Kismayu (Sh M Network)Atleast 5 people have been confirmed dead and scores injured after a heavy fighting broke out on Saturday evening betweeen Alshabab fighters aided by the locals of Gobweyne against their opponents against the troops of the interim Juba administration.
The Fighting started when the Shabab fighters attacked a base manned by the Juba which is located at the outskirts of Kismayu, the capital of the lower Juba region. an eyewitness told Shabelle radio that the fighting was intense and heavy and witnessed the dead bodies of 5 people. efforts made by Shabelle to contact the interim Juba administration was unsucceful. finally the situation of Gobweyn is reported to be intense as Alshabab fighters aided by the locals against the troops belonging to the Juba administration remains of the radar.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Egyptian media reported that according to security sources from the northern Sinai Peninsula, army forces killed two senior snuffies belonging to the radical Salafi organization Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, that grabbed credit for the rocket-fire towards Eilat Friday night.
The two snuffies were involved in two terrorist attacks in Rafah against members of the security forces, in which tens of people were killed. The attack in Rafah occured in August 2012.
"...According to witnesses, the heaviest clashes were seen at a base operated by the Brigade of the February 17 Martyrs, a group of former Islamist rebels (didn't pay their dues?). The group denied kidnapping the general's son on its Facebook (Facebook?! They're just not making "former Islamist rebels" like they used to...)page, reported AFP."
Clashes in the Libyan city of Benghazi killed at least one soldier of the armys special forces, after its commanders son was kidnapped, a military source and a witness said Thursday, according to the Agence France-Presse. The clashes left at least one soldier killed, and wounded two other army personnel, medical sources said. The unknown kidnappers demanded that Libyas special forces commander, Brigadier-General Wanis Bu Khamada, pull his forces from the city, especially the districts of al-Hawari and Gwarsha, in exchange of releasing his abducted son, a source told Al Arabiya News Channel. Click on: Libya | Critical
Clashes erupt after kidnapping of official's son
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#1
Me thinks the command and control of the Libyan Military needs to be more spatially aware of the security threat. If the son is out roaming around, you could almost mail this one it. As inevitable as the next tide or the next sunup.
The entire Libyan military seems to be a bit naïve given the number of senior officers assassinated, kidnapped or car bombed. Are these guys just missing something in their training or are they just dumb?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
02/02/2014 21:48 Comments ||
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#2
There isn't training. Therein lies the problem.
[MAGHAREBIA] Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has big plans for Tunisia and Libya, and the terror organization intends to use Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active... to achieve its goal.
AQIM's Algerian chief Abdelmalik Droukdel ... aka Abdel Wadoud, was a regional leader of the GSPC for several years before becoming the group's supremo in 2004 following the death of then-leader Nabil Sahraoui. Under Abdel Wadoud's leadership the GSPC has sought to develop itself from a largely domestic entity into a larger player on the international terror stage. In September 2006 it was announced that the GSPC had joined forces with al-Qaeda and in January 2007 the group officially changed its name to the Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb.... just appointed one of his henchmen to head up a new branch that has the two emerging democracies in its crosshairs.
Bejaia native Khaled Chaieb (aka Lokman Abou Sakhr) will be the emir of the as-yet unnamed new body that merges Ansar al-Sharia in Tunisia with the Okba Ibn Nafaa katibat, Assarih reported on January 14th.
Whatever its name, the umbrella organization will really be "al-Qaeda in Tunisia".
Droukdel (aka Abou Moussaab Abdelouadoud) picked the new emir to replace Ansar al-Sharia chief Abou Iyadh. The criminal mastermind of the attack on the US embassy in Tunis was apprehended last month in Libya.
The al-Qaeda boss had earlier lost a top deputy: Mokhtar Belmokhtar (aka "Laaouar"). The Algerian terrorist left AQIM to start a rival operation after Droukdel relieved him of his brigade command.
Droukdel's latest favourite has been in Tunisia since Ramadan. He reportedly infiltrated the country via Jebel Chaambi with Nasser Toumi, a terror emir active in the region of Batna.
Like Droukdel, Chaieb is a former chemistry student turned explosives expert. He is now trying to avoid capture while still recruiting and training jihadists for the new group.
But even before the news of his elevation to emir by Droukdel, Lokman was named by the interior ministry as the subject of a "most-wanted" alert for involvement in the Jebel Chaambi massacre of Tunisian troops.
When gunnies first appeared last spring in the rugged region along the Algeria border, the Tunisian defence ministry noted the al-Qaeda connection.
"The armed elements holed up in Jebel Chaambi on the border with Algeria received logistic assistance of water, food and clothing from Tunisians sympathetic to them, which serves as evidence of the presence of an incubator for those turbans who are believed to belong to al-Qaeda," ministry front man Mokhtar Ben Nasr said.
Word about Chaieb first emerged on January 9th, when Tunisia said it was hunting "a dangerous Algerian national - wanted in cases of terrorism - in the city of Kasserine".
"Chaieb, known as Lokman Abou Sakhr, was involved in the liquidation of soldiers from the army and the national guard," the ministry said.
He may be bound for Libya, but snuffies there are not easily led by outsiders. AQIM's desire to take control of Ansar al-Sharia and use it as a propaganda tool will not be easy, given the separate paths that Tunisia and Libya have followed.
For the Droukdel henchman, Tunisia is just a way station on his journey to Libya's extremism capital of Derna. But it is unknown how the outsider will be welcomed by the local Death Eaters.
The city is home base for Ansar al-Sharia, which is accused of having carried out the deadly attack on the US mission in Benghazi.
AQIM is staking everything on this new front, which analysts say could give it a new lease of life after suffering top-level defections, as well as heavy personnel losses in northern Mali.
The group is also coming under strong pressure from Algerian security forces. In response to the tightening nooses, AQIM has the choice to either hide out or seek new fronts abroad.
"The main task of Khaled Chaieb is reorganising the ranks of fighters who received severe blows at the hands of Tunisian and Algerian armies, in addition to addressing the organizational confusion due to the absence of Abou Iyadh," says Mokhtar Belhasin, an expert in jihadist movements.
Before his arrest in Libya on December 30th, Abou Iyadh threatened to use ten thousand armed gunnies of Ansar al-Sharia gunnies in the invasion of Tunisia.
Now that he is out of commission, Droukdel aims to use his new appointee to stake a presence in both Libya and Tunisia.
Representatives from Ansar al-Sharia in Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Egypt, as well as Algerian representatives of AQIM, held a three-day summit in Benghazi to plot a new strategy for the region, German Newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported last month.
"Sending Khaled Chaieb to Tunisia follows recommendations from the Benghazi meeting, to carry out operations in the region," security analyst Waheed Baklouti told Magharebia.
The best way now to counter the threat is for the governments of Tunisia, Algeria and Libya to improve communication, Tunis-based international law expert Murad Khemakhem tells Magharebia.
"The implementation of exchange and development programmes and training of elements of law enforcement are essential, as well as financial support to modernise and improve the equipment of troops specialised in counter-terrorism," he adds.
According to sociologist Lamia Belhasin, the recruitment of new fighters into the ranks of terrorist groups can be prevented "by the creation of rapid social solutions to revive marginalised neighbourhoods, especially the ones adjacent to the border".
"There is a significant uptick of salafists in the slums. They became the main financiers of the micro-projects that are sought after by the poor. The poor will look at them as patrons and will oblige even if the demands include terrorist acts," she added.
And they are very visible on Tunisian streets. During a January 24th march organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir to condemn the country's new constitution, Ansar al-Sharia's black and white flags were carried by some participants.
Meanwhile, ...back at the precinct house, Sergeant Maloney wasn't buying it. It was just too pat. The whole thing smelled phony, kind of like a dead mackeral but without the scales... hefty bounties are being offered for information that leads to the arrest or conviction of gunnies active in Tunisia and Libya.
On January 10th, Tunisia's Ansar al-Sharia and similar groups in Libya's Derna and Benghazi were labelled by the US as terrorist organizations.
Group leaders Ahmed Boukhtala in Benghazi, Sufian bin Qumu in Derna, and Seifallah Ben Hassine of Tunisia (aka Abou Iyadh) were also named "global terrorists".
Up to $10 million dollars in reward money is available to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans, including the US ambassador.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] Unknown gunnies fired three missiles on Saturday at al-Zohour security post in Sheikh Zuwaid. No casualties were reported, according to security sources.
Eyewitnesses said they heard loud kabooms near the security post, adding that gunnies were likely to have fired missiles that landed outside the post.
Military troops combed the area in search of the assailants who quickly fled.
Israel also claimed that the gunnies fired three missiles from Sinai on Eilat area on Friday and that no casualties were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[Egypt Independent] Ismailia Misdemeanor Court sentenced 13 Muslim Brotherhood members, including three leaders of the Freedom and Justice Party, to six years in prison. Ismailia prosecution earlier referred the suspects to court on charges of thuggery, spreading chaos, damaging public and private property during protests that they staged in Ismailia over a few days ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAILYPOST.NG] Members of the dreaded Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... sect have deviced a new strategy of planting Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) otherwise known as bombs on the federal highways.
The incident led to the killing of 7 passengers when the vehicle they were using along Gwoza -Madagali road stumbled on the IED and it went kaboom!.
DailyPost gathered that the attack, which occurred on Friday at about 7 in the morning around Kutura village along Gwoza- Madagali road, led to the immediate closure of the road as security operatives are busy patrolling the area to avoid further detonations.
Three others, who sustained serious injuries are now receiving treatment at the General Hospital Gwoza.
According to a reliable security source, who spoke to newsmen on condition of anonimity "at about 0700 hours of Thursday, some gunnies planted IEDs in Kutura village along side of the Gwoza-Madagali federal highway, which went kaboom! on a Toyota Bus conveying passengers. Seven of them died at the spot, while three people sustained injuries".
The Police Commissioner of Borno State, Mr. Lawal Tanko confirmed the incident to newsmen in a telephone interview.
Tanko said, "Yes we received information from the Divisional Police Officer, DPO of Gwoza Local Government Area that a bus conveying passengers stumbled on a bomb planted by the side of the federal highway in Kutura village killing 7 passengers on the spot".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[GOOGLE] Eight people were killed in religious violence in Nigeria on Friday, including a Christian family of seven, while a roadside kaboom killed seven others in an area known for Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... activity.
The two incidents follow deadly violence last weekend, which raised fresh questions about the government's strategy to end the bloodshed and a change at the top of the military.
In the first attack, unknown gunnies in cars and on cycle of violences burst into the family's house in Unguwar Kajit, a village in the mainly Christian part of Kaduna state, and opened fire, locals said.
"Christian youth provoked by the attack, which they blamed on Fulani Mohammedans, mobilised and launched reprisal attacks, burning mosques and houses," youth leader Emmanuel Zadiok told AFP.
One person in a mosque died as it went up in flames, said Mohammedan resident Mohammed Yakub, confirming Zadiok's account.
Kaduna state governor Mukhtar Ramalan Yero has ordered an investigation.
He condemned the attack and "prayed that God should expose the perpetrators", said his front man, Ahmed Maiyaki.
In the second incident, seven people were killed and three others seriously injured when their bus ran over a home-made bomb near Kuthra village in the Gwoza area of Borno state, police said.
The Islamist myrmidon group Boko Haram has scaled up deadly attacks in the border area with Cameroon in recent months and Borno state police commissioner Lawan Tanko blamed the group for planting the device.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[Dhaka Tribune] At least three coppers received injuries and an Islami Chhatra Shibir ... the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh... activist was shot in a "shootout" between a group of Shibir men and police at Satkania upazila in Chittagong district early yesterday.
Police placed in durance vile Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit! bullet-hit Shibir cadre Nasir alias Kolla Nasir along with one of his cohort Rimon from the spot with a light gun, a shotgun, eight cartridges, a machete and two knives from the spot, said police sources.
Injured coppers are Sub-Inspector Nazmul Hossain Fazlu and Assistant Sub-Inspector Ansarul who were admitted into a local hospital, added the sources.
Khaled Hossain, officer-in-charge of Satkania Police Station, told the Dhaka Tribune that they nabbed Nasir from his residence at Alinagar area of the upazila at 12:30pm.
Getting information from Nasir after initial interrogation, police conducted a drive in Moddhyom Kanchhana area of the upazila around 4:00am to recover arms and Nasir's aides, he said.
Spider senses tingling at the proximity of the law enforcers, the cohorts of Nasir, who are Shibir activists, opened fire on police prompting the law enforcers to retaliate and fire 16 bullets, leaving Nasir shot in his leg while attempting to flee, he also said.
During shootout, Nasir and three coppers were also injured. Police, later, arrested Nasir and Rimon from the spot, added the OC.
The injured Shibir cadre, Nasir alias Kolla Nasir, who is accused in several cases lodged with Satkania Police Station earlier, was admitted into Chittagong Medical College Hospital.
A case was lodged with Satkania Police Station while police are conducting drives to nab the other cohorts of Nasir, the OC added.
In another drives, Satkania Police nabbed four Jamaat-Shibir men from different areas in the upazila who were involved in the sabotage on Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Highway during pre-election and post-election period.
Meanwhile, ...back at the chili cook-off, Chuck reached for the green sauce... Lohagara police nabbed 22 Jamaat-Shibir men from different areas of the upazila in an overnight drive for humiliating Awami League Member of Parliament Abu Reza M Nezamuddin in the upazila on the previous night, said OC Mohammad Shahjahan of Lohagara Police Station.
On Friday night, MP Nezamuddin faced humiliation while attending a religious programme, Sirat Mahfil, a 19-day long Moslem religious programme, at Shah Shaheb Kebla under Chunati union at around 8:30pm.
Some Jamaat-Shibir activists threw shoes at Nadavi as soon as he arrived at the programmme.
Later, the MP, who was the chief guest of the programme, and his followers took shelter in the adjoining mosque.
The MP was later escorted off the premises by police and BGB men.
Nadavi claimed before Dhaka Tribune that the attacked on him by Jamat-Shibir men was pre-planned.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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A U.S. District judge sentenced a Somali immigrant to six years in prison Friday for his part in a San Diego-based plot to support terrorist group al-Shabaab.
Ahmed Nasir Taalil Mohamud, a cab driver from Anaheim, is the last of four people to be sentenced after they were found guilty in February 2013 during a three-week trial.
U.S. attorney Laura Duffy said Nasir, Basaaly Saeed Moalin, Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud and Issa Doreh conspired to give money to al-Shabaab. The prosecution alleged that Nasir collected funds from donors in Orange County to send to the militia group, which is known for its suicide bombings, civilian assassinations and use of improvised explosive devices, according to Duffy.
The U.S State Department officially listed al-Shabaab as a foreign terrorist organization in 2008.
During Fridays sentencing, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller said while Nasir was the least culpable member of the conspiracy and is a refugee from war-torn Somalia, his offenses were very serious.
Nasirs co-conspirators were sentenced last November. Cab driver Basaaly Saeed Moalin was sentenced to 18 years, Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud an imam at a local mosque was sentenced 13 years, and Issa Doreh was sentenced to 10 years for working at a money transmitting business that helped move the illegal funds.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] An anti-terrorism court on Friday sentenced a suspected bully boy to death in a case pertaining to the murder of two coppers.
Shah Faisal alias Faisal Mehsud, said to be associated with banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, was found guilty of killing head constable Nadeem Abbasi and constable Mohammad Sajid in Manghopir in March 2012.
The accused stood calm and composed as the judge of anti-terrorism court-II, who conducted the trial, read out the conviction order after recording evidence of witnesses and final arguments from both sides. The court also directed the convict to pay Rs100,000 each to the legal heirs of slain coppers.
The verdict said that the prosecution examined three eyewitnesses and they deposed against the accused and identified them before the trial court while two of them had also rightly picked out the accused before a magistrate during an identification parade.
The evidence of witnesses remained unshakable on material points and the same was corroborated by the documentary evidence, it said, adding that the recovery of a weapon, which belonged to one of the dear departed, from the accused strengthened the prosecution case.
The court also sentenced the accused to seven years in prison in the illicit weapon case.
According to the prosecution, the accused along with his absconding accomplice Mohammad Yasin Khan alias Haji had bumped off the coppers on March 3 in a locality of Manghopir and also taken away their official weapons.
The victims were posted at the Taimuria cop shoppe. Yasin Khan was tossed in the calaboose Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! on June 2, 2013, but he managed to escape from the lock-up of the Taimuria cop shoppe after a couple of weeks while Shah Faisal was arrested in July 2012 and the police found official pistol of one of the slain coppers in this custody, it added.
A case (FIR No 42/2012) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 392 (robbery), 353 (criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistain Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-terrorism Act 1997 at the Manghopir cop shoppe. The accused was also booked under Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance.
After the pronouncement of the judgement, the court remanded the convict, who was in jug, back to the prison along with the conviction warrant while ruling that the capital punishment was subjected to the confirmation of the high court.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Security forces and allied tribal fighters mounted major offensives on Saturday against bully boyz in the conflict-hit cities of Ramadi and Fallujah as attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed eight people.
The massive assaults, involving soldiers, police and pro-government armed rustics, are part of efforts to wrest back control of areas that have been in the hands of bully boys, including the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ... the current version of al-Qaeda in Iraq, just as blood-thirsty and well-beloved as the original... (ISIL) for weeks, sparking fears the ongoing stand-off could impact elections scheduled for April 30.
They come after Iraq's deadliest month in nearly six years, with more than 1,000 people killed in January, as it grapples with a surge in bloodshed that has sparked fears of a return to the all-out conflict that left tens of thousands dead in 2006 and 2007.
Security forces and their allies assaulted the bully boy-held neighborhoods of Malaab, Dhubat, and Street 60 in Ramadi, killing 35 anti-government fighters and seizing large amounts of weaponry, according to a police officer and tribal militia commander Mohammed Khamis Abu Risha.
The festivities were among the heaviest in several weeks, an Agence La Belle France Presse journalist in Ramadi said, adding that all mobile phone and Internet connections had been cut.
Abu Risha, the nephew of a powerful tribal sheikh, has backed anti-government protesters and was implicated in the killing of five soldiers near Ramadi last year, but in ISIL he shares a common enemy with the government in Storied Baghdad ...located along the Tigris River, founded in the 8th century, home of the Abbasid Caliphate... .
Meanwhile, ...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the entire 614th quadrant searched. The Green Lensman must be found!... aerial bombardment and artillery fire on a neighborhood in northern Fallujah, ... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids... a rare major operation in the city itself, has killed 15 bully boys, the defense ministry announced Saturday, without saying when it happened.
The army has largely stayed out of Fallujah, just a short drive from Storied Baghdad, fearing any major incursion could lead to a bloody and protracted conflict with massive civilian casualties and property damage.
American battles in the city, a bastion of bully boyz following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, were among their bloodiest since the Vietnam War.
But an official in the provincial security command center told AFP that security forces were preparing a major assault on Fallujah in a bid to retake the city.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not elaborate.
Fallujah is in Anbar province, a mostly Sunni desert region west of Storied Baghdad that shares a border with Syria.
Security forces are locked in a deadly stand-off in Anbar with bully boys, including those affiliated with ISIL.
For weeks, anti-government forces have held parts of Ramadi and all of nearby Fallujah, the first time they have exercised such open control in cities since the peak of violence that followed the invasion nearly 11 years ago.
ISIL has been involved in the fighting, as have other bully boy groups and anti-government elements, while the police and army have recruited their own tribal allies.
The stand-off has prompted more than 140,000 people to flee their homes, the U.N. refugee agency said, describing it as the worst displacement in Iraq since the peak of the 2006-2008 sectarian conflict.
Diplomats and analysts say the authorities must do more to tackle grievances cited by Sunnis, who claim the government and security forces unfairly target their community, but officials have trumpeted security operations.
"Security operations need to go hand-in-hand with inclusive policies, based on the respect for human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... , the rule of law, social development," U.N. special envoy Nickolay Mladenov said in a statement on Saturday.
Elsewhere, a bombing at a wholesale vegetable market in south Storied Baghdad killed two people, and boom-mobiles in two different neighborhoods killed two more.
Another blast targeting an army patrol just north of the capital left a soldier dead, and attacks in the northern cities of Tuz Khurmatu and Samarra killed three more people.
Violence has surged markedly higher in recent months, with January's corpse count the highest for a month since April 2008, according to government data.
The U.N. released its own January toll Saturday of 733 dead, but said that did not include Anbar.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[Ynet] Rebels in Syria with ties to al-Qaeda have decapitated a man believed to have been a pro-government Shi'ite fighter, an amateur video of the public beheading posted to the Internet on Saturday showed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group which posted the video, said the beheading was conducted by the Islamic State
in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign-led group fighting to overthrow Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... and establish an Islamic emirate in Syria.
The footage shows gunnies in black standing outdoors in a circle around a man who is lying on the grass. One of the turbans leans over the victim and appears to cut off his head with a small knife, cheered on by the others.
Once the head is detached, the bully boy holds it up and places it on the man's back before it rolls off and settles on the ground about a meter away from his body.
The remainder of the three-minute video shows the crowd, which includes several children, talking, laughing and taking photographs of the scene.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
02/02/2014 10:18 ||
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#1
Allen is pleased. Religion of Pieces
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2014 15:48 Comments ||
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[Ynet] Rebel fighters in Syria, in conjunction with other Islamist regiments, took control of the villages Ein Swisa and Ein a-Tina, suburbs of the southwestern city Quneitra, over the weekend. They also captured several checkpoints just kilometers away from the ceasefire line near the Golan Heights, Arab media reported.
The rebels, the reports said, are trying to open the road from Quneitra to Daraa, which is located directly east of the Sea of Galilee.
#1
"Rebel fighters in Syria, in conjunction with other Islamist regiments..."
...sooooooo...the guys we are supporting are working in conjunction with "other Islamist regiments.."? King Abdullah II must be crapping his pants and may explain why KSA is now looking at us with a jaundiced eye...
[An Nahar] Iran has received the first installment of $4.2 billion in frozen assets as part of a nuclear deal with world powers, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told ISNA news agency Saturday.
Unblocking the funds under the landmark deal in which Iran agreed to roll back parts of its nuclear program and halt further advances is expected to breathe new life into its crippled economy.
"The first tranche of $500 million was deposited in a Swiss bank account, and everything was done in accordance with the agreement," Araqchi said.
Iran clinched the interim deal in November with the P5+1 group -- Britannia, China, La Belle France, Russia, the United States and Germany -- and began implementing the agreement on January 20.
Under the agreement, which is to last six months, Iran committed to limit its uranium enrichment to five percent, halting production of 20 percent-enriched uranium.
In return, the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and the United States have eased crippling economic sanctions on Iran.
A senior U.S. administration official told Agence La Belle France Presse last month that the first $550-million (400-million-euro) installment of $4.2 billion in frozen assets would be released from February.
"The installment schedule starts on February 1 and the payments are evenly distributed" across 180 days, the U.S. official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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#1
...may be interesting to have knowledge of exactly where / to whom the "assets" flow...
[An Nahar] At least 46 civilians were killed Saturday, 33 in one neighborhood, when Syrian regime helicopters dropped explosive-packed barrels on rebel-held areas of the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told Agence France Presse at least 46 civilians "died in the bombardment of eastern areas of Aleppo city with explosive barrels", among them "33 civilians in the Tareq al-Bab area".
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02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] A suicide kaboom targeted al-Aytam petrol station in the Bekaa town of Hermel on Saturday evening, killing at least three people and wounding 20 others.
The attack was claimed by the Syrian al-Qaeda-linked group, al-Nusra Front in Leb.
"An kaboom was heard near al-Mabarrat school which is located in the main road at the entrance of Hermel," the state-run National News Agency said.
Al-Mabarrat school assured that the orphans at the school are all alive and doing well.
Caretaker Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil announced that three people were killed and 28 others were maimed in the blast.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone...... caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told al-Manar television that at least four people were killed and more than 15 maimed, two or three of them at death's door.
OTV said the four victims are Ibtissam al-Moussawi, Ali Alweh, Hassan Taha and a person whose family name in Fouani.
"We think it is a suicide attack," Charbel added.
He told LBCI television that a jacket wallah carried out the kaboom using a Grand Cherokee car.
Later in the evening, the army confirmed that a suicide bomber went kaboom! in a light grey colored Grand Cherokee vehicle.
"A military police unit and a number of experts arrived at the site of the kaboom to inspect it and uncover the details behind the occurrence," a communique released by the army said.
"Security forces have cordoned off the area."
A statement released by a group called al-Nusra Front in Lebgrabbed credit for the attack.
"Amid the continuation of the crimes committed by Iran's party (Hizbullah) against our vulnerable people in beloved Syria, and amid its insistence on sending mercenaries to kill the Syrian people, we could only try to stop the party's massacres and respond in the same manner on its territories, hoping that this would make it reconsider its decisions," a statement posted on the group's Twitter page said.
Al-Nusra Front in Leb said the attack was a "second suicide operation against a stronghold of Iran's party in Hermel."
It reiterated its calls for "Sunnis in Leb to revolt against this oppressive junta."
"Don't get frightened by its security aura because the party is weaker than it tries to show and these repetitive attacks on the same targets are proof of its fragility," the statement added.
NNA described the last minutes leading to the kaboom, saying a man driving a Grand Cherokee car approached al-Aytam petrol station, asking to fill up his vehicle with gas.
"He then went kaboom! inside the car," it said.
The kaboom, which took place around 6:00 pm after night had fallen, sparked a huge blaze that hindered the arrival of emergency services.
Al-Manar broadcast images of huge flames at the site of the attack.
"A total destruction was noticed at the site of the kaboom and cars went up in flames. Blaze erupted in the petrol tanks of the neighboring gas station."
A-Manar said efforts at the site of the kaboom are now focused on searching for the bodies of any possible victims.
"Ambulance cars rushed to the site of the kaboom as thick flames were seen," radio Voice of Leb (93.3) said.
State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr tasked concerned authorities to carry out the preliminary investigation and collect proofs and human remains from the scene of the kaboom.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone...... Internal Security Forces called on citizens to allow ambulance vehicles and security forces to access the site of the kaboom to ease the rescuing operations and the extinguishing of flames.
Relief forces in Hermel also urged citizens to stay away from the site of the kaboom.
Following the attack, several roads were blocked in the Bekaa to protest the kaboom.
"The Alaou clan blocked the road at the entrance of Hermel with burning tires after a family member was killed in today's kaboom," LBCI said.
Saturday's blast comes less than a month after a boom-mobileing also targeted Hermel, a Hizbullah stronghold, killing three person and wounding more than 26.
Meanwhile, ...back at the saloon, Butch got the bill for the damage caused by the fist fight, the mirror broken in the shootout, and drinks for everyone...... at least four people were killed in a suicide kaboom that rocked Beirut's southern suburbs also in January.
Al-Nusra Front in Leb had also grabbed credit for both attacks.
That bombing was the fourth attack in Beirut's Dahieh neighborhood, also a Hizbullah bastion, since the party announced it was fighting in Syria.
As well as the Iranian embassy suicide attacks in November, the southern suburbs also suffered an August 15 bombing and a blast earlier the same month.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2014 00:00 ||
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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.
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