#3
When I was a kid, there was a Readers' Digest article that said if you lay on your back and you couldn't see your toes, you were fat.... I wonder if Rita could see her toes..... and no I'm not talking about beer belly...
[Al Arabiya Latest] A convoy carrying ballot papers and other material for next month's presidential election was ambushed by Taliban insurgents in west Afghanistan on Friday, officials said, with four soldiers killed.
Insurgents opened fire on the convoy after it was hit by a roadside bomb, said Rohul Amin, governor of western Farah province. The ambush was the latest in a spate of election-related attacks. "No ballot papers or other voting documents were destroyed," Amin told Reuters.
He said the attack took place in an area of desert near the Iranian border. The soldiers were killed when the bomb struck their vehicle, Amin said. Three others were injured.
Abdul Wali Hameedi, head of the Independent Election Commission in Farah, said he was not sure if any ballot papers for the Aug. 20 elections were missing.
At least three election candidates, including President Hamid Karzai's vice-presidential running mate Mohammad Qasim Fahim, have been ambushed in the past week although all escaped unhurt.
Several campaign offices have also been bombed, with many of the attacks blamed on the Taliban.
The election is being fought against a backdrop of increased violence after thousands of U.S. Marines and British troops launched major new offensives in southern Helmand, long a Taliban stronghold.
The Taliban on Thursday vowed to disrupt the election and called on Afghans to boycott the vote.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Bargaining on the amount of ransom for the release of two French captives is almost complete between a French team and gunmen in Mogadishu, reports say. The French team has compromised on the ransom amount for one of the captives - a lieutenant colonel - for USD eight million with the al-Shabaab group. The group had previously demanded USD 15 million, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday. The Frenchman will be released within the next 14 hours, he said.
The French agents, whom Paris says were on a mission to train Somali government forces, were seized at gunpoint two weeks ago from their rooms in the Sahafi Hotel in downtown Mogadishu. The two captives have been held at different locations because of fear that French commandos might attack in order to free them. France is known to have attacked pirates in the mountains of the Puntland region in some cases.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A regional leader of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-ML) Janajuddho faction was killed in a "shootout" between his cohorts and law enforcers at Nabdah of Alamdanga in Chuadanga early yesterday. Dad, I think I'm gonna join the Purbo Banglar Communist Party.
What are you, a friggin idiot? SMACK!
The deceased, Mozam Ali, 42, was severely injured in the "shootout" and rushed to Chuadanga sadar hospital where he succumbed at around 7:30am. That ambulance on the way?
They're finishing their coffee. Wanna know if we want any doughnuts.
Oooh! Doughnuts! I'll take an order.
Acting on a tip-off, separate teams of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab)-6 and Alamdanga police swooped on Nabdah Eidgah where a group of Janajuddho men led by Mozam were holding a secret meeting at about 5:50am. Is this the place, sir?
Sure, why not...
Okay! Everybody "swoop"!
As they reached the place, the gang opened fire prompting the law enforcers to retaliate. Oh, damn. Looks like Mozam took about twenty in the head, sir.
Mozam's accomplices, however, managed to flee. Geez, boss. They're like...the wind.
Aren't they though.
Police recovered one pistol and 3 bullets from the spot. Important Crimestoppers Tip, private. The bullets work better when they're inside the gun.
I'll write that down, sir.
Police said Mozam committed several murders and other crimes like extortion and robbery in the district. and a buncha other...stuff.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Police said Mozam committed several murders and other crimes like extortion and robbery in twelve systems the district."
SEOUL, Aug. 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state media said Saturday it had seized a South Korean vessel for illegally entering its territory in the East Sea and that an investigation is underway, repeating a fax message sent by the North Korean military a day earlier.
"A patrol ship of the Navy of the Korean People's Army captured one ship of South Korea on July 30 when it illegally intruded deep into the DPRK (North Korea) territorial waters in the East Sea of Korea," the official Korean Central News Agency said. "A relevant institution is conducting a concrete investigation into it at present," it said, without elaborating.
The same announcement was made a day earlier by the North Korean military, which sent a fax message through an inter-Korean military communication line to South Korea.
The 29-ton squid-fishing boat, carrying four fishermen, was hauled away by a North Korean patrol vessel to an eastern port in the communist country early Thursday morning after straying 13 km past the inter-Korean maritime border. Seoul officials suspect the boat either did not have a satellite navigation device or that it malfunctioned.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe he'll try to trade it to get one of his new yachts back.
#4
Y'all ever consider this is a great way to smuggle something, pretend it's an Navigation "Accident" and nobody thinls it's deliberate,
Wonder just who and what's on that "Squid Fisher"?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/01/2009 20:44 Comments ||
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[Kyodo: Korea] The U.S. Treasury Department designated a North Korean trading company Thursday as allegedly supporting Pyongyang"s nuclear and missile activities. The department said in a statement that it added Korea Hyoksin Trading Corp. to its list of proliferators of weapons of mass destruction, after recent U.N. Security Council sanctions on the firm.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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Item tacked on as an afterthought to an AP story reports the arrest of Rao Shakir, a member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, on the outskirts of Islamabad. Police are questioning Shakir over five bombings. Cops believe he is responsible for coordinating other attacks and for lining up safe houses.
The AP story dwells on the fact that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was involved in the Daniel Pearl killing, but nowhere actually states that Shakir was. Who the hell writes this stuff?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 10:55 ||
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AP story reports "days of rioting between Christians and Muslims" in eastern Pakistan, implying Christians could be running amok through Muslim neighborhoods, too, which hasn't been the case. Six Christians are dead, including four women and a child, traditional Islamist targets.
Members of Sipah-e-Sahaba, the parent organization of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, accused Christians of desecrating the Koran in Gojra on Thursday, according to Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti. Bhatti sez the charge has been investigated and that there is no truth to it. He's asked cops to provide protection to Christians, which they don't seem to do without being asked. Nor do they do so when they are asked, since Bhatti admitted the cops ignored his orders as hundreds of turbans burned more Christian homes on Saturday.
While the situation had calmed down Friday, a fresh load of turbans came into town Saturday to throw some gasoline on the fire. Local media said gunfights have broken out between the Christian and Muslim communities and that rioters had blocked the local railway line, likely to prevent reinforcements or troops being brought in.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said investigations of the defaced Koran had been disproven, as is usually the case and invariably in Pakistain. That's not to say that evidence isn't being manufactured even as we speak blog.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 10:47 ||
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#1
A little napalm would put an end to those riots toot sweet (yes, I do know how to spell it in French).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/01/2009 16:45 Comments ||
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[The News (Pak)] Taliban militants fleeing Swat and Buner are increasingly seeking refuge in the Shangla district and making their presence felt by attacking government installations and pro-military politicians and elders.
"I am hearing reports that there are now 1,500 militants in parts of Shangla's Puran Tehsil bordering Buner. They pose a threat to all of us," said Fazlullah, the young Member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) from Shangla and a relation of former federal minister and PML-Q NWFP President Amir Muqam.
On Wednesday night, Fazlullah's cousin Haji Khalil Khan, the PML-Q President for Shangla who had been mobilising the people against the Taliban, was killed when a large group of militants attacked his house in Chogha Makhozai village. "The NWFP Chief Minister, Ameer Haider Hoti, who visited Shangla on Thursday to offer his condolences on Haji Khalil's death also asked me about the militants' strength in the area. I told him that I haven't seen the Taliban myself but am aware of their growing presence in parts of Puran Tehsil," recalled Fazlullah.
Fazlullah's father Pir Mohammad Khan was killed in a suicide bombing at Amir Muqam's house in Peshawar's Hayatabad locality in early 2008. Shangla's headquarters, Alpurai, was overrun by the Taliban militants, who had mostly come from Swat in 2007. The entire civil and police administration had fled the town. A military operation had to be launched to evict the militants from Shangla at the time, but as has been the case elsewhere, the Taliban gradually returned to parts of the district, particularly to Puran area which is adjacent to Buner. Due to the recent military action in Buner, militants from there have moved to Shangla.
Many militants from Swat, particularly its Charbagh and Khwazakhela Tehsils, have also sought refuge in Shangla.
After gaining strength in Shangla, the militants were reported to have set up roadside checkpoints at certain places, including Shaheed Sar, Hindwano Kandao and Sar Qalla on the Puran-Buner Road. They were patrolling the area and had already blown up a telephone exchange in Puran and fired at a security forces convoy in Martung.
Fazlullah said reports of militants' attack on his house and that of Amir Muqam weren't true. "Firing took place near Amir Muqam's house in the village but it wasn't attacked," he clarified the reports appearing in the press.
According to Fazlullah, his family was a target of the militants due to its support for the military operation in Shangla and the rest of Malakand Division. "We are peaceful people. We are against militancy and terrorism. But if a known political family like us isn't safe, then how could the common people feel confident while living in Shangla," he argued.
He said security forces should take action against the militants in Shangla but care must be taken to avoid civilian casualties and the use of artillery guns to shell long distance targets be avoided. "We don't want our poor people to suffer," he stressed.
On Thursday, the two Taliban militants who were killed in the attack on Haji Khalil's house were identified. Haji Khalil and his men had fought the militants and killed two of them.
Both were local and hailed from Dheray village in Puran Tehsil. One was Khurshid Ali and the other was identified as Adil. The police arrested Khurshid's father, named Subedar, along with his brother. Adil's family members weren't arrested as they had already disowned and disinherited him for refusing to quit the Taliban.
Taliban arrival in Shangla in growing numbers is a pattern that would be repeated elsewhere in the NWFP in future. They would retreat from areas that are under military attack and move to places where the civil administration and police are weak and the Army has little or no presence. The militants' strategy is to wage a guerrilla war, create fear among the people and destabilise the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Dozens of houses were torched Friday by a rival group at Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency. Tribal sources said the two rival groups Zawadin Zakhakhel and Sturikhel had been at the loggerheads since long and attacked each other frequently in the past.
Boys will be boys.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Backed by local Lashkars and people of the area, search and clearance operations are successfully being conducted by security forces in Swat and Malakand.
According to ISPR, security forces conducted search operation at Charbagh and Allahabad and killed 6 terrorists and also recovered cache of arms and ammunition alongwith material for preparation of IEDs.
Security forces apprehended Ibn-e-Aqil (younger brother of Ibn-e-Amin) during search operation at Khog Bacha.
A number of local terrorists commanders have decided to voluntarily surrender and denounce terrorism. As a result two local terrorists commanders voluntarily surrendered at Shalpalam and 3 terrorists voluntarily surrendered before security forces at village Jheel near BB Ziarat.
The notable of village Alamganj, Chinkulai, Janu and Bandai in Khawazakhela have expressed their commitment to support security forces and resolve not to allow any terrorist in their respective areas.
Security forces alongwith 30 persons of Sultanwas Lashkar conducted area clearance operation from Pir Baba to Dukhada.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak)] Dozens of houses of the Christian community were set on fire on Friday by provoked villagers in Azafi Basti, Chak 95/JB, Gahri, situated on the Gojra-Faisalabad Road, over alleged desecration of the Holy Qura'an by three persons. Another "desecration," another riot, more infidel houses burnt. President Ten Percent will no doubt demand another report...
The incident of desecration allegedly took place at a Mehndi and wedding ceremonies of a Christian family. Three persons, Mukhtar Masih, Talib Masih and his son Imran Masih, showered papers on the participants on which Quranic verses were allegedly written, along with currency notes, to express jubilation on the occasion.
When the news reached the Muslims of the village, they held a meeting, where the accused Talib Masih refused to seek pardon from the Muslim community. This provoked the Muslims and hundreds of people attacked the Azafi Basti, populated by Christians.
Before the arrival of the attackers, all the residents had left their houses. More than 30 houses were set ablaze while some animals were also reportedly burnt. However, Christian leaders, Atif Jamil Paggan and Ashfaq Fateh, claimed in a press conference that about 75 houses were burnt while two churches were also damaged.
Talks were held with DPO Inkisar Khan through MPA Bilal Asghar Warraich and Maulana Noor Ahmad of Gojra where it was decided that the accused persons would be arrested after the registration of case, while SHO Sadar Gojra would be suspended.
After the suspension of the SHO, the protesters ended the blockade of Gojra-Faisalabad Road and let Toba and Gojra TMA fire brigades control the fire in the locality. Punjab Minorities Minister Kamran Michael visited the locality on Friday and urged both the sides to remain peaceful.
He assured the victims that he would talk to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on payment of compensation for their losses. Two minority MPAs, Rafiq Pervaiz and Khalil Tahir Sindhu, also visited the locality. Meanwhile, Gojra Sadar police registered a case under Section 295-B against Mukhtar Masih, Talib Masih and Imran Masih, but they could not be arrested till the filing of the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"They gave us money. Let's burn them!"
"They refused to apologize for giving us money. Let's burn them!"
"We haven't filled out our reports yet. Let's let the guilty get away!"
What's wrong with this logic.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/01/2009 8:23 Comments ||
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#2
Fun with Google news:
- I googled the exact phrase 'Holy Bible' and got 5 results before the phrase broke up ('Holy' and 'Bible' near each other but not the exact phrase.) One of them was a UFO site.
- I googled the exact phrase 'Holy Quran' and stopped counting after 100 exact phrase matches.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Taliban, reportedly affiliated with commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan gunned down an insurgent, Maulvi Gulab, and his deputy in the crowded Miramshah Bazaar on Friday. Maulvi Gulab is dead. So are Moe Greene, Barzini, Tatagglia...
Sources close to the Taliban militants told The News that Gulab was known for picking up people and then beheading them on charges of spying on the Taliban for the US forces stationed in Afghanistan. Fun guy...
Witnesses said armed men came to the bazaar in a pickup truck with tinted glasses and rained bullets on commander Gulab and his fighters. It's raining bullets and I ain't got no umbrella...
Gulab died on the spot, along with his deputy. Mother of mercy! Is this the end of Gulab!
Two other men working at a Tandoor were critically injured in the firing and one of them was shifted to Peshawar for treatment. Tribal sources said the assailants seemed to be militants. Meanwhile, the Taliban released 10 Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers kidnapped two days ago from their post on the Esha-Razmak Road in North Waziristan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like it's just a little dispute among friends. Nothing to worry about.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
08/01/2009 4:58 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A string of bomb attacks targetting Muslim Shiite worshippers as they emerged from mosques across Baghdad on Friday killed at least 27 people and wounded 59 in the latest sectarian violence plaguing the country, security officials said. The six apparently coordinated blasts occurred outside mosques and prayer centers in and around the capital, including one frequented by followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, they said.
The worst attack was in the northeastern Baghdad district of al-Shaab, where a car bomb killed 21 people and injured 35 others, an interior ministry official said.
In twin bombings at Diyala bridge, 10 kilometers (six miles) south of Baghdad, four people were killed and seven wounded.
Attacks in Zafaraniyah and Kamaliyah neighborhoods killed one person each and left six and three people wounded respectively. A separate attack in al-Elam in western Baghdad injured four.
Violence has dropped markedly throughout Iraq in recent months, but attacks increased in the run-up to the U.S. military pullback a month ago from urban centers, with 437 Iraqis killed in June -- the highest death toll in 11 months.
Shiite religious gatherings are a favorite target of Sunni Islamist al-Qaeda, which regards Shiites as heretics. The group, though greatly weakened in Iraq in the past 18 months, has shown itself still capable of launching devastating attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Three people have been arrested over a Baghdad bank robbery earlier this week in which eight police guards were killed and all the stolen money recovered, Iraqi official television said Friday.
Al-Iraqiya said that the arrests took place during a police swoop on Thursday and that the entire haul of 4.8 billion Iraqi dinars ($3.8 million) stolen from al-Rafidain bank was recovered. The television showed images of a Toyota Land Cruiser and equipment it said was used in Tuesday's heist, one of Iraq's biggest ever.
An interior ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that a suspect's confession had led police to a house in Baghdad's central shopping district of Karrada where the money was hidden. The official said that the house, in the same neighborhood as the bank that was robbed, belonged to an Iraqi soldier.
Eight police guards were found dead in the basement of the bank after Tuesday's pre-dawn raid by the robbers, whom police had said were probably insurgents looking to replenish their funds. Police said it appeared as if the robbers had help from an inside source, as the heist took place a day after a large transfer of cash to the bank and no doors or windows were damaged.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Al-Iraqiya said that the arrests took place during a police swoop on Thursday and that the entire haul of 4.8 billion Iraqi dinars ($3.8 million) stolen from al-Rafidain bank was recovered.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Britain ended its troop presence in Iraq Friday, concluding six years of military involvement in the country that began with the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Under a deal between Baghdad and London signed last year, the last of Britain's forces left this week ahead of a July 31 deadline for their withdrawal, a spokesman for the British Embassy in Baghdad told AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Good to have allies, even though they were hamstrung by piss poor political officers in command.
#2
Professionals I've found, and unlike far too many of our own these days, few of them would have problems with our casually ignored AR 600-9 standards.
#3
I routinely violated 600-9 screening standards. I was always 15 pounds over the max allowable. Standards just go on height/weight, and have nothing at all about muscularity in the initial screen. Had to go every damn year to the TMC and get the pinch test, and every damn year I came back with lower body fat than people that passed the initial screen. It would be the same bunch of us every time - the "luggers" who got to carry heavy crap: base plates, dismount TOW rounds, etc.
Some of us really are just "big boned" (with muscles on those bones). You get that way from hauling loads or pushing players around or grappling and throwing opponents.
#4
Been there, done that, Old Spook. I never could get the weight people to admit I wasn't "overweight" at 5'9", 220#, but I could take a deep breath and sit on the bottom of a swimming pool - in the deep end.
Thank you, Brits, for all you did, even though your "rules of engagement" and senior military kept you caged. I'm also glad so many of you had this experience, so you'll be well-trained when civil war breaks out in Britain between the Brits and the muslims.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/01/2009 16:56 Comments ||
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#5
Had to have the "pinch" and "tape" test a few times myself. Admittedly enjoyed the descent of low-porosity chutes later on as well. Visited too many TRADOC installations of late I guess. Some of these people would have difficulty making a complete uniform onsomble from a GP Medium tent, let along pass a PT test.
Two dozen Fatah activists have sneaked out of Hamas-ruled Gaza in recent days, including a woman who said she hitched a ride with farmers on a donkey cart Friday to get past Hamas troops at a border checkpoint. The getaways are the latest twist in a standoff between the Islamic militant Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian rivals who rule Gaza and the West Bank, respectively.
Fatah is holding its first convention in 20 years, starting Tuesday in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. More than 1,500 delegates are to attend, including 450 from Gaza. However, Hamas says it will not allow the Gazans to leave until Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, releases some 900 Hamas detainees he holds in the West Bank.
Rather than wait for an unlikely compromise, 27 Fatah delegates sneaked out of Gaza in recent days, said Ghassan Jadallah, a Fatah organizer. Travelers leaving Gaza have to present their documents at a Hamas checkpoint about a mile away from Gaza's Erez crossing into Israel. Several hundred yards closer to Erez, in an area off-limits to Hamas, another checkpoint is staffed by Abbas loyalists who coordinate with Israeli border officials by walkie talkie to direct the flow of passengers.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/01/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Islamic garb in Gaza?
Is that considered, like, a disguise?
#10
Let's see - next stops on their "trip of fools" - hiking along the Line of Control in Kashmir; then a walkabout in Darfur; then a stroll through the DMZ in Korea.
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.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Bargaining on the amount of ransom for the release of two French captives is almost complete between a French team and gunmen in Mogadishu, reports say. The French team has compromised on the ransom amount for one of the captives - a lieutenant colonel - for USD eight million with the al-Shabaab group. The group had previously demanded USD 15 million, a Press TV correspondent reported on Friday. The Frenchman will be released within the next 14 hours, he said. 
[Bangla Daily Star] A regional leader of Purbo Banglar Communist Party (PBCP-ML) Janajuddho faction was killed in a "shootout" between his cohorts and law enforcers at Nabdah of Alamdanga in Chuadanga early yesterday. 
[The News (Pak)] Dozens of houses of the Christian community were set on fire on Friday by provoked villagers in Azafi Basti, Chak 95/JB, Gahri, situated on the Gojra-Faisalabad Road, over alleged desecration of the Holy Qura'an by three persons. 
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Taliban, reportedly affiliated with commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, in North Waziristan gunned down an insurgent, Maulvi Gulab, and his deputy in the crowded Miramshah Bazaar on Friday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A string of bomb attacks targetting Muslim Shiite worshippers as they emerged from mosques across Baghdad on Friday killed at least 27 people and wounded 59 in the latest sectarian violence plaguing the country, security officials said. The six apparently coordinated blasts occurred outside mosques and prayer centers in and around the capital, including one frequented by followers of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, they said.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Three people have been arrested over a Baghdad bank robbery earlier this week in which eight police guards were killed and all the stolen money recovered, Iraqi official television said Friday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Britain ended its troop presence in Iraq Friday, concluding six years of military involvement in the country that began with the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein. Under a deal between Baghdad and London signed last year, the last of Britain's forces left this week ahead of a July 31 deadline for their withdrawal, a spokesman for the British Embassy in Baghdad told AFP.
