AN Italian television channel today aired footage of the beheading of a driver of an Italian journalist, who was held for about two weeks by Afghanistan's Taliban militants until Kabul negotiated his release. The RAI-1 channel beamed images of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his driver Sayed Agha and his interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi, kneeling blindfolded before gun-wielding militants. It then showed Agha being beheaded following which a shaken Mastrogiacomo made an impassioned appeal to Italian authorities to "do something," while underlining that the situation was "very difficult".
The Taliban have also beheaded Mastrogiacomo's interpreter, who was also a journalist. The Italian journalist was freed on March 19 after Afghani President Hamid Karzai ordered the release of five Taliban prisoners under a controversial deal. Kidnapping has increasingly become a tactic of the Taliban, who have been waging a guerrilla style insurgency since they were ousted from power in late 2001 by US-led forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
They are a practical people. They do it because it works.
#2
[one sentence + rant]
I quit watching these f*cking Shoppe of Horrors videos after Eugene Armstrong [sweet Jesus RIP] was beheaded in the Kingdom..
2 or 3 at the most.
Like I'm sure all RBs felt, they made me so angry on top of 9/11.
I'm still pissed at President Bush for not using more of us old f*cks! I tried but waz turned down. [heh ima rational]
[/one sentence + rant]
So here's a better video: VIBED and IED bombers caught, About half way through the video. RED HANDED!
#3
Does anyone else think that it's about time to start destroying any and all transmission facilities that show beheadings and terrorist executions?
This vile filth is nothing but terrorist propaganda. We need to attach a penalty to any voluntary dissemination of it. Al-Jazeera, al-Manar and the rest of the Islamic broadcast facilities should be put on notice that further transmissions of this sort will carry a price tag.
We don't even have to use explosives or aerial bombarment. A nice blast of well-focused high energy microwaves in the direction of their studios will roast all those delicate video switchers, editors and cameras quite nicely.
#8
I prefer high explosives over high energy any day - far more painful to the recipient. I DO have a small (962 pages) book of "recipients" I'll gladly volunteer. That's enough for everyone...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/11/2007 13:46 Comments ||
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US warplanes killed four Taliban rebels in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan, officials said on Tuesday, as four Afghan soldiers, a policeman and a militant died in other violence. Troops from the US-led coalition and the Afghan army called in jets after insurgents attacked them with rocket-propelled grenades in the Sangin district of southern Helmand province late on Monday, a coalition statement said. Coalition close air support was requested and fired on the enemy-occupied compound. As Taliban fighters began to flee, coalition aircraft engaged and killed four Taliban fighters who were attempting to escape, it said. There were no civilian casualties, it said.
The coalition said in a separate statement it had arrested an anti-coalition militia commander teaching the use of roadside bombs early on Tuesday in a raid with Afghan police in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Meanwhile dozens of Taliban militants ambushed an Afghan army convoy with rockets in southern Zabul province on Monday, killing four troops and injuring 19, Defence Ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. The soldiers came under fire as they returned to Qalat, the capital city of Zabul province, from an operation in a nearby village, Azimi said. He said the Taliban also sustained casualties, but his ministry had no figures.
Azimi had earlier said the incident happened on Tuesday. He clarified that it was also the same incident as one on Monday that was reported separately by the armys southern commander, who said that two troops had been killed.
Also on Monday Taliban fighters opened fire on a police vehicle in the southern city of Kandahar, sparking a gunbattle in which a policeman and an insurgent were killed, Kandahar police chief Esmatullah Alizai said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday that up to 400 people are estimated to have been killed in Chad during cross-border attacks by Sudanese Janjaweed militia some 10 days ago.
The agency said last week that Chadian authorities had reported an initial toll of at least 65 dead in the March 31 attacks on two villages in eastern Chad, Tiero and Marena. But the new estimate followed a visit by a group of UN agencies to the remote area on Sunday. "Estimates of the number of dead have increased substantially and now range between 200 and 400. Because most of the dead were buried where their bodies were found -- often in common graves owing to their numbers -- we may never know their exact number," UNHCR spokesman, Ron Redmond, told a briefing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
They weren't killed by Jews or Americans. So, who cares?
#2
Can we please transfer some napalm canisters to the Phrench Air Force, and a spine to use them? The Janjaweed should be totally wiped out, to the last camel.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/11/2007 13:49 Comments ||
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#3
Why not kill if you want. Nobody in the UN or AU is going to do jack shit about it.
ALGIERS (Reuters) - A car bomb rocked central Algiers on Wednesday, ripping the facade off a government building and sending debris and broken glass over several blocks, witnesses said. Dozens of ambulances converged on the upscale residential neighborhood in the centre of the Algerian capital as thousands of people poured onto the streets. The official APS news agency said the bomb targeted the prime minister's headquarters.
I'd wager this would be Dire Revenge for those 4 dudes getting wacked yesterday
Some witnesses reported hearing multiple explosions but that could not be confirmed. There was no immediate word on casualties and no one has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Witnesses told Reuters the explosion was a car bomb, possibly located in a parking facility below the building. Police at the scene declined to comment.
Violence in Algeria has been on the rise since the main guerrilla group, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), adopted a new name in January and deepened its ties to al Qaeda. The group has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly bombings targeting security forces and foreigners, and Algerian troops and militants have clashed.
UPDATE: ALGIERS (Reuters) - Bombs killed 30 people in Algiers on Wednesday in the first such attacks in Algeria's capital in years, raising fears of a return to the north African oil exporter's recent history of political bloodletting. Residents said it was the first time since the 1990s that a powerful bomb targeted the centre of the Mediterranean city, where police had stepped up security following an upsurge in attacks by suspected Islamist insurgents in the countryside.
One of the blasts ripped part of the facade off the prime minister's headquarters at the centre of the elegant port city. A second bomb hit Bab Ezzouar on the city's eastern outskirts, the official APS news agency said. Hospital sources put the toll from the two bombings at 30. Earlier, the official APS news agency put the toll at 17 dead with 82 wounded.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/11/2007 07:25 ||
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Wraps up the Morocco stories that started yesterday... THREE bombing suspects have blown themselves up after a police raid on a house in a Casablanca slum in which a fourth man was shot dead. The carnage began when police launched a dawn operation in the el Fida district of the Moroccan city looking for suspects involved in a bomb attack last month on an internet cafe.
They raided a house and confronted two of the four men. One was shot dead by the police and the other blew himself up after he was trapped on a roof terrace.
They raided a house and confronted two of the four men. One was shot dead by the police and the other blew himself up after he was trapped on a roof terrace.
Hours later, a police inspector died when a third man blew himself up in the same district. Two other police officers and a child were also hurt, according to media on the scene. Then the fourth suspect blew himself up in a crowd, a police source said. The men had apparently started wearing the belts all the time to stop security forces taking them alive.
A police inspector died when a third man blew himself up in the same district. Then the fourth suspect blew himself up in a crowd.
The initial confrontation began when one of the suspects came out of the house armed with a sabre and wearing his explosives. "The police fired a warning shot, which he failed to obey. They then fired a second shot before he could activate the explosives he was carrying,'' said an officer. The second suspect blew himself up after realising there was no escape. The area was sealed off as police staged a door-to-door search for a third suspect who fled, said the officer, who declined to be identified.
The next blast came just 150m from the spot of the first explosion, as police were continuing their door-to-door inquiries. "He jumped down from a balcony, detonating his charge,'' said a police source.
In the final attack, five people were wounded including two police officers as a man blew himself up in the main thoroughfare of the Hay al Farah district. The bomber headed towards a group of police officers before detonating his charge, said a police source.
A police statement identified the man shot dead in the morning as Mohamed Mentala, alias Warda. "The suicide bomber who killed himself in the morning is called Mohamed Rachidi,'' it said. Mentala was wanted in connection with the May 2003 bombings in Casablanca, the worst in Morocco's history, which killed 45 people including 12 suicide bombers, and leaving dozens injured.
Mohamed Tozi, a professor of political science and sociology at Casablanca's Hassan II University, said although Islamic extremists were ready for suicide attacks in the country there was a "great weakness in organisation and logistics''.
"This is worrying and reassuring at the same time,'' he said after the bombers' deaths. "Worrying because they can improve upon their structures and become very dangerous and reassuring because they are finding it difficult to merge into society and hide themselves.''
This article starring:
MOHAMED MENTALA
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
MOHAMED RACHIDI
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
Mohamed Tozi
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
that one is straight out of the Blazing Saddles handbook.
#2
There may be an important lesson in all of this. Perhaps arrest and conviction for terrorist activities should be made into such an unpleasant process whereby participants will undertake lengthy measures to avoid be taken alive.
While I understand how this could just as easily increase danger to the general public, there might be some real consolation found in knowing that genuine perpetrators would face the assured prospect of prolonged and extreme discomfort for their troubles. Terrorist activities need to carry with them a major downside in terms of disincentive. Barring such morally dubious measures as the physical torture that they so richly deserve, mandatory solitary confinement entailing a flavorless subsistence diet and continuous sensory deprivation would be a nice place to start.
#4
Zen, so maybe we have the right idea with places like Gitmo and Abu Ghraib. Put them in places like that and make their lives worse than death. Then force feed them so they can't even starve themselves. Could be we were actually onto something with Lyndie England and the panties and the naked pile ups. Then make the pix public. I mean, hell, we gotta up the ante somehow.
#5
Go totally barbarian. Chain them to the OUTSIDE of the prison, and allow all the grieving widows, mothers, grandmothers, wives, sweethearts, sisters, daughters, and assorted other female relatives easy access. Most of the terrorists wouldn't last the first full day.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/11/2007 13:54 Comments ||
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#6
Zen, so maybe we have the right idea with places like Gitmo and Abu Ghraib.
Gitmo and Abu Ghraib are resort communities. Consider how, upon discovering the impending handover of prison control to Iraq, the much-complaining Iraqi prisoners suddenly began begging American authorities to continue operating the jail. While my own personal preferences tend towards those of Old Patriot, a few too many legalistic difficulties are entailed by them.
Imagine a soundproof and lightproof cell with an entirely beige or gray interior made of enamel or scratch-resistant epoxy coating. All furniture right down to the blankets and jumpsuit are of the same color. Minimal lighting and water are turned on only at specified times.
Meals arrive via a loadlock so there is zero human interaction. Food is near-flavorless and homogenized in appearance with vitamin supplements to account for lack of sunlight. All meals are the exact same without any variation in portion size, flavor, color or appearance. Servings are scaled for subsistence-only dietary maintenance. Per Islamic tradition, no eating utensils are provided and the food service tray is permanently attached to the loadlock shelf to prevent any tampering.
No television, radio or reading material is allowed. No paper, pencils or writing instruments are made available. Attempts to deface, mark or otherwise inscribe any features into the walls or furniture are rewarded with restricted lighting, curtailed food budget and irregularly scheduled water service.
Any medical emergencies or care is attended to by staff who minimize all physical contact with the patient and remain silent at all times, communicating only through written messages. Efforts to commit suicide are greeted with force feeding or IV drip nourishment and physical restraints to prevent further attempts.
In comparison, Rudolph Hess' final confinement at Spandau would seem like a picture postcard holiday.
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - Unidentified gunmen in southern Bangladesh shot and killed the prosecutor in the case of six Islamic militants who were convicted and executed in a bombing that killed two judges, a news report said Thursday. Assailants shot Hyder Hossain in the head at close range as he was returning home from a mosque after evening prayers, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported.
RAB is already putting in for overtime and getting the shutter gun out of storage
"Whattaya mean RAB-10 has it for tonight? Dese guys whacked a judge!"
Hossain, 53, prosecuted a case against the militants of the outlawed Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh group who were charged in the 2005 bombing that killed two judges in Jhalakathi district, 75 miles south of the capital, Dhaka. The militants, including the group's leader, were hanged March 30.
On Tuesday, Hossain complained to a senior military official about frequent threats on his life, the report said.
Guess he was right
Jumatul Mujahedeen Bangladesh wants to introduce Islamic Sharia laws in the Muslim-majority nation of 144 million people. It has been blamed for a series of bombings across the nation that have killed 26 people and wounded dozens since August 2005, police said.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/11/2007 15:17 ||
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Turkish police detained a man who stormed the cockpit of a passenger plane on Tuesday and threatened to blow it up unless the flight was diverted to Iran, officials said. The man, identified as Mehmet Goksen Gol, claimed to have an explosive device on board, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said. The private Pegasus airline flight was travelling from Diyarbakir, in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, to Istanbul.
The man initially said he wanted the plane diverted to Ankara and then changed his mind and demanded that it change its route to Iran, Yildirim said. The pilots landed the plane at Ankara's Esenboga airport, where the man was arrested. The man was not armed and did not have explosives but had a mobile phone that was made to look like a bomb, Yildirim said. Yildirim said the man had not made any political demands and the reason he wanted to divert the plane was under investigation. No injuries were reported.
The man was being questioned by anti-terrorism police, CNN-Turk television said. There were 178 passengers and crew on board, including three babies, the airline said. None of the passengers were hurt. Firat Keles, a passenger on board, told CNN-Turk television that the man could be seen reading the Kopran during the flight. There was no panic on board, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
"I find the president of Iran's remarks to be so repulsive that they are outside the circle of civilized human behavior,'' Pelosi said, referring to Ahmadinejad's past comments that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map and his questioning of the existence of the Holocaust.
Oh, the President of Iran. For a moment, I thought Nance was talking about W.
Tho she may get them confused, from time to time.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/11/2007 6:05 Comments ||
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#3
Diyarbakir, in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, to Istanbul.
The man initially said he wanted the plane diverted to Ankara
Evidently ticketing-rage.
Take thisn plane to Ocala!
Sir Hijacker that's only 5 hours from Miami?
I mean Havana, yeah Havana!
One man died and three others were injured when Sunni Tehreek (ST) workers tried to take over the Jamia Masjid Ahle Hadith in Tunisia Lines on Tuesday. According to reports, ST workers from the nearby Faizan-e-Aulia mosque surrounded Jamia Masjid and fired at those inside.
Gunfire was returned from within the mosque. During this time, a mob set a police mobile on fire. Police personnel from nearby towns were called in and the area was cordoned off
Gunfire was returned from within the mosque. During this time, a mob set a police mobile on fire. Police personnel from nearby towns, including Jamshed, Saddar and Clifton, were called in and the area was cordoned off.
One man identified as 24-year-old Shahzad of the Ahle Hadith was shot in the chest and had to be taken to the JPMC. Isha prayers were being offered when they attacked us, said Yousaf Salfi, chief organiser of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith. The mob had ST people in it. We closed the gate of the mosque but they fired at it. This continued for one-and-a-half hours. People are stuck inside and the police has left the area and run off.
Twenty-eight-year-old ASI Zulfiqar was also brought to JPMC with a head injury and broken teeth. He was not shot, however. Tuesdays violence comes in the aftermath of an incident on Sunday night when Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith Sindh Amir and MMA leader Mufti Muhammad Yousuf Kasuri was arrested under the Blasphemy Act.
This article starring:
Jamiat Ahle Hadith
Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith Sindh
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Gunfire was returned from within the mosque.
Level it.
Posted by: Al Gore ||
04/11/2007 6:12 Comments ||
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#2
Sorry, cookie monster got me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/11/2007 6:14 Comments ||
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#3
damn, I thought it was a wry comment on mosque gunfire and global warming.
#5
Muslims must destroy those who have abandoned Islam. Our homelands must be used as bases for the takeover of the world. My base is in Houston, Texas.
Fresh reinforcements reached the headquarters of Kurram Agency on Tuesday to help contain sectarian violence as a curfew in Parachinar city continued on the fifth day, officials and residents said. Fresh army troops and paramilitary soldiers were seen heading towards the main bazaar as violence continued in surrounding areas of Parachinar, witnesses told Daily Times. The official death toll from the clashes since April 6 has reached 25, while the unofficial toll is as high as 80. The political administration is using the traditional jirga system to broker a ceasefire. The jirgas are showing results at some places only.
A doctor who was given permission to go out in the curfew said that private property has been badly damaged in Parachinar bazaar. Shops have been burnt and no one knows which side has suffered most. Both sects have tried to inflict maximum damage on the other, said the doctor, asking not to be named. People trying to bring wounded relatives to Peshawar are facing problem because the road linking Parachinar with Kohat has been blocked at certain places. The road has become unsafe for travelling. We are using various routes to reach Peshawar, a Parachinar resident named Jan Ali told Daily Times in Peshawar.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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The Airport Security Force (ASF) at Allama Iqbal International Airport Lahore found 14 kg of explosive material in a package being sent via courier from Karachi to Quetta on Tuesday, Geo television reported. The ASF arrested an employee of the private courier company who had brought the packet to the airport. Police registered a case against the arrested employee, Muhammad Naeen, in Sarwar police station.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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At least six people were killed and 16 injured in separate incidents in Balochistan on Tuesday. Three people were killed and six injured when a speeding pick-up truck overturned on the National Highway near the Mand area of Turbat. Separately, one Ali Muhammad gunned down Gul Mir and Khudai Dost due to an old enmity in the Rukhni area.
Police recovered the mutilated body of an unidentified person from the Sanjawi area and sent it to Ziarat Hospital for an autopsy.
Seven people were injured in Mastung, where a petty issue sparked clashes between two groups.
Meanwhile, security forces launched an operation against suspected insurgents in Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts. The operation has been launched after four security officials were killed and dozens injured in a mine blast in the Tarani area. The banned Balochistan Liberation Army on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the killing of four soldiers in the Tarani area of Kohlu district.
Beeberg Baloch, a spokesman for the group, said the mine was planted by the BLA. He claimed that more than a dozen soldiers were killed in the explosion.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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A tribal jirga of Ahmedzai Wazirs on Tuesday decided that tribesmen would continue searching for Uzbek militants in South Waziristan, a tribal elder and witnesses told Daily Times on Tuesday. The search for wanted people (Uzbek militants) will continue, tribal elder Shireen Jan told the jirga in Azam Warsak.
A spokesman for Maulvi Nazir-led militants claimed on Monday that Uzbek militants had been successfully chased out of South Waziristan. Tuesdays jirga at Azam Warsak also decided that anyone guilty of sheltering Uzbek militants and their tribal supporters would be fined Rs 1 million and their homes demolished. The border areas with Balochistan and North Waziristan will be searched for the fleeing Uzbeks, Jan, who co-led the campaign against the Uzbek militants, told the jirga, adding that 400 volunteers would participate in the search campaign.
Official figures said that at least 240 Uzbek militants had been killed, while more than 50 tribal militants loyal to Maulvi Nazir had died in the clashes between the two sides in the last few days. Jan said the jirga would meet again two days later in Wana bazaar to take stock of the situation. We must make sure that the Uzbeks and their local supporters do not resurface, the elder told the tribesmen. Sources told Daily Times that key pro-Uzbek commanders had gone underground and the volunteers had been directed to search for them too.
This article starring:
MAULVI NAZIR
Wazir Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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Iraqi security forces conducted a cordon and search against suspected insurgents in Diwaniyah April 11.
This search was an intelligence-driven, precision operation searching for a known terrorist believed to be in an office belonging to the Organization of the Martyr Sadr.
Coalition force soldiers provided security outside the office as Iraqi troops entered the office and began their search for the terrorist suspect and weapons.
Once inside, the Iraqi troops found hand grenades, multiple identification cards, improvised explosive device-making materials, anti-government propaganda, photos of wounded soldiers and battle-damaged vehicles, and a low-power transmitting station.
In accordance with the Iraqi Prime Ministers directive given in a recent speech, any buildings, including those used by political parties, that are being used for criminal or illegal purposes may be entered and searched.
In addition, when these sites are used for criminal or terrorist activities, they lose any protective they may have under international law.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
04/11/2007 21:26 Comments ||
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#7
I made several "low powered radio stations" from Heathkit or RS N-in-1 kits. If you broke FCC regulations and hooked up a long antenna (I never did, of course), you could transmit pretty far.
BAGHDAD - Iran has been training Iraqi fighters in the assembly of deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday. Bombs for terrorist cowards constitute help for Iraq. Anyone who denies that large elements of the media openly support the enemy is a liar on the same scale as Joseph Goebbels.
ADVERTISEMENT for terrorists
EFPs, or explosively formed penetrators, hurl a molten, fist-sized lump of molten copper capable of piercing armored vehicles.
"We know that they are being in fact manufactured and smuggled into this country, and we know that training does go on in Iran for people to learn how to assemble them and how to employ them," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a weekly briefing. "We know that training has gone on as recently as this past month from detainees' debriefs."
In January, U.S. officials said at least 170 U.S. soldiers had been killed by EFPs. Misleading ambiguity. This means that the claim was made in January but, as APe editors know, it invites the inference that 170 soldiers were killed by the devices in January.
The international Red Cross released a report that found the situation for civilians in Iraq is "ever-worsening," even though security in some places has improved as a result of stepped-up efforts by U.S.-led multinational forces. Apparently the IRC does not see a reduction in suicide bombings, kidnappings and mass murder as much of an improvement for civilians.
Note the abrupt transition below to a completely different story, as though the recent battle reinforces the IRC's case:
Bodies lay scattered across two central Baghdad neighborhoods after a raging battle left 20 suspected insurgents and four Iraqi soldiers dead, and 16 U.S. soldiers wounded, witnesses and officials said. The fighting Tuesday in Fadhil and Sheik Omar, two Sunni enclaves, was the most intense since a massive push to pacify the capital began two months ago. "Suspected" insurgents again. The APes may as well come right out and say fluffy bunnies and baby ducks.
Iraqi Cabinet ministers allied to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr meanwhile threatened Wednesday to quit the government to protest the prime minister's lack of support for a timetable for U.S. withdrawal. Promise? I think his departure should permanent, via JDAM airlines.
'Now boarding'?
Such a pullout by the very bloc that put Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in office could collapse his already perilously weak government. A sterling example of journalistic objectivity there. Nope, no bias or editorializing there. The threat comes two months into a U.S. effort to pacify Baghdad in order to give al-Maliki's government room to stop kidnappings, suicide bombings, and other journalistic auxiliary activity function.
Al-Sadr's political committee issued a statement a day after al-Maliki rejected an immediate U.S. troop withdrawal.
"We see no need for a withdrawal timetable. We are working as fast as we can," al-Maliki told reporters during his four-day trip to Japan, where he signed loan agreements for redevelopment projects in Iraq. "To demand the departure of the troops is a democratic right and a right we respect. What governs the departure at the end of the day is how confident we are in the handover process," he said, adding that "achievements on the ground" would dictate how long American troops remain.
Al-Maliki spoke a day after tens of thousands of Iraqis took to the streets of two Shiite holy cities, on al-Sadr's orders, to protest the U.S. presence in their country. The rally marked the fourth anniversary of Baghdad's conquer by American forces. The doofuses mean "conquest" reminscent of Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan. Not "liberation" "capture" or even "occupation" but "conquest." EFL, more handwringing and loaded language.
Associated Press writers Lauren Frayer and Hamid Ahmed in Baghdad and Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva contributed to this report. Know the enemy. Edward R. Murrow and Ernie Pyle are spinning in their graves, Goebbels and Streicher rejoice in hell.
#4
Interestingly, the last major suicide bomb was on March 29th. Not meaning stuff hasn't been happening, there just hasn't been one of the "big ones" since then.
But I assume, the press isn't counting those kinds of days.
#5
Oppsss -- spoke too soon, hadn't yet read this below: On Tuesday, a woman with a suicide vest hidden under her black Muslim robe blew herself up in a crowd of about 200 Iraqi police recruits in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad. The attack killed at least 16 people and wounded 33, said Dr. Abdul Salam al-Jibour at Muqdadiyah General Hospital. Most of the victims had taken police exams just days earlier and were assembled to learn the results, said a policeman, who would not give his name because he was not authorized to talk with reporters.
#7
That was a good point about the 170 soldiers in January. A lot of people, myself included sorry to say, would skim through something like that and not think much about it.
#9
How long will the U.S. allow Iran to kill our soldiers and commit countless acts of war before we "act like we have a pair" and respond. We should destroy thier military like we did Germany and not allow them to have one. --B.RAPPER
#10
Unemble the Tiny1397....My biggest disappointment with W is his inability to realize, or act that sealing the borders with Iran and Syria has led to literally 1000s of unecessary US casualties. That is unconscionable. But it is the same thing he has allowed with the US borders, though the immediate repercussions are not as tragic.
If I were king, I would immediately call the border areas between Iraq-Iran and Syria-Iraq a free-fire zone from the borders inward 10 miles from dusk til dawn. Anything with an IR signature is immediately neutralized. If it's Abdul's goats, write him a check for the goats. If it's Abdul, tough luck.
Yes, it would piss a lot of people of in the "arab street." But you know what? I really don't give a sh*t if it saves US lives, and secures Iraq.
#11
APs really going a bit wild in their attempt to save space. They have headline about Icoast, which I thought was a new product from Apple, until they mentioned West Africa.
BAGHDAD Bodies lay scattered across two central Baghdad neighborhoods Wednesday after a raging battle that left 20 insurgents and four Iraqi soldiers dead, and 16 U.S. soldiers wounded, witnesses and officials said. The fighting in Fadhil and Sheik Omar, two Sunni enclaves, was the most intense since a massive push to pacify the capital began two months ago.
Iraqi soldiers held a security cordon around Fadhil on Wednesday, and residents hid frightened in their homes, a witness told The Associated Press by telephone, on condition of anonymity out of fear for his safety.
The Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni group, issued a statement quoting witnesses as saying Tuesday's battle began after Iraqi troops entered a mosque and executed two young men in front of other worshippers. Ground forces used tear gas on civilians, it said. "The association condemns this horrible crime carried out by occupiers and the government," the statement said. But the witness in Fadhil said the two men were executed in an outdoor vegetable market, not in the mosque. The Iraqi military was not immediately available to comment on the claim.
The U.S. military said the battle began after American and Iraqi troops came under fire around 7 a.m. during a routine search operation. Helicopter gunships then swooped in, engaging insurgents with machine gun fire, the military said in a statement. Some Arab television stations reported an American helicopter was shot down in the fight, and showed video of a charred piece of mechanical wreckage that was impossible to identify. The U.S. said an attack helicopter suffered damage from small arms fire but returned to base. A senior U.S. military official said that by Wednesday, 13 of the 16 wounded Americans had returned to duty. Twenty insurgents were killed and 30 wounded, he said.
Baghdad's security crackdown, which began Feb. 14 and will see nearly 170,000 American forces in Iraq by the end of May, has curbed some sectarian attacks and assassinations in the capital. But violence continues to flare periodically and has risen markedly in nearby cities and towns.
In other violence Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed one policeman and wounded three others in Hillah, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) south of Baghdad, police said. Another roadside bomb targeted a police patrol in Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, killing another policeman and wounding two others, police said. Six civilians were also hurt, said Brig. Abdul Karim Khalaf.
On Tuesday, a woman with a suicide vest hidden under her black Muslim robe blew herself up in a crowd of about 200 Iraqi police recruits in Muqdadiyah, 60 miles north of Baghdad. The attack killed at least 16 people and wounded 33, said Dr. Abdul Salam al-Jibour at Muqdadiyah General Hospital. Most of the victims had taken police exams just days earlier and were assembled to learn the results, said a policeman, who would not give his name because he was not authorized to talk with reporters.
This article starring:
Brig. Abdul Karim Khalaf
Dr. Abdul Salam al-Jibour at Muqdadiyah General Hospital
#3
has curbed some sectarian attacks and assassinations in the capital. But violence continues to flare periodically and has risen markedly in nearby cities and towns.
So it's been almost successful, but that won't make it past the editor.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/11/2007 10:07 Comments ||
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#4
Compare to the NYT title of the same battle:
A Mosque Raid Sets Off Sunnis in Iraqs Capital
No mention of the wounded soldiers returning to duty either. Damn, I used to think that paper was the $hit. Guess I was right in a way.
#5
Dead bodies in the street means that they can no longer retrieve their dead. More proof that we are gaining the upper hand. And now, we have 30 more wounded to torture for weapons info. What's not to like ?
#6
Correction: we'll question them, wxjames, not torture them. We don't do that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/11/2007 11:51 Comments ||
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#7
"the witness in Fadhil said the two men were executed in an outdoor vegetable market" -- don't tell me the Iraqi government is using firm measures to deal with illegal combatants. The horror.
A woman suicide bomber killed 17 police recruits outside an Iraqi police station northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday in the first major attack on volunteers for local security forces this year. A guard at the station and police officials said the woman was wearing an abaya and had been strapped with a belt filled with explosives. The attack wounded 33 people in the majority Sunni Muslim town of Muqdadiya. "The recruits were bringing along their files and they were intending to line up when all of a sudden there was a big explosion," the guard said.
The woman had been acting suspiciously as she walked among the dozens of recruits, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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The suspects were believed to have been involved in an attack on the Ad Dawr police headquarters in February, which killed 12 policemen.
US and Iraqi forces have arrested 150 people following a two-week security crackdown in Baghdad, the US military said on Tuesday. Rocket-propelled grenades and launchers, automatic machine guns, sniper rifles and anti- tank mines were also seized in the raids north of Baghdad. The suspects were believed to have been involved in an attack on the Ad Dawr police headquarters in February, which killed 12 policemen, the US said. More than 500 American paratroopers took part in the operation, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/11/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
So many arrests/detentions -- seems like 100 each week. Can anyone shed light on how we are handling this? Are we using Saddam's prisons? About how many troops are involved in gaurding detainees? We're not leaving "gaurd duty" to Iraqis I hope.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
04/11/2007 8:32 Comments ||
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#2
Captain, I assume we've expanded capacity at the top end of the chain, Bucca (southern Iraq, huge facility) and Cropper (B'dad airport), and perhaps are keeping more guests at detention facilities down the chain, plus perhaps building additional capacity. Unless things have changed, we'd still have sole or primary custody of detainees. Detainees only come under Iraqi control if they go to trial and are convicted, after which they enter Iraqi prisons (run by the Min. of Justice, not Interior, and while troubled of course, not the disaster that any purely Iraqi operation would be). Task Force 134 is the very busy organization that handles this.
What I would love is a count, just like Terrorist Death Watch. I understand, however, that the number of detainees and prisoners is something we may not want to disclose.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
04/11/2007 11:40 Comments ||
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#5
The number of detainees and prisoners won't really be a problem until it includes about a third of the population of Baghdad.
Gen. Petreaus has asked for 7500 additional MPs to guard the huge number of prisoners the Coalition is nabbing, so there may be a couple of new detention facilities, too.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/11/2007 14:20 Comments ||
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A Buddhist woman was shot dead and her body set ablaze early on Wednesday in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south, police said, as the country's junta leader began a visit to the region.
The 26-year-old's body was burned beyond recognition after she was killed while on her way to work on the outskirts of Yala town, police said. "It's the work of the same group of militants who are active in this predominantly Muslim village," police said.
The province of Yala has seen a surge in attacks this year, with 10 people killed on Monday alone. Four of them were shot dead while returning from the burial of a bombing victim.
Thailand's junta leader, General Sonthi Boonyaratglin travelled to nearby Pattani province Wednesday for a two-day visit to meet with Muslim religious leaders as well as local government and military chiefs. Sonthi told reporters as he arrived in Pattani that the insurgents' attacks had become more lethal, even as the number of incidents had fallen.
"The attacks have decreased in number, but the militants have adjusted their strategies to be more violent and brutal in order to terrify people," he said. Sonthi said he feared the Islamic separatists were trying to spark a broader communal conflict, and urged both Buddhists and Muslims to work to reduce tensions between the faiths. "Don't fall into their trap. Villagers must be patient. The militants want to create a sectarian war," he said.
Ummm ... just exactly how unclear on the concept are people allowed to be? The militants represent sectarian war in progress. There is nothing left to "create" except countermeasures which will eliminate the problem as it stands. Killing sufficient numbers of them in order to cripple all further hostilities is the only answer. This shit will not stop until it becomes a generally accepted principal that all Islamic aggression is part of comprehensive Global Jihad and must be obliterated in a conclusive fashion.
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AN Italian television channel today aired footage of the beheading of a driver of an Italian journalist, who was held for about two weeks by Afghanistan's Taliban militants until Kabul negotiated his release. The RAI-1 channel beamed images of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, his driver Sayed Agha and his interpreter Ajmal Naqshbandi, kneeling blindfolded before gun-wielding militants. It then showed Agha being beheaded following which a shaken Mastrogiacomo made an impassioned appeal to Italian authorities to "do something," while underlining that the situation was "very difficult".
THREE bombing suspects have blown themselves up after a police raid on a house in a Casablanca slum in which a fourth man was shot dead. The carnage began when police launched a dawn operation in the el Fida district of the Moroccan city looking for suspects involved in a bomb attack last month on an internet cafe. 
One man died and three others were injured when Sunni Tehreek (ST) workers tried to take over the Jamia Masjid Ahle Hadith in Tunisia Lines on Tuesday. According to reports, ST workers from the nearby Faizan-e-Aulia mosque surrounded Jamia Masjid and fired at those inside. 
Fresh reinforcements reached the headquarters of Kurram Agency on Tuesday to help contain sectarian violence as a curfew in Parachinar city continued on the fifth day, officials and residents said. Fresh army troops and paramilitary soldiers were seen heading towards the main bazaar as violence continued in surrounding areas of Parachinar, witnesses told Daily Times. The official death toll from the clashes since April 6 has reached 25, while the unofficial toll is as high as 80. The political administration is using the traditional jirga system to broker a ceasefire. The jirgas are showing results at some places only. 
At least six people were killed and 16 injured in separate incidents in Balochistan on Tuesday. Three people were killed and six injured when a speeding pick-up truck overturned on the National Highway near the Mand area of Turbat. Separately, one Ali Muhammad gunned down Gul Mir and Khudai Dost due to an old enmity in the Rukhni area. 
A tribal jirga of Ahmedzai Wazirs on Tuesday decided that tribesmen would continue searching for Uzbek militants in South Waziristan, a tribal elder and witnesses told Daily Times on Tuesday. The search for wanted people (Uzbek militants) will continue, tribal elder Shireen Jan told the jirga in Azam Warsak. 
BAGHDAD - Iran has been training Iraqi fighters in the assembly of deadly roadside bombs known as EFPs, the U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday.
BAGHDAD Bodies lay scattered across two central Baghdad neighborhoods Wednesday after a raging battle that left 20 insurgents and four Iraqi soldiers dead, and 16 U.S. soldiers wounded, witnesses and officials said. The fighting in Fadhil and Sheik Omar, two Sunni enclaves, was the most intense since a massive push to pacify the capital began two months ago.
A woman suicide bomber killed 17 police recruits outside an Iraqi police station northeast of Baghdad on Tuesday in the first major attack on volunteers for local security forces this year. A guard at the station and police officials said the woman was wearing an abaya and had been strapped with a belt filled with explosives. The attack wounded 33 people in the majority Sunni Muslim town of Muqdadiya. "The recruits were bringing along their files and they were intending to line up when all of a sudden there was a big explosion," the guard said.
