Afghan police said Saturday they had busted an Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist network organising suicide bombings in the capital, Kabul, which has suffered a rash of attacks in the past weeks. The network included six militants, some of whom were foreigners, who were arrested this week in Logar Province just southeast of the city, counter-terrorism police chief Abdul Manan Farahi told reporters here.
Farahi said rebels had been building car-bombs and helping would-be suicide-bombers come to Kabul from neighbouring Pakistan, where militants are said to have support and training in tribal areas along the border. The terrorist network was facilitating suicide bombings in Kabul, he said. The police chief said the arrested men were among the main organisers of the suicide blasts and their capture was one of the most significant successes of the police force.
Farahi said the men were allied to Al-Qaeda but did not spell out if they were from the Taliban movement, which is supported by Osama bin Ladens network and is blamed for most of the scores of suicide bombings in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Nearly 400 schools in Afghanistan will remain closed when the school year starts next week because of violence linked to the Taliban-led insurgency, education officials said Saturday. All the affected schools, among 8,500 in Afghanistan, are in the south, where the violence is worst, they told AFP.
Altogether nearly 400 schools will remain closed, deputy education minister Sediq Patman told AFP. We will do our best to get these schools opened, but it depends on security, Patman said. Nearly a third of the closed schools are in Helmand, which has seen some of the heaviest unrest this year and is also Afghanistans top opium-producing region.
The Taliban have carried out a campaign of burning schools and killing teachers as part of their Al-Qaeda-backed insurgency. Since 2005, more than 110 teachers, students and other education workers have been killed, most of them in southern Afghanistan, Patman said. Nearly 100 others have been wounded in such attacks, most of which are blamed on Taliban.
The closures meant that around 200,000 school children would not be able to attend classes in four provinces in the unrest-torn south, education ministry spokesman Zohur Afghan said. Afghan said most of the closed schools were in remote districts of the four provinces where the Taliban have been most active since they were toppled from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001.
Violence linked to the Taliban insurgency has soared over the past two years. About six million children, half the school-aged population, are in school in Afghanistan, about six times more than in 2001. This is nearly 70 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls, according to the UN childrens organisation, UNICEF.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The closures are in a very small area, so let's not call this a success.
#2
The solution is secure boarding schools. Parents send their children to larger, protected government schools, where they live for months and are clothed, fed and taught.
At least six people have been killed and many wounded in fighting between government troops and fighters in the Somali capital of Mogadishu. The gun battles began early on Wednesday morning, locking residents inside their homes. Hamdi Ahmed Ali, a resident living close to the Bakara market near the scene of the fighting, said: "Two men were killed, one was a waiter and the other was the brother of a restaurant owner." Another resident said that he saw bodies lying on the streets.
Farah Aden Omar, who saw the casualties by looking from the roof of her house, told Reuters news agency: "I saw three dead men and six wounded people, but I could not go out of the house."
Medics at the Madina hospital said they had received 29 wounded people, one of whom died. Somali police said that an operation was under way.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
GERMAN police questioning Fritz the Taliban, a 28-year-old Munich-born terror suspect, revealed yesterday that they are hunting up to 49 Islamist plotters over a conspiracy to use truck bombs to blow up air-ports, bars and discos.
The arrest of Fritz Gelowicz as one of the plots alleged ringleaders has shocked Germans. It emerged this weekend that he was raised in a middle-class family in largely Roman Catholic Bavaria before converting to Islam at the age of 18 and changing his name to Abdullah following the break-up of his parents marriage.
Fritzi was remembered by neighbours as a little blond boy from a popular family. His mother was a doctor and his father an engineer.
Gelowicz was drawn to a radical Islamic multicultural centre in Neu-Ulm, where he is believed to have met Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers. He attended a Taliban training camp on Afghanistans border with Pakistan in March 2006, returning to Germany to study engineering.
The net finally started closing when he was seen spying on a US military base in Hanau, east of Frankfurt, last New Years Eve. The police raided his house just days before his wedding to a German-born Turk, although he was not charged at the time.
Yesterday Germanys federal police revealed that the network of suspects across the globe had widened substantially, while officers were still focusing on a hard core of seven to 10 individuals. Two of these are believed to be under surveillance in Germany, while others are on the run in Germany and the Middle East.
Scotland Yard and MI5 were informed of the plot, which was aimed at targets frequented by US citizens, in July because of close parallels with British terror cases.
August Hanning, Germanys deputy interior minister, said that they had been liaising with London after big parallels had emerged with a failed plot to blow up British aircraft last summer. Hydrogen peroxide was said to have been the intended explosive in both cases.
Security sources believe the plotters were given a clear task while attending terrorist training camps in Pakistan.
The suspects have been linked to the Islamic Jihad Union, an extremist group that broke off from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, an Al-Qaeda ally, in 2002.
The German investigation was boosted by an American intelligence intercept last year that detected suspicious communications between Pakistan and Stuttgart. This group did not act alone. There is a network, said Hanning.
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is heading home at the end of seven years in exile. Mr Sharif, who was ousted by President Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999, is expected to arrive in the capital Islamabad on Monday morning. Large numbers of police have set up barricades on the road to the airport.
Boarding his plane in London, Mr Sharif said that if he was arrested upon arrival, that would be "a small price to pay for the country's freedom".
Hours earlier, his party said more than 2,000 supporters had been arrested by the Pakistan authorities. A spokesman for the Muslim League party (PML-N) said the activists had been arrested over the past four days in Punjab province, Mr Sharif's powerbase.
Mr Sharif's aides changed the flight at the last moment in an apparent effort to outwit the Pakistani authorities.
Because radios and telephones don't work, ev'ryone knows that. Insh'allan.
The former prime minister plans to lead a triumphal motorcade from Islamabad to Lahore, his political power base, but the government has hinted that he may be arrested - or even deported.
Posted by: john frum ||
09/09/2007 17:13 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
on Zia airlines?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2007 19:03 Comments ||
Top||
#1
Article: Bin Laden was less popular in the Muslim world before 9/11, but he is more popular 6 years after.
No kidding. Killing 3000 Americans does have that effect on your popularity in the Muslim world. I'm sure he'll be even more popular if he manages to kill a few hundred thousand Americans in another attack.
#2
Much of this narrative is probably legend; much of it is just standard anti-american talking points the the Islamists (and left wing Americans) use every day.
Here, the author's underlying bias shines through.
The world has become more unsafe after 9/11.
Especially so for Muslims. The author chooses to ignore how it is Islam that plays a pivotal role in making this world less safe. From all indications Islam will eventually provoke a convulsion that shall incinerate the entire MME (Muslim Middle East). After that, the world willonce againbecome a much safer place.
More Muslims have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq than Americans killed on 9/11.
Here, too, the author neglects to note how it is other Muslims that have killed the vast majority of Iraqi Muslims.
The whole Muslim world is now burning in the raging fire of anti-Americanism, and Osama bin Laden is the only beneficiary of this situation.
Not so. The West has benefited immensely from Islam unmasking itself and finally making clear its malign intent. While we may be a bit slow to react, the end result will be every bit as devastating for Islam as WWII was for Germany and Japan. It is no fault of the West that Islam absolutely refuses to learn from history.
Any new 9/11-like attack may ignite an ultimate clash of civilizations. That's what Osama bin Laden wants.
Once the entire MME is glowing green glass, any surviving Muslims will learn to curse Osama's name. He will be the death of Islam and rightly so.
By issuing threats of U.S. troops entering Pakistan and by honoring people like Salman Rushdie they are only strengthening the hands of Osama bin Laden. The more hatred they create, the more power Osama bin Laden gains.
Bin Laden's "power" is but a fiction in the age of nuclear weapons. Neither do we "create" hatred. Islam's hatred of the West is automatic, no matter what we do.
He changed the world six years ago and he can again push the world towards a grand clash with another massive attack.
Only the most suicidal of idiots would relish this prospect.
All strong countries are ready to play into his hands through their policies, which bin Laden would say, create more and more hatred everyday.
The author neglects to recognize thatin a startling exception to the rulethere is genuine reciprocity in this case. The West is learning to hate Islam with equalif not much greatervigor. As a superpower with an abundance of nuclear weapons, this exposes Islam's constant antagonism for the abject lunacy it is. Muslims simply refuse to comprehendor willingly ignorethat such stupidity comes with a very steep price tag. They do so at their own extreme peril.
#4
The author neglects to recognize thatin a startling exception to the rulethere is genuine reciprocity in this case. The West is learning to hate Islam with equalif not much greatervigor.
Which is likely what Binny and his nihilistic ilk are wishing for.
#6
No. bin Laden was expecting America to retreat and go cower in dark corner, leaving the field open to his vision of a caliphate. He didn't expect the US would be occupying the heart of muslim lands, even in this current soft, wet noodle version of occupation.
Posted by: ed ||
09/09/2007 14:21 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Which is likely what Binny and his nihilistic ilk are wishing for.
Somebody needs to tell them about being very careful what one wishes for.
#8
It must be diheartening for bin laden to resort to "leftist" talking points. For all his rhetoric about Crusaders, every provocation from burning Christian flags (Norway, Sweden, etc.) to bravely shooting nuns in the back, it has proved impossible for whatever is left of the Christian West to prop up his fantasy of himself as Saladin.
Suspected militants on Saturday issued threatening letters to cable operators and dish antenna sellers warning them to close businesses within two days or face bomb attacks. The owners of Ali Cable Network and Dish Antenna at Abaseen Electronic Market in Swat district received letters on Saturday warning them of bomb blasts if the shops were not closed within two days. Similarly, Palwasha and Swat Picture House also received threatening calls to close the cinema house to avoid bombing.
Meanwhile, owners of video and CD shops protested against the local administrations unwillingness inability to protect their businesses after their shops were bombed. Swat Traders Federation President Abdur Rahim demanded the government compensate the owners whose shops had been destroyed. The traders also closed their shops in Meena Bazaar, Ali Plaza and Qadria Market to protest against Fridays bombing.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Four soldiers were killed and another two injured on Saturday when suspected militants opened fire on a small military convoy in Kohistan district, army said. Yes, some militants attacked the army convoy near the Sazeen area in Kohistan district, martyring four jawans and injuring two others, military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told Daily Times on the telephone from Rawalpindi.
It was the first attack on the army in the conservative Kohistan district in the NWFP. Kohistan district was devastated by the October 2005 earthquake and the army troops were the first to reach there to help the affected people. The two-vehicle convoy was on its way to Skardu in the Northern Areas, close to Pakistans border with China, when they were attacked. Gen Arshad said it was premature to say which group was involved in the attack.
On the release of the kidnapped soldiers in South Waziristan, the military spokesman said a tribal jirga was continuing negotiations with the captors. He, however, did not say when the soldiers release was expected. Meanwhile, two paramilitary soldiers were injured when militants fired rockets on a Levies checkpost in the Loi Sam area in Khar, Bajaur Agency. Officials said that the militants fired two missiles and one of them hit the checkpost, injuring Levies subedar Muno Khan and soldier Yar Khan. Militants also blew up a checkpost in Khat Khur, but there were no casualties. The attacks come as a clerics-led jirga is holding talks with the militants to broker a peace deal in Bajaur Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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At least 24 people were injured when a time bomb planted in a car exploded within the limits of the East Cantonment police station on Saturday at around 11.15am, police said.
Peshawar police chief Abdul Majeed Marwat told Daily Times the device weighed 10 to 12 kg and injured nearly 24 people, most of them minors. He said that police would use the footage of closed circuit cameras installed in the area during investigations. The bomb was fitted in a car that was parked on the main road outside the Cantonment plaza. The blast shattered the windows of nearby buildings including Cantonment plaza, Green Shadi Hall, Abn Amro Bank and Frontier Arcade, while three cars were gutted and seven others damaged in the incident.
Muhammad Arif, a vendor, said that the car was parked there for some time and that the blast was so powerful that two nearby parked vehicles had jumped up and two people had fallen to the ground.
NWFP Information Minister Asif Iqbal Daudzai told Daily Times that it was a timed device and luckily there had been no casualties. It was the continuation of the series of bomb blasts across the country, he said adding that the gravely injured would be given Rs 50,000 each and those with minor injuries would get Rs 25,000 each under a provincial government package announced for the victims. Netherlands Development Cooperation Minister Bert Koenders was also in Peshawar at the time of the blast. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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A statement made by a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Mujeeb Ahmed a year ago, was ignored by the Hyderabad Police. We are financially sound and strong to carry out our activities, Ahmed had said.
However, after three blasts in the city that displayed the terror groups' wherewithal to pull off deadly attacks, the police are now probing the source of their funds. Investigations have revealed that the terrorists spent about Rs 12 to 15 lakh on the three blasts. And most of the suspects detained by the police had bikes, computers, cell phones and huge bank balances. "That's definitely one of the areas that we're looking at as to how those people are living? Who is funding them? What is the source of their income? Are they living within those resources or a person has more money than what he can explain for? says Hyderabad Police Commissioner, Balwinder Singh.
The police had seized fake currency of over 2.5 crore rupees just a few hours before the twin blasts. It was allegedly printed in Pakistan and smuggled into Hyderabad via Dubai. The police believe that the money was meant for terrorists. Inquiries also revealed families of terror suspects even got monthly pensions of Rs 5,000 to 10,000 while the accused were in prison facing trial. Sources say that most of the funds for the terror activities came from Dubai through different Hawala channels.
The possibility that funds were also received through legal means as export income of some fake companies is however, not ruled out. A special team of economic offences wing has been deputed to study the funding pattern. Hyderabad police hopes to come out with the list of individuals, companies and the frontal organisations who are regularly funding the different terror groups in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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Coalition forces positively identified a terrorist killed in an operation Sept. 3 southwest of Mosul as one of the terrorists responsible for the August bombings in Ninawa Province resulting in over 700 casualties.
Abu Muhammad al-Afri, also known as Abu Jasim, Arkan Hassan Ali, Nuraddin, Hajar and Abu Ahmad al-Afri, was the al-Qaeda in Iraq emir of Sinjar and was one of the terrorists responsible for ordering the Aug. 14 truck bombings, which primarily targeted the Yazidi population.
al-Afri was killed during a kinetic strike in a very remote area 70 miles southwest of Mosul. A fixed-wing aircraft conducted the strike, killing al-Afri and his driver. Close associates and detainees confirmed that al-Afri was killed during the strike. When Coalition forces arrived to assess the site of the kinetic strike, they found two armed men attempting to sanitize the scene. The ground forces also found several files, a machine gun, military-style assault vests and bomb-making materials. Coalition forces detained both men.
#6
Rooters manages to find the cloud behind the silver lining:
Afri was killed in an air strike southwest of the northern city of Mosul, Fox said.
"He is no longer a threat to the Iraqi people. We will continue to hunt down al Qaeda in Iraq and their operatives who conduct indiscriminate and brutal attacks against the Iraqi people," Fox said.
Scores of clay-built homes were levelled in the bombings, burying entire families in rubble
jeebus
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2007 14:37 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Scores of clay-built homes were levelled
That was by the truck bombing of the Yazidis. The worst collateral damage from the US killing of al-Afri is a bad case of buzzard tummy ache before ground forces could reach the roasted jihadis.
Posted by: ed ||
09/09/2007 14:52 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Ed's right - my bad
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2007 14:53 Comments ||
Top||
The US military brought a new weapon into the fight in Iraq, announcing the Army's first-ever use of a drone aircraft to kill enemy fighters in Iraq.
The Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, dropped a precision bomb on two suspected insurgents believed to be preparing to plant roadside bombs on September 1, the military said.
The drone was called in for the attack near Qarraya, 180 miles north-west of Baghdad, after a scout team from the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment, observed the insurgents at work
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
09/09/2007 02:03 ||
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
#1
Well, there's one robot that never heard of Issac Asimov.
#2
I can't see the point of putting a bomb on a UAV, at least in the Iraq context. Maybe if you were attacking hardened bunkers. A rapid fire weapon would appear a much better option.
#3
I see the point, topdown view, bombs explode while soldiers shoot. I'm not sure what kind of bomb, but maybe it was a HellFire missle instead.
Posted by: Boss Craising2882 ||
09/09/2007 3:42 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Target confirmation was acheived through newly developed on-board remote aerial retina scans, eyelid moisture DNA analysis, and thermal hyphothalimic blood flow signatures which have the unique ability to detect fear and loathing in upright primates.
#5
It's just a remote-controlled airplane...it's not what I'd call a real robot. And I thought the CIA waxed terrorists via Predator years ago, is this new?
#6
Target confirmation was acheived through newly developed on-board remote aerial retina scans, eyelid moisture DNA analysis, and thermal hyphothalimic blood flow signatures which have the unique ability to detect fear and loathing in upright primates.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
09/09/2007 6:57 Comments ||
Top||
#7
ooooooppppsss...
Gonna be hell on Democrats.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
09/09/2007 6:58 Comments ||
Top||
#8
The advantage of using drones might be that you can keep them in the air longer than manned aircraft, so they have more opportunity to identify targets. Any experts here?
#9
The Hunter - "The most successful cancelled procurement in Army history"
Development started in the late 80s-early 90s starting with an Israeli airframe and adding some US electronics to the systems IAI developed. Cancelled in 1996 under Billy Bob Clinton, but the Army kept the ones already made.
A little smaller than the Predator class and harder to fly (especially compared to Predator B = the Warrior class UAVs). Require a runway to take off & land. Can be armed & yes this was probably a Hellfire hit.
Under direct Army control - no need to wait for USAF air tasking orders etc. Typically controlled at the brigade level or tasked by a division commander, as it is a relatively scarce resource.
The significance here is not the platform, or arming it. The significance is that is was Army flown on an offensive mission.
#10
Under direct Army control.The significance is that is was Army flown on an offensive mission.
Yeah, but they are defenseless. Who's going to protect them? F-22's? The Army needs a Hunter UAV Military Protection (HUMP) Force of defensive aircraft that can deny the enemy the ability to down the hunter.
#11
btw, What do these weigh? cost? can the entire system be dropped from a C-130 on a skid? Are they more accurate than Excalibur? Is the field artillery going to get control?
#12
Wgt = 1600 lbs unarmed. Wingspan ~30 feet and IIRC they aren't foldable (but it's not a system I know well). Cost = ??? since they never went into full production.
Aviation branch owns all Army UAVs, having taken over that mission from Military Intel roughly 18 mos - 2 yrs ago.
The Hunter is a stop gap until the Future Combat Systems suite is deployed. And until the UCAVs reach operational readiness.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2007 10:37 Comments ||
Top||
#15
The Hunter drops Viper Strike. Unfortunately, since it uses suimilar guidance method as the Hellfire, it probably costs the same ($50-70,000). What is more interesting is fitting Spike a low cost (5,000) missile, that weighs 1/10th Vipe Strike, for the majority of uses. Both Hellfire and Viper Strike cost well in excess of what it costs to raise a muslim from birth to a murderous, raping bastard. With Spike, the financial burden of the exchange is put on the other side.
Posted by: ed ||
09/09/2007 11:13 Comments ||
Top||
#16
Militants killed by NEW US drone - Army Controlled "Hunter" Drone
~:)
OH My Gawd Lawd The Humanity!!
Oh Thank You Lawd For Protecting Us'in Humanity Types From All The Islamic Sub-Humanoid a$$holes!!
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
09/09/2007 11:42 Comments ||
Top||
#17
Could you Hover one over Congress?
Please, please, pretty please?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/09/2007 12:00 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Ed, IINM the Hunter has been tested with Hellfires too. But either way .... ;-)
#19
The Hunter might be able take off with one Hellfire and definitely with 2 Viper Strikes. For the same weight, two 7-10 count pods of Spike could be carried. The main drawback is it is a daylight weapon due to its optical scene match tracking. For night use a cheap laser seeker would have to be developed.
Posted by: ed ||
09/09/2007 12:42 Comments ||
Top||
#20
Well, there's one robot that never heard of Issac Asimov
#21
The Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle, or UAV, dropped a precision bomb on two suspected insurgents believed to be preparing to plant roadside bombs on September 1, the military said.
People who have seen the video say they never heard it coming, one badguy was standing or siting on the IED he was implacing, the incoming missile set it off, and the only thing they found was his tennis shoes.
Posted by: Steve ||
09/09/2007 21:17 Comments ||
Top||
#22
Tee hee, Steve! Stop it, you're killin' me, man.
How come I have visions of the smoking crater with a spinning wheelchair rim in it (from Israel's decap strike on Yassin, or whatever his name was!
Posted by: BA ||
09/09/2007 22:12 Comments ||
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Bombs killed 20 people in Iraq on Saturday including 15 killed and 45 wounded in a car-bomb blast near a market in Baghdads Shia district of Sadr City, Iraqi police said. The bomber attempted to break through a checkpoint at the districts Al-Nassar police station but police opened fire and he blew up the vehicle outside a nearby eatery, the officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - At least 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car against a small eatery inside a Shia bastion in Baghdad after his attack on a police station was foiled.
Fifteen people died in Sadr City when the bomber exploded his Mercedes beside an eatery after police fired at him as he tried to drive through a checkpoint at the nearby Al Nassar police station, security officials said. At least 45 other people were wounded, including four policemen, they added.
An AFP photographer said several shops and four civilian cars were also destroyed in the explosion at around 6:00 pm.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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The IDF denied involvement Saturday night in what Palestinians claimed was an Israeli capture of a senior Hamas operative involved in the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit.
"Wudn't us."
If the Palestinian reports are true, Israeli forces penetrated deep into the heart of Rafah late Friday night to nab Mohawah al-Qadi, a senior member of the Hamas's armed wing and a commander in the Executive Force. Although the IDF denied responsibility for the operation and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) refused to comment whatsoever on the operation, Hamas said it took place over two kilometers beyond the Gaza security fence and in an area known to be a hotbed of Hamas gunmen. "A special Zionist force wearing Executive Force uniforms entered George Street in eastern Rafah in a civilian Subaru car and then headed towards the Sufa crossing" with Israel, Hamas's armed wing, the Izzadine al-Kassam Brigades, said in a statement.
Palestinian sources also said that al-Qadi was involved with the kidnapping of Schalit in June 2006. Al-Qadi, apprehended together with his assistant Saqer Abd al-Al, was "responsible for the Executive Force public relations," the group said.
At first, Hamas officials thought the man was taken by Fatah loyalists because of clashes taking place between loyalists of the two groups in Gaza since Friday morning. Hamas spokesmen said that only when the Subaru car carrying al-Qadi was seen leaving the Gaza Strip accompanied by helicopters did they consider that the operative had been grabbed by the Israelis. According to one account, the car traveled to Dahaniyeh airport in Gaza and an IAF chopper took the man from there.
Meanwhile, on Saturday morning, IDF soldiers allegedly shot and killed a Palestinian teenager who approached the Karni Checkpoint in the northern Gaza Strip carrying a firearm. According to Palestinian sources, the 19-year-old, Ramzi Hiles, had approached the border fence area while hunting fowl and was shot by an IDF sniper, bleeding to death from a gunshot wound to his thigh. The IDF opened an investigation into the incident, but said that initial information indicated that the youth was part of a group of suspicious-looking Palestinians who approached the fence. Soldiers said that when they saw the group, they fired warning shots into the air, but did not target the youth.
Overnight Saturday, Palestinians threw two explosive devices at IDF forces operating south of Jenin in Kabatia and Mutalet a-Shahida, although neither device succeeded in damaging equipment or wounding soldiers. No injuries or damage were reported after Palestinians also threw rocks and petrol bombs overnight Saturday at Israeli vehicles traveling northwest of Ramallah. Also overnight Saturday, IDF forces operating in Nablus arrested a wanted Palestinian who was transferred for questioning to the Shin Bet.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The Israelis must have mastered cloaking technology to stop the Paleos seeing the Subaru drive across the border from Israel.
#2
They can't be in 9 places at the same time, only 5
.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
09/09/2007 6:59 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The IDF denied involvement Saturday night in what Palestinians claimed was an Israeli capture of a senior Hamas operative involved in the kidnapping of IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit
perhaps it was Shalit's family. Guess you'll have to "meet their demands" Paleos. Shoe's a little tight when on the wrong foot, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2007 9:41 Comments ||
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#4
A special Zionist force wearing Executive Force uniforms
Wearing the enemy's uniform. Now, who's famous for doing that?
While I hope that Shalit is still alive, the chances seem rather slim for a positive outcome. If anything, this Hamas bigwig may lead them to recover Shalit's body and end this vile charade. If Shalit is dead, the world needs to know it and realize how Hamas has been negotiating in bad faith the entire time. Discrediting this gang of religious thugs is a first step in purging the Gaza strip. End this farce for once and all time.
#5
Zenster,
The only way Israel can end the farce of the "palestinians" is to shove them out of Gaza and the West Bank, refute for all time the "right of return", and expel all Muslims from Israeli territory. Then they need to build a medieval wall or something like the Great Wall of China, man it 24/7 with EXTREME weapons (flame throwers, heavy mg, artillery, beehive rounds, flechette bombs, etc.) and USE THEM against anyone that gets within a half-mile of the wall. They also need to expand their borders about 10 miles into the Sinai, and to the Litani River in Lebanon. Keep the Golan, and make the border between Israel and Jordan the Jordan River and the Sea of Gallilee. Build a huge pipeline aboveground along the Jordan border from El Arish to the Dead Sea, bury it ten feet deep in earth, put a fence along the top, and pump saltwater into the Dead Sea until the level of the lake is maintained at a pre-determined level. Tell the rest of the world to FOAD when they complain.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/09/2007 18:26 Comments ||
Top||
Via Ace of Spades and HotAir, no IDF confirmation yet. Pretty awesome if true
Moved to Sunday for further discussion. AoS.
The sources said that the undercover soldiers entered the Gaza Strip, and carried out their operation near the Rafah Crossing. According to the sources, the undercover soldiers were disguised as grocers riding a donkey-pulled wagon. Sources said the disguised force even chatted with locals near the crossing.
According to the report, the undercover soldiers approached a plot of land belonging to Muhawesh al-Kadi, a senior Hamas official who acts as spokesman of the organizations special security forces in Rafah. Al-Kadi was working his land when the disguised force approached and kidnapped him. The Palestinian sources reported that the operation went quickly and smoothly. The undercover force left Rafah with al-Kadi, and brought him to Israel.
According to the report, the operation was carried out about 2 kilometers from the security fence, in an area where a large number of Hamas gunmen are stationed. Hamas officials confirmed that this was one of the Israelis most daring acts and that troops disguised as Arabs had not entered so deep into the Strip for a long time.
This article starring:
Muhawesh al-Kadi
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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#5
Debka's take: Members of the unit were disguised as Hamas Executive Force operatives when they snatched Mawash al Qadi Saturday, Sept. 8. He was driving with his family in the southern Gaza town of Rafah when his Subaru was stopped by a roadblock manned by the Israeli troops. They pulled him out of the car and carried him across the border into Israel. This was the first Israeli military action against any member of the team which kidnapped Gilead Shalit from his Israeli position in June 2006.
Israeli checkpoint in Rafah?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/08/2007 16:17 Comments ||
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#6
Will IDF interrogation techniques pass Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch muster?
Looks like time for a trade ala John LeCarre at the bridge or border crossing. But I like the fact that he was "working his land" much like the Iraqi's "work their land" when planting IEDs.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
09/09/2007 11:12 Comments ||
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#16
Sauce for the Goose.......
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/09/2007 11:48 Comments ||
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#17
"disguised as Hamas Executive Force operatives"
"disguised as grocers riding a donkey-pulled wagon"
The truth is probably:
"disguised as Hamas Executive Force operatives riding a donkey-pulled wagon"
That has more of an Islamic 7th-century ring to it.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Dusongthawa deputy village chief Areeyah Mae-sae and two men wanted in connection with the ethnic cleansing insurgency in the deep South were found on the side of a road in Yaha district yesterday, police said. The two other men were identified by police as Hibroheng Leejeah and Sakariya Masupeh, both on the authorities' list of suspects linked to the ongoing violence in Yala province's Raman district. According to an officer at Kotabaru Police Station who asked not to be named, the two men tried to kill Areeyah but the deputy village chief managed to return fire. The incident ended in the deaths of all three men.
Meanwhile, in Narathiwat's Sungai Padi district, a 200-strong special security task force surrounded Tambon Tohdeng and took 13 individuals in for questioning under the Emergency Law. Two are believed to be active members of the new generation of terrorists insurgents, a source said. One man with a warrant out for his arrest fled before authorities arrived. A search of 70 homes in Tohdeng turned up one shotgun, an unspecified number of ammunition rounds and one kilogram of fertiliser that could be used to make bombs.
In Yala, Walitha Machai, 30, a rubber tapper in Tambon Bannang Sata, was shot dead at close range. Her body was found on the side of the road along with her motorbike.
The Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) has assessed its performance by making public its progress in handling the southern violence. According to ISOC official, General Akra Thiparoj, 147 suspected southern separatists and sympathizers are in police custody. The suspects have been separated into two groups 126 are being held in Pattani provinces Nong Chik district and 21 are being held in Yalas Muang district.
Genaral Akra affirmed that all suspects are being properly treated and assured that family members and relatives of the suspects will not be barred from visiting them.
Sri Lankan soldiers killed twelve Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes in the north of the island, the military said on Saturday, adding it lost four of its men in the fighting. Three civilians were also killed in a landmine blast in the eastern district of Batticaloa, blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighting for a separate homeland for minority ethnic Tamils. The clashes follow a new offensive launched by the Sri Lankan military to drive out the rebels from the northwest Mannar area, after evicting them from jungles in the east of the island. The military killed five terrorists when the army observed a gathering ahead of the forward defence line in Jaffna and attacked them, said a spokesman for the Media Centre for National Security. Soldiers killed another two rebels who were trying to infiltrate a defence line in Jaffna in the north on Friday, he said. The military also said they killed five rebels in a confrontation in the northern district of Vavuniya on Friday, in which three soldiers were also killed. A soldier was killed and six injured from an explosion while they were searching an abandoned vehicle in the restive eastern district of Batticaloa, the spokesman said. The LTTE were not immediately available for comment. About 70,000 people have been killed since the civil war erupted in 1983 and hundreds of thousands are displaced.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/09/2007 00:00 ||
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A doctor who treated wounded al-Qaida fighters at Tora Bora in Afghanistan has confirmed Osama bin Laden was at the mountain stronghold as U.S. and Afghan forces attacked and said the al-Qaida chieftain seemed concerned about only his own welfare.
Ayman Saeed Abdullah Batarfi, a doctor from Yemen, told a military panel at Guantanamo Bay that he carried out amputations with a knife and scissors in the caves of Tora Bora during the siege in late 2001 and had to abandon his patients several times when B-52 bombers flew overhead.
Batarfi said he was forced to treat the al-Qaida fighters and was not a terrorist himself. Desperate to escape the bombings, he said he asked to see the commander of forces at Tora Bora because he wanted to learn how to escape. Two weeks later, he was summoned to a meeting and found himself face-to-face with bin Laden, whom he had met once before in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
The rare insider's account of the siege of Tora Bora is contained in transcripts The Associated Press obtained Friday from the Pentagon under the Freedom of Information Act. The transcript is of a hearing held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Batarfi who was arrested after the siege is being held.
Batarfi said bin Laden was at Tora Bora for only two days and that the al-Qaida leader who on Friday was seen in a new video felt he had no way to slip away from approaching U.S. and Afghan forces.
But instead of American troops being sent into Tora Bora to rout out bin Laden, Afghan forces went in, and came up empty. The Bush administration has been criticized for not getting bin Laden when it had the opportunity, though senior administration officials have repeatedly said that commanders did not know for sure whether he really was at Tora Bora.
Batarfi confirmed he met with bin Laden for about 10 minutes. "He came from behind the trees and I assumed there was a cave nearby that secured his place," Batarfi said. He added that bin Laden would limit meetings to 45 minutes so U.S. forces would be unable to hone in on him and fire a missile.
Batarfi said he told bin Laden that conditions at Tora Bora were terrible and that because of bombardments and attacks by helicopter gunships that if they did not leave "no one will stay alive."
Batarfi added that only a few poorly armed al-Qaida fighters were present to fight off any invading force. "Most of all the total guns in the Tora Bora area was 16 Kalashnikovs and there are 200 people," Batarfi told the Guantanamo military panel, which was weighing whether to release the detainee, in broken English. "He did not prepare himself for Tora Bora and to be frank he didn't care about anyone but himself.
"He came for a day to visit the area and we talked to him and we wanted to leave this area. He said he didn't know where to go himself and the second day he escaped and was gone."
The doctor said he sent someone to Jalalabad with a list of medical supplies he needed, but people in the nearby city were suspicious and didn't provide any. "I was out of medicine and I had a lot of casualties," Batarfi recalled. "I did a hand amputation by a knife and I did a finger amputation with scissors, and if someone was injured badly I was just operating on the table."
#1
Any Arab in Taliban Afghanistan was a terrorist. Why else would they have gone to that rat-hole? Taliban documents reveal that they believed that they could not be beaten by an external army. Trainees in al-Qaeda/Taliban (same thing) death camps, often reported seeing "angels" who they believed would fight along side them. We shouldn't be negotiating with those freaks, and we should dump Karzai for his promotion of that insanity.
#2
we should dump Karzai for his promotion of that insanity.
If by, "that insanity", you mean incorporating shari'a law into Afghanistan's constitution, then I could not agree with you more. Any sumbeetch piece o' shit that fosters shari'a law needs to die.
#3
Batarfi said he told bin Laden that conditions at Tora Bora were terrible and that because of bombardments and attacks by helicopter gunships that if they did not leave "no one will stay alive."
snicker - this is a very enlightening comment. Barftartarfi,The Wise One, finds it necessary to tell us that he knew, before it even started, that Tora Bora was a mistake. If only they had listened to him.
#4
Unitle: Barftartarfi,The Wise One, finds it necessary to tell us that he knew, before it even started, that Tora Bora was a mistake. If only they had listened to him.
Exactly. And it is an opinion he shares with the entire Dhimmi congressional-media complex who strangely enough did not pipe up with any suggestion for retreat and defeat at the time.
#1
Today's photo entrant reminds me very little of how I used to play "doctor" with a young girl who lived down the lane. Sad to say that we finally got caught. Fortunately it was a Wednesday and we were golfing.
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.
Afghan police said Saturday they had busted an Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist network organising suicide bombings in the capital, Kabul, which has suffered a rash of attacks in the past weeks. The network included six militants, some of whom were foreigners, who were arrested this week in Logar Province just southeast of the city, counter-terrorism police chief Abdul Manan Farahi told reporters here. 
Nearly 400 schools in Afghanistan will remain closed when the school year starts next week because of violence linked to the Taliban-led insurgency, education officials said Saturday. All the affected schools, among 8,500 in Afghanistan, are in the south, where the violence is worst, they told AFP. 
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is heading home at the end of seven years in exile. Mr Sharif, who was ousted by President Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup in 1999, is expected to arrive in the capital Islamabad on Monday morning. Large numbers of police have set up barricades on the road to the airport.
Suspected militants on Saturday issued threatening letters to cable operators and dish antenna sellers warning them to close businesses within two days or face bomb attacks. The owners of Ali Cable Network and Dish Antenna at Abaseen Electronic Market in Swat district received letters on Saturday warning them of bomb blasts if the shops were not closed within two days. Similarly, Palwasha and Swat Picture House also received threatening calls to close the cinema house to avoid bombing. 
Four soldiers were killed and another two injured on Saturday when suspected militants opened fire on a small military convoy in Kohistan district, army said. Yes, some militants attacked the army convoy near the Sazeen area in Kohistan district, martyring four jawans and injuring two others, military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told Daily Times on the telephone from Rawalpindi. 
A statement made by a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Mujeeb Ahmed a year ago, was ignored by the Hyderabad Police. We are financially sound and strong to carry out our activities, Ahmed had said.
Coalition forces positively identified a terrorist killed in an operation Sept. 3 southwest of Mosul as one of the terrorists responsible for the August bombings in Ninawa Province resulting in over 700 casualties.
The US military brought a new weapon into the fight in Iraq, announcing the Army's first-ever use of a drone aircraft to kill enemy fighters in Iraq. 
BAGHDAD - At least 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden car against a small eatery inside a Shia bastion in Baghdad after his attack on a police station was foiled. 
