#10
Imagine being down in one of those canyons while 250, 500, 1000, 2000 pounders are jarring yer bones and organs. after a couple your hearing goes and then if you live, you just get nauseated....
extra insh'allahs
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/20/2007 21:26 Comments ||
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#11
my usual pedantic asshole self
Frank, if you were any different you just wouldn't be the same. Trust mein its current statethis world needs you just as you are.
KABUL - A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Sunday while escorting a convoy in southern Afghanistan, the force said in a statement. The soldier died from wounds suffered when the convoy was hit by a bomb, which sparked a firefight with militants, an ISAF spokeswoman told AFP.
There was an IED, then there a firefight. He was injured and later died from his wounds. It was not known if he sustained the wounds from the IED or the gunshots, the spokeswoman said.
Neither the soldiers nationality nor the location of the incident was disclosed. His death brings to 136 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP count.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Must be non-US since there would be more glee in the news if it were.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 9:39 Comments ||
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Afghan police freed a German hostage from a Kabul neighborhood and arrested a group of kidnappers early Monday, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.
The raid freed a 31-year old German captive who was abducted from a restaurant on Saturday, said Zemary Bashari. "A group of kidnappers were arrested," Bashari said. He did not provide any further details about the operation in western Kabul, not far from the area where the woman went missing. A spokeswoman for Germany's Foreign Ministry in Berlin confirmed the woman was "in safety at the German Embassy" in Kabul. She declined to give any further details.
The British embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum closed down its visa and consular sections today and tomorrow, due to heightened fears that Western interests may be attacked, a diplomatic source said on Sunday. The embassy has also suspended its public services as a precautionary measure, after Sudanese police found three caches of weapons in the capital during the past week. Police arrested 20 Sudanese in connection with the caches, which contained grenades and ammunition.
In a statement to reporters, Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Al-Sadiq voiced Khartoum's understanding of the procedures taken by the embassy. Yesterday, Britain had warned its citizens from traveling to Sudan because of fears that Western interests might be targeted.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Bout Time, If the Sudanese can't abide by the rule of Law; keeping the peace; let um bite it out to the last man, woman and child; then split the country into shares with the good neighbors that border her! The US should follow suit; the west is too valuable for the 'scum of the dust' that region represents. Let Putty and the Chicoms sort it out.
Egyptian security forces found 500 kilograms of TNT explosives Sunday hidden in sacks near the country's border with the Gaza Strip, a police officer said. Police discovered the cache covered with bushes in northern Sinai after receiving a tip from local Bedouins, reported the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Bedouins working for the authorities led them to the location of the explosives near el-Toayel village, some 25 kilometers west of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, the official said. Smuggling across the border into Gaza or Israel has long provided a livelihood for some Bedouin. Weapons, cigarettes and foreigners seeking jobs in Israel are all taken surreptitiously across the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Are the Bedouin in the habit of storing explosives in 500kg lots, or is it the same stash being found over and over again?
Egyptian Interior Ministry said Sunday its organs arrested 18 activists of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in Alexandria and Sharqiya governorates. "Crackdown against the group led to the arrest of 18 activists and seizure of organizational documents belonging to the banned group," Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted sources of the ministry as saying. The crackdown is part of "perfect security strikes" against underground group to abort its plans and future moves," the sources pointed out.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Authorities have uncovered multiple al-Qaida terrorist plots targeting government institutions in the port city of Aden, a security official said Saturday.
Twenty-two alleged militants were arrested in connection to the plots including three al-Qaida masterminds, said the official. Documents including forged passports and visas were found with the detainees, who were operating in two groups, he said.
One of the groups allegedly was planning to target government facilities and blow up cars containing explosives using a remote control, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The other group was planning to carry out suicide attacks, storm prisons and launch a wave of kidnappings, according to the official.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told newspapers on Thursday that his government is cracking down on militants, but his comments fell short of claiming that terrorism is being eliminated. "Nobody can claim that we have controlled terrorism, but we are alert and we follow up," Saleh told Al Wasat, an independent newspaper. "There are sleeper cells, which sometimes wake up, but our security apparatus is always alert and never rests."
The arrests came less than a week after Yemeni authorities announced the arrests of nine suspects in connection with the early July suicide attack on a Spanish tour group. Ten people were killed when a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-laden car into the tour group's convoy at an ancient temple in Marib.
Al-Qaida has an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network. Al-Qaida was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
08/20/2007 13:49 ||
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Yemen security forces arrested an Egyptian suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda and involvement in recent bombings in Mareb which killed European tourists. Rai News website quoted security sources as saying Sunday that Mohammad Yaqout was arrested in one of the hotels in the capital, Sanaa, after months of pursuit.
The Egyptian is suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack that targeted Spanish tourists in the governorate of Mareb early July of this year, said the sources. The attack killed seven tourists and injured others. Yaqout entered Yemen illegally several months ago, said the sources.
The Yemen security forces killed Ahmad Basyouni Duwaidar, an Egyptian, who is accused of planning the June attack.
This article starring:
AHMED BASYUNI DUWAIDAR
al-Qaeda in Yemen
MOHAMAD YAQUT
al-Qaeda in Yemen
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Detectives investigating the attempted car bombing of Glasgow airport have recovered a "claim of responsibility" written by Kafeel Ahmed, who died from burns he suffered in the attack, the Guardian has learned. Ahmed, 27, suffered more than 90% burns after he drove a Jeep laden with improvised explosives into the airport terminal, in Britain's first attempted suicide car bombing.
Evidence recovered pointing to his role in June's attempted attacks in London and Glasgow includes an email message sent just before the Glasgow attempted bombing, talking of martyrdom; CCTV footage from one of the failed car bombings in London showing a man relatives say is Ahmed, running away; evidence from a computer he used, showing visits to bomb-making websites; and his mobile phone from the smouldering Jeep.
The attack on Glasgow on June 30 came a day after two car bombs failed to go off near a crowded nightclub in the West End of London. On June 30, Ahmed sent a text message to a relative just after 1.30pm which contained a link to an email and a password to access it. Two hours later the engineer, who was born in Bangalore, crashed the Jeep into the terminal. Those who have seen the email regard it as Ahmed claiming responsibility for the attempted attacks on London and the one he was about to stage in Glasgow. According to a source, Ahmed says his actions were carried out in the name of Allah. Ahmed writes that his relative would be shocked to read what he is about to tell him about his involvement in terrorism, praises God, and says he wants martyrdom.
Hokay, you got it.
Initial evidence points to the relative opening the email at 4.50pm on the Saturday, 90 minutes after Ahmed had rammed the airport. From the email, the source said, it was clear he was expecting to die. The flames that engulfed the vehicle were quickly put out, allowing Ahmed's mobile to be recovered. He is believed to have used the mobile to send either the text message or the email to his relative.
A Whitehall source said it was believed that Ahmed decided to attack Glasgow after fearing police would soon hunt him down, which meant that the planning was rushed. The Guardian understands that police have CCTV images that show Ahmed apparently running away from the scene of the first London attack, and scurrying away from a car the terrorists meant to explode. Relatives shown the images are said to be nearly certain it is him.
Police have also seized his computer and found evidence it had been used to scour websites on the construction of bombs and explosives. Ahmed died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary on August 2.
The other man in the Jeep, the Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, has been charged with conspiring to set off explosions "of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury". Two other people have been charged over the attacks. A Jordanian doctor, Mohammed Jamil Asha, is charged with conspiring to cause explosions. Ahmed's brother, Sabeel Ahmed, 26, is charged with withholding information that could prevent an act of terrorism.
Posted by: lotp ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Wish granted! Kafeel had, I think, a preview of his next stop while in the hospital bed. The horned houris' (whether horny is not that cetain) no doubt awaited his arrival with anticipation.
#7
I'm curious about the UK muslim apologists. I wonder if they're convincing themselves:
The email was planted
Poor Kafeel was set up
Kafeel isn't a true muslim
Mossad
CIA
MI5
Kafeel IS a true muslim
The UK deserved it
They're probably convinced ALL of the above is true (muslims haven't demonstrated a great deal of critical thinking on this subject to date, and have an interesting knack for believing divergent facts -- even in the face of clear evidence)
#13
Gotta wonder why its not reported that the relatives did not freely provide the info; maybe they did, but it reads to me like it had to be ferretted out by the police. that makes the relatives accomplices, or at least accessories to my way of thinking.
India's armed forces are short of a staggering 14,264 officers - the bulk of them in the army - and several steps are being taken to plug the gap, parliament was informed Monday.
The 1.12 million strong Indian Army is short of 11,238 officers against its sanctioned strength of 46,615 officers, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) faces a shortfall of 1,565 officers against its authorised strength of 12,128 while the Indian Navy is short of 1,461 officers against a sanctioned strength of 8,797.
During the past four years, 2,664 army officers had sought early retirement of which 1,496 applications had been approved, the minister said.
In the case of the air force, 565 discharge applications had been approved against 1,026 applications received while the figures for the navy was 637/807.
Detailing the steps taken to fill the vacant posts, the minister said all officers, including those holding short service commissions, were now eligible to hold the substantive ranks of captain, major and lieutenant colonel after two, six and 13 years of service respectively.
Time scale promotion to colonel and equivalent ranks after 26 years of service had also been introduced, while the tenure of short service commission officers had been extended from 10 to 14 years.
'The armed forces have undertaken a sustained image promotion and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career,' Antony said.
'Candidate-friendly recruitment procedures to attract more candidates and a focussed publicity drive in various institutions to attract potential candidates have been undertaken,' he added.
Awareness campaigns, participation in career fairs and exhibitions, advertisements in the print and electronic media, and motivational lectures in schools and colleges are some of the other measures taken, the minister stated.
#2
Fred.... I wonder if the Mess Havildar's Garam Masala and Chai tea could ever become spousal favorites? What's another PCS! Post the Colours, we're in!
Troops in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur have arrested 15 suspected foreign Muslim militants, officials said. They said those arrested during weekend raids in the town of Moreh were either Rohingya people from the Arakan province of Burma or from Bangladesh.
Over the last 15 years, thousands of Arakanese Muslims have fled Burma to escape alleged government persecution. A large number of Rohingya refugees live in camps in Bangladesh. "We think they are members of a Rohingya insurgent organisation operating in Arakan but we are not yet definite which one," Maj-Gen BK Chengappa, who leads Indian counter-insurgency operations in Manipur, told the BBC's Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta. Asked whether those arrested may have links to al-Qaeda, he said there was "no evidence" about such links, which "could only be speculative".
Police said no weapons were seized from those arrested, but some documents have been recovered suggesting they had links with Islamic groups active in Thailand. "If they are Rohingya insurgents, it is possible they would have links with militant groups in southern Thailand. But this is something we have to check in depth," an intelligence official told our correspondent. He said possible links between those arrested and local Muslim radicals in Manipur is also being probed.
Earlier this year, three Manipur Muslims working for the Islamic radical group, Lashkar-e-Toyeba were arrested in Delhi.
Posted by: ryuge ||
08/20/2007 08:29 ||
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At least two rockets were fired at security forces' checkposts in the area of Kahan on Sunday. According to sources, the rockets landed in an open area and exploded with a deafening sound. No loss of life or property has been reported yet. Operations are underway to nab the miscreants. In another incident, security personnel defused a rig bomb on Mawand Road.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007 00:36 ||
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MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts near the Afghan border Sunday, killing 15 militants, most of them foreign fighters, the military said. The death toll is 15 now. They are all militants, the majority of them foreigners. They are mostly Uzbeks, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
The general confirmed earlier reports that two women had been killed in the operation targeting two suspected militant compounds in the restive North Waziristan region, adding that they were members of militant families.
Earlier a local administration official and security forces told AFP on condition of anonymity that two children were killed along with the women when the attack demolished a house near the town of Mir Ali. It was a targeted operation against militants, insisted Arshad.
Four helicopters carried out Sundays attack, which lasted for more than two hours, the general said. The attack was launched after credible reports that some foreign elements were using the compounds as hideouts, said Arshad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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This being Afghanistan Pakistain, both claims are probably correct.
Baitullah Mehsud, a militant commander leading the insurgency in South Waziristan, on Saturday announced scrapping his peace agreement with the government. It has been the governments policy to force Mujahideen to scrap the peace deal. We tried our best to keep the agreement intact, Zulfiqar Mehsud, a purported spokesman for the commander told Dawn on telephone. The government violated the agreement, carried out air strikes and moved troops into our area, he said.
Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
However, a senior government official said a jirga that went to meet militants on Saturday had negotiated a ceasefire that would lead to cessation of hostilities. Senator Saleh Shah from South Waziristan also said the agreement was intact. He said the statement of the militants spokesman had been misinterpreted by the media. The senator said he had talked to the spokesman who had denied having announced scrapping the agreement.All that the spokesman said was that the government could imperil the peace agreement by deploying forces and conducting operations, Senator Shah said.
Owner: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
The government had signed a six-point peace agreement with Baitullah in February 2005 under which he had agreed not to protect and assist foreign militants, target government functionaries and installations or block work on development projects. In return, the government had granted amnesty to the commander and his supporters.
Militants in North Waziristan have already pulled out of a peace agreement they had signed with the government in September last year.
A group of militants belonging to the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe in South Waziristan said Baitullahs announcement would have no bearing on their truce with the government in Wana region. Baitullahs spokesman accused the government of breaching the agreement and killing his supporters in military actions over the past few days.
Mr. Praline: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cage) 'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you show...
(Owner hits the cage)
Owner: There, he moved!
Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!
Owner: I never!!
Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!
Owner: I never, never did anything...
Claiming responsibility for Thursdays attack on security forces in Jagmalai area in which 11 soldiers were killed, the spokesman said Baitullahs fighters would continue their activities against the government and its forces. We attacked the security forces in Jagmalai, killed many of them and destroying their vehicles and Mujahideen will do it again and again, unless the government reviews its policy, he said.
Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!
(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.
Owner: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!
Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?
Owner: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.
Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.
Owner: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.
He, however, denied involvement of his group in the kidnapping of 16 men of the Frontier Corps on Aug 9, one of whom was found beheaded later.
An official of the South Waziristan administration said the 21-member jirga led by tribal parliamentarian Maulana Merajuddin met militants in Emar Raghzai and succeeded in effecting a ceasefire. They were sent in three vehicles with white flags, the official said.
He said the jirga also had held meetings in Barwand and it was heading back after succeeding in its efforts. The jirga had tacit approval of Baitullah Mehsud, the official claimed. He said that militants had agreed to let military convoys held up at two points move and to withdraw their fighters from mountain peaks. As a goodwill gesture, he said, the militants allowed an army helicopter to retrieve bodies of the soldiers killed on Thursday from Jagmalai.
Things are going well, the official said. But since the area is so big, it obviously would take time for the militants to relay the message around. There is now calm, he said.
The official said the militants had taken exception to the army setting up checkpoints, although they had no objection to troops movement in accordance with the February 2005 agreement. We have been working on new peace arrangements with Baitullah Mehsud for the past 18-20 days but the Pakistan-Afghan jirga came and then it took the government a while to take stock of the situation and move ahead, an official in Peshawar said.
The infighting begins over post-British control of the Shia provinces. Will it be Iran or Baghdad? Will anyone be able to tell the difference?
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed the governor of the southern Muthanna province on Monday, police said, the second assassination of a top provincial official in just over a week.
The blast struck the SUV carrying Gov. Mohammed Ali al-Hassani about 9 a.m., shortly after his convoy departed from his home in Rumaitha en route to his office in the provincial capital of Samawah, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad. Al-Hassani, his driver and a guard were killed, while his office manager and two other guards were seriously wounded, police said.
A curfew was immediately clamped on Samawah and new checkpoints were erected.
On Aug. 11, the governor and police chief of another southern province, Qadasiyah, also were killed in a roadside bombing attack. Gov. Khalil Jalil Hamza and the police chief Maj. Gen. Khalid Hassan were killed as they returned to the provincial capital of Diwaniyah from a funeral for a tribal sheik.
Both governors were members of the influential Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a group led by Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim whose loyalists have been fighting the Mahdi Army militia for control of the oil-rich south as British-led forces gradually withdraw from the area.
Al-Hassani, 52, was from a prominent clan in the area and had been governor for about two years despite several attempts by rivals in the provincial council to sack him. SIIC dominates the Muthanna provincial capital with about half of the 40 seats, with the rest divided among other Shiite parties, including Fadhila and the Dawa party of al-Maliki.
Police quickly laid blame on the Mahdi Army, which is nominally loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and has been involved in several recent clashes with its rivals. "There was nothing against the governor inside the province except the confrontations between Mahdi Army and SIIC, which have claimed the lives of dozens of people," an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution.
Al-Maliki's office issued a statement condemning the assassination, saying it had ordered and investigation and calling for restraint against retaliation. "Those behind this horrible crime want to flood the province with chaos and insecurity, thus implementing an agenda of hatred that does not want any good for our people," the prime minister said in the statement.
"Therefore, we call on our people in the Muthanna province to exercise self-restraint and avoid the trap set by this act," he added. "Meanwhile our armed forces are ordered to confront with full zeal and force any one who tries to destabilize the province."
#1
Better be the Iraqi's period. Basrah is too damn important as a refinery and chem center as well as the major logistics center of Iraq. You give this to Iran then you may as well give them Iraq in total.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 9:45 Comments ||
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#2
It will be interesting to see what the response is on this from the central government. This attack more clearly identifies Sadr and the Mahdi Army as tools of Iran. That is still not a good thing with a whole lot of Iraqis. Will Maliki use these two killings as an excuse to really go after Sadr or at least rally support away from the Iranian groups? Regardless, will that be enough to overcome all of the Iranian "walking around money" that is flooding the Basra area.
At least 20 people were killed and 39 wounded during clashes in Iraq, US statements and security and medical officials here said.
At least 12 people were killed and 31 wounded during an intensive mortar bombardment of the mainly Shiite suburb of Al-Obeidi on Sunday, security and medical officials here said. An interior ministry official said the attack came during heavy clashes between the US military and militiamen. "Many mortars were fired. The area has been sealed off," the official said.
A security official said at least five mortar shells landed in the suburb and all those killed were civilians. The Al-Sadr hospital in the Sadr City slum reported receiving 12 bodies and 18 wounded people, while the Ibn Nafees hospital in central Baghdad said 13 wounded were there for treatment.
In another incident, one person was killed and five wounded when a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded in the Al-Shorjah market close to the city centre, a security official said. Al-Shorjah is the oldest and largest market in the Iraqi capital.
Separately, one person was killed and three were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad's Mishin area, a security official said. The US military, meanwhile, said American-led forces killed three suspected militants and detained 21 others in a series of operations on Sunday aimed at Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Two suspected militants were killed in a raid targeting the leader of an Al Qaeda in Iraq cell near the town of Muqdadiyah in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a military statement said. Snipers gunned down the two when they refused to leave a building and were perceived by US troops to be a "hostile threat," the statement said.
In the town of Tarmiyah, just north of the capital, US-led forces conducted an operation to "disrupt a foreign terrorist facilitation network that safeguards senior leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq," the statement added. One man who had been rounded up during the operation "made threatening movements" and troops shot him in "self-defence," the statement said, adding Iraqis on the scene identified the man as a member of Al Qaeda, which the US blames for much of the violence in the country.
Seven suspected militants were arrested during the operation, the statement added. More suspected militants were also arrested in a series of raids in other parts of Iraq, including in northern Salah ad Din province, the US military said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007 00:32 ||
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#1
"5 mortar shells landed" "a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded"
Goodness, those bad, bad, mortars and bombs. Why do they do such things?
Posted by: Brian H ||
08/20/2007 8:24 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah, got that. It just kinda happened. Maybe Allan did it.
Mortars, you can't trust 'em.
Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.
Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.
On Saturday the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army helicopter which crashed killing six Republican Guard members had been engaged in a military operation against PJAK. Iranian officials said the helicopter had crashed into the side of a mountain during bad weather in northern Iraq. PJAK sources said the helicopter had been destroyed after it attempted to land in a clearing mined by guerrillas. The PJAK sources claimed its guerrillas had also killed at least five other Iranian soldiers, and a local pro-regime chief, Hussein Bapir.
"If this escalates it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan region, which is Iraq's most stable area," said Mr Yawar, who said he expected the Iraqi government and US officials in Iraq to make a formal protest to Tehran about the "blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty".
The escalation of tensions in northern Iraq came as a senior US army officer renewed allegations of Iranian support for Shia militias in the south. Major-General Rick Lynch told reporters in the capital that up to 50 members of the elite Revolutionary Guard corps had crossed into Iraq and were training Shia militia members.
Analysts believe PJAK is the fastest growing armed resistance group in Iran. As well as the 3,000 or so members under arms in the mountains, it also claims tens of thousands of followers in secret cells in Iranian Kurdistan. Its campaigning on women's rights has struck a chord with young Iranian Kurdish women. The group says 45% of its fighters are female. Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US to increase pressure on Iran.
On a recent visit to PJAK camps in the Qandil mountains the Guardian saw no evidence of American weaponry. The majority of its fighters toted Soviet-era Kalashnikovs. In an interview Biryar Gabar, a member of the leadership committee, said the group had no relations with the Americans, but was "open to any group that shares our ideals of a free federal democratic and secular Iran."
Posted by: lotp ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US to increase pressure on Iran. On a recent visit to PJAK camps in the Qandil mountains the Guardian saw no evidence of American weaponry. The majority of its fighters toted Soviet-era Kalashnikovs.
#2
Nevertheless Pappy, Let's see just how long Super "W" turns the other cheek on this one. He's primed for alittle Iranian butt kicking, but it's getting awfully close to the time to 'fish or cut bait'! Less of course he'd like to see the Mullahs establish a beachhead in northern Iraq for future 'chess moves'!
#3
I am not for sponsoring terrorists or terrorists activities like we did in Afganistan against the Soviets.
Look how that has come back to bite us.
So I would not want to support any group using terrorist activities.
But if thousands of IRG are threatening on the border, and since they should be considered terrorists,
they should be considered an appropriate and an attractive target for JDAMs.
Posted by: Push over pushes back ||
08/20/2007 3:42 Comments ||
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#4
I think it would be smart to start a hot war all along the Iraq/Iran border and get the well trained Iraqi forces into it. Give our air superiority something to do and scare the shit outta Basher de Asshat.
#5
Additional info: Iranian troops are reportedly massing along the northeastern stretch of the Iran-Iraq border near Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, sources in Hajj Omran town in the northern Arbil province said Sunday.
The unnamed Kurdish source said Iranian forces looked about to launch a large-scale offensive targeting members of the Kurdish workers' party and the Party for Freedom and Life known as PJAK.
Members of the 'rebel' groups, who fiercely oppose the governments of Iran and Turkey, are said to be based near mountains that stretch along the borders with Iran.
On Saturday, unconfirmed Iranian reports had said that they succeeded in shooting down an Iranian helicopter involved in military manoeuvres in northeastern Iran.
#7
Hasn't the US government (i.e. State Department) bought up a whole bunch of knock-off AK-47s and then a whole bunch of them disappeared? Would the reporter be able to tell these from genuine Soviet era Kalashnikovs?
#8
four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border
What is it going to take for Iran to finally be on the receiving end of a major smackdown? Especially hilarious is the following:
Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US
How priceless. One of this world's principal terrorist sponsors squawking about how the USA sponsors terrorism. Iran has run up such an enormous kharmic tab whereby not even first use of nuclear weapons against them could possibly justify accusations of "terrorism".
If I were not so used to Islam's incredible levels of cognitive dissonance, this might have surprised or amused me. Instead, all it does is confirm how woefully inadequate our responses have been to Iran's constant provocations. There is no reasonable explanation for why Tehran's mullahs are not all taking one huge collective dirt nap.
#9
I've gotta agree that there has to come a time (very soon) to publicly confront Iran and smack the shit off their smile. IEDs can work for others, you know? Collapse of their economic system is an option. Killing of Iranian forces shelling across an international border is order one. Once the cars are idle due to refinery/shipment stoppage, let's see who "punches" who
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2007 22:32 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Its about time to start poisoning some of these guys.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/20/2007 23:58 Comments ||
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Something to cheer you up
An IAF airstrike in central Gaza on Monday killed six Hamas operatives, Palestinian officials said.
The car was leaving a Hamas military installation when it was targeted by Israeli aircraft, killing six people, according to Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of the Palestinian Health Ministry. Hamas officials identified the six as Hamas militants.
The IDF said its aircraft hit a car carrying gunmen who fired rockets into Israel earlier Monday.
Earlier Monday, Palestinians fired two Kassam rockets into the western Negev from the Gaza Strip.
The military stepped up its retaliatory offensive yesterday by killing several Abu Sayyaf militants, including two of the suspects behind the beheading of soldiers last month.Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo said troops overran an Abu Sayyaf training camp in the mountain village of Silangkum here where bodies of several Abu Sayyaf gunmen were found. Troops have recovered at least six body counts, including the two leaders who were among the suspects in the beheading of the Marines last month. This does not include those bodies seen littered by the clearing forces, Cedo told a news conference here yesterday. Cedo said yesterdays clash here involved about 80 Abu Sayyaf gunmen. He added that hundreds of troops are pursuing the rebels who survived. The bodies of slain rebels were scattered around the battle scene, he said.
The two slain suspects were identified as senior Abu Sayyaf leader Furiji Indama and his brother Umair Indama, whose remains were among those recovered by troops in the rebel camp. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said the raiding troops even recovered the M-16 rifle of one of the beheaded Marines. Esperon said Furiji Indama was also a suspect in the killing of Peru-born American tourist Guillermo Sobero, one of three US citizens abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in a Palawan resort in 2001.
Troops also fired 105 mm Howitzer shells early yesterday at suspected Abu Sayyaf positions near Ungkaya Pukan and the nearby townships of Sumisip and Tipo-Tipo but there was no immediate report of casualties, officials said.
At least 57 soldiers and rebels were killed in the offensive, which started at dawn Saturday and raged until the early afternoon.
That's a costly battle.
It was the first offensive on Basilan since 14 Marines were killed, of which 10 were decapitated, in an ambush on July 10, primarily blamed on the Abu Sayyaf and renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
This article starring:
Furiji Indama
Umair Indama
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
#1
"At least 57 soldiers and rebels were killed in the offensive"
At least two of the dead were bad guys. You have to guess the distribution of the other 55 or more. Presumably many were Abu Sayyaf as "The bodies of slain rebels were scattered around the battle scene"
That is, unless it was just the two, but broken up and scattered widely.
Two soldiers have died during gun battles with Islamic extremists in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said Sunday.
One of the soldiers was killed Saturday night while the second died Sunday of wounds he received in fighting on Saturday inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared near the northern port city of Tripoli.
The official said the deaths brought to 138 the number of Lebanese soldiers killed since fighting between the army and Fatah Islam militants broke out on May 20. He spoke on customary condition of anonymity according to military regulations.
The state-run National News Agency said fighting continued Sunday, with army helicopters carrying out three successive raids against Fatah Islam positions inside the camp. It said the helicopters fired more than nine rockets at the suspected positions, but it was not clear whether any direct hits were made.
The military official declined to comment on the NNA's report.
Army commander Michel Suleiman said last week that up to 70 Fatah Islam fighters remained in the camp, along with some 100 women and children believed to be relatives. When the fighting broke out in May, the number of Fatah Islam militants was estimated at 360.
He said the group was affiliated with al-Qaida, denying that it was a Syrian creation, as claimed by anti-Syrian Lebanese government officials.
Anti-Syrian Lebanese government officials have accused Damascus of being behind Fatah Islam in an attempt to destabilize Lebanon following its forced withdrawal from the country in 2005. Damascus denies the claim, saying it considers the group a dangerous terrorist organization.
The Nahr el-Bared fighting has dragged on to become Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. The army has refused to halt its offensive until the militants completely surrender, but the gunmen have vowed to fight to the death.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam
Armed bandits kidnapped 30 passengers, including an education ministry official, on Chabahar-Iranshahr road in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan on Sunday, an informed source said.
Semi-official "Fars" news agency said that the bandits also attacked a number of passing cars, set them on fire, wounded some of the passengers and took some people hostage. The agency's reports said that the bandits have abducted the director of the education ministry's regional office in Chabahar, Ali Zare'ee, who was on a mission to Zahedan. A local ministry official said that Zare'ee had been accompanied by a Balouch expert at the time of abduction, who was freed by the hostage-takers. "Yet, they abducted Zare'ee, because he is a Fars (and not a Balouch)," Mahmoud Keshani said. According to Keshani, people believe that the abduction has been exercised on the basis of a premeditated plan, considering that Zare'ee has been the only official among hostages.
The ISNA and Fars news agencies said 30 people were taken hostage, while the state broadcaster said 12 people were seized and taken across the border into Pakistan. Colonel Mohammad Javad Asna-Ashari said the perpetrators belonged to a[n Al-Qaeda] group led by Abdolmalek Rigi, who Iran has blamed for several other attacks in the south-east of the Islamic republic.
In February Jundollah (God's Soldiers), a shadowy Sunni Muslim group led by Rigi, claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus owned by Iran's Revolutionary Guards that killed 11 people.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007 00:00 ||
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PRISTINA, Serbia: Seven inmates escaped from a high-security prison over the weekend in western Kosovo, and police backed by NATO helicopters launched a manhunt throughout the province, authorities said Monday.
The convicts, on a scheduled walk in a yard at Dubrava prison late Saturday, were supported by an armed group who shot at guards and at least one of the inmates participated in the gunbattle, police spokesman Veton Elshani said. They were able to jump over a surrounding wall and fence.
Two senior prison officials and two prison guards were arrested on suspicion of involvement, Elshani said. No injuries were reported.
Police said they found six unused rocket launchers and shell casings from automatic rifles at the site of the gunbattle.
The inmates, some convicted of terrorism, murder and theft, were believed to still be in the province, but police have notified authorities in neighboring countries.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when NATO launched an air war to stop the Serb government's onslaught on Albanian separatists.
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.
KABUL - A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Sunday while escorting a convoy in southern Afghanistan, the force said in a statement. The soldier died from wounds suffered when the convoy was hit by a bomb, which sparked a firefight with militants, an ISAF spokeswoman told AFP.
Afghan police freed a German hostage from a Kabul neighborhood and arrested a group of kidnappers early Monday, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said. 
The British embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum closed down its visa and consular sections today and tomorrow, due to heightened fears that Western interests may be attacked, a diplomatic source said on Sunday. The embassy has also suspended its public services as a precautionary measure, after Sudanese police found three caches of weapons in the capital during the past week. Police arrested 20 Sudanese in connection with the caches, which contained grenades and ammunition.
Egyptian security forces found 500 kilograms of TNT explosives Sunday hidden in sacks near the country's border with the Gaza Strip, a police officer said. Police discovered the cache covered with bushes in northern Sinai after receiving a tip from local Bedouins, reported the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. 
Egyptian Interior Ministry said Sunday its organs arrested 18 activists of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in Alexandria and Sharqiya governorates. "Crackdown against the group led to the arrest of 18 activists and seizure of organizational documents belonging to the banned group," Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted sources of the ministry as saying. The crackdown is part of "perfect security strikes" against underground group to abort its plans and future moves," the sources pointed out.
Yemen security forces arrested an Egyptian suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda and involvement in recent bombings in Mareb which killed European tourists. Rai News website quoted security sources as saying Sunday that 
Detectives investigating the attempted car bombing of Glasgow airport have recovered a "claim of responsibility" written by Kafeel Ahmed, who died from burns he suffered in the attack, the Guardian has learned. Ahmed, 27, suffered more than 90% burns after he drove a Jeep laden with improvised explosives into the airport terminal, in Britain's first attempted suicide car bombing.
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts near the Afghan border Sunday, killing 15 militants, most of them foreign fighters, the military said. The death toll is 15 now. They are all militants, the majority of them foreigners. They are mostly Uzbeks, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.
The military stepped up its retaliatory offensive yesterday by killing several Abu Sayyaf militants, including two of the suspects behind the beheading of soldiers last month.Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo said troops overran an Abu Sayyaf training camp in the mountain village of Silangkum here where bodies of several Abu Sayyaf gunmen were found. Troops have recovered at least six body counts, including the two leaders who were among the suspects in the beheading of the Marines last month. This does not include those bodies seen littered by the clearing forces, Cedo told a news conference here yesterday. Cedo said yesterdays clash here involved about 80 Abu Sayyaf gunmen. He added that hundreds of troops are pursuing the rebels who survived. The bodies of slain rebels were scattered around the battle scene, he said. 
Two soldiers have died during gun battles with Islamic extremists in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said Sunday. 
Armed bandits kidnapped 30 passengers, including an education ministry official, on Chabahar-Iranshahr road in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan on Sunday, an informed source said.
PRISTINA, Serbia: Seven inmates escaped from a high-security prison over the weekend in western Kosovo, and police backed by NATO helicopters launched a manhunt throughout the province, authorities said Monday.
