Mar 28, 2005 — SANAA (Reuters) - At least eight Islamic militants were killed in Yemen Monday after they gunned down seven policemen in an attack on a police station and an ambush, the official Saba news agency reported. It said Yemeni security forces were hunting followers of slain anti-U.S. cleric Hussein al-Houthi who also injured 20 policemen and soldiers in the attacks in Saada province, 240 km (150 miles) north of the capital Sanaa. "The security and armed forces are now pursuing these elementsâŠtrying to capture them and bring them to justice," Saba said, quoting a security source. Local sources had earlier said that said seven policemen and 10 militants died in the clashes.
Houthi, leader of the Believing Youth group and a Zaidi Shi'ite Muslim sect, was killed in September last year after two months of clashes with security forces in which over 200 rebels and troops died. The government of the Arab state accused Houthi of forming an armed group which staged violent protests against the United States and Israel. The group is not linked to al Qaeda.
Yemen has joined the U.S.-led war on terrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. It has cracked down on al Qaeda-linked militants after attacks at home, including the bombing of the warship USS Cole in 2000 and the 2002 attack on the French supertanker Limburg.
Yemen has also been cooperating with its bigger neighbor, Saudi Arabia, in combating a wave of attacks by supporters of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda.
The official Saudi Press Agency said Monday that Yemen handed over 25 Saudis wanted by the oil-rich kingdom for security offences. Saudi Arabia has handed over eight Yemenis to Sanaa, the agency said.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 3:30:04 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
A number of Omani citizens held late last year on charges of endangering the country's security are linked to a banned organisation. Oman's Attorney-General Hussain Bin Ali Al Hilali said in a statement that the authorities are close to completing an investigation into the matter. "The people held recently have links with a banned organisation," said the statement released through the official news agency ONA on Friday. The Sultanate had announced earlier this year the arrest of an unspecified number of people, saying they were suspected of endangering Oman's security. However, authorities have refrained from releasing any details about the banned organisation that they are allegedly connected with.
Al Hilali said: "The investigations are nearing completion and those held will appear before the concerned court soon." He assured that all the rights stipulated in the State Basic Law and other related laws were taken into account. "The accused will have the right to appoint lawyers to defend them in the court," he added. He also said whatever be the verdict, it would be announced in the media. The statement issued by the Public Prosecution said, "After a detailed investigation and a collection of evidence, the existence of this banned organisation has been confirmed."
The statement said as per the criminal law, the arrests were carried out and house searches conducted. The statement said the charges have been framed and interrogation was carried out only after a judicial order. Justifying the detentions, the statement said the authorities concerned have found evidence to prove the involvement of the accused with the banned organisation. "Therefore, the Public Prosecution issued orders to detain them for further investigations," Al Hilali said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
DOHA: Qatari authorities have detained for questioning the brother of an Egyptian man who allegedly carried out a recent suicide bombing that killed one Briton in Doha, relatives and work colleagues said yesterday. Um Abdallah said her husband, Karam Ahmad Abdallah Ali, "was arrested for interrogation just after" the suicide car bombing outside a theater near a British school in the Qatari capital on March 19.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Four suspects were set to go on trial in Paris on Tuesday to face charges they helped murder Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Massoud, just two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. The suspects are accused of forging and obtaining the false documents that enabled two suicide killers -- Dahmane Adb al-Sattar and Bouraoui el-Ouaer -- to pose as Tunisian journalists traveling with stolen Belgian passports. The fake journalists approached Massoud in the northern Afghan town of Khwaja Bahauddin for an interview during which they blew up both themselves and Massoud. Massoud, known as the Lion of Panjshir, was the military leader of the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban regime in power in Kabul in 2001.
French anti-terrorism judges Jean-Louis Bruguihre and Jean-Frangois Ricard said in November when ordering the suspects to stand trial that the investigation was not into Massoud's killing per se, but the extensive support network backing the assassins. Using the passports found on Massoud's assassins, investigators said they traced the support network and found that Massoud's killers were able to carry out the deed by using channels for transporting Islamist volunteers for jihad, or holy war, from Europe. The four suspects are Youssef el-Aouni, 31, a Frenchman of Morroccan origin; Adel Tebourski, 41, also French of Tunisian origin; Abderahmane Ameroud, a 27-year-old Algerian, and Mehrez Azouz, 37, a French-Algerian.
According to investigators, Tebourski admitted to belonging to an Islamist group led by al-Sattar composed of about 10 people. He also reportedly described how before Dahmane left for Afghanistan in May 2000 he exchanged up to 30,000 francs into dollars (6,000 dollars) for the assassin. Four other radical Islamist suspects also will face court in Paris this week, three of them suspected of having organized paramilitary sessions allegedly aimed at selecting recruits to go to Afghanistan. The training was alleged to have taken place in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris and in the French Alps. Another suspect is charged with being in France illegally. The trials are expected to last until April 20.
This article starring:
ABDURAHMANE AMERUD
al-Qaeda
ADEL TEBURSKI
al-Qaeda
Ahmed Shah Massoud
BURAUI EL UAER
al-Qaeda
DAHMANE ADB AL SATTAR
al-Qaeda
Jean-Frangois Ricard
Jean-Louis Bruguihre
MEHREZ AZUZ
al-Qaeda
YUSEF EL AUNI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It's a shame there is no death penalty.
Posted by: Dennis Kucinich ||
03/28/2005 9:16 Comments ||
Top||
EFL: NACO, Ariz. -- Members of a violent Central America-based gang have been sent to Arizona to target Minuteman Project volunteers, who will begin a monthlong border vigil this weekend to find and report foreigner sneaking into the United States, project officials say.
James Gilchrist, a Vietnam veteran who helped organize the vigil to protest the federal government's failure to control illegal immigration, said he has been told that California and Texas leaders of Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, have issued orders to teach "a lesson" to the Minuteman volunteers. "We're not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers," Mr. Gilchrist said. "And those guys are just a bunch of punks."
More than 1,000 volunteers are expected to take part in the Minuteman vigil, which will include civilian patrols along a 20-mile section of the San Pedro River Valley, which has become a frequent entry point to the United States for foreigner headed north. About 40 percent of the 1.15 million foreign nationals caught last year by the U.S. Border Patrol trying to gain illegal entry to the United States were apprehended along a 260-mile stretch of the Arizona border here known as the Tucson sector.
Many of the Minuteman volunteers are expected to be armed, although organizers of the border vigil have prohibited them from carrying rifles. Only those people with a license to carry a handgun will be allowed to do so, Mr. Gilchrist said. An operational plan calls for teams of four to eight volunteers to be deployed along the targeted 20-mile stretch of border at intervals of 200 to 300 yards, along with observation posts and a command center. Mr. Gilchrist said some of the patrols and posts will be right on the U.S.-Mexico border, while others will be located farther north. The volunteers also have been told to "make lots of noise and burn campfires at night to be very visible."
According to guidelines issued to the volunteers earlier this month, organizers said they expect that they will be targeted by various protest groups and others and that some protesters would try to provoke confrontations.
"If we are to send the message loud and clear to President Bush and Congress, it is imperative we stay within the law," Mr. Gilchrist said. "If one single person steps over the line for their personal gratification, we are all stained with that irresponsible behavior and labeled forever as a fringe element that embarrasses all who are counting on us to make this historic statement," he said.
The MS-13 gang has established major smuggling operations in several areas along the U.S.-Mexico border and have transported hundreds of Central and South Americans -- including gang members -- into the United States in the past two years. The gang also is involved in drug and weapons smuggling.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 8:52:21 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If true, it appears things may get uglier on the border. Perhaps that's exactly what it takes to motive us to address the problem sooner rather than later.
#2
FUNK MS-13! I hope our guys put a dent into MS-13's criminal pathways into the US. I hope our guys are well armed, I'm sure they will be, if needed.
#3
This is welcome news in my opinion. If this is what it takes for the Feds to become serious about enforcing our border security, so be it.
I certainly don't want any "vigilante" blood spilled--let that be clear--and for that reason I'm thankful that MS-13 was kind enough to announce their plans before implementing them. Maybe this will motivate someone, like, oh, say GEORGE W. BUSH, to get serious about protecting our borders.
Posted by: Dar ||
03/28/2005 9:53 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Maybe this will get it through in Washington that the reason a violent gang is worried about this is because of drug smuggling, human smuggling and maybe even weapon smuggling (see anti-aircraft missiles and bombs) for terrorist groups. I still believe that in order for anything to get done about the border it is gonna take a lot of blood being spilled. More than likely a terrorist attack. Stoopid fooken politicians.
#6
"We're not worried because half of our recruits are retired trained combat soldiers," Mr. Gilchrist said. "And those guys are just a bunch of punks." All you need to know about the Minutemen is in that statement!
#7
no one need worry seriously about MS getting off their ass and coming in to attack. That would take strategic operational planning of which, this gang does not have. This would take discipline and a functionally operating vehicle, which again, this gang does not have. They would have to put down the weed and stop drinking for a day to do it, and they're just not prepared to go all the way. They may be willing but definitely not ready or capable. I would say the Minutemen's greatest threats are from desperate illegal immigrants crossing that are armed and panic-strickenly dangerous, and/or from the coyotes and human-smugglers that are armed. God Speed to the Minute Men!
#8
Hey - Is there really incursions by the mexican army into US territory? If so - why is nothing done about it? Do we do the same thing to them? Is there any definative evidence that could be brought to the blogs?
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/28/2005 11:04 Comments ||
Top||
#9
YS - numerous documented incursions, especially in the AZ area now (San Diego's fence cut off these games) usually excused as "map-reading mistakes", but occassionally with gunfire and arrests, then repatriation
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/28/2005 11:45 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Bushie is going to have wake up on this issue. especially being a Texan he should have a first hand issue with this problema. PS i wonder how many first generation mexican-Americans are in this outfit.
#12
Last time Latin banditos crossed the border in force Black Jack Pershing went after them. Wasn't long after that the Government of Mexico was replaced.
I would think it is in the best interests of Mexico to come down hard on this gang.
ON the other hand, like Al Queda, thugs often make threats when they cannot actually DO something. That is most likely the case here. If they really wanted to bloody the Minute Men they wouldn't have sent out a warning first.
#13
I'm very concerned about the Minutemen and their approach to trying to close the border. I do expect one or two of them to be killed, either by coyotes, gang members, drug smugglers, or Mexican soldiers. If something like that DOES happen, and the President still refuses to do anything, I think every retired military guy in North America should join the Minutemen, and start patrolling, armed to the teeth and with air support, even if it's a Piper Cub and some dude with night-vision goggles. I think it's also time to start building that chain-link fence from Brownsville to the Pacific, juice it up with about 40,000volts at 120amps, add claymores, above- and below-ground motion sensors, and machine gun nests every 100 yards, an unpaved road, and several hundred motorcycle-riding militiamen swinging past on unscheduled patrol runs, complete with air support and 4-wheel-drive armed backup. This is not just a bunch of people coming north to work - this is a deliberate attempt to undermine our sovereignty in the Southwest, with fatal consequences to our Republic if it isn't stopped.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/28/2005 15:07 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Forgot to mention: Michelle Malkin has set up a group blog on Immigration issues. Stop by and check it out. Fred, can you get Michelle to link to Rantburg? I think you deserve it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/28/2005 15:10 Comments ||
Top||
#15
Mexicans want to live in America the easier way is to move the border south a bit. Start with Baja.
Police found and defused an explosive device outside the Spanish embassy building in Makati on Saturday evening, reports said. The Philippine National Police, however, said it was not part of a terror plot by the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group.
Deputy Director General Avelino Razon, chief of the National Capital Region Police Office, said the bomb found in front of ATC building in Makati is not similar to the bombs used by the bandit group in the past.
The bomb, which was placed inside a shoebox, contained black powder used in firecrackers and a cell phone.
Razon said even if the bomb exploded it would only cause minimal damage.
The discovery of the bomb followed police and the military assessments that threats from terrorists have been foiled because of the intensified security measures implemented during the Holy Week.
Earlier reports said ten members of regional terror group Jema'ah Islamiyah along with members of the Abu Sayyaf Group was planning bomb attacks in Manila during the holidays.
The report was issued after the arrest of an alleged Jema'ah Islamiyah member who claimed a terrorist plot was unfolding in several cities of the country.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/28/2005 12:22:44 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Syrian troops have abandoned their last air defence positions in neighbouring Lebanon and crossed the border home. Sunday's move is the last such redeployment expected this month, security sources said. Syrian air force units left a site in the area of Dhihayr al-Baydar and crossed the border into Syria, an Aljazeera correspondent in Lebanon reported. To the south of Bekaa province, a Syrian troop carrier was seen leaving a site in Bar al-Yas and heading to the border area of al-Masnaa. An estimated 1000 Syrian soldiers have left Lebanon in the past 10 days.
Facing international pressure and Lebanese protests, Syria has promised to withdraw all the military personnel, intelligence agents and equipment it poured into Lebanon early in the country's 1975-1990 civil war. Damascus has completed the first stage of a two-phase withdrawal plan, pulling back to the eastern Bekaa Valley and withdrawing more than a third of its 14,000 troops completely. Last week, it pulled troops out of around a dozen positions in the Bekaa. On Sunday, it left its two largest and last anti-aircraft positions, the Lebanese security sources said. A Syrian-Lebanese military committee is to meet in early April to set a timeline for withdrawing remaining forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 8:46:07 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
What air defence? Israel flew where ever they felt necessary.
#2
"During the Israel's Operation Peace for Galilee in 1982 Israeli aircraft struck Syrian surface-to-air missiles, resulting in the destruction of nineteen sites and the damaging of four. Israeli aerial mastery was confirmed in the skies over the Biqa Valley. At the conclusion of the first week of the war, after the participation of approximately 100 combat planes on each side, a total of 86 Syrian MiG-21, MiG-23, and Sukhoi-22 aircraft had been shot down with no Israeli losses.
When Syrian fighter aircraft scrambled to prevent Israeli aircraft flying over eastern Lebanon in November 1985, two Syrian MiG-23s were shot down in Syrian airspace. Syria responded by deploying mobile SA-6 and SA-8 SAMs into eastern Lebanon and by setting up SA-2 sites along its border with Lebanon. Thereafter, the potential for rapid escalation in Syrian-Israeli hostilities became a source of concern on both sides. Following the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, Syrian influence and control expanded to eastern Lebanon and the Biqa Valley, where Syria maintained about two divisions; about six divisions were redeployed in the Damascus-Golan Heights region.
Throughout the rest of the 1980s and into the 1990s Syria's Air Force experienced difficulties keeping its aircraft operational and providing sufficient flight hours for pilots. Syria was able to recently acquire Russian 14 Su-27Sks. The bulk of Syria's Air Force is comprised of Su-22s, MiG-23s and MiG-21s. The number of more modern aircraft is rather small, with only 20 Su-24s, possibly 14 MiG-29 SMTs, some 25 MiG-25s and 22 MiG-29s."
U.S. soldiers in Iraq captured 10 suspected terrorists during operations near the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said today in a statement e-mailed from Baghdad. In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead an Iraqi police colonel, Abdul Karim Fahid, and his driver. Farid, chief of one of two main stations in the capital's southern Dura district, was one of 13 people, many of them security personnel, killed in violence around Iraq. A group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the killing of Farid in a message on an Islamist Web site.
Troops from the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, arrested eight people in western Mosul yesterday suspected of attacking Iraqi security forces and ordering the March 20 assassination of General Waleed Kashmoula, the military said. Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment arrested two suspected terrorists yesterday during a cordon-and-search operation south of Mosul. The U.S. and Iraqi governments have blamed Zarqawi for organizing attacks on coalition soldiers and car bombings throughout Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 4:25:17 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'd love to believe this ties into the Iraqi Interior Min. statement that they have Zarqawi surrounded.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/28/2005 16:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I'd like the story better if they were not "captured" (I call bullshit on "arrested" - the army ain't cops) but killed.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/28/2005 18:06 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"captured" "dying terrorists" work for you?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/28/2005 20:18 Comments ||
Top||
#4
love the fact that they are doing cordon and search
Mar. 28, 2005 - However big a shock a recent suicide bombing in Doha was to the Qataris, it was far from unexpected in Western capitals, where intelligence agencies had discreetly put out a travel warning through their respective embassies. The emirate, a key ally in the Bush administration's war on terror, has been high on the terrorist target list ever since it became home to the U.S. Central Command's operational headquarters in early 2003. Just five days before the March 19 blast, which killed a British teacher and wounded 12 others, the State Department issued a general warning to all Americans travelling in the Gulf that "extremists may be planning to carry out attacks against Westerners and oil workers" in the region. What did surprise intelligence officials was the name of the group which claimed responsibility for the bombing: Jund al-Sham ("Soldiers of the Levant").
Although the group said that this was its first statement, Jund al-Sham is the same name as a group started by the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Intelligence officials believe it may be a sign that Zarqawi is beginning to attack targets outside Iraq, and may, in fact, be emerging as a replacement to Osama bin Laden as the operational leader of the global jihad. Analysts are concerned that Zarqawi may now begin to redeploy his cadre of militants who, having gained important combat experience in Iraq, are capable of carrying out deadly missions elsewhere.
According to Jordanian government sources and European intelligence documents, Zarqawi first set up Jund al-Sham in Afghanistan in late 1999 with $200,000 in startup money from bin Laden. The group's objective was to operate in a geographical area known as the "Levant," which encompasses Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan where al Qaeda's presence was deemed too weak. Headed by Zarqawi, Jund al-Sham federated about 150 jihadis, including Jordanian Islamic militants exiled by the Jordanian government earlier that year, as well as various recruits from Syria (some holdouts of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood), and Lebanon (mostly Palestinian refugees of the movement "Asbat al Ansar"). These militants were trained in explosive, guerrilla warfare and chemical weapons techniques at a training facility ("Al Matar Training Camp") operated by Zarqawi near the Afghan city of Herat, close to the Iranian border.
The Beginning of a New Phase?
The group's stated objective, according to Jordanian intelligence documents, was a compromise between Zarqawi's obsession to destabilize the Jordanian monarchy and bin Laden's desire to conduct major terrorist operations in Israel. From Herat and Kabul, where the organization had its headquarters, its members started planning several terrorist operations, including the "Millennium Bombings" in Jordan in December 1999. Most of these plots were fortunately uncovered by the Jordanian intelligence which had sent its own recruits to "join" Jund al-Sham in Afghanistan in 1999. After 9/11 and the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan, the organization was visibly disbanded and most of its members, including Zarqawi himself, fled back to their home countries through Pakistan or Iran.
Last week's bombing in Doha may signal the beginning of that phase. Even though very little is known at this point about the Egyptian computer expert who exploded his car next to the Doha English Speaking School, Jund as Sham's comeback on the global terrorist scene in a country so remote from its initial area of operation seems to validate a number of developments recently picked up by U.S. and Iraqi intelligence services. This information is increasingly interpreted as indicating that Zarqawi, has emerged as the most important operational leader of the global jihad and even a possible replacement to bin Laden as the figurehead of the movement.
New Networking
Although far from complete, the global investigation into last year's Madrid bombings showed for example that Zarqawi, through senior associates in Syria, Italy and Spain, has taken over most of al Qaeda's remaining European networks. These have been put to work since 2003 to recruit and send volunteers to fight the jihad in Iraq. Last summer, Pakistani military units operating around Gandola in South Waziristan discovered what they described as six "terrorist training facilities" of various size. In several of them, the Pakistanis recovered documents indicating that Islamic militants had been trained there and sent to join Zarqawi's organization in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Among these documents, according to Pakistani government sources, was the passport of one of Zarqawi's family members.
None of these trends, however, is more significant in validating the thesis that Zarqawi is growing in prominence than two recent developments. The first is bin Laden's purported message to Zarqawi, in which he showed his admiration for the Jordanian and urged him to take the lead in the global jihad and start planning operations in the United States. The second, no less significant, was the taped speech by Saleh al Aufi on March 17 (which, according to some U.S. intelligence officials, gave a green light to the Doha bombing), in which the man named by Saudi authorities as "Al Qaeda's commander in Saudi Arabia", specifically pledged allegiance to Zarqawi, in terms that left very little room for interpretation about his desire to place himself under the Jordanian's command. Moreover, according to recent European intelligence reports, there already are serious indications that Zarqawi's networks in Iraq are experiencing serious operational difficulties, and have started sending some of their recruits back to their home countries not only in the Middle East but also in Europe.
While it is too early to crown Zarqawi as the new head of "Jihad Inc.," and even if, according to Jordanian intelligence, he still very much aspires to that role, the thread of evidence indicating that he is fast moving in that direction is growing steadily. At a time when "Al Qaeda in Iraq's" toll is rising, its leaders arrested, and the overall foreign fighters phenomenon is increasingly isolated from the rest of the Sunni community in Iraq, there are more and more signs that Zarqawi has strengthened his control over parts of al Qaeda's "leftovers," and started putting in place the kind of global infrastructure with which to realize its global ambitions. While this could be a fairly encouraging tipping point in the Iraqi insurgency, it could emphasize a very significant shift in the larger war on terror: the regeneration of a global terrorist network which, far from being defeated, has learned from its operational failures and from the tactics of its enemies, In Iraq and elsewhere, to grow stronger, stealthier and deadlier. Alexis Debat, a former French Defense official, is a terrorism analyst and consultant to ABC News.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 3:25:05 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
short version: Zarqo is losing in Iraq. AQ cells in Euro and Mideast, while hard hit, survive. But are cut off from HQ in (Pakistani safe house/Iranian palace/Afghan cave - take your pick) And Zarq is taking over the networks, giving him a new life after Iraq.
So what - our strategy against the network - intell and LE against the network itself, military action,direct and indirect (support for locals) whereever the net threatens to establish a new base, and democracy promotion and econ. development and public diplo to drain the swamp -remains the same.
Note also - acknowledgement of the Iran-Hekmatyar ties.
#3
While it is too early to crown Zarqawi as the new head of "Jihad Inc.," and even if, according to Jordanian intelligence, he still very much aspires to that role, the thread of evidence indicating that he is fast moving in that direction is growing steadily.
The al-Qaeda troops in the field have only seen a public relations statement from Binny every once and a while, but no big operation.
Zarqawi is (at least in the Islamist media) waging a Holy war against the infidel American occupation forces on a daily basis. The fact they're getting their asses kicked doesn't seem to matter, he's at least doing something. From their perspective, he's the strong horse, so they flock to his banner. I've been saying for a long time that Zarqawi fancies himself wearing the Golden Turban. I know he's not one of the chosen people from the Magic Kingdom, he and his followers from non-Arab places like Europe may think otherwise.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 16:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Steve, can't you picture Zarq at the (hypothetical) Al-Q after action meeting, pacing around the table, waving his hands and saying, "After all I've done for you..."
#5
Zarqawi only gets to be the big guy because the top levels of the organization have been removed, one way or another. Not to mention a good portion of middle and bottom level personnel as well.
Iraqi security forces have surrounded Iraq's most-wanted terrorist, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the country's interior minister announced.
Unfortunately, he's using the word "surrounded" in it's Saudi form
"We have not arrested al-Zarqawi," Interior Minister Falah al-Nakib said during a news conference. "He is surrounded in a certain area, and we hope for the best. This operation is ongoing. We hope that the situation will be completely different in Iraq at the end of this year."
Al-Nakib said al-Zarqawi was moving in "more than one area," but declined to provide more details.
"I can say no more"
A video of the apparent murder of a kidnapped senior official from the Iraqi Interior Ministry was posted on the Internet on Sunday, purportedly by the Al Qaeda wing in Iraq. The group of Al-Zarqawi has claimed responsibility for some of the bloodiest attacks against U.S. troops and Iraq's forces.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 11:51:29 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'm taking this to be the looses possible definitions of "surrounded" ... In my head, I'm auto-translating this to mean, "We kinda know where he is ... we're keeping an eye out."
#5
Of course, the first question that comes to mind is why the Interior Minister is jawing this up right now. Better to first nab Zarqawi or pop him, then have a big publicity festival over it. Not goot to crow before you take over the chicken coop.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/28/2005 13:59 Comments ||
Top||
#6
He's been surrounded for 2 years. Its the capturing that seems to be the missing link.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
03/28/2005 14:22 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Is it too late to call in some Bangladeshi Police?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/28/2005 14:35 Comments ||
Top||
#8
note this is the OUTGOING Interior Minister, perhaps angling for a slot in the new govt?
#11
Prince Abadalah al Saoud said "The terr is completely surrounded. He is somewhere in a circle one thousand miles in diameter. We have one cop at
each of the cardinal points of that circle. Thus the guy is surrounded according to the Holy Quran"
3 pirates killed in intra-group clash
An armed clash between two rival groups of the pirates at Kokilmani area of the Sundarbans on Friday midnight left three men killed and several others injured. The dead could not be identified till yesterday noon. According to Swarankhola thana police of Bagerhat, the clash took place between the BDR Selim Bahini and the Rezaul Bahini over the supremacy and the share of booty.
"Yar! Git yur greasy mits off the booty, it's mine I tell you! All mine!"
Neither Bagerhat Police Super nor Assistant Forest Conservator of Swarankhola Range could be contacted for further information as they went to the spot on Saturday.
Top terror arrested from Rangpur town
KURIGRAM, Mar 27: An alleged top terror of the town was arrested in a joint drive from Kachari Bazar area of Rangpur district town on Thursday night, reports UNB. Police said listed terrorist Azizul, 25, resident of the town''s Choudhury para area was wanted in a number of murder and criminal cases. Acting on a tip-off, Kurigram Sadar thana police with the help of Rangpur police arrested Azizul from a tea stall. Hearing the arrest of Azizul, a number of people in the town brought out a jubilant procession and distributed sweets among the local people.
"Huzza! Sweets for all!"
4 terrorists held in Ctg
Mar 27: Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP) arrested four terrorist including two accused in Shariful murder case yesterday. A special team of Patenga thana police raided Najirpara area and arrested Baktier Bakkar (20) and Md Abdul Halim (26) who are accused in Shariful murder case at around 10 pm last night. Shariful Islam was killed by the muggers while he was returning to his residence from Patenga sea beach with his newly married wife at the Jhauban area of the port city on March 18 last. The police also arrested listed terrorists Md Yusuf (28) son of Shafir from west Nasirabad area and Hashem (28), son of late Nurul Bashar, from Middle Halishahar area.
Madrasa teacher rapes 9 female students
Nine resident students of Tongbhanga Dakhil Madrasa in Hatibandha upazila have allegedly been raped by their teacher Maulana Nazmul Haq. According to a delayed report from the remote village, one of the victims filed a case against the teacher with Hatibandha Police Station on March 21. Since then Haq has been on the run. The complainant told the police 13 of them lived in two rooms of the three-room Lillah Boarding adjacent to the madrasa. Haq, who occupied the third room as the caretaker, used to abuse them sexually.
The immoral conduct of the teacher first came to public knowledge when a resident student had an abortion early this month. Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Zakir Hossain who investigated the incident said the victim, a student of Class IX, was a hapless orphan. The rapist teacher delayed filing of the case by pledging to marry her, he added. The police officer said there were allegations that nine students had suffered rape by Haq. But, his investigations found four of them as raped, with two of them including the complainant forced to have abortions. Upazila Nirbahi Officer Joytirmoy Borman, who is the president of the madrasa managing committee, said Haq was suspended following the allegations.
Holy man raping students in a madrasa, gee, like that's never happened before. Should just hand him over to the mob
Policeman stabbed in Kurigram
A police constable was stabbed while arresting a local criminal Saturday night, in Kurigram. The victim, Maidul, 40, was stabbed by Mohan, 16, an accused in a number of cases when two policemen tried to arrest him, the police said. However he was arrested by the other member and was brought to the local police station. The injured constable was admitted to the Kurigram Sadar Hospital in a critical condition, while it was alleged that the criminal was beaten up at the police station and was also admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.
Fell down the stairs, 8 times.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 8:36:11 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Fell down the stairs 8 times in slow motion.
The Madrasa will get off he will claim he was just being holy and imitating allen.
It's wonderful to come back and see these reports.
The daily Iraqi corpse count. Today brought to you by Gulf Daily News...
At least 16 Iraqis, including three members of a Shi'ite political party, were killed in the country's latest incidents of violence yesterday, police sources said.
A suicide car bomber blew himself up last night in the path of a US military convoy in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, said police, but it was not immediately known if there were any US casualties.
Three members of the Badr Organistion, a Shi'ite political grouping, were killed on the road near Baquba, 60km northeast of the capital. Gunmen in another car pulled alongside their vehicle and shot them.
Iraq military forces and police were also targets of the seemingly relentless insurgent attacks. Three Iraq soldiers were killed and three more were wounded in separate attacks in and around Baquba.
Further north, four police were killed and six were wounded when rebels assaulted their police station in Tal Afar with mortars and small arms fire, said Salah Mohammed, a doctor at the Tal Afar hospital.
One civilian was killed and six others wounded when fighting erupted in Tal Afar between insurgents and the Iraqi army after one of their convoys was hit with a roadside bomb near the town's water pumping station, said police and medical sources.
In further violence, security guards opened fire on employees protesting salary cuts at the ministry of science and technology, killing one and wounding three others.
Iraq's parliament, due to meet tomorrow, seemed far from a deal on a coalition government, as the country's ethnic and religious factions bickered nearly two months after Iraq's historic January 30 election. Parliament, which held its inaugural session on March 16, will try to put to a vote tomorrow the crucial three-man presidency council that will appoint the prime minister even if political parties cannot agree on the rest of the government, Shi'ite negotiators said.
Loyalists of Al Qaeda's Iraq frontman, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, posted a video on their website yesterday showing the execution of a man who said he was an Iraqi colonel.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/28/2005 12:14:06 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
All is woe and horror! At least to this particular journalist, summarizing recent dispatches from AP/Reuters/whatever.
Um, yeah... How about that relentless march towards democracy, free trade, and self-government? There are a few MILLION Iraqis in that relentless movement. Guess that's not as much fun to report...
Posted by: Dar ||
03/28/2005 10:10 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I apologize. That should have been All is horror and woe! The original does not scan properly. Read both aloud: the first will just not feel right in the mouth.
KABUL: A Taliban commander has surrendered in Afghanistan as part of the government's reconciliation drive and another has been arrested, the defence ministry said on Sunday. "A Taliban commander Mullah Amanullah surrendered in response to the government's announcement," ministry spokesman Mohammed Zahir Azimi said, adding that he handed over his Kalashnikov rifle on Saturday. Amanullah was deputy to a frontline Taliban commander identified as Jahad Yar. Yar died fighting in northern Afghanistan before a US-led military operation toppled the hardline Islamic regime in late 2001.
Azimi said another Taliban commander Abdul Rahman, who was armed with a machine gun, was arrested in Zabul province 340 kilometers southwest of Kabul on Saturday. He gave no details. President Hamid Karzai and US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad have indicated that ordinary Taliban who are not linked to Al Qaeda or wanted for crimes against humanity would be welcome to return home and reintegrate into society.
This article starring:
ABDUL RAHMAN
Taliban
JAHAD YAR
Taliban
Mohammed Zahir Azimi
MULLAH AMANULLAH
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
:-D Afghanistan is definitely beyond the tipping point, and the bad guys are pouring out. A few years ago, who would have been so foolish as to believe such a thing possible?
A man was killed when a bomb went off on a road in Nauskhi, 135 kilometres west of Quetta, on Saturday night. The bomb also destroyed a number of shops and trucks parked nearby. The blast also damaged a government office in the square, AP quoted local police chief Ghulam Yasin as saying. He said the bomb had been planted in a drain. Meanwhile, the FC found a huge cache of arms and morphine in a raid in Dalbandin. The ammunition included six rocket launchers, mortar bombs and hand grenades. Balochistan has been the scene in recent months of small-scale bombings and rocket attacks targeting railroads, security forces, gas pipelines and power lines.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Morphine? I suppose that this refinement of opium is more compact, hence each mule-load brings in a higher sale price... Expert comment, please.
#2
Dunno TW , sounds like a small cache , along with medical supplies for the jhihad army of lions pussy cats. Not sure if its in their interests to waste time refining opium, best to get the 'crop' in and sell asap .
It doesnt say how the morphine was packed also, it could have been made outside Afganistan and imported (even though they are the biggest growers of opium anywhere) ..
just my opinion
#3
I'm afraid that my knowledge of the more recreational drugs (not to mention the realities of organized and disorganized violence) is far more theoretical than actual, MacNails. Your explanation rings truer than my supposition here -- thanks much. :-)
#6
If it was morphine then no doubt it should (if stolen/looted from medical facilities ,or UN or US/Allies supplies) have some form of stock code on each case to identify origin .. If its heroine or raw opium it will just be wrapped in some natural fibres .
#9
Google is your friend: Morphine Morphine base is an extract from opium. In pure form, morphine base is a white or light yellow crystalline powder. During traditional manufacture, some contaminants are carried along, adding a brown colour to the powder, almost like cinnamon. The morphine content in morphine base is usually somewhere between 60 and 90 per cent. Morphine base is not water soluble. Therefore it cannot be injected directly. For the injection of morphine base, some type of organic acid (commonly ascorbic acid, citric acid or tartaric acid) must be added to the mixture, which is then heated. Morphine is one of the most important medicinal drugs in contemporary medicine. Morphine base is converted into heroin base by achemical process using acetic acid anhydride.
Poppies - Opium - Morphine base - Heroin
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 12:26 Comments ||
Top||
Sudan's attorney-general said today he expected 72 men charged with attempting a coup in Khartoum would be sentenced to death because the evidence against them was so clear. A number of the men are members of the opposition Islamist Popular Congress (PCP), whose leader Hassan Al Turabi was jailed last September after the authorities accused his party of plotting to overthrow the government. Attorney General Mohamed Farid said Turabi would be released with all other political prisoners as soon as emergency law was lifted in Sudan - a step officials expect to follow the promulgation of a new constitution around May.
Farid said the 72 men, whose full trial will begin on April 2, had confessed to a legal committee in his office to plotting to overthrow the government. The men are charged with waging war against the state. "I expect that in these cases there is clear enough evidence and I expect that the death sentence will be issued for them," Farid told Reuters in his office. He stressed the sentence would be up to the court to decide. "Whether the court will decide this and whether they will implement the sentence after is up to them."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Islamist Popular Congress (PCP)"
PCP (Phenyl Cyclohexyl Piperidine) is an appropriate acronym for all Islamopigs.
"He stressed the sentence would be up to the court to decide"
...or the judge and his family will submit themselves for a buoyancy study in nearest river.
"Farid said the 72 men, whose full trial will begin"
So many Islamo martyrs, so few virgins. It is ironic that there are 72 men. I guess each man gets a bearded virgin.
Four naxalites, including a top leader of Praja Pratighatana group, were killed in an encounter with the police in Khammam district in Andhra Pradesh yesterday morning. Khammam Superintendent of Police Bhavna Saxena said the encounter took place around 10 a.m. near a hillock in Garla Bayyaram mandal on the Khammam-Warangal district border. Praja Pratighatana is one of the splinter groups of naxalites in the state. It is active mainly in north Telangana districts, particularly Warangal, Karimnagar and Khammam. Meanwhile, the Hyderabad City Police has mounted a campaign to exorcise the citizens of a ghost scare which has almost paralyzed night life in the Old City and other parts of this sprawling metropolis.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Meanwhile, the Hyderabad City Police has mounted a campaign to exorcise the citizens of a ghost scare which has almost paralyzed night life in the Old City and other parts of this sprawling metropolis."
Seventeen people were wounded when militants lobbed a grenade at a security bunker near a crowded bus stand in Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital. The grenade missed the target and exploded on the road injuring 17 pedestrians.
Oh. Gee. Golly. That's never happened before, has it?
Anyone with a decent throwing arm is drafted onto the cricket team
In other incidents, suspected rebels shot dead four people while two civilians were beheaded by rebels across the region. Troops have shot dead two senior commanders of a dominant rebel group, a police spokesman said Sunday. He said Ghulam Mohammed Malik and Mohammed Ashraf Padder were shot dead in separate clashes in northern Kupwara and southern Anantnag districts overnight Saturday. "Both were senior commanders of Hizbul Mujahedeen and were on the security force list of most wanted militants," the spokesman said. Hizbul Mujahedeen was one of the first rebel groups to launch an insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir in 1989.
This article starring:
GHULAM MOHAMED MALIK
Hizbul Mujahedeen
MOHAMED ASHRAF PADER
Hizbul Mujahedeen
Hizbul Mujahedeen
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Attackers have blown up a pipeline 60km west of Kirkuk, just a day after repairs to the route connecting the lucrative oil field to a major refinery in Baiji. Northern Oil Company fireman Abd Allah Hamad Ali confirmed the morning attack on Sunday. "The pipeline was only just repaired yesterday, but it has been attacked again." Firemen and police were putting out the blaze, he said. Oil exports from Kirkuk to Turkey have been shut down by incessant attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
The Philippines is verifying with the Iraqi military a report that Filipinos were among the anti-US fighters killed in an American-backed assault last week in Iraq. According to the US foreign affairs department on Sunday, Iraqi troops assaulted a resistance training camp in the country's central region last Tuesday - killing 85 suspected anti-US fighters. Among those killed were Iraqis, Filipinos, Algerians, Moroccans and Afghans, an Iraqi military official, Major General Rashid Filaigh, told Iraqi state television last week.
"The Philippine Embassy in Baghdad is inquiring with Iraqi military authorities for confirmation of that report," said Gilbert Asuque, spokesman of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila. "We want to have the basic facts before even venturing into the security implications of this," Asuque said. Hundreds of Filipinos joined Afghans who waged an armed resistance against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan. Among those Filipinos was Abd al-Razaq Janjalani, who returned home and founded the Abu Sayyaf seperatist group around 1990.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So I guess not all Filipinos bailed out of Iraq when the Phillipine Government caved to terrorist demands a few months back.
Posted by: Tibor ||
03/28/2005 11:47 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Most likely these are from the MILF / JI / Abu Sayyaf group.
#3
Hundreds of Filipinos joined Afghans who waged an armed resistance against the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan.
"Boys, I've got some good news for you. We've found a replacement training area to replace Afghanistan....."
Posted by: Steve ||
03/28/2005 12:40 Comments ||
Top||
#4
The Philippines is verifying with the Iraqi military a report that Filipinos were among the anti-US fighters killed in an American-backed assault last week in Iraq.
The United States: an equal opporunity terrorist killer.
Egyptian security forces arrested scores of members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday, but hours later the group demonstrated against the government. A Muslim Brotherhood spokesman, Mohammed Osama, initially put the number of arrests at 48, claiming most members were taken into custody during early raids in at least five different provinces. Hours later, group official Badr Mohammed Badr said 64 were detained, The AP reported. Top Brotherhood official and prominent physician Abdel-Monaim Abul-Fetouh and businessman Abdel-Fatah Rizq were among the detainees, according to Osama and Badr.
This article starring:
ABDEL MONAIM ABUL FETUH
Muslim Brotherhood
BADR MOHAMED
Muslim Brotherhood
MOHAMED OSAMA
Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
It said Yemeni security forces were hunting followers of slain anti-U.S. cleric 
A number of Omani citizens held late last year on charges of endangering the country's security are linked to a banned organisation. Oman's Attorney-General Hussain Bin Ali Al Hilali said in a statement that the authorities are close to completing an investigation into the matter. "The people held recently have links with a banned organisation," said the statement released through the official news agency ONA on Friday. The Sultanate had announced earlier this year the arrest of an unspecified number of people, saying they were suspected of endangering Oman's security. However, authorities have refrained from releasing any details about the banned organisation that they are allegedly connected with.
DOHA: Qatari authorities have detained for questioning the brother of an Egyptian man who allegedly carried out a recent suicide bombing that killed one Briton in Doha, relatives and work colleagues said yesterday. Um Abdallah said her husband, 
Four suspects were set to go on trial in Paris on Tuesday to face charges they helped murder Afghan leader 
Syrian troops have abandoned their last air defence positions in neighbouring Lebanon and crossed the border home. Sunday's move is the last such redeployment expected this month, security sources said. Syrian air force units left a site in the area of Dhihayr al-Baydar and crossed the border into Syria, an Aljazeera correspondent in Lebanon reported. To the south of Bekaa province, a Syrian troop carrier was seen leaving a site in Bar al-Yas and heading to the border area of al-Masnaa. An estimated 1000 Syrian soldiers have left Lebanon in the past 10 days. 
U.S. soldiers in Iraq captured 10 suspected terrorists during operations near the northern city of Mosul, the U.S. military said today in a statement e-mailed from Baghdad. In Baghdad, gunmen shot dead an Iraqi police colonel, Abdul Karim Fahid, and his driver. Farid, chief of one of two main stations in the capital's southern Dura district, was one of 13 people, many of them security personnel, killed in violence around Iraq. A group led by Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed responsibility for the killing of Farid in a message on an Islamist Web site. 
At least 16 Iraqis, including three members of a Shi'ite political party, were killed in the country's latest incidents of violence yesterday, police sources said.
KABUL: A Taliban commander has surrendered in Afghanistan as part of the government's reconciliation drive and another has been arrested, the defence ministry said on Sunday. "A Taliban commander 
A man was killed when a bomb went off on a road in Nauskhi, 135 kilometres west of Quetta, on Saturday night. The bomb also destroyed a number of shops and trucks parked nearby. The blast also damaged a government office in the square, AP quoted local police chief Ghulam Yasin as saying. He said the bomb had been planted in a drain. Meanwhile, the FC found a huge cache of arms and morphine in a raid in Dalbandin. The ammunition included six rocket launchers, mortar bombs and hand grenades. Balochistan has been the scene in recent months of small-scale bombings and rocket attacks targeting railroads, security forces, gas pipelines and power lines.
Sudan's attorney-general said today he expected 72 men charged with attempting a coup in Khartoum would be sentenced to death because the evidence against them was so clear. A number of the men are members of the opposition Islamist Popular Congress (PCP), whose leader 
Four naxalites, including a top leader of 
Attackers have blown up a pipeline 60km west of Kirkuk, just a day after repairs to the route connecting the lucrative oil field to a major refinery in Baiji. Northern Oil Company fireman Abd Allah Hamad Ali confirmed the morning attack on Sunday. "The pipeline was only just repaired yesterday, but it has been attacked again." Firemen and police were putting out the blaze, he said. Oil exports from Kirkuk to Turkey have been shut down by incessant attacks.
Egyptian security forces arrested scores of members of the banned 
