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Nigerian army says kills 50 Boko Haram Islamists
Today's Headlines
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Good Morning
Posted by: badanov || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday Gam Shot

Brooke Burke[Filmography](age 42)



This Design was Fed Too Much Miracle-Gro® Plant Food?


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/08/2013 0:31 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Female Afghan MP freed for Taliban detainees: official
[Dawn] A female Afghan parliamentarian was freed by the Taliban on Saturday in exchange for several bully boys, a provincial politician said. The Taliban said the freed prisoners were "four innocent women and two children."

Talibs often use kidnap victims as bargaining chips to gain the freedom of their fellow krazed killers, and the Afghan government is generally unwilling to discuss details of what such negotiations involve.

Fariba Ahmadi Kakar's abduction a month ago was also one of a string of attacks on prominent women in Afghanistan, where women's rights remain under attack more than a decade after the US ousted the Taliban government.

Kakar was kidnapped in Ghazni province while driving from Kabul to her constituency in the southern province of Kandahar. She is one of 69 female deputies in the 249-seat lower house of parliament.

Zholina Faizi, secretary of the Ghazni provincial council, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Kakar was released Saturday at 5 pm and is doing fine. Faizi said Afghan intelligence officials told her that seven male hard boyz and one woman were freed in exchange for Kakar.

The Taliban, however, said in a statement that four women and two children imprisoned by the government were freed. The statement said the women and kiddies were being held merely because they were related to members of the Islamist militia, whose fighters "felt compelled to take action to help the persecuted and oppressed female relatives of its mujahedeen."

Faizi could not confirm the Taliban's claims. And other Afghan officials, including Ghazni province Gov. Mousa Khan Akbarzadeh, declined to comment on whether anyone was freed for Kakar's sake.

"Yes, she's been released by the effort and mediation of tribal elders and holy mans in Ghazni," Akbarzadeh said. "Her health is fine, and she is now with her family. I hope this kind of bad news never repeats itself in the history of Afghanistan."

Abdul Rahim Ayoubi, a member of parliament from Kandahar, said Kakar was in the southern province with her family but expected to go to Kabul in a couple of days. "It's good news for all of us," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


One Killed in Afghan Protest at Iran Consulate
[An Nahar] At least one person was killed and four maimed Saturday when angry demonstrators tried to storm the Iranian consulate in western Afghanistan during a protest over visas, officials said.

Around 200 protestors erupted into the streets of Herat
...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns...
city and tried to attack the consulate with rocks and sticks, deputy provincial police chief Abdul Hamid Hamidi told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"The police tried to stop them, but they attacked the police. One person was killed and several maimed in the clash," he said, adding that police were investigating.

An official at Herat central hospital told AFP that four maimed people had been admitted.

Abdul Rashid, a maimed demonstrator, told AFP that they were protesting because the Iranian consulate would not extend their Iranian visas nor return their cash deposit.

He said Afghans who applied for an Iranian visa had to deposit at least $400 with the consulate.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  He said Afghans who applied for an Iranian visa had to deposit at least $400 with the consulate

Either the Iranians really don't like Afghans, or the sanctions are taking their toll.

Or it could be both.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/08/2013 19:54 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Massive blaze at prison kills five Shaboobs
MARKA, Somalia -- A prison fire in Bulo-Marer town of Lower Shabelle region left five Al Shabaab fighters, three inmates and two civilians dead according to witnesses, Garowe Online reports.

A Bulo-Marer resident who spoke to Garowe Online on condition of anonymity because of his security said, the blaze started late Friday night and finally was succeeded to fight it at 8:00 AM in the morning after other militants lingered around the prison.

“We saw the charred remains of the corpses who were dragged out under heavy security by Al Shabaab,” a nearby resident told GO. “Some of the prisoners managed to force their way to safety through the windows and the fire caused extensive damage to the facility."

Sources confirmed to GO that the five Al Shabaab fighters died in the blaze were prison guards. It is yet unclear what caused the fire and Al Shabaab officials declined to comment on the first-ever prison incident to be reported.

Bulo-Marer town in southern Somalia still remains under the control of Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Shish Ka-Boob
Posted by: Frank G || 09/08/2013 8:16 Comments || Top||


Shaboobs Claim Twin Blasts in Somali Capital that Kill 18
[An Nahar] At least 18 people were killed in the Somali capital Mogadishu Saturday when two blasts destroyed a busy parking lot next to a restaurant, police said, in attacks quickly claimed by Shabaab Islamists.

"There were two heavy kabooms at a parking lot near the National Theatre," police officer Mohamed Adan told Agence La Belle France Presse.

"At least 18 people were killed in the attack," said Mohamed Dahir, another police officer. An AFP news hound saw 12 bodies at the scene of the attack.

"Successful operations carried out in Hamarweyne," the Shabaab said on their Somali-language Twitter feed, referring to the Mogadishu district where the attacks occurred. The group's English-language account has been suspended.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Islamists claimed to have killed "key officials", but witnesses said the casualties they had seen looked like ordinary civilians.

Police and witnesses said the first blast was a car laden with explosives that was parked by the Village, a restaurant close to the theatre that was targeted by jacket wallahs in September 2012.

"Minutes after the bomb went off, I saw severed flesh flying past," said Idris Yusuf, who was in the restaurant at the time of the attack and who sustained slight leg injuries.

Nearby buildings were destroyed, the witness said, and passers-by came running over to help the victims.

The second blast, which followed minutes later, was a "suicide bomber who went kaboom! in the crowd of civilians who rushed to the scene of the first blast," Ahmed Weli Said, a Somali government security official said.

The National Theatre re-opened in 2012 after two decades. Just weeks later, Shabaab hard boyz struck, with a suicide bomber blowing herself up and killing two of the country's top sporting officials who were attending an event there.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Africa North
Egypt's Cairo Airport On Alert After Bomb Tip-Off
[Ynet] Officials at Cairo's international airport say a flight to London was delayed after security services received a tip concerning a possible kaboom on the plane.

The officials said an anonymous caller told state security by telephone that two passengers on the EgyptAir flight were suicide-bombers who had planned an attack.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


9 militants killed, 9 arrested in Sinai: Military spokesman
[Al Ahram] Nine forces of Evil have been killed and nine others nabbed
Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages!
during a military operation in North Sinai on Saturday, Egypt's military front man Ahmed Ali announced via Facebook.

Ali stated that the military destroyed three arms storages, 107 huts, as well as several cars used by forces of Evil as a base for their attacks.

A security source told Rooters' Aswat Masriya earlier Saturday that ten forces of Evil were killed and 20 injured during Saturday's operation.

The source said that bully boy casualties are expected to increase as Egypt's security forces continue its crackdown against militancy in Sinai, where violent attacks on security checkpoints and facilities have become frequent since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The military campaign has largely targeted forces of Evil in North Sinai's towns of Sheikh Zwayed and Rafah, the source said, where daily attacks have killed dozens of army and police personnel since Morsi's ouster in July.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula


Tens of thousands call for Tunisia govt ouster
[Al Ahram] Tens of thousands of Tunisians have marched on the seat of the elected assembly demanding the government resign in one of the largest opposition protests to date.

Saturday marked 40 days since the liquidation of opposition politician Mohammed Brahmi, whose killing has plunged the country into a political crisis.

Dozens of opposition members of the assembly withdrew from the body, paralyzing its work of writing the country's new constitution. Weeks of mediation between the government and the opposition by the main labor union have not borne fruit.

The opposition is demanding the Islamist-led government resign for what they say is its failure to ensure security or manage the economy in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Egypt army attacks Sinai militants
[BBC.CO.UK] The Egyptian army has launched a major offensive against Death Eaters in Sinai.

Eyewitnesses told the BBC that tanks, armoured vehicles and troops - backed by Apache helicopters - had attacked the Death Eaters in towns along the border with the Gazoo Strip.

The operation is said to be the biggest of its kind in recent years in Sinai.

Meanwhile,
...back at the hoedown, the fiddler suddenly struck a sour note. The dancing stopped abruptly. Everyone looked at Bob...
Egyptian soldiers have discovered mortars and other explosives on a railway line near the Suez Canal, the state news agency reports.

There have been frequent attacks on pipelines and security forces since the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
in 2011.

On Thursday a powerful kaboom targeted Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim as he left his Cairo house for work. He survived unscathed, but officials say another person died.

Column of tanks

A military official, who spoke anonymously, told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named that the army would "clean" the areas in Sinai where Islamic Death Eaters operated.

This included the towns of Rafah and Sheikh Zuweyid, as well as nearby villages, he said.

A witness told the news agency he had seen a column of tanks, trucks carrying infantry, rocket launchers and other military vehicles. Smoke was also seen rising from the area.

A security official said "dozens" of bad boy suspects had been killed and maimed.

"This is by far the largest operation we have seen and the one we have been waiting for,'' Sheikh Hassan Khalaf, a tribal leader from the targeted area, told the News Agency that Dare Not be Named.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula


Africa Subsaharan
Nigerian army says kills 50 Boko Haram Islamists
[REUTERS] The Nigerian army said on Saturday it had tracked down and killed 50 members of Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
, days after the Islamist sect was blamed for killing 20 villagers in raids in its northeastern stronghold.

"Troops pursued the Death Eaters to their camps and with air support about 50 bad boyz were potted in a shoot-out," army front man Sagir Musa told news hounds in Borno state capital Maiduguri.

"The villages have been rescued from the fangs of the hard boys. Troops are pursuing the remnants of the fleeing Death Eaters by blocking all possible exit routes," Musa added.

Boko Haram, which wants to impose Islamic law in northern Nigeria, and other splinter Islamist groups, are considered the biggest security threat in Nigeria, Africa's top oil exporter.

The military sometimes exaggerates its successes and plays down its own casualties and the deaths of civilians, residents of Borno and rights groups have said. Musa said the number of civilian casualties in the latest offensive was not known.

More than 160 people were killed in violence linked to Boko Haram last month - one of the bloodiest since President Goodluck Jonathan
... 14th President of Nigeria. He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). He is a lover of nifty hats, which makes him easily recognizable unless someone else in the room is wearing a neat chapeau...
declared a state of emergency and a military crackdown in three northeastern states in May. A new army division was sent to Borno last month.

A civilian militia - often armed with no more than clubs and knives - has been operating against the Islamists in recent weeks, leading to the arrest of hundreds of them, the military says.

The vigilantes and their families have become targets and scores have been killed in Dire Revenge™ attacks.

Jonathan is under intense political pressure due to a split in his party and from a recently formed opposition coalition. He has been criticized for not quelling Boko Haram's insurgency, which has intensified under his leadership.

A military offensive ended Boko Haram's initial uprising in 2009, when the group's leader Mohammed Yusuf was killed in police custody, but the sect regrouped and came back stronger, launching a more committed insurgency nearly three years ago.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
Suspected Islamist Militant Killed In Yemen Attempting To Plant Explosive
[Jpost] A suspected Islamist Death Eater was killed early on Saturday when a bomb he was trying to plant in the car of an intelligence officer in Sanaa went kaboom! in his hands, security sources said.

No one else was hurt by the blast, which jolted some residents out of bed shortly after midnight. Local news websites published photos of the bloodied body of a young man they said was behind the attack.

A government source said the target of the attack was stationed at the Ministry of Higher Education. His predecessor had been rubbed out in 2011.

Suspected al-Qaeda faceless myrmidons have killed scores of Yemeni intelligence, army and coppers in recent months, often by rigging their cars with explosives or in drive-by shootings using cycle of violences.

US-allied Yemen is home to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, one of the most active Death Eater franchises of the network founded by the late Osama bin Laden
... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse...
The government of the impoverished Arab country is struggling to assert its authority following more than two years of political turmoil which began with protests that ousted veteran president President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it...
.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Local warlord killed in Caucasus
A local warlord believed to be involved with high-profile attacks in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria has reportedly been killed in a security operation.

The Russian National Antiterrorist Commitee (NAC) said special forces began a search operation in a mountainous area of the republic's Urvan district after a group of armed men were seen in the area. A number of gunmen were killed in a subsequent firefight.

The NAC said one of those killed has been tentatively identified as Ruslan Makoyev. Makoyev's group has been blamed for a number of terrorist acts in Kabardino-Balkaria, including last year's murder of the rector of the Agrarian University, Boris Zherukov.

Zherukov was also a prominent legislator who led the ruling United Russia party's faction in the local assembly.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
ANP man shot dead in Orangi
[Dawn] A senior activist of the Awami National Party was bumped off in Orangi on Friday apparently in a targeted attack, according to the Pirabad police.

The officials added that Syed Lal Darvesh, 45, was on his way to his warehouse situated in Frontier Colony when two gunnies riding a cycle of violence attacked him. He sustained three gunshot wounds in his head, chest and leg that proved fatal.

The victim was ANP president of Orangi Town's union council-6, said Pirabad SHO Abdul Moid. The officer said that the victim had recently received a extortion chit and had got an FIR lodged against unidentified suspects.

The police said that the body of Lal Darvesh was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

Sindh ANP spokesperson Abdul Malik said that the dear departed was a cousin of Senator Shahi Syed. He said that the victim was associated with transport business and his office had been attacked with an improvised bomb twice in the recent past over non-payment of protection money. He left two widows and 18 children, according to the front man.

Meanwhile,
...back at the comedy club, Boogie sadly admitted that he was a better peeping Tom than he was a comedian...
ANP chief Asfandyar Wali in a statement said that law-enforcement agencies were time and again informed about security threats to the victim but they did not provide security to him. Sen Syed said that under a well thought out plan, party leaders and activists were being targeted in the metropolis. He demanded immediate arrest of killers.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Speakers at JuD rally lash out at India, US
[Dawn] It was the usual India-US bashing at the Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD) rally held in the twin cities to mark Defence Day on Friday.

Chanting slogans and holding banners, the emotionally-charged JuD activists and madressah students blamed New Delhi and Washington DC for the woes of Pakistain.

"We came here to show the US that the people of Pakistain will stand up for the rights of the Mohammedans of Kashmire, Egypt and Syria," said Mohammad Akbar, a 29-year-old unemployed man from Gujranwala.

He said JuD wanted the supremacy of the Mohammedans and for this cause he had come to attend the rally.

"The people of Kashmire will not get their rights without the help of the Mohammedans of the world," he said.

Allah Ditta, 20, a madressah student from Okara, said he and his friends had come to attend the rally on the call of JuD to show their strength to the enemies.

"Defence Day ... I don't know, but I came here for the rights of the oppressed Mohammedans in Kashmire, Egypt and Syria. We want to send a message to the US that military action against any Mohammedan country is unacceptable," he said.

Almost all participants accused the US and India of collaborating to slow down the pace of economic progress in Pakistain.

"They joined hands in Afghanistan to topple the Mohammedan government of Taliban and get access to the natural resources of the country," said Mujahid Ali, a seminary student from Bhakkar.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of people reached the twin cities from Punjab and Azad Kashmire to take part in the rally despite a ban imposed by the Rawalpindi city administration.

The city district government allowed JuD to organise the Friday congregation at Liaquat Bagh but it did not give them the permission to march towards the federal capital.

The outfit had also installed loudspeakers and banners on Benazir Bhutto
... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in...
Road and Liaquat Road despite the ban.

However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
on the request of Rawal Town administrator Mohammad Ali Randhawa, the organisers removed the banners.

"I showed them the orders of District Coordination Officer (DCO) Sajid Zafar after which they removed the loudspeakers and the banners," Mr Randhawa said.

When asked about the ban on the rally, the administrator said it was the duty of the police to stop them.

On the other hand, a police official, requesting not to be named, said the government had not instructed them to stop the participants from holding the rally.

"Though there was no permission for the rally, we will not take any decision against the organisers without getting orders from the provincial government," he said.

However,
a lie repeated often enough remains a lie...
despite the ban on holding rallies, the JuD chief, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, led hundreds of his party activists and madressah students to D Chowk in Islamabad.

During the rally, traffic on the roads in Rawalpindi and Islamabad remained choked with the police seeming helpless to control the movement of vehicles on Islamabad Expressway, Blue Area, Kashmire Highway and Benazir Bhutto Road.

Addressing the rally at D Chowk, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
called upon Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
to take steps to stop Indian aggression in Kashmire.

"We expect a courageous step from Nawaz Sharif similar to the one he took during his first tenure and refused to bow to world pressure and went ahead with nuclear tests," he said.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed held India responsible for terrorist activities in Pakistain and said the government-proposed all parties' conference on terrorism would not achieve its objectives unless India was stopped from carrying out terror activities in the country.

"The holding of the all parties' conference is a good step but it is also necessary to identity the enemy to get rid of the menace of terrorism," he said.

Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said Nawaz Sharif wanted to improve the economic condition of Pakistain but it would not be possible without making the country's defence impregnable.

"If our borders are secured, people will invest on different projects," he said.

He also said Pakistain should not be afraid of the US as the latter had faced defeat in Afghanistan and wanted a safe passage from there. "Pakistain should help its Mohammedan neighbours flush out their enemies to ensure security of its borders," he added.

The JuD leader further said: "People expected that Nawaz Sharif will introduce Islamic economic laws and eliminate interest system as it was against Islam."

"If you take the first step, the people of the tribal areas and others will help impose Islamic laws in every field of the country. Islam is the solution to all the problems faced by the country," he said.

The JuD chief warned the US not to attack Syria, saying that Pakistain should help Syria by uniting all Mohammedan countries.

Jamaat-e-Islami
...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
(JI) Secretary General Liaquat Baloch and Mian Aslam criticised India for violating human rights
...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state...
in Kashmire and the US for planning to attack Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba

#1  OTOH DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [LeT Chief-Founder]HAFIZ SAEED THREATENS INDIA WID NEW "MUMBAI"-STYLE ATTACK AT ISLAMBAD RALLY - TIMES OF INDIA.

Where circa 10,000 Saeed supporters repor proclaimed to desire to wage Jihad agz India.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/08/2013 23:34 Comments || Top||


Pakistan releases seven Afghan Taliban prisoners
[Dawn] Pakistain freed a group of Afghan Taliban on Saturday in an attempt to improve its troubled ties with its South Asian neighbour, but risked angering Afghanistan further by not handing them over directly to the Kabul authorities.

The announcement followed last month's trip by Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
to Pakistain, where he sought the handover of some Afghan bully boyz as part of the stalled grinding of the peace processor.

Karzai as well as the United States want Pakistain to hand the bully boyz directly to the Afghan authorities, but on Saturday, a group of seven Taliban was simply allowed to walk out of their cells into Pakistain.

"In order to further facilitate the Afghan reconciliation process, Pakistain is releasing seven Taliban detainees," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A foreign ministry front man separately said all seven, including a senior commander called Mansoor Dadullah, were freed on Saturday. The other prisoners are Said Wali, Abdul Manan, Karim Agha, Sher Afzal, Gul Muhammad and Muhammad Zai.

Asked if they had been handed over to the Afghan authorities or were just released in Pakistain, the front man said: "Just released."

Pakistain is said to have backed the Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s and is seen as a crucial gatekeeper in attempts by the US and Afghan governments to contact myrmidon leaders who fled to Pakistain after the group's 2001 removal.

But Afghanistan has long accused Pakistain of playing a double game in its 12-year-old war against Taliban fighters. It says Pakistain, facing a Taliban insurgency of its own, makes pronouncements about peace, but allows elements of its military to play a spoiling role.

Release of a senior commander

Dadullah, who is among the seven released prisoners, is a senior Death Eater commander who was captured by Pak security forces in February 2008 in the southwestern 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...
province with at least five other Death Eaters.

Dadullah had been in charge of operations against NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all....
and US-led troops in the southern Afghan province of Helmand
...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan...
Dadullah had succeeded his elder brother -- the Taliban's overall military commander Mullah Dadullah -- who was killed in a joint Afghan-NATO operation in southern Afghanistan in May 2007.

The Taliban said in late December that they had sacked Mansoor Dadullah because he disobeyed orders. But a front man for the commander denied that he was fired, leading to speculation about infighting among the Death Eaters.

Dadullah was one of five Taliban who were freed in May 2007 in exchange for a kidnapped Italian journalist, Daniele Mastrogiacomo.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Iraq
Four Dead in Attacks North of Baghdad
[An Nahar] Attacks north of Storied Baghdad
...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate...
, including a suicide kaboom at a government building and the detonation of a booby-trapped corpse, killed four people Saturday, part of a months-long surge in violence.

The unrest has left more than 3,900 people dead already this year, and sparked concerns Iraq is slipping back into the all-out sectarian war that plagued it in 2006 and 2007 and left tens of thousands dead.

Shootings and bombings stuck the main northern city of djinn-infested Mosul, as well as Baquba, Taji and Tuz Khurmatu, all north of the capital, leaving four dead and nine others maimed overall, according to security and medical officials.

In Taji, a jacket wallah tried to enter the town mayoralty offices but went kaboom! at the gates to the building when police opened fire on him.

The blast killed a policeman and maimed four others.

In djinn-infested Mosul, meanwhile, a police major was killed when security forces approached a corpse that had been booby-trapped with explosives.

In Tuz Khurmatu and Baquba, gunnies assassinated a finance ministry official and a district chief respectively.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
French consulate employee arrested smuggling goods into West Bank
Israeli officials arrested an employee of the French consulate in Jerusalem on Tuesday as he tried to cross from Jordan into the West Bank with some 152 kg in gold bars, nearly $2 million in checks and 500 kg of tobacco. Intrigued by the smell of tobacco, Israeli officials asked the man if they could search his car. He refused, explaining that his diplomatic plates were registered at the French consulate in Jerusalem and that he possessed a service passport -- an official document issued by the French authorities that indicates he is a member of the consular staff but which does not serve as a diplomatic passport.

Faced with more questions and increasing pressure, the man grew nervous and asked to be allowed to turn around and return to Jordan. The officials refused and called their superiors, who alerted the French consulate. The ambassador was away, so his deputy took the case.

While the diplomat told the young driver that he was probably right in refusing a search, he insisted it would be in his best interests to obey the custom officials' orders, whereupon the man informed the consular official that what he was carrying wasn't "insignificant". The diplomat, realising that the situation was becoming increasingly complicated, alerted the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Paris.

The ministry's advice was to allow the vehicle to be searched to avoid giving the impression that there was a coverup. The driver eventually complied, revealing 152 kg of gold, mostly in bars; 500 kg of tobacco; hundreds of new cell phones; and nearly $2 million in checks.
Not exactly what most would think matched the term goods...
The Israeli police arrested the man, who was in charge of the consulate's garage, questioned him and quickly deported him to France. Now back on French soil, it is still unclear whether or not the driver was arrested by French police.
The question does arise of where those particular goods came from, and for whom in the West Bank they were intended...
In an interview with FRANCE 24, Vincent Floriani, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, said the driver was travelling on his own account, privately, and not on behalf of the embassy. The case, however, could harm the reputation of the French consulate in Jerusalem, which some Israelis already call "the embassy of France in Palestine".
Indeed. That's a pretty valuable cargo for a garage manager to be giving to total strangers, even if there is a pretty girl involved.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  152 kg in gold bars, nearly $2 million in checks and 500 kg of tobacco

Gold Price Per Gram = 48.99 US Dollar ==> 7.5 million $.

Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/08/2013 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  How much for the Tobacco? You can't smoke gold.
Posted by: Shipman || 09/08/2013 10:13 Comments || Top||

#3  That had to be a hefty set of springs on that car. At 2.2 lbs per Kilogram that is about 330 lbs of gold and 1100 lbs of tobacco. Not counting the checks. Just the volume of the tobacco should have had it pushing out the window of the vehicle.
Posted by: tipover || 09/08/2013 19:42 Comments || Top||

#4  500 kg of tobacco is about 1100 pounds US. At a price of about $10/lb, that's about $11,000. Depending on the type of tobacco and the black market price, it could be anywhere up to three or four times that amount.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/08/2013 21:17 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
German Jihadis Kill Syrian Christians
[Jpost] Expert says the number of German Islamists in Syria has increased from 60 to 150 in the last six months.

Radical German Islamists participated in the murders of Syrian Christians in an early August attack on the Turkish-Syrian border, according to a report in the German magazine FOCUS.

The magazine reported last week the involvement of nearly 100 "fanatical" German Mohammedans, including Germans who converted to Islam, in the Syrian civil war.

Two Western intelligence agencies provided the information to FOCUS about the role of German Islamists in the August massacre.

A German police official told the magazine that "the complicity of Germans in the extermination and ethnic cleansing in Syria is a sheer intolerable condition."

Prosecutors are examining whether the German Mohammedans can be charged with participation in a terrorist organization.

The growing presence of German Islamists in Syria prompted the Federal Republic's interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich to issue a warning in April about the "calls for those Europeans who have been trained in battle [in Syria] to return home and pursue jihad."

The Sunni Salafist movement in Germany has provided the main combatants for the conflict against Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
's regime. Dirk Baehr, a German political scientist who has written about European and German jihadi groups, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that six months ago there were 60 German Islamists in Syria and now the number has climbed to 150. Many of the jihadis fighting in Syria are from Belgium, Baehr added.

In a video cited in the FOCUS report, which appears in German and Arabic, German jihadists praise the expulsion of Christians from the Syrian villages. The video shows between nine and 10 jihadis walking by dead people. Baehr said it is difficult to ascertain if the dead individuals are Christians.

One Islamic combatant strikes the head of a dead Syrian soldier in the video.

Former gangster rapper from Berlin, Denis Cuspert (a.k.a Deso Dogg), is believed to be fighting with the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front. German counter-terrorism officials view Cuspert as a powerful recruitment tool. He made a video before his departure to Syria, urging Mohammedans to join the jihad in Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra

#1  Couldn't find any Jews?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/08/2013 0:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Assad, killing terrorists so we don't have to.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 09/08/2013 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Turkish background?
Posted by: Paul D || 09/08/2013 18:54 Comments || Top||


Debka: USAF will also target Syria's air force, ballistic missiles, air defenses
Debka, so....
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wunderbar.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/08/2013 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  syria's air force is only barely functional now

you really don't need to do much more than knock out about 10 air fields and their control towers to degrade it almost nothing



this a
Posted by: lord garth || 09/08/2013 5:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't forget the Pony Barns and Bunny Farms.

The Unicorns and Glitter Factories are being readied for your arrival.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/08/2013 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  I say put JDAM kits on Tom Friedman and Nick Kristof, drop 'em over Damascus and call it a day. If Assad uses chem weapons again, repeat the process with so called "conservative" commentators like Bill Kristol et. al.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 09/08/2013 15:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Must mean the USAF that says its not ready nor has enuff assets to support a Syria strike lest they leave significant or risque' "holes" in US Security somewhere around the world.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/08/2013 20:04 Comments || Top||

#6  See also DAILY STAR LEBANON > US PLANS FOR THREE DAYS [72 Hours] OF STRIKES ON SYRIA: REPORT.

versus

* WAFF > [Defence.pk/forums] SIX(6) BDKS [Russian = "Commie"] LOADED WID ARMS HEADING FOR SYRIA TO ARM ASSAD.

versus

* BHARAT RAKSHAK > US PRESIDENT OBAMA ADMITS POSSIBILITY OF GROUND TROOPS IN SYRIA AFTER ALL, to deter more Chemical attacks from any + all belligerents.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/08/2013 23:29 Comments || Top||


Naval forces line Syrian shores
Mounting pressure for a Western strike on Syria has seen naval forces both friendly and hostile to Damascus build up off the embattled country's coastline. While the Western vessels have in many cases been deployed in the event a military strike against Syria gets a green light, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Russia's naval presence is needed to protect national security interests and is not a threat to any nation. Below is a brief summary of the naval hardware currently amassed off Syria's shores.

USA = The US Navy has five Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers off the coast of Syria, which its top admiral says is "fully ready" for a wide range of possible actions.

The USS Ramage, USS Mahan, USS Gravely and USS Barry are each armed with dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles, which have a range of about 1,000 nautical miles (1,151 miles) and are used for precise targeting. The ships are also equipped with surface-to-air missiles capable of defending the vessels from air attacks. On August 29, the USS Stout was sent to relieve the USS Mahan, but both ships might remain in the area for the time being.

In addition to the destroyers, the United States may well have one of its four guided missile submarines off the coast of Syria. At one time these subs were equipped with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles. Nowadays, they are capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles. It was also announced on Monday that the US had deployed the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport ship, to the Eastern Mediterranean.

On Monday, it was also announced the USS Nimitz super carrier had moved into the Red Sea, though it had not been given orders to be part of the planning for a limited US military strike on Syria. The other ships in the strike group are the cruiser USS Princeton and the destroyers USS William P. Lawrence, USS Stockdale and USS Shoup.

The USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and strike group is also in the northern Arabian Sea.

RUSSIA = Russia, Syria's longtime ally and primary arms supplier, has its only overseas naval base located in the Syrian port of Tartus. However, Russia insists recent efforts to bolster its naval presence in the region are not in response to Western threats of a military strike. Reported movements of many Russian ships in the region are coming from anonymous Russian defense ministry sources and have not been confirmed.

On Friday, the large landing ship, Nikolai Filchenkov, was reportedly dispatched from the Ukrainian port city of Sevastopol for the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, from where it is eventually expected to reach the Syrian coast.

RIA news agency quoted an unnamed senior naval source as saying on Friday that the frigate, Smetlivy, would leave for the Mediterranean on September 12-14, and the corvette Shtil and missile boat Ivanovets would approach Syria at the end of the month. The Russian destroyer Nastoichivy, which is the flagship of the Baltic fleet, is also expected to join the group in the region.

Also reportedly in place in the eastern Mediterranean are the frigate Neustrashimy, as well as the landing ships Alexander Shabalin, the Admiral Nevelsky and the Peresvet. They are expected to be joined by the guided-missile cruiser Moskva. The Moskva, set to arrive in a little over a week's time, will take over operations from a naval unit in the region.

The SSV-201 reconnaissance ship, Priazovye, is also reportedly on its way to join the group in the Eastern Mediterranean. Accompanied by the two landing ships, Minsk and Novocherkassk, the intelligence ship passed through the 'Istanbul Strait' on Thursday, which helps form the boundary between Europe and Asia.

FRANCE = On August 31, French military officials confirmed the frigate Chevalier Paul, which specializes in anti-missile capabilities, and the transport ship, Dixmude, were in the Mediterranean. French officials denied they are in the region to participate in military action against Syria, but were rather taking part in training and operation preparations. France currently has no ship-based missiles, so any offensive action would come from the air in the form of long-range Scalp missiles, similar to those the nation used in Kosovo in 1999 and in Libya in 2011.

ITALY = Two Italian warships set sail for Lebanon on Wednesday in a bid to protect 1,100 Italian soldiers in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. The Italian ANSA news agency reported that a frigate and a torpedo destroyer boat departed from Italy's southeastern coast on Wednesday and would provide additional protection to the soldiers in the event the Syrian conflict further deteriorates.

UK = As of August 29, the Royal Navy's Response Force Task Group was deployed in the Mediterranean as part of long-planned exercise Cougar 13. The force includes helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious, type-23 frigates HMS Westminster and HMS Montrose, amphibious warship HMS Bulwark and six Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships. The Trafalgar-class nuclear submarine HMS Tireless was also believed to be in the area at the time, after it was detected in Gibraltar. In light of the shocking parliamentary defeat, Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK would only be able to offer the US "diplomatic support."
Posted by: Pappy || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  USS Barry? This naming of ships before the guy dies is getting ridiculous
Posted by: Frank G || 09/08/2013 8:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Recipe for disaster.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/08/2013 11:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Italians are there so the US Navy better lock the doors and windows at night.
Posted by: Airandee || 09/08/2013 12:12 Comments || Top||


Shelling near Syrian capital kills 16
[Al Ahram] Syrian anti-regime activists say government shelling has killed 16 people, mostly rebels, near Damascus.
The attack near the Syrian capital comes as Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry
Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State...
lobbies European allies to back Washington's proposed military action against the Syrian regime.

The Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's troops fired mortars and artillery early Saturday at opposition fighters' positions near Moldokhiya, an agricultural area south of Damascus, killing 14 rebels. Two civilians also died in the shelling, The Observatory said.

The groups also reported heavy fighting between rebels and Assad troops around the Christian village of Maaloula. The attack, which started Monday, was reportedly spearheaded by al-Qaeda-linked fighters and has added to fears of Syrian religious minorities over the role of Islamic hard boyz in the rebel ranks.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Islamist radical rebels say they killed Syria's Hama governor
[Al Ahram] The Islamist bully boy group the Nusra Front has grabbed credit for the liquidation of the governor of Syria's Hama province last month, according to the U.S.-based SITE intelligence monitoring group.

The Nusra Front, a Sunni Musselmen group linked to al Qaeda, has emerged as one of the most effective organizations fighting to topple Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Scourge of Qusayr...

Syrian state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
last month reported that "terrorists" had assassinated Dr. Anas Abdul Razak, the governor of Hama, with a boom-mobile.

No one immediately grabbed credit for the attack, but the finger was pointed at Nusra which is active in the area.

The bully boy group, which in April pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, said it monitored Abdul Razak's movements for a month before it struck, SITE reported.

The group - which is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States - said it set a boom-mobile by the side of the road to detonate when Abdul Razak's convoy passed on August 25, according to an English translation provided by SITE.

"After, one of the heads of the criminal regime, the governor Anas (Abdul Razak) Na'em, would fall along with several of his colleagues, and all praise and gratitude are due to Allah," it added.

It said Abdul Razak had participated in what it said was Assad's crimes against Sunni Musselmens in Syria but gave no details.

Nusra leader Abu Mohammad al-Golani last month said it would target communities of Assad's Alawite minority with rockets in Dire Revenge™ for an alleged chemical attack near Damascus.

The United States is pushing for a mandate from Congress to launch military strikes against Assad's forces over the attack. Damascus had denied responsibility for the attack.

SITE also said in a separate email that more than eight anti-Assad bully boy groups, including the al-Ghoutah Martyrs Battalion, Mustafa Habib Brigades and 'Issa bin Maryam Battalion said they oppose Western military intervention in Syria calling such a move a "new aggression" against Musselmens.
Posted by: Fred || 09/08/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra



Who's in the News
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3al-Nusra
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2al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula
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Sun 2013-09-08
  Nigerian army says kills 50 Boko Haram Islamists
Sat 2013-09-07
  Drone strike killed senior Haqqani network commander
Fri 2013-09-06
  Reports: Egypt to dissolve Brotherhood as NGO
Thu 2013-09-05
  Egypt's Minister Mohammed Ibrahim survives bomb attack
Wed 2013-09-04
  Spain Arrests Suspected Jihadist Leader
Tue 2013-09-03
  Syria asks UN to 'prevent any aggression'
Mon 2013-09-02
  Taliban target U.S. army base in Nangarhar, attack ongoing
Sun 2013-09-01
  Leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Badie suffers heart attack in jail
Sat 2013-08-31
  Breaking: Obama hands the ball off to Congress
Fri 2013-08-30
  Egypt Police Arrest Senior Islamist Beltagi
Thu 2013-08-29
  Report: 20 Injured In Another Chemical Attack In Syria
Wed 2013-08-28
  DEATH SENTENCE FOR Maj. NIDAL HASAN
Tue 2013-08-27
  Belmokhtar, MUJAO launch new jihadist group
Mon 2013-08-26
  Security forces claim seizure of 500 kgs explosives in Khyber
Sun 2013-08-25
  Hungry Boko Haram hard boyz turn cannibal

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