Media reports describe another U.S. airstrike within Pakistan, targeting a home that was a suspected Taliban safe house with foreign fighters.
Bill Roggio notes, "One report indicates an "al Qaeda fugitive from Egypt" was among those killed, sparking rumors that Ayman al Zawahiri was the target of the strike."
But before we break out the party hats, Roggio also notes, "several senior Egyptian members of al Qaeda are known to operate in Pakistan's tribal areas. These include Abu Khabab al Masri, Abu Ubaidah al Masri, Abdul Rahman al Masri al Maghribi, and Sheikh Essa. Abu Khabab, Abu Ubaidah, and Maghribi were believed to have been killed in the January 2006 Damadola airstrike but the reports were false."
Keep your fingers crossed.
UPDATE: Two interesting items from the Asia Times, if true. One, allegedly the Predator drone came from Peshawar Airfield, making this a joint Pakistan-NATO operation. Two, the building was allegedly a militant compound disguised as a madrassa...
Roggio mentions it while discussing the report from the Nation (the Paki paper, not the US commie rag) but Z isnt mentioned in the Nation article linked. So im not sure which reports hes referring to.
In a second precision strike within a month, a missile widely believed to have been fired by an unmanned US plane, struck a house in the Kalosha village near the Afghan border in South Waziristan around 2 AM on February 28, 2008, killing at least 12 persons, of whom four were reportedly Arabs, two Turkmen and two Pakistanis. Three non-Pakistanis were injured and were evacuated by fellow-jihadis. There is so far no indication regarding the identities of those killed.
The strike of February 28 was apparently as precise as that of January 29, 2008, and would have been possible only with human intelligence (HUMINT) and not technical intelligence (TECHINT).A significant sequel to the January 29 strike was there were no major protest demonstrations against the US by the villagers in the targeted area. This was because the strike and the HUMINT on which it was based were so accurate that there were no collateral civilian casualties. The lack of major demonstrations showed that the villagers do not mind precisely targeted attacks on jihadi terrorists provided the attacks kill only known terrorists and not innocent civilians.
In the past, almost every suspected US missile strike in the tribal belt had been followed by violent demonstrations because the strikes were based on intelligence, which proved to have been inaccurate, and resulted in the death of a large number of innocent civilians. Recent strikes by the US forces on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border have been more precise and more successful in avoiding innocent civilian casualties.
It would be interesting to see whether there is any demonstration by the people of the area against the missile strike of February 28, 2008. It is not yet known whether there were any collateral casualties of civilians.
In an effort to improve HUMINT collection, the US intelligence had been announcing from time to time since 9/11 huge cash rewards amounting to millions of dollars to anyone providing accurate information relating to bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and other important terrorists operating from the tribal areas. Till the end of last year, there were not many takers for these reward amounts. Since the beginning of this year, there are indications that these offers of huge rewards have started helping in HUMINT collection.
#5
Former regime officials may be building up their bank accounts and credits with Uncle before they go into self-imposed exile. Doing us a big favor. And settling some old scores. Should be interesting. Popcorn, anyone?
Twenty-nine Taliban were killed trying to protect opium crops from eradication in southern Afghanistan, most of them in a six-hour gunfight with police, officials said Thursday.
A senior commander was among the dead in the clashes in Helmand province, the top opium-producing area in Afghanistan, which churns out 90 percent of the world's supply to make heroin for Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Rebels on Wednesday used rockets and gunfire to attack a team that was destroying opium poppy crops in remote Marja district, provincial police chief General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal told AFP.
A police vehicle was badly damaged and a policeman was wounded. Police reinforcements were sent to the area and the fighting accelerated, lasting well into the night, Andiwal said.
"The six-hour fighting killed 25 Taliban and two Taliban were arrested," he said.
On Thursday four more rebels were killed when a landmine exploded as they were planting it to target the eradication team, he said.
The interior ministry said a Taliban commander named Mullah Naqeebullah was among the dead in Wednesday's fighting. He had twice escaped from Afghan jails, it said in a statement.
A spokesman for the hardline Taliban movement, Yousuf Ahmadi, confirmed that Taliban fighters were involved in the incident but said only one was killed.
Helmand experiences some of the worst violence linked to a Taliban-led insurgency which officials say is funded in part by a 10 percent tax that the rebel movement takes from opium farmers.
Officials admit the Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001, control a handful of districts in the province but say they will be removed.
The rebels used the Helmand town of Musa Qala as a base for 10 months before they were ejected in December by Afghan and international soldiers.
US intelligence officials told the US Congress Wednesday that the Taliban had retaken control of about 10 percent of the country since they were removed from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
The government of President Hamid Karzai meanwhile controlled just "30, 31 percent, and then the rest of it was local control," US Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell told the Senate's Armed Services Committee.
Afghanistan's defence ministry rejected this assessment as "far from reality."
The government was in control of all 34 provinces and most districts, the defence ministry said in a statement.
Officials have said that militants control at least three districts in Helmand, but there are other areas where government authority is tenuous and security forces weak or allied with the rebels.
Last year was the deadliest of the Taliban insurgency, increasing pressure on the United States and its allies in NATO to beef up their military contingents to avoid the country falling again to the radical Islamists.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Not that I'm not an enthusiast for the concept of dead Taliban, but what's the likelihood that these guys were organization Taliban and not just local gunsels for the local chapter of the Black Hand with a presumable interest in the crops being threatened? How did they tell the difference? Is it known that the Taliban proper had a direct interest in the crops in the field? I would have thought, given their position on the border, that the Taliban would have had a more up-stream placement in the opium economy.
Yeah, you have a spokesman claiming that the Talibs were involved, but they tend to have an interest in pretending to involvement in all gunplay, whether or not they're actually in the neighborhood. It helps to be thought to be more aggressive and omnipresent than you actually are, from the guerrilla point of view.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/29/2008 9:39 Comments ||
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#2
Eradicating the source of their funding sounds like a good way to lure them into a fire fight.
#3
I have to wonder just how much Opium has to do with their fanaticism?
The guy at the airport pouring flaming gasoline over himself was found to be doped to the gills so it woudn't hurt.
If they had to be "Martyrs" stone sober, would reason raise it's ugly head?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/29/2008 12:28 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- Three militants were killed in the Ingushetia Republic of Russia in an antiterrorist operation, the republic's law-enforcement bodies told reporters on Thursday. The militants, who, according to police information, were planning a series of terrorist and sabotage acts, were hiding in a private house near the Varshava car service center. They offered resistance and were killed in a shootout. Their identities are being ascertained at present, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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Prosecutors at the federal trial of a former sailor on terrorism charges tried to show Thursday that a stop by his ship in Hawaii matched details of ship movements that he allegedly leaked to terrorism supporters.
Hassan Abu-jihaad, 32, of Phoenix, has pleaded not guilty to federal charges alleging he provided material support to terrorists and disclosed classified national defense information. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
Abu-jihaad, an American-born Muslim convert formerly known as Paul R. Hall, is accused of leaking information that could have doomed his own ship. He was a Navy signalman and received an honorable discharge in 2002. He is accused of passing along details that included the makeup of his Navy battle group, its planned movements and a drawing of the group's formation when it was to pass through the Straits of Hormuz on April 29, 2001.
Files found on a disc recovered by authorities from an alleged terror supporter's home also included the number and type of personnel on each ship and the ships' capabilities, and ended with instructions to destroy the message, according to testimony. Navy officials testified that, as a signalman, Abu-jihaad would have had access to details of ship movements.
Adam Conaway, a Navy quartermaster, testified Thursday that Abu-jihaad's ship, the destroyer USS Benfold, stopped in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for ammunition March 20, 2001. The leaked documents recovered by authorities indicated that some ships would load Tomahawk missiles on that date.
On cross-examination, Abu-jihaad's attorneys pointed out that the leaked document referred only to some ships and did not specifically mention the USS Benfold. Prosecutors rebutted that by having Conaway confirm that the Benfold was the only ship from the battle group that stopped in Hawaii that day.
Conaway also highlighted the dangers the battle group faced going through the Strait of Hormuz, a busy narrow Persian Gulf waterway where U.S. ships were frequently challenged by Iranian officials. He said sailors were in a heightened state of readiness, manning machine guns and closing hatches in case the ship was damaged. Before the ships entered the strait, a team prepared to defend the ship conducted a drill, he said.
Passing through the strait posed a "significant" risk to the ships, Scott Graham, a Navy commander, testified. He said leaking details of the ship movements would "cause great concern" and might have led to an even higher alert.
Dennis Amador, a quartermaster and Abu-jihaad's supervisor on the Benfold, testified that keeping ship movements confidential is so important that he uses code even to tell his wife where he is. "We in the Navy are taught from the minute we come in that loose lips sink ships," he said.
He testified that during his time on the Benfold, Abu-jihaad showed him a brutal, graphic video of Chechen rebels attacking Russians. Earlier in the trial, prosecutors showed videos depicting violent jihad that they say Abu-jihaad ordered from websites run by terrorism supporters. "He seemed to be fascinated with the Chechen conflict and seemed to be supportive of the Chechen rebels," Amador said.
The defense, meanwhile, continued to press a point raised Wednesday, saying some ships from the battle group passed through the Strait of Hormuz on May 2, 2001, and others on May 3. The leaked documents indicated they would pass through the strait on April 29.
A retired admiral testified Wednesday that the plan did call for passing into another area on April 29 that is sometimes confused with the Strait of Hormuz. In testimony Thursday, Navy Lt. Commander Jay Wylie, who served on the USS Benfold with Abu-jihaad, agreed with a question by a defense attorney that the battle group document was "riddled" with inaccuracies. He said his initial impression was that details about the ship listed in the document came from a publication available to the public, but also said that publication would not predict ship movements. Prosecutors acknowledge that they don't have direct proof that Abu-jihaad leaked details of ship movements, but cite e-mails he exchanged with the suspected terrorism supporters.
Abu-jihaad was charged in the same case that led to the 2004 arrest of Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist accused of running websites to raise money, appeal for fighters and provide equipment such as gas masks and night vision goggles for terrorists. Ahmad is to be extradited to the U.S.
#1
At first glance this has all the marks of a "Witch Hunt". Accuse someone and refuse to listen to anything that says "NO'.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/29/2008 12:23 Comments ||
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#2
What are you going on about RJ? Here is an email from Abu-jihaad to Babar Ahmad: A Profile In Terror, Behind A Keyboard It says the group would be in the strait under a communications blackout on the night of April 29, 2001, and it contains a drawing of the group's anticipated formation. The document said, in part:
"Weakness:
They have nothing to stop a small craft with RPG [rocket-propelled grenades] etc, except their Seals stinger missiles.
Deploy ops in Gulf 29 April - 04 October
29th APRIL is more likely the day through the Straits. For the whole of March is tax free a moral booster. Many sailors do not like the gulf.
Please destroy message."
Hang the traitor from the Benfold's yardarm.
Posted by: ed ||
02/29/2008 14:23 Comments ||
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#3
I recommend keelhauling. On an aircraft carrier. Underway. At max speed. On a carrier that has been out of the yard for a long time, so the hull is covered with barnacles.
Too bad keelraking (hauling from fore to aft) isn't a practical idea on modern ships with screws.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
02/29/2008 16:17 Comments ||
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The US Treasury Department said Thursday that it had blacklisted four men accused of funneling militants, weapons and money through Syria to support Al-Qaeda operations in Iraq.
Treasury officials said the four men, including two brothers, had been blacklisted for supporting a network that has carried out attacks on US military personnel based in Iraq. "Since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, Syria has become a transit station for Al-Qaeda foreign terrorists on their way to Iraq," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury's top anti-terrorism and financial intelligence official.
The Treasury's action bars any US business or citizens from conducting transactions with the four men and also freezes any assets the men might hold under US jurisdiction. The Treasury identified the four as Badran Turki Hishan Al Mazidih, Ghazy Fezza Hishan Al Mazidih, Akram Turki Hishan Al Mazidih and Saddah Jaylut Al-Marsumi. It said Akram Turki Hishan Al Mazidih was Badran's brother. All the men are known by multiple other names. The Treasury said Badran was based in Syria and had been appointed as Al-Qaeda in Iraq's Syrian commander by the former leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi who was killed in Iraq by a US air strike in 2006. US government officials regularly claim that militants fighting American forces in Iraq source reinforcements and supplies through Syria, which borders northwest Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Another case of Allen's goat buggerers gotten off with a slap on the hand. No arrests, no hanging and another 911 in the coming.
#3
It's not a hand-slap, it's all we can do unless we reconstitute the wet-work division of CIA. These individuals are not US citizens and are not currently within reach of our usual law-enforcement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/29/2008 14:20 Comments ||
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Three policemen have been killed after a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Pakistan's North West Frontier, police said. The chief of police in Bannu district, Hamza Mehsud, said two others were critically wounded in the blast.
The explosion took place in Lakki Marwat town which borders the troubled North Waziristan tribal region.
On Thursday, at least 12 people, including suspected militants, were killed in a missile attack on a house in the South Waziristan region. It is not clear where the attack was launched from, but residents said they suspected it was from Afghanistan where Nato troops are fighting the Taleban.
A cleric from Pakistan plans to plead guilty to visa fraud charges in a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would give him probation.
Muhammad Masood is the former spiritual leader of the Islamic Centre of New Englands Sharon mosque. His lawyer says Masood is expected to plead guilty on Thursday to five charges of making false statements to immigration officials. A joint recommendation from Masoods attorney and prosecutors calls for him to receive three years of probation, but it is unclear whether Masoods guilty plea will result in his deportation. The arrest of Masood and another local imam on visa fraud charges in November 2006 prompted an outcry from the local Muslim community.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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SRINAGAR (IHK): In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops in their fresh acts of state terrorism, martyred three more innocent youth today in Kupwara district.
The youth were shot dead by the troops of 2-Para regiment during a military operation at Batnar in Lolab area of the district. Pure as the driven snow, I'm sure
Unidentified gunmen shot at and injured a civilian at Sakhi Maidan in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district. Troops of 30-Rashtriya Rifles during siege and search operation ransacked the house goods at Nihama, Krala Gund, Gund Chabootra and Muqam in Handwara.
In another search operation, Indian troops during siege and search operations asked people to come out form their houses and harassed them at Hassanpora Khudwani in Kulgam and Manglora in Tangmarg.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Ah, yes. The Innocence of Youth...I remember it well.
'Pakistan Times' Sports Desk Honest, I couldn't make that up.
WANA: At least 10 suspected militants were killed and seven others wounded when a powerful explosion caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in a house at Azam Warsak in South Waziristan Agency early Thursday morning. Red Wire Syndrome strikes again!
According to official sources, the militants were preparing IEDs in the room when suddenly it went off with a loud explosion. As a result, the inmates of the house, majority of whom were foreigners, perished. "That's our story and we're sticking to it."
However, the unofficial reports said the militants were killed when two missiles fired from undisclosed location, struck the house at Kaloosha village, some 15 kilometers West of Wana near Pak-Afghan border. The fugitives had hired the house few months ago on rent and were fast asleep when the deadly missile hit the house. "Stop that whistling, Abu. I'm trying to sle....KABOOM!"
It may be recalled that about 12 militants were killed in a similar missile attack at a house in South Waziristan Agency in January last. Yes, I still have fond dreams about it.
The incident terrorized the local tribesmen as the explosion sound was heard in long distance. The security agencies rushed to the scene and cordoned off the entire area. The law enforcers have started investigation.
An earlier report had said that at least eight suspected extremists were killed and three others injured when a missile hit a house in Azam Warsak area in troubled South Waziristan Agency here early Thursday. Local tribesmen said that the missile, which was fired from undisclosed location, struck a house where the extremists had gathered. "Undisclosed Location"? Dick Cheney hunting again?
As a result of severe explosion, at least eight persons were killed and three others injured. However, the Political Authorities when contacted said that a team has been sent to the area to inquire about the nature of the explosion and casualty.
Meanwhile, a report from Swat says that the law enforcing agencies have arrested five suspected militants during a search operation in Fizzagut area of Swat district, police sources said Thursday. The law enforcers on tip off raided the militants hideouts at Fizagut and Abdul Khaliq, Zafar Ali, Saifur Rehman and Anwar Ali while another was arrested from Khwazakhela area.
Curfew is being relaxed from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm in the area. The overall situation in the entire district was peaceful and people were seen busy in shopping and business activities as usual. It's Waziristan. A day without flying body parts would be unusual.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - The Turkish military has begun withdrawing from northern Iraq, Iraq's foreign minister said Friday, a day after the U.S. pressured Turkey to end the offensive against separatist Kurdish rebels.
"We welcome this move," Hoshyar Zebari told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The timing is good. I think the military carried out its promises" to remove Turkish troops after finishing the operations.
Zebari said regional Iraqi authorities had informed him that the Turkish troops were leaving northern Iraq, and the Turkish military had targeted only the rebels, not civilians living in the remote region.
The foreign minister said he hoped Turkey "will respect the sovereignty of Iraq."
The move came a day after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Turkish leaders during a visit in Ankara that they should end the offensive as soon as possible. In Washington, President Bush made a similar point Thursday, saying Turkey needed to move quickly and get out.
Zebari credited the U.S. with playing an "instrumental" role in pressing Turkey to leave.
"The U.S. played a very important role on all fronts to remind Turkey of the seriousness of the situation," Zebari said.
Turkey launched the incursion into northern Iraq more than a week ago against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a group fighting for the autonomy of predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey. The rebels have carried out attacks in Turkey from bases in Kurdish Iraq.
Iraqi authorities have said they do not support the PKK but objected to Turkey's military action.
The PKK took up arms against Turkey in 1984. The fighting has killed up to 40,000 people.
#1
Good operation all around, the Turks had the soveriegn imperative on thier side vs the PKK terrorists. The Kurds maintained thier cool knowing full well emerging Kurdistan can't be left to th whims of the PKK. Mostly, everyone got what they wanted, and the PKK probably learned just how obsolte they really are.
Paratroopers capture senior Special Groups leader
Multi-National Division Baghdad
BAGHDAD Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers captured a suspected senior leader of a criminal Special Groups network during an operation in Baghdads Beida neighborhood Feb. 27.
After receiving actionable intelligence on his whereabouts, paratroopers with the 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, detained the suspect.
The suspect is accused of being a key facilitator in the procurement and movement of weapons in northeast Baghdad, as well as being involved in the kidnapping, torture and death of Iraqi citizens who did not adhere to his beliefs.
The honorable Iraqis in the surrounding neighborhoods are tired of those who choose to disobey the cease-fire directives from al-Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr, and are determined to rid themselves of these criminals, said Maj. Trey Rutherford, executive officer for the 2nd Bn., 325th Abn. Inf. Regt.
The loss of yet another senior Special Groups leader places additional stress on the criminal Special Groups network, he said. The network is cornered in Sadr City, and every member of the criminal group who sets foot outside is being captured rapidly. The networks armament caches are being discovered and destroyed. Even more importantly, the Special Groups element is being recognized by locals for what it is--a criminal force focused on instilling fear, for monetary profit, in the people they claim to protect.
(Xinhua) -- Turkish General Staff said on Thursday that seven rebels of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were neutralized on the 7th day of the cross-border operation into north Iraq, bring the death toll to 237 since the beginning of the operation. In a statement posted on its website, the General Staff said the cross-border ground operation has been underway as it planned and Turkish soldiers were not negatively affected by cold weather conditions due to additional measures.
Turkish jets also shelled a group of terrorists, it said. Some 10,000 Turkish troops crossed Iraqi border and entered 20 km inside of the north of Iraq to crush Kurdish separatists one week ago. The Turkish National Security Council said that the cross-border operations against the PKK would continue as long as necessary. Iraq has voiced its grave concern over Turkey's cross-border action, saying it is a violation of Iraq's sovereignty.
The United States has been declining to condemn Turkish incursion in Iraq, saying that the outlawed PKK fighters are "a threat" to Turkey, Iraq, and the United States.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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At least five Hamas terrorists were killed, and several were wounded, in an Israel Air Force counter-terrorism attack in Gaza Wedneday morning. The Israelis apparently tracked the bus in which they were traveling from the moment it set out from Jebalya in northern Gaza.
The bus was rocketed when it neared a naval outpost on the coastal road west of Khan Yunis, in close proximity to the ruins of the former Gush Katif towns of N'vei Dekalim and Shirat HaYam.
The dead and wounded terrorists were reported to be member of the Hamas Iz A-Din El-Kassam brigades.
In another incident later this morning, two Fatah terrorists were shot and killed in a battle with IDF troops in Shechem (Nablus). At least one of them had been included in the amnesty arrangement with Israel, according to which he promised to abandon terrorism. And it worked fine, too!
Rockets at Israel
Israel was attacked with at least two Kassams on Tuesday morning; the rockets landed harmlessly in the Eshkol region of the western Negev. Some four Kassams were fired at Israel on Monday, including one that nearly cost a 10-year-old boy his arm when it landed in the yard of a home. The boy remains in moderate-to-serious condition in Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.
IDF forces arrested 17 wanted Arab terrorists in Judea and Samaria overnight and transferred them to the General Security Service (Shabak) for interrogation. Northwest of Hevron, one wanted terrorist was found hiding in a house in which 20 Molotov cocktail firebombs were discovered. Four terrorists were taken in Jenin, three near Bethlehem, and individual terrorists in Hizme, Silwad, Ramallah and other locations.
Israel ratcheted up its air strikes in Gaza in response to another day of heavy rocket fire on Sderot and Katyusha missiles on the city of Ashkelon.
At least twenty people were killed in the air strikes. PA reports say five children are among the dead but the kids were apparently involved in moving rocket launchers.
Late Thursday afternoon, an IAF air strike hit a Hamas position outside the home of Hamas PA chief Ismail Haniyeh, killing one and wounding four others. Haniyeh has gone into hiding and was not home at the time. A day earlier another air strike targeted his office.
Another IAF strike killed two Hamas terrorists one of them a son of senior Hamas official Khalil al-Haya who oversaw a rocket-launching cell. Al-Haya visited the Gaza morgue and declared that he was proud his son had died for the cause. "I thank G-d for this gift. This is the 10th member of my family to receive the honor of martyrdom," he said.
An air strike Thursday night targeted terrorists in a vehicle in Khan Younis. The vehicle was marked as a PA electric company car and both terrorists inside were killed. PA reports claimed the men were mere electric company workers.
In Gaza City, two Hamas terrorists, members of the groups Executive Guard military force, were killed in a strike on a truck carrying Kassam rockets near the Shifa Hospital. PA reports claimed the truck driven by the men in military-style uniforms was just carrying beverages.
Four teenagers were killed in an air strike in the Jabalya area. The young men were in an open area used for rocket-fire at the time. PA reports claim they were playing soccer.
Two other air strikes killed one Hamas terrorist each in northern Gaza. Two more strikes destroyed a large weapons warehouse and a Hamas training camp facility. Thursday morning a Gaza City strike killed a Hamas terrorist and two members of the Hizbullah-backed Popular Resistance Committee.
Israeli-Arab Teenage Terrorist Arrested in Jerusalem
The Shabak (General Security Service) released for publication the recent arrest of a 17-year-old female terrorist who intended to carry out a suicide bombing on a Jewish target in Israel. The girl enjoys Israeli citizenship and free passage to all Israeli and PA-controlled areas.
The girl held several meetings with leading Islamic Jihad terrorist coordinators, where she expressed her hatred of Jews and intentions to carry out a suicide bombing. Two Israeli-Arab members of Islamic Jihad from Jerusalem were arrested in the case as well.
The girls remand was extended Thursday by the Jerusalem Magistrates Court.
#1
Al-Haya visited the Gaza morgue and declared that he was proud his son had died for the cause. "I thank G-d for this gift. This is the 10th member of my family to receive the honor of martyrdom," he said.
The honor of martyrdom? So how come you're not doing your part, Khalil? Mo's gonna think you're a slacker...
#2
What a happy guy! Got any more kids? I'm sure the friendly IDF can supply you with some more "gifts". Next time just remember to thank the IDF, as well as G-d.
#3
Just how big is his family? and how soon will we hear of the last one being "Martyred"?
(Good riddance, no survivors please)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/29/2008 12:35 Comments ||
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#4
IIRC Golda Meir said that there would be peace when the Palestinians loved their children more than they hated the Jews. Obviously we are not yet at that stage.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
02/29/2008 16:19 Comments ||
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#5
Rambler, don't hold your breath waiting for it. I think you'll see the Second Coming first.
An Israeli helicopter has attacked a police roadblock near the home of Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, killing one person and wounding four others, Palestinian officials said. The attack took place about 150 yards from Haniyeh's home in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City. Haniyeh, who has been in hiding for several weeks, fearing Israeli assassination, was not believed to be in the area.
The attack appeared to be aimed at sending a message to Hamas since the heavily populated area is not used to launch rockets. Israel has threatened to begin targeting Hamas leaders because of the ongoing rocket fire from other parts of Gaza. The Israeli army had no immediate comment.
Meanwhile, 16 Palestinians, including the son of a hardline Hamas leader, were killed in a series of Israeli airstrikes. Planes attacked a series of targets in the Gaza Strip, stepping up the pressure on the Islamic militant group a day after a rocket fired from Gaza killed an Israeli man.
The bloodshed threatened to worsen the continuing violence in the area, which involves near-daily Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli reprisals. Hamza al-Haya, the son of hardline Hamas politician Khalil al-Haya, was among those killed in the violence. Hamas said he had commanded a rocket-launching squad in northern Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Let me know when they put one through his front door. While he's standing in it...
Two Palestinians were killed Thursday evening in an IAF air strike on their vehicle near Gaza's Shifa hospital. Their identity was unclear. Palestinian witnesses said the vehicle was transporting soft drinks. But the army said it attacked a vehicle carrying rockets and weaponry.
The latest deaths brought the number of Palestinians killed in army strikes on Thursday to 18, according to Gaza medical officials. Thursday's dead included members of rocket squads, but also five children, ranging in age from eight to 12, who their relatives said were playing soccer when they were killed in a missile strike.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This is JPost. They, and all other other media, need to adopt a scientific terminology.
So, Paleos sources claimed a soft drinks truck was attacked. No verifiable evidence was presented to support this claim.
A 17-year-old Arab female from Jerusalem is under arrest for allegedly offering to carry out a suicide bombing in the city, police said Thursday.
The would-be bomber, a resident of the east Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur who was apprehended three weeks ago in a joint Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency)-police operation, suggested to Islamic Jihad operatives in the West Bank that they use her to carry out a terror attack due to her hatred of Jews and "personal family problems," Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
As part of her enlistment, the teen traveled to Mecca to "purify" herself after undergoing a series of tests by the Palestinian terror group to ensure that she was not an Israeli mole, police said.
The two Islamic Jihad operatives have also been arrested. The attack was still in the early planning stages when the suspects were nabbed by Israeli security officials.
The teen, who has confessed to the allegations against her, said that her family had no knowledge of her plans to become a suicide bomber, police said.
The suspect, who cannot be named because she is a minor, has been remanded in custody by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court until her expected indictment on Sunday, at which time police are expected to ask the court to extend her remand for the duration of her trial.
A court-imposed gag order on the case was partially lifted Thursday afternoon when the suspect was remanded.
Earlier this month a 73-year-old Israeli woman was killed in a suicide bombing in Dimona, in the first such attack in over a year.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Jihad
#1
That "Piss your pants" picture is priceless.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/29/2008 12:39 Comments ||
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Suspected Islamic terrorists separatists attacked an army post at a primary school in Thailand`s Muslim-majority south today, killing two teenage rangers in an hour-long gun battle, police said. The two rangers, both Muslims, died when at least 10 terrorists militants raided the base overnight on the campus of the school in Narathiwat, a province on the border with Malaysia. Thai security forces provide armed protection to schools across the region and often escort teachers to and from campus in armed convoys.
More than 20 rangers were based at the post, but no other casualties were reported, police said. The two rangers, both 19, were killed in the first shots fired during the attack, police said further.
Meanwhile, a 100-strong combined force of policemen and soldiers raided an area in Cho Ai Rong district and detained three insurgent suspects. The police seized explosive devices, a firearm and some cartridges.
(Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan military said 14 Tamil Tigers rebels were killed in the north on Thursday amid escalating conflicts between government troops and the rebels.
The Media Center for National Security said in a statement that Army troops launched a swift attack on LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels in the Sinnaodaippu area of the Mannar district around 6 a.m. (0030 GMT) to secure a sluice gate, which is an important water flow control point. "In this attack 14 LTTE terrorists were killed and six T-56 assault riffles were recovered. Two soldiers were slightly injured in this attack," said the statement.
The military also said Air Force jets bombed an LTTE artillery command center and an underground bunker in the Palai area of the Jaffna peninsula around 11:10 a.m. (0540 GMT) and the target was completely destroyed. Meanwhile, the LTTE said Thursday that eight civilians riding in tractors were killed in two different Claymore mine attacks carried out by Army Deep Penetration Unit teams in the Vavuniya district on Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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WASHINGTON (AFP) Deeply concerned about Lebanon's political strife, the United States has sped its USS Cole warship off the country's coast in a "show of support for regional stability," a top US official said Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deployment of the guided-missile destroyer but declined to say that the show of force was meant for Syria or Iran, which Washington considers foes of Lebanese democracy. It is "a show of support for regional stability" because of "concern about the situation in Lebanon," the official said.
The guided missile destroyer USS Cole was the target of a bombing by Al-Qaeda extremists in October 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden that killed 17 US sailors. Nice touch, sending the Cole. Maybe they can get some payback.
Asked whether US President George W. Bush had given the order, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said: "The president is concerned about the situation in Lebanon and discusses the issue regularly with his national security team."
Lebanon's presidential vacuum has entered its fourth month with no resolution in sight, fueling fears that a deepening sectarian rift could stoke civil strife. Arab leaders have stepped up efforts to bridge the divide between the Western-backed ruling coalition and the opposition supported by Syria and Iran, but analysts said they do not hold out much hope of a deal ahead of an Arab summit next month.
Recent street clashes between supporters of rival factions have further raised tensions and prompted several Gulf nations and Western states to advise their citizens against traveling to Lebanon. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal even warned earlier this month that the country was "on the verge of civil war."
Adding to the tension, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has vowed "open war" against Israel, blaming it for the February 12 car-bombing death in Damascus of Hezbollah top commander Imad Mughnieh, which Israel welcomed but denied any involvement in.
Lebanon has been without a president since November 24 when Damascus protege Emile Lahoud stepped down in the midst of the worst political crisis since the country's 1975-1990 civil war. Analysts say plans for an international tribunal to try the assassins of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri, who was close to Saudi Arabia, is another source of the tension.
Syria is widely blamed for the February 2005 killing of Hariri in a massive Beirut car bombing but Damascus has denied any involvement. However, two months after the murder, Syria pulled out its troops from Lebanon under domestic and international pressure, ending a 29-year military domination of its neighbor.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/29/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
1851 -- Turkey. After a massacre of foreigners (including Americans) at Jaffa in January, a demonstration by the Mediterranean Squadron was ordered along the Turkish (Levant) coast.
We've been under a sporadic DoS since yesterday, as you've no doubt seen when the site slows down to nothing. I've banned addresses from Dubai, Soddy Arabia, Estonia, and Russia so far today. I'm trying to solve the problem without taking too much time away from my employer...
#5
Geeze some moon goddess kaaba apes crawled on the web and got their Muhamhead diapers in a knot. Heaven forbid that should happen. Trouble is allah is in hell so it doesn't really matter.
Ether way it looks like some Izlamiks don't like the good guys, er, us humans.
Sorry you are going through the trouble but look on the bright side. The muzzies are scared of the Burg!
#2
Looks like Jeanette is happy because today's the day she can ask someone here for a date!
Fred, I'm guessing you got hammered by a DoS attack or something this morning. I had to use 8080 to get in, and it still took five minutes to load each page!
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.
Media reports describe another U.S. airstrike within Pakistan, targeting a home that was a suspected Taliban safe house with foreign fighters.
Twenty-nine Taliban were killed trying to protect opium crops from eradication in southern Afghanistan, most of them in a six-hour gunfight with police, officials said Thursday.
(Xinhua) -- Three militants were killed in the Ingushetia Republic of Russia in an antiterrorist operation, the republic's law-enforcement bodies told reporters on Thursday. The militants, who, according to police information, were planning a series of terrorist and sabotage acts, were hiding in a private house near the Varshava car service center. They offered resistance and were killed in a shootout. Their identities are being ascertained at present, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Three policemen have been killed after a roadside bomb exploded near their vehicle in Pakistan's North West Frontier, police said. The chief of police in Bannu district, Hamza Mehsud, said two others were critically wounded in the blast. 
A cleric from Pakistan plans to plead guilty to visa fraud charges in a plea deal with federal prosecutors that would give him probation.
SRINAGAR (IHK): In occupied Kashmir, Indian troops in their fresh acts of state terrorism, martyred three more innocent youth today in Kupwara district. 
'Pakistan Times' Sports Desk 
(Xinhua) -- Turkish General Staff said on Thursday that seven rebels of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were neutralized on the 7th day of the cross-border operation into north Iraq, bring the death toll to 237 since the beginning of the operation. In a statement posted on its website, the General Staff said the cross-border ground operation has been underway as it planned and Turkish soldiers were not negatively affected by cold weather conditions due to additional measures. 
by Hillel Fendel
by Ezra HaLevi
Two Palestinians were killed Thursday evening in an IAF air strike on their vehicle near Gaza's Shifa hospital. Their identity was unclear. Palestinian witnesses said the vehicle was transporting soft drinks. But the army said it attacked a vehicle carrying rockets and weaponry. 
A 17-year-old Arab female from Jerusalem is under arrest for allegedly offering to carry out a suicide bombing in the city, police said Thursday. 
(Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan military said 14 Tamil Tigers rebels were killed in the north on Thursday amid escalating conflicts between government troops and the rebels. 
WASHINGTON (AFP) Deeply concerned about Lebanon's political strife, the United States has sped its USS Cole warship off the country's coast in a "show of support for regional stability," a top US official said Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the deployment of the guided-missile destroyer but declined to say that the show of force was meant for Syria or Iran, which Washington considers foes of Lebanese democracy. It is "a show of support for regional stability" because of "concern about the situation in Lebanon," the official said.
