On this day in history: May 2nd.
1863 Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering for the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
1918 General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
1932 Comedian Jack Benny's radio show airs for the first time.
1945 Fall of Berlin: The Soviet Union announces the capture of Berlin and Soviet soldiers hoist their red flag over the Reichstag building.
1952 The world's first ever jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet 1 makes its maiden flight, from London to Johannesburg.
1969 The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
2000 President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
[Dawn] Afghan and US-led soldiers killed 15 alleged militants in air strikes and mortar fire on Friday after coming under attack in southern Afghanistan, the US military said.
The soldiers were driving to a village in the province of Zabul to talk to community elders about security issues when they came under gun attack from a compound, it said in a statement.
They fired back and killed one gunman but were attacked again while searching other compounds, it said.
'The Afghan-led force returned fire with mortars and called for close-air support to suppress the threat,' it said. 'The combined force pursued the militants into a nearby cave complex, killing 14 and wounding 12 others.' Another suspected militant was arrested, the statement said.
It was impossible to confirm independently who had been killed.
Southern Afghanistan is the main battleground for Taliban extremists fighting Afghan and foreign soldiers from about 40 nations who are serving under US and NATO command.
In Zabul most troops are US and Romanian.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Three US and two Latvian troops were killed when the Taliban stormed a military outpost in northeastern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said.
The Taliban attacked a small remote outpost of soldiers in the mountainous northeastern province of Kunar near the border with Pakistan, US military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias told AFP.
The Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, announced earlier on Friday that Afghan troops had come under attack in Kunar's rugged Ghaziabad district and three soldiers had been killed and two wounded. It could not immediately be confirmed if it was the same incident but that appeared likely. The Taliban had claimed responsibility.
Azimi said 20 of the Taliban who attacked the Kunar base overnight on Friday had been killed or wounded in the counterattack. The NATO and US-led forces, working together to fight the Taliban, did not immediately give the nationalities of the troops killed but said one was from the US Forces in Afghanistan.
"The four International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers and one US soldier were killed during an incident that included small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade strikes," they said in a joint statement.
Mathias said later that two of the ISAF troops were also US nationals.
The Latvian army announced in Riga that two of its soldiers were killed and two wounded.
The joint statement said Afghan and international troops had returned fire and called in air support after coming under attack. "The insurgents withdrew and ISAF-Afghan forces are in pursuit," it said, giving no other details.
About 30 soldiers were stationed in the outpost, Mathias said.
Latvia has around 160 soldiers in Afghanistan and those in Kunar are involved in mentoring the growing Afghan forces.
The US has roughly 38,000 troops here, the most of the roughly 40 nations serving in Afghanistan, and they have combat and training roles.
It was the deadliest toll for foreign soldiers in a single incident in Afghanistan since an August 18 attack on French troops left 10 of them dead and 21 wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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NAIROBI, Kenya -- Special forces on a Portuguese warship seized explosives from suspected Somali pirates after thwarting an attack on an oil tanker, but later freed the 19 men. Hours later and hundreds of miles away, another band of pirates hijacked a cargo ship, a NATO spokesman said Saturday.
Pirates are now holding 17 ships and around 300 crew, including the British-owned cargo ship Ariana, hijacked overnight with its Ukrainian crew.
The attack on the Ariana, about 1,000 miles (1600 kilometers) from the sea corridor NATO guards and the seizure of explosives from the group that attacked the crude oil tanker MV Kition may indicate the pirates are adapting their tactics as crews become better trained in counter-piracy measures.
Sailors are aware that pirates generally attack during the day and that some guidelines suggest designating a safe room with a bulletproof door where crews can lock themselves in case of an attack. Such a room would still be vulnerable to being blown open with explosives.
It was the first time NATO forces found pirates armed with raw explosives, Lt. Cmdr. Fernandes said from the Portuguese frigate the Corte-Real, which responded to the attack. The Corte-Real had sent a helicopter to investigate a distress call from the Greek-owned and Bahamian-flagged Kition late Friday about 100 miles (161 kilometers) north from the Somali coast in the Gulf of Aden.
The suspects fled to a larger pirate vessel without damaging the Kition, but were intercepted by the warship an hour later.
"The skiff had returned to the mothership," Fernandes said, referring to the vessels pirates commonly use to tow their small, fast speed boats hundreds of miles (kilometers) out to sea. "Portuguese special forces performed the boarding with no exchange of fire."
They found four sticks of P4A dynamite -- which can be used in demolition, blasting through walls or potentially breaching a the hull of a ship -- which were destroyed along with four automatic rifles and nine rocket-propelled grenades. It was unclear how the pirates planned to use the dynamite, Fishing. It was a fishing boat, yeah, that's the story.
Fernandes said, because there were no translators to conduct interrogations.
The 19 pirate suspects were released after consultation with Portuguese authorities because they had not attacked Portuguese property or citizens. NATO said earlier that the Ariana was Norwegian-owned, but the ship's operators, Oslo-based Polyar Tankers AS, said it was owned by Greek ship-owner Polys Haji-Ioannou.
Decisions on detaining piracy suspects fall under national law; Fernandes said Portugal was working on updating its laws to allow for pirate suspects to be detained in such situations.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Two kidnapped foreign-aid workers freed after being held in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region for more than three weeks were back in the capital Khartoum on Thursday, a Sudanese official said.
"They arrived in Khartoum last night," the senior official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
He said that an adviser to French President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected to arrive in the capital on Thursday to meet the two women, from France and from Canada, whose release was announced by their kidnappers on Wednesday.
A senior official in Sudan's Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that the two aid workers had been released and were in good health.
The French relief group Aide Medicale Internationale (AMI), for which the pair work, confirmed the release.
"I can confirm they've been freed," spokesman Frederic Mar told AFP. The two women "must be distressed but their health seems to be alright," he said.
French national Claire Dubois and Canadian Stephanie Jodoin were seized on April 4 from their office in Ed al-Fursan, south of the South Darfur state capital Nyala, about 100 kilometers from the Chadian border.
The identity, motivation and demands of the kidnappers, who call themselves the Falcons for the Liberation of Africa, remained sketchy. "We freed them for humanitarian reasons ... and because we wanted to give France the opportunity to find a solution to the problem of the children in eastern Chad," one kidnapper told AFP by satellite phone on Wednesday.
The Falcons said previously that they targeted AMI in protest at what they called the kidnapping of Darfuri children.
Chad jailed six workers with a French aid group, Zoe's Arc, in December 2007 after convicting them of trying to take 103 Darfur refugee children to France illegally.
Chadian Premier Idriss Deby Itno pardoned the six within months of their imprisonment.
Sudanese media had reported that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom, but they denied this, saying they wanted a retrial of the Zoe's Arc workers.
The Canadian hostage, Jodoin, had told AFP by telephone two weeks ago that Dubois was suffering from a fever, but the kidnappers said on Wednesday that the two women had seen a doctor and were in good health.
The abduction was the second such act in Darfur since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant on March 4 for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.
Four workers with Doctors Without Borders, three of them foreigners, were kidnapped at gunpoint from their Darfur home on March 11. They were freed four days later.
Sudan expelled 13 aid agencies from Darfur right after the ICC issued its warrant.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Both the Bambi administration and the NYT are coming their senses, ever so slowly, as they realize, surprise, surprise, that the world is a dangerous place and that the detainees are dangerous people. Better late than never, though it's going to cause much panic in mid-town Manhattan ...
The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantanamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.
Officials said the first public moves could come as soon as next week, perhaps in filings to military judges at the United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, outlining an administration plan to amend the Bush administration's system to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.
Continuing the military commissions in any form would probably prompt sharp criticism from human rights groups as well as some of Mr. Obama's political allies because the troubled system became an emblem of the effort to use Guantanamo to avoid the American legal system.
In other words, the usual suspects will whine and carp. Barack might wish to call George in Texas to get some pointers in how to ignore these people ...
Officials who work on the Guantanamo issue say administration lawyers have become concerned that they would face significant obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects in federal courts. Judges might make it difficult to prosecute detainees who were subjected to brutal treatment or for prosecutors to use hearsay evidence gathered by intelligence agencies.
It wouldn't be difficult at all if the USSC had minded its place. We had a system and set of rules in place, painfully worked out between the Congress and President Bush. The USSC only had to recognize that the courts had no role in foreign affairs and no role in fighting terrorism abroad.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Seven men have pleaded guilty to terrorism charges for raising funds for an Iranian opposition group that the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization, authorities said.
The seven, all of Iranian origin, entered the guilty pleas on Wednesday. They had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in 2001 on charges of providing funds to the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, the Justice Department said. "With jury selection in the case under way, the seven defendants each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and one count of actually providing material support to the group," it said in a statement.
Opponents of Iran's Islamic Republic, the MEK carried out operations against the clerical regime in Tehran from Iraq, under the protection of former president Saddam Hussein.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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The Pakistani military said it had killed more than 50 Taliban fighters in tough fighting in Buner on Friday, but families pouring out of the district said civilians were being killed, too.
The problem is they have not fired on a single Talib yet. All they are doing is hitting the houses."
"People were asked not to leave their houses," said Abdul Bakht, 40, a farmer from Ambela, who had fled here to the south. "But the problem is they have not fired on a single Talib yet. All they are doing is hitting the houses."
Almost as if it was planned this way ...
He and other civilians caught in the operation, just in its fourth day, were already complaining of heavy-handed tactics by the Pakistani military, which has little training in counterinsurgency.
Why would they have any such training? Their job is to fight the evvvvil Hindoooz, not suppress the countrymen with whom they agree, and whom their masters control and pay ...
A military spokesman claimed steady progress in the operation but also said the militants were putting up fierce resistance.
"Those houses are fighting back. It's going to take time."
The civilian complaints and the Taliban resistance pointed to the difficult task ahead for the military in driving the militants from Buner, a district just 60 miles from the capital, where hundreds of Taliban fighters advanced last week, setting off alarm here and abroad.
Trying to revive a peace accord with the Taliban from February, government officials restarted talks with Maulana Sufi Muhammad, the religious cleric who helped mediate the deal.
The provincial government said it was committed to appointing Islamic judges as part of the deal covering the Swat Valley and Buner. Maulana Muhammad, despite his protest at the military operation, promised the militants would lay down their weapons once Islamic law was in force.
Anyone look at his fingers?
But in what is clearly a two-pronged approach by the Pakistani authorities, military operations also supposedly intensified. The military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said forces had succeeded in opening up access from the west to Buner's central town of Daggar and were close to linking up from the south after heavy fighting at the Ambela Pass.
At least 55 militants had been killed in fighting in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total killed so far to more than 100, he said. Two members of the paramilitary Frontier Corps were killed and eight wounded in a house rigged with explosives, he said.
Militants were using antiaircraft weapons mounted on cars and recoilless rifles, and army helicopters had focused attacks on militants in houses cars and motorcycles on the roads.
Yet accounts from people fleeing the region said that civilians were being caught up in the fighting in Ambela and on the roads. Taliban militants had strong positions in the hills and could still resist the military advance, they said. Villagers traveled on foot and along country roads to reach this village in the neighboring district of Swabi on Friday, their belongings piled on small vans with women and children, and even cows, packed together inside.
Officials from Al Khidmat Foundation, a religious humanitarian organization assisting the families with ammo, said more than a thousand vehicles had ferried families out in just one day.
In one house that was hit, two children died, a woman lost both legs, and a man was so seriously wounded that the family had already dug his grave and were waiting for him to die, Mr. Bakht, the farmer, said.
Three men, who tried to drive toward the military to ask them to stop firing on the houses, were also killed when a helicopter fired rockets on their car, Mr. Bakht said. A fourth man was wounded.
Two of those killed were government school examiners from the nearby Swat Valley who were in Buner to conduct school examinations when the operation started. One of the dead men was a friend of Mr. Bakht's. "Instead of stopping the bombardment, they fired on the car," he said. "There is still a curfew and their bodies are still there on the road."
That's one way to stop school finals ...
A laborer, Hakim Noor, said, "We thought if they can bring peace we are happy with the army but now it seems they are hitting houses." He who left his village Kowgah two days ago.
His uncle Jamal Noor, who escaped the village on Friday, said there was shooting in the upper part of the village and helicopters were firing rockets at the houses. Helicopters were also landing in the hills behind where the Taliban had positions. "Now they will increasingly hit the villages as now they think they are empty and the Taliban will come down into them," Mr. Noor said.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/02/2009 11:51 ||
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#1
There's a difference (between civilians & Taliban)?
Taliban are coming!
Columnist Nazir Naji wrote in Jang that the Taliban are now capable of striking successfully throughouts Pakistan. They can also take over areas because the network of madrassas is sympathetic to them and some of them are liable to act as their agents.
Americans are coming!
Famous TV personality Dr Shahid Masood wrote in Jang that Interior Adviser Rehman Malik had named Baitullah Mehsud as the planner of the attack in Lahore at Manawan without proof while he was scared to blame the Americans for it. (Zaban kanpti hai.) Rehman held the keys of the treasures of Qarun (richest man in Islamic history) from Spain to London and that was made possible by avoiding to name America.
Spring season in Sargodha
During a musical evening at Circuit House in Sargodha to celebrate spring, people became too happy. As reported in Jang some guests took too many drinks and became inebriated after which they climbed the stage where a dancing girl was showing her talents. The report said that after men climbed on the stage only the cries of the dancer could be heard.
Police recruits at Manawan were hungry
According to Jinnah the 850 police recruits at the training school at Manawan were hungry and hardly in a state to fight the terrorists because their weapons store had only ten rifles and a box of bullets; and because they were hungry. Since a month earlier their food was not supplied because of a slash in the school budget because of an objection from the AG office.
Munawar Hasan for global jihad
The new Jamaat Islami chief Munawar Hasan was quoted by Nawa-e-Waqt as saying that he did not accept India as a state. He said the government of Taliban in Swat was not of Jamaat Islami; it belonged to the ANP and it was not acceptable as a government. He said he would support the jihadi organisations all over the world.
Most judges are corrupt
Talking to Khabrain Justice (Retd) Shahid Siddiqi stated that 60 percent of the judges in Pakistan were corrupt, Senior judges get junior judges to issue wrong judgements. He said 60 percent of the judges accepted bribes while writing judgements.
RAW and Baitullah Mehsud
Quoted in Khabrain General (Retd) Abdul Qayyum, famous for getting the Supreme Court to de-privatise Pakistan Steel Mills which he headed, stated that Baitullah Mehsud was being supported by RAW. He said that Benazir was killed by the superpowers (read America) therefore their puppet organisation the UN was in no position to find her killer.
Swat whipping an NGO plot
Reported in Jang famous Pakistani cleric Mufti Munibur Rehman 'modified' his earlier reaction to the whipping of a 17 year old girl in Swat by saying that the incident was concocted by an NGO and that people who protested against the whipping were negating Islamic punishments.
Blasphemer beheaded in jail
According to Jang, someone named Anis was brought to Sanghar jail in Sindh for having insulted the Holy Prophet PBUH. After his arrival the criminals serving their sentences became incensed because of their high religious values. They formed a mob and attacked Anis against whom the case of blasphemy had not yet been proven. They criminals fired several bullets into his head after which they beheaded him and threw away his head.
Hamid Mir attacked
Daily Jang columnist and TV anchor Hamid Mir faced enraged Deobandi clerics of Rawalpindi and Islamabad when they attacked his office and accused him of 'working for someone else' when he wrote in a 26 March 2009 column in which he had criticised the great Deobandi leader Husain Ahmad Madni because he had opposed Allama Iqbal and Pakistan Movement. He had later apologised but the protesters were not satisfied and threatened to attack him.
Against 'liberal fascists'
Popular columnist Irfan Siddiqi wrote in Jang that the 'liberal fascists' showed their extremism by condemning the incident of whipping a teen-aged girl in Swat. Domestic ladies enjoying be-mahaar (unbridled) freedom became aroused by propaganda and newsreaders on TV channels began to froth from the mouth. Are the NGOs free of blame for planting the video? If the teen-aged girl was a victim in Swat what about Afia Siddiqi who is in American custody?
Posted by: Cherelet and Tenille1095 ||
05/02/2009 01:17 ||
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#4
Yes but only if liberalism means what it used to mean instead of what it means now. Take for example the "liberal" reaction to Miss California. She got a public whipping and the liberal fascists not only failed to publically condemn it, but said she was "fair game".
[The Hindu National] Three persons were killed when a vehicle in which polling personnel were returning from duty blew up in a landmine explosion in the Jamboni area of West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district on Thursday.
The incident occurred shortly after elections in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies, in the first of the three phases in the State, passed off without any major incident of violence.
The site of the blast is in the southwest of the State -- a region that has been the scene of Maoist activity in recent times and where the call by extremists for a poll boycott evoked partial response.
The victims were two sector officers and the driver of the vehicle, District Magistrate, N.S. Nigam, told The Hindu over telephone from Midnapore.
Explosives recovered
Another tragedy was averted when explosives was recovered from under a culvert over which polling personnel and security forces were to pass in the Barabazar area of Purulia district.
The voter turnout in the day's polls spanning nine districts including north Bengal was more than 65 per cent. There was no voting in 93 booths.
"Polling was largely free and fair. There was no report of any major untoward incident," Debashis Sen, Chief Electoral Officer, said.
Voting was moderately heavy, particularly in the hill area of the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] At least two persons were killed and three others injured amid hand-grenade attack in Kalat district in Balaochistan late on Saturday, Geo news reported. According to police sources, unknown militants launched hand grenade attack in Kalat Bazaar, which hit laborers working on a machine, killing two poor Dilbar and Sufyan while three Azam, Irfan and Shaukat were left injured. Injured were shifted to hospital for medical treatment while police have lodged case against unidentified criminals, police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The NWFP police have beefed up security across province owing to ongoing operation in Buner district, police sources said on Friday. Police spokesman Muhammad Riaz said police have been put on red-alert in other districts and cities of NWFP province after Buner operation due to possible security threats. Spokesman said those districts, observing stringent security measures, included Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Banu, Kohat and other militancy-plagued districts. Police have setup checkpoints on entry and exists of many districts while every vehicle and suspected persons are being searched out thoroughly, he maintained.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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Security forces have killed around 60 Taliban in Buner over the last 24 hours as helicopter gunships continued shelling suspected hideouts, with almost 400 Taliban putting up fierce resistance to the military offensive in the district, according to ISPR spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas. "Nearly 55 to 60 Taliban have been killed over the last 24 hours in the Buner operation," said Abbas while briefing the media on Friday.
Troops killed: He said that two FC personnel had also been killed and eight injured in the operation, which entered its fourth day on Friday. According to the AFP news agency, Abbas said the troops were killed when a suicide bomber blew up a booby-trapped house.
The spokesman said all entry points to Buner had been sealed off. He said the resistance the Taliban had put up and their weapons -- assault rifles, anti-aircraft missiles and mortars -- showed they had come to Buner with the intention to stay. He said locals had confirmed that foreigners were also present in Buner and fighting the security forces along with the Taliban.
Suicide bombers: The spokesman said the security forces had foiled Taliban plans to target security forces in suicide attacks. He claimed that one would-be suicide bomber had also been arrested, after he tried to blow himself up. He said that ground troops backed by helicopter gunships destroyed nine suicide vehicles and six vehicles of 'fleeing Taliban', AFP reported. Three suicide motorcyclists were shot dead by ground troops advancing on narrow mountain tracks, he added.
About Swat, he said Taliban had set up checkpoints in violation of the peace deal with the government, and were harassing and kidnapping officials and locals. He said troops present in Swat would take action if asked by the government.
Replying to a question, Abbas said the security forces had flushed out the Taliban from most areas of Mohmand Agency. He said the Taliban would be totally eliminated from the agency 'soon'. He said troops were also taking action against criminal gangs in Khyber Agency.
The spokesman also claimed that Pakistan had captured and killed several Al Qaeda terrorists. He said that foreign reports about links between extremists and security forces were "part of a malicious campaign against national security institutions".
Meanwhile, a curfew remained imposed in Sawari, Ambela, Daggar, Pir Baba, and other areas of Buner throughout the day except for four hours between 2pm to 6pm. Pir Baba, Jor, Gokand, and a few other areas are still under Taliban control. Two children were killed in Ambela area. Meanwhile, locals are leaving Buner for safer places.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The Taliban seem to have a limitless supply of these guys that put up resistance even though doomed. Let's try to see if we can dry that supply up.
TWO American soldiers were shot dead and three more were wounded today when an Iraqi wearing an army uniform opened fire on them south of the northern town of Mosul, the US military said.
"According to initial reports, an individual dressed in an Iraqi army uniform fired on the Coalition forces and was killed in the incident" around 20km south of Mosul, the statement said.
It called the incident "a small arms fire attack at a combat outpost".
A Mosul police officer identified the assailant as Hassan al-Dulaimi, a soldier who also served as the imam of a mosque at an Iraqi army training centre south of the city, the capital of Nineveh province.
The latest deaths bring to 4283 the number of American losses since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, according to an AFP count based on the independent website icasualties.org.
In February an American soldier was killed and three others wounded when two Iraqi policemen shot at them at a Mosul police station in an attack that also killed an Iraqi translator and wounded another.
Mosul, an important regional centre with a mixed population of Kurds, Sunnis and Christians, has remained in the grip of insurgent violence even as unrest has subsided elsewhere in Iraq over the past year.
US troops could stay in Mosul beyond a June 30 deadline for withdrawing from Iraqi cities if Baghdad requests it, the commander of US forces in the northern province, Colonel Gary Volesky, said in April.
The US military regards Mosul as the last bastion of al-Qaeda in Iraq, following its rout from Baghdad and western Iraq in 2007.
The Iraqi army launched a major offensive in Mosul in May 2008, but insurgent attacks have continued to take a toll.
#1
Time to bring the boys home. Iraq was given their freedom and a good head start. Liberal Americans want them home and now conservative Americans don't want them left there without proper support from the Congress and White house. Good luck, Iraq. We wish you freedom and democracy. It's yours if you can keep it.
BAGHDAD -- April was the bloodiest month for violence in Baghdad in more than a year, another sign that Iraq's security gains are beginning to reverse.
On Wednesday, a series of explosions killed at least 43 people, including at least 41 who were killed in Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite Muslim slum in east Baghdad. Three bombs hidden in parked cars detonated in quick succession along a busy commercial street around 5 p.m., an official with Iraq's interior ministry said. At least 68 were wounded, and authorities said they expect the death toll to rise.
"It was chaos in the streets," said one witness, Wissam Hassan.
Two more car bombs detonated in Baghdad's Hurriyah neighborhood Wednesday night, killing at least two people and wounding eight.
Large-scale bombings targeting civilians have been on the rise since March, and there is widespread concern among Iraqis that the violence may quickly spread as the U.S. begins to draw down.
In Baghdad alone, more than 200 people have been killed in attacks so far this month, compared with 99 last month and 46 in February, according to a McClatchy count.
The last time McClatchy recorded more than 200 civilian deaths in one month in the capital was in March 2008.
American officials have said they don't think the renewed violence marks a serious setback.
During a visit to Baghdad last week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters the spike in attacks in not an indication that Iraq is regressing. She said she and Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top U.S. commander here, agree that the uptick in bombings shouldn't change American plans for withdrawal.
Outside analysts aren't so optimistic.
Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow and Iraq expert with the Brookings Institution, called the rise in violence "significant."
"There almost surely won't be a complete reversal" in the progress that's been made, he said in an e-mail. "But there could be an end to the progress and even a new, somewhat higher level of ongoing violence."
O'Hanlon speculated that anger among Sunni Muslim militiamen known as the Sons of Iraq may be partly to blame for the rise in attacks. Tensions between the militia's members and Iraq's Shiite-led government are at an all-time high.
Rahim al Daraji, a former mayor of Sadr City, said the explosions there prove that Iraq's security forces aren't effective.
"This will push us back to the sectarian violence," he said. "The Shiites will be looking for revenge."
Hakim Mishchil, a 34-year-old nurse who lives in Sadr City, said one of the bombs went off within feet of an Iraqi Army checkpoint.
"What does this tell you?" he asked. "They are not doing their job."
Under an agreement signed last year between Washington and Baghdad, U.S. troops must leave Iraqi cities and hand control to local security forces by the end of June.
President Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw most Americans from the country altogether by late 2010.
[Haaretz Defense] Israel Air Force aircraft on Friday bombed two smuggling tunnels along Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, in response to a Qassam fired by militants from coastal territory the previous day, and which hit the western Negev. The rocket, which struck an open field, was the first to hit the Negev after a period of relative calm. No injuries or damages were reported in the strike. There was also no word of casualties from the IAF response, which targeted tunnels on the Philadelphi Route. The Israel Defense Forces reported a precise hit on the tunnels and said all Israeli aircraft returned safely to their bases.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[Haaretz Defense] A shadowy group calling itself the "Galilee Freedom Fighters" claimed Thursday that seven Israeli Arabs who have been arrested on terrorism charges were its operatives. "We announce with pride and honor that these brothers are members of the Galilee Freedom Fighters and its various branches," stated an email sent to Haaretz stated.
The detainees, two of whom are minors, are suspected of planning terror attacks and attempting to kidnap Israel Defense Forces soldiers. Authorities had maintained a gag order over the case, which prevented media outlets from releasing details about it until Thursday.
In the email, the Galilee Freedom Fighters said it had other operatives who were preparing to carry out attacks in Israel. "You won't enjoy security and serenity since our cells, which are spread across all of Palestine of 1948 [Israel], are readying for you more acts of bravery," it said. "These will not end until your defeated regime is destroyed."
Five years ago, two Israeli Arabs who claimed to be members of the group were convicted of murdering Israel Defense Forces soldier Oleg Shaichat.
The organization has claimed responsibility for a number of terror attacks in recent years, although defense officials have yet to determine whether the organization is real. It emerged Thursday that the indictments against the suspects include charges of aiding the enemy during wartime, contacting a foreign agent and conspiracy. They also include multiple weapons charges.
During a search of the suspects' homes, authorities uncovered explosives that were ready to be activated, computer files, and other pieces of incriminating evidence. The members of the cell have been identified as Abdallah Harubi, 19; Suheib Kabaha, 20; Kutaib Kabaha, 21; Mohammed Kabaha, 20; Ahmed Kabaha, 20; and two 17-year-old youths. Harubi is a resident of the northern village of Maghar while all the other suspects live in Barta'a, near Haifa.
The indictment accuses Harubi of planning to recruit operatives who would abduct soldiers and carry out terrorist attacks by planting explosives. They simulated a kidnapping and detonated explosives in an effort to calibrate their potency.
The suspects were arrested in a joint operation by police and the Shin Bet security service. During searches of the suspects' homes, authorities found nine explosive belts ready to be detonated and information on their computers that implicated them in the plot. Police said that the group was arrested shortly before executing their plot.
During the interrogation, Harubi revealed that the cell had planned on "acting against the state of Israel and its soldiers." Harubi led authorities to the remaining suspects, some of whom were allegedly tasked with hiding weapons and planning an escape route for the terrorists after carrying out the abductions. The two youths were arrested after being found in possession of makeshift pipe bombs.
In recent years, Israeli Arabs and Israeli identity card-carrying Palestinians in East Jerusalem have become increasingly involved in terrorist acts against various targets in the country. Over the course of the last five years, there have been at least six documented instances of attacks committed by Israeli Arabs or East Jerusalem residents.
Some of these attacks were claimed by the Galilee Freedom Fighters, although most of the assailants acted on their own volition and were not assisted by any organizational structure. Officials in the security establishment believe most of the attacks were perpetrated by lone assailants, a fact which made it more difficult for the police and the army to gain information that would enable them to preemptively thwart the attack.
This article starring:
Galilee Freedom Fighters
Abdallah Harubi
Galilee Freedom Fighters
Ahmed Kabaha
Galilee Freedom Fighters
Kutaib Kabaha
Galilee Freedom Fighters
Mohammed Kabaha
Galilee Freedom Fighters
Suheib Kabaha
Galilee Freedom Fighters
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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[The Hindu International] Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday said the option of surrender was still open for the remaining LTTE cadre taking cover among an estimated 20,000 civilians inside the remaining seven km stretch of the No-Fire Zone (NFZ).
At a function here, Mr. Rajapaksa said: "In the five or six days remaining, we have given the opportunity for the LTTE to lay down their arms and surrender to the armed forces and, even in the name of God, free the civilians held by them. If they have no regard for their own lives they should at least consider the lives of others."
Mr. Rajapaksa said the whole world could now see how the LTTE used tanks to fire at the Tamil people fleeing from them. "Of what need special observers to know this? Why do we need special representatives to study this? This is known the world over." It was a surprise that some members of the international community did not see the writing on the wall.
"I must warn the world that this lack of vision could lead to an international tragedy...Daya Master says that he was carried to safety like a father carrying his child." Some parents embrace troops for saving them from terror. "The world must see and know all this. That is why we call this a humanitarian operation".
"This is not how wars are fought in other countries. We have seen how Iraq was bombed. We have seen how Afghanistan is bombed. It must be made clear that before accusing others, you must have the strength to know what you do yourself."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
...One begins to get the feeling that the 'special observers' fear that if ONE of their pet 'liberation' movements gets creamed, other nations might get the idea to do the same thing.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/02/2009 8:48 Comments ||
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#2
Yep. The Norwegians advised that the LTTE could not be eliminated militarily. Said the same thing about the Maoists in Nepal. The Nepalis bought this hook line and sinker. The leftists in India and their NGOs push the same line. The Indian Army had the entire Naxal leadership cornered in the jungle a few years ago and the Indian government pulled their forces back and declared a ceasefire for negotiations (which the Maoists used to escape and rearm).
Now the Lankans have showed everyone that elimination is an option.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/02/2009 14:45 Comments ||
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#3
Yesterday it was a 9 km stretch, progress has been made.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/02/2009 14:56 Comments ||
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#4
Plenty of progress Redneck Jim. Amazingly, the SL spokesman have been vindicated to a large extent - as far as military actions and reports indicate.
Seems at this point they're in a siege state, basically waiting for LTTE to sort itself out amongst those who can surrender and those who want.
The interesting fact here being that time is on the government side, given it will resist the standard UN/NGO press releases. It has shown great resolution to do so thus far, through te more difficult stages of this offensive, so there's no reason to stop now.
The most fascinating reactions may be coming from India - both the Tamil states in the south, as well as the silence from the national government. I suspect it is studying the actions here in anticipation of what's ahead for its other neighbors.
Sri Lankan government troops have tightened their siege of the last strip of land on the island still controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels and are poised for a final assault, the military said on Friday.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told AFP that two columns of troops had consolidated positions along a strip of coastline in the northeast captured from the ethnic rebels earlier this week. "The Tigers have no land escape routes left. We have troops in place to move in at any time," another top military official said. "If not for the civilians still trapped inside, we would have gone in by now."
Nanayakkara refused to say when the final assault would take place, asserting that troops "have to consider the civilians" still trapped in the territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
A statement from the office of President Mahinda Rajapakse said government planes on Friday dropped leaflets on LTTE territory urging civilians to cross over. "I appeal to every one of you to come over to the cleared (government-held) areas," the messages from the president said. "I am aware of the tremendous difficulties faced by the civilians who are unfortunately still being held hostage by the LTTE. Your suffering is prolonged by this action of the LTTE who are holding you as a human shield."
Craft: Officials said sporadic fighting was continuing Friday, with the navy also fighting an offshore battle with LTTE rebels trying to flee by boat. Navy spokesman Mahesh Karunaratne said three rebel craft were sunk and 23 rebels killed. There was no comment from the Tigers, but the pro-rebel Tamilnet website said the guerrillas had sunk two naval craft in a sea battle.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/02/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
[Dawn] Afghan and US-led soldiers killed 15 alleged militants in air strikes and mortar fire on Friday after coming under attack in southern Afghanistan, the US military said.
[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Seven men have pleaded guilty to terrorism charges for raising funds for an Iranian opposition group that the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization, authorities said.
Taliban are coming!
[Geo News] At least two persons were killed and three others injured amid hand-grenade attack in Kalat district in Balaochistan late on Saturday, Geo news reported. According to police sources, unknown militants launched hand grenade attack in Kalat Bazaar, which hit laborers working on a machine, killing two poor Dilbar and Sufyan while three Azam, Irfan and Shaukat were left injured. Injured were shifted to hospital for medical treatment while police have lodged case against unidentified criminals, police said.
Security forces have killed around 60 Taliban in Buner over the last 24 hours as helicopter gunships continued shelling suspected hideouts, with almost 400 Taliban putting up fierce resistance to the military offensive in the district, according to ISPR spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas. "Nearly 55 to 60 Taliban have been killed over the last 24 hours in the Buner operation," said Abbas while briefing the media on Friday. 
BAGHDAD -- April was the bloodiest month for violence in Baghdad in more than a year, another sign that Iraq's security gains are beginning to reverse. 
[Haaretz Defense] Israel Air Force aircraft on Friday bombed two smuggling tunnels along Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, in response to a Qassam fired by militants from coastal territory the previous day, and which hit the western Negev. The rocket, which struck an open field, was the first to hit the Negev after a period of relative calm. No injuries or damages were reported in the strike. There was also no word of casualties from the IAF response, which targeted tunnels on the Philadelphi Route. The Israel Defense Forces reported a precise hit on the tunnels and said all Israeli aircraft returned safely to their bases.
[Haaretz Defense] A shadowy group calling itself the "
[The Hindu International] Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday said the option of surrender was still open for the remaining LTTE cadre taking cover among an estimated 20,000 civilians inside the remaining seven km stretch of the No-Fire Zone (NFZ).
Sri Lankan government troops have tightened their siege of the last strip of land on the island still controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels and are poised for a final assault, the military said on Friday.
