Only bombers were killed in two failed suicide attacks in southern Afghanistan on Friday. With the fresh assaults, the number of suicide attacks rose to four during the past three days. Friday's attacks were carried out in two provinces of Kandahar and Paktia but officials say only one constable was injured. Targets of both the attacks were convoys of the Afghan army and police.
The first suicide attack was carried out in the Kandahar province, where a bomber tried to detonate himself amid a military convoy, said a senior military officer General Rahmatullah Raufi. He said only the bomber, believed to be an al-Qaeda member, was killed in the explosion. The soldiers were unhurt. Hours after the first attack, another such blast was reported from the Paktia province, where a Taliban militant blew himself up to target some police constables. A local officer said no sooner did the policemen rush to arrest the suspect than he stepped back and there was a big explosion. The body of the bomber was mutilated beyond recognition. One policeman suffered injuries in the attack, who was rushed to a military medical facility in the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Awesome...It's nice when the only ones that get what they deserve are the perps.
Afghan security forces have retreated from a gun battle that has left six insurgents dead but allowed Taliban fighters to take control of three villages in the troubled south of the country. The Taliban attacked a police post in the Kajaki district of Helmand province according to a deputy provincial governor. AP on Friday quoted Mohammad Amir Akhund as saying: "In the couple-of-hours exchange of fire, six Taliban were killed and three were wounded. Taliban have control of three villages in the district now. The government forces have not started any operation in these three villages so far."
The province of Helmand is practically lawless and is one of the areas most affected by an increasing number of attacks that are blamed on a Taliban-led insurgency. Its is the largest producing area of opium in a country that is the largest producer in the world of the drug, a fact that some say links with the violence. Around 3,300 British troops are due in Helmand in the coming weeks as part of a multinational force that is being deployed to hunt down members of the Taliban and other Muslim groups.
Kajaki is next door to the district of Sangin, the scene of the Taliban's biggest attack on a multinational-force base in months when a Canadian and an American soldier were killed on Wednesday. The attack happened just two weeks after the Taliban said they would launch a spring offensive. An estimated 1,700 people were killed in violence in Afghanistan last year, most of the deaths, double the number of 2004. Most of the deaths were due to the insurgency and most of them were fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I wonder if "owning" three villages will act as a focal point to draw in additional fighters?
NEW charges levelled against two men accused of belonging to a Melbourne terrorist cell have linked members of the group to supporting the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Two of the 10 men who allegedly formed a self-contained terrorist cell, Shane Kent, 29, and Aimen Joud, 21, now face charges of trying to help al-Qaeda carry out a terrorist operation. It has previously been alleged that Kent trained with al-Qaeda and that he used his knowledge to train members of the group.
A total of 22 new charges have been laid against the 10 men, who were arrested in November last year.
An Australian Federal Police spokeswoman said the new charges resulted from evidence gathered under search warrants in November and from follow-up investigations.
"Operation Pendennis is an ongoing operation. While the majority of the brief has been served in Victoria and NSW, some of the material is still being assessed," she said.
Also, three other men, believed to be connected to the group of 10, were being questioned by federal police in Melbourne last night. It is believed that two of the men are Majid Raad, brother of accused men Ahmed and Ezzit; and Shouie Hammoud.
The group's alleged spiritual leader, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 46, of Dallas, is charged with directing, belonging to, recruiting for and supporting a terrorist organisation.
But a lawyer for Benbrika yesterday told the Melbourne Magistrates Court that the only explosion connected with the group was material detonated by federal police on October 6, 2004.
The court heard the case against the men relied largely on interpretations of a vast record of conversations intercepted by police.
Four of the men appeared briefly in court. Benbrika spoke briefly in Arabic when he entered court then, evidently translating his remarks, said: "This life is very short. Everyone is going to die, but the best of us " His last words were indecipherable.
His lawyer, Bill Doogue, said Benbrika was being held in solitary confinement and restricted to his cell 18 hours a day.
"He has very limited access to his seven children, and when he does have access to his children his wife is not allowed in the room as well, and is forced to watch through the glass window," Mr Doogue said. "For a man who is presumed to be innocent it's grossly unfair."
Yesterday's hearing was delayed after the men were refused permission to attend court in prison garb. The lawyer for eight of the men, Rob Stary, said their civilian clothing was soiled and musty. But magistrate Paul Smith said that not having been found guilty, they should appear in court as any other citizen would. "All defendants appearing before the court, whether in custody or not, should appear in civilian clothing," he said.
As well as Benbrika, Kent and Joud, the men alleged to belong to the terror group are: Abdullah Merhi, 20, of Fawkner; Hany Taha, 31, of Hadfield; Ezzit Raad, 24, of Preston; Fadal Sayadi, 26, of Coburg; Amer Haddara, 26, of Yarraville; Ahmed Raad, 23, of Fawkner; and Izzydeen Atik, 25, of Williamstown North. They are charged with offences including funding a terrorist organisation and possessing items to carry out a terrorist act. They will appear again on June 14.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/01/2006 00:14 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Police say the overnight arrest of three Melbourne men has disrupted the activity of a group with links to terrorist organisations overseas. A 21-year-old Coburg man, a 25-year-old from Brunswick and a 26-year-old from Hadfield have been charged with belonging to and providing funds to a terrorist organisation. They were arrested after a series of raids conducted last night by ASIO and Federal, Victorian and New South Wales police in north Melbourne.
The Australian Federal Police's Assistant Commissioner for Counter Terrorism, Frank Prendergast, says the arrests relate to the November raids in Sydney and Melbourne. "We believe that what we've done is disrupt a significant threat to the community," he said. "The specifics of those threats will come out during the court processes and we need to be careful in this situation not to say anything that will impinge on the court process."
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon says the men have made no reference to a specific target for an attack. The ABC understands the men have been charged under tough new laws that prevent anyone associating with alleged terrorist groups. They are believed to be devotees of Islamic cleric Nacer Benbrika.
The suspects' lawyer Rob Stary says the men belong to the same prayer group as 10 others facing court on terror offences. "This is an operation that's gone on now for nearly two years," he said. "[They have] been identified previously and it's curious, the timing of their arrest. They were arrested some time after five-thirty, co-incidentally at the same time that the Melbourne 10 appeared in court all on the same day after a committal mention hearing."
The men were arrested as part of Operation Pendennis. The two older men have also been charged with supporting a terrorist organisation. Two of the charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years' prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
A six-year-old boy and two young men wounded during rioting in Kurdish-dominated southeast Turkey have died in hospital, raising the death toll to six after three days of unrest. The violent protests in the city of Diyarbakir were sparked by recent killings of separatist Kurdish rebels by Turkish forces. About 270 people have been injured in the protests, the worst street violence seen in the area in more than a decade. Turkish television said many shops and offices had reopened on Friday, but witnesses reported renewed clashes between protesters and police in at least one district of the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
how long befor the Kurds establish their own country?
Posted by: bk ||
04/01/2006 10:08 Comments ||
Top||
A bomb hidden in a garbage can has exploded near a bus stop in Istanbul, killing one person and injuring 13 others, police said. The blast occurred on Friday in the Kocamustafapasa district of Istanbul. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bomb was believed to have contained plastic explosives. Muammer Guler, Istanbul's governor, said the man killed in the blast was a street vendor who sold sesame-coated pretzels. A child was among the injured, CNN-Turk television reported.
Video footage broadcast on CNN-Turk showed debris scattered across a residential street in Istanbul, covering the sidewalk and parked cars. Ambulances with flashing lights moved down the street while police carrying submachine guns tried to keep crowds of people from the site. A bomb disposal expert wearing protective gear checked nearby garbage canisters.
An armed Kurdish group claimed responsibility for Friday's blast, calling the attack retaliation for the killings of Kurds in southeastern Turkey. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a small armed group, said:"We declare to the public that our people are not without protection. The Kurdish people will not remain defenceless." The email note to journalists added: "From now on, every attack against our people will be met immediately by even more violent acts. We will start to harm not just property but lives too. With our actions we will turn Turkey into hell. The bomb attack in Kocamustafapasa, carried out by our action team, was just a warning," the group said. The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons is a group believed to be linked to the main insurgent Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Kurds probably deserve a country of their own more that just about anyone.
Posted by: bk ||
04/01/2006 10:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Although terrorism might not be the best plan of action....
Posted by: bk ||
04/01/2006 10:10 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The PKK is far from representative of "the Kurds," whether in Turkey or elsewhere. The PUK has fought against them in concert with the Turkish military for precisely that reason and there is little reason to believe that Abdullah Occalan's "People's Republic" would be any less oppressive for Turkish Kurds than the current Turkish racism against them is.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/01/2006 12:32 Comments ||
Top||
A man with alleged links to a Pakistani militant group is behind bars in Toronto but accusations that he is a terrorist are little more than hype, according to a security expert. Raja Ghulam Mustafa, 40, was arrested March 16 outside his brother-in-law's house in Newmarket, Ont. where he had been staying, a Sun Media report said. While news reports have allegedly linked Mustafa to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden through a group known as the Mujahedin-e-Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET), foreign affairs expert Eric Margoles says the Pakistani group has little or no interest in Canada. "It (LET) had nothing to do with terrorism against the west, but it had everything to do with fighting inside of Indian-ruled Kashmir," Margoles told CTV Toronto on Friday.
"None of our concern," he sniffed. "Just a bunch of South Asians. Let them kill each other, as long as they don't do it here."
Published reports also said that Canadian border service officers found a packed suitcase and large amounts of money on the man during the March arrest. While searching the house, officers reportedly seized a briefcase with counterfeit documents and a laptop computer.
They're known as "religious artifacts" in the trade.
None of these details can be independently confirmed.
"So it probably didn't happen that way at all."
When contacted by CTV.ca on Friday, a spokesperson for the border services agency declined comment. "We're not confirming any of the details," Anna Pape said Friday.
"So sod off, Swampy!"
Police also arrested Mustafa's brother-in-law, Syed Maqsood Aly, who is not being linked to any militant group but is allegedly facing outstanding charges in the U.S. It is not known if he was arrested at the same time as Mustafa. The pair is being held at the Toronto West Detention Centre on immigration violations.
"Probably in terrible conditions."
The men were employed as cab drivers by Mahar Fawagers. He told CTV News that he hired the men eight months ago and they both passed police security checks to get their taxi licenses. "I haven't had any complaints about them," Fawagers said.
"Except from a few infidels."
Margoles believes branding the men as terrorists is unfair. "They may have been petty criminals, they may have been involved in visa applications or money laundering, or something like that," Margoles said. "It doesn't mean they're going to plant a bomb in the CN Tower."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/01/2006 00:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Margolis has made many trips to the Indian subcontinent. He has close ties with many in the Pakistan army.
Posted by: john ||
04/01/2006 8:12 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The men were employed as cab drivers by Mahar Fawagers
I hope the gentleman is being thoroughly investigated, too.
#3
>Margolis has made many trips to the Indian subcontinent. He has close ties with many in the Pakistan army.<
Reading his book "War at the Top of the World", the guy practically gushes over the Pakis. He goes on an awful lot about their beautiful dark eyes and muscular bodies.
Three Islamic militants and seven Indian security forces personnel were among 11 people killed in separate attacks in Indian-held Kashmir which also left 11 others injured, security officials said on Friday.
Six policemen were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside explosion in the Soura area of Srinagar, police said. Senior official of the Central Reserve Police Force, N Bhardwaja, said that initial reports indicated that the bomb had been detonated by a remote control device. Militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to a local news agency. In other violence, three militants were killed in two separate raids by security forces in southern Pulwama district, army spokesman Vijay Batra said.
In Anantnag, suspected militants abducted and later shot dead 38-year-old local folk singer and dancer Hassan Shah late on Thursday, police said. "He used to entertain the public and also dance during political rallies (by pro-India parties)," a police spokesman said. In another incident, six civilians were injured when a grenade hurled at a police guard post exploded in Srinagar late on Thursday, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Tribal militants blew up electricity pylons in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on Friday, blacking out large tracts of the region, before setting off a landmine that killed a power company official, police said. The official was on his way to the site of the explosions when the landmine went off. Three people were wounded.
The attack came a day after Balochistan's provincial assembly set up a panel of peace brokers to negotiate with tribal chiefs leading the revolt against the Pakistan military in the resource-rich province. About 80 percent of Balochistan, including Quetta, was without electricity as a result of the sabotage, according to Quetta Electric Supply Company chief Nooruddin Mengal. "It will take 60 to 70 hours to restore full supplies," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Khyber Agency residents have started fleeing to undisclosed locations to avoid being caught in the paramilitary operation against militants here. Also, the political administration has arrested several tribesmen under the Collective Responsibility Act of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Local officials launched crackdown on Bar Qambar Khel, Shlobar Qambar Khel, Spah, Malik Din Khel and Aka Khel - all Afridi tribe clans. Khasadar force has been deployed at all entry and exit points.
Dozens of tribesmen have been arrested for supporting cleric Mufti Munir Shakir's Lashkar-e-Islam, and a large number of people have evacuated their residences following a government notice to empty any residence one kilometre from the militant organisation's headquarters. Bara market was deserted on Friday and no shop or trade centre was open. The political administration did not detain any influential person focussing instead on poor people.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Balochistan Liberation Army chief Ghazain Marri has been detained by the United Arab Emirates government in Dubai on money laundering charges, according to well-placed sources. The sources said that the second eldest son of the Nawab was taken into custody on March 22 by the Dubai authorities for his alleged involvement in money laundering cases in the Persian Gulf emirate. Sources said the 46-year-old Ghazain was picked up from Dubais Dera area on the request of the Pakistan government which had lodged a formal complaint to the UAE government about the alleged involvement of Khair Buxs son in arranging finances for terrorist activities.
Pakistan authorities said that Ghazain, has been providing bread and butter to all those conceiving, planning and executing acts of terrorism across Balochistan. The sources said it was not clear yet whether the Pakistan authorities were seeking his extradition or trying to cut a deal with him in order to bring an end to the present upheavals in Balochistan. It is indeed a big breakthrough for the government, said a source close to senior government circles.
However, Ghulam Mohammad, the Balochistan National Movement president, who is known for his close links with the Marris, said he was not aware about Ghazains detention or arrest in the UAE or anywhere else. Raziq Bugti, adviser to the Balochistan chief minister, also expressed ignorance about this matter.
The advisor to the chief minister is always the last to know.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
How can it be money laundering when Balochistan is the private property of the Nawab? Much like moving one's cash from the left pocket to the right, donchaknow. ;-)
The Sindh High Court on Friday allowed the appeals of four Lashkar-e-Jhangvi activists and set aside their convictions on murder recorded by an anti-terrorism court. The court ordered their immediate release if the men were not required in any other case. Mohammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori, Mohammad Azam, Malik Tassaduq Hussain and Attaullah were found guilty by the trial court of killing six men and injuring five others while they were praying at Imambargah Ali Murtaza in Mehmoodabad on October 4, 2001.
Akram Lahori is head of one of the branches of LJ. It's not against the law to be the head of a banned terrorist organization in Pakland. In fact, I believe it's considered a prestige thing.
Attaullah and Azam were sentenced to death while Akram Lahori and Tassaduq Hussain were given life imprisonment. The anti-terrorism appellate bench of the SHC, consisting of Justice Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaferi, had reserved judgment on their appeals for January 27. The SHC bench, consisting of Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaferi and Ali Sain Dino Metlo, allowed the appeals and acquitted the appellants of murder charges. The bench said the prosecution had been unable to prove the appellants guilty.
"Dey got nuttin' on us! Da witnesses are all dead, yer honor!"
"Case dismissed!"
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
EFL slightly...guess we need to cut her deserved slack
I'm so happy to be free and am looking forward to spending a lot of time with my family. I want to express my deep appreciation to all the people who worked so long and hard for my release. I am humbled by the sympathy and support expressed by so many people during my kidnapping.
In the past few days, the U.S. military and officials have been extremely generous, and I am grateful for their help. Throughout this ordeal, many U.S. agencies have committed themselves to bringing me safely home.
My colleagues at The Christian Science Monitor have worked ceaselessly to secure my release, and worked with security consultants to do so. Many other news organizations, both inside and outside of Iraq, as well as many officials from Iraq and other countries, worked hard to bring about my freedom.
So many people around the world spoke out on my behalf.
Thank you, all of you.
During my last night of captivity, my captors forced me to participate in a propaganda video. They told me I would be released if I cooperated. I was living in a threatening environment, under their control, and I wanted to go home alive. So I agreed.
Things that I was forced to say while captive are now being taken by some as an accurate reflection of my personal views. They are not. The people who kidnapped me and murdered Alan Enwiya are criminals, at best. They robbed Alan of his life and devastated his family. They put me, my family and my friends - all those around the world - who have prayed so fervently for my release - through a horrific experience. I was, and remain, deeply angry with the people who did this.
I also gave a TV interview to the Iraqi Islamic Party shortly after my release. The party had promised me the interview would never be broadcast or aired on television, and they broke their word. At any rate, fearing retribution from my captors, I did not speak freely. Out of fear I said I wasn't threatened. In fact, I was threatened many times. broke their word? Islamics? Who'da thunk it?
Also, at least two false statements about me have been widely aired: One, that I refused to travel and cooperate with the U.S. military and two, that I refused to discuss my captivity with U.S. officials. Again, neither statement is true.
I want to be judged as a journalist, not as a hostage. I remain as committed as ever to fairness and accuracy - to discovering the truth - and so I will not engage in polemics. But let me be clear: I abhor all who kidnap and murder civilians, and my captors are clearly guilty of both crimes.
Now, I ask for the time to heal. This has been a taxing 12 weeks for me and for my family. Please allow us some quiet time alone, together.
- Jill Carroll reasonable and unforgiving - quite a bit different than our previous "hostages". God bless her and her family
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 18:33 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
This is all we every want. To hear the truth, not speculation. The press should of been smart enough to wait until she was out of harm's way to get her story.
"... an Iraqi Army patrol stopped an anti-Iraqi forces attempt to steal a dump truck south of Baqubah ..."
"Four insurgents were killed, one wounded and eight detained."
"After the firefight, the units inspected a white sedan the anti-Iraqi forces were using in their escape attempt. It was found to have a mortar tube with base plate, some mortar rounds and a sniper rifle with ammunition."
Assigning 13 (or more) men to the task of stealing a dumptruck indicates they seriously wanted it for something. Is it possible they wanted the dump truck to use as a mobile mortar position? It would potentially diminish the effectiveness of counter-battery response, which has been limiting them to only a couple of quick shots before they had to scoot. Would the propellant gasses cause problems in the confined space of a dump truck bed?
#2
Anonymoose is right, I think. If they welded heavy steel plate over the top of a dump truck, the blast from a bomb inside would be mostly in the horizontal plane, and extremely destructive. Sort of an IRA cream can bomb on a huge scale.
Gunmen in police uniform kill and kidnap at electronics shops. A mosque raid draws government charges that U.S. troops run Iraqi forces beyond its control. Bodies turn up on streets as militia death squads roam freely.
This weeks violence in Iraq suggests the conflict has entered an ominous new stage where crime gangs, Sunni Arab insurgents and pro-government Shia militias overlap as violence pushes the country closer to sectarian civil war.
What began with a murky Sunni revolt against occupation and then the US-backed interim government has exploded into a communal and criminal battlefield where determining who is killing whom -- let alone why -- is getting harder every day.
The Sunni insurgency is now complemented by the Shia militias who are getting very powerful and are able to wreak havoc on the Sunnis, said Martin Navias, at the Centre for Defence Studies at Kings College in London.
The various groups are killing each other and kidnapping but not openly doing it. It is a type of ethnic cleansing. But it is not an open civil war.
Iraqi leaders are struggling to form a unity government more than three months after elections, raising concerns that a widening political vacuum will foster ever more violence.
Analysts say that while the new trends were alarming, there were no signs that the violence is about to spill over into open warfare with street battles between Iraqs main Shia, Arab Sunni and ethnic Kurdish groups.
A fall in American casualties since last summer suggests that US troops, with growing numbers of Iraqi allies, have made gains over insurgents. March should show one of the lowest monthly US death tolls of the war, possibly the lowest in two years.
But measuring success in those terms on that conventional military front is easier than gauging progress in the battle against a complex network of criminals, militias and insurgents -- all of whom can show up in police or army uniforms.
Gunmen dressed as police commandos -- precise accounts of the uniforms varied -- killed nine people in an attack on an electronics store in Baghdad on Wednesday, one of a series of raids against lucrative businesses in the capital this week.
Workers, including women, were rounded up and then killed.
On Monday and Tuesday, a total of 35 people were abducted in four attacks, including two on electronics dealers and one on a money-changer where the attackers also stole $50,000.
Determining whether they were criminals or insurgents seeking funds seems impossible in Iraqs chaos.
Police officers in the area where the raids were carried out said they had no idea who was responsible.
Many security groups work in Iraq and nobody knows who they are or what they are doing, said one police lieutenant colonel, who would give his name only as the familiar Abu Mohammed for fear of reprisals from his shadowy adversaries.
There are now many organised crime groups working under formal cover, as militias or security companies. Its hard to figure out who they are, let alone who is behind them.
One businessman who said he was familiar with some of the businesses targeted said several belonged to one man, suggesting attacks by racketeers. That could not be confirmed, however.
Hazim Al Naimi, a politics professor at Baghdads Mustansiriya University, said the raids were another disturbing sign that the conflict has been escalating since the bombing of a Shia shrine last month touched off bloody reprisals.
Since then, hundreds of bodies have turned up in the streets, many shot or strangled with signs of torture.
The crisis has become very complicated now. We are seeing raids on electronics shops that make no sense. It could be a campaign to wreck the economy so Iraqis dont set up businesses. Its hard to tell, said Naimi.
Al Qaedas Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the man who has been most predictable in Iraqs conflict, has been keeping a low profile.
His suicide bombers have eased off, leading Interior Minister Bayan Jabor to conclude Zarqawi is no longer a threat.
But US officers say he is shifting attacks away from American soldiers and Shia civilians to Iraqi security forces and more targeted killing, raising fears of new violence as the authorities try to grapple with deepening mayhem.
Long-term stability ultimately depends on whether Iraqi forces can take on militants and insurgents on their own.
US commanders have been praising Iraqi special forces for a raid on a Baghdad mosque compound on Sunday night which left what they said were 16 terrorists dead.
But as government-run state television showed lengthy footage of the bullet-ridden bodies, Shia leaders accused the Americans of a massacre of unarmed worshippers and directing Iraqi forces without a green light from the Iraqi government.
Police and local residents said the compound was a base for the Mehdi Army, a Shia militia. But the US military says it still has no idea who the 16 were despite extensive intelligence work ahead of the raid and the rescue of a tortured hostage.
People ought to be focused on the fact that 50 members of the Iraqi special operations forces planned and conducted this. And it was flawless. Flawless, US Major General Rick Lynch told a news conference on Thursday.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/01/2006 00:28 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Electronics shops make sense if they are out of electronics kits for IEDs.
#2
Re-read the first few paragraphs of this - a classic of the distorted self-parody of reporting that is now common. Every few weeks there's a new "alarming" turn in the war, every time portending - you guessed it - a step closer to "civil war". The distortion here is really quite dramatic. Criminality centered on money has been at the heart of most of the so-called "insurgency" among most Sunnis, not to mention being at the root of almost all kidnapping and much of the other misbehavior.
But it would be unseemly to portray the vicious quasi-fascist mercenary thugs behind the "insurgency" as, well, vicious quasi-fascist mercenary thugs. I say "quasi-fascist" because like other Arabs these particular losers can't really even get the twisted, evil, malevolent European-invented models of statecraft that they've tried to imitate quite right.
Scan "news" reports out of Iraq and behold words you'll hardly find in any other hard news stories on any other topic: "raging, exploding, wave of violence (means 2 small attacks in city the size of LA), chaos, teetering on brink of civil war, blah blah blah". Someone with the patience and time really oughta carefully document this - it would be striking.
#5
Most news reports emphasize body count rather than the fact that it's Iraqi-on-Iraqi.
I suspect that's because if Americans were more aware that these casualties are mostly Iraqi internicene violence, we'd take the view widely expressed during the Iran/Iraq war: "I hope they both lose."
Now that I think of it, considering the factions involved this may be in fact another Iran/Iraq War.
Posted by: regular joe ||
04/01/2006 9:19 Comments ||
Top||
#6
But the cumulative death toll keeps rising.
So? It continues to raise on the highways, in the cities, and everywhere people live. Senseless, far less than being done in by some rectal orifice of an excuse driving DUI for the umpteenth time. Given the choice between during 24 in Iraq or traveling some of our roads on Friday or Saturday night, I'd say you have a better chance of survival in the former.
#9
Cumulative death toll rising....good one Jackal! Its a bear-doing-what-in-the-woods moment, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/01/2006 10:42 Comments ||
Top||
#10
And the cumulative total would still increase if one American was killed every two months. In fact, someone who didn't want you to notice that the RATE has gone down to practically nothing would call attention to that fact.
Considering that we're counting deaths, the cumulative total is hardly expected to decrease. in fact, I'd sorta think that if I went out there and resurrected 100 people, you'd complain that the cumulative total has gone down "a piddling fraction of the total."
#12
I wouldn't be surprised to read "the cumulative death toll has gone down" if it could be spun to hurt W. The utter impossibility would evade our MSM geniuses just like the fact that life has a 100% fatality rate (oooohhh!! Global warming?)
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 22:19 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Nobody is f'ing with the Kurds.
You know why?
They will take the fight to the bastards who are bankrolling all this incitement to civil war: Iran (and Syria to a lesser extent).
They have organization and clandestine operations cells there from decades of dealing with opression.
Three booby-trapped cars blew up within minutes in southern Baghdad on Friday inflicting several casualties, a security source said. The source told KUNA that a booby-trapped car blew up at 08:00 p.m. (locat time) in the district of Dora, and three minutes later another car blew up only meters away. A third identical explosion occurred shortly later, wounding seven civilians. The blasts inflicted extensive damage and started a huge fire in an apartment building. Gunfire staccatos echoed across the region after the blasts.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Five men standing trial at the State Security Court on charges of plotting subversive acts against Americans, Israelis and Iraqi police training centres in Jordan pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday. The defendants, part of a group of eight men including three who are being tried in absentia, were also charged with plotting activity aimed at undermining Jordan's relations with another country and belonging to an illegal organisation. The prosecution identified the five men in custody as Ahmad T., 37, Hassan A., 41, Abdul Hakim M., 29, Sami M., 33, and Sakher M. The remaining three defendants were identified as Haitham H., Ahmad Y., and Nasri A. When asked by the tribunal whether they were guilty or not, some of them answered Jihad... is not a crime. The defendants then entered a not guilty plea.
At the end of the session, the state prosecutor asked the court for more time to summon his witnesses. The tribunal agreed and adjourned the session until April 19.
The defendants decided to launch attacks against Americans, Israelis and Iraqi police training centres in the Kingdom following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the charge sheet said. The men decided to form 10 cells for this purpose and called themselves the Mansourah sect, according to the prosecution. Some of the suspects used the Internet to lecture on jihad and the need to fight Israelis and Christians in any part of the world, the charge sheet said.
They distributed CDs in the Kingdom, which contained material on military operations against American forces in Iraq and speeches by Jordanian fugitive Abu Mussab Zarqawi, it added. The suspects also distributed a magazine published by Al Qaeda network in Iraq in mosques in eastern Amman, according to court documents. The prosecution also charged that some of the suspects recruited several people and sent them to fight in Iraq, which harmed the relationship between the Iraqi and Jordanian governments. The authorities arrested five of the eight defendants in August 2005 before they carried out any of their alleged plans.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
The United States has suspended all contact with the Palestinian government led by Hamas, the US State Department announced. However, the administration will maintain contact with the Palestinian Authority's representative in Washington, Afief Safieh, because "he does not report to the foreign ministry", Adam Ereli, deputy State Department spokesman, told reporters on Friday.
Mahmud Zahar, the new Palestinian minister of foreign affairs, is a Hamas member. "We've advised our mission in Jerusalem, as well as other missions around the world that ... there should be no contact between US government officials and PA (Palestinian Authority) officials who are under the authority of the prime minister or any other minister in the Hamas-led government. This includes working-level officials in those ministries," said Ereli. "If they're working in a Hamas-led ministry, no matter what their affiliation is, we're not going to have contact with them," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
a load of semantics in that
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/01/2006 12:52 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The real question is "have we cut off ALL funding to the Palestinians including our contributions to NGOs and the various UN conduits?" Let the bastards starve.
Three Palestinians have been killed in clashes in Gaza between armed men and the security forces. The violence on Friday was sparked by the death of a Palestinian resistance fighter who died in a car-bomb explosion earlier during the day. Rival Palestinian factions clashed at the funeral of Abu Youssef al-Quqa, killing three people and wounding at least 20 others, hospital officials in Gaza said.
"We have a big mess here," said Dr Bakr Abu-Safira, an emergency room physician. Hospital officials said two of the dead were bystanders. A boy was wounded in the head by flying debris after the explosion, but his injury is not life threatening.
Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian prime minister, appealed for calm after the killing, and said the Hamas-led government he leads would launch an investigation. Haniya told Reuters that he asked his interior minister, Saeed Seyam, to conduct an immediate investigation into the death of al-Quqa, a top commander in the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), an umbrella group of fighters in Gaza often responsible for rocket attacks against Israel.
Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, Hiba Akila, reported that Israeli artillery on Friday shelled uninhabited arable lands in the northeastern part of the Gaza Strip. Fighters loyal to al-Quqa accused Palestinian security forces of collaborating with Israel in the killing, triggering a series of gunfights in Gaza after the explosion. Israel denied any involvement in the blast outside a mosque at the start of Friday prayers that killed al-Quqa.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
Authorities have uncovered Friday a supposed plot by the al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group to seize passenger ships and take hostage their passengers in Mindanao, officials said.
Officials did not say how the plot was discovered, but a report by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica) in Northern Mindanao claimed the Abu Sayyaf was also planning to hostage the passengers.
"We ordered tightened security in all passenger ships in Northern Mindanao. We have contingency measures, and are ready to address any situation. We cannot rule out the possibility of a terror attack after the recent bombing in Jolo," regional police chief Florante Baguio said.
The report identified the leader of an 11-member Abu Sayyaf team that would carry out the hijacking as Abu Awillah, and that among the targeted were ferry vessels sailing from Manila to Mindanao.
Baguio said the police have intensified their intelligence operation to track down members of the terrorist group in the region.
"We are intensifying our intelligence efforts and initiate appropriate security measures to preempt terrorist attacks," he said. "I have ordered the police to ensure patrol visibility and to secure all sea and airports, including bus depots, public areas and vital government installations."
Authorities have tagged the Abu Sayyaf group in the February 2004 bombing of Super Ferry 14, which killed more than 100 people in the worst maritime terrorist attack in the Philippines.
The 10,192-ton ship was sailing out of Manila, with about 900 passengers and crew, when a television set filled with TNT exploded. The Abu Sayyaf owned up the bombing.
Since the bombing of the Super Ferry 14, authorities have deployed secret marshals in passenger ships.
The Abu Sayyaf was also believed to be behind the Tuesday bombing of a two-storey convenience store building in Jolo that left seven people wounded.
Authorities had warned of impending attacks in Zamboanga City and Basilan island in Mindanao, where security forces are pursuing Abu Sayyaf members blamed for the spate of terrorism and kidnappings of foreigners in the region.
The Abu Sayyaf is included in the US terror lists and Washington offered as much as $10 million bounty for the capture of its leader Khadaffy Janjalani and his lieutenants, tagged as behind the killing of two kidnapped US citizens in 2001 and 2002 in Mindanao.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/01/2006 03:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
what a bunch of assholes!
Posted by: bk ||
04/01/2006 9:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Sounds liike a good time for a well-armed decoy.......
The US embassy in Jakarta joined Australia on Friday in warning of a possible attack against Westerners in Indonesia this Sunday. "Terrorists continue to plan attacks against Westerners and Western interests in Indonesia," the embassy said in a statement e-mailed to Americans in Indonesia, adding: "Recent reports suggest that Sunday April 2, 2006 could be one potential date for an attack."
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had issued a similar warning earlier on its Web site www.smartraveller.gov.au, talking of a possibility of an attack against Westerners on Sunday. In wording virtually identical to Australia's, the US embassy advisory added that attacks can occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia. It also repeated previous cautions that any place where "Americans and other Westerners live, congregate, shop or visit" could be potential targets, but that attacks would not necessarily be limited to such spots.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/01/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The U.S. intelligence community has briefed Congress on the increasing cooperation between Iran and Al Qaida.
Congressional sources said congressional committees have been told that Teheran has sought to use Al Qaida in any Iranian war with the United States. The sources said Iran has harbored leading Al Qaida operatives and enabled them to plan major attacks that would be launched upon Teheran's approval.
"Teheran has been seeking a range of terrorist options against the United States in case it strikes Iran's nuclear weapons facilities," a congressional source said. "Al Qaida has played a role in these options, although it's unlikely to be a leading element."
On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council gave Iran a month to honor a demand to end uranium enrichment and related activities. The council decision was reached after the United States dropped its demand for a two-week deadline for Teheran.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/01/2006 00:31 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Dan, is a copyright infringment to see the whole thang here at Rantburg News?
#3
I suspect the Iranians are having to seriously re-evaluate their "unconventional force" allies. This is because I think they have already tried one international blow-up, to show how powerful Moslems are worldwide.
The cartoon debacle. They probably thought that by now, there would have been massive riots throughout the world, with cities burning, because of the cartoons.
Oop. That didn't work. So now that have to go directly to the militants in hope that *they* can do something against the West to cause chaos. For its part, al-Qaeda is probably concealing from them how badly damaged they really are--still blustering and bragging like they did to the Taliban, back in the day.
al-Qaeda, for its part, is caught between a rock and a sharp place. It has to agree to help the Iranians, or they will kick them out or kill them outright; so they are probably promising, insisting, that they can take on major targets and grab world headlines.
This means that sooner or later, most likely before any official hostilities, the Iranian will give the al-Qaeda a bunch of cash and tell them to go out there and create havoc. And having been lying through their teeth, al-Q will have to decide to run from the Iranians for the rest of their lives; or to get slaughtered first, and then run for the rest of their lives if they try to attack a western target.
#4
Meanwhile, al-Qaeda Sunnis are slaughtering Shiites (and vice versa) in Iraq. But Islamic prophecy holds that the Mahdi (Savior) will rise in Khorassan (partly in Iran) and lead an army through Sunni territory - presumedly in unity - and defeat the Dajjal's (Anti-Christ) army in Arabia, prior to the end of days. Sunni-Shiite unity is best pre-empted. I love to disprove "prophecy."
#10
If ever it was unclear with respect to Iran using terrorist proxies for smuggling a nuclear device into the United States, it is no longer. This, literally, unholy alliance should serve immediate notice to one and all of just how vital it is to catastrophically dismantle Iran's nuclear assets with all possible haste.
It is as if Iran, with its preposterously vitriolic rhetoric, has dug itself into a hole so deep whereby it is now easier for them to dig through to China than reverse course in any respect.
Any single one of their bellicose threats, be it nuclear attack, Semitic genocide or terrorist sponsorship in general each represent an ample casus belli. Lumped together, they are nothing less than a flat out declaration of war against America. We can no longer afford to ignore this. Bush needs to make an open case based upon these issues and proceed with military action against Iran.
A Beirut military tribunal has acquitted six Lebanese soldiers and a Syrian national of charges that they belonged to a group linked to the al-Qaeda network. Thursday's ruling by investigating magistrate Samih al-Hajj stated that "no proof was found relating to them".
In January the seven were arrested on suspicion that they were plotting terrorist attacks. Video and audio recordings containing speeches by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were found in their possession. After their arrest, the men told investigators that in 2004 they travelled to Iraq to fight against US troops. There, according to their testimony, they were captured and detained for 10 months in a US military detention centre. Upon returning to Lebanon the men, according to al-Hajj's sentence, began collecting money to aid militants fighting US-led forces in Iraq. While the men had confessed of taking part in "jihad" there was no evidence suggesting they were linked to al-Qaeda, al-Hajj said. As for the audio and video propaganda materials, these can be purchased easily in Lebanese markets "by any citizen," the judge said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
04/01/2006 00:20 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
Only bombers were killed in two failed suicide attacks in southern Afghanistan on Friday. With the fresh assaults, the number of suicide attacks rose to four during the past three days. Friday's attacks were carried out in two provinces of Kandahar and Paktia but officials say only one constable was injured. Targets of both the attacks were convoys of the Afghan army and police. 
Afghan security forces have retreated from a gun battle that has left six insurgents dead but allowed Taliban fighters to take control of three villages in the troubled south of the country. The Taliban attacked a police post in the Kajaki district of Helmand province according to a deputy provincial governor. AP on Friday quoted Mohammad Amir Akhund as saying: "In the couple-of-hours exchange of fire, six Taliban were killed and three were wounded. Taliban have control of three villages in the district now. The government forces have not started any operation in these three villages so far."
Police say the overnight arrest of three Melbourne men has disrupted the activity of a group with links to terrorist organisations overseas. A 21-year-old Coburg man, a 25-year-old from Brunswick and a 26-year-old from Hadfield have been charged with belonging to and providing funds to a terrorist organisation. They were arrested after a series of raids conducted last night by ASIO and Federal, Victorian and New South Wales police in north Melbourne.
A six-year-old boy and two young men wounded during rioting in Kurdish-dominated southeast Turkey have died in hospital, raising the death toll to six after three days of unrest. The violent protests in the city of Diyarbakir were sparked by recent killings of separatist Kurdish rebels by Turkish forces. About 270 people have been injured in the protests, the worst street violence seen in the area in more than a decade. Turkish television said many shops and offices had reopened on Friday, but witnesses reported renewed clashes between protesters and police in at least one district of the city.
A bomb hidden in a garbage can has exploded near a bus stop in Istanbul, killing one person and injuring 13 others, police said. The blast occurred on Friday in the Kocamustafapasa district of Istanbul. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bomb was believed to have contained plastic explosives. Muammer Guler, Istanbul's governor, said the man killed in the blast was a street vendor who sold sesame-coated pretzels. A child was among the injured, CNN-Turk television reported.
A man with alleged links to a Pakistani militant group is behind bars in Toronto but accusations that he is a terrorist are little more than hype, according to a security expert. 
Three Islamic militants and seven Indian security forces personnel were among 11 people killed in separate attacks in Indian-held Kashmir which also left 11 others injured, security officials said on Friday.
Tribal militants blew up electricity pylons in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on Friday, blacking out large tracts of the region, before setting off a landmine that killed a power company official, police said. The official was on his way to the site of the explosions when the landmine went off. Three people were wounded. 
Khyber Agency residents have started fleeing to undisclosed locations to avoid being caught in the paramilitary operation against militants here. Also, the political administration has arrested several tribesmen under the Collective Responsibility Act of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Local officials launched crackdown on Bar Qambar Khel, Shlobar Qambar Khel, Spah, Malik Din Khel and Aka Khel - all Afridi tribe clans. Khasadar force has been deployed at all entry and exit points.
Three booby-trapped cars blew up within minutes in southern Baghdad on Friday inflicting several casualties, a security source said. The source told KUNA that a booby-trapped car blew up at 08:00 p.m. (locat time) in the district of Dora, and three minutes later another car blew up only meters away. A third identical explosion occurred shortly later, wounding seven civilians. The blasts inflicted extensive damage and started a huge fire in an apartment building. Gunfire staccatos echoed across the region after the blasts.
Five men standing trial at the State Security Court on charges of plotting subversive acts against Americans, Israelis and Iraqi police training centres in Jordan pleaded not guilty to the charges on Wednesday. The defendants, part of a group of eight men including three who are being tried in absentia, were also charged with plotting activity aimed at undermining Jordan's relations with another country and belonging to an illegal organisation. The prosecution identified the five men in custody as Ahmad T., 37, Hassan A., 41, Abdul Hakim M., 29, Sami M., 33, and Sakher M. The remaining three defendants were identified as Haitham H., Ahmad Y., and Nasri A. When asked by the tribunal whether they were guilty or not, some of them answered Jihad... is not a crime. The defendants then entered a not guilty plea. 
The United States has suspended all contact with the Palestinian government led by Hamas, the US State Department announced. However, the administration will maintain contact with the Palestinian Authority's representative in Washington, 
Three Palestinians have been killed in clashes in Gaza between armed men and the security forces. The violence on Friday was sparked by the death of a Palestinian resistance fighter who died in a car-bomb explosion earlier during the day. Rival Palestinian factions clashed at the funeral of 
A Beirut military tribunal has acquitted six Lebanese soldiers and a Syrian national of charges that they belonged to a group linked to the al-Qaeda network. Thursday's ruling by investigating magistrate Samih al-Hajj stated that "no proof was found relating to them".
