Two British soldiers were killed on Saturday in a Nato-led operation in southern Afghanistan where they have been engaged in heavy clashes with Taliban fighters in recent days. The soldiers, from the Royal Artillery's 29 Commando regiment were killed during a rocket attack in Sangin, a drug-producing corner of Helmand province.
The deaths of the British soldiers takes the number of UK troops killed while on operations in Afghanistan since 2001 to 50. Twenty-eight were killed in action. They will not be identified until later today. Brigadier Jerry Thomas, commander of the UK taskforce in Afghanistan, said to lose two men in one incident was a "deeply saddening blow".
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Fallen in the cause of the free etc...
Thanks, lads.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/05/2007 4:20 Comments ||
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Pity the French,Germans and Co get away with not confronting the enemy!!!!
Isnt that what soldiers are trained for????
Posted by: Paul ||
03/05/2007 7:19 Comments ||
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Some Soldiers, Yes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:08 Comments ||
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Those that fight and die in the name of freedom need to be remembered always. God bless these brave men and pour out His healing mercy on their families.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 11:57 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- A "complex" ambush involving a suicide bombing and ensuing fire killed 16 civilians and wounded 24 others as well as a coalition soldier in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, a coalition statement said. A suicide car bomber targeted a coalition convoy, which locals said was a U.S. military convoy, outside Jalalabad city, capital of Nangarhar province, in the morning, Afghan officials said. The bombing was followed by enemy small-arms fire from several directions, the statement said, adding "Coalition forces returned fire in defense of the patrol."
"Sixteen civilians died during the initial attack, including four civilians who later died of their wounds," said the statement, adding 24 civilians and a coalition soldier were also wounded during the attack.
However, the statement did no clearly tell how the civilians were killed or injured. The Afghan police earlier said U.S. soldiers opened fire toward Afghans on the road after the blast, killing eight civilians and injuring dozens. "The incident remains under investigation by Afghan and coalition forces," the statement said. Hundreds of Afghans blocked the road, threw stones toward Afghan policemen who were sealing off the scene, and chanted against the U.S. forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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This sounds like a bad day for the good guys. Is that because it's Xinhua reporting?
(SomaliNet) Twenty suspected members of a radical Islamic militia that was driven out of the Somali capital late last year have been spotted along the Kenyan border, and were suspected of trying to enter the country, Kenyan police said. The report, dated Thursday, said the men had "sophisticated machine guns" and were getting their food and water supplies from the southern town of Kolbio, near the Kenyan border.
The report comes as this restive Horn of Africa nation appears to be sliding back toward chaos, less than three months after the Somali government, with the help of troops from neighboring Ethiopia, drove out the Islamic militants. Four mortar explosions rocked the Somali capital Friday, wounding six people including two children a day after an advance team of African peacekeepers arrived in the country, witnesses said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) Unknown gunmen have attacked a camp resided by internal displaced people in the Somalia capital just before dawn in early Sunday. The attack took place at former Coca-Cola factory, that houses hundreds of IDP families in southern of the capital. A group of armed militia men have entered inside the camp and began firing bullets and torturing three young men of the displaced people, beating them with at gun point, Ahmed Nour, chairman of Coca-Cola camp said.
No one was hurt in the attack except the torture done to the young men in the camp. It is not yet known the militiamen had attacked the IDP camp in Mogadishu. The camps of the internal displaced people in Mogadishu are some times become target for gunmens attacks including robbing, killing and raping.
Thousands of IDPs live in dire conditions in the Somalia capital with fears of mortars and artillery shells exchanged by the insurgents and Ethiopian backed interim government forces.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Are they unarmed, or just cowards?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 9:47 Comments ||
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Three Algerians and a Russian citizen were killed in a bomb attack near Ain Defla, 130km southwest of Algiers on Saturday (March 2nd). The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming that one Russian citizen was killed and another injured when a convoy transporting "21 Stroitransgaz specialists [and] Algerian gendarmes was hit by two road bombs". At least five workers were injured, including two Ukrainian nationals. The Russian company is laying gas mains between Ain Defla and the neighbouring region of Medea.
There was no immediate claim for the attack, which was the second against foreigners in Algeria, after a homemade bomb hit a bus belonging to US construction company Brown Root and Condor on December 11th, killing the Algerian driver and wounding nine people. The December attack was claimed by the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, now operating under the name Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb.
UPDATE: Algiers, 5 March (AKI) - The Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Monday claimed responsibility for two weekend attacks which killed eleven people in a message posted to Islamic fundamentalist internet sites. The Algerian group, known as the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) before it pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda last year, drafted a statement, 'Attacks on Russians and successes of the Mujahidin against apostates', saying it had successfully carried out an attack against "Russian unfaithful" - killing three Algerians and a Russian working for Russia's company Stroitransgaz - and a deadly attack against Algerian policemen Sunday.
Seven police officers died and another was wounded Sunday when their cars were ambushed near Beni Yeni in the eastern Kabylie region.
This article starring:
Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Eight Algerian security personnel were killed by "terrorists" east of the capital, Algiers, a security source said Sunday. He said in press remarks "terrorists" riding two cars sprayed with bullets a check point set by security forces in Tasost area in tizi Ouzou, 63 kilometers east of Algiers. The attack killed eight personnel, said the source, while the attackers escaped the scene. Security forces were combing the area in search of the attackers. Tizi Ouzou was last month a scene of three car bomb attacks killing three people and injuring three others.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has arrested 21 employees of nine companies operating in the oil-rich state on suspicion of money laundering, local media reported on Sunday. An 18-month investigation revealed that proceeds from the sale of illegal drugs in Western countries were being funnelled into European banks and then transferred to banks in the UAE, the Gulf News quoted central bank governor Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi as telling a news conference. The governor declined to give details about the amount of money involved but said the assets of the companies had been frozen. A police statement said the individuals arrested had been European, US and Asian citizens, the paper reported. The UAE, from where much of the cash used by Islamic militants to finance the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States was reportedly transferred, has launched a crackdown on suspect money.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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A Yemeni court on Sunday began the trial of 36 people suspected of being part of an Al-Qaeda group planning a wave of attacks on oil and gas installations in the country. The group were accused of "forming an armed gang with the goal of carrying out criminal acts ... attacks against foreign residents in Yemen and clients of a hotel ... with explosions aimed at vital sites," the public prosecution told the court, AFP reported.
The group were accused of involvement in two unsuccessful attacks on oil refineries in the Maareb and Hadramaout provinces in September last year, in which four suicide bombers and one guard died. Those attacks came days after a video message by the Al-Qaeda network warned that the Gulf and Israel were being lined up for an attack. The group is also accused of carrying out armed attacks on police. Thirty of the suspects denied the charges, saying signed confessions had been extracted under torture.
The other six, who had escaped from a Sanaa prison over a year ago, were sentenced in absentia. The court scheduled the next hearing in the case for March 18. In October 2000, 17 United States sailors were killed when suicide bombers aboard a small boat attacked the destroyer USS Cole off the southern Yemeni port of Aden in an attack claimed by Al-Qaeda. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, Sanaa has worked with Washington to clamp down on suspected sympathisers of the network.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Police confirmed the identities of the six Indian citizens, arrested at Nalitabari border in Sherpur on Thursday, as members of Indian militant organisation National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) of Assam. The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel arrested the six and a Bangladeshi indigenous man at Burunga of Nalitabari upazila early Thursday. They also recovered firearms, ammunition, and bomb-making materials from their possession.
After a painful two-day interrogation at Mymensingh BDR 45 Rifles Battalion headquarters, the arrestees were handed over to Nalitabari Police Station early Saturday. The arrested NDFBL members are: Mohishwar, 27, Shombhu, 23, Warao, 21, Hor Kumar, 23, Jiban Kumar, 24, and Thandoi, 22. They hail from different districts of Assam, India. The arrested Bangladeshi was Imrul Sangma, 22, son of Naoshen Marak of Burunga.
Sub-inspector (SI) Shafiqur Rahman, second officer of Nalitabari Police Station, said acting on a tip off the BDR personnel early Thursday raided the house of Imrul and arrested him along with the six Indian militants. They arrested Imrul in connection with harbouring the Indian citizens on Bangladesh territory.
After interrogating the arrestees, BDR personnel on Friday night recovered a sub-machinegun (SMG), a barrel of an SMG, 350 bullets of different firearms, seven bomb detonators, 42 electronic circuits for making bombs, four explosive wraps, wires, a large knife, and a map of the forest behind Imrul's house.
The BDR doesn't get to check out the shutter gun from the RAB lock-up.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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The BDR can also apparently find weapons caches without starting firefights.
#3
Aren't the Bangladesh Rifles the ones that keep moving the border markings between India and Bangladesh? Sounds like it's time for India to do some serious "talking" with the BDR. Actions "speak" louder than words...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 12:10 Comments ||
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#4
Since the coup, the Bangladesh army may be trying to improve relations...
Posted by: John Frum ||
03/05/2007 15:53 Comments ||
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Al-Q can blow up as many Tescos as they darn well please.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/05/2007 6:30 Comments ||
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Ok, I'm on the other side of the pond, What's wrong with Tesco? for that matter What's Tesco? like Walmart?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 9:53 Comments ||
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Tesco are like Walmart, I guess. They opened a store in my home town and did the local family owned businesses out of trade - well that's capitalism I hear you say. Well, now we have few family owned businesses we cannot purchase fruit and veg grown in the locality so easily nor can we purchase meat that's guaranteed to have been raised on the rolling Derbyshire hills. A real shame.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/05/2007 10:20 Comments ||
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Whenever people get trained to how to recognize bad guys, they start to ponder aloud why they should have to.... and then more people start accepting the War on Terror as real. Followed by a change in voting patterns.
#5
If there is a pent up demand for local produce it sounds as though you have an excellent business opportunity Howard. Or maybe most people are happy with Tesco rather than paying over the odds for some dodgy off-license offerings.
Personally, I miss the Tesco Metro in central Manchester. Ahh, to have a proper British triangle sandwich...
#7
Howard UK, I'm no sprout-eatin carrot-snappin vegan but I do like my veggies fresh and full of flavor, [like my home grown stuff] so I pretty much buy local organic/or regular produce whenever I can. The exception are few except in the winter I buy fruit from down under..South America or OZ-NZ.
A hearing began Monday to determine whether nine members of an alleged Islamic terror cell should stand trial over claims they stockpiled bomb-making materials in a plot to attack Australia's only nuclear reactor. The men, who were arrested in a series of pre-dawn raids in late 2005, stand accused of conspiracy to make explosives in preparation for a terrorist attack, and being members of a terrorist group.
A hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to go to trial began Monday at the Penrith District Court amid tight security. Armed police stood guard at the courthouse and patrolled nearby streets, while lawyers, journalists and members of the public underwent rigorous security checks before being allowed to enter the building. But James Renwick, a lawyer for the national spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, told Magistrate Michael Price that he would request that the hearing be closed to the public for national security reasons. Price did not immediately rule on the request.
A police report handed to the court at the time of the arrests claimed the men had attended "jihad" training courses in the Australian Outback and were assembling chemicals, detonators, digital timers and batteries to carry out a major bomb attack. The Lucas Height nuclear reactor, a facility used to make radioactive medical supplies on the southern edge of Sydney, Australia's most populous city, was listed as a possible target.
The report also alleged several members of the group took "jihad training" trips to the Outback town of Bourke, about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northwest of Sydney, in mid-2005. The hearing is expected to last up to three months.
#3
Why the perps weren't clubbed to death into unconsciousness at the first sign of foul play is beyond me. This was a probe or, possibly, far worse. I hope their subsequent interrogation sessions included repeated deep cavity searches.
#5
Surprised there was no response from some of the other PAX. Would have figured that there was still some who believed in the post 9-11 actions and Flt 93......
#6
Surprised there was no response from some of the other PAX. Would have figured that there was still some who believed in the post 9-11 actions and Flt 93.
#7
When I fly, I carry (in my carry-on) a big bar of soap and a pair of knee-high wool socks with extra reinforcing stitching in the toes. Once airborne it only takes a second to get it ready. Just in case. One good bean on the noggin of a Perp, and it would be lights out. Why yes, I was a Boy Scout! Why do you ask?
#8
Pull them off the plane in Miami, take them to Little Havana, let them out, spread the word they are Arab agents working for Castro to infiltrate the Cuban community.
#9
Having a hard time believing this happened. Is there a single person on this board that wouldn't have organized his fellow passengers and killed these men? But then again the flight was coming from Paris. Heaven knows the Muslim fire bugs there are peaceful.
If it did happen where is the news from the fbi? My guess is that they are still in Salt Lake covering up that mooslimb terrorist attack.
Spit-
The actor James Woods witnessed a dry run, on an American Airlines cross-country flight, in August of 2001. That dry run was conducted by Mohammad Atta and three of his men. During that flight, Woods informed the American Airlines captain that Atta and his men were behaving like they might hijack that plane; the captain informed the FAA what Woods told him but nothing was done because that was before 9/11. (Federal officials have known about dry runs since at least 1994.) And so the Woods dry run story ends in great tragedy.
#10
CAER would complain but the result of this should be a sign on the cockpit door, in Arabic, saying coming near the cockpit will result in ten years in prison. Lingering will result in a life (or death) depending.
At least that would eliminate the "I didn't know, I'm just a furriner" angle. We can put Esparanto and English on the sign as well to ensure it doesn't profile Arabic speakers or anything.
#11
All flights should carry syringes of appropriate knock-out meds in cockpit and hidden places in cockpits. Flying waitresses/waiter stewardesses/stewards need to be replaced with martial arts trained crew. (They don't serve that much food now anyway)
#12
Delta/Comair have been training their flight attendants, at least those here in Cincinnati, for at least two years. There's a stewardess who is a student at the TaeKwanDo school Mr. Wife and the trailing daughters go to. She's a second degree black belt, and she and the school's master worked out a style for airplane aisles; they've been training the stews to use it for the last two years.
#13
"Transportation Security Administration has succeeded in arming only the smallest fraction of our pilots and has rejected and discouraged volunteers by the thousands." -- Marc Flagg, president of Federal Flight Deck Officers Association in testimony before Congress 2005. Marc Flagg's parents were murdered on AA Flight 77 on 9/11.
Arming & enrolling pilots as federal law enforcers was ordered by Congress around 2002 and has been thoroughly blocked by the TSA and the Bush administration since. [Source]
The only time the Bush administration was serious about flight safety was when it grounded all US flights immediately after 9/11. It has not acted seriously since. Syringes, indeed.
#14
Is there a single person on this board that wouldn't have organized his fellow passengers and killed these men?
Re-read the article, Icerigger. All the action took place in the forward galley within paces of the cockpit door. Had the perps gained entry and subdued the flight deck, they would have been behind a locked door and most likely diving the plane into the ocean had it opened again.
KHAR: Five shops, including a music centre and two barbershops, were destroyed in two bomb blasts in Inayat Kalay town, about six kilometres from Bajaur Agency headquarters, officials said on Sunday. There were no casualties in the blasts because the shops were closed at the time. The first bomb exploded in a barbershop at around 9:00pm on Saturday, while the second bomb exploded in a music centre at around 3:00am on Sunday. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blasts. The Taliban have told barbers in Bajaur Agency not to shave peoples beards, and most barbers are abiding by the order.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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Remember this the next time some dolt argues the problem is about Israel, George Bush, etc. Especially if that dolt has shaved or listens to music or thinks there is a problem with marrying six-year olds.
#3
western feminists would at least protest that bearded women
I think feminism mainly exists to allow ugly women access to mainstream society. As such, I would imagine feminists would urge such "wimmin" to embrace their beardedness as a counter to the patriarchy's idea of beauty.
#4
Prior to independence, what is now India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan were all part of British India. Today, India has the largest middle class in the world and is on it's way to economic super-power status. Pakistan and Bangladesh are still impoverished third world nations. I wonder why ...
(Xinhua)--- Indian Member of Parliament Sunil Mahato and four others were shot to death by unknown armed attackers at a sports function held at Ghatshila in the central Indian state of Jharkhand late Sunday evening, according to Sahar TV.
Mahato who was under heavy security of his bodyguards was watching a football match when attackers shot him on the pretext of putting a garland around his neck. Mahato is a member of parliament from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party in Jharkhand. The party is a coalition partner in the United Progressive Alliance government at the center. Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda has convened an emergency meeting to discuss the situation after the assassination. So far, no organization has claimed responsibility for the assassination.
KUNA sez it was Maoists...
Four more people, including Mahato's bodyguards, were also killed in the attack by 15 Maoist cadres, as they were watching a football match near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand today, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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OddJob, couldn't think of his name at first.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:10 Comments ||
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Iraq's Interior Ministry has fired or reassigned more than 10,000 employees, including high-ranking police, who were found to have tortured prisoners, accepted bribes or had ties to militias, a ministry spokesman has disclosed.
A soon-to-be-released internal inquiry also details 41 incidents of human rights abuse at the ministry. In one case, four members of the national police hanged prisoners from a ceiling and beat them with sticks in a ministry-run prison known as Site 4, according to the report by the ministry's inspector general.
The United States has pressured Iraq's Shiite-led government to clean up its security forces as they undertake a broad plan to reduce sectarian violence. Sunni politicians have accused Iraq's police of collaborating with Shiite death squads.
More than half of those fired or reassigned since June were found to have militia ties, Jassim Hanoon, the Interior Ministry's deputy spokesman, said in a weekend interview. The investigation is ongoing.
"We are struggling against this disease," Hanoon said of militia infiltration at the ministry.
The Interior Ministry employs about 270,000 people, including police, emergency response units and administrative staff.
"Maybe we aren't 100% cured," Hanoon said. "But we're getting better day by day." Some ministry employees were fired for arresting innocent people, while others had past criminal records, he said.
Investigators are using information gathered within the ministry to probe political leaders and members of parliament, something not previously done, Hanoon said. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has vowed to pursue criminal charges against political figures including members of parliament linked to extremist groups.
The cases of human rights abuse were detailed in a 250-page annual report that will be released this week, Akeel Saeel, the Interior Ministry's inspector general, said in an interview.
The four policemen allegedly involved in the Site 4 case were arrested and handed over to Iraq's criminal court system, Saeel said.
"Under Saddam, investigators had this ideology. Torturing was routine," Saeel said. "I do feel we're having an impact, but it takes time, step by step."
U.S. military advisers are working to better screen and train police, including requiring 15 to 20 hours of human rights training for recruits, said Lt. Col. Pablo Hernandez, a spokesman with the U.S. military unit responsible for training Iraqi police.
"If you look at what they had in the past and the product they're putting out today, it's a lot better," Hernandez said.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber struck a busy commercial district Monday, killing at least 26 people and injuring more than 50, police said. The attack near the well-known Mutanabi book market in central Baghdad was the first major blast in the city in several days sending a huge pillar of black smoke as flames spread to shops, cars and book stalls.
The death toll from police was preliminary and could rise. At least 54 people were injured. The commercial zone is mixed between Sunni- and Shiite-owned businesses and shoppers.
"Papers from the book market were floating through the air like leaflets dropped from a plane," said Naeem al-Daraji, a Health Ministry worker who was driving about 200 yards from the blast and was slightly injured by broken glass from his car window. "Pieces of flesh and the remains of books were scattered everywhere," he said. People began driving the injured to hospitals in private cars without waiting for ambulances to arrive.
Sporadic car bombs and attacks have hit the capital in recent days, but none with mass casualties since a blast Friday killed at least 10 people.
West of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers described a raid last week that uncovered a suspected Sunni "torture site" and rescued of two Iraqi captives, who apparently had been spared immediate execution because the militants' video camera broke and they wanted to film the killing.
Sadr City Wrapup
The quiet but dramatic advance in Sadr City involving nearly 1,200 U.S. and Iraqi forces who didn't fire a shot marked one of the most significant developments in the security clampdown in Baghdad since it took effect nearly three weeks ago.
But it only received the green light after drawn-out talks between U.S. commanders and political allies of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his powerful Mahdi Army. Both sides are watching each other for any wrong moves on the same streets where they battled in the past, including intense urban warfare in 2004.
Al-Sadr's militiamen lowered their profile under intense government pressure to give the security operation a chance to root out both Sunni and Shiite extremists. U.S. military leaders, however, must walk a fine line as part of the tacit truce. They are seeking suspected Shiite death squads leaders, but must keep from squeezing al-Sadr's militia too hard and risk collapsing the entire drive to reclaim Baghdad from extremists and gangs.
"The indication that we are getting is a lot of the really bad folks have gone into hiding," said Lt. Col. David Oclander shortly after troops moved into Sadr City's teeming grid of low-rise buildings in northeast Baghdad.
Oclander said "not a shot was fired" as troops entered the area, which was constructed in the 1960s to house poor Shiites seeking work in the capital and was known as Saddam City until the former Iraqi leader's fall in 2003.
As the insurgency picked up steam in the past few years, Sadr City became the site of frequent battles. Among the U.S. casualties was Spc. Casey Sheehan, whose death on April 4, 2004, began the anti-war campaign of his mother, Cindy Sheehan.
Last week, U.S. and Iraqi forces began pinpoint raids into Sadr City seeking suspected leaders of Shiite death squads blamed for thousands of execution-style slayings of Sunni rivals in recent years. Since Friday, military planners have worked inside a Sadr City police station in apparent preparations to create a permanent outpost, police said.
Despite the calm crossing into Sadr City, some quickly protested the strong U.S. presence. An al-Sadr ally, lawmaker Falah Hassan, claimed the Sadr City pact called for Iraqi forces to lead the searches and only call in U.S. units if they faced resistance. He called the front-line U.S. role a "provocative act."
Al-Sadr, too, has complained about the heavy U.S. role in the raids around the city. In a statement last week, he also decried the security plan's inability to stop car bombs and other attacks blamed on Sunni insurgent groups against Shiite civilians.
The comments raised worries that he could order his Mahdi Army to confront forces carrying out the security operation. But he didn't attempt to raise the stakes a possible sign of newfound caution from al-Sadr.
"We don't know if he has a change of heart, but certainly there is a change of tactic," the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, told CNN.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/05/2007 05:49 ||
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#1
Iraq reminds me of car sticker we've had in Israel a few years ago (verboten by courts as racist). It translates as "Have Arabs, have terror."
Reported yesterday. Still no confirmation. That's usually a bad sign...
A suspected leader of the group Islamic State in Iraq, which has ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, was detained in northern Iraq on Sunday, Iraqi security forces reported. Muharib Mohammed Abdullah, aka Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, was arrested in a joint raid by Iraqi and US soldiers in the city of Duluiya. "This is a great success for the Iraqi security forces, comparable to the killing of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi," the Salaheddin provincial administration in the town of Tikrit said in a statement.
UPDATE: Baghdad, 5 March (AKI) - The man considered the number two of "The Islamic State in Iraq" affiliated to al-Qaeda, has been arrested in Duluiya, 90 kilometres north of Baghdad, the Iraqi interior ministry said Monday. Abdullah Latif al-Jaburi - known by the alias Abu Abdullah - was picked up at the end of a blitz carried out by US and Iraqi forces on Sunday. Initially the Iraqi security forces thought they had captured Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the head of the group established last year with the proclaimed aim of establishing an Islamic state in Iraq, bringing together various insurgency groups.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH LATIF AL JABURI
Islamic State in Iraq
ABU ABDULLAH
Islamic State in Iraq
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
Islamic State in Iraq
ABU OMAR AL BAGHDADI
Islamic State in Iraq
MUHARIB MOHAMED ABDULLAH
Islamic State in Iraq
Islamic State in Iraq
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
It's not even 9am in Baghdad yet, let them get their first cup of coffee and schedule the first series of follow-up exploitation raids first. If the captured him along with 50 others, I am going to be they got a gold mine of intelligence to go along with it. They might want to do a few raids before confirming it.
(KUNA) -- The US army said Sunday its troops and Iraqi ones arrested 50 terrorists in small towns within parameters of Salahuddin governorate that embraces also Saddam's home town Al-Ouja.
The US Army said in a statement released here today that the joint US-Iraqi forces detained through a wide-scale and three-day combing campaign that focused on terrorist cells in Abu Ajil, Yanout and Al-Ouja close to Tikrit. It added that 10 terrorists were killed after proving that they financed attacks against the coalition forces stationed in Abu Ajil. In another development a government statement said that the Iraqi army killed three terrorists and arrested two others at Bani Saad in the governorate of Diala, east of here.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I'd prefer a higher Killed-to-Captured ratio. What's happening here (and that other similar story about 107 in Baggydad)? Are 9 out of 10 terrorists now surrenduring?
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
03/05/2007 9:36 Comments ||
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#2
Are 9 out of 10 terrorists now surrenduring?
I think what is happening is that both the US and Iraqi Army types are getting moer intelligence, and raids are such a surprise the bad guys don't have a chance to resist. On the other hand, those that do resist usually get a JDAM surprise, so maybe they ARE surrendering, preferring that to dying in a bomb blast.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 12:25 Comments ||
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#3
that or they are counting on the catch and release so they might not be surprised next time...
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
03/05/2007 12:47 Comments ||
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#4
Ya might say they're pullin' them in right across the Ouja board.
(KUNA) -- Up to 107 terrorists were either killed or arrested within the last 24 hours in Baghdad, said the Iraqi security leadership of operation (Baghdad's law enforcement) Sunday. A statement by the security force revealed that operations in areas of Al-Mansoor, East and West of Al-Rashid, Al-A'adamiyah, Tahji, and Salman Beck resulted in the death of a terrorist and the arrest of 106 others. Meanwhile, two members of the Iraqi security force were killed and another was injured in the operations, the statement concluded.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Darn good hunting! 7,704 rasins be upon them.
File under, "good news the American media will never cover".
#2
I'm not pleased with the Killed-to-Captured ration here. The voice of the article seems clear that these are terrorists -- not "suspected" terrorist.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
03/05/2007 9:32 Comments ||
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#3
I had hoped that long ago we would place GPS chips in the ones that get released. However, I think we still haven't gotten to that.
(KUNA) -- An America air-raid in southern Iraq led to the rescue of four hostages yesterday, said the US forces on Sunday. A statement by the US forces revealed that while ground units were assessing results for an American air-raid in Southern Iraqi yesterday, a group of Iraqi hostages were found in a building near the area of the strike in addition to several weapons caches.
The statement went on saying that the hostages were liberated from the building in Arab Jabour area while the terrorists responsible of their imprisonment fled the scene during the strike. All four hostages were treated on site for various injuries. One of the hostages said he had been held captive for 50 days.
Yesterday, the US army announced that seven terrorists were killed during the bombardment of a house belonging to a terrorist cell specialized in making booby-trapped cars in Arab Jabour area in southern Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Treat them well, feed them, and hold onto them for debreifing, then thank them and see them home safely. make sure the word gets spread widely of the good treatment they got. Might also want to give them a cell phone each with a panic button to allied help if needed, they were kidnapped once, so they're still targets, would be nice to hit a button and have a squad of Marines hit the door shortly.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/05/2007 10:06 Comments ||
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(KUNA) -- US and Iraqi forces have launched a wide-scale crackdown in Sadr City, a Shia stronghold in Baghdad, on Sunday. The joint crackdown is part of a fresh Iraqi security plan called "Operation Law Enforcement". US and Iraqi forces were deployed at the entrances and suburbs of the largest district in east of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Sadr leaders were arrested in Najaf and Basra cities in a move that seemed to be the beginning of targeting Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr's key supporters. An Iraqi security source, on anonymity, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that US forces stormed the houses of Sheikh Abdul-Razek al-Nadawi and Sheikh Asem Abdel-Nabi, key aides of al-Sadr in Najaf, as well as Sheikh Mortada al-Hajjaj, also al-Sadr's aide in Basra.
British military forces, in the meantime, attacked an Iraqi intelligence center accused of collaborating with Iraqi insurgents and militants. Five Iraqi insurgents suspected of having had launched suspicious activities and attacks targeting civilians were arrested during the British operation, a British military spokesman was quoted as saying. It is the second British operation to attack an Iraqi military intelligence center and to release prisoners there.
British forces accuse Basra intelligence department of being penetrated by insurgents of armed groups, chiefly Sadr-led Al-Mahdi Army. However, al-Sadr has recently enunciated support for Baghdad security plan, but a major debate has been raised at political circles over contradictory reports that he might leave Iraq for Iran. Sources close to al-Sadr denied such reports as baseless, but failed to reveal where al-Sadr was.
Meanwhile, two people were killed and seven others were wounded in two bomb car explosions in Karada and Dawra on Sunday afternoon. Iraqi military forces managed to free the Iraqi Defence Ministry's Advisor Gen. Thamer Sultan, who was abducted on Saturday, and even arrested four of his kidnappers, an Iraqi military spokesman was quoted as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- One British soldier was severely wounded after unknown gunmen opened fire in one of the civilian areas in downtown Basra, British Armed forces in Southern Iraq said on Sunday. British Army Spokeswoman said search operations resulted in capturing one Iraqi suspect including the discovery and confiscation of six RPG's, a mortar and weapon caches.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's house in Baghdad caught fire Sunday, Iraqi security source said. The security source did not give details on the incident nor the cause of fire, adding that ambulances and civil defense people rushed to the scene. Last month, Talabani suffered a health setback but his condition was stable, and later improved when he was sent immediately to hospital in the Jordanian capital.
This article starring:
Jalal Talabani
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe someone in Iraq doesn't want Talabani to return home.
Bloomberg news via Jihadwatch-- article was Mar 4, I don't know when the Al-Shawa cafe was attacked.
Soon after a firebomb exploded at 3 a.m. and destroyed four computers in the Al-Shawa Online Internet Cafe in Gaza, owner Alaa al-Shawa clicked onto his e-mail at an undamaged machine.
The first message surprised him: It was from the bombers themselves, explaining that establishments such as his were keeping Muslims away from prayer and providing pornography. Thats why it was hit.
This just shows how confused these fanatics are, said Al-Shawa, 27. Even they use the Internet to circulate their statements [you'd think Hamas would have an Intranet site],
but they think everyone else uses it for porno. [I would think you won't search for Internet-porn at a public place but then what do I know]
About 45 Internet outlets have been bombed since Dec. 1, according to figures from Gazas Central Police Office.
#3
"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free."
I'm sure Internet cafes are being targeted because they provide an outlet for information not controlled by the "gatekeepers of Allah". The only thing the peasants are supposed to know is what's in the Koran. All other information is verboten. Another indication that Hamass and Fatalh are merely fascist organizations using religion as a means of gaining as much power as possible.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/05/2007 12:33 Comments ||
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#4
Interesting. I just saw a 60 minute segment on how the Jihad is finding an inexhaustible pool of suicide bombers through the internet, and these guys want to destroy that?
#7
Remember, folks, Islam is the religion of no-fun-at-all. As with Soviet Russia's fall, the Internet threatens to make truth available thereby opening the minds of Muslim youth. For a religion that is utterly dependent upon robotic subserviance, the Internet is a danger of unparalleled magnitude. Illiteracy and close-mindedness are the steering chains of Islam's slave ship and as such the Internet can only be their most dire nemesis.
Consider this as well, some Islamic clergy hold that even prosperity is undesirable as it makes Muslims comfortable and less willing to give up their lives for jihad. They view any attachment to this material world as going against the grain of Islam's spiritual nature. Such comfort, just as with the Internet, is viewed as diverting the ummah's attention from the required degree of religious observance.
Equally as bad, of course, is democracy. How can man, in his monumental conceit, possibly presume to make laws that govern other men when the inviolable examples of Allah's word and the Prophet's life are there for all to live by?
No prosperity, no Internet, no democracy, no enlightenment. How much more clear do we need it to be that the West forever will be Islam's mortal enemy. Our decadence has absolutely nothing to do with their hatred for us. Far more corrosive to Islam's religious shackles are the daily blessings that we have learned to take so for granted.
And not just any porn! You will not believe the following statistics. Talk about Muslims being hung up! These sick twisted f**ks are all rolling around on bent axles.
From the Western Resistance web site:
The Pakistan Daily Times reports that a Google survey found that mostly Muslim nations seek access to sites of a sexual nature, and Pakistan is top of that list.
Of the top 10 countries searching for sex-related sites, six were Muslim, and Pakistan was the leader, followed by Egypt (no 2), Iran (no 4), Morocco (no 5), Saudi Arabia (no 7) and Turkey at no 8. Vietnam was third, India at no 6, Philipines at 9 and Poland at 10...
But Western Resistance is not content to let it rest here. If you click on the following links, you can see the data for yourself. In all of the following categories of bestiality, Pakistan was top of the list of Google searches for:
[Emphasis Added]
Pig Sex, with Egypt (no 2) and Saudi Arabia (no 3) following.
Donkey Sex, with India (no 2), Iran (no 3) and Saudi Arabia (no 4) following.
Dog Sex, with India (no 2), and Saudi Arabia (no 3)
Cat Sex (!!!), with Iran (no 2), Egypt (no 3) and Saudi Arabia (no 4) following.
Horse Sex, followed by India (no 2) and Turkey (no 3)
Cow Sex, with Iran (no 2), India (no 3) and Saudi Arabia (no 4) following.
Goat Sex, with India (no 2) and New Zealand (no 3) following
Animal Sex, with Morocco (no 2), India (no 3), Iran (no 4), Egypt (no 5)
It is truly bizarre that Pakistan should top the search lists for ALL of the above categories. But your intrepid Western Resistance researcher was not prepared to let it rest at that. Surely there is something highly relevant in the above figures.
Bizarrely, though the Pakistani web-surfer wants to see images of Goat Sex, the same nation is not interested in looking for sites on Sheep Sex. In fact, no Muslim countries were interested in sheep, perhaps because they eat lamb. Never play with one's dinners, seems to be the moral here.
But if four-legged animals seem to whet the Muslim surfer's appetite, creatures with only two legs were not interesting. So for Duck Sex, only Western nations are featured, with Norway number one. But for Chicken Sex, the antipodeans seem most interested, with Australia number one, followed by the US and then New Zealand.
Another Muslim nation, Malaysia, was most interested in Fish Sex, but once again, Pakistan was top of the charts for Snake Sex. Before you start guessing, these sites involve women "inserting" these creatures.
On a search for Gay Sex, the Philippines was top of the list, with Saudi Arabia coming in at number two. Forbidden fruits?
The word "ass" has double meanings, as a donkey and as a posterior, and a search for Ass Sex found Saudi Arabia was top, followed by Pakistan (no 2), Egypt (no 3), Iran (no 4), the United Arab Emirates (no 5), Greece (no 6) and Morocco (no 7). Ironically a search for Bottom Sex found the United Kingdom in top place, followed by India (no 2) and the US (no 3).
But Anal Sex was most sought after in Saudi Arabia, followed by Turkey (no 2).
A search on Oral Sex found only one Muslim nation in the top ten, with Turkey coming in at fifth place.
No Muslim nations were interested in Lesbian Sex, Granny Sex or Kinky Sex.
TREKKIE MONSTER
The internet is for porn
KATE MONSTER
Trekkie!
TREKKIE
The internet is for porn,
KATE
What are you doing!?
TREKKIE
Why you think the net was born?
Porn porn porn
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/05/2007 19:55 Comments ||
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#15
Ick. I have it on good authority that 3rd Gen cell phone systems were originally designed to meet the need caused by ungodly numbers of, ummm, gentlemen downloading porn to their camera phones. In Japan, in case you wondered.
#16
Women wearing wearing burquas > results in BESTIALITY??? 72 Virgins not enuff??? You just know this info is gonna go down well [NOT] wid the Muslim babes.
A Fatah member was injured Monday afternoon, as members of a Hamas militia engaged in a daytime gun battle with Fatah-allied security officers in Gaza City on Monday after an argument over who had control of a nearby training compound, security officials said.
"It's our turn to jump through the flaming hoops!'
"No, we scheduled jumping first. Back off, Hamas scum!"
"Die Fatah dog!"
It was the worst outbreak of internal violence since rival Palestinian factions agreed to form a unity government last month, officials said.
The Fatah security forces demanded the Hamas militiamen leave the area, but they refused, saying it fell under the jurisdiction of the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry, security officials said.
In two other incidents, unknown assailants fired shots at the house and car of a senior security officer who has had past problems with Hamas, officials said. Shots were also fired at a police headquarters, and police returned fire, the officials said.
The fighting came as negotiators from Hamas and Fatah tried to resolve lingering issues over the formation of a national unity government. Hamas, which won parliamentary elections last year, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement agreed last month to form the coalition government, partly in hopes of ending months of deadly street battles between the two groups. Palestinian and Western officials said Sunday that Hamas and Fatah forces are both pushing ahead with expansion plans despite the unity government deal.
Also Monday, security officials said they believed hardline Muslims were behind the bombing of a music shop in the southern town of Khan Yunis earlier in the day, following a similar attack on an Internet cafe on Sunday. Another Internet cafe owner was also briefly kidnapped. Nobody was injured in the attacks.
While there were no claims of responsibility, security officials suspect extremist Muslims trying to enforce strict moral conduct were behind the attacks. Hardline Muslims have said youths download pornography from Internet sites, are distracted from prayer by music and buy condoms and hallucinogenic drugs from some pharmacies. Since October, at least 20 such shops have been targeted.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas said Monday that talks on the unity government were not done.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/05/2007 10:58 ||
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#1
And I had such high hopes for the Mecca Accords.
TEL AVIV A purported new Syrian terror group claimed in a WND interview it attempted its first-ever attack against the Jewish state this weekend by placing mines on the Israeli side of the border.
WND was put in touch through officials from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party with a man claiming to be a leader of the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, a group that said it formed in Syria in June and is modeling itself after the Lebanese Hezbollah militia.
The Committees leader claimed his organization was responsible for placing six unexploded mines Saturday morning within northern Israeli territory in the Golan Heights. He said the mines were intended to explode in an attack against an Israeli military unit that patrols the area. He claimed more attacks would follow unless Israel withdraws from the Golan Heights.
The mines originated in an Israeli minefield that lies in a narrow, United Nations-patrolled buffer zone between the Israeli border and Syrian territory. The Israeli Defense Forces came across the mines Saturday night during a routine patrol, and called in sappers (military demolitions specialists) to disarm them. Israel plans to file a complaint this week with the U.N. for what it says was the international body's failure to maintain the buffer zone.
IDF officials immediately guessed the mines were thrown into Israel as a provocation by local Syrian shepherds, but they admitted such an occurrence would be highly unusual. The officials said the mines were thrown over the border this weekend, ruling out the possibility the explosives had been washed into Israel by the heavy rains.
The Syrian Committees for the Liberation of the Golan first announced its establishment in a widely circulated exclusive interview with WND last August.
Last month, the Committees claimed it was holding a missing Israeli soldier and will free the captive in exchange for nine Syrians held in Israeli jails. In a faxed a statement to reporters addressing "the Zionists," the Committees offered a prisoner-swap deal for Israeli soldier Guy Hever, who has been missing since 1997 and who the group claimed is in its custody. Hever disappeared in the Golan Heights near the Syrian border.
In August, and again during a second, in-person interview with WND in December, leaders for the Syrian group threatened if Israel does not vacate the Golan Heights within months, the group will launch "resistance operations" against Israeli positions and Jewish communities in the Golan Heights.
An official from Assad's Baath party who said he was associated with the Committees told WND Syria learned from Hezbollah's military campaign against Israel that "fighting" is more effective than peace negotiations with regard to gaining territory."
Hezbollah claims its goal is to liberate the Shebaa Farms, a small, 12-square-mile bloc situated between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. The cease-fire resolution accepted by Israel to end its military campaign in Lebanon this past summer calls for negotiations leading to Israel's relinquishing of the Shebaa Farms.
The Baath official told WND Syria's new Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights consists of Syrian volunteers, many from the Syrian border with Turkey and from Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus. He said Syria held registration for volunteers to join the Committees in June.
The official said attacks by the Committees may include the infiltration of Jewish communities in the Golan, rocket attacks against Israeli positions or raids of Golan-based Israeli military installations. He said all attacks would be launched from the Syrian side of the border.
The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria used the terrain to attack Israel in 1967 and again in 1973. The Heights looks down on major Syrian and Israeli population centers, but there are a few areas where the Israeli and Syrian sides are level.
Military officials here long have maintained returning the Golan Heights to Syria would grant Damascus the ability to mount an effective ground invasion of the Jewish state.
The Heights has a population of about 35,000 approximately 18,000 Jewish residents and 17,000 Arabs, mostly Druze. The Arab residents retain their Syrian citizenship, but under Israeli law they can also sue for Israeli citizenship. About a dozen officials from Assad's Baath party live and operate in the Golan.
Israeli security officials in December confirmed the establishment of a Hezbollah-like Syrian group, but said it was still in its infancy stages and likely could not carry out attacks.
#1
LH, Gromgoru, Olmert from the US side of the pond looks like a dithering idiot and I've been critical of what he's done, and even more critical of what he hasn't done. It occurred to me though that maybe I'm missing something. One has to give credit where it's due; he's Israel's PM and no one reaches that high estate without having a pretty sharp brain. But last summer was such a glorious opportunity to just smash Hezb and he just totally blew it in a way I can't see any of his predecessors doing.
So what is it with this guy? Is he really as clueless as last summer's Lebanon debacle makes him appear? TW said you guys would probably have a better handle on this than anyone else in the 'Burg. I'd be glad to read your opinions.
Posted by: mac ||
03/05/2007 9:04 Comments ||
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#2
Hint mac. Israel is US client and not an independent state
#9
If only Israel, the United States and indeed what remains of the free world would also figure out that fighting is more effective than peace negotiations.
I for one could care less if vast swathes of the Earth "like" us or not. I have developed a thoroughgoing hatred of much of the world and I would like to see that expressed in policy.
#11
Must mean Syira has learned that focusing asymmetric attacks on Israeli infantry, NOT Armored Vehix, for the MSM is more effective than facing the IDF directly, or openly.
Two men were killed and three others injured in drive-by shootings in Thailand's southern border provinces of Yala and Pattani Monday morning, Thai media reported.
One of the victims, Maroyalee Yaring, was shot dead while riding his motorcycle to a rubber plantation in Yala's Raman district at about 6:15 a.m.(2315GMT). His wife was also shot and injured, news network The Nation reported. Five minutes later in the same district, a couple were shot and injured while riding motorcycle to their rubber plantation.
In neighboring Pattani province, a 70-year-old Buddhist rubber tapper was also gunned down in another drive-by attack, according to a report on the website of English newspaper Bangkok Post.
Separatist Tamil rebels attacked an elite police patrol, killing one officer, in Sri Lankas volatile east on Sunday, while in the north, a guerrilla mortar attack wounded three soldiers, the military said.
Special Task Force officers were patrolling in Ampara district when Tamil Tigers fired at them Sunday morning, said Lt Col Upali Rajapakse, a senior defence ministry official. He said one officer was killed in the attack and another wounded. Separately on Sunday, three soldiers were wounded in an exchange of mortar fire with insurgents in the north, the military said. The rebels fired mortar rounds into Vavuniya district Sunday morning, wounding the three troops, said Rajapakse. Vavuniya is the last government-held region before rebel-held areas in the Tamil-dominated north.
Rajapakse said soldiers in the area retaliated to the insurgents attack, but he provided no further details. There was no immediate comment from rebels on either of these incidents.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/05/2007 00:00 ||
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A former Iranian deputy defense minister whose reported disappearance in Turkey has sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping, may have defected, Haaretz has learned.
Interesting....
Intelligence official Ali Reza Azkari, 63, served in the senior defense post under former defense minister General Ali Samahani. Israeli media have said that for many years, Azkari was the most senior Iranian intelligence official in Lebanon, with responsibility for Iran's ties with Hezbollah.
Sigh, think of the stuff he knows..
Unnamed Arab diplomats have been quoted in Israeli media as charging that the Israeli Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agency kidnapped Azkari, who reportedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances from Istanbul, Turkey a month ago. Israel Channel 10 television said late on Sunday that Azkari was kidnapped on February 7, after arriving in Istanbul from Damascus.
Guys this high ranking don't normally get snatched, causes too much of a stink
There has been no official Iranian statement on the reported affair.
Hummmmmm. If they thought he was kidnapped they'd be screaming about zionist plots and black jets
According to one report, Azkari was to have stayed at a luxury hotel in the city, but disappeared before his planned arrival there. Another report held that he had checked into the hotel and was staying there at the time of his disappearance. The second account said that he left the hotel at one point and never returned, his baggage still in his room.
Iran reportedly sent a delegation of defense officials to Turkey last week to investigate the incident. It has also been reported that Iran has asked Interpol to open an investigation into the disappearance.
ADDITIONAL: March 5, 2007 -- JERUSALEM - A retired Iranian general linked to the killing of five American soldiers in Baghdad vanished mysteriously in Istanbul last month, Israeli media reported yesterday. Arab newspapers are hinting the CIA and/or the Israeli spy agency Mossad are behind the disappearance of Gen. Ali Reza Askari, the reports said.
Askari, a former deputy defense minister, arrived in Istanbul on a flight from Damascus on Feb. 7, left his luggage in his hotel room - and vanished.
The missing general was in charge of Iranian undercover operations in central Iraq, said the Debkafile, a Web site that often reflects the thinking of those in the Israeli security forces. Askari is believed to have taken part - or have links to - the armed group that stormed a U.S.-Iraqi command center in the holy city of Karbala on Jan. 20 and killed five U.S. troops, the Web site said. The attackers wore military uniforms and used vehicles often driven by foreign dignitaries in an attempt to impersonate Americans. A Middle East intelligence source said the United States could not let the outrage stand and had been hunting the general ever since, the Web site said.
OK, if he is in charge of those ops, we would snatch him. But why would he go to Turkey where he could be picked up unless.....
On Feb. 6, two non-Turkish citizens made a reservation for Askari for three nights at the Istanbul Ceylan Hotel, paying cash, the site said. But after the general arrived, he booked himself into the cheaper Hotel Ghilan. He left his luggage in his room, walked out and disappeared.
Ok. That has defection written all over it. Only question is, defect to whom?
More: Iranian Foreign Minister Manucohr Mottaki said that his government wants official Ankara to give an explanation concerning missing of Ali Rza Asgeri, the former Deputy Military Minister, APA reports. During his meeting in Tehran with the Chads Foreign Minister he confirmed the fact to mass media the Iranian general is missing. He said that a delegation was sent to Iran with regard to it.
Syrian and Yemen media first spread information about the retired general Ali Rzas missing. The newspapers told that Iranian general was kidnapped by the CIA of USA and Israels Intelligence Mossad. General Asgeri has served for the Iranian Revolution Guardsmen Corps for a long time and was the Deputy Minister of Former Defence Minister Ali Shamhani. He was engaged in establishing confidential contacts with Livans Hezbollah and provided the rooting of Iran agents under other names to this state in the 90s.
Two non-Turkish citizens booked a room in one of the hotels for Asgeri. The next day Asgeri arrived in Istanbul after being registered he went out and did not come back. Tehran sent a delegation of intelligence officers. The investigations are still ineffective. Iran suspects the CIA and Mossad. Israel special services reject these charges. /APA/
Posted by: Steve ||
03/05/2007 11:07 ||
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#1
I'll take alien abduction for $200, Alex.
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/05/2007 11:54 Comments ||
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#2
...Don't forget that before OIF, we obtained the private cell numbers of more than a few of Saddam's generals, and sent a very quiet mass call: we are coming, you cannot stop us, but we will remember those who sat tight and did not try to block our way.
Consider for a moment if we have just done something similar to the Iranian leadership. NOBODY does SIGINT like we do, and if we wanted, we could get cell and landline numbers pretty easily. There have been a notable number of 'accidents' involving the Revolutionary Guards over the last few months, at least one top nuclear scientist has died under circumstances that can best be regarded as 'unusual', and several RG and Quds Force officers have been captured over the last month or so. If I was an Iranian general, I'd be worried. And if my cell phone rang with a message from Washington, I'd be inclined to consider it...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/05/2007 12:06 Comments ||
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#3
I would like to hope that either by voluntary defection or by grabbing (see "snatch") him, he will provide oodles of useful data.
#5
Tehran, 5 March (AKI) - Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki has asked Turkey to shed light on the disappearance in Istanbul last week of a retired Iranian general and former deputy-defence minister. General Ali Reza Asghari, 63, a former senior officer in Iran's Pasdaran, or Revolutionary Guard, and deputy defence minister for eight years until 2005, disappeared in the Turkish city after arriving there on a flight from Damascus. "We are awaiting clarity and an explanation from the Ankara government who we hold responsible for the ex-deputy minister's safety," Mottaki said on Monday.
Asghari was for several years the head of Iran's missile programme, and some Iranian media reports have alleged that he may have been abducted by US agents. According to these reports Asghari's name appeared on a CIA 'hit list' of 20 people involved in Iran's nuclear programme.
I'll light a candle hoping he defected. He'd be able to spill the beans on everything. Question is, why?
Posted by: Steve ||
03/05/2007 13:10 Comments ||
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#6
I'll light a candle hoping he defected. He'd be able to spill the beans on everything. Question is, why?
So he doesn't get killed by whoever strikes Iran?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/05/2007 13:33 Comments ||
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#7
Thank you for the update, Steve. My first reaction was, "Someone with the GPS coordinates for all of the nuclear R&D bunkers." Let us all hope that this is true. As to why? I'd wager several million dollars could serve as an answer to that
#9
Only problem with defection story -- family. Either he doesn't give a rat's ass about them, or they're out, too. At 63, he's not heading west for the night life and a new beginning.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/05/2007 21:39 Comments ||
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#10
#9 Robert - Hunt for Red October situation, maybe?
(Fun to speculate, anyway. ;-p)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/05/2007 21:54 Comments ||
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#11
It does sound like a defection.
People normally defected from the Soviet Union for personal reasons along with dissillusionment with the regime. Maybe his wife is dead and his kid is a heroin addict and hates him. That kind of thing.
A Lebanese citizen testified to judicial interrogators Monday to planting one of the bombs used in last year's abortive attempt to blow up two German trains, a judicial official in Beirut said. The suspect, Jihad Hamad, told an investigating magistrate that he was trying to avenge the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, the official said.
Lebanese authorities arrested Hamad and three other suspects on charges of planting bombs on two trains at Cologne station on July 31. German surveillance cameras are reported to have filmed the suspects as they pulled wheeled suitcases in the station. The bombs were found later that day on trains at Koblenz and Dortmund stations. Their detonators went off but failed to ignite the explosives.
On Monday, police took the four suspects under heavy security from Roumieh prison east of the Lebanese capital to the Justice Palace in central Beirut, where they underwent preliminary interrogation by Judge Michel Abu Arraj. Hamad, who hails from the northern city of Tripoli, told the judge that his aim was not to kill but to defend Islam, the official said. He said he was retaliating for the publication of 12 cartoons that satirized the Prophet Muhammad.
One of the drawings, which were first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, showed the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. The cartoons, which were republished in German and other European papers, sparked outrage across the Muslim world. The head of Germany's Federal Crime Office, Joerg Ziercke, has said that the train-bomb suspects were also motivated by the June 7 killing of al-Qaida leader in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. airstrike.
No date for Hamad's trial has been set. The three other suspects in custody are Ayman Hawa, Khalil al-Boubou and Khaled Khair-Eddin el-Hajdib, whose brother Youssef is under arrest in Germany in connection with the case. German officials have also arrested a 23-year-old Syrian, Fadi al-Saleh, on suspicion that he did research on the Internet to prepare the bombings. Germany wants to extradite the suspects, but there is no extradition treaty between the European country and Lebanon. Lebanon has decided to try the suspects in its courts, as they were arrested on its territory, and defer consideration of extradition until later.(AP-Naharnet)
Posted by: Steve ||
03/05/2007 10:25 ||
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Benches is TOO MUCH INFORMATION. Marilyn was pretty enuff before she became Marilyn, but whom ever set-up this shoot + attire needs to be righteously drawn-and-quartered just on the principle of it.
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.
(Xinhua) -- A "complex" ambush involving a suicide bombing and ensuing fire killed 16 civilians and wounded 24 others as well as a coalition soldier in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, a coalition statement said. A suicide car bomber targeted a coalition convoy, which locals said was a U.S. military convoy, outside Jalalabad city, capital of Nangarhar province, in the morning, Afghan officials said. The bombing was followed by enemy small-arms fire from several directions, the statement said, adding "Coalition forces returned fire in defense of the patrol." 
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates has arrested 21 employees of nine companies operating in the oil-rich state on suspicion of money laundering, local media reported on Sunday. An 18-month investigation revealed that proceeds from the sale of illegal drugs in Western countries were being funnelled into European banks and then transferred to banks in the UAE, the Gulf News quoted central bank governor Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi as telling a news conference. The governor declined to give details about the amount of money involved but said the assets of the companies had been frozen. A police statement said the individuals arrested had been European, US and Asian citizens, the paper reported. The UAE, from where much of the cash used by Islamic militants to finance the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States was reportedly transferred, has launched a crackdown on suspect money.
A Yemeni court on Sunday began the trial of 36 people suspected of being part of an Al-Qaeda group planning a wave of attacks on oil and gas installations in the country. The group were accused of "forming an armed gang with the goal of carrying out criminal acts ... attacks against foreign residents in Yemen and clients of a hotel ... with explosions aimed at vital sites," the public prosecution told the court, AFP reported. 
Police confirmed the identities of the six Indian citizens, arrested at Nalitabari border in Sherpur on Thursday, as members of Indian militant organisation National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) of Assam. The Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel arrested the six and a Bangladeshi indigenous man at Burunga of Nalitabari upazila early Thursday. They also recovered firearms, ammunition, and bomb-making materials from their possession.
A hearing began Monday to determine whether nine members of an alleged Islamic terror cell should stand trial over claims they stockpiled bomb-making materials in a plot to attack Australia's only nuclear reactor. The men, who were arrested in a series of pre-dawn raids in late 2005, stand accused of conspiracy to make explosives in preparation for a terrorist attack, and being members of a terrorist group. 
(Xinhua)--- Indian Member of Parliament Sunil Mahato and four others were shot to death by unknown armed attackers at a sports function held at Ghatshila in the central Indian state of Jharkhand late Sunday evening, according to Sahar TV. 
(KUNA) -- Iraqi President 
An Islamic Jihad operative was killed in an explosion in the Gaza Strip on Monday. 
