Ornella Muti aka Princess Aura in "Flash Gordon" aka Sofia Provolone in "Oscar" aka Elena Morosco in "Once Upon a Crime" aka Catherine Stockheinz in "Love and Money" (age 56)
[Tolo News] Afghan government has called on the UN to remove names of some five former key Taliban members in its blacklist, McClatchy newspaper reported.
Name of Maulawi Qalamudin, the former deputy head of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice department, is among the names presented to the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society.
President Karzai's government sees the UN blacklist as the main obstacle to starting peace talks with the Taliban.
All five former Taliban members have been named to high peace council. President Karzai hopes the council will convince the Taliban to stop violence and join the Afghan society.
The newspaper said UN approval of the request, made by the government to the UN Security Council, is not certain.
The international community in particular the United States has agreed for the removal of those Taliban names in the list who have given up violence, but the process has been slow practically, it said.
"Internationally, the High Peace Council body is being supported. So members of the High Peace Council should be accepted. Yet they're still on the blacklist," McClatchy quoted Shaida Mohammad Abdali, the deputy national security advisor as saying.
Afghan experts said the government requests the removal of former senior Taliban members as Taliban in response to peace call killed hundreds of civilians in a series of attacks in Afghanistan.
"If we take a look at their achievements, people are not happy waith them. If they do it for peace and stability in Afghanistan, nobody opposes it," Atiqullah Amarkhil, an Afghan military analyst said. "But we should make sure that democracy is not strained and the rights of people are not ignored."
All five jugged members of the Taliban have already "reconciled" with the Afghan government and have lived a free life for a couple of years.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
They may have renounced violence. They may even keep their promise (fat chance.)
But will their actions in the past have consequences?
How are they going to pay for 9/11?
What is, ultimately, the price to be paid for a mass fatality attack on the CONUS?
[Tolo News] At least 16 Death Eaters were killed in Afghan forces operations in different parts of Helmand province on Monday night, a local official said on Tuesday.
The operations were launched to target Mullah Zarif Sajid, a Taliban capo who carried out attack against Afghan and foreign forces in the province, Dawood Ahmadi, a front man for governor of Helmand told TOLOnews.
Eleven snuffies were killed during the operations and 14 others were nabbed, he added.
Mr Ahmadi said five other Death Eaters who wanted to planet mines in Sangeen district were killed in foreign forces Arclight airstrike.
There is no report if Mullah Zarif Sajid has been killed in the operations.
Violence has recently increased in some parts of Helmand province.
Taliban have not yet commented about the operations.
Seven other snuffies have handed over their weapons and surrendered to government in Mussa Qala district of Helmand on Monday, Mr Ahmadi said.
Afghan forces will take full security responsibility by the end of 2014.
On Monday Defence Secretary Robert Gates said that the United States was "well positioned" to begin withdrawing some US forces from Afghanistan in July.
But he said a substantial force would remain and that the United States was starting talks with the Afghans about keeping a security presence in the country beyond 2014.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[The Nation (Nairobi)] Somalia's pro-government forces closed in today on bastions of the beturbanned goon Shebab group, in their largest coordinated drive in years to wrest back the country from al Qaeda-inspired rebels.
Did they kill any more American born Muslims who never would go to a foreign country to wage jihad and would never get themselves killed if they did?
The offensive started last week with a major battle in Mogadishu that saw government troops reclaim large swathes of the capital, where the government had long been confined to a few blocks by the sea.
But government and allied troops have in recent days opened new fronts.
The Western-backed Somali transitional government's troops are backed by the 8,000-strong African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM) as well as by the Sufi militia Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa and tribal militias.
Their offensive aims to stretch a Shebab, who have controlled most of southern and central Somalia for three years with a limited number of men but supported on the ground by jihadi fighters from around the world.
Witnesses and officials said Ethiopia was trucking in troops to El Bur district, a key Shebab stronghold in central Somalia.
"I saw dozens of trucks belonging to the Ethiopian military heading towards El Bur. It looks like they are joining Ahlu Sunna's war against the Shebab," said one local resident, Ise Maalim.
A government official in Dolow district, further south, said the all-out offensive that had been promised by three successive prime ministers was finally under way.
"The war to eliminate the Shebab threat from the country has begun, we will not stop until we succeed in our goal to cleanse this country of Al-Qaeda and their Somali followers," Abdifatah Ibrahim Gesey told AFP.
The towns of Bulo Hawo and Luq, near the Kenyan border, were recently recaptured from the Shebab, who witnesses said were abandoning some of their positions in the south to regroup for the battle over Mogadishu.
Bulo Hawo was conquered after a bloody battle which some security sources in the region said left at least 80 people dead, including women, but Luq was taken over without any fighting.
Ethiopia and the hapless Somali government have denied direct Ethiopian involvement in the fighting but residents in the affected areas were adamant.
"The presence of Ethiopian troops in the battle is not a secret, they want to help us push away Shebab terrorists," Bulo Hawo resident Mowliid Abdi said.
According to officials and witnesses, pro-government forces have also deployed around Beledweyne, a strategic town near the Ethiopian border.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Funding and training the Somali transitional government (even as corrupt as they are) is a much better use of US tax dollars and lives than using the US military to fight the battles for one faction of Muslims or another. Will Obama thank Pres. Bush for setting this in motion or learn from this wrt the civil war in Libya?
In Libya, the Kadaffi clan is desperately trying to suppress an uprising among most of its six million inhabitants. The Kadaffis have found that the most dependable troops can be obtained from the nomadic Tuareg tribes in the southwest, and further southwest through Algeria Mali and Niger. There are about five million Tuareg in these countries, but only about ten percent are in Libya. The most likely recruits are to be found in Mali and Niger, and that's where men from the local Libyan embassy have been offering young men $10,000 to join, and several thousand dollars a week to fight in Libya. This is nothing new for the Tuareg, who have been serving as mercenaries for Kadaffi since the 1970s. But now thousands of them are being hired. Times are hard for the Tuareg in Mali and Niger, where drought, and hostile locals have made life difficult. Kadaffi is offering a large payday for those who join. Even if the Tuareg men don't come back, their families have the $10,000, and whatever else their sons send back. If the Tuareg succeed in putting down the rebellion, Kadaffi will likely reward his Tuareg warriors, as he has in the past.
#3
"Algeria Mali + Niger" > methinks we just discovered what parts or regions will end up being incorporated into one or more of the new Countries created from the former Libyuh???
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces are reportedly using tanks and warplanes to attack the rebel-held town of Zawiyah in western Libya.
Nice pic of a technical at the link.
One eyewitness, who wished to remain anonymous, compared the town to "a city of ghosts" because of the violence and bloodshed.He told Sky News: "Here, it is chaos. Buildings completely crumbled, mosques brought down to ashes, blood flowing through the streets.
"No human should go through this... what kind of human would do this to another human?"
He added: "This is a completely full attack. Approximately 50 tanks have been bombarding the city, crushing everything in sight. It started at 10am today and still hasn't finished. There are now a couple of aircraft hovering."
He said Gaddafi's forces were targeting the town's main square where protesters have gathered. "There are a lot of people there who want freedom, but it seems the price they have to pay is with their own blood," he said.
According to other eyewitness reports, the rebels are still in control of the centre of Zawiyah.
"Fighting is still going on now. Gaddafi's forces are using tanks. There are also sporadic air strikes," a resident, called Ibrahim, told Reuters news agency. "But they could not reach the centre of the town which is still in the control of the revolutionaries."
Rebel forces say they have rejected an offer of negotiations by a representative of Col Gaddafi's regime "seeking to negotiate Gaddafi's exit".
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"When Christians kill muslims it's a crusade. When Jews kill muslims it's murder. But when muslims kill muslims it's a weather report" - Dan Gillerman, former Israeli UN representative...
#9
Updates:
Rebels in Zawiya retake town square. (Very embarassing to Gaddafi. He was driving a busload of Western reporters to Zawiya to report from the square when they turned around and went back.)
[Ennahar] Libyan government troops, tanks and warplanes attacked rebels on the western and eastern fronts on Tuesday, pressing their campaign to crush an insurrection against Muammar Qadaffy.
Government artillery pounded Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held city to the capital Tripoli as trapped residents cowered from the onslaught, witnesses said.
In the east, a swathe of which is under rebel control, air strikes targeted rebel positions behind the frontline around the oil town of Ras Lanuf on the Mediterranean coast.
Apparently undeterred by Qadaffy's renewed show of force, the rebel leadership said that if he stepped down within 72 hours it would not seek to bring him to justice.
Earlier, the rebels said they rejected an offer from the Libyan leader to negotiate his surrender of power. The government denied any such talks had taken place.
On the international front, foreign governments struggled to agree on a united strategy for dealing with the turmoil in the oil-producing country, which Qadaffy has ruled in an autocratic and quixotic style since seizing power in a 1969 military coup.
Britain and La Belle France led a drive at the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society for a no-fly zone over Libya, a move that would prevent Qadaffy from unleashing air raids or from flying in reinforcements. But Russia and China, who have veto power in the U.N. Security Council, were cool to the idea.
The U.S. government, whose interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan enraged many of the world's Mohammedans, said it was weighing up what military options could achieve.
Qadaffy's forces launched a concerted attack with tanks and artillery on Tuesday to recapture Zawiyah, about 50 km (30 miles) west of Tripoli and near an important oil refinery.
Rebels still control the central square and were using loud hailers to urge residents to help defend their positions, said a witness, a Ghanaian worker who decamped the town on Tuesday.
Zawiyah, the closest rebel-held town to Tripoli, has been the focus of heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual light or sporadic fighting... for days and the exiled opposition group Libyan Human Rights Solidarity said government forces were tightening their encirclement.
"The rebels are in control but there is an exchange of fire going on," said the Ghanaian. "They are in the square."
A government front man said troops were now in control but a small group of rebel fighters was still putting up resistance.
"Maybe 30-40 people, hiding in the streets and in the cemetery. They are desperate," he told Rooters in Tripoli.
A Libyan man who lives abroad said he spoke by phone on Tuesday to a friend there who described desperate scenes.
"Many buildings are completely destroyed, including hospitals, electricity lines and generators," he said.
"People cannot run away, it's cordoned off. They cannot flee. All those who can fight are fighting, including teenagers. Children and women are being hidden."
Tanks were firing everywhere, he said.
The reports could not be verified independently as foreign correspondents have been prevented from entering Zawiyah and other cities near the capital without an official escort.
HOMES HIT
The Arclight airstrikes in the east hit at rebels behind the no-man's land between the coastal towns of Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, 550 km340 miles) east of Tripoli and the site of oil terminals. (
One strike smashed a house in a residential area of Ras Lanuf, gouging a big hole in the ground floor.
Mustafa Askat, an oil worker, said one bomb had wrecked a water line and this would affect water supplies to the city.
"We have a hospital inside, we have sick people and they need water urgently," he said.
The rebel army -- a rag-tag outfit largely made up of young volunteers and military defectors -- had made swift gains in the first week of the uprising which saw them take control of the east and challenge the government near Tripoli.
But their momentum appears to have stalled as Qadaffy's troops pushed back using war planes, tanks and heavy weapons.
Rebels said government forces had dug in their tanks near Bin Jawad while rebels retreated to Ras Lanuf. The two towns are about 60 km (40 miles) apart on the strategic coastal road along the Mediterranean sea that leads to Tripoli.
No casualty toll from either front was available.
72 HOUR DEADLINE
Qadaffy has poured scorn on the rebels, denouncing them variously as drug-addled youths or al Qaeda-backed terrorists, and said he will die in Libya rather than surrender.
The head of the rebel National Libyan Council said on Tuesday it would not hound Qadaffy if he stepped down in the next 72 hours,
"If he leaves Libya immediately, during 72 hours, and stops the bombardment, we as Libyans will step back from pursuing him for crimes," Mustafa Abdel Jalil, an ex-justice minister, told Al Jizz television by telephone from the rebels' eastern stronghold, Benghazi.
A rebel front man said earlier the council had spurned an overture from Qadaffy's camp for talks but a Libyan ministry official dismissed reports of the offer as "absolute nonsense."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday that London was talking to its allies on a resolution for a no-fly zone, including an "appropriate legal basis." A French source said La Belle France also was working on such an initiative.
The Arab League and several Gulf states have also called for a no-fly zone, important support given suspicions in the Mohammedan world about Western intentions.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said action should be taken only with international backing. The White House said all options were on the table, including arming rebels.
Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council with veto powers, said it opposed foreign military intervention and China was also cool to the no-fly zone proposal.
"We believe Libya's illusory sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence should be respected," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said in Beijing.
The Libyan uprising is the bloodiest of a tide of pro-democracy protests against autocratic rulers and monarchs in North Africa and Middle East which has already seen the longtime leaders of Tunisia and Egypt dethroned this year.
The phenomenon has left the West struggling to formulate a new direction for a region that sits on vast reserves of oil and where stability was until now the political priority.
Brent crude dropped to below $113 per barrel on Tuesday before creeping back to $114.00, $1.04 lower on the day, by 9:00 a.m. EST (1400 GMT).
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV] Forces loyal to the embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy have launched more Arclight airstrikes on strategically important areas held by revolutionary forces.
Qadaffy warplanes dropped missiles on the residential areas in the eastern port of Ras Lanuf. There are also reports of tank fire and fierce battles between opposition forces and Qadaffy loyalists in the city of Zawiyah.
Government troops, in the mean time, surrounded the southern town of Zintan, but revolutionary forces are still in control.
Two hotels housing news hounds have come under kabooms in Benghazi.
The liberated east of the country is now settling and moving forward despite fierce battles between revolutionary and pro-regime forces in some cities, a Press TV correspondent reported.
On the international front, Britain and La Belle France are stepping up their efforts to put in place a no-fly zone over Libya.
A UN resolution is being drafted to be debated by NATO defense ministers on Thursday.
In the meantime two members of the revolutionary leadership are to speak to the members of the European Parliament on the developments in Libya later on Tuesday.
Moreover, revolutionary council has rejected an offer from Qadaffy and his associates to negotiate an exit strategy.
"We are not negotiating with someone who spilled Libyan blood and continues to do so. Why would we trust the guy today?" Rooters quoted the council's front man Mustafa Gheriani as saying.
The 30-member body was established in the eastern city of Benghazi by revolutionary forces following the liberation of several eastern cities.
The revolutionary council, headed by Libya's former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who was among the first high-profile Libyan figures to defect from the Qadaffy regime following the brutal crackdown on opposition protesters, plans to lead the country to an election.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Mummer Qadaffy's regime accused the West of "a conspiracy to divide Libya" as Washington, under mounting pressure to help opposition forces, said it was premature to arm the rebels. "Yasss... Better to wait until they're dead."
Fresh fighting was reported in the city of Zawiyah just outside the Qadaffy-held capital Tripoli, while Gulf States including Soddy Arabia backed efforts to impose a no-fly zone over the oil-rich North African country.
In Tripoli, Libya's foreign minister told news hounds that the West was trying to split the country by secretly building up contacts with rebel leaders.
"It is clear that La Belle France, Great Britain and the US are now getting in touch with defectors in eastern Libya. It means there is a conspiracy to divide Libya," said the minister, Mussa Kussa.
"But not Italy. So they can buy our oil again after this mess is cleared away."
His comments came after British Foreign Secretary William Hague admitted a "serious misunderstanding" led to the seizing of a Special Forces team in a bungled mission to contact Libyan rebels.
The United States, facing rising pressure at home and abroad to do more to protect civilians and hasten Qadaffy's exit from power, appeared to be wary of throwing weapons into a conflict involving groups about which it knows little.
While the White House said it was considering arming the rebels, it insisted that such a move would be premature and Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that intervention would likely require international approval.
"It would be premature to send a bunch of weapons to a post office box in eastern Libya, we need to not get ahead of ourselves," White House front man Jay Carney said.
On the ground, Libyan opposition groups and media reported tank fire and fierce battles between rebels and Qadaffy loyalists in the city of Zawiyah, a flashpoint 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of Tripoli.
It was not possible to confirm the reports because AFP does not have a correspondent in the city and local residents were not reachable by telephone.
The rebels began pulling back from the key oil port of Ras Lanuf as fighter jets targeted defences on the edge of town, throwing up palls of smoke amid fears that government forces were gearing for an attack.
One air strike maimed a father and a son when a jet bombed their car on the road outside the town, medics and an AFP news hound said.
Salim Hussein Attia, 47, a manager at the Ras Lanuf oil plant, told AFP that he had been taking his family east to shelter with relatives after government forces captured the nearby hamlet of Bin Jawad.
"We were driving past the petrol station when suddenly we were hit by a big kaboom. Thank God my family are all fine. My son Ahmed has just a few stitches," he said.
After the bloodiest fighting of the three-week-old conflict Sunday, the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society demanded urgent access to scores of "injured and dying" in the western city of Misrata.
A doctor in Misrata said 21 people, including a child, had been killed in shelling and festivities there on Sunday, and 91 people maimed, the "overwhelming majority" of them civilians.
NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said such attacks could amount to crimes against humanity.
He said the "outrageous" response of Qadaffy's regime to protests had created "a human crisis on our doorstep which concerns us all" and reiterated his strongest condemnation.
"I can't imagine the international community and the UN standing idly by if Colonel Qadaffy and his regime continue to attack his own people systematically," Rasmussen added.
At the United Nations, Secretary General the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon named former Jordanian foreign minister Abdul Ilah Khatib as his special envoy to deal with the regime on the humanitarian front.
Ban's office said he noted that "civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence, and calls for an immediate halt to the government's disproportionate use of force and indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets".
Khatib, 56, will leave for New York "in the next few days before travelling to Libya, where he should meet with all parties involved in the conflict", an associate of the former minister told AFP in Amman.
The UN called for $160 million (114 million euros) to cover relief support including shelter, food and sanitation for refugees as well as others who remain trapped by the fighting.
With the fighting getting worse and population centres threatened, British and French attempts to have a no-fly zone imposed over Libya received a boost as the six nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council announced their support.
The GCC -- including nations such as Bahrain and Oman shaken by their own anti-government protests -- urged the "UN Security Council take all necessary measures to protect civilians, including enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya".
But veto-wielding UN Security Council permanent member Russia signalled its opposition, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying "the Libyans must resolve their problems themselves".
Bahrain meanwhile announced plans to build 50,000 homes at a cost of at least two billion dinars ($5.32 billion), in the government's latest response to the protests gripping the kingdom, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
The regional unrest has sent oil to two-and-a-half-year highs, but prices slipped on Tuesday after the United States refused to rule out tapping its oil reserves to ease the impact on the economy.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, fell 41 cents to $105.03 per barrel in early Asian trade Tuesday while Brent North Sea crude for April delivery shed 13 cents to $114.91.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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Ah yes, the struggle for EGYPT + SUEZ CANAL known as the BATTLE FOR LIBYUH.
[GEORGE C. SCOTT = USA GEN. GEORGE PATTON, MIL HISTORIAN here].
[Iran Press TV] The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has rejected any foreign military intervention in troubled Libya.
At the start of an OIC emergency meeting on Libya in Jeddah, Soddy Arabia, on Tuesday, Ihsanoglu rejected "any military interference (on the ground) in Libya."
He warned of an ongoing humanitarian crisis in the country and called on the Libyan authorities to "immediately allow the entrance of humanitarian aid" to the country, AFP reported.
Ihsanoglu also pointed out that the UN Security Council should enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
"We join our voice to the voices asking for a no-fly zone in Libya, and we call on the Security Council to do its duty in this regard," he said.
The six-nation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council has already backed a no-fly zone to prevent Arclight airstrikes against the Libyan anti-regime protesters.
According to the UN diplomats, a resolution initiated by La Belle France and Britain demanding a no-fly zone over Libya could go before the UN Security Council this week.
In crisis-hit Libya, protesters are demanding the ouster of the long-term despot, Muammar Qadaffy.
Reports by human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... groups say that over 6,000 people have been killed so far during the regime's harsh crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has rejected any foreign military intervention in troubled Libya.
... Ihsanoglu also pointed out that the UN Security Council should enforce a no-fly zone over Libya.
Stupidity this profound ought to have consequences. What the fuck does this imbecile think a no-fly zone represents, anyways? Does he imagine that Gaddafian warplanes can be grounded by position papers and hot air?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
03/09/2011 9:40 Comments ||
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#2
I'm hoping for a drawn out civil war with arab nations taking sides and destroying each other.
#6
I'm hoping for a drawn out civil war with arab nations taking sides and destroying each other.
Pakistan sent units to participate in the Six Day and Yom Kippur wars, and Jordan's little Black September adventure. Perhaps they could join in the Libyan festivities, too.
Come to think of it, the Black September thingie is the only war Pakistan's army has been involved in that it has won. But the BS thingie really is "quelling an internal uprising", not a proper war at all.
#7
Ala DRUDGEREPORT this AM > 1990's Former-Madame-President-now-SecState HILLARY CLINTON has repor stated that ANY NO-FLY ZONE EFFORT IN LIBYUH CANNOT BE LED BY THE US.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Military officials in the National Transitional Council, set up by the Libyan rebels, have called on the Libyan rebel forces not to attack Qadaffy's home town of Sirte for fear of sustaining heavy losses.
Libya's former representative to the vaporous Arab League, Abdul-Monem al-Houni, who is a senior member of the National Transitional Council, called on the Arab states to recognize the legitimacy of this body as the sole representative of the Libyan people. In a letter addressed to ambassadors and diplomatic representatives of Arab countries in Cairo, al-Houni said that the Libyan opposition forces are in control of 90 percent of the country, and he predicted that the remaining 10 percent of Libya would be liberated from Qadaffy control in the coming days.
A source within the Libyan National Transitional Council confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that until now 16 countries have recognized the council, and that 10 European countries are set to announce their recognition of the National Transitional Council in the near future.
Al-Houni also urged the Arab League and its member-states to take the initiative and recognize the Libyan National Transitional Council. Al-Houni told Asharq Al-Awsat that it is shameful that Western countries have taken steps to recognize the Libyan National Transitional Council whilst Arabs remain silent about this issue, he also stressed that the Libyan people are waiting for political and moral support from their Arab brothers in order to complete the revolution against Qadaffy's rule.
There has also been talk about disputes emerging between Qadaffy's children, with sources claiming that the Qadaffy family has divided amongst itself with regards to those who support the Libyan leader's military efforts to suppress the rebels, and those who oppose this policy.
A source in the Libyan capital Tripoli confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the exchange of gunfire heard by the residents of Tripoli two days ago from inside Qadaffy's fortified stronghold of Bab al-Azizah was due to a sharp dispute that erupted between Qadaffy's offspring.
According to the source, a fight broke out between Qadaffy's children, who are divided amongst themselves over whether they should remain in Libya or flee the country. The source confirmed that Saif al-Islam, Al-Saadi, Muatassim, and Khamis Qadaffy support their father's plan to quell the popular uprising against them by any and all military means at his disposal, whilst his other sons Muhammad and Hannibal, and his daughter Aisha, oppose this plan.
In a reference to the escalating conflict between the Qadaffy regime and the popular resistance against him, an official close Colonel Qadaffy and his family told Asharq Al-Awsat that the fighting will decide which side will emerge victorious from this battle, the Libyan regime or the rebels.
He added "in the past they claimed that we would flee to Venezuela, and yesterday they said Nicaragua, but the only place we are going is Libya, and are only plan of escape is to stay [in Libya]."
Whilst an official in the rebel Libyan National Transitional Council told Asharq Al-Awsat that "it is true that there is no comparison between our weaponry and the weapons possessed by Qadaffy's army, but we have the force of will. We are determined to remove him from power whatever the consequences."
Qadaffy's forces continue to pressure the rebel forces in the strategically important cities of Zawiya and Misurata, attempting to prevent them moving towards Tripoli.
Qadaffy is utilizing the Libyan air force to bombard the rebels and prevent them from advancing, whilst it has been revealed that the Libyan opposition forces are attempting to obtain anti-aircraft weaponry and heavy artillery to counteract this.
Sources close to the Libyan National Transitional Council, which is headed by former Libyan Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, have said that military officials in this rebel organization have called on the opposition forces not to advance on Sirte. The Libyan rebel forces are being led by General Abdel Fattah Younes, who is the former Libyan Interior Minister and head of Special Forces, and he has called on the rebels to wait for the Libyan National Transitional Council to obtain military jeeps and heavy weaponry to utilize against the military forces loyal to Qadaffy before advancing on Sirte.
The source also revealed that the Libyan National Transitional Council has called on the rebels to change their military tactics and use guerilla tactics to surprise and ambush the better armed Qadaffy forces.
According to sources in the city of Misurata, the Qadaffy forces were -- as of Monday night -- planning a new attack against the rebel-controlled city. The source also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the Qadaffy forces had amassed a tank division around the city of Misurata, in preparation for an attempt to take back the coastal city.
Reports indicate that Qadaffy forces have carried out multiple Arclight airstrikes on the eastern oil port of Ras Lanuf which is in the hands of the Libyan opposition forces. Whilst in the west, the rebel-controlled city of Zawiya, which lies only 50 km from Tripoli, has come under fierce attack from Qadaffy forces. There have been unconfirmed claims that the government has re-taken this city, and that government forces -- utilizing tank divisions -- have destroyed a number of buildings, including hospitals.
A Libyan activist also showed Asharq Al-Awsat video footage of a group of mercenaries disembarking from a Libyan Airlines plane in the south-western Libyan city of Ubari.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
'Tis good for the Rebs to call for "Arab support" for their cause because ...
To wit,
* DAILY MAIL.UK > BRITAIN UNABLE TO PATROL NO-FLY ZONE OVER LIBYA AS WE DON'T HAVE [enuff]PLANES, WARN EXPERTS [London-based IISS], unless the UK diverts signific or important mil assets from Afghanistan.
NUTSHELL > POTUS BAMMER = USA is curr NON-COMMITTAL, + the UK doesn't have enough stuff - this leaves the rest of NATO-EU [read, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY] + OTHER to the Rebs + UNO to rely on for any AIR ASSETS FOR A NFZ???
HISTORY suggests it will take a while in time for the rest of NATO-EU to formally decide on whether to support a NFZ, WHICH GIVES THE ADVANTAGE TO UNCLE MUAMMAR SINCE "SUPPORTING" A NFZ IS NOT NECESSARILY THE SAME AS
"CONTRIBUTING" TO A NFZ.
* NEWSMAX > US SEES STALEMATE IN LIBYA.
* PEOPLE'S DAILY FORUM > WHAT IFF THE GADDAFI REGIME SURVIVES?
IOW, LACK OF US DIRECT MIL INTERVENTION = "SADDAM HUSSEIN II" for the US-NATO/Allies in Libyuh. NFZ is NOT the right question or issue as much as comprehending the likely brutal consequences for Libya + anti-Gaddafi Libyans iff Muammar does manage to hold on to power.
[An Nahar] Any military intervention in Libya should be the "last resort" and with the approval of the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Tuesday.
"Before any possible intervention in Libya, we must note the principles to follow, firstly the (approval of the U.N.) Security Council," he said.
But before that, what is the shape of the table?
After which, of course, comes the color of the tablecloth...
So true. White or cream, damask, embroidered linen, or lace... Is this a serious discussion or posturing? That must be decided before any other decision can be made.
"Any intervention should be a last resort," he told a joint news conference with visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.
Western powers meet in Brussels from Thursday to assess their options for military intervention in Libya as the country slides into civil war.
Top of the talks will be a British-French call for a no-fly zone over Libya which could go before the Security Council as early as this week. Other options include arming the rebels and strangling Gadhafi financially by tightening sanctions.
The New York Times reported Sunday that U.S. defense planners were preparing a range of land, sea and air military options in Libya in case Washington and its allies decide to intervene there.
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03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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IOW, the odds are getting better + better that Libyuh will break up in LT into two or more sovereign polities, wid Uncle Muammar ruling one of them. at some point, the struggle between Gaddafi + Libyuhn Rebs will devol from controlling Libya per se towards which Camp(s), DEMOCRATIC VERSUS RADICALIST, WILL LINK + FORM ALLIANCE WID POST-JASMINE EGYPT + ACCESS TO SUEZ CANAL TRADE.
In any case, I don't believe any Partition of Libya will be enuff to stop Muammar from attempting to destabilize or takeover the other side.
[Maghrebia] Former Libyan Immigration Minister Ali Errishi, who resigned three weeks ago has "no doubt" that Qadaffy will refuse to step down. "This is a man who has shown that there's only one choice for Libyan people: either I rule you or I kill you," Errishi told CNN programme "State of the Union" on Sunday (March 6th).
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Something about that old Islamic principle of 'Submit or Die' that people just don't get.
[Ennahar] A Libyan foreign ministry official on Tuesday denied Tripoli had floated a proposal under which leader Muammar Qadaffy ... an Arab institution for 42 years ... could step down in exchange for guarantees about his future.
The official, an advisor to the deputy foreign minister, said reports about such a deal were "absolute nonsense." Qadaffy's opponents in rebel-held east Libya said they received a proposal to discuss Qadaffy's exit but rejected it.
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Muammar has repor covertly sent out a number of private aircraft, carrying either family or the more likely Regime Loyalists, to various destinations wid personal diplomatic messages of as-yet-unknown content.
E.G. NEWS KERALA > GADDAFI PLKANE LANDS IN EGYPT WID ARMY OFFICER ABOARD. Libyan Army General = Loyalist.
* TOPIX/WORLD NEWS > HIGH RANKING LIBYAN OFFICIAL LANDS IN EGYPT WID MESSAGE FROM GADDAFI.
* OTOH SAME > WIKILEAKS: US AWARE OF [Extremist] PLANS TO OVERTHROW GADDAFI IN 2008.
[Arab News] Oman's ruler dissolved the office overseeing economic affairs on Monday in a concession to a key demand of protesters calling for more jobs and political openness.
Sultan Qaboos also fired several ministers as part of the third high-level reshuffle in the past 10 days attempting to quiet the protests.
Foreign ministers from six Gulf nations met in Abu Dhabi with the region's political upheavals atop the agenda, including a major uprising against Bahrain's monarchy and calls for pro-reform demonstrations this week in Kuwait.
The Gulf's rulers have responded to the unrest with a blitz of spending on social programs and pledges of tens of thousand of new jobs, but that hasn't calmed the situation.
Oman's sultan directly addressed one of the main demands of protesters by closing the Ministry of National economy, which was widely blamed by demonstrators for failing to provide more opportunities for the nation's young population. The ministry will be replaced by a committee picked by the government, state TV said.
Demonstrators have called for more jobs and greater accountability from the government appointed by the sultan, who has ruled for 40 years. One person was killed in festivities with security forces since the protest rallies began late last month.
Oman's unrest remains small compared with Gulf neighbor Bahrain, but Oman and Iran share authority over the crucial Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the route for 40 percent of the world's oil tanker traffic.
Oman also plays an important role as a mediator between Iran and the West because of its strong ties to Tehran and Washington.
On Saturday, the sultan replaced three top government officials, including the government minister overseeing security affairs. A week earlier, he replaced six other Cabinet ministers and promised 50,000 new civil service jobs.
Employees of Oman's national airline, Oman Air, have staged a protest for improved working conditions and pay hikes. Oman Air is based in the capital Muscat and flies to 41 destinations, mainly in the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent. It also operates a handful of flights to Europe and Southeast Asia.
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03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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Why do I have this picture of a sledge being chased by a pack of wolves, with people being thrown of the sledge?
[Ennahar] Yemeni protests demanding an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule spread to a tribal area considered his political stronghold Tuesday, and military vehicles deployed in the capital.
Around 10,000 protesters marched in the city of Dhamar, about 60 km (40 miles) south of Sanaa, residents said by telephone. Dhamar is known for ties to Saleh and is the hometown of Yemen's prime minister, interior minister and head judge.
"Leave! leave!" the protesters shouted in Dhamar, just two days after Saleh loyalists there held a similar-sized rally. Protesters also pelted a municipal official with rocks.
Burgeoning protests fueled by anger over poverty and corruption, and a series of defections from Saleh's political and tribal allies, have added pressure on him to step aside this year even as he pledges to stay on until his term ends in 2013.
"Across the board, what you're seeing is that more and more people are really starting to crystallize around this single call for the president to step down," Princeton University Yemen scholar Gregory Johnsen said.
In the capital Sanaa, where thousands of protesters have camped out for weeks, military vehicles with armed soldiers spread across streets in what appeared to be a response to calls by youth activists for a march to the presidential palace.
Police brought out water cannon and placed concrete blocks around Sanaa University, the rallying point for anti-Saleh protest that had been quiet in recent days, after weeks of fierce clashes across the country between government loyalists and protesters killed at least 27 people.
Yemen, neighbor to oil giant Saudi Arabia, was teetering on the brink of failed statehood even before recent protests. Saleh has struggled to cement a truce with Shi'ite Muslim rebels in the north and curb secessionist rebellion in the south, all while fighting al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing.
MINISTER BLAMES POOR ECONOMY
Analysts say protests may be reaching a point where it will be difficult for Saleh, a shrewd politician, to cling to power.
Yemen's foreign minister blamed growing protests on poor economic conditions. Some 40 percent of Yemen's 23 million people live on $2 a day or less and a third face chronic hunger. Abubakr al-Qirbi said he wanted foreign donors to inject up to $6 billion to fill a five-year budget gap.
"What we need is really development and economic growth because the present political crisis is really as a result of the economic situation in Yemen," he said at a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers' meeting Monday in Abu Dhabi.
Protesters, who are demanding greater participation in a government largely led by Saleh's closest allies, say they are frustrated by rampant corruption and soaring unemployment, which is at 35 percent or higher.
Princeton's Johnsen said calls for foreign aid where a tactical move by Saleh to buy time to divide the protesters.
"Yemen wants more money to come in and Saleh wants to try and fragment the protesters as much as he can. President Saleh is trying to string this out as long as possible in the hopes he can pit different interest groups against one another" he said.
Last week, Saleh rejected a plan by the opposition coalition which would have implemented political and electoral reforms paving the way for him to step down in 2011, instead accepting a more modest reform package from religious clerics.
Thousands of primary and secondary students marched in the southern provinces of Shabwa, Aden and Lahaj Tuesday. UNICEF said earlier it was concerned some protesters were threatening students to join protests
"No studying, no teaching until the president falls," they shouted, echoing a chant started earlier in the day by university students in Ibb, south of the capital.
In Ibb, protesters marched through the streets to denounce a Sunday attack against an anti-government protest camp by Saleh loyalists. Some 60 people were wounded in the melee, and Omar Atta, 18, died from his injuries Monday night.
"My son sacrificed himself, this is my family's gift to the revolution in Yemen," his father said in a tearful speech to protesters in Ibb Tuesday.
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[Asharq al-Aswat] About 2,000 inmates staged a riot at a prison in the Yemeni capital after taking a dozen guards hostage and joined calls by anti-government protesters for the country's president to step down, a security official said Tuesday.
The unrest in the central prison in Sanaa erupted late Monday, when prisoners set their blankets and mattresses ablaze and occupied the facility's main courtyard, the official said.
The guards fired tear gas and gunshots into the air but failed to subdue the prisoners, the official added, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... because he was not authorized to talk to the media. He said troops beefed up security outside the prison on Tuesday and that a number of inmates were hurt in the unrest. According to the official, the prison revolt was still going on Tuesday.
Yemen has been rocked by weeks of protests against President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ... , inspired by recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that ousted those nations' leaders.
A crowd of women joined a demonstration Tuesday in the southern port city of Aden after a young protester was critically maimed by a bullet to the head during a rally there the previous day. Local officials said 25 protesters were nabbed during Monday's demonstration.
Also, tens of thousands erupted into the streets in the cities of the southern Ibb province on Tuesday, calling on the government to bring to justice those responsible for a deadly attack there Sunday by what opposition activists said were "government thugs" who descended on protesters camped out on a main square. One person was killed in that violence and 53 people were hurt.
There have been calls for widespread demonstrations Tuesday all across Yemen in support of the demands of Ibb protesters.
In the southeastern Dhamar province, which witnessed small demonstrations in the past two weeks, thousands erupted into the streets Tuesday calling for Saleh's ouster.
There were large demonstrations also in the mountainous province of Shabwa, where the U.S-Yemeni radical holy manAnwar al-Awlaki ... Born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, al-Awlaki is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen. He is an Islamic holy man who is a trainer for al-Qaeda and its franchises. His sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, by Fort Hood murderer Nidal Malik Hussein, and Undieboomer Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He is the first U.S. citizen ever placed on a CIA target list... is believed to be hiding, and in the provinces of Hadramawt and Taiz.
In Sanaa, the capital, security measures were tight Tuesday and the army deployed armored cars at the main streets junctions and those leading to the president's office, the Central Bank, Sanaa University and sensitive government buildings.
The prisoners rioting in Sanaa also demanded better prison conditions, permission to receive food parcels, medicine and money from their families and demands that they be allowed to make unfettered telephone calls to relatives.
In an attempt to quell escalating protests, the embattled president called for national dialogue after meetings Monday with the country's top political and security chiefs. The state-run news agency said the conference would be held Thursday and would include thousands of representatives from across Yemen's political spectrum.
But the Yemeni opposition swiftly rejected the call, with opposition leader Yassin Said Numan saying there would be no dialogue unless Saleh agreed to step down by year's end.
Saleh has held on to power for 32 years and has failed to quell the protests with a pledge not to run for re-election in 2013.
Even before Yemen was hit by the wave of protests that began in mid-February, it was increasingly chaotic, with a resurgent al-Qaeda, a separatist movement in the south and an off-on Shiite rebellion in the north.
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[Iran Press TV] Scores of Yemeni army personnel have joined anti-regime protests in Sana'a as oppositionists threaten to step up protests against President President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, after serving as a lieutenant colonel in the army. He had been part of the conspiracy that bumped off his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Hamdi, in the usual tiresome military coup, and he has maintained power by keeping Yemen's many tribes fighting with each other, rather than uniting to string him up. ...
At least 150 military forces have joined protesters who have been calling in the past few weeks on Saleh's regime to resign. Saleh, however, has rejected the plan under which he should resign by 2011.
Saleh is facing heavy pressure as the demonstrations spread to the northern parts of the country.
Tens of thousands of protesters have hit the streets in several cities of the region, including Sa'ada which is also the stronghold of Houthi Shia fighters.
The Shia community has also joined calls for a regime change and expressed solidarity with anti-government protesters in Sana'a and other parts of Yemen.
On Monday, anti-regime protests spread to a prison in Sana'a, where 2,000 inmates occupied the detention center's courtyard and took dozens of guards as hostage. The prisoners also joined the calls demanding an end to Saleh's 33-year regime.
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A total of 18 individuals were murdered in ongoing drug and gang related violence in northern Mexican states, including three men shot to death at a residence in Juarez Sunday. For a map, click here
An unidentified man was shot to death in Juarez Sunday. The victim was pushed out of a car near the corner of calles of Pablo I. Sidar and Guadalupe Victoria near the Escuela Secundaria Tecnica in the Barrio Alto and shot several times in the head. The victim had been bound hand and foot, and gagged with duct tape.
Three men were shot to death and an unidentified woman was wounded in a shooting on Chihuahua, Chihuahua's north side Sunday night. The victims were at a residence on calle Articulo 6 in the Insurgentes colony when armed suspects broke into the home and hunted them down. The dead were identified as Jordäan Chavira Chaparro, 17, and Agustin Armendariz and Francisco Garcia, 22.
Two unidentified men were murdered in two separate incidents in Juarez Monday night.
A man was found stabbed and beaten to death near the intersection of calles Rio Parana and Lopez Mateos in the Cordova Americas colony.
A man was found shot to death near the intersection of calles Golondrinas and Alondra, in the El Marquez colony. The victim was bound hand and foot, and had a black bag over his head. A "narcomessage" was left with the victim, but its content was not released.
Two unidentified men were found shot to death near Chihuahua, Chihuahua early Tuesday morning. The victims were found near the highway exit to Delicias, Chihuahua hands bound, and gagged with adhesive tape. Both victims had a single gunshot wound to the head.
An unidentified woman was found beaten to death near Parral, Chihuahua Monday. The victim was found on a dirt road that leads to Las Animas.
A man was shot to death in Juarez Tueday. Luis Enriquez, 23, arrived at his residence near the intersection of calles Sardina and Calamar de Anapra in the Anapra colony aboard his Dodge Neon sedan when armed suspects shot him in his car. Thee spent 9mm cartridge casings were found at the scene.
An unidentified man was shot to death in Juarez Tuesday. The victim was walking on calle Libertad near the Los Herrajeros market in the Chevena colony when he was killed by armed suspects who were aboard a Dodge neon sedan.
The home of an elderly couple was shot up and partially burned in Juarez Monday. Reports say the attack stemmed from a warning from thieves about reporting the theft of a pickup truck, on which the unidentified man had recently filed a report. The armed suspects who did the shooting used assault rifles and attempted to destroy the residence on Calle Mauricio Corredor in the Independencia colony, by torching it using gasoline. The couple was unharmed in the attack.
A man was shot to death in a hospital emergency room in Puerto Penasco, Sonora Saturday. Javier Celaya Vega, 21, was shot at 1640 hrs while in his GMC Sierra pickup truck near the intersection of calles 13 and Plutarco Elias. Armed suspects had fired on the victim at least 35 times. The victim was taken to Centro de Salud in the Las Brisas del Golfo colony for medical treatment. At about 1700 hrs armed suspects arrived at the hospital, entered the emergency room and shot Celaya Vega four times, killing him. The shooters managed to gain access to the victim by calling in a false report of armed suspects in a different sector, then taking advantage of the police mobilization.
An unidentified man was found shot to death near Hermosillo, Sonora Monday. The victim was found on the road to the Nyco mine near where it intersects with Bulevar Solidaridad east of Hermosillo. A .25 caliber spent cartridge casing was found at the scene.
Three unidentified individuals were killed and another was wounded in the crossfire between Mexican security forces and armed suspects in Torreon, Coahuila Sunday. Coahuila state police agents encountered near the intersection of Calzada Colon and Avenida Ocampo a group of armed suspects aboard a van. Gunfire exchanged did not hit either the police agents or the armed suspects, but did hit four individuals attempting to seek shelter from the firefight, killing three.
A court in Berlin on Wednesday sentenced the wife of the leader of a German terror cell to two and a half years in prison for supporting terrorist organizations.
The German-Turkish woman was found guilty of collecting up to 2,900 euros ($4,000) for jihadi organizations such as the Islamic Jihad Union, the German Taliban Mujahedeen and al Qaeda between November 2009 and February 2010.
She was convicted of publishing propaganda on the Internet that solicited members for jihadi organizations as well, charges which she admitted to but distanced herself from in the trial.
"It seems to me that it was a different person who wrote the texts," she said, adding that she hated war and violence and had not realized her own radicalization.
German prosecutors had asked for the two-and-a-half year sentence, calling the woman a "fanatical militant" who called "infidels" the enemies of Islam and called for their "annihilation." Her defense attorney wanted a suspended sentence, contending that the woman had sincerely distanced herself from her previous actions.
The defendant's husband, 29-year-old Fritz Gelowicz, recieved 12 years in prison last March by a court in Dusseldorf for planning terrorist attacks against US targets in Germany.
He was taken into custody with two others in September 2007 in the Sauerland region of western Germany. The men were preparing 410 kilograms of explosives to detonate at the Bundestag as it voted on its NATO troops in Afghanistan the following month.
#1
"It seems to me that it was a different person who wrote the texts," she said, adding that she hated war and violence and had not realized her own radicalization.
Yeah, funny how it always just kinda sneaks up on ya, huh, hon? Especially after ya get caught...
In addition to the similarly deadly car bombing in Punjab.
A suicide bomber struck a funeral for the wife of a militiaman attended by anti-Taliban militiamen in the Matani area of northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing at least 36 mourners and wounding more than 100 Or roughly half the attendees - an unusually effective boomer.)
in the deadliest militant attack in the country this year. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.
Summarizing the rest: The splodeydope was but a youth of less than 20 years, probably frustrated at his inability to get a woman. Folks thought he was just another mourner showing up until BOOM!
Rather than be upset with the Taliban, the people blame the government for not providing security.
Less than twenty? No doubt a recent madrassah graduate with no job prospects. Pakistan has, as of 2008, 40,000 madrassahs, with over 5 million students. Not all of them are going to be able to find jobs as teachers and mosque staff... and they're too old to apprentice to a trade. Pakistan has been creating this problem for a generation, since General Zia-ul-Haq made Islamization a major pillar of his rule.
At least ten people have been killed and several more maimed in two separate unauthorized US drone attacks in Pakistain's northwestern tribal region.
Officials say four people were killed and three injured when a US drone fired missiles at a house in a village in North Wazoo Agency, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Earlier in the day, six people were killed and another four maimed in a US air strike in neighboring South Wazoo agency.
Local residents stated that unmanned planes were still hovering in the area.
The US frequently carries out such attacks on Pakistain's tribal areas.
The number of raids, initiated by former US President George W. Bush and expanded under President Barack B.O. Obama, has drastically increased in recent months.
The New York Times last year ran a report, saying the US government has ordered the CIA to step up air attacks in Pakistain. Washington claims its Arclight airstrikes target beturbanned goons but civilians have been the main victims.
According to statistics, over 1,100 Paks bit the dust in such attacks in 2010. The attacks have killed hundreds of civilians in Pakistain since 2008.
Especially those civilians who are actually jihadis.
Pak officials say the unauthorized US drone attacks have proven counter-productive in the so-called fight against terrorism.
Counterproductive in this case meaning that the ISI's best jihadis are now dead jihadis, all the investment in skills training and mentoring wasted.
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03/09/2011 00:00 ||
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(Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and three others injured in the second U.S. drone strike in northwestern tribal area of Pakistain on Tuesday afternoon, local media reported.
According to Urdu TV ARY News, U.S. drones fired two missiles at a house in Datta Khel area of North Wazoo, a place bordering Afghanistan and is believed to be a stronghold of thugs.
This is the second attack in the last four hours. Earlier, a drone strike killed five people in Azam Warsak area of South Wazoo.
U.S. attack in Datta Khel is the 16th of its kind in the northwestern tribal belt of the country since the beginning of this year.
Out of the 16 strikes, two took place in South Wazoo and the rest in North Wazoo. A total of 76 people, have reportedly been killed in such strikes since the beginning of this year.
There had been a lull in the U.S. drone strikes since the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis in the east city of Lahore in January for the killing of two Paks. Pak media had reported that the Davis mobile had some contacts in Wazoo tribal region.
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Will Pakistan end up like Somalia or Yemen? Mr. Jinnah, Father of Pakistan, must be questioning his Two Nations theory about now -- poorly as the Muslims of India are doing (educational accomplishment down at the level of the Untouchables, because they insist on sending their children to madrassahs instead of proper schools), at least they aren't being terrorized by their own.
A massive kaboom by Death Eaters at a gas station in Faisalabad, a city in Pakistain's central Punjab province, Tuesday killed at least 32 people and maimed 125 others, DawnNews reported.
The kaboom also damaged nearby buildings.
An office of the Pakistain International Airlines (PIA) and a local gas station were severely damaged in the blast, AP reported. Police said the attack took place close to the office of a "sensitive" security agency but the building was undamaged, the AP report said.
Senior government official Naseem Sadiq said explosives were planted in a vehicle parked at the gas station, which also lies near police offices as well as the PIA building.
Regional police chief Aftab Cheema confirmed the attack in Faisalabad, the country's textile-making capital.
"It was a car boom blast. The explosive was planted in a car. We are investigating whether a jacket wallah was involved or not," Cheema said.
Television pictures showed the station had been reduced to a pile of bricks and gnarled metal as rescue officials worked to remove rubble from the scene to search for survivors and ambulance vehicles ferried the injured away.
City commissioner Tahir Husain told a private television channel that rescue officials were heaving bricks and metal away to save those trapped.
"There are some people trapped under the building rubble. We have deployed our cranes and machinery to rescue them very soon," he added.
Husain told a private television channel that no suicide kaboomer was involved.
"It was not a suicide kaboom. It was a planted kaboom. The bomb went kaboom! near the gas cylinders that triggered a bigger blast," he said.
Husain said that the attack could have targeted government buildings close to the gas station site, some of which he said were damaged in the blast.
Taliban claim responsibility
The Pak Taliban said they carried out the car booming, an AP report said.
Taliban front man Ahsanullah Ahsan said the target of the blast was an office of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Ahsan said the blast was Dire Revenge for the killing of a Death Eater by security forces in Faisalabad last year.
Pakistain has been wracked by violence, mostly targeting security officials.
Some 4,000 people have been killed in kabooms, suicide and gun attacks blamed on Taliban and al Qaeda gunnies since July 2007.
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[Asharq al-Aswat] A suspected top official of Al-Qaeda's network in Iraq was nabbed in an army raid on his hideout Tuesday, a military officer said.
Ibrahim Muhammed Ahmed al-Juburi, the so-called "finance minister" for the Islamic State of Iraq, was seized with a large quantity of weapons and a half-ton (1,000 pounds) of TNT in northern Iraq, the officer said on condition of anonymity.
"We nabbed the finance minister of the Islamic State of Iraq. His name is Ibrahim Muhammed Ahmed al-Juburi, known as Ibrahim al-Abrash," he told AFP.
Iraqi army forces raided a home Tuesday in the northern city of djinn-infested Mosul where Juburi had been hiding, the officer said. He added that Juburi was Iraqi.
Although violence has fallen in Iraq since its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks remain common, with the Islamic State of Iraq regularly claiming to have carried out deadly suicide kabooms.
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A local defense volunteer was killed in a drive-by shooting in Yala province early Wednesday morning.
Abdulloh Salae, 40, was driving his motorcycle to his duty post at a school in Muang district at about 12:15 a.m. when a gunman on a pillion of another motorcycle fired bullets from .38 pistol at his back. The victim fell onto the road, the gunman returned, and shot him twice in the head, then fled.
14-month old latest victim in Thai insurgency
A 14-month-old girl has died from trauma from a gunshot wound during a gunfire attack in Pattani on Monday by terrorists insurgents targeting her grandfather, who has also died.
Bunthisa Malayanont passed away on Monday evening after two hours of surgery to repair bullet wounds to her left shoulder and lung. She died in the arms of her parents.
Suphol Klomphol, 62, a retired policeman, was on a drive with Bunthisa when two men on a motorycycle fired several shots at him, instantly killing him.
The deputy provincial governor expressed his condolences over the deaths and called on residents, especially local Buddhists, to exercise restraint and tolerance. "The insurgents want to create a rift between people believing in different religions. If violence or anger is vented, their objective will be met."
Oh yeah, it's the Buddhists who need to restrain themselves! Is it really so difficult for such officials to forsee the probable consequences of telling the victims of terrorism to exercise restraint?
Police said Masolahhuddin Hayee-daoh, 25, a local commander of a Runda Kumpulan Kecil (RKK) cell, was a suspect in the attack.
The National Security Council is insisting on a policy focused on reconciliation and pardon rather than military action,
despite growing violence on government targets and Buddhists.
14 motorcycles have been stolen over the past two months, said police in Narathiwat's Sungai Kolok district, warning of possible motorcycle bomb attacks in coming months.
In Yala, a village leader was gunned down while on his way to tap rubber trees, by two men on a motorcycle. Mahamah Puteh was the head of local security operations in his village and police believe his murder was insurgency-related.
Truck owned by teacher used in bombing
The pickup truck used in a bomb attack at Si Sakhon district police station in Narathiwat on Monday belonged to a teacher from neighbouring Pattani province.
A preliminary investigation also showed the pickup truck - with a fake licence plate and a 50-kilogram homemade bomb stuffed into a cooking gas cylinder - had passed through several security checkpoints.
Two people were wounded in Monday's blast and an associated grenade attack.
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.
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Somalia's pro-government forces closed in today on bastions of the
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's forces are reportedly using tanks and warplanes to attack the rebel-held town of Zawiyah in western Libya.
[Iran Press TV] Forces loyal to the embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy have launched more 
[Asharq al-Aswat] Mummer Qadaffy's regime accused the West of "a conspiracy to divide Libya" as Washington, under mounting pressure to help opposition forces, said it was premature to arm the rebels.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
[Iran Press TV] The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu has rejected any foreign military intervention in troubled Libya.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Military officials in the National Transitional Council, set up by the Libyan rebels, have called on the Libyan rebel forces not to attack Qadaffy's home town of Sirte for fear of sustaining heavy losses.
[An Nahar] Any military intervention in Libya should be the "last resort" and with the approval of the 
[Ennahar] A Libyan foreign ministry official on Tuesday denied Tripoli had floated a proposal under which 
President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh
At least ten people have been killed and several more 
(Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and three others injured in the second U.S. drone strike in northwestern tribal area of Pakistain on Tuesday afternoon, local media reported.
Punjab
[Asharq al-Aswat] A suspected top official of Al-Qaeda's network in Iraq was 
