Saudi border guards arrested three Saudi men as they tried to cross into Yemen. They were planning to cross into Iraq and join the insurgency, security sources said. The three were arrested at the Al Wadiea crossing point on the Saudi side of the border in Sharoura province, sources added. The sources said one of the three, Mohammad Saleh Al Saiari, had been jailed for eight months in Saudi Arabia and spent four months in a prison in Syria. According to the sources, the owner of the car they were using was also arrested by Saudi security authorities. "Religious literature was found with the three in addition to a poem on terrorism, mobile phones and a large amount of cash," the sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
(scratches head looking at map) Funny, I don't see how Yemen is on the route from Saudi to Iraq. Maybe they were walking backward to confuse the cops?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 8:15 Comments ||
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#2
Spiritual descendants of "Wrong Way Corrigan"? Graduates of a particularly strict, Koran-focused madrassah?
Or just too macho to ask for directions...
"I don't need to stop and ask for directions, I know exactly where I am. Besides, using a map is un-islamic, Mohammad didn't have no damm maps! And you kids back there, be quiet or I'm turning this car around and going home right now!"
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 9:34 Comments ||
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#4
infidel maps, oh my.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2005 12:14 Comments ||
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Security forces arrested four people yesterday morning in Al-Naseem district, east of the capital, on the suspicion of being affiliated with those on the new list of 36 top terrorists. The Interior Ministry confirmed the arrests to Arab News saying that it was part of the âcombing operation which is taking place in several districts of the city.â The statement said: âSecurity officers arrested the suspects and are questioning them to find out their role in deviant activities.â The Interior Ministry did not mention the names of the arrested suspects or specify the charges that were filed against them.
On Tuesday, security forces in the capital began their second combing operation to flush out any terror suspects in Al-Murooj, King Fahd and Al-Khaleej districts. Twenty-five units from the security police, 10 units from the Special Forces Unit and 15 units from Riyadh Police Patrol Unit participated in Tuesdayâs operation. According to eyewitnesses in King Fahd district, police sealed off all entries and exits to the neighborhood and established a security checkpoint asking drivers in vehicles going in or coming out for their IDs and documents. They also gathered information from furnished apartments in the area and asked residents if they had seen any suspicious activities. Officers also asked citizens and residents alike for their legal papers in many byways in the district. Tuesdayâs combing of the three districts continued until 1 a.m.
The ministry said that more neighborhoods in the capital would be combed in the following days, without specifying any particular district. The districts of Al-Naseem, Al-Rawdah, King Fahd and Al-Suwaidi have been the most notorious in the capital for terrorist activities. Later in the day, a source said that police arrested three other suspects on Riyadh-Taif road yesterday. Arab News learned that the suspects were stopped at a security checkpoint on the road and were arrested after police became suspicious of the vehicle they were driving in. The ministry could not confirm whether the arrested were on the list of top terrorists.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
No names. Just four faceless turbans...
Round up the ususal suspects
Millions of people in Britain and elsewhere in Europe stood in silence for two long, quiet minutes today in memory of the victims of the terrorist bombings exactly one week ago when 52 people died on three subway trains and a red double decker bus.
The attack was the city's worst since the Second World War and rekindled resilience along with a sense of vulnerability after police identified the bombers as British citizens who blew themselves up at the height of the morning rush-hour.
Accusing Al Qaeda of responsibility, Prime Minister Tony Blair has blamed the bombing on "an extreme and evil ideology whose roots lie in a perverted and poisonous interpretation of the religion of Islam."
Even as investigators pressed a worldwide search today for the masterminds of the bombings, stores emptied, traffic halted and officer workers poured onto the streets in bright sunshine to observe the commemoration.
According to police accounts, the bombers began their murderous journey from the northern city of Leeds, where police raided six homes after identifying at least three of the suspects as residents. Police again cordoned off a part of Leeds today and ordered people to stay away, apparently as they looked for explosives.
The police investigation is now focused on a fifth man who may be the bomb-maker, investigators said.
Forty miles north-west of London police also continued searching a suburban house in the town of Aylesbury. A neighbor told Sky News the resident of the house had been a "man of African origin, maybe paler" whose wife was always veiled in public. But police have given no further details.
The fifth man police are searching for
was seen on a videotape with the four suspected bombers last Thursday morning at the Luton train station, according to an American official.
The four suspected bombers are seen leaving for a London-bound train, but the fifth man stays behind.
Investigators said the man is a British citizen, as were the four suspected bombers. While he is not "Anglo," said the American official, he is not of Pakistani descent. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to upstage the British on a case the two countries are cooperating on, added that British police investigators know the man's name but decided not to release it or his image.
This fifth man is suspected of being the ringleader and possibly the bomb maker, the official said, in the attacks last Thursday in the London Underground and on a double-decker city bus that killed at least 52 people. Investigators described him as a highly trained person.
On Wednesday, several American law enforcement officials identified one of the suspected suicide bombers as a Jamaican-born British resident named Lindsey Germaine. The other suspected bombers were of Pakistani descent and lived in the gritty working-class neighborhoods of Leeds.
Late Wednesday, the British police said officers had searched a home in Aylesbury, 40 miles northwest of London and close to Luton, but would not say whether anyone had been arrested.The developments Wednesday emerged as Charles Clarke, the British home secretary, offered the first official indication that British officials believed the four attackers were suicide bombers.
The attacks confronted Britons for the first time with a suicidal attack by British-born terrorists, apparently drawn from the ranks of disaffected Muslims and seeming to copycat attacks most Britons see only on their television screens from Israel or Iraq.
According to police accounts, the four men, aged between 18 and 30, gathered at King's Cross station at the heart of the London subway system and fanned out from there, detonating explosives on three subway trains and, almost one hour later, aboard a No. 30 bus.
One theory is that the men had aimed to strike at the four points of the compass on subway lines but were foiled by delays on a northbound line. The three Underground bombs exploded south, east and west of King's Cross.
"This is not an isolated criminal act we are dealing with," Prime Minister Tony Blair told Parliament. "It is an extreme and evil ideology whose roots lie in a perverted and poisonous misinterpretation of the religion of Islam."
Mr. Blair said his Labor Party planned to open negotiations with other parties on new antiterror laws.
"We will look urgently at how we strengthen the procedures to exclude people from entering the U.K. who may incite hatred or act contrary to the public good, and at how we deport such people, if they come here, more easily," Mr. Blair said.
Muslims and Christians alike have recoiled from the notion that the suspected bombers had emerged from the ranks of Britain's 1.6 million Muslims, who make up around 3 percent of the population.
"What we know now is appalling to contemplate," said Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservative opposition. "It will take us a long time to come to terms with the fact that these atrocities appear to have been committed by those who were born and brought up in our midst."
Mohammed Sarwar, a Muslim Labor member of Parliament, said, "We are deeply shocked that these are homegrown bombers, and the vast majority of the Muslim community condemn these barbaric attacks."
Investigators said authorities were concerned that despite Tuesday's raids on six homes in the Leeds area and the seizure of a car laden with explosives at Luton, some of the high-grade explosives used in the attack might still be unaccounted for. The police said Tuesday they had seized explosives from one of the homes in Leeds, and on Wednesday night, erected scaffolding and plastic sheeting around all six and refused to allow hundreds of residents to return to nearby buildings.
The investigators, who spoke in return for anonymity because they are not officially allowed to talk to reporters, said it was worrisome that the London bombers had gained access to such powerful explosives, possibly highly sophisticated plastic explosives from the Balkans.
Investigators were trying urgently to find out whether the bombers had contact with Al Qaeda operatives, possibly in North Africa.
Since the bombings, the police have given the impression that the attackers were what Mr. Clarke on Wednesday referred to as "foot soldiers," whose anonymity made it easier for them to slip through the net of the security services.
But after a meeting of European Union interior ministers in Brussels, Nicholas Sarkozy, the French ministry, said: "It seems that part of this team had been subject to partial arrest" in the spring of 2004. Mr. Clarke denied that any of the bombers had been arrested and released.
Mr. Sarkozy's aides scrambled later to say he had been referring to arrests among the broader Islamic movement, not the London bombers.
Before the meeting, Mr. Clarke said European nations had to defend their values of society "against those who would destroy it."
Without using the term "suicide bombing," he said: "That means standing out against, in a very strong way, anybody who preaches the kind of fundamentalism, as I say, that can lead four young men to blow themselves and others up on the tube on a Thursday morning.
"We have got to root out those elements from within our community that want to destroy it. That puts different burdens on all of us.
"We have to understand that these foot soldiers who have done this are only one element of an organization that is bringing about this kind of mayhem in our society.
"And we have to attack the people who are driving it, organizing it, manipulating those people," he said.
Pakistan's interior minister, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sheparo, said Wednesday that his country had given "information" to Britain about a possible attack before the British elections in May, but did not elaborate.
With government ministers warning that more attackers may still be at large, many Britons have shown themselves stoic, despite a rash of security scares across the capital as police investigate apparently suspicious packages.
"I'd rather catch a bus than a tube now unless I'm in a desperate hurry," said David Ellis, 45, an office worker awaiting a subway train at St. James's Park station. "Probably before long I will have forgotten about it. It sounds dreadful, but you just get on with life."
In radio talk shows and in e-mail messages to television stations, Britons seemed puzzled - and annoyed - about the causes of the attack. Some expressed frustration with the government's close alliance with the United States in its campaign against terrorism, which has led to two wars.
"We've got to look at the reasoning behind these things," said Saraj Qazi, a 25-year-old Muslim boutique owner in Luton, just north of London, where police suspect the bombers gathered for their final brief journey into the British capital on July 7.
"There's no denying it's payback for what's happened in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "You've been bombing people for the last two to four years, so you are going to get a backlash."
"England is a great country and we love it to bits but do we love this government? No," Mr. Qazi said. "There were 24 Muslims killed in Iraq today; there will be more tonight and more tomorrow."
The identification of the attackers as British-born Muslims has deepened the anxieties of Muslim leaders that they will face a backlash. There have already been incidents of mosques being attacked.
Mr. Blair, who met with Muslim legislators on Wednesday, promised immediate discussions with Muslim leaders to "debate the right way forward."
But, referring to Islamic extremism, he said, "In the end this can only be taken on and defeated by the community itself."
In Parliament, Shahid Malik, a Labor legislator from the same West Yorkshire area that was home to the bombers, said condemnation of extremists was "not enough and British Muslims must, and I believe, are prepared to, confront the voices of evil head on."
The notion of more draconian anti-terror laws has raised concerns that Britain will forfeit its long-standing commitment to tolerance and civil rights in the name of a war on terror modeled on that of the United States.
But Mr. Clarke, the home secretary, argued that civil rights had to be balanced against the needs of security.
"I argue that it is a fundamental civil liberty of people in Europe to be able to go to work on their transport system in the morning without being blown up or subjected to terrorist attack or to conduct their lives without being at risk of serious and organized crime," he said. "The question of civil liberties has to be treated in a proportionate way."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/14/2005 10:10 ||
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#1
Color me furious...
"We've got to look at the reasoning behind these things," said Saraj Qazi, a 25-year-old Muslim boutique owner in Luton, just north of London, where police suspect the bombers gathered for their final brief journey into the British capital on July 7.
"There's no denying it's payback for what's happened in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "You've been bombing people for the last two to four years, so you are going to get a backlash."
"England is a great country and we love it to bits but do we love this government? No," Mr. Qazi said. "There were 24 Muslims killed in Iraq today; there will be more tonight and more tomorrow."
Here is your "moderate, westernized" muslim.
1) Who the &*&&^* started this shooting war a lot more than 4 years ago?
2) Who the &*&&*+(&^T%TTY*)O(Y&^%&^&^ killed those 24 Muslims ( and a hell of a lot more ) in Iraq?
3) What the (^%**(($(&*&* reasoning is behind this?
As far as I can tell, there is a relatively small number of actual ACTIVE Islamonazis, BUT, there is a very, very, LARGE number, maybe even a majority, that has absolutely NO problem with what is done in the name of their religion.
To all those folks who say that "the solution to ending Isloterror must come from the "moderate" Muslims" I ask, "What if the MMM (mythical moderate Muslims) DON'T WANT THE TERROR TO END?? (see above)
#2
I don't think many of them in the UK do either. A common theme is how they consider themselves muslim first and a citizen of the UK second. That is in keeping with being a slave to your god in a religion that provides for only one form of legitimate government. It is in keeping with a religion that goes to great length to define the "us versus them" mentality behind the faith. On that basis the killing of your own countrymen in your nation because of the foreign policy of the nation's government that is perceived to be infringing on the lands and people of your coreligionists makes perfect sense. If this is indeed a perversion of their faith it has to be pretty close to the most ugly perversion imaginable. The community has no qualms about being persistently and publically vocal about headscarfs, koran besmirching, and other issues dear to them yet this and other daily "perversions" of the first degree have received relatively little of the type of condemnation one might expect would be reserved for such an ugly affront to the faith. The public explanation of this as a "perversion" doesn't fit with the reality of what can be seen in the UK.
#4
Why does backlash only work as an excuse for them, not for us? I mean, wasn't our invasion of Afghanistan backlash against their bombing of the World Trade Center? Can we use "backlash from the London bombing" as an excuse for our next operation against terrorists?
there are motivators, masterminds, operational assistants"
That is right. First some thought it was just al Qaeda, .001 of the Muslim population, and that was scary enough. While holding to that belief, some wondered why the Muslim clergy and the moderate Muslims were silent. Then some said it was the radical Wahhabi sect, and it was observed that they ran schools in the Middle East and in the US. While making these observations, some wondered why the moderate Muslim clergy was silent and why, again, were mainstream Muslims not standing up. Then some noticed that when the mainstream moderate Muslims would speak out, it was always with a caveat. "Islam condemns the the killing of innocent people, but . . .." It is then that the realization becomes clear, the mainstream Muslims are speaking out. The mainstream "moderate Muslim" fully supports the objective of the establishment of an Islamic Caliphate governed by Sharia everywhre there are Muslims - and there are Muslims everywhere. The "moderate Muslim" believes in the objective, but is afraid of the sacrifice to get there. The small minority of Muslims who truly dissent from the goals and aspirations of the jyhadists, are just afraid of the jyhadists themselves.
#11
THIS is what regular Moslems think: Saraj Qazi, a 25-year-old Muslim boutique owner in Luton, just north of London... "There's no denying it's payback for what's happened in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "You've been bombing people for the last two to four years, so you are going to get a backlash."
SUCH statements should be cause for jail and permanent banishment. Anything more sympathetic to Moslem mass-murderers should lead to trial for treason and the death penalty.
Are we waiting for them to use nukes against our cities?
#13
"SUCH statements should be cause for jail and permanent banishment. "
so much for free speech.
Lets review. Free speech means you have the right to call Islam an abomination, and to call for its abolition, even if I think thats a poor idea and that saying that undermines the WOT (which I do). Free speech ALSO means that somebody can say "ah, its all payback" though i find that despicable, and am troubled that some muslims are saying that.
#14
now i would NOT mind have any muslim who says "its all pay back" put on a watch list, and followed around, to see which mosques they attend, who they associate with, etc. I wonder if there would be any objection for similar treatment of those who call for nuking Mecca?
#15
Supporters of terrorist acts are not engaging in free speech. Just as someone shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater is not engaging in free speech.
As for razing Mecca, I support that OPTION in RETALIATION for the next ISLAMOFASCIST ATTACK on US soil. The same reason and mode of operation that led to nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And the same threat made to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Claro?
#18
It seems the "high grade" explosives was simple acetone peroxide made in a bath tub using common ingredients (sulphuric acid, acetone, hydrogen peroxide).
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 20:13 Comments ||
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#19
One form, triacetone triperoxide or TATP, is apparently used by Palestinian suicide bombers.
Was the "mastermind" a Palestinian "Engineer"?
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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#20
Liberalhawk, you would have lost us World War II with your moral equivalence lunacy. You could never have bombed the Germans or the Japanese -- you'd have just stewed in your arguments until one or the other of the hostile powers reached your doorstep and blew your brains out. I thought self-preservation was inate, but I was wrong. You deserve a Darwin award.
Name all the places that Islamic nutjobs are blowing people up recently. Go ahead. In just the last two weeks will suffice. London, Israel, Thailand, Turkey... Now name some recent bombings that were not carried out by Islamic nutjobs. World War III is breaking out, the enemy is clear, and you are not up to the task.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/14/2005 20:27 Comments ||
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#21
So the Egyptian chemist made the bombs.
Who is the "mastermind" ?
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 20:34 Comments ||
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#22
'cuz, of course, all of us advocating nuking Mecca spend the rest of our time running around building bombs to blow up Muslims, and when that doesn't work we string 'em up in a tree. Haven't you seen it on the news?
LONDON (AFX) - The fourth bomber who took part in the UK's worst ever terror attack last Thursday has been identified as Jamaican-born Briton Lindsey Germail, Sky News said, quoting police sources.
A convert to the ROP, no doubt
In addition, all four bombs have now been confirmed as suicide attacks, carried out by four Britons adhering to the Muslim faith; three with family roots in Pakistan, all of whom are thought to have died in the blasts. Personal documents belonging to three of the suspects were found at the blast scenes in central London -- but no such clues were found at the site of the King's Cross blast -- the worst of the four -- which left 25 people dead. Media have identified the other three bombers as Shehzad Tanweer, aged 22 yrs, Mohammed Sadique Khan, aged 30 yrs and Hasib Mir Hussain, aged 18 yrs, all from the northern English city of Leeds.
Additional: The fourth suspected suicide bomber behind attacks in London last week has been identified as a Jamaican-born Briton, Sky Television reported on Thursday citing a senior security source. Sky named the suspect as Lindsey Germail and said he was in his 30s. He was linked to a house in Aylesbury, about 40 miles (65 km) northwest of London, searched by police on Wednesday evening, Sky said. The BBC gave his name as Lindsey Germaine, as did the New York Times, citing American law enforcement officials. Sky said the suspect had links to the region of West Yorkshire where the three other suspected bombers lived. Asked about the reports, London police said they had not released details of the suspect.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 10:00 ||
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#1
Lindsey Germail, Jamaican born Briton...
The NY Yankees erred by not giving Cuban pitcher Fidel Castro a contract in the early 1950s...
Did Lindsey fail in his tryout for the Jamaican Bobsled team for the 2006 Winter Olympics???
#3
Born in Jamacia does not mean he's ethnically or culturally Jamacian. There are Arabs and Muslims in pockets throughout the carribean. I'm not sure what/where the name comes from.
Perhaps its time we supported the Jamiacans in spreading their culture of Rastafarianism. If all the druggies I've met the pot heads were the most mellow. Certainly gotta be better than Qat or whatever that junk the Yemenis and Somali's chew is called.
#4
Could work wonders for arab music also. I believe the boomer boy was a convert. Seen enough of that stuff to know it often means defective and damaged goods not representative of the product line.
#5
I'm hopeful that Ranking Roger is not involved.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2005 14:13 Comments ||
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#6
Lindsey Germail thought he heard ganja-weed but when he showed up in the Sudan to smokey a biggie spliff, he soon discovered that the ganja-weed his Muslims pals were talking about was the Islamist Janjaweed militia currently carrying out ethnic genocide.
Me thinks that's how Germail got involved in radical Islam. What the hell, it's a theory.
LONDON, July 14 (UPI) -- Anti-terrorist officers found a bath filled with explosives at a house said to be the "operating base" of the London bombers, reports said Thursday. The explosives were found at a house in the Hyde Park Road area of Burley, Leeds, according to the Independent newspaper. Greg Mulholland, member of Parliament for Leeds North West, said Wednesday: "It seems that this is an operating base for them. This is where the material may have been stored."
Army bomb experts carried out a controlled explosion to get into the house Tuesday, and around 600 people were evacuated from the area.
The discovery of such a large quantity of high explosives has raised fears among detectives that other bombs may have been made, and that further attacks are planned. UPDATE: The house at the centre of a major evacuation in Leeds during inquiries into the London bombings does not contain explosives, police now say. The Metropolitan Police said on Thursday it could not discuss whether any explosive material was found in any of the other houses searched, but officers in Leeds confirmed that material found in Hyde Park was not dangerous. On Thursday, a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "Following extensive investigations with the Army explosives ordnance disposal unit and specialist scientists, it has finally been possible to establish that the material is not hazardous and does not represent a danger to other residents.
In the wake of the revelation that the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers, police have been instructed to follow a "shoot-to-kill" policy. The advice has been circulated to chief constables, who have passed it to front-line officers, the newspaper reported. Armed police responding to alerts of a possible suicide bomber have been told to shoot the suspect in the head.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 08:54 ||
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#1
cough, cough*bullsh..*cough, cough.
Ok, let's look at this statement a bit more carefully, shall we.
The house at the centre of a major evacuation in Leeds during inquiries into the London bombings does not contain explosives, police now say. Because they have already removed them.
The Metropolitan Police said on Thursday it could not discuss whether any explosive material was found in any of the other houses searched, meaning, yes, they found some
but officers in Leeds confirmed that material found in Hyde Park was not dangerous. At least, not anymore.
#3
shoot the suspect in the head
The suspect? In the head?
That's after he's read his rights, right? No,no, wait, that'd be execution... I'm confused...
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/14/2005 9:36 Comments ||
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#4
Well, they wouldn't really shoot him in the head. They would arrest him, interrogate him, then go to recover his weapons stash in the middle of the night. Remember Bangledesh used to be a British colony.
If he keeps his hands in the air away from any trigger device, they most likely won't shoot. If not, well, remember Britian's most famous secret agent was "licensed to kill".
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 9:48 Comments ||
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#6
So what was in the tub? Cous-cous, a moonshine still? Inquiring minds want to know.
Previous stories said that military grade explosives were used, so mixing in the tub is unlikely. I would like to know the origins of the explosives and if non-western manufacturers add tags for easy identification.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2005 10:24 Comments ||
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#7
Paki imports, huh? you can bet it wasn't soap and water in the tub
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2005 10:33 Comments ||
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#8
mystery?
..just like the old country, baby turbans sh*t in the tub.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/14/2005 11:00 Comments ||
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#9
The shoot on sight seems to be very un British, sounds more like they have been getting advice from a certain modern demoracy in the middle east. On can hope they mean it and it's not just a fable.
"He was a quiet boy, kept to himself"... Hat tip Jihad Watch
By Russell Jenkins, Dominic Kennedy, David Lister and Carol Midgley of The Times
SHEHZAD TANWEER, ALDGATE
He may have been a good-looking, sporty lad with a lean physique and fashionably dyed hair but Shehzad Tanweer had no interest in chasing girls and was happier devoting his spare time to prayers.
In the past six months the 22-year-old suicide bomber had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, bringing him into contact with al-Qaeda trainers and propagandists. In his final months, the cricket and ju-jitsu enthusiast, nicknamed âKhakaâ, was said to have turned into a quiet loner, always politely eschewing company by saying he was on his way to a mosque or a prayer meeting.
An uncle, Bashir Ahmed, 52, said he feared that the large, close, extended family would now have to leave Leeds, the city they have made home for a generation after leaving the Faisalabad area of Pakistan for a better life. Mr Ahmed, speaking outside the fish-and-chip shop run by Shehzadâs father, Mumtaz, said the young man had done a âterrible thingâ. But he did not blame his nephew for the bombing, saying instead that it was the fault of âforces behind himâ.
He said: âShehzad had never been in trouble before. So what drove him to do it? It canât be him. It must be something else behind him.
âIt has come as a complete shock. He was respected by everybody and respected everybody in return. We were respected by the community â but how is the community going to treat us now?â
Shehzad never expressed an interest in politics but was a devout Muslim. Saj, a friend bearing an Arabic-script tattoo on his arm, said Shehzad âwas a quiet lad, religious. He used to go to every mosque in Beeston and there are loads of mosques around here.â
Mahmood Khan, who worked in the chip shop, South Leeds Fisheries, said: âShehzad was very religious. He used to go to the mosque a lot. He didnât like girls. He didnât have many friends but he was a nice, quiet person.â
Shehzad, who lived at 51 Colwyn Road, Beeston, used to volunteer to play sports with children at a local community centre.
In the period leading to his death, Shehzad and a friend left Leeds for days at a time, but nobody knew the purpose or destination of their travels.
Arif Butt, a community elder at Stratford Street mosque, said: âI feel for all the family. They are a very well-respected family. Shehzadâs father is a very well-respected businessman.â
MOHAMMAD SIDIQUE KHAN, EDGWARE ROAD
Mohammad Sidique Khan had a trusted job as a primary school teaching assistant working with children from poor and vulnerable families arriving in Britain.
Khan, 30, who ran an Islamic bookshop, was employed as a âlearning mentorâ in an inner-city district with a high proportion of asylum-seekers, homeless families and battered wives.
His mother-in-law, a highly respected Asian volunteer worker, was invited to Buckingham Palace to be honoured by the Queen for a lifetime of community work, particularly with women.
Khan was one of two learning mentors employed at Hillside Primary School in Beeston, which had such a high turnover that 75 per cent of pupils could change in a year. His task was to liaise with childrenâs previous schools on their special needs and to assess their learning skills. On their first day at school, children would rely on Khan, who was their official âbuddyâ. He was given the privileged position of sitting, with the head teacher, through interviews with new families to the area. Many were single mothers, fresh immigrants, refugees or victims of domestic violence.
In 2002 he gave an interview to The Times Educational Supplement about his unusual job, claiming his role helped children to settle. âA lot of them have said this is the best school they have been to,â he said.
He also gave a fascinating hint of his own smouldering political anger and dissent. As a Beeston resident, he expressed his discontent with the communityâs squalor, saying he believed it would be many years before regeneration cash would transform the area.
Khan moved to a council house in Lees Holm, Thornhill, Dewsbury, six months ago and became a liaison officer in another local school. His wife, Hasini Patel, is said to have held anti-Taleban, pro-women views at odds with her husbandâs version of Islam. She also worked in education as a âneighbourhood enrichment officerâ. They had a baby daughter in May last year. But the pressure on their marriage was too strong and the couple were said to have separated.
They previously lived in Dewsbury, in a bungalow with his mother-in-law, Farida Patel, and members of the extended family. That home was raided by 50 police officers on Tuesday morning. As a dinner lady and sports superviser, Mrs Patel became well known and popular in Dewsbury before her retirement. She also worked as a bi-lingual teacher.
The Patels were known opponents of Muslim extremism and supporters of womenâs rights. They have been devastated to learn of Khanâs role.
Khan, born in Leeds, has never been seen in the local Daulim Mosque in Dewsbury and his fanatical religious views have come as a surprise in the locality.
HASIB HUSSAIN, No. 30 BUS
The youngest suicide bomber was sent to his familyâs native Pakistan after becoming a troublesome teenager. Hasib Hussain returned a disciplined, chastened young man.
Hussain 18, came from a respectable household in a back-to-back terrace. But he faced a bleak future when his school withdrew him from all GCSE examinations after he went through what was said to be a disruptive stage.
Religion inspired his change of heart. He made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca as well as visiting Pakistan. Police will be trying to discover whether Hussain, who blew himself to pieces along with 12 passengers on the No 30 bus in Tavistock Square, adopted his radical views at home or abroad.
Neighbours in the Leeds inner-city community of Holbeck, a poor area behind the central business district by-passed by motorways and fly-overs, were stunned yesterday by the news that he had made the transformation into a suicide bomber.
Before he visited the Middle East, Hussain lived in a close-knit world of friendly faces. He was born on September 16, 1986, into the Victorian redbrick house in Colenso Mount where his family still lives.
Yesterday the area was sealed off by armed police.
He grew up playing football with other children in the back alleys under their mothersâ gaze.
He went to the Ingram Road nursery, around the corner from his home, progressed to the primary school a few yards further away, and then the Matthew Murray high school, renamed South Leeds High School. None was more than a five-minute walk from the house of his parents, Mahmoor and Maniza.
His journey always took him past the corner shop run by Ajimal Singh, who looked drawn and saddened yesterday. âHe used to come in here for sweets and pop when he was a schoolboy,â Mr Singh said. âHe is from a very good local family. He has a brother who is a very nice man.â
South Leeds High School said, in a statement through Leeds Council: âHe was a good attender and there is nothing unusual about his school records except he was withdrawn by the school from all of his GCSEs, except GNVQ business studies.â
Hasib used to make a seemingly unnecessary 20-mile round trip to Dewsbury to worship. Mohammad Sidique Khan, the oldest suicide bomber, had a home in the town.
Last week Hussain, who was unemployed, told relatives that he was going to London to attend a religious lecture. When he failed to return, his family, frantic with worry and in complete ignorance of his mission, contacted the police casualty bureau to report him as a missing person.
His driving licence and cash cards were found in the wreckage of the bombed-out bus. The find led police to the Leeds suicide bomb cell.
#1
In the past six months the 22-year-old suicide bomber had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan,
How exactly does one go from Britain to Afghanistan these days? I don't think British Airways has a direct flight. Gotta connect through Karachi or Islamabad (there's a name) or somewheres.
"Hokay, Mr. Tanweer, you're booked on BA flight 123 to Kabul via Karachi, seat 17A. That's a window seat. Will you need a return flight?"
"Um, depends. Say, how much luggage can I bring home?"
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2005 9:57 Comments ||
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#2
"In the past six months the 22-year-old suicide bomber [Shehzad Tanweer] had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, bringing him into contact with al-Qaeda trainers and propagandists."
"Hasib used to make a seemingly unnecessary 20-mile round trip to Dewsbury to worship."
"They previously lived in Dewsbury... Khan, born in Leeds, has never been seen in the local Daulim Mosque in Dewsbury and his fanatical religious views have come as a surprise in the locality."
Never been seen by whom? I'm betting they've all spent time in the Dewsbury mosque. You want to know more about the problem? Read this:
http://www.meforum.org/article/686
It will scare the Hell out of you!
Excerpts:
"These pilgrims are no ordinary Muslims, though; they belong to a movement called Tablighi Jamaat ("Proselytizing Group"). They are trained missionaries who have dedicated much of their lives to spreading Islam across the globe."
"As early as 1978, the World Muslim League subsidized the building of the Tablighi mosque in Dewsbury, England, which has since become the headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat in all of Europe."
"The West's misreading of Tablighi Jamaat actions and motives has serious implications for the war on terrorism. Tablighi Jamaat has always adopted an extreme interpretation of Sunni Islam, but in the past two decades, it has radicalized to the point where it is now a driving force of Islamic extremism and a major recruiting agency for terrorist causes worldwide."
This is a deadly cancer in our midst.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/14/2005 10:12 Comments ||
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#3
Do any muzzie men under the age of 35 work at all? Except has freelance boomers? Is it the smell or is it the fierce weirdness in their eyes? That certain illogic noted by all but the truly comotose?
In the past six months the 22-year-old suicide bomber had travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, bringing him into contact with al-Qaeda trainers and propagandists
I thought that an odd comment. Ahhh..yes, a little trip here (pakistan) and there (afghanistan) where one comes in contact with AQ trainers and propagandists. yep, yep, all to be expected on a sporty looking lad's little trip away from home.
Here is a quesetion. How do the security services not notice the said sporty looking lad's been to both Paksistan and Afghanistan. Is there no system in place to raise a red flag?
I realize it's hindsight - but not exactly rocket science, if you know what I mean.
Youre damned right, and as you point out its out in the open. Its not all that hard for experts to discern which the fanatic ultra-Wahabi mosques are. We need to open a new front in the War. What to do with these mosques and madrasas?
Im leaning toward the notion of shutting these extremist wahabi institutions, and deporting their imams. For the good of the other muslims, as well as everyone else.
#7
If Islamofascist imams are dangerous enough to be deported, that's the same as sending criminals to the next town instead of jailing or executing them.
This War requires a radical re-thinking of how we deal with group leaders who plan and advocate the initiation of force against the West. Israel has learnt certain lessons. When shall we?
#8
"Im leaning toward the notion of shutting these extremist wahabi institutions, and deporting their imams. For the good of the other muslims, as well as everyone else."
Not bad - you've come a long way, baby. Like li'l Danny Pipes.
So, um, what about their "followers?
You DO know, of course, that any Muzzy can be an imam, right? If someone is willing to attend their "prayers" then they are "imams" - just like Muzzy "clerics" - any "pious" Muzzy can be a "cleric". So when you dump the imam, one of his lieutenants steps forward and, now armed with the emotion of the freshly departed asshat, steps up the volume and virulence of the same message... y'know the message the other guy was pitching that these followers found palatable enough to attend in the first place.
You follow me, buddy? C'mon, take one more step toward the reality.
#9
An uncle, Bashir Ahmed, 52, said he feared that the large, close, extended Camel family would now have to leave Leeds, the city they have made home for a generation after leaving the dirtbag area of Faisalabad, Pakistan for a better life. Mr Ahmed, speaking in giberish outside the fish-and-chip shop run by the turd bugger Shehzadâs father, Mumtaz, said the young man had done a âterrible thingâ but Allah was surely pleased. But he did not blame his nephew for the bombing, saying instead that it was the fault of âforces behind him. His butt was always bleeding, the Mullahs never let him be on topâ.
#10
Shehzad never expressed an interest in politics but was a devout Muslim ie: wanted to kill anyone who isn't a Muslime. Saj, a friend bearing an Arabic-script tattoo with the name of his goat herd on his arm, said Shehzad âwas a quiet lad, religious, you can tell he killed infidels, you call them humans. He used to go to every Islamic mosque in Beeston and there are loads of whores in the mosques around here.â
Mahmood Khan, who worked in the chip shop, South Leeds Fisheries, said: â He didnât like girls.â
You just can't make this crap up.
Arif Butt, a Muslime community elder at Stratford Street sand people mosque, said: âI feel for all the family. They are a very well-respected family. Shehzadâs father is a very well-respected businessman.â Note that Arif Butt as a good Muslime didn't mention the victims of this rock ape!
An article linked by John below.
No suprises here, but lets see what is done about it. Certainly all the revelations that came out of the Willie Brigitte case (an attack in Australia was prevented) did nothing to halt the Lashkar's training infrastructure. It seems they do far to valuable work in Kashmir and elsewhere to be disposed of by the Pakistani establishment.
ONE of the suicide bombers who struck in London was probably recruited when he attended a religious school in Pakistan with strong links to al-Qaeda and its south-east Asian offshoot, Jemaah Islamiyyah, The Scotsman can reveal. Security sources in Pakistan are investigating a tip-off that Shehzad Tanweer attended a religious school run by the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) during a recent visit to the country. The group's founder has publicly stated that he believes suicide bombing to be the "best form of jihad [holy war]". In fact, Hafiz Saeed doesn't seem to utter a sentence without the word Jihad in it.
Yesterday, British police and security services were concentrating their efforts on tracing the man who masterminded the attacks. They now know the identity of all four bombers but are understood to be looking for a fifth man who appears on the CCTV footage from King's Cross. His picture has been distributed to police in London. There was also a fresh warning from Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, that a "large number" of people in Britain had been through radical camps abroad. Presumable the Pakistani handler was a Lashkar operative who has returned to Pakland. If there is an Arab involved he probably gave the go-ahead for the attack.
The family of Shehzad Tanweer - whose bomb killed six people on a Circle Line train to Aldgate last Thursday - were yesterday said to have been "left shattered" by the news that the 22-year-old was a suicide bomber. His uncle, Bashir Ahmed, 65, said his nephew went to Lahore in Pakistan for two months earlier this year to study religion, but was "proud to be British". Pakistani investigators suspect that Tanweer attended one of the many madrassas, or religious schools, run by LeT, which is based in Lahore. The group, which also operates under the name Jamaat ud-Daawa (the party of preaching), has close ties with al-Qaeda and access to munitions and safe houses. Abu Zubaydah, a senior al-Qaeda lieutenant, was seized in an LeT safe house in Faisalabad in March 2002. The group has also been linked with Hamas the ISI and Jemaah Islamiyyah, and Indian security forces believe it is playing a significant role in channelling militants into Iraq. Most of its membership of several thousand have been through madrassas in Pakistan, and many are familiar with the use of explosives. The group maintains links with other terrorist networks and it is known to solicit donations from the Pakistani community in the UK through its charitable wing.
LeT was founded by Hafiz Saeed, a former professor at Lahore's University of Engineering Technology. In April 2003, he defended the use of suicide bombing, saying: "Suicide missions are in accordance with Islam. In fact, a suicide attack is the best form of jihad. Jihad is prescribed in the Quran. Muslims are required to take up arms against the oppressor. The powerful western world is terrorising the Muslims. We are being invaded, humiliated, manipulated, and looted. How else can we respond but through jihad?" The group runs a number of madrassas, including the Darasitul Islamia madrassa, where six Malaysian students were arrested in 2003 on suspicion of training for Jemaah Islamiyyah activities in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/14/2005 08:43 ||
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#1
If 9/11 was cause for an ultimatum to the Taliban government for the surrender of Al Qaida leadership, 7/7 should be cause for an ultimatum to the Pakistani government to surrender Lashkar-e-Taiba leadership.
#2
LeT trained many of the folks in Afghanistan and so did the ISI. LeT has also trained many of the AQ bad guys out there.
The US must force Pakistan to shut down its camps or blow them up themselves in that they are training most of the terrorists out there. Look at the cells broken up in Brroklyn, in Seattle, in Virginia, in Lodi etc. All trained in Pakistan.
#3
OK, I am awaiting a speech by Blair and Bush giving an ultimatum to Pakistan: close down all LeT madrassas and training camps, and surrender LeT leadership.
#4
Check this out:
http://www.meforum.org/article/686
If it's too much for you to read, start at the sentence preceding reference number "[10]". The 7/7 bombers had lots of ties to Dewsbury. Be sure to read well into the "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" section. Good targets are listed in the first paragraph of the article.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/14/2005 19:42 Comments ||
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London's four suspected suicide bombers had wanted to scar the city with a "burning cross" of blasts in its north, south, east and west, in the hope of being declared Islamic martyrs, a newspaper has claimed. The theory came as a global manhunt began for the man suspected of being the mastermind behind the suicide bombings.
And his name is...?
The four suspects were caught on security cameras at London's Kings Cross station, heading off in different directions shortly before the three bombs went off near Aldgate, Edgware Road and Russell Square Underground stations early last Thursday. A fourth bomb exploded on a bus nearly an hour later. Police suspect three of the young men carried bombs east, west and south, while a fourth had planned to take the north-bound Northern Line, but, as this was disrupted, he changed plans and boarded a bus, London's Evening Standard said. Investigators have developed the "burning cross" theory based on an internet statement by a shadowy group calling itself the Organisation of al-Qaeda Jihad in Europe, which claimed responsibility for the blasts, the paper said. Now police are looking for a British-born man in his 30s, of Pakistani origin, who arrived at a British port last month and left the country again the day before the July 7 attacks, The Times newspaper reported. Additional: The leader of the terrorist cell is understood to have been involved in previous terrorist operations and have links with al-Qaida in the United States.
I'm surprised. I'd have thought they'd be looking for a Soddy or an Egyptian in his 30s, who arrived last month and departed the day before the attacks. But maybe that's the Mastermind⢠behind the one they're looking for...
Perhaps only his passport is Pakistani
Security experts say the four first suicide bombers - all British-born men of Muslim Pakistani origin, would have received training and direction from a more senior militant for the attacks that killed at least 52 people and wounded hundreds, including 10 Australians. That raises the prospect of the bombmaker still at large and maybe that future suicide bombers have already been armed. "Clearly there will be people behind this group and involved in this and clearly we are seeking those people," a police spokesman said. "The assumption has got to be they weren't acting alone."
I believe the Indons rounded up about 40 bad guyz in the wake of the Bali bombings, though the core organization was about a dozen men, to include the Mastermindsâ¢. The May, 2003, Soddy operation produced the list of the 19 Most Wanted. If I remember correctly, which I probably don't, the Casablanca booms produced a similar number. So we're probably looking at between a dozen and 20, counting the dead bad boyz.
Police additionally want to interview an Egyptian-born university lecturer who was teaching in Leeds until a few weeks ago.
Ahah. I knew he'd be there someplace...
According to The Sun newspaper, the man, who it named as 33-year-old Magdi El-Nashar, was studying for a biochemistry doctorate at Leeds University and disappeared just before the attacks, possibly to Egypt. At least two of the bombers had links to his rented flat, which is one of six addresses in and around Leeds raided by police on Tuesday morning, the report added.
So Magdi, assuming he's the guy, would be the actual in-place controller and maybe the recruiter, while Mr. Harkat U. Mujaheddin, from Lahore, would be the runner, providing the training and bringing with him the Fraternal Greetings⢠of Binny or Ayman or whoever else is the godhead of the operation. The other Arab, the shadowy background guy, would be the guy who knew the logistics part of it, which'd be other, isolated cells. They'd be the guys who got the explosives into the country...
Additional on Magdi:The Times of London, quoting unidentified police sources, said detectives were interested in locating Magdy el-Nashar, 33, an Egyptian-born academic who recently taught chemistry at Leeds University. The Times said he was believed to have rented one of the homes being searched in Leeds. A spokesman at North Carolina State University said el-Nashar studied chemical engineering there, beginning in January 2000. Saad Khan, the chemical engineering department's director of graduate programs, said he remembered that el-Nashar applied for admission while living in Egypt. But by the end of the spring semester, el-Nashar had changed direction and decided to pursue a doctorate at Leeds instead, Khan said. In a statement Thursday, Leeds University said el-Nashar enrolled in October 2000 to do biochemical research, sponsored by the National Research Center in Cairo, Egypt. It said he earned a doctorate May 6. "We understand he was seeking a postdoctorate position in the U.K.," the university said. "His visa was updated by the Home Office earlier this year. He has not been seen on the campus since the beginning of July."
Neighbors said el-Nashar recently left Britain, saying he had a visa problem, The Times reported.
Chemistry prof could make him a candidate for the bomb maker
Late Wednesday night, anti-terror police spread their search to the market town of Aylesbury, about 64km north-west of London, searching one residential address but making no arrests and finding no explosives.
Dunno if they're following up the boyz' contacts or if they're looking for second-wave boomers. So far we haven't seen a second wave in any major operation...
The bombers' background became the subject of a row between London and Paris, with Charles Clarke, the interior minister, denying comments by his French counterpart that British police had arrested some of the suspects in the past. "It is completely and utterly untrue. I am absolutely staggered he should make that assertion," Clarke told Sky TV. He later told Channel Four News, however, that the police and intelligence services were looking at any previous brushes with the law the suspects may have had. A British police source said it was possible some of the men might have come to the attention of police in the course of normal criminal investigations.
I'd be surprised if they had, though it's common enough to use professional criminals in Pakland...
The BBC said two of the suspected bombers had been arrested for minor offences in 2004 and released with a caution - one for disorderly conduct and one for shoplifting.
That's not even minor dirty in this day and age...
The BBC also said police were hunting a fifth man, connected to the attackers, but not one of them. The report could not be confirmed by a London police spokeswoman. Police were granted a warrant enabling them to continue questioning until Saturday a man arrested in West Yorkshire on Tuesday in connection with the attacks.
This is the moment of truth for the Brit police. The Indons have already been down this road, though they do use truncheons. So have the Moroccans. So have we. So have the Russers, though I doubt if the Brit police will devastate Leeds...
In Pakistan, an intelligence official said one of the dead men, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, had been in the Lahore area from December to February. There he stayed at a madrassah, an Islamic religious school of the type widely seen by security agencies as breeding grounds for militancy.
Gee, golly, gosh! Who'da thunkit?... Ummm... Which one?
The Muslim Council of Britain said it was stunned that those claiming to share its faith seemed to be behind the attacks. "Nothing in Islam can ever justify the evil actions of the bombers," secretary-general Iqbal Sacranie said in a statement.
Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. Heard it all before. Are you turning out your membership to track down and hand over to the cops all the hard boyz associated with the perps? Then shuddup.
Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Britain to be tolerant amid fears of a backlash against its 1.6 million Muslims.
The obligatory glass of warm milk...
He said he would look urgently at new measures to tackle extremism, including boosting efforts to stop people entering the country to stir up hatred. In Brussels, Blair was backed by French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in calling for tighter European border controls. Sarkozy also said there was a strong suspicion the explosives used in the bombings came from the Balkans or eastern Europe.
My guess would be Bosnia, which needs to be cleaned out...
Sarkozy called for EU member states to exchange intelligence on "radical Muslim preachers and imams whose actions disrupt public order by their support for violence, hatred and discrimination", according to his speaking notes.
And then they should hunt them down and kill them like dogs.
#4
good point, rj. I don't buy this whole cross thing. Why would Muslim fanatics want to make a cross. Seems like some sort of Al'G confused fetish fantasy to me.
As police step up the hunt for the mastermind and a fifth man believed to have been linked to the gang of bombers who last Thursday perpetrated the worst terrorist outrage in England in which at least 52 people died, the government has announced that it plans to introduce an array of tough new anti-terrorist laws.
Still no name for the Mastermindâ¢. I'm guessing there's an 80 percent chance he's not a Pak...
There is strong speculation that this fifth man organized the Luton end of the operation, and may have been the explosives handler or even the bombmaker. However, anti-terrorist and international intelligence agencies are also hunting for an Al-Qaeda operative, who British police believe was the mastermind behind the bombings and who has since fled the country.
The Mastermind⢠behind the Mastermindâ¢? And behind him another Mastermindâ¢... And behind him...
... a number 3 ...
Helmut, who speaks for Boskone
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile, is to host a summit of Muslim leaders at No. 10 Downing Street next Tuesday in an effort to deal with a potential backlash against the countryâs 1.6 million-strong Muslim community and how it can tackle rising radicalism among a minority of young British Muslims.
I'd suggest shutting down organizations like al-Muhajiroun, tossing the spittle-spewing holy men from the country or jugging them until sometime around Doomsday, and working on turning them into Englishmen (or Welshmen or what have you), rather than Paks...
Police last night carried out nine controlled explosions to get access to a car used by three of the bombers believed to be 19-year-old Hasib Hussein, 30-year-old Mohammed Sadique Khan, and Eliaz Fiaz, to drive down to Luton before embarking on that fateful murderous journey on the Thameslink to Kingâs Cross where they met up with the fourth bomber, 22-year-old Shezad Tanweer. The car contained explosives which were believed to be unstable; and was subsequently removed for forensic analysis.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
"The Times reported that the mastermind of the attacks was a Pakistani in his 30s who arrived through a British port last month but left a day before the bombings." link
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 6:33 Comments ||
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Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) has been co-ordinating the activities of the IIF since 2003 due to the disruption in the command and control of the Al Qaeda.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 6:50 Comments ||
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#4
Mastermind. I see BBC finally decided on a word to use instead of terrorist.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 7:36 Comments ||
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#6
Nine controled explosions to get access to one car? Must be a lot of doors on that garage or it's a stretch limo.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/14/2005 7:38 Comments ||
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#7
Best way to the Muslems avoid a backlash:Put together a list of all of those who support/preach violent Jihad,kick them out of the local religious communities and turn the list over to the authorities in well publisised event.That would go a long way toward showing that the moderate Muslems do not supprot the terrorists,and are doing what they can to put a stop to the extremests.My druthers would be for the Moderates to shoot them and hang a sign around thier necks that say's something along the lines of"This Muslems terrorist is a gift from us Moderates to the people of Briton".
Police sources told the BBC the fourth bomber was Jamaican-born Lindsey Germaine.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 9:58 Comments ||
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#10
Yes, education is the answer.
Mohammed Atta had a Masters degree in Civil Engineering from a German University.
Ayman Al Zawahiri is a Medical Doctor.
Osama bin Laden is an engineer.
Omar Sayeed Sheik who wired $100,000 to Mohammed Atta on the orders of Pak ISI Chief General Mahmoud Ahmad and who later killed WSJ reporter Daniel Pearl left his $500,000 a year job as an investment banker in London to fight jihad in Kashmir.
"One place we know all these people went to is not youth clubs or mosques or madrasas. They all went to our schools from four to 16. So why aren't our schools giving positive role models or teaching them about the history of Islamic mathematicians and artists? Why are their role models mujahideen in Afghanistan?"
Sadiq Khan, Labour MP for Tooting and formerly a civil liberties lawyer
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 10:21 Comments ||
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#13
1)Declare Islamism to be a form of dangerous insanity.
2)Commit the nutbags to psychiatric institutions, to be released "at Her Majestey's pleasure" - eg, never.
#14
John
Another story on your link has a former Pak Foreign minister saying: Everything is the US fault because the US did not force India to LOOSE the 1971 Pak Indian war!
#15
Yes.
It is remarkable the complete lack of regret for the genocide inflicted on the Bengalis by the Pak army.
There is also a sense of entitlement. The US Treasury is a giant piggy bank for them.
There is an interesting article here. It is a chapter excerpt from a 1949 book by Margaret Bourke White. It shows how early this sense of entitlement to the US treasury began, how messed up Pakistan was at creation (and how nothing has changed)
They expect US backing (no matter what evil they do).
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 17:04 Comments ||
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China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, according to a senior Chinese military official.
"If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China's territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons," Zhu Chenghu, a major general in the People's Liberation Army, said at an official briefing.
Mr Zhu, who is also a professor at China's National Defence University, was speaking at a function for foreign journalists organised, in part, by the Chinese government. He added that China's definition of its territory includes warships and aircraft.
"If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond," Mr Zhu said. "We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds. . . of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese." Mr Zhu is a self-acknowledged "hawk" who has warned previously that China could strike the US with long-range missiles. But his threat to use nuclear weapons in a conflict over Taiwan is the most specific by a senior Chinese official in nearly a decade.
Rick Fisher, a former senior US congressional official and an authority on the Chinese military, said the specific nature of the threat "is a new addition to China's public discourse".
China's official doctrine has called for no first use of nuclear weapons since its first atomic test in 1964. But Mr Zhu is not the first Chinese official to refer to the possibility of using such weapons first in a conflict over Taiwan.
Chas Freeman, a former US assistant secretary of defence, said in 1999 that a PLA official had told him China could respond in kind to a nuclear strike by the US in the event of a conflict with Taiwan.
"In the end you care more about Los Angeles than you do about Taipei," Mr Freeman quoted this official as saying. The official is believed to have been Xiong Guangkai, now the PLA's deputy chief of general staff.
The rationale for the new threats is unclear. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not be reached for comment.
Mr Zhu, who has risen from the rank of colonel over the past five years, insisted he was expressing his personal views, and that they did not represent the policy of the Chinese government. Nor was he anticipating war between China and the US.
But he said that, because China did not have the capability to fight a conventional war against the US, the threat to escalate might be the only way to stop a war.
His comments could provide insight into the thinking among some in the PLA amid growing anxiety in Washington about its capabilities. Last month, Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, voiced concern about China's military build-up.
We wouldn't even need a nuke - just a MOAB on the 3 Gorges Dam.
And some smaller ones for the so-called leadership.
Think the missle shield is a good idea now?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2005 18:25 Comments ||
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#2
It's a good bluff, but it's a bluff. I don't believe the Chinese will use nuclear weapons over Taiwan. Just as Eisenhower threatened to use nukes against Peking during the Korean War, the Chinese are now threatening to use nukes over the Taiwan issue. However, just as Eisenhower never delivered, the Chinese will also hold back. The primary reason? Taiwan is not worth losing Beijing over, let alone the thousands of Chinese cities that would be obliterated in an American counter-strike.
#3
BS: We wouldn't even need a nuke - just a MOAB on the 3 Gorges Dam.
Dam attacks are overrated - just research any of the successful attacks on German dams during WWII. Heroic and spectacular attacks, but essentially ineffectual. And these were dams built using WWII-era safety mechanisms.
#4
ZF - 3 gorges is a piece of concrete crap. Flyash 3-4X what is allowed in structural concrete. A nuke would knock it out, possibly even the local overpressure from FAE, but I wouldn't count on that. This isn't the first time the Chicoms have alluded to "losing L.A." over Taiwan. Dangerous game by cowards who pufff themselves up by bluster. We have always known this was a possibility, spelling it out is for public consumption
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2005 18:35 Comments ||
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#5
FG: ZF - 3 gorges is a piece of concrete crap. Flyash 3-4X what is allowed in structural concrete. A nuke would knock it out, possibly even the local overpressure from FAE, but I wouldn't count on that.
What I'm alluding to is that the German dams were knocked out, yet the downstream damage was insignificant.
FG: This isn't the first time the Chicoms have alluded to "losing L.A." over Taiwan. Dangerous game by cowards who pufff themselves up by bluster. We have always known this was a possibility, spelling it out is for public consumption
Actually, this is a very safe game. They know Uncle Sam isn't going to start a war over Chinese threats. Such statements could even deter American intervention over Taiwan, saving the lives of thousands or tens of thousands of Chinese troops - perhaps even resulting in a bloodless Taiwanese capitulation. It also reminds neighboring powers* that might want to side with Taiwan of the possibility that China might attack them with nukes if they intervene. All in all, a very useful bluff, and potentially, a war-winning one.
* Note that many, including Australia, are trying to straddle the fence over this issue. It's a combination of no one wanting to confront the Chinese colossus and the feeling that China hasn't really said anything yet that directly threatens their interests since most countries in the region have accepted that Taiwan is a part of China.
#6
This feels like a trial balloon by the Chinese government. They want to test the waters - if foreign reaction is unyielding, then they can always claim they were misunderstood. If the reaction is appeasement, then the Chinese can make invasion preparations.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/14/2005 19:01 Comments ||
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#8
ZF, This feels like a Chinese wacko running his mouth off or trying to deflect internal tension to the external Satan. I'm not taking anything I hear from China seriously till February 2009. Till then, they know W's not to be screwed with. They're just playing the Chavez game of how much can I get away with, challenge and retreat.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/14/2005 19:14 Comments ||
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#9
Further, I think it cost CNOOC the Union 76 deal. I hope Zhu feels like a big man now.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
07/14/2005 19:18 Comments ||
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#10
MD: ZF, This feels like a Chinese wacko running his mouth off or trying to deflect internal tension to the external Satan. I'm not taking anything I hear from China seriously till February 2009. Till then, they know W's not to be screwed with. They're just playing the Chavez game of how much can I get away with, challenge and retreat.
It's all atmospherics. If they detect weakness, then they'll make a move on Taiwan. If they frighten the Taiwanese enough, it might even be a bloodless takeover. Being able to start the Olympics without a separate Taiwanese (Chinese-Taipeh) contingent would be a real feather in the Chinese leadership's cap. This may also be aimed at American public opinion - enough Americans may think the likelihood of a Chinese nuclear strike high enough to want to avoid a confrontation over Taiwan.
#11
"We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian."
You damn well better prepare to lose the cities west of Xian too.
"In the end you care more about Los Angeles than you do about Taipei,"
How about you, PRC? How much are you willing to risk for Taipei? How much good is Taiwan to you if you have to cross a nuclear wasteland just to get to the water's edge on your side?
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/14/2005 19:30 Comments ||
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#12
MD: Further, I think it cost CNOOC the Union 76 deal. I hope Zhu feels like a big man now.
I don't think it's bluster. China is probably ready for an invasion. It is just testing the waters to find the most suitable moment - preferably a moment of hesitation during which they can seal the deal without foreign intervention. Note that unification (under Nationalist rule) was also the holy grail for the Nationalists ever since the Communists took over the mainland - a stance that has never been popular with the native Taiwanese.
Talk about unification is not about quieting domestic unrest - it is about realizing a long-cherished dream held by the majority of the Chinese I have spoken to. Why now, after all these decades? Because it is only now that the Chinese military has become strong enough to attain that dream - much as one buys an expensive toy only after saving enough money to make the purchase.
Bottom line is that China will invade Taiwan. The only questions are when, and what Uncle Sam and China's neighbors will do about it. Some of the recent Chinese belligerence may have to do with preparing the Chinese populace for war.
#14
I think you are correct, Zhang Fei. China is just waiting for us to get tied up with Iran, North Korea, Pakistan or some other complicated mess.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/14/2005 19:46 Comments ||
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#15
BK: I know Dar, things were getting a little chummy for my taste. Has anyone heard a peep out of russia over this?
I think the Russians won't have a problem with it. First off, it's rhetorical, a bluff. Second, a nuclear exchange between China and the US would leave Russia in charge. Does anyone really think it above the Russians to use their nuclear arsenal to extort money from other countries, once they're the only country around with thousands of nukes?
#16
Watch them damned closely. Then nuke them first, starting with Peking. The world can do without China.
Posted by: mac ||
07/14/2005 19:48 Comments ||
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#17
The biggest threat from China is still unlimited manpower. The D-Day invasion could have still succeeded with 90% casualties, and that is what the Chinese are planning on. The only conventional response the US could possibly use to defeat such raw numbers would be millions of small robotic attack weapons. Both flying and carried by ocean currents, each about as expensive as a cell phone. They could mine the entire strait for days or even weeks. If the Chinese can land a single army on Taiwan, it will be impossible to dislodge.
#18
mac: Watch them damned closely. Then nuke them first, starting with Peking. The world can do without China.
If Uncle Sam launched nuclear attacks on the basis of verbal threats, the Soviet Union and North Korea would be parking lots. It's a good thought, but unlikely to happen.
#19
Anonymoose: The biggest threat from China is still unlimited manpower.
The biggest threat to a Chinese invasion is American intervention. USAF planes from Okinawa and perhaps South Korea would sweep the PLA Air Force from the skies, leaving Taiwanese aircraft and artillery to eviscerate the Chinese landing force in the Taiwan Straits.
#20
The only conventional response the US could possibly use to defeat such raw numbers would be millions of small robotic attack weapons. Both flying and carried by ocean currents, each about as expensive as a cell phone. They could mine the entire strait for days or even weeks
I want some of whatever you're smoking - LOL
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2005 20:05 Comments ||
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#21
ZF, I think the people in the current White House think the Chinese are crazier than the Russkies ever were. The Russkies never had a nuke-loaded nutball like Kimmie on their payroll rattling swords at people so close to them. What may very well happen is that the Taiwanese may suddenly announce that out of sheer national necessity they have become a nuclear power and armed themselves with enough of them to waste most of Eastern China. They're sufficiently advanced (with a little bit of US help) to have nukes available to them in a big hurry given that now the reaction data can all be simulated on computer. If the Chinese decide to start some trouble, we'll finish it--and them.
Posted by: mac ||
07/14/2005 20:06 Comments ||
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#22
The biggest threat from China is still unlimited manpower.
*sight*
Where's the unlimited food to feed that unlimited manpower?
Or the unlimited shipping to move that unlimited manpower and the unlimited food it needs around?
Or the unlimited ammunition they'll shoot off?
What happens to your economy when that unlimited manpower stops working in factories and growing food?
What do the people left at home do when you start throwing away thousands -- millions? -- of their one-and-only-one sons because they haven't got food or ammunition, or their troop transports are lining the Taiwan Strait?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/14/2005 20:23 Comments ||
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#23
So: who's got tickets to the Beijing summer Olympics?
Posted by: Matt ||
07/14/2005 20:49 Comments ||
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#25
Ima thinkr that Chinee economy kinda needs US, no?
/Muck
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2005 21:04 Comments ||
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#26
Couple o' random thoughts:
General Zhu's statements may be for American public consumption and designed to allow the Chinese government go gauge the reaction of Washington but they display a stunning ignorance of his intended audience. The larger the force or threat of force employed against the US, the more violent the reaction demanded by the American people will be. If official China or any significant portion of it is really unaware of that fact then this game will quickly become far more dangerous than the Cold War ever was.
There is no longer any question as to the Chinese aiding & abetting North Korea's nuclear program. It should be absolutely clear now that North Korea is China's canary in the coal mine of international relations. Lack of overwhelming US response to continued North Korean threats and provocation has, and will continue, to embolden the Chinese to follow suit. Just as the Norks were a trial balloon for China, Zhu is lofting the first trial balloon for Chinese officialdom. Lack of a very strong and immediate response from Washington will firmly embed this meme in official Chinese foreign policy.
Taiwan's the tripwire but it's far from the whole game. If China can minimize/eliminate US interference in their pending invasion of Taiwan via only a threat of the use of nuclear weapons against the US they will (correctly) believe that same threat will be effectual during future actions against other neighbors in East Asia. It's critical that a few Asian states grow backbones and serious deterrent capabilities in very short order. It's equally critical that the US develop a strong response to this outrage pronto.
Zhu puts the US in a position of having to respond forcefully right now. Failure to do so will be read by official China as acquiescence / weakness and that's far more dangerous than any non-military action we might take against China tomorrow. I believe China still holds most favored nation status, revocation of that privilege would be a great place to start IMHO. Or, if we were feeling particularly frisky and though the consequences would be drastic, we might cancel the $250,000,000,000 or so in US treasuries held by the Chinese and announce that we'll follow suit against nations who actively threaten our interests.
#27
Article: But he said that, because China did not have the capability to fight a conventional war against the US, the threat to escalate might be the only way to stop a war.
This is the telling part - China's buildup notwithstanding, the Chinese brass do not apparently feel confident about their ability to to fight off a conventional US response, despite Taiwan being at their doorstep. Whatever happened to their much-hyped carrier-killing exercises?
You do know how to cut to the chase, don't you? ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2005 22:01 Comments ||
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#30
The Chicoms could have Taiwan in 20 years by economic interdependence as it is deveilping now. So they are on the world power trip and they are using Taiwan to rattle the US resolve during this difficult time for the West due to the WoT. The Chicoms are just like the Nazis before WW2. They started setting up shop in South America, africa, etc. They are looking at the big picture. The only thing holding them up is the US. Threatening nukes is just another part of unnerving the US. The EUniks are wussified, they are out. Just the US now.
Posted by: Al-Aska Paul ||
07/14/2005 22:04 Comments ||
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#31
RC #22
Interesting observation -'their one and only sons'. I wonder just how long public support for a war - even one sold as a patriotic war of reunification - would last if it led to heavy casualties. Whole national psychologies change when the biological continuity of each family is so at risk. In a way, it was the 'lost generation' of France and England during WW I that made those countries so hesitant to confront Hitler. And possibly the ~1.5 birth rate in most of Western Europe today is a significant cause of their hesitance to confront Islamofascism.
Well no, I don't think that anything but extremely foolish behaviour on both sides of the Pacific would lead to a (nuclear) military conflict between the US and China.
As long as Taiwan maintains its status quo, no invasion will happen. Time is on China's side: Why should they risk their economical rise to the top?
If there is any comparison it's with Germany 1900. But I'd say the Chinese are smarter than the Kaiser.
But make no mistake about it: They are not our friends.
#34
Robert Crawford: The 400,000 evacuated at Dunkirk only needed 35 ferries and 40 barges, with some extra civilian shipping. Leaving their elite forces to faster military ships, how many riflemen could be carried across the Taiwan Strait in 1,000 civilian ships? 5,000? The distance is about 200km. Assume their top speed is 10 knots, almost minimal for those waters. This means that if the Chinese can keep it tight, their first civilian ships would arrive in 12 hours, the vast majority within 18 hours. Assuming that first, the Pacific fleet is at its furthest patrol distance when they launch, then a violent US diversion occurs to distract the US government and people, can even the Pacific fleet take out *enough* PLA to stop the invasion? Taiwan itself would have already been devastated by the 1,000+ rockets fired at their defenses. Remember that an army or two in the major cities would mean that Taiwan is lost. In other words, small sea mines, as I suggested before, are not only easy to make and inexpensive, they may be even more effective than a US fleet in stopping such an invasion.
#35
I am 97% certain Taiwan has Nukes... The Taiwanese now run Taiwan not the Mainlanders so the likelyhood of Taiwan actually using theirs in response is higher.
The Taiwanese generals have confidence that you would not expect if they didn't. Taiwan has had reactors for decades. Taiwan has lots of stuff carved into their marble mountains. Taiwan was involved somehow in the Israeli-South African flash in Carter's term.
Taiwan has done military papers on fighting a nuke war with China.
Does taiwan still require hardened bomb shelters for each building built?
A small bomb exploded in front of a police station in Corsica Thursday, just eight days before France's Interior Minister visits the troubled island. Nobody was hurt in the explosion, police said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast.
"I t'ink it might be da Tataglias, boss!"
"We'll have to go to the mattresses!"
"Boss! Cops can't go to the mattresses!"
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to arrive in Corsica on an official visit next week. The bombing may have been the work of Corsican independence fighters who regularly stage such explosions. There are rarely victims in the group's bombings, but in 1998 the French prefect to Corsica was assassinated. Eight men were sentenced to jail in 2003 after the assassination. Sentencing came after French police arrested Ivan Colonna, identified as the prime suspect.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 08:41 ||
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#1
for some reason, I have the feeling that this is one of those little nuggets that we ignore today, only to notice tomorrow.
WASHINGTON (AP) -The United States moved Thursday to freeze the financial assets of a London-based Saudi opposition group because of its alleged links to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The Treasury Department's action is against the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, or MIRA. Any bank accounts or other financial assets belonging to the organization found in the United States must be frozen and Americans are forbidden from providing financial or other support to the group. The British government recently ordered that the group's assets be frozen.
The United States said the group is run by Saad Fagih, a Saudi dissident. The department in December ordered that his assets be blocked, alleging that he provided support to Osama bin Laden's organization. Fagih has said he is an activist for democracy in his Saudi homeland, not a militant involved in violent activity with al-Qaida or any other group.
Fagih's group wants to "reform" Saudi Arabia into a more islamic state
"Fagih uses MIRA to facilitate al-Qaida's operations," contends Stuart Levey, Treasury's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "Designating MIRA will help stem the flow of funds to the organization and put the world on notice of its support for al-Qaida."
The department said the group's Web site has included messages from bin Laden as well as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaida's top operative in Iraq. Statements on the Web site "are intended to provide ideological and operational support to al-Qaida affiliated networks and potential recruits," the department said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 10:44 ||
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The Sami Al-Arian trial continues in Tampa. Here's an update:
Jurors on Tuesday saw a dramatic video of former professor Sami Al-Arian saying God "commands us to jihad, because there is honor" in holy war. The video introduced by prosecutors also shows Al-Arian asking for donations, exhorting the crowd to give money "so that we will confront our enemies united."
"Alms for jihad, plus a small stipend for the holy men for all their hard work. Also a bit for the middlemen, like me. It's all the pillars of Islam."
In the video, filmed at an April 7, 1991, conference in Cleveland, the-then University of South Florida professor is introduced as the president of the Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP), which is then described as "the active arm of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine."
If the jury reads Rantburg, they'd know that already.
The video shows Al-Arian saying: "God, praise and glory be to Him, commands us to fight and commands us to jihad, because there is honor in it and because there is victory for Islam and victory for right over tyranny."
If the jury reads JihadWatch.org, they would know this too.
"Despite all difficulties, the Palestinian people have decided to continue: to continue to confront, to continue to resist, to continue to endure, to set an example for all people and Muslims around them," Al-Arian tells the meeting. He warns his listeners against taking as friends Christians or Jews.
"Infidels are icky."
Al-Arian and three co-defendants face a 53-count indictment alleging they conspired to support terrorism by using various charitable and educational organizations as fronts to launder money. The government says their efforts benefited the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.
#4
It's a common reaction that occurs when they really start slinging BS using the old tricky slipspeak. Seems the little wheels in the brain get quite overworked resulting in overheating and, if unchecked, meltdown into full meglomania along with finger wagging and death threats out of character with the normally serene and gentle nature of these beasties.
BANGKOK, Thailand - In a show of force, suspected Islamic insurgents staged a twilight raid Thursday on a provincial capital in southern Thailand, setting off bombs and engaging in gun battles with security personnel.
So, just another average day in Thailandistan
Details were sketchy because of the chaos caused by the attack, compounded by a blackout apparently caused by a bomb which was exploded at the provincial power station in Yala, capital of the province with the same name. An official at Yala hospital said it had admitted 14 people injured by the attacks, including three police officers.
A police official, who declined to identify himself because he was not given permission to speak by his superiors, said three other bombs exploded near a hotel, a restaurant and a 7-Eleven convenience store.
Army spokesman Col. Somkuan Saengpataraneth said the regional army commander has ordered soldiers into the area who successfully put the situation under control, but declined to give details of the incident.
Thailand has been facing an escalating insurgency in its Muslim-dominated southernmost provinces since January last year, which officials blame on Islamic separatists. Almost 900 lives have been lost in sectarian violence in Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat provinces.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 10:36 ||
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#1
I love Thailand, the Thai culture and the peaceful people who live there, I have regularly visited Krabi and the Southern provinces, as far as I am concerned it is heaven on earth. Yet a little further down the coast, muzzie slags are beheadiing and killing people. They are even causing trouble in paradise, dont they leave a region on earth alone for fucks sake.
5 Kashmiri terrorists, 2 SUVs used in smuggling arms seized
"During sustained interrogation of the militants at a safe house, somewhere in Jammu, they have admitted arranging weapons for Ayodhya fidayeen attack on the directions of top brass of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) outfit",
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 19:48 ||
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BAGHDAD - Security forces have discovered the bodies of 10 men handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the head, police said on Thursday.
The bodies of men aged between 25 and 35 were found Wednesday night in the Maamel area on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad, said police Lt. Osama Adnan. They had no identity papers, he added. The discovery occurred amid increasing tension between the countryâs Sunni Muslim minority and the Shiite-dominated government of Ibrahim Al Jaafari.
It was not clear if the dead men were Sunnis or Shiites, who makes the majority in Iraq. The influential Sunni Muslim Association of Muslim Scholars and the Iraqi Islamic Party, the countryâs largest Sunni political group, said they had no information about the incident.
On Wednesday, the association accused Iraqi security forces of detaining, torturing and killing 11 Sunni Arab men, including a cleric.
This doesn't seem to be the same group of stiffs.
Sunni groups also accused security forces of allowing at least nine Sunnis detained last weekend to suffocate after locking them for hours in a van without ventilation as temperatures soared to 115 degrees. The Iraqi Interior Ministry said both allegations are being investigated, and if true, those responsible will be punished.
There had been tit-for-tat killings between Sunnis and Shia in the past. In May 10 clerics from both sects were killed as well as dozens of followers from both groups.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 13:24 ||
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#1
Execution-style killing victims tend to be Sunni. When the Sunnis are killing, they torture first.
#4
Could they have been excess SA Arab's that knew to much that AQ offed. Without identiy papers it will be hard to know. If they are dead Sunnis there is likely a good reason they assumed room temp.
Walid Phares explains the context of Barqawi's interview, as well as some very real problems with al Qaeda's strategic operations.
Al Maqdisi [Barqawi] wasn't primarily convincing al Zarqawi to limit, reduce or stop suicide operations. He was - through al Jazeera - trying to inform others around the Arabic speaking world about the ultimate goal of suicide attacks.
read the rest!
In Salafi strategic thinking, you are allowed to criticize the 10% of the action to legitimize its 90%. Al Maqdisi [Barqawi] indeed stated that his âbrotherâ Abu Musâaab is going âtoo farâ in waging âamaliyat istishadiyaâ (suicide operations) without a central plan. When you follow the interview thoroughly (and it can be done by going back to the tape), you understand that the main message sent by al Maqdisi is to regroup, re-center and articulate better road maps. The bottom line of his media burst is to address all Salafis worldwide and retrace the path.
If you follow the bigger picture of the inner world of the Jihadists, through hours of tedious listening to the chat rooms and following the debates on the web, youâd understand that the masters of the movement worldwide, are perturbed. Since the democratic elections in Afghanistan and Iraq, waves of questions are fusing the Wahabi universe. âHow come millions of Muslims are casting their votes, even after we show them the right path,â shouts Jihadi in the chat rooms. In response, Zarqawi sinks further in boundless Terror. But the mentors of the movement are concerned: There is a problem in the mind of the Jihadists. One of the âmentorsâ steps in.
In short, al Qaeda's strategy is not working very well. Particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the majorities reject al Qaeda's violence and ideology, and demonstrate this at the ballot box. Ideologues like Barqawi recognize that without clearly defined goals that have a chance of succeeding, the abject violence such as that conducted by Zarqawi is a drain on resources and support from the Muslim world.
Barqawi offers Zarqawi sound strategic advice â husband your forces and strike at a time and place where the proper impact can be achieved. But Zarqawi views his words as an effort to divide al Qaeda:
"do not follow the path of Satan that leads to your destruction. Beware, our noble sheik, of the trick of God's enemies to lure you to drive a wedge in the ranks of the mujahedeen⊠why would you make for the enemy a path against you brothers?"
This statment can be interpreted as a warning to Barqawi not to interfere in the direction of his campaign to bleed Iraq dry. Barqawi should take care as Zarqawi is a ruthless operator. Killing a fellow jihadi perceived as creating divisions within jihad is certainly not out of character for Zarqawi. He sanctions the murder of Muslim children on a regular basis in Iraq.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/14/2005 07:50 ||
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#1
This jihadi political scene (if you want to call it that) is getting very spicy. I have never in my life seen the tenuous forces of radical islam come out of the woodwork and flock to their demise like rats to the pied piper of islam. They are going east, away from our shores and to the capable hands of our volunteer military. Where I might add they are being exterminated by the hundreds and thousands. It is a crying shame about our military and their civilian casualties, I grant you, but where better to have maybe the final showdown between radical islam, and the "west"?
#2
The civilized world can stomp these jihadis, their sponsers and enablers out like bugs. All we need is the will to do it. However, PC attitudes like those shown in Britain will cause civilization to lose the war. Our biggest enemy is within. Sad but true. We have to stop this cancer within our civilization or the best efforts of our forces will be in vain.
Posted by: Al-Aska Paul ||
07/14/2005 17:12 Comments ||
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US forces hunting four Arab militants who escaped from the heavily fortified American headquarters in Afghanistan have found the prisoners' discarded jumpsuits, a military source said overnight. The find outside the detention centre of the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul ends US military speculation the escapees could have been hiding somewhere inside the sprawling airfield.
"We found the orange jumpsuits they were wearing outside the detention centre," the US source said on condition of anonymity. The centre is buried deep within the grounds of the air base. "There were some elements that allowed them to escape and we fixed them," the military source added, without elaborating.
Brief mental picture of Mahmoud the Rat being gelded with a dull entrenching tool..
The circumstances of the escape, the first from Bagram, have still not been made public. The prisoners would had to have made their way past thousands of troops plus manned gateposts and barbed wire fences. The prisoners have been identified as Abdullah Hashimi from Syria, Mehmood Ahmed Mohammed from Kuwait, Mehmood Alfathani from Saudi Arabia and Mohammed Hassan from Libya.
As Afghan and US forces searched for the men for a fourth day, a spokesman for the Taliban regime claimed to have located them and brought them to an undisclosed location within Afghanistan. "The four prisoners who escaped Bagram prison are safe and are with us now. They joined mujahideen at 10:00 am today. They are in Afghanistan," Mullah Abdul Latif Hakimi said. Hakimi has previously made inflated or untrue claims about clashes in Afghanistan between the Taliban and coalition forces.
US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jerry O'Hara told AFP the search operation was still ongoing and the circumstances surrounding their escape were still under investigation. General Mahboob Amiri, head of Afghanistan's police quick reaction force, told AFP that the search had moved to the Koh-i-Safi hills around Bagram.
Locals in the villages around Bagram told AFP that US troops had visited offering rewards, displaying the pictures of the detainees and appealing for information. "They came here and gave their phone numbers and distributed pictures of the men," said Mohammed Alem, a 22-year-old farmer in Ghulam Ali village. Bagram houses the majority of about 500 terror suspects held by US forces in Afghanistan.
The escape was a fresh blow to US forces in Afghanistan, coming less than two weeks after 19 soldiers were killed in the biggest single loss suffered by the American contingent in the country. The Taliban and their allies are still waging an insurgency in the country's restive south and east which has left more than 600 people dead, most of them militants, since the start of the year.
#2
1. At one point the US jailers at Bagram and GITMO shaved the heads and beards of all the prisoners. That would help make them identifiable.
2. Finding the jumpsuits off the base doesn't mean that the fugitives have left the base.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2005 14:05 Comments ||
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#2
I think the Israelis have finally figured out a form of retribution that the Paleos appreciate. Before they had a "10 to 1" approach: kill 10 Paleos for every Israeli killed. But they discovered that the Paleos are indifferent to their rank and file being killed. However a "1 for 1" approach of killing one Paleo *leader* for every Israeli killed seems to work like a charm.
#9
And when the "occupied" terroitories are turned over, and the independent, peaceful state of Palestine lies next to Israel, who thinks that will be the end of homicide bombings of innocent Israelis?
#10
Well, that depends on how high the wall is and whether or not the Israelis are willing to terminate all cross-border traffic.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/14/2005 14:37 Comments ||
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#11
And when the "occupied" terroitories are turned over, and the independent, peaceful state of Palestine lies next to Israel, who thinks that will be the end of homicide bombings of innocent Israelis?
In such a scenario, use of the word "peacful" would be incorrect.
#20
About fuckin' time. Kill the scum.
He puts one of yours in the hospital, you put one of his in the morgue
surgical strike. Leader zapped. No collateral damage. Good move
uhhhhlalala ...what the fuck is in this shity "blug"
I though that this language was verboten ..
but evidently fred the jew cocksucker is a convenient racist. insult everybody else but not the jews...
fuck you!!
ps: I predict you, that in the next 25 years your race will be roasted again, as was in the past history repeat himself and jucy are without historical memory
A Pakistani general warned tribes in North Waziristan on Thursday of an imminent offensive to flush out foreign militants, including al Qaeda fighters, hiding in the region close to the Afghan border.
The threat came as the government once again prepared for international media to put Pakistan's war on terrorism under the spotlight following revelations that British-born Pakistanis carried out last week's suicide bomb attacks in London that killed at least 52 people.
At a meeting with tribal elders, Major-General Akram Sahi, commander of Pakistani troops in North Waziristan, gave the tribesmen 24 hours to hand over suspected militants.
Tension has been building for months in North Waziristan since the army completed a series of offensives to dislodge al Qaeda bases in neighboring South Waziristan.
"I want you to hand over these foreigners or send them out yourselves or we will launch an operation against them after the deadline," Sahi told a tribal council in Miranshah, the main town of the semi-autonomous region.
"We will bang our drums loudly. You will hear us coming for miles and miles! Do not complain when you hear us coming. We're coming, do you hear me? You will hear my drumming when we come!"
"No one should then complain to us after the operation is launched."
In April, Pakistan bridled over comments made by Lieutenant General David Barno, head of U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, that it was planning a big offensive in North Waziristan.
Pakistan risked the wrath of the volatile Pashtun tribes when it first sent the army into their homelands in late 2003 to hunt suspected al Qaeda and Taliban militants.
Sahi assured the council, or jirga, that foreigners living peacefully would not be harmed but resistance would be met firmly.
"This time we will not show a soft hand. There will be no delay in the operation if the foreigners are not flushed out," he said.
A Pakistani soldier was killed during a search operation in Miranshah two weeks ago, and Sahi demanded that the killer be handed over.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/14/2005 10:09 ||
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#1
Do you think that the UK/US finally told Pakistan either you go in or we do? Blair did say, "Give us a week to bury our dead." This could also be a ploy to get aQ looking the wrong way. Either way, I hope we know where those Pak nukes are, and can hit them in case of a coup.
#4
oh crap...another faux raid. They must keep these plans in a binder - on the cover : "for PR purposes only"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2005 10:36 Comments ||
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#5
According to this Pak,
India bad, Pakistan good
Stability, not weapons
By Shamshad Ahmad
Former Foreign Secretary
Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
In 1971, taking advantage of an entirely domestic political crisis in our country, India intervened militarily subverting our independence and territorial integrity. No world power, not even the US stopped it from dismembering Pakistan, the worst that could happen to any independent country in the world.
A determined US reaction at that time in support of Pakistan, an ally and a friend, âunilaterallyâ or with the help of an âinternational coalition,â would have prevented future military invasions and costly wars, including the Afghan war, the Gulf war and now the Iraq war. Saddam Hussein could not but be emboldened in his own military adventures. After all, the world had acquiesced in Indiaâs military adventure against Pakistan.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 10:37 Comments ||
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#6
I've also developed a taste for Indian spicy ketchup.
#7
In 1971 India had to stop Moslem mass-murder of Bengali civilians (estimated at one to three million) in what was then East Pakistan (Bangladesh). Most of the persecuted civilians were Hindu. The Pakistan army also eliminated all professional Bengali (doctors, writers, engineers, etc.). More than ten million Bengalis fled to neighbouring areas of India.
After independence from (West) Pakistan, Bangladesh was established as a secular country favouring the name People's Republic of Bangladesh over Islamic Republic of Bangladesh.
In the early 50s an attempt was made to impose Urdu, the official language in West Pakistan, and eliminate Bangla, which was spoken by 98% of the people in East Pakistan. A bloody civilian revolt ensued. By contrast with West Pakistan, most Bangladeshi Muslims are influenced by Sufism.
In other words, taking into account Kashmir and Afghanistan, Pakistan is behind the murder and persecution of countless millions of people around South Asia for 50+ years.
#8
Ship - Lay's makes spicy ketchup flavored potato chips - for sale only in the ME and parts of Asia. I laughed the first time I saw them at Eastern Market, y'know the place - on Doha Rd, but eventually bought a bag and they were pretty good, lol! Those devilish marketeers are on to ya, better watch out...
The US military Thursday announced the capture of a key suspect in the kidnap-slaying of Egyptian envoy Ihab Al Sherif and attacks on senior diplomats from Pakistan and Bahrain.
That was pretty quick...
Khamis Farhan Khalaf Abd al-Fahdawi, known as Abu Seba, was arrested last on Saturday following operations in the Ramadi area west of Baghdad, the US military said in a statement. âSeba served as a senior lieutenant of Al Qaeda in Iraq, and is suspected in attacks against diplomats of Bahrain, Pakistan and the recent murder of Egyptian envoy, Ihab Salah al Din Ahmad al Sherif,â the US statement said. âAl Qaeda ordered the attacks against Arab diplomats in an effort to reduce support for the government of Iraq according to a military spokesman.â
Another Al Qaeda lieutenant, Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan al Shadad, or Abu Abdul Aziz, was captured Sunday, the command said. It said Abu Abdul Aziz was a top lieutenant of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab Al Zarqawi and served as operations officer for the group. The statement said Abu Abdul Aziz was cooperating with coalition forces.
In an Internet statement Thursday, Al Qaeda acknowledged that Abu Abdul Aziz had been captured but described him as the commander of one of the groupâs Baghdad brigades. âThey invent the posts: here is the prince of Baghdad, the deputy of Al Zarqawi, or one of the top leaders,â the group said. âGod knows that our brother Abu Abdul Aziz, God free him from capture, is nothing but a leader of one of the brigades in Baghdad.â The group said he was detained when American and Iraqi forces stormed a house in Baghdad and that Abu Abdul Aziz was wounded and possibly killed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/14/2005 09:57 ||
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#1
cooperating? perhaps it was explained that our Egyptian friends would get next crack at a noncooperative perp, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2005 10:20 Comments ||
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#2
It's amazing what cooperation stomping on a wound can get you.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2005 10:32 Comments ||
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#3
Bill, bring me a bra and have him do some stupid dog tricks, ha
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2005 12:24 Comments ||
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#4
It's amazing what cooperation stomping on a wound can get you.
Now that's cruel and unusual punishment, and torture. No, you use a toothbrush to clean out the wound, dipped in alcohol to "disinfect" it. Preferably a new toothbrush, where the bristles are still a bit stiff. Works well...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2005 13:05 Comments ||
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#5
I guess a Muslim Brotherhood insider got AQ to toss them a patsy for some positive press on the homefront. If I were a rank and file AQ guy, I would probably leave the Paki and Saudi embassy staff alone as well.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2005 14:24 Comments ||
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#6
I can't swim for another day without a nom-de foole
Posted by: abu Shamu ||
07/14/2005 14:25 Comments ||
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Iraqi police thwarted a triple suicide attack on Baghdad's Green Zone government compound on Thursday, shooting dead two bombers and wounding and capturing a third, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Police said the attack, claimed by al Qaeda's Iraq wing, involved a car bomber followed up by two bombers on foot. The target was a checkpoint guarded by Iraqi troops and police and used by civilians arriving for work at the fortified complex.
Doctors at the city's Yarmouk hospital said they had seen two bodies from the attack and five people were wounded -- among them, it appeared, the third bomber who failed in his mission and whose capture could yield important intelligence.
Brigadier General Donald Alston, the chief U.S. military spokesman in Iraq, said only two bombers were killed. It was a rare success for the security forces against a campaign of daily attacks that has killed perhaps 1,500 people in three months.
The attack "failed in every way because of discipline and courage under fire of the Iraqi security forces," Alston said.
U.S. commanders are keen for new Iraqi forces to take over the burden of fighting the insurgency to let Americans go home.
Police guarding the checkpoint spotted what they identified as a suicide bomber driving toward them during the morning rush hour, Alston said. They opened fire, and the bomb went off before reaching the checkpoint.
Two other bombers, strapped with explosives, then ran toward them but were gunned down. One survived and, after an Iraqi explosives expert defused his bomb, was taken into custody.
He was being treated in hospital in the custody of Iraqi police but U.S. officers expected to interview him at some point, Alston told reporters.
It is rare for forces in Iraq to capture people they know are involved in suicide bombing and they will be anxious to gather what intelligence they can -- though it is equally likely the bomber knows little of the men who sent him on his mission.
Most suicide bombers are believed to be young men, many of them foreign, whose religious allegiance to the likes of al Qaeda's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been allied to the insurgency among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority which appears to be directed in part by loyalists from Saddam Hussein's secular Baathist regime.
They are fighting U.S. occupation and the new, Shi'ite-led government installed after U.S. troops toppled Saddam in 2003.
Alston said he did not know the captured man's nationality.
The attack came on a new July 14 public holiday, announced last month and marking the 1958 revolution that overthrew the British-installed monarchy and gave Iraq its first taste of real independence from foreign domination.
The new holiday could anger Saddam's followers: the leader of the 1958 coup, Abdelkarim Kassem, later survived an assassination attempt by a young Saddam.
Saddam's Baath party had instead marked the July 17 anniversary of the 1968 putsch which brought it to power, and forces are on heightened alert during the period of the newly restored holiday and the one canceled after Saddam's fall.
Near the northern oil capital of Kirkuk, where ethnic tensions between Arabs and Kurds are running high, gunmen killed three policemen and wounded two when they shot at their car in the town of Rashad. In Kirkuk itself an Iraqi soldier was killed and a female comrade wounded by gunmen in car.
Thursday's attacks followed a major suicide car bombing in the capital a day earlier, when an insurgent blew up his vehicle in a crowd near U.S. troops in Baghdad on Wednesday, killing 27 people and wounding about 70, most of them children.
In a nation numbed to horrors, the attack on children was front-page news in Iraq. The Iraqi edition of pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat called it the "Mother of all Massacres."
One U.S. soldier was among those killed, and three were among the injured, U.S. forces said.
An Iraqi television crew traveling to the funerals of some of those who died were ambushed by gunmen on Thursday, their employers said. Three journalists were wounded.
Battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Kevin Farrell told Reuters his men had cordoned off an area of houses near a highway for security sweeps on Wednesday when the bomber drove up an alley. The bomber failed to pierce the military cordon and detonated his vehicle in a crowd of children and adults nearby.
"The scene was almost indescribable," he said. "People nearest the blast, some were literally obliterated on the scene. Multiple lacerations and traumatic amputations. At least nine people I saw were killed instantly in a most horrific fashion."
There had been no claim of responsibility on the day and on Thursday al Qaeda's Iraq wing disowned any connection with it.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/14/2005 09:54 ||
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Taliban insurgents claimed on Thursday to have found four Arab al Qaeda militants who escaped a heavily fortified U.S. detention centre in Afghanistan this week. "The Taliban found and recovered four al-Qaeda mujahideen (holy warriors) this morning," said Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi, whose
a proven liar?
information has often proven unreliable in the past. The U.S. military said earlier it was carrying on an "aggressive" hunt for the four men who escaped the detention centre at Bagram Air Base to the north of Kabul on Monday. It had no comment on an earlier Taliban claim that the guerrillas had made contact with the escapees.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/14/2005 09:51 ||
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#1
"They are being held in the same facility where we're keeping that Navy SEAL we captured last week"
July 14, 2005: A senior aide to Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Abu Abd al Aziz, was captured. Al Aziz is second in command of al Qaeda forces in Baghdad, and a key organizer of terrorist attacks. For many Iraqi police, shutting down al Qaeda has become something of an obsession. Iraqi television and radio cover this battle with the terrorists intensely. The deaths of Iraqi civilians and security troops are given front page coverage, as are the operations against the terrorists. Much to the dismay of Iraqi Sunni Arabs, the media keeps pointing out that nearly all the Iraqi supporters of the al Qaeda terrorists are Sunni Arabs. The leaders of the Iraqi Sunni Arab community are working hard to prove their loyalty, before popular opinion against Iraqi Sunni Arabs gets out of control, and widespread attacks on Sunni Arabs begins.
July 13, 2005: A suicide bomber driving through a poor neighborhood in Baghdad, seeing an American military vehicle, drove as close as he could and detonated his explosives. One U.S. soldier was killed, and three wounded. But the American vehicle was surrounded by over fifty Iranian children, because the soldiers were giving out candy. At least 32 children, mostly aged 10-13, were killed, and another three dozen wounded. These kinds of attacks have made the terrorists very unpopular in Iraq, just as similar attacks in Egypt and Algeria (during the 1990s) turned the population against Islamic terrorists there. Tangible examples of that hatred are seen daily as more and more Iraqis report terrorist activity. This has led to more arrests of terrorists, and the capture of bomb making materials, workshops and the bomb makers themselves.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2005 08:59 ||
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But the American vehicle was surrounded by over fifty Iranian children,....
Can we assume that StrategyPage meant Iraqi children?
How to win hearts and minds Al Qaeda style.
#2
The terrorists haven't had a solid base anywhere since Fallujah. They are loosing, and they know it. Now they are hoping to terrorize the Iraqis into passivity, but even that is now backfiring with all the Iraqi deaths. Now children on top of that? There may be stonings before the week is out. :D
#3
the terrorists may be unpopular with the iraqis but at least they have Michael Moore and Ward Churchill and a good chuck of the dailykosites and demoundergrounders on their side
#4
I assume the Democrats want us to pull out of Iraq and close Gitmo so that nice people like the 'scum' who killed these children can have a safe haven in Iraq to launch more 9/11 attacks against the US.
#5
The temperature in Baghdad appears to be heating up for Sunnis and anyone with ties to the former regime. Two Sunni contacts of mine have for several weeks told me "things are getting worse" around Baghdad. When I delve, it's clear it's not the attacks by so-called insurgents (down), or street crime (varies, but no trend or change), but something else -- Shi'a death squad activity against Sunnis and even Shi'a with a Ba'athist aroma.
When I hear this I think "hmmm, I'm not so sure this qualifies as bad news, or as 'worse'".
Bodies have been turning up. Sunni bodies. Including some gruesomely disfigured. There's been a sustained low level of revenge killings going on almost since the outset, but now the incidents are larger and making the news.
Little mention so far in the western press. But soon there will probably be a breathless feature with dark forebodings .... quotes from Sunnis who speak of a civil war, of living in fear, blah blah blah. All in the usual things-are-imperfect-therefore-quagmire!-miscalculation!-mistake!-disaster! mode. But when these stories start to come out, just remember that if the fear is induced in the right parts of the Sunni community, it's exactly what's needed, what's been missing, and the key to accelerating the decline of the opposition, already well in progress.
#6
These people are monsters. Deliberately killing children, again and again, does not show you as a warrior of God, but rather an emmissary from Hell. How normal Muslims can support, actively or passively, groups who do this is beyond me.
#7
Verlaine in Iraq, there is plenty of room for those Sunni's in Saudi Arabia. Infilitration routes work both ways. Everyone would be happier if they left.
#8
Same thing happened to Pablo Escobar in Columbia. Law enforcement put some pressure on him, but Los Pepes put the lives of his family and associates in check.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/14/2005 14:37 Comments ||
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more detail, and corrections to previous report
NABLUS, West Bank - Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed a Palestinian militant early Thursday as he was meeting a British national in the West Bank city of Nablus, witnesses said.
They said soldiers broke into a house where Mohammed Alasi, 28, a local leader of the Islamic Jihad , (the same group responsible for the suicide bombing the other day) was talking to the woman. Alasi tried to flee, but soldiers shot him dead and took his body, they said.
According to news agencies the woman was a reporter living in Nablus, but the IDF Spokesperson said she is a left-wing activist who has been assisting wanted militants in the town. Alasi was hiding at the woman's apartment with another militant, Matzem Aal, who was arrested by the troops.
The witnesses cited the woman's name only as "Annie."
The IDF said Alasi was a senior Islamic Jihad militant who led the opposition to the ceasefire announced by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and militant faction leaders in Cairo four months ago.
According to the army Alasi was behind many attempts to send teenage suicide bombers to carry out attacks in Israel, as well in firing incidents in the Nablus area.
Earlier it had been reported that Alasi was an Al-Aqsa Martyrs Bridages militant, because the militant leader was involved in joint attacks with the Fatah-linked faction.
Palestinian police said the British woman was being questioned at her home, where she was said to be in shock. They said she was about 60 years old, had been living in Nablus for a few years and had changed her last name to "Alasi." They did not know her original family name. hiding a terrorist in her apartment, left wing activist, changing her name to "Alasi" -- I guess this is what passes for a British reporter these days. BBC? Guardian?
Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank, is a main center of militant activity. Israeli forces carry out frequent raids there. for good, obvious reasons
A Qassam rocket was fired at a residential area in the southern town of Sderot Thursday morning, Army Radio said. No one was hurt in the attack, but damage was caused to some windows.
A mortar shell was also fired at a Gush Katif settlement predawn on Thursday. No casualties were caused in the incident.
Earlier Thursday, IDF troops arrested 10 wanted Islamic Jihad men in West Bank raids.
Three suicide bombers have attacked Baghdad's Green Zone government compound, killing two bystanders. Police shot and captured one of the bombers before he could set off his explosives. Police say the attack, which has been claimed by Al Qaeda's Iraq wing, involved a car bomber followed up by two bombers on foot. The target was a checkpoint guarded by Iraqi troops and police and used by civilians arriving for work at the fortified complex. Doctors at the city's Yarmouk hospital say they have seen two bodies from the attack and five people are wounded.
One of those is thought to be the third bomber, who failed in his mission and whose capture could yield important intelligence. It is rare for forces in Iraq to capture people they know are involved in suicide bombing. They will be anxious to gather what intelligence they can, though it is equally likely the bomber knows little of the men who sent him on his mission. The suicide explosions have been followed by a mortar attack on the Green Zone, which formerly housed Saddam's main presidential palaces.
Israeli soldiers have killed a senior militant from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as he was talking to a British journalist in the West Bank city of Nablus. Mohammad Alasi was talking with the British reporter when Israeli soldiers burst into the room.
"Hi, there, Mohammad! Sharon says to say hello! [BANG!]"
The troops shot the Nablus leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades dead and then took his body. Palestinian officials say Alasi was shot five times and his body was later found in a garden.
"[BANG! BANG! BANG! BANGETY BANG!]"
The British journalist is reportedly in shock.
Ethel! Get the salts!
Meanwhile, hundreds of Jewish settlers opposed to the Israeli government's planned Gaza pullout have been forcibly removed from the main crossing into the Gaza settlement bloc. The protesters were trying to enter the area in an effort to thwart next month's pullout.
#4
Hopefully the reporter was video-taping the interview. That will help the Israelis critique their entry techniques for more and better such raids!
Perhaps the media isn't so worthless after all.
Posted by: Dar ||
07/14/2005 7:47 Comments ||
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#5
The sooner the media represent this conflict for what it is -- a war, and not the struggle of an oppressed people -- the sooner we will have an end to this conflict.
If it's cast as the former, a war, this was clearly a legitimate action on the part of Israel. If it's cast as the latter, Israel will be demonized, al aqsa will be glorified, and the conflict will continue. I firmly believe it will be the latter.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/14/2005 10:22 Comments ||
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#12
Hopefully it was a BBC or al Guardian reporter.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/14/2005 10:30 Comments ||
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#13
Reporter: "So what do you think about the Israelis?"
Mohammad: "Death to them All!"
(BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG)
Reporter: "Ok that ends today interview, back to you in the studio"
#15
To understand Elliot's comment, take a look at this LGF post (contains appropriate links).
In short, the "journalist" may have instead been a "British pro-Palestinian peace activist" (says Debka) who was about 60, lived in Nablus for several years, and had changed her last name to "Alasi" (says the Jerusalem Post). This is the same name as the (24-year-old) dead guy. A total coincidence, I'm sure.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2005 12:16 Comments ||
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#17
Nice work ES and AS you have surely ID'd the "journalist." A quick examination (from a safe distance) of her printed fecal matter deposited about the net reveals her to be a nutjob moonbat of the first order. As to whether or not the soldiers should have issued a burst of 3 her way, it all depends on whether you play by Ward Churchill rules. Personally, I wouldn't touch a hair on her head but rather get her real close to id the thug's bloody carcass definitively for a few moments. Especially if there was a headshot with gaping exit wound.
Posted last month at WoC by Trent Telenko. RTHT, but some notable excerpts:
IEDs are not "incidents", but the primary means of contact. It is an "ambush", and whether a "far ambush" (blow it from a distance and run) or a "near ambush" (blow the shot and have small arms fire with close-quarters marksmanship needed), regardless, it is not a random event. The enemy is patient, plans their attack, goes through all the recon and planning we do, and then targets who they hit.
The #2 killer is TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS!!! Everyone must keep this in mind. The up-armored HUMVEES turn and brake way differently, and are prone to tipping. "COMBAT DRIVING" means know your vehicle, use it as a weapons platform AND a weapon as needed, and be able move and communicate at all times... it does NOT mean "drive like the Dukes of Hazzard". As the CSM of the Army said, "Drive like NASCAR"... know you vehicle, keep the distances and speeds YOU need to be safe, and if needed, get under the opposition and put them into the wall. NOTE TO ALL: It is a * bad* idea to put your most junior people in as drivers and gunners, at least to do it all the time. Train them. We all need to be proficient with driving AND being a gunner AND using all the comms available AND navigating using * MAPS* and GPS.
The #3 Killer: Failure to execute proper and FAST first responder duties. The difference between life and death is measured in seconds if someone is bleeding out. As just one example, if you get a tourniquet on someone in time, they live. If not, they die. Again, EVERYONE has to know this... .the designated "combat life saver" may be the one hit. It used to be they barred officers from CLS courses as "if the officer is busy doing this, they aren't doing their primary job". That has changed. Standardize where the vehicle response bag is. Have recovery drills, mounted and dismounted. Have MEDEVAC plans, to include if you have to lay people flat. The time to figure out how to change a tire, how to open a vehicle and clear the people AND sensitive items, how to cross load people is NOT while RPG are criss-crossing your area.
The AIF (Anti-Iraqi Forces) are adaptive, intelligent, and will kill any number of civilians, to include using kids as bait, in the hopes of getting just one Coalition troop. By the same token, they are being driven to these extreme means precisely because public support for AIF activities is dropping (the majority of of help, in fact, come from Iraqi civilians and Iraqi forces). The AIF will do anything to take away progress and betterment of the Iraqi people, because anything good is seen as supporting the legitmate government and makes the AIF look less powerful. From everything I've heard from those in country, things are getting better, and its has resulted in more foreign fighters coming in and less and less Iraqis supporting these attacks or the causes claimed.
And now, the really important bit (emphasis added by myself):
Be aware, the PIRA (Provisional Irish Republic Army), FARC (the Columbian drug/leftist terrorists), and Chechnyans are many of the primary "expert" trainers for the AIF, and have been caught both in Iraq and neighboring countries teaching organization and tactical skills. There are others out there, too, that are not Arab and are actively supporting the AIF. Don't think someone is "OK" just because they aren't muslim. Do not fall into a trap thinking this is a religious or racial war - that is what the demagogues on both sides want to cloak this in. It is a struggle for power and money.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/14/2005 02:42 ||
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#1
There's more at the link, much of it in the "Useful IED survival and training tips for small units" category.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/14/2005 2:54 Comments ||
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#2
If AQ is using PIRA guys as IED trainers then they still thankfully don't get it and I am not going to spell it out for them. I am sure .com will confirm, you can tell an Arab, but not much.
#3
I bullet in the head for any irishman or latin american found in the region not in the uniform of the coalition forces. No exceptions. Teams to take them out in the surrounding countries and Northern Ireland or Central America as and when needed.
#5
From the little I understand, the latest stage in the second Chechen war has been so far mostly IED-based, and the chechyans are very proefficient at it (and at guerilla war in general). That they act as adviser is no surprize at all; note still that US losses in Iraq are lower than russian casualties in much smaller Chechnya. I guess it's because US troops are more trained and professionnal, and because insurgents quality is lower.
#6
If the PIRA is in Iraq (doubtful)they would head south to Basra where the Brits are and try to kill them - not Yanks. In fact, if Iraq is a terrorist's honey trap like people suggest I am more surprised than ever that the PIRA and their ilk haven't been down there before trying to kill British military.
#7
I guess this was too obvious for Phil to include, but I found it to be interesting - if old - news.
PERSONAL COMMENT: At the [expunged] conference there were seats for the LA Times and NY Times, with the reporters' names reserving their seats. There was salient, timely information being put out by the people who have been there for the people who are going - it was not a "press event". It did a great job of outlining the threat, outlining how the enemy has succeeded AND has been defeated, and how we are doing better as where we need to improve... but the mainstream media couldn't bother to show up to deal with the military's (all services present) #1 event to deal with our biggest killer.
LESSON LEARNED: The media is not exercising the due diligence needed to report the full picture. This is consistent with my years in media relations (military and otherwise) as well as being a journalist on assignment where only a FEW will actually care enough to do their job instead of worrying about "consumers" (what they now call "readers"/ "viewers") and advertising. Therefore, realize you will not get the "boring" part of a given story, and "boring" often is the "good news". "If it bleeds, it leads" has been a media mantra for longer than I've been alive, but the perceived need to be "balanced" has been officially given up by many news agencies using "everyone does it" as an excuse.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/14/2005 9:16 Comments ||
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#8
It's not as if Basra is friendly territory to them.
But hey, it's some big religious war. It has "Christians" (the PIRA pretends to be working on behalf of Catholics, right?) killing Moslems (like the kids who died yesterday). And pretending to be the Great Moslem Resistance against the Christian Crusader Invaders at the same time.
(Well, to be fair, the terrorists also have Moslem support. And most of that's from Saudi Arabia, where the people who displaced the defenders of the faith are busy tearing down historic Moslem landmarks...)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/14/2005 9:21 Comments ||
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#9
PIRA in Iraq? Any sources available on that one anybody?
#15
Terrorism for the professionals is a business. The ideological or religously motivated are just dispensable/disposable amateurs.
Actually, it's not a business.
It's a religion unto itself.
Which is why you can find FARC, PIRA, and as Pappy suggested, "Ex-Red Army & Iron Curtain military" in Iraq, and you have Pakistan getting the bomb from the PRC, and passing it on to North Korea, and Iran getting it from Russia...
It's all the same religion.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
07/14/2005 12:40 Comments ||
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#16
Rhode corses? Oh! Than explains the dirt. Anybody seen Michael? Ima feel the need for a T-bone
Posted by: L Dale ||
07/14/2005 14:37 Comments ||
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#17
We need a translation team in here, stat.
Posted by: Dr. Franklin ||
07/14/2005 16:14 Comments ||
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#18
I don't like seeing stuff like this on the open web. Normally it's only accessible on password protected sites. I've quoted from field manuals here before, but only because they are on .mil sites that anyone can access. This reveals current intel and tactics, techniques, and procedures.
It's not often that a police force is pilloried for nabbing a dreaded gangster. But the arrest of Chhota Rajan's right-hand man and sharpshooter Vicky Malhotra from Delhi, while he was in the company of a former Intelligence Bureau (IB) director, has put the Mumbai police in a spot. According to sources, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) is now conducting an inquiry into who tipped the Mumbai police off about the presence of Malhotra in Delhi. And, if the initial inputs are to be believed, it was none other than Dawood Ibrahim, whose men provided Mumbai cops with the information.
Sold him out, did they?
The IB is fuming as the arrest has hurt a major operation that the agency was planning. Apparently, the tip-off to Mumbai police was that Malhotra was in Delhi to meet someone important. The Mumbai police intercepted and arrested Malhotra at Panchsheel Marg while he was in the company of a former IB chief.
I'd consider him somebody important...
In what is by now obvious, Malhotra was being used by intelligence agencies to get to the core of the Dawood network, if not the don himself. "While there is nothing illegal about the Mumbai police operation, there are some unanswered questions which need to be looked into," said a source, adding that hard work put in by intelligence agencies for the last three months had been undone.
On the other hand, it's probably better for Vicky's health, if y'know what I mean...
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/14/2005 00:49 ||
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SRINAGAR, India - Indian troops were Wednesday in an intense gunbattle with a âlarge groupâ of Islamic terrorists militants near the de facto Kashmir border, the army said, adding two terrorists militants were killed in a separate clash. âThe two sides are engaged in a fierce gunbattle in the glacial heights of Gurez in (northern) Baramulla district,â army spokesman Vijay Batra told AFP.
He said the terrorists militants had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) -- the ceasefire line dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan -- over the past two days. âThey were traced inside our territory late Tuesday and engaged in a gunbattle by alert soldiers,â said Batra, adding there was heavy fighting in the area and adverse weather conditions were making things a âbit difficult.â
Batra said reinforcements were being sent to the site of encounter. He would not say how many terrorists rebels were engaged in the battle but Indian media reports quoting army sources put the number at around 35. Army officials said the infiltration was the biggest attempt by terrorists militants to enter Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani zone since the two countries began a slow-moving peace process 19 months ago.
Two terrorists rebels were meanwhile killed early Wednesday along the LoC as the entered Indian Kashmir in the Tangdar sector of northern Kupwara district, the spokesman said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Excellent. Keep sending them to their 72 raisins.
#2
Should read Pakistani terrorist militants don't you think? For that is what they are. Without Pakistani jihadi and government support there would be no "insurgents" or militants. Kashmir would just be a peaceful part of India.
#5
LoC firing on, 15 militants killed
The Army today claimed to have killed 15 of the 35-odd militants who had tried to cross the LoC near the Gurez sector in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. Army officers said that operations against the heavily-armed group were still on.
âThe operation is taking time as militants have split into small groups and are hiding at an altitude of 14,000 feet.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 6:17 Comments ||
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#6
At 14,000 feet those Israeli made thermal imagers are going to have excellent image discrimination.
Good hunting to the 20th Punjab regiment.
Kill them all.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 6:39 Comments ||
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#7
I'm not so sure about that, SPoD. I will stipulate that Pakiwakiland is a major source of jihad indoctrination, funding, and supply. But, I think that even if it were glassed, there still would be trouble in Kashmir. Moslems cannot peacefully live with another population, unless they are a very small minority. Look at Malaysia or the Philippines.
#9
There are 150 million muslims in India
The few million living in Kashmir have a higher standard of living than most Indians and would be peaceful were it for not the call to Jihad in 1988.
After all, there was peace for decades before this.
The Beatles spent months in Kashmir in the 60's.
The jihad in Kashmir only survives because of Pak support. Most infiltrators are Pak nationals.
The locals who became jihadis were exterminated by Indian security forces.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 10:03 Comments ||
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The gun battle between a large band of infiltrators and security forces in snow-bound Gurez mountains of Kashmir continued for the third day till Thursday, a defence spokesman said.
The intruders were using sophisticated weapons including Under Barrel Grenade launchers and firing from AK rifles on the troops, he said citing inclement weather and rugged terrain as the reason for the prolonged encounter.
The unspecified number of terrorists chose the snowbound area left of 16,000 feet high Kabul Gali between Gurez and Mushkoh sector to sneak into Indian territory, but were spotted by Indian army men on patrol.
Pakistani Northern Light infantry has the advantage of overlooking Indian positions in Gurez as well as Tilel and Mushkoh sectors, with some of their posts situated at altitudes of more than 16,000 feet.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 17:13 Comments ||
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Chief of Army Staff Gen J J Singh said the encounter with the terrorists was going on for the third consecutive day.
"We have already accounted for seven bodies of the infiltrators and we are looking for more. Our boys have done a wonderful job at a height of 15,000 ft at a place called Kabuli Gali," he added.
"According to information available with us, we still have to account for 10 more terrorists," he said.
"This was the fourteenth infiltration attempt, which the army successfully intercepted since April and the Gurez infiltration is part of a larger plan from across the LoC," a press statement issued by the army in Srinagar said. "We have so far killed 52 militants since April on the LoC," the statement continued.
"The terrorists in the Gurez infiltration attempt, despite high altitude and inhospitable terrain, were spotted by the troops of 20 Punjab near Kabuli Gali," the statement said.
The statement continued, "Glacier, high altitude and incessant rains made the operations slow. The terrorists in a life-saving bid dispersed in small groups. The troops in deliberate and sustained operations kept up the pressure on the terrorists and kept them on the run. So far, seven bodies of the terrorists have been recovered and the operation is in progress."
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2005 18:42 Comments ||
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Two European nationals kidnapped in the Gaza Strip have been freed, according to Palestinian security sources. The Austrian and Briton were taken hostage in the early hours of Wednesday morning by a family locked in a dispute with the Palestinian authorities. The kidnappers were thought to be local gang using the hostages to try to get some of its members released from prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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A Cairo court yesterday ordered the release of a man who has served his full 22-year sentence for his role in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in October 1981. An Interior Ministry source said the authorities were studying the administrative court's ruling demanding the release of Tareq Al Zumur, a junior member of the group which organised Sadat's killing at a military parade and not one of the gunmen. But he would not say whether Zumur would be released. The Interior Ministry last year ignored a similar order from the administrative court for Zumur's release. The court had said his continued detention was a violation of his right to freedom.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Four employees of the Iraqi Human Rights Organization were killed by unknown gunmen on Wednesday in western Baghdad. An Iraqi Police source told reporters that masked gunmen burst into the headquarters of a company in the Jam'ah neighborhood in western Baghdad and opened fire against five people inside the building. The source, who requested anonymity, confirmed that the attack killed four employees of the Iraqi Human Rights Organization, including the Organization's Director Ali Al-Shamma', and wounded the fifth person in the building.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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A joint US-Iraqi force killed five insurgents, wounded another, and arrested 11 insurgents in search operations in northern Iraq. A Multi-National Force (MNF) press release said that the US forces killed five insurgents and wounded another during a patrol mission in Tel Afer. It added that the Iraqi Police arrested two suspected terrorists in two search operations in Mosul, and arrested another during a patrol mission in northwestern Mosul.
The US force arrested four insurgents in a burst and search operation in northeastern Mosul, and arrested four others in a patrol in Tel Afer. The press release added that an Iraqi civilian was killed and nine others were wounded in a blast in Tel Afer. Witnesses said that an individual placed an object inside the trunk of a car and disappeared from the site, noting that the blast is still under investigation. Meanwhile, the US forces seized two weapons hideouts nearby the city of Kirkuk, northern Iraq. An MNF press release said that members of the Task Force Liberty in the US Army found two weapons hideouts, noting that they included 28 155mm type shells, 13 105mm shells, two 130mm shells, and a 110mm shell. The weapons were destroyed onsite without creating other damages.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Complimentary follow up by CNN in 5...4...3...
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/14/2005 1:54 Comments ||
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#2
Does it seem to you guys that the anti-insurgency efforts are gaining steam every day? Good thing we didn't listen to Ted (glub,glub) Kennedy a couple of weeks ago and surrender to the enemy.
#3
Bigjim-ky - I hope so, this time it feels different somehow, attacks are down, arrests up, borders tightening (a long way to go there), maybe even some euros getting pissed off at this point. Maybe we'll see some mmm's actually start to speak out (ok, wait, i have to stop smoking in the morning).
A 50-year-old Israeli woman died on Wednesday of injuries from a Palestinian suicide bombing in central Israel, raising the death toll from Tuesday's attack to four, the hospital said. The other dead were two teenage girls and a woman aged 31 in what was the first suicide bombing in the Jewish state since February. At least 30 people were wounded in the attack on the coastal city of Netanya. Israel launched a raid into the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Wednesday, shooting dead a Palestinian policeman in an offensive against the Islamic Jihad group which claimed the bombing. Jihad has distanced itself from a truce agreed by Israel and the Palestinians in February.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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Israel yesterday sealed off the Palestinian territories and reoccupied the West Bank town of Tulkarm in swift response to a suicide bombing at a shopping mall that killed four women. The authorities simultaneously closed entrances to all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip to non-residents with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon determined extremists will not flood the territory ahead of Augustâs historic pullout. The military shut down the territories and swept into Tulkarm to hunt down the perpetrators after what was the first suicide attack in Israel in four and a half months, claimed by radical Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad. Troops arrested five members of the movement around Tulkarm, which Israel had returned to Palestinian control last March as a confidence-building gesture.
Sharon said that there would be no hiding place for Jihad as long as their members continued their acts of violence. âI ordered the defense establishment to increase our activity and to do as much harm as possible to the leadership of the Islamic Jihad terror organization,â he said in a speech near Tel Aviv. âWe will not leave them alone until they stop these murderous acts.â Israel has sharply rebuked Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for doing nothing to dismantle armed groups, even through the Palestinian leader denounced the suicide bombing as âa terrorist attackâ and vowed to punish the perpetrators.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel has sharply rebuked Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for doing nothing to dismantle armed groups, even through the Palestinian leader denounced the suicide bombing as âa terrorist attackâ and vowed to punish the perpetrators.
The catch with Mazen's punishment approach is that little to nothing is done about the terrorist organization itself that is at the heart of the problem. They make plans to kill people, carry them out, Mazen maybe administers the "punishment", and the whole apparatus is left in place to do the whole thing again. Over and over.
#2
Just another crease in the all important roadmap. I live for the day when the inspektor general of peace processors stops the wagon and the pali people push the roadmap into the glovecompartment known as ein-el hole
The Iraqi judge in charge of questioning Saddam Hussein and his former regime henchmen said yesterday more than 80 percent of the investigation into their cases was complete amid increasing calls to speed up the trials. "The investigation is quite advanced with more than 80 percent completed (but) deciding the date of the trials is not the specialty of the investigative judges," Raed Juhi, a senior judge on the Iraqi Special Tribunal told AFP. The decision will be made by a five-person trial court panel, sources close to the tribunal recently said. Juhi is the judge who faced Saddam at a preliminary hearing in July 2004 and who appeared questioning the ousted leader in video footage released by the tribunal in June.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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#3
Not really. They want the cases to be complete, and done to high standards of evidence, with procedure that's world class, in a way that tells the story for Iraqis and the world to hear. This entails a lot -- training (judges, clerks, prosecutors, forensic techs, on and on), gathering of evidence (try mass graves, millions of documents to be screened, witnesses to be interviewed), all in an environment where tribunal staff live secretively, in fear for their lives (oh, and hassled by politicians from the national assembly trying to futz around with the whole process for their own reaons).
Summary execution was richly merited, of course. But both the Iraqis and the coalition want full exploitation of the value of these trials for the strategic value they hold (internally and externally).
Inside word says there will be developments in the next few days.
#4
The discovery process was slowed by European refusal to assist in the examination of the mass graves on grounds that Saddam would be subject to capital punishment.
Iraqi security forces arrested 41 suspected terrorists during a raid in the northern part of the country, a statement by the Multi-National Forces (MNF) said on Wednesday. The forces burst into an area western Mosul and arrested 12 terrorists, the statement said. It added that another 25 suspects were arrested in two separate raids south and west of Mosul, where also 4 suspects were arrested in the center of Mosul. No casualty was reported during the raids, and investigations are underway with the suspects. The forces found a weapon hideout, west of Mosul were they found mortars and explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2005 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Saudi border guards arrested three Saudi men as they tried to cross into Yemen. They were planning to cross into Iraq and join the insurgency, security sources said. The three were arrested at the Al Wadiea crossing point on the Saudi side of the border in Sharoura province, sources added. The sources said one of the three, 
London's four suspected suicide bombers had wanted to scar the city with a "burning cross" of blasts in its north, south, east and west, in the hope of being declared Islamic martyrs, a newspaper has claimed. The theory came as a global manhunt began for the man suspected of being the mastermind behind the suicide bombings.
As police step up the hunt for the mastermind and a fifth man believed to have been linked to the gang of bombers who last Thursday perpetrated the worst terrorist outrage in England in which at least 52 people died, the government has announced that it plans to introduce an array of tough new anti-terrorist laws. 
US forces hunting four Arab militants who escaped from the heavily fortified American headquarters in Afghanistan have found the prisoners' discarded jumpsuits, a military source said overnight. The find outside the detention centre of the Bagram Air Base north of Kabul ends US military speculation the escapees could have been hiding somewhere inside the sprawling airfield.
The US military Thursday announced the capture of a key suspect in the kidnap-slaying of Egyptian envoy 
Three suicide bombers have attacked Baghdad's Green Zone government compound, killing two bystanders. Police shot and captured one of the bombers before he could set off his explosives. Police say the attack, which has been claimed by Al Qaeda's Iraq wing, involved a car bomber followed up by two bombers on foot. The target was a checkpoint guarded by Iraqi troops and police and used by civilians arriving for work at the fortified complex. Doctors at the city's Yarmouk hospital say they have seen two bodies from the attack and five people are wounded.
Israeli soldiers have killed a senior militant from the 
It's not often that a police force is pilloried for nabbing a dreaded gangster. But the arrest of 
SRINAGAR, India - Indian troops were Wednesday in an intense gunbattle with a âlarge groupâ of Islamic 
Two European nationals kidnapped in the Gaza Strip have been freed, according to Palestinian security sources. The Austrian and Briton were taken hostage in the early hours of Wednesday morning by a family locked in a dispute with the Palestinian authorities. The kidnappers were thought to be local gang using the hostages to try to get some of its members released from prison.
Four employees of the Iraqi Human Rights Organization were killed by unknown gunmen on Wednesday in western Baghdad. An Iraqi Police source told reporters that masked gunmen burst into the headquarters of a company in the Jam'ah neighborhood in western Baghdad and opened fire against five people inside the building. The source, who requested anonymity, confirmed that the attack killed four employees of the Iraqi Human Rights Organization, including the Organization's Director Ali Al-Shamma', and wounded the fifth person in the building.
A joint US-Iraqi force killed five insurgents, wounded another, and arrested 11 insurgents in search operations in northern Iraq. A Multi-National Force (MNF) press release said that the US forces killed five insurgents and wounded another during a patrol mission in Tel Afer. It added that the Iraqi Police arrested two suspected terrorists in two search operations in Mosul, and arrested another during a patrol mission in northwestern Mosul.
A 50-year-old Israeli woman died on Wednesday of injuries from a Palestinian suicide bombing in central Israel, raising the death toll from Tuesday's attack to four, the hospital said. The other dead were two teenage girls and a woman aged 31 in what was the first suicide bombing in the Jewish state since February. At least 30 people were wounded in the attack on the coastal city of Netanya. Israel launched a raid into the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Wednesday, shooting dead a Palestinian policeman in an offensive against the Islamic Jihad group which claimed the bombing. Jihad has distanced itself from a truce agreed by Israel and the Palestinians in February.
Israel yesterday sealed off the Palestinian territories and reoccupied the West Bank town of Tulkarm in swift response to a suicide bombing at a shopping mall that killed four women. The authorities simultaneously closed entrances to all 21 Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip to non-residents with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon determined extremists will not flood the territory ahead of Augustâs historic pullout. The military shut down the territories and swept into Tulkarm to hunt down the perpetrators after what was the first suicide attack in Israel in four and a half months, claimed by radical Palestinian faction Islamic Jihad. Troops arrested five members of the movement around Tulkarm, which Israel had returned to Palestinian control last March as a confidence-building gesture.
