US attack aircraft helped Afghan border police repel an attack last night on their outpost in the east. The Haqqani Network and attached al Qaeda forces from the Shadow Army Army, or Lashkar al Zil, targeted the Afghan Border Police during a night raid.
"A group of armed rebels stormed a center of Border Police in Tanai district Saturday night and police with the support of international forces' aircrafts retaliated killing 26 insurgents," Shir Ahmad Kuchi, the commander of the Afghan Border Police in Khost, told Xinhua.
The airstrike killed 26 Haqqani Network and allied fighters, including a Chechen, according to a local Afghan television station.
The NYT won't print the climate change e-mails, but national security is fair game.
KABUL, Afghanistan -- An American military detention camp in Afghanistan is still holding inmates, sometimes for weeks at a time, without access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to human rights researchers and former detainees held at the site on the Bagram Air Base.
The site, known to detainees as the black jail, consists of individual windowless concrete cells, each illuminated by a single light bulb glowing 24 hours a day. In interviews, former detainees said that their only human contact was at twice-daily interrogation sessions.
"The black jail was the most dangerous and fearful place," said Hamidullah, a spare-parts dealer in Kandahar who said he was detained there in June. "They don't let the I.C.R.C. officials or any other civilians see or communicate with the people they keep there. Because I did not know what time it was, I did not know when to pray."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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"Holding people in what appears to be incommunicado detention runs against the grain of the administration's commitment to greater transparency, accountability, and respect for the dignity of Afghans," said Jonathan Horowitz, a human rights researcher with the Open Society Institute.
[Dawn] A bomb exploded in a trash can in the centre of the Afghan capital on Saturday causing little damage and no injuries, the Interior Ministry said.
Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary described the device that exploded in the Wazir Akbar Khan embassy district as a 'sound bomb,' meaning it was designed to make a loud noise rather than cause any damage, Reuters reported.
A Reuters witness at the scene said there was some damage to a nearby wall but the impact looked small.
Wazir Akbar Khan, the capital's most secure district, is home to embassies and many foreign companies and has been hit by a number of bomb attacks in the past year.
Five days before the Aug. 20 presidential election, a suicide car bomb attack killed seven people. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Violence in Afghanistan has escalated to record levels this year. US President Barack Obama is just days away from making an announcement on whether he will send tens of thousands more troops to the war-riven country to beat a growing Taliban insurgency.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#3
...Foreign people can no longer be angry at us, as President Obama's election was to have ushered in a new era of peace and good feeling. This is unpossible.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/29/2009 16:39 Comments ||
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#4
At least Barack is bringing joy to some people in this world. It just isn't Americans, except for a handful of ex-Minnesota residents.
Posted by: ed ||
11/29/2009 17:00 Comments ||
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#7
Such lovely people: Al Shabaab is now searching for Somalis who have secretly converted to Christianity, and killing them. Islamic radicals believe that a Moslem converting to another religion must be executed for such offensive behavior.
Posted by: ed ||
11/29/2009 18:06 Comments ||
Top||
#8
WORLD NEWS/TOPIX > FOREIGN RECRUITS HEAD TO SOMALI TRAINING CAMPS, HEIGHTENING THREAT TO EAST AFRICA AND THE USA; + SOMALI TRAINING CAMPS FUEL THREAT OF ATTACKS AGZ US.
#9
ION WAFF > UK FINDS PAKISTANI PUPILS' AL QAEDA LINKS { Students were arrested last year and believed by London to be part of large pro-AL QAEDA/ISLAMIST violence plot to launch potens deadly TERROR STRIKES INSIDE BRITAIN DURNG THE EASTER SEASON???
* SAME > OFFICIALS: INDIAN NUCLEAR WORKERS WERE DELIBERATELY POISONED.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Rebels suspected of links to al Qaeda seized a Somali town near the Kenyan border on Saturday, sending civilians fleeing towards the neighbouring country.
Al Shabaab insurgents, who Washington says are a proxy in Somalia for Osama bin Laden's group, drove into the town of Dhobley after rival insurgents, Hizbul Islam, fled.
"I see a lot of battle wagons and heavily-armed militia. They came into the town a few minutes ago and they have captured the police station ... without any fighting," said Dhobley resident Nor Yusuf Ali by telephone.
Together, the two rebel groups have been fighting the Western-backed government in the capital Mogadishu, but a battle for control of the lucrative southern port of Kismayu has pitted the former allies against each other.
Violence has plagued Somalia since 1991 and about 19,000 civilians have been killed since the start of 2007 when Islamists launched an insurgency to topple the government.
Western nations and neighbouring countries fear regions under al Shabaab's control are a haven for militants hoping to launch attacks in developed countries or destabilise the region. "We got Dhobley without any war against us. Now it is under the control of the mujahideen. We will continue our fight against the infidels till we eradicate them from the region," an al Shabaab official told Reuters by telephone from Dhobley.
A senior official of the group said in June the insurgents might "invade" Kenya unless it reduced troop numbers along the border near places such as Dhobley.
Kenya shut its border with Somalia in January 2007. However, thousands of Somalis still cross the porous desert frontier to reach overflowing refugee camps in Kenya, often by bribing police along the way. "The border is totally closed but people are trying to enter the refugee camps. Kenya has deployed more troops on the border," an aid agency official in Dhobley, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
The rebels have brought a semblance of stability to areas they control but their harsh practices have alienated many traditionally moderate Muslims in the failed state.
"We don't know where we are going to. I and my six young children fled from Dhobley. We have left behind everything We had, our houses and belongings," said Qadra Jamac as she headed to Kenya with her children late last week. "The border is very hard to enter but we will try our luck."
The group's aim is to impose its own strict version of sharia -- Islamic law -- throughout Somalia. It has banned music, sport, videos, and shaving. They desecrate graves, behead rival clerics and publicly stone to death women accused of adultery.
Al Shabaab appealed to Dhobley residents to stay put, saying they would bring order to the town a few kilometres from Kenya, but some residents left anyway, fearing more violence. "They are rumours saying the Hizbul Islam militia is near the town ... that is why we are fleeing to the neighbouring refugee camps," said 54-year-old Abdi Omar. "We don't know where to stay."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Al Shabaab insurgents, who Washington says are a proxy in Somalia for Osama bin Laden's group, drove into the town of Dhobley after rival insurgents, Hizbul Islam, fled.
So one group of murdering islamic fanatics are driven out by another. Hard to shed tears.
Posted by: ed ||
11/29/2009 18:09 Comments ||
Top||
#2
ION INTERFAX > IIRC RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS IN HELICOPTER FIRED UPON IN DRC [Democratic Repub of the Congo].
MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it had taken control of a strategic mountain on the Saudi side of the border with Yemen, clearing the area of Yemeni Shi'ite rebels.
"The (Saudi) forces have taken control of Jabal (Mount) al-Dood ... These men have cleared this area," Defense and Aviation Assistant Minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan told al-Ekhbariya Television, describing the peak as strategically important. He was shown speaking at what appeared to be an area near the frontline, and sounds of artillery fire could be heard.
"Where we are now is less than 3 km (2 miles) away from the border (with Yemen) ... We are within our borders .. The (Saudi) forces are destroying all infiltrators," Prince Khaled said. "We try to keep losses at a minimum ... and not be drawn into a war in the mountains."
Saudi Arabia started fighting Yemeni Shi'ite rebels -- known as Houthis -- earlier this month after it announced that they had killed two border guards in a cross-border incursion.
A Yemeni military official told Reuters that Yemeni forces and Houthi rebels waged pitched battles on the outskirts of the northern city of Saada on Saturday after regular troops thwarted an attempt by the insurgents to enter the city.
Saudi media frequently mention an al Qaeda presence among the Houthis and Yemen sees Iran's hand behind the rebels. Iran denies involvement and has called for Yemen's government to end the fighting through negotiations.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
on the Saooodi side of the border? Jeebus. The Army of the Janitors of Them Two Places seems to keep securing victory in retreat
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/29/2009 0:17 Comments ||
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#2
Lawrence of Fabia is running the show.
Posted by: Perry Stanford White ||
11/29/2009 15:03 Comments ||
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HELICOPTERS used by British special forces to mentor their Afghan counterparts on anti-drugs operations have been grounded to save just £2m a year. The funding for the helicopters used by the Special Boat Service (SBS) and Afghan special forces for raids on drugs barons and Taliban insurgents was cut by the Foreign Office two months ago.
The decision came despite Gordon Browns announcement that Britains exit strategy rests on training Afghan forces to take over its role.
The Foreign Office refused to discuss the funding but privately officials confirmed the money was cut amid vain hopes that the Americans would foot the bill instead.
The mission, known as Operation Emperor, involved SBS commandos training the Afghan special narcotics force as well as mentoring them.
In June last year, it resulted in the seizure of 262 tons of cannabis in Kandahar province, the worlds largest drugs haul.
Des Browne, the former defence secretary, told MPs in May 2007 that the operation was highly effective at detecting Taliban communications and supply routes from Pakistan.
It was a highly successful mission and the Afghans were getting better every day, a special forces source said last week. The paltry sums involved were getting a pretty valuable return.
#1
I guess we can fight the Taliban, or the drug growers, but not both. I don't think they are necessarily the same. If we fight the drug dealers their money goes to the Taliban for protection and spite. If we fight the Taliban, the money goes to the corrupt government, but at least they're the guys we are backing. And they don't often behead random foreigners or burn down girls' schools as a general policy -- as the Taliban do. Better to save the money, fight the Taliban, and let the drug trade take care of itself as it has for thousands of years.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A train disaster that killed more than 39 people and injured 100 was caused by a bomb, indicating it was a terrorist attack, the head of Russia's FSB domestic intelligence service said on Saturday. It kinda smelled like that, didn't it?
The alleged attack on an upscale passenger train speeding through the forest from Moscow to Saint Petersburg mangled and overturned carriages across the tracks and down the railway embankment as scores of orange-vested rescue workers searched urgently for further victims that could be trapped under the wreckage.
The incident occurred late Friday and targeted the same train hit by a bomb attack in August 2007 that injured dozens of passengers, and officials said they believed the latest incident was also caused by a bomb.
" Operational-investigative teams are treating as their main theory the detonation of an unidentified device by unidentified persons "
Vladimir Yakunin
"Operational-investigative teams are treating as their main theory the detonation of an unidentified device by unidentified persons," Vladimir Yakunin, head of the state firm Russian Railways, said earlier on television. "To put it simply, a terrorist attack," Yakunin said.
Witnesses including passengers on the train and inhabitants living near the site said they heard a loud bang just before the train went off the rails and police told AFP at the site there was a large crater under the track. An unnamed security official quoted by the Interfax news agency said the crater was around one meter (three feet) in diameter.
A blast along the track in the 2007 attack ripped out a long segment of rail, causing the train to careen off the tracks.
The crater could have been caused by an "explosion from a device placed underneath one of the wagons," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted another security official as saying.
Mangled railway carriages were overturned and strewn across the tracksThere were conflicting reports on the death toll, but Alexander Basulin, an official at the emergency situations ministry, was quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency as saying "in all, there are 39" dead.
Basulin said this number comprised 25 victims found immediately and another 14 people discovered later, outside the train carriages. Health Minister Tatyana Golikova said 95 people were injured and hospitalized.
Nationalist group
" Two wagons were completely overturned.... Several people were completely crushed under the metal. I heard screams, moaning "
Echo of Moscow radio reported that a hardline nationalist group had claimed responsibility for the attack, but its source for that report was a blog entry from an anti-immigrant activist that could not be confirmed independently.
The disaster struck the Nevsky Express, which is the fastest train between Moscow and Saint Petersburg and is popular among foreign tourists and Russians who commute between the two cities. State prosecutors said they had opened a terrorism investigation in connection with the disaster.
Andrei Abramenko, a police officer who happened to be travelling on the train, described a picture of human suffering. "Two wagons were completely overturned.... Several people were completely crushed under the metal. I heard screams, moaning," Abramenko said on the Vesti-24 state television news channel.
The television station showed footage of rescuers working among the wreckage under powerful searchlights. Four wagons of the 14-carriage train, carrying around 660 passengers and nearly two dozen staff, derailed at 9:34 p.m. (1834 GMT), according to the emergencies ministry.
At least three foreigners were on the train, ITAR-TASS reported, citing a source at Russian Railways. Other reports said that one Italian and two Finns were among the passengers.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the FSB security service and the Prosecutor General's office to investigate the causes of the derailment, the Kremlin said in a statement. Medvedev was shown later on state television in a live video link with officials coordinating search and rescue operations on the scene and in Moscow.
In Washington, the White House said it was "deeply saddened by the terrible loss of life and injuries" from the incident. In Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his "profound sadness" over the derailment.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
#2
I remember when some dumbasses derailed a train in southern Arizona. The FBI was all over the place, hundreds of agents. I would expect that the FSB is going to be on the warpath, big time. A lot of Muslims are going to die because of this.
#3
Russia really should understand that we are more their natural ally than the Muslims. We have in common that our ruling gangsters are not religiously inspired.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Security forces killed six militants and arrested another two in Chapri Ferozkhel area on the border between Khyber and Orakzai Agencies, tribal sources told The News on Friday. However, security officials claimed they had killed 15 militants in three separate areas of Bara, a sub-division of the Khyber Agency.
According to local sources, security forces entered Chapri Ferozkhel area on Thursday night and the fighting with the militants left six of them dead. Two other militants were arrested. Bodies of the slain militants and the two arrested persons were brought to Bara by security forces.
Helicopter gunships continued pounding Chapri Ferozkhel and the surrounding areas on Thursday night and throughout Friday. Heavy artillery was also used against the suspected Taliban positions in the area all the day, but there were no reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, FC officials said that they had captured the villages of Mamaray, Shaheeda Killay and Merikhel following clashes with militants on Friday.
An FC spokesperson said 15 militants were killed and several others injured in the fighting. One ammunition dump of militants was also destroyed, said the FC officials.
The spokesperson said security forces had surrounded the important Chapri Ferozkhel base of militants on the border between Khyber and Orakzai Agencies. All the entry and exit points to the area had been blocked by security forces, which were trying to kill or arrest the militants hiding in the area.
The FC sources told The News that fighting in the area was still continuing and security forces were using helicopters and heavy artillery against the militants holed up in the Chapri Ferozkhel area.
The operation, Khwakh Ba De Sham, was launched in Bara area of Khyber Agency three days ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Frontier Corps have seized a large quantity of arms, ammunition and explosives after an exchange of fire with suspected militants on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chaman.
Briefing media personnel at a news conference in Chaman, Commandant of the Pishin Scouts, Colonel Shahzada Khattak said that FC personnel opened fire on a vehicle coming from Afghanistan at the Pak-Afghan border when it defied their signal to stop.
After an exchange of fire, the militants managed to escape across the border leaving behind their vehicle. He said a search of the vehicle resulted in the recovery of 250 kilogram of explosives, two rocket launchers along with 47 shells and 37 fuses.
They also recovered five light machine guns, nine AK-47 rifles and over 5,000 bullets and cartridges of various calibres.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
FC personnel opened fire on a vehicle coming from Afghanistan
"See, it's not our own people. It's those damned Afghans again!"
[Dawn] Police in the city claim to have arrested a member of a banned outfit and recovered arms and ammunition, DawnNews reported.
The suspect, identified only as Junaid, was arrested near Garden Town and is said to belong to the banned group Khair-un-Nisa. Police said that initial investigations revealed that the suspect supplied weapons to accomplices throughout the city.
Police added that Junaid is a resident of Faisalabad, and that around one thousand bullets, one Kalashnikov and four pistols were found in his possession.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
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.
US attack aircraft helped Afghan border police repel an attack last night on their outpost in the east. The Haqqani Network and attached al Qaeda forces from the Shadow Army Army, or Lashkar al Zil, targeted the Afghan Border Police during a night raid. 
[Dawn] A bomb exploded in a trash can in the centre of the Afghan capital on Saturday causing little damage and no injuries, the Interior Ministry said.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A train disaster that killed more than 39 people and injured 100 was caused by a bomb, indicating it was a terrorist attack, the head of Russia's FSB domestic intelligence service said on Saturday. 
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Security forces killed six militants and arrested another two in Chapri Ferozkhel area on the border between Khyber and Orakzai Agencies, tribal sources told The News on Friday. However, security officials claimed they had killed 15 militants in three separate areas of Bara, a sub-division of the Khyber Agency.
[Dawn] Police in the city claim to have arrested a member of a banned outfit and recovered arms and ammunition, DawnNews reported. 
