[Tolo News] At least 108 Talibs have been killed in joint Afghan-coalition forces' operations in northern Takhar province in the past two months
In a series of joint Afghan-foreign forces operations in the past two months, at least 108 Talibs have been killed and 4 others have been jugged, a spokesperson for the governor of Takhar, Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi, told TOLOnews news hound on Sunday.
Four police have been killed and 6 others have also been maimed in these operations, Mr Tawhidi said.
The operations have been conducted through-out Takhar province to wipeout Taliban gunnies from these areas, and in the past one week, 23 Talibs have joined the Afghan government, he added.
Mr Tawhidi said the counter-insurgency operations are still continuing, and most areas have been retaken from the Taliban.
Violence has increased in Takhar province recently, and the Afghan and coalition forces had previously conducted major operations in the province, in which two key Taliban capos were also killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Reported body counts seem significantly higher of late. Real, or just a change in reporting philosophy?
I recall during the Vietnam War the official counts were greeted with disbelief and scorn; then some time after the war a NVA general reported the size of their losses, and it was surprisingly close to the sum of our reported counts. No doubt the details were wrong, but that seems to have been statistical and not the result of serious bias. I wonder whether we (the people) might have proceeded differently had we believed our government? And have we (the people or the government) learned any lessons?
I am not convinced that we can win a 'hearts and minds' campaign - our propaganda ability is very inadequate. I am also not convinced we can win a body count war - we don't have the will to count that high (nor would we have the needed support or tolerance from other countries.) That makes me torn between thinking we should get out now and quit sacrificing good soldiers and thinking that killing as many as we can get away with is still worthwhile, even in a non-winning situation.
#2
If we don't stand up to them, no one will. These groups are global and will bring the war to our shores if we back down. American lives will be lost here or there. I'm proud of the American who stands up to these bullies but I wish we could fight with both hands untied and a bit smarter. When Allies aren't great and the media is total against us, it's hard to keep pushing but we must.
#3
I'd like to take the gloves off, too, and begin by nuking Riyadh, which is money-central for all the jihadis worldwide. Second nuke should explode at ground level in Qom. After that, it doesn't make much difference.
We should be using a maximum effort in Afghanistan, instead of a minimum effort. Hang Karzai in the heart of Kabul, make Dostum President, and let him know he holds his office at our convenience. Start using ARCLIGHT strikes on all the passes between Afghanistan and Pakistan except the one or two we use for supplies. When the natives complain, explain to them their village could be the next recipient. Once we destroy EVERYTHING within a couple of miles of a village that supports the Taliban, the rest will understand the game has changed. We also need to start using napalm on Taliban on the trails away from cities or villages. There's nothing quite as terrifying as seeing your entire company wiped out in flaming goo that sticks and burns, burns, burns. The only way to win in a war with tribals like the Taliban is to be the meanest, nastiest, most successful warriors in the battle. Anything less is second place, which is worth nothing in a war.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/01/2010 15:30 Comments ||
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#4
@ #3
This...would be a good start.
Posted by: Secret Asian Man ||
11/01/2010 17:48 Comments ||
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[Arab News] NATO and Afghan troops killed 17 snuffies in an hours-long gunbattle in southern Helmand province, an Afghan official said Sunday.
Saturday's fighting lasted 12 hours and took place in the Dishu district, said provincial government front man Daud Ahmadi.
NATO and Afghan troops began pushing into the insurgency's stronghold in the south in July.
Also on Sunday, beturbanned goons attacked a convoy carrying supplies for the police, Education Ministry, and the UN's World Food Program in western Nimroz province, said provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Jabar Pardeli. Six beturbanned goons were killed and one policeman was maimed in the gunbattle, which lasted for more than two hours.
In a separate incident, NATO said that an Arclight airstrike on Thursday killed a Taleban leader and another snuffy in southern Zabul province as he was showing his fighters a new anti-aircraft heavy machine gun mounted on the back of his vehicle.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Heavy festivities between Somali government troops, backed by African Union (AU) forces, and al-Shaboobs have left at least 31 people dead and 22 others injured in Mogadishu.
Sixteen people -- mostly civilians -- bit the dust on Saturday when al-Shaboobs carried out a bomb attack on a convoy of Burundian soldiers on the Industrial Road in the western suburbs of Mogadishu. Four soldiers were killed in the kaboom, the Press TV correspondent in Mogadishu reported.
The Burundian troops opened fire on nearby buildings soon after the attack.
In a separate incident, nine people were killed in Mogadishu's Hodon district when festivities broke out between AU forces and al-Shabaab krazed killers.
In addition, six non-combatants were killed and 22 others sustained injuries when they got caught in an exchange of fire between members of the al-Shabaab group and AU troops in Mogadishu's southern district of Hararyale.
In a recent report, the International Committee of the Red Thingy (ICRC) said that hundreds of civilians have been injured in fighting in Somalia over recent months.
The Geneva-based humanitarian institution said that a total of 5,000 patients with war injuries, including 1,900 women and kiddies, were admitted to Mogadishu's Keysaney and Medina hospitals from January through September.
Compared to last year, it is an increase of 25 percent in the total number of war casualties and 72 percent in the number of war-maimedwomen and kiddies admitted to the hospitals.
Some 4,000 patients with war injuries, among them 1,100 women and kiddies, were taken to Mogadishu's two referral hospitals in 2009.
Boilerplate follows...
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Over the past two decades, up to one million people have bit the dust in fighting between rival factions and due to famine and disease.
There are more than 1.4 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Somalia. Over 300,000 of the IDPs are sheltered in Mogadishu.
Most of the displaced live in poor and degrading conditions on makeshift sites in southern and central Somalia, according to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society High Commissioner for Refugees.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] The father of the terror suspect Mohammed Al-Samawi, Engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Water, said to Yemen Post "My daughter is innocent."
He believes that there is a big misunderstanding and has appointed HOOD Human Rights Organization to defend his daughter and wife. The suspect's name is Hanan Al-Samawi, and is a 5th year University Student at Sana'a University.
The mother, Amatulillah Mohammed, who was also imprisoned, is in bad medical condition according to HOOD.
The family lawyer, Abdul Rahman Barman, who represents HOOD, commented on the matter saying, "the family of the prisoners contacted us and informed us to help."
"We are in the process of gathering information from her friends and family and from the university."
He added, "we are dealing with the matter with great concern. They were taken to an unknown place; we believe they were taken to the National Security Prison."
The mother, who was also imprisoned, is named Amatulillah Mohammed.
Police in Sana'a raided their house and arrested them in connection with the terror packages sent to the United States onboard flights that originated in Yemen.
The arrest took place when ten security vehicles including one carrying policewomen surrounded their house in Mathbah district.
Her father works for an oil company in Hadramout province.
According to sources close to the two females, they did not have political leanings or links with any group, and their arrest came after the authorities had found the student's phone number and ID copy on the suspicious packages seized in UK and Dubai.
The arrest took place when ten security vehicles including one carrying policewomen surrounded their house in Mathbah district.
Saleh: We will Cooperate with the International Community
I called British Prime Minister David Cameron and we agreed to form a joint panel to investigate the incident, President Saleh told reporters, at a time when the west's concerns about Al-Qaeda in Yemen are growing.
Yemen will continue the war on terrorism with available national potentials, he said, reiterating Yemen's refusal to any external intervention in the terror operations on the Yemeni soil.
Meanwhile, sources at the Yemen offices of the UPS and FedEx Companies said the Yemeni police confiscated today other suspicious packages and are examining them.
The police are investigating about 26 more packages and have already arrested some workers of the companies in connection with all packages, the sources said.
They, however, did not give names involved in the alleged plots, as they said Yemen's anti-terror efforts are applauded and come within the global terror campaign.
Obama Calls President Saleh over Two Explosive Packages Sent from Yemen The President of the United States of America, Barak Obama spoke with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh as they agreed to strengthen cooperation to confront Al-Qaeda and to enhance the security of Yemen, the same sources reported.
As two explosive packages sent from Yemen and carried by FedEex and USP parcel services, the spotlights has been put again on Yemen, Yemeni expert in Al-Qaeda affairs told the Yemen Post, and said it could be a new tactic by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Earlier, the government said there were no UPS cargo planes that had taken off from Yemen or any indirect or direct flights to British or American airports.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen previously has spawned plots against commercial U.S-bound flights.
In the past 18 months, the Al-Qaeda offshoot in Yemen has grown stronger, and its members have been implicated in several plots against U.S. targets, including the futile attack last Dec. 25 on an airliner landing in Detroit, Michigan.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] The female suspect held in connection with the mail bombs terror plots aimed at Chicago two places of Jewish worship was tortured and abused during and after her arrest in Sana'a, Hood said on Sunday.
It's Yemen. You were expecting?
Hanan al Samawi, a fifth-year engineering student at Sana'a University, was violently jugged before her mother and family members, and she was also tortured during investigation by the national security, a source at the organization said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... law sources expressed concerns about her arrest measures, saying a suspect should be summoned or jugged according to the law.
Hanan's colleagues staged today a sit-in at the engineering faculty and carried placards reading ' we announce our solidarity with Hanan jugged in connection with alleged U.S.-bound mail bombs.'
They urged to release her, saying she had nothing to do with the allegedly suspicious packages, and the Yemeni Student Union called for a strike on Monday in solidarity with Hanan, who was jugged along with her mother on Saturday night and taken to an unknown place.
This article starring:
Hanan al Samawi
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I call Bullsh!t.
Even the Yemeni government isn't stupid enough to torture & abuse an arrestee with the whole world watching.
[Yemen Post] A Saudi bombmaker is believed to be involved in the mail bombs that were shipped through Yemen and were intercepted while on their way to the U.S. in London and Dubai, U.S. media citing an official speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... reported on Sunday.
Ibrahim Hassan al Asiri, on top of a Saudi most-wanted terrorist list and a brother of a boomer who tried to eliminate senior Saudi counterterrorism official Prince Muhammad Bin Nayef last year, is thought to be one of the main suspects in the explosive parcels aimed at two places of Jewish worship in Chicago, reports said.
Asiri, also believed to be involved in 2009 Christmas Day plot, is working with Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP, they said, pointing out that the U.S. authorities have closely been watching him after information about his experience in making explosives.
There were signs the Saudi national produced the Christmas Day plot bomb and the bombs used to kill prince Muhammad Bin Nayef, they added.
After the parcels that triggered high alert in the United States and the UK were seized on Friday morning, the U.S. said the mail plots bore the hallmarks of AQAO, which the U.S. has recently said is more dangerous than the main Al-Qaeda group of Bin Laden.
This article starring:
Ibrahim Hassan al Asiri
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION HAARETZ > NETANYAHU: MAIL BOMBS TARGETING US SYNAGOGUES PROVE ISLAMIST TERROR IS RISING.
and
* ISRAEL NN > [Netanyahu] WORLD FEARS NEW WAVE OF TERROR [threat growing].
* ALso from ISRAEL NN > BARAK: THE BAD NEWS IS THAT [Osama] BIN LADEN IS STILL ALIVE.
ARTIC > GLOBAL TERROR is increasing + threatening the entire World; STRUGGLE AGZ TERROR [e.g. GWOT] MAY LAST FOR ANOTHER ONE-HALF GENERATION OR MORE [1/2 of 20-Year Generation = 10 Years = may NOT end until AT LEAST YEAR 2020-OR-BEYOND].
IIUC, IMO ARTIC also read = BAMMER MIL PULLOUTS starting in 2011 does NOT mean END TO MIL/COMBAT PHASE???
* YNETNEWS > OPED:WEAK OBAMA IS BAD FOR ISRAEL.
-------------------
FYI the WASHINGTON POST'S DAVID BRODER is repor calling for US WAR AGZ IRAN TO SAVE THE AMER ECONOMY + which will also help POTUS BAMMER POLITICALLY [electoral process].
[Arab News] Students protested in Yemen on Sunday against the arrest of a co-student suspected of sending a postal package containing explosives to the United States.
Governments, airlines and aviation authorities around the world are reviewing security after two mail bombs sent from Yemen were intercepted on planes in Dubai and Britain on Friday.
Yemeni police jugged the woman, believed to be in her 20s, after tracing her through a telephone number she had left with a cargo company. The student and her mother were the first people to be jugged in connection with the foiled bomb plot.
Dozens of students staged a sit-in in the courtyard of Sanaa University's engineering faculty calling for her release. "I don't think anyone would carry out a major operation like this and leave behind their real contact details ... I think she's the victim of a conspiracy," student Muhammad Al-Bazili said.
A US official said a Saudi bombmaker believed to be working with Al-Qaeda's Yemen-based wing is a key suspect. Ibrahim Hassan Al-Asiri, who figures on a Saudi list of wanted terrorists, is the brother of a boomer killed in a bid last year to assassinate Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs Prince Mohammed bin Naif.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Apply Saudi style justice. Chop off her hands and its a bit hard to package and mail a bomb.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/01/2010 2:10 Comments ||
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#2
Except it's starting to sound like it was only her stolen identity card that was involved in the mailing, not she herself, Water Modem.
[Bangla Daily Star] Abdul Malek alias Golam Mohammad, an operative of the Pakistain-based orc outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), yesterday confessed his involvement with the grenade attacks on an Awami League (AL) rally on Bangabandhu Avenue on August 21, 2004.
Metropolitan Magistrate AKM Emdadul Haque recorded the statement of Golam and sent him to jail.
However, The infamous However... details of the confessional statement could not be known immediately.
The Criminal Investigation Department yesterday produced Golam before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Dhaka for recording his confessional statement on completion of the third phase of his four-day remand.
Rapid Action Battalion jugged Golam on October 5 from the airport railway station area in the capital for his alleged role in supplying grenades, which were used for attacks on the AL rally.
Later he was shown jugged in the grenade attack case on October 18 and was remanded for ten days in three phases.
Earlier another LeT member Abu Yusuf Butt alias Abdul Majid Butt gave confessional statements to the magistrate regarding his involvement in the grenade attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A Jubo League ... the youth wing of the Bangla Awami League... activist was hacked to death by a group of unidentified bad boyzs at West Duttpara of the town last night.
Police said six to eight gunnies called Kamruzzaman alias Zaman Mia, 32, out of his home at about 10:30pm. He was hacked and slaughtered on the road in front of his home at West Duttapara in the town.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] At least eight masked gunnies have killed 14 people who had gathered to play an amateur soccer game in Honduras's second largest city, San Pedro Sul.
"There were 14 of them at a football field in the Felipe Zelaya housing development; some guys showed up and started firing at them. Ten of them were killed instantly," police commissioner Leonel Sauceda said on Saturday.
Four of the victims were rushed to hospital, but all of them died shortly after the assault, another police front man said.
Honduran Vice Minister of Security Armando Calidonio confirmed the attack, but said the motive behind the shooting is not yet unknown.
Mass shootings are not uncommon in Honduras. Street gangs are blamed for rampant violent crime and extortion and have recently turned to acting as enforcers for drug cartels.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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A total of 23 individuals have been murdered in gang and drug related violence that included the murder of a motorcycle police officer and a state police agent in Juarez Saturday. For a map, click here
Four unidentified individuals were shot to death in an armed assault near a shopping center in western Chihuahua, Chihuahua Friday, say Mexican news accounts. The attack took place near the intersection of Periferico de la Juventud and Calle Haciendas del Valle where two individuals were gunned down in a restaurant while two others were killed outside on the sidewalk. Reports say armed suspects riding aboard an SUV and a Volkswagen Bora dismounted from their convoy and started shooting.
An unidentified 56 year old man was rescued by Mexican Federal agents in Juarez Friday, according to Mexican news accounts. The victim was found bound and nude in a residence near the intersection of calles Cripton and Mariano Samaniego in the Consumidores district. A suspect was arrested as he tried to escape the police cordon.
A municipal police traffic officer, a state police agent and an unidentified female civilian were shot to death in three separate crimes Friday evening, say Mexican press accounts. Two municipal motorcycle police officers were operating a radar speed trap on the corner of avenida de los Aztecas and Basalto in the Azteca district when they were fired on by unknown assailants. One unidentified officer was shot to death while another was wounded. In the Parque Gema district a state police agent was found executed near his official Dodge Ram pickup truck. In Lomas de Morelos district an unidentified woman was dumped dead in the streets with a .40 caliber gunshot wound to her head.
Four unidentified men were found shot to death in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Friday evening say Mexican news accounts. The discovery was made in the Quintas Montecarlo district on Kilometer 10 of Highway 45. The four victims were gagged with tape and hands and feet bound with rope.
An unidentified man was dumped dead in the middle of the street in Juarez Saturday, say Mexican news accounts. The victim has been shot and handcuffed when he was thrown out of a moving vehicle near the intersection of calles Justo Sierra and Ramirez in the El Barreal district.
Two unidentified men were found shot to death in Chihuahua, Chihuahua Saturday afternoon, say Mexican press accounts. The victims were found in the El Reliz park near La Salle University, and had apparently been there for a few days.
Three unidentified men were shot to death and two others were seriously wounded in an attack in Juarez Saturday afternoon, say Mexican news reports. The victims were found at a residence near the intersection of calles Elisa Dosamantes and Guillermina Dieguez in the Los Colorines district. Reports say armed suspects chased the five into the residence where they sought refuge before the armed suspects opened fire.
Four unidentified men were shot to death in four separate shootings Saturday night and Sunday morning in Juarez according to the Mexican daily La Polaka. At a park near the intersection of calles Berilio and Azucenas in the Bellavista district a man was found shot to death leaning against a park bench. At about 2300 hrs a municipal police officer was found shot to death outside of his residence near the corner of calles Valle de Colima and Valle del Sol in the Frontera Nueva district. In the Fray Garcia de san Francisco district a man was shot to death reports say was a fugitive. Finally in the Bar Amores on Avenida Jilotepec, a man was taken to a spot in the bar and shot to death by armed suspects. A fifth incident earlier Saturday evening involved a suspected thief who was shot by Mexican Federal agents at a Smart Lopez Mateos.
A man and a woman were found in a shallow grave south of Nogales, Sonora, say Mexican press accounts. Martha Guadalupe Camargo Ceron 43, and Armando Ortiz Echeverria, 41 were found in the La Mesa district in a dried creek bed half buried. Both victim were reported missing October 19th and both had been tortured before they were killed.
Google Translate. For a map, click here.
A combined police group in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon encountered armed suspects in a convoy in a gun battle, killing two, say Mexican news reports.
The gunfight, which took place just two hours after a series of coordinated grenades attack on police facilities at about 2125 in the Bellavista district.
A patrol of the Monterrey Bases de Operaciones Mixtas (BOM) encountered a two truck convoy at the intersection of avenidas Adolfo Ruiz Cortines and Bernardo Reyes carrying armed suspects.
A chase began when the suspects fired on the police group and fled.
The pursuit ended at the corner of calles Luis Mora and Miguel Nieto in the Industrial district when one of the trucks, a Jeep Liberty stolen out of Vallecillo, Nuevo Leon, hit a wall. The other vehicle escaped.
Inside the crashed were two unidentified suspects dead, apparently hit by gunfire.
BOMs are a grouping of federal, state and local police agents combined to deal with roadblocks in Monterrey as well as major crimes in the area.
Greek police said it had intercepted on Monday a booby-trapped parcel addressed to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, after another package exploded at a courier company in Athens.
"One of the explosive devices that the suspects were carrying was addressed to the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy," a police spokesman told Reuters.
He said the other parcels were addressed to the embassies of Belgium, Netherlands and Mexico. The latter one exploded earlier in Athens, slightly injuring one female employee at a courier company. The others were detonated by police.
"Police believes there is no link with Al Qaeda. We are still investigating," he said adding that the two men arrested were suspected to be linked to a Greek leftist guerrilla group
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Germany will no longer accept air freight from Yemen, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere announced today after parcel bombs from the country were found on US-bound cargo flights.
"The federal government assures that from now no freight coming from Yemen will arrive in Germany," the minister said. France's civil aviation authority announced earlier that it had suspended air freight from Yemen in the wake of the interception of two parcel bombs in Dubai and Britain.
How much air freight is there from Yemen to Germany in the first place?
Belgium called for "greater vigilance" of flights between Yemen and the United States.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the same person constructed the Yemen parcel bombs and the device worn by the "underwear" bomber who botched an attack over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009, the US counter-terrorism chief said Sunday. "I think that the indications are right now based on forensic analysis that the individual responsible for putting these devices together is the same," John Brennan told ABC's "This Week" news program.
Authorities have said two parcels discovered on cargo planes in Dubai and central England late Thursday after a tip-off from Soddy Arabia contained explosives and were intended to bring the aircraft down.
Britain's Sunday Telegraph newspaper and The Washington Post said investigators were focusing on a Saudi Al-Qaeda explosives expert based in Yemen, 28-year-old Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri. Pictured left is the home of one of the suspects Hanan al-Samawi, who was jugged the previous day.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
the same person constructed the Yemen parcel bombs and the device worn by the "underwear" bomber
If he survives long enough even this slow learner will figure out how to make a bomb that actually brings down a jetliner. Better find him pretty soon.
[Pak Daily Times] A former activist of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was gunned down Sunday near the Korangi Road. Landhi police said the deceased identified as Shahid, 27, son of Shayer Ali, resident of Sector 51-C, Korangi, was kidnapped on Saturday by unidentified culprits, who killed him and threw away his body in the wee hours of Sunday. SHO Mohammad Khan said the deceased was shot four times while his body bore several torture marks. Shahid was a former MQM activist and was unmarried and jobless, he said, adding that according to his family, he had no enmities. His body was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) for medico-legal formalities and handed over to the heirs. A case was registered against unidentified men.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Pak Daily Times] Three key Swat Taliban capos were killed in festivities with security forces on Sunday, security sources said.
The sources, on Sunday, told Daily Times that three Taliban capos, including Umar Said, Miftahuddin and Said Rahim were killed in a clash with security forces in the Bakrosar area of Swat's Matta tehsil. The forces also recovered a large quantity of arms. The sources said the forces had started operations and a door-to-door search in the district, after terrorist activities.
The shootout started when the Taliban allegedly started firing at a patrolling party of security forces. The forces, in self-defence, also started firing, and killed the thugs.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
I spoke before carefully reading - the loss of 17 security officers as well as Christians (and hostage takers) makes this unsatisfactory to all but the hostage takers. I'd condemn the authorities for the bad outcome, but these things are very difficult to resolve successfully even with the best forces in the world (ours). Bad as it is, I still prefer it to making deals with AQ.
#3
I'm getting the impression that making a deal was not in the jihadi's playbook, no matter the rhetoric used after getting surrounded.
It might be seen as a test if the Iraqi forces would even respond, or charge if ordered. They did, and took prisoners. Perhaps there will be a follow up. And the bad guys..they made their little message loud and clear. Loud, and clear.
[An Nahar] Seven Christians were killed Sunday and at least 13 maimed in a rescue operation involving US and Iraqi forces to end a hostage drama at a church in the Iraqi capital, officials said.
All eight gunnies were also killed when US and Iraqi forces mounted a joint operation to rescue worshippers held hostage in the Sayidat al-Nejat church in the Karrada neighbourhood. The gunnies had stormed the church during evening mass after killing two guards at the nearby headquarters of the Storied Baghdad stock exchange.
"We released the hostages but unfortunately seven of them were killed and 20 of them maimed," an interior ministry official told AFP.
A defence ministry official said 13 were hurt in the rescue operation and that the gunnies had been holding 40 hostages.
One of the freed hostages, an 18-year-old man, said that the first thing the gunnies did when they entered the church was to shoot the priest. "The entered the church with their weapons, wearing military uniforms. They came into the prayer hall, and immediately killed the priest," said the young man who did declined to give his name.
All the hostages had been huddled into the main prayer hall when the gunbattles began with security forces, he said. "We heard a lot of gunfire and kabooms, and some people were hurt from falling windows, doors and debris," he added.
Officials said that nine gunnies had stormed the church in central Baghdad but one of them blew himself up by activating a suicide belt he was wearing earlier in the evening when police made a first attempt to enter the church.
"We killed the eight beturbanned goons inside the church," an Iraqi soldier said.
Officials refused to speak about casualties among security forces.
"We came here to help the police and army free the hostages, and we released them with the help of the Americans," a member of Iraq's anti-terrorist unit told AFP.
An AFP news hound saw US soldiers at the scene. Helicopters hovered overhead and loud kabooms and gunfire were heard, shortly after officials said they were preparing to storm the church.
Two guards at the stock exchange were killed in festivities with the gunnies trying to battle their way into the building earlier on Sunday, an interior ministry official said.
He said the attackers detonated a bomb in a car parked close wounding four civilians and beat feet, fleeing to the Sayidat al-Nejat church which was among six targeted by deadly car bombings on August 1, 2004.
The Chaldean bishop of Baghdad, Bishop Shlimoune Wardouni earlier told AFP that gunnies were demanding the release of detainees held in Iraq and Egypt and that two priests were among the hostages.
The Vatican expressed regret over the hostage drama and called for a swift resolution.
"It's a very sad situation, which confirms the difficult situation in which Christians live in the country," Father Federico Lombardi told AFP. "We are following the situation closely and hope for a rapid solution, without violence or further victims," he said.
Violence has abated in Iraq since its peak in 2006-2007, but deadly bombings, shootouts and kidnappings are still routine.
Iraq's Christians have been frequently the target of violence, including murder and abductions, over the past seven years. Hundreds of Iraqi Christians have been killed and several churches attacked since the US-led invasion to oust Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Around 800,000 Christians lived in Iraq in 2003 but their number has since shrunk to 550,000 as members of the community have decamped abroad, according to Christian leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
I thought I heard more like 50 killed this morning on the radio. Maybe that included the Christians.
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/01/2010 6:47 Comments ||
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A policeman was killed and a villager seriously injured in an ambush by terrorists militants in Pattani province on Monday. The attack took place near Darusalam village at about 9:40 AM local time.
Pol Senior Sgt-Maj Sudchai Salae, 39, was driving his truck from his house to work in heavy rain when a number of terrorists militants hiding on the side of the road opened fire. The officer was hit several times as the truck skidded off the road. He was killed instantly. A villager, Rosalee Jeh-uma, 34, who was driving past the scene on a motorcycle, was also hit several times and seriously injured.
The terrorists militants then tossed metal spikes and other objects onto the road to delay any pursuit.
All articles are my own summaries, except for bits in italics, which are direct quotes. Direct quotes are limited to eight sentences or less, in compliance with current Fair Use rules.
(10/29/2010) WSJ: Yemeni Bombs Target U.S.
In typical Wall Street Journal style, they have a useful slideshow (photos of the device, AQAP bomb-maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri of Saudi Arabia, young moving black objects (MBOs) protesting the arrest of classmate Miss Hanan al-Samawi, age 22, an engineering student at Sana'a University, and Yemeni soldiers patrolling the streets) and an interactive graphic of what was found where... and the previous stops.
This may have been a rehearsal rather than an actual attack.
(10/31) WSJ:Packages May Have Been Sent by Militants Linked to Language Schools
Same interactive graphic as above article. The two Yemeni arrestees are Miss Hanan al-Samawi and her mother. The father is Mohammed Al-Samawi, an engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture and Water. Miss al-Samawi's telephone number and a photocopy of her photo i.d. card were submitted with the packages to the shipper. Her lawyer, a specialist in human rights, said that a person who would send such things wouldn't leave his own phone number and i.d..
Authorities (experts?) say the design of the bomb is quite sophisticated, possibly the work of AQAP chief bomb-maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, who made the bomb that so maimed that poor Pantibomber last Christmas. The powerful explosive, PETN, is very hard to detect, even with X-ray machines or sniffer dogs. The toner cartridges contain 4-6 times as much explosive as the Pantibomber's underpants had done.
From the article: Investigators believe both of the packages were shipped by individuals with possible links to the Yemen American Institute for Languages-Computer-Management, known as YAI, or the American Center for Training and Development, or ACT, officials said.
The names of the school aren't well known in Sana'a, which has an abundance of language and technical training institutes that use the word "American" in their titles.
The alleged Christmas Day Panti-bomber, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, had attended a language school in Yemen known as the Institute for the Arabic Language.
(10/30) Ay Pee: Al Qaeda Connected to Yemeni Language Institutes
The bombs were powerful enough to take down the airplanes carrying them. More suspects beyond Miss Hanan al-Samawi are being sought in Yemen. The bombs were wired to cell phones, timers, and power supplies, but it is not clear that they could have been set off from a distance. There is some question whether it was actually Miss al-Samawi who actually deposited the packages with the shipper. PETN is an industrial explosive. The original tip came from Saudi Arabia.
[A]uthorities believed the plotters may have been associated with two institutions called "Yemen American Institute (for) Languages-Computer-Management" or the "American Center for Training and Development." It was not immediately clear whether those institutions even exist or whether that information came from false documents or fake addresses.
10/30 [UK] Daily Mail: Bomb discovered on jet in UK following MI6 tip-off
In Britain they are referred to as "printer bombs" because the toner cartridges were actually in computer printers, not free-standing. Photos of the complete devices at the link for your perusal. Several accomplices are being searched for in Yemen, accused of using forged documents and ID cards and having links to AQAP. Prime Minister Cameron believes the devices were designed for a Lockarbie-type mid-air explosion. A Home Secretary Theresa May said the device was not a dummy after all. Direct flights from Yemen were suspended in January after the excitements caused by the Pantibomber, now indirect shipments from Yemen to/through Britain should be suspended. Yemeni authorities are currently searching for 24 other packages. PETN is pentaerythritol trinitrate, previously used by the Pantibomber and also in 2001 by Richard Reid, the shoebomber. A mere 100g of PETN can destroy a car.
Police in Dubai said the device there contained an electric circuit linked to a mobile phone chip as well as the compound lead azide, which can be used in detonators. Dubai Police said: 'The parcel was prepared in a professional manner where a closed electrical circuit was connected to a mobile phone SIM card hidden inside the printer.'
The device was operated by a timer, which was still counting down when it was found on the airplane at East Midlands Airport. Yemeni security agents have seized 26 similar suspect packages in Sana'a, and arrested workers from UPS, FedEx, and the Sana'a airport.
The alert was triggered by intelligence from a unit of GCHQ surveillance experts stationed in Afghanistan, the Sunday Express can reveal. Operating from a converted shipping container in Helmand, the team picked up the words "A wedding gift is being delivered".
The phrase is an Al Qaeda code meaning a bomb is in transit.
With the help of Saudi agents, GCHQ alerted MI6, which raised the alarm in London and Washington.
SAS troops have now been sent to the Haraz Mountains surrounding San'a to hunt the terrorists responsible for sending the devices. They are being backed by a small team of MI6 agents.
Happy hunting, gentlemen! You've our permission to thin the herd along the way to your targets...
(20/31) MSNBC: Female suspect was set up
Hanan al Samawi is either a 5th year computer science major or a computer engineering student. Her father is an oil engineer. Her friends and neighbors say that, although pious, she was not active in politics or religion. Investigators in the UAE say there is no connection to the UPS plane that crashed in September, which showed no evidence of an explosion. PETN was also used by the suicide bomber who failed in his attempt to kill a top Saudi counter-terrorism official last year.
That'd be Prince whatsisname, whose servants were not pleased at the mess they had to wash off the floor and ceiling because the prince had others to attend to before the putative penitent returned from Yemen. It was said the bomber had stored the device internally, the Pantibomber's arrangement being the subsequently improved method, and it went off very much like a rocket.
#2
26, eh? That's a lot of booms. It will be interesting to see what the final count is. Congratulations to all for a great job of detection and protection. Yemen needs to be cut off from the free world. Lots of other places in the ME need to go on that list.
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.
[Pak Daily Times] Three key Swat 
