A suicide bomber blew up explosives near the heavily barricaded NATO headquarters in Kabul on Saturday, killing six civilians.
The bomber, who was riding a motorcycle loaded with explosives, blew himself up near the entrance of Camp Eggers, the base that is home to 2,500 coalition personnel who train Afghan security forces.
Flesh and splattered blood lay on the street near the base, where small bodies were seen being lifted into ambulances. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said that young children were among the dead.
The Taliban took credit for the attack, saying they had despatched a bomber to target the Kabul offices of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, "One of our mujahideen targeted an important intelligence office used for recruiting Americans and Afghans for spying."
WASHINGTON The planned withdrawal of more than 30,000 US "surge" troops from Afghanistan will be completed ahead of an end-of-month target date, officials said Friday.
President Barack Obama ordered in reinforcements in December 2009 and last year promised to have the additional troops withdrawn before the end of 2012.
Commanders had aimed to have the troops out by the end of September and defense officials say the drawdown is ahead of schedule.
US troop levels in Afghanistan, which rose to about 100,000 at the peak of the surge, are now down to 77,000, according to a Pentagon tally.
When all the surge forces are withdrawn, the American contingent will be down to 68,000 troops.
On the day that Prince Harry returned to Afghanistan, where he will spend four months flying Apache attack helicopters, senior Taliban commanders said they would use Afghan army recruits to either kidnap or assassinate the prince.
Speaking on the telephone from somewhere within Helmand, Maulvi Ahmadullah Ahmadyar said: "It's good news for us as we are always in search for such precious birds. Our priority will be to kidnap him at any cost as we have our informers at the military base being used by the British troops here in Helmand."
#4
While I enjoyed learning what a stand up guy he was going back to Afghanistan, I felt it so wrong to broadcast it. Putting not just him but the guys with him in added danger.
Posted by: Jan ||
09/08/2012 11:23 Comments ||
Top||
#5
agree. works in favor of the Brits. I'm sure they are smart enough to use it.
[Iran Press TV] At least eight people have been killed and more than 21 others wound in the latest attack by US terror drones in southern Somalia, Press TV reports.
The incident happened in Kismayo, a strategically important port city on Somalia's Indian Ocean coast where the largest checkpoint of al-Shabaab ... Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahidin aka the Mujahideen Youth Movement. It was originally the youth movement of the Islamic Courts, now pretty much all of what's left of it. They are aligned with al-Qaeda but operate more like the Afghan or Pakistani Taliban... fighters has been destroyed on Friday.
A senior al-Shabaab official, Ibrahim Abu Yoonis, identified as Ibrahim Jurus has confirmed the number of casualties.
Earlier in the week, reports from Kismayo situated some 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of capital, Mogadishu, claimed that hundreds of people have fled to other cities, as African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... troops build more military bases near the port city to seize control of the area from al-Shaboobs.
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, the SWAT team had finally arrived... the US military uses remote-controlled drones in Somalia for reconnaissance operations and assassinations.
Washington has been carrying out liquidation attacks using the unmanned aircraft in other countries including Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistain, and Yemen.
The United States claims the CIA-run strikes are aimed at cut-thoats. But witness reports and figures offered by local authorities indicate the attacks have led to massive civilian deaths.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2012 18:08 ||
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#1
Assassination is such an ugly. Let's call them Peacekeeping Drones!
(Sh.M.Network)-- Suspected pirates opened fire on an Italian navy helicopter on patrol off the east coast of Somalia, hitting a window and slightly injuring a pilot, the force said on Friday.
The attack from a small boat broke the window, spraying out glass that hit one of the pilots in the neck, the navy said.
The helicopter, which was taking part in a European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... anti-piracy operation named 'Atalanta', did not return fire to avoid endangering any possible hostages, it added.
It later returned safely to the Italian navy's ship San Giusto, said European Union Naval Force spokeswoman Jacqueline Sherriff.
Somali pirates have raked in millions of dollars in ransoms from seized vessels in recent years in what has become a highly organized international criminal enterprise, spurring international navies to join forces in a crackdown.
NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... said in July increased international anti-piracy efforts were helping to reduce the threat to shipping.
"Shots were fired from a vessel thought to have been attacked and seized by suspected pirates," the navy said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2012 10:36 ||
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At least eight people have been killed and more than 21 others wound in the latest attack by US terror drones in southern Somalia, Press TV reports.
The incident happened in Kismayo, a strategically important port city on Somalia's Indian Ocean coast where the largest checkpoint of al-Shabab fighters has been destroyed on Friday.
A senior al-Shabab official, Ibrahim Abu Yoonis, identified as Ibrahim Jurus has confirmed the number of casualties.
Mogadishu - Hundreds of residents have fled the southern Somali port of Kismayo after the Kenyan navy shelled the town ahead of an expected ground operation to capture it, officials and residents said on Tuesday.
Kismayo is the main remaining stronghold of the al-Qaeda-linked militants of al-Shabaab. The group, considered terrorists by the United States and others, is waging an insurgency against the UN-backed Somali government, which is being bolstered by African Union troops including Kenyan forces.
Badade Heavily armed Al shabab fighters attacked on Thursday night the town of Badade under the control of Kenyan forces, serving with the AMISOM and the Somalia's Transitional Federal Government soldiers.
Residents of northern Mogadishu reported hearing explosions and gunfire used in Badade combat on Wednesday as Somali government and African
Union soldiers advanced on other Al-Shabab positions in the same region.
The casualty is yet unclear. Al shabab militants have lost control of the southern town of Badade in last February, and therefore they have receded back towards Kismayu".
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan police seized more than 150 detonators in Nairobi on Friday, highlighting the security risks the east African country faces ahead of an election next year because of its struggle with al Qaeda-linked militants in neighboring Somalia.
Home to a large Somali population, Kenya has been hit by a wave of grenade attacks after its troops crossed into Somalia last year to crush al Shabaab Islamists it blamed for kidnappings and bomb attacks on its own soil.
A U.S. military judge on Thursday ordered the Fort Hood massacre suspect, Army Major Nidal Hasan, to shave or be forcibly shaved, ruling that his beard is not covered by federal laws protecting religious freedom.
Colonel Gregory Gross ruled following a hearing that Hasan's attorneys failed to prove he has grown the beard, which he has worn since June, for religious reasons. Hasan, 41, has said he grew the beard in line with the beliefs of his Islamic faith, and that it is part of his free exercise of religion.
The San Antonio Express-News reported that Hasan's military defense lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, said in court that the defendant had tried to plead guilty last month, a sign that he wanted to "to be accountable" for his actions.
Other media, including the New York Times ...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , reported that Poppe told the court that Hasan has offered twice to plead guilty.
#8
Keep dragging it out First Cavalry for any reason possible until we get a Commander In Chief who will sign the Court Marshal's Death Sentence. Stay the course boys.
[Dawn] Violence in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... continued unabated as one person was killed and three more torture-ridden bodies were found in gunny bags on Thursday night, DawnNews reported on Friday.
Since Thursday night, four people have been reported as killed in separate incidents of violence.
Despite government's promises to alleviate the violence in the bustling provincial capital, incidents of violence continue to happen without stopping.
In one incident, a man was killed when unknown assailants opened fire. The incident took place in the Ittehad Town in the Baldia area.In a separate incident, two bodies bearing marks of torture were found under the Rexer Lane Bridge on the Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... River in gunny bags.
Another body bearing torture marks was found near Sindhi Hotel in Liaquatabad.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shattered spaceship, Fffflirgoll the Arcturan slithered stealthily toward the control room, where the humans had barricaded themselves... Pakistain Rangers personnel have recovered 50 kilos of kaboom from a coach in Kot Sabzal near the Sindh-Punjab provincial border. The two drivers, conductor and helper of the coach were incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! by the Rangers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2012 10:36 ||
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#1
Versus the normally well reasoned violence
Posted by: Steven ||
09/08/2012 17:13 Comments ||
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#2
Karachi ... should be sister city to Ciudad Juarez. Both homes of mindless violence.
Totally different reasons - but same final outcome.
[Iran Press TV] At least five Syrian security personnel have been killed in a kaboom in the Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... district of Ruknuddin, state TV says.
Several others, including civilians, were also injured after an explosives-rigged cycle of violencewent kaboom! outside a mosque in Ruknuddin district in central Damascus on Friday.
The bomb went off as worshippers left the mosque.
Earlier, gangs fighting against the Syrian government shelled a Paleostinian refugee camp in Damascus, killing an unknown number of people.
Many others were also injured in the attack on Yarmouk refugee camp on Friday. The assailants also fired at ambulances that were rushing to the scene to evacuate the injured.
It was not immediately clear that how many people were killed in the terrorist attack, some reports, however, put the corpse count at 20.
Dozens of Paleostinian refugees in Syria have been killed in the 18-month-unrest that has engulfed the country.
Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Damascus says outlaws, saboteurs, and Death Eaters are behind the unrest, while the opposition accuses the security forces of killing protesters.
The Syrian government says that the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the armed Islamic fascistiare foreign nationals.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2012 18:08 ||
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Syrian government troops stormed into a Palestinian refugee district and raided its hospital on Saturday after a four-day artillery assault on the southern suburb where rebels have been hiding out, opposition activists said. Bravo you chaps! Hip, hip, hurrah!
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Canada closed its Tehran embassy and expelled Iranian diplomats on Friday, expressing concern for the mission's safety and slamming Iran's support for the Syrian regime and its threats against Israel.
"Canada's position on the regime in Iran is well known. Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today," Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said.
"Diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran have been suspended. All Canadian diplomatic staff have left Iran, and Iranian diplomats in Ottawa have been instructed to leave within five days," he added, in a statement.
Canada did not cite a specific incident that caused the breakdown in ties, but issued a strongly worded attack on Tehran's support for Bashir al-Assad's pariah Syrian regime and its "incitement to genocide" against Israel.
Baird also attacked Tehran's failure to account for its nuclear program, which Western powers allege is designed to give Iran a nuclear bomb, and accused the "Iranian regime" of promoting international terrorism.
He also warned Canadians, including dual national Canadian-Iranians, that Ottawa will not be able to provide assistance to them if they travel to Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2012 10:35 ||
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#1
very smart move shutting down the embassy in Tehran. No point in repeating Nov 1979.
1- Iranian born Amir Khadir the violently antisemitic, Khomeneist, is reelected to the Quebec National Assembly representing the radical separatist political party, Quebec Solidaire.
2 - A few days later the Harper Government severs all ties with Tehran.
Coincidence?
Iranian diplomats have been providing support to violent, ultra-nationalist, antisemitic Quebec French subversives. One of these parties is headed by Iranian born member of Quebec's provincial parliament named Amer Khader, a virulently antisemitic, Khomeinist.
Iran is looking for a political weak spot to establish a beachhead in North America and to destabilize Canada through its embassy in Ottawa.
[Iran Press TV] The terrorist Free Syrian Army has threatened to attack the airports of the capital, Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... , and the northwestern city of Aleppo. ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins...
The group recently said in a statement that the airports "will be considered legitimate military targets as of September 10."
The news comes as La Belle France is considering arming the forces of Evil in Syria with anti-aircraft guns, arguing that the military assistance will help end the turmoil in Syria.
The foreign-sponsored forces of Evil claim the government is using airports to transfer weapons and troops by Syrian and Russian airliners.
Since March 2011, Syria has been experiencing unrest, which Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Light of the Alawites... 's government says is being orchestrated from outside the country.
The anti-Syria Western regimes have been calling for Assad to step down, but Russia and China oppose the Western drive to oust the Syrian president.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... called on the Western governments to "reassess" their position on Syria, criticizing them for relying on terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda to overthrow the Syrian government.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2012 10:35 ||
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[Al Ahram] Government forces shelled the southern outskirts of the Syrian capital on Friday, while soldiers stormed a nearby town and dozens of bodies were found across the province, witnesses and a rights group said.
Witnesses told AFP that the southern suburb of Tadamun and neighbouring Paleostinian refugee camp of Yarmuk came under heavy heavy shelling.
On the outskirts of 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... , government troops stormed the town of Babila, where Free Syrian Army rebels were entrenched, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In another grisly find of the almost 18-month conflict, residents recovered a total of 45 bodies in two towns on the outskirts of Damascus, the Britannia-based monitoring group said.
It said at least 23 bodies, including those of women and kiddies, were found in the eastern suburb of Zamalka on Thursday, while another 22 were discovered in Qatana in the countryside southeast of the capital.
Zamalka has been a hotbed of anti-government protests, sparking repeated raids by the army and festivities with rebel fighters.
Opposition activists blamed pro-government forces for the killings in Zamalka, accusing Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Scourge of Qusayr... 's regime of a "new massacre."
On Friday, the bodies of 16 men were found in Harasta, also in Damascus province, some of them with signs of having been tortured, the Observatory said, adding that at least 14 people were killed in violence early on Friday.
Two children were killed in shelling in the town of Albu Kamal on the Iraqi border while two rebel fighters were killed by mortar fire in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, it said.
A raid by security forces on Al-Qazzaz district of southeast Damascus, in which troops rounded up dozens of suspected jihad boys, sparked festivities with rebel fighters, the group added.
A total of at least 153 people were killed in violence across Syria on Thursday -- 83 civilians, 24 rebels and 46 soldiers, the Observatory said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/08/2012 10:34 ||
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(Reuters) - Syrian army mortar and artillery bombardment of an area of southern Damascus where Palestinian refugees live killed at least 20 people on Thursday, residents and local emergency workers said.
Yarmouk camp and the districts surrounding it have seen the most prolonged fighting in the capital since forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad launched a counter-offensive to push rebels out of the city two months ago.
Residents in the camp said that for the last two weeks Yarmouk had been closed off from neighbouring districts and that they had heard regular clashes. Since early on Thursday they reported heavy bombardment in the area.
BEIRUT, Lebanon Syrian rebels claimed Friday night that they had freed 350 prisoners held in a security building in the divided city of Aleppo, while in the opposition stronghold of Homs the rebels supporters held a public protest against the disorganization and lack of unity among their forces.
Taken together, the developments amounted to a rare breakthrough but also a sign of strain for the armed opposition, as the 18-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad appeared to settle into a protracted stalemate, with his forces having the advantage in military might, but being unable to stamp out the insurrection.
Activists said Friday that Syrian residents have recovered 45 unidentified bodies in two areas near the capital, Damascus, the latest such finds of suspected mass executions in the 18-month-long conflict.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 23 bodies were discovered Thursday in the eastern suburb of Zamalka, while another 22 were found in Qatana, southeast of the capital.
The watchdog group also reported fresh clashes Friday between government troops and rebels in the Kazaz neighborhood of Damascus. The tightly controlled area is home to offices of several Syrian security agencies.
On Thursday, forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad recaptured a town on the border with Jordan used as a transit point by refugees escaping the conflict. Hundreds of soldiers backed by tanks assaulted Tel Chehab early Thursday, arresting dozens of people and setting fire to rebel safehouses.
Six people -- including five security personnel -- were killed and several others wounded in a "terrorist" blast caused by explosives attached to a motorcycle in the Rukn al-Din district of Damascus, state television said.
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.
At least eight people have been killed and more than 21 others wound in the latest attack by US terror drones in southern Somalia, Press TV reports.
Somali pirates
[Dawn] Violence in 
[Iran Press TV] At least five Syrian security personnel have been killed in a 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
Government forces shelled the southern outskirts of the Syrian capital on Friday, while soldiers stormed a nearby town and dozens of bodies were found across the province, witnesses and a rights group said.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
