Forensic analysis and other information enabled the U.S. military to verify that a key associate of Taliban chief Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan last week, a spokesman said Sunday. The military is "very sure" it killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani although it can't provide visual proof as his body was "obliterated" in Tuesday's attack on a vehicle traveling through Helmand province, said military spokesman Col. Tom Collins. A Taliban spokesman has disputed that Osmani died in the attack, and identified another militant it claimed was killed.
Collins said Osmani was the highest-ranking Taliban leader killed by the U.S.-led coalition since the invasion of Afghanistan that ousted the hardline regime in late 2001 for hosting Osama bin Laden. He said Osmani's death would hurt militant operations.
Osmani was one of the two top Taliban military commanders in the south and southeast of Afghanistan and believed to be among Omar's top lieutenants. "He was hit by a precision air strike. The vehicle was destroyed and all the occupants were obliterated," Collins said. "We checked various sources, and we are very, very sure it was him in that vehicle."
Osmani had been captured by U.S. special forces in Kandahar in 2002, but "he was later released by mistake," Collins said.
Osmani was identified through forensic analysis, but not through DNA tests, Collins said. The type of analysis performed was classified information. Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi claimed the airstrike in fact killed Mullah Abdul Zahir, a group commander, and three other Taliban fighters. "I confirm that Osmani is alive and is in Afghanistan," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by phone from an undisclosed location after the U.S. military announcement made Saturday.
But Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, said that sources close to the Taliban confirmed to its correspondent in Islamabad that, "Taliban leader Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was really killed with his companion Maulavi Abdul Zahir Baloushi and a third unidentified person." Helmand provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi Malakhail also said both Osmani and Zahir were killed in the airstrike, along with two other Taliban fighters. The U.S. military only said Osmani and two associates were killed.
The U.S. said Osmani played a "central role in facilitating terrorist operations" including roadside bombs, suicide attacks and ambushes against Afghan and international forces, and had been "utilizing both sides" of the Afghan-Pakistan border. Analysts said his death could hamper preparations for an expected militant offensive in southern Afghanistan in early 2007.
The U.S. said Osmani was an associate of Osama bin Laden, Omar and Afghan insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, but Collins said he didn't know the last time Osmani had contact with any of the three.
During the Taliban regime that was ousted from power in late 2001 by U.S.-led forces, Osmani served as corps commander in Kandahar, the militia's seat of power, which would have placed him close to Omar, the Taliban's reclusive leader who has a $10 million reward on his head. In June, a man claiming to be Osmani - his face was concealed by a black turban - gave an interview to a Pakistani television network in which he said Omar and bin Laden were alive and well. He claimed to be receiving instructions from Omar.
#3
The military is "very sure" it killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani although it can't provide visual proof as his body was "obliterated" in Tuesday's attack
His body was blasted to the point it was like he never existed, wiped from the earth with only a stain for a memory. Oh how I love an early Christmas!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/24/2006 11:11 Comments ||
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#4
send the remains home to momma as an early Ramadumb present.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2006 13:29 Comments ||
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#6
Isn't one of the quadra-annual Eid things comming up? I always get 'em confused. Is this the one where they slice up they're kids head or slice up a kids throat?
Somali rebels claimed to have captured a frontline position from Ethiopian-backed government forces yesterday as the embattled Somali prime minister warned that foreign terrorists had joined the ranks of the rebel forces.
Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said 4,000 foreign fighters had taken advantage of the conflict to infiltrate the country, which has been lawless since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Four thousand foreign fighters have participated in recent fighting around Dinsoor district and some of them have been killed, Gedi told a press conference in Baidoa, about 250 km northwest of the capital Mogadishu. This shows how terrorists are gaining ground in Somalia, so we are calling the international community to be aware of (what is happening in) Somalia, he added.
Rebels meanwhile renewed calls for Muslims around the world to offer support for the holy war, and claimed to have captured a key frontline position at Idale, some 60 km south of the government headquarters in Baidoa. Our fighters have taken control of Idale and are heading to other parts where Tigray (Ethiopian) invaders are now based, rebel movement information chief Abdurahim Ali Muddey said. By the will of Allah, we will liberate our people and country from the Ethiopian invaders, he said.
Information Minister Ali Jama did not confirm the seizure, but said fighting is raging in Idale. Witnesses said the rivals were shelling each other with mortars, rockets and machine-gun fire, causing heavy casualties.
With no sign of let-up in the fighting, the rebel leadership called on all Muslims around the world to join in the clashes that threaten to engulf the entire Horn of Africa region. This country is open for the Islamic fighters all over the world to join the holy war, said rebels security chief Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed Siad Indoadhe. Grave results will be witnessed if the international community maintains ignoring deteriorating situation in Somalia, said Indoadhe, whose movement has been accused of ties with Al Qaeda.
The fresh violence drew ineffectual calls for restraint from the international community, with the United Nations and African Union regional grouping urging an immediate end to the fighting. Ethiopia is supporting Somalias weakened government against the Islamist forces, which control Mogadishu and much of the rest of the war-ravaged Horn of Africa nation.
Fighting erupted early Wednesday, hours after the expiry of a rebel-imposed ultimatum for Ethiopia to withdraw the thousands of troops the Islamists say Addis Ababa has deployed in the country. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the fighting had left dozens dead. For its part, the government says its Ethiopian-backed forces have killed more than 500 rebel fighters since Wednesday, while the rebels spoke of slaying at least 70 enemy combatants.
Muddey said rebel forces were pushing back the Ethiopian-backed troops. This war is between Somalia and Tigray invaders. The forces have been pressed and they are losing in the battlefields, he added. The invaders have been repelled, we have a lot of their bodies here and are going to show the media, we have their ID cards, pictures with their wives, and equipment, he said.
The fighting on twin fronts has forced thousands of residents to flee. People are really scared because both sides are using heavy artillery shells and other weapons, Haji Hassan Dhubow, a resident of Goof Gaduud village southwest of Baidoa, said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 10:23 ||
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By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN
Associated Press Imaginary Friend Writer
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Ethiopian fighter jets pounded several Somali towns held by a powerful Islamic militia, a sharp escalation in violence that threatens to engulf the volatile Horn of Africa in widespread violence.
The airstrikes hit the strategic town of Belet Weyne on the Ethiopian border and surrounding villages up to 12 miles away, said Sheik Mohamoud Ibrahim Suley, an official with Somalia's Council of Islamic Courts. A resident of Belet Weyne _ Ayanle Husein Abdi _ said the strikes hit a strategic road and a recruiting center.
Ethiopia said it was acting to defend itself.
"After too much patience, the Ethiopian government has taken a self- defensive measure and has begun counterattacking the aggressive extremist forces," said Solomon Abebe, Ethiopia's foreign affairs spokesman.
Abdi said that the planes hit an Islamic center where the Islamic officials in the region enrolled volunteers who wanted to join the war. Another witness, Said Abukar Sahal, said the strikes were targeting the roads and defenses of the Islamic militia.
The Council of Islamic Courts has vowed to drive out troops from neighboring Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation that is providing military support to Somalia's U.N.-backed government.
Somalia has not had an effective government since warlords overthrew longtime dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, plunging the country into chaos. The Islamic courts have steadily gained power since June, raising concerns about an emerging Taliban-style regime. The U.S. accuses the group of having ties to al-Qaida, which it denies.
Somalia's government spokesman, Abdirahman Dinari, said from Baidoa that his forces have "inflicted massive casualties," although the claim could not be independently confirmed.
Last week, officials from the Somali government and the Islamic union said days of fighting killed hundreds of people.
The Ethiopian airstrikes on Sunday were the first against Somalia's Islamic movement. Ethiopia and Somalia have fought two wars over their disputed border in the last 45 years. Islamic court leaders have repeatedly said they want to incorporate ethnic Somalis living in eastern Ethiopia, northeastern Kenya and Djibouti into a Greater Somalia.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said his government has a legal and moral obligation to support and defend Somalia's internationally recognized government. He has repeatedly accused the Islamic courts of backing ethnic Somali rebels fighting for independence from Ethiopia and has called such support an act of war.
As Sunday's fighting wore on, the Islamic leadership in the capital, Mogadishu, began broadcasting patriotic songs about Somalia's 1977 war with Ethiopia. "Remember how we won this one?! Errrr..., hum..."
Although the two countries view each other as enemies, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf is a longtime ally of Ethiopia.
The militants, who want to govern Somalia according to Islamic law, invited foreign Muslims on Saturday to join their holy war against Ethiopian troops. Many fear the fighting could escalate into a regional battle.
"Muslims are brothers and help each other," said Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Council of Islamic Courts. "We have a right to call our brothers and sisters to help us in this holy war."
The clashes could mean a major conflict in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia, which has one of the largest armies in the region, and its bitter rival, Eritrea, could use Somalia as the ground for a proxy war. Eritrea backs the Islamists.
In Kismayo, a strategic seaport captured by Islamic militia in September, residents saw several foreign Arab fighters disembarking from ships this week.
Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi vowed Saturday that his government will "defend the people it is responsible for and Somali sovereignty" and said the Islamic fighters should return to negotiations. Several rounds of talks, mediated by the Arab League, have failed to produce any lasting effect.
Thousands of Somalis have fled their homes as troops loyal to the two- year-old interim administration fought Islamic fighters who had advanced on Baidoa, about 140 miles northwest of Mogadishu. Islamic militiamen control Mogadishu along with most of southern Somalia.
Government officials said more than 600 Islamic fighters had been killed during four days of clashes. Islamic militiamen said they killed around 400 Ethiopians and government fighters. Neither claim could be independently confirmed.
Associated Press writers Salad Duhul and Mohamed Sheik Nor contributed to this report, after being contacted by a medium in a Séance.
#5
Those circa 1950s AA machine guns they always show the islamic courts assholes with are real effective (not) against jets. I wonder how long it'll take 'em to use up their ammo...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
12/24/2006 12:00 Comments ||
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#6
Pictures of Somali tots blown to bits by Ethiopian bombs in 5..4..3
(SomaliNet) Buurhakaba residents woke up Sunday morning with the sound of artillery shells being exchanged by the Islamic Courts and the federal government supported Ethiopian army. The shelling started around five am Sunday, Somalia time.
A resident in Burhakaba told SomaliNet that both sides are exchanging very loud and deafening shells. She said the incoming shells are much lauder than the previous days suggesting either the government side is using longer range artillery pieces or they are coming closer to Buurhakaba area. It is still too early and neither side has commented on today's fight yet. We'll keep you updated as more news comes in.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:06 ||
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#1
looks WNW of Mogadishu and just ESE of Baidoa where the Islamic Courts tried attacking a few days ago.
#2
She said the incoming shells are much louder than the previous days suggesting either the government side is using longer range artillery pieces or they are coming closer to Buurhakaba area.
Either of which is good news. Let's hope the Ethiopians have advanced spotters. Maybe advanced spotting technology. Maybe even some spotters who Gen. Franks remembers on a first name basis.
(SomaliNet) The Islamic Courts Union fighters have taken full control of Idale town near Baidoa city later today after they defeated the rival Ethiopian troops as independent journalists at scene confirmed.
Sources say that the Islamists pushed the Ethiopians back after several hours of gun battle, which caused casualties on both sides. The Ethiopians retreated back. A team of journalists who later today reached Idale town, the zone of todays clashes reported that they have seen and taken photo shots of dozens of dead Ethiopian soldiers laid on ground.
Islamic officials here in Mogadishu claimed that their fighters are advancing towards Baidoa city and captured the main defense lines of Ethiopians troops. The government officials in Baidoa denied the Islamist claim as rumor and cheap propaganda.
"Lies! All lies!"
The officials said they still control Idale town and their forces are fighting with what they called the terrorist-backed Islamist militia who are on the offensive to Baidoa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Islamic militants who want to govern Somalia by the Quran urged foreign Muslims on Saturday to join their war with Ethiopian troops, after four days of heavy fighting in this volatile nation that threatens to escalate into a regional conflict. "Muslims are brothers and help each other. We have a right to call our brothers and sisters to help us in this holy war," said Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Council of Islamic Courts, which controls much of southern Somalia.
The Islamic group has vowed to drive out troops from neighboring Ethiopia, a largely Christian nation that is giving military support to Somalia's U.N.-backed interim government. Ethiopia denies its troops are fighting, saying it has sent only military trainers. In Kismayo, a seaport captured from the government by Islamic militiamen in September, people reported seeing several foreign Arab fighters disembarking from ships this week.
Fighting that killed hundreds of people in recent days has intensified worries about a major conflict engulfing the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia has one of the largest armies in the region and its bitter rival, Eritrea, is supporting the Islamic militia. Instability in the region has allowed Islamic extremists to gain a foothold, U.S. officials have warned while charging that leaders of the Islamic militia in Somalia provide refuge for al-Qaida members.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Wherever they have the best chance of being killed is where they should go.
#2
sounds like the "powerful Islamic Courts" are quickly getting themselves dead and deader. Calling on foreign fighters? Perhaps a US naval blockade "against pirate activity" is in order?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2006 7:51 Comments ||
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#3
Next path to paradise and the 72 worn out virgins.
#4
"Special forces who are highly trained in guerrilla warfare are now ready to attack Ethiopians, wherever they are in Somalia," Sheik Ibrahim Shukri Abuu-Zeynab, a spokesman for the Islamic movement, told The Associated Press.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2006 15:34 Comments ||
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#6
Sounds like someone is holding the short straw, calling for "foreign fighters". You only do that when you're losing. I think the US should come to the aid of the TGF with a couple of carrier battle groups, some F/A-18 bombing raids, and an arclight strike down through the heart of Mogadischu. It would serve the Somalis right for the crap they put us through in the 1990s, under William "It wudn't me" Clinton. I'm sure a lot of "technicals" receiving 20mm gunfire would change a few "hearts and minds", one way or another. We don't need another Afghanistan. The sooner we put a stop to it, the better.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/24/2006 18:37 Comments ||
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A car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of Rivers State government in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt on Saturday, but no one was killed, officials said. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), fighting for regional autonomy of Nigeria's oil producing south, claimed responsibility. It said a second explosive device malfunctioned and was retrieved by its fighters. "There was an explosion near government house Port Harcourt. It was very serious," said state government spokesman Blessing Nwikina.
Police said no one was killed. Mangled, scorched pieces of a car were strewn across an access road to the newly built government headquarters. Broken shards of multicolored glass from Christmas decorations on street lamps were also scattered around.
At another government building across the road, shutters were shattered and metal debris from the vehicle was hanging on a wire perimeter fence. Police officers and a bomb disposal unit were at the scene.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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LONDON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Immigration officers at British airports will begin lifting the veils of passengers to verify identity, The Scotsman said Sunday.
The order came after it was revealed that suspected killer Mustaf Jama flew from London's Heathrow airport to Somalia using his sister's passport. He is believed to have worn a woman's niqab, which has just a slit for eyes, and was not required to lift the veil.
The requirement has drawn criticism from unions claiming it will impose impossible demands on its members, particularly women, who would be the only ones allowed to look under the veils, the Scotsman said.
Home Secretary John Reid is planning to enforce the requirement before considering more stringent measures, a Home Office official said.
The Immigration Act 1971 requires everyone entering the Britain to satisfy an immigration officer's inquiry regarding nationality and identity. In instances when it is not possible to remove a veil or other garment at immigration control, the person is taken to a private area for verification
#2
It's a start. I'd rather the policy require taking the damn thing off for the duration of the flight from check-in to departure.
I think we non-muzzy folk should start wearing ski masks to the airport on our travels and see how far we get through security. If your face can't be readily distinguished and identified, then take it off or find another mode of transportation.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/24/2006 12:53 Comments ||
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#3
"LONDON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Immigration officers at British airports will begin lifting the veils of passengers to verify identity, The Scotsman said Sunday."
Blatant discrimination, marginalising muslims and making them feel disempowered and not able to integrate into mainstream Britain. Death to infidel, insulters of "prophet", uncoverers of covered meat, cats on the prowl, Allahu something bloodcurdling upon you, blah blah rant rant.
Posted by: Mozzie Council of Britain ||
12/24/2006 18:52 Comments ||
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#4
No veils from the time you show up at the airport until you depart your destination airport. If this violates your religion, DON'T FLY ANYWHERE.
ANKARA - Turkish police in the Mediterranean city of Mersin have arrested a member of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) suspected of being behind a number of small bomb attacks and of planning to carry out further attacks, the Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.
Get out the mustache wax and the #7 truncheons with hand-tooled leather handles; it's going to be a while.
Police found 12 kilos of plastic explosives, electric bomb fuses, a handgun and false identity documents in the house where the suspect, named only as V.U.Y., was arrested, Mersin Governor Huseyin Aksoy told reporters.
Aksoy said V.U.Y. had received training abroad before coming to Mersin. The suspect was involved in bombings on 30 August, which resulted in one person being lightly injured, on 28 September in which the target was an automatic teller machine ... and on 21 August when a bomb, which did not explode, was left in a rubbish bin, Aksoy said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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A review process directed by the Pentagon cleared 46 detainees at the Guantanamo prison camp for transfer this year to their home countries. The 46 were among 330 detainees at the U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba who underwent a second round of annual Administrative Review Boards. In the reviews, a military panel evaluates whether a detainee can be released, transferred or must remain at Guantanamo because he allegedly poses a threat to the United States or has intelligence value. No more evaluations are planned in 2006.
The detainees are usually transferred to the custody of authorities of their home countries. The civilian official overseeing the review boards, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, can abide by the panel's recommendations or overrule.
A chart on a Pentagon Web site Saturday showed decisions have been made on at least 211 cases this year. Officials determined that none of the detainees should be released, 46 should be transferred to their home countries and 165 should remain at Guantanamo. England has yet to rule on the remainder of the review boards, according to the Pentagon Web site.
About 395 prisoners are held at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban, including 85 who have been cleared to leave for other countries. Most of the detainees have never been charged with a crime. Mind boggling statement. Unless you realize the writer is on the other side.
Posted by: ed ||
12/24/2006 11:08 ||
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The 400 or so detainees at Joint Task Force detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have received approximately 500 holiday greeting cards, said Army Col. Lora Tucker, a spokeswoman for the prison. She said she did not know the faith content of the cards sent to the mainly Muslim detention population, because "Once it goes to the detainee, it's the detainee's mail." She said the guard force at Gitmo has no interest in the content of the mail after it is screened for operations and security purposes. (!)
Because nearly all the cards came from the United States, they probably had either a "happy holiday" or a Christmas theme, Tucker said, although it was possible some of the cards might be for the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Adha. Tucker said the detainees have been given the opportunity to write special holiday greetings, but she did not know how many prisoners had sent holiday notes, or how many total had been sent from the prison. In all, the prisoners at the base have received approximately 16,000 pieces of mail in 2006.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the cards being sent to the detainees could be for the Eid ul-Adha holiday, which begins Dec. 30, but the tradition of card exchanges is nowhere nearly as established in the Muslim faith as it is in the Christian faith, especially in the United States. "If the message is religiously appropriate in terms of being an actual greeting card, if that's what they're intended to do, then that's one thing," Hooper said. But "if there's an orchestrated effort to somehow proselytize the detainees, I think that would be inappropriate in that they are in a captive situation."
#1
Well Mr. Hooper, other than the US Gov't who genearlly doesn't post "Christmas Greetings," I would venture it is quite unlikely that anyone other than a detainees immediate family would know of his whereabouts and address. An "orchestrated effort to somehow proselytize" would appear to have to have originated within his own clan.
The CID police has arrested an activist of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) from Manghopir. The police said that they raided a house in Pathan Colony and arrested Shoukat Sardar alias Azam Saturday. The police also seized two hand grenades and a pistol from his possession. The police claimed that Sardar is said to be an active member of the Asif Ramzi group. The two received militant training together in Afghanistan and the police said that Sardar had just arrived from Abottabad to re-organize the banned group in Karachi. The police are also looking for three associates, Khalid alias Kala, Sajid Budha and Shamim alias Shami, who reportedly escaped from the house during the raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Police are trying to trace a gang of British Muslims who are thought to have returned to plot terror attacks in Britain after being trained abroad for more than a year by Al Qaeda. Nine Britons, all said to be in their twenties, were among a group of 12 Western recruits groomed by Al Qaeda at a secret camp near the Afghan border to set up new terror cells in London and other Western capitals.
Police do not know the real identities of this gang, who are known as the English brothers because of their shared language. As well as nine Britons, they include two Norwegians and an Australian who were smuggled into the Waziristan tribal region in Pakistan in October 2005. They are believed to have been under the command of an Al Qaeda veteran suspected of training some of the Britons accused of the alleged plot to blow up passenger planes flying to the US from Heathrow airport in the summer.
The intensive manhunt for the English brothers was revealed to The Times as the alleged British mastermind of the Heathrow plot spoke for the first time as he appeared yesterday in a court in Pakistan on separate charges. Outside court, he vehemently denied any role in plans to bomb up to ten transatlantic flights. Rashid Rauf, 25, from Birmingham, had not been seen in public since his arrest in August by Pakistani intelligence chiefs, who claimed that he was the key figure in the foiled operation. Talking to The Times inside a crowded court in Rawalpindi, Mr Rauf, who was manacled hand and foot, said of the accusations: The charges are all fabricated. It is an injustice, there is no evidence against me.
A tall, lean figure with a long unruly beard and his head covered by an embroidered shawl, Mr Rauf smiled when asked if he fears being returned to Britain to stand trial. Senior officials in Pakistan have told The Times that diplomatic efforts are under way to transfer Mr Rauf to Britain, where detectives want to question him about the alleged Heathrow plot and possible links to the 7/7 London suicide bombers.
Police are keen to learn whether he met two of the 7/7 bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, who are known to have visited Pakistan shortly before they and two other British Muslims blew up three Underground trains and a bus, killing 52 people in London in July 2005.
The alert over the whereabouts of the English brothers came as Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, cautioned about an unparalleled and growing threat of attack. He said that the terrorist threat was far graver than any posed during the Second World War, the Cold War or IRA campaigns. Sir Ian, speaking on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, said that he had no specific intelligence about an imminent attack but the threat was ever present.
Intelligence sources in Pakistan said that the men are reported to have joined Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan in attacks on NATO troops. The sources told The Times that the brothers were given religious indoctrination as well as lessons on how to assemble suicide bomb vests and improvised explosives devices. The sources are reported to have been escorted to the Al Qaeda camp by Adam Gadahn, a Californian indicted by US authorities as an Al Qaeda terrorist, who introduced the brothers to their tutors.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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Intelligence agencies have released two Baloch sisters taken into custody on charges of plotting suicide attacks from NWFP in June 2005 and for their alleged links with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. We received Arifa and Saba in Peshawar three weeks ago. They were released after spending a year in military detention cells, Farooqi, a relative of the sisters, told Daily Times. The sisters left Peshawar for Karachi some two weeks ago, he added.
Bilal, Arifas husband, and his mother Gul Andama were also arrested along with Arifa and Saba, but they were released eight months later. Farooqi said the sisters were interrogated for about a year, and they were asked if they had any links with a suicide bombers group or a militant organisation.
Following their arrest, the Interior Minister called a press conference and said that intelligence agencies had arrested two sisters who were suicide bombers. The ministrys statement said that Arifa and Saba, both college students who were arrested from a hideout in Swat, were training to become suicide bombers. The 18 and 20-year-old sisters were trained by their uncle, who has been sentenced to death for his involvement in suicide attacks. The uncle, who belonged to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, reportedly took his nieces to the Waziristan region, where the widow of an Uzbek martyr trained them for suicide bombings, it said.
The Peshawar High Court (PHC) disposed of the sisters habeas corpus petitions on August 22 when Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Salahuddin told the court that the Interior Ministry and intelligence agencies did not know about the whereabouts of the girls.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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The Federal Review Board on Saturday extended the detention of British-Pakistani Rashid Rauf for 90 days and also ordered the detention of another Pakistani of UK origin, Aurangzeb, for the same period.
The proceedings of the Federal Review Board were conducted in camera in the Supreme Court, but sources confirmed that Rashid Rauf and Aurnagzeb were presented before the board and detained for 90 days. The Federal Review Board was constituted by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry under article 10(4) of the Constitution. Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar of the Supreme Court chairs the board while Justice Hamid Ali Mirza of the Supreme Court and Justice Nadir Khan of the Balochistan High Court are its members.
Rauf was arrested by Pakistani authorities on August 11 from Bahawalpur for his alleged involvement in a reported plot to blow up planes travelling from the UK to the US. His case was initially taken up by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi, but the court exonerated him of terrorism charges and referred the case to Rawalpindi civil judge Karim Khan, who sent Rauf on judicial remand.
Aurangzeb was arrested from Karak in NWFP on charges of having links with militant outfits. Advocate Hashmat Habib, who was representing Rauf, told Daily Times said that his client was detained under a substantive law, his case was being heard by a civil judge and as such he should not have been arrested under a preventive law. The prosecuting authorities might have concealed the judicial history of Rashid from the Federal Review Board, otherwise the board members would not have extended their detention period, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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A commandant of the Indian Army was killed and four soldiers were seriously wounded in a gun battle between separatist Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) guerrillas and security forces in a north Kashmir village yesterday. Acting on specific information, troops of the counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR) surrounded a house in north Kashmir's Tilgam village near Pattan town in Baramulla district in the morning, a senior police officer said here yesterday. "There are two to three militants of LeT including a top commander of the outfit holed up inside the house. We have deployed more troops to ensure they don't escape from the village hideout," a senior police officer said here.
"G S Sarna, commandant 29 RR, led the raiding party and as they tried to enter the house, militants fired a sharp burst critically injuring Sarna and his four body guards," said the officer. "The injured were evacuated to the Srinagar army base hospital for treatment where the commandant succumbed to his injuries," he said. Security sources here said the house owner, identified as Muhammad Maqbool Dar, was also injured in the exchange of fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Don't the Indians own any D-9 Cats?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2006 7:59 Comments ||
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#2
nothing left standing anyway after the earthquake(allens wrath)
BAGHDAD, Iraq Coalition Forces positively identified a terrorist killed in an operation December 7 near Thar Thar as Fahd al-Saudi.
Fahd Hilal Awidh al Salifi al Maqati al Utaybi, aka Newman! Nu'man, aka Fahd al-Saudi was an Iraqi based Saudi foreign fighter facilitator and a member of an al-Qaida in Iraq operations cell in the greater Ar Ramadi area. During the operation, Coalition Forces attempted to stop the vehicle and detain the four terrorists. The terrorists resisted forcing Coalition Forces to fire into the vehicle. None of the occupants in the vehicle survived. Heh.
Coalition Forces recovered an AK-47 and three pistols from the terrorists.
Fahd al-Saudi previously operated in Yemen as a foreign fighter facilitator responsible for sending foreign fighters to Iraq. He fled Yemen after Saudi and Yemeni authorities initiated investigations on his family and close associates due to indications he and his Yemeni-based group were planning external terrorist operations. Intelligence reports also indicate he assisted Malaz Prison escapees by arranging their travel and safe-haven in Jeddah.
These and other foreign terrorist facilitators are killing innocent Iraqis daily and attempting to prevent the peace and stability Iraqi citizens deserve.
A suicide bomber has killed at least seven policemen and wounded 30 others at a police station northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, police said.
The explosion happened in Muqdadiyah, 90 kilometres northeast of the Iraqi capital.
After the initial explosion, the station came under attack from mortar rounds launched from the surrounding neighbourhood, police said.
In the same province about 30 minutes later, two roadside bombs exploded next to one another in Khanaqin, about 140 kilometres northeast of Baghdad close to the Iranian border, police said. The co-ordinated attacks wounded 18 civilians, some seriously, police said.
At least five police have been killed in Samawah, where Shiite fighters attacked police headquarters and other government buildings with rocket-propelled grenades. Police have been battling the fighters since Friday.
Brig. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, did not identify the gunmen in Samawah, but police said they belonged to a militia formed by radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Al-Sadr has lost control of some elements of his militia, and it was unclear whether the gunmen in Samawah considered themselves loyal to the cleric or were a renegade group intent on local control.
About 40 suspected militiamen were captured, a police official said on condition of anonymity out of concern for his safety.
Khalaf said tribal leaders were trying to intervene in an effort to stop the violence in Samawah, the capital of Muthana province, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad.
Muthana was under control of British forces until July, when it became the first province to revert to Iraqi control.
Maj. Charlie Burbridge, a spokesman for British forces in the neighboring province of Basra, said no multinational forces are left in Muthana province.
"From time to time, there have been clashes there," he said. "There are often tribal clashes, and rogue militias often exacerbate the situation. But the problem isn't big enough for provincial authorities to request help from multinational forces."
The Italian military transferred neighboring Dhi Qar province to Iraqi troops in September. Last week, U.S. forces ceded control of Najaf, the third of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed over to Iraqi forces.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - An Iraqi military intelligence officer was slain in a drive-by shooting on Saturday south of Baghdad, police said. Gunmen attacked 1st Lt. Hussein Jabir at 7:30 a.m. as he was leaving his home in downtown Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, police said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
Will somebody please set up a vote of no confidence and eject this moron. Never in my life have I ever seen such a stunning reversal of Israel's get-tough policy against the Palestinians. It defies all logic and sanity. Plus, my boggle just burned out it's fourth left-handed veeblefetzer and they're getting mighty scarce in these parts.
#3
I wonder if Olmert has a Swiss bank account well stuffed with Saudi cash or is just the end product of modern liberalism. The man is either a fool or just plays one on TV. In any event, it is exceedingly dangerous to the world for a nation with nuclear weapons to be governed by someone as weak and self-destructive as Olmert.
#6
Gromgoru, you may well be right, but I remember how the world changed back in the late 70's when the Israelis tested their first nuke. Israeli nukes were created in the age of mutually assured destruction as a guarantee to the Arab states that Israel would not die alone. The fact that they existed and there was absolute certainty that Israel, in extremis, would destroy those who sought to destroy her kept the peace for over 30 years. If there is a lessening of that certainty, if an Israeli government is considered to be lacking in the will to do whatever is necessary to defend itself, the deterrence will weaken and the Middle East could stumble into nuclear war. I started my adult life in Strategic Air Command and know full well what that means. Given that, I consider Olmert's actions over the last year to have moved the world closer to nuclear war and, because of that, he is a danger to the United States. If I expressed that a little harshly, then I am sorry.
#7
I'll put it this way; If Olmert is so reluctant to deploy ground troops against clear and present threats, how can he possibly be expected to gather his skirts and release launch codes if that time comes?
#2
At the moment Olmert's probably doing the right thing. Decisive action on Israel's part would push the Paleo factions back together.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2006 22:51 Comments ||
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#3
Perhaps. But he did free up a who lot of funds to the Paleos. And he seems to have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in Lebannon earlier this year.
Dumb, dumb, dumb. You're just delaying the only thing that will bring the Paleos to their senses.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel agreed Saturday to release $100 million in frozen funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and ease West Bank travel restrictions - goodwill gestures that revived hopes for a resumption of peace talks after years of hostility and distrust.
Olmert and Abbas failed to agree on a key issue - a prisoner swap - but decided to set up a committee to study it further.
Instead of burying the issue in committee, why not bury the Paleo prisoners?
The issue is not fully in Abbas' hands. Olmert has said he will not free Palestinians without the release of an Israeli soldier being held by militants allied with the Islamic group Hamas, which controls the Palestinian government and is a rival of Abbas' Fatah party.
Erekat and Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin said the Israeli leader agreed to transfer $100 million in frozen tax rebates and other Palestinian funds to Abbas' control, giving the Palestinian leader an important achievement. Eisin said Israel plans to transfer the money soon, but that it wants to make sure the funds do not reach Hamas, which has refused Western demands to recognize Israel and end violence.
In addition, Israel will transfer about $7.25 million to Palestinian-run hospitals in Jerusalem, Erekat said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
Why has the Jewish state suddenly developed a death wish?
Posted by: mac ||
12/24/2006 6:18 Comments ||
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#3
Amazing. If anyone should know appeasement and negotiation doesn't work with mooslims its Israel. Why is this happening?
Furthermore, seeing as how Israel is probably the most hated country in the world/UN what do they have to lose by really finishing the pally problem. Cut off essential services. Close the border. Respond in kind to acts of war. Like the UN or the outside world would do anything? They can't decide to act on Iran or Africa. They would never get around to dealing with a vengeful Israel problem.
Man I wonder what Israel government knows that I don't. There must be something causing this silliness.
Let's see, on today's Chinese weapons market that equates to, with cash discount... something on the magnitude of 300,000 Kalashnakovs and several million rounds of 7.62x39 ammo. Might be able to throw in a few metric tones of Semtex and detonators as well.
#5
For any squeeze play to work there has to be an eventual double-down bet. Appears the dice have been rolled. Pay off or Bust? The answer to that question should be apparent sooner then later.
#6
"And that was the real deal in Jerusalem last night. Olmert and Abbas cooperated to produce the pictures demanded by their sponsors"
There you have it. More fine work by Bush, Rice and the beauros at State dept. Britain also is perfectly willing to sacrifice Israel without batting an eye. So they probably added pressure too.
#8
If anyone should know appeasement and negotiation doesn't work with mooslims its Israel.
End of story. I can only imagine that Olmert is trying to strengthen Abbas against further Hamas onslaughts. What has obviously escaped Olmert's notice is that Israel is supposed to be killing both sides with equal abandon, even as Fatah and Hamas continue to off each other.
WASHINGTON - A U.S. federal judge on Friday ordered the Islamic Republic of Iran to pay $254 million to the family of 17 U.S. servicemen killed in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers residence at a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia. The default judgment was entered against the Iranian government, its security ministry and the Revolutionary Guards after they failed to respond to the lawsuit, which was initiated more than four years ago. In issuing the $254.4 million judgment in the case, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth concluded that the Khobar Towers attack was carried out by people recruited by Gen. Ahmed Sharifi of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The truck bomb involved in the attack was assembled at a base in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley operated by Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Guards, and the attack was approved by Ayatollah Khameini, the supreme leader of Iran, the 209-page ruling found.
The decision relied heavily on an investigation of the attack by the FBI under director Louis Freeh. The FBI probe led to the grand jury indictment of 13 members of Hezbollah in June 21, 2001. 'The totality of the evidence at trial, combined with the findings and conclusions entered by this court ... firmly establishes that the Khobar Towers bombing was planned, funded and sponsored by senior leadership in the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,' Lamberth wrote. 'The sheer gravity and nature of the attack demonstrate the defendants' unlawful intent to inflict severe emotional distress upon the American servicemen as well as their close relatives,' he added. The bombing of Khobar Towers, a residence on a U.S. military base in Dhahran, killed a total of 19 servicemen. So, wasnt this, like, kinda sorta some type of an act of war thingy? If not, what more will it take for Iran to finally receive its comeuppance?
#1
Iran found guilty in Khobar Towers atrocity - Must pay $254 M
sheech..read accounts where OBL signed off on this op also. accounts where the Magic Kingdom would't co-operate fully and chopped heads on the perps, thereby denying FBI assets interviews w/ part of the assassin team forever.
Hezbollah manifesto: Eradication of Western imperialism in Lebanon
Transformation of Lebanon's multi-confessional state into an Islamic state,
Complete destruction of the state of Israel.
All sorts of death and bad juju towards ours in Iraq.
1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Argentina.
The U.S. Treasury Department has also accused Hezbollah of raising funds by counterfeiting U.S. currency.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to have trained the Hezbollah fighters who bombed the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Beirut International Airport headquarters & barracks with a Mercedes-Benz delivery truck bomb. The death toll was 241 American servicemen: killed 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel, 3 Army soldiers and the grevious wounding of many more Americans.
Same day the Iranian Revolutionary Guards bombed the French barracks, 58 paratroopers were killed and 15 injured.
The April 18, 1983, suicide bombing of the United States Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.
The September 20, 1984, another car bomb exploded at this embassy annex, killing 20 Lebanese and two American soldiers.
Various other kidnappings, car bombings, and airline hijackings.
#6
good point Z, same reaction from me. Why have we not retaliated? Why is this not on the front page of every leading story? (the second question was rhetorical) Anyways, American servicemen are dead from the sanctioning of a foreign sovereign gov't. This should've been laid out to achnutjob by GWB this morning w/our bombers hitting key iranian mil installations this afternoon.
#7
If the US won't retaliate for 241 Marines murdered, why do you expect anything for 19 dead servicemen? Your comment #3 is even more appropriate for this thread.
Carter froze $8 billion of Iranian gov funds. Though I'm sure there is a lot of left by now.
Posted by: ed ||
12/24/2006 11:28 Comments ||
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#8
This should've been laid out to achnutjob by GWB this morning w/our bombers hitting key iranian mil installations this afternoon.
This does have casus belli written all over it. Too bad we can only dream. Out of curiosity, how many other atrocities committed by Iran have been found by a court of law to be directly attributable to Tehran's mullahs? I'd like to think this wasn't the first, but if it is, we'd surely mustn't avoid the splendid opportunity it represents to retaliate. Blue sky thinking, I know.
#9
Oh, but it wouldn't be politically correct to even speak of an attack this close to Christmas.
Why not join together in the singing of some Christmas carols ? Bailey's anyone ?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
12/24/2006 12:20 Comments ||
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#3
Ho Ho Ho
and what would you like from Santa, Gwilli?
Merry Christmas RantBurgers and Happy Hanukkah!
Posted by: Lecherous Santa ||
12/24/2006 12:33 Comments ||
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#4
Imagine what it would be like to be wearing the ol' red suit and hearing her sing "Santa Baby." I think she could get ANYTHING she wanted, and the rest of the deliveries would be more than just a bit delayed...
Posted by: mac ||
12/24/2006 14:45 Comments ||
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#5
Thanks for the return of the "Ranger Up" gal too.
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.
Forensic analysis and other information enabled the U.S. military to verify that a key associate of Taliban chief Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan last week, a spokesman said Sunday. The military is "very sure" it killed Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani although it can't provide visual proof as his body was "obliterated" in Tuesday's attack on a vehicle traveling through Helmand province, said military spokesman Col. Tom Collins. A Taliban spokesman has disputed that Osmani died in the attack, and identified another militant it claimed was killed. 
Somali rebels claimed to have captured a frontline position from Ethiopian-backed government forces yesterday as the embattled Somali prime minister warned that foreign terrorists had joined the ranks of the rebel forces. 
(SomaliNet) Buurhakaba residents woke up Sunday morning with the sound of artillery shells being exchanged by the Islamic Courts and the federal government supported Ethiopian army. The shelling started around five am Sunday, Somalia time. 
(SomaliNet) The Islamic Courts Union fighters have taken full control of Idale town near Baidoa city later today after they defeated the rival Ethiopian troops as independent journalists at scene confirmed. 
Islamic militants who want to govern Somalia by the Quran urged foreign Muslims on Saturday to join their war with Ethiopian troops, after four days of heavy fighting in this volatile nation that threatens to escalate into a regional conflict. "Muslims are brothers and help each other. We have a right to call our brothers and sisters to help us in this holy war," said Sheik Yusuf Indahaadde, national security chairman for the Council of Islamic Courts, which controls much of southern Somalia. 
A car bomb exploded outside the headquarters of Rivers State government in Nigeria's oil capital Port Harcourt on Saturday, but no one was killed, officials said. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), fighting for regional autonomy of Nigeria's oil producing south, claimed responsibility. It said a second explosive device malfunctioned and was retrieved by its fighters. "There was an explosion near government house Port Harcourt. It was very serious," said state government spokesman Blessing Nwikina. 
ANKARA - Turkish police in the Mediterranean city of Mersin have arrested a member of the 
A review process directed by the Pentagon cleared 46 detainees at the Guantanamo prison camp for transfer this year to their home countries. The 46 were among 330 detainees at the U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba who underwent a second round of annual Administrative Review Boards. In the reviews, a military panel evaluates whether a detainee can be released, transferred or must remain at Guantanamo because he allegedly poses a threat to the United States or has intelligence value. No more evaluations are planned in 2006.
The CID police has arrested an activist of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) from Manghopir. The police said that they raided a house in Pathan Colony and arrested Shoukat Sardar alias Azam Saturday. The police also seized two hand grenades and a pistol from his possession. The police claimed that Sardar is said to be an active member of the Asif Ramzi group. The two received militant training together in Afghanistan and the police said that Sardar had just arrived from Abottabad to re-organize the banned group in Karachi. The police are also looking for three associates, Khalid alias Kala, Sajid Budha and Shamim alias Shami, who reportedly escaped from the house during the raid.
Police are trying to trace a gang of British Muslims who are thought to have returned to plot terror attacks in Britain after being trained abroad for more than a year by Al Qaeda. Nine Britons, all said to be in their twenties, were among a group of 12 Western recruits groomed by Al Qaeda at a secret camp near the Afghan border to set up new terror cells in London and other Western capitals. 
Intelligence agencies have released two Baloch sisters taken into custody on charges of plotting suicide attacks from NWFP in June 2005 and for their alleged links with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. We received Arifa and Saba in Peshawar three weeks ago. They were released after spending a year in military detention cells, Farooqi, a relative of the sisters, told Daily Times. The sisters left Peshawar for Karachi some two weeks ago, he added. 
The Federal Review Board on Saturday extended the detention of British-Pakistani Rashid Rauf for 90 days and also ordered the detention of another Pakistani of UK origin, Aurangzeb, for the same period.
A commandant of the Indian Army was killed and four soldiers were seriously wounded in a gun battle between separatist Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) guerrillas and security forces in a north Kashmir village yesterday. Acting on specific information, troops of the counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles (RR) surrounded a house in north Kashmir's Tilgam village near Pattan town in Baramulla district in the morning, a senior police officer said here yesterday. "There are two to three militants of LeT including a top commander of the outfit holed up inside the house. We have deployed more troops to ensure they don't escape from the village hideout," a senior police officer said here. 
A suicide bomber has killed at least seven policemen and wounded 30 others at a police station northeast of Baghdad on Sunday, police said. 
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - An Iraqi military intelligence officer was slain in a drive-by shooting on Saturday south of Baghdad, police said. Gunmen attacked 1st Lt. Hussein Jabir at 7:30 a.m. as he was leaving his home in downtown Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, police said.
