I'm sorry. Maybe he's a perfectly nice fellow in an Arab sort of way, but just glancing at him, you know he's got two or three people at least chained in his dungeon and goes in periodically to work them over...
Saudi Arabiaâs grand mufti yesterday called upon Al-Qaeda militants in the country to repent and surrender to the authorities. He also praised Saudi security forces for launching pre-emptive strikes to foil terrorist attacks. In a statement following Tuesdayâs anti-terror operation in Dammam, which led to the killing of five most-wanted terrorists, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh urged citizens, including imams, to extend full cooperation to security forces in the fight against terrorism. âParents must inform police if their children persist to follow the deviant ideology even after they were given advice by themselves as wells as Islamic scholars,â he said, adding that such steps are imperative to protect the country from terrorist operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm sorry. Maybe he's a perfectly nice fellow in an Arab sort of way, but just glancing at him, you know he's got two or three people at least chained in his dungeon and goes in periodically to work them over...
Now there's a face that should be covered. [full hijab] is there anyone out there who would let that baby sit there own kids?
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/10/2005 10:31 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Well, his day jobs are cosmetic surgery and dentistry.
From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
In May of this year, radical Chechen field commander Shamil Basaev warned Russia to expect a "summer of fire," thereby triggering fears of one or more major terrorist attacks comparable to the hostage takings at a Moscow theater in October 2002 and a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, in September 2004. Basaev claimed responsibility after the event for both those attacks.
But to date Basaev has failed to make good on that threat and, on 29 August, Interior Ministry commander Colonel General Nikolai Rogozhkin told a press conference in Moscow that between mid-June and mid-August his men succeeded in preventing an unspecified number of what he termed "large-scale" actions by the Chechen resistance fighters and killed or captured many others. In an 11 August commentary, the think tank Stratfor similarly cited Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) sources as saying that Russian security agencies have discovered a possible plot by Chechen militants to stage simultaneous terrorist attacks in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and Vladivostok.
The Chechen resistance has, however, claimed a major success in attacking the village of Roshni-Chu in mid-August. The Russian military commandant of Urus Martan Raion, southwest of Grozny, was killed in that operation during the night of 13 August together with four other Russian officers. One Chechen fighter of the reported 30 who participated in that operation was killed, according to chechenpress.org . Chechen acting President and resistance commander Abdul-Khalim Sadullaev subsequently praised the operation as a major tactical success. But it was reportedly veteran field commander and Vice President Doku Umarov, rather than Basaev, who planned the Roshni-Chu attack, and Basaev has not claimed credit for it.
On 22 August, pro-Moscow Chechen Interior Ministry spokesman Ruslan Atsaev claimed that Chechen police hunted down and killed the commander of the Roshni-Chu operation, who was identified as Ruslan Vakkhaev, emir of Urus Martan, lenta.ru and ITAR-TASS reported. One week later, on 29 August, Atsaev told ITAR-TASS that five participants in the attack have been killed and two captured. Among those killed, he named a second emir, Kazbek Batalov. He said the remaining members of Batalov's detachment have dispersed to their homes. Then, on 7 September, Chechen Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov announced that the entire detachment responsible for the Roshni-Chu attack has been "completely smashed" in a series of special operations, Interfax reported. He said more than 30 members were killed and a further six have been apprehended and are "providing testimony."
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/10/2005 10:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Stalled is good. Stopped would be even better, but I mustn't be greedy.
From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, an article by Gulnoza Saidazimova
Bishkek [Kyrgyzstan] officials are reacting to Uzbek authorities' accusations that the Andijon uprising was planned by Islamic militants at a terrorist base in southern Kyrgyzstan. Heads of the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry and the Security Council ruled out the allegations, saying no terrorists were trained in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz Prime Minister Feliks Kulov said the porous borders with Uzbekistan must be strengthened to prevent terrorist activities in future.
Acting Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov said on 6 September that .... "Nobody was trained by any extremist groups or instructors on the territory of Kyrgyzstan (for alleged terrorist activities) and there is no such opportunity in the country. Therefore the accusations (by Uzbek prosecutors) are baseless," Isakov said. ...
On 26 August, Svetlana Ortiqova, a spokeswoman of the Uzbek prosecutor-general, told RFE/RL that a group of "criminals had training in making and using explosive devices, conducting military operations, and learned martial arts with foreign instructors in a desolate military base located in the Teke village near the Kyrgyz city of Osh in January-April 2005." Their goal, Ortiqova said, was to overthrow the constitutional order in Uzbekistan.
Earlier this week, investigators of the Uzbek Prosecutor-General's Office reported the same "findings" to the Uzbek parliamentary commission. They also stated that another 60 trained and armed militants composed of Kyrgyz citizens broke into Uzbekistan "by taking two border guards hostage and directly took an active part in the acts of terror on the night from 13 to 14 May."
Isakov said the military training base in Teke, which belongs to the Defense Ministry, is still functioning and no strangers are allowed there. .... Ruslan Baibolsunov, an Osh-based military analyst, said some bases may exist in the country's mountainous regions that are hard to control. But he ruled out that the Teke village was a home for the Andijon terrorists. "If they would have said it (terrorist base) was based high in mountains, let's say in Alay or Nookat, it would sound little more truthful," Baibolsunov said. "But this statement of the Uzbek prosecutor's office can only be understood as an attempt to damage Kyrgyzstan's image and undermined it authority."
The Teke villagers and some Andijon protesters mentioned in Ortiqova's statement as "terrorists trained in Teke" denied accusations as well. Vyacheslav Khan of Kyrgyzstan's Security Council told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that the Uzbek authorities complained about possible terrorist activities in the past and the two countries' investigators from the prosecutor's office visited the suspicious sites. "They went there. After examining everything they found out that there was a desolate shooting range," Khan said. "They also found out that it was based on Uzbek territory. [Uzbekistan] admitted it. Therefore we are very surprised to hear that your (Uzbek) Prosecutor-General's Office stated in your Majlis (Uzbek parliament) that terrorists were trained in southern Kyrgyzstan." ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/10/2005 10:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Isn't Basayev already on there? If not, he sure as hell should be ...
Russia views the UN Security Council's anti-terrorist list as incomplete and wants Chechen extremists who have committed crimes against Russian citizens to be added to it, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told Interfax on Friday.
"Unfortunately, the 'anti-terrorist' list does not yet include the names of certain people who have committed crimes against Russians," Kamynin said.
"To our surprise, they feel quite comfortable in individual Western countries and continue to take steps to destabilize the situation in Chechnya and the entire North Caucasus, collect funds and recruit mercenaries for a 'dirty' war against the Chechen people and Russia as a whole," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 00:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Better question -- when are we going to see the Russians extract some revenge?
Posted by: Regular Joe ||
09/10/2005 9:38 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'm sure we'll get around to it just as soon as the Russkies stop selling SAMs to the Syrians and nuclear reactors to the Iranians.
#3
As vicious as Putin can be, you would think he would have gone on a rampage after the muslims wasted Russian kids with bullets and bayonets in their backs. Muslims Slaughtering Toddlers
Posted by: William Thrash ||
09/10/2005 22:15 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I hear the Peshmerga have good lawyers for taking depositions.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/10/2005 1:22 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I'm sure that threatening Norwegians is a great tactic to avoid deportation. Norwegians are known for incredible patience, but once riled have been known in past to be problematic.
Turkish police arrested 38 supporters of a pan-Islamist party attempting to demonstrate at a mosque where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was performing Friday prayers, the state-run Anatolian news agency said. Police quickly surrounded the group of Hizbut-Tahrir supporters at the Haci Bayram Mosque in Ankara who shouted slogans and tried to distribute leaflets in favor of Islamic rule in this mainly Muslim but strictly secular country, Anatolia said. Erdogan was inside the mosque at the time.
"Ever been in a Turkish prison, Jimmy?"
The local prosecutorâs office ordered five of the detained to be released and the rest to be questioned by anti-terror police, the agency added.
"Ozman! My moustachio wax! And the Number 7 truncheon, please!"
Hizbut-Tahrir, or the Party of Islamic Liberation, is a Sunni movement founded in the Middle East in the 1950s and aims to establish a world-wide Islamic state. It is outlawed in Turkey and was classified as a âterroristâ organization by Russiaâs Supreme Court in February 2003. Germany has banned the group for anti-Semitism; British Prime Minister Tony Blair said last month that his country too would ban the party as part of a security crackdown following the July 7 bombings in London. The group remains legal, however, in most Western countries.
For the time being, anyway...
Yesterdayâs police intervention came one week after a similar demonstration by Hizbut-Tahrir members at a mosque in Istanbul. Riot police were on hand then but did not intervene and were severely criticized by the media and most political leaders, including Erdogan. The protesters carried placards reading âEither the caliphate or martyrdom,â referring to the partyâs aim of choosing a caliph to implement Islamic law. Despite its secular roots, Turkey has never managed to erase Islamic parties completely from its political landscape.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Danish-Moroccan Said Mansour was ordered held for four weeks by a judge in Copenhagen. Mansour is accused of inciting terror. After an arraignment hearing in which clips from videos promoting jihad and showing beheadings were shown as evidence, a Copenhagen judge ordered Moroccan-born Said Mansour held for four weeks on suspicion of inciting terror, reported national daily Politiken on Friday.
Chief prosecutor Lone Damgaard had requested that Mansour be imprisoned for four weeks while police conducted their investigation. Mansour was arrested at his home in the BrÞnshÞj area of Copenhagen yesterday. The police suspect him of distributing CDs and DVDs encouraging jihad against the Western world.
"Yåh, he wás encÞÌraging jîhåd, he wås!"
According to AP, the prosecution showed clips from several of the DVDs confiscated by the police in five searches carried out in conjunction with the arrest. One of the DVDs showed Chechnyian Muslims beheading and shooting Russian soldiers. Another showed an American prisoner in Iraq being beheaded.
Yesterday's arrest was not Mansour's first run-in with authorities suspecting him of terror. The Danish Security Intelligence Service (PET) attempted to apprehend Mansour in connection with terror activities in 2003 after Mansour was seen videotaping escape routes on a ferry to Norway. After searching his apartment, however, police merely charged him with possession of stolen goods.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Did I lose a font or something? Yesterday, all the "curly" quotes from articles turned into question marks. Now the "O with a slash" turns into a question mark.
In both cases, everything displayed just peachy when entering comments, but on the main page, the weirdness occurred.
Are different fonts used in those cases?
Milan authorities who want to shut down an illegal Islamic school have fired up a row with some of the cityâs Muslims, who feel their culture is under attack. The school shares its building with a mosque that prosecutors have linked to militancy. Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, a terrorism suspect with a standing arrest order in Italy, used to preach there. The official reason authorities give for ordering the schoolâs closure relates to building code. But parents doubt they are being sincere.
I doubt they are, too. I think they want to clean out a rats' nest...
âThe building is basically a factory building, you canât have children there. There are no bathrooms, and what would happen if there was a fire?â one official at Milanâs education authority, who did not want to be named, said yesterday. The city agreed a compromise with school representatives earlier this year for the 350 children who attend classes at the school but are officially counted as playing truant. The school would have moved to a more suitable building and adapted the Italian curriculum, with the option to take additional lessons in Arabic. But city officials said the teachers had failed to present a detailed proposal for a new building, prompting authorities to order the old schoolâs closure.
"A detailed plan? Why would we do that?"
Asked what kind of school they preferred, one of them answered: âItalian school â Arabic is so difficult.â But their parents disagree. âWe want to send our children to a school where they will study Arabic, where they will study Islam,â said Mohammed, a Jordanian who declined to give his surname.
"The weapons training in Italian schools is not up to our high standards!"
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
âWe want to send our children to a school where they will study Arabic, where they will study Islam,â said Mohammed, a Jordanian
How about sending the young ones to a nice Islamic school in a nice-god-fearing islamic country--like the Sudan? Things is so much better under islam, why would anyone want to live in nasty old Europe anyhow?
Language - Arabic
Religion - Koran Study
Science - Theory and Practice of Making Explosives
Biology - Decapitation 101
History - Oppression by the West and Victimology
Geography - World Geography - All the Lands of Islam
Public Speaking - Introduction to Taqiyah
Jihad 101
Jihad 201
Jihad 301
Senior Honors Project in Jihad
Advanced Jihad & Martyrdom (Grade will be assigned post-mortem)
#3
Close it and put the parents under the close supervision of a social worker to see the kids become good Italians. If the parents want to raise Arabs let them move to the middle east.
A Dutch citizen was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq, the Justice Department said yesterday. Iraqi-born Wasem Delaema, 32, is accused of plotting attacks against U.S. troops near Fallujah in October 2003. He is the first person charged in this country with terrorist activities in Iraq. Delaema was arrested in May during a raid on his home in Amersfoort in the Netherlands. A Dutch court will decide whether to extradite al Delaema to the United States based on the six-count indictment. He faces life in prison if convicted of the charges. Delaema's Dutch attorney, Victor Koppe, has denied his client was involved with any attacks.
#4
The numerology value of the words "Flight 93 Memorial" is almost the same as the value of "Allah Akbar".
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/10/2005 9:30 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Why are the designers pussy-footing around with this obscure homage to the ROP? It should be a statue of a lion-of-Islam slashing a stewardess with a box cutter.
Posted by: Regular Joe ||
09/10/2005 9:33 Comments ||
Top||
#7
It's bad enough that they designed this monument to Islam. It's even worse that they're insulting our intelligence by pretending that the numerous Islamic features are just a coincidence, completely unintentional. They really think the American people are that stupid, and that pisses me off.
#8
blackfive: clark - sometimes a crescent is just a crescent...
And sometimes, a swastika is just a swastika. But if anyone had suggested putting this Buddhist symbol on a Holocaust memorial, some might accuse him of being insensitive, if not worse.
#10
And black stone is used in the Vietnam Memorial. And the crescent has been a popular symbol in the West for hundreds of years. And if the Memorial faces East at all, it will basically align with Mecca. Come up with something better.
#11
And black stone is used in the Vietnam Memorial (Vietnam Memorial is granit, Islam is Black Stone). And the crescent has been a popular symbol in the West for hundreds of years (name all the "popular" symbols of the west). And if the Memorial (the cresecent, ignorant) faces East at all (check it out lazy butt), it will basically align with Mecca. Come up with something better (too late, strike 3 your out duffus).
#12
Even if this is purely a coincidence, did not even one person look and say "Hey, that's looks like a crescent-and-star. Do you think that's a good idea?"
#13
"http://thewall-usa.com/wallpics/gallery.htm" clearly shows that the Wall is black stone {by the way, the word is "granite"}; Proctor & Gamble has used a crescent Man in the Moon as a trademark for over 100 years; to point to Mecca from that spot in Penns., you would have to be pointing South by Southeast -- not just East. Please refrain from name-calling, it is infantile {look it up}.
#15
270 lbs. ago when I was but a wee lad, we had a cresent on the door of our out outhouse. 2 holer.
the faggot "artiste" who designed this piece of Shite has got to be an attention whore.
/no offence ment to any innocent gay artists out there.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/10/2005 15:09 Comments ||
Top||
#16
We're offended, and in today's America, if one person is offended, it must go, regardless of the artist's intent. Turnabout sucks, eh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2005 15:12 Comments ||
Top||
#17
The Tower of Voices at the entrance of the memorials is symbolic of the Prayer Towers at the entrances of Mosques around the world.
The Black Stone (not granit like in the Vietnam Memorial) is symbolic of the Black Stone that Islamic Pilgrams circle in Mecca.
The Crescent faces Mecca.
The American victims of Flight 93 are covered by Islamic symbolism in this particular design. It is by no means a memorial, it is by all means and many symbols, a symbol of victory to jihad, with the victims, defeated, covered by all sorts of symbols of Islam.
Take your Berkely reference to duffis to heart, and too bad, your anti-American, pro-jihadi design is going right where it belongs, an out house with a crescent on the door. Go there often and visit it. The out house suits you well.
#19
Seems like we've had this which direction to face to send your vibes directly to mekka discussion before.... wasn't it north of east? Got to find that Great Circle generator site.
#20
The swastika was apopular symbol in the West for thousands of years. The Hindus, and even the Navajo, used it. But if it was used anywhere, let alone the center piece, in a Holocaust memorial, the outrage would be immediate and devastating from high and low.
Why would anyone think that the symbol of the zealots that attacked us on Sept. 11 would not cause outrage? Are the architects deaf, dumb, and blind to the symbolism, or was it much like the WTC memorial, an attempt to insert anti-American, anti-Western propaganda and leave the memory of those who died at the World Trade Center as an afterthought? The crescent, black rocks, black flags with the shahada, any symbol of islam is offensive in to the memory of Flight 93. The passengers fought back and saved the lives of many Congressmen that day. I wait to hear the outrage from them.
Posted by: ed ||
09/10/2005 15:49 Comments ||
Top||
#21
If you want to point away from Mecca - point to Alaska, where the only Fatwas come in crypto-aeronautics and water treatment engineering from Al-Aska Paul
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2005 16:00 Comments ||
Top||
#22
I am not in the fatwa issuing mood over this, but somehow we ought to have an Iwo Jima style theme on a fresco or something. I have not thought it out, but it seems to me that we must have a theme illustrating that ordinary people did a selfless and extraordinary thing that day. Something that will get younger generations thinking about responsibility, and heroism, and all those things that made the ordinary people on that flight do things to save others.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/10/2005 18:26 Comments ||
Top||
#23
There is a memorial in Anchorage on the south side of Merril Field dedicated those members of the Army Air Corps that were killed, missing in action, prisoners of war in Japan, or interned in the USSR due to bombing runs from the Aleutians to northern Japan. It is somewhat like the wall, but one gets the feeling of great sacrifice in a theater of war that nobody knows about. The creaters need to capture the feeling of Flight 93 in the Pennsylvania field and have it touch their souls before they start messing around with materials. Once they capture the essance, the memorial will then creat itself, so to speak. My 2 cents.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/10/2005 18:32 Comments ||
Top||
#24
How about the site of a 93 Silo ABM system. It would cover NY and D.C.
My feelings is if the artist's didn't mind a fist breaking the crescent, I'd have no prob either
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2005 19:06 Comments ||
Top||
#28
Let me grasp this. If a city wishes to honor its history with a cross representing it's founding as a Spanish Mission, predating the United States, but because it can be interpreted as supporting a specific religion by the ACLU and the federal judiciary, it is prohibited from any such display. Then were does anyone get off thinking this can not be similarly seen and interpreted as supporting a specific religion?
#29
Just make sure we all write to the idiots in charge of this. I have.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/10/2005 20:22 Comments ||
Top||
#30
Contrary to common belief, the thief's hand shall not be cut off.
Thank God for His mercy and His mathematical miracle in the Quran,
we know now that the thief's hand is to be marked. Marking the hand
of the thief is stated in 5:38. The sura and verse numbers add up to
5+38 = 43. The other place in the Quran where "the hand is cut" is
found in 12:31. This is where we see the women who admired Joseph so
much, they "cut" their hands. Obviously, they did not sever their
hands; no one can do that. The sura and verse numbers add up to
12+31=43, the same total as in 5:38. This gives mathematical
confirmation that the Quranic law calls for marking the hand of the
thief, not severing it. Additional mathematical confirmation is
provided: 19 verses after 12:31, we see the "cutting of the hand"
again. Punishment in Islam (Submission) is based on equivalence and
social pressure (2:178, 5:38, 24:2).
If you count the number of bars that make up the red part of the Crescent, you will count 38. Then count the number of blank bars, 3 at one end of the crescent and two at the other end, you have 5. Thus the number of bars in the crescent for Flight 93 Memorial is in reference to the above Koranic verse.
Ummm, the Swastika's arms point one way,(Clockways) and the Fylfot (Ancient Christian Religious symbol) point the other way (Counterclockways) But since the Natzi era both are considered forever corrupted.
Most folks don't know the difference anyway.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/10/2005 21:41 Comments ||
Top||
#32
Here's a site:
http://killtown.911review.org/flight93.html
It is very disturbing that these symbols went unnoticed until now. Especially taking into account how many it must have had to go through to get approval. Symbols are very important especially while referencing a memorial.
Shipman, I was reminded of the movie Robin Hood where Kevin Costner showed Morgan Freeman the correct direction with the weather being overcast.
Posted by: Jan ||
09/10/2005 22:20 Comments ||
Top||
A Palestinian convicted by Israel for being a member of the resistance movement Hamas, faces deportation after serving nearly a year in prison for a visa violation, a newspaper reported. Atef Hasan Ismail Idais, 28, says he is not a member of Hamas.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
He told a US court on Friday: "I have never been a member of Hamas," and accused Israeli officials of coercing a confession through torture, tying him to a child's chair in a windowless cell for weeks. His lawyer, Robert Miller, said the conviction in Israel was "not worth the paper it is printed on".
"Yeah! Dey got nuttin'! Nuttin', I tells yez!"
Idais was sentenced by a judge on Thursday to a year in prison, which he has served since his arrest in September 2004. He could be released as early as Friday. Upon his release he will be handed-over to immigration authorities who intend to deport him, Assistant US Attorney Nancy Winter told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
"Hey! Youse can't deport me!"
"Shuddup. Into the box wit' yez!"
Idais, who has lived in the US since 2000, is married to an American citizen, and they have two children, a three-year-old and an 18-month-old daughter. He was arrested last year for making a false statement on a US visa application. He pleaded no contest and faced up to six months in prison under sentencing guidelines, but US District Judge John Padova said the case was unusual because of his "terrorism conviction". Winter accused Idais of lying repeatedly and trying to manipulate the court and immigration service. He had entered the United States on a student visa, but he never attended college. He was charged with failing to disclose a 1999 conviction in Israel for throwing stones, disturbing the peace, and membership in Hamas. Idais also said he planned to attend a US university, but his family had run out of money.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
eject him, his brood and his breeding stock. She's obviously an enabler of terrorism and his offspring are the fruit of lies
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2005 1:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The resistance movement Hamas?? Oh, Al Jareeza.
Heavily armed men on Friday seized a group of schoolteachers in a southern Philippine province, a Catholic bishop said.
Bishop Martin Jumaod said the still-undetermined number of teachers were on their way to school on the outskirts of Isabela City in Basilan province, 900km south of Manila, when they were snatched by the gunmen.
Police were still verifying the kidnapping report.
"The details are still sketchy," the bishop said, adding that the information on the abductions was relayed to him by a staff member of the Christian Children Fund, a non-governmental organisation operating in Basilan.
A few years ago, several teachers and schoolchildren were seized by Moslem Abu Sayyaf rebels in the nearby town of Lamitan. Some of the teachers were beheaded, including Catholic priest Rhoel Gallardo.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 00:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Muslim militants in the Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines and their Indonesian allies have been trying to solicit money from unidentified Middle Eastern financiers to buy weapons and fund new terror attacks, according to government reports.
Details of the fund-raising effort and planned attacks were obtained by Philippine security officials from their Indonesian counterparts, who recently captured two suspected militants with knowledge of Filipino rebel activities, the reports said.
Copies of the reports, which summarized intelligence relayed by Indonesian authorities, were seen by The Associated Press on Friday.
The captured militants in Indonesia - Abdullah Sunata, allegedly the head of a group called Kompak in Ambon, and Encen Kurnia, who reportedly belongs to Negara Islam Indonesia - were among 15 suspected militants captured by the Indonesian police during an anti-insurgency sweep from June to July, the reports said.
Four of the 15, including Sunata and Kurnia, had received military training in southern Philippine rebel camps. The two later helped organize covert training and escort Indonesian recruits from their country to the southern region of Mindanao, according to the reports.
In letters found by Indonesian authorities, Sunata separately discussed with two compatriots hiding in the Philippines - Umar Patek and Dulmatin, who's also known as Pitono - the fund-raising campaign and planned attacks in the Philippines as well as efforts to obtain explosives in the country for an unspecified attack in Indonesia, the reports said.
Dulmatin and Patek, both suspected leaders of the al-Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, have been hunted for their alleged role in terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. They're believed to be in the company of Abu Sayyaf chief Khaddafy Janjalani, who's the target of a U.S.-backed military manhunt in the south.
The collaboration indicates continuing operational ties between militants in the Philippines and Indonesia despite years of anti-terrorist crackdowns in the neighbouring countries.
During interrogation, Sunata allegedly disclosed that "he was tasked by Patek to solicit funds for terror attacks in the Philippines and recruit suicide bombers in Indonesia to be sent to central Mindanao," one report said.
A letter by Patek to Sunata, also found by Indonesian authorities, discussed efforts by Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah to solicit funds from Arab financiers to buy weapons. The letter gave the quantity and type of arms, including light machine-guns and anti-tank weapons, that Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiyah rebels sought to battle Philippine troops and police, said a Philippine security official, who requested anonymity because the information was confidential.
According to one report, Abu Sayyaf rebels may stage new kidnappings to raise funds if they fail to get money from foreign supporters.
In a swap of letters also discovered by Indonesian police, Sunata discussed with Dulmatin the deployment of Indonesian would-be suicide bombers for an attack in the Philippines, the purchase of explosives in the country for a bombing in Indonesia, recent arrests of Indonesian militants in the Philippines and tips for casing potential targets, the reports said.
"Dulmatin also suggested that in casing targets, cellular phones equipped with cameras be used in urban areas while handycams may be used in the countryside or less urbanized areas," one report said.
Kurnia allegedly told Indonesian interrogators that last June, he arranged entry to the Philippines for training of two Indonesians identified as Ahmad and Abu Nida, but that other attempts to smuggle militants into the country were thwarted by authorities, the report said.
Kurnia allegedly said he arranged the trips of three suspected Indonesian bomb trainers arrested in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga last December as well as those of two Indonesian militants who were arrested in Tawau in Malaysia's Sabah state last June 8 on their way to Mindanao, the report said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 00:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Intelligence services are keeping a close watch on a movement on Malaysia's Langkawi island, where militants plot insurgent attacks in the deep South of Thailand, said Defence Minister Gen Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya yesterday. The island has reportedly been used as a venue for meetings of militants responsible for a string of violence in the deep South, former Malaysian politicians and Thai politicians, he said.
``The movement that draws my attention is in Langkawi. It is also where a former Malaysian politician lives. The militant leaders have been there several times,'' the minister said.
Gen Thammarak said it is believed that insurgent attacks in Thailand's southern border provinces are planned at the meetings. ``My men are checking on it. I don't want to talk about it,'' he said. I will say no more!
He also said the reported movement is deemed bad for bilateral relations.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
JAKARTA (Agencies): Indonesia on Friday deported a Singapore-based terrorism expert for allegedly doing research in Ambon while holding a tourist visa, police said.
Rohan Gunaratna, a Sri Lankan and author of the book 'Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror', was arrested on Sept. 2 in Ambon, said national police detective chief Makbul Padmanegara. "He was using a tourist visa but at the same time doing research. He was deported this morning," Makbul told reporters in Jakarta.
Maluku Police Chief Brig Gen. Adityawarman said Gunaratna was conducting research on terrorism on a tourist visa in violation of immigration regulations. Dagnabit! Don't he know he gotta have a pro-Islamic visa?
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He's back in Singapore as of today ... and none too pleased about this, incidentally. Seems he ruffled one too many feathers looking into reports about ties between the Indonesian military and the Islamist groups active in the Moluccas.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 0:32 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I see that posting from the Jakarta Post is fraught with uncertainty. The original link is no longer valid, and I can't find the original story on their listing for yesterday. However, here is their link for a related story...
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/10/2005 7:43 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Shoulda got himself a genuine fake Pakistani visa. Accepted at fine umma checkpoints everywhere.
Posted by: ed ||
09/10/2005 12:27 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Security Guard:Comming in for Business or Pleasure folks?Gunaratna:Both actually, gonna do alittle snorkling and finnish my book...I'm a writer. Security Guard:Hey...arnt you some kinda terrorism expert or something? Gunaratna:Um..well... actually I'm writing a book about orangutans. Security Guard:Allrighty then..have a good trip.
#5
DD: Seems he ruffled one too many feathers looking into reports about ties between the Indonesian military and the Islamist groups active in the Moluccas.
Wouldn't surprise me. Suharto is said to have arranged the anti-Chinese pogroms in the late 90's to show the country it still needed him around to maintain order. The Indonesian government may be using the Islamist groups to ensure that the Moluccas do not split off like East Timor.
The former head of the United Nations inspection team that is investigating Iran's nuclear programme has called on the Security Council to give it greater powers so it can determine whether Teheran is trying to build an atomic bomb.
For the past six years Dr Pierre Goldschmidt, a Belgian nuclear scientist, has been in charge of the inspectors sent by the UN-sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, to investigate Iran's nuclear programme.
Dr Pierre Goldschmidt: 'Many serious omissions'
Throughout that period the Iranians have tried to conceal crucial aspects of the programme and have indulged in a dangerous game of diplomatic brinkmanship with the IAEA and the UN over the level of access provided to the inspection teams.
"It is reaching the point where it is beyond critical," Dr Goldschmidt told The Sunday Telegraph in his first interview since retiring from the IAEA in July. "The IAEA can only work on the basis of the facts that are presented to it, and there have been many serious omissions by the Iranians. The Iranians are exploiting all the loopholes in the international agreements. As to why they are doing this you can draw your own conclusions."
Dr Goldschmidt believes that to deal effectively with Iran, IAEA inspectors need to be given greater powers than they currently have.
"As it stands, the investigating authority of the agency is too limited with regard to Iran. To do its job properly it needs to have more authority than is currently available to it."
In particular, he wants the inspectors to be given the power to interview any Iranian scientist they choose. The inspectors should also have the freedom to visit any military institutions to inspect and take environmental samples, and should be provided with all the original documents relating to Iran's nuclear programme.
More @ link
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/10/2005 21:21 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Also from article regarding inspector clueless...
He (Dr. Goldschmidt) took issue, however, with the way Mohammed El Baradei, the head of the IAEA, had handled negotiations with Iran in the past two years. "El Baradei says that any judgement about Iran should be made on their intentions. My view is that we should look at the indications, not the intentions, and then decide.
Posted by: Captain America ||
09/10/2005 21:28 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"...has called on the Security Council to give it greater powers so it can determine whether Teheran is trying to build an atomic bomb..."
Like that's necessary. They could just read quotes fron Iranian leaders and determine that.
UN inspectors 'powerless to stop atom bomb plans in Iran'
They are, but some of us aren't.
Of course, their dirty little not-so secret is that they want Iran to get atom bombs - at least enough to destroy Israel and seriously damage the U.S. I'll bet the Useless Nitwits already have an agreement with Iran that they won't set off an a-bomb in NYC. (But D.C. is OK.)
The whole lot of those bastards will undoubtedly burn in Hell - along with their butt-buddy Osama. Tomorrow would suit me just fine.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/10/2005 22:58 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"El Baradei says that any judgement about Iran should be made on their intentions."
Lots of stuff about Tal Afar posted by others and Baghdad airport deleted.
The Iraqi prime minister sealed the northern border crossing into Syria on Saturday after complaints the neighboring country was not doing enough to stop crossings by foreign fighters, and he imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in the area near the Rabiaa frontier post.
The order by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari was read on Iraqi television by Interior Minister Bayan Jabr. The decree closed the border to all transportation, including the railroad, except for vehicles with special permission from the Interior Ministry. Jabr said the closure was in effect under further notice.
Iraq and the United States have complained bitterly that Syria has done too little to block the flow of so-called foreign fighters into Iraq across the long and porous border.
He complained that neighboring nations had not done enough to stop the flow of foreign fighters. "I regret to say that instead of sending medicines to us, our Arab brothers are sending terrorists," al-Dulaimi said.
#2
I think this translates to: anybody who crosses the border will now be shot on sight, instead of making any effort to "arrest" them.
I would suggest that this would be because there is a possible stampede of bad guyz all prepped to invade Iraq either to relieve Tal-Afar or to re-occupy it once the majority of friendly forces move on.
At least 30 suspected Taliban militants have been killed during an ongoing operation by Afghan and US-led forces in southern Afghanistan a week before parliamentary elections. "During an operation in Grishk district of Helmand on Friday, Afghan and coalition forces killed 30 enemies and captured... 60 others," defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters on Saturday.
Azimi said a large number of weapons and ammunition were also seized from the captured fighters during the operation in the southwest province of Helmand. Azimi said the operation involving Afghan and US-led forces was ongoing in the restive province where militants from the ousted Taliban regime regularly attack foreign and Afghan troops.
Two suspected suicide bombers were killed Wednesday as their explosives-packed car blew up in Grishk. The Taliban, who were driven from power by US-led forces in late 2001, have vowed to disrupt the country's first parliamentary polls for three decades on September 18. Taliban rebels and other Islamic militants have stepped up attacks on Afghan and foreign troops, tribal elders, mullahs and candidates in a bid to disrupt the US-backed vote.
A parliamentary candidate narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in which one of his bodyguards and an attacker were also killed in western Afghanistan, an official said Saturday. Ghulam Nabi Balouch escaped unharmed when unknown gunmen opened fire on his campaigning vehicle just outside Herat city on Friday, the official said. "Mr. Balouch survived, but one of his bodyguards was killed in the firing," Noor Ahmad Alizai, district chief of Kohsan district where the attack occurred told AFP. He said one of the attackers was killed and another captured.
Investigations were underway to find out who was responsible for the incident, which followed an attack on a female candidate in eastern Afghanistan late Wednesday. Six candidates have so far died in the political violence since early July when some 5,800 Afghan men and women signed up to run in the country's first parliamentary polls in more than 30 years. More than 1,100 people have been killed this year in attacks blamed on the hardline rebels, including around 50 US soldiers.
Posted by: ed ||
09/10/2005 12:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
These birds are hemorrhaging fighters. Not even most standing armies could take losses like that for long and keep up the fight. A company's worth here, a battalion's worth there. Pretty soon it ends up with annihilation.
Posted by: Phil Silvers ||
09/10/2005 16:27 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Those darned "Militants" again. The MSM is showing it racist world view. That word is like using "Savages" to describe the the persons who dwelled here in North America before the Europeans arrived. They are Taliban or Al Qaeda not some amorphous cloud called militants.
That they bagged 30 and captured 60 is a good sign. Happy hunting.
#6
The actual percentage of those who are both willing to relocate and willing to fight are tiny. The vast majority might lend moral support or a few coins to "the cause", but would never do squat. Then you have those who would fight, but only if the Americans came to their 'hood. They get the shudders at the very thought of leaving their hometown. Of the minority, only the dumb ones need apply, because the smart ones know that it is a one-way ticket, and contemplate how much more enjoyable life might be were they to raise chickens.
Masked gunmen abducted an Italian journalist in the Gaza Strip town of Deir El-Balah on Saturday, after stopping his car and forcing him into theirs, witnesses said. The journalist's driver identified him as Lorenzo Cremonesi of the Corriere della Serra daily, witnesses said. The gunmen's car headed for the nearby Nusseirat refugee camp, they added. Palestinian police had no immediate comment.
The abduction came just days before the last Israeli troops are to vacate the coastal strip, and was further testimony to the lawlessness gripping the area ahead of the pullout. Earlier in the day, at least 60 armed Palestinians seized two Palestinian government buildings in the town, demanding jobs with the Palestinian Authority, witnesses said.
In recent months, Palestinian gunmen have abducted several foreigners for use as bargaining chips in local feuds. All hostages have been released unharmed after a few hours.
Posted by: ed ||
09/10/2005 12:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The terrorists are merely utilixing a proven path to funding. Wake up, Italy.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
09/10/2005 12:46 Comments ||
Top||
#2
At $6-10 million apiece, I'm wondering how can I get hold of an Eyetalian reporter?
Posted by: ed ||
09/10/2005 12:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
At $6-10 million apiece, I'm wondering how can I get hold of an Eyetalian reporter?
by her moustache
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2005 15:00 Comments ||
Top||
U.S. and Iraqi troops swept into the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar early Saturday, conducting house-to-house searches and battering down walls with armored vehicles in a second bid to clean the city of militant fighters.
Some 30 miles south of Baghdad, meanwhile, police found the bodies of 18 men who had been handcuffed and shot to death in Iskandariya, a town where dozens of killings have been reported in escalating vengeance killings by Shiite Muslim and Sunni Aram "death squads." "Two days ago gunmen in police uniforms broke into their houses in a Shiite neighborhood of Iskandariya," police Capt. Adel Kitab said of the latest victims.
In the capital, Baghdad International Airport reopened early Saturday after a day's closure in a payment dispute between the government and a British security company. Global Strategies Group said it agreed to resume security work after the government promised to pay half of what the company said it is owed. Iraq police said two mortar shells were fired into the Green Zone that houses the U.S. Embassy, the Iraqi parliament and government offices. There was no word on casualties or damage.
In the Tal Afar offensive, which had been expected for weeks, coalition forces faced several hundred lightly armed insurgents in the largely deserted city, 260 miles northwest of Baghdad and about 60 miles east of the Syrian border. There was heavy gunfire in the Sarai district, the oldest part of the city and the major insurgent stronghold. "I can see why the terrorists chose this place for a fight, it's like a big funnel of death," Sgt. William Haslett of Rocklin, Calif., said of the twisting streets and alleys in the old city.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced the 2 a.m. start of the offensive in a statement issued early Saturday. At a news conference later, he said the insurgents had been trying "to isolate Tal Afar from the political process as we are preparing for the referendum on the draft constitution." Tal Afar residents were largely Turkomen, with ethnic and cultural ties to Turkey to the north. They are mostly Sunni Muslims but had been governed since the ouster of Saddam Hussein by a U.S.-backed Shiite Muslim city government and police force.
Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said 48 insurgents had been captured so far, along with mortars and communications gear. He said Iraqi troops had suffered two wounded and no deaths. Defense Minister Saadoun al-Dulaimi said that in the past two days, 141 "terrorists" had been killed and 197 wounded. Five government soldiers died and three were injured, he said.
Al-Dulaimi said 11 Iraqi army battalions and three battalions of paramilitary police were engaged in the offensive, along with three battalions of U.S. troops, and promised Iraqi forces would broaden the offensive against insurgents north and west of Baghdad, right up to the Syrian border. "We say to our people in (the insurgent strongholds of) Qaim, Rawa, Samarra and Ramadi, we are coming and terrorists and criminals will not be able to hide there," he said. He complained that neighboring nations had not done enough to stop the flow of foreign fighters. "I regret to say that instead of sending medicines to us, our Arab brothers are sending terrorists," al-Dulaimi said.
U.S. forces cleared Tal Afar of militants last year but quickly withdrew, leaving behind a force of only 500 that was unable to block the militants' return. In a bid to soften resistance, the U.S. military carried out repeated air and artillery strikes on targets in the city, where most of the population of 200,000 was reported to have fled to the surrounding countryside. On Friday, the government issued a statement hinting a major attack was imminent, and the U.S. military reported killing 11 insurgents during raids over the past two days. The Iraqi military claimed it had arrested 150 foreign fighters who had infiltrated from Syria.
Posted by: ed ||
09/10/2005 12:29 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Golden Arches of Truth, Justice and the American way.
Posted by: G. Reeves ||
09/10/2005 15:18 Comments ||
Top||
#2
MC Donalds?
Posted by: Phil Silvers ||
09/10/2005 16:30 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"Kroc-style, Boom Like That"
Posted by: Mark Knopfler ||
09/10/2005 16:54 Comments ||
Top||
Afghan soldiers tried to assassinate the country's defense minister Saturday by shooting at his convoy at Kabul's main airport, but the official had already left his vehicle and was unhurt, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. Nine suspects, all soldiers, were arrested in the attack on Rahim Wardak, said Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi. "It is clear that it was an assassination attempt on the defense minister," he said.
Brilliant, general, brilliant!
Four bullets hit the convoy as it was driving out of the airport, one of them "hitting the exact place where the defense minister had been sitting in the car," Azimi said. One bullet wounded a Defense Ministry staffer in a vehicle, he said. Other Cabinet ministers also were traveling in the convoy before they were dropped off at the airport to board a helicopter.
The shooting occurred a week before landmark legislative elections that Taliban rebels have vowed to disrupt. The militants have stepped up attacks across much of the country, leaving more than 1,200 people dead in the past six months. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear. A senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, said earlier the soldiers were angered by a pay dispute.
After the attack, the ministers flew to the Panjshir Valley for a memorial service in honor of Ahmed Shah Masood, the former head of the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance who was killed by two suspected al-Qaida assassins on Sept. 9, 2001. After the memorial, another helicopter carrying the country's army chief, Bismillah Khan, and a Cabinet minister crashed shortly after takeoff and exploded in flames. All those on board managed to escape the burning wreckage. The pilot and Sediqa Balkhi, the minister for the disabled, were injured slightly, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed the crash. Presidential spokesman Khaleeq Ahmed said the crash occurred because the chopper's rotor blades clipped a tree during takeoff.
"Hey! Who put that tree there! They're trying to kill me, I tell you!"
Posted by: ed ||
09/10/2005 12:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
The most powerful Somali religious leader and founder of Al-Ittihad al-Islami (AIAI) armed Somali militia, Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys said he and his followers are getting ready for war with Somaliaâs enemies. In an exclusive interview with SomaliNetâs Hassan Ali in Mogadishu, the Sheik said they will no longer be mere spectators of what Ethiopia and its cronies are doing to Somalia. "High ranking Ethiopian military officers have been in Jowhar, 90 KM away from Mogadishu for the past few months. We must wage Jihad against them" he said. Sheik Aways accused Jowhar based interim government of selling the country to Ethiopia and renewing Somaliaâs civil war. "We have been mobilizing all of our assets in the past few months and we are ready to die for saving Somalia" He said.
"Not me, personally, of course, but lots of those guys over there! All of 'em, in fact... Except for the ones who owe me money..."
Al-Ittihad al-Islami had fought with Ethiopian forces inside Somalia many times in the past. Sheik Aweys who has been silent for a long time is now open about his intentions. Political analysts say he can no longer be on the sidelines because his longtime foe and worst enemy is at his doorsteps. Alitihad tried to assassinate then Puntland president, Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed and capture port city of Bosaso in early years of the civil war. Alitihad members and sympathizers were persecuted in Puntland ever since that failed coup.
Now that is so unfair!
Now, Mr. Yusuf is the head of the interim government and is in Jowhar. The interim government is mainly symbolic with no power at this time. However, it is seen as a growing monster by many.
Interesting description of having an actual government...
Mogadishu warlords who are opposed to the interim government are also threatening to unseat Jowhar based fragile government by force. They tell Mogadishu residents that Ethiopia and Abdulahi Yussuf of Puntland (northeast region of Somalia) are right on their doorsteps in Jowhar and it is time to defeat them. The US government believes Al-Ittihad al-Islami has ties with Alqaeda and is on the list of US watched terrorist organizations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 01:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Well isn't this just wonderful. Not much anyone can do about it except quarantine the place and let them kill each other.
#2
Well, that is not exactly true. The Ethiopians can send those three divisions of light infantry they have in the vicinity into Somalia to fight AIAI and back the interim government. And we in the West can back the Ethiopians behind closed doors with intel and money, and with sterile weapons and ammo from Iraq.
AL-QAEDA is pushing foreign fighters back into Afghanistan, in a bid to retake the battlefield from which it launched its seminal September 11 attacks against the United States four years ago, western and local sources said.
The terror network is providing training and support for a comeback by the Taliban, the Islamic regime deposed by US forces in the aftermath of 9/11 for harbouring al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, they said.
"We really thought we had won, but we are seeing more and more fighters coming over the border from Pakistan and this presents a long-term security problem for us," a top Afghan official who declined to be identified, said.
Islamabad strenuously denies the charge, pointing out it recently moved 9,500 extra troops along the border and has captured a string of key al-Qaeda operatives.
Regardless of where they come from, experts say the presence of foreign fighters amongst Taliban remnants in undeniable.
"We do feel that there is a foreign fighter presence in Afghanistan," US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara said.
US and Afghan officials were not long ago predicting the Taliban and al-Qaeda were a spent force, after last October's Afghan presidential elections passed with little bloodshed.
But with US forces already battling an al-Qaeda-linked insurgency in Iraq, analysts and officials suspect the organisation may be trying to open a "second front" in Afghanistan.
It is already proving a thorn in the side of international efforts to rebuild the country after a quarter century of war, and to prepare for landmark parliamentary elections which are due to take place next week.
While the carnage is far less intense than that in Iraq, there are many similarities in the way Afghanistan's new crop of insurgents operate, officials said.
The Taliban, who enforced medieval Islamic laws across Afghanistan from 1996-2001, have sometimes in the past presented a shambolic and disorganised force.
But there has been a rise in suicide bombings, a tactic notoriously favoured by Iraqi insurgents and previously rarely seen in Afghanistan, while the militants' roadside bombings are increasingly accurate.
"Fighters are coming in with better skills and we are seeing a transfer of skills from Iraq," a Western security source in southern Afghanistan said on condition of anonymity.
"The insurgency is much worse this year."
Last month, Al-Arabiya television aired a video purportedly depicting foreign militants in Afghanistan, including Europeans, Arabs and others, preparing to attack US troops and Afghan officials.
"These foreign guys are pretty well-armed," said a US paratrooper on patrol in Orgun-E, an area in south-eastern Paktika province, where six US soldiers have died in the bloodiest year yet for the US military in Afghanistan.
"They have expensive weapons you can't get in this country."
The video went on to claim al-Qaeda's responsibility for the worst blow ever suffered by the US military in Afghanistan, the shooting down of a giant Chinook helicopter in June that killed all 16 people on board.
While Afghanistan's fledgling 30,000-strong army is using embedded trainers from the US to hone their skills, experienced Islamic fighters from Iraq and elsewhere are doing the same for Afghan insurgents.
The militants "do have foreign nationals operating with them, but they are instructors.
"The operational leaders remain Afghan," Christian Willach, security coordinator for the Afghan Non-governmental Organisation Security Network, said.
al-Qaeda training camps which moved into Pakistan's lawless tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan after the US invasion may now have crossed back after a crackdown on militants by Islamabad, he said.
The Western security source said there had been "an increase in foreign fighters: Chechens, Arabs, Middle Easterners".
"We can see this from the dead bodies but also from the radio traffic we pick up in different languages," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 00:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Simple answer - nuke Pakistan. Let's face it, it's a total hell-hole and noone would miss it if it were gone.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
09/10/2005 1:06 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Tony, you need to reason looking in the past that the long arms of US has been in the center of Pakistani military powers as it was in Iran. In the case of Iran, France stabbed in the back of US to get Iran out of US influence. This time, China will do what France did to get Pakistan out of US hands and to control India. It is almost a done deal. Every one will know this soon after president Bush is out of power. The cold war never ended except for the change in the players who actually want to control the supply of oil. In this regard, the infighting among the western powers will be worst than what was during the world war two only to the benefit of China. The best logical options for US are simply two. if US could get it. Allow China to establish power bases in east and south Asia then tell Pakistan go to hell after evaporating a few hills with nuclear devices between the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan just to demonstrate that US will not hesitate to destroy any land and population of the world who harbor enemy of US interest.
#4
nothing wrong with the coffe TW, you're observation is salient.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/10/2005 10:18 Comments ||
Top||
#5
your might be better than you'are. <<:
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/10/2005 10:19 Comments ||
Top||
#6
There are several glaring problems in this story. The first would be how the foreign fighters would hope to get to Afghanistan in the first place. The first assumption would be Pakistan, but the Paks are kicking out the foreigners, or almost all of them. So how are large numbers of non-Pak al-Qaeda going to get there?
Second, if the great Taliban-al-Qaeda advance into Afghanistan is at the point of a bayonet from Pakistan, is it an advance, or is disordered retreat towards enemy lines?
Third, the article notes "Iraqi suicide bombing" tactics. But Iraqis abhor suicide bombings, which are done almost exclusively by foreigners.
Last, equipment. If they can barely get themselves in country, how can they get any appreciable amount of equipment? The only possible way would be if both the personnel and equipment were coming *directly* from Iran.
And, as much as we detest each other, that is far too direct an approach for Iranian tastes.
#7
Another problem is that most Al Quaida people are Arabs and will be far easier to detect in Afghanistan than they are in Irak. That plus the fact that they will not benefit from the "national sympathy" that they get between Sunni Arabs. In fact from e-mail exchanges with Pashtoons and scanning at their web sites my impressions is that except for a small minority of hardline Talibans most Pashtoons (even between the islamists) held themselves as superior to Arabs and will have little sympathy for Arab intruders, while Al Quaida types will be attacked on sight if they venture in Tajik or Hazara zones.
#8
The first would be how the foreign fighters would hope to get to Afghanistan in the first place. The first assumption would be Pakistan, but the Paks are kicking out the foreigners, or almost all of them. So how are large numbers of non-Pak al-Qaeda going to get there?
1. The Pakistanis are not kicking all of the foreigners out or,
2. There are other 'Stans' to the north.
if the great Taliban-al-Qaeda advance into Afghanistan is at the point of a bayonet from Pakistan, is it an advance, or is disordered retreat towards enemy lines?
Unknown.
Third, the article notes "Iraqi suicide bombing" tactics. But Iraqis abhor suicide bombings, which are done almost exclusively by foreigners.
Agreed. The Iraq angle is in there to reinforce a meme.
Last, equipment. If they can barely get themselves in country, how can they get any appreciable amount of equipment? The only possible way would be if both the personnel and equipment were coming *directly* from Iran.
Possible. But again, there are 'Stans' to the north. There's also the 'other neighbor'.
And, as much as we detest each other, that is far too direct an approach for Iranian tastes.
Perhaps. But it doesn't mean they aren't doing it.
Published reports that al-Qaida forces have taken over the Iraqi city of Qaim are false, a Marine official in Iraq said on Sept. 9.
Witnesses and residents in Qaim, as well as people living in the surrounding villages, said Abu Musab Zarqawiâs al-Qaida forces brazenly took control of the city, according to a Sept. 5 Washington Post report.
The report cites witnesses as saying al-Qaida forces had taken to the streets there, prominently displaying Zarqawiâs black banner from the rooftops and posting a new sign at the cityâs entrance that reads, âWelcome to the Islamic Republic of Qaim.â
Other statements posted in the cityâs mosques describe the âIslamic Republic of Qaimâ as having been âliberated from the occupation,â according to the report.
Numerous Internet news sources reported that the city has been placed under a system of strict Islamic justice known as Shariatâs Law. They said sources within the city reported the burning of a movie theater, CD store and beauty parlor, and said a womanâs bullet-riddled body was left in the street, bearing a sign that read: âA prostitute who was punished.â
The city of Qaim â which sits only two miles from the Syrian border, at which U.S. forces have long fought to stem the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq â was the target of air strikes aimed at disrupting the insurgency there during the final five days of August, according to a 2nd Marine Division release.
The divisionâs spokesman, Capt. Jeff Pool, told the Post he had no knowledge of increased enemy activity in Qaim, and the Post quoted a military spokesman in Baghdad who promised to âlook into the reports.â
But Maj. Neil Murphy, a spokesman for II Marine Expeditionary Force, told Marine Corps Times that reports detailing an all-out al-Qaida takeover in Qaim were a âcrock of crap.â
âSure, anyone can hang up a poster. That does not mean anything,â Murphy wrote in an e-mail response to questions. âWe have a battalion there. [The insurgents] are continually moving to try and find safety, but we are rooting them out and weâll root them out of Qaim, too.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 00:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I wonder if the Marines would put up such a banner, just to see who might pay a visit?
Nah, Marines would never do something sneaky like that.
#3
it's shocking to hear that the WaPo was not in any way accurate of it's story telling of al-Qaim. All of their war stories have been so telling and revealing that I just could not take it anymore and stopped reading that asswipe press pinko commie crap years ago. But I do like getting on WaPo's blogs and fuckin with all the pinkos that prey to the WaPo like it's their golden lamb.
Pakistani Police Friday foiled a bid to detonate a high-intensity bomb near main bus terminal in eastern Punjab province and arrested three alleged Al-Qaeda linked militants, said police on Friday.
Rana Naukhel, Asif Saeed, and Amir Iqbal, residents of eastern Punjab province and all in their late 30s, were arrested today morning while planting bombs at the main Bus Station in Lahore city, 370 kilometers from Islamabad, said city police chief at a press conference.
He said police also seized huge cache of ammunition including 30 electric detonators, several hand-grenades, bomb-making explosive and pistols, adding, they also recovered Jihadi literature, compact disks, cassettes, fake identity cards, and a booklet about bomb making methods.
Without mentioning the name, he said that they are militants of some outlawed group, having links with Al-Qaeda, wanted in different terrorism case.
However, a police source told KUNA that they are active members of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ), an outlawed militant group who had strong ties with Al-Qaeda terror network.
The arrest of three more militants follows the arrest of a militant, Mufti Mohammed Sabir, wanted in a car-bomb explosion that killed 15 people including 11 French engineers on May 8, 2002, near Sheraton Hotels in Southern Karachi port city.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/10/2005 00:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/10/2005 19:02 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Klein bottles! Getcher Klein bottles here! (I can personally vouch for this complany, as I've given them as gifts and, in a fit of selfishness, purchased one which is sitting on the bookcase in my office looking at me even as I type this entry.)
Crime Investigation Agencyâs (CIA) special team, Anti Terrorist Force (ATF), arrested three terrorists linked to a banned militant organisation and confiscated explosives, Jihadi literature and illegal weapons from their possession, said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Chaudhry Shafqaat Ahmad at a press conference. He said that Superintendent of Police (SP) Masud Aziz was informed about the terrorists, at which he directed Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Umar Virk, in charge ATF, to arrest the men. He said the team located the men in Shadhra and started monitoring their activities.
On Friday, the team followed the men to Lorry Adda where they arrested them and confiscated 30 electric detonators, one hand grenade, 2 pistols, 80 bullets, several books, floppy disks, compact disks, several bottles of chemicals, a couple of walky-talky sets and explosives. The men were identified as Rana Nokhais, resident of Kasur, Amir Iqbal and Asif Saeed, residents of Bhakkar. The men confessed to having contacts with a banned militant organisation, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) and said that they had planned explosions at important places in the province. Police sources claimed that the men were chemists and capable of manufacturing poison gases.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
LAHORE: The Punjab government arrested 65 joint opposition workers from Multan and Okara and many others from different cities of the province for breaking the law during the strike call, Inspector General of Police office sources told Daily Times on Friday. The joint opposition had called for a wheel jam strike on Friday against alleged local elections rigging and increase in petrol prices. Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leaders alleged that the party workers had been arrested for no reason.
"Dey wudn't doin' nuttin'! Just walkin' down the street, mindin' dere own bidnid..."
A high-ranking police official said, "We have not registered any cases in other cities. The police arrested 12 PPP workers from Okara under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order and 53 men were arrested under MPO-16 in Multan." He did not say if the police had detained any men from any other city in the last 24 hours. Punjab Home Secretary Waseem Hassan Afzal said the inspector general had confirmed some arrests and would give details later. He said, "The police can detain political workers for 24 hours but if they need to be further detained then they will be referred to me." Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat denied the allegations and said, "How could we make preventive arrests? We cannot arrest traders for opening markets and transporters for running public transport". He said that a few law violators were arrested on Friday and would be dealt with acco
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:11 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
DHAKA: A huge stockpile of explosives and detonators was seized from members of the banned hardline group Jamayetul Mujahideen, Bangladesh police said on Friday, as the prime minister proposed new anti-terrorism laws. "The detective branch of police and Rapid Action Battalion raided two houses in Dhaka on Thursday and found enough explosives and detonators for 470 bombs," Deputy Commissioner of police Shahidul Islam said. Six activists of the movement were arrested during the raids, which took place after police received a tip-off, Islam said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistan Army troops arrested three suspected terrorists in an armed conflict near a check post in the Asha area between Mir Ali and Miranshah on Friday. A local woman was also killed in the incident. A large number of arms and ammunition were also seized, official sources said. According to details, army personnel tried to stop a vehicle at Asha near an army check post, but the occupants neglected the order and fired at them. Security forces chased the vehicle, and arrested three men after a heavy exchange of fire. The gun battle left a local woman dead. Security forces handed the men to intelligence officials for questioning.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:07 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Christians in the Holy Land have handed a dossier detailing incidents of violence and intimidation by Muslim extremists to Church leaders in Jerusalem, one of whom said it was time for Christians to "raise our voices" against the sectarian violence. The dossier includes 93 alleged incidents of abuse by an "Islamic fundamentalist mafia" against Palestinian Christians, who accused the Palestinian Authority of doing nothing to stop the attacks. The dossier also includes a list of 140 cases of apparent land theft, in which Christians in the West Bank were allegedly forced off their land by gangs backed by corrupt judicial officials.
So that's what was in the infamous red binder!
From the birthplace of Christ at Bethlehem to the site of his Crucifixion in Jerusalem, Christian Church leaders have long been desperate not to upset the delicate ethnic and sectarian balance in the region by blaming either Jews or Muslims for the decline of their once robust religious community.
That self-imposed silence now appears to be crumbling. "The problem exists," said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Jerusalem's senior Franciscan, known as the Custos of the Holy Land. "The Christian community has always suffered in the last few years because we are a minority. Many have the temptation to leave, so the community is shrinking."
Sucks to be a minority. Really sucks to be a spineless minority.
While he stressed that "we are not talking about a confrontation with all Muslims", he added that "we don't want to see violations of the law - sometimes we have to raise our voices".
The alleged attacks on Christians have come despite repeated appeals to the Palestinian Authority to rein in Muslim gangs. A spokesman for the Apostolic Delegate, the Pope's envoy to Jerusalem, said nothing had been done to tackle the problem. "The Apostolic Delegate presented a list of all the problems to Mr [Yasser] Arafat before he died," he said. "He promised a lot but he did very little."
That's our Yasser!
In the offices of his tiny Christian television station in Bethlehem, Samir Qumsieh said this week that Christian appeals to Mr Arafat's successor as Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, had also gone unheeded. "At least Arafat spitballed us responded," he said, "Abbas does not answer our letters."
Mr Qumsieh said he was trying to repair relations between Palestinian Christian and Muslim communities, convening a meeting attended by members of both faiths in Bethlehem last week. But he said that the Christian community was faced with "very brutal" adversaries. "A criminal mafia and Islamic fundamentalists work together," he said. "Their interests met to take our land away." He said that one man had lost his finger in one land dispute which turned violent and that a group had attacked and injured a Greek orthodox monk at a 5th century monastery outside Bethlehem.
The red binder dossier currently in Church hands details far worse allegations of violence, notably the torture and murder of two Christian girls in 2003 after they were deemed prostitutes. A post mortem examination reportedly proved they were virgins. Some Christians note that land grabs are common in the growing lawlessness of the West Bank and are not necessarily motivated by sectarian rivalry.
No, no, certainly not!
They add that increasingly entrenched Islamic extremism has driven a wedge between the communities, especially over women's dress and freedom of expression.
Several Christians tell the story of a moderate Muslim imam in Bethlehem's biggest mosque, who was repeatedly threatened after giving a sermon calling for an end to the anti-Christian discrimination and land grabs. Last weekend, the Christian village of Taybeh was ransacked and burned by a Muslim mob, incensed that a boy there had been seeing a girl from their neighbouring village of Deir Jarir. "I am pessimistic about our future as Christians here," said Mr Qumsieh, adding that Christians now form about two per cent of the population of the Holy Land, down from almost 20 per cent 60 years ago.
"We have a low birth rate, and now with intimidation and emigration, our future is very dark," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"We have a low birth rate.."
well..better start up the begat business again.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/10/2005 0:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I don't believe Christ ever said to hold on to the land and dwell there forever. There are so many more greater places these Christians can live, they should leave that place for a better one. Negotiate with Israel to preserve the history of the Holy Sepulchre and the like. Then let the Palestinians and the Jews work thier problems out. Christ is in your heart and mind, not in Jerusalem.
The helicopter crash that killed Sudan's Vice-President John Garang in July does not appear to have been caused by any technical malfunction aboard the Russian-built military aircraft. According to top expert Rudolf Temurazov, who is involved in the crash investigation, "there was no technical problem with the helicopter itself". Speaking to journalists in Moscow, Temurazov â who is also director of technical security for the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee â said "the helicopter was healthy".
The vice-president and 13 other people died on 30 July when the Ugandan presidential Mi-172 helicopter taking them back to southern Sudan from neighbouring Uganda crashed. Suspicion over the facts surrounding Garang's death sparked violence between northern and southern Sudanese, leaving at least 130 people dead and prompting Khartoum to form a national committee to investigate the crash with international experts.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So... what? Bad fuel? Knocked down by jet wash?
#2
Speaking to journalists in Moscow, Temurazov ? who is also director of technical security for the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee ? said "the helicopter was healthy".
or an un-healthy helicopter would be bad for future sales.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
09/10/2005 10:12 Comments ||
Top||
Iraqi and US forces have stepped up their offensive against rebels in the northern town of Tal Afar, while tightening security on the nearby Syrian border, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari has said. "Iraqi security and coalition forces continue to eliminate terrorists and foreign fighters in Tal Afar and they will continue to pursue this endeavour to the end," al-Jaafari said in a statement on Friday. "We are taking additional measures to ensure security and stability in Tal Afar and to restore its people's rights," he added.
That's the people's rights not to have their heads chopped off, rather than their rights to do the chopping...
Al-Jaafari also said that the government had decided to ramp up security controls along the border with Syria: "We have tightened security on the border between (the northern province of) Nineveh and Syria." The US military had announced on Thursday that US-led forces were preparing to launch a military offensive to root out fighters from Tal Afar, where entire neighbourhoods are in the hands of rebel groups. Around 215 fighters have been killed or captured in Tal Afar by US-led forces during the past eight days, according to US military statements.
Hopefully more killed than captured.
"The Iraqi government and humanitarian agencies have established temporary housing, food and medical care for those citizens" displaced due to the unrest in Tal Afar, al-Jaafari said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The AP article I read at Yahoo just before coming to the 'Burg noted, "Al-Dulaimi said 11 Iraqi army battalions and three battalions of paramilitary police were engaged in the offensive, along with three battalions of U.S. troops.."
That's 14 Iraqi battalions supported by three American battalions, something like 80% Iraqi.
Almost missed it!
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/10/2005 12:36 Comments ||
Top||
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has led mourners at the funeral of his assassinated military advisor Mussa Arafat, helping to carry the body of the once-feared national security chief.
Did they have a car swarm? I always get choked up at car swarms...
Around 1000 people attended the funeral of Arafat on Friday, one of the strongmen of Gaza and a cousin of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, at the main mosque in Gaza City. The kidnapped son of murdered ex-security chief Arafat was released early on Friday. He was seen entering the office of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza City, accompanied by Palestinian officials.
"Beat it, kid! We're done wit' youse!"
"Pop! They killed Pop! I must have... Dire Revengeâ¢!"
Mussa Arafat was killed when dozens of armed men stormed his house in Gaza City early on Wednesday. His son, Manhal, was abducted. A masked man saying he represents the Popular Resistance Committees, a renegade group, reaffirmed responsibility for the killing and kidnapping after leaders of the group distanced themselves from the acts.
"We dunnit and we're glad!"
"No, we didn't!"
"Did, too!"
"Did not!"
According to Aljazeera's correspondent in Gaza, Wail al-Dahduh, al-Nasir Salah al-Din Brigades has not explained the contradiction in its statements after it previously denied any role in the killing. The group first claimed responsibility for the assassination and abduction, then denied it, and later reconfirmed its responsibility, he said. Neither the group nor the Palestinian Authority has issued any statements to explain these flip-flops.
"We're confused!"
"So are we!... At least I think we are..."
But sources have told Aljazeera that al-Nasir Salah al-Din Brigades' contradictory stands could perhaps be explained by the presence of Major-General Mustafa al-Buhairi, head of the Egyptian security delegation, in Gaza. Al-Buhairi's intervention may have led to multiple views within al-Nasir Salah al-Din Brigades, given the importance of his role as a mediator, al-Dahduh said quoting the sources.
Anna Comnena's ghost just told me she's confused, too... At least she thinks she is...
Arafat, a relative of the late leader Yasser Arafat, was implicated in alleged corruption and was fired by Abbas. However, his killing was seen as a direct challenge to the Palestinian government, which has pledged to stop renegade armed groups from acting with impunity in Gaza, before Israel's handover of the territory to Palestinian control next week. Abbas has pledged to hunt down the killers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Why can't I get the image of the Politburo attending Beria's funeral out of my mind?
Colombo launched a full-scale investigation on the bomb hoax which triggered an emergency evacuation from the Riyadh/Jeddah bound flight Thursday afternoon. The grounded aircraft also left Colombo at 8 p.m. yesterday without passengers on board after airport authorities issued a clearance certificate for its takeoff. "We are trying to trace the call which initially came to the airport telephone operator and then connected to the control tower," airport chief Tiran Alles said. "An investigation is under way."
Nineteen passengers who were seriously injured in the scramble to exit the Boeing 747 jetliner through emergency chutes were still in hospital yesterday, a day after the incident. A total of 62 out of the 430 passengers and 22 crew members were injured and most of them had minor bruises. Alles said they were probing the incident thoroughly. "We have had similar hoaxes in the past," Alles said. "This is serious because a life has been lost and many more people were injured."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/10/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Perfect picture, Fred! Yesterday it was Chuck Barris, today, Peter Falk; who's next?
(3rd item) A responsible source in the Ministry of Interior said that 112 suspects having Afghani nationality cards were arrested by police forces. The source said one of them worked as a driver with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the town of Tal Afar. They also arrested 13 suspects and captured guns and explosives in raids carried out by joint forces of the army and police yesterday in areas of al-A'dhamiyyah, Qahira, al-Nidhal street. It was part of Operation Lightning, which is still being carried out in Baghdad.
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.
Turkish police arrested 38 supporters of a pan-Islamist party attempting to demonstrate at a mosque where Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was performing Friday prayers, the state-run Anatolian news agency said. Police quickly surrounded the group of Hizbut-Tahrir supporters at the Haci Bayram Mosque in Ankara who shouted slogans and tried to distribute leaflets in favor of Islamic rule in this mainly Muslim but strictly secular country, Anatolia said. Erdogan was inside the mosque at the time.
Danish-Moroccan Said Mansour was ordered held for four weeks by a judge in Copenhagen. Mansour is accused of inciting terror. After an arraignment hearing in which clips from videos promoting jihad and showing beheadings were shown as evidence, a Copenhagen judge ordered Moroccan-born Said Mansour held for four weeks on suspicion of inciting terror, reported national daily Politiken on Friday.
Milan authorities who want to shut down an illegal Islamic school have fired up a row with some of the cityâs Muslims, who feel their culture is under attack. The school shares its building with a mosque that prosecutors have linked to militancy. Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, a terrorism suspect with a standing arrest order in Italy, used to preach there. The official reason authorities give for ordering the schoolâs closure relates to building code. But parents doubt they are being sincere.
A Dutch citizen was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges of conspiring to kill Americans in Iraq, the Justice Department said yesterday. Iraqi-born 
A Palestinian convicted by Israel for being a member of the resistance movement 
Intelligence services are keeping a close watch on a movement on Malaysia's Langkawi island, where militants plot insurgent attacks in the deep South of Thailand, said Defence Minister Gen Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya yesterday. The island has reportedly been used as a venue for meetings of militants responsible for a string of violence in the deep South, former Malaysian politicians and Thai politicians, he said.
JAKARTA (Agencies): Indonesia on Friday deported a Singapore-based terrorism expert for allegedly doing research in Ambon while holding a tourist visa, police said.
At least 30 suspected Taliban militants have been killed during an ongoing operation by Afghan and US-led forces in southern Afghanistan a week before parliamentary elections. "During an operation in Grishk district of Helmand on Friday, Afghan and coalition forces killed 30 enemies and captured... 60 others," defence ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters on Saturday.
Masked gunmen abducted an Italian journalist in the Gaza Strip town of Deir El-Balah on Saturday, after stopping his car and forcing him into theirs, witnesses said. The journalist's driver identified him as Lorenzo Cremonesi of the Corriere della Serra daily, witnesses said. The gunmen's car headed for the nearby Nusseirat refugee camp, they added. Palestinian police had no immediate comment.
U.S. and Iraqi troops swept into the insurgent stronghold of Tal Afar early Saturday, conducting house-to-house searches and battering down walls with armored vehicles in a second bid to clean the city of militant fighters.
Afghan soldiers tried to assassinate the country's defense minister Saturday by shooting at his convoy at Kabul's main airport, but the official had already left his vehicle and was unhurt, a Defense Ministry spokesman said. Nine suspects, all soldiers, were arrested in the attack on Rahim Wardak, said Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi. "It is clear that it was an assassination attempt on the defense minister," he said.
The most powerful Somali religious leader and founder of 
DHAKA: A huge stockpile of explosives and detonators was seized from members of the banned hardline group Jamayetul Mujahideen, Bangladesh police said on Friday, as the prime minister proposed new anti-terrorism laws. "The detective branch of police and Rapid Action Battalion raided two houses in Dhaka on Thursday and found enough explosives and detonators for 470 bombs," Deputy Commissioner of police Shahidul Islam said. Six activists of the movement were arrested during the raids, which took place after police received a tip-off, Islam said.
Pakistan Army troops arrested three suspected terrorists in an armed conflict near a check post in the Asha area between Mir Ali and Miranshah on Friday. A local woman was also killed in the incident. A large number of arms and ammunition were also seized, official sources said. According to details, army personnel tried to stop a vehicle at Asha near an army check post, but the occupants neglected the order and fired at them. Security forces chased the vehicle, and arrested three men after a heavy exchange of fire. The gun battle left a local woman dead. Security forces handed the men to intelligence officials for questioning.
The helicopter crash that killed Sudan's Vice-President 
Iraqi and US forces have stepped up their offensive against rebels in the northern town of 
Palestinian leader 
Colombo launched a full-scale investigation on the bomb hoax which triggered an emergency evacuation from the Riyadh/Jeddah bound flight Thursday afternoon. The grounded aircraft also left Colombo at 8 p.m. yesterday without passengers on board after airport authorities issued a clearance certificate for its takeoff. "We are trying to trace the call which initially came to the airport telephone operator and then connected to the control tower," airport chief Tiran Alles said. "An investigation is under way."
