[Quqnoos] Fighting between police and Taliban militants in the southern Ghazni province left 3 Taliban dead and 4 others hurt on Saturday
The gun-battle erupted as the Taliban insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Ghaznis restive district of Qara-Bagh, 25 km south of the provincial capital, said provincial Police Chief, Gen Kheyal Baz Shirzai.
Ghazni is a volatile southern Afghan province, where Taliban militants have had control of one of its major districts for the past year, Quqnoos correspondent, Qadeer Wafa, said.
At least one policeman was wounded in exchange of fire on Saturday morning, the official further said.
A day earlier, at least one police officer was killed and ten others were injured in a similar gun-battle with Taliban insurgents in the outskirts of the Ghazni city, the provincial centre.
Afghan officials say that four Taliban militants were killed in the Friday incident and four others were seriously wounded.
The Taliban have continued their post-election violence across the country.
Clearly they're annoyed that people were not terrified enough not to vote. What do they tell one another round the secret Taliban campfire,
"I was so scary, seven little schoolgirls stayed at home when their Mama went to vote!"
"Well, I was so terrifying, I cut off three purple fingertips, after!!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] A suicide bomber attacked a convoy of US troops in Zabul province earlier today, killing 2 civilians and wounding dozens, an official said
The bomber detonated the explosives strapped in his body when a convoy of US military was passing by a crowded bazaar in the remote district of Shahjoy, said Zabul Police Chief Gen Abdul Rahman Sarjang.
At least 23 Afghan civilians and three US soldiers were injured in the huge blast occurred in volatile southern Afghan province today morning, the police official further said.
A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, speaking from an undisclosed location claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bomber named Mirwais, rammed his motorbike into a convoy of foreign troops and blew up the explosives rigged in the motorcycle, the Taliban spokesman told Quqnoos.
Zabul is a volatile province in southern Afghanistan, neighbouring Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.
Surviving US soldiers have cordoned off the blast scene in the bazaar, where 4 civilians were killed and 17 others injured in a similar suicide attack three weeks ago.
The bomber attacked a vehicle of district intelligence head but he survived the attempt on his life.
A local health official in Shahjoy district, who requested anonymity, said two dead bodies and 26 wounded have been brought in the district hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Gunmen kidnapped two local staff members of the UNAMID joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur on Saturday as tribesmen shot dead 38 people in southern Sudan, where inter-tribal violence escalated.
"This morning at 4:30 (0130 GMT), armed men attacked the UNAMID staff residence in Zalingei, Darfur, and abducted two civilian members of the staff, a man and a woman," said the spokesman, Noureddin Mezni.
The kidnappings mark the first abductions of UNAMID staff members, Mezni said, without providing details on their nationalities or identities.
Perhaps the kidnappers should hope none of the abductees are French.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Hundreds of Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces drove out hardline Islamist fighters from a town in central Somalia, officials and witnesses said late on Saturday.
The al-Shabab rebels took control of parts of Beledweyn, a town near the Ethiopian border, on August 20 in retaliation for an offensive by pro-government fighters on their strongholds.
" It's true that our forces advanced on the other part of the town with the backing of several hundred Ethiopian armed forces "
Gedi Mohamed, a Somali army commander
"It's true that our forces advanced on the other part of the town with the backing of several hundred Ethiopian armed forces," Gedi Mohamed, an army commander, said. "The terrorists who occupied that area fled before we reached and there was no fighting."
Ethiopian troops in heavily armored vehicles had crossed into central Somalia early on Saturday, witnesses said, taking control of Baladwayne town and advancing on Islamist insurgent positions in the area.
The strategic town is a stronghold of the militant group al-Shabaab, which the United States--Ethiopia's ally in the Horn of Africa--accuses of being al-Qaeda's proxy in the country.
Battles have been raging across central and southern Somalia in recent weeks as pro-government militias try to seize territory back from Shabaab and another rebel group, Hizbul Islam.
Residents said gunfire broke out in Baladwayne on Saturday as Ethiopian troops arrived alongside Somali government forces.
"At about dawn, hundreds of Ethiopian troops entered the town from different directions and we heard sporadic gunshots," resident Hassan Farah told Reuters by telephone.
Officials in Addis Ababa routinely deny that Ethiopian soldiers are on Somali soil, although they say they are providing security advice and training for Somalia's forces.
Ethiopia invaded its Horn of Africa neighbor with tacit U.S. support at the end of 2006 to oust an Islamist movement that was running the capital Mogadishu and much of the south.
The Ethiopian military officially withdrew in January, and Somali government leaders declined to comment on reports of their return. Local residents in Baladwayne said Ethiopian forces had been camped a few kilometers (miles) away for months.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] As part of an effort to strengthen the military capacity of Sahel countries to fight al-Qaeda, Algeria sent a second shipment of military aid to Mali on Thursday (August 28th), El Khabar reported. Some 20 military trucks loaded with ammunition, weapons and satellite equipment arrived in northern Mali from Tamanrasset.
Algeria, which also plans to send military equipment to Niger next month, reportedly agreed to provide the material on condition that recipient countries be prohibited from using it against Tuareg rebels.
The move follows an August 12th summit in Tamanrasset where Army Chiefs of Staff from Algeria, Mauritania, Niger and Mali agreed to "consolidate co-operation in the common fight against criminal activity and terrorism".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen's army continued a near three-week-long offensive on Shiite northern rebels on Saturday as officials said the army had inflicted heavy losses on their strongholds in Saada region and surrounding areas.
Yemen's air force has bombarded Zaidi rebels' positions in al-Talh, in Saada, while troops destroyed other positions and arms caches in the district of Malaheez, also in Saada, a military spokesman told Saba state news agency.
Television footage showed warplanes striking targets in the rugged mountains and salvos of rockets being fired by a line of launchers.
The Zaidi rebels -- also known as Huthis -- meanwhile claimed in a statement late Friday that warplanes have been targeting civilian neighborhoods and camps of displaced people in Saada, which is near the Saudi border.
These are Yemeni pilots, for goodness' sake -- do let's have realistic expectations of their abilities.
It said that the rebels have stopped troops from advancing in several areas, including Malaheez, and Sufyan district in neighboring Imran province.
Rebels also claimed capturing an undetermined number of soldiers and destroying two tanks in an attack on an army point in Maqash, near the city of Saada.
The military spokesman claimed that the army killed several rebels in the same clash in Maqash, adding to confusion about the developments on the ground amid a lack of independent sources of information.
The army's "Operation Scorched Earth" has entered its 18th day. There are no reliable sources on the numbers of casualties, but rebels say dozens of civilians have been killed.
That would be implied in the title "Scorched Earth".
Rebels have also alleged neighboring Saudi Arabia has been sending warplanes to aid Yemeni troops, a claim ridiculed by the Yemeni government which accuses Shiite Iran of backing the rebels.
President Ali Abdullah Saleh vowed on Thursday to crush the rebellion within weeks.
The government had offered a six-point plan to end the fighting but the rebels dismissed the offer, recalling that a Qatari-brokered peace deal reached in June 2007 had never been implemented.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said last week that around 35,000 people have been displaced by the clashes.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
A question to the media (updating Bishop Berkeley): If a person is killed in the Middle East but neither the US nor Israel can be blamed, did he really die?
[Bangla Daily Star] An operative of outlawed Gono Bahini was killed in a 'shootout' with law enforcers in Bamongram in Sadar upazila early yesterday.
Police say the victim Baul Joardar alias Baul Member, 42, was a close associate of Gono Bahini chief Azibor chairman and a listed criminal.
According to the statement of law enforcers, a joint team of police and Rapid Action Battalion-12 (Rab) approached a gathering in Bamongram and ran into a hail of bullets at around 4:30am.
As the law enforcers returned fire, Baul died, while others managed to escape, the statement says. The law enforcers recovered a homemade rifle and nine bullets from the spot.
Baul, a former member of Jhoudia Union Parishad, hailed from Boidyanathpur village in the Sadar upazila and unleashed a reign of terror in Mohordia, Bishnudia, Jhoudi and Uzangram in the district. Police say he was involved in a number of crimes including murder, abduction, extortion and transport robbery. He was also accused in seven cases including three for murders filed with Islamic University and sadar police stations.
He's lucky he ran into that bullet behind the ear. Else he would have spent the rest of his life sitting in Bangladeshi courtrooms on trial for all of those crimes. Clearly he was wanted in considerably more than twelve systems.
In a separate incident, another outlaw was bullet-hit during a 'gunfight' with police in Kotchandpur upazila Friday night, reports our Jhenidah correspondent.
Police arrested Ashman, 35, son of Mozibor Malitha of Bherakhali village in Harinakundo upazila and admitted him to Jhenidah Sadar Hospital.
Police say acting on a tip-off, they cordoned off a field in Kushna in Kotchandpur at night where a group of extremists were holding a meeting.
At one stage,
Good lord -- how long did the police wait in ambush?
the criminals opened fire on the police, prompting them to retaliate.
Police recovered a shutter gun and two bullets from the spot as other criminals escaped.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
...and the shutter gun barely makes it in in the last sentence. I was getting worried there for a second.
#2
I've finally figured out the disposition of land in Bangladesh. There are 8 or 9 districts, including Khulna, Dakka, and Cox's Bazaar. These would be similar to States in the US. An upazilla is like a county, and each district is made up of many, many upazillas. "Towns" are anything larger than three houses in close proximity. Google Earth doesn't break down the districts into upazillas, probably because their boundaries are about as complex as voting districts in the US. Good reports include the district name, otherwise you're without a clue where the incident took place.
TW, your snark is getting better each day. Makes me smile, it does.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/30/2009 13:25 Comments ||
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#3
I sit at the feet of giants, Old Patriot, but I'm awfully glad you get amusement from my little assays. I, on the other hand, grab at your knowledge with both of my greedy little hands, when you share. Thank you.
#6
If you google it, one of the first hits will be the Rab report on weapons collected, which is interesting in itself, and refers in item 17 to LG/Pipe gun/Shooter/Shutter Gun. Another is here, and has the following to say:
Local residents say gunrunners mainly smuggle four types of firearms into Bangladesh: Kamare or Chhakka, pistols made by blacksmiths or in iron workshops or local engineering workshops; Auto-Nakka, a revolver with a nine-room magazine; Double-shutter gun, used to hit a short-range target by pulling half the bolt and a distant target by pulling the full bolt; and seven-gear sawn-off rifle.
Sources close to gunrunners say a Chakka sells at about Tk 3,500 in Satkhira and at about Tk 5,000 in Dhaka and a Nakka sells at about Tk 12,000 to 13,000 in West Bengal, at about Tk 35,000 to Tk 40,000 in Satkhira and at about Tk 50,000 to Tk 55,000 in Dhaka.
A shutter gun carries a street value of about Tk 1,500 to 1,800 in India and at about Tk 4,000 in Bangladesh. A seven-gear sawn-off rifle sells at about Tk 18,000 in Satkhira and at about Tk 45,000 in Dhaka.
They said scores of arms manufacturing engineering workshops have thrived in small bordering towns in India, keeping an eye on Bangladesh markets.
Kind of like liberal hawk's long ago question about the cost of guns in Peshawar. ;-)
#1
According to the Security Council diplomat, the weapons were carried on an Australian vessel, the ANL-Australia, which was flying under a Bahamian flag. According to an Aug. 14 letter sent to the U.N. sanctions committee, the exporting company was an Italian shipper, Otim, which exported the items from its Shanghai office.
The Security Council official said the sanctions committee will conduct its own investigation and is likely to send out letters to all countries who had companies involved in the shipment, including Italy, Australia and France, where the parent company of ANL is based.
All of these countries are going to be investigating, interacting with their shipping firms, with their private sector and saying: There was a possible violation here. What are you doing to make sure you have total transparency on all exports and imports into North Korea? the diplomat said. Thats why this matters.
Well, it matters more than if they hadn't been caught.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/30/2009 11:19 Comments ||
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#2
looks like a near perfect weapon against ship pirates.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/30/2009 13:28 Comments ||
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#3
Containerized freight is generally easier to hide stuff in, especially when it comes to China (you'd be surprised how much cooperation during import to China one gets by taping a $100 bill just inside the door).
#1
British Ministry of Defence canceled Michael Yon's embed after this report
The first casualty in war is the truth. That's what Michaels problem (and strength)is, he tell the truth.
The MoD ought to be ashamed of themselves.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Two Syrian detainees held at the controversial American prison, Guantanamo Bay, have been sent to Portugal on Friday by United States authorities, who freed them to live in the community as President Barack Obama tries to close the facility in five months.
The two detainees "arrived Aug. 28 in Portugal... and they were released," the Portuguese interior ministry said in a statement on its website.
They are "not subject to any charge, they are free people and are living in homes provided by state," officials said. The two men had been cleared of any terrorism charges but could not return to their home country for fear of persecution. Their names were not released.
Earlier the U.S. Department of Justice said the two Syrian nationals, who have not been identified, "have been transferred from the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay to the control of the government of Portugal."
The U.S. "has coordinated with the government of Portugal to ensure the transfers take place under appropriate security measures and will continue to consult with the government of Portugal regarding these detainees," it added in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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NEARLY three months after the Pakistani army retook the Swat valley from the Taliban, corpses are appearing on the streets almost every day. This time the killings are about revenge. The bodies are suspected militants or Taliban collaborators. Their killers are alleged to be the security forces, although this is denied officially.
The body of Afzal Khan, who was in his mid-thirties and lived in the village of Salampur, is one of dozens that have been found since last month. Khan used to serve food to the Taliban and was friendly with Shah Dau-ran, their commander. Dau-ran was killed in June. "Khan went missing from his house one night and after 15 days, we found his corpse with bullet wounds to his head," said a neighbour.
The reprisals are a grim echo of the Taliban's own reign of terror. However, many believe they are the only way to stamp out the Taliban forever. "They must be punished for their atrocities, for beheading people, lashing girls and destroying schools," said Ameer Muhammad, the owner of a shop selling records. The Taliban had warned him to close his business. Zahoor, a security guard in Mingora, said he he had not been able to sleep since the Taliban killed an innocent man in the street near his home. "Those responsible for such acts do not deserve any other treatment than the one being given to them," he said.
It's not just the security forces (whatever that term means -- soldiers? police?), but civilians, too. From earlier in August:
His hands tied behind his back, the body of a young bearded man lay in a pool of blood on a busy market road. Two bullets had pierced his skull, indicating that he was shot from close range. Residents recognised him as Gul Khatab, a notorious Taleban commander. "People remember him for his brutality," Mohammed Nasir, a trader, said.
Since the body was discovered in the main town of Pakistan's Swat Valley, other corpses have appeared on the streets. All were killed in the same manner as the security forces cleared the area of Taleban fighters.
The people of Mingora have long been used to the sight of bullet-riddled bodies dumped on the streets. They used to be those of government officials, policemen or women killed by the Taleban who virtually controlled the Swat Valley. This summer the militants were driven out by the army after a month-long battle.
Now the pattern of death has been reversed. The Taleban are being hunted down by the security forces and families of the victims of their atrocities. There have been reports of militants' bodies being slung from electricity poles and bridges in other towns of Swat. Last week tribesmen killed two Taleban fighters in a village near Kalam and left their bodies hanging from an electricity pole for several days. Similar incidents were reported in Malakand, Batkhela and Thana. district of Swat Valley.In many cases notes were left on the bodies warning that this would be the fate of all enemies of the state and Swat.
Senior army officials deny that troops were involved in the killings but analysts said that it could not happen without the army's blessing. "There is an element of revenge for the soldiers who were brutally murdered and beheaded by Taleban," an official said.
The militants used to make videos of the beheadings and distribute them to the media. One of the most brutal incidents happened a week before the army offensive in the valley, when militants captured and beheaded four officers of a commando unit. Such actions by the insurgents enraged the troops. An officer confirmed that they would not take prisoners. Some officials argue that there was no choice but to eliminate the hardened militants as the judicial system was so weak that suspects often went free. Judges were often too terrified to convict.
Residents have started co-operating with security agencies in tracking down militants, making it more difficult for them to blend in with the population. "The security forces are tipped off immediately about the presence of militants in the neighbourhood," Saeed Iqbal, a local journalist, said. Dozens of militants have been picked up by security agents in Mingora in recent weeks. Some would not return alive.
Security forces are blowing up the houses and properties of Taleban fighters and their leaders who have not been captured or killed. In many cases the extended families have also suffered because of destruction of joint properties. The authorities are arming tribal militias to fight the remaining Taleban. They are mostly led by influential landlords whose properties were taken over by the Taleban.
#3
Perhaps the US could write up a Lessons Learned document and apply this, starting on the Arabian peninsula.
Posted by: ed ||
08/30/2009 11:51 Comments ||
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#4
I'll double my popcorn order. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/30/2009 12:09 Comments ||
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#5
Security forces are blowing up the houses and properties of Taleban fighters and their leaders who have not been captured or killed. In many cases the extended families have also suffered because of destruction of joint properties.
You had to know the Jeeeewws are involved somewhere.
#6
TOPIX > AL QAEDA FAILS TO UNITE PAKISTANI TALIBAN + NAZIR, MEHSUD GROUPS FAIL TO RECONCILE.
Unfortunately, doesn't mean the US-Allies hold the advantage, espec wid the PAKI ARMY-GOVT becom heavily criticized for abandoning its highly touted pre-planned offensive agz the MilTerrs.
A SUSPECTED suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a police station in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley on Sunday, killing 12 cadets and wounding several.
"Training was going on when a suicide bomber disguising as a recruit walked into the building and blew himself up. We have reports that 12 were killed," information minister of the North West Frontier Province Mian Iftikhar Hussain, said.
[Geo News] At least three police officials were killed while two miscreants were also killed in retaliatory firing as police and militants clashed here on late Saturday night, Geo news reported. According to police sources, police party, during routine patrolling, was ambushed by unknown miscreants, killing three police officers while in the meantime, police claimed to have killed two attackers during the retaliatory firing.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Eighteen militants, six of them would-be suicide bombers, were killed as helicopter gunships destroyed a training camp and troops continued operations in various parts of the Swat Valley, officials said on Saturday. The camp's trainees, including teenagers, were responsible for at least three attacks in recent weeks, an army spokesman said.
The air raid on the training facility, located on a small island in the Swat River opposite the town of Charbagh, was carried out on Friday night after local people tipped off security forces of its location, according to Lt-Col Akhtar Abbas, the army spokesman in Swat.
Intelligence reports linked the camp to attacks that killed a total of 10 troops and civilians this month, he said.
Two of the attacks took place last week near Mingora and another was earlier this month in a more remote area.
'We have been working to find their source and today we destroyed that source,' Col Abbas told AP.
The army had declared Charbagh, about 10km east of Mingora, clear of militants except for small pockets of resistance.
Col Abbas said another six militants were killed in two operations elsewhere in Swat.
In one operation, five Taliban were killed, including a close aid to a high-ranking Taliban fighter Shah Doraan.
He said military operations were weakening the Taliban, and that many had chosen to turn themselves in rather than fight.
'With every day passing, the noose is being tightened around them, and that's why more and more of them are opting to surrender,' Col Abbas said.
Separately, the army said it had arrested 11 suspected militants in search operations in the region.
Security forces have been winding down a nearly three-month offensive to dislodge the Taliban from the Swat Valley and surrounding areas, but sporadic clashes continue.
On Saturday, residents said they found bullet-riddled bodies of six people they identified as militants in Odigram, a village near Mingora. It was unclear who killed them.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
[Dawn] A car bomb killed six people and wounded 20 others in northern Iraq on Saturday, police said, in the second such attack of the day.
The attack took place in the town of Sinjar, 390 km (240 miles) northwest of Baghdad, which is home to Yazidis, members of a pre-Islamic Kurdish sect.
At least 21 people were killed in two suicide attacks in Sinjar earlier this month, part of a wave of violence that has hit ethnically and religiously mixed northern Nineveh province.
Earlier on Saturday, at least nine people were killed in a suicide car bomb in another town in northern Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A suicide car bomber killed at least nine people and wounded 11 others in an attack at a police station north of Baghdad on Saturday, Iraqi police said. Four of those killed in the attack were police.
The attack occurred at about 8:00am (0500 GMT) near the town of Shirqat, 300 km (190 miles) north of Baghdad, in Salahuddin province.
The bombing is the latest attack in northern Iraq to target remote communities where there are often few checkpoints and little security.
Iraq is struggling to recover from a rash of violence that has raised questions about the durability of security gains, including truck bomb attacks that killed almost 100 people near government ministries on August 19.
There also has been a series of attacks in areas of northern Iraq where tension is high between majority Arabs, ethnic Kurds and other minorities. Much of the violence has taken place in Nineveh province, near Shirqat.
The government, looking towards a general election in January, is striving to show Iraqis that it is on top of the security situation as American troops prepare to withdraw gradually by the end of 2011.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip fired a Qassam rocket into the western Negev early Saturday. The rocket hit an open area in the Sdot Negev regional council. Later Saturday, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported that the Israel Defense Force fired artillery rounds at gunmen at the central Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported. The IDF said in response that no such attack took place. Might explain why nobody was hurt...
According to the report, the IDF also opened machine-gun fire from vehicles stationed on the border toward nearby central Gaza homes.
I assume that means the Palestinian Ma'an report. Quite possibly the Qassam rocket actually never made it beyond the nearby Palestinian houses... that seems to be what the Palestinian rocketeers do best.
The Qassam, fired at around 6 A.M., was one of several military incidents along Israel's boarder with Gaza, coming after months of relative calm. On Tuesday, Gaza militants fired two mortar shells at the western Negev, which landed near an Israel Defense Forces base. One soldier was lightly wounded and received medical treatment on site. The Israel Air force responded later that day with bombing smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip. Three Palestinians died in the assault
Also, earlier in the month, militants fired mortars at a crossing into Israel just as Palestinian patients were being transferred for treatment. The IAF responded by attacking smuggling tunnels, with no known casualties on the Palestinian side.
In another recent incident, an IDF patrol opened fire on Palestinian militants on Monday after spotting their approach to the Gaza border fence. Palestinian sources said three people were wounded in the cross-border fire.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/30/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
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.
[Quqnoos] Fighting between police and Taliban militants in the southern Ghazni province left 3 Taliban dead and 4 others hurt on Saturday
[Quqnoos] A suicide bomber attacked a convoy of US troops in Zabul province earlier today, killing 2 civilians and wounding dozens, an official said 
Hundreds of Ethiopian troops backing Somali government forces drove out hardline Islamist fighters from a town in central Somalia, officials and witnesses said late on Saturday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen's army continued a near three-week-long offensive on Shiite northern rebels on Saturday as officials said the army had inflicted heavy losses on their strongholds in Saada region and surrounding areas.
[Bangla Daily Star] An operative of outlawed Gono Bahini was killed in a 'shootout' with law enforcers in Bamongram in Sadar upazila early yesterday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Two Syrian detainees held at the controversial American prison, Guantanamo Bay, have been sent to Portugal on Friday by United States authorities, who freed them to live in the community as President Barack Obama tries to close the facility in five months.
[Dawn] Eighteen militants, six of them would-be suicide bombers, were killed as helicopter gunships destroyed a training camp and troops continued operations in various parts of the Swat Valley, officials said on Saturday. The camp's trainees, including teenagers, were responsible for at least three attacks in recent weeks, an army spokesman said.
Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip fired a Qassam rocket into the western Negev early Saturday. The rocket hit an open area in the Sdot Negev regional council. Later Saturday, the Palestinian Maan news agency reported that the Israel Defense Force fired artillery rounds at gunmen at the central Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported. The IDF said in response that no such attack took place. 
