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Somalia orders recapture of Baidoa
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nor fuzzy, woolen socks neither ...
Posted by: Adriane || 02/03/2009 0:48 Comments || Top||



#4 



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/03/2009 3:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Damn you, Golf Bravo!
I took a look at the Mid East sex symbol and spewed coffee all over my screen.
Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/03/2009 11:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Not getting so many quality B&W posers with baby goats these days.

I blame Fred.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 14:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Fred, if you look real close at the picture of Angie you posted, you can see she is wearing skin toned skin under a Nano-Mini Skirt.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/03/2009 18:07 Comments || Top||

#8  It's a fashion look I could go for.
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 02/03/2009 18:31 Comments || Top||

#9  Jeebus cripes on a crutch, GB! ROFLMAO!

That clip with Dean Martin and Dom DeLuise it a scream. God, they were funny. I nearly fell off the chair laughing. I used to watch Dean's show regularly, way back when, so I probably saw it a few decades ago, but it's great to be reminded.

How come they were so much funnier back then (even now) than "comedians" are today?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/03/2009 23:06 Comments || Top||


-Lurid Crime Tales-
North Korea to 'Test Missile Capable of Striking U.S.'
I know, this again. It would be unwise to assume the Norks aren't inching forward in their WMD programs and might get it right some day; or any day, for that matter. Note that this rocket is closely related to Iran's satellite launcher, as discussed elsewhere at Rantburg.
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea is preparing to test fire a long range missile capable of striking the United States, according to media reports in South Korea and Japan this morning.

The Yonhap News Agency in Seoul quoted South Korean officials who described satellite image showing a long cylindrical object being transported on a train through the North Korean countryside. The sinister object has been identified as a Taepodong-2, an intercontinental missile with a range of more than 4000 miles, capable of crossing the Pacific and striking targets in Hawaii or Alaska.

It is impossible to confirm independently reports from North Korea, one of the world's most isolated and hardline dictatorships, where government of information is almost total. But the country is known to have an active missile programme, as well as nuclear warheads -- although crucially it probably does not have the technology to mount a nuclear device on a long range missile.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 02/03/2009 08:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to go Israeli on them.
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/03/2009 8:28 Comments || Top||

#2  diplomacy doesnt work. sanctions dont work. and Secretary of State Clinton for sure wont work. time for a new approach.
Posted by: Haveanoodle55 || 02/03/2009 8:46 Comments || Top||

#3  All the rogue countries feel brave now Bush has gone!!!!
Posted by: Paul2 || 02/03/2009 9:06 Comments || Top||

#4  i think the "awww jeez , not this shit again " is appropriate
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 02/03/2009 9:18 Comments || Top||

#5  IF


If Bush were still president and if this thing ever got out of the atmosphere, it might make a good impromptu target for the BMD guys in Alaska.

You know, just to make a point.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks || 02/03/2009 9:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Considerable appreciation to W. Bush for ramming through a BMD, despite concentrated opposition from a Democrat congress. There are times when being a hard ass and insisting is so damn right, and this is one of them.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/03/2009 9:44 Comments || Top||

#7  This is why we have a national missle defense - liberals take note.
(It would be a shame if something were to happen to the missle before launch. Too bad we don't seem to have a spy agency capable of doing it.)
Posted by: Spot || 02/03/2009 9:46 Comments || Top||

#8  And Mr. Limpwrist still wants to cancel the Missile Defense program.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/03/2009 10:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Must be either empty rice bowls or a shopping spree at Nieman Marcus. Those seem to be the only reasons they try this stuff.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/03/2009 10:55 Comments || Top||

#10  #2: diplomacy doesnt work. sanctions dont work. and Secretary of State Clinton for sure wont work.

Send Bill. Kimmie will be begging us to take him back after three days. We can get all kinds of concessions from them then.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/03/2009 11:32 Comments || Top||

#11  I wouldn't be surprised if it is really an Iranian missile test being done in North Korea. I will bet there are plenty of Iranians in attendance.
Posted by: Snolulet Sproing1912 || 02/03/2009 11:43 Comments || Top||

#12  Perhaps one can hope for a launch accident?
Posted by: Lagom || 02/03/2009 12:35 Comments || Top||

#13  And Mr. Limpwrist still wants to cancel the Missile Defense program.

Wants? Don't worry, it's coming ...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2009 13:53 Comments || Top||

#14  AP (Fox news?) once again shows its total ignorance of things military. The three missiles shown in the photo are two Nike Hercules, and the tall skinny one in front is a Pershing. NONE of them are of North Korean manufacture.

A constant diet of tree bark and grass will depress a person's IQ by 20-30 points. I can't explain what's happened to people who work for AP - they certainly can eat better than most North Koreans.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/03/2009 13:56 Comments || Top||

#15  We'd wear that "awjeez" picture out if we used it every time the NORKS step out of line.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/03/2009 14:29 Comments || Top||

#16  Wish I had a Nike-Hercules, I would feed it every day and use it only for good. I would groom it and make sure it had the good linkery, every day I would do this. I would teacher it new tricks and and give it a new lease on life, and when a Bear comer a little too close for mai liking....

Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 15:02 Comments || Top||

#17  US to test missile capable of reaching Pyongyang. Sounds fair to me.
Posted by: William Marcy Tweed || 02/03/2009 17:47 Comments || Top||

#18  MIL FORUM POSTERS > NOKOR's greatest advantage is that the majority of SOKOR's civilian population is conentrated/located in or near SEOUL, within striking range of NOKOR's reported 12,000 ARTY SHELLS, NK Tacair, + SRBMS + LR Rockets equipped wid CBRN-NBC warheads, espec CHEMWAR [targets = SOKOR milfors + possibly JAPAN]. NOKOR's nukes are perceived as being mostly ineffective in stopping let alone defeating the highly modern, professional, and tech-potent SOKOR Armed Forces, USA, andor JAPAN's SDFS. IT IS BELIEVED BY MANY NETTERS THAT NOKOR WILL CHOSE TO ATTACK SOKOR AND OR JAPAN FIRST IN PREEMPTIVE FIRST/MILSTRIKE(S), and later HOPE FOR CHIN MIL INTERVENTION TO STAVE OFF DEFEAT AND PREVENT A FULL US-SOKOR, ETC. MIL TAKEOVER = OCCUPATION OF THE NORTH???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2009 19:43 Comments || Top||

#19  As argued or premised times before, a DANGEROUS REALIST SCENARIO would be a US FIGHTING A CONVENTIONAL OR LIMITED NUCLEAR WAR AGZ IRAN + NOKOR + TAIWAN at the same time, given IRAN + NOKOR's penchant for moving in anti-US geopol lock-step wid the other. Can add a SOUTH ASIAN INDO-PAKI-CHIN CONFLICT TO THE EQUATION, AS PER MUMBAI, + CHIN VS. REST OF ASIA OVER DISPUTED EAST-SOUTH CHINA SEA ISLANDS.

IMO this alleged NOKOR T-2 LR ICBM MISSLE TEST should be taken as evidencia that IRAN WILL INDEED GO NUCLEAR + CONDUCT ONE OR MORE INDIGENS NUCBOMB TESTS NLT 2010 [absolute maxima 2012]. ITS MORE NOW TO IRAN + NOKOR'S ADVANTAGE TO DO SO WID THE US NOW IN A DEEP, LIKELY LT "RECESSION" = GREAT DEPRESSION-II AS PER THE MSM-NET.

E.g. CHINESE/WORLD MIL FORUM POSTERS > the issue as per a new KOREAN WAR 2 IS NOT IFF THE USA HAS "THE WILL" TO FIGHT, BUT THAT CAN SHE $$$ AFFORD TO, I.E. ECON ABLE TO FIGHT ONE OR MORE SIMUL MAJOR REGIONAL WARS POTENS INVOL NUCLEAR COMBAT/WARFARE [Limited TacNuke War + Limited Strategic NucWar - Total NucWar]???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2009 20:06 Comments || Top||

#20  WORLD MIL FORUM POSTER > argued the US suffered SERIOUS DOMESTIC ECON TROUBLES AFTER FIGHTING THE FIRST KOREAN WAR 1950-53, and exclusive of any econ probs related to WW2.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2009 20:10 Comments || Top||

#21  Not likely unless the Norks plan on bombarding the US with Jucheman pamphlets. I believe their test bomb fizzled. Miniaturizing a nuke and having it survive a rocket trip is on another level of difficulty.
Posted by: ed || 02/03/2009 21:51 Comments || Top||

#22  It's just a matter of songun and will Ed.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 22:42 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
NATO: Members May Use Iran for Easier Routes to Afghanistan
NATO would not oppose individual member nations making deals with Iran to supply their forces in Afghanistan as an alternative to using increasingly risky routes from Pakistan, the alliance’s top military commander said Monday.

Gen. John Craddock’s comments came just days after NATO’s secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, urged the U.S. and other members of the Western military alliance to engage with Iran to combat Taliban militants in Afghanistan.

“Those would be national decisions. Nations should act in a manner that is consistent with their national interest and with their ability to resupply their forces,” Craddock, an American who is NATO’s supreme allied commander, told The Associated Press. “I think it is purely up to them.”

Securing alternative routes to landlocked Afghanistan has taken on added urgency this year as the United States prepares to double its troop numbers there to 60,000 to battle a resurgent Taliban eight years after the U.S.-led invasion.

It also comes at a time when the main supply corridor through neighboring Pakistan is becoming increasingly dangerous as insurgents attack convoys that supply the foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Some political and military leaders have hinted at the need for closer cooperation with the government in Iran over the war in Afghanistan, where some 70,000 NATO and U.S. troops are currently trying to beat back the resurgent Taliban.

The United States has viewed Iran’s role in Afghanistan with suspicion, although the Islamic Republic has a long history of opposing Taliban rule.

U.S. officials have previously alleged that Iranian-made weapons and explosive devices were finding their way in the hands of insurgents in Afghanistan. But such criticism has been muted recently as President Barack Obama’s administration tries to set a new tone in relations with Iran.

Some experts suggest that nations with good relations with Iran such as France, Germany and Italy may try to set up an alternate supply route to western Afghanistan via Char Bahar, a port in southeastern Iran.

“NATO is looking at flexible, alternate routing. I think that is healthy,” Craddock said, when asked about the possibility of using Iranian territory for supply.

“Options are a good thing, choices are a good thing, flexibility in military operations is essential,” he said. “What nations will do is up to them,” he said, without elaborating.

Craddock’s comments came after U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus said last month that America had struck deals with Russia and several Central Asian states close to or bordering Afghanistan to allow supplies to pass through their territory.

U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan get up to 75 percent of “non-lethal” supplies such as food, fuel and building materials from shipments that cross Pakistan.
Posted by: Sherry || 02/03/2009 15:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You have got to be (CENSORED)me.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 02/03/2009 20:13 Comments || Top||

#2  hmmm, nothing could possibly go wrong there
Posted by: Frank G || 02/03/2009 20:17 Comments || Top||

#3  PAKISSTANI DEFENCE FORUM POSTER > believes that, as per 1980's PAKISTAN + AQ KHAN, IRAN will allow NATO [US?]to come through in order to keep NATO pre-occupied and diverted from its NucDevProgs???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2009 21:17 Comments || Top||

#4  It's worse for the EUros than depending on the Ruskies who cut off their gas? They've made their peace with Iran. They've submitted and they're part of Dar es Salaam. Face it, we can't supply the place. Get Out Now.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/03/2009 21:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Congratulate the diplos and then promptly place that proposal in the circular filing cabinet
Posted by: ed || 02/03/2009 21:35 Comments || Top||

#6  Quick, get the Secretary of State to Japan!
Posted by: DK70 the scantily clad || 02/03/2009 21:59 Comments || Top||

#7  So, we just blow a road through Iran?
Posted by: imoyaro || 02/03/2009 22:24 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL, it'll never happen.... but playing the Mede Card again the Land of the Pure would be damn sweet from a hegemonist/great_satanist viewpoint.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 22:45 Comments || Top||


Boom boy bombs coppe shoppe in Oruzgan province
Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Istanbul, Turkey -- In an attack that underscored the vulnerability of Afghanistan's struggling security forces, a suicide bomber dressed in a police uniform slipped into a police compound and detonated a powerful explosive device Monday, killing at least 21 officers, authorities said. The attack in southern Afghanistan also wounded a dozen police officers, according to the Interior Ministry.

Monday's bombing took place in Tirin Kot, the capital of Oruzgan province. The province is part of a swath of southern Afghanistan where the insurgency is at its strongest. The Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the attack and boasted that its bombers could strike anywhere. The Afghan Defense Ministry said Monday that three other would-be suicide bombers, already outfitted with explosives-filled vests, had been arrested in Oruzgan, but did not say when.

The police officers, most of them reservists, were in the midst of an exercise when the attacker managed to make his way into their compound and into the center of a large group, said Juma Gul Himas, the provincial police chief. It was not immediately known whether the bomber was searched or screened upon entry.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Somali officials say AU force kills 18 civilians
African Union peacekeepers opened fire Monday on civilian vehicles and fatally shot 18 people after an AU vehicle was hit by a land mine, officials and a witness said.

The peacekeepers fired at three minibus taxis carrying civilians after the land mine damaged an AU vehicle in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, said the city's deputy mayor, Abdifitah Ibrahim Shawey.

"A land mine hit one of our vehicles and then we came under small arms fire."
AU peacekeeping force spokesman Bahoku Barigye said the Ugandan contingent of the AU force was responding to gunfire and he does not know whom they hit. "A land mine hit one of our vehicles and then we came under small arms fire. We did not intentionally kill civilians," Barigye told The Associated Press, adding that one Ugandan soldier was wounded.

The incident happened on a road in southern Mogadishu linking the presidential palace and the airport. Both are among the government installations the AU force guards as part of its mandate in Mogadishu. "There was a huge explosion, which blew up one of the Ugandan military vehicles, lifting it off the road," said Mohamud Abdisamad, a resident of the Waberi district where the violence happened. "Afterwards, Ugandan soldiers started shooting at people in the three buses wildly."

Ali Muse, one of the coordinators of Mogadishu's ambulance service, said the service transported 18 dead and 11 people wounded from the scene of the violence. Muse said the dead and wounded had gunshot wounds.

A senior police officer, Gen. Yusuf Hussein Dumal, accused the AU peacekeepers of intentionally shooting the civilians. "It is unfortunate for both the Ugandan government and for the Somalis as well. What happened here was a clear massacre against civilians," Dumal said. "This is not peacekeeping."
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts

#1  "This is not peacekeeping."

You can't keep what you don't have in the first place. It is the key misunderstanding in the whole war-peace process. First you have to win the war, THEN you can talk about keeping the peace.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/03/2009 7:34 Comments || Top||

#2  First time I ever saw Fearless Fosdick not looking like swiss cheese.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/03/2009 10:56 Comments || Top||

#3  With birds flying thriugh the cannon sized holes.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/03/2009 13:48 Comments || Top||

#4  :)

Pls come home Al!
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 23:02 Comments || Top||


UN peacekeepers won't leave key Darfur town
The UN chief says peacekeepers will not leave a town in southern Darfur as Sudan has requested because it wants to rout rebels who seized the town in mid-January.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says peacekeepers will not leave Muhajeria to allow Sudanese soldiers to take the town back from the Justice and Equality Movement rebel group. Ban was speaking to journalists on Monday.

Sudan made the request to the UN-African Union force on Sunday.

Sudan has regularly challenged the UN's presence in the country. UN and African Union officials say they are building the peacekeeping force in Darfur and plan to have it reach its full capacity of 26,000 soldiers and policemen by June.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan


Arabia
Saudi issues list of wanted suspects abroad
A Saudi-owned TV network says the Saudi government has issued a list of its 83 most wanted suspects living abroad and asked the Interpol for help in arresting them.

Al-Arabiya satellite news channel quotes an Interior Ministry statement as saying the list includes six former Saudi Guantanamo detainees that had been released.

Monday night's report only gave the name of one suspect, Saleh al-Qaraawi, describing him as the leader of Al-Qaida in Saudi Arabia. There were also two Yemenis on the list.

The report did not give details about the whereabouts of the suspects.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  More consequences of the Catch and Release™ program.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/03/2009 11:10 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australia gives Muslim terror cleric 15 year sentence
A Muslim cleric convicted of forming a terrorist cell in Australia was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in jail, bringing the country's largest terrorism trial to a close. Six of his followers were ordered to serve between six and 10 years in prison.

Prosecutors accused Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 48, a former aviation engineer who moved to Australia from Algeria in 1989, of urging his followers to carry out a violent attack within Australia to pressure the government to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Australia supported the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 and had combat troops there when Benbrika and his followers were arrested. According to prosecutors, Benbrika said that it would take at least 1,000 deaths to achieve his goal.

The seven men were arrested in November 2005 after an undercover police operation found they were plotting to attack landmarks in their home city of Melbourne. The men were convicted last September under legislation introduced in Australia following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The Victoria State Supreme Court sentenced Benbrika to 15 years for intentionally directing the activities of a terrorist organization, seven years for intentionally being a member of a terrorist organization and five years for possessing a compact disc connected with the preparation of a terrorist act. He was the first person to be convicted of leading a terrorist group inside Australia. He was ordered to serve the terms concurrently and taking into account time served since his arrest, he will be eligible for parole in about nine years. The other six men received sentences ranging from four to eight years for their participation in the terrorist cell.

Benbrika and his six followers were arrested in a series of raids in 2005 after authorities who had intercepted the men's phone calls found that they had formed a terrorist cell with the intent of pursuing violent jihad.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/03/2009 06:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good going, mate! At least some one other than us are getting serious about the domestic variety.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/03/2009 10:58 Comments || Top||

#2  When the time comes, strip them of their Australian citizenship or legal residency, then send them back to their country of origin. And may the U.S. do the same with our convicted terrorists.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/03/2009 12:24 Comments || Top||

#3  OK Maybe I'm just dumb, Why in the hell would you send this bastard back to be worshiped, and copied.

Swing the bastard from a short rope/long drop. Cremate the remains. Nothing to worship and copy.
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/03/2009 13:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Benbrika, who has never worked since he arrived in Australia,lived on welfare and fathered seven children.
In a sense you might have to feel sorry for him. Imagine they might all blow up while he is still in the jug.
Posted by: tipper || 02/03/2009 14:41 Comments || Top||


Convicted terrorist Benbrika jailed
Posted by: tipper || 02/03/2009 00:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
13 arrested in Spain for international crime links
Spanish police arrested 13 people Tuesday on suspicion of links to organized crime and terrorism groups. A police statement said the detainees — 11 Pakistanis, a Nigerian and an Indian — are suspected of belonging to an international crime gang involved in passport forgery, drug trafficking and people-smuggling.

Police said they were investigating whether the group may also have supplied forged documents to international terror groups. Spanish police often use that term to refer to Islamic extremist organizations, but a police official refused to say if that applied this time.

Earlier, news reports citing police sources said 15 people had been arrested on suspicion of forging passports for use by al-Qaida members. Police in Madrid said they could not comment on that.

Eleven of the arrests took place in Barcelona and two in the eastern city of Valencia. Police agents wore masks to conceal their identities. The statement said the group is suspected of having contacts in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland and Thailand.

The group allegedly stole passports in Spain and forwarded them to Thailand, where they were altered before being sent back to crime gangs in Europe.
Posted by: ed || 02/03/2009 14:25 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
Militants cut US, NATO supply line to Afghanistan
Militants blew up a bridge in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, cutting the major supply line for U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan with an explosion that turned the narrow span into a jagged metal "V." It was the latest, and perhaps most serious, attempt to block supplies to the U.S.-led mission against the Taliban.

The length of the slender metal bridge slanted to one side and was blocked by an overturned truck that spilled dozens of dusty bags into the pavement. Traffic from the bare hills continued on foot, with Afghans and Pakistanis, including women in burqas, hurrying their baggage over the dry riverbed.

A NATO spokesman in Afghanistan said supplies along the route had been halted "for the time being," but stressed the alliance was in no danger of running out of food, equipment or fuel.

The latest attack on the famous Khyber Pass highlights the urgent need NATO and the U.S. have for alternative supply routes to landlocked Afghanistan through nations to its north, especially as the U.S. plans to double its troop numbers in the country this year.

Up to 75 percent of the fuel and supplies destined for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan travel through Pakistan after being unloaded at the port of Karachi, and most are driven along the Khyber Pass.
Posted by: ed || 02/03/2009 14:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to deduct a little more from the stipend we give to the Paks.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/03/2009 15:48 Comments || Top||

#2  In 1948, the US supplied West Berlin from the air. I'm sure this obstacle is not insurmountable.
Posted by: William Marcy Tweed || 02/03/2009 17:38 Comments || Top||

#3  This hurts the Pak government and economy more than it hurts us. It's more of a diplomatic opportunity for us. The question is do we have the moxie in our government to take advantage of it? Seems doubtful.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 02/03/2009 19:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes but the cost was tremendous (Fuel salaries etc)
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/03/2009 19:28 Comments || Top||

#5  If the Paks ain't there we have no place to short-stage.... most of the flights into Berlin were less than 400 miles one way.....
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 23:06 Comments || Top||


Militants' hideouts pounded in Bajaur
Security forces pounded suspected hideouts of militants on Sunday in different areas of Mamond Tehsil in Bajaur Agency.Official sources said that several hideouts were destroyed. However, there was no report of any casualty. Meanwhile, the militants blew up a filling station in Nawagai area.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Six FC men hurt in Mohmand blast
Six personnel of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) were injured when their vehicle was hit by an explosives device planted by militants on a road in the Mulakhel area of Lakaro Tehsil in the restive Mohmand Agency on Sunday.

Sources said the vehicles of an official of the Thall Scouts and security men were passing through the Qayyumabad area in the Lakaro Tehsil and moving towards the Bajaur Agency when a roadside bomb went off.

The official and the security forces' personnel narrowly escaped as the device exploded just after the convoy passed through the area. Soon after the blast, personnel of the Mohmand Rifles, an FC wing, from the Darwazgai-II checkpoint rushed to the spot in a vehicle. As they reached the Mulakhel area, their vehicle was hit by another roadside bomb, which caused injuries to six personnel.

The injured were identified as Naib Subedar Rafiq and Sepoys Anjuman, Attaur Rahman, Noor Islam, Ijaz and Mujahid, who were rushed to a nearby military health facility. Reports pouring in from the restive tribal agency said that the militants also attacked the Mamad Gat camp with rockets and mortars from the Chamarkand, Chinari and Alingar areas.

However, the security forces in the Bhai Dag and Nawagai camps retaliated and targeted the suspected hideouts of the militants with artillery shelling. There was report of any casualties from either side.

The Peshawar-Bajaur Road remained closed for all kinds of traffic from early morning to 3:00 pm as a convoy of the security forces, backed by tanks and aerial support, was coming from Peshawar to the troubled tribal area. People of the area, particularly those migrating to safer places, faced problems due to the closure of the road. The security forces, along with officials of the political administration, also patrolled the Qandaro, Mulakhel and Mirzakhel areas.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Security forces claim killing 35 militants in Swat
The death tally of militants, amid separate skirmishes between miscreants and security forces, has climbed to 35 on Monday, according to security forcesÂ' assertion. As per sources militantsÂ' hideouts, in separate areas in Swat including Char Bagh and Khwaz Khela, were pounded by security forces resulting deaths of thirty-five militants. It is pertinent to mention here, security forces imposed curfew on different areas in Swat on Sunday giving rise to likely intensive strikes against militants on Monday.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Iraq
2 dead, 10 injured in Mosul attack
Aswat al-Iraq: The Casualties from the bombing attack that took place on Monday in western Mosul rose to two dead and 10 wounded, according to a security source. "The death toll of the bomb blast that targeted a U.S. vehicle patrol on Monday (Feb. 2) in western Mosul rose two dead and ten wounded," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, noting that the two are a man and his son. The same source had said earlier that an explosive charge targeted a U.S. patrol vehicle in Raas al-Gada area, western Mosul, wounding six civilians.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Simple but color-blind shepherd arrested west of Mosul
"They arrested him after a bomb mistakenly went off inside his house."
Aswat al-Iraq: An Iraqi army force on Monday arrested a shepherd for making bombs in west of Mosul, a military source said. "An Iraqi army force arrested a shepherd in Faqeerok village in south of Zamar district in west of Mosul for making bombs," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "They arrested him after a bomb mistakenly went off inside his house," he noted.
"Honey! Have you seen my bomb?"
"I put it in the oven, dear. I was afraid it would get knocked over."
"Okay. Say! What's the tasty smell?"
"I thought I'd bake you a pie!"
"In the...?"
"... oven?"
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  a bomb mistakenly went off inside his house," he noted.

This is what it was like before smartbombs.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 5:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Dumb ones indeed, .5mt. LOL
Posted by: lotp || 02/03/2009 10:22 Comments || Top||

#3  I guess it was fool proof!
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 02/03/2009 11:01 Comments || Top||

#4  Surely you remember the old saying "Fools are so ingenious".
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/03/2009 13:57 Comments || Top||

#5 

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/03/2009 17:31 Comments || Top||

#6 
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/03/2009 18:40 Comments || Top||

#7  GMB LOL, um... it's all in the order man.
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 23:11 Comments || Top||


4 gunmen detained northeast of Baaquba
Aswat al-Iraq: Joint forces on Monday arrested four gunmen in northeast of Baaquba, a security source said. "A joint force of police and army personnel arrested four gunmen in Balour region in northeast of Baaquba," the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. "The force found also different kind of weapons at a house of one of the gunmen," he added, without giving more details.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IDF soldiers kill Palestinian gunman in Hebron Hills
Palestinian militants shot at Israeli soldiers in the West Bank region of the Hebron Hills on Sunday morning. The troops subsequently returned fire, killing one of the gunmen.

None of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers was wounded in the gunfight, which took place near the West Bank settlement of Beit Yatir.

The incident was the latest in a recent upsurge of attacks in the West Bank following Israel's 22-day offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. About two weeks ago, IDF troops shot and killed a Palestinian who participated in a violent West Bank protest against the campaign in Gaza.

A few days earlier, a Palestinian militant stabbed an IDF soldier at the Almog junction in the southern West Bank, near the Dead Sea, and fled. The soldier sustained moderate wounds in the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Qassam hits Negev after IAF strikes Gaza gunmen
A Qassam rocket struck an open area in Sha'ar Hanegev Monday evening, despite separate cease-fire declarations by both Israel and Hamas which ended Israel's three-week military offensive in the Gaza Strip last month. The rocket caused no injuries or damage.

Earlier Monday, three mortar shells hit the Eshkol region, also causing no injuries or damage.

In response to the mortar attack, the Israel Air Force bombed a car in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical workers reported that one person had been killed in the bombing, and three others were wounded. The Israel Defense Forces said it targeted gunmen who had fired the mortars.

Witnesses said the air-strike hit the men while they were traveling in a car in the town. Their identities were not immediately known.

Late Sunday, IAF aircraft bombed a Hamas security building in the central Gaza Strip and two other targets in the southern coastal territory, Palestinian witnesses said, also in response to a spate of cross-border rocket fire. Witnesses in the central Gaza village of Mughraqa said a missile struck after dark in a cluster of caravans that served as a Hamas security headquarters.

They said the site had been evacuated, apparently after Israel telephoned warnings to Palestinians in Gaza to leave any buildings where weapons were located.

The other two strikes were on suspected sites of tunnels along the border with Egypt, Hamas said. Palestinians reported huge explosions as Israeli warplanes dropped bombs on the border, where Hamas operates tunnels to smuggle in weapons, food and other goods.

Before the attack, Israeli aircraft flew over the Gaza-Egypt border, setting off sonic booms, and witnesses said hundreds of people who work in the tunnels there ran away fled, along with residents.

The news comes as Israel's leadership warned Sunday that the response to the rocket attacks from Gaza would be fierce. The disagreements between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, on the one hand, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak over an "arrangement" with Hamas have intensified.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  a missile struck after dark in a cluster of caravans that served as a Hamas security headquarters.
they have gone to the mattresses shakey shacks!
Posted by: .5MT || 02/03/2009 5:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Caravans = campers. So Hamas are Boy Scouts after all, huh. Who knew?
Posted by: lotp || 02/03/2009 10:30 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thai beheadings said to be retaliation
The beheading of two paramilitary rangers by suspected Islamist militants in Yarang district of Pattani province Monday was believed to be a revenge in retaliation against the mid-January killing of a partially-disabled Muslim by government officials, according to the Internal Security Operations Command.

The two victims, identified as Neehasan Neewae, 30, and 56-year old Chua Chotirat, were ambushed by an unknown number of suspected militants in a para rubber plantation about two kilometers from their outpost in Yarang district as they were on their way to carry out their routine psychological warfare mission. After the ambush, the militants shot the victims at point-blank range, cut their heads and then set fire to their bodies before leaving with their two service pistols. The severed head of Chua was left at the scene but the one belonging to Neewae is yet to be located.

Isoc officials suspected that the killing and beheading of the two rangers was a revenge attack in retaliation against the killing of Abdul Arshi Kongsathien on January 16 in Yarang district of Pattani. The killing of Abdul Arshi has led to protest by his friends of relatives who maintained that the victim whom they claimed was partially disabled and could not fire a gun was murdered by the authorities. However, the authorities maintained that Abdul Arshi could use a gun and that the .38 calibre revolver seized from the victim had been used in the commission of at least 10 criminal acts resulting to seven deaths, including two policemen, and five injuries. They also claimed that traces of gun powder were traced on the victim’s hand.

Apart from the deep suspicion in the minds of the locals over Abdul Arshi’s death, the killing of a religious teacher, Abdul Karim Yusoh, who was shot dead in front of a mosque in Saiburi district of Pattani on January 30 by gunmen riding on a pickup truck has also fuelled deep mistrust of the officials. Yusoh had just been released from jail after he was acquitted by the court. Shortly after his release, he told the Issara news agency that he was afraid that he might be silenced by the authorities. Student activists have called for an independent probe into the killings of Yusoh and Abdul Arshi to clear the air about suspicion of foul play by the authorities.

The gruesome mutilation of the two rangers has added to a total of 26 beheading cases registered in the strife-torn deep South in the past five years since violence flared up in 2004. The first beheading took place on May 27, 2004 in Sungai Padi district of Narathiwat and the victim was identified as 63-year old Chiang Padkaew. The last one was reported on September 21 last year and the victim was identified as Prateep Sombat, 51, in Srisakhon district of Narathiwat.

Earlier Mr Panyasak Sophonvasu, a researcher of the security studies project of the Office of the Research Support Fund, said that the beheadings of victims in the deep South by suspected Islamist militants were copycat acts borrowed from the extremists in Iraq and were intended to strike fear among government officials and Muslim civilians who collaborate with the officials.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/03/2009 06:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Everything Muzzies do is revenge.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2009 7:51 Comments || Top||


Withdraw troops: Kidnappers
AL-Qaeda-linked militants holding three Red Cross workers in the southern Philippines are demanding that troops be withdrawn from the area as a condition for their release, a governor said on Monday. Sulu provincial Gov. Sakur Tan said the kidnappers made the demand in a letter given to the vice governor on Sunday when she delivered medicine to the victims.

The hostages - Italian Eugenio Vagni, Andreas Notter of Switzerland and Mary Jean Lacaba of the Philippines - were kidnapped from their car on Jan 15 after they inspected a sanitation project at a jail on Sulu's Jolo island, a predominantly Muslim region. Police said they were seized by gunmen who then handed them over to Al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf militants, whom troops have been battling for years in the region.

Mr Tan said the letter also asked that negotiators be named for talks on their release and suggested Tan, Vice President Noli de Castro, foreign ambassadors and senators as candidates. Mr Tan, who heads a task force dealing with the kidnapping, rejected any troop pullout and said he did not want any negotiators from outside the province.

Sulu Vice Governor Lady Ann Sahidulla, who received the letter, also met last Wednesday with two Abu Sayyaf commanders along with the kidnap victims at a jungle hide-out.

Manila's GMA television network said the handwritten letter was addressed to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and was signed by Abu Sayyaf commanders Albader Parad and Radullan Sahiron, an elusive one-armed leader long wanted by US and Philippine authorities for involvement in several terror attacks. Mr Tan said he could not confirm the authenticity of the signatures.
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf


Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka warns civilians to flee
The Sri Lankan government has said it cannot guarantee the safety of civilians living among Tamil separatists in the north of the country. "The government cannot be responsible for the safety and security of civilians still living among LTTE terrorists," said Lakshman Hulugalle, a government spokesman, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

He urged civilians to seek shelter in a government "safe zone" - where there have been reports of shelling as well - but did not say how the civilians would be able to flee if they were being held against their will as human shields, as claimed by the government's military.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If the UN and the Red Cross have a problem with this let them take it up with the LTTE.
Posted by: tipover || 02/03/2009 1:22 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
UNIFIL, Egypt are targets of terrorist groups in Lebanon
Al-Balad newspaper reported on Sunday that a new faction in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp called Jihad Movement for Gaza Support was created by Jamal Hamad, a Palestinian, and Gandi al-Sahmarani, a Lebanese citizen.

The Lebanese state authorities have issued numerous arrest warrants for Sahmarani for his involvement in terrorist activities. The paper added that members of Jund al-Sham and Usbat al-Ansar, who were trained for using explosive devices and launching rockets, joined the new faction.

According to Al-Balad, Jihad Movement for Gaza Support worked with members of the extremist group Fatah al-Islam such as Abdel Rahman Awad in an effort to operate against the interests of parties perceived to be connected with Israel in Lebanon and abroad. The paper mentioned that the Egyptian embassy in the Bir Hassan area was one of the faction's targets.

Al-Balad also reported that a Palestinian faction with "a jihadist and ideological" connection to al-Qaeda was preparing to target UNFIL troops. The paper reported that al-Qaeda official Abdullah Liyani al-Hassan arrived in Ain al-Hilweh in December 2008 to meet with Usbat al Ansar official Abu Obeida and Iraqi insurgent Khodr Ibrahim al-Naouchi.

Al-Balad wrote that Palestinian-Syrian Mahmud Ali As-Saghir and Palestinian-Lebanese Khamis Omar Ahmad, who are trained for launching rockets, were among those chosen to perpetrate the attack on UNIFIL, in addition to Bekaa refugee camp residents Imad al-Hajj Ali, Jamil Omar, Iyad al-Basbass and Wahid al-Hajj.
This article starring:
ABDEL RAHMAN AWADFatah al-Islam
ABDULLAH LIYANI AL HASANal-Qaeda
ABU OBEIDAUsbat al Ansar
GANDI AL SAHMARANIJihad Movement for Gaza Support
JAMAL HAMADJihad Movement for Gaza Support
KHAMIS OMAR AHMEDUsbat al Ansar
KHODR IBRAHIM AL NAUCHIal-Qaeda
MAHMUD ALI AS SAGHIRUsbat al Ansar
Posted by: Fred || 02/03/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam

#1  OTOH REDDIT > ONLINE JOURNAL - ISRAEL IS PLANNING/DESIRES TO ANNEX LARGE PARTS OF IRAQ [ + Lebanon] FOR A "GREATER ISRAEL" [Israeli/Zionist Imperialism + KURDS]???

Greater PAKISTAN vs Greater INDIA vs ......
@etc. "GREATER -----"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/03/2009 2:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Go ahead, see if I care.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/03/2009 2:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Is schadenfreude inappropriate?
Posted by: AlanC || 02/03/2009 10:46 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2009-02-03
  Somalia orders recapture of Baidoa
Mon 2009-02-02
  Bomber in police uniform kills 21 Afghan policemen
Sun 2009-02-01
  Sheikh Sharif elected as Somalia's president
Sat 2009-01-31
  Polls Close in Iraq Elections, No Major Violence
Fri 2009-01-30
  'Incompetent' Hamid Karzai's political future in doubt
Thu 2009-01-29
  Pakistan busts suicide bomb gang
Wed 2009-01-28
  Yar! French navy nabs 9 Somali pirates
Tue 2009-01-27
  Al-Shabaab fighters seize Somali parliament headquarters
Mon 2009-01-26
  GSPC founder calls for al-Qaeda surrender in Algeria
Sun 2009-01-25
  Lanka troops enter final Tiger town
Sat 2009-01-24
  Twenty killed in separate strikes in North, South Wazoo
Fri 2009-01-23
  Hamas arms smuggling never stopped during IDF op in Gaza
Thu 2009-01-22
  Meshaal hails Hamas victory in Gaza, attacks PA
Wed 2009-01-21
  Pakistani troops kill 60 Talibs in Mohmand
Tue 2009-01-20
  Barack Obama inaugurated

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