Two British servicemen have been killed while patrolling Nato's main airbase in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday. The pair, members of the RAF Regiment, died when their vehicle hit a device near Kandahar airfield. Two other British servicemen were wounded in the blast but were said not to have life-threatening injuries. All next of kin have been informed, an MoD spokesman said.
The men were travelling in a Land Rover Wolf, a military version of the Defender widely used by British forces for patrols but not designed to withstand attacks other than from light small arms.
The four RAF Regiment troops were taking part in a routine patrol to the west of Kandahar airfield when their vehicle was hit by the device at 6.48pm local time on Sunday. They were treated at the scene before being taken to the field hospital inside the base. "Sadly, despite the best efforts of the medical team, two of the servicemen died as a result of their wounds," the MoD said.
Brigadier General Carlos Branco, spokesman of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, said: "Our most sincere thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the soldiers who died in this tragic incident and with those of the wounded soldiers as well."
The deaths take the number of British military personnel killed in Afghanistan since the campaign against the Taliban began in 2001 to 93.
Two weeks ago two Royal Marines from 40 Commando patrolling in a lightly armoured Land Rover were killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan. The vehicle, with stripped-down sides and a machine gun, hit a roadside bomb three miles south of Kajaki, the site of an important dam in northern Helmand province.
British patrols in Afghanistan are vulnerable to unexploded mines. Nato troops are also increasingly likely to be targeted by improvised explosive devices as the Taliban resort to "asymmetric" tactics instead of conventional - and invariably unsuccessful - attacks with light weapons and from exposed positions.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Taliban insurgents attacked a police checkpoint north of the city early Monday, killing 11 police officers and burning their vehicles before disappearing into the night.
The attack, on the main road between the southern provinces of Kandahar and Oruzgan, where the Taliban remains strong, was another illustration of how weak Afghanistans police force remains despite efforts to improve training and upgrade its equipment. The policeman on watch on the roof was strangled, and was found in a room with two other policemen who had been bound and shot in the head at close range, said Nazar Jan, a policeman on guard at the scene Monday morning. Eight other policemen were found shot dead in the room where they slept, he said. Their bloodied blankets still lay in the room. One policeman escaped and was shot in the feet as he fled, Mr. Jan said. Mr Jan said he had heard the shooting from his checkpoint, but since it did not last long, he and his colleagues did not think much of it. He did not appear surprised that the Taliban had attacked, saying there were insurgents present in the district, Argandab. The Taliban took the officers weapons, he added.
A spokesman for the Taliban, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the attack by telephone. The Interior Ministry confirmed the details in a statement issued in the capital, Kabul. After their attack the Taliban left for their sanctuaries, and auxiliary police retook the checkpoint, the ministry said, adding that the wounded policeman was out of danger.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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The chief of police in Somalia's semiautonomous State of Puntland narrowly escaped unharmed after a roadside bomb detonated and destroyed his car, witnesses and the police chief said.
No one was wounded when the remotely-detonated bomb exploded, Col. Abdiaziz Said "Gaamey" told a press conference afterwards in the port city of Bossaso, 1500km north of the national capital Mogadishu. "I will continue my work and I will not be frightened by these groups who have threatened me before," Col. Ga' amey told reporters Sunday.
He stated that no suspects had been arrested in connection with the bombing, but indicated that he believes the perpetrators are linked to al Shabaab, an armed group waging a bloody guerrilla war against Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim government and its allies.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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Witnesses in Somalia say heavily armed Islamist militants have killed four foreign teachers at a school in the central part of the country. The four were killed late Sunday when suspected al-Qaida-linked rebels attacked the town of Baladwayne, north of the capital, Mogadishu. Local residents say three of the victims are women - one British and two Kenyan. The fourth victim is reported to be a Somali man with British citizenship who had returned to his home town to build a school.
The rebels targeted the houses of government officials, burning the home of the regional governor Yusuf Dabaged as well as the school. The militants briefly held the entire town before withdrawing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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(IANS) A top guerrilla commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit was gunned down early Monday by security forces in a shootout on the outskirts of here, the police said. The police identified the slain militant as Abu Nasir alias Zakir, district commander of the LeT.
The police said army troopers assisted by the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the state police launched a combing operation in the Theed Harwan area, nearly 15 km from the city centre, past midnight. During the search operation the militant fired at them, said a police spokesman. The fire was returned and in the ensuing gunfight Zakir was killed, the spokesman said. The operation was launched on specific information that LeT militants were trying to establish some bases in Harwan area.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The police identified the slain militant as Abu Nasir alias Zakir, district commander of the LeT.
#2
Having done some military demo work, I have to chastise those guys for smokin' & jokin' around their project. The one guy who isn't doing something should just be watching to make sure something bad isn't taking place. Nobody else should be hanging around. If they aren't doing something, they should back off.
Attacks in various parts of Iraq killed at least 21 people today.
In central Baghdad, Iraqi police said a roadside bomb killed at least five people and wounded nine others. In northern Iraq, officials say a car bomb killed 12 members of the Kurdish peshmerga security force, which is part of the Iraqi army. Two others were wounded in the attack near Rabiaa, west of Mosul near the Syrian border.
Officials say three people were killed and at least 10 others wounded in the northern city of Tal Afar when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a funeral. Also, the U.S. military says a roadside bomb killed an American soldier in Iraq's central province of Salahuddin.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
So how many bad guys went to paradise?
Posted by: Jack Slineger4174 ||
04/15/2008 9:36 Comments ||
Top||
Well, if true, this could get interesting...
Hamas is planning to blow up the border with Egypt in Rafah for the second time, the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram reported Monday. So the Gypos know they're coming? Too bad for Hamas. Brave Jihadi Warriors don't do too well when you know they're coming.
The paper quoted "reliable Palestinian sources" as saying that Hamas activists were planning to fire mortar shells at Egyptian forces during the first stage of the operation. After that they intend to fire directly at the Egyptian troops, and ultimately destroy Egyptian battlements with explosives, some of them planted in tunnels beneath the guard posts. Meanwhile, the Hamas intends to breach the border with Egypt and allow the general populace to flood into the Sinai. The sources also told the paper that the organization had planted explosives along four kilometers of the border. According to the plan, the operation would be assisted by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the sources said. Actually, that's not a border breach, that's an invasion. And the Pali's Muslim "brothers" seem to have no problems killing them by the thousands when they forget their place and get out of line.
The killing of Egyptian soldiers with live ammunition has been sanctioned by Muslim clerics in a special fatwa issued by Hamas on Friday, the report said. Oh, well. Then I guess it's okay then...
#1
I vote for the Israelis to employ the toothpaste maneuver.
When the Palis blow the wall, Israel should start the tanks rolling from the North and squeeze the whole lot out the opening. When they get to the breach, seal it up and leave what's left to whoever is still around.
#2
This would be incredibly stupid and self-destructive on Hamas's part, which prolly means the clock is already running. Shallow end of the gene pool self-draining
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/15/2008 19:07 Comments ||
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#3
I'll put on a third shift at the popcorn factory.... :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/15/2008 19:36 Comments ||
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#4
They need to smuggle in more Iranian heavy weapons and light arms.
(Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement denounced on Monday that 21 Hamas members have been arrested by the security forces of President Mahmoud Abbas in different West Bank areas. "The security forces of the interior ministry in the caretaker government of Salam Fayyad has escalated its actions and detained 21 people allover the West Bank," said a Hamas leaflet sent to reporters.
According to the leaflet, the arrests took place in the towns of Nablus, Jenin, Hebron and Bethlehem. Hamas called on Abbas of Fatah movement and his Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to immediately stop arrests against Hamas members. After Hamas took control of Gaza in June last year and routed President Abbas security forces, the PNA has tightened its measures against Hamas in fear of repeating the same takeover. So far, efforts exerted by different parties and countries to reconcile rival Fatah and Hamas movements had failed.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
loooks like fatah is starting too hit back a lil at a time
Indonesian police say they are questioning two top members of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah. Suspects Abdul Rohim and Agus Purwanto were returned to Indonesia after being arrested several weeks ago in Malaysia.
Terrorism expert Sidney Jones says Abdul Rohim is thought to have replaced Zarkasih as Jemaah Islamiyah leader (emir), after Zarkasih's arrest last year. "He was a member of the central command, he is rumored to possibly be the new emir, or the caretaker emir [of Jemaah Islamiyah] ... the last known position that he had was a head of education for the central command," Jones explained.
Jones says the arrests of the two Indonesians are significant and will further weaken the terrorist network. "This is big because it is two more influential people, with one in particular at the top ranks of Jemaah Islamiyah, meaning that the police have pretty clearly penetrated the structure," Jones said.
Police say Agus Purwanto is wanted in connection with violence in Poso, on Indonesia's eastern Sulawesi island, where sporadic violence between Muslims and Christians continues to break out periodically.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for a string of terrorist bombings in Indonesia including the 2002 bombings in Bali that claimed the lives of 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
Following the Bali attacks, police have arrested more than 300 militants, severely weakening the group. Jones says Jemaah Islamiyah cannot keep replacing its lost leaders forever. "Now I think what we will find is that just as the earlier round of leaders was replaced, that there will probably be some effort to put new people in place for this, but it is a process that cannot continue indefinitely," Jones said.
The group says it wants to establish an Islamic state across much of Southeast Asia.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/15/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
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.
Two British servicemen have been killed while patrolling Nato's main airbase in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday. The pair, members of the RAF Regiment, died when their vehicle hit a device near Kandahar airfield. Two other British servicemen were wounded in the blast but were said not to have life-threatening injuries. All next of kin have been informed, an MoD spokesman said.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Taliban insurgents attacked a police checkpoint north of the city early Monday, killing 11 police officers and burning their vehicles before disappearing into the night.
Witnesses in Somalia say heavily armed Islamist militants have killed four foreign teachers at a school in the central part of the country. The four were killed late Sunday when suspected al-Qaida-linked rebels attacked the town of Baladwayne, north of the capital, Mogadishu. Local residents say three of the victims are women - one British and two Kenyan. The fourth victim is reported to be a Somali man with British citizenship who had returned to his home town to build a school.
(IANS) A top guerrilla commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant outfit was gunned down early Monday by security forces in a shootout on the outskirts of here, the police said. The police identified the slain militant as Abu Nasir alias Zakir, district commander of the LeT.
Attacks in various parts of Iraq killed at least 21 people today. 
(Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement denounced on Monday that 21 Hamas members have been arrested by the security forces of President Mahmoud Abbas in different West Bank areas. "The security forces of the interior ministry in the caretaker government of Salam Fayyad has escalated its actions and detained 21 people allover the West Bank," said a Hamas leaflet sent to reporters. 
Indonesian police say they are questioning two top members of the regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah. Suspects Abdul Rohim and Agus Purwanto were returned to Indonesia after being arrested several weeks ago in Malaysia.
