Police in Taif arrested three overstayers who were suspected to be supporters of Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, Al-Watan reported yesterday. The highway police arrested the three Asians on their way to Taif after they found materials praising Bin Laden in their car. One of the three works in a computer store. Investigations into their activities continue.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/26/2005 00:33 ||
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Relatives of five outlaws, who were killed in a 'shootout' with police at Baruria village in Kumarkhali upazila Wednesday night, termed the incident a cold blooded murder.
That qualifies for a 'Master of the Obvious' award ...
They talked to journalists while receiving the bodies on Thursday, but declined to be named.
Can't imagine why ...
They said Kumarkhali police arrested them in a hideout at the village on Sunday night and killed them.
So they didn't believe the 'crossfire' story. Perhaps the RAB should use the 'suicide' story next time ...
The outlaws are Helal Uddin Swapan of village Paikepara, Babu alias Pota and Mafikul of village Charpara in Kumarkhali upazila, and Mofa and Azibar of village Nagarmohammadpur in Sadar upazila.
Their mothers, who declined to be named, loved them all the same.
Swapan was a top leader of Gono Mukti Fouj (GMF). Ousted by his rival group, he later formed a gang styled 'Swapan Bahini.' He was wanted in at least 10 cases including six for murder.
Thus earning himself a date with the RAB.
Sources said Gama, an accused in at least 15 murder cases, joined hands with some ruling party leaders, including a lawmaker in the district, to kill Swapan.
And the ruling party leaders need only lift the phone ...
Being informed by Gama's men, police raided the village and arrested the outlaws. One sten gun, one sawn-off rifle, one revolver and 200 bullets were recovered from their possession, the sources said.
More bullets then usual.
The arrested outlaws were vigorously quizzed at Kumarkhali Police Station on Monday and Tuesday. Later, police killed them under pressure from the ruling party men, the relatives said.
The RAB needed pressure from the ruling party?
However, they admitted the involvement of the five in various crimes including murder, extortion and abduction.
Which in Bangla is sufficient justification ...
When contacted, the officer-in-charge (OC) of Kumarkhali Police Station told that they countered only when the gang attacked them.
"They opened random, ineffectual fire on us. What was we supposed to do, huh? Riddle me dat!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2005 01:00 ||
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#1
The outlaws are Helal Uddin Swapan of village Paikepara, Babu alias Pota and Mafikul of village Charpara in Kumarkhali upazila, and Mofa and Azibar of village Nagarmohammadpur in Sadar upazila.
None of whom, by a remarkable coincidence, were even remotely related to Karl Gambolputty de von Ausfern- schplenden-schlitter- crasscrenbon-apple-banger- horowitz-ticolensic-grander-knotty- kurtslich-himbleeisen-bahnwagen- gutenabend-bitte-ein-nurnburger bratwustle-gerspurten-mitz-weimache- luber-hundsfut-gumberaber-shonendanker-kalbsfleisch- mittler-aucher von Hautkopft of Ulm.
#2
Zenster, be sensible please, you screwed up the formatting. Just 5 to 7 hyphenated words would have conveyed the same. Or if you must, put a space after a few to divide them into manageable segments.
A top criminal and leader of an inter-district gang of robbers was killed in "crossfire" between the members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices in Chouddagram upazila of Comilla early yesterday. He was identified as Abdul Motaleb alias "Motaiya Dakat", son of Late Abdur Rashid of Purba Dekra village of the upazila.
Was Daddy also a 'crossfire' victim?
Rab sources said Motaleb was an accused in around a dozen criminal cases including two for murder.
That would certainly get the RAB's attention.
Being tipped off, a Rab team from the Feni camp of Rab-7, Chittagong, raided West Dekrerdighir Par under Alkora Union of Chouddagram at about 7:00pm on Thursday and arrested Motaleb.
"Abdul! Nice to meetcha! Assume the position!"
On his carefully but painfully extracted statement, a ten-member Rab team set out to recover illegal firearms, and arrest the accomplices of Motaleb, taking him with them.
Gotta have Abdul with them to identify the goods, ya know.
When the Rab men reached Golzer Road in Asfalia area at around 1:35am yesterday, ...
A little early in the evening, but perhaps RAB-7 had other plans ...
... Motaleb's cohorts opened fire, ...
You'd think the big heat guys in Bangla would teach their minions to shoot straight, but they never seem to hit anything ...
...forcing the members of the elite force to retaliate.
The elite force guys do shoot straight, at least for the six inches into the back of Abdul's head ...
Motaleb was shot during the shootout and died on the spot, the sources said.
Didn't even get the chance to ask his feets not to fail him before he croaked 'rosebud'.
The Rab men recovered one locally made gun, two light guns (LGs) and some bullets from the spot.
I'm sure the locally made gun was a piece of fine craftsmanship, though not nearly of the quality of the RAB's craft ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2005 00:50 ||
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Certain Middle East-based international non-governmental organisations operating in the country are still untouched despite months-old intelligence confirmation of their financing Islamist militant outfits.
After the Aug 17 countrywide orchestrated bomb strikes, intelligence reports recommended that the government ban the Kuwait-based Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) and take action against a number of other Middle Eastern NGOs found to be linked with the Islamist extremists.
"Arresting the militants and busting their dens are not the only solutions when they continue to enjoy foreign funding," remarked an investigator.
Following the arrest of Islamist militant kingpin Asadullah Al-Galib, chief of Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh (Ahab), intelligence agencies found further evidence of such funding.
The investigators recovered a large number of computer documents, diaries, notes, books, booklets, leaflets and audiocassettes from Galib's house, and Ahab offices and madrasas (religious schools) in Rajshahi.
Analysing the information retrieved from the documents the investigators arrived at a more or less accurate profile of Galib including his connections with Islamist militants and funding agencies abroad.
From confessions and statements of arrested militants, and accounts of expenditures and diaries of militants seized by law enforcers, investigators learned that the banned Islamist outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is implementing plans originally hatched by Ahab and another outlawed group Harkat-ul Jihad (HuJi).
The JMB spends roughly Tk 60 lakh (US$91,144) a year for maintaining its full-time leaders and cadres, and Tk 1 to 5 crore (US$151,906-759,532) for buying explosives and firearms and executing attacks, they learned.
Intelligence sources said, apart from a seven-member majlish-e-sura, the central governing body, the JMB has 16 regional commanders, 64 district-heads, hundreds of operations commanders and around 200 Ehsars or full-time cadres.
Among the operational commanders, Bangla Bhai alone has the distinction of being a member of the majlish-e-sura.
The JMB also has a suicide squad. The family of every suicide bomber is slated to get Tk 50,000 to 1 lakh (US$760-1,519) or more in compensation for a "sacrifice".
A high-ranking JMB source told The Daily Star he handles Tk 46,000 to Tk 50,000 a month to run his regional network encompassing four districts.
Last year JMB chief Abdur Rahman told the media he had a network of 10,000 full-time trained operatives and one lakh (100,000) part-time activists, run with more than US$10,000 a month.
The RIHS is on top of the list of suspected donors of the Islamist militants.
Following the intelligence recommendation to ban the RIHS, its chief Abdul Aziz Khalaf Malullah of Kuwait visited Dhaka from Aug 14-21. He called on three cabinet members and lobbied for the RIHS.
Investigators believe Malullah left a large amount of money with the local RIHS officials. Sources said he has recently sent a letter to the Bureau of NGO Affairs seeking permission for another visit to Bangladesh.
On insistence of intelligence agencies, Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested RIHS director Ekramuzzaman in September but had to release him as he had an anticipatory bail in his possession.
In 2002, the US Department of State blacklisted some RIHS offices, citing their support to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
The RIHS with assistance from Galib constructed over 1000 mosques, 10 madrasas, four orphanages-cum-madrasas and a kidney dialysis centre across the country.
The mosques and madrasas were later proved to be centres of militant activities of the JMB.
After the Aug 17 blasts, five foreign officials of the RIHS, two Sudanese, two Algerian and one Libyan, left the country under pressure from the government.
Before joining the RIHS the five had worked for Al-Haramain in Bangladesh, an NGO banned worldwide for financing al-Qaeda.
Bangladesh banned Al-Haramain in July 2004 at requests of the United States and Saudi Arabia. All the 14 foreign officials of Al-Haramain left Bangladesh after the ban. But four of them returned several months later and joined the RIHS secretly.
The rest of the NGOs now under close intelligence watch include Rabita Al-Alam Al-Islami, Al-Muntada Al-Islami, Society of Social Reforms, Qatar Charitable Society, Islamic Relief Agency, Al-Forkan Foundation, International Relief Organisation, Kuwait Joint Relief Committee, Muslim Aid Bangladesh, Ar-Rib, Dar Al-Khair, Hayatul Igachha and Tawheed-e-Noor.
Galib himself talked about receiving funds from Ar-Rib.
All these NGOs have been active in the country since the mid-1990s. The investigators also found that a number of foreigners, who came to Bangladesh from various Middle Eastern and African countries with tourist visa, have been working at these NGOs without the government's permission.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/26/2005 00:42 ||
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BOGOTA - An explosion rocked a hospital in southern Colombia Friday, killing one person and wounding 39 participants in a union meeting, authorities said. The blast occurred in the city of Florencia, in Caqueta province at around 2:30 pm (1930 GMT) in the auditorium of the local hospital, according to provincial police.
âAnother 39 people participating in a meeting organized by the cityâs union leaders were wounded and were treated in the same hospital,â said Colonel Carlos Zapata, police commander for Caqueta province. âAn explosive device was placed on the meeting dais,â he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/26/2005 00:44 ||
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A former Leduc cinema owner with suspected ties to al-Qaida has been charged in Miami with conspiracy to murder and providing support to terrorists as part of a North American cell.
Itâs alleged Kassem Daher and former Chicago gangster Jose Padilla conspired to âmurder, maim and kidnapâ people in terrorism-related plots overseas.
The indictment was unsealed yesterday after being returned last week by a federal grand jury in Miami.
Daher, who is believed to be overseas, is well known to Edmontonâs Muslim community. The Lebanese native ran movie theatres in Leduc after moving to Canada in the 1980s and was listed as the vice-president of the Canadian Islamic Association of Leduc and Wetaskiwin at its inception in 1992.
But those who knew Daher were reluctant to speak about the charges. Daherâs brother-in-law hung up the phone when contacted by the Sun.
Others say they havenât been in contact with the man since 1998, when he reportedly returned to Lebanon to care for his mother.
âI havenât seen him for a long, long time,â said Rekieh Mohamad, a former director of the Canadian Islamic Association and Imam of the Wetaskiwin-Leduc Muslim Centre. âAs far as weâre concerned heâs lost.â
âWe just forget everything that has happened.â
Ali Assaf, a member of the Canadian Islamic Centre, was briefly acquainted with Daher. He said the allegations are hard to believe.
âIf itâs true Iâd be very surprised. Iâve heard of lots of allegations that have turned out to be not true. But anything is possible,â he said.
Padilla has been held without charges for more than three years on suspicion of plotting a dirty bomb attack on home soil. Three others named in the indictment -- Adham Hassoun, Mohammed Youssef and Kifah Jayyousi -- were previously charged with terrorism-related crimes.
All of the defendants are alleged members of a violent terrorist support cell that operated in the United States and Canada and sent money, assets and recruits overseas âfor the purpose of fighting violent jihad.â
The indictment states the group allegedly took steps to disguise its fundraising and recruitment activities by speaking in code and using non-governmental organizations as a front for illegitimate activities.
But Mohamad said he has not been involved with Daher for years. He told the Sun earlier this year there was no way Daher was running a recruiting and money-raising operation from the Canadian Islamic Association.
According to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Daher was known to be in Lebanon in March. He was arrested in that country in 2000 for his alleged role in a gunfight.
Itâs believed Daher is a member of Usbat al-Ansar, a Lebanese terrorist group with suspected ties to both Hezbollah and al-Qaida.
Daher has also been linked to Egyptian Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, and was detained by Canadian police in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He was released on lack of evidence.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/26/2005 00:44 ||
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A prosecutor in the Saddam Hussein trial said Friday that a key witness in the case has died of cancer, but his testimony has already been recorded on audio and video tape for presentation in the trial which is scheduled to begin next week. Wadah Ismael Al-Sheik died on Oct.27, four days after talking to court officials, said Jafaar al-Mousawi, the main prosecutor. He said the testimony at a U.S. detention center was "on the side of the victims." Al-Sheik, was a senior Iraqi intelligence officer at the time of the Dujail massacre in 1982 that Saddam and seven other co-defendants are charged with. The trial is set to reopen on Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2005 00:00 ||
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A mass demonstration and funeral was held Friday afternoon in southern Beirut for three Hizbullah terrorists killed in a Monday attempt to infiltrate Israel and kidnap IDF soldiers. Israel returned their bodies to Lebanon on Friday morning in a bid to defuse tensions following fierce border clashes this week. But Hizbullah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said his group will continue trying to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
Chanting "Death to Israel" and "Death to America," more than 10,000 Hizbullah supporters attended the ceremony in the Lebanese capital, after the bodies were brought from the Naqura/Rosh Hanikra Border Crossing between Israel and Lebanon. The massive protest demonstrated the considerable influence of Hizbullah, which is under international pressure to disarm, in Lebanese-Israeli affairs. The Israeli army said in a statement that the three bodies were returned to Lebanon "following the Lebanese government's urgent request to do so."
Four terrorists were killed and 11 Israeli soldiers were wounded in Monday's fighting on the south Lebanon border, the worst in several years. Israeli warplanes and artillery bombarded Hizbullah positions, and the terrorists fired missiles at Israeli military outposts. Three terrorists were killed by an IDF sharpshooter crossing into Israel, while a fourth was wounded and retrieved by his comrades, but died on the Lebanese side.
In Hizbullah's southern Beirut stronghold, the Shiite Muslim militant group's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, warned that his terrorists will keep trying to capture Israeli soldiers. "It is our natural right to capture Israeli soldiers. Indeed it is our duty to do that," he said. "It is something we might do one day."
That's actually true: when you're at war, you have the right to try and capture soldiers from the other side. Of course, they have the right to stop you. Nasrallah will therefore send his minions to do the dirty work and have their lives ended by alert IDF soldiers.
Nasrallah dismissed Israeli claims that Syria and Iran, Hizbullah's allies, were behind the recent border flare-up and rejected accusations by some people questioning their Lebanese credentials.
Hizbullah denies initiating the attacks, but it is thought it may have been trying both to capture Israeli soldiers for a future exchange of prisoners and to take the international pressure off Syria, which is at the center of a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri.
The UN Security Council accused Hizbullah of starting this week's attacks, but Lebanon's government backed the terrorists despite the international pressure. Reacting to the UN Security Council statement, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said Lebanon's repeated complaints about Israeli violations "were not met with the necessary decisiveness" by the international community.
#2
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, warned that his terrorists will keep trying to capture Israeli soldiers. "It is our natural right to capture Israeli soldiers. Indeed it is our duty to do that," he said. "It is something we might do one day."
ear tag: CHECK
toe tag: CHECK
licence: CHECK
permit: open season for Hizzybullah sheikhy CHECK
Legal Ammo: .22 any/all 16" or GBU-29 any/all T12 CHECK
#4
Wouldn't a cluster bombs + FAE combo be more efficient than old trusty napalm?
Otherwise than that, I'm all for it : if it is the "natural right" of the Lions of Islam(tm) to kidnap, murder, rape, enslave,... their ennemies (aka the inferior races), then theses might perhaps be allowed to fight back using the same ruthless methods... horrific violence should be a two-way street... but I'm daydreaming again.
No way Israel or any other modern liberal democracy might ever fight back using the full spectrum of its means, so the tiny, tiny islamic gnats will go on their rampage, hiding behind international law and their foes's decency to run us down.
It's not surprizing they see us as weak (we are) and decadent (some of us are, notably western Europe), if the situation were reversed, they wouldn't hesitate.
#5
"#3 Why does Israel keep missing these great chances. 10,000 supporters marching! Why a nice napalm run down the parade route would work wonders."
Posted by 3dc 2005-11-26 01:36
3dc: I've been wondering about this for years also. One time, Hamas held a rally inside a stadium. Some 40,000 were crammed in there and I thought, "Wow, what a perfect moment for several cluster bombs and 155mm rounds."
#6
It is our natural right to capture IDF soldiers
Is that from the new Paleo Constitution?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Muslim men endowed by Allah with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Death to the Jews, enslavement of women and the pursuit of Un-Happiness. --That to secure these rights, terrorist institutions are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the need eliminate all Jews -- that any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Misery and Un-Happiness. Corruption, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established shall be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms of Jewish comfort to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Darwinism, it is their right, it is their natural duty, to throw off such Government, and to capture IDF Guards for their future security.
The Gaza-Egypt border has been reopened with a festive ribbon-cutting, a milestone for the Palestinians who for the first time are taking control of a border crossing without Israeli veto powers and gaining some freedom of movement. The opening on Friday is being seen as a step towards Palestinian independence and a boost to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, as he faces a fierce challenge by the Muslim resistance group Hamas in the 25 January parliament elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2005 00:00 ||
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Israel returned to Lebanon on Friday the remains of three Hezbollah guerrillas killed by in cross-border fighting this week in a move that averted a further deterioration along the tense Lebanese-Israeli frontier. The bodies were brought to southern Lebanon's Naqoura border crossing on the Mediterranean coastline at midmorning by vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross before being transferred into Lebanese ambulances. The hand over was monitored by peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which has its headquarters in Naqoura.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
still no word on Ron Arad?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/26/2005 0:57 Comments ||
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A Swedish soldier with the NATO -led mission in northern Afghanistan died after a bomb attack on Friday, the first Swedish peacekeeper to be killed in the country.
The Swedish Defense Ministry said the man was one of four wounded when a remote-controlled bomb struck one vehicle in a convoy of five driving back from a sports event on the outskirts of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
A mine planted during the sports event caused the blast, an Afghan police spokesman said.
"It is with deep sorrow that I have to announce that a Swedish soldier has fallen in the line of duty while on foreign service," the commander of the Swedish armed forces, Hakan Syren, said in a statement on Saturday.
"My thoughts and those of the Defense Forces go out now to the soldierâs relatives," he added.
Three ISAF soldiers have been killed in separate incidents during the past month, including a suicide attack in Kabul. One British peacekeeper was killed and several ISAF soldiers hurt when gunmen fired on their vehicle inside Mazar city last month.
The Swedish soldier died in a hospital in Kabul. One of the other wounded troops remained in a serious condition, the army said. The two other soldiers, one of whose injuries was light, were being treated in a hospital in Termez in Uzbekistan.
It said the Afghan police had detained six people in connection with the explosion.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack but suspicion fell on Taliban guerrillas.
Taliban attacks on ISAF troops, stationed mostly in the capital and relatively secure parts of north and western Afghanistan, have been rare compared to those targeting U.S.-led troops in the restive south and east.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/26/2005 00:38 ||
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#1
First casualty on foreign soil since the Napoleonic Wars?
A prototype of a television talk show, purportedly run by the al-Qaeda network, has appeared on the Internet. The seven-minute long programme, entitled "The Argument Continues", was compiled by the Global Islamic Information Network, responsible for the al-Qaeda 'news bulletins', the first of which appeared in September. The inaugural programme, which Adnkronos International (AKI) has viewed, deals with Jihad in the mass media. Italian state television is showing the video in its main domestic news bulletin, TG1, on Friday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/26/2005 00:34 ||
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#1
i woundn't mind betting the BBC will run this show - it fits perfectly into thier pro terrorist agenda.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
11/26/2005 4:42 Comments ||
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A Moroccan prosecutor on Thursday charged 17 Islamists whom police rounded up in Rabat and Casablanca this month as alleged members of a terrorist network being set up with suspected Al-Qaeda links. Hussein Houdaya, one of the kingdom's leading anti-terrorist attorneys, initially checked the identities of the 18 men and then told them of the various charges against them at a court in Sale, a judicial source said. Police had initially announced 17 arrests that started on November 11, but said the net had been widened when they dismantled a major terrorist cell and prosecuting authorities repeatedly extended the period of detention.
Police detectives showed up at the court openly carrying sealed bags of evidence against the men, who were brought from Casablanca to Sale in two armoured police buses. Details of the charges were not made public but a judicial source said the suspects were presented to an examining magistrate probing the case immediately after the hearing. Announcing the arrests last Sunday, police said the network was "linked to the radical Islamic movement having connections with small groups at the Iraqi border and maintaining close ties with senior members of the Al-Qaeda organization."
The detention period prior to Thursday's court appearance had been extended for 96 hours twice. Defense lawyer, Abdel-Fattah Zahrach, said the aim was to help police "complete their inquries." The suspects included two Moroccans formerly detained by the UnitedStates at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Brahim Benchekroun and Mohammad Mazouz. The authorities say the masterminds behind the alleged terrorist cell were Khalid Azig and Mohammad Rha. Moroccan security services said they had been interested since March in the activities of Moroccan national Azig, a former theology student in Syria who made repeated trips between there and Turkey. Azig returned to Morocco in June and was joined by Reha, who has Belgian nationality, on September 29, in order to recruit members for a terrorist cell, according to a statement from the security services.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/26/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Relatives of five outlaws, who were killed in a 'shootout' with police at Baruria village in Kumarkhali upazila Wednesday night, termed the incident a cold blooded murder.
A prosecutor in the Saddam Hussein trial said Friday that a key witness in the case has died of cancer, but his testimony has already been recorded on audio and video tape for presentation in the trial which is scheduled to begin next week. Wadah Ismael Al-Sheik died on Oct.27, four days after talking to court officials, said Jafaar al-Mousawi, the main prosecutor. He said the testimony at a U.S. detention center was "on the side of the victims." Al-Sheik, was a senior Iraqi intelligence officer at the time of the Dujail massacre in 1982 that Saddam and seven other co-defendants are charged with. The trial is set to reopen on Monday.
A mass demonstration and funeral was held Friday afternoon in southern Beirut for three Hizbullah terrorists killed in a Monday attempt to infiltrate Israel and kidnap IDF soldiers. Israel returned their bodies to Lebanon on Friday morning in a bid to defuse tensions following fierce border clashes this week. But Hizbullah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said his group will continue trying to kidnap Israeli soldiers.
Israel returned to Lebanon on Friday the remains of three Hezbollah guerrillas killed by in cross-border fighting this week in a move that averted a further deterioration along the tense Lebanese-Israeli frontier. The bodies were brought to southern Lebanon's Naqoura border crossing on the Mediterranean coastline at midmorning by vehicles of the International Committee of the Red Cross before being transferred into Lebanese ambulances. The hand over was monitored by peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, which has its headquarters in Naqoura.
A Moroccan prosecutor on Thursday charged 17 Islamists whom police rounded up in Rabat and Casablanca this month as alleged members of a terrorist network being set up with suspected Al-Qaeda links. Hussein Houdaya, one of the kingdom's leading anti-terrorist attorneys, initially checked the identities of the 18 men and then told them of the various charges against them at a court in Sale, a judicial source said. Police had initially announced 17 arrests that started on November 11, but said the net had been widened when they dismantled a major terrorist cell and prosecuting authorities repeatedly extended the period of detention.
