This morning, the French defense ministry, in order it says, to put an end to the rumors and controversy, has confirmed that one of the soldiers had indeed been killed with a knife, and that his family had "specifically asked the minister not to reveal his identity."
"Medical examinations of the eight other soldiers who died in the ambush show that they died of bullet or shrapnel wounds," the defense ministry spokesman said.
Taliban are claiming to have abducted two Indians along with three Afghans after attacking a convoy of security officials in Wardak province west of Kabul.
According to the Afghan Islamic Press, an Afghan security official confirmed to it that the two kidnapped Indians were working with an Indian company as security personnel.
The three Afghans kidnapped along with the Indians were identified as Abdul Fana and Abdul Jabbar belonging to Panjsher Valley and one Mansoor, who was their driver and hails from Kabul.
Earlier, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters from an undisclosed location that Taliban fighters seized the five men along with two police vehicles transporting them. He said the kidnapped men were now being investigated. Meanwhile, Taliban abducted three Afghan engineers Rehmanullah of Jalalabad and Zamaray and Agha Muhammad from Kabul, working for the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), run by foreign forces, in Ghazni.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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A suicide bomb attack by a fake beggar inside a regional prosecutor's office and a shoot-out between police and Taliban militants killed 15 people in Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said.
The suicide bomber penetrated the office in Zaranj, the capital of the southwestern province of Nimroz, said police Chief Mohammad Ayub Badakhshi. Six people died in the blast, including a provincial state attorney. The bomber entered the compound pretending to be a beggar, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the provincial governor.
Elsewhere in Nimroz, Taliban militants attacked a police checkpoint, killing two police, Azad said. He said seven Taliban fighters also were killed in the exchange.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Sudanese government troops have launched attacks on two towns in Darfur, three rebel groups in the region have said. The rebels said the troops, backed by militias, helicopters and planes, had attacked Disa and Birmaza in North Darfur state early on Saturday. The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur said it was investigating the reports. There has been no comment on the rebel claims from the Sudanese military.
'String of attacks'
"There are many dead, both civilians and some of our soldiers too," a commander of a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, Ibrahim al-Helwu, was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency. "The fighting is still going on, they are inside the town and are looting," he said from Disa. Commanders of two other rebel groups also said their forces in the area, north of the town of Kutum, were also involved in the fighting.
Rebel groups have accused government forces of launching a string of attacks on insurgent-held areas in North Darfur in recent months. One rebel commander, Sherif Harir, from the Sudan Liberation Movement - Unity faction, said Khartoum was trying to wrest control of key transport routes and oil reserves in the area, Reuters news agency reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Somali pirates who seized a French yacht and kidnapped two French nationals were demanding a "ransom" of more than one million dollars to release the vessel, A maritime official said on Thursday.
Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme, said they had received reports "the gunmen are demanding more than one million dollars in ransom to release the yacht."
However, the information could not be independently verified as authorities in Somalia's Puntland region, close to where the boat was attacked, could not confirm the claim.
Hijackers captured the 16-metre Carre d'as sailing boat in the Gulf of Aden late on Tuesday and were taking it to Eyl village, a pirate den in Somalia's northern semi-autonomous Puntland region. "We can only pray that the pirates release the hostages. We are powerless to help," said Abdullahi Saed Yusuf, the district comissioner of Eyl.
The French foreign ministry said two French nationals were seized with the Venezuelan-registered boat.
French commandos carried out an operation in April and captured six pirates after Somali pirates seized a French luxury sailing ship, Le Ponant, with its 30 crew, including 22 French nationals, and held them for a week.
Since the end of July, eight ships have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden, including two Malaysian vessels as well as others from Germany, Iran and Japan.
The waters off Somalia are the most dangerous in the world for pirate activity, with the International Maritime Bureau reporting 24 attacks in the area between April and June this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Eyl Village, right on the east coast, latitude 8 deg N. I would say, drop some leaflets giving the pirates 24 hours to have the Frenchmen transported unharmed, about, say 60 miles to the east at Latitude 8 N, or the village will be reduced to rubble, along with everyone in it, and purified with flame. That will stop this nonsense in a Somalian minute.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/07/2008 3:42 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That location sounds like it is in the AOR of the FFL. I suggest giving the assinment to Sgt. Markoff.
#3
The french army commando raid was well-executed, but this went through by the teeth : le canard enchainé revealed crumbling down equipments which led to a string of repeated mechanical failures and almost compromised the whole thing (IIRC, without the chance proximitty of the Jeanne d'Arc schoolboat, there wouldn't have been a chopper to deliver the commando), lack of aerial ressources which led to only part of the pirates being caught and part of the ransom recovered,... basically, a drastic shortage of ressources, and an out-of-age material. And, this was for the cream of the cream of the french army, in a politically sensitive mission that gathered all the available means...
Could it be even repeated? I'm not in the know, but the first one could easily have turned into a disaster, and with the controversy about the afghan deaths, with the inane governement handling of that, and the msm-defeatism (the Paris-match mag published a compleasing interview with the ambushers, posing with weapons and uniforms stolen to french casualties), I don't see sarko being willing to risk somali collateral damages or french casualties.
Months of attacks by unmanned US predator aircraft have caused carnage among the middle ranks of terrorist leaders in the lawless lands along the border with Afghanistan, where al-Qa'eda remains dangerous despite suffering a serious defeat in Iraq.
Their victims have included experienced Arab leaders and, it is now thought, Adam Gadahn, a former heavy-metal fan and so-called "killer computer nerd" originally from California. Nothing has been heard from him for months, leading intelligence experts to conclude that he may be dead.
Mr Gadahn has been credited with helping transform al-Qa'eda's al-Sahab propaganda wing into a slick operation which communicates in fluent English and produces professional quality DVDs, including one for Osama bin Laden last year.
#6
Wait four more days, before you begin the funeral party. If we don't get an annual 7-11 DVD from the Big One, or if it isn't up to Gadhn's standards, then let's party. This one is a four day rule.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/07/2008 17:18 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I think he ran into Saracuda somewhere in Alaskan wilderness!
Security forces arrested at least 16 suspects during a crackdown after a missile attack on the city on Saturday, the police said. Reportedly, two missiles exploded near the Malik Abad area, while a third mortar shell landed near the house of a lawyer, which was timely defused by the bomb disposal squad (BDS). The police launched a search operation in the Katar Kani and Takhtiband refugee camps after the attacks and arrested at least 16 people, and seized arms from their possession.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The Paks seem to really like combat. They should get a demonstration from professionals.
A paramilitary soldier was killed and 11 others injured in a clash following unidentified militants attacked the Kotal checkpoint late on Saturday night.
Dozens of militants from Darra Adamkhel opened fire on the post manned by the Frontier Corps (FC) at the border between Kohat and Darra Adamkhel.
Havaldar Misal Khan died while Havaldar Noor Khan, Constables Khurshid Ali, Naimatullah, Saeedullah, Raqeebullah, Raees Khan, Abdul Latif, Kifayatullah, Qudratullah, Anwar Kamal and Zameen Ahmad were injured. They were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital.
District Coordination Officer Siraj Ahmad, who is also the political administrator of Darra Adamkhel, told The News that recently, the residents of Janikhel in Darra Adamkhel chased some militants out of their area while the security forces destroyed an arms-manufacturing factory in the Mirikhel area of Zarghunkhel.
He said the militants used to make suicide jackets and other explosives in the factory.
The official said the government would take strict action against anti-social elements. "Residents of Darra Adamkhel want peace in their area and they are now fed up with the miscreants," he added.
Moreover, the authorities said the Kohat Tunnel would remain closed till the restoration of peace in Darra. The security forces have started patrolling the town. They were shelling militant hideouts in various areas of Darra Adamkhel till the filing of this report.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Ten more people, including the brother of Pir Saifur Rehman and a militant, were killed and several others injured in clashes between the local people and the Taliban in Matta Tehsil of the restive Swat Valley on Saturday. The security forces also continued to pound hideouts of the militants in Kabal Tehsil.
Sources said the Taliban fighters also kidnapped 20 more people and shifted them to an undisclosed location.
Spokesman for Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Swat chapter, Muslim Khan, said they had killed over 30 people and kidnapped several others. "We have arrested several people, impounded their two vehicles and shifted them to an unknown place," he said.
The local people clashed with the Taliban in Mandal Dag area of the Matta Tehsil when the militants besieged the area for picking up a 'Pir' identified as Saifur Rehman. A total of 20 local people were killed and several others injured in the two-day fighting.
According to the ISPR, fierce clashes erupted between the local people and the militants in Tehsil Matta, in which nine militants and 15 local people were killed and several others injured from both sides.
The security forces extended support to the local Lashkar in its bid to dislodge the militants from their strongholds in Matta.
The operation against the militants, entrenched in fortified bunkers and tunnels in Koza Bandai, has entered a decisive stage. "The Army gunship helicopters and artillery guns are targeting militants' positions and have inflicted heavy casualties on them. The militants, who were involved in looting in Koza Bandai, have been encircled by the ground troops, who have blocked all their escape routes with the aim to eliminate them," an ISPR statement said.
Meanwhile, two persons, identified as Bakht Azim of Nangolai area and Muhammad Shah of Biha, Matta Tehsil, were seriously injured when shells hit their houses. Both the injured were rushed to the Saidu Sharif Hospital.
In another development, the local people staged a protest against the ongoing shelling, continuous curfew, power suspension and shortage of edibles and other essential commodities. They chanted slogans against the government and demanded lifting of curfew and provision of edibles.
The ISPR also said that efforts were being made to restore electricity to Bara Bandai and its adjoining areas. Curfew was relaxed from 8 am to 8 pm in Mingora. Shops and banks remained opened and people were busy in their Ramazan shopping.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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A pickup truck packed with explosives blew up a police security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan Saturday, killing at least 30 people and injuring dozens more, the day after a foiled militant kidnap attempt led to another 24 deaths in the volatile region.
The suicide attack occurred on the outskirts of Peshawar on the day Pakistani lawmakers voted for a new president, underscoring the challenges facing a country the U.S. has pressured to crack down on insurgents.
Television footage showed a blast crater 3 feet deep, destroyed vehicles and pieces of debris scattered across a large area. Officials said many people were trapped under the rubble of two collapsed buildings in a nearby market. Civilians dug frantically with their hands in hopes of finding survivors.
Nasirulmulk Bangash, a top police official in the area, said the vehicle carried at least 330 pounds of explosives _ an amount he called "unprecedented" _ and was apparently en route to Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province. He said the large quantity of explosives indicated the attack was aimed at a more important target than the small checkpoint, but might have been tripped up by high security on election day. Bangash did not speculate on what the intended target might have been.
Peshawar police chief Muhammad Suleman said late Saturday that 30 people died, including five police officers and several who succumbed to their injuries in hospital or were found lifeless among the rubble. He said the toll was likely to rise as rescue teams continue to dig.
Sher Zaman, 15, told The Associated Press from a hospital bed that he was selling fruit from a cart at the market when he heard a large explosion and was knocked down when something hit him in the chest. He said residents quickly gathered and helped transport casualties to hospitals.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for Saturday's blast.
In recent weeks, however, the Pakistani Taliban have said they were to blame for a string of suicide bombings they called revenge for military offensives in the northwest region, which borders Afghanistan. One attack killed nearly 70 people at a major weapons factory.
Separately, the military said, residents of the Matta area, about 106 miles north of Peshawar, fought back against militants in the area, launching an attack Friday night to prevent the anticipated kidnapping of a village elder accused of supporting the government. Six of the would-be kidnappers were killed. The militants later returned en masse, and ensuing clashes left 15 residents and three more militants dead, along with scores of people injured, the military said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Following the federal government's verbal directives to the political authorities regarding the restoration of supply lines to the allied forces in Afghanistan through Pakistan, the Khyber Agency administration on Saturday allowed oil tankers and consignments meant for Nato forces.
Sources said the oil-takers and trucks laden with goods for the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan were directed to cross Torkham border as soon as possible during 6:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Political administration officials said that the consignments were stopped due to security reasons as they had received threats from Taliban. They said the Khassadar force at Takhta Baig checkpoint had been directed by the political administration not to let the trucks and oil tankers enter the agency as they needed high security for their safe passage to the Torkham border.
They added that they had asked the government to deploy the Frontier Corps and Levies force from Takhta Baig checkpost up to Torkham border to ensure safe passage of oil tankers and consignments meant for the US forces. "Halting the US consignments have nothing to do with the Wana attack, but this was only a security measure which led the political administration to stop the US consignments and oil tankers to Afghanistan," they added.
APP adds: Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik on Saturday said Pakistan restored logistic supplies to the Nato forces in Afghanistan, which was temporarily suspended for security reasons. The supply was affected as the government had beefed up security on the Jamrud Road on Friday evening on receiving reports about the abduction of around 20 personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC).
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Karachi, January 22, 2009. Air traffic into Pakistan has been restored by NATO forces, which last week had been stopped due to "security reasons." President McCain, who ordered the shutdown, did not elaborate.
"Normal banking transactions resumed after a temporary shut down of interbank transfer traffic suffered a minor technical outage. Authorities indicated that the problem had been identified and measures were being taken to prevent future occurrences of the matter."
MOSUL, Iraq -- Three suspected insurgents were killed and a house was destroyed when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated in Mosul, Sept. 6.
The suspected insurgents were constructing the VBIED when it detonated prematurely. Don't you just love it when that happnes?
The blast also damaged four local civilian homes.
Posted by: Glenmore ||
09/07/2008 07:15 ||
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#1
Awwwwwww - ain't that just too bad.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/07/2008 9:26 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Not those cheap, imported Chinese detonators again?
At least six people were killed and 50 wounded in a suicide car bombing Saturday at an outdoor market in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. The midday attack in Tal Afar, about 45 miles west of Mosul in Nineveh province, was carried out less than a day after a car bombing in western Baghdad that targeted Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi.
The car bombing hit the same market in Tal Afar where a car bombing last month killed more than two dozen people and wounded scores, police said.
Iraqi officials said at least six people, including five from Chalabi's entourage, were killed in Friday's attack in Baghdad. Chalabi was not harmed, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. Nine of Chalabi's guards or drivers were among the 17 wounded, the ministry said. The rest of the casualties were civilians, it said.
Chalabi is a controversial Iraqi politician best known outside the country for providing false intelligence to the U.S. government on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The intelligence was cited, in part, as the justification for the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. A deputy prime minister for a time after the invasion, Chalabi is now head of a committee overseeing the activities of former members of deposed President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.
Also on Friday, Defense Ministry adviser Abdul Amir Hassan was driving near his home in east Baghdad when he was shot to death by attackers using guns equipped with silencers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of Palestinians hurled rocks at Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank after the army blocked them from attending Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, witnesses said.
Israel restricted Palestinian access to Jerusalem to men older than 50 and women over 45, angering would-be worshipers eager to reach Islam's third holiest shrine for prayers on the first Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
One Palestinian was injured when he was struck on the head by a tear-gas grenade fired by soldiers trying to disperse a crowd at the Kalandia crossing, which leads to the city of Ramallah where the Western-backed government of President Mahmoud Abbas is based.
Israeli police said some 90,000 worshipers attended prayers at al-Aqsa, which sits on the complex in the walled Old City known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.
Palestinian access to Jerusalem is already limited because Israel requires those who live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to obtain hard-to-get permits. Palestinian officials have demanded that Israel provide open access for worshipers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 00:00 ||
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Egyptian security forces on Saturday uncovered three smuggling tunnels on the border with the Gaza Strip, the Arabic daily Asharq Alawsat reported.
The smugglers, who were reportedly attempting to sneak cellphones, food, and gasoline into the coastal territory, managed to flee and evade arrest.
At a conference last week in Rafah to discuss the smuggling tunnels phenomenon, Hamas government officials made it clear that they mean to prevent any new tunnels from operating, and to increase oversight of some 200 tunnels already in use. Hamas wants to thwart use of the tunnels for drug smuggling, and the exploitation of child labor in digging the tunnels.
The conference was organized by a Gazan human rights group under the banner: "The tunnels - advantages and disadvantages." Speakers, including Rafah Mayor Issa al-Nashar and Hamas' civil defense chief Yousef al-Zahar, praised the tunnels as important conduits for weapons for the "resistance," but also pointed to the dangers inherent in their operation. Nashar noted that numerous civilians were recently hurt by the collapse of tunnels in the Rafah area. He blamed some of these incidents on Egypt, which he accused of blowing up some tunnels and flooding others.
Nashar demanded that a committee be appointed to supervise the materials entering Gaza through the tunnels, as well as the tunnel diggers' workload.
Yousef al-Zahar reported that his personnel had recently participated in rescue efforts at 16 collapsed tunnels, in which 19 people were killed and more than 100 injured. He said there are four reasons tunnels collapse: a fuel leak (in which case the tunnel should not be used for six months because of flammable fumes), poison gas piped in (which Hamas accuses Egypt of doing), improper digging and water flooding.
The national security commander for the border region, Ibrahim Abu al-Najar, reported that there are 200 tunnels in operation. He said that Hamas policemen are preventing new tunnels from opening, and are keeping an eye on the others to prevent drug smuggling.
One of the tunnel proprietors at the conference estimated that the industry is providing employment for some 4,000 people.
Arab sources say that children are frequently used in the digging process, and carry birds as an early-warning system to indicate a lack of oxygen. If the bird passes out, air is pumped into the tunnel.
Various estimates put Hamas' monthly profits from the tunnels at $20 million. Hamas levies a special tax on tunnel proprietors, and also collect fees for every bit of contraband - whether goods or people (wanted gunmen, people who need to go abroad for study or medical treatments, etc.) Besides explosives and metals for fashioning rockets, the array of products smuggled through the tunnels is staggering: livestock, drugs, electrical appliances, fuel, cigarettes, clothing, toys and much more.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/07/2008 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.
Taliban are claiming to have abducted two Indians along with three Afghans after attacking a convoy of security officials in Wardak province west of Kabul.
A suicide bomb attack by a fake beggar inside a regional prosecutor's office and a shoot-out between police and Taliban militants killed 15 people in Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said.
Sudanese government troops have launched attacks on two towns in Darfur, three rebel groups in the region have said. The rebels said the troops, backed by militias, helicopters and planes, had attacked Disa and Birmaza in North Darfur state early on Saturday. The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur said it was investigating the reports. There has been no comment on the rebel claims from the Sudanese military. 
(SomaliNet) Somali pirates who seized a French yacht and kidnapped two French nationals were demanding a "ransom" of more than one million dollars to release the vessel, A maritime official said on Thursday. 
Security forces arrested at least 16 suspects during a crackdown after a missile attack on the city on Saturday, the police said. Reportedly, two missiles exploded near the Malik Abad area, while a third mortar shell landed near the house of a lawyer, which was timely defused by the bomb disposal squad (BDS). The police launched a search operation in the Katar Kani and Takhtiband refugee camps after the attacks and arrested at least 16 people, and seized arms from their possession.
A paramilitary soldier was killed and 11 others injured in a clash following unidentified militants attacked the Kotal checkpoint late on Saturday night.
Ten more people, including the brother of Pir Saifur Rehman and a militant, were killed and several others injured in clashes between the local people and the Taliban in Matta Tehsil of the restive Swat Valley on Saturday. The security forces also continued to pound hideouts of the militants in Kabal Tehsil.
Following the federal government's verbal directives to the political authorities regarding the restoration of supply lines to the allied forces in Afghanistan through Pakistan, the Khyber Agency administration on Saturday allowed oil tankers and consignments meant for Nato forces.
At least six people were killed and 50 wounded in a suicide car bombing Saturday at an outdoor market in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. The midday attack in Tal Afar, about 45 miles west of Mosul in Nineveh province, was carried out less than a day after a car bombing in western Baghdad that targeted Shiite politician Ahmed Chalabi.
Hundreds of Palestinians hurled rocks at Israel Defense Forces soldiers in the West Bank after the army blocked them from attending Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, witnesses said. 
