Khulna city is under a security blanket and police and Rab (Rapid Action Battalion) are on 'high alert' following intelligence reports that JMB suicide bombers may carry out attacks on prime spots or key installations in Khulna city on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. Fifteen mobile teams, in addition to 25 parties, will remain vigilant in vulnerable areas and the security blanket will continue till january 13, said DC (Hq) Akbar Ali of Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP).
KMP Commissioner told this correspondent that a manhunt for JMB men is going on following reports that 17 Islamist militants are in the city in the guise of workers and employees of Shiromoni Cable Factory. The KMP Commissioner has issued a circular banning sale of cold drinks at open places on the Eid day. Any body found selling the items will be prosecuted under KMP ordinance, the circular said. Earlier, the Managing Director of the factory in a general diary filed with Khanjahan Ali thana alleged that some Islamist militants are suing the name of the factory to hide their identity. Inspector of City Special Branch of KMP Golam Mohammod is investigating into the allegation made by the MD of state-owned cable factory.
Rab members are desperately hunting for most wanted JMB 'operations commander' in Khulna division and its Majhis-e-Shura member Hafez Mahmud following intelligence reports that after he is hiding in Khulna along with some suicide bombers. Rab is following different tactics to net Hafez Mahmud, the sources said. Hafez Mahmud is now the main target of law enforcers including Rab to finish JMB's chain of command in the southwestern region, sources in intelligence agencies said. The government has declared a bounty of Tk 10 lakh for his arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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A listed criminal was killed yesterday during a shootout between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and a gang of criminals at Kafrul in the capital. The dead was identified by Rab as Jamal, a criminal for hire, who had several cases filed against him including two for murder and one for robbery. On information that Jamal had been staying in Rampura in disguise and frequented Kakoli area regularly, a team of Rab 4 waylaid him in front of army club at 5:30pm Sunday, a Rab press release said.
It was Jamal as bumped off Fat Tony and Greasy Thumb Mahmoud. He wuz on the lam, see? So he heads for Rampura. He ditches his turban and buys a hat. The cops show up, lookin' for a guy with a turban and a shutter gun, and all they see is some guy in a hat. Nuttin'. Not even the shutter gun. He's dumped that, and got himself a revolver. But then some stoolie rats him out to the RAB...
During interrogation, Jamal told Rab men that his cohorts were hiding and preparing for an attack in a den at Baburtek in Damalkot area of Kafrul.
"Awright, coppers! Yez got me! I'll talk! Tell Officer Friendly to lay off wit' the cosh and gimme my teeth back!"
Rab 4 team went to the area to arrest his accomplices and recover firearms at around 4:30am yesterday.
"What's dis? Youse guyz outta yer minds? It's 4:30 in the mornin'! I just started me beauty sleep!"
As soon as they reached the spot, unknown criminals
"Hey! Who're doze guys? I never..."
opened fire on the elite force suddenly, prompting them to retaliate, the press release said.
"Taking advantage of the suddenness of the incident and darkness, Jamal ran in an attempt to flee
"Cheeze! I'm gettin' outta — "
and fell in the line of fire," the release reads.
"Aaaaiiiieeee! Rosebud!"
After the shootout, Rab team found Jamal lying bullet-hit and dead, while his accomplices fled.
"He's dead, Jim!"
A revolver, a pipe-gun, three cartridges of gun and four pistol and revolver bullets were recovered from the spot. Jamal was also a robber and extortionist and used to kill people on instructions of top criminals Ibrahim and Taj, the press release said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Heh, great commentary... And the story is, well simply inspiring. As usual, the weaponry / ammo descriptions still defy comprehension... Lol.
#2
Why are the criminal gangs always hanging around the bridge or whatever in the wee hours ?
Why not just go after them in the afternoon when they sleep ?
Police recovered huge arms, ammunition and bomb-making materials from a depository of outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Dakkhin Khan village on Sunday. The cache seized in Gazipur includes three kilograms of gunpowder, one pistol, two country-made shooter guns, one foreign-made shooter gun, 16 bullets, five cartridges and three knives.
Sources said following confessional statement of suspected JMB commander Enayetullah alias Enayet alias Jewel alias Walid, Gazipur police conducted a raid on a graveyard and found the arms around 11:00pm. "In a novel way, the weapons were buried in an abandoned grave," says a spot account of the discovery. The arms haul was made in the wake of reports on arms build-up by the militant outfit around the capital.
Ummm... An abandoned grave? Did the Last Trumpet sound while I was washing my hair? Did I miss it?
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Fred,
Some guys just never get the memo...
:)
Posted by: DanNY ||
01/11/2006 21:54 Comments ||
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Confessional statments are always step number one in a Crossfire™ incident. Someone didn't get the memo.
#3
It's the regular police. They don't have the standard format yet, so they are trying to reproduce it from memory. Give them a little time, and they'll be doing it by the numbers, too. ;-)
LONDON (AFP) - The two police officers who shot dead a Brazilian man after mistaking him for a suicide bomber have been cleared of any wrongdoing in an internal report, London's Evening Standard said.
The newspaper claimed a Metropolitan Police investigation into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes found the marksmen correctly followed guidelines for dealing with such a situation.
The Evening Standard cited no sources for the claim and a Scotland Yard spokesman told AFP they would not comment while a separate Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation was being carried out.
A second IPCC probe is looking into the conduct of Britain's most senior police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair, in the aftermath of the shooting after claims from De Menezes' family he misinformed the public.
A number of British newspapers have claimed in recent months that the IPCC report would conclude that the officers who pulled the trigger would not face criminal charges but no official announcement has yet been made.
De Menezes, 27, was killed at Stockwell Underground station in south London on July 22, 2005, the day after an alleged attempt to replicate the July 7 attacks on the British capital's public transport system.
A total of 56 people, including the four suspected Islamic extremist suicide bombers, died in the attacks while more than 700 were injured.
A German court on Thursday convicted an Iraqi man of aiding a terror group in his home country and sentenced him to seven years in prison.
Amin Lokman Mohamed, 33, was convicted of membership in a foreign terrorist organization and human trafficking for helping Ansar al-Islam, a group linked to al-Qaida, presiding Judge Bernd von Heintschel-Heinegg said.
Federal prosecutors said Monday that Mohamed, who came to Germany as an asylum seeker in 2000, had made a "comprehensive" confession to authorities and was willing to assist in upcoming trials of other suspected Ansar al-Islam members.
Mohamed acknowledged smuggling at least eight volunteers from Europe to
Iraq before his arrest in Munich in December 2003, including one who was allegedly killed in the fighting. He helped others travel in the opposite direction, including an alleged Ansar al-Islam bomb maker.
Mohamed also raised money and procured radio communications equipment and binoculars for the group and had close contact with its leaders in Iraq and
Iran, authorities said.
The sentence was in line with prosecutors' call for a seven-year term â three years less than the legal maximum. Defense attorneys pleaded for a lesser punishment, arguing that he was not actually a member of the group.
Mohamed's lawyers also referred to what they called the disputed legality of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and suggested that attacks on coalition forces and Iraqi police should not be considered terrorism.
The case was the first test of a new German counterterrorism law that made it illegal to be a member of a foreign terrorist organization. The law was passed after it was revealed that three of the Sept. 11 hijackers had lived undetected in the northern German city of Hamburg.
Judges had listened to hundreds of hours of wiretaps and questioned witnesses including investigators looking into support networks for Ansar al-Islam in countries including Italy and Sweden.
German authorities have opened at least three other cases against alleged members and supporters of the group, including three men charged with plotting to kill former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi during a visit to Germany in 2004.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/12/2006 11:53 ||
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Wonder who he'll be traded for?
Next kidnapping victim or a future draft choice?
Spain said on Thursday it had arrested a Moroccan man suspected of heading two al Qaeda-linked cells and helping men involved in the 2004 Madrid bombings flee the country.
In an Interior Ministry statement, the man was named as Omar Nakhcha, the alleged ring-leader of two cells believed to have recruited Islamist fighters for Iraq. The units were dismantled by police earlier this week and 20 people were arrested.
Nakhcha, 23, was arrested in the northeastern province of Barcelona.
Larbi Ben Sellam, a suspected Islamist militant arrested in June last year, told police that Nakhcha helped three suspects Mohamed Afalah, Mohamed Belhadj and Daouh Ouhnane to escape from Spain after the Madrid bombings, the ministry said.
Nakhcha allegedly arranged from Belgium for the three men to travel to Syria and then Iraq, and helped the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group organise the travel of volunteer fighters between Iraq and Europe.
"He supplied the terrorists with false documentation, as well as those who returned to Europe to be integrated into Islamist cells after spending some time in Iraq," the statement said.
The two cells operated in Madrid, Barcelona and the Basque country and had connections in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, the Interior Ministry said.
One of the cells broken up on Tuesday was allegedly responsible for recruiting an Algerian who killed 19 Italians and nine Iraqis in a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2003.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/12/2006 11:37 ||
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A former high-ranking Iraqi intelligence official completed his testimony against an Indiana truck driver today in federal court, insisting that Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban was the same man who traveled to Iraq and offered to sell the names of U.S. covert operatives. "I know you as well as I know myself that I've seen you in Baghdad," the former Iraqi agent said.
Shaaban referred to the officer, testifying under the alias "Mr. Akram," more than once as "Akram S.S.," in a veiled reference to Nazi Germany's secret police.
That just sorta rolled from his lips, didn't it?
The testimony of this former officer in the Mukhabarat, Iraq's disbanded intelligence-gathering agency, put Shaaban in a bugged room at the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad trying to betray the United States in late 2002 in exchange for millions of dollars. Federal prosecutors say Shaaban is a 53-year-old Palestinian man who also goes by Shaaban S. Hafed or Joe Brown.
In addition to an allegation he acted as an unregistered agent of the Iraqi regime, Shaaban was indicted last March on charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, illegally traveling to Iraq, violating a U.S. ban on doing business with Iraq and fraudulently obtaining a commercial driver's license and illegally securing U.S. citizenship.
Busy bugger, wasn't he.
Shaaban must also persuade jurors an eight-page letter in Arabic he sent his brother Oct. 3 was not a death threat. The Greenfield resident faces death plus up to 65 years in prison.
The jury of seven women and five men, drawn from good old country stock in Central Indiana also has heard testimony today from an Air France ticket agent who described records of Shaaban's alleged flight from Chicago to Syria and from two officials of Shaaban's former employer, who said Shaaban took an extended leave of absence from truck driving during the period in late 2002 that prosecutors allege he traveled to Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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an Indiana truck driver today, Shaaban, traveled to Iraq and offered to sell the names of U.S. covert operatives.
A terrorism expert has said that Al-Qaeda and the International Islamic Front, that comprises Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, may be responsible for the October 29 blasts in Delhi.
B Raman, a distinguished fellow and convenor at the International Terrorism Watch Programme of Observer Research Foundation, said that only the Al-Qaeda and IIF have the capability to organise such well-coordinated blasts in a place like Delhi.
Raman stressed that the terrorist outfits might be targeting India because of its open alignment with the US as the blasts had occurred within three months of the recent visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the United States.
He also said that it is significant to note that the blasts took place a day after the Al Quds Day and three days before Diwali. The Al Quds Day is observed on the last Friday of the Ramzan fasting period to condemn the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem where the holy mosque of Al Quds is located.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/12/2006 01:13 ||
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Pakistani authorities have deported a Briton held since May after he was cleared of links to terrorism and charges of fraud, fining him Rs 500 for overstaying his visa, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Zeeshan Siddiqui, a 25-year-old Briton of Pakistani descent, was arrested in the northwestern town of Peshawar on May 15 after going to the police to report the loss of his passport. According to his lawyer, Siddiqui was interrogated about links to Al Qaeda and so badly beaten in custody that he lost the sight of one eye and the partial sight of the other.
The lawyer, Musarrat Hilali, said that after police failed to link Siddiqui to militants, they charged him with having a false identity card but a court found him not guilty. "We got his deportation order from the court on Saturday and he was freed from jail on Sunday," Hilali said. "He left for London via Qatar the same night," she said. According to Hilali, Siddiqui apparently fell under suspicion initially because he had been in Peshawar with a group of Islamic preachers who travel from town to town teaching Islam.
Question: How come PakiWakiLand can deport their nutters back to Merrie Ol' England, yet the only Pak sent home by Britain was the body of a suicide bomber?
This mutt isn't being deported, he's being sent on a mission.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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QUETTA: Law enforcement agencies have occupied Bugti House in Sui and arrested 20 people amidst new shelling in the area. The renewed shelling started in the area soon after HRCP Chairperson Asma Jehnagir and a media team left the area. Locals said that the firing was initiated by the Frontier Corps and several shells landed at the Bugti House and in the city.
Meanwhile, suspected militants fired three rockets in Sibi while an explosion in Harnai damaged a power transmission tower. No loss of life was reported. An army officer was injured when an FC vehicle hit a landmine in Tale Karam Wodeh area.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Militants attacked a gas field in troubled south-west Pakistan and 12 of them were killed in fighting with security forces, a senior government official says. Three soldiers were killed and three wounded in an earlier landmine blast in the region where separatist tribal fighters have been battling for control of resources for decades. "Up to 40 militants attacked a gas field. During the fighting 12 militants were killed," Abdul Samad Lasi said, the top administration official in the area.
Baluch militants have been waging a low-level insurgency for decades for greater benefits and control of gas and other natural resources. The gas field, near the small town of Pir Koh, was not damaged, Mr Lasi says. The landmine was planted on a road in the same area and exploded when the troops' vehicle ran over it, he says. Two soldiers were killed instantly and one died later.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Latest reports from Miranshah said the security forces in a riposte killed 14 militants in pitched battles and skirmishes after the expiry of an ultimatum which local area Commander Maj. Gen. Akran Sahi had given to the notables of South and North Waziristan. Security forces initiated the action early morning. Local villages and small townships were sealed off. Commanders made the final announcement through their mega phones for the production of those militants who have been attacking Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabullary forward posts located on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. As the ultimatum period expired, commanders gave the go-ahead signals to hundreds of security men who had taken positions during the last 36 hours. Local authorities through disrupted telephone lines could confirm deaths of 14 militants believed to be Taleban. Residents said, âFiring continued even after Maghreb prayers.â
Has to be Taliban. No al-Qaeda in the area, of course...
Well-equipped soldiers of Pakistan Army are using NVDs (Night Vision Devices) to locate the positions of the militants. âThey are extremists,âa source said, adding, âWe have not recovered the remains of the militants who were killed during the battle. Once we recover their remains we will be able to determine their nationalities.â
Why do I have my doubts they're going to recover their remains?
Residents confirmed the flights of attack helicopters in certain areas. On a number of occasions, Pakistan Army used its high-tech Cobra helicopters. The situation continues to be tense despite the fact that the locals will celeberate Eid Al-Adha today.
No ceasefire for the holidays? Tusk tusk.
Militants believed to be Taleban attacked a post of the Frontier Constabullary near Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, killing seven men of the Fronteir Constabullary. Authorities told Arab News from Miranshah, âthey used RPG-7 rockets. Initial attack killed seven security men instantly. One was wounded seriously.â Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, director general, Inter-Services Public Relations, confirmed the attack and killing of seven security men yesterday. According to details, militants struck at 12.30 a.m. just after midnight. âWe do not know who they were â tribesmen, Afghans or other foreigners who have been operating in this range for many months,â said Gen. Sultan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Between the 14 dead Jihadis and the 7 dead Paki soldiers, is there really a difference?
The story told by the two Iraqi guerrillas cut to the heart of the war that Iraqi and American officials now believe is raging inside the Iraqi insurgency.
In October, the two insurgents said in interviews, a group of local fighters from the Islamic Army gathered for an open-air meeting on a street corner in Taji, a city north of Baghdad.
Across from the Iraqis stood the men from Al Qaeda, mostly Arabs from outside Iraq. Some of them wore suicide belts. The men from the Islamic Army accused the Qaeda fighters of murdering their comrades.
"Al Qaeda killed two people from our group," said an Islamic Army fighter who uses the nom de guerre Abu Lil and who claimed that he attended the meeting. "They repeatedly kill our people."
The encounter ended angrily. A few days later, the insurgents said, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and the Islamic Army fought a bloody battle on the outskirts of town.
The battle, which the insurgents said was fought on Oct. 23, was one of several clashes between Al Qaeda and local Iraqi guerrilla groups that have broken out in recent months across the Sunni Triangle.
American and Iraqi officials believe that the conflicts present them with one of the biggest opportunities since the insurgency burst upon Iraq nearly three years ago. They have begun talking with local insurgents, hoping to enlist them to cooperate against Al Qaeda, said Western diplomats, Iraqi officials and an insurgent leader.
It is impossible to say just how far the split extends within the insurgency, which remains a lethal force with a shared goal of driving the Americans out of Iraq. Indeed, the best the Americans can hope for may be a grudging passivity from the Iraqi insurgents when the Americans zero in on Al Qaeda's forces.
But the split within the insurgency is coinciding with Sunni Arabs' new desire to participate in Iraq's political process, and a growing resentment of the militants. Iraqis are increasingly saying that they regard Al Qaeda as a foreign-led force, whose extreme religious goals and desires for sectarian war against Iraq's Shiite majority override Iraqi tribal and nationalist traditions.
While American and Iraqi officials have talked of a split for months, detailed accounts of clashes were provided by men claiming to be local insurgents.
Abu Lil was one of four Iraqi men interviewed for this article who said they were fighters for the Islamic Army, one of the main insurgent groups. Despite its name, its members have nationalist and largely secular motivations. While their membership in the insurgency could not be independently verified, the descriptions the four men offered of themselves and their exploits were lengthy, detailed and credible.
The four men interviewed are, by all accounts, ordinary Iraqis. One worked as a trash collector. Another was a part-time mechanic in an ice factory. All of them said they had children. While they claimed to be members of the same group, different members provided lengthy accounts of operations in an array of cities in the Sunni Triangle. The men gave Iraqi nicknames and noms de guerre. Some of their assertions, including specific examples about clashes with Al Qaeda's forces, were confirmed by American and Iraqi officials.
According to an American and an Iraqi intelligence official, as well as Iraqi insurgents, clashes between Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and Iraqi insurgent groups like the Islamic Army and Muhammad's Army have broken out in Ramadi, Husayba, Yusifiya, Dhuluiya and Karmah.
In town after town, Iraqis and Americans say, local Iraqi insurgents and tribal groups have begun trying to expel Al Qaeda's fighters, and, in some cases, kill them. It is unclear how deeply the split pervades Iraqi society. Iraqi leaders say that in some Iraqi cities, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia and local insurgent groups continue to cooperate with one another.
American and Iraqi officials believe that Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is largely made up of Iraqis, with its highest leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian. Even so, among Iraqis, the group is still perceived as a largely foreign force.
Evidence of the split is still largely anecdotal, and from most available evidence, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia remains the most virulent and well-financed group fighting in Iraq. But in most Sunni cities, Iraqis defied Al Qaeda's threats and turned out to vote in large numbers on Dec. 15.
"The tribes are fed up with Al Qaeda and they will not tolerate any more," said a senior Iraqi intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The intelligence official confirmed reports that a Sunni tribe in Samarra had tried and executed Qaeda members for their role in assassinating a local sheik.
"It was a beautiful mistake," the intelligence official said of the sheik's assassination by Al Qaeda. "Now the tribes will kill Al Qaeda. Now they have the courage."
Samarra, north of Baghdad, had been infiltrated by Al Qaeda's fighters. In desperation, a local sheik, Hekmat Mumtaz al-Baz, traveled to Baghdad in September to meet with Iraq's defense minister and ask for help, said one of the sheik's aides, Waleed al-Samarrai. A few weeks after the visit, the sheik was shot dead by Qaeda gunmen in his yard.
The account was confirmed by a member of the tribe, and a senior Iraqi intelligence official in Baghdad. Mr. Samarrai spoke in an interview in Al Wasat Hospital in Baghdad, where his brother, Salim, the sheik's bodyguard, who was wounded in a fight with Al Qaeda, was convalescing.
The tribe was furious, and its members tracked down the three men who carried out the killing. Elders from the tribe held a trial in a local farmhouse and interrogated the men for days. They said they worked for a fighter from Saudi Arabia who bankrolled the attacks, Mr. Samarrai said.
The Samarrai brothers said Al Qaeda's appeal was based less on religion than on money. The Iraqis who killed the sheik were believed to have received $500 to $1,000 for the job, and the same amount for dozens of other similar killings, Waleed al-Samarrai said. He said local insurgents had changed allegiances, lured away by Al Qaeda's money.
Members of the tribe swept the town and arrested 17 people they suspected were associated with the sheik's killing. In one house raid, the tribe found men from Sudan, Morocco, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, a member of the tribe said.
Al Qaeda's fighters struck back during the tribe's offensive. A foreign Arab believed to be a Saudi wearing in a suicide belt blew himself up at the sheik's funeral, killing one guest and wounding two, said Salim al-Samarrai, who said he witnessed the attack.
As a lesson to all those associated with the sheik's death, the tribe staged a public killing. While the sheik's father watched, men with machine guns shot the three men who carried out the assassination, the Samarrai brothers said.
"Someone from outside the tribe should not tell us what to do," said Waleed al-Samarrai, standing next to Salim's hospital bed. "It is unacceptable for us."
Disagreements over Al Qaeda's bloody tactics between local insurgents and Al Qaeda's fighters are as old as the war. Abu Lil, who fought in Taji in October, for example, claimed to have met with Qaeda fighters in late 2003. The militant group had just claimed responsibility for a double car bombing in Baghdad, and insurgents from the 20th Revolutionary Brigade, a nationalist group that Abu Lil belonged to at that time, were angry about the high civilian death toll.
Abu Lil, an elfin man with a cotton scarf tied around his head, talked in detail about the meeting as he sat on a couch in a house in Baghdad. The meeting was held in a farmhouse in Mosul, he said. About 25 men from Al Qaeda attended. Several appeared to be from Pakistan. Some spoke Arabic so poorly that they had to speak through a translator.
The discussion dragged on for seven hours, he said, but did not go well. The local insurgents demanded that the foreigners from Al Qaeda leave Iraq.
"They said, 'Jihad needs its victims,' " Abu Lil said. " 'Iraqis should be willing to pay the price.' "
"We said, 'It's very expensive.' "
The meeting ended abruptly, and Abu Lil and his associates walked out, feeling powerless and angry.
"I wished I had a nuclear bomb to attack them," he said. "We told them, 'You are not Iraqis. Who gave you the power to do this?' "
It took two more years for Sunni Arab sentiment to turn against the militants. As the Iraqi democratic political process began, including elections and the drafting of a new constitution, there was a widespread feeling among Sunnis that they were being left behind. Last January, Sunnis boycotted an election, giving them few seats in the new Parliament, and leaving them out of the drafting of a new constitution.
In the predominantly Sunni town of Dhuluiya, north of Baghdad, local residents blamed insurgents for their isolation. In the days leading up to a vote on the constitution, they went to the resistance and demanded they let people vote.
"All of the Sunnis were angry at the resistance," said a resident of Dhuluiya. "People realized, if we do not take part it, then we will lose the government. So the resistance agreed. They said, 'We will protect you from anyone who tries to attack you.' "
Emboldened by the promise of protection by the resistance, clerics from five local mosques encouraged their congregations to vote, even sending out people to put up posters about the election.
The excitement over the vote spurred Al Qaeda into action. At night, men put up their own posters threatening, "He who votes will be beheaded." Then, two days before the Oct. 15 referendum, a group of Qaeda fighters confronted an imam in one of the local Sunni mosques and lectured him about how voting contradicted the Koran. According to the imam, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety, two of the men appeared from their accents to be from Algeria and Syria. They vowed to kill anyone who removed their posters.
"Why are you driving the troubles into our town?" the Sunni cleric said he asked the men. "If you want jihad, the U.S. military is there."
Imams from five Sunni mosques tore down the Qaeda posters wherever they could find them.
"I myself tore those into pieces," the Sunni cleric said.
Al Qaeda got the message. On election day, Dhuluiya's voters streamed into polling places. The streets were quiet, with only a single attack on a polling center.
"All of them voted," the resident said. "All of Dhuluiya. There was no one sitting in his house."
Two and a half years into the American occupation, the towns and villages south of Baghdad are divided among the insurgent groups like gang territory in big American cities. The arrangement is largely invisible to American troops who patrol the towns, the insurgents said in interviews. But guerrillas themselves say they must seek permission to travel through towns their groups do not control.
Abu Marwa, a 32-year-old guerrilla leader from Yusifiya, a city south of Baghdad, told of a blood feud with Al Qaeda in a village the group controlled called Karagol, south of Baghdad.
Bookish and soft-spoken, wearing jeans and a button-down shirt, Mr. Marwa told of life inside the insurgency during two days of interviews in Baghdad. He said he might never have clashed with Al Qaeda, but the group's sectarian war against Shiites clashed with his loyalty to a Shiite relative of his the group had kidnapped and tortured.
"It's more than crazy when you want to hit Al Qaeda," said Mr. Marwa, who said he was a fighter for a local cell called Thunder. "Even the network of the resistance couldn't think of doing such an act."
According to Mr. Marwa's story, the feud with Al Qaeda began on Oct. 13, when a car full of gunmen he said appeared to be Syrian kidnapped his relative and took him to Karagol, which is in territory he said was controlled by Al Qaeda.
"Karagol is the place where Al Qaeda is based in the region," said an Iraqi Army lieutenant based in the area. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
"There has not been a command to go into Karagol," he said. "There are no government forces there. Now it's fully under control of the terrorists."
For the next three days, Mr. Marwa searched through miles of lush farmland before he got to Karagol. When he was prevented from driving through the town by Qaeda gunmen, who shot at him on the road, he walked through orchards after dark.
He said a guide had led him to the house of a man who was known as a paid killer for Al Qaeda. The man consulted a notebook fat with names, but Mr. Marwa's relative's was not among them.
As he drew closer, a local insurgent warned him to stay away from Karagol, even if he was sure his relative was there.
" 'I advise you, if you know he's with Al Qaeda, don't go there,' " Mr. Marwa recalled the man saying.
Mr. Marwa finally found his relative in the local morgue. His legs bore drill holes revealing bone. His jaw had slid off to one side of his head, and his nose was broken. Burns marked his body. His knees were raw, as if he had been dragged.
"I was totally crazy," Mr. Marwa recalled. "A mad man was more rational than me."
Enlisting the most trusted members of his cell, Mr. Marwa set out to take revenge. They tracked down two Syrian members of Al Qaeda, and in late October laid out an intricate plan for an ambush. They killed them on a country road as they drove out of town, and took their kaffiyeh, or headdresses, to the dead relative's wife, Mr. Marwa said.
"After many meetings, we decided to terminate them," he said.
Despite such tensions, the Americans face significant challenges in trying to exploit the split. "It is against my beliefs to put my hand with the Americans," said an Iraqi member of the Islamic Army who uses the nom de guerre Abu Omar.
Still, he said in an interview in a house in Baghdad, he allowed himself a small celebration whenever a member of Al Qaeda fell to an American bullet. "I feel happy when the Americans kill them," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/12/2006 01:08 ||
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"They killed them on a country road as they drove out of town, and took their kaffiyeh, or headdresses, to the dead relative's wife, Mr. Marwa said."
Taking scalps.
Thought exercise... Picture what the "Indian Wars" would've been like... with a few twists...
Kurds = civilized Native American Tribes
non-Qom Shi'a = doormat Native American Tribes
Iraqi Sunni "resistance" = war-like Native American tribes
AlQ "foreigners" = The French, only they don't leave when the Brits do
Syria = French Canucks
Iran = More Fucking French
US Mil = US Mil - we'll leave when the killing ends
#2
Hello all , long time no see . Hope all is well at Rantburg HQ
This gave me a warm glow
Still, he said in an interview in a house in Baghdad, he allowed himself a small celebration whenever a member of Al Qaeda fell to an American bullet. "I feel happy when the Americans kill them," he said.
#3
In the wild west, they carried revolvers and single shot rifles and wore leather vests. In the wild East, they carry Kalishnikoffs and RPGs and their clothing explodes.
What's bothersome is that the people have not been beaten. They ran from superior fire power, but they remain defiant. The fact that the American military treat them with respect counts little. We are the occupiers, so they consider any means justified. It's a strange world; civil men fighting a war in a civil way against barbarians and cut throats who bomb bystanders in a vain attempt to incite chaos. This would have made a good novel back in peaceful times.
#7
mhw, I had the same thought. Usually, if you read closely enough, there is a point being pushed, especially when it begins with a flourish as this one did, "The story told by the two Iraqi guerrillas cut to the heart of the war that Iraqi and American officials now believe is raging inside the Iraqi insurgency."
I read the whole thing and didn't find it, but I didn't spend much time at it.
The Army plans to send thousands of ceramic body armor plates to Iraq this year to better protect soldiers while the Marine Corps already is delivering such gear, military officers said Wednesday. In a private appearance before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the officers defended the body armor available to U.S. troops. A Pentagon study done last summer but only disclosed recently found that improved armor may have prevented or minimized torso wounds that proved fatal to Marines in Iraq. The committee chairman, Sen. John Warner, said he was satisfied the military was ensuring that U.S. troops had adequate body armor. ``Everything that can be done, is being done,'' said Warner, R-Va.
But some Democrats urged more congressional oversight on body-armor issues. ``Our soldiers and their families deserve nothing less,'' Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said in a statement.
Well yeah, but it's not like you know what they need.
After the briefing, Army Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson said the Army decided to send soldiers side protective plates after troops driving military vehicles made the suggestion over the past year. He said the Army has finished determining the specifications for the plates and hopes to begin production soon that 230,000 sets can be provided this year. Sorenson said the protective vest that soldiers now wear has been improved seven times. ``It already has some side protections'' that were added a year ago, he said. The vest also contains ceramic plates covering the chest and back.
Continuous improvement and a willingness to listen to what the soldiers need.
Army spokesman Paul Boyce said soldiers in Iraq will get 3 pound ceramic side plates as well as the Velcro-attached pouches into which the plates will fit on the vest.
The Marine Corps said that since June it has shipped to Iraq 9,000 sets of side plates and that a total of 28,000 will be in the combat zone by April. ``We're fielding the best body armor and equipment available, we think, in the world today, and as we have the opportunity to upgrade the equipment, we do that,'' Marine Maj. Gen. William Catto said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
So just adding the two side plates adds 6 pounds to the vest?
I can't help but wonder if titanium plate might be better... believe it or not, there's one company manufacturing titanium and/or ceramic and/or other composites (they're a little secretive) scale mail (with circular scales).
Posted by: Phil ||
01/12/2006 1:02 Comments ||
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#2
How much do the ceramic inserts for the side weigh, per square inch of coverage?
Posted by: Phil ||
01/12/2006 1:02 Comments ||
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#3
The committee chairman, Sen. John Warner, said he was satisfied the military was ensuring that U.S. troops had adequate body armor. ``Everything that can be done, is being done,'' said Warner, R-Va. ......Congressman Barney Franks D-MA indicated he was taking personal interest in the utility and functionality of velcro cod pieces.
Posted by: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy ||
01/12/2006 9:46 Comments ||
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#6
"Sorenson said the protective vest that soldiers now wear has been improved seven times." Sounds like they are doing exactly what should be done: Find flaws and improve. Teddy and Shillary think that if we add another 50 pounds of armor each soldier will be invincible. Idiots!
#7
6 pounds doesn't sound like a lot but any added weight makes a difference. How much ammo or other stuff will be left? One of the problems on D-Day in Europe was the soldiers, (airborne and infantry) were overloaded, many of them carrying over 100 pounds of stuff. There are the quick and there are the dead. Speed makes a BIG difference.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
01/12/2006 11:18 Comments ||
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#8
Six pounds is a ton of weight to add to what they already wear. Are they even going to wear that stuff once they get it?
#9
But some Democrats urged more congressional oversight on body-armor issues.
Oh, great! Boy, nothing would kill initiative and inventiveness quicker than congressional oversight. Not to mention stretching out development times and increasing costs. Somebody please shoot this bunch of idiots before they cost us another war.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/12/2006 16:14 Comments ||
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#10
I'm torn on this issue. My son is a young Marine who served in Iraq with the 3/2. Marines did take casualties that could possibly have been prevented by the addition of these new side body plates. However, summer temps can reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit in Iraq and that puts one hell of a stress on the body when hauling all of the gear that these Marines are required to carry. I know of many boys that were overcome by that heat. Add to that the potential loss of mobility. It makes me wonder if we could be doing more harm than good. Though I know the intentions are sincere. I know there are people out there working to develop a more light weight protective plate. I've met some of those people. Lets all hope that one of them makes a breakthrough soon.
Two suspected terrorists have been killed and a Polish soldier wounded during a raid carried out by Iraqi, American and Polish troops near the town of Hamza, south of Baghdad, Polandâs PAP news agency reported on Tuesday. A PAP correspondent at the scene said Iraqi soldiers supported by the Americans and Poles surrounded âa group of terrorists suspected of murders, kidnappings and drug traffickingâ overnight between Monday and Tuesday. In a firefight that followed, âtwo terrorists were killed and a Polish soldier wounded in the leg and shoulder,â the news agency said. It added that Iraqi soldiers captured four suspects wanted over the killing of a Spanish officer in 2004.
The wounded Pole was taken to hospital and underwent an operation but his life was not in danger, PAP said. Poland has steadfastly backed the US-led coalition in Iraq since the start of the campaign there nearly three years ago. A total of 21 Poles â 17 soldiers and four civilians, including two television journalists â have been killed in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Gotta admit that we love our Poles! It's people like the Polish and Australians that we need to help and not frogs like the French or Germans.
#3
Hate to sound disagreeable. But the Germans are doing a damn good job on the ground with us in Afghanistan. Their Air Force wasn't too shabby in Operation Desert Storm either. As for the Frogs. I just plain don't like them.
Two Abu Sayyaf militants were killed and two soldiers wounded in fierce clashes Thursday in the southern Philippine island of Basilan, officials said. The fighting broke out Wednesday in Sumisip town after soldiers raided an Abu Sayyaf hideout in the village called Erely, and continued sporadically the next day. Troops were pursuing the gunmen, said Brigaider General Raymundo Ferrer, the island's military commander.
At least two members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group were killed, but there could be more enemy casualties, he said, quoting reports from villagers who saw retreating gunmen dragging many bodies. "Two of my soldiers are slightly wounded, and two terrorists are also killed, and villagers reported they saw gunmen retreating with bodies," Ferrer said.
He said villagers secretly informed the military about the presence of the hideout and gunmen in the area. "Villagers informed us about the presence of Abu Sayyaf terrorists in the area. Civilians are cooperating and helping us. They are proving us intelligence information about the Abu Sayyaf Group," he said. Ferrer said security forces were pursuing about three dozen gunmen, mostly remnants of the Abu Sayyaf under Khadaffy Janjalani, who fled the island after a massive military operation in 2002. He said new Southern Command chief Gabriel Habacon ordered an intensified campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, blamed for the spate of kidnappings and terrorism in the southern Philippines.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/12/2006 01:16 ||
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#1
As the US troops move to Jolo in support of Balikatan, the ASG will run. Lets hope the Phil military is waiting for them like with this event.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
01/12/2006 11:17 Comments ||
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The British, French and German foreign ministers said Thursday that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program had reached a "dead end" and the Islamic republic should be referred to the U.N. Security Council.
The ministers did not specify what action should be taken by the Security Council, which could impose sanctions. They called for a special session of the International Atomic Energy Agency to decide the referral.
The action came two days after Iran broke U.N. seals at a uranium enrichment plant and said it was resuming nuclear research after a two-year freeze.
Enriched uranium can be used as a fuel for both nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is only for fuel.
In a joint statement, the diplomats cited Iran's "documented record of concealment and deception" and charged that its government seems "intent on turning its back on better relations with the international community."
"From our point of view, the time has come for the U.N. Security Council to become involved," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting with his French and British counterparts and the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.
The Bush administration, meanwhile, arranged to have Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns go to Britain, France and Germany next week to coordinate strategy. Burns also will hold talks in India, said a senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the State Department was not ready to issue a formal statement.
While Burns will be consulting in Europe, Solana plans to be in Washington to coordinate with Bush administration officials.
Steinmeier said the three countries would inform the board "that our talks with Iran have reached a dead end."
Solana said the EU and national governments were left with no choice but to call for Iran's referral. But he would not rule out a new round of negotiations with Tehran.
Steinmeier stressed that the Europeans remain ready to solve the problem "diplomatically, multilaterally and by peaceful means."
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed to press ahead with a nuclear program that Iran says is designed to produce civilian energy.
"Unfortunately, a group of bullies allows itself to deprive nations of their legal and natural rights," he said Wednesday. "I tell those superpowers that, with strength and prudence, Iran will pave the way to achieving peaceful nuclear energy.
Iran's move increased worries in the United States and other Western countries that Iran intends to produce nuclear weapons, while Russia, a longtime Iran ally, indicated it could reverse its opposition to bringing Tehran before the Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
Russia and China, both members of the IAEA board that would have to approve referring Iran to the Security Council, have previously opposed the idea.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia, the United States, the European Union and China would discuss the issue in London next week.
He told Ekho Moskvy radio that Iran's latest move did not violate international law â but also said that Moscow did not exclude the possibility of turning the Iranian dossier over to the Security Council.
"It causes concern that Iran is opting out of its moratorium in the absence of answers to questions, serious questions" from the IAEA, Lavrov said. "Our main task is to persuade Tehran through joint efforts to return to the moratorium."
China on Thursday urged more talks, without saying whether it would back taking Tehran to the Security Council.
China "hopes that all parties concerned can exercise restraint and resolve this within the IAEA framework and through peaceful negotiations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing. "We firmly believe this serves the interests of all parties concerned."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/12/2006 11:48 ||
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#1
At least they pulled the plug instead of letting Ahmadinejad string it out till the first detonation. Now will they do anything except shiver?
#6
Non-permanent UNSC members for this year are: Argentina, Congo, Denmark, Ghana, Greece, Japan, Qatar, Peru, Slovakia and Tanzania.
I hope we don't have to play childish games again.
#8
China has long been the only UNSC member that is really questionable with Iran. And it does it out of no love for Iran, but with cynical purpose to get something out of the deal.
This most likely means that the US and China have been diplomatically horse-trading the finer points of China pulling the rug out from underneath Iran.
With both sides even calculating the effect on Iran, whether it will shock Iran into shaping up, or propel Iran to belligerence. All is considered.
#9
Oh, boy! Kofi's involved! You guy's are really gonna get it now!
Annan Says Iran Wants to Discuss Nukes
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Iran's top nuclear negotiator told him Thursday that Tehran was interested in "serious and constructive negotiations" with Britain, France and Germany over its atomic program.
During a 40-minute telephone conversation, he said, Ali Larijani said Iran wanted to resume negotiations with the Europeans, but this time favored a deadline.
"He affirmed to me that they are interested in serious and constructive negotiations but within a timeframe, indicating that the last time they did it for 2 1/2 years and no result," Annan told reporters.
The statement came after the British, French and German foreign ministers said negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program had reached a "dead end" and the Islamic republic should be referred to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose sanctions.
#12
Anonymoose
I never posted the article here and don't want to search for it again... but ... one of the diplomatic blogs has this little story about China asking the US for better military relations and military trade. Seems State is mulling it.
#15
This President A's elevator don't go clear to the top - in fact it is several floors short. That is not a good sign for the leader of a country that is comitted to 1) developing nuclear weapons, 2) proving it can stand up to the West, 3) rallying susceptible Muslims against Israel, and 4) seeing the Caliphate before celebrating with virgins. The IAEC won't stop them, the UN won't, the Security Council won't, sanctions won't, deals won't, even the Israelis won't. Only force will stop them, and you know who draws that straw.
A former Syrian vice president pushing for the regime's overthrow has told French radio that he strongly believes that Syrian President Bashar Assad ordered the assassination of Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri. Abdul-Halim Khaddam, who lives in exile in Paris, said he is certain that a U.N. commission investigating the killing "will condemn Mr. Assad, because it is he who is responsible for the assassination of Mr. Hariri."
Asked whether Assad ordered the February assassination, Khaddam replied, "Yes. It is my intimate conviction." Khaddam was speaking through a translator in an interview broadcast Tuesday on Europe-1 radio. Syria has denied accusations of involvement in the massive truck bombing in Beirut that killed Hariri. Syria has accused Khaddam of high treason and the government has seized his assets. Khaddam was for many years Syria's top official in Lebanon and was a member of the ruling Baath Party's regional command, its most influential body, for almost 30 years. He represents an old guard long seen as wary of Assad, who became president after the death of his father and predecessor, Hafez Assad, in 2000. Khaddam resigned in June, left Syria several months ago, and is holed up in a luxury residence in Paris, guarded by armed French police officers. Khaddam met last week with investigators from the U.N. commission. Khaddam told Europe-1 that he told them about decision-making in the Syrian security apparatus and that an assassination order "can only be taken by the head of the state."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2006 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.
Khulna city is under a security blanket and police and Rab (Rapid Action Battalion) are on 'high alert' following intelligence reports that JMB suicide bombers may carry out attacks on prime spots or key installations in Khulna city on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha. Fifteen mobile teams, in addition to 25 parties, will remain vigilant in vulnerable areas and the security blanket will continue till january 13, said DC (Hq) Akbar Ali of Khulna Metropolitan Police (KMP).
A listed criminal was killed yesterday during a shootout between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and a gang of criminals at Kafrul in the capital. The dead was identified by Rab as Jamal, a criminal for hire, who had several cases filed against him including two for murder and one for robbery. On information that Jamal had been staying in Rampura in disguise and frequented Kakoli area regularly, a team of Rab 4 waylaid him in front of army club at 5:30pm Sunday, a Rab press release said.
Police recovered huge arms, ammunition and bomb-making materials from a depository of outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in Dakkhin Khan village on Sunday. The cache seized in Gazipur includes three kilograms of gunpowder, one pistol, two country-made shooter guns, one foreign-made shooter gun, 16 bullets, five cartridges and three knives.
A former high-ranking Iraqi intelligence official completed his testimony against an Indiana truck driver today in federal court, insisting that Shaaban Hafiz Ahmad Ali Shaaban was the same man who traveled to Iraq and offered to sell the names of U.S. covert operatives. "I know you as well as I know myself that I've seen you in Baghdad," the former Iraqi agent said.
Pakistani authorities have deported a Briton held since May after he was cleared of links to terrorism and charges of fraud, fining him Rs 500 for overstaying his visa, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Zeeshan Siddiqui, a 25-year-old Briton of Pakistani descent, was arrested in the northwestern town of Peshawar on May 15 after going to the police to report the loss of his passport. According to his lawyer, Siddiqui was interrogated about links to Al Qaeda and so badly beaten in custody that he lost the sight of one eye and the partial sight of the other. 
QUETTA: Law enforcement agencies have occupied Bugti House in Sui and arrested 20 people amidst new shelling in the area. The renewed shelling started in the area soon after HRCP Chairperson Asma Jehnagir and a media team left the area. Locals said that the firing was initiated by the Frontier Corps and several shells landed at the Bugti House and in the city. 
Militants attacked a gas field in troubled south-west Pakistan and 12 of them were killed in fighting with security forces, a senior government official says. Three soldiers were killed and three wounded in an earlier landmine blast in the region where separatist tribal fighters have been battling for control of resources for decades. "Up to 40 militants attacked a gas field. During the fighting 12 militants were killed," Abdul Samad Lasi said, the top administration official in the area. 
Latest reports from Miranshah said the security forces in a riposte killed 14 militants in pitched battles and skirmishes after the expiry of an ultimatum which local area Commander Maj. Gen. Akran Sahi had given to the notables of South and North Waziristan. Security forces initiated the action early morning. Local villages and small townships were sealed off. Commanders made the final announcement through their mega phones for the production of those militants who have been attacking Frontier Corps and Frontier Constabullary forward posts located on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. As the ultimatum period expired, commanders gave the go-ahead signals to hundreds of security men who had taken positions during the last 36 hours. Local authorities through disrupted telephone lines could confirm deaths of 14 militants believed to be Taleban. Residents said, âFiring continued even after Maghreb prayers.â
The Army plans to send thousands of ceramic body armor plates to Iraq this year to better protect soldiers while the Marine Corps already is delivering such gear, military officers said Wednesday. In a private appearance before members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the officers defended the body armor available to U.S. troops. A Pentagon study done last summer but only disclosed recently found that improved armor may have prevented or minimized torso wounds that proved fatal to Marines in Iraq. The committee chairman, Sen. John Warner, said he was satisfied the military was ensuring that U.S. troops had adequate body armor. ``Everything that can be done, is being done,'' said Warner, R-Va.
Two suspected terrorists have been killed and a Polish soldier wounded during a raid carried out by Iraqi, American and Polish troops near the town of Hamza, south of Baghdad, Polandâs PAP news agency reported on Tuesday. A PAP correspondent at the scene said Iraqi soldiers supported by the Americans and Poles surrounded âa group of terrorists suspected of murders, kidnappings and drug traffickingâ overnight between Monday and Tuesday. In a firefight that followed, âtwo terrorists were killed and a Polish soldier wounded in the leg and shoulder,â the news agency said. It added that Iraqi soldiers captured four suspects wanted over the killing of a Spanish officer in 2004.
At least two members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group were killed, but there could be more enemy casualties, he said, quoting reports from villagers who saw retreating gunmen dragging many bodies. "Two of my soldiers are slightly wounded, and two terrorists are also killed, and villagers reported they saw gunmen retreating with bodies," Ferrer said.
A former Syrian vice president pushing for the regime's overthrow has told French radio that he strongly believes that Syrian President Bashar Assad ordered the assassination of Lebanese leader 
