I've added a look at five blogs to Page 3, using their RSS feeds and the top five headlines on each. I may cut that down to four headlines, and may disable the whole thing if it hurts page load time too badly.
As yet, the links are hard-coded, but what I might do is pull five at random after I've built up my collection of links. I'm thinking of putting some of the Iraq bloggers under the Iraq-Jordan heading, especially Hammorabi, and maybe some Iranian bloggers under Syria-Leb-Iran, if they ever make bail and if my routine will read their XML.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 2:22:10 PM ||
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Load time is no problem on my gigabit ethernet connection at work :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/10/2005 18:33 Comments ||
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#2
Is anyone having trouble posting to POST YOUR OPINION?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/10/2005 19:31 Comments ||
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#5
Okay. I fixed it. Anything else I've busted in the past couple days?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 20:06 Comments ||
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#6
...To the Rantberg computer gods...why do I reach 404 so often when I click most of the links posted (in comments)here? I try double left click, right click-open, right click-save as..
Once before I die I'm gonna send a software geek to Allen!
Posted by: NO FAULT ||
03/10/2005 21:50 Comments ||
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Fred, when I display rantburg.com and then click on one of the page 1 stories, it refreshes the whole page. I get something similar when I start from page 2 or 3. Its an anoyance on a dialup link :-(
I recall you had the same problem a while back and fixed it.
Muhammad Daleem Al-Qahtani, a Saudi reformist, has shot dead his 17-year-old son Abdullah at his house in the southern city of Khamis Mushayt. The motive of the murder was unknown.
"I told you! First, clean your room, and second, go down to Aramco and off some 'merkins!"
"But Dad, I don't want to clean my room!"
"You don't, eh? I'll show you!" [BLAM]
Brig. Mansour Al-Turki, a spokesman of the Interior Ministry, confirmed the killing of Abdullah by his father on Tuesday and said security agents were questioning Al-Qahtani. Police arrested the killer soon after receiving information about the shooting incident. They saw the body of Abdullah in a pool of blood as three bullets had hit his chest.
Al-Qahtani, 43, recently appeared on Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel talking about reforms in the Kingdom. He has served jail sentences a number of times before for security issues. Al-Qahtani reportedly told the security agents that he shot his son dead following a family dispute. Earlier, he refused to admit the murder and said his son might have died while playing with the gun. But during the course of investigation he broke down and acknowledged the crime. People in the neighborhood informed police after they heard gunfire.
They thought it was a wedding.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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A reformist? Is that a Soddy euphemism for an ultra-wahhabi?
Chechen separatists quickly appointed a successor to the killed leader Aslan Maskhadov yesterday, withholding his name but making it clear that it was not Russia's most wanted man, the mastermind of hostage taking, Shamil Basayev. Their spokesman, Akhmed Zakayev, said the name was being withheld for now, but the new leader was in his early 30s and part of a new generation of separatists. "He is young and energetic, a worthy guy with authority in the republic," Mr Zakayev said. "It is not Basayev," he added.
Nor was it Dzhokar Umarov, another radical militant accused by Moscow of terrorism. But he said the death of Maskhadov, killed on Tuesday by Russian special forces in a village north of the Chechen capital Grozny, would boost the position of radicals such as Mr Basayev. Chechens enraged by his body being displayed on television would "not make [Russia] wait long for their response," he added. Mr Basayev said a senior Islamic cleric, Abdul Khalim, should take over as interim leader, in a statement that also praised Maskhadov's "unprecedented bravery".
A senior Russian security source said the death would be "a turning point", and that "little by little the [Chechen] military arm will leave for somewhere like London to hide, or we will destroy them". He added that Russian forces had recovered various things from Maskhadov's personal archive, including his writings and videotapes, which were being examined. Ilya Shabalkin, a spokesman for the Russian forces in the north Caucasus, told Interfax news agency on Tuesday that one of 80 guerrillas arrested a fortnight ago in Chechnya might have disclosed Maskhadov's whereabouts. Mr Zakayev said Maskhadov was found not by betrayal, but "entirely by chance". He had not been in a bunker, but in a house for the winter.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/10/2005 12:26:48 AM ||
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withholding his name but making it clear that it was not Russiaâs most wanted man, the mastermind of hostage taking, Shamil Basayev.
#2
One thing that's been bugging me about all this: Salman Raduyev, Aslan Makhadov, and Shamil Basayev have all been named as "the terrorist who planned the Beslan hostage-taking." Which one of them was really it?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
03/10/2005 22:48 Comments ||
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The son of slain Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov said Wednesday a little known warlord, who once headed the Supreme Court in the breakaway Caucasus republic, likely would succeed his father.
Anzor Maskhadov, who lives in the Azerbaijan capital, said the slaying of his father by Russian forces on Tuesday would only make the decade-long Chechen insurgency stonger.
"The spirit of the people is invincible. There is no empire that could conquer our spirit," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
While the senior Maskhadov was respected by some European mediators as a possible negotiator, his death left the insurgency largely in the hands of Shamil Basayev, the most brutal of the Chechen warlords. Basayev has claimed responsibility for a string of terror attacks, including the terrifying school hostage-taking in southern Russian in September in which more than 330 were killed, about half of them children.
Maskhadov's son, however, said that according to a 2002 agreement between Maskhadov and other Chechen leaders, Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, former head of Chechnya's Supreme Court, would be the next leader.
Sadulayev headed the court — known in Chechnya as the Islamic Court — when the region enjoyed two years of de facto independence from 1996-1998 and a respite between its two wars of independence against Moscow.
Sadulayev's appointment will be formally announced Thursday by Umar Khambiyev, Maskhadov's spokesman who is believed to live abroad, according to Anzor Maskhadov.
He said that Sadulayev had remained in Chechnya to continue the fight against Russia, thus bolstering his credentials.
"Our leader must remain on the territory of the Chechen republic," the son said.
Maskhadov's son insisted that Sadulayev would remain patient and continue the Chechen struggle for independence.
"A year ago, my father said that if he were killed, a new president would be a person resembling him," the son said. "It will be a moderate and patient person, and he will continue our course."
Maskhadov was regarded by some observers as comparatively moderate, in contrast to Basayev, an adherent of the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam which has its roots in Saudi Arabia and is the doctrine that inspires al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Anzor Maskhadov said his father was a "noble, honest, and brave man" who sought to negotiate peace with the Russians.
He blamed the Russian authorities for stonewalling his father's attempts to help find a peaceful way out of September's school hostage-taking and ignoring Maskhadov's latest ceasefire proposal last month.
As Chechnya's military commander, Aslan Maskhadov organized a ragged group into a powerful force that fought the Russian army to a standstill — a stinging setback for Russia's vaunted military.
But as Chechnya's president, his control over fighters shrank and the insurgents provoked a new war with Russia that drove him from power.
A temporary cease-fire called by Maskhadov expired late last month on the 61st anniversary of the Stalin-era mass deportation of Chechens to the barren steppes of then-Soviet Central Asia in 1944 because the Soviet dictator feared they supported Nazi Germany.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/10/2005 12:13:19 AM ||
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just a figurehead puppet - probably for Basayev? Maybe that's as good for us as it is for them. The Russians can allow the Euroweenies to feel they are doing something constructive by having lunch with Anzor. And the Russians can hunt down and take out the real players without breaking any "peace talks".
#2
And the Russians can hunt down and take out the real players without breaking any "peace talks".
What peace talks? Russia barely accepts the concept of peace talks when discussing her invasion of Moldova and Georgia, and you'll think they'll accept even the concept of such "peace talks" (whether in quotes or without them) within Russian Federation soil?
The concept of "peace talks" with the Chechens is itself offensive to the Kremlin, as it implies there are two legitimate sides which can make peace or wage war -- it also implies the Chechen people are an entity that can be given the respect of an equal. So you can be damn sure the Russians will *try* to break any "peace talks" with any Chechen that opposes Russian control of Chechnya, whether peacefully or violently -- they will try to break peace talks with even greater urgency than they'll try to take out the "real players".
As such, I'm betting that such facts as that Maskhadov presented himself as a rational voice, and ordered a truce, and condemned the murders in Beslan, and asked that Basayev be brought to trial to answer for them -- I'm betting all those things made Maskhadov even more hateful to Russia than Basayev, who actually orchestrated Beslan and similar crimes.
But it doesn't matter anymore really -- now both sides of the Chechen war are at the hands of absolutely murdererous and unscrupulous sons-of-bitches.
And btw, read the actual text instead of only the first two paragraphs -- you seem to think that Anzor was named as the next leader: what Anzor did was simply name Sadulayev instead.
MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Muslim clerics in Spain issued what they called the world's first fatwa, or Islamic edict, against Osama bin Laden on Thursday, the first anniversary of the Madrid train bombings, calling him an apostate and urging others of their faith to denounce the al-Qaida leader.
The ruling was issued by the Islamic Commission of Spain, the main body representing the country's 1 million-member Muslim community. The commission represents 200 or so mostly Sunni mosques, or about 70 percent of all mosques in Spain.
The March 11, 2004, train bombings killed 191 people and were claimed in videotapes by militants who said they had acted on al-Qaida's behalf in revenge for Spain's troop deployment in Iraq.
The commission's secretary general, Mansur Escudero, said the group had consulted with Muslim leaders in other countries, such as Morocco - home to most of the jailed suspects in the bombings - Algeria and Libya, and had their support.
"They agree," Escudero said, referring to the Muslim leaders in the three North African countries. "What I want is that they say so publicly."
The fatwa said that according to the Quran "the terrorist acts of Osama bin Laden and his organization al-Qaida ... are totally banned and must be roundly condemned as part of Islam."
It added: "Inasmuch as Osama bin Laden and his organization defend terrorism as legal and try to base it on the Quran ... they are committing the crime of 'istihlal' and thus become apostates that should not be considered Muslims or treated as such." The Arabic term 'istihlal' refers to the act of making up one's own laws.
snip. So how come none of our "moderate" American Muslims have done this?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/10/2005 8:09:14 PM ||
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"...Osama bin Laden and his organization... should not be considered Muslims..."
That puts him in the bin with us. That's just dandy.
Posted by: Tom ||
03/10/2005 20:26 Comments ||
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All this does is label the persons making the Fatwa as "non-muslims" who should be killed along with the rest of the unbelievers.
#3
Mrs. Davis, itsa 'strong horse' thing. Escudero apparently got a hold of recent polls and seeing the OBL support is on decline, felt safe enough to fatwa'd him.
Let me translate:
He's a moderate, meaning he's for a gradual replacement of infidels (other ways are not practical and are delusional). OBL's and AQ dangerous approach made people pay attention to Islam creed and possibly damaged its image for good. Apostasy, conversion from Islam are on rise, while the young radicals get themselves killed. A lot of people now know what taqiyya means. It may take a generation to let them forget, if ever.
"The Commission has also drawn up a document designed to 'thank the Spanish people and the government for their attitude towards Muslims' since last March 11, in particular for not taking 'disproportionate' measures similar to those which the Sept 11 attacks sparked in the US."
You can put on the Golden Fleece, but a tapeworm still remains underneath.
#1
A group of passengers claiming to be Iranian were refusing to leave a Deutsche Lufthansa AG plane after landing at Brussels' Zaventem airport, making demands notably concerning the EU and the Tehran regime, officials and reports said.
Iranian passengers, like Iranian students 26 years ago...
Anyone who believes these are ordinary passengers should contact me. I have a "Nigerian Bank" where you can wire money for a great investment opportunity...
#4
Sounds like a group who wants the EU to stop glad handing with the mullahs. Maybe they want a bloger freed from prison or something. I doubt they would pull this if they wanted to go to Iran.
#5
Post on the Corner at NRO: Today 50 Iranians, inspired by the comments of Iranian scholar and righteous activist, Frood Fouladvand (who runs a TV station out of his home in London) gathered in London, boarding a plane to Brussels. In Brussels they refused to get off the plane that is still sitting on the tarmak of the Brussels airport and they are conducting a very quiet and peaceful protest against the heads of the E.U. who refuse to stop doing business with the bloodthirsty regime of the Islamic Republic and the Mullahs in Iran. The protestors have been verbally abused by the Belgian authorities, being accused of hijacking and though the protestors are doing nothing but singing Iranian national anthems of a free Iran and asking to speak to the UK, French and German representatives to the E.U. they are being nonetheless abused by Belgian authorities who are refusing to allow the media on plane.
They are chanting: "We are the messengers of peace. We are against global terrorism. We will remove the malignant terrorist regime of the Mullahs..."
The world media should respect these forms of peaceful and righteous protests and should expose the refusal of governments like those European nations who have actively ignored the pleas and cries of the desperate people of Iran in favor of cheap trade with a terrorist-financing government.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/10/2005 16:43 Comments ||
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Not a smart move doing this on the plane. These folks are in for some serious trouble. Jail kind of trouble. The Belgian authorities will do all they can to make sure any notice these protesters try and bring the world of the EUs double dealing and support of the terrorist state of Iran receives little or no attention. After this is the EU they can do no wrong.
#7
People may have sympathy for their cause, but Sock is right. It does not matter what your cause is, but when you start messing with airplanes, everything goes out the window and you are considered a hijacker. I think that they sh*t in their collective messkit.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/10/2005 18:03 Comments ||
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Spanish authorities said they had arrested a Moroccan believed to be linked to the Islamic extremists behind last year's train bombings in Madrid. The suspect, identified as Jouad el Bouzrouti, 23, was arrested in the town of Fuenlabrada, near the capital, the interior ministry said in a statement. "The detained man is believed to be a close collaborator" of the alleged cell linked to Al-Qaeda blamed for the 11 March attack, the ministry said. Bouzrouti's arrest came just three days before Spain commemorated the first anniversary of the bombings, and on the day an international conference on terrorism opened in Madrid.
I question the timing, but a thug in jug is still a thug in jug.
This article starring:
JUAD EL BUZRUTI
al-Qaeda in Europe
Posted by: Seafarious ||
03/10/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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AT least two soldiers were wounded as fresh fighting broke out anew on restive Jolo Island, officials said Wednesday. Army Brig. Gen. Agustin Demaala, commander of troops in Jolo, said on Tuesday his forces battled followers of Nur Misuari and Abu Sayyaf rebels after coming under mortar fire near the town of Indanan. Two soldiers were wounded, though it wasn't clear if the rebels, who withdrew after the two-hour clash, suffered any casualties.
The fighting erupted four days after the government ordered the military to pursue forces loyal to jailed former Moro National Liberation Front leader Misuari. Reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo Wednesday said the encounter took place in Barangay Lanao Dakula, where 80 Misuari loyalists and Abu Sayyaf bandits under Commander Ahadon Adak attacked the Army's 35th Infantry Battalion.
Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual, the military's public information chief, said the gun battle ended with the rebels retreating after being bombarded with mortar and sniper fire. Pascual said reinforcements have been deployed to prevent the rebels from escaping.
This is the first encounter between government forces and Misuari loyalists since President Arroyo rejected calls for a ceasefire. Since last month, government troops have captured 45 rebel hideouts and have dispersed the guerrillas. Followers of Misuari, who is detained in a police camp in Santa Rosa, Laguna, for rebellion, said they launched their attacks in response to alleged military abuses during anti-insurgency operations. They denied links with the Abu Sayyaf, a terrorist group the military has been trying to crush for years. Misuari has denied a role in the clashes.
After last month's violence, 37,400 villagers among 51,000 of those displaced have refused to return to their homes despite a lull in the fighting, said Gov. Benjamin Loong of Sulu.
This article starring:
Brig. Gen. Agustin Demaala
COMANDER AHADON ADAK
Moro National Liberation Front
Gov. Benjamin Loong of Sulu
Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual
Nur Misuari
Abu Sayyaf
Moro National Liberation Front
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/10/2005 12:31:27 AM ||
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At least five Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed in a fierce firefight in Patikul town early morning Thursday, the military said. The clash was the second recent incident of violence in the province as people displaced by previous clash have started to return to their homes. Five bandits were also killed while two soldiers wounded during an encounter in Parang town Tuesday.
Southern Command chief Lieutenant General Alberto Braganza said soldiers were patrolling Barangay (village) Danag around 6:30 a.m. on Thursday when they chanced upon a still undetermined number of bandits. Braganza said that soldiers counted five dead bandits during the firefight, but he said only one cadaver has been recovered so far. "They brought with them the bodies of their other slain comrades," he said. No soldier has been reported hurt, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/10/2005 12:30:28 AM ||
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The pro-government demonstrators overwhelmed the reformist
A protest against the Syrian government in the capital, Damascus, has been disrupted by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. About 100 activists calling for reforms were chased away from a square by marchers wielding placards and sticks.
They didn't have a chance...Goons in all directions...
The protest, intended to mark 42 years since the imposition of emergency laws, came a day after a large pro-government rally in the centre of Damascus. Syria is under intense pressure to ease its grip on political life in Lebanon. Opposition protesters have been rallying in Beirut to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops that have been stationed in the country since 1976.
On Tuesday, supporters of the Syrian presence in Lebanon responded with a massive demonstration in Beirut.
Thursday's protest in Damascus was outnumbered and overwhelmed by "a flood of security agents wielding sticks and clubs", according to a rights group quoted by the Associated Press agency.
Typical of Totalitarian thugs... Keep an eye on the protestors for "mysterious disappearances"
The protesters had been calling for democratic reforms, the release of political prisoners and for greater rights for the country's Kurdish minority.
Kurds, the bogeyman of that part of the world...
Reports say they were charged by a group of about 500 government supporters, who arrived waving Syrian flags and placards bearing pictures of President Assad.
charged by a group of about 500 WELL PAID government supporters
A pro-government demonstrator told Reuters news agency: "We came to tell them that the whole of Syria is behind the president."
Whole Syria stands with Assad, until he hides in a hole when the Marines are coming....
"This is democracy. We came and they came and we are the majority."
Majority? So they act like bullies. Truly "democratic".
#1
before you get your hopes up, all the anti-govt demonstrators were Kurds. who make up about 15% of the population. All sympathy to them, but dont count on a govt collapse anytime soon.
#2
The group protesting was the Committee for National Coordination for the Defense of Basic Freedoms and Human Rights - they were formed in Jan 05 by 4 smaller parties, 3 of them having mostly Kurdish membership. The biggest is the Kurdish Progressive Democratic party.
Meet the new boss, same as the...hey! That guy looks awfully familiar...
Lebanon's outgoing prime minister Omar Karami was tipped on Wednesday to head a new government, less than two weeks after he resigned in the face of massive opposition protests over Syria's dominant role in the country. The political horsetrading was under way as Syrian troops moved towards eastern Lebanon under a two-stage redeployment announced at a summit on Monday between President Emile Lahoud and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in the face of intense international pressure.
Most MPs consulted by Lahoud picked the pro-Syrian Karami, a longtime political rival of his slain predecessor Rafiq Hariri, after the opposition did not put forward their own candidate. Asked if he would agree to return to office, the 70-year-old Karami said: "When I am designated, I will tell you." Under the Constitution, Lahoud is required to meet all parliamentary groups to take their nominations then announce the PM whose name came up most.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 10:41:10 PM ||
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MOSCOW - Key Lebanese opposition figure Walid Jumblatt has called for Russian help to investigate the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported on Thursday. "The official authorities are not investigating and are keeping evidence from us. We do not trust them," Jumblatt said upon his arrival in Moscow late Wednesday, adding that he hoped Russia "would support an international independent investigation of Hariri's murder".
"We rely on Russian help," as Hariri was "a friend of Russia," Jumblatt added.
Of course he was, he was a billionaire.
Jumblatt, who is due to hold talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as well as the heads of the Russian parliament's international relations commissions Mikhail Margelov and Konstantin Kosachev, also reiterated his call for Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon by May. "The Lebanese people want to be free," Jumblatt said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/10/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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If he knows what he's doing and it works, it's a work of art.
#2
âWe rely on Russian help,â as Hariri was âa friend of Russia,â Jumblatt added.
Lol! Bullshit. He was a much better friend of CP Abdullah of Saudi - why don't you call them for help?
Wally is not the man to lead Lebanon out of the fog - he's the Old Way - the Civil War waiting to be reborn, I fear. I'd prefer he pulled an Arafart and croaked - with assistance, if needed - as he seems to be the Leb equivalent.
#5
Lebannon was a frog colony. Plenty of people there still speak frog and read a lot of frog trash. Remember what happened the last time we got involved with a frog colony. Let's get the Syrians out and not let one GI go in. They're not going to be our friends, but aqt least if they're a democracy they'll be less likely to shoot at us.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/10/2005 9:50 Comments ||
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1. I dont much trust Wally either, but hes led the Druze over to the anti-Syrian side. Thats a BIG deal. The lefties are already trying to use the Hezb rally to portray the Cedar revolution as just maneuvering by the "fascist Maronites" against the poor oppressed muslims. Jumblatt makes it hard to do that. I really hope he does NOT fall down a flight of stairs, not till theres an alternative Druze leadership that seems reasonable.
2. Hariri was a businessman and a player, he had lots of friends. He still managed to play a big role in rebuildig Lebanon, and when he way Syria overreaching, he turned on them. Look, if you cant dirty your hands with dealing with unsavory types, youd be better going with either the Chomsky crowd or the Buchanan crowd, and withdraw completely from the region.
3. Yup, Lebanon was a French colony. And remained under French influence in the '50s and '60s. And yah, know, it was a good place back then, all in all. Economic bright spot of the arab world, without oil. The Maronites were favored, but it was far freer than anyplace else in the arab world. It stood with us against USSR backed Syria, and in 1967, when even Jordan attacked Israel, Lebanon did not. We could do far worse then to let it go back to French sphere of influence - in any case the main thing now is to move it out of the Syrian sphere - give the dream of Greater Syria its death blow.
And of course, put Hezbollah in its place, as far as possible.
If you accept the notion that Syria probally killed Hariri (99%), then on that basis alone I believe that Harri represented something good for Lebanon....as for old Wally J.... he's a tricky little devil with Cajones.
#9
I admire your willingness to believe in the goodness of just about everyone, LH.
whom are you referring to - i said i dont trust Jumblatt, and i said Hariri was unsavory. I dont believe in the "goodness" of either. Not everyone has to be good to be useful.
#10
Away from Syria and over to Russia? Despite the geographical distance, I wonder if Russian presence would be even harder to evict than the Syrian one -- Georgia and Moldova have discovered the danger of letting Russian troops in for example. Houseguests that awfully delay their departure.
Now Jumblatt's doesn't seem to be inviting Russian *troops* to replace the Syrian ones, but I definitely have to wonder whether that'll be the next step, after this seeming effort to present Russia as a party friendly to all.
I had wondered what the game of Russia was, and why the hell they would join such calls to have Syria withdraw from Lebanon -- with a few Russia-paid politicians like Jumblatt they may put their own camel's nose in the tent, rather than have to rely on Syrian proxies.
Overjoyed residents welcomed incoming Lebanese regiments with flower petals and chants of support as the troops manned the abandoned Syrian posts in the northern town of Batroun Wednesday. The crowds that gathered near the posts chanted: "We don't want an army in Lebanon except for the Lebanese Army, and we want the Syrians to be sacked out by the Lebanese elite army forces."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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"We don't want an army in Lebanon except for the Lebanese Army, and we want the Syrians to be sacked out by the Lebanese elite army forces."
When his battalion took charge here in mid-February, Lt. Col. Roger Cloutier made a vow to himself and his soldiers: If one of them was attacked, the entire battalion would respond swiftly and violently.
"We will hunt down the enemy if he attacks us," the colonel told his staff. "I don't want to give him any rest or refuge. I want to haunt his dreams."
A week later, Cpl. Jacob Palmatier, a 29-year-old administrative clerk, asked to be relieved of desk duty to man a grenade launcher on a convoy headed south. He was in the turret of a five-ton truck when two slivers of shrapnel from a roadside bomb tore into his midsection.
Minutes into one of his first combat missions, Palmatier bled to death on the side of the road, the 1,481st U.S. service member to die in Iraq.
It was the first combat death in Iraq for the Battle Boars of the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, and it set in motion a series of events that transformed the battalion's presence here.
It triggered a manhunt that penetrated an insurgent cell, leading to the capture of eight suspected cell leaders. It precipitated a showdown that redefined the relationship between Cloutier and local sheiks and mayors. It forged tighter bonds between the Battle Boars and the local Iraqi army battalion, energizing an investigation into that unit's infiltration by insurgents... The story continues.
A suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday inside a Shiite mosque in the northern city of Mosul and killed at least 30 people, witnesses and hospital officials said, hours after gunmen killed two district police chiefs and two other Iraqis in attacks in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Iraq (news - web sites)'s main Shiite party and a Kurdish bloc have reached a deal that sets the stage for a new government to be formed when the National Assembly convenes next week, officials from both sides said Thursday. The deal between the Shiites and the Kurds calls for the government to begin discussion on the return of about 100,000 Kurds to the oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk and talks about redrawing existing Kurdish regions to include the city in Iraq's new constitution.
The Mosul attack took place in the northeastern Tameem neighborhood during a funeral, witnesses said.
"As we were inside the mosque, we saw a ball of fire and heard a huge explosion," said Tahir Abdullah Sultan, 45. "After that blood and pieces of flesh were scattered around the place."
In the Baghdad attacks, assailants in two cars opened fire on a pickup truck carrying Col. Ahmed Abeis, the head of Salihiyah police in western Baghdad, killing him, his driver and a guard, police Col. Khazim Abbas said.
The white truck could be seen on the side of a road in Baghdad's Saidiyah neighborhood, its windows shattered and bullet-ridden. Weeping, a brother of Abeis picked up an empty shoe from the back of the blood-smeared vehicle.
In an Internet statement, a group claiming to be Al-Qaida in Iraq took responsibility for an attack in the same area on "an intelligence officer who used to investigate the Mujahedeen and hurt them." The authenticity of the statement could not be verified.
In a separate attack, gunmen also killed the chief of Jisr Diyala in southeast Baghdad, Col. Ayad Abdul-Razaq, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi police and army troops are frequently targeted by insurgents who see them as collaborators with U.S. forces.
In the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, gunmen killed an accountant working for KurdSat TV, Brig. Saraht Qadir said. The television station belongs to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two main Kurdish parties.
The shootings came after authorities announced Wednesday they'd found 41 bodies at two sites in Iraq. Officials said some of the badly decomposed corpses are Iraqi soldiers who were kidnapped and slain by insurgents. Others were civilians, including women and children who may have been killed because their families were seen as collaborators.
Also Wednesday, a suicide bomber in a garbage truck loaded with explosives and at least one gunman shot their way into a parking lot in a daring attempt at dawn to blow up a hotel used by Western contractors in Baghdad. At least four people, including the attackers and a guard, were killed.
The U.S. Embassy said in a statement that 30 American contractors were among 40 people injured in the massive blast. No Americans were killed. In an Internet statement, al-Qaida in Iraq purportedly claimed responsibility for the attack on the Sadeer hotel, calling it the "hotel of the Jews."
Iraq's interim planning minister, Mahdi al-Hafidh, escaped death on Wednesday after gunmen opened fire on his convoy in the capital. Two of his bodyguards were killed and two others were wounded, he said.
"I'm fine, just sorry about the death of the guards, who were still young," he told state-run Al-Iraqiya TV. "It is a part of the crisis that Iraq is living, but we will keep going for the sake of Iraq, to get rid of terrorism and build a democratic country."
Two other car bombings were also reported. One targeted an American checkpoint outside a base in Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad. Another car bomb exploded near U.S. troops close to Abu Ghraib, just west of the capital.
Elsewhere, guerrillas struck a police patrol with a roadside bomb in the southern city of Basra, killing two policeman and wounding three, Lt. Col. Karim Al-Zaydi said.
In northern Kirkuk, a woman identified as Nawal Mohammed, who worked with U.S. forces, was killed in a drive-by shooting, police Gen. Turhan Youssef said.
Another three unidentified men were gunned down in central Baghdad and another was killed when gunmen opened fire on a bus, police and defense ministry officials said.
In northern Mosul, two police officers were killed and two others were injured in clashes with insurgents, officials said.
In the attack against the Sadeer hotel, al-Qaida in Iraq's "military wing" posted another Internet statement attributed to its leader, Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
It said it carried out extensive surveillance of the hotel and "we have fulfilled our vow to take down the Jews and Christians." In an alleged response on the same site, someone purporting to be al-Zarqawi replied that "you have relieved us by killing the enemy of God. God bless you."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/10/2005 10:59:11 AM ||
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Wotta quagmire! Spose there's any incident in the past three days that was NOT included in this article?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/10/2005 11:05 Comments ||
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#2
LOL Bobby. They can blow up other Muslim's while they are IN the Mosque, but we stopped attacks in Najaf, because we might put bullet holes in the Mosque? What a religion.
#4
Not withstanding the MSMS's focus on them, car bombs as a terror weapon don't work. How many people avoid driving after a bad highway pileup. Answer almost no one. They are just too random.
March 10, 2005: While spectacular suicide car bombings continue, the overall level of attacks continues to decline, as it has since the January 30 elections. The terror attacks now are being done mostly for the benefit of the foreign media, for the killings are only making the population more hostile to the al Qaeda and Sunni Arab groups that are responsible for nearly all the violence. The terrorists are being hit as never before, with more police raids into neighborhoods known to be terrorist strongholds. Weapons and bomb making materials are seized and arrests made. Sometimes, the resistance is heavier than expected.
A raid today in Baghdad resulted in 14 policemen and at least four terrorists getting killed, as well as 65 policemen, and over a hundred terrorists and civilians wounded. The resistance was so fierce because the terrorists are running out of places to hide. Many have already had to flee "friendly neighborhoods" several times in the last few months. Terrorists are having a harder time recruiting because of this, and many terrorist cells are down to the hard core. These guys will stand and fight, and get killed.
Iraqi media is playing the battle between the terrorists and the security forces for what it is, gang-busters. Confessions of captured terrorists are televised, and camera crews increasingly accompany the Iraqi police on their raids, or to crime scenes where the bodies of terrorist victims have been discovered. The fact that the terrorists are now killing women and children is pointed out, as this is considered over-the-line behavior, and the mark of true outlaws.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/10/2005 9:40:59 AM ||
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#1
Iraqi media has to be one of the slickest weapons the New Iraq has going for it!
It seems to be cementing/bonding the various factions into a citizenry.
#5
by giving the world press something else to focus on.
World Press? I thought it was only our American Media which was so fasinated with which buttcheek Michael might scratch during the trail today.... Kind of doing their part to support their allies by distracting the public from the success we are having.
ALGIERS, Algeria, March 10 (UPI) -- An Algerian policemen opened fire on eight colleagues in eastern Algeria, killing four and wounding the rest, reports said Thursday. Local newspapers quoted a security source as saying a member of the municipal guards in the province of Satif, 300 kilometers (187 miles) east of Algiers, sprayed colleagues with automatic rifle fire after dawn prayers Wednesday, killing two. He then entered a security center and headed to the kitchen where he gunned down two other guards before shooting himself. The attacker who is believed to be a Muslim fundamentalist did not die. Yet..
Police are investigating.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/10/2005 9:34:11 AM ||
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>Muslim fundamentalist did not die< no virgins for you a**hole.
EFL: Israeli troops have bulldozed a house in the northern West Bank, killing a member of Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad inside. The man was suspected of planning last month's suicide attack on a Tel Aviv nightclub, the Israeli army said. Correspondents say the killing further tests an informal truce that is already strained by a stalled handover of West Bank towns to Palestinian control.
However, Palestinian head Mahmoud Abbas says the truce may soon be formalised. He said he hoped a meeting with the militant groups, mediated by Egypt and scheduled for next week, would yield an official ceasefire announcement. "I expect this meeting in Cairo will conclude all the efforts that have been made by the Egyptian brothers," he said. "God willing we could have a declaration."
Mohammed Abu Hazneh, a 28-year-old, a member of Islamic Jihad, died after a brief siege in the village of Nazlat al-Wusta in the West Bank. Israeli troops killed him by bulldozing his house after he shot an army dog sent in to flush him out, reports say.
Shoot a dog, die like one.
Palestinian sources confirmed that a man had died.
"We think it was a man, we'll let you know after we mop up what's left"
Nafez Azzam, an Islamic Jihad leader, told the Associated Press news agency the killing could provoke a response ending recent weeks of relative calm. He said his group would raise the issue with Mr Abbas. Saeb Erekat, a negotiator for Mr Abbas, said Israel should have allowed Palestinian security to "do their job in these areas" and warned its "actions are only adding fuel to fire".
This article starring:
MOHAMED ABU HAZNEH
Islamic Jihad
NAFEZ AZZAM
Islamic Jihad
Saeb Erekat
Islamic Jihad
Posted by: Steve ||
03/10/2005 8:59:07 AM ||
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When is International Caterpillar D9 day again? Let's Rachael Corrie! Oops, Well, Uhh....
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
03/10/2005 10:13 Comments ||
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#4
This was the BBC version.
In the reality version, the IDF tried to get the terrorist to give up but he fired at them. Also in the reality version, the IDF had tried to get the PA to arrest him but they wouldn't.
#6
Steve, 2 great days Coming Up!!!!! 15 March, Ides of March/Eat a Steak (24 oz. Medium Rare Porterhouse) for PETA Day, 16 March D9 Day! Wheee!! Tap the Kegs!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/10/2005 11:03 Comments ||
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#8
Correspondents say the killing further tests an informal truce that is already strained
Which correspondents? BBC correspondents? Wouldn't that be considered "manufactured news?" One reporter says something to another reporter, and the second one reports it. No wonder that region is a mess.
#12
I saw a shiny new D9 being hauled on a flatbed the other day - wow, what a cool toy! Previously I wouldn't have given it another thought, but since all this Cat brouhaha, I really noticed it. Not quite the same as seeing an M1 but not far off.
#18
I propose a new medal for the Israeli Self-Defense force: a D9 icon hanging from a blood-red ribbon, awarded to those that use the most innovative means of eliminating islamonutcasefascistbarbecue.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/10/2005 18:05 Comments ||
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#19
I'm *still* waiting for the robotic killdozers.
Ctg terrorist killed in crossfire
Mar 9: The top criminal of Chittagong, Mohammed Jashim alias Alu Jashim, was killed in crossfire while under the custody of the police early this morning.
"All right class, this is how you conduct a "Crossfire" operation, by the numbers":
1. Sources said, acting on secret information, the Rangunia thana police arrested the top terrorist Alu Jashim (27) from Baizid Bostami area in the city last afternoon. 2. Police took the criminal to the Rangunia thana yesterday evening and interrogated him. 3. He confessed to the police that he stored some illegal firearms at Kaokhali in Rangamati and several other spots in Rangunia. A 4. According to the statement of the arrested Jashim, police left for Islampur Brick Field area to recover the said illegal firearms last night. 5. When they were crossing the Islampur Brick Field area a gang of miscreants attacked the police van under Rangunia in the district at around 4 am today. The armed miscreants fired upon the police to snatch away the arrested top thug Alu Jashim from police custody. 6. In retaliation, the policemen also fired on the criminals. 7. The arrested Alu Jashim was killed in the crossfire between police and armed miscreants when he tried to flee. At least fifty bullets were exchanged during the encounter. 8. The police then took the arrested Alu Jashim to Rangunia Health Complex but the doctor on duty declared him dead. Police said, the victim Alu Jashim was the accused person in at least eight cases including murder, extortion. He has been involved in crime since 1990.. 9. Police recovered one LG and 22 rounds of bullet from the spot.
"Rinse and repeat. Any questions?"
Alleged extortionist held with sophisticated arms
Mar 9: An alleged extortionist was today held with a sophisticated firearm while fleeing along with accomplices firing indiscriminately at Durgarhat bazaar in Janzira upazila leaving about 10 people injured by bullet. Jahangir Sarder (32) was held with an automatic weapon fitted with lense (scope?) while his accomplices managed to flee firing indiscriminately at people chasing them, villagers claimed. They said Ripon, Tara, Mofizul, Hazrat Ali, Razzak, Akkas, Siraj and some unidentified injured by bullet were rushed to Dhaka for treatment.
Jahangir is the nephew of Barokandi UP chairman Siraj Sarder. After mass beating he was handed over to the police. Confirming the incident Police Super said it was a clash between supporters of sitting and former chairman of Barokandi union parishad.
Another union dispute, they're just as bad as the Teamsters.
Nikli OC closed for beating peon
Mar 9 : Officer-in-charge of Nikli thana was today closed to the police lines in the face of angry demonstration against him by lowgrade government employees for beating an innocent peon.
And haven't we all felt like peons at some time.
OC Alam Sarkar allegedly beat Kamal up with an iron rod for not saluting him on Tuesday.
"Hey, you dissin' me? WACK!"
Badly wounded Kamal was rushed to Nikli health complex. He was shifted to Kishoreganj Modern Hospital today. Brutal action of the police officer angered the lowpaid employees who have demonstrated in front of UNO's office and demanded punishment to OC Alam. They also threatened to go for work stoppage.
"Us peons got to stick together! Peon Power!"
Terrors kill salt trader in Maheshkhali
Mar 9: A salt trader was killed while 20 others received bullet injuries in a clash between the local people, businessmen and terrorists at Kalarmaarchhara under offshore island Maheshkhali yesterday. Sources said, a gang of armed miscreants of Jhapua village reportedly led by Mojammel, Jebol, Serajuddulla, Ilias, Abu Sayed, Jahangir, Hasan Nuri entered the Chowmuhoni Bazar area at Kalarmaarchhara of Maheshkhali island last noon and ordered the local people and businessmen not to move. They said they were searching for cadres of their rival group. But, at one stage, the local people tried to resist the miscreants. The armed miscreants then fired at local people and businessmen. As a result, a salt trader identified as Mohammed Mohiuddin was killed while 20 others received bullet injuries. Sources said, two rival terror groups of Chikon Para and Japua para village were engaged in clashes for the last few months and were trying to establish supremacy in the area. Kalarmaarchhara under offshore island Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar district. The injured persons were admitted to the Cox's Bazar Hospital last night. Tense situation is prevailing at the area till filing this report this afternoon.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/10/2005 8:28:53 AM ||
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Beware false procedures. In 7. above, crossfire is not in quotes. You need not have a cross fire to have a "crossfire".
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
03/10/2005 10:49 Comments ||
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You need not have a cross fire to have a "crossfire".
You don't even need miscreants to cross fires with. Just a dark, empty lot and a untraceable gun to drop.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/10/2005 15:16 Comments ||
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#3
And a dog-eared "Crossfire" script to follow. Also a willing mouthpiece intrepid reporter.
Steve, thank you for this great series! It makes my day.
The chief of Baghdad's Central Police Station has been assassinated, according to reports. Insurgents dressed in Iraqi police uniforms are understood to have carried out the attack. Police sources claim the attackers set up a fake police checkpoint and stopped the officer's car as he was on the way to work at Salhiya police station. After asking his name, they shot Colonel Ahmed Obaiss along with two other policemen in his car. One of the insurgents filmed the killing, police said.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
03/10/2005 3:44:24 AM ||
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There is exactly zero chance that they will turn back the clock to a Ba'athist dictatorship, so the term insurgents misses the mark - they can't effectively resist and obviously not overthrow -- they can only sporadically terrorize... Terroristsis a better fit, IMHO.
The hate the Iraqis are now feeling toward these scumbags will eventually be the source of their destruction. More. Sooner. Faster.
#5
This is very effective, but I have to admit that it makes me uncomfortable to accept it at face value. Not saying it's not true, just that I don't know enough to feel comfortable with it.
#7
One thing that it does do is let the Iraqi's see and judge for themselves. I don't know about the guy on the left he looked so ordinary but the guy on the right - I could see for myself, by the way he answered the questions, that he was evil.
Police found the bodies of 41 Iraqis beheaded or shot by insurgents at two locations in the Sunni heartland, the latest in a series of mass killings by Militant groups, officials said on Wednesday.
In Baghdad, gunmen opened fire on the planning minister's convoy, police said. Minister Mehdi al-Hafidh was unharmed but one of his bodyguards was killed in the ambush.
In another attack in the capital, a suicide bomber detonated a garbage truck packed with explosives outside a hotel used by Iraqi police and foreign contractors, killing two policemen.
The US embassy said 30 US contractors were among 40 people wounded in the blast, which shook central Baghdad, blew a huge crater in the road and shattered windows in a wide radius. The Agriculture Ministry, next to the Sadir Hotel targeted in the attack, suffered extensive damage.
Al Qaeda's wing in Iraq, led by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said it was behind the bombing - part of its campaign to bring down the government and drive out US troops.
In an Internet statement, Zarqawi's group said gunmen had opened fire on police to allow a suicide bomber to attack the hotel - which it described as "the hotel of the Jews".
"The mujahideen opened fire on the police and guards protecting the Jews and when the entrance was clear, the hero ... blew up the infidels," the group said, adding that the attack was timed to avoid harming any Muslim passers-by. In a separate attack in Baghdad, a roadside bomb killed a US soldier on Wednesday and wounded another, the military said.
In Qaim area, 500 km west of Baghdad, the bodies of 26 people, including one woman, were found. A doctor said the victims, in civilian clothes, had been shot two days ago.
Fifteen bodies - some shot, others beheaded - were found just south of Baghdad in the Sunni-dominated area now known as the "triangle of death", Iraqi army sources said.
Sunni insurgents have frequently dumped large numbers of bodies in public places as a warning to others. The victims are usually police, soldiers or Iraqis working with the US military.
In the southern city of Basra, a roadside bomb killed one policeman, police said. An Iraqi militant group, Islamic Army in Iraq, posted an Internet video showing two Sudanese hostages urging other drivers in Iraq not to work with occupation forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/10/2005 12:06:25 AM ||
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Acording to Fox,these bastards murdered a couple of kids.
Israeli and Palestinian security commanders failed to reach agreement yesterday on the handover of this West Bank town to Palestinian security control, but decided to meet a second time to try to salvage a deal. The dispute, which threatens to deal a setback to a Feb. 8 truce agreement, centers on the scope of the Israeli pullback, particularly whether Israel would remove the main army checkpoint at the entrance of the town. With a new envoy heading to the region, an American official raised the possibility of US intervention.
Plans to hand over Jericho and the town of Tulkarm in the coming days were announced Tuesday, after a late-night meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. Security commanders met for just 20 minutes yesterday to discuss the details of the Jericho handover. Ismail Jaber, the Palestinian commander, said disagreements remained, and that negotiations would continue. Israeli security officials confirmed the talks had failed but said the two sides would hold a second meeting later in the day. The officials declined to say when or where the meeting would take place.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Foreign aid and reconstruction companies in Kabul tightened security yesterday after Taleban militants claimed responsibility for the killing of a Briton which shattered months of fragile calm in the Afghan capital. Westerners living in Kabul have been advised to keep a low profile and avoid moving around at night after the shooting of the British consultant to the Afghan government, diplomats said yesterday.
Police say they are baffled why Steven MacQueen, an adviser to the Rural Development Ministry, was killed in an ambush on Monday night by gunmen driving four-wheel-drive vehicles. "It is a little bit early to say how it's going to affect the international community because we don't know yet what are the reasons related to this incident," Jean Michel Emeryk, of the Afghanistan NGO Security Office (ANSO), told Reuters. "For the time being, we are advising people to limit their movement during hours of darkness."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Bangladeshi and Indian border guards exchanged fire yesterday in the wake of India's attempts to build a barbed-wire fencing on the no-man's land along their 4,000-km common border, forcing thousands of villagers to flee their homes for safety. After a two-day lull, the border forces traded heavy gunfire at Singimari frontier in Lalmonirhat district and Ramgarh in hilly Khagrachhari district over the construction of fences by the Indians in breach of an agreement of Monday's flag meeting. Initial reports from the frontier in Hatibandha sub-district of Lalmonirhat said the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire at about 3:15 p.m. when Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel opposed the attempt of fencing off the border. BDR forces retaliated under the command of 19 Battalion Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Ahad, the reports said. In the first hour of firing till 4:15 pm, the two sides traded some 3,000 rounds of shots but only one Bangladeshi peasant was reported injured. Firing was continuing when last reports came in.
"Bangladeshi villagers fled homes from around the trouble spot at pillar no. 872 and took shelter in Hatibandha sub-district headquarters," according to an initial report from the remote area.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/10/2005 00:00:00 ||
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Hmmm. I think one of my NEW rules of thumb is going to be that if nation A is suffering from terrorism and builds a fence to stop terrorist infiltration, then if nation B strongly objects to the fence, or to actions that SUCCESSFULLY halt terrorism, then is it possible that nation B is INVOLVED with the terrorism from which nation A is suffering?
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.
Nor was it 
Spanish authorities said they had arrested a Moroccan believed to be linked to the Islamic extremists behind last year's train bombings in Madrid. The suspect, identified as 
At least five Abu Sayyaf bandits were killed in a fierce firefight in Patikul town early morning Thursday, the military said. The clash was the second recent incident of violence in the province as people displaced by previous clash have started to return to their homes. Five bandits were also killed while two soldiers wounded during an encounter in Parang town Tuesday.
Overjoyed residents welcomed incoming Lebanese regiments with flower petals and chants of support as the troops manned the abandoned Syrian posts in the northern town of Batroun Wednesday. The crowds that gathered near the posts chanted: "We don't want an army in Lebanon except for the Lebanese Army, and we want the Syrians to be sacked out by the Lebanese elite army forces."
The chief of Baghdad's Central Police Station has been assassinated, according to reports. Insurgents dressed in Iraqi police uniforms are understood to have carried out the attack. Police sources claim the attackers set up a fake police checkpoint and stopped the officer's car as he was on the way to work at Salhiya police station. After asking his name, they shot Colonel Ahmed Obaiss along with two other policemen in his car. One of the insurgents filmed the killing, police said.
Israeli and Palestinian security commanders failed to reach agreement yesterday on the handover of this West Bank town to Palestinian security control, but decided to meet a second time to try to salvage a deal. The dispute, which threatens to deal a setback to a Feb. 8 truce agreement, centers on the scope of the Israeli pullback, particularly whether Israel would remove the main army checkpoint at the entrance of the town. With a new envoy heading to the region, an American official raised the possibility of US intervention. 
Foreign aid and reconstruction companies in Kabul tightened security yesterday after Taleban militants claimed responsibility for the killing of a Briton which shattered months of fragile calm in the Afghan capital. Westerners living in Kabul have been advised to keep a low profile and avoid moving around at night after the shooting of the British consultant to the Afghan government, diplomats said yesterday.
Bangladeshi and Indian border guards exchanged fire yesterday in the wake of India's attempts to build a barbed-wire fencing on the no-man's land along their 4,000-km common border, forcing thousands of villagers to flee their homes for safety. After a two-day lull, the border forces traded heavy gunfire at Singimari frontier in Lalmonirhat district and Ramgarh in hilly Khagrachhari district over the construction of fences by the Indians in breach of an agreement of Monday's flag meeting. Initial reports from the frontier in Hatibandha sub-district of Lalmonirhat said the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire at about 3:15 p.m. when Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel opposed the attempt of fencing off the border. BDR forces retaliated under the command of 19 Battalion Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Ahad, the reports said. In the first hour of firing till 4:15 pm, the two sides traded some 3,000 rounds of shots but only one Bangladeshi peasant was reported injured. Firing was continuing when last reports came in.
