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Qaeda Threatens World Cup
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday

ATTENTION: There are now pictures behind the pictures, rules below apply. Pictures of merit may also be attached to supplemental links.


Caution –Before opening links in this section or passing through the checkout line at the Supermarket, please have your children avert their eyes.

If the sight of scantily clad women accenting their God given and/or surgically enhanced assets offends you, proceed to the next section.

If you choose to review Rantburg on company time, it is suggested you have your resume up to date.


Gone to the Big Gam Locker in the Sky

Eden Hartford aka Laughing Water in "The Story of Mankind" Mrs. "You bet your life"

Edith Day, a cocktail is named for her, made with dry gin, grapefruit juice, sugar, and an egg white.

Pat Paterson aka Wanda Gale in "Bottoms Up"

Peg La Centra, singer and actress

Delphine Seyrig aka Sally Gross in "Pull My Daisy"



Living Gams



Jane Kean aka Trixie Norton on "Honeymooners" (86)




Laura Bundy aka Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde: The Musical " (29)



Ayesha Takia, Indian actress who appears in Bollywood films (24)


Daily Gam Shot



Chyler Leigh aka Dr. Lexie Grey in "Grey's Anatomy" (28)


Carpet Kitten



Jamie Chung aka Chi Chi in "Dragonball Evolution" (27)






Jennifer Metcalfe, English actress and model (27)




Jessa Lynn aka Cyber Girl of the Week - June 22, 2009 (26)





Mandy Moore aka Sally Kendoo in "American Dreamz" (26)

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/10/2010 2:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Fred - the first time I read the RDSTP headlines, I thought it said "Clashes leave 24 TURNIPS titzup in Orakzai, Kurram". On second thought, that's not too different from what actually happened. BTW, I HATE turnips.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 04/10/2010 14:10 Comments || Top||

#3  GgiCAP aljpcrzprstv, [url=http://pjgdisoywsuy.com/]pjgdisoywsuy[/url], [link=http://roojnlhhhxza.com/]roojnlhhhxza[/link], http://ayyuhszryfzk.com/
Posted by: euqhlpusyub || 04/10/2010 23:59 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Afghans accuse Italians of assassination plot
Afghan authorities have arrested three Italian workers from a medical charity as part of a plot to assassinate a provincial governor in southern Afghanistan, the governor said on Saturday.

The Milan-based charity, Emergency, confirmed that the workers had been detained but said it did not know why.

Gulab Mangal, governor of Helmand province, told a news conference the three Italians working at a hospital run by the charity had been arrested along with six Afghans.

The hospital is located in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province, where U.S. and British forces launched a massive assault in February against Taliban fighters.

"Explosive suicide vests, hand grenades and weapons were brought to the Emergency hospital with the help of the foreign staff and their colleagues to carry out attacks in Lashkar Gah. The aim was to assassinate the governor," Mangal said, referring to himself.

"According to their plan, an Emergency foreign staff member received $500,000 as an advance for killing me."

Mangal's spokesman Dawood Ahmadi said two pistols, nine grenades and two explosive suicide vests had been found at the hospital.

Alessandro Bertani, vice president of the aid group, told Reuters a doctor, a nurse and a logistics worker had been taken by NATO and Afghan soldiers from the hospital in southern Afghanistan where they working.

He said the allegations against Emergency's staff were "grotesque." "We do not know the reason why they were arrested," Bertani said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Todd Vician, a spokesman for the NATO-led international force, said no NATO troops were involved in the arrest and referred queries to Afghan authorities.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said in a statement he was following the case.

"While we wait to ascertain the dynamic of this incident and the reasons for the detentions, the Italian government reiterates its totally rigorous stance against any activity of direct or indirect support to terrorism in Afghanistan and elsewhere."

The Italian Foreign Ministry added in a later statement: "The Italians involved in this incident are in no way linked to the Italian government's cooperation activities."

Emergency is an Italian medical charity that has operated clinics and hospitals in some of the most difficult parts of Afghanistan throughout years of war, including under Taliban rule before 2001. Its hospital in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, is one of the few foreign-run clinics in the province.

The group temporarily withdrew from the country in 2007 in protest at the arrest of one of its employees who had acted as a go-between with the Taliban helping to secure the release of a kidnapped Italian journalist.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/10/2010 16:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a little too sympathetic to "the cause"?

"we don't know why they were arrested" but the "accusations are grotesque"? hmmm. I'm sensing a disconnect
Posted by: Frank G || 04/10/2010 18:42 Comments || Top||

#2  The 48 hour rule, but it would be interesting to know their names - perhaps just Giovanni, Paolo, and Giorgio mistakenly collared. Perhaps not.

Italians, or "Italians"?
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 04/10/2010 19:14 Comments || Top||


ISI Militants attack Indian camp in Afghanistan
Militants launched a pre-dawn attack on an Indian road construction camp in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, burning vehicles and equipment and sending the crew fleeing, authorities said. No deaths or injuries were reported in the attack in Khost province's Domanda district, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Looks like the Indians should bring in their own reliable security.
Posted by: ed || 04/10/2010 08:17 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Indians have been sending ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police ) to Afghanistan to protect the road workers. ITBP recruitment is from Tibetan-exile and Gurka areas.
Posted by: john frum || 04/10/2010 8:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Guess the jihadists can't tolerate any "Hindu" roads or progress.
Posted by: American Delight || 04/10/2010 18:36 Comments || Top||

#3  Substitute 'Pakistanis' for 'jihadists' and it's a lot more accurate.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/10/2010 21:11 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
License To Kill
Local officials are reporting that dozens of al Qaeda members from Yemen have arrived in Somalia, bringing weapons and other equipment with them. Somalia is pretty wide open, with a long coast and no air-traffic-control to even monitor who flies in. There are many air charter companies in the region that will, for a price, fly you and your cargo into Somalia. Yemeni and Somali fishermen often moonlight as smugglers.

It is believed that some, or all, of the al Qaeda leadership in Yemen has been moving to Somalia in the last month. While several of the Yemeni tribes have promised to protect al Qaeda leaders, the tribes have more bluster than military power. Government security forces have been rounding up more and more al Qaeda members, despite tribal threats. The Americans and all their surveillance equipment are increasingly active in Yemen, making it harder for al Qaeda people to hide. While the al Qaeda leadership has fled Yemen, the rank-and-file members have been ordered to lie low and stay hidden for two months or so. Al Qaeda believes that the government will not sustain the current counter-terror operations, and that by the Summer, the al Qaeda leadership will be able to return and resume planning world conquest.
Posted by: ed || 04/10/2010 12:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suspect that there is a concerted effort to drive al-Qaeda from several countries to Somalia. The idea is that Somalia is so degenerate and anarchic that after a goodly amount of bloodshed at least someone will finally get control of the place.

The end result is Somalia turned into a prison, where the prisoners turn on each other and solve two problems at once.

The trick will be in arranging so that all tickets to Somalia are one way.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 04/10/2010 14:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Africon.

And in March 2010, U.S. officials revealed that the Obama administration was considering using surveillance drones to provide intelligence to TFG troops in Somalia for their planned offensive against al-Shabaab. According to these officials, the Pentagon may also launch air strikes into Somalia and send U.S. Special Forces troops into the country, as it has done in the past.

http://www.bartamaha.com/?p=24705
Posted by: Gomez Threter7450 || 04/10/2010 14:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Behold Barry Soetoro Barack Obama the great African liberator!
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/10/2010 16:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Interesting I might also add, that Barry can send clandestinely (or at least without MSM publicity) teams of security assistance experts and trainers to South Africa to assist with the World Cup while requests from the Governors of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico for border assistance continue to go unanswered. Helping ANC communists Jacob Zumba and Melema is a splendid idea. Helping our own US taxpaying citizens.... not so much.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/10/2010 16:20 Comments || Top||

#5  "Helping our own US taxpaying citizens.... not so much."

Nonsense, Besoeker. You just have to realize that Bambi defines "helping" as "stealing" "taxing."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 04/10/2010 19:18 Comments || Top||


US Navy holds 6 suspected pirates after battle
The U.S. Navy is holding six suspected pirates after a sea battle off the Horn of Africa. It's the third U.S. Navy encounter with pirates in the past 10 days in the violence-plagued waters off Somalia and nearby regions. At least 21 suspected pirates have been captured.

The U.S. Navy says suspected pirates began shooting at the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland Saturday, about 380 miles off Djibouti, a small nation facing Yemen across the mouth of the Red Sea.
Try shooting back with larger caliber weapons next time.
Posted by: ed || 04/10/2010 09:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To be given compensation, a stipend, and houses in Minneapolis?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/10/2010 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Put them in a recliner and give them a beer and a cigarette. That'll show them. Another one of the benefits of being an illegal combatant and a non-citizen.
Posted by: gorb || 04/10/2010 9:44 Comments || Top||

#3  The Somalis need to work on their ship recognition skills. Helicopters or landing pads: bad juju. A few hundred Marines on board: pirate career limiting move.
Posted by: ed || 04/10/2010 9:52 Comments || Top||

#4  They attacked an LPD? The haze grey paint didn't tip them off that this wasn't a very very large fishing boat?
Posted by: john frum || 04/10/2010 10:49 Comments || Top||

#5  "look, the back is open, we can pull up right there"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/10/2010 10:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Frank wins the coveted 'snark of the day' award!
Posted by: Steve White || 04/10/2010 10:58 Comments || Top||

#7  The U.S. Navy says suspected pirates began shooting at the amphibious dock landing ship USS Ashland Saturday

That they are alive is an indictment of naval marksmanship.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/10/2010 12:17 Comments || Top||

#8  Hey Abdul, you sure we should attack this ship?

Yeah, that's an easy cargo ship, the owners obviously don't care about it that much, they left it primer painted instead of a nice red/black like most other merchant ships. Even better, look at all the rails we can use to climb on board!

Posted by: OldSpook || 04/10/2010 12:28 Comments || Top||

#9  I suspect the pirates' handlers don't spend a lot of time on ship-recognition before they send them out.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/10/2010 13:10 Comments || Top||

#10  Just sink the fuckers and be done with it. If they didn't bring life jackets, insha'Allah.
Posted by: DarthVader || 04/10/2010 16:44 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Four kidnapped in oil-rich Niger Delta
Four employees of an engineering company in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria were abducted on Friday by gunman dressed in military attire, police say.

One Lebanese worker and three Syrian expatriates were taken near the oil hub of Port Harcourt, said police spokeswoman Rita Inoma Abbey.

"The hoodlums kidnapped the four ... and fled while firing at the police," she said.

Every year, hundreds of kidnapping incidents take place in the oil producing region of the Niger Delta.

The victims are usually released unharmed a few days after the kidnapping.
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  victims are usually released unharmed a few days after

I don't know what the going rate is, but some years ago in Venezuela the kidnapping business kept the ransom rates moderate (maybe $20k) and standardized - you could even buy 'kidnap insurance' that would pay the ransom. Kidnapping was just another business. The 'authorities' got their cut, nobody got hurt, and the criminals made an 'honest' living. The foreigners paid. It was just a cost of doing business.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/10/2010 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  It's an industry. The first time the entire village the gang is operating from is obliterated and the rubble bounced, would be the last time the "hostages" from that nation were taken. Go Russian, Once.
Posted by: Frank G || 04/10/2010 0:41 Comments || Top||

#3  Frank, there's strong overlap between the parts of Nigeria where kidnapping has gone on, and what was part of the Biafran rebellion. So it's not only been "Russian Jr'd," but it's had the full Russian done on it, where it was starved into submission to the cost of some million or so lives.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 04/10/2010 1:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Biafra is long over. Opportunity is available if they want it. They choose to thug it out. Hammertime
Posted by: Frank G || 04/10/2010 1:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Another standing headline...
Posted by: Raj || 04/10/2010 7:36 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Kyrgyzstan moves to shut US-run Menas air base
Kyrgyzstan's new leaders have said they intend to remove a US military base, which currently serves as the premier air mobility hub for the US-led forces in Afghanistan, from their soil.

The interim government led by ex-foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva, has said it wants the US base, Manas, closed down for security reasons.

The remarks came amid growing uncertainty over whether the new Kyrgyz authorities would allow the US to use the base.

Russia, which itself maintains an air base at Kant, just 20 miles from Manas, has been keen to block US military presence in the region.

Moscow has been increasingly concerned about US military's prolonged presence in the geo-strategically important Region.

This is while the opposition has taken power and dissolved the parliament. Otunbayeva has promised a new constitution and a presidential election at some point in the next six months. She says a care-taker government will serve as both presidency and parliament for now.

The ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev has refused oppositions demands to resign.

Meanwhile, protestors in the capital Bishkek have demolished and burned the house of the toppled president.

The opposition claims to be in full control of the capital, the armed forces and the media. Earlier, the interim government allowed police to use firearms and shoot looters across the Kyrgyz capital.

Wednesday's unrest that toppled the government claimed at least 75 lives with over 1000 others injured.
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  a POTUS with 'nads would've seen this coming (thanks CIA!) and not even bothered with the Nuke treaty BS and Missile Defense giveaway. We have a pansy as POTUS
Posted by: Frank G || 04/10/2010 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Premature whacking off by the ayatollahs' toe jam lickers. The last statements were:
Omurbek Tekebayev, a former Kyrgyz opposition leader who took charge of constitutional matters in the new government, said that "Russia played its role in ousting Bakiyev." "You've seen the level of Russia's joy when they saw Bakiyev gone," he told Reuters. "So now there is a high probability that the duration of the U.S. air base's presence in Kyrgyzstan will be shortened."

and

Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister now heading the interim government, said there were no plans yet to review the lease agreement for the Manas air base, which runs out in July. She said her government would meet U.S. diplomats for talks in Bishkek. "Give us time, it will take time for us to understand and fix the situation," Otunbayeva said.

At this time I will place more weight on the statement from the new leader, Roza Otunbayeva. Manas pumps about $250M/year into the the economy. That's 5% of GDP and the only bright spot in a nation with a crippled economy. It will be even more this year. Something the Russians won't replace year in, year out.
Posted by: ed || 04/10/2010 8:16 Comments || Top||

#3  This was seen coming - it has been inevitible.

Need to find and payoff another nation in the stan's / cacus to mobilize out of or pull out of Afghanistan.
No Logistics, no war.
Posted by: newc || 04/10/2010 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Just because we were paying $250 mil doesn't mean that the people were seeing any of it. I'd check the Swiss and Cayman accounts of the suddenly ex-President. I'd also offer to continue that quiet and lucrative arrangement with the new president.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/10/2010 11:05 Comments || Top||

#5  The roll-back is beginning. I expect more of this as the Zero's moonbeam/butterfly policies mature.
Posted by: SR-71 || 04/10/2010 11:47 Comments || Top||

#6  ed: Manas pumps about $250M/year into the the economy.

This actually beats $2b in Russian loans, since the Russian loans are tied to purchases of Russian stuff, whereas the $250m is in cold hard cash, every single year.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 04/10/2010 16:03 Comments || Top||

#7  And with Barry the Retreater, that may be just a single year.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/10/2010 16:12 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
That Idiot Qatari PNG'd, Has Days To Leave U.S. Forever
The Qatari diplomat who allegedly sneaked a smoke in an airliner bathroom, setting off a terrorism scare that forced F-16 fighter jets to scramble and delayed tired passengers for hours Wednesday night, will pay for his stunt with a one-way ticket home.

U.S. officials said Mr. Madadi was expected to leave the U.S. in the next few days. Qatari officials were told by the State Department that the U.S. viewed the matter very seriously.

Qatar's ambassador to the U.S. called the incident "a mistake," and said Mr. Madadi was traveling to Denver on official embassy business.

There was confusion Thursday about just what that business was. Mr. Madadi initially told investigators he was going skiing with a friend. But later a State Department official said he was making a consular visit to Ali al Marri, a Qatari citizen imprisoned in Colorado as an alleged al Qaeda agent in the U.S.

When he was free to leave Denver on Thursday, Mr. Madadi attempted to board another United flight to return to Washington, but United declined to let him fly and he booked with another carrier to Baltimore. A United spokeswoman said it declined service because "he violated FAA's rules and United's policy."

It cost the U.S. government $15,000 to scramble the F-16 fighters after the North American Aerospace Defense Command responded to what it thought might be a terrorist incident. The 157 passengers and six crew on United Flight 663 endured up to five hours of frustration and exhaustion as federal authorities conducted their probe and screened luggage.

Matt Erickson, a middle-school counselor who was returning from a week in Washington chaperoning 50 eighth graders on a spring-break trip, sent an instant message at 11:28 p.m. to his wife, Debbie Adams, who had been waiting for him in the airport for nearly five hours as authorities questioned passengers and Mr. Madadi. Mr. Erickson wrote: "Only in America--a Qatari diplomat decides to light up a cigarette in the bathroom and use his shoe bottom to put it out. He then jokes about it to the guy sitting next to him--who happens to be a freakin' air marshal. Now hundreds of people are inconvenienced, to say the least."

Mr. Madadi is described by other diplomats as a man in his mid-20s who went to college in Washington, and as a fixture on the party scene in the city's affluent Georgetown section.

On his profile on the LinkedIn social-networking site, Mr. Madadi listed his title as a database administrator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the embassy. He studied at George Washington University, where he earned his master's degree of science in information systems technology in 2008.
Reasonably intelligent, then, but not very smart. Or, he was engaging in jihad by provocation rather than jihad by violence. With his background, no doubt he'll do something to get himself PNG'd in Europe soon enough.
Posted by: || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  word is, it was weed. Hypocrite
Posted by: Frank G || 04/10/2010 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Hopefully, young Mohamed has some souvenirs to remember his vist to America - like maybe a few bruises and a sprained neck.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/10/2010 1:06 Comments || Top||

#3  I did not see where the original article said the Qatari 'diplomat' was declared persona non grata, only that he was 'expected to leave.' Of course expectations can change at a whim.
Mr. Madadi listed his title as a database administrator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the embassy. In his mid-20's, what business did a database administrator have visiting an imprisoned Qatari? Much of this story doesn't make sense.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 04/10/2010 2:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Seems to me that there is more to this. Why would Qatar send an IT guy, to speek to an IT qualified terrorist in jail for a bunch of crimes where use of IT is a recurrent theme (researching WMDs, encoding emails, online credit card fraud for example)? It seems to me that Madidi might have been sent to find out some key information. It might be, for example, an encryption key, that might give access to something someone really badly wants to know, or badly doesn't want anyone to know. Maybe some plans, account details or something like that.

The smoking on planes, hot shoe act and faux pas with the sky marshall might have been a deliberate play to ensure he was kicked out of the country quickly, which makes me also speculate that he might have been working IN the Qatari embassy, but not FOR Qatar.

There is a spy novel in there somewhere. However, if I was writing the novel, I would waterboard our hero, just to be sure.

Posted by: Bunyip || 04/10/2010 2:23 Comments || Top||

#5  The smoking on planes, hot shoe act and faux pas with the sky marshall might have been a deliberate play to ensure he was kicked out of the country quickly,

Except he hadn't yet met the prisoner, Bunyip. He was on his way to the meeting, not on his way back. Otherwise really good points.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/10/2010 5:30 Comments || Top||

#6  Why would Qatar send an IT guy, to speek to an IT qualified terrorist in jail for a bunch of crimes where use of IT is a recurrent theme[?]

Because Lynne Stewart is unavailable?
Posted by: Free Radical || 04/10/2010 6:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Will he go on the no-fly list at the same time he leaves the country?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/10/2010 8:28 Comments || Top||

#8  Hopefully before. He can swim home.
Posted by: gorb || 04/10/2010 9:52 Comments || Top||

#9  However, if I was writing the novel, I would waterboard our hero, just to be sure.

Maybe just to remove his smart a$$ stoned smirk. Put him on the no-fly list please.
Posted by: JohnQC || 04/10/2010 10:25 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan airstrike kills 42 militants: officials
At least 42 militants were killed Saturday when Pakistani jet fighters bombed their meeting in a northwestern tribal area bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The airstrike took place in the remote Tirrah valley of Khyber tribal district, they said.

"At least 42 militants of Lashkar-e-Islam were killed and two militant hideouts were also destroyed," Khyber administration chief Shafeerullah Wazir told AFP.
Posted by: ed || 04/10/2010 08:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow. 42 terrorists and not a single civilian casualty. We should have these guys teach the top-gun school.
Posted by: gorb || 04/10/2010 9:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Going by the record---bombing killed two goats.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/10/2010 13:54 Comments || Top||

#3  4, possibly 5 goats.

Officials say Pakistani strikes kill 96 militants
Posted by: ed || 04/10/2010 19:51 Comments || Top||


Clashes leave 24 militants dead in Orakzai, Kurram
[Dawn] Pakistani troops killed up to 24 militants in gunfights after insurgents attacked checkpoints in tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, officials said Friday.

The violence was concentrated in the districts of Orakzai, where the military has been waging a nearly three-week offensive against the Taliban, and Kurram, which has a tradition of sectarian unrest and militancy.

The deadliest clash took place in Bezot Khel village in Orakzai overnight.

"Troops killed 15 militants in a gunfight which started after an attack on a checkpoint," local military spokesman Major Fazlur Rehman told AFP.

Rehman said the troops captured four militants wounded during the fighting and that three soldiers were also injured.

Local administration official Sajjad Ahmad confirmed the incident and casualties.

The military has announced a running death toll of more than 100 militants in the Orakzai operation since March 24, but the figures cannot be verified independently because access to the remote area is extremely limited.

The military said troops killed nine militants and wounded 10 others in Kurram, after the rebels stormed their checkpoint at Dogar village.

Militants left behind a cache of arms, explosives and equipment while fleeing, it said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Two suicide bombers killed in Lakki Marwat gun battle
[Dawn] Two suicide bombers blew themselves up after police officials tried to stop them from entering the Lakki Marwat district on Friday.

Police officials tried to stop the two attackers at a check post on the outskirts of Lakki Marwat after receiving an intelligence tip-off

The suicide bombers had planned to attack the district's local bazaar but a gun battle ensued at the police check-post, a DawnNews report said.

The site of the attack, in Wanda Amir village, has been cordoned off by police officials and the dead bodies of the suicide bombers have been shifted to a local hospital.
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Gunmen kill 2 cops in Mosul
NINEWA / Aswat al-Iraq: Two policemen were killed by gunmen in central Mosul on Friday, according to a police source.

“Two policemen were killed on Friday by gunmen in Bab al-Toub region in central Mosul,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The two cops were killed while on vacation in a crowded area on Friday,' he added, noting that the gunmen fled to unknown place.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Fresh security plan in Missan
MISSAN / Aswat al-Iraq: Missan embarked on a new security plan in the light of the recent deadly blasts that rocked Baghdad during the past few days, a local security official said on Friday.

“All security formation in the province will be part of this new plan in a bid to avoid blasts similar to those in Baghdad recently,' Sarhan Salem Younis, the chairman of the provincial council's security & defense committee, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The plan envisages the tightening of checkpoints at city entrances and exits and the deployment of foot and fixed patrols all over the province,' Younis said.

He added that intelligence work would be enhanced and all arrest warrants against wanted men will be fully observed.

Missan lies 390 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq Al-Qaeda group says it's behind embassy hits
[Dawn] Al-Qaeda's umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility Friday for a triple suicide bombing outside foreign embassies in Baghdad, which killed more than 40 people.

The group, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, posted a statement on a website that carries Al-Qaeda and other militant declarations.

The statement said the embassy attacks last Sunday were a "new strike into the heart of the security plan" in the Iraqi capital. It also said "all diplomatic corps, embassies and international organizations" dealing with the Iraqi government are "legitimate targets."

The embassy bombings are part of a wave of recent violence in and around the capital that has killed some 120 people in a week. The bloodshed suggests insurgents are seizing on political uncertainty after March elections to try to destabilize Iraq as US troops prepare to leave.

The US military plans to reduce troop levels from some 96,000 to 50,000 by Aug. 31, when it will end combat operations. As part of an agreement with Iraq, the US will withdraw all forces by the end of 2011.

On Friday, thousands gathered in the holy city of Najaf, shouting "Iraq is for Iraqis!"
and "There is no place for occupiers!" during an annual march organized by anti-American cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr to mark the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad.

"If you stay united, you will defeat the occupier and get them out of our sacred land," said Al-Sadr's aide Sayyid Hazim Al-Araji, reading a speech on the behalf of the cleric, who is living in Iran.

"If you divide, the occupier and its supporters will stay in our land," he said.

US Brig. Gen. Ralph Baker told reporters in Baghdad earlier this week that he understands there are "some Iraqis that think the US military will never leave Iraq."
But, he emphasized, the drawdown plans were on track and have not changed despite the recent violence.

Extremists seem to be trying to provoke mayhem as Iraq's politicians negotiate to form a stable government after the March 7 parliamentary election that failed to produce a clear winner.

A secular front-runner bloc is currently holding talks with religious Shiite parties -- a threatening prospect for insurgents whose stock-in-trade is rage, not peace.

The attacks could further stoke sectarian tensions, which in turn may make Shiite parties less likely to join former prime minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite backed by Sunnis.

Allawi's political coalition, Iraqiya, came out ahead in the vote, narrowly edging Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's bloc by just two seats. Allawi has raised the prospect that terror attacks will only increase if the negotiations over forming a new government drag on for months.

The Islamic State of Iraq denied Friday that it had anything to do with another attack earlier this week, when bombs ripped through apartment buildings and a market in mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad, killing 50.

Other recent violence includes the shooting deaths of a Shiite couple and four of their children in their home outside Baghdad on Monday. One week ago, gunmen went house-to-house in a Sunni area south of Baghdad, killing 24 villagers execution-style.
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq

#1  ION AQ FREEREPUBLIC > AL QAEDA: WE'LL BLITZ/BOMB THE WORLD CUP.

AQ hates Soccer + World Soccer Championship???

versus

* SAME > US MILITARY GOES HUNGRY IN AFGHANISTAN.

FREEP POSTERS are demandin' somebody(s) arse be fired in righteous deep-fried indignation, espec POTUS BAMMER???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/10/2010 0:17 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza falls into darkness after power shutdown
[Al Arabiya Latest] The sole power plant in the besieged Gaza Strip was shut down on Friday because fuel supplies ran out, with Palestinians and Israel blaming each other.
Shoot some rockets at them, by Gum. That'll get it turned back on pronto.
"The power plant shut down completely this morning as a result of a shortage of fuel caused by the Israeli siege," said Kanaan Obeid, assistant director of Gaza's electricity authority, referring to the Israeli blockade of Gaza since its 2007 takeover by the Islamist Hamas movement.

But Israel said the shut-down was caused by a rift over funding among the Palestinians, and that the Hamas rival, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, had stopped fuel purchases.

The industrial diesel needed to run the power plant -- which supplies about 25 percent of Gaza's energy -- comes through an Israeli-controlled fuel terminal, with Israel setting import quotas.

The imports have declined since November when the European Commission transferred responsibility for buying the fuel to the Palestinian Authority, after its aid program expired.

The Israeli army said the Palestinians had stopped buying fuel in recent days after Hamas failed to pay its share of the costs.

"There is no Israeli involvement; if they buy fuel we will let it in as we do on a daily basis," said Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the Israeli military liaison to Gaza.

Fuel supplies were particularly low in the past weeks, in part because there were no deliveries for two days over the recent Jewish Passover holiday.

Only 550,200 liters (145,294 gallons) were delivered this week, and 721,660 liters (190,642 gallons) the week before that, compared with the 3.5 million liters (924,602) a week normally needed to operate the plant, according to the OXFAM aid group.

Israel supplies about 70 percent of Gaza's power and Egypt provides five percent, with the remainder from the closed power plant.

Since March 3, the facility had been producing only 30 megawatts of electricity, or 38 percent of its full capacity.

This has led to blackouts of eight to 12 hours a day in parts of the impoverished territory, affecting the provision of essential services, including water supply, medical treatment and sewage disposal, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Shoot some rockets at them, by Gum. That'll get it turned back on pronto.

Nothing like some parachute flares and a little counter-battery to light up the night.
Posted by: SteveS || 04/10/2010 1:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Tough to fabricate bad projectiles in the dark. This could actually save Paleo lives given their congenital military stupidity
Posted by: Frank G || 04/10/2010 1:12 Comments || Top||

#3  The imports have declined since November when the European Commission transferred responsibility for buying the fuel to the Palestinian Authority, after its aid program expired.

LOL, Malcolm deh Kat is nao in chg.
Posted by: Shipman || 04/10/2010 8:59 Comments || Top||

#4  isn't this the 3rd or 4th time Hamas has pulled this bullsh!t routine? remember the photos of the meeting with the candles and the curtains were drawn even though it was a bright sunny day.

Me thinks they are doing a version of this again.
Posted by: Mike Hunt || 04/10/2010 23:21 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran unveils faster centrifuges for nuclear work
[Al Arabiya Latest] President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday said that 60,000 new centrifuges for uranium enrichment will be fixed at Natanz nuclear reactor this year.

Iranian atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the new generation of uranium-enriching centrifuge was capable of enriching uranium six times faster than Iran's existing centrifuges.

In an address marking National Nuclear Day, Ahmadinejad said Iran was now a "nuclear nation" and that it was Western pressure which had forced it to enrich uranium to the 20 percent level that has sparked growing international concern.

"Nefarious intentions"
The United States said that Iran's unveiling of the new centrifuge for enriched uranium suggests Tehran "has nefarious intentions" in its nuclear program.

"If Iran wants the international community to believe what it says, that it has peaceful intentions with respect to its nuclear program, then Iran has no need for a third generation, or faster centrifuge," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said.

Ahmadinejad's comments signaled determination to press on with Iran's nuclear work despite possible new U.N. sanctions sought by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Posted by: Fred || 04/10/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2010-04-10
  Qaeda Threatens World Cup
Fri 2010-04-09
  Suicide bomber attempts to shoot North Caucasus Ingush police chief, blows self up
Thu 2010-04-08
  Iraq sez ''open war'' with Qaeda after kabooms
Wed 2010-04-07
  Aide denies Karzai threatened to join Taliban
Tue 2010-04-06
  New spate of bombings strikes Baghdad, killing 49
Mon 2010-04-05
  Karzai raves at Western interference
Sun 2010-04-04
  Triple car boom in Baghdad
Sat 2010-04-03
  Qaeda Gunmen, Dressed As Iraqi Army, Slaughter 24 Sunni Iraqis
Fri 2010-04-02
  Pak-origin Chicago cab driver indicted for supporting al-Qaeda
Thu 2010-04-01
  US Navy Frigate Captures 5 Pirates and Mother Ship
Wed 2010-03-31
  Dronezap greases 6 in N.Wazoo
Tue 2010-03-30
  ETA brass hat arrested in Caracas
Mon 2010-03-29
  Two boomers, 38 dead in Moscow metro
Sun 2010-03-28
  Dronezap kills four in N. Wazoo
Sat 2010-03-27
  Allawi wins Iraq election by two seats

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