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Boomer on a bus kills 40 near Mosul
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
5 killed in roadside blast in eastern Afghanistan
A roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing five people, including police officers, a provincial police chief said.

The blast happened in the eastern Khost province close to the border with Pakistan, said police chief Gen. Mohammad Ayub. He could not say how many of the people killed were policemen and how many were civilians. Ayub blamed the attack on Taliban militants, who regularly target Afghan and foreign troops in the area.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Somalia: Al-Shabaab Reenter Dinsor, Threaten to Attack Baidoa
Somalia's al-Shabaab guerrillas reentered a town in the southern part of the country hours after Ethiopian troops withdrew Tuesday, locals reported. Al-Shabaab fighters armed with rocket launchers and machineguns briefly seized control of Dinsor town on Sunday, but withdrew before the night.

In response, the interim government dispatched a convoy of Ethiopian troops to Dinsor. The Ethiopians stayed in Dinsor until midday Tuesday and withdrew back to Baidoa, the seat of the Somali parliament. "We saw them [al-Shabaab] inside town and we [locals] were surprised," Dinsor resident Abdullahi told Garowe Online by telephone today. "Police officers changed to civilian clothing to stay safe," he added.

Abdullahi said he did not see Muktar Robow "Abu Mansur," the al-Shabaab spokesman who personally led the insurgents' brief takeover of Dinsor on Sunday. Abu Mansur, who publicly addressed Dinsor residents during Sunday's takeover, was quoted yesterday by a Mogadishu radio station saying that he was "somewhere inside Bay region," where Baidoa is located. He threatened to attack Baidoa and other parts of Bay region "where there are Ethiopian troops and those who support them."
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


Somali governor talking with insurgents: Report
(Garowe Online) - The governor of Somalia's Middle Shabelle region, Mohamed Omar Delle, has left the provincial capital Jowhar to a secret location where he is holding talks with anti-government groups, officials said Tuesday. Governor Delle is reported to have arrived in El Baraf village, part of Middle Shabelle region, just north of the national capital Mogadishu. Ahmed Omar Habeb, a senior Middle Shabelle official who is the brother of Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed "Dheere" Omar Habeb, confirmed to local media that Gov. Delle is in El Baraf to talk with insurgents, but declined further comment.

He admitted he was in El Baraf yesterday (Monday), but stated that Gov. Delle himself will address the media regarding these talks "when he returns to Jowhar." A Middle Shabelle regional government source told Garowe Online that the basis of Gov. Delle's talks with the insurgents is to "regain" two vehicles that were stolen. Tax money collected from across Middle Shabelle region abroad the vehicles was also taken, and the "Governor is trying to get it back," the source added.

It is not clear how much success Gov. Delle can achieve in the talks, but he has become the first Somali government official to hold face-to-face dialogue with anti-government groups since the bloody insurgency erupted in January 2007. Middle Shabelle region has been spared much of the insurgent bloodshed, which has claimed thousands of lives in Mogadishu and other parts of the country. Insurgent groups, led by remnants of an Islamist movement that once ruled Mogadishu, have sworn to continue their guerrilla war until Ethiopian troops backing the interim government withdraw from Somali soil and Islamic rule is restored.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Fearing assassination, local govt official resigns in Somalia
(Garowe Online) - A local government official in SomaliaÂ’s capital Mogadishu resigned Tuesday fearing for his life, a day after his superior was shot and killed by suspected insurgents. Omar Osman Hilowle said he worked for the department of taxes in Wadajir, one of Mogadishu's 16 districts. "The reason I resigned is because of threats I received from anti-government groups," said Hilowle while speaking to local media, adding: "I feared for my children."

He has good reason to fear. The head of the Wadajir department of taxes, Haji Ali Mohamed, was assassinated on his way to work yesterday. The killers escaped before police units arrived on the scene, witnesses said.

Many government officials have been killed in Somalia since January 2007, when the Ethiopian army helped install the weak interim government in the capital. Mogadishu Mayor Mohamed “Dheere” Omar said last week that taxes would be collected from all the capital's districts, including residential and business tax. But the al-Shabaab guerrilla movement, which is spearheading the relentless and bloody insurgency against the government, issued a statement warning the government about collecting taxes in Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf attended the funeral of a slain police general, who headed the police band for decades. Gen. Abdi Kahiye was buried today after being shot and killed by insurgents, who claimed the killing on an Islamist-linked Web site. The insurgents want the immediate withdrawal of Ethiopian troops, whom they deem to be "invaders." But many say the government relies on its Ethiopian "friends" for its own survival.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Al-Qaeda claims attacks on Belgian, Spanish tourists
Al-Qaeda's wing in Yemen has claimed responsibility for separate attacks on groups of Belgian and Spanish tourists in the impoverished country, a web monitoring group said on Tuesday.

The Jund Al-Yemen Brigades said in an Internet statement that it was behind a strike in January which killed two Belgians and another in July which left seven Spaniards dead, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

The militant group said it carried out the "blessed operations" to support besieged Muslims around the world and to avenge the capture and killing of fellow Al-Qaeda militants. Yemeni officials previously blamed Al-Qaeda militants for both attacks.

SITE said it could not verify the authenticity of the statement, which was posted on an Internet forum often used by Islamic militants and which also claimed responsibility for attacks on Yemeni security forces in April and November last year.

Two Belgian women tourists were among four people killed, and four more Belgians wounded when suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen opened fire on their bus in the eastern province of Hadramut's Do'an Valley on January 19.

Last July, seven Spanish tourists and two local drivers were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his explosives-laden car into their convoy at an ancient temple. That bombing was the worst attack against Westerners in Yemen since Al-Qaeda extremists struck the USS Cole off the southern port of Aden in 2000, killing 17 US sailors.
This article starring:
Jund Al-Yemen Brigades
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Yemen

#1  I just have to ask why anyone with two brain cells to rub together would go sightseeing in Yeman. God what a place, bad food, bad booze if you can find it, flys, mud huts and not even a decent privy in a thousand miles. A Darwinian event if there ever was one
Posted by: Rich W || 02/27/2008 20:56 Comments || Top||

#2  But oh so picturesque and romantic, Rich W. Think of those wonderful National Geographic photo spreads.

P.S. Don't forget all those men chewing khat and dribbling green down their fronts. They've been struggling ever since most of their Jews fled after 1948.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2008 21:06 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australian Muslim leader pious muslim no terrorist: defense
The Muslim spiritual leader of a group of men charged with planning violent jihad in Australia, was not a terrorist and was not plotting to kill former Prime Minister John Howard, his lawyer told a court on Wednesday.

Australia's biggest terrorism trial has heard that 12 Muslim men, including spiritual leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika, had talked about staging a bombing attack that would force Australia to withdraw its troops from Iraq.

Australia has about 550 combat troops in Iraq, which it plans to withdraw by about the middle of 2008. Australia also has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan.

Benbrika, 47, who praised al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a "great man," told the group that Australia was a land at war and jihad was justified, the prosecutor has told the court.

"He is a man who is not a terrorist," defense lawyer Remy van de Wiel said on Wednesday in opening his case, reported Australian Associated Press from the court. He said the group was not a terrorist organization, it did not have weapons, explosives or ammunition and did not have a plot to kill Howard.

The prosecutor said police raids on the men's homes had found literature on how to make bombs and video tapes with messages from Osama bin Laden and showing beheadings. The prosecutor said one of the men received paramilitary training which included demolitions using explosives at an overseas camp in 2001.

The prosecutor has said one of the men, Abdullah Merhi, raised the idea of killing Howard in a September 2004 conversation with Benbrika.

But Benbrika's defense lawyer dismissed the comments, saying "they are no different to what trade unionists said about John Howard." He said the secretly taped conversations between Benbrika, a deeply religious man, and the men reflected their frustrations at the treatment of "his people" in the Middle East.

The prosecutor has said Benbrika justified jihad in Australia with the Koran, but his lawyer said the Bible and Koran had similar teachings, citing Bible quotes like the "fanatical destruction of whole cities" and a "fanatical, vengeful God."

In reference to Benbrika's criticism of the United States and Australia, his lawyer asked the jury to consider the "evil" the United States had done.

He also urged the jury to listen carefully to tapes of secretly recorded conversations between Benbrika and the men and determine what the men really said, rather than the prosecution's interpretation. "What did they do ... what did they plan to do?" he asked, adding the jury should find that they did nothing and had not planned to do anything.

The 12 charged are: Abdul Nacer Benbrika, Fadl Sayadi, Ahmed Raad, Aimen Joud, Abdullah Merhi, Amer Haddara, Shane Kent, Majed Raad, Hany Taha, Shoue Hammoud, Bassam Raad and Ezzit Raad.

The men face charges of being members of an unnamed terrorist organisation and planning to use explosives or weapons for an undisclosed terrorist act, with the intention of coercing a government or intimidating the public. All pleaded not guilty. The trial, in its third week, is expected to last nine months.
Posted by: ed || 02/27/2008 11:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  PIOUS MUSLIM

I'll bet Benbrika et. al. think they're pious. Others may differ, but they don't seem to get in the way all that often.
Posted by: gorb || 02/27/2008 14:22 Comments || Top||

#2  When they put them all in prison for many years, I hope their attorney advises them that they are not really in prison, that instead it is a disciplined religious retreat.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/27/2008 15:59 Comments || Top||


Europe
Al-Qaeda calls for Wilders to be killed
Dutch media reports that the Al-Qaeda web site "al-ekhlaas.net" posted a message which calls for Wilders to be killed. The message also hails the killer of movie maker Van Gogh. The message which was intercepted by SITE Intelligence Group also calls to terrorize the Netherlands in order to prevent the Koran movie to be published.
Posted by: Unagum Elmoluger6624 || 02/27/2008 02:15 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hope the Dutch have enough sense to block that web site.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/27/2008 11:40 Comments || Top||

#2  I'd like to see the dutch kill some Al-QAEDA and make a movie about that.
Posted by: Uleaque Untervehr8320 || 02/27/2008 13:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Website via Jordan and Colorado.
WHOIS - al-ekhlaas.net
Posted by: ed || 02/27/2008 13:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Like those animals need permission from their uppers to kill.
Posted by: Elmusoter Pelosi2279 || 02/27/2008 13:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Melissa Gilbert? The Ingalls?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/27/2008 16:55 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Killers of 7 Christian NGO worker killers held after six yrs
Karachi city is no stranger to gruesome crimes, but the murder of seven NGO workers in 2002 went down as particularly horrifying. Six years later, on Tuesday, however, the Crime investigation department (CID) police arrested three suspects of the ‘Tehreek-e-Islami Lashkar-e-Mohammadi’ in a raid in Korangi. This organization has been propagating hate against non-Muslim charity workers and is suspected of being behind the killings of fifteen people, including seven Christian employees of Idara-e-Amn-o-Insaaf, in Rimpa Plaza, on September 25, 2002. Its ringleader Wajahat wanted them to target Jewish charity workers and people he suspected were Freemasons.
I believe the Lashkar-e-Mohammadi is a false nose and moustache setup of Jaish-e-Mohammad.
“We were trying to catch them since we arrested ten members of this organization earlier,” said SSP Raja Umer Khattab. “They had confessed during interrogations but we could not say anything to the media.” A police informer luckily tipped them off on Feb 26. A raid at Akhtar Colony Signal yielded Zubairuddin alias Sherjil, Asif alias Pasha alias Pashu and Mohammad Atif. The men allegedly used poison to throw the police off and tried to make the incident look like a robbery.
This article starring:
ASIF ALIAS PASHA ALIAS PASHUTehreek-e-Islami Lashkar-e-Mohammadi
MOHAMAD ATIFTehreek-e-Islami Lashkar-e-Mohammadi
SSP Raja Umer Khattab
WAJAHATTehreek-e-Islami Lashkar-e-Mohammadi
ZUBAIRUDIN ALIAS SHERJILTehreek-e-Islami Lashkar-e-Mohammadi
Tehreek-e-Islami Lashkar-e-Mohammadi
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad


Hunt launched for British NGO office attackers
The police launched a manhunt on Tuesday for the suspected militants who attacked a British childrenÂ’s charity, killing four local staff members. Up to 12 armed men stormed the Plan International office in Mansehra on Monday, spraying gunfire and setting off grenades, the charity said in a statement.

The NGO, which has been active in the area for 12 years, said late Monday it had halted its operations in the country.
Local police chief Zulfiqar Jadoon described the attackers as “terrorists” and told AFP that police had chased the gunmen into a forest outside Mansehra soon after the raid, but the militants managed to escape. “We had an exchange of gunfire, it lasted two-and-a-half hours,” he said, adding that the police were now scouring the forests for the men.The charity office was burned to the ground in the attack, and the NGO, which has been active in the area for 12 years, said late Monday it had halted its operations in the country.

Motives: Plan International said the motive for the attack was unknown and no specific threats had been made against the charity, which helps provide education and healthcare to children in the region. Pro-Taliban militants have bombed the offices of aid groups in the past in the country, alleging that foreign-funded organisations are trying to undermine their version of strict Islamic law, which bars women from working.

Dozens of local and foreign aid organisations have been working in the area since a massive October 2005 earthquake in the NWFP and AJK killed more than 73,000 people. The NGO is based in Woking in southern England. It was founded more than 70 years ago and is one of the oldest and largest international development agencies in the world, according to its website.
This article starring:
Zulfiqar Jadoon
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Shia leader gunned down
PESHAWAR: A Shia leader was gunned down here on Tuesday. Police officials said Haji Ghulab Hussain was going to his shop at around 9:15am when unidentified assailants opened fire and injured him seriously in the jurisdiction of Khan Raziq Shaheed police station. He was rushed to Lady Reading Hospital, but could not survive. He was a resident of Parachinar and was dwelling in Mohallah Marviha in the old city. Shops in the area were closed after word of his death spread.
This article starring:
Haji Ghulab Hussain
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Takfir wal-Hijra


PPP candidate, 3 others injured in bomb attack
Four people including Pakistan PeopleÂ’s Party (PPP) candidate Dr Riaz Hussain
Earlier, a suicide bomber had rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into RiazÂ’s election rally at Parachinar on February 16, killing 52 people and injuring over 120.
sustained injuries on Tuesday when a bomb hit their vehicle near the Khurmana Pul area near Sadda in Kurram agency, officials and tribal elders said.

The tribal elders told Daily Times that Riaz Hussain, contesting for NA-37 Kurram Agency, had been enroute to Sadda city from Parachinar when the bomb exploded, damaging his vehicle. Riaz and three of his companions sustained injuries and were rushed to Parachinar for medical treatment. Their condition was stated to be stable. Earlier, a suicide bomber had rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into RiazÂ’s election rally at Parachinar on February 16, killing 52 people and injuring over 120. Elections in NA-37 were postponed for a day before the February 18 elections.
Do you get the impression that either somebody doesn't like Riaz, or that he hasn't been paying his protection money to Thulsa Doom?

This article starring:
Riaz Hussain
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Qari Saifullah Arrested in Bhutto Parade Bombing
A suspected Al Qaeda militant has been arrested in connection with the October homicide bombing in Karachi that narrowly missed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto but killed about 150 others, a top government official said Wednesday.

Qari Saifullah Akhtar, who has been in Pakistani custody before, was arrested on Monday in Lahore in connection with the bombing that hit Bhutto's homecoming parade when she returned from exile, before her killing in a second homicide attack Dec. 27, Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said. "He is involved in the blasts in Karsaz. Therefore he has been arrested," Nawaz told The Associated Press, referring to the Karachi neighborhood where the October bombing happened.

A bit more, from Pak Daily Times...
Saifullah was arrested from an under-construction mosque in Ferozwala, intelligence sources told Daily Times. They said his three sons had also been arrested.
Law-enforcement officials arrested on Monday a militant connected to the October 18, 2007, assassination attempt on slain former premier Benazir Bhutto. Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz told AFP that Benazir had accused Qari Saifullah Akhtar of plotting against her in her posthumously published memoirs. A close ally of Al QaedaÂ’s Mullah Omar, Saifullah was arrested from an under-construction mosque in Ferozwala, intelligence sources told Daily Times. They said his three sons had also been arrested.
This article starring:
Hamid Nawaz
QARI SAIFULLAH AKHTARLashkar-e Jhangvi
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Rawalpindi attack linked to tribal militants: army
The military said on Tuesday that the killing of the army’s surgeon general in a suicide bombing was likely in retaliation to operations against militants near the Afghan border. “I think apparently it is in response and reaction to the Pakistan Army’s operations against militants in South Waziristan and other places in FATA,” chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told AFP. Exact details would be known once the probe into the incident was over, he added.
So. How's that hudna with Baitullah Mehsud working for yez? Things pretty quiet?
Three investigations: Law-enforcement agencies have launched three separate investigations into the suicide bombing that killed eight people and injured over 25. A first information report of the incident has been registered and sealed at the RA Bazaar Police Station, police officials told Daily Times. They said senior officials of the Federal Investigation Agency; the Crime Investigation Department; and intelligence agencies were supervising the three investigations. The teams have collected evidence from the blast site and all unidentified body parts recovered have been sent to forensic laboratories, they added.

DNA test: The police officials said doctors at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) were currently reconstructing the face of the suspected suicide bomber. They said the CMH laboratory would conduct DNA testing on the suspected body parts of the bomber.

The investigators have also planned to check the footage of CCTV cameras installed at nearby buildings in the hopes that it might help the investigation. According to the police sources, preliminary investigations have revealed that around 10 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the attack. Several ball bearings and metal shrapnel have also been found in Lieutenant General Mushtaq BaigÂ’s military vehicle, they added.

The police said that investigators had recorded the statements of several eyewitnesses on Tuesday. They said the eyewitnesses had revealed that the suicide bomber had walked up to BaigÂ’s car from the nearby NADRA office. The investigators would also record statements from the injured currently admitted to the CMH, the Military Hospital and the Cantonment Hospital, they added. They stressed that the fire brigade had not been allowed to wash the blast site before the collection of evidence.
This article starring:
Lieutenant General Mushtaq Baig
Major General Athar Abbas
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  A bit OT – or maybe not, but does anybody have any information on a supposed terrorist umbrella group with the acronym “TTIP”?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 02/27/2008 9:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Suicide bomber kills 40 people in northern Iraq
(Xinhua) -- A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a bus traveling west of Mosul in northern Iraq's Nineveh province on Tuesday, killing 40 people and wounding five others, a provincial police source said. "A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up in the afternoon inside a bus carrying passengers traveling on the main road near the Tamarat village, some 60 km west of Mosul," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The bus, which was totally destroyed by the blast, has moved earlier from the city of Mosul and was heading to the neighboring Syria in the west when the incident took place, the source said.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  The more I look at this one, the odder it gets. A bus heading *towards* Syria is targeted? Suicide bombers tend to radiate out of Syria, not head back towards the border.

This Xinhua article is the only hit so far for this incident, which seems like it would be a pretty significant event. The source is anonymous, not military, and Multi-National Forces Iraq doesn't have anything on such an attack. There *was* a pedestrian suicide bombing in Iskandariyah on Sunday with a reported 40 killed, and similarly a suicide bomb attack on a crowd of police recruits in Tamarat proper two years ago with the same casualty number.

Is it possible this report is a mistake?
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/27/2008 9:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Given they're Nineveh province's majority population and the destination, it was likely Sunnis aboard the bus.

And yes - it could be wrong.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/27/2008 21:01 Comments || Top||


More targets hit, 153 terrorists killed in 4th day of offensive
Turkish troops backed by helicopter gunships and jet fighters pressed ahead with an offensive against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the fourth day of the military campaign, destroying more PKK targets and killing dozens of its members, the General Staff announced in a statement yesterday.

Some 30 targets belonging to the PKK were effectively hit by fighter planes in the latest stage of the offensive, the military said. Some 41 terrorists were killed, bringing the number of PKK casualties since the operation began late on Thursday to 153. Two soldiers died, bringing the number of fallen soldiers to 17.

The military also said "foreign terrorists" were acting on their own and trying to seize control of the PKK's "armed structure." The term "foreign terrorists" was referring to Syrian members of the PKK, who reportedly have been in a deepening conflict with the PKK's Turkish Kurdish leadership. News reports said recently that 10 PKK members died when the Syrian group attempted to poison PKK leader Murat Karaylan.

Troops in "critical spots" have been reinforced in the past 24 hours while others have been replaced by new troops, according to the military. Sources said the troops were heading to the PKK's command centers in the Kandil Mountains on the Iran-Iraq border after destroying the terrorist group's camps close to the Turkish border. The PKK's Zap, Avaþin and Hakurk camps near the border have been rendered uninhabitable by the Turkish military assaults and 40 out of a total of around 250 PKK camps and hideouts have so far been brought down and cleared of terrorists and ammunition by the Turkish forces. Kandil is located about 100 kilometers from the border, and it has been hit by artillery shells and jet fighters since the second day of the operation.

A total of eight command posts along with 17 training centers, 21 logistics centers, 12 anti-aircraft positions and 18 ammunition depots have also been blown up. Troops continue to leave no stone unturned in hideouts situated in the Pirbena, Keþan, Muzure, Kaþura, Trvanis, Beritan, Zap, Zagros, Gare and Metina camps. Special forces and commandos are razing every PKK hideout situated around 20 kilometers inside the Turkish-Iraqi border so that terrorists will not be able to use them again in the spring, an objective set by the Turkish army prior to the operation.

PKK terrorists in the destroyed camps were fleeing to the south, creating the risk that Turkish troops chasing them might come face to face with Kurdish peshmerga forces. The military said in a statement on Sunday that the local forces were expected to prevent the terrorists from entering their region and hiding there.

Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel bombs Gaza ministry - report
ISRAELI military aircraft bombed the Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza city overnight, a Hamas official said. There was no immediate word of casualties.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was checking the report.

Last month Israel bombed another interior ministry building in Gaza, the first Israeli bombing of a Palestinian government building since Hamas Islamists took over Gaza in June after routing secular Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas.
Posted by: tipper || 02/27/2008 16:44 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  do it in the middle of the day next time
Posted by: Frank G || 02/27/2008 17:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Israel's Unambiguous Message to Hamas:

Either keep on yer toes HAMASS or get toe tagged.
Posted by: RD || 02/27/2008 20:18 Comments || Top||

#3  "You want war, we'll give you war!"
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2008 20:58 Comments || Top||


Israeli killed by Palestinian rocket
A Palestinian rocket struck a college campus in southern Israel on Wednesday, killing a man and lightly injuring another person, Israeli medical officials said.

The rocket barrage occurred hours after an Israeli airstrike killed five Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, and raised the likelihood of even more intense Israeli attacks. Palestinian officials said two people, including a civilian, were killed in a second Israeli airstrike carried out at the time of the rocket attack.

The Hamas militant group, which controls Gaza, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire. It said it had launched more than 20 rockets at Israel, including eight at Sderot, the town where the deadly strike took place.

Israeli media said the rocket exploded in a parking lot at Sapir College. Israeli officials said a student, about 30 years old, was struck in the heart by shrapnel and died. Israeli TV stations showed a second man being carried on a stretcher with wounds to his legs.
Now for some good news ...
Early Wednesday, an Israeli aircraft blew up a minivan carrying Hamas gunmen, killing five militants, including two key masterminds of rocket attacks on Israel, the militant group said. Burned bodies in camouflage uniforms were visible in the white minivan. Hamas officials said the dead included a senior engineer who built rockets and commander who led a rocket squad. Two other Hamas members were wounded in the airstrike, according to Hamas and health officials.
Posted by: ed || 02/27/2008 12:16 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Murdered by the anti-Circians of UN/EU/USDS.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/27/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||

#2  The Hamas militant group, which controls Gaza, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire.

If this occurred anywhere else on the planet this would be an Act of War.

But since its only Jews who would be killed the UN (and EU and MSM....) treats it more like a feature then a bug...

How do you think Obama would support Israel?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/27/2008 13:21 Comments || Top||

#3  #1.1 And their f*cking Jewish collaborators.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/27/2008 13:25 Comments || Top||

#4  hmmm. I wanted to see what Debka had to say about this and they appear hacked.
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: get_specific_host() in /usr/www/www/debka_e/www/modules/common.php on line 272

Posted by: 3dc || 02/27/2008 13:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Then they showed up quickly again..
Ronnie Yihya, 47, father of 4, was killed, 10 people injured, in heavy Palestinian missile-mortar barrage Wednesday
Ronnie Yihya was a student at Sapir College outside Sderot. He came from Moshav Bitchah near Ofakim in southern Israel. He was killed and a second student critically injured by a direct Qassam hit to the campus, Wednesday, Feb. 27.

A massive 47-missle barrage and dozens of mortar rounds fired from Gaza crashed into Sderot, Shear Hanegev, the Off Kor factory’s canteen, just after 200 employees had left, and several more civilian locations bordering on the Gaza Strip. Ten people were injured and dozens suffered shock.

The last four exploded in Ashkelon, causing a partial electricity outage, striking the Barzilai regional hospital and industrial zone and leaving several people in shock.
Posted by: 3dc || 02/27/2008 13:40 Comments || Top||

#6  One would think 47 missiles and dozens of mortars would get a walking artillery response...

Guess I don't think...
Posted by: 3dc || 02/27/2008 13:42 Comments || Top||

#7  I thought the 47 rockets was a response to the IDF killing 3 children in Gaza earlier in the day??? I did not see that story on Rantburg. I guess it did not happen.
Posted by: marc || 02/27/2008 18:38 Comments || Top||

#8  Can I feed the trolls? Please? Pretty please?

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 02/27/2008 19:15 Comments || Top||

#9  hmmmm "marc", I guess there was a IDF attack on terrorists who held three children as human shields, is that what you're saying? Only cowards and terrorists and their traitorous sympathizers (marc?) would not equate human shields with cowardice and subhuman behavior...so where are you, "marc?"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/27/2008 20:26 Comments || Top||

#10  Have at it, FOTSGreg.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2008 21:02 Comments || Top||

#11  Oh great - another Toronto Troll.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/27/2008 21:04 Comments || Top||


IDF kills 5 Hamas members in Gaza
Five Palestinians, including three senior rocket unit commanders, killed after IDF aircraft fires missiles at bus, vehicle carrying members of Hamas' military wing in Gaza; several other people wounded in strike. IDF, Shin Bet confirm attack.
You want video, you have got it. Except I could get the video to run, probably because my Hebrew isn't that great (as in non-existent).
Posted by: phil_b || 02/27/2008 05:11 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  one of the commanders is supposed to have been a technical Quassam expert

- ten of these hit Sederot yesterday
Posted by: mhw || 02/27/2008 9:15 Comments || Top||


Israel seizes Hamas charity in Hebron
Israeli troops seized the facilities of a Hamas-affiliated charity in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday, saying it funneled money to the Islamic group's militant activities and recruited members to its ranks, the army said Tuesday. The move against the Islamic Charity Movement came three weeks after two Hamas members from Hebron carried out a suicide bombing that killed a woman in the Israeli town of Dimona. The charity declined comment on the seizure of its assets.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that a peace deal with the Palestinians would not necessarily be concluded by the year-end target that he and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas set. Olmert, speaking at a business forum in Tokyo, said his government was "absolutely determined" to end the decades-long conflict with the Palestinians. "The desire is to make an agreement within the year 2008," he told business leaders in Tokyo. "I'm not sure we will be able to achieve it, and certainly not to implement it in the year 2008."

The military said in a statement that the Islamic Charity Movement is a front to strengthen Hamas' foothold in the West Bank.
Just another name for the Widows Ammunition Fund.

This article starring:
Islamic Charity Movement
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

My brain is playing tricks on me, I first read that as "Prime minister Elmer Fudd"
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/27/2008 16:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Israel should seize every part of Hebron... This video talks about the settlers in Hebron doing G*ds work... I love the part about Hebron, i watch it over and over...
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8598031591119784930
Posted by: marc || 02/27/2008 18:43 Comments || Top||


Tank fires shell on Palestinian placing explosive device near Gaza fence
An IDF tank fired a shell on a Palestinian attempting to place an explosive device near the Gaza border fence, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  heh, heh. No video?
Posted by: Crease Poodle1618 || 02/27/2008 0:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Argh! Don't tease everyone with titles like that without a video! Now I've got a problem!
Posted by: gorb || 02/27/2008 1:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't guess there was too much too show after the hit
Posted by: sinse || 02/27/2008 8:29 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Two hurt testing captured Hezbollah rocket
Two Israeli soldiers were injured while testing a captured Hezbollah anti-tank rocket. Monday's accident took place at a secret facility in Rishon Letzion. Two military technicians tried to test-fire a portable armor-piercing rocket that was among the booty from the 2006 offensive against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. The rocket went off unexpectedly while the soldiers were nearby, seriously injuring both, security sources said. Hezbollah rocket crews destroyed or disabled dozens of Israeli tanks during the Second Lebanon War, an attrition rate not experienced by the armored corps in almost a quarter of a century. Israel has since been upgrading its tanks with anti-rocket systems and enhanced armor.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah


Terror Networks
U.S. Spies Want to Find Terrorists in World of Warcraft (Wired Mag)
Be careful who you frag. Having eliminated all terrorism in the real world, the U.S. intelligence community is working to develop software that will detect violent extremists infiltrating World of Warcraft and other massive multiplayer games, according to a data-mining report from the Director of National Intelligence.

The Reynard project will begin by profiling online gaming behavior, then potentially move on to its ultimate goal of "automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world."
More at link... Not sure I understand why I should care about a terrorist in a video game...
Posted by: 3dc || 02/27/2008 20:34 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just get the damned Chinese Gold Farmers and scammers off the servers and we'll be damned happy to have ya there..
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/27/2008 21:11 Comments || Top||

#2  Bit of hyperbole on the part of the author:

The Reynard project will begin by profiling online gaming behavior, then potentially move on to its ultimate goal of "automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world."

Not like online gaming hasn't been used as a social laboratory before - agencies have studied the external trade of online in-game items (including fabrication) for applicability to the real world.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/27/2008 21:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Actally what they are talking about it using the games for online meetings, info exchange, etc. The games become a covert channel. Not to mention they can do "virtual run-through" with a bit of skill in their setups.

Teaching people to coordinate actions on different parts of the globe, with nothing but a "walkie talkie" style voice comm... I'd say thats a nice tool.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/27/2008 21:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmm. Terrorists in WoW?

Just wondering, but do they all preferentially play paladins?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 02/27/2008 21:19 Comments || Top||

#5  they're afraid of Unreal Tournament, cuz I'd smoke em with a flack cannon
Posted by: Frank G || 02/27/2008 21:55 Comments || Top||

#6  Well, Rainbow6 and the other "tactical shooters" can certainly teach the basics of operations, team management and comms. These are games where there are no powerups, where if you get show you go down, and where the enemy isn't stupid.
Posted by: OldSpook || 02/27/2008 22:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Well, I wish these intel agents luck looking at EVE Online, the game I play. Considering that corporate and alliance level espionage and sabotage happen daily in it, and planted spies and corporate thieves are a serious problem, I'm not sure even the intel community could keep up with it.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 02/27/2008 22:20 Comments || Top||

#8  OK...first off:
RTFO OldSpook... get those bastids off pronto. And Rainbow 6, squad level infantry tactics - very handy indeed.
Snowman: As lvl 70 Holy Spec Pally, I take offense. Everyone knows a terr is almost always gonna take the form of a rogue...a gnome rogue almost assuredly.
FrankG: Flak Cannon is an outstanding weapon. I blame the Pelosi Congress for not speeding delivery of said weapon to our troops in theater.
SilentBrick: hmmmmmm Eve you say... sounds like a training module for our side. FTW!
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 02/27/2008 23:26 Comments || Top||

#9  Ima complete Void on 'puter games, wouldn't know a beamer from a lemur or a dreamer.. nener nener!
Posted by: RD || 02/27/2008 23:54 Comments || Top||


Good morning....
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  She's got that "I shouldn't have done that" look.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 02/27/2008 9:05 Comments || Top||

#2  You betcha she does...
Posted by: CB || 02/27/2008 22:49 Comments || Top||


If you've got it...
Please hit the tip jar. Hosting's coming up and the account's depleted to barely above zero dollars. I'm still cleaning up the mess from being unemployed forever, so there's nothing I can kick in at the moment. I try not to ask very often, but sometimes I gotta.

Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  within a few days Fred,

Spembolov.

RB is more than a very fine product, it's a fellowship of likeminded souls who love America and wish they were a whole hell of a lot younger!
~:)
Posted by: RD || 02/27/2008 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  I used Amazon.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 02/27/2008 1:12 Comments || Top||

#3  I used Amazon, too. Ten seconds, tops. Very cool.
Posted by: Clem Sheck9754 || 02/27/2008 1:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Yup, Amazin'. Thanks, Fred!
Posted by: KBK || 02/27/2008 1:50 Comments || Top||

#5  My story about Lichenstein seems to have got nixed. And we have fewer stories about Lichenstein than killer glaciers. ;-)

I'll kick in my donation tommorow.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/27/2008 3:12 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm on the road, back next Thursday, can you hang on for a week?
Posted by: Grunter || 02/27/2008 3:56 Comments || Top||

#7  Twintigvyf kom van Duitsland. Cheers Fred!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2008 5:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Done, Fred. I never did like PayPal, I'm glad you got the Amazon system.
Posted by: Spot || 02/27/2008 7:48 Comments || Top||

#9  Glad to ante up, Fred. I would encourage the "window shoppers" to hit the coffers also.

Go ahead, make Fred's day.
Posted by: Malibu_Shrade || 02/27/2008 7:59 Comments || Top||

#10  Did that last month. I'll get to it again. We appreciate your service.

michaels
Posted by: Icerigger || 02/27/2008 8:19 Comments || Top||

#11  done
Posted by: Frank G || 02/27/2008 8:25 Comments || Top||

#12  ditto.
Posted by: wxjames || 02/27/2008 8:50 Comments || Top||

#13  I feel like one of those callers to a talk show... "long-time reader, first time tip jar hitter"..
Posted by: IG-88 || 02/27/2008 9:22 Comments || Top||

#14  Envelope addressed and stamped. I'll put it in the mail today, with my thanks for this wonderful site.

I love seeing new names as lurkers step up to the plate. I feel amazingly selfish as I look forward to learning new things from y'all, as I've learnt so much from those who've been posting.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2008 9:38 Comments || Top||

#15  Done. Thanks, Fred.
Posted by: Erk || 02/27/2008 9:44 Comments || Top||

#16  Done. I prefer using Amazon to Paypal.

God Bless You, Fred, in all you do online and off...
Posted by: Ptah || 02/27/2008 9:49 Comments || Top||

#17  BTW, who IS hosting Rantburg? Gotta admire the effectiveness of their flame-proof armor given the probable grief they get for hosting Rantburg from those Rantburg discusses.
Posted by: Ptah || 02/27/2008 9:53 Comments || Top||

#18  Please post the snail mail address again.
Posted by: bman || 02/27/2008 10:16 Comments || Top||

#19  Done via Amazon. Thanks Fred for best WoT site on the internet.
Posted by: ed || 02/27/2008 10:18 Comments || Top||

#20  Done. Amazon was easier than Paypal.
Posted by: Darrell || 02/27/2008 10:47 Comments || Top||

#21  The first time my wife saw a payment to Amazon on my credit card supporting RB she thought I was hitting a pay for pr0n site! Any other guys out there have that problem?

Fred - in part - can thank TW for my donation today. It's nearly the lunch hour here at the office so my thoughts were turning to food. Then I read TW's post under the heading "Biogas from S**t in India".

Suffice to say I lost my appetite. Instead Fred gets my lunch money.

Fred: I have no right to ask but that never stopped me. Question: How much would it cost each month to keep that advertisment for the creepy "mulsim single finder/dating service" off this website?
Posted by: MarkZ || 02/27/2008 11:25 Comments || Top||

#22  It's easy with Amazon if you can remember your password. Sometimes I have trouble with that but for Rantburg I rummage through this cluttered brain until I can come up with it.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/27/2008 11:33 Comments || Top||

#23  I just sent about ten dead pikas and fifteen dead prairie dogs to Fred via Amazon. I don't know how they'll do the currency conversion.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 02/27/2008 12:39 Comments || Top||

#24  Fred---sent you some devalued US smackers via Amazon. 20 seconds. If you need real money, I still have a bit of placer gold to send ye.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/27/2008 12:58 Comments || Top||

#25  bman, there's an "Email me" link in the yellow sidebar thingy. Drop Fred a note there. I imagine he doesn't post his address on the site because of the occasional nasty trolls who drop by.

MarkZ, always glad to help! ;-) Mr. Wife won't take me to India because he thinks I'd cry if he didn't let me adopt all the poor people -- and back when he was working there 70% of the population were not economically involved.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2008 13:09 Comments || Top||

#26  done!

Thanks Fred for the many years of Rantburg.
Posted by: spiffo || 02/27/2008 13:56 Comments || Top||

#27  Done!

Thank you Fred for the brightest spot in the electronic jungle!
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 02/27/2008 14:30 Comments || Top||

#28  done!
Now back to lurking...
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Thineger1966 || 02/27/2008 14:41 Comments || Top||

#29  Done Fred. Thanks for all your hard work.
Posted by: remoteman || 02/27/2008 15:10 Comments || Top||

#30  got your email and address back, so tomorrow there will be another letter east bound.

thanks.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 02/27/2008 17:43 Comments || Top||

#31  I lost my job today, but there is enough in the kitty to get something to you, Fred.

SG5285(john)
Posted by: Skunky Glins5285 || 02/27/2008 18:22 Comments || Top||

#32  I let my "Economist" lapse. I am here more often anyway.
Posted by: Capsu78 || 02/27/2008 18:25 Comments || Top||

#33  SG5285(john) - ask around on the site - someone may have a connection for you. We help our RB community when we can
Posted by: Frank G || 02/27/2008 20:12 Comments || Top||

#34  Check will be in the mail tomorrow. Got a little extra I hadn't decided what to do with yet....

I love it when you make my decisions easy! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/27/2008 20:35 Comments || Top||

#35  Mailed a check first thing this AM.
Thanks for all you do.
Posted by: GK || 02/27/2008 21:00 Comments || Top||

#36  What Frank said, SG5285(john). What do/can you do?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2008 21:54 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
53[untagged]
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1al-Qaeda in Yemen
1Govt of Iran
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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
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trailing wife
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Fred
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3dc
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2008-02-27
  Boomer on a bus kills 40 near Mosul
Tue 2008-02-26
  Wheelchair boomer kills cop in Samarra
Mon 2008-02-25
  Yemen foils attempt to bomb oil pipeline
Sun 2008-02-24
  Iraqi security forces kill 10 al-Qaida insurgents
Sat 2008-02-23
  Turk troops enter Iraq after Kurdish fighters
Fri 2008-02-22
  Morocco busts another terror cell
Thu 2008-02-21
  Thirty Taliban killed in joint strikes
Wed 2008-02-20
  Mullahs lose NWFP control after five years
Tue 2008-02-19
  Dulmatin titzup in Tawi-Tawi?
Mon 2008-02-18
  Explosion rocks West Texas oil refinery
Sun 2008-02-17
  Somali president unhurt in mortar attack on residence
Sat 2008-02-16
  Islamic Jihad commander kabooms himself, family, neighbors
Fri 2008-02-15
  Multiple explosions at TX pipelines near Mexican border
Thu 2008-02-14
  Muslim group 'planned mass murder'
Wed 2008-02-13
  Mugniyeh rots


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