A gunshot ripped through the darkness and a young British soldier fell dying on FOB Jackson. I was just nearby talking on the satellite phone and saw the commotion. The soldier was taken to the medical tent and a helicopter lifted him to the excellent trauma center at Camp Bastion. That he made it to Camp Bastion alive dramatically improved his chances. But his life teetered and was in danger of slipping away. Making matters worse, the British medical system back in the United Kingdom did not possess the specialized gear needed to save his life. Americans had the right gear in Germany, and so the British soldier was put into the American system.
British officers in his unit, 2 Rifles, wanted to track their man every step of the way, and to ensure that his family was informed and supported in this time of high stress. Yet having their soldier suddenly in the American system caused a temporary glitch in communications with folks in Germany. The British leadership in Sangin could have worked through the glitch within some hours, but that would have been hours wasted, and they wanted to know the status of their soldier now. So a British officer in Sangin -- thinking creatively --asked if I knew any shortcuts to open communications. The right people were only an email away: Soldiers Angels. And so within about two minutes, these fingers typed an email with this subject heading: CALLING ALL ANGELS.
Soldiers' Angels Shelle Michaels and MaryAnn Phillips moved into action. Day by day British officers mentioned how Soldiers Angels were proving to be incredibly helpful. The soldiers expressed deep and sincere appreciation. Yet again, the Angels arrived during a time of need.
The severely wounded soldier, whose name I will not print without explicit permission, is recovering in the United Kingdom.
Two or three weeks after the injury, I was having dinner with a British Major and several Captains. The Major talked reverently about Soldiers Angels, and then about a herculean effort that the United States military extended to save a single British soldier. I had no idea about that effort. I just heard the gunshot, saw the soldier carried away into the night, and heard the helicopter roar into the darkness. I knew Soldiers' Angels had intervened back in Germany, but the details that followed came as incredible surprise. The U.S. military had quietly moved Heaven and Earth to save a single British "Squaddie."
Posted by: Matt ||
08/19/2009 11:18 ||
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#1
"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:" - Henry V, Shakespeare
[Dawn] A suicide bomber walked up to a military checkpoint and blew himself up in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing five people just days ahead of nationwide elections, police said.
The casualties from the attack in the remote province of Uruzgan included three Afghan soldiers and two civilians, provincial police chief Juma Gul Hemat told AFP.
'Today there was a suicide bombing carried out by an individual on foot. As a result three soldiers and two civilians were killed,' the police chief said. Five other people, including civilians were wounded, he added.
The attack happened at the military post in Chora district 35 kilometres northeast of Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan.
The attack comes two days before war-weary Afghans go to polling stations to chose a new leader in the troubled country's second presidential election and elect 420 representatives for the 34 provincial councils.
Western officials have predicted turnout this week could be as high as 60 per cent in the relatively peaceful north compared with 40 per cent in the south, where Taliban threats against voters could see many people stay away.
Hemat claimed Afghan security forces had killed more than 30 Taliban militants in the immediate run-up to Thursday polls with operations ongoing in three districts of Uruzgan, where thousands of forces would protect voting.
'There will be 4,500 troops (Afghan and foreign) providing security for the elections. There are 49 polling centres that all will be open,' he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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A suicide car bomb in the Afghan capital Tuesday killed seven Afghan civilians and some NATO troops, and wounded more than 50 people in an attack two days before elections, officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast and a volley of rockets fired into the heavily secured capital, one of which an official said struck the outskirts of the presidential compound of President Hamid Karzai but caused no damage.
The latest attacks come two days after a deadly suicide car bombing outside the main NATO base in Kabul and follow repeated Taliban threats of new assaults in a bid to sabotage presidential and provincial council elections on Thursday. The explosion was near a U.S. military base on a key road leading east out of Kabul, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a message sent to Reuters via mobile phone, claimed the fighters had fired four rockets, but gave no further details.
Militants who have vowed to disrupt Thursday's election have fired rockets at the capital twice this month. On Saturday they detonated a massive suicide bomb outside the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in central Kabul, killing seven people and wounded dozens more. Such attacks have been rare in the capital this year.
This article starring:
Zabihullah Mujahid
Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] In a statement published Tuesday (August 18th) on a radical Islamist website, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the August 8th suicide bomb attack near the French embassy in Nouakchott, Le Véridique reported. Obeida Abu Moussa al-Basri, a native of Nouakchott's al-Basra district, detonated his suicide belt after security barricades prevented him from accessing the embassy compound, the al-Qaeda statement claimed. Al-Basri was the only person killed in Mauritania's first-ever suicide bombing.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Americans in the Gulf state of Kuwait were warned on Tuesday of possible terrorist attacks following the arrest of an al Qaeda-linked network allegedly plotting to attack United States targets and Kuwaiti oil refineries.
"The Department of State remains concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks and other violent actions against U.S. citizens and interests overseas," the U.S. embassy in Kuwait said in a communiqué on Tuesday.
It advised U.S. citizens in Kuwait to register with the embassy, and "maintain a high level of vigilance" to avoid being targets of any possible attacks by terrorist groups. "Potential targets may include U.S. contractors, particularly those related to military interests," the message said.
The message said extremists might be conducting surveillance on Westerners, particularly at hotels, housing areas and rental car facilities.
Last week, Kuwait said it foiled an attack by suspected al-Qaeda militants on the main U.S. military base in the emirate, the first such incident in four years.
Security forces arrested six Kuwaitis who were planning to attack Camp Arifjan, state security offices and other government buildings, the interior ministry said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least three people, including a doctor have been killed in Balochistan's capital city, Quetta. Police officials say the cases appear to be that of target killings.
The three people were killed in different incidents in the city. In the first incident, unknown gunmen opened fire on three people on Sirki road, leaving two people dead, said police.
The dead bodies were taken to Bolan Medical Complex Hospital for post-mortem.
In another incident, some unknown assailants shot and killed a doctor at the Fatima Jinnah Road while he was driving in his car. According to police he received multiple bullet wounds to his chest.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Militants set fire to two government schools in Lower Dir's Maidan area, while security forces blew up two houses of a militant commander in Maidan's Gogarkoto area.
The militants escaped from the scene after setting fire to schools in Maidan early Tuesday, local officials told DawnNews.
Security forces cordoned off the area and started a search operation.
More than 50 government schools have been torched by militants in the area since the operation began in April, 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] At least four including three security men were killed, when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into a check post on Mir Ali road in North Waziristan Agency, Geo News reported Tuesday.
Mir Ali Road has been blocked for the traffic. The law enforcement agencies put a security cordon around the blast site.
The attack took place outside Miranshah, the main town of restive North Waziristan tribal district, bordering Afghanistan.
"Three security personnel, one from the army, one paramilitary and a tribal policeman, were killed and three others were inured in the suicide bombing at Isha checkpost," a security official said.
Another security official and intelligence officials based in the area confirmed the incident. "The bomber struck his car into the security post, which exploded after the impact," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Tuesday arrested two wanted men in southwestern Kirkuk, the province districts' police chief said. "A joint force of police and army personnel, backed by U.S. troops, managed on Tuesday (Aug. 18) to arrest two wanted men during a wide-scale security operation in al-Rashad district, southwestern Kirkuk," Brig. Sarhad Qader told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces on Monday arrested two gunmen while planting an explosive charge as well as arresting four suspected gunmen in two separate operations in southern Khanaqin, according to a security source. "A police force managed on Monday (Aug. 17) to arrest two gunmen while planting a bomb on Hamrien-al-Saadiya road, south of Khanaqin," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Another force arrested four suspected gunmen in al-Sama village, southeast of al-Saadiya, in a separate incident," he added, without giving further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces arrested 19 wanted men and seized Grad rockets during a security operation in Basra province, according to a local security source. "Emergency police forces carried out a search raid in Shatt al-Arab district, eastern Basra, during which they arrested 19 men on criminal charges, along with a suspect," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "Thirteen Grad rockets of 122 mm caliber were found during the operation," the source indicated.
I seem to recall that Grad rockets come from Iran. Am I right?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I seem to recall that Grad rockets come from Iran. Am I right?
The neighborly thing to do would be to send them back.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The American top commander in Iraq says he will deploy US forces in a disputed swath of northern country to protect the area from insurgent attacks. Gen. Ray Odierno said on Monday he wants to deploy US soldiers alongside the Iraqi and Kurdish troops to fight rising insurgency in the region.
"It won't be for long. If we do it it'll be just to build confidence in the (Iraqi and Kurdish) forces, till they are comfortable working together," Reuters quoted Odierno as saying.
He said the idea had met with positive response from Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in the north.
The deployment of the US, Iraqi and Kurdish forces would start in Ninevah province, which locates the volatile city of Mosul, and then extend to Kirkuk and to Diyala province north of the capital.
Ordieno argued that the tripartite arrangement, if approved, would be "a little bit" like a US peacekeeping mission between the rival forces as they face off in a potentially explosive dispute over land, power and oil. He did not mention how many US troops would be sent to the region.
The commander claimed that the decision would not affect the overall timeline which calls for US combat forces to leave the country by the end of August 2010 and a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an -- Unidentified assailants kidnapped Palestinian Prisoners Society lawyer Fajr Khalayla after they broke into the society's offices in Ramallah on Tuesday.
The assailants attacked employees and grabbed Khalaya, escaping to a car in the street. The lawyer was found unharmed in the southern West Bank town of Sa'ir a few hours after he was kidnapped; police say the incident targeted Khalaya for personal reasons.
The prisoners society condemned the assault in a statement describing it as criminal act. The statement explained that three female lawyers were attacked during the assault.
Spokesman of the Palestinian security services Adnan Dmeiri said the event had nothing to do with the Prisoners Society, but noted an investigation had been initiated.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Ma'an -- Ultra-Islamist groups in the Gaza Strip urged their members to resist arrest on Tuesday, days after Hamas forces killed 24 members of a group that declared an Islamic emirate in Palestine.
Sheikh Abdul Latif Abu Moussa, leader of Jund Ansar Allah ("Warriors for God"), a radical armed group thought to be ideologically aligned with Al-Qaeda, made the declaration on Friday at a mosque in the city of Rafah. Sensing a challenge to their authority in Gaza, Hamas forces then moved in killing Abu Moussa and 23 of his followers.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the groups called on their members to use force if Hamas forces try to detain them. "Hamas forces continued to pursue our followers in the Gaza Strip, ransacking their homes, but that will lead to nothing because our fighters will not hand themselves over," the statement explained.
The ultra-Islamic groups denied all accusations that the groups received backing from Israel or from Fatah's former Gaza strongman, Muhammad Dahlan. "All the financial aid for the Islamic groups comes from the Sunni groups in Palestine and abroad as charities," the statement added.
The groups also denounced Hamas accusations of the group that it accuses others of being infidels, or non-Muslims. They also accused Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, of being behind a series of bomb blasts in Gaza cafes hair salons. During the operation in Rafah, Hamas authorities accused Jund Ansar Allah of carrying out the attacks.
The fight between Jund Ansar Allah and Hamas was the deadliest instance of fighting between Hamas, which espouses a nationalist brand of Islamism, and more extreme groups aligned with pan-Islamist Al-Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The fight between Jund Ansar Allah and Hamas was the deadliest instance of fighting between Hamas, which espouses a nationalist brand of Islamism, and more extreme groups aligned with pan-Islamist Al-Qaeda.
No, actually (like every other internal conflict in Dar) it's a turf war between two bunches of gangsters.
A MAN believed to be from Saudi Arabia has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling money used to finance last month's deadly Jakarta hotel attacks, Indonesian police said today.
Police spokesman Nanan Soekarna said the man, identified only as Ali, had been arrested recently as part of the investigation into who funded the July 17 attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels that killed nine people.
Another man identified only as Iwan also had been detained for questioning over his suspected links to the network of Malaysian Islamist extremist Noordin Mohammed Top, the alleged mastermind of the attack.
"Ali and Iwan are still being questioned by our team to prove their links with another country and with the financing,'' Mr Soekarna said. "Ali is believed to be a Saudi Arabian national.''
Analysts have said that if the funding for the attacks came from abroad, a likely source would be al-Qaeda. But police have not confirmed any connection between the hotel blasts and Saudi-born Osama bin Laden's organisation.
[Straits Times] ARMED men claiming to be members of a Muslim separatist group are negotiating their surrender after occupying an island in the western Philippines, military officials said on Wednesday.
Troops and navy boats were sent to Marabon, off Palawan, after about 30 gunmen claiming to be members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) seized the island on Saturday, a police report said.
Some of Marabon's residents were held in a mosque after most fled the island and reported the incident to authorities, police said. Although the residents were later allowed to leave the mosque, the armed men had asked them not to leave the island.
Navy boats were now circling Marabon while attempts were made to convince the gunmen to surrender without a fight, police said.
'The armed men... are saying they are willing to surrender, so as of now, negotiations are being done by the members of the local government,' said military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner.
It was unclear why the gunmen occupied the island. The military was also trying to confirm whether they were members of the MNLF, once the Philippines' largest Muslim separatist group.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] Indonesia's most wanted terrorist, Noordin M. Top, and his Islamist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, have recruited and trained nearly 450 members for bombing operations since 2000, according to senior police.
National police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said that Noordin and JI, believed to be the regional arm of global terrorist network Al-Qaeda, had provided training in bomb manufacture, weapons handling, combat skills, recruitment techniques and suicide bombing to new recruits from across the archipelago.
"We can base these figures from [information provided by] members we have arrested and from those who have served time in jail. We have arrested and brought many of them to trial, while we continue trying to track down others," he said.
Nanan said programs to rehabilitate and monitor convicted terrorists were weak.
He said since around 200 had been released from prison since 2002, authorities were afraid that many would rejoin their former terror networks and radical sympathisers.
Nanan said links between suspects thought responsible for the 2004 Australian Embassy attack and the recent J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel bombings was testament to how the legal system had failed to deter future terrorist activity.
Air Setiawan and Eko Joko Sarjono, suspects in the 2004 bombing, blew themselves up in last month's attacks in Jakarta that left nine dead and more than 50 injured.
The fact that both these bombers were teenagers also showed that extremists were able to appeal to young Muslims and convince them to commit mass murder, he said.
Nanan said JI was able to draw on hundreds of potential supporters due to ongoing conflicts in Poso and Ambon.
A number of intelligence experts claim the terrorist network is still receiving significant funding from both local and international donors.
"They [donors] keep sending large amounts of money to the country, most of which is unfortunately sent via courier and thus very difficult to trace and stop," Mardigu, a terrorist expert, said in Jakarta on Monday.
Usually the couriers enter the country through Dumai and Batam, he said, both regions located within a half hour of Singapore and Malaysia.
Head of Indonesia's Centre of Financial Transaction Report and Analysis (PPATK), Yunus Husein, said his office had detected at least 68 financial transactions that were allegedly related to terrorist activities between 2004 and 2009.
"We have handed over that record to the police," he said.
Syaefudin Jailani, a key police target, reportedly received several payments prior to the 17 July bombings from someone in Yemen through his neighbour's account.
Nanan Soekarna said now the police were working hard to sever the flow of funds to terrorists within Indonesia.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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Lebanon launched a manhunt on Tuesday for an Islamist detainee being held on terror charges who escaped from the country's largest prison in a pre-dawn jail break. "Taha Ahmad Haji Sleiman, who has dual Syrian and Palestinian nationality, escaped this morning from Rumieh prison," an army spokesman said.
Troops backed by helicopters are searching for the fugitive, who is charged with belonging to a "terrorist network," the al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam militia which fought deadly battles with the Lebanese army in 2007. Seven other inmates also belonging to Fatah al-Islam attempted to break out with him but were recaptured, the army spokesman said.
Hajj Suleiman was being held on terrorism charges, including bombings. Prison security officers arrested the seven inmates who helped him flee.
Fatah al-Islam fought the Lebanese army in a 15-week battle at a Palestinian refugee camp in 2007. More than 440 people, including 170 soldiers, were killed before the armed group was routed at Nahr al-Bared camp in north Lebanon. Some of its members were blamed for later bombings and attacks on army targets.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/19/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Ma'an -- Ultra-Islamist groups in the Gaza Strip urged their members to resist arrest on Tuesday, days after Hamas forces killed 24 members of a group that declared an Islamic emirate in Palestine.
Lebanon launched a manhunt on Tuesday for an Islamist detainee being held on terror charges who escaped from the country's largest prison in a pre-dawn jail break. "Taha Ahmad Haji Sleiman, who has dual Syrian and Palestinian nationality, escaped this morning from Rumieh prison," an army spokesman said. 
