US-led troops killed one suspected militant and detained six others, including one with alleged links to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in a string of raids in eastern Afghanistan, the American military said on Friday.
Troops from the US-dominated coalition and Afghan soldiers detained two of the militants in a raid on Wednesday near the eastern city of Jalalabad, a coalition statement said. The pair had ties to suicide attacks and heroin production, the statement said. At least one suspect is believed to have ties to reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and has been involved in anti-government and anti-coalition activities in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
It did not give their names or elaborate on the link to Omar. Further south, coalition and Afghan troops killed a man and detained four other suspected militants after they refused requests for peaceful surrender during a raid in Paktika province on Wednesday, a separate statement said.
The man was shot and killed for displaying a hostile intent toward the combined force, it said. Raids in three eastern provinces also turned up three weapons and ammunition caches, containing rockets, mortars and 11 cases of anti-aircraft artillery rounds, the coalition said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
(Xinhua) -- Kenyan prosecutors have dropped illegal immigration charges against a wealthy Somali businessman accused of financing Somalia's Islamist movement.
Kenyan authorities arrested Abukar Omar Aden and his son on the border between Kenya and Somalia last month after Ethiopia-backed Somali transitional government troops routed the former powerful Islamists in December. The prosecutors confirmed on Friday they had dropped charges on Thursday for the 72-year-old Aden who had pleaded guilty to being in Kenya illegally but argued that he should be given protection because he was fleeing for his life.
Fleeing from the violence he instigated.
Prosecutor Vincent Wohoro did not give a reason why the charges against Aden were dropped but said he was set free following instructions from the country's Attorney-General Amos Wako.The wheelchair-bound Aden is believed to have been a major source of funding for Somalia's now-defeated Supreme Council of Islamic Courts.
This article starring:
Abukar Omar Aden
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
give him the Leon Klinghoffer treatment
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2007 7:34 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I wonder if he payed to get out or sold out his Christmas Ramadan card list?
Also wonder if they let him stay in Kenya or kick his wheelchair out of the country?
Moroccan security forces urged citizens on Friday to help them hunt two men with suspected al Qaeda links as the country remained on high alert after a string of bomb attacks earlier this week in neighbouring Algeria.
Arabic-language daily al Maghribia, which is close to the government, said authorities had information indicating al Qaeda operatives were attempting to infiltrate via Algeria. Security sources said Moroccan authorities had some intelligence information about a possible al Qaeda attack, but lacked details.
Following a meeting of top security officials, authorities named the two men as Aziz Chaguan and Abdelhali Chairi and said they had suspected links to Algeria's Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb.
The Islamist rebel group, previously known as Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), has stepped up a campaign of bombings and ambushes in Algeria in recent months. It claimed responsibility for the seven bombs which exploded almost simultaneously on Tuesday, killing six people east of the capital Algiers. Moroccan authorities last launched a public call for help in rounding up suspects in 2003 after suicide bombings killed 45 people in Casablanca, the kingdom's commercial capital.
This article starring:
ABDELHALI CHAIRI
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
AZIZ CHAGUAN
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
Al Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
(AKI) - Moroccan police have discovered a terrorist group of Salafite Jihadists believed to be close to al-Qaeda operating in the city of Meknes, 130 kilometres north of Rabat, local daily Al-Ittihad al-Ishtiraki reported on Friday. Officials reportedly arrested Wednesday seven people accused of belonging to the armed group. After questioning, four of them were released while the other three were formally charged of planning attacks against hotels in Meknes and the literature department of the local university. Police also said the suspects had explosives, but did not provide further details.
The three men currently detained were convicted in the past for belonging to a local Islamist radical group. Investigators believe the cell could have been in contact with the 'Organization of al-Qaeda in the countries of Arab Maghreb' - the self-proclaimed heir of the Algerian Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) which has claimed responsibility for attacks in Algeria this week in which at least seven people died.
Morocco has been cracking down on Islamic fundamentalist groups ever since a terror attack in Casablanca in 2003 killed 45 people. Over 3,000 people have reportedly been arrested since then. Hundreds are still detained after being convicted of terrorism charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hundreds are still detained after being convicted of terrorism charges.
No, no. Suspects and arrestees are detained. Convicts are imprisoned for the length of their sentences, unless pardoned or walk out of French jails dressed in civilian clothing.
#5
It's the way www.adnki.com writes its titles, and the way they're copied/pasted here in RB (note that when I post from that news agency, I rewrite the title, being shy and discreet and very meek and all).
(AKI) - Algerian police killed 26 alleged Islamic militants and arrested 35 suspects in an anti-terror operation on Thursday following a round of deadly attacks in Tizi Ouzu and Bourmedes, in Algeria's eastern Kabylia area, claimed by an al-Qaeda-linked group in Algeria, Arabic satellite television al-Jazeera reported on Friday. The police operation took place in the mountain area of Qashra, near the eastern city of Skikda, where many militants are believed to be hiding.
The Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb - previously called the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) - has claimed responsibility for the series of explosions on Tuesday that killed six and wounded another 20. Leaders of the terror group are reportedly among the militants killed by police on Thursday.
The GSPC is believed to have recently changed its name to the Organisation of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb after it pledged allegiance last year to the international terror network led by Osama bin Laden. The insurgency is now conducted by the GSPC with an estimated 500 militants, significantly less than in the 1990s when some 30,000 insurgents operated in the country. Militant strongholds are located in Algeria's mountains and parts of the southern desert.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
A court on Friday sentenced seven Muslim men to life in prison and several dozen other people to lesser terms for their involvement in the deadly bombings of Jewish and British sites here in 2003. The bombings killed more than 60 people and wounded hundreds more. Suicide bombers drove four explosive-laden trucks into two synagogues, the British Consulate and the HSBC headquarters here in two coordinated attacks five days apart. HSBC is a London-based banking and financial services company.
After a judge read their sentences, some of those convicted shouted, Long live hell for nonbelievers! and another yelled, God is great!
The life sentences were given to those who were determined to have been masterminds of the plot. Six of the seven denied any links with Al Qaeda and sought acquittal. The judge sentenced 41 other defendants to prison terms ranging from 3 to 18 years on a variety of charges, while 26 defendants were acquitted.
One of those who drew a life term was Louai al-Sakka, a Syrian whom security officials have described as a senior member of the Qaeda network in Iraq. He was found guilty of planning the attacks and providing financing.
Mr. Sakka was arrested in 2005 in Turkey while, according to the authorities, he was preparing a suicide attack on an Israeli cruise ship that was to carry tourists to Antalya, a Turkish Mediterranean port. At the time, the police said plans for the attack and high-powered explosives had been found at his residence.
Earlier this week, local news organizations said Turkish intelligence officials had told them that Al Qaeda had planned to kidnap Mr. Sakka on the way to the courthouse, a warning that prompted heavy security for the last two days of the trial.
Fridays session was dominated by another defendant, Harun Ilhan, who proudly declared himself a member of Al Qaeda and declared that he had been the ringleader of the four Istanbul bombings. He read from a 700-page defense that he carried in a plastic grocery bag, spending more than four hours reading 83 pages about his hatred of the Turkish state and social deterioration in non-Muslim societies before the judge interrupted, asking him to summarize the rest.
Mr. Ilhan refused, saying, You have this one-time chance to see why Ive done this, became a member of Al Qaeda, how Al Qaeda works and has been supported worldwide, but youre just shutting me up. After a brief exchange, the judge found Mr. Ilhan in contempt of court and ordered him out of the courtroom, but he refused to move and was carried out by five army guards.
Erkan Gabi Talu, 39, who lost his 8-year-old daughter, Annette Rubinstein Talu, and his mother, Anna Kant Talu, in one of the attacks, watched as Mr. Ilhan was removed. He said he was disappointed to have been denied access to the courtroom at the time of the sentencing. Ive been waiting for all these years to see their faces at time of the verdict, but Im denied this moment of limited joy, Mr. Talu said. In my next visit to her grave, I wished to tell my daughter that she could rest in peace, but with all these acquittals and mild jail terms, I will not be able to do that.
#2
So you're the guy who writes about 'rounds of bullet'!
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2007 11:27 Comments ||
Top||
#3
So what's the line on these 7 serving their time or being traded for a 'hostage to be named later' or escaped? Any mosques or girls schools nearby (w/in tunneling distance)?
(AKI) - An Istanbul court was expected later Friday to reach a verdict on a trial of 73 suspects - 64 still at large - in a series of bombings three years ago against two synagogues, the British consulate and the HSBC bank in the Turkish city. Sixty-two people were killed in the bombings which took place on 20 November 2003. Six of the 9 detainees presented their final defence on Thursday, while the remaining three including a Syrian, Loai Mohammad Haj Bakr al-Saqa - who prosecutors alleged was the mastermind of the attacks on behalf of al-Qaeda - began with theirs on Friday morning.
Police increased security between the prison and the courthouse after US intelligence officials reportedly warned Turkish security authorities of an al-Qaeda plan to rescue al-Saqa. Turkish authorities did not comment on the reports.
Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for 32 year-old al-Saqa, who is charged with masterminding the attacks and with giving Turkish militants about 170,000 US dollars to carry them out. Prosecutors allege Osama bin Laden had personally ordered al-Saqa to carry out the attacks. Al-Saqa was captured by Turkish police in Diyarbakir nearly 1.5 years ago when he was allegedly planning a suicide attack against Israeli cruise ships transportng tourists to Turkish resorts.
Al-Saqa has reportedly admitted of plotting the attack against the Israeli ships. "You're not judging me, but judging the resistance in Iraq. I shall be patient and I will pray while my fellow brothers continue the Jihad," al-Saqa was quotes as saying by the Dogan News Agency.
This article starring:
LOAI MOHAMAD HAJ BAKR AL SAQA
al-Qaeda in Turkey
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
That's a clemency request? he's a dead idiot.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/17/2007 9:21 Comments ||
Top||
#2
give him the Midnight Express DVD....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2007 9:34 Comments ||
Top||
Senate Republicans today blocked a floor vote on a House-passed resolution that expresses disapproval of President Bush's plan to send thousands of additional U.S. troops to Iraq, as a procedural motion to cut off debate on the measure fell short of the 60 votes needed.
It was the second time this month that minority Republicans successfully filibustered a nonbinding resolution opposing the troop buildup. Senators voted 56-34 to invoke cloture and proceed to a floor vote on the resolution, with seven Republicans joining all the chamber's Democrats in calling for an end to the debate. But the motion fell four votes short of the threshold needed under Senate rules.
Most Republicans objected to a rule barring amendments to the resolution and demanded a vote on a separate measure that pledges not to cut off funding for troops in the field.
The seven weasel Republican senators who broke ranks with their colleagues and voted in favor of the cloture motion were John W. Warner (Va.), Chuck Hagel (Neb.), Norm Coleman (Minn.), Gordon Smith (Ore.), Olympia Snowe (Me.), Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Susan M. Collins (Me.). Warner is the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He was a principal sponsor, along with Collins and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), of a resolution that criticized the troop buildup and urged Bush to consider alternatives. That nonbinding resolution failed to pass the same procedural hurdle on Feb. 5.
Ten senators -- nine Republicans and one Democrat who is ill -- did not vote today. Among those not present was Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a contender for the Republican presidential nomination next year. Several other senators who are in the running returned to Washington for the vote, including Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who cut short an appearance in New Hampshire.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/17/2007 16:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
MSM Spin:
Dems blocking action in Congress = "courageous"
GOP blocking action in Congress = "obstructionist"
#2
Quote to good to pass up: Victor Davis Hanson, "The Democratic Party reminds me of the Republicans circa 1965 or soimpotent, shrill, no ideas, conspiratorial, reactive, out-of-touch with most Americans, isolationist, and full of embarrassing spokesmen."
Nonetheless, this whole episode, and the surrounding national whining and hissy fit, are the most discouraging and troubling thing I can recall. It's not like the 60s or even 70s (was young but aware), when major social and other transitions/reforms were occurring. The Dems have (mostly) assumed a ferocious, reckless, empty, bad-faith approach to national security, on several fronts, not just Iraq.
I am succeeding in avoiding almost all coverage/info on this stuff, but I did catch a quote from a new Congressman (Murphy, Iraq vet). Just a sound-bite, but still amazing and damning - something about risking our best/bravest to "referee" a civil war. As if Iraq wasn't a civil war since summer '03 (unacknowledged, "fought" intermittently and confusingly against the Sunni center-of-gravity by MNF-I and Casey and Zal with way too little force and way too much patience on political engagement), as if a "civil war" is somehow something we shouldn't touch even if it's in our interest to do so, as if a "civil war" is magical and not amenable to the application of power.
The Dems have managed to whine and complain and undercut for literally years without offering a single interesting substantive criticism. Only the myths and poorly reasoned crap we hear from most commentators: disbanding the pre-disbanded and in any case useless Iraqi army, not starting with enough troops even though we would have quickly withdrawn most of any additional complement as there was nothing to do for months after the invasion and as if the mission, strategy, and ROE were not the problem, but merely the head-count. Capped by .... well, nothing. Just pull out, disengage. Not even a head fake at an alternative stragegy, not a hint of a responsible adult proposal to promote our interests, much less redeem the sunk cost of sacrifices to date.
Even fresh Iraq vets going to the dome under Dem labels can't manage to say anything more intelligent or substantive or serious than the dumbest hack back-bencher from some gerrymandered "for life" district.
And then the Republicans .... but that's enough for now.
#4
Here's the letter I just e-mailed to the Editor of the WaPo. I doubt they'll print it.
February 17, 2007
To the Editor, Washington Post:
Allow me to offer a short, to-the-point summary of the Democrats disgraceful lets surrender now before we win resolution (and make no mistake, even with a few Republican votes, it is the Democrats resolution). Perhaps if when they try this again, they can use the summary below to avoid any misunderstanding and save everybody a lot of time and verbiage.
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall NO LONGER pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty. Particularly the liberty of Arabs. And particularly if a Republican is in the White House.
That whirring sound you hear is JFK spinning in his grave
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/17/2007 18:04 Comments ||
Top||
#5
The Dems have managed to whine and complain and undercut for literally years without offering a single interesting substantive criticism.
The democrats have defined the debate without the republicans even challenging them about it. For almost four long years we have heard this constant cry of "Bush lied" trying to reneg on their vote for war. They need to be publically called to account for this perfidy.
Now that the left has demonstrated it controls the democratic party it is time now to hit back hard. They have been defining the debate and now they have their debate.
We need to paint them with the same brush that have been using to define the debate and reverse their commitment to war.
How about this:
"The democrats think the Iraq War is a Ninetendo video game, one which they can hit reset when things aren't going well.
Tell your congressman war is serious. You can't hit reset then walk away. Commitment to liberty and lives are at stake.
Tell the democrats NO to defeat..."
Give ME a large budget for media buys and I will wreck the left's drive to kill more Americans within 18 months
#7
When I went looking to the Weael list, I was expecting John McKerry's name to show up there, but that spineless POS didn't even have the balls to vote, EITHER WAY! At one time, I was an avid supporter of Big John, but then I took some EX-LAX and the feeling pased. And he wants to be Prez??? NFW!
#9
With the recent passage of the non-binding resolution against the Troop Surge, I have to make this comment. Clearly the Democrats do not understand the War on Terror or for that matter, what it really is, the war against radical islam. The Democrats believe the War on Terror is an overblown Bush administration tactic and that the War in Iraq does not figure into this at all. Twenty minutes of Googling will provide even a child with how the radical islamists feel about all this.
So now, as a Republican, who was thankful that a Democrat was not President on 9/11, I feel now that I will have to vote for a Democrat President in 08. My hope is that we will have a Democrat president and a Democrat controlled Congress. This may be the only way that we can unify the country on the seriousness of the threat of radical Islam. These guys arent going away, no matter who is in office. With the Democrats fully in charge in 09, they will have to deal head on with this threat. Sure, they will be able to blame any terrorist strike on U.S. soil on George Bush for probably a year or so into their administration. But after about 2010, they will have to step up to the plate and all of America will have the opportunity to see what the Murthas, Pelosis, Feingolds, Obamas, Hillarys, et al, are made of when a nuclear device is detonated in one of our major cities. They will have two choices. They will either fold, kowtow, politic, delay, create commissions to explore options, negotiate, OR they will return to the Democrat Party of FDR and JFK and act decisively against radical islam. Hopefully, rags like the New York Times and Washington Post will not openly discuss or harm their tactics if the Democrats choose to act. Hillary, Obama, Gore, . . . It doesnt matter who is in the White House but it has to be a Democrat for them to truly get it on this new form of global cold war. If a Republican is elected president, the terror threat will not go away but we will have another 4 or 8 years of a Democrat controlled Congress and a liberal press doing everything it can to destroy the ability of our military to do its job.
No past administration dealt with the rising threat of radical Islam until we were actually hit on our homeland on 9/11. At that time, it was a Republican President. To respond to this threat, Bush had to break new ground. The cold war started after WWII and a succession of administrations, state departments, congresses shaped a policy to deal with that threat and each successive president built upon past successes and failures. Sure this administration has made mistakes but like the beginning of the cold war, we, that is, We Americans, are shaping policies to deal with this new threat. The Democrats need to be placed in the frying pan to either help shape this policy or get out of the way. Sadly, they have painted themselves into a the corner of wussys and if they are in charge after 08, Americans will die as they figure out if they have the mettle to deal with radical islam.
#10
#9: "With the Democrats fully in charge in 09, they will have to deal head on with this threat."
No, they won't.
They'll continue to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic, even as they continue to make excuses for the iceberg.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/17/2007 23:17 Comments ||
Top||
#11
I can't agree with you, VietVet68. The United States may not survive having a Democratically-controlled government after 2008. Between the stupidity over the war against islamism, global "warming", tighter control of EVERYTHING, and higher taxes, things can (and probably will) get much worse under a Democrat in the White House.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/17/2007 23:26 Comments ||
Top||
A SUICIDE bomber in Pakistan killed 16 people, including a judge, in a courtroom in the city of Quetta overnight in the latest attack in a series of suicide blasts to have sent shudders through the country.
Intelligence officials have attributed other attacks to sectarian Sunni militants linked to al-Qaeda and groups operating from tribal areas, regarded as hotbeds of support for the Taliban.
Police made a string of arrests this week, including two suicide bomb teams caught in southern Pakistan.
The bomb in Quetta exploded while a lower court was in session. A senior judge and six lawyers were among those killed, police in the capital of Baluchistan province said.
"According to our reports a man entered the room and blew himself up. A head has been found," Baluchistan province Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf said.
"It could be a continuation of what is happening in other parts of the country."
At least 25 people were injured and police chief Rahu Khan Brohi said six of them were in a critical condition.
The suicide attacks started after an army air strike on a militant base in South Waziristan tribal region in mid-January.
Including the death toll from Quetta, nearly 45 people have been killed in bomb attacks since then, as militants have sought to destabilise President Pervez Musharraf's government and weaken his resolve to confront the Taliban, al Qaeda and their allies.
Police arrested two suicide bomb teams in southern Sindh province yesterday, and identified them as factions of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim sectarian militant group that has established ties with al-Qaeda.
One team of three militants was captured after a gunfight in the southern city of Karachi, and another team of three was caught in the evening boarding a train at Sukkur, 515 km northeast of the port city.
"We found explosives, splinters, circuits and jackets used in suicide bombings, as well as Jihadi literature on them," district police officer Mazhar Nawaz said from Sukkur.
Police said the militants arrested in Karachi and Sukkur had been planning attacks on Pakistan's Muslim Shi'ite minority at the end of the holy month of Muharram, which falls in the first week of March.
On Thursday, police arrested two members of Laskar-e-Jhangvi in Rawalpindi, the garrison town next door to Islamabad.
Road blocks had been set up in Islamabad, and police were stopping and questioning drivers of small cars, taxis and trucks. Foreign embassies have told their staff to limit their travel in the capital.
Officials in Quetta were unsure who carried out today's blast.
"Initially we suspect nationalist extremists, as well as Afghan Taliban could be behind the attack," Razak Bugti, a spokesman for the Baluchistan government, said.
Television footage from the wrecked courthouse showed people and police walking through pools of blood, collecting belongings. Body parts and torn clothes could be seen all around.
Pakistan has been under mounting pressure from the United States and Afghanistan to tackle Taliban sanctuaries on its territory.
Taliban leaders are widely believed to be operating from in and around Quetta, capital of the restive province of Baluchistan, though Pakistan consistently denies their presence.
Baluchistan is also beset with unrest due to ethnic Baluch militants, who are fighting for greater autonomy.
A judge and 12 others were killed Saturday when a powerful bomb exploded inside a courtroom in a southwestern Pakistani province that has seen intense civil conflict for years, police said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack at the District Courts complex in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. "I confirm that that the civil judge Abdul Wahid has died in the bomb explosion," said Afaq Zahid, an area police chief. Rauf Khan, the city police chief, said the blast killed 13 people, including Wahid, five lawyers and relatives of some of the defendants.
"At this stage it is difficult to say whether it was a suicide attack or some one had planted the bomb there," he said. Bomb disposal experts are still investigating to determine nature of the attack.
Government forces have clashed with ethnic Baluch rebels in the vast desert province, scene of long-running unrest over political rights and royalties from rich natural gas fields.
And by the way, it's George Bush's fault:
The conflict in the sparsely populated and impoverished region has drawn little attention from Western nations more concerned about Taliban militants believed to launch attacks from border regions of Baluchistan into Afghanistan, where NATO forces operate. Humanitarian concerns emerged in the spring amid reports that tens of thousands of Baluch people had fled their homes in the volatile districts of Dera Bugti and Kohlu. In August, a UNICEF survey counted 84,000 displaced and recommended to the provincial government that they needed help.
TANK: A blast ripped through the main market of Tank district on Friday, but no loss of life was reported. According to police sources, unknown assailants had planted the homemade bomb near the house of Akhter Nawaz, a resident of the area. The blast slightly damaged Nawazs house, but there were no casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Law enforcement agencies seized a hand grenade from a playground near Prime Ministers House on Friday. Sikandar Hayat, senior superintendent of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police, said that the hand grenade was old and unable to explode. He said that some children were playing in the ground in Muslim Colony when they saw a hand grenade. He added that the children immediately informed the police who reached there with the Bomb Disposal Squad and defused the grenade. It is the third incident in the last 10 days in which rockets and hand grenades have been found in the precincts of the Secretariat Police Station.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
A new initiative to ban tinted windows has been launched in North Waziristan to strengthen the September 5 accord between the government and pro-Taliban militants, said a senior cleric said Friday. Maulvi Gul Ramzan said a major decision had been made to launch a campaign against vehicles with tinted windows from Friday.
Tinted vehicles are frequently used in attacks. In Mir Ali, one of North Waziristans main towns, local Taliban set about taking off black plastic paper from the windows of around 150 vehicles, including some owned by foreigners. We all are making fresh efforts to strengthen the accord and restore peace in Waziristan, the cleric told Daily Times over the telephone.
Vehicles with tinted windows were being driven in the area both by militants and others, leading to a sense of insecurity among ordinary tribesmen. The move comes amidst growing concerns that with the start of an expected spring offensive by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the US and NATO forces might hit Waziristan in retaliation if pro-Taliban militants continued using Pakistani soil against them.
According to sources, the new initiative was launched following the governments threat that attacks like the one on January 22 near Mir Ali would not be tolerated and North Waziristan was likely to face military action if the accord was not implemented properly. With the expected spring offensive in Afghanistan, there is increasing concern among ordinary tribesmen that North Waziristan may return to bloody clashes it faced in 2006, tribal elders told to Daily Times.
Maulvi Ramzan said various jirgas had been held over the last two days to deliberate on fresh initiatives to strengthen the accord. He denied that foreign militants were taking shelter in North Waziristan. The tribal elders said that the January 22 suicide attack on military convoy near Mir Ali was a serious setback to the accord and the signatories of the deal were warned of serious consequences if it did not stop. Ramzan said the Mir Ali attack was being investigated.
Militant commander Baitullah Mehsud has vowed to avenge a military airstrike in Zamazola, South Waziristan. Baitullah Mehsud does not belong to North Waziristan, so we have no business with him, said Ramzan.
This article starring:
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
Wazir Taliban
Maulvi Gul Ramzan
Zamazola
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) Police raided a house in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Friday and arrested three suspected suicide bombers identified as Muhammad Shahid, Muhammad Farhan and Ghani Subhan. The police also seized three hand grenades, two pistols, one AK-47 assault rifle and a suicide jacket from the suspects possession. Police said that the three suspects belonged to a group headed by Al Qaeda leader Qari Zafar and they had been especially sent to Karachi from Wana to carry out terrorist activities and suicide attacks.
The police claimed that the bombers first target was Expo 2006, but they changed their plan because of tight security at the venue. The police added that the men then planned to attack Ashura processions in the city, but law enforcement agencies tightened security and foiled their plan yet again following intelligence reports that a group of suicide attackers was heading towards Karachi from Dera Ismail Khan.
CID SP Fayyaz Khan said that the suspected terrorists had now planned to attack chehlum processions. He said that Shahid and Farhan belonged to Hyderabad while Ghani Subhan was from Wana. Police sources said that after initial interrogation, law enforcement agencies had arrested another 10 people from various areas of Karachi. They added that the suspected terrorists had named Maulvi Abbas, Commander Javed and Qari Zafar as operators of their group, while their leaders were in Wana.
This article starring:
COMANDER JAVED
al-Qaeda
Dera Ismail Khan
GHANI SUBHAN
al-Qaeda
MAULVI ABAS
al-Qaeda
MUHAMAD FARHAN
al-Qaeda
MUHAMAD SHAHID
al-Qaeda
QARI ZAFAR
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
(Xinhua) -- A missile exploded on Friday in northern Pakistan's Rawalpindi, near the capital, killing one person and injuring three others, according to a local news agency report. The missile exploded when hit by a sharp instrument during digging in the site of a small school bags shop near food street, the private News Network International news agency quoting an eyewitness reported.
The missile is believed to be left of a huge blast in the ammunition depot of Ojhri camp, in April 1988, where a dump was used for stockpiling of heavy weapons during Afghan war against former Soviet Union, said the NNI report. Officials also confirmed the missiles and rockets, are still dumped in different areas of Rawalpindi, especially in areas near the camp site, according to NNI. The shop was also damaged in the blast, which also caused minor damage to walls of several nearby shops.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
It must have been the Old Oaken Rocket...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
02/17/2007 6:04 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Pakistani PM at the time Mohammed Junejo was fired by General Zia Ul Haq when he attempted to prosecute the Pak Generals behind the Ojhri blast.
The main Pak army ammunition dump for the Afghan jihad, it exploded on April 10, 1988 killing thousands of people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
According to Junejo's report, Generals Akhtar Rahman and Hamid Gul were the main culprits. The dump, which served as a store for US supplied arms for the Afghan "mujahedeen", had been blown up deliberately just before the arrival of a US defense audit team, to cover up the fact that a large amount of weapons, including Stinger missiles had been stolen. Some had been given to Pakistani jihadi groups to use in Indian Kashmir but most were sold off to Iran, China and other countries, making some Pak Generals millionaires.
Posted by: John Frum ||
02/17/2007 7:55 Comments ||
Top||
#4
And blowing up an arms dump located in the middle of a heavily populated area, killing thousands, was not a problem for the Generals.
The Pak army has no problems killing its own people.
Posted by: John Frum ||
02/17/2007 7:58 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Looks like a tough day at "Ye Olde Small School Bag and Missile Shop". I hope Mutual of Rawalpindi has been notified...
A mystery weapon found in a Mosul weapons cache in 2005.
NEW YORK The photo of a "mystery weapon" found by GIs and a Web journalist in Iraq two years ago has captured the imagination of bloggers around the world eager to answer the question: What is it?
The photo, which shows what appears to be a weapon, about 3-feet long, resembling a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launcher, was taken by Michael Yon, a writer and photographer currently based in Iraq. He photographed the "weapon" in 2005 as he was cataloging a huge cache of munitions discovered by Iraqi police under a barn in Mosul and later destroyed by the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment.
As U.S. military officials linked Iran to the Iraq weapons-supply chain on Sunday, Yon scanned his photos from the Mosul horde and decided to post the photo to his blog, www.michaelyon-online.com, prompting hundreds of responses to what it could possibly be.
"It's got everybody and their grandmother wondering what the thing is and nobody really seems to know," said Yon, a former special ops weapons specialist.
Bloggers surmised the item could be anything from a homemade RPG to a Palestinian-made anti-tank launcher called the Yasin.
Yon said the weapon was part of the largest cache of munitions he's seen in Iraq a storehouse of arms he dubbed the "Devil's Foyer" that included RPGs, surface-to-air missiles, blasting caps, anti-tank mines, mortar rounds, anti-personnel mines and the as-of-yet unidentified firing object.
"If I saw that anywhere other than amongst all those other weapons, I would have said, 'What in the world is that thing?" Yon told FOXNews.com by phone from Baghdad. "'Maybe it's some kind of potato launcher.'"
FOXNews.com circulated the photo on Thursday to military weapons experts and received the following responses:
"On closer inspection, the launcher on the bottom is a Chinese Type 69 launcher. The object in the foreground is not a rocket, but is an RPG-2 or RPG-7 launcher. The front area is missing the heat shield and is a little scorched, but you can see the brown baked heat shield clearly where the launcher would rest on your shoulder. You can also see the small carry handle on top. It's an older model with iron sights. The green launcher on the top looks to be a Hezbollah manufactured improvised 57mm electrical firing system. It can fire Soviet 57mm rockets. The power source and firing mechanism should all be contained in the grip stock/rear handle. If they take it apart, the batteries may give it all away. There are probably traceable markings on the batteries."
"From the round in the foreground, it's clearly an RPG launcher of some sort. I've looked through all my "Janes: Weapons of the World" [books] and can't find anything like it. My first thought: it's homemade. A close look at how close the butt-stock is to the rear of the launcher tells me that the shooter will be hard of hearing when he meets the 72 virgins."
"Looks kind of Eastern European, or maybe... made in Al Qaeda shop class and stole the scope off daddy's hunting rifle... look for [someone] with a bloody ear and singed hair."
"My guess is that this is a mock up of a weapon, or an improvised munition. For one thing, the telescopic site is attached to a plate that is welded on. Second, both the front handle and the butt are screwed on notice the screw holes on both at the bottoms. This would impair the integrity of the barrel, making it liable to explode if it were fired. Next, the butt end of the weapon is too close to the rear of the weapon, and there is no blast shield. Finally, if you measure the projectile, which has a firing pin at the bottom (the small dot) and hold the measurement up to the barrel of the weapon, the trigger is about two inches short of the firing pin. One thing I do know is that if this thing were going to work, it would take an extended trigger mechanism... It also could be a refitted German-made Armbrust recoiless rifle, fitted with a grenade launcher on front, to hold RPG rounds. It is, by any definition, an improvised munition."
Whatever it is, Yon told FOXNews.com that he and the rest of the troops on site couldn't figure it out, and he hasn't seen another one like it.
Nathan Hodge, a reporter at Jane's Defence Weekly, couldn't identify the weapon for FOXNews.com Thursday. "It looks kind of like an RPG, but I've never seen anything like this before," Hodge said. Yon brushed aside Web claims that the weapon might be a toy.
"I've held and fired so many weapons in my life, if it were clearly a toy I would have known it the instant I either saw it or picked it up," he said.
Iraq is awash in munitions from around the globe, Yon said. Troops routinely see arms from South Africa, China and Russia among other nations.
Interestingly, Iran is one of the biggest makers of RPG launchers, producing several Soviet-era versions that are used by militia groups around the world.
"People are saying there's a huge amount of munitions flowing in from Iran and that's the proximate cause of all our problems," Yon said. "You know there probably really are munitions coming in from Iran I don't doubt that at all but in reality, the big problem is what's already in the ground here."
But of all the weapons he's seen on the ground in Iraq, this one remains a mystery.
The Web posting "kind of gained more momentum than I ever expected that it would," Yon said. "It's gotten a little sensational, but I'm still kind of curious to know what the heck the thing is."
FOXNews.com's George Kindel contributed to this report
Uh..it doesn't sound like these troops want to come home just yet, Nancy. These guys got the martyrs before they could blow up some GI's and/or women and children for Allan.
And I must say, they are having one hell of a time doing so. It makes my heart smile.
#7
It also helps to remember that every one of the SOBs they kill takes away from literally decades of mayhem, oppression, brutality and murder that each one of them would have joyfully committed, mostly against women and children.
There is no sympathy by those that cull rabid dogs, nor should there be, for rabid dogs are a threat to all.
#11
our prayers go with your sone, Mouse. Perhaps by then, things will have really settled down...
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/17/2007 20:30 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I'm sure the son will do as well as his father, anymouse. As for the honourable Mr. Murtha, his doctors must be working hard to prevent that heart attack his body is clearly headed toward.
Coalition forces destroyed a munitions factory, detained two suspects and found scores of weapons in operations around Iraq over the past three days.
Coalition forces cordoned off an area in Salman Pak, Iraq, and conducted a controlled detonation of an improvised-explosive-device factory. Coalition forces destroyed an al Qaeda in Iraq improvised explosive device factory yesterday during a controlled detonation in Salman Pak. While searching the factory, coalition forces found a large amount of IED-making material, including 1,000 pounds of various types of explosives. An explosive ordnance disposal team determined that the material was too unstable to remove. Ground forces cordoned off the area and moved local citizens a safe distance from the site before it was detonated.
Also in Iraq yesterday, soldiers from the 5th Iraqi Army Division, with coalition advisors, targeted specific terrorist cells in the Jazeera neighborhood of Muqdadiya as part of an ongoing operation. Combined forces detained two suspected terrorists during the operation, and discovered 12 weapons caches. One detainee leads a sub-group responsible for emplacing IEDs and conducting kidnappings, military officials said.
"The discovery of the weapons caches and the elimination of terrorist cells is credible evidence to the progress of the 5th Iraqi Army Division," Col. David W. Sutherland, senior U.S. Army officer in the Diyala province and commander of 3rd Battalion, 1st Cavalry, said.
Two caches contained IEDs that were fully prepared for detonation. The other caches included several anti-tank mines and IED-making materials, such as mortar rounds, propane tanks and other explosives. "As we continue to discover these caches, a significant impact is made on the enemy's ability to target the security forces and the people of Diyala," Sutherland said.
Two car bombs detonated south of Baghdad yesterday, killing four Iraqi residents and injuring 30 others. Iraqi police responded to the explosions and cordoned the area to prevent further casualties. Paratroopers from 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, assisted in the recovery and secured the area following the attack.
Combined forces found nine unexploded 57 mm rounds and one unexploded mortar round at the site. The ordnance was recovered for a controlled detonation.
Elsewhere, Multinational Division Baghdad forces found several large weapons caches along Iraq's Mulla Fayad Highway near the Rushdi Mullah village Feb. 14. Soldiers of Company C, 4th "Polar Bear" Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, were burning reeds along the highway to deny terrorists the chance to use them for concealment when they heard explosions caused by the fires.
Upon investigation, they discovered a directional charge loaded with explosives, four empty directional charges, five tank rounds, a burned AK-47 assault rifle with two magazines, two 60 mm mortar base plates, and 300 rounds of AK-47 ammunition. The remainder of the cache was destroyed with a controlled detonation.
Later that afternoon, a patrol from Company C found five more caches in the same area. They contained four 120 mm tank sabot rounds, Russian tank rounds, a sack of 12.7 mm heavy machine gun rounds, 15 empty directional charges, five explosive-packed directional charges rigged with detonation cord, a 105 mm rocket round and homemade explosives.
"We took 25 improvised explosive devices off the street today," said Army Maj. Web Wright, a spokesman for the 2nd BCT. "We are definitely making an impact on the al Qaeda and former regime members' freedom of maneuver, as well as their weapons stockpiles."
Subhuman animals Suspected Muslim insurgents shot to death a hunter and his dog before setting their bodies on fire in southern Thailand, police said Saturday.
The charred bodies of Witsanu Saelim, a 19-year-old Buddhist, and his dog were discovered by villagers on a roadside in Narathiwat province, said police Lt. Phattharakorn Sriburin. The two had gone out to hunt wild animals in the jungle Friday evening. Three bullet wounds were found in Witsanu's head and torso and his head had been slashed by an ax, the police officer said.
Sri Lankas navy destroyed two suspected Tamil Tiger boats off the islands northwest coast on Friday, killing four fighters, a military official said. Navy patrol boats sank the two small boats near a series of small islands off the coastal district of Puttalam, and said divers recovered bomb-making equipment they were carrying. The navy detected two suspicious boats this morning coming from the Indian side and ordered them to stop. They fired at us and we destroyed the two with four occupants on board, said navy spokesman Commander DKP Dassanayake.
Navy divers recovered 28 bags which contained 1.5 million steel balls made in India, which are used for Claymore mines, Dassanayake added.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment. In a separate incident, air force jets bombed a suspected Tiger mortar position near the border that separates the rebels northeastern de facto state from the besieged army-held northern Jaffna peninsula.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Note the beam-wise wake. Muzzle energy enough to move 52,000 tons of American Steel sideways and that's just one turret. It was bad juju to fire more than 1 turret at a time. Things broke, seals sprung, Divisions Chiefs angry.
Clashes broke out between police and an armed group following a bomb explosion in southeast Iran on Friday, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. The device in the city of Zahedan caused no casualties, an official was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying on Saturday. The clashes broke out in Zahedan late on Friday. Zahedan governor Hassanali Nouri said police were pursuing those behind the blast. "The armed bandits, in their new crime, exploded a percussion bomb and fled the scene," Nouri said. He linked the bomb to the "massive participation of people in the funeral of victims of Wednesday's terrorist act".
A booby-trapped car blew up a bus owned by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 31 others. Responsibility for that attack was claimed by a shadowy Sunni group, Jundallah (God's soldiers), which Iran has said is linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. Tehran has blamed Jundallah for past killings in the area bordering Pakistan. It was not clear whether the same group was behind the blast in Zahedan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/17/2007 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Governor of Zahedan Hassan-Ali Nouri said that the main culprit behind terrorist act was killed instantly on the scene of the incident, IRNA reported. Speaking to IRNA, he said the main culprit was among notorious bandits causing insecurity in the region. He was killed by security forces during a hit and run operation. At least 11 people have been martyred and over 30 others injured in the terrorist bombing of a bus in Zahedan, capital of this southeastern province, Wednesday morning.
Terrorist attack was perpetrated by "saboteurs" who detonated a car bomb near a bus belonging to Zahedan's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC). The bomb was placed in a car parked on the side of a road. Armed men in two motorcycles opened fire on the moving IRGC bus as it approached the car and set off the bomb, according to an eyewitness. The bus was used to transport IRGC staff.
"...Owing to their lack of success as comedic singers and dancers, in 1898 the Cutter Sisters started working with a magician whose stage name was Harry Potter..."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
02/17/2007 8:34 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Another "cutt(er)ing-edge" issue of the RD-S&T-P.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/17/2007 10:47 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"the Cutter Sisters started working with a magician whose stage name was Harry Potter..."
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.
US-led troops killed one suspected militant and detained six others, including one with alleged links to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, in a string of raids in eastern Afghanistan, the American military said on Friday. 
(Xinhua) -- Kenyan prosecutors have dropped illegal immigration charges against a wealthy Somali businessman accused of financing Somalia's Islamist movement. 
Moroccan security forces urged citizens on Friday to help them hunt two men with suspected al Qaeda links as the country remained on high alert after a string of bomb attacks earlier this week in neighbouring Algeria.
A judge and 12 others were killed Saturday when a powerful bomb exploded inside a courtroom in a southwestern Pakistani province that has seen intense civil conflict for years, police said. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack at the District Courts complex in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. "I confirm that that the civil judge Abdul Wahid has died in the bomb explosion," said Afaq Zahid, an area police chief. Rauf Khan, the city police chief, said the blast killed 13 people, including Wahid, five lawyers and relatives of some of the defendants.
(Xinhua) -- A missile exploded on Friday in northern Pakistan's Rawalpindi, near the capital, killing one person and injuring three others, according to a local news agency report. The missile exploded when hit by a sharp instrument during digging in the site of a small school bags shop near food street, the private News Network International news agency quoting an eyewitness reported. 
Coalition forces destroyed a munitions factory, detained two suspects and found scores of weapons in operations around Iraq over the past three days.
Sri Lankas navy destroyed two suspected Tamil Tiger boats off the islands northwest coast on Friday, killing four fighters, a military official said. Navy patrol boats sank the two small boats near a series of small islands off the coastal district of Puttalam, and said divers recovered bomb-making equipment they were carrying. The navy detected two suspicious boats this morning coming from the Indian side and ordered them to stop. They fired at us and we destroyed the two with four occupants on board, said navy spokesman Commander DKP Dassanayake. 
Governor of Zahedan Hassan-Ali Nouri said that the main culprit behind terrorist act was killed instantly on the scene of the incident, IRNA reported. Speaking to IRNA, he said the main culprit was among notorious bandits causing insecurity in the region. He was killed by security forces during a hit and run operation. At least 11 people have been martyred and over 30 others injured in the terrorist bombing of a bus in Zahedan, capital of this southeastern province, Wednesday morning. 
