Merry Christmas to all the good people on Rantburg, and my deepest prayers for all the good men and women who keep us safe.
Merry Christmas to the good editors: to Fred for allowing me to make a fool of myself help out, and to Emily, Steve and Dan for all sorts of insights and good humor. And to Fred again for demonstating to me, again and again, the value of the perfect one-liner.
What Steve said, plus my favorite quote from a carrier group as they left port at Christmastime 2002, bound for the Gulf of Rumsfeld Persian Gulf: "Peace on Earth to men of good will. All others, stand by."
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Merry Christmas, Fred - may you live long and prosper! You're the best Sheriff (and programmer & host & wily spook & fine example of a Free Man) a Burg could dream of! Thank you for providing such a palace of ideas and free expression - I am so amazingly lucky to have stumbled upon it - and, better yet, allowed to stay.
Merry Christmas, Mr Muck4doo - your Christmas post is terrific and touching - you're among family and, although you have your own blog, RB is your home.
And a hearty Merry Christmas to everyone who comes to the Burg - an extraordinary community in the true sense of the word - your tolerance is greatly appreciated -- your insights and honesty even moreso.
#7
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all Rantburgers.
To say that this site was instrumental in keeping me sane after 9/11 is an understatement. I've learnt heaps from being here, and long may it continue.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
12/25/2004 7:13 Comments ||
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Merry Christmas, and Fred, thanks for allowing us to actually say "Merry Christmas" on your site! I pray everyone has a GREAT Christmas and an even better New Year! Like Tony (UK), this site has kept me sane after 9/11 and I've learned a TON here! Keep up the great work and postings!
Posted by: BA ||
12/25/2004 9:25 Comments ||
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I have also, stumbled on to this site. Merry Christmas to everyone at RB, including you both, Aris and Mike Sylvester (say toodles to the EU and UN for me, NOT). Looking forward to slinging many more argumentative rants towards you both.
But, no matter how bad the disagreements, I want EVERYONE to be careful and stay safe, especially during the holidays. Thank you Steve and Fred. I also, want to thank Fox News for having the courage to mention the name Jesus, all over the place, during the holidays. After all, "Jesus is the Reason" for Christmas.
#18
I'm going to hoist a holiday beverage (well ok...a whole bunch of them) in honor of Fred and the moderator crew and all the great contributors (and even some of the not so great ones) here at Rantburg.
#19
Merry Christmas one and all. Santa was kind enough to drop off wifi. Now I can take Rantburg to bed!
Ok bad image. Now all I have figure out is to replace the damn dialup connection.
Posted by: john ||
12/25/2004 14:22 Comments ||
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Merry Christmas everybody ! Thank God for this site. May all your days be easy and pleasant, and your plans fulfilled.
I'll be off in a little while for vol. rescue squad duty. Normally, I do Christmas morning so that crew can have off (I don't have kids), but since tonight is my regular duty night, I asked the chief to get someone else this year. Guess I'll be back to doing it next year.
We're getting together early at Main Base for a pot-luck dinner. Gary (the chief; this is his regular night, too) is bringing ham biscuits and sodas; I'm bringing a quiche (bacon on the side so our Muslim crew member can eat it too), corn pudding and a mince pie (thank you, Mrs. Smith!). Don't know what the others are bringing, but I'm pretty sure we'll have too much food, as usual. :-D (I doubt the Sunday day crew will have to go out for lunch!)
Wish me luck. On past Christmases, the action came on Christmas night, as mama and "daddy" followed the fine Christmas tradition of getting likkered up while the kids drove them nuts (it barely got up to freezing today, so most kids have been inside most of the day). By the evening, the domestics had started, along with the occasional stabbing and/or shooting. But I was home by then, listening on the scanner.
I expect tonight will be less boring that most of my Christmas morning runs have been. Or else I'll get a good night's sleep! :-D
Ya'll have a good rest of Christmas, and stay safe.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/25/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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I have to thank Tony Snow for being "caught" in the blogosphere. He mentioned your site in his talk show just after the election.
I have a lovely time reading all the comments and I particularly like the biting style of .com.
#25
Merry Christmas to all from an avid reader (and occasional commenter). Thanks to Fred for putting my favorite site on the web, and to all the regulars for making it what it is.
#27
Merry Christmas to all RB'ers. Thanks Fred for such a wonderful forum. Thanks most of all to our soldiers and their families. The best Christmas present I got today is a green bracelet that says "Support Our Troops".
#28
I am profoundly thankful for Fred and all the Rantburg staff who keep this place running. Just the opportunity of dispensing with politically correct hogwash makes it a genuine pleasure to interact at this site. The outstanding freedom of speech enjoyed here and the jaundiced eye turned towards all authoritarianism make this place an oasis of sanity in the modern world's whirlpool of glurge and wishful thinking.
Again, thank you, Fred. Rantburg is a sterling example of American liberty and technology put to good use.
#29
I'd just like to second all the great comments above. This is the best site I know of for WOT news and commentary. I know Fred & the mods & the 'regulars' have devoted a lot of time and effort to keep it that way. So many thanks to you all and have a very Merry Christmas!
A Yemeni Islamist told a court on Saturday that he and other militants behind the bombing of a French supertanker had close ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "(We) were very close to Sheikh Osama bin Laden," said Fawaz al-Rabeie, a leader of the group of 15 who are appealing their sentences for the bombing of the supertanker Limburg and other charges. "We had given our pledge to Sheikh Osama to kill Americans," said Rabeie in his final statement to the appeals court in the clearest admission yet of the group's ties to bin Laden.
A Yemeni court in August jailed five of the men to 10 years for bombing the Limburg, and sentenced to death another who plotted with them to kill the US ambassador to Sanaa. Another nine were jailed for the assassination conspiracy and for plotting to attack Western embassies. Rabeie, who lived in Afghanistan like several other group members, did not give details of any contacts with bin Laden.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/25/2004 4:32:15 PM ||
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we done it and we're proud..er...uh...sad... if that get's us off
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/25/2004 21:03 Comments ||
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A Yemeni Islamist told a court on Saturday that he and other militants behind the bombing of a French supertanker had close ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
I'm still trying to grasp the islamic looney logic thought process required to think that this will help his defence?
Posted by: ed ||
12/25/2004 23:34 Comments ||
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SUNGAI KOLOK: A bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle killed two people and wounded five on Friday outside a bank in Thailand's largely Muslim south, where authorities fear militants will step up attacks in the new year. The bomb shattered windows up to the third floor of the Siam Commercial Bank branch in Sungai Kolok, a tourist town best known for a strip of bars and brothels that lure tourists from neighbouring Malaysia. "It was the work of people bent on creating unrest. They stashed the bomb in a motorcycle and triggered it," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters in Bangkok as officials said 2,000 police would be sent south after Jan. 1. Police said they believed the bomber was killed by the blast around 9 a.m near the bank's automated teller machine, although there was speculation it was triggered by mobile phone.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 1:06:18 AM ||
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Pakistani intelligence agents have arrested two Afghan men suspected of being members of the al Qaeda terrorist network, intelligence sources told CNN. Wahid Khan and Shamshad Khan were arrested in a raid late Friday. Agents recovered 100,000 Pakistani rupees ($1,700), two laptops and several weapons. Late Thursday, Lahore police arrested three other suspected al Qaeda members following the discovery of a weapons cache in a three-wheeled taxi. According to police, the men were to hand over the weapons to terrorists. Found in the cache were a rocket launcher with rockets, 52 grenades and munitions for an anti-aircraft gun. Police also recovered 110 pounds (50 kg) of heroin. The three men were arrested in what police called a routine check of public transport.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/25/2004 4:31:04 PM ||
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Late Thursday, Lahore police arrested three other suspected al Qaeda members following the discovery of a weapons cache in a three-wheeled taxi. According to police, the men were to hand over the weapons to terrorists. Found in the cache were a rocket launcher with rockets, 52 grenades and munitions for an anti-aircraft gun. Police also recovered 110 pounds (50 kg) of heroin.
The taxi's bottomed-out suspension springs were a dead give-away.
Iraqi security and medical sources said that four Iraqis including a six year old child were killed and other 11, including two of the national guards were injured in various incidents took place in the north of Baghdad. One Iraqi was killed and other four injured in armed confrontations between gunmen rejecting foreign presence in Iraq and the Iraqi national guards in al-Dalou'eya city to the north of Baghdad. Sheikh Muwaffaq Muzafar al-Douri, member of the Muslim scholars commission was killed by the fire of one American soldier while they were breaking into his house in al-Amereyah quarters to the west of Baghdad. The incident took place before he was to head to perform Friday's sermon in Abi Baker al-Saddiq mosque in al-Radwaneyah area to the south of the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 5:37:12 PM ||
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When US troops stormed the rebel-held city of Fallujah last month, they uncovered photos of senior Syrian officials that have further strained the already tense relations between Syria and Iraq, according to the Iraqi ambassador to Syria. Several captured insurgents were found in possession of the photographs, confirmation, according to Iraqi officials, that some elements in the Syrian regime - perhaps acting independently - are involved in Iraq's bloody insurgency. "Prime Minister Iyad Allawi wrote a letter to the Syrians saying he had the pictures but was not going to release them despite being under pressure from the Americans to do so," says Hassan Allawi, Iraq's newly appointed ambassador to Damascus. The ambassador said that the photographs were found in the possession of Moayed Ahmed Yasseen, also known as Abu Ahmed. He is the leader of the Jaish Mohammed group, which is composed of former Baathist intelligence personnel. One picture showed Mr. Yasseen standing beside a senior Syrian official, the ambassador said. He would not identify on the record the Syrian officials in the photos.
US Marines in Fallujah released a report on Nov. 20 that revealed they had discovered a hand-held Global Positioning System receiver with waypoints originating in western Syria and the names of four Syrian foreign fighters contained in a ledger. The evidence has triggered renewed charges from US and Iraqi officials that Syria is knowingly providing assistance to several former Iraqi Baathists who are believed to be running the insurgency from Damascus.
US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage warned Syria Wednesday that Washington was prepared to impose new sanctions if it failed to clamp down on fugitive Iraqi officials. Last week, Gen. George W. Casey, the commander of US forces in Iraq, said that the exiled Baathists had formed a group called the New Regional Command and were running the insurgency from Syria. The Syrians, he said, "are not going after the big fish [or senior Baathists], ... the people that we're interested in." Ambassador Allawi says that the "real danger" to the Syrian government is not pressure from the US and Iraq, but from the reformed Iraqi Baathist network in Syria. "There is an Iraqi Baathist invasion of Syria. It's overwhelming," he says. "They stole gold and robbed banks and came here. They have enough funds to keep fighting for 30 years."
Continued on Page 49
Two men the U.S. says are key figures in Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist network are in U.S. custody following a sweep of Ramadi, Iraq, U.S. military sources revealed in a statement Saturday. Soldiers of the Marine Expeditionary Force captured Saleh Arugayan Kahlil (Mahalawi), also known as Abu Ubaydah, on December 8 and caught Bassim Mohammad Hazeem, also known as Abu Khattab, on December 12, the release states. According to the statement, the two men were cell leaders of the "Harun terrorist network," an al-Zarqawi-affiliated group operating in Ramadi and western al Anbar province. "This group is responsible for intimidating, attacking and murdering innocent Iraqi civilians, Iraqi police and security forces and business and political leaders throughout the Anbar province," it read. The U.S. military blames the Harun terrorist network for kidnapping and killing 11 Iraqi National Guardsmen during the last several months and carrying out several lethal bombing attacks. The terrorist cell also is believed to have smuggled foreign terrorists into Iraq, in an effort "to destabilize the region and prevent economic growth in Iraq," according to the statement. The soldiers who captured the men were attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Marine Division of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has returned from a surprise visit to Iraq where he visited troops on Friday in Tikrit, Mosul, Falluja and Baghdad. On the day of his visit, a fuel truck exploded in a suicide bombing in the affluent al-Mansour neighborhood, a police official said. Rumsfeld was in Baghdad for part of his one-day Iraq trip but was believed to have left the country before the explosion. Rumsfeld did not go to the al-Mansour district, which has been the site of previous attacks and abductions of Americans and other foreigners. The blast killed at least nine people, wounded 20 others and set six buildings on fire, according to hospital officials. Fifteen people, including women and children, were in critical condition, and many had suffered severe burns, Yarmouk Hospital officials said. Two Sudanese guards sustained wounds in the attack. After the blast, police said they were on the lookout for a possible second fuel truck and a BMW that may have been associated with the attack. The target of the bombing was not clear. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The blast occurred close to the Sudanese, Libyan and Jordanian embassies. The area also is home to many prominent Iraqi politicians, including dissident Ahmed Chalabi, a candidate in the January 30 presidential election, and Adnan Pachachi, a leading Sunni politician.
A car bomb, apparently targeted at a U.S. military convoy, exploded Saturday on a road north of Najaf, killing at least three civilians and wounded two others, according to Najaf Police Chief Ghalib Al-Jazairi. Witnesses told police the car was a white 1982 Toyota Landcruiser with two men inside, Al-Jazairi said. Kahraman Sadikoglu, kidnapped owner of a company contracted to remove sunken ships from an Iraqi port, appeared on a videotape aired Saturday by a Turkish television channel. Listeners can hear a voice ordering Sadikoglu to order his company out of the country. Abductors nabbed Sadikoglu last week, but it remains unknown who holds him captive.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/25/2004 3:28:35 PM ||
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Israeli occupation forces killed a senior member of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, Palestinian and Israeli sources said on Saturday. Palestinian hospital officials and security sources identified the victim as Thaer Abu Kamal. They said that Abu Kamal, 26, was the senior aide to Zakaria Zubeidi, the leader of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin. Abu Kamal had replaced Mahmoud Abu Khalifa, who was assassinated by Israeli troops in September.
They'll have a new vacancy announcement coming out soon. I'm sure resumes will come flooding in...
Witnesses said that Israeli soldiers surrounded the building where Abu Kamal was hiding, and that they bulldozed the house when he refused to come out. They added that they later found Abu Kamal's body buried in the rubble. An Israeli army source confirmed that the forces destroyed the building during a search operation to capture a wanted Palestinian fighter in Jenin. "The troops called for everyone to come out of the house but the wanted operative remained inside. As it was feared that he might be armed, the house was then bulldozed."
"Okay, Moshe! Drop the house on him!"
The army source added that they believe the fighter was then crushed to death as the building collapsed. Witnesses and security sources noted that there had been no exchange of gunfire before the bulldozers destroyed the house.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 3:40:00 PM ||
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⢠A car bomb hit a U.S. convoy in the southern town of Khan Al Nus, between the Shiite cities of Najaf and Karbala, killing at least three Iraqis and wounding two others.
⢠Rebels assassinated a professor of medicine at Baghdad University, identified as Hassan al-Rubaiei, in a roadside attack in Haifa street, a main road in Baghdad.
⢠Police in Najaf said that they captured a "terror cell" responsible for last week's deadly explosion in the Shiite Iraqi city of Najaf that killed at least 50 people.
⢠A roadside bomb exploded near the vehicle of the governor of eastern Diyala province, injuring four of his bodyguards, officials said. Governor Abdullah Rashid al-Jabouri was not hurt in the explosion which took place in the town of Khan Bani Saad, between Baqouba and Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 3:27:28 PM ||
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More residents returned to their destroyed homes in Fallujah on Saturday. Many of those who returned were shocked and angry. Some of them complained of the tough security measures imposed by the Iraqi government and U.S. authorities on the returning citizens. "Every two hours, they are letting one car pass through the checkpoint," complained a Fallujah resident who names himself only as Hassan.
I wouldn't let any cars through the checkpoint. They're just going to explode.
"And there are so many checkpoints and measures before we can get into the city, such as sniffing dogs and mirrors being put under our cars."
My heart bleeds. So does your neighbor, anus.
A Marine statement said that a total of 1,404 refugees returned to their homes in the Andalus district of Fallujah on Thursday and Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 3:25:31 PM ||
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"And there are so many checkpoints and measures before we can get into the city, such as sniffing dogs and mirrors being put under our cars."
soundn jus like em nother day at em airport to me.
#2
"Every two hours, they are letting one car pass through the checkpoint," complained a Fallujah resident who names himself only as Hassan.
Let's hope they are tracking each arriving vehicle to its final destination and address. It's time to get a fix on every single citizen that inhabits Fallujah. We need to know who rightfully belongs there and who needs killin'.
The U.S. army announced on Saturday that it arrested two key leaders of a group claiming links to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. The military said in a statement that the two men "were cell leaders for a local Zarqawi-affiliated terrorist group that is operating" in the Al Anbar province, which includes the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. The statement added that the group "kidnapped and executed 11 Iraqi National Guardsmen" and that it was responsible for a number of car explosions and other attacks in the Ramadi area. It also said that the cell "smuggled foreign terrorists into the country."
The statement identified the men as Saleh Arugayan Khalil, also known as Abu Obaida, and Bassem Mohammad Hazim, also known as Abu Khattab. It said that they were arrested on Dec. 8 and Dec. 12 during search operations in the western Anbar province. "Many foreign fighters were also detained," it said, adding that the "detainees have provided information regarding the involvement of other individuals who are actively recruiting and smuggling foreign terrorists."
U.S. and Iraqi officials say that foreign rebels led by Jordanian-born Al Zarqawi are responsible for many of the bombings, killings and kidnappings. They also accuse supporters of the toppled Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, of aiding the resistance. On the other hand, many Iraqis believe that the fighters are just local citizens who oppose the presence of foreign forces in their country.
That's the guys who voted 100 percent for Sammy in the last pre-war "election."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 3:22:14 PM ||
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RAMALLAH: Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian militants in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm on Friday, medics said. Israeli-Palestinian violence has increased after a brief lull following Yasser Arafat's death last month when new hopes were raised for peace in the Middle East. The Israeli army said troops opened fire on two gunmen in Tulkarm and saw that both were hit but did not know their condition.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 1:04:40 AM ||
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"following Yasser Arafatâs death last month when new hopes were raised"
New hopes were raised alright. The new hopes are, post Arafart's death, its open season on Paleos.
"both were hit but did not know their condition"
Hahahahahahahaha! Very Funny. Who says the IDF don't have a sense of humor?
LAHORE: Baitullah Mehsud, a tribal militant leader in South Waziristan, has refuted an official statement that he asked the government for amnesty, the BBC reported on Friday. In a telephone interview with BBC's Urdu Service from an undisclosed location, Mr Mehsud he said he did not seek amnesty from the government but confessed to have engaged in a dialogue with the government through his tribe. He said he was facing bullets and bombs and his territory was being destroyed, "so why should I apologise," he asked. The tribal leader told the BBC he did not believe in fighting the Pakistan Army as it could benefit India or Afghanistan's Northern Alliance. "I will not insult my jihad by seeking amnesty from the government," the BBC quoted him as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 1:03:36 AM ||
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LAHORE: Race Course Police on Friday arrested two terror suspects and seized a huge quantity of explosives. Chaudhry Shafqat Ahmad, the senior superintendent of police investigation, told reporters that the police intercepted a rickshaw at Basti Saidan Shah in the Mian Mir Colony area on a tip-off and arrested Kashif Khurshid, a resident of Ichhra, and Faisal Munir alias Haji, a resident of GOR-III. Rickshaw driver Gulfam escaped. The police seized six Russian-made rocket rounds, 42 hand-grenades, bomb-making material, 425 anti aircraft bullets and 50 kilogrammes of charas from the two men. The police official said the weapons were purchased in a remote tribal region.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 12:59:40 AM ||
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Six foreigners were arrested on Thursday in the Makeen area of South Waziristan Agency while five Pakistani soldiers were wounded, four of them seriously, when their vehicle overturned near the Dargai area. It was not clear whether the arrested foreigners were militants or were linked to Al Qaeda. Pakistan Army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan told Daily Times that the suspects could only be charged after their interrogation. A peace committee in Makeen tipped the security forces off about the foreigners' presence. Two of them were caught from Makeen Bazaar while the others tried escaping, only to be captured after several minutes. He said the nationality of the foreigners had not been determined yet. However, he said they looked Afghan. Their nationalities would be known after their interrogation, he added. Security forces also seized Pakistani, Afghan and US currency from the foreigners.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 12:57:12 AM ||
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ima saw the cops arest four mexicans last week. dont know ifn it teror relate.
KANDAHAR: Afghan troops captured 10 suspected Taliban fighters in a raid on their hideout in southern Kandahar province following an attack against a local police chief that left two people dead, the governor's spokesman said on Friday. The raid occurred on Wednesday on a mountain road in Miyanashi, north of the city of Kandahar. Officials said the 10 militants were overwhelmed by about 80 Afghan soldiers and gave up without a fight. The raid followed an attack in the area on Miyanashi's police chief, Khadr Jan, whose convoy was ambushed as he travelled along the same road. A soldier guarding Jan was killed in the attack, as was one Taliban fighter.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 12:55:24 AM ||
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ISLAMABAD: A loud explosion was heard in the federal capital on Friday night. The sound of the explosion could be heard at a great distance. Nobody was reported dead or injured. A police official said the explosion could be a result of fireworks on Christmas eve.
Either that, or another church full of Christians going up...
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 12:54:36 AM ||
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ima heard em exploshun las night to. mebbe itn time to call the press.
Two soldiers were court-martialled on Friday for involvement in an attempt on President Pervez Musharraf's life on December 14, 2003. Military spokesman Major Gen Shaukat Sultan told Daily Times that havaldar Mohammad Younas was given death and sepoy Islamuddin was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The president escaped the attack in Rawalpindi when a powerful explosion ripped through part of a bridge shortly after his car went past it. The explosives planted under the Chaklala Bridge detonated moments after the last vehicle of the president's motorcade had crossed the bridge while going to Army House.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/25/2004 12:53:15 AM ||
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A Pakistani military court has sentenced one soldier to death and another to 10 years' hard labour in jail for involvement in an assassination attempt on President Pervez Musharraf last year, a military spokesman told AFP Friday. The two soldiers were tried for the December 14 bid to assassinate Musharraf in the nearby city of Rawalpindi, Major General Shaukat Sultan said. "The court found them guilty of the charges," he said, adding that the verdict was announced "a few days ago." "One was sentenced to death and the other has been given 10 years' rigorous imprisonment," the spokesman said. He gave no further details.
"Need I say more?"
Musharraf narrowly escaped the assassination attempt when a powerful explosion rocked a bridge just seconds after his motorcade had passed. Musharraf had been returning from Chaklala air base in his motorcade when the explosion went off and cracked the bridge. No one was injured in the blast. Five bombs had been planted on the bridge, security officials said. They said a hi-tech jamming device on his car delayed the explosions and possibly saved his life. Musharraf survived a second attack in the same area about two weeks later on Christmas Day last year when two suicide bombers rammed explosives-laden vehicles into the presidential motorcade, killing 15 people. Security officials say a Libyan Al Qaeda militant, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, is suspected of masterminding the two attempts. Pakistan has posted a reward of 20 million rupees (333,333 dollars) for the arrest of al-Libbi. The United States has also offered a five-million-dollar reward for his arrest.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2004 12:04:02 AM ||
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Police on Friday arrested two men in a vehicle in Lahore containing dozens of hand grenades, bomb-making material and other munitions that authorities suspect were intended for terrorists, a senior police official said. Lahore police chief Shafqat Ahmed said the two men, both Pakistanis, were arrested in a road in the city following a tip-off. He said the weapons were purchased in a remote tribal region, and police suspect were being delivered to terrorists, but it wasn't clear who. "At this stage I can only confirm the arrests and seizure of weapons," he told reporters. He gave no other details.
SRINAGAR, India - One person died and 23 others, mostly civilians, died when a grenade aimed at soldiers missed its target and exploded in a busy market in southern Indian-administered Kashmir Friday, police said. The attack initially wounded 24 people but one of the injured died later in hospital, a police spokesman said. "Two of the injured are policemen, while others are all civilians," he said. Most of the victims were worshippers coming out of a mosque after Friday prayers, police and witnesses said.
Must not have been the right mosque.
All the best people worship at the House of the Holy Hand Grenade.
The explosion sparked panic in the area and sent people rushing for cover. Indian troops and police sealed off the area and began a search operation. The explosion happened in Pakherpora township, 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the summer capital Srinagar, police said. Separately, Indian troops shot dead four Islamic militants in two separate clashes overnight Thursday and Friday, a police spokesman said. "Both the encounters erupted after troops launched a cordon and search operation for the militants," he said. On Wednesday evening another grenade attack killed a civilian and wounded 15 others in the Sangam area of southern Anantnag district.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Four people were killed and 12 injured Friday when demonstrators clashed with police in southern Pakistan, police and doctors said. Police opened fire after failing to quell hundreds of people trying to storm a police station in the town of Qambar 425 kilometers (264 miles) north of Karachi, they said. The rally was staged after the Sindh provincial government decided to merge Qambar into a newly created district of Shahdadpur after splitting former premier Benazir Bhutto's home district of Larkana.
I'm sure that makes sense to someone.
The protesters made faces and rolled their eyes burnt tyres to block the main national highway and attacked several police and private vehicles. Police said three people were killed and several injured in firing when they tried to attack the police station. Hospital officials said they received 13 people, mostly with bullet wounds, and one of them died of his injuries. "We are trying to control the situation," said police official Ramzan Channa.
Good luck to ya.
Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) strongly condemned the police firing and demanded action against local officials. "The protestors were peaceful and their demand was genuine. Use of brutal police force is highly condemnable," provincial PPP president Nisar Khuhro told AFP.
"Our people have to be allowed to seethe, it's what they do!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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The rally was staged after the Sindh provincial government decided to merge Qambar into a newly created district of Shahdadpur after splitting former premier Benazir Bhuttoâs home district of Larkana.
The Sindh government has been redrawing district boundaries so that strongholds of the Pakistan People's Party are split up. Since political parties in the province are divided mostly on ethnic lines, bloodshed is unsuprising.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
12/25/2004 0:13 Comments ||
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Paul, thanks, I was sure someone could interpret this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/25/2004 0:19 Comments ||
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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.
A Yemeni Islamist told a court on Saturday that he and other militants behind the bombing of a French supertanker had close ties to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "(We) were very close to Sheikh Osama bin Laden," said 
SUNGAI KOLOK: A bomb hidden in a parked motorcycle killed two people and wounded five on Friday outside a bank in Thailand's largely Muslim south, where authorities fear militants will step up attacks in the new year. The bomb shattered windows up to the third floor of the Siam Commercial Bank branch in Sungai Kolok, a tourist town best known for a strip of bars and brothels that lure tourists from neighbouring Malaysia. "It was the work of people bent on creating unrest. They stashed the bomb in a motorcycle and triggered it," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters in Bangkok as officials said 2,000 police would be sent south after Jan. 1. Police said they believed the bomber was killed by the blast around 9 a.m near the bank's automated teller machine, although there was speculation it was triggered by mobile phone.
Pakistani intelligence agents have arrested two Afghan men suspected of being members of the al Qaeda terrorist network, intelligence sources told CNN. 
When US troops stormed the rebel-held city of Fallujah last month, they uncovered photos of senior Syrian officials that have further strained the already tense relations between Syria and Iraq, according to the Iraqi ambassador to Syria. Several captured insurgents were found in possession of the photographs, confirmation, according to Iraqi officials, that some elements in the Syrian regime - perhaps acting independently - are involved in Iraq's bloody insurgency. "Prime Minister Iyad Allawi wrote a letter to the Syrians saying he had the pictures but was not going to release them despite being under pressure from the Americans to do so," says Hassan Allawi, Iraq's newly appointed ambassador to Damascus. The ambassador said that the photographs were found in the possession of 
Two men the U.S. says are key figures in Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terrorist network are in U.S. custody following a sweep of Ramadi, Iraq, U.S. military sources revealed in a statement Saturday. Soldiers of the Marine Expeditionary Force captured Saleh Arugayan Kahlil (Mahalawi), also known as Abu Ubaydah, on December 8 and caught Bassim Mohammad Hazeem, also known as Abu Khattab, on December 12, the release states. According to the statement, the two men were cell leaders of the "Harun terrorist network," an al-Zarqawi-affiliated group operating in Ramadi and western al Anbar province. "This group is responsible for intimidating, attacking and murdering innocent Iraqi civilians, Iraqi police and security forces and business and political leaders throughout the Anbar province," it read. The U.S. military blames the Harun terrorist network for kidnapping and killing 11 Iraqi National Guardsmen during the last several months and carrying out several lethal bombing attacks. The terrorist cell also is believed to have smuggled foreign terrorists into Iraq, in an effort "to destabilize the region and prevent economic growth in Iraq," according to the statement. The soldiers who captured the men were attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 1st Marine Division of the I Marine Expeditionary Force.
Israeli occupation forces killed a senior member of 
Two soldiers were court-martialled on Friday for involvement in an attempt on President Pervez Musharraf's life on December 14, 2003. Military spokesman Major Gen Shaukat Sultan told Daily Times that havaldar 
Four people were killed and 12 injured Friday when demonstrators clashed with police in southern Pakistan, police and doctors said. Police opened fire after failing to quell hundreds of people trying to storm a police station in the town of Qambar 425 kilometers (264 miles) north of Karachi, they said. The rally was staged after the Sindh provincial government decided to merge Qambar into a newly created district of Shahdadpur after splitting former premier Benazir Bhutto's home district of Larkana.
