The Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced Friday that the individuals killed during the latest security clashes on Thursday alongside Saleh al-Oufi were two of the Kingdomâs most wanted members of al Qaeda. They are Majid Hamed al Haseri and Mohammed Abdullah Owaida. Their identities were confirmed after the Ministry carried out DNA analysis.
"Sam, run some DNA tests on these things and see if you can get an ID!"
"Sure, Dr. Quincy!... Say! What are these things?"
"I think this one's a lip. I'm not sure what the other one is, but it looks important, doesn't it?"
Al Haseriâs name featured in the list of 36 names announced by Saudi Arabia in June of this year. He was 29 years of age and lived in Riyadh. Owaidaâs name, however, was not included.
He was going to be on the next list.
According to new information obtained by Asharq Al Awsat, al Haseri died after his explosives belt detonated during following exchanges of fire in one of the capitalâs northern neighborhoods on Thursday. He had recently moved to the capital, after hiding in Medina, to hold discussions with other militants.
That worked well. I wonder if he made it to closing on his new house?
Speaking exclusively to Asharq Al Awsat, a security source said al Haseri was one of the most loyal supporters of al Oufi who died during clashes with security forces in Medina also on Thursday, in what was known as the al Oufi cell active in western Saudi Arabia and especially in Medina. The source added, âWe have captured most of al Oufiâs supporters and killed his lover closest aid, Majed al Haseri.â According to the same source, al Haseri was âknown for his religious extremism. He used to be active in the anti-smoking campaign and developed increasingly militant beliefs around 1995 after which he became wanted by the authorities.â
That's the way they start, y'know. First it's cigarettes, then bosoms, then they memorize the Koran and blow up.
Commenting on the relationship between the two al Qaeda militants, the source revealed, âAl Haseri enjoyed al Oufiâs manly affections trust and was kept away from major operations in order to act as a safe haven if needed. However, after the authorities captured messengers who passed on messages between the two, al Haseri sensed danger and went into hiding until he was killed in Riyadh .
Didn't hide very well, did he?
He was able to evade capture by Saudi security forces by âusing forged documents and moved around the Kingdom with al Oufi who was in drag dressed as a woman.â Not known to have visited Iraq or Chechnya, al Haseri had traveled to Afghanistan in the past. On the presence of other wanted militants with the same surname, the source confirmed that two other men are on the list of 36 most wanted. They are, âSultan Saleh al Hasseri, and Mishal al Haseri. The first is still at large while the second was killed during recent clashes in Riyadh. They have the same surname but are not brothers or first cousins.â
They were just good friends...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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They have the same surname but are not brothers or first cousins.â
Second cousins three times over and one another's grandfathers, however...
SCOTLAND YARD believes it has thwarted an Al-Qaeda gas attack aimed at ministers and MPs in parliament. The plot, hatched last year, is understood to have been discovered in coded e-mails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan. Police and MI5 then identified an Al-Qaeda cell that had carried out extensive research and video-recorded reconnaissance missions in preparation for the attack. The encrypted e-mails are said to have been decoded with the help of an Al-Qaeda âsupergrassâ. By revealing the terroristsâ code he was also able to help MI5 and GCHQ, the governmentâs eavesdropping centre at Cheltenham, to crack several more plots.
And so we tell everyone so that al-Q can change their methods and codes. Brits are famous for this.
The discovery of the suspected Commons nerve gas plot was behind the decision to increase security around parliament this summer. A senior officer said that the scheme had led to the intervention of Eliza Manningham-Buller, head of MI5, to assess parliamentâs security. The operation to deter the sarin gas attack is referred to in an internal police document obtained by The Sunday Times. It is a minute of a meeting of senior police officers held last month at Specialist Operations 17 (SO17), the unit responsible for protecting parliament, and reveals that the team were waiting to be briefed on the plot.
This weekend a senior officer disclosed that the thwarted plot mentioned in the document involved a gas or chemical âdirty bombâ attack against parliament. âThe House of Commons was one of their targets as well as the Tube,â he said. âThey were planning to use chemicals, a dirty bomb and sarin gas. They looked at all sorts of ways of delivering it.â But despite the successful police operation and upgraded security measures, senior officers are worried that security at the houses of parliament remains âunacceptableâ.
The police security memo, drawn up after the July 7 attacks, reveals high-level fears that suicide terrorists could use a black cab or a visit to an exhibition to mark the 400th anniversary of the gunpowder plot. It discloses that a military unit â said to have been special forces â recently carried out a secret examination of security at the House of Commons. It is believed that the exercise highlighted the ease with which terrorists could kill dozens of MPs in the debating chamber. â(It was) felt all SO17 contingency plans should be reviewed against the new threat â a plan for a Kratos (suicide bomber) incident was required,â the minutes record. A senior officer said that he âfelt particular attention should be paid to cabs entering the (parliamentary) estateâ.
The memo records: â(A senior official) expressed grave concern at the shortage of security officers. He was worried that commitments such as the forthcoming exhibition on the gunpowder plot just could not be covered. He felt that an unacceptable number of posts were being closed down.â This goes above and beyond the normal gas at Commons.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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I'm with you, Dr Steve. Seems the TimesOnline is very similar to the NYT in this regard. The editor who put this piece in the hopper and the copper who confirmed should be polishing prison plumbing with toothbrushes - or job hunting at the very least.
#2
Shows how bad there are those whom want west to lose this struggle against the Fascists. Tar and Feathers and a sharp rail. In the UK they do have laws to toss them both in jail that said, I am sure they will not.
On a lighter note I thought perhaps Galloway was to give a speech and had been arrested.
#8
I wonder if "supergrass" has been mowed by the Jihad lawn mower.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/21/2005 9:14 Comments ||
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#9
And so we tell everyone so that al-Q can change their methods and codes. Brits are famous for this.
The British are also (or were?) masters in desinformation.
Before changing the codes, al-Q will probably try to know who the informant is and start wondering what is the extent of the dammage. Who's to be trusted and who's not.
To instill doubts in the enemies' mind can be a powerful weapon.
#10
And so we tell everyone so that al-Q can change their methods and codes. Brits are famous for this.
The British are also (or were?) masters in desinformation.
Before changing the codes, al-Q will probably try to know who the informant is and start wondering what is the extent of the dammage. Who's to be trusted and who's not.
To instill doubts in the enemies' mind can be a powerful weapon.
#12
Remind me again why when islamists are trying their hardest to kill thousands of Brits in mega attacks (truck bombings of football stadiums, ricin and cyanide attacks, now sarin in the underground and Parliament), the British leaders can't even make up their minds to deport those calling for mass murder? Darwin is a strict master and societies that don't have the will to survive will become just a footnote in history books.
Posted by: ed ||
08/21/2005 11:02 Comments ||
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#13
changing the codes...
Are they truly using codes? Or codes and encryption? Like everyone else, they are probably using commercial-off-the-shelf encryption like PGP. If I understand how those work, every session generates new keys. Thus the concern that Al-Qaeda will change their encryption is moot. If they are then using actual code books, then the concern is valid. If I were Al-Qaeda, I would use PGP to encrypt/decrypt, then use off-the-shelf paperback books or even static web pages to encode/decode the words. A decrypted message may read, for example: 1 78 56 33 21 45 99 56. The numbers refer to particular words on a particular page of a particular book which breaks to "Osama has camel breath. Please send infidel listerine". If you don't know the book or page, good luck breaking the code. The real story is probably deeper and more interesting than I can imagine. Perhaps it will be printed someday.
#15
I think the code will be substitution of words that would set all the red lights flashing with innocous words. So rather than 'bomb', 'book' would be used and 'open the book' would mean 'detonate the bomb'.
This smacks of disinformation to me. Paranioa is a powerfull weapon against terrorist organizations and the Brits have had 25 years of practice against the IRA. BTW, supergrass means someone who is informing against the highest levels of an organizations.
London's Metropolitan Police said Saturday the department has reviewed the use of deadly force against suspected terrorists after the killing of an innocent man, but has made only minor changes. The police also said they had offered a $26,950 payment to the family of the Brazilian man who was killed but stressed it "does not inhibit any future claim that the family may have against the Metropolitan Police Service."
Separately, a newspaper reported that Scotland Yard believes it foiled a potential al-Qaida gas attack on British parliament. The plot to unleash deadly nerve gas sarin on Britain's House of Commons was hatched last year and uncovered through coded e-mails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan, the Sunday Times newspaper said, citing an internal police document it obtained. Metropolitan Police refused to comment on the report.
That would have been really bright of the terrs. It would have been right up there with Guy Fawkes. And look what happened to him. One of these days, the enemy's going to succeed in one of those schemes and the aftermath will be neither pretty nor what they expect.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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If I thought that a suspect might have a finger on an ignition trigger, he would take a few shots in the head. Get a load of Muslim leaders who condemn terror as unislamic, but insist on referring to terror suspects as "Muslims." Hair trigger response time.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/21/2005 3:01 Comments ||
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A leftist rebel group acknowledged Saturday that its fighters killed two Catholic priests earlier this week, but said the killing was a mistake and promised to punish those responsible. The two priests, Vicente Rosso Bayona and Jesus Emilio Mora, were killed Monday along with two construction workers when gunmen ambushed their car on a remote country road in northeast Colombia. A third priest was killed in a separate incident on Thursday. "We are aware of the irreparable damage that this act has caused," the National Liberation Army, known by its Spanish acronym ELN, said in a statement. "We regret it deeply and ask for forgiveness."
Guerrilla fighters were conducting operations against their far-right paramilitary rivals near Teorama, 260 miles northeast of the capital, Bogota, when the shooting took place, the group said. In the statement, the ELN's Central Command blamed the killings on an "operational error" and said those responsible would be "tried with full rigor."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Sorry, no-can-do. That's an automatic excommunication. Next time, get a good visual before you mow someone down.
Posted by: Rafael ||
08/21/2005 1:05 Comments ||
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#3
....the ELN's Central Command .... said those responsible would be "tried with full rigor."
Hmmm. Barbequed scapegoat now being served in the mess tent.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Mourn yes, but I would also like to see a little of that ass-kicking attitude my ancestors had when they did a number on the Aztecs. Yep, they also did a number on Napoleon's occupation forces, crica 1808-1812.
Hope this isn't another occasion for Euro-Iberian cut-and-run appeasement.
#2
the troops are mourned, and by all accounts I've read, acquitted themselves capably. The gov't and the people that elected it, however, suck dhimmi tit
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2005 13:01 Comments ||
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What the MSM isn't telling us:
CRAWFORD â The president's supporters are rallying behind a new slogan: Enough is enough.
Critics of the peace movement and war mom Cindy Sheehan arrived in Crawford by car and by motorcycle Saturday to show support for President Bush and the Iraq war. In one demonstration, about 350 bikers buzzed the camps arranged by Sheehan and other demonstrators calling on the president to be accountable for the war.
While the day was relatively quiet at the peace camp entrenched near the Western White House, Bush's supporters gathered in downtown Crawford.
âThe silent majority has arrived and, hey, the cavalry's on the way,â said local businessman Bill Johnson, who sat atop a horse during a separate pro-Bush rally of about two dozen. âBelieve me. Don't think it isn't. Because, you know, we can take it, and take it and take it ... and at some point in time, there needs to be a response from America.â
Johnson alluded to a forthcoming caravan scheduled to arrive in Crawford next Saturday after snaking through the southwest from San Francisco. The event, called âYou Don't Speak for Me, Cindy,â is being led by a mother who has a Marine son.
#9
The experience still angers him today and he said he hopes today's veterans don't have to endure that treatment. As for Sheehan, Vergauwen said he supports her right to free expression, but wonders what would have happened to her had she lived in Iraq and called Saddam Hussein a liar, as she has Bush.
âWe wouldn't have heard of her any more,â he said. âThey would probably find her head in a deep freezer.â
Three arrested members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group who arrested by the police in last weekâs twin bombings in this southern Philippine port city were freed on bail late Friday, to the dismay of local officials. A court gave the three suspects temporary liberty here after their families posted a 320,000-peso (over $5,700) bail for each of them.
All three suspects â Adzmar Abduraop, 33; Angon Asmari, 32; and Ibnoyatim Salangin, 31 â have been charged with frustrated murder for the bombing, which injured 26 people. The suspects all come from the island of Basilan, a hotbed of insurgency and stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf. âWe cannot do anything, but to free them because the court orders so,â said Supt. Edwardson Tagaoc of the Zamboanga City Reformatory Center.
Police arrested the three men hours after a bomb explosion ripped through a parked mini-van in Campaner Street in downtown Zamboanga during rush hour on Aug. 10. A second blast tore through the second floor of a three-story building that houses a restaurant, motel and several shops, just 30 meters away from the main police headquarters. The families of the three men condemned the arrest and accused authorities of torturing them into admitting the attacks. They said the trio were picked up by the police hours after the blasts and then tortured them.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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"frustrated murder"
Newspeak? Failure to kill, when that was the clear intent, I presume? Pesky victims. All of them survived the blasts, eh? How bloody inconvenient of them.
I wonder, is there a common genetic defect in the judiciary world-wide? Anybody contact the Human Genome Project to get them to run a check? You've had that map in hand for 2 years, now, folks. I'm thinking we should provide them with DNA samples of, say, the SCOTUS (Souter or Ginsburg, for starters) and the loons on the 9th Circuit for their investigation into this phenomenon. Assign CSI: DC to help with the lab work. Perhaps they aren't actually human. Or sane. Got that self-hate nucleotide sequence identified, yet? How about the Tranzi and MultiCulti sequences? Surely there is a chemical reason for Moonbattery. Something amiss or broken. "Bad chemicals." as Vonnegut wrote in Breakfast of Champions to describe insane behavior. I'm thinking we need to speed this up. Throw some grant money on the table. That'll do the trick.
#2
It will never happen, .com. Investigations like that will probably be ruled a violation of their constitutional right to stick their heads up their asses as far as they can.
#3
Zamboanga has nearly as many moonbats as Portland. The new mayor was rumored to has young boys at his side, a habit he had to stop after election. He is a strange fellow. His aid is so liberal she makes Susan Sarandon look Republican. She once said if we should have negotiated with UBL and we are at fault for the WTC. Phil politics are great theater.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
08/21/2005 21:22 Comments ||
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Two Iranian police officers were abducted by unidentified men in the Mund area near the Pakistan-Iran border. According to details, some unknown men kidnapped the two Iranian security officers and also took away their vehicle. The Iranian Security Force has cordoned off the area and has started an extensive search operation. There was so far no tip leading to the whereabouts of the kidnapped Iranian officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Well the map sez that's Baloch territory... Other than the fact that they're Sunnis, does that mean anything to / ring any bells with you PakiWaki experts?
#2
Not an expert, but I do know that the Balochs are a) heavily armed, b) fiercely independent and c) dislike the attempt by Iran to build a gas pipeline across Afghanistan to Pakistan and India.
#5
I wonder if lotp = leader of the pack? If so, not only a moderator with no colour, but different names so we know when he's being official, and when he speaks just as himself. Clever!
In notes to US president Bush and Israeli PM Sharon over the weekend, the king warned that any further steps, including Israeli withdrawals from West Bank territory, would be deemed violations of the 1995 Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty - if coordinated only with Washington and the Palestinians. He stressed Jordan would not put up with a Israel-Palestinian settlement that failed to address Jordanâs sovereignty, its interests in the Jordan river basin and the border crossings and in shared strategic issues, such as security and water resources.
DEBKAfile adds: the Jordanian warning was prompted by deep concern over the side-effects of the expulsion of Israeli communities from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria. Amman fears their ripple effect next door to the kingdom on the West Bank. In particular -
1. The king was disconcerted by the words of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice last week, when she said: Everyone empathizes with what the Israelis are facing, but it cannot be Gaza only. This is taken in Amman to mean that Washington will squeeze Israel hard to pursue further withdrawals in favor of the Palestinians while leaving Jordan out of the picture.
2. Amman fears Washington may demand that Israel forego its control of the Jordan River border crossings too, should a precedent of this kind be set on the Gaza-Egyptian border. Jordan refuses to hear of Palestinians controlling the bridges and the Jordan River valley.
3. Jordanâs king is further disturbed by the possibility of Israel permitting free Palestinian passage from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, lest a land bridge be formed between Gaza and the Jordanian Palestinian community, which already includes 350,000 Gazan refugees.
4. Amman sees Egypt assuming a command role in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli pull-out. Cairo will not be permitted to extend its domain to the West Bank which the Hashemite throne historically and traditionally regards as its back yard.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2005 20:43 Comments ||
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If ever Sharon needed confirmation that he is pursuing the correct strategy, this is it. Let the Arabs clean up their own mess. Or be inundated by ti. Bwahahahaha.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/21/2005 20:50 Comments ||
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Absolutely, Mrs. Davis. This certainly doesn't make life easier for Jordan, but Israel needs to disengage from the Palestinians except to fire or return fire when targeted or fired upon. The Arabs have milked this one long enough. It's time for them to work out some solutions between themselves. Jordan needs to talk to Egypt and the Palestinians, not us.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2005 21:33 Comments ||
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#7
"rushing" PIMF
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/21/2005 21:34 Comments ||
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#8
Real Jordanians, though outnumbered by Paleos, are very different indeed. Jordanians are bedouins, and see themselves as far above Paleos as dogs are above fleas. The Paleos living in Jordan are rather comfortable living under Jordanian rule, preferring it to being under Paleo rule, and also know if they cut up rough, the bedouins will mercilessly slaughter them. The Jordanians also have a vicious secret police, who actively try to ensure that external troublemakers do not have free access to the Paleos.
There big concern is Israel opening up a passage between Gaza and the West Bank. The Jordanians suspect that through there and into Jordan would flow every agitator, terrorist, assassin, etc. that could be found not only in Gaza, but in Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia *and* Iran.
They may not be entirely incorrect with this concern, as the Hashemite kingdom is an even bigger target than the Saud regime.
#9
Then let Jordan have what it asks for within reason first and deal with the Paleos second. Jordan has proven it will deal with the Paleos in a harsh way if so required. They also seem to be pretty honset with Israel too.
A massive bomb exploded under a wooden bridge as a convoy of armored Humvees was crossing it Sunday, killing four U.S. soldiers and wounding three others in the deadliest assault on American forces in Afghanistan in nearly two months. The troops were part of a major offensive against militants who have vowed to subvert legislative elections on Sept. 18 â the next step toward democracy after more than two decades of war and civil strife.
Rebels also stepped up attacks elsewhere, wounding two U.S. Embassy staff in a roadside bombing in the capital and killing a senior pro-government cleric and a colleague in the country's south. Though the U.S. military operation has left dozens of suspected rebels dead or captured, a number of American troops also have been killed, including 13 this month. U.S. and Afghan officials have warned violence may worsen ahead of the polls.
The bomb tied to the bottom of the small bridge exploded as the last of three Humvees was slowly crossing it, said Bashir Ahmad Khan, the government chief in Zabul province's Daychopan district. "It was an enormous remote-controlled bomb. The American vehicle was tossed into the air and off the bridge. It's totally destroyed, as is the bridge," he told The Associated Press.
The three wounded troops were hit by shrapnel from secondary explosions as they tried to pull the four soldiers out of the burning Humvee, the military statement said. The three were evacuated to a nearby base and were in stable condition.
Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the U.S.-led coalition's operational commander, said the blast would "strengthen, not weaken, the resolve" of the troops to safeguard the polls. It was the deadliest attack on American forces since June 28, when 19 service members were killed in eastern Kunar province when a Navy SEAL team was ambushed and a helicopter shot down. Some 187 U.S. service members have been killed in and around Afghanistan since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001 â including 64 during a rash of insurgent attacks in the last six months, which have left about 1,000 other people dead as well.
The bloodshed has led the military to rush in an airborne infantry battalion of about 700 troops on standby in Fort Bragg, N.C., boosting the number of American troops in Afghanistan to about 20,000. Some 3,100 soldiers from 19 other nations also are members of the U.S.-led coalition.
...
Posted by: ed ||
08/21/2005 15:12 ||
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A mine is not an assault. I find it amusing that professional journalists cannot find the words to accurately express what actually happened.
All week long, as Israeli soldiers and settlers fought running battles in the soon-to-be-dismantled Jewish settlements, their Palestinian neighbours could hardly contain their delight. In the teeming slums of Gaza, Palestinian officials marked the end of 38 years of Israeli occupation by organising poetry and painting competitions, which summed up the Palestinians' view of Israel's unilateral decision to forcibly remove 9,000 settlers from their homes.
One entrant, Rasha Salim painted a large picture of a shining sun as a symbol of hope after the withdrawal. "The shining of the sun symbolises the defeat of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip," said the artist, proudly displaying her work. In the poetry category, an entry by Ibtisam Mustafa was singled out for particular praise. "O brigades, be prepared, Gaza has been restored. Start preparing to liberate the rest of the land. Drive the Zionists out. O Hamas, let's liberate Jerusalem with the help of your soldiers and glorious rockets."
While Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, tries to argue that the Gaza withdrawal is an important step towards reviving the dormant Middle East peace talks, Palestinian militants apparently have little interest in achieving their goals through peaceful dialogue.
In Palestinian-controlled Gaza last week, virtually everyone The Sunday Telegraph spoke to said that Israel's indihar, or retreat, had been forced by the scores of young suicide bombers who have killed more than 1,000 Israeli civilians in the five-year-long intifada, or uprising. "The Israelis are leaving Gaza because they can no longer tolerate the bloodshed we have inflicted on them," said Mohammed Khatif, a local shop owner. "We will continue the struggle until we have reclaimed all the land of Palestine."
Five founding Hamas members made a rare group appearance in a Gaza restaurant to assert their right to continue the armed campaign. "Our land, including Jerusalem, is still occupied, the refugees are still deported, the wall and the settlements are still eating more of our land," said one leader, Ismail Haniya.
In Beirut, a Hamas spokesman, Khaled Mashaal, was defiant. "The resistance and the steadfastness of our people forced the Zionists to withdraw," he declared last week. "The armed struggle is the only strategy that Hamas possesses. As long as Palestinian lands remain under occupation, Hamas won't lay down its weapons."
To counter the threat posed by Hamas militants, Tony Blair has authorised a team of MI6 counter-terrorism experts to be deployed to Gaza on a secret mission to persuade Hamas to observe a ceasefire. British intelligence officers believe that such a lull would allow Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian leader, to resume discussions with Israel over the "road map", the blueprint for a peace deal backed by President George W Bush and Mr Blair.
Mr Bush and Mr Blair have committed themselves to a two-state solution for the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict, but the Israelis are refusing to enter detailed discussions with the Palestinians until the latter unequivocally renounce terrorism. Mr Blair, in particular, has invested much political capital in trying to negotiate a deal to create an independent Palestinian state, which he believes would eliminate one of the root causes of Islamic terrorism.
The secret Gaza mission is being led by Alistair Crooke, a former MI6 officer who received an MBE for his work negotiating a Hamas ceasefire during the early stages of the intifada. Mr Crooke has been heavily criticised by the Israeli government for arguing that Hamas should be treated as a serious negotiating partner in the peace talks.
The Israeli foreign ministry formally asked Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, to withdraw the MI6 team during his visit to Jerusalem in June. While Mr Straw told the Israelis that he would scale down the operation, security officials in Gaza confirmed last week that the MI6 operation is continuing. MI6 has a long history of entering into negotiations with outlawed terror groups, notably with the IRA in the 1980s. That dialogue ultimately resulted in Sinn Fein's leaders giving up the armed struggle for political negotiation.
Whether MI6 can replicate that success in Gaza is another matter entirely. As most world attention focused on the emotional scenes unfolding at the Jewish settlements last week, the security situation in Gaza took a serious turn for the worse. The United Nations was forced to withdraw all its foreign staff from Gaza indefinitely after Palestinian gunmen kidnapped two of its workers and held them hostage for several days. The hostages were eventually released after a gun battle.
Last week a French journalist was abducted in Gaza by masked gunmen. His whereabouts are unknown. Security officials in Gaza believe that the abductions are the work of rival factions of the Fatah movement, the dominant political force in the Palestinian Authority, aimed at undermining Mr Abbas. He is keen to use the Gaza withdrawal as a basis for negotiating the removal of Israeli settlements from the occupied West Bank. Concerned that militant groups will launch terror attacks in an attempt to sabotage any talks with Israel - Fatah hardliners oppose "road map" negotiations - he has ordered a crackdown.
Such is the overall chaos within the Palestinian Authority that another team of MI6 officials is advising its security forces on setting up a command and control infrastructure to instil a measure of discipline. Unlike the Hamas operation, it has Israeli approval.
During the Gaza withdrawal, there were no reports of serious clashes between Israelis and Palestinians. Yet despite the relative calm of recent weeks, Israeli security officials fear that once the dust has settled on disengagement, Palestinian militants will seek to launch a new wave of terror attacks. While Mr Abbas focuses on negotiations with Israel, support for Hamas is growing in Gaza and the West Bank. Tens of thousands of Palestinians turned out for a Hamas-sponsored rally in Gaza last week; only a few hundred for a rally in support of Mr Abbas.
With many Palestinians genuinely believing that the intifada forced Israel's withdrawal in Gaza, there is widespread support for using similar terror tactics to prompt the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank. "We feel that this is the lull before the storm," said a senior Israeli security official. "If that is how the Palestinians see the Gaza withdrawal, we don't hold out much hope that they will commit themselves to political dialogue. "But if they think they can drive us out of the West Bank they had better think again. There will be no tolerance from Israel for Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank."
Posted by: ed ||
08/21/2005 14:43 ||
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#1
"O brigades, be prepared, Gaza has been restored. Start preparing to liberate the rest of the land. Drive the Zionists out. O Hamas, let's liberate Jerusalem with the help of your soldiers and glorious rockets."
So much for the roadkill roadmap to Pieces Peace. I think that Hamas confuses a strategic withdrawl with appeasement. Ball is in Israel's court when Hamas gets frisky with rockets in Gaza.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/21/2005 15:58 Comments ||
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#4
With many Palestinians genuinely believing that the intifada forced Israel's withdrawal in Gaza....
I would love to see these folks educated in the real world of truth. Hard to understand sometimes how ignorant the Palestinians really are. But again that's why they believe in what they do I guess, sigh....
Posted by: Jan ||
08/21/2005 22:52 Comments ||
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"God adores filthy, downtrodden wretches,
and covers the Earth with his favorites;
but Mother Nature and her husband Darwin
abhor the ignorant peasant, and seek ever
creative ways of reducing their profligate
numbers."
Posted by: N guard ||
08/21/2005 10:33 Comments ||
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#4
"So," he demanded, "when are you taking me to Guantanamo?"
No dumbass. No tropical ocean views, air conditioning, 3 halal meals a day, snacks, volleyball, library, arrows pointing to mecca, or the best legal representation Lenin can buy for you. Only slow starvation, lice, an airtight shipping container, and an anonymous grave for you.
Posted by: ed ||
08/21/2005 10:45 Comments ||
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#5
Oh if it were only true Moose, but it is the "ignorant peasant" that reproduces most IMHO. The ignorant do not know and are unconcerned with the costs of raising children. They simply obey their passions. It is the learned folk - who can see in their future potential brats, poverty, war, struggle, pain and final failure - who ultiamtely make sure condoms - or a coat hanger - are always within reach. I don't know your experience, but that is what I see around me. Witness native Europeans.
#7
These folks don't act like folks, they don't even act like animals, insects don't even act this way. Give me a few minutes and I may think of what group of creatures they are.
Aw hell I can't think of anything bad enough right now.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/21/2005 23:08 Comments ||
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ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Islamic terrorists militants killed six hikers in a forest in eastern Algeria, local security forces said Saturday. Victims had their throats slit in the Friday attack in the forests of Ravin Bleu in the Batna region, about 330 miles east of Algiers, the security forces said.
The terrorists attackers accosted a group of a dozen hikers and took their valuables. Those who were not killed were briefly abducted. All but one woman were released, and authorities were searching the area, the officials said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2005 00:26 ||
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#1
Our annoying Free World media insists on referring to terrorists as militants. That is once step from calling them freedom fighters.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/21/2005 2:57 Comments ||
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#2
hikers?? how descriptive. Were they Algerians? Americans? Boyscouts? The state of "reporting" these days is dismal.
#4
This is one of several articles that refer to the victims as civilians including one woman. Musta been Algerian hikers. Robbery appears to be the motive.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistani soldier was hanged Saturday after being convicted of participating in a failed assassination plot against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a military spokesman said.
Islam Sadiqqui was among several soldiers arrested after al-Qaida operatives and domestic militants - including army officers - tried to blow up Musharraf's motorcade near the capital, Islamabad, on Dec. 14, 2003.
11 days later, at least 16 people - mostly the president's police guards - were killed and several others wounded when suicide bombers tried to ram two explosive-laden vehicles into Musharraf's limousine. The president again survived.
Months after the attacks, Musharraf revealed that some junior army and air force personnel, domestic militants and top al-Qaida leader Abu Farraj al-Libbi were involved in the attempts to kill him for helping the United States in its war against terrorism.
Al-Libbi, described by U.S. and Pakistani officials as al-Qaida's No. 3 after Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri, was arrested in May in northwestern Pakistan and later handed over to U.S. authorities.
Yessh! A real number 3, not one of those imitations you've heard about!
Pakistan army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan said Sadiqqui was sentenced to death last year by a military court that convicted him of conspiring to kill Musharraf. The soldier submitted an appeal for mercy to the president, but it was rejected, he said.
"Not a chance, Sadiqqui, you're gonna swing!"
On Friday, authorities informed Sadiqqui's family that he would be hanged before dawn Saturday at a jail in the central city of Multan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/21/2005 00:22 ||
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Now if he were to hang those who seem intent on killing him by getting him in a war with the US, I'd be impressed.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/21/2005 20:21 Comments ||
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A 42nd Military Police Brigade soldier died today after his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in Baghdad, Iraq, military officials reported.
The soldier was taken to the 86th Combat Support Hospital, where he died, officials said. The soldier's name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
In other news from Iraq, Iraqi soldiers and coalition Special Forces advisers killed three terrorists in a combined raid on a kidnapping cell southeast of Fallujah on Aug. 19. Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, and U.S. Special Forces assaulted the target house and were quickly engaged by three enemy combatants with small-arms fire. The Iraqi and U.S. soldiers returned fire, killing all three terrorists. Soldiers found numerous weapons and bomb-making materials in the house, officials said.
Iraqi Department of Border Enforcement officers and coalition forces interdicted a small group of smugglers and a large mule train crossing the Syrian border northwest of Tall Afar on Aug. 19.
Border patrol officers and elements of the 1st Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Found about a half dozen men leading more than 200 mules carrying fuel pods into Iraq. The smugglers were able to escape back into Syria with some of the mules. Coalition forces captured 145 of the mules and their fuel loads. No injuries or damage were reported.
Also on Aug. 19, Iraqi army and coalition forces found a bomb on a roadway in Fallujah.
Soldiers with 1st Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, and U.S. Marines secured the area and called in an explosive ordnance disposal team. The EOD team deployed a robot to get a better look at the explosive threat. While the robot was investigating the object, the bomb detonated and destroyed the robot.
The IED consisted of a 122 mm artillery shell with an unknown type of receiver. Soldiers searched the area for a triggerman, with no success. No injuries were reported.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Can someone define fuel pod for me in this context? Thanks!
#2
I would imagine that it is something like a jerry can or a bladder-like container, TW. My best guess.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/21/2005 0:37 Comments ||
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#3
What puzzles me is why the enemy needs to smuggle fuel into Iraq in the first place. Seems like carrying coals to Newcastle. The answer may tell us a lot about the effectiveness on the battle against the "insurgents" that the astute MSM reporters have missed.
#6
Mule train!! (Hyah, hyah)
Mule train!!
Clippety cloppin' o'er the mountain chain
Soon they're gonna reach the top, clippety clop, clippety clop
Clippety, clippety, clippety, clippety, clippety cloppin' along
There's some plastic boom and schrafnel for the folks in way-out-yonder
A timer for a boomer who left SA to wander
Some CD shills for the shaheen in the hills
Get along, mule!! , get along
Mule train!! (Hyah, hyah)
Mule train!!
Clippety cloppin' through the wind and rain
They'll keep goin' till they drop, clippety clop, clippety clop
Clippety, clippety, clippety, clippety, clippety cloppin' along
There's a letter from some maddrass trimmed with black around the border
A quart of toot for someone brewed to order
A burka in the pack for the Ayatollah in the Sack
Get along, mule! , get along
#7
OT: Anyone else here old enough to remember 20 Mule Team Borax sponsoring the Late Movie? That was the first thing I thought of as I came across the mule train bit in the story.
#8
I remember the TeeVee commercials for 20 Mule Team Borax, awesome. I'm still curious about the demand for Borax that would lead someone to invest in 40 mules and start a mine in Death Valley.
#12
Ah! Thanks for the link GK, interesting old brand name. Also finally figured out that a 20 mule team, means 20 mules - not 40. I want to visit their mine now that I know that have one of the wagons on site. 7 ft. wheels!
#13
Unfortunately, I DO remember both the commercials and the movies. However, the first thing I thought of was Marshall and Millie, a pair of black mules my uncle had in Louisiana. I learned to plow with those mules, many odd years ago - something not many of my generation can include on a resume! 8^) Oh, and NO, I'm not older than dirt - dirt's my older brother.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/21/2005 14:59 Comments ||
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#14
Mules, huh? What kind of half-assed smuggling ring was this? :)
A time-honored one that's pretty effective in the rugged country along the Syria - Iraq border.
GK, Iraq does not have a large refining capacity .. they tend to export the crude and import the finished products. These days, that's under the control of the Iraqi government so the insurgents are falling back on other supply lines.
#15
"#14 Mules, huh? What kind of half-assed smuggling ring was this? :)
A time-honored one that's pretty effective in the rugged country along the Syria - Iraq border."
Indeed. However, my above comment was intended as much a pun on the parentage of mules (that of between a horse and a donkey or ass) than anything else.
Posted by: Dave ||
08/21/2005 23:10 Comments ||
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Police detained several suspects on Saturday as the hunt widened for the attackers who fired and supplied the rockets that narrowly missed a U.S. Navy ship anchored in the bay of this Red Sea port best known for beach vacations and Mideast summits. Those arrested included Iraqis, Syrians, Egyptians and Jordanians, according to a Jordanian security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He would not give the number of detainees.
Interior Minister Awni Yirfas told The Associated Press that security forces had found the launcher used to fire the three Katyusha rockets. Police found four more rockets when they seized the launcher in a warehouse in an industrial zone on a hillside overlooking Aqaba, state TV reported Saturday. The four rockets were defused, the report said. The newscast did not say whether anyone had been detained for Friday's attack.
I expect the Jordanians will round up a bunch of people, and that they'll cull the herd until they find the guys who dunnit, those who haven't beat it back to Iraq anyway. They do take these thing seriously.
A bit more, from al-Jizzles. No real detail yet... An Iraqi has been arrested in Amman in connection with Friday's rocket attacks aimed at US warships moored in the port of Aqaba and at neighbouring Israel, according to a security source. "Security forces arrested the Iraqi suspect [on Saturday] while he was driving his car," the source said on condition of anonymity. AFP reports that four suspects, including one Iraqi, were arrested late on Saturday in Amman in connection with the rocket attacks. The Iraqi was one of four suspects being sought by authorities.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree Saturday appropriating Jewish settlement land for public use once Israel's evacuation of Gaza is complete, and he scheduled postponed Palestinian legislative elections for Jan. 25. Both measures are meant to ease suspicions among Abbas' political rivals over the intentions of the Palestinian Authority and encourage them to hold their fire during the pullout.
The withdrawal paused for the Jewish Sabbath, but Israeli officials said they planned to speed up next week's timetable. The last Gaza settlements should be empty by Monday, and the army plans to begin clearing two settlements in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, they said. Military officials said some 2,000 anti-withdrawal protesters had slipped into those two settlements, and some were armed. They said police anticipated stiffer resistance than they encountered in Gaza, where the evacuation went swiftly and with relatively little violence. Officials said the army was trying to stem the flow of protesters into the area, though the terrain was open and difficult to control.
Abbas' proclamation seizing control of the evacuated Gaza land seeks to assert the authority of the Palestinian government in an area where political warlords largely dominate and where official corruption is ingrained. Many Palestinians feared prime land could end up in the hands of senior officials of the ruling Fatah organization. The 21 Gaza settlements, with 8,500 residents, and several military installations controlled about 20 percent of the coastal strip that also is home to 1.3 million Palestinians. About 9 percent of the land expropriated by Israel is claimed by private owners, who will have an opportunity to reclaim their property, while the rest had been in the public domain.
As Abbas issued his decree, dozens of masked gunmen from the Hamas movement briefly took over the central square of Gaza City in a show of defiance against the Palestinian Authority's leader. "We will keep all our weapons, and our military equipment, and we will develop it further, God willing. Our battle with the enemy is long and will continue," said a spokesman known only as Abu Obaideh. He said there would be no letup in the campaign to drive Israel out of the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Israel has used much restraint in their attacks on terrorists. Lob some missiles in from Gaza and the terrs will quickly learn about the meaning of counterbattery fire and fire for effect.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/21/2005 0:41 Comments ||
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#2
Alaska Paul Lob some missiles in from Gaza and the terrs will quickly learn about the meaning of counterbattery fire and fire for effect.
#3
It is getting pretty old, the notion that peace can only occur if Israel gives more concessions of land. I hope they red line it after Gaza.
The lack of Paleo leadership has resulted in setting false expectations for their populace. Both Abbas and Hamas, locked in a battle for control of the populace, are trying to legitimize themselves on the backs of the Israelis. Let them have their own internal civil war and have the Israelis deal with the aftermath. Israel has never had a partner for peace, perhaps never will.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/21/2005 11:32 Comments ||
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Palestinian parliamentary elections will be held Jan. 25, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced Saturday. The elections were initially to have been held in July, but were postponed indefinitely because of Israel's Gaza pullout. In setting a firm date, Abbas was making a conciliatory gesture to his political rival, Hamas, which is expected to make a strong showing in the vote. "The parliamentary election will take place in all of the homeland districts on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006," Abbas told a "model parliament" of high school students in Gaza City on Saturday.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, had said last week that elections would be held Jan. 21, based on a decision by the PLO Executive Committee. At the time, Erekat said the announcement was to be made a few days later in a presidential decree. However, officials went back to the calendar and changed the date, in part because of a major Muslim holiday and the pilgrimage to Mecca during that period, Erekat said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Aljazeera's correspondent in Cairo reports that Egyptian security forces have arrested dozens of people from a Bedouin area called Lahsan, located in central Sinai. Those arrested were suspected of involvement in an attack on members of a multinational peacekeeping force on 15 August, the correspondent said on Friday. Egyptian security forces have remained active in north-eastern Sinai and Sharm el-Shaikh as part of an ongoing security mission in the area.
Meanwhile, agencies report that Egyptian police have arrested one more man suspected of belonging to a group that killed at least 64 people in three bomb attacks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Shaikh last month. Security sources said on Friday the man, named Hassan el-Arayshi, was arrested in the Sinai Peninsula, without giving the circumstances. A second man, farmer Abdel Hadi Mahmoud Hamida, was arrested but police later concluded that Arayshi had been using a mobile phone registered in Hamida's name and the farmer himself had nothing to do with the bombings, they added. Hamida was still being held for further questioning. The arrests bring to at least four the total number of people held on suspicion of carrying out the 23 July attacks, the most deadly in Egypt for more than 20 years.
The state newspaper al-Ahram said on Sunday that police had arrested three suspected members of the group and had found about a tonne of high explosives at a farm near the north Sinai town of el Arish. An Interior Ministry official said he had no information on the report of new arrests. The group suspected of attacking three tourist targets in Sinai last October was based in el Arish and Egyptian officials have linked the two sets of explosions.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Indian troops yesterday shot dead a Hindu fighting for the biggest separatist rebel group in Kashmir, police said. They said the militant, gunned down in the southern district of Doda, belonged to the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahedeen. Police said Uttam Singh was serving as a "sectional commander" for the rebel outfit, whose headquarters are in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, when he was killed in a pre-dawn clash in Gandoh village. "Singh was one of seven Hindu members of Hizbul active in the district," a police officer said. Police say a small number of Hindus in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where the economy has been sapped by the 16-year revolt, have joined militant groups because of the money rebel groups pay.
Sounds like he wasn't much of a loss...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Does he get the full 72 virgin contingent, or is it prorated since he's not a "person of the book"?
A suspected Iraqi insurgent on Saturday hurled a hand-grenade on a patrol of the Iraqi Army in the town of Falluja in the western Al-Anbar provice killing four troops, a security source said. The source said three troops were wounded and were taken to hospital for treatment. The attacker fled the scene and disappeared.
On a road northeast of Baghdad, two gunmen died when explosives they were trying to set blew up accidentally. A security authority, the joint coordination bureau, said in a statement that the pair died in the accidential blast that occured on the side of a road in the town of Al-Muqtadiah, Diyali province.
Meanwhile, the Multi-National Forces, in a statement, said an Iraqi died on Thursday as a result of a heart attack while being detained in the southern sector of the Iraqi capital. The 65-year old man passed away when Iraqi regulars and American troops burst into his house, it said, adding that the troops gave him medical treatment to no avail.
On Saturday, Iraqi security men arrested seven militants in a search and inspection operation south of Baghdad. An Iraqi police source said in a press statement that Babil police stormed into a stronghold in the early hours of Saturday in the towns of Iskandariyah and Jurf as Sakhr in the Babil province south of Baghdad. The operation resulted in the arrest of seven militants and the confiscation of large amounts of weapons and explosives, the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Security forces on Friday afternoon conducted an operation in the Dewer Saidgai area, about 15 kilometres from the Afghan border, in search for suspected militants. Local sources told Daily Times via phone on Saturday that security forces cordoned off the area and searched six houses for foreign and local militants, but found no one. Sources also said five rockets were fired on Saturday from a hilly area that landed in an open field near Miranshah, causing no damage to life and property. Security forces on Saturday launched a massive search operation to hunt suspected Al Qaeda remnants in Roi Sidgi in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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Unfortunately, the Pakis use local troops whose loyalties are to the Islamofascist clerics. Nationalist troops pick up the occasional Arab jihadi, while leaving their own to wage aggression against Afghanistan, and its foreign assistants.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/21/2005 3:05 Comments ||
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KABUL: A former Taliban commander, who was loyal to the government of President Hamid Karzai, was killed in Kabul, officials said on Saturday. Karim Qarabaghi and his nephew were killed in their car by assailants firing from a passing vehicle in the city's northern suburb on Friday, they said. "We do not know whether it (the assassination) was because of personal enmity or because he once had joined the Taliban," said Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. Before joining the Taliban in 1996, Qarabaghi served as a military commander for ex-Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who like the Taliban remnants, is leading an insurgency against the current government and foreign forces. After the fall of the Taliban, Qarabaghi joined factions supporting US forces and stayed in Kabul, but had no government position. Qarabaghi's killing comes during a slow-paced government amnesty for rank and file Taliban fighters.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/21/2005 00:00 ||
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If he wasn't "ex" beforehand he is "ex" now
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/21/2005 0:04 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Police and MI5 then identified an Al-Qaeda cell that had carried out extensive research and video-recorded reconnaissance missions in preparation for the attack. The encrypted e-mails are said to have been decoded with the help of an Al-Qaeda âsupergrassâ. By revealing the terroristsâ code he was also able to help MI5 and GCHQ, the governmentâs eavesdropping centre at Cheltenham, to crack several more plots. 
Separately, a newspaper reported that Scotland Yard believes it foiled a potential al-Qaida gas attack on British parliament. The plot to unleash deadly nerve gas sarin on Britain's House of Commons was hatched last year and uncovered through coded e-mails on computers seized from terror suspects in Britain and Pakistan, the Sunday Times newspaper said, citing an internal police document it obtained. Metropolitan Police refused to comment on the report.
Three arrested members of the Al-Qaeda-linked 
Two Iranian police officers were abducted by unidentified men in the Mund area near the Pakistan-Iran border. According to details, some unknown men kidnapped the two Iranian security officers and also took away their vehicle. The Iranian Security Force has cordoned off the area and has started an extensive search operation. There was so far no tip leading to the whereabouts of the kidnapped Iranian officials.
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) - Islamic 
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistani soldier was hanged Saturday after being convicted of participating in a failed assassination plot against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a military spokesman said.
Police detained several suspects on Saturday as the hunt widened for the attackers who fired and supplied the rockets that narrowly missed a U.S. Navy ship anchored in the bay of this Red Sea port best known for beach vacations and Mideast summits. Those arrested included Iraqis, Syrians, Egyptians and Jordanians, according to a Jordanian security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly. He would not give the number of detainees.
An Iraqi has been arrested in Amman in connection with Friday's rocket attacks aimed at US warships moored in the port of Aqaba and at neighbouring Israel, according to a security source. "Security forces arrested the Iraqi suspect [on Saturday] while he was driving his car," the source said on condition of anonymity. AFP reports that four suspects, including one Iraqi, were arrested late on Saturday in Amman in connection with the rocket attacks. The Iraqi was one of four suspects being sought by authorities.
Palestinian leader 
Palestinian parliamentary elections will be held Jan. 25, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced Saturday. The elections were initially to have been held in July, but were postponed indefinitely because of Israel's Gaza pullout. In setting a firm date, Abbas was making a conciliatory gesture to his political rival, Hamas, which is expected to make a strong showing in the vote. "The parliamentary election will take place in all of the homeland districts on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2006," Abbas told a "model parliament" of high school students in Gaza City on Saturday.
Those arrested were suspected of involvement in an attack on members of a multinational peacekeeping force on 15 August, the correspondent said on Friday. Egyptian security forces have remained active in north-eastern Sinai and 
Indian troops yesterday shot dead a Hindu fighting for the biggest separatist rebel group in Kashmir, police said. They said the militant, gunned down in the southern district of Doda, belonged to the pro-Pakistan 
A suspected Iraqi insurgent on Saturday hurled a hand-grenade on a patrol of the Iraqi Army in the town of Falluja in the western Al-Anbar provice killing four troops, a security source said. The source said three troops were wounded and were taken to hospital for treatment. The attacker fled the scene and disappeared.
Security forces on Friday afternoon conducted an operation in the Dewer Saidgai area, about 15 kilometres from the Afghan border, in search for suspected militants. Local sources told Daily Times via phone on Saturday that security forces cordoned off the area and searched six houses for foreign and local militants, but found no one. Sources also said five rockets were fired on Saturday from a hilly area that landed in an open field near Miranshah, causing no damage to life and property. Security forces on Saturday launched a massive search operation to hunt suspected Al Qaeda remnants in Roi Sidgi in the Datakhel area of North Waziristan Agency.
KABUL: A former Taliban commander, who was loyal to the government of President Hamid Karzai, was killed in Kabul, officials said on Saturday. Karim Qarabaghi and his nephew were killed in their car by assailants firing from a passing vehicle in the city's northern suburb on Friday, they said. "We do not know whether it (the assassination) was because of personal enmity or because he once had joined the Taliban," said Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal. Before joining the Taliban in 1996, Qarabaghi served as a military commander for ex-Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who like the Taliban remnants, is leading an insurgency against the current government and foreign forces. After the fall of the Taliban, Qarabaghi joined factions supporting US forces and stayed in Kabul, but had no government position. Qarabaghi's killing comes during a slow-paced government amnesty for rank and file Taliban fighters.
