Three men were arrested and two trucks carrying weapons were seized in Orakzai Agency, a private TV channel reported on Sunday. According to the channel, the men were arrested at a police checkpost in Muhammad Khawaja area.
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01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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A ceasefire between rival factions was reached in Hangu late on Sunday, after 30 people were killed and 50 injured in sectarian clashes that broke out on Friday.
Twenty houses -- including that of the district Zakat committee chairman -- were set ablaze in fresh clashes despite an earlier truce on Sunday afternoon, as Helicopter gunships pounded 'miscreant' hideouts. A private TV channel said the house of local Awami National Party leader Yahya Qureshi was also torched.
The second ceasefire was reached in a jirga (tribal council) headed by Kohat Division Commissioner Umar Afridi around midnight, Hungu District Coordination Officer Syed Mujibur Rehman told a private TV channel. Rival groups would vacate bunkers they have captured in each other's areas and there will be a ban on the display of weapons according to the pact, jirga member Shah Hussain told the channel.
An earlier truce was rejected by one of fighting groups. The TV channel said tribal elders held talks with Taliban to persuade them to leave the district, but the Taliban refused to comply unless instructed to do so by their commander.
Officials told Daily Times that security forces would take positions in the city on Monday (today), as reinforcements arrive.
"We targeted the hideouts of miscreants with helicopter gunships," Mujibur Rehman told AFP, without giving any details about the results of the operation.
"The troublemakers have set up bunkers on hilltops and in some houses, and were firing on each other to trigger sectarian violence," he added.
The supply of electricity to the city remained suspended for the third day.
Earlier on Sunday, NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani appealed to the warring factions in Hangu to stop fighting and "demonstrate a spirit of tolerance to pave the way for restoration of peace in the area", according to a statement issued in Peshawar. "It is the need of the hour that both the factions must lay down arms and let the normal administrative process work to restore peace and resolve the grievances of the respective people."
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01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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The Taliban on Sunday chopped off ears of four private security guards in Bajaur Agency, a private TV channel said. An official told the channel that the incident took place in Danana Khar area of Khar district late on Saturday. He said the victims told him they were sitting in their tents at night when the Taliban took them hostage. They said the Taliban abducted around 18 security guards from various parts of the city and took them to an unidentified location. Later, they chopped off one ear each of Sheerin, Muhammad, Behram and Jehangir, considering them the guards' leaders, they said. The Taliban also seized arms from the 18 men and left them in Shalimar Cheena area. The channel said the victims were moved to Khar Civil Hospital for treatment. The Taliban had not claimed responsibility for the incident so far, the channel said.
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01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistani forces clashed with hundreds of foreign rebels near the border with Afghanistan, leaving six soldiers and 40 rebels dead, the military said, as masked gunmen kidnapped, a senior official on Sunday.
The fierce fighting took place late Saturday in the lawless Mohmand tribal area in northwest Pakistan, a known Taliban and al-Qaeda stronghold, the military said in a statement.
The attack was the biggest in recent months against Pakistan's security forces, who are battling to flush out militants in several areas of the country's restive northwest.
The rugged border area is a key battleground in the U.S.-led "war on terror," with rebels operating on both sides and using "safe havens" in Pakistan from which they are said to launch attacks on foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Rebels and Taliban fighters
Most of the rebels came from the Afghan side of the border, and were joined by local Taliban fighters. The combined force of about 600 militants then attacked a paramilitary Frontier Corps base near the border.
The rebels armed with mortars, rocket launchers and grenades attacked the fort at Mamad Gate -- where members of Pakistan's elite Quick Reaction Force were stationed -- from several directions, officials and witnesses told AFP.
"Frontier Corps troops repulsed a massive attack by militants on one of its locations in the area," the military said in a statement, adding that "severe fighting continued through the night".
Residents told AFP that the there were bodies left on the ground in the area.
Seven soldiers were wounded in the gun battles, the military said, adding that paramilitary troops "inflicted heavy casualties" on the rebels, without giving a figure for the enemy wounded.
Most of the attackers fled under heavy military fire, a security official told AFP. Some of the fighters surrendered, a military spokesman said later, without giving a specific figure.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Hen that lays eggs abroad
Columnist Akhtar Hussain Sheikh wrote in daily Pakistan that a retired armyman told him that Pakistan could repay all of its foreign debts by forcing Pakistanis to bring back their stashed-away dollars from abroad. This could be done by making this a precondition of election participation. The politicians would be so interested in being elected and making more money that they would bring back their own stashed-away dollars.
Do what parliament says!
Reported in Jang, parliament's powerful Special Committee on National Security called on the government to enforce its decision to adopt the policy of shooting down America drones. The Committee heard the ISI chief and other military officers before making the call.
Children uncover tank
According to Daily Pakistan, children playing near a refuse dump in Faisal Town in Lahore uncovered an armoured tank. After being informed of the find, the local police had the tank removed from the dump. It was said to have been a leftover from the 1965 war with India.
Shireen Mazari on Mumbai attacks
Quoted by Khabrain, Pakistan's top intellectual Shireen Mazari said that the Mumbai attacks were carried out by extremist Hindus and that Pakistan should not welcome American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Pakistan. Pakistan should take strong decisions when it comes under pressure from India and America.
Atom bomb not for 'shab-e-barat'
Ex-interior minister and ex-prime minister and president of PMLQ Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was quoted by Khabrain as saying that Pakistan's nuclear bomb was not made to fire on the day of shab-e-barat (annual day of fireworks). When Pakistan needs to fire the bomb, it will do so against India.
We can hit any city in India!
Nuclear scientist Dr Samar Mubarak Mand was quoted by Express as saying that Pakistan's missiles could hit any city in India and that Pakistan could fire these missiles at ten minutes' notice. He said Pakistan's test missiles weighed 30 tonnes whereas India's weighed only 10.
Indian hands at play
Quoted in daily Pakistan, politician and ex-religion minister of PMLQ Ijazul Haq said that India was behind the violence in Karachi because it was working together with CIA and Mossad. He said India blamed Pakistan without proof whereas Pakistan had proof of Indian involvement in Balochistan but it had refrained from levelling accusations.
Kasur bar gets lawyer beaten with 'joota'
According to Jang, a lawyer at Kasur district courts, Mr Mazhar Iqbal quarrelled with female lawyer Miss Afshan till the two became engaged in hatha-pai (wrestling), during which the male lawyer delivered repeated thappar (slaps) to Miss Afshan. Later Kasur Bar Association took notice of the incident and made Miss Afshan beat the male doctor with her joota (curly-toed slipper shoe). He was also suspended from Bar Association membership.
Story of 'kashkol'
Writing in daily Pakistan, Major (Retd) Muhammad Yunus stated that there had been a great dhoom (fame) of kashkol (begging bowl) for the last 20 years in Pakistan. People celebrated whenever the government of the day managed to break the kashkol. They vowed that they would stay hungry but not suffer the humiliation of going around with kashkol in hand. Today, of course, another government has again picked up the kashkol, carried out the required repairs on it before going begging anew. Now kashkol has become Pakistan's mascot.
'Khaal war' is on
Daily Aajkal quoted Allama Arshad Hassan of Jamia Ashrafiya in Lahore as saying that before every Eid al-Azha the war for the hides (khaal) was fought by one and all. In some cities, parties collected hides of sacrificed animals at gunpoint. In many cases hides were collected by one and snapped up by another. Thus many lives were lost to the khaal war. In one city, men were advised to carry guns with them when going to collect hides.
Hindu suicide bomber in Mumbai attacks
Renowned religious TV anchor Dr Amir Liaquat Hussain wrote in Jang that RAW and Israel had cooperated to stage the Mumbai attacks. This was proven by a photograph of that showed one of the terrorists wearing a sacred thread on his wrist that only Hindus are known to wear. RAW and Israel were so incompetent that they allowed the Hindu suicide bomber to keep wearing the thread while pretending to be a Muslim.
PPP and 'piyar ki peengain'
Writing in Nawa-e-Waqt, columnist Jamshed Chishti stated that India had broken all records of levelling false accusations against Pakistan but that the PPP government had fallen victim to the intense fever of promoting piyar ki peengain (flirting) with India. President Zardari was guilty of making the outrageous statement that Pakistan did not fear India and India should not fear Pakistan. And now the ghanti (bell) of danger had changed into a ghanta (giant bell) of danger.
Kashmir is the real problem
Columnist Nazir Naji wrote in Jang that the real problem between India and Pakistan was Kashmir. But it also represented a problem of Pakistani politics where all kinds of politicians tried to become powerful by championing the cause of Kashmir. It became so bad at one point that the politicians of East Pakistan began to describe Kashmir as a game played by West Pakistan politicians. Kashmir was used to empower the army and give it more resources so that it could rule Pakistan.
Columnist and tears
Writing in Express, Javed Chaudhry stated that when he saw the photograph of a little girl, Ambreen, who had died due to lack of medicine, the corners of his eyes became "filled with warm salt liquid which threatened to become rivulets coursing down his cheeks". But he made an effort to keep them balanced on his eyelashes. He did not want grief over Ambreen to flow away with his tears.
Zardari's bad move
Columnist Haroon Rashid stated in Jang that President Zardari should not have accepted that Pakistani non-state actors had attacked Mumbai because there was still no proof that anyone from Pakistan was involved. He said the Mumbai attacks had required the kind of long training that Pakistan's jihadi organisations could not have provided.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
...children playing near a refuse dump in Faisal Town in Lahore uncovered an armoured tank. After being informed of the find, the local police had the tank removed from the dump...
When I was a kid we would have never told the police about finding an old tank because we would have been having waaaaay too much fun playing in it.
Aswat al-Iraq: A leading member of al-Hadbaa National List was wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to his vehicle in western Mosul city on Sunday, a police source in Ninewa said. "Faris al-Sinjari of the al-Hadbaa National List was wounded on Sunday evening when a sticky IED attached to his vehicle went off in Qassem al-Khayyat area, western Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Al-Hadbaa is one of the lists vying for seats in the forthcoming provincial council elections in Mosul. The list is led by Atheel al-Nejeifi, the brother of Osama al-Nejeifi, a member of parliament from the Iraqi National List (INL).
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Targeted because of his current politics or his politics from 10 years ago? I often wonder how many of these individual hits are personal revenge attacks.
Aswat al-Iraq: The al-Zahraa hospital morgue received on Sunday the bodies of an Iraqi army soldier and a policeman that showed signs of having been subjected to torture, a morgue source said.
"The uniforms on the two bodies during the time they were salvaged from a river north of al-Suwayra district, (135 km) north of al-Kut city, suggested they were an army soldier and a policeman," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The morgue officials registered the signs of torture, shooting and decomposition as a result of staying in the water for a long time," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"DELIVERY!"
"Whatta ya got?"
"Couple a stiffs."
An official spokesman for the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan on Sunday accused figures from within the country's political process of collaborating with armed organizations to hinder the government's efforts in Iraq. "Security forces arrested the so-called commander-in-chief of the Ansar al-Sunna group, Tha'er Kadhem Abad Salman al-Samarraie in Baghdad's al-Yarmuk area on December 18, 2008," said Maj. General Qassem Atta during a press conference he held in Baghdad today (Jan. 11), attended by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
"The detainee has confessed to his responsibility for several bombing operations and facilitating foreign gunmen's entry into Iraq," said Atta, adding Samarraie "also confessed to having links with figures from within the political process that try to throw a spanner in the government's efforts and achievements made at the political and security levels".
The security agencies have investigated Samarraie and referred him to courts after his confessions, Atta said, not revealing any names of political figures he said involved. "The Baghdad Operations Command (BOC) believed it should be better for the integrity of the investigations not to reveal these names," he said.
The BOC chief noted that Sammarraie claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in the area of al-Muqdadiya in return for $10,000, mortar attacks on residential sections in Diala province, two car bomb blasts in al-Bayya in 2007, three car bombs in al-Hurriya area in July 2007 and killing six truck drivers in Diala. Samarraie also confessed to supervising an improvised explosive device (IED) attack that targeted the motorcade of Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) party, killing 17 policemen in Muqdadiya by setting fake checkpoints on highways, kidnapping and killing National Guard personnel in Baghdad's al-Amiriya area in collaboration with a sahwa (awakening) tribal fighter, killing a civilian man in al-Dawoudi area, overseeing sectarian-motivated forced displacement operations in al-Mansour and al-Rabie areas and detonating the house of Iraqi lawmaker Mithal al-Alusi's mother, Atta added. "Samarraie also has links with neighboring countries that would not be named for the integrity of the investigations," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder if some Iraqi politicians will be running to the nearest friendly country? Or just disappearing; somewhere.
#3
Isn't a zoo in gaza... redundant? Or, possibly, cages are just a fence line in the middle of the street, and people look at each others from each side, and throw peanuts at the funny apes over the fence??? Makes sense.
Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen battled Sunday morning on the outskirts of Gaza City in some of the most intense fighting of the week-old ground offensive as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared that Israel is "close" to achieving its goals, but is not there yet.
On the sixteenth day of war since Israel launched a surprise air assault on Gaza, Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships pushed further toward the narrow strip's main population center, Gaza City. Ambushed by fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two sides battled for five hours Sunday morning, witnesses said. The fighting left at least 27 Palestinians dead, according to medical officials in Gaza. There was no immediate report of Israeli casualties.
The tank movement was seen in Gaza as a possible precursor to a new phase of the war, one in which Israeli forces move into the territory's most densely packed urban centers and refugee camps.
In Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not directly address where the campaign would go next. But he did indicate that the war will go on. "Israel is getting close to achieving the goals it set for itself," he told his cabinet during their weekly meeting. "But patience, determination and effort are still needed to realize these goals in a manner that will change the security situation in the south."
Israel has said that it intends to eliminate or vastly reduce Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel. The rockets continued to fly Sunday, with two landing in the city of Beersheba, 25 miles from Gaza, although no major injuries were reported. On Saturday, Israeli military officials said they bombed about 60 targets, while Hamas launched about 15 rockets into southern Israel, the lowest one-day total since the war began. One rocket struck the city of Ashkelon, 12 miles north of Gaza, wounding several people.
The Palestinian death toll rose to 869 Sunday, Gazan medical officials said. Thirteen Israelis have been killed since the war began Dec. 27. Eight Palestinians were killed Saturday when a shell crashed outside a home in the Jabalya refugee camp, Gazan medical officials said. The Israeli military denied responsibility, saying its forces were not in that area.
Weary Palestinians have braced themselves for the possibility that the worst is yet to come. On Saturday, warplanes dropped leaflets warning that an escalation in the fighting was likely. Thousands of the leaflets fell out of the sky onto the Shati refugee camp, a concrete slum where about 80,000 people live along the Mediterranean Sea. The written warnings were clear: Don't help Hamas, and evacuate your homes if there are any "terrorist elements" nearby.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel has been given fair warning by the rest of the world that the status quo is no longer acceptable. As such, they are pushed to the wall. Therefore, their future plans should be directed at ushering the Paleos out of the Gaza Strip entirely, and permanently.
In an orderly manner, Israel temporarily opens the wall to Egypt, then advises Paleos that they have several hours to load up and transport everything of value, then a broad sweep begins.
They can even offer exceptions for those individuals who are too sick to be moved, and other humanitarian exceptions, for added delay. But the end result will be to no longer have Paleos in Gaza.
Then, so that Gaza just won't be empty, it should be given to Israeli Arabs to occupy as their own, but still under Israeli jurisdiction and government.
Then Israel should build not just a big wall opposite Egypt, but a deep canal as well.
#4
From Israelleycool: Israel said on Monday it was investigating how a night-vision security camera and other electronics ended up on humanitarian aid trucks bound for the war-torn Gaza Strip. The equipment was seized at the Kerem Shalom border crossing before entering the coastal enclave along with truckloads of food, medicine and other humanitarian goods, said defence official Peter Lerner.
#5
from same blog: According to army estimates (based on intelligence and information obtained by the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration), at least 400 of the palestinians killed are known Hamas operatives. Furthermore, the IDF believes that among the remaining 500, at least half are Hamas operatives. In other words, more than 750 of the 905 dead could well have been Hamas terrorists, which is a starkly different picture to the one being painted by the likes of Hamas, UNRWA, and the world media.
Israel has expanded its air campaign to the southern Gaza Strip, aiming at smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt, a network that is Gaza's lifeline to the outside world.
Israeli officials suggested the Jewish state was nearing the end of its offensive, which has killed hundreds of civilians, despite having last week waved off a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate halt to the fighting.
Israeli troops and Hamas fighters battled in some of their heaviest clashes yet and Palestinians in the densely populated neighborhoods of Gaza City
fled their homes in the face of advancing Israeli troops.
Israeli warplanes bombed more than 60 targets throughout Gaza overnight and into morning, hitting arms depots and smuggling tunnels as well as a mosque that was allegedly used to store weapons and train fighters, the army said, causing mass panic as dozens of Palestinians attempted to flee.
Troops that descended on the southern Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City encountered roadside bombs, mortar and gunfire from Palestinian fighters, witnesses said.
The troops withdrew at daybreak, but hundreds of panicked residents fled the area, clutching small children and hastily packed bags after a sleepless night.
The panic had intensified after the Israeli military dropped leaflets over Gaza City on Saturday to warn citizens that it planned to intensify its operations throughout the coastal strip.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
> Israeli warplanes bombed more than 60 targets
At last Israel is being proportional in its attacks (60 Hamas-terrorist rocket attacks a day before Israel drained the Gaza swamp).
#2
http://muqata.blogspot.com/ reports:
9:28 AM Grad missile hits near Kiryat Gat today. Officially it is the first time a rocket has been acknowledged to have hit near this town.
Kiryat Gat is the home of a large Intel manufacturing plant. A direct hit on the Intel factory could result in serious ecological damage to the immediate region (and depending on the wind, damage even further away).
9:39 AM MUQATA SCOOP: As first mentioned on this blog at the start of the war, it is now acknowledged that Hamas terrorists are hiding in bunkers built under the Shifa hospital and are connected by tunnels to the rest of Gaza. The Shifa hospital was seriously refurbished and upgraded by Israel for the Gazan residents when Israel still controlled that part of Eretz Yisrael. Many of the terrorists are hiding under Building 2 of Shifa hospital.
Israel built these "bunkers" under the hospital originally as a basement and strong foundation for Building 2 of the hospital (which Israel built). It was meant for the laundry machines and other services.
#3
Interesting you should use the B-17 photo for this story. According to Bill Gunston and several other sources, the B-17's last combat missions were flown by the IDF's two remaining examples during the 1956 war. The target was none other than Gaza.
#5
seems to me that a few arclight missions along the border should shake it up enough to collapse the tunnels.
cheers!
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/12/2009 16:00 Comments ||
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#6
Late stepfather was in, IIRC, 305th Bombardment Group, Heavy, based in Chelveston, UK. He had, um . . ., curiously unfriendly views about the "Palestinians".
The Israeli army said troops in the Golan Heights came under small arms fire from Syria on Sunday and that, although no one was hurt, it had complained to the United Nations force that monitors the frontier area. The rare incident comes amid heightened alert in Israel along its northern border as the military offensive against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip entered its third week.
"There were a number of bullets fired from Syria at an Israeli army force doing engineering work near the fence," an army spokesman said of the incident, which came amid an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that has outraged many Arabs.
"No one was hurt but a vehicle was damaged," the spokesman added. "Forces in the field are examining the incident and a complaint was sent to UNDOF which sent a team there. The circumstances of the incident are still unclear."
There was no immediate comment from Syria or from UNDOF, the U.N. force which monitors a usually quiet ceasefire line between Israeli forces on the Golan Heights and Syrian troops.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"the incident, which came amid an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that has outraged many Arabs".
ANY TIME THAT THE JEWS TRY TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IS AN OUTRAGE FOR THE ARABS...
Posted by: lena ||
01/12/2009 8:31 Comments ||
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Israeli ground forces made their deepest foray yet Sunday into Gaza's most populated area, with tanks rolling into residential neighborhoods and infantry fighting urban warfare in streets and buildings with Hamas militants who kept up their rocketing of southern Israel.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said residential neighborhoods in Gaza are riddled with homemade bombs and booby traps, including mannequins placed at apartment entrances to simulate militants and rigged to explode if soldiers approach.
The army "is advancing more into urban areas," said the spokeswoman, Maj. Avital Leibovich. "Since the majority of the Hamas militants are pretty much in hiding in those places, mainly urban places, then we operate in those areas."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Israel has begun sending reservists into the beleaguered Gaza Strip in the wake of a massive ground operation in the populated territory.
The military has started the deployment of the reservists into the strip to join the regular army in the ground operation, Israel's Channel Two reported Sunday.
Tel Aviv called up thousands of reservists shortly after the launch of Operation Cast Lead against the Gaza Strip on December 27.
Israeli authorities had earlier said that the reservists were being amassed along the Gaza border only as a precautionary measure, to avoid the 'mistakes' they made during the 33-day war on Lebanon, which led to Tel Aviv's humiliating defeat.
The operation which escalated into a ground incursion on January 3 has so far left at least 890 people killed and more than 3,800 others wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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Angry and horrified people across the world continued to protest in support of Gaza's 1.5 million people as Israel ignored world officials and citizens' calls to end its destructive 16-day assault on the poverty-stricken strip...
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This battle can't end unless BOTH parties stop fighting; Israel has stopped repeatedly and at length in the past but Hamas never has. Why don't the mobs ever take to the streets demanding Hamas stop fighting? (The IDF is taking to the streets of Gaza to demand Hamas stop fighting - does that count?)
#3
Snowing in Marseille as 15K march to support Israel. World is flat and man bites dog.
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
01/12/2009 10:27 Comments ||
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#4
Gee, it's snowing HERE, too. No marchers, no noise except the steady drone of aircraft bringing back part of the troops from Iraq to Fort Carson in a regularly scheduled rotation.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/12/2009 13:38 Comments ||
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#5
Wish I were there, we could have a cold one at the Golden Bee later this evening.
#7
just out at Fort Carson with the all amercian beef battalion. we feed a warrior transition battaliion, their wives and kids, (1,000) good kansas beef. A great experience, my first with the aabb, but not my last. www.steaksfortroops.com
#9
Poverty-stricken? I thought the Saudis who publish this fish-wrap would be glad to bail-out their Palestinian brothers. Just postpone the building of that new air-conditioned harem would bail out Gaza. No? Too much of a sacrifice?
Posted by: EA ||
01/12/2009 17:48 Comments ||
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Sri Lankan soldiers captured two Tamil Tiger rebel camps amid heavy fighting while the air force launched attacks on retreating rebels as government troops pressed ahead with their offensive against the guerrillas in the north, the military said on Sunday.
The military has achieved a string of major victories against the rebels in recent months -- including the capture of the Tamil Tiger administrative capital of Kilinochchi a week ago. The government has vowed to crush the separatist guerrillas and end the Indian Ocean island nation's 25-year-old civil war in the coming months. Air force fighter jets bombed retreating Tamil rebels on Sunday and destroyed a rebel boat in a lagoon near the village of Chundikulam on the Jaffna peninsula, the military said in a statement.
The Sri Lankan defence ministry has said the security forces are ready to deal a "decisive blow" to the rebels after the capture of the strategic Elephant Pass on Friday.
As the soldiers advance into the rapidly shrinking rebel territory, the rebels retreat southward to their last stronghold of Mullaittivu where they were expected to make a stand after months of government offensives. On Saturday, soldiers captured a guerrilla camp in the village of Aiyamperumal in Mullaittivu, the military said in a separate statement.
Soldiers separately seized a rebel training camp near the village of Mulliyaweli, also in Mullaitivu, on Friday. There were underground bunkers and an auditorium in the camp, the statement said.
Both military statements did not provide details of casualties.
Separately, the military said soldiers found three bodies of Tamil rebels killed in fighting in Waddakachchi in the Kilinochchi district. Rebel spokesmen could not be reached for comment on the fighting. Independent verification of battlefield reports released by the two sides is not possible because journalists are barred from the war zone.
Civilians: Meanwhile, the pro-rebel TamilNet website reported that four civilians were killed on Saturday night in a government artillery assault on a rebel-held village in Mullaitivu.
Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara denied the rebel claim and said the military attacks only identified rebel positions. Human rights groups have warned that casualties among the hundreds of thousands of civilians living in the shrinking pocket of rebel territory are likely to mount as the government closes in on the insurgents. The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of marginalisation by governments controlled by the Sinhalese majority.
The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a New Year's address that 2009 would be the year of "heroic victory" over the Tigers. The leader of the Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, vowed in a radio broadcast late last year to fight on, and his guerrillas have frustrated government hopes of victory many times before.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
any sign of the 100K civilians missing from kilonochi
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/12/2009 16:05 Comments ||
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#2
WORLD MIL FORUM [paraph = Google Chinglish translation]> IIUC CHINESE MILITARY, ECONOMIC AID ALLOWS SRI LANKA TO CONTROL THEIR OWN COUNTRY; + [also IIUC]INDIAN MEDIAS: CHINA's STRATEGIC REDEPLOYMENT OF TWO PLA ARMY DIVISIONS TO AKSAI CHIN REGION ILLUSTRATES "CHINA'S NATIONAL HOSTILITY"[Face] TO INDIA.
I always hate to ask, but if you've got it to spare, please contribute. The Pay Pal button's to the right. Amazon did away with Amazon Honor System, so Pay Pal's the only way to go at the moment.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/12/2009 08:53 ||
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#1
Just had to renew the local rag yesterday but I read Rantburg a lot more. Keep up the good work, Fred.
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 ceasefire between rival factions was reached in Hangu late on Sunday, after 30 people were killed and 50 injured in sectarian clashes that broke out on Friday.
The Taliban on Sunday chopped off ears of four private security guards in Bajaur Agency, a private TV channel said. An official told the channel that the incident took place in Danana Khar area of Khar district late on Saturday. He said the victims told him they were sitting in their tents at night when the Taliban took them hostage. They said the Taliban abducted around 18 security guards from various parts of the city and took them to an unidentified location. Later, they chopped off one ear each of Sheerin, Muhammad, Behram and Jehangir, considering them the guards' leaders, they said. The Taliban also seized arms from the 18 men and left them in Shalimar Cheena area. The channel said the victims were moved to Khar Civil Hospital for treatment. The Taliban had not claimed responsibility for the incident so far, the channel said.
Pakistani forces clashed with hundreds of foreign rebels near the border with Afghanistan, leaving six soldiers and 40 rebels dead, the military said, as masked gunmen kidnapped, a senior official on Sunday. 
Hen that lays eggs abroad
Aswat al-Iraq: A leading member of al-Hadbaa National List was wounded in a blast from an improvised explosive device (IED) attached to his vehicle in western Mosul city on Sunday, a police source in Ninewa said. "Faris al-Sinjari of the al-Hadbaa National List was wounded on Sunday evening when a sticky IED attached to his vehicle went off in Qassem al-Khayyat area, western Mosul," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Aswat al-Iraq: The al-Zahraa hospital morgue received on Sunday the bodies of an Iraqi army soldier and a policeman that showed signs of having been subjected to torture, a morgue source said.
An official spokesman for the Fardh al-Qanoon security plan on Sunday accused figures from within the country's political process of collaborating with armed organizations to hinder the government's efforts in Iraq. "Security forces arrested the so-called commander-in-chief of the Ansar al-Sunna group, Tha'er Kadhem Abad Salman al-Samarraie in Baghdad's al-Yarmuk area on December 18, 2008," said Maj. General Qassem Atta during a press conference he held in Baghdad today (Jan. 11), attended by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Israel has expanded its air campaign to the southern Gaza Strip, aiming at smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt, a network that is Gaza's lifeline to the outside world. 
Israeli ground forces made their deepest foray yet Sunday into Gaza's most populated area, with tanks rolling into residential neighborhoods and infantry fighting urban warfare in streets and buildings with Hamas militants who kept up their rocketing of southern Israel.
Israel has begun sending reservists into the beleaguered Gaza Strip in the wake of a massive ground operation in the populated territory. 
Angry and horrified people across the world continued to protest in support of Gaza's 1.5 million people as Israel ignored world officials and citizens' calls to end its destructive 16-day assault on the poverty-stricken strip...
