Afghan National Security Forces, advised by Coalition Forces, engaged and eliminated more than 100 insurgent fighters in a battle that started this morning and is still continuing in northern Kandahar Province.
The combined force was on a combat patrol 8 kilometers (5 miles) south of Chenartu Village, Sha Wali Kot District, when they were attacked by a large group of insurgents from reinforced fighting positions using small arms, heavy machine guns, RPGs and mortars. Throughout the battle, insurgents continued to reinforce the area, engaging Islamic Republic of Afghanistan forces in an attempt to overrun their position.
The ANSF-led force used small arms and crew-served weapons to repel the enemy attack while calling for close air support, which destroyed the enemy hilltop positions with bombing runs.
Coalition aircraft destroyed the reinforced enemy emplacements and sniper positions as well as two trucks used to reinforce and re-supply the insurgent force.
One ANSF member was killed in the battle. Three Coalition forces and three ANSF were also wounded in the engagement. No civilians were killed or wounded as all targets were engaged in open and unpopulated areas.
#3
I guess MO failed to include a tactics section in the Koran. Covering your face doesn't seem to stop bullets. Now, back to our program, On The Job Combat Training starring Allan bin Akbar.
Taliban militants on Wednesday released eight of 19 South Korean captives they promised to free under a deal struck with the South Korean government to resolve a nearly six-week hostage crisis.
The hostages were released into the care of officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross at two separate locations in central Afghanistan close to the city of Ghazni, according to an Associated Press reporter on the scene.
Meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces killed more than 100 suspected Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, officials said.
The first group of three women were released in the village of Qala-e-Kazi. Several hours later, four women and one man were released in a desert close to Shah Baz, said the reporter, who witnessed both hand-overs.
...
To secure the release of the church workers, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made well before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the country, something it already promised to do.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2007 08:40 ||
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#1
Must be running out of fermented cabbage (KemChee).
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/29/2007 9:50 Comments ||
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#2
Now 12.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2007 10:24 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) Three people died when government soldiers armed with pistols clashed with local insurgents inside the main Bakara market on Tuesday, local security official said According to the police spokesman Abdiwahid Mohamed Mohamed Hussein, one of the dead people was a police man while the two other were militants. "We have lost one soldier but the out of uniform troops killed two of the insurgents," said Mohamed adding that the government designed these kind of soldiers dressed as civilians to fight the militants who always hunt the individuals in the market. Witnesses told Somalinet that the government troops exchanged minutes of gunfire with the group of insurgents inside the market that led all the business shops closed.
Also two civilians have been killed and four others were wounded in several grenades which exploded inside the main Bakara market. The grenades were thrown at policemen who were patrolling the market but missed the target and caused civilian casualty. Medical sources say that up to ten civilians were wounded today alone in the clashes as the civilians became victims for the violence in the capital.
Meanwhile, around SOS mother and child hospital in north of the city, the government soldiers clashed with the supporters of the ousted Islamic Courts Union. There is no immediate casualty from that gun battle which lasted for while, as residents say.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Just wondering if there were "no policemen patrolling the market" would there have been any violence? Maybe the best thing to do here is to make the market "police and terrorist free" like a "gun free and drug free" zone.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/29/2007 9:53 Comments ||
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(SomaliNet) SomaliÂ’s interim government said on Tuesday that its security forces killed three of the local insurgents who threw grenade bombs at the police post in Shangaani district, east of the capital Mogadishu overnight.
The head of the police information department, General Abdiwahid Mohamed Hussein told the local media this morning that the policemen near the former Juba hotel surrounded the attackers and killed them on the spot. “The security forces shot dead three elements and their bodies are still laying on the ground and it is open for all journalists to come to see the fact. They were among the peace killers,” said Mohamed.
The soldiers he said also captured two other militants. “Before being shot dead the Islamists have exchanged gunfire with the policemen,” added Mohamed.
"But then they stopped."
Three civilians were also killed in the gunfire, according to the local residents.
On Sunday, the government said it killed one local insurgent after he hurled grenade bomb at the policemen in Hamar-weyne district. His body, which was laying on ground till yesterday, was buried today. Mogadishu’s mayor Mohamed Omar Habeb ‘Mohamed Dhere’ rewarded the soldier that killed what he called ‘the terrorist’ with ten million So. Shillings.
Elsewhere, last night, the local Islamist militants launched clashed with the government troops in different locations of the capital as the rival sides exchanged heavy artillery and gunfire. The casualty was reported from the latest confrontations. Daily and nightly skirmishes continue in the northern settlements of the capital which led hundreds of people mostly young men to flee for their safety.
Reliable sources confirmed Somalinet that the government soldiers continue arbitrary arrest in what the government called ‘the hotbed areas’ in Yaqshid and Huriwa districts.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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Saudi Arabia has indefinitely banned the distribution of a leading Arab newspaper, days after the paper disclosed that a Saudi extremist had played a key role in a violent Iraqi Al Qaeda front group. One of the kingdom's most influential journalists immediately criticized the ban, calling it a sharp retreat from recent growing press freedoms.
It was unclear if the Iraqi article was the main impetus for the ban, or merely the culmination of several weeks of disputes, mostly on other issues, between the Al Hayat newspaper and the kingdom's information minister. Saudi officials are sensitive to criticism that extremists from the kingdom are making their way to Iraq to fight against the Shiite-led government there, although in recent months, top Saudi officials have acknowledged the problem.
Saudi officials also bristle at Western criticism that they tolerate clerics in Saudi's strict Wahhabi strain of Sunni Islam who promote extremism. The Al Hayat article laid out ties between the extremist in Iraq and some Saudi clerics.
However, a journalist close to the newspaper in Riyadh said the Iraqi article, which appeared in Monday's editions, was just one in a series of disputes with the government. In recent months, Al Hayat's Saudi office had received several warnings from the country's Information Minister, Iyad Madani, about writings by its columnists, especially one often critical of government inefficiency, said the journalist.
#3
Thanks to George Bush, it is getting harder and harder to keep outside news away from the public in the ME.
At first such information is an amusing oddity to the public, with little credibility, because it disagrees with the official line. However, over time, they start noticing its accuracy, as government media tends to lie even when it doesn't have to, and is easy to catch out in those lies.
Eventually, good quality information pushes out the lies, and the regimes lose control over what the public learns. Which is seldom good for their hold on power.
Two Dutch women have lost their jobs at a NATO base in Geilenkirchen over their mysterious marriage to Muslim men which took place during a holiday in Tunisia, the NIS Dutch news service reports.
One of the women was the personal assistant of Colonel Jelle Zijlstra, deputy commandant of the base. Both women - who were identified only by their first names Patricia and Gerda - had a level of security clearance that would have allowed them to access possible NATO secrets, the NIS report said.
Following their weddings in Tunisia to local men who they met on while on holiday to the North African country in 2007, It was ... Kismet!
... the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) withdrew the women's NATO security clearance. According to a report by the Dutch daily De Telegraaf, the two Tunisian men were classified as "extremely high-risk". Think "Lockerbie" or worse.
Although it is not clear why the men - whose names were not published - are classified as high risk, their marriage was described as "suspicious" by officials at the Geilenkirchen base, home to 17 AWACS surveillance planes - used against aerial terrorist threats.
However, Zijlstra appeared to defend the women. "These ladies have worked for us loyally for years, so why should I not give them moral support? I am not aware of any wrongful actions", he was quoted as saying.
Gah.
That's what West German ministers and generals always said after their "loyal" assistants were uncovered as Soviet-Stasi agents.
According to the NIS report, one of the women has filed for divorce from her Tunisian husband and has demanded her NATO job back, suing the Dutch state for lifting her security clearance. Her case will be heard in court on September 10.
That's precisely the problem, tu3031. As you are all too well aware, Islam is entirely incapable of containing the vast amounts of evil it inspires and must constantly export its surplus. If Muslim violence restricted itself to Islamic countries I would not give a rat's ballocks about it. It doesn't and therein lies the rub.
#4
Most Euro conversions to the cult of terror (islam) are political fallout from misplaced sympathy for Paleos. All the more reason as to why simplistic reportage on those perma-parasites is loathsome.
#5
One, maybe. But two women says to me that this was a government sponsored intelligence operation, and a pretty high level one. Tunisia has long been a capital of cloak and dagger.
My strongest suspicion would be a Russian op. The odds of this being an Islamist deal would be tiny. It is just too professional, especially the redundancy.
Western intelligence services were probably tipped off when Patricia and Gerda went to Tunisia in the first place. Suppose they won a contest?
#6
Agreed Moose, it was a 'honey trap', but I think the North Africans are perfectly capable of setting one up. There's no high tech required, just some smooth operators. Of course, they could be sharing with the Russians.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/29/2007 16:02 Comments ||
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#7
A couple of birdbrains.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
08/29/2007 17:00 Comments ||
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#8
A comment on the quality of a moder european male?
#10
"Dutch women IDIOTS marry "extremely high-risk" Tunisians - lose Nato jobs"
There - fixed
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/29/2007 18:35 Comments ||
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#11
Steve White: Smooth operators might be able to get in the door, but then what? They would have to get to Europe, live in Europe, be able to funnel info or set up whatever operation there. This implies local support. It just gets harder and harder to picture just two gigolos pulling off a stunt like this.
At then include the target, NATO secrets? What the heck would Islamists want with that?
#12
Flight schedules for AWACs, coverage zones of said AWACs, the names of crew members, etc. All of this would be invaluable to the Iranians, the Syrians, and a variety of terrorist organizations. Killing the crews of the AWACs makes them very expensive static displays; knowing when and where they are looking lets you avoid their coverage zones.
So not just the Russians would like to know that info.
#1
"And although the numbers are classified, McConnell said, a relatively small number of people with known links to terrorist organizations have been caught crossing the Southwest border."
Relatively small compared to what? Total illegal immigrants? Relative to 10,000,000 even 0.01% is 1000 with terrorist links!
#2
The "some we didn't" are the ones that worry me. What are THOSE planning to do? Will they become truck drivers and drive into some city with a tankload of chlorine - or cyanide? Will they haul fertilizer, stop somewhere along the way and buy diesel, and blow up some strategic bridge? This is the kind of stupidity that makes me grind my teeth with the deliberate inefficiency of Washington, DC.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/29/2007 13:42 Comments ||
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#3
I wonder how many of these guys stop along the way across the border to roll out their prayer-rugs and pray at the usual times throughout the day. Or do they save that for a later time for some reason?
I imagine the mini-riot will blossom into a full-scale howling mob action by...noon Friday. Islamic Rage Boy is oiling his beard even now
Police closed the Taj Mahal and placed parts of Agra city under curfew on Wednesday after Indian Muslims burned trucks and battled police to protest the deaths of four community members hit by a lorry. The accident occurred around dawn in Agra when the men were returning after marking "Shab-e-Barat," or the "night of forgiveness or atonement," when Muslims pray for the dead. Angry crowds set fire to 11 trucks, including the one involved in the accident, said state police officer Brij Lal.
"With curfew imposed in six police circles of Agra, the area in and around Taj Mahal is also completely shut to public as a precautionary measure," Lal said. Television footage showed smoke billowing over one neighborhood, young Muslims clashing with police and a line of trucks burning fiercely. "They are hurling bricks at police sent to stop the violence in one area but the situation is coming under control as our people are on the job," Lal added. Schools and colleges were ordered shut in the crowded city as police tried to quell the violence, officials said.
#2
Even accidental deaths are to be (violently) protested, because muslims are VICTIMS, so it's their Legitimate Right™ to use Resistance™. India should note pakistan's, bangladesh's and its own muslim population are steadily growing, while the hinjooooooos have managed to control their demographic growth. while this pose problems to the muslims themselves, this may pose more to India, eventually.
Celebrated by riots and mayhem? I guess fasting, self-assessment and contemplation, and asking forgiveness is right out. Makes sense - in an Islamic sort of way.
Militants on Tuesday released 18 soldiers and a government official kidnapped near Afghan border earlier this month, spokesmen for the army and the militants said. Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said on Geo television news that the hostages were released unconditionally in South Waziristan, a militant stronghold in Pakistan's lawless frontier region.
More, from Pak Daily Times
Sixteen Frontier Corps personnel were kidnapped on August 9 in South Waziristan and the Taliban beheaded a Shia soldier on August 14.
The Shiite's head was lopped off because he's an "infidel," of course. They don't think about that when they're hopping up and down and rolling their eyes and hollering "Death to America!"
Four others, including Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Shahid and a political administration official, were abducted from Ladah on August 24. A tribal elder said the Taliban handed over the hostages to a Mehsud jirga, which took them to Wana where they were received by the authorities concerned.
The jirga's the "political wing" of the Mehsud Division of Talibs.
South Waziristan political agent (PA) Hussainzada Khan told the 80-member Mehsud jirga that the government would “abide by the Sararogha agreement” reached with militant commander Baitullah Mehsud in February 2005. Mehsud died in a raid in July 2007.
Meaning the turbans got the concessions they wanted from the local pols and the central gummint.
As per the tribal traditions, the PA distributed Rs 200,000 among jirga members for securing the hostagesÂ’ release.
Right. They do have a tradition of bribery.
The army has denied accepting militantsÂ’ conditions to end the hostage crisis after the release of a video footage showing sepoy Liaq HussainÂ’s beheading by young militants.
"No, no! Certainly not! Who? Us?"
The Associated Press quoted Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad as saying on Geo television that the hostages were released unconditionally.
"And the gummint's meeting their terms unconditionally. The word 'surrender' has never been used by either side!"
All the released people were whisked away moments after they had offloaded from a private vehicle inside a camp where the military and the political administration offices are situated. The media was not allowed to speak to them.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has admitted it did not have permission from Pakistan to strike Taliban positions across the border over the weekend, citing a “miscommunication” problem.
The coalition had insisted it was given the go-ahead for the attack inside Pakistan on Saturday that destroyed six Taliban firing posts on both sides of the frontier, killing more than a dozen rebels. This was rejected by the Pakistan Army, which said it had not been asked for authorisation. The foreign ministry in Islamabad said reports of permission being given were “speculative and fabricated”. The coalition said in a statement late Monday it had investigated further and found that Pakistan had not actually given permission. “We regret the miscommunication in this event,” said the coalition’s deputy commanding general for operations, Brigadier General Joseph Votel.
He said the coalition was committed to respecting the sovereign borders of Pakistan.
"After all, they respect Afghanistan's."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Oops, our bad! Sorry about the dead guys. No harm, no foul, eh?
#2
Heh, borders are nothing more than lines on a map!
There are no plexiglass barriers to keep stray hockey pucks and other projectiles from crossing over.
There are no free zones nor virtual bubbles to completely isolate one from all dangers in this world nor in the virtual online world.
This is the borderless, frontier age of the world, wild web.
Besides we have a poor history of observing our borders here in the US.
We prefer a free an open society. Free love baby!
Posted by: Push over pushes back ||
08/29/2007 1:03 Comments ||
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#4
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has admitted it did not have permission from Pakistan to strike Taliban positions across the border over the weekend, citing a “miscommunication” problem.
"Dang radios always conk out right near the frontier!"
The coalition had insisted it was given the go-ahead for the attack inside Pakistan on Saturday that destroyed six Taliban firing posts on both sides of the frontier, killing more than a dozen rebels. This was rejected by the Pakistan Army, which said it had not been asked for authorisation.
KEEP HONKING REJECTING, WE'RE RELOADING
The foreign ministry in Islamabad said reports of permission being given were “speculative and fabricated”.
If they keep this sort of thing up someone might get the notion that Pakistan was genuinely interested in fighting terrorism and we can't have that now, can we?
Someone needs to tell Musharraf that we can either do this the easy way or the hard way and we need to make damn sure he is frightened to death of the hard way.
#5
as it is well said, it's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission....
Posted by: Jan ||
08/29/2007 1:33 Comments ||
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#6
I don't see how this could have happened. Since we've repeatedly been told that the terrorists are not based in Pakistan, how would attacking their camps cross the border?
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
08/29/2007 9:18 Comments ||
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#7
With mistakes like this who needs perfection!
Posted by: Sniglet Prince of the French ||
08/29/2007 10:48 Comments ||
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#8
No more moola for Mullahs (sp?).
Posted by: Natural Law ||
08/29/2007 11:17 Comments ||
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#9
Hague Convention of 1907- a neutral country has the obligation not to allow its territory to be used by a belligerent. If the neutral country is unwilling or unable to prevent this, the other belligerent has the right to take appropriate action.
#11
Pakistan would be better off quietly giving permission and "keeping it on the down low". If they do not have the capability or willingness to cleanse their "grey zones" themselves, then they should be informed that not only will it still be accomplished but they will surrender a substantial chunk of future U.S. aid.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 ||
08/29/2007 17:09 Comments ||
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#13
Our "miscommunication" is Musharef's cover. He pretends to be offended and we pretend to apologise; M-guy has deniability, we get to bomb, and T-bunnies get their virgins. Everybody is happy.
MIRANSHAH: Five civilians sustained injuries from artillery fire on Tuesday after security forces came under attack from militants in North Waziristan as gunship helicopters pounded suspected targets for hours, eyewitnesses and officials said. A soldier was also injured when militants fired a rocket at a security post. Two civilians at a tableeghi centre near Miranshah, headquarters of North Waziristan, and three others in a nearby village were injured when security forces fired artillery shots in the direction from which militants fired rockets at the army, security officials told Daily Times.
Right. We're sure the rockets weren't fired from the tagblighi center.
“At 5am, the army base was attacked from the west. Two rockets missed their intended targets and security forces retaliated using artillery to pound the areas from which the rockets were fired,” they said. The security officials expressed regret at civilians being injured in the crossfire.
But not too much regret.
Two rockets were fired on Banda Post close to Miranshah, leaving one soldier injured. Gunship helicopters took off moments after the attack and pounded suspected militant hideouts. Near Kharr Kamar, 35 kilometres west of Miranshah, a military convoy headed to Dattakhel escaped losses when an improvised explosive device exploded nearby. In the Shawal area, army returned fire when four rockets were fired at Mana Camp. However, officials said no damage or loss of life resulted. North Waziristan returned to bloody clashes after pro-Taliban militants pulled out of the 2006 peace agreement with the government on July 15. According to official figures, 60 soldiers and 250 militants have died in the area in the last one month.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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Indian troops killed seven separatist militants in clashes in Kashmir, including four trying to cross from the Pakistani side of the disputed Himalayan state, the army said on Tuesday. Indian army spokesman Colonel Manjinder Singh told AFP the soldiers foiled “a major infiltration attempt” across the Line of Control.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, an aide said Wednesday. The aide, Sheik Hazim al-Araji, said on Iraqi state television that the goal was to "rehabilitate" the organization, which has reportedly broken into factions, some of which the U.S. maintains are trained and supplied by Iran. "We declare the freezing of the Mahdi Army without exception in order to rehabilitate it in a way that will safeguard its ideological image within a maximum period of six months starting from the day this statement is issued," al-Araji said, reading from a statement by al-Sadr.
The order was issued after two days of bloody clashes in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that claimed at least 52 lives.
The order was issued after two days of bloody clashes in the Shiite holy city of Karbala that claimed at least 52 lives. Iraqi security officials blamed Mahdi militiamen for attacking mosque guards, some of whom are linked to the rival Badr Brigade militia.
A spokesman for al-Sadr, Ahmed al-Shaibani, denied the Mahdi Army was involved in the Karbala fighting.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Al-Sadr called for an independent inquiry into the clashes and urged his supporters to cooperate with the authorities "to calm the situation down," al-Shaibani said.
Tensions have been rising in southern Iraq as rival Shiite groups maneuver for power, especially in the oil-rich area around Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
Sporadic gunbattles raged Wednesday near two shrines protected by the Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, although violence was tapering off. Clashes began late Monday but escalated dramatically the following day when gunmen believed from the Mahdi Army began firing on security forces and the Badr guards, according to security officials. A pro-Sadr member of the Karbala city council, Ahmed al-Husseini, blamed the violence on pro-Iranian groups among security forces that guard the Karbala shrines.
This article starring:
AHMED AL HUSEINI
Mahdi Army
AHMED AL SHAIBANI
Mahdi Army
MUQTADA AL SADR
Mahdi Army
SHEIK HAZIM AL ARAJI
Mahdi Army
Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2007 08:50 ||
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#1
Seeme like maybe he read about Confederate General "Grumble" Jones. "When ya know yer gonna get yer ass whupped, the best thing to do is move yer ass". The Mahdi Army has been getting it's ass whupp so it is moving it's ass.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/29/2007 9:08 Comments ||
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#2
Funny, how NONE of the "ass-whippings" we have allegedly given have affected its existance in the least.
We can feed every piece of cannon-fodder from this thing into a plastics grinder and feed the results to dogs, and as long as al Sadr himself is alive to say "OK, this week I'll peacefully support the political process instead!" he'll just come back next week and start offing people.
NONE OF THE PEOPLE HE KILLS GET A CHANCE TO PEACEFULLY PARTAKE OF THE POLITICAL PROCESS EVER AGAIN. BUT EVERY TIME HE TURNS AROUND AND SAYS "I'M PEACEFUL THIS WEEK" HE'S GOTTEN AWAY WITH MURDER.
#3
Agreed. Only when tater is gone can there be an improvement in that facet of the situation in Iraq...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/29/2007 10:38 Comments ||
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#4
Sadr is useful. His gunnies scare (and wholesale murder) the shit out of the Sunnis. When the Sunnies are pacified, it will be the Madhi Army's turn.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2007 10:43 Comments ||
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#5
Sadr is useful. His gunnies scare (and wholesale murder) the shit out of the Sunnis. When the Sunnies are pacified, it will be the Madhi Army's turn.
I think Sadr has to be one of the most incompetent political and military leaders around. This is why I believe we need to keep him around. I think there's this idea among some Rantburg readers that Sadr is some kind of inspirational leader among Shiites, that if he went away, religious radicalism would collapse. I really doubt that - if that were the case, why do the Badr Brigades, who are biding their time, exist?
#6
Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia
Six months from now Sadr and a significant portion of his militia had better be at room temperature. If al-Maliki or Petraeus give Sadr a pass for this hollow gesture during this hudna they have no sense.
#8
I must profess, I don't understand the 'spell' al-Sadr has on the US and it's plans for Iraq! Either he's being 'groomed' as a heir apparent, or the power he wields is truly being placated. Had all this happened in Israel, his brains would be in his lap by now (ie, Yassin) and he was coming out of a mosque in a wheel chair!
#9
An interesting comparison I heard today, but I imagine, if true, will definitely leave the donks with egg on their face. This was from Hannity's radio show, so see if you can follow:
"Perky" Couric just announced she's going to Iraq to "report" on the surge, magically just before Petraeus's calling before Congress. Does this seem aligned with Uncle Walter Cronkite's reporting on the Tet Offensive in Vietnam (the timing)? And, subsequently (like the NVA), does Tater see this coming (MSM glory and a smackdown of Petraeus, at least in the press), and announces a 6-month hiatus on attacks, only to "up the ante" just before Petraeus's report and cause some mass-casualty attack (breaking his word of a cease-fire, much like the NVA during Tet and getting "trumped up" reporting a'la Uncle Walt). Just wonder'ins all.
Posted by: BA ||
08/29/2007 22:04 Comments ||
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#10
Sadr's boys and Sistani's militia had a big fight over the religious pilgrimage sites in the past week -- this is Sadr trying to make his militia less visible as a target during the surge. With the Badr Brigade's improved weapons and tactics, the Mahdists are getting squeezed. Add in US strikes against the "splitter factions", and Sadr need to converse his troops and do some regrouping.
A group of eight Iranians, including two diplomats, were released by U.S. forces Wednesday after being detained because unauthorized weapons were found in their cars, the U.S. military said. An adviser to the top U.S. general in Iraq called the situation "regrettable."
The incident Tuesday came as tensions between Washington and Tehran were already strained by the detention of each other's citizens as well as U.S. accusations of Iranian involvement in Iraq's violence and alleged Iranian efforts to develop nuclear bombs.
In Tehran, Iranian officials on Wednesday summoned a Swiss diplomat who represents American interests in the country to protest the U.S. forces' detention of the eight Iranians, the Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini called the U.S. action an act of "interference" in Iraq's internal affairs and "inconsistent" with the responsibilities of U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq.
Four cars carrying the Iranians, as well as seven Iraqis, were stopped at a checkpoint Tuesday evening and then allowed to proceed to the nearby Sheraton Ishtar hotel, where they were later taken into custody and questioned, the military said.
Saadi Othman, an adviser to Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, told British Broadcasting Corp. television that the incident was "regrettable" and had "nothing to do" with President Bush's remarks on Tuesday, when he lashed out at Iran for meddling in Iraq's affairs and fomenting instability here.
Bush strongly criticized Iran in a speech to the American Legion convention in Reno, Nev., in which he presented a ringing defense of the unpopular Iraq war effort.
"I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran's murderous activities," said Bush, whose administration has accused Iran of arming Shiite militias in Iraq. "The Iranian regime must halt these actions."
Troops seized three weapons from the cars — an AK-47 assault rifle and two 9mm pistols that had been in the possession of the Iraqis in the group. The Iraqis were serving as a protective detail but had no weapons permits, the U.S. military said.
Videotape shot Tuesday night by AP Television News showed U.S. troops leading a group of blindfolded and handcuffed men out of the hotel in central Baghdad. U.S. troops confiscated a laptop, cell phones and a briefcase full of Iranian and American money in the hotel, the military said.
"Following the brief room search the group was taken to a coalition facility for questioning," the U.S. military said in a statement. "The Iranian nationals had passports. It was later determined that two of the Iranian individuals were carrying diplomatic credentials."
All the Iranians were released Wednesday to Iraqi officials, the military said. The fate of the Iraqis — who identified themselves with Iraqi Ministry of Electricity badges — was not immediately clear, and the military did not say whether the confiscated items were returned.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2007 08:44 ||
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#1
Oh look, a spare copy of those Ministry of Electricity files! How did those get here?
#6
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini called the U.S. action an act of "interference" in Iraq's internal affairs and "inconsistent" with the responsibilities of U.S.-led occupation forces in Iraq.
If we are an illegal occupying force, then how come we have "responsibilities" there?
a. Iranians in Iraq will spend more time looking over their shoulders and less on meddling.
b. Sometimes just observing the reaction to an event can be enlightening.
BAGHDAD - US and Iraqi troops killed 33 insurgents in an airborne assault and airstrikes north of Baghdad aimed at reopening a major irrigation canal that had been seized by gunmen, the US military said on Tuesday.
“The pre-dawn assault, involving several hundred Iraqi and Coalition forces defeated numerous small-arms attacks throughout the day, resulting in a combined 13 insurgents killed,” the US military said in a statement. “Attack helicopters and close air support ... killed 20 more,” it said.
Residents in Khalis, a religiously mixed town 80 km (50 miles) north of Baghdad, told Reuters that insurgents had shovelled earth into the irrigation canal some days ago, cutting off water to farmland. The canal is in the Kobat area, which has strong presence of Al Qaeda fighters, they said. The US military said it had successfully reopened the spillway and seized weapons and explosives.
Protesting Khalis residents last week closed the main road between Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk to demand the local authorities take stronger steps to restore security to the area, which has witnessed bitter sectarian violence. Residents said they had also been without drinking water for nearly a month. An official in the local electricity office said a power plant that serviced the townÂ’s water treatment plant needed to be repaired. Electricity workers, however, were afraid to go to the plant in Khan Bani Saad, 65 km (45 miles) north of Baghdad, because of the presence of Sunni Arab militants in the area.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
This doesn't feel right.
Hundreds of forces to clear a ditch?
#2
"Hundreds of forces..."
If they killed 33 and captured 3 (good ratio, boys) then the ditch blockers force was big enough you would want hundreds, especially if most of them were Iraqi (and you weren't entirely trusting a lot of those).
Irrigation canals are a really big deal in deserts - I had a friend whose house was burned down (with him in it until he crashed naked through the wall) because he was pushing repairs of 'leaks' in Arkansas River irrigation canal in Colorado, so I can well imagine using water as a weapon in Iraq.
#3
When these terrorists fought in the cities, they were somewhat effective, but out in the open, they are as dangerous as sitting ducks. But hey, it's a surge tactic.
Karbala, 28 August (AKI) - Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have been cleared from the holy city of Karbala after deadly clashes between devotees and security forces during a Shiite festival. Police say at least 25 people have been killed and another 65 wounded in the southern city near two shrines on one of the holiest days on the Shiite calendar. More than ten thousand police, backed by another five thousand Iraqi soldiers have been deployed to close streets and stop people from entering the city.
Iraq's security forces are on heightened alert for the two-day festivities amid fears that Sunni Islamists may use the event to launch a major attack. The news agency, Voices of Iraq, said the Karbala office of Shiite leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, called for calm after clashes between gunmen and Iraqi security forces on Monday night.
According to the VOI, US forces also deployed large numbers of tribesmen to protect Shiite pilgrims travelling the 100 kms from Baghdad to Karbala. More than four million pilgrims were expected to arrive in Karbala from inside and outside Iraq to visit the tomb of Imam al-Hussein and his brother al-Abbas to mark the 9th century birth of Muhammad al-Mahdi.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Good time for butter and pop corn in observation of the amusing festivities of these holy days.
Posted by: Push over pushes back ||
08/29/2007 1:12 Comments ||
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#4
We released the Iranian 'diplomats' we grabbed yesterday; I wonder if we stripped the data out of their computer while we had it? I had wondered if those arrests were somehow related to this attack earlier in the day, and I am still not entirely convinced the events are unrelated. We can bet that (at least) one of the Klashing Karbala Klubs is backed by the Iranians.
Fighting between unidentified gunmen and Iraqi security forces in the holy city of Karbala has left 6 people dead and 28 others wounded.
This is the Iranian take, from Iran Press TV...
The sound of gunfire reverberated Tuesday around the shrine of Imam Hussein as pilgrims from across Iraq and the Muslim world were celebrating the birth anniversary of Imam al-Mahdi, the twelfth Shia Imam, who is seen as a savior. Police said gunmen armed with automatic weapons and pistols tried to take control of the area around the two shrines of the city. They confronted the police and army who opened fire.
Karbala police chief Brigadier General Hamid Raad Shaker said gunmen fired at police who returned fire, and that several mortar shells landed near Imam Hussein's shrine. A senior hospital official in Kerbala said six people had been killed and 28 wounded in the clashes.
The corpse count's up around 50 as we post this...
Police quickly sealed off the area and the shrine was closed. They also prevented more pilgrims from entering Karbala, around 110 kilometers south of Baghdad. Local authorities began evacuating Shia pilgrims from the holy city. Police said buses had been readied to take pilgrims out of the southern city while police and army reinforcements were heading toward the city's shrines.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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The Islamic Jihad lashed out at the Palestinian Authority security personnel who rescued an IDF major from a lynch mob in Jenin on Monday, ... Cf. the savage lynching mentioned below of two reservists back in the very begining of Intifada : The Sequel, with bloodcrazed paleos gleefully dipping their hand in blood and showing to cameras for the world to see (pics were IIRC??? taken by an italian crew, "security forces" having confiscated the material of other crew, which was subsequently threatened for that.)
... saying that their actions prevented the group from kidnapping the Israeli officer.
"We were successful in trapping a uniformed Israeli officer," a statement released by the group read. "We were surprised when [PA security forces] thwarted our efforts by surrounding us and taking control of the soldier. In a matter of minutes, four IDF jeeps arrived at the scene and were given the soldier."
The Islamic Jihad statement further condemned the PA security forces, saying that they should work to protect the "Palestinian people instead of soldiers of the Occupation."
The officer in question, a major in the IDF's central command, narrowly escaped the lynching after he accidentally entered the Palestinian town of Jenin, in northern Samaria, earlier Monday. The officer, a staff officer at Central Command headquarters, was traveling from the settlement of Shavei Shomron to Mevo Dotan when he accidentally made a wrong turn and found himself driving unarmed and in uniform in downtown Jenin.
Not a life-enhancing move.
After coming under a hail of stones, the officer was pulled out of his car by a Palestinian mob. Seconds later, Palestinian policemen arrived at the scene and rescued the officer, who they evacuated to the nearby Mukata government building.
Senior Central Command officers said that the officer was very close to meeting the same fate as two reservists who were lynched and beaten to death after accidentally entering Ramallah in October 2000.
On Tuesday morning Army Radio reported that the officer was acting against regulations by traveling along a road that according to protocol could only be driven on in a convoy. "He was very lucky since this could have ended much differently," Lt.-Col. Fareis Atilee, head of the Jenin-area IDF Liaison office, told The Jerusalem Post. "It was not far from turning into the same outcome as the Ramallah lynch."
Atilee praised the PA police's quick and responsible response. Atilee added that he had received a phone call at 12:30 p.m. that an IDF officer - unarmed and in uniform - was in Jenin. "We began coordinating his rescue with the PA and at the same time sent large forces to the city in the event that we would need to save him," he recalled, adding that the quick coordination between the IDF and the PA was made possible due to the recent change in Israeli policy vis a vis the Palestinian government in Ramallah led by Salaam Fayad.
"There is better coordination today due to the change in Israeli policy and the Palestinians did what they needed to do," he said. "They also did what was in their interest."
Meanwhile, MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL) criticized the IDF, saying the events in Jenin only serve to highlight IDF abuses against Palestinians. "IDF is shooting and wounding Palestinian citizens and the PA risks lives to save a soldier. This is food for thought for the general public." Tibi was quoted as saying.
#1
Normally something like this would give me hope except that I lost all hope for the Palestinians long, long ago. They have committed far too many atrocities to redeem themselves this simply. Repeating this scene a thousand times would barely make a dent in the kharmic debt run up by these vicious, genocidal gangsters.
#2
There is a temporary alliance between the IDF and the PA against IJihad, Hamas, the PFLP and a few other groups.
This temporary alliance will probably go on a few more weeks or months as it is in the interest of both the PA and the IDF to root out the other groups.
I forsee, corruption, truces, corruption, trues, an understanding and a real effort for peace, corruption, seething, indifada 11 (for the chilruns) peace in our time, a new start, corruption, seething, rocks in the air, corruption, despair and finger pointing followed by a New Optimism which becomes a desert.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
08/29/2007 17:07 Comments ||
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A Kassam rocket scored a direct hit on a home in Sderot on Tuesday shortly before Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Jerusalem. One man sustained moderate shrapnel wounds to his eye and leg and several bystanders were treated for shock. The rocket hit the roof of the home over a bathroom shortly after it was vacated.
Eli Sabag said the rocket narrowly missed his family. "I had just sat down to drink a cup of coffee when I heard the warning siren," he said. "My wife, my son and I went into the bomb shelter and waited for the Kassam to hit. When we opened the door, we saw a smoke mushroom, and we realized that it had fallen on our house."
The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades, claimed responsibility for the attack, adding in its statement that the rocket was an Aksa-3, an improved model of the Kassam.
You don't suppose they were trying to derail those talks, do you? And that any agreements Olmert and Abbas reach can be negated with a weekend's atrocities by the very same people?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
1. of course theyre trying to derail the talks
2.can they negate any agreement? Mebbe, mebbe not.
Lebanese army advanced behind a curtain of fierce bombing by helicopter gunships and stormed Fatah al-Islam' outposts in a northern Palestinian refugee camp on Wednesday, local Naharnet news website reported.
A commando unit controlled "buildings and outposts" that had been manned by terrorists in "fierce confrontations" that started at dawn in the Islamist militants' last pocket of resistance in Nahr al-Bared camp, said the report.
It noted that the so-called Arafat Bunker remains the "last target" to be attacked by the army in the battle which broke out on May 20.
The bunker, named after the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, is a fortified shelter built in the 1970s in the southern sector of Nahr al-Bared.
Meanwhile, Palestinian mediator Sheikh Mohammed al-Hajj said contacts were underway to evacuate nine wounded Fatah al-Islam militants.
Al-Hajj, member of the Palestine Clerics League, said the evacuation, when completed, "could be an incentive to end the crisis."
The league had mediated the evacuation of families of Fatah al- Islam militants. The women and children were released and allowed to join their relatives in Lebanon and abroad.
The Lebanese army have been battling with the militants of Fatah al-Islam in the Nahr al-Bared camp since May 20. The bloodiest internal violence since the Lebanese 1975-1990 civil war has killed more than 200 people.
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(SomaliNet) Three people died when government soldiers armed with pistols clashed with local insurgents inside the main Bakara market on Tuesday, local security official said According to the police spokesman Abdiwahid Mohamed Mohamed Hussein, one of the dead people was a police man while the two other were militants. "We have lost one soldier but the out of uniform troops killed two of the insurgents," said Mohamed adding that the government designed these kind of soldiers dressed as civilians to fight the militants who always hunt the individuals in the market. Witnesses told Somalinet that the government troops exchanged minutes of gunfire with the group of insurgents inside the market that led all the business shops closed. 
(SomaliNet) SomaliÂ’s interim government said on Tuesday that its security forces killed three of the local insurgents who threw grenade bombs at the police post in Shangaani district, east of the capital Mogadishu overnight. 
Two Dutch women have lost their jobs at a NATO base in Geilenkirchen over their mysterious marriage to Muslim men which took place during a holiday in Tunisia, the NIS Dutch news service reports.
Militants on Tuesday released 18 soldiers and a government official kidnapped near Afghan border earlier this month, spokesmen for the army and the militants said. Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said on Geo television news that the hostages were released unconditionally in South Waziristan, a militant stronghold in Pakistan's lawless frontier region. 
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has admitted it did not have permission from Pakistan to strike Taliban positions across the border over the weekend, citing a “miscommunication” problem.
Indian troops killed seven separatist militants in clashes in Kashmir, including four trying to cross from the Pakistani side of the disputed Himalayan state, the army said on Tuesday. Indian army spokesman Colonel Manjinder Singh told AFP the soldiers foiled “a major infiltration attempt” across the Line of Control.
BAGHDAD - US and Iraqi troops killed 33 insurgents in an airborne assault and airstrikes north of Baghdad aimed at reopening a major irrigation canal that had been seized by gunmen, the US military said on Tuesday.
Karbala, 28 August (AKI) - Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have been cleared from the holy city of Karbala after deadly clashes between devotees and security forces during a Shiite festival. Police say at least 25 people have been killed and another 65 wounded in the southern city near two shrines on one of the holiest days on the Shiite calendar. More than ten thousand police, backed by another five thousand Iraqi soldiers have been deployed to close streets and stop people from entering the city.
Fighting between unidentified gunmen and Iraqi security forces in the holy city of Karbala has left 6 people dead and 28 others wounded. 
A Kassam rocket scored a direct hit on a home in Sderot on Tuesday shortly before Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met in Jerusalem. One man sustained moderate shrapnel wounds to his eye and leg and several bystanders were treated for shock. The rocket hit the roof of the home over a bathroom shortly after it was vacated. 
