KABUL (Reuters) Insurgents stormed remote outposts in eastern Afghanistan killing eight Americans in the deadliest battle in more than a year, the U.S. military said on Sunday.
Afghan provincial authorities said they had lost contact with scores of Afghan policemen after the day-long attack on Saturday and did not know whether they were dead or alive. NATO said at least two Afghan soldiers were killed.
The fighting in the Kamdesh district of eastern Nuristan was in an area from which U.S. forces had already announced plans to withdraw as part of commander General Stanley McChrystal's strategy to focus his forces on population centers.
Militia from a local mosque and a nearby village launched the attacks on two joint NATO and Afghan outposts, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said. The NATO troops in the area are American.
"My heart goes out to the families of those we have lost and to their fellow soldiers who remained to finish the fight," Colonel Randy George, commander of the U.S. force in the eastern mountain area bordering Pakistan, said in the statement.
"This was a complex attack in a difficult area. Both the U.S. and Afghan soldiers fought bravely together. I am extremely proud of their professionalism and bravery."
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the movement was behind the attack. He claimed that dozens of Afghan soldiers and police were killed along with Western troops.
The province's deputy police chief Mohammad Farooq said the fate of an entire 90-strong police force in the Kamdesh district was unknown.
NATO said its troops had inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers, but did not say how many.
NEW STRATEGY
The NATO statement said "coalition forces' previously announced plans to depart the area as part of a broader realignment to protect larger populations remains unchanged."
The attack was the deadliest for U.S. forces since nine were killed in a July 2008 battle in nearby Kunar province, which the U.S. military is investigating as a debacle that will teach its forces how to understand the demands of combat in Afghanistan.
U.S. forces have suffered some of their worst casualties in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, where they have been trying to control remote passes used by Taliban fighters as infiltration routes from Pakistan.
Under McChrystal's new counter-insurgency strategy they are supposed to move into more heavily populated areas to protect the population and reduce the influence of insurgents, while abandoning efforts to defend remote locations.
The war in Afghanistan has reached its most violent phase this year, eight years after the Taliban were ousted, with attacks by fighters spreading from traditional strongholds in the south and east to once-peaceful western and northern regions.
McChrystal, who now commands more than 100,000 troops, two thirds of them American, has requested tens of thousands more to implement his new strategy, warning that without them, the eight-year-old war will probably be lost.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who already ordered 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan this year, is re-evaluating his overall strategy for the region before considering whether to send more troops.
Some in his administration are advocating the opposite strategy -- reducing force levels and switching to a counter-terrorism strategy limited to strikes on bases of al Qaeda fighters blamed for attacks on the West. Please don't tell me we don't already pummell every base we can find.
#4
In a guerrilla war if it looks like the good guys will withdraw locals begin to think that they better get some "resistance" credentials before it is too late.
On November 4, America gave a gaint sign she would withdraw.
#6
Stay or withdraw - but this village and mosque militia should be hunted and killed, the village destroyed and the earth salted. The fackers are 8th century barbarians, speak to them in their own language, pain, blood and death.
Afghan troops overwhelmed a protest rally in western Afghanistan which was provoked after a mosque desecration rumour on Friday
Taliban militants in the western Afghan province of Nimroz on Friday forced civilians to protest against foreign forces after spreading rumours they had desecrated a mosque, provincial governor, Ghulam Dastgir Azad said. "Taliban stopped buses on the highway in Delaram district on a junction where passengers from Herat, Farah and Nimroz provinces travel and forced them to protest against foreign forces," Nimroz Governor told the Associated Press.
The governor added that insurgents used the public as human shields to fire on police during the protest. Two people have been killed and three others were wounded in the gun battle erupted by the protest as the insurgents set a number of police checkpoints on fire, according to local officials. Police forces also sustained injuries in the exchange of fire, Governor Azad said, adding they are in stable heath condition.
US Marines in Delaram said the protest involved some 200 to 300 people. Tyres were set on fire and the demonstrators marched towards the police station shouting anti-American slogans. A US officer in Dilaram told AFP it took the Afghan National Army (ANA) almost three hours to quell the unrest.
The governor and the US military said the protest was whipped up after the Taliban spread rumours that foreign forces in the area had desecrated the Koran during their operations and thrown a dead dog into a mosque last week. The US office said the desecration rumours were "Taliban propaganda... to damage our credibility and this (incident) was part of the result".
"We have been pushing the message out for the past couple of days that we did not do what they are alleging," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Somali gunmen released three foreign aid workers on Saturday who were kidnapped in July in northern Kenya in a cross-border raid, residents and a rebel official said.
"They have just been released and taken to Nairobi," Sheikh Abdirisak, an official with insurgent group Hizbul Islam, told Reuters by phone from Luq in southwestern Somalia. He said militiamen came to Luq several days ago and asked to use the airstrip. "The administration accepted their proposal and worked the security of the deal," he said.
It was not clear whether a ransom had been paid for the release of the aid workers, taken from Kenya's remote Mandera province that borders Somalia and Ethiopia.
Cross-border raids are fairly common in the region, but usually involve cattle rustlers or gangs of robbers preying on business people in both countries. Ill-funded Kenyan security forces can do little to police the vast, impoverished area.
The aid organization involved asked at the time of the kidnappings that its name and the nationalities of the hostages not be released. "I have seen with my own eyes those three aid workers being put on a plane heading to Kenya this morning," said Mohamed Ahmed, a member of a militia loyal to Hizbul Islam in Luq.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Yemeni Shia fighters say they have gained control of another army position in the Northwest as the army offensive against Houthi resistance enters its seventh week.
According to local sources, after hours of heavy fighting in Harf Sufyan, the Shia forces seized control of Khaneq bridge on a road connecting Saada province with the capital Sanaa, AFP reported.
Military officials say 28 Shia combatants, four Yemeni soldiers and two tribesmen were killed in the latest round of fighting between government troops and Shia forces --also known as Houthis-- in Saada and Amran provinces.
The strategic achievement for the Houthis came a day after the military lost one of its fighter jets to a resistance attack in the al-Sha'af district of Saada. The group claims to have shot down the war plane as it was pounding their positions.
The army, however, blames technical problems for the downing of the MiG.
Hundreds of people have been killed and many others wounded since the Yemeni government's August 11 launching of 'Operation Scorched Earth' against the Shias in the northern provinces of Saada and Amran.
According to the UN, weeks of deadly clashes have also caused the displacement of 55,000 persons.
While the government claims the Houthis are seeking to restore the Zaydi imamate, the fighters are saying they only want greater autonomy and an end to what they call 'the government's discriminatory policies' in the impoverished region.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] At least 28 Shiite rebels, four Yemeni soldiers and two tribesmen were killed in the latest fighting in northern Yemen on the seventh week of an army offensive, local and military sources said on Saturday.
Six of the Zaidi rebels and the four soldiers were killed in overnight clashes in Al-Kahoum, west of Harf Sufyan, the scene of heavy fighting on the road linking the capital with the Saada region, a rebel stronghold, a military commander told AFP.
Saba state news agency said late Friday that four of "the most dangerous" rebels were killed as army troops combed the area of Zu Sulaiman in the Harf Sufyan district.
Eight others were killed in neighbouring farms, while nine rebels "who had barricaded themselves in the houses of civilians" were also killed in the area of Maqqash, in Saada, it added, quoting a military source.
Meanwhile, two tribesmen and at least one rebel died in a clash between tribes fighting alongside the government forces and the rebels in the north, Saba quoted local sources as saying.
Sources in the region told AFP the rebels on Saturday seized control of the Khaneq bridge on the Saada-Sanaa road in Harf Sufyan. Heavy fighting also continued in Al-Amsheya, north of Harf Sufyan, they added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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By openly declaring their views on the Afghan war, US military leaders have placed President Barack Obama in a bind as he faces a fraught decision over the troubled US-led mission.
Obama has refused to quickly approve a request from his commanders for a major troop build-up in Afghanistan, insisting first on a full vetting of the current strategy.
But while a war council takes place behind closed doors at the White House, top military officers have made no secret of their view that without a vast ground force, the Afghan mission could end in failure. Rest at the title link Or if America had any BALLS - It could tell Mr. Barry Soetoro -suck it up and fight for American interest worldwide !
Generals don't make policy, presidents do. When presidents refuse to make policy, or when they make policies that make no sense, then the military needs to educate the presidents for whom they work -- at first and almost always quietly and privately. The military never looks good for long fighting with the president. Going public with this may be useful to the military in the short term as a way to focus attention on the problem, but at some point the generals and admirals have to salute and say, "yes sir Mr. President." Or they have to resign.
#4
To win in Afghanistan, you have to defeat the Taliban. To defeat the Taliban you have to go into the tribal areas of Pakistan and destroy their base. You may also have to beat some heads in Pakistan proper. The big O, despite his campaign era rhetoric, is not willing to do what needs to be done. By doing the right thing, he antagonizes is Left supports and handlers. as well as Pakistan (multiple personality govt and all).
So, caught between a rock and a hard spot, he will do nothing, and let Afghanistan steadily deteriorate, until the public, fed up with going nowhere, and seeing casualties mount, demands a pullout.
Then Afghanistan and Wazoo becomes a terrorist superhaven, and we get hit again.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/04/2009 1:20 Comments ||
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#5
So, caught between a rock and a hard spot, he will do nothing, and let Afghanistan steadily deteriorate, until the public, fed up with going nowere, and seeing casualties mount, demands a pullout.
If that is the "endgame" then the public ought to damn well demand Obama's resignation now, or his impeachment later.
Leaving US forces hanging on a war zone is surely a high crime.
#8
I think Obama is looking to his re-election prospects and wanting to avoid his equivalent of the Iran Hostages.
BTW, the Taliban is just a religous veneer on a ethnic conflict. Defeating 50 million Pushtuns would require body counts orders of magnitude higher than anyone in the West is prepared to tolerate.
#10
To win in Afghanistan, you have to
defeat Islam. To do that, you have to deprive Muslims of the ability to suborn Western institutions via combination of petrodollar bribes and threats of violence. Nobody can give present day Western "elites" balls, but you can find substitutes for Persian Gulf oil.
#11
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM> BILL CLINTON: INDIA, PAKISTAN NEARLY ANNIHATED EACH OTHER [Kargil affair]; + BALUCHISTAN LEADERS INVITE NATO TO INTERVENE IN BALUCHISTAN.
#12
Not doing anything is a decision for Zero, he decided no action from his office. This is a crime. He tried to push health care in a 72 hour deadline to cram it down our throats. Not working and deciding on policy is allowing our soldiers to be at risk.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/04/2009 10:18 Comments ||
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#13
Some years ago I made a wind Turbine, I never got it aloft since I had to move (Thieves burnt my home down) but it's still in my barn un-assembled, so when I'm able to go home and build again all I have to do is buy a solar panel, erect the windmill an i won't need to connect to line power.
I'm looking forwrd to it.
Get a plug in electric car and no more gas or electric bills ever again, I know everyone can't do this, but I'm not planning to drive to anyplace over a hundred miles or so, so it's practical for me.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/04/2009 10:56 Comments ||
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Yes, but put it in the column of portents and signs. When the military is way above the Beltway in confidence of the American public, the entire legitimacy of the government will come into play. The left will have to rely upon blind commitment to the icons of the old republic to keep people in place because any social revolt will reveal they have no means to keep the serfs in place, especially if the rank and file of that purged military is available to their opposition and not per se sequestered in the barracks.
#16
Actually, if you really want to stop Islamic terrorism at the top, you have to deal with Saudi Arabia and the oil ticks. That is a snowball-in-hell's chance, seeing the cozy relationship between the Saudi king and the big O. Or should I say the submissive posture of the big O with respect to the Saudi king.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/04/2009 13:25 Comments ||
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#17
Obama is a politician. That sounds like an obvious statement, but it's a particular problem here and now. Political skills alone make for lousy Presidents.
Obama is trying to accede to the agenda of his leftist base of support (including the press). Take for example, last night. Saturday Night Live did an opening skit on Obama; all of it was on the things he hasn't done that the Left desires. Among the top ones was leaving Afghanistan.
At the same time, Obama is supporting the realpolitik of his foreign-policy team, while trying not get his domestic agenda tossed in the trash by completely angering the rest of the electorate. Somebody with leadership skills might be able to pull it off.
Not this group. Inexperience. An administration doesn't know that their job is to support the nation, or doesn't want to. Arrogance. And an overabundance of speech, but no real communications.
And as for 'have to resign' - it's not that far-fetched as you think. The early signs are already there.
#19
Zero is going to do nothing but blather and mis-direct, all the while letting the losses mount and building a "public demand" to get out of Afghanistan, al la Vietnam. How do you think the troops there feel as they come to realize this? And the senior officers? Since I am certain this POS will not support the troops and strategy it takes to make an indelible memory in the jihadi's minds, its time to GTFO and harden the borders here to what follows. Save those decent American kids who deserve better than being pawns to scum that isn't fit to lick their boots, and I mean POTUS and his friends.
#20
All Pashtuns are not Taliban but all Taliban are Pashtun. Some Pashtuns are damn good CIA. Going after the Taliban is what is necessary and Oson't do it, but the Bush Admin dropped the ball, too. The Taliban were never designated a terror org, allowing them to put pressure on the Saudi and Pak financiers and making them a legitimate target. War on the Taliban is not war on Islam, just the extremists but somehow appeasement by cowards has become official policy.
#21
especially if the rank and file of that purged military is available to their opposition and not per se sequestered in the barracks.
The problem for the Left is, P2K, there are six million retirees between the age of 38 and 78 in the US that can still pull a trigger or rig an improvised bridge, plus some 9 million non-retired veterans who can also see the sh$$ the country is foundering in. "President" O'Bumble is just the type of thoughtless idiot that will do something to light a match to that powder keg.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/04/2009 19:11 Comments ||
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#22
CAPTAIN CA-A-A-A-V-E-M-A-N-N-N ......
ION TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > OBAMA AIDE: IRAN NOT CLOSER TO NUCLEAR BOMB.
* SAME > TALIBAN SURGE RAISES FEAR OF FAILURE FOR THE WEST, + MUSHARAFF: PAKISTAN, US LOST TRACK OF OSAMA FIVE YEARS AGO + OBAMA ADVISER [NatSecAdv]:AFGHANISTAN IN NO DANGER OF FALLING TO TALIBAN.
* SAME > NEW BRITISH ARMY CHIEF [Sir David Richards] TERRORISTS COULD SEIZE NUCLEAR WEAPONS IFF WE [Britain-West] FAIL IN AFGHANISTAN/MILITANTS MAY EXPAND OPERATIONS OUTSIDE OF REGION.
* SAME > FBI DIRECTOR: SOMALI-BASED GROUP AL-SHABAAB [Al-Qaeda affiliate] MAT ATTACK THE US/ EXPAND OUTSIDE OF SOMALIA.
D *** NG IT, its too many Artics this early in the AM!
#23
OOOOOPPSIES, almost forgot SAME > WAR OF WORDS OVER THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF KOGURYO [NOKOR-SOKOR both unite in anger and angst over CHINA'S hints since 2003 that Koguryo was a CHIN VASSAL TERRITORY, + an insignificant one for CHIN at that].
OOOOOOOOO, you just know Beijing won't get any Kimchee from Kimmie this year.
* SAME > IMF: EUROPE MAY SEE WEAK GROWTH FOR DECADES.
IOW GLOBAL "RECESSION" IFF NOT "DEPRESSION" DECADES LONGER THAN 1929 + THE GREAT DEPRESSION???
IMO ditto for the USA = USSA/USRoA, America = Amerika.
#24
OOOOOPPSIES, almost forgot SAME > WAR OF WORDS OVER THE ANCIENT KINGDOM OF KOGURYO [NOKOR-SOKOR both unite in anger and angst over CHINA'S hints since 2003 that Koguryo was a CHIN VASSAL TERRITORY, + an insignificant one for CHIN at that].
OOOOOOOOO, you just know Beijing won't get any Kimchee from Kimmie this year.
* SAME > IMF: EUROPE MAY SEE WEAK GROWTH FOR DECADES.
IOW GLOBAL "RECESSION" IFF NOT "DEPRESSION" DECADES LONGER THAN 1929 + THE GREAT DEPRESSION???
IMO ditto for the USA = USSA/USRoA, America = Amerika.
If he chose to listen, Najibullah Zazi could hear the calls for violence all around him. The Afghan immigrant accused of plotting a terror attack on New York City spent his earliest years in his wartorn homeland, a center of strife and fighting against a Soviet invasion and, after the occupiers left, clashing warlords.
When Zazi was a teenager, his family shared a Queens apartment building and worshipped with an imam linked to a former Afghan warlord later identified by the U.S. as a global terrorist. And as a young man, Zazi traveled to a region of Pakistan known for training terrorists and visited camps where al-Qaida teaches how to kill with horrific bombs made from household ingredients like hair dye and flour. Along the way, Zazi was transformed from a snappily dressed young man with a taste for computer games and basketball to a bearded devotee of Islamic traditionalism while also selling coffee from a cart at the epicenter of American capitalism, Wall Street.
Zazi's friends and relatives say he never chose to listen to others urging violence, instead working long days and spending his little free time with his family. "He was a very normal, very life-loving guy," said Naiz Khan, who befriended Zazi nearly 10 years ago when the two teenagers attended the same mosque and high school in Queens. "The whole family right now is stunned," said Habib Rasooli, an uncle to Zazi's father and one of the few relatives willing to talk about the case. "I could never believe in 1,000 years that something would happen to the family."
The family, from a large tribal clan with hundreds of relatives living in the U.S., left Afghanistan to live across the border in Pakistan when Zazi was 7. At 14, he, two brothers, a sister and his mother moved to Queens, where his father drove a cab. Another brother and sister were born after the family moved to the U.S.
A tall, skinny boy who could eat anything and never worry about his weight, Zazi struggled as a student at Flushing High School before dropping out. With friends who called him Najib for short, he practiced his English and adapted to life as a jeans-wearing American teen, playing basketball, pool and computer games. "He wore very nice, expensive shirts and boots," Khan said. "He liked American life. He liked all the brand names. He never complained."
Zazi was also surrounded by his Afghan culture, living with others from his country. His family's apartment was in the same small building as that of Saifur Rahman Halimi, an imam who was a chief representative for top Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Halimi attended the same mosque as the Zazi family. In Queens, Halimi became a trusted voice for Hekmatyar's cause and a vocal supporter of the global jihad. A video from one of Halimi's speeches in 1992 captures his zeal for a "pure Islamic system" in Afghanistan and denunciations of Western intervention. "In the very near future, we will liberate all human beings from these devils," he said then. "They know the power of Islam.
Halimi and the Zazi family joined others who split from their Queens mosque during a leadership dispute. They also gathered at times with a close-knit group that prayed, ate and socialized together, said Mohammad Sherzad, the imam on the other side of the schism. Halimi, 61, now imam of a Philadelphia mosque, told The Associated Press he was stunned by Zazi's arrest. "He was not such a person," he said. "He was busy with his work." Halimi said he hasn't spoken to the Zazi family in six years.
Zazi worked a coffee cart on Wall Street, getting his license in 2004. Mohammed Yousufzai, who operated his own cart, said he marveled at how, after five months working in the area, Zazi was running his own. "He was a nice guy when he first came in," Yousufzai said.
Zazi began making trips back to Pakistan, his first in 2006 for an arranged marriage. His wife stayed there, and cares for their two children. Zazi began to change in appearance, Yousufzai said. He gave up his clean-shaven look for a bushy black beard. After a second trip to Pakistan, Yousufzai said, Zazi grew his beard longer and gave up American fashion for tunics and more modest traditional clothing. He began playing holy music in the garage he shared with other food cart vendors, and grew irritated when Yousufzai rolled in playing modern dance music, calling it "dishonest to your religion." "People tried to avoid him," he said. "They figured out he was kind of cuckoo."
Zazi's finances changed, too, finally plunging him into bankruptcy with $51,500 in debt. From April to June in 2008, Zazi opened six credit cards. He opened several other credit accounts in about the same period, including with Best Buy and Sony electronics, according to bankruptcy records. This was all done before he left Queens in August 2008 for Pakistan, where prosecutors say he visited al-Qaida camps for explosives training.
Zazi returned from his latest trip on Jan. 15 and quickly picked up his life in Queens to move to Aurora, Colo., a suburb of nearly 300,000 people on the eastern edge of Denver. Like his taxi-driving father in New York, Zazi turned to driving an airport shuttle. He passed a criminal background check and signed up with ABC Airport Shuttle. Dispatcher Tony Gonzales described Zazi as a "hardworking guy." "No trouble, no problem whatsoever," Gonzales said. "Very quiet guy. He's always on time. When we give him a pickup, he always does it."
Zazi's aunt and uncle offered him a place to stay in Aurora. Rabia Zazi, his aunt, said her nephew had little time for anything other than work, not even an interest in finishing his high school education. "He skipped school and he's helping his father," she said, sitting on the front porch of a building with several children and wearing a traditional veil and dress. Rabia Zazi described her nephew as a serious man, an avid soccer fan.
Seven or eight members of Zazi's extended family moved to Aurora over the past several years, including his aunt and uncle. Abdulrahman Jalili, president of the family's Queens mosque, said Zazi's father told him a month before Ramadan that he was moving to Colorado, but didn't say why. The emerging federal case against Zazi and others surprised Jalili, who said the FBI interviewed him recently about Zazi.
"I never saw any wrong acts," Jalili said. "He wasn't acting strangely or anything. I never suspected him of doing anything like that." But there are unknowns, Jalili admitted, things he wouldn't see in those like Zazi who worshipped alongside him or others he wouldn't know who may have influenced Zazi. "The government knows better than us," Jalili said. "The FBI knows better than us. They did the investigation. They know something about him. That's why they arrested him."
#1
rotten apple didn't fall far from the tree? Isn't there a saying like that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/04/2009 12:34 Comments ||
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#2
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matt 7:15-23)
#3
Halimi and the Zazi family joined others who split from their Queens mosque during a leadership dispute.
What this article leaves out (and another article covered) is the reason they split - the other mosque wasn't radical enough. I wonder if a congregant ratted him out or his frequent trips to Pakistan aroused suspicion.
#4
His family's apartment was in the same small building as that of Saifur Rahman Halimi, an imam who was a chief representative for top Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Halimi attended the same mosque as the Zazi family. In Queens, Halimi became a trusted voice for Hekmatyar's cause and a vocal supporter of the global jihad. A video from one of Halimi's speeches in 1992 captures his zeal for a "pure Islamic system" in Afghanistan and denunciations of Western intervention. "In the very near future, we will liberate all human beings from these devils," he said then. "They know the power of Islam.
Halimi, 61, now imam of a Philadelphia mosque,
No doubt Mr. Halimi's phones and computer are bugged, his mosque wired for sound and vision, his movements tracked, and his friends and relations traced.
[Geo News] The security forces continued search and clearance operations in Swat and Malakand during the last 24 hours.
According to a press released issued here by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Saturday, at least five terrorists voluntarily surrendered to security forces in Barshaur and Kuz Bamakhela near Matta.
Another five terrorists voluntarily surrendered to security forces in Matta and Sambat. In Alamganj also, two terrorists surrendered to the forces.
A delegation of ICRC headed by Mr Etiennc Kuster facilitated by security forces visited Maidan area of Dir and distributed 50 Kgs fertilizer and 2 kgs winter crop seed to 27,000 families.
Terrorists fire raided with rockets and small arms at security forces check posts of Razmak and Saidullah areas of North Waziristan Agency (NWA) in which six soldiers received injuries.
Terrorists fire raided with rockets and small arms at security forces check posts Ghariom near Mir Ali.
The security forces continued the relief activities. 307,792 cash cards have been distributed amongst the IDPs of Malakand.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Suspected Taliban militants fatally shot a tribal elder Saturday in volatile northwestern Pakistan as he traveled to discuss anti-militancy efforts with government authorities, an official said.
The dead body of a man accused of spying for the US also turned up in the Bajur tribal region.
Tribal elder Malik Abdul Majeed was killed while riding in his car in the Damadola area of Bajur, said Abdul Maalik, a local government official. Majeed's cousin also was wounded in the attack.
As part of their strategy to gain control in pockets of Pakistan's northwest, Taliban militants frequently attack tribal leaders considered to be pro-government. Many such tribal leaders have formed 'peace committees' aimed at keeping insurgents out of their territory.
Majeed belonged to a tribal peace council in Bajur's Mamund area, said Maalik, adding that the killing 'is an act of terrorism.'
Militants also have slaughtered many individuals they suspect of helping out the government or the United States. The latest body surfaced on the outskirts of Khar, Bajur's main town.
Police official Muhammad Javed said a note attached to the corpse read: 'He is an enemy of Islam. He is an American agent.'
Pakistan's paramilitary forces said Friday that they had killed 27 more militants, including two commanders, in Khyber. The statement from the Frontier Corps said the troops also destroyed two militant hide-outs in Friday's operations. It was not possible to independently confirm the statement. Access to Khyber is restricted.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Security forces on Friday claimed to have killed 27 suspected militants in the remote Tirah Valley. Security officials said they had killed 27 suspected militants in helicopter and artillery shelling on their hideouts. The claim could not be confirmed from independent sources.
Since the launch of the operation on September 1, unofficial figures have confirmed the death of 35 people, majority of them civilians. However, official figures suggest that nearly 250 volunteers of the banned Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) had been killed in the operation.
Security officials said two LI commanders were among the 27 militants killed in Dora and Landi Killay. The helicopters started pounding the suspected locations at 10 am and continued till 2 pm without any break.
Officials said two security men were also injured in the operation. The injured were shifted to a hospital in a military helicopter for treatment. Officials also claimed destruction of two LI centres and 19 vehicles, one of which was stated to be loaded with explosives.
The claim was spurned by LI spokesman Zar Khan, who said none of their volunteers was killed or injured. He said the LI fighters had inflicted huge casualties on the troops during the fighting. Independent sources, however, confirmed the destruction of four LI vehicles in the military operation.
Also, the three-hour relaxation in curfew in the Bara subdivision of the Khyber Agency was ended on Friday and 24-hour curfew clamped.The three-hour relaxation was given after complaints of the people of the area about problems in taking patients to hospitals and shortage of food items.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] The man whipping a girl publicly in Swat, as shown in a video footage on media some months ago, has been arrested.
Nine suspects were nabbed from Dera Ismail Khan a few days ago including Amin alias Chhota Aftab, source said. Police said during investigation it was found that he is the same man whipping the Swat girl, as shown in the footage.
He is said to hail from Swat and is not even the relative of the girl he whipped.
Chhota Aftab was shifted from DI Khan eight days ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Iraqi security forces have detained more than 100 suspects in sweeps through Mosul to try to cripple the country's last major stronghold of Sunni insurgents, a commander said Saturday. The offensive, which began earlier this week, is the latest attempt to break the networks of Al Qaeda in Iraq and other groups in the Mosul region in northern Iraq. But the insurgents have bounced back each time with little apparent damage to their ability to strike Iraqi and U.S. troops and their allies.
The commander of Mosul operations, Maj. Gen. Hassan Karim Khudhair, told reporters the raids were carried out under strict secrecy to avoid the escape of "wanted targets." He did not give further details. He said more than 100 suspects were arrested and will face interrogations in Baghdad. Khudhair said the raids in Mosul were continuing.
A senior security official, speaking to The Associated Press on Friday, said more than 150 people were detained in the Mosul area. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
The Iraqi-led offensive was the first in Mosul since U.S. forces withdrew from cities in June. Maj. Derrick Cheng, a U.S. military spokesman, said U.S. troops had "very limited or no involvement at all" in the Mosul crackdown.
In February, a joint U.S.-Iraqi campaign into Mosul took more than 80 suspects but appeared to make little headway against insurgents' ability to strike. The offensive came more than a year after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki vowed to launch a "decisive" battle against extremists in Iraq's third-largest city.
In another operation southeast of Mosul, Iraqi and U.S. forces arrested a suspect accused of helping assemble a truck bomb that exploded June 20 near a Shiite mosque in Taza, near Kirkuk, that killed at least 82 people, the military said.
The suspect, who was not identified, was arrested Saturday near the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, the military said. He was also accused of being involved in an assassination and kidnapping ring that operated in and around Kirkuk, which remains an flash point between Kurds and Arabs in a dispute over land and oil in northern Iraq, authorities said.
In Baghdad, a bomb scare in Iraq's parliament Saturday forced authorities to evacuate the building, but no explosives were found, an Iraqi security official said. The building in Baghdad's protected Green Zone was cleared after a bomb-sniffing dog indicated the presence of explosives in the main chamber. The building was fully searched and no bomb was found, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. In April 2007, a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt in the parliament cafeteria, killing one lawmaker.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
Israeli police and Palestinian protestors on Sunday clashed near Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a flashpoint site in Jerusalem sacred to Muslims and Jews that saw similar unrest a week ago, witnesses and police said.
The altercation occurred after Israeli authorities closed access to the holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem and 150 to 200 people gathered to pray outside the Lion's Gate, which leads into the compound. At some point, stones were thrown at police and they responded with stun grenades and water cannon, witnesses said. Medics said seven people were wounded and police said three were arrested over the violence.
Police said they had closed access to Al-Aqsa compound, known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount, after mosque loudspeakers in the Old City urged people to gather there. "We closed the access to the Temple Mount following incitations to violence over (mosque) loudspeakers," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
Witnesses said the call followed rumours which swept through the Old City's narrow streets that Israeli authorities were going to allow Jewish settlers to enter the Al-Aqsa compound during the current Jewish festival of Sukkot. "They want to keep us away so they can impose their will and allow settlers to enter Al-Aqsa," Yusuf Mukheimar, one of the organisers of Sunday's prayer, told AFP. Overnight, a group of several dozen Palestinians entered the mosque compound to confront any such visits by Jewish extremists, witnesses said.
Sunday's clashes occurred a week after several people were wounded in unrest that erupted after a group of tourists entered the mosque compound. Police said the group was made up of French tourists, but the Palestinians insisted they were a group of Israeli extremists.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/04/2009 12:36 Comments ||
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#2
I keep trying to imagine any reason at all for the al-Asqa mosque to be still standing, and I can't think of one, other than maybe that Jews like to invite annoying and violent criminals in their homes for entertainment purposes.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Israeli planes carried out strikes on tunnels used for smuggling along the Gaza-Egypt border and a building east of Gaza city on Saturday, causing damage but no casualties, security forces and the Israeli military said.
An Israeli military spokesman said the operation was in response to the firing of a rocket and a mortar shell into Israel by militants late on Friday. Both landed in open ground.
"The aircraft struck two tunnels and a building that housed a munitions workshop. The air strikes are in response to what has become the daily launching of rockets and mortars into Israel," the Israeli army spokesman said.
A Hamas security official also said two tunnels were targeted and the building that was hit was a marble factory. He said there were no casualties.
A day earlier, Israel released 20 Palestinian women from prison in exchange for a video recording of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held by Hamas in Gaza.
The exchange with Hamas Islamists who control the Gaza Strip was seen as a step towards a broader Palestinian prisoner release and freedom for the soldier, Gilad Shalit, which are priorities for both sides since his capture in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
The youngest female prisoner freed as part of the Shalit Video Deal, Bara Malki, 15, told Asharq Al-Awsat that she longed to go back to school as soon as possible. She told Asharq Al-Awsat that she learnt Hebrew so she could understand the profanities of the prison guards.
Eighteen of the prisoners were returned to the West Bank and one female prisoner along with her child was returned to the Gaza Strip.
Shalit appeared in the video wearing a clean military uniform and holding a copy of 'Palestine' newspaper dated September 14, 2009.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/04/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#3
PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIA WANTS TO PROCURE AND DEPLOY "LIGHT TANKS" [300 ea.] ALONG CHINESE BORDER ["Finger Area"]; + CHINA FACES A NEO-NAZI NEIGHBOR - INDIA, + INDIA WILL DEPLOY ALL OF ITS MIG-29 SQUADRONS ALONG THE PAKISTAN BORDER
[desires to buy 50 more SU-30MK's].
#4
And that's the final lesson, of Reagan as well as Scoop Jackson: Be of good cheer. No whining, no nasty personal attacks. It's a political mistake, it's unattractive, it's self-defeating, and it's unwarranted. The American people think our country is indeed "defined by our differences" with murderous Islamist groups and repressive regimes. They don't agree that our "interests are shared" with such groups, and they believe friends deserve better treatment than enemies. We're on the American people's side, and they're on ours in this struggle over our country's relations with the world.
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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] At least 28 Shiite rebels, four Yemeni soldiers and two tribesmen were killed in the latest fighting in northern Yemen on the seventh week of an army offensive, local and military sources said on Saturday.
If he chose to listen, Najibullah Zazi could hear the calls for violence all around him. The Afghan immigrant accused of plotting a terror attack on New York City spent his earliest years in his wartorn homeland, a center of strife and fighting against a Soviet invasion and, after the occupiers left, clashing warlords.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Security forces on Friday claimed to have killed 27 suspected militants in the remote Tirah Valley. Security officials said they had killed 27 suspected militants in helicopter and artillery shelling on their hideouts. The claim could not be confirmed from independent sources.
[Geo News] The man whipping a girl publicly in Swat, as shown in a video footage on media some months ago, has been arrested.
Iraqi security forces have detained more than 100 suspects in sweeps through Mosul to try to cripple the country's last major stronghold of Sunni insurgents, a commander said Saturday. The offensive, which began earlier this week, is the latest attempt to break the networks of Al Qaeda in Iraq and other groups in the Mosul region in northern Iraq. But the insurgents have bounced back each time with little apparent damage to their ability to strike Iraqi and U.S. troops and their allies.
Israeli police and Palestinian protestors on Sunday clashed near Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a flashpoint site in Jerusalem sacred to Muslims and Jews that saw similar unrest a week ago, witnesses and police said.
