May their memories bring comfort to those who mourn, and may the wounded heal quickly. We are grateful to those who choose to stand between us and those who would impose evil on the entire world.
[Quqnoos] Three German soldiers were killed Friday during a firefight with Taliban militants while on patrol near the city of Kunduz in northern Afghanistan.
Five German soldiers were seriously wounded in the fighting, which began in the early afternoon and continued into the evening, according to the spokesman for the Bundeswehr Operations Command.
So much for sequestering the German contingent safely away from doing the fighting for which an army is supposedly designed.
The battle was erupted when a mine exploded under a German armored vehicle, said the Kunduz provincial police chief, Gen Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi, The Associated Press reported.
As many as 200 Taliban militants were involved in the fighting, according to unconfirmed reports. The German forces received reinforcements from a base in Kunduz city.
Until recently, northern Afghanistan had been relatively calm, but several months ago the Taliban began to attack truck convoys that carry supplies from neighboring countries to NATO bases in the north.
German troops are in command of the area, but recently a large contingent of American forces has begun to arrive to bolster their efforts.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Saudi deputy defense minister Prince Khaled bin Sultan on Saturday confirmed handing over the remains of 32 Houthi rebels killed in fighting on the Saudi-Yemeni border.
"Infiltrators left some dead bodies, and I said this before, we have great respect for human bodies. Indeed they took 32 bodies and we are still looking for other bodies to hand them over," Prince Khaled told reporters in southern Saudi city of Najran.
"Hey, Mohammed! Any more Houthi rebels lying about that we can turn into dead bodies for return to Yemen?"
A Yemeni official had said earlier that "Saudi authorities returned the bodies of 32 Huthi infiltrators" at a ceremony on the border, adding that Yemeni authorities in turn passed on the remains to a representative of the rebels in northern Yemen.
Yemen launched an all-out offensive against the Houthis in August and the rebels later locked horns with Saudi forces after accusing Riyadh of allowing Yemen's army to use its territory to stage attacks in border areas.
Saudi forces intervened in the Houthi uprising in northern Yemen last November, accusing the rebels of killing a border guard and occupying two villages on its territory.
The Houthi rebels and the Sanaa government reached a truce which came into force on February 12. The rebels have since returned to Saudi Arabia the remains of three of its soldiers and freed three others they had captured.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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Fears of a terror attack during the UK General Election have been further fueled by reports that the Al-Qaeda has urged British fanatics to build DIY cruise missiles to attack passenger jets. According to reports, an Al-Qaeda website explains how to build missiles with solid fuel engines using operating manuals for the Russian 107mm Katyusha rocket. Numerous links are also available for guides to make explosives, including C4 plastic explosive, acetone peroxide and TNT.
The same site was used to explain how to bring down a jet before former London student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a passenger jet over Detroit on last year's Christmas Day. Another recent posting shows a sophisticated computer-designed plan for a two-stage missile that would drop an explosive device on to a target by parachute.
"Isn't it ironic that the two capitals of the war against Islam, Washington DC and London, have also become among the centres of Western Jihad?" The Daily Express quoted Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical on the run in the Yemen, as saying on the website. "Jihad is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea," he added.
Meanwhile, UK's counter-intelligence and security agencies M15 and M16 are closely monitoring the site, after statistics suggested that the website's "ask the experts" section contains more than 800 questions and answers about bomb-making and has been viewed 19,000 times.
"I never took science in school, Belal. I think I'll try the one you mix up in the bathtub -- it sounds easy enough. And 'Mother of Satan' sounds so edgy and cool and shit, don't you think?"
#4
ION SAME > CATCHING, KILLING BIN LADEN WILL MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN THE INSTIGATION, DIRECTION OF TERROR ACTS. US more worried about "INTERNAL THREAT(S)" as OSAMA + AQ had delegated terror responsibilities to various regional subsidiaries.
* DER SPIEGEL > THE ROLE OF IMAM IS DIFFERENT IN GERMANY | INTERVIEW WITH AN EXPERT IN ISLAM IN EUROPE. IIUC Pert argues or believes that many conservative or traditionalist Imams residing in Germany-Euro, while appearing outwardly to support the concepts of anti-Infidel "Jihad", in reality support the non-Violent aspects of Jihad in order to foster in a FAITH/ISLAM-SPECIFIC, LOCAL + WORLDWIDE, INTELLECTUAL + SPIRITUAL + SOCIETAL "NEW GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM"???
[Iran Press TV Latest] Nine people are presumed dead in South Korea after a fishing boat sank during the search for a sunken warship -- the second major maritime disaster in the country.
According to Seoul officials, the boat appeared to have collided with a freighter on Saturday. South Korean coast guards have retrieved the bodies of two of the fishermen.
The fishing vessel was assisting in the search for 46 missing crewmen of the naval ship that sank last week off a disputed border with North Korea.
Meanwhile, divers have reportedly found the first remains from the 1,200-ton navy ship Cheonan that sank under mysterious circumstances.
Shortly after the sinking, Seoul officials said they did not believe North Korea had fired on the ship. But later the South's defense minister said a sea mine could have caused the blast. The North has made no official comment about the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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May not be terror, but 'just' mid-eastern organized crime, but something to keep an eye on.
Four people were killed and two others wounded in a shooting at a Valley Village cafe Saturday. The shooting took place at the Hot Spot Cafe on Riverside Drive, which bills itself as a Mediterranean restaurant but which neighbors described as often oddly empty.
Police said a group of men was gathered inside the restaurant around 4:30 p.m. when at least one other man walked in and opened fire, striking at least six people. Three men died at the scene, while the fourth died at a local hospital and two others underwent surgery and were later listed in critical but stable condition.
The main suspect was described only as a white male, possibly Armenian, around 30 years old.
#2
Matt Edwards, a neighbor who heard the gunshots, said he immediately knew it happened at the Mediterranean eatery. "The place is so shady," he explained. "It opened like five years ago... I went in there to get something to eat and they didn't even know what they were doing making the food."
Sources tell LAist the shooting "was no accident." According to the LA Times, it "might have involved Armenian gangs" while other media gathered at the scene spoke of the Armenian mafia. Police said they had no further information in that regards, citing it's too early to say.
But neighbors said they were always suspicious of the cafe. "How do you run a business when there are no customers?" questioned Bettye Hicks, who lives down the street. An employee at Marie Et Cie, a coffee house catty corner to the restaurant, said no one ever goes in and out of the business.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2010 11:31 Comments ||
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#4
"How do you run a business when there are no customers?"
Old school. Today, you create 'community organizations' to laundry money. You draft insert your favorite special interest group here 'customers' to cover the creative bookkeeping.
#7
I know that it is North Hollywood, but Ry Cooder's song just popped into my head:
Going down in hollywood
You better hope that you dont run out of gas
Down in hollywood
Hell drag you right out of your car and kick your ass
Down in hollywood
Theyre standing on a corner waiting for a sucker like you
Down in hollywood
Now, if you want to stay healthy just keep a-moving right on through
Be careful, dont look back, keep moving, keep moving
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/04/2010 13:44 Comments ||
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#8
The TV series "The Shield" had this running theme of Armenian gangs doing big heroin deals. I wonder if this was part of some territorial beef.
A Colorado woman who was indicted on terrorism charges Friday is "overwhelmed and distraught and very much in tears with concern for her son," her lawyer said Saturday.
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, 31, was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Her lawyer, Jeremy Ibrahim, said he met with her for the first time on Saturday. Was this guy on Al Qaeda's "Approved Lawyers" list? Is that the ACLU short list or the Center for Constitutional Rights list? Continued on Page 49
#4
The money quote was in an article about her last month in the WSJ:
A few months before she disappeared, her stepfather says he confronted her: "What are you going to do, strap a bomb on and blow up something?" he asked her. He recalled that she responded: "If necessary, yes."
-- Her brother had this to say: He said he was "actually relieved" she had been arrested because it may help them get her son back. "My only concern is getting her son back. Other than that, I don't care what happens to her."
#5
Jeremy H. G. Ibrahim, Philadelphia Litigation Lawyers. Catholic University of America, School of Law. So unless he has had a late in life conversion he might just be interested in Fifth Amendment protections.
She is a US citizen so take out the trash in a constitutional manner.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
04/04/2010 11:37 Comments ||
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#6
There's a MacGuffin here:
It alleges that Paulin-Ramirez married an unidentified co-conspirator whom she had never met.
[Dawn] The United States on Friday discarded a list of 14 nations, including Pakistan, whose citizens required additional screening at American airports.
The new criteria selects passengers for additional security based on possible matches to intelligence information, including physical descriptions, age or a particular travel pattern.
An official announcement in Washington said that the US Transportation Security Administration will begin implementing new security policy from this month and it will apply to all air carriers with international flights to the United States.
US Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told journalists that "these new measures utilise real-time, threat-based intelligence along with multiple, random layers of security, both seen and unseen, to more effectively mitigate evolving terrorist threats".
Separately, a US official told Dawn in Washington that "the principled engagement of Pakistan's leadership on this matter with the US resulted in this policy change".
The official said that US special envoy Richard Holbrooke first learned about the negative impact of the now abandoned policy from Pakistani officials during his January visit to Islamabad.
"And he successfully agitated within the US administration to get the rules changed, as he saw the policy as 'discriminatory' and inconsistent with the administration's desire to build a new kind of relationship with Pakistan," the official said.
Starting in April, security personnel at US airports will match passengers with the information provided by the Department of Homeland Security for potential terrorist threats. Only those who match the new description for people of interest will be marked out for additional screening.
For example, if the US has intelligence about a Nigerian man between the ages of 22 and 32 whom officials believe is a threat or a known terrorist, under the new policy all Nigerian men within that age range will receive extra screening before they are allowed to fly to the United States. If intelligence later shows that the suspect is not a terrorist; that particular traveller will not be screened against that description.
The intelligence-based targeting will be in addition to screening names on terror watch lists. The government's "no fly" list of suspected terrorists, who are banned from flights to, or within, US territory, has about 6,000 names.
The new rules are replacing the more stringent set of guidelines that occurred after the attempted shoe bombing of a flight in Detroit on Christmas day. Under the old rules everyone in those 14 countries received a full body pat down.
The countries affected include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
The new guidelines were put into place as part of a review ordered by President Barack Obama.
The move comes largely as an attempt to stop the inconvenience that has occurred for thousands of innocent travellers who have been patted down and targeted.
Last month, six Fata lawmakers returned to Pakistan in protest after refusing a body scan at the Dulles International Airport in Washington.
An observation that several of the 14 countries on the suspect list had begun to implement their own more stringent screening for travellers also convinced Washington to change the old procedure.
The Transportation Security Administration said the new measures were part of a threat-based aviation security system covering all passengers travelling by air to the United States.
Under the new arrangement, passengers travelling to the United States from international destinations may notice enhanced security and random screening measures throughout the passenger check-in and boarding process, including the use of explosives trace detection, advanced imaging technology, canine teams, or pat downs, among other security measures.
On Friday, the US Department of Homeland Security also released a surface transportation security priority assessment, which covers mass transit, commuter and long-distance passenger rail, freight rail, commercial vehicles and pipelines.
It provides a new framework for the improvement of surface transportation security and identifies discrete areas of focus for security officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Maybe the TSA is able to use some real-time data but frankly, a major problem is getting the intel into a form that can be used.
Suppose an employee of the US Embassy in, oh say Nigeria, has the father of someone who he names as a suspect. How long would it take to get the approvals to send this info to a security agency and then how long to code it correctly into whatever data base they had.
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/04/2010 0:51 Comments ||
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#2
When Janet Napolitano was asked as to what criteria would be used to profile foreigners for suspected terrorist ties, she replied, "Black or brown skin. Large, hooked, Semitic noses. People who eat weird food and dress funny."
When asked if that might be racist, she replied, "No. Not at all. The left does not discriminate. Only the right wing discriminate."
[Dawn] Eleven people including three policemen were killed Saturday in a clash between police and criminals involved in kidnapping and robberies in northwest Pakistan, police said.
The gunbattle took place in Shiekhan village 10 kilometres (six miles) southwest of Peshawar when police raided a suspected criminals' hideout, senior police officer Sher Akbar told AFP.
"We had reports that criminals involved in cases of robbery and kidnapping for ransom were hiding in the area," he said adding that the police raid triggered a shoot-out in which "eight criminals were killed."Three policemen also died in the firefight, he said.
Doctor Jamil Shah of a local hospital confirmed the death toll.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Pakistan has approached the Interpol on Saturday seeking Red Corner notices for arresting Ajmal Kasab and Fahim Ansari, currently undergoing trial in India. This was stated by Special Public Prosecutor Malik Rab Nawaz Moon as an anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of the seven 26/11 attack accused, adjourned the hearing in the case till April 17. During the proceedings, the prosecution said the government had been approached to ask Interpol to issue Red Corner notices for Ansari and Kasab.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Interpol Notice? So What? It does not make any difference. 5 US Citizens are charged with Terrorism in Pakistan. If US would seek Red Corner Notice with Interpol, would Pakistan hand over 5 people to US without trial? Pakistanis are charged for Terrorism everywhere in the world. Would all Countries release Pakistanis because of Interpol Notice? Interpol is not a US Congress, who just write " BLANK CHEQUES " on PAK's request.
#2
Not even the U.S. hands over arrestees to Pakistan just because they request it, Dinesh. As for the money, unfortunately Pakistan controls the only practical resupply route to Coalition troops in Afghanistan.
The persons concerned are wanted by national jurisdictions (or the International Criminal Tribunals, where appropriate) and Interpol's role is to assist the national police forces in identifying or locating those persons with a view to their arrest and extradition.
These red notices allow the warrant to be circulated worldwide with the request that the wanted person be arrested with a view to extradition.
A distinction is drawn between two types of red notice: the first type is based on an arrest warrant and is issued for a person wanted for prosecution; the second type is based on a court decision for a person wanted to serve a sentence.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/04/2010 10:55 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships Saturday killed 30 militants and captured key heights in a tribal area after facing tough resistance in which six soldiers were killed, officials said.
Fighting erupted at several places in Orakzai district near the Afghan border, where security forces have been pressing a new offensive to flush out Taliban believed to have fled a major offensive in South Waziristan last year.
"Security forces have taken control of important heights around Bezoti area after encountering tough resistance," a military statement said.
"During the operation 30 terrorists were killed and many got injured," it said.
"Six security personnel embraced martyrdom while 10 got injured," the statement said.
Earlier local administration and military officials said fighting erupted at several places and helicopter gunships pounded rebels positions in which a total of 22 militants were killed.
Major Fazlur Rehman, spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps told AFP, that militants based in mountain hideouts attacked a military convoy between the towns of Goeen and Hindara and the gunbattle left at least 13 Taliban dead.
Local administration official Sajjad Ahmed, who also put the militant toll at 13 dead, said helicopter gunships pounded the rebels in the area. Six other militants wounded in the clash had been arrested, Ahmed told AFP.
Ground forces attacked militant hideouts in Otman Khel also and killed nine Taliban insurgents, Rehman said.
He later confirmed the overall toll had risen to 30 and that security forces had seized control of key heights in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > INDIA UPS THE NATE ON CHINA [GOVT = CENTRE formally approves the creation of TWO MOUNTAIN DIVSIONS/2 ea. 10,000-men].
Suicide attackers detonated three car bombs near embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 35 people and wounding more than 200 in back-to-back attacks, authorities said.
The bombings came two days after a chilling execution-style attack by gunmen who raided homes south of Baghdad, killing 24 people, many of them believed to be anti-al-Qaida fighters. The rise in bloodshed after a relative lull deepened fears that insurgents will seize on the political turmoil after last month's indecisive parliamentary elections to sow further instability.
Sunday's blasts went off within minutes of each other -- one near the Iranian Embassy and two others in an area that houses several embassies, including the Egyptian Consulate and German Embassy, said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the city's operations command center.
Security forces shot and killed a man wearing a suicide belt before he could detonate a fourth bomb-rigged car near the former Germany Embassy, which is now a bank, al-Moussawi said.
It was not immediately clear how many people from the embassies were among the victims. Several Iraqi guards at the Egyptian Consulate and one Iraqi guard at the German Embassy were killed, authorities said.
Guards at the Egyptian Consulate opened fire on one of the attackers as he drove toward them, but were unable to stop him before the blast hit concrete barriers, al-Moussawi said.
Four Egyptians working at the consulate were wounded by shrapnel, according to Egypt's Foreign Ministry.
"These explosions targeted diplomatic missions," al-Moussawi told The Associated Press, saying the death toll was likely to rise. "It's a terrorist act."
Multiple, coordinated bombings in the capital have become a hallmark of al-Qaida in Iraq.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Three suicide bombers detonated car bombs near foreign missions in central Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and wounding 168. April 4 local mid afternoon
The blasts near the Iranian, Egyptian and German embassies followed mortar attacks on the Iraqi capital's Green Zone, home to government buildings, official residences and foreign embassies. They came two days after gunmen slaughtered 24 people in a Sunni village south of Baghdad. MO of Al Q in Iraq
Posted by: lord garth ||
04/04/2010 08:44 ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Two civilians were killed and a third was injured in an explosive charge blast in the capital Baghdad, a local police source said on Saturday.
A sticky improvised explosive device (IED) hit a civilian vehicle on al-Tojari St., al-Saydiya neighborhood, southern Baghdad, killing two persons and wounding a third,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The blast caused great damage to the car, the source added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/04/2010 00:00 ||
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The Islamic teacher sat on the wooden porch of his house smiling politely, his infant son playing at his feet. Those who study the Koran are automatically suspect, Dul Nasir Hama said, adding that he's not a terrorist nor are his students part of the insurgency.
As he spoke, a Thai army patrol skirted the grounds of his madrasa in Pattani, a jungle area of southern Thailand with a long history of violent clashes between Malay Muslims and Thai Buddhists. "They're afraid to come in here," he said. "They think I'll put a spell on them."
Authorities see southern Thailand's network of Muslim religious schools as a key source of recruits for an insurgency in which more than 4,000 people have died in the last six years amid the rebels' bid for an autonomous state. Each month, about 100 sectarian attacks take place in southern Thailand, down from a peak of approximately 200 a month in 2007, according to Pattani's Deep South Watch.
On Thursday, six Buddhist villagers in Narathiwat province were found dead, believed ambushed, and 10 police officers and soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded as they were going to the scene of the shootings, police said.
"It's considered the world's third most intensive Muslim insurgency, after Afghanistan-Pakistan and Iraq," said Benjamin Zawacki, an activist with Amnesty International, which condemns rights violations on both sides. "And it's not just going to go away."
As part of counterinsurgency efforts, the Thai army has ceded more authority to home-defense and paramilitary forces. Many of these troops are poorly trained, critics say, further antagonizing the Malay-speaking Muslim majority in the troubled provinces just north of the border with Malaysia.
Local militia member Apiyud Rattanapinyo, 52, shows off his weaponry at his dingy restaurant in Tan Yong Mas, a town ringed by army checkpoints. The Thai Buddhist has two rifles in his truck, a .357 magnum pistol on his belt, four amulets around his neck and half a dozen teeth missing from his smile. "Islamic teachers may say they're not involved, but many are lying," he said. "The militants are afraid of people like me because I shoot at them."
Rattanapinyo, a self-avowed protector of traditional Thai values who said he's been shot at four times and survived a roadside bomb, believes that a solution lies in forcing Islamic schools to teach more Thai language and culture. "This is Thailand," he said. "If they don't mess with my homeland, I won't mess with theirs."
Far more hidden are the insurgents and their weapons. An estimated 90% of villages in contested zones have secretive attack cells, security experts say. The movement appears to have some contact with Southeast Asia's Jemaah Islamiah, a group linked to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, said Srisompob Jitpiromsri, director of Deep South Watch. But the strength of the ties is a matter of debate and the insurgency has so far avoided attacking Bangkok, the Thai capital, or tourist resorts, presumably wary of attracting unwanted global attention in a post-Sept. 11 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.
Fears of a terror attack during the UK General Election have been further fueled by reports that the Al-Qaeda has urged British fanatics to build DIY cruise missiles to attack passenger jets. According to reports, an Al-Qaeda website explains how to build missiles with solid fuel engines using operating manuals for the Russian 107mm Katyusha rocket. Numerous links are also available for guides to make explosives, including C4 plastic explosive, acetone peroxide and TNT.
A Colorado woman who was indicted on terrorism charges Friday is "overwhelmed and distraught and very much in tears with concern for her son," her lawyer said Saturday.
Suicide attackers detonated three car bombs near embassies in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 35 people and wounding more than 200 in back-to-back attacks, authorities said.
The Islamic teacher sat on the wooden porch of his house smiling politely, his infant son playing at his feet. Those who study the Koran are automatically suspect, Dul Nasir Hama said, adding that he's not a terrorist nor are his students part of the insurgency. 
