On this day in history: April 30th.
1492 Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.
1789 On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
1803 The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
1812 The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
1900 Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
1900 Casey Jones dies in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, while trying to make up time on the Cannonball Express.
1927 Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
1939 World's Fair: NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's opening day ceremonial address.
1975 Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.
1993 The World Wide Web is born at CERN.
#3
GBUSMC you have hit on an all-time family tradition there! White Christmas gets drug out every year as it has been since I was first falling for Vera Ellen 50 yrs ago. We'll have to see if my boys carry on the tradition when they have a choice of their own (after I'm dead).
An unidentified, jet propelled UAV has been spotted operating from an American airbase in Afghanistan. It's a flying wing design, similar to the X-45s and X-47s built as development aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and Navy. These UCAVs (Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles) were built to carry weapons, and the one spotted in Afghanistan may have a bomb bay as well.
A senior British Army officer and six other military personnel survived an attack when a tethered donkey laden with explosives was detonated as their armored vehicle passed in southern Afghanistan.
The huge explosion showered the soldier standing on top cover out of the Mastiffs turret with donkey entrails and blood, and the sight was so gruesome that the rest of those in the vehicle thought he had been mortally wounded in the blast, south of Garmsir in southern Helmand province.
Im all right, Im all right, he shouted, according to one of the officers at the incident who spoke to The Times, giving the first account of the incident.
Wed spotted the donkey tethered to a tree as we were on our way down south to monitor an operation that had been going on that day, but thought nothing of it. There are donkeys around everywhere, the officer said.
Nothing happened when they first passed, but as the patrol returned to the British battle group headquarters at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Delhi, explosives hidden in buckets slung from the donkeys saddle were detonated.
I was asleep because you can feel quite nauseous travelling in a Mastiff and was woken by the explosion, the officer said. When I saw the top cover guy covered in blood, I tried to get to him with emergency medical kit.
He said he was all right but I told him he had been badly injured. When we realized what had happened it wasnt long before the first donkey jokes started to come out drop the dead donkey was one, and pain in the ass another.
The explosion damaged three of the wheels of the Mastiff and caused severe hearing problems for the Territorial Army soldier riding aloft. The stench of donkey remains lingered for weeks inside the vehicle.
We were really lucky, especially the top cover TA soldier. The explosion seemed to go upwards and over the top but there were nails packed into the explosives, so it was a miracle there were no injuries. We reckon the two buckets could hold about 20 kilos of explosives, the officer said.
Troops in Afghanistan have been attacked by a boy with a wheelbarrow full of explosives and a bicycle with a bomb attached, but the explosion south of Garmsir in southern Helmand province is thought to be the first using tethered livestock.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/30/2009 13:08 Comments ||
Top||
#5
I s'pose we should all be grateful this year's panic isn't about donkey flu. They aren't likely to encounter an infected swine bearing an IED in Afghanistan in the near future.
The US launched a covert airstrike against a Taliban safe house in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan.
An unmanned Predator strike aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles at a Taliban safehouse in the town of Kanigoram, which is just 15 miles south of the main town of Wana. Eight Taliban fighters were killed in the strike, Geo News reported. No senior Taliban or al Qaeda leaders have been reported killed at this time.
The town of Wana is a stronghold of South Waziristan Taliban commander Mullah Nazir, a former rival and now ally of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. The US targeted Nazir and Tahir Yuldashev, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, in a strike near Wana on Nov. 7. Nazir was wounded in the attack. Yuldashev's status is still unknown, but it is believed he survived the attack.
The US is on pace to exceed last year's total of 36 airstrikes in Pakistan. Today's strike is the fifth this month and the sixteenth inside Pakistan this year. Good to see President Obama has not pulled the plug on these operations.
The last attack took place on April 19 in the town of Gangi Khel, which is also near the town of Wana. The region is a known Taliban and al Qaeda hotbed.
The Pakistani government officially protests the Predator strikes, but behind the scenes the government allows the attacks and the military passes some intelligence to US intelligence to target Taliban leaders. US Predators are based in Pakistan and are operated by the CIA.
During 2008, the US strikes inside Pakistan's tribal areas killed five senior al Qaeda leaders. All of the leaders were involved in supporting al Qaeda's external operations directed at the West.
In 2009, US strikes have killed two senior, long-time al Qaeda leaders. Osama al Kini and his senior aide, Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, were killed in a New Year's Day strike in South Waziristan. Kini was al Qaeda operations chief in Pakistan. Both men were behind the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, which killed 224 civilians and wounded more than 5,000 others.
#1
Nothing makes me happier in the morning than hellfire missiles. At least Obama is listening to Gates and Petraeus and continuing to aggressively hunt Al Qaeda in Pakistan with these missile strikes.
[ADN Kronos] The Taliban has announced it will launch a major new military offensive against foreign forces in Afghanistan from Thursday.
Are we to dread this?
The deputy of the Afghan Taliban's supreme leader Mullah Omar said on Wednesday the militant group would begin a new "strong and robust" operation.
More than 25,000 extra US and NATO forces are due to arrive in the country this year in a bid to counter its increasingly ferocious Taliban-led insurgency.
"As the US and NATO want to send more troops to Afghanistan, the Afghans too sense the need for a strong and robust operation to counter the new forces," Mullah Brodar Akhund, the Taliban's second-in-command, said in a statement. "The target of the operation will be military bases of invaders, diplomatic centres, military convoys, officials of the puppet government and members of the parliament," he said in a statement.
Brodar said the operation, called 'Nasrat' (Assistance), would include an increased number of suicide attacks, ambushes and offensive assaults. His statement also called on the Afghan government, employees and security forces to stop working with the "puppet government."
Haulage firms that transport military supplies for NATO troops and construction companies that build military bases in Afghanistan should halt their activities or face reprisals, the statement warned.
It came the same day that a suicide car bomber rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a convoy of the NATO-led ISAF's soldiers in northern Kunduz province, wounding five soldiers, according to an official cited by Pajhwok Afghan News agency.
Also on Wednesday, Afghan forces backed by the US-led coalition troops killed an estimated 10 insurgents and detained two suspects in a battle that broke out during a patrol in southeastern Logar province, Pajahwok reported.
Britain announced on Wednesday it would send 700 extra troops to boost security in Afghanistan during the presidential elections. The polls are being seen as a key test of democracy in the war-torn country.
Australia's prime minister Kevin Rudd also said the government would send an extra 450 troops to Afghanistan, increasing its contingent there to 1,550. The new Australian troops will be mainly tasked with training the Afghan army in the southern province of Uruzgan. They include a temporary eight-month deployment of 120 soldiers for the period around the August elections, Rudd said.
#1
Those who wish to be shot, line up to the left. Those who wish to be blown to pieces by an airstrike, to the right.
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 0:14 Comments ||
Top||
#2
When you have to shoot, shoot! Don't talk.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
04/30/2009 11:43 Comments ||
Top||
#3
James bond quote,
"Calm down, you only need one shot"
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/30/2009 13:11 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Screw the Predators, where are the BUFFs? I'm sure a couple of runs over the Swat Valley, Wana, and several other places where the Talibunnies hang out would put a crease in the undershorts of quite a few "militants".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/30/2009 13:11 Comments ||
Top||
Sounds like the swashbucklers are starting to piss off the locals...
Somali vigilantes have captured 12 armed pirates in two boats, as coastal communities begin to fight back against the sea raiders. Vigilantes, bag men or Islamicist enforcers?
Regional leaders at Alula and Bargaal in Somalia's northern Puntland region told the BBC they have put together a militia of fishermen to catch pirates. They decided to act as they were fed up with their fishing vessels being seized at gunpoint by the ocean-going bandits.
Pirates have hijacked 25 vessels since the beginning of this year and are holding more than 260 crew around the stronghold of Eyl in Puntland, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
Now frustrated regional leaders have taken the law into their own hands. One of them, Faarah Mohammed, told the BBC: "There is a security committee set up by the communities who live in Bargaal and Alula. And they decided to confront whatever was creating problems in their areas and particularly, the problems of the sea piracy. Eventually their effort led to the capture of three boats and 12 men with their weapons. One boat got away."
The BBC's Somali Service says the militia will have to hand the pirates over to the local authorities. Somali pirates could face the death penalty under recent get-tough measures announced by the internationally recognised but unsteady Somali government.
#1
Looking to get their beaks wet, I'll wager. "Big fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite them, and little fleas have lesser fleas,and so ad infinitum"
#2
Since piracy has a long and glorious history in Islam, I would think it is unlikely that its Islamicist enforcers.
Unless they just want to be sure to get their cut.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/30/2009 18:12 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I'm not surprised the regional leaders are stepping in. Piracy was tolerated as long as it was a regular organized-crime operation and the ransoms were considered part of the cost of doing business.
Now every clan is getting into the act. Operating hundreds of miles offshore. 250+ hostages, 50+ ships. The regionals are figuring they're going to get more attention than they want.
[Maghrebia] Algeria deployed military reinforcements to the southern provinces of Adrar and Ouargla, local press reported on Wednesday (April 29th). The move aims at cracking down on arms trafficking networks that supply weapons from Niger and Mali to al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb. The group's leader in the border region, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, reportedly resumed armed terrorist activities following the failure of his negotiations with Algerian authorities to surrender under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. Since launching the operation last week, the army has already thwarted a major trafficking operation near Mkdene, Adrar province, sources said.
In related news, Malian authorities said Tuesday that a 2-year investigation, completed with the assistance of international experts, found that 80 % of weapons used by terrorists and criminals along the Algerian border come from West African "conflict zones", El Khabar reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[ADN Kronos] A documentary-style video from Al-Qaeda's North African branch released on the Internet shows children promoting jihad or holy war and inviting others to join them. The video also contains footage of previous messages by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Yahya al-Libi. At the end of the video, three children raise their fists in the air.
The eldest child, who calls himself Abu Dajana Sufiyan says: "I am a mujahid, (a Muslim who is engages in jihad) son of a mujahid, and I tell all Muslims and particularly young Muslims to fight against the Crusaders and their heretic allies."
Abu Dajana, who presumably is 13 years old is shown in the video with two other very young children, one who calls himself Osama and another who calls himself Muadh Abdel Salam. All three are seen holding rifles.
It is presumed from the video that the other children are sons of other militants that have been operating for years in the ranks of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and who are hiding in the caves in the mountainous areas of Algeria. This would confirm recent Algerian media reports about the decision of militants to bring their wives to their hiding places in the mountains.
The presence of families among Al-Qaeda's mujahideen could be a means to counter recent reports that some terrorist turncoats have spoken of sexual violence by local 'emirs' against young female recruits as well as the rampant spread of homosexuality among isolated cells.
The video also shows testimony from seven suicide bombers who carried out attacks last year, among them the testimony of Al-Qaeda's oldest militant, 64-year-old Abu Uthman Ibrahim. Abu Uthman is responsible for an attack against the headquarters of the United Nations refugee agency in the Algerian capital Algiers in December 2007 during which he drove a truck bomb containing over 800 kilogrammes of explosive material. More than 60 people died in that attack.
This article starring:
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Abu Dajana Sufiyan
al-Qaeda
Abu Uthman Ibrahim
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Abu Yahya al-Libi
al-Qaeda
Muadh Abdel Salam
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[Bangla Daily Star] A torture victim of Islamist militants filed a case against about 70 people including two former BNP ministers and a lawmaker yesterday with the Rajshahi court in Bagmara upazila in 2004. The accused include former post and telecommunication minister Aminul Haque, former deputy minister Ruhul Kuddus Talukhdar Dulu and former BNP lawmaker Nadim Mostafa.
Abed Ali, an UP member of Mirjapur village, lodged the complaint against them for abetting militants who maimed him as he denied paying them extortion. They have already been accused in several cases for abetting Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) led by Bangla Bhai. Aminul has been on the run since he was sentenced 31-and-a-half years in jail.
After the case was lodged, the third court of judicial magistrate in Rajshahi ordered police in Bagmara to investigate it and take legal actions, said Babul Hossain, lawyer of the complainant.
Other accused include Rajshahi district BNP General Secretary Shish Mohammad, Union Council Chairmen Rofikul Islam of Bihanali, Besaratullah of Basupara union, JMB advisers Abdus Sattar and Lutfar Rahman, JMB's killing squad member Mostafijur Rahman Mostak.
The complainant said he delayed filing the case, as he was scared of the political and financial clout of the accused.
He alleged JMB militants unleashed a reign of terror by killing and torturing people in the name of eliminating underground operatives at Bagmara and its adjoining areas in 2004. On April 13, 2004, JMB cadres abducted him from his house and took him to a JMB camp at Razakar Ramjan Kaya's house at Hamirkutsa. They demanded Tk 1 lakh from him.
As he denied paying they tortured him for two days. Later, he had to pay Tk 50,000 and came out of the camp crippled on the third day into his abduction.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
[Bangla Daily Star] Two months after the BDR carnage, the authorities concerned made the final tally of arms, ammunition and explosives that went missing from the Pilkhana headquarters.
They say that 119 firearms, including officers' side arms, rifles and machine guns, one rocket propelled grenade (RPG) and five mortar shells still remain traceless. Over 45,000 bullets and 209 grenades also went missing from the arsenals of BDR headquarters.
It is yet to be known how many of these weapons and how much ammunition the mutineers used during the February 25-26 carnage, sources in Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) said.
However, there is still doubt about the accuracy of this tally of missing arms and ammunition since the mutineers destroyed almost all logs and relevant documents at the arsenal.
Of the 45,000 bullets, 41,733 were of sub-machineguns (SMG) and light machineguns (LMG), 1,485 were of machineguns, 1,712 of pistols, and 141 bullets of sub-machine carbines (SMC).
"Some of the ammunition and explosives were used inside Pilkhana during the mutiny, which means the rest were taken away by the mutineers," said a BDR official requesting anonymity.
There is a strong possibility that the missing arms and ammunition could fall in the hands of militants and criminals, posing a serious security threat to the country, the BDR director general said earlier.
Apart from Pilkhana, a good number of firearms, ammunition and explosives went missing from other BDR sector and battalion headquarters across the country.
BDR Director General Maj Gen Md Mainul Islam told The Daily Star over telephone last night, "It is impossible to accurately say how much ammunition the mutineers used and how much was taken away."
He said some of the missing grenades were used during the mutiny at Pilkhana. He, however, could not say whether mortar shells were used inside the BDR headquarters or they were taken away.
Commerce Minister Faruk Khan, chief of a committee that coordinates probe into the Pilkhana carnage by different ministries, said the tally of firearms and ammunition missing from other BDR units will also be prepared.
DESERTER BDR MEN
The number of deserter BDR members now stands at 57, sources said. The number shrunk as BDR jawans joined different BDR units and following arrest of BDR men across the country.
However, the BDR DG could not give the exact number of deserters yesterday. He said a few days ago they handed over a list of 78 deserters to the New Market Police Station.
The government on April 7 declared Tk 50,000 bounty on each fugitive BDR jawan.
Our court correspondent adds: Two more BDR members yesterday confessed to their involvement in the Pilkhana carnage while 50 others were shown arrested in the case. Two of them were placed on five-day remand each. The rest were sent to jail.
BDR men who confessed to their involvement are sepoys Al Masum and Zakaria. Sepoys Renel Chakma and Neon Marma were placed on remand.
The CID, which is investigating the case, also produced 21 suspected BDR mutineers before the court on completion of their remands. They were sent to jail as well.
With the latest arrests, the total number of arrestees in the case stands at 1,329. Besides, 52 BDR jawans have so far made confessional statements.
PROBE REPORT TO BE PLACED AT JS
Commerce Minister Faruk Khan told BBC Bangla Service radio yesterday that people would come to know about the report of the national committee formed to probe the BDR carnage through parliament.
He, however, said the findings of the investigation being conducted by the army would not be made public.
The deadline for submission of the national committee report expires on May 11.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged suicide squad member of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was arrested at city's Shyampur early yesterday.
The arrestee was identified as Sheikh Shahjahan, 43, son of late Sheikh Fayez.
A police team led by Officer-in-charge (OC) Alamgir Hossain of Shyampur Police Station arrested Shahjahan at his house on Nabin Chandra Goshwami Lane.
The OC told The Daily Star that Shahjahan was a charge-sheet-accused in the case filed in connection with a bomb blast at JMB leader Rifat's house in Sylhet Kotwali on September 26, 2001.
Inspector of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Tanab Roy, who was the investigation officer of the case, told The Daily Star that on that day the JMB suicide bombers attempted to kill Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina during her visit to the Shrines of Hazrat Shahjalal (RA) and Shah Paran (RA).
Inspector Tanab said the cadres also made an attempt during Hasina's speech at a gathering in front of Sylhet Alia madrasa after her visit.
Failed twice, the cadres returned to their den at Rifat's house and while taking off the bombs from their bodies, accidentally one bomb exploded leaving two of the cadres spot dead, he added.
However, other prime accused in the case Mufti Hannan, Maulana Abu Sayeed, Masum Ahmed Shakil, Abu Obaied and Rifat, who were arrested in this connection, confessed to Shahjahan's involvement in JMB activities.
Shahjahan at DB (Public Relations) office told reporters that Rifat, also a doctor, was his childhood friend and he was not involved in JMB activities.
"I did not even know that I had been made an accused in the case," he said adding, "I am just a Thai Aluminium contractor in the capital."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he'll temporarily send 700 extra troops to Afghanistan to boost security for August elections.
Brown told lawmakers that Britain will increase its forces in Afghanistan from 8,300 to 9,000, but will reduce numbers to current levels by November.
He said Wednesday the troop increase forms part of a tougher approach to security in the border areas of both Afghanistan and Pakistan, a region he said is a "crucible of terrorism." 9000 troops wrt British population is equivalent to 45,000 US
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The information on proportions gives useful perspective, ed. Thank you.
A roadside bomb killed nine Turkish soldiers in an armored personnel carrier Wednesday in southeastern Turkey, making it the deadliest attack by suspected Kurdish rebels in six months, officials said. In a separate ambush near the border with Iraq, guerrillas fatally shot a Turkish soldier, local media reported.
The vehicle targeted in Wednesday's bomb attack had been accompanied by a tank to secure an area near Lice, a town in the southeastern Diyarbakir province, before a larger military convoy passed, military chief Gen. Ilker Basbug said.
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Australia will send an extra 450 soldiers to Afghanistan in response to an appeal from close ally the United States for more troops to combat Taliban militants, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Wednesday.
The 40 percent increase in Australia's deployment to Afghanistan will include a small number of police, and is designed to help train Afghan security forces and secure presidential elections in August, Rudd said.
They would bring Australia's military contingent in the country to around 1,550, making it the largest contributor outside the NATO alliance. 1,550 wrt Australian population is equivalent to 22,000 US. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Deadly attacks on the German military by the Taliban in Afghanistan this week have led intelligence experts to suspect the Islamist group may have access to German government information.
Supposedly the Taliban had specific details of what was supposed to be a secret visit by Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the country this week.
According to a western intelligence officer in Kabul, there are "clear signs" that the Taliban has access to secret information from the German government. "In so-far unknown ways, the Taliban has their fingers in German posts," the official told news agency DDP.
Three weeks ago, a secret visit to the country by Chancellor Angela Merkel and Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung was overshadowed by a rocket attack on German forces in the northern city of Kunduz. No one was injured in the attack, but a Taliban speaker at the time said that the group had known about her visit.
One 21-year-old soldier died and four were injured in a fire fight near Kunduz on Wednesday that came just hours after a suicide bomber injured four others in the same area.
The attacks on the Bundeswehr troops were meant to be a "sign for the Foreign Minister," a Taliban member said after the attack.
The attacks show a new level of confidence from the Taliban, Bundeswehr General Inspector Wolfgang Schneiderhan said on Thursday. "For the first time there is an aspect of military planning behind it," he said, adding that they had changed their previous tactic of "shooting and running."
Steinmeier's visit takes place just a few weeks after a conference at The Hague where the international community discussed the state of the country.
Germany has around 3,500 troops in Afghanistan operating under the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The soldiers are based in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan. Last year the German parliament voted to increase to Bundeswehr troop numbers to 4,500, despite the fact that the mission, Germany's first major overseas military operation since World War II, has been highly unpopular. Thirty-one German troops have died in Afghanistan since 2002.
#5
"The soldiers are based in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan"
Its not as fun for the Germans, as say, an exotic vacation in Thailand. But it'll be diverting enough for the average "thrill seeker." Eeeeeew. And yea, the tapping could sneak up from behind from any agency or group.
NEWS UPDATE -- Dutch authorities say four people were killed and 13 injured when a car careened, apparently deliberately, into a crowd watching Queen Beatrix and her family at a holiday parade.
Prosecutor L. Goossens says the incident appeared to be deliberate, but not an act of terrorism.
He told reporters Thursday the driver of the car was injured and was in police custody in the hospital. Eight of the injured were in serious condition.
The small black car plowed through a line of spectators then slammed into a stone monument just a few meters from the open bus where the queen and the royal family were being greeted by the crowd.
APELDOORN, Netherlands (AP)--A speeding car raced toward an open bus carrying Dutch Queen Beatrix and her family during a holiday parade Thursday and careened through spectators. Dutch television said two people were killed and about a dozen injured, but police in Apeldoorn declined to confirm the casualty toll or to say whether the incident was a deliberate attack on the royal family.
The small black car appeared to be heading at high speed toward the royal bus and passed within a few meters of it before plowing into a stone monument. The incident was witnessed by The Associated Press.
People were seen flying through the air after the car swerved across police railings, where the crowd was lined up five or six deep to see the immensely popular royal family pass on its way to the Het Loo palace on the Queen's Day national holiday.
It was not clear how the car managed enter the parade area, which police had sealed off hours before.
Police officers removed a man, who was slumped against his seat with blood covering his forehead, from the vehicle and put him into an ambulance. Other officers gave medical aid to spectators before they were taken to hospital.
"We are all deeply shocked by the terrible events," said Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. "People have been injured, seriously injured, and we must fear worse to come," he said.
Shortly after the incident, investigators and a sniffer dog examined the car for explosives, then sawed off the roof of the car for a closer inspection.
The TV initially put the number of casualties at 14 before reporting two fatalities.
Dutch television footage showed Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima, standing at their seats in the bus's high open platform and watching with surprise. Maxima held her hand over her mouth in apparent horror. The bus was not hit and no one in the queen's entourage was injured.
A policeman narrowly escaped injury when he jumped off his bicycle to avoid being hit.
Apeldoorn Mayor Fred de Graaf said all festivities were being canceled. "The scare and the images that the family has seen are reason to break off the official program," he said. Holiday programs also were called off in the port city of Rotterdam, and more were likely to be canceled around the country.
Journalist Peter von de Vorst told RTL television that the bizarre incident was like watching a horrible movie. "It was a really nice day. Then you hear a bang. Everyone looks up and you see people indeed flying through the air. This must be a joke or a strange prank. Then suddenly panic, and you realize that something really terrible has happened," he said.
Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the main Dutch cities on Wednesday night and Thursday to celebrate the national holiday, originally intended to celebrate the birthday of Beatrix's mother Queen Juliana.
The royal family normally spends the day in a small Dutch community.
#3
Shortly after the incident, investigators and a sniffer dog examined the car for explosives, then sawed off the roof of the car for a closer inspection.
#6
This is about the most complete account of the incident I can find online. The London Times has video that shows something happening, but the focus wasn't on the car or driver.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/30/2009 13:41 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Prosecutors said the driver, badly injured and still in his crumpled car, acknowledged targeting the queen and her family. "The man said that his action was aimed at the royal family," said prosecutor Ludo Goossens.
The driver, whose name was not released, "is formally suspected of ... an attack on members of the royal house and manslaughter or murder," Goossens said, and he could face life in prison.
The motive for the attack was unclear. Dutch media, citing neighbors, said the assailant recently was fired from his job and was to be evicted from his home. Police identified him as a 38-year-old Dutch man with no history of mental illness or police record, but they would not release his name.
#11
The air bag did go off, it's only good for the first impact Look at the center of the steering wheel at the ragged plastic edges and plainly visible nut that holds the wheel on, it's not visible unless the bag blows as it's normally under the air bag.
Hus head is cut, and the windshield smashed from above, looks to me like one of the people he hit crashed onto the windshield and blew the bag, then when he hit the pylon, nothing to protect him and blam, into the sharp edges.
I noted from seeing the video his car was not heading towaard the royal bus, but running alongside when he hit the pylon, looks like a previous collision blew the bag, knocked him either back, or out, and the car was not under control when it hit the pylon that stopped it. of course he then flopped forward, and cut his forehead.
Dumfart
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/30/2009 19:59 Comments ||
Top||
#12
The name of the attacker is Karst Richard Tates, 38 years old from the city of Huissen in the province Gelderland - Atlas Shrugs
I've confirmed that through other Dutch sites.
No word on his affiliation with Roman Catholicism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism or even if he was a veteran or any other terrorist indicator (as per DHS guidelines).
Redneck Jim has it pretty much nailed down. He hit the crowd at high speed. The impact shot off the airbag at the same time as bodies destroyed the windshield, grill and fenders. He was knocked unconscious (a normal ocurance with airbag deployment). You will notice that the vehicle is essentially coasting for most of the time it is visible in motion.
The attack was unsuccessful because:
1. the schmuck was a schmuck.
2. He had not aligned the vehicle properly before striking the crowd.
3. He didn't realize the airbag would deploy.
4. He didn't think to protect himself from such a deployment with a motorcycle helmet.
Finally, unless the car were loaded with explosives, and the pictures show it basically empty, he was unlikely to injure the Queen or her family since that vehicle was certain to come out second best in a showdown with the bus.
Darwin award candidate #5,495,274.
Posted by: DanNY ||
04/30/2009 22:48 Comments ||
Top||
The presumed leader of a group of 27 young people charged with participating in the torture and killing of a young French Jew took his seat in juvenile court Wednesday with the defiant declaration, "Allah will be victorious."
The 23-year-old victim, Ilan Halimi, was found naked, handcuffed and covered with burn marks near railroad tracks in the Essonne region south of Paris on Feb. 13, 2006. He died on the way to the hospital after being held captive for more than three weeks.
Youssouf Fofana, 28-year-old presumed leader of a group of 10 young women and 17 young men, stands accused of a crime that shocked the nation. He is charged with premeditated murder, demanding ransom, and acts of torture and barbarism, and faces a possible maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
He smiled as he took his seat in the Paris court and said, "Allah will be victorious."
Asked his last name, he said, "African barbarian army revolt Salafist." Asked his birth date, he replied, "February 13, 2006" -- the day Halimi was killed.
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The little pig deserves to hang, Iranian style, but it won't happen. Hopefully he'll actually be convicted and serve the French version of hard time.
[ADN Kronos] Nine soldiers were killed on Wednesday after their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Turkey's southeast, Turkish daily Hurriyet said. The soldiers were travelling in an armed personnel carrier and were reportedly securing an area before a military convoy was due to pass through the area.
"The personnel carrier has around 4 to 4.5 centimetres of armour underneath. These explosives must have been strong to cause such damage," said army chief Ilker Basbug, adding that a probe was launched into the incident. "According to our initial assessment, it is likely to be a home-made explosive. Most probably, it was remote-controlled or detonated by cable."
The blast took place on the road linking the Kurdish cities of Diyarbakir and Bingol.
Although no-one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, it may have been linked to the militant separatist organisation, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
WASHINGTON Commercial ships working pirate-infested waters should be protected by an armed corps of senior officers backed by government forces, with all operating under a clear chain of command, Maersk Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips told Congress Thursday.
"I am not comfortable giving up command authority to others, including the commander of a protection force," Phillips said in remarks prepared for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and obtained by The Associated Press. "In the heat of an attack, there can be only one final decision-maker."
Phillips, who was held by pirates for five days this month and rescued by Navy SEALs, was the star witness during a series of hearings as Congress considers ways to combat a spike in piracy against ships carrying billions of dollars in cargo.
Modern-day piracy, the experts were to testify, is the product of lawlessness in places like Somalia and is motivated by money more than ideology. It's a dangerous business nonetheless, with pirates carrying small arms and rocket launchers.
Phillips' firsthand experience aside, there's little consensus among policymakers and maritime experts on the wisdom of arming merchant seamen. The chairman of Phillips' own company told the Senate panel that doing so could make the seas even more dangerous."Arming merchant sailors may result in the acquisition of ever more lethal weapons and tactics by the pirates, a race that merchant sailors cannot win," Maersk Inc. Chairman John P. Clancey said in his prepared remarks. Witnesses said the solution will require a combination of diplomacy and cooperation between governments, shippers and seamen's unions. Government protection for ships in vast international waters was already in progress.
Belgium said Thursday that its military will provide onboard protection to commercial ships off the Horn of Africa, beginning this weekend. Teams of eight soldiers will be available to Belgian ships upon request if an EU anti-piracy flotilla in the region can't guarantee protection. The costs will be assumed by ship owners.
Phillips, 53, was taken hostage April 8 after four Somali pirates assaulted his ship, the Maersk Alabama. He was rescued April 12. He has described the siege in interviews, but told the Senate panel he would not talk about the details because of an ongoing investigation and legal proceedings against one of the pirates who held him hostage.
A federal judge today sentenced three Muslim immigrants to life in prison for planning an attack on Fort Dix, saying radical ideology and hatred for America drove their plot to kill U.S. soldiers.
The men, brothers from the Balkans, were among five defendants convicted in December of conspiring to target the Burlington County base in a crime prosecutors said was inspired by al-Qaida and proved that homegrown jihadists were plotting inside America.
"Nothing has a greater impact on society than the crime of terrorism," U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said, before delivering the sentences in a heavily guarded Camden courtroom packed with government officials, the men's relatives and reporters.
Dritan, Shain and Eljvir Duka -- each delivered rambling statements before they were sentenced, quoting the Koran and Thomas Jefferson as they accused prosecutors of manufacturing the case to scare the American people. "Their job was to make us look as monstrous as possible" said Eljvir Duka, 25. Looks like it worked...
Dritan Duka, 30, and Shain Duka, 28, were sentenced to an additional 30 years for weapons charges. Federal inmates are not eligible for parole. Buh-bye...
Lawyers for the three men said they plan to appeal.
The Dukas, ethnic Albanians who were born in Macedonia, have lived illegally in the U.S. since slipping across the border through Mexico in 1984. They ran a pizzeria and worked as roofers. Shain and Eljvir Duka attended Cherry Hill High School West.
But prosecutors said they also held fervent religious beliefs and studied jihadist videos and lectures. While they had no known ties to established terror groups, authorities said the men trained with guns and scouted Fort Dix and other bases for possible attacks. "I think that had the FBI and their partners not caught these men, we would have been attending funerals of military personnel at Fort Dix," said acting U.S. Attorney Ralph J. Marra.
After a 12-week trial, the Dukas were convicted of conspiracy and weapons charges but acquitted of attempted murder. The two other defendants, Mohamad Shnewer and Serdar Tatar, are to be sentenced Wednesday.
Defense attorneys argued the men were goaded into the plot by paid government informants. They also said the men talked brazenly but never took concrete steps to kill anyone. Misguided yoots led astray, ya honor...
Michael Huff, a lawyer for Dritan Duka, urged the judge to keep in mind the plot was never executed. "The punishment should not reflect what might have happened," he said. I got nuthin, ya honor...
The case relied heavily on undercover informants.
The investigation began in January 2006 with a tip from a Circuit City clerk in Mount Laurel. Two men dropped off an 8-millimeter tape and wanted it converted to a DVD. The tape showed the defendants firing rifles and shouting Islamic battle cries. The clerk called police. Any reward money coming his way?
FBI agents and two paid cooperators spent the next 15 months shadowing the suspects, recording conversations and searching their computers. U.S. Deputy U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick said the men were driven solely by their fanatic religious beliefs. "There was no financial motive. There was nothing else. They seemed to be motivated entirely by revenge, by hatred -- and by animosity of our way of life," said Fitzpatrick, who prosecuted the case with Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Hammer Jr.
During the investigation, authorities recorded hundreds of conversations with the defendants with help from two informants. On one of the tapes, Eljvir Duka, who is married to Shnewer's sister, said he wanted to "train sniper" and wondered how close he would have to stand from the White House to shoot President Bush. You'll have to get closer than PMITA federal prison, Eljvir...
#1
Eljvir Duka, 25, told Kugler he holds out hope that one day "the truth" will prevail. "I'm sitting here facing life in prison knowing I'm innocent," he said. "... Being in prison and knowing you're innocent is a great feeling."
Not the brightest bulb on the tree, are you, Eljvir...
Eljvir Duka said God ultimately would judge him and his brothers. "To Allah we belong, and to Allah we will return," he said.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, has told U.S. officials the next two weeks are critical to determining whether the Pakistani government will survive, FOX News has learned. "The Pakistanis have run out of excuses" and are "finally getting serious" about combating the threat from Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists operating out of Northwest Pakistan, the general added.
But Petraeus also said wearily that "we've heard it all before" from the Pakistanis and he is looking to see concrete action by the government to destroy the Taliban in the next two weeks before determining the United States' next course of action, which is presently set on propping up the Pakistani government and military with counterinsurgency training and foreign aid. Petraeus made these assessment in talks with lawmakers and Obama administration officials this week, according to individuals familiar with the discussions.
They said Petraeus and senior administration officials believe the Pakistani army, led by Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, is "superior" to the civilian government, led by President Ali Zardari, and could conceivably survive even if Zardari's government falls to the Taliban.
American officials have watched with anxiety as Taliban fighters advanced earlier this month to within 70 miles of the capital city of Islamabad. In recent days, the Pakistani army has sought to reverse that tide, retaking control over strategic points in the district of Buner even as the Taliban struck back by kidnapping scores of police and paramilitary troops. The see-saw nature of the battles Wednesday demonstrated to U.S. officials that, as one put it to FOX News, "even with intent and superior technology, the capability may not be there" for the Pakistani army to defeat the extremists.
As for the security of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last Saturday, in an interview with FOX News in Baghdad, that the U.S. believes the arsenal to be "safe" but only "given the current configuration of power in Pakistan." She described as "the unthinkable" a situation in which the the Zardari government were to be toppled by the Taliban, adding "then they would have the keys to the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan, and we can't even contemplate that. We cannot let this go on any further..."
The officials who spoke with Petraeus, however, said he and they believe that even were Zardari's government to fall, it was still conceivable that Kayani's army could maintain control over the nuclear arsenal. That is because the Pakistani arsenal is set up in such a way -- with the weapons stockpile and activation mechanisms separated -- so as to prevent easy access by invaders. Moreover, the Taliban is not believed at present to possess the sophisticated technical expertise necessary to exercise full "command and control" over a nuclear arsenal, and would probably require weeks if not months to develop it.
The anxiety with which U.S. officials are monitoring events in Pakistan is compounded by a battle here at home over how best to help the Pakistanis. Some members of Congress want to attach benchmarks to any aid provided to Islamabad -- a move opposed by the Obama administration -- while still others wish to transfer authority over key funding streams from the Defense Department to the State Department, also opposed by the administration. At a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Wednesday, Chairman Ike Skelton,D-Mo. asserted that the existing funding mechanism, the Coalition Support Initiative, under which the U.S. reimburses Pakistan for military expenditures undertaken in support of the U.S. global war on terror, "is not serving the interests of either our country or Pakistan very well." Michele Flournoy, U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, rejected that view, saying the initiative has proved "absolutely critical" to the missions in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
At the same hearing, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, whose bureau oversees South and Central Asia, told lawmakers the Obama administration favors the Defense Department retaining control over the new funding mechanism for Pakistan being proposed, a Title X provision entitled the Pakistan Counterinsurgency Capabilities Fund (PCCF).
The goal of PCCF is to provide funding for the immediate training and equipping of the Pakistani army to fight a counterinsurgency war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. The Pakistani army, U.S. officials say, has historically been modeled to fight a conventional war against India, as opposed to unconventional warfare against non-state actors like terrorist groups.
A final problem, officials told FOX News, was that no one in the U.S. possesses "an understanding of the Taliban's true objective." It remains unclear to policymakers here whether the group truly seeks to overthrow the Zardari government or merely to carve out a territory within Pakistan in which it can establish safe haven, impose Sharia law, and plot attacks on external targets.
#4
Forget about 19 people coming out of Afghanistan and taking out NYC, Pentagon, DC targets with hijacked airplanes.
With a presence in nuclear Pakistan, Al Qaeda doesn't need Afghanistan or Iraq.
1 martyre - 1 nuclear device - would wipe out the entire US Federal Government complex in DC. The White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Pentagon in one explosion.
Better get Bush ready to take it all over again if this administration doesn't get serious about Pakistan and gets its butt nuked in DC one day.
#5
I'd love to see Washington under entirely new managment. but NOT by nuke,(I have Kin living in the blast area)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/30/2009 20:06 Comments ||
Top||
#6
No kin, but I like the Smithsonian and the LoC. Anybody screws with the Smithsonian or LoC, and they are dead meat. The rest, eh.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/30/2009 20:21 Comments ||
Top||
#7
...the Taliban is not believed at present to possess the sophisticated technical expertise necessary to exercise full "command and control" over a nuclear arsenal, and would probably require weeks if not months to develop it.
Weeks or months, no problem. We have plenty of time!
#9
One thing we could do is convince India to pull back from the border. This would allow Pakistan to move some troops from the eastern border to the west.
Two men cleared of helping to plot the 7/7 bombings were jailed for seven years on Wednesday, for planning to attend terrorism-training camps in Pakistan. Mohammed Shakil, Waheed Ali, and Sadeer Saleem, were found not guilty of helping the London bombers to scout potential targets in the capital after a retrial at Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday. But they were convicted of a second charge of conspiracy, for attending a place used for terrorist training. "In my view, the police wanted somebody, anybody, to pay for the murder of 52 people," Saleem said in a statement after the verdict.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Britain
#1
Good. While they're locked away the police will either find enough to convict them of something else, or at least they'll be off the streets, and have enough time to decide if such adventures are worth being locked away from wives and family.
Taliban on Wednesday forcibly occupied three houses and 10 trade centres belonging to Sikhs in Orakzai Agency for not paying jizia, a tax levied on non-Muslims living under Islamic law. A few days ago, the local Taliban had asked Sikh families living in the agency to pay jizia amounting to Rs 50 million, which was later reduced to Rs 15 million after negotiations. They had set a deadline to pay the amount. Taliban occupied Sikhs houses and business centres in Samma Feroz Khel, Qasim Khel and Chirat areas after the deadline expired. Sources said the Taliban also burnt three trade centres belonging to the Sikh community. Around 15 Sikh families have left their ancestral villages and have taken refuge in Minni Khel area of the agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
Five members of the Tableeghi Jamaat -- who had travelled to Swat along with others -- were kidnapped from Shanghoti area of Matta on Wednesday, a private TV channel reported. The channel said that one of those kidnapped was feared to have been killed by the abductors -- who have been identified as the Taliban by the APP news agency. According to another news channel, seven people -- including four police officials -- were kidnapped from various parts of Swat on Wednesday. Two police officials were kidnapped from Sangar area, while another two were abducted from the border area of Swat.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: Tablighi Jamaat
[Bangla Daily Star] Hundreds of security personnel were deployed yesterday in naxal-infested constituencies of Bihar and West Bengal as parts of these two states along with other areas go to parliamentary poll in the third phase today.
There are ten constituencies in Bihar and West Bengal which have been categorised as naxal-affected in the third phase. Two helicopters would be used in West Bengal and one in Bihar in view of the naxal menace in some areas there.
The naxals had unleashed violence in parts of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar in the first two phases of polls on April 16 and 23, leaving more than 20 people dead.
The third phase will see voters delivering their verdict in 107 constituencies, including Rae Bareli where Congress President Sonia Gandhi is in fray, and Gandhinagar from where BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani is seeking re-election.
The electioneering for this phase generated considerable heat on Tuesday when main opposition BJP and Left parties charged Congress with misusing Central Bureau of Investigation which has taken off the name of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in Bofors gun deal payoff scandal, from its list of most wanted persons.
Just a day earlier, Congress attacked Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi after the Supreme Court ordered a probe into his alleged role in 2002 communal riots in the state.
Modi, being projected by a section of the party as its prime ministerial candidate, hit back by alleging Congress has hatched a conspiracy to put him in jail while trying to save a foreign national, unnamed reference to Quattrocchi, once considered close to the Gandhi family.
The third phase will see completion of polling in 372 out of the total of 543 parliamentary constituencies while the voters in the remaining two rounds will exercise their franchise on May 7 and 16 when the counting is taken up.
The campaigning was also marred by incidents of shoe-throwing.
A 26-year-old computer engineer hurled a sneaker at Prime Minister Manmohan Gandhi in Ahmedabad in Gujarat but missed him and a shoe was hurled at BJP leader and Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddiyurappa in his home state. An attempt at throwing a shoe at Advani earlier was foiled.
Campaigning for her mother Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli, Priyanka has wooed the voters by invoking memories of her grandmother Indira Gandhi.
It is not only Priyanka's nose that resembles with that of Indira but she has inherited the latter's wardrobe. And none in Rae Bareli misses the resemblance between the two.
"This is Indiraji's sari. She was shorter than me. I have to do some alteration in wearing it because I'm taller than her", 36-year-old Priyanka giggled and told media persons in the constituency when they told her that she looks like her grandmother.
On her marriage in 1996, Priyanka was dressed in a pink sari worn by Sonia Gandhi and Indira Gandhi at their wedding.
Agencies add:
India's marathon general election passes the half-way stage Thursday, with Mumbai entering the fray barely five months on from the deadly Islamist militant attacks on the city.
Ten seats in India's lower house of parliament are up for grabs in India's financial and entertainment capital, which has seen an increase in "white collar" political activism since the November strikes that killed 166.
Anger at India's leaders for failing to prevent the carnage has led independent candidates to stand and stirred the traditionally apathetic educated, urban middle class to take part in the political process.
Yet despite the awakening, national security is not considered a priority issue across the country as a whole, with the vast majority of voters more concerned with local issues that impact their daily lives.
"The belief that the 26/11 (November 26) attacks on Mumbai and India will somehow change the character of voting is quite wrong. It's exaggerated," said the editor of the city's Loksatta newspaper, Kumar Ketkar. "Terrorism is not uppermost in the minds of the majority of voters," he told AFP.
Politics professor Balveer Arora, from Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, agreed. "There's no wave of nationalism in these elections, despite 26/11," he said.
In Uttar Pradesh, which sends the most number of lawmakers to parliament, all eyes are on two powerful caste-based parties -- one of them led by the populist firebrand, Mayawati Kumari.
Mayawati, dubbed the "queen" of India's lowest caste, the Dalits, is widely seen as the kingmaker for the next administration in New Delhi and could even emerge as prime minister of a "third front" grouping of leftist parties.
With so much support going to regional parties, there is no chance of either the incumbent Congress party-led alliance or the bloc led by its main rival, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) securing an absolute majority of the 543 elected seats in parliament.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
[Geo News] At least 23 people were killed and 22 others wounded as violence broke out in different parts of Karachi on Wednesday. While enraged people torched several vehicles in various parts of the city. Shops and markers started to close early as the violence spread from one place to other. The process of unending firing erupted in North Karachi where two activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were found shot dead. The police and rangers personnel, who reached the scene to calm down the situation, also caught up in the firing in which a Sub-inspector Moinur Rehman, Head Constable Sajjad and six others were injured. In another incident, unknown persons set 10 vehicles ablaze in Bilal Colony while a 40-year-old Juma Khan was also gunned down. In Sarjani Town and Shah Faisal Colony, unidentified gunmen shot dead two more persons, yet to be identified. Security forces arrested 21 persons during a search operation launched in Khawaja Ajmir Nagri. Besides, more violence incidents were reported in Samanabad, Al-Asif Square and Hyderi.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistan's military said Wednesday its troops seized control of the main town in the northwest region of Buner after fierce fighting with the Taliban as President Asif Ali Zardari called on citizens to put political differences aside and give their backing to the troops in the offensive.
"Time has come for the entire nation to give pause to their political differences and rise to the occasion and give full support to our security forces in this critical hour," Zardari said in a statement.
He said that nationwide support was critical in ensuring the protection of the rights of Pakistani citizens.
He said that nationwide support was critical in ensuring the protection of the rights of Pakistani citizens. "This is the only way to demonstrate our will, to keep Pakistan as a moderate, modern and democratic state where the rights of all citizens are protected," Zardari said. "The operation in Buner and Lower Dir is meant to re-establish the writ of the constitution," the president said.
Up to 500 Taliban militants entered Buner earlier this month and imposed sharia, Islamic law, in what the Pakistani military called a "violation" of an agreement struck earlier in the year with Islamists to bring peace to the region.
Full U.S. backing
The operation to flush out the rebels and prevent them gaining ground in the troubled country had the full backing of Washington, which has put Pakistan at the heart of the battle against terrorists and al-Qaeda militants.
U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking in Missouri, said al-Qaeda and the Taliban were the "single most direct threat" to U.S. national security.
Washington earlier hailed the military operations as "exactly the appropriate response" to halt the Taliban's advance in nuclear-armed Pakistan, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
In a February peace deal, the government agreed that sharia could be enforced in Swat and its surrounding districts in a bid to end two years of a bloody rebellion led by radical cleric Maulana Fazlullah.
But militants have not disarmed themselves as agreed in the deal with pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Mohammad, also the father-in-law of Fazlullah, and started occupying Buner and attacked troops in Lower Dir district.
Troops kill over 50 Taliban
On Wednesday Pakistani troops took the main town in strategically important Buner Valley after dropping by helicopter behind Taliban lines, killing more than 50 militants in two days, the military said.
A U.S. drone meanwhile fired a missile into another region, the major al-Qaeda sanctuary of South Waziristan, killing six militants in the latest such attack by U.S. forces in Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan.
The Taliban's advance earlier this month into Buner, just 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the capital had sent shivers through Pakistan and heightened fears in the United States that the nuclear-armed Muslim state was becoming more unstable.
"We assure the nation that armed forces have the capability to ward off any kind of threat," military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas told a news conference in Rawalpindi, the garrison town close to the capital, Islamabad.
The Islamabad government's demonstration of military resolve will probably reassure and Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Obama when they meet Zardari in Washington on May 6-7 to discuss strategy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistani troops backed by war planes launched a new operation in Buner town near the Swat valley Tuesday, as Islamabad intensified its efforts to flush out Taliban fighters there.
The latest operation by the Pakistani military follows an offensive mounted in nearby Lower Dir over the weekend that swelled the number of people displaced by fighting in northwest Pakistan, prompting calls for humanitarian help by local officials and aid workers. "The army and the Frontier Corps troops have entered Buner," chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told a news conference, adding that fighter jets were also being used.
A senior military official earlier told AFP that war planes were pounding suspected militant hideouts on the mountains overlooking the town, but he had no casualty figures.
US support
The United States, which has put Pakistan at the heart of the battle against terrorism and al-Qaeda, hailed the military operations as "exactly the appropriate response" to halt the Taliban's progress, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.
"We are encouraging of these efforts," Morrell said. "We hope they can sustain these operations."
The United States has been pushing for Islamabad to crack down on the Taliban, insisting that Islamist extremists, historically supported by Pakistani intelligence, pose the greatest threat to the nuclear-armed country and not arch rival India.
The offensive mounted in Lower Dir, in which 70-75 militants and 10 security personnel died, has now been completed, Abbas said.
The major general said that while there were no foreign militants in Swat, intelligence reports said that "militants are getting weapons and communication equipment from outside Pakistan."
"They are using Kalashnikovs, small arms, rocket launchers, grenades, mines and explosives."
Residents in Buner said they heard bombs exploding in Karahar and Babaji Kandao, located between the districts of Swat and Buner.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: TTP
[Geo News] Ten people were killed in two U.S. missile strikes at a house in South Waziristan, sources said on Wednesday. According to initial reports reaching here, American unmanned aircraft fired two missiles at a house situated in Kanigoram area of South Waziristan, killing at least eight people. While the targeted house and a vehicle were also destroyed in the attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
A remote-controlled toy helicopter on Wednesday flew into the Parliament House complex in a major security breach, sending alarm bells ringing in the security establishment.
Security agencies launched investigations to ascertain whether it was just an accident or a deliberate experiment by some unscrupulous elements to test the security alertness of the highly protected complex.
The "sophisticated" toy, about one-feet long, came flying from the western side of Parliament from Talkatora Road 11:10 am, police sources said.
The Parliament House and the surrounding areas in the radius of about 3 km is a 'no-fly zone' since the 2001 Parliament attack. The object landed near the statue of former president Rajendra Prasad in the Parliament premises and was detected by a CRPF jawan deployed there, the sources said.
The spot was cordoned off as the jawan alerted the control room at the Parliament annexe which immediately rushed a Quick Reaction Team (QRT) to the site. Preliminary examination of the object showed that it was more "sophisticated" than just a toy used by children, the sources said, adding that "a technical mind" could have been behind it
Posted by: john frum ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Got a video camera with a remote transmitter?
You're fucked.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/30/2009 20:14 Comments ||
Top||
BAGHDAD British forces handed over military control of the Basra area to U.S. commanders Thursday to clear the way for America's main battlefield ally to exit Iraq after more than six years of war. The U.S. flag rose over a British base outside Basra, the last main outpost for about 4,000 British forces in southern Iraq who will almost all withdraw by the end of May.
At the height of combat operations after the March 2003 invasion, Britain had 46,000 troops in Iraq. Washington still has about 130,000 troops in the country and has shifted units south ahead of the British pullout. American troops operate alongside Iraqi soldiers who have taken over many front-line roles in the strategic Basra area, the hub of British military operations for years.
"Today marks the closing chapter of the combat mission in Iraq," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in London after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The Iraq war has been extremely unpopular in Britain, and the issue shadowed the final years of Tony Blair's premiership.
Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, 179 British service personnel have been killed in Iraq. The British military dedicated a memorial wall to those killed Thursday, part of the preparations for withdrawal. "They will always be remembered for the service they have given. Our country owes them a huge debt of gratitude," Brown said.
British commanders have been gradually handing over responsibility of the oil-rich Basra region to the U.S. military since March and have been withdrawing troops from the country in phases. Nearly all of its troops are expected to be withdrawn by May 31, British military officials have said.
During a handover ceremony, the commander of Britain's 20th Armored Brigade in Basra, dubbed the "Iron Fist," said troops would continue to work with the coalition. "It does not mark the end of the U.K.'s relationship in Iraq," said Brigadier Tom Beckett. About 400 British troops will remain under an agreement with the Iraqi government mainly to train the Iraqi navy to defend oil platforms in the Gulf, the British Ministry of Defense has said.
The Americans have shifted about 1,000 soldiers to replace the departing British troops to ensure a smooth transition and protect U.S. military supply lines from Kuwait to American bases throughout Iraq.
On Thursday, the Iraqis took control of security of the Khor al-Amaya oil terminal. The Iraqi navy's takeover of the oil terminal a platform that was built in 1959 and is fed by only one 42-inch pipeline is a small but important step, officials have said. U.S. and British forces will continue to help protect the newer al-Basra oil terminal, which has two 48-inch pipelines that produce 80 percent of Iraq's crude exports.
[ADN Kronos] Iraqi police claim for the first time to have uncovered an Al-Qaeda cell containing three Shia members, Iraq's interior ministry said, quoted by pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. The ministry said the cell operated in the area around the city of Diwaniya, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad, and carried out numerous attacks and targeted killings.
One of the cell's alleged Shia members was a police officer employed by the interior ministry, it said.
"The investigations began on 9 April, just days after the series of bombings in Baghdad," interior ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Raghif said. "We received information that a policeman from al-Doura helped the terrorists drive through numerous police and Iraqi army checkpoints in Baghdad to carry out the car bombings."
The policeman was arrested and confessed to the crime, Raghif was quoted as saying.
Iraqi authorities believe the cell carried out a series of bombings in Baghdad on 6 April that killed 32 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
Scientists have rendered objects invisible to near-infrared light. Unlike previous such "cloaks", the new work does not employ metals, which introduce losses of light and result in imperfect cloaking.
Because the approach can be scaled down further in size, researchers say this is a major step towards a cloak that would work for visible light.
One of the research teams describes its miniature "carpet cloak" in the journal Nature Materials.
[Iran Press TV Latest] British and French foreign ministers have failed to secure a truce between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil rebels to allow aid into the war-torn region.
The two ministers arrived in Colombo on Wednesday, amid mounting international concern about the plight of civilians trapped in a tiny strip of land in northeastern Sri Lanka.
They were to negotiate a temporary ceasefire between the government forces and rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"We tried very hard, we insisted, and we insisted, but it is up to our friends to allow it or not," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Wednesday after talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Rohita Bogollagama.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also acknowledged that talks had ended in failure, reminding the Sri Lankan government that calls for a ceasefire were "only to save civilians" and not the rebels.
Government officials in Sri Lanka have refused to back down, arguing that after months of heavy fighting, they are now in the final phase of a campaign to crush the rebels who have been fighting for an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils for the last 25 years.
They stress that accepting a truce will only allow the rebels to regroup.
According to the United Nations, there are over 50,000 non-combatants trapped in an area of about six square kilometers, facing severe food and medicine shortages.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#4
"We tried very hard, we insisted, and we insisted, but it is up to our friends to allow it or not," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said...
To spare the civilians, the Sri Lankan armed forces are not using heavy weapons nor attacking the declared safe zone. The LTTE have fired on the civilians under their control to keep them from fleeing and to try to score propaganda points.
Posted by: ed ||
04/30/2009 9:38 Comments ||
Top||
[Al Arabiya Latest] Four Lebanese generals detained for nearly four years in connection with the 2005 assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri were released on Wednesday following a ruling to that effect by a special U.N. court.
The four were escorted separately out of Roumieh prison on the outskirts of Beirut in a convoy of vehicles after the pre-trial judge at The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon said there was insufficient evidence to charge them.
Lebanese political circles eagerly awaited the decision by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) as the court has been at the center of a tug of war between the country's pro- and anti-Syrian factions.
The four generals were legally transferred to the court's custody after Beirut relinquished its jurisdiction in the Hariri case earlier this month, following the launch of the STL in March. The generals included the former head of the presidential guard, Mustafa Hamdan, security services director Jamil Sayyed, domestic security chief Ali Hajj and military intelligence chief Raymond Azar.
They were detained following the massive February 2005 bomb blast on the Beirut seafront that killed Hariri and 22 other people, stirring a political crisis and leading to the withdrawal of Syrian troops in Lebanon after a 29-year presence.
Daniel Fransen, the pre-trial judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon based in The Hague, announced his decision at 1200 GMT in a broadcast transmitted live on Lebanese television and in an Internet webcast.
A U.N. investigative commission had said there was evidence that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were linked to Hariri's killing. Damascus has consistently denied any involvement.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/30/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Syria
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.
A senior British Army officer and six other military personnel survived an attack when a tethered donkey laden with explosives was detonated as their armored vehicle passed in southern Afghanistan.
The US launched a covert airstrike against a Taliban safe house in Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of South Waziristan.
[ADN Kronos] A documentary-style video from Al-Qaeda's North African branch released on the Internet shows children promoting jihad or holy war and inviting others to join them. The video also contains footage of previous messages by Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and 
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged suicide squad member of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was arrested at city's Shyampur early yesterday.
Deadly attacks on the German military by the Taliban in Afghanistan this week have led intelligence experts to suspect the Islamist group may have access to German government information.
NEWS UPDATE -- Dutch authorities say four people were killed and 13 injured when a car careened, apparently deliberately, into a crowd watching Queen Beatrix and her family at a holiday parade. 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistan's military said Wednesday its troops seized control of the main town in the northwest region of Buner after fierce fighting with the Taliban as President Asif Ali Zardari called on citizens to put political differences aside and give their backing to the troops in the offensive.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistani troops backed by war planes launched a new operation in Buner town near the Swat valley Tuesday, as Islamabad intensified its efforts to flush out Taliban fighters there. 
[Geo News] Ten people were killed in two U.S. missile strikes at a house in South Waziristan, sources said on Wednesday. According to initial reports reaching here, American unmanned aircraft fired two missiles at a house situated in Kanigoram area of South Waziristan, killing at least eight people. While the targeted house and a vehicle were also destroyed in the attacks.
[ADN Kronos] Iraqi police claim for the first time to have uncovered an Al-Qaeda cell containing three Shia members, Iraq's interior ministry said, quoted by pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat. The ministry said the cell operated in the area around the city of Diwaniya, 180 kilometres south of Baghdad, and carried out numerous attacks and targeted killings.
