The Taliban have earned up to $470 million from the Afghan opium trade this year alone, money that is being used to finance the insurgency against US and Afghan forces, the United Nations (UN) said on Thursday. The Taliban earned $50-70 million from imposing a 10 percent charge, called ushr, on economic activities such as opium farming this year, and $200-400 million from levies on opium processing and heroin trafficking, the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its 2008 Afghan opium survey. The income does not include money the Taliban are believed to be making from exports of cannabis, another widely produced Afghan crop. The report said opium poppy production - the raw material for heroin that is exported to Europe, the Middle East and the United States - had actually fallen substantially in 2008 following a US and Afghan government crackdown. The report emphasised that the strategy of tackling opium production and encouraging farmers to grow alternative crops was the right one and should be reinforced.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
I hope we are going full Patriot Act on heroin importers. The DEA should be working on nothing else.
Two British security guards have jumped overboard from a chemical tanker seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Arden, reports have said. The men, along with another crew member are then reported to have been picked up by a German naval helicopter. The Liberian registered vessel, which has at least 28 crew, is now thought to be in the control of pirates.
The International Maritime Bureau said the the Liberian-flagged tanker was hijacked early on Friday in the Gulf of Aden. The vessel was captured in the same waters where many of the recent hijackings have taken place, the narrow shipping lane between Somalia and Yemen.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 09:13 ||
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#1
I read this article just before rushing here to post it.
#2
Would you run away from this Pirate knowing he had been at sea a long time? He seems like a stand up kind of guy. Maybe the tights were too much for the security guards.
As he chased them off the ship you could hear the Benny Hill theme.
#3
That is too wrong for words. You are a bad, bad man, GB.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/28/2008 11:31 Comments ||
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#4
"British Crew RUN AWAY from Pirate Hijack"
...'Cos the sensible thing to do is let yourself get taken hostage and their either a) cost someone a lot of money to release you or b) have someone else risk their life rescuing you. Dumbass.
#8
These were SECURITY guards? Not Blackwater, I would guess. Were they unarmed? Why were they even there if it was not to defend the ship against pirates? They should know the layout of the ship far better than the pirates - and the pirates had to be quite exposed approaching and boarding; two good shooters with a good rifles & sights and good sight lines ought to be able to take out a big chunk of (if not all of) a boarding party of pirates. Or am I missing something?
#9
You don't jump overboard from a ship at sea without being pretty sure you will get rescued. They must have been in view of the German helicopter, which means the Germans watched the hijacking and did nothing.
Nicely illustrates how pointless the 'armada' of ships on anti-piracy patrol is.
#10
Hey, Bulldog, you POS, name me one scenario in the past 10 years were the British demonstrated something other than:
Getting caught with their pants down & captured by Iran.
Getting their asses kicked in Basra and turning tail & pulling out.
Having no balls to give their troops decent ROE in Afghanistan.
If they jumped ship and didn't even get off a shot, they RAN AWAY.
(SomaliNet) As many as 2,000 bodies have been discovered in eastern Congo in two mass graves, government officials said on Wednesday. The graves were found on Saturday in the town of Bukavu in a plot of land formerly owned by a member of the Congolese Rally for Democracy, or RCD, a Rwandan-backed rebel group, Congo's Justice Minister Luzolo Bambi told reporters.
The RCD at one point, controlled much of eastern Congo, but it became a political party in 2003. Many of its top leaders were integrated into the government, taking jobs as vice-presidents and army chiefs.
Constantin Charhondangwa, the head of civil society in the Bukavu region, said the parcel of land owned by the ex-rebel was sold to a resident. The new landowner discovered the remains when he dug up the land put in a septic tank, Charhondangwa said. Bambi and state-run TV said as many as 2,000 people are buried in the twin graves.
UN officials visited the site and confirmed the presence of the mass graves but did not offer an estimate of the number of dead. Madnodje Mounoubai, a spokesperson for the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, said the world body is calling for authorities to undertake "a serious investigation."
The discovery comes as eastern Congo has once again come to the brink of war, with a different rebel group fighting government forces.
Bukavu has not been touched by the latest round of violence, but has been a frequent theatre of war. It is located 100 kilometres south-east of Goma, the epicentre of the latest fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Nobody does genocide like the Congolese. They just have a flair for it I guess.
Sylhet Divisional Speedy Trial Tribunal yesterday framed charges against outlawed Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) operative Abu Zandal in connection with the grenade attack on the British high commissioner at the shrine of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) on May 21, 2004.
This article starring:
Harkatul Jihad al Islami
Abu Zandal
Harkatul Jihad al Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 00:00 ||
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The looming danger while six South African commandos were having dinner at a restaurant when terrorists struck Taj Mahal hotel came as a sudden challenge and they handled it with aplomb saving scores of persons from possible threat.
The lives of 150 fellow guests were saved by the commandos through their presence of mind and skills to handle pressure situations.
The commandos accompanying the South African cricket team, who had come to participate the now-cancelled Champions League were at the hotel's top floor restaurant 'Souk' and quickly escorted all the 150 diners through the fire exit gate before any harms can befall on them.
"We were having dinner. When we heard the gunfire, we were told that two gangs were fighting in the lobby. We were particularly perturbed," a member of the South African commando team, Bob Nichols, said.
Nichols said on hearing of the sound of an explosion they sensed it was a terror attack and saw the terrorists were running around the hotel firing indiscriminately and exploding grenades.
"We realised that the area is not secured. We imagined that there is a good possibility that they (terrorists) may try to make their way to the top of the building where we are," he said.
Nichols said the team, after gathering information as much as they could from outside, decided to secure the area themselves.
"As there are a lots of glass (in the restaurant), it was difficult to secure. We found a conference room next door where there were lots of people. So we moved everybody from the restaurant to the conference room. We barricaded ourselves.
"We used whatever we could to block the doors, kept everybody away from the windows. We also told everybody who we were and explained them what we were doing." he said.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/28/2008 17:35 ||
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#1
training kicks in - good job boys
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2008 17:59 Comments ||
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#2
This was good, that they were there, recognized almost instantly what was happening. This was one of the good and reassuring stories about this awful day - that there were people present who stepped up and took charge.
British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to at least 150. As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London's July 7 bombers lived, one source said.
Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. At least nine others are reportedly dead. The eight arrested were captured by commandos after they stormed two hotels and a Jewish centre to free hostages today. One security official said: 'There is growing concern about British involvement in the attacks.'
At the Oberoi Hotel, the siege ended when two militants were shot dead. Dozens of traumatised guests emerged unharmed but inside there were scenes of carnage and the bodies of another 24 victims. Mumbai officials say more than 150 people in total have now died in the attacks. Another 370 were wounded.
The bodies of another five hostages were found dead inside the Nariman House Jewish Centre this afternoon after commandos finally secured the building. Two militants were also killed. It is not known whether the Rabbi and his wife who were believed to be among the hostages are dead or alive.
Around 20 masked officers had raided the centre this morning, dropping from helicopters onto the roof, in an operation dubbed Operation Black Tornado. Hours of heavy fighting ensued as they moved from floor after floor. As dusk fell, there was a massive explosion and it appeared to be over.
However, at the five-star Taj Mahal Hotel across the city, officers were still battling up to six militants believed to be holed up in the ballroom. The Indian authorities thought they had ended the siege there last night after they shot dead three terrorists and released hundreds of hostages but it raged again today. In a major army operation, soldiers threw grenades at the walls in a bid to smoke out the militants. Four bystanders were reported wounded in the crossfire.
Across at the Oberoi Hotel, traumatised guests were struggling to absorb their ordeal. Many had been locked in their rooms, terrified, for 41 hours while the gunmen rampaged. Today, around 100 were rescued after two militants were shot dead. One man was clutching a tiny baby in his arms as he walked out.
British lawyer Mark Abell emerged with a beaming smile, saying: 'I'm going home, I'm going to see my wife. ' The 51-year-old told how he had spent the night listening to gunshots and explosions and communicating with the outside world on his phone and Blackberry. Describing the scene when he was eventually led to safety, he said it was 'carnage' with 'blood and guts everywhere'. 'I was supposed to be working in Delhi but I think I have had more than my fair share of my business trip so I am looking forward to going home to see my family,' he said.
A number of the hostages were airline staff still wearing their Lufthansa and Air France uniforms when they emerged from the building. As they came out some carried luggage with Canadian flags, and two women were dressed in black abayas, traditional Muslim women's garments.
Others were not so lucky. Reported dead tonight was an American and his 13-year-old daughter as well as the wife and two children of the Taj hotel's general manager. Foreigners from Japan, Australia, Italy and Germany and one Briton - tycoon Andreas Liveras - have already been confirmed as among the victims. There are fears the British toll could yet rise further as more and more buildings are made stable and searched.
Earlier, one commando revealed he had seen around 50 bodies littering the Taj hotel floor after special officers stormed the building and rescued hundreds of guests. Clad in black, with a mask covering his face, the unit chief said: 'There was blood all over the bodies. The bodies were strewn here and there and we had to be careful as we entered the building to avoid further bloodshed of innocent civilians.'
The terrorists had seemed like young, ordinary men but had clearly been very well trained, he said. 'They were wearing T-shirts, just ordinary looking, but they have definitely been trained to use weapons. There is no way they could handle such weapons without being taught how to.'
At least nine terrorists are thought to have been shot dead in gun battles across the city as police and special forces tried to regain control. Three arrested at the Taj Mahal have been officially identified as a Pakistani national and two Indians. Another is reported to be a Mauritian national. They arrived in the city by sea before fanning out to at least 10 locations. Dinghies were found moored at a jetty by the famous Gateway to India monument. Today, coast guard officials said they could have hijacked an Indian trawler to drop them off after finding an abandoned boat drifting near the shore. The captain's dead body was found inside the vessel, along with communications equipment.
Dressed in jeans and T-shirts and heavily armed, they then headed for the city - which is India's financial centre - and started firing indiscriminately. It is thought they gained entrance to the hotels by pretending to be staff and hotel guests, according to reports.
Indian authorities have not released any details about the two Britons and the Foreign Office has refused to confirm Indian television reports. Security services in Britain are now examining images of the gunmen in an effort to identify them. Gordon Brown said he would be speaking to the Indian Prime Minister again today but warned that it was 'too early' to reach any conclusions about British involvement.
India's High Commissioner Shiv Shankar Mukherjee added: 'I have seen nothing more than what is in the media and that is based on speculation. i will wait for the investigation to produce some hard facts.' A team of Scotland Yard anti-terrorist detectives and negotiators are now on their way to Mumbai to assist in the investigation.
Indian commandos have recovered credit cards and the militants' ID cards as well as seizing a vast arsenal of grenades, AK-47 magazines, shells and knives.
A previously unknown Islamic group, Deccan Mujahideen, has claimed responsibility for the attacks but terror experts believe is is linked to Al Qaeda. It is known that dozens of British-born Pakistanis have travelled to Pakistan to train in its camps in recent years. One security source said recently: 'The camps are full and many of the people inside are Brits.' Last night, there was speculation that a British Al Qaeda suspect reportedly killed by a U.S. missile strike in Pakistan last weekend may have helped plot the attacks. Rashid Rauf was among five killed in a missile attack in a tribal area in North Waziristan on Saturday. Security sources believe that at the time of his death Rauf had been planning a major attack on Western targets.
Met officers were also interviewing passengers returning from Mumbai as they stepped off planes at Heathrow. There was speculation last night that England cricketers could have been an intended target of the terrorists. It emerged that some of the team had been due to stay in Mumbai, most likely the Taj Mahal, on Wednesday evening before a late decision was made to switch training to Bangalore. Shocked player Michael Vaughan said: 'I don't know why it was switched but we could have been there in one of those hotels when they were attacked. 'All our white Test kit is in one of the rooms at the Taj Mahal hotel: All our pads and clothes for the Test series and our blazers and caps and ties. That's how close the danger is.' The England team will fly back to Britain today.
The bloody drama which began on Wednesday night has now lasted almost two days. The targets across the city were:
* The Oberoi Hotel, in the commercial district. Its restaurant was bustling with diners, many of them tourists;
* Also attacked was the Leopold restaurant, a haunt of the city's art crowd. As the fanatics sprayed the packed cafe, diners fled in terror;
* Some of the worst scenes were at the major railway station. As they entered the Gothic Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus, once named after Queen Victoria, the gunmen were smiling. With an astonishing air of casualness, the terrorists started to shoot. Within seconds the concourse was a bloodbath. People lay screaming on the floor;
* A further prestigious target was the 105-year-old Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel;
* More hostages were taken at the nearby Chabad House, headquarters for an ultra-orthodox Jewish group. A rabbi was among those held.
About 15 police officers were killed, including the head of Mumbai's anti-terrorism unit. India's prime minister Manmohan-Singh has blamed militant groups based outside the country - usually meaning Pakistan - raising fears of renewed tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Pakistan condemned the attacks.
The attack on the train station had echoes of previous terror outrages. In July 2006 more than 180 people were killed in seven bomb explosions at railway stations and on trains in Mumbai that were blamed on Islamist militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 11:53 ||
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#1
What a horror... and the ironies just abound.
Today, I re-worked an old post of mine, long gone in an unreachable MT archive, posted here.
This truly seems to have been India's 9/11... I guess Obama the Chosen one has his crisis all set out for him, a bit sooner than he expected.
#3
How did the terrorists get so much stuff into the hotel? There are more chapters to this story. Stay tuned.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/28/2008 12:54 Comments ||
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#4
These peoople are not british but unemployed scum/pakis whose ambition in life is to kill for Allah.We must look at where theit ideology/hate comes from-SAUDI ARABIA!!!!
#5
Appears they left cell phones and credit cards behind. Didn't bother going sterile, unless the left behind items were bogus pocket litter, which I doubt. Might be interesting to run credit card account checks and track cell phone numbers called and recieved, etc. Hope none of these lads were political campaign contributors.
#6
The attacks have all the signs of being directed by Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, a former head of India's Intelligence Bureau, Arun Bhagat, tells the BBC. He suggests it was a bid to sabotage rapprochement between the two governments
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/28/2008 13:33 Comments ||
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#9
Going sterile is a basic action for an operation like this and it was not done. The ISI is really incompetent if they were involved and left a trail like this.
#11
Going sterile is a basic action for an operation like this and it was not done. The ISI is really incompetent if they were involved and left a trail like this.
Why?
I mean, what the ISI _wants_ may be different from what you or I want. Yes, going in sterile would be more professional, but when was the last time we sent thirty agents somewhere to kill as many civilians as possible in the process of getting themselves killed?
#12
I'm sure there are volumes written in answer to this question - but what is wrong with India, and I mean it in the sense of why are US relations seemingly balanced between India and Pakistan?
I realize the history following the end of the Raj and through the cold war, but what presently argues against extremely close US-Indian relations?
How is that disentangled from the question of Pakistan's ongoing existence as an independent nation?
#14
Phil. Do you remember how Islamist goy emboldened about Afghanistan in Soviet times? Withdraw from Afghanistan and they will eb emboldened ten times more. And they will go grow ten times more.
Also do you remember the unwinnable Iraki war?
Finally why are we tied with Pakistan. In part because there was a time when India flrted with Soviet Union.
#15
I understand the Pak-Afghan nexus, but I guess what I'm asking is that if Pakistan doesn't exist, what issues to we have with Afghanistan that we don't already have?
Can India and Afghanistan agree on a common border?
#17
I think that for the ISI to use British Pakistanis was brilliant. The notion that the Brits would attack India in order to blame Pakistan would actually carry some weight among the Muhammadans and some of the wackier leftists (and Indians!). That kind of nonsense plays very well. I'd guess that the attackers carried in exactly what they were told to carry in.
Posted by: James ||
11/28/2008 23:49 Comments ||
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As the grisly dance of death is played out by terrorists in Mumbai, the last of the militants holed up in Taj Mahal hotel kept crack commandos at bay engaging them in a fierce gunbattle tonight even two days after the attack that saw two luxury hotels bear the brunt.
Bodies of hapless victims--some of them hostages-- shrouded in white were being brought out from the Taj and Trident-Oberoi as the hotels became a mute witness to the unprecedented terror assault on their rich legacy by rampaging terrorists.
The heavily armed terrorist is reported to be holed up in the ballroom of Mumbai's iconomic landmark and remained elusive with police saying there was no let up in his aggressive stance with grenades being hurled at regular intervals setting off fire at different places.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 11:51 ||
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#2
It seems the Indians are a LOT more humanitarian that Janet Reno EVER was : they are going out of their way to avoid civilian casualties and to avoid burning anything important down. Plus, they seem to concerned about SAVING evidence, rather than disposing of it.
Indian police said on Friday that 93 guests had been evacuated so far from Oberoi Hotel. The announcement was made by a police officer over loudspeaker outside the hotel. The people from all age groups were taken out in batches and rushed to the Trauma Centre of Bombay Hospital in private buses for a precautionary medical check up. The hotel was one of the 10 prominent locations in Mumbai where terrorists struck Wednesday night. The attack that continued into Friday has claimed 125 lives and injured 327 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 11:50 ||
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#2
There's a lot of Monday-morning QB'ing coming. Look for the agenda first before accepting the analysis. Absof*ckinglutely NOBODY doesn't have a spin or agenda here.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/28/2008 18:41 Comments ||
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#3
Where there less westerners there, because of the finacial slowdown? Did it save lives?
According to a home department senior officer in Gujarat, the Narendra Modi government has completed its part of the investigation connected to the Mumbai terrorist attack.
According to the investigation from the Gujarat end, Vinu Masania of Porbander has told the Gujarat police that his fishing trawler, Kuber, had gone missing around November 14-15. He didn't lodge a complaint with the police since normally fishermen know that on the high seas if a boats loses its way it comes back within a week.
The Gujarat police got the primary information from the Mumbai police on the basis of the interrogation of the terrorist Ismail captured on Wednesday by the Mumbai police.
Ismail has told the Mumbai police that they had hijacked the Gujarat-registered trawler, and killed all the fishermen except the helmsman Amar Singh Tandel who took them up to Mumbai. On reaching Mumbai he too was killed, and . His dead body was found off the coast near Mumbai.
Masania has been in the custody of the Coast Guard since Thursday in Porbander.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 11:41 ||
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#1
I suspect that India is going to lose any tolerance for piracy... Perhaps the US should as well.
The arrest of three Pakistani nationals hailing from Multan in connection with Mumbai siege has once again revealed the role of Lashkar-e-Taiba in terror strikes in India after the Akshardham attack in 2002.
Police and central security personnel have arrested at least three Pakistanis, including Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot near Multan in Pakistan's Punjab province. All the three belong to the suicide squad of Lashkar-e-Tayiba.
The terrorists told interrogators that 12 of them had left in a merchant vessel from the port city of Karachi, which was on its way to Vietnam, from which they got down and rowed 10 nautical miles into Indian waters up to Gateway of India.
The dozen people split into at least five groups that created havoc in five star hotels -- Taj and Trident (Oberoi). The terrorists were carrying dry fruits, suggesting they were prepared for a long-drawn battle.
The sources said the group was joined by some of the local contacts who provided them logistics like bags and dry fruits, the sources said, adding initial reports suggested that the terror group had come to the metropolis in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
However, new leads suggested that they had entered the Indian waters on early Wednesday morning, the sources said.
This major strike from the banned Lashkar comes six years after it had carried out an audacious attack on Akshardham temple [Images] in Ahmedabad [Images] in which 25 were killed on September 25, 2002.
Elite National Security Guards had to be airdropped into the complex to rescue 50 people.
The Lashkar-e-Tayiba had a mixed luck with attack on RSS headquarters in Nagpur and attack on Group Regimental Centre of the Central Reserve Police Force at Rampur (Uttar Pradesh [Images]) in 2007.
After being banned by the US for spreading terror in the world and being linked with Al-Qaeda [Images], Lashkar had mainly used its Indian contacts, which included Indian Mujahideeen, to indulge in terror network.
However, this time in Mumbai, the terror group decided to carry out the attack itself as they wanted to strike in a big way, the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/28/2008 10:16 ||
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#1
guess that blows the Pakistani repnose yesterday from pakiland out of the water about accusing them of comming from there territory
#3
Pak allows LeT founder to import bullet proof car
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has granted permission to the chief of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, to import a duty free bullet-proof Land Cruiser, worth Rs 25 million.
According to the interior ministry sources in Islamabad, the LeT chief, who fears a possible attempt on his life by his “external enemies”, had sought the government permission to import a duty free bullet proof Land Cruiser in view of the rising number of terrorist acts across Pakistan.
The sources said that after some lengthy deliberations on the issue, the government has decided to give him a go ahead to import a fully armoured Land Cruiser for his use from Dubai. It was for the first time that the leader of a banned jehadi group had made such a request to the government and it is also for the first time that the government has acceded to such a request.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/28/2008 15:24 Comments ||
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#4
three Pakistani nationals hailing from Multan
For the geographically challenged (like myself), Multan is in Pakistan Southwest of Lahore. It is near the Indian border and part of the Punjabi sectiion of Pakistan.
My own suspision is that the local connection will turn out to be very minor and limited to providing safe-houses or prepositioning of supplies.
The training, recruiting and planning will all turn out to have been done overseas.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/28/2008 16:08 Comments ||
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#5
john frum---just out of curiousity...will that new ride for Saeed be hellfire missile resistant, too? Just askin'......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/28/2008 20:37 Comments ||
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NEWSWEEK: The events on the ground are unfolding rapidly. But knowing the country as well as you do, what strikes you about the reports we've heard so far?
FAREED ZAKARIA: I think one of the misconceptions we're seeing so far is the assumption that these attacks were aimed primarily at foreigners. Look at their targets. The two hotels they attacked—the Taj and the Oberoi—are old, iconic Indian hotels. It used to be true that these places were affordable only by Westerners. But this is no longer true, and it's one of the big changes over the last ten years in India. The five-star hotels today are filled with Indians. Businessmen, wedding receptions, parties…these are real meeting places now, and even those who cannot afford to stay there often pass through the lobby.
So you think if the aim was to hit Americans, Brits or other Westerners, there would be more target-rich environments?
Absolutely. There's a Marriott, and a Hilton, a Four SeasonsÂ….The big American chains all have hotels there, and there are many more distinctly American targets. The Taj and the Oberoi are owned by Indians. My guess is that there will be a lot of Indians involved, and that this will generate a lot of domestic outrage.
#1
Zakaria, thanks for the taqiyya version...why then were the attackers asking for the nationalities of the guests and releasing non UK and US citizens and why attack the Jewish house?
They probably conducted surveillance of a number of potential targets and selected the most vulnerable.
#2
so why did the jilhadists ask for Brit and American passports
Zakaria is trying to avoid the obvious here
(and he has also been trying to avoid the obvious problem with Islam too - he was a big proponent of sending lots of aid to Pakistan after their earthquake - I'll bet a lot of this aid ended up in the hands of jihadists)
#3
My gut says its Muslims of all nationalities involved and local shock troops trained for this mission.
Did they want to send a message or were like Die Hard, trying to get into the Nakitomi building vault? Anything is possible? We don't clearly know who or what exactly they wanted at this time.
#6
Agree with several comments above. Only interesting thing about Zakaria is his wine collection. His commentary and "analysis" define the highly educated cluelessness that passes for sophistication in the Beltway/NYT/MSM axis these days. And don't forget - this sort mindset and smug incompetence just got handed the keys to the US (oh, that's not til January 20, but what with all the bizarre goings-on surrounding the P-E, I keep forgetting).
I'm guessing hammerhead's nailed it here - the two targets were the most vulnerable. Attacking iconic Indian establishments while asking who's American or British certainly is consistent with that.
If the Nov. 26 attacks in Mumbai were carried out by Islamist militants as it appears, the Indian government will have little choice, politically speaking, but to blame them on Pakistan. That will in turn spark a crisis between the two nuclear rivals that will draw the United States into the fray.
#2
Not to worry, folks. A young guy with far less experience in this or anything else than I have, who made his name mumbling nonsense about Iraq, is about to take over the US. I'm sure he and his crack team of Beltway mediocrities and Clinton leftovers will be able to handle things.
Only if we permit it! Keep our nose out of their bloody Hindi-Mooslim sectarian squabbling and mind the downwind drift. Geo-political ambulance chasing STRATFOR never saw a conflict unfit for US involvement. The worst that can happend to both of them is the best that can happen for us. Just my humble opinion.
#4
Some impressive arm-sweeping moral equivalence going on there, Besoeker. There's not much squabbling going on in Mumbai - it's mainly innocent people getting gunned down in hotels and train stations by Islamic mass-murderers armed to the teeth. Was 9/11 just a case of Christo-Mooslim squabbling?
Indian security forces have arrested three militants, including a Pakistani national, inside Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, which was attacked by a group of gunmen, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported early today.
Meanwhile, seven hostages were rescued from a Mumbai residential-business complex, also housing a Jewish centre, which was attacked by Islamist gunmen, Indian security officials said late last night, reports AFP.
The PTI report identified the Pakistani national as Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot, Multan, in Pakistan.
The PTI report identified the Pakistani national as Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot, Multan, in Pakistan.
#11
There are new reports of a massive explosion at the Jewish Center.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/28/2008 9:05 Comments ||
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#12
Telegraph (UK) reports that two of the terrorists are British born, ethnic Pakistanis.
If true... like the Saudis, UK's way of dealing with its terrorists will be to export them as a way to pacify their increasingly boisterous "Asian street."
Posted by: regular joe ||
11/28/2008 9:26 Comments ||
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#13
Link As many as seven of the terrorists may have British connections and some could be from Leeds and Bradford where London's July 7 bombers lived, one source said.
Two Britons were among eight gunmen being held, according to Mumbai's chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. At least nine others are reportedly dead.
The local police launched a search operation in the suburban areas of Peshawar late Wednesday night and arrested 13 people for their alleged involvement in rocket attacks on the provincial metropolis.
Sources in the police department told Daily Times that 13 suspected militants were arrested in the pre-dawn raids in the jurisdictions of Nasir Bagh, Mathra, Mattani, Machni, Sarband and Regi Police Station limits.
Police commandos and Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) personnel also took part in the raids. The suspected terrorists were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
Blast: Meanwhile, police said that militants on Thursday fired rockets at the containers carrying supplies to the US-led coalition forces stationed in Afghanistan.
The attack took place in Landi Akhundabad area. However, a police spokesman said that rockets were not fired at the containers.
Meanwhile, a gunship helicopter dropped a rocket in the limits of Mathra Police Station on Thursday. The rocket weighing around six kilogramme was dropped in a vacant plot near the British School and College.
However, there were no casualties. SHO Mathra Noor Elahi Khan confirmed the incident and said that the rocket had not exploded.
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Five people were killed and two others injured when a bomb ripped through a vehicle in South Waziristan, official sources said on Thursday. The sources said a jeep carrying seven people was blown up in the Khaisor area of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency. The sources, however, said it was not clear if the victims were local or foreign militants, as the town is believed to be the hub of Al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban.
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#1
Work accident? Touchy explosives meet Wazi pothole?
A grand jirga of the Salarzai tribes in Bajaur Agency on Thursday resolved that they would not allow outsiders on their land. Around 800 elders from different tribes attended the gathering, which discussed the recent attacks on tribal lashkars and a new strategy to meet the challenges.
The elders asked the government to deploy more troops in the area and establish more security posts to ensure the government's writ. Under the collective responsibility rule, Salarzai tribes would be responsible for the safety of the security forces in the area, they said.
Shelter: It was also decided that the houses of those who harbour Taliban would be burnt, they would be banished along with their family members and a fine of Rs 2 million would be imposed, APP reported.
The elders also decided that a lashkar of 20,000 volunteers would be re-organised to launch fresh efforts against the Taliban. The volunteers would man various checkposts in the area to keep a vigil on the Taliban, they said.
Meanwhile, three people including two Taliban were killed and 12 injured in an exchange of fire between Taliban and the law enforcement agencies in Mohmand Agency on Thursday.
Official sources said the Taliban started indiscriminate firing on Lakaro's security checkpost. The security forces, backed by helicopter gunships, pounded Taliban positions at Ghaziabad, Bagh, Gagizai, Girbaaz and Khanka and destroyed several hideouts and bunkers, APP reported. Two Taliban were killed and four injured.
Meanwhile, Taliban hideouts were also targeted in Pandali tehsil between Wednesday and Tuesday night.
Headquarters: Separately, a Taliban headquarters was taken over in a joint search operation by police and paramilitary forces in the 'disputed villages' of Peshawar district, locals and officials said. "The headquarters is manned by government forces now and Taliban have been flushed out," the officials told Daily Times.
Local residents in Mathra area told Daily Times that many Taliban had started to 'change their look' by trimming their beards and long hair. "They are changing their look to avoid being arrested by the government forces or face public wrath," they said.
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It has been decided in principle to establish a cantonment in Swat, NWFP Governor Owais Ghani said on Thursday. The NWFP governor said this during a meeting with army officials at the Saidu Sharif Circuit House, a press release said. The army officials briefed Ghani on the security situation in the area. The governor said an elite force consisting of 1,000 personnel would be provided in Swat to help ensure the government's writ in the valley.
He also said that traditional village defence committees were being revived to ensure the law and order situation in the area, adding an ordinance would be issued shortly to give legal cover to the initiative.
Ghani also said that reconciliatory councils (musalhati jirgas) were also being formed at the police station level to resolve disputes and provide speedy justice to ordinary citizens. The councils will consist of prominent people, elders and religious leaders, he added.
Later, the governor left for Dassu, the district headquarters of Kohistan, where he addressed a gathering of notables, religious leaders and elders.
Meanwhile, unidentified armed men gunned down a senior police officer in Mingora. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Abdul Wadood was shot dead at the city's Green Square. He had been recently transferred to Swat from Buner district but had not taken charge of the office. The officer was a resident of Matta tehsil of Swat.
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A terrorist holed up in a Jewish centre in Mumbai phoned an Indian television channel on Thursday to offer talks with the government for the release of hostages, but also to complain about abuses in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK). "Ask the government to talk to us and we will release the hostages," the man, identified by the India TV channel as Imran, said, speaking in Urdu. "Are you aware how many people have been killed in Kashmir? Are you aware how your army has killed Muslims. Are you aware how many of them have been killed in Kashmir this week?"
Spokesman Moni Ender in Israel said there were eight Israelis inside the house, including Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife.
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Even though the Indian government has refrained from dragging Islamabad directly into the Mumbai terror attacks, insinuations suggest that diplomatic relations between the two countries may suffer in the aftermath of the attacks.
It is believed that the terrorists identified and then killed two senior US intelligence officers staying at the Taj Mahal Hotel.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in his address to the nation, pricked Pakistan thrice without naming it. The security agencies in New Delhi told reporters they suspected the role of Al Qaeda in the attacks. The agencies believed their suspicion arose from the way the terrorists captured Taj hotel and successfully identified two senior US intelligence officials by checking the passports of the foreigners who were staying there, sources said.
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#1
I kind of think -- the ISI guys should find themselves coming down with a plague...
Falling down stair wells.
Tripping in front of trains...
drowning in toilets
Eaten by crocs
....
#3
So MT, yousa like saying we should send every wife, girl friend and mistress of the ISI a free DVD player and, with subtitles, a copy of Basic Instinct?
#6
Well, the ISA housed, training funded and resourced
the Sikh militancy for two decades, so why wouldn't they do the same for the Kashmiri Islamic terrorist groups.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed the Mumbai attacks on terrorist groups based in India's 'neighbours' -- an indirect reference to Pakistan -- and warned it would have to pay 'a cost' if it did not stop the use of its territory for terrorism. "We will take up strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated, and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them," Dr Manmohan Singh said in a televised address.
Meanwhile, elite Indian commandos fought room-to-room battles with terrorists inside two luxury hotels to save scores of people trapped or taken hostage. Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor said more than 125 people had died in the series of gun and grenade attacks that began on Wednesday and continued into Thursday. At least 315 people have been injured. "The situation is very fluid and the toll could rise further," he told AFP.
According to hospital sources quoted by the Press Trust of India, nine foreign nationals were among the dead -- including a Japanese businessman, an Australian, a Briton, a German and an Italian. Americans, French, Israelis and Canadians were said to be among those held or trapped.
Helicopters buzzed overhead and crowds cheered as the commandos moved into the Trident-Oberoi.
Helicopters buzzed overhead and crowds cheered as the commandos, their faces blackened, moved into the Trident-Oberoi, where 20 to 30 people are thought to have been taken hostage and more than 100 others trapped in their rooms. Huge flames billowed from an upper floor.
Earlier, explosions rattled the nearby Taj Hotel as the troops flushed out the last of the terrorists there. Fire and smoke plumed from an open window.
Commandos had also gathered outside a Jewish centre where a rabbi is thought to have been taken hostage, but later apparently decided to hold off from an assault.
External linkages: "The well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of terror by choosing high-profile targets," Singh said in his address, in a second reference to Pakistan.
In a third reference, Singh gave another warning: "We are not prepared to countenance a situation in which the safety and security of our citizens can be violated with impunity by terrorists. It is evident that the group which carried out these attacks, based outside the country, had come with single-minded determination to create havoc."
Lashkar-e-Taiba: Lashkar-e-Taiba denied any involvement in the attacks. "We have nothing to do with Mumbai attacks," Abdullah Ghaznavi, a Lashkar-e-Taiba spokesman told AFP from the Indian-held Kashmir summer capital Srinagar.
Indian police said they had shot seven gunmen and arrested nine suspects. They said 12 policemen were killed.
Strategic expert Uday Bhaskar said the attacks could inflame tensions between Hindus and Muslims. Schools were closed and a curfew was imposed around the Gateway of India, a colonial-era monument. But train services were running. The main Bombay Stock Exchange was closed until further notice.
Indian cabinet: The Indian prime minister chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security Thursday morning, and later --when Home Minister Shivraj Patil returned from Mumbai -- called a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, which also vetted his address. In a full cabinet meeting later on Thursday, ministers lashed out at Patil and Indian intelligence agencies.
This article starring:
Abdullah Ghaznavi
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Hassan Gafoor
Home Minister Shivraj Patil
Strategic expert Uday Bhaskar
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#1
Last throw of the dice by the ISI now their 'polictical' wing has been disbanded!!!!
#4
The attacks have all the signs of being directed by Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency, a former head of India's Intelligence Bureau, Arun Bhagat, tells the BBC. He suggests it was a bid to sabotage rapprochement between the two governments
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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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.
The Taliban have earned up to $470 million from the Afghan opium trade this year alone, money that is being used to finance the insurgency against US and Afghan forces, the United Nations (UN) said on Thursday. The Taliban earned $50-70 million from imposing a 10 percent charge, called ushr, on economic activities such as opium farming this year, and $200-400 million from levies on opium processing and heroin trafficking, the UN's Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its 2008 Afghan opium survey. The income does not include money the Taliban are believed to be making from exports of cannabis, another widely produced Afghan crop. The report said opium poppy production - the raw material for heroin that is exported to Europe, the Middle East and the United States - had actually fallen substantially in 2008 following a US and Afghan government crackdown. The report emphasised that the strategy of tackling opium production and encouraging farmers to grow alternative crops was the right one and should be reinforced.
Two British security guards have jumped overboard from a chemical tanker seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Arden, reports have said. The men, along with another crew member are then reported to have been picked up by a German naval helicopter. The Liberian registered vessel, which has at least 28 crew, is now thought to be in the control of pirates.
Would you run away from this Pirate knowing he had been at sea a long time? He seems like a stand up kind of guy. Maybe the tights were too much for the security guards.
Indian security forces have arrested three militants, including a Pakistani national, inside Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, which was attacked by a group of gunmen, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported early today.
The local police launched a search operation in the suburban areas of Peshawar late Wednesday night and arrested 13 people for their alleged involvement in rocket attacks on the provincial metropolis.
Five people were killed and two others injured when a bomb ripped through a vehicle in South Waziristan, official sources said on Thursday. The sources said a jeep carrying seven people was blown up in the Khaisor area of Wana, the headquarters of South Waziristan Agency. The sources, however, said it was not clear if the victims were local or foreign militants, as the town is believed to be the hub of Al Qaeda terrorists and Taliban.
A grand jirga of the Salarzai tribes in Bajaur Agency on Thursday resolved that they would not allow outsiders on their land. Around 800 elders from different tribes attended the gathering, which discussed the recent attacks on tribal lashkars and a new strategy to meet the challenges. 
A terrorist holed up in a Jewish centre in Mumbai phoned an Indian television channel on Thursday to offer talks with the government for the release of hostages, but also to complain about abuses in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK). "Ask the government to talk to us and we will release the hostages," the man, identified by the India TV channel as Imran, said, speaking in Urdu. "Are you aware how many people have been killed in Kashmir? Are you aware how your army has killed Muslims. Are you aware how many of them have been killed in Kashmir this week?" 
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed the Mumbai attacks on terrorist groups based in India's 'neighbours' -- an indirect reference to Pakistan -- and warned it would have to pay 'a cost' if it did not stop the use of its territory for terrorism. "We will take up strongly with our neighbours that the use of their territory for launching attacks on us will not be tolerated, and that there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken by them," Dr Manmohan Singh said in a televised address.
