[ToloNews] After launching this year's so-called summer offensive, the Taliban reportedly intended to siege strategic locations and gain more territory across the nation, but Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) managed to hold their own and drive back the myrmidon group, said Afghan chief of army staff Gen. Qadam Shah Shaheem on Thursday.
According to Shaheem, this military campaign by Afghan National Army (ANA) is still ongoing in several provinces across the country, where forces are committed to eliminating bully boyz and restoring security.
"The conspiracy of the enemies of the people of Afghanistan were thwarted. The Afghan forces disappointed certain elements associated with intelligence services along with other terrorist groups including some anti-Islam and anti-human circles," Shaheem said.
Insurgents have lost the ability to confront Afghan forces face to face on the battlefield and to take control of territories. Security forces are now on the offensive and will suppress them whenever they try to attack, he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the buffalo wallow, Yellow Wolf clutched at his chest and fell from his horse... the new commander of the Kabul ...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title Most Evil Man in the World and didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either.... Military Training Center (KMTC) Laal Jan Zaheer has started his new job. Over the past several years, (KMTC) has been involved in training hundreds of ANA soldiers to improve the Afghan army and its war capability.
Ex-commander of KMTC Aminullah Patyalai highlighted the recent renovation works that had been carried out in KMTC over the past several years.
"In recent years massive renovation works were conducted here and 34 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... standard polygons were established," Patyalai said.
"I promise to follow and implement the motto of education, training and to prevent casualties in the battlefield," Laal Jan Zaheer said.
[ToloNews] Helmand ...an Afghan province populated mostly by Pashtuns, adjacent to Injun country in Pak Balochistan... provincial government officials complained on Friday that the central government is yet to respond to their frequent calls for deployment of reinforcement troops to the embattled districts in the southern province.
Local officials warned that Greshk and Nad Ali districts are on the verge of collapse as the battle in these districts have entered the sixth day.
"They [Taliban] want to destroy the Helmand river bridge and that capture the entire province," said Greshk district governor Fahim Mosazai.
The provincial authorities called for air assistance to repel the bandidos Death Eaters from these districts.
"Taliban have attacked with heavy weapons. We have asked the senior government officials to help us," a Police Commander Lalai Mama said.
According to the local officials, nearly 250 Taliban fighters have been killed and maimed.
Seven Afghan security force members have also bit the dust in the fighting, they added.
Hundreds of armed bandidos Death Eaters reportedly launched a coordinated attack early Sunday on these two districts, engaging in the shootout with what is said insufficient number of troops.
[Dawn] PESHAWAR: At least six 16 suspected bandidosLions of Islam were killed Friday in two separate US drone strikes in Afghanistan's Nangarhar The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country.. province, on the zero line bordering Khyber Agency ... the place to go if you've got an Indiana Jones hat and whip. Chock full of high adventure and treacherous Pathans. You should really train up to it, though... Security sources said the first drone targeted a hard boy compound in the Nazyan district of Nangarhar province, killing six suspected bandidosLions of Islam and completely destroying their compound.
The sources added that all the six 'militants' belonged to the self-styled Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group in Afghanistan.
Later in the day, a drone targeted a hideout in Bandar area of Nangarhar. Security sources said the drone fired two missiles, killing 10 suspected hard boys, all of whom they said belonged to the IS.
Till 2014, Nazyan district had been serving as a safe haven for the Mullah Fazllullah led Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP).
According to security officials, bandidosLions of Islam based in the Nazyan district had planned the devastating attack on the Army Public School in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. , which left over 140 children and teachers dead and scores injured.
Pak security forces also carried out ground offensives in Khyber Agency, particularly the Tirah Valley of Bara which borders Nazyan.
The forces cleared much of the Bara plain in Operation Khyber One launched in October 2014 while in a follow-on operation named Khyber-2 clearec the fierce Tirah terrain consisting of deep valleys and high mountains.
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10/24/2015 00:00:00 ||
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[AlAhram] Two Egyptian coppers and two civilians were maimed on Friday morning while attempting to defuse an bomb at Al-Remaia Square near the pyramids in Giza governorate, Egypt's Ministry of Interior announced in the late afternoon.
The injured coppers and citizens were taken to hospital for treatment.
[Libya Observer] A large-scale military operation is to be launched in western Libya soon, the Ministry of Defense in the Salvation Government declared on Wednesday.
Ministry spokesperson Mohammed Abdul-Kafi said the operation aims to get rid of militants of the so-called Tribes Army until peace and security are prevailed in the entire region.
Abdul-Kafi added that the ministry's affiliated forces led by Sabratha Military Council confronted the attacks on Al-Ajilat earlier this week made by criminal armed groups from the so-called Tribes Army, causing them serious losses in bodies and equipment.
He confirmed that the forces took control of Al-Ajilat and Atawailah, Al-Shbeika, and Al-Jadaida cities and towns.
"“We highly appreciate the revolutionaries of the western region and the forces of the Chief of Staff, especially Brigade 200 and brigade 110 infantry forces, who had the biggest role in foiling the plans of the Tribes Army and the ex-regime followers as they were gasping for taking control of the western region. We also thank the Libyan Air Force for backing up the ground forces in this operation." He concluded.
A provoking meeting of Gaddafi loyalists held in Atawailah town on Friday. The Gaddafis chanted pro ex-regime and killing slogans, which triggered the ongoing fighting in the region.
The meeting was organized and protected by the Tribes Army.
[Al Arabiya] At least nine people were killed and dozens more injured in Libya's second city Benghazi on Friday, Al Arabiya News Channel reported, when rockets hit a protest against a U.N. proposal for a unity government to end a political crisis.
Four years after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi, Libya is caught in a conflict that pits the internationally recognized government and its armed backers against a rival government set up by an armed alliance that took over the capital last year.
More than 2,000 people had taken to Benghazi's al-Keesh square to demonstrate against the U.N. proposal when at least seven rockets hit the crowds, the hospital sources said. Around 25 more were wounded.
[AnNahar] Two kabooms destroyed mosques in northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... on Friday, killing at least 55 people and injuring more than 100, as Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... fighters seized a town in neighboring Cameroon
Continued on Page 49
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[Yemen Post] The Yemeni forces backed by the popular resistance thwarted an attempt by the Houthi militants to infiltrate into the province of Dhali, local sources said.
The sources affirmed that fierce battles broke out early Thursday in the town of Qatabah on the border with the province of Ibb after two Houthi convoys were trying to enter Dhali.
Around a dozen of fighters from both sides were killed in the battles, they said, adding that the Houthis retreated to Ibb.
Recently, the Houthis have attempted to infiltrate into southern cities including Abyan which were retaken from them in recent months.
Dhali was the first southern city retaken.
So far, the Saudi-led coalition, which has been bombing the Houthis since March, helped the national forces to drive the militants out of most of the southern regions.
In the meanwhile, well-informed sources said clashes between the Yemeni forces and Sudanese troops broke out late on Wednesday at Aden Airport.
Six Sudanese and two Yemeni troops were killed in the battles that erupted after Sudanese troops spread at the airport, according to the sources.
Hundreds of Sudanese troops have lately arrived in Aden and more are yet to deploy in support of the Arab coalition.
In Taiz, sources within the popular resistance said the national forces and resistance retook key positions from the Houthis today.
In addition, the Saudi-led coalition bombed Houthi forces at Taiz University, the district of Salah and other parts helping the Yemeni forces and the popular resistance to make key gains on these war fronts, the sources said.
Battles between the national forces and the Houthis continued in the provinces of Marib and Baidha, according to military sources.
[khaleejtimes] An air strike by the Saudi-led Arab coalition on Sanaa killed 98 Houthi rebels and wounded 45 on Friday, according to Yemeni media sources.
Senior Houthi and Iranian officials were meeting at the house of former general Ali Mohsen Al Ahmer in the Yemeni capital when the air strike happened. The general had served as an adviser to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Preliminary figures revealed that the blitz resulted in the killing of 98 rebels. "Among those killed were local Houthi leaders Saleh Ahmed Gargash, Abdullah Ahmed Al Madani, Hussein Abdullah Aiyza, and an Iranian identified as Khouri Obaid Aga," the sources added.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting between Yemeni pro-government forces and rebels besieging the western city of Taiz killed 71 Houthis in the past two days, Yemeni security officials said on Friday.
Of those killed, 11 were civilians and the rest were fighters from both sides. Another 100 people have been wounded in fighting in the city, where a Saudi-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes against the rebel
A car bomb went off in the Yemeni capital of Aden on Thursday targeting the Sudanese forces headquarters in the international airport, sources told Al-Manar Website.
The attack left 12 people killed or injured.
In a similar development, heavy-weapon clashes erupted between a group of gunmen and the Sudanese forces near Aden airport.
Moreover, 12 Saudi-led coalition - affiliated militiamen were killed and others were detained as they were trying to advance towards Sarwah area in the city.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 210 days now to restore power to fugitive President Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-US aggression has so far killed at least 6,579 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.
Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Yemeni national military, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.
[Dawn] DHAKA: At least one person died and dozens more were maimed as unidentified attackers threw home-made bombs at a procession of thousands gathered near an imambargah in Bangladesh's capital early Saturday, police say.
The incident took place near Hussaini Dalan, an important 17th century center for Dhaka's Shia community, where 25,000 people had gathered in the old part of the Bangladeshi capital.
Local police chief Aziz Ahmed said a 12-year-old boy died, and that the injured were being treated.
At least 10 people were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and most of them were in a stable condition, according to Nazimunnesa, a deputy director.
Witnesses said that people ran frantically after blasts, losing their flip-flops and sandals as they scattered.
Police said that at least five bombs were thrown at the procession, three of which went kaboom! while two were recovered.
However, denial ain't just a river in Egypt... other police officials believe the blasts were caused by improved bombs.
Police cordoned off the area and were investigating the blasts. Nobody has yet claimed the responsibility for the attacks.
"It is our apprehension that blasts were carried out only to panic the people and to create a chaotic situation," Colonel Ziaul Ahsan, an additional director general of the elite Rapid Action Battalion, told news hounds.
[Hurriyet] A local court in Istanbul has sentenced 244 participants in the 2013 Gezi protests to jail time for a range of crimes, including "polluting a mosque."
The 55th Criminal Court of First Instance in Istanbul on Oct. 23 sentenced 244 of 255 defendants to between two months, 15 days and one year, two-months 16 days' imprisonment. Only four of the defendants were acquitted, while charges against four suspects were separated from the case file.
Some 255 protesters, including seven foreigners, were charged with a range of offenses including violating laws on demonstrations, "damaging public property," "taking part in illegal demonstrations," "causing interruptions in public services," "damaging a place of worship," and "protecting criminals." The indictment sought between one and 11 years, six months in jail for the suspects.
According to the Oct. 23 ruling, four suspects were sentenced to 10 months of imprisonment for "polluting a mosque," while two suspects were sentenced to two years, two months for "wearing doctors' coats." The local court, however, postponed the penalties.
The four defendants who were sentenced for "polluting a mosque" were doctors who provided emergency aid to protesters in the Dolmabahce Bezm-i Alem Valide Sultan Mosque in Besiktas, where protesters injured in a police attack were being treated.
Then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him... insistently claimed that protesters had drunk alcohol inside the mosque after escaping from a police attack in the area, despite assertions from the mosque's muezzin that no such activity had occurred.
The Gezi protests began in late May 2013 as an effort to stop bulldozers from razing central Istanbul's Gezi Park, one of the few green spaces left in the city's Taksim neighborhood, to build a shopping mall. Unrest quickly spread across The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , developing into a revolt against what protesters said was the increasing authoritarianism of Erdogan's decade-long rule.
In Pakistan, justice delayed is as good as it gets.
[Dawn] PESHAWAR: A local anti-terrorism court has dismissed bail petitions of a suspected hard boy in two cases of terrorism, including the October 2009 suicide kaboom at the Crimes Investigation Agency centre, which left 17 people dead.
While dismissing the petitions, judge Saleem Jan Khan observed that keeping in view the evidence on record, the suspect, Noor Wali, a resident of Bara in Khyber Agency ... the place to go if you've got an Indiana Jones hat and whip. Chock full of high adventure and treacherous Pathans. You should really train up to it, though... , did not deserve to be given the concession of bail.
The state prosecutor said the suspect had facilitated the bombing of the CIA centre in Swathi Gate area on Oct 16, 2009.
He said in the bombing caused by the blowing up of an explosives laden vehicle near the centre, innocent people, including two women, had died.
The state prosecutor said in the other case of terrorism, the suspect along with other holy warriors had kidnapped a police inspector, Tariq Khan, and beheaded him before throwing his body on the outskirts of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. in March 2009. He said the suspect was later tossed in the clink Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! by the police and had confessed to his crimes.
However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the petitioner's lawyer said his client was falsely implicated in the case and that he had no links with hard boys. He also said there existed no concrete evidence of his client's links with terrorist activities.
REMANDED: The court also remanded two suspected holy warriors in the custody of the counter-terrorism department for four days in a case of carrying an improvised bomb, hand grenades and pistols.
The suspects, including Mohammad Tahir and Akhtar Zaib, both residents of Khyber Agency, were produced before the court.
The CTD officials told the court that the two were arrested near Phase 6 in Hayatabad Township after seizure of four hand grenades, an IED and pistols.
They said during initial interrogation, the suspects had claimed they belonged to a proscribed organization and had planned to carry out acts of terrorism in the placid provincial capital.
The officials insisted the suspects were involved in different cases of terrorism and therefore, the CTD needed their physical custody for interrogation.
To be Shiite in public is to be a target in Pakistan.
[Dawn] SUKKUR/HYDERABAD: A powerful suicide kaboomdestroyed a Muharram procession in Lashari Muhalla in Jacobabad, killing 22 people, mostly children, and injuring more than 40 others on Friday.
The town was handed over to the army soon after the tragic incident. An emergency was declared in all hospitals of the town and announcements were made through mosques and Imambargah ...since Pakistain is very religiously correct, Shia Moslems can't call their houses of worship 'mosques,' which are reserved for Sunnis. It's not clear if imambargahs are used for explosives storage like mosques are... s for donation of blood.
While the processions taken out to pay homage to deaders of Karbala concluded peacefully in major cities and towns, the carnage in Jacobabad which followed a similar tragic incident in the Bolan district of Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... a day earlier marred the performance of law-enforcement agencies which had made adequate security arrangements across the country.
According to sources, the mourning procession was returning from Shershah-Jo-Per to Quetta Road in Lashari Muhalla when the suicide kaboom took place, causing suspension of electricity supply to the entire area.
The dead and the injured were taken to the Civil Hospital and the Jacobabad Institute of Medical Sciences, where condition of some of the injured was stated to be critical.
The entire Jacobabad town was in grip of grief and anger because of the killing of innocent children and was completely shut down.
Although emergency was declared in hospitals, there were reports that doctors and paramedical staff were not available there because of which some seriously injured people gave up the ghost. The situation led to a protest and ransacking of one of the hospitals by angry activists of different Shia organizations.
The town's DC Chowk turned into a battlefield when Jacobabad SSP Malik Zafar Iqbal Awan arrived there to talk to Shia leaders. The protesters pelted his car with stones and blocked his way.
Police fired shots in the sky and used teargas to disperse the protesters who also returned fire. Mohammad Sharif, a Wapda employee, was reportedly killed in police firing.
Three officials of the Sukkur Electric Power Company were attacked with knives because of non-supply of power and four vehicles of the company were set on fire.
The protesters also set ablaze the main gate of DC office and burnt tyres on different roads of the town.
The angry people thrashed DSP City Rana Nasrullah in Civil Hospital and tore up his uniform. He took shelter in the hospital mosque.
SSP Malik Zafar Iqbal said the blast was a suicide attack.
Police and intelligence agencies took parts of the body of the bomber into custody. The head of the bomber was not found.
According to the sources, the bomber was about 20 years old and a pistol was found fastened on the back of his body. A wire was also found attached to his legs and one hand.
Denouncing the terrorist attack, the Shia Ulema Council announced protests to be held in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and other cities and towns of Sindh on Saturday.
The Jacobabad SSP told Dawn over phone in the night that the blast occurred on a 6ft wide street. It was a small procession.
DG Health Services Dr Hassan Murad Shah said that 12 of the injured were later sent to the PAF Hospital in Jacobabad and two to a hospital in Larkana. District Health Officer Dr Sawan Sheikh said the district hospital had received 14 bodies.
In was the second deadliest bombing in upper Sindh.
[Dawn] The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed on Friday to have arrested two suspected terrorists of a banned outfit, who reached Lahore to carry out terrorist attack on Ashura processions.
According to sources, the CTD and intelligence agencies conducted raid in Shahdara and arrested Amjad Ali Chattha of Haveli Numbersaran Mohalla Jallo and Mubashir Miraj of Street No 5 of Mohalla Asifabad Colony, Sheikhupura. Both are members of the banned Jamatul Ahrar and TTP. The CTD officials recovered two 30 bore pistols, 550gm explosive, a hand grenade and 600gm explosive in double plastic bag and detonator.
The suspects reached Lahore to carry out attack on the Muharram processions. The CTD registered a case against suspects under section 4/5 ESA, 11-F (2) ATA, and 13-2a 20/65 AO and shifted them to undisclosed location for interrogation.
The CTD source said Jamatul Ahrar had been involved in last four terrorist attacks in Lahore including Police Lines Qila Gujjar Singh, Youhanabad and Wagah attack. At Wagah flag-lowering ceremony suicide attack, more than 60 people were killed and the outlawed Jundullah and TTP-affiliated Jamatul Ahrar outfits claimed responsibility.
More than 17 people were killed and 70 injured in two suicide attacks outside churches in Youhanabad.
U.S. forces engaged in the deadly raid to free ISIS hostages in northern Iraq after they saw the prisoners' "graves had been prepared," Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Friday.
He reiterated that U.S. service members were in "advise and assist" roles, saying that the plan was not for American forces to enter the firefight. However, he later added, "This is combat, things are complicated."
Most of us will understand that. Just don't lie to us, and don't play word games.
Secretary Carter said the freed hostages explained what they had experienced after the rescue, adding that "we could see" the graves next to the compound.
One American was killed in the raid, the first U.S. service member to die in the ground fight against ISIS in Iraq. The Pentagon identified him as 39-year-old Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler of Roland, Oklahoma, and said his body would return to the U.S. Saturday.
Prayers for the Master Sergeant, his family, and his people.
Pentagon officials say he died from enemy fire during the operation to free as many as 70 Arab hostages. They say he was assigned to Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
Dozens of U.S. special operations troops and Iraqi forces raided the compound Thursday, killing and capturing a number of militants, and recovering what the Pentagon called a trove of valuable intelligence about the terrorist organization.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the target of the raid was a prison near the town of Hawija and that the raid was undertaken at the request of the Kurdish Regional Government, the semi-autonomous body that governs the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. He said U.S. special operations forces supported what he called an Iraqi peshmerga rescue operation.
The peshmerga are the Kurdish region's organized militia. The U.S. has worked closely with them in training and advising roles, but this was the first known instance of U.S. ground forces operating alongside Iraqi forces in combat since launching Operation Inherent Resolve last year.
"This operation was deliberately planned and launched after receiving information that the hostages faced imminent mass execution," Cook said, adding later that it appeared the hostages faced death "perhaps within hours" and that freed hostages told authorities some had been killed at the prison recently, prior to the rescue.
Cook said Secretary Carter approved the U.S. participation in the mission. Cook called it "consistent with our counter-ISIL effort to train, advise and assist Iraqi forces."
Notice that Obama has none of his fingerprints on this one...
U.S. combat troops have rarely, if ever, participated directly in combat against IS fighters on the ground since the U.S. mission began in 2014. The U.S. has mostly limited its role to training and advising Iraqi and Kurdish forces, airdropping humanitarian relief supplies and providing daily airstrikes in ISIS-held areas of Iraq and Syria.
Cook said it was a "unique" circumstance for the American military in Iraq, although he would not say that it was the only time U.S. forces have engaged in a form of ground combat in Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. He said it was in keeping with the parameters of the U.S. military's role in Iraq.
"They are allowed to defend themselves, and also defend partner forces, and to protect against the loss of innocent life," Cook said. "And that's what played out in this particular operation."
In a separate statement, the Kurdish government said the operation lasted about two hours and was led by its counterterrorism forces, with support from coalition troops. It made no mention of intelligence indicating the captives were in imminent danger of being killed, as asserted by the Pentagon.
The Kurdish statement said more than 20 ISIS fighters were killed in the operation about four miles north of Hawija. It said 69 hostages were freed, none of whom were Kurds, and it thanked the Americans for their bravery.
The Islamic State group released a communique late Thursday dismissing what it called "a failed operation by the crusader coalition" since peshmerga fighters were not among the rescued hostages. The statement could not immediately be verified, but it was distributed on Twitter accounts with links to the group.
[AlArabiya] Iraq's Defense Ministry was not informed about a joint U.S. and Kurdish military operation that rescued 69 prisoners held by ISIS , a ministry front man said on Friday.
"We just heard this from the media, we didn't know about it," General Tahsin Ibrahim Sadiq told Rooters. "It was just the peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and the Americans, and the Ministry of Defense didn't have any idea about that."
Sadiq said ministry officials were meeting representatives of the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad on Friday to learn more about the operation, the most significant raid against ISIS in months.
Initial reports said Thursday's operation near the northern town of Hawija had freed Kurdish hostages, but officials later confirmed the detainees were Arabs, including around 20 members of the Iraqi security forces. The others were local residents and ISIS fighters that the group had accused of spying, said a U.S. official.
It was not immediately clear why these particular hostages triggered a potentially risky rescue mission.
Long-standing enmity between Arabs and Kurds, who aspire for greater autonomy in their northern region, have complicated efforts to unify the battle against ISIS turbans.
During a recent visit to Iraq, U.S. Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for changes to Iraq's fragmented security structure. The security forces are now divided, with different commanders speaking to the United States on behalf of Iraq's army, its militias, police and Kurdish peshmerga.
A CIA front man declined to comment on the suggestion that the rescued hostages had connections to the U.S. government.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
i am proud of the USA spending your blood and treasure to do these good deeds.
#2
A well planned and secretive vertical insertion can work. Interesting to note, the Iraqi gov't claimed no prior knowledge of the ISIS raid, and no one to to my knowledge has yet called it a U.S. "massacre." It is early however.
The Battle of Cassinga, Cassinga Raid or Kassinga Massacre was a controversial South African airborne attack on a South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) refugee camp and military base[4] at the former town of Cassinga, Angola on 4 May 1978. Conducted as one of the three major actions of Operation Reindeer during the South African Border War, it was the South African Army’s first major air assault.
#3
So, Baghdad knew nothing; the White House curiously "out of the loop." US media mildly alarmed. Nothing from the usual anti-war cabal (the weather is still tolerable in D.C. and it is the weekend.) No blather from the Turks, either.
#4
Speculation I read was that Ashton Carter has decided since noone else wants the job and he can't be replaced, therefore he can't be fired so he's going to go ahead and fight the war.
#6
They were rescuing Christians, of course our commander in chief knew nothing about it. If he would have know he would have called it off!!!
Great job by some great American hero's. I think this is the largest hostage rescue ever done by US forces. Well done and I will leave a shot at the bar for MSG Wheeler.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/24/2015 13:33 Comments ||
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#7
"We just heard this from the media, we didn't know about it," General Tahsin Ibrahim Sadiq told Rooters. "It was just the peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and the Americans, and the Ministry of Defense didn't have any idea about that."
One of the factors in its success
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/24/2015 13:56 Comments ||
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#8
BINGO, #7 Frank.
Posted by: Barbara ||
10/24/2015 14:11 Comments ||
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#9
The government of Iraq works for Iran now, they won't let anything that isn't Iranian or Russian led be a success. (For that matter, neither will Barky).
[ARA News] URFA – At least 12 militants of the radical group of Islamic State (ISIS) were Killed in an artillery shelling by the Kurdish Peshmerga forces on the group’s locations in the northern suburbs of the Iraqi city of Mosul in Nineveh province, military sources reported on Friday.
“The shelling targeted a headquarter of the terror group in the town of Bashiqa, northern Mosul, during which 12 extremists have been killed,” an informed source in the Ministry of Peshmerga said in a press statement.
The source pointed out that the bombing has resulted in the destruction of two armored vehicles and the death of their crews. More at the link
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10/24/2015 00:00 ||
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(IraqiNews.com) Head of Khalediya District Council Ali Dawood announced Friday, that seven people had been either killed or wounded in a mortar shell attack by ISIS elements east of Ramadi
Dawood stated for IraqiNews.com, “The ISIS organization bombed with mortar shells the district of Khalediya and the area of al-Habaniyah (30 km east of Ramadi), resulting in the death of a 6-year-old child and the injury of six civilians, including women, in addition to causing material damage to their houses.”
He added, “A security force cordoned off the area of the incident and transferred the injured to a near hospital and the dead to the forensic medicine department.”
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10/24/2015 00:00 ||
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(IraqiNews.com) Salahuddin – Badr militia announced on Thursday the killing of 19 element of “ISIS” in violent clashes north of Salahuddin.
The militia said in a press statement obtained by IraqiNews.com, “The 10th brigade belonging to the Badr forces repelled an attack on the village of al-Mesk and the mountains of Makhoul south of Sharqat District (60 km north of Salahuddin).”
The statement added, “A booby-trapped vehicle was treated and 19 ISIS elements were killed.”
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A busy day: on the Muslim weekend, Muslim lads gotta do what Muslim lads do. Riots across the West Bank got some people shot, ditto in Gaza ditto, would-be knife attackers got themselves arrested in Jerusalem, Jordan's King Hussein requested Mahmoud Abas calm things down in his territory before it spills over into Jordan, Hamas Interior Minister requests Gazan rioters calm down, too.
#1
Despite the extensive media coverage of these festivities, my mother-in-law is, at this very minute on tour in that area.
Received a letter earlier this week with her flight info, tour itinerary, and I guess as as 'oh by the way,' her burial insurance policy.
Despite the stereotypicsl mom in law jokes i was not in favor of her going but Spousal Unit wasn't about to intrfere and 'if she gets msrgyered over there she will be overnoyed.'
not to mention dead.
Compare and contrast to the accidental bombing of the 'Doctors without Borders' hospital by the Americans recently...
[AlArabiya] Nine Russian air strikes have hit hospitals or field clinics operating in war-torn Syria, killing civilians and medical staff, a Syrian medical organization said late Thursday.
The Syrian-American Medical Society, which operates several facilities in Syria, said a deadly strike earlier this week "adds to the previous estimated eight Russian air strikes on hospitals in Syria, as well as the 313 attacks on medical facilities since the start of the conflict."
It said several of its facilities had been hit in Russia's bombing campaign, including in the Mediterranean coastal province of Latakia and the central province of Hama on October 2 and in the northwestern province of Idlib on Tuesday.
The latest strike killed two medical personnel and at least 10 civilians, and maimed 28 civilians, it said.
Russia has strongly denied No, no! Certainly not! reports that its aircraft hit the hospital in the Idlib province town of Sarmin, describing them as "fake."
The society's president, Ahmad Tarakji, called for international action to stop hospitals and clinics being hit again.
"We call on the international community to use all means necessary to end attacks on civilians and to prevent the further targeting of healthcare facilities in Syria," he said.
Russia began its air campaign in Syria on September 30 in support of its ally Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Terror of Aleppo ... .
The campaign has been criticised not only for causing civilian casualties but also for targeting non-militant rebel groups more than the ISIS or Al-Qaeda.
#7
All is fair in love and war. But then in the spirit of the Marquess of Queensberry, the Geneva Conventions were signed and apply between two signatories. Wait a minute, non-state terrorists are not signatories. Therefore the rules do not apply.
The terrorist do not wear uniforms. Do not respect civilian life. Do not respect prisoners of war (they behead them).
The terrorist do not deserve the protections defined in the Geneva Conventions.
F-em.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
10/24/2015 15:31 Comments ||
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[AnNahar] Eight Iranians, two of them Revolutionary Guards forces, have been killed in Syria in recent days after Tehran increased its advisory missions to help Damascus, a guards front man said Friday.
"Two guards forces, Abdollah Bagheri and Amin Karimi, were killed yesterday and today on a mission in Syria," General Ramezan Sharif was quoted by Fars news agency as saying.
Bagheri, 33, was former president Mahmoud Short Round Ahmadinejad's personal bodyguard and was killed in the northern city of Aleppo.
General Sharif said five or six volunteers were also killed, according to the Youth Journalist Club, a state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
website.
General Sharif also rejected rumors on social media that 15 Iranians were killed recently in Syria.
Shiite Iran is a key ally of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... , standing by him since an uprising against his regime broke out in 2011.
Iran provides him with financial aid and military advisers against a range of opposing forces in a civil war that has that has killed more than 250,000 and displaced millions.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said this week that Tehran has increased the number of its military advisers in Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
10/24/2015 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#2
Bagheri, 33, was former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's personal bodyguard and was killed in the northern city of Aleppo.
So, why would somebody close to Ahmadinejad gets sent to "Eastern Front"? For that mater, we don't hear much about Ahmadinejad lately. You don't suppose?
The clip - posted on YouTube - shows a masked militant making threats following recent attacks against Jewish people in Jerusalem.
ISIS posts another video. It's the usual threats and nonsensical babbling. Smart people are prepared, and smart people in troubled areas of the world are both prepared and armed.
The terror group posted the clip on YouTube showing a militant dressed in army fatigues wearing a balaclava. It comes after a number of attacks in Jerusalem by Palestinians.
He says: “We assure you that soon there will not be a single Jew left on Jerusalem and throughout the country.”
He added the terror group would “move to eradicate the disease..... worldwide".
The militant backs the attacks in Jerusalem, saying: “soon there will not be one Jew left in Jerusalem."
It comes after reports that around 30 British-born Islamic State (ISIS) fighters have reportedly returned home to wage war on the UK. More than 300 ISIS terrorists are believed to have returned to their homeland.
And the paper reports that one in 10 of the combatants could plot terror attacks - as lone wolves.
Will McCants, author of The ISIS apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State , was quoted as saying: "One study done of foreign fighters says nine out of ten of those who do return don't engage in any more mischief. That still leaves you 10 per cent to worry about."
"And trying to keep tabs on which of the 300 is ready to strike could leave us vulnerable elsewhere."
“This is a message to all the Jews, who are the Muslims’ No. 1 enemy,” says a masked man in green fatigues in fluent, if slightly Arabic- and French-accented Hebrew.
So not an Israeli Arab or from the Palestinian Territories. The Times of Israel had a link to the video, but You Tube yanked it last night. A pity -- some Rantburgers might have been able to identify the accent if they could have listened to it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/24/2015 00:00 ||
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#1
These would be the ppl prepared to kick the shit out of you.
Posted by: chris ||
10/24/2015 0:15 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
