#3
There is more to this story. A few possibles come to mind, such as an invisible, but bad reaction to medication, such as liver damage. Possibly concealed by PTSD. Then she may have accidentally or intentionally overdosed, or mixed it with alcohol.
Then again, in some cases PTSD itself leads to organ stress and damage. Whoever does the autopsy is going to have their work cut out for them.
A top leader of Pakistan's Taliban has been killed in a clash with Afghan forces near the border, a top Afghan police officer said Bringing yesterday's story forward a day...
Maulvi Fazlullah, the head of a Taliban faction in Pakistan's Swat Valley, was reportedly killed along with six of his comrades in the Barg Matal district of the Nuristan province, bordering Pakistan, Mohammad Zaman Mamozai, chief of the Afghan border force for the eastern region told Reuters.
"Maulvi Fazlullah was killed in direct clash with Afghan border police...last night," he said.
He did not have further details. The Afghan Taliban have confirmed the fighting, but insist no foreign militants were involved.
The news of Fazlullah's death comes after reports of several days of clashes between Afghan forces and militants in Barg Matal.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, who heads a Pakistani Taliban faction based in the Bajuar tribal region, denied media reports that Fazlullah was leading any assault in Afghanistan.
"He could be in Nuristan because the Taliban have been moving back and forth along the border," he told Reuters by telephone prior to reports of Fazlullah's death.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
How do you post a picture here
Posted by: AZ Driller ||
05/28/2010 10:41 Comments ||
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#2
AZ - see this - you can use the "a href" html code
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/28/2010 10:47 Comments ||
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#3
And keep it under 400 pixels wide, please
AoS
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2010 12:03 Comments ||
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Note: Replace the curly braces with angle brackets, i.e.: { goes to < and } goes to >. This is because the angle brackets in certain contexts have a special meaning.
The width=400 forces the picture to be 400 pixels wide. It is what you use if the picture is wider than 400 pixels. The mods get all irritated if the pictures are too wide, and this way it makes them more tingly instead. You can find out how wide the picture will be if you right click on it and select properties. Somewhere it should say.
Always use preview and you should catch booboos before they are released so readers won't have reason to make fun of your efforts.
[Maghrebia] A just-dismantled Boumerdes terror cell planned to attack foreign vessels off the Algeria coast, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Wednesday (May 26th). The plan was reportedly uncovered when a man arrested in the western town of Boukaroun admitted to transporting explosives and ammunition by boat to Kabylie terrorists. According to unnamed security sources, the suspect said the group planned to mount sea attacks against foreign vessels.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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A new book, "El Palestino," by Spanish journalist Antonio Salas documents armed camps in Venezuela where the FARC, Hezbollah, ETA and others all train together.
Seventeen people died in drug and gang related violence in northern Mexico, including the fifth and sixth Juarez Municipal police officer killed this week, the third and fourth lawyer killed this week and a gang leader killed by the Mexican Army, according to Mexican news reports.
Seven unidentified people were found tortured and shot to death on a farm near Nogales, Sonora, according to Mexican news reports. No other details were made immediately available Local residents did make a tentative identification on two of the dead, two men in their 50s.
A gang leader was killed and several suspects were captured in a Mexican Army operation in Nuevo Leon early Wednesday morning, say Mexican news reports. Veläzquez Amador, alias "La Piña, was killed as he attempted to break out of an army cordon in the town of San Pedro Garza GarcÃa.
The army had previously been informed that a celebration was to take place in the third floor of a building by a drug gang. The army deployed and cordoned off the area at about 0515 hrs.
The ensuing firefight at the intersection of JardÃn de San Jerónimo and Doctor de la Vera in the San Jeronimo district, lasted about fifteen minutes. No one else was wounded in the exchange. About six suspects managed to break for cordon and flee arrest. The army seized four rifles and a 5.7mm pistol held by Amador when he died. Two automobiles were also seized in the raid.
An unidentified man was gunned down in a south Monterrey district as he attemped to flee the attack Tuesday night, say Mexican news accounts. Witness reported gunfire in the Hacienda district of Monterrey about 1900 hrs at the intersection of Hacienda de Coyoacän streets, between Sendero Encantado and Garza Sada streets.
Reports say the victim attempted to enter a residence to evade his attackers but was shot to death by several heavily armed men, who immediately fled the scene.
Witnesses say a group of armed men aboard a Nissan Murano shot Silva to death and then took his body with them as they fled. Two hours later the same group returned the body to Silva's father, Sergio Ortiz Rodriguez. dumping Silva's body on the porch.
An unidentified man in his 20s was found tortured and executed on a highway in Tamaulipas, say Mexican news reports. The find was made at about 0645 hrs. Thursday morning near an auto assembly plant on Highway 82. The victim had some signs of being tortured prior to being shot and his face had been mutilated to prevent identification. The body also displayed signs of being shot multiple times.
Investigators found spent cartridge casings of a .223 rifle at the scene.
Two men were found executed in Meoqui Wednesday evening, say Mexican news reports. Alejandro Ibarra, 20 and Jesús GarcÃa Espinoza, 23, were found dead inside a Ford Crown Victoria near the intersection of Aldama and Zaragoza streets, in the Centro district of Meoqui.
Investigators at the scene say the two were shot with .45 and AK-47 weapons. Several spent cartridge casings were found at the scene.
A man and his son were kidnapped late Thursday in northern Juarez, according to Mexican new accounts. Witnesses say the abduction which took place near the intersection of Avenida Industrias and Mina San AgustÃn street, the man and his son were taken from their Ford Focus by armed men aboard two vehicles, a Dodge Nitro and an Isuzu Rodeo.
Two undercover Juarez police officers were shot to death in a police operation, say Mexican news reports. The operation took place last night near the intersection of Avenida Santiago Troncoso and Zaragoza Blvd., in the Paraje de Oriente district.
Apparently suspects aboard a Yukon SUV attacked the two agents, who managed to return fire before they died, forcing the SUV to crash. Two suspects were captured, one of whom were shot in the back.
The two victims represent the third and fourth criminal defense attorneys killed this week, the other two in Juarez.
Mexican PolicÃa Federal Preventiva ( PFP ) shut down a "narcocelebration" today in the far southern Sonoran community of Vicam, according to Mexican news reports. Residents of town reported to officials the sounds of gunfire, which brought federal and state police agents to cordon the area and ultimately close down the celebration.
Four unidentified men were arrested carrying military type weapons. Police officials found no dead and no wounded.
A confrontation between elements of the Mexican Army and a band of armed suspects in Coalhuila Wednesday morning has accounted for one unidentified dead soldier and two wounded as well as three armed suspects wounded, according to Mexican press accounts.
The battle took place on República (López Portillo) Blvd. in Piedra Negras, Coahuila, after complaints by a local business that theft of its trailers were so bad it may be forced to close its doors, brought elements of the Mexican Army to the area. Reports say three unidentified armed suspects were wounded in the battle.
The Mexican Army arrested two unidentified people, a man and a minor, and seized a small arsenal near Nogales, according to Mexican news reports. The seizure took place near the Aguajito farm and included eight rifles, a pistol, 36 magazines, 538 cartridges and four cars.
The Mexican Army battled a small armed element near Nogales Wednesday evening, and apparently wounded two armed suspects. An army patrol attempted to stop convoy on Avenida Tecnológico. An ensuing pursuit ended up in the countryside where suspects abandoned a light truck heading in the direction of El Ruido ranch. Soldiers say bloodstains in the vehicle lead them to think two passengers were wounded by fire.
Mexican Army element of the 7th Military Zone intercepted a small convoy of vehicles in Nuevo Leon early Thursday morning yielding a large arsenal of military weapons according to Mexican news reports. The confrontation took place in Vallecillo, when the army began pursuit of four vehicles. The abandoned vehicle had a large number of military weapons aboard including: nine assault rifles, ten derringers, a fragmentary grenade and several magazines.
The seizure included property apparently belonging to the two federal agents found murdered near China, Nuevo Leon earlier in the week.
Uzbek state television has accused a cleric based in Sweden of masterminding a series of high-profile killings last year, as well as a 2004 suicide bombing at the US embassy.
A documentary that aired Thursday night said Obidkhon Nazarov, a once-popular preacher in Uzbekistan who fled to neighbouring Kazakhstan in the late 1990s, had flown to Sweden with the help of "foreign secret services" in 2005.
"Although Nazarov was wanted by Uzbek law enforcement, including Interpol, he could freely fly away from Almaty airport with the help of invisible hands... and found safe shelter in Sweden," the documentary said. From Sweden "he is still trying to set up his jihad group" that has planned terrorist attacks in Uzbekistan, it said.
Nazarov was granted refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2006 and in recent years has been living openly in Sweden, where he has criticised the Uzbek authorities. The former imam of Tokhtoboy mosque in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, Nazarov has previously denied links to extremists in Uzbekistan, a majority-Muslim former Soviet republic in Central Asia.
In the attacks last June, a deputy director of a religious school and a number of senior anti-terror officials were killed. More than 90 people were arrested afterwards and most were jailed following closed trials, according to human rights groups. The documentary showed several defendants testifying against Nazarov, and it said the murders were Nazarov's latest attempt to destabilise Uzbekistan after his previous attempt in 2004. That year dozens of people were killed in a series of attacks and suicide bombers struck the US and Israeli embassies.
[Dawn] Russian authorities on Thursday vowed to strike back after a bomb blast killed seven people and wounded dozens in the southern city of Stavropol minutes before a Chechen dance concert the night before.
A bomb packed with steel pellets hidden in a juice carton went off near a cultural centre as locals were gathering for the performance of a renowned Chechen folk group.
By Thursday morning, the death toll had risen to seven, including a 12-year-old girl, and 33 people remained hospitalized, many in critical condition, officials said.
So far no group has claimed responsibility for the blast but officials said those who did not want peace in the Caucasus would not succeed.
Stavropol, which lies on the northern edge of the Caucasus, has until now rarely seen the bloody attacks that characterize the simmering guerrilla war between Russian forces and separatist rebels.
"This is an audacious provocation," regional governor Valery Gayevsky said in comments released by his administration.
"Someone wants to shake loose the friendly relations between the peoples and republics. These forces do not want peace in the Caucasus. But we will put them in their place," he said.
Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov blamed "Russia's enemies" for the blast.
Russia's top investigator Alexander Bastrykin left for Stavropol to personally oversee the investigation.
Russia is battling a Muslim insurgency in the North Caucasus and terror attacks in the republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan are a near-daily occurrence.
Yekaterina Danilova, an official with the regional investigative committee, said investigators were considering several theories, including terrorism and attempts to stir up ethnic hatred in the predominantly Russian city.
Dolgova said 41 people were injured in the blast.
"We've worked all night," said Danilova, telling AFP that nearly 70 people have already been questioned in connection with the explosion.
In March, Russia was shaken to the core when two female suicide bombers, both from the North Caucasus region of Dagestan, killed 40 people in a pair of coordinated attacks on the Moscow metro during the morning rush hour.
President Dmitry Medvedev has said the unrest in the Caucasus is Russia's single most serious domestic problem.
Human rights advocates say the controversial tactics of Russian troops in the North Caucasus contribute to instability in the region.
The Kremlin attempted to strengthen its hold in the region in January by appointing a powerful new envoy responsible for the North Caucasus, businessman Alexander Khloponin.
Medvedev called for Khloponin, who was also made deputy prime-minister, to concentrate on improving the economy in the region, where corruption and unemployment are rife.
Islamist leader Doku Umarov, head of the so-called "Caucasus Emirate," vowed in February that rebels would move the target of their attacks from the Caucasus to Russia's heartland.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION TOPIX > RUSSAI HELPING US HUNT FOR OSAMA BIN LADEN.
Pragmatically, iff the then-Soviets now Russia didn't catch Us, etal. during the 1980's Afghan War + since, what makes VLADVEDEV think they will now?
#3
I find it a little odd there is already a complete wikipedia page dedicated to this topic. I know as i monitored information on the Georgian-Russian conflict, the wikipedia page was constantly inundated with Russian source "facts" later fround to be innacurate or outright fabrications. I also wonder why Chechens would attack fans of a Chechen cultural event. This could just as easily be revenge for the subway bombing, a mafia deal gone bad or possible even a flase flag operation.
An eerie tension is building up on the border between South and North Koreas as the South is amassing troops to take punitive action against the communist North.
The tension is also threatening future of Kaeseong, a joint industrial zone, which has often been touted as a model for Pakistan and India to build cooperative relationship along the Line of Control (LoC).
The tension runs high after a North Korean submarine torpedoed a 1,200-tonne South Korean ship, killing over 50 sailors.
It is almost a replica of Operation Parakaram that India launched immediately after December 13, 2001 attacks on the Indian parliament; South Korean military divisions are marching with tanks, artillery and an assortment of American weaponry towards borders alongside Seoul announcing retaliatory measures against its Northern peer. At the Itaewon US military base near Seoul, marines and commandos seem gearing up for an assault.
Railway stations and bus stations in South Korea are full with young soldiers in their battle dresses, kissing their girlfriends and bidding adieu to their families. Leaves have been cancelled and rumours are thick in Seoul that government is even drafting young men into the army in an emergency.
At the Dorasan military station overlooking North Korea, a senior military officer with maps and sketches is briefing the visiting Japanese delegation about South Korean plans. As visitors, mostly Western tourists, were allowed inside the hall, I asked the officer, if his operations would be different from Operation Parakaram, which failed to achieve any objective for India eight years ago, he looks in surprise and replies curtly that he has not studied the Indian operation.
South Korea has barred many nationalities from visiting the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), including West Asians, North Africans, Afghanis and Pakistanis. Indians are still friends as my guides agreed to take me on the DMZ tour after they saw my Indian passport.
The DMZ dividing Korea into communist north and capitalist south is one of the last relics of the cold war. This was a unique area where tensions and peace coexisted for over the past 60 years. It serves as a buffer zone between confronting ideologies.
The Korean tension is also threatening the future of Kaeseong Industrial Complex, the last remaining inter-Korean reconciliatory business. Analysts have often cited this as an apt model for Pakistan and India to begin a cooperative relationship across the LoC in Kashmir.
Set up in 2002 as a collaborative economic development, the industrial part is located ten kilometres inside North Korea housing 116 South Korean companies employing 42,000 North Korean low-wage employees.
The Unification Ministry, which overlooks the park has sent safety guidelines to South Koreans at the industrial park advising them to refrain from making contact with North Korean officials, stop moving around unnecessarily, particularly at night, and not to carry DVDs or printed North Korean materials.
A government official said, "It is likely that the North will threaten South Korean staff in the industrial park when we introduce sanctions against them. We're worried because we don't have any good ideas to deal with this." A local analyst Kim So-Iyhen believes that without a political thaw in relations, economic cooperation doesn't last long, citing the case of Northern Ireland, where economic cooperation began after a political accord between Britain and Republic of Ireland.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Well they ARE still officially at war.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/28/2010 0:18 Comments ||
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#2
WMF > "YONHAP NEWS" MEDIA: DPRK BORDER GUARDS WILL DEPLOY NEW HEAVY MORTAR, 122MM ROCKET TUBES ALONG NK-CHIN BORDER, EFFEC GIVING THEM THE OFFFENSIVE FIREPOWER OF REGULAR NK COMBAT INFANTRY OR MECHANIZED UNITS.
* TOPIX > UN EXPERTS: NORTH KOREA IS EXPORTING NUKE, MISSLE TECHNOLOGY [INTENTIONAL > be it legally andor Illegally].
The final witness testifying in the "Toronto 18" terrorism case said he was "scared of the jihad talk" when he met with ringleader Fahim Ahmad to discuss ways of fraudulently raising money for the group.
Thomas Stella, a defence witness and longtime friend of Steven Chand, one of the final two facing charges in the high-profile case, told the jury he wanted nothing to do with the group after Mr. Chand introduced him to Ahmad and Mubin Shaikh, an undercover Canadian Security Intelligence Service agent, on two occasions in March 2006. "I just didn't want to deal with them," said Mr. Stella, who described Ahmad as "nuts" after hearing his jihad philosophy.
Mr. Stella testified that he and Mr. Chand became friends while working at a telemarketing company in 1997.
Mr. Chand, 29, is on trial and accused of participating in the "Toronto 18" terrorist group that allegedly operated between 2005 and 2006 and planned to detonate truck bombs in downtown Toronto and behead the prime minister. He also faces a charge of counselling someone to commit fraud over $5,000 for the benefit of a terrorist group. Earlier this month, Ahmad pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.
Throughout yesterday's proceedings, Mr. Chand sat silently at the back of the courtroom, his shoulder-length black hair pulled back in a bun. He did not take the stand in his own defence.
Mr. Stella, 28, told the court that in 2005, his primary source of income was credit card fraud, an activity that resulted in a conviction the following year. He said Mr. Chand discussed with him in early 2006 the possibility of obtaining "profiles" -- detailed personal information about unsuspecting private citizens -- from Ahmad for the purpose of committing identity theft to raise money for the group.
The jury heard a CSIS wiretap intercept in which Mr. Stella tells Ahmad, Mr. Shaikh and Mr. Chand how stolen personal information could be used to obtain bank loans of between $10,000 and $25,000. He also boasted about being able to "create" people by using the stolen personal information of dead people to obtain a SIN number. "In this wonderful country you just need a SIN number to be a person," Mr. Stella is heard telling the group.
Mr. Chand's lawyer attempted to paint his client as a simple bystander during the meeting. "Did Steven have any role to play at this first meeting?" Michael Moon asked. "No," replied Mr. Stella.
Mr. Moon hinted that the two friends intended to defraud Ahmad by using the personal information he supplied to take out loans, all the while telling Ahmad that the scheme didn't work. When asked if Mr. Chand was to receive any proceeds resulting from the identity thefts and bank loans, Mr. Stella replied: "I guess."
Militants armed with guns and grenades attacked two mosques of the Ahmadi sect of Islam in the Pakistani eastern city of Lahore today, killing 40 people.
Attackers took up positions in one of the minarets of a mosque in the city's Garhi Shahu area and threw grenades at armed policemen who tried to move in, Pakistani television channels reported from the scene. At least 50 people were injured in the twin strikes, Faisal Jalal, a spokesman for the Edhi rescue service, said by phone from Lahore.
Gunmen also hit a mosque about seven kilometers (four miles) to the south in the city's Model Town, an upper class neighborhood where former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has a home. Thousands of worshippers, including women and children, were at Friday prayers when the raids at the two mosques began, Salim Uddin, a spokesman for the community said by phone from Rabwah, a city 145 kilometers south of Lahore and the headquarters of the Ahmadi sect.
#1
From BBC: While the Ahmadis consider themselves Muslim and follow all Islamic rituals, they were declared non-Muslim in Pakistan in 1973, and in 1984 they were legally barred from proselytising or identifying themselves as Muslims.
The group has in the past been targeted by radical Sunni groups - who consider the Ahmadis infidels.
Members of the community have often been mobbed, or gunned down in targeted attacks, says the BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad.
But this is the first time their places of worship have suffered daring and well-coordinated attacks that bear the mark of Taliban militants, our correspondent adds.
Rescue workers are trying to free survivors from the wreckage of a train in eastern India after a blast on the line killed at least 25. The blast hurled a passenger train into the path of a goods train speeding in the opposite direction in West Midnapore, a railway spokesman said.
The number of dead was expected to rise after the incident early on Friday.
The area is known to be a Maoist stronghold but officials say it is too early to say if rebels were to blame.
The passenger train was travelling from Mumbai to the eastern city of Kolkata, in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal state.
Railway official Manoj Kumar told Reuters: "At this stage I can confirm 25 deaths. The toll will be much higher."
A doctor quoted by AFP said there had been 30 deaths.
A local government official said the toll could go up to "anywhere around 50-60" because many passengers were trapped inside mangled coaches.
"We can give a final figure only after rescue operations are complete. We have to cut open the compartments and bring out bodies."
Another railway spokesman, Soumitra Majumdar, said: "The blast derailed 13 coaches of the Gyaneswari Express. These coaches then fell on the other track where a goods train rammed into some of them."
Posted by: john frum ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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ecurity forces on Thursday killed three Taliban fighters, including a local commander during search operation in the restive Swat district, official sources said. Officials said the militants had opened fire at troops that were carrying out a search operation at Arkot area in Matta tehsil of Swat. The troops retaliated and killed three militants including local commander Akhtar, Naveedur Rehman and Rafiullah, who were wanted by the police for "several crimes". No damage was done to the forces during the shootout. The relatives of the militants took the bodies along with them for the burials.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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Two terrorists and a policeman were killed and two police officers were injured in a shootout when a group of armed extremists attacked a police van in Mamo Khwar area in Thall on Thursday. Thall Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mir Chaman Khan told APP that a group of terrorists had attacked the police mobile van during its patrol duty in Mamo Khwar. Police in retaliation shot dead two terrorists, while one policeman was killed. Two officials were injured in the shoot out.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Taliban armed with rockets and grenades stormed the home of a pro-government Pakistani tribal elder Thursday, killing him, his wife and son before blowing up their house, officials said. The pre-dawn killings took place in Asghar village, about 40 kilometres northwest of Khar, the main town in Pakistan's lawless tribal district of Bajaur, which borders Afghanistan.
"Malik tur Mulla, his wife and a son died in the attack while one women was wounded," Irshad Khan, a local administrative official in the area, told AFP by telephone. His son was 22 years old, Khan said.
Mulla, 52, raised an anti-Taliban militia in the Chaharmang valley and returned home last year after the army claimed the area was secure following prolonged fighting designed to crush militant sanctuaries.
"Taliban militants attacked the house. First they fired rockets and hurled hand grenades. Then they entered. They killed Malik and his family with Kalashinkovs," Jamil Khan, a local government official, told AFP by telephone.
Two intelligence officials described Mulla as an active tribal elder in the area who supported military operations against the Taliban in Bajaur.
Pakistan launched operations in the district in August 2008 and has claimed several times to have eliminated the militant threat.
Bajaur is at the northern tip of the semi-autonomous tribal belt that Washington calls the most dangerous place on Earth. It has seen a spike in attacks since security forces opened new fronts against the Taliban elsewhere.
The country's northwest tribal belt has become a nest of homegrown militant groups, Afghan Taliban and other foreign extremists since the 2001 US-led invasion that brought down the hardline Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Pakistani warplanes bombed militant hideouts in the Orakzai region on Thursday, killing 15 fighters and bringing the insurgents' death toll from attacks to 40 in the past 24 hours, officials said.
"Fighter jets bombed and destroyed five of their hideouts early in the day, killing 15 militants and wounding 25," said government official Nauman Khan.
Pakistani troops also used artillery to target militants' positions overnight in the same region. Security officials said 25 militants were killed in the barrage.
In recent weeks, the army has turned its attention to the Orakzai and Khyber regions, where many fighters are believed to have taken refuge from the earlier offensives.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Four wanted men, one of them on terrorist charges, and five suspects others were detained and arms and munitions seized in different areas of Basra province on Thursday, according to a police source.
Policemen conducted search raids all over Basra, arresting four wanted persons, one of them on terrorist charges and the three others on criminal charges, and five suspects others,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The raiding forces also seized 17 light and medium rifles, munitions and two hand-grenades,' he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Bandleader Jamal Al-Bayouk said he and his musicians would not risk performing in the southern Gaza Strip any more after extremists threatened to kill them at a wedding party. The Chicken Dance? What are you, a wise guy?
They had just finished performing east of Khan Younis when armed militants burst in, set fire to $40,000 worth of instruments and fired shots between the legs of band members. I thought that was part of the entertainment?
"One gunman told another: Don't shoot between the legs. Shoot at the legs!" Bayouk told Reuters. Not the legs! The feet! The feet! Didn't you read the manual!
"Another told me: Prepare for death, you immoral infidel," the 49-year-old man said, at the Gaza shop where he fixes musical instruments and rents sound systems.
He said several other singers and members of bands had been beaten up by Qaeda style jihadists who disapprove of their music and added that in his opinion there could be further attacks as summer begins and people hold weddings and parties. "I am afraid and I am not optimistic but I will continue because there are 20 families depending on my profession," Bayouk said.
The threat comes from Salafi jihadists whose agenda of global holy war against the West is against the nationalist goals of Gaza's rulers Hamas, an Islamist movement which denies seeking to create a theocracy in the enclave. We don't even know anybody named Theo. Stupid infidels!
While seen in Israel as a dangerously fundamentalist Palestinian enemy force, Hamas is not Islamist enough in the eyes of hardline groups which have stepped up attacks in the Gaza Strip over the past several months, targeting Hamas security men and offices. Uh-oh. Not Muslim Enough. I think I know what's gonna happen here...
Hamas accuses them of attacking wedding parties, Christian sites, internet cafes and women's hair dressing salons. The groups deny the accusations.
Last Sunday, masked gunmen vandalized a U.N.-run summer camp for children after Islamist militants accused the United Nations of promoting immorality among Gaza's Muslim youth.
Ehab al-Ghsain, spokesman of the Hamas interior ministry, said security services had finalised the plan to provide security protection to public places where residents would go to enjoy summer holidays including restaurants and beaches.
He said a number of suspects were detained over the attack on the U.N. summer camp, but gave no details of their affiliation.
Ghsain attributed a drop in bomb attacks in the territory to a security campaign to "arrest characters involved in causing chaos" and to an educational plan to rehabilitate members.
Hamas wrested control of Gaza from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah movement in fighting in 2007.
The enclave is under an Israeli-led blockade. The West shuns Hamas over its refusal to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals.
Analysts and rival officials say groups inspired by Qaeda pose a clear challenge to Hamas rule in Gaza. They say Hamas is reaping the harvest it sowed: many current members of the Jihadist Salafi factions were once trained activists of Hamas' armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam Brigades.
Believers in Qaeda ideology may number in the hundreds or thousands, say analysts. But Ghsain insists there a no more than a few dozen.
Political analyst Talal Okal says the number is rising, thanks to the Islamist environment Hamas encourages. "The growing number of those extremist groups may have a bad impact on Hamas," Okal said.
Salafis criticize Hamas for taking up government in the first place. They accuse the movement of failing to implement Islamic law in favor of having relations with Western countries they denounce as "crusaders and infidels".
Ahmed Assaf, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, said Hamas's bid to portray itself as the only true Muslim movement had obviously backfired. "Hamas raised its members in the belief that Fatah and other non-Hamas parties were secular and infidels and now Hamas is suffering from its own incitement. Hamas now finds itself in the same position. It is governing by secular law and preventing resistance against Israel from Gaza. That has prompted many shocked members of Qassam to abandon the group and join the more extreme Islamist cells," Assaf said.
Boaz Ganor, an Israeli expert in counter-terrorism, said the stronger those groups become the bigger threat to Hamas rule they would pose. The more willingness Hamas showed towards getting international legitimacy and opening to the West, the more vocal those groups would become. "To have an element that does not obey the new Hamas guidelines and policy, an element that endorses global Jihad, is counterproductive to the Hamas approach towards the international community," Ganor said by telephone from Israel. More popcorn?
Okal said Hamas would not allow them to cross the red line."We all saw how Hamas intervened militarily and strongly when one group defied them and tried to announce an emirate of their own in Gaza," said Okal, referring to a battle in which 28 people were killed in addition to six Hamas policemen.
Ganor said the hardline groups were loose cannons in territory Hamas controls, and as far as Israel was concerned it is Hamas that bears responsibility for their actions."If Hamas would be seen as turning a blind eye to or cooperating with those elements, this is going to cause a great loss to Hamas," Ganor said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
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And it looks like the US stopped Israel from targeting a Hizballah missile shipment!
Hezbollah is running weapons, including surface-to-surface missiles, from secret arms depots in Syria to its bases in Lebanon, according to security sources.
The Times has been shown satellite images of one of the sites, a compound near the town of Adra, northeast of Damascus, where militants have their own living quarters, an arms storage site and a fleet of lorries reportedly used to ferry weapons into Lebanon. The military hardware is either of Syrian origin or sent from Iran by sea, via Mediterranean ports, or by air, via Damascus airport. The arms are stored at the Hezbollah depot and then trucked into Lebanon.
Hezbollah is allowed to operate this site freely,' said a security source. They often move the arms in bad weather when Israeli satellites are unable to track them.' Most of the weapons are sent from depots like the one near Adra and then stored at Hezbollah bases in the Bekaa Valley or southern Lebanon.
The revelation adds to growing fears in the West that the regime of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria, is becoming increasingly close to Hezbollah and its main supporter, Iran. Syria has long backed the Lebanese militant group, but until now most of those contacts have taken place on Lebanese soil.There are fears that if Israel and Hezbollah clash again as happened in August 2006 Syria could become directly embroiled in the conflict.
Israel reportedly planned recently to bomb one of the arms convoys as it crossed the border into Lebanon, but the operation was called off at the last minute. Western intelligence sources say that the Israelis have yielded for now to American diplomatic efforts to persuade Syria to stop the arms transfers. However, the apparent lack of success is increasing the chances that Israel may send a calibrated signal' to Hezbollah and Syria by launching an airstrike against an arms depot or weapons convoy.
Jihad Makdissi, the spokesman for the Syrian Embassy in London, insisted that all military sites in Syria were exclusive to the Syrian military. Syria and Israel remain in a state of war as long as Israel refuses to implement UNSC [United Nations Security Council] resolutions to end the occupation of Arab lands; therefore if these military depots really exist it would be for the exclusive use of the Syrian Army to defend Syrian soil, and it is definitely nobody's business,' he said.
Arming Hezbollah was banned under the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which brought an end to the 2006 war. Since then, however, Hezbollah has managed to replenish its military stocks and the group is thought to have amassed more than 40,000 rockets and missiles, ranging from short-range Katyushas to medium-range M600 missiles and the Soviet-era Scud ballistic missile, which is capable of hitting most big population centres in Israel.
Yossi Baidatz, an Israeli intelligence officer, told the Knesset this month that the amount of arms being sent to Hezbollah by Syria and Iran could no longer be described as smuggling'. He said it was an organised and official transfer' of weapons and that the Scuds were only the tip of the iceberg'. Syria has denied arming Hezbollah with Scuds, but America and Israel insist they have hard intelligence to the contrary.
The Times has learnt that US and Israeli intelligence agencies suspect that two Scud missiles have entered Lebanon and could be hidden in underground arms depots in the northern Bekaa Valley. One source said there were indications that Hezbollah may even be considering returning the missiles because of the intensified scrutiny.
Western officials have repeatedly urged President Assad to halt the flow of weapons to Hezbollah. John Kerry, the head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Damascus in April and presented the Syrian President with evidence that Scuds had been transferred to Hezbollah, according to Western diplomatic sources. Mr Assad denied the allegations. Western officials privately say that the Syrian leader is flat out lying' about the arms transfers.
#1
Syria is going to keep pushing arms into Lebanon until Israel has no other option than to respond to the deaths of tens of thousands of its citizens by using nuclear weapons along the Litani River. If that does happen, Damascus will disappear at the same time.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/28/2010 13:50 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Leader of Jundallah terrorist group Abdolmalek Rigi, who was arrest on flight from the UAE to Kyrgyzstan, has appeared in court for the first time.
Rigi was charged with 79 counts of different crimes including terrorism on Thursday.
The families of the victims of Jundallah's terrorist attacks were present in the courtroom.
Rigi, accompanied by his lawyer, pleaded guilty to all charges. He expressed regret for his crimes and asked for forgiveness.
He said his actions had all been based on ignorance, prejudice, and hatred. The prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for Rigi.
The terrorist leader has already confessed to having links with NATO officials in Afghanistan and foreign spy agencies like the CIA.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/28/2010 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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Top|| File under: Jundullah
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A top leader of Pakistan's Taliban has been killed in a clash with Afghan forces near the border, a top Afghan police officer said
[Maghrebia] A just-dismantled Boumerdes terror cell planned to attack foreign vessels off the Algeria coast, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Wednesday (May 26th). The plan was reportedly uncovered when a man arrested in the western town of Boukaroun admitted to transporting explosives and ammunition by boat to Kabylie terrorists. According to unnamed security sources, the suspect said the group planned to mount sea attacks against foreign vessels.
Uzbek state television has accused a cleric based in Sweden of masterminding a series of high-profile killings last year, as well as a 2004 suicide bombing at the US embassy.
[Dawn] Russian authorities on Thursday vowed to strike back after a bomb blast killed seven people and wounded dozens in the southern city of Stavropol minutes before a Chechen dance concert the night before.
An eerie tension is building up on the border between South and North Koreas as the South is amassing troops to take punitive action against the communist North.
The final witness testifying in the "Toronto 18" terrorism case said he was "scared of the jihad talk" when he met with ringleader Fahim Ahmad to discuss ways of fraudulently raising money for the group.
[Dawn] Taliban armed with rockets and grenades stormed the home of a pro-government Pakistani tribal elder Thursday, killing him, his wife and son before blowing up their house, officials said. The pre-dawn killings took place in Asghar village, about 40 kilometres northwest of Khar, the main town in Pakistan's lawless tribal district of Bajaur, which borders Afghanistan.
[Dawn] Pakistani warplanes bombed militant hideouts in the Orakzai region on Thursday, killing 15 fighters and bringing the insurgents' death toll from attacks to 40 in the past 24 hours, officials said.
