Hi there, !
Today Tue 04/10/2012 Mon 04/09/2012 Sun 04/08/2012 Sat 04/07/2012 Fri 04/06/2012 Thu 04/05/2012 Wed 04/04/2012 Archives
Rantburg
531206 articles and 1854415 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 45 articles and 125 comments as of 4:01.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Azerbaijani intel service jugs 17 hard boys
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [336067] 
3 08:19 badanov [336082] 
0 [336067] 
1 07:54 Glenmore [336085] 
0 [336083] 
0 [336069] 
0 [336068] 
0 [336071] 
0 [336107] 
3 13:52 tu3031 [336078] 
2 07:42 Glenmore [336068] 
0 [336066] 
3 03:30 Besoeker [336071] 
10 20:32 SteveS [336081] 
2 12:17 trailing wife [336070] 
1 07:36 Glenmore [336085] 
Page 2: WoT Background
4 21:12 Eric Jablow [336093]
0 [336067]
0 [336066]
0 [336067]
4 18:43 Bright Pebbles [336092]
0 [336064]
9 22:24 JosephMendiola [336078]
1 09:47 Besoeker [336067]
3 13:13 Barbara [336067]
0 [336081]
0 [336068]
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [336070]
5 23:23 newc [336089]
15 21:45 JosephMendiola [336102]
6 22:56 canalzone [336089]
0 [336070]
10 15:51 Frank G [336091]
8 21:54 Hellfish [336081]
2 11:14 Pappy [336070]
8 14:31 Frank G [336067]
13 23:42 newc [336080]
Page 4: Opinion
0 [336068]
0 [336070]
1 00:33 JosephMendiola [336069]
0 [336069]
1 10:45 Frank G [336067]
Page 6: Politix
3 20:23 George Ebbeamp4828 [336104]
7 11:33 Pappy [336066]
0 [336076]
Afghanistan
Bomber kills provincial peace council head in Afghan east
KABUL: A splodydope suicide bomber killed the head of a regional peace council on Friday in Afghanistan’s east, police said, dealing a fresh blow to the country’s attempts to negotiate a peace deal with Taleban insurgents.

Hashim Monib and his son were killed as they left their mosque in Asadabad, the capital of the Kunar province, provincial police chief Ewaz Mohd told Reuters.

“They were on their way home after prayers when the jacket walla bomber attacked them,” he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mustn't allow peace; bad for suicide bomber trainers employment prospects.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/07/2012 7:36 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Tauregs declare independence
BAMAKO: Mali's Tuareg rebels, who have seized control of the country's distant north in the chaotic aftermath of a military coup in the capital, declared independence yesterday of their Azawad nation.

"We, the people of the Azawad," they said in a statement published on the rebel website, "proclaim the irrevocable independence of the state of the Azawad starting from this day, yesterday, April 6, 2012."


Thanks to the once-Nazi sponsored Volkswagon motorwerks, the Tuaregs already have a namesake luxury/performance SUV! Why not a country too?


The military chiefs of 13 of Mali's neighbors met Thursday in Ivory Coast to hash out plans for a military intervention to push back the rebels in the north, as well as to restore constitutional rule after disgruntled soldiers last month stormed the presidential palace and sent the democratically elected leader into hiding. The confusion in the capital created an opening for the rebels in the north, who have been attempting to claim independence for more than 50 years.

France, which earlier said it is willing to offer logistical support for a military invasion, announced yesterday that it does not recognize the new Tuareg state.



The new 2012 VW Touareg Rebel edition, in Afrika Korps green.
"A unilateral declaration of independence that is not recognized by African states means nothing for us," said French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet.

The European Union concurred. "We will certainly not accept this declaration. It's out of the question," said Richard Zinc, the head of the European Union delegation in Bamako.
Two tuts...
The traditionally nomadic Tuareg people have been fighting for independence for the northern half of Mali since at least 1958, when Tuareg elders wrote a letter addressed to the French president asking their colonial rulers to carve out a separate homeland called "Azawad" in their language. Instead the north, where the lighter-skinned Tuareg people live, was made part of the same country as the south, where the dark-skinned ethnic groups controlled the capital and the nation's finances.

The Tuaregs accuse the southerners of marginalizing the north and of concentrating development, including lucrative aid projects, in the south. They fought numerous rebellions attempting to wrestle the north free, but it wasn't until a March 21 coup in Bamako toppled the nation's elected government that the fighters were able to make significant gains. In a three-day period last week they seized the three largest cities in the north as soldiers dumped their uniforms and retreated.

Their independence declaration cited 50 years of misrule by the country's southern-based administration and was issued by the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, whose army is led by a Tuareg senior commander who fought in the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi's military.

The group is secular and its stated aim is creating Azawad. However, they were helped by a hard-line faction, Ansar Dine. They are now attempting to apply Islamic law to Mali's moderate north, including in the fabled tourist destination of Timbuktu, where women have been told to wear veils and not be seen in public with males who are not relatives.

In all three of the major cities in the north, residents say they do not know which of the two factions has the upper hand. In the city of Gao, from where the NMLA declaration of independence was written, a resident said that it appeared that the Islamist faction was in control, not the NMLA.

"I heard the declaration but I'm telling you the situation on the ground. We barely see the NMLA. The people we see are the Salafis," said the young man, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. "I can't tell which group they are exactly, but we know they are the hard-liners because of their beards. They are the people in control of Gao. I'm right near the Algerian consulate right now which they have taken control of and they are here. They are armed and other are in the back of their pickup trucks," he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336081 views] Top|| File under:

#1  LIKELY NOT OVER YET, as lots of Al-Qaeda + other Hard Boyz are repor entering or planning to come to Mali.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 04/07/2012 0:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Tuareg, Kurds, Berbers vs. "Palestinians" and "Kosovars": guess the difference.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2012 3:14 Comments || Top||

#3  Let 'em have their little Ass-wad of a country. Just give it one-way doors, a sand-filled roach motel.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/07/2012 7:40 Comments || Top||

#4  on another note, we Texans have decided it's time to secede from the US.
Posted by: texhooey || 04/07/2012 7:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Better hurry, tex, before you have to secede from what is effectively Mexico (again.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/07/2012 7:57 Comments || Top||

#6  If I lived in a place called Asswad, I'd consider leaving as well.

I guess DC sounds like dicey.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 04/07/2012 9:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Whoop!

If Texas seceds from the Union, I'm moving back there. Llano county will seem even more inviting without the crazy crap liberals in Sacramento.
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 04/07/2012 12:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Must be serious, if Richard Zinc was galvanised into action.
Posted by: Grunter in Bogota || 04/07/2012 16:14 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm with you, Bill - if Texas secedes, San Antonio here I come!
Posted by: Barbara || 04/07/2012 17:26 Comments || Top||

#10  So the Tauregs are revolting, eh?
Posted by: SteveS || 04/07/2012 20:32 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Motorbike bomb kills two militants in Yemen
ADEN: Two Al-Qaeda terrorists militants died in southern Yemen yesterday when a bomb they were carrying on a motorbike went off prematurely near the headquarters of the paramilitary police, an official said.
"Slow down Achmed! This road is really rough and the bomb could go––"
The incident occurred in the Mansoura district of the southern port city of Aden close to a building where the Central Security Service is based.

“It blew up as it was getting near the building,” the security official told Reuters, adding that he thought the dead terrorists men were suicide bombers. He said one of the terrorists men had been identified, adding that the explosion did not damage the building and that nobody else was hurt in the blast.

The Al-Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar Al-Shariah said in a statement it was behind the botched attack, saying its two terrorists fighters had been “martyred” after their device exploded by mistake.

“The terrorists mujahideen, may God infest them with boils bless them both, were on their way to carry out a jihadi operation against a target linked to the puppet Sanaa regime," the e-mailed statement said.

The group also rejected as “false and ridiculous” a government report that said military and security forces had killed more than 100 terrorists militants in the past few days.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chinese motorbikes, why do they hate us?
Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2012 4:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Is this the same incident as was reported yesterday, or is there a whole shipment of overly sensitive detonators?
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/07/2012 7:42 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Azerbaijani intel service jugs 17 hard boys
Azerbaijan, Baku -- As a result of operational activities conducted by the Ministry of National Security (MNS), 17 members of an armed group who planned a series of sabotage and subversion and terrorist acts to disrupt social stability and creating panic among the population have been revealed and arrested, the ministry's center of Public Relations told Trend on Friday.

As a result of the special operations carried out in Baku, Ganja and Sumgayit, as well as in Gakh, Zagatala, Sheki and Gusar regions, four AKM-type submachine guns, a RPK-type machinegun, two Makarov pistols, one revolver-type pistol, one Stechkin pistol, a rifle, six full pistol clips, 300 cartridges of various calibers, 31 hand grenades, 15 explosive devices with remote control, three detonators, a large number of explosive plastids, three clips for a submachine gun, 30 Kenwood portable radio transmitters, three bayonet-knives, literature that promotes terrorism and jihad, large quantity of military equipment other items prohibited by law use of which was planned for terrorist and subversive acts were found and seized from detained members of the armed group.

During operations carried out in the city of Ganja, the staff of special-purpose group "Gartal" of the Ministry of National Security faced armed resistance. Those who did not flout the legal requirement to surrender, opened fire on a group of special-purpose employees, and threw a hand grenade at them. As a result, a MNS employee was killed and three were injured to varying degrees. One of those who showed armed resistance, using violence against a government official in connection with his performance of his duties, was killed, one wounded, two other members of the group were detained.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336107 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
China places six Uighurs on ‘terror’ list
BEIJING: China placed six men from the Uighur ethnic minority on a “terror” list, accusing them of involvement in terrorist training camps and of inciting attacks in the country’s restive western Xinjiang region.

China’s Ministry of Public Security said the men, whose names identify them as Uighurs, were members of the outlawed East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM), blaming one for orchestrating violent attacks in the city of Kashgar last July.

Chinese authorities have accused the ETIM, which wants an independent homeland for Xinjiang’s Uighurs, of orchestrating attacks in the region on many occasions. They also gave rare details of what they says are links between the militant groups and neighbouring countries, as it unveiled a list of six wanted suspects. The Ministry of Public Security published the names of the suspects, all apparently ethnic Uighurs, on its website late on Thursday, along with their photographs and an outline of their alleged crimes. All six had spent time in what the ministry called Pakistain “a certain south Asian country” where they were trained to carry out terror attacks and incited militants in China to carry out suicide bombings and knife attacks.

The public security ministry on Thursday said in a statement that it had frozen the funds and assets of the six men, whose whereabouts are not known. China has blamed incidents of violence in Xinjiang, home to the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighur people, on religious separatists who want to establish an independent state of East Turkestan.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336085 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ETIM is a complex organization, an alliance of several groups whose common denominator is hatred of their Han overlords. (IMO their hatred has a sound basis.) Kind of like Tibet, only Muslim, and more violent, but I repeat myself.) Not all of the Turkic separatists are interested in independence - some prefer the Han welfare, such as it is, but want more autonomy; others want independence, but not an Islamic republic; the largest and strongest group is, however, the Islamofascists. They are the ones with significant external support. If they (ETIM) win against the Chinese (they won't, East Turkestan is where a lot of Chinese oil is found), the non-Islamofascists will be rapidly converted or killed.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/07/2012 7:54 Comments || Top||


Europe
France to free suspected Islamist terrorists
PARIS: French police were expected to release without charge on Friday the last six of 10 suspected Islamic terrorists militants arrested in dawn raids two days earlier, legal sources said. Four were freed on Thursday after prosecutors found there was insufficient evidence to hold them. The sources would not confirm the exact timing of the release of the remaining six terrorists on Friday.

French officials said on Wednesday the terrorists suspects had been detained preventatively because they had a “similar profile” to Mohamed Merah, a 23-year-old Al-Qaeda-inspired gunman who shot dead seven people, including three Jewish schoolchildren, in southwest France last month.
So the French were profiling, eh?
A police source described those held as “isolated individuals who are self-radicalized.”

He said the terrorists suspects had been tracked on Islamist forums expressing extreme views and had been preparing to travel to areas including Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Sahel belt of West Africa to wage jihad (holy war). Some of those arrested had already visited these areas, the source said.
If that's not enough to arrest them it should be enough to expel them. Let them live in Mauritania...
Police arrested 19 people suspected of Islamist militancy last week. Thirteen are still being held, alleged to have links to French radical Islamist group Forsane Alizza (Knights of Pride) and being investigated on suspicion of terrorism.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let them live in Mauritania...

Or Ass-wad.
Posted by: Glenmore || 04/07/2012 7:59 Comments || Top||

#2  In the meantime they got to toss their homes, question their friends and relations, and go through cell phones and laptops. Not to mention putting the fear of God in all involved, however peripherally. No telling how many have decided that being a Lion of Islam isn't worth it, after all.

Next round of arrests should happen soon.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/07/2012 12:17 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Girls’ primary school blown up in Mohmand
GHALLANAI: Terrorists blew up a government-run girls primary school with explosives in the village on Friday. According to details, unidentified terrorists planted and detonated explosives in the school, which is located in the Lakrro area in Sasi tehsil of Mohmand Agency. The school building was partially damaged due to the blast. However, no causality or injury was reported, as the building was vacant at the time of the blast. Terrorists in FATA have destroyed 92 government schools, most of them for girls, schools in Mohmand Agency during the past three years.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:02 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:


12 ‘terrorists’ arrested; explosives recovered
PESHAWAR: At least 12 terror suspects were arrested and explosives, suicide jackets recovered during an operation by security agencies in the provincial capital on Friday.

According to details, the agencies conducted the search operation in the jurisdiction of Tehkal police station. During the operation, 12 suspected terrorists were arrested and suicide jackets and explosives were recovered from their possession. The detainees were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Sources said the authorities hope to get important information from them, saying they were planning acts of terrorism in the city.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336083 views] Top|| File under:


12 ‘terrorists’ arrested; explosives recovered
PESHAWAR: At least 12 terror suspects were arrested and explosives, suicide jackets recovered during an operation by security agencies in the provincial capital on Friday.

According to details, the agencies conducted the search operation in the jurisdiction of Tehkal police station. During the operation, 12 suspected terrorists were arrested and suicide jackets and explosives were recovered from their possession. The detainees were shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Sources said the authorities hope to get important information from them, saying they were planning acts of terrorism in the city.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


JUP leader shot dead in Quetta
QUETTA: Maulana Mohammad Qasim Sasoli, a prayer leader belonging to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (Noorani group), was shot dead on Saryab Road on Friday.

According to police, Maulana Qasim was on his way to Jamia Masjid Noorani to lead the Friday prayer when armed men on a motorcycle opened fire on him, killing him instantly. The killers managed to escape from the scene. The body was taken to Sandeman Hospital for an autopsy.

The killing sparked protest in Saryab area and people took to streets and burnt tyres to condemn it. Talking to reporters, JUP President Abdul Qudus Sasoli said it was not the first time that the JUP leaders were targeted.

Earlier, JUP leaders Iftikhar Habibi, Rafiq Sasoli and Maulana Kabir Qambrani had been killed in target killings. “The government and law-enforcing agencies have failed to protect life of common people in Quetta. No one is safe, whether a cleric, politician or a common man,” he told reporters, adding that the rulers must resign as they had failed to fulfil the basic obligation of the constitution.

He said that international players were involved in dirty games in Balochistan and local people were being used as tool for this purpose. The JUP announced a complete shutter down strike in Balochistan tomorrow (Sunday) to protest against the killing.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:


Karachi Korpse Kount
KARACHI: Six people, including three PPP and a PSF activist, were killed in the ongoing wave of target and sectarian killings in the city on Friday.

Tension engulfed several areas of Orangi Town after four gunmen, riding two motorbikes, opened fire at a shop in Urdu Chowk Orangi Town. Four PPP workers – Farhan alias Guddu, Nafees Siddiqui alias Munno Bihari, Umer Hayat and Rana Faraz – received bullet injuries and were moved to hospital. Farhan, Nafees and Hayat succumbed to the injuries later.

DSP Tariq Malik said the four shooting victims used to meet at the targeted shops, and added that the shooting took place after Friday prayers. He said a heavy contingent of police reached the site of killing to maintain order in the area.

The killings triggered violence in Orangi Town’s sectors 10, 14 and 15, Bismillah Colony, Faqeer Colony, Urdu Chowk and its surrounding areas. Some armed men also resorted to aerial firing, forcing markets to shut down.

Carrying the body of Farhan, scores of PPP workers marched on Shaheen Complex and tried to reach the Chief Minister’s House in the ‘red zone’. Police moved in a container to block the way of protesters and also baton charged them, injuring six party activists. But the angry mob walked into the Fawara Chowk area where Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah showed up and assured the protesters that the government would arrest the killers. The assurance helped pacify the protesters who then dispersed and moved Farhan’s body to his home. No case had been registered until the filing of this report.

A seminary teacher was also shot dead in Surjani Town in an act of “sectarian” violence.

The incident took place in Sector L-1 near the Maymarabad Mosque where Naeem Sheikh, 55, was driving his car when gunmen, riding two motorcycles, opened fired on him. Sheikh received five bullets and died instantly.

Police said Sheikh was the resident of New Karachi and that he was also a teacher at Jalilia Madrassa. They said Sheikh was an active member of the Tableeghi Jamaat and that he could be a target of sectarian killing.

A People’s Students Federation (PSF) worker was also shot dead outside his house in the Mobina Town police area.

Saeed Hussain Khan, 29, was the resident of Scout Colony and came under fire from unidentified gunmen. An injured Khan was moved to hospital where he succumbed to the injuries.

Soon after Khan’s murder, scores of PSF workers reached the hospital.

PSF Karachi President Faisal Sheikh said the victim was an active member of the federation in the Karachi University. Condemning the killing, the PSF Karachi chief said Khan was not involved in any criminal activity.

An activist of the banned outfit Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), was also shot dead in Godhra Society.

Abdullah Bhumka, 55, was on his way home after offering Isha prayers when armed men shot him in sector 11-G, New Karachi.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Saeed said helping "de-radicalize" militants
In which the Paks demonstrate their fine mastery of the media puff piece...
ISLAMABAD: An Islamist leader who had a $10 million American bounty placed on his head this week has been helping Pakistan de-radicalize militants under efforts to stabilize the strategic US ally, a top Pakistani counter-terrorism official said on Friday.

Hafiz Saeed, suspected of masterminding an attack by Pakistan-based gunmen on India’s financial capital Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people, including six Americans, met government officials from the Punjab province and pledged his support for the drive, the official said.

“Hafiz Saeed has agreed with the Punjab government program of de-radicalization and rehabilitation of former jihadis and extended full cooperation,” the counter-terrorism official told Reuters.

the counter-terrorism official said that Saeed had not been paid for his de-radicalization activities.

A senior police official in Punjab province, who is closely involved with investigations into militant activity, confirmed that Saeed and his supporters were helping efforts to transform militants into law-abiding citizens.

“Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) were consulted, and they approved the de-radicalization plan. They assured us of their intellectual input and resource materials. They also offered teachers,” he told Reuters, referring to the charity Saeed heads.
More madrassahs! More jacket wallas!
The bounty highlighted the divide between the United States’ direct approach to tackling militancy, and strategies employed by Pakistan, a nuclear-armed South Asian nation seen as critical to US efforts to pacifying Afghanistan.

While Pakistan has mounted offensives against militant groups like the homegrown Taleban, it also contends other tactics such as de-radicalization are vital to sustaining battlefield gains.

Yahya Mujahid, the JuD spokesman, said the group had not participated in the de-radicalization program.

Hafiz Khalid Waleed, another senior JuD member, declined to comment on whether the Islamist leader had been directly assisting the government in de-radicalization. But he said Saeed and his followers were promoting non-violence.

“Hafiz Saeed was one of the first religious leaders to denounce militancy and suicide bombings,” said Waleed. “Our schools and madrassas (religious seminaries) are urging peace.”

Under the program, former militants are urged to develop technical skills that could give them long-lasting employment to keep them from taking up arms against the state again.

Experts also try to reverse what Pakistani officials call brainwashing by terrorists militants who preach holy war against the West.

To help the deradicalization program, Saeed identifies former terrorists militants who may still be recruited for jihad because they are jobless and idle and he helps steer them toward the program, said the counter-terrorism official.
Nice way for him to identify new people for his group...
Waleed mocked the decision to place a bounty on Saeed.

“President Barack Obama’s election symbol was a donkey and his government is acting like one. They have no evidence against Hafiz Saeed and are scrambling to make up stories,” he told Reuters.

Pakistani officials say Saeed, who Western officials suspect of links to Al-Qaeda, has the right to move freely because he has been cleared by Pakistani courts of a range of accusations.

Saeed abandoned the leadership of the LeT after India accused it of being behind an attack on the Indian parliament in December 2001. But his charity is suspected of being a front for the LeT. He denies any wrongdoing and links to militants.

Saeed agreed to support de-radicalization because he felt that former terrorists militants should find jobs and re-join mainstream society, said the counter-terrorism official, who has been at the forefront of efforts to fight militancy in Punjab.

The counter-terrorism official, who engineered the project, said 200 former militants had participated this year in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, including some from Saeed’s terrorist militant group. Another 100 will be completing the program by June.

Saeed, a former professor of Islamic studies at an engineering university, appeared at a press conference on Wednesday in the city of Rawalpindi, home to headquarters of the Pakistani army, recipient of billions of dollars in US aid. Flanked by some of Pakistan’s most virulently anti-American Islamists at a hotel about a 40-minute drive from the USembassy in the capital, he taunted the United States.

Saeed, a short bearded man, lives near a park and a mosque in a non-descript villa with a policeman stationed outside, in the central city of Lahore, capital of Punjab.

Some of his bodyguards wear olive camouflage vests while others are dressed in dark traditional shalwar-kameez, baggy shirt and trousers. Clutching AK-47 assault rifles, a few are positioned on his rooftop watching the street.

Saeed enjoys armed protection from the state because of his “new thinking,” sources said.

“Al Qaeda or factions from the Pakistani Taleban may want to kill him,” said one of the sources, adding India may want to target him as well.

Asked if the reward would anger Saeed’s followers and undermine de-radicalization efforts, he said: “There is resentment but I hope the program won’t be affected.”
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336066 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Islamic Jihad in Gaza will adhere to cease-fire
JERUSALEM: A Palestinian leader said yesterday that his group is adhering to a cease-fire that stopped a barrage of rockets and air strikes between Israel and the Gaza Strip last month.

Sheikh Nafez Azzam of Islamic Jihad said Israeli reports that he had called for an ongoing struggle against Israel, despite a cease-fire, were mistaken.

“We in the Islamic Jihad are committed to the cease-fire,” Azzam told The Associated Press.
But another splinter group will be launching Qassams in the morning...
He said a firebrand speech calling for ongoing resistance was just the usual bullshit a general political statement.
"Don't pay attention to me."
“We are continuing the struggle and the jihad,” Azzam said at a Gaza Strip rally in comments broadcast on Israeli television. “We will not be broken. We will not surrender. We will not accept the conditions Israel tries to impose.” Azzam said the speech was delivered Thursday.

Israel’s Channel 2 had interpreted the speech as a signal that Islamic Jihad would continue “operations” against the Jewish state despite the cease-fire that ended a weeklong exchange of fire in early March between Israel and Gaza. Palestinian groups are frequently accused of sending one set of signals to radical supporters, and another set of signals to the outside world.

Gaza’s smaller fighter factions in particular are caught between the need to show their followers that they represent a radical alternative to the territory’s Hamas rulers, and pressure from both Hamas and the public who do not want attacks to bring down another wave of Israeli retaliation.

Azzam’s statement came as Israel vowed to strike against the yet-unidentified militants who launched a rocket into the southern Israeli town of Eilat earlier Thursday.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336078 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Albeit, in an Islamic fashion.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2012 3:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Israel has decided, per yesterday's news, it is going to whack Hamas whoever fires the rockets. So of course the rockets are going to stop.
Posted by: phil_b || 04/07/2012 8:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Peace in our lunchtime...
Posted by: tu3031 || 04/07/2012 13:52 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Ranger shot and wounded in southern Thailand
A paramilitary ranger volunteer was seriously wounded in an ambush in Pattani’s Muang district on Saturday morning. He was identified as Mahama Rudingmeegah, 34, of the 4308 special paramilitary ranger task force.

Mahama was riding his car back home from working on a local road when gunmen hiding in roadside forest shot at him with M16 assault rifles. He was hit twice in his right shoulder and left leg and taken to Pattani hospital.

Police blamed separatist terrorists militants.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/07/2012 06:45 || Comments || Link || [336067 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Many killed as violence rages in Syria
BEIRUT: At least 24 Syrians were killed in violence yesterday, opposition activists said, only four days before a troop pullback agreed by President Bashar Assad as part of a peace plan proposed by mediator Kofi Annan.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said shelling had killed at least 10 people, including four rebel fighters, in the flashpoint central city of Homs. Two soldiers killed in separate clashes and one person was killed in the town of Douma, it said.

The British-based Observatory, using its network of contacts in Syria, also reported seven civilians and four soldiers killed in clashes and bombardments in Anadan, north of Aleppo.

The fresh violence erupted a day after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the conflict was worsening and attacks on civilian areas persisted, despite assurances from Damascus that its troops had begun withdrawing under the peace plan.

Annan, who is mediating for the United Nations and the Arab League, has said both the government and opposition must stop fighting at 6 a.m. on April 12, if Damascus meets its deadline 48 hours earlier to pull back troops from cities and cease using heavy weapons in populated areas.

Assad's opponents have accused the Syrian military of using the run-up to the ceasefire to intensify assaults. Syria has now charged insurgents with doing the same.

In the latest violence, activists reported tank fire in at least three urban centers yesterday — the town of Douma near Damascus, the restive city of Homs and Rastan, north of Homs.

“At least five tanks and 10 buses loaded with security men and Shabiha (pro-Assad militia) entered Douma,” one local activist said. “There has been shelling on Douma since the morning.”

In Rastan, an activist said Free Syrian Army rebels had confronted a morning tank thrust. “They blocked the advance and the Assad army left. Then artillery started,” he said.

Anti-Assad demonstrations broke out after Friday prayers in the eastern province of Hasakeh, in the town of Qamishli and Deir Al-Zor city, activists said. Protesters carried the white and green rebel flag. Some saluted other rebel cities.

Army shelling of villages in the northwestern province of Idlib has prompted a swelling exodus of refugees. Turkey said there were now 23,835 Syrian refugees on its territory. Over 2,800 arrived on Thursday alone, a Turkish official said, more than double the highest previous one-day total.

They crossed near the Turkish village of Bukulmez and more were waiting to do so, the official said. Forty-four minibuses ferried the arrivals to a refugee camp at Reyhanli.

“The army is destroying buildings and bombing them till they turn to charcoal,” said Mohammed Khatib, a refugee who said he came from Kastanaz, a Syrian town of 20,000 people. “The army wants people to move out of their houses. If the residents refuse, they destroy them with the people inside.”

Thousands of Syrians have also fled to Lebanon and Jordan. Host countries say they have taken in more than 50,000 since the revolt against 42 years of Assad family rule began a year ago.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/07/2012 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The British-based Observatory, using its network of contacts in Syria, also reported seven civilians and four soldiers killed

Why am I reminded of the corresponding reports from Gaza? Guess it's the irrational prejudice I've against "human rights" organizations---especially ones based in Albion.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2012 3:12 Comments || Top||

#2  The British-based Observatory, using its network of contacts in Syria, also reported seven civilians and four soldiers killed

Why am I reminded of the corresponding reports from Gaza? Guess it's the irrational prejudice I've against "human rights" organizations---especially ones based in Albion.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 04/07/2012 3:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Although from Cornwall, the death of Emily Hobhouse was not reported by any Cornish newspaper. And so it goes g(r)om.


Posted by: Besoeker || 04/07/2012 3:30 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: || 04/07/2012 01:25 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Silvana Arias (Peruvian) aka Paloma Lopez-Fitzgerald in "Passions (1999–2008)" aka Marta in "Las Angeles (2010)" aka Lilián Martínez in "Encrucijada (Crossroads)(2009)" aka Susana 'Susanita' Peña López in "María Emilia: Querida (María Emilia: Mistress)(1999)" aka Veronica Jessica Murillo 'La Vero' in ""Perro amor (Puppy Love)(2010) (age 30)



Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 04/07/2012 2:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Ji-Won, Om nom nom!!!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 04/07/2012 7:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Hotter than a $2 pistol, she is...
Posted by: badanov || 04/07/2012 8:19 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
45[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2012-04-07
  Azerbaijani intel service jugs 17 hard boys
Fri 2012-04-06
  Mali rebels declare cease-fire after seizing north
Thu 2012-04-05
  Pakistan rejects US bounty on Hafiz Saeed
Wed 2012-04-04
  Yemeni airstrikes kill 43 al-Qaida militants
Tue 2012-04-03
  Oil Pipeline Blown Up In Southeast Yemen, Flows Halted
Mon 2012-04-02
  Twin explosions rocked Mombasa Saturday
Sun 2012-04-01
  Paris: Scientist accused of plotting to blow up 'city size of London'
Sat 2012-03-31
  Us Drone Strike Kills Four In Miranshah
Fri 2012-03-30
  France nabs at least 17 Islamists in raids across the country
Thu 2012-03-29
  Gunmen kidnap Saudi diplomat in Yemen
Wed 2012-03-28
  Syrian Troops Kill 57 amid Clashes near Lebanese Border
Tue 2012-03-27
  Terror plot uncovered when 11 suicide vests found at Afghan military HQ
Mon 2012-03-26
  Toulouse killings: Mohamed Merah brother charged
Sun 2012-03-25
  Syrian Rebel Chiefs Form Military Council to Unify Ranks
Sat 2012-03-24
  At Least 26 Dead as Tens of Thousands Rally in Syria

Better than the average link...



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.
54.172.169.199
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (11)    Non-WoT (10)    Opinion (5)    (0)    Politix (3)