Armed Taliban militants abducted six musicians and an election worker in eastern Afghanistan, one of whom was later found dead, a local official said. The body of one musician was found today, one day after the group was kidnapped in Paktika province, provincial spokesman Hameedullah Jowak said. "One of the six musicians abducted on Saturday by Taliban was found dead in the district. We have no information on the fate of the other five," he said.
The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the hostages had flouted a ban on music, but denied killing the victim. "We abducted them after they continued to sing and play music despite a recent ban on music announced by Taliban. One of them died of a heart attack," said Abdul Wakil Mubariz, who claims to be the provincial Taliban commander.
Jowak said armed militants had snatched the election worker from his house in the same province on Thursday.
On Sunday, militants attacked a convoy en route to a coalition base in southern Ghazni province, sparking a gun battle in which three Taliban were killed, provincial spokesman Ismail Jahangir said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Don't shoot the piano player, he's doing the best he... blam.
2300 years ago Alexander faced the same problems in Afghanistan as NATO.
So there are meaningful patterns, and lessons can be learned from Alexander's experiences. Holt writes that the war in Bactria and Sogdia is typified by "charismatic leadership, fierce local loyalties, shifting alliances, guerilla tactics, gritty endurance, and inborn xenophobia", and he states that the strategy and tactics of Alexander's enemy Spitamenes "anticipated those that have distinguished the campaigns of modern Afghan militants: the element of surprise, the avoidance of warfare waged from a fixed position, the use of terror, the exploitation of weather and terrain, the application of primitive technologies to achieve unexpected results" (pages 81-82). The implied lesson is that the Coalition troops in Afghanistan today can be the master of any battlefield, and still lose the war. A tactical victory can be a strategic defeat. The soldiers who invaded Afghanistan to liberate it from the Taliban do not have history on their side
Three police officers died and five others were wounded when a bomb exploded near their vehicle in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, an official said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast in southern Kandahar, which also wounded seven civilians who were passing by.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
NEW DELHI: The Navy is saddled with two-dozen pirates it captured in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday with no country willing to take them into custody till reports last came in. India has now approached Yemen asking whether it would like to prosecute the pirates in line with its commitment on anti-piracy operations in the area.
Besides, according to the Navy, 11 of the pirates are from Yemen. The remaining 12, arrested by the Navy while responding to a distress call from a merchant vessel, are Somalis. But with the State virtually non-existent and the political crises having deepened with the President of Somalia firing his government, there are no official takers in Somalia.
The subject was the focus of discussions at a roundtable on anti-piracy operations in Manama on Saturday to which India was invited. The consensus that emerged was that there was no enabling provision in the international law to deal with a situation where pirates are arrested in the international waters.
Come now, I'm sure there's a deserted island in the Indian Ocean that could use a few pirates .. without food .. without clothing .. without anything ...
During operations earlier, INS Tabar had once fended off two piracy bids. In either case, there were no arrests. Now, its successor INS Mysore has to carry the pirates on board till a country accepts them for prosecution.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 12:38 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Davy Jones would take 'em.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2008 12:43 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Just drop them off any old place. Like 3 miles out to sea should do it. I bet few of them can swim at all; very few people can swim three miles in the ocean.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
12/15/2008 19:18 Comments ||
Top||
Several thousand civilians fled the Sudanese town of Abyei after renewed clashes in the disputed oil district where fighting this year raised fears of a return to civil war, officials said on Sunday. "The general population, because of the sensitivity of the area and because of the experience of what happened in May, don't want to hear [gunfire]. It scares them," said Abyei chief administrator Arop Moyak.
The region of Abyei, with its considerable oil wealth, lies on the faultline between North and South Sudan with borders still unresolved more than three years after a peace agreement ended decades of civil war.
"Those who left [are] not less than 3,000, but there is a sign that some of them are coming back," Moyak said.
One person was killed and four to 10 others wounded when police and soldiers traded fire, less than two weeks after UN officials said that thousands of civilians were returning home after fighting flattened the town in May.
Moyak broke off urgent talks in the South Sudanese capital Juba to return to Abyei on Saturday after the violence flared the previous day in a blow to hopes of a return to security after the devastating fighting of seven months ago.
"The assessment is ongoing, but right now we're looking at 400 to 500 households on the road toward Agok [from Abyei]," one aid worker told AFP. "Most of the shops are closed and many of the traders are packing up. We don't have a sense of numbers, but the problem is the center of town. On the periphery there are people who are still staying," the aid worker added.
The precise cause of the renewed clashes is murky, but some officials pointed to an argument between a market trader and a soldier.
In a dangerous development for stability in the disputed district, the clashes involved police and soldiers from joint units of former foes from North and South, whose deployment was supposed to restore security to the town.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
ISLAMABAD, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Monday that he has rejected a request from his British counterpart Gordon Brown to allow British police to question arrested suspects related to Mumbai attacks.
Speaking before a general debate on Mumbai attacks, Gilani toldthe parliament that if there were any proofs, these suspects will be prosecuted under the law of Pakistan.
"The British Prime Minister asked me to allow British police to have access to the Pakistanis. But I turned down the request," said Gilani.
Brown offered Pakistan and India help to fight terrorism on Sunday during a whirlwind visit to the region aimed to ease tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors after the Mumbai terror attacks, which killed more than 170.
During the talks with leaders of the two countries, Brown had asked them to allow British police to question suspects arrested over the terrorist attacks, reports said.
Pakistan-India tensions are mounting as the Indian side accused Pakistan-based militant groups of involvement in the terrorist attack in India's financial center.
Under pressure from India and the United States, Pakistan has intensified clampdown on the suspected groups and arrested some leaders from the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jamaat-ud-Dawa charity blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan said Saturday that Indian fighter jets had violated its airspace twice, causing unrest for both countries. However, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said later that Indian planes had intruded into Pakistan airspace because of a technical mistake.
"We have to focus on our problems and we don't want to go into war," the Associated Press of Pakistan quoted Gilani as saying.
"But if the war is thrust on us, we will stand united like a respectful nation," Gilani said.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 18:35 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
He did take the British aid money that Brown offered though...
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 18:44 Comments ||
Top||
#2
India is simply going to have to retaliate in kind. Pick out a hundred commercial targets, and tell the Pakistanis that these targets could be attacked at any time, via missile or bomb, and that they should all be evacuated, just in case. Watch Pakistan's economy collapse into ruin. Then bomb some randomly selected target to rubble.
As Parliament debated the issue, indications from South Block were that India might move to cancel the dialogue process, while holding out the threat of surgical strikes on terror camps. In fact, a quick assessment made in the war room in South Block revealed that most targets were within India's artillery (45km) or Prithvi (250km) range. "We can inflict punishment without crossing the border or LoC," said an Army officer.
An Indian 24 hour news channel affiliated with CNN broadcast the following report from an unidentified source.
“Any Indian decision to carry out a strike on terror targets inside Pakistan will be based on the Cold Start doctrine in place since 2004. The Cold Start doctrine followed the Operation Parakram experience when India took as long as a month to mobilise its troops.
The new doctrine will enable the Armed Forces to mobilise for a ground or air strike within hours. Integrated battle groups, comprising elements of the army including infantry, armour and artillery -- and working in tandem with the Air Force -- will carry out an operation against clearly defined targets in Pakistan. These could be terror training camps or launch pads to infiltrate terrorists into India. It could also target elements of the Pakistani army that may try to defend the terrorists.
The doctrine talks about eight rapidly-deployable "integrated battle groups," drawn from the Navy and the Indian Air Force. These groups would be trained to make swift and hard inroads into the enemy territory. The strikes should be "limited" and "calibrated" to ensure nuclear weapons do not come into play in any war scenario.”
The report is a reminder that after the 2002 crises, India adopted a new strategic doctrine. It is built around maintaining a core attack force in all three services at a level of constant combat readiness that is much higher than the rest of the armed forces. Thus, analysts monitoring conventional war indicators will be prone to miss the tell tale indicators of “integrated battle groups” already at high combat readiness in peacetime making final preparations for limited attacks.
Comment: When NightWatch first began studying Indian civil and military war preparations in 1971, the Indian Army required 8 months to mobilize men from the civilian sector; recall reserves; move logistics; generate, train and prepare the forces; bring them to full combat readiness and move 750,000 soldiers in 25 to 28 divisions with about 2,000 tanks to attack positions in western India,
In late 1986, during Operation Brass Tacks, India shortened that preparation process, but it was still considerable. By the time of the Kargil War in early 1999, the Army reduced the time to attain full combat readiness in battle positions to 45 days.
By the January 2002 crisis, the Indian Army had reduced the time to one month, with 750,000 men and some 4,000 tanks in battle positions and capable of attacking after three weeks of preparations. Full combat readiness was reached in the fourth week. In June 2002, the Army also showed it can maintain that large force in the field at a high state of readiness for up to six months, summer or winter. No other Army has achieved those results for a force that size.
Since 2004, India has adopted the Cold Start Doctrine, which has a long history in Soviet strategic military writings, more so than in the West. It emerged from Soviet leadership distrust in the reliability and precision of intelligence warning of a NATO attack. It was a safeguard against warning failure and surprise attack. However, it was never clear whether the Soviets achieved the ability to launch a nuclear attack from a cold start.
The Indians have taken the doctrine in an all-arms direction, which logically would include nuclear strikes by all three services because all of them have some nuclear weapons delivery capability. The record of Indian achievement in reducing the time to prepare the armed forces for conventional war is such that prudence commends a working hypothesis that they will do what they say they can do, as to cold start.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 19:45 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Guess this is a good a time as any to give the Indians the F-16 shut off codes.
Posted by: ed ||
12/15/2008 21:39 Comments ||
Top||
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said that Islamabad has not honoured its promise to eliminate Lashkar-e-Toiba and felt that Washington can no longer “wink and nod” on the presence of terrorist groups in Pakistan
“They promised (after the attack on Indian Parliament in 2001). And they went about saying, see they (terrorists) are not there any more,” Powell disclosed, saying that the group, suspected to have masterminded the Mumbai carnage, “changed names and changed form”.
Powell, who was the Chairman Chief of Staff of the US Forces, said US could no longer “wink and nod” on the presence of terrorist groups in Pakistan and would have to make it clear to Islamabad that “they have to take them on”.
“They (Pakistan) have to take them on. And if they don’t, then you will have these incidents over time, and the situation will remain unstable,” he said.
“Just the other day, Pakistan government arrested a number of people and said they had raided seven camps,” Powell said. “And the question that immediately occurred to me was why are there seven camps?”
Pakistanis have to make a strategic choice, both a political choice, a military choice and a choice on the part of Inter-Services security apparatus that “we can no longer pay the price of having this kind of terrorist organisation inside Pakistan,” Powell said in an interview to CNN.
For the first time, Powell, who was the Secretary of State when the Indian Parliament was attacked, admitted that previous crackdowns on organisations like Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) had got away with just “cosmetic” show.
“But I would say to my Pakistani friends, don’t let it happen again,” Powell said.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 18:34 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Funny how after years of silence, Powell starts wagging his finger and scolding.
RAWALPINDI: A Pakistani lawyer C M Farooque claimed that many people, including Ajmal Kasab, were arrested before 2006 from Kathmandu by the Indian agencies with the help of Nepalese forces.
He said Ajmal Kasab went to the Napalese capital on a business tour. His application regarding his arrest was lying pending in the Nepalese Supreme Court in which a reply was sought from Nepalese forces and Indian High Commission.
While talking to the Geo News, C M Farooque Advocate said the Nepalese forces arrested almost 200 people including Ajmal Kasab before 2006 and his application in this regard was lying pending in the Nepalese Supreme Court in which Nepalese forces and Indian High Commission were made respondents.
The advocate said he wrote letters to Pakistan and Indian governments in this regard. He said that he had also addressed a press conference in Nepal highlighting the issue in which he revealed that the Nepalese forces arrested Ajmal Kasab and many others and held them at an unknown place and that these people would be used for their ulterior designs at some later stage. He said that he had no contact with Ajmal Kasab ever since he disappeared.
The lawyer said he was still pleading the case of Kasab and was to visit Nepal towards the end of this month. The Nepalese Supreme Court had repeatedly issued notices to the respondents to furnish their reply but they did not submit any reply.
Advocate Farooque said he had filed the petition in the Nepalese Supreme Court in February 2008. He said he was running an NGO, ‘Voice of Human and Prisoners Rights’ and the parents of Ajmal Kasab contacted him for help in this regard after appealing to the Pakistan Government for help.
The people arrested in Nepal had gone there on legal visa for business but Indian agencies were in the habit of capturing Pakistanis from Nepal and afterwards implicated them in the Mumbai-like incidents to malign Pakistan.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 16:17 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I think the concluding sentence pretty much sums up the logic and tradition buttressing the "rule of law", in all its glory, in Pakistan.
The people arrested in Nepal had gone there on legal visa for business but Indian agencies were in the habit of capturing Pakistanis from Nepal and afterwards implicated them in the Mumbai-like incidents to malign Pakistan.
#2
Pshaw. I'm from Chicago, I can read that. Translation --
"Sleeper agents from the L-e-T and the ISI (but we repeat ourselves) had gone to Nepal on various pretexts so as to set up safe houses, stockpile ammo, and infiltrate India from the northern border. However, they weren't nearly as clever as they thought they were and so were pinched by Indian counter-intel agents. Soon extradited secretly to India, they met up with Mukkarjee and Chaudhary, and more importantly with the number 7 truncheons both were carrying, in an unmarked dungeon in an undisclosed location. So encouraged, they spilled their guts first literally and then figuratively. Having been wrung out like cheap tubes of toothpaste, they've been disposed of and certainly won't be seen in Nepal."
How's that?
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/15/2008 17:00 Comments ||
Top||
#3
That may all be true Dr. Steve, but Mr. Farooque, esq. of Pakistan and quite probably of the propaganda arm of the ISI will look at your translation and say, "So what? He is a pure citizen of the Land of the Pure, and therefore innocent. Besides, everything he told Mukkarjee, Chaudhary, and the #7 truncheons were lying lies from a liar, and therefore are not true. Also, the kufr Hindoos make things up, so why believe them instead of a Muslim lawyer."
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has decided not to dismantle the vast infrastructure of the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, despite the UN security councils ban on the outfit in the wake of last months terrorist strike on Mumbai. ( Watch )
The Security Council had on December 10 imposed sanctions on the Jamaat and branded four of its top commanders terrorists, including JuD chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed and LeT operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, alleged mastermind of the Mumbai attacks.
This forced Islamabad to crack down on the Jamaat. Saeed was placed under house arrest and the JuDs offices were sealed and bank accounts frozen. But all this appears to have been an eyewash as the interior ministry has told all four provincial governments not to take any action against any of the Jamaat’s 500 seminaries and Dawa model schools — often described by the Western media as training camps and indoctrination centres.
Pakistan's Foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi confirmed in Paris that Jamaat-run seminaries and schools would continue to function as usual, claiming that there was no evidence to suggest that the outfit was promoting extremism or violence there.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 16:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Trying the old "nod vigorously and lie like hell" ploy.
Pakistani authorities and residents of Ajmal Amir Iman's village have apparently launched efforts to cover up their links with the lone terrorist arrested for the Mumbai terror attacks, days after his father admitted that the young man as shown by the media was his son.
Pakistani security and intelligence agencies have deployed a large number of personnel in plainclothes at Faridkot in Okara district of Punjab province, from where Ajmal hails, with journalists visiting the area having to face angry protests.
Footage of the intelligence operatives has been aired by Geo News channel. The News daily reported that journalists who visited Faridkot on December 6 were surrounded by over 100 people, some of them armed with cane sticks, who pressurised the reporters not to interview anybody or do any filming in the area.
Ghulam Mustafa Wattoo, the mayor of the local council who has been at the forefront of efforts to deny Iman's links to the village, warned the journalists that they would be responsible for the 'consequences' if they went against the wishes of the people.
One person tried to snatch the camera and wallet of a foreign journalist and a team from a TV channel was assaulted by persons who snatched their mobile phones and digital video (DV) tapes and tried to smash their cameras.
Asim Rana, who was in-charge of the team, said villagers could not take DV tapes from the camera 'with such expertise' because they would not know how to extract the tapes. "It clearly shows that some people from the (security) agencies are among the villagers, who are running the whole show," Rana said.
An unnamed top Pakistani politician and a senior Punjab police official had also confirmed to a foreign journalist that Iman belonged to Faridkot, The News reported.
On Sunday, hundreds of people from Faridkot blocked the Dipalpur-Kasur road for about two hours to protest what they described as a media campaign 'wrongly linking their village' to Iman.
During the protest, Mayor Wattoo said Iman was not a resident of the village and was not related to anyone there.
Iman's father Amir Kasab admitted to the influential Dawn newspaper that the terrorist shown in pictures of the attack on a train terminus in Mumbai was his son. After he spoke to the newspaper, AmirKasab and his wife Noor were moved from their home in Faridkot to an undisclosed location.
Geo News channel too has aired what it described as secretly filmed footage of Faridkot residents acknowledging that Iman belonged to the village. The residents said Iman had last visited Faridkot five to six months ago, when he told his mother he was going away for jihad.
The channel also reported that a man named Ghafoor is currently living in Amir Kasab's home in Faridkot. Ghafoor has been claiming before media persons that he has been living in the house for 'several years'.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 16:08 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = GOOGLE Chinglish translation] > CHINESE AMBASSADOR: MUMBAI TERROR WEAPONS WERE NOT MADE IN CHINA; + SIM CARD TERRORIST WHOM HELPED BUY, SUPPLY ARMS TO MUMBAI ATTACKERS WORKS FOR INDIAN INTELLIGENCE - INDIA CLAIMS TACTIC/RUSE WAS NEEDED TO ACQUIRE VITAL INFORMATION ON TERROR GROUPS, PLOTS???
HMMMMM, so IOW, INDIA = INDIAN GOVT-INTEL may had potentially been aware of aspects of the Mumbai Attack but ultimately failed to prevent it???
LAHORE: The Pakistan Army urgently needs improved gear the US has been promising for years to eliminate the Taliban from the country, according to a Newsweek report on Sunday that cited top Pakistan military officials – with pressure on the country more than ever to crack down on the Taliban in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.
New Delhi has been blaming Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba for the attacks, but the organisation itself has denied involvement. India has gone as far as pointing a finger at PakistanÂ’s intelligence agencies, and several of its parliamentarians have been calling for war with the neighbour.
But international experts – including some in India – have been hinting that Islamabad could not have been involved.
According to the Newsweek report, the army insists it is doing all it can in the war on terror with the limited equipment it has, but for the country to do more, the US urgently needs to deliver the promised goods.
“We are on a war footing,” says the national-security chief, Gen (r) Mahmud Ali Durrani. “But [the US] supply chain is working on a peacetime basis ... you have to support us at much greater speed.”
Senior Pakistani officials say Washington promised, in 2004, to deliver 20 Cobra helicopters within two years. But four years have passed, and only 12 have been delivered. The Newsweek quoted the officials as saying that Pakistan needed the remaining eight Cobras in a hurry.
“We’re burning them up at quite a rate,” says a senior Pakistani official. “We use them aggressively in combat almost daily.” Complaining to the Americans seems to do at least some good, he says, as lately, they have expedited the release of spare parts for the existing fleet of Cobras.
The report says that Pakistan still has a long backlist of items the army needs in the war on terror – including precision-laser target designators for F-16 fighters, helicopters and infantry to minimize collateral damage from strikes against militant hideouts; laser-guided bombs and ammunition for use with the targeting devices; and night-vision aviation goggles; jamming equipment to protect military vehicles from improvised explosive devices; and electronic eavesdropping equipment to find and monitor Taliban communications.
Citing a congressional staff expert on US arms sales, the report says the Pakistan military has “a reasonable basis for complaint, but that’s universal, not unique to Pakistan”. Nevertheless, he says, the delays probably arose at least in part from Washington’s impatience at the previous regime’s “reluctance to take decisive action” against the Taliban.
The congressional source says, “There’s a drill that’s as old as the hills, which is you do the slowdown of deliveries ... I think a lot of this came to a head prior to the changeover of government in Pakistan, so things may be getting better now.” The report concludes that Pakistani troops can only hope so.
Pakistan became a ‘frontline ally’ of the US in the war on terror after the 9/11 attacks. US officials, however, have been repeatedly calling on Pakistan to ‘do more’ to rein in the Taliban, especially in the Tribal Areas.
Posted by: john frum ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
why want someone in our state dept tell them too just go ahead and fuck off
#2
Front line ally or front line enemy? It's getting kinda hard to tell. Give 'em better equipment to fight the Taliban and they use it to fight India. Pardon me if I'm a little confused here but I don't think I'd give 'em the time of day at this point.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
12/15/2008 10:55 Comments ||
Top||
#3
"Pakistan needs improved gear to fight give to the Tliban"
#5
I agree. How bout some nice JDAMS but since your highways are not safe how 'bout we just air drop them to you, all we need are the coordinates ummK?
Hundreds of armed Taliban attacked a bazaar in Tull tehsil of Hangu district late on Saturday and torched at least 18 shops, police said.
District Police Officer Sajjad Khan told Daily Times that Taliban had blown up two shops with explosives and set fire to 16 others. They also collected CDs and other inventory from eight shops and burnt them near Bannu Chowk, he added. He said the Taliban managed to escape after police opened fire on them.
Locals said Taliban attacked the bazaar from three directions and wreaked havoc for three hours. Blaming police negligence for the damage, they said they had promptly informed the police, which had failed to act in time.
Tull is surrounded by the Tribal Areas from all sides, with Kurram Agency to its west, North Waziristan Agency to the north, Bulandkel area of Orakzai Agency to the southwest, Lower Kurram Agency to the northwest and Palosin Wazir area of North Waziristan to its northeast.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#4
It is either because listening to music is enjoyable and therefore un-Islamic or because CDs have a hole in the middle that inspires lustful thoughts in the easily confused Muslim mind.
Four shops and a police post were damaged in two separate bomb blasts on Sunday, police said, but there were no casualties. A police official told Daily Times a blast caused by a low-intensity explosive device at around 5am on Sunday had damaged an electric store, a public call office, a snooker club and an embroidery shop in Gang Area in the Kotwali police station precincts. Police have registered a case and started investigations, he added. Another bomb blast later in the day damaged a police post on Ring Road in the Faqirabad police station jurisdiction on Sunday, police said. Meanwhile, suspected Taliban fired two rockets on the city late on Saturday, but there were no casualties. One rocket landed in Army Stadium and the other in open fields near Faqir Kilay.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
The Taliban killed an anti-Taliban cleric, Pir Samiullah, and his eight followers, a private TV channel reported on Sunday. Soon after the killings, the Taliban took over Mandal Daag area in Swat from the followers of the cleric.
According to the channel, Samiullah and his followers were killed and several others injured in the Taliban attack that began late on Saturday. The Taliban also torched the houses of Samiullah and 15 elders of his group, and kidnapped 25 of his followers. The Taliban later launched a search operation and seized 50 rifles, a rocket launcher and others weapons from the dead cleric's followers.
Meanwhile, another TV channel said police arrested Taliban commander Khalid Raheem near Hangu while he was returning from Peshawar. The channel quoted its sources as saying that the police barricaded the Hangu-Peshawar road after being tipped off about the commander. Raheem is wanted by the police in several cases and is also said to be involved in the recent attacks on police stations and Frontier Constabulary checkposts, the channel said.
Two Taliban were killed and four others were injured in security forces' operation in Bajaur Agency on Sunday, the NNI news agency reported. It quoted official sources as saying the security forces targeted Taliban hideouts with artillery and mortars in various areas of Mamoond and Nawagai tehsils.
Meanwhile, Bannu police foiled a terrorist attack in the Cantonment area. The district police officer said unidentified men planted two 50kg bombs in pressure cookers under a bridge, which the bomb disposal squad defused. A grandson of Khyber Agency tribal elder Shamsher Afridi was killed near Jamrud when unidentified assailants fired at his car.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
#1
Hussein Hatfield, meet Mohammed McCoy. Feud until there's only one of you left.
The federal government has launched a crackdown against Al-Amin Trust (AAT), sealing 24 offices and freezing its bank accounts across the country, sources told Daily Times on Sunday. The sources said that according to a notification issued on Sunday to all the provinces, the federal Interior Ministry ordered the sealing of all AAT offices as well as seizing its accounts and licensed weapons. However, no arrests were made nor any weapons recovered, they added. I'm so surprised.
Senior Superintendent of Police Sohail Zafar Chatta confirmed sealing the AAT head office in Karachi. The AAT has three other offices in Karachi and 20 in 15 other cities. "All of our offices have been sealed and bank accounts seized," AAT spokesman Muhammad Abdullah told Daily Times. "As for the recovery of weapons, we do not have any arms," he added.
Abdullah said the AAT ambulance service had also been stopped. He said the organisation was engaged in welfare and relief activities. "We are still trying to figure out why the government has taken this step," he said. "We will appeal in the court to challenge the imposition of the ban because we were never involved in any immoral activity and our relief and other activities in Pakistan are being affected following this step."
Sources disclosed AAT was the new name of Al-Rasheed Trust (ART), which was established in 1996 by Mufti Rasheed Ahmed. After Rasheed's death in 2003, Mufti Abdul Raheem took over the charge. ART was renamed as AAT when the previous government banned it. They further said ART was involved in financially supporting Taliban in the Tribal Areas and treating injured Taliban.
They said AAT had a nationwide network and ran many organisations including Islam Welfare Foundation, Pakistan Blood Bank and Al-Aziz ambulance service. Abdullah denied the organisation had any link to ART. However, he said, AAT drew inspiration from ART.
A private TV channel reported Lahore police also sealed three AAT offices.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
Washington and Baghdad have officially signed a security agreement amid reports that the US is preparing for a longer stay in Iraq. Outgoing US president George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki signed the deal in Baghdad, AFP reported on Sunday.
The agreement, which is opposed by many Iraqi political and religious leaders, would extend the presence of US troops in Iraq for three more years after their UN mandate expires on December 31. The deal, however, will be put on a national referendum in July 2009.
Under the deal, US forces should leave Iraqi cities by the end of June 2009 and leave the country by the end of 2011.
US commander Raymond Odierno, however, announced earlier that thousands of US troops would remain in Iraqi cities after the deadline. The statement sparked outrage among some lawmakers who say the US is paving the way for breaching the interim agreement. According to the parliamentarians, the commander's statement hints that US troops are planning to stay in Iraq for a longer period than what is envisaged in the pact.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
IIRC, US-IRAQ PACT > any and all US troops are suppos to leave Iraq NLT than June 30, 2011.
IOW, Radical Islam has bwtn 2009 - June 30, 2011 to attack and destabilize large parts of Asia and Africa unto ANTI-US PRO-ISLAM/ISLAMISM[read, Nuclear States Russia, China, India, etc. enclaves]. ALthough ideally post-June 30, 2011 would appear to be the best time for ANY ISLAMIST HIDDEN IMAM-MAHDI TO MAKE HIS APPEARANCE, + MILITANTS RETURN TO REFIGHT THE BATTLE FOR IRAQ IN THE ABSENCE OF ANY OR POTENT "IN-COUNTRY" US-ALLIED MILFORS, IMO I DON'T THINK IRAN NOR "JIHAD" CAN WAIT THAT LONG [2011 and beyond] FOR IRAN TO PUT OFF EFFEC NUCLEARIZATION = STRATEGIC WEAPONIZATION, ETC.
IMO for Radical Islam to choose to wait beyond Year 2010 invites greater likelihood of per se LT Defeat or Destruction of the global Islamist Movement. UNLESS, OF COURSE, US MILPOL ATTENTION IS DIVERTED ELSEWHERE E.G. NORTH KOREA, TAIWAN ISSUES, ESPEC NORTH KOREA GIVEN ITS STEADILY RISING LEVELS OF NATIONAL FAMINE [UNO = just under 50%].
* Also, WAFF/TOPIX > RUSSIA MOUNTS A LIMITED MILITARY OPERATION [South Ossetia] TO TAKE BACK PREVI VILLAGE: GEORGIA; +
* WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC CHINA: TIME IS NOW FOR CHINA, JAPAN TO FORMALLY FOREVER SETTLE DAOYU ISLANDS DISPUTE; + JAPAN IS EAST CHINA: TIME IS NOT RIGHT FOR EAST CHINA GOVT. [Japan]TO GO AGAINST EUROPE/EU AS PER US FINANCIAL CRISIS [$$$ Bailout]???
Israel is planning to free 227 Palestinian prisoners on Monday, military radio reported, after a special government committee approved the list of those set for release. The radio said 217 of the prisoners would be sent home to the West Bank and another 10 to the Gaza Strip, although none are members of the Hamas, which Israel considers a terrorist group.
Israel's cabinet approved the release last month as a gesture to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, and it was initially due to take place to mark the Muslim festival of Eidul Azha last week, before being delayed. Israeli PM Ehud Olmert told Abbas at their last meeting in November of his plan to release 250 prisoners, but a government committee last Sunday approved a list of only 230 names.
The committee decided on the list according to criteria, which rule out freeing prisoners who belong to groups such as Hamas, the Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, or those implicated in deadly attacks. Israel freed 198 Palestinian prisoners in August, but more than 11,000 Palestinians are still held in its jails.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
A Jerusalem District Court on Sunday indicted two Israeli Arabs from East Jerusalem who were allegedly plotting to kidnap Border Police officers from a checkpoint in the West Bank.
The two defendants, Abdallah Abid, 21, and Iyad Abid, 19, were arrested as part of a joint investigation carried out by the Shin Bet Security Service and the Israel Police. Both men carry Israeli identity cards.
The two confessed to being members of Hamas and of planning to attack a Border Patrol jeep with a tractor and abduct a patrolman to use to barter for the release of Hamas prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The two men had pooled money to buy a pistol and a search of their homes turned up a taser, clubs, knives, masks, and gloves. The two men also confessed to torching polling stations in East Jerusalem during municipal elections in November.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/15/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
he two men also confessed to torching polling stations in East Jerusalem during municipal elections in November.
Weeee don't want to vote! We just want to bang on our drum all day!!!!!!
#4
Making a 10 foot tall paper mache is impressive enough, but how did they get the fire to shoot out of its mouth? And how did the explain the mock joo-cooties, the george lucas way?
#7
No law about cluster booms, napalm or nooks. It's just every assumes there is.
Now.... MOABs why, they outta be outlawed, every woman and child in Iraq know the horror of that weapon. Matter of fact maybe we could unilaterally un-MOAB (no one else got 'em!) it would be a huge gesture to destroy these death dealing giants from sky.
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.
