KANDAHAR, Afghanistan Hundreds of Taliban fighters took over several villages in southern Afghanistan on Monday just outside the region's largest city, and NATO and Afghan forces were redeploying to meet the threat, officials said.
Mohammad Farooq, the government leader in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, said around 500 Taliban fighters moved into his district and took over several villages.
Arghandab lies just north of Kandahar city the Taliban's former stronghold and a tribal leader from the region warned that the militants could use the cover from Arghandab's grape and pomegranate orchards to mount an attack on Kandahar itself.
"All of Arghandab is made of orchards. The militants can easily hide and easily fight," said Haji Ikramullah Khan. "It's quite close to Kandahar. During the Russian war, the Russians didn't even occupy Arghandab, because when they fought here they suffered big casualties."
The push into Arghandab comes three days after a sophisticated Taliban attack on Kandahar's prison that freed hundreds of insurgent fighters being held there.
NATO spokesman Mark Laity said NATO and Afghan military officials were redeploying troops to the region to "meet any potential threats."
"It's fair to say that the jailbreak has put a lot of people (militants) into circulation who weren't there before, and so obviously you're going to respond to that potential threat," he said.
Two powerful anti-Taliban leaders from Arghandab have died in the last year, weakening the region's defenses. Mullah Naqib, the district's former leader, died of a heart attack last year. Taliban fighters moved into Arghandab en masse last October, two weeks after his death, but left within days after hundreds of security forces were deployed there.
A second leader, police commander Abdul Hakim Jan, died in a massive suicide bombing in Kandahar in February that killed more than 100 people.
#5
Talibs have occupied About 8-10 villages as per DER SPIEGEL. ALso from DER SPIEGEL > TALIBAN THREATEN NEW WAVE OF PRISON ATTACKS.
OTOH, REDDIT > PRISONPLANET - US GAVE GREEN LIGHT TO TALIBAN PRISON [escape]ATTACK. ARTICLE -The USGovt-CIA are the original founders of the Taliban [+ AL Qaeda, etc], + US-LED SECURITY FORCES DID NOT INTERVENE TO STOP PRISON ATTACK.
About 400 Taliban militants freed during a spectacular prison break in Kandahar haveflooded into nearby restive rural areas patrolled by Canadian troops, and even as far east as Pakistan, according to a senior insurgent commander.
The 40-year-old Taliban leader told The Globe and Mail by telephone yesterday that a small fleet of motorbikes and cars was waiting for the prisoners Friday after about 30 insurgents used suicide attacks, rocket-propelled grenades and guns to break into the Sarpoza Provincial Prison about 9:30 p.m. after blowing open the front gates.
Most of the Taliban prisoners were first taken to villages in the turbulent Panjwai district and given money, the commander said. From there they scattered in different directions, including nearby Helmand province, Kabul and Pakistan. "Many of them have gone to their homes."
Locals living in the Panjwai district, a rural area west of Kandahar that Canadian troops have fought hard to keep out of insurgent hands, confirmed seeing numerous former Taliban prisoners in their villages. "On Saturday morning, when we came out from our houses, we saw several Taliban ... they were very happy, smiling and laughing," said a 33-year-old taxi driver from Talukan, a village about 45 kilometres southwest of Kandahar. The man, who didn't want to be identified, said he knew of least four men who were injured in the escape. He said they received medical treatment in the village.
The brazen prison break is a significant victory for the Taliban and has raised serious questions about the Afghan and NATO security effort in southern Afghanistan, a hotbed of insurgency activity.
Before Canadian troops could arrive to secure the area on Friday, the bulk of the prison population, about 1,100 people in total, was already gone. In addition to the 400 Taliban suspects in the prison, about 600 common criminals escaped.
Canada's top soldier in Afghanistan said that within minutes of the prison attack, NATO had surveillance units in the sky scanning the area for fugitives.
The jail is about 30 kilometres from the main international base at Kandahar airfield, and once Canadian soldiers became aware of the seriousness of the attack, they arrived within 40 minutes, Brigadier-General Denis Thompson told reporters.
But the inmates were long gone by then. "They escaped the prison very fast - within a few minutes," Kandahar Police Chief Syed Aqa Saqib said.
President Hamid Karzai threatened yesterday to send Afghan troops into Pakistan to combat high-level Taliban militants, including Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and Baitullah Mehsud, a Pakistani warlord aligned with the Taliban. "[If they] come and kill Afghans and kill coalition troops, it exactly gives us the right to do the same," Mr. Karzai said. "Baitullah Mehsud should know that we will go after him now and hit him in his house. And the other fellow, Mullah Omar of Pakistan, should know the same."
While Mr. Karzai has long asked for international and Pakistani forces to target Taliban insurgents in Pakistan, this is the first time the frustrated leader has said Afghanistan might go in on its own.
In Pakistan, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the Afghan-Pakistan border would be too difficult to protect even if Pakistan put its entire army there. "Neither do we interfere in anyone else's matters, nor will we allow anyone to interfere in our territorial limits and our affairs," Mr. Gilani said. "We want a stable Afghanistan. It is in our interest."
General Rick Hillier, the outgoing Canadian Chief of the Defence Staff, has acknowledged that Friday's assault on Sarpoza was a setback, but added it will not likely raise the threat level because Afghanistan is already a dangerous mission for Canada's 2,500 troops.
Kandahar residents are still reeling from the bold attack on the prison, Kandahar province's largest, with many people staying off the streets and several shops remaining closed.
In recent months, Afghanistan's second largest city, despite being the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban, had become more secure and the number of violent incidents had dropped.
Speculation is rampant in the city that the insurgents must have had help from either Afghan police or prison guards in pulling off the breakout. At the time of the assault, the jail was being guarded by about 30 Afghans, almost half of whom were killed on Friday. "Lots of people think this was an inside job," said Rangina Hamidi, a 31-year-old Kandahar resident and prominent women's activist.
Ms. Hamidi wants to see more international coalition forces on the streets of Kandahar. "Friday was a major setback. The way things are going, I don't think it will get any better."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2008 09:06 ||
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#1
"inside job"?
blinding glimpse of the obvious?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/16/2008 9:39 Comments ||
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#2
Another reason not to take prisoners. Capture, interrogate, release or execute.
The United States Treasury Department on Friday froze the assets of a Kuwait-based charity for allegedly supporting and funding Al-Qaeda, the government said in a statement.
The decision applies to the Kuwaiti headquarters of the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS), and specifically to any assets the group holds under U.S. jurisdiction. It also bars US persons from any transactions with the group.
"RIHS has used charity and humanitarian assistance as cover to fund terrorist activity and harm innocent civilians, often in poor and impoverished regions," said Stuart Levey, under secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
The U.S. government applied similar measures to RIHS offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2002 "based on evidence of their support for Al-Qaeda," the Treasury statement said.
"At that time, there was no evidence that the Kuwait-based RIHS headquarters knew that RIHS-Afghanistan and RIHS-Pakistan were financing Al-Qaeda. Since that time, however, evidence has mounted implicating RIHS-HQ in terrorism support activity."
The U.S. government said that the group's senior leadership, which managed daily activities, was "aware of both legitimate and illegitimate uses of RIHS funds."
RIHS offices have also been closed or raided over suspicions of terror ties by the governments of Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, and Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2008 09:37 ||
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CID police yesterday arrested a Jamaat-e-Islami leader and Union Parishad chairman from Ullapara Bazaar in Sirajganj for his alleged involvement in the sensational four-murder case. Arrested Ziaul Huq Zia of Char Narina village is also a Majlish-e-Shura member of Shahzadpur upazila Jamaat and chairman of Narina Union Parishad.
Since he's a JI member he doesn't get a 3 am wake-up call ...
According to police sources, a gang of miscreants entered the house of cloth trader Rejaul Karim Bhutto at Bachmora village and hacked him to death along with his wife Zinzira Khatun, son Ashik, 5, and daughter Rimi, 3 on the night of June 20, 2004. Next day, Shahzadpur police recovered the bodies and sent those to Sirajganj Sadar hospital morgue for autopsy.
"Whacha think, Dr. Quincy?"
"Hacked to death, Sam."
"How can you be so sure?"
"Stabbing wounds, blade marks, ragged edges, and the fact that each body is in about eleven pieces."
The CID investigation report said Ziaul Huq was the mastermind behind the murders. He evaded arrest earlier by using political influence, the report said. Ziaul Huq went into hiding after the 1/11.
Tipped off that he came back home, CID police raided Ullapara Bazaar and arrested him yesterday. He was being painfully interrogated when the report was filed yesterday evening.
Maybe he will get a 3 am wake-up call ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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A court in Satkhira yesterday sentenced two Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) cadres to 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) each for possession of 44 Arges grenades. The court also fined the two Huji operatives Tk 20,000 each or in default to suffer one more year of RI.
I'd take 20 years of 'rigorous imprisonment' over one night in RAB custody ...
The two men sentenced are Moin Uddin alias Abu Zandal, a close aide to Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) chief Mufti Hannan, who led the August 21 blasts on an Awami League (AL) rally in Dhaka and Nazrul Islam Gharami, son of Mujibur Rahman Gharami from Shimulia village in Debhata upazila.
According to the prosecution, based on information from Zandal's painfully obtained confessions members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested Nazrul Islam Gharami from Nalta bazar in Kaliganj upazila. His confession led to Rab discovering the 44 grenades of Arges brand hidden in a pond in Shimulia village under Debhata upazila on February 15.
The same day, sub-inspector (SI) Tariqul Islam of Rab-6 Khulna filed a case with Debhata police station accusing Moin Uddin alias Abu Zandal and Nazrul Islam for possession of the grenades.
Going soft, inspector, going soft ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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"...44 grenades of Arges brand hidden in a pond ..."
Dummy.
If'n he wanted to use a DuPont Lure for fishin' it would have worked better to have (all together now)
PULL THE PIN!
The US is concerned that the illicit network set up by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan may have distributed designs for nuclear warheads as well as uranium enrichment technology. Stephen Hadley, US national security adviser, told reporters on Sunday: We are very concerned about the A.Q. Khan network, both in terms of what they were doing by purveying enrichment technology and also the possibility that there would be weapons-related technology associated with it.
His comments followed reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post claiming that the Khan network possessed plans for a nuclear warhead compact enough to be fitted on to a ballistic missile.
Don't worry, the National Intelligence Estimate assures us that Iran isn't working on a bomb ...
The reports raised the possibility that these designs could have been shared with states such as Iran and North Korea. Such technology would make it easier to transform nuclear material into an effective nuclear weapon.
The A.Q. Khan network was shut down under US pressure in 2004. Mr Khan, who is widely revered in Pakistan as the father of its nuclear bomb, was put under house arrest, but was never charged with any crimes. He recently gave an interview pressing Pakistans new government for his release.
The US and its allies have never been allowed to interrogate Mr Khan directly. They are still trying to determine exactly what kind of nuclear secrets were sold and to whom.
Asked whether there was any evidence that the network had passed on weapons technology as well as uranium enrichment technology, Mr Hadley said: We have had some concerns about it.
The possibility that the network may have traded in warhead designs as well as enrichment technology was first raised in 2003, when Libya abandoned its covert nuclear programme. Tripoli handed over the blueprint for a nuclear warhead based on an old Chinese design that was too bulky to be easily delivered by a missile.
However, the New York Times and Washington Post reports say that investigators have found the blueprint for a more advanced warhead that would be much easier to fit on to a missile on computers allegedly belonging to the AQ Khan network. The design may be based on a recent Pakistani nuclear warhead.
The Swiss government recently announced that it had destroyed 30,000 pages of documents related to the nuclear plans to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. However, the blueprints were reported to be in electronic form and there may be other copies circulating.
For the first time in years, Maoists are on the run in the dense jungle and hills of Chhattisgarh. A combined assault by paramilitary forces and the police has left behind tracks of blood and dead bodies and given a new thrust to the operation for de-fanging the Red Brigade soldiers. The Maoists lost 68 cadre last month, the biggest casualty they suffered in a month.
Sources said that the thrust of the anti-Maoist operation is on penetrating their stronghold in Bustar and Bijapur and establish forward bases from where the security forces can launch major offensive. The security forces, now enforced by the arrival of four additional battalions of Central paramilitary forces, are moving in large numbers inside the Maoist terrain, sources said.
Pushed on the defensive, the Maoist leadership is making desperate attempts to stir up their cadre and engage in diversionary tactics. Last week they blew up 220 KV high-tension electricity towers in the forests of Dantewada, plunging the region into darkness. The Maoists also forced stoppage of mining activity at the State-owned National Mineral Development Corp Ltd and torched 19 trucks of Essar Steel. In April too, insurgents had set ablaze 53 trucks at Essar's complex.
"These are desperate attempts by the Maoists. They are losing their men in large numbers and we have pushed them on defensive," Chhattisgarh DGP Vishwaranjan told The Pioneer on phone.
The DGP pointed out that the Maoists have themselves claimed to have lost 68 cadre last month. "We have seized documents where the casualty figure for the month is mentioned," the DGP said. He added that the figure mentioned in the Maoist document is higher than the bodies of Maoists recovered by the police. "The difference is due the fact that in many encounters, wounded Maoists manage to escape to their hideouts and later succumb to injury," he said.
The DGP attributed success of several anti-Maoists operations to the insiders of the Red Brigade, who are now helping the police. Last month, the police gunned down 19 Maoists in an encounter at Pamer, on the Andhra Pradesh-Chhattisgarh border, following a tip-off by a 'mole'. Later, the Maoists held a jan adalat and killed nine suspects for leaking out information.
Reports from Gadchiroli on Sunday said Maoists have beheaded a former member of their organisation who had surrendered to the police and warned his colleague, who too had surrendered along with him, against acting as police informer or else he would meet the same fate. The incident that occurred in village Murgaon of Dhanora sub district has the entire Maoist-affected region in the grip of tension because of the manner in which the reprisal has been carried out.
Even on Sunday, a Maoist was killed at Arpulpeta in Dantewada when security forces attacked their camp. Vastly outnumbered, the Maoists chose to escape, leaving behind a dead body, drilling machine, explosive materials and huge amount of food grains.
"The current phase of war against the Maoists is entering a decisive phase. We are determined to deliver a bloody blow to them," said the DGP. However, he cautioned that the desperate Maoists could go for soft targets to divert the attention of the security forces. "The Centre had promised us another CRPF battalion. We need it badly to pre-empt the diversionary engagements of the Maoists," he added.
Posted by: john frum ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Sounds like totally typical Maoist behavior. But usually, they're executing people regardless, and this time they seem to have an actual purpose.
#2
This is what needs to happen everywhere these vermin poke their head up. Too bad we can't engage the Leftists in our own country in the same manner.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/16/2008 13:49 Comments ||
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#4
We'd have to take out half the college professors in the United States to actually do any good, RJ. It's possible to do with enough people, but I'm sure the blowback would be he$$. A better way of dealing with the problem is to institute a "blacklist" of teachers who teach crap, and get businesses to refuse to hire anyone who's attended those teachers' courses. Pretty soon the student body will get the message.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
06/16/2008 21:06 Comments ||
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More than 4100 British soldiers, desperately needed in Afghanistan, are bunkered down behind fortifications at Basra's airport five miles from the city.
Of these, fewer than 300 are currently playing a direct role in training the Iraqi army or giving tactical guidance to their units on the streets. The vast bulk of the UK force is simply there to protect the perimeter of its own besieged base. Any fewer than 4000, and the security of the installation would be at serious risk.
Since troops pulled back from their vulnerable forward operating bases inside the city last September, the airport has been mortared or hit by salvos of rockets on 101 occasions. At least three servicemen have died and many more have been wounded.
Defending the occupants of the camp means patrolling far enough out to keep insurgents beyond easy "indirect fire" range as well as manning sandbagged bunkers to prevent direct suicide truck bomb attacks.
As of April 30 this year, 94 UK personnel were embedded with the Iraqi 14th Division and 73 co-located with the Basra Operations Command. There is also a six-strong liaison team at Basra Palace, the headquarters complex taken over by Iraq's fledgling military on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway.
If there is any military justification for British soldiers to remain in Iraq, it is that they sit astride the main US supply route on the highway from Kuwait north to Baghdad.
Beyond that static guard role, they lack the offensive power to intervene decisively in any internal power struggle and can barely guarantee their own security.
Despite claims about progress in training Baghdad's new army. Of the 197,000 local soldiers qualified by US or British instructors, at least 27,000 have deserted. That figure represents more men than Britain has in all of its infantry battalions combined.
In the meantime, US Marines have had to intervene in southern Afghanistan because Britain's Army is so overstretched it cannot scrape up an extra battlegroup of 650 fighting soldiers.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
06/16/2008 10:55 ||
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#1
Despite claims about progress in training Baghdad's new army. Of the 197,000 local soldiers qualified by US or British instructors, at least 27,000 have deserted.
Where does this figure come from? Is this from the beginning of training 4 years ago? How many of these desertions occurred in the first 2 years? How many last year or in the past six months?
Based upon everything else I've been reading, Basra has quieted significantly. How "besieged" is the airport now? This is just more agenda jounalism. The a**hole who wrote this should be tossed on his ear.
#2
27,000 out of 197,000 is less than 14%, according to the calculator on my cell phone. Not bad for those who realize they aren't really cut out for the work, it seems to me, not even taking into account the Shiite moles who'd planned to turn the Iraqi Army into a tool of the Mahdi Army and thence Iran.
I don't doubt the desertion figure. It is, however, probably a total for the last several years while the trained number of 197,000 is boots on the ground right now. Apples and oranges.
I'd like to know the last time the Brits got mortared. Most of that was well before the Iraqis moved in the Basra.
And, it shouldn't take 4,000 troops to defend an airfield from insurgeants. Really.
#4
CS: And, it shouldn't take 4,000 troops to defend an airfield from insurgeants. Really.
I think this was the paper that coined the phrase "brutal Afghan winter" in reference to the impossibility of defeating the Taliban in 2001, right before they ran pell mell for the Pakistani border.
In an operation with military and political objectives, the Iraqi Army continued to assemble troops in and around the southern city of Amara on Sunday.
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki offered an amnesty to militants in the city who were willing to surrender, and he also offered to buy back heavy weapons from militia fighters. Similar offers in the past few months have presaged military operations against Shiite or Sunni militias in Basra, the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul.
As in Basra and Sadr City, Amara is dominated by the movement of the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Mr. Malikis government has appeared eager to crush at least Mr. Sadrs militia, if not his movement. With provincial elections scheduled for the fall, both the government and Mr. Sadr also appeared to be maneuvering for political advantage.
On Friday, Mr. Sadr announced that he was separating the political and military wings of his movement, apparently in anticipation of a proposal, expected to be approved this month, that would bar parties or movements with armed wings from participating in the provincial elections. On Sunday, a senior aide to Mr. Sadr said that candidates supporting Mr. Sadr would run in the fall elections, but as independents or with other political parties, rather than under the clerics banner.
The government of Mr. Maliki also seemed to have made significant political calculations in apparently selecting Amara as the site of its next military operation. They say it like it's a bad thing.
With Iraqi soldiers setting up checkpoints and preparing to take control of the city, Mr. Maliki could be hoping to weaken, at least temporarily sez the NYT, the political branch of Mr. Sadrs movement and solidify his own hold on power by appearing decisive and in control.
Amara is the capital of Maysan Province, the only province in Iraq where the local government is run by politicians aligned with Mr. Sadr. Mr. Sadrs militia, the Mahdi Army, has also become ensconced in Amara, a city in a rural, marshy region of southern Iraq along the Iranian border, where Iraqi officials say that a poisonous blend of militia lawlessness and weapons smuggling from Iran has created a chaotic situation.
All the reason needed to clean it out ...
Traffic thinned Sunday on the streets of the city. Many of those who did venture out in cars said they feared American airstrikes. Some residents said militia members had already fled Amara in anticipation of a military operation. Iraqi commanders said some militia leaders had escaped to Amara earlier this year during the fighting in nearby Basra. Tune in tomorrow for the next installment! Will the cops fold again? Will Sadr triumph again? Can anyone stop him, short of Obama the Magnificent?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/16/2008 06:51 ||
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Bobby, for the NYT, whenever the Iraqi government seems to be making good, rational decisions, it is by definition either a bad thing or a very bad thing. I thought that this was taught in the class, MSM 101.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/16/2008 14:24 Comments ||
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Basra, June15, (VOI)-Joint army and police forces on Sunday arrested eleven wanted persons during raid operations conducted in Basra, a police source said. Joint Iraqi army and police forces conducted raid-and-search operations in different parts of Basra, capturing eleven persons on a wanted list, a Basra police source, who requested anonmity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.
The source noted the joint forces seized 45 mortar rounds, 23 anti-tank rockets, twelve canon shellings, ten landmines and seven hand pommegrenade. He added forces also seized a Katyush rocjets, 14 anti-tank mines, 23 bolt wires.
No shutter guns, of course ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Alright, I'm ignorant. So, whatza shuttergun?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/16/2008 2:02 Comments ||
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#2
A shuttergun is the traditional weapon of choice of polar bear hunters in Bangladesh.
Posted by: bruce ||
06/16/2008 7:12 Comments ||
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#3
The shutter gun is a prized piece of R.A.B. evidence, which is traditionally brought out during raids as a kind of talisman.
1) Tip off
2) Visit suspect at 3am
3) Interrogation reveals location of weapons cache / gang hideout
4) Police take suspect to hidey, shootout ensues
5) Suspect tries to run away, is shot in crossfire.
6) Gang members arrested, rinse & repeat.
Can you confirm that the R.A.B. are now working as mercs in Iraq now, Steve, or is that still classified?
#7
No, the "Potato Masher" was a WW2 german hand grenade.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/16/2008 13:55 Comments ||
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#8
Excellent synosis, Admiral; however you omitted the obligatory tag line that follows the demise of the suspect during the inevitabel 'cross-fire'(wanted on the venrable 12 systems):"He's dead, Jim."
Diala, Jun 15, (VOI) - An Iraqi local official warned that al-Qaeda intends to send 25 female suicide bombers to Diala, one day after a deadly bombing that struck soccer fans who were watching their national team win a big match.
14 female suicide bombers blew themselves up in Diala in the last six months according to intelligence tips and the province statistics, Ibrahim al-Bajalan, chief of Dialas provincial council, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq. The local official noted some of the 14 female suicide bombers were not Iraqi nationals.
That's no surprise. Any of them Paleos?
Al-Bajalan pointed out the intelligence tips received by security authorities indicated there were 25 female suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaeda in Himreen mountains range to be sent in suicide operations targeting people in Diala.
Baquba, the capital city of Diala province, lies 57 km north-east Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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So they get 72(?) virgin studs apiece in Paradise, right? So, how many Arab boys are rushing to get to Paradise to help fill the need? Sounds like a wacko form of population control to me.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
06/16/2008 1:50 Comments ||
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Ninewa, Jun. 15, (VOI) Unknown gunmen on Sunday shot dead an attorney inside his office in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a provincial police source said. "Unidentified armed men on Sunday afternoon assassinated attorney Adil Hussein al-Wagaa, while he was inside his office, at al-Dargazliya neighborhood, eastern Mosul ," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.
"The gunmen raided al-Wagaa's office, and shot him dead, then escaped," he added. The source did not mention further details, but noted that al-Wagaa's corpse "was admitted to the city's morgue."
Earlier on Sunday, a source from Ninewa police said that unknown gunmen opened fire on Prof. Waleed Saad-Allah al-Molla of al-Mosul University , when he was on his way to work, at al-Hadbaa neighborhood. Al-Molla died instantaneously, while two of his sons were injured in the attack, one of them is seriously wounded. Al-Mosul, capital city of Ninewa province, is 405 km north of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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Ninewa, Jun. 15, (VOI) Four policemen were wounded while foiling a suicide attack by a car bomb targeting a police commander in Ninewa on Sunday, a local official said. "Police forces killed a suicide attacker driving a car bomb, targeting Talkif's police directorate, north Mosul, city," Basim Yaaqob, Talkif district chief, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq.
The local official noted "the suicide bomber was driving a Chevrolet brand vehicle, heading toward the suburb's police directorate. "Policemen opened fire on him, and detonated the vehicle before it reached them," he added. He conceded "four policemen were wounded in the incident".
Talkif, a predominately Christian district, is regarded as one of the safest zones in Ninewa province. Mosul, capital city of Ninewa province, is 405 km north of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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can I suggest that we are getting to the point where we need more than one "tough Iraqi soldier" graphic? At least a "tough Iraqi copper" graphic to leave the above specifically for doings of the Iraqi Army (but not the police) ?
#2
That sounds right, liberalhawk. The Iraqi Police have been making great strides towards becoming a truly professional force, as far as I can tell -- cleaning out the corrupt and inept, and aiming toward American-standard competence eventually.
Three Islamic Jihad armed men have been killed by the Israeli army at the Gaza Strip border fence, Al-Quds brigades has said.
The armed wing for the Islamic Jihad movement confirmed that a number of its fighters had clashed with Israeli forces on Monday and detonated an explosive device at an Israeli position. It said the three, operating near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, were trying to plant a bomb that could be detonated against Israeli patrols when they came under fire.
Al Jazeera's reporter in Gaza quoted Palestinian medical sources as saying that three other Palestinians were also wounded in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2008 09:46 ||
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#1
a number of its fighters had clashed with Israeli forces
At least 12 police officers have been killed in a suicide bombing in Sri Lanka's northern town of Vavuniya, officials say.
About 40 people, many of them school were also injured when the bomber detonated an explosives-packed motorcycle on Monday in front of a police office, a police spokesman said. "A Tiger suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle as policemen were leaving for duty," Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said. "All those killed in the attack were police personnel."
Nine policemen and three female constables were killed in the blast. Officials at the main hospital in Vavuniya said about 40 people were taken there for treatment following the blast.
Vavuniya borders territory further north of the country held by the Tamil Tigers who are fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the majority Sinhalese island. "The level of violence [in the area] we have seen increasing over the last few weeks and last few months," Minelle Fernandez, reporting for Al Jazeera's from Sri Lanka, said. "We've [also] seen a number of explosions and attacks in and around Colombo and the government has said this is a sign of the increasing desperation of the LTTE," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/16/2008 09:44 ||
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Sri Lankan war planes destroyed a suspected Tamil Tiger logistics base in the island's northeast yesterday after ground battles left 15 guerrillas and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said.
Air force fighter jets pounded a "logistics base and combat vehicle conversion plant" in Mullaitivu district early Sunday, the ministry said. "Pilots confirm that the target was successfully engaged on accurate military intelligence and the entire terrorist complex was on fire after the air strike," the ministry said in a statement.
However, the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Sri Lankan jets had killed two fluffy bunnies civilians and wounded 11 kittens more in the Sunday morning attack.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/16/2008 00:00 ||
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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.
CID police yesterday arrested a 
A court in Satkhira yesterday sentenced two Harkatul Jihad al Islami (Huji) cadres to 20 years rigorous imprisonment (RI) each for possession of 44 Arges grenades. The court also fined the two Huji operatives Tk 20,000 each or in default to suffer one more year of RI.
The US is concerned that the illicit network set up by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan may have distributed designs for nuclear warheads as well as uranium enrichment technology. Stephen Hadley, US national security adviser, told reporters on Sunday: We are very concerned about the A.Q. Khan network, both in terms of what they were doing by purveying enrichment technology and also the possibility that there would be weapons-related technology associated with it.
More than 4100 British soldiers, desperately needed in Afghanistan, are bunkered down behind fortifications at Basra's airport five miles from the city.
Basra, June15, (VOI)-Joint army and police forces on Sunday arrested eleven wanted persons during raid operations conducted in Basra, a police source said. Joint Iraqi army and police forces conducted raid-and-search operations in different parts of Basra, capturing eleven persons on a wanted list, a Basra police source, who requested anonmity, told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq.
Diala, Jun 15, (VOI) - An Iraqi local official warned that al-Qaeda intends to send 25 female suicide bombers to Diala, one day after a deadly bombing that struck soccer fans who were watching their national team win a big match. 
Ninewa, Jun. 15, (VOI) Unknown gunmen on Sunday shot dead an attorney inside his office in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a provincial police source said. "Unidentified armed men on Sunday afternoon assassinated attorney Adil Hussein al-Wagaa, while he was inside his office, at al-Dargazliya neighborhood, eastern Mosul ," the source told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq. 
Ninewa, Jun. 15, (VOI) Four policemen were wounded while foiling a suicide attack by a car bomb targeting a police commander in Ninewa on Sunday, a local official said. "Police forces killed a suicide attacker driving a car bomb, targeting Talkif's police directorate, north Mosul, city," Basim Yaaqob, Talkif district chief, told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq. 
Three Islamic Jihad armed men have been killed by the Israeli army at the Gaza Strip border fence, Al-Quds brigades has said.
Sri Lankan war planes destroyed a suspected Tamil Tiger logistics base in the island's northeast yesterday after ground battles left 15 guerrillas and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said.
