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Qaeda big Predizapped in NWFP
Today's Headlines
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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
At least 50 dead in Uzbek uprising aftermath
More than 50 people have been killed in fighting in Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city, a doctor said as government troops continued to move on Saturday against gunmen who freed prisoners including 23 men on trial for Islamic extremism.

Clashes resumed on Saturday morning in the eastern city of Andijan after a lull overnight, with Uzbek army troops firing shells from armoured vehicles and using automatic weapons against the gunmen.

"They are now dispersed and we are hunting them down," said an Uzbek soldier.

The violence began late on Thursday after a military garrison was raided for its weapons, with the armed men, believed to number at least 60 to 100, then raiding the jail, freeing more 2 000 prisoners, and taking over government buildings.

The unrest prompted a violent crackdown by hardline President Islam Karimov in which government troops opened fire on Friday on a crowd of 5 000 demonstrating against his government.

Soldiers then fanned throughout the city and by late Friday the counter-offensive appeared to have brought the city back under control, with Russia's Interfax news agency, quoting local police, reporting that the administration building on the main square had been recaptured after particularly intense fighting.

"There are at least 50 dead," a doctor at Andijan's central hospital told AFP.

He said 96 people were being treated for wounds at the hospital including gunmen and soldiers, while 15 were being treated at another hospital.

The Uzbek government has only said that nine people had died and 34 were hurt in gun battles following the jail raid.

Between 20 and 30 bodies of men could be seen on Saturday in a street near the centre of Andijan following clashes between gunmen and security forces, an AFP correspondent said.

It was one of the most serious crises to shake Uzbekistan, which is run by an authoritarian government and hosts a major United States air base used for operations in neighbouring Afghanistan, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Andijan, which has a population of 300 000, is near the border of Kyrgyzstan in the densely populated and impoverished Ferghana valley, where Islamist sentiment is traditionally strong.

The violence followed days of protests in the city against the trial of the 23 men, who were charged with forming a cell of the outlawed Islamic group Akromiya.

The group is an off-shoot of the better known Hizb ut-Tahrir, which seeks to create an Islamic state out of the Central Asian former Soviet republics.

Supporters said the charges against the men, mostly businessmen, had been trumped up by Karimov's government, which is widely accused of using torture and arbitrary arrests to keep potential opponents under control.

Freeing those 23 men appeared to have been the main original goal of the gunmen.

Both the White House in Washington and the British Foreign Office in London have urged calm and restraint.
Posted by: Ebbiper Speresing3684 || 05/14/2005 04:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  TAKE NOTE -> this is how you deal with extremism (jihadi mindset).

Assad (Sr) dealt in the same way with the Brotherhoods in Syria and nary a peep from them.

LEARN or get out. Extremist cannot be dealt with kindness.

Those who use FORCE against others respect & understand FORCE. Be civil and you will continue to have these brain-dead zealots run wild in hope of appeasing their Deity in heaven that sits on a throne.
Posted by: abdul || 05/14/2005 10:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Fox news said 200 confirmed dead and expected to go much higher
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 12:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight?

Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'.

The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada...
Posted by: JDB || 05/14/2005 19:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight?

Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'.

The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada...
Posted by: JDB || 05/14/2005 19:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight?

Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'.

The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada...
Posted by: JDB || 05/14/2005 19:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Anyone else catch NBC Nightly News tonight?

Apparently, the eeeeevil authoritarian Uzbek gov't, which was bought & paid for with $550 Million by the US, has been locking up locals for "religious activities". No mention of fundy Islamo-Nazism, they're just 'religious'.

The clear impression left was that ol' Bushie McChimphitler screwed the pooch again and that the WOT is lost & none of this would have ever happened, yada, yada...
Posted by: JDB || 05/14/2005 19:02 Comments || Top||

#7  missed that, sounds like Chinese repression of religion = good; W supports gov'ts against Islamazoid killers = disrespect of the ROPma
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 19:53 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australian Hostage Still Alive ?

AN Australian cleric in Iraq to help negotiate the release of hostage Douglas Wood says Mr Wood is alive and his abductors are expected to announce new conditions for his release within 48 hours.

Sheik Taj Eldeen Alhilali, the leader of Australia's Muslim community, told one of his aides in Sydney last night the 63-year-old engineer, who was captured a fortnight ago, was still alive.

Spokesman Keysar Trad said the Mufti had reported that a message purporting to be from Mr Wood's abductors was read out on an Iraqi television station, saying Mr Wood was alive and the deadline was extended, but did not say until when.

Mr Trad said Sheik Alhilali had independently received signals that Mr Wood was alive and that his captors might consider softening their conditions for his release.

He said he expected to receive news within 48 hours from the abductors as to what their conditions might be for Mr Wood's release. The demands could be less than those originally made - for the full withdrawal of Australian troops, Mr Trad said.

Mr Wood was kidnapped by a group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahideen of Iraq.

He was seen in a second video aired on Arabic television station al Jazeera last weekend, with shaved head and swollen eyes, in which his captors set a 72-hour deadline for the withdrawal of Australian troops. That passed with no news.

Mr Wood's Canberra-based brother said he had received no news from Sheik Alhilali on the developments and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was trying to confirm the report.

Earlier yesterday, the Sheik pleaded with his captors to allow an urgent delivery of medicine.

Mr Wood, 63, suffers from heart and blood pressure problems, as well as rheumatoid arthritis.

The ailments could be life-threatening if left untreated.

Mr Wood's family has recorded advertisements in Canberra which will screen on Iraqi television for the first time tonight.

They show Mr Wood in photographs with his daughter and grandchildren and depict him as a family man with no political ties.

An Arabic voiceover says Mr Wood is an unwell man and his family miss him very much.

It urges anyone with information to call a number in Baghdad.

The family has also placed advertisements in Iraqi newspapers.
Posted by: Pholunter Shaiger1834 || 05/14/2005 17:54 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
DC Cessna pilot disoriented; student saved them from being shot down
EFL. They came within seconds of being shot down - RTWT

The pilot who caused a midday panic in Washington on Wednesday failed to get briefings about the weather and restricted airspace and became lost minutes after leaving a Pennsylvania airport, Federal Aviation Administration records show.

Hayden "Jim" Sheaffer, 69, froze when he saw a Black Hawk helicopter appear near his right wing while flying toward the White House and had difficulty operating his small, single-engine aircraft, officials said yesterday. It took the valiant effort of Sheaffer's student-pilot companion, Troy D. Martin, who had only 30 logged hours of flight time, to take over the controls and land the plane at an airport in Frederick, officials said.

The FAA plans to take the most extreme action against a pilot since new airspace rules were put in place in 2003 and will revoke Sheaffer's pilot certificate, according to aviation officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the order had not been finalized. The FAA does not plan to take similar action against Martin, 36, because he is a student pilot and does not have a pilot certificate, sources said.

New details are emerging about what took place in the cockpit of the Cessna 150 during the noontime drama that led to the evacuation of more than 35,000 people from the U.S. Capitol, White House and Supreme Court. A log prepared by federal security officials shows how tensions escalated to the point where a fighter jet was "about to use missiles" to shoot the plane down.

If Sheaffer plans to fly again, he will have to start over with flight school lessons. Those lessons cannot begin until a year after the revocation order. "Our investigation is ongoing," FAA spokesman Greg Martin said. "It's clearly a very serious incident that warrants careful and thorough review of all pertinent information."

Sheaffer and Troy Martin have been unavailable to comment since federal authorities released them Wednesday. They were forced down about 90 minutes after they took off from an airport in Smoketown, Pa., near Lancaster, headed for an air show in Lumberton, N.C.

Some neighbors said they were mystified about the whereabouts of the two men and their families. At the Sheaffer home in Warwick Township, Pa., no one answered the door or telephone. About 10 miles away, at Martin's residence in Akron, Pa., a note on the door asked reporters to go away. No one answered the door or phone there, either. A next-door neighbor, Cindy Hamill, said of the Martins: "This family's in crisis."

The FAA is planning to cite Sheaffer for "careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another," records obtained by The Washington Post show. Sheaffer can appeal the revocation with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Within hours of the scare, authorities said that the pilots were lost and disoriented. But the account provided in FAA documents casts Martin in a different light.

"It shows a tremendous presence of mind to be able to take the training he had and, under a very stressful situation, to bring that aircraft to Frederick," said Chris Dancy, spokesman for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, a group representing private pilots.

Dancy said Martin was probably about halfway through his student training, as most student pilots take about 60 to 75 hours to earn their certificate.
Posted by: rkb || 05/14/2005 06:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  God protects children, fools, preachers, and student pilots. This student was one lucky guy, having his head on straight when he needed it most.

The basic thing that everyone should learn when learning to fly are three words, in order of importance:

Aviate--fly the plane, keep it under control.
Navigate--know where you are going.
Communicate---talk on the radio.

Knowing the seriousness of violating airspace, when the two found that they were lost, they needed to:
1. Fly the plane in a triangular pattern or circle or something to show that they were under control and not heading intentionally to restricted space.
2. They needed to declare an emergency. Get on the universal emergency frequency of 121.5 on their radio and ask for help.

Wallowing along lost in such sensitive areas and not declaring an emergency almost cost these guys their lives. ***shutters***
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/14/2005 11:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Good presence of mind on the part of the student, to take over when his instructor lost it. The kid'll do fine.
Posted by: Mike || 05/14/2005 11:42 Comments || Top||

#3  It almost sounds like the instructor had unknowingly been on some sort of drug that caused disorientation.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/14/2005 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Stroke?
Posted by: Shipman || 05/14/2005 14:43 Comments || Top||

#5  loss of bowel control after the choppers and F16's with flares, I bet
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 15:58 Comments || Top||

#6  Appropriate punishment. You sit left seat, logged as the PIC, its your ass.

You have to wonder what the hell this guy was doing - didn't navigate, didnt get the WX/METAR for his travel, didn't check NOTAMs, didnt file a proper flight plan, wasn't monitoring the radio, didnt switch immediately to guard freq when he saw the military aircraft that close... World of mistakes there.

One thing you CANNOT do ever when flying is to freeze at the controls like that. The guy deserves to have his ticket pulled. If it werent for his sudent pilot, he'd be in a smoking hole in the Maryland countryside.

Posted by: OldSpook || 05/14/2005 19:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Right-o OldSpook. Sounds like absolutely NO flight preparation other than checking out oil and gas.

Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance (Principle of the Seven P's).
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/14/2005 20:01 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
6 Abu Sayyaf killed
Soldiers killed six members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group in a clash on Saturday on the southern Philippine island of Jolo, military officials said. "At least six Abu Sayyaf terrorists were killed by soldiers and we recovered the bodies and their weapons," said Brigadier General Alexander Aleo, head of an anti-terror task force on the island. Two Marines were also wounded in the clash, Aleo said. An undetermined number of Abu Sayyaf were also wounded in the battle, said Colonel Juancho Sabban, head of the Marine force on the island.

A Marine reconnaissance force crept up on the camp of the gang led by commander Radulan Sahiron in the jungles of Patikul town, said Sabban. "Many of them were still sleeping and were caught by surprise by our attacking special operation team," Sabban added. The attack was part of continuing operations against Sahiron's group, which had stepped up its attacks on government forces in February.
Posted by: Ebbiper Speresing3684 || 05/14/2005 04:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria Builds Up Forces along Iraq's Border
Posted by: Ulomosh Hupatle8850 || 05/14/2005 17:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do they?
Yoohoo! Overe here! Whack!
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/14/2005 19:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Bring it on! Low hanging fruit.
Posted by: SR-71 || 05/14/2005 19:35 Comments || Top||

#3  arm our planes with cluster bombs?
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 19:51 Comments || Top||

#4  I laugh imagining how those Syrian military are shaking in their boots watching the US military perform. And knowing US troops, I wouldn't put it past them to give the Syrians a little extra show--just to let them know "Who's Yer Daddy?"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/14/2005 20:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Ever since the Powell visits we have been warning Syria to stop Al Q infiltration and resupply through Syria. Syria smiles, nods, and agrees, and goes about their dirty little business. They need something done to them to get their attention, or we will be seen as nothing but generators of hollow words.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/14/2005 20:05 Comments || Top||

#6  Please God make them do something stupid...
Posted by: Dave D. || 05/14/2005 20:51 Comments || Top||

#7  As Dirty Harry would say, "Do you feel lucky punk, well, do ya?
Posted by: Captain America || 05/14/2005 21:11 Comments || Top||

#8  Please, Baby Ass-ad. Please do something stupid.
Posted by: anymouse || 05/14/2005 21:42 Comments || Top||

#9  Well hell. Assad had to do something with those 15,000 troops from Lebanon. He certainly didn't want them hanging about in Damacus
Posted by: GK || 05/14/2005 21:51 Comments || Top||

#10  Where's the 6th Fleet? It's location will tell you what GW has up his sleeve. As for "doing something stupid", haven't they already done ENOUGH? I'm sure there are a bunch of Syrian junior officers and senior NCOs wishing they were assigned to the Greenland Embassy about now.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/14/2005 22:04 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Defectors Spill Al Qaeda Beans: Boom Boom Bye-Bye
A leading al-Qaeda bomb-maker has been killed in a US missile strike as America and Pakistan exploit worsening ethnic rifts within the terror network.

The death of Haitham al-Yemeni comes shortly after Pakistan captured Osama bin Laden's suspected third-in-command using intelligence from disaffected militants. Abu Faraj al-Libbi was traced after exiled Uzbek fighters on the Pakistan-Afghan border who had fallen out with al-Qaeda's Arab-dominated leadership gave Pakistani intelligence officials his mobile phone number.

The capture of al-Libbi and death of al-Yemeni show how ethnic fissures are effecting al-Qaeda. Uzbek and other Central Asian extremists are co-operating in return for cash and permission to stay in Pakistan. "The Arabs and Central Asians are competing for protection," said Kenneth Katzman, a terror analyst with the Congressional Research Service in Washington. "The Central Asians are losing out because the Arabs have the money and the respect of the locals." An al-Qaeda training camp at Shakai, on the Afghan border, was destroyed after fighters from the former Soviet territories of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Chechnya revealed its whereabouts.
This article starring:
ABU FARAJ AL LIBIal-Qaeda
Congressional Research Service
HAITHAM AL YEMENIal-Qaeda
Kenneth Katzman, a terror analyst
Posted by: Captain America || 05/14/2005 21:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
U.S. Says Iraq Border Operation Successful
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 13:57 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It may be, but if the border can't be guarded and protected, then it will be only a temporary success.
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/14/2005 16:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Did Syria get the message? That's more important than the independent operators
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 16:35 Comments || Top||

#3  First mention of the caves of the Euphrates. I also suspect that they are herding bad boyz into Qaim to concentrate them, then they will Falluja-ize the city, making it permanently off limits to all sorts of troublemakers.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/14/2005 17:01 Comments || Top||

#4  caves of the Euphrates

I knew that Ali Baba and 40 cuthroats had to be somewhere there!
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/14/2005 17:16 Comments || Top||

#5  I read in an article a couple of days ago.....mention a missile strike on a cave...
Posted by: Grins Sluper5274 || 05/14/2005 17:38 Comments || Top||

#6  All well and good, but we should have extended the operations with hot pursuit into Syria where the thugs vacated to. A few well-placed hellseeking missiles on the Syrian side would have sent a resounding message to all relevant parties.
Posted by: Captain America || 05/14/2005 17:38 Comments || Top||

#7  The military said the operation confirmed its intelligence about a region north of the Euphrates River, including the existence of "cave complexes" used by insurgents in the nearby escarpment. It did not elaborate

What was in those caves...

Posted by: Grins Sluper5274 || 05/14/2005 17:40 Comments || Top||

#8  rats, bats and gats.
Posted by: Fling Thratle4181 || 05/14/2005 20:06 Comments || Top||

#9  What do you think was there? It was green and it was a lots of it.

Rats too, but they tried to scurry away as fast as you'd say: "Open Sesame". Then there was a lot of rat...atatatatat.

I can't say no more...
Posted by: Ali Baba || 05/14/2005 20:13 Comments || Top||

#10  The Ali Baba story treats Ali as a hero, who stole from robbers, turning the tables. Yet the name is used constantly in the ME as an epithet for a robber. Why is this? Mental laziness? The influence of some individual interpreter?

He must be rehabilitated!
Posted by: Brian H || 05/14/2005 20:49 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan denies al-Yemeni killed
Pakistan denied on Saturday U.S. media reports that a senior al Qaeda leader was killed in a missile attack by an unmanned U.S. intelligence Predator aircraft on Pakistani territory near the Afghan border.
"Nope. Nope. Never happened."
ABC News, one of several U.S. news networks reporting the U.S. strike, said sources from unnamed intelligence agencies identified the man as Haitham al-Yemeni. "Nothing has happened in Pakistan. If something happened in Afghanistan, we don't know," Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed told Reuters.
For internal consumption only. Avoid contact with eyes and skin. In the rare event of erections lasting longer than four hours seek immediate professional help.
A U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan said he had no information about the veracity of the reports. The CIA refused to confirm or deny the report, ABC said.
"We an't sayin' nuttin'!"
Posted by: Ebbiper Speresing3684 || 05/14/2005 04:26 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Everybody has a script - and all are playing their roles accordingly.
Posted by: .com || 05/14/2005 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  "All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,"
Posted by: phil_b || 05/14/2005 7:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Ah, but what if they really killed him to make it look like they didn't kill him, and to convince everybody who thought they had killed him that they hadn't killed him, which would make everybody suspect that they had killed him, figuring that they hadn't killed him, but assuming that they had just been deceived into thinking that they had killed him, when in fact they had actually killed him and just made it look like they hadn't killed him, then told everybody that they had killed him while denying that they had killed him?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/14/2005 10:39 Comments || Top||

#4  *applause*

Lol!
Posted by: .com || 05/14/2005 10:52 Comments || Top||

#5  anonymoose---LMAO! We need to put your little ditty in outline form so we can understand the nuances. Great routine!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/14/2005 11:28 Comments || Top||

#6  'moose:
I'm not not certain I caught that. I got up to the part "what if," then lost it.
Posted by: jackal || 05/14/2005 11:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Anonymoose: don't get taken in by the iocane powder gambit.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/14/2005 12:40 Comments || Top||

#8  'moose, that's sublime. I'm going to save that for future occasions in the Editor pool (with attribution, of course).

Iocane, heh.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/14/2005 13:08 Comments || Top||

#9  :) Superior laughs.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/14/2005 14:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Moose that is so freaking funny it has to be true.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/14/2005 15:21 Comments || Top||

#11  :-)~ covered all angles as far as I can see....
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 15:57 Comments || Top||

#12  Col. Flagg couldn't have said it better!
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/14/2005 18:29 Comments || Top||

#13  Yah, Steve. Apparently some people have built up immunities to the stuff.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/14/2005 18:41 Comments || Top||

#14  Moose,
PLEASE tell me you did that in a perfect Maxwell Smart impression.*G*

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/14/2005 18:50 Comments || Top||


More on the CIA strike on al-Yemeni
A senior al Qaeda operative was killed by a missile fired from a CIA Predator aircraft on the Pakistani side of the remote area near the Afghan border earlier this week, U.S. intelligence officials told ABC News.

The CIA refused to confirm or deny any operational matter.

Haitham al-Yemeni, a native of Yemen known for his bomb-making skills, had been tracked for some time in the hope that he would help lead the United States to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, intelligence officials said. But with the recent capture in northwest Pakistan of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, thought to be al Qaeda's No. 3 man, officials worried al-Yemeni would soon go into hiding, and decided to take action.

Al-Yemeni was in line to replace al-Libbi, intelligence analysts said.

"It's an important step that has been taken in that it has eliminated another level of experienced leadership from the directorate of al Qaeda itself," said Vince Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism for the CIA and now an ABC News consultant. "It will help weaken the organization and make it much less effective."

The CIA has the authority to fire at will against senior al Qaeda figures anywhere in the world, though it is unclear whether the Pakistanis approved of the action in advance. A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., said he was unaware of any such actions this week.

"There is a determination by the president that any member of al Qaeda that can be identified can be attacked," said Cannistraro.

This would be only the fourth known time the CIA Predator has opened fire on al Qaeda targets.

Most recently, six suspected terrorists, including Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a close associate of bin Laden, were killed in Yemen in November 2002 in an attack the Yemen government said it approved in advance.

Officials said that on two occasions the Predator has been used to attack individuals mistakenly thought to be bin Laden.
Posted by: Ebbiper Speresing3684 || 05/14/2005 04:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  At some point you have to stop tracking, gathering information, analyzing the data and stringing together the variable and just shoot the bastards.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/14/2005 8:42 Comments || Top||

#2  "American intelligence officials" have to be the dumbest people in the world to (1) talk to ABC News, or (2) state that the missile was fired from the Pakistan side of the border. The first is axiomatic; the second only sets the Pakistani military against us. Could it be that this is the ABC equivalent of the Newsweek story that claimed the desecration of the Kuran at Gitmo?
Posted by: Tancred || 05/14/2005 10:38 Comments || Top||

#3  Fox just had a spot on the same story. Sounds like we got him and the Pakis don't wanna admit the Merkins did the op on their soil
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Shipman...I want a tee-shirt that says that! LOL
Posted by: Darth VAda || 05/14/2005 11:59 Comments || Top||

#5  I wonder when they're going to start reporting that American-supplied rifle cartridges are greased with a combination of pig fat and beef tallow.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/14/2005 12:01 Comments || Top||

#6  He made the bombs that tried to take out the Paki-Waki head Cheese . The permission to wax him came from the highest levels of the Paki-Waki guberment. They can't trust their own Paki-Waki military and inteligence to do that.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/14/2005 15:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Shipman said: "At some point you have to stop tracking, gathering information, analyzing the data and stringing together the variable and just shoot the bastards."

Amen. Like they say in baseball: If they're gonna give you an out - take it.
Posted by: xbalanke || 05/14/2005 15:51 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Iraqis glad that Zarqawi's killers are gone, but wary
After he served the Marines tea and sat them in his garden, the former Iraqi government official pulled up his shirt and showed his scars.

There were brown welts on his back where he had been flogged. There were small circular burns on his legs. He lifted his upper lip and revealed broken teeth. He held out his hands and displayed red lines where handcuffs had cut into his skin during eight days of captivity.

"The terrorists frighten and hurt the people here. They do checkpoints and patrols. Anyone they catch going to Al Qaim they will kill with a knife and throw him by the road," said the former official, who asked a Los Angeles Times reporter traveling with the Marines not to publish his name for fear that insurgents would kill him and his family.

"Frankly, I don't like the American occupation," he said. "But I prefer the American occupation to occupation by Al Qaeda."

A mission of more than 1,000 Marines, one of the larger deployments since the battle of Fallouja in November, has pressed this week through villages along the Euphrates River near the border with Syria looking for insurgent strongholds.

The Marines launched the campaign Sunday and were immediately engaged in sharp fighting. They have come across few insurgents since, but they have found plenty of people who complain about the guerrillas.

The Marines project a fearsome presence when they come into a town: convoys led by rumbling tanks, followed by armored amphibious vehicles bristling with guns. The Marines fan out, hustle people from their homes with stern commands and set off "controlled explosions" — detonations of suspicious cars, possible land mines and improvised bombs.

Nearly every day, the Iraqis provide the Marines with information about foreign insurgents, who appear to play a prominent role in this part of western Iraq. The fighters have been pouring into the towns in greater numbers since U.S.-led forces seized Fallouja, which had been the capital of the insurgency.

Residents say insurgents threaten, beat and sometimes kill those who do not cooperate with them. They say the rebels take over their homes and cars, prevent them from seeking jobs with the Iraqi security forces, and endanger their towns by launching attacks against Americans from their backyards.

The residents say they do not like the U.S. occupation, and worry that speaking to Marines could bring the insurgents' wrath after the troops leave.

"We must go inside," one man told Marines who were questioning him in the street. "It is not safe to speak here."

Others struggle to communicate with the troops, who often lack interpreters. On Friday, an old man spoke animatedly to a frustrated Marine for nearly 15 minutes, at one point sketching what appeared to be a picture of the Syrian border in the dusty ground outside his home.

"I guess he's trying to say that they all went to Syria," the Marine said.

As the Marines have swept through villages in the Ramana area of western Al Anbar province, a region of smugglers, criminal tribes and Al Qaeda safe houses, they have relied on locals to tell them where mines have been planted and where insurgents might be hiding. Villagers have even named insurgents and their collaborators.

"We haven't killed as many insurgents as we wanted to," said Maj. Kei Braun, executive officer of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, one of the units leading the campaign. "But we also haven't killed any civilians. There hasn't been much collateral damage. So I think we've made friends here. We're probably winning some hearts and minds."

But Marines can be a gruff bunch during a sweep, and it was evident traveling with Lima Company that some residents resented that troops had trampled through their homes.

On Friday, Marines systematically went into houses, toppled stacks of blankets and pillows, and walked through garden plots to question residents. With their helmets, sunglasses, flak jackets and guns, they were an imposing presence.

On Wednesday, Lt. Joseph Clemmey, 26, of Worcester, Mass., commander of 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, ordered a group of about 20 detained women to unveil their faces so he could make sure there were no male insurgents trying to hide among them. The women grumbled, and some refused.

"Tell them that they have no choice," Clemmey told his interpreter. "If they don't do it themselves, then we'll have to force them."

As Marines with Lima Company walked into a home in Ribat on Friday, the father of the house walked behind them to be their guide.

Sgt. Guy Zierk turned and violently pushed the man out of the house. The Iraqi smiled nervously as he retreated. Another Marine gave him a backhanded slap to the face as he rushed past.

"He could've been wearing a suicide vest," a Marine said.

As the troops left, the man glared at them while puffing a cigarette across the street.

Marines also take over homes, temporarily casting out families in minutes if they think a house is a secure location to plan their next move.

"These children belong to your brother?" Zierk asked a man standing in a garden. A woman and three children sat on the home's front step. A puppy chained to a pole yipped at the Marines. The man said he was an uncle of the children.

"You, your brother's children, go. Now!" the sergeant commanded.

The family took the dog too.

Whatever inconveniences the Marines had brought, the former Iraqi government official seemed glad to see them. He invited them to his home, afraid that malicious eyes might be watching, and told them that foreign fighters had held his town hostage for a year. The insurgents fled to Syria four days ago.

"They tried to harm me because I worked for the government," the man said. "They held me for eight days until my tribe forced them to let me go. They said that if you kill me, my tribe would kill four of Al Qaeda."

The man told the Marines that the U.S. mandate limiting each Iraqi household to one firearm and a small amount of ammunition had hindered the town's ability to defend itself. He also said Iraq's porous borders were endangering residents.

"If Americans or Iraqis close the border, the terrorists would not be able to come back," he said. "But if you leave town tomorrow, they will be back, and they will kill anyone who has helped the Americans."

Why then did he choose to speak to Marines about the insurgents who had controlled his town?

"Because they are bad guys," the man said. "Ask anyone here. These four days when the terrorists have gone have been so different from when the Americans came."
Posted by: Ebbiper Speresing3684 || 05/14/2005 04:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Report: Haitham al-Yemeni Eats Hellfire (via CIA Predator)
Posted by: .com || 05/14/2005 05:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fred - If this pans out, you can strike Al-Yemeni from your Who's Active List, heh. I'll bet those edits are sweet moments, lol! Here's hoping they did do it.
Posted by: .com || 05/14/2005 5:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I heard on the TV news that 5 others died in the hit. A six for one special.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/14/2005 6:34 Comments || Top||

#3  That's the same number they waxed in Yemen, isn't it? Seems like the CIA doesn't want to waste its efforts unless they can get the whole team at one shot. As long as they keep whacking the right people, who am I to complain?

I wonder how effective Hellfires and Predators would be against the Iranian black turban crowd...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/14/2005 17:50 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
The big cockroach possibly killed!
From Iraqi blogger: Hammorabi
... Possibly Zarqawi has been killed during these attacks. The statement of his groups were today issued under the name of his deputy (Abo-Abdrahmn) and a finger print for his DNA test has been requested from Jordan. On the other hand the doctor who treated him in Ramadi confessed that his injuries were more or less fatal.
Posted by: 3dc || 05/14/2005 03:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wouldn't that be sweet...

But we've been here before. Sigh.

When the US Mil announces the DNA matches, then I'll get excited, lol! I've got a bag of Orville's best popcorn and a Beck's Dark waiting for that moment, 3dc, heh. For Zarqi's demise, I'll share a toast with you all.
Posted by: .com || 05/14/2005 4:05 Comments || Top||

#2  Lay your hands on the radio!
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/14/2005 4:58 Comments || Top||

#3  SPoD, don't have radio, what's up?
Posted by: Sobiesky || 05/14/2005 5:13 Comments || Top||

#4  It's US thing from the days of big time AM radio in the 1960's. I doubt anyone who hasn't heard it live would not get it. BUT many have! canIgetta Amen!
Posted by: Reverend Ike || 05/14/2005 5:16 Comments || Top||

#5  1960's? I was a kid in central Europe. The only thing on radio was commie agitprop, so my memories are not that fond of the medium.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 05/14/2005 5:25 Comments || Top||

#6  Well going to crash. You better have it confirmed in the morning that Z slime is getting a reception in hell.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 05/14/2005 5:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Well the Rev. was a sort of agitprop too. Go ahead and put your hands on top of your cpu case and pray hard or if you don't have 'em think hard on Zman and boiling oil.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/14/2005 8:49 Comments || Top||

#8  I hope we get the good news before the liquor stores close tonight. ;o)
Posted by: badanov || 05/14/2005 9:52 Comments || Top||

#9  I would love Zarq dead but I just don't think so. Injured, incapacitated but not dead as of now. I pray that I'm wrong.
Posted by: sea cruise || 05/14/2005 10:06 Comments || Top||

#10  S-E-P-S-I-S
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 11:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Frank, izdat an egyptian deity of afterlife?
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/14/2005 14:03 Comments || Top||

#12  Man, I just love seeing the accordian player of death....

Thanks for coming Zarq...
Posted by: Capt. Infidel || 05/14/2005 14:25 Comments || Top||

#13  Zaq unable to send for that prayer cloth? Thats a good thing. I hope it's true.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/14/2005 15:13 Comments || Top||

#14  I suppose that Brunhilde appearence is waiting for a confirmation. I'd love to see her again!
Posted by: twobyfour || 05/14/2005 17:19 Comments || Top||

#15  I've been a grinch about previous reports of Zarq's death, but I've got a good feeling about this one. The Marines near the Syrian border, the raid that just barely missed him back in February -- all if it seems like endgame to me. If the NYT and WaPo feature stories soon about how unimportant Zarq was in the big scheme of things I'll fall off the wagon and pop a bottle of champagne.
Posted by: Jonathan || 05/14/2005 20:13 Comments || Top||

#16  Maybe Zarqawi will turn up in a bowl of Chili at a Wendy's in California.
Posted by: mhw || 05/14/2005 22:08 Comments || Top||


Africa: Subsaharan
Pakistanis among 63 arrested in Kenya
MOMBASA: Kenyan police on Friday arrested 63 Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals in the port city of Mombasa and said they were investigating them for possible links to terrorism. "We are investigating their presence here and terrorism could be a possibility," the local deputy police chief John Mbijjiwe said. But the suspects could also be linked to money laundering, drugs trafficking or being in the country illegally, he added. Several police officers in the operation found the men living in two residential houses in a plush area of Mombasa, heavily guarded by private security. Police said they had recovered 24 fake passports. "I have concluded that these passports are fake and you are all under arrest for further investigations," Mbijjiwe said, addressing some of the detainees.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Paks and fake passports... Like ham and eggs...
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 0:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Kenyan police on Friday arrested 63 Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals in the port city of Mombasa and said they were investigating them for possible links to terrorism.

Dig that, Fred. What's the over / under on the number of fake passports they were caught with, 400?
Posted by: Raj || 05/14/2005 0:34 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Nuggets from the Urdu press
NGOs foreign curse
Columnist Irshad Arif wrote in Nawa-e-Waqt that the NGO mafia was active in Pakistan on the basis of dollars and pounds sent from abroad. Yet human rights had to be protected by Pakistanis. In the Mukhtaran Mai case the culprit was not arrested although the concerned MPA held a conference in Dera Ghazi Khan. The columnist wondered why was it not possible to care for human rights without the NGOs. He asked why there was no organisation other than the NGOs to do the job.

Wise decision on 'mazhabi khana'
Writing in Jang, Abdul Qadir Hassan wrote that the government had made the wrong decision to remove the reference to religion in the passports. The people wanted it back and there was a time when it was feared that the government might give in to foreign pressure. But a wise decision was taken to undo the mistake made earlier. The people would now be happy with the government. Jang also reported that the Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Movement that had opposed the removal of the mazhabi khana stated that their job was not yet done, more should be done by the government to target the Qadianis and the passports issued without the khana should be recalled. The Minorities Commission of Pakistan in Lahore warned that if the government reinstated the reference to religion in the passport they would start agitation against it. The PML cabinet that approved the reinstatement of mazhabi khana had dissenting votes from nine ministers.

Musharraf and mullahs
Columnist Nazeer Naji wrote in Jang that so far people were thinking that Musharraf might have a hidden nexus with the mullahs of the MMA. Then the MMA took up the cause of mazhabi khana and they thought that Musharraf would stand firm. Musharraf began to be supported by the people of Pakistan who wanted the threat of the clergy to subside. But after getting their support, Musharraf simply surrendered to the mullahs by giving in on the mazhabi khana. Thus people were bound to lose hope in the promise of moderation and would be forced to accept the extremism of the clergy.

A politics of splits
Columnist Iftikhar Ali wrote in Jang that splits were appearing in all the opposition parties. In March 2005, the ARD mainstream parties the PPPP and PMLN were not able to agree with the MMA on its 'million march'. At the same time the PMLN was angry over the PPPP for holding secret talks with the government for a share in power. The MMA itself was split along personalities and Qazi Hussain Ahmad was heard privately to criticise Maulana Fazlur Rehman for ploughing a separate furrow. In the NWFP ANP was split with its ruling family, the Wali Khans.

Ijazul Haq opposed religion 'khana'
According to Sarerahe in Nawa-e-Waqt, religion minister Ijazul Haq — who had gone public with his support to the campaign for the restoration of an entry of religion in the national passport — actually voted against it during the cabinet session in which 8 other ministers also opposed it. Sarerahe thought that Ijazul Haq as the son of the Islamic dictator General Zia had now decided to abandon his father's ideology to stand together with a secular education minister, General (Retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi. Khabrain quoted Ijazul Haq as saying that there was no disagreement in the cabinet on restoring the religion khana in the passport.

'Mullahs hold nation at ransom'
Speaking to Khabrain, Abdus Sattar Edhi stated that the clergy in Pakistan was holding the people of Pakistan to ransom in the name of Islam. He added that Musharraf was a man of open mind and had given unprecedented freedom to the media. He said that the people of Pakistan were simple and not given to extremes.

Adam spoke Pushto
According to Khabrain Prof Pareshan Khatak told an audience in Peshawar that according to his research the first man, Hazrat Adam, spoke Pushto after his creation by Allah. He was answering the charges of those who said that Pushto was the language of Hell because of its hard accent. Hew said the language of Paradise was Pushto.

Wrong soldiers!
Writing in daily Din, Hafiz Shafiqur Rehman said the wrong soldiers were those who entered the army dreaming about seven star messes, starched uniform and kanals and kanals of residential plots in 'posh' defence societies, after which perhaps to conquer Islamabad after receiving a certain high rank or go into property dealing with the advantage of good contacts in the cantonments.

Tipu Sultan and nine unwanted women
Biannual journal of Quaid-e-Azam Library Lahore Makhzan (number four 2004) informs about a book by Tipu Sultan titled Bahr al-Munafeh. Tipu describes nine types of women he would not go near: 1) A woman who is of ill-repute; 2) An adolescent woman who would take to fornication and become fahisha (coitus-lover); 3) A woman who is irritable and loves coitus; 4) A mad woman; 5) A woman with a hairy body; 6) A red-headed woman; 7) A black-faced woman; 8) An excessively tall woman; 9) A woman with tough hands and feet. Ataul Haq Qasimi wrote in Jang that May 2005 was the month of Tipu Sultan's birth anniversary.

'Churails' lift young student
Reported in daily Pakistan, the house of one Muhammad Siddiq of Sangla Hill was attacked by three very beautiful churails (witches) and when he hired aamils to cast a spell on them they also thrashed the aamils till they ran away. Then the beautiful churails picked up Talat, his son, a student of 8th class, and took him to the canal where he was found badly bruised. The churails came to Siddiq's house and threatened him with dire consequences, then simply dissolved into thin air.

'I don't want another Karachi!'
Columnist Fawad Hussain revealed in Jang that Baloch leader Sardar Ataullah Mengal told the BBC that 50 years ago Karachi had only indigenous population of 5 million. Now the population of Karachi was 14 million and 90 percent of it was non-Sindhi. Now Balochistan too had a population of 5 million but if it was converted into another Karachi (through Gwadar?) the Baloch would become a minority in their province.

Goose step at Wahga
Writing in Jang, Mehmood Sham stated that when he was last at the Lahore Wahga border outpost with India he was fascinated by the ceremony of furling the flag by Indian and Pakistani border guards at sunset. He was forced into sentimental tears by the goose-step used by Pakistani soldiers who brought their foot higher than their heads while taking down the flag. There were shrieks of Allah Akbar and Zindabad from the Pakistani side where people sat on a viewing stand. A Pakistani citizens too came every day to the post, raised the flag, faced India and raised the takbeer.

Defeat the West!
Columnist Irshad Haqqani quoted in Jang a letter from a reader saying that it was useless in Pakistan to suggest any solution to problems because the West was dominant and was inflicting injustice on the Muslims. The only way any solutions could be successful if they were enforced from a position of dominance. Therefore Pakistan had to defeat the West, get into a position of strength and then think of solutions.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Reads Tipu Sultan's list of the Nine Women He Wouldn't Go Near, and wonders if he's met my ex-wife. She had at LEAST seven of those...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/14/2005 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Columnist Irshad Arif wrote in Nawa-e-Waqt that the NGO mafia was active in Pakistan on the basis of dollars and pounds sent from abroad.

Amateurs...
Posted by: Tony Soprano || 05/14/2005 0:14 Comments || Top||

#3  If it's the same Tipoo, I doubt if he met her. He's been dead for 200 years.

Young Arthur Wellesley made his name defeating old Tipoo, who had a mechanical tiger that made realistic growling noises. I believe Wellesley's regiment still has it in their possession, though they say the growl's pretty anemic by now.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 0:26 Comments || Top||

#4  "He was forced into sentimental tears by the goose-step used by Pakistani soldiers who brought their foot higher than their heads while taking down the flag."

This guy ever gets a load of Zhang Ziyi, his head will explode.
Posted by: Spoque Snomose1127 || 05/14/2005 1:23 Comments || Top||

#5 
According to Khabrain Prof Pareshan Khatak told an audience in Peshawar that according to his research the first man, Hazrat Adam, spoke Pushto after his creation by Allah. He was answering the charges of those who said that Pushto was the language of Hell because of its hard accent. Hew said the language of Paradise was Pushto.
Hold on a second... I thought for Moslems that Arabic was supposed to be the sacred primal language?

Wouldn't saying that anything besides the language used to write the Koran was the language of Heaven be sacreligious?
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/14/2005 2:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Why you are correct Dr Phil! He will burn in hell, his eyes will explode, his penis will fall off and he will have to run SCO UNIX on I286 for eternity for saying such a thing.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/14/2005 5:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Thread hijack warning! SCO Unix ran just fine on an intel 286. I used to run Oracle as well as multiple sessions.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/14/2005 5:23 Comments || Top||

#8  And you loved every miunte of it I am sure, but would you run it NOW espically with the curerent owners?
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 05/14/2005 5:28 Comments || Top||

#9  The current owners don't have anything to do with the people who wrote SCO Unix to begin with.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 05/14/2005 11:56 Comments || Top||

#10  An interesting link between Tipu Sultan and the Star Spangled Banner

Missile History


Later at the battle of Srirangapattana (4th Anglo-Mysore war) in April 1799, British forces lead by Colonel Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington) ran away from the battlefield when attacked by rockets and musket fire of Tipu Sultan's army. Unlike contemporary rockets whose combustion chamber was made of wood (bamboo), Tipu's rockets (weighing between 2.2 to 5.5 kg) used iron cylinder casings that allowed greater pressure, thrust and range (1.5 to 2.5 Km) [4]. The British were greatly impressed by the Mysorean rockets using iron tubes. At the end of war more then 700 rockets and sub systems of 900 rockets were captured and sent to England. William Congreve thoroughly examined the Indian specimens to reverse engineer and making its copies that were later used successfully in naval attack on Boulogne [5] (1806), siege of Copenhagen [6] (1807) and also against Fort Washington (New York) during the American Independence War, that is recounted as, rockets' red glare in the U.S. National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner." [7]
Posted by: john || 05/14/2005 13:27 Comments || Top||

#11  Connections IV
-by RB John

*applause*
Posted by: .com || 05/14/2005 13:30 Comments || Top||

#12  Let's talk about the deadly whiz-bangs what attacked US forces in the Gulf 'O Tonkin.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/14/2005 14:27 Comments || Top||

#13  I thought the American War of Independence was 1776, twenty years before the battle of Srirangapattana. Could we be referring to the War of 1812 here?
Posted by: john || 05/14/2005 19:34 Comments || Top||

#14  It was the war of 1812 and it was Fort McHenry in Baltimore being bombarded by the British warships. The lyrics were written in 1814.



Posted by: john || 05/14/2005 19:51 Comments || Top||


Report: CIA-Fired Missile Kills Senior Al-Qaida Operative Near Afghanistan-Pakistan Border
A senior al-Qaida operative was killed by a missile fired from an unmanned CIA Predator aircraft near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border earlier this week, ABC News reported Friday. Intelligence officials, who were not identified in the report, said al-Qaida operative Haitham al-Yemeni had been tracked for some time with the hope that he would lead them to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, ABC reported. With the capture of the No. 3 leader of al-Qaida, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, in northwest Pakistan earlier this month, officials decided to strike at al-Yemeni rather than risk that he would go into hiding, ABC reported. The CIA declined to comment on the report.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Abu Faraj al-Libbi: Pig of Islam sings like a bird.

Haitham al-Yemeni: Asshat of doom catches Predador bird flu.
Posted by: Unspun Boldak || 05/14/2005 0:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmm. I swear when I posted this same story that this post was not showing up. You editors with your ability to cheat on the time, heh. I protest, lol!
Posted by: .com || 05/14/2005 10:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Fred has incorporated time-travel software for the editors. It's a PHP thang
Posted by: Frank G || 05/14/2005 12:03 Comments || Top||

#4  You know Time Cheats WMAPGNFAB.
Posted by: Shipman || 05/14/2005 14:30 Comments || Top||


Detained activists admit plans to attack National Assembly
Two detained activists of the defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have admitted during investigations to planning attacks on the National Assembly (NA) and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) rallies to create religious hatred, Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed told the NA, on Friday.

"Activists of extremist religious organisations are trying to destabilse the country by targeting leaders of various religious groups," said Sheikh Rasheed, in response to a query by Israr-ul-Ibad in the NA. Mr Ibad had raised concerns about the security of NA in light of reports in the national media on Friday. According to reports, Amer Shehzad (22) and Khawaja Muhammad Ibrahim (50), the two activists arrested in Jalalpur Pirwala, revealed the disclosures during interrogations. According to investigators, they had planned to go to NA, take lawmakers hostage and then press their demands. The two men are also suspected of being involved in a suicide bombing that killed 30 people in Sialkot's Imambargah on October 1. They also confessed to conspiring to kill Tehrik-i-Jafaria Chief Allama Sajid Ali Naqvi in October 2004. The police have arrested up to eight members of the network and are looking for the remaining members of the 23-man group, recruited for 'suicide attacks'.
This article starring:
ALLAMA SAJID ALI NAQVITehrik-i-Jafaria
AMER SHEHZADLashkar-e-Jhangvi
Israr-ul-Ibad
KHAWAJA MUHAMAD IBRAHIMLashkar-e-Jhangvi
Rasheed Ahmed
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
Tehrik-i-Jafaria
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Say - is that a backgammon board?
Posted by: Raj || 05/14/2005 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks more like reversi.
Posted by: Sobiesky || 05/14/2005 0:54 Comments || Top||


Kashmir Korpse Kount
SRINAGAR, India - Thousands of demonstrators joined grieving relatives carrying coffins Friday to protest against a grenade attack that killed two people and hurt 50 outside a school in revolt-hit Indian Kashmir.

Police hurled teargas to quell stone-throwing demonstrators in the busy commercial centre of Lal Chowk in Indian Kashmir's main city, Srinagar, where Thursday's blast occurred.

The protest in which demonstrators shouted "We want freedom, long live Islam," came as 10 more people died Friday in fresh violence in the region where Islamic rebels have been fighting a 15-year battle against Indian rule. The victims included a Muslim man and his two children killed when a "gift" bomb exploded in their faces.
"Hiya Mahmoud, long time no see! How's the wife and kids?"
"Great, just great Ahmed. Lovely house you got! I love what you've done with the gun rack and the goat barn! And here's a gift for you and the kiddies!"
"Thankee, thankee, let me just gather the kids around and open this up .. [BOOM] "
The bombing has mystified police who say the family had no political links.

The demonstrators also chanted prayers for the Muslim woman and her daughter slain in the attack near the missionary school in Srinagar, the urban hub of the revolt. The attackers hurled the grenade at a security vehicle and missed, and the device exploded outside the school gates, killing the two people and injuring 50, including 20 school children, police said.
Grenade throwers must have been Hek-trained ...
The Jihad Council, an alliance of over one dozen rebel groups, based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir condemned the attack and blamed the blast on "Indian agencies and state-controlled police."

"We need to find out who did this," said Imtiaz Ahmed, a relative of Thursday's dead victims, urging an independent probe. "We can't just take the government's word."
"Why is everyone looking at us?"
Indian intelligence "agencies are carrying out such cowardly acts in response to our successful strikes," the Jihad (Holy) Council said in a statement released in Srinagar.

A police spokesman termed the allegations "idiotic" "demented" "typical Moose-limb gibbering" "absurd," adding, "militants have done this in the past and they did it Thursday too."
Posted by: Steve White || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Five hardcore Hizbul terrorists killed in J & K
Srinagar, May. 14 (PTI): Five hardcore Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, including chief commander operation, and a security jawan were killed in overnight encounters in Jammu and Kashmir, where militants gunned down the brother of a former top Hizbul commander here today, police said.

In a major setback to Hizbul Mujahideen, a police spokesman said self-styled Chief Commander operations of the terrorist outfit Ghulam Mohammad Bhat alias Gulfan and his close associate Jamal Din code Saifullah, were killed in a gunfight with security forces at Aghnari-Trigam in Banihal area of Doda district last night.

In another encounter in Doda, the spokesman said security forces shot dead two more Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, one of whom was identified as Irshad Ahmad Tak, during search operations at Posta Mathuri in Prem Nagar area today. Two AK rifles, five magazines and six grenades were recovered from them.

Army troops shot dead one more Hizbul terrorist Mohammad Maqbool Khan in an encounter during an ambush at Moshnar, three km South-East of Langate in Kupwara district this morning, the spokesman said adding Khan was active for the past several years.

Official sources said a jawan of Rashtriya Rifles, sepoy Preetam Singh, was critically injured in a gunfight with terrorists during search operations at Sonabrari in Anantnag district of South Kashmir in the wee hours today.

The jawan was rushed to the Army Base Hospital where he succumbed to injuries, they said.
Posted by: john || 05/14/2005 16:35 Comments || Top||


More on the explodogift...
A Muslim man, his daughter and son were killed in a "gift" bomb explosion while troops shot dead seven rebels in separate clashes in Indian Held Kashmir, police said Friday. The explosion occurred in the house of Mohammed Sayeed, 45, late Thursday in the southern Kashmir town of Bijbehara, a police spokesman said. "Sayeed and his two children died on the spot while his wife was seriously injured," the spokesman said. The son was aged 20 while the daughter was 22. Police said they were mystified why the family was targeted, as they had no political affiliations. An unidentified person delivered the wrapped gift earlier in the day and when the family "started opening it there was an explosion," the police spokesman said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Explosion halts Iraq oil exports to Turkey
Posted by: Fred || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Osama's trail getting hot again (?)
Pak Times article, lots of salt.
LAHORE: Pakistani and US intelligence believe they are "hot" on the trail of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and will be around him soon, a senior Pakistani official, who asked not to be named, told the news website Asia Times Online. The official said information gleaned from Al Qaeda operative Abu Faraj al-Libbi during interrogation signalled a potential breakthrough in the hunt for Bin Laden.
This is after we've gone through the pooh-pooh that we caught the wrong guy, that al-Libbi's just some guy with a similar name, and then we went through the pooh-pooh that no, he's not talking, nope, nope, ain't gettin' nuttin' out of him.
Libbi was interrogated by various agencies, including Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, Britain's MI6 and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. President General Pervez Musharraf assigned the official to coordinate and oversee investigations involving recent Al Qaeda detainees in Pakistan. He said, "Libbi's arrest is significant for Pakistan because he was involved in the assassination plots on Musharraf. Apparently we will not get Osama Bin Laden through Libbi and MI6 also share the opinion, that Libbi is little more than a foot soldier and not an operational chief. However, US interrogators have a different opinion and they call him the catch of the year."
Still can't drop that routine, huh?
The official told Asia Times Online that Libbi's arrest was not insignificant, since he highlighted Bajur Agency in the North West Frontier Province during interrogation and intelligence agencies found an Al Qaeda camp and arrested many important operatives, including an Uzbek. However, the official refused to say whether the Uzbek was Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leader Tahir Yaldash, who has been reportedly seen in Pakistan's tribal areas. "This is a state secret," the official told the website.
"I can say no more!"
The official said he could not divulge the captive's name nor give any hints, but said there was big 'head money' on him and was quite sure that through him, intelligence agencies would be able to track down Bin Laden and surround his sanctuary. But he added, "At present, we are completely in the dark."
The usual state of affairs in Pak-land, right?
They bring their own dark with them, everywhere they go.
More modern nation-states just bottle Pepsi.
"A breakthrough will come soon but will carry its own problems," the official told Asia Times Online. He said that if Bin Laden's location was pinpointed, a new debate would start on whether he should be obliterated arrested in Pakistan or not. "I am not part of a strategic community but my political acumen says that in the present drive we will find Bin Laden in our tribal areas. But we should try to push him to the other side of the border and let US troops arrest him because if he is arrested in Pakistan the army will lose face among the masses and there would be retaliation against the government beyond our comprehension, and then anything is possible
real terrorism, bloodshed and even a revolution."
This has possibilities. I like it.
About his interrogation of the Uzbek, the official it had been "truly incredible." He told the website that ideologies can and do differ but it is difficult not to be impressed by conviction. He said that he was a politician and compromise, retreat and lies were part of his business but, after spending an hour with the Uzbek, he had to admit that the prisoner had unbreakable conviction in his cause.
This article starring:
ABU FARAJ AL LIBIal-Qaeda
TAHIR YALDASHIslamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
Posted by: Steve White || 05/14/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...if he is arrested in Pakistan the army will lose face among the masses and there would be retaliation against the government beyond our comprehension,

If I may offer some constructive criticism, methinks there's a great number of things beyond their comprehension.
Posted by: Raj || 05/14/2005 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  They bring their own dark with them, everywhere they go.

Fred, your comment is hilarious, but true. They probably have an equivalent of a flashlight, that when you push the button to ON, it emits darkness instead of light.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/14/2005 11:36 Comments || Top||

#3  The Pakis will toss him over the Afghan border and let US deal w/him.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 05/14/2005 16:05 Comments || Top||

#4  I know about a half-dozen Pakistanis, four women and two men. They've all told me the same thing - if you're a Pakistani with an IQ above room temperature (which can be 130 in Pakistan), you find a way to get out of Pakistan, and never look back!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/14/2005 19:42 Comments || Top||

#5  '... real terrorism, bloodshed and even a revolution.”'

Well, the Paks have the first two in spades already...
Posted by: xbalanke || 05/14/2005 23:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Isn't this a weekly occurrence now? Didn't this happen a week ago outside the Saudi Finance Ministry?
Posted by: Brian || 11/18/2002 21:38 Comments || Top||



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Sat 2005-05-14
  Qaeda big Predizapped in NWFP
Fri 2005-05-13
  Uprising in Uzbekistan
Thu 2005-05-12
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Wed 2005-05-11
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Tue 2005-05-10
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Mon 2005-05-09
  U.S. Offensive in Western Iraq Kills 75
Sun 2005-05-08
  Aoun Returns From Exile
Sat 2005-05-07
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Fri 2005-05-06
  Marines Land on Somali Coast to Hunt Terrs?
Thu 2005-05-05
  20 40 64 Pakistanis Talibs killed
Wed 2005-05-04
  Al-Libbi in Jug!
Tue 2005-05-03
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