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Nasrallah warns U.S. to stop interfering in Lebanon
Today's Headlines
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China-Japan-Koreas
US Spy Plane Detects Kr85 gas over NORK
From East-Asia-Intel.com, Subscription req'd.
The United States has picked up signs of a radioactive gas emitted during the extraction of plutonium from spent fuel rods in atmospheric samples collected near North Korean airspace, a Japanese newspaper reported on March 3.
Sniffing is the time-honored way of detecting tests and radioactivity, and analyzing what happened on the ground. The Cold War with the Russians honed our skills.
Traces of Krypton 85 gas, a byproduct of reprocessed nuclear fuel rods, were found in December, the Asahi Shimbun reported, citing sources in Washington. Krypton 85 gas, an isotope that does not exist naturally, is emitted into the atmosphere when spent fuel rods are cut and plutonium extracted.
I wonder if the NORKS have a safe way of processing and storing the nasty radioactive and toxic wastes from plutonium extraction. Heh.
The United States has been monitoring North Korea's nuclear activities by extracting air samples using a WC-135W reconnaissance plane flying over the Korean peninsula.

The United States also uses satellites to monitor the graphite nuclear reactor at the North's main nuclear complex in Yongbyon. Judging by the temperatures of structures at the facility and the steam emitted by its boilers U.S. officials believe that activity at the Yongbyon facility has been on hold since Sept. 2003, two months after Pyongyang's announcement that it completed reprocessing, Asahi quoted the sources as saying.

The radioactive gas was detected in July 2003 when the North Koreans declared they had completed reprocessing, but had not been detected since.

The re-emergence of the Krypton gas after a year and a half raised concerns in Washington that North Korea may have resumed operations at its nuclear facility.

"Analysis is still underway to determine the time and place of emission," the report stated. If North Korea were to reprocess all 8,000 of its spent fuel rods, it could extract enough weapons-grade plutonium for six to eight nuclear warheads.
That will reassure the Japanese. Better rein in your little dog, Chicoms.
The Asahi Shimbun also reported that the United States has transferred test results to Japan "proving" that North Korea exported processed uranium to Libya.
For peaceful™ uses, of course.
Quoting Japanese government officials, the newspaper said the U.S. National Security Council's Asia director, Michael Green, told Japanese Cabinet secretary Hosoda Hiroyuki that North Korea exported uranium to Libya in a "nuclear black market" set up by the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, Abdul Qadeer Khan.

The United States has reportedly designated the overseas transfer of nuclear materials by North Korea as a "red line" that could warrant the use of force.

The current crisis emerged in 2002 when North Korea admitted to having a clandestine uranium-based arms program in addition to its known plutonium-based one, in violation of a 1994 nuclear freeze accord. Thus ending our oil handout and negating all of the hard diplomatic work done by Jimmuh and Madeline.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/09/2005 3:10:23 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  WHERE'S THE 0 SUPRISE METER???
Posted by: BigEd || 03/09/2005 15:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Alaska! Give Kimmie a break : I found this piece of info, which also might give creedence to his paranoia. (NOT)

"Krypton-85 ( 85Kr) is a radioactive noble gas produced naturally mainly by the interaction of cosmic radiation with the most abundant isotope (84Kr, 56,9%)."

http://ssf.rug.ac.be/radenp/Krypton/Krypton.html

The cosmic rays from the sun are out even to give Kimmie a bum rap! Kr85 has a 1/2 life of about 10 years...
Posted by: BigEd || 03/09/2005 15:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Alaska Paul,
"I wonder if the NORKS have a safe way of processing and storing the nasty radioactive and toxic wastes from plutonium extraction. Heh."

Alaska! Give Kimmie a Flush.
Posted by: Groluck Ulutle8634 || 03/09/2005 16:48 Comments || Top||

#4  It's a key ingredient in Juche! It's even better than Soylent Green!
Posted by: Dishman || 03/09/2005 16:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Traces of Krypton 85 gas, a byproduct of reprocessed nuclear fuel rods, were found in December,

Guess this isn't a job for Superman...
Posted by: Raj || 03/09/2005 17:20 Comments || Top||

#6  BigEd, I fear that you do not understand what you posted. Cosmic radiation just produces background levels of Kr-85. The air sampling results would have been adjusted for that. Kimmie is NOT getting a bum rap.
Posted by: Tom || 03/09/2005 19:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Tom - I sorry, but you don't understand what I posted, I was being sarcastic... I understand how cosmic rays affect other thinks as well like H3, C14 in CO2, etc, etc

Please see any of my postings about Kimmy. He is one of my favorite targets. He is such a good one...
Posted by: BigEd || 03/09/2005 19:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Kimmie is NOT getting a bum rap

a bombing run, maybe, bum rap, no
Posted by: Frank G || 03/09/2005 19:29 Comments || Top||

#9  The cosmic rays ...are out even to give Kimmie a bum rap!

This is sarcasm

And I agree with Frank G, He's probably getting a bombing run
Posted by: BigEd || 03/09/2005 19:35 Comments || Top||

#10  When the Bombing run is going to happen is another matter. I would like to know, that way I can hand out "NK nuked themselves, honest!" T-shirts.
Posted by: Charles || 03/09/2005 20:43 Comments || Top||

#11  My electrical engineer used to fly in sniffer aircraft off of northern USSR. They used to sample air and nuclear fallout from above ground tests. The fallout used to hang right at the tropopause. They would find enough radioactive daughters to pretty much know how the test went, what kind of weapon was tested, etc etc. Many of his unit died of cancer, but he is still going.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/09/2005 22:36 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Al-Qaeda suspects 'in East Timor'
FOUR alleged al-Qaeda members may have entered East Timor in recent weeks from neighbouring Indonesia, national news agency Lusa reported today. Citing diplomatic sources in the former Portuguese territory, Lusa said the four men - two South Africans, a Kuwaiti and a Turk - were first identified in a classified report by Indonesian authorities in January as being in primarily Muslim Indonesia. They hoped to cross the border into mostly Roman Catholic East Timor, the agency said.
The report that four al-Qaeda members may have made it into East Timor comes two months after two unidentified Egyptian men were detained in Indonesia as they attempted to cross the border into East Timor. At the time of their detention the two men, who had escaped a prison in Indonesia where they were being held on immigration charges, said their goal was to enter Australia via East Timor, the agency said. The two men are being held by Indonesian intelligence services who have authorised Australian intelligence services to question the duo, a diplomatic source in Dili, the capital of East Timor, told Lusa.
The four suspected al-Qaeda members were identified as: Feroz Abu Bakar Ganchi and Zubair Ismail of South Africa; Mushin Fadhi, also known as Abu Samia, of Kuwait; and Abu Ubaydah al Turki, also known as Ubaida Ubeyde, of Turkey.

In September 2002 East Timor's President Xanana Gusmao publicly rejected reports that people connected to al-Qaeda, which has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, were in East Timor, saying they were rumours intended to scare people.
This article starring:
ABU SAMIAal-Qaeda
ABU UBAIDAH AL TURKIal-Qaeda
FEROZ ABU BAKAR GANCHIal-Qaeda
MUSHIN FADHIal-Qaeda
President Xanana Gusmao
UBAIDA UBEYDEal-Qaeda
ZUBAIR ISMAILal-Qaeda
Posted by: Steve || 03/09/2005 4:25:36 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Filippinos in pursuit of 80 Abu Sayyaf
The Philippine military Wednesday launched pursuit operation for some 80 suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf group and the rebel group of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the southern province.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual said that the government troops are pursuing the rebels, allegedly led by MNLF commander Ahadon Adak, following a gunbattle in Indanan, Sulu, on Tuesday leaving two soldiers and an undetermined number of rebels wounded.

The encounter was the first in the province after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo rejected calls for a cease-fire in Sulu on Friday.

President Arroyo Tuesday said that her government patiently will wage peace with rebels across the negotiating table but it will deal with terror with iron hands.

"We're dealing with terror with iron hands even as we wage peace with rebels across the negotiating table," Arroyo said at aninternational conference held in Davao.

At the closing session of the World Bank-organized Philippine Development Forum, the president said the government is winning peace in the southern islands of Mindanao, based on strengthening Muslim autonomy and respect for ancestral domains.

President Arroyo also noted that military operations against the rebels were necessary to ensure order in the province.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/09/2005 3:16:05 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good hunting!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/09/2005 19:34 Comments || Top||

#2  hope they catch and kill them before Gloria has another ceasefire in mind
Posted by: Frank G || 03/09/2005 20:10 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian withdrawal to include intelligence services
Syrian intelligence will pull out of Lebanon along with Syrian troops, according to outgoing Deputy Premier, Issam Fares, Tuesday. Speaking during an interview on CNN, Fares said Syrian intelligence agents would not remain in the country after the troops had left. He said: "They all go together. The presence of the security people is to safeguard the presence of their troops. It was discussed that they will leave together."

The discussion in question was Monday's meeting of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council (LSHC) in Damascus. Faced with persistent international pressure and vocal Lebanese opposition, Syria has pledged to redeploy its troops to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley by March 31, then to the Syrian border later. Some 14,000 Syrian soldiers are currently deployed in Lebanon. The LSHC did not draw up a time for full Syrian troop withdrawal. Neither did it say whether Syrian intelligence would also leave, a key demand of the opposition.
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2005 00:00:00 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  apparently the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council disagrees with the outgoing Deputy Premier, Issam Fares. ???
Posted by: 2b || 03/09/2005 8:44 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Tales from the Crossfire Gazette
Ayub alias Tiger was killed in crossfire
RAJBARI Mar 8: Ayub Alias Tiger, a top leader of an outlawed party, was killed in crossfire between his accomplices and police at the village Charparamath of Pangsha upazila of Rajbari district early hours of today, reports BSS.
Your night shift at work
Police said Ayub,50, son of Ahmed Ali Biswas, second in command of Bodi Bahini of the outlawed Purbo Banglar Communist Party(PBCP) was accused in 15 cases including "Babul" murder case.
Police said acting on information, a police team led by OC Fazlul Haque of Pangsh thana rushed to the spot. The miscreants sensing the presence of police, opened fire on them.
"I sense a disturbance in the Force....it's the cops! Get em!"
Police replied the fire triggering a gunbattle during which Ayub was killed.
It's always the leaders who take the bullet, it's as if it was planned that way.
Three members of police also received bullet injuries. Police recovered his body and sent it to Rajbari Sadar hospital for autopsy.
"He's dead, Jim"
A case was filed with Pangsha police in this connection.

Kobra arrest terror Jibonda in Chuadanga
CHUADANGA, Mar 8:—Elite force Kobra arrested one of the top terrors and an activist of the outlawed Banglar Communist Party, Rabiul alias Jibonda, 28, son of Abul Hossain of village Bhalaipur from Alukdia village of Sadar upazila on Sunday. Official sources said police has been searching for Rabiul for a long time for his involvement with five murders and a number of extortion cases. The cases were filed with Sadar, Damurhuda and Alamdanga Thana. He was also convicted for 10 years in a motorcycle robbery case. According to the sources, acting on secret information, a team of the Kobra raided the house of one Montu at Alukdia village and arrested him. The police handed over him to Alamdanga Thana on Monday for interrogation.

JMJ threatens to kill Sardar Amjad
Jagrata Muslim Janata (JMJ) of Bangla Bhai has sent a letter giving death threat to Sardar Amjad Hossain, a former minister and renowned political leader who was elected to Parliament five times from his constituency in Rajshahi-3 (Bagmara-Mohanpur). The letter signed by Mohammad Mutalib Hossain, a local commander of JMJ, described Sardar Amjad as a 'murtad' and an enemy of Islam. Besides the letter called him an agent of India working against the interest of Bangladesh. The letter threatened him with dire consequence and asked him to remain in a state of readiness to be killed.
"My name is Mohammad Mutalib Hossain. You are an enemy of Islam, prepare to die."
JMJ has decided to kill him under all circumstances. RAB, Chitta and Cobra will not be able to protect him, the letter said.
They might, if you get caught in a "crossfire" first.
Sardar Amjad appealed to national and international communities to protect him and members of his family from the hands of JMJ.
Posted by: Steve || 03/09/2005 9:41:28 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not one incident in Chittagong. Perhaps Rab is in Las Vegas.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 03/09/2005 10:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Nope just taking tea at the Chittgong Club Mrs Davis.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 03/09/2005 14:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Let's make this easier for everybody, shall we?

alias __ was killed in crossfire
_: alias , a top leader of _, was killed in crossfire between his accomplices and police at the village __ of of __ district early hours of today, reports BSS.
Police said , of the outlawed __ was accused in __ cases.
Police said acting on information, a police team led by _rushed to . The miscreants sensing the presence of police, opened fire on them.
Police replied the fire triggering a gunbattle during which _ was killed. members of police also received bullet injuries. Police recovered his body and sent it to hospital for autopsy.
A case was filed with _ police in this connection.
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/09/2005 14:57 Comments || Top||

#4  _ confessed and admitted to pocessing a cache of arms.
__ attempted to escape from the police van.
His cohorts escaped, leaving behind __ shutter gun(s) and bullets.
Posted by: Steve || 03/09/2005 16:07 Comments || Top||

#5  ?  cadre
?  cohorts
?  accomplices
?  associates
?  confederates
?  contingent
?  goombahs
?  cronies


Posted by: Seafarious || 03/09/2005 16:20 Comments || Top||

#6  Lol all! But extra credit for Tu.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/09/2005 17:06 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Police find 19 dead in west Iraq
EFL: The bodies of 19 people who were shot dead have been found near the western Iraqi town of Qaim, police say. The dead, discovered on Tuesday night, were all wearing civilian clothes, hospital officials said. They had been shot at close range in head or chest, and may have been dead for as long as a week, reports said. One corpse was reported to have been carrying a police identity card.
The incident came just a day after police reported the discovery of 15 decapitated bodies on a disused army base south of Baghdad, some of them women and children. Officials said the culprits had been arrested and that they were criminals rather than insurgents.
Posted by: Steve || 03/09/2005 8:51:27 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh! The weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
And since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!
Posted by: Groluck Ulutle8634 || 03/09/2005 9:33 Comments || Top||

#2  they were criminals rather than insurgents.

Will someone please explain the distinction?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 03/09/2005 9:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Sure - criminals have a reason for existence: to steal, and thereby help drive the economy. Insurgents are simply for killing, having no real useful purpose to society at large.
Posted by: mojo || 03/09/2005 11:08 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan busts 25 Baluch hard boyz
Pakistan said Tuesday it has arrested 25 militants for attacking the country's gas pipelines and other key installations. Militants have become increasingly active in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan's former Taliban heartland of Kandahar. But political observers say the arrested militants are not linked with the Taliban or al-Qaida terrorist outfits.They are ethnic Baloch nationalists demanding more autonomy for their province and a larger share in its natural resources. The province's police chief, Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob, told reporters in Quetta the suspects received funds for tribal chiefs opposed to the central government in Islamabad.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/09/2005 3:07:54 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No hard boyz, Dan, just good Baloch mercs. Kinda like the Regulators back in the Lincoln County War, I'd wager, only taking money for their trouble instead of doing out of loyalty for their slain lawyer friend. Billy the Baloch will soon make a rep for himself... carving notches on his AK.

I'd also wager that last sentence should be:
"from tribal chiefs opposed to the central government in Islamabad."
Posted by: .com || 03/09/2005 10:12 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Large Explosion Rocks Central Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - A large explosion hit central Baghdad on Wednesday, shaking buildings and covering the area in a large plume of black smoke.

Volleys of automatic weapons fire could be heard before and after the blast, which came at dawn. A large cloud of black smoke rose a few blocks from Firdous Square, the roundabout in central Baghdad where Iraqis toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein on April 9, 2003. It was not known what had caused the blast or what triggered the gunfire
Posted by: Steve White || 03/09/2005 12:14:39 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Have you ever noticed that e-v-e-r-y explosion "rocks?" Three-and-a-half years of reading news headlines is causing me to become weary of that word. It must be a macro key or an auto find and replace function.
Posted by: Seafarious || 03/09/2005 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Sucker actually did "rock" my world. Popped the window of my trailer open. Also was timed such that it went off 3 seconds after my alarm, quickening my usual slow start. A few rockets came in a few days ago, the first stuff in a while. The post-election lull isn't completely over, but it's getting "noisier".
Posted by: Verlaine in Iraq || 03/09/2005 5:35 Comments || Top||

#3  ***bitter sarcasm alert***
So, is the ransom money paid for Ms. Sgrena being put to good use, or what?
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 03/09/2005 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  "Rocks" - means the ice in the reporters drink moved while the reporter sat in the Baghdad Hilton's lounge.
Posted by: Thrainter Cliling3962 || 03/09/2005 11:55 Comments || Top||

#5 
Baghdad has not been "Rocked" by anything...
Posted by: BigEd || 03/09/2005 16:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Stay safe, Verlaine.
Posted by: Seafarious || 03/09/2005 17:24 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Brit worker killed in Kabul
KABUL - Foreign aid and reconstruction workers in Kabul are likely to tighten security after Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the killing of a Briton, which shattered months of fragile calm in the Afghan capital, officials said. Steven MacQueen, 41, an advisor to the war-torn country's Ministry of Rural Development and Rehabilitation, was shot dead in a drive-by shooting late Monday as he drove in front of a UN guesthouse in the center of Kabul.

MacQueen was the first foreign national killed so far this year, and it did not appear to have been a robbery, security officials said.

Mullah Obaidullah, a deputy to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, claimed responsibility for the attack late Tuesday and warned the group would launch further attacks on foreign and government forces in Afghanistan. "Our men carried out that attack last (Monday) night, killed the British person and managed to escape the site," he said in a statement read to AFP by Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi.

Obaidullah also vowed to carry out more attacks on foreign and Afghan forces after the end of the harsh winter to prove that the Taliban were still active. "Our message is that as the weather gets warm, we will relaunch our operations and attacks once again," he said.
US troops will relaunch their operations once again to prove that the Pakistanis Taliban are dying in large numbers.
The latest killing comes a few weeks after authorities lifted curfews imposed late last year following a series of incidents. With the attackers at large, foreign aid agencies and reconstruction firms said they were likely to restrict the movements of their staff in coming days with fears of more attacks in the offing.

MacQueen was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser owned by the Afghan ministry and was fired on by attackers driving a similar type of vehicle—both of which resemble those used by the United Nations and other aid agencies. "We are following the investigation closely and once we know what happened and why the man was killed, then we will see whether we need to run away again our security measures need to be reviewed," UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva told AFP.
This article starring:
ABDUL LATIF HAKIMITaliban
MULLAH OBAIDULLAHTaliban
Steven MacQueen
Taliban
Posted by: Steve White || 03/09/2005 12:08:58 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


The Jihad Lives On — Part 2
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)
Acting under the establishment dictum, one of the most dangerous jehadi organizations operating from Pakistan and active in J&K, the JeM, restyled itself as the Khudamul Islam, claiming it is devoted to preaching Islam and social work. The Jaish chief, Maulana Masood Azhar, who had to be released by the Indian Government in December 1999 after an Indian airplane was hijacked, is one of India's 20 most-wanted men. However, Maulana Masood Azhar had to face the wrath of the Pakistani intelligence establishment after his group was found involved in the December 2003 suicide attacks against General Musharraf in Rawalpindi. Investigations into these attacks later cleared Masood Azhar's name after it transpired that one of the two suicide bombers - Mohammad Jameel - actually belonged to the Jaish's dissident group - Jamaatul Furqaan, led by Maulana Abdul Jabbar alias Maulana Umer Farooq. Much before the suicide attacks, Masood had informed the ISI high-ups in writing that Jabbar and 11 of his associates had revolted against him and he was no more responsible for their actions.

Despite its renaming, the US State Department designated the Jaish a foreign terrorist organization in December 2001, compelling Musharraf to ban the group in January 2002. Masood Azhar got his outfit registered under the new name of Khudamul Islam within no time. The Jaish chief was kept under house arrest for a few months after the 9/11 terror attacks, but was subsequently set free. Though Masood Azhar, while conceding to the ISI's pressure, had directed his henchmen not to target the American interests in Pakistan, there are strong fears in the Pakistani intelligence circles that the dissident members of the Jaish, who are unknown and have gone underground, constitute the real threat.

The murmurs of dissent in the outfit first surfaced when Masood Azhar failed to react to General Musharraf's policy change on Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks. Several prominent Jaish members favoured retaliatory attacks against US interests in Pakistan to pressurize the military ruler against supporting the Bush administration. But acting under the agencies' command, Masood refused to acquiesce. As things stand, there are fears that ongoing disputes over possession of the various Jaish offices, mosques and other material assets could lead to more serious clashes between the two banned factions.
The main cause behind the fighting is the embezzlement of fundsby Azhar and his family members, his lucrative profession is the main reason he has been so loyal to the establishment.

Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM)
Led by Rawalpindi-based Yousaf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, HM is the outfit to watch in the coming months. Of all the militant groups operating in J&K, the HM is the largest, with a 20,000-strong cadre base drawn from both indigenous and foreign sources. The Hizb happens to be one of the most lethal jehadi groups, and controls about 60 per cent of militants operating in J&K. With India and Pakistan finally agreeing to allow travel across the Line of Control (LoC) by bus between Srinagar-Muzaffarabad, the Pakistani establishment has asked HM Chief Salahuddin to halt, for the time being, all militant operations against the Indian security forces in J&K. However, the United Jehad Council (UJC), an alliance of 13 Kashmiri jehadi organizations led by Salahuddin, has been restructured and three Pakistan-based jehadi groups, the LeT, JeM and Al-Badar Mujahideen have been brought into the UJC. This new adjustment is called Muwakhaat ('agreement on the basis of brotherhood') that is aimed at putting an end to the internal differences among the jehadi groups waging the Kashmir jehad.
There have been numerous clashes between the Pakistani Jihadis and the ethnic Kashmiri Jihadis, as well as fighting between the Salafis and the others

According to the intelligence sources, reorganizing the command and control structure of the HM-led UJC was part of a strategy change to enable Pakistani intelligence to have tighter control over its running. With the restructuring of the UJC, they said, no component member of the UJC would be allowed to launch an attack in J&K, unless approved by the Council. That is why most of the smaller groups, which had been irritants for the ISI, have been merged to reduce the number of their representation in the Jehad Council from thirteen to five. Al-Barq, Tehreek-e-Jehad, Islamic Front, Brigade 313 and the Kashmiri component of HuM have been merged to form the Kashmir Freedom Force, which would be led by Farooq Qureshi of Al Barq. The Muslim Janbaz Force, Al Jehad Force, Al Fateh Force, Hizbullah and Jamiatul Mujahideen (JuM) have also been merged to form the Kashmir Resistance Force, which would be led by Ghulam Rasool Shah. Similarly, many of the militant training camps have been moved from Azad Kashmir to Pakistan in Punjab and the Frontier provinces, with strict restrictions on the movement of militants. The training camps have reportedly been relocated at Taxila, Haripur, Boi, Garhi Habibullah and Tarbela Gazi.
The reorganisation actually took place a while ago

Harkatul Mujahideen (HuM)
Led by Maulana Fazalur Rehman Khalil till recently, the HuM has regrouped and is working in a low-key manner under the name of the Jamiatul Ansar, but insisting that it has a non-militant agenda. As the Government's anti-extremism drive brought into sharp focus Maulana Khalil's alleged al-Qaeda links, he had to resign from the top slot of the organization in January 2005, as advised by his spy masters. Khalil, who was released in December 2004 after an eight-month detention in a seven by seven foot cell, submitted his resignation at a January 2005 meeting of the 'executive committee' of the HuM and asked the committee members to elect Maulana Badar Munir from Karachi as the new chief. Intelligence sources, however, insist that Khalil remains in the good books of the establishment and would continue calling the shots from behind the scene, despite his resignation as the Harkat chief, which was nothing more than an eye wash.

HuM's association with Osama bin Laden was established on August 20, 1998, when US planes bombed the al-Qaeda training camps near Khost and Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan in retaliation to US Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The US bombs destroyed two HuM training camps and killed 21 of its activists. As of today, the US intelligence agencies believe the Harkat still retains links, like most other jehadi groups, with the Taliban remnants and al-Qaeda operatives hiding on the Pak-Afghan border.

Despite enthusiastic applause from the West for anti-militancy efforts of Pakistan's 'visionary' military ruler, it is evident that much remains to be done on the ground before these efforts will actually bear fruit. With changing scenarios all over the world, there has been a change of minds, yet what is required is a change of hearts.
This article starring:
FARUQ QURESHIAl Barq
FARUQ QURESHIKashmir Freedom Force
GHULAM RASUL SHAHKashmir Resistance Force
KHUDAMUL ISLAMJaish-e-Mohammad
MAULANA ABDUL JABARJamaatul Furqaan
MAULANA BADAR MUNIRJamiatul Ansar
MAULANA FAZALUR REHMAN KHALILHarkatul Mujahideen
MAULANA FAZALUR REHMAN KHALILJamiatul Ansar
MAULANA MASUD AZHARJaish-e-Mohammad
MAULANA UMER FARUQJamaatul Furqaan
MOHAMAD JAMILJamaatul Furqaan
SYED SALAHUDINHizb-ul-Mujahideen
YUSAF SHAHHizb-ul-Mujahideen
Al-Badar Mujahideen
Al-Barq
Al Fateh Force
Al Jehad Force
Brigade 313
Harkatul Mujahideen
Hizb-ul-Mujahideen
Islamic Front
Jaish-e-Mohammad
Jamaatul Furqaan
Jamiatul Ansar
Jamiatul Mujahideen
Kashmir Freedom Force
Kashmir Resistance Force
Muslim Janbaz Force
Tehreek-e-Jehad
United Jehad Council
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 03/09/2005 12:07:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Three Taliban officials handed over to US
Three senior Taliban officials, arrested in Pakistan, have been handed over to the US military at the Bagram base, the Pajhwok Afghan News agency quoted an Afghan intelligence source as saying on Monday. The officials in the US custody were Maulvi Mohammad Taha, former Nangarhar Province chief of police; Mulla Abdul Razzaq, Taliban's top military commander, and Syed Akbar Agha, leader of a Taliban splinter faction, Jaish-e-Muslimeen. The Kabul-based Afghan news agency said Syed Akbar Agha was suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of three United Nations elections workers in Kabul in October last year.
The three in that picture don't look so senior to me ...

This article starring:
MAULVI MOHAMAD TAHATaliban
MULLA ABDUL RAZZAQTaliban
SYED AKBAR AGHAJaish-e-Muslimeen
SYED AKBAR AGHATaliban
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now lets have them "dissappear" at GITMO while we ask {knuckles crack} questions, before some smelly federal judge gets meddlesome.
Posted by: BigEd || 03/09/2005 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  "Ghost jet, you have clearance for takeoff..."
Posted by: Seafarious || 03/09/2005 1:07 Comments || Top||

#3  They look just a leetle too fond of their weapons, in that picture.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2005 6:32 Comments || Top||

#4  tw - Think they've got it all mixed up?

This is my rifle,
this is my gun,
this one's for killing,
this one's for fun...
Posted by: .com || 03/09/2005 9:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Thankfully beyond my ken, .com. Philosophically I'm of the "nuke 'em 'till there's no dust left" school, which I try really hard to keep reined in -- most of the time it isn't helpful, which is why we are all grateful I'm not in charge of anything important on the larger scale of things. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2005 10:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Besides, according to Jarhead, his marines think both are for fun.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2005 10:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Trailing wife. I am still upset that the Neutron one was taken out of service. Oil just crys for it.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/09/2005 17:42 Comments || Top||

#8  They said it was, 3dc. I always assumed the research continued -- its the kind of thing scientists just do, unless someone stands over them at all times with a very large stick... or an even more interesting project. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/09/2005 19:38 Comments || Top||


Pearl murder suspect not cooperating with police
Try the vise grips...
... the number seven vise grips ...
A court on Monday gave police three more days to question a militant suspected of video recording the beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl because he was not cooperating with interrogators, officials said. Muhammad Sohail, who was caught last week in Karachi, is also suspected of involvement in two failed assassination attempts in 2003 against President Pervez Musharraf. He also had a role in a 2002 bombing in Karachi that killed 11 French engineers and a court sentenced him to death a year later for his role in that violence, Reuters reported. Police want to question Sohail about the killing of Pearl in January 2002 and the assassination attempts on President Musharraf, but he has refused to answer questions, said Muhammad Younas, a Karachi police investigator.
"I ain't sayin' nuttin', coppers!... Owwww!"
Police brought Sohail to the courtroom in the back of a van with a hood over his head. The hood was removed for the hearing but he did not speak while in court. Last week, a Karachi court gave police five days to question Sohail and on Monday his interrogation was extended by three more days, Younas said. "He is a hardened suspect. He did not cooperate during interrogation," he said.
This article starring:
Daniel Pearl
MUHAMAD SOHAILal-Qaeda
Muhammad Younas, a Karachi police investigator
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "He is a hardened suspect. He did not cooperate during interrogation,"

...despite all the dental work provided to him for free.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 03/09/2005 4:20 Comments || Top||

#2  This might be kind of extreme, but maybe they could get a girl to point as his pee-pee and laugh? Or perhaps put panties on his head.

No, you're right: that's too brutal.
Posted by: Jackal || 03/09/2005 8:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Naah-Fred has the right idea.

Posted by: BigEd || 03/09/2005 17:00 Comments || Top||


Kashmir Korpse Kount
Indian army soldiers raided a militants' hideout in Jammu and Kashmir, sparking a gun-battle that left at least six militants dead, officials said on Monday. After receiving a tip, the soldiers raided the militants' hideout near Dooraswan village on Monday, triggering the gunfight, said Col RK Sen, an army spokesman in Srinagar. He alleged that the militants belonged to Lashkar-e-Tayyaba group.
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India police kill 10 Maoists, rebels attack station
Indian police shot dead 10 Maoist guerrillas in southern Andhra Pradesh state on Monday while rebels destroyed a railway station in a separate overnight attack, officials said. The new violence comes after peace talks between the state government and the rebels collapsed in January. The Maoists were killed in the forests of Nizamabad district, 190 km south of the state capital, Hyderabad, one of India's gleaming IT hubs. "The violence by Naxals (Maoists) has increased after peace talks have broken down," Superintendent of Police Madhusudhan Reddy told Reuters by phone, adding police had suffered no casualties in the firefight which lasted for over an hour. Separately, Maoists killed a policeman in the east of the state. More than 6,000 people have died in the 30-year-old Maoist insurgency in Andhra Pradesh, a largely farming state where hundreds of farmers have committed suicide since 2003 under the burden of debt.
Posted by: Fred || 03/09/2005 00:00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Fred
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3dc
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2005-03-09
  Nasrallah warns U.S. to stop interfering in Lebanon
Tue 2005-03-08
  Toe tag for Aslan
Mon 2005-03-07
  Operations stepped up in Samarra to find Zarqawi
Sun 2005-03-06
  Hizbollah Throws Weight Behind Syria in Lebanon
Sat 2005-03-05
  Syria loyalists shoot up Beirut Christian sector
Fri 2005-03-04
  Pro-Syria Groups in Lebanon Press for Unity Govt
Thu 2005-03-03
  Lebanon Opposition Demands Total Syrian Withdrawal
Wed 2005-03-02
  France moving commando support ship to Med
Tue 2005-03-01
  Protesters Back on Beirut Streets; U.S. Offers Support
Mon 2005-02-28
  Lebanese Government Resigns
Sun 2005-02-27
  Sabawi Ibrahim Hasan busted!
Sat 2005-02-26
  Rice demands Palestinians find those behind attack
Fri 2005-02-25
  Tel Aviv Blast Reportedly Kills 4
Thu 2005-02-24
  Bangla cracks down on Islamists
Wed 2005-02-23
  500 illegal Iranian pilgrims arrested in Basra

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