NATO said that it killed about 12 insurgents in an airstrike in southern Afghanistan, denying accusations from two Afghan lawmakers that civilians were among the dead. The lawmakers, Dad Mohammad Khan and Mir Wali Khan, were in the capital, Kabul, at the time of the strike and relied on reports from local Afghans about the airstrikes in the southern Helmand province.
NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Tuesday that the only people killed in the previous day's airstrike were militants who had fired on alliance troops. "The air attack took place in an isolated area where there was no housing or civilian activity," NATO said. "There was no evidence of civilian casualties, which would have been clearly seen by ISAF, and there have been no reports by hospitals in the region of any injuries, or requests for medical aid received."
Insurgents and some Afghan civilians hostile to the presence of foreign troops sometimes exaggerate accounts of civilian deaths caused by international forces, or make up claims altogether. Independent verification of battlefield causalities is difficult because the areas are remote and dangerous for travel.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
Armed insurgents have seized two of the main Ethiopian bases in the north of Somali capital, Mogadishu, killing more than fifty soldiers. More than a hundred soldiers were also wounded during the attack, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday. The Ethiopian soldiers who escaped their bases surrounded a nearby area, Yashiid, taking the residents hostage and threatening to slaughter all the 800 residents unless the rebels let them leave the area safe. One of Yashiid residence said that Ethiopian soldiers had already killed more that 40 civilians in the area.
Reinforcement troops headed north to back the Ethiopian soldiers, but they could not manage to enter the area and returned to southern Mogadishu. AU peace keeping officials were not immediately available for comments on whether there were any solutions to save the civilians in Yashiid area.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Islamic Courts
#1
I think someone is exaggerating. All Africa News reported:
Somalia: Insurgents Force Ethiopian Soldiers to Vacate Army Base
Garowe Online (Garowe), 19 March 2008 Posted to the web 20 March 2008
Heavy fighting erupted in the Somali capital early Wednesday morning after Islamist rebels attacked an Ethiopian army base in northern Mogadishu, our correspondent reported.
At least six people - three Ethiopian soldiers and three insurgents - have been confirmed dead during the battle, which lasted for nearly five hours, according to witnesses.
More than 10 civilians were wounded during the onslaught. Locals who live in and around Mogadishu's livestock market in Huriwa district said they could not leave their homes during the battle.
Ethiopian troops stationed at the Maslah army camp spread into the livestock market and were reportedly moving equipment and other military materials to the ex-pasta factory when they came under gunfire.
The fighting started off slowly, but gradually strengthened as more insurgents joined the battle and Ethiopian soldiers left their barracks at the former pasta factory base to reinforce troops at Maslah.
The Ethiopian army used tanks against insurgents who used mortars and rockets during the battle. Several shells hit neighborhoods but casualties could not be confirmed yet.
Military sources in Mogadishu tell Garowe Online that the Ethiopian troops stationed at the Maslah camp were being relocated to the pasta factory, citing logistical difficulties that impacted the supply route.
The latest reports indicate that Islamist gunmen had successfully captured Maslah camp after the Ethiopian troops withdrew towards the ex-pasta factory.
A bloody insurgency has gripped Mogadishu since January 2007 when Ethiopian troops helped install the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government in the Somali capital.
Thousands of people have been killed and more than half a million civilians displaced from their homes in Mogadishu since, according to human rights groups.
Emphasis in 2nd paragraph is mine. Apparently the Ethiopian troops were already evacuating Maslah for logistical reasons when they were attacked. Still, the "insurgents" need to be dealt with, along with their supporters in the news agencies and among the Somali civilians.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/20/2008 13:45 Comments ||
Top||
(AKI) - Members of the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb militant group in Algeria have reportedly attacked members of a moderate organisation opposed to its terrorist activities. A report on Tuesday in the Algerian newspaper el-Khabar said an al-Qaeda militant carried out a raid against a mosque in the Algerian province of al-Wadi on Sunday night and killed two men while they prayed.
According to the report, eyewitnesses said masked men entered the mosque as evening prayers were being held forcing everyone to fall to the ground. The armed militants called for the two men, Harun Ahmad, and his cousin, Harun Abdel Jabbar, to step forward. They were then taken to the courtyard in the mosque where they were shot to death as the killers, speaking in an Algerian dialect, said: "We kill you with God's consent."
The two victims were part of a group of moderate Salafites who are opposed to the terrorist activities carried out by the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb group. According to investigators, the two men were murdered by a local leader of of the Islamic terrorist group, Masoudi Muhammad al-Hafith. Another moderate Salafite was killed in the same area in a similar situation in March 2006.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
SRINAGAR, India - At least two dozen people were wounded on Wednesday when suspected separatist rebels set off a powerful bomb in the heart of Kashmirs main city, police said. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the explosion, the first in past five months, which took place near Jehangir Chowk, a busy area in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state.
Nearly 25 people have been treated in the hospital. One among the injured is serious, Altaf Ahmad, a doctor in a Srinagar hospital, said. Witnesses said the explosion shook the area and damaged several vehicles and window panes of nearby buildings.
Earlier on Wednesday soldiers shot dead four separatist militants in a fierce gunbattle in the Doda area of south Kashmir, police said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
The Bomb Disposal Squad defused three bombs planted on the roadside in Fatehpur area of Swat on Wednesday, police said. Local residences disclosed the location of the bombs to the police, who then called the Bomb Disposal Squad. Nearby areas were vacated and surrounded by security personnel when the bombs were being defused.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TNSM
Suspected militants have detonated a bomb on a flyover in Indian Kashmir's main city, injuring at least 24 people, a police spokesman says. "Militants planted an improvised explosive device on a flyover that exploded, causing injuries," said police spokesman Pervez Ahmed. An AFP reporter at the scene said part of the flyover had been destroyed, and two vehicles were damaged. A group of women were seen wailing and police had sealed off the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba
Shah Latif investigation police have arrested an Intermediate student allegedly linked to Taliban. Police also claimed that he was a member of the Harkatul Mujahideen-al-Aalmi. He was arrested during a raid in Landhi and the police claimed to have recovered weapons and equipment used to seal arms licenses. FIR has been registered against accused Mohammad Kashif. Ali Hasan Sheikh, the station investigation officer (SIO), confirmed the report. Kashif reportedly stated that he went to Sialkot a while ago with some friends, became impressed with their love for jihad and then decided to go for jihad training over there.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - The Iranian military on Wednesday shelled seven Iraqi border villages, causing no injuries or damage but terrifying residents, an Iraqi official said. The shells were apparently aimed at bases of Kurdish rebel group Pejak (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), said the mayor of Zarawah, a frontier town in northeastern Iraq. Pejak is accused by Tehran of launching deadly attacks on security forces in northwestern Iran.
Iranian troops fired artillery shells at border villages inside Iraq, mayor Azad Wassu, under whose jurisdiction the villages fall, told AFP, adding the attack lasted 30 minutes and seven villages were hit. He added residents were terrified by the shelling.
Zarawah is near the major town of Qalat Dizhan, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) north of the city of Sulaimaniyah in Iraqs autonomous Kurdish region.
Iran in September confirmed for the first time it had fired artillery shells on camps of Kurdish militants inside northern Iraq, saying the local authorities had heeded its warnings. The shelling, in August, sent hundreds of Iraqi Kurds fleeing remote mountain villages near Iraqs eastern frontier.
Pejak is linked to Turkeys outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
When turkish troops hits northen Iraq it's consider an act of war.
But when Iranian hitting Iraq total silence hmm...
A bomb blast has struck a taxi in central Baghdad, killing the taxi driver and wounding four others, amid a surge of violence in the country. The attack occurred on Wednesday, AFP reported. Another attack on a passing police patrol killed four people including a policeman, and wounded 12 others in north of Baghdad on Wednesday. A female bomber attacked the patrol near a bus terminal in the town of Bala Druz in the restive province of Diyala, a local police officer said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
A Thai Muslim village defense volunteer was gunned down in Yala's Bannang Sata district on Wednesday, shot to death on the road by a gang of attackers. Four assailants on motorcycles followed Ahama Lagema and fired on him. The gunmen made off with the victim's weapon. Mr. Ahama was shot in the head and torso and died at the scene.
Meanwhile, in Narathiwat, government security personnel arrested nine suspected terrorists insurgents in a raid in four districts. All nine detainees are suspects having outstanding arrest warrants. All the detained men denied any involvement with the jihad insurgency, but were nevertheless sent to a military camp in Pattani for questioning.
THE threat posed by suspected Jemaah Islamiyah bomber Mohamad Baehaqi on Davao City and on its tourist spots is far from over even though he has already been arrested last February 17.
Tourist spots in and around Davao City have been placed on heightened alert by police and military officials, especially with tourists and locals expected to flock to the beaches and resorts around Davao City and Samal Island for the long Holy Week holiday.
In an interview Wednesday with Chief Superintendent Andres Caro II, regional police director, he said one of the major considerations of the region's security officials was the admission of Baehaqi on his group's plan to perpetrate acts of terror on the beach resorts and even in the urban area of Davao City.
Adding to the woes of the police and military was the discovery of the presence of alleged 'cohorts' of Baehaqi in the region. They might be capable of perpetrating the planned terror attacks in Southern Mindanao.
"He still has his cohorts in the region and the military and police are investigating them," Caro said. "I cannot say anything else beyond that," Caro added.
Caro added that they have deployed additional forces to man the security of the Davao City Overland Transport Terminal, the Davao International Airport, the Sasa Wharf, and even the Sta. Ana Pier. However, Caro was quick to add that there is no direct threat on the city yet.
Baehaqi was arrested by military and police operatives last February 17, in a sleepy town in Davao Oriental, and he was allegedly planning to bomb a regional sportsfest conducted in the neighboring town of Mati. During the tactical interrogation, Baehaqi admitted to planning terror attacks in Southern Mindanao, especially on beach resorts and urban centers.
This article starring:
Jemaah Islamiyah
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
A suspected bomber with links to the Jemaah Islamiyah was arrested by government security forces here, the police announced Saturday. Senior Inspector Usman Ali Pingay, Jolo police chief, said Rening Kamlon Sabdani alias Rening Asmaruddin was the main suspect in the March 1 explosion near the military headquarters here that wounded six people, two of them soldiers.
Pingay said Sabdani, 39, was arrested during a raid by police and military personnel on a house in Barangay (village) Bus-bus on March 8. "He was having a drink with another companion when we came around 3 p.m. His companion managed to escape," Pingay said.
He said Pingay said Sabdani's arrest was not immediately publicized because he was under tactical interrogation. He described the suspect as a member of the notorious Abu Sayyaf Group. "We have already filed charges against him," Pingay said.
In Datu Odin Sinsuat in Shariff Kabunsuan province, soldiers reportedly foiled a bomb attack after they seized an explosive and arrested a suspected terrorist on Tuesday. Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, spokesperson of the 6th Infantry Division based in the that province, said the soldiers were manning a checkpoint in Makar village when they discovered a powerful improvised bomb while inspecting a passenger vehicle from nearby a town around noon.
He said the checkpoint was set up after the military received information that a bomb attack was to be carried out in one of the province's towns. Ando said the explosive, fashioned out of a 60-millimeter live mortar shell, was placed in a traveling bag inside the baggage compartment of the passenger van that was being inspected.
Ando said the bomb had a blasting cap and was packed with about a kilo of three-inch concrete nails and explosive powder. "It was fitted with a cellphone as detonator and a timer powered by a nine-volts battery," he said.
Ando said the suspected bomber, Saudi Abdul Ibrahim of Sultan Kudarat town, also in Shariff Kabunsuan, was arrested.
He said the make of the bomb was similar to the ones exploded by terrorists affiliated with the Jemaah Islamiyah in Central Mindanao but he could not say if the suspect was a member of any of the JI-affiliated groups operating in the region and other parts of Mindanao. Ando said the suspect was immediately turned over to the local police for further investigation.
This article starring:
Abu Sayyaf Group
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Jemaah Islamiyah
The Bush administration issued a fresh warning Thursday to U.S. banks that Iran is using "an array of deceptive practices" to hide its alleged involvement in nuclear proliferation and terrorist activities. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network alleged that Iran is resorting to such alleged practices to evade detection and skirt financial sanctions.
"The government of Iran disguises its involvement in proliferation and terrorism activities through an array of deceptive practices specifically designed to evade detection," FinCen said in its warning to banks. For instance, the agency said that the Iran's central bank, also known as Bank Markazi, and Iranian commercial banks have requested that their names be removed from global financial transactions to make it difficult to "determine the true parties in the transaction."
It marked the government's latest effort to ramp up pressure on Iran, which the United States accuses of bankrolling terrorism and seeking a nuclear bomb. Now what ever happened to those bunker busters they were developing, he asks hoping they went to Israel...
Under U.S. financial sanctions, virtually all trade and investment activities with the government of Iran including government-owned banks are prohibited. Moreover, other sanctions have been imposed on Iranian entities that the United States believes are linked to terrorist activities and the spreading of weapons of mass destruction. They also insist we worship the pagan moon goddess and if they get nukes...
Posted by: Icerigger ||
03/20/2008 14:36 ||
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[1 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Dammit, button still doesn't work.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/20/2008 18:17 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Hey! I can't find a Dammit button at all. I been cheated.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatened the European Union with grave punishment on Wednesday over cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammad. In an audio recording posted on the Internet coinciding with the birthday of Islam's founder, bin Laden said the drawings, considered offensive by Muslims, were part of a "new crusade" in which Pope Benedict was involved. "Your publications of these drawings -- part of a new crusade in which the Pope of the Vatican had a significant role -- is a confirmation from you that the war continues," said the Saudi-born militant leader, addressing "those who are wise at the European Union". You are "testing Muslims ... the answer will be what you shall see and not what you hear. May our mothers lose us to death if we did not rise in defense of the messenger of God..."
It is bin Laden's first message since November 29 when he urged Europe to end participation with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The message, produced by al Qaeda media arm As-Sahab in the lunar month which ended on March 8, carried an animation of a spear piercing through a red map of Europe with blood splashing as its tip penetrated the surface. It also carried what appeared to be an old picture of bin Laden firing an assault rifle. The message also coincides with the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
A U.S. counterterrorism official said the authenticity of the recording was under examination but added it was in line with "al Qaeda's ongoing propaganda effort."
Bin Laden said the publication of the cartoons was a graver offence than the "bombing of modest villages that collapsed over our women children", in reference to U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan with European participation. "This is the bigger catastrophe ... for which the punishment is graver. Animosity among people is very old but wise people ... have always been keen on maintaining the manners of disagreement and the ethics of fighting ... but you have abandoned many of these ethics although you use them as slogans."
Bin Laden said Europe was intentionally targeting Muslim women and children at the behest of their "unjust ally who is close to departing the White house". Bin Laden said "brutality" had not defeated Muslims and made them determined to "avenge our folk and eject the invaders from out countries."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 00:00 ||
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[5 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
#1
the publication of the cartoons was a graver offence than the "bombing of modest villages that collapsed over our women children",
#2
...but I thought it was the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the oppression of the noble peoples of Paleostine?
The Reuters article is bang on the money about this being in anticipation of the Geert Wilders documentary - I had predicted that OBL would not be able to resist such a "provocation"
#5
I'm sorry, but I think I'm having some sort of mental breakdown: This is the head of Al Qaeda indicting the Pope for a new crusade -- a cartoon crusade. And just to to show how serious it is, the European Union (long known as the Pope's henchmen) risks grave punishment. I don't know if bin Laden is alive and behind this or not, but somebody is alive and behind it and they are insane. This is somewhere on the far side of reality from a Monty Python skit or an Emily Litella tirade, only I know the "Never mind" isn't coming. I don't think I can read any more news today. Reality is starting to be too absurd for my brain. My brain hurts.
#6
I'm sorry, but I think I'm having some sort of mental breakdown: This is the head of Al Qaeda indicting the Pope for a new crusade -- a cartoon crusade. And just to to show how serious it is, the European Union (long known as the Pope's henchmen) risks grave punishment. I don't know if bin Laden is alive and behind this or not, but somebody is alive and behind it and they are insane. This is somewhere on the far side of reality from a Monty Python skit or an Emily Litella tirade, only I know the "Never mind" isn't coming. I don't think I can read any more news today. Reality is starting to be too absurd for my brain. My brain hurts.
#10
Bugs, didn't you get the memo? We are no longer allowed to write taunting messages on our bombs anymore. It hurts the feelings of the people we are targeting.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
03/20/2008 11:51 Comments ||
Top||
#11
If I lived in Denmark or Holland, I would encourage folks to join me in "Dress up like a Prophet" day. Maybe have it on May Day. I think it's importent to defy the demands of some hidden Islamic terrorist. It is absolutely absurb that some retard thousands of miles from western Europe would be making such demands. It's sad that anyone would feel compelled to comply.
#16
So rather than send a card, osamaramadingdong sends fanatical messages on the birth of the founder of Islam. i thouhgt that was still about a week and a half away ( April 1).
Perhaps the Denmark branch of Hallmark needs to crank up the prophet likeness birthday card printing press.
#17
Last time Binny sent us a message, we got an obvously faked video with voice-over. Now all we get is a still photo and some audio? Poor guy must look like crap.
Rather than comment on how feeble a religion must be to tremble in the face of cartoon mockery, I'll just say "Dirka, dirka, Mohamed jihad, losers". Proclaim liberty and mockery throughout the land! Are there any cookies to go with that tea?
Being a patient fellow, I've gone for months watching spam posts pile up in the holding tank. I've even gone to the extent of writing a routine that makes most of it self-deleting. However, my perverse nature has forced me to leave the husks of the deleted spam as a matter of curiosity and for reference in constructing further routines.
Eventually patience runs out. I've put a "captcha" on the poster that should reduce automated spam to a trickle while it increases Roadside America's hitcount significantly.
And if there are actual people sitting there typing the spam in, we'll just have to deal with that another way.
I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Next step will be to allow those on the approved posters' list to bypass that page and go directly to the poster.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 15:07 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No worries, Fred. Only what will the Roadside America people do?
#7
Next time you go to post an article you'll have to identify the contents of a picture -- fluffy bunny, teapot, floozy, that sort of thing. Presumably our posters are smarter than their bots.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/20/2008 21:20 Comments ||
Top||
#9
What would it take to make us all go to SSL certificates and https: URLs?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/20/2008 22:02 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Presumably our posters are smarter than their bots.
huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/20/2008 22:09 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Presumably our posters are smarter than their bots.
...that leaves Frank G out so far, but he's still perfecting that perpetual motion bot blaster thingy in his garage...so there's hope.
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.
(AKI) - Members of the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb militant group in Algeria have reportedly attacked members of a moderate organisation opposed to its terrorist activities. A report on Tuesday in the Algerian newspaper el-Khabar said an al-Qaeda militant carried out a raid against a mosque in the Algerian province of al-Wadi on Sunday night and killed two men while they prayed.
The Bomb Disposal Squad defused three bombs planted on the roadside in Fatehpur area of Swat on Wednesday, police said. Local residences disclosed the location of the bombs to the police, who then called the Bomb Disposal Squad. Nearby areas were vacated and surrounded by security personnel when the bombs were being defused.
SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq - The Iranian military on Wednesday shelled seven Iraqi border villages, causing no injuries or damage but terrifying residents, an Iraqi official said. The shells were apparently aimed at bases of Kurdish rebel group Pejak (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), said the mayor of Zarawah, a frontier town in northeastern Iraq. Pejak is accused by Tehran of launching deadly attacks on security forces in northwestern Iran.
The Bush administration issued a fresh warning Thursday to U.S. banks that Iran is using "an array of deceptive practices" to hide its alleged involvement in nuclear proliferation and terrorist activities. The Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network alleged that Iran is resorting to such alleged practices to evade detection and skirt financial sanctions.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatened the European Union with grave punishment on Wednesday over cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammad. In an audio recording posted on the Internet coinciding with the birthday of Islam's founder, bin Laden said the drawings, considered offensive by Muslims, were part of a "new crusade" in which Pope Benedict was involved. "Your publications of these drawings -- part of a new crusade in which the Pope of the Vatican had a significant role -- is a confirmation from you that the war continues," said the Saudi-born militant leader, addressing "those who are wise at the European Union". You are "testing Muslims ... the answer will be what you shall see and not what you hear. May our mothers lose us to death if we did not rise in defense of the messenger of God..."
