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Bhutto's assassination triggers riots
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
16 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [5] 
2 00:00 doc [3] 
31 00:00 3dc [4] 
8 00:00 Zhang Fei [3] 
14 00:00 Redneck Jim [3] 
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
4 00:00 Redneck Jim [4]
3 00:00 Icerigger [3]
2 00:00 Tony (UK) [4]
15 00:00 rjschwarz [4]
8 00:00 Alaska Paul [4]
6 00:00 GORT [3]
Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Blast occurs in shopping center in Moscow
(KUNA) -- An explosion occured in a luxurious shopping mall near the Kremlin in Moscow on Thursday, Interfax news agency said. No-one was hurt. The blast was caused by high-explosive firecrackers, Interfax quoted security sources as saying, and noted that the explosion resulted in a cloud of smoke and caused panic among shoppers. The security forces evacuated the people from inside the shopping center, said the sources.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suspect Putin thought one of his political opponents was shopping at the time.... (Roll Eyes)
Posted by: BigEd || 12/28/2007 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  a luxurious shopping mall near the Kremlin
Wonder if they gotz black bread and seasoned-lard in the food court. 2 steps forward, 1 north and 1 back. Still...

Also: Frank, B.A.S.? No, lard sammich.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 4:04 Comments || Top||

#3  high-explosive firecrackers

Every day learn something new.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2007 5:43 Comments || Top||

#4  mmmmmmmm,lard


/Homer Simpsonovich
Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 6:22 Comments || Top||

#5  See also VARIOUS KOMMERSANT > RUSSIA TO FACE NATURAL DISASTERS NEXT YEAR. Besides Global Warming and higher frequency of assorted natural disasters, PLANES WILL CRASH BECUZ PEOPLE WANNA INTENSIVELY FLY WHILE SIMUL USING OBSOLETE CRAFTS; + RUSSIA HAS THE WARMEST OF 150 YEARS [2007] + PRICES TO BE BEYOND CONTROL NEXT YEAR. ABnormal inflationary efects due to Warming. increased food prices, and espec severe/
catastrophic fuel prices.

RIAN > TIDAL WAVE MAY HIT/STRIKE RUSSIA's FAR EAST
Boxing Day Indon-Sumatran Tsunami not only went around the world but also increased in wave magnitude - global "mystery/monster" wave may event threaten in LT the Kuriles, Kamchatka + Siberia [Russ-Japan FE region].

FREEREPUBLIC > Scientist argues that odds of Jan 30, 2008 asteroid impact agz MARS has increased by circa 4 percent. * D*** NG IT, VINCENT, ITS IN THE WAY THAT YOU USE IT [COLOR OF MONEY]. Billiard Balls - Riccocheting space rocks + planets. WAR PLANET MARS VERSUS MOTHER MARY/KAMALEN > "MINOR/SUBTLE" EVENTS > like good dialectic Commie-Progressive REGRESSIONISM, the true effects won't be realized until later.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2007 20:20 Comments || Top||

#6  MEMO,
to Russia

These bastards you've been backing don't care if they kill us, or you.

Payback's a bitch, isn't it, many more of he same to you, and go roast in hell bastards.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 20:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Horrile thought just hit me (Gloat, Gloat), now we get to see the Russian version of the TSA,
(Confusion to our enemies)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 20:37 Comments || Top||


Europe
Spain arrests 6 Islamists terrorists [active on the Internet]
The authorities arrested six North Africans in Spain on Wednesday on suspicion of belonging to an international network that promotes jihad on the Internet and recruits fighters, the Interior Ministry announced.

The Civil Guard, the nation's rural police force, said it detained five men and a woman in Burgos Province in northern Spain. The authorities were searching six houses and a butcher's shop run by the men and had confiscated documents and computer hard drives, the ministry said in its statement.

The ministry said it was the first time the Spanish authorities had broken up a suspected recruiting and propaganda network operating chiefly on the Internet. The group was using private chat rooms and Internet forums to disseminate "radical propaganda," the authorities said, and was recruiting people to fight in various locations, particularly Iraq.

It was also collecting money for Islamist prisoners, including some of those jailed in Morocco in connection with the May 2003 bombings in Casablanca that killed dozens and wounded more than 100 people.

The group arrested in Burgos is part of a "more complex and extensive" international group, the Interior Ministry said. The investigation has involved security agencies in Switzerland, the United States and Denmark.

The authorities said the two main suspects were an Algerian, Abdelkader Ayachine, and a Moroccan, Wissan Lotfi. The others were identified as Mohamed Mouas, Smaine Kadoucio and Yahia Drif of Algeria, and Fatima Zahrae Raissouni, a Morrocan woman.

The Interior Ministry said Ayachine had for years collected "zakat," the charitable donations that are a strong tradition in Islam, at his shop and sent them to the Moroccan prisoners.

The ministry said he had a criminal record, including convictions for homicide and domestic violence, and had served time in prison, but an Interior Ministry spokeswoman could not say where. He had become more religiously radical over the past few years and changed the way he dressed, the statement said.

Spain has arrested hundreds of suspected jihadists in numerous operations over the past few years, and has broken up networks linked to such groups as the one once known as the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, and now as Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, and the Moroccan Islamist Combatant Group.
Posted by: Icerigger || 12/28/2007 07:02 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Europe

#1  So what happens to all those arrested, after?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2007 17:52 Comments || Top||


Great White North
U.S. man charged after stabbing on Greyhound bus in Ont.
A man from Washington, D.C., has been charged with attempted murder after a stabbing aboard a Greyhound bus in eastern Ontario on Christmas Eve. A 27-year-old Toronto man was stabbed when the bus stopped at a restaurant near Madoc, about 30 kilometres north of Belleville. He was treated at Belleville General Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and released. Ahmed Mohamoud, 37, is also charged with threatening death and assault with a weapon. A bail hearing was scheduled for Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So the US man charged with the stabbing was named Mohammed? A peaceful Lutheran, no doubt.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/28/2007 1:32 Comments || Top||

#2  This is how all Lutherans celebrate the birth of 'Isa.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/28/2007 9:50 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan: Bhutto died of skull fracture
What'll it be tomorrow, polio?
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto died from a skull fracture suffered when she hit her head during a suicide attack, not from bullet wounds, the Interior Ministry said Friday.

Authorities on Thursday said she died from bullet wounds fired by a young man who then blew himself up, killing 20 other people. A surgeon who treated her said Friday she died from the impact of shrapnel on her skull.

But later Friday, Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema said all three shots missed her as she greeted supporters through the sunroof of her vehicle, which was bulletproof and bombproof.
So who are you going to believe, an official spokesman or a surgeon?
He also denied that shrapnel caused her death, saying Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle, and the shock waves from the blast knocked her head into a lever attached to the sunroof, fracturing her skull.

Cheema showed reporters a videotape of the attack, which showed Bhutto waving, smiling and chatting with supporters from the sunroof as her car sat unmoving on the street outside the rally. Then, three gunshots rang out, the camera appeared to fall and the tape ended.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/28/2007 12:02 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Da plot thickens.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/28/2007 12:22 Comments || Top||

#2  ...Bhutto was killed when she tried to duck back into the vehicle...
I see. So it was her own fault-- an accident?
Posted by: GK || 12/28/2007 12:34 Comments || Top||

#3  The Magic Sunroof Lever Theory™!
I call dibs on that!
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/28/2007 12:42 Comments || Top||

#4  A REPORT sent by the Rawalpindi General Hospital to the Health Department of the Punjab provincial government said all efforts by its doctors to revive Ms Bhutto failed and she was declared dead exactly 41 minutes after she was brought at its emergency department at 5.35pm with open wounds on her left temporal bone from which “brain matter was exuding”.

It said the PPP leader was not breathing at the time and her pulse and blood pressure “were not recordable”.

The report said “immediate resuscitation (process) was started” and she was taken to the operation theatre where the same was done by a team of doctors headed by Prof Musaddiq Khan, principal of the Rawalpindi Medical College.

“Left antrolateral thoracotomy for open cardiac massage was performed,” it said and added: “In spite of all the possible measures she could not be revived and (was) declared dead at 1816 (6.16pm) hours.”

The report said a post-mortem examination of Ms Bhutto’s body was not carried out at the hospital “because the district administration and police had not requested the hospital authorities (for this)”.
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 13:10 Comments || Top||

#5  The report said a post-mortem examination of Ms Bhutto’s body was not carried out at the hospital “because the district administration and police had not requested the hospital authorities (for this)”.

Nope. That won't be necessary. Move it along, nothing to see here...
Wow. Maybe the firemen should've hit her with the hose for a few minutes too. Just to make sure.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/28/2007 13:16 Comments || Top||

#6  If the attack had occurred in Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago, and Ms. Bhutto had been rushed to Cook County Hospital (home of one of the very best urban trauma units in the country), she'd ...

... be dead today.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/28/2007 13:18 Comments || Top||

#7  I cannot see what possible difference it makes whether there was a shooter/bomber, a shooter and a bomber or just a bomber. Yet the Pak government is fixated on there not being a shooter...
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/28/2007 13:28 Comments || Top||

#8  If the attack had occurred in Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago, and Ms. Bhutto had been rushed to Cook County Hospital (home of one of the very best urban trauma units in the country), she'd ...

... be dead today.


If the attack had taken place in Israel she would be resurrected by now.
Posted by: JFM || 12/28/2007 13:37 Comments || Top||

#9  "Actually, there was no bomber either. There was a gust of wind and it also enhanced the output of a fire-breathing street performer. It was all unfortunate tragic accident."

"What dead people? Can you show me one? Firemen washing out the evidence? No, you've go that all wrong, it was raining at the time."
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/28/2007 13:39 Comments || Top||

#10  One of the corollaries of the official thesis is that the islamists are whitewashed: they didn't kill her. They just indirectly caused her death. How convenient.
Posted by: JFM || 12/28/2007 13:48 Comments || Top||

#11  they might wanna get rid of that shooter scenario in case she was killed by a sniper toorrow but we all know that the Taliban can't shoot straight
Posted by: sinse || 12/28/2007 13:50 Comments || Top||

#12  Dealey Plaza

And the many parallels to JFK's assassination are creepy. Don't get me wrong, I'm no JFK conspiracy theorist (go read Bugliosi's Reclaiming History) but the talk of bullet holes and brain matter and speculation about multiple shooters is all there, as is the hysterical inflation of a mere mortal into a departed demi-god(ess) Sheesh...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 12/28/2007 13:53 Comments || Top||

#13  I cannot see what possible difference it makes whether there was a shooter/bomber, a shooter and a bomber or just a bomber. Yet the Pak government is fixated on there not being a shooter.

Because the problem of the weapon has interesting implications: -Unless you are at two or thre yards it is very difficult to hit someone in the head with a pistol when you have only a couple tenths of second to take aim and that even for a good shooter not a foam at the month jihadi. Did I mention that she was in a car so it was probably a moving target? So if Benazir was shot with a pistol it means her body guards allowed the murderer to nearly have the muzzle of his pistol on her head.

A rifle at close range is too bulky and slow and the escort should have shot the killer. Also participants at the meeting were supposed to have been searched by the police.

A sniper's shot at long range, with sniper taking plenty of time for aiming is a possibility but the police was supposed to have placed its own men at best firing locations...
Posted by: JFM || 12/28/2007 14:11 Comments || Top||

#14  Renegade Commando Units

This part is interesting:

The attack yesterday at Rawalpindi bore the hallmarks of a sophisticated military operation. At first, Bhutto's rally was hit by a suicide bomb that turned out to be a decoy. According to press reports and a situation report of the incident relayed to The New York Sun by an American intelligence officer, Bhutto's armored limousine was shot by multiple snipers whose armor-piercing bullets penetrated the vehicle, hitting the former premier five times in the head, chest, and neck. Two of the snipers then detonated themselves shortly after the shooting, according to the situation report, while being pursued by local police. A separate attack was thwarted at the local hospital where Bhutto possibly would have been revived had she survived the initial shooting. . . . A working theory, according to this American source, is that Al Qaeda or affiliated jihadist groups had effectively suborned at least one unit of Pakistan's Special Services Group, the country's equivalent of Britain's elite SAS commandos. . . . "They just killed the most protected politician in the whole country," this source said. "We really don't know a lot at this point, but the first thing that is happening is we are asking the Pakistani military to account for every black team with special operations capabilities."

Posted by: 3dc || 12/28/2007 14:11 Comments || Top||

#15  The water is nicely muddied now.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/28/2007 14:39 Comments || Top||

#16  Well they did wash down the crime scene.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/28/2007 14:48 Comments || Top||

#17  I am struck by the similarity of the 2 attacks on Bhutto and the attacks on Musharaf a couple of years ago.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/28/2007 14:51 Comments || Top||

#18  Here's a video showing a guy on the back of her vehical shooting point blank 3 times.....
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 12/28/2007 14:57 Comments || Top||

#19  Someone in the car with her says she was shot 2 times.
Posted by: phil_b || 12/28/2007 15:10 Comments || Top||

#20  Hokay, thanks YS. Looks like a gun (at most) 4' - 5' away...that'll do the trick
Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 15:10 Comments || Top||

#21  Toldja you shouldn't drive around with a loaded sunroof lever...
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 15:15 Comments || Top||

#22  YS, I hear two shots on that video. I also see a shadowy hand with what (to me) looks like a pistol from about five feet, left of the vehicle and slightly below the roof-line.

Don't hear three, just two. But that's just me.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/28/2007 15:25 Comments || Top||

#23  Yeah Steve - I thought I saw the same thing too but didnt really couldnt make it out. Either way , I'm suprised this tape isn't getting more play to counterdict what the gov officals are saying. This whole thing reaks - too many things are already contaminated or gone to piece it together. Doubt we'll ever know for sure....
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 12/28/2007 15:57 Comments || Top||

#24  PS - My lord! Could I misspell any more words in my post above? That’s really embarrassing!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 12/28/2007 16:02 Comments || Top||

#25  Ironically, we humans have an instinct within that can make us sense and feel who's who. Definitely, Miss Bhutto was a threat to her rivals, a stumbling boulder in their path. Therefore, she knew who was to be responsible for her downfall.
Posted by: Alistaire Spaigum7294 || 12/28/2007 16:14 Comments || Top||

#26  Did anyone get pictures of the grassy knoll?
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 || 12/28/2007 16:32 Comments || Top||

#27 

I am 400% sure that it was the sunroof.

I would like to thank GHQ Rawalpindi for providing me with continued employment.
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 16:45 Comments || Top||

#28  #24 Yosemite Sam.

Theoretically, you could. ;-)
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/28/2007 17:27 Comments || Top||

#29  see also HAARETZ > ANALYSIS: THE ASSASSINATION OF BENAZIR BHUTTO; + YNETNEWS OPINION > A TRIUMPH FOR RADICALS.

RIAN > AL QAEDA CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR BENAZIR BHUTTO MURDER Egyptian AQ Officio quoted as inferring that BHUTTO was killed for suppor the USA agenda and being agz Islamists.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2007 19:41 Comments || Top||

#30  9mm "Contributing Causes"?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 20:43 Comments || Top||

#31  Long War Journal with more details
The Pakistani government has directly implicated the commander of newly created Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, or Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. Interior Ministry spokesman Javed Iqbal Cheema claimed the government intercepted a phone conversation between none other than Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and Maulvi Sahib, one of Mehsud's underlings.

The Telegraph has the transcript of the alleged recording. Baitullah congratulates Sahib, who explains the attack was carried out by three of their own operatives.

Maulvi Sahib: Congratulations, I just got back during the night.

Baitullah Mehsud: Congratulations to you, were they our men?

Maulvi Sahib: Yes they were ours.

Baitullah Mehsud: Who were they?

Maulvi Sahib: There was Saeed, there was Bilal from Badar and Ikramullah.

Baitullah Mehsud: The three of them did it?

Maulvi Sahib: Ikramullah and Bilal did it.

Baitullah Mehsud: Then congratulations.

Yesterday, Mustafa Abu al Yazid, al Qaeda's commander in Afghanistan, boasted to a Pakistani journalist that al Qaeda was behind the attack. "We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat [the] mujahadeen," Yazid said in a phone call to Syed Saleem Shahzad.

The Pakistan government's claim that Baitullah Mehsud is behind the attack and al Qaeda's claim of credit for the strike are not mutually exclusive. The Bhutto assassination also was very likely carried out with support from inside the police, military, and intelligence agencies.

Some members of the US civilian and military intelligence communities have stopped making distinctions between the two groups long ago. These analysts refer to the various jihadi groups as Al Qaeda and Allied Movements, or AQAM. These various groups include the "Pakistani Taliban," the "Neo-Taliban," Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), al Qaeda central, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, Jaish-e-Mohammned, Lashkar-e-Taiba (which is now Jamaat-ud-Dawa), Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, and a host of domestic Pakistani terror groups. The distinctions between the groups in Pakistan have become meaningless as they share the same ideology, goals, training camps, tactics and recruiting bases. Their command structures often intermesh. Members of the Taliban sit on al Qaeda’s various shuras, or councils.

Al Qaeda and Allied Movements is analogous to what the Indians call the International Islamic Front - the umbrella group of jihadi movements banded together by Osama bin Laden in the 1998 fatwa declaring war on the West. The International Islamic Front includes groups such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Jihad Movement in Bangladesh, and Harakat ul-Mujahidin. Several other groups remained unnamed to provide cover for their activities.

One interesting note about the phone intercept between Baitullah and Sahib is the physical intelligence on the whereabouts of Baitullah which the Pakistani military failed to act on. Sahib later askes Baitullah where he is so they can meet. Baitullah responses, "I am at Makeen (town in South Waziristan tribal region), come over, I am at Anwar Shah's house." Pakistani intelligence had direct knowledge of Baitullah Mehsud's whereabouts, but failed to mount a raid to capture or kill him.

The Pakistani military either lacks the will or the capacity to mount such a raid in South Waziristan. The government negotiated a treaty with Baitullah in March of 2006 which essentially ceded the territory to the Taliban. The Taliban then set up a government, began collecting taxes, recruited fighters for jihad in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and launched a campaign of murder and intimidation against their enemies. The Taliban and al Qaeda operate at least 29 terror camps in South and neighboring North Waziristan alone.

Baitullah's Taliban beat back a limited military offensive late last summer, and kidnapped over 300 Pakistani soldiers during clashes. He has also been implicated in a series of bombings throughout Pakistan in 2007.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/28/2007 21:18 Comments || Top||


Workers burn to death as riot toll hits 32
SIX people were burnt to death when a mob enraged by the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto torched a factory in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, police said. It was not immediately known if the victims had already been counted in the 32 deaths reported earlier by officials, as the country reeled from a spate of arson attacks, shootings and other violence since Bhutto was slain on Thursday.

"The mob stormed into a leather factory in the Korangi area of Karachi. They set it on fire and six labourers were burnt to death," police official Latif Siddiqi said.

The workers had stayed in the factory overnight because there was no transport to get them home, after opposition leaders called for a national strike to protest Bhutto's killing, keeping taxis and buses off the roads.

Siddiqi said rioters also burnt down a BMW car showroom and ransacked a medicine factory and a private hospital in the same area of the city, Pakistan's largest and the economic hub of the country.
Posted by: tipper || 12/28/2007 11:09 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Well...doesn't this all make sense.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/28/2007 11:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, it kinda does. The riot is the objective, the means and objects of destruction don't matter. Paks don't have a monopoly in that regard, but they surely give it their best.
Posted by: twobyfour || 12/28/2007 11:55 Comments || Top||

#3  It's like winning (or losing) a big bakitball game.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 11:58 Comments || Top||

#4  'Siddiqi said rioters also burnt down a BMW car showroom and ransacked a medicine factory and a private hospital in the same area of the city, Pakistan's largest and the economic hub of the country.'

...but soon to resemble the rest of the shithole called Pakistan, courtesy of Mindless Morons (TM).
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 12/28/2007 12:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Siddiqi said rioters also burnt down a BMW car showroom and ransacked a medicine factory and a private hospital in the same area of the city,

It is well known that Morticia was killed by BMW agents because she had picked a Mercedes as her car.
Posted by: JFM || 12/28/2007 12:26 Comments || Top||

#6  ...and she did die in a hospital. Probably had some medicine before she croaked too.
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/28/2007 12:29 Comments || Top||

#7  She did have some medicine in hospital. The medicine for her heart condition.

What do you mean, "what heart condition?" *Ev'ryone* knew about it. It was only a matter of time. One unexpected noise and it was lights out for Benazir.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 12:35 Comments || Top||

#8  I have to wonder how much of this is inter-ethnic, i.e. Sindhi vs Punjabis, Mohajirs, et al. I think what many people don't realize is that India and Pakistan are agglomerations of nations that used to be independent before the Brits came along. The kinds of riots you get there aren't that different from what you get in African countries similarly cobbled together. They aren't fighting against people for ideological reasons - they're essentially fighting against foreigners with whom they have been locked in a room for hundreds of years.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 12/28/2007 18:55 Comments || Top||


Pakistani investigators rebuild mangled head
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani investigators reconstructed a mangled human head on Friday hoping to identify the man suspected of killing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in a suicide attack.
"Dr. Frankenstein, call on line two!"
Former prime minister Bhutto was killed in a gun and bomb attack as she left an election rally in the city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, plunging nuclear-armed Pakistan into one of the most serious crises in its 60-year history. "We have retrieved a head and it has been reconstructed. We also found fingers and we're carrying out DNA tests to make a comparison between the head and fingers," said Saud Aziz, police chief in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad.
CSI Islamabad is on the case. I feel sooooo much better.
A man shot at Bhutto as she waved to her supporters from the sun-roof of her bullet-proof car. He then blew himself up. Bhutto was killed by gunshots to the head and neck, a security official said. The blast killed 17 other people. A Reuters reporter at the scene moments after the blast saw a portion of a head, including a blackened ear and half a face on the road. Police cordoned it off.
"Careful where you step. It could still be alive!"
Aziz said samples had been taken from the site for testing to determine what type of explosive had been used. While Aziz declined to speculate on who might have been behind Bhutto's murder, it bore all the hallmarks of strikes by Islamist militants fighting to destabilize the government of U.S. ally President Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by: || 12/28/2007 09:28 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Dunno how this squares with John Frum's report that he saw them hosing (!) down the blast scene on teevee...
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 9:40 Comments || Top||

#2  http://in.news.yahoo.com/071228/48/6oybx.html

"Bits of the suicide bomber were in the road as well. They were burnt pieces of flesh and others not burnt that were like fresh meat. Red and bloody.

"All of a sudden I saw half of a head. It had been sliced in half, vertically. You could only make out the hair and skin. There was nothing else to identify it.

"A policeman told me 'That's the head of the bomber'.

"I got only a glimpse of white 4x4 that went zooming off. Later people said that was Bhutto's vehicle, and that she was inside, headed to hospital.

"Ambulances with flashing lights and sirens came to take away the wounded. It was so chaotic. People were helping lift the injured into the ambulances.

"Meanwhile a truck came from the local fire brigade. They took their hoses and started spraying water on the street, trying to wash away the blood and the pieces of flesh.
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 9:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Brilliant.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 10:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Trace Gallagher, filling in for Shepard Smith today on Studio B spoke with Husain Haqqani, a friend of Benizir Bhutto. Haqqani has also been an advisor to Pakistan ambassadors and is a trusted journalist.

Gallagher asked Haqqani if Bhutto was fearful of the security detail. Haqqani said she certainly was. She asked for an international security service and Mushariff said no. Haqqani said that he didn't know if Gallagher had seen the pictures of the crime scene but they had fire engines washing down the crime scene. so that no forensic evidence is left. Huqqani said this made the security feel like "what the heck, if they get her there's no skin off of our nose."
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 10:36 Comments || Top||

#5  YouTube video of the washing down
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 10:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Betcha they don't get that much pressure when there's an actual *fire*.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 10:45 Comments || Top||

#7  difficult not to think of rage boy's head in jigsaw like pieces
Posted by: mhw || 12/28/2007 11:41 Comments || Top||

#8  Unlike the filthy infidel, the muzzie is very sensitive to personal and collective hygiene. Hosing down a crime scene before the cops collect evidence is a form of muzzie wudu. It's in the koran. Somewhwere.
Posted by: Mark Z || 12/28/2007 11:43 Comments || Top||

#9  partially NSFW

Pakistani investigators rebuild mangled head

Iraq:
Here's a Less-Than-Whole SplodyDope that just survived long enough to answer a couple of questions...

Wahhabi al-Qaeda SplodyDope goes boom in Sadr City

Of course I have NO sympathy for these ignorant animals no matter how young. The kind of culture and religion that produces this shit, is antithetical to life itself.
Posted by: RD || 12/28/2007 12:24 Comments || Top||

#10  Friggin' Sympathy Meter is flatlined...
Posted by: DanNY || 12/28/2007 12:44 Comments || Top||

#11  Funny, Dan, mine has too.

I do have one thing to say to the splodydope: Hey, idiot, you're falling apart here - pull yourself together!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/28/2007 16:44 Comments || Top||

#12  Well at least he got his leg-over ( the next houses roof).
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 12/28/2007 18:31 Comments || Top||

#13  I recall (many years ago) reacing a very good Science Fiction story about the execution of a mass murderer, they executed him by hanging, then carefuly resurected him, got him back in good health and executed him again, and again, and again, until his sentence of death matched the numbetr of people he'd killed, then they just didn't ressurect him anymore.

Sounds very good to me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 21:06 Comments || Top||

#14  Dammit
"Spellcheck is your friend"
"Spellcheck is your friend"
"Spellcheck is your friend"
etc.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 21:25 Comments || Top||


It was not a bullet, president told at high-level meeting
ISLAMABAD: Benazir Bhutto was not hit by a bullet but by a shrapnel of the suicide bomb which was triggered exactly when the bomber saw her emerging from her vehicle’s sun roof to wave to the crowds, a top-level meeting presided over by President Pervez Musharraf was informed on Thursday night.

Sources said the meeting was also informed that Benazir Bhutto had taken her seat in the rear of the jeep but saw an emotional crowd waving at her. She opted to respond by coming out of the sun-roof and waved at them. The suicide bomber saw her and blew himself up, hitting her in the neck with a piece of shrapnel.

She slumped on her seat and PPP Vice-Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who was sitting on her left and Ms Nahid Khan, who was sitting on her right, could not gather that their leader has been fatally wounded, since they were in panic to see the blast outside the jeep.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 06:52 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  How convenient that all the bomb debris evidence was washed away by the local Fire Department...
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  A first-person account by The Hindu’s Pakistan Correspondent who was close at hand

Ms. Bhutto had descended the stage at Liaquat Bagh, the venue of the rally, and got into a waiting car behind the stage. The vehicle, accompanied by several other escort cars with her supporters and PPP bodyguards, was leaving the venue when the explosion took place, about 5-20 p.m.

I was about 30 feet away from the blast in a crowd of people waiting to leave the rally from a parallel gate. A wall separated the two gates. The police had stopped us so that Ms. Bhutto’s convoy could leave.

I heard two rounds of automatic gunfire, which I mistook to be firecrackers at first. In the next second, a huge ball of flame went up in the air, accompanied by a massive explosion. People screamed and ran in all directions. I ran away from the blast first, and then went back towards it, quite apprehensive that there would be a second blast.

Daylight was fast fading but the first thing I saw was a dismembered head, face down, lying just outside the gate where I had stood hours earlier. The road was spattered with blood well beyond the gate where I had stood seconds earlier.

A little distance away, where the bomber had struck, lay several bodies, many of them dismembered. There was thick blood on the road and people were surging back and forth from the scene. Many of them were crying, some shouting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf. The police were trying to keep the crowds away — without much success. Some dazed PPP activists stood among the bodies, beating their heads and wailing.

Ms. Bhutto’s car had apparently sped away from the scene, and PPP workers at the spot believed she had got away. Sherry Rehman, her spokesperson, who was in a car behind Ms. Bhutto’s, also thought the PPP leader had escaped the attack.

Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 8:56 Comments || Top||

#3  That's one story. Here's another, which jibes with Frum's comment; first shots, then explosions:

The attack yesterday at Rawalpindi bore the hallmarks of a sophisticated military operation. At first, Bhutto's rally was hit by a suicide bomb that turned out to be a decoy. According to press reports and a situation report of the incident relayed to The New York Sun by an American intelligence officer, Bhutto's armored limousine was shot by multiple snipers whose armor-piercing bullets penetrated the vehicle, hitting the former premier five times in the head, chest, and neck. Two of the snipers then detonated themselves shortly after the shooting, according to the situation report, while being pursued by local police.

Assassination Is Laid to Team of Precision Snipers
Posted by: KBK || 12/28/2007 9:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Perv's military buddies(ISI) work in hand in hand with jihadi groups which they use in Kashmir,India and Afghanistan.They see Bhutto as the biggest threat to their military rule!

History has repeated itself check her fathers fate at the hand of the Paki miltary!!!!

Posted by: Paul || 12/28/2007 9:47 Comments || Top||

#5  JFs #2 has that yeah, that sounds about right read to it - the NY Sun story has that UFOz on the Grassy Knoll feel. Still, it's Pakistan, it'll all become clear in time.








No.. wait...
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 9:52 Comments || Top||

#6  A working theory, according to this American source, is that Al Qaeda or affiliated jihadist groups had effectively suborned at least one unit of Pakistan's Special Services Group

Perv is SSG
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 9:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Ms. Bhutto had descended the stage at Liaquat Bagh,

Liaquat Bagh is named in memory of the First Pak PM Liaqiat Ali Khan. It was at this park that he was assassinated.
The killer, who was apprehended, was shot dead by a Pakistani policeman.
Dead men tell no tales.

Liaqiat was the first Pak leader to use the "After me, the Mullahs" blackmail against the west and India. He was supposedly the only non-islamist leader, the sole hope of the west.

Ironically, it is a succession of supposedly non-Islamist pro-western Pak leaders who radicalized the Pak population, funding mullahs and madrassas and brainwashing the masses via Radio, TV and textbooks.
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 10:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Unless someone has iron-clad proof, I'm going to go with John Moore's account.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/28/2007 12:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Which account was that, again? I'm losing track.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 12:59 Comments || Top||

#10  No takers for the "she hit her head" theory?
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 13:05 Comments || Top||

#11  No takers for the "she hit her head" theory?

depends on the bullets vs bombs timing. I could easily see a blast wave helping smash her head on the vehicle on the way down. Course, it prolly wouldn't matter much if she was fatally shot first
Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 13:20 Comments || Top||

#12  Well, either multiple "armor-piercing bullets penetrated the vehicle", or they didn't. Though I suppose the vehicle has already been crushed and recycled.
Posted by: KBK || 12/28/2007 13:31 Comments || Top||


Bhutto to be buried in Larkana
Benazir Bhutto will be buried in Larkana, her hometown, next to her father the former prime minister who was hanged in the 70s. Her body was brought to Larkana in a special airforce plane.

Her husband Asif Zardari, who had flown in from Dubai shortly before, and their three children had a brief chance to see the body before the plane took off, officials from Bhutto's political party said.

Just before she returned to Pakistan recently, NDTV's Managing Editor Barkha Dutt spoke to Benazir who said she was not scared to return to Pakistan. ''Nobody can be killed till their time comes, I am putting my faith in my people,'' said Benazir.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Bhutto photographer: 'Gunshots rang out and she went down'
(CNN) -- The photographer who took images of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto moments before her assassination Thursday told CNN he was "surprised" to see her rise through the sunroof of her vehicle to wave to supporters after delivering her speech.

"I ran up, got as close as I got, made a few pictures of her waving to the crowd," Getty Images senior staff photographer John Moore told CNN's online streaming news service, CNN.com Live, in a phone interview Thursday from Islamabad, Pakistan. "And then suddenly, there were a few gunshots that rang out, and she went down, she went down through the sunroof," he said. "And just at that moment I raised my camera up and the blast happened.

Moore said he was about 20 yards away from Bhutto's vehicle when he took his photographs. Bhutto was rushed to Rawalpindi General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Moore said he had been following Bhutto's story since her return to Pakistan in October. He was present October 19 when a terror attack targeting her motorcade in Karachi killed 136 people. In the aftermath of that attack, "the rallies had been very small," because of high security, Moore said.

However, the Rawalpindi rally was announced beforehand, he observed. "Whoever planned this attack -- they had time on their hands to plan everything properly, and you saw the results today," he said.

Between 5,000 and 8,000 were at the Rawalpindi rally, which was held at a parkground, he said. "We [the news media] all expected it to be filled ... but there were less people there than most of us expected to see," he said. "When I talked with a number of people, they said that people were just afraid to come out, for the simple reason that they all remembered what happened in Karachi."

Moore said he himself expected there could be another attack following the Karachi massacre. He said he stayed away from gates at the Rawalpindi parkground, where police were searching people, because he suspected that's where a bomb would go off.

Moore said it was obvious that Bhutto enjoyed being with her supporters. "She was clearly in her element," he said. "She just wanted to get close to the people, and obviously whoever was after her -- they saw that coming."
The photographer has an audio report with a slideshow of his images here. Ghastly.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  TOPIX > AL QAEDA CLAIMING RESPONSIBILITY FOR BHUTTO DEATH. Its official???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2007 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  We do look at things differentley then those in the Mideast. I look at Benazir Bhutto as brave. Someone who showed herself to the people of Pakistan, and did not hide in caves, and only talk to people through video's.
Posted by: plainslow || 12/28/2007 5:20 Comments || Top||

#3  As PM she would dismiss her security detail and have coffee at the Marriot with guests or visit the Baskin-Robbins.
Posted by: john frum || 12/28/2007 6:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Plainslow, you have a point. But there's that 'live coward-dead hero' thing to keep in mind.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/28/2007 9:02 Comments || Top||


MS-NBC video of Bhutto assassination
MS-NBC video, courtesy WaPo, with images just before and just after the assassination. Video embedded at the link should work in any browser.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Not to put too fine a point on it, but what kind of security detail would allow a guy to hold a package over her head like in the early part of the video?
Posted by: DanNY || 12/28/2007 12:51 Comments || Top||

#2  A pakland security detail, of course.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 13:00 Comments || Top||


Bhutto's assassination triggers riots
(AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - As news of the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto spread across the country, thousands of her supporters have taken to the streets to seethe and roll their eyes protest, particularly in Bhutto's native Sindh province and its capital Karachi.
Only to be expected, of course. It's Pakistain: something happens, you riot.
Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf appealed for calm and announced three days of mourning after Bhutto was shot in the neck by a gunman who then set off a bomb in the garrison town of Rawalpindi on Thursday.

Youths holding weapons poured out onto the streets of the southern port city of Karachi and a report on the Pakistani Aaj TV, said that there was an attack at Al-Murtaza in Larkana which is the home of Bhutto’s sister in law and political rival Ghinva Bhutto. Security agencies resorted to gunfire before the attackers fled the home.

Another report on Aaj TV said that the offices of the religious Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam Fazlur Rahman party in the city of Mirpurkhas, were also attacked as well as the offices of the former ruling party Pakistan Muslim League.

Police across the country, including those in Sindh have been put on high alert. A local businessman in Karachi, Azhar Malik told Adnkronos International (AKI) that when he returned from his office from the downtown area to his home in Karachi's North Nazimabad area, an armed mob encircled his car. In a phone interview, he told AKI that he was dragged out the vehicle which was then set on fire.

An IT manager at a local company, Kamran told AKI that his car was also set on fire when he was returning home from the office. “I took refuge in a local mosque and it seems that I will not be able to leave the mosque before morning,” said Kamran, in a phone interview with AKI.

A total of 34 vehicles have been set on fire in Karachi, the city's police official, Azhar Farooqui, told AKI.
This article starring:
Fazlur RahmanJamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  "34 vehicles have been set on fire in Karachi"

Only 34? They need to get their brethren from Paris to give them lessons in proper car-be-queing.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/28/2007 1:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Cars are a lot more dear in Sindh than in the banlieues. Somebody with a gun might object if you set fire to any particular car in Karachi.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/28/2007 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah, yes, Mitch. In Pakistan potential victims might have guns.

Some 39 years ago the US had a rather popular family dynasty politician running for President who was assassinated (by a Muslim) at a campaign rally. We had quite a few riots going on around then - surely the assassination was the excuse for some of them.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/28/2007 9:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Think Sirhan(2) was a Paleo-Christian.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 9:54 Comments || Top||

#5  From Wikipedia, salt to taste:

Sirhan was born in Jerusalem to Christian Arab parents and was raised in the Maronite Church. In his adult life however, he made several religious conversions, joining Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist churches, and dabbled in the occult. His family, which moved to the United States when Sirhan was 12, briefly lived in New York, and soon moved to California. He attended John Muir High School and Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California and was employed as a stable boy in 1965 at the Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia, California.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 9:58 Comments || Top||


10 dead as angry mourners take to streets
At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday as angry mobs took to the streets after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the Interior Ministry said. “The death toll in the unrest after Benazir’s death is 10, mostly in Sindh province,” ministry spokesman Javed Cheema said. He said four died in Karachi, four in rural Sindh and two in Lahore.

Unconfirmed reports said a total of four people had been killed in Lahore. Sporadic gunfire could be heard echoing around the streets of Lahore. The markets and shops immediately closed down as paramilitary patrols roamed the streets in an attempt to keep a lid on the violence, a local police officer said.

Rawalpindi tense: Gun-toting PPP workers took to the streets in Rawalpindi and opened fire on election offices of rival political parties. To minimise danger, several political parties shut down their election offices. A vehicle belonging to PPP supporters was also fired upon in the vicinity of Sadiqabad Police Station.

Sindh situation grim: “Police in Sindh have been put on red alert,” said a senior police official. “We have increased deployment and are patrolling all the towns and cities, as there is trouble almost everywhere,” he added.

In Karachi, police said protesters burned at least 70 vehicles. A large number of armed youth also attacked dozens of industries located in the SITE area and forcibly shut them down. “They are reacting severely and are opening fire on factories in which they see any sign of life,” said Rehan Ali, a factory foreman.

Voluntary services, such as Edhi, were unable to move around the city to provide rescue services because mobs were rioting everywhere. Some ambulances were even vandalised and one was reportedly set ablaze. “We received information that mobs set fire to a garment factory in Ibhrahim Hydri and at least 300 workers were stranded inside, but we couldn’t get there because of the riots everywhere,” said Anwer Kazmi, secretary to Abdul Sattar Edhi.

According to AFP, four policemen were shot and wounded in Karachi. Also in Karachi, a mob of more than 200 men started firing in the air outside a major shopping mall, a witness told Daily Times.

The Dadu residence of former federal power minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi was attacked and set on fire. In Sukkur, several election offices and vehicles of various political parties were set on fire. PPP activists also blocked the Indus Highway, according to a Daily Times Monitor report. In Mirpurkhas, the Shah Latif Express was set alight. In Naudero, the Khushal Khan Khattak Express was set ablaze. In Panu Aqil and Larkana, railway stations were set on fire and hotels were attacked.

In Tando Allah Yar, police opened fire on protesters. Jacobabad, the hometown of caretaker Prime Minister Mohammadmian Soomro, was also witness to rioting, as its main court, banks and other buildings were set on fire, an AFP reporter said.

Road blocked: The mood was also tense in Benazir’s hometown of Larkana where two banks were set on fire, witnesses said. At least 20 vehicles were torched in Hyderabad. Police told Reuters they had been ordered to block the main road between Punjab and Sindh, apparently to stop the movement of protesters.

Fearing renewed violence in Swat, officials clamped a curfew on the region, a local official told reporters. Protesters in Azad Kashmir blocked roads with burning tyres and chanted slogans against President Pervez Musharraf.

Tear gassed: Separately, Peshawar police used tear gas and batons to break up an angry demonstration. More than 100 angry Benazir supporters blocked the main trunk road here, torching billboards and posters of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, before police moved in.

Red alert: The government has also put its paramilitary forces on “red alert” across the country following the violent protests. Reuters also reported disturbances in Multan.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  idiots
Posted by: sinse || 12/28/2007 7:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Give them a state. What, they already have one?
Posted by: Keystone || 12/28/2007 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  #2: Give them a state. What, they already have one?

Pakistanis has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt they are incapable of governing themselves in any orderly manner. It's time to undo the mistake of creating this cesspool. The US and India need to invade, crush the "vaunted" Pak army, capture their nuclear weapons, and divide the country between Afghanistan and India along the Indus River. Force all of India's muslims to move to Afghanistan, including those on the eastern side of the Indus. Afghanistan can then decide what they want to do with this unruly, ungovernable mob. I suggest making them pull up poppy plants from sun-up to sundown, year-round. The US can then clean up the Taliban mess, capture or kill bin Losing and Zawahiri, and kill all their following. It would also put an end to 70% of the false-papers fiasco by eliminating Pakistani passports.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/28/2007 14:31 Comments || Top||


Grenade found in canal kills four
DERA GHAZI KHAN: Four boys, three of them brothers and the other an uncle, were killed on Thursday when a grenade they found by a canal near the central city of Dera Ghazi Khan in the Punjab province exploded, police said. Police said it was unclear why a grenade had been dumped by the canal, but the area is near the border with Balochistan province where militants have been fighting for autonomy for decades.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Hell, I looked for years and couldn't never find me a blasting cap and here these furrin kids find a real-live grenade. Life. It's weird.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 12:04 Comments || Top||

#2  If only your parents had moved to Dera Khan...
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 12:12 Comments || Top||

#3  If only your parents had moved to Dera Khan...

They wuz just recent removed from Perry, which is like that, but ever so much more so with likker and even more guns.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 12:19 Comments || Top||

#4  "Grenade" is vague, On purpose?

Do they mean fresh, or WW2 vintage?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 21:23 Comments || Top||


Iraq
11 Special Groups operatives killed in Al Kut
Posted by: 3dc || 12/28/2007 18:18 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lessee...Iranian Special Forces per Bill Roggio or Mahdi Army "splinter group" per Associated Press?

We report, you decide.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 19:36 Comments || Top||

#2  I like em dead, either way
Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 20:34 Comments || Top||

#3  I have a post hung up someplace. One of these mooks was the 20,000 terrorist killed in Iraq.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 12/28/2007 21:06 Comments || Top||

#4  It's a grim milestone, Chuck./

Let's celebrate! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/28/2007 21:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Chuck, your post is teed up for midnite.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 21:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Tea all around! (Those who wish will find the hard stuff on the sideboard, as usual, with the appropriate small and large glasses. Y'all needn't pour it into teacups.) Trailing daughter #1 will bring out the chocolate-dipped biscuits in a moment.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2007 21:19 Comments || Top||

#7  But y'all can commemorate that grim milestone a bit early if you wish.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 21:20 Comments || Top||

#8  I've got a bottle of good champagne chilling in the fridge for New Year's - AND I've got a good champagne bottle cork (works great for keeping in the fizz without blowing off the cork in the fridge in the middle of the night).

Think I'll drink a celebratory glass tonight - to commemorate the bastards' sudden, well-deserved descent into HELL in memory of the dead, of course.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/28/2007 21:27 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm converting to Mormonism just so I can marry Seafarious. Wife number two, of course.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 12/28/2007 21:33 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm waiting out the celebration for the headline

"Last Terrorist Executed, all peaceful now"
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 21:34 Comments || Top||

#11  Chuck - at AOSHQ - I blew your cover:
#4 Chuck Simmins - Documentarian of the anti-quagmire
Posted by: Frank G at December 28, 2007 07:54 PM (Ydps9)

Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 21:38 Comments || Top||

#12  Have some strawberries to go with that, Barbara. Presumably they were picked before the illegals went home for the holidays. ;-) Where did you get that champagne cork?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2007 21:38 Comments || Top||

#13  Yeah, Frank, I saw that. Anti-quamire, though, reveals powers I choose not to reveal. Expect a black helicopter overhead shortly.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 12/28/2007 22:09 Comments || Top||

#14  When the quagmire meets the anti-quagmire, what do you get? An NPR transmitter melting down? Or maybe Harry Reid's head asplodes.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/28/2007 22:14 Comments || Top||

#15  LOL - CS and Sea! Ima always keepn the head low fer the helicopters, black or not, from Miramar MCAS, which fly overhead
Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 23:34 Comments || Top||

#16  Why, thank you, tw - I love strawberries, and they go so well with the bubbly.

The cork is great (it's not actually made of cork, but is metal with a neoprene-like covering for the bottle opening) - it's hinged so it hooks under the "ring" or "lip" just below the bottle opening, which is what keeps it on the bottle under pressure. I got mine from a catalog years ago, but I've since seen them in places like Bed, Bath & Beyond and Total Wine.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 12/28/2007 23:50 Comments || Top||


Michael Yon: News flash for Osama bin Laden
Here’s a news flash for Osama bin Laden, who earlier today released a call “to guerrilla forces in Mesopotamia

I have directly observed how more and more Iraqis have grown to hate al Qaeda as much as Americans do. Al Qaeda has lost all credibility there, both from a religious standpoint as well as strategically. Even Western media seems to be gradually awakening to the realization that al Qaeda press releases on the topic of Iraq are about as well-informed as the post-invasion rantings of Baghdad Bob. (Everytime Osama bin Laden talks of crushing the infidel, I can’t help but think of Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf pointing vigorously skyward and practically spitting at the reporters: “We are crushing the American army as we speak!”)

Al Qaeda terrorists can continue to murder Iraqis and Americans at the behest of Osama, but their tactics will only backfire. Osama will no more own Iraq than he will own America. His is a lost cause. Not because of decisive military defeats, (although these have helped) but because decent Iraqi people from all quarters, sects and regions of Iraq have had enough of his people cutting off heads of children.

It’s understandable that this turn of events might come as news to Osama, because he cannot set foot in Iraq for fear of his life. Osama is welcome to prove this wrong by visiting Basra, Baghdad or Mosul. Iraqis and Americans will welcome Osama in these cities.
Posted by: Mike || 12/28/2007 16:27 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Again, the Osama I know from the anti-Soviet Afghan war is IRAN-CENTRIC/FOCUSED - where he is specifically concerned, his personal "END TIMES"/
APOCALYPSE BELIEF > ITS NOT OVER UNTIL ISLAM = RADICAL ISLAMISM FIGHTS AND WINS SAME IN IRAN, OR IN THE ALTERN IS PER SE DESTROYED. Until then, the WOT agz USA-West + non/anti-Islam will continue, even after his defeat or death.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2007 18:48 Comments || Top||

#2  ... Or until the War on Poverty is over.
Posted by: doc || 12/28/2007 20:15 Comments || Top||


Iraq arrests seen as break in case of 2 missing US soldiers
It was one of the more chilling attacks on US troops: an ambush on an isolated highway that left four American soldiers and their Iraqi translator dead, and three Americans missing. Seven months later, two of the soldiers have yet to be found, but yesterday the military announced a break in the case that could reveal the fate of the missing men.

A US military statement said two people had been arrested in Ramadi, about 60 miles from the scene of the May 12 attack. Neither of the suspects was identified, but one is alleged to have used his home to hide the captured soldiers, the statement said. A weapon belonging to one of the captured men was found in the home of one of the suspects, the statement added.

Attempts to find the missing soldiers, Specialist Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass., and Private Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich., have proved futile despite a massive dragnet following the attack in an agricultural village along the Euphrates River. Private First Class Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif., also was abducted, but his body was discovered in the river 11 days after the ambush. The four other US troops died when their Humvees were attacked with grenades and gunfire by insurgents lying in wait in the dark.

A Sunni Muslim insurgent group linked to Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack and put out a video showing some of the soldiers' dog tags. In July, the IDs of Fouty and Jimenez were found in a house north of Baghdad. In October, weapons belonging to some of the troops were found in a house a few miles north of the attack site.

The two soldiers are among four US troops listed as missing since the start of the war in March 2003. The Islamic State of Iraq, a front group for Al Qaeda, claimed in an Internet video earlier this year that the three missing soldiers were killed and buried. The militants showed images of the military IDs of Jimenez and Fouty but offered no proof that they were dead.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/28/2007 06:49 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  I'm sure ICRC, AI, and HRW have all filed complaints to the appropriate organizations about the Geneva Convention Rights of these missing soldiers. Just like the NYT has run twenty something front page articles mentioning this situation. /sarcasm off
Posted by: Procopius2k || 12/28/2007 9:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I hope they are in Iraqi custody and the gloves are off.
Posted by: DanNY || 12/28/2007 12:48 Comments || Top||


Iraqi, US forces detain two extremists in Ramadi
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Police and US Special Operations Forces detained two suspected extremists during operations on December 24 and 25 in the city of Ramadi, the Multi-National Force (MNF) on Thursday.

In a press release, the MNF said "the operations were part of a series to capture individuals believed to be involved in the capture of US soldiers earlier this year." The operations were based on intelligence reports linking the two suspects to the May 12 abduction of three US soldiers following an ambush attack near Mahmudiyah. "Reporting indicates that the two suspects have ties to Al-Qaeda in Iraq." One of the suspected terrorists is believed to have facilitated the kidnapping and is reported to have used his residence to aid in the hiding and transport of the captured soldiers, according to the statement.

During a previous operation, a US weapon belonging to one of the abducted soldiers was recovered at a residence of the second suspect.

Both suspects are allegedly involved in terrorist cells responsible for several improvised explosive device and mortar attacks against Iraqi and coalition forces, as well as the kidnapping and murder of Iraqi citizens and members of the Iraqi security forces.

Four other individuals were detained for further questioning during the operations, the MNF statement concluded.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Criminal networks in Kut disrupted, 11 terrorists killed
Update: this story says the 11 deaders were 'Iranian-backed Special Groups'.
(KUNA) -- Coalition forces killed an estimated 11 terrorists during operations targeting special groups of criminal networks early Thursday in Al-Kut, the Multi-National Force said.

In a statement, the MNF said coalition forces were targeting "a 'special groups' criminal element member reportedly responsible for attacks against coalition forces and supporters of coalition forces. The individual was also reportedly an associate of criminal element leaders involved in attacks on coalition forces." It added that when coalition forces approached the target area, they were engaged by terrorists with direct enemy fire from assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades. "Responding in self-defense, coalition forces returned fire, and called for supporting aircraft to engage. The ground force assessed that approximately 11 terrorists were killed during the engagement. No suspects were captured or detained during the operation," it added.

Meanwhile, a Kut police source told KUNA that the armed confrontations took place in the city's Jihad district, but said that only eight people were killed, not 11 as was sighted by the MNF statement.

On its part, the Sadrist Office described the incident as a "heinous crime, " adding that those killed were members of the Sadrist movement and did not belong to "special groups" as the MNF had claimed.
I'd point this incident out to the Sunnis in Iraq as evidence that we're happy to kill any group of bloodthirsty extremists, no matter how they pray.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army

#1  That's an unusually high body count for a "criminal sweep".
Posted by: Mitch H. || 12/28/2007 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2  11 killed, none captured (and none to be released as religious holiday gesture.) Thank you, US supporting aircraft - with armaments that trump assault rifles and grenades.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/28/2007 9:13 Comments || Top||


Coalition forces disrupt al-Qaeda networks in Diyala; 12 killed, 37 detained
(kuna) -- Coalition forces have killed 12 terrorists and detained 37 suspects and freed one hostage during a multi-day operation December 22 to 25 to disrupt al-Qaeda networks near Muqdadiyah in the Diyala River Valley, the US army announced here on Thursday.

Coalition forces returned to an area where recent operations indicated an al-Qaeda in Iraq network was operating. A recent operation resulted in the discovery of nine weapons caches, mass graves and a torture complex (see MNC-I release 20071220-03, "MND-N Soldiers find atrocity site, torture complex and weapons caches," dated Dec. 20, 2007). During the four-day operation, Coalition forces were involved in multiple engagements with groups of armed men, resulting in 12 terrorists killed and 37 suspects detained, it added.

On Sunday, a local citizen led the ground force to what they assessed to be a terrorist medical facility, complete with surgical equipment, numerous medical supplies and medication. Also in the compound, Coalition forces discovered ammunition, maps of the area, and a set of instructions on making improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, it pointed out.

During operations Monday, Coalition forces discovered an al-Qaeda suicide-bomb making facility with numerous bomb-making materials inside. As the ground force cleared the building, they found a man held captive in a locked room, who appeared to have been beaten.

The individual told Coalition forces he was kidnapped a few days prior, beaten, handcuffed and blindfolded. The man was treated on site and transported to a military medical facility for further care. Once able, the individual will be turned over to Iraqi officials for repatriation, it said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Iraq says captures senior al Qaeda figure
The Iraqi army captured a senior al Qaeda militant in a clash south of Baghdad on Thursday, a government security spokesman said. Baghdad security spokesman Qassim al-Moussawi said the militant, Ahmed Turki Abbas, claimed the rank of defense minister of the al Qaeda-linked group Islamic State of Iraq. Moussawi said Abbas was lightly wounded and was in the custody of Iraqi forces after being captured in the clash near the town of Mahmudiya, 30 km south of Baghdad.

Violence in Iraq has declined in recent months after Sunni Arab tribes turned against strict Islamist militants from al Qaeda and related groups. But U.S. commanders say al Qaeda remains a dangerous foe in Iraq.
This article starring:
Islamic State of Iraq
Ahmed Turki AbbasIslamic State of Iraq
Qassim al-Moussawi
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq

#1  Good!
Posted by: 3dc || 12/28/2007 1:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Chuck Norris said: Don't make me swim, you won't like it if I swim, get in the boat.

/Fishing Protip #4 Guides, get the best.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 10:00 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Two killed in shooting attack near Hebron in the West Bank
Two Israelis were shot and killed in an attack in the West Bank on Friday, police said.

The two were near Hebron Mountain, between the settlements Telem and Aduran, west of Hebron when they were shot, according to police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. Rescue services attempted rescuing them on the scene but established their deaths shortly thereafter.
Apparently, IDF is not killing Paleos fast enough
Posted by: Abu Mazen || 12/28/2007 07:15 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs

#1  update
IDF raids Hebron hospital in search of attack perpetrators
A large number of IDF forces raided a Palestinian hospital in Hebron Friday evening, Channel 10 reported. The forces were searching for terrorists wounded during an attack earlier in the day, in which two young Israeli men were killed.

The two were IDF soldiers on leave, Private Ahikam Amihai (20) and Sergeant David Rubin (21). According to Israel Radio, the two were hiking through the hills outside Hebron with another woman when they were approached by a jeep carrying several Palestinian gunmen, who opened fire on them. The woman fled and hid while the other two, who were armed, returned fire.

In the exchanges of fire that ensued, the two managed to hit several of the gunmen before being gunned down themselves. According to Palestinian sources quoted by Army Radio, one of the attackers was killed on the spot while another was seriously wounded and died some time later. Security forces believe that two other gunmen were lightly wounded, the radio station reported.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2007 16:45 Comments || Top||

#2  They got their escort to heaven -- no mere victims, they. Their memories are for a blessing.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2007 17:51 Comments || Top||


Ahmed Qurei's bodyguard killed by IDF
Military: Not first instance that an official in the PA security forces is involved in terrorist activity.
Everybody, but miz Rice, knows this!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2007 06:32 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Al-Muhajiroun


IAF missile strike kills central Gaza's Islamic Jihad leader
  • 2 others reported dead in attack;
  • IDF kills 5 Paleostinian gunmen
  • Teevee footage shows projectile narrowly missing IAF helicopter
An IDF spokesman confirmed the strike on Muhammad Abu Abdullah, who he said was a senior operative in charge of manufacturing Kassam rockets and explosives.
This article starring:
MUHAMAD ABU ABDULLAHIslamic Jihad
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seven Palestinian terrorists were killed in several incidents in the Gaza Strip.

Ha great read.. this makes up a little for yesterday's bummer...
In fact it along with sum grog warms the cockles of me heart... ahh feelin almost human again.
Posted by: RD || 12/28/2007 3:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Update.
Score is up to eight for the day.
Posted by: Gromomble Oppressor of the Iowans8916 || 12/28/2007 6:25 Comments || Top||

#3  possibly because of religious sentiment, I think the Islamic Jihad and Hamas tend to get a bit less cautious on Friday; thus it seems to me that the IDF has its best kills on this day

Posted by: mhw || 12/28/2007 8:19 Comments || Top||


Israel allows Palestinian Authority to import 50 APCs from Russia
The Palestinian Authority on Thursday said Israel has approved its request to import 50 armored personnel carriers (APCs) from Russia, Army Radio reported. The approval was given after the Palestinians backed down from their demand to mount automatic rifles on the vehicles, the PA said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority

#1  wait for it...

someday soon hellfires will begin melting these tin cans like sparklers!
Posted by: RD || 12/28/2007 3:35 Comments || Top||

#2  When the time comes the IDF won't waste a HellFire on those suckers, just a few rounds from the chain gun.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 4:25 Comments || Top||

#3  The approval was given after the Palestinians backed down from their demand to mount automatic rifles on the vehicles, the PA said.

Idiot reporter: they probably wanted to mount the usual machine guns on them.

I don't like this one bit: watch for the PA to "lose" control of several of them, which will wind up in terror attacks on the border crossings.
Posted by: Ptah || 12/28/2007 7:31 Comments || Top||

#4  A LAW or some other cheap anti-tank weapon makes really, really short work of these things. Look for border crossing areas to have them soon.
Posted by: DarthVader || 12/28/2007 7:41 Comments || Top||

#5  we don't have money for food but we'll take some APCs
Posted by: sinse || 12/28/2007 8:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Perhaps this mean they'll stop using Red Thingy Wagons for transporting their 'fighters' around between 'martyrdom operations'.
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 12/28/2007 12:05 Comments || Top||

#7  WAFF.com > MEMRI - MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD[Egypt]:WE ARE READY/PREPARED TO SEND 10,000 MEN TO PALESTINE, plus any and all Arab/Muslim countries under threat or occupation from infidels, unbelievers, etc. ; + HAMAS: BETWEEN LIBERATING PALESTINE AND RESTORING THE GLOBAL ISLAMIC CALIPHATE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2007 19:54 Comments || Top||

#8  #6: Perhaps this mean they'll stop using Red Thingy Wagons for transporting their 'fighters' around

No, they'll just paint a red thingy on the sides and lie that now they're "Ambulances".

Won't matter, they explode nicely, red thingy or not.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/28/2007 21:17 Comments || Top||


Qassam activist dies while digging border tunnel
(KUNA) -- Ezzidin Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on Thursday declared death of an activist late on Wednesday while digging an underground tunnel at a border location.

In a statement, the brigades identified the Palestinian as 24-year-old Mohammed Thaheer, adding that he lost his life when a tunnel he was digging, along with other activists in the border town of Rafah, collapsed. The deadly accident coincided with a war of words between Egypt and Israel over the clandestine border tunnels, through which the Palestinians reportedly smuggle arms and other items. Israel charges Cairo is not doing enough to stop smuggling to the Hamas-controlled Gaza through these tunnels.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Alert the local earthworms. Good eatin' tonight!
Posted by: BigEd || 12/28/2007 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Thank you Haliburton and Philadelphi Highway Tamping Equipment Operators Local 1268.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/28/2007 0:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Stick to what you know.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2007 5:41 Comments || Top||

#4  His first tunnel was the Big Dig...
Posted by: Raj || 12/28/2007 7:54 Comments || Top||

#5  A diplomaed graduate of the Insh'allah school of civil engineering.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/28/2007 11:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Awwwwwww, too bad, Mo. Maybe the Izzy Brigade will name one of the rest stops after ya when they dig the new one?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/28/2007 11:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Light waits, all of 'em.
Posted by: Willaim Dickes (ret) || 12/28/2007 12:15 Comments || Top||

#8  The earthworms were Mossad agents.
Posted by: Mike || 12/28/2007 17:18 Comments || Top||


Israeli drone aircraft bombs car in Buraih refugee camp, killing two
(KUNA) -- Two Palestinians were killed and a number of others were wounded in an Israeli air strike targeting a car in Buraih camp in central Gaza, eyewitnesses said on Thursday. They indicated that an Israeli drone aircraft fired three missiles at a civilian car, which led to the killing of two fighters from the Al-Quds Brigades and the wounding of another. They were passengers in the car. The body of one of the fighters was identified as that of Muhammad Hassanein.

Earlier, three other fighters from Al-Quds Brigades were also killed and nine others injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted a gathering of Palestinian fighters in Khan Yunis. This Israeli escalation came less than two hours after the meeting that brought together President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a house in Jerusalem where they both agreed not to carry out any steps that would prejudice final status negotiations.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad

#1  Israeli drone aircraft

The Jewish answer to Islamic suicide boomer.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/28/2007 6:41 Comments || Top||

#2  fired three missiles at a civilian car, which led to the killing of two fighters from the Al-Quds Brigades and the wounding of another

"civilian car" with "fighters" -- at what point is it no longer a "civilian car?"
Posted by: PlanetDan || 12/28/2007 8:57 Comments || Top||

#3  PD, it's only a non-civilian car when there are Jooos in it, like a young mother and her children.
Posted by: Titus Hayes || 12/28/2007 10:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Speaking of "drone aircraft", DEFENSETECH/OTHER had reported that the USA intends to dev LR AEW, etc. and related UAVS - JSTARS, GSTARS, etal. comair days are numbered.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2007 18:56 Comments || Top||

#5  HAARETZ TV > ISRAELI AIR FORCE: TRAINING FOR SYRIA. IAF raises/ heightens alert levels and training agz potential Syrian air attack.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/28/2007 20:26 Comments || Top||


Israeli forces kill 7 Gaza gunmen in raid
Israeli tanks and troops backed by helicopter gunships raided the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing at least seven Palestinian gunmen, militant sources and hospital officials said.

They said Israeli forces operating east of Maghazi refugee camp, a few hundred metres (yards) in from Gaza's boundary fence, exchanged fire with gunmen. Four of the dead were Islamic Jihad militants and three belonged Hamas, the groups said. Several other Palestinians, including a 7-year-old boy and a Reuters Television sound operator, Nihad Odehtallah, were wounded.

An Israeli military spokesman described the raid as "a routine operation against terrorist threats" and said troops shot at least seven armed Palestinians. One Israeli soldier was severely wounded in the clashes, the army said.

Odehtallah was taken to hospital with a bullet wound to his left thigh and was sent home after treatment. "The bullet went in and out. There was no fracture or vascular injury," said a doctor at the facility.

Odehtallah said he and other journalists were near an ambulance when gunfire erupted. "I didn't see who shot me. I couldn't identify who was firing," he said.

Asked about the incident, a military spokeswoman said: "We received the report of the soundman who was injured in the area where Israeli forces and terror groups exchanged fire. If there had been a shooting, at this stage we are unable to determine its source. We emphasise that it happened in a battle zone."

Israel stepped up ground and air operations this week against Islamic Jihad, which has spearheaded cross-border rocket attacks from Gaza. Three rockets were launched against the Israeli border town of Sderot on Thursday, one of them landing 40 metres (yards) from a school, police said. Ten pupils were treated for shock. Hamas said it fired 21 mortar bombs at Israeli border posts. There were no reports of casualties from those attacks.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Odehtallah said he and other journalists were near an ambulance when gunfire erupted. "I didn't see who shot me. I couldn't identify who was firing," he said.

hint: a Red Thingy Rifle (and Arms Transport) Team
Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 6:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like ZOG is slowly turning up the opression machine. Looks like about 3 dB.

No, I reall don't know what opression is measured in or with. However, there's engineers and machinists and programmers all over this blog.

Maybe it's like Humiliation/Giveashits
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/28/2007 12:33 Comments || Top||


Israel captures Islamic Jihad members in West Bank
NABLUS: Israeli troops captured two top members of the Islamic Jihad militant group in raids in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said. Israeli troops arrested an Islamic Jihad leader, identified as Mohammad Assayda, near the West Bank city of Nablus, the militant group said. Assayda, who was released from Israeli jail in September, is a lecturer at al-Najah University. Islamic Jihad militant Samer al-Saadi was captured in a separate raid in a refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a Palestinian security officer said. The Israeli army had no immediate comment.
This article starring:
MOHAMAD ASAIDAIslamic Jihad
SAMER AL SAADIIslamic Jihad
Islamic Jihad
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad


Southeast Asia
20 teachers killed in southern Thailand this year
There were more attacks on schools and teachers in the restive South in the past year than in the previous three years, with almost 150 schools burned down and more than 20 teachers killed, according to an official report released yesterday.

Twenty-six educational personnel were killed and 22 injured. These include 15 male and six female teachers and five school staff members. ''The record shows that the number of schools and education officials attacked is higher than in the previous years,'' said Mr Karun.

The latest cases of arson at schools happened on Tuesday and Wednesday when terrorists insurgents burned down four schools in Pattani and Yala provinces. As the annual report on the southern jihad's insurgency's impact on schools and educational personnel was released, teachers in the South continue to be targeted by terrorists insurgents, leading to the closure of more than 10 schools in Pattani yesterday.

Ya Arsae, the acting headmaster of Ban Mako school in Kapho district, said he received a phone call from an unidentified person threatening to bomb the school and attack the teachers if he did not suspend classes. ''At least 10 school headmasters in the province have received similar threats so we decided to temporary close the schools for the kids and teachers' safety,'' said Mr Ya. Classes may be resumed after the New Year holidays next week, he added.

Mr Ya said teachers in Pattani were living in fear after security officers arrested suspects implicated in the killings of three officers in a teacher protection unit in front of Ban Mako school earlier this week. ''We are afraid that the terrorists insurgents will attack us to avenge the arrest of their friends,'' he said.

Meanwhile, Narathiwat police arrested a suspected member of the Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) terrorist separatist group in Rueso district yesterday. Yako Maree was taken for further questioning to Ingkhayutthaboriharn military camp in Pattani's Nong Chik district after security forces found several items used in terrorist insurgency attacks in his house. Among the items found were four handguns, a walkie-talkie radio antenna and bomb-making devices, officers said. Mr Yako, however, denied any involvement with the terrorist insurgent group.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/28/2007 06:07 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency

#1  Note that nowhere in this article does the author mention that these are attacks by fanatic Muslims on infidels. Note also that the author's first name is Muhamad.
Posted by: Gazoo || 12/28/2007 9:33 Comments || Top||

#2  To keep the people enslaved it is best to keep them uneducated. With this historically accurate statement in mind, think again about the state of the public education system in the US.
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/28/2007 9:44 Comments || Top||


One policeman, two terrorists dead in southern Thailand
Three people, including a policeman, were shot dead as terrorists militants ambushed a police car in Thailand's restive Muslim-majority south on Friday, police said.

Suspected Islamic terrorists rebels killed a 30-year-old police sergeant after a 15-minute gunfight in Narathiwat, one of three jihad insurgency-torn provinces bordering Malaysia, they said. The terrorists militants fled but later returned, after officers had set up a cordon, and began shooting again.

Police killed two terrorists rebels in the second gunfight.
Posted by: ryuge || 12/28/2007 05:46 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Sri Lanka
Commandos help free Sri Lankan minister
Commandos rescued a Sri Lankan minister held in an office by state-run TV staff on Thursday who were angered by his bodyguards’ assault on a journalist in a drama broadcast live nationwide.

An anti-hijacking and hostage rescue squad was deployed at the Rupavahini state television network to free Labour Minister Mervin Silva, who had allegedly stormed the studios with bodyguards and attacked journalists, officials said.

Unedited footage broadcast live over the state television channel showed army officers and police escorting Silva out of the usually tightly guarded building located within a high security zone of Colombo. Police anti-riot squads were moved to the station while heavily armed commandos dressed in body armour and wearing hard hats moved in to the premises while unarmed officers rescued the minister amid jeering by rebellious staff.

“The minister is being held in an office by the staff”, the television said earlier in a statement broadcast while interrupting regular programming.

The minister, bleeding from his forehead, was escorted out after being held for more than two-and-a-half hours. The station said the high drama was a “tremendous victory” for media in the country. Minister Silva was forced to apologise to the staff in the presence of an army of cameramen and press photographers while one bodyguard, who was erroneously identified by an anchor as his son, made similar pleas for mercy.

Police announced over the television that they “arrested” those who had taken part in the alleged assault and urged employees to remain calm.

Silva has been accused of storming into private media outlets and abusing journalists in the past while his son had earlier been ordered by a court to stay away from night clubs after several brawls.

A local rights group, the Free Media Movement (FMM), said the shocking images on state television showed the arrogance of politicians as well as the decline in public confidence in law and order. “The minister had obviously thought that the state media is their personal property and must broadcast whatever they say”, an FMM spokesman said. “The action of the journalists in ‘detaining’ the minister shows they have no confidence in the police”.

Police and politicians were shouted down as media minister Lakshman Yapa tried to pacify the employees. Yapa condemned Silva’s storming the station and apparently assaulting journalists.

The state television said Silva had taken exception to the station not broadcasting a speech he made at a public rally attended by President Mahinda Rajapakse in the south of the island on Wednesday.

Rupavahini’s unprecedented live coverage of the minister’s detention was the first such unrest at the station since its inception in 1982.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Brick killed a guy. Did you throw a trident?"
"Yeah, there were horses, and a man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident. ..."
Posted by: Frank G || 12/28/2007 6:47 Comments || Top||


Sri Lankan fighter jets destroy Tamil Tiger's naval base
Sri Lankan jets bombed and destroyed a northern Tamil Tiger naval base on Thursday, the military said, a day after a fierce sea battle that killed up to 52 rebels and navy sailors.

The bombing raid by MiGs and Israeli-made Kfir jets is the latest in a series of air strikes in recent months as President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government seeks to destroy the Tigers militarily to end a new chapter in a 25-year civil war. “They hit a Sea Tiger special training base in Mullaittivu. They say it was completely destroyed”, said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the raid, and instead sent an email situation report saying they had thwarted an army bid to infiltrate their defence line in the Jaffna peninsula. They said they had killed one soldier in the incident. They made no mention of the air force bombing sortie.

As always, there was no independent account of what happened or what the fighter jets hit.

Four killed: In separate incidents, four civilians, including a 10-year-old child, were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the northern district of Vavuniya, which the military blamed on the Tigers. An elite commando was killed when a mine strapped to a bicycle exploded in the eastern district of Batticaloa.

The air force raid came a day after navy attack boats battled a flotilla of Tamil Tiger vessels off the island’s northwest tip, destroying 11 rebel craft and killing an estimated 40 insurgents, the military said. Eleven navy sailors were missing and presumed dead. A dozen navy fast-attack craft sank four of the rebel vessels, helicopter gunships and fighter jets sank another five, and two rebel suicide vessels were destroyed when they rammed a navy boat that was badly damaged.

“The body of one (dead) sailor was found and 11 are missing, presumed dead”, Nanayakkara said. Two other sailors who were on board the damaged vessel were rescued unharmed, he added.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said late on Wednesday they sank one navy attack boat and badly damaged another. They said four of their suicide fighters died in the clash.
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/28/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd like to get under that mistletoe.
Posted by: Skunky Angeack7024 || 12/28/2007 13:42 Comments || Top||

#2  [Sweta-Zinok has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: Sweta-Zinok || 12/28/2007 13:49 Comments || Top||

#3  [Sweta-Zinok has been pooplisted.]
Posted by: Sweta-Zinok || 12/28/2007 13:54 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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3Hamas
3Taliban
2Iraqi Insurgency
2Islamic Jihad
2Govt of Sudan
2Global Jihad
2al-Qaeda in Iraq
2Palestinian Authority
2Thai Insurgency
2Hezbollah
1al-Qaeda
1Al-Muhajiroun
1Govt of Syria
1al-Aqsa Martyrs
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1Mahdi Army
1al-Qaeda in Europe

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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2007-12-28
  Bhutto's assassination triggers riots
Thu 2007-12-27
  Benazir Bhutto killed by suicide bomber
Wed 2007-12-26
  15-year-old bomber stopped at Bhutto rally
Tue 2007-12-25
  Government amends Lebanon constitution for presidential election
Mon 2007-12-24
  Hindu nationalists win Indian election
Sun 2007-12-23
  Somalia Islamic movement appoints new leadership
Sat 2007-12-22
  Paks raid madrassah after mosque boom
Fri 2007-12-21
  France Detains Five Men In Connection With Algeria Bombing
Thu 2007-12-20
  Hamas leader appeals for truce with Israel
Wed 2007-12-19
  Turkey's military confirms ground incursion; claims heavy PKK losses
Tue 2007-12-18
  Turkish Army Sends Soldiers Into Iraq
Mon 2007-12-17
  Paks form team to rearrest Rashid Rauf
Sun 2007-12-16
  Kabul cop shoppe boomed, 5 dead
Sat 2007-12-15
  Mehsud to head Taliban Movement of Pakistan
Fri 2007-12-14
  Khamenei appoints Qassem as Hezbollah military commander

Better than the average link...



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