NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer today blamed the Taliban for NATO killings of Afghan civilians, saying the Islamist militia was taking human shields to try to ward off attacks, the White House said.
Mr De Hoop Scheffer, speaking to reporters after talks with US President George W. Bush, lamented that North American Treaty Organisation forces had slain civilians in Afghanistan, calling it "always a tragedy".
"Let me say that when, in those actions of NATO, of those brave NATO soldiers, civilians are killed, as happened two days ago, that's always a tragedy. That's a tragedy,'' the secretary general said.
In their closed-door talks, de Hoop Scheffer and Bush discussed "the fact that the Taliban had begun using innocent civilians as human shields", said White House spokesman Tony Snow.
Mr Snow later confirmed that the secretary general had explicitly described civilians killed in clashes on Tuesday as human shields seized by the Taliban: "That's what he said, yes.''
Fourteen civilians were killed in a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan yesterday the government said it believed around 25 were killed in fighting between NATO and the Taliban this week.
"Civilian victims are a tragedy, but we are there in favor of democracy. They are there to destroy democracy,'' the NATO chief told reporters in Bush's Oval Office.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called for improved co-ordination between Afghan and foreign troops to avoid civilian casualties.
Officials were trying to establish how many civilians were killed in clashes between NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Taliban insurgents in Kandahar province - the birthplace of the religious movement.
The interior ministry in Kabul said around 60 people were killed in the battles late Tuesday, and more than half were insurgents.
Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said that about 25 of the dead appeared to have been civilians according to preliminary investigations.
An ISAF spokesman in Kandahar said it could confirm 12 civilians were killed in the skirmishes, which included a bombing raid. ISAF has already said it killed 48 insurgents.
Mr Karzai on Thursday appointed a commission to investigate the civilian deaths, which came less than a week after he urged NATO forces to take more care after 20 other civilians were reported to have been killed.
#1
I'm glad to see that nowhere do any of the military people mention how the use of human shields prevents our troops from firing.
When civilians learn to begin killing the Taleban the instant they show up in town, that's when they'll no longer have to worry about being used as human shields. Our soldiers should have standing orders to fire through any human shields. Those who would use civilians in such a ruthless fashion will only go on to kill many more of the same if they are allowed to live.
The Afghani people must learn, for once and all, that the only sure way of surviving this war is by killing the Taleban whenever they show their faces.
#3
Dog bites man. Stingrays' stingers are dangerous. Never assume a firearm is unloaded.
Using civies as human shields is SOP for the Taliban-Wahhabi-Deobandi-Taqfiri-Jihadi crowd. Nothingnew here kids, please walk along, let's keep moving.
KHOST, Afghanistan - A suspected insurgent was torn to pieces by his own bomb when it exploded on a highway patrolled by Afghan and foreign troops in southeastern Afghanistan, police said on Thursday.
"Inshallan, what a bumpy road, better slow down or I'll ----"
Police believe the man was either a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body or had been planting the bomb at the side of the road on the outskirts of Khost city late Wednesday. “We found a torn-into-pieces body at the blast site on an empty road” leading to the Pakistani border, Khost police criminal investigation chief Colonel Mohammad Yaqoub told AFP.
"We think it's a body. We recognize some of the parts. Arms, yeah, but the nose we're not sure."
“We think he was planting a roadside bomb or he himself was a suicide bomber who became the target of his own evil actions.”
Now he's just evil meat-paste.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#4
I'm going to begin to think we have a secret weapon that remotely splodes these bombs. Nobody could be as imcompetent as is indicated by recent postings.
#9
Yeah, but I recall several posts of innocent men being threatened at gunpoint to drive vehicles packed with explosives towards military/civilian targets. The terrorists often encouraged such activity by placing gun muzzles against the heads of the driver's wife and children.
I can't help but think that at least a few of these "failures to detonate" were a result of men understanding the magnitude of the crime they were about to commit.
Security services arrested on the eve of Eid El Fitr a terrorist, after a group of four terrorists in a car were being hunted. One of them surrendered a few hours later. The terrorist group started shooting towards the judiciary police team on duty in “5th July" district near the mosque. The operation was followed by a series of chase which enabled the terrorist group to escape to Behrara road through “Elwiaam” district. Police elements surrendered the area and set up checkpoints to capture the terrorists’ movements in Elwiaam district which witnessed a terrorist arrest. The group’s remainder could flee through the forest neighbouring Behrara district and left their car. Security investigations could confirm that the terrorist group was about to plant explosives in some mosques the day of Eid El Fitr. But the vigilance of security services could prevent them from doing that. A terrorist surrendered on Eid El Fitr day.
A terrorist armed group plundered last Monday citizens on the road leading to Tadmikt village in the commune of Mekira (Tizi Ouzou). According to local sources the terrorist group includes 20 elements divided into two sub-groups, one of which set up a trapped checkpoint from half past nine pm. The second sub-group attacked commercial stores to plunder their citizens money and the businessmen of the village. They also seized the opportunity to address a warning, considered to be the last, to a bar owner in the village to stop his activity and turn it out to be a cult place.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm surprised there are any left there. Most all of them are in Paris or at least the suburbs. Ain't it funny what 30 days of fasting does to ones temperment.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
10/27/2006 16:09 Comments ||
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Coalition naval forces have been sent to protect an oil facility in the Gulf from a possible threat. The Royal Navy said forces were helping to counter a possible seaborne threat against Saudi Arabia Ras Tanura's terminal. It is the world's biggest offshore oil facility. Industry sources said crude oil exports were continuing as normal and described the deployment as routine. The navy issued a warning in a statement to merchant shipping as a precautionary measure after receiving intelligence of a possible threat. It said coalition forces had been dispatched in support of Bahraini and Saudi units.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
10/27/2006 09:26 ||
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#1
gosh, what nation in the Gulf of Rumsfeld could possibly be threatening?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2006 9:35 Comments ||
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#4
We're running kind of low on cover stories. What's next?
"Carrier battle group misses expressway exit, winds up in Persian Gulf."
"Missile silo covers on Ohio-class submarine open for routine maintenance."
"Marine expeditionary unit wins all-expenses paid trip to exotic destination."
"In educational project, Navy SEALs retrace steps of Alexander the Great."
Posted by: Matt ||
10/27/2006 12:28 Comments ||
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#5
That Karl Rove is a GENIUS. I look forward to the whacking of Iran in the news so I don't have to hear all the whining from the KKKos KKKids about losing the elections.
(Interfax) - Three men who were once members of armed groups have turned themselves in to law enforcement services in Chechnya over the past 24 hours, the republic's Interior Ministry press secretary Magomed Deniyev told Interfax on Thursday. One of the former militants served in the so-called "National Guard of Ichkeria, which reported directly to Dzhokhar Dudayev. The two other men served in state security agencies of Ichkeria," he said. The three denied any immediate involvement in the hostilities. Their testimony is being verified.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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A French court on Thursday convicted a Moroccan man on terror charges for his role in a thwarted bomb plot on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion in 2003. Karim Mehdi, 37, received a nine-year prison sentence in Paris criminal court, and was ordered be barred from France afterward. He had also been suspected ties to two men involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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A Palestinian illegal immigrant was injured by a land mine after entering a minefield on Greece's northeastern border with Turkey, the army said Thursday. A Greek army statement said the Palestinian, along with another illegal immigrant from Iraq, who was also injured, entered the fenced minefield on Wednesday night, and were rescued early Thursday. The migrants were hospitalized in the nearby town of Didymoteicho, some 950 kilometers (590 miles) northeast of Athens, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately clear. Four illegal immigrants have been killed by mines in two separate incidents after straying into minefields on the Greek side of the border since July.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#5
Which would be cheaper, a fence, a mine field, or a bounty for every left ear ?
The Greens are against a fence and a mine field, so we know where they stand.
(KUNA) -- A Turkish Security patrol in southeast of the country seized Thursday a phone which was wired to 10 kilograms of explosive materials. The Turkish security authorities said that the booby-trapped phone was found in the city of Diyarbakir. Meanwhile in Bingol city, forces there found a home-made bomb which was put on a road mainly used by Turkish Security patrols. A bomb squad defused the bomb while police opened an investigation to find the people responsible for this act.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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SIX nations, including Australia, will participate in naval manoeuvres in the Gulf, near Iran, designed to stop nuclear proliferation, a high-ranking US State Department official said overnight.
On Monday, Australia, Bahrain, Britain, France, Italy and the United States will participate as part of an 80-nation Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), the official told journalists on condition of anonymity.
The exercise will simulate inspection of a "target vessel carrying materials useful to a nuclear weapon program" destined for a "country of proliferation concern in the region," the source said, without mentioning Iran.
#1
The exercise will simulate inspection of a "target vessel carrying materials useful to a nuclear weapon program" destined for a "country of proliferation concern in the region," the source said, without mentioning Iran.
Vice President Cheney said this week that dunking terrorism suspects in water during questioning was a "no-brainer," prompting complaints from human rights advocates that he was endorsing the use of a controversial technique known as waterboarding on prisoners held by the United States.
In an interview Tuesday with Scott Hennen, a conservative radio show host from Fargo, N.D., Cheney agreed with Hennen's assertion that "a dunk in water" may yield valuable intelligence from terrorism suspects. He also referred to information gleaned from Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the captured architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, but stopped short of explicitly saying what techniques were used.
"Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?" Hennen asked.
"Well, it's a no-brainer for me," Cheney said, "but for a while there, I was criticized as being the vice president for torture. We don't torture. That's not what we're involved in."
The comments underscore continuing uncertainty over precisely which techniques can be used legally during CIA interrogations of terrorism suspects. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other lawmakers have said recent legislation that established ground rules for interrogations should effectively bar waterboarding and other methods that are viewed as violations of the Geneva Conventions and U.S. criminal law.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/27/2006 00:30 ||
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#1
Mods, help!, I slopped this one
Yeah, you did :)... Fixed.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/27/2006 0:34 Comments ||
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#2
I believe a "dunk" could also be construed as tying a rope around the legs then being towed for several miles behind a fast boat. If the "dunkee" survives, he'll probably sing like a birdee. If he doesn't survive...oh well.
#3
Aussie AAP.com > Muslim Sheik refuses to leave until WORLD IS CLEANSED OF WHITE HOUSE. Move along, boyz, obviously NO WAR FOR GLOBAL CONTROL = CONTROL OF THE WORLD, + DESTABILIZATION-DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA here.
#5
Ever been to a carnival or county fair with a "dunkin' booth? Usually consists of a seat placed over an outdoor, mobile (easy to move) pool. Generally, a local political, or some one of local fame, sits on the seat over the pool.
Folks pay money to throw a baseball at a point, that if hit, "dunks" the local celebrity into the water! All folks around, clap and laugh and it's just so funny!
Yet, we can't "dunk" terrorist -- like the one who planned 9-11? And I would really, really like to know, what percentage of Americans know that KSM was the mind behind what happened to us on 9-11?
I would think the percentage extremely low.
But, by our local carnivals and county fairs standards, "dunkin'" is an acceptable form of fun. So, maybe our guys just had a good ole game of "American baseball," dunkin' the guy! And I'll willing to bet, Cheney knows about county fairs and "dunkin' booths."
#6
In my recollection, the "Waterboard" involves using a board setup to pass a couple of inches of water over a completely immobilized target's mouth. There is no real threat of drowning, because the flow can be cut off at any time and said target's vitals are monitored. The terrorist gets both the sensation of being drowned and the feeling of helplessness. The applier (I can't use the word "torturer" for what happens here) threatens repeated application. They probably don't threaten drowning.
The liberty v security paramountcy balance is best determined on the side of security, in context of a terror war. I advocate listening to both sides on these issues. I invoke liberty in the case of gun ownership, because civil police cannot deliver 100% protection; I support state security interests in suppressing all jihad advocacy by Muslims.
#7
If you're absolutely sure they're not innocent civilians(TM), I say they forfeited their "human rights" if for no other reason than they are uncivilized but at the same time taking advantage of the benefits of living in a civilized society. You can't have it both ways.
#9
I want a national debate on whether we should use deli meat slicers on them at thickness settings of 1 or 2.
Posted by: ed ||
10/27/2006 7:38 Comments ||
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#10
What ed said.
Plus, I want to get down to brass tacks on if we can attach the car battery to the testicles or nipples.
Seriously, what a joke, to even wring our hands over this means to me we are not truly committed (Rantburg excluded of course) to destroying islamic terrorism.
#11
No, no -- just remind them that shaking hands with an annoyed female Marine will make their penises shrink... possibly even fall off. Then send her in to observe the questioning. ;-)
#17
We're not the ones 'inviting our own demise', Mr. Troll. You Dems have been actively working for the nation's demise for some time although you are blissfully unaware of that. The America that you would create bears absolutely NO resemblance to the one that made us a superpower, and the last best hope for the freedom and liberty of man on earth. I for one will not stand idly by and watch you destroy the nation that patriots and soldiers died to defend and preserve. I will fight you in the arena of ideas. I will fight you in the media. And if necessary, my powder is dry and we can fight in a more serious venue.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other lawmakers have said recent legislation that established ground rules for interrogations should effectively bar waterboarding and other methods that are viewed as violations of the Geneva Conventions and U.S. criminal law.
When will these bleeding hearts get it through their skulls that the Geneva Conventions are just that, rules that apply to conventionalwarfare, not terrorism. When the terrorists start wearing uniforms and stop hiding in civilian populations they can begin to squawk about their rights. Until then, they have none. Just as these maggots expect us to forfeit our lives because they want to attack us whenever they feel like it, their own rights to even a semblance of humane treatment stops the moment they adopt radical jihad. Ironically, extremely violent antagonists are usually shot on sight. The incredibly vicious nature of terrorism demands that we apprehend its practicioners and extract all possible information in order to preserve human life that is constantly placed at risk by these fanatical monsters.
#22
It sounds like all we are doing is making them uncomfortable. Id say they got it pretty good when all they seem to be trying to do is make us dead.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2006 22:38 Comments ||
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#27
The thing is whenever Cheney speaks, we ought to listen and carefully. The Vice President means what he says. Torturing is a no brainer. He also says, "We don't torture." Not torturing is also a no brainer.
Well done.
All we need do now is debate the meaning of torture, have different views on its legal definition (for isn't that all you are interested in?), and then claim that either this or that is or is not torture.
(KUNA) -- Eleven Iraqi policemen and armed men were killed in clashes near Baquba city in the northeast of Baghdad Thursday, an Iraqi police source said. The Iraqi police launched a big military operation this morning against insurgents in Maradia town and nearby villages, the source said in press remarks. The police forces were confronted with a fierce opposition from the armed men resulting in the killing of six policeman and five of the insurgents, as well as injuring some 10 others. Large quantities of weapons and explosives were seized by the police, said the source.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
They gave their lives trying to civilize their country. May they find themselves in the Paradise of their fondest hopes, and may that knowledge be a comfort to the families that lost them to such a cause.
(KUNA) -- Iraqi police found seven unidentified dead bodies in Mosul on Thursday, a police source said. The Mosul-based source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that Mosul police patrols found seven corpses of people shot dead and their hands were fettered.
Meanwhile, unknown gunmen killed a local official in front of his house in a southern Mosul township, the source said. Two Iraqi soldiers were also injured in a suicide bombing.
On the other hand, unidentified people circulated fliers in several suburbs of Mosul, calling for establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq, which, they claimed, would include the provinces of Mosul, Diala, Baghdad, Anbar and Salaheddin and parts of Babel and Wasit.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Policemen engaged in fierce armed clashes with armed fugitives in villages in the province of Diyala on Thursday and at least 10 of the armed men were killed and several others were detained in the action, security sources said. The police chief in the province, Major General Ghassan Al-Bawi, said in a statement that the fierce clashes, involving gunmen of Al-Qaeda, raged in a cluster of villages and towns west of the provincial town of Baacouba. He denied reports that gunmen organized a large demonstration in support of the recent declaration of establishing a local Islamic emirate, and said a group of 30 wanted gunmen attempted to stage a protest and chanted slogans in support of Al-Qaeda in a deserted neighborhood in the district of Al-Qatoun. But a police squad chased them, arrested three gunmen and seize arms in their possession.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Iraqi POLICE engaged in action here and in Baquba. Progress? Response to recent diplomatic arm-twisting (is this representative of the kind of 'metrics' the Administration was talking about?)
ISRAELI warplanes fired shots over an unarmed German vessel backing up the UN mission off the Lebanese coast, the German defence ministry said overnight.
The incident, which Israel has so far denied, was one of two involving the Israeli military and German forces in the region this week, defence spokesman Thomas Raabe said.
"There have been two incidents, one involving a helicopter and another the Alster" a German electronic surveillance and reconnaissance ship.
Mr Raabe said six Israeli F-16 fighter planes had fired shots into the air over the Alster on Tuesday while the ship was in international waters about 50 nautical miles off the Israeli coast.
The confrontation came just days after Germany assumed command of the marine component of the UN peacekeeping forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on October 18, in its first military foray into the Middle East since World War II.
Mr Raabe said in a separate incident, Israel claimed a German helicopter in the region had failed to identify itself.
Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung and his Israeli counterpart Amir Peretz have discussed the events, he said.
"It has been dealt with. In future we expect smooth cooperation with the Israeli forces," he said.
The Alster has been deployed in the Mediterranean to back up German vessels patrolling the Lebanese coast in a bid to prevent arms being smuggled to Hezbollah by sea, Mr Raabe said.
Israel was informed of the presence of the ship and should have known it was unarmed and therefore not a threat, he said.
"The Israeli military is highly skilled and I believe Israel can and should tell the difference between a frigate and a reconnaissance ship."
He added however: "We must also understand that Israel faces great security challenges."
Israel has been reprimanded by the UN for carrying out military flights over Lebanon since the end of its 34-day war on its northern neighbour to rout Hezbollah militia.
But Mr Peretz has said the flights would continue because arms were still flowing towards Hezbollah.
Berlin refused to contribute ground troops to UNIFIL to avoid German and Jewish soldiers coming face to face in an echo of WWII.
Israel may soon use "smart" bombs on the narrow border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to destroy tunnels used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian territory, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.
Maariv daily said the precision-guided weapons would be used to penetrate deep underground in the hope of destroying the tunnel network that Israel says riddles the narrow border area.
The border strip, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, is 11 km long (6.5 miles) and approximately 100 metres wide.
"The plan (as it was presented) includes detailed reference to the proximity to the Egyptian border and the surrounding civilian population," Maariv said.
An Israeli army spokesman declined to comment on the report, saying that private discussions of the army chief of staff could not be disclosed.
Egyptian officials were unavailable for comment.
Israel says it has been unable to control weapons smuggling into Gaza since it withdrew its forces from the coastal strip last year.
The decision to use "smart" bombs may be a substitute to reoccupying the entire region, the newspaper said.
Egyptian police recently seized 195 crates of automatic weapons and ammunition meant to be smuggled across the border
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2006 09:36 ||
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Posted by: Ol Dirty American ||
10/27/2006 18:45 Comments ||
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#6
So, this means that there are huge trucks full of crates arriving all day at some out of the way house which then drive away empty without anyone ever noticing? The Egyptian border security details need some serious bombing refresher courses.
GAZA - Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said. A police officer was shot near Khan Younis, a town in southern Gaza, after Israeli troops entered a village and exchanged fire with Palestinian security forces, witnesses said. Doctors said the man died later from his wounds.
The Israeli army said forces operating in the area came under attack and returned fire. One Israeli soldier was wounded during the exchange, it said.
In a later incident near Khan Younis, an unarmed only packing grenades, honest Palestinian yout was shot dead in the head by Israeli soldiers, completely unbiased witnesses said. A bored spokesman said the invincible army was checking the report when they had time.
In the north part of the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man near the town of Beit Hanoun, residents said. Witnesses said the man was catching birds on farmland when the soldiers opened fire.
"Avner, what the heck is that Paleo goof doing?"
"Dunno, David, catching birds maybe?"
"With grenades? I'm gonna peg him."
An army spokesman said soldiers in the area identified three people approaching the border in a suspicious way. “The soldiers called to them to stop. When they didn’t stop, the soldiers opened fire and identified hitting at least one of them,” he said.
"Hey you youts! Stop [BANG] [BANG] [BANG] [BANG] [BANG] or I'll shoot!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
So thats 3 more down... how many more do we have to go?
(KUNA) -- Ezzeddin al-Qassam Battalions, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistence Movement (Hamas), Thursday claimed respoinsiblity for firing three mortar missiles at an Israeli military site in east of Gaza. The group said in a statement circulated in Gaza Thursday that the missiles precisely hit their targets, and that Israeli helicopters were rushed to the scene to take the injured. The attack, it said, was part of its battle to confront the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupying army recognized that three anti-tank missiles were fired by Palestinians at a military site in east of Gaza. An Israeli military spokesman told the Israeli Radio that no Israeli soldiers were injured in the mortar attack, making it certain that Israeli forces responded by shooting the Palestinian attackers, injuring five of them.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
as if the Paleos stuck around to see if their mortars hit anything. *phoomph* "RUN!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/27/2006 8:02 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- Israeli army forces shot dead a Palestinian near Khan Younes in the west of Gaza Strip on Thursday, according to Palestinian medical sources. The sources added to the press that 18-year-old Ahmad Buraim was killed by the Israeli forces during a military incursion into Absan town near the Israeli borders. Three other Palestinians were injured during the incursion operation, which also resulted in the arrest of three Palestinians, said the sources. The military operations took place while European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Thailand's post-coup government is likely to drop some charges against 58 Muslims involved in a 2004 protest in the restive far south that led to 78 Muslims dying in army custody, Defence Minister Boonrawd Somtat said on Friday.
The move would be a major gesture by the mainly Buddhist administration in Bangkok to the Muslim majority in the three southernmost provinces, where more than 1,700 people have been killed in nearly three years of separatist violence. It would also signal a break with the "iron fist" policy of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who refused to censure army, police or government officials after the incident in the town of Tak Bai.
"It would be good to drop some charges that have weak evidence, to show our sincerity and that we are insisting on peaceful methods," Boonrawd told reporters. He did not give further details, or say whether the government would drop all the charges.
The 58 are accused minly of causing a public disturbance and damaging government property in the protest outside Tak Bai police station demanding the release of Muslim villagers they said had been arrested for giving state weapons to Muslim insurgents wrongly. Soldiers and police shot dead six people to disperse the crowd. A further 78 were crushed or suffocated to death after being stacked "like logs", in the words of one survivor, in the back of army trucks and transported to a nearby military camp.
Since his appointment after a Sept. 19 bloodless coup against Thaksin, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont has promised to eschew violence in a bid to bring peace to the mainly Malay region, an independent sultanate until annexed by Bangkok a century ago. "It is the Prime Minister's policy to work towards national reconciliation," Boonrawd told reporters.
Surayud and coup leader Sonthi Boonyaratglin, Thailand's first Muslim army chief, are due to visit the far south on Nov. 2 to meet religious and community leaders.
A government-appointed probe into the Tak Bai incident criticised police and army handling of the demonstration, but top army officers in charge were not punished. The southern army commander was moved back to Bangkok, but was promoted to general from lieutenant general.
A suspected Muslim insurgent shot an army sergeant in an execution-style killing in front of hundreds of people at a busy market in southern Thailand on Friday, police said. Sgt. Wichai Khamhom, 38, and three other soldiers were guarding the market in the Ranarae district of Pattani province when a gunman approached him from behind and opened fire at close range. A bullet went into the back of his head and through his right cheek, said police Col. Kob Hattachanakitti.
"It was the most daring attack in recent months. The attacker did it before the eyes of hundreds of people," Kob said. The gunman snatched an M-16 assault rifle from his victim and sped away on a waiting motorcycle. The three other soldiers and policemen at the market did not dare to fire back for fear of hitting some of the many people at the market.
#3
Army officer executed by jihadis in southern Thailand
He was murdered, not executed - regardless of what the perps claim. Execution carries the implication of justice. Using the word execute gives legitimacy to the monsters that did this. Murdering someone "execution-style" still doesn't make it an execution.
One of the last straws for me with my National Geographic subscription was when they said that Nick Berg was executed by terrorists.
Maybe it's a nit and a personal problem on my part that I get hung up on this word, but words matter - expecially now.
#7
All the pickpockets of my acquaintance stop to shoot the police guards execution-style through the back of the head before stealing their assault rifles and roaring off on motorcycles. Please do try to keep up with the times, .com dear.
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At least 30 people have been killed or have disappeared last week in the embattled Sri Lankan town of Jaffna, Tamil rebels say. The continued violence comes despite pledges to hold peace talks to end the bitter ethnic conflict. "The rate of killing and disappearance in Jaffna showed no sign of letting up," the Tamil Tigers' peace secretariat said on its website, listing the names of 30 people, most of them listed as "shot and killed".
Government troops control Jaffna, but the rebels have cut off the northern coastal enclave from the rest of the island for two months since fighting closed the main A9 highway, stranding residents and blocking supplies. The Government announced it had airlifted hundreds of tonnes of goods to the area this week. But the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website has warned of a "humanitarian crisis" as food and other supplies run out in Jaffna, and said the town remains a "boiling pot" amid increasing violence against civilians.
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10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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Federal prosecutors in Argentina have formally charged the government of Iran and the Shia militia group, Hezbollah, with bombing a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires 12 years ago. The bombing killed 85 people and wounded 300 others.
The chief prosecutor in Argentina called for the arrest of then-president Ali Rafsanjani, two former ministers, the former leadership of Hezbollah and ex-workers at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires.
The chief prosecutor in Argentina, Alberto Nisman, said his office had proven that the highest authorities in Iran directed Hezbollah to carry out the attack in July 1994. He called for the arrest of the top Iranian leaders at the time, including the then president, Ali Rafsanjani, two former ministers, the former leadership of Hezbollah and ex-workers at the Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires.
The vice-president of the Jewish community centre said he hoped this decision would push the case for justice forward. The Iranian embassy in Buenos Aires said it was not making any immediate comment.
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10/27/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
It took a while to get the evidence. I wonder how they were able to squeeze torture find clues this late.
#8
At Arne Jacobsen Chair they have an active-X control that lets you rotate the actual chair she was sitting in around. It's a shame Miss Keeler isn't on it there.
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.
Security services arrested on the eve of Eid El Fitr a terrorist, after a group of four terrorists in a car were being hunted. One of them surrendered a few hours later. The terrorist group started shooting towards the judiciary police team on duty in “5th July" district near the mosque. The operation was followed by a series of chase which enabled the terrorist group to escape to Behrara road through “Elwiaam” district. Police elements surrendered the area and set up checkpoints to capture the terrorists’ movements in Elwiaam district which witnessed a terrorist arrest. The group’s remainder could flee through the forest neighbouring Behrara district and left their car. Security investigations could confirm that the terrorist group was about to plant explosives in some mosques the day of Eid El Fitr. But the vigilance of security services could prevent them from doing that. A terrorist surrendered on Eid El Fitr day. 
(Interfax) - Three men who were once members of armed groups have turned themselves in to law enforcement services in Chechnya over the past 24 hours, the republic's Interior Ministry press secretary Magomed Deniyev told Interfax on Thursday. One of the former militants served in the so-called "National Guard of Ichkeria, which reported directly to Dzhokhar Dudayev. The two other men served in state security agencies of Ichkeria," he said. The three denied any immediate involvement in the hostilities. Their testimony is being verified.
A French court on Thursday convicted a Moroccan man on terror charges for his role in a thwarted bomb plot on the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion in 2003. Karim Mehdi, 37, received a nine-year prison sentence in Paris criminal court, and was ordered be barred from France afterward. He had also been suspected ties to two men involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.
(KUNA) -- Eleven Iraqi policemen and armed men were killed in clashes near Baquba city in the northeast of Baghdad Thursday, an Iraqi police source said. The Iraqi police launched a big military operation this morning against insurgents in Maradia town and nearby villages, the source said in press remarks. The police forces were confronted with a fierce opposition from the armed men resulting in the killing of six policeman and five of the insurgents, as well as injuring some 10 others. Large quantities of weapons and explosives were seized by the police, said the source.
(KUNA) -- Iraqi police found seven unidentified dead bodies in Mosul on Thursday, a police source said. The Mosul-based source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that Mosul police patrols found seven corpses of people shot dead and their hands were fettered.
(KUNA) -- Policemen engaged in fierce armed clashes with armed fugitives in villages in the province of Diyala on Thursday and at least 10 of the armed men were killed and several others were detained in the action, security sources said. The police chief in the province, Major General Ghassan Al-Bawi, said in a statement that the fierce clashes, involving gunmen of Al-Qaeda, raged in a cluster of villages and towns west of the provincial town of Baacouba. He denied reports that gunmen organized a large demonstration in support of the recent declaration of establishing a local Islamic emirate, and said a group of 30 wanted gunmen attempted to stage a protest and chanted slogans in support of Al-Qaeda in a deserted neighborhood in the district of Al-Qatoun. But a police squad chased them, arrested three gunmen and seize arms in their possession.
Israel may soon use "smart" bombs on the narrow border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip to destroy tunnels used to smuggle weapons into the Palestinian territory, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.
GAZA - Israeli troops shot and killed three Palestinians in separate incidents in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinian witnesses and hospital officials said. A police officer was shot near Khan Younis, a town in southern Gaza, after Israeli troops entered a village and exchanged fire with Palestinian security forces, witnesses said. Doctors said the man died later from his wounds.
(KUNA) -- Ezzeddin al-Qassam Battalions, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Resistence Movement (Hamas), Thursday claimed respoinsiblity for firing three mortar missiles at an Israeli military site in east of Gaza. The group said in a statement circulated in Gaza Thursday that the missiles precisely hit their targets, and that Israeli helicopters were rushed to the scene to take the injured. The attack, it said, was part of its battle to confront the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip.
At least 30 people have been killed or have disappeared last week in the embattled Sri Lankan town of Jaffna, Tamil rebels say. The continued violence comes despite pledges to hold peace talks to end the bitter ethnic conflict. "The rate of killing and disappearance in Jaffna showed no sign of letting up," the Tamil Tigers' peace secretariat said on its website, listing the names of 30 people, most of them listed as "shot and killed". 
Federal prosecutors in Argentina have formally charged the government of Iran and the Shia militia group, Hezbollah, with bombing a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires 12 years ago. The bombing killed 85 people and wounded 300 others. 
