[Iran Press TV Latest] A rocket has hit central Kabul near the German embassy and the heavily fortified headquarters of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
"There has been a rocket attack in the 10th police district of Wazir Akbar Khan in Kabul," Sayed Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, head of the Kabul Criminal Investigation Bureau, was quoted by AFP as saying.
The attack, which took place around 8:05 p.m. (1535 GMT) in the heavily fortified diplomatic district of the city, "caused no casualties," he added.
ISAF's administrative headquarters are in central Kabul and smaller Afghan and international bases are dotted around the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Air raids in northern Yemen killed six operatives with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen's Ministry of Defense said Friday.
The main target was the group's military commander, Qassim al-Raimi, the Yemeni Embassy to the United States said in a written statement.
The defense ministry said al-Raimi was killed.
A Yemeni government official briefed in detail on the matter said the Yemeni government is "almost certain" that al-Raimi was killed.
The official described al-Raimi as the third-highest-ranking figure in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen.
The group has claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner on December 25. Investigators have said intelligence ties the bombing suspect, Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, to the group. I'd like to see them try that again.
Yemeni forces carried out an air raid at 2:30 p.m. near Alajasher in the country's far north, the Yemeni Embassy to the United States said in its statement.
"Security authorities suspect that three of al Qaeda's most dangerous operatives -- Ammar Ubadah al-Waeli, Ayeth Jaber al-Shebwani, Saleh al-Tayes -- may have been also eliminated," the embassy said. "Furthermore, counterterrorism units backed by helicopters continue to hunt down two al Qaeda operatives that escaped the air raid."
The Yemeni government official briefed on the matter said al-Shebwani was killed. He was in charge of recruiting people into the group in the Ma'areb region and was a "very important figure, the person who provided logistical support to all foreign nationals recruited in AQAP in Yemen," the official said.
A Yemeni security official with knowledge of the case said colleagues said another operative killed was Abu Ayman al-Masri.
Yet another Egyptian, it appears.
The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center's Web site says that after al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula emerged in January 2009, its leadership was composed of al-Raimi and the group's emir, Nasir al-Wahishi, both of them "veteran Yemeni extremist leaders," as well as two Saudis, one of whom surrendered to Saudi authorities last year.
Friday's air raid "marks the fifth major strike on al Qaeda positions in less than a month," the embassy said.
Posted by: gorb ||
01/16/2010 01:42 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia
[Iran Press TV Latest] Kenyan police on Friday fired shots and tear gas as they clashed with Muslim demonstrators who demand the release of a Jamaican cleric.
At least four demonstrators and one policeman were injured in the violence as police tried to separate crowds gathered after Friday prayers, AFP reported.
Protesters were throwing stones at the police and waving banners, urging the release of the cleric.
Abdullah al-Faisal has been in Kenyan custody since last week after the authorities failed to deport him.
The cleric was arrested for violating immigration regulations by preaching, according to the police and immigration officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Global Jihad
#1
Simple fix, outlaw Friday prayers.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/16/2010 12:35 Comments ||
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#2
Not so simple fix, unless you want 1 billion muzzies rioting in solidarity with their brothers.
Simpler solution: Deport Jamaican preacher immediately. Preferably to Haiti.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/16/2010 13:00 Comments ||
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#3
Simpler solution: Deport Jamaican preacher immediately. Preferably to Haiti.
Please, no. Haiti has enough problems right now. Maybe North Korea will take him. A better solution is "killed while trying to escape".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/16/2010 14:13 Comments ||
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#4
@ old patriot.
um....yup! I wasn't thinking clearly.
He should be dropped off to preach his hate in North Korea!
Excellent suggestion!
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/16/2010 14:19 Comments ||
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#5
"he 'escaped' while the plane was at 25,000 ft"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2010 14:50 Comments ||
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[Maghrebia] A Moroccan court on Thursday (January 14th) postponed the trial of 12 alleged members of a Salafia Jihadia terror cell until February 4th in order to give defence attorneys more time, MAP reported. The defendants, including a police commissioner and two police officers, are accused of financing terrorism, drug trafficking, theft and other criminal activities.
Information provided by Spanish intelligence officials reportedly helped Moroccan authorities dismantle the group last June. Accused cell leader Abou Yacine previously served prison time for ties to the Ansar el Mehdi terror group.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Salafia Jihadiya
[Maghrebia] A suicide bomb explosion killed a top Algerian army commander and an intelligence officer Wednesday night in Bejaia, El Watan reported on Thursday (January 14th). Security sources said Bejaia regional commander El Hadj Bouamama, a colonel from the DRS (Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité) and a local gendarme had pursued two terrorists to Allaghene after a nearby firefight. When the officers approached the wounded fighter to assess his condition, he detonated an explosive belt hidden under his clothes.
Recent army operations in the area between Tizi Ouzou, Boumerdes, and Bouira have reportedly forced armed groups to retreat eastward towards the Bejaia region of Kabylie, ANSA noted on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of at least 13 people in the north of Yemen, Yemen's Houthi fighters have said.
According to the Houthis, Saudi warplanes carried out 12 attacks the details of which are yet to be released. The raids come only a day after the Houthis said some four civilians were killed by Saudi forces.
Civilians have been the main victims of the all-out war which has been fueled by foreign military intervention in the poorest Arab country in the region.
The United States has recently launched air raids against several targets in southern Yemen as part of what Washington claims are efforts to wipe out hundreds of al-Qaeda fighters operating in the country. News and eye-witness reports, however, indicate that civilians, including women and children, have been the main victims of recent US air raids in Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
reminder: always consider the source of battlefield news.
reminder2: a civilian is a terrorist without a gun.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
01/16/2010 13:03 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Two extremists, including a local commander of outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party (ML-Janajuddha), were killed in a bomb explosion at a field at Baro Mangalgram village in Faridpur upazila yesterday evening.
Local commander Shajahan Ali alias Kuza Shajahan died on the spot while party member Mohammad Rafiq died on the way to hospital.
Police and local people said the explosion took place when the extremists were making bombs.
Police Superintendent of Pabna Nibas Chandra Majhi said the outlaws were making bombs to carry out subversive activities.
He said Shajahan was a leader and Rafiq was an active member of the outlawed party.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Commies
#1
I think this is the fifth such accident I have seen reported this year - at this rate we'll top 250 for the year. Is it that there are fewer 'good' instructors, with many killed or retired? Or expansion of the number of classes faster than the full training of instructors?
#3
(Tongue firmly planted in cheek) Israel has perfected its femtometer-wave weapon that causes certain explosives to detonate from the vibrations. They sold a copy to Bangladesh. Expect more "untimely" explosions to happen over the next few months.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/16/2010 15:08 Comments ||
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#4
OP,
Tongue's not as firmly in your cheek as you may think. There ARE tools designed to pre-trigger explosives. Primitive, and limited, but.....
A Palestinian immigrant to Denmark who wounded two Israelis in a shopping-mall shooting allegedly motivated by the IDF's Gaza operation has been convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Wissam Freijeh fired shots with a handgun at a stand selling Israeli hair products in the Dec. 31, 2008, attack in Odense.
His lawyer said the 28-year-old Danish citizen was provoked by Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in late 2008, but did not intend to kill anyone.
His lawyer said the 28-year-old Danish citizen was provoked by Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in late 2008, but did not intend to kill anyone.
The Odense court on Friday found Freijeh guilty of five counts of attempted murder because there were five people at the stand when he opened fire. Two Israeli employees were injured, while a third employee and two Danish customers escaped unharmed.
It was not immediately clear whether Freijeh would appeal Friday's ruling.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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But, we already knew that! Took 2 months to admit the obvious? And released on a Friday nite Typical Bambi administration intrigue.
The shooting rampage at Fort Hood was "an act of terrorism," a senior US official said on Friday, employing a phrase that the Obama administration has previously avoided to describe the attack.
The administration official, who wants to keep his job
who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the November 5 shooting spree that left 13 dead at the army base in Texas, was a "terrorist tactic" but the suspected gunman's links to extremist groups remained under investigation.
"It certainly in my mind was an act of terrorism," the official told reporters.
He said it was unclear if the suspected gunman, army psychiatrist Major Nidal Hasan, was directed to act by outside extremists.
"This is an ongoing investigation," said the official. "Motivation is always a difficult thing to determine."
The official made the comment as he presented the findings of a White House review into the assault.
But officials in President Barack Obama's administration have tended to be careful not to portray the incident as an act of terrorism.
Although the alleged shooter's possible ties to outside extremists were still being examined, the official told reporters that extremist propaganda and activity coming from Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen was cause for serious concern.
"Any interaction with these extremist elements and terrorist elements in Yemen cause me great concern," he said.
The White House review of the circumstances around the Fort Hood shooting showed that "more rigorous actions" should have been taken prior to the attack and procedures strengthened to ensure better coordination among intelligence and law enforcement agencies, the official said.
Asked if the government could have averted the assault at Fort Hood if key clues had been pieced together in time, the official said: "It's difficult to say."
But he said: "Certain things went uncovered, both in terms of information, as well as how information was handled and how information was acted upon." Ralph Peter calls report "gutless and shameful"
[Dawn] A leader of a Pakistani militant group was charged on Thursday with helping to plot a revenge attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad which angered many Muslims.
The US indictment of Ilyas Kashmiri, a leader of the group Harakatul Jihad Islami, accuses him of helping to plot an attack against the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. Kashmiri was described in court documents as being in regular contact with leaders of al Qaeda.
Also formally charged was Pakistani-born Chicago businessman Tahawwur Rana, 48, and Abdur Rehman, a retired Pakistani Army major, both previously named in the investigation.
Court documents filed on Thursday also contained additional details about the planning for a deadly November 2008 assault on Mumbai.
David Headley, a 49-year-old American with Pakistani roots, has been charged by US authorities with conducting several surveillance trips to Denmark and to Mumbai ahead of the planned attacks. Headley passed his information on to "handlers" from another militant Pakistani group, Lashkar-i-Taiba, which is blamed for the three-day Mumbai assault that killed more than 160 people, including six Americans, according to court documents.
Headley has been cooperating with US authorities since his arrest in October.
Headley's Lashkar handlers gave him $25,000 to set up an office in Mumbai to cover his surveillance activities and later $4,500 more to cover expenses, the documents said. He was also trained to use a GPS device to provide specific coordinates to the Mumbai attackers and shown a scale model of the Taj Mahal hotel to aid in the planning.
The plot against the Danish newspaper never came off.
Last year, Headley's Lashkar handler, who is not named in the documents, tried to call off an attack on the newspaper, telling Headley there was too much pressure on the group following the Mumbai assault, which strained India-Pakistan relations.
But Kashmiri met with Headley and urged him to go ahead, suggesting he enlist Kashmiri's contacts in Europe and use a truck bomb in the attack, the documents said.
Rana was accused of using his immigration business as a cover for Headley's scouting trips and for the phony offices to be set up in Mumbai and Delhi. Previous government filings have said other Indian targets were being considered by the alleged plotters.
Rana and Headley had numerous conversations, recorded by US agents, about the Denmark plot and Mumbai attacks, prosecutors have said. A lawyer for Rana said his client was "duped" by Headley and had no prior knowledge of the Mumbai attacks. He has denied the charges.
Kashmiri, who is believed to reside in the Pakistani tribal areas of Waziristan, was charged with conspiracy to murder and maim persons in Denmark and providing material support to the plot. Rehman, who is also believed to be in Pakistan, was similarly charged.
Rana, who has been denied bond and is being held, was charged with three counts of providing material support to terrorism or a terrorist organization, in regard to both the Mumbai and Danish plots.
Rana faces life in prison, and Headley, who has pleaded not guilty but may change his plea, could face the death penalty.
This article starring:
David Headley
Ilyas Kashmiri
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Authorities arrested Friday an American who locked himself up in the toilet of a Michigan-bound US passenger plane and made a bomb threat.
US authorities temporarily shut down the Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City, Michigan to check for bombs in the bathroom of a United Express plane.
"The flight landed without incident at TVC (Cherry Capital Airport), all passengers were deplaned and the plane was swept with negative results," the Transportation Security Administration said in a statement carried by AFP.
"Per standard procedures, law enforcement and TSA personnel met the flight, and the passenger in question is currently being interviewed."
No details have been released on the identity of the California man who made the threat.
According to authorities, the suspected man is under interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Force feed him so much laxative that he never wants to make any such threat again and learns to love a restroom.
#2
I believe the Russians reported that the "bathroom method" was used in the 2004 plane bombings.
The Traverse City Record-Eagle (love the name!) has a pretty good account:
A California man, 28, was detained throughout the afternoon after he spent about 15 minutes in the plane's bathroom, where a plastic flap apparently was dislodged sometime during the flight from Chicago.
Traverse City resident Bob Crosby was on the flight, traveling home from a stay in Chicago. He was seated next to a young man who stood and eventually walked to the plane's rear.
"I just happen to have a recollection of seeing him fooling around with his carry-on luggage," Crosby said.
Crosby saw the man handle "a tiny package" before he headed to the plane's restroom.
"I don't know if he took it back there with him," he said.
The passenger, who originally sat next to Crosby, spent roughly 15 minutes in the bathroom, he said.
A flight attendant later discovered a panel inside the bathroom had been "tampered with" after he exited.
Airline officials made an emergency call to police to report "suspicious activity by a passenger on an aircraft," police said.
David Boyer was seated seven rows behind the man, and said he saw him walk into the bathroom.
But Boyer, 47, a Chicago resident who has a house in Acme, called the situation a "colossal misunderstanding."
"He did nothing more than flying while Arabic," he said. "It was a completely normal flight."
Police would not confirm whether the man was of Middle-Eastern descent.
#3
Fifteen minutes in the bathroom? If he'd made multiple such trips I would believe either constipation or severe diarrhea, but otherwise that's very suspicious -- especially if the gentleman was indeed flying while Arab... and making bomb threats. Anyway, making bomb threats is a crime on its own, regardless of individual appearance or national origin.
A back story with a lot of importance.
Half of India's population today wasn't born when she died in 1986 in a hail of gunfire on a hijacked plane after courageously saving scores of passengers, a feat for which she was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra in India, Tamgha-e-Insaniyat in Pakistan and the Justice for Crimes Award in the US. Earlier this week, some 24 years after her heroism, one of her killers died a dog's death in the badlands of Pakistan, reportedly shot to pieces in a US drone attack.
The saga of Neerja Bhanot transfixed India at a time where there was no 24-hour news television and it had little to do with the fact that her father was a New Delhi journalist. She was a flight attendant on Pan Am Flight 73 as it headed out of Mumbai to Karachi en route to Frankfurt and onward to New York City. Four armed men dressed as airport security guards stormed the plane in Karachi. The cabin crew managed to alert the pilots, who decamped, effectively grounding the flight.
In the hours-long ordeal that followed, Neerja showed exemplary courage, attested by some 350 passengers who survived the nightmare, although some 20 died and 120 were wounded after hijackers opened fire on them when Pakistani commandos prepared to storm the plane. Among her acts of courage was her refusal to collect US passports and hiding some of them as the hijackers sought to isolate Americans and Indians. She knew they meant business when one of the hijackers pulled Rajesh Kumar, a 29-year-old Indian American California resident to the front of the aircraft, asked him to kneel at the door, and shot him in the head when their demand for a new flight crew was not met.
Neerja died shielding three children from gunfire as a bloody massacre erupted on the plane. The hijackers, who were said to be from the Abu Nidal Organisation, were eventually captured, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in 1988. But in a Pakistan that became increasingly permissive about terrorism, the sentences were later commuted to life in prison.
In 2001, Zayd Hassan Abd Al-Latif Masud Al Safarini, the hijacker who shot Rajesh Kumar among others, was captured by the FBI in Bangkok after he was released in Pakistan and was on his way back to Jordan. He was taken to the US where he was sentenced to a 160-year prison term he is now serving in Colorado. Four others who were in Pakistan's Adiala jail were freed in January 2008 even as the US fumed about Islamabad's action. The FBI announced a $5 million bounty on their head, pretty much ensuring their days are numbered.
Earlier this week, Pakistani intelligence officials announced that a January 9 missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal region killed Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, one of the hijackers. His affiliation is disputed. The FBI's web site lists him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaida member, but the FBI site says he was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terrorist group. Whichever it is, the world is a better place without him.
There are no doubts about Neerja's affiliation though. She belongs to India's Hall of Courage.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/16/2010 20:00 Comments ||
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#3
Kipling said it was one thing to be brave in the middle of action, "when there's leave and likin' to shout."
"But to stand and be still to the Birkenhead drill is a damn' tough bullet to chew."
This woman kept her courage, cold, for hours.
Hats off.
Never forget.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/16/2010 22:25 Comments ||
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#4
I remember that attack. One of our company's engineers was on the flight. His life was probably saved by smoking (he went to the door to smoke and was wounded in the gunfire rather than killed as he would have been had he stayed in his seat).
This crap has been going on too long. I was living in Frankfurt am Main in the early 1970's (1972?) when the paleos hijacked a plane out of Frankfurt and blew it up in a mid-east desert.
We're too nice. A short, nasty war then would probably prevented a lot of what's going on now. And if candy-assed Cahtah had responded properly to Iran's declaration of war, we'd be a lot better off today.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/16/2010 22:33 Comments ||
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On January 9th an CIA Predator missile killed FBI-wanted terrorist Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim, who was involved in the 1986 Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking.
Wikipedia has an article. Mr. Rahim (or perhaps Abdulrahim, it's hard to know) was a member of the Abu Nidal Palestinian terror group, and along with three others was released by the Pakistani authorities in 2008. He was supposed to have been deported to the Palestinian territories at that point — perhaps neither Mahmoud Abbas nor Khaled Meshal wanted him back.
[Dawn] The Kohat region police and security forces arrested 38 suspected militants and criminals during a long search operation in Kohat and Hangu districts on Friday.
The operation, which started in the wee hours of Friday, was conducted along the tribal areas in the frontier region of Kohat and Orakzai Agency. Besides, Kohat Cantonment, Samana, Doaba, Darsamand, Naryab and Buland Khel area in Thall tehsil of District Hangu were also searched by the security forces.
Huge cache of arms and ammunition were also seized which included five Kalashnikovs, seven rifles, 12 pistols, two repeaters, four short guns, one sten gun, six kilograms of hashish and hundreds of cartridges of different bores.
The Hangu and Kohat police have registered separate cases against the suspects and criminals in various police stations and have started interrogating the accused.
Militants' bodies recovered
Meanwhile, five more dead bodies of militants belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, Darra Adam Khel, were recovered from the Zor Akhorwal area of Kohat on Friday.
They were identified as Sohail, Hilal, Shoeb, Shahid and Imran -- all residents of Darra Adam Khel. Last month, 17 dead bodies of militants were recovered from the graveyard in Akorwal area in two days.
The TTP Darra Adam Khel spokesman Muhammad alleged that their relatives had been shot dead while in custody of the security forces, warning that they would also kill the family members of the troops involved in operation in Darra Adam Khel if the killings were not stopped.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
#1
The link to this article is "broken." But boy what a strange article, of so many bodies of militants being exhumed from graveyards. I'm also concerned about the whereabouts of the six kilograms of hashish (as a scientist).
#2
The problem is internal to the Dawn website, Johnnie. I ran a search on the title, and it's there, but clicking on their link give a 404 Error, whatever that is. But, Google has it cached here. Hurrah for Google!
[Dawn] Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday said the police foiled a terrorist plan to attack the parliament in Islamabad.
Talking to DawnNews he said the police recovered a suicide jacket from a remote cave in the Margalla Hills and terrorists had intended to use it to target the parliament.
He disclosed that one suspect had been arrested in connection with the explosives-laden jacket.
Rehman Malik declined to comment on reports regarding Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leader Hakimullah Mehsud being killed in a drone strike on Thursday.
He said all foreigners will have to be registered from now on and anyone found violating that law will be dealt with strictly.
On the Karachi Ashura attack the interior minister said it was a remote-controlled blast carried out by the Laskhkar-i-Jhangavi.
He said security in all major cities, including Peshawar and Lahore, had been beefed up by installing hi-tech scanners and surveillance gadgets along the main roads.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] A policeman and a civilian were killed and eight people were injured Friday when suspected militants launched a grenade and gun attack on a police station in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.
The assault in Sopore town, about 50 kilometres north of Srinagar, sent people running for cover. It was the latest incident in a sudden upsurge in violence in the volatile region.
"After the attack on the police station, security forces have sealed off the area and launched a search out operation," Abdul Waheed, a senior police officer in the town, told AFP.
He said the injured comprised four policemen and three civilians, including Latief Mirchal, a pro-India politician who had unsuccessfully contested 2008 state elections.
Waheed said police returned fire on the militants and the exchange continued for nearly 30 minutes. The militants are believed to have fled after the assault.
Kashmir had been relatively stable in recent months but Indian police have reported a spike in violence over the past 10 days.
On Thursday last week, Indian commandos stormed a hotel in Srinagar and killed two gunmen who had been holed up in the guesthouse for nearly 24 hours.
A civilian and a policeman were also killed during the siege.
Suspected militants have also killed three former accomplices during the last week, police said.
The latest attack came as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was engaged in a security review meeting in Srinagar with top police and intelligence officers, an official spokesman said.
Abdullah flew into Srinagar Friday morning from Jammu.
The insurgency erupted in 1989 against Indian rule of the Muslim-majority region and has claimed more than 47,000 lives, according to an official count.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least eight people have been killed in two separate drone strikes in Waziristan on Friday, DawnNews reported.
The first attack took place in Zanini village near the town of Mir Ali, about 30 kilometres east of Miranshah, the main town of restive North Waziristan tribal district, destroying a militant compound and killing five people. "US drones fired four missiles at a militant compound and according to initial information at least five militants have been killed," security officials said, on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, three people were killed in a second drone strike in Mirkhwanai area along the borders of South and North Waziristan. Two intelligence officials in the area and a local administrative official also confirmed the attack and the toll.
North Waziristan is a known sanctuary for al Qaeda and Taliban militants. The United States has stepped up its attacks with drones since Dec. 30 when a suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees over the border in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
#1
Since the CIA outpost was hit a few weeks ago, the drones seem to have gotten busier busting talibunnies with hell-fire missles lately.
[Dawn] Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan have released an audio tape of Hakeemullah Mehsud as reports emerged that the TTP chief had been injured in a fresh drone attack, DawnNews reported.
The audio recording was allegedly made Friday and sent to media outlets by unnamed Taliban militants in which the group's leader says he is alive. The message comes after missiles from unmanned US aircraft pounded the northwest tribal belt on Thursday killing at least 15 militants, with some security officials saying Mehsud was among the dead.
In the recording, Mehsud accused the government of using the media as a propaganda tool against the Taliban. "Sometimes they (the government) launch a propaganda about my martyrdom through the media and sometimes they say that the operation has been completed in South Waziristan. This can never happen," Mehsud said.
He was referring to military operations against Taliban strongholds launched last year in the lawless tribal district of South Waziristan. "I am telling the nation that drone strikes are against Pakistan's sovereignty and the rulers will be responsible for any drastic step taken by the Taliban in retaliation," said Mehsud.
Reporters familiar with Mehsud said the voice appeared to be his, but there was no mention of dates or the specific strike alleged to have killed him.
Reporters familiar with Mehsud said the voice appeared to be his, but there was no mention of dates or the specific strike alleged to have killed him.
Mehsud assumed leadership of the group blamed for the deaths of thousands of people in attacks in Pakistan after his predecessor, Baitullah Mehsud, was killed in a US drone strike in August last year.
Rumours also surfaced in October last year that Hakeemullah Mehsud was killed, prompting the militant chief to put out a number of statements denying his demise.
There was no way to independently confirm whether the message released Friday was recorded before or after Thursday's strike.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
"I'm noooot dead! I feeeeel fine!"
"Oh shut up. You're all shot up ya dumb bastard!"
"Cut!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2010 0:13 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] The Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Imad Mughaniyah group, armed wings of Fatah, and the Abu Al-Qumans military council, claimed responsibility on Friday for an attack against the largest transmission tower west of the Erez border crossing, northern Gaza.
Golly, a transmission tower! Truly, these are men among men, Lions of bloody Islam like unto none other.
"This attack confronted recent Israeli invasions, attacks and assassination of six leaders of the Imad Mughaniyah and Al-Quds Brigades [Islamic Jihad's paramilitary wing]" a joint statement issued by the groups said.
According to the statement the tower was hit directly. Residents told Ma'an that loud explosions were heard near the Erez crossing, but that the cause was unknown.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran arrested a cleric close to late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and warned opposition supporters against using text and email messages to organize rallies, opposition media and ISNA news agency reported Friday.
Mid-ranking cleric "Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Taghi Khalaji was arrested at his home in the city of Qom on Tuesday," Norooznews said. "The cause of his arrest is not known yet but he had on several occasions backed protests against election results" which saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad returned for a second term amid allegations of massive fraud.
Meanwhile, Iran's police chief has warned opposition supporters against using text and email message to stage anti-government protests, ISNA news agency reported. "These people should know where they are sending the SMS and email as these systems are under control. They should not think using proxies will prevent their identification," Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said. "If these people continue, their (data) records will be examined and those who organize or issue appeals have committed a worse crime than those who come to the streets," he warned.
Iran's cyber-savvy young opposition supporters have used the Internet effectively since unrest erupted in Iran after the disputed June 12 presidential election to organize demonstrations and spread news and pictures.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2010 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Air raids in northern Yemen killed six operatives with al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen's Ministry of Defense said Friday.
[Maghrebia] A suicide bomb explosion killed a top Algerian army commander and an intelligence officer Wednesday night in Bejaia, El Watan reported on Thursday (January 14th). Security sources said Bejaia regional commander El Hadj Bouamama, a colonel from the DRS (Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité) and a local gendarme had pursued two terrorists to Allaghene after a nearby firefight. When the officers approached the wounded fighter to assess his condition, he detonated an explosive belt hidden under his clothes.
Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of at least 13 people in the north of Yemen, Yemen's Houthi fighters have said. 
[Dawn] At least eight people have been killed in two separate drone strikes in Waziristan on Friday, DawnNews reported.
[Dawn] Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan have released an audio tape of Hakeemullah Mehsud as reports emerged that the TTP chief had been injured in a fresh drone attack, DawnNews reported. 
[Ma'an] The Al-Aqsa Brigades and the Imad Mughaniyah group, armed wings of Fatah, and the Abu Al-Qumans military council, claimed responsibility on Friday for an attack against the largest transmission tower west of the Erez border crossing, northern Gaza. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran arrested a cleric close to late dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri and warned opposition supporters against using text and email messages to organize rallies, opposition media and ISNA news agency reported Friday. 
