Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot
Kate Mulgrew aka Captain Kathryn Janeway in "Star Trek: Voyager" aka Victoria Riddler in "Riddler's Moon" aka Sarah Watson in "Daddy" aka Hattie Carraway in "Roots: The Gift" aka Mary Ryan Fenelli in "Ryan's Hope" (age 56)
[Dawn] The governor of the Afghan jail where hundreds of Islamic fascistithis week beat feet through a tunnel built by the Taliban has been jugged along with several top aides, an intelligence source told Rooters on Thursday.
General Ghulam Dastgir, who headed the high security Sarposa jail where almost 500 fighters beat feet along a dirt shaft fitted with lights and air pipes, was led away in handcuffs following a preliminary investigation, the source said on condition of anonymity.
Also jugged were eight others including Dastgir's deputy governor and several senior prison managers, he said.
A front man for Tooryalai Wesa, the governor of southern Kandahar province where the jail was located, confirmed several detentions at the prison, but declined to name anyone.
"A number of people were jugged because they neglected their duties," the front man said.
Several police from stations located around the prison on the outskirts of Kandahar city had also been dismissed for sleeping when they should have been on patrol as the escape took place under cover of darkness, he said.
Afghanistan's government has launched a full investigation into the breakout, the second in three years at the jail, which Karzai's chief front man said had exposed serious holes in the country's security preparedness.
In 2008, around 1,000 prisoners including Taliban fighters beat feet after a truck bomb blew open the jail gates. That mass escape quickly led to a surge in fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Tolo News] Fifteen beturbanned goons handed over their weapons and surrendered to government in western Afghanistan on Wednesday, Afghan National Directorate of Security said in a statement.
The men were active in Shindand district and surrendered to government along with their commander Sayed Ahmad, added in the statement.
The statement said that the men have promised to work for peace in their province.
The Taliban have not yet commented.
Magical thinking: if they say nothing, it didn't happen.
Shindand is considered one of the insecure districts in the province where faceless myrmidons have been active.
Herat is one of the seven areas that Afghan forces will take over from foreign forces in the first phase of security transition in July this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
[Iran Press TV] After four months of captivity, the Panama-flagged bulk carrier MV Renuar has been released by the Somali pirates, the European Union's Naval Force says.
"The ship is now sailing to a safe port," EU Naval Force said in a statement on Thursday, but did not say whether the carrier's release was after the payment of ransom.
MV Renuar, with a crew of 24 Filipinos, was hijacked some 1,700 kilometers (1,050 nautical miles) east of the Somali coastal village of Eyl in December 2010.
The ship was hijacked only 880 kilometers (550 nautical miles) from the coast of India -- signaling a shift by pirates towards more open waters in an effort to evade anti-piracy forces in the Gulf of Aden.
Rampant piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has made these waters among the most dangerous in the world.
The Gulf of Aden, which links the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea, is the quickest route for more than 20,000 vessels traveling annually between Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
However, The contradictory However... attacks by heavily armed Somali pirates on speedboats have prompted some of the world's largest shipping firms to switch routes from the Suez Canal and reroute cargo vessels around southern Africa, leading to climbing shipping costs.
Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, Somalia has been embroiled in a bitter civil war for two decades.
The country does not have a functioning government and the authority of the so-called Transitional Federal Government is limited mostly to the areas around the capital Mogadishu.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Pirates
#1
The Jihad, land-based or sea-based, will come to Southern Africa includ South Africa eventually - CENTRAL AFRICA IS ALREADY UNDER ATTACK + BEING SLOWLY CARVED UP.
#3
You say? Well, since when is it the USA's business in Southern/Central Africa? Apart from a few righteous characters prepared to fight for what was right, your politocracy chose something else.
Unless you are prepared to put your money where your mouth is. Give it up as lost and STFU. You had the chance and blew it, so leave it alone now.
[Emirates 24/7] A powerful blast destroyed a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh Thursday, killing 11 foreigners and three Moroccans in what authorities suspect was the work of a jacket wallah.
"According to the information I have, it could have been perpetrated by a suicide bomber," an official in the regional governor's office told AFP.
"We found nails in one of the bodies," added the official, who was in a hospital where some of the bodies were taken.
And an interior ministry official said that indications pointed to a terror attack on the Argona cafe in the main square of Marrakesh, a favourite haunt of foreign tourists.
But there were contradictory reports on exactly how the blast occurred.
One witness who was inside the cafe but beat feet unscathed said: "An individual entered, ordered an orange juice and a few minutes later went kaboom!"."
But another witness, quoted by several Moroccan radio stations, said the bomber dropped a suitcase and immediately walked out of the cafe.
Latifa Idrissi, whose husband Yassine Bouzidi, 28, was one of the victims, said the blast occurred on the cafe's terrace and badly injured the manager.
A medical source speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... said five women are among the 11 dead foreigners.
"We cannot at this stage determine the exact identity of all the victims," the source added.
Earlier another official said that, in addition to the 14 fatalities, 20 people were maimed in the midday blast which he described as "criminal" in nature.
Authorities said an investigation was under way to shed more light on the kaboom which occurred on Djemaa el Fna square in the central Moroccan city.
Early reports had suggested that the accidental kaboom of gas canisters.
The French embassy here meanwhile said it did not know whether Frenchies were among the casualties but added that it was in touch with Moroccan authorities to find out.
Thursday's Marrakesh blast came eight years after the May 16, 2003 terror attacks that killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers, in Casablanca, Morocco's largest city.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[Iran Press TV] At least five security personnel have been killed and four others maimed by a roadside kaboom in Algeria's northern province of Ain Defla.
The attack happened at around 10:30 a.m. local time (0930 GMT) on Thursday when their patrol vehicle set off a roadside kaboom near Oued Djemaa town of the province, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) southwest of the capital Algiers, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The corpses as well as those injured in the blast were transferred to the main hospital in Khemis Miliana town.
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) faceless myrmidons are suspected to be behind the attack.
The blast came a day after two gendarmes were killed and another was injured when their car struck a roadside kaboom in Bordj Menaniel district of corpse-littered Boumerdes province, situated about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Algiers.
Two weeks ago, 14 Algerian soldiers died after they were ambushed by AQIM faceless myrmidons in the country's northeastern region of Kabylie.
In recent years, the Sahara region has seen a dramatic increase in the activities of smugglers and faceless myrmidons linked to AQIM, who have grabbed credit for several attacks on Algerian government forces and foreigners.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
Libyan rebels have fought to take over control of Misrata's airport, after pushing back Muammar Qadaffy's forces from the embattled city's sea port as the oil-rich country's tribes urged the longtime leader to relinquish power.
Rebels in Libya's third-largest city said they were confident victory was "very close" for them in the strategic port city as a UN panel arrived in Libya to investigate violence and human rights ...not to be confused with individual rights, mind you... abuses.
"Our freedom fighters have managed to defeat the soldiers of Qadaffy" by forcing them out of Misrata, Khalid Azwawi, head of the local transition committee, said late on Wednesday.
"They managed to force them to leave, but not very far. That's why Qadaffy is trying to bomb the port," he said.
There are also reports of heavy festivities between Qadaffy forces and rebels in the desert town of Kufra in Libya's remote southeast, Al Jizz has learned.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Jazeera] Muammar Qadaffy's forces have regained control of the strategically important Dehiba-Wazin Crossing, and now have control of the entire border with Tunisia, Al Jizz has learned.
Fighting broke out in the Tunisian town of Dehiba after the crossing was attacked on Thursday.
But Al Jizz's Youssef Gaigi said opposition forces had retreated to the Tunisian side of the border, leaving the entire frontier in the hands of pro-Qadaffy forces.
"They weren't really trained, they didn't have good weaponry, and under attack they weren't able to hold on for even one hour," our correspondent said.
The crossing, is near the western mountains, has been a main route of escape for Libyan nationals fleeing the conflict since the rebels claimed control on April 21.
Prior to then, residents of the western mountains area had been forced to take long and difficult roads around the crossing in order to seek shelter or medical help in Tunisia.
Controlling the crossing also gave the rebels better access to aid and supplies to continue their fight against Qadaffy forces in western Libya.
Witnesses said the area had been rocked by artillery and mortar fire.
Government forces closed in on rebel outposts on Thursday, showering the western mountain city of Zintan with missiles and attacking rebels holed up near the border, according to rebel sources.
A rebel spokesperson said Zintan had come under fire from Grad missiles - the Russian-made battlefield rockets used by Qadaffy forces which are considered hazardous to civilian areas because of their inaccuracy.
"Today alone, 80 missiles hit the town. We knew they are Grad missiles by the sound they make and we checked what remained of them," the spokesperson, identifying himself as Abdulrahman, told the Rooters news agency by telephone.
"The rebels are preventing the army reaching the city. That is why Qadaffy forces are using missiles to subjugate the town".
Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy ... a proud Arab institution for 42 years ... denies his forces are attacking civilians and describes his opponents as Islamist forces of Evil and foreign-backed agitators who deliberately put non-combatants in harm's way.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Emirates 24/7] Rebels said they had managed to push back Qadaffy's forces and secure the besieged port of Misrata, a day after it came under sustained rocket fire.
The gunnies said NATO raids overnight enabled them to force Qadaffy's troops 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the city, which is pressed by regime forces from the east, west and south.
That put Qadaffy's Grad rockets ...Soviet-made 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions have a range of up to 30 km.... out of range of the port, an aid conduit for rebels in the western city of half a million people under siege for more than seven weeks.
Further west, Qadaffy forces were massed in force in an apparent bid to recapture the Dehiba border post with Tunisia, a Western military source said.
Witnesses said the area was rocked by artillery and mortar fire.
"There is a lot of fire in the area at the foot of the mountains," said a taxi driver at the border, 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Ras Jdir, the main crossing point into Tunisia that the rebels seized on Thursday.
Security sources in Tunis said Qadaffy fighters tried earlier Wednesday to enter Tunisia at a point south of Dehiba in a bid to sneak up on the rebels, but were stopped by Tunisian forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Emirates 24/7] Libya's tribes urged Muammar Qadaffy on Wednesday to cede power, as rebels backed by NATO air strikes said they drove the strongman's forces out of missile range of the lifeline port of Misrata.
Rebels defending Zintan, in the mountains southwest of Tripoli, also pushed back Qadaffy forces who bombarded the town with at least 20 Grad rockets, wounding three people and damaging a local hospital, before retreating.
An AFP team in the town late Wednesday witnessed rebels firing off celebratory salvos into the night as a NATO warplane flew overhead.
Meanwhile, ...back at the abandoned silver mine, the water was up to Jack's neck and still rising... the United States opened another lifeline to the rebels by authorizing Americans to buy oil, gas and petroleum products from the rebels' Transitional National Council.
"The people of Libya are brave and defiant but we need access to oil revenues so that we can feed, protect and defend our families," the council said in welcoming the move by the US Treasury Department.
Chiefs or representatives of 61 tribes from across the North African country called for an end to Qadaffy's four-decade rule, in a joint statement released by French writer Bernard-Henri Levy.
"Faced with the threats weighing on the unity of our country, faced with the manoeuvres and propaganda of the dictator and his family, we solemnly declare: Nothing will divide us," said the statement, released on Wednesday in Benghazi.
"We share the same ideal of a free, democratic and united Libya.
"The Libya of tomorrow, once the dictator has gone, will be a united Libya, with Tripoli as its capital and where we will at last be free to build a civil society according to our own wishes," it said.
Levy has become an unofficial front man in Gay Paree for the revolt and is credited with pressing President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... to mobilise international political and military support for it.
"Each of the tribes in Libya is represented by at least a representative. In this list of 61 signatures, some tribes are represented 100 percent, others are still divided," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Emirates 24/7] [Emirates 24/7] French jet are dropping inert bombs packed with concrete instead of explosives to destroy Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy's tanks without killing civilians, the military said Thursday.
Military front man Thierry Burkhard denied rumours the use of the 300-kilo (660-pound) training devices was prompted by a shortage of real bombs. He said the first such strike crushed an armoured vehicle on Tuesday.
"The aim of this munition ... is to use the effect of the impact while limiting the risk of collateral damage," Burkhard told news hounds. "It is a very precise strike. There is no, or very little, shrapnel thrown out."
The military said French warplanes have made 216 sorties in Libya over the past week and destroyed targets including 15 armoured vehicles and big guns as well as a munitions depot.
Burkhard said French forces were also continuing to use real bombs against other Qadaffy targets in the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... -led assault, which aims to frustrate Qadaffy's forces and protect civilians in his assault on rebels.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
sigh...
Posted by: Mr. Bill ||
04/29/2011 0:27 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Actually, the US used a bunch of concrete bombs fighting Saddam's forces in Baghdad, Mosul, and other big cities in Iraq for the very same reasons - no explosives so there is limited collateral damage.
#3
According to our family Marine's personal experience watching one 'connect' with a target, the concrete is pretty effective, too. Apparently fitted with a JDAM kit, they can guide these little puppies down into an ally and destroy a tank hiding there without leaving much more than crushed metal, small concrete chunks and a few 'paint scrapes'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/29/2011 7:51 Comments ||
Top||
Laser guided bomb kit. A 500-1000 lbs of steel encased concrete traveling near the speed of sound will penetrate the top armor as well as break the running gear.
[Emirates 24/7] Forces loyal to Libyan strongman Muammar Qadaffy ... Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years ... seized the southeastern city of Al Kufrah on Thursday, rebels told AFP.
"Sixty 4WD cars loaded with about 250 fighters of Qadaffy forces arrived to Al Kufrah," a rebel fighter told AFP.
He said there were "no casualties" as rebels withdrew after "putting up a light resistance," adding that Qadaffy forces were "now in control of three quarters of the city."
"They attacked the court and raised a green flag" in support of Qadaffy, another rebel said. A media front man for the Benghazi-based opposition National Transitional Council confirmed the information.
"We are in the process of sending reinforcements," said Jalal al-Gallal.
Kufrah is the main city in Kufrah province, which lies in the southeastern corner of the country, bordering Chad, Sudan and Egypt.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Iran Press TV] Soddy Arabian security forces have jugged up to 30 Shia activists over the past two days, keeping up with their crackdown on pro-reform protests.
The detainees, who included two internet activists, were tossed in the slammer in the eastern city of Qatif for taking part in anti-government protests, AFP reported on Thursday.
"Arrests have been ongoing for sometime but in the past few days it focused on bloggers and writers," a Shia activist was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity as he feared facing arrest.
"The number of Shias tossed in the slammer since the start of the protests and (those who) remain in jail is 140."
Earlier in the month, a Human Rights Watch report said the authorities have tossed in the slammer over 160 activists since February.
The people were called to cop shoppes or saw their homes being raided by police.
"Even ordinary people have been jugged for taking part in demonstrations," a human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... campaigner was quoted as saying.
The Saudi nationals have been voicing outrage at Riyadh's continued imprisonment of people without charge and the suppression of women's rights. The unemployed have been rallying for job opportunities and their share of the biggest Arab economy's oil income.
Riyadh has also sparked outrage among the country's public for dispatching troops to Bahrain to aid Manama's current deadly crackdown on the popular protests there.
The protests have been held despite a ban by the Interior Ministry on all kinds of demonstrations and public gatherings.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Jazeera] A Bahraini military court has sentenced four Shia protesters to death and three to life jail terms for the killing of two coppers during demonstrations last month, state media has reported.
Thursday's verdicts are the first related to the uprising against the Gulf kingdom's ruling family, which begain in February.
The seven defendants were tried behind closed doors on charges of premeditated murder of government employees, which their lawyers have denied.
A Shia opposition official named those sentenced to death as Ali Abdullah Hasan, Qasim Hassan Mattar, Saeed Abdul Jalil Saeed, and Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ibrahim.
He told the AFP news agency that Issa Abdullah Kazem, Sadiq Ali Mahdi, and Hussein Jaafar Abdul Karim were
sentenced to life in prison.
Sheikh Ali Salman, president of Bahrain's Al Wefaq, the largest Shia political group in the country, told Al Jizz that the punishments did not fit the crime.
"I believe that these sentences should be revised and the international community must intervene to stop this," he said.
He added that the proceedings were "unprecedented" and that question marks remain over the conditions the detainees are living in.
Government officials have said that a total of four coppers were killed during the unrest that gripped the country in February and March, at least three of whom were run over by cars around March 16.
Hundreds of thousands of Bahrain's Shia-led opposition have called for greater rights and freedoms in the Sunni monarchy.
Authorities have jugged hundreds since martial law was declared last month to quell dissent.
On Wednesday, a Bahraini official said 405 detainees had been referred to military courts while 312 have been released.
"Sixty-two criminal cases and 343 misdemeanor cases have been referred to the courts of national safety," , Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, the head of the Information Affairs Authority, said.
He said 312 detainees have been released, "some for health reasons," and others after considering the period of their detention enough.
Bahraini authorities have come under strong criticism from international rights organisations over a heavyhanded crackdown on protesters.
Earlier this week the US raised concern over the fate of detainees, noting that some have died in jug.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
[Iran Press TV] Bahraini forces have fired live rounds at protesters east of the kingdom, keeping up the Soddy Arabia-backed crackdown on anti-government protests.
The violence occurred on Thursday during festivities between security forces and anti-government demonstrators in Sitra, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Video footage featuring earlier events showed the forces using poison gas against protesters.
On Wednesday, the regime forces' raided one of Sitra's medical centers before arresting several doctors.
Also on Thursday, a military court in the Persian Gulf kingdom sentenced four jugged protesters to death, despite Manama's rejection of reports by a number of human rights ...which often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless... groups, pointing to extended massive rights violations in the country, said our correspondent.
Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's 40-year rule.
On March 13, Soddy Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed police and military forces in the kingdom upon Manama's request to quell the nationwide protests.
According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds tossed in the calaboose so far during the government clampdown on the peaceful demonstrations.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Get yer programs here! Can't tell your enlightened dictators from your brutal oppressors without a program!...
#2
I'll take a program, young man. As Bahrain goes, I feel like I've come in late to the wrong opera -- things weren't supposed to go this way. I thought...
[Yemen Post] After yesterday's security attacks that killed 15, (13 Sanaa+ 2 Aden), Yemen's opposition JMP officially threatened in a statement they will not be able to sign the GCC proposal if the GCC cannot assure protesters peace and safety.
"Its seems that the Saleh regime is using the GCC proposal to kill people and spill the blood of Yemenis. We will not accept the proposal if it is not effective immediately," the statement mentioned.
"We accepted the gulf proposal to avoid the spilling of Yemeni blood, but if killing does not stop, we will continue the revolution and the government will never be forgiven for the massacres against the people," the statement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
[Emirates 24/7] Yemen's veteran President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... said he supports "peaceful" and "constitutional" change as 13 more people were killed on Wednesday with no let-up in protests demanding his ouster.
Four members of the security forces and nine protesters were killed in violence across the country's restive south, officials and medical sources said as anti-Saleh demonstrators vowed they would not stop their actions.
Yemeni troops killed at least nine people and maimed more than 100 others as they shot up anti-regime protesters in Sanaa on Wednesday, medical sources said.
Eight bodies were taken to a private university hospital and one was carried off to a field hospital in the main square where a protest camp has been active for the past three months, the sources said.
They said 10 of the maimed were at death's door, after violence broke out as troops moved in to disperse the demonstration to call for the immediate ouster of President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"We are not against change as long as it is done by democratic and peaceful means, within the constitution, and with respect to the people's will," Saleh said Wednesday in a statement carried by state news agency Saba.
Saleh also accused his opponents of attempting a "coup against democracy and the constitution."
The embattled leader's comments came after the president and opposition agreed on Tuesday to sign a landmark deal in the coming days for an orderly transition and end three months of unrest that has killed more than 135 people.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is brokering the transition deal, said their foreign ministers would meet in Riyadh on Sunday to work out the modalities of their plan for Yemen.
"Riyadh will host on Sunday an extraordinary meeting for the Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers to continue the procedures for the adoption of the GCC initiative," the Gulf Arab grouping said in a statement.
However, The flatulent However... hundreds of activists demonstrated outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa on Wednesday in protest at the Gulf initiative, insisting that Saleh go immediately.
"Youth of the revolt reject the Gulf initiative," said a banner carried by the young protesters outside the embassy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
A terrorist militant leader and his nine cell members were killed in a security operation in Russia's Stavropol region, near the North Caucasus.
Southern Federal District Police spokesman Sergei Morozov stated that Asker Dzhappuev, the jihadi militant leader of the neighboring Kabardino-Balkaria, and nine other suspected terrorists militants -- including two women -- were killed at a village hide-out in the Stavropol area.
In a separate operation, security forces in the neighboring Republic of Daghestan killed at least six more terrorists militants.
German police arrested three alleged members of al-Qaida on Friday, as a report said they had been plotting attacks in Germany. The prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe said the trio had been detained early Friday and would appear before a judge on Saturday. A news conference has been scheduled afterwards.
Bild reported that the three were Moroccans residing in North Rhine-Westphalia and were caught with "large amounts of explosives". The newspaper said they were thought to be plotting attacks in Germany. The paper reported that they may have been targeting the Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf on May 14.
Bild identified the three as Abdeladim K., Jamil S. and Ahmed Sh. So they aren't Hans, Gert and Dieter, eh...
German authorities boosted security measures in November after US officials warned of an al-Qaida plot to implement "Mumbai-style" attacks in Europe.
Last week, US authorities handed over to Germany the source of the tip, Ahmed Wali Siddiqui, who had been held for nine months in Afghanistan. According to German media, Siddiqui met with al-Qaida's third in command, Sheikh Yunis al-Mauretani, who brought him into the plot for an attack in Europe.
[Arab News] New indictments were issued by US Justice Department officials in Chicago this week, charging four Paks with played a role in the 2008 attacks in Mumbai which killed 166 people, six of them Americans.
The indictments, filed Monday, do not cite press news reports that directly tie the defendants to Pak security forces, nor do the charges claim that the Pakistain government was officially involved in the attacks in India three years ago. However, The contradictory However... the legal action serves as a diplomatic landmark because of the close -- and frequently uneasy -- alliance between Washington and Islamabad in the war against global terrorism.
One of the defendants charged in the indictment, a man known only as "Major Iqbal," is said to have paid David Coleman Headley to set up a reconnaissance operation several months before the November 2008 attacks. Headley, a Pak-American businessman who at one time worked as an undercover intelligence agent for the US Drug Enforcement Administration, was tossed in the slammer October 2009, and is serving as a material witness in the case.
This week's indictment characterizes Major Iqbal as "a resident of Pakistain who participated in planning and funding attacks by (the Pak terror goup) Lashkar." Press reports, citing Indian and American counter-terrorism officials, say that Iqbal was an officer in Pakistain's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate at the time of the attacks. According to similar indictments handed down last month in India, Iqbal was Headley's main handler, "one of at least three ISI officers who are suspected of being involved in recruiting, training and directing Headley in terrorist activities."
Another prominent figure named in the recent indictment is Sajid Mir, a longtime Lashkar chief also is also accused of serving as Headley's handler. Mir, who probably resides overseas, is said to be a "key plotter" and is heard arranging the attack in wire-tapped phone conversations made between a "safe house" in Pakistain and some of his operatives in India. In 2007 a French court convicted Mir in absentia on terrorism charges, saying he was an officer of the Pak military and possibly the ISI.
The other two suspects charged Monday -- Abu Qahafa and Mazhar Iqbal, alias "Abu Al-Qama" -- are a pair of suspected Lashkar chiefs whose voices are heard directing the several of the 10 gunnies who ultimately carried out the three-day siege in Mumbai. Mazhar Iqbal was tossed in the slammer along with six others by Pak authorities in early 2009, but his trial has apparently stalled.
The four suspects named in the indictment were charged Monday with six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of US citizens, giving material support of terrorism and conspiracy to murder. If convicted, the four could face the death sentence or life in prison.
A fifth defendant, Tahawwur Rana, a Pak-Canadian, is currently in American custody, awaiting trial on May 4. He is charged with assisting Headley's reconnaissance in India and Denmark.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
[Al Jazeera] A blast has hit a bus carrying Pak navy officials in the southern city of Bloody Karachi, killing five people, officials have said.
"Now a total of four of our employees - all sailors - have been martyred in the attack on our bus while seven others are injured," navy front man Commander Salman Ali told AFP.
A hospital official said a passerby was also killed in the incident, which took place in the city's busy Faisal avenue.
About three kilogrammes of explosives were packed into the bomb which exploded remotely, senior police official Iftikhar Tarar said.
Bloody Karachi is Pakistain's commercial hub and also home to the navy's main base.
Thursday's blast occurred two days after two other navy buses were attacked in the city. Four people were killed in those blasts and 56 others maimed.
Both the Baluchistan Liberation Army and the Pak Taliban grabbed credit for Tuesday's attacks, which police said were carried out with remotely controlled bombs roughly 15 minutes apart in different areas of the city.
The Taliban vowed to continue attacks on the country's military until it stops targeting the group in the country's northwest.
Fighters have not targeted the navy in the past and security experts say the attacks on the navy, seen as a soft target with less effective protection, could be part of a new strategy to widen their violent campaign.
"It's not the navy that is being targeted, it is the armed forces," Moinuddin Haider, a former interior minister and retired army general, said.
"And the most dangerous thing is that IEDs [improvised bombs] and remote bombs are now being used. This is a new thing which here first started in Iraq and has caused a lot of damage in Afghanistan."
The attacks this week on the military in Bloody Karachi were the first since 2004 when assailants ambushed a convoy escorting the Bloody Karachi army corps commander. The general beat feet that attack.
In 2002, 11 French engineers and technicians working on the construction of submarines for the Pak navy were killed, along with three Paks in a suicide car booming outside a hotel in Bloody Karachi.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[Dawn] The ongoing wave of assassinations claimed lives of four political activists in the city on Wednesday, as the menace remained beyond control of the provincial security establishment and the political administration, police and party sources said.
All the four killings were confirmed by officials at the central police office`s special cell, which has been recently set up on the chief minister`s directives to keep the exact record of assassinations in an effort to prevent misreporting of the incidents in the print and electronic media.
A gun attack near Ibn-i-Sina Hospital in Gulshan-i-Iqbal left a 42-year-old man and his nephew dead and their two friends maimed, the police said.
All the four victims were associated with the Pakistain People`s Party (PPP). "The dear departed victims have been identified as Hussain Abid and his nephew, Iqbal Khan," said Gulshan-i-Iqbal SHO Inspector Kanson Deen.
"They were residents of Liaquatabad and had come to the apartments along University Road in Block 6 of Gulshan-i-Iqbal to see their common friends, Ibrahim Jatoi and Ghulam Nabi Brohi."
The inspector said that all the four friends were at a cold drink shop near their home when two men riding a cycle of violence pulled up there. One of the riders opened fire on them and decamped along with his accomplice.
"The firing killed Iqbal and Hussain and maimed Ibrahim and Ghulam Nabi. Both the maimed victims were taken to a private hospital on Stadium Road."
"The attackers used a 9mm pistol," the SHO said, adding that Sherlocks had collected spent bullet casings of 9mm pistol found at the crime-scene.
The PPP leaders saw the incident as part of the frequent killings of political activists that had been going on for more than a month, "mainly targeting the ruling party".
The leaders said the victims were active party members.
"It is a brutal incident," said Sohail Abidi, a senior leader of the PPP`s Bloody Karachi division. "We have been a target for the past few years but it is the vision and reconciliation policy of the PPP leadership that has so far kept workers calm and peaceful."
Earlier, an Awami National Party (ANP) worker was targeted in Gulistan-i-Jauhar.
The victim, identified as 29-year-old Asif Khan alias Angraiz, was bumped off in Block 13 of Gulistan-i-Jauhar.
"He was associated with the construction business and was heading to work when two men riding a motorbike targeted him. A bullet hit him in the head and another in the left arm," said an official at the Sharea Faisal cop shoppe.
The police officials said that the victim was a resident of the Pehalwan Goth area.
An ANP front man condemned the incident and said the victim was an active member in the Bhitaiabad ward of the party`s organisational structure.
In a Bin Qasim area, a young man was found rubbed out with a bullet wound each in the head and chest, the police said.
The victim was identified as 36-year-old Muhammad Haris, an activist of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) and a resident of Juma Himayati Goth near Bhains Colony.
"The victim was found rubbed out at an abandoned place near the Port Qasim industrial area," said Sukkan SHO Sub-Inspector Ahmed Sheikh.
"He has been identified as a JSQM activist by area people but there is no such claim made by the party leaders. The body has been handed over to the family after medico-legal formalities at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre."
SSP Naeem Sheikh, who heads the CPO cell, said the four killings in the day were executed apparently on political grounds according to initial investigations.
But, he added, that "out of the four killings, there is some doubt about the incident that claimed the life of a JSQM activist. The motive behind his killing is not clear so far," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[Dawn] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar High Court on Wednesday ordered to set free on bail a suspected would-be jacket wallah as the government claimed that he had already been de-radicalised.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel directed the brother of the accused to appear before the political agent of Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central for fulfilling the legal requirements of furnishing surety bonds to his satisfaction.
The accused, Khalid Khan, was an eighth-grade student at Government High school Nawagai in Bajaur Agency. His brother, Gul Rehman, had sent an application to the chief justice regarding his detention which was converted into a writ petition.
The petitioner claimed that his brother was taken into custody on Nov 20, 2009, by the personnel of Bajaur Scouts and since then he had been in illegal detention.
The deputy attorney general, Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... , and a representative of Frontier Corps appeared before the bench. Mr Mohmand stated that the security agencies had information that the teenaged suspect, Khalid Khan, had been trained by the Islamic fascistias a suicide bomber.
He stated that after he was taken into custody the security agencies had worked on his rehabilitation. He stated that they would not object to his release provided his relatives furnish guarantee that they would keep an eye on him and in future he would not join the turbans.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Tex and his new-found Indian friend were preparing a little surprise for the bandidos... the bench disposed of a writ petition challenging alleged illegal detention of a resident of SLearned Elders of Islamnkhel here in Badhber area as all the security agencies expressed ignorance regarding his whereabouts.
The bench directed the petitioner that in future if he received any information about the detainee he could again move the court.
The petition on behalf of the detainee, Lateefullah, was filed by his father Wasiullah. He alleged that his son was taken into custody by the security agencies and local police on Dec 14, 2009, and since then his whereabouts were not known.
The director (legal) of Ministry of Defence, Lt-Col Sarfaraz appeared and contended that the detainee was not in jug of the agencies functioning under his ministry. He stated that they had already filed affidavit in this regard.
Mr Iqbal Mohmand stated that the ministry of interior had also expressed ignorance about him.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Dawn] The bodies of three members of jihad boy organisation Lashkar-i-Islam were found in various areas in Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency on Wednesday.
The body of Mohammad Ayub alias Boda, local commander of the outlawed jihad boy outfit, was found in Sepah area of Bara.
Sources said that his colleagues killed him after developing differences with him. Two other alleged hard boyz Gul Wais and Shah Syed were killed by unidentified persons and their bodies were found in Shen Drand area of Akkakhel. The motive behind the killings was not known.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Hubba Hubba Club, Nunzio had his hands full of angry bleached blonde...
empty houses of Ali Akbar and Fazal Mohammad were torched and razed by political administration in Landi Kass area while the houses of Painda Khan and Momin were demolished in Shalober area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. It smelled phony... Omar Hayat, a kidnapped lineman of Tesco, reached home after being released by captors. Six linemen of Tesco were kidnapped on January 8, 2011 by unidentified persons from Alamgudar area of Bara.
The Tesco had suspended power supply to Bara for a week in protest against the kidnapping of the officials. One of them, Jan Mohammad, was released in the first week of February while Sabir Mohammad was freed one week ago. Aftab Hussain, Fateh Mohammad and Niaz Ali were freed on Sunday last and Omar Hayat was released on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami
[Dawn] Security forces shelled bad turban hideouts in northwest Pakistain's Hangu district ... Hangu is famous for its greenery, hills, beauty and water. Most of the people of this area are Bangash & Orakzai Pashtuns. Part of the Bangash are Shia. The Orakzai and the Sunni Bangash are determined to kill them... on Thursday killing at least seven thugs, DawnNews reported.
Separately, one security official was killed and five others were maimed when a landmine went kaboom! in the Mohmand ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... tribal region.
The mine went kaboom! in the tribal region's Safi tehsil.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
When a dictatorial regime goes bust in the middle east, the dictators' families generally flee to Syria, so where does a Syrian dictator flee when his little ponzi scheme of a government goes bust? Will short round take him?
With few alternatives for refuge, do you suppose Bashir is going the Mussolini route here?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
04/29/2011 13:43 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Assad has the same problem as Daffy. Keeping control in a large country with a geographically dispersed population, with only a limited number of troops he can rely on - apparently only division, commanded by his brother I think.
[Al Jizz] Dozens of people have reportedly been placed in durance vile in the town of Madaya outside the Syrian capital, Damascus. ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
Residents said tanks rolled into the mountain town early on Thursday morning and that checkpoints had been set up at all entrances into the town.
"We are terrified here and don't understand why this is happening," an eyewitness told Al Jizz. "There were no plans for protests today and neither had any protests been held in the city in the past two days."
Madaya has seen only limited anti-government rallies since the nationwide protests began last month.
The eyewitness said he saw tanks and armoured personnel carriers surrounding the town and closing off all exits at 4am. Mobile and landline communications and electricity were cut from 4am until 9am, he said.
An activist said five people had been killed when security services raided homes at dawn.
Activists are calling for big rallies to be held on Friday, dubbed 'Azadi Friday', using the Kurdish word for freedom as a gesture of national unity.
International pressure Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... international leaders continued to exert pressure on Bashir al-Assad, Syria's president, to end the violent crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Russia, an ally of Damascus, called on authorities to punish those behind the crackdown which rights groups say has left about 500 people dead.
"We are counting on Damascus to hold an effective and transparent investigation into all the incidents leading to the deaths of people, and that the guilty parties will be brought to justice," Itar-TASS news agency quoted Alexei Sazonov, a foreign ministry front man, as saying.
Resistance from Russia, China and Leb has helped to block a European push to secure a UN Security Council statement condemning Syria's crackdown.
Assad is facing international condemnation as his leadership is using troops and tanks to put down protests, and some European powers threaten sanctions if the bloody crackdown does not ease.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's special envoys were expected to meet Assad in Syria on Thursday to convey Turkey's worries. Turkey has close ties with Assad and is hoping to convince the Syrian leader to show restraint.
The southern city of Daraa is under military siege, with reports of food and water shortages.
A similar situation was reported in the Damascus suburb of Douma, Al Jizz's Rula Amin, reporting from the capital, said. She said the suburb was effectively sealed off, with security personnel "in almost every corner".
Big rallies have been held in the suburb, with attempts by demonstrators to march into the centre of the capital resulting in festivities with security forces.
More than 200 members have quit Syria's ruling Baath party in the southern province of Deraa, at the epicenter of the country's uprising to protest against the violence, Mustafa Osso, a rights activist, said on Thursday.
He said another 30 resigned in the coastal city of Baniyas, adding that most of those who had quit were lower-rank members.
There were also reports of divisions within the army and a growing number of soldiers refusing to follow orders and shoot at protesters. Al Jizz has received footage of maimed soldiers, who sources say were shot by colleagues for switching allegiance in Deraa.
Al Jizz has not been able to verify the footage.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
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.
handed over their weapons
Somali pirates
jacket wallah
kaboom
Muammar Qadaffy's forces have regained control of the strategically important Dehiba-Wazin Crossing, and now have control of the entire border with Tunisia, 
[Emirates 24/7] Forces loyal to Libyan strongman 
Ali Abdullah Saleh
A 
German police arrested three alleged members of al-Qaida on Friday, as a report said they had been plotting attacks in Germany. The prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe said the trio had been detained early Friday and would appear before a judge on Saturday. A news conference has been scheduled afterwards.
Karachi
cycle of violence
Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central
Sources said that his colleagues killed him after developing differences with him. Two other alleged 
Security forces shelled
