A MSM article that is hard to EFL, but I did - go read the whole thing.
But six years after US special forces failed to capture the al-Qa'eda leader in his mountain stronghold, the place where the September 11 attacks were hatched, American troops are again scouring the mountains of Tora Bora.
A week ago American forces launched a major operation to counter a rejuvenated al-Qa'eda, which has been steadily regrouping in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and has in the past three months moved back into the Tora Bora area of Afghanistan.
American military officials say much of what is happening around Tora Bora remains "classified". Discreetly, Western officials in Kabul describe it as "very successful", trapping insurgents in a series of adjacent valleys. "Five hundred infiltrated the area," said Gen Qadim Shah, the commander of 1st Brigade, Afghan Army in Nangahar. "We have captured 57 fighters from the Taliban and al-Qa'eda. They include Chechens, Arabs and Uzbeks."
Tribal leaders said that these include several men known locally as long-standing Afghan figures in the al-Qa'eda leadership.
Gen Dan McNeill, the Nato commander, moved a battalion from 82nd Airborne, which makes up his operational reserve in Afghanistan, from Helmand to support the operation. Pakistani troops are also reported to have taken up escort blocking positions along the border.
The Daily Telegraph was the first Western newspaper to reach the area of the fighting, thanks to help from local tribesmen who smuggled us in along the only access road. Three US special forces soldiers and their translator were killed (bows in their honor)
on the approaches to the caves last week and Western officials say that two helicopters have also been damaged in the fighting.
Taliban fighters had last been reported in the area the day before, when they severely beat a number of local villagers. The intelligence officer contacted US forces by phone to forestall the danger of an air attack. Newly-built Taliban stone firing positions were visible close to the track.
In 2001 the US was widely criticised for relying on local militias, who reputedly took bribes to allow the majority of al-Qa'eda's key leadership to escape. This time American forces were dropped unexpectedly into the area by helicopter, blocking escape routes to the border.
Taliban "night letters" in local villages announced a new "Tora Bora Front" under the leadership of Maulawi Anwar ul-Haq Mujahed, the son of the prominent Mujahideen commander Younis Khalis, who fought the Soviet occupation.
An important al-Qa'eda figure, Dr Amin ul-Haq, who has been listed by the US government as bin Laden's security co-ordinator, was also with the force. Local leaders say Amin was injured in a bombing raid and smuggled back across the border.
#2
Word. They have really kept the lid tight as far as I can read. There doesn't even seem to be much speculation about what is really going on. Guess we'll have to wait for the book.
#7
Pakistani troops are also reported to have taken up blocking positions along the border.
Just lovely...
Posted by: john frum ||
08/24/2007 12:33 Comments ||
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#8
Though Pakistani forces were employed in 'blocking' position, you will also note that "American forces were dropped unexpectedly into the area by helicopter, blocking escape routes to the border." It seems that was not sufficient, as "Amin was smuggled back across the border."
#12
They probably didn't throw them out as much as, by habit, when they think the pressure is on in Pakistan, they go to Afghanistan, and vice-versa.
So when we let it be known that we knew where their relatively safe and dispersed camps in Pakistan were, they immediately abandoned them and went to Tora Bora, where we could get them.
US and Afghan commanders believe they have a large force pinned down in the valleys in southern Nangarhar. "Five hundred infiltrated the area," Gen. Qadim Shah, the commander of 1st Brigade of the Afghan Army, told Mr. Coghlan. "We have captured 57 fighters from the Taliban and al-Qaeda. They include Chechens, Arabs and Uzbeks." Local tribesmen are also saying Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, and "a large contingent of Uzbeks led by Tahir Yuldashev" of the al Qaeda affiliate Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are fighting in the area.
The fighting has been reported to be heavy in the Tora Bora region. The United Nations reports over 400 Afghan families have been displaced due to the ground combat and NATO airstrikes.
#14
close the lid on this kill box roach motel and dispose of properly. I bet we have some MOABs near their printed "use by" dates :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/24/2007 17:06 Comments ||
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#15
Why should we care about the sovereignty of this area? It is a no-man's land. The terrorists had little regard for our sovereignty on 911; they attacked our soil. They have no regard for the sovereignty of any nation. The dastardly, evil 911 scheme was hatched in this tribal area and Afghanistan. Go after the enemy and kill them.
#16
pressure is on in Pakistan, they go to Afghanistan, and vice-versa.
Except for the Arabs. They go to the Karachi Hilton. Which is part of my beef. Why care about capturing or killing Uighurs and Uzbeks. They are just more mouths to feed and sheets to change at Gitmo. It's the Arabs and their Paki butt boys we want.
Posted by: ed ||
08/24/2007 17:51 Comments ||
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#17
#11: Did they just wear out their welcome?
From article: Taliban fighters ... severely beat a number of local villagers.
A quick way to squander support. Apparently no one has translated Mao's Little Red book and other works into Arabic or the other languages of these arrogant thugs. Good. Seems they have a knack for alienating those they rely on for support.
Insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan left 13 people dead, 10 of them private security guards escorting a NATO supply convoy, officials said on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a German engineer held hostage by the Taliban for more than a month appeared on a private Afghan television, coughing and holding his chest while appealing for help. “I am a prisoner of the Taliban,” said the man, who identified himself as Rudolf Blechschmidt. “We live in the mountains, very high in a very bad condition, please help us.” Tolo TV did not say how it obtained the video, and there was no indication of when it was shot. The German Foreign Ministry in Berlin said they were checking its contents.
The ambush on the NATO-supply convoy took place in southern Zabul province. A large group of Taliban attacked the trucks, killing at least 10 private security guards and destroying three vehicles, said Mohammad Salim, an official with the security company, who witnessed the attack.
In Helmand province, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein said insurgents triggered a remote-controlled bomb, hitting his convoy. He said he was unhurt in the attack but that three civilians were killed and 13 wounded.
On Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed two Canadian troops and an Afghan interpreter travelling in an armoured vehicle in Kandahar province, a former Taliban stronghold. A Canadian radio reporter was also injured in the attack. The casualties - from Quebec provinceÂ’s Royal 22nd Regiment - bring to 69 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2002. Canada has about 2,300 soldiers in the country, mainly operating in Kandahar province.
Separately, the Afghan intelligence said that it had detained a teenage militant who detonated a bomb, which killed three German nationals in the capital. Two German police officers and a foreign ministry employee were killed when the remote control device blew up their vehicle on a road in the outskirts of Kabul a week ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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The two Western diplomats were "involved in activities that constitute an intervention into the internal affairs of the Sudan."
Sudan said Thursday it is expelling the top Canadian diplomat here and the European Commission envoy from the country for what was described as "meddling in its affairs."
The two diplomats were summoned to the foreign ministry which declared them "persona non grata" and were handed their expulsion notes, the official SUNA news agency reported, citing Ali Al Sadeq, the foreign ministry spokesman. The two Western diplomats were "involved in activities that constitute an intervention into the internal affairs of the Sudan, a matter that contradict their diplomatic duties and mission," the spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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A militant was killed and nine Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel injured when “hundreds of Taliban militants” attacked an FC fort in the Nawai Dand area bordering North Waziristan Agency late on Wednesday with heavy weapons, officials told Daily Times. “The militants shouted Allah-o-Akbar before attacking the fort,” FC personnel told Daily Times as sources in the local administration said that hundreds of militants took part in the onslaught. This is the second attack in Hangu district since an August 20 suicide attack on a checkpost in which six paramilitary soldiers were killed.
According to unofficial reports, the security personnel had vacated the fort before the attack. The reports said that the attackers dismantled the fortÂ’s main gate and damaged the building.
Police sources said that the militants used heavy weapons in the three-hour attack. They said that the security personnel killed an attacker, Sher Ayub of Mir Ali town in North Waziristan, in retaliatory fire. AyubÂ’s body was later handed over to the Tal police. Naib s bedar Bashir Ahmed, who is in charge of the FC fort, said that 25 security personnel were deployed at the fort. However, according to unofficial reports, the security personnel had vacated the fort before the attack. The reports said that the attackers dismantled the fortÂ’s main gate and damaged the building. Hangu DPO visited the area and directed the officials to register a first information report against the unidentified militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
“The militants shouted Allah-o-Akbar before attacking the fort,”
#2
The moonbats attacked the empty fort and won! Did anyone consider that those who occupy the local ground also might control the local ground. The moonbats knew it had emptied and the potempkin-like victory helped the moonbat propoganda machine, bolster self-confidence thru their rank and file, created a distraction from other events underway or soon to pop off, come damn close to being a rehearsal and training event for current or future operations, and feed the MSM something to needle the good folks fighting the good fight against islamo-fascism. Then again... it could very well have been what it appeared to have been and reported.
Multi-National Division-Baghdad troops were engaged with small arms and machine gun fire by illegal militiamen while searching for a cache in a northwestern neighborhood of the Iraqi capital Aug. 23.
Paratroopers from Troop C, 1st Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment attached to 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, confirmed killing 18 enemy combatants who were engaging a U.S. patrol with small arms and machine gun fire in BaghdadÂ’s Hayy al Shulla neighborhood.
During the firefight, attack helicopters from the 4th “Guns” Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, observed eight to 12 men armed militiamen with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades moving toward Coalition Forces. The pilots fired on the armed men and shortly thereafter observed several other Iraqi citizens policing up the site of the attack.
Charlie Troop continued with their mission to find the weapon cache after the small arms fire subsided. While searching the suspected area, they discovered several mortars rounds, two explosively-formed projectile roadside bombs, a rocket, other small arms weapons and command wire in an abandoned house.
#2
"Policing up the site of the attack." Important intel information, as it indicates that they are becoming so short of weapons and equipment that they have to recover it from their dead. Which also probably means that the black market prices for such things are jumping, putting pressure on finances.
Alleged al-Qaida fighters attacked a Sunni village east of Baqouba on Thursday and killed a village leader who had led the community in an uprising against the terrorist organization, witness and police said. At the same time Timim, a nearby Shiite village, came under attack, again by alleged al-Qaida fighters.
A total of 15 people, including seven women, were killed and 22 wounded in the two assaults, said Baqouba police Brig. Ali Dlaiyan. Ten attackers were killed as villagers fought back.
A total of 15 people, including seven women, were killed and 22 wounded in the two assaults, said Baqouba police Brig. Ali Dlaiyan. Ten attackers were killed as villagers fought back, he said. A joint US-Iraqi force had blocked the region.
The attack began at 6:30 a.m. by about 25 gunmen on the Ibrahim al-Yahya village when the fighters exploded a bomb at the house of Sheik Younis al-Shimari, destroying his home and killing him and one member of his family. Ten people were wounded, including four other members of the family and passers-by. Some of the wounded were hit by gunfire. "They were shouting Allah Akbar and Curse be upon the Renegades," said Umm Ahmed, who was among the three women wounded in the attack. She refused to give her full name fearing retribution. "This attack will cause the uprising against them to spread to other villages."
A police vehicle rushing to the attack scene crashed and two policemen were killed, according to officials in the Diyala provincial police force who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Armed men in the village assembled and drove al-Qaida back in a 30-minute gunbattle, witnesses said. Al-Qaida has been forced to fight a rear-guard action against many of its former allies in the Sunni community who have risen up against the organization because of its brutality and attempts to impose the group's austere version of Islam. The uprising began spontaneously in Anbar province, one a bastion of the Sunni insurgency in the west of Iraq, and has spread to Diyala province and some Baghdad neighborhoods.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Now we know why Rove resigned - he had to put on his Arab clothes and go to Timin and murder some women and children.
Operation Lightning Hammer concluded Aug. 22 after a 12-day, large-scale operation to disrupt al-Qaeda and other terrorist elements in the Diyala River Valley, a complex area of villages and palm groves in IraqÂ’s Diyala province.
The operation, which involved approximately 16,000 Iraqi and Coalition Forces clearing approximately 50 villages, was a key element in Multinational Corps-Iraq’s overall operation, Phantom Strike; and resulted in 26 al-Qaeda members killed, 37 suspected terrorists detained and the discovery of 10 weapons caches. “The strength and determination of the fighting men and women from the Iraqi and Coalition Forces showed great results during Lightning Hammer,” said Col. David W. Sutherland, commander of Coalition Forces in Diyala province. “We have continued to diminish their supplies and disable al-Qaeda’s abilities to disrupt the population.”
Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, partnered with members of the 5th Iraqi Army Division, initiated the operation with a late-night air assault into targeted locations Aug. 13, and conducted an additional three air-assaults during the course of the operation.
Residents of most villages welcomed the security forces, providing tips and intelligence about recent activities in their towns; and were interested in joining the Iraqi Security Forces. Following clearing operations, the Iraqi army provided medical assistance and humanitarian aid to the local citizens, many of whom said their villages were recently influenced by al-Qaeda.
More importantly, more than 80 tribal leaders and representatives, some of whom had not spoken in over a year, met Aug. 19 to discuss their grievances and swore on the Quran to unite in their fight against terrorists and become one tribe of Diyala. “As I conducted my battlefield circulation and talked with many of the citizens, they repeatedly thanked our Soldiers, but more importantly, their security forces, for liberating their towns from the terrorists – specifically al-Qaeda,” Sutherland said. “Because their villages have been cleared, the local and central governments will now be able to provide those essential services al-Qaeda destroyed; and the people feel a sense of security they have not known for some time.”
Throughout the operation, the Task Force Lightning Soldiers also discovered 22 improvised explosive devices, 11 of which were discovered based on tips from a police chief in the river valley; and reduced three house-borne IEDs and six vehicle-borne IEDs, all of which could have been used to harm a large portion of the population or security forces.
Additionally, an al-Qaeda command post was discovered in the village of Shadia, and an al-Qaeda medical clinic was located in Qaryat Sunayjiyah. The command post, which was surrounded by fighting positions, contained bed space for 20 individuals, supply requests, records of munitions, a list of families supporting the element, a list of al-Qaeda members detained by Coalition Forces and other terrorist propaganda. “Although we didn’t find many of the terrorists, the operation proved to be a great success because we disrupted al-Qaeda, causing them to run,” Sutherland continued. “Their fear of facing our forces proves that the terrorists know there is no safe haven for them in Diyala. And though this specific operation is over, our fight is not over. We will continue to aggressively target al-Qaeda, and ultimately, they will be brought to justice.”
The results of Lightning Hammer cleared the Diyala River Valley of al-Qaeda and allowed Iraqi and Coalition Forces to maintain a permanent presence in Mukeisha, a village in the heart of the river valley area.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
OK, 63 bad guys taken out. In 50 villages. That's a little over 1 bad guy/village. If it really takes about 10-20 bad guys to hold each village, that means over 90% got away.
#2
Gorb - wrong set of equations. Twenty bad guys can hold from five to ten villages, moving from town to town, getting a couple of snitches in each town. There were probably no more than 150 AQ in the area, and half of those were hangers-on. We killed a little more than a third, and caused another ten to fifteen percent to take to the hills in Syria. They also lost valuable space, something that cannot be made up easily. They're most vulnerable to detection when they're moving around. It will take several YEARS to recoup what they've lost, if given a chance. The idea is to never give them a moment's rest, so there's no chance to recoup lost ground. Eventually, all of Iraq will be a Blue zone, with tiny pinpricks of red here and there, constantly shifting.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/24/2007 15:48 Comments ||
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#3
Thanks, OP. I hadn't thought about the rat angle. Hopefully their fellow villagers know who they are and convert them to something more useful as they see fit.
Anybody know how big these villages are?
Seems to me the usefulness of these villages lies in that they are a handy place to fall back to after half their buddies get their a$$es shot off in yet another ambush or failed engagement. It seems the only way that would be handy would be if the residents didn't snitch on them, which could only happen if there were the threat of future reprisals, which would mean there are a bunch of AQ types outside their own village who would come over and kill a bunch of them. This kind of suggests that the operation needed to make these go away would be over a broad area and basically simultaneous, and the residents would have to know if they pointed the bad guys out that nobody would come along the next day to kill them.
Coalition Forces killed one terrorist and detained 10 suspected terrorists during operations around Iraq Thursday targeting al-Qaeda in Iraq weapons and leadership networks.
During an operation north of Baqubah, Coalition Forces captured an alleged al-Qaeda in Iraq cell leader and two other suspected terrorists. Intelligence reports indicate the cell leader was a terrorist weapons facilitator and has been watching a Coalition Forces base, possibly to plan an attack. During the operation, the ground forces observed a man maneuvering around them and passing information about the assault force to additional enemy elements. Coalition Forces, responding to the threat against the force, engaged the man, killing him.
Coalition Forces captured two targeted individuals and detained two other suspected terrorists during coordinated raids in Bayji. One of the suspects is an alleged safe house operator and meeting coordinator for senior leaders of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Another suspect is believed to be second-in-command to the al-Qaeda in Iraq emir of Bayji, who is linked to several attacks against Coalition Forces.
In Mosul, Coalition Forces conducted a precision raid looking for an al-Qaeda in Iraq improvised explosive device facilitator, who is believed to receive, store and assemble IEDs at his home. The ground forces detained one suspected terrorist. Coalition Forces also detained one suspected terrorist during a raid on a farm complex north of Muqdadiyah targeting members of an al-Qaeda in Iraq anti-aircraft cell. “Our operations continue to target terrorist leaders and their resources,” said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. “We are on the offensive to keep al-Qaeda from making headline-grabbing attacks against the Iraqi people.”
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
“We are on the offensive to keep al-Qaeda from making headline-grabbing attacks against the Iraqi people.”
Don't speak too fast. They'll just go find some other soft target that is vital to their mission. Like an orphanage.
A Coalition Outpost in northern Baghdad was attacked by two Suicide Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices August 22. The COP is manned by U.S. soldiers from 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division and Iraqi soldiers from 3rd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division.
The attack wounded eleven U.S. soldiers and four Iraqi Army soldiers. Four Iraqi soldiers were killed. Eight of the U.S, wounded were transported to Camp Taji. The remaining three U.S. and four Iraqi soldiers were evacuated to a medical facility. Eight local Iraqis suspected of having information concerning the attack have been detained.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers detained nine Iraqi Policemen Aug. 21 as clearing operations in the Rashid District continued, Troops from Company C, 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, attached to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, detained the policemen, suspected to be involved in an improvised explosive device attack near their checkpoint. The detainees are being held for further questioning.
Earlier that day, numerous sworn statements led Company D, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, attached to the 4IBCT, to apprehend two men suspected of involvement in anti-Iraqi activities. The two men allegedly financed Al Qaeda actions in the area and trained youths in creating and placing IEDs. The two alleged terrorists are being held for questioning.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
detained the policemen, suspected to be involved in an improvised explosive device attack near their checkpoint
I guess Condi will have to drop her plan to provide US training to Abbas' bodyguards?
Iraqi Army soldiers, with U.S. Special Forces as advisers, detained three suspected terrorists in the village of Bulayj and destroyed a weapons cache near Mandali Aug. 22.
During the cordon and search operation in Bulayj, soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Army Division, raided two structures local Iraqis identified as al Qaeda in Iraq safe houses. Three males were detained, one of which was identified as a terrorist cell leader responsible for attacking the Iraqi Army in April, killing six people.
In a second operation in the village of Khalaf al Hassun, soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade, 5th Iraqi Army Division uncovered a weapons cache during an intelligence driven raid to disrupt an al Qaeda in Iraq improvised explosive device making cell.
The weapons cache of high explosives, copper wire, pressure wire, blasting caps and electrical wire used for making improvised explosive devices was destroyed in place. A truck and motorcycle from the cache house, along with two AK-47 assault rifles, four cases of AK-47 ammunition, and three cases of machine-gun ammunition were confiscated by the Iraqi Army.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
How 'bout next time we see "Destroy three, detain weapons cache?"
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
08/24/2007 9:11 Comments ||
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Iraqi Security Forces, with U.S. Special Forces as advisers, conducted a raid in Kubaysah Aug. 22, detaining an al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist believed to be responsible for shooting down a Coalition Forces helicopter in 2004.
Iraqi Police raided a residence in the vicinity of Kubaysah, located west of Hit, detaining their primary suspect and a second person of interest without incident. An assault rifle as well as numerous identification cards and passports were seized during the operation. The detained individual is a known al Qaeda in Iraq terrorist and allegedly associated with improvised explosive device and sniper attacks against Coalition Forces and Iraqi Security Forces in Hit and Kubaysah.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
Looks like the killed / detained ratio has flipped to once again in favor of 'detain.' and a couple of weeks ago, it was looking so promising.......
IDF troops arrested a senior Hamas fugitive in Halhoul, north of Hebron, on Thursday. The army said that the man, 31-year-old Ahmad Sayid, played a central role in Hamas's West Bank operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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An explosion ripped through a car east of Gaza City late Thursday, witnesses said, and hospital officials said one person was killed and another was seriously wounded. Hamas security officials said Israel fired a surface-to-surface missile at a group of Hamas fighters, killing one and wounding an unspecified number of other fighters, including one who was seriously hurt.
The Israeli army, which customarily acknowledges its air and ground operations against Palestinian militants, denied involvement in its initial response. Some blasts that do not involve the military are caused by explosive devices intended for use against Israel that go off prematurely.
In related news, a Palestinian rocket hit a house late Thursday in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, a frequent target of militant attacks. No injuries were reported. In all, seven rockets were fired throughout the day at Israel from Gaza, including at least three that landed in Israeli territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#9
Surface-to-surface missile? Why the hell would they do that when air-to-surface is so much more accurate?
Money. All these air-to-surface shticks been consuming ground forces' training budgets for years.
PS. Wanna bet IMI can't make Surface-to-surface just as accurate as air-to-surface?
Insurgents shot dead a former village headman in Narathiwat on Friday morning, taking his gun with them, police said. Win Wangthong, 71, was attacked when he was riding a motorcycle to a tea shop at around 6.30am in Tak Bai district.
Police said he was followed by two insurgents who were wearing masks. They shot him two times first when he was on the vehicle, before shooting him in the head one more time after he fell down to make sure he is dead.
Lebanese authorities have arrested two Palestinians in connection with a roadside bombing that targeted UN peacekeepers in southern Lebanon last month, a security official said Thursday. The suspects, Salem Kayed and Ahmed Mohammed, were arrested Wednesday near the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon after they were lured out of the camp by security agents.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jund al-Shams
The Lebanese authorities arrested two persons suspected of involvement in the July 16 bombing of a UN peacekeeping patrol in south Lebanon, the daily An Nahar reported Thursday. It said their detention came after Lebanese security forces found and seized a "remote control," which had been used and left behind in the July 16 roadside bomb that targeted a United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol on Qassmiyeh Bridge near the southern port city of Tyre.
There were no casualties from the July 16 attack on the vehicle belonging to the Tanzanian contingent, which was slightly damaged. A preliminary investigation showed that the two detainees were Palestinians with links to Jund al-Sham ( Soldiers of Damascus) , an extremist armed Islamic groups, the daily said. It said the authorities were still hunting for a third suspect.
Shortly after the July 16 bombing, the Lebanese government linked it to the battle between the army and the Fatah al-Islam's militants in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The Lebanese army has been battling with the militants of Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Bared camp since May 20. The bloodiest internal violence since the Lebanese 1975-1990 civil war has killed more than 200 people. The Lebanese government lists Fatah al-Islam as a terrorist network aimed at destabilizing Lebanon.
In recent months, the UNIFIL troops have occasionally targeted by militants. On July 24, three Spaniards and three Colombians serving in the Spanish battalion were killed in a car bombing attack targeting their patrol convoy in the main road between the towns of Marjayoun and Khiam near the Israeli border.
The July 24 bombing was the first deadly attack against the about 13,000-strong UNIFIL troops, which were deployed along Lebanon's border with Israel to enforce the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 34-day Israel-Hezbollah war last summer.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jund al-Shams
Two Lebanese soldiers were killed in fighting with Islamist militants who have been battling the army in northern Lebanon since May 20, a army source said Thursday. The soldiers died of wounds sustained on Wednesday at the Nahr al- Bared Palestinian refugee camp where the army is trying to crush the remaining members of Fatah al-Islam, a group linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.
The army has so far lost 143 soldiers in the fighting. According to unconfirmed reports from inside the camp, some 120 militants have been killed as well as 42 civilians since the violence erupted three months ago.
On Monday, Fatah al-Islam asked Palestinian mediators to seek a ceasefire to allow the evacuation of their family members from inside the devastated camp. The army agreed to the request on Tuesday. But the Palestinian clerics who are carrying out the contacts between the militants and the Lebanese army said they have lost contact with the militants holed up inside the camp since Tuesday and that is why the operation was delayed.
One of the mediators, Sheikh Mohammed al-Haj, said he had been unable to reach the militants via telephone since Tuesday. "Now it depends on a phone call so we can organize the evacuation," he said. The number of women and children holed up with the militants is estimated at 70 to 75, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
At least lebs stopped announcing victory every Tuesday.
Posted by: ed ||
08/24/2007 7:10 Comments ||
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#6
I believe that's the hardbound collector's edition of Great Moments in the Rantburg Defender-Scimitar & Times-Picayune, Volume 1 that she's reading.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/24/2007 8:54 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Insurgent attacks in southern Afghanistan left 13 people dead, 10 of them private security guards escorting a NATO supply convoy, officials said on Thursday. 
A militant was killed and nine Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel injured when “hundreds of Taliban militants” attacked an FC fort in the Nawai Dand area bordering North Waziristan Agency late on Wednesday with heavy weapons, officials told Daily Times. “The militants shouted Allah-o-Akbar before attacking the fort,” FC personnel told Daily Times as sources in the local administration said that hundreds of militants took part in the onslaught. This is the second attack in Hangu district since an August 20 suicide attack on a checkpost in which six paramilitary soldiers were killed.
Alleged al-Qaida fighters attacked a Sunni village east of Baqouba on Thursday and killed a village leader who had led the community in an uprising against the terrorist organization, witness and police said. At the same time Timim, a nearby Shiite village, came under attack, again by alleged al-Qaida fighters. 
