On this day in history:
1944 - In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
1958 - Elvis Presley is officially inducted into the U.S.Army.
1976 - Argentina's military forces depose president Isabel Perón and start the National Reorganization Process.
1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska.
1999 - NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
2003 - The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
We continue to tweak the Burg from time to time, and you'll notice one such tweak today.
We are eliminating the category, "Home Front: Economy", and replacing it with, simply, "Economy". Any and all economic news, be it world, U.S., European or elsewhere, will go into this category.
We ask those who would post into "Economy" to remember that such posts should have a WoT related twist, or be of essential news to help us understand what's happening. Or at least food for snark.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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We ask those who would post into "Economy" to remember that such posts should have a WoT related twist, or be of essential news to help us understand what's happening. Or at least food for snark.
Thisn confuser... if my durable good Maytag is blowed up.. and I shoot 3 hippies for the justice where does it go?
#2
Lurid Crime Tales, of course. After all, that your Maytag suddenly stopped working must be a crime, .5MT. How do you happen to know three dead hippies?
The Taleban in Pakistan's strife-torn district of Swat have taken over operations in its emerald mines.
The mines, which produce emeralds of international quality, were previously controlled by the Pakistani government. They were taken over by the Taleban four months ago following a ceasefire between militants and the government.
Until then, Swat was the scene of 18 months of conflict between the security forces and Taleban militants fighting to implement Islamic Sharia law.
The mines, along with the Panjshir mines in Afghanistan, hold the largest known deposits of emeralds in South Asia.
And that's why they went to Swat. Now they have yet another way to finance jihad.
Pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at Japanese, Greek and Hong Kong cargo ships off the coast of Somalia, officials said on Monday. No one was injured in the attacks, the latest to be reported in Somalia's pirate-infested waters.
Masami Suekado, a Japanese Transport Ministry official, said pirates in two small vessels approached the Jasmine Ace and fired several shots before fleeing. Bullets broke windows and hit the ceiling of the bridge.
In the other attacks, pirates in two small boats fired RPGs and machine guns for 30 minutes at a Hong Kong container ship but the vessel managed to escape. An hour later, the brigands fired at a Greek bulk carrier but aborted the attempt after the ship took anti-piracy measures, including evasive maneuvers, he said.
The Japanese cargo ship was attacked four hours after the Greek carrier.
"Fortunately no one was injured and killed. It is believed to be the same pirate group and it shows they are now operating in the southern part of Somalia," said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Atsuko Nakajima, a spokesman for Mitsui O.S.K Lines, which operates the Japanese ship, said 18 people--all from the Philippines--were aboard the ship, which was carrying a cargo of automobiles.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Tips from repentant terrorists led to the weekend arrest of a suspected al-Qaeda explosives expert in the Baraki district of Algiers, L'Expression reported on Monday (March 23rd). According to security sources, a significant quantity of bomb-making material was also found in the suburban Algiers house. Algerian authorities had reportedly been hunting "Abou Raihana" for some time before receiving the new lead.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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(RIA Novosti) - Two militants were killed and a police officer wounded in a drive-by shooting in Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia, a local law enforcement spokesman said on Monday.
The spokesman said police officers were carrying out an operation in the town of Karabulak, when gunmen opened fire on them from a passing Lada car. He said police officers returned fire killing two people in the car, while one of the officers was wounded in a shootout.
Ingushetia has seen a rise in violence of late, including bombings and other attacks on police and officials, which have been linked to separatists in neighboring Chechnya and local criminal gangs.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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LAHORE, March 23: The rocket-launchers and explosives used in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team are in the use of Indian forces, Dawn has learnt.
According to a forensic report, four rocket-launchers and nine explosives seized from the scene are factory-made and used by Indian forces. Forty grenades, 10 sub-machine guns (SMGs), five pistols, 577 live rounds of SMGs and 160 bullets of pistols were also found there. The terrorists had fired 312 bullets, two rockets and detonated two bombs.
No suicide jacket was found at the scene, suggesting that they were not on a suicide mission. The SMGs used in the attack are of Russian, German and Chinese made, an investigator told Dawn on Monday.
Six policemen and a Pakistan Cricket Board van driver lost their lives when a group of a dozen terrorists ambushed Sri Lankan cricketers convoy near the Liberty roundabout in Lahore on March 3. Six of the Sri Lankan players suffered injuries.
Although none of the 12 terrorists involved in the gory act has been arrested so far, investigators have come up with a claim based on positive leads that none of the militant organisations in the country had the capacity to carry out the attack without the help of a state agency.
The ammunition and communication network is the base of our claim that a state agency is also involved, said the investigator. He said that law-enforcement agencies had taken over 100 suspects into custody, but yet to arrest any of the terrorists.
Unfortunately all terrorists (involved in the attack) managed to flee to the tribal belt (probably Waziristan) owing to belated response by police to go after them soon after the attack, he said.
Investigators are now convinced that the mastermind of the attack had four objectives:
(1) To sour Pakistans relations with Sri Lanka, (2) to stop foreign teams from coming to Pakistan, (3) to destabilise Pakistan and (4) to tell it (Pakistan) that its state agency is more capable than its (ISI) in carrying out such attacks even in the midst of huge security presence.
Investigators however clarify that the attackers did not want to hijack the cricketers bus as they wanted to meet the above objectives
Hijacking often takes place when culprits want to secure the release of someone, they said.
A four-member police team, headed by Punjabs Additional Inspector-General of Police (Investigation) Salahuddin Khan Niazi, and another joint investigation team comprising officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB), have been investigating the matter.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/24/2009 16:07 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
03/24/2009 16:31 Comments ||
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I'm seeing some assumptions here, especially considering how in denial Pakistan is about home grown threats.
* Although none of the 12 terrorists involved in the gory act has been arrested so far, investigators have come up with a claim based on 'positive leads' that none of the militant organizations in the country had the capacity to carry out the attack without the help of a state agency. (so ISI helps terrorist, check)
* The ammunition and communication network is the base of our claim that a state agency is also involved, said the investigator. (we didn't know about these guys, so they must be foreign)
* Unfortunately all terrorists (involved in the attack) managed to flee to the tribal belt (probably Waziristan) owing to belated response by police to go after them soon after the attack, he said. (Why would the Indian terrorist escape that way?)
Then the investigator comes up with this analysis:
(1) To sour Pakistans relations with Sri Lanka, (2) to stop foreign teams from coming to Pakistan, (3) to destabilise Pakistan and (4) to tell it (Pakistan) that its state agency is more capable than its (ISI) in carrying out such attacks even in the midst of huge security presence.
4 of 4 seem like objectives that a domestic Islamic terrorist would want too but it would be too embarrassing to admit it's home grown.
SRINAGAR: Troops in Kashmir shot dead five militants on Tuesday, bringing the death toll on both sides from several days of forest gunbattles to 24, the army said. An army statement said eight soldiers and 16 rebels have so far died in the fighting in Kupwara district close to the Line of Control that divides the Indian and Pakistani-controlled parts of the Himalayan region.
The gunfights were first reported on Saturday and followed a cross-border incident involving Indian and Pakistani troops that left one Indian soldier injured.
The Pakistani were providing covering fire for infiltrating terrorists
Pakistan and India agreed to a ceasefire along the Line of Control in 2003 and have since held slow-moving peace negotiations. But the peace process ground to a halt following November's Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai that India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The funeral of one of the Indian troops killed in the fighting was also held on Tuesday, with the event well-attended, witnesses said, even though it is rare for residents of Kashmir to honour those fighting for India. The dead soldier, a Shiite Muslim from a village northeast of Srinagar, died on Monday during heavy exchange of fire with rebels.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/24/2009 09:22 ||
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Posted by: john frum ||
03/24/2009 10:39 Comments ||
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Kashmiri relatives of Indian Army soldier Shabir Ahmed Malik mourn during his funeral procession in Dab, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) Northeast of Srinagar, India, Tuesday, March 24, 2009. Malik was killed in an ongoing battle which has claimed seven other army soldiers and sixteen suspected rebels, Lt Col. J.S. Brar of the Indian Army said.
An Indian army soldier stands guard during the funeral of Shabir Ahmad Malik, a Kashmiri Muslim soldier from the Indian army, in Dab, 35km (21 miles) north of Srinagar March 24, 2009. At least 19 people have been killed after four days of gun fighting between Indian soldiers and Muslim militants in disputed Kashmir near the Pakistan border, the army said on Monday
People gather for the funeral of Shabir Ahmad Malik, a Kashmiri Muslim soldier from the Indian army, in Dab, 35km (21 miles) north of Srinagar March 24, 2009. At least 19 people have been killed after four days of gun fighting between Indian soldiers and Muslim militants in disputed Kashmir near the Pakistan border, the army said on Monday. Four soldiers including Malik and five militants were killed on Monday alone, the army said, the highest number of people killed in a single firefight between Muslim militants and Indian troops in the Himalayan region in the past year.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/24/2009 10:44 Comments ||
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The Pakistani were providing covering fire for infiltrating terrorists
Six more militants were killed on Tuesday taking the death toll in the fierce gunbattle between militants and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district to 25 as the five-day-long stand-off ended this evening.
Seventeen militants and eight Army personnel, including a Major, were killed in the encounter which began on March 20 on higher reaches of the Shamsabari range in Harfada forest, a defence spokesman said.
Four soldiers and five militants were killed on Monday while an ultra died a day before. On Saturday, four troops, including Major Mohit Sharma, and two insurgents, were killed.
On the first day, three militants were mowed down by the security forces.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/24/2009 19:23 Comments ||
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It's a good think that Pakis were providing covering fire, otherwise it might've been effective
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/24/2009 20:02 Comments ||
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Security forces arrested nine men during a search operation in Khyber Agency's Jamrud tehsil on Monday, sources said. "Youse guys come with me!"
"Where you taking us?"
"Down to the station house!"
"For what?"
"Lookit, we're tryin' to get the infidels to throw another few billion our way. We gotta show that we're cleanin' up militancy in these here parts!"
"You gonna keep us long?"
"Coupla hours. We'll send out for pizza, watch some teevee, then you can go home."
"Well, okay. But I gotta leave by 11. I gotta blow up a girls' school at 11:15!"
The sources told Daily Times that the operation was launched in the area to recover a man abducted in Islamabad on Sunday. They said four of the men were arrested in Karkhano Market and five in Shakas. The men were allegedly aiding abductors and the Taliban. The security forces closed the Bara-Shakas Road for traffic, the sources added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, okay. But I gotta leave by 11. I gotta blow up a girls' school at 11:15!"
o/Fred, Lord of Snark.
Lose the cheep watch kid...
I can't my Imam give it to me.
Troops on Monday destroyed two hideouts in Balochistan that were being used by militants and outlaws, officials said. A large quantity of weapons, rockets, explosives and communication equipment were found at the secret hideouts, a paramilitary spokesman said. The arms cache was destroyed, he added. The operation was launched in Uch district, some 270 kilometres southeast of Quetta, after two soldiers were kidnapped by rebels, the official said on condition of anonymity. "Our men were kidnapped three days ago while patrolling and during a search operation we found two camps used by miscreants but when we raided them they had already fled," he said. "We have found a huge cache of arms, explosives, walkie talkies, and SIMs of Thuraya satellite phones from the camps," he added. The New York Times reported last week that US President Barack Obama and his top aides are considering expanding covert operations against Taliban leaders to Balochistan, in and around Quetta.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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A rocket was fired by unidentified militants near police line in Noshera while a bridge, located on G.T road, has also collapsed here on Monday, police sources said. According to sources, unknown miscreants fired a rocket targeting the mess in police line of Noshera but it failed to hit its target and broke down a bridge located on G.T road here. According to SHO Azakhel police station, the bomb disposable squad has gathered bomb's pieces while as per preliminary reports, rocket was Russian made and could hit the target up to 10 kilometers away.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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The Taliban killed a tribesman in North Waziristan Agency on Monday, accusing him of spying for the United States.
The body of Muhammad Javed, was found on a road in Razmak, 75 kilometres south of Miranshah. A note found near the body read that Javed was a US spy and warned that anyone "found spying for the US would meet the same fate".
Separately, an unidentified man's body was found wrapped in a jute bag on the Miranshah-Dattakhel Road, two kilometres west of Miranshah.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Sometimes breaking into laughter, ... albeit hysterical laughter...
the man accused of being the lone surviving gunman in last year's Mumbai attacks told an Indian court on Monday that he was from Pakistan and wanted legal assistance, officials said. "Of course I'm from Pakistain! Do I look Norwegian? I want a mouthpiece! I ain't sayin' nuttin' else widdout me mout'piece!"
The trial of Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, whom police formally charged in February with "waging war" against India, began on Monday via a video link with his prison in Mumbai.
Apparently he's a little too nasty to be in open court ...
Gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day rampage in the city last November.
India needs to follow the legal advice of Dr N.M. Ghatate, Supreme Court Advocate and the former Vice-Chairman of its law commission. He states that Kasab has no right to a trial and has no rights under the Indian constitution. According to Ghatate, Kasb is an unlawful combatant and not entitled to any protection under the Geneva Convention or the Constitution of India. He may be detained for life, or summarily executed, or treated in any manner that India wishes.
Careful now, that's just the sort of thing that'll get you a stern lecture from a UN special wrapper ...
Sounds good to me. A sensible policy for all currently housed at Gitmo, as well.
A bearded Kasab smiled and looked composed when the judge asked him whether he had received a copy of the charges and if he wanted an attorney, a government lawyer said. "I don't have a lawyer," special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam quoted him as telling the judge. "He was smiling throughout and said that he was from Faridkot in Pakistan. He started laughing when the judge asked him if he understood everything in the charge sheet."
The attacks on India's financial hub sparked renewed tensions between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. New Delhi says state agencies in Pakistan were involved in the attacks, while Islamabad denies this and has asked for more evidence.
Police say Kasab was one of 10 gunmen who arrived in Mumbai by sea and rampaged through landmarks including five star hotels, the main train station and a Jewish centre.
Police say Kasab, who faces a maximum sentence of death by hanging, was injured in a shootout. Pictures of the young man, wearing sneakers and carrying an automatic rifle and backpack, were published around the world after the attacks. Kasab has since been held in jail, with Indian lawyers refusing to defend him.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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A suicide bomb blast has rocked a police station in Islamabad and marred celebrations for the 69th anniversary of Pakistan's Republic Day. That'd mar most celebrations, I'd say.
A Press TV correspondent on the ground in Pakistan has learned that the late Monday blast killed one policeman and two civilians. Reports put those injured up to three. That's it? That's the best he could do? Mahmoud turns himself into guts on a windshield and there's not even a funeral procession in range? Wotta putz.
The bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a special police branch office used by police intelligence and bomb disposal units close to the Sitara market in the center of Islamabad. Right. The Pakaboomer hit a bomb disposal unit. How apt.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. Duh... Lemme guess... Oh, who could it possibly be?
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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An Iraqi tribal leader escaped an assassination attempt Sunday when gunmen attacked his house in the city of Hillah, Iraq security sources said. Sheikh Fawaz Kamel Ahmed, leader of the al-Massoud tribe, was injured in the attack on his house in Hillah, 100 kilometres south of Baghdad.
In separate news, two US soldiers were injured late Saturdr vehicle was caught in a bomb attack near al-Fallujah, which lies about 70 kilometres west of Baghdad in Anbar province. The US presence there has decreased as Iraqi forces start to shoulder more of the province's security.
This article starring:
Sheikh Fawaz Kamel Ahmed
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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At least 25 people have been killed and dozens of others injured in a suspected suicide bomb attack at a wake in northeastern Iraq, police say. "First you kill someone. Then when everyone comes to say goodbye, you kill them, too."
The Koran
Sura of the Corpse
The blast was at a funeral tent in Jalawla, Diyala, and police say the number of casualties is likely to rise.
A police officer told the Voices of Iraq news agency "the death toll will likely be high because of the strength of the blast".
Mohammed Osman, a local official, said that Monday's bombing happened as a Kurdish family was receiving condolences.
Abu Holman, who said he was outside the tent at the time of the blast, told The Associated Press news agency that al-Qaeda in Iraq was to blame for the attack. "Al-Qaeda is targeting the Kurds because it believes that we are involved in the political process and collaborating with the Americans. There are still many al-Qaeda hotbeds in our area," he said from hospital.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Diyala is home to a mixed population of Shia Kurds and Sunni Arabs.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
At about eight oclock, when a malfunction in the detonation mechanism caused a small explosion, a civilian summoned police, and sappers were able to defuse the rest of the bombs.
Don't forget to thank the Big Guy for averting the disaster.
Sri Lanka's navy killed five Tamil Tiger suicide rebels as they tried to mingle with refugees fleeing to government-controlled areas in the north, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.
A navy patrol craft detected a rebel boat among three other boats carrying 54 civilians on Sunday. "The navy believes that the LTTE's (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) intention here was to mix with troops on land on the sly and inflict a huge devastation on them," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the first shipment of medical supplies in two weeks has been sent to the last remaining major health facility in Sri Lanka's war zone and 500 civilians have been evacuated from danger, the Red Cross said on Monday. A lack of medicine and supplies has been blamed by the area's top health official for causing the needless deaths of hundreds of hospital patients caught in the all-out offensive the government has launched against Tamil Tiger rebels in hopes of ending the island's 25-year-old civil war.
The supplies arrived in the war zone on the northeast coast on Sunday aboard the "MV Green Ocean," said Sophie Romanens, a Colombo spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. She did not know how large the shipment was, but said the ship returned with 500 patients and family members. The Red Cross and other international groups have voiced concern recently for the civilians trapped in the last remaining rebel territory. The rebel holdouts --along with tens of thousands of terrified civilians -- are confined to about 11-square miles of jungle and beach on the northeastern coast.
The UN says 150,000 to 180,000 civilians are trapped in the war zone. The government says the figure is much lower, and accuses the Tamil rebels of using the people as human shields. Romanens said there had been an influx of displaced people into the coastal strip near the medical facility and that there was not enough clean water and food for them.
Last week, in a letter to the Health Ministry, officials from two northern Sri Lankan regions hit by the war said just five percent of the needed drugs and dressings had been received in the last quarter of 2008 and the first part of this year. The letter said more than 500 patients had died since January after arriving at hospitals and that thousands more may have died elsewhere in the area.
Besides the 500 evacuated on the Red Cross ship, the military said in a statement that another 845 people, including more than 200 children, crossed over to military-controlled areas on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/24/2009 00:00 ||
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"Somebody": 1
Medhat: 0
BEIRUT (AFP) The killing of a top Palestine Liberation Organisation official in Lebanon could be a "settling of scores" between rival factions, Lebanese newspapers said on Tuesday.
Kamal Medhat, the PLO's number two in Lebanon, was killed in a roadside bombing outside the Mieh Mieh refugee camp in southern Lebanon on Monday along with three other people, including two of his bodyguards.
"Mieh Mieh: a fratricide?" said the French language L'Orient-Le Jour newspaper. As-Safir newspaper, which is close to the Syrian-backed Lebanese opposition, echoed the view. "Although all Palestinian factions were quick to denounce the crime and blame Israel and its agents, security officials believe that Medhat was killed in a settling of scores," it said. So...what's the score now? And do more scores have to be settled after this? And who's next? Wheels within wheels within wheels within wheels...
Medhat, 58, was also a former aide to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and a former intelligence chief for the mainstream Fatah movement in Lebanon.
According to As-Safir he was in charge of reconciling rival Palestinian groups in Lebanon, mainly in Ain al-Helweh, the largest of 12 refugee camps and scene of frequent violence between Fatah and the Islamist movement Hamas. Sounds like he did a lousy job...
"Was it a message from abroad or the work of a Palestinian faction?" said An-Nahar newspaper, which is close to Lebanon's ruling Western-backed parliamentary majority. "The victim was known for being one of the key figures who strove to calm tensions and reconcile Palestinian factions," it added. So, obviously, he hadda go...
Tension between Fatah and Islamist groups inside Lebanon camps has run high in the past year, with clashes and attacks leaving at least 12 dead. Just in the past year?
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.
Pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at Japanese, Greek and Hong Kong cargo ships off the coast of Somalia, officials said on Monday. No one was injured in the attacks, the latest to be reported in Somalia's pirate-infested waters.
Tips from repentant terrorists led to the weekend arrest of a suspected al-Qaeda explosives expert in the Baraki district of Algiers, L'Expression reported on Monday (March 23rd). According to security sources, a significant quantity of bomb-making material was also found in the suburban Algiers house. Algerian authorities had reportedly been hunting "Abou Raihana" for some time before receiving the new lead.
(RIA Novosti) - Two militants were killed and a police officer wounded in a drive-by shooting in Russia's southern republic of Ingushetia, a local law enforcement spokesman said on Monday.
Security forces arrested nine men during a search operation in Khyber Agency's Jamrud tehsil on Monday, sources said. 
The Taliban killed a tribesman in North Waziristan Agency on Monday, accusing him of spying for the United States.
Sometimes breaking into laughter, 
An Iraqi tribal leader escaped an assassination attempt Sunday when gunmen attacked his house in the city of Hillah, Iraq security sources said. 
At least 25 people have been killed and dozens of others injured in a suspected suicide bomb attack at a wake in northeastern Iraq, police say.
