[Quqnoos] Afghan and NATO-led troops killed five militants Sunday in a strike on a Taliban operative involved in bomb-making in eastern Afghanistan.
The troops were targeting a compound in Alingar district of Laghman province where militant activities were reported, the coalition forces said in a statement.
As the forces approached the area, several militants threatened them with guns. The NATO and Afghan forces shot at the insurgents, killing five, the coalition said.
NATO said the Taliban operative they were targeting was responsible for several bomb attacks in the area. The statement did not say if he was killed or captured.
The deputy mayor of Kabul was arrested Saturday for alleged misuse of authority. Wahibuddin Sadat was taken into custody at the capital's airport when he returned from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, according to Deputy Attorney General Fazel Ahmad Faqiryar. He said the deputy mayor was accused of misuse of authority but did not elaborate.
The arrest comes five days after an Afghan court convicted the capital's mayor, Abdul Ahad Sahebi, of awarding a contract without competition and sentenced him to four years in jail. He was also ordered to repay more than $16,000 involved in the cntract. Sahebi has appealed and is refusing government orders to give up his post.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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A Georgian cargo aircraft from Pyongyang carrying 35 tons of North Korean-made missiles, explosives and other weapons was seized at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport on Saturday.
Guess the Georgians aren't quite our friends. At least that's what I'd be telling them right now ...
Could be from the Russian controlled part of Georgia ... or simply a freelancer earning some graft. Maybe.
Thai authorities arrested five crewmen including the pilot of the aircraft, which had stopped for refueling at Don Muang after leaving Pyongyang, and seized the weapons.
This was the first time an airplane carrying North Korean weapons has been caught since the UN Security Council adopted sanctions in June. The resolution bans all weapons exports from the country and most imports.
The Thais seized the weapons under UNSC Resolution 1874 and will submit a report to the UN. The five crewmen will be arraigned on Monday.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Sunday said the cargo aircraft was originally supposed to be refueled in Sri Lanka and the crew are being questioned about its final destination.
This incident is expected to damage North Korea's relations with the U.S. coming days after the visit of U.S. special representative for North Korea policy Stephen Bosworth to Pyongyang on Dec. 8.
In late August, the U.A.E. seized North Korean weapons from a third ship heading for Iran. Right after UNSC Resolution 1874 came into effect, the Kangnam 1, a North Korean ship suspected of carrying illegal weapons, sailed toward Myanmar but was pursued by a U.S. ship and eventually turned back.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
The US is now saying that this incident could endanger nukulaar talks wid NORTH KOREA???
Also, the personages seized wid the plane are repor from FORMER SOVIET SSRS [ read, MUSLIM], + were believed headed for Tribals in AFPAK???
#5
Who is providing the dueling comments about the "Georgians" in this story?
As written, this seems nothing more than a slander - the only reference is to the aircraft, which hardly indicates any Georgian involvement, whether good or ill.
Sounds like the reporter simply noted the registration records, which could indicate anything. Sort of like saying the US is responsible for any message sent via an iphone since that is an Apple product.
The arraignment should be the most interesting and noteworthy part of this story so far - who is this crew and where are they from, and who is paying for their defense?
#6
The fact that it was on a flight path from North Korea might have tipped them off. Or did it land somewhere in between? And where would that have been?
#7
One interesting thing I noticed is speculation that the arms were destined for Sri Lanka or Pakistan. I don't believe it was destined to either location. I believe it was destined for Iran. The reason is that the manifest listed the shipment as "oil drilling equipment". That would lead one to believe that the destination was a place where it is not uncommon to ship oil drilling equipment.
Oil drilling gear to Pakistan or Sri Lanka would raise eyebrows. Sri Lanka produces about 0 barrels/day. Pakistan produces less than 100K barrels/day (actually closer to half that amount). Neither place is the hotbed of oil exploration.
I don't believe Sri Lanka or Pakistan was the destination of that plane.
[Dawn] Troops killed at least 22 militants in Pakistan's Kurram tribal region, officials said on Sunday.
Troops backed by artillery and fighter aircraft attacked militants in Kurram late on Saturday and on Sunday and destroyed 10 of their hideouts, administration officials and intelligence agents said. 'About 15 militants were killed in bombing late on Saturday and we have reports of another seven killed on Sunday,' said a senior government official who declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to media.
Intelligence officials confirmed the death toll while a military official said five soldiers had also been killed in the fighting.
Meanwhile, four militants were also killed in Swat's Charbagh area.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
#1
wasn't there an article yesterday that said the offensive was over or is it about time for another check too come their way?
Posted by: chris ||
12/14/2009 0:05 Comments ||
Top||
[Asharq al-Aswat] Iraq's top security chiefs said Sunday that the U.S. military had warned them in advance about an imminent attack but the tip came too late to act on before last week's deadly Baghdad bombings against government sites.
An Interior Ministry official, meanwhile, said 13 al-Qaida-linked suspects have been detained in connection with last week's bombings, the third of their kind since August. At least 127 people were killed and more than 500 wounded in the bombings.
The disclosure of the U.S. tip and the announcement on the arrests came on the third day of a grilling by Iraq's parliament of government officials on the security breaches that allowed Tuesday's attacks to take place in some of the most heavily protected sections of the Iraqi capital.
Trying to contain some of the political fallout, Iraq's interior minister hinted during a parliamentary session of the arrests. "There are 13 coffins waiting for criminals implicated in Tuesday attacks, and those criminals will be tried and convicted," the minister, Jawad al-Bolani, told lawmakers.
He did not elaborate, but an official at his office later said al-Bolani was referring to the 13 arrests of al-Qaida-linked insurgents whom he said helped mastermind the bombings. They are the first arrests confirmed after Tuesday's blasts, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.
The U.S. military did not immediately confirm the arrests. News of the arrests followed the announcement in parliament earlier Sunday by the former top military commander for Baghdad that an unspecified number of street level security officials have been detained for alleged negligence that allowed the Tuesday bombings to take place. Lt. Gen. Abboud Qanbar did not give more details, but authorities had taken similar measures following bombings on Aug. 18 and Oct. 25 which left at least 250 people dead.
Baghdad's security command was warned by the U.S. military that insurgents would carry out three attacks, including one in or near the Green Zone, Qanbar said.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki replaced Qanbar as Baghdad's military commander after angry lawmakers demanded answers about the security breaches that allowed last Tuesday's suicide car bomb attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Four people including a young girl and an army recruit were killed in bombings across Iraq on Sunday, police and medical officials said.
In the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, around 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, separate attacks killed three people and wounded 11.
A car bomb, apparently targeting a senior policeman in the town of Gharmah on Fallujah's outskirts, killed an eight-year-old girl and another man at around 10:00 am.
The girl had been on her way to school, a Fallujah police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Lieutenant Colonel Saad al-Shemmari, commander of the area's police emergency response squad, was unharmed but seven members of his escort convoy were wounded.
Several cars were also damaged in the blast, which came as Shemmari was on his way to work.
In Fallujah itself, meanwhile, a policeman was killed and four others were wounded, including one woman, when several bombs exploded around the officer's home, a police official who declined to be named said.
The security situation in Fallujah -- in Anbar province west of Baghdad and a one-time major bastion of the Sunni Arab insurgency -- has improved dramatically in recent months as attacks have dropped nationwide.
However, sporadic violence still plagues Anbar, Iraq's largest province. It was the theatre of a brutal war after the US-led invasion of 2003, mainly in Fallujah and the provincial capital Ramadi.
In the restive northern city of Mosul on Sunday, one person was killed and 20 others wounded by a car bomb blast near an army recruitment centre, a security official and a doctor in the city's al-Salam Hospital said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
[Ma'an] Palestinian Authority security forces said they arrested three people on Sunday for setting fire to a car and throwing Molotov cocktails at houses in the town of Dura in the southern West Bank.
The Hebron police department said in a statement that security forces received a complaint about the alleged attacks. The three suspects confessed to the arson under interrogation, the statement added.
The three were referred to prosecutors, the police department said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I can't help wondering if these miscreants were Muslim, Jewish, or Other. The news article is no help.
[Ma'an] The Israeli military detained two Palestinians near a Nablus checkpoint for carrying two explosives, an Israeli military spokesperson said on Sunday.
The Israeli army fired two warning shots in the air, as per the army's regulations, and detained the Palestinians, the spokesperson said.
The two were carrying a home-made explosive and a grenade, the representative added.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Hamas on Sunday accused the Palestinian Authority of stepping up detentions of its affiliates, lawmakers, and senior leaders in the West Bank as the Islamic movement's 22nd anniversary approaches.
PA security forces detained 193 supporters in November and 99 in December, and has summoned hundreds of affiliates with threats against the planned commemorations, Hamas said in a statement.
The movement expressed astonishment over the lack of response from Arab countries and other Palestinian factions toward the PA's "criminal acts against Hamas" in the West Bank, which it says create the appearance it has been banned from political activity.
Separately, Hamas applauded the de facto government in Gaza's willingness to facilitate events marking the 42nd anniversary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's founding, which was celebrated on Saturday in Gaza City.
In January 2006, Hamas won parliamentary elections that ended Fatah's long reign as the leading political party in Palestine. Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas remained president while Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh became prime minister of the PA.
The surprise win strained inter-Palestinian relations, eventually leading to a national crisis. Clashes between Hamas- and Fatah-allied military forces erupted throughout the occupied territories, culminating in June 2007. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip, leaving the Fatah-run PA with the West Bank.
The state of factional division has allowed each side to crack down its political opponents. According to Hamas and other observers, the PA rounds up Palestinians almost every day solely on the basis of their political views. The PA has consistently denied that it holds political prisoners, responding that it is instead Hamas' government in Gaza which targets Fatah-allied residents.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Egyptian border guards shut down a tunnel on Sunday used for smuggling cars into the besieged Gaza Strip, security sources said.
The sources told reporters that the opening of the tunnel was 300 meters from the border with the Gaza Strip. A strict closure was imposed on the area before the tunnel was destroyed, the sources added. It was the second tunnel built to smuggle cars to be shut down in as many days.
The tunnel was reported to be two and a half meters wide, with a cement ramp on the Egyptian end built to allow cars to be pulled down into the tunnel and across into Gaza.
Hundreds of tunnels have been dug underneath the Gaza-Egypt border in order to counteract an Israeli-led blockade of the territory that has caused shortages of numerous goods.
Egypt is also reported to be building an iron barrier underground along the border in an attempt to physically cut off the tunnels.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I can't help observing that the Gazans could have as many new cars as they want, if they only didn't cultivate the habit of exploding in public places and constantly shooting explosive rockets at their neighbors.
#3
I thought the Gazan population had fallen by about 25% since the Intifada, phil_b, and a significant number of the remainder would like to go if they could figure out how. I think this means Hamas is not allowing any significant population flow out through the tunnels, rather than that there is no desire.
#4
I think that's more likely it, for the same reason the East German border guards shot anyone scaling the Wall -- it wasn't good PR to have all your citizens leaving.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/14/2009 9:41 Comments ||
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#5
Yeah, and then who would they use as human shields?
#6
The second (perhaps even the #1) reason more Gazans aren't leaving is that there's nowhere they're welcome. More than half the people in Gaza are "refugees" from "palestine", and considered second-class citizens at best. However, if they flee to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, or Saudi Arabia, they would be considered third-class or even fourth-class citizens. Several Arab countries refuse to let them in for ANY reason. They may indeed be "stuck" in Gaza, but their condition there, even with the embargo, is better than it would be most other places.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/14/2009 17:38 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Filipino gunmen have released the rest of the people they had taken prisoner after the police allegedly tried to arrest their leaders.
The 47 people, released on Sunday, were abducted three days ago alongside 75 others from a local school and its surrounding houses in the southern Agusan del Sur province.
The captives included several schoolchildren and women. They were kept in a jungle hideout while the local elders were brokering a deal between the government and the rebels aimed at their release.
The government authorities agreed not to seize on the chance to arrest the rebels for earlier abductions or murder charges.
The hostage-taking took place after the police reportedly moved to capture the gunmen's leader Joebert Perez on a similar charge.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
See also TOPIX > SOUTHERN PHILIPPINE ISLAND {Basilan] SEEKS EMERGENCY RULE/DECREE [wants Manila = Phil Prez to send troops after recent Militants' breakout from prison + beheading].
#1
I don't believe there has been a diplomatic solution since 79. But Obama could just go kiss their asses like the rest of the world well except the American taxpayers
Posted by: chris ||
12/14/2009 0:04 Comments ||
Top||
#2
TOPIX > IRAN SAYS IT WILL TEST "MISSLE PRODUCTS" IN NEAR FUTURE.
#6
Oh crap, the cats out of the bag.
The news I was afraid would come out is out.
What are they going to do with the bomb?
Since initiating a nuke in Israel would send fall out all over Iraq and Iran and Jordan, I fear the only intended purpose is to export it to some mad hatter who will use it on us.
We are the ultimate Satan to them. The jabbering by Achmendanutjob was a diversionary tactic.
How will we know when the Iranians have a nuke?
Some city in the US will disappear that will be when we know...given the complete lack of resolve on this issue by the Foggy Bottom sissies over the years.
Doesn't anyone know that negotiations require dialogue and compromise?
Posted by: Karl Rove ||
12/14/2009 10:36 Comments ||
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#7
Isn't this something that bowing can fix? Or maybe a red 'panic' button from an office supply store? Surely "smart diplomacy" has a solution in its bag of tricks? How about DVD's that won't play in Iran? How about that?
#8
The political hacks in the Intel community that produced that fraudulent NIE need to be exposed, fired, and lose their pensions
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/14/2009 13:40 Comments ||
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#9
Hit first, hit hard, don't whine and apologise.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
12/14/2009 13:42 Comments ||
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#10
Jim we will never see that in our lifetime
Posted by: chris ||
12/14/2009 14:49 Comments ||
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#11
Of course there is a diplomatic solution. After all, war is merely diplomacy conducted by different means.
Posted by: Carl von Clauswitz ||
12/14/2009 15:58 Comments ||
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#12
#10 Jim we will never see that in our lifetime
Posted by: chris
I don't know, I suspect the Israelis are already practicing for the mission.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/14/2009 17:44 Comments ||
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#13
Tha announcement today of yet another round of Iranian rope-a-dope about the processed nuke material, is another indication they are trying to buy time in keeping the West at bay, and having Zero muzzle any Israeli operational actions.
I don't think it will work, and I look for kabooms soon after the 1st of the year, with howling muzzies worldwide to follow. I for one think bad things from sudden jihadi syndrome may happen even here.
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
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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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.
.jpg)
[Quqnoos] Afghan and NATO-led troops killed five militants Sunday in a strike on a Taliban operative involved in bomb-making in eastern Afghanistan.
[Dawn] Troops killed at least 22 militants in Pakistan's Kurram tribal region, officials said on Sunday.
deadly Baghdad bombings against government sites.
[Dawn] Four people including a young girl and an army recruit were killed in bombings across Iraq on Sunday, police and medical officials said.
[Ma'an] Egyptian border guards shut down a tunnel on Sunday used for smuggling cars into the besieged Gaza Strip, security sources said.
