An audio tape said to have been recorded by al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has praised a recent attack on a US consulate in Saudi Arabia. The recording, posted on an Islamic website, has not been verified. In the tape a speaker identified as Bin Laden is said to bless a group of Saudi militants who stormed the building in Jeddah on 6 December. The voice also blamed Saudi leaders for unrest in the kingdom, accusing them of "violating God's rules".
"We ask God to be merciful with the mujahideen who stormed the US consulate in Jeddah," the speaker said in the recording, in excerpts quoted by Reuters news agency. Saudi-born Bin Laden has repeatedly called for the toppling of the kingdom's ruling family. "The responsibility for the current situation in Saudi Arabia rests with the regime," the recording said, according to AFP news agency. "In Saudi Arabia, it is the king and not Allah who commands sovereignty and complete obedience." The speaker said he had advised the government two decades ago to "remedy the situation", adding: "it has not changed at all".
Analysts say the voice and style of the speaker are similar to Bin Laden's. The last appearance of the militant leader was just before the US election on 2 November, in a video tape in which he threatened fresh attacks on the US, whoever was elected. He appeared in good health in the tape, but it was not clear when it was recorded. Bin Laden is widely believed to have been hiding in the mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border since US-backed forces toppled Afghanistan's Taleban regime in late 2001.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/16/2004 9:33:56 AM ||
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If thier way is so right, why do they have to ASK God to be merciful with the militants. Would'nt they be so sure they were right, they would know he would be merciful.
The US State Department warned late Wednesday of credible threats that terrorists might target Americans in Kuwait. An email sent by the US embassy in Kuwait City to Americans living in the country warned of "credible information that terrorist groups are developing near-term plans for attacks against unspecified targets in Kuwait", a State Department spokesman in Washington told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. US citizens in the Persian Gulf emirate were urged to practise caution and avoid well-known gathering places of Westerners.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/16/2004 12:20:51 AM ||
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Detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial breaks human rights laws, the UK's highest court has ruled. In a blow to the government's anti-terror measures, the House of Lords law lords ruled by an eight to one majority in favour of appeals by nine detainees. The law lords said the measures were incompatible with European human rights laws. The men will stay behind bars while ministers decide how to react. Solicitor Gareth Peirce called on the government to release them quickly. Most of the men are being indefinitely held in Belmarsh prison, south London. The ruling creates a major problem for Charles Clarke on his first day as home secretary following David Blunkett's resignation. The Liberal Democrats say Mr Clarke should use the fact he is new to the job to take issue with a law established by his predecessor, David Blunkett. Belmarsh prison has been dubbed Britain's Guantanamo Bay by civil rights campaigners opposed to the use of emergency anti-terror laws.
Guess they'll need to be tried then.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/16/2004 9:07:53 AM ||
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Guess they'll need to be tried then.
It's a goddamn infringement of my human rights that these people are allowed to stay in my country longer than it takes to bundle them into the back of a C130.
#4
At some point, in countries where the politics are such that the asshats can't be kept locked up, yet the military and, possibly, the police realize the gravity of the situation that Joe Voter doesn't, the authorities will realize that they have to go ahead and kill these bad boyz. During apprehension, "escaping", whatever... Taking them in is merely an inconvenience for them - and that just won't do if you "get it"...
Bogota, Colombia, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Colombia sentenced three Irishmen to 17 years in prison Thursday for allegedly training leftist rebels in the art of urban warfare. The trio were acquitted on the charges in May, but were forced to remain in Colombia while the prosecution appealed. Their last hope would be to send an appeal to Colombia's Supreme Court. Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley were arrested in August 2001 and accused of training members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in the use of explosives and falsified identification documents.
The Colombian government alleged the men were representatives of the IRA on a mission to establish ties with FARC, an accusation they denied.
"Lies, all lies! Faith, we're just poor Irish lads trying to make our way in the world!"
The men claimed they were in Colombia studying its peace process and were eco-tourists. However, they say they won't leave the prison until the Colombian government guarantees their safety from reprisal killings by right-wing paramilitary groups.
OK, then stay in jail.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/16/2004 2:29:35 PM ||
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"...they say they won't leave the prison until the Colombian government guarantees their safety from reprisal killings by right-wing paramilitary groups..."
Poor babies. Don't like being murder-targets; love being the murderers themselves. It's a pisser when the shoe's on the other foot, eh?
Accomplices of leaders of Chechen separatists Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev, the so-called emirs of the settlements of Chechen-Aul and Staraya Suzhna, have been eliminated in Grozny. This information was provided by Major-General Ilya Shabalkin, the representative of the regional operational HQ for the North Caucasian antiterrorist operation. "One of them is emir of Chechen-Aul Magomed Tsitsayev, earlier an accomplice of Khattab, who, after the latter was killed, joined the force of Basayev. The other one is emir of Staraya Sunzha Murad Ibragimov, Maskhadov's associate," Shabalkin said. According to the source, the special operation to eliminate heads of terrorist groups was conducted by officers of the Chechen Interior Ministry's special police force after obtaining information that the emirs were expected in Grozny in a car. When the car was blocked off and the terrorists offered resistance, they were destroyed, Shabalkin specified.
In accordance with operational information, Tsitsayev and Ibragimov had been involved in several terrorist attacks. The terrorists' appearance in Grozny stands for coordinating activities to mastermind and perpetrate terror acts, the representative of the regional HQ explained. Tsitsayev's formation is a part of the group of Doku Umarov, a financier of terror acts and explosives expert. Ibragimov's fighters under the command of Vakhid Khamidov, aka Adlan, are members of Aslan Maskhadov's formation.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/16/2004 3:53:18 AM ||
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the terrorists offered resistance, they were destroyed
The Russian security forces have been long on claims when it comes to killing off these people, but pitifully short on evidence like bodies. For example, they have repeatedly "killed off" Basayev since 1999.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
12/16/2004 7:33 Comments ||
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Law enforcement agencies detained a warlord of the gang that was subordinate to Aslan Maskhadov in Gudermes. Criminal proceedings were instituted against the detainee under the article of terrorism, a source in the regional operational headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
It was found out that a gang of ten bandits carriedo ut several blasts of armoured personnel carriers of the federal troops in the Gudermes district of Chechnya for May-July 2001. The militants blasted the armoured train on the railway line Kadi-Yurt — Gerzel in August 2001. The detainee is being checked for complicity in other crimes.
Meanwhile, a large-scale terrorist act was averted in Chechnya on Wednesday, the source emphasized. The bandits were planning to use a large amount of explosives for the terrorist act. A resident of the Sunzha district surrendered to police. "He told about the place where a cache with the prepared explosive device was located. Checking the information police found a cache that contained a plastic barrel with 80 kilograms of explosives and screws near Sernovodsk in the Achkhoi-Martan district," the source pointed out. Investigation is in progress.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/16/2004 3:52:08 AM ||
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The chief of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said a network of the international terrorist organization Al Qaeda has been exposed in southern Russia.
"About 10 representatives of Al Qaeda are staying in the North Caucasus," FSB director said at a meeting with the heads of Russia's leading media outlets on Wednesday. Nikolai Patrushev added that his organization would take measures to neutralize their activity.
He said that after Arab mercenary Khattab had been destroyed, Al Qaeda representative in Chechnya Abu Havs took his place. Patrushev said one of Al Qaeda representatives, Abu Muskhab, had been detained and is giving valuable evidence.
Focusing on the FSB activity in Chechnya, Patrushev stressed that anti-terrorist operations in the region have made it possible "to ensure on the whole a necessary level of law and order and public security in the republic, boost the process of the restoration in its social sphere, economy as well as the formation of republican bodies of power".
This year, FSB officers have neutralized over 200 gunmen, including such notorious terrorists as Abu al-Valid, Ruslan Gelayev and other Chechen terrorist leaders. Over 900 gunmen have been detained on suspicion of their involvement in terrorist activity. Over 800 militant facilities have been destroyed and 1,500 units of different arms have been seized this year, he added.
More than 20 hostages have been released in Chechnya, including the head of the Dagestani office of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres), Arjan Erkel and Slovak national Miriam Evikova, staffer of a humanitarian organization.
Patrushev also said the Federal Security Service has drawn up the list of people posing the biggest threat for Russia's security. The FSB director said the list includes Chechen extremist leaders Shamil Basayev, Aslan Maskhadov, Doku Umarov as well as Al Qaeda's representative in Chechnya Abu Havs.
He also named Movladi Udugov, one of the main ideologists of Chechen extremism, among those on the list who are staying abroad. The FSB chief said his agency is working on the list, stressing that those people "must be either neutralized or stand trial," the FSB chief emphasized.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/16/2004 3:42:19 AM ||
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Russia's FSB (Federal Security Service) has exposed a network of Al-Qaeda in its territory (the North Caucasian region), FSB director Nikolai Patrushev told the executives of the leading Russian media at a meeting in Moscow. Members of the terrorist network have been established "and now we have to neutralize their activity," he said. Mr. Patrushev noted that the FSB and other law-enforcement agencies had detained over 900 militants. The FSB has defined a number of them presenting the worst danger to Russia - Basayev, Maskhadov, Udugov, Umarov, Gochiyayev, Khalilov, Abu Havs, Abu Tari. "We have to fix their location and detain them," Mr. Patrushev said.
The FSB director noted that work of only his service is not enough for their efficient detainment and neutralization: all branches of power have to join in. In 2004 the FSB service prevented over 200 acts of terrorism, fraught with grave effects for the country. In addition, the Russian secret services have registered over 1,600 anonymous threats of committing terrorist and extremist acts. "About 300 anonymous authors have been established. On such acts 94 criminal cases have been initiated and 16 persons sentenced," he stressed. On information from the security agencies, the court has closed branches of Russian National Unity in Tatarstan, the Kaliningrad and Kamchatka regions, banned the operation of the political party True Russian Patriots.
In Chechnya in 2004, the special operations of the FSB and other law-enforcement agencies neutralized over 200 militants. "Among them are the odious terrorists Abu al-Walid, Ruslan Gelayev, A. Basnukayev and A. Visimbayev," Mr. Patrushev said. Over 1,500 firearms have been seized from militants and about 800 facilities of the militant infrastructure destroyed. In 2004, 238 foreigners suspected of having to do with terrorist and extremist activities were not allowed into Russia. According to Mr. Patrushev, FSB operatives discovered Salimov and the Sadirov brothers involved in terrorism in Tajikistan. Now, they have been extradited. "In 2004 the FSB service ended the activities of 18 career officers of the foreign secret services. Six of them have been caught red-handed and two of them later brought to account in line with the criminal law," Patrushev said.
The FSB has cut short the activity of 47 secret agents. "This figure demonstrates the activity of foreign secret services in Russia," Mr. Patrushev said. The FSB chief said that operation of 89 persons having to do with the foreign secret services and organizations, or radical religious-nationalist organizations has been contained. "Among them are 16 Russian nationals, seven of which have been sentenced; 18 foreigners expelled from Russia and 32 foreigners banned to enter," he said.
In the opinion of the FSB director, the espionage activity of some foreign secret services and organizations against Russia presents a real and serious threat to the national interests and security of Russia. "Our service has been traditionally paying an increased attention to this matter," Mr. Patrushev stressed. The FSB is in cooperation with 98 secret services in 68 countries and maintains permanent cooperation "with 93 secret services in 63 countries." Cooperation with 42 foreign border-guard bodies in 35 countries is maintained "within the framework of multilateral and bilateral agreements." Mr. Patrushev added that cooperation is most active with the secret services and border-guard bodies of countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. "We do permanent work on the agreements reached and the improvement of the present forms of cooperation with the CIS states", the FSB director said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/16/2004 3:41:14 AM ||
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On second thought, tell them to put their turbans and dirty night shirts back on, "exposed" looks disgusting.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/16/2004 7:24 Comments ||
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An 18-hour Greek bus hostage siege ended on Thursday when all 23 hostages were freed and the two gunmen surrendered, a police spokeswoman told Reuters. The last six hostages held by the hijackers filed from the bus in an Athens suburb followed by police entering the vehicle and arresting the two hijackers. "All the hostages have been freed safely and the two hijackers have surrendered," the spokeswoman told Reuters.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2004 11:23:17 PM ||
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The Albanian government said Wednesday it has frozen the assets of a Saudi citizen who is under investigation for alleged money laundering to terror networks.
Authorities have seized 22 apartment units owned by Yasin Al-Qadi, a fugitive Saudi businessman suspected of laundering money for Osama bin Laden's terror network through extensive business dealings in Albania, said Alban Beqa, a spokesman for the Ministry of Finance. Al-Qadi, 47, has been under investigation since January 2002 for money laundering. He had already left the country by that time.
Al-Qadi headed the Saudi-based Muwafaq Foundation, which U.S. investigators suspect took in millions from wealthy Saudis and funneled it to bin Laden. He was among 39 individuals and organizations designated in 2001 by the Bush administration to have their assets frozen. Al-Qadi had set up eight different companies in Albania since 1992, and was known with five different names. He was one of the main partners in the Twin Towers, a pair of buildings under construction in front of the government's main offices.
snip Albania, a small, predominantly Muslim country has been a vocal backer of the U.S.-led campaign in Iraq, where it deployed a small unit of 71 non-combat troops to help with postwar peacekeeping.
#1
Bravo & Thanks, Albania! Let's not forget our friends and those who "get it" regards the WoT - or whatever it's best to call the War on Islamists and Professional Anarchy Mercs these days.
BREAKING NEWS - Ten suspected Islamic militants have been jailed in Paris for their part in a failed plot to blow up a Christmas market in Strasbourg in December 2000. The suspects - all Algerian or French-Algerian - were sentenced to terms of up to nine years. The plot was discovered just days before it was allegedly due to be carried out on New Year's Eve. One of the convicted men is said to have been an associate of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/16/2004 9:12:12 AM ||
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Guess we can quit sneering at the Frenchies now...
Baggage screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport spotted -- and then lost -- a fake bomb planted in luggage by a supervisor during a training exercise. Despite an hours-long search Tuesday night, the bag, containing a fake bomb complete with wires, a detonator and a clock, made it onto an Amsterdam-bound flight. It was recovered by airport security officials in Amsterdam when the flight landed several hours later. The only difference between us and the French, is that we don't plant the real thing.
"This really underscores the importance of the TSA's ongoing training exercises," said Ann Davis, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, the agency responsible for screening passengers and baggage for weapons and explosives. "At no time did the bag pose a threat and at no time was anyone in danger."... The incident at Terminal C was only the latest embarrassment for federal screeners at Newark Liberty International, one of the airports from which some of the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers took off. In October, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported that screeners missed one in four fake explosives and weapons in secret weekly tests conducted throughout the summer by TSA agents. Screeners there also have been plagued by problems with absenteeism.
In Tuesday night's test, a TSA supervisor secretly placed the bomb, which was designed to resemble the plastic explosive Semtex, inside a bag that was put through screening machines, Davis said. A baggage screening machine sounded an alarm, but workers somehow lost track of the bag, which was then loaded onto the Continental Airlines flight that was due to take off around 6 p.m. Despite the incident, no flights were delayed and the terminal remained open. The Newark incident closely resembled another embarrassing incident last week in France, where security officials lost a bag containing real explosives that were being used to train bomb-sniffing dogs. That led French authorities to prohibit using live explosives in future tests. Davis said the TSA is still investigating how screeners lost track of the bag. "It was an error that the bag was not intercepted before it was loaded," she said, adding it was too soon to say if anyone would be disciplined for the failure.
#1
Guess we can quit sneering at the Frenchies now...
That's the worst part of this incident!
I took a trip last week, and when I opened my checked luggage, there was a little note from the TSA saying they'd opened my bag. (They put something back wrong, too. Can't remember what it was now.) If I'd known they were going to plant bombs, I would've looked more carefully for "extra parts".
Counterterrorism efforts got a major boost last week when a U.S. district court found three Muslim organizations and one individual, mostly based in the Chicago area, guilty of funding Hamas and fined them an astonishing $156 million.
The four were found liable for their roles in the murder of an American teenager, David Boim, on May 13, 1996, when he was shot by Hamas operatives as he waited for a bus near Jerusalem. This case is important in itself, providing some measure of justice and relief for the Boim family. Beyond that, it helps fight terrorism in four ways.
First, it validates and operationalizes a 1992 U.S. law that prohibits sending any money to terrorist organizations, not just money specifically tied to violence. Even funds used for medical care or education, the logic correctly goes, ultimately forward violence.
Judge Arlander Keys established that "the Boims need only show that the defendants were involved in an agreement to accomplish an unlawful act and that the attack that killed David Boim was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the conspiracy." This ruling places other civil cases, most notably the one linking Saudi royals to 9/11, on much firmer legal ground.
Second, this marks the first decision by a jury penalizing Americans who support terrorism abroad and making them liable to pay civil damages.
Third, as the Boims' lawyer, Stephen J. Landes, explained, it shows that "the American court system is prepared to bankrupt the Islamist terror network," just as it earlier destroyed the Ku Klux Klan and the Aryan Nations, two extremist and violent organizations, "by bringing unpayably large judgments against them."
Finally, the case confirms a pattern of culpability among even the most innocent-appearing of Islamic institutions. Two of the three liable groups have known ties to Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group; Holy Land Foundation serves as its fund-raising arm, Islamic Association for Palestine as its political front. But the Quranic Literacy Institute appeared wholly unconnected to Hamas. It is a religious group based in a Chicago suburb that since 1991 has engaged in the pious work of translating Islamic sacred texts from Arabic, then publishing them in English.
But appearances can deceive. In June 1998, federal authorities charged QLI with having for nine years supported "a conspiracy involving international terrorist activities and domestic recruitment and training in support of such activities" and seized $1 million of its cash and assets.
The FBI found that Yassin Kadi, a Saudi-based financier linked to Osama bin Laden, loaned $820,000 to the QLI in 1991 which the QLI laundered through a series of real estate transactions. QLI cleared nearly $1.4 million, and investigators suspect it planned to use this money in 1993 to fund the rebuilding of Hamas.
QLI's complicity in terrorism has great significance, for it is no rogue outfit but a stalwart of the Saudi-backed "Wahhabi lobby" in the United States. QLI's founding president, Ahmad Zaki Hammad, is a scholar of Islam boasting advanced degrees from Cairo's prestigious Al-Azhar University and the University of Chicago. He has served as president of the lobby's largest organization, the Islamic Society of North America, and sat on the board of the North American Islamic Trust, its mechanism for taking over mosques and other Islamic properties.
When the QLI's assets were impounded in 1998, leading organizations of the Wahhabi lobby, ISNA, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Students Association leapt to its defense, declaring themselves "shocked at this unprecedented action taken against members of the Muslim community." Nearly 1,000 supporters rallied on QLI's behalf. And yet, we now know that this innocuous-appearing organization did have a key role funneling money to Hamas.
Muslim institutions too often are not what they seem to be. The "Progressive Muslim Union" is actually reactionary. Mosques harbor criminals. The lesson is clear: Wahhabi organizations like the QLI cannot be taken at face value but must be scrutinized for extremist, criminal, and terrorist connections. Extensive research, including undercover operations, is needed to find out the possibly sordid reality behind a seemingly benign exterior.
#2
I hope the US Govt keeps up the pressure like this on the Saudis and their Wahhabist mosques, prisoner outreach programs, etc etc. Like dealing with Al Capone, hit 'em in their pocketbooks. Good work!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/16/2004 18:09 Comments ||
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Yay! VERY good news from our legal system (for a change).
Posted by: Sheik Abu Bin Ali Al-Yahood ||
12/16/2004 20:06 Comments ||
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Hey guys! The real money's over there. (Maybe our plague of lawyers can plague someone else for a change.)
#5
I like that they will either have to pay or shut down. Excellent. Now track the people so when they pop up under another name, that can be shut down or held accountable, as well. Whack-a-mole, indeed.
Indonesia was on high alert after British and Australian warnings of a terrorist attack before Christmas amid fears that Islamic militants wanted for the Bali bombings are poised to strike again. Police in the world's largest Muslim-populated country said an operation had been launched for the festive period with thousands of extra men deployed to prevent attacks in a period previously targeted by Islamic extremists. Canberra warned of a possible attack on a Hilton hotel. Security chiefs in Jakarta said they were preparing for more strikes by two fugitive Malaysians believed to be behind a series of blasts in the country. Former professor Azahari Husin is accused of building the bombs used in all three attacks, allegedly coordinated with the help of recruiting expert Noordin Mohammad Top.
They are suspected to be leading members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, which has staged a series of attacks in recent years. Indonesian national police spokesman Paiman said the pair could be planning an attack in the pre-Christmas period. "During this festive season we have launched an operation codenamed Lilin (candle) to deal with, among other things, terrorist bombings," Paiman told AFP. "Therefore we treat the Australian warning of a possible terrorist attack as useful information and such threat has been anticipated," he added. He declined to say whether police had specific information about an imminent attack.
On Wednesday Australia said it had received intelligence suggesting an impending terrorist strike in Indonesia, possibly targeting one of three Hilton hotels located in Jakarta, the second city of Surabaya and Bali. Before the latest alerts, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had ordered the deployment of extra police to safeguard churches across the country following recent attacks on Christian worshippers on Sulawesi island. Indonesia was hit by a wave of bomb attacks on 38 churches or priests on Christmas Eve 2000 in which 19 people perished. Those attacks have also been blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah.
Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill was due to arrive in Indonesia for a two-day visit Thursday during which he will meet Yudhoyono. It was not known if the recent warnings were related to his trip.
The government yesterday declared a unilateral 21-day Christmas cease-fire with communist rebels even as guerrillas launched a series of attacks in various parts of the country since Tuesday. The latest attack by the rebel New People's Army (NPA) was on a town hall in the northern province of Nueva Ecija, just after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo made the announcement, police said. No details were immediately available. Police said the fighting was still raging. "I would like to announce a unilateral cease-fire by the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the war against the NPAs starting tomorrow (Dec. 16), the beginning of the Christmas season," said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in her speech at the awarding of outstanding overseas Filipinos yesterday night. Arroyo said she was declaring the cease-fire to show her administration's commitment to peace, especially in the Christmas season.
"All we are saying, is give peace a (*KABOOM!*)..."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2004 3:10:36 PM ||
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The government yesterday declared a unilateral 21-day Christmas cease-fire with communist rebels even as guerrillas launched a series of attacks in various parts of the country since Tuesday.
"Okay Comrades, we have twenty-one days to stock up on ammunition, food, and explosives, so hop to it! Move it, move it, move it!!!"
#2
Right-o, BAR. All the Christmas cease fire will do is to have the rebels regroup and resupply. Besides the Communists are athiests, so they do not care about Christmas.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/16/2004 22:03 Comments ||
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Four Islamic teachers have been arrested in southern Thailand, accused of being behind the recent spate of violence in the region. The four have been charged with treason and terrorism-related offences, according to police sources. They are due in Bangkok on Friday, to appear before a criminal court. More than 500 people have been killed so far this year in continuing violence in the Muslim-dominated provinces of southern Thailand. The four detainees are "key mastermind figures", according to a statement from the Southern Border Provinces Peace-Building Command. General Sirichai Tanyasiri told the BBC that the four were involved in the theft of firearms from an army depot in January, a raid which presaged the upsurge in violence. A BBC correspondent in Bangkok says arrests have been made before in connection with the raid, though the evidence has not seemed conclusive. The government has accused some Islamic schools in the south of being breeding grounds for militants, a charge repeatedly denied by religious leaders.
"Us? We're just innocent holy men, honest!"
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the four detainees were linked to a "separatist organisation", and described them as "significant ringleaders" who "played a commanding role".
Holy islamic teachers, preaching violence and calling for jihad, sending the young out to get killed while they stay behind. Seems to be a pattern.
"We have clear evidence which will explain the overall picture," he told reporters on Thursday. Mr Thaksin has come under pressure to be seen to be tackling the southern violence before a general election in February.
Nothing stirs a politician to action like a upcoming election.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/16/2004 9:16:15 AM ||
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Philippine authorities have arrested a suspected Islamic radical and four others for a bomb blast earlier this week that killed 14 people. Army brigade commander, Colonel Alfredo Cayton, says two women and three men have been arrested in connection with Sunday's explosion at a market in General Santos City. He says while one of the men arrested is a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf rebel group, it is too early to conclude that the blast was the handiwork of militants. Some officials say the gang could have been hired by shopkeepers feuding over the market where the bomb was placed, or by a gang looking to extort money from businessmen.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/16/2004 3:45:32 AM ||
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Nepalese security forces have killed 23 Maoist rebels in two clashes in the west of the country, the military says. Six security personnel were injured in one of the incidents. On Wednesday, 20 police and soldiers died in a rebel ambush, the biggest loss by the security forces in months. Six rebels also died, the army said. Extra forces have gone to Arghakhanchi in western Nepal following the ambush. Bloodshed has risen since peace talks collapsed last year. Wednesday's fighting came as a European Union delegation urged the Maoists to enter peace talks and abandon violence...
#1
killing Maoists? Viciousness? Euthanasia too late
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/16/2004 19:36 Comments ||
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#2
The only way to deal with the Maoists is to take them out. The EU delegation, I'm sure, has some real pull with the Maoists. The pain in my side sez that the Chicoms are backing the rebels to the hilt. Rat bastards.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
12/16/2004 22:00 Comments ||
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A special anti-narcotics task force has raided drug laboratories in eastern Afghanistan, seizing more than 15 tons of opium. snip
That amount of opium, one of the largest confiscations in recent years, could have been refined into about 11/2 tons of heroin. U.N. surveys estimate Afghanistan accounted for three-quarters of the world's opium last year.
The raids took place Wednesday in Nangarhar province's Achin district, an Interior Ministry statement said, adding that Afghan Special Narcotics Force agents also destroyed 24 opium presses that are used to refine the drug. They also seized three tons of chemicals used to process opium into heroin and five AK-47 assault rifles. snip Another bust last week yielded nearly two tons of opium.snip
Karzai said in his Dec. 6 inaugural address that the country's booming drug economy — estimated to account for 60 percent of gross domestic product — will be the top priority in his fresh five-year term. He said it is linked to terrorism and called it a bigger threat than the Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents who mount almost daily attacks in the countryside..snip
Iraq's oil ministry has awarded the country's first post-war oilfield development contracts to Turkish and Canadian firms, an oil official said on Thursday. Turkey's Everasia won the contract to develop the Khurmala Dome field in the north, said the official who declined to be named. A Canadian firm named IOG will develop the Himrin field, the official added. The contracts involve constructing new flow lines, building gas separation stations and measures to stop water emerging from wells. Drilling will be done by the ministry's digging division. Unlike production sharing contracts Iraq could negotiate with oil majors after elections due in January, the contracts do not involve contractors after construction or as operators. The cost of the three projects combined has been estimated at $500 million. Their small size and scope has failed to attract the interest of major international oil companies.
#3
"It's all about the oooiii- waitaminnit... Turkey? Canada?"
Sheesh, I for one had hopes of a tiny reward for US GI's liberating Iraq that might entail oilfield development. Turkey and Canada??? How wonderful, that Iraqi government suits award contracts to 2 countries that DID NOT help liberate them. And Turkey gets the contract for oil in northern Kurdish Iraq?? What were the Iraqi government officials smoking or drinking when they came up with these marvelous choices.
KARACHI - Assailants fatally shot a murder suspect at a court in southern Pakistan on Thursday, sparking a gunbattle with police that left another prisoner dead and wounded six more people, police said. Six other prisoners who had been awaiting trial at the court in Naushero Feroz, a town about 250 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Karachi, fled in the chaos, and police are hunting for them, said Sikandar Magsi, a local police official. Sarwar Rind, who was suspected in the murders of the 10 people arising from a family feud, was gunned down outside the court on his way to a hearing. Police suspect Rind's rivals were behind the attack.
"You killed my pa! Take that!"
The shooting caused panic inside the courtroom. Some prisoners seized guns from police and took them and court staff hostage
."Muggsy, dis is our chance! Let's bust outta dis joint!"
One prisoner was killed and three others were then injured in an exchange of fire with police, Magsi said. Three police officers were also wounded before police managed to overpower the prisoners and regain control, he said. Police are still hunting for the six prisoners who went missing after the shootout, he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/16/2004 12:04:11 PM ||
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Gunmen have killed a senior official in Iraq's communication ministry as he was driving to work in central Baghdad. Kassim Imhawi was hit by gunmen who pulled up beside him as he travelled into the city from a western suburb. Mr Imhawi was director-general of the ministry and a senior adviser to the interim Iraqi government. The killing comes days after interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi warned that insurgents were expected to increase attacks ahead of elections in January. Eight of Mr Imhawi's bodyguard were injured in the attack, in the Jamia district of Baghdad, the Associated Press reported.
Posted by: Steve ||
12/16/2004 9:14:23 AM ||
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The most wanted man in Iraq, Islamic militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is "most likely" in Baghdad after losing his sanctuary in the western city of Falluja, but he is having a tougher time planning and launching attacks, a top U.S. general says. "He can operate pretty safely, we think," said Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, the deputy chief of U.S. forces in the Middle East. "In some areas of Baghdad, there are those that would hide him and those that would passively allow him to operate. You can find him someplace else tomorrow."
U.S. soldiers and Marines, aided by about 2,000 troops from Iraq's fledgling army, recaptured Falluja in November after it had been effectively controlled by insurgents for months. Smith said the loss of Falluja has made it more difficult for al-Zarqawi to communicate with his lieutenants, but "he has not been emasculated."
"He no doubt maintains communications with key elements of his leadership and is able to continue some level of command and control over the disparate operations," Smith told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday. "It is just far more difficult to do now because they can't do it, generally speaking, via electronic means. They do it by meeting in cars and driving around and giving guidance and doing all that stuff."
Smith said he believed al-Zarqawi was still able to operate within Iraq, and Baghdad "would be the most likely area." But he added: "These guys are getting very, very good at concealing or making it difficult for us to track them."
The Pentagon has boosted U.S. troop strength in Iraq to an all-time high of 150,000 in order to provide security for the country's scheduled elections in January, and Smith said most of the problems are limited to four of the country's 18 provinces.
"It is absolutely clear that the insurgents will make every effort to try and make these elections as difficult as possible and try to force a delay," he said.
Responding to a reporter's question regarding Iran and Syria's rumored support for al-Zarqawi's terror network, the president said: "We have made it clear to the countries in the neighborhood, including the two mentioned, that we expect there to be help in establishing a society in which people are able to elect their leaders, and that we expect people to work with the Iraqi interim government to enforce borders, to stop the flow of people and money aimed to help these terrorists."
The United Nations plans to open more offices in Iraq to help with the preparations for the January 30 elections, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday.
A statement said Annan instructed that "the first steps be taken to assess the security conditions" for a U.N. presence in Basra and in Erbil.
A bomb killed seven Iraqis and wounded 32 on Wednesday near the Imam Hussein mosque in Karbala, police sources told CNN.
Sheikh Abdul Mehdi al-Karbalai -- a Karbala-based aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani -- was wounded in the attack, a representative from al-Sistani's office in Najaf said.
The Iraqi special tribunal set up to try Saddam Hussein and former members of his regime will soon begin investigative hearings, marking the first stage in bringing members of the ousted Iraqi government to justice for alleged war crimes. The tribunal released a statement late Wednesday saying the investigative hearings are to soon get under way "in coordination with international observers." The Defense Ministry said Wednesday that Ali Hassan al-Majid -- also known as "Chemical Ali" -- would be tried first, possibly by the end of the month.
The Italian Foreign Ministry Thursday said it is investigating a report that an Italian citizen was abducted and killed in Iraq, cautioning that "nothing has been confirmed." The ministry said it was contacted by The Associated Press after a photographer in Iraq claimed insurgents showed him the body of a man killed in Iraq who had papers identifying him as Salvatore Santoro, 52, of Italy. The government said Santoro had previously contacted the Italian Embassy in Lebanon and said he was going to Iraq with a British humanitarian aid company.
Three Polish soldiers were killed and four wounded when their helicopter made an emergency landing near Karbala, the Polish military said. Engine trouble forced down the Sokol chopper, officials said. The incident brings the number of Polish deaths in Iraq to 16.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/16/2004 3:44:24 AM ||
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#1
I suppose Baghdad is probably best for Zarqawi because there are a lot of Sunni terrorist neighborhoods to hide in.
Fallujah and Samara are out, Ramadi is pretty small and vulnerable to cordon and search. Mosel has a high number of quality Kurdish and American troops.
QUETTA — A court in Pakistan cancelled bail for a journalist charged with treason for allegedly helping make a fake Taleban video with two French reporters, ordering him to be re-arrested, an official said yesterday. An anti-terrorism court in the southwestern city of Quetta made the ruling on Tuesday against the journalist, Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, after he failed to appear for a hearing, said Muzaffar Ahmed, assistant district attorney in Quetta. "He (Rizvi) had not been appearing in the case for the last three hearings and because of this he was deemed to be fleeing towards Waziristan hampering justice," Ahmed said. The court has issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Rizvi, he said. Abid Saqi, a lawyer for Rizvi, said the court rejected an application by Rizvi that he be granted adjournments in the case because he was sick. "We had filed a medical certificate that he (Rizvi) is seriously sick and he is unable to attend the proceedings," Saqi said.
"Deathly ill, yer honor! Why he's not a candidate for so much as a hair-cut right now!"
The lawyer, however, said he was unaware of Rizvi's whereabouts.
Try the hospital. Look in-between the crates of grenades.
Rizvi, a Pakistani, was released on bail in March after his arrest last December along with two French journalists, Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau. The Frenchmen, who worked for the French magazine L'Express, were sentenced to six months in jail for violating the terms of their visas and travelling to the southwestern Balochistan province without permission. But the pair were soon released and have since returned home.
Where they're the darlings of the Left Bank crowd, natch.
Rizvi faces trial over treason charges for allegedly helping the Frenchmen make a video in which purported Taleban fighters train in Pakistani territory. Pakistani authorities say the fighters were in fact Pakistani tribesmen posing as Taleban rebels.
There's a difference?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/16/2004 12:33:40 AM ||
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A bomb exploded near the offices of a senior Shia cleric in the Iraqi holy city of Kerbala yesterday, killing eight people and wounding 32, police and doctors said. One of the wounded was Sheikh Abdul Mehdi Al Karbalai, a cleric regarded as close to Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shia leader. Hospital sources said he had been hit in the legs and was receiving treatment. Yesterday's attack came on the day campaigning began for Iraq's first post-Saddam elections. One of the groups contesting the poll is a list of mainly Shi'ite candidates backed by Sistani, but it was not immediately clear if there was any political motive for the bombing.
"No, no! Certainly not!" Sheesh. Must be a university-trained journalist, no one else could be that obtuse.
At least four of those killed worked as guards in Karbalai's office, hospital sources said. The wounded were mostly office staff and passers-by. The office is in the centre of Kerbala, close to the shrine of Imam Hussein, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam. Sites near Kerbala's shrines were previously attacked in March this year when suicide bombers blew themselves up during an important religious festival, killing more than 70 pilgrims. That attack coincided with a blast at a Shia shrine in Baghdad, which killed more than 50 people. The coordinated blasts were blamed on Jordanian Sunni Muslim militant Abu Musab Al Zarqawi and seen as an attempt to sow sectarian discord.
Say Mr. Journalist, figure it out yet?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/16/2004 12:28:27 AM ||
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um....no.
Posted by: Mr. Journalist ||
12/16/2004 0:47 Comments ||
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Well, that's not surprising.
Posted by: Mr. Blog Reader ||
12/16/2004 0:49 Comments ||
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I put a "Fix case" button on the editor page to deal with all-upper case headlines. Select the text, click the button, and it's put into proper case. Works in IE. May, possibly, work in other browsers. If so, lemme know and I'll apply it to all our Javascript routines.
I'm still working on trying to get other browsers to do the things IE does with text.
We probably need a bulletin board on this page, too.
I'm an IE gal myself, so...thanks!
I stole Howard's Cycle of Violence, too. It's on the graphics list.
Ratz. Just checked it on Opera and Netscape. Still doesn't work. Phooey.
Doesn't work on Safari on the Mac. I can try Firefox if you like but I wouldn't hold out much hope. As Marvin the Martian would say, "back to the old drawing board."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/16/2004 3:23:03 PM ||
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Awright, awright, it wasn't me, and I don't know who it was. We're trying to upgrade the joint, that's all. Don't mind the drywall and watch yer head on that overhang.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/16/2004 0:15 Comments ||
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#5
Doh!
Posted by: Homer ||
12/16/2004 0:17 Comments ||
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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.
An audio tape said to have been recorded by al-Qaeda leader 
Accomplices of leaders of Chechen separatists 
Law enforcement agencies detained a warlord of the gang that was subordinate to Aslan Maskhadov in Gudermes. Criminal proceedings were instituted against the detainee under the article of terrorism, a source in the regional operational headquarters of the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
Russia's FSB (Federal Security Service) has exposed a network of Al-Qaeda in its territory (the North Caucasian region), FSB director Nikolai Patrushev told the executives of the leading Russian media at a meeting in Moscow. Members of the terrorist network have been established "and now we have to neutralize their activity," he said. Mr. Patrushev noted that the FSB and other law-enforcement agencies had detained over 900 militants. The FSB has defined a number of them presenting the worst danger to Russia - Basayev, Maskhadov, Udugov, Umarov, Gochiyayev, Khalilov, Abu Havs, Abu Tari. "We have to fix their location and detain them," Mr. Patrushev said.
The four have been charged with treason and terrorism-related offences, according to police sources. They are due in Bangkok on Friday, to appear before a criminal court. More than 500 people have been killed so far this year in continuing violence in the Muslim-dominated provinces of southern Thailand. The four detainees are "key mastermind figures", according to a statement from the 
The most wanted man in Iraq, Islamic militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is "most likely" in Baghdad after losing his sanctuary in the western city of Falluja, but he is having a tougher time planning and launching attacks, a top U.S. general says. "He can operate pretty safely, we think," said Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, the deputy chief of U.S. forces in the Middle East. "In some areas of Baghdad, there are those that would hide him and those that would passively allow him to operate. You can find him someplace else tomorrow."
I put a "Fix case" button on the editor page to deal with all-upper case headlines. Select the text, click the button, and it's put into proper case. Works in IE. May, possibly, work in other browsers. If so, lemme know and I'll apply it to all our Javascript routines.
