A key al Qaeda military planner [Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri] thought dead by the United States and Pakistan gave an interview this week to a Pakistani reporter, illustrating the uncertainties of a military strategy based on air strikes by unmanned drones. . .
The apparent resurrection of the Kashmiri terrorist suggests that the U.S. strategy of drone attacks on al Qaeda leaders can lead to false confidence that targets have been killed.
#1
They taught us to stay off the roads. If necessary, find another way around.
Lots of misses, but in between, those vehicles took some hits. RPGs hitting rocky ground kick up rock splinters which are more dangerous than the standard RPG fragmentation effect. There are RPG anti-personnel models, though. Might be as good as a standard anti-tank round hitting rock, too.
Convoy stopped.
No sign of return fire. Hope they got some tac air in, but it wouldn't have happened in four minutes.
Not a bad day's work for the Taliban.
This is not a reason for gloating.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/15/2009 8:19 Comments ||
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#2
Since the RPGs are consistently undershooting the trucks, did they set up their ambush too far away?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
10/15/2009 11:29 Comments ||
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#3
CROWS and incoming fire radar should stop those sort of things, as this video is old, it probably has.
#4
Bright. Incoming fire radar doesn't work until the stuff is incoming. Problem is getting hit until you can return fire accurately.
Six guys, one medium machine gun, a dozen RPG rounds stops and damages a US/NATO/ISAF/ANA convoy. Half the gomers get away. They win.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/15/2009 13:17 Comments ||
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#5
Got to agree to Richard Aubrey, I guess.
No sign of return fire. US/NATO/ISAF/ANA convoy.
Civilian convoy? The lack of return fire is very weird.
#7
#6.
wrt going around. In part, I was trying to be facetious. But this road is ambush heaven. They can't go fast, can't reverse, can't turn around. There are no ditches for cover,nor vegetation.
But if it took another day, that would be getting there sooner than getting blown up and not getting there at all.
But, given the terrain, it's probably another road like this one.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
10/15/2009 17:53 Comments ||
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#8
No sign of return fire.
The video is way too far way and grainy to see .30 and .50 cal muzzle flashes. No way those humvees are not returning fire. It's a multipoint ambush.
When ten French soldiers were killed last year in an ambush by Afghan insurgents in what had seemed a relatively peaceful area, the French public were horrified.
Their revulsion increased with the news that many of the dead soldiers had been mutilated -- and with the publication of photographs showing the militants triumphantly sporting their victims' flak jackets and weapons. The French had been in charge of the Sarobi area, east of Kabul, for only a month, taking over from the Italians; it was one of the biggest single losses of life by Nato forces in Afghanistan.
What the grieving nation did not know was that in the months before the French soldiers arrived in mid-2008, the Italian secret service had been paying tens of thousands of dollars to Taleban commanders and local warlords to keep the area quiet, The Times has learnt. The clandestine payments, whose existence was hidden from the incoming French forces, were disclosed by Western military officials.
I bet EU and NATO meetings are getting interesting about now. Idiots.
Beledweyn More Ethiopian troops with many battle wagons have poured into several villages around west of Beledweyn town in central Somalia, witnesses told Shabelle radio on Sunday. Reports say that hundreds of Ethiopian military forces reached at more villages which are less than 50 kilometers west of Beledweyn town in Hiran region.
Locals said that the Ethiopian troops are accompanied by many of the transitional government soldiers with armed vehicles adding that the troops started search operations at the areas. But no weapons were found during their operations.
Eyewitnesses said that more people were captured during the military operations of the Ethiopian and Somali government troops pointing out that they were released after asking questions saying that they also made new military bases in there in Hiran region.
Reports indicate the troops also cut the telecommunications in the border between Somalia and Ethiopia in central Somalia as the residents in those areas expressed concern about the military forces of the Ethiopians who are still making military movement.
15 Somali teenagers were jailed by the Ethiopian troops in the Somali region in Ethiopia recently as they reached there for business reasons. All those people picked up on the vehicles there were traveling.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2009 00:00 ||
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The car of Israel's envoy to Chile David Dadon was fired upon on Sunday. The incident was discovered the following day, when Dadon noticed a bullet hole in the car's windshield.
Chilean police and security forces are investigating the incident and the envoy has been provided with additional security. The Foreign Ministry acknowledged the incident and said that it is under investigation. Foreign Ministry sources added that it is unclear what the motive behind the attack was, and whether the assailant deliberately targeted the envoy's car.
Following the assassination of Hezbollah official Imad Mugniyah in Damascus on February 2008, Israeli security forces have been on heightened alert over the possibility of a Hezbollah retaliation attack against Israeli targets abroad, particularly diplomats.
The terrorist organization has struck in South America twice in the past, both times targeting Jewish community buildings in Buenos Aires.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Republicans in the House have lost a bid to block the transfer of any detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay prison to the United States.
Instead, the House stood by a Democratic plan to allow suspected enemy combatants held at Guantanamo to be shipped to U.S. soil only to be prosecuted for their suspected crimes. President Obama has ordered the facility closed in January but has yet to offer a plan to accomplish that.
Democratic leaders had to push hard to win the 193-24 vote because many lawmakers see political danger in voting to move detainees from Guantanamo.
The vote was 224-193 ...
The Guantanamo restrictions were attached by House-Senate negotiators on a $42.8 billion homeland security appropriations bill.
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan militant attacks on key law enforcement facilities in two cities killed at least 15 people, escalating violence as the army prepares for a possible ground assault against Taliban fighters close to the Afghan border.
Seven people were killed in three simultaneous attacks on police buildings in the eastern city of Lahore by as many as 30 militants, Rana Sanaullah, a minister and spokesman for the Punjab provincial government, said by telephone from Lahore. Policemen and civilians are among the dead, he said. In the northwestern city of Kohat, a bombing killed eight people, including four police, the Edhi ambulance service said.
The attackers had been unsuccessful in their plan "to take hostages at all three places and make demands," Sanaullah said. The local headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency has been cleared of militants and gunfire is continuing at two other police buildings, he said. Television networks showed troops taking up positions, while GEO TV reported the Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for the coordinated raids.
#3
Death toll up to 29, per phil_b's Reuters article. The Bloomberg article has been updated thrice, and has pretty good background. I'd recommend reading the whole thing.
#4
Sure hope we have some plan regarding Paki's nukes should the Talibunnies happen to over-run the nuke storage facilities. Wonder how secure nukes are? Seems like we might have to destroy this capability if the above scenario would occur.
LAHORE: Intelligence agencies on Wednesday arrested two suspected suicide bombers from Model Town and recovered a suicide vest from them, sources said. According to the sources, bystanders had apprehended the two men as they were fleeing from security personnel. The suspects were running towards Doongi ground in the Liaqatabad police area, when people present in the ground chased after them.
After being caught, the men were handed over to the police who, according to eyewitnesses, transported the men in separate vehicles to an unknown location.
I don't think the peepul view them as romantic heroes anymore... or nearly as terrifying as they intended to be.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2009 00:00 ||
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TANK: At least 11 Taliban were killed and seven injured when jet planes bombed the group's hideouts in South Waziristan on Wednesday, said officials, as more soldiers and tanks moved into the agency for an expected offensive.
Political Administration officials told Daily Times that two jet planes bombed Taliban hideouts in Maidan, Tangi, Bodaizai, Kacha Langar Khel, Sam, Ragh and Salairogha areas of Ladha teshil, killing 11 Taliban. That's a smidgeon over 1.5 Talibs at each site... ... smudged over each site, as it were ...
Also, eight members of a family were killed and one injured in airstrikes in Sarokai tehsil, said locals, and political authorities confirmed the civilian casualties.
Thousands of civilians have fled South Waziristan in anticipation of a military offensive.
The Reuters news agency quoted officials as saying on Monday that the military was sending more soldiers into mountains overlooking Makeen, a Taliban stronghold, while other soldiers were approaching from another direction. "We've seen many tanks coming here since yesterday. Some went to their camp while others were deployed in the mountains," said a resident of Shankai village. The Mighty Pak Army seems to be giving the bad boyz ample opportunity to withdraw to adjacent areas. The element of surprise will consist of discovering that there aren't any Talibs left there, therefore no threat.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Something big is gonna happen really soon the hornet nest is very close.I wish the PAK Army the best I F#C)$^*$ HOPE OBL IS AROUND WHEN THE SH*T GOES DOWN. All while a MQ-9 Reaper
pet the Taliban and al-Qaeda right on Head. Hmmm
Wonder why is was so HARD to get them to go all out like this before (cough)BUSH
GRAB YA POPCORN HATERS EVEN YALL GONNA LOVE THIS MOVIE.
#2
Golly, play4keeps, you sure are awfully energetic for 3:00 in the morning in your part of the world. We can indeed hope the mighty Pakistani army is finally taking all the hatred turned against them very personally for a change, given they were perfectly content to ignore the same threat to the civilian population of Pakistan until it was well established a mere 60 miles from the nation's capitol-- do remember they (in the form of the ISI, through whose ranks much of the officer corps has passed, at one point or another) created quite a few of the groups they are now fighting. But to be perfectly honest, my dear, you do your cause no good by hearkening back to the man who has been out of office for the better part of a year. Even PBS has moved on -- did you see the Frontline special, "Obama's War"? The Washington Post has an interview with the producer you'll find useful, with a link to the film, if you missed it. And do remember, my dear, that although Western journalists are likely to refer to all the terror groups as "Taliban", there are Taliban groups (generally Punjabi) that aim at the conquest of Pakistan proper, with its sprawling cities, cultivated landscape, and nuclear bombs -- of interest to the Pakistan army and authorities -- and there are Taliban groups (generally Pashtun/Pakhton) that aim to reconquer Afghanistan -- of interest to the US-led alliance fighting in Afghanistan, but supported even yet by the Pakistani army as fulfilling their own aims to control Afghanistan as the Pakistani hinterland.
So things are a bit more complicated than they appear on the surface.
KHAR: Security forces evicted Taliban from one of their strongholds in Bajaur Agency on Wednesday, said officials. A tribal lashkar also joined troops to flush out Taliban from Mulla Sayed areas in Salarzai tehsil, according to military officials.
We could hear the drums ...
The forces and the lashkar have occupied important heights in Damadola, a stronghold of the Taliban, said a statement by the Frontier Corps Media Centre in Peshawar. The lashkar also handed over positions taken from the Taliban. According to witness accounts, at least 30 Taliban have been killed in the agency over the last three days.
Drones struck twice in Damadola in 2006 following reports on the presence of senior Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri in the area. However, Zawahiri survived the two strikes.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2009 00:00 ||
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LAHORE: Security in and around the armys General Headquarters (GHQ) has been beefed up and fresh advisory directions have been issued to all corps and brigade headquarters, directing them to improve security, a private TV channel reported on Wednesday. According to the channel, the move comes in the wake of the attack on the GHQ compound over the weekend, which resulted in the deaths of several army personnel and at least eight terrorists. The new security plans include the installation of fingerprint and biometric scanners, the channel reported. Capital City Police Officer Pervez Rathore has also ordered an immediate crackdown on all illegal dealers selling uniforms of police and other security forces without proper authorisation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
IIRC PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > MILITANTS FLOWN IN TO NEGOTIATE WITH GHQ ATTACKERS.
Israel bombed two smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border early Wednesday, killing one person and wounding another in the southern Gaza Strip border town of Rafah, Gaza emergency services chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters in Gaza City.
An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said the tunnels hit were used for smuggling weapons into the strip.
He said the strike was retaliation for a Palestinian rocket attack into southern Israeli territory Tuesday that caused no injuries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/15/2009 00:00 ||
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Iran's blogosphere has been awash with rumors since Monday that the Islamic Republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died.
The rumors, spread on the micro-blogging Web site Twitter and other sites across the country, have been given credence by claims that security forces have surrounded Khamenei's home in Tehran, and that only the leader's sons are allowed access to him.
There has, however, been no formal confirmation of the reports or any reference to them in Iran's main news outlets.
The rumors were cited on a number of relatively prominent blogs in the United States on Wednesday.
This is not the first time that the 70-year-old Khamenei's health has been the subject of rumor; he has been said to have suffered from health problems for years. But these rumors have also had no formal confirmation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2009 14:24 ||
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#1
Might be good to have him linger in ill health for a while. That way he suffers while his country drifts. It's a good bet that anybody who replaces him will be just as bad as he was.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/15/2009 20:39 Comments ||
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#13
'auto-gyrate' (n) to control a rotary winged aircraft when power is lost.
'auto-gyrate' (v) the act of controlling a rotary-winged aircraft when power is lost. This is effected by first pushing the stick down and then rapidly pulling it up. repeat as necessary ( or until you run out[of sky])
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A key al Qaeda military planner [Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri] thought dead by the United States and Pakistan gave an interview this week to a Pakistani reporter, illustrating the uncertainties of a military strategy based on air strikes by unmanned drones. . . 
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan militant attacks on key law enforcement facilities in two cities killed at least 15 people, escalating violence as the army prepares for a possible ground assault against Taliban fighters close to the Afghan border.
Israel bombed two smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border early Wednesday, killing one person and wounding another in the southern Gaza Strip border town of Rafah, Gaza emergency services chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters in Gaza City. 
Iran's blogosphere has been awash with rumors since Monday that the Islamic Republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has died. 
