Gunfire broke out around the U.S. consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Monday and a fire erupted in the building, witnesses said. "I heard a heavy exchange of fire," one bystander told Reuters. Flames could be seen and two black plumes of smoke were rising from the building. Around 200 police and national guards sealed off the area around the U.S. mission in the Red Sea city. Alarms could be heard sounding from the building. Shooting broke out for a second time shortly afterwards. It was not immediately known if it was an attack by Muslim militants seeking to drive Westerners out of the kingdom. "We have an emergency case," an official inside the building told Reuters. He gave no details.
U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia attacked
A car bomb exploded outside the U.S. consulate in Saudi Arabia port, Jeddah on Monday, injuring several people. According to witnesses, clouds of heavy smoke were seen rising from the area in the latest attacks targeting buildings that houses Westerners in the kingdom. Four of the attackers were holed up inside the building where a gunbattle raged and continued for nearly an hour after the initial explosion, Saudi security forces said. Witnesses said that they heard bursts of gunfire and saw two plumes of smoke rising from the building, as helicopters hovered overhead. They added that the Saudi forces sealed off the area. At least 200 Saudi police and National Guard soldiers are reported to have been deployed in the area. Officials said it was possible hostages were inside the U.S. embassy. According to a Saudi health official, many people injured in the blast were escorted to a hospital in Jeddah, but none were Americans. Saudi officials did not comment on the blast, also no militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Who could it be? Oh, who could it be?
Al-Arabiya satellite television reported that four attackers in a car tried to storm the building, but the car exploded in front instead. "We can confirm there has been an attack on the consulate," U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin, in Riyadh said. "The incident is still in progress with Saudi emergency forces securing the compound." She added that there was no word on American casualties.
One witness at the scene told reporters that smoke was rising from the area while police trying to keep cars and traffic away. Other witnesses said that gunfire was heard shortly before the blast. "I heard a heavy exchange of fire," one bystander told reporters. Several further rounds of shooting could be heard. "We have an emergency case," an official inside the building told reporters. Alarms could be heard sounding from inside the consulate. "The embassy in Riyadh and the missions in Jeddah and Dhahran have been closed as a precaution. We are still trying to gather information," Kalin said. "The magnitude of this assault on the consulate has taken all Jeddah residents by surprise," Khaled al-Maeena, the editor of Arab News located in Jeddah, said. Saudi authorities have stepped up security around the consulate since a series of bombings in 2003, mainly targeting buildings that house foreigners.
Posted by: Destro ||
12/06/2004 4:14:01 AM ||
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Soddy reaction should tell us whether or not the deal between al-Hawali and the princes fell through again or whether this is just another case of it being okay to kill Westerners but not any of the Master Race in the Magic Kingdom.
I'm hearing car bomb right now.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/06/2004 4:31 Comments ||
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#6
Spot, surrounding is a process, not an action--in the book of Saudi security elements. I am sure that Soddies would execute masterfully that kind of surrounding they are so famous for.
Dan, I am stretching my ears as much as I can, but hear no damn thing. Are you in the Satanic Araby proper at this moment? That would be the only logical explanation I can muster, bare some kind of extrasensory, long-distance perception.
#8
MSNBC - no American hostages, attackers: 3 killed, 2 captured. Wonder what Naif will have to say about it? Asshat
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 7:03 Comments ||
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Seems to be some confusion about wether there was a car bomb, or just grenade tossing: Islamic militants threw explosives at the gate of the heavily guarded U.S. consulate in Jiddah, then forced their way into the building, prompting a gunbattle in a bold assault that left seven people dead and several injured before the three-hour long crisis was brought under control.
Several Americans were slightly injured, according to a State Department official in Washington. Three attackers were among those killed, while two others were injured and arrested, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced. Saudi security officials also said four of their forces were killed. The ministry statement didn't mention hostages, though Saudi security officials said some had been taken.
In Riyadh, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Carol Kalin said two local staff members were injured, but all American staff were safe. "We have accounted for all Americans on the compound in Jiddah and none of them are being held hostage," Kalin said. "We have a local work force that was on duty and we are still in the process of accounting for (them)." Kalin said it was unclear if any of the U.S. Marine guards inside the consulate were involved in the gunbattle. As a precaution, she said, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh and consulate in Dhahran were closed to the public.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 9:16 Comments ||
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From AP story: The statement by a Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said a "stray bunch" — a reference to Islamic militants — threw explosives at the gate of the consulate, then entered.
No wonder so many get away after being surrounded - they're strays!
Islamic activists tried to air their grievances by murdering Americans in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today, but were thwarted when their oppressors hid in a fortified room. The activists were then disenfranchised by Saudi security forces.
#16
UPDATE: JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Twelve people died when Muslim militants stormed the U.S. consulate in the Saudi city of Jeddah Monday, officials said. Saudi security officials said four of their men were killed by the assailants. Security forces killed three attackers and wounded two, who were then captured. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said five non-American consulate staff, including a contract guard, had also been killed. Earlier there was confusion about whether the five non-U.S. dead listed by the embassy had included the four dead guards.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 12:59 Comments ||
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Yemeni militants denied to an appeals court on Saturday the main charges against them in a case involving various Al Qaeda-linked terrorist attacks since 2002, but some of the defendants did confess to ties to top terror operatives. The 15 Yemenis were convicted and sentenced August 28 to between three years and 10 years in prison, after a three-month chaotic trial. One was sentenced to death and another was sentenced in absentia. The defendants all had denied charges of plotting and executing the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker, the 2002 attack on a helicopter carrying employees of a US oil company, the attempted assassination of the US ambassador to Yemen and the killing of a Yemeni security officer.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. We wuz jes' standin' around, mindin' our own bidnid..."
On Saturday, one of the men accused of the attempted assassination, Qassem Rimi, said the group only discussed the idea of an assassination. "Such talk doesn't amount to a crime," he told the court, asking for his five-year sentence to be revoked. The two-hour hearing was held under tight security. Since the trial began, the defendants have accused authorities of not following proper procedures and of undermining their rights. Often, lawyers and prosecutors have hurled insults at each other. The prosecutors, in the opening of the appeal case, demanded tougher penalties, saying eight of the 14 men should receive the death penalty.
Fawzi Wagih, sentenced to 10 years for his role in the attack on the French oil tanker, told the court he had met with a top Al Qaeda operative who is currently in US custody and believed to be a close associate of Osama Ben Laden. Wagih said he met Abd Rahim Al Nashiri in the United Arab Emirates, and that Al Nashiri gave him $50,000 to give to another person in Yemen. The defendants had previously denied links to Nashiri.
The Saudi-born Nashiri, an alleged mastermind of the USS Cole attack, allegedly gathered money for the French tanker operation, including money to buy explosives and to buy the boat that rammed into the tanker. Nashiri, sentenced to death in the Cole bombing, is in US custody at an undisclosed location. US officials believe he is closely associated to Ben Laden and besides the Cole attack, he is also suspected of helping direct the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Wagih told the court that he had no idea where the money that Nashiri gave him was going. Wagih also said Saturday that he was in Mukalla, the port city in Aden where the French tanker was located, two days before the attack on it. Khaled Galoub, another defendant, acknowledged to the court that he had rented a house for an Al Qaeda operative.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:41:05 PM ||
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At least four explosive devices detonated Monday around Spain after telephone warnings from callers claiming to speak on behalf of the armed Basque separatist group ETA, news report said. Explosions were reported in Leon and Santillana del Mar in the north, and Avila and Ciudad Real in central Spain, the news agency Europa Press reported. There was no immediate word on injuries or damage.
UPDATE:
ETA has bombed seven cities in attacks timed to coincide with a national holiday marking the anniversary of the signing of Spain's modern democratic constitution. The bombs went off shortly after two anonymous callers claiming to speak for the terrorist group told a Basque newspaper the names of the cities that had been targeted. The Spanish Interior Ministry said three people including two police officers were injured in the central city of Ciudad Real and two more in northern Santillana del Mar. Blasts were reported shortly after 1.30pm on Monday in the northern cities of Leon, Santillana del Mar, Valladolid and Avila, and in Ciudad Real, Alicante and Malaga in the south. A woman and a girl suffered light injuries in the blast in Santillana del Mar, in northern Spain. No other injuries have so far been reported. Police had enough time to try to evacuate the areas in which they believed the bombs had been placed. But in at least three cases, a false location had been given by the anonymous caller.
In Leon a bomb went off, causing light damage, in a cafeteria in a central square that had been evacuated after it was identified by the first caller, said local police. Valladolid's central square, which was full of tourists, was also evacuated and sealed off. A low-intensity bomb went off in a cafeteria there that was closed, police said. In Santillana del Mar, a bomb went off in the parking lot of a zoo, police said. All the attacks were timed to show ETA's opposition to the Spanish state as they went off on Spain's Day of the Constitution, which marks the 26th anniversary of the signing of the democratic constitution in 1978.
The latest attacks on Monday follow five bomb blasts at petrol service stations in Madrid on Friday in which seven people suffered minor injuries. The attacks caused major disruption to traffic on the eve of a holiday weekend, in what authorities said was likely the work of Basque separatist group ETA. Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso, in a live address to the nation on Spanish television, said "everything points to ETA" in the first attacks to hit the Spanish capital since the 11 March train bombings earlier this year, which killed 191 and injured nearly 2,000. The low-intensity blasts went off at nearly the same time in the early evening shortly after a caller to the Basque newspaper Gara, claiming to represent the militant separatist group, warned the attacks were imminent.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 8:57:21 AM ||
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#3
Seems that ETA is not learning the Al-Qaida lesson: Murder a few hundred Spaniards without warning, and the government will accede to your most pressing demands.
The Representatives of the Chechen Committee in Turkey informed the Kavkaz Center reporter on the massive raid in Istanbul against the Chechens temporary residing in this country. The informer reported that early in the morning on December 2, brigades of Turkish special units, armed up to their teeth broke in refugees' homes and arrested people without submitting any kind of identity cards. Rummages in apartments and houses of the Chechens were made in a pretty severe manner. Special units men were wearing masks that arouse the rumours among the Chechens, that there were Russian FSB people among the special units members. According to the informer, there were all in all from 10 to 20 persons detained. Information on the number of the detained is being updated. As the informer reports, the representatives of the Chechen Committee have already applied to the authorities for explanations of this anti-Chechen campaign. The authorities of Turkey have not till now provided the access to the detained persons, explaining that in accordance with the law on antiterrorist activity, the authorities have the right to keep the detained persons during four days without bringing a charge. For this reason, the Chechen Committee representatives consider the large-scaled detainments of the Chechens to have been performed as a part of preparing to Vladimir PutinÂŽs visit to Turkey, which is planned for December 5-6. Evidently, they decided in Turkey to demonstrate like that their loyalty to Russia while expecting the guest from Moscow.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:33:06 PM ||
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Developing...
The Pentagon Metro station is closed at this hour while authorities investigate what they're calling a "chemical incident." Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato says the station closed around 10:10 a.m. after people started complaining of eye irritation. Asato say it's unclear at this time what is going on. Trains are not stopping at the station. Asato says they're being turned around at the Pentagon City and Arlington Cemetery stations. Stay tuned...
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
12/06/2004 11:00:06 AM ||
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Posted by: Tibor ||
12/06/2004 12:07 Comments ||
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WMAL just reported that it may be Pepper Spray that was unintentionally released. Strange, eh?
Somebodies "goawaymuggersandrapists" kit malfunctioned, or some really wussy freelance jihadi trying to stir panic? How would we ever be able to figure out the difference?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 09:50 ||
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#1
OOH, they even quoted John Pike, so you know it's full of genuine unbiased goodness!
The sad thing is, this particular implementation of missile defense may be pretty bad... but thanks to the democrat administrations people like Pike have supported, that have pretended to have meaningful agreements with totalitarian retards like the Kims, our choice is now a risky system or no system at all. We're out of time to develop good options.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/06/2004 10:26 Comments ||
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Nothing helps the development of good options (and focuses the mind) as being out of time.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/06/2004 11:21 Comments ||
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Best defense is still the First Strike. Followed by Second Strike, Third Strike, etc, there's nothing but bedrock and Juche being bounced from left to right.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
12/06/2004 13:21 Comments ||
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#4
I am close enough that I see most launches and see the second stage seperate often. Makes me "feel better."
#7
I can see them blow up :p as the crow flies I am betting it's about 60 miles from here. I know I can talk to the area on VHF simplex at very low power. Actually used to talk with a "rocket guy" over there.
As many as a dozen homes in a new housing development burned down early Monday morning, and Maryland fire investigators suspect arson.
Can you say "ELF"?
The upscale Hunters Brooke subdivision in Charles County was still under construction; home prices ranged from $400,000 to $500,000, WTOP radio reported. As many as 100 firefighters were called out to fight the house fires. Environmentalists opposed construction of the 300-home enclave. According to WTOP, the Sierra Club said the construction would "destroy a forest adjacent to state-preserved wildlands and severely degrade one of Maryland's largest magnolia bogs."
Sounds like a Eco-Terror arson job to me. EFL doesn't always announce their work with a press release, but it's got their fingerprints all over it.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 9:26:08 AM ||
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#1
"the Sierra Club said the construction would "destroy a forest..."
"So we burned it down! Now they'll have to...er...cut down more trees to replace the lumber...D'OH!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 9:52 Comments ||
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#2
The local news radio is busily wringing its hands: "O, why did this happen? Who could do such a thing?"
#4
Instead of torching someone's legally bought property they should have petitioned the state on conservation principles if those arguments were legitimate. I'm not an enviro-nut but am a big time conservationist in the spirit of Teddy Roosevelt. Same thing is happening here on the NC coast, developers are fighting w/locals over building on wetlands, endangered species habitats etc. Nasty court battles to ensue, which is better then destroying private property. We are not doing a very good job in this country (imho) of city planning and controlling sprawl. No forethought for posterity.
#6
Jarhead, native species tend to be pretty resilient (the whole "producing more offspring than the environment can support" thing that Darwin noticed). Give them half a chance, and they will recolonize their original range, and then some. Its been observed that if a small part of a coastal fishing range is left untouched, it acts as a nursery, and fish numbers quickly rebound. The lady who with me co-chaired our elementary school nature preserve got me started planting species native to our county, and now the plants in my little 1/3 acre woods are colonizing the neighbor's gardens. Animal life appears to be following the plants (I've got salamanders, box turtles, chipmunks, and at least one very rare snake in addition to the usual garter snakes and black snakes...and of course birds). If you are interested, I've got some good catalogs!
#7
ELF, ALF (Animal Lib. Front), the UK ARM (Animal Rights Militia) and PETA are all in this ecoterrorism movement right along with the Sierra Club. There have been some previous Rantburg posts about ELF's non-charismatic Craig Rosebraugh, who has no qualms about advocating violence.
Posted by: Dar ||
12/06/2004 12:42 Comments ||
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severely degrade one of Maryland's largest magnolia bogs
Anyone consider the option of planting lots of magnolias throughout the suburban development?
A day after the Thai government bombed the restive south with paper doves as a peace gesture, militants exploded two bombs injuring a solider and a civil servant. The police said the first explosion occurred at a gathering point for police and military personnel in Narathiwat, one of three Muslim-dominated southern provinces rocked by a separatist insurgency that has left more than 550 people dead this year, including as many as three at the weekend. The explosion took place in Rangae district injuring a soldier. About three hours later, a second bomb blew up at the side of the road some 800 meters from the site of the first explosion, lightly wounding a district official, according to the policeman. "We are investigating, but it was likely to have been a remote-control bomb," he said. In the weekend's violence, a retired chief prosecutor from Pattani province was gunned down at his shrimp farm on Sunday, while a policeman was killed in Narathiwat on Saturday evening when his patrol unit was ambushed. A 64-year-old grocer, Suthon Sridaeng, was shot dead at his shop in Pattani on Sunday. Security forces also found and defused a bomb near the border with Malaysia just before the government used 50 aircraft to scatter some 120 million paper birds across southern Thailand on King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 77th birthday. The paper birds carried messages of peace. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra signed one of the paper birds, promising a scholarship or job to whoever found the bird with his signature.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/06/2004 11:02:16 AM ||
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#1
Overall, a good lesson for the children. They read in their children's books that if you just dropped a bunch of peace cranes that the bad guys will be impressed and learn to share the love. 120,000,000 children just learned that it's a nice children's story, but not true.
#5
Oh well, they got their chance - their one free shot - and they've blown it. Time for more racking 'n stackin' down south. I believe that incident was the work of the Border Police, who are tough and nasty types. Toxin won't hesitate to give as good as he gets.
Much of the Thai Police and Military have been merely ceremonial, chaperoning the Royals around, for decades. That will change and they'll become hardcore soldiers as the weak ones get iced. This is a Darwinian lesson for the Thais. They'll "get it" and start dishing it out. The asshats have been on their southern border for several hundred years and never took a square inch - but now the Wahhabi funding has re-awakened the tradition of spreading Islam by force. It will be met with force.
ABU Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani is still in Central Mindanao, hiding in areas protected by a ceasefire between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), Armed Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Efren Abu said Monday. "He (Janjalani) is hiding in MILF territory. That is what I am trying to say," Abu said, as he denied reports that the elusive chieftain of the Al Qaeda-linked group escaped to Malaysia. "The MILF does not allow him to go there but he's there because he knows the military can't just go there," Abu said at a forum hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. Abu said the MILF, in the process of resuming peace talks with the government, is "cooperating" with the military to capture Janjalani. He said the MILF allowed the military to conduct air raids in its territories in late November to flush out the Abu Sayyaf leader. Last week, Tawi-Tawi Governor Sadikul Sahali claimed to have received information that Janjalani and some 20 of his men had escaped to Mardanas and Mamanok Islands in Malaysia from Sibutu town in Tawi-Tawi.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/06/2004 4:21:40 AM ||
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About 120 million origami birds were air-dropped over southern Thailand yesterday in an attempt to quell a Muslim insurgency that has led to the deaths of more than 500 people this year. The gesture, heavily promoted by the Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was intended to show solidarity with the region's inhabitants, but has been derided by critics as pointless and liable to cause a litter problem. More than 50 military aircraft were involved in the exercise, which began at the auspicious hour of 9.09am. But as the air-drop continued a retired prosecutor, Nat Wipaseth, 62, was shot dead at his shrimp farm in Pattani, and a bomb was defused at a roadside where bird collectors had gathered.
Doubtless the shooter used an origami rod, and the sappers defused an origami IED...
#4
the resemblence is uncanny - with the exception of course, that a few of those birds actually gets results and millions of the others has no effect.
#6
I always confuse origami and chirigami. Which one is it you wipe your butt with?
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 8:40 Comments ||
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#7
ori=folded gami=paper
chiri=rubbish (kozo threads and ground dark bark)
So, to answer your question... if you lack normal toiled paper, you can use both, subject to availability.
Since origami would be folded in some shape, you may have to spend some time unfolding to get the proper wipeworthy area. So, if you have both, chirigami in a sheet form may be more desirable.
Of course, origami may be made of chirigami, which would complicate somewhat your decision process.
#8
Fred, I don't want to complicate the issue, but you may want to get a bit more insight into the paper choices from this lexicon, in the case you plan to visit a restroom in Japan.
#10
There's certainly a sore lack of understanding about Buddhists, lol!
These guys will bomb you with paper good wishes.
Then they will self-immolate just to protest.
Then they will fight hand-to-hand with a bloodlust equal to the berserkers to defend their families.
Do not think The Land of Smiles is an easy target. It is the only country in SE Asia never to have been conquered and made into a Euro-power colony.
They bend, but do not break.
In "The ABC's of Business in Thailand", "A" is for Assassination. For more, Google why they have been in a "tiff" with Saudi Arabia for a couple of decades, lol! Sent 4 Saudi "diplomats" home in bags for fucking around in a business deal.
Iran has launched what officials termed its largest military exercise ever. Officials said the Iran Army began the exercise on Dec. 3 in western Iran near the border with Iraq. They said the aim of the exercise was to demonstrate ground force capabilities and weaponry in an effort to deter any attack from the United States. U.S. officials said the administration wants to increase defense and security cooperation with Saudi Arabia which is regarded as the key to the U.S.-led war against Al Qaida and the containment of Iran in the region, according to the current edition of Geostrategy-Direct.com.
The exercise tested a range of indigenous missiles, rockets, armored personnel carriers, main battle tanks and unmanned aerial vehicles developed over the last decade. Officials said many of these weapons and platforms were introduced into service over the last two years, Middle East Newsline reported Officials said the exercise included 10 infantry divisions as well as artillery, missile and electronic warfare units. They said the air force was providing support for ground units as part of a demonstration of the interoperability between the services. The exercise also contained seven brigades and three air transport units. Four artillery units also participated in the exercise, which covered an area of 100,000 square kilometers in the provinces of Islam, Hamadan, Kermanshah, Khozstan and Lorestan. During the live fire exercise, Iranian infantry troops fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades in an effort to block a mock ground invasion from Iraq. The air force was said to have transported equipment as well as carried out attacks in support of the ground forces.
In Manama, Iran and its Gulf Cooperation Council neighbors discussed a new regional security regime. Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi told a Gulf security conference in the Bahraini capital on Sunday that what he termed "a collective security project" would ban its members from "signing unilateral agreements with outside powers that may threaten, directly or indirectly the security of other countries." "The new regional organization would combat all sorts of terrorism and violence," Kharazi said in a message read at the conference.
#4
Now would be a good time for the US to attack, think of how confusing and then demoralizing it would be to their armed forces to be wiped out in hours.
#5
In war the Revolut Guards and collusory military units will suffer the same fate as Saddam's forces - their real plan to wage static guerilla war like Saddam's loyalists while using the anti-America UNO and LeftMedias to do damage, ala "NO WMDS IN IRAN". Post-Kerry the Left is still out to discredit and "justify" Socialism and OWG upon the USA, even iff it means putting the lives of millions of American citizens and warriors at risk of injury or death vv regional war(s) and new terror attacks. They are now promo themselves not only as the "NEW GOP/RIGHT", or the "REAL GOP/RIGHT", but as the PARTY OF REASON, FAIRNESS, AND JUSTICE, like your old school teachers reviewing and grading your homework, threatening you to either redo your work, shape up, or your parents will be called for conference, needing to do this or that.
#6
Pragmatically, US Battlespace/MilTech Dominance + AYMMETRIC WARFARE > America's enemies need GROUPS OR MASSES OF ARMIES, GOVTS, NATIONS or REGIONS just to achieve warfighting PARITY/
SUFFICIENCY/ECONOMIES against US Milfors. Think of the Mullahs and NorKor as part of the Clintons DIALECTIC "CENTRISM" and "THIRD WAY" , aka THIRD -PARTY OR TERTIARY ALIBISTS in jurisprudence-based lawyerspeak, committing crimes by using the law or working with the law, not against it, sub i.e committing a crime(s) by not committing a crime(s). Thus INTERNAT/GLOBAL WAR FOR SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM/OWG = MERITORIOUS DEFENSE AGAINST US [and only US] IMPERIALISM, AGGRESSION, AND "FASCISM" even though under Clintonism every American and GOP-DEM is a "FASCIST" DESERVING OF DESTRUCTION, iff only surreally!?
Iran's judiciary has tried a number of arrested al Qaeda members and verdicts have been issued, a senior judiciary official was quoted as saying on Monday. Tehran Justice Department head Abbasali Alizadeh told the semi-official Fars news agency Iran's "high-ranking officials are satisfied with the issued verdicts," but did not elaborate on what the verdicts had been.
"Heros of the Islamic Revolution" comes to mind
News of the trials is likely to anger Washington, which has repeatedly called on Iran to hand over all al Qaeda suspects it is holding. Guilty verdicts sentencing them to long jail terms would make that an even more distant prospect.
Like there was any chance of them turning them over in the first place
Reuters could not immediately reach judiciary or government officials for comment. Western intelligence and Saudi sources believe Iran may have captured al Qaeda's security chief and a son of the group's leader Osama bin Laden. Iran has extradited scores of suspected al Qaeda militants who fled Afghanistan and Pakistan in the last three years. But it has rebuffed U.S. calls to hand them all over and last year announced plans to put around a dozen on trial. Hossein Mousavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said in June that the suspects were middle-ranking al Qaeda members. He said they had been: "plotting against the national security of Iran and they have planned for terrorist activities inside Iran."
The United States has long believed Iran was harboring al Qaeda militants who escaped Afghanistan after U.S. troops invaded in late 2001 after the September 11 attacks. It has said Iran-based al Qaeda militants plotted suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia and that Tehran gave safe passage to several of the 19 hijackers who carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Iran acknowledges that al Qaeda members have managed to cross into Iran over its long and difficult-to-police borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it denies providing safe-haven to al Qaeda members and says it deeply opposes the group's methods and philosophy. The most important figure that Western intelligence agencies say may be there is Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian. He is widely believed to have taken charge of al Qaeda operations after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was captured in Pakistan. Saudi sources said last year that Iran had also detained Saad bin Laden, a son of Osama, as well as al Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, who is a Kuwaiti.
Detained or held as hostages? I could see them doing that.
Iran has refused to name the al Qaeda members it is holding. Alizadeh said the trials had been conducted by a "special judge" after taking into account information presented by security and intelligence officials.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 1:08:11 PM ||
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#1
First, they tried to give them money, but they wasted it doing stupid things. Then they tried to get them to go to Iraq and fight against the Americans, but they wouldn't follow suicide orders given by their handlers...
Between this and Mustafa Hamza (a lot bigger fish than the above article makes him out to be) getting jugged, this could be the beginning of a trend on the part of the mad mullahs. But as long as Saad, Saif, and Sully are being held, I wouldn't bet on it ...
Iran Daily reported of the arrest of a number of Al-Qaeda members in Kurdistan, western Iran. Kurdistan Judiciary Head, Mohammad Mehdi Khamesi said that currently the detainees are in the hands of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps adding: "The present situation in Iraq has had a negative impact on Iran's border regions including Kurdistan." Saying that currently there are five Al-Qaeda detainees in Kurdistan, Khamesi noted: "According to the ruling of the Supreme National Security Council, the non-Iranian Al-Qaeda detainees' cases will be dealt with in Tehran by special judges and if the detainees are arrested in provinces outside Tehran their cases will be referred to the capital."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/06/2004 4:10:51 AM ||
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Heavy clashes erupted between Iran's State Security Forces (SSF) and students from the University of Qazvin (western Iran), after SSF agents raided university buildings and attempted to bring to an end a hunger strike that had been organized in protest to poor university conditions. Students defied official warnings of a crackdown on protesting students. University windows were broken and some buildings were damaged in the clashes. Last Tuesday as part of the ongoing hunger strike, students wrote the word 'etesab', meaning 'strike', on the floor of the main university canteen using their food trays. No word has come about the fate of students who were arrested during the ensuing mayhem. The university campus is presently under siege with local residents reporting that in the past few days, faculty staff have not been permitted to leave the university even during nighttime.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 11:14:45 PM ||
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#1
"Black Turban, the harder you squeeze the stronger I will become."
#5
Yhis is all just opinion...
I hate to see the leaders of these groups waste themselves on symbolic shit - when they could be part of the real deal... Yes, lex, I would bet there are some CIA folks who have their wits about them and aren't seditious moonbats. And, of course, the handwriting is on the wall - we know about the admin's determination to clean house, so they've known for a long time. Those who aren't near retirement will be looking to cleanse themselves of association and actions which would put them on the block. The problem will be that upper-middle and upper-level management crust nigh unto retirement and with feelings of career suicide... Now if you could threaten the retirement pkg, well sir, then you'd see a magical transformation...
Albania's government on Friday declared that an emigrant who died fighting as a U.S. Marine in Iraq is an Albanian martyr. Cpl. Gentian Marku, 22, of Warren, Mich., was killed in Fallujah on Thanksgiving. He emigrated to the United States at age 14. "Upon the proposal from the premier (Fatos Nano), soldier Gentian Marku was declared a Martyr of Homeland," government spokesman Aldrin Dalipi said. Marku was the second Albanian emigrant killed fighting with U.S. troops in Iraq. Albania, a small, predominantly Muslim country, backed the U.S.-led campaign and has sent 71 of its own troops to Iraq. Marku's body was expected to arrive in Albania on Monday for burial at his home village of Piraj, 40 miles north of the capital, Tirana, accompanied by two Marines. "All the proper honors will be held at his birthplace," Dalipi said. According to a profile posted last year on the Pentagon's Web site, Marku said moving to America transformed him from a trouble-making teen to a respectful, responsible person. "Everything changed when I got to the United States," he said. "I started studying. I stayed out of trouble, and I got my first job as a busboy." Marku, a 2001 graduate of Warren Woods Tower High School, had wanted to be a Warren police officer but could not do so until he was 21. He thought joining the Marines might give him an advantage in the police academy.
#2
Marku, a 2001 graduate of Warren Woods Tower High School, had wanted to be a Warren police officer but could not do so until he was 21. He thought joining the Marines might give him an advantage in the police academy.
3rd verse "Marine's Hymn"
Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And never lost our nerve.
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes,
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.
Militants killed a 19-year-old man who was suspected of helping Israel track down Palestinian fugitives, Palestinian security officials said Monday. The officials said 19-year-old Jad al-Hindi was abducted late Sunday by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent militant group linked to the dominant Fatah movement. Early Monday, police found al-Hindi's body, saying he had been shot in the head 12 times. An Al Aqsa spokesman said al-Hindi helped Israeli undercover agents track down and kill three of its members in Ramallah on Nov. 21. A neighbor, Salam Yacob, said al-Hindi watched the fugitives and informed on them to Israeli intelligence when the men were killed.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 12:24 Comments ||
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#2
So where's Amnesty Int'l or HRW? They got anything to say about this? If not, then can OUR forces go ahead and kill all of the suspected Iraqi terrorists that they've managed to take into custody?
#5
"#2 So where's Amnesty Int'l or HRW? They got anything to say about this?"
If they have, they're saying it very quietly and hoping nobody will notice. Bloody hypocrical bunch.
The Indian government believes Bangladesh is a hot bed of Islamic terrorism and the threat to Indian cricket team may not be a hoax as is being claimed by the latter. The Centre is likely to take the final decision on sending the Indian cricket team for a two-Test series only after a three-member team of experts submit their report on the situation in Bangladesh.
The Indian authorities have more than enough reason to cancel the team's trip as it has been repeatedly warned in recent times about the growing clout of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HUJI). HUJI is the most prominent terrorist outfit in Bangladesh, with a powerful network in south-east Bangladesh bordering Burma. The group is accused of drumming up death threat to prominent author Taslima Nasrin and attacking another major poet, stabbing a senior journalist, causing several bomb blasts, and carrying out at least one assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. It possibly is also the group that attacked the US consulate in Kolkota in 2002. Although the Bangladesh government has described the militant outfit as "a paper organisation", Indian agencies believe that the group was set up with the help of Osama bin Laden in 1998.
According to a recent report submitted to the Central government and available with the timesofindia.com, some of Harkat-ul-Jihad-Al-Islami's Afghan veterans, who have returned to Bangladesh after the Taliban regime fall, are staying in hilly terrains of Cox Bazar, Banderban and also along the no-man's land in the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. These veterans are receiving supports from Qaumi madrassas in Chittagong and militant groups among Myanmar refugees in Bangladesh (Rohingyas), the report with the government says.
Among those underground leaders are HUJI idol Mufti Abdul Hannan, Mufti Qamarauzzaman and Mufti Saleh Ahmed - all three believed to be war veterans in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
"Chittagong has become the headquarters from where the Bangladesh Islamic movement is coordinated," the report with the government points out. The Quami madrassas that have mushroomed in Cox's Bazar and Banderban areas serve as recruitment agents to various jihadi outfits, including HUJI.
Illegal arms and ammunitions is freely flowing into Bangladesh, especially the lawless southeast, through the fishing harbour of Cox's Bazar, the report points out. The report says there has been "manifold increase" in activities of Islamic militant groups ever since the BNP government came back to power in 2001.
Gee, ya suppose there might be a link?
Another report on HUJI with the government has quoted a series of articles in Prothom Alo, a Bangladeshi newspaper, as saying that HUJI has established an "active network" through local NGOs and madrassas for its activities. The report says HUJI imparts arms training to groups among Rohingya Muslims and even some Indian groups.
The Prothom Alo report quoted police officers as saying that HUJI has, in recent times, shifted its camps to Naikhangchari border in the no-man's land between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Coincidentally, Indian agencies also believe that the central command of the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam) and some other north-eastern insurgents such as NLFT (National Liberation Front of Tripura) and NDFB (National Democratic Front of Bodoland) are also based in that area.
Indian agencies also believe that HUJI is using its influence with Bangladeshi Islamic political groups such as ruling Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote (Islamic Unity Forum) for carrying out its activities.
Islamic politcal groups supporting islamic terrorist groups? Who knew?
According to the reports, HUJI could have a staggering 15,000 members and its main aim is to bring about Islamic regulation in Bangladesh on the Taliban pattern with the greater objective of achieving international Islamic brotherhood in South Asia.
They all want to be the first with their very own Caliphate.
Indian agencies have drawn up a very scary picture of HUJI which must been of serious concern to the authorities as they evaluate threat to the Indian cricket team.
Prothom Alo has quoted confessions of HUJI members to claim that several HUJI top leaders were involved in various bomb blasts in Bangladesh. One of reports with the government says in March 2002 the interior ministry of Bangladesh had instructed police to take action against madrassas and camps of HUJI but there was only a lukewarm response. However, after the new government, which is a coalition of Islamic parties that are not very friendly with India, came to power, "no more circulars" were issued against HUJI, the report points out.
Tap, tap, nope.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/06/2004 11:03:41 AM ||
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#1
A good Bengali friend of mine used to be obsessive about cricket. India's team is one of the best and they are very proud of them. If anyone tried to hurt those guys, India would definitely go nuts, and not in a good way.
#2
Of all things British to take up India and Pakistan go for Cricket. Not British Common Law or the English Enlightenment, not superior British Railroading skilz, not the nautical genius no! They go for Cricket. It would be like Germany ending up with a Junker Monarchy and NASCAR. Which actually would be kinda entertaining. I'd like see Trusty Rusty down deep in the Karousel. LOL!
#3
Ship: I think India uses common law, and I know theyve got some good railroading skills, as i once personally knew somebody who worked at Indian National Railways, before coming over and making a successful career in the States. Of course the RRs there are not capitalized the way a 1st world system is, but given their national income levels, etc, thats to be expected. I dont think RRs have been a constraint on growth, not like their hostility to trade (prior to 1990) was. Of course Im talking about India, not Pakistan.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/06/2004 16:30 Comments ||
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#6
Jeez LH! It's the thought that counts!
I will likely stand corrected about British Common Law... except for the odd quaint local customs, wife burning etc. :) I am less certain of their railroading skilz, I shall work up an accident/mile figure. Riding on the roof is usually contra indicated in a country with a well establish Bar. :)
U.S. troops fought a gunbattle with insurgents along a busy street in Baghdad on Monday, sending passers-by scurrying for cover, witnesses said, while five U.S. troops were reported killed in separate clashes in a volatile western province as insurgents step up attacks ahead of next month's elections.
The violence came a day after gunmen ambushed a bus carrying unarmed Iraqis to work at a U.S. ammo dump near Tikrit, killing 17 and raising the death toll from three days of intensified insurgent attacks to at least 70 Iraqis.
The attacks, focused in Baghdad and several cities to the north, appeared to be aimed at scaring off those who cooperate with the American military — whether police, national guardsmen, or ordinary people just looking for a paycheck.
They also have targeted Kurdish militiamen and Shiite worshippers in a possible bid to foment sectarian and ethnic unrest.
The latest fighting in Baghdad broke out after armed rebels appeared on the busy Haifa Street, saying they were hunting for Iraqis collaborating with U.S.-led forces.
Witnesses said they shot and killed a man they claimed was working for the Americans. Rebels also were seen on a square just three blocks from the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses Iraq's interim government and the U.S. Embassy.
The U.S. military had no immediate comment, but witnesses said U.S. troops supported by armored vehicles attacked the gunmen.
Haifa Street, a thoroughfare running through central Baghdad, has been the scene of frequent clashes between U.S. troops and resistance fighters.
Earlier Monday, three insurgents were killed and four wounded in clashes with U.S. forces in Haditha, 140 miles northwest of Baghdad in the volatile Anbar province, according to Dr. Bassem Izaldeen, of Haditha Hospital.
The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force also released a statement saying three soldiers attached to the Marines died in two incidents Sunday in the western province, which includes the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. Earlier, the military said two Marines had been killed in action in Anbar on Friday.
Sunday's bloodshed began when gunmen opened fire at the bus as it dropped off Iraqis employed by coalition forces at a weapons dump in Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, said Capt. Bill Coppernoll, spokesman for the Tikrit-based U.S. 1st Infantry Division. Coppernoll said 17 people died and 13 wounded in the attack.
Survivors said about seven guerrillas were involved, emptying their clips into the bus before fleeing. The bodies of the victims were brought to a morgue too small to hold them all; some were left in the street.
About an hour later, a suicide car bomber drove into an Iraqi National Guard checkpoint in Beiji, 75 miles to the north, detonating his explosives-packed vehicle, Coppernoll said. Gunmen then opened fire on the position. Three guardsmen, including a company commander, were killed and 18 wounded, Coppernoll said.
Also Sunday, guerrillas ambushed a joint Iraqi-coalition patrol in Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, and attacked Iraqi National Guardsmen patrolling near Samarra, north of Baghdad. Two Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded.
The attacks followed assaults Friday and Saturday that saw insurgents hit a police station, killing 16 men, car bomb a Shiite mosque, killing 14, and car bomb a bus carrying Kurdish militiamen, killing at least seven.
The military said Monday that U.S. soldiers have detained 14 Iraqis suspected of making car bombs and leading insurgent cells in northern Iraq.
Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's group, al-Qaeda in Iraq, claimed responsibility for several attacks Friday and Saturday. On Sunday, another militant group, Jaish Mohammed — Arabic for the Mohammed Army — issued a statement saying its fighters were lying low for "a few days" but planned more attacks against U.S. forces.
The group's statement, which could not be immediately verified, also warned Iraqis against aiding coalition forces and said they would be attacked with similar fury as that directed against the U.S. military.
The latest attacks on Iraqis cooperating with the interim government have been particularly brutal in their scale and have taken on a new urgency in light of the approaching vote.
While Iraq's majority Shiites are eagerly awaiting the election, the Sunnis oppose it, partly because the violence has been heavy in their areas west and north of Baghdad and voter registration there has not begun. About 40 small, mostly Sunni political parties met Sunday to demand the elections be postponed by six months, but stopped short of calling for a boycott.
President Bush, Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and Iraq's Sunni president, Ghazi al-Yawer, have insisted the vote will be held as scheduled.
Also Monday, insurgents blew up part of a domestic oil pipeline south of Samarra, in northern Iraq, sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky, Col. Mahmoud Ahmed said. Insurgents bent on derailing Iraqi reconstruction efforts regularly attack the country's oil infrastructure.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/06/2004 4:17:16 AM ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. soldiers have detained 14 Iraqis suspected of making deadly car bombs and leading insurgent cells in northern Iraq, the military said Monday.
Soldiers from the 1st Infantry Division detained 12 individuals during raids on five houses at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday south of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad. "The raid was conducted to kill or capture members of a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device cell," the military said in a statement.
Later Sunday, soldiers raided a home in the town of Ouja, just south of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's hometown about 100 miles north of Baghdad, and detained a suspected militant cell leader. Shortly afterward, another raid was conducted in Tikrit, resulting in the detention of a second suspected insurgent cell leader. The 14 Iraqis were taken to U.S. military facilities for questioning.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2004 12:41:52 AM ||
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#1
Them guys in Ouja should have seen it coming. Nuck,nuck.
#3
U.S. soldiers have detained 14 Iraqis suspected of making deadly car bombs and leading insurgent cells in northern Iraq, the military said Monday.
Kill these guys. If Paleos can get away with killing suspected "collaborators" without even the slightest whimper of criticism on the part of "human rights organizations", then these fourteen suspects should get similar treatment.
KATHMANDU - More than 15 Maoists and two security men were killed in separate clashes in Bardiya in west Nepal and Urlabari in east Nepal on Sunday, the official news agency RSS and private media reported on Monday. According to the RSS report, over 15 Maoist and a security personnel were killed in the fighting between the security force and the Maoists at Sainbar area of Bardia district, about 450 kilometres west of the capital, Sunday.
RSS said the clash took place after the Maoists launched an attack on the team of security forces as they tried to remove obstructions placed on the Kohalpur-Chisapani section of the Mahendra Highway that links east and west Nepal. Nepalese media reports said the Maoists blocked the section of the highway for the past two weeks bringing the vehicular traffic to a standstill. RSS quoted security sources in the district as saying one-army personnel died while another sustained injuries in the clash that lasted over three hours.
The English language daily Himalayan Times reported Monday that a security official was killed by the Maoists in Urlabari in east Nepal on Sunday. The newspaper said the policeman was on duty at the traffic post when he was shot dead by two Maoists on a motorcycle.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2004 12:40:04 AM ||
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AMMAN - Fifteen suspected terrorists, including three Saudis, go on trial before Jordan's State Security Court on Monday on charges of planning attacks on targets inside Jordan including the US embassy, judicial sources said Sunday.
They said one of the defendants of the network called "Abu Sayyaf Group" is Saud Mohammad Khalayleh, a cousin of the Jordanian fugitive Ahmad Fadeel Khalayleh, better known as Abu Mussab Zarqawi who is sought for attacks on US-led forces in Iraq. The cell also includes three Saudi nationals who are at large and will be tried in absentia, the sources said.
According to the indictment statement, the 15 people originally planned to go to Afghanistan after US forces entered the country in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. "But, after they found that their mission was impossible, they replaced it with carrying terror attacks on American targets in Jordan including the US embassy," the statement said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2004 12:36:02 AM ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Two U.S. Marines have been killed during military operations in Iraq's volatile Anbar province west of Baghdad, the military said Monday. The 1st Marine Expeditionary Force released a statement saying two of its Marines were killed in action Friday ``while conducting security and stability operations'' in Anbar province, a vast region which includes the battleground cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. No further details, including how or where the Marines were killed, were provided. Their identities were being held pending notification of relatives.
The killings brought to at least 1,273 the number of U.S. troops to have died since the war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/06/2004 12:35:06 AM ||
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The U.S. military has set a new goal in Iraq: to seize control of the western city of Ramadi from Sunni insurgents. U.S. officials said American and Iraqi forces would assault insurgency strongholds in Ramadi, located near the Syrian border. They said the mission would also seek to block the flow of weapons and insurgents from Syria to the Sunni Triangle. "We believe a solution in Ramadi in now obtainable, now that Faluja has been eliminated as a terrorist safe haven," Gen. George Casey, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, said. "The whole Al Anbar province is an area of difficulty for the interim government, and we will work very hard to bring the security situation there to the point where they have election in January." The U.S. operation against Ramadi was expected to be more rapid than the assault on Faluja in November. Officials said the capture of Faluja shattered the headquarters of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq as well as a way-station for Al Qaida-aligned volunteers recruited and trained in Lebanon and Syria.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:04:59 PM ||
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#1
Why are we telegraphing our punches? Has Ramadi already been sealed off?
#3
Damn, I can see Al-Zarqawi, right now, beginning to pack his suitcase for the next move. The military needs to announce this stuff only after the ring of iron is placed around the city. Again, let the women, kiddies and baby ducks out along with the elderly men. Then announce that every male would be killed on sight, no prisoners, announce the start and then pull back and use some of those MOAB's we paid for!
#4
Actually our best chance of catching him and his unknown supporters is when they are on the move and comunications are being disrupted. We are forcing him to make a mistake. He doesn't even know it. No pity for the "po foo."
#5
SPoD, sound like you are making a lame excuse. In order to triangulate someone, communications is the best way. I dunno. I suppose there is some thought behind it, I don't know the condition in Iraq good enough to make a judgement. Perhaps it is based on how the terrs react. Maybe it is supposed to get them to move from urban areas, where the fight may be a bit advantageous for terrs vs open country, where they would be sitting fowl.
#6
Actually, SPoD is right. Even in modern mobile warfare, th best time to attack is while troops are on the move. Communications can be messed with and a mobile group hearing over a wireless link some of their security element is under fire will make Zarqawi nervous, forcing them to make mistakes that will reveal his location.
Static communications, on the other hand, stands a really good chance of being spoofed, or false communications. The key for Zarqawi is to stay two steps ahead of the coalition while either in movement or while at rest.
#7
Badanov, I undestand. But what I am objecting to is announcing the moves on the chessboard beforehand so "Zarqawi is to stay two steps ahead of the coalition while either in movement or while at rest."
#8
Actually, I think Zarqawi is always on the move so any announcements we make are not a factor in has decisions of when to move.
However, Zarqawi's decisions of where to move may be affected by our announcements. I don't think we need Zarqawi in Ramadi to capture him. We simply need to have some good intel and get lucky.
Weeks before the Egyptian Interior Minister made a rare visit to Teheran, Iran handed Egypt a senior Islamist member of the outlawed Gamaa Islamiya, the London-based al-Hayat newspaper reported Sunday. Al-Hayat, quoting a statement by the London-based al-Maqrizi Centre for Historical Studies, said Mustafa Hamza was currently in an Egyptian prison. Hamza was one of the gunman allegedly involved in a 1995 assassination attempt on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a summit in Ethiopia. He was also wanted for the 1981 assassination of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and served three years in prison until he escaped to Afghanistan.
Al-Hayat said Hamza was delivered to Cairo under a deal that includes establishing Iranian cultural centres in Egypt, and Egyptians giving Iran security information about Iranian opposition members living in Egypt. Another part of the deal, al-Hayat reported, includes "improving the image of Iran in the US administration through Egyptian mediation". Hamza faces three death sentences in Egypt. His name is included in a 1996 Egyptian list of 14 "most dangerous wanted Islamists living abroad". Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adli made a rare visit to Teheran last week to take part in a meeting of Iraq's neighbouring countries' interior ministers.
Last week, the same London-based centre announced that a senior leader of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya, Rifai Taha, detained in a Cairo prison since 2001, was continuing to refuse to renounce violence as a condition for a reduced sentence. Taha was an aide of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and was seen in a 2000 interview alongside him and Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman Zawahiri during which they renewed a call for jihad (holy war) against the United States.
He's one of the signatories to Binny's declaration of war on us. Knowing he's safe in an Egyptian calaboose makes me feel better, though just in case they do decide to spring him I'd feel even better if he had an "unfortunate accident."
I'd feel better if we knew he was being held in double super-secret solitary...with not as much as a rat to screech at preach at.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/06/2004 10:21:22 PM ||
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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.
The Representatives of the 
A day after the Thai government bombed the restive south with paper doves as a peace gesture, militants exploded two bombs injuring a solider and a civil servant. The police said the first explosion occurred at a gathering point for police and military personnel in Narathiwat, one of three Muslim-dominated southern provinces rocked by a separatist insurgency that has left more than 550 people dead this year, including as many as three at the weekend. The explosion took place in Rangae district injuring a soldier. About three hours later, a second bomb blew up at the side of the road some 800 meters from the site of the first explosion, lightly wounding a district official, according to the policeman. "We are investigating, but it was likely to have been a remote-control bomb," he said. In the weekend's violence, a retired chief prosecutor from Pattani province was gunned down at his shrimp farm on Sunday, while a policeman was killed in Narathiwat on Saturday evening when his patrol unit was ambushed. A 64-year-old grocer, Suthon Sridaeng, was shot dead at his shop in Pattani on Sunday. Security forces also found and defused a bomb near the border with Malaysia just before the government used 50 aircraft to scatter some 120 million paper birds across southern Thailand on King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 77th birthday. The paper birds carried messages of peace. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra signed one of the paper birds, promising a scholarship or job to whoever found the bird with his signature.
About 120 million origami birds were air-dropped over southern Thailand yesterday in an attempt to quell a Muslim insurgency that has led to the deaths of more than 500 people this year. The gesture, heavily promoted by the Thai prime minister, 
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. soldiers have detained 14 Iraqis suspected of making deadly car bombs and leading insurgent cells in northern Iraq, the military said Monday.
AMMAN - Fifteen suspected terrorists, including three Saudis, go on trial before Jordan's State Security Court on Monday on charges of planning attacks on targets inside Jordan including the US embassy, judicial sources said Sunday.
