Kuwaiti security forces killed four al Qaeda members and captured three others, including a suspected leader, during clashes Monday in oil-rich Kuwait which is battling a surge in al Qaeda-linked activities. Monday's gunbattle marked an escalation in the fight between authorities and Al-Qaeda bent on destabilizing U.S. ally Kuwait, where sympathy for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is on the rise.
Analysts said Kuwait's swift response showed the tiny country of 2.5 million people was better placed to crush members of Al-Qaeda than vast Saudi Arabia, where al Qaeda has staged massive attacks against Western and government targets. An Interior Ministry statement said four members of Al-Qaeda and one Kuwaiti civilian were killed, and three policemen and three militants were wounded in the clash -- the fourth this month pitting al Qaeda fighters against police in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state. "Police were able since dawn to eradicate a group who hid in a number of locations in Mubarak al Kabir. They shot at police and hid in a home," said the ministry, adding that the operation was over. Police raided the house and four (members) were killed, three were wounded and three were arrested. Three policemen were wounded." A Kuwaiti civilian died when hit by fire, it said.
State media said among those detained was accused top al Qaeda member, Amer al-Enezi, suspected of training and helping Kuwaitis go to Iraq to join resistance there. It said he was among 10 Kuwaitis and Saudis wanted for al Qaeda links. Security sources said police were still pursuing about 11 members of Al-Qaeda. Residents said heavy gunfire and mortar blasts were heard for two hours. "It seems like the bulk of the firing has targeted a house that seems to be adjacent to a mosque," one resident told Reuters. "They shot the hell out of this house. There isn't a square foot of it that is not covered with bullet holes."
Police blocked all entry to the area and reinforcements were brought in. Witnesses saw about 40 Humvees, trucks and armored vehicles in the street where the members of Al-Qaeda were believed hiding.
Sunday, a Kuwaiti security officer and a member of Al-Qaeda were killed during a police raid on the group's hideouts. A Bahraini man was also killed and two members of Al-Qaeda arrested. Analysts said Kuwaiti authorities were in control because unlike Riyadh, al Qaeda's ideology is not as widespread in traditionally moderate Kuwait. "The recent clashes show that there are several sleeper cells in Kuwait but the authorities are much more vigilant and in control than Saudi Arabia," said analyst Shamlan al-Issa. "Kuwait will be able to crack down on the (group) but it might take some time," Issa said, adding: "Kuwait is much smaller than Saudi Arabia ."
Kuwait, which controls a tenth of global oil reserves, has stepped up security around oil and other vital installations after an attempt by Al-Qaeda members to launch a major attack near the country's largest oil refinery and a U.S. military camp in the southern area of Umm al-Haiman.
This article starring:
AMER AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:34:13 AM ||
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Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, in an exclusive interview, discusses the rationale for 9/11, the Christians he most respects, and the Jesus he defends... Since the time Sheikh Omar granted this interview, he has issued a statement officially dissolving Al Muhajiroun. A later report in the Muslim Weekly, emanating from the Luton Council of Mosques (which opposes him), suggested that plans are afoot to re-brand the group as Ahl us-Sunnah wal Jamaah. Other British Muslim groups, such as the Muslim Council of Britain, frequently denounce Sheikh Omar.
Most Rantburgers won't be surprised. Nice to see names of a few groups opposing him.
This article starring:
OMAR BAKRI MUHAMAD
Ahl us-Sunnah wal Jamaah
OMAR BAKRI MUHAMAD
Al Muhajiroun
Posted by: James ||
02/02/2005 3:35:38 PM ||
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#1
It's gonna be either "no more jihad" or "no more ummah". Take your pick. Those are the only two choices we're going to give you.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/02/2005 16:28 Comments ||
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#2
I read the whole thing. It's fascinating. It appears to me that Islam must go the way of the Nazis.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/02/2005 16:30 Comments ||
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#5
Sheikh Omar is a boneheaded idiot who practices a religion of hate. A religion that believes in waging jihad against those who don't believe in his brand of Islam is an evil religion. The victims of 9/11 did nothing other than show up to work. Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind jihadists.
When push comes to shove, there's several thousand fusion warheads that'll make an end of jihad. Rectal cavities like Bakri who make peaceful resolution of the problem impossible make violent resolution of the problem inevitable. (To paraphrase JFK.) Someone needs to cap this maggot post haste.
#16
Why someday, many might even conclude we have been given no choice but to fry 'em up.
The choice is not ours, unless you mean one of simple survival. Violent jihadists are making the choice for all thinking people. It is truly "them or us." It's merely Islam which, as a whole, fails to understand that they're on the losing side of the equation.
Too bad that nobody, right down to Bush himself, has the courage to tell Islam that it is incumbent upon them to clean their own house. I can only speculate as to how much American blood must be spilt overseas before we finally realize that the task of purging violent jihadists is one that Islam must shoulder or face global extinction.
#17
I personnally like the duplex reticule, .com, but that one you offered will do quite nicely.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/02/2005 22:49 Comments ||
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#18
Zenster - And this is precisely where we must part company. In this venue, in your anonymity, you can rant and rave with the best of us (and you're good at it, lol!) but out there, in the real world where there are consequences and realities (political, financial, etc.) everything must be done step-wise. And you know this - your personal problems prevent you from accepting it publicly or taking it into account in your responses. And that's truly sad.
Tonight we heard the closest thing to an ultimatum to Syria and Iran, short of a declaration opening hostilities. But whatever Bush does is never enough for you, is it? So I guess you'll continue in your BDS-induced fog, seeking a genealogical trace-route back to Bush for all the ills you perceive to be unaddressed - and I'll keep pointing out that you (and others) neglect to include reality in your considerations.
Believe it or not, this saddens me. You'd make a terrific ally in our current and future travails.
#19
Bush started the push tonight to win the hearts and minds™ of the Iranian people - they'll do the regime change, with our help. Start the blackops war now
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2005 23:03 Comments ||
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#20
Damnit, I invented the theory of permanent jihad, er revolution.
#23
Terrible, racist, inhumane joke follows, but I'm just that kind of mood and it seems to belong in this thread.
An Indian, and Arab, and a Cowboy are sitting at a bar, hunched over their drinks. The Indian looks up from his whiskey and says sadly, "We are a proud people. Once we were many, but now we are few."
The Arab then puts down the mint tea he was sipping and says in a loud, challenging manner, "We are also a proud people. Once we were few, but now we are many."
The Cowboy puts down his beer, smiles, looks at the Arab and says, "Well Mahmoud, that's because we haven't played Cowboys and Arabs yet."
#26
Communist greetings tovarishch Frank! Still a little sore but I tell you, if I ever catch that Mercader bastard, I'm going to give him a home colectomy.
#29
But whatever Bush does is never enough for you, is it?
Horseshit.
If Bush could only dismount his high horse of religiosity, he just might go down in history as one of the few chief executives who had the Churchillesque testicles to read all these jihadist "guttersnipes and thugs" the riot act.
Instead, we are treated to the grim spectacle of an American president so beholden to his own fundamentalism that he is unable to hold others accountable for their own intransigence.
.com, we are entering an era where it will be one of two things. Either all of us discover comutuality (points to whomever can source that word) or coexistence, or we all are doomed to die. I for one refuse to accept that. Those who refuse to accept pluralism must be exterminated, or we will all die at their hands.
Bush is far too bound to a sense of Christian supremacy. It neuters his vision of any sort of global theological combine. This is a (literally) fundamental blindness upon his own part and merely one of many reasons I cannot respect him, despite his office.
#30
And if you dismounted and credited him with what he has done - far more than anyone except Reagan in the last 40 or 50 years - that would be called giving credit where due, a very honorable position which still allows for criticism.
#31
I dunno Zenster. In 1945 I could've dogged Churchill for being an unrepentant imperialist and colonialist and mourned the effect of his reactionary ways upon his legacy (after all, Labour was going to nationalize industry and Dr. Lasky was going to lead us to the socialist paradise).
As to us all dying. I could see a major die off in the next fifty years (something along the lines of what Vernor Vinge postulated in The Peace War), but not an extinction episode. Humans are pretty damn adaptable.
#32
I credit Bush with his achievments. Otherwise I would still call him "shrub." You cannot imagine how happy I am that the "axis of evil" has been identified. It is his insistence upon religion that pisses me off more than you can imagine. Reason alone (not Republican ethos) demands that terrorism must be fought. Tell me I'm wrong.
THE suspected Islamic terrorist known as "C", imprisoned for three years but released unexpectedly on Monday, has been used by the government as a guinea pig to test the limits of human rights laws in Britain, his solicitor claimed last night.
Natalia Garcia, a Birmingham-based lawyer, described the Home Office's about-turn regarding her client as "out of the blue" and "completely bizarre".
She explained how at 11am on Monday at a hearing before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), the government maintained its view that C was a suspected terrorist and a danger to national security. Indeed, the Home Office had submitted the same line to Siac for a further hearing today.
But by 5pm on Monday, a government solicitor had contacted her office to say C's certification had been revoked. Two hours later, he was a free man.
Ms Garcia said the Home Office said C's alleged terror associates had been "disabled" or detained, and so C was no longer deemed dangerous.
C, an Egyptian in his thirties, claimed asylum in the UK in March 2000 and was recognised as a genuine refugee. However, in December 2001 he was arrested after the Home Office judged he was a senior member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, whose leader, Ayman al Zawhiri, is regarded as the architect of the al Qaeda ideology and the closest confidant of Osama bin Laden.
In his absence, C was sentenced by the Egyptian courts to 15 years in prison for allegedly trying to recruit army officers to the terrorist cause.
In October 2003, Siac concluded the government had "reasonable grounds" to suspect C had a "senior leadership role in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the United Kingdom". Last July, it claimed C could easily re-engage with his terrorist contacts and "re-establish his activities".
C denies all the allegations. Ms Garcia claimed the incarceration without trial or charge had "decimated" her client's life. "What he wants is an apology and an explanation," she said. "Tomorrow, we will be asking for more details; why he has been used as a guinea pig for three years in a government experiment to see how far they can push human rights in this country . . . I can make no sense of it — and I am a lawyer."
Yesterday afternoon, Charles Clarke, the home secretary, issued a statement about C but gave no details for his decision, saying only that such cases were kept under constant review and he had concluded the weight of evidence in relation to C at the current time did not justify his continued detention.
The Home Office was asked what had changed in a matter of hours to make C no longer a terrorist threat. A spokesman replied: "What we can't do is to go into specific details of any of the detainees."
C's unconditional release came 24 hours after another detainee — Jordanian-born Abu Rideh — was granted bail by Siac because indefinite detention had worsened his psychiatric problems. Two other men, Algerians known only as A and P, were also granted bail.
Both C and Abu Rideh were among the first eight people to be detained under the anti-terrorism laws brought in after the September 11 attacks.
In December, the indefinite detention of 12 foreign terror suspects without trial was ruled unlawful by the law lords. Last week, Mr Clarke announced the policy was going to be replaced by the introduction of "control orders", which will include the power to place terror suspects under house arrest.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:45:14 AM ||
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Ms Garcia said the Home Office said C’s alleged terror associates had been "disabled" or detained, and so C was no longer deemed dangerous.
Authorities have detained a suspect they believe may have taken part in the deadly hostage-taking raid on a school in the southern Russian town of Beslan last September, the Interfax news agency reported. The suspect was detained by police and security officers in Ingushetia, adjacent to North Ossetia, the region where the attack took place, Interfax reported, citing an unnamed source in the headquarters of Russia's campaign against militants in Chechnya and surrounding areas.
The source said there also was information indicating the detainee took part in a large-scale attack last June targeting police facilities in Ingushetia, the agency reported. Assailants attacked School No. 1 in Beslan on the first day of school, Sept. 1, seizing more than 1,000 children, parents and teachers as hostages. The ordeal ended in a chaotic outburst of explosions and gunfire that killed more than 330 captives, more than half of them children. Russian officials have said that 32 attackers took part, and that 31 of them were killed and one captured. Media reports have suggested there were more attackers and that some escaped.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 3:04:41 AM ||
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A Moroccan man suspected of helping to mastermind last year's deadly train bombings in Madrid has been arrested in Brussels. Twenty-eight-year-old Youssef Belhadj was arrested in Molenbeek on Tuesday after the Spanish police issued an international arrest warrant for him. He was due to appear in court in Brussels on Wednesday.
Spanish investigators think Belhadj could be Abu Dujanah, the man who appeared on a video tape a few days after the Madrid massacre, saying he was Al Qaeda's spokesman in Europe. In the recording, he stated Al Qaeda was responsible for the bombing of the 11 commuter trains — the most deadly terrorist attack Spain has ever seen, which killed 191 people and injured more than 1,500.
On Wednesday, the Belgian media claimed that the arrest of Belhadj the previous day was almost bungled. They said the Spanish police told the media that an arrest warrant had been issued for Al Qaeda suspect before before a Spanish judge had informed his Belgian counterparts of the request. The police made their announcement after four Moroccans were arrested in Madrid suspected of being part of the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (MICG), which is believed to be linked to Al Qaeda.
Lieve Pellens, a spokesperson for the Belgium prosecutor's office, said Belhadj's name went out through press agencies and the radio minutes before the Belgian judicial authorities were asked to arrest him. When police went to his home, he was not there, but he was later found and arrested in the street. Belhadj had been arrested in March because he was suspected of being part of the MICG, but he was conditionally released in June because of a lack of evidence. The Spanish daily El Mundo said the suspect would appear before a Belgian court first and then, in accordance with Belgian law, would be extradited to Spain within 20 days or on a date agreed by both the Belgian and Spanish judicial authorities.
Belhadj's arrest in Brussels comes as Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx admits Belgium was a target for two planned terrorist attacks last year. Her office said that in April 2004 Muslim extremists intended to attack both a railway tunnel for high speed trains and a Jewish school in Antwerp. The plans were foiled thanks to a police informer. Onkelinx's comments have led some commentator's to question just how much the Belgian authorities are telling the population about possible terror attacks. Throughout last year the Belgian Government always insisted that the country did not face any specific terrorist threats.
This article starring:
ABU DUJANAH
al-Qaeda in Europe
YUSEF BELHADJ
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2005 12:13:15 PM ||
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#1
I had to sit down when I read this. The Brussels police actually managed to locate and capture a bad guy?!? Things have really changed since I lived there!
BERLIN (AP) - German police carried out a series of raids Wednesday on individuals suspected of providing financial and other support to Islamic extremist activities outside the country. Thirty-three apartments and four businesses were searched early Wednesday morning, most in the southern state of Bavaria, police said. The action was directed primarily against 24 people suspected of supporting the network, largely of Arab origin - including people of Lebanese, Iraqi, Egyptian and Tunisian nationality. The individuals involved are aged 20 to 66 and are legal residents in Germany, police said.
Police are questioning several people, but no arrests have been made at this point, said Wolfgang Stengel, a spokesman for police in Upper Bavaria. He stressed that not every individual whose apartment was raided is suspected of membership in an Islamic organization. The raids "concern people who have been known to the police because they have spent time around Islamic groups," Stengel said. They are suspected of "financially supporting radical Islamic activities abroad by collecting donations and procuring further money," a police statement said. Two of the suspects spent time at an extremist training camp in Afghanistan "some time ago," it added.
Police were examining material confiscated in the raid, including video and cassette tapes, mobile phone, bank statements and other documents, Stengel said. He noted there was no connection between Wednesday's searches and the arrest last month of two suspected al-Qaida members in the Bavarian city of Ulm.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2005 9:31:11 AM ||
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Two Iraqis have been charged with immigration offenses in Mexico after being arrested last week in Tijuana, according to Mexican officials. The Iraqis, Steven Yohanan Kurkis and Kaml Meti Bashar, presented passports from Greece with the names Nikolaos Skarvelis and Nabil Megalli, according to a news release from the Mexican Attorney General's office obtained by the San Diego Union-Tribune. The American, Samer Toma Oraha, presented an expired U.S. passport to Mexican immigration authorities after arriving in Tijuana from Mexico City on an Aeromexico flight Jan. 26, according to Mexican authorities. The Iraqis traveled from Greece to Spain and then to Mexico and were going to be led into the United States by Orhora for a fee of $10,000 each, according to a preliminary investigation. A federal judge in Mexico will determine whether to pursue the charges against the men. They were being held in a Tijuana state prison.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2005 3:09:58 PM ||
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#1
I wish I was in Tijuana,
eating barbecued iguana...
#4
In a way, it is strange that Mexico has arrested these two Iraqis for immigration violations. Mexicans flood across the border to the U.S and the Mexican Government does little to stop it. Indeed, it was mentioned in a Rantburg posting that Mexico published a "How to Do It comicbook" for border crossings.
#5
It is in the Mexican interest to stop middle eastern alien smuggling. If a terrorist attack, via the Mexican border, is successful, then the American people will force the US gov to vastly tighten or close the border.
Posted by: ed ||
02/02/2005 16:38 Comments ||
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#6
True, John Q, but every now and then they like to make a show of doing something.
Besides, it's not like these guys were going to send any money back to la patria....
#7
CNN's reporting that one of the passports was in the name "Aris Katsaris"....but the real Aris was quoted as saying, "America? I already know all about that place. Why do I need to go there??"
The names are rather odd. Steven Yohanan Kurkis does sound like typical Iraqi name. Not! Kurkis is an Iraqi surname, though, beside being also Latvian and South Slavic surnames.
Kaml (!) Meti Bashar, Meti Bashar is a name of the priest of Chaldean (Catholic) Church in Baghdad. Kaml may be misspelled Kamal/Gamal.
Perhaps Iraqi christians, trying to get to US for greener pastures. Maybe these names were, though, as phony as the other ones on their passports. They may, as well, be Mohammed and Khaleed. (If someone introduces himself as Khaleed, chances are pretty good --95%-- that he is a jihadi).
Oraha/Orhora dude, ahm... if one wants to smuggle someone across the border, at least should have a valid passport.
#10
All three of these guys have Christian names. Steven Yohanan Kurkis (Steven John Kurkis), Kaml Meti Bashar (not an Islamic name), Samer Toma Oraha (Samer Thomas Oraha). Perhaps recent converts to Islam trying to prove their sincerity, or fake names as suggested by Sobiesky.
#11
Mexican prison if fitting for them. "Just send my bail to the Tijuan jail, ta ta, tum..." Er, like that is going to happen. Going to be a lot of time with the cockroaches.
#12
Ed. #5--- it is more than just the Mexican government's interest. One of the contributors at Chicago Boyz made the point last month (can't find, immediatly!)that a lot depends on cross-border traffic. The drug smuggling gangs depend on being able to move the product North, and a hell of a lot of the economy depends on Mexican workers moving back and forth over the border. It would not be in the best interests of either the narcotraffickers, or Mexican civil authorities to have this flexible and profitable state of affairs messed up up by terrorists. Everyone south of the border is seriously economically screwed, if the border close. The CB contributor's theory was that knowing this, both the Mexican goverment and the smugglers would be quite brutally effecient about policing their side of it. An ambitions jihadi crossing our southern border might make it no farther than the Tijuana jug... or an unmarked grave in the high desert someplace.
#14
Exactly, SwissTex. Economic self-interest will always and ultimatly rule. Given a threat to that, our southern border is as safe as if our mother were policing it. Kind of an unsettling thought, if you really think about it...
A Yemeni sheik accused of funding terrorist organizations boasted of his ties to Osama bin Laden and Palestinian militant leaders on surveillance tapes played Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court. "He used to say that I'm his sheik," Mohammed Ali Hasan al-Moayad said of bin Laden on the tapes secretly recorded in a German hotel room. "I used to teach him some of the Islamic laws," he added.
Defense lawyers said al-Moayad made idle boasts to wheedle millions of dollars from an FBI informant posing as a militant Islamist. The informant had proposed giving al-Moayad $2.5 million to divide between terror groups and al-Moayad's Yemeni charities. On the tape, al-Moayad describes his relationship with bin Laden as limited to the days before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. "I sat with him before all these crises happened - a long time ago," al-Moayad said in Arabic. But the Yemeni cleric went on to describe ongoing relationships with a Hamas leader and other militants. He also talked of his support for the families of Islamic "martyrs."
Defense lawyers said Hamas is a legal group in Arab countries and al-Moayad's expressions of solidarity never rose to the level of supporting or conspiring to support terrorism, the crimes with which he is charged. "Arabic culture is on trial," al-Moayad attorney William Goodman said outside the courtroom. "Everybody knows somebody in Hamas who's living in their countries. Does that mean you're giving them material support? No." Al-Moayad and his joy boylover assistant and co-defendant, Mohammed Mohsen Yahya Zayed, were extradited to the United States after the four-day sting operation in Frankfurt in January 2003.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:36:41 AM ||
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A CHILD, three Abu Sayyaf bandits, and two government soldiers were killed following an encounter on the island province of Sulu on Tuesday, a military spokesman said. The child, hurt in the crossfire, was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, Lieutenant Colonel Buenaventura Pascual said.
One of the slain bandits was identified as Padiwan Tarsim while those on the government side were identified as Private First Class Ruel Abrenica and Private Eddie Dalipas, Pascual said. Another male child and two soldiers, identified only as Technical Sergeant Tabunicao and Private First Class Marcos, were injured and were brought to the Southern Command (SouthCom) Hospital, he said.
While on pursuit operations in barangay (village) Kapok Pungol, Maimbung town at aroud 6 a.m., soldiers from the 53rd Infantry Battalion engaged some 60 Abu Sayyaf bandits in a two-hour firefight, Pascual said. Three M16 rifles and two M203 grenade launchers were recovered from the scene, Pascual said. The clash came amid the government's intensified counter-terrorist offensives in Mindanao.
This article starring:
PADIWAN TARSIM
Abu Sayyaf
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:48:25 AM ||
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From Jihad Unspun, a statement from Al-Qaida
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the helper of the believers and the humiliator of the Kafirs and peace and prayer be upon the one who was sent with the sword ahead of Judgement day. Your brothers in Al-Qaida organization in Mousel have carried the following operations, Sunday, 20 Tzualhejjah, 1425 (30-01-2005):
• Destroying an American Tank in Somer neighborhood
• Shelling a voting center in Al-Wehda neighborhood using 60 mm mortar rounds
• Shelling the same center again in the afternoon
• Destroying an American Humvee and a pick up vehicle belonging to the Iraqi army near Al-Salam hospital
• Attacking the voting center in Al-Nahrawan neighborhood with machine guns and mortar rounds
• Attacking the voting center in Andalus neighborhood
• Attacking the voting center in Palestine neighborhood
Praise and thanks to Allah for giving us victory against His enemy.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/02/2005 11:35:22 PM ||
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#1
A few laughs for the Late Night crowd? Why post a story at 11:35? Wait 25 minutes and let the other 98% enjoy it.
Caught via Kerry Spot on NRO
ISTANBUL, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Turkish bomb disposal experts have defused a 4 kg (8 lb) bomb found at a bar next to an airbase in southern Turkey used by U.S. forces, the CNN Turk Web site and other media said on Wednesday.
It said the home-made explosives, studded with nails and containing powdered potassium, were found in the garden at the entrance to the bar near the Incirlik Air Base.
Workers at the bar spotted the package containing the explosives on Tuesday night and informed paramilitary police who cleared the premises.
They called police bomb disposal experts who defused the bomb and took it to a laboratory for examination. State-run Anatolian news agency said that, based on eyewitness accounts, police are looking for a man and a woman in connection with the explosives.
Police were not immediately available for comment.
Kurdish separatists, far leftist groups and Islamic militants have all carried out bomb attacks in Turkey in the past. More than 60 people were killed in a series of suicide bomb attacks in Istanbul in November 2003. Officials have said militants linked to al Qaeda were responsible for those attacks.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2005 11:00:31 PM ||
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GAZA - Palestinian security forces found and destroyed a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip border city of Rafah used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian areas, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. It marked the first time since President Mahmoud Abbas took office that Palestinian security forces have acted against the tunnels, which Israel repeatedly tries to locate and destroy during raids on Rafah, which abuts the border with Egypt.
The announcement of the tunnel uncovering comes amid renewed signs of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on security matters aimed at restoring calm to the Palestinian areas after years of violence.
A top Israeli defence official said the sides have agreed to set up a joint committee to decide which militants on Israel's "wanted" list will still be pursued. The official, Amos Gilad, told Israel Army Radio that the formation of the committee did not mean Israel was granting clemency to the wanted men, but was freezing its hunt for them. The formation of the committee, which will likely meet for the first time next week, was agreed on at a meeting Monday night between Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan.
However, Israel's participation in the committee still needs to be approved by a special ministerial-level forum, which is due to convene Thursday.
According to the Ha'aretz daily, under the emerging arrangements Israel will agree not to harm wanted men in the West Bank and Gaza Strip who hand in their weapons to the Palestinian Authority, sign a commitment not to get involved in any more attacks, remain in their home towns and agree to monitoring by PA security.
And of course you can honor the word of a Hamas terrorist.
An official from Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency will head the Israeli members of the team, which will also include representatives from the Israeli army and the Justice Ministry. The Palestinian side will be made up of Palestinian security officials.
Who were last week's "militants".
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2005 10:41:02 AM ||
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#1
"Anybody got an old, collapsing tunnel we could toss the Jews as a sop?..."
#5
Even IF mojo is right, its still important - it acknowledges that this is what the PA needs to do, and that the tunnels were a legitimate problem. As Bill Buckley said, "hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue"
You know how much I hate giving a frog credit for anything, but who would know more about hypocirsy?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/02/2005 12:02 Comments ||
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#7
Liberalhawk, when they destroy 10 tunnels in systematic fashion over some period of time, then I would be inclined to believe this is not just a token gesture.
OTOH, it may be in Abbas interest to prevent illegal smuggling of weapons in order to consolidate his power. He may be even genuinly interested in creating a functioning society, at least to some degree. It has to be seen, but he may have to be ruthless in supression of Hamas and other jihadi outlets. It would be a tough call with Gaza, though, as it seems to be firmly in Hamas hands.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2005 15:49 Comments ||
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#13
BA, Egyptians realize that recent Hamas victory spells potential AQ presence. Mubarak has no love lost for jihadis, they are threat to him as well.
Egyptians were reluctant to take Gaza back after the last war (it was offered), but if things go out of hand, they may have no choice, with a tacit Israel's support.
Of course, they don't like things blowing up on their territory, so at least a degree of policing the border is definitely in order. It may be a rationale for the current deployment, but with Israel's withdrawal from Gaza strip... I dunno. I wouldn't be surprised if the anexation by Egypt sometime in the near future is in cards.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2005 16:23 Comments ||
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#16
Sobiesky, I don't see the Egyptians annexing Gaza. I DO see them copying the Israeli wall on the Gaza-Egypt border. Let the Paleos seethe in pieces peace, they'll say, and if any of them sumbitches lob a mortar shell into Egypt, expect all hell to break loose.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2005 17:25 Comments ||
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#17
Panackes, Butter, Syrup, MMMMMM. I'll have some bacon on the side please.
ALGIERS, Algeria, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Algerian troops killed four Muslim fundamentalists whose whereabouts were tipped by imprisoned accomplices, reports said Wednesday. The French-language daily Le Soir d'Algerie said the operation took place Tuesday in Jabal Hadidi in Saada province 380 kilometers (237 miles) west of Algiers. Imprisoned gunmen revealed the hideout of accomplices who were chased and killed by the army, which also seized guns and ammunition, the paper said. Last month, the army killed five gunmen from the same group in the same region.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2005 9:40:08 AM ||
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The word "hero" is tossed around so casually these days that it has almost lost its meaning. Then comes the story of Army Sgt. Paul Smith, who reminds us what a real hero is. The 33-year-old soldier from Tampa was killed April 4 after valiantly fending off an Iraqi assault on his command post.
Sgt. Smith was featured on my blog on April 22, 2003. He is one of the American Heroes whose stories I have collected.
His family has been notified that President George Bush will award him, posthumously, the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery, truly above and beyond the call of duty.
The story of Paul Smith should send chills down your spine. In the face of overwhelming odds, at the cost of his own life, he made a stand that saved his outgunned and outnumbered unit from certain annihilation. In a battle that should be recounted in every Basic Training class from now until the sun dies of old age, Sgt. Smith fought the enemy, exposed to their fire, and killed dozens. Surprised by an attack in an area thought to be clear, he took charge, reacted, and held the line. His stand was effective. The remaining enemy, their numbers cut nearly in half, fled the battle. Sgt. Smith was found, mortally wounded, with the enemy dead piled in front of him.
"Paul is not forgotten," she said. "He's part of history now. It makes me feel proud, so honored that I was allowed to be part of Paul's life. Even today he's probably laughing at all of us, saying "You're making way too big a deal out of me.'
"He did what he had to do to protect his men, not to get a medal."
#1
Thanks. Thanks for Sgt. Smith and his sacrifice. Thanks for honoring him by sharing this. Many God stand by his family.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/02/2005 10:15 Comments ||
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#2
Thank you Sgt Smith from myself my Department and my wife and 4 children. You went off and valiantly defended us and we can't praise and thank you enough.
Two US soldiers have pleaded guilty to charges of abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. Sgt Javal Davis admitted assault, making a false statement and also dereliction of duty, at the military court hearing in Fort Hood, Texas. His plea is part of a deal with prosecutors on the eve of his trial. In a separate hearing also in Fort Hood, Spc Roman Krol pleaded guilty to conspiracy and maltreating inmates. He was sentenced to 10 months in jail. Sgt Davis was a guard at the Abu Ghraib prison for three months in late 2003. On Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to two additional charges - maltreatment of inmates and conspiracy to maltreat the detainees. Sgt Davis faces up to eight-and-a-half years behind bars, but his deal with the prosecution could cap his possible sentence at 18 months, military officials said. The latest two guilty pleas bring to six the number of US soldiers who have admitted their guilt in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse case. Two other US soldiers face trial.
Including our girl, Lynndie England
Spc Charles Graner - regarded as the ringleader of the abuse scandal - was sentenced to 10 years in jail earlier this month in the first court martial.
I knew they'd fold after he was found guilty.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2005 9:11:34 AM ||
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#2
Why are they pleading guilty when this is all the fault of Bush and his evil adminstration? All they were doing was following orders by those unknown CID people. It was the Gonzales memo, Tom Ridge, Condi, Haliburton, Shell Oil, Disneyland, and the rest of the right wing cabal! "Man I hate Republicans and everything they stand for."
Posted by: Hollowing Howard Dean ||
02/02/2005 12:54 Comments ||
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January "Crossfire" Report
Fifty-eight people were killed at the hands of law enforcers last month, of them, 55 alone were killed in 'crossfire' involving various law enforcing agencies including RAB, Cheetah, Cobra and police, said the monthly report of Odhikar. Odhikar, a human rights coalition, in its report also said 41 people were killed and 697 injured in political violence last month. A total of 304 persons were arrested during the period. The Odhikar report, prepared on the basis of reports published in leading 12 national dailies, observed that the rise in political and other killings in 'crossfire' last month reflected the 'much-worsened human rights conditions in the country'.
According to the report, three people of the 58 people killed in the last month were tortured to death in custody across the country. One of them was killed in RAB custody in the city while two others were killed in police custody at Khulna and Jamalpur. 55 people were killed in 'crossfire'. Of them, 14 were killed in crossfire with the Rapid Action Battalion, 38 in 'crossfire' with police and three with anti-crime outfits Cheetah and Cobra. Of these 55 people, 12 were killed in crossfire in the city and on its outskirts and the rest 43 people were killed across the country.
A total of eight journalists were injured and 11 were assaulted while on duty. Besides, cases were filed against four newsmen and four received threats from different quarters, the Odhikar report mentioned, adding that in the same period 50 women and children were raped and of them, 13 were killed after rape. On the other hand, three children and five women sustained acid burn injuries during the period.
RAB arrests listed criminal at Sabugbagh
A team of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-3) arrested a listed criminal from Sabujbagh under Sabugbagh thana in the city and recovered arms and ammunition from his possession in the small hours of yesterday. The arrested was identified as Shah Alam (30), an accused in 13 cases with Sabujbagh police station.
According to the RAB sources, a squad of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-3) arrested a notorious criminal in a drive conducted in a house belonging to Rashid at North Manda under Sabujbagh police station and recovered five cocktails from his possession at around 12.45 am yesterday. Later, following his confessional statement, the RAB team recovered a revolver and two rounds of bullet from his bed room.
What, he didn't have a cadre of friends lurking under his bed to shoot it out with the cops?
Two cases were filed with Sabujbagh police station against the criminal in this connection. People of Sabujbagh police station brought out a procession hailing the arrest of the dreaded criminal.
12 activists of Jamayatul Mujahedin arrested in Natore
Feb 1 : Police arrested 12 members of Jamayatul Mujahedin from a mosque in Sadar Upazila late Monday night. Police said that, acting on a tip-off, they raided the Pirganj Shudhapara mosque at about 2:45am and arrested the members of the outlawed Islamic group.
They are Shahidul Islam (58), Anwarul Islam (37), Alauddin (45), Forman Ali (30), Mohammad Ali (20), Nurul Islam (22), Abdur Razzak (28), Ishaq Ali (50), Rafiqul Islam (19), Mokhlesur Rahman (36), Ahsan Habib (22) and Abdul Baki (35).
They were all from Dostonabad, Hashimpur, Majhipara, Shadhupara and Halsha villages in the Sadar upazila.
"There was an information that they were training in the mosque. But, on preliminary interrogation, the suspected persons said they were doing exercise," said a police officer.
"No, no, we're not training! This is just a exercise class, we were working out to the new Jihadercise video......"
However, they later admitted that they were involved with Jamayatul Mujahedin, the sources said. Police went to their village homes to investigate today (Tuesday) when the family members admitted that they were members of the extremist outfit.
Of the arrested persons, Ahsan Habib was arrested from rail-station area in the town last year for wall writing on behalf of the Jamayatul Mujahedin. Police said that they were continuing interrogation for further clues.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/02/2005 8:45:18 AM ||
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#1
On the other hand, three children and five women sustained acid burn injuries during the period.
U.S. commanders in Iraq are tracking terror attacks with special attention this month to see whether Sunday's historic elections will take some steam out of the insurgency.
A senior diplomat in Baghdad said to look for a "long-term" diminishing effect on the enemy, but made no prediction of an immediate reduction in bombings.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi yesterday started easing security measures that blunted suicide attacks and allowed relatively safe voting by 8 million Iraqis. The interim government condensed curfew hours, and removed some restrictions on private vehicles and border crossings.
The Bush administration is watching to see whether violence spikes to the pre-election rate of 70 to 80 daily attacks. A key Bush ally on Capitol Hill said it is hard to predict the postelection response of the insurgents.
"I think it requires knowing the mind-set of folks who heretofore have been very difficult to predict," said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, California Republican.
Mr. Hunter said the insurgents' constant attacks have toughened the Iraqi security forces so crucial to the U.S. administration's exit strategy.
"Because [Iraqi forces] have been struck so often in the buildup [to the elections], it has turned raw recruits into combat veterans," the congressman said. "These people have had to be involved in nearly every firefight."
"I think there are going to be bombs going off in some degree for a long time in Iraq, even when Americans are totally gone," he added. "Iraq has it within its capability to produce a military that can protect the government and protect the infrastructure and move forward."
A U.S. diplomat in Baghdad said that although the elections' short-term effect on the insurgents in not known, "these elections will have a significant long-term effect, in the positive sense, on the insurgency."
There were 270 attacks on election day, most of which targeted polling places, the U.S. diplomat said. Yet the insurgents were not able to capture any voting station or kidnap any election workers.
"What was significant about these attacks was the low degree of lethality," the official said. "There were very low casualties for that number of attacks."
The hope in Washington is that Saddam Hussein loyalists will see the elections as Iraq's unstoppable move toward a permanent democracy and will decide to give up the insurgency and join the government.
"At least preliminarily the overtures have been made by Allawi and others to bring the Sunnis into participation," Mr. Hunter said. Most of the insurgents, like Saddam, are Sunni Muslims in a nation with a Shi'ite majority.
But the diplomat in Baghdad cautioned, "We have very little insight into the very diverse leadership" of the insurgency.
U.S. troops played a background role in protecting the elections, letting Iraqi security forces guard about 5,000 polling places while Americans patrolled at a distance. The U.S. goal this year is to turn virtually all counterinsurgency missions over to the Iraqis.
"This election was carried on the shoulders of the American military," Mr. Hunter said. "Rarely has there been an illustration of the direct relationship between American military power and a payoff of freedom that was reflected in the voting. Those people would never be putting those ballots in the boxes if it wasn't for the American military and a fellow named George Bush."
An Islamic Web site linked to the al Qaeda terror network yesterday posted a statement labeling the elections "theatrics" and vowing to continue a "holy war" against the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, the Associated Press reported.
"If I were an insurgent, I would be really bitterly disappointed," the U.S. diplomat said. "I certainly wouldn't conclude I should surrender. I would conclude that I have to show I'm still a player."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:28:35 AM ||
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EFL (alternate headline: Majority of Iraqis: Sunni Clerics Illegitimate
Iraq's leading Sunni Muslim clerics said Wednesday the landmark elections lack legitimacy because large numbers of Sunnis did not participate in the balloting — which the clerics had asked them to boycott. OK, I get it. If you take your marbles home, the other kids don't get to play either
Emboldened by the elections, which U.S. and Iraqi authorities cited as a victory for democracy, the police chief in Mosul demanded the insurgents hand over weapons within two weeks or he would "wipe out" anyone giving them shelter.Now we're talkin'
Large numbers of majority Shiite Muslims and Kurds took part in Sunday's election for a new National Assembly and regional parliaments. Although no results or turnout figures have been released, U.S. officials say turnout appeared much lower in Sunni areas where the insurgent (sic)is strongest.
In its first statement since the balloting, the Association of Muslim Scholars said the balloting lacked legitimacy because of low Sunni participation. The Association called months ago on Sunnis to shun the polls because of the presence of U.S. and other foreign troops. Election that is only possible because of presence of US troops must be shunned because of presence of US troops -- the logic that brought you the world's most dysfunctional and dangerous societies
Iraqi officials acknowledge voting problems, including a ballot shortage in Baghdad, Basra and Mosul which have substantial Sunni populations. Election boycott leading to ballot shortage? Huh? Perhaps the need to sneak ballots into polling places in some 'hoods, thanks to criminal violence tolerated/abetted by key Sunni community leaders, complicated distribution?
With many Sunnis having stayed away, a ticket endorsed by the Shiite clergy is expected to gain the biggest number of seats in the 275-member National Assembly, followed by the Kurds and a list headed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite. Sunnis staying away -- the extent of which still isn't known -- wasn't needed for the Shi'ite lists to dominate -- duh
In its statement, the Association said the election "lacks legitimacy because a large portion of these people who represent many spectra have boycotted it." As a result, the Association said the new leadership lacked a mandate to draft a new constitution and should be considered a temporary administration. These nitwits are almost as dim as western media and politicians -- it IS a "temporary administration," fuckwits -- try reading the Transitional Administrative Law under which the poll was held. Geez.
"We make it clear to the United Nations and the international community that they should not get involved in granting this election legitimacy because such a move will open the gates of evil," the statement said. My early candidate for statement of the year. A bunch of moral accomplices to murder in Iraq calling on their peers -- "the United Nations and the international community" -- to deny the process legitimacy. These guys are a laugh riot.
"We are going to respect the choice of those who voted and we will consider the new government — if all the parties participating in the political process agree on it — as a transitional government with limited powers." Whuh? After all the fulminations and idiocy, the white flag comes out? And once again, you morons, the process DOES call for consensus at every point, and it IS a transitional government -- lay off the al-Jazeera and BBC Arabic service and do your friggin' homework
In Mosul, police Gen. Mohammed Ahmed al-Jubouri offered amnesty to insurgents who handed over their weapons within two weeks, but promised tough action if they did not. In an interview with the provincial television station, al-Jubouri threatened "to wipe out any village that would hide weapons after the two-week period and shell any safe haven for the insurgents."
Long overdue, but welcome toughening of the approach. One hopes the mojo created by the election will be exploited quickly in this way across the country. The political pincer has prepared the battlefield for the military-police pincer to make some progress
Posted by: Verlaine in Iraq ||
02/02/2005 6:37:28 AM ||
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#2
Tough titty siad the kitty but the milks all gone.
What they are saying is that if they can't cheat and start with a 10 run lead they are going to take their ball and go home. Only now they realized that 1) they did not bring a ball to the game and the other players wont 'give' it to them and 2) the game will go on without them.
#3
Why, other than humor value, would anyone pay any attention to what this group says? It is roughly equivalent to listening to any number of US academic organizations whose views are colored by craniorectal inversion.
#4
The Sunnis are having a little two-year-old's temper tantrum for almost two years now. It's counterproductive to their own interests. At this point I don't much care if the Shiites and Kurds beat the hell out of the Sunnis -- electorally, governmentally, or literally. A public hanging for Saddam might help too. The Sunnis need to be shoved over a tipping point into the new reality.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/02/2005 9:42 Comments ||
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#5
Is this "Association of Muslim Scholars" different from the one they constantly referred to a while back, the "influential Association of Muslim Scholars"? Maybe is AoMS is a splinter of the iAoMS, that is so obviously not influential, that they didn't think it was right that they keep the name. In the future, we can hope that they settle on the name "inconsequential Association of Muslim Scholars."
Amar was 19, but he had the mind of a four-year-old. This handicap didn't stop the insurgency's hard men as they strapped explosives to his chest and guided him to a voting centre in suburban Al-Askan.
And before yesterday's sunrise in Baghdad, his grieving parents loaded his broken remains on the roof of a taxi to lead a sorrowful procession to the holy city of Najaf. There, they gave him a ceremonial wash, shrouded him in white cotton and buried him next to the shrine of Imam Ali, the founder of their Shiite creed.
On Sunday we witnessed an act of collective courage by an estimated 8 million Iraqis as they faced down terrorist threats of death and mayhem to vote in Iraq's first multi-party election in half a century.
But the election day story of Amar is from the other side of human behaviour - in a region where too many have knowingly volunteered for an explosive death in the name of their god. He was chosen because he didn't know.
He had Down syndrome or, as the Iraqis say, he's a mongoli, and when his parents, Ahmed, 42, and Fatima, 40, went to vote with their two daughters Amar was left in the family home.
They presume that in their absence he set out to fill his day as he always did - wandering the streets of the neighbourhood until, usually, a friend or neighbour would bring him home around dusk.
Al-Askan is a mixed and dangerous suburb. Yesterday the Iraqi police allowed The Age to advance only a few blocks into the area before ordering us out. The area around the family's home was the centre of a running gunfight between Shiites of the Al-Bahadel tribe and Sunnis of the Al-Ghedi tribe.
But one of Amar's cousins, a 29-year-old teacher who asked not to be named, retreated to a distracted state in which Iraqis often discuss death to tell their story as best they can. "They must have kidnapped him," he said. "He was like a baby. He had nothing to do with the resistance and there was nothing in the house for him to make a bomb. He was Shiite. Why bomb his own people?
"He was mindless, but he was mostly happy, laughing and playing with the children in the street. Now, his father is inconsolable; his mother cries all the time," the teacher said.
After voting at 7.30am, Amar's parents joined their extended family for a celebration that became a lunch of chicken and rice, soup and orange juice, at the home of a relative.
The sound of the explosion interrupted the party. But, the cousin said, it was assumed to be a mortar shell, a follow-up to the barrage across the city in the first hours of voting.
"Everyone was very happy and excited, but news came that a mongoli had been a bomber. Ahmed and Fatima became distressed and they raced home. They got neighbours to search and one of them identified Amar's head where it lay on the pavement and his body was broken into pieces.
"I have heard of them using dead people and donkeys and dogs to hide their bombs, but how could they do this to a boy like Amar?"
Apparently, Amar triggered the bomb before he got to the intended target. It exploded while he was crossing open ground.
Amar's father served in Saddam's army, but now he sells cigarettes in a street market in Al-Askan, an area of the city that also displayed bravery in the casting of votes on Sunday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:47:17 AM ||
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#1
Mongoli comes from Mongoloid, which refers to Asian appearance of the eyes in those with Down's Syndrome. In the olden days, such people were referred to as "Mongoloid Idiots", to differentiate from all the other types of subnormal intelligences.
A sad tale, indeed, but typical of Arab terrorists; The Palestinians have done the same.
#4
Just when you think they've hit bottom....they dig even further down. May there be a special place in hell for whoever convinced him to put the explosives on (I don't believe he understood what he was doing).
#6
They send a mentally handicapped child to do their bidding - these cowards who used this lad are the lowest form of scum and are destined for the worst depths of hades. There is no negotiation with these types of people. Islamo-facism needs to be exterminated w/extreme prejudice as soon as possible. I'm waiting to hear the peace pussies talk about tolerance and reaching out, fuck them to, whiney-assed enablers not worth a squirt of dog piss.
#8
According to John Kerry and Ted Kennedy these cowards deserve our 'understanding' and 'compassion'.
I know someone who has Downs. They wouldn't hurt a fly and these 'brave freedom-fighters' (according to Kerry/Kennedy) were to cowardly to do it themselves to they convince some poor kid.
Iraq began compiling election results from around the country on Tuesday and eased security measures surrounding its historic poll despite al Qaeda's vow to pursue "holy war" after failing to deter millions from voting.
Vote totals were being checked, then added up by computer after first tallies were completed by hand at polling stations nationwide and truckloads of ballots from Sunday's election were shipped under guard to Baghdad's fortified Green Zone.
The final results, expected to be released early next week, are certain to put Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority in power for the first time, marking a sea change in the nation's politics after eight decades of rule by minority Sunni Muslim Arabs.
Although Iraqis braved insurgent threats to stream to the polls in many places, turnout appeared low in the Sunni heartland where insurgents are strongest -- highlighting the dangerous sectarian rifts facing a new government.
Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has urged rival ethnic and religious groups to unite after the country's first multi-party vote in nearly half a century.
But al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, whose leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had threatened voters with death in a bid to wreck the election, said on Monday it would pursue its war against U.S.-led occupying forces and Iraqis working with them.
"We in the al Qaeda Organization for Holy War in Iraq will continue the jihad until the banner of Islam flutters over Iraq," said a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.
Despite the warning, authorities reopened Iraq's borders and flights resumed at Baghdad international airport.
The closures had been part of a security blitz, including an election day ban on civilian traffic and extended night-time curfews, credited with preventing insurgents from making good on their threat to turn the poll into bloodbath.
As the vote counting moved ahead, interim President Ghazi al-Yawar said some of the 170,000 foreign troops could begin leaving Iraq by the end of the year, a prediction already made by other Iraqi leaders as well as U.S. officials.
But Yawar said any drawdown of foreign forces would depend on how fast Iraq's nascent security services could be built up.
While the election day onslaught of suicide bombers and mortars was less bloody than expected, violence has persisted.
Two Iraqis were killed by a roadside bomb on Tuesday in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil.
Guerrillas also released a videotape on Monday purporting to show they had downed a British military plane with a missile near Baghdad in a crash that killed 10 people on Sunday -- Britain's highest death toll in a single incident in Iraq.
The video issued by the 1920 Revolution Brigades, showed an explosion, then smoldering debris of what looked like a plane on the ground. Defense analysts said the wreckage on the video looked authentic but other parts were less convincing. British officials declined immediate comment.
Late on Monday, U.S. guards shot dead four detainees during a riot at a military prison in southern Iraq. The riot raged for 45 minutes before the Americans opened fire to quell the disturbance, a military spokesman said.
Leaders around the world hailed Iraq's election, regardless of whether they had supported or opposed the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
War opponents France, Germany and Russia all praised Iraqis' bravery in voting and, in a sign of warming transatlantic ties, pledged to back U.S. efforts to restore stability.
In a televised speech, Allawi warned Iraqis violence had not ended just because the election had exceeded expectations and he urged rival factions to forge unity.
Allawi, who could be reappointed, is keen to build popular support after a poll in which election officials estimate 8 million Iraqis voted, confounding predictions many would be scared away by the insurgents' threats.
Shi'ites, about 60 percent of the population, are expected win the most seats in a 275-seat National Assembly, and officials in a broad Shi'ite-led coalition, the United Iraqi Alliance, have claimed a degree of victory.
Shi'ite leaders quickly declared they would bring the Sunni minority, dominant under Saddam, into the fold.
President Bush encouraged Iraq's leaders to ensure the Sunnis are in the political process, and the White House brushed aside Democratic calls for a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal. A mounting U.S. death toll has increased public pressure for a clearer exit strategy.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:17:55 AM ||
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#1
Don't look like it's working, Zarko. Better go kidnap another doll.
#2
Zarqawi is more finished than we realize. As long as he could terrorize the average Iraqi he could hide behind the people to orchestrate his madness. The open display of purple fingers was not just a message to the world, but a clear message to Mr. Z that the citizens of Iraq are not going to look the other way on his brutality anymore. You can pretend to be attacking Coalition Forces and Iraq Police but you cannot do so with eight million people standing in front of them. I suspect there are a lot of jhiadi running for the Syrian border right now.
Posted by: john ||
02/02/2005 10:56 Comments ||
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Abdelamir Najem Kazem, like all Iraqi policemen, had been warned to look out for the "clenched fist" sign of a suicide bomber.
But as he checked the man in a long black coat, he spotted a hand grenade and hurled him to the floor near a Baghdad polling station, according to Kazem's commanding officier.
Kazem and the bomber, who was believed to be Sudanese, were both killed on the spot outside a polling station in the Al-Yarmuk district of western Baghdad during Sunday's landmark election.
The world has hailed the courage of Iraqis in turning out to vote in the midst of insurgent attacks and threats. But Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has called Kazem "the real hero of Iraq."
It was one of nine suicide attacks carried out in Baghdad on Sunday for which the authorities had been preparing for months.
According to interior ministry officials, the clenched fist is a sign that a suspect could have a detonator in his hand—and a belt of explosives around his chest.
It was one of a few signs of an attack that police were told about. Officials are reluctant to divulge the others.
Kazem, who was 34 and unmarried, had been a policeman during the regime of Saddam Hussein
"He signed up again for the new police," said the officer in charge at the Al-Maamun police station, who gave his name as Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed, and refused to give his family name. The station covers the Al-Yarmuk district.
"He was very good," said the colonel.
Kazem had been in the first of three rings of security around the polling station when he saw the man in black.
"He asked for his papers and then started to search him. He saw a grenade, realised it was a human bomb and pushed him to the ground with all his strength," said the station commander, quoting witness accounts.
"He threw himself on top and the terrorist exploded the bomb he was carrying."
US generals and Interior Minister Falah Naqib have described the tactics used by the insurgents as "horrific".
The authorities suspect that one of the suicide attacks launched in Baghdad on Sunday was carried out by a mentally retarded youth. The attack in the poor Iskan neighbourhood of northwest Baghdad killed one person and injured several others.
Other bombs have been loaded on donkey carts, trucks and even animals.
The authorities say that banning vehicles from the streets of major cities on election day saved many lives. But there was little they could do to stop suicide attackers with bombs strapped to their bodies.
According to the interior ministry, 36 people died in election day suicide bomb and mortar attacks.
One suicide bomber killed seven people in western Baghdad. Another bomb destroyed a bus carrying Sunnis to a polling station, killing five people.
Naqib said a Syrian was killed by security forces and the Sudanese died in the Baghdad attack. A Yemeni, two Saudis and an Egyptian were arrested, he added.
According to an interior ministry source, a Chechen was also detained.
"The terrorists were defeated yesterday; the terrorists know they cannot win," Allawi said at a press conference on Monday at which he lauded Kazem.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:38:08 AM ||
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#1
I think there should be another stack of cards for Iraq. This time one for each Martyr of Democracy featuring the photo and bio of each of these police and security personnel killed by the terrorists.
Start distributing them on the security patrols, encouraging the kids to collect them all.
#4
Somehow I doubt that Mrs TW. Wherever good guys go in the beyond probably doesn't involve lots of virgins. Let's just salute him for what he did in the here and now.
#6
I hope Kazem's heroism becomes part of the new Iraqi folklore. Models of selfless heroism are invaluable to societies. Show great respect for them, and they are emulated. Allawi is right to draw attention to Kazem - and should do so repeatedly to speed the process.
#7
This might be an excellent time for Allawi or the incoming Govt to create an award, such as we have the Freedom Medal, and dedicate it to Kazem and his like-minded colleagues. The effect upon the Iraqi Police would be very positive - and allow them to nominate unknown fallen fellows who acted as Kazem and deserve recognition.
Sudanese security forces arrested a leader of the eastern-based Beja Congress party after he spoke to journalists about the shooting of demonstrators by police, another politician from the party said on Tuesday.
Government forces in Port Sudan fired on a crowd of demonstrators, mostly from the Beja tribe, on Saturday.
The death toll from the shootings now stands at 20, after two people died from their injuries overnight, hospital sources said on Tuesday. More than 40 people were injured.
Ahmed Mohamed Mokhtar, the president of the Beja Congress in Port Sudan, told Reuters by telephone that security forces had arrested the secretary-general of the party, Abdullah Moussa Abdullah, on Monday night.
Abdullah had spoken to the media extensively about the killings. State security in Port Sudan declined to comment on the arrest.
Government officials said the demonstrators were rioting and attacked police and armed forces, forcing them to retaliate by opening fire. But the chief of police said the protesters were not carrying guns.
Witnesses said the armed police burst into people's houses near the demonstration, attacking those inside.
The police chief denied government forces had entered people's homes, but a Reuters witness saw dozens of bullet holes, empty bullet canisters and bloodstained beds in many houses in the Beja area of Port Sudan.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 3:07:56 AM ||
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In a new advance in cooperation with US forces in Afghanistan, Pakistani troops have recently helped direct US artillery fire into Pakistan, a senior US officer said yesterday. ''That's a huge step forward," said Army Colonel Cardon B. Crawford, the director of operations for the US military command in Afghanistan. Pakistan has been a key US ally in the war on terrorism, including the hunt for Taliban and Al Qaeda figures who have found refuge in the border region with Afghanistan. But US combat troops have not operated inside Pakistan, and Crawford indicated that the Pakistani collaboration on US artillery strikes into Pakistan from Afghanistan was new.
''The Pakistanis have adjusted our artillery fire into the Pakistani side of the border to go after anti-coalition militia," he told reporters in Washington.
Crawford offered limited details about the artillery operations, but stressed that the Pakistani cooperation has been valuable, since there are no US troops on that side of the border. ''A howitzer will shoot, let's say five, six, 10 kilometers," he said, or up to six miles. ''There has to be somebody out there who says, 'Here's the target.' And when the round lands, he'll say ''go left, go right, go up, go down."
Lieutenant Colonel Pamela Keeton, spokeswoman for the US military command in Afghanistan, said later that the incident happened in early November and was mentioned in a US public statement Nov. 6. Keeton said militants were firing mortars or other projectiles at the Afghan town of Shkin in Paktika Province from a spot near the Pakistani town of Wana when Pakistani soldiers used US-supplied radios to call in adjustments to artillery fire from American forces on the Afghan side of the border. Keeton said this is the only time that US forces have fired artillery into Pakistani territory.
Citing another example of increased cooperation with Pakistan's military, Crawford said US forces are training Pakistani troops in how to execute air assault operations. He said the training was being done inside Pakistan but he was not more specific. Crawford also said ''there's a huge effort" to capture or kill Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in or near the Afghan-Pakistan border region. Crawford would not say whether US forces have come close to finding bin Laden, but he said Al Qaeda has ''no effective presence" inside Afghanistan now.
He also said there are signs of divisions within the Taliban leadership, and he suggested that the Afghan government is preparing a new plan that would be designed to ''widen the fissures" within the Taliban leadership. He declined to provide details. Some Taliban leaders, he said, ''are probably willing -- literally and figuratively -- to come in out of the cold" and become part of the Afghan political process.
UPDATE: "Nope, never happened, lies, etc..."
Pakistan strongly rejected claims by a top American military official that its forces helped U.S. troops in Afghanistan direct artillery fire at suspects on the Pakistani side of the border. "This is baseless and ridiculous, it has got no truth," Pakistani army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said on Wednesday in response to allegations by Colonel Cardon Crawford, director of operations for the U.S. Military command in Afghanistan.
Sultan also said that Pakistani troops were cooperating with U.S. forces based in the other side of the porous border but "it is a cooperation in terms of intelligence sharing." "It is not in terms of inviting their (coalition) fire onto our territory," Sultan said.
Pakistan carries out its own raids against rebels near the border and has killed about 500 Al-Qaeda-linked rebels in a series of operations in South Waziristan tribal area since last October, damaging Al-Qaeda hideouts and training camps. Islamabad is highly sensitive to claims that its army is under the United States control and has frequently denied any reports that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials and special forces are stationed in the tribal areas near Afghanistan.
"Those aren't CIA agents, they're, uh, Amway salesmen"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:30:20 AM ||
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#1
Have the Afghans been trained to use artillary?
#3
Keeton said this is the only time that US forces have fired artillery into Pakistani territory. I just wondered if the Afghan Army boyz have been firing the artillery since then. Think how much fun they could have... and the kinds of family problems they could cause with their cousins across the border :-)
A tribal militant died and two people were hurt on Tuesday when a bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely in the Pakistani city of Quetta, police said. Four people were hurt when another bomb damaged a train. The man who died was carrying a bomb on his motorscooter when the device exploded, Baluchistan police chief Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told reporters.
"Mahmoud! Look out for the [KABOOM!] . . .bump."
"He was involved in planting bombs in the city," he said, identifying him as a militant member of the Bugti tribe named Bahar Khan.
Kinda the Johnny Appleseed of explosives, y'might say...
"He himself has fallen victim of his own bomb."
My heart bleeds.
Police said two employees of a nearby shop were slightly hurt in the attack. Witnesses saw Khan's headless body lying in a pool of blood on the road.
"Lose 15 pounds of ugly fat in under one second!"
Another blast was heard a short time later in Quetta, but the cause could not immediately be confirmed.
Another bomb, perhaps? No. That couldn't be it...
A few hours earlier, a bomb planted by suspected tribal separatists exploded on a rail line leading out of Quetta, shattering windows on a passing train, police said. Two railway policemen and two employees of Pakistan Railways were slightly hurt by flying glass. Police said they suspected the attack was the work of Baluch militants seeking greater autonomy.
Or possibly the work of Baluch militants working for something else. They're pretty sure it was Baluch militants, though, unless it was Pashtun militants or somebody else.
The militants have been resisting central rule for decades but have stepped up activities in recent weeks with repeated attacks on state infrastructure, including railway lines. In the worst of the recent incidents, as many as 15 people died on Jan. 11 after tribesmen fired rockets at Pakistan's main gas field at Sui, about 400 km (250 miles) southeast of Quetta, cutting off supplies for more than a week.
In other incidents elsewhere in Pakistan on Tuesday, two bombs exploded in the southern province of Sindh, which adjoins Baluchistan, but caused no damage or casualties. One exploded near a police station in the southern city of Hyderabad and the second near a military housing estate in the town of Larkana. Police said it was unclear who was responsible. On Monday night, a bomb destroyed a section of rail line near Dera Ghazi Khan in the central province of Punjab, about 80 km (50 miles) from the Baluchistan border, but caused no injuries.
Last week railway authorities halted night train services in Baluchistan for security reasons. The province has been troubled for decades by small-scale tribal insurgency, but recent attacks have been unusually intense and the government rushed in extra troops to protect the vital gas field after the Jan. 11 attack. Analysts have warned the unrest could explode into a full-scale insurgency if not handled carefully. The government has not ruled out taking military action against tribesmen but at the same time has said it is seeking a political solution to the crisis.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 3:13:58 AM ||
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From Jihad Unspun, a statement from Al-Qaida
In The Name Of Allah, The Merciful And Beneficient. Oh God, help us hit the target and support our feet and efforts. Thanks be to God, the master of the Universe, the Victory Giver to the Monotheists,and peace and prayers be to the Prophet of the epic the Smiling and the Fighter Mohammad and on his family and companions many folds over. In the name of the One whose religion is the only one, the One whose messenger is Mohammad, let the unbelievers suffer from our strike as we did before. God the Merciful has it in His book that the best of the kill in his name that I believe in what He said.
This is a good omen to the nation of monotheism, the best of nations that came about to the people, until the issuance of this statement, 13 lions of the Tawhid Lions, in the brigade of martyrs, affiliated to the Al-Qaida, in the assisted country, they attacked the centers of the Kufr (unbelieving) in different areas of Iraq. The brigades of the Heros within the Organization of Jihad launched more than 30 missiles targeting the Green Zone and some voting centers. By the Grace of God, all the Sunna areas today, became hot areas for confrontation with the Crusaders and the Apostates and no voting happened there. The Tawhid Lions launched fierce battles in Mussul, Talafar(ph), Ramadi. Dialy(ph) and many of the areas in Baghdad. We give you the good tiding that by the grace of God we spoiled their partying, and we hit him where it hurts. However, there is a media blockage to all what is happening, and this is the usual habit of the Crusaders' media, so let the Tawhid brothers be happy with their martyrdom.
We also say to the agents of the Jews and Christians that this is a disgrace for you in this life, and in the hereafter there is a painful torture. So, be pleased with what will displease you, we have more of that for you tomorrow. So do what you want to do, you enemies of God, your plotting is not going to benefit you, we have God as our Lord and you are Godless, we are the soldiers of the merciful God and the followers of Mohammad. "They plot and God Plots, but God is the Best of Plotters, and the ones who did the injustices will see the end result of their own doing." Your brothers in Jihad Organization in the assisted country are going ahead in their struggle until the flag of Tawhid (Monotheism) rises high in the assisted country, so it is either victory or martyrdom.
We promise you tomorrow, God willing, that we will publish some of the names of martyrs, God is Great, God is Great, to Him we give thanks, to Him, is the Glory and to his Messenger and the Mujahideen.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/02/2005 12:21:39 AM ||
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#6
We give you the good tiding that by the grace of God we spoiled their partying,
Party poopers! and we hit him where it hurts.
That's below the belt. However, there is a media blockage
Is that like an intestinal blockage? Eewww! to all what is happening, and this is the usual habit of the Crusaders’ media, so let the Tawhid brothers be happy with their martyrdom.
Yes, be happy with your martyrdom. What? Oh that's right, you can't be happy, you're dead.
From Jihad Unspun, an excerpt from an article by By Muhammad Abu Nasr, Free Arab Voice
... an official of the Chaldean Church has issued highly extravagant claims about the sham election held at US insistence on Sunday, 30 January 2005. .... Monsignor Djibrail Kassab the Chaldean archbishop of al-Basrah told the Catholic Missionary News Agency MISNA that, "there were no reports of violence of any kind." Kassab went so far as to say that ... the mood was "almost as though it was Carnival."
In northern Iraq Father Mageeb Mekhail, the Dominican superior in Mosul claimed that "people in Mosul turned out to vote in a show of courage despite the many threats from terrorists." .... Mekhail joined his fellow priest in al-Basrah in claiming that the population "voted in a festive climate." .... Mekhail demonstrated that his sympathies are entirely with the invaders and their stooges when he concluded his praise of the election farce by once again slandering the Resistance as "terrorists" while making the incredible claim that the theatricals showed that the country still under direct American military occupation is "free." ....
Naturally the sentiments of such church authorities must not be mistaken for the views of the overwhelming majority of Iraqis, including those of the Christian faith, who denounce foreign aggression and occupation, and who certainly are not interested in serving as its lackeys. The pro-American priests' statements show, however, that ... some of those institutions ... allow themselves to serve as mouthpieces for imperialist invaders.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/02/2005 12:15:30 AM ||
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#1
No "mountains of bodies" and no "rivers of blood". This election has really pissed the jihadi wankers off. Life is hard. It's a lot harder if your stupid. It's fucking impossible if you're so full of shit you're deaf, dumb, and blind to boot. Bad luck, boyz. As the Thais say, "chart nah" -- maybe next life.
US troops in Iraq shot dead four detainees on Monday during a riot at the main US prison camp for guerrilla suspects, near the Kuwaiti border while a final vote count cast began on Tuesday at the national centre for the Iraqi elections. The final results were not expected for at least another week, the independent electoral commission announced. US officers said six prisoners were also wounded in the violence, which affected hundreds of men at Camp Bucca on the day after Iraqis voted in their first free election in decades.
There were no serious injuries among the Americans during 45 minutes of rioting, Lt Col Barry Johnson said. Troops shot the four dead with rifles after failing to quell rock-throwing rioters with plastic pellets fired from shotguns. "We're not sure exactly what sparked it. There's no obvious connection with the election. We're not sure if that had anything to do with it," Johnson, a spokesman for the US military detentions operation in Iraq, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder if they were rioting because they were being deprived of the the opportunity to vote ;-)
#6
The Army NG unit that had been guarding at Bucca was replaced a couple weeks ago by another outfit (USAF, I think), and I wonder if the prisoners were testing their new keepers to see what they could get away with.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/02/2005 17:30 Comments ||
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#7
I am wondering if they went to wood baton rounds, Those will kill if they make a direct hit at a close range.
Interim President Ghazi al-Yawar said Tuesday a Shia Muslim would almost certainly head Iraq's next government but rejected any permanent division of top posts between rival ethnic groups. Yawar added to growing signals from leading politicians that at least a tacit agreement has been reached on how the top posts will be shared out after Sunday's landmark elections. The current interim administration has a Shia Muslim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, a Sunni Muslim president, Yawar, and Shia and Kurdish vice presidents, Ibrahim Jaafari and Rowsch Shaways, respectively.
Yawar said he believed the ethnic shareout would "remain the same" for the post-election government that must oversee the drawing up of a new constitution, with the Kurds also being given the post of national assembly speaker. "This is my hunch for the time being during the transitional parliament," Yawar told a press conference, while insisting it should not become a permanent arrangement. "I hope this will not be the case in the permanent constitution because this would be really shameful in a country like Iraq to have division like this."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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A Web site posted a photograph of what it claimed was a kidnapped U.S. soldier, but doubts were quickly raised about its authenticity and the U.S. military said no soldiers were missing. A toy manufacturer said the figure in the photo resembled one of its military action figures, originally produced for sale at U.S. bases in Kuwait. . . . The photo in the posting showed a figure dressed in desert camouflage fatigues, wearing a vest and knee pads and with a gun pointed to its head. All the items are similar to ones that come in a box with the action figure, named ``Cody.''
The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless, and the statement said he was named ``John Adam.'' Liam Cusack, of the toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA, inc., said the image of the soldier portrayed in the photo bore a striking resemblance to the African-American version of its ``Cody'' action figure. ``It is our doll ... to me it definitely looks like it is,'' Cusack told The Associated Press. ``Everything the guy is wearing is exactly what comes with our figure.'' He said the figures were ordered by the U.S. military in Kuwait for sale in their bases, ``so they would have been in region.''
Posted by: sludj ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
The NYT still lists the possibility that it's genuine soldier and only notes that the toy has a "similar stare!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/02/2005 2:46 Comments ||
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#2
How disappointed the NY Times, NPR, ec must be that this is not a US soldier. Liberals love dead Americans, especially dead American military...
#4
I'm starting to wonder if this "Islamist web site" might have been a put-on concocted to get exactly the result it has: making fools of the gullible MSM.
The terrorists are desperate and stupid, but for real stupidity you need the Associated Press.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/02/2005 6:26 Comments ||
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Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/02/2005 7:26 Comments ||
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#7
In a general way, I think it should be more embarrassing than Rathergate. There is not a soul alive that saw that picture who did not immediately think, "that looks strange". Yet multiple sources ran with it...NYT, AP, Guardian and the usual suspects.
They've been clinging to the fact that, unlike bloggers, their news is reliable. Yet the blogs picked instantly what they chose to ignore. Those that ran with it, shredded any remaining credibility that had on this point and the humor aspect of this will be used as the ultimate conversation ender to their claims of credibility.
They should have known that - but they traded it all away in their glee to get an image of a "captured soldier" out there.
#8
Xactly, 2b, one of these preciousssss moments. The Rathergate was a serious business, some people stil may hold them somewhat credible, based on their level of BDS. But boy, this makes a laughing stock outta these elcubo media. Marvellous.
#9
I can't believe Jesse Jackson hasn't gotten involved and offered to negotiate Cody's release. Cody *is* a brother after all. What ever happened to Afro-American solidarity? The Old Jesse would never miss an opportunity to stick it to The Man.
And while we are asking questions, why hasn't President Bush spoken out against this vile crime? It has been nearly 24 hours and not a word from the White House. Enquiring, but deranged minds want to know!
Battalion S2 guy to Battalion XO: I bet you $20 I could take a photo of this action figure I got for my son, make it look like a hostage with a jihadi backdrop, and email it in to that Jihadi webmaster we've been watching and by noontime in the USA it will be all over the world.
#12
I suspect there is a connection between Rathergate and Codygate that hasn't been revealed yet:
Mary Mapes: "And Cody, isn't it true that these are genuine Texas Air National Guard documents?"
Cody: (nods imperceptibly)
Mary Mapes: "And Cody, isn't it true that the Texas Air National Guard was equipped with futuristic typewriters that perfectly imitated software that hadn't been developed yet?"
Cody: (nods imperceptibly)
Mary Mapes: "Thank you, Cody, for verifying these documents."
#15
It may be funny now, but just wait till the AP reports that the jihadists have captured an American woman along with her pink convertible and pony.
Two suspected insurgents were killed when a bomb they were trying to plant on a key highway in northeastern Afghanistan exploded, an official said Monday. The pair, who had Afghan identity papers, were killed while placing a bomb on a road which links the eastern city of Jalalabad to Kunar province, said Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. "During the investigation police found Afghan identities and voting cards in their pockets," Mashal said. The two seemed to have used their voter cards in last year's presidential election, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Tribal gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in Balochistan on Tuesday, killing five people and injuring two others, police said. Police linked the attack to business rivalry between two groups vying for control over a bus route in the town of Dera Murad Jamali, about 288 kilometres south of Quetta. "Five people were killed and two wounded when gunmen from a rival party opened fire at a passenger bus," provincial police chief Chaudhry Yaqoob said. "The incident is an outcome of rivalry between two local transporter groups." There had been no arrests, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Police linked the attack to business rivalry between two groups vying for control over a bus route in the town of Dera Murad Jamali, about 288 kilometres south of Quetta.
There was tension in parts of Karachi and business was closed after unidentified motorcyclists attacked the office of the Sunni Tehrik (ST) and injured three of its activists in the Bohra Pir area late on Monday, police said on Tuesday. Police said injured Muhammad Sameer, Muhammad Shakil and Muhammad Ashfaq were taken to hospital. Tension continued on Tuesday and protesters burnt tyres and threw stones at vehicles. They pressed medical stores and other business to close down in Garden, Ranchhore Line, Eidgah, Jama Cloth Market, MA Jinnah Road, Kharadar, Mithadar, Tower, Urdu Bazaar, Aaram Bagh and other localities. Large police contingents and Rangers have been deployed in the area. The ST alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) attacked its office. The MQM and ST workers clashed in the Garden and adjoining areas including Ranchhore Line, Bohra Pir and Kharadar in the last two months.
This article starring:
MUHAMAD ASHFAQ
Sunni Tehrik
MUHAMAD SAMIR
Sunni Tehrik
MUHAMAD SHAKIL
Sunni Tehrik
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Gunmen killed a PML-N leader in North Waziristan Agency, a tribal elder said on Tuesday. Shariat Khan, 35, was killed by assailants wearing masks late on Monday in Miranshah, agency headquarters of North Waziristan Agency. He was the president of PML-N's North Waziristan chapter. The tribal elder said that Khan had previously received threats from militants who suspected him of spying on them for Pakistan and the United States. However, the political administration denied that he was a government informant. Two pro-government tribal elders have been gunned down in South Waziristan in little more than a week. On Saturday, unidentified gunmen killed Hayatullah and on January 22 Ibrahim Mehsud.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
.45 to the back of the head? Messsssy
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2005 10:01 Comments ||
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#2
Leaves no room for doubt, however ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2005 10:43 Comments ||
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In view of the surging violence in Pakistan, law enforcement agencies have tightened security for clerics. Jamaatul Dawat has gone one-step further and has installed close circuit cameras at its central headquarters situated at Link road, Chuburji. Meanwhile, security at the Jamaatud Dawat headquarters in Mansoora has been increased and the number of security guards at the residences of prominent Jamaat ud Dawat figures has also been increased.
How very solicitous. Hafiz Saeed must feel so secure...
Acting upon reports by security agencies, Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, the provincial minister for Religious Affairs, has limited his movements. The Home Ministry has also assigned more security personnel to him. Police authorities have revised the city's security arrangements in view of recent blasts at Quetta station and at the railway rest house at Sohrab Station, Larkana. Chaudhry Ahmed Naseem, the inspector general of Railway Police, told Daily Times that the number of commando escorts in trains had been increased especially on the Sindh and Balochistan routes. He said that all of the Pakistan Railway Police (PRP) staff was being deputed to protect key railway points and installations. He added that meetings with the district police had been held in this regard to ensure track patrols. "Warning boards have been put up to create public awareness", he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Henna to hide the grey -- how terribly old fashioned.
Hold the old whip hand, do they? I notice it's not bureaucrats who're being bumped off lately...
Clerics in Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Tuesday demanded the government provide them security otherwise they would not cooperate with it during Muharram. Qari Sher Afzal, central secretary of the Jammiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), at a press conference said the killings of religious leaders had increased in recent months and unidentified men had even tried to kill Dr Ghazi Abdur Rashid recently.
Ghazi packs a rod, so he got away. The assailants will prob'ly remember that next time...
He said that if the Islamabad police would not apprehend the people who tried to kill Mr Ghazi, then the clerics would not cooperate with the police during Muharram. "The ulema are under serious threat and the government should provide security to them or issue them licences for guns to protect themselves," he said. The clerics also demanded the government compensate 60 families of people who were killed in Gilgit even though a curfew had been imposed there. They also demanded the immediate release of Qari Saifullah Akhtar, Qari Ahmed Khan, Noor Badshah and Hafiz Muhammad Sadiq, who were arrested by law enforcement agencies under suspicion of involvement in the suicide attack on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz last year. They said these people were innocent and had no links with terrorists.
"Certainly not. I know them well."
This article starring:
HAFIZ MUHAMAD SADIQ
al-Qaeda
NUR BADSHAH
al-Qaeda
QARI AHMED KHAN
al-Qaeda
QARI SAIFULAH AKHTAR
al-Qaeda
QARI SHER AFZAL
Jammiat Ulema Islam-Fazl
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Nawab Akbar Bugti, chief of the Bugti tribe, said on Tuesday that Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's claims of dismantling security checkpoints in the Sui and Dera Bugti areas were incorrect, BBC reported. Nawab Bugti alleged that the government was not creating a suitable atmosphere, but was ruining the dialogue process by reinforcing the army, Rangers and FC in the Sui and Dera Bugti areas, it added. Meanwhile, Shahid Bugti, son of Nawab Akbar Bugti, said on Tuesday that government institutions had worsened the situation in Balochistan to such an extent that talks were now impossible, a private TV channel reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Bomb explosions cut electricity to Balochistan, plunging the entire province into darkness late on Tuesday, BBC Urdu Service reported. The report said that high-tension power supply line was blown up by sudden bomb attacks in Sibbi at about 9:15 pm. "The electricity tower was blown up in Sibi and power supply to two-thirds of the province has been cut off," a Balochistan government official said. "This was the last power supply line after two power transmission lines were blown up earlier this month and now we have no means to supply power. The repair will take some time," a Water and Power Development Authority official told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#2
Seems to be a lot of action in Pakwackyland these days. I love it when they soil their own nest. Too bad we can't build a fence around the place and just let them blast away at each other.
Bangladesh detained five suspects, including two members of the ruling party, over a grenade attack that killed a former finance minister and four opposition members, police said yesterday. Former Finance Minister Shah Mohammad Kibria, his nephew and three other opposition members were killed in last Thursday's blast. Kibria, a 74-year-old diplomat-turned-lawmaker, had just completed a speech at a rally in Habiganj, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northeast of the capital, Dhaka, when the attack took place. The carnage triggered violent anti-government protests across the country. A police official said on condition of anonymity that five suspected had been detained, including two local leaders from Bangladesh's governing coalition led by Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. He did not elaborate.
Off the top of my head, my guess would be that they're from the Islamist half of the coalition...
Two Interpol officials arrived Monday to assist in the investigation, and Bangladesh has asked the United States for additional help, officials said. Meanwhile, the opposition Awami League and its other political allies planned a national general strike tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday to protest the killing. No one has claimed responsibility for the grenade attack, but the opposition has blamed the government and has demanded that it resign and call elections. The government has denied involvement and vowed to remain in power until its five-year term expires in 2006. The strike on Sunday will coincide with a regional summit of South Asian leaders in Dhaka, but the government is determined to push ahead with the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2005 00:00:00 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.
Islamist Sheikh 
Authorities have detained a suspect they believe may have taken part in the deadly hostage-taking raid on a school in the southern Russian town of Beslan last September, the Interfax news agency reported. The suspect was detained by police and security officers in Ingushetia, adjacent to North Ossetia, the region where the attack took place, Interfax reported, citing an unnamed source in the headquarters of Russia's campaign against militants in Chechnya and surrounding areas.
A Yemeni sheik accused of funding terrorist organizations boasted of his ties to Osama bin Laden and Palestinian militant leaders on surveillance tapes played Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court. "He used to say that I'm his sheik," 
GAZA - Palestinian security forces found and destroyed a tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip border city of Rafah used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian areas, Palestinian officials said Wednesday. It marked the first time since President Mahmoud Abbas took office that Palestinian security forces have acted against the tunnels, which Israel repeatedly tries to locate and destroy during raids on Rafah, which abuts the border with Egypt.
The French-language daily Le Soir d'Algerie said the operation took place Tuesday in Jabal Hadidi in Saada province 380 kilometers (237 miles) west of Algiers. Imprisoned gunmen revealed the hideout of accomplices who were chased and killed by the army, which also seized guns and ammunition, the paper said. Last month, the army killed five gunmen from the same group in the same region.
Two US soldiers have pleaded guilty to charges of abusing inmates at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. 
A tribal militant died and two people were hurt on Tuesday when a bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely in the Pakistani city of Quetta, police said. Four people were hurt when another bomb damaged a train. The man who died was carrying a bomb on his motorscooter when the device exploded, Baluchistan police chief Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob told reporters.
US troops in Iraq shot dead four detainees on Monday during a riot at the main US prison camp for guerrilla suspects, near the Kuwaiti border while a final vote count cast began on Tuesday at the national centre for the Iraqi elections. The final results were not expected for at least another week, the independent electoral commission announced. US officers said six prisoners were also wounded in the violence, which affected hundreds of men at Camp Bucca on the day after Iraqis voted in their first free election in decades. 
Interim President 
A Web site posted a photograph of what it claimed was a kidnapped U.S. soldier, but doubts were quickly raised about its authenticity and the U.S. military said no soldiers were missing. A toy manufacturer said the figure in the photo resembled one of its military action figures, originally produced for sale at U.S. bases in Kuwait. . . . The photo in the posting showed a figure dressed in desert camouflage fatigues, wearing a vest and knee pads and with a gun pointed to its head. All the items are similar to ones that come in a box with the action figure, named ``Cody.''
Two suspected insurgents were killed when a bomb they were trying to plant on a key highway in northeastern Afghanistan exploded, an official said Monday. The pair, who had Afghan identity papers, were killed while placing a bomb on a road which links the eastern city of Jalalabad to Kunar province, said Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. "During the investigation police found Afghan identities and voting cards in their pockets," Mashal said. The two seemed to have used their voter cards in last year's presidential election, he said.
Tribal gunmen opened fire on a passenger bus in Balochistan on Tuesday, killing five people and injuring two others, police said. Police linked the attack to business rivalry between two groups vying for control over a bus route in the town of Dera Murad Jamali, about 288 kilometres south of Quetta. "Five people were killed and two wounded when gunmen from a rival party opened fire at a passenger bus," provincial police chief Chaudhry Yaqoob said. "The incident is an outcome of rivalry between two local transporter groups." There had been no arrests, he said.
There was tension in parts of Karachi and business was closed after unidentified motorcyclists attacked the office of the 
Gunmen killed a PML-N leader in 
In view of the surging violence in Pakistan, law enforcement agencies have tightened security for clerics. 
Nawab 
Bomb explosions cut electricity to Balochistan, plunging the entire province into darkness late on Tuesday, BBC Urdu Service reported. The report said that high-tension power supply line was blown up by sudden bomb attacks in Sibbi at about 9:15 pm. "The electricity tower was blown up in Sibi and power supply to two-thirds of the province has been cut off," a Balochistan government official said. "This was the last power supply line after two power transmission lines were blown up earlier this month and now we have no means to supply power. The repair will take some time," a Water and Power Development Authority official told AFP.
Bangladesh detained five suspects, including two members of the ruling party, over a grenade attack that killed a former finance minister and four opposition members, police said yesterday. Former Finance Minister 
