Algerian soldiers surrounded several Islamic militants, possibly including the leader of al-Qaeda's North African wing, in a mountainous region east of the country's capital, Reuters reported, citing local media.
Is that 'surrounded' Saoodi style?
Abdelmalek Droudkel, leader of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, may be among the rebels besieged by troops for more than a week in the Kabylie region, the news agency said. As many as 10,000 soldiers, backed by helicopters, are taking part in the operation, according to the report. The Kabylie region is the main base for the organization, which changed its name from the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat in January last year, Reuters said.
The group has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including twin suicide bombings that targeted United Nations offices and a court building in Algiers in December, killing 41 people, 17 of them UN workers, according to the report. The Maghreb is the Arabic name for the North African countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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A top commander of Colombia's left-wing guerrillas, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (Farc), has been killed, the government says.
Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos told reporters Raul Reyes had been killed in combat. He died with other rebels during an attack on the town of Tetey, local radio reported. Also known as Luis Edgar Devia, Reyes was one of seven members of Farc's secretariat, and the group's spokesman.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has received billions of dollars in aid to fight the rebels from the US administration, which along with the EU views Farc as a terrorist organisation. While Colombian troops have recently retaken control of areas previously held by rebel groups, the rebels retain a strong hold over Colombia's more remote regions.
Despite recent hostage releases brokered by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, scores of hostages - including the French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt - are still being held by the rebel group.
Eight suspected militants, four of them Arabs and two from Central Asian states, were killed and three others wounded in a missile attack on a house in Kalosha area of South Waziristan after Wednesday midnight.
Sources said that the militants belonged to the Abu Hamza group whose leader was said to be a follower of local militant commander Maulvi Nazir. Maulvi Nazir won governments support after launching an armed campaign against Uzbek militants in the Ahmadzai Wazir area in April last year.
Local people said they heard three loud explosions at about 2am and found the compound destroyed. They said three Turkmen occupants of the compound had been injured in the attack. They believed that missiles fired from Afghanistan might have caused the explosions.
The house belonged to one Shero Wazir of the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe who had rented it out to an Arab. An official of the political administration said four Arabs, two Turkmens and two people hailing from Punjab had been killed in the air strike. The sources said the bodies were charred and it was difficult to identify them. They were buried in a graveyard in Kalosha.
A large number of Arabs and other foreigners had been living and doing business in the area for years with local tribal names, the sources said.
A spokesman for Maulvi Nazir denied the killing of Arabs or Turkmens in the attack and said that some Afghans had died. They were common Afghans and had been living in the area for a few years. He claimed that missiles had been fired from Afghanistan.
Senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Laith Al Libi was reported to have been killed in a similar missile attack in Mirali, North Waziristan, on Jan 29. US media reported last week that the Bush administration had reached an agreement with Pakistan to step up secret air strikes on targets in Pakistan.
AFP adds: Residents of Azam Warsak said the house was blown up by a missile fired from a drone and the blast was heard miles away in the valley. There was no immediate information about the presence of any high-value target, an official said.
Four unknown guests had arrived late on Wednesday at the house.
Armed militants cordoned off the site after the missile strike, residents said. They said four unknown guests had arrived late on Wednesday at the house. A spokesman for the US-led coalition force based in Afghanistan said it had no reports that either it or the Nato-headed force was involved in the strike.
Pakistans chief military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas told AFP that information from the area indicated the deaths were caused by explosive material stored in the house. As per our information it was an explosion caused by explosive material in a house, he said, adding that the blast reportedly killed 10 to 12 people. Their nationalities were not known, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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The police on Friday arrested a man suspected of involvement in a number of terrorist activities, including a suicide attack on former federal interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, a police official said. Police took the suspected militant named Dawood, an Afghan national, into custody after they found him lying unconscious in sugarcane fields, Charsadda District Police Officer (DPO) Feroz Shah Khan told reporters.
Elaborating the backdrop to the arrest, Khan said extremists attacked a police checkpost here on Thursday night. Two militants were killed in the crossfire that ensued, while two others managed to get away.
Extremists got stuck in no-man's land? Or another kind of Crossfire?
On Friday morning, police made the arrest after receiving a tip that an injured man was lying unconscious in some sugarcane fields. Police personnel took Dawood into custody and shifted him to Charsadda hospital, said Khan. A heavy police contingent had been deployed outside the hospital, he added.
The DPO said Dawood was suspected of involvement in a number of terrorist activities, including the suicide attack on Sherpao and target killing in Charsadda. An Afghan Foreign Ministry service card was among the cards found in Dawoods possession, he added.
This article starring:
Dawood
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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At least two people were killed and three others injured on Friday in a clash between unidentified kidnappers, security personnel and tribesmen in Khyber Agencys Jamrud tehsil .
The kidnappers abducted Malik Gul Shah Kokikhel from the Jamrud tehsil when he was going to attend a wedding. However, Guls tribesmen got them in the Zawarkhel area. In an exchange of fire between the kidnappers, FC personnel, khasadars (tribal police) and Guls supporters, two people - Khitab and Sameen were killed and three injured. The kidnappers managed to escape after freeing Gul.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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At least 38 people were killed and 50 wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday during the funeral of a DSP who was killed earlier in the day. According to AFP, nearly 1,000 people were attending the funeral in Swats Mingora town. Reuters quoted the number as 500, adding that most of the casualties were policemen.
The policeman being buried was one of four killed earlier in the day when their van struck a roadside bomb in Lakki Marwat. Police officer Noor Aslam said Lakki DSP Javed Iqbals vehicle was targeted when he was travelling to his office. The blast killed Iqbal, a guard and his driver instantly. Another two guards were hospitalised but one of them died later in the day.
More than 50: Muhammad Khan, a doctor at a Saidu Sharif hospital, said 34 bodies had been received and more than 50 people were being treated for wounds. But intelligence officials said the death toll was at least 38. People coming from the blast site say that human limbs were scattered on blood-soaked ground, said hospital official Khaleeq Khan.
More deaths: Three police officials and a son and a cousin of the martyred police official were also killed, said a senior security official. Mingora SHO Habib Zaman and the Malookabad Union Council Nazim Habiullah also died in the blast. NNI reported that area residents started evacuating following the blast.
Condemnation: President Pervez Musharraf strongly condemned the attack, saying it would not dent the governments resolve to fight terrorism and extremism. While no group has claimed responsibility for the blast, authorities suspect local militants are responsible.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TNSM
#2
I remember back when guys named "Seymour" got their ass kicked regularly just for that. Apparently that chip on the shoulder has been returned via lies, propaganda, and innuendo....consider his track record (sucks), and whtehr "journalist" shoudl still apply. "Bitter Left Loser" is probably more accurate
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2008 18:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
of course, you could also evaluate whether a moron who types poorly/too fast, and eschews preview, should be an influence. YMMV
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2008 18:43 Comments ||
Top||
US forces have detained the suspected leader of a cell recruiting female suicide bombers in the restive province of Diyala northeast of Baghdad, the military said today. The suspected militant was detained north of Khan Beni Sad in the province where a series of suicide bombings have been launched by women bombers.
"The cell leader used his wife and another woman to act as carriers of his next suicide vest attack. Coalition forces stopped their plans,'' the military said. "High level intelligence led to the successful operation,'' it added.
Diyala is one of the most dangerous regions in Iraq. US officials state claim al-Qaeda has unleased a wave of terrorist violence there, requiring forcing the military to launch carefully targeted massive sweeps across the province.
Five suspected militants were killed and 22 detained in raids in central and northern Iraq targeting al-Qaida in Iraq, the US military said Friday. The five were killed Friday east of Khan Bani Sad, located about 35 kilometers north of Baghdad, during an exchange of fire between troops and the suspects, according to a statement. An Iraqi child was wounded during the incident and was taken to a nearby medical facility, the military said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
BAGHDAD (AP) Gunmen kidnapped a Chaldean Catholic archbishop Friday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police and the church said, in another attack targeting Iraq's small Christian community. The gunmen killed three people who were with Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho after he ended a Mass at a nearby church, said Iraqi Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul Sattar, a spokesman for the Ninevah province police.
An aide to Iraq's Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, leader of the church, said he did not know who was behind the kidnapping of the 65-year-old archbishop.
"We pray for his release as soon as possible," said Archbishop Andreos Abouna. "This act of abduction against a Christian clergy member will increase our fears and worries about the situation of Christians in Iraq."
The Chaldean church is an Eastern-rite denomination that recognizes the authority of the pope and is aligned with Rome.
The Vatican said in a statement the fact that the gunmen knew Rahho had been celebrating a religious rite indicated the kidnapping was premeditated. Pope Benedict XVI asked the church "to unite in fervent prayer so that reason and humanity prevail among the authors of the kidnapping, and that Monsignor Rahho is returned quickly to the care of his flock," the statement said.
Rabban al-Qas, the bishop of the northern Iraqi cities of Irbil and Amadiyah, said the church was especially concerned because Rahho has health problems. He did not elaborate. "This abduction is one in the series of kidnappings carried out by terrorist groups against the Christians," al-Qas said.
Last year's International Religious Freedom Report from the U.S. State Department noted that Chaldean Catholics comprise a tiny minority of the Iraqi population, but are the largest group among the less than 1 million Christians in mostly Muslim Iraq.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Iraqi Christians have been targeted by Islamic extremists who label them "crusaders" loyal to U.S. troops. Churches, priests and business owned by Christians have been attacked by Islamic militants and many have fled the country.
Last June, the pope expressed deep concern about the plight of Christians caught in the deadly sectarian crossfire in Iraq and pressed President Bush in a meeting to keep their safety in mind. "Particularly in Iraq, Christian families and communities are feeling increasing pressure from insecurity, aggression and a sense of abandonment," Benedict said at the time.
Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also pledged last fall to protect and support the Christian minority.
Though most of Iraq has witnessed a decrease of violence over the past six months, the U.S. military regards Mosul as the last urban stronghold of al-Qaida in Iraq, and is engaged in a campaign with Iraqi forces to root out extremists from the city 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
In an interview with AsiaNews, a Vatican-affiliated missionary news agency, in November, Rahho said the situation in Mosul was not improving and "religious persecution is more noticeable than elsewhere because the city is split along religious lines."
"Everyone is suffering from this war irrespective of religious affiliation, but in Mosul Christians face starker choices," he told the news agency.
Israeli troops backed by tanks and aircraft went after Gaza militants who bombarded southern Israel with rockets and mortars Saturday, killing 46 Palestinians in the deadliest day in Gaza since Islamic Hamas militants seized control in June.
As many as two dozen civilians died in the fighting, including at least two babies and two other children. Two Israel soldiers were also killed. Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said 160 people were wounded and 14 were in critical condition.
The intense battles pushed the Palestinian death toll to 76 since fighting flared Wednesday. About 40 of them were civilians. Palestinians leaders called the killings "genocide" and threatened to call off peace talks with Israel.
"We tell the world, watch and judge what's happening, and judge who is committing ... terrorism," said ineffectual Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
We'll start with those rockets coming into Sderot, Abby baby.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said Palestinian leaders including Abbas recommended suspending peace talks at a meeting Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah. "I think it will be suspended," Qureia said. "What is happening in Gaza is a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing, genocide," Qureia added. "We can't bear what the Israelis are doing, and what the Israelis are doing doesn't led the peace process any credibility."
What you're doing to the Israelis isn't helping any either, but few people seem to point that out.
In Syria, cowardly exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal described Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza as "the real Holocaust."
Israeli officials met Saturday to discuss the Gaza violence and its implications for peacemaking. Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said talks didn't preclude fighting. Talks are "based on the understanding that when advancing the peace process with pragmatic (Palestinian) sources, Israel will continue to fight terror that hurts its people," he said.
This is a carrot, and this is a really big stick ...
#3
According to Palestinian sources, at least 16 of those killed were civilians, including a baby reported to have been struck when a Palestinian rocket misfired, as well as two teenagers.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/01/2008 18:07 Comments ||
Top||
#5
In Syria, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal described Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza as "the real Holocaust."
Getting lotsa incoming in Damascus are ya, Khaled?
"If (Israeli officials) decided stupidly to invade Gaza, we will fight them with God's help," Mashaal told reporters from his base in Damascus. "We will fight them like lions."
To the last drop of fine French wine!
"We". Yeah, right...
#8
I hope Olmert is through with half measures, and continues to keep the HamASS leadership under constant deadly pressure...
no matter how many babies and black cloaked whimmin the H'ass appaRAT gathers as shields.
Palestinians threatened Saturday to call off peace talks with Israel after 33 Gazans, at least half of them civilians, were killed in violence that escalated sharply during the day. "at least half" = "the lower half"
The death toll climbed as Israeli troops, backed by tanks and aircraft, went after Palestinian militants who fired 40 rockets and mortars at southern Israeli communities near Gaza. cause/effect unclear?
Chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia said Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, recommended suspending peace talks at a meeting Saturday in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Go ahead, they weren't doing anything anyway
"I think it will be suspended," Qureia said. "What is happening in Gaza is a massacre of civilians, women and children, a collective killing, genocide," Qureia added. "We can't bear what the Israelis are doing, and what the Israelis are doing doesn't led the peace process any credibility." Only a Paleo can say that without losing his lips
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/01/2008 10:09 ||
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A year-old Palestinian girl and a senior Hamas bombmaker were killed in the Gaza Strip on Friday as Israel pressed home air strikes after a senior official warned Gazans they risked a "shoah" if rocket fire did not stop.
With the Palestinian death toll at 35 in three days, aides insisted the deputy defence minister used the Hebrew word not in its common meaning of holocaust but only as a term for disaster. But the strength of his language reflected mounting anger after an Israeli was killed by a rocket on Wednesday and the government debated whether to mount a major ground offensive.
Hamas, which organised rallies in Gaza, held the comment up as proof their enemies in the Jewish state were the "new Nazis".
Friday saw fewer air strikes. One, which the army said had targeted a rocket team, killed Eyad al-Ashram. Hamas said he was one of the Islamist group's senior munitions experts, involved in what it said was a total of 208 rockets fired in February.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
03/01/2008 6:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I've got a better idea. Turn it into a nature reserve dedicated to researching climate change. It might get the Lefties on side and it will be a more a more productive use of the land than currently.
#3
Go "Roman" on them.... but I know that will never happen...
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/01/2008 14:23 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Once again let me suggest "land for peace", but with the meaning that the Israelis take some Paleo land, and unless the Paleos are peaceful, they take more.
Eventually, no matter what else happens, with that technique, either the Paleos would stop with the violence or be shouldered out entirely.
Israel recently foiled a terror attack on the Dimona nuclear reactor, a Kuwaiti newspaper quoted British sources as saying Friday. According to the paper, Al Jarida, Israeli security forces arrested a senior employee at the plant after they uncovered a plot to blow up one of the heaters at the facility. According to the British sources, the worker, who was only identified as Moshe, is also suspected of leaking information about the reactor to foreign sources.
Moshe's family, who had no idea about his arrest, reportedly believed that he was on a secret training exercise abroad. The sources claimed that the suspect would soon be served an indictment in an Israeli court, adding that the case was even more severe than that of nuclear whistleblower Mordehai Vanunu. A security official denied the report, telling Israel Radio that it was "totally unfounded."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Palestinian sources early Saturday said two men were killed and ten were wounded by IDF fire at the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. According to the report, IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire in the area. Earlier, a 13-month-old Gaza girl was killed by flying shrapnel.
Hamas said Malak Karfaneh and three other civilians were killed in an Israeli strike on Beit Hanoun. But local residents said one of those rockets fell short and landed in the area of the baby's house.
The IDF, which sent troops, tanks and aircraft after Gaza rocket squads on Friday, said it only attacks rocket-launching operations, but noted that terrorists sometimes operate within civilian areas.
Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told Army Radio that Israel had "no other choice" but to launch a massive military operation in Gaza. "We will use all our strength in every way we deem appropriate, whether in air strikes or on the ground," Vilnai said.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, dismissed Vilnai's comments, saying: "We are not afraid of these threats."
The IDF has notified the government it is ready to launch a major ground offensive as soon as it is ordered to do so, defense officials said. Nothing is expected for the next week or two, in part because the military prefers to wait for clearer weather, they added.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Israel to stop all attacks in Gaza and urged Palestinians to halt the rocket fire. "It is in the interest of the Palestinian people not to give Israel any pretext to continue its aggressions," a statement from his office said.
US State Department spokesman Tom Casey denounced Hamas' rocket attacks as "completely unacceptable" and demanded they stop. He also said the US regularly urges Israel to consider the consequences of its actions and to pay careful attention to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people.
Earlier, A relatively quiet Friday morning in Sderot was shattered at midday when a Kassam rocket fired from Gaza hit a house as a family was eating lunch. Four people were reported suffering from shock after the rocket slammed into a room adjacent to where the family was dining.
A total of 16 rockets have been fired at southern Israel since Friday morning. Most landed in open areas, causing no wounded or damage. Hamas's armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, claimed responsibility for firing five rockets at Israel, one of which misfired, injuring five Gazans.
In addition, Palestinian medical officials said that nine Palestinians were wounded in four separate IAF strikes in northern Gaza, adding that among the wounded were two young boys, aged five and six. The army said that it targeted rocket launching sites in Beit Lahiya and Jabalya.
Overnight Thursday, IDF Givat Brigade troops, backed up by tanks, struck at two terror cells during routine counter-terror operations in northern Gaza. The IDF reported hits on both of the cells.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has postponed his upcoming trip to Israel, planned for the middle of next week. Suleiman informed Defense Minister Ehud Barak of his decision on Friday morning. Jerusalem officials estimated that the reason for the postponement was the escalation in the Gaza Strip and also cited Suleiman's concerns that the IDF is about to embark on a large-scale operation in the territory. Cairo is trying to arrange anther date for the trip, Israel Radio reported.
Barak explained the state of affairs to Britain, Russia and the US and told their respective foreign ministers that if the Gaza situation deteriorates further, Hamas will be responsible for the consequences.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#2
Same here, phil_b. The Comments are very intresting in their anti-jewish content though. A primr example of people believing what they want and ignoring the truth.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/01/2008 9:23 Comments ||
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New TV has reported that more than 40 RPG 7 missiles were fired in addition to hundreds of rifles to celebrate the interview of Lebanon's speaker Nabih Berri with ANB TV resulting in several injuries and property damage. The shooting took place in Beirut suburbs, Khaldeh, Zahrani, and Baalbek District.
Many citizens complained about property damages resulting from the shooting. Current estimate is minimum 4 wounded according to New TV
Posted by: Fred ||
03/01/2008 00:00 ||
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[9 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
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.
A top commander of Colombia's left-wing guerrillas, the Revolutionary Armed 
At least two people were killed and three others injured on Friday in a clash between unidentified kidnappers, security personnel and tribesmen in Khyber Agencys Jamrud tehsil .
US forces have detained the suspected leader of a cell recruiting female suicide bombers in the restive province of Diyala northeast of Baghdad, the military said today. The suspected militant was detained north of Khan Beni Sad in the province where a series of suicide bombings have been launched by women bombers.
BAGHDAD (AP) Gunmen kidnapped a Chaldean Catholic archbishop Friday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, police and the church said, in another attack targeting Iraq's small Christian community. The gunmen killed three people who were with Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho after he ended a Mass at a nearby church, said Iraqi Brig. Gen. Khalid Abdul Sattar, a spokesman for the Ninevah province police.
Israeli troops backed by tanks and aircraft went after Gaza militants who bombarded southern Israel with rockets and mortars Saturday, killing 46 Palestinians in the deadliest day in Gaza since Islamic Hamas militants seized control in June. 
Palestinians threatened Saturday to call off peace talks with Israel after 33 Gazans, at least half of them civilians, were killed in violence that escalated sharply during the day.
Israel recently foiled a terror attack on the Dimona nuclear reactor, a Kuwaiti newspaper quoted British sources as saying Friday. According to the paper, Al Jarida, Israeli security forces arrested a senior employee at the plant after they uncovered a plot to blow up one of the heaters at the facility. According to the British sources, the worker, who was only identified as Moshe, is also suspected of leaking information about the reactor to foreign sources. 
Palestinian sources early Saturday said two men were killed and ten were wounded by IDF fire at the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. According to the report, IDF troops and Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire in the area. Earlier, a 13-month-old Gaza girl was killed by flying shrapnel. 
