[Quqnoos] A NATO-led airstrike has reportedly killed more than 50 Taliban militants in the Afghan western province of Farah on Saturday. The aerial assault on Taliban compounds erupted after seven Afghan and two American soliders were killed in a tough gun-battle in the Bala Buluk district of the province.
Provincial officials confirm that three civilians, including two teenage girls, were also killed and two women were wounded in a Taliban missile strike during the fighting.
Usually the Taliban claim a great many more human shields.. plus the usual fluffy baby ducks, kittens and puppies.
A spokesman for an Afghan Army Corp in western Afghanistan, Major Abdul Basir Ghori, said that 12 other Afghan soldiers have been injured in the pre-airstrike battle.
May they heal quickly and well, and soon return to their calling.
The air raid to pound Taliban centres was asked after the Taliban insurgents attacked a supplying convoy of the World Food Programme (WFP) that was ushered by the Afghan Army.
Clearly the Afghan Army doesn't operate with the same rules of engagement as the international forces.
Bala Buluk district is a key Taliban stronghold in the Afghan west.
Was, rather than is, perhaps. We shall see.
There has been no immediate report about any possible civilian casualties in the bombing.
A similar US air strike in the Bala Buluk caused the death of at least 100 Afghan civilians this year in May, the deadliest incident since the collapse of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Even the littlist baby goat was counted for the purpose of US blood money.
The Taliban have not made an immediate comment over the claims.
"What, us use human shields? Perish the thought!
Moreover, two other US soldiers were killed when their patrol struck an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in eastern Afghanistan, US military says.
"We grieve with the family and loved ones of the brave ISAF service-members," said Brig Gen Eric Tremblaym, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF). "ISAF's efforts are dangerous and challenging but we are committed to helping build a safer and better Afghanistan and we will succeed in this endeavour," an ISAF statement qouted Gen Tremblay as saying.
The casualties occurred in a wave of violence around the country as Taliban have intensified their attacks to a record level this year.
Al Qaeda in Iraq already lost Iraq. How would it look to the Ummah, were the Taliban, who once lorded over the entirety of Afghanistan, to lose in Afghanistan as insurgents, too?
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Provincial officials confirm that three civilians, including two teenage girls, were also killed and two women were wounded in a Taliban missile strike during the fighting.
If I reasd that correctly, its not collateral damage to a NATO strike. Its the victims of a Taliban missile strike. Evidently the "gunbattle" include a wider range of munitions? I may be out of my depth here.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/14/2009 15:12 Comments ||
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#2
Clearly the Afghan Army doesn't operate with the same rules of engagement as the international forces.
Well of course. While H&M applies to domestic forces fighting a counterinsurgency, one assumes the population will give more benefit of the doubt to their local fellahs than to furriners. So thats one advantage of relying on friendlies.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/14/2009 15:14 Comments ||
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#3
Excellent graphic! If like me, you really enjoy stories about TAC Air strikes on the Taliban, may I suggest Doug Stanton's book entitled "Horse Soldiers."
Posted by: ed ||
09/14/2009 21:26 Comments ||
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#6
These articles make me so happy. The message from the US government: We don't forget. We dont forgive. We will track you down and murder you no matter where you are.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A Saudi Arabian charity believed to be a front for al-Qaeda has provided USD 15 million (55 million dirhams) to extremist groups in Pakistan for carrying out terror attacks, according to a secret report prepared by Pakistani police.
A major chunk of the funds provided by the Al-Haramain Foundation went to the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, said the report prepared by the Crime Investigation Department.
The Al-Haramain Foundation has been banned by the UN Security Council for its links to al-Qaeda. According to the CID report, Hakimullah Mehsud, the successor to slain Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud, has vowed to avenge his killing in a US drone attack in August.
"The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan is likely to strike major cities of the Punjab," said the report.The report further said: "The joint plans of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan are to target Shias. The plans are meant to avenge the recent killing of a top Sipahe-e-Sahaba Pakistan man in Karachi.
"The new Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mehsud and his cousin Qari Hussain Ahmed have strong anti-Shia views and ties with the (banned) Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammed."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A gang of criminals snatched their accomplice from the members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in broad daylight yesterday afternoon, injuring a major of the elite force in the city's Mirpur.
Injured Major Khandaker Golam Sarwar was rushed to Combined Military Hospital with severe wounds in his head.
Rab-4 official sources said, a team of Rab, acting on a tip-off, went to Nam Garden in Mirpur Section-10 at around 2:00pm to nab the associates of listed criminal Shahar Ali.
Shahar was earlier killed in a gunfight with Rab on Saturday in Mirpur.
The criminals hit Major Sarwar on the head after he caught one of their accomplices during the raid.
Later, the criminals sped away by a microbus with their cohort, Rab officials said.
Commander SM Abul Kalam Azad, director of legal and media wing of Rab, told The Daily Star, "Criminals beat up the major with an iron rod and later fled the scene leaving him severely injured."
I'm shocked. All this time we thought the gangs were made up of moondust and tags of mist.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Two top outlawed party leaders were shot dead in separate incidents of "crossfire" between police and their gangs in Kushtia early yesterday raising the number of such deaths to 21 in the district in last 17 days.
Twenty-one trials that won't go forward to further clog the no-doubt overloaded Bangladeshi criminal courts.
The dead were identified as Gono Bahini leader Marfat Hossain, 40, son of Ishaq Biswas of Ailchara in sadar upazila, and Gono Mukti Fouj leader Biplob, 33, son of late Tofazzel Hossain of Kataikhana area in Kushtia district town.
No doubt Mr. Tofazzel Hossain died of shame at his son's conduct. Mr. Ishaq Biswas clearly does not have such a punctilious sense of family honour. He probably doesn't even own a brace of duelling pistols
.A police team of sadar upazila conducted a raid in Ailchara village at around 3:30am when some Gono Bahini cadres led by Marfat were holding a meeting beneath the Ailchara Bara Bridge.
"Watch yer feet don't get wet, me boyos. Don't want none of youse sneezing when you hold up passers-by for their preteen daughters in marriage."
Police cordoned off the area and asked the outlaws to surrender but the operatives opened fire prompting the law enforcers to retaliate.
They didn't want to, but what could they do? There were innocent civilians sleeping in that village.
The body of Marfat was found on the spot after his accomplices had escaped.
"He's dead, sarge."
"Good use of the stray bullets, patrolman."
Police recovered a shutter gun and eight bullets from the scene.
The newest trainees were assigned to clean them to a shine for return to the velvet lined evidence case until the next encounter.
Marfat was accused in six cases including murder and abduction filed with Kushtia sadar and Islamic University police stations.
Oooooh. A college lad astray by a weak character and evil companions. No doubt the demon alcohol/methanol blend played a part. And now he was wanted on twelve systems.
Another police team led by Assistant Police Super Alamgir Hossain raided Chadgara Eidgah on information that a gang of Gono Mukti Fouj operatives were holding a meeting at around 5:00am.
Sensing police presence, armed cadres led by Biplob started shooting at police, forcing the law enforcers to fire back. When outlaws fled the scene, Biplob was found dead.
Police recovered two LGs and nine bullets from the spot.
Biplob was accused in a dozen cases including five for murder filed with the sadar police station.
According to police, Biplob recently threatened a police official in the district with death.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2009 0:17 Comments ||
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#3
My sainted mother used to tell my teenage self that nothing wholesome happens after midnight except for milk delivery. And they don't do that anymore.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 8:01 Comments ||
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(Xinhua) -- Two police officers were killed in an attack in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, RIA Novosti news agency reported on Sunday, citing the regional interior ministry.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire at a police checkpoint in a town 16 km east of Grozny, the republic's capital, late on Saturday, leaving two policemen dead, a source with the interior ministry said.
Over 150 spent cartridges were discovered at the scene, and an operation to find the assailants is under way, the source said.
In April, the Kremlin formally ended an anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya, which has experienced two bloody wars in the past 15 years.
The troubled North Caucasus republics have seen a rise in violence in recent months, with attacks on police, officials and troops, and special operations against militants being reported almost daily.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- Eight rebels of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) have been killed by the Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey in the last four days, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.
The security forces clashed with a group of the PKK militants in an operation on Sunday in Kazan Valley in Cukurca town of the southeastern province of Hakkari and killed three PKK militants, said the report.
This result had brought the death toll of the PKK members in Hakkari province to eight in the last four days.
The security forces also captured some weapons from the PKK militants during the operation, said the report.
Established in 1978, the PKK took up arms in 1984 to create an ethnic homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have been killed in conflicts over the past two decades.
Turkey's military forces have taken tougher actions against the PKK after the country's legislature gave the government mandate to launch cross-border operations against the rebels in northern Iraq in October 2007 and extended it in 2008.
It is estimated that there are a total of 5,000 PKK militants, the majority of whom are holed up in northern Iraq where the PKK headquarters is situated.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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At least two people were injured as a suicide vehicle exploded near Thana check post in Swat. According to sources, security forces opened fire and tried to stop the suspected vehicle but it didn't stop. The vehicle then rammed into the Thana check post injuring two people. After the incident the main GT road was blocked and security forces started a search operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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A police official and two civilians were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of the Doaba police station in Hangu on Saturday night.
According to the police, a teenager was asked to stop when he approached the police station. But, he started running towards the main gate when the guards opened fire at him and blew himself up.
Rashid, a constable working in the investigation wing, and two civilians, a pick-up driver and a cleaner were injured in the blast. They were admitted the Hangu Civil Hospital.
Senior police and military officials rushed to the scene along with the bomb disposal squad. Police said they had found the suicide bomber's legs.
Police cordoned off the area, but darkness hampered their search for other body parts, especially the head.
The same police station had earlier been attacked by the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan after the enforcement of Sharia in Orakzai Agency and adjoining areas.
About 400 Taliban had besieged the Doaba police station in summer last year when police and security forces arrested a close aide of Baitullah Mehsud.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Police said they had found the suicide bomber's legs but darkness hampered their search for other body parts, especially the head.
Such dedication, and still he didn't manage to kill anybody. No 72 goats for you. I do wonder how they determined he was a teenager though.
[Geo News] Ten militants were killed, including a key commander, and several others injured in the ongoing operation in Sourth Waziristan. According to sources, the security forces launched operation in Sarwekai and Kotkai. Ten houses of the militants and five shops were also destroyed in the action. Meanwhile, tribal lashkars are being formed to carry out an effective operation in Mehsud area.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Wasn't it Peshawar where wealthy Saudis were building luxury summer colonies? I wonder how they're enjoying the results of their various investments.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The provincial capital once again came under rocket attack early Sunday as nine rockets were fired at the city.
Official sources said five rockets were fired at the city at 11:00 pm while four others landed in different parts of the provincial metropolis early in the morning. Of the five rockets that hit the city later Sunday, two landed in Badaber, partially damaging the houses of Amjad and Wakil. Three others landed in an open field in parts of Pishtakhara village.
Earlier, two rockets fell on empty plots in the posh Hayatabad Township while as many landed near the Ring Road. No casualty was reported in the rocket attacks. However, the series of rocket attacks in the past couple of days spread terror among the Peshawariites.
The militants are raining rockets at the city quite frequently during the past month from Darra Adamkhel, Khyber Agency, Michni and rural parts of the provincial capital, which seems to be a reaction to the ongoing military operation in the nearby tribal belt, including Khyber Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] GHALLANAI: The chief of the recently formed grand jirga of Halimzai tribe escaped an attempt on his life here Sunday. Sources said that unknown armed men hurled a hand-grenade on Malik Muhammad Ali when he was on way to mosque to offer 'taraveeh' prayers in Shabqadar area. However, he escaped unharmed. The attackers fled the scene when the security guard at the hujra opened fire on them.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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After the arrest of two high ranking Taliban leaders Muslim Khan and Mehmood Khan along with three other militants, security forces have expedited operation Rah-e-Rast to arrest or kill banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Swat Maulvi Fazalullah by besieging the area of Mangalore and Mingora.
Sources in security forces informed Online that the driver of Tehrik-e-Taliban Chief Swat Molvi Fazalullah has also been arrested and he during initial investigation said his boss is critically injured but he is in Swat.
The arrested spokesman of TTP Haji Muslim Khan and Taliban commander Mehmood Khan, during investigations, told interrogators that they met Maulvi Fazalullah some days ago and he has been kept in an undisclosed location, sources added.
After the arrest of senior leaders of the TTP, some accomplices of Fazalullah had recommended him to leave the area by disguise, but he refused to cut his beard.
During the same course, the Taliban had offered dialogue with security forces but they were asked to surrender or renounce violence. Sources went on to say Fazalullah is under siege by security forces and an announcement with regard to his arrest or death will be made within a few days.
Muslim Khan and Commander Mehmood Khan have disclosed the hideouts where Fazalullah can take shelter, sources added.
Security forces have claimed that possible escape routes for Fazalullah have been closed and comprehensive intelligence operation with the full backing of locals has started.
Officials and personnel of intelligence agencies are participating in the operation, sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Ive seen claims the Pakis have him surrounded.
Posted by: liberal hawk ||
09/14/2009 15:16 Comments ||
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Sweden confirmed Saturday that three of its citizens were among a group of foreigners arrested in August by police in northwestern Pakistan.
Camilla Akesson Lindblom, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said the identities of those arrested had not yet been provided by Pakistan and Swedish authorities did not know where they were being held.
'We have had it confirmed by Pakistan authorities,' Akesson Lindblom said of the arrests. 'We have no information about what they are accused of.'
Probably littering, or maybe a couple unpaid parking tickets. I've heard that Pakistan is quite fierce about such offenses.
According to Pakistani police, the Aug. 28 arrests in the town of Dera Ghazi Khan, included a Swedish man named Mehdi-Muhammad Ghezali, three other Swedes and seven Turks.
Sadly, their mothers did not love them enough to give them names of their own.
Police said a Pakistani man was also traveling with them and a document also listed a woman among them.
Check the burka, might be a man hiding beneath it ...
Ghezali, a Swede arrested in Pakistan 2001, had been held for two years at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay. He was released by the US in 2004 and has denied any links to al-Qaida.
Police said they were arrested on suspicion of links to al-Qaida, after entering the country from Iran and planning to travel to the tribal areas. One was carrying a laptop computer and $10,000.--
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Gunmen broke into the home of a Kurdish policeman in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk while he was away early Sunday, killing his wife and three children as they slept, authorities said.
Omed Abdul-Hamid had already left for work when the gunmen burst into the house and sprayed the woman and children with bullets, police Brig. Gen. Sarhad Qadir said. The children were ages 3 through 10, he said. The attackers did not steal anything, suggesting it was an insurgent attack, Qadir said.
Elsewhere in the area, two separate morning police patrols were hit with roadside bombs in southern Kirkuk, wounding six policemen, police Brig. Gen. Khatab Omar said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Four army soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in an insurgent ambush in Yarang district of Pattani province on Monday, district police chief Pol Lt-Col Tuande Juthanant said.
The attack took place near Buenae Kuebong village in tambon Prachan on Highway 410 (Pattani-Yala) as soldiers of Task Force 21 from Ingkhayuthaboriharn military camp were patrolling in a pick-up. Sgt-Maj Suthipong Wongsambat, 41, was seriously wounded. He was shot in the face and left arm. Also wounded were Sgt-Maj Somchai Nualchan, Sgt Sompan Sonpho and Pvt Somsamorn Sriwan.
#1
See also REDDIT > SEOUL TIMES - ISLAMIC MILITANTS TARGET BUDDHISTS IN THAILAND. Radical Sunni Jihadists-Milits from INDONESIA + PHILIPPINES may join the fray.
* SAME > BANGLADESH DESTROYS HINDUISM, BUDDHISM/BANGLADESH FACING GROWING ISLAMIZATION.
Islamization blamed on UK after post-WW2,UK/ British-led PARTITION OF INDIA. PAKISTANI HINDUS in steady decline due to nature of REPRESSIVE RADICAL SUNNI ISLAMISM - REGIONAL CHRISTIANS, BUDDHISTS, + OTHER NON-MUSLIM MINORITIES also facing ongoing persecution = forms of repression, e.g. threats of beheadings or other death, destruction of places of worship, etc. IRONICALLY, MUSLIM COMMUNITY IN HINDU INDIA IS DOING WELL.
IOW, ARTIC > IIUC, ISLAMISTS = MUSLIMS? ARE NOT A THREAT UNLESS THEY HAVE THEIR OWN COUNTRY ANDOR BECOME A MAJORITY [POLITICAL-GOVT + DEMOGRAPHIC]???
An interim Friday prayer leader in the western city of Sanandaj in the Iranian province of Kordestan has been shot dead.
Three unidentified gunmen approached the home of Mamousta Borhan Ali in Sanandaj on Saturday "under the pretext of asking religious questions" from the cleric.
The interim Friday prayer leader, who was part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election campaign in Kordestan, was then assassinated by a hail of bullets, Fars news agency reported.
The incident comes only days after a failed attempt to assassinate a Revolutionary Court judge in Sanandaj.
Sanandaj governor Mohammad Taghi Heydari said the assassination was part of the enemy's plots to portray the region as insecure.
"Through such plots, they seek to stoke tensions in the region so that they can achieve their evil objectives," the governor added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Red on red
MORE, MORE.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/14/2009 0:16 Comments ||
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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.
[Quqnoos] A NATO-led airstrike has reportedly killed more than 50 Taliban militants in the Afghan western province of Farah on Saturday. The aerial assault on Taliban compounds erupted after seven Afghan and two American soliders were killed in a tough gun-battle in the Bala Buluk district of the province. 
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A Saudi Arabian charity believed to be a front for al-Qaeda has provided USD 15 million (55 million dirhams) to extremist groups in Pakistan for carrying out terror attacks, according to a secret report prepared by Pakistani police.
[Bangla Daily Star] A gang of criminals snatched their accomplice from the members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in broad daylight yesterday afternoon, injuring a major of the elite force in the city's Mirpur.
[Bangla Daily Star] Two top outlawed party leaders were shot dead in separate incidents of "crossfire" between police and their gangs in Kushtia early yesterday raising the number of such deaths to 21 in the district in last 17 days.
At least two people were injured as a suicide vehicle exploded near Thana check post in Swat. According to sources, security forces opened fire and tried to stop the suspected vehicle but it didn't stop. The vehicle then rammed into the Thana check post injuring two people. After the incident the main GT road was blocked and security forces started a search operation. 
A police official and two civilians were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of the Doaba police station in Hangu on Saturday night.
[Geo News] Ten militants were killed, including a key commander, and several others injured in the ongoing operation in Sourth Waziristan. According to sources, the security forces launched operation in Sarwekai and Kotkai. Ten houses of the militants and five shops were also destroyed in the action. Meanwhile, tribal lashkars are being formed to carry out an effective operation in Mehsud area.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] GHALLANAI: The chief of the recently formed grand jirga of Halimzai tribe escaped an attempt on his life here Sunday. Sources said that unknown armed men hurled a hand-grenade on Malik Muhammad Ali when he was on way to mosque to offer 'taraveeh' prayers in Shabqadar area. However, he escaped unharmed. The attackers fled the scene when the security guard at the hujra opened fire on them.
After the arrest of two high ranking Taliban leaders Muslim Khan and Mehmood Khan along with three other militants, security forces have expedited operation Rah-e-Rast to arrest or kill banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Chief Swat Maulvi Fazalullah by besieging the area of Mangalore and Mingora. 
Sweden confirmed Saturday that three of its citizens were among a group of foreigners arrested in August by police in northwestern Pakistan.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Gunmen broke into the home of a Kurdish policeman in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk while he was away early Sunday, killing his wife and three children as they slept, authorities said.
