[France24] Afghan forces launched a lightning operation in northern Afghanistan on Monday, rescuing 149 people, including women and children, abducted by the Taliban. Operations to free another 21 were still underway.
The Afghan security operation was launched hours after the Taliban ambushed a convoy of buses en route to the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the northern province of Kunduz, according to local officials and a bus union representative.
The incident came despite President Ashraf Ghani's call on Sunday for a ceasefire with the Taliban during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha later this week.
At least seven Taliban fighters were killed in the fighting, according to Nasrat Rahimi, deputy spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
The 21 other passengers who were still in captivity are believed to be Afghan government or security services employees.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed the ambush in Kunduz and said the group planned to release civilians but would keep Afghan security forces in custody.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2018 21:43 Comments ||
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#3
Abducted from a single minibus?
From three passenger busses, according to Tolo News. Apparently the Taliban are in the habit of stopping busses for the purposeon the main Afghan highways.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs have seized the control of Bulcharagh district in northern Faryab province of Afghanistan after days of heavy festivities.
Provincial governor Naqibullah Fayeq said earlier today that the control of the district fell into the hands of Talibs on Saturday night.
Fayeq further added that the district was seized after additional forces were not deployed from the center.
According to Fayeq, the security forces were under siege of the Talibs for several days as heavy festivities were underway before the fall of the district.
This is not the first time the Talibs are taking control of Bulcharagh district but similar attempts were also made in the past where the Talibs briefly took over the district.
In the meantime, reports indicate that at least 40 security personnel have been taken hostage after the fall of the district.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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#1
Faryab province is mostly ethnic Uzbek.
It has the beginnings of an oil and petroleum production and refining infrastructure.
The taliban have been taking control of portions of the province off and on since about 1998 or so.
Posted by: lord garth ||
08/20/2018 0:17 Comments ||
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It might not hurt to put some imagery of what has been happening to Taliban and ISIS members on the local media from time to time just to remind them what happens when they get too big for their britches.
[Khaama (Afghanistan)] The Talibs and Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria Khurasan (ISIS-K) Death Eaters have suffered casualties during the Arclight airstrikes conducted in eastern Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. and Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Chitral. Kunar is Haqqani country..... s.
The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan Military in the East said the US forces carried out airstrike using unmanned aerial vehicle, leaving at least three Talibs dead and two others maimed.
According to a statement released by Silab Corps, the airstrike was carried out i the vicinity of Wali Sahar area of Sherzad district in Nangarhar povince.
The statement further added that the vehicle of the Talibs was also destroyed in the airstrike.
The US forces also carried out similar airstrikes in Titak area of Noor Gul district in eastern Kunar province targeting the hideouts of ISIS turbans.
The airstrikes left a member of the ISIS group dead who has been identified as Aminullah, Silab Corps added in its statement.
Silab Corps also added that a Ak-47 assault rifle and a radio were also destroyed during the same airstrikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Reports reaching Radio Shabelle’s news desk from Lower Jubba region indicate that a tense of fighting is running high on the outskirts of the port city of Kismayo ...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region... after festivities.
The tension followed a deadly inter-clan clash that left scores of civilians and tribal snuffies dead, while hundreds of others have sustained wounds.
Local authorities say the rival armed clan militias are battling over a land dispute and Dire Revenge killings. The situation remained tense and residents fear a breakout of fighting.
Meanwhile, ...back at the shootout, Butch clutched at his other leg...... Jubbaland state has called on both warring sides to exercise maximum restraint and end their differences through dialogue.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[RADIOSHABELLE] Somali military soldiers were reported to have taken control of a key city in Lower Shabelle region, near the country’s capital, Mogadishu on Sunday.
The troops loyal to General Abdullahi Ali Anod moved from a nearby Shalanbod and rolled into Marka city, which has been changed hands between al-Shabaab ... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... and Somali forces.
"Somali forces loyal to general Ali Anood who turned to renegade after he was sacked by President Farmaajo days ago seized the port city of Marka," said a local resident.
The city has been fully retaken by Somali and African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces in 2012 from al-Shabaab following an offensive which also led to the liberation of key other towns.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ARABNEWS] Six Egyptian coppers were charged Sunday with torturing a prisoner to death, state media reported, a rare case against law enforcement over alleged abuses in jug.
Prosecutors alleged the officers tortured a young man accused of robbery to death in June at a cop shoppe in Cairo after conducting an autopsy on the body, state-run newspaper al-Ahram said.
Rights groups have regularly denounced the security forces under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi over the alleged widespread use of torture.
The authorities insist that there are no state-sanctioned abuses carried out by law enforcement, and that any cases are down to individual officers.
In May, an appeal court acquitted two coppers who had been tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! for allegedly beating to death a detained lawyer in 2015.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[Asharq Al-Awsat]The Saudi-led Arab coalition in Yemen announced on Saturday that it has destroyed a SAM 6 anti-aircraft missile system belonging for the Iran-backed Houthis in Sanaa.
The coalition said that its possession of such a system threatens air navigation and relief efforts, reported Al-Arabiya.net.
It vowed that it will prevent the terrorist group from acquiring capabilities that could threaten air navigation.
Separately, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said Saturday that the alliance intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile fired at the Saudi city of Jizan. A day earlier, it intercepted a missile fired from Yemen’s Amran region at Saudi Arabia’s Najran city.
The Houthis have so far launched 177 ballistic missiles at the Kingdom, Maliki said.
[ALMASDARNEWS] Yemeni forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition seized control of public offices and facilities in Ad Durayhimi, a town located south of the port city of Hodeidah, Saturday, according to the Yemeni National Army, as cited by the Saudi Press Agency.
The fighters reportedly seized control of public administration offices and facilities including a health centre following heavy battles with Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... fighters.
Footage from Ad Durayhimi shows vehicles and fighters of the Saudi-backed Yemeni forces operating in the countryside near Ad Durayhimi, as fires blaze in the distance.
The port of Hodeidah is Yemen’s main point of entry for food aid. With 8.4 million Yemeni people forced to the brink of starvation, according to UN figures, the country has been plunged into a severe humanitarian crisis amid its ongoing conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ... forces announced that their rocket battalion had successfully bombed the UAE-backed troops in western Yemen.
According to the official media wing of the Houthi forces, their rocket battalion attacked the UAE-backed troops in the vast Medi Desert with their armed drones.
The Houthi forces said their rocket battalion used their domestically-made Qasef-1 armed drones, adding that they scored a direct hit on the UAE-backed troops.
The Houthi forces have recently stepped up their attacks in western Yemen, following the large-scale offensive the UAE-backed troops launched in the Hodeidah Governorate.
The Houthi forces said they repelled the offensive after more than 48 hours of nonstop combat against the UAE-backed Southern Resistance Army and Yemeni Elite Republican Guard.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] Mexican marines on Friday said they had discovered an underground drug lab in the mountains outside the capital of Sinaloa state where they destroyed 50 tonnes of methamphetamine.
Marines found the lab after intelligence reports indicated that tonnes of drugs were being produced in the area of Alcoyonqui municipality, about 12 miles outside the state capital of Culiacan, the ministry of the navy said in a statement.
In photos provided by the ministry, two marines in hazmat suits can be seen examining dozens of plastic containers in a mountain forest.
The statement said the drugs were hidden underground in two areas along with barrels of the chemicals used to produce meth. The drugs were incinerated on site due to the difficult access to the remote location, the ministry said.
Mexico is a major supplier of methamphetamine to the United States and it the top source of heroin, which is fuelling a surge in opioid addiction. The country is also the principal highway for cocaine trafficked north.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[Breitbart] An Algerian migrant male was shot dead early Monday morning by Spanish police after he attempted to attack officers with a knife.
Officers fired on and killed the 29-year-old man outside the police station in Cornellà de Llobregat in Catalonia, Spain, the Catalan edition of elPeriodico reports. Besides the slain attacker, there were no reported injuries.
The man, who is reported to have been an Algerian who lived in Cornellà, attempted to gain access to the station at 05:52 Monday morning, while carrying a knife and shouting "Allahu Akbar" [Allah is the Greatest] ‐ the familiar Islamic phrase which has increasingly come to be associated with the opening stages of terror attacks across Europe in recent years.
He was shot in the reception area of the station by one of the officers present. An ambulance was brought to the scene but the Algerian male subsequently died of his wounds.
The station and the assailant’s residence have been cordoned off by police, who are now investigating the background and motivation for the attack.
[Jpost] Several gunshots were fired from a vehicle at the US embassy in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Monday, hitting a window in a security post but causing no casualties, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.
It said police teams were searching for the assailants who fled in a white car after the attack, which occurred around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT).
The attack coincided with a deepening row between Ankara and Washington over the trial of a US pastor in Turkey.
Anbar (IraqiNews.com) A civilian was killed, while two others were maimed as a landmine, from the remnants of war against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , went kaboom!, west of Anbar, a security source said on Sunday.
In remarks to BasNews website, the source from Anbar Operations Command, said "a landmine from the remnants of war against Islamic State, went off in an agricultural land in Rutba, west of Anbar, as the farmers were ploughing the land. A civilian was killed, while two others were maimed."
Security troops, according to the source, who preferred anonymity, "rushed to the accident spot and combed the region fearing further blasts."
The landmines, planted by the Death Eaters, "still exist due to the difficulty to reach the bombs due to shortage of explosive detectors," the source added.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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djinn-infested Mosul ... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... (IraqiNews.com) Three mobilization fighters were maimed as a booby-trapped vehicle went kaboom!, east of Mosul, a security source said on Sunday.
Speaking to BasNews,Lt. Gen. Ali al-Jasem, from the tribal fighters, said "three fighters were maimed as a booby-trapped cycle of violence, parked on a street in Kokjli region, east of Mosul, near the television station."
No further details were provided.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[IsraelTimes] Incendiary balloons from Gazoo sparked two fires in southern Israel on Sunday, firefighters said.
One blaze erupted near Kibbutz Or Haner while the second spread in the Be’eri forest. Both fires were extinguished by the fire brigade.
On Saturday night, more than 200 Israelis from communities along the Gazoo border converged on Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square, calling on the government to act to ensure their security after months marred by rocket fire that has seen them scrambling toward shelters on a regular basis.
Saturday’s rally came amid reported intensifying negotiations for a long-term ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth", in Gazoo. A day earlier, a senior Hamas official said that negotiations for a long-term ceasefire deal were in "the final stretch."
While no rockets have been launched at Israel in over a week as talks have progressed, residents of the coastal enclave have continued to release incendiary balloons at bordering Israeli towns nearly every day.
Deir Ezzor (Syria News) The Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... bandidosturbans launched an attack on the headquarters of the Syrian regime forces and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor, Enab Baladi News reported on Sunday.
The attack launched by the Islamic State targeted the area of Sbaikhan Desert, where Assad’s forces are stationed, and the areas of Abu Kamal and al-Ashrah, after the Syrian Democratic Forces bandidosturbans attempted to recapture the ISIS stronghold in the area.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy was furiously chewing her cud and thinking... the Islamic State launched another attack on the SDF headquarters near al-Melh oil well and al-Maqsam checkpoint, in the town of al-Tayaneh, while attempted to advance into the residential area in al-Omar oil field.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
08/20/2018 00:00 ||
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[ALMASDARNEWS] The Russian Air Force continued their strikes over the southern countryside of Idlib, today, targeting the jihadist rebel trenches near the Hama provincial border.
Russian jets flying out of the Hmeymim Airbase launched several Arclight airstrikes over southern Idlib, today, hitting the trenches that were raised by the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Jaish al-Izza.
The trenches were reportedly located near the Idlib Governorate towns of Sukeek and al-Taman’ah, which are future targets for the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and their allies .
In addition to the strikes by the Russians, the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) also carried out their own attack on the Hama-Idlib axis.
The Syrian Air Force reportedly targeted the Hama Governorate towns of al-Lataminah, Aleywi, Zakat, and Kafr Zita.
In the coming days, the Syrian Arab Army is expected to kickoff their long-awaited offensive to retake northern Hama and several towns in southern Idlib.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2018 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.
...a port city in the southern Lower Juba province of Somalia, at the extreme southern end of the country (assuming Somalia can be called a country). It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region...
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
