Posted by: ed ||
05/24/2009 14:37 ||
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Via JihadWatch Al Qaeda recruits back in Europe, but why? Four men say their training experience in Pakistan wasn't what they hoped for. Anti-terrorism officials wonder if they're just biding their time, ready to strike in Europe.
Determined to die as martyrs, the French and Belgian militants bought hiking boots and thermal underwear and journeyed to the wilds of Waziristan. After getting ripped off in Turkey and staggering through waist-deep snow in Iran, the little band arrived in Al Qaeda's lair in Pakistan last year, ready for a triumphant reception.
"We were expecting at least a welcome for 'our brothers from Europe' and a warm atmosphere of hospitality," Walid Othmani, a 25-year-old Frenchman from Lyon, recalled during an overnight interrogation in January.
Instead, the Europeans -- and at least one American -- learned that life in the shadow of the Predator is nasty, brutish and short.
Wary of spies, suspicious Al Qaeda chiefs grilled the half-dozen Belgians and French. They charged them $1,200 each for AK-47 rifles, ammunition and grenades. They made them fill out forms listing next of kin and their preference: guerrilla fighting, or suicide attacks?
Then the trainees dodged missile strikes for months. They endured disease, quarrels and boredom, huddling in cramped compounds that defied heroic images of camps full of fraternal warriors.
"What you see in videos on the Net, we realized that was a lie," Othmani told police. "[Our chief] told us the videos . . . served to impress the enemy and incite people to come fight, and he knew this was a scam and propaganda."
Disenchantment aside, the accounts of four of the returning militants arrested in Europe combine with intercepts to paint a detailed picture of Al Qaeda's secret compounds. They also reinforce intelligence that a campaign of U.S. Predator drone airstrikes has sown suspicion and disarray and stoked tension with tribes in northwestern Pakistan, anti-terrorism officials say.
At the same time, the case shows that wily militant leaders still wage war in South Asia and train a flow of foreign recruits. The few trainees from the West remain an urgent concern. Anti-terrorism forces have detected at least one American, a convert to Islam, who trained with Al Qaeda in Pakistan during the last year, Western officials say. Rest at link
Posted by: ed ||
05/24/2009 14:43 Comments ||
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Fawlty Towers Al Qaeda style
Posted by: European Conservative ||
05/24/2009 15:49 Comments ||
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did they actuallu train or just sit around bitching with each other? Either way ask for coodinates too said camps and shoot in the head
The term is agent provocateur. This remains an iconic case among Euro-lefties.
The name of Benno Ohnesorg became a rallying cry for the West German left after he was shot dead by police in 1967. Newly discovered documents indicate that the cop who shot him may have been a spy for the East German secret police.
It was one of the most important events leading up to the wave of radical left-wing violence which washed over West Germany in the 1970s. On the evening of June 2, 1967, the literature student Benno Ohnesorg took part in a demonstration at West Berlin's opera house. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, was to attend and the gathered students wanted to call attention to his brutal regime.
The protests, though, got out of hand. Pro-shah demonstrators, some of them flown in from Iran for the occasion, battled with the student protestors. West Berlin police also did their part, brutally beating back the crowd. At 8:30 p.m., a shot was fired, and a short time later the 26-year-old Ohnesorg, having been hit in the back of the head, became the left wing's first martyr.
Now, though, the history of the event may have to be re-written. New documents discovered in the Stasi archive -- the vast collection of files left behind by the East German secret police -- reveal that the policeman who shot Ohnesorg, Karl-Heinz Kurras, could in fact have been a spy for East Germany's communist regime.
In an article that will appear in late May in Deutschlandarchiv, a periodical dedicated to the ongoing project of German reunification, Helmut Müller-Enbergs and Cornelia Jabs reveal that documents they found in the Stasi papers show that Kurras began working together with the Stasi in 1955. He had wanted to move to East Berlin to work for the East German police. Instead, he signed an agreement with the Stasi to remain with the West Berlin police force and spy for the communist state.
As a result of the new information, criminal charges have once again been filed against Kurras, who was acquitted twice, once in 1967 and again in 1970, of negligent homicide charges related to Ohnesorg's death. Kurras told the Berlin paper Tagesspiegel on Friday that he had never worked together with the Stasi.
But in addition to finding the agreement between Kurras and the Stasi, the two researchers also discovered numerous documents indicating that the East Germans were pleased with the information Kurras passed along -- particularly given that he was posted to a division responsible for rooting out moles within the West German police force.
Immediately after Ohnesorg's death, Kurras received a Stasi communication ordering him to destroy his records and to "cease activities for the moment." Kurras responded with his acquiescence and wrote "I need money for an attorney."
The exact circumstances surrounding the death of Ohnesorg have never been completely clarified. Kurras himself, now 81, gave conflicting versions of the story during the investigation but the official version has long been that Kurras fired in self defense. Many others point to witness accounts whereby the police were beating Ohnesorg when the shot was fired.
It is still unclear how the new evidence might play into history's understanding of the tragic event. The day was one full of violence, with demonstrators and police battling each other with pipes, wooden clubs and stones. Police were further incited by rumors that an officer had been stabbed earlier in the evening. Ohnesorg himself, however, was not directly involved in the violence.
West Berlin in the 1960s and 70s became a focal point of German left wing radicalism. The city had long been left-leaning, and the fact that Berliners were exempt from military service meant that it became a magnet for pacifists and anti-state activists.
Ohnesorg's death gave them an immediate rallying cry. As the left-wing movement became more radical, many justified their violent activities by pointing to the police brutality that led to the student's death. A letter written by Ulrike Meinhof announcing the founding of the Red Army Faction, which appeared in SPIEGEL in the fall of 1967, explicitly mentioned the Ohnesorg incident. The RAF went on to terrorize Germany for decades, ultimately killing over 30 people across the country. The radical "June 2 Movement" used the date of the incident in its name.
Kurras, for his part, seems to have been a highly valued Stasi agent. In his files, it is noted that "he is prepared to complete any task assigned to him." It also mentions that he is notable for having the "courage and temerity necessary to accomplish difficult missions."
#1
This story will surface and then disappear, leaving hardly a ripple. The 60s mythology of leftism is a sacred memory, and must not be tampered with.
#2
...Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the shah of Iran, was to attend and the gathered students wanted to call attention to his brutal regime.
In the lefties pantheon of 'who could be worse?' department. Self examination is for other people not the True Believers(tm) of the Socialist Collective!
The US-led coalition troops said they killed 60 Taliban militants during an operation in southern Afghanistan. A statement from the coalition forces' Bagram base on Saturday said the militants were killed in Marja district of the southern province of Helmand. The military said a big cache of drugs was also seized during the operation, which was launched in the troubled zone on May 19. The military did not give the number of casualties among the Afghan or US troops during the four-day operation. The US troops used gunfire as well as precision air strikes. Bomb making materials, drugs and weapons present in the area were also destroyed in the air strike, the statement added.
Meanwhile, the Afghan and coalition forces detained one suspected militant in an early morning operation to capture a Taliban commander in Baraki Barak district of the central Logar province. Without revealing identity of the detainee, the coalition forces statement said that he was suspected to be the militant wanted to the Afghan government on charges of involvement in the May 12 attacks in Khost.
That isn't new. I'm just surprised anyone is left to flee.
Residents fled Somalia's capital on Saturday, following a day of fierce fighting between government forces and Islamist insurgents that killed at least 45 people. Most of the dead were civilians. At least 180 others were reported wounded.
When the fighting eased Saturday morning, many people began leaving Mogadishu. An estimated 49,000 residents of the capital had already been displaced. More than 150 people have been killed since the militants launched an offensive against Somalia's U.N.-backed government earlier this month.
The government offensive Friday was intended to drive hardline Islamists from their strongholds in the capital.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Fighting between Somali government troops and Islamic insurgents killed 53 people in one day in Mogadishu, a human rights group said on Saturday. Residents reported that the operation had failed to dislodge the insurgents.
Ali Sheik Yasi, the deputy chairman of Elman Human Rights Organisation, said 181 people were wounded during Friday's government offensive in Mogadishu. Elman collates casualty figures based on interviews with health officials, morgues and witnesses.
More than 150 people have been killed since the latest round of fighting began two weeks ago.
Hassan Mahdi, a spokesman for the insurgent alliance known as the Islamic Party, said government soldiers tried to push the insurgents away from neighbourhoods they had recently gained but the militants retained their positions.
Resident Abdi Haji said there was no fighting on Saturday but the insurgents appeared to be still in control. The government was not immeadiately available for comment.
Fleeing residents: Meanwhile, as soon as things calmed down terrified residents fled the Somali capital on Saturday.
"The city is quiet this (Saturday) morning and many people are fleeing to avoid upcoming attacks, I think the government is planning a further offensive," said Somali police officer Colonel Mohamed Adan.
A witness, Abdulahi Warsameh, corroborated his information, saying, "Many residents have emptied their houses in (the) Wardhigley (district) because they fear new clashes."
The Somali capital has been ravaged by 18 years of almost uninterrupted civil conflict and emptied of hundreds of thousands of residents by the violent fighting that followed Ethiopia's 2006 invasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"Fighting between Somali government troops and Islamic insurgents killed 53 people in one day in Mogadishu..."
Should really say,
"Fighting between Somali Islamist government troops defending the sharia based system of justice and even more Islamist insurgents demanding a more strict sharia based system of justice killed 53 people in one day in Mogadishu..."
Posted by: Lord garth ||
05/24/2009 15:24 Comments ||
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Egyptian security services captured Al-Qaeda affiliates responsible for the Al-Husain attacks back on February 22 where a French woman was killed and 24 people were injured, the official news agency said on Saturday.
I imagine that by now they're not feeling so well ...
Seven members of the group named "Islam's Army in Palestine" were carrying explosives and ammunitions at the time they were incarcerated, Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted a security official as saying. The group is run by two Egyptian escapees who assigned members to sneak into the Gaza Strip through tunnels and receive training on making explosives
Seven members of the group named "Islam's Army in Palestine" were carrying explosives and ammunitions at the time they were incarcerated, Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted a security official as saying. The group is run by two Egyptian escapees who assigned members to sneak into the Gaza Strip through tunnels and receive training on making explosives, it said.
So a couple of Egyptian jailbirds gather together some equally successful comrades to cause trouble in Egypt. They sneak into Gaza to go to terrorist college, where for a set fee working materials are included. The Egyptian jailbirds are so pathetic they get caught trying to sneak back home... and they call themselves "Islam's Army in Palestine". Honestly, you just can't make this stuff up!
One of the detainees claimed the group's responsibility for Al-Husain bombings, the source said, adding that weapons and ammunitions were delivered through two women, an Egyptian and an Albanian with a French passport, the source said.
Cherchez la femme...
A Tunisian carrying a Belgium passport was assigned to travel to Belgium and then to France and meet up with other members to carry a terrorist attack there, it said. The group was assigned to target oil pipelines and resorts in Sinai, it said, and noted that the authorities detained two Egyptians, two Palestinians, a Tunisian carrying a Belgium passport, an Egyptian with a British passport, and an Albanian carrying the French passport.
Zahidul Islam alias 'Boma Mizan', detained explosives expert of the banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), have told investigators that an 'active member' of the militant outfit, who is hiding in India for long, sends explosive substances to JMB.
JMB collects most of the explosive and other materials from local market, but those not available in the country are collected from India and sent to JMB by the absconding operative, investigators grilling Mizan quoted him as saying.
"The JMB active member is hiding at a place in India near Rajshahi border in the guise of a cloth trader," an interrogator told The Daily Star yesterday quoting Mizan. He however declined to disclose the JMB opertaive's name and exact address in India.
Mizan, now on a seven-day remand, is being quizzed at the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell in connection with the recovery of arms, explosives and explosive substances from two houses that Mizan had hired. His remand expires today, and police might produce him before court to seek further remand.
Only if he hasn't already confessed to having been on the grassy knoll ...
The JMB explosoves expert also admitted that he had visited twice his fellow operative's residence in India for organisational activities -- first a couple of years back and then six months ago, the investigator said seeking anonymity.
"Like him, many other JMB members also visit the absconding operative in India," Mizan was quoted as saying.
"JMB used to collect power gel and detonators from India as those are available there," said a top official of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) wishing anonymity.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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A Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) jawan died of 'liver cirrhosis' at BDR hospital yesterday.
"Dr. Quincy! We've got another BDR man here."
"Looks dead alright. Did they get an EKG?"
"Nothing came with him."
"We can't sign him out as 'heart failure' without an EKG, Sam!"
"Why not call it cirrhosis?"
"Great idea! You do the paperwork and I'll find a bottle!"
The dead was identified as Subedar Sheikh Habibur Rahman of 18 Rifles Battalion in Rangamati, says a BDR press release.
Habibur was admitted to Combined Military Hospital, Chittagong on October 20 last year with liver ailment. After two-days of initial tests he was brought to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) through the hospital at BDR headquarters on October 22 and was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. Meantime, he received treatment from medical experts in both BDR hospital and DMCH, the release said.
As his condition deteriorated, he was later admitted to BDR hospital on May 12 this year. He died yesterday while undergoing treatment at the hospital. The body of the deceased was sent to his village home at Depulia in Barisal Sadar, the release added.
The government on Thursday formed a three-member committee headed by a deputy secretary of the home ministry to investigate the causes of suicide and other unnatural deaths of BDR jawans after the mutiny at the Pilkhana BDR headquarters.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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This is the third or fourth guy to die after a prolonged illness - this one eight months. Seems the BDR was ok with heavy drinking. It's either that or there's something in the water.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/24/2009 10:34 Comments ||
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By cirrhosis, they mean the liver was turned into pate by truncheon guy #6.
Posted by: ed ||
05/24/2009 13:29 Comments ||
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can anyone give me kinda a hint too what is goin on with all the BDR deaths lately?
#5
The BDR killed all their officers (who came from the BD Army).
That is not something the BD army will forgive. They brought in the RAB for a reason.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/24/2009 15:06 Comments ||
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Pakistani commandos detained a high level leader in al Qaeda's paramilitary army during a raid last February after prodding from the US.
Commandos from the Special Services Group stormed an al Qaeda safe house in the southwestern city of Quetta on Feb. 24 and captured Abu Sufyan al-Yemeni, the chief logistical and facilitation officer for the Shadow Army, or the Lashkar al Zil. Sacrificial 'lamb' in return for $x billion in foreign aid.
The raid was conducted after the CIA provided intelligence on Abu Sufyan's location. He is currently in the custody of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, The New York Times reported. One wonders if the ISI would even say 'pretty please' during interrogation; certainly no waterboarding was occurring.
The US is now relying on foreign governments to detain and interrogate al Qaeda suspects in the wake of the controversy over the treatment and legal status of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other US facilities.
Abu Sufyan kept in close contact with al Qaeda cells worldwide and facilitated in the movement of terrorist operatives into Pakistan's Taliban-controlled tribal areas. He was "a conduit for communications between Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and cells in East Africa, Iran, Yemen and elsewhere" and helped arrange travel and training for Qaeda operatives from various parts of the Muslim world to the Pakistani tribal areas," the Times reported.
A Pakistani official said Abu Sufyan was one of "the top 20 Qaeda operatives" wanted by both the CIA and the ISI. But US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal disagreed.
"He is important, but I wouldn't place him in my list of top 20," a senior US military intelligence official who closely tracks al Qaeda and the Taliban in the Afghan and Pakistani theaters said.
"Abu Sufyan is a senior staffer in the Shadow Army and we've learned plenty about its structure and operations, but he's not a top 20 al Qaeda leader," another official told The Long War Journal.
I wonder if he had a cell phone or computer. And if that might have something to do with the uptick in Predator hits.
The Taliban left so many mutilated bodies at the crossing some hanging from trees with threatening notes that Pakistanis in the Swat Valley's main town took to calling it "bloody intersection."
On Sunday, the army said that spot and seven other major crossings in Mingora were secured, part of street-by-street urban fighting whose success is considered critical to flushing out the militants from the valley as a whole.
The advances in Swat came as helicopter gunships pounded alleged militant hide-outs in a nearby tribal region, killing at least 18 people, while police announced the arrest of a militant commander and six other Taliban fighters elsewhere in the northwest. ...
Posted by: ed ||
05/24/2009 14:24 ||
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Garwah/Chatra (Jharkhand, India): Maoists kidnapped and killed two villagers and detonated explosives in a school building in Jharkhands Garwah and Chatra districts in separate incidents, officials said on Saturday.
Maoists abducted two men from their homes at Bhandaria in Garwah on Friday night and shot dead one of them, claiming that he was a police informer, and beat the other to death for not paying for a new rifle, Garwah Superintendent of Police Saket Kumar Singh said.
The two were identifed as Tauswar Ansari and Maqsood
Posted by: john frum ||
05/24/2009 11:29 ||
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#1
So AQ, the Talibunnies and Commies all have a jones on blowing up schools.
Let me guess - they all got flunked and harbor a grudge?
#2
What makes you think any of them went to actual schools, 3dc? :-(
Madrassas and other places of indoctrination don't count as schools.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2009 12:11 Comments ||
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#3
Most of your terrorist bigs are, in fact, quite well educated. Be it Maoist, Leninist, Islamicist or just average wannabe, most of the leaders come from middle-class (for the region) backgrounds and have at least some post secondary education.
Indeed in Asia, a fair number of the leaders are physicians.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2009 14:02 Comments ||
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#4
And they want to make sure nobody else gets a real education, Steve - lest the sheeple get ideas or something....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2009 14:54 Comments ||
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Troops stormed into Mingora and fought street battles with the Taliban on Saturday, in a bid to wrest the main Swat town from Taliban control.
Seventeen Taliban including a commander were killed as the new and most important phase of Operation Rah-e-Rast commenced, chief military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said in a daily briefing. He said the troops had secured a part of the city from the Circuit House to Makan Bagh. Battles to secure Nawan Killi have begun and a link up between forces coming from Fiza Ghat to Whataki Chowk and Ayub Bridge to Nawan Killi has been completed.
Intense clashes were reported from Nishat Chowk in Mingora. A suicide bomber was shot dead and an explosives-laden vehicle was destroyed in Makanzai area of the city. On the Qambar Ridge overlooking Mingora, three caves with large quantities of ammunition and rations were discovered during a search and destroy operation.
The Taliban are on the run in small groups from their former Peochar stronghold. Troops have secured the vital Wanai Bridge linking Matta with Peochar. Gen Abbas said there were about 1,500 'hardcore militants' still fighting in Swat, and that the army would try to complete the operation in eight weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hey bad guys, come out come out wherever you are.
Suspected Taliban abducted two paramilitary soldiers from Inayat Kalay in Bajaur, and the local administration arrested 189 Mamoond tribesmen in retaliation, officials said on Saturday. Political Agent Shafirullah Khan warned the Mamoond tribe in a jirga against violating the deal it had made with the government three months ago. A TV channel said he gave them a three-day deadline to stop militant activities. Lemme see, here: They're being given three days to stop the militant activities they agreed to stop three months ago. What's gonna happen if they don't cease and desist their turbandry? Do they get another three days? Or another three months? Who was arrested? The guys who made the agreement? The guys who didn't keep it? The slowest of the local residents? Innocent bystanders?
But wasn't that how the tribal areas were set up originally by Britain? Relative local autonomy, but the community is responsible for ensuring that relations with the outside world go as they ought, and the community accepting punishment when it doesn't. The government of the Land of the Pure are nothing if not slaves to bad traditions.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Suspected Taliban blew up a government high school in Ambar tehsil of Mohmand Agency, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. According to the channel, the Taliban had planted explosives in the school building in Moosa Kaur area of the tehsil and detonated them late on Friday. The explosion destroyed the campus, it said, but no casualties were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmm. Another Taliban "squadron" that didn't get the memo.
Security Forces arrested 33 Tajik, Uzbek and Afghan terror suspects from Darra Adam Khel on Saturday. The suspects, who had arrived illegally from Afghanistan allegedly to carry out terrorist acts, were paraded before the media. According to a private TV channel, most of the detainees were younger than 15.
Who alleged their intentions? This sounds very odd.
One said he was going to Karachi for religious education. Detainee #1=madrassah fodder, maybe an aspiring suicide boomer
Some said they had come to Pakistan through travel agents who charged them for providing employment in Pakistan. The number "some" apparently equates to three, given the total in the title. So Detainees #2-#4 = illegal immigrants, who'd probably end up as indentured labor at some malik's mill.
Another youth said he was ready to do anything for money. Detainee #5 = an aspiring pretty boy hooker.
The suspects denied having seen each other before despite having been arrested from the same bus. The security forces have shifted them to an undisclosed location for questioning. "Take this lot to an undisclosed location for questioning!"
"Oboy! Oboy! Can I question the pretty boy, chief?"
In the outskirts of Kohat, police arrested 28 suspects including three Afghan nationals as a search operation continued on Saturday. Police also seized weapons from them. A case has been registered. Detainees #6-#28 look like they may have a bit more meat on them, though they could also be simple but well-armed shepherds.
In Peshawar, unidentified men threw hand grenades at a Police checkpost in Yakatoak area late on Friday. No casualties were reported. And apparently no arrests made.
Police sources said the Rahseed Garhi checkpost was slightly damaged. A heavy contingent of police arrived at the scene after the attack and secured the area, they said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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The death toll from Friday's bomb attack on Cinema Road in Peshawar has reached 13, while six of the injured are in critical condition, sources told Daily Times on Saturday.
They said that police had made four arrests from near Naaz Cinema in connection with the bombing, but officials from Khan Raziq Police Station denied any arrests. Sources told Daily Times that it was not clear whether the attack was carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Bara-based Lashkar-e-Islam (LI). Fingers were pointed at Mangal Bagh's LI for the May 11 blast in which, according to reports, Bazidkhel Union Council Nazim Fahimur Rehman was a target.
Fahim has a running feud with the LI, and villagers had killed nine LI men who had tried to abduct Fahim on February 4. On February 17, a car bomb ripped through a street outside the nazim's hujra in Adezai village, killing three. The LI kidnapped six villagers on May 20, but released them a day later after the villagers took 18 Afridi tribesmen hostage and later handed them over to local police. Senior police officials were not available for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab shared with reporters on Saturday a threatening letter that she received last week, apparently from the Taliban.
The letter contains highly derogatory remarks against her, the Pakistan Army, and President Asif Zardari, she told a press conference.
In copies of the letter she gave out to reporters, the unidentified sender threatens to kill her for criticising the Taliban in the media. The sender also makes allegations about the PPP leader's character, using abusive language. Fauzia Wahab said the letter was posted from some location inside Pakistan, but the post office stamp is illegible. She said however that the ongoing operation against the Taliban had full support of the people and political leaders of Pakistan, and had been highly appreciated by the international community.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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It's news like this that makes me think that there is hope for Iraq ...
Kirkuk (AsiaNews) -- Namir Nadhim Gourguis, a 32 year-old Christian teacher, has been freed. A joint operation yesterday between the army and Arab forces of the reawakening in Kirkuk, led to the release of the young man who was kidnapped on May 14th by an armed group. AsiaNews sources in Iraq explain that "mediation with tribal chiefs" and "collaboration provided by the local Imams" proved to be decisive in securing his freedom. The kidnappers "did not receive any ransom".
The kidnapping took place the morning of May 14th: an armed group of four men broke into the primary school in Ruwaidha village -- in the sub district of Al Rashad, circa 30 from Kirkuk -- abducting the young man. Local sources explain that he "is from a simple and poor family background", that the ransom demanded by the kidnappers was "very high" and the family "was unable to pay it".
Collaboration between the Christian community, the Arab world and local tribal chiefs was detrimental [sic!] in securing the Namir release for which the Archbishop of Kirkuk, Msgr. Louis Sako had also immediately intervened. "Today is a day of great celebration for the Christian community -- Msgr. Sako tells AsiaNews --After 8 days Namir is free. We thank God: today the Christian community of Kirkuk rejoices".
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/24/2009 00:00 ||
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A 21-year-old Palestinian woman from the West Bank was sentenced Sunday to 15 months in prison, after being convicted of contacting an enemy agent and planning a suicide attack in Israel. The Judea Military Court found the woman guilty of contacting an Islamic Jihad operative via the internet and plotting the attack.
According to the case file, the woman, as well as two of her brothers, contacted Jihad operatives on a chat room. The prosecution had proof that on one of the chats the woman had said she was willing to commit a suicide attack in light of the situation in the Gaza Strip and as retaliation to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The 21-year-old told the court she was just "surfing the net as a pastime," but the internet correspondence presented demonstrated that the plan was taking shape, and was halted only after the computer malfunctioned. The woman and her brothers were arrested shortly thereafter by the Israeli security forces.
#1
Advice to all potential internet jihadis: All 15 year old girls on the internet are 48 year old cops and all terrorist masterminds are Israeli intel agents.
Posted by: ed ||
05/24/2009 13:55 Comments ||
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#2
All except one (each), ed.
The trick for jihadis is to find that one....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2009 14:49 Comments ||
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LTTE's political wing leaders B Nadesan and S Puleedevan were gunned down by the Sri Lankan army as they came out holding white flags to surrender, according to a media report. Balasingham Nadesan was the head of the political wing of LTTE, while Seevaratnam Puleedevan was the chief of the Tigers' peace secretariat.
"For several days I had been the intermediary between the Tiger leadership and the United Nations as the Army pressed in on the last enclave at the end of a successful military campaign to defeat the rebellion," a Sunday Times correspondent wrote.
The correspondent quoted a Tamil, who was in a group that managed to escape the war zone, to describe what happened on the morning of May 18 when the two leaders were killed.
This source, who later spoke to an aid worker, said Nadesan and Puleedevan walked towards the Sri Lankan army lines with a white flag in a group of about a dozen men and women. He said the army started firing machine guns at them.
Nadesan's wife, a Sinhalese, yelled in Sinhala at the soldiers: "He is trying to surrender and you are shooting him." She was also shot down.
According to the source, who is now in hiding fearful for his life, all in the group were killed.
This article starring:
Balasingham Nadesan
Seevaratnam Puleedevan
Posted by: john frum ||
05/24/2009 14:59 ||
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#1
oh well, thought media was banned from war zone
#5
Nothing says "the end of a successful military campaign to defeat the rebellion" like ventilating "the head of the political wing" and "peace secretariat" of a terrorist group.
As that great philosopher Conan the Barbarian said there's nothing more satifying than destroying the enemy, seeing them driven before you, and hearing the lamentation of the wimmen (and then plugging wifey, too).
Posted by: regular joe ||
05/24/2009 17:58 Comments ||
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COLOMBO: Ending its stoic silence over the death of Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, the LTTE on Sunday said the top rebel leader was killed in last week's final battle with the Sri Lankan military in the north.
"We announce today, with inexpressible sadness and heavy hearts that our incomparable leader and supreme commander (Prabhakaran)... attained martyrdom fighting the military oppression," the LTTE's head of international relations Selvarasa Pathmanathan said in a statement on Sunday.
"For over three decades, our leader was the heart and soul and the symbol of hope, pride and determination for the whole nation of people of Tamil Eelam," Pathmanathan said.
The Sri Lankan army had on Monday last said it has killed Prabhakaran when he tried to flee in an ambulance. But, the LTTE immediately rejected the army claim, saying Tamil Tiger supremo was alive and safe.
The Tigers had dismissed the announcement by the Sri Lankan government about Prabhakaran's death as "engineered rumours".
"These rumours have been set afloat to confuse the global Tamil community which has been voicing support for the liberation of Tamil Eelam," a pro-rebel website had said, quoting Arivazhakan, the 'head of international secretariat of the intelligence wing' of Tamil Tigers.
However, in today's statement, Pathmanathan said 54-year-old Prabhakaran died fighting military but did not give details of the circumstances that led to his death.
He also announced a week of mourning for their dead leader, starting on Monday. The statement calls on Tamils all over the world to "restrain from harmful acts to themselves or anyone else in this hour of extreme grief."
"Since the failure of the peace process and the escalation of the war forced upon the Tamil people, the LTTE was faced to confront the Sri Lankan military that was supported by the world powers.This deliberate bias and position taken by the international community severely weakened the military position of the LTTE," he said.
"Our leader confronted this threat without any hesitation. He would not waver in his desire to be with his people and fight for his people till the end," he said.
"His (Prabhakaran) final request was for the struggle to continue until we achieved the freedom," Pathmanathan said, adding "his legend and the historical status as the greatest Tamil leader ever are indestructible."
The Sri Lankan troops recovered Prabhakaran's body near a lagoon in the 'no fire zone' in the Wanni region. The army had on Saturday said that they have cremated the body.
Pathmanthan said the Tigers would now use "non-violent" methods to fight for the rights of Tamils.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/24/2009 14:58 ||
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#1
Pathmanthan said the Tigers would now use "non-violent" methods to fight for the rights of Tamils.
"please don't kill us!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/24/2009 16:44 Comments ||
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#2
The Tamils held a large (peaceful) demo outside the White House today. Lots of signs, lots of flags. No pix of Mario with a third eye.
#3
why are they protesting in Washington and Canada? They fought their war for over 20 years and things didn't work out for them so shut up and make your home where you are ta without bitching and you just might be able too make a sustainable existence without getting the vengeance of al the ppl your ppl have killed
Proceedings of interrogations and investigations into the espionage networks linked to Israeli intelligence must remain under wraps, a Lebanese military source said Saturday.
Speaking to KUNA on condition of anonymity, the source said that seriousness of the this case had prompted authorities "to refuse to divulge any information about the networks that were found to have links with the Israeli enemy, in the interest of maintaining the secrecy of investigations and to continue to hunt down those involved in this grave national crime." He said the issue was "very sensitive" and called on the media to stop speculating in order to "preserve civil security in Lebanon."
Meanwhile, another Lebanese security source told KUNA that up to 16 suspected individuals had been apprehended so far in relation to the espionage networks.
The source said that these had infiltrated the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Force, and that some had been referred to the military courts for legal prosecution.
Yesterday, in a speech marking the ninth Resistance and Liberation Day, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called for putting all spies to death for giving information to Israel, which in turn led to casualties and destruction on the Lebanese side.
#6
If I am not mistaken, the mystery guest is none other than Hanoi Jane Fonda, the Uncle Ho ho, back when she thought Hanoi was an out of the way little place near Biarritz.
#7
I think that's me and my little friend Carol in front of the stage with the gam show. She eventually married an Aggie and went to live in the darkest wilds of suburban Houston.
On this day in history: May 24th.
1844 Samuel F. B. Morse sends the message "What hath God wrought" from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland.
1846 General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
1883 The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
1940 Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
1941 In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks the then pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.
1958 United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
1976 The London to Washington, D.C. Concorde service begins.
1976 In the Judgment of Paris, wine testers rate wines from California higher than their French counterparts, challenging the notion of France being the foremost producer of the world's best wines.
1994 Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
2000 Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
#11
"If I am not mistaken, the mystery guest is none other than Hanoi Jane Fonda"
That's the bitch all right, AC.
Shame on you, GBUSMC. Her legs ain't good enough to overcome her evil, traitorous soul. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/24/2009 10:36 Comments ||
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#12
With regards to Mzzzz. Fonda, no truer picture than her in the back seat with her legs thrown up could display what passes for her character.
As for the yummy Ms. Prentiss, my memory still reverts back to her jumping up and down on the raft, yelling "Yossarian! Yossarian!" While being starkers of course (her, not me). Good times.
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.
The US-led coalition troops said they killed 60 Taliban militants during an operation in southern Afghanistan. A statement from the coalition forces' Bagram base on Saturday said the militants were killed in Marja district of the southern province of Helmand. The military said a big cache of drugs was also seized during the operation, which was launched in the troubled zone on May 19. The military did not give the number of casualties among the Afghan or US troops during the four-day operation. The US troops used gunfire as well as precision air strikes. Bomb making materials, drugs and weapons present in the area were also destroyed in the air strike, the statement added. 
Fighting between Somali government troops and Islamic insurgents killed 53 people in one day in Mogadishu, a human rights group said on Saturday. Residents reported that the operation had failed to dislodge the insurgents.
Egyptian security services captured Al-Qaeda affiliates responsible for the Al-Husain attacks back on February 22 where a French woman was killed and 24 people were injured, the official news agency said on Saturday.
Zahidul Islam alias 'Boma Mizan', detained explosives expert of the banned Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), have told investigators that an 'active member' of the militant outfit, who is hiding in India for long, sends explosive substances to JMB.
Troops stormed into Mingora and fought street battles with the Taliban on Saturday, in a bid to wrest the main Swat town from Taliban control.
Suspected Taliban blew up a government high school in Ambar tehsil of Mohmand Agency, a private TV channel reported on Saturday. According to the channel, the Taliban had planted explosives in the school building in Moosa Kaur area of the tehsil and detonated them late on Friday. The explosion destroyed the campus, it said, but no casualties were reported.
A 21-year-old Palestinian woman from the West Bank was sentenced Sunday to 15 months in prison, after being convicted of contacting an enemy agent and planning a suicide attack in Israel. The Judea Military Court found the woman guilty of contacting an Islamic Jihad operative via the internet and plotting the attack. 
Proceedings of interrogations and investigations into the espionage networks linked to Israeli intelligence must remain under wraps, a Lebanese military source said Saturday.
