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Al-Nusra Chief Killed by Rivals in Syria
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 6: Politix
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Horn
Jubba officials gunned down in Kismayo and Kenya refugee camp
Armed assailants killed various important officials from the Interim Jubba Administration this morning in Kismayo, the provincial capital city of the Lower Jubba region and the Somali refugee camp in Kenya’s Ifo town.

According to residents in Kismayo, the gunmen shot dead the officials named Abdiaziz Bilal and Mohamed Hassan in the city. The security chief for the Afmadow district in the Lower Jubba region, known as Aadan, was brutally murdered at Ifo refugee camp in Kenya.

These latest murders follow the recent surge in killings of Interim Jubba Administration in their seat of their state, Kismayo. It was only yesterday when Abdirahman Qordhere, another high-ranking administration official was assassinated in Somalia’s port city of Kismayo.

Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist cell, are believed to be responsible for the assassinations of the prominent figures from the Interim Jubba Administration in Kismayo and other towns of the Jubba regions.
Posted by: Steve White || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Gunmen kill nine in Ethiopia truck attack: Government
[Al Ahram] Gunmen opened fire on a truck in western Æthiopia Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring seven, the information ministry said.

"Unidentified gunnies opened fire on a truck carrying 28 people, killing nine on board," it said in a statement.

The motive for the attack was not known, but officials said they were investigating the attack, which took place in the remote Benishangul region, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Addis Ababa.

The attack took place near the Grand Æthiopian Renaissance Dam, set to be Africa's largest hydroelectric project.

"Local police and security forces are already deployed to apprehend the perpetrators," the ministry statement said, dubbing the incident a "heinous criminal act".
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Africa North
Bomb attack wounds three civilians in Giza
[Al Ahram] Three civilians were maimed in a bombing in Giza governorate late on Tuesday, the interior ministry and medical officials said.

A hand grenade was placed under a private car in the busy Faysal Street in Giza, causing a "limited bombing" and leaving two occupants and a passerby injured, the interior ministry said in a statement.

The bombing was the second on Tuesday. Early in the morning, a first bombdestroyed a police post in the busy Galaa Square in Giza's Dokki neighbourhood.

Two coppers and a civilian passerby were lightly maimed in that attack, security officials and medics said. It was not clear how the first bombing occurred.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Egyptian Court Jails 119 Morsi Supporters
[Ynet] An Egyptian court on Wednesday sentenced 119 supporters of the Moslem Brüderbund of former president Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
to three years each in prison in connection with protests last October against his overthrow, judicial sources said.

More than 50 people were killed in the Oct. 6 protests called by Morsi supporters. Judge Hazem Hashad acquitted six people in the case. They faced charges including unlawful assembly and thuggery.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Africa Subsaharan
22 reported killed in clashes over C.African Republic town
[Al Ahram] At least 22 people, mainly civilians, were killed in festivities between mainly Moslem rebels and Christian militia in the Central African Republic earlier this week, the local Red Thingy said on Wednesday.

The festivities took place on Monday in Grimari, about 300 km (190 miles) northeast of Bangui, and coincide with a push into the interior by French and African forces struggling to contain violence that experts warn has pushed the country to the verge of genocide.

"There are 22 dead, four of whom were women killed by stray bullets," Michel Sefionam, head of Grimari's medical centre and a member of the local Red Thingy, told Rooters by telephone.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336080 views] Top|| File under: Seleka


Kidnapped Nigeria girls taken to Islamist stronghold
[Al Ahram] The Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by 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...
were taken to a stronghold of the Islamist group, parents said Wednesday, as the security forces pressed on with a search to find the hostages.

The mass abduction of more than 100 girls by gunnies in the northeastern state of Borno late Monday came just hours after a bomb destroyed a packed bus station on the outskirts of Abuja, killing 75 people, the deadliest attack ever in the capital.

The bombing was also blamed on Boko Haram, a group whose five-year turban uprising has shaken Africa's most populous country and top economy.

Three girls who escaped and returned to Borno's Chibok area briefed locals about the attack at the home of the area's tribal chief on Wednesday, said Lawal Zanna, whose daughter was among those kidnapped.

"The girls told us they were taken to the Konduga district part of Sambisa forest by their captors," said Zanna, referring to an area where Boko Haram is known to have well-fortified camps.

His account was supported by two other Chibok residents who asked that their names be withheld.

The girls said they ran after getting permission from the gunnies to use the bathroom and were helped back to Chibok by nomadic herdsmen from the Fulani ethnic group.

"My daughter is not among the three lucky girls but their escape and the news on the whereabout of the other girls has given me more hope," Zanna told AFP.

Borno's Governor Kashim Shettima told journalists that 14 of the hostages had escaped so far and offered 50 million naira ($300,000, 215,000 euros) to anyone with information that leads to the others being rescued.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336076 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Nigeria: 100-Plus Kidnapped Students Free
[ABCNEWS.GO] Scores of female students kidnapped by Islamic Death Eaters from a northeastern Nigerian school are free, Nigeria's military reported Wednesday.

Only eight of more than 100 students are unaccounted for, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade said in a statement that gave no details.

"The others have been freed this evening," he said.

The government had reported that security forces were in hot pursuit of Death Eaters who kidnapped more than 100 females from a high school early Tuesday.

Borno state Gov. Kashim Shettima told news hounds that 129 students were kidnapped and at least 14 freed themselves: four of the students -- aged between 16 and 18 -- jumped off the back of a truck and 10 escaped into the bush when the gunnies asked them to cook and were not paying attention.

The abductions came hours after an kaboom blamed on gunnies killed 75 people in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, angering citizens who are questioning government and military claims that they are containing a 5-year-old Islamic uprising. Two more attacks killed 20 people Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in northeastern Nigerian villages.

While the military claims that they have cornered turbans in a remote northeast corner of the West African nation, attacks have increased in frequency and becoming more deadly. More than 1,500 people have been killed this year, compared to an estimated 3,600 between 2010 and 2013.

Shettima told news hounds Wednesday that the turbans arrived at Chibok government Secondary School for Girls wearing military fatigues and posing as soldiers -- a common tactic used by the krazed killers. His information came from the school principal, who believed the men were soldiers removing the young women -- aged between 16 and 18 -- for their own safety. So the principal made no fuss as the students were loaded onto the back of a truck.

It was only as the gunnies were leaving, and started shooting, that he realized his mistake, Shettima said. The Death Eaters killed a soldier and a police officer guarding the school, officials said.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336070 views] Top|| File under: Boko Haram


Arabia
New Zealander, Australian Killed in Yemen Drone Strike
[AnNahar] A New Zealander with terrorism links was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen last year, Prime Minister John Key said Wednesday, with Canberra confirming that an Australian was also killed in the attack.
...Both no doubt named Bruce.
The man who called himself "Muslim bin John" was born in New Zealand and had been attending "some sort of terrorist training camp" in Yemen, Key said.

"I was advised it was highly likely he was killed in the latter part of 2013 but it took some time to confirm that through DNA," he told news hounds.

The Australian newspaper said that the man died in a U.S. Predator drone strike on five al-Qaeda hard boyz travelling in a convoy of cars in Yemen in November.

It said he was a dual New Zealand-Australian citizen and another man, from the eastern Australian state of Queensland, was also killed. Both men were believed to be in their 20s.

Key confirmed the deaths were the result of a drone strike and said New Zealand had no prior knowledge of the operation.

He defended the use of drones, saying: "They are legitimate at certain times, where countries are trying to contend with dangerous situations and they're trying to deal with hard boyz without putting their own people in harm's way."

Asked if this specific drone strike was legitimate, he replied: "I suspect so yes, given that three of the people killed were well-known al-Qaeda operatives."

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed the deaths, stressing that it had no prior knowledge of the operation in which they died.

"We understand the men were killed during a counter-terrorism operation and do not intend to discuss its details," a spokeswoman said.

Police and consular officials in Australia and New Zealand were in contact with the next of kin when the deaths were confirmed and the Australian Federal Police helped in identifying the remains, she said.

The Australian newspaper said US officials notified their Australian counterparts about the possibility its citizens had been "collateral damage" in the strike on November 19.

The pair were not the intended targets of the strike which also killed three others, including Abu Habib al-Yemeni, who was reportedly a companion of the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no longer with us, and won't be again...
, it said.

However,
there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened...
they were "foot soldiers" for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) who may have been involved in kidnapping westerners for ransom, the report said, quoting an unnamed source.

At the time, Yemeni authorities said that a drone strike in Hadramawt province killed three al-Qaeda suspects when a missile hit their vehicle.

The United States is the only country that operates drones in the region where security is highly volatile, with the Australian government warning citizens against all travel there since 2010.

AQAP is viewed by the United States as the deadliest franchise of the Islamic myrmidon network, and the Yemen-based offshoot is frequently targeted in U.S. drone attacks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia

#1  jihad tourism...
Posted by: Bigfoot Schwarzeneggar9613 || 04/17/2014 13:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, that gives me an idea for a new reality show. Follow the contestants from the madrassa to their date with a Hellfire and 72 raisins (..sorry, boys, that virgin thing was a typo). Last man standing gets an all expenses paid vacation to Gitmo. Think FOX would be interested?
Posted by: Mercutio || 04/17/2014 13:57 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
4 die in Tamaulipas state


By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Four unidentified individuals were killed or were found dead in a series of intergang firefights in the southern municipality of Tampico Tuesday and Wednesday. Also, a total of 179 migrants were released from captivity by Mexican Army units over several days in four different cities in the state, according to official state and Mexican press accounts.

According to a news account in Proceso news weekly, two gunfights took place which left one dead. The first took place at La Puntilla market, while the second took place near the intersection of calles Aduana and Perimetral at a shopping center called Macalito.

Meanwhile in Tolteca colony, near the intersection of calles Nicolas Bravo and Rosalio Bustamante, armed suspects drove customers and employees from a children's playground, Castillo de SueĂąos, then torched the building, which was destroyed.

That afternoon, two men were executed in two separate incidents in Tampico. The first was near Hospital Militar, while the second was in Primavera colony, near a Coca Cola plant.

The next morning, Wednesday, two armed encounters took place in Tampico, the first at a nightclub on Avenida Universidad, which took place at around midnight and then at first light at the Seduccion disco, where Molotov cocktails were thrown. No one was reported wounded at either incident.

Mexico is in the middle of Semana Santa, or Holy Week, which is a major event in especially in Tampico, as residents and tourists as well take advantage of warm weather and Tampico's beaches to spend Easter Sunday. During Semana Santa, Mexican security is usually beefed up, and it has been announced so since last month that army and naval infantry forces would in the streets to provide security.

Ciudad Madero, a sort of twin city of Tampico is also the headquarters for the Mexican Navy Zona Naval 1, which is a large naval detachment. The Mexican Army maintains a large base near Ciudad Mante, about 60 kilometers away.

Busts in southern Tamaulipas

Units of the Mexican Army detained nine individuals and seized contraband in southern Tamaulipas municipalities in two separate operations Tuesday, according to official government news releases.

Just after noon, a Mexican Army road patrol encountered four suspects near Rancho Nuevo in Llera municipality, and detained all four. Inside the ranch house, soldiers found one unidentified man who had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom.

Soldiers also seized two rifles, two pistols, 124 rounds of ammunition, six weapons magazines, one stolen vehicle, and MEX $3,868.00 (USD $296.58) and USD $48.00 (MEX($626.03) in cash.

Meanwhile in Altamira, five unidentified male suspects were detained by a Mexican Army road patrol. In that incident, soldiers seized one rifle, 50 rounds of ammunition, two weapons magazines, four vehicles, 1,950 packages of marijuana, presumably wrapped for individual sale of marijuana, two cell phones and MEX $188,000.00 (USD $14,414.71) in cash.

Rescues

Since April 9th, Mexican security forces have rescued a total of 179 migrants in several separate operations, according to a news account posted on the website of Tamaulipas state government.
  • April 9th: In Ciudad Madero a Mexican Naval Infantry unit located an freed 35 migrants, all from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Among the migrants was a four year old child. A total of three suspects were detained at the scene, identified as Hugo Cesar Rodriguez Niges, Servio Tulio Avalos Gonzalez and Ernesto Alvarado Machado. Sailors also seized three rifles, 132 rounds of ammunition, six weapons magazines and four vehicles.

  • April 10th: In Reynosa municipality in Pedro J. Mendez colony, a Policia Federal unit rescued 76 migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, totaling 65 and 11 women, who were kidnapped for ransom. No one was reported detained at the scene.

  • April 11th: In the city of Tampico, 20 migrants were rescued by a Policia Estatal Acreditable unit as they were being loaded onto a bus for the United State. One suspects, identified as Eladio Lopez Cardona was detained at the scene. A total of 12 from Guatemala, four from Honduras and four from El Salvador were rescued.

  • April 12th: In Matamoros municipality in Estancia Residencial colony, Mexican Army and Policia Estatal Acreditable units were dispatched to a residence based on an anonymous complaint to find 48 migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua detained by criminals. One suspect identified as Daniela Gomez Garcia was detained at the scene. The count of the kidnapping victims were 38 men, six women and four children.


Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
Posted by: badanov || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: WoT
'Boston Strong' weirdo sent for mental check after rice cooker-filled backpack sparks concern
[NYDAILYNEWS] Kevin Edson was arrested Tuesday after he walked -- barefoot and clad in a veil -- screaming down Boylston St. near the Boston Marathon finish line while carrying a backpack containing the electric cookware, police said. He was ordered held on $100,000 by a Boston Municipal Court judge before being dispatched to Bridgewater State Hospital for assessment of his mental state.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sometimes I think the response to 'edgy' art or activities should involve cattle prods.
Posted by: ed in texas || 04/17/2014 7:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Force him to lie on the street at the finish line with a piece of plywood on his chest and all runners have to run over the plywood to finish the race
Posted by: Frank G || 04/17/2014 9:54 Comments || Top||

#3  What - no NEA grant?
Posted by: Pappy || 04/17/2014 13:39 Comments || Top||

#4 
Force him to lie on the street at the finish line with a piece of plywood on his chest and all runners have to run over the plywood to finish the race


Nails (points towards him) in the plywood or not?
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 04/17/2014 22:57 Comments || Top||

#5  good point. I like down
Posted by: Frank G || 04/17/2014 22:59 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Bombers Hit Iraq Provincial Compound as Attacks Kill 19
[AnNahar] Attacks including suicide kabooms outside a provincial government compound killed 19 people in Iraq Wednesday, just weeks before a general election that will be a key test for security forces.

The latest violence comes a amid a protracted surge in bloodshed, fueled primarily by widespread anger among the Sunni Arab minority, and by the civil war in neighboring Syria.

In the city of Ramadi, jacket wallahs detonated one vehicle rigged with explosives at each of two entrances to a compound housing the Anbar province governor's office, provincial council building and a military headquarters, security officials said.

The blasts killed three soldiers, a policeman and a civilian and maimed 12 more, the officials and a doctor said.

The twin attacks come as security forces struggle to regain control of Anbar, where anti-government fighters have held parts of scenic provincial capital Ramadi and all of the city of Fallujah,
... the City of Mosques, which might have somthing to do with why it's not called Center of Prosperity or a really nice place to raise your kids...
to its east, since early January.

The crisis in the desert province erupted in late December when security forces dismantled Iraq's main Sunni Arab anti-government protest camp just outside Ramadi, west of Storied Baghdad.

Militants subsequently seized parts of Ramadi and all of Fallujah, the first time anti-government forces have exercised such open control in major cities since the peak of the deadly violence that followed the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

In other violence on Wednesday, a boom-mobileing in Sadr City in north Storied Baghdad killed at least four people and maimed 11, while another in Mashtal in the capital's east killed at least three and maimed nine, security and medical officials said.

And in the Shaab area of north Storied Baghdad, gunnies shot a man dead near his home.

A mortar attack on a military base in Saba al-Bur, north of the capital, killed two soldiers and maimed nine, while a roadside kaboom near a market in the area killed one person and maimed five, officials said.

Also north of Storied Baghdad, gunnies killed two Sahwa anti-al-Qaeda snuffies in Tikrit, and a traffic policeman was rubbed out in djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
The security forces face a major test on April 30 when Iraqis vote in the first parliamentary election since American forces left at the end of 2011.

While they were able to keep violence to a minimum during provincial polls last year, the security forces have failed to halt a subsequent year-long surge in unrest.

Violence has killed at least 390 people this month and more than 2,600 so far this year, according to Agence La Belle France Presse figures based on security and medical sources.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Riots In Hebron: 7 Palestinians Wounded From IDF Fire
[Ynet] Dozens of Paleostinians rioted in the West Bank town of Hebron Wednesday, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the IDF outpost dividing between the Jewish part and the Paleostinian part of the town.

The IDF employed crowd control measures which left seven Paleostinians maimed. Their conditions in unknown.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336065 views] Top|| File under:


Jordan Destroys 'Camouflaged' Vehicles Crossing from Syria
[AnNahar] Jordanian warplanes destroyed "camouflaged" vehicles on Wednesday as they tried to cross into the kingdom from war-ravaged Syria, in the first such strikes since the conflict erupted three years ago.

A Syrian military source, cited by state television
... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
in Damascus, said the vehicles struck did not belong to Syria's armed forces, while Amman said an initial probe showed they were being used by arms dealers.

Damascus has accused Amman of backing the uprising against Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
by training and arming rebels, a charge denied by Jordan, which says it has tightened border controls and enjugged
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
dozens trying to cross illegally.

Wednesday's air strikes were the first time Jordan has used fighter jets against such infiltrations.

"Royal air force jets fighters today at 10:30 am (0730 GMT) destroyed a number of vehicles that attempted to cross into Jordan from Syria," the Jordanian army said.

"The camouflaged vehicles tried to enter from an area with rugged terrain," it said in a statement.

"The fighter jets fired warning shots, but they were ignored, prompting them to destroy the vehicles. The army will not tolerate such actions."

A military official told AFP in Amman that "Three wheeled vehicles tried to enter the kingdom" near Ruwaished in northern Jordan.

In Damascus, a military source said the vehicles did not belong to the Syrian army.

"No military or armored vehicles belonging to the Syrian army moved towards the Jordanian border, and so what was targeted by the Jordanian air force does not belong to the Syrian army," it said.

Jordanian Information Minister Mohammad Momani said the vehicles apparently belonged to arms traders.

"Initial probe shows that those who were inside the vehicles were infiltrators who tried to smuggle weapons and other things," Momani, who is also government front man, told AFP.

"They were all killed," he said without specifying their number.

Amman says arms smuggling across the border with Syria has risen by 300 percent in the past year.

"They were arms smugglers, who also seek to smuggle drugs sometimes," a military official said.

Jordan says it has foiled hundreds of trafficking attempts, while the military state security court is examining several related cases.

Border guards have in past clashed with and locked away
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
several people as they tried to cross from Syria into the kingdom.

"By using the air force, Jordan wants to send a message to faceless myrmidons and groups that seek to exploit the Syrian situation that it will respond in a very tough way against any threat to national security," said analyst Oraib Rantawi, head of Amman's Al-Quds Center for Political Studies.

"Jordan also wants to ... respond to accusations that Amman is involved in facilitating the entry of jihadists into Syria who are considered a threat to the kingdom itself."

The country has struggled to cope with hosting more than 500,000 Syrian refugees uprooted by the conflict.

It has repeatedly expressed fears that the bloodshed could spread and concern over the regional impact of anti-Assad jihadist fighters.

The United States also fears a possible spillover of violence to Syria's southern neighbor Jordan, a key U.S. ally and one of only two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel.

King Abdullah II has vowed to protect Jordan from the Syrian war, while the United States kept F-16 fighters and Patriot missile interceptors in the kingdom after joint military exercises last year.

More than 150,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based monitor.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Next time, try a Romulan cloaking device.
Posted by: Raj || 04/17/2014 9:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Or a pizza-delivery sign on the roof?
Posted by: Pappy || 04/17/2014 9:44 Comments || Top||


Policeman Hurt In Clashes On Temple Mount; Site Closed
[Ynet] Masked Arab youths hurl stones at security forces, dispersed using stun grenades; second policeman hurt in Old City stone-throwing incident.

Dozens of Arab youths, some masked, rioted on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on Wednesday morning, throwing stones and fire crackers at security forces at the site. A policeman was lightly hurt.

The site had opened to visitors as planned, but was closed after the festivities began.

The rioters were dispersed using stun grenades and other crowd control measures. An electrical junction box at the entrance to a mosque sustained some damage.

Elsewhere, young Arab protesters threw stones at coppers in an alley in the Old City. One policeman was lightly maimed.

In recent days, there have been a series of festivities between police and young Arabs on the Temple Mount, and security forces have attempted to prevent Arab youths from gathering at the mosques in the area.

Paleostinian media reported that 25 Paleostinians had been hurt in the festivities, and that a guard at the mosque had been tossed in the clink
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
. Police also reportedly declared the site a closed military zone and sealed off the Mughrabi Gate into the Old City.

On Monday, police also detained five far-right Israeli activists who had travelled to the Temple Mount with livestock, intending to make an animal sacrifice for Passover.

Police believe the move was a concerted effort to disturb the peace, and handed the sacrificial animal over to officials at the Agriculture Ministry.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Five Abu Sayyaf militants killed in Mindanao
Five Abu Sayyaf militants were killed following a gun battle with Philippine soldiers in Patikul town in the province of Sulu.

Officials said the militants were onboard a vehicle when they opened fire on marines manning a checkpoint on the night of April 13. The soldiers pursued the attackers and engaged them in a running firefight that left five militants dead.

Captain Maria Rowena Muyuela, a spokeswoman for the Western Mindanao Command, said, "According to an official report received from the ground units, the incident transpired when the Marine troops conducting checkpoint signaled and tried to stop the approaching vehicle but instead, they were fired upon by the passengers aboard said vehicle. The troops then immediately reacted and retaliated while the vehicle speeds up.

The marines immediately conducted pursuit operation which led them to recover the vehicle and one cadaver which was positively identified as an Abu Sayyaf member, and it was also disclosed that the other four Abu Sayyafs were seriously wounded and later died in an undisclosed area."

Recently, a 17-year old member of the Abu Sayyaf, Jelam Elah, alias Jihad and Jers, was arrested at a marine checkpoint in Patikul town following a tip off from local residents. Elah was traveling on a motorcycle when he was stopped at the checkpoint.

During his interrogation, Elah admitted to be a member of the so-called Lucky 9 group under Abu Sayyaf leader Ninok Sapari, suspected to be behind the recent kidnappings in the province and the attacks on military targets in Patikul.
Posted by: ryuge || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf

#1  Now he is a member of the "Not so Lucky Club"
Posted by: Steven || 04/17/2014 1:44 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syrian Air Raids Target Village on Outskirts of Arsal
[An Nahar] Syrian warplanes staged two raids on al-Maslaha village on the outskirts of the eastern border town of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Al-Mayadeen Network reported that the area was bombarded with several rockets.

Arsal, near the border with Syria, is a Sunni town where residents support the rebels fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
's forces. The town also hosts tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.

Ever since the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, Arsal has become a key conduit for refugees and maimed people fleeing strife-torn Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336071 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Al-Nusra Chief Killed by Rivals in Syria
[An Nahar] Jihadist faceless myrmidons of the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant have killed the head of the Al-Nusra Front and his family in northern Syria, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a four-man ISIL unit killed Abu Mohammed al-Ansari, his wife, daughter, brother and niece in a house in Ras al-Hosn late on Tuesday.

Ansari headed the al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front in Idlib province.

His killing was the latest since January in festivities between the two krazed killer groups as they strive for supremacy in areas of northern Syria under rebel control.

The Observatory said that after Tuesday's murders, Al-Nusra fighters killed one attacker and captured two more, while the fourth went kaboom!.

It added that in Deir Ezzor province in eastern Syria, ISIL managed to take a village as it tries to regain ground lost in February.

Both Al-Nusra Front and ISIL were offshoots initially of the al-Qaeda branch in Iraq before deteriorating ties between them in Syria erupted into violence.

Al-Nusra and other opposition groups have been fighting against ISIL across rebel-held provinces since the beginning of the year, angered by their abuses of civilians and other rebels.

Also on Wednesday, the Observatory reported nine regime air raids on Mleiha in southern Damascus and three against rebel-held districts of the central city of Homs.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336097 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant

#1  A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.~
Posted by: Squinty || 04/17/2014 17:29 Comments || Top||


Syrian opposition accuses Assad's forces of new poison gas attack
[JPOST] Opposition activists accused Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators...
's forces of a new poison gas attack in the Syrian capital on Wednesday, posting footage of four men being treated by medics.

They said the chemical attack, the fourth the opposition has reported this month, was in the Harasta neighborhood.

Rooters could not independently verify the footage or the allegation due to restrictions on reporting in Syria.

Activists posted a video on YouTube on Wednesday of four men being treated with oxygen. A voice off-screen gave the date and said Assad's forces used "poison gas in Harasta." It did not say if there were fatalities.

The face of one of the men appeared to be covered in vomit. He was shown shaking and moaning as doctors treated him.

The voice off-screen said chemical weapons were also used in Harasta on Friday.
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syria says vehicles hit by Jordanian Air Force are not Syrian Army
[Al Ahram] Syria said that several vehicles destroyed by Jordanian warplanes on Wednesday do not belong to the Syrian Army.

"No vehicles belonging to the Syrian Army moved towards the Jordanian border and what was targeted by the Jordanian Air Force does not belong to the Syrian Army," Syrian state news agency SANA said, quoting an unnamed military source.

A Jordanian security source said earlier that the targets were Syrian rebels in civilian cars mounted with machine guns.
"Effendi! Pencilneck and Hezbullies are demolishing us! What shall we do?"
"Invade Jordan!"
Posted by: Fred || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Dangerous Felon Charged with Belonging to Terrorist Group
[AnNahar] State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged on Wednesday Syrian national Mohammed Abdul Hamid Qassem with belonging to a terrorist organization.

State-run National News Agency reported that Qassem and several others were charged with belonging to the Syrian al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda-linked rebel movement, carrying out terrorist attacks, the possession of arms, and booby-trapping vehicles.

Earlier on Wednesday, al-Akhbar newspaper reported that security forces are pursuing several explosive-rigged vehicles that Qassem, who is also known as Abou Abdo and Murad Almadar, confessed of receiving money to booby-trap them for bombings in several areas across Leb.

According the report, Qassem told Sherlocks that several vehicles were booby-trapped in the Syrian villages of Yabrud and Rankous in the Qalamoun area on the Leb border.

Security forces are currently investigating if the vehicles were used in previous bombing or not, the newspaper said.

The felon also revealed the identities of several people that he worked with inside Leb and outside it.

Investigations are ongoing with Qassem, the report said.

The army issued a communique on April 9 saying that a dangerous runaway, identified as M. Q., was detained in the northeastern border town of Arsal along with seven Syrian gunnies.

He was considered to be allegedly involved in several terrorist incidents that rocked Leb recently.

Al-Akhabr described his role as "explosive rigged cars contractor."

Qassem is reportedly a high-ranking official in al-Haq Brigade, which is affiliated in the Syrian Islamic Front (SIF) organization.

The report pointed out that Qassem received a sum of money from two Syrian nationals, who are residing in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and identified by their initials Abou Issa and Abou Ayman.

The money was used in buying cars, arms and preparing booby-trapped cars.

Leb has recently been the scene of several boom-mobile kabooms that have killed and maimed dozens of people.

Several blasts that have targeted Hizbullah
...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory...
strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs and the Bekaa have been claimed by Death Eater groups.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under: al-Nusra


Syrian Air Raids Target Village on Outskirts of Arsal
[AnNahar] Syrian warplanes staged two raids on al-Maslaha village on the outskirts of the eastern border town of Arsal, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Al-Mayadeen Network reported that the area was bombarded with several rockets.

Arsal, near the border with Syria, is a Sunni town where residents support the rebels fighting Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs...
's forces. The town also hosts tens of thousands of Syrian refugees.

Ever since the Syrian revolt erupted in March 2011, Arsal has become a key conduit for refugees and maimed people fleeing strife-torn Syria.
Posted by: trailing wife || 04/17/2014 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
40[untagged]
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3Govt of Iran
3Palestinian Authority
2Govt of Pakistan
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2al-Qaeda in Arabia
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2014-04-17
  Al-Nusra Chief Killed by Rivals in Syria
Wed 2014-04-16
  Deputy Minister Kidnapped in Kabul
Tue 2014-04-15
  Twin bomb blasts kill 71, injure 124 in Nigeria
Mon 2014-04-14
  Boko Haram massacres students, kills 200 others in Borno
Sun 2014-04-13
  Gunmen storm 'pro-govt' Pak village, kidnap 100 men
Sat 2014-04-12
  ISIS on retreat in Deir al-Zor after surprise attack
Fri 2014-04-11
  5 Killed as Houthis Press 'Advance' on Yemen Capital
Thu 2014-04-10
  Baloch separatists claim Islamabad terror attack; 24 killed
Wed 2014-04-09
  Netanyahu instructs government ministries to cease cooperation with Palestinians
Tue 2014-04-08
  Rebels claim gains in Aleppo and Qunaitra
Mon 2014-04-07
  Army Begins Removing Hizbullah Checkpoints in Baalbek, al-Hermel
Sun 2014-04-06
  Iraq forces kill more than 40 militants near Baghdad
Sat 2014-04-05
  German AP Photographer Shot Dead in Afghanistan
Fri 2014-04-04
  10 Insurgents Killed in Logar
Thu 2014-04-03
  20 Dead as 'Qaida' Attacks Yemen Army Headquarters

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