Muhamed al-Jundi, the Syrian driver of two French journalists taken hostage in Iraq in August, filed suit at a Paris court Tuesday alleging torture and mistreatment by the US army.
Naturellement. It's the American way!
"The suit is against members of the US armed forces in Iraq who were guilty of mistreating me, who tortured me, who threatened to kill me," he said. Jundi, 47, was captured with reporters Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot on August 20 south of Baghdad and found in a house in Fallujah on November 12 when US troops invaded the city. The plaintiff is a member of the Baath party of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. He is represented by a veteran lawyer, Jacques Verges, who has made a name for taking on controversial cases. Verges said that Jundi has the right to present the suit at the Paris courts because after his release he was flown out of Baghdad under French protection.
Ummm...yah, sure, you betcha.
Announcing his intention to file suit last month, Verges said his client was beaten by the US troops who found him at Fallujah. He said Jundi was tortured with electric shocks and subjected to mock executions by the US soldiers. In press conferences after his release Jundi made no mention of his alleged mistreatment. He told AFP that he had put off the decision to file suit in order not to endanger the lives of Chesnot and Malbrunot while they were still held hostage.
Even the manner in which the chauffeur of Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot was released by the American forces that freed him is grounds for his suing themâŠThe suit that Maître Verges filed on behalf of Mohammed Al-Joundi states that
this suit is aimed at the members of the American armed forces who are guilty of ill treatment towards me, who tortured me, who threatened me with death, including the way they freed me, at nightfall, in the middle of a curfew, putting my life in danger...
Posted by: Seafarious ||
01/06/2005 12:05:14 AM ||
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#1
ven the manner in which the chauffeur of Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot was released by the American forces that freed him is grounds for his suing them ...
I guess releasing him in the middle of I-495 during the evening rush hour isn't considered kosher ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2005 0:23 Comments ||
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#2
Stupid frenchies hired a Baathist as their driver!? You lay down with dogs...
#7
personally i like the idea of tattooing 'i love americans especially from behind' on his forehead , then drop him into some hotbed as a recon expert :P
#9
tell this ungrateful little scumbag you're going to save the lawyer money and purchase a professional hit contract on him, then DO IT. Let his last days be lived in remorseful fear
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/06/2005 18:52 Comments ||
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A shoulder-fired missile allegedly smuggled into the United States by a British businessman could easily have been used by terrorists bent on shooting down a packed commercial jet, a court heard.
Jurors in new Jersey were shown Russian-made Igla Sa 18 rocket system which Hemant Lakhani, 69, is accused of bringing to the US for what he believed was a terror plot.
Lakhani from Hendon, north London, is accused of shipping the missile as a "sample" of a further 200 he said he could supply to an undercover FBI agent posing as an Islamic terrorist.
The court previously heard Lakhani suggested shooting down 10-15 planes simultaneously to spread panic and cripple the US economy.
Indian-born Lakhani denies the charges and claims he was entrapped by American, British and Russian intelligence eager to snare terrorists following the September 11 attacks.
New Jersey District Court in Newark was given a sobering explanation of the workings of Igla, which Lakhani allegedly bought from undercover Russian agents posing as Ukrainian arms dealers.
Rodney Routledge, an expert in short-range missiles from the US Defence Intelligence Agency, agreed that Igla was a "weapon of choice" for terrorists, adding "they are capable of destroying virtually any aircraft".
"It is hidden in something as simple as a rolled-up rug or furniture crate," he told the court.
"They are easy to use. I can probably teach, within 15 minutes, a hands-on demonstration of the process of how to use it and expect efficiency from the user.
"They are relatively inexpensive and they are very accurate and capable. They are capable of destroying virtually any aircraft that flies. They can be fired from almost anywhere."
Posted by: tipper ||
01/06/2005 2:50:36 AM ||
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entrapped by American, British and Russian intelligence eager to snare terrorists LOL! Imagine that ...all three agencies out to entrap him. Just cause you are paranoid...
A burgeoning East Boston-based street gang made up of alleged rapists and machete-wielding robbers has been linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, prompting Boston police to ``turn up the heat'' on its members, the Herald has learned. A marriage made in Mecca
     MS-13, which stands for La Mara Salvatrucha, is an extremely violent organization with roots in El Salvador, and boasts more than 100 ``hardcore members'' in East Boston who are suspected of brutal machete attacks, rapes and home invasions. Sound like full fledged al-Q
There are hundreds more MS-13 gangsters in towns along the North Shore, said Boston police Sgt. Detective Joseph Fiandaca, who has investigated the gang since it began tagging buildings in Maverick Square in 1995. In recent months, intelligence officials in Washington have warned national law enforcement agencies that al-Qaeda terrorists have been spotted with members of MS-13 in El Salvador, prompting concerns the gang may be smuggling Islamic fundamentalist terrorists into the country. Law enforcement officials have long believed that MS-13 controls alien smuggling routes along Mexico. The warning is being taken seriously in East Boston, where Raed Hijazi, an al-Qaeda operative charged with training the suicide bombers in the attack on the USS Cole, lived and worked, prosecutors have charged. Also, the commercial jets that hurtled into the World Trade Center towers in New York City were hijacked from Logan International Airport.
 MS-13 members congregate near the Maverick Square train station sporting white and blue bandannas, their skin inked with spider webs and ``laugh now, cry later'' clown faces. The theory that Salvadoran criminals manage to smuggle people over the border was bolstered this month when two Boston men described as MS-13 leaders were spotted on the North Shore days before Christmas - a year after they were deported by Boston Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators for gang-related crimes. One of the two men, Elmer ``Tiger'' Tejada, 24, who had been deported after being convicted of a slew of crimes, including attempted murder charges for hurling a machete at Chelsea cops, was busted in Lynn on New Year's Day. Tejada is described as ``an original MS-13 member'' from East Boston, sources said. A manhunt has been launched for the second fugitive, who is in the country illegally, Boston police said.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
01/06/2005 8:40:34 PM ||
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#1
He should be easy to find - look for the guy with a clown face, spider tattos and a big machete.
#2
Gangsta: Your money or your life! Jihadis need funding, you know.
Citizen: I'd rather die than fund al-Qaeda.
Gangsta: If you insist⦠[shoots Citizen. Enter Police]
Cop #1: You're under arrest.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/06/2005 0:11 Comments ||
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#4
I say we might as well take out the MS-13 hombres in the war against terror, MS-13 seems to be spreading all over the place and that's all they do, cause terror.
Any of these guys ever caught with an official "how to illegally cross the the U.S.-Mexico border" comic book? Oh, yeah, Mexico just started publishing them, so we'll have to wait a month or two.
#6
In recent months, intelligence officials in Washington have warned national law enforcement agencies that al-Qaeda terrorists have been spotted with members of MS-13 in El Salvador, prompting concerns the gang may be smuggling Islamic fundamentalist terrorists into the country
Back in my left wing days I helped the network that smuggled El Salvadorans through the US into Canada and eastern seaboard. If this above quoted article is accurate and it is possible that the same folks are using that old network, I may know where at least some of the nodes are.
Any law enforcement or intel folks monitoring: This may be worth looking into.
Also, Badanov has real interresting idea of comparing the old El Salvadoran smuggling routes to those being used today by MS-13. I know from experience as a minor who attended a church in Georgetown (District of Columbia) that was involved in providing sanctuary to ElSalvadorans "fleeing US aggression" during the war against communism. Many of these same people previously provided sanctuary to the very radical elements of the ant-Vietanam War movement during the 60's and 70's.
NOTE to anyone monitoring I have not set foot near nor contacted anyone associated with that church for close to 30 years.
#8
In recent months, intelligence officials in Washington have warned national law enforcement agencies that al-Qaeda terrorists have been spotted with members of MS-13 in El Salvador
1. Hasnt that been denied by authorities?
2. I remember when East Boston was all Italian. Gad, I feel old.
3. Sanctuary movement, huh. Geez, some of you guys were farther left than Ive ever been.
#12
"2. I remember when East Boston was all Italian."
LH Isn't East Boston right next to Logan International Airport? With AQ conections and Logan in their comfort zone, these turds need more than just close watching. They need to be shut down.
Posted by: Dave ||
01/06/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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#13
The Italian neighborhood in Boston is called the North End, not East End.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/06/2005 10:25 Comments ||
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#14
Deacon, North End was Italian AND East Boston. And Revere, I think, and parts of Somerville. And East Cambridge.
#15
Okay. A little tour. The North End is the predominately Italian section of Boston. East Boston is actually across the Mystic River from downtown. You get there and back through the tunnels (Ted Williams, Sumner, Callahan, or the Blue Line T subway). Was predominately Italian, now has a heavy Hispanic and Cambodian community, with a lot of the Italians moving up the North Shore to Revere, Swampscott (if they could afford it), etc.. Logan is located in East Boston.
East Cambridge is heavily Portugese and blue collar. It's not the Harvard Cambridge you always hear about. Somerville went from a blue collar town to home for a lot of the college kids and is heavily yuppified, being on the other side of Cambridge. 3 deckers you could've picked up for 100 grand about 15- 20 years ago are now pushing a million. Nice investment.
#16
Yup - North End, Eastie, Revere and half of Chelsea are / were heavy Italian enclaves. North End's been gentrifed for the past 15-odd years; most of Eastie's a shithole, as is Chelsea; Revere has its good parts.
#18
ISTR East Cambridge being as heavily Italian as Portugese, not that I knew anyone from there. Lots of Portugese in East Somerville, Mainly Italian in West Somerville (which Harvard kids called "slummerville") Plenty of grad students, recent grads, etc in Somerville. Not surprising its gone yuppie, as that tide was reaching Porter Square in those days.
Chelsea was a shithole even then, but Eastie was rather better, or so Id always thought.
#19
I lived there in '91 and '92 so all I really remember is the North End being Italian with a lot of very good small restaurants. Dom's comes to mind (on Salem Street). I actually lived in Woburn and worked in Cambridge (that's when I got kicked out of the MIT Bar).
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/06/2005 14:15 Comments ||
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#20
Chelsea went from being a big Jewish town into the 50's to being heavily Hispanic. Probably the poorest city in the state, it is/was also probably the most corrupt city in the state, having been taken over and run by the state since about 20 years ago. Burns down about every 50 years or so. My dad was a firefighter in Everett and almost got killed in one of them back in '73 when they lost about 50 blocks.
#21
At one time a person could not get into the Armed Forces if they belonged to certain subversive organizations...those trying to undermine the U.S. There was a long list of "illegal" organizations that you had to swear that you did not belong to. Basically, certain organizations were illegal. Why not declare these gangs illegal since they are undermining the U.S. and breaking its laws?
Can these gangs not be proscuted under RICO?
Can we not shut the Mexico-U.S. border to these smugglers of terrorists?
Posted by: John Q. ||
01/06/2005 15:26 Comments ||
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#22
My dad was a firefighter in Everett and almost got killed in one of them back in '73 when they lost about 50 blocks.
That rings a bell... was it made into a book or documentary?
Soldiers on Thursday captured an alleged Muslim extremist wanted by the Philippine and U.S. governments over the abduction of 20 people, including three Americans, from a resort nearly four years ago, the military said with evident glee. Toting Hanno, allegedly one of the Abu Sayyaf gunmen who raided the Dos Palmas resort in May 2001, was nabbed early Thursday at his hideout on Sacol island off the southern port city of Zamboanga, said Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza. Abu Sayyaf guerrillas beheaded Californian hostage Guillermo Sobero shortly after the resort raid. Another American captive, Kansas missionary Martin Burnham, died during a military rescue in June 2002. Burnham's wife, Gracia, was injured.
Braganza said the United States has offered a US$25,000 reward for Hanno, who faces the death penalty. A civilian informant led soldiers to Hanno's hideout, Braganza said. "For those who continue their nefarious activities, let this be a fair warning: there is no escape," Braganza said.
Radical Islamic group Laskar Mujahidin has set up camp close to hundreds of other local and international volunteers at the military airport in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, beneath a sign in English that reads "Islamic Law Enforcement."
Just in case we didn't get the point.
Laskar Mujahidin group campaigns for an Islamic state in Indonesia and is fiercely anti-American.
Ya don't say.
About 50 members are in Aceh, collecting corpses still buried beneath debris in Banda Aceh, distributing food and spreading Islamic teachings among refugees in the city, one of its members said Thursday.
Not necessarily in that order.
Laskar Mujahidin forms the security arm of a larger much group, the Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia. Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia is still was once headed by Abu Bakar Bashir, who is currently on trial as the alleged leader of Jemaah Islamiyah. The Muslim Justice and Welfare party, a small but growing Islamist party that has campaigned for Islamic law in secular Indonesia, has also pledged to send 800 volunteers to Aceh. Party leaders claim it was among the first organizations to distribute food, water, medicine and hundreds of prayer kits to survivors.
Two men opened fire on government troops destroying opium poppy crops in central Afghanistan Thursday, killing one soldier before both gunmen also were fatally shot, an official said. The gunmen attacked a group of 50 militia soldiers as they worked in a poppy field near Deh Rawood in Uruzgan province, Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan said. A second soldier was wounded in the ensuing gunbattle. Khan claimed both assailants were known Taliban supporters, but didn't elaborate. He said the poppy eradication effort in his province would go on. President Hamid Karzai, with strong American backing, has vowed to clamp down hard on Afghanistan's booming narcotics industry, which supplies most of the world's opium, the raw material for heroin. Officials have expressed concern that the crackdown could prompt violence from farmers and traffickers. Taliban militants as well as warlords resisting Karzai's authority are believed to profit from the trade.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2005 9:10:52 PM ||
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A roadside bomb killed seven U.S. soldiers in northwest Baghdad and two Marines were killed in western Iraq on Thursday, the deadliest day for American forces since a suicide attack on a U.S. base last month. The soldiers with Task Force Baghdad were on patrol Thursday evening when their Bradley fighting vehicle hit the explosive, the military said in a statement. Everyone inside the Bradley was killed. No other details were immediately available about the latest attack. But Iraq's insurgents have frequently targeted American troops with crude explosives planted in roads and detonated remotely as patrols pass. The two other U.S. Marines killed in action Thursday were both members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and lost their lives in Anbar province, which is home to the volatile city of Fallujah. The previous four days had seen a string of assassinations, suicide car bombings and other assaults that killed 90 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/06/2005 7:46:13 PM ||
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#1
destroy all houses within sight distance of the IED - they saw it planted and didn't alert the troops.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/06/2005 19:55 Comments ||
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#2
Great idea. Someone ought to remind Bush that the way to win hearts and minds is through "fear". Stop "playing nice".
#10
In my fraternity/college days we had a term for that: Lurker
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/06/2005 21:21 Comments ||
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#11
trolling for Aris - a new sport
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/06/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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#12
"Saddam's followers, who have intensely shed the blood of our people and army, are still in action clandestinely, allying with a bunch of criminals, murderers and terrorists who are the enemies of our people and our progress," Allawi said during a ceremony to mark the national Army Day holiday.
Would those criminals and murderers be from, say, hmmm.. let me guess, oh yea--Syria, Iran, Pakiland, Saudia Arabia, Chechnya, etc? I can't wait til Dr. Rice take helm at the Foggy Bottom. My mouth have been watering long enough.
#13
Wie Gehts? Guten morgen:
Yo- Da Yanks be in a tough spot. They need some good leadership..hire some German Generals... but it will come down to the american spirit to sort it out. I pray the boyz over there are safe on their missions.
I hope the CIA hires some foreign policy secialists and listens to them.
Back Jordan's King Adullah to take over the Region. They need a benevolent dictator. Not mature enough for democracy. Abdullah would be able to sit down and play nice w/ the Jews and diffuse Iran. For God's sake let the Jews rebuild their Temple....but maybe in Ontario or Kansas.
The Islamists will never see the good in the yanks I'm afraid.
Christ died for all of us not just the christians...the muslims too....and I suppose those cheese eating, surrender money french bastards!!
vive le france!!!
peace we out,
Heil G-duByah
yeah..and yo momma, slap muh fro bee-ahh-ch
Posted by: Wolf ||
01/06/2005 22:20 Comments ||
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#14
er... uhh.. that was :
cheese eating, surrender monkey french bastards....
Posted by: Wolf ||
01/06/2005 22:23 Comments ||
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Tensions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border near the North Waziristan tribal agency have been reduced following effective contacts between Pakistani, US, and Afghan military officials, who agreed to blame al-Qaida and Taliban-linked militants for the violence. Since Monday, there had been unprecedented tensions along the mountainous border after four Pakistani paramilitary soldiers were injured in an armed clash with Afghan forces when they were collecting the wreckage of an unmanned US surveillance aircraft that had crashed in their territory after an airspace violation. Pakistani paramilitary forces retaliated with mortar and artillery fire after one of their soldiers died. The exact number of Afghan casualties could not be determined.
Pakistani military spokesmen Major-General Shaukat Sultan said, "We have received the information that coalition forces have started investigation about those involved in the firing without any provocation." In a fresh twist to the incident, all three parties are shifting the blame for initiating the heavy fire on al-Qaida or Taliban militants. Major-General Sultan also downplayed the clash earlier this week as being of "minor tactical nature". According to his new interpretation of the incident, "[âŠ] certain unknown elements from inside the Afghan territory resorted to unprovoked firing on own [Pakistani] troops which resulted in shahadat [martyrdom] of one soldier, while three others were injured." News agencies reporting from Kabul quoted US military spokesman Major Mark McCann describing the furious clash as "nothing more than a misunderstanding between the two sides present on the ground at the time". The spokesman ruled out any involvement of the 18,000-strong US-led forces in Afghanistan in the latest clashes. However, he admitted that troops had been sent to investigate the situation.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has summoned Afghanistan's ambassador to Islamabad, Nanguyalai Tarzi, to protest against what the Pakistani side describes as unprovoked fire from across the border. A foreign military official in Afghanistan was quoted by news agencies as confirming that a team had been sent to the crash site to destroy the wreckage of the unmanned US aircraft. "The explosion caused one side to fire, and then the other side fired back," the anonymous official reportedly said. But sources in the Pakistani intelligence community claim that a US helicopter opened fire on Pakistani soldiers who were gathering the wreckage of the downed plane, killing one of them and initiating the clash. US military drones often violate Pakistani airspace, and when they crash, the debris is usually destroyed by a US missile to prevent crucial technology from falling into foreign hands. Despite the prevailing calm, Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told ISN Security Watch that the number of paramilitary forces patrolling the porous border with Afghanistan had been increased.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/06/2005 10:47:35 AM ||
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#1
"Don't make us come in there!"
Good Lord, they're just like little children, blaming the broken lamp on the dog.
Investigation officials said Kawsar needs to be questioned further for information about the patrons of his organisation, the only banned Islamist militant outfit of the country. "We're not at all worried about Kawsar or his position. But we're really anxious about the people guiding him," said an investigation official asking not to be named.
Looking for the shadowy figures pulling the strings
"Despite being arrested several times, he returned to Al Hiqma activities each time he was released. Moreover, his speeches, sent to the press or found in writing, have certain inconsistencies," the official explained.
Doesn't seem to take a hint, does he. Maybe you should schedule him to get caught in a crossfire?
The JIC earlier interrogated him twice, each time for seven days, since his arrest under the section 54 for storming a police station on November 6. Five others who were arrested during the November 6 attack on Boalia Police Station in the city are now out on bail. Sources said another sedition case may be filed against him on completion of the JIC interrogation.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/06/2005 10:08:01 AM ||
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GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian gunmen who infiltrated a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip Thursday. "An armed terrorist ... reached the hothouses at Ganei Tal. He opened fire and threw grenades at an Israeli force on patrol. They returned fire, killing him," an army spokeswoman said. The militant Palestinian group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Violence has surged in Gaza in the run-up to a planned Israeli pullout from the occupied territory later this year. Militants want to portray the withdrawal as a victory in a 4-year-old Palestinian uprising, while Israel has said it would hit them hard to ensure settlers and soldiers do not leave under fire.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/06/2005 8:59:57 AM ||
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#1
"nice shooting Avner! 10-ring"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/06/2005 10:34 Comments ||
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#2
...Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.
Based on the description of the action, and this comment, I'm going to have to revise my definition of "attack".
By these standards, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid "attacked" the Bolivian Army at the end of the movie...
Some 150 Maoist guerillas died in fierce fighting with security forces in Nepal's remote southwest yesterday, a top army official said. The battle, in which the senior army official said security forces attacked on the ground and from helicopters, was one of the bloodiest in months. "In a clash with the security forces, at least 150 rebels were killed and over 30 injured" in Kailali district in the far southwest, the army official, who did not wish to be identified, said.
That's a lot of dead Maoists.
There was no immediate comment on casualties from the Maoists who have been fighting since 1996 to overthrow the constitutional monarchy. The army official said soldiers ambushed some 500 rebels, staging a ground and helicopter offensive, as the guerillas were about to attack an army post at Bankhet base some 380km southwest of Kathmandu. He said fighting was continuing at last report from the far-flung area where the rebels have a heavy presence. "The army has recovered the bodies of 30 rebels while the other bodies have been carried away by their comrades," the official said.
So, so it's only 30 dead. Rats.
The army official said that there were no deaths among security forces in the clash at Masuria but eight were injured.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2005 12:19:32 AM ||
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"The bridge needs more stabilization, call the army for some more Maoists!"
Posted by: Charles ||
01/06/2005 8:28 Comments ||
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#2
"So, so it's only 30 dead. Rats."
You know, that comment would be just as meaninful without the period after "dead."
Police in northern Pakistan have arrested two Islamic militants suspected in the slaying of two local aid workers, a police official said yesterday. Unidentified assailants fatally shot two Pakistani aid workers in a December 25 attack on the office of the Aga Khan Foundation in Chitral. Yesterday, local police official Ali Khan said officers had arrested two men in a raid on Monday, adding they were "directly involved" in the December 25 killing of the aid workers. He didn't elaborate.
He said no more.
He said police believed the two men were members of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, which the government banned in January 2001 in an effort to purge the country of extremists. The group is accused of killing minority Shi'ite Muslims and attacking Christians. Police were still looking for three other members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi who allegedly participated in the attack in Chitral, a remote region near Afghanistan where Pakistani forces have been carrying out operations to flush out foreign militants and their local supporters. Khan added that police also seized an assault rifle during the raid, but would not say whether the gun had been used in the attack. The Aga Khan Foundation, which is run by the spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims in Pakistan, supervises health clinics in many parts of Pakistan.
Can't have that, now can they?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/06/2005 12:10:31 AM ||
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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.
Soldiers on Thursday captured an alleged Muslim extremist wanted by the Philippine and U.S. governments over the abduction of 20 people, including three Americans, from a resort nearly four years ago, the military said 
Two men opened fire on government troops destroying opium poppy crops in central Afghanistan Thursday, killing one soldier before both gunmen also were fatally shot, an official said. The gunmen attacked a group of 50 militia soldiers as they worked in a poppy field near Deh Rawood in Uruzgan province, Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan said. A second soldier was wounded in the ensuing gunbattle. Khan claimed both assailants were known Taliban supporters, but didn't elaborate. He said the poppy eradication effort in his province would go on. President Hamid Karzai, with strong American backing, has vowed to clamp down hard on Afghanistan's booming narcotics industry, which supplies most of the world's opium, the raw material for heroin. Officials have expressed concern that the crackdown could prompt violence from farmers and traffickers. Taliban militants as well as warlords resisting Karzai's authority are believed to profit from the trade.
A roadside bomb killed seven U.S. soldiers in northwest Baghdad and two Marines were killed in western Iraq on Thursday, the deadliest day for American forces since a suicide attack on a U.S. base last month. The soldiers with Task Force Baghdad were on patrol Thursday evening when their Bradley fighting vehicle hit the explosive, the military said in a statement. Everyone inside the Bradley was killed. No other details were immediately available about the latest attack. But Iraq's insurgents have frequently targeted American troops with crude explosives planted in roads and detonated remotely as patrols pass. The two other U.S. Marines killed in action Thursday were both members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and lost their lives in Anbar province, which is home to the volatile city of Fallujah. The previous four days had seen a string of assassinations, suicide car bombings and other assaults that killed 90 people.
Tensions on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border near the 
"An armed terrorist ... reached the hothouses at Ganei Tal. He opened fire and threw grenades at an Israeli force on patrol. They returned fire, killing him," an army spokeswoman said. The militant Palestinian group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. Violence has surged in Gaza in the run-up to a planned Israeli pullout from the occupied territory later this year. Militants want to portray the withdrawal as a victory in a 4-year-old Palestinian uprising, while Israel has said it would hit them hard to ensure settlers and soldiers do not leave under fire.
Some 150 Maoist guerillas died in fierce fighting with security forces in Nepal's remote southwest yesterday, a top army official said. The battle, in which the senior army official said security forces attacked on the ground and from helicopters, was one of the bloodiest in months. "In a clash with the security forces, at least 150 rebels were killed and over 30 injured" in Kailali district in the far southwest, the army official, who did not wish to be identified, said.
Police in northern Pakistan have arrested two Islamic militants suspected in the slaying of two local aid workers, a police official said yesterday. Unidentified assailants fatally shot two Pakistani aid workers in a December 25 attack on the office of the 
