Haqqani Network compound pounded by Coalition airstrikes
Coalition forces struck a compound with precision-guided munitions in the early morning hours of March 12 following an imminent threat from the Haqqani Network, US military officials have told Phil Peterson, a Long War Journal correspondent currently traveling with the US military in Afghainstan. Multiple intelligence sources believe senior insurgent leaders were present in the compound at the time of the strike. There is no report of civilian casualties from the site of the blast. While the strike will further erode the capabilities of the Haqqani Network, it remains unclear at this time if Siraj Haqqani, the networks top leader, was at was at this location at the time of the strike.
Today's airstrike comes 24 hours after Siraj Haqqani claimed responsibility for the deadly Sabari district center suicide bombing attack March 3, which killed two ISAF service members. A suicide car bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle -- which Haqqani said was loaded with drums of gasoline, gas cylinders, mines, and other explosives -- at the entrance to an Afghan government compound in Khosts Sabari district. The force of the blast collapsed a guard tower that was occupied by US and Afghan security personnel, killing two US soldiers and injuring up to 15 others including civilian laborers.
The Haqqani Network previously claimed responsibility for the combined suicide-bomb and small-arms raid against the five-star Serena Hotel in Kabul. At least eight people died in the attack including a Norwegian journalist who was traveling with the Norwegian Foreign Minister who was inside the hotel when the attack occurred.
Siraj Haqqani is the son of the legendary mujahideen commander, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who fought a vicious campaign against the Soviets and Communist Afghan forces in eastern Afghanistan during the 1980s. Jalaluddin later aligned himself with the Taliban movement in 1996 and became an important insurgent commander in 2003. Rumors of his death have persisted since last June. His sons Siraj, Naisruddin, and Badruddin help lead the vast Haqqani Network of insurgents, including Taliban fighters and foreign fighters associated with al Qaeda. Their main base of operations is headquartered in North Waziristan where support for their terrorist enterprise is well-established.
The Haqqani Network has claimed responsibility for a long list of attacks in Paktia, Paktika, Khost, Logar, and Nangarhar provinces over the last few years. The US military listed Siraj Haqqani and several of his subcommanders on a 12-Most Wanted poster last October. There is currently a $200,000 bounty for information leading to Sirajs arrest. In January, Darim Sedgai, a "powerful Haqqani Network commander with a $20,000 bounty on his head, was ambushed and killed by unknown gunmen in western Pakistan. Sedgai is the third senior member of the Haqqani Network killed since October.
Mullah Signee, Siraj Haqqani's deputy, was killed in an unspecified raid on Dec. 11. Mullah Manan, another senior member of the Haqqani Network, was killed in early November. Manan was killed while infiltrating the Spira district in Khost province, Afghanistan, which borders North Waziristan in Pakistan.
Afghan security forces have killed 19 Taliban militants in separate operations, while a soldier and policeman died in ambushes, officials said on Tuesday.
Ten rebels were killed on Monday when police swept Taliban areas in Uruzgan, police said. In Farah, militants ambushed a police convoy on Monday, killing a police commander. Five Taliban militants were killed in the ensuing crossfire, a police official said. Gunmen also attacked an Afghan army patrol in the Kapisa province, wounding a soldier who later succumbed to his injuries, a defence ministry statement said. Taliban spokesman Zahihullah Mujahid dismissed the allegations:
This article starring:
ZAHIHULLAH MUJAHID
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
A guard on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border says security forces have seized weapons and ammunition from a car that attempted to cross the border from a militant-infested region of Afghanistan. Troops seized 13 rocket shells, four rifles, two pistols and more than 100 machine gun rounds from the car on Tuesday near Chaman, said Colonel Syeed Agha Muhammad Haider, a border guard. No one was arrested and the two men driving the car fled.
"What the hell wuz you bringin' 'em back for?"
"They wuz the wrong size! We wanted to exchange them or get a refund!"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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A roadside bomb killed a pregnant mother in the Somali capital Tuesday and wounded four other people, including her two young children, witnesses said. The dead mother, Ismahan Hussein, was walking along Maka-al-Mukarama Road at the heart Mogadishu when the bomb detonated.
The target of the bomb was an armored truck transporting soldiers and military officers to the Central Bank, security sources said. The impact of the explosion caused damage to the back of the truck, but none of the soldiers on board was hurt. Government troops rushed to the scene and sealed off the area, as they searched for the perpetrators of this horrendous crime. No one was arrested.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
On March 7, the airplane was scheduled to depart at 10:30am. The airplane was delayed for about 10 minutes. At that time, everybody was on board, so we must be waiting for the permission to take off. The flight was normal thereafter.
After flying for about an hour, a passenger said that there was the smell of gasoline. The attendant also smelled it because it was too strong.
#5
"Among the four individuals were foreigners, who are believed to be Eastern Turkestan elements."
I find this fascinating as the Chinese Government considers Eastern Turkestan (aka Xinjiang) as part of China. Either I've got things mixed up, they meant Western Turkestan, or this is an insight into the Chinese as those that aren't actually ethnic Chinese are foreigners. Possibly all of the above.
#6
RJS: I find this fascinating as the Chinese Government considers Eastern Turkestan (aka Xinjiang) as part of China. Either I've got things mixed up, they meant Western Turkestan, or this is an insight into the Chinese as those that aren't actually ethnic Chinese are foreigners.
Bingo! The Chinese view is that the land is China's, whereas the natives don't really belong there.
Security forces seized a cache of arms and ammunition from abandoned houses during a search operation conducted in Swats Matta tehsil on Tuesday, Matta police officials said. The weapons recovered from several abandoned houses in the Namal area included an anti-aircraft gun, 69 anti-aircraft bullets, 50 kg of explosives, 2 semi-automatic guns, a stock of cartridges and three hand grenades, the officials said. Meanwhile, Frontier Corps and police personnel, including officers up to SHO rank, took out a flag march in Mingora city to rally support for ensuring peace in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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SRINAGAR, India (AFP) A nine-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl were among three members of a Muslim family killed in a grenade attack by Pakistani terrorists suspected militants in Indian Kashmir, police said Friday. The attack which killed the girls and their grandfather at their home in southern Reasi district late Thursday came as the Indian government reported overall violence is dropping in the insurgency-hit region.
"Pakistani terrorists Suspected militants hurled a hand grenade at the house of a village defence committee member, injuring eight people," a police spokesman said.
Three of the wounded died before they could be transported to hospital, the police spokesman added. The condition of the injured survivors was not immediately known.
The father of the two dead girls belonged to a village defence committee, set up by the central government to counter Islamic Pakistani terrorists suspected militants in remote villages in the Himalayan territory. The father was also injured in the attack.
The Pakistani terrorists rebels have in the past targeted defence committee members and their families.
The committees were established in the mid-1990s after ethnic cleansing a spate of massacres in the Hindu-dominated southern districts of the state by Pakistani terrorists suspected rebels. Both Hindus and Muslims volunteered as members and each is given a rifle and paid 1,500 rupees (36 dollars) a month.
Kashmir is in the grip of an 18-year-old jihad insurgency against New Delhi's rule that has left more than 43,000 people dead by official count.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq , U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The FBI is investigating the grisly development, and the families of the five kidnapped contractors have been notified, American officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Authorities confirmed that the fingers belonged to hostages Jonathan Cote , of Gainesville, Fla. ; Joshua Munns , of Redding, Calif. ; Paul Johnson Reuben , of Buffalo, Minn. ; Bert Nussbaumer of Vienna, Austria ; and Ronald J. Withrow , an American who was kidnapped separately from the others.
No information was available on when or how the fingers were delivered to U.S. authorities. Some relatives of the missing men said that they'd heard weeks ago that the DNA of the hostages had been obtained, but they'd been given no details.
The first four men were security contractors with Kuwait -based Crescent Security and were captured in a brazen ambush of their 43-truck supply convoy in the southern Iraqi town of Safwan, near the Kuwaiti border, on Nov. 16, 2006 .
There was no word on a fifth contractor who was seized with them, John Young , of Kansas City . Contrary to Austrian news reports, none of the fingers belonged to him, authorities said.
"The government is in touch with us, but they said nothing has been verified yet," said Sharon DeBrabander , Young's mother. "I certainly don't understand why my son's wasn't found. What does that mean?"
Withrow, a computer specialist who worked for JPI Worldwide, was kidnapped separately at a phony checkpoint near the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Jan. 5, 2007 , according to news reports. Very little information is publicly available about his abduction; the bodies of his Iraqi translator and driver were discovered the next day. His employer is a Las Vegas -based company that provides Internet and technological support to remote or war-torn areas around the globe, according to the company's Web site.
The Austrian weekly magazine News first reported the delivery of the five fingers in Wednesday's edition, citing unnamed authorities working on the case.
Austrian officials said at a news conference in Vienna that U.S. officials had provided information about "fingerprints and DNA traces that were positively matched to Nussbaumer," the Austrian hostage. They didn't confirm that the sample was a severed finger.
Relatives of the American hostages said they received phone calls from U.S. authorities early Wednesday, though initially they were told only that fingerprints or DNA had been obtained. Later, at least one father said he'd been notified that his son's finger had been delivered by the hostage-takers, but there still was confusion among the relatives about the development.
"All we have right now is prayers," said Mark Munns , the father of former Marine Joshua Munns , 25, who has spent his past two birthdays in captivity. "I don't know how to make head or tails of what's going on. Are they still alive? A whole bunch of stuff goes through your head."
State Department representatives check in with the families in a telephone conference call every Monday, though several relatives have complained that they're being kept in the dark about the investigation. The FBI has told them that the information is classified to preserve the integrity of the investigation little solace for families who've gone 18 months with scant news.
"I know we're in a war on terror, but to not tell the families anything and let us sit out here for 18 months just isn't right," Mark Munns said.
The Crescent contractors appeared in two hostage videos released in December 2006 and January 2007 in which they pleaded for the United States to withdraw troops from Iraq and to free all Iraqi prisoners. In the videos, they appeared in good condition and said that they were being treated well.
No financial demand has been made public, and it's unclear what group is holding the men. All of the hostages were seized in southern Iraq , where powerful Shiite Muslim militias operate with relative freedom.
"I'm hoping this may be a sign that the hostage-takers sent the fingers to prove they have the guys and may want to deal. I'm trying to look at the positive of this," said Mark Koscielski , a Minnesotan who is in close contact with the families of the hostages and maintains a Web site, www.Save5.net, dedicated to the abducted men. One of the hostages, Reuben, is a former Minneapolis police officer.
#3
And if we capture the perpetrators, and question them "harshly" (yell at them, call them names, insult their mother or their "manhood"), or deprive them of sleep, or make them stand a long time, or any other "torture", then WE are the monsters.
Puke.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/12/2008 20:09 Comments ||
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#6
And if we capture the perpetrators, and question them "harshly" (yell at them, call them names, insult their mother or their "manhood"), or deprive them of sleep, or make them stand a long time, or any other "torture", then WE are the monsters.
Haven't you learned anything? You can't get the truth out of a captive if you abuse him. The newer techniques where we befriend them, treat them kindly, and convince them to come over to our side work much better. They will tell us what they know, without holding back, and then we can torture the shit out of them.
#8
My point is that in some people's mind, even "pretending" to be their friend is not allowed. We must always be honest and straightforward. We must not do anything that would upset the poor dear terrorist.
Frankly, in my opinion, it is much easier to resist interrogation if you know that the interrogator can't do anything to really hurt you. He can't kill you or your buddy in front of you to get you to talk. He can't beat you, he can't yell at you. People can be trained to resist that kind of interrogation.
It is much more difficult to resist if you know that the interrogator can do ANYTHING he wants to you. He can beat you, put bamboo splints under your fingernails, and worse. He can kill you. It is much more difficult to teach people to resist that kind of interrogation.
I am not saying that we should do any of the things like that. The problem is that if the terrorists know we can't do anything - because of Congress - they will find it easier to resist.
True torture for the sake of torture doesn't work, because people will do and say anything to make it stop. However, there are other things we could do far short of torture that would be effective. If you define torture down to anything that somebody considers to be mean - or even sneaky, like pretending to be their friend - then we may as well not bother to interrogate them.
The Geneva Convention requires that prisoners of war cannot be forced to reveal anything but their name, rank and serial number. (The purpose of those is supposed to be so that their next of kin can be notified of their status by the Red Cross.) However, the people we are interrogating are NOT prisoners of war. They are illegal combatants. They can be interrogated, and after a short trial, executed.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/12/2008 22:46 Comments ||
Top||
IDF troops and elite police counter-terror commandos killed four top terrorists in Bethlehem on Wednesday evening. While attempting to arrest the men, who made up the Islamic Jihad's leadership in the city, the troops came under fire near the Bethlehem Mukata (government building), and killed all four in a gun battle.
Palestinian claims that the fugitives were responsible for planning last week's attack on Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, in which gunman Ala Abu Dhaim killed eight students, were flatly denied by Israeli security officials, who added that the troops had not planned to kill the fugitives.
Muhammad Shehadeh, 45, Ahmed Balbul, 48, Amad el-Kamel, 35 and Issa Zohara, 36, were all in direct contact with Islamic Jihad's leadership in Syria and were following orders issued by the organization's leaders there.
Once again the cannon fodder gets whacked whilst the big cheeses sit safely in Damascus.
Shehadeh has been wanted by Israel for the past eight years for involvement in planning and executing terror attacks in which Israelis were killed and wounded.
The IDF said that Shehada was held responsible for a series of car bombs and suicide attacks throughout Jerusalem in the beginning of the decade. In November 2000, he sent the car bomb that exploded in downtown Jerusalem killing two people, including the daughter of then-minister Yitzhak Levy from the National Religious Party.
In March 2001, Shehada dispatched a car bomb to the Talpiyot neighborhood in Jerusalem which exploded and wounded five. Later that year he sent two suicide bombers who blew up in two separate incidents and injured close to 50 people.
When the men's bodies were inspected, they were found to be carrying rifles and pistols.
On Wednesday morning, IDF troops killed another Islamic Jihad operative in a pre-dawn gun battle, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.
What this tells me is that the Israelis know who the IJ mooks are but haven't been doing anything about it. They sure could put their hands on these six quickly. Now that IJ is committing these sorts of atrocities the Israelis have to be downright ruthless and roll them up. And maybe whack the safe house in Damascus.
Troops surrounded a house in the village of Saida, near Tulkarem, and demanded that its occupants come out, according to resident Abdel Karim Hammad, whose family lives in the house. Saleh Karkur, 27, a wanted Islamic Jihad gunman who was staying with the family, refused to come out, a gunfight erupted, and Karkur was shot and killed, Hammad said. The Israelis then demolished half of the house and arrested Hammad's father for harboring a wanted gunman, he said.
Palestinian medics said they took the man's body from the scene.
The IDF confirmed that the troops were trying to arrest a high-ranking commander in the village, and opened fire only when the man refused to surrender and began shooting at them.
In Gaza, Islamic Jihad released a statement saying Karkur was one of the group's top West Bank commanders and threatened to avenge his death.
#2
Maybe Israel agreed NOT to whack the safe houses in Damascus in return for the Syrians taking out Mugnayah? And providing intel on guys like these in Israeli territory? Who knows what kind of deals get made behind closed doors.
An underground tunnel collapsed early Wednesday near Egypt's border with the Gaza strip, burying alive one smuggler and injuring another, a security official said. oops
Palestinian smuggler Mohammed el-Bashiti and five others had nearly finished expanding the 600 meter tunnel from Gaza into Egypt located 10 meters beneath the ground, when the ceiling gave way, said the official.
According to the official, who spoke on customary condition of anonymity, el-Bashiti precipitated the collapse of the tunnel's sandy ceiling when he pushed a pole through to the surface in an effort to show his accomplices where the tunnel ended. "Hey Achmed! Hamzi! It's . . . right. . .
. . . Rosebud"
The tunnel, which stretched from the al-Salam district on the Palestinian side and ended in Rafah's Canada neighborhood on the Egyptian side, was an old one the smugglers were attempting to renovate. curtains? check.
wallpaper? check.
Lay-Z-Boy? check.
framed Death-to-Jews needlepoint? check.
no pictures of mohammed? check.
support timbers?
support timbers?
anyone?
Bueller?
Electric tools, lamps and other equipment were also buried right alongside Mahmoud, the official said, adding that the five other smugglers managed to escape, including the injured one.
Palestinian smugglers use tunnels to bring weapons and contraband goods into Gaza from Egypt. never food or medicine, interestingly enough.
Israel says anti-tank missiles, tons of explosives and thousands of rifles have reached terrorists in Gaza through the tunnels.
#4
...el-Bashiti precipitated the collapse of the tunnel's sandy ceiling when he pushed a pole through to the surface in an effort to show his accomplices where the tunnel ended.
Heh...heh...heh...
The only thing better then that would be if he drowned while testing the sprinkler system.
Pillars of the Gaza community I'm sure...
Gaza Ma'an A Palestinian man was been killed in Gaza Strip when an unfinished explosive device detonated, and another died of his wounds sustained in Israeli bombardment a week ago. Guess it wasn't as "unfinished" as he thought...
Arif Dughmush, Ah, the Dogmushes. The cream of Pali society.
in his twenties, was wounded when Israeli warplanes bombarded a base belonging to the Palestinian police affiliated with the de facto government at Ash-Shati' refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. He died on Wednesday. Look how dey massacred my boy!
Separately, 25-year-old, Ayman Mansour died after being seriously wounded on Tuesday evening while preparing a bomb that exploded in his hands. Whoopsie daisy!
Bethlehem Ma'an Exclusive The group said to be responsible for last week's shooting attack in Jerusalem has threatened to conduct "a sudden, huge operation" against an Israeli target soon.
Ahrar Al-Jalil, or the "Galilee Freedom Battalion" sent the announcement to Ma'an News Agency on Tuesday evening, along with a photo of Ala' Abu Dheim, who carried out the shooting in a Jewish school in Jerusalem to Ma'an news agency.
The group, also known as the "Imad Mughniyya group" after the recently assassinated Hizbullah leader, said the new operation will be dedicated to "martyrs in Gaza and the West Bank," referring to Palestinians killed by the Israeli military.
What do you want to bet that the hudna Hamas is 'negotiating' with Israel doesn't cover these guys?
The group threatened in a statement to conduct "a sudden huge operation" which the Israelis will not be able to imagine. They said the operation will be dedicated to "martyrs in Gaza and the West Bank."
For its part, the military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades denied the authenticity of the photo. They said it was fabricated. The Al-Qassam Brigades also described the claims that Hamas operatives in exile were behind Jerusalem shooting without coordination with Hamas in Gaza. They said these assertions are Zionist attempts to justify the assassination of Hamas leaders abroad.
Eight Israeli students were killed last Thursday in the attack on a Jewish religious school in West Jerusalem.
Unlike other armed Palestinian groups, Ahrar Al-Jalil are based within Israel's 1949 borders. Abu Dheim was a resident of occupied East Jerusalem.
After one report from an anonymous Hamas source claiming responsibility for the Jerusalem shooting, Ahrar Al-Jalil claimed responsibility for the attack. In response to repeated inquiries, Hamas political and military sources denied any connection to the attack.
#3
Compare wid TOPIX > AL QAEDA PLANNING
"SPECTACULAR ATTACKS" IN IRAQ.
ISRAEL = USA IN ME > BOTH ARE ENTRENCHING/
STRENTHENING THEIR MILPOL POSITIONS VV ISLAMIST OPPONENTS, to include Israel's version of Israel-speicifc local BMD + joint Israeli-US, etc. REGIONAL TMD-GMD. THE DAY IS LOOMING WHEN DEDIC ANTI-ISRAEL PALESTINIAN, ETC. TERROR GROUPS WILL HAVE TO MOVE/RELOCATE INTO SYRIA OR DEEP SINAI-EGYPT JUST TO FIRE TAC ROCKETS AT ISRAEL.
IOW, PALS. TERROR GROUPS FACE LT DEFEAT + POTENS PUTTING THE PALS AGENDA IN THE HANDS OF ANTI/NON-PALS. AGENDISTS + STATES [similar to Radical Islam after 2010?]. SUB-IOW, ANTI/NON-ISLAMIST ME "DEMOCRACY" + ISRAEL + "MODERATE"/PRO-WESTERN MUSLIM STATES WILL IN LT ONLY GET STRONGER.
Lest we fergit, WAFF.com Poster Thread] > ARTICLE [paraph] - RUSSIAN MILITARY ANALYST: USA MAY ATTACK RUSSIA 2012-2015.
*2008 NLT 2012 [in reality 2010?]???
"A-TEAM" HANNIBAL HAYES > "...WHEN PLANS COME TOGETHER"!
IDF troops operating in the West Bank arrested 17 men wanted for questioning Monday overnight. Two guns and ammunition clips were found in the home of one of the men.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs
Police on Tuesday arrested four children, aged between six and 10, on suspicion of throwing stones at cars in Haifa. No one was wounded in the incident but one of the cars was damaged. Due to their young age, the children were accompanied by their parents during their interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#2
I would have interpreted the reverse, Menhadden Snogum6713. Someone is very carefully not copping a feel -- his fingers are curled in a half-closed fist. the backs of the fingers are not terribly sensitive compared to the fronts and the palm. Besides, I'd think copping a feel of a frightened and possibly hysterical young woman is a good way to get fingers broken, which would be poor tradecraft. ;-)
For the curious, not the Ethiopian soldier in the background. So much for Israeli apartheid.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/12/2008 18:37 Comments ||
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#8
boy - he pee'd standing up, apparently
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/12/2008 19:49 Comments ||
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#9
how could you people be so cruel to make fun of this poor boy in his embarassment. That is just piss-poor humor if you ask me.
Posted by: Titus Uneamp7278 ||
03/12/2008 20:21 Comments ||
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#10
People get all upset about the Israeli police and soldiers arresting little kids throwing rocks at them.
They forget that it can be very hard to tell the difference between a fist sized rock and a grenade - until it is too late. Especially if there are a bunch of rocks coming all at once.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/12/2008 22:51 Comments ||
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An Egyptian-brokered hudna truce has been reached between Israel and Hamas, a senior Israeli security official said Tuesday. The official told AFP that Hamas agreed to stop firing rockets as long as Israel ceases its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
What did Islamic Jihad have to say?
If they don't reject it, Popular Resistance Committees will. Or PFLP. Or the al-Aqsa Martyrs. Or a new group will arise...
According to the unnamed official, Cairo played an active role in the deal, in an effort to reach a ceasefire which would eventually lead to the removal of the Israeli blockade imposed on the Strip.
Earlier Tuesday, a rocket struck Ashkelon, dispelling reports that an Israel-Hamas truce had already been reached. The rocket landed in an open area in the southern Ashkelon industrial zone. Nobody was wounded in the attack, and no damage was reported.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israel held Hamas responsible. "Hamas controls Gaza and they are responsible for every missile fired from Gaza into Israel," said government spokesman Mark Regev.
True enough, but how will Hamas control them, assuming they even want to?
On a visit to the town earlier in the day, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned members of the Ashkelon City Council that the barrages of Grad-type rockets which plagued their city until the middle of last week was not a one-time event. Speaking during a visit to the southern Israeli town of 120,000, Olmert said "this is the reality of the past 60 years and we must show restraint and strength."
The prime minister said that even though the town was enjoying a lull in recent days, "there is no way to ensure that rocket fire would not be renewed."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#3
Im NOT convinced Hamas can't control IJ et al if they really want to. If they're willing to claim they CAN, then fine - do the deal - but they have to agree that THEY are responsible for ANY attack from Gaza, by ANYONE. And if they dont come through, all bets are off - IJ launches one rocket, and Haniyeh is fair game. Again.
Whats really making this complicated is Hamas insistence on extending this to the West bank. It seems really unlikely Hamas can stop AAMB and other attacks from the WB. They want to make it look like they are keeping Israel out of the WB, to undermine Abbas and gain kudos from the WB street.
OTOH if, as proposed, PA gets control of the Gaza crossings, that would be a political blow to Hamas.
So most of this is Hamas vs Fatah political maneuvering, IMHO.
#6
Screw the deal, the hudna. When you play the truce game with Hamas, you legitimize them as an equal partner in your dealings with them. They must be treated as criminals with rapid, complete, overwhelming response to their attacks. Anything less than that, then Hamas and their ilk will just keep attritting down Israel until they are backed up against the wall. Then Israel has only one chance and that is the Nuke Option.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Thorne Bay, AK ||
03/12/2008 16:57 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Olmert said "this is the reality of the past 60 years and we must show restraint and strength."
Southern terrorists insurgents shot dead a Muslim, who was a former Pulo (Pattani United Liberation Organisation) core leader on Wednesday morning. Yalee Mana was shot dead when he was riding a motorcycle with his wife and son, who were both critically injured. More than 10 casings were found at the scene. Police said Yalee have been police informant for the past six years, so the terrorists insurgents wanted to seek revenge on him.
(Xinhua) -- Two suspected terrorists, including a foreigner, were arrested by intelligence agents on the Philippines' tourist island of Boracay in the central Aklan province, media reports said on Tuesday. The arrested suspects were named as Almizhabr Bonadial, a suspected Jemaah Islamiyah member, and Mohammad Bani Macarya suspected to be a member of the Abu Sayyaf Group, Philippine TV network ABS-CBN reported, citing a military source.
The Indonesia-based militant group Jemaah Islamiyah and the AbuSayyaf, a small but violent southern Philippine-based group blacklisted by Washington as a terror organization, have been blamed for a series of deadly bomb attacks, including the February2004 bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that killed more than 100 persons. The two were arrested in operations conducted on Boracay Islandlast week, the source said.
This came as Armed Forces' chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon Jr. confirmed the arrest of a Filipino who has suspected links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. "We would like to come up with the details after we have completed the follow-up operations just to be sure that the members of their cells are already taken cared of," Esperon said. He said another suspected terrorist, who "came from another country" was also arrested Monday.
The military chief said the arrests were connected to the alleged assassination plot against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a terror group's plan to bomb vital government installations in the country's capital region of Metro Manila. The Philippine National Police (PNP) had said that the assassination plot against President Arroyo was uncovered with the recovery of a document, which was written in Arabic. PNP chief Director General Avelino Razon Jr. said the document was recovered by a security guard on a parking lot of an establishment located somewhere in Metro Manila. Razon said the document detailed a terror group's plan to bomb a convoy of President Arroyo and a plot to bomb foreign embassies in Manila.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
At least 30 Tamil Tiger rebels and five government troops were killed in fresh clashes on Tuesday across Sri Lankas embattled north, the defence ministry said.
Pre-dawn fighting erupted in the coastal district of Mannar where the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) tried to re-take territory they lost to security forces this week, the ministry said. The ministry said most of the rebel casualties were women fighters, though there was no immediate word from the guerrillas. So far this year, the defence ministry has reported that security forces have killed at least 1,987 rebels while 123 government soldiers have died.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/12/2008 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Haqqani Network compound pounded by Coalition airstrikes
Afghan security forces have killed 19 Taliban militants in separate operations, while a soldier and policeman died in ambushes, officials said on Tuesday. 
A roadside bomb killed a pregnant mother in the Somali capital Tuesday and wounded four other people, including her two young children, witnesses said. The dead mother, Ismahan Hussein, was walking along Maka-al-Mukarama Road at the heart Mogadishu when the bomb detonated.
IDF troops and elite police counter-terror commandos killed four top terrorists in Bethlehem on Wednesday evening. While attempting to arrest the men, who made up the Islamic Jihad's leadership in the city, the troops came under fire near the Bethlehem Mukata (government building), and killed all four in a gun battle. 
An underground tunnel collapsed early Wednesday near Egypt's border with the Gaza strip, burying alive one smuggler and injuring another, a security official said.
Police on Tuesday arrested four children, aged between six and 10, on suspicion of throwing stones at cars in Haifa. No one was wounded in the incident but one of the cars was damaged. Due to their young age, the children were accompanied by their parents during their interrogation.
Earlier Tuesday, a rocket struck Ashkelon, dispelling reports that an Israel-Hamas truce had already been reached. The rocket landed in an open area in the southern Ashkelon industrial zone. Nobody was wounded in the attack, and no damage was reported. 
At least 30 Tamil Tiger rebels and five government troops were killed in fresh clashes on Tuesday across Sri Lankas embattled north, the defence ministry said.
