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'Missiles fired at' Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Gal Gadot[Filmography](age 28)



Israeli Design


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/30/2013 9:57 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Sudan state declared rebel 'target' as aviation warned
[Pak Daily Times] Sudanese rebels on Monday declared North Kordofan state a target in a widening offensive, as parliament met to discuss weekend attacks on the region which had been largely free from unrest.

Except for occasional rebel forays over the border from the conflict-plagued Darfur region, North Kordofan had been generally peaceful.

But on Saturday a rebel coalition struck a major North Kordofan town which residents said had been left unguarded and was hit during coordinated attacks in the beturbanned goons' most audacious act in years.

"North Kordofan state has all become our target," Arnu Ngutulu Lodi, front man for the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), told AFP.

SPLM-N, which has been fighting for two years in South Kordofan state, belongs to the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) which also includes major beturbanned goon groups from Darfur.

SRF said it attacked Umm Rawaba, the second-largest town in North Kordofan, and several other areas in North and South Kordofan as part of its strategy to reach the capital Khartoum and overthrow the 24-year regime of President Omar al-Bashir
Head of the National Congress Party. He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself president-for-life. He has fallen out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it.
Lodi claimed that rebels on Sunday shelled the airport area of Kadugli, the state capital of South Kordofan, for the second time in two days. He warned civil aviation to avoid the area, as well as the airspace in North Kordofan.

"It is becoming a target for us," Lodi said. "This is a very serious kind of warning. This whole area has become an operational area." The SPLM-N has shelled Kadugli periodically since late last year, but on Saturday for the first time targeted the airport region.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Africa North
Sixth French Soldier Killed in Mali
[An Nahar] A French soldier was killed Monday in the far north of Mali, the French presidency said.

He was the sixth soldier killed in the west African country since La Belle France launched a military intervention in January to quash al-Qaeda-linked groups that had taken control of the north.

President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
sent his condolences to the soldier's family and hailed "the determination and courage of the French forces engaged in Mali alongside Malian and (other) African forces".

La Belle France has begun withdrawing its 4,500 troops deployed in Mali and handing over the reins to a 6,300-strong force, the International Mission for Support to Mali (MISMA).
"MIASMA"? Oh, spot on.
Gay Paree has said about 1,000 soldiers will remain in Mali beyond this year to back up a U.N. force that is to replace MISMA.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1  Irrespective of the Frogs' dipplemats and polytichians, their soldiers kick ass when unleashed. 'specially the Legion and the paras, which are frequently the ones going to the old colonies.
My guess is he has a lot of guys to row him across The River.
God Bless Him and his fallen friends.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 04/30/2013 1:46 Comments || Top||


Tunisia Guards Badly Wounded in Hunt for Gunmen
[An Nahar] A land mine kaboom seriously maimed two members of Tunisia's national guard on Monday as they pursued a group of armed Islamists near the Algerian border, the interior minister said.

The men were "seriously maimed by the kaboom of a mine while they were conducting a search operation at Mount Chaambi targeting terrorist elements on the run," the ministry said, referring to Islamist beturbanned goons.

It said one of the victims lost a leg and that the other was seriously maimed in the eyes.

It did not say whether the mine was laid by those being pursued in the operation, or if it was a part of the security infrastructure along Tunisia's long and porous western border with Algeria, where arms trafficking is common.

Later on Monday, after security reinforcements had been sent to the region, a third soldier also had his leg blown off when a second land mine detonated, a security official told Agence La Belle France Presse. The report could not verified independently.

"According to preliminary reports, the mines were laid by the (runaway) group," which is thought to be hiding in the mountainous region, the security official said.

A shootout that took place earlier in the day had complicated the evacuation of the two guards who were finally taken to hospital in the region capital Kasserine where they were operated on, medical and security sources said.

The inaccessible Mount Chaambi region has been repeatedly targeted in search operations by the security forces since last December when a policeman was killed in festivities with gunnies in the area.

Shortly afterwards, the authorities claimed to have broken up an al-Qaeda recruitment cell and nabbed
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
16 suspected members.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Salafists


Egypt Islamist Cleared over 1995 Bid to Murder Mubarak
[An Nahar] An Egyptian court acquitted Monday a Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya party leader who had been sentenced to death in absentia after a foiled bid in 1995 to assassinate ex-president Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, a judicial source said.

Mustafa Hamza was a military commander of the fundamentalist group -- an organization outlawed under Mubarak -- which had been implicated in deadly attacks in the 1990s alongside another jihadist group, notably the Luxor massacre which killed about 70 people, mainly tourists, in 1997.

An Egyptian court had sentenced him to death in absentia for his membership in the Gamaa, but on Monday the Giza criminal court acquitted him.

The Mubarak government had accused Hamza of criminal masterminding a bid to assassinate the now ousted president during an official visit to Addis Ababa to attend an African summit.

Gunmen opened fire on Mubarak's motorcade, but the former strongman's bodyguards were quick to return fire and he escaped unscathed.

Hamza ended years on the run and returned to Egypt after the January 2011 popular uprising that toppled Mubarak and surrendered to the authorities in Cairo, where he also asked for a retrial.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Armed protest in Libya prompts congress to postpone sitting
[Al Ahram] Libya's foreign ministry remained surrounded on Monday by heavily armed protesters, a tense demonstration of militia force that prompted the legislature to postpone its next sitting.

Militiamen surrounded the ministry on Sunday with pick-up trucks loaded with anti-aircraft guns and gangs also tried unsuccessfully to storm the interior ministry and the state news agency, posing a challenge to state control of key parts of the capital.

The General National Congress (GNC) said its politicians would not now meet as scheduled on Tuesday but would postpone their next sitting until Sunday.

A front man said this would give them time to study the legislation that the protesters are calling for - a law banning former regime officials from senior government posts.

"The resolution came from the presidency of the GNC. Tomorrow's session will be postponed until Sunday, so all the parties have time to prepare their proposals for the political isolation law," said GNC front man Omar Hmaidan.

The sitting was postponed "to avoid friction with the protesters who are calling for the law to be passed tomorrow," he said.

The political isolation law - which has already been proposed - would ban officials who worked for Muammar Qadaffy
... who had more funny outfits than Louis XIV...
holding senior positions in the new administration.

Protesters said they had targeted the foreign ministry because some officials there had worked for the dictator who was deposed in 2011.

The law could force out several ministers as well as the congress leader, depending on the wording adopted.

Tensions between the government and armed militias have been rising in recent weeks since a campaign was launched to dislodge the groups from their strongholds in the capital.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
France troops capture suspected French jihadist in Mali
A suspected French jihadist has been captured by French forces in Mali, the defense ministry in Paris said on Tuesday, one of a handful of French nationals in the Sahel suspected of fighting against their own country.

French authorities had been searching for Gilles Le Guen since October, when he published a YouTube video in which he warned France, the United States and the United Nations not to interfere in Mali.

"I confirm the capture of a French terrorist in Mali by the French Army," a defense ministry spokesman told Reuters.

He said the man was Le Guen and that he was captured during the night of April 28.

"For the moment, he is being held by French forces and should be turned over to Malian authorities," he said.

A handful of French nationals are known to have travelled to the Sahel region in northern Mali to train to fight for Islamist militants, according to diplomatic sources.

France intervened in Mali in January in order to stop al Qaeda linked militants from overrunning the West African nation and to prevent it from becoming a base for attacks on the West.

Media reports said Le Guen, originally from Brittany, was known as Abdel Jelil.

RTL radio said Le Guen had been captured last year by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who accused him of being a spy for the West, but the group later released him.

In the YouTube video, the man identified as Le Guen said he was a former officer in the merchant marine who had also worked for French humanitarian group Medicins Sans Frontieres.

Last month, a French jihadist was captured by French soldiers in northern Mali and sent to France, where he was being investigated on terrorism charges.

Another French national was arrested in Mali in November on suspicion of entering the country illegally in order to set up a jihadist cell.
Posted by: tipper || 04/30/2013 18:46 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  better Mali than france
Posted by: chris || 04/30/2013 21:52 Comments || Top||


Unknown gunmen kill five, rob bank in north Nigeria
[Al Ahram] Gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked a cop shoppe and a bank in northern Nigeria, killing three coppers and two civilians, authorities said on Monday, in a region struggling to control an Islamist insurgency.

The gunnies struck the town of Ringim late on Thursday night, said Abdul Jinjiri, police front man for Jigawa state, where the town is located.

"After attacking a cop shoppe and killing three of our men, they then moved to nearby Unity Bank and killed two civilians there," Jinjiri said. "They were not able to steal any money from the bank."

The Ringim attack came a day before 25 people were killed in a separate clash between Nigerian security forces and suspected Islamists who robbed a bank and attacked a cop shoppe in northeastern Yobe state.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Pirates kidnap five crew from ship off Nigeria
[Pak Daily Times] Pirates have kidnapped five crew members from a fat merchantman off Nigeria, a piracy watchdog and a security source said on Monday, part of a growing trend of attacks that are pushing up maritime insurance costs in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Antigua and Barbuda-flagged MV City of Xiamen container ship was attacked late on April 25 off the coast of oil-producing Bayelsa state, a security source said.

The crew were mostly Sri Lankans but included one member from Russia and another from Myanmar, the source said.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said 14 heavily armed pirates attacked the container ship, breached its citadel - a strong room designed to protect the crew from attack. The pirates took five crew captive before escaping with cash taken from the ship and the crew, the IMB said in a piracy report.

Pirates in a speed boat off Nigeria chased and fired upon another container ship on April 24 but the vessel increased speed and escaped, the IMB said. West Africa is an important source of oil, cocoa and metals for world markets, but international navies are not engaged in counter-piracy missions at present. Many vessels are forced to anchor off Nigeria with little protection, making them a soft target for criminals.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates


Caribbean-Latin America
Attacks against Monterrey cops continue: 3 die

For a map, click here. For a map of Nuevo Leon state, click here. For a map of Monterrey, click here

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

A staged car wreck in Juarez municipality in Nuevo Leon may have led to the death of three traffic cops, according to Mexican news accounts.

Saturday evening one motorcycle police agent was reportedly shot to death at a location on the road which leads to Reynosa in Juarez municipality, specifically in Garza y Garza colony. Two unidentified taxi drivers were wounded.

Now it is being reported in a Monday edition of Milenio news daily that two more traffic police agents died at the scene.

According to the report, the three police agents killed in Garza y Garza colony were investigating a traffic accident between the drivers of two taxi cabs when armed suspects travelling aboard a Volkswagen Golf sedan drove up and started firing. As soon as the shooters fled the scene, the parties to the traffic accident also fled aboard a second vehicle.

The dead cops were identified as Omar Alejandro Mares Puente, Pablo Enrique Peña Blanco and José Alejandro Garcia Roch, three of a traffic police squad totalling 35 in Juarez municipality.

Meanwhile in Guadalupe municipality, three other traffic police agents were kidnapped Monday.

According to a separate report which appeared Monday in the online version of Milenio, one traffic police agent was kidnapped while investigating a traffic accident at around 1100 hrs near the intersection of calles Ruiz Cortines and Naranjo Adolfo Prieto colony. He was identified as Emilio Gamez Martínez, 53.

According to the report two more traffic police agents were kidnapped near the intersection of avenidas Eloy Cavazos and Roble. Guadalupe authorities are denying the second kidnapping.

According to several news reports, Gamez Martinez was released in Doctor Gonzalez municipality unharmed later Monday afternoon.

Guadalupe municipality was the location late last Saturday night where four individuals were shot to death in a bar called Jhonny's Place. Two of the victims, according to a Monday afternoon report in Milenio, were identified as Ruben Salazar Rivera, 35, and Juan Carlos Vazquez Valles, 26.

Six of the wounded were identified as Raul Lopez Velasco, 24, Raul Lopez Sanchez, 43, Enrique Lopez Sanchez, 47, Ricardo Villegas Hernandez, 23, and Martin Espinoza Vazquez, 29.

According to the report, seven armed suspects dismounted from a taxi, entered the bar and started shouting, identifying themselves as members of a drug cartel before they started firing their weapons.

Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com
Posted by: badanov || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Germany charges four over Iran nuclear equipment sales
[Al Ahram] German prosecutors said Monday they had charged four men with breaching sanctions against Iran by delivering equipment for an atomic reactor that the West suspects is part of a covert nuclear weapons programme.

Three men with joint Iranian-German nationality, identified only as Kianzad Ka., Gholamali Ka. and Hamid Kh., and German national Rudolf M. were jugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
last August in police raids involving 90 officers.

They were charged last Friday in a Hamburg court, prosecutors said.

The four are accused of having delivered special valves for a heavy water reactor in 2010 and 2011, in breach of an arms embargo and export restrictions against Iran on goods that have dual civil and military purposes.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran


India-Pakistan
Five killed in Karachi
[Pak Daily Times] At least five people including a policeman were bumped off in separate incidents of violence in the city on Monday.

A police sub-inspector was rubbed out and his daughter was maimed in a targeted attack in Orangi Town within the premises of Iqbal Market cop shoppe.

Police said that victim Sadru Abro, 48, son of Habib Abro was going to drop his daughter Aasiya, 6, at a nearby school on a cycle of violence, when pillion armed riders intercepted him and opened fire. As a result, Abro sustained multiple bullet wounds and was struck down in his prime, however his daughter was taken to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital (ASH) with critical injuries. Police officials said that the victim was posted at Aram Bagh cop shoppe. Separately, a man was bumped off in Ilyas Goth within the remits of Ibrahim Hyderi Police Station. Police said the victim, 30-year-old Akbar, son of Sacchal was on his way when unidentified culprits shot him dead. Police said that he was a labourer by profession and apparently killed over personal enmity. In another incident, a man was rubbed out within the jurisdiction of Rizvia cop shoppe. Police officials said that victim, Syed Mohammad Hafeez, 25, was sitting at his mechanic shop, where unidentified armed riders accosted him and fired multiple shots. Resultantly, he was struck down in his prime. The body was taken to the ASH for an appointment with Dr. Quincy. Police officials said that the motive behind the incident was yet to be ascertained.

A watchman was bumped off in Pakhtoonabad area within the precincts of Manghopir cop shoppe. Police officials said Mehmood Aslam Khan, 40, was standing near his house, when unidentified armed motorcyclists targeted him. Police said the motive behind the killing could not be ascertained. Another young man, who is yet to be identified was shot and killed near Ibrahim Ali Bhai School in Orangi Town. The body was taken to the ASH for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Boys' school blown up in Bannu
[Pak Daily Times] A government boys' school was blown up with four bombs in the wee hours of Monday, police said. According to police, four back-to-back bombs went kaboom! in the school, completely damaging the school building. Fortunately, no casualty was reported.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Exam time and somebody's stalling.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/30/2013 7:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Glenmore's got it. If they meant it, it would have been a girl's school in prime time.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/30/2013 16:37 Comments || Top||


`Nine 'TTP men' arrested in Karachi, Multan
[Pak Daily Times] Nine alleged member of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) were tossed in the clink
Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try!
in separate rages in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
and Multan on Monday. According to reports, Rangers claimed to have arrested eight members of the TTP during a raid in the Maripur area. Sources privy to the arrests said that "tennis balls bombs" and a huge cache of arms were recovered from the arrested culprits. Meanwhile,
...back at the shouting match, a new, even louder, voice was to be heard...
an alleged TTP activist was arrested while pasting the group's pamphlets in the Multan Press Club. According to media reports, two members of the TTP were busy pasting pamphlets in the press club, carrying directives for the people to stay away from the upcoming election. The press club management informed the police, who caught one of the activists, identified as Usman Ghani, a university student.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Driver of NATO container killed in Jamrud
[Pak Daily Times] A driver was killed when faceless myrmidons opened fire on a NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis....
container in Khyber Agency, officials said. Security officials said that the assailants opened fire on the container coming from Afghanistan. Resultantly, the driver was struck down in his prime. Security forces rushed to the scene of the crime and cordoned off the area. A search operation was launched, but no arrests were made until the filing of this report.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Army deployment starts in Balochistan
[Pak Daily Times] Over one thousand troops of the Pakistain Army started moving to the sensitive polling areas from Quetta Cantonment on Monday.

The army convoy moved after Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani
... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI...
approved the proposal regarding deployment of army personnel at polling stations before May 11 during the corps commanders conference. The troops left for the areas including Mastung, Khuzdar, Washuk, Kharan, Turbat, Panjgur, Gwadar, Dera Bugti, Kohlu and Noshki. Their movement would continue for two days. "Besides police and Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Constabulary men, some 17,000 personnel of army, including Frontier Corps, and paramilitary force, would be deployed in volatile districts of the province," Balochistan Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani told media.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


More blasts as pre-election violence refuses to die down
[Pak Daily Times] The pre-election violence continued on Monday with several more attacks on election candidates.

Two candidates came under attack in Karak District on Monday in two separate incidents during their election campaigns, but no lose of life was reported in the two incidents. Police sources said that in the first incident two unidentified motorcyclists attacked the convoy of Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam
...Assembly of Islamic Clergy, or JUI, is a Pak Deobandi (Hanafi) political party. There are two main branches, one led by Maulana Fazlur Rahman, and one led by Maulana Samiul Haq. Fazl is active in Pak politix and Sami spends more time running his madrassah. Both branches sponsor branches of the Taliban, though with plausible deniability...
(Sami) candidate for NA-15 Karak and Central Deputy General Secretary of the party Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz in Jangrezi area of Tehsil Banda Daud Shah. He narrowly escaped the liquidation attempt and all other workers and supporters of the candidate also remained unhurt. Hafiz Faisal Tariq, a close aid of the candidate, claimed that Maulana Shah Abdul Aziz was going to a public meeting regarding his election campaign. He had not registered an FIR of the incident until the filing of this report.

On the same day in the morning two men fired shots on the hujra (guesthouse) of former Jamaat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl MPA and now an independent candidate for PK-41 Karak-I Malik Qasim Khan in Khojaki area of Tehsil Takht-e-Nusrati on the Indus Highway. The power transformer of the guesthouse caught fire and the building was also slightly damaged but no loss of life was reported in the incident. Malik Shamsur Rehman, a relative of Malik Qasim registered the FIR of the incident in Takht-e-Nusrati cop shoppe against two brothers identified as Saleem Ayaz and Sajjad Khan.

Meanwhile,
...back at the alley, Slats grabbed his rosco...
a man killed one and maimed another as another office of the Awami National Party came under attack in Noshehra on Monday, officials said. According to local police, unidentified people attacked the election office of ANP candidate Shahid Khatak. The assailants managed to flee after committing the crime, police added.

An kaboom near the election office of Awami National Party (ANP) in Charsadda injured 12 people on Monday. According to local police, unidentified people attacked the election office of ANP candidate Muhammad Ahmad Khan in the constituency PK-17 of Charsadda. It is pertinent to mention here that ANP, along with PPP and MQM has been targeted by terror outfits and hundreds of party workers and leaders have bit the dust during recent days in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, other parts of Sindh, Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
. In attacks on Sunday at least 11 people were killed across the country, as Death Eaters continued to target political parties in a bid to disrupt the upcoming general election.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Iran: Fomenting sectarian strife in Iraq, al-Qaeda’s new plot
These days, Iraq is in a very volatile situation, and everyone is worried about the future of the country.

Even Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, based in the city of Najaf, who is the most respected marja taqlid (a Shia cleric regarded as a source of emulation) in the country, has warned that the current crisis is the most unprecedented since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein. Over the past few months, Iraqis have witnessed an increase in terrorist operations in various parts of the country while the country’s leading politicians continue to dispute about major issues. The external support provided to the insurgents by regional and extra-regional governments has also intensified the crisis in Iraq.

It is not unusual that there are political disputes in Iraq, but the endless wrangling has paved the way for the resurgence of groups like al-Qaeda and the Baath Party, and they have begun carrying out sabotage operations across Iraq. In fact, Iraq’s volatile politics has provided terrorist groups an opportunity to foment sectarian strife in the country and to accuse the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of neglecting the rights of minorities.

Iraq’s political groups should be more vigilant about the threat posed by this major conspiracy. If they decide to set aside their differences and reach a consensus, they will successfully weather the current crisis. The government should also be cautious in dealing with the unrest.
Posted by: tipper || 04/30/2013 13:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


String of violent attacks rock Iraq, killing 23
[RT] At least 23 people have been killed and dozens injured in a spate of boom-mobileings and shootings in Shia areas of southern Iraq. The past week has seen festivities as a result of a raid on a Sunni protest camp last Tuesday, which left 200 people dead.

An army raid on a Sunni government protest camp in the northern town of Hawija - near Kirkuk - last week sparked a wave of violence across the country.

In the latest attack two bombs went off in the town of Amara, 300 km southeast of Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
, killing nine people and wounding dozens more, striking a market and a place where people had gathered to look for work.

Other bombs went off at markets in Diwaniyah and Kerbala, and in the Shia neighborhood of Mahmudiya, a mainly Sunni town.

"I was preparing to go to work when a big kaboom shook my house and broke the glass in all the windows. I ran outside, the kaboom was near my house and bodies were everywhere," Woody Jasim, a resident of Diwaniyah, told Rooters.

Meanwhile in djinn-infested Mosul, 390 km north of Storied Baghdad, gunnies clashed with the army early on Monday, killing two soldiers and wounding three others, Rooters reports citing military sources. Also one soldier was rubbed out and another was maimed by a sniper in eastern Storied Baghdad, police say.

The attacks are a violent Dire Revenge™ response to the Shia dominated government and army, which carried out the raid last week.

The protesters were denouncing the authorities for allegedly targeting the Sunni community and were calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who is a Shia.

On Saturday, al-Maliki said that sectarianism is again plaguing Iraq, and in an apparent reference to Syria, said "because it began in another place in this region".
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IAF kills Gaza terrorist linked to rocket fire on Eilat
First targeted assassination by IAF since end of Operation Pillar of Defense in November; terrorist named as Hitham Mashal, a rocket manufacturing expert and member of jihadist group operating in Gaza and Sinai.
Howls, including from DC, in 5..4..3
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/30/2013 05:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israeli man killed in West Bank terror attack
An Israeli was killed in a terror attack at the Tapuah junction in the northern West Bank on Tuesday morning, when he was attacked by a Palestinian man at a hitchhiking spot at the junction.

The Palestinian terrorist came up from behind the victim, identified as Evyatar Borovsky, and then stabbed him in the chest, Judea and Samaria Division Capt. Barak Raz told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
There used to be a car-slogan in Israel "Have Arabs, have terror." But, of course, a court has verboten it as racist.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/30/2013 05:07 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
FSA says Israeli jets hit chemical site
The Free Syrian Army says Israeli air force jets flew over President Bashar Assad's palace and bombed a chemical weapons site near Damascus, Maariv reported.

The report said Israeli jets entered Syrian airspace close to 6 a.m Saturday and flew over Assad's palace in Damascus and other security facilities before striking a chemical weapons compound near the city.

The Hebrew language daily said a Syrian army air defense battery positioned in the city fired at the Israeli jets, but the aircraft left Syrian airspace unscathed. FSA rebels posted a video showing smoke rising from the headquarters for chemical weapons.

There were no reports of the extent of damage or casualties.

Neither Damascus nor Jerusalem responded to the report.

In January, foreign media reported Israeli jets bombed a weapons convoy parked outside a military research institute near Damascus allegedly en route to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

Posted by: tipper || 04/30/2013 17:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Central Damascus explosion kills nine
An explosion rocked the central Damascus district of Marjeh on Tuesday, according to Syrian state television, with a watchdog group saying at least nine people were killed in the attack. A witness reported that automatic weapons fire could be heard in the district immediately after the blast.
Celebratory gun sex?
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, "The toll in a car bomb near the old interior ministry building Marjeh district rose to nine and the number was expected to rise further because there are dozens of injured, some in critical condition."

State television showed footage of smoke billowing over the site of the blast, which shattered the windows of surrounding cars, knocking the bumpers off some and starting fires. Uniformed and armed plainclothes security forces could be seen running near the scene, as residents fled from the area.

Several mutilated bodies could be seen lying in the street, and at least one body wrapped in a white sheet was laid out alongside an ambulance.

Fire engines were at the scene with firefighters battling several blazes.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/30/2013 06:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria: Al-Qaeda's battle for control of Assad's chemical weapons plant
[Telegraph] A battle near a factory believed to be one of the Syrian regime's main chemical weapons plants shows just how close such weapons could be to falling into al-Qaeda's hands, writes Colin Freeman.

"The West may be saying: 'A red line has been crossed, let's do something'. But the question is what exactly can they do?" said Dina Esfandiary, an expert on Syria's WMD programme with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the London-based defence and security think-tank. "Syria's stockpiles of chemical weapons are huge, and President Assad has done a very good job of hiding them all over the country."
The Syrian regime's chemical warchest is indeed vast - the biggest in the Middle East, and the fourth largest in the world. Started in the 1970s ranks with help from Syria's Cold War sponsor, Russia, today its programme includes facilities for making mustard gas, sarin and another nerve agent, VX, which stays lethal for much longer after dispersal.

In charge of the programme is the innocuous-sounding Scientific Studies and Research Centre outside Damascus
...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world...
, a body officially tasked with academic research. In practice, it reports directly to President Assad and operates a string of chemical production facilities, some allegedly developed with help from Iran and North Korea.

As Syria has not signed the international Chemical Weapons Convention, it has never declared details of its stockpiles to the outside world. But outside intelligence estimates reckon that Damascus has between 100 and 200 warheads filled with sarin for its Scud missiles, and thousands of chemical artillery bombs filled with sarin and VX.

Nobody outside the Assad regime now knows for certain where the stockpiles are now: the contents of the plant at Safira, for example, may have been moved to other, more secret storage spaces for safekeeping. But that uncertainty adds to the challenge. With such a vast arsenal scattered nationwide, the West would face a formidable task were it to attempt to secure it by force.

In December, the Pentagon told the B.O. regime that it would require upward of 75,000 troops - almost half the number it took to topple Saddam Hussein. Such numbers would amount to an invasion in everything but name, and would doubtless attract hostility from both of Syria's warring sides

An alternative would be smaller, ad hoc strikes of the sort that Israel has already admitted to doing to stop the weapons falling into the hands of its Leb-based enemy Hezbollah, whose Assad-backed fighters are now in Syria helping defend the regime. But these would not be practical for a large-scale neutralisation of the country's chemical threat, according to Ms Esfandiary.

"Airstrikes aren't reliable because they can just release all the chemical agents into the air," she said. "Alternatively, they only do half the job and then render a secure site open to looters."

Nor, she added, would quick-fire raids by small teams of special forces be an alternative. "You would have to first secure the sites and then do a careful analysis of what was there, followed by controlled kabooms. It is, frankly, a labour intensive job, and that is why the Pentagon assessed it as requiring 75,000 men.

"Besides, there may be any number of caches hidden all over the place, and even if you could look for them properly - which is difficult with a civil war going on - you would run the risk of some being left behind."

Not all the sites represent a genuine danger. Some store only the basic component chemicals, which must be mixed first before being weaponised, processes which require technical know-how. But others have cannisters full of battle-ready nerve agents, which could be operated in crude fashion simply by breaking them open.
"They might not be quite as effective in amateur hands, but the fact is that they are containers full of very nasty stuff, and if they were opened on a Tube train it would very dangerous," said Ms Esfandiary. "As an instrument of terror, they also have a fear factor that more conventional weapons don't have."

Despite that, many analysts believe that the "red line" is now simply being blurred rather than crossed. With only limited evidence of Sarin use so far, they suspect Damascus is deliberately using such weapons just occasionally to test - and gradually undermine - Washington's resolve. President Assad, they reason, knows all too well that a major chemical attack would leave the US no option but to take action. But successive, smaller ones are a harder call, while still having the desired effect of spreading terror among Damascus's foes.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/30/2013 05:30 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  Sarin degrades pretty fast once the seal storing it is broken. Some other stuff, not so much.
Posted by: lord garth || 04/30/2013 8:26 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm afraid they're gonna find out it's a powdered milk plant.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 04/30/2013 13:00 Comments || Top||


Troops Clash with Rebels near Damascus Airport
[An Nahar] Troops loyal to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
clashed with rebels near Damascus
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
international airport on Monday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights watchdog reported.

"Violent festivities have been taking place since this morning between regime troops and fighter brigades (of rebels) near the Damascus international airport and in nearby villages," the group said.

Since November 2012, there has been sporadic fighting in the vicinity of the airport, almost 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of the capital, occasionally interrupting air traffic.

A security source reported festivities with a small gang on the highway leading to the airport early on Monday morning, which led to road's closure for about an hour.

Elsewhere, the rebel-held Yarmuk Paleostinian camp in the capital came under fire, the Observatory said, while troops tried to dislodge rebels from strongholds around Damascus, including Moadimayat al-Sham, southwest of the city.

Al-Watan newspaper, which is close to the Assad regime, led on Monday with news of the "battle of the airports of Aleppo," in reference to ongoing fighting for control of airfields in northern Syria.

"Armed men have mobilized thousands of fighters around the perimeters of various airports in Aleppo and Idlib, participating in the biggest military operation yet to try to take control of the Kwiyres, Minnigh and Abu Dhur airports," the daily reported.

"The relevant authorities succeeded in countering repeated attacks, helped by military aircraft which carried out raids that killed dozens of gunnies," it added.

Rebel fighters have this year been trying to seize a string of northern airports, including Aleppo international airport, and the Jarrah, Kwiyres, Minnigh and Nayrab military fields.

They took Jarrah military airport on February 12.

Meanwhile,
...back at the wine tasting, Greasy Thumb grabbed his rod!...
in the southern province of Daraa, 11 people including eight rebels were killed in an air raid on Jassem, the hometown of Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi, who escaped an apparent liquidation attempt in Damascus on Monday.

Six people, including one of Halqi's bodyguards, were killed when a boom-mobile went kaboom! as his convoy passed through the Mazzeh neighborhood of the capital, the Observatory said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Woman Wounded as Six Rockets Land in Masharii al-Qaa
[An Nahar] One woman was maimed on Monday when rockets fired from Syria landed in Masharii al-Qaa border region.

Al-Manar television said that a woman was maimed after six shells fired by gunnies in Syria landed in the Bekaa area.

MTV later said that the maimed woman is a Syrian national and was in al-Riachi farm in Masharii al-Qaa at the time of the shelling.

The National News Agency reported that the victim was taken to al-Hermel government hospital for treatment.

Al-Mayadeen later said that the rockets were fired by gunnies in al-Qusayr border region.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


'Missiles fired at' Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria
[RT] Two missiles were reportedly fired at a Russian plane with at least 159 passengers on board that was flying over Syrian territory. Russian officials admit the jet faced danger, but are not talking of a targeted attack.

The news broke in on Monday as Interfax, citing "an informed source in Moscow," reported that a Russian passenger plane was attacked.

"Syrian [officials] informed us that on Monday morning, unidentified forces launched two ground-to-air missiles which went kaboom! in the air very close to a civilian aircraft belonging to a Russian airline," the source told the Russian agency.

The pilots reportedly managed to maneuver the plane in time however, "saving the lives of passengers."

It is believed the aircraft was intentionally targeted, "but it remains unclear whether the attackers knew it was Russian or not," the source added.

However,
there's more than one way to stuff a chicken...
Russian officials, though admitting the plane might have been endangered, are not yet talking of a targeted attack.

The Russian Foreign Ministry's said on its website the plane's crew at 4.55 PM Moscow time (12.55 GMT) "detected battle action on the ground that, according to the crew, could constitute a threat to the 159 passengers on board the plane."

The Russian Foreign Ministry is now "taking emergency measures to clarify all the circumstances of this situation, including making contact with the Syrian authorities," the ministry's spokesperson Aleksandr Lukashevich said.

The plane that was allegedly targeted belonged to Nordwind Airlines -- a Russian charter air carrier -- and was identified as an Airbus A320. On April 29 it was en route to the city of Kazan, in Russia's republic of Tatarstan, from Egypt's resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Posted by: Fred || 04/30/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  IMO read, RUSSIAN MIL INTERVENTION AGZ OBAMA MIL INTERVENTION.

"Post-US", "Mahanist" China is already feeling "caged" by the US over in East Asia - it really doesn't need a reason to intervene, only a catalyst.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/30/2013 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  04/29 22:05 Russian Foreign Ministry taking emergency measure to clarify incident with Russian jet flying over Syria
VIA Interfax

Bet they want this quiet.
Posted by: newc || 04/30/2013 0:16 Comments || Top||

#3  The pilots reportedly managed to maneuver the plane in time however, "saving the lives of passengers."

Yeaaaaahhhhh....like an A-320 has the roll/pitch/bank response of a front-line fighter....
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 04/30/2013 12:48 Comments || Top||

#4  The pilots reportedly managed to maneuver the plane in time however, "saving the lives of passengers."

The Rantburg awards and decorations bureau has just recommended The Order of Lenin for the pilots and flight navigator.
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2013 13:18 Comments || Top||

#5  "The pilots reportedly managed to maneuver the plane in time however, "saving the lives of passengers."

A passenger jet? Really?

I know nothing about what forces metal can stand and not come apart at the seams under these "maneuvering" circumstances (particularly an Airbus), but I highly doubt this.

In any case, hope they all had extra underwear with them.

Wonder if the ground-to-air missles were Russian? Karma's a bitch, after all.
Posted by: Barbara || 04/30/2013 14:01 Comments || Top||

#6  Sounds like the missles were water powered pump rockets like I used as a kid.
Posted by: AlanC || 04/30/2013 14:28 Comments || Top||

#7  Somebody is asking for a spetznaz visit?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/30/2013 14:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Far more drastic things have been done, for far less reason.
Posted by: Pappy || 04/30/2013 17:07 Comments || Top||

#9  Russian planes can fall down without being hit by a missile
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/30/2013 20:15 Comments || Top||

#10  That was cold, EC.

True, but cold. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara || 04/30/2013 21:50 Comments || Top||

#11  I know a little bit about Russian planes ;-)
Posted by: European Conservative || 04/30/2013 21:56 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
State: Our Benghazi probe 'should be enough' for Congress
"Nothing to see here, move along"
The State Department on Monday defended its decision not to have lower-level employees testify before Congress about last year's attack in Benghazi, Libya.
And the "Watchdogs of Democracy", the MSM, agrees...
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is pushing ahead with his investigation of the terrorist assault, and has asked for legal protections for lower-level employees who might be called to testify.

The State Department pushed back on Monday and said the independent probe into the attack "should be enough" for lawmakers.

"We think that we've done an independent investigation, that it's been transparent, thorough, credible, and detailed, and that we've shared those findings with the U.S. Congress," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. "And that should be enough."

Ventrell said the employees who were present during the attack or were otherwise involved have already provided "extensive testimony" to the FBI and the State Department's independent review board, which issued a scathing report last year. He said they're back on duty and at their posts around the world.

"The standard practice, going back for a very long time, is that there are senior officers who are willing to testify on behalf of this department about our operations," he said. "We don't sort of have people at the operational level necessarily as witnesses who are testifying."


Posted by: tipper || 04/30/2013 08:59 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It's not. Want your budget cut? 50 % 'should be enough', right?"
Posted by: Frank G || 04/30/2013 9:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Operators are now talking. Appears neither the survivors or the SOF community are taking this one laying down.

Fill your hands you lying SOB's!
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/30/2013 9:44 Comments || Top||

#3  It's not the crime that gets you in deep caca, it's the cover-up.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 04/30/2013 9:50 Comments || Top||

#4  "Let the fox guard the hen house," said no one ever.
Posted by: Gravilet Elmuse2992 || 04/30/2013 9:58 Comments || Top||

#5  "Who you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?"
Posted by: Muggsy Mussolini1226 || 04/30/2013 10:08 Comments || Top||

#6  "What does it matter?"
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 04/30/2013 10:30 Comments || Top||

#7  The Donks didn't accept Richard Nixon investigating himself. How about dusting off the John Mitchell wing of the federal prison system? Looks like we have a number of people working their way in.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 04/30/2013 12:02 Comments || Top||

#8  Obama ‘not familiar’ with intimidation of Benghazi whistleblowers
Posted by: tipper || 04/30/2013 14:33 Comments || Top||



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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.
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In no particular order...
Steve White
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2013-04-30
  'Missiles fired at' Russian plane with 159 passengers onboard flying over Syria
Mon 2013-04-29
  Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi survives assassination bid
Sun 2013-04-28
  Blasts at election offices kill eight in Pakistan
Sat 2013-04-27
  Afghan bus crash kills 30, Taliban blamed
Fri 2013-04-26
  Terror plot: Leaders jailed for Birmingham bomb plan
Thu 2013-04-25
  Clashes between police and Uighurs in China leave 21 dead
Wed 2013-04-24
  Iraq: 35 dead in clashes, bombing as tensions rise
Tue 2013-04-23
  Two men arrested over 'al-Qaeda inspired' plan to attack a Via Rail train in Toronto area
Mon 2013-04-22
  Al Qaeda intelligence chief reported killed in drone strike
Sun 2013-04-21
  Egypt Police Arrest 39 in Cairo Clashes
Sat 2013-04-20
  Got him! Dzhokhar in custody
Fri 2013-04-19
  Boston: 1 suspect dead, 2nd on loose jugged
Thu 2013-04-18
  Pakistan's Musharraf flees court to avoid arrest
Wed 2013-04-17
  Boston Bombing Suspect Identified, Arrest Made
Tue 2013-04-16
  Feds seek suspects, motive in Boston bombings

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