Winnie said he was on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single engine plane coming towards the building, TheStatesman.com reported. "It looked like it was coming right in my window," Winnie said, according to the Web sit. Winnie said the plane veered down and smashed into the lower floors. "I didn't lose my footing, but it was enough to knock people who were sitting to the floor."
The Austin American-Statesman newspaper reported on its Web site that EMS officials have taken two patients to the hospital, and that there are several "walking wounded" at the scene. Paramedics have set up a triage center at the scene. Harry Evans, an assistant chief with the Austin Fire Department, said one person from the building was unaccounted for. "There may be other injuries, we are unsure at this time," Evans said during a news conference Thursday.
Heavy smoke could be seen coming from the building at 9420 Research Boulevard. Several local witnesses on Twitter reported seeing flames coming out of the building and lots of broken glass. Dozens of fire trucks were on scene and the building was evacuated.
Early reports that the building housed the FBI field office in Austin later turned out not to be true. An FBI spokesman told Fox News that the FBI office in Austin is near where the plane crashed, but not in the same building. There are some federal offices in the building, though authorities couldn't identify which ones.
The FBI spokesman also told Fox News that as of 10:30 a.m. local time. there was nothing to indicate that this targeted the FBI or that the crash was terrorism-related. "The building lies along a flight path," the spokesman said, so right now it looks like an "accident." I think that is their default answer
KXAN is reporting that emergency crews are on the scene, and two people are still unaccounted for, according to fire officials. The station also reported that the collision shook the entire building, and the entire front of the structure is gone. Have to wait and see, folks
UPDATE: AUSTIN, Texas — A pilot furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane into an office building that houses federal tax employees in Austin, Texas on Thursday, setting off a raging fire that sent workers fleeing as thick plumes of black smoke poured into the air.
A U.S. law official identified the pilot as Joseph Stack and said investigators were looking at an anti-government message on the Web linked to him. The Web site outlines problems with the IRS and says violence "is the only answer." I glanced at it. Looong rant, hates the IRS, his CPA, George Bush and his wife. His own wife, not Laura. I think.
Federal law enforcement officials have said they were investigating whether the pilot crashed on purpose in an effort to blow up IRS offices. The Web site featured a long note dated Thursday denouncing the government and the IRS in particular and cited the Austin man's problems with the agency. All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/18/2010 12:48 ||
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Posted by: War On Terror ||
02/18/2010 13:22 Comments ||
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#3
Joseph Andrew Stack ignited his own house and flew a single-engine plane with 50 gallons of aviation fuel into the building housing the IRS offices. While this is a domestic beef, there are 17,000 airfileds in the US with only about 450 with communication towers. Line of sight pilots can fly on clear days, without filing a flight plan. They can use radio only and choose not to even turn on a transponder, giving them a lot of freedom to just take off on a whim and can travel hundreds of miles without anyone being aware they are in the air. Wanted terrorist Adnan al Shukrijumah is a licensed pilot and pops up all over the place before disappearing. Besides all kinds of terrorist activities, there is the criminal element, with drug and arms smuggling possible without a trace. Homeland Security can't even handle the commercial flights. BTW, another United flight Denver to SF was also just diverted To Salt Lake following a bomb threat.
#4
they're telling us not to worry that everything is under control that it's domestic. I think it's too early to try to be re assuring us about anything. I heard about a plane crashing into something in California in a chat
need more info
Posted by: Jan ||
02/18/2010 13:44 Comments ||
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#5
Meet Joseph Andrew Stack:
Anti Capitalist..check
Anti Christian.. Check..
Anti Bush.. check
http://embeddedart.com/
At the end:
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
#6
Oh my - if that's legitimate Slavilet B. then this guy didn't just "have a beef with the IRS". He had a long pattern of poor choices in the face of life's challenges.
And it's all someone else's fault that his life sucked.
#7
I saw this on live TV, I'm appalled at the spin, worse than a 428 mustang burnout
*No casualties (But we haven't checked four stories yet) But there are NO CASUALTIES.
*NO REASON (But we scrambled jets anyway)
*His house is on fire, And he set it. (but we don't know his reasons)
*Had extensive "Dealings" (Their word) With the IRS. (But we don't know if the building hit was intentional)
Sounds to me the IRS was taking all he owned and he snapped, OK now they can have it all.
(Shudder)
Seems he went after the IRS Agent giving him all the problems, Apparently he'd been sitting at a certain desk and been able to retaliate, after all, you can't walk in with a gun, sooo.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/18/2010 14:29 Comments ||
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#8
That's not quite how I read his manifesto, Redneck Jim.
He tangled with the IRS on multiple occasions over the years in an attempt to interpret the tax code in ways that the courts have consistently refused to accept. He doesn't appear to acknowledge in any way that his naive reading of a few words in the code don't reflect the settled law.
Then in his last audit it turned out his wife had unreported income and he blamed the accountant for that - despite the fact that he signed the return and so did she.
But what caught my attention is when he says he moved to Austin and THEN discovered there was no consulting work there. He describes it as if that were a mysterious and unexpected situation - but never describes having done any exploration of the matter ahead of time.
Nope, it's all Someone Else's Fault.
I feel sorry for what is apparently a fairly new wife who is now left both with the tax mess and with no home ....
#9
Ah, it also appears he was part of a group that pulled a stunt intended to force the IRS to change the rules for tax exemptions for religious groups, specifically the Catholic Church. (He seems to be a bit fuzzy on the fact that Congress, not the IRS, makes the tax law.)
Reading between the lines it looks as if he and his buddies set up a fake religion and claimed all sorts of deductions as a result.
I remember those groups in the 80s. They failed. So did his, to the tune of $40k owed by him in back taxes.
Then he tried to get around the 1986 tax law that clarified when someone could file as a business (with business deductions but also higher tax requirements) and when they qualified as a temp employee.
He lost on that one too.
And the base closings in California in the 90s happened 'just like that' with no warning. Wow. I wasn't aware that the years of hearings and all the news stories about the 90s recession in the aerospace industry were suppressed by The Man. I guess I missed it because I, like many who had worked in aerospace, was busy competing in other markets with our expertise. Funny thing, that, because the market I moved to had a lot of embedded real time programming, which is what he apparently specialized in.
This guy made a long string of Fail choices, it would appear.
It couldn't have been easy to go a year without generating any income, as his rant reveals he did when he first moved to TX, or to find that you can't command what you once did as an hourly rate. It's tough in the marketplace right now and good people are hurting - no doubt about that.
But the ones who survive and manage don't blame others for their choices. They pick themselves up and one way or another find a path forward. He had a plane - he could have sold it or used it for some productive purpose. Instead he tried to kill people.
Nope, my sympathy meter seems to be stuck over on the low reading here.
"A pilot furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane Thursday into an office building in Austin, Texas, that houses federal tax employees, setting off a raging fire."
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/18/2010 15:55 Comments ||
Top||
#11
11 Dubai Murderers - Hamas Wants : Interpol Denmark , Belgium , Sweden , Poland , Germany , Estonia , United States : Texas , Hawaii , San Francisco ! Alaska ! : Juneau !, Canada : Toronto , Vancouver , Chilliwack ! , Luxembourgh , Holland , Christiania , Freelandia , Amsterdam , Malaysia , Thailand , Hong Kong , Singapore , Philiipines and Vietnam !
Posted by: Moi : Nakey : Deli del dykes ||
02/18/2010 16:34 Comments ||
Top||
#12
In a neighborhood about six miles from the crash site, a home listed as belonging to Stack was on fire earlier Thursday. Two law enforcement officials said Stack apparently set fire to his home before embarking on his suicide mission.
MyFoxAustin.com said firefighters reported that the entire house was on fire, including the fence, when they arrived on the scene.
Neighbors said they heard a loud explosion in the house Thursday morning right before it became engulfed in flames.
MyFoxAustin.com reported that a 12-year-old girl and a woman were rescued by a neighbor from the $236,000 home. The station reported that the girl is believed to be Stack's stepdaughter.
I'm guessing he was mad at his wife and 12 year old stepdaughter, too.
Note to Obumble: This is the kind of thing you take to a civilian court. Please do not confuse this situation with that of Muslim terrorists.
PAKISTAN has captured two "shadow governors" belonging to Afghanistan's Taliban movement, an Afghan official said today. The timing of the reported arrests coincides with the capture of Taliban's second-in-command Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Pakistan's Karachi by Pakistani and US agents this month.
Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad, respectively the shadow governors of the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan happened in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, the Afghan governor for Kunduz said.
"My information about their capture, which occurred nearly a week ago, is based on national intelligence sources," Mohammad Omar said.
Pakistan has yet to comment about the report on the arrest of the two men, who both reported to Baradar.
Since their ouster from power by US-backed Afghan forces in 2001, the Taliban have appointed shadow governors whose primary responsibility is organising Taliban military activities.
Washington has hailed Pakistan for the capture of Baradar, the seniormost Taliban leader to be held since the movement's ouster from power in Afghanistan more than eight years ago.
Baradar's capture coincides with the launch of a huge offensive by NATO and Afghan forces to flush the Taliban out of their biggest bastion in Helmand province, while the Afghan government is reaching out to them for possible reconciliation.
#1
It's being suggested that the Paks aren't doing this because they've suddenly come around to our side, but because they want to control the situation, i.e., handpick the people left in charge...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/18/2010 10:15 Comments ||
Top||
[Dawn] A court dismissed on Wednesday a request for the release on bail of five Americans accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting terrorist attacks.
The students, in their 20s and from the US state of Virginia, were detained in December in the central Pakistani town of Sargodha, 190 km southeast of Islamabad. They have not been formally charged but could face lengthy prison terms if found guilty.
The case of the Americans, who were arrested days after arriving in Pakistan, has raised alarm over the danger posed by militants using the Internet to evade tighter international security measures and plan attacks.
A defence lawyer for the five men, Hassan Katchela, told Reuters by telephone that an anti-terrorist judge in Sargodha turned down the plea for their release on bail.
"We were not expecting the dismissal, as despite our repeated demands for evidence and charges, the prosecutors failed to provide anything substantial against them," he said. "Now we will approach a higher court."
A panel of defence lawyers for the men said the charges brought against their clients were "vague" and requested an anti-terrorist court on Tuesday to order their release on bail.
Police have said emails showed they contacted militants who had planned to use them for attacks in Pakistan, a front-line state in the US-led war against militancy.
The men -- two of them of Pakistani origin, one of Egyptian, one of Yemeni and one of Eritrean origin -- told the court earlier they only wanted to provide fellow Muslims in Afghanistan with medical and financial help. They have accused the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Pakistani police of torturing them and trying to frame them. Pakistani authorities have denied the accusations of mistreatment.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
[Dawn] A previously unknown group that said it had splintered from a larger Pakistan-based outfit has claimed responsibility for a weekend attack in India, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The Hindu, a respected Indian newspaper, said it had been contacted by someone claiming to be a spokesman for a group called Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi which said it had carried out the bombing
Police said Wednesday the toll from the blast at the German Bakery restaurant in the western city of Pune had risen to 11, with the number of injured rising to 60 after new victims were discovered in local hospitals. The latest fatality was a 20-year-old engineering student who died from burns at a hospital in Pune on Tuesday night.
The Hindu said an individual codenamed Abu Jindal rang the paper's Islamabad correspondent and said the attack was in response to India's "refusal" to discuss the disputed region of Kashmir, claimed by Pakistan and India, in peace talks due to resume this month.
The caller said Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi had split from the larger Lashkar-e-Taiba because the latter "took its orders from Pakistan's intelligence agency", The Hindu reported. "And we take our orders from, um, someone else!"
The banned Lashkar-e-Taiba is blamed by India for the attacks on Mumbai in November 2008 which killed 166 people and led to a suspension of dialogue between India and Pakistan.
The Pune bombing was the first major attack on Indian soil since the 2008 Mumbai carnage and four men have since been detained by Indian police for questioning.
The Hindu said the call to its correspondent came from an area with a telephone code common to the restive Waziristan tribal area, a stronghold for militants, and the neighbouring volatile Northwest Frontier Province. The caller said he was ringing from Miramshah in North Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
#1
The caller said Lashkar-e-Taiba al-Almi had split from the larger Lashkar-e-Taiba
And if you believe that, they have a large marble building in Agra that they are willing to sell to you.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/18/2010 16:24 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Six militants were killed as unknown gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the Ali Sherzai area of central Kurram Agency on Wednesday. Witnesses revealed that the vehicle was completely destroyed.
According to official sources, the deceased belong to Mullah Toofan's faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban.
Central Kurram is the main strong hold of Mullah Toofan and his group of crazed Taliban fighters. Their leader, Mullah Toofan is one of the people who have been considered as a replacement for the TTP's leader, Baitullah Mehsud.
This article starring:
Mullah Toofan
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[2 views]
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, said to be the Taliban second-in-command, whose removal could deal a heavy blow to the militia's eight-year war in Afghanistan.
The military released a short statement confirming Baradar had been arrested, but made no mention of U.S. reports that he was captured several days ago in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi in a joint operation with U.S. spies. "At the conclusion of detailed identification procedure, it has been confirmed that one of the persons arrested happens to be Mullah Baradar," said military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas. "Place of arrest and operational details cannot be released due to security reasons," he added. Speaking to AFP, Abbas declined to say more.
Analysts have said his arrest could signal a watershed in Washington's bid to persuade Pakistan to move aggressively against Islamist militants operating on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border.
Confirmation of Baradar's detention came just hours before U.S. President Barack Obama was to meet his war cabinet to discuss Afghanistan and a major offensive on a key Taliban bastion that has run into stiff resistance. Obama was to meet in the White House's Situation Room with Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, and top officials. General Stanley McChrystal, the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan, and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador to Kabul, were to join the meeting via video conference, the White House said. Fox is reporting that a Taliban shadow provincial governor has been nabbed in Faisalabad. No details on that one yet.
This article starring:
MULLAH ABDUL GHANI BARADAR
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Palestinian Authority police spokesman General Adnan al-Dameeri played down Hamas's accusations that the two Palestinians who have been arrested in Dubai on suspicion of participating in the assassination of senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh were working for the Palestinian Authority security forces.
Al-Dameeri told Asharq Al-Awsat that "we have complete information about their identities, and I say to you, they work for the security apparatus of Hamas, and one of them who holds the rank of major traveled to work in Sharjah [in the UAE], as for how he obtained this rank and why he traveled to Sharjah, it is up to Hamas to answer." General al-Dameeri also said that he "challenges them [Hamas] to declare their names" and he called on the Hamas leadership to "draw lessons from this incident."
General al-Dameeri also said "I ask them [Hamas] to reconsider and open investigations into all previous assassinations, and inform us how Hamas Interior Minister Said Seyam was assassinated, as well as [former] Hamas leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi, and senior Hamas member Ismail Abu Shanab, and many others." He added "in all cases of the assassination of Hamas leaders, did Hamas conduct investigations [into these]? Where are the results?"
Al-Dameeri described Hamas's accusations as being "baseless" and told Asharq Al-Awsat "they have been infiltrated, and any security apparatus in the world can be breached, but they need to have the courage to admit this."
Al-Dameeri also expressed great confidence in the ability of the Dubai Police Force to reach conclusive results, and said "we have information that is painful to Hamas, and we do not want to open doors that will hurt them, and it is up to them to tell us what they know about who knew about al-Mabhouh's travel arrangements, his flight number, what hotel he would be staying in, and his room number."
The Dubai Police Force had announced that the Jordanian authorities had handed over two Palestinians suspected of providing logistical support for the assassination of al-Mabhouh into their custody. Dubai Police Chief General Dahi Khalfan Tamim said that one of these Palestinians was a military official in the Palestinian Authority.
Against this backdrop, the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas movement exchanged accusations on Tuesday night with regards to involvement in the assassination of al-Mabhouh.
Fayek al-Mabhouh, the brother of the victim, said that he was not surprised at the news that two Palestinians had been arrested on suspicion of being involved in his brother's death, and that he had said from the outset that if Israeli was responsible, it could not have been working alone. In an interview with Israeli Army Radio on Tuesday, Fayek al-Mabhouh added that "it is likely that the assassins received a green light from parties in the Palestinian Authority" and he added "we are not surprised at the news of the arrests of Palestinians in Dubai, because we know that some members of the Mohammed Dahlan group [i.e. Fatah in Gaza] who had fled the Gaza Strip were living in Dubai as businessmen and they have business interests there."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
it's possible that the two paleos were
1. Hamas officials,
2. in the pay of the Mossad
3. also taking money from Fatah
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/18/2010 8:24 Comments ||
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#2
Hamas? Yes, yes, yes of course. Currently throwing down pints of Castle and laughing their arses off in their new Pemba Beach vilas.
Thailand's army chief vowed Thursday that troops would continue using a British-made bomb scanner that failed a series of tests, as a fresh blast in the troubled south wounded 13 people.
The government and army have both faced criticism since Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Tuesday that tests showed the scanners, on which Thailand has spent 21 million dollars, performed worse than sniffer dogs.
Human Rights Watch issued a statement Thursday calling on the government to stop arresting people based on evidence gathered using the GT200 wand, made by British firm ATSC. But army chief General Anupong Paojinda told reporters that the machines, which are widely used in the insurgency-hit, Muslim-majority south, would stay in use and had proved successful on 300 occasions.
"What the army is trying to tell the public as well as the media is that low-ranking soldiers in the south have used it and have had success in protecting people's lives," Aung he told press conference. "I respect the scientific tests but at this stage there is no banning order by the government so the army will continue to use it," he said. The detectors have already been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Anupong's comments came hours after a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded in the southern town of Pattani, which has been hit by frequent attacks since a separatist insurgency broke out in the south in 2004. The blast wounded 13 people, two critically, a hospital worker said.
In nearby Yala province a 26 year old man was shot dead by terrorists suspected insurgents late Wednesday, police said.
I hate when that happens... [Straits Times] MUSLIM rebels waging a 32-year war in the southern Philippines on Wednesday said a peace deal with President Gloria Arroyo's administration was unlikely, after rejecting its latest offer.
The government's proposal made when talks in Malaysia resumed last month, was 'unacceptable", the negotiator for the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal, told AFP. 'There was nothing in their draft comprehensive compact agreement that is worth considering at this stage,' Iqbal said. In Manila's proposal, the government offered to share power in areas such as tax collection and control of natural resources the MILF considers as its 'ancestral domain' on the southern island of Mindanao.
Iqbal, however, dismissed the proposal as a resurrection of two previous offers under which 'government would continue to rule the lives of the Muslims'. That means they want to be able to chop people's heads off.
'What we want is a real state and sub-state relationship where we can have real governance and control over our lives,' Iqbal said. 'We don't want to be a mere token administrative arm for the region.'
He said that MILF and government negotiators were trying to break the deadlock, but he said any deal before Arroyo ended her term as president on June 30 was unlikely. 'The prospects for a final accord before Arroyo steps down is not good,' Iqbal said.
However chief government negotiator Annabelle Abaya said she was still hopeful of sealing an agreement during Arroyo's term, and that talks were due to resume in March. She said the whole idea behind the exchange of draft proposals was for each side to see how they could bridge their differences before the talks begin. Arroyo signed a ceasefire with the MILF in 2003 to pave the way for peace talks to end an insurgency that began in 1978 and has killed over 150,000 people.
This article starring:
MOHAGHER IQBAL
Moro Islamic Liberation Front
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Iran says five foreigners were arrested during the February 11 rallies marking the 31st anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.
Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi told the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) on Wednesday that three of the foreigners including a French national, a Russian and a Japanese reporter, were released after the charges against them were dropped.
Another Afghan national who is still in detention was arrested for taking part in illegal gatherings on February 11 while the Russian in custody was charged with illegal entry into the country.
According to Dolatabadi, their cases have been handed to the Judiciary, ISNA reported.
Millions of people, some carrying Iranian flags, pictures of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and banners in support of the revolution, took to the streets on Thursday to celebrate overthrowing the US-backed Pahlavi monarchy.
A few hundred of the supporters of the defeated presidential candidates took advantage of the occasion to stage rallies in the capital and gathered in a western Tehran district. Police, however, stepped up security in the area to prevent possible disturbances.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Lebanese military investigative judge charged 11 suspected al-Qaeda militants on Wednesday with planning to commit crimes against Lebanese authorities and spying on the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.
Judge Samih al-Hajj indicted the group of Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians, six of whom have fled Lebanon and the rest have been detained, on charges that carry a death penalty. The indictment said the men had "formed an armed gang with the purpose of committing crimes against people ... undermining state authority and prestige, spying on the military and U.N. peacekeepers, and forging passports".
Among those charged -- several of them in absentia -- are Abdul Rahman Awad and Abdul Ghani Jawhar, two members of the al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam accused of a deadly 2008 bus bombing in the northern city of Tripoli. Fatah al-Islam fought deadly battles against the Lebanese army in the summer of 2007 in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared near Tripoli. The fighting killed 400 people, including 168 soldiers, and displaced some 30,000 refugees from the camp, which was leveled in the fighting won by the Lebanese army.
Six peacekeepers of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UIFIL) were killed by a bombing in south Lebanon in June 2007, while the Nahr al-Bared clashes raged. Lebanese officials at the time pointed a finger of blame at Fatah al-Islam.
There have been widespread fears since the Nahr al-Bared battle that the group has switched its base to the highly volatile Palestinian camp of Ain al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon. Lebanese officials suspect that Awad, who is dubbed the "prince of Fatah al-Islam," is holed up in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian camps.
This article starring:
ABDUL GHANI JAWHAR
Fatah al-Islam
ABDUL RAHMAN AWAD
Fatah al-Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
02/18/2010 00:00 ||
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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] Nato forces say an airstrike in eastern Afghanistan has killed more than a dozen insurgents near the Pakistani border, reports AP.
[Maghrebia] A terrorist killed by Algerian security services last week near Tizi-Ouzou has been identified as the treasurer of al-Qaeda's Al Ansar brigade, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Tuesday (February 16th). 
RIYADH, Saudi-controlled Arabia - Saudi Arabia has arrested a Saudi militant suspected of links to Al Qaeda in a major oil centre, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.
JERUSALEM - Israel's foreign minister said on Wednesday the use of the identities of foreign-born Israelis by a hit squad suspected of killing a Hamas militant in Dubai did not prove the Mossad spy agency assassinated him.
[Iran Press TV Latest] French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bernard Valero says that checks on a passport-holder identified as one of the suspects in the assassination of a senior Hamas official in Dubai revealed that the French passport was forged. 
An Islamic extremist from small-town Quebec who schemed to set off bombs abroad has received the toughest sentence possible for a terrorist convicted under Canadian law. Said Namouh, 37, who plotted over the Internet from his basement apartment in Maskinongé, Que., was handed a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years.
[Dawn] Six militants were killed as unknown gunmen opened fire on their vehicle in the Ali Sherzai area of central Kurram Agency on Wednesday. Witnesses revealed that the vehicle was completely destroyed.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistan on Wednesday confirmed the arrest of 
[Asharq al-Aswat] Palestinian Authority police spokesman General Adnan al-Dameeri played down Hamas's accusations that the two Palestinians who have been arrested in Dubai on suspicion of participating in the assassination of senior Hamas member Mahmoud al-Mabhouh were working for the Palestinian Authority security forces.
[Straits Times] MUSLIM rebels waging a 32-year war in the southern Philippines on Wednesday said a peace deal with President Gloria Arroyo's administration was unlikely, after rejecting its latest offer.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Lebanese military investigative judge charged 11 suspected al-Qaeda militants on Wednesday with planning to commit crimes against Lebanese authorities and spying on the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.
