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Missile strike kills six in Miranshah
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gloria SERIOUSLY needs to work on the "Apple-Pie-On-The-Head" accessories to fit in with Mehsud, et al...
Posted by: Frank G || 09/01/2008 0:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Mods: Clean-up in aisle 2!
done
Posted by: gorb || 09/01/2008 5:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Fred,

I like Ye Olde Wimmins as much as the next guy but how about some good old fashioned 60's bombshells?

THX
Posted by: Warthog || 09/01/2008 10:04 Comments || Top||

#4  There were only 27 60's bombshells and they been used.
Posted by: .5MT || 09/01/2008 10:13 Comments || Top||

#5  How about the Governor of Alaska?
Posted by: Mike || 09/01/2008 12:59 Comments || Top||

#6  From Audrey to this in one step? C'mon Fred, don't whipsaw us like that....
Posted by: Elmavick Grundy5943 || 09/01/2008 13:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Bowling shoes, they're back again?
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/01/2008 15:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Did they ever leave?
Posted by: .5MT || 09/01/2008 17:01 Comments || Top||

#9 

#2 Mods: Clean-up in aisle 2!
done


Why do I feel like I just took over the point position? :-)
Posted by: gorb || 09/01/2008 22:07 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
U.S. says 220 Taliban killed in Afghanistan's south
U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops killed more than 220 suspected Taliban terrorists militants in strikes in southern Afghanistan last week, the U.S. military said on Monday, the biggest insurgent toll reported in recent weeks.

But several residents and a lawmaker said scores of camp-followers civilians had died in the operation in the Sangin district of Helmand province, the latest allegation of civilian deaths as fighting intensifies across the nation this summer.

"There is basically no Taliban (killed). The Taliban terrorists fire and then escape and then these people (foreign troops) come and bombard. Three hundred camp-followers people have been killed and wounded," said lawmaker Dad Mohammad Khan, who is also a former provincial intelligence chief.

Several residents rang a Reuters reporter to say that more than 70 camp-followers civilians were killed in air strikes by foreign forces in Sangin.

U.S. military spokesman Nathan Perry said he was not aware of any civilian deaths. "The operation is mostly wrapped up. The troops killed more than 220 terrorists militants," he said.
Posted by: Spot || 09/01/2008 09:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  several residents just happened to have a Reuters reporters' phone number, huh?

/born at night, but not last night
Posted by: Frank G || 09/01/2008 10:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Note to civilians: you have two choices, and only two choices. #1 Either evacuate the battlefield, or #2 Give aid and comfort to one side or the other, and risk getting killed for it.

Any questions?
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/01/2008 10:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Stop it, I can't do that many shots on a Monday morning.
Posted by: Perfesser || 09/01/2008 10:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Ah, that's the stuff.
Posted by: Scott R || 09/01/2008 11:45 Comments || Top||

#5  Ok, Mahmoud, what's the code-word for Taliban this week? I forgot.
'Spice Girls'? Are you sure?
TALIBAN PRESS RELEASE
"220 Spice Girls were killed this week by air strikes in Helmand Province".
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/01/2008 12:53 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Taliban in Pakistan rejects offer for Ramadan truce
Pakistani Taliban will continue attacks during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, rejecting a government announcement it would halt military actions in the northwest, a Taliban spokesman said Sunday. Violence has surged in Pakistan in recent weeks with the military battling Al-Qaeda- and Taliban-linked fighters in three different parts of the northwest.

The militants have responded with suicide and remotely detonated bomb attacks on the security forces and civilian targets.

Deteriorating security has coincided with a faltering economy and political upheaval as the resignation of President Pervez Musharraf on August 18 was followed a week later by a split in the ruling coalition. "It's a joke. It isn't a matter of holy or unholy. All months are holy. If they want to end fighting, it should be permanent," Muslim Khan, Taliban spokesman in the Swat Valley, told Reuters. "We want Sharia laws enforced and will continue our struggle. We haven't got instructions from our top leadership to stop fighting. If they do [order a halt] then we certainly will."

Pakistan's government had said on Saturday that security forces would suspend operations from Sunday night for Ramadan, which ends at the beginning of October, but would retaliate if attacked.

Meanwhile, a missile struck a house near the Afghan border Sunday, killing six suspected militants, residents and officials said. The attack took place in the village of Tappi, some 10 kilometers southeast of Miranshah, the main town in volatile North Waziristan on the Afghan border. "The death toll has risen to six and eight others are wounded," a security official told AFP, updating an earlier toll. "Most of the dead are foreign militants including Arabs and Uzbeks."

Residents said the missile had been fired from a pilotless aircraft and that the house belonged to a local tribesman who had rented it out to the militants.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  Residents said the missile had been fired from a pilotless aircraft and that the house belonged to a local tribesman who had rented it out to the militants.

I hope he has good homeowner's insurance.
Posted by: gorb || 09/01/2008 2:00 Comments || Top||

#2  " Good morning, Mutual of Waziristan, how can I help you?"
"My house just exploded and all my friends are dead"
" Inshallah. And can I help you with anything else?"
Posted by: Grunter || 09/01/2008 9:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Your holidays don't mean squat to a Predator, pal.
Posted by: Goober Spavinter7016 || 09/01/2008 13:14 Comments || Top||


Tribesmen torch Taliban houses in Bajaur
Tribesmen in Bajaur Agency's Salarzai tehsil on Sunday formed a private army (lashkar) of around 30,000 people against the local Taliban. A local jirga decided to form the lashkar in the wake of the increasing presence of the local Taliban in the area. The lashkar torched 14 houses, including the house of a local Taliban commander. Tribal elder Malik Munsib Khan, who heads the lashkar, said tribesmen would continue their struggle until the Taliban were expelled from the area, adding that anyone found sheltering Taliban militants would be fined Rs one million and his house would be torched. The tribesmen also torched two important centres of the Taliban in the area and gained control of most of the tehsil. The action came hours after the government announced to stop the ongoing military operation against the local Taliban in Bajaur during Ramazan.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  "don't kill us!, pt. 1"
Posted by: Frank G || 09/01/2008 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Popcorn?
Posted by: anymouse || 09/01/2008 0:36 Comments || Top||

#3  The Taliban and AQ do seem to wear out their welcome eventually. Seems to be a similar scenario to Anbar.
Posted by: tipover || 09/01/2008 3:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Or it's the expression of a tribal war breaking out.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 09/01/2008 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Anymouse, marshmellows, chocolate and graham crackers are called for instead of popcorn. Gather around the burning Taliban house and make 'smores.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/01/2008 10:24 Comments || Top||

#6  "Or it's the expression of a tribal war breaking out."

Either works.... ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/01/2008 19:16 Comments || Top||

#7  You decide:

1. Surge (____)
2. Quagmire (____)
3. Life as only they know it (____)
4. All of the above (____)

Posted by: Besoeker || 09/01/2008 19:21 Comments || Top||


Tribal elders ask govt to target militants
Tribal elders on Sunday urged the government to identify and target elements disturbing peace in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) instead of killing innocent civilians in military operations.

The demand was made during a meeting of elders from all the seven tribal agencies here on Sunday. Awami National Party (ANP) convened the meeting at its headquarters here. Through a unanimous resolution, the tribal elders asked their elected representatives in the Senate and the National Assembly to support the candidate of that party in the upcoming presidential elections, which will promise restoration of peace in the Tribal Areas.

Briefing media persons after the meeting, ANP leader Abdul Latif Afridi said there was no visible decrease in militancy as a result of military operations in FATA.
That's definitely not a surprise ...
He said hundreds of schools had been burnt in Swat and scores of innocent people, including political leaders, were killed. He said 30,000 army personnel had failed to protect public buildings and life and property of citizens.

Afridi said it was strange that the military was not targeting the sanctuaries of militants in Swat despite that the area people had pointed out the places from where they operated.
Really not strange at all ...
All this showed that the government agencies were involved in disturbing peace in Swat, he added.

Afridi said the wrong policies of the previous government had also contributed to disturbing the situation, and the present government should stop pursuing the same policies to ensure peace in NWFP. The meeting urged the Shias and Sunni in Kurram Agency to stop fighting. They also asked the government to open Kohat Tunnel because people of southern districts of NWFP were facing problems in reaching Peshawar.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  "don't kill us!, pt 2"
Posted by: Frank G || 09/01/2008 0:06 Comments || Top||


Missile strike kills six in Miranshah
A missile fired from an unmanned aircraft hit a house in North Waziristan, killing six suspected foreign militants and injuring as many locals, residents and officials said.

The incident occurred in the Ghundi Kili village, 15 kilometres east of Miranshah, at around 3pm. The residents said injured were passers-by.

Beirut Daily Star adds:
"The death toll has risen to six and eight others are wounded," a security official told AFP, updating an earlier toll. "Most of the dead are foreign militants including Arabs and Uzbeks."
The Arabs are members of the Master Race™. The Uzbeks are their loyal but stupid bodyguards. The locals, aka "the natives," provide muscle or suicide kaboomers as required. Life is cheap when you live someplace where being dead is preferable to living.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda


Mangal Bagh flees Landi Kotal ahead of operation
A joint operation by the Frontier Corps (FC) and the Khasadars forced Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) chief Mangal Bagh to leave Landi Kotal on Sunday. The political administration had given a deadline to the LI to vacate the area by 11am on Sunday. The authorities closed the road leading to Torkham and imposed a curfew in Jamrud. Bagh fled for Gagrina in Bazaar Zakhakhel an hour before the operation. The FC fired at the mountains around a mosque that had been captured by the LI in Khyber. The forces took over the mosque after the LI vacated it.

Meanwhile, in a clash between the LI and FC at Jamrud, an LI gunman and one security personnel were killed. Online quoted Political Agent Khyber Agency Tariq Hayat telling a private news channel that 10 LI activists were arrested from the Peshawar-Torkham road.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar-e-Islami


95 primitives depart gene pool in Kurram Agency festivities
At least 95 people were killed and more than 200 injured in fresh clashes between the warring Toori and Bangash tribes in Kurram Agency on Sunday. According to sources familiar with the developments in the area, the Bangash tribe was supported by local Taliban militants.

Bangash tribe attacks: Despite a unilateral truce announced by the Toori tribe, militants of the Bangash tribe and the local Taliban launched an attack on their opponents from their Bugzai headquarters late on Saturday.

Toori tribe retaliates: Supporters of the Toori tribe and a local tribal militia retaliated and besieged the Bugzai area, trigging a fierce battle. The tribal militia attacked positions of the Bangash tribe with heavy weapons to force them to stop fighting.

Suicide attacks: The Taliban also launched suicide attacks on the tribal militia, killing 12 tribesmen. Eight other tribesmen and 77 Taliban were also killed during the fighting, locals said. After the hours-long battle, Toori tribesmen were reported to have occupied Bugzai - the headquarters of their opponents. The local tribal militia also seized a large cache of weapons including suicide attack jackets from the positions abandoned by the Bangash tribe and the local Taliban.

According to local sources, at least 70 tribesmen and more than 129 Taliban were wounded in Sunday's fighting. The injured have been shifted to hospitals in Kotal, Hangu, Sadda and Parachinar.

The Toori tribe had earlier announced a unilateral ceasefire on the appeal of a jirga. Recent reports from the area had said the rival groups had intensified attacks on each other's positions in several parts of the area.

Fresh sectarian clashes that began in Parachinar several days ago have left scores of people dead and wounded. Residents of the area said they had been suffering because of a shortage of food and medicine, as the government closed down the central highway leading to the area.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
Incremental Anbar drawdown expected - Marines chaffing to go to Afghanistan
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The drawdown of Marines from the former Sunni insurgent stronghold of Anbar will take time because there is still much work to be done, a top U.S. commander said Sunday on the eve of the once violent province's transfer to Iraqi security control.

Monday's handover of Anbar, scene of some of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq war, marks a major milestone in America's strategy of turning security responsibility over to the Iraqis so that U.S. troops can eventually go home.

"The Marine force will be smaller soon," Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly told The Associated Press in an exclusive telephone interview Sunday from Iraq. "I don't think it will be overnight. I think it will happen incrementally."

Kelly said he has already made his recommendation for troop cuts in the province to the top-ranking U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, and Petraeus' No. 2, Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin. Petraeus is widely expected to conclude in the coming weeks that the outlook in Iraq has improved enough to merit more troop reductions this fall.

Kelly's comments come after the top Marine Corps general, Gen. James Conway, said last week that fewer Marines were needed in Iraq and could be shifted to other places, such as Afghanistan.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, is said to have also told Petraeus some U.S. forces should be pulled out of Iraq and deployed to Afghanistan when the two met in July in Baghdad.

Since he took command of U.S. forces in western Iraq in February, Kelly said he has seen his troop level drop 40 percent from 37,000 troops to 25,000 today. He has also has seen a 60 percent drop in Iraqi troops in the region after several battalions were sent to fight Shiite militias in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City.

Kelly would not divulge the specifics of his troop cut recommendation. But he made clear that the U.S. military mission in Anbar was not finished.

"Our job until we leave, whenever that is, is to continue training the Iraqi police, training the Iraqi army, giving them advice... and continuing to be a force for stability," he said.

In recent months, Kelly said he has sent eight helicopters, including four CH-53 Sea Stallions and four Cobras, as well as several Marine detachments to Afghanistan to help with military operations there.

"There are things here that I can do without for sure. Things that we brought here in the bad old days that I simply don't need anymore," he said.

But Kelly said he disputes the view that "Marines in Iraq are bored."

"Everyone here is working 15 to 20 hours a day," he said. "This is still a dangerous place."

He says he tells Marines in Iraq who express interest in going to Afghanistan that there is still work to be done.

"That is in the Marine DNA to be in a real fight. But this is the toughest part of what we have been doing here, putting the plug in the insurgency. It's very intellectual and requires a tremendous amount of patience," he said.

Kelly said he also has spent months trying to quell fears among Iraqis that once the handover was complete U.S. troops would leave Anbar.

"It's taken a long time to get to this point, and certainly mistakes were made on the ground in Anbar," he said. "Things were done that perhaps in retrospect alienated people and caused them to move against us."

Anbar, the largest Iraqi province that stretches from the western gates of Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, was once the centerstage in the Sunni insurgency, which broke out soon after the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime.

Anbar's fiercely independent Sunni tribes resented the presence of thousands of non-Muslim foreign soldiers. Many Sunnis turned to al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgent groups.

In late 2006, however, many of those groups turned against al-Qaida because of the movement's attempt to dominate the insurgency. Many Sunni tribal leaders opposed al-Qaida's brutal tactics, including mass killings of Shiite civilians and its attempt to impose strict Islamic rule.

Disaffected tribesmen organized awakening councils that joined forces with the Americans to push al-Qaida out of the province. That enabled U.S. forces to gain control of the provincial capital of Ramadi and other cities long considered killing zones for Americans.

Now Anbar is considered one of the quieter parts of the country, though Kelly said there are about 8 to 10 incidents a week, ranging from IED explosions to arrests. With the transfer of Anbar, Iraqis will control security in 11 of the country's 18 provinces.

Monday's handover comes after several aborted attempts. Initially scheduled for March, the transfer was pushed back to June.

U.S. officials blamed two delays in June on weather and then delays in July on a last-minute disagreement between the province's governor and the Iraqi government in Baghdad over control of security forces.

Security concerns also caused delays after a suicide bomber in a police uniform killed more than 20 people, including three Marines, in the town of Karmah, 20 miles west of Baghdad.

Kelly said there would be no further delays despite security concerns and the start of the holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  Chaffing?

chaff[3,verb]


Main Entry:
3chaff
Function:
verb
Date:
1827

transitive verb
: to tease good-naturedly intransitive verb : jest, banter
Posted by: Parabellum || 09/01/2008 10:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Right now, Petraeus should be conducting a rear guard operation. That is, assuming that all congressional and presidential support for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the WoT are going to be pulled out from underneath the Pentagon, as soon as Obama is inaugurated.

Or worse, that the Democrats will try to run the wars, just so they can lose them and kill hundreds or thousands of soldiers, while destroying the morale of the rest.

By this I mean that the Iraqi military should be fully operational and self-supporting, with a procurement list of equipment that can be purchased from election day to inauguration day, on an emergency basis from any supplier.

And that from election day, a dramatic draw down of forces from both nations are to begin immediately. All field commanders will turn over control of their area to their Iraqi counterparts. Evacuation will then commence on the sole order of General Petraeus. He will have no public comment other than "no comment".

Operations in Afghanistan will be to remove all friendly forces from the highest risk areas first and turn operations and equipment over to NATO forces remaining. The situation in Afghanistan will go to hell overnight. Surprise.

General Petraeus will then submit his resignation effective a few days before ID, which will be approved and signed by W. Bush.

So when Obama enters the office, he will have no armies in the field, no commanding officers, and be utterly powerless to betray either Iraq or the US military.

To misuse them, he will have to have new congressional approval to commit forces, he will have to select new generals to lead those forces, and figure out some way of deploying units that don't want to deploy.

And he doesn't have the balls or guts to do so.

Iraq can cite a SOFA clause that once out of the country, Iraq does not have to readmit US forces, and won't. So there will be nothing the Democrats can do to sabotage Iraq.

And the Pentagon can say that it needs a massive budget increase for new equipment and maintenance, and that it will take "a year or two" before they are ready to go to Afghanistan again, once they get the money.

The US Navy is in a much better position, as if Obama orders them to attack anyone, however unlikely, all they have to do is have very bad target analysis, for everything but SAM sites. Hospitals, orphanages, shopping areas, baby food factories, etc.

The Democrats have long hated and despised the military, and made no secret of it. For them to assume that the military will gladly throw away their lives on the whim of such scum is foolhardy.

There are times when military bureaucrats and other REMFs really shine, and this is one of them. If they want to logjam, obfuscate, red tape and stop cold the actions of malevolent politicians, there are none better than the "Chairborne Rangers."

"Urh!" (cough, cough)
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/01/2008 11:16 Comments || Top||

#3  For a long time Obama has puzzled me, he's obviously unqualified, but gets support.

I think I've finaly got his number, he's running like he would for church alderman, not for Pres.
And people are familiar with that kind of campaign.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/01/2008 12:05 Comments || Top||

#4  "Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, is said to have also told Petraeus some U.S. forces should be pulled out of Iraq and deployed to Afghanistan when the two met in July in Baghdad."

WTF? This pathetic media PR for their pathetic candidate has reached stunning levels. As though the USMC is going to listen seriously to that empty suit, who is about to get crushed. Perhaps next The One can drop in on NASA and tweak the settings on their next Mars landers, or drop in at Treasury and help with their currency trading operations.

Also one can only hope that the "mistakes" the general's talking about are recognized above all to have been the failure to impose our will, the basic purpose of warfare. "Alienating" an Anbar Sunni is not something to worry about - it can happen instantly and for no reason. Nice to see the complete fairy tale being peddled by AP - the poor widdle Sunnis were "alienated" - it's not that they were engaged in a vicious barbaric attempt to secure their dominant position and wreck the new Iraq because they couldn't run it, and switched when they had failed after making the appropriate calculations. Nah, nothin' like that.

Posted by: Verlaine || 09/01/2008 12:49 Comments || Top||

#5  'Moose paints a disturbing scenario, and I certainly wouldn't discount it. But I think Bambi as Prez together with Dhimm's in control of both sides of Congress could do far more damage to both the military and the country. My nightmare is that they will do their utmost to 'Europeanize' our forces. They will slash or eliminate funding for operations and maintenance, equipment replacement, weapons procurement, new weapons development, BMD, etc., etc. until our armed forces are a hollow shell, incapable of projecting force to Omaha, much less Afghanistan. Simultaneously, they will make it clear that all provocations, no matter how egregious, will be met with words only, never force. We will have the Tehran embassy takeover repeated over and over. NATO will be toothless and Russia will reabsorb its former empire.

In other words, not only may they try to force defeats in the present wars, they will reverse the result of the Cold War if they can.

All along they will be cheered on by their willing accomplices in the MSM. And they will reintroduce the "Fairness Doctrine" to stifle any organized opposition. Sites like this one will be stomped out.

/plausible nightmare
Posted by: PBMcL || 09/01/2008 13:01 Comments || Top||

#6  More than plausible. Guaranteed.
Posted by: lotp || 09/01/2008 13:07 Comments || Top||

#7  Moose, the Marines have something called 'malicious obedience'.

Meaning if you're despised as a leader, and you order a unit to go from point A to point B, and there's a 10-foot deep ditch between the two points, they will drive right into the ditch, provided none of them will get hurt and other Marines are not counting on them.

The big issue re the military is that the Dems remember that Clinton backed down when the senior military stood up to him on certain issues early in his first term. They won't let that happen again.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/01/2008 13:28 Comments || Top||

#8  All that could be recovered from. Far worse would be the effect of those they would promote to flag rank, the next generation of Weasley Clarks and Meritless McPeaks.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/01/2008 13:37 Comments || Top||

#9  You guys are really pumping up Obama. While I think these are nightmare scenarios, they are nothing more than dreams. If you think that either the military brass or the republicans would sit by idly while this took place, then you are really in dreamland. The MSM doesn't own public opinion any more. If they really tried some of this crap, the dems would be out of office and lose control of congress in 2 years>

Don't get me wrong, I think Obama is a complete douch who will try versions of this stuff. But I doubt very much if he will succeed.
Posted by: remoteman || 09/01/2008 14:04 Comments || Top||

#10  Pappy in labour parlance it's called Working to Rules.
Posted by: .5MT || 09/01/2008 15:21 Comments || Top||

#11  Anbar handed over to the Iraqis, successfully. Whodathunkit? Congratulations to all the men and women who accomplished this improbable task.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/01/2008 18:00 Comments || Top||

#12  indeed, and a deep thanks to and prayer for those who made the ultimate sacrifice and their families and loved ones. Their sacrifice wasn't in vain
Posted by: Frank G || 09/01/2008 18:03 Comments || Top||

#13  More lies. This isn't really what's happening. The One himself said the surge couldn't work.

Or, The One doesn't have perfect judgement and was totally fucking wrong about the only major issue he voted on!
Posted by: Mike N. || 09/01/2008 21:55 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Four gunned down in southern Thailand
Four people, including a police officer, have been shot dead in suspected separatist attacks in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, as the holy month of Ramadan began, police said Monday.

The 43-year-old border patrol police officer was shot dead late on Sunday afternoon in Pattani, one of three provinces plagued by four years of separatist unrest that has left more than 3,400 dead, police said. A 52-year-old Buddhist woman and a 49-year-old Muslim man were also killed in drive-by shootings early Monday in Pattani, they added. In nearby Yala, a 50-year-old Muslim village leader was shot dead on Sunday evening.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/01/2008 05:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


No letup for Muslim rebels in Ramadan: Manila
Philippine troops will continue offensives against Muslim rebels in the south but commanders will make "tactical adjustments" in deference to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, an official said Sunday.

"Our operations against them are continuing even through the Ramadan," army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ernesto Torres said over Manila radio. "There is no instruction for us to stop our offensive against the groups of Bravo and Kato. We cannot delay enforcement of laws."

Soldiers have in the past week taken over more than a dozen camps controlled by Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) leaders Umbra Kato and Abdurahman Macapaar, also known as Commander Bravo, on the southern island of Mindanao.

The two led deadly raids against mostly Christian towns on Mindanao in early August, triggering heavy reprisals from government forces. The fighting has claimed the lives of more than 100 rebels and more than 40 soldiers and civilians and forced more than 280,000 to flee their homes.

Torres said the rebel leaders' forces had splintered into smaller groups on the run in the hinterland. The two men were said to be wounded and running low on ammunition amid the unrelenting offensive, which has put on hold any prospect of resuming peace talks with the separatists in the immediate term.

Kato and Bravo are hard-line senior MILF members. They launched their attacks after the Supreme Court on August 4 blocked a deal that would have given the MILF control over an expanded Muslim autonomous area.

Torres said ground commanders had been ordered to make some "tactical adjustments" including assisting Muslims in evacuation camps who want to go to mosques and places of worship.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Moro Islamic Liberation Front


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Imam killed in Lebanon village shootout
An imam was killed and five people wounded in a gun battle between rival communities in a village in northern Lebanon on Sunday, a security official said.

The shooting erupted between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in the village of Sheikhlar in the northern region of Akkar, he said, adding that rescue workers were unable to enter because of the intensity of the fighting. The official identified the victim as Ezzedin Kassem, the imam of the mosque in a neighboring village.

Five other people were hurt in the shootout, he said, adding that automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades were used in the fighting which was triggered by a "dispute between villagers."

The village lies about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the port city of Tripoli, the scene of a spate of deadly clashes between the two communities which each support rival political factions.

In June and July, 23 people were killed in battles between Sunni Muslim supporters of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and their Damascus-backed rivals from the Alawite community who support the Shiite militant Hezbollah movement. There has been tension between the two ever since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.

Alawites consider themselves a sect of Islam and straddle the border into Syria whose President Bashar al-Assad is a follower of the faith. Sheikhlar is also home to Maronite Christians.
Posted by: Fred || 09/01/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hezbollah

#1  Other than Left wing bloggers, is there any bigger collection of irrational nutballs than an ME muslim with a weapon?
Posted by: anymouse || 09/01/2008 0:02 Comments || Top||



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Mon 2008-09-01
  Missile strike kills six in Miranshah
Sun 2008-08-31
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Sat 2008-08-30
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Fri 2008-08-29
  Hezbollah shoots at Lebanese Army helicopter, kills officer
Thu 2008-08-28
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Wed 2008-08-27
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Tue 2008-08-26
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Mon 2008-08-25
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Sun 2008-08-24
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Fri 2008-08-22
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Thu 2008-08-21
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