Saudi security forces have uncovered a militant hideout filled with bomb-making materials south of the capital Riyadh, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
It said the cache included two tonnes of fertilizer, ammonium nitrate, aluminum powder, potassium nitrate and other chemicals used by suspected al Qaeda militants to make bombs in their two-year wave of attacks against Saudi Arabia.
Security forces who searched the hideout on Tuesday in Kharj, 60 km (40 miles) southeast of Riyadh, also found pipe bombs, acid and electrical equipment, the ministry said in a statement.
The statement came hours after the U.S. embassy in Riyadh warned its citizens in Saudi Arabia that militants were planning fresh strikes in the world's biggest oil exporter.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/20/2005 14:49 ||
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The statement came hours after the U.S. embassy in Riyadh warned its citizens in Saudi Arabia that militants were planning fresh strikes in the world's biggest oil exporter.
Hours after? Wow. It's like they knew it was there, but didn't want to do anything about it.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/20/2005 14:58 Comments ||
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Or they found it, and decided to do a little PR, first.
And I thought I was paranoid! ;->
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/20/2005 15:22 Comments ||
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#3
it is time to "target kill a la sharon" one or two of the saudi bankers and one or two of their fiery whabbi preachers.........let them demonstrate their love for the cause.............
The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh urged Americans to keep a low profile after receiving indications that unspecified terror attacks were being planned in the kingdom, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. The embassy said it had no specific information about the possible timing, targets or methods of the terrorist attacks. But it urged American citizens in Saudi Arabia to exercise caution and be aware when visiting commercial establishments and other areas frequented by Westerners.
"We have issued a warden message about our knowledge of ongoing operation planning for terrorist attacks in the kingdom and we have urged American citizens to maintain a high level of vigilance," U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin told The Associated Press over the telephone. Neither the embassy nor the consulate planned to close, Kalin said.
An embassy statement also referred to previous attacks in which "housing compounds and other establishments where Westerners may be located" were targeted. Since May 2003, Islamic militants have carried out numerous suicide bombings and kidnappings and have regularly battled security forces. The attacks, which have tended to target Westerners, have been blamed on the al-Qaida terror group and allied militants.
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2005 10:53 ||
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Shoudl Correct teh headline:
The US Embassy in Saudi issued the warnings, the Saudi embassy couldn't care less if infidels die
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2005 11:02 Comments ||
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#2
PIMF - should, not shoudl. The, not teh.....need more coffee
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2005 11:03 Comments ||
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#3
There's blood in your caffeine system?
Posted by: Matt ||
07/20/2005 12:00 Comments ||
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#4
What makes today different from any other day? At least wrt plotting mayhem against the furriners...
Police on Wednesday captured a man accused of throwing a live grenade in a crowd not far from where President Bush was speaking in May in Tbilisi, the capital of the Georgia Republic, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.
Although the grenade never exploded in Freedom Square, it could have, according to Georgian officials and an FBI agent.
Initially, in the hours after the incident, Georgia officials insisted the device was an inert, Soviet-era training grenade that posed no threat to Bush or his audience.
The grenade was wrapped in a "dark tartan-colored cloth," a statement from the U.S. Embassy said in May.
"We consider this act to be a threat against the health and welfare of both the president of the United States and the president of Georgia as well as the multitude of Georgian people that had turned out at the event," the statement added.
Tens of thousands of people crowded into Tbilisi's main plaza -- Freedom Square -- to hear Bush on May 10. Parts of the stage on which he appeared were surrounded by bulletproof glass.
A reward of 20,000 laris ($10,978) was offered in exchange for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible, the embassy statement said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/20/2005 16:29 ||
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The grenade was wrapped in a "dark tartan-colored cloth," a statement from the U.S. Embassy said in May.
Scotland ForEver! Infidels!
Posted by: Abu Jacobite ||
07/20/2005 17:15 Comments ||
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Georgian police tried to arrest on Wednesday a man they suspect of throwing a grenade during a speech by visiting President Bush in May, but he escaped after a gunfight, local media reported. Police raided a property in the Vashli-Jvari suburb of Tbilisi where the suspect was hiding, Rustavi-2 Television station reported. One policeman was killed and the suspect was wounded, it reported from the scene. An operation was under way to find the suspect. Georgian police on Monday announced a new $83,000 reward for information about the suspect.
U.S. officials said at the time that the grenade only failed to explode because of a malfunction and landed within 30 meters (100 feet) of the president as he spoke to tens of thousands of people in Tbilisi's Freedom Square. The security scare blighted a trip intended to show Bush's support for the former Soviet state's West-leaning government, which came to power after a democratic revolution 20 months ago.
Officials said the grenade could have caused major injuries in the close-packed crowd, the largest gathering of people on the square since the "Rose Revolution" led by now-President Mikhail Saakashvili.
UPDATE: TBILISI, Georgia - Georgian police on Wednesday detained a man suspected of throwing a live grenade during a rally at which President Bush spoke in May, the Interior Ministry said. The capture came after a shootout in which one officer was killed and another wounded. The shootout and detention occurred Wednesday evening in the village of Vashlisdzhvari, outside the capital, Tbilisi, ministry spokesman Guram Donadze told The Associated Press. The suspect fled into the woods but was later detained, Donadze said.
If they were unhappy with him tossing a grenade that didn't go off, they're really pissed now that he killed a cop.
Rustavi-2 television showed pictures of a dark-haired man it described as the suspect being hustled into a car by police officers. It said he was wounded and identified him as Vladimir Arutyunov, in his late 20s. The man lived in an eight-story apartment building with his mother, Rustavi-2 reported, citing neighbors as saying Arutyunov was unemployed. The report could not immediately be confirmed.
Unemployed, living with his mom, hates Bush, sure he's not a member of MoveOn.org?
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/20/2005 15:38 ||
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The guy sounds pretty handy in a tight spot. Think he could be one of those KGB agents that have been unemployed for the last 14 years?
The New Yorker magazine (July 25 issue) has an outstanding article by William Finnegan regarding New York City's counter-terrorism efforts. Finnegan was granted incredible access to Police Commisioner Ray Kelly and the department's Counter-Terrorism Unit. I urge all of you to go read it. The article is (sigh) not available online; this link is to a semi-lame "Q & A" about the article. After reading this article, my respect for and faith in the NYPD has increased. NYC is a very hard target. The feds should take some notes!
Some of the highlights from the article:
NYPD has several foreign bureaus, including Tel Aviv, so they can better investigate terror incidents and coordinate tactics and info with agencies worldwide. NYPD sends its own officers to every major terror incident. The FBI called NYPD right after the Madrid bombing to tell them not to send anyone. "Our officers are already on the plane," was the reply.
NYPD utilizes its Nexus bureau to help the NYC businesses become "a pack, not a herd." They are plainsclothes officers who spend their days talking with businesses, to get their help in reporting suspicious or unusual activity. When a bomber in Israel dressed like a Hasidic rabbi, the Nexus team visited all the makers of religious garments in NYC the next day. They also keep an eye on the manufacturers of things that can be used to make ricin (acetone in the Diamond District, castor bean growers), and they keep tabs on the set of "Law and Order", where the prop NYPD cars are basically unsecured.
NYPD has a division that wades in the jihadi chatrooms all day. Their systems contracted some horrific viruses at first, but they've gotten better at avoiding them. It takes a long time to gain trust in this environment, but now they receive passwords to rooms they didn't even know existed.
NYPD has a lot of people with solid language skills in Pashto, Urdu, etc.
Of course, the reporter seemed to be surprised that Commissioner Kelly wasn't terribly concerned with the plight of the detainees in Guantanamo. Also, he noted that the Pentagon is "not noted for its humility." But he was obviously impressed with the capable, determined and focused leadership of the NYPD. As was I.
#1
while I admire the tactics discussed here I am concerned about our enemies learning from this about what we are doing and devising ways to counter. We are not dealing with dummies here.
Sometimes I think we talk too much. "loose lips sink ships"
Posted by: Phil ||
07/20/2005 14:39 Comments ||
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President Bush wants to find out which agency has the best counterterrorist operation, so he gets together teams from the FBI, the CIA and the NYPD at the ranch in Crawford. He tells them, "Look guys, there a rabbit in these woods and I want you to find him and bring him to me. FBI, you're up first."
The FBI agents go in and come out after a while with no rabbit. The special agent in charge explains, "Mr. President, we installed extensive surveillance devices throughout the woods and expect to apprehend the rabbit shortly." To which President Bush replies, "Bullshit! You didn't bring me the rabbit! CIA, you're up next."
The CIA team goes in and comes out after a while with no rabbit. The Deputy Director explains, "Mr. President, we caught the rabbit and turned him, so now he's out there operating as a double agent." To which President Bush replies, "Bullshit! You didn't bring me the rabbit and I bet you never even saw him. NYPD, you're up next."
The NYPD team goes into the woods. After a while, a bear staggers out of the woods, half-conscious and bleeding from every orifice. The bear says to President Bush: "Okay! Okay! I'm a rabbit."
Posted by: Matt ||
07/20/2005 14:58 Comments ||
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via JihadWatch
Man Left Briefcase, Claims To Have Message From Allah
A man has attracted the attention of the FBI after an incident at a Greenville County (South Carolina) church last weekend. Sheriff's deputies said Iyad Abed Alnazli entered the Redemption World Outreach Center's morning service Sunday, and tried to approach the stage. "It was a young man of Arabic descent who had come in and said that he had a message for the church and this was a word from Allah." church founder Ron Carpenter said
Security officers met Alnazli before he reached the stage and stopped him. "He became unraveled. He began to scream vulgarities out," Carpenter said.
When the officers escorted Alnazli from the building, they found he had left a briefcase in the foyer and parked his car in a church worker's spot against the building. "And our first thoughts were, 'We have someone here who's unstable.' But the concerns grew when he began to talk all of the terrorist language, 'I want to do my job. I want to go back to my homeland," Carpenter said.
Deputies called the bomb squad and the FBI to investigate. "Certainly, when someone makes a comment that would be perceived as a security issue - potential national security - as far as threats against the country, we would take those and pass them along to the FBI," Lt. Shea Smith said. The bomb squad blew up the bag, but found no explosives. The FBI told WYFF News 4 only that it was aware of the incident and would not elaborate, but Carpenter said he was told that Alnazli was on an FBI watch list. Why wasn't he placed on the first plane back to Hellistan the moment he came to the attention of the FBI?
Investigators said Alnazli had recently been treated for mental problems. In addition to the criminal charge, the man has been served with a trespass notice from the church. Mugshot confirms Iyad has been working on his Mohammed Atta stare.
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2005 11:04 ||
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"It was a young man of Arabic descent who had come in and said that he had a message for the church and this was a word from Allah." church founder Ron Carpenter said Security officers met Alnazli before he reached the stage and stopped him. "He became unraveled. He began to scream vulgarities out," Carpenter said.
Allah has a potty mouth.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/20/2005 11:46 Comments ||
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"Alnazli had recently been treated for mental problems"
Isn't adherence to Islam a recipe for "mental problems"? looks like that when I see their activities around the world.
#5
He will probably be given a written notice to stay away from the church and behave... and then he will do something stupid that will end with everyone saying, "Gosh!" "Geeze!" "Dang!" and "Why didn't we do something?" Then a reactionary from the PC crowd will stand up for him and defend his lack of honor and cow all the social leaders and govt leaders into a superficial silence of shame for thinking bad thoughts of what to do with somebody like him. After that... we start all over for the next goofball(s).
#11
Jake, that's probably a reporter taking liberty with the role of ushers or the like.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/20/2005 13:53 Comments ||
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As i live 30 mi from g-vlle this news is disheartining, It is a fact that there are a lot of mooselimbs in the area, while they tend to kept in the seedier parts of greenville they are becoming stronger.
Here is a link to the church as it is a big one i believe not my type of church but these are popular throughout the South
There is also a Islamic Learning center at Clemson University which probably needs to have its funds looked at for Saudi involvement it has alot of ppl who attend fridays mass.
As we have a nuke facilities here they need to be protected from the muzzy populace
#13
sorry here is the link http://www.rwoc.org/
also alot of churches do have sec gaurds cause the churches tend to be in bad neghborhoods with high crime rates a lot of muggings and car related theft takes place on sundays my church has been robbed and had cars broken into, and i live in a smaller town than Greenville
#18
Since 9/11 my synagogue, and presumably all the others in the Cincinnati area, have at least two policemen at the entrance for regular Friday night and Saturday services, and more outside for the High Holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). I would expect a church to at least have a staffer told off in case of a medical emergency, and to make sure the collection money has been put somewhere secure.
#19
RC, you're probably right on the money. Probably was some ushers or some of the deacons. But, I'd also like to add, if someone came running into my church screaming "I've got a message from allah," I'd probably rush him myself.
Posted by: BA ||
07/20/2005 21:23 Comments ||
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GILGIT: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a taxi driver in Didingdas on Wednesday. Police said the slain taxi driver Habibur Rahman, a Sonikote resident, was found murdered in his taxi. News spread to other parts of the city and shopkeepers and businessmen shut down their shops. The entire city looked abandoned as roads, streets and markets emptied.
Police said another man was shot and wounded by unidentified men on River View Road soon after the Didingdas killing. The man has been taken to Gilgit district headquarters hospital. Sources said that police and rangers contingents had moved to Sonikote and Kashroot to reassure people.
Guess we know where all the Jhangvi guys went when they scuttled out of Karachi...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2005 21:00 ||
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Ahh yes, yet another Associated Press article that is obviously biased.WASHINGTON - A majority of U.S. soldiers in Iraq say morale is low, according to an Army report that finds psychological stress is weighing particularly heavily on National Guard and Reserve troops.
Still, soldiers' mental health has improved from the early months of the insurgency, and suicides have declined sharply, the report said. Also, substantially fewer soldiers had to be evacuated from Iraq for mental health problems last year.
The Army sent a team of mental health specialists to Iraq and Kuwait late last summer to assess conditions and measure progress in implementing programs designed to fix mental health problems discovered during a similar survey of troops a year earlier. Its report, dated Jan. 30, 2005, was released Wednesday.
The initial inquiry was triggered in part by an unusual surge in suicides among soldiers in Iraq in July 2003. Wednesday's report said the number of suicides in Iraq and Kuwait declined from 24 in 2003 to nine last year.
A suicide prevention program was begun for soldiers in Iraq at the recommendation of the 2003 assessment team.
The overall assessment said 13 percent of soldiers in the most recent study screened positive for a mental health problem compared with 18 percent a year earlier. Symptoms of acute or post-traumatic stress remained the top mental health problem, affecting at least 10 percent of all soldiers checked in the latest survey.
In the anonymous survey, 17 percent of soldiers said they had experienced moderate or severe stress or problems with alcohol, emotions or their families. That compares with 23 percent a year earlier. The report said reasons for the improvement in mental health are not clear. Among possible explanations: less frequent and less intense combat, more comforts like air conditioning, wider access to mental health services and improved training in handling the stresses associated with deployments and combat.
National Guard and Reserve soldiers who serve in transportation and support units suffered more than others from depression, anxiety and other indications of acute psychological stress, the report said. These soldiers have often been targets of the insurgents' lethal ambushes and roadside bombs, although the report said they had significantly fewer actual combat experiences than soldiers assigned to combat units.
The report recommended that the Army reconsider whether National Guard and Reserve support troops are getting adequate training in combat skills. Even though they do less fighting than combat troops, they might be better suited to cope with wartime stress if they had more confidence in their combat skills, it said.
Only 55 percent of National Guard support soldiers said they have "real confidence" in their unit's ability to perform its mission, compared with 63 percent of active-duty Army support soldiers. And only 28 percent of the Guard troops rated their level of training as high, compared with 50 percent of their active-duty counterparts.
Small focus groups were held to ascertain troop morale.
The report said 54 percent of soldiers rated their units' morale as low or very low. The comparable figure in a year-earlier Army survey was 72 percent.(Sooooo technically the headline of this liberal biased article should be 'Morale up among U.S. Soldiers in Iraq')Although respondents said "combat stressors" like mortar attacks were higher in the most recent survey, "noncombat stressors" like uncertain tour lengths were much lower, the report said.
The thing that bothered soldiers the most, the latest assessment said, was the length of their required stay in Iraq. At the start of the war, most were deployed for six months, but now they go for 12 months.
Asked about this, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference that the Army's 12-month requirement is linked in part to its effort to complete a fundamental reorganization of fighting units.
"I've tried to get the Army to look at the length of tours and I think at some point down the road they will," he said.
#1
The report said reasons for the improvement in mental health are not clear.
They know they won't have John F'n Kerry as their Commander in Chief?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/20/2005 19:20 Comments ||
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Articles: The initial inquiry was triggered in part by an unusual surge in suicides among soldiers in Iraq in July 2003. Wednesday's report said the number of suicides in Iraq and Kuwait declined from 24 in 2003 to nine last year.
Interestingly enough, July 2003 was before the guerrilla war started ramping up in earnest.
#3
Man, there's a shuddersome idea; I wonder what morale they'd have now if he was?
By the way, if the election had gone to Kerry, today would have marked the end of his first six months in office-- and we'd be reading great green gobs of gooey, fawning, reverential bullshit in the MSM about how much "better" things are with him in office.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/20/2005 19:53 Comments ||
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At least they have morale. In Vietnam the answer to the question, "how's morale?" was "what's morale". Big improvement.
#5
Man, there's a shuddersome idea; I wonder what morale they'd have now if he was?
I'm sure annual visits by toothsome two-America's VP John Edwards, bucking up Sec Def Wesley Clark would bring morale ....er... nevermind
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2005 20:10 Comments ||
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#6
Is the reporter capable of discerning between low morale and normal soldierly bitching & moaning? And how does this report of low morale square with the high re-enlistment numbers we've seen elsewhere?
#7
Even in WW2, I'll bet any survey would have reported low morale. That's the normal state for troops in a combat zone. Are they suppose to be saying "Oh, this is so much fun! Better than sex, better than a cruise, better than etc! How ridiculous.
#11
Feral, I don't think that is correct. Morale in the units I had contact with (except Americal) was almost always high (69 thru 71). These were all infantry units. Things weren't perfect and rosy, but they weren't bad. Americal seemed jinxed.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/20/2005 21:47 Comments ||
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"And if morale's not low now, we'll keep running articles like this until it is."
Posted by: Matt ||
07/20/2005 21:51 Comments ||
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#13
17-23% is normal for the normal population. In a combat zone, out of contact with family, strange environment, people shooting at you, that number seems pretty damn good.
Moral is always lower for overseas deployment, especially in a combat zone. In the Bosnia, the people I talked to that were there said moral was lower than dirt, around 90% with really low moral. Typical with peacekeeping missions.
#14
And let's not forget that re-enlistment in combat units is at a record high.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/20/2005 21:57 Comments ||
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#15
Bosnia must have REALLY sucked.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/20/2005 21:59 Comments ||
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#16
Vietnamization increased US soldier morale in that war. As did use of the airforce in broad targeting (you should have been elsewhere, civilians). Who knows? I forsee changes in the terms of engagement.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
07/20/2005 22:12 Comments ||
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#17
9 suicides for 170,000 tropps (Iraq+Kuwait estimate), gives a rate of 5.3 in 2004. The US male suicide rate in 2002 was 17.9 per 100,000. Something is wrong. Seriously wrong. The troops are much too happy and will be ordered to be 3.37 times more miserable, in line with US averages.
BTW, what's the suicide rate for lying scumbag journalists?
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2005 22:14 Comments ||
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#18
Suicide rates are a tricksy thing to try and draw any conclusions from. In my previous life, I was a broadcaster, assigned to AFKN-Seoul in the early 1990ies. Part of my gig there was to do a daily 5 minute radio news show, and one bright morning, my NCOIC called my attention to the fact that there had been an unusually high recorded rate of suicides among US forces assigned to the ROK during the previous year.(the figure was, as I recall, about 7 or 8.) He thought there might be a story in it, so I went along to CID, and tried to work out what it might be. I spent a couple of hours with the CID commander, and his chief investigator trying to work out exactly what--- if anything--- might be going on. (Amazing, I could get face-time with a full colonel and a WO, just by being with the media, even the in-house variety!) They brought out their records on every one, and...there was nothing that they or I could figure out an angle on. Except that only one of them was what we were always told was the stereotypical suicide hazard-- a young troop, in a crisis, and overtaken by despair, depression and access to serious weaponry. All the others were mid-rank officers, or senior NCOs... and for one of them, they could find no reason at all. (In retrospect, when they do a psychological post-mortem, they can usually find some reason for despair, in one case it still was a mystery) We eventually surmised that in a place like the ROK, the junior troops are very carefully watched, and closely supervised... it's the midrank people who weren't so supervised, and had a modicum of privacy, who could off themselves without anyone taking notice of the warning signs, and feeling they had to tell someone.
And no, we never did come to any conclusion about why there were several more suicides that year, than in the several years before. Sometimes, s**t just happens.
Iraq announced its post-Saddam Hussein constitution would be ready within two weeks despite sustained rebel attacks that saw the killing of two Sunni members of the charter's drafting committee and the subsequent resignation of another four.
As rebels pursued their attacks on the ground, another 15 people lost their lives, including eight killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the gates of an army recruiting center in Baghdad.
The news came as Egyptian telecom magnate Nagib Sawiris said Cairo's envoy to Baghdad, whose murder by insurgents was announced earlier this month, could be alive, according to Egyptian news reports.
"We have some information that the Egyptian ambassador is probably alive and that he was not killed," the Orascom chairman told state-owned newspaper Al-Gumhuriya.
Ihab al-Sharif, 51, was kidnapped on July 2 in Baghdad and the group of Al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed his murder five days later. Sharif's body has yet to be recovered by the Egyptian authorities.
However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit was quoted by the independent Al-Masri al-Youm as saying that "there is a slim chance that we may find Ihab al-Sharif alive."
"However the information we all have is that he was most probably martyred."
In Iraq, meanwhile, constitution committee chairman Hamoun Hammadi said the document would be ready to go to Parliament by August 1, ahead of the August 15 deadline, before going to a referendum on October 15.
"There has been an agreement about all the basic issues, including the basic principles, rights, duties and freedoms," he told reporters. "The only point left is that of federalism which aroused some concerns and fears."
The national assembly will then debate the draft and submit amendments in time for a final vote on August 15, marking a milestone in Iraq's political transition following the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion and the toppling of Saddam.
Hammadi's announcement came despite the killing of two Sunni Arabs involved in the drafting which led to resignation of four other Sunni members of the commission and raised doubt about its ability to prepare the charter on time.
Dhamin Hussein and Aziz Ibrahim, among 15 prominent Sunni Arabs from outside Parliament invited to work on the panel drafting the document, were gunned down in Baghdad.
"The time is not right for writing the constitution and we think it is not possible for us to continue working in such an atmosphere," said Salah al-Mutlaq, a spokesman for the Sunni-based National Dialogue Council, which groups a number of small Sunni parties.
The minority Sunni Arabs, who were dominant under Saddam, are under-represented in Parliament because they largely boycotted elections in January and are considered the backbone of the insurgency.
As Iraq remembered the dead from some of the worst bombings of a recent frenzy, rebels continued their attacks, with eight killed in the army recruiting center bombing and another seven in attacks elsewhere.
"I was standing opposite the entrance to the base, near the park, where those wanting to join up are expected to wait as a safety measure, when a fat young man wearing a grey T-shirt called out for everyone to come forward to answer questions on how the center worked," said Rahim Ashuan, one of the would-be recruits.
"Just then I got scared and moved away with some of my friends. A few seconds later there was an enormous explosion and I was sent flying. I passed out and woke up here," he said.
A three-minute silence was observed to commemorate the deaths of 32 children in Baghdad last week when a suicide bomber blew himself up as U.S. soldiers handed out chocolates and for the 83 dead when another bomber blew up a propane gas tanker in Al-Musayyib, south of the capital.
The terrorists "feel that by killing our children we will bow down," Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari told Parliament in a televised broadcast, flanked by his cabinet ministers.
"But the people of Iraq have faced a dictatorial regime for three decades and they will not bow down."
Turkey warned it was losing patience over the safe haven that armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels enjoyed in northern Iraq, saying it may carry out a military incursion.
The PKK responded with a threat to turn northern Iraq into a "quagmire" for the Turkish army if it launches cross-border operations to clean up on guerrilla camps.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/20/2005 16:59 ||
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I doubt they'd like the results of an "incursion"...
#4
That second front option is over and done. This Turkey's gone from too islamic dry to overdone. STFU or face attack
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2005 20:12 Comments ||
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#5
However, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit was quoted by the independent Al-Masri al-Youm as saying that "there is a slim chance that we may find Ihab al-Sharif alive."
"However the information we all have is that he was most probably martyred."
So you work for the Eqyptian Govt, skip your kids birthdays, work weekends, get promoted to a post that you know will put you in the headlines (i.e. Ambassador to Iraq). You're kidnapped, no one really knows if you're dead or not, but your employer decides that if you were murdered, you were "martyred"....Hopefully you've added your wife to your 401k...
The closer to home, the better DEBKA gets with their intel:1. Hamas operatives are under orders to fire on Palestinian Authority security officers coming to arrest them and call the local people out on the street to hem them in.
2. Hamas claims that one of the Fatah captives (hostages) they seized Tuesday, July 19, in the northern district âconfessedâ the PA was planning to murder the heads of the Hamas âmilitaryâ arm, the Ezz-e-din al Qassam Battalions. The videotaped âconfessionâ is going around the Gaza Strip.
3. Factions of the Fatah al Aqsa Brigades in a sudden burst of loyalty are helping patchy efforts by PA security men and Mahmoud Abbas to confront Hamas gunmen shooting at Israelis. They are in fact obeying - not Abbas but the Damascus-based hardline Fatah leader Farouq Kaddumi. He has set a price for their support. As soon as the Israelis are gone from the Gaza Strip, he plans to transfer his headquarters there, along with the heads of the Damascus commands of Hamas and Jihad Islami.
4. Kadoumiâs first demand will be the abolition of the Palestinian Authority as the legitimate government of the Gaza and the West Bank and the transfer of rule to the Palestinian Liberation Organization to which Hamas and Jihad will be co-opted.
5. While these al Aqsa Brigades factions are siding with the PA for the infighting against Hamas, they have jumped aboard Hamasâs bombing offensive against Israel. Together they intend seizing the real estate Israel is about to evacuate. The Brigades therefore support the Abbas and the PA on one issue, oppose it on two.
6. After six days of hard bargaining, Hamas and the Brigades informed Abbas and the visiting Egyptian mediators, Generals Mustafa Bakri, deputy intelligence chief, and Mohammed Ibrahim, head of the Palestinian Desk, that their offensive against Israel will continue. They therefore rejected the bid for a return to the de facto truce.
7. A large group of 20 Egyptian military officers is due in the Gaza Strip Wednesday, July 20, to take up positions as âresponsible observersâ to monitor the Palestinian deployment (still non-existent) which is supposed to cordon off Israeliâs pull-out operation against a Hamas grab.
Monday and Tuesday, July 18-19, saw a certain slackening of Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets, compared with the preceding five days. DEBKAfileâs Palestinian sources explain that this improvement has nothing to do with the talks Abu Mazen backed by Egyptian generals has been conducting in Gaza with no results since last Thursday. In any case, the Jihad Islami, for instance, which sent the suicide bomber who killed 5 Israelis at a Netanya mall earlier this month, never joined the truce in the first place. What the terrorist leaders, led by Hamas, are keeping their powder relatively dry for is a mass Israeli target in the form of the anti-disengagement march, which was supposed to reach the Kissufim checkpoint at the entrance to the Gaza Strip Wednesday, July 20.
If the demonstratorsâ arrival is prevented by the all-out police-military effort launched Tuesday night to block their path, then Hamas will aim at the concentrations of Israeli troops and police as an alternative target of attack. Terrorist teams will at the same time resume their missile and mortar barrage of Sderot, Gaza communities and Israeli military positions. According to DEBKAfileâs military sources, the Hamas has called up reserve gun squads and broken open ammunition stores kept for emergencies.
Thursday, July 21, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice is due in the Middle East to try and defuse the crisis generated by the Hamas offensive lest it threaten the pull-out. Hamas will do its utmost to demonstrate Abu Mazenâs helplessness in the face of the Gaza turmoil. Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon will wait politely for her to leave before launching reprisals â if then.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2005 15:42 ||
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#1
Sounds like the makings of an fine BoomRoom Farce.... belonging to 7 factions but loving the Jordanian in the attic.
GAZA CITY - Hamas gunmen on Wednesday attacked the homes of the head of the Palestinian security services and the leader in Gaza of the governing Fatah faction, just hours after a deal to end factional fighting.
This must have just been your average everyday fighting then
At least seven people were injured in the exchanges of fire with bodyguards after the attacks on the home of preventive security chief Rashid Abu Shbak and the head of Fatah in Gaza, Abdallah Franji, security and Hamas sources said. While the security sources accused members of Hamasâs armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, of initiating the latest violence, Hamas said the shooting had been started by the security services.
"Wasn't us, we're the peaceful armed wing"
Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said members of the preventive security services had opened fire on a car containing members of Hamas as they drove past Abu Shbakâs house and that one of Franjiâs bodyguards also shot at a Hamas vehicle.
I'm thinking shooting up Hamas sounds like a good preventive measure to me.
Abu Zuhri said four members of Hamas were wounded in the exchanges, while hospital sources confirmed that three members of the security services had also been injured.
We can always pray for septis
Both attacks happened around dawn in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood, in southern Gaza City.
Dawn in beautiful Gaza, the sun glinting off the wrecked cars, smoke wafting on the ocean breeze, the crackle of gunfire, the screams from the trauma center...
Several hours earlier, Fatah and Hamas officials announced they had reached an agreement to end factional violence. Further talks between the factions were expected to take place later in the day in Gaza City to consolidate the truce, sources on both sides said.
At least 22 people were wounded on Tuesday during clashes in the northern Gaza Strip between Hamas and members of either the security services or Fatah. Those clashes had been confined to the Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya areas, which lie to the east of Gaza City. There were no reports of fresh fighting in either area early Wednesday.
Give it time
Abu Zuhri said that despite the fresh clashes in Gaza City, all sides were keen to draw a line under the violence. âThere is a desire among our movement and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority to put an end to this issue and to implement this âquietâ on the ground,â he told AFP.
"Then we can get back to killin' joooos"
Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Palestinian parliament in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday to call for national unity and an end to the security chaos in the occupied territories.
The long-running rivalry between Fatah and Hamas has been stoked recently by the radical Islamist movementâs refusal to accept an offer to join a national unity government. The head of Hamas in its Gaza stronghold, Mahmud Zahar, said in a recent interview that there had been a permanent breakdown of trust between his organisation and the Palestinian Authority. The infighting has emphasised the collapse of the rule of law in the occupied territories which Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Ahmed Qorei have repeatedly pledged to tackle.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2005 14:50 ||
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The crowd-control weapon causes pain in a few seconds and becomes intolerable within 5 - so what happens if the recipient cannot move aside?
VOLUNTEERS taking part in tests of the Pentagon's "less-lethal" microwave weapon were banned from wearing glasses or contact lenses due to safety fears. The precautions raise concerns about how safe the Active Denial System (ADS) weapon would be if used in real crowd-control situations.
The ADS fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam, which is supposed to heat skin and to cause pain but no physical damage (New Scientist, 27 October 2001, p 26). Little information about its effects has been released, but details of tests in 2003 and 2004 were revealed after Edward Hammond, director of the US Sunshine Project - an organisation campaigning against the use of biological and non-lethal weapons - requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.
The tests were carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two experiments tested pain tolerance levels, while in a third, a "limited military utility assessment", volunteers .
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/20/2005 15:30 ||
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#8
Okay Shipman, you've got to explain the thing about Auburn, New York because Google doesn't show anything special about it and I'm going to go crazy if I don't find out. Please?
Posted by: Jonathan ||
07/20/2005 16:07 Comments ||
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#9
he's an FSU fanatic - I assume it's a slam on Auburn GA :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2005 16:19 Comments ||
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Sorry to disappoint, but I'm just from Auburn, California.. and my name is Tom. Hence the clever handle I came up with ;)
Posted by: Auburn Tom ||
07/20/2005 16:31 Comments ||
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#11
Auburn CA, isn;t that near Grass Valley? Seems you been smokin some of that grass.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/20/2005 16:32 Comments ||
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Active Denial is very cool technology that is remarkably effective. I've seen the video of the demo at Kirtland and it is pretty funny. These tough guy volunteers just start hopping everywhere when the beam hits them. As soon as it is off, the pain is gone. The drawback currently is price and power draw, but those are being addressed. Of course there is also the aforementioned asshat factor who will freak out about this technology even though it is the most effective, non-damaging crowd control device to ever come down the pike. I'd love to see this take on the anarchy/big puppet crowd. There would be some soiled drawers in the group, no doubt.
#18
Frank G, that was a slam against my Ulta Matum, Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. Ship and I have a friendly rivalry going on. Back on topic,the "volunteers" for this are either very masochistic or very brave. Fire it up at the next G-8.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/20/2005 17:19 Comments ||
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#19
oops, sorry for the geographical/alma mater faux pas DB, but I knew where he was going, at least :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/20/2005 17:22 Comments ||
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#20
Surely one can counter this by wearing a foil suit? It must be a MASER, so a sort of mirror must exist which would reflect the beam back to your opponents, no?
Actually contacts fusing to eyeballs is a real problem. I'm a consultant and I was just at a chemical plant where contacts are forbidden. If a certain gas leaks (hexa something or other) your contacts CAN fuse to your eye.
#24
I would hope the Israelis are able to deploy about a dozen of these real soon.
Suggested sign at Israeli border crossings:
This is the house of pain. To jihad inside is insane.
Posted by: Scott R ||
07/20/2005 20:46 Comments ||
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#25
Deacon Blues: Hey, bub, I'm an AU grad myself. War d@mn eagle! Back on topic, I'd love to see the video of the tests...anyone have links?
Posted by: BA ||
07/20/2005 21:33 Comments ||
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#26
It makes the skin feel hot but if there were enough heat to melt contact lenses it would most likely burn the skin. Contact lenses can take a lot more heat than most people think.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/20/2005 21:45 Comments ||
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#27
Gotta agree with Deacon -- contacts would likely dry out long before they melted.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/20/2005 21:59 Comments ||
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Deacon,
Contact lenses can be up to 80% water, which preferentially absorbs 95GHz microwaves, which then heats up to a higher temp than skin. So you have higher temps in contacts with a very delicate single cell layer conjuctiva. Damage the conjuctiva and you will have serious eye irritation and infection. Denature the proteins and it will stick like fried eggs to an iron skillet.
Posted by: ed ||
07/20/2005 22:48 Comments ||
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#30
Auburn Tom---Spent much time in Auburn since the 50s. Love the old courthouse with the statue on top. Stopped there with my plane at times.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/20/2005 23:23 Comments ||
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Sunni Arabs involved in drafting Iraq's constitution were assassinated Tuesday afternoon on a busy street in central Baghdad, delivering a setback to the country's fledgling democratic process.
The two men, Mejbil al-Sheik Isa and Damin al-Obeidi, were in a car that was taking them from a meeting of committee members when they were attacked, the officials said. A bodyguard, Aziz Ebrahim, was also killed.
Mr. Isa was among the 15 Sunni Arabs recently appointed as committee members, and Mr. Obeidi was one of 10 newly appointed Sunni consultants. The expansion of the committee was part of an effort by the Shiite and Kurd-dominated National Assembly, under pressure from the Bush administration, to draw more Sunni Arabs into the charter-writing process, both to help cement the country's nascent democracy and to undermine the insurgency by making the process more inclusive.
But the killings raised concerns on Tuesday that those efforts could be jeopardized, and there was disagreement among several Sunni committee members about whether they would suspend their participation pending the outcome of a government investigation of the slayings.
One Sunni member of the committee, who requested anonymity because of concerns about his safety, insisted that the Sunni delegation would not be intimidated into withdrawing from the constitution-writing project. "We need to discuss our reaction to what happened, but I can tell you that we will continue working in the constitution committee," he said.
Attacks aimed at the committee had been widely feared; insurgents had threatened to kill any Sunni Arabs who took part in writing the constitution. Mr. Isa and Mr. Obeidi were the first members to be killed.
Initial suspicion for their deaths fell on Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a militant group operating in Iraq and led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who has vowed to overthrow the current government. But by late Tuesday, no group had claimed responsibility.
"There was a threat made by Al Qaeda," said Ayad al-Samaraai, a Sunni member of the committee and a member of the moderate Iraqi Islamic Party. "But I still think that we should wait until we see the results of the investigation."
Ali Muhammad, 17, a guard at the popular Azaem restaurant in the Karada neighborhood, said he was standing outside the restaurant when he saw a minibus pull abreast of the sedan carrying Mr. Isa, Mr. Obeidi and the bodyguard. Three gunmen inside the minibus riddled the sedan with gunfire from AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifles, then escaped in their vehicle down a nearby alley.
Fakhri al-Qaisi, a member of the National Dialogue Committee, a Sunni political organization, said the Sunni members of the constitution-writing committee had repeatedly asked the government to help provide security for them but their requests had not been granted.
"We asked many times about guards, but we did not get any," he recalled. "We are neglected, and no one cares about us. I do not know how we are going to build a country in such circumstances."
The bodyguard who was traveling with the two men on Tuesday was a private guard hired by one of them and had not been assigned by the government, according to the Sunni committee member who requested anonymity. Calls seeking comment from Interior Minister Bayan Jabr or his spokesmen were not returned.
Condemnation of the assassinations was swift and cut across political lines, with Sunni Arabs and Shiites alike criticizing the attack.
"This is the hand of terrorism, which does not want the country to move toward stability and to write the constitution in harmony with all Iraqis," Ali al-Dabagh, a Shiite member of the National Assembly, said in a telephone interview. The slain Sunni Arabs, he said, represented hope for what he called "a middle solution."
The government of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari issued a statement saying, "The government promises everyone that it will punish those killers and will continue supporting and encouraging a wide and comprehensive participation of all parties in drafting the constitution."
At the United Nations, Secretary General Kofi Annan reacted to the news "with shock and dismay" and said he hoped the committee would not be deterred "from completing its important task on time," according to his spokesman.
The attacks followed a morning news conference in which Iraq's president, Jalal Talabani, predicted that the constitution could be completed by the end of the month.
Parliament has until Aug. 15 to adopt a draft, though the government has the option of delaying for up to six months. If the deadline is met, the draft will be put to a national referendum by mid-October and elections for a full five-year government would happen in mid-December.
Mr. Talabani reported that the committee had been making good progress, but added that "there are some Arab brothers" who "have some reservations that are being taken into consideration."
"If we can reach an agreement with them," Reuters quoted him as saying, "I believe the constitution can be ready by the end of the month." He did not identify the critics in question, but heavily contested issues include federalism and the role of Islam in Iraqi law.
There was scattered violence around Iraq on Tuesday, killing more than a dozen people.
The most deadly attack occurred about 8 a.m. when insurgents in two cars opened fire on a minibus carrying Iraqi workers to an American military base in Khalis, about 40 miles north of Baghdad. Ten of the workers were killed and the minibus driver was wounded, said an official at the Interior Ministry. The minibus crashed into a passing car, the official said, killing three more people.
A spokesman for the American command confirmed the attack but offered no further details. In an Internet posting later in the day, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia claimed responsibility and accused the victims of "supporting the crusaders."
Iraqi civilian workers on American military bases in Iraq do not live on the bases and commute from their homes. They hold a wide range of jobs, including interpreting and translating, clerical work and carpentry, sewing and cleaning.
The American command announced Tuesday that an American solider had died in a noncombat-related incident at Camp Arifjan, an American base south of Kuwait City. While the United States maintains a permanent troop presence in Kuwait, the military also uses the country as a staging point for units moving in and out of Iraq.
In Kirkuk, two people, including at least one police officer, were killed in a roadside bomb attack, and five others were wounded, including two police officers, the authorities said.
A member of the city council of Buhruz, near Baquba, was assassinated on the town's main street, said an official at the Baquba police station.
And in Qahira, a neighborhood in Baghdad, three police officers traveling in a police pickup truck survived an assassination attempt but were badly wounded, an Interior Ministry official reported.
Notably, however, there were no suicide bombings for the second day in a row, according to government officials. Suicide bombs became a brutal and defining feature of the landscape during an eight-day stretch from July 10-17. During that period, Greater Baghdad was bloodied by numerous suicide attacks, including an attack on American troops that killed more than two dozen civilians, most of them children, and a suicide bombing on Saturday involving a fuel tanker that killed at least 71 people, most of them civilians, and wounded at least 156.
Mr. Zarqawi's insurgent group, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, posted statement on the Internet on Tuesday accusing the American television news media and two Middle Eastern cable news channels, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, of trying to "blacken the truth" by underreporting casualties among the American-backed coalition troops, according to the SITE Institute, a monitoring organization in Washington that analyzes postings by Islamic terrorist groups.
In the statement, according to SITE, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia said that only its information department was free from the "crusader's whip" that drives the foreign media to lie.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/20/2005 14:50 ||
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#1
There is a solution you know. If the Sunnis would have a mind to do it, the terrorists could be rooted out, with our help, in no time flat. I think the day is comming soon that the Sunnis will be through with those asshats.
#2
The more they kill Sunnis, the more Al Qaeda hurts itself. Their logic is so incredibally irrational that we all know their days are numbered, and the clock has been ticking for quite some time now.
KABUL - Four suspected Taleban militants were killed in southern Afghanistan early on Wednesday when a bomb they were attempting to plant on a highway exploded, a provincial governor said. âFour Taleban who were trying to plant a remote-controlled bomb in the Langar area, by the side of the highway en route to Tirin Kot, blew themselves up,â Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammed told AFP. âPolice discovered the bodies along with four Kalashnikovs,â he said.
"Clean up, aisle 2!"
The area around Tirin Kot in troubled Uruzgan province has been the scene of frequent attacks by militants who often use crudely made bombs.
Suspected Taleban militants also attacked a government highway patrol in neighbouring Zabul province late Tuesday, said police official Mohammed Turfan. One militant and a policeman were injured in the gunfight, he said. Taleban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2005 14:42 ||
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#1
I hope we see more accidents for thoose poor demented people! They need to watch out for God will catch up to them and they will ultimatley feel his wrath!!!
#7
LOL about the image of an insatiable 72 virgin. Also the imagery posted by Frank--No virgins and no hands! Eternity with blueballs. Sounds like hell to me.
The Pakistani police have arrested a major al-Qaeda figure who has suspected close links to the London bombers, according to The Times newspaper. According to the British daily, a senior Pakistani official said that the al-Qaeda figure who is a Pakistani was arrested during raids in Lahore and Karachi and was under interrogation over his alleged role in the 7 July attacks in London. The Pakistani authorities have denied the report.
"We suspect two or three of the detained [from Lahore] had links with the bombers, but one in particular, who is a major figure in al-Qaeda. We are interrogating them intensively," the official told The Times.
On Wednesday, Pakistani security officials denied the Times report saying that they had made no such arrest in Pakistan.
The authorities in the UK have said that the simultaneous bomb blasts that were carried out on the London transport system "bore the hallmarks" of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, which carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
Three of those believed to have carried out the attacks have been identified by the police as British-born Muslim men of Pakistani origin who all made recent trips to Pakistan. The police are trying to determine who they met during their visit. The fourth bomber is believed to be a Jamaican-born Muslim convert. The July 7 attacks in London left at least 56 killed and another 700 injured.
In Pakistan, at least 139 people were arrested in the country-wide raids on hardline Islamists on Tuesday night that were conducted in the Sindh and Punjab provinces of Pakistan as well as Quetta and Islamabad.
According to the police, among those arrested were suspected members of banned organisations such as Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, Jaish-i-Mohammad, Harkatul Mujahideen and Hizbul Tehrir.
The arrests come as Pakistan's foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri travels to London for talks.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/20/2005 14:46 ||
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#1
Common name but still... The BBC has a certain Haroon Rashid working out of Peshawar...
ISLAMABAD/LONDON - Pakistani security forces have arrested a British Muslim believed to be linked to the London bombings, Pakistani intelligence sources said on Wednesday as Britain outlined plans to tackle radical Islamism. A Pakistani minister officially denied that Haroon Rashid Aswad had been detained but several intelligence sources said he had been picked up earlier this week during a crackdown on militants in Pakistan that has netted more than 150 people.
I thought he denied it a little too strongly
In London, Britain said it was moving towards a deal with Amman to deport Jordanians who are seen as a menace, one of a raft of measures to crack down on so-called hate preachers. The government is hoping to strike similar arrangements with other countries, notably in North Africa, and wants to bolster existing powers to exclude or expel anyone who incites or condones acts of terrorism in preaching or writing.
Pakistan has been a focus of the investigation into the July 7 attacks which killed more than 50 people because three of the four suspected suicide bombers had visited the country. The three were all British Muslim men of ethnic Pakistani origin. At least one of them visited Islamic schools, or madrasas, some of which are seen as militant breeding grounds. The fourth suspect was a Jamaican-born British Muslim. Police say they expect to find a clear link between the bombing and Osama bin Ladenâs Al Qaeda network.
One Pakistani security official told Reuters Aswad had been arrested three days ago at a house in Sargodha, 150 km (90 miles) south of Islamabad. âWe strongly believe he has links with the bombers,â the official said. Officials said Aswad had been taken from Sargodha and was being held in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. Other intelligence sources also stood by their comments on Aswadâs arrest, despite a denial by Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed. âWe have arrested nobody called Haroon Rashid,â the minister told Reuters.
"Who's to say what his name really is? I mean, this is Pakistan"
One of the intelligence sources said Aswad had been carrying a belt packed with explosives for a possible suicide attack, around one million rupees ($17,000) and a British passport. Aswad appears to be the unnamed militant Reuters reported was captured on Monday and found with explosives and cash.
Hell, that could be anyone in Pakiland
Various media including Wednesdayâs Wall Street Journal have reported that a search was still on for Aswad after his name was passed to Pakistani intelligence by British investigators.
The newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying Aswadâs name had come up in the investigation based on information from the cellphone of one of the London bombers.
Just can't keep away from those phones, can they? Thank goodness.
It also said a man named Aswad Rashid Haroon figured in US intelligence databases as having ties to the Al Qaeda network.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said governments must not only take security measures to crack down on militants but also tackle the root causes which help them flourish. Madrasas have come under particular scrutiny. Blair said his government planned an international conference to address the causes of radicalism. âThe roots go deep. They are often not to be found in this country alone and therefore international action is also necessary,â he told parliament in London.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2005 14:25 ||
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11 militants nabbed at Rajshahi camp
Documents of arms, blast training seized
Police arrested 11 suspected Islamist militants including an adherent of Bangla Bhai's Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) and two Rajshahi University (RU) students from their training camp in Paba upazila early yesterday. Tipped off, a joint team of Paba and Rajshahi police raided a newly-constructed house at Puthiapara in the upazila, 15 kilometres off Rajshahi, in the early hours and nabbed the militants from the makeshift training centre.
Militants, huh? How can you tell?
During the raid the police seized some documents of Islamic militancy that include diaries containing notes on modern arms and explosives training, and slogans and songs of Islamic revolution, mostly against the United States.
The usual holy texts
Two of the arrestees are JMJB adherent and team leader Enamul Haque, 23, of Khudra Jhina village in Bagmara upazila and Mozammel Haque Mozam, 45, a tank lorry driver of Puthiapara, who owns the house. The others are RU students Golam Mustafa (Arabic, final year) of Shekhervita in Jamalpur district and Ibrahim Hossain (History, 2nd year) of Puthia, Biplob Hossain, an HSC examinee, Abu Zafar, a madrasa student of Paba, Shah Waliullah, an HSC student of Shibganj in Chapainawabganj, Tutul, a jewellery shop owner of Mohendra Jaigirpara in Puthia, Jahurul Islam, a madrasa student of Motihar thana in the city, Mansur Rahman, a tailor and Merajul Islam, a madrasa student of Puthia.
The arrestees, mostly in their 20s, denied their involvement in any underground Islamist group but admitted that they had gathered at Mozam's house for a discussion on the "right Islamic way of life in light of the holy Quran and Hadith."
Which explains the holy arms and explosives training manuals, can't be truely islamic without um.
The police said house owner Mozam was a participant in the three-day training. Local people assisted the police in the midnight operation and caught RU student Golam Mustafa when he tried to escape arrest. A magistrate court in Rajshahi yesterday granted a seven-day remand for the arrestees after the police produced them in court and sought 10 days' remand. Sources said the arrestees will be sent to Dhaka today following a home ministry directive. They will be quizzed in the joint interrogation cell (JIC).
"The number 7 truncheon, Mansur. And put on another pot of tea, I'll be working late tonight"
Superintendent of Police (SP) at Rajshahi, Abdullah Al Mahmood, told reporters that the arrestees were shown arrested under section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. They carried diaries containing "dangerous teachings," he added. "Such gathering of men from different areas at a remote house at dead of night created doubts. We will file a case with specific charges soon after investigation," the SP said. After the pre-dawn operation, the police started a desperate hunt for one Aslam of Chapainawabganj as they seized his diary from the militants. The diary contains a number of lessons on physical exercises and arms training what the police described a "scary matter for the investigators."
Aslam was scheduled to deliver the first lecture on the use of arms during the three-day training. But he had managed to escape before the operation began.
Mahamoud the Rat has a Bangladesh branch office
The lessons in his diary include the inventor of AK47 rifle, its Russian origin and types, how it works, how far its bullets go, and from what distance it can kill or injure a man. The diary also stated different types of detonators, how they work, their manufacturing process, ingredients and from where those can be procured. The hand-written notes also portrayed the nature and uses of common arms in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Russia, and sources of such arms. Apart from these lessons on arms and explosives, the diary also carries notes on religious rituals, suggestions on what to do in police custody and how a secret group is organised.
Sounds like your standard al-Qaeda training manual
"Some of these lessons are not even given to the members of police and Bangladesh Rifles," commented a highly-placed source in the law-enforcement agencies.
Enamul, one of the arrestees, is the principal accused in Yasin Ali murder case. Bangla Bhai men kidnapped Yasin and beat him to death hanging upside down from a tree in front of Kodapara madrasa in Bagmara on June 29 last year. Police however submitted the charge-sheet, excluding Enamul's name. Enamul is learnt to have led a JMJB unit covering Jhargram, Jhikra, Bihanali, Kulimari, Modakhali and Kaliganj villages of Bagmara upazila. He along with Biplob and Golam Mustafa organised the militant training. Sources said Enamul was a close aide of Shahiduzzaman, a nephew of Bangla Bhai and second-in-command of the JMJB chief during his last year's operations.
The police also seized Enamul's diary yesterday that says their group has a total of 19 members, including seven new recruits. It also says that they formed three new units, found four patrons and held two meetings in January this year.
Sounds like a few late night raids are in order
The diary contains slogans and songs for an Islamic revolution and against the US.
Some of the slogans are "Mother, I will die for Allah (in Jihad)", "I will kill, I will die," "Bush stole the election" "I will not listen to anyone, I must attack US dens," "Awami League and BNP are two poisonous snakes, supporting them is absolutely foolish."
Asked about the entries on the use of arms in their diaries, team leader Enamul Haque said. "Every individual has the right to know about anything. What is the problem if we learn about arms? We are not going to use them."
Uh huh, I don't think that'll work on the RAB
Talking to The Daily Star, Rajshahi SP Abdullah Al Mahmood said the police after the midnight operation conducted raids at Shiroil in the city and Puthia and Bagmara upazilas but could not arrest any of their accomplices. Earlier on May 15 last year, the police arrested 19 JMJB men for attacking a house at Kalupara in Paba upazila.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2005 13:15 ||
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#1
Why do I get the feeling these guys might not get the Crossfire ™ treatment.
BAGHDAD, July 20 (UPI) -- At least 11 Iraqis were killed and 25 others injured in a suicide bombing attack outside an army enlisting center in Baghdad Wednesday. The explosives were detonated in the crowd of volunteers near al-Muthanna airport, in the fourth such attack to target that particular center. Medics said 11 bodies were transferred to hospitals, as well as 25 wounded people, many suffering extremely critical injuries.
Iraq army and police centers are frequent targets for suicide bombers indicating an obvious attempt to discourage Iraqis from enlisting in the government forces.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2005 10:48 ||
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#1
Whatever happened to "take a number"? What's so difficult about this? Why keep lining up like lambs to slaughter? When they're ready for #35, hang the number out a window or use a bullhorn. Damn.
#3
Might sound a bit edgy, but since these are men, not little boys or girls, and since its summer in Iraq, meaning scorching temperatures, why not line up in tank-tops and undershorts?
The guy sportin' a huge bulge in his nether-regions either lined up at the wrong job site (hey, big boy, try "the porn actors wanted" line next door!) or is packing in pretty hot stick of C-4. Otherwise, seems like a common sense security measure that ought to be implemented ASAP.
Police in Pakistan have detained about 200 suspected Islamist extremists in a series of raids on religious schools, mosques and other properties. The suspects are being questioned about any links they might have with militant groups or with the London bombers. Three of the four bombers are known to have visited Pakistan recently. President Pervez Musharraf is expected to announce new measures to curb religious extremism during a televised speech on Thursday. On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he was anxious for Pakistan to crack down on extremist teaching in its Islamic schools.
One of the raids was at a prominent Islamic school, or madrassa, in Islamabad. Known as the Lal Masjid, the mosque and its adjacent religious school are known for supporting a banned extremist group, the BBC's Zaffar Abbas reports from Islamabad. Armed police entered the school around midnight and took away two senior clerics and more than 15 students. Soon after, hundreds of students gathered outside the school compound and shouted slogans against the United States and Gen Musharraf. Riot police dispersed them by firing several rounds of tear gas. Security officials told the BBC that more than 70 people were rounded up for questioning after raids in three cities in Punjab province. None of them have been formally charged. In North West Frontier Province, police detained 40 suspects, said to be members of banned militant groups.
A senior security official told the BBC one of the main purposes of the raids was to find possible clues about the movements of two of the London bombers who travelled to Pakistan last year. But Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed denied that among those detained was a British Muslim wanted in connection with the London bombings. "The person arrested is not the al-Qaeda suspect... he is not the al-Qaeda man as reported by the media," he told the BBC.
"He's not the droid you are looking for. Move along"
Reports that a man "with direct links" to the London attacks had been held in Lahore could also not be confirmed.
Pakistan's ambassador to Britain, Maleeha Lodhi, told the BBC the bombers' motivation "appeared to be home-grown". "Just a visit to a country doesn't mean that they have been radicalised," she said.
"There are a lot of other reasons to visit Pakistan. There's..,er, well.., ah..stuff, yeah, that's it"
Raids carried out by the Pakistani security forces earlier this week targeted Islamist publications and members of religious organisations banned by Gen Musharraf in 2002. The latest raids follow crackdowns launched in 2000 and 2002. These proved to be effective for only a short time, as militant groups re-emerged with new names.
Noticed that, did they?
President Musharraf has said he will extend full support to Britain in the investigation into the London attacks in which 56 people died, including the four bombers. Pakistan has confirmed that three of the bombers, all Britons of Pakistani descent, visited the country. Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer visited Pakistan together last year, spending three months in the country. A third, Hasib Hussain, also visited last year. Shehzad Tanweer's family say he visited a madrassa.
Which had nothing to do with him blowing up a train.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2005 10:37 ||
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#1
The chips are starting to fall. This is going to be interesting. Wonder if the dune loons have a contingency plan to uphold their power base? Without an ample supply of recruits they are shit out of luck. You probably have to go through a couple thousand students to find a good suicide boomer prospect.
#3
for a minute I thought it said Soros Detained In Pakistan Raids.
We all wish! No, that piece of fecal matter is only trying to buy the United States government. He has little time or energy for Packiwacki nutjobs. He's more interested in Democratic Senators.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/20/2005 13:04 Comments ||
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#4
You probably have to go through a couple thousand students to find a good suicide boomer prospect
Now that's a damn interesting question.... how many? Obviously depends on the skool, but I wonder if there's a working number.
Classic operational analysis question.
How many boombers can a madrass tap?
If the maddrass faculty all saps?
#5
Personally, I would have preferred the Head-line, " Scores Slotted in...., at, etc..."
Has a certain ring to it.
Sorry, been there, some things get ignored, but this is Bid-One for uk-side mullahs, if the MSM have the guts to keep it up, it might pass as a plus for us, not likely. Bid-2 will be car-bombs 'cos they can. I reckon the Ass-Hats from the Midlands/uk-wide have been read the Riot Act, however, they know they can work the System, for sure, at the same time as spewing condolences on the bombers. The feeling I get is, It'sa liitle too late for that, from them too, it's time to decide.
Let's fuck 'em now, sorry, Fred, I said it the nicest possible way.
As you probably guessed, we got hacked again last night, again from an IP address in Germany. It looks like a pretty determined attack, specifically on Rantburg. We probably have another server swap coming up, since hacker boy's Serv-U daemon looks like it's called from logon.dll.
I've got an important meeting this afternoon. I'll clean up as much mess as I can this morning, then try and finish up this evening. I think I've figured how he got in this time, but since he's determined and seems to know what he's doing, I'm going to have to call a pro to help us out.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2005 10:06 ||
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#1
Thought so,noticed things getting wierd last night.Fred you are a priceless jem.
#3
Well, I hate to say I told you so, but a Windows-based server is just asking to get hacked. Rantburg seems pretty married to the Windows platform, though, so I don't really see any solution. :(
#6
What is needed is an electronic RPG that can travel through the internet, destroy his computer and burn his nasty little hands. Hackers are a very strange and weird breed-they seem to have a great deal of ego involvement in their hacking. They like to think they are smarter than everyone else. Good luck Fred in trying to deal with this dorkus.
#14
Looks like another freedom fighter from enlightened and sophisticated Europe, taking on the imperialist, warmongering US red staters that slander the Religion of Peace(Tm).
Well, if indeed he's german, he's living in a dying out country that will belong to its turkish immigrants in just a few decades (sorry, TGA, but that's what I think). For now, he's part of the fighting avant-garde, but in his old days (with social security bankrupt), he'll be a stranger in his own country. I wonder if he will then keep the same worldview?
Hackerboy may be a nuisance, but he will end up in the trashbin of History, despite his holier-than-you attitude and his belief in him being on the side of Goodness.
Mr. Pruitt, keep up the good work, and thanks again for RB! Don't let theses undersexed neo-leftist geeks drag you down! You've achieved and lived more than what they'll ever be able to do in their pitiful lives!
#15
Well said, Anon! Thanks for all you do, Fred! I was beginning to get the shakes too. I know, I know, the first step is admiting you have a problem. OK, here goes:
"Hi, I'm BA, and I have a REAL problem with the Religion of Pieces."
"Hi, BA!"
Posted by: BA ||
07/20/2005 11:11 Comments ||
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#16
Fred,
I would be happy to help you lock down your systems and make them secure. Unlike what gromky implies any system on the network can be hacked and its more or less just as easy to hack a Linux system that is not locked down as a Windows one. Its just that Unix and Linux people tend to be more knowledgable and proactive. Its pretty simple though to make Windows systems secure enough to keep out everyone except the most sophisticated of attackers.
Posted by: Robi Sen ||
07/20/2005 11:17 Comments ||
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#17
Fred - better make sure Robi Sen is NOT from Germany!
Well, just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean somebody isn't after me®!
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/20/2005 11:28 Comments ||
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#18
At the risk of slower speed.
Running windows from a virtual machine would make restoration much easier and the whole thing more robust.
The idea would be a virtual server on an old IBM mainframe. (They can do virtual windows or linux servers for load balancing and ease of replacement) Lots of IBM mainframes are used for that these days. Some of the virtual serving companies are actually that.
The cheaper solution is a BSD or Linux machine running VMWARE or similar and having windows as a hosted operating system. Think of it as a overlay that can be swapped out on the fly and replaced with an alternate or backup. You could have several rantburgs running at once. It would drive the hackers crazy.
#19
Figured something bad happened -- I knew it couldn't be my Mac!
Thanks for the info, Fred, and let me and the other moderators know what we can do to help. I'm really good standing next to someone at the computer, beer in hand, kibbitzing away.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/20/2005 11:44 Comments ||
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#20
Steve I bet you can even put your foot up on the bumper and lean in *just so* when the server hood is open...
Fred, sorry you've got this nonsense to deal with.
#21
I have no idea how to set up a proxy. On the other hand, Robi Sen's pretty close by, and I know where they sell beer... Shoot me an email.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2005 11:48 Comments ||
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#22
Whoops - License restrictions prevent the use of the sucessful WindowsXP port under XEN. (Somebody needs to figure out how to force Bills evil hand to play ball someday... - course someday never comes.)
#25
Sorry but with Linux we have, between other things, selinux that it is military-grade or more exactly spook-grade security (originated in the NSA). With SELINUX if a service is out of date and hacked it will be unable to cause damage even with root access rights.
#26
Also, Fred, if you want... you have my e-mail. Send me a code ZIP or tar ball and I could see if I can get it to run under the WINE windows emulator.
That would let you run multiple copies too.
Restoration us usually just a unzip or
"tar -xjf tarball" away. (quick)
I do the wife's windows that way. She's really running linux but has her confortable windows applications. She gets a virus browsing the wrong place... 30 seconds to restore. (ok she doesn't do mail on linux so her mail takes a tad more care.)
And to the 'Crackers' out there. You aren't smarter then everyone else -- its just that you dont have a life unlike everyone else and can thus waste your life being a stinky little turd -- nobody else would want your life....
#29
Thank God, Fred. Last night I awoke in a heavy sweat. I dreamed I was the innocent, well-intended RB server being attacked by evil foreigners from afar. This IS a war on terror.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/20/2005 13:08 Comments ||
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#30
Die you ferign evil-doers, die.....
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/20/2005 13:10 Comments ||
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#31
I feel Fred Anger all around the Burg. Ima just go sit quietly somewhere and promise to hit the jug Jar 1st of September.
#38
$5 says it was some college hacker type Muslim kid attending school at the university of who the fuck somewhere here in the states using a proxy out in the wild blue yonder to launch attacks. All likelihood just some netnut like the unspun losers.
the Enemy is at the Gates. Cyber guerilla psyops? I'm sure we're all scared to death. Anyway, good luck with the idiots, whomever they are Fred.
#39
There are many flavors of Kool Aid, Bush Derangement Syndrome and Gates Derangement Syndrome are two of the loudest examples - and neither of them is the Devil or Hitler or a chimp or any of the other brainless demonization icons currently tossed around by the thoughtless and clueless. Everybody is standing on a huge pyramid of shoulders. All of the xDS sputterings are emotional, not factual. Any system can be swamped / denied, if not hacked, smurfed or spoofed. Anyone who actually understands the OSI model, OSPF / router programming, server OS's, and TCP/IP and other protocols knows the truth is that they all work as well as they do is the marvel, not the infrequent outage.
Thanks, Fred - you and your brainchild, Rantburg, truly rock. Thanks, also, to the PARC team, BBN, et al, lol. For those who would like to know some of the background, search your memory and you'll find a PBS documentary... Triumph of The Nerds. Yeah, that's the show's transcript - which chronicles the birth of personal computing. Enjoy. Webopedia does a decent job of chronicling the birth of the Internet. For the xDS sufferers, get a life - and meds, strong meds. This shit is soooo old and soooo lame.
#40
I recommend Zoloft for them (The Crackers) and a round of Beers for US. Well, all of us who drink that is PD.
I'll hit the tip jar when I can. This new central conditoning I am going to choke down this weekend is cramping my funds (there goes several new computers).
My computing motto is I use what works. If it's free or nearly free thats great. But that doesn't exclude paying for an OS or aplication if I have to. Hell I even pay for my Linux. PD knows whats up and he has been doing this Computing thing a LONG time.
Yea I have been owned too, on a BSD based system my Host provides. No OS is totally secure, none.
If anyone thinks there is I have some dual core 486s I'll sell them.
I will point out that only one mention in this entire thread was made of Unix products versus Windows products, but I guess you just couldn't help it. And here I was keeping quiet. Guess that old GDS just kicked it for me, huh?
#43
PD - it's like this. The less users of an OS, the less people who have a clue how to hack it.
Hell add a few protocols onto Multics and you will have an OS with hardly any likely hacker base.
The same would go for VM-370, the P-System, ....
My fantasy involves Plan 9 implemented as SDL machines in Pascal or Ada. It just wouldn't be worth a hacker's effort.
#44
I hear ya, 3dc - and you've got some interesting ideas in the thread.
badass - Smear? Lol, I didn't smear anyone - unless they're suffering as described. Read it again - it's accurate... snared you, didn't it, lol! You must have the official /. pizza-stained T-shirt.
I'm the one who keeps quiet around here while the sufferers spew - regularly. Even Fred has said some things here during his ASP -> PHP changeover that were NOT true or casually implied ASP was at fault, when it was clearly server configuration. I kept my mouth shut. That you don't notice those things which fit your bias, but can't contain yourself over my post, must mean something, eh? You want to equate me with Kos, huh? Really. Hmmm. I hear your pain, which is a personal problem, but I'm not Kos. I'm a old guy who has been programming for over 30 years on one hell of a range of systems and right smack dab in the middle of it all in realtime. You?
I use what works best - and often I have to factor in the money and compatibility with that. Period. So I use a mix of stuff. I don't wear anyone's T-Shirt, don't have anyone's bumper sticker on my car, and don't subscribe to the Open Source Socialism - which is actually boosted in a ploy on the clueless by commercial adversaries, such as Sun's McNealey, Oracle's Ellison, et al. Torvalds? Great. Cool. Socialist Twit. I like capitalism, Comrade Badass. You?
Kos, huh... I'll remember your uber-sensitivity in future posts. Never thought we'd get here, but hey - your call. You're just yet another Asshole With A Cause - in this case swilling the dipshit SlashDot Kool Aid.
#49
bad's not a programmer - he's a hobbyist. And they know everything. Just ask 'em.
The point isn't whose fucking label you wear - it's to get the fucking job done. You use the best tools you can get. Those who think ANY system is perfect or perfectly safe are fools. Connect it and it's vulnerable, period. And, of course, access denial is available against any system.
The pros go to Cert and the other sites which aren't overtly cheerleading their latest stock purchase or own personal xDS problem.
Four years ago I got talked into going Mac because I am an artist/musician, and a trusted friend said Mac would be the best thing for me.
Well Macs are good for graphics and music, but not much else. Now I have a Mac at home and at work and I would love to switch back to Windows. Yeah, Windows may be more susceptible to inflitration, but Macs, unlike what their commercials say, are completely unintuitive and generally a big headache. And in terms of communication functions, they suck big-time.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
GILGIT: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a taxi driver in Didingdas on Wednesday. Police said the slain taxi driver Habibur Rahman, a Sonikote resident, was found murdered in his taxi. News spread to other parts of the city and shopkeepers and businessmen shut down their shops. The entire city looked abandoned as roads, streets and markets emptied. 
GAZA CITY - Hamas gunmen on Wednesday attacked the homes of the head of the Palestinian security services and the leader in Gaza of the governing Fatah faction, just hours after a deal to end factional fighting. 
KABUL - Four suspected Taleban militants were killed in southern Afghanistan early on Wednesday when a bomb they were attempting to plant on a highway exploded, a provincial governor said. âFour Taleban who were trying to plant a remote-controlled bomb in the Langar area, by the side of the highway en route to Tirin Kot, blew themselves up,â Uruzgan governor Jan Mohammed told AFP. âPolice discovered the bodies along with four Kalashnikovs,â he said. 
ISLAMABAD/LONDON - Pakistani security forces have arrested a British Muslim believed to be linked to the London bombings, Pakistani intelligence sources said on Wednesday as Britain outlined plans to tackle radical Islamism. A Pakistani minister officially denied that Haroon Rashid Aswad had been detained but several intelligence sources said he had been picked up earlier this week during a crackdown on militants in Pakistan that has netted more than 150 people. 
11 militants nabbed at Rajshahi camp
