NATO planes pounded a compound in southern Afghanistan early on Wednesday in a strike against a senior Taliban commander that locals said killed several rebels and civilians. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it believed the strike in Helmand had killed the commander, who was linked to a spike in attacks in the area including the capture of the town of Musa Qala. The building was fully destroyed in the 3:20am attack, ISAF said in a statement that did not mention other casualties.
The strike was on an isolated sprawling compound between Musa Qala and Kajaki where British troops have killed several rebels in an effort to secure a major hydropower dam.
Mullah Nizamuddin said four of his men were killed in the NATO attack which he said struck a civilians home where they had been spending the night after having dinner. Thirteen members of their hosts family were killed including children.
Without causing further collateral damage, one building in the compound was fully destroyed, it said. Precision-guided munitions were used.
A man identifying himself as a local Taliban commander, Mullah Nizamuddin, said four of his men were killed in the NATO attack which he said struck a civilians home where they had been spending the night after having dinner. Thirteen members of their hosts family were killed including children, he told AFP by telephone. Nizamuddin said the strike appeared to have been targeted at himself. A village chief told AFP by telephone that more than 30 people were killed, including 20 Taliban fighters who had been spending the night in the targeted house. He said bodies were pulled from the rubble in the morning. Another villager said some Taliban and civilians were killed, but he could not give a number. The claims by the villagers, who did not want their names used, could not be confirmed.
Separately, a purported Taliban commander has said the militia is ready for its biggest ever offensive in Afghanistan this year. A man claiming to be a Taliban commander in Helmand told AFP Tuesday he had up to 10,000 men ready for action once spring arrives in March. We will launch a very big offensive the biggest ever seen this spring, Mullah Abdul Rahim told AFP in a telephone interview.
This article starring:
MULLAH ABDUL RAHIM
Taliban
MULLAH NIZAMUDIN
Taliban
Musa Qala
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11132 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Musa Qala... sounds quite foxy doesn't she? Good shooting, gents.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/15/2007 3:36 Comments ||
Top||
#3
No, Ebbolump Glomotle9608. It's a religious title, meaning that he's learnt enough of the Koran and the Hadith and Sunnah to give sermons. I suspect it's a courtesy title given to everyone who went to a madrassah.
#9
But we haven't played "Cowboys and Muslims" yet.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/15/2007 11:31 Comments ||
Top||
#10
But we haven't played "Cowboys and Muslims" yet.
About time to start, don't you think? Especially in Afghaniland and the paki pigpen.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/15/2007 14:47 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Good hunting NATO. Many Taliban bullseyes!
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
02/15/2007 19:25 Comments ||
Top||
#12
The Mullah boys must think that 10,000 poorly trained and equipped light infantry, unsupported by air or artillery, is shocking news. Planning is ongoing for advertised Spring offensive, Mullah boys; please give your families a final good-bye before you start the Spring offensive. You should not expect to see them again.
#13
we should be dropping leaflets over the NWFP and Baluchistan telling them to "come to your ugly death. no virgins, grapes, or houris await you, only a moldering grave after the buzzards and worms clean your bones. Signed, your NATO masters"
lets see the enthusiasm level after that :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2007 22:50 Comments ||
Top||
Afghan authorities announced they had captured Mullah Daud Trabi, a senior Taliban commander who had been the Khost provinice's chief of the "vice and virtue" police that imposed the Taliban's ultra-conservative moral code during their 1996-2001 hold on power. He was captured in the eastern city of Khost on Tuesday, the interior ministry said in a statement.
Trabi was captured while on the move between Afghanistan and "outside the border."
Trabi was captured while on the move between Afghanistan and "outside the border," the statement said, referring to Pakistan where US and Afghan officials say the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies have sanctuaries.
Elsewhere in Helmand province, auxiliary police protecting a poppy-eradication team were hit by a roadside bomb on Tuesday that killed two policeman and wounded three, Eisah Mohammad, the provincial police chief, said.
This article starring:
MULLAH DAUD TRABI
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'd say there's virtue to putting this guys nuts in a vice.
#3
I vote for the vise, let all his children be born flat.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/15/2007 11:33 Comments ||
Top||
#4
It almost sounds like they caught him in Pakistan, not Afghanistan, no? It certainly isn't clear that he was definitely arrested within Afghanistan's borders.
(SomaliNet) The Al-Qaeda number two leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri has again commended the insurgent attacks in the Somalia capital Mogadishu and called on the Somali Jihadists to continue the war with the foreign occupiers and their allies. In a video tape posted on the net and aired by the Al-Jazeera TV on Wednesday,
Al-Zawahiri said that Muslims in Horn of Africa nation have the right to fight with the infidels that occupied their land. He said they are on the righteous path which leads them to paradise.
Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, said in a message Muslims in horn of Africa nation have the right to fight with the infidels that occupied their land. He said they are on the righteous path which leads them to paradise.
Al-Zawahiri said the Islamic fighters in Somalia are in holy struggle with foreign occupiers, offering an individual praise to the leader of the ousted Islamic Courts Union, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed. He said that Sheik Ahmed, the Islamist leader has fallen in the hands of an enemy but Sheik Ahmed is now in Yemen for possible negotiation with the transitional government.
It is the second time that Al-Qaeda No 2 leader talked about Somalia affairs giving high spirit to the Islamist fighters to keep their struggle against the invaders. Earlier the Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had called on Islamist hardliners to carry out suicide attacks on the Ethiopian troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Curious: When was the last time anyone heard from OBL?
Algerians woke on Tuesday (February 13th) to find themselves facing a resurgence of bomb attacks, which plagued the country from 1994 to 1997. Seven car bombs targeting police stations exploded simultaneously in the regions of Boumerdès and Tizi Ouzou, situated 50km and 100km east of Algiers.
Six people were killed, including two police officers, and 13 were wounded, according to the interior ministry. This is the first time since the dissolution of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) that bomb attacks have been conducted simultaneously so close to the capital. According to the ministry, the deadliest was the attack in Si Mustafa, Boumerdes province, where a car bomb killed four people.
The attacks were carried out simultaneously at 4:30am Algiers time, using remote-controlled car bombs.
"Everyone was asleep ... I heard a loud explosion, and the windows in the house shook," says Rachid Taourirt, who lives in the town of Tizi Ouzou, 11km from the attack on the police station in Draâ Ben Khedda. Cherif Kahdmi, a resident of the nearby town of Mekla described the police station as "completely destroyed".
"Due to lack of elements and difficulty of recruitment, and especially the vigileance of security services in large urban centres, the GSPC had no choice but to obey Ayman al-Zawahiri who legitimizes collective massacres -- car bomb attacks that cause more damage," the paper reported.
Algeria daily Liberte Algerie said on Wednesday that the GSPC seems to have abandoned its confrontational strategy, opting for the "less risky" remotely detonated car bombs. "Due to lack of elements and difficulty of recruitment, and especially the vigileance of security services in large urban centres, the GSPC had no choice but to obey Ayman al-Zawahiri who legitimizes collective massacres -- car bomb attacks that cause more damage," the paper reported.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa denounced the attacks and voiced the league's solidarity with Algeria in its anti-terror fight.
The attacks come a week after statements from Interior Ministry Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni and Deputy Minister for Local Communities Dahou Ould Kablia, of possible risks posed by the GSPC. According to Zerhouni, the groups decision to take a new name "changes nothing in reality. We are still dealing with the same men, and we shall fight them to the end." Ould Kablia, downplayed the threat posed by the Salafist Group, judging it to be "on its way to being stamped out."
This article starring:
Dahou Ould Kablia
Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni
Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Getting really pedantic here, but "starring" means their names come before the title.
Tough guy. Gang banger. Brave Jihadi Warrior.
The prisoner lived in isolation in a cell with only a steel slab for a bed. At times chained to the floor, he was deprived of light, sleep, a clock and heat. His interrogators injected him with "truth serum" drugs to try to loosen his tongue and threatened him with execution. Prove it. What's your evidence? His word?
That's how Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen held without charge as an "enemy combatant," was treated for three years and eight months at the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., his attorneys allege. In court papers, they say Padilla initially accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" was treated so severely that it amounted to torture and rendered him mentally incompetent to now stand trial on terrorism charges that could bring him life in prison.
That provocative claim disputed by the government, which says Padilla was not abused and is fit for trial will be the focus of a mental competency hearing for Padilla, scheduled for Feb. 22 in a federal court in Miami.
The long-shot effort to have him declared unfit for trial is the latest turn in a case that has become a test of how far the U.S. government can go in limiting the civil liberties of an American in the name of national security.
Government lawyers decline to give details about how Padilla has been treated, but they flatly dispute the defense's version. "It has no merit whatsoever," prosecutors say in papers filed in the court where Padilla is scheduled for trial April 16. He is charged with conspiring to support terrorism overseas as part of a North American terror cell.
The government has said that however it handled the Brooklyn-born Padilla, 36, its actions were necessary to try to learn more about terrorism.
Civil libertarians have waged a marathon court battle challenging Padilla's detention, beginning two days after he was locked up in Charleston in June 2002. He was not allowed to talk with a lawyer until March 2004, 21 months into his confinement. The accusations against Padilla have evolved as his case has shifted to different courts. Then-attorney general John Ashcroft initially linked him to a "dirty bomb" plot. The Justice Department later tied him to an alleged plot to blow up high-rise apartments in the USA. Ah. The Evil AshKKKroft! How soon we forget...
However, the charges pending against Padilla mention none of that. He faces three counts that include conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim people overseas, and conspiring to support terrorism by supplying money and materials.
For now, the focus is on whether Padilla is mentally fit to stand trial. At next week's hearing, U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke will examine competing assessments of Padilla's mental state by the defense and prosecution. In court documents filed last Friday, prosecutors Russell Killinger and Stephanie Pell cite an analysis by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in arguing that Padilla is fit for trial. Defense attorneys say the bureau's findings are inaccurate.
Padilla's attorneys plan to call as witnesses civilian and military members of the brig staff who expressed concerns about the effects of extended isolation on Padilla's mental health.
Andrew Patel, one of Padilla's attorneys, describes his own conversations with staff members in court papers. Patel says they told him Padilla was so "docile and inactive that his behavior was like that of 'a piece of furniture.' " Good.
Prosecutors say details about Padilla's detention should be kept out of the trial. They say in court papers that such information could "distract and inflame" jurors. It is unclear how much information Cooke will allow into next week's hearing. Wouldn't bother me. Put me on the jury.
Padilla's attorneys argue that the government's treatment of Padilla "injured" his brain and left him incompetent to understand the proceedings against him. The attorneys have asked Cooke to dismiss the charges, calling Padilla's treatment at the brig so "outrageous, it shocks the conscience." According to court documents, two mental health experts who examined Padilla for the defense concluded that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, triggered by his time in the brig. They said he is unable to watch videos of his interrogations or read transcripts of wiretapped conversations that likely will be used against him in court.
Padilla suffers from memory gaps, is unable to place events in chronological order and has difficulty concentrating, according to Patricia Zapf, a New York psychologist, and Angela Hegarty, a New York psychiatrist. Padilla also suspects his attorneys are federal agents posing as lawyers in order to interrogate him, court papers say. Padilla told his attorneys and the mental health experts that while he was at the brig he was placed in stress positions, assaulted and told that he would be sent to "an even worse" fate at the U.S. military's prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of foreign terrorism suspects have been held indefinitely. "The torture took myriad forms, each designed to cause pain, anguish, depression and ultimately the loss of will to live," Padilla's attorneys say in court papers. Gitmo. The interrogation hole card.
The defense attorneys also allege that Padilla was injected with LSD or PCP as a sort of "truth serum." Gonna have to prove that.
Padilla was denied "the most personal shreds of human dignity," his attorneys argue, when he was not allowed to bathe for weeks at a time. "One would have to revisit the history of the Tower of London to find more oppressive pretrial incarceration," the attorneys say. Yeah, I'm sure not bathing for weeks was a big change for him...
Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, won't discuss Padilla's specific claims. But he says, "The government, in the strongest terms, denies Padilla's allegations allegations made without support and without citing a shred of record evidence. It is and always has been our policy to treat detainees humanely." Yeah, but you're not a terrorist defense lawyer, so you're probably lying...
#1
The prosecution should actually run with this, by agreeing to stipulate that Padilla is a deranged and criminal lunatic who should be put in prison for life, phrased in such a way that he and his jihadist fellows sound like insane but violent failures and losers. Even imply that he is not a real Muslim, but a wannabee who has no understanding of real Islam.
If he didn't bite on that bait, then he is a lot smarter than he looks. But he would probably plead guilty just to "show them" that he was a "real" terrorist, and not just some luser.
#3
Once more, al'Qaeda trains its people to claim abuse and torture if they're arrested. Padilla -- who took the name Abdullah al-Muhajir -- is just running with his training.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/15/2007 11:58 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Let him rot in H*ll, for all I care. They are all liars and are playing the 5th column MSM for the simple tools they are.
#6
Islam itself is a mental illness. Waterboard the prick back to his sense then hang him.
Does it bother anyone else that since 9-11 there has not been one single Camel Herder for Allah executed?! WTF Bush.
Speaking of the devil, With a name like Jose you'd think he could claim he was a mexican drug dealer who was shot by federal boarder patrol. Bush would make sure he'd get off.
#8
Isn't is amazing how terrorists think they are too smart to be caught? As soon as they are caught don't they all claim to be insane? I am sure Jose's conscience was not shocked at the Brig, he does not have one. Jose, let us give you a tip, those folks at a Navy Brig wont put up with your bullsh*t.
Mumbai: The prosecution on Thursday completed arguments on the quantum of sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case and pleaded for death sentence for 44. It, however, submitted that Rubina Memon, Somnath Thapa and Imitiaz Gawte, be spared of death sentence as Thapa and Gawte were ill and Rubina was a woman.
CBI prosecutor N. Natarajan sought maximum punishment for the rest of the accused after dividing them in to three groups, as per the sections under which they were found guilty.
The 44 were found guilty under 120-b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code or Section 3 (2) (i) (terrorist act resulting in death) of the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act. Mr. Natarajan said the country had been facing terrorism for the last 20 years and the accused must be given maximum punishment as prescribed in relevant enactments, as this would prove to be a "deterrent." He cited several Supreme Court judgments and sought maximum punishment for the accused in the remaining two groups.
The second group includes accused convicted under Section 3(3) (terrorist activities not resulting in death) of the TADA Act and face a maximum of life imprisonment.
However, he prayed for lesser sentence for the two women in the group, Mubina Bhiwandiwala and Zaibunissa Qazi.
The third group comprises accused facing conviction under the Arms Act and Customs Act. It includes actor Sanjay Dutt.
Most of the accused were present in the court. Those who face death sentence include three brothers of prime accused Tiger Memon Yakub, Essa and Yusuf, as well as Mohammed Shoaib Ghansar, Asgar Yusuf Mukadam, Shahnawaz Qureshi, Abdul Gani Ismail Turk, Parvez Nazir Shaikh, Mohammed Iqbal Shaikh, Nasim Bharmare, Mustaq Tarani, Mohammed Farooq Pawale, Bashir Ahmed Usman Gani, Zakir Hussain Noor, Abdul Akhtar Khan, Firoze Amani Malik, Sakim Rahim Shaikh and Moin Qureshi and Eijaz Pathan.
The court fixed February 23 for statement by defence counsel on the quantum of sentence.
Posted by: john ||
02/15/2007 20:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
sounds right to me
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2007 20:19 Comments ||
Top||
IMPHAL: The Chakesang tribals of Phek district in Nagaland have declared a war on insurgents belonging to the NSCN(I-M) and the NSCN(K) factions.
The villagers have raided houses, drove out insurgents and torched the hideouts.
The patience of the tribals ran out when the warring factions indulged in gun-fights in which some villagers were killed.
Posted by: john ||
02/15/2007 15:40 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
One eventually imagines an extreme at which some of these insurgent groups have acronyms right up there with that 112-letter named town in Wales...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/15/2007 17:13 Comments ||
Top||
#2
And they've all long since degenerated into criminal enterprises - involved in arms and narcotics trafficking, prostitution, extortion and murder.
Posted by: john ||
02/15/2007 17:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Now is the time for the Indians to invest heavily into a psuedo-gang operation against the Nagaland insurgents, as well as a CIDG setup with safe hamlets and actual firearms issued to the tribal guard units.
The supply of gas to Dera Bugtis purification plant was suspended on Wednesday following a blast that damaged an eight-inch diameter gasline. Sources told Online that the blast from explosives planted under the pipeline, near well No 21 on Kashmor Road, also damaged a nearby bridge, but caused no casualties. An FIR has been lodged against the assailants.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Does Dera Bugtis purification plant ever have a supply of gas?
The ban on shaving of mens beards has been extended across Bajaur Agency and violators will have to pay a Rs 5,000 fine, Ghulam Khan, president of the barbers association, said on Wednesday. It has been unanimously decided that there will be a ban on shaving beards all over Bajaur Agency, Ghulam Khan told reporters in Khar, regional headquarters of Bajaur Agency. The ban on shaving mens beards was imposed following distribution of pamphlets from an unidentified militant group on Sunday that the practice was un-Islamic. No excuse will be accepted for violating the ban and violators will have to pay a Rs 5,000 fine, Ghulam Khan said, adding that the political administration had been informed about the barbers decision. We have to take the threat seriously because no one can guarantee our security if we ignore the warning, the chief barber added. Meanwhile, some youths have decided to secretly hire a barber to shave their beards every week. The barber will come to a secret place and shave our beards because we dont want to grow it, the youths told Daily Times.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It would be about time that the "seculars" put a ban on beards. Anyne wearing a beard would be shaved, whipped, fined and charged for the cost
#2
But the seculars support the hardliners.
They believe "All muslims are brothers".
The seculars are ridden with guilt because they are not good enough muslims. Part of the reason why some of them trip and turn rabid jihadi..
Posted by: john ||
02/15/2007 5:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Sooo Ghulam whats un-Islamic this week?
I dunno Mahmood...last week it wuz pictures of pigs.
Hmmm hows bout chin whiskers its an oldie but its always a goodie.
Yessss thats it Jiiiihaaaadiiiayyyeeee!
#4
A ban on beard-shaving - talk about your pinnacle of religious thought and philosophy. Of course, it is not really about religion, is it? It is all about power and intimidation.
Unknown gunmen killed shia leader Jawad Hussain in Dera Ismail Khan city on Wednesday, said police. The two gunmen killed Hussain at around 10am near Chaman Chowk, Riaz, a moharrar at the DI Khan city police station, told Daily Times. Hussain was the leader of a Shia youth group. An hour before the incident, police tried to stop three men for an identity check near Kotli Imam, but the men fled. However, police have found the identity card of one of the men that he dropped while escaping.
This article starring:
Jawad Hussain
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
, police have found the identity card of one of the men that he dropped while escaping.
Betcha it's fake.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/15/2007 11:39 Comments ||
Top||
The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was wounded and an aide was killed in a clash Thursday with Iraqi forces north of Baghdad, the Interior Ministry spokesman said. The clash occurred near Balad, a major U.S. base about 50 miles north of the capital, Brig. Gen Abdul-Karim Khalaf said.
Khalaf said al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri was wounded and his aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, was killed. Khalaf declined to say how Iraqi forces knew al-Masri had been injured, and there was no report on the incident from U.S. authorities.
Deputy Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal said he had no information about such a clash or that al-Masri had been involved. Al-Masri took over the leadership of al-Qaida in Iraq after its charismatic leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike last June in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.
#6
Well this is going to make the Democrats in Congress discussing their "resolution" look like friggin idiots. They don't want the surge, they say it won't work. Day 1 of the surge we get the top Al-Q in Iraq guy and kill his aide. Nope, no results there. Talk about unfortunate timing for the Pelosi/Murtha sedition team. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.
#7
Khalaf said al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Ayyub al-Masri was wounded and his aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, was killed. Sources tell NBC News that al-Masri is in custody.
#11
The more the Dems talk, the more success we're seeing in Iraq.
Similar phenomenon to the freak blizzards and record cold that accompanys showings of "Inconvenient Truth" and major panel discussions on global warming.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
02/15/2007 22:08 Comments ||
Top||
#14
48 hour rule strikes again: DNA tests show it is NOT al-Masri.
(damn that 48 hour rule!)
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
02/15/2007 22:29 Comments ||
Top||
#15
The Dems will be strong and vow to fight on in spite of any American Victory.
Well, technically, guys this "surge is a failure" because it was Iraqi troops who shot it out at the Balad corral. Of course, this takes away the Donks "we need to train the Iraqis faster" meme.
/sarc
Posted by: BA ||
02/15/2007 23:15 Comments ||
Top||
After being technically in progress for about over a week, Operation Imposing the Law officially started yesterday.
Al-Maliki who's been on a tour in the mid-southern region announced the beginning of the operation from Kerbala. This choice I think delivers two messages; first it looks that Maliki was trying to show that the plan is solid enough and could go on without his immediate supervision and presence in Baghdad and that the military commanders are operating without interference from politicians. And second I think he wanted to say that even though the focus has been in Baghdad for months, the situation elsewhere was not ignored; and this part could be seen in the tough-worded warnings he made to local officials and militants alike.
First he gave militants in Kerbala 48 hours to disarm or face the consequences and then turned to the local officials and told them if they couldn't do their job right they'd better step down and let someone better take their place.
The Kerbala provincial administration's reputation isn't quite impressive when it comes to corruption and involvement in violence and Maliki didn't forget to give a stern warning against corruption calling corruption a crime just as serious as terrorism.
Back in Baghdad the most significant raid conducted yesterday was the one on Buratha mosque, one of the most important Shia mosques in Baghdad which is also considered a SCIRI territory.
The raid ended without blood but the preacher of the mosque, a lawmaker from the SCIRI, expressed his dismay about the raid "because it was American soldiers who searched the mosque" and this seems to be one of the changes in rules of engagement. I recall that there was some kind of a rule that said only Iraqi soldiers or police were allowed to walk into places of worship while American troops would have to stay outside.
This raid too is of political significance as it can be used to prove to that the operation is impartial and not directed against one sect without the other.
On the streets, checkpoints and roadblocks are becoming increasingly serious and strict in doing their job; soldiers and policemen are sparing no vehicles or convoys from searching and I personally saw a case yesterday where an ambulance driver tried to rush his vehicle through a checkpoint but the soldiers ordered him to stop and let him pass only after they checked the inside of the vehicle finding only a civilian medical emergency.
Strict checkpoints always mean slow traffic and inconvenient delays for Baghdadis but this downside is welcome when these security measures make the streets safer.
Despite the traffic jams and though this is the largest deployment for troops in the capital, daily life and civilian activity-contrary to what was expected-still continues at a rather normal level, unlike previous crackdowns where life came to near paralysis.
Meanwhile a new bird appeared in the sky; not exactly new but one that's been absent for a long time; since the end of major operations in 2003. In fact this is the first time ever that I see the B-1 flying over Baghdad. Since Tuesday, the long-range huge bomber appeared several times over the city spending as long as 75 minutes in some cases.
#1
a lawmaker from the SCIRI, expressed his dismay about the raid "because it was American soldiers who searched the mosque" and this seems to be one of the changes in rules of engagement
Hallelujah! One baby step in the right direction maybe? We all know here at the Burg the ROE changes are at least equally as important as the troop surge. I hope there's more of this to come. I like this part too:
Meanwhile a new bird appeared in the sky; not exactly new but one that's been absent for a long time; since the end of major operations in 2003. In fact this is the first time ever that I see the B-1 flying over Baghdad. Since Tuesday, the long-range huge bomber appeared several times over the city spending as long as 75 minutes in some cases.
Coalition Forces rescued an Iraqi citizen during an operation Wednesday in the Salman Pak area targeting al-Qaida terrorists and an associated vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices/IED network.
During the operation, Coalition Forces found a male Iraqi citizen shackled in one of the rooms of a targeted building. Ground forces detained four males who were found hiding near the building. During a search, Coalition Forces found the hostages cell phone on one of the detainees. The detainees are being held for questioning to determine their involvement in the hostage taking.
According to the hostage, he was tied up with a hood over his head for three days. He said he had prayed and fasted the entire three days because he believed he was going to be executed by his captors. The man was transported to a nearby military medical facility for an examination. Remember Salman Pak? It's where some say terrorists were trained to hijack airplanes. Others say it was used to train counter-terrorists. I report. You decide.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/15/2007 06:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I was halfway through the second paragraph when I thought "this has to be coming from the military. No press organ would publish something that exposes the barbarity of our enemies and a success of our troops".
I hovered over the link, and my guess was confirmed.
On a vaguely related subject -- Murtha's demanding that Abu Ghraib be dismantled. Didn't we hand that over to the Iraqis? It came to mind because the "hood over his head for three days" would be the shrieking headline on every US paper if it had been US troops responsible for it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
02/15/2007 7:57 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Nothing good has come from Salman Pak for quite a long time. It was a notorious area during Saddam's reign and appears to remain such.
Thousands of U.S. troops swept house-to-house through mostly Shiite areas virtually unopposed Wednesday in the opening phase of the long-awaited Baghdad security crackdown. But four U.S. soldiers were killed outside of the capital in an area not covered by the operation.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi soldiers and police set up new checkpoints across the city of 6 million people, snarling traffic and forcing people to walk across bridges jammed with cars and trucks.
The U.S. military said 14 suspects were detained and four weapons caches discovered during the day's operation seemingly a low tally. But U.S. officials say they are more concerned about establishing a long-term presence in the areas so that the public will gain confidence in security forces to protect them.
Outside the capital, fighting continued.
The military said four U.S. soldiers were killed Wednesday in an explosion in Diyala province, among six new U.S. deaths announced by the military. U.S. officers have expressed concern that insurgents and militias are leaving Baghdad to transfer the fight to Diyala and other provinces that border the capital.
Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, warned that advance publicity on the security operation had given Shiite militias time to flee the city for bases elsewhere in the country.
"I have information that numerous of their leaders are now in Basra and other southern provinces in safe havens," he told Al-Arabiya television. "I believe that those who were behind the bloodshed and the chaos should be pursued and criminals must face justice."
We gave roughly two months' warning that we were coming for the Sadrists and surprisingly...aren't finding any. We gave roughly eighteen months' notice that we were coming for Sammy's WMDs and surprisingly...didn't find them.
At least 38 Iraqis also were killed or found dead nationwide, including four civilians who died when a parked car bomb struck a predominantly Shiite district in central Baghdad. Only five bullet-riddled bodies were found on the streets of the capital, an unusually low number of apparent victims of so-called sectarian death squads mainly run by Shiite militias that have suddenly skipped town or gone to ground for a change of underwear killed thousands in the past year.
The Baghdad neighborhoods targeted by the Americans Shaab, Ur and Baida lie north of the Shiite militia stronghold of Sadr City, which had been off-limits until Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki lifted his protection of the notorious Mahdi Army, the largest Shiite militia.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Don't dead bodies not riddled by bullets count any more?
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/15/2007 8:31 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Any speculation on how this security plan is "unlike anything we've ever seen before" per General Petraeus? House to house searches have been done and, AFAIK, do not work unless done in the Fallujah sense of the word. Could the house to house searches be an initial feint, which might lull the terr's into complacency, causing them to get careless, and thereafter releasing the hammer down hard on them?
I hope...cuz otherwise, I fail to see how this plan will work...
"My friends and I who are the old women of the neighborhood went to the soldiers and welcomed them and prayed that God would help them to defeat the terrorists," said Um Sabah of the Mashtaal area in eastern Baghdad. "Although, the presence of army and vehicles is not very comfortable, we welcome it because it is for the sake of Iraq." I hope Um Sabah did not give her real name.
"Iraqi people are so bad. They just do not want to work together. I think it'll take 10 years before things will change," said Bestoon Abdul Kadder, 23, an aspiring pop artist, in English.
#8
I hope MJH's idea is what is happening. So far these guys let us win, then just pin prick all over so it looks like they are gaining in strenth, which means the MSM will then say, "See we are losing". I just hope this time that has been taken into account.
A Palestinian fugitive suspected of planning terror attacks was arrested Wednesday in a joint IDF, Shin Bet [Israel Security Service] and Border Police operation south of Nablus. The Palestinian, identified by the IDF as Kadar Gomah, was detained by the Shin Bet for interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
Jakarta, 15 Feb. (AKI) - The former leader of Indonesia's largest Islamic militia Laskar Jihad, which has officially disbanded, said terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) will be defeated by the army within the next six months in Central Sulawesi but that its holy war, or jihad, could move to other parts of Indonesia's archipelago. "I don't think it will take long for security forces to defeat JI in Poso [a Muslim majority city of the province] but the government should beware of the potential moves of the terrorists who could re-create JI somewhere else," Jaafar Umar Thalib told Adnkronos International (AKI).
The Islamic cleric admitted that religious leaders such as himself should also have the responsibility of fighting terrorism. "It is our duty as preachers to strengthen people's faith," he told AKI in an interview at the Islamic school he heads near Yogyakarta, a city in the central area of Java. Jaafar has supported a police crackdown on JI in which 17 alleged members of the organization were killed in January in Poso, a haven for the terrorist group.
Getting the cops to whack the competition for him?
A sectarian war in Central Sulawesi has killed over 1,000 people from 1999 to 2001 and left a deep mark in the population. Jaafar's Laskar Jihad took part in the conflict but has now allegedly dissolved.
"allegedly" being the key word here
According to Sidney Jones, the director of the South Asian branch of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group think tank, terrorists fleeing Poso could go to Java and join Noordin Mohammed Top, the leader of a splinter of JI known as Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad which is believed to be the most dangerous armed group in the country. "Even if only a small number of jihadists fleeing Poso were to join Noordin, the security risks would be significant," the expert told AKI.
This article starring:
International Crisis Group
JAAFAR OMAR THALIB
Laskar Jihad
NURDIN MOHAMED TOP
Jemaah Islamiyah
NURDIN MOHAMED TOP
Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad
Sidney Jones
Jemaah Islamiyah
Laskar Jihad
Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad
Posted by: Steve ||
02/15/2007 13:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11131 views]
Top|| File under:
CAMP BAUTISTA, Philippines Thousands of miles from the bazaars of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, U.S. military forces are quietly helping defeat terrorists in the jungles of the southern Philippines, a forgotten front in the global war on terrorism. Forgotten. As in "no media around".
Working behind the scenes with a rejuvenated Philippine military, U.S. special forces have helped kill, capture or rout hundreds of Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who have links to the Islamic terror groups Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda, Philippine and U.S. military commanders say. The Abu Sayyaf, responsible for 16 years of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in the southern Philippines, has been forced to flee into the mountainous terrain here on Jolo island in the remote Sulu Archipelago. But its numbers are dwindling and its leadership almost wiped out, says Brig. Gen. Ruperto Pabustan, commander of Philippine special forces on Jolo. "They are on the run," Pabustan says. "They are evading our troops now, and they are short of ammunition. We are slowly neutralizing Abu Sayyaf."
American officials agree. "I've felt a turn in the tide," says Kristie Kenney, U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. "There are a lot of good things going on."
Backed by U.S. intelligence, equipment and training, Philippine forces have killed or captured 200 of the 400 Abu Sayyaf fighters on Jolo since they began Operation Ultimatum last August, Pabustan says. Among the dead are Abu Sayyaf leader Khadafi Janjalani, whose corpse was identified in January four months after he suffered fatal wounds in a firefight with Philippine forces. Abu Sayyaf military planner Abu Solaiman was killed by Philippine special forces Jan. 16. "They've been kicking some butt," says U.S. Army Maj. Kevin Brown, a member of the Utah National Guard based at this Philippine military camp on Jolo. "I think they're close to breaking this thing open."
Abu Sayyaf is the most notorious of several militant groups fighting to create a fundamentalist Muslim state in the Philippines. It mutated over time into a criminal gang, engaged mostly in lucrative kidnappings. Hiding on Jolo with the Abu Sayyaf survivors are a handful fewer than 10 members of Jemaah Islamiyah, including two suspects in the 2002 Bali bombing, the Philippines government says.
U.S. forces have maintained a low profile in the southern Philippines since early 2002. Numbers fluctuate, but there are now about 450 more than half of them members of the special forces. The U.S. force is split between Jolo and Zamboanga city on the large island of Mindanao, says U.S. Air Force Maj. John Redfield, U.S. military spokesman in Zamboanga. In 2002 they helped drive Abu Sayyaf off the island of Basilan. "The U.S. has done much better than the critics expected," says Philippines specialist Kit Collier, visiting fellow at Australian National University. "Five years ago, when U.S. troops were first sent to Basilan, many predicted 'a new Afghanistan.' Instead, the security environment there has been transformed."
The U.S. role is controversial. The Philippine constitution forbids foreign troops from establishing bases in the Philippines and, by many interpretations, bars them from combat. So U.S. forces have played a limited role in areas such as:
Fostering goodwill among the predominantly Muslim communities by conducting medical missions, paving roads and refurbishing schools.
Using satellite imagery and other technology to help the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) track Abu Sayyaf.
Equipping Philippine soldiers with night-vision goggles and other gear to give them an edge on the battlefield.
Training Philippine troops, whose efforts to subdue Abu Sayyaf had failed.
"We have provided some assistance, but the AFP is doing the heavy lifting," says U.S. Army Col. David Maxwell, commander of the U.S. military task force in the southern Philippines.
Critics say military operations and aid projects aren't enough. The Muslims of the southern Philippines a minority in a majority Christian country have long-standing grievances. They are among the poorest people in the Philippines. They have long been ignored by the Christian political elite in Manila. Promised development money rarely arrives. "I don't care how many medical missions the Americans do," says Astrid Tuminez, researcher with the U.S. Institute of Peace, a government-funded organization trying to help arrange a peace deal between the Muslim separatists and the government. "Those grievances are still there." I'm sure the Special Forces could walk around handing out million dollar bills and Astrid would still be pissed.
#1
I love this story -- more in the steady stream of good news for those who care to hear it.
How different, psychologically and culturally, is the Philippine Muslim Enemy from the Arabian/Persian Muslim Enemy? What, if anything, is different about the Philippine flavor of Islam?
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
02/15/2007 11:37 Comments ||
Top||
#2
#1 The Muslims of the southern Philippines a minority in a majority Christian country
#5
It's hard to do the work necessary to succeed outside an Islamic community when you're banging your head against the floor five times a day and following all the other rules Islam imposes upon its believers. TRUE Islam is incompatible with advanced, technical civilization. You either have to be a seventh-century farmer, an imam living off the sweat of other men's brows, or a thief. Islam is a death sentence for its followers, yet none of them can understand that. My sympathy meter is still registering in the negative whenever Islam is mentioned.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/15/2007 15:13 Comments ||
Top||
Three rebels, a policeman and a security guard were killed in Sri Lankas restive eastern province Wednesday as Britains junior foreign minister Kim Howells toured projects in the area funded by the former colonial power. Security forces killed three Tiger rebels during clashes across eastern Amapara district which also claimed the lives of a police commando and a village security guard, police said.
In the same district, but well away from the fighting, Howells visited tsunami relief projects funded by Britain as well as refugee camps housing people displaced during the recent fighting. The minister also met with officials from UNICEF and Save the Children UK to discuss the effects of the conflict on children, High Commission (embassy) spokesperson John Culley said.
Howells went to an exhibition where Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim children displayed their feelings about the conflict through art, Culley said. Residents in the area said security was tight following a mine explosion which injured 12 people on Tuesday night.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11126 views]
Top|| File under:
Indias navy and coast guard have seized two caches of weapons and explosive-making material believed destined for Sri Lankas Tamil Tiger rebels, and detained five people, officials said Wednesday. Both hauls were made off the coast of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which lies across a narrow strait from Sri Lanka.
In the biggest seizure on Monday, a navy patrol recovered nearly 3 tons of material for making explosives from a small boat off the coast of Rameswaram, about 700 kilometres south of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, said Navy Cmdr. Philip van Haltern. The material included hundreds of anodes, metal rings, rubber washers and metal nails - all of which are used to make the lethal roadside bombs and land mines favoured by the Tigers Another suspected LTTE cache was found Tuesday aboard a boat intercepted near the town of Point Calimere, about 450 kilometres south of Chennai, said coast guard Cmdr SK Panwar. All five of the men detained were aboard the fibreglass boat, and three are suspected to be members of the Tigers, said Panwar.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Methinks that's in the general area where the Indian Coast Guard opened a new base last year.
My Burg, version .9, is up and running. If you come upon an article you want to add to your collection, click on the My Burg link. A popup will open, allowing you to assign the article to a topic heading (or meme). If you already have some memes going you can choose among them from the combo box. Click and you should be done.
To get them back, use the My Burg link on the right hand side of the main page.
Your Burg is keyed to your Rantburg cookie, so Yours is different from His or Hers or Mine.
Let me know when something doesn't work.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 17:19 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11127 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fred there is a report on all the cable channels Al Qaeda in Iraq leader al-Masri has been wounded and his aide killed in a shoot out..I don't know how to post a article...could you please post it look on CNN and Fox's web site.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/15/2007 5:48 Comments ||
Top||
#5
It's now updated.
If you make a comment and find yourself visiting Muffler Man, don't forget to thank Pinhead and his friends for their contributions to our ever-growing list of Spam Scum words and phrases.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/15/2007 7:33 Comments ||
Top||
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.
NATO planes pounded a compound in southern Afghanistan early on Wednesday in a strike against a senior Taliban commander that locals said killed several rebels and civilians. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it believed the strike in Helmand had killed the commander, who was linked to a spike in attacks in the area including the capture of the town of Musa Qala. The building was fully destroyed in the 3:20am attack, ISAF said in a statement that did not mention other casualties. 
Afghan authorities announced they had captured 
The ban on shaving of mens beards has been extended across Bajaur Agency and violators will have to pay a Rs 5,000 fine, Ghulam Khan, president of the barbers association, said on Wednesday. It has been unanimously decided that there will be a ban on shaving beards all over Bajaur Agency, Ghulam Khan told reporters in Khar, regional headquarters of Bajaur Agency. The ban on shaving mens beards was imposed following distribution of pamphlets from an unidentified militant group on Sunday that the practice was un-Islamic. No excuse will be accepted for violating the ban and violators will have to pay a Rs 5,000 fine, Ghulam Khan said, adding that the political administration had been informed about the barbers decision. We have to take the threat seriously because no one can guarantee our security if we ignore the warning, the chief barber added. Meanwhile, some youths have decided to secretly hire a barber to shave their beards every week. The barber will come to a secret place and shave our beards because we dont want to grow it, the youths told Daily Times.
Coalition Forces rescued an Iraqi citizen during an operation Wednesday in the Salman Pak area targeting al-Qaida terrorists and an associated vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices/IED network.
Thousands of U.S. troops swept house-to-house through mostly Shiite areas virtually unopposed Wednesday in the opening phase of the long-awaited Baghdad security crackdown. But four U.S. soldiers were killed outside of the capital in an area not covered by the operation.
